water as sower Vinegar doth Milk and as curded parts will lye in clods so VVater in flakes of Snow Hail said she is broken water or rather crumbbled water for as a hand which nips a piece of Bread crumbles it by rubbing it between their fingers so doth some sort of cold Motions break and crumble water into a number of small parts and as many crumbs ' of Bread will stick together through the moist clamminess lying in little lumps so doth the broken parts of water which is Hail-stones and though the Body is divided into abundance of little parts yet every part is more compact as being closer contracted with being crusht and nipt together As for Frost said she that is candyed or crusted Vapour which is rarified water for as some sorts of hot Motions candy Sugar so some sorts of cold Motions candy's Vapour Likewise said she as Milk changes not the nature from being Milk with curding nor Bread with crumbling nor Sugar with candying so Water changes not the nature with contractions or dividings into Snow Hail Ice and Frost As for Ice it is made by such a kind of cold Motion as hot Motions make Glass for as fire in a hot Furnace calcines some sorts of Earth and the purest to Glass so doth the strongest of such sorts of cold Motions congeal Water into Ice And as some hot Motions strive to convert Earth into Water as we may see by making Earth into Glass so some sorts of cold Motions do turn Water into Earth as by condensing into Ice Hail Snow and Frost and as Snow and Ice is nothing but condensed Water so Glass is nothing but calcined or rarified Earth for that fine Earth which makes Glass is so rarified by the hot fire in a Furnace which blows and spreads it as thin and clarified it as clear as Water only it makes it not liquid and fluid yet whilst it is in the fire it is in a degree of being fluid for it is soft and clammy Thus Fire makes Earth so near like Water as it is transparent shining and smooth and brings it into the mid-way but it wants the liquid wet and fluid Motions which some will call Parts to make it perfect Water And I suppose that Crystals Diamonds and the like are only the purest part of Earth turn'd by the heat in the Earth or in the Sun to a Glassy substance but stronger as being wrought by a natural Heat and not by an artificial Heat or Fire but as Glass is a rarified Earth so Air is a rarified Water and Smoak a rarified Oyl and Oyl is a fluid Sulphur and Flame is a fluid Fire and Quick-silver is a fluid Metal Then they asked her Whether there were Natural Elements not subject to be Metamorphosed She answered Yes They asked How she would prove it She said She would prove there was a natural Fire by the Sun which never changes his heat or â—â—ffens his light nor alters his natural Properties of attracting contracting and the like and to prove a metamorphosed Fire is Lightning Meteors Fevours and the like and to prove a natural Water is the Sea and to prove a metamorphosed Water is Vapour and to prove a natural Air is the Serene and to prove a metamorphosed Air is Wind and said she the difference of natural Elements and those that are called metamorphosed is that the natural Elements cannot lose their properties as those that are metamorphosed do by changing from one thing to another For say the natural Elements be mixed yet they quit not their natural properties as for example mix Wine or Aqua-vitae or the like and VVater and though they are mixt yet they lose not their natural properties as the VVater to cool and VVine to heat for put a drop of wine to a pint of water or to an ocean and it will be so much more hotter as the quantity of a drop can heat and so for a drop of water to so much wine and it is so much colder as the quantity of a drop can cool for though they mix yet they lose not their properties neither doth their mixture take from their pure nature Then they asked her If a natural or metamorphosed Element might not corrupt a pure Element She said No being not subject to change more than a gross and malignant Vapour can corrupt the Sun but said she natural Elements can and do often-times purifie corruption if they be not obstructed for though they cannot be changed they may be obstructed as we see dark Clouds will obstruct the natural light of the Sun and many times the natural heat yet they can neither quench out the one nor put out the other the like is the continuance of the natural Elements But perchance you will say that you talk of an Element and I speak of a Planet I say that for example But though the Sun is a Planet yet it is an Elementary Fire and though Earth may be called a Planet yet it is an Elementary Earth and for all we can know the Moon may be an Elementary VVater but howsoever there may be a natural Fire which is an unalterable Fire