Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	know_v	see_v	soul_n	6,285	5	4.9453	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51897	The fifth volume of letters writ by a Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris : giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe, and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France) continued from the year 1642 to the year 1682 / written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, and from thence into English, by the translator of the first volume.	Marana, Giovanni Paolo, 1642-1693.; Bradshaw, William, fl. 1700.; Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723.	1692 (1692)	Wing M565CL; ESTC R35022	171,587	384

Created for our Perplexity since a Man can neither well be Happy with or without ' em They are Perfect Riddles And to love 'em or hate 'em too much is an Equal Solecism 'T were a Question worthy of a Philosopher Whether this Sex among all the Necessary Good Offices they do us were not sent into the World as Spies and Trepans to observe our Counsels and Actions And by mixing Smiles with Frowns Flatteries with Reproaches Sullenness with more Obliging Favours to keep us in a Perpetual Maze and Labyrinth lest the Aspiring Wit of Men shou'd if left to themselves attempt something more Audacious than the Poets feign of the Sons of Titan or the Written Law Records of Nimrod and his Companions who built the Tower of Babel But whether they be Spies or Faithful Assistants Enemies or Friends I tell thee plainly I have not been able to forbear Loving 'em excessively And this is Part of the Dream or Trance out of which I am just now Awak'd Another Scene is that of Honour This is a Phantome also a mere Vapour a Shadow I never hunted after Glory nor courted Popular Applause Yet being entrusted with the Sublime Secrets and commanded to serve the Grand Signior in this Station I wou'd fain acquit my self without Disgrace Nay like other Mortals in such a Post I wou'd willingly have the Smiles of my Sovereign and the Caresses of the Happy Ministers who serve him if it shall be my Lot ever to return to the Seraglio Nothing appears to me more Terrible than at such a Time to encounter with Rugged Furrow'd Visages or Cold and Faint Embraces of my Fellow-Slaves This puts me upon a Thousand Inquietudes makes me swear to Contradictions utter Lyes and Blasphemies which would turn the Devil to a Saint for Fear In a Word I stumble at no Vice or Immorality which may promote the Cause I am engag'd in And all this for the Sake of a Fair Character at the Port Whilst I 'm cajoling my self as well as others with a Persuasion that 't is only on the Score of Honesty and to acquit my self a Good Man Thus I pursue a Blast a Bubble the Idea of Nothing mere Vanity and an Empty Dream And 't is harder for me to shake off this Enchantment than that of Love Yet all this while I have not taken the French Method to gain Honour I never was Guilty of Oppression and Cruelty nor bath'd my Hands in Human Blood No Widow or Orphan mourns for what I 've taken from ' em Nor did I ever Dragoon any Body into Compliance with Reason All the Parts I 've Acted in this Nature were Defensive Pure Efforts of Self-Preservation Which thou know'st is a Principle Natural to all Men and even to the Worms of the Earth These Little Reptiles when they 're trampl'd on will turn again And nothing more do I unless in the Sultan's Cause This puts me in Mind of my Integrity For I must tell thee my Virtues as well as my Vices Neither Arabia nor all the East have ever brought forth a Man more true to his Trust than Honest Loyal Mahmut I will for ever boast of this in an Age so full of Treachery This alone will carry me safe to Paradise in Spight of all the Mollahs As for the Rest they 're only Venial Sins easily dropt off on the Bridge of Tryal And so long as no Body can say I 've betray'd my Master's Secrets I 'm safe as an Angel that is not oblig'd to stand Sentinel at the Lowest Post of Heaven For there he 's within Gun-shot of the Devil Just as I drew my Pen from that Word a suddain Noise in the Streets call'd me to the Window Where turning my Eyes from the Earth to the Moon and Stars for 't was a very serene Sky I observ'd a small swift Cloud to glide along from South to North much in Appearance like a Bale of Silk It cleft the Element like a Sly Arab Thief that swims for Booty on the River Tigris Wondring at this when all the Firmament was Clear and not another Cloud above the Horizon I soon concluded 'T was the Chariot of some Airy God a Mercury or Messenger