Rhetorick and tels them it is so horrible so odious so enormous he cannot will not dares not utter it By this trick he leaves somewhat for their thoughts to supply and raises their indignation to a higher pitch than a tedious discourse would do You may imagine that the Painter who drew Agamemnon at the sacrifice of his lovely Daughter with a vail over his face did not thereby conceal but rather more clearly represent such a posture of inexpressible sorrow In swasive and disswasive discourses or deliberations the Arguments must arise to a higher strain of Reason and decline from the popular mode to a more serious composure alwayes provided that they be accommodated to the persons whose affections are to be raised or abated If an Orator go about to perswade men to the undertaking of any exploit he tels them that it is possible to be atchieved honest pleasant and profitable and the contrary in disswading not omitting examples and testimonies of learned men For though in natural Philosophy and Mathematicks where the exquisite truth of things is searched out Arguments from Testimony Tradition and Example are of smal account yet in Civil and humane Transactions they are of great weight but with a regard had to the quality and condition of the person whose authority or example is alledged Love is stirred up by an high exaltation of some goodly person or thing Hatred by aggravating the indignity of some person or action Pitty by opening the misery of some person well esteemed of by the Hearers whose condition they will resent as if it were their own and as occasion serves the Orator tacks about and lies at trye to observe which way mens humors tempers and inclinations move and accordingly spreads the sails of his Rhetorick to meet them In Judicial proceedings whose aim is to gain favour or severity of justice by examining matters of fact the chief person of the auditory is the Judge who being a person invested with Authority and presumed to be a Master of Reason much acuteness and solidity must appear in them If the Orator assumes the person of the Accuser he sums up the impulsive causes which might probably move the party accused to the commission of the fact as anger malice fore-thought and formerly evidenced occasion opportunity hope of gain avoiding of some apparent Evil easie concealment Consternation and the like the Defendent argues from contrary Topicks and indeavouring to refute his adversaries Arguments if any thing be so obvious that it cannot be omitted by a handsome praeterition he endeavours to diminish the validity of it Unlesse he peremptorily stands upon his vindication and then he argues the fact to be Lawfull from the Law of Nature Equitie Covenant Custome Example or craves pardon because it was done involuntarily upon necessity forcible impulsion perturbation and commotion of mind which extenuating circumstances have a great influence upon mens mindes where free disceptations find place but yet in ordinary legal tryals where the bare matter of fact is considered they do not often procure favour Above all it is very material that in all addresses the Orator should bring into publick view a Carriage Elocution and Action suitable to his intended discourse and such as may contribute a lively representation of what he endeavers to imprint in the minds of his Auditory In instructing he ought to be earnest grave and serious with a voice and pronuntiation suitable A quick lively and pleasant stile soonest moves men to joy Sorrow is caused by a low passionate stile the voice flattering and interrupted In ample matters the discourse should be lofty bold and manly the voice undisturbed and without artificial interruptions In mean occasions concise acute and elegant In Panegyricks stately flourishing and full of ornament In narrations clear and perspicuous in asking or excusing modest and submissive In commendations officious and full of respect In mirth and prosperous encounters luxuriant and pleasing and not to nicely crampt into a method In sorrow and fearfulnesse a grave compendious and leisurable stile is most pertinent the voice low flattering and arteficially interrupted Anger and Indignation requires a rough trouble and uneven stile suitable to the nature of such impetuous passions So that an Orator ought to tune and modify his voice as a Lutanist doth his strings that it may expresse all the several motions and passions of the mind provided that he order the matter so dexterously as to redeem himself from the suspition of affectation For it is the part of an Artist to conceal his Art The various modifications of words and sentences Figures and Tropes whereby they are drawn from their proper meaning to a pleasing and more emphatical signification add much ornament to an Oration tickle the eares and recreate the mindes of the hearers through the handsome contrivance of words and pleasant cadences in the periods of sentences But if there appear a manifest affectation in them they prove like womens paint when discovered they deface and discredit while they seem to beautify By this time it appears that Oratory derives its perfection from invention Elocution and action or