which you may call the Elementary Fire as the Sun and so the rest of the Elements for any thing that Reason can prove against it Then they asked her If Nature did work always exactly She answered No for Nature doth seldom work so exactly as to bring often to perfection not the Bodies of all Animals especially Mankind either in the Body or Mind much less to make them both exactly answerable or answerably exact As for their Bodies for the most part they are neither in proportion nor lineaments answerable to each other for some have well-shap'd Hands Legs and Feet and ill-shap'd Bodies others well-shap'd Bodies and ill-featured Faces and ill-shap'd Legs and Feet also some have one Feature in the Face excellent and all the rest ill-favour'd The like is the Mind for some have good Capacities and Understandings to some things and to others are as dull as sensless Blocks some are witty upon some Subjects and are meer fools to others so some will be good-natured to some things and bad or cruel to others without cause Likewise Nature seldom makes a Body and Mind answerable for some have an ill-favoured Body but a noble Soul and rational Understanding others most beautiful Bodies but base Souls and depraved Understandings which shews as if Nature took so much pains and care in making the one as she became weary before she began the other and sometimes she seems lazy in the beginning of her Work and sometimes as if she were idle in the midst of her Work and sometimes as if she were quite tired at the finishing of her Work as when she makes ill-favoured and weak Bodies imperfect Senses and ill or foolish Minds then she is lazy at the beginning and when she makes some parts exact and some defective then she is idle working by halfs and when she
Leaves nor shorten the Life for it may live as long as Nature pleases for all mee but you eat out the Seeds which are their young Off-springs and the Earwigs eat off the Leaves and the Worms devour the Roots when I bear nothing away but what is free for all which is that which falls from the Heavens By this we may perceive That it is the nature of most Creatures that are guilty and do the greatest Wrongs to be the first Accusers The Third Tale of the Ant and the Bee IT chanced that an Ant and a Bee wandring about met in a Honey-pot the Honey being very clammy stuck so close to the Ant and weighed so heavy that she could not get out but like a Horse in a Quagmire the more pains she took to get out the deeper she sunk in Whereupon she entreated the Bee to help her The Bee denied her saying She should become guilty of Theft in assisting a Thief Why said the Ant I do not entreat you to assist my Stealth but my Life but for all your pretended Honesty and Nicety of Conscience you endeavour to steal Honey as much as I. No said the Bee this Honey was stoln by Man out of our Commonwealth and it is lawful not only to challenge our own but to take it wheresover we find it Besides Man most commonly doth cruelly murther us by smuthering us with Smoak then destroys our City and carries away the Spoils But Men are not only the most wicked of Creatures in making the greatest Spoils and Disturbances in Nature but they are the subtillest of all Creatures to compass their Designs and the most inventive for several destructive and enslaving Arts. But Nature knowing the Ingenuity of Man to Evil and the proneness of his Nature to Cruelty gave us Stings for Weapons to oppose and defend our selves against them which they finding by experience invented the way of smuthering us with Smoak The Ant said I hope that the Cruelty you condemn and have found by experience in Man will cause you to be so charitable as to help me out of my Misery There is no reason for that answered the Bee for if Man doth unjustly strive to destroy me it doth not follow I must unjustly strive to help you But whilst the Bee was thus talking the Honey had clammed the Bee's Wings close to her sides so that she could not loosen them to flye and in strugling to get liberty for flight plunged her whole Body in the Honey O said the Bee I shall be swallowed up and choaked immediately What said the Ant with your own Honey O said the Bee the Quantity devours me for Water refreshes Life and drowns Life Meat feeds the Body and destroys the Body by Surfeits besides a Creature may choak with that which might nourish it O unhappy Creature that I am said the Bee that my Labour and Industry should prove my ruin but the Honey rising above her Head stopped her speech and kill'd her The Ant after a short languishing dyed also Thus we see the same Mercy and Assistance we refused to others is refused to us in the like Distress And many times in the midst of Abundance are our Lives taken away When we are too greedily earnest