so we parted but alas alas never to see each other agen till we meet in the other World My Father at this solemn parting gave me several Letters all written by my own Mother wishing me to read them often and keep 'em in memory of her to my dying day which that I may the better do I 'll here print 'em word for word and are as followeth My own Mother's Letters which she sent to her several Relations given me by my Father at our last parting Mrs. Lydiah C â—'s Letter to her Brother B n. Loving Brother WHen you consider how Priscilla expounded the way of God perfectly unto Apollos I hope you will take in good part the sincere and cordial Wishes of a weaker Vessel Providence hath set our Bodies at a great distance yet how near and dear you are unto my Soul the Lord knows whose eternal Welfare I as vehemently desire as mine own and should be unspeakably glad if as we have lain in one Mothers Belly and Bosom together we might also lye down in the same divine Embraces of infinite Love Brother I know not whether I shall ever see your Face any more not that I speak in respect of present Sickness but in regard of the uncertain brevity of Life Man giveth up the Ghost and where is he Oh that same Expression And where is he hath often put my Soul into a wondering frame because the Scripture â—aith after Death cometh Iudgment Brother I humbly and ingenuously confess that I am less than the least of all those who look Heaven ward yet that I am a bruised Reed or as smoaking Flax I cannot deny But O Brother I would have you a tall Cedar in Religion a Pillar in the Church of God a valiant Champion for the Truth one that may attain unto the full stature of a perfect Man in Christ Brother believe me I blush at these Scriblings of mine yet how fain would I write unto you seeing I cannot speak with you that I might put you in mind of Eternity of Eternity that little word of the greatest concernment But when this Thought first entred into my Heart I bewail'd oh I bewail'd my own ignorance unbelief inconsideration and want of zeal and I thought you might justly smile at my forwardness in exhorting you who am so unable my self and might say Who is this that darkneth Counsel with words without knowledge Yet because the Widdow's Mite was kindly accepted of by Christ Brother do you vouchsafe a benign aspect upon this weak attempt otherwise you will discourage a young Writer quite Indeed I want skill to write my words and words to express my Mind What shall I say O would to God the grave and gracious Counsels of that Holy Man now in Heaven might always sound in both our ears Shall I wish he were alive again that we might be blessed with his Fatherly Admonitions and Instructions concerning that one thing necessary Or may nor we be known to be the Spiritual Children of our Father Abraham if we walk in the steps of his Faith though he knows us not being dead Alas alas I am sure I may speak it of my self though one should 〈◊〉 from the dead it would be nothing available unless God did bring my unsensible and unâ—eachable heart under the powerful convincements of his Word which is a more sure word of Prophecy than a ghostly Relation unto which we are all bound to take good heed Brother search the Scriptures for in them you shall find 〈◊〉 life and they testifie of Christ. I profess unto you I know nothing in all this World worth the kâ—owing but a â—rucified Christ and to be fully perswaded upon unquestionable grounds of a saving Interest in him Undoubtedly the pale Horse is prancing up down in the World upon which Death rides and we know not how soon he may have us under his feet but that we may escape out of the hands of that Horse-man's Page Rev. 6. 8. that we may so live in Christ that Death may be an advantage to us that we may so walk in the Faith that we may have this testimony in our own Conscience that all our ways and paths are well-pleasing to the Lord our great Sovereign that we may so even so run as to obtain an Immortal Crown at last though the Righteous shall scarcely be saved and that we might be found upon Mount Sion with the Lamb among the sealed one 's of God is the earnest and daily Prayer of Your loving Sister Lydiah C r. Mrs. Lydiah C rs Letter to her Brother J h. Loving Brother YOU are a young Man and you read of the young Man in the Gospel concerning whom it is said Christ looking upon him loved him I think that was but a common love because of some hopefulness of more good or of less discovery of more evil in him than in many others The Lord knows that I do most tenderly love you as a Brother in the flesh but oh how much more should I love you as a Brother in Christ. Now that you may have a share in the Soul-saving love of Christ that you may be more intimately acquainted with the deep Mystery of the Gospel that you may consecrate the flower of your Youth to God that you may