gesture The first is advanced by help of a well stored memory the other come by practice but are cheefly promoted by a bold and selfe-pleasing fancy In one designed for an Orator a luxuriant and ranck wit is not to be rejected a superabundance is better then deficiency trees that have some superfluous branches are sooner corrected than those that are dry and withered can be advanced to fruitfulnesse 2. His voice must be strong but so as he have a command over it to raise or depresse it tune it to a gentle or harsh strain a sweet or severe accent as occasion requires 3. He must be industrious And 4. desirous of praise not to say ambitious 5. Of a good presence and personage 6. Of a strong constitution and habitude of body 7. Active 8. Bold for many times the confidence of an Advocate helps out the evidence and alwaies adds effecacy to his arguments 9. He must be practised and trayned up in company for we see that such as affect solitude and addict themselves wholely to study though they may perchance have their minds furnished with sublime notions and refined contemplations wherewith they pleasantly entertain their thoughts and fix a period to their content tacitely applauding their own felicity yet when they come abroad they are like people long accustomed to a close and obscure room whose eyes are dazled at the light A frequency of people astonishes them overmuch study hath made them low spirited and unfit for society they have been so long love-sick with the Muses that they are emasculated become sneaking and meal-mouthed not couragious enough to bare the Checks and Affronts wherewith men that adventure upon manly imployments must sometimes expect to incounter 10. It wil be a great ornamant to him if he be facetious of a jocular fancy to contrive witty Jests elegant resemblances apt
and yet would fain appear proper men eke them out by some advantagious dress He that puts men to the trouble of guessing and his meaning because he speaks as if he meant not to be understood or intended to be mistaken is not in this particular a wise man but either a fool or as ill However his actions and designs were Heroick and Noble they were managed without any glorious pretentions and his demeanour in the mean time humble he never spread his sails to receive the gales of popular air which swell some men into a strain of pride and make them as big in their own conceits as they are in the eyes of the Vulgar His beloved design was to acquire Vertue which is sufficient of its self to ennoble a man among the wisest and most intelligent part of men Glory is a shadow that follows him who declines it flees from him that pursues it and a wise mans minde carries the same relation to it that the body doth to the shaddow retains its dimension is not extended into a greater or cramp'd into a lesser compass according to the various alteration of the shaddow That he was generally well-beloved you will presently guess when I have told you that he was free from pride and envy an humble and curteous man is the World's Darling whiles a proud man one meerly enamoured of himself hath commonly the luck to be troubled with few Rivals and that he was free from these appeared by his liberal bearing witness to other mens merits they that have this piece of Ingenuity you may be sure they are furnished with true worth of their own Some choice and peculiar Friends and Privadoes he had whose conversation and counsel he found useful in many emergencies especially in matters of counsel and advice when one hath occasion to adventure upon some design not usuall and ordinary to him in such cases a man's understanding is wonderfully enlightned and his Resolutions quietly stated by the concurrence of other mens counsel for though every intelligent man is best able to take the dimension of himself and no wise man will make himself a Slave to the dictates of others yet because the Rules which our own thoughts suggest to us in sudden encounters are commonly troubled it is not amiss to make the lives of other men our Looking-glass the results of whose adventures in matters of like nature may much enlighten us and their counsels guide us two eyes see more that one and he that will always be his own Tutor hath a fool to his Scholar Whatsoever was commendable in his friends or occasional Companions he was studious to imitate what was amiss provided it were not impious he was willing to bear with for quiets sake if he discovered any impiety or pernicious error he forbare not to admonish them of it avoiding always reproachful language the usual ingredient of some mens reprehensions who endeavour not so much to amend others as by vexing them to gratifie their own humor His friendship was therefore permanent because well grounded for in the choice of friends he principally set his thoughts on men that were of known integrity and his equals True Friends should resemble the fixed stars alwayes at a like distance Inferiors with Superiors are upon terms of disadvantage one is loath to stoop the other cannot rise If frailty or inadvertency had betrayed him into an error he thought it no shame to acknowledge it it 's a piece of humane frailty to err