in keeping or taking what we can justly call our own we seldom enjoy it either by losing it or our selves Which shews there is no secure Safety nor perfect Felicity nor constant Continuance in the Works of Nature A Tale of the Woodcock and the Cow A COW seeing a Woodcock sitting close to a a green Turf and observing him not to stir asked him why he sate so lazily there having so strong a Wing as he had to flye O said the Woodcock it is a laborious action to flye but sitting here I take my ease and rest The Cow said If I had Wings to flye I would never lye upon the cold Earth but I would mount up near to the warm Sun whose Heat clarifies the Air to a Crystalline Skye whereas the Earth is only a gross Body sending forth thick and stinking Fogs which many times give us the Rot and other Diseases by the unwholsome Vapours that arise from it and cold Dews that lye upon the Ground when the Air is sweet and refreshing warm and comfortable 'T is true said the Woodcock the Sun is a glorious and powerful Planet his Heat is our Comfort and his Light is our Joy and the Air is a thin and fine Element But alas said he though we be Birds that can flye therein yet we cannot rest therein and every Creature requires rest sometimes neither can we live only by the Sun for the Sun cannot fill us though he warms us his Light fills not our Crops although it doth our Eyes nor is the Seed sown in the Air and though the Winds furrow and plow the Clouds yet the Air is too soft an Element to bear Corn or any other Vegetable nor doth there grow sweet Berries on the Sun-beams as on the Bushes besides great Winds beat down our sailing-wings and when the Air is thick and full of Water it wets and cleaves our Feathers so close they will not spread which causeth difficulty of flight which tires us and puts our Limbs to pain when you sit lazily here all day long chewing the Cud having your Meat brought by Man to encrease your Milk and in the Summer you are put to rich Pasture or lye in green Meadows growing thick with Cowslips and Dazies or else for change you walk up to the Mountains tops to brouse on wild Thyme or sweet Marjoram and yet you rail against our good Mother Earth from whose Bowels we receive Life and Food to maintain that Life she gives us She is our kind Nurse from whence we suck out of her springing breasts fresh water and are fed by her Hand of Bounty shaded under her spreading-Boughs and sheltred from Storms in her thick Groves Besides said the Woodcock you are safe from Dangers whenas we have many Airy-Enemies as the Tyrant-Eagle and Murtherous Hawk But said the Cow we that only live upon the Earth are dull and melancholy Creatures in comparison of those that flye in the Air for all Birds are ingenuous and seem to have more Wit than Beasts besides they are of chearfuller Dispositions and have clearer Voices by reason their Spirits are more refined whereof the Serene Air and the hot Sun is the cause by agitating the Spirits to that degree that they seem to have more Life than we Beasts have or any other Creature for those Bodies that are most active and those Minds that are more cheerful have most although not longest Life having more of the innated Matter which is Self-motion in them than duller Creatures have And since Nature hath given you a greater proportion of Life that is more lively Spirits slight not her Benefits but make use of them for to that purpose she gives them Wherefore get up and sit not idly here Mount up
Chance She answered That doubtless there were fixt Decrees as Light Darkness Growth Decay as Youth Age Pain Pleasure Life Death and so in every thing else for ought my Reason can perceive For said she as Nature creates by Dissolution and dissolves by Creation so the Diattical Life says she decrees Rules and ruleth by Decrees Then they asked her What was Chance and Fortune Chances said she are visible Effects from hidden Causes and Fortune a conjunction of many sufficient Causes to produce such an Effect since that Effect could not be produced did there want any one of those Causes by reason all of them together were but sufficient to produce but that one Effect many times produces many Effects upon several Subjects and that one Effect like the Sun streams out into several rays darting upon several Subjects and again as the Sun scorches and burns some things and warms and comforts others so this Effect advances some and casts down others cures some and kills others and when the Causes vary and the Effects alter it is called Change of Fortune Then they asked her Whether she thought Faith could naturally produce any Effect She answered That in her opinion it might for said she why may not Faith which is an undoubted Belief joined to such a subject produce or beget an Effect as