fly all Sins incident to your present state that you may be sensible of continued Mercies that you may improve all opportunities and abilities which you have received from God for God that you may earnestly contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints that you may follow the Lord fully in your Generation and that you and I with all our Relations may one day sit down in heavenly places together with Jesus Christ is the uncessant Prayer of Your very loving Sister Lydia C r. Mrs. Lydia C r's Letter to her Sister C d. Loving Sister C d YOu are a Mother 't is a Blessing yet but an eâ—â—thly Blessing Children are certain Cares uncertain Comforts Now that you may bear Christ in your Spirit as you have born Children in your Body that you may have further experience of the preserving Love of God which passeth the tenderness of maternal Affection Isa. 49. 14. 15. that you may always enjoy the light of God's countenance that ye may be strengthned with all might according to the glorious power of God in your inward Man unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness that you may by your heavenly conversation adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ that you may be counsâ—â—ed and comfotted by the sweet influences of the Spirit of Gâ—ace and that you may be one of those who shall be caught up in the Clouds together with all the Saints to meet the Lord in the Air and be for ever with him is the fervent Prayer of Your very loving Sister Lydia C r. Mrs. Lydia C r's Letter to her Aunt C d. Most endeared Aunt WHen I love in the Truth and not I only but also all they
liv'd in Loudon a Sect of persons pretending to perfection and perpetual Virginity all their Love being Angelick without the least mixture of Matter tho betwixt different Sexes every one having their particular Friend Thus things continu'd for some Months they admiring their own Purity and Sanctity above all Mankind when behold unluckily several of the Virgins began to burnish and thrive amain and at the usual time to the amazement of all the Society this their pure Friendsh sent several living Babes into the World After which they were forc'd to drop their Principles and be content with matrimonial Purity instead of that virginal one to which they at first pretended Love is the Greensickness in men it makes 'em stark mad for Toys and Trifles as Women are for Playster and Oatmeal Now you know what Love is I 'll tell you what 't was I lov'd She was indeed a Non-parel a She-Phoenix a half-Iris a Match for Evander Admir'd Mrs. Rachel thou Paragon of Beauty and Virtue Roses Stars â—allys Pinks Rubies Pearls and Violets nay more to make use of Similies at that time nearer to the purpose and more upon my Heart Rost-beef Mine'd-pies Gammon of Bacon Bottl'd-ale Foot-ball and Cricket-play For thy dear sake I cou'd neither eat Rost-beef mawl Minc'd-pies guzzle Plumb-porridge take the Ball a Hand-kick as high as Bow-steeple Balcony nor play at Cricket any more than a Trap-stick I lookt like a Mome a meer Ninny as I may say in Modesty and dared not so much as squint in the â—lasses as I went by the Cabinet-makers in Cheapside lest I shou'd discover a pair of Ears starting out of my Head two or three handfuls beyond the Standard and then out of indignation fall a breaking the Glasses and have ten pounds to pay for my Afternoons Ramble The truth is most of her Rubies and Pearls were those of her Teeth and Lips and she wore more sparkling Diamonds in her Eyes than either on her Fingers or in her Cabinet Her Estate I must confess was somewhat like a Mole-hill on the Globe of the Earth like Great Brittain in the Map when the Grand-Signior clapt his Thumb upon 't or all that Grecian's vast Estate and spacious Demeans which fill'd not so much as one single Line in the Description of the Globe In a word had she much or had she little I admir'd her I ador'd her I rav'd stamp'd storm'd fretted fumed foamed and wanted nothing but a Chain a Grate and a Truss of Straw to have made me as mad as any in Bedlam Ah! thought I with my self wou'd this dear Creature but love me I shou'd be as good a man as my Master a happier person than King Caesar and as magnificent as Heliogabalus no I shou'd never cease loving her or love her less 't is impossible had I her I shou'd not be content tho I went a begging with a wooden Dish and Leg and not feast tho I eat nothing but Sparibles and Pebble-stones Then wou'd I fall a rhyming for that 's the infallible Token of a true Stanch Fallback-fall-edge-Lover I robb'd all Sternhold and Hopkins of their Flowers and made Posies like any Firz-bushes not for their roughness but sweetness and largeness some of which here follow O Rachel dear attend and hear The words that I do say My plaints eke heed so mayst thou speed For ever and for ay My Heart is broke by Love's fell