but very unmanly to persist in an error If slanders and close cavillations wherewith cowardly and degenerate persons usually endeavour to undermine the reputation of the bravest men were at any time raised against him he neither troubled the quiet state of his mind by a childish impatience nor betrayd his innocence by a cowardly silence He alwayes laboured to secure his Reputation with men of approved worth and integrity for others by a prudent neglect he permited them to weary themselves with an imaginary conceit of subverting his fame till seeing their error which they would soon do when they found their Adversary careless they learn'd at length to be wise and silent As for pleasures if consistent with reason they were sometimes admited into his Entertainment as things that give an agreeable relish to vertuous actions there 's no man to be found of so warrented a constancy that can purely for the love of Vertue persist in well-doing the pleasure and content that results from thence hath a great energy to secure our perseverance Vertuous actions though in the managing of them they be attended with some harshness yet they end in a most sincere and indisturbed content but the most exact pleasures without this have a loathing and fastidious nauseating immediately subsequent Those Objects that have most sharp and forcible impulsions upon our senses at the first which arrest and violently captivate our reason and make us so pertinaciously intent upon the enjoyment of them terminate in disdain their satiety begets an hatred in us The most glorious colours and pleasant pictures recommend themselves to us under the notion of novelty we cannot endure to be constant spectators of them The most ravishing Notes of Musick at last prove tedious The Tast the most voluptuous of all the Senses is affected with sweet things and these soonest offend it Indolency and freedom from pain is the greatest pleasure men ordinarily acquire that active impulsion wherewith they find themselves affected in some sensual pleasures is a kind of restlesness a pain which they endeavour to expel or allay that so they may be at ease So that a wise man receives more content by not desiring than any can do in the fruition of them and placing his happiness in that which is permanent piety and wisdom he is sure to avoid that grand infelicity which is to have been happy If we look upon Charinus in relation to his Diet we find him a constant Observer of temperance a sure Pillar to preserve and support the Fabrick of the body but he never inslaved and confined himself to any precise and fantastical Diet which some men affecting more out of ostentation than reason make their bodies unapt for such mutations and digressions as one must of necessity encounter withal He never used to eat till his stomach craved consulting rather to relieve the necessities of Nature than indulge voluptuousness At his meals although he was not a nice Observer of order yet usually he eat moist and laxative meats in the first place more firm and solid afterwards nourishments extream hot and of a biting quality which without great caution devour the spirits he usually avoided At great banquets which are frequent among the people of that countrey and those set forth with great variety of dishes he usually considered what was agreeable to his constitution and the rules of temperance which invites a man to denie his own desires and fortifie himself against the importunity of affections rather
than complied with the custom of the people who being generally Lovers of good cheer think themselves at their meetings obliged to some kind of excess upon pain of being accounted uncivil Hereupon he so ordered the matter that by pleasant discourse and seasonable table-talk his company was ever acceptable and redeemed him both from Intemperance and the imputation of incivility or singularity He used moderate Exercise which very much conduced to the clearing of his spirits and maintaining the healthful constitution of his body by discussing such noughty humours as sedentariness causeth to reside in unactive bodies Those wherein he principally delighted were walking riding leaping and shooting with the long-bow in which the Alycians were generally expert If happily he sometimes deviated from these good Rules of health and contracted any distemper he used abstinence and rest in the first assault of it Reason instructed him that Nature had then enough to do to wrastle with the encroaching disease and could neither so vigorously labour about concoction nor assist him in accustomed exercises which at such a time would exhaust the spirits and enfeeble the body He was look'd upon as a thriving man one that encreased his Estate but still by honest sincere and generous courses he knew well enough that Goods ill gotten soon decay Iron breeds its own Consumption rust Brass ingenders its Canker and Wood corroding Worms which without any outward violence or impression cause them to decay and Goods scraped up by sacriledge robbery and oppression though some endeavour not to believe it consume away no body knowes how notwithstanding all the provident care industry and penurious