well as a Seed sown or set in the Earth produceth a Flower a Tree or the like or as one Creature begets another especially if the Faith and Subject whereon it is placed have a sympathy but by reason said she Faith is not so customary a way of producing as other ways are it causeth many Doubts which Doubts are like cold Northern Winds or sharp biting Frosts which nip and kill the Buds of Faith which seldom or never lets the Effects come to perfection Then they asked VVhat the Sun was She answered A Body of Fire Then they askedher VVhat Light was She answered Light was enflamed Air. They said That if Light was enflamed Air it would burn all things and so consume the World She answered That in thin Bodies Fire had but little power to burn for the thinness of the Matter weakens the power of the Strength which causeth Flame said she to be of no great Heat for the hot Flames do rather sindg than burn and the thinner the substance is that is set on fire the purer the Flame is and the purer the Flame is the less Heat it gives as the Flame of Aqua-vitae that may be eaten with Sops Then they asked her What Air was She answered That Air was the Smoak produced from Heat and Moisture For Air said she is a thin Oyl which is set on fire by the fiery Sun or is like a fiery Substance and fiery Motions whose Flame is light Then they asked her what Darkness was She answered Darkness was the absence of Light And then they asked why it was dark immediately when the passage of Light was stopped and that if it were inflamed Air it would burn and give Light as long as that inflamed Air lasted She answered that when the fiery Rays that issued from the Sun were cut off the flame went out for said she it is not the Air that feeds the Flame but the fire that is in the Flame and when that Fire is spent or taken away the Flame dyes this is the reason said she that as soon as the Rays of the Fire is cut off or shut out or taken away it is dark and when they are eclipsed the Light is dull and dim but as I said before Light is only Air set on flame by the fiery Sun and the Blewest Sky is the thinnest Flame being the purest Air and just as if we should carry a Candle away we carry the light also which is the Flame so doth the Sun and as we bring a Candle or the like into a Room we bring in the light so doth the Sun Where the Fire is there is the greatest light and when a Screen is set before it the light is eclipsed and when kindled Fire as a Candle or the like is carried quite from the place it leaves as great a darkness as if it were put out just so doth the Sun which is the World's Candle when it goeth down draweth away the light which is the Flame and as it riseth it bringeth in the Fire which causeth the Flame and when it is high-Noon then is the brightest light as casting no shadows if nought Eclipses it and when Clouds get before it it is Eclipsed as with a Screen and when it is quite removed to another part of the World it doth as if it went into another Room or Chamber leaving no light behind it for twi-light is caused from the Rays of the Sun for though the Body of the Sun is gone from off such a part of the Earth yet the Rays which are the spreading-part of Fire are not quite drawn away as soon as the Sun for as those Rays usher the Sun-rising so they follow the Sun-setting and though these Rays of Fire which are the Beams of the Sun enflame the Air yet not so bright as the Body of the Sun doth and where the Sun is gone so far as the Beams cannot reach that part of it becomes dark It is not the gross Clouds as some think make twi-light for we see a cloudy day makes the twi-light seem shorter though it be not and it is by reason they eclipse the enflamed Air for Clouds are rather Vapour than Air and though Vapour and Air have some relation the like hath Vapour and Water and Vapour when it is gathered into the Clouds doth rather eclipse than prolong light They said That if the Light was Flame the Vapoury Clouds might quench it out She answered That although Vapour could eclipse the Light it could not put out the light of the Sun 't is true said she it may and doth often allay the fiery heat in the Rays for some days will be cooler than other days although the Sun be higher and some will be cooler than others although in the same degree of the Sun by reason of low Marish Grounds or near great Rivers from whence Vapours arise But though the Vapour may abate the heat in the Rays as the enflamed Air and eclipse the light either of Mists or Fogs or when they are gathered into Clouds yet they can neither put out the light nor quench out the heat of the Sun which is the Fountain of both no more than a drop of Water can quench a House on fire The Sun is a World of bright shining Fire from which other Worlds receive both light and heat 'T is true if there could be such a quantity of Water as could equal the Sun's power it might quench the Sun unless the Sun be an eternal Fire But as for Vapour were there a greater quantity than what arises from the Earth it could not change the natural property of the Sun besides Vapour is of a
