not looke vpon the cause but the Bribe the right but the power the truth but the greatnesse of the greater Aduersary Again it addes confidence to the poorer sort whē they see that equity not fauour procures the sentence and so by this means are conserued frō oppressiō And if it were not for this in what a miserable case were these lower degrees of mē subiect to be trod vnder feet by their imperious Aduersary then to haue no means left for redresse Fiftly it is the greatest honor and reputation a Kingdom or cōmonwealth can be ambitious of enioy to haue Iustice iustly distributed and people obedient to Lawes Iustice guarding the people by correcting cutting off such as giue ill example to the rest And in what Commonwealth soeuer this is neglected it breeds cōfusion amongst thēselues giues aduantage to their enemies causeth their disreputation to spread through the world Next to the honor of a Kingdome it is the safety of the King who being reputed to be as the fountain of justice so Iustice keeps the fountaine free from corruption infection or danger prescribing rules for feare it corrupt ascribing Antidotes for feare of infection preseruing his person reputation both frō sensible insensitiue danger wheras if Lawes bee neglected his person is more subiect to the attempts of Traitors his life to the tongues of malice and detraction his reputation to perpetuall infamy And lastly this is it that enriches and secures the subiect in all Kingdomes giues him his right protects him from wrong increaseth commerce and proclaimes traffique throughout all the world whereas if Iustice were not duely administred there would follow a diminution of our substances a generall disconsolatiō in our life a certain separation frō all trade with strangers And mark but narrowly and you shall seldom find that God euer blessed that Coūtry where Iustice was either neglected or abused Those therfore if any such insensible creatures be that dislike therestraint striue declaime against obedience to Lawes which may be truely termed the wals of gouernment nations they make themselues so cōtemptible as no obiection of theirs can be worthy the answering for a generall dissolution of Lawes in a ciuill body is the same with the conuulsion of the sinnewes in a naturall decayes and dissolution being the immediate and vnauoidable succeeders And yet a man had better choose to liue where no thing then where all things be lawfull which is the reason why all men haue thought it more dangerous to liue in an Anarchy then vnder a Tyrants gouernment for the violent desires of one must necessarily bee tyed to particulars in a multitude they are indefinite The first degree of goodnes is obedience to Lawes which be nothing else but vertue and good order of life reduced vnto certain rules and as reason hath the predominant power in our naturall bodies so the body Politick cānot subsist w th out soule to inanimate to gouerne to guide it that is Law proceeding from the reason counsels iudgemēt of wise men For where Lawes be wanting there neither Religion nor life nor societie can be maintained There be three branches that mens Lawes do spread themselues into euery one stricter then other The Law of Nature which we enioy in common with al other liuing creatures The Law of Nations which is common to all men in generall the Municipall Law of euery Nation which is peculiar and proper to this or that Country and ours to vs as Englishmen That of Nature which is the ground or foundation of the rest produceth such actions amōgst vs as are cōmon to euery liuing creature and not only incident to men as for example the commixture of seuerall sexes which we call Marriage generation education the like these actions belong to all liuing creatures as well as to vs. The Lawes of Nations bee those rules which reason hath prescribed to all men in generall such as all Nations one with another doe allow and obserue for iust And lastly the Peculiar Lawes of euery Country which mixe with the generall Lawes of all places some particular ones of their own this is that which the Romanes called amongst thēselues the Ciuill Law of their City and is indeed in euery Nation the Municipall Lawes of that Country as it were Lawes onely created for those Climates for those estates Take away the power of Lawes and who is it that can say This is my House or my Land or my money or my goods or call any thing that is his his owne Therfore euery mans state and fortune is more strengthened and confirmed by Lawes then by any will or power in those from whom wee receiue them for whatsoeuer is left vnto vs by the Testament of another it is impossible we should euer keepe it as our own if Law restrained not others claimes confirmed thē not vnto vs. In which respect Lawes be the strongest sinewes of humane societie helps for such as may be ouerborne and bridles to them that would oppresse So that we receiue much more benefit from Lawes in this kinde then from Nature for whereas men be naturally affected and possessed with a violent heate of desires and passions and fancies Lawes restrain draw them from those actions and thoughts that would precipitate to all manner of hazzards and ill which naturall inclination is prone enough vnto and do gouern direct alter dispose as it were bend them to all manner of vertuous good actions Wherfore Lawes be the true Physicions