of subtill art hiding sometimes a base and abject minde sometimes a free and bold diâ—position Sometimes to follow pleasure to sport or jest well is as usefull to them as the greatest labour Nay even to exercise a kinde of state over their Princes and almost reigne but not too long and wantonly doth more kindle the Princes affections to them who desire as well to be beloved as to love For Lords that are advanced to that slippery height of favour if they know their Prince to be of a soft nature not brooking enough a continuall use of the same pleasures must sparingly bestow their pleasing lookes or jests or whatsoever in them is delightfull to him dispensing them in so prudent a manner that affection stirred up often and by intermissions may neither breed a loathing nor by neglect and oblivion be blotted out But if the Prince be easie and apt to change often his affections and Favorites but wheresoever he apply him elfe his love as it is short so is it blind and vehement The Favorites remeÌ„bring that they are now in a high tide but shall shortly returne to their owne Sea doe make most greedy use of their felicity For they are not afraid by importune suites to weary this affection of the Prince which unlesse it bee timely taken and made use of like wines which last not it decayes and perishes of it selfe But â—arre different wayes are to be taken with those Princes who lose not themselves in a torrent of affection but to that sweetnesse of nature which makes them love doe joyne reason also For this affection being true indeed and perpetuall if they deserve it as it can never do all things so has alwayes power to doe something Nor must you rob altogether that tree but gather with choyse the fruit of it which will grow againe for you There fore the Favourites of such Princes doe wholly â—apply themselves to them and never forgetting their Majesty doe alwayes in their love give due observance modestly use their freedome of speaking or advising and ofter consider that they are Princes than that themselves are Favorites Those Favorites as it is their first care to hold up themselves in that height of grace so alwayes make it their second endeavour to raise Estates to get Offices and governments that if they doe remove from that height of favour yet they may still retaine some happy monument of their former power and a stay to their after-life But those who forgetting themselves and too much trusting to their fortune in prodigall ryot doe consume all the wealth and revenew of that rich favour are worthy of a poore old age and then in vaine to repent themselves of their unseasonable and ill acting so high a part Those Favorites also must use one caution which if they neglect it doth sometimes ruine them not to preferre themselves before their Prince in any thing in which he eyther desires to excell or thinks hedoth If he love the fame of policy eloquence valour of the art of warre or hunting let him yeeld that knowes himselfe to excell at it for feare the Prince should be fired with an emulation that may not onely extinguish the favour but draw on a cruell and heavy displeasure For many times the Princes mind with an ambition not small but more than the thing deserves is desirous of fame in such matters and takes it heavily to lose the prize There is no certainer way for those Lords to gaine their Princes affections than to seeme admirers of them but it must be done with art and so as may gaine beleife for all do not lie open to the same flatterâ—es Every Prince who eyther is coÌ„scious of vertue in himselfe or swelled with vaine credulity either may be or loves to bee deceiued by those arts so many men striving to please and praise theÌ„ do quite overcome their modesty and make them beleive great matters of themselves Another great art of gaining their favor is to seem to love them some Venus as it were insinuating an officious grace and requiâ—ing from theÌ„ a requitall of affection That man iâ— yet alive and enjoyes the height of his fortune who by such a happy accident encreased the love and favour which his master began to beare him The King by chance with a fal from his horse bruising his side fell into a Fever this Lord with a sad astonished countenance watched all night without sleepe by his masters side Whether it were art or piety he so far wrought upon the K. affectioÌ„ that none was afterward in greater grace with him Nor can we say that the disposing of so great a felicity which fome few onely can enjoy having so many rivals in compassing that happy favour is onely in the hands of Fortune For as Fortune alone doth bring some men into Kings favours so many of them for want of art and wisdome doe fall againe from that height so that it may be sayd to be in Fortunes power sometimes to raise men to it but of prudence to keepe them in it But it is therefore a more fearefull thing to fall from that happinesse because having beene once admitted into the Sacrament of so high a friendship they can hardly fall from it but they fall into hatred or at least a kinde of loathing for love doth not so often use to dye