sparing of the pretended professors In all times and among all Nations honesty hath been attended with a Blessing either of prosperous adventure or some countervailing content Villainy and Injustice have been made exemplary by some remarkable vengeance and sooner or later come to ruine His estate though plentifull did not transport him beyond the bounds of aequanimity ordinary calamities he alwayes entertained with a generous and sedate spirit prosperous adventures with a gratefull recognition of divine providence nor did it raise him to so fond a conceit as to esteem himselfe above the cognizance of Lawes and Justice if therefore he had occasioned or procured any injury and trespass to his neighbours which at one time or other will happen among such as have any dealings in the World he willingly afforded them such recompence as was equivalent to the wrong sustained and the same dealings he accepted of from others if occasion were offered By this means he avoided all peevish quarrels and tedious Law-suits whereunto the people of those parts were exceedingly addicted insomuch that many times for a very small matter they would eagerly pursue these contentions till one or both of them were reduced to beggery Charinus though derived from a noble stock whose many branches for a long tract of time had been renowned for valour and wisdom was never observed to boast of his Pedegree as some will do with a supercilious oftentation he esteemed that only to be true Nobility which proceeded from a mans own worthy actions It seem'd to him a matter of small commendation as he was often heard to say for one to boast of a fair Coat of Arms and to relate how his great Grandfather acquitted himself valiantly in such a battel when himself is of a cowardly and ignoble spirit not adventuring upon any brave act for the renown and protection of his Countrey No less folly he esteemed it for another to relate how his Progenitors were wise States-men served their Prince and Countrey with much honour and sincerity who hath nothing to distinguish him from the ordinary sort of men but an imperious dialect and fantastical garb or some skill in hawking and hunting things very commendable nevertheless when they are not the All of a man with as little credit doth another boast of great Mannors and ample Possessions which his Ancestors purchased if he consume them in pleasures and riot such men like Cyphers in books of accompt are nothing of themselves but derive their value from some figure going before To speak what is right concerning these exterior appendages Nobility Wealth Honour ancient Families great Relations they are like rich Drapery in a Picture which is an Ornament to an handsom Countenance an ugly visage deforms it they add Confidence and Resolution to a man whereas Poverty duls the courage frustrates many a noble design and proves a clog to ingenious mindes They acquire observance authority and respect while Poverty renders men contemptible The Vulgar pay respect to a man not for his Wisdom which they cannot judge of but according to the rate of his outward Lustre and Magnificence These or the like considerations so inflamed the generous minde of Charinus that he thought himself peculiarly obliged so to acquit himself that his Family and his Estate should not be so great Ornaments to him as he to them He never was ambitious in seeking after great places to say the truth he did not affect them wisely considering that men of high aims mounting to the top of honour are like such as stand upon a Precipice with the Sun in their faces the dangerousness of their station and splendor of their greatness conspire together to overthrow them Yet his known wisdom and Integrity had so deservedly recommended him to Alcidruinus that he alwaies had a special respect to him and used him in the managing of many considerable affairs So that he did not like that austere and sullen Roman only come into the Theatre and so go out again pass away his time without any remarkable exploits his whole life was a series and reiteration of famous and worthy Actions too many to be related here and too good to be defaced by an imperfect and overbrief recital therefore wholly omitted which made him generally beloved in his life and honorable after his death But as the most exquisite beauty may have a mole and the most exact piece of limning an overdeep shadow whereof one may seem to disparage Nature and the other Art both serve but as a foil to set off the other parts with the greater lustre so the most absolute and exact man is not without his passions and distempers It 's possible to frame an Idea of an absolute happy Common-wealth managed with such decency such an even distribution that every man shall receive full content and none be ever annoyed with the least grievance To set forth the pattern of a compleat Prince such a one as should give full content and satisfaction to all his Subjects to contrive the model of an exact man of a golden temper an unwearied champion in the lists of Virtue and honour Art will prescribe a platform for all these give punctuall rules how they may be atchieved because it considers the design its self apart from all remora's but he that attempts to put these in practice shall finde his