sent with speedy News to the High Lords Commanders of the Artick Regions to bid 'em be upon their Guard or some such weighty Matter Perhaps thought I a War is commenc'd between the Spirits of the Poles Or it may be King Aeolus has sent a Summons to the Northern Winds being resolv'd to play some Royal Pneumatick Freaks upon the Sea In good Earnest it made me reflect on our Ignorance of the Laws and Constitutions of the Elements It put me in Mind of the Fogs and Mists which sometimes envelop the Globe in Darkness on Purpose for ought we know to hinder us from seeing what is transacting at such Seasons in the Higher Regions of the Air. The Spirits of those Serener Tracts may then be Frolicking in Visible Forms Celebrating Solemn Festivals and kindling all the Meteors of the Upper Welkin as Natural Fire-Works and Illuminations not fit for Mortals to behold lest we shou'd learn too much and grow as Wise as they However it made me very Contemplative to see a single Solitary Cloud thus glide along the Air And I cou'd have wish'd for Wings to pursue its Motions because the Appearance was not Common Thou that hast measur'd the whole Frame of Nature and taken the True Dimensions of the World that hast penetrated into the Secrets of the Elements and art always busy'd in the most Sage and Solid Scrutinies wilt smile at the Vanity of Common Mortals such as I who when we are Unintelligible to our selves yet presume to comprehend the Ways of the Omnipotent who is Perfect in Knowledge As for me who have study'd in the Academies and read Aristotle Avicen Plotinus Averroes with other Philosophers I esteem my self still but at the Bottom of Plato's Cave Conversing with Shadows mistaken in every Thing but the Idea of thy Sanctity and Immense Wisdom which is Imprinted on my Soul as those which the Philosophers call First Principles because they are Self-Evident I design'd to have said more to thee but a sudden Indisposition and Extreme Faintness has taken away my Spirits My Limbs tremble my Head is giddy my Heart fails me In a Word I seem like one between a Mortal and a Ghost Paris 29th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1658. LETTER XII To Achmet Padishani Culligiz Bassa THY Sur-Name argues thee a Favourite at the Seraglio And for that Reason I know thou art accustom'd to receive Infinite Submissions and Flatteries But I must be as blunt with thee as I was with the New Mufti when I Congratulated his Accession to the Chief Patriarchate I told that Prince of the Mussulman Prelates that I had no Encouragement to welcome him to a Dignity which though in it self Sacred and Inviolable yet cou'd not secure him from the Persecutions of Popular Envy any more than it did

the Resurrection that is that our very Dust shall be Rais'd again and Organiz'd into a Body The Nazarenes are of the same Opinion But methinks there 's no Need of stretching and straining of Nature Besides this Opinion is Inconsistent with other Fundamental Doctrines of the Mussulman Law We are all taught to believe That the Souls of Just Men Saints and Martyrs immediately on their Departure from the Body ascend to Paradise If so then they either live there in an Vnbodyed Estate or they have New Bodies assign'd 'em by the same Providence which gave them their Old Be it which Way it pleases God It will appear a manifest Botch in the Works of the Omnipotent an Indecorum in Nature to make these Souls either cast off their New Bodies at the Day of Judgment for the Sake of their Old Rotten Reliques after they have enjoy'd all the Ravishing Delights of Eden for so many Ages or to stand in Need of any Bodies at all after they have liv'd so long in a Separate Condition There 's no Sence in 't Doubtless this Opinion was first hatch'd by those who believ'd the Sleep of the Soul and held that it was Inseparable from the Body For then they had no other Way to comfort themselves with any Probable Hopes of a Surviving Immortality but by maintaining That as the Soul slept with the Body in the Grave so both Soul and Body shou'd conjointly Rise again at the Day of Doom Or perhaps this Figure of our Resurrection was inculcated to insinuate the Faith of an Immortal State into the duller Minds of those who were Incapable of comprehending either the Pre-Existence of Souls their Self-Subsistence after Death or their Translation into other Bodies It seems to me much more easie to believe according to the most Obvious Works of Nature that after our Dissolution here we shall either assume some Body of Air Fire or other Elemental Supplement or by