sung her last sad Funeral-Song of Love The Earth grew proud now having so much honour That Odoriferous Corpse lying upon her When that pure Virgin 's Stuff dissolv'd in Dew Was the first cause new Births of Flowers grew And added Sweets to those it did renew The Grosser Parts the Curious soon did take Of it transparent Purslain they did make Her Purer Dust they keep for to refine Best Poets Verse and gild every Line And all Poetick Flames she did inspire So her Name lives in that Eternal Fire A Mock-Tale of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle CUPID Love-birding went his Arrow laid Aiming to hit a young fresh Countrey-Maid Being pur-blind his Arrow it did glance And hit an Old-old Woman there by chance She presently with Love sighs shorter breath Groan'd so as all the Neighbours thought her Death Little she had of feeling nor no ground To guess where Cupid us'd to make the wound A long forgetfulness there was no doubt Of what was Love and all those thoughts worn out At last Love rub'd her Mem'ry up and then She thought some Threescore years ago and ten Was wounded so but then was in her Prime The Surgeon cured her was Father Time But he 's not skilful for Love's wounds all those Though they seem cured yet they 'l never close But break out still again not Winter's cold Will freeze them up nor Age though ne're so old She with Laborious Hands and Idle Breech Us'd to weed Gardens and for her grown rich Some Twenty Pounds she 'd got which she did hide For her great great great Grandchild when a Bride O powerful Love to see thy fatal Curse Now to forget her Noble Race and Purse Enquires out the best Taylors in the Town To make her Wastcoats Petticoats and Gown New Shooes of Shoo-maker she did bespeak And bids him put three-penny-worth of Creak Into the Soles that Dew when them it fills Like Hero's Buskins chirrup through the Bills Hunts Pedlars out and buys fresh Ribbans blew To shew that she is turn'd a Lover true And now those Hands not white as Venus Doves Not to preserve but hide with Dog-skin Gloves Takes keener Nettles up that by her stood To rub her Skin and Cheeks but found no Blood No dangling Tresses there could any find Sister to Time no Locks before behind Yet smooth she was not as the Billiard-ball But bald as it all over you might call When met her Love he thought she smil'd to grace Her self when 't was but wrinkles in her Face And all Love's arts she try'd and oft she met him This lusty young and labouring-man to get him His Poverty with her Purse join'd their hands And so did enter in the Marriage-bands But to describe their sumptuous Marriage Feast Their richer Clothes and every honour'd Guest Their melting Love-Songs softer Musick 's t'uch Are not to be express'd not half so much As you may now imagine all my Skill And fainter Muse too weak nay Virgil's Quill With that description it would blunter grow And Homer's too with all his Furies so They blush'd for shame when saw this lovely Bride Put them all down thus triumphs she in Pride Now after Supper when they were both fed Your Thoughts must go along with them to bed There being laid he mounted now Love's Throne She sigh'd with Love then fetch'd a deeper groan And so expir'd there in height of Pleasure And left him to enjoy her long-got Treasure Nay so belov'd she was that now lies low That all the Women wish'd for to dye so Then came a Lady young that had not been In that Society and coming in They told her she a Tale must pay Or as a Bankrupt she must go away Truly said she I am not rich in Wit Nor do I know what Tales your Humours fit Yet in my young and budding Muse Will draw the Seasons of the Year Like ' Prentice-Painters which do use The same to make their skill appear But Nature is the Hand to guide The Pencil of the Brain and place The Shadows so that they may hide All the Defects or giv 't a grace Phansie Draws Pictures in the Brain Not subject to the outward Sense They are Imaginations vain Yet are they the Life's Quintessence For when Life 's gone yet they will live And to the Life a Fame will give The Tale of the Four Seasons of the Year THE Spring is dress'd in buds blossoms sweet And Grass-green Socks she draws upon her feet Of freshest air a Garment she cuts out With painted Tulips fringed round about And lines it all within with Violets blew And yellow Primrose of the palest hew Then wears an Apron made of Lillies white And lac'd about it is with Rays of Light Cuffs