stroke My head also likewise I will maintain that I am slain By thy dead-doing Eyes Then put thy fist if that thou list Out of thy poke so kind And when I 'm dead pull off my Head Or I will look thee blind Now you steer and snicker Mr. Reader because to show the Sweepingness of my Genius I condescend to this humble sort of Poetry I 'll have you to know this was one of my first Essays but like one truly inspir'd as if I had undoubtedly wash'd my Lips in the Caballine Fount I immediately mounted to the very top of Parnassus grew a meer Adept in a twinkling and was most intimately acquainted with all the Sylphs and Gnomes call'd by the Ancients Nymphs and Demi-gods and Muses who taught me the true galloping Pindarick in which as if Pindars Soul had crept into Evander not Horace he thus fell a courting his Mistress tho in their way forgetting what he 's about rambles to a Tale of a Cock and a Bull and scarce says one word of her In imitation of Horace Book 2. Ode 20. NON usitatâ nec temui ferar Penna No Sternholds or Hopkinsian strain My buskin'd Muse Henceforth will use We such low thoughts disdain Biformis per liquidum aethera Vates A Bookseller and Poet too Nor Earth nor Heaven such wonders saw before Nor shall do more Tho strange 't is true Neque in terris morabor Longius invidiaque major Vrbes relinquam What shall I longer stay below Vngrateful London what wilt thou prepare What offers to detain me there If that e'nt fair hang fair E're I from thee and Envy go Non ego pauperum Sanguis parentum non ego quem vocas Dilecte Mecenas Obibo Nec Stygiâ cohibebor undâ Mistake me not I 'm now no more That Rambling poor Foot-post I was before Not that dark Wight that nameless Man His Father call'd dear John with his dear Nan Nor think I 'll still keep trotting here To Paul's Church-yard or th' Auctioneer Nor will I wade the Kennels thro' And spoil new Hose and handsom Shoe Jamjam residunt cruribus asperae Pelles album mutor in alitem Superne nascunturque leves Per digitos humerosque Plumae Tentoes farewel I 'm chang'd into a Fowl Some call a Goose but most an Owl I feel I rising feel from Rump to Crown My harsh black Hair melt to soft snowy Down And I have Goose-Quils of my own Then I rambled from Horace My Body a pick-pack on my Soul Rambles to view the spangl'd Pole Rambles a-round to search my Dear Vnwearied Walks from Sphere to Sphere Knocks at each door and asks Is Rachel here With Legs for Oars th' aetherial Waves I plough My Wings spread wide the Sails unfurl'd Now now just now I scamper away through the Fields of the Air to the End of the World There 's Flame there 's Salt Air and Spirits and all the four Elements together Show me such another Translation Application Improvement and all that and I 'll sell you my Skull to make a Close-stool of and use it as the King of the Lombards did for a Cawdle-Cup after you have done with'â— And then for Prose-Love I believe I went as far as any Man stabbing dying groaning hanging I made nothing of 't was my daily Employment and Recreation and I cou'd at last eat Knives or Rats bane as fast as a Jugler I grew careless toward any thing else I could neither see hear taste smell nor understand any thing in the world but what related to my charming Rachelia as I
power to please Directing therefore our Rambling Steps toward that part of the Field whence the Voice came my Eyes quickly ceased to envy my ears for they discover'd kneeling by a Cow and singing to her whilst she Milk'd her a Person who in the habit of a Milkmaid seem'd to disguise and yet make good the Character of one of those Nymphs the Poets are wont to describe I need not tell you this fair Creature had the Blushes of the Morning in her Cheeke the Splendor of the Sun in her Eyes the grateful freshenss of the Fields in her Looks the whitenss of the Milk she had before her in her Skin least you should think I spent too much time in gazing on her But I may perhaps without much Hyperbole give you this Account of her that though her Cloaths were suited to her Condition yet they were very ill suited to her Beauty which as if Nature intended a Triumph over Fortune did without any assistance of Ornament more distress my Liberty than others have been able to do with all their most curious Dresses In a word she looked at once so Innocent and Pretty that she seem'd like to do Mischief without at all intending it Whilst my Eyes were fixed on her as attentively as dazled ones could be the lovely Milkmaid took up her Pail to carry it homewards As she passed by me upon the last glimpse she vouchsafed me a Smile which I then thought would have made me very happy if it had proceeded from Kindness not bare Civility And she went away with a look so Serene as well as taking that she seemed to carry home with her far more quiet then she left me possessed of And to confess the Truth Of all