Magnetick Transmigration shall be United to some Vegetable or Animal Embryo than to dream of Recollecting all our Scatter'd Ashes together after so many Thousands of Years wherein they have been dispers'd perhaps through all the Ranges of the Vniverse Surely our Holy Lawgiver and all the other Prophets intended no other Thing by the Doctrine of the Resurrection but only to convince the World that the Soul was Immortal and that consequently there wou'd be a Reward of Good and Bad Works after this Life We shall live for ever Old Lawyer And what signifies it whether we have the same Bodies or others so long as we are Happy in any State And if we are Metamorphos'd we cannot fail of our Specifick Felicity since every Creature is Happy in its Own Essence Then let us be Apes Dromedaries Camels or any Thing but Hogs and we shall have Bliss enough That Creature is the very Emblem of Vncleanness and therefore its Life cannot be the Object of a Mussulman's Wish Yet we know not the Laws of our Change or Transmigration from this Mortal Life For the Soul according to Pythagoras and the Ancients is Capable of all Forms If thou wond'rest what has put me upon this Discourse it is the Remembrance of what I have heard thee relate of the Apparition of Dead Mens Bones in the Cemetery of Grand Caire in Egypt at a certain Season of the Year when Multitudes of People by Custom flock thither to behold this Wonderful Scene of a Sham-Resurrection I can give it no better Title since in all Probability 't is only the Effect of some Artifice us'd by the Christians to procure Money from the Admiring Croud And I 'm confirm'd in this Belief by a Letter I receiv'd from Mehemet the Exil'd Eunuch who now resides at Caire and having been curious to observe this Celebrated Miracle among the other Rarieties of this City sent me such an Account of this Passage as convinces me there 's some Cheat in 't He tells a great many other Things of the Superstition and Ignorance of the Egyptians as to the Pyramids and the suppos'd Spirits which guard ' em In all he laments the Condition of Mortals who have so far degenerated from themselves and suffer'd their Reason to be debauch'd with Fables Sage Mustapha thou art of the Race of those who have preserv'd Science and Philosophy A Halo of Light invests thy Soul Let no dark Opinion of God and his Works eclipse thy Intellect Paris 20th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1655. LETTER IX To Solyman Kuslir Aga Prince of the Black Eunuchs THY Dispatch came in a Happy Hour Yet the Contents of it surpriz'd me 'T is a strange Turn of Fortune that the Bassa of Aleppo after so many Rebellions shou'd become the Sultan's Favourite and be invested in the Highest Dignity of the Empire Yet who knows but this may be the onely Effectual Course to reclaim him and of an Enemy to render him a Friend For Ambition is a Vice so nearly bordering on Vertue so refin'd and subtle in its Complexion that when the Passion which cherishes it is once gratify'd with its proper Object it soon becomes a Vertue it self and transforms a Libertine to a Hadgi ranking a Man to Day among the most deserving Hero's who but Yesterday was in the Number of the Seditious Therefore I cannot but highly applaud the Counsel of those who perswaded the Grand Signior to this Uncommon Choice of the Vizir Azem The whole Empire has languish'd for Want of a Man of Abilities in that Supreme Station ever since the Seal was taken from the most Illustrious Chusaein Bassa through the Malice of his Enemies And in this Juncture they cou'd not have pitch'd on a Man more capable of the Charge than this bold Bassa who besides his Experience in the Wars both by Sea and Land is look'd on as the Stoutest Man in this Age. As for his Former Crimes they proceeded onely from his Discontent and Thirst of Glory which is now sufficiently allay'd by the Bounty of our Sovereign The Cause therefore of his Extravagances being thus seasonably remov'd the Effect will naturally cease But suffer me to ask thee Do they not resent at the Seraglio his Approaches to that Sanctuary of Mortals with such a Formidable Retinue Thou tellest me he is attended by Forty Thousand Men an Equipage fit for a Sovereign Monarch Perhaps 't is onely the Effect of his Martial Genius and that he is willing to appear like a Soldier Or it may be he really suspected Danger and that he was design'd for a Sacrifice Which made him come thus guarded to the Feet of his Master That his Son might revenge his Death by some desparate Attempt on Constantinople Be it how it pleases God it seems the Sultan wink'd at all and receiv'd him with such Marks of his Esteem and Affection as are seldom vouchsaf'd to Subjects I hope the Event will answer his Expectation These new Methods of Clemency may prove more successful than the severe Conduct of Former Times Men of