of Narcissus her fair hands do tye Pinn'd close with Stings of Bees which buzzing flye To gather Honey-dew which thereto cleaves And leave their Stings when they do prick the leaves Ribbons of Pinks and Gilliflowers makes Roses both white and red for Knots she takes When she 's thus dress'd the Birds in Love do fall And chirping then do to each other call To sing and hop and merry make And joy'd they are all for the Spring 's sake But of all Birds the Nightingal delights To sing the Spring to bed in warmer Nights Because the Spring at Night draws in her Head Into the Earth for that she makes her bed And in the Morning when asleep she lies The Nightingal doth sing to make her rise And calls the Sun to open her fair Eyes Who gallops fast that he might her surprise But when the Spring is past her Virgin 's prime And married is to old bald-Father Time The Nightingal for grief doth cease to sing And silent is till comes another Spring The Summer 's cloth'd in glorious Sun-shine bright And with a trailing-Veil of long-day-light Some Dust as Powder on her Hair doth place And with the Morning's Dew doth wash her Face A Zephyrus-Wind she for a Fan doth spread To cool her Cheeks which are hot-burning-red And with that Heat so thirsty she doth grow As she drinks all the fresh sweet Springs that flow Then in a Thundring-Chariot she doth ride For to astonish Mortals with her Pride Before her Chariot flashing-Lightning flyes A fluid Fire that spreads about the Skyes As Princes great that in dry ways do travel Have Water thrown t' allay the Dust and Gravel This Fire allays cleanses all Vapours gross Lest rising they should stop the Thunder's force And when she from her Chariot doth alight Then is she waited on by Sun-beams bright Or else the Rays that from the Moon do spread As Waxen Tapers light her to her bed And with refreshing-sleeps a while doth rest There sweet air breathing from her panting breast Yet Summer's proud ambitious high and hot And full of action idle she is not Chol'rick she is and oft doth Quarrels make But yet sometimes she doth her Pleasure take At high-noon with the Butter-flyes doth
on high above the Clouds appear The Woodcock said When we are up on high We rather swim like Fishes and not flye The Air is like the Ocean liquid plain The Clouds are Water and the Roof is Rain Where like a Ship our Bodies swift do glide Our Wings as Sails are spread on either side Our Head 's the Card our Eyes the Needles be For to direct us in our Airy Sea Our Tail 's the Rudder moves from side to side And by that motion we our Bodies guide Our Feet's the Anchors when to ground them set We mend our Sails that 's prune our Feathers wet And every Bush like several Ports they be But a large Haven is a broad-spread Tree O said the Cow this Voyage to the Skie I fain would see whilst on the Ground I lie To satisfie you said the Woodcock I Will mount so rose and shak'd his Wings to flie But the Woodcock had not flown above a Cast high but a Faulcon who had soared above for a Prey seeing the Woodcock underneath him came down with such force that he knocked him on the head with his Pounces Which when the Cow saw she lowed out with sorrow and made a most lamentable Voice bewailing the Woodcock 's misfortune and out of a sad melancholy and discontented grief for the Woodcock his death and for the unfortunate counsel she gave him she mourned and lamented putting on a black Hide which Hide she wore to her dying-day and all her Posterity after her and not only her Posterity but many of her Acquaintance The MORAL Some are so busily-good that they will perswade and counsel not only all those they have relation to or all they know and have acquaintance with but all they meet although they be meer strangers to them But although some do it out of a meer busie nature and intermedling humour and disposition yet questionless some do it out of a desire and natural inclination they have for a general fruition of Happiness putting themselves in the last place But these sort of men have more Good-nature than Judgment for their Counsel oft-times brings Ruin at least Sorrow both to those that take it and those that give it through a blind ignorance of both Parties But those that are prudently wise never give Counsel but when it 's asked and then not without great Caution chusing the safest ways and the likeliest means joining their own Reputation with the Party 's Good fearing to lose the one or hurt the other by a rash Advice Of a Butcher and a Fly IN Shamble-Row a Butcher walking in his Shop where Meat was lying upon his Shop-board and being in the heat of Summer a number of Flies were busily working thereupon which the Butcher seeing was very angry and said That Flies were good for nothing but to corrupt Dead