and preseruers of our peaceable life ciuill conuersation preuenting those il accidents that may happen purging and taking away such as haue broken forth sowing peace plenty wealth strength and all manner of prosperity amongst men And for those things that be ill but yet introduced by custome seuere and iust Lawes will readily correct for the force and power of Law doth easily dissolue an ill custome though it haue been of long continuance the excellency and praise of which Lawes can neuer be better illustrated then in that saying of Salomon Mandatum lucerna est lex lux via vitae increpatio disciplinae The commandement is a lampe and the law is light and reproofes of instruction are the way of life The dispensers and interpreters of the Law be the Magistrates and Iudges and all sorts and degrees of men whatsoeuer be tyed bound to the obseruance of the same To this purpose Solon being demāded What City was best gouerned answered That wherein the City obeyed the Magistrate and the Magistrate the Lawes and certainly that gouernment is better which vseth set and firme Lawes though not all of the best sort then that where the Lawes bee most perfect and exact and yet not obserued Lawes therefore ought to be the rulers of men and not men the masters of Lawes There is no doubt but that Lawes were at the first inuented as well to
Horae Subseciuae OBSERVATIONS AND DISCOVRSES LONDON Printed for Edward Blount and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Churchyard at the signe of the Black Beare 1620. TO THE READER I Take not vpon mee to write either in the praise or discommendation of this Booke it belongs not vnto me but now it is abroad must wholly bee submitted to your iudgement and censure And I know it must bee the worth of a Booke and not the flourishing of an Epistle that causeth your approbation So that this must stand or fall in your opinion by the weight or lightnesse that you shall finde therein The Author of this Booke I know not but by chance hearing that a friend of mine had some such papers in his hand and hauing heard them commended I was curious to see and reade them ouer and in my opinion which was also confirmed by others iudicious and learned supposed if I could get the Copie they would be welcome abroad My friends courtesie bestowed it freely vpon me and my endeuour to giue you contentment caused mee to put it in print And therfore to keepe Decorum and follow custome in default of the Authors apparance I present it to you with this short Epistle The Booke you see is of mixt matter by the way of obseruations or Essayes and Discourses There haue beene so many precedents of this kinde and when they haue come out of the hands of good Writers alwayes so approued that there needs no Apologie for putting in one Booke so different Arguments If the Obseruations or Essayes seeme long to you because most that haue written in that way haue put them in lesse roome for that if the fault grow by multiplicity of words repetition or affected variation of Phrases then your dislike is well grounded But when you haue read and finde the length to haue proceeded from the matter and variety of it I know your opinion will easily alter I will hold you no longer from that to which this but introduceth But if the Booke please you come home to my Shop you shall haue it bound ready to your hand where in the meane time I expect you and remaine At your command ED BLOVNT OBSERVATIONS 1 OF Arrogance 1. 2 Of Ambition 11. 3 Of Affectation 30. 4 Of Detraction 52. 5 Of Selfe-will 74. 6 Of Masters and Seruants 85. 7 Of Expences 103. 8 Of Visitations 114. 9 Of Death 124. 10 Of a Country Life 135. 11 Of Religion 176. 12 Of Reading History 193. DISCOVRSES 1 VPon the beginning of Tacitus 223. 2 Of Rome 325. 3 Against Flattery 419. 4 Of Lawes 505. Of such errours as haue escaped in the Presse I haue thought good to collect onely those which may bee supposed likely to trouble the Reader in his way the rest being few and but literall I hope shall eyther passe vnobserued or excused Page line fault correction PAge 28. lin 20. for metire read metiri Pag. 32. lin 11. for obserues read obserue Pag. 39. lin 17. for English read English Pag 41. lin 20. for employments r. employments Pag. 43. lin 6. for least read most Pag. 96. lin 19. for he read they Pag. 112. lin 17. for it read and Pag. 126. lin 16. for a read A Pag. 128. lin 2. for naturally read naturall Pag. 133. lin 8. for reduced some r. reduced to some Pag. 142. lin 17. for aâ— read and Pag. 156. lin 11. for Nations read natures Pag. 173. lin 3. for altogether read all together Pag. 174. lin 18. for safe read safe Pag. 184. lin 14. for multi neglecta read multa neglecti Pag. 193. lin 11. for detraction r. detraction and Pag. 195. lin 11. for must read much Pag. 221. lin 4. for Mutius read Mutius Pag. 264. lin 13. for prescription read Prâ—scripâ—â—on Pa. 290. l. 12. for Tribunitiae read Tribunitiae Pag. 319. lin 5. for hath read haue Pag. 328. lin 14. for and those r. and 〈◊〉 thâ—se Pag. 422. lin 2. for vnseene read vnsâ—ene Pag. 495. lin 7. for anothey read another p. 517. l. 13. for soule to inanimate r. a soule to animate OF ARROGANCE ARrogance is the assuming to a mans selfe the Titles of Vertue Learning Honour Riches or the like without the possession or if with the possession without the euidence For not onely hee that speakes of