Wine of Palms mix'd with Aromatick Powders they stuffed it with Myrrh Cassia and many Costly Confections and then sow'd it up After this they purified the Whole Body with Nitre And having drawn out the Brains by the Nostrils with a Hook they fill'd up the Skull with Melted Gums And last of all they swathed up the Whole Body in Silk smearing it over with Rich Mixtures of Bitumen Spices and Gums and so delivered it to the Kindred to be laid up in the Sepulchre These were the Preparations they made to Court the Presence of the Soul by rendring the Body for Ever Sweet and Incorruptible And that the Majesty of Royal Ghosts might never be Interrupted or Violated by the Neighbourhood of Vulgar Spirits or the Ruder Approach of Mortals Kings built these Magnificent Piles as the Palaces of their Last Repose 'T is therefore they were Erected in Desert and Unfrequented Places and in such a Form as was esteemed the most Durable and secure from the Injuries of Time the Assaults of the Elements and from the Common Fate of all Human Enterprises Each Stone of a Prodigious Bulk and rivetted to the next with a Bar of Iron Which with the Strength and Invincible Fastness of the Cement renders it a Thing Impossible for any one of these Pyramids to be demolished tho' all Mankind were set to work for many Successive Generations Al Mamun the Caliph of Babylon attempted to do it but in vain For after he had set his Men at Work and been at Vast Expences they made but one small Breach so Inconsiderable that being made Sensible it would exhaust his Treasures to remove but the Hundredth Part of the Pyramid he desisted full of Wonder at the Wisdom of the Founders If it be true that the Soul may by such Allurements as these be prevailed on to remain with the Body in its Sepulchre and that a Man's Future Happiness consists in this I should my self Admire and Imirate those Egyptian Sages I would in my Life-Time build me a small Mausoleum according to my Ability and order in my Last Will and Testament that my Body be Embalmed and Condited for a Perpetual Duration But if none of these Arts can alter the Decrees of Destiny or force an Immortal Spirit from Ranging where it pleases I must conclude with Pliny That this Celebrated Wisdom of the Egyptians was no other than Glorious Folly and all the Magnificence of their Kings in building such Costly Sepulchres but Royal Waste They themselves in thus cautiously providing to secure the Soul 's Abode with the Body after Death tacitely own'd That by the Course of Nature it would immediately pass into some other Nay the Transmigration of Souls was an Established Doctrine in Egypt How then could they be so blind as to imagine a Dead Carcase however Perfumed and Fenced against Corruption was more inviting than an Embryo formed to live Or that it was more Elegible for the Soul to be Imprisoned in a Dark Dungeon for no better are the Insides of the Pyramids than to enjoy the Light of the Sun Moon and Stars and the Various Sweets of the Elements Brother in my Opinion 't were better to be a Bird a Worm a Fly or any Living Thing than to be thus Immur'd for many Ages and have no other Companion but an Old Salted Mummie Isouf has made some Remarks on the River Nile to which he says Egypt owes not only its Corn and Fruits but also the very Soil which brings 'em forth For every Year at the Time of the Inundation that River brings along with it from Aethiopia or some other Regions through which it passes Abundance of Slime and Mud with which it covers all the Land of Egypt leaving it behind at the Decrease of the Waters So that the Soil of Egypt is borrowed from other Countries And if this be true for ought we know the Place of its Situation may be borrowed from the Sea according to the Opinion of some Ancient Philosophers Herodotus Pliny and others were of this Persuasion grounding their Conjectures on the nearer Approaches of the Continent to the Island Pharos from the Time of Homer who exactly Calculated its Distance And they concluded That the Immense Quantities of Slime which the Nile transports from the Mountainous Regions of Africa might in the Space of Two Myriads of Years have filled up all that Part of the Sea which is now Firm Land and call'd Egypt If this be true it seems to me very strange That the Egyptians should