of it selfe aâ— to be killed by a contrary affection But those Noblemen by whose hands Princes doe manage the greatest affaires of their Kingdomes to whom they trust their secret counsels and the ordering of forreine and domesticke affaires doe commonly temper the strength of their dignity after another way as namely so to draw all the deepest and greatest cares of the realme into their owne hands and so to appropriate them to themselves that they stand not in so much need of their Country as their Country does of their Service And this they attaine by a perpetuall diligence in those affaires and removing as farre they can not onely others but even the King himselfe from the knowledge of them For they may safely manage all things when the Prince is plunged either in ignorance of his owne businesse or credulitie toward them But these men being ignorant of their owne fame doe as seldome almost heare the truth as Kings themselves For although they be infamous for extortion or pride or any other wickednesse and so generally spoken of by the common voice yet themselves many times know nothing of it untill being overwhelmed with the weight of them they begin at the same time to feele the hatred and punishment too Their countenances for the most part are composed of gravity accesse to them is not easie therefore discourses are short shewing much busines and a kinde of Majesty Among these there are some few whose lookes are neyther confused with businesse nor swelled with pride These are worthy of high praise indeed nor are the other to be condemned who fashion their manners
THE MIRROVR OF MINDES OR BARCLAYS Icon animorum Englished by T. M. LONDON Printed by IOHN NORTON for THOMAS WALKLEY and are to bee sold at his shop at the signe of the Eagle and Child in Britaines-Burse 1691. TO THE RIGHT HOnourable Richard Lord Weston Lord high Treasurer of England Knight of the most Nobâ—e Order c. My Lord I MIGHT be fearefull that so great a Master of the learned Languages as your Lordship is knowne to be hauing before read this acute discourse in the Originall and enioyed the Authour in his owne strength and elegance might not onely seuerely censure my weake translation but iustly neglect the Presentation of it as a thing needelesse and improper to your learned selfe But may it please your Lordship to adâ—â— iâ— my reasons First the greater your abilities are the more authority will your Name giue the worke to those that are meere English Readers and to whom my paines most properly doe belong Barclay the learned Author hauing with a sharpâ— and penetrating fight surueyed the difference of humane dispositions and loth to bound his fame within the narrow limits of his owne Language cloathed his worke and that most elegantly in the Roman tongue I lest our English Gentlemen as many of them as caÌ„not master the Originall should lose the sense of such a worke haue made aduenture to â—ene't them and with the ossâ— perchance of mine owne fame to extend the fame of Barclay The second reason and the chiefe why I present it to your Lordship is drawne from that analogy which I conceiuâ— betweene the matter of â—â—is booke and your minde â—eing such as it may be thought if the Author himselfe had liued in this state he would haue chosen the same Patron your minde my Lord being not onely moulded for the Muses to loue but made for publike and high imployments has not onely occasion to meete the differences of humane dispositions but ability of iudgement to discerne them and with a conscious delight may run ouer the mention of those things heere which your selfe haue by experience already found and meete in some parts of third discourse your owne perfâ—ctions truly charactered To you my Lord to whose Noble bosome the Muses heretofore haue resorted for delight they now flye for Patronage and shelter To your hands I humbly presons this weake endeauour beseeching Almighty GOD to blesse you with continuance and encrease of temporall Honours and after with eternall Happinesse so prayeth Your Lordships most humbly 〈◊〉 THO MAY. The First Chapter The Foure ages of man Childhood Youth Midle-age Old-age THe making or marring of mankinde as of other creatures is especially in their first age In â—hees the sprigs whilest they â—re tender will yeild with ease to the grafters hand and grow â—y his direction either straight â—r crooked Soe the mindes of â—nfants by their Parents skill â—o lesse then their bodies by the â—sidwiues hand may with ease be moalded into such a fashion as will be durable in after-ages The seedes espeicially and fundamentall parts of vertue are by an early and strong perswasion to bee soe engrafted into them that they need not know whither nature or praecept were the teachers of them To be dutifull to their parents and obedient to their counsels to abhorre intemperance lying and deceite as prodigies and things vnusuall to adore especially the power of God and sometimes by mercy sometimes by iudgement to consider of it These things must bee taught them without trouble or seuerity for what euer wee follow for feare of punishment from