himselfe more good then is true but hee also that sayes more then he is sure will bee beleeued iustly deserues the name of Arrogant This Vice is offensiue more to equals then to Superiors or inferiours because they be seldome the one sort or the other competitors with a man in praise And more when it concernes the gifts of the minde especially Wisedome and Valour then when it touches onely vpon the fauours of Fortune or abilities of the body Prerogatiue in these being lesse esteemed Nam cum omnis arrogantia odiosa est tum illa ingenij atque eloquentiae molestissima Quamobrem nihil dico de meo ingenio c. Whereas all Arrogance is odious that of a mans owne wit and owne eloquence is most tedious Wherefore I will speake nothing of my owne wit c. saith Cicero Likewise it is worse in mediocrity then extremes though in most vices it be otherwise because it becomes by excesse ridiculous rather then hatefull and so passeth with better toleration Pretending to sufficiencie argues the want of it The claime it selfe is a plaine conuiction that there wants right to the thing claimed For where Vertue is really her owne light discouers the owner Vino vendibili suspensa hedera non est opus Good Wine needs no Bush So that hee need not bee his owne Trumpet that is truely vertuous but rather hee that is not but onely in his owne conceit which opinion makes him also by not pursuing that which hee supposes he hath already obtained to bee out of all possibilitie of gaining the same Honour found out Cincinnatus digging in his Garden and made him Dictator And many that in their owne dispositions desired to liue obscurely haue been against their wils exposed to the toyle of great affaires by the lustre of that vertue which they neuer boasted If to admire any thing argue defect of knowledge much more to admire a mans selfe which al men ought best to know and are most familiar withall An Arrogant person if hee ioyne in the performance of any laudable action with men of modest natures deales with them in the sharing of the praise as the Lyon in the Fable did with the other beasts diuiding the prey they had taken who making of the whole foure parts pleades a title to three of them at least and if they yeelded him not the fourth of their owne goodwill he would bee no longer friends And such a nature can hardly hold friendship that admitteth not the Piller thereof which is Parity but thinks himselfe superiour to all if not in Fortune at which he therefore grudges taunts her with her blindnesse and rayles at her with
for the most part is neuer in the Morning and especially on Sundayes because it is the best day in the weeke all that while they bee building themselues and viewing their owne proportions feeding in stead of a breakfast vpon how braue they shall appeare in the afternoone And thē they go to the most publique and most receiued places of entertainment which be sundry and therefore they stay not long in a place but after they haue asked you how you doe and told some old or fabulous newes laught twice or thrice in your face and censured those they know you loue not when peraduenture the next place they goe to is to them where they will be as courteous to you spoke a few words of fashions and alterations whispered some lasciuious motion that shall be practised the next day falne into discourse of liberty and how it agrees with humanitie for women to haue seruants besides their husbands made legges and postures of the last edition with three or foure new and diminutiue oathes and protestations of their seruice and obseruance they then retire to their Coach and so prepare for another company and continue in this vocation till the beginning of the next day that is till past midnight and so home when betimes in the morning the Decorum is if it bee a Lady visiter to send her Gentleman Vsher to see if all those be well that shee saw in perfect health but the night before This hath beene more to shew the Deformitie of it then the Danger which I would rather auoid then vnmaske because it touches too many particulars but in generall this It is the Index of an idle and vnprofitable disposition a taker vp of time that may be better disposed and such a spender of time that in few actions it can be worse employed Many an vnlawfull bargaine is concluded vpon this exchange contrarie purposes bee concealed vnder this vizzard and few bee practique in this art whose manners and liues bee not corrupted Besides this vaine custome once begunne induceth a habit not easily lost therefore not good to begin and once practised it is not so safely left for begunne and not continued makes the leauing of it off esteemed a neglect which otherwise would bee neuer claimed as a due There be of this Family or Sect that are so punctuall and methodicall in their art that they turne Critiques and censure those that be not as pertinent in impertinencies and spit not with as good a grace or speake not to as good a tune for all their words be but sound and no sense as themselues when such as are truely intelligent thinke this scorne their praise for no man that hath any thoughts worthy consideration will bestowe the labour to speake or to entertaine argument in such a case vpon so barren and worthlesse an occasion And these kinde of ceremonies be equally tedious to the Complementer and Complementee if they reciprocally respect