boast of Greater Antiquity than any other Nation in the World tho' their Country it self be the Youngest of all the Regions on Earth an Abortive Spot of Ground hatched by a River in the Depths of the Sea and ever since cherish'd by that River as by a Parent or Nurse which ceases not to convey to it Yearly a Convenient Proportion of Aliment whereby the Country it self grows in Bulk and the Inhabitants are maintained O Admirable Providence of Nature who can penetrate into thy Mysterious Conduct O Egypt abounding in Prodigies and Wonders Where the Land and Water with the other Elements conspire to render thee all over Miraculous Dear Pesteli I am transported when I think of that Region and could relate a Thousand more Passages both out of Isouf's Memoirs and from the Mouths of others who have travelled thither to observe so many Miracles But I believe thy Patience will be sufficiently tir'd with the Length of this Letter Besides my Mother is just come to visit me and desires me to recommend her Unfeigned Affections to thee Be assured also that Mahmut loves thee with the Integrity of a Man and the Tenderness of a Brother And he serves thee in all Things without repining Paris 17th of the 1st Moon of the year 1658. LETTER V. To the Kaimacham THE Venetians are very angry for the Loss of Tenedos and not without Reason For that Island is a delicate Spot of Ground abounding in Rich Wines and other Products of Nature Besides it commands the Avenue of the Shining City the Refuge of Mortals They variously relate the Manner of its being retaken from 'em by the Arms which no Earthly Power is able to resist Endeavouring in all their Rumours to disguise the Truth as much as they can and misrepresent the Bravery of the Ottomans That so the Actions of their own Generals may make the Greater Figure These Nazarenes have a bad Cause and therefore are compelled to make Use of Shifts and Equivocations to support it They are quite degenerated from the Integrity of the Primitive Followers of Jesus In a Word they make good the Character of the Ancient Candiots Of whom a certain Poet says They are thorow-pac'd Lyars Ravenous Beasts and Gluttonous Drones It is believ'd in these Parts That when the Venetians quitted the Island they departed not without Revenge setting Fire to a Mine and blowing up several Hundreds of Mahometans into the Air. However they have for Ever Proscribed and

Traytors Yet Nothing more common in France and other Countries of Europe than for Men to wear on their Heads Ornaments of Womens Hair instead of their own As to Religion I believe they will not much trouble him being no Zealots themselves And provided he does but profess himself a Christian and a Catholick they 'll make no farther Inquisition The Italians in General are much like the Ancient Romans in their Humour Men of grave Aspects and Carriage and much more compos'd in both than the French who appear Ridiculous through the Levity of their Discourse and Actions The Former abound in Sage Precepts of Morality and Politick Aphorisms which serve as a Rule whereby to square the Course of their Lives The Latter only affect some flashy Improvements of Wit and Conversation studying rather how to please Women than Men coveting to be perfect in External Accomplishments and the Graces of the Body whilst they slight the more valuable Endowments of the Mind In a Word they are mere Apes and Mimicks On the Contrary the Italians are Men of an Awful and Majestick Behaviour solid Judgment and deep Reach If you see them smile you shall seldom or never hear 'em laugh Whereas the Motion of a Feather will set the French a-Braying like Asses These will contract a Warm Friendship with any Man at first Interview heighten it with a Thousand Compliments make him their Confessor and unbosom all their Secrets Yet a Second Encounter shall extinguish this Passion and a Third shall revive it again Whereas those are cautious and flow in the choice of their Friends and when once that Knot is dissolv'd 't is never to be fasten'd there again They are Irreconcilable in their Hatred and Revenge But there are Men to be excepted in Both Nations who fall not under these General Characters France affords many Wise and Learned Persons and Italy not a few Fools and Ideots Vertues and Vices are strangely mix'd in all People War Commerce and Travel with other Humane Occurrences alter Men's Natural Dispositions and give the Lye to the Exactest Observations that can be made Besides Time changes all Things And the Qualities which this Age remarks in the Italians may in the next