wickednesse more by observing the ill event that attends it than out of any inclination to goodnesse many incouraged to vertue and wisdome Arts and Sciences only by the reputation and esteem they carry in the World the good successe and profit that attends them To these causes I should have annexed our Parents and Nurses the four Elements and some other but their efficacy is discernable by what hath be said concerning the rest As for the four humors and Complexions to which all men are usually reduced it is sufficient to say that the Sanguin are spritely and active in the exercises of the mind except there be a superfluity of blood for that makes men dul and heavy The Cholerick are prompt and hasty The Flegmatick lazy and unready The Melancholick reserved and commonly understand more than they can readily utter To put every one upon that imployment he most affects and to which his particular Genius inclines him which was designed and much promoted by Euphorbus the President of Entaphia is a work very beneficial for it cannot be convenient for a Nation either that persons unfit should be designed to serve their Country as Schollars or that one man should engrosse divers employments and undertake the practick part of several Arts which perhaps have no alliance with or dependance upon one another Common observation discovers what mischeifes arise in a state what disgrace accrues to learning when divers empty shallow fellowes drive a trade in the most noble Sciences which might have been more serviceable to their Country in inferior Trades all which are useful in their degree and accordingly to be respected but because they fall within the reach of every ordinary capacity and fittest for such as aim only at mean and contemptible designes the purchasing of wealth and their private content that care not for the improving the faculties of the soul and raising it above the pitch of sense For Mechanical Professions and Manufactures he commonly advised that the Son should be brought up to his Fathers profession if nothing had occasioned him to dislike it But if Parents had resolved before hand upon a profession for their Child wherein all Parents think themselves wise enough to be their own guides then he gave order that occasion should be taken to acquaint him with some passages tending that way so as the frequent meditation of them might beget a liking and prepare him by degrees for it The exterior visage afforded but smal help to this discovery of Childrens wits being oftentimes no sufficient surety to warrant the ingenuity of the mind it is confest that the perturbations and affections of our minds are discovered with some probability by certaine extant motions and obvious representations which they make in the Veines and Muscles of the countenance so that it is easy to discerne when one is angry by the sudden commotion of the blood and distortion of the countenance when he is merry by the pleasant diffusion of the blood and erection of the countenance when sad by the reduction and retyring of the blood and spirits and dejection of the face unlesse a man deeply dissemble the inner motions as some can do so as no remakable type of them shall appear outwardly Further some by comparing the various Figures and Postures of mens countenances with those of Beasts thence conclude an alliance in their natures and dispositions thus a broad Brest great Shoulders Sterne look hair curled towards the end and glaring eyes argue a man fierce and hardy as a Lyon and it 's usual to say of such a one he looks like a Lyon he that hath a demiss countenance and fixt eyes with the ball of the eye somwhat broad we call him a Sheeps-head as being of a tame and humble nature One that reins in his neck going with an erect and lofty head we probably conclude him to be proud stately and contemptuous as the horse a prying sharp countenance argues one wily and subtil as a Fox especially if there be also a resemblance in the Eyes which give the surest judgement concerning the affections of the mind and are cheefly to be regarded in these conjectures But to discover by the countenance mens manners is a thing that cannot be done with any certainty much lesse their aptness or ineptitude to learning least of all their particular propensities to this or that Art because many bely their Phisiognomy cancel those promises to which nature hath set her hand in their countenances so that as the proverb saies their good faces were ill bestowed on them others whose rude and ill favoured lineaments of body might presage some obliquity in manners or dulnesse of capacity by education study conversing with wise men wash away the spots and stains naturally incident to their temper For whereas three things conduce to the making of a man compleat Nature Instruction and Example where the first is deficient the other may fix deep impressions of vertue upon the mind to which if practice be added it produces a real habit and custome becomes a second nature But from the manners and behaviour of Children pregnant conjectures may be raised concerning their