the loveliest things and noblest too That Art or Nature have produc'd to view Woman alone doth most affect my Mind When from her Sexes foul defects refin'd Who if she be with these few Vertues stor'd Hath all that the Creation can afford Beauty enough to raise a frozen Love Yet not so great as should our wonder move Fair without Scorn and Witty without Pride A Bliss too often to that Sex deny'd Chaste as Diana when her Rape 's designd And where she loves as billing Turtles kind Constant to one and only so far coy As may'nt create his pain but raise his Ioy Modest but not Reserv'd tho free not vain Her Garb becoming neither gay nor plain Quiet tho bold Religious not precise With more Devotion in her Heart than Eyes Tho saving yet not covetous and still Yet not for want of words but want of will And when she doth her kind Affections place Makes Love not Money Vmpire in the Case If such a one yea Gods on Earth there be I 'll dye if this Fair Milkmaid was not she Which made me as I rambled along so to doat upon her that at length I forgot my self And indeed this Fair Milkmads Eyes Mouth Teeth and Hands seem'd to have been made only to furnish the God of Love which daâ—ts When she open'd her Mouth methoughts I saw the three Graces sporting in her Countenance when she Smiles there needs no day And her Body was so exactly proportion'd in all its parts that had she lived in the Time of Phideas he had certainly taken her for the Model of his Venus which was the Admiration of all the World And my Respect to her was for a while equal to her Charms But being now engaged in a Rambling Frollick with my Dearer Philaret who by Travelling thus far together with me was become more precious to me than Eye-sight Space and Liberty beyond what can be valued rich or rare I was constrain'd to have recourse to Philosophy which could supply me with no other Remedies but Patience Nay I find the Philosophers themselves have been vanquisht by Female Charms Diogenes and Aristotle became they not Fools hereby And Seneca whose Morals are the Rules of the Wisest was not he driven out of Rome for his Amorous Practices Nay Reader I tell thee plainly the Precepts of Philosophy influenc'd me not a whit I derided them though I was now but in my Twenty third year and was resolved to love on and that more excessively than all the Philosophers put together 'T is Women that have always won the greatest Victories 'T is their trade to Conquer 'T is certainly a Misfortune and a Miracle at once to confess at what a tender age I was first subjected to Love it was indeed by chance for it was long before the years of Choice of Descretion I do not remember my self so long ago and my Fortune may very well be coupled to that of Quartilla who could not remember since she was a Maid yet cannoâ— I tax my self from my Birth till now with one single Thought that ever exceeded the Rules of Modesty But Love in my Opinion is not properly and naturally in its season but in the age next to Childhood For Amor ordinem nescit Div. Hieron Love knows no order miscarriages and ill successes give him Appetite and Grace You put Love in the Stocks when you guide it by Art and Wisdom Discreet What means this word Discreet A Curse on all Discretion This barbarous term you will not meet In all Loves Lexicon Ioynture Portion Gold Estate Houses Housholstuff or Land The low Conveniences of Fate Are Greek no Lovers understand Believe me Reader when once Love Enters into a Breast The two first things it does remove Are Friends and Interest Moreover one would think Cupid were not only blind but dumb since he renders every Member of the Body vocal except the Tongue Hence it is that Lovers with more Eloquence communicate Sighs than Words as so many internunctany Particles of Vital Air and like Doves of Venus mourn forth animated Letters Hence 't is that they keep a silent intercourse with their Fingers now Eloquent without a Pen and weave Dialogues in little Posies They hear one anothers mutual Wishes and read one anothers visible Souls by those vocal Messengers of the Affections affable Nods and darting Smiles Sometimes their significant Gestures composed as it were of so many Rhetorical Figures court in a various and myste ous Dialect Sometimes their ranging Aspects are earnestly fixed on one another as on Strangers and while they seem to disown all acquaintance grow familiar by â—ealth Sometimes their Souls interchangeably gliding from their Eyes take a cursory taste of Bride-Kisses at a distance and bring home their stoln Sweets with Triumph 'T is at once their greatest boast and pleasure to remain undiscover'd Their wandring and Extatick Souls freely pass too and fro as 't were within the same Body and converse as softly as if in a Soliloquy But more of this hereafter in my Rambles a Wiving which are to make a distinct Volume seeing here 's enough at present to shew That Love to whose friendly influence the orderly System of the Universe ows its composure has left it self in Confusion