the same things with a sad loathing wee vse to bee auerse and the hatred conceiued in our youth I know not by what custome of horrour wee oft nourish in our old age The must daily bee seasoned with instructions concerning the excellency and rewards of vertâ—â— and vices in a shamefull and disdainefull manner must be named to them to make them altogether ignorant that such vices are now often in publike practised and without infamy Being thus brought vp in such gentle rudiments they will hate vices and learne not to feare vertue as too rigid and harsh a mistresse They will easily bee brought to these beginnings of right discipline by the guidance of their parents and teachers whose opinions like diuine Oracles will altogether sway their minds yet weake and not troubled with the ambition of iudging Besides this they cannot be allured by the fiattering promises of any vice whose age as yet is not onely vnexperienced of pleasure but vtterly incapable of it they will therefore easily condemne that thing which in the iudgement of their friends is dishonest and commended to themselues by noe temptation Nor would we here initiate their childhood in any such torment as superstitious and anxious piety but manly and wary vertue for since the mindes of men by an inbred waight bend heauily downward to the worst things wee had neede to bow them while yet they are tender quite contrary that by this meanes when their naturall force shall bring them backe they may yet retaine a happy meane betwixt their nature and education But in this discipline of tender youth as soone as their mindes are sensible of praise the desire of it is to bee kindled in them that they may then learne and accustome themselues to affect honour and in all exercises either in schooles or abroad at play they may labour with delight to excell their equals Besides when their age encreasing shall bring them by degrees as it were out of bondage soe that both the awe of their parents may not too sensibly decrease in them and they not wanton it through a suddaine and vnexpected encrease of liberty we must leaue their childhood to those delights which are proper to that age least we should seeme to accuse nature which hath ordained that age to bee weake and feeble and vnseasonable sowing of wisedome in them corrupt their natures not yet ripe for such instructions Let harmelesse wantonnesse be freely allowed them let them gently be taught learning rather as a change of recreation then a loathsome burthen and rather feare then feele the correction of their parents let them lastly enioy that freedome which nature in pity hath bestowed on them nor bee forced to endure the punishment of humane cares before they haue deserued them vnlesse we thinke it may 〈◊〉 accounted among the least of mischiefes when children altogether restrained from playing are like the wife of that Stolen terrified at all noyse of â—ods and doe exhibite to themselues and reuolue wisedome in the shape of an Hobgoblin whose sowre and sharpe documents they are not yet capable of That sense of misery which is most cruelly exquisite is most incident to that age whilst their tender mindes doe want ability to gouerne their feare and iudge of miseries which yet they know not worse then they are And as men whom fortune hath broken with great calamities how large so euer their capacities are
Countries as these sales are publikely forbidden by private and more strict contracts with noble men they find there also some that will sell the Common-wealth They pay oftentimes so great and immoderate rates for their places that it is plainly shewed they seeke for them onely through ambition and hope of prey For to desire onely to benefit the Commonwealth with a deare care which destroyes their owne estaâ—â— is not a vertue of this Age nor to be looked for perchance since the Curij and Fabritu But seeing that no vertue is now followed gratis and for its owne beauty but all in respect of their rewards are made lovely to men Therefore this desire of wealth gaine in Magistrates may more easily bee indured upon condition that they content with that coÌ„mon and almost allowed way of sinning will afterwards with sincerity of minde behave themselves in their imployment But as by that height which they undertake they have power to moderate and if they please to abuse the people under them So unlesse that by mature wisedome and such as is not only capable of their place of judicature they can bridle their desires themselves cannot avoyd flowtes and reproaches but those for the most part are secret ones and in their absence For openly by flattering speeches they are stirred up to pride and a vaine confidence of themselves whilest so many suitors in law with great observance but such as doth not last doe seeke their favours For no man which is called into question for his estate but can be content humbly to petition the Iudges and if they be harsh and froward to appease them or if they lye open to a favourable ambition to feed them like meate with many prasses and crindging gestures Rome did long agoe teach the world that