wits therefore he earnestly observed whether a Boy were courteous or morose honest or given to cheating just or partial which may be discovered by putting him into an Office though but Monitor in a School in these particulars notwithstanding he cautelously discerned whether they proceeded from nature or were acquired especially he observed how one behaved himself when angry nature irritated will bewray it self in the most recluse minds In their studies he observed whether they were vigorous or remiss cheerful or drowsie speedy or slow In their carriage whether they were bold or modest in their apparel whether spruce or carelesse and lastly in their play whether they expressed a dexterity and ingenuity in it or were blunt and unready from all which put together many useful motions may be collected though many men cannot obtain of themselves so much humility as to condescend to the observation of such mean things To learn a Language in a short space to remember Stories and Tales to be ready in answering questions which one hath been formerly acquainted with are arguments of a good memory They which excel in the faculty of Imagination soon learn to write fairly no draw intricate flourishes and Pictures are cunning in childish Architectures and Carving play readily at any game delight in sprucenesse love to be praised and are soon surprised with admiration But to resolve a strange and new question to render a pertinent reason to delight in serious matters to love Meditation Solitude and Retiredness are probable instances of a solid judgment Such are likewise modest carelesse in wearing their apparrel at least not fantastical in it and commonly appear very unready at play and Toyes But two things he chiefly used whereby to assist his discovery 1. When a Child was advanced to some competent discretion he demanded of him
curbing my passions intemperances that I may not be deprived of the use of reason These Rules by what hath been said will easily appear to be not onely consistent with the Law of self-interest and preservation but so interwoven with it that without these that cannot be in force and though these Rules be general yet from them may be derived punctual directions to guide men in the carrying on of all particular affairs for if the Understanding be rightly seasoned with these the Inclinations and Motions of the Will presently become tractable and obedient The knowledge of right and wrong is natural to all men it is as regent over all our actions I grant it is very often usurped upon by factious passions by corrupt opinions which men unwarily admit and suffer themselves to be governed by them Yet I believe that he that is professedly wicked if he allows himself any leisure to consider what he doth cannot commit an evil action without some dissatisfaction and reluctancy but his unhappiness is that being transported and prepossest with a corrupt passion or opinion he furiously pursues that which his appetite desires and admits not any leisurable arguing or deliberation as the vertuous man doth who when any thing reducible to practice holds his mind in suspence and incumbers it with difficulty frames in his thoughts the contradictory to it making two practical propositions this is lawfull It is not lawfull which being contradictory cannot both be true he examines them judiciously and warily distinguishes which is to be asserted which rejected Or as some observe there is a Syllogism contrived in mens thoughts All vice is to be avoided This is a vice Then it is to be avoided A vertuous man concedes the whole Argument An incontinent or wavering man grants the major but being placed in a middle state between virtue and vice is unresolved in the minor A desperately wicked man regards neither his furious appetite prevents all the conclusions his reason would collect from the premisses Although I made a supposition that the principles of morality were to be found most sincere among the simple and illiterate yet relating the qualifications of an exact morall man one shall be that he be of good parts well bred and have a solid judgment for such a one will manage his actons according to the rules of Reason more dexterously and judiciously and improve them with more advantage and splendor 2. Then it is required that he have a command over himself be able to subdue his passions and make them stoop to his Lure Freedome from all passions is a state of mind not attainable and if it could be attained useless and unserviceable Passions are of themselves things indifferent unrestrained they disturb the operations of the mind and put men out of course by representing various objects under the notion of good or bad pleasant or unpleasant the soul upon the apprehension thereof is ready to move the bloud and spirits rashly and disorderly insomuch as the light of Reason is obstructed and disturbed and the Actions of the Understanding become irregular As Vapours in a full stomach fume into the head disorder the visive spirits and produce error in the sight but prudently managed they become serviceable and advantagious Anger may make a man heroick valiant and hardy Joy adds speed and resolution and