not this fond and dissimulate kinde of conuersation and though it often happen that in some places where they visit their tedious society be well accepted which then must onely be allowed to such as are of the same occupation are euen with them in the same kinde yet somtimes it fals out they thus running ouer all kinde of company they be to many so vnwelcome and troublesome in distracting or diuerting their better employments that oftentimes those they come to conceale themselues vpon purpose or suppose some necessary businesse that cals them away with intention onely to get rid of them From which tediousnesse if no better employment of their owne can diuert them yet the consideration of the vnseasonable trouble they put those to whom they visit should euen shame them from frequenting so bad a custome Yet custome hath so farre preuailed that I dare not prescribe a totall neglect but counsaile to auoid frequent and assiduall practice of so superfluous though receiued a fashion Those that duty loue respect businesse or familiaritie bind vs to wee must obserue and visit lest they interpret our absence to be either in contempt of their persons or a carelesnesse and dis-esteeme of their fauour and friendship And howsoeuer with a non obstante I doe not by this seclude society and conuersation for such a solitary vnsociable disposition I hold to be worse then this Gadder Of Death NOthing is more certaine then Death and nothing more vncertaine then the the time Euery man is to pay this debt though few bee ready at the day life is but lent vs and the condition of the obligation is Death yet not without a penalty if in this wandring and vncertaine state wee make no preparation Life then being so short Death so certaine a man should not confine his thoughts within the small circle of the present being but dilate them to more high and worthy considerations and one is the immortality of the soule which without comparison is the chiefe and only happinesse the next is perpetuating of a good name which according to the actions of our life good or bad continue in memory and fame after wee bee dead and surely a man that hath any affinity with Vertue or goodnesse and is not only borne for but buried in himselfe as he should desire an honest report and memory to continue of him so he should feare the contrary Euery man naturally desires to haue his name continued by children and posteritie and certainely it is a great blessing yet surely the actions of a great mans life if they be good make his name when dead more durable Beatitude is neuer seene in this life but by a false light wee must bee dissolued transformed and changed before wee arriue to fulnesse and fruition which cannot be confer'd in this but a higher habitation Many examples especially if common or vsuall conuert into precept yet these which bee most visible least auaile for though wee daily see our acquaintance friends and children taken from vs yet wee prouide and prepare for this life as if we were irremouable and thinke of death no otherwise then as a tale that is reported to fright vs till the stroke come home to our owne dores So fond so vnsettled be our cogitations For a man in nothing more shewes the goodnesse and greatnesse of his spirit then in contemning and not fearing Death for it must come and feare cannot preuent it And me thinks therefore the certainty of it should abate timidity therfore relie not so much vpon so vncertaine and transitory an estate And the continuall passing away of our children and kindred and friends by this gate are but so many guides and forerunners to vs and the neerer one is either in affection or alliance the application should bee more particular to our selues Some thinke to deceiue or preuent or delay this blow and attribute the cause of it rather to accident then prouidence as if the rules of dyet or Physicke were able to oppose fate though I dispute not
pleasure that they quite diuert vs from the rule of reason like some kinde of meat that neither breeds good bloud nor engenders spirits nor ads vigor or strength but onely breeds fogs and rotten humours that bee neither fast nor sound so if a man looke narrowly into a Flatterer all the good he shall finde to come from him is onely the encreasing and settling of our worst and basest affections wherevnto we seem to haue but the least inclination So that as it is plaine a true friend alwayes respects the good of another more which is the ground of his loue then any particular purpose or designe for his owne aduantage on the contrary the ends of a Flatterer bee Antipodes to the desires of a Friend who will no lesse bee willing to participate of his calamity then prosperity whereas the other doth obserue and follow him onely in his prospering euill By which you see it cannot possibly stand together for one man to bee both a Friend and a Flatterer which is as much as if I should say a Friend and no Friend or rather an enemie then a Friend FINIS A DISCOVRSE OF LAVVES A DISCOVRSE OF LAVVES THe nature of all sorts of Lawes whether they concerne God and Religion and so haue reference to diuine Lawes or whether they concerne societie and conuersation and so be meerely Humane is properly this to be the straight and perfect rule by application wherevnto right and wrong are discerned and distingnished one from another and the knowledge and