him whence you may safely conclude he 's 〈◊〉 middle-siz'd Man His Eyes are as black as a Coal which when alive is red when stark dead white with a little dash of yellow in 'em or else grey blew or a lovely Hazle for an impartial Historian must set down all probable Opinions that the Reader may the better know how to Judge His Nose like Majesty for 't is in the middle of his Face but more than that 't is either very high or a little rising if not flat to a Fault His Complexion like the Off-spring of the black King of Aethiopia who had once a Daughter as white as Snow His Mouth of the widest when gaping with big Lips when he swells 'em with blowing his Nose and as red as a Scarlet-thred after he has been eating Mulberries His Teeth are as even as those of a Comb thô sometimes they are broken and as pure Ivory though both may want brushing He speaks somewhat thick when his Mouth is full or he is angry but writes much better when he draws you a Bill upon his Banker He winks very often when he sleeps and stumbles a little in his Walk if you lay your Leg before him He Dresses so remarkably you can't but know him if you had no other part of his Character either in a plain modest genteel suit of Stuff Cloth Serge Ratteen Silk or Velvet or in Red or Blew with a Sword inlaid Silver-handle or Tilâ—â—ry Basket-Hilt long black Wigg and â—ot rarely a short pretty light-colour'd Bob or middle-siz'd with a Spanish lock behind He has a kind of Shuffling in his Gate and yet very Majestick too when he pleases the other only being when one side of the Heel of his Shoo is worn away or Ten-toes have lately suffer'd Dilapidations That which makes him most remarkable is that no Person alive not Iris her self ever saw him without a Goose-quill in his Mouth or between his Fingers unless when it rambles into his Standish and yet more wonderful he has certainly ten Fingers on his left hand when he lays his right a top of it This is his Description his very Impression and so much to the Life that 't is well the Gazett has no business with him for were all these Ear-marks publisht in 't he 'd ne're be able to peep out o' doors but all the whole Street wou'd be in an uproar and cry That 's he This for the Notification of such as are ignorant of his Accomplishments for such as have the Happiness to know him 〈◊〉 this touch suffice HE 's a Citizen of London and all the World Loves Rambling does n't love Fighting loves Iris does n't love Scolding loves his Friend does n't fear nor hate his Enemy loves Fair-dealing had rather be call'd Fool than Knave le ts People laugh while he wins can be secret if trusted is Ow'd more than he Ows and can Pay more than that makes his Word as good as his Bond won't do a foul thing and Bids the World go whistle Here ends Evander's Character Enter his LIFE A VOYAGE Round the WORLD OR A Pocket-Library ROom for a Rambler or else I 'll run over ye that ever was is and will be so My Life is a continued Ramble from my Cradle to my Grave was so before I was born and will be so after I am dead and rotten the History of which I have been sweating at the best part of this seven Years and having now with great Pains and Industry charge and care render'd compleat and ready for the Press I first send out this First Volume by way of Posâ—ilion to slap-dash and spatter all about him if the Criticks come in his way in order to make Elbow-room for all the rest of his little Brethren that are to come after My Name is EVANDER alias KAINOPHILUS aliar Your Humble Servant 'T was just upon my Tongues end if ' thad been out I 'd ha' bit it off Thus you see I am a Rambling Name as well as Thing that all may be of a piece that belongs to me And if ever there was a Rambler since the wandring Iâ—w I am the Man was the Boy the Infant the the the Chicken the tread of a Cock-chicken the Eye of a Needle the Point the nothing at all yet something and still a Rambler as you may find in the Frontispiece Hieroglyphâ—ck Account of all my Life Globe the first Verse 1 2 3 4 5 6. The Text containing the very cream flower heart and marrow of my Rambles my Explanations and Comments whereon shall be the stuffing of this Book and all that are quarrelling who shall first Ramble out after it Thus then that super-ingenious Author After his first Rambles which I need not to tell ye And his kicking and sprawling in his own Mothers Belly First mark how the Bantling to all outward appearing When he first came to Life was us dead 〈◊〉 a Herring Then he 's born in a Coach for a Cart was not handy Where an old Woman fecht him agen wl ' good Brandy CHAP. I. Of my Rambles before I came into my Mothers Belly and while I was there AFter his first Ramble First and not first