inforces a man oft-times to go beyond himself in dispatch of business Fear and grief though they seem to be sluggish and unactive may sometimes do a Curtesie by making men circumspect and wary Sometimes a kind of fear arises from an insuperable necessity or huge danger that wings the Resolution and begets courage necessity of action quickens the sluggish spirits enforces a man to volour and eloquence and makes him ready to attempt any enterprize Meer necessity makes some men active and Despair its self begets Hope Love widens and inlarges the minde inclines men to do favours and kindnesses from which flowes the greatest pleasure that can be Ambition and love of honour though often extravagant in compassing its ends inclines men to gallantry of spirit to hate baseness to be mercifull to Suppliants The Law of Nature is a Rule resulting from the light of Reason and directs men in the managing of their actions especially as they are Members of a Common-wealth and being written with indelible characters in their mindes invites them to correspond with such positive humane constitutions as are agreeable to it Politick and municipial Laws are but as a Commentary upon this original Law and the more conformable they are to that the more free reception they meet with among men It commands 1. Self-conservation and 2. Multiplication of the kind 3. Equality to be allowed among men 4. That God is to be worshipped 5. Good to be chosen evil to be avoided 6. A greater good to be chosen before a less 7. Parents to be honoured 8. That we ought to deal by others as we desire to be dealt by 9. That we restore things committed to our trust And 10. Desire peace and rest 11. That we usurp not the privilege of being our own Judges 12. That we be ready to pardon And divers other Rules which a man may collect by Meditation There is in the mindes of all men not brutish a Rule of Reason which avouches what is good what bad what is right and wrong for Humane Laws do not define or decree that neither can they A Tyrant may constrain men by perverse Laws to do that which is unjust but he cannot constrain them to judge and esteem that which is unjust to be just that freedom they will have in dispite of him Could this law of nature be universally received and observed it might sufficiently secure the Peace and welfare of men but in regard that passion and error oversway reason and wrest the dictates of natures Law forcing them to serve base ends and so long as men are what they are men these corruptions and exorbitances cannot but obtain Lest some men under a pretence of the law of Nature should incroach upon too great a power to the prejudice of others who could be content with a calmnesse and moderation to be ruled by reason Therefore to secure the general quiet men put themselves under the protection of humane Lawes which as occasion serves abridge and restrain the law of Nature For Example whereas Nature teaches and commands self-preservation and propagation of the kind If one man goes about under a colour of sufficiency and provision for himself to defraud and destroy others it is thought fit to consult for the good of the whole body politick by cutting off such a dangerous member Nature teacheth us to do no lesse in the natural body Nature allowes equality among men but they have found it convenient and necessary to decline from this rule and for their more commodious cohabitation and government to be content that one man should be invested with a greater share of
Sovereignty than the rest It is agreeable to the law of Nature that a thing committed to my charge should be restored upon demand But if I receive a Sword from a man who afterwards in a fury or rage should demand it and I strongly persume with an intent to kill an other should I deliver it pretending to gratify Nature by observing her law I should become accessary to the breach of another law and commit a greater injury So that it is necessary sometimes to restrain the generality and latitude of the law of Nature by humane Lawes which being of infinite variety and number according to several Countries and constitutions of government it will not be required that I should speak any more concerning them upon this occasion Those that deal in the Lawes are Law-makers Judges Pleaders Advocates Solliciters and the like in a Law-maker leaving all controversies concerning the power of enacting Lawes the extent of them when enacted the concerment of the people in their enacting or the repealing of them and the like to wiser men I think it sufficient to say that he be judicious and impartial Humane Lawes should be fitted to the constitution temper of the people with a regard had to the circumstances of times and places to penetrate into which requires a reaching judgement nor ought there to be any gratifying of particular men Parties or Factions in the making of Lawes the punishing of men for aversnesse in opinion or disaffection to such a party which hath been owned among some divided States hath more of peevish cruelty than prudent caution in it A Judge should enjoy a good memory and understanding for he must not only know the particular Lawes but be able to