practice of them bring a double benefit either Publike which is the generall good gouernment of the State or Priuate which consists in the quiet and peaceable life of euery one in particular So the true end of all Lawes is to ordaine and settle an order gouernment amongst vs the Iurisdiction whereof we are rather bound to obey then dispute Lawes being as it were the Princes we ought to serue the Captaines we are to follow the very rules by which all the actions of our life be squared and disposed They are the peoples bulwarks and defences to keep them in safety and peace that no vniust thing bee done against them that by the Lawes men may be made good and happy and that the punishmēt of offenders should appeare to proceed from a necessitie forced rather then a will voluntarie and that by the example of punishing some others might bee made the better that by the feare and terrour of them mens audacities might be repressed and their innocencie peace secured from force and oppression If men were not limited within certaine rules such confusion would follow in gouernment that the differences of Right wrong Iust and vnlawfull could neuer be distinguished and that would cause such distraction in the people giue so great an ouerthrow to conuersation and commerce amongst men that all right would be peruerted by power and all honestie swayed by greatnesse so that the equall administration of Iustice is the true knot that binds vs to vnity and peace amongst our selues and disperseth all such violent and vnlawfull courses as otherwise libertie would insinuate preseruing euery man in his right and preuenting others who if they thought their actions might passe with impunitie would not measure their courses by the rule of Aequum and Iustum but by the square of their owne benefit and affections so not being circumscribed within reasonable bounds their reason becomes inuisible whereas when they finde that Iustice hath a Predominant power they are deterred from proceeding in those acts that otherwise their owne wils and inclination would giue them leaue to effect Plato affirmes the necessitie of Lawes to be so great and absolute that men otherwise could not bee distinguished from vnreasonable creatures for no man naturally is of so great capacitie as completely to know all the necessities and accidents which bee required for a common good and then if a man could suppose in any so perfect a knowledge yet is that mā not to be found that either absolutely could or would doe all that good which he knowes so that in an Vtopia of such men as be not yet the necessity of lawes are absolute But where mens affections and manners are depraued and giuen ouer to vnruly and vnreasonable desires there Lawes be so necessarie that Heraclitus said A Citie needed rather to defend their Lawes then Forts for without Lawes no people can subsist without defences it is possible that they may agreeing with Demosthenes obseruation who supposed Lawes to bee as the soule of a Commonwealth for as a bodie without a soule remaines not so a People without due administration of Lawes doe wholly decline but take people as they are commonly mixt of the good and worser sort nay rather more of the bad then better composition yet it wil euidently appeare that Lawes are so absolutely necessary to restraine from ill to confirme in good to make a happy concord and vnion in our ciuill conuersation to make such a distinction betwixt lawfull and exorbitant desires as vnlawfull affections may not be coloured with good apparances that it can not be denyed that Lawes bee the onely sinewes of contracting people together and not meerely vsefull but necessarie But in the exercise and execution of Lawes such moderation is euer to be held that it may appeare rather to to be vsed as a preuenting Physicke by way of example to warne others that they fall not into the like danger then out of a desire to afflict or make miserable any priuate person and therefore the conclusion of Tacitus is very obseruable Pauca admodum vi tractata quo caeteris quies esset In some few matters seueritie was vsed by that meanes to cause quietnesse in the rest So that it is necessary in euery Commonwealth to cut off offenders as well for present safety as preuention of further mischiefe which wil be plain if we wil but obserue the benefits that follow and inconueniences that arise if this exemplary Iustice bee not executed First when any fact is vnlawfully committed there is no other satisfaction left to the world or the partie offended then the punishment of the offender vvhich if it bee not executed Iniustice vvere as vvell offered to the Publike State as to the priuate person of him who hath suffred the iniury Next as it incourageth honest men in their iust and lawfull actions so it abates the insolency of others who bee onely bridled with the feare of punishment for otherwise the vvorst men by wickedest courses were most likely to make great fortunes and to carry the greatest sway which vvould so discourage men honestly disposed that they would neither haue will nor power nor confidence to labour for the publike Thirdly it banisheth all presumption from such as thinke that their reputation wealth Riches or Offices can presse down Iustice or make it encline to their purposes for if these respects should preuaile iudgement were meerely inuerted and would