be transferr'd to the French For there is no Constancy in any Thing under the Moon Zeidi will find great Examples of Frugality among the Venetians in the necessary Expences of their Persons and Families Yet Abundance of Magnificence in whatever relates to the Publick which the Subjects of that Commonwealth serve with open Purses and free Hearts Indeed they are not so Remarkable for their Temperance as some other Parts of Italy Libertinism and Voluptuousness reign uncontroul'd in Venice Women and Wine are there almost as Common as the Elements Yet 't is observ'd that Strangers generally debauch more with Both than the Natives God preserve Zeidi from their Temptations If it be his Fortune or Duty to visit Padua he ought not to make too long an Abode in that Nest of Philosophers and Physicians lest they first Anatomize his Soul and discover the Secrets of his Commission and then turn his Body to a Skeleton as they once serv'd a Moor whom they dissected Alive to make Experiment perhaps whether a Mahometan's Blood Circulated the same Way as a Christians Those Italian Physicians are very Cruel and think it no Sin to try Poisons and other Fatal Tricks on the Poor that so they may be the better able to keep the Rich on the Rack at their Pleasure and make their Market on ' em I know not Zeidi's appointed Station or what Cities he is to see But where-ever he goes 't will be Necessary for him to use Abundance of Caution for the Italians are the closest slyest and most Judicious People in the World But I forget that he is chosen by the Divan for this Employment to whom the Characters of all Nations are known and who penetrate into the most Interiour Recesses of Men's Spirits Therefore I lay my Hand upon my Mouth in profound Submission and acquiesce to my Superiors Still praying That the Grand Signior may have Faithful and Wise Ministers at Home and no Novices for his Agents Abroad Paris 3d. of the 2d Moon of the Year 1659. LETTER XVI To William Vospel a Recluse of Austria THere is a Street in Paris which they call the Street of Hell The Reason of this Name is said to be because at one End of it there formerly stood an Old House possess'd by Devils who were so troublesome that as the Records of Paris affirm an Edict of Parliament was pass'd to remove all the Inhabitants out of their Houses in that Street and shut up the Entrance with a Wall Since which these Daemons were expell'd by the Carthusians who built a Monastery in the Place If this Story be true it redounds much to the Reputation of that Order and of all you Monasticks in General who by your Exercisons are able to subdue the Infernal Spirit But I have heard so many silly Tales of Houses being haunted by Ghosts and Hobgoblins that I know not how to give Credit to this Besides when I consider the Nature of Incorporeal Beings it seems Rediculous to think that they can take Delight to play the Antiques to frighten poor Mortals Or confine themselves to an Old Ruin'd Castle for such was this House for the Sake of a Little Sport When according to the Ancient Philosophers every Incorporeal Being is far more Excellent than the most Perfect Body and can be Every Where Neither are they at any Time Locally Present in Bodies but only by a Propension or Habit are inclin'd to them And this they mean of Living Bodies What Charm then can there be in an Old Rotten Fabrick of Stone and Wood to allure and detain Immaterial Substances Certainly the Nature of these Separate Essences is very Remote from all Compounded Beings I have been often at a Loss in Contemplating the Soul of Man Sometimes it seems no otherwise distinguish'd from the Souls of Brutes than by being United to a Body of Different Organs Which causes us to shew more Evident Tokens of Reason than they in the Faculty of Discourse and in our Actions Yet when I consider more attentively the Operations of our Mind and Intellect I cannot but conclude There is a vast Distinction between our Souls and those of the Beasts I have with Pleasure observ'd the Excellency of Humane Intellect in Madmen and Dreamers who being come to themselves as we usually say relate many Things of which they were before Ignorant and comprehend Things surpassing their Former Imaginations It appears therefore more Rational to me That the Soul is Every-Where and No-Where as the Ancients say Than that it is shut up and Imprison'd in the Body as a Wild Beast in his Den or Liquor in a Glass However by an Ineffable Production of it self it is Present in Every Part of the Body as the Light of the Sun is diffus'd through the Air and