for even before this I Rambled from the Beginning of the World if not a great deal sooner The Essences of things are eternal as the Learned say and my first Ramble was indeed out of Essence into Existence from a Being in my Causes into actual Being But not to mount the Argument above my Readers Head lest I should crack both that and my own Let it suffice that my Soul for ought I know has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years if those are in the right on 't who hold the Praeexistence and that all Souls were made at once However for my Body I can make Affidavit on't that 't has been Rambling so long and so far before my Soul stumbled upon 't that I lose the Track and can go no further All matter is in motion and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage has been formerly dress'd I 'll promise you I 'll not undertake to tell ye As great a Coward as I am there may have gone I know n't how many perticles of a Lyon into my Composition and as small as my Body is my great Grandfather might be made out of a Whale or an Elephant You remember the Story of the Dog that kill'd the Cat that eat the Rat for I love to Illustrate Philosophical Problems with common Instances for the use of the less knowing part of the World why just so here To prove I may have a piece of a Roaring Lyon rambled into me How can any man alive prove but as long ago as the Holy War some or other of my Ancestors waited on K. Richard into Palestine and was there with him when he killed the Lyon This Gentleman might have a Dog this Dog being hungry
hold long to a Point There is something in Travelling I fancy that makes a Man's Thoughts reel and that leads his Pen to wander as much about as his Person does I have strangely faggotted up diverse Pieces or made an odd Composition but let them go ramble if they will into the World as they rise for I have a mind to represent the Progress of my Humour that every one may see every Piece as it came from the Forge My Rambling Fancies follow one another but sometimes at a great distance and look toward one another but 't is with an oblique glance I have read a Dialogue in Plato of such a motly and fantastick Composition as had the beginning of Love and all the rest of Rhetorick I love a Poetical march by leaps and skips There are pieces in Plutarch where he forgets his Theme yet how beautiful are his Variations and Digressions and then most of all when they seem to be fortuitous and introduc'd for want of heed 'T is the indiligent Reader that loses my Subject and not I there will always be found some words or other in a corner to make good my Title-Page though they lye very close I Ramble indiâ—creetly and tumultuously my Style and my Wit wander at the same rate And now if this be an Error I humbly conceive it is an Error on the right-hand wherein I am but better than my Word Constanoy is not so absolutely necessary in Authors as in Husbands and for my own part when I have my Pen in my Handâ— and Subject in my Head I look 〈◊〉 my self as mounted my 〈…〉 wherein although I design to reach such a â—own by night yet will I not deny my self the Satisfaction of going a Mile or two out of the way to gratifie my Senses with some new and diverting Prospect Now he that is of this Rambling Humour will certainly be pleas'd with my frequent Digressions However in thisâ— have the honour to imitate the Great Montaigne whose Umbrage is sufficient to protect me against any one age of Criticks But I 'll Ramble no further now from my main Design for should I not stop here I should launch into an Ocean in which I should lose my self and your patience and despair to ken a-shore in less than an hours sailing So that now being return'd again to my Prenticeship Rambles I shall lead you on to GLOBE IV. Where I fly from my Trade what wou'd come on 't one told me But the Man nor the Master together cou'd hold me So that here you see Vander in his Juvenile Rambles Addressing himself for Bread and Cheese to the Brambles But in GLOBE V. There you 'll find that the Commons were unkind to a Stranger So Vander returns and takes Wit in his Anger Not that I was without my Faults neitherâ— No alas 't is a frailty that attends 〈…〉 to be mistaken and grow irregular yet to be guilty of Errors and acknowledge and redress 'em on better Information is all the advance one can make towards the attaining of that Perfection which Humane Nature is capable of I shall therefore spend some following Pages in acknowledging and retracting my Errors and Mistakes whilst an Apprentice It is no shame to confess our Crimes Shame It is a shame for to recite it there is no deformity no blemish in the exercise of any Vertue Zacheus his Restitution was not his Brand but his Renown not his Stain but his Ornament It was the Robe of a sacred Convert the Perfume of a penitent Publican the Fragrancy