interpret them and know which particular law will decide and determine every Case that is brought before him that he ought to be of competent age and gravity free from partiality covetousnesse and passion every one will imagine young men fall short of that experience and maturity of judgement which are the products of age therefore they who bring the election of Judges and other Magistrates within the compasse of Rules admit not of any to Offices of such high concernment until above 30 years of age Such elegant persons as talk finely complement fluently and delight altogether in sprucenesse usually called pretty men are of all other most unfit for Government and Magistracy where gravity is so requisite Nor should he suffer himself to be carried aside by friends and relations peculiar inclination to such a Person or faction and Sympathy of affection nor ought he on the other side to fear a prevailing party or suffer any spiteful humor insensibly to slip into his mind whereby he may be induced to strain his judgement palliate or aggravate a crime and sway the ballance of justice beyond its course for he ought to be impartial And though in criminal causes it be said that without anger a Judge can never punish home yet to be peevish and froward to have returnes of mansuetude or severity as a humor may be predominant to doom a poor wretch to death in his thoughts before tryal becomes not a person of so high an Office a Pleader is not permitted to fix an interpretation upon the Law but it is requisite that he be well read in the particular Lawes and know whence an argument may be drawn pertinent to his Clients cause and therefore should be dignified with a good memory Government I find adjudged to the imagination because it ought to be ordered with a kind of harmony and consent every thing in due time and place which are works appertaining to that faculty besides it is requisit that he be a good Speaker Stately Majestical in Port Active industrious of quick dispatch high Aims all which properties are usually incident to men indued with a good imagination yet in regard that those Ornaments which are most plausible are also soonest displeasing if not allayed with a mixture of prudence spruce persons and men of ready expressions though their addresses be pleasing yet they gain not authority without a temperature of gravity and because the frequency of the most splendid object blunts the eyes and begets a lesse esteem in such as behold them therefore some caution is used by prudent Magistrates in this particular though they be never so humble and courteous yet they will sometimes take state upon them and be at a convenient distance when they please to appear abroad they carry it out with a becoming magnificence but are not lavish of their presence they are quick in dispatch when the matter is ready for action but cautelous and circumspect yielding to occasions and emergent obstacles and therefore to a compleat Magistrate a good judgement is required In Warre two things are considerable but seldome concur in one man Valour and Policy Such as are of an high implacable spirit stout in maintaining their reputation blunt in discourse carelesse in their garb and if a negative may be admitted of no deep understanding a thing impertinent in the heat of a battle are fittest for combate and down-right valour But they that are subtle in forecasting and contriving peculiarly cuning in mischief close in concealing their designs speedy in execution and provident to foresee and prevent what may happen are best for stratagems Men indued with such a kind of wit are by the common people called lucky because they diserne not the means and waies by which they bring their designs about and therefore when they succeed ascribe all to Fortune Whereas wise men admit of no other fortune besides Gods providence and mens indeavours History waites and attends upon Government and the affairs of Nations they that deal with it are either such as read and relate without any further aime or such as write to the first a great memory is all that is required but the other should enjoy a penetrating judgement by vertue whereof they may be able to discover the Motives Occasions and Grounds of every design by what Agents and means it was managed the event and successe of it with an impartial vindication of the truth nor should a dexterous imagination be wanting to adorn the matter with a good stile a great grace to History Logick is an Art which inquires into and judges of Truth the first step to this inquisition is a right understanding of single notions and names and therefore Logicians bound and confine things under certain general heads called by them Praedicables and Praedicaments to the end that no aequivocation may draw the mind to a double meaning and bring men into an error our thoughts are subject to waver and frame loose apprehensions of things but the reducing of things to a right series and ranck fixes and restraines them Next the mind joynes single notions and thereof frames propositions which are either true or false true when such things are composed whose nature admits of a composition such things severed whose