art when offenders in feare and reverence used to fall downe at the Iudges feete clothed in base gownes and their haire in a vile manner neglected But all these suppliants what end soever their businesses haue assoone as ever they are gone out of the Iudges presence put off again this fearefull disguise of soothing and sometimes among their companions remember with great laughter and reckon up the flatteries which they used and the credulity of those to whom they put them For Iudges being alwayes full of succeeding troopes of clients doe many times value themselves according to their flattery and thinke that all those are true honourers to their dignity who by a composed humility do seeke to gaine their favour Those Iudges I meane whose ambition is not acquainted with the manners and subtlety of our Age which they have seene nothing but the Schooles and Courts in one of which they used to trifle in the other to have observance and be deceived or else are of narrow and easie mindes fondly to beleeve them that speake for their owne ends But then especially are they ridiculous to the people when as if they were ashamed of their owne condition they put on the gestures and words of Souldiers or in their attires imitate the Court fashions or follow other delights which are not suitable to the majesticke gravity of Gownes and tribunall Seates Which errours doe many times overtake unexperienced young men for young men are sometimes advanced to those dignities But nothing is more miserable to a Common-wealth than when Magistrates and Iudges forgetting that Goddesse under whose name and by whose representation they pronounce sentence swayed in their affections either by the greatnesse of guifts or favor of the pleaders are not afraid to deceive the Lawes Nor can I easily tell which is the greater fault to be swayed by money or by friends For that easinesse in them of denying nothing to their Favourites opens a Iudges breast to all impiety accustomed thus by degrees to injustice that excusing his crime with a show of friendship afterwards wheresoever hatred or hope shall leade him he will not feare to offend and to doe that for his owne sake which at first he did for his friends But if they be eagerly intent on wealth and seeke riches by the peoples harmes then the body of the Commonwealth under such Physitians is more sicke of the remedies than of the diseases But there are few that in an open way of villany dare thus to satisfie the lusts of themselves or their friends There is a more lingring plague or if thou wilt a modest cruelty which now by custome is almost excused to intangle with intricate knots and so prolong the causes in their Courts to be ended late through an infinite and almost religions course of orders By these arts they prolong their domination over wretched men and deliuer them up to be more polled by their â—â—â—cers And with perpetuall prey they feed the advocates and whole nation almost of those which are fatted with the spoyles of wretched Clients And how intollerable are the trickes of some Iustice which they are afrayd to sell openly they prostitute under other Merchants Their houshold Servants are their Remembrancers and Secretaries who use to put into order and to keepe in record of writing the causes of suitors and the instruments of them But such men they doe not admit into this ambitious service untill by great summes of money which they before by suites have gotten they make purchase of these places Oh miserable mockery of the fortunes of poore wretches that come to these tribunals That the servants of Iudges are not hired but pay money to be admitted into their family and service what is it else but to buy a liberty of coosening and by stolne fees to rob the suitors and by selling their suffrages by either shortening or obtruding bookes dare to deceive both their Masters and aequity it selfe But many of these Magistrates have candeid mindes and prefarre holinesse just honours and that stipend which the law allowes them before the covetous artes These are grave men and modestly composed within the greatnesse of their fortune Nor are they praised more by the flatterie of those that seeke their ayde than by true fame of their piety and justice But if you value the Courts of these Iudges not by the manners of each in particular but by the gravity of the whole Colledge or assembly it is wonderfull how great a reverence they will strike into you For beeing admitted into their presence you will altogether thinke them worthy of that speech of CYNEAS who sayd he thought himselfe environed by as many Kings as Roman Senatours were then assembled But yet this Majesty will be a 〈◊〉 more gratefull and delightfull spectacle to those men that being free from law businesse have no hopes or 〈◊〉 depending upon their sentences who sitting as it were in the Haven may securely looke upon the stormy Sea and see these NEPTUNES governing the Waves according to their owne becke When Rome and Carthage were in league MASSANISSA King of Nâ—midia who was also at friendship with Rome had warre with Carthage The armies