of exemplary Equity for all succeeding Ages When a lascivious Youngster slinking out of an unreputable House started back being espied by Diogenes the Philosopher advertised him That his recess his withdrawing thence need not put him to the blush or damp but his entrance thither A Confession of a Crime doth not breed an Ulcer but cure it If it be objected That it doth light a Torch to manifest the fester'd sore which before was conceal'd I answer This discovery is the Lustre of Repentance the Honour the Trophy of it at the worst it is but the Scar of a healed Wound after the Victory of a Battel However if it be interpreted an Infamy it is only by depraved Men suggested by damn'd Spirits It is a dignity in the estimate of the blessed Saints and Angels and all good Men. Phocion apprehended the Praise of a vile Person to be a Reproach a Scandal He that repents is well near innocent Nay sometimes a failing and return is a prompter to a sâ—rer hold S. Ambrose observes that S. Peter's Faith was stronger after his Fall than before so as he doubts not to say That by his Fall he found more Grace than he lost A Man shall beware the steps he once hath stumbled on And thus we see often that the Devil cosins himself by plunging Man into deep offences How base a part then is it to twit any with their former Iuvenile Crimes iâ— they themselves are reform'd for my own part I must confess I find enough in my own breast to damp my censuring others and he that does not let him fling the first stone And therefore now in hopes of a candid Construction from my honest Readers I will here record the Follies that attended the servile part of my Life And if by divulging my defects for I have not so little Man in me as to want my Faults nor so much Fool in me as to think it I fairly bring thine to remembrance it will not only compensate my labour in writing but thine in reading I here make the whole World my Confessor and many things that I could not confess to any one in particular I here deliver to the Publick and send my best Friends to the Black Raven there to inform themselves concerning my most secret Thoughts What I have done I have done nor shalt thou behold my penitence until thine Eyes arrive to the end of my Rambles If thou findest any misfortunate steps if any of my Juvenile Follies may deserve so hard a Phrase in the morning of my days before the blossom of my Youth was fully blown my Humour and Will being now forc'd to be curb'd by a Masters Looks let my penitent Tears Sorrws fittest Livery seek out my Excuse in thine own guilt and then blush for us both and at length gloss over all with a charitable Construction without which thou art an Object I had almost said not clean enough to spit on the slandering and uncharitable Tongue being the Abstract and Venom of all Baseness 'T was said of St. Chrysostome Nunquam ulli maledixit That he never spake ill of any Man If People must be talking of me I would have it to be justly and truly I would come agen with all my heart from the other World to give any one the Lye that should report me other than I was though he did it to honour me Plautus said By his good will he would
that have known the Truth Grace be with you Mercy and Peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Iesus our Lord. I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your 〈◊〉 prospereth I have no greater joy than to hear that all the Lord's People walk in the power of Godliness shewing forth the Praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his â—arvellous light It is true I have need to be more fully instructed of those who have attained unto a full age and by reason of use have their Senses exercised to discern both good and evil yet as one who hath obtained this grace of the Lord as to be faithful in a few things I shall not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things though you know them and are established in the present truth That which the Lord expects at our hands is that we should walk worthy of him who hath called us unto a Kingdom that we should live unto the praise of his rich Grace who hath so freely poured out his Soul unto death for us Dying Love justly merits an humble lowly thankful and fruitful Conversation Truly we live in a crooked and perverse Generation Satan hath his Seat in every place great is the subtilty of Sin the deceitfulness of our own Hearts the power and malice of our spiritual Adversary It nearly concerns us therefore to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure before we go away from hence and be no more Aunt my continual and â—ervent desire is that we may be every day more and more enlightned into the depths of special and distinguishing love and that I may be helped forward in my Faith aâ—d Ioy in the Holy Ghost by your Experiences is the Prayer of Your affectionate Cousin Lydia C r. My love unto all my Cousins praying that they may be blessed with all spiritual Blessings in the common Saviour Mrs. Lydia C r's Letter to her Sister D w. Loving Sister D w THat we should exhort one another daily consider one another and provoke one another unto Love and good Works is the Exhortation of the Scripture and such Counsel as I desire might be written upon your heart and mine Sister you are now entred into the World with me but that an abundant entrance may be administred into the Kingdom of God unto us both that we may with Mary chuse the better part which shall never be taken from us that we may grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ that we may not be weary of well-doing that we may approve our hearts unto God in all manner of holiness that we may be filled with Spiritual Graces suitable to our Relations and Conditions that we may persevere unto the end that we may have the sense of God's love kept alive and warm upon our hearts that we may bring forth much fruit proportionable to the precious enjoyments of Divine Mercy that we may make it our business to praise exalt and glorifie him who hath abundantly loved us in his Son that we may have a continual eye upon him who is the Authir and Finisher of our Faith that we may earnestly strive to attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead and that we may learn Christ love Christ and live Christ is the restless desire of Your very loving Sister Lydia C r. Your Husband and you shall not be forgotten by me in my pleadings at the Throne of Grace Farewell I had no sooner received these five Letters of my Mother's and promised my Father to observe his Orders about â—em but on I went in my Rambles again for London But verily Reader had you seen me before I was gotten fix yards on my way thither you 'd have thought I had mortgaged some of my Garments or that my Cloaths were some where in Trouble that I might still keep up the port of Travelling by Coach For the Petticoateers falling upon me and snatching one my Hat another my Cloak a third my Cane a fourth my Belt but not my Sword for to speak truth I had none and a fifth my Wig and 't was a favour believe it my Head escap'd they had almost reduc'd me to Primitive Innocence But at length getting clear of the Gypsies away I rambled again for London and getting into the Road I applied my self Citizen like to the out-side of my Beast a meagre and idolatrous Animal that did homage almost to every Stone he met with When I came to my Master's he receiv'd me with a sweetness peculiar to himself 'T is true he might have refus`d me for one inconsiderate Act and yet have been highly just but he being unwilling to screw up Iustice to the pitch of an Injury a temper proper to Brutes acts the part of a generous Man and welcomes his returning Prodigal How well I pleased him the remaining part of my Time may be guess'd at by my Father's Letter which he sent me two years after I was Bound which I 'll add here and with that conclude my Prenticeship Rambles My Father's Letter sent me two Years after I was Bound being the last I received from him Dear Child THY Master's Letter to me last Week gives me great encouragement to think that if please God I live I shall receive a great deal of comfort from thee He writes so fully that I profess I never read more written concerning any one in my life of thy Chearfulness Tractableness Industriousness willing to learn and obey of thy Truth and Honestly and especially of thy desire and endeavour to know and serve the Lord. Oh Child this good Character of theâ— is the most comfortable and reviving 〈◊〉 that I have taken all the time of my late and long 〈◊〉 I pray God continue thy good Râ—soâ—â—tions of 〈…〉 Masterâ—s 〈◊〉 Commendations of thee Now dear Child if thy deserts answer these Praises I shall not fear but I shall meet thee in Heaven hereafter though through my Corporaâ—â— Indisposition I fear I shall see thy face no more on Earth and in the new Ierusalem if thou diest in the Arms of Divine Embraces I shall see thee not disfigur`d with Pockholes but dignified with Celestial Glory And there wilt thou see thy own Mother's face who killed herself with excessive love to thee and who died praying so earnestly for thy Everlasting Salvation But I must subscribe in haste being much indisposed through a Cold I caught last Lord's-day in Preaching Your real loving Father Stil praying for the Welfare of your Soul and Body AMATUS ERRATA For Chap. IX X XI being those which next follow read Chap. II III IV. CHAP. IX An Account of Kainophilus's early love to Rambling The Reasons why he first surveyed England His Remarks upon it An Account of his Adventures into Buckingham Shire with what pass'd there His accidental meeting with Philaret on the Road. A Description of their Friendship Their pleasant Frollick of