Flesh. At which words the Flies murmured against the Butcher making a humming-noise to express their Passion But one of the ancientest and gravest Flyes amongst them which Fly living long and observing much had studied Natural and Moral Philosophy having observed the Humours and Actions of all Creatures especially of Man and more especially of Butchers by reason they most commonly frequent the Shambles she answered the Butcher thus Why said the Fly do you rail and exclaim against us when we do nothing against Nature but do good service to the Countrey for we create living Creatures out of that you destroy whereby we keep Nature from ruin and those only that destroy Life are Nature's Enemies but those that maintain or create Life are Nature's Friends Thus we are Friends and you are Enemies to Nature for you are cruel striving to destroy Nature not only by taking the Life of barren Creatures that are past producing but of young Creatures that would encrease had they been suffered to live in not killing them before their natural time to dye Besides said the Fly to the Butcher you are a Cheat and a Robber as well as a Murtherer for you cozen and rob Time of the Goods he is intrusted to keep until such time as Nature requires them to whom he carefully easily peaceably delivers them to the right Owner Also you do not only rob him of those Goods he hath in charge but you maliciously or covetously spoil his Work for those Creatures that he hath but newly made and shaped and some before they are quite finished nay some which he hath but moulded in a lump together you destroy which not only spoils old Father Time's Labours but defaces his Architecture disgracing his Skill Likewise you do not only endeavour to destroy Nature and rob and disgrace Time but you take away Divine Worship from the Gods who receive their Worship from Life which you destroy for which they may justly punish you to Death After the Fly had made an end of this Discourse Now saith the Butcher to the Fly you think you have spoke wisely honestly and piously but your Speeches shew you to be a formal prating Coxcomb For first Nature creates more Creatures from Death than from Life from the Grave than from the Womb for those Creatures she creates from the Womb she creates for the most part by single ones or couples as Mankind and most sorts of Beasts but those that she creates from Death and the Grave as from dead Carkasses and Corruption she produceth by numbers as Maggots Worms and the like and most commonly your impertinent Worships are created in that manner And if the Gods are only served by Life we serve the Gods best for we by killing of single Creatures are the cause of creating millions of living Creatures Neither have you reason to brag for it is not you that are the only cause that those Creatures are produced from those Carkasses but Corruption which is the Mother of Life and which by your Bloth you hasten whereby you take Time's Work out of his hands and so you do usurp on Time's Prerogative for which I will whisk you out of my Shop as a Company of busie prating idle foolish Creatures you are Whereat they being frighted flew away Of a Man and a Spider A MAN whose Thoughts were not busily employed upon potent Affairs but lazily sitting in his Chair leaning his Head on his Hand with his Face towards the Window viewing a crafty Spider and marking what pains she took in spinning a Web to entangle the innocent Flyes saw that her Work was no sooner done but a Fly was catch'd therein He seeing this poor Fly dragg'd along and ready to be murthered by the cruel Spider who had watched her coming thither thus spake Mischievous Spider says he who art only industrious to an Evil Design spinning out thy own Bowels only to entrap a Creature that never did nor meant thee harm Hadst thou spun out of a charitable intention to clothe the Naked thou hadst been worthy of my Commendation but now thy Malice falls justly under my Wrath and taking the Tongs intended to kill
Lady Learned Lady SOME are of opinion That the World is a living Creature and the Sun is the Soul of it A Wise and Learned Philosopher held That the World was made of Atoms the Chaos being nothing but an infinite confus'd quantity of them Wit I think the Chaos was a great Lump of Wit which run it self into several Figures creating several Forms Thus the Chaos being Wit and the Wit being Motion hath invented this World and many more for all we know for Wit is never idle but is still producing something either of Delight or Profit Wis. The best is Not to dispute of what Matter it is or how it was made or when it was made but to enjoy the Pleasures thereof to make use of the Profits it hath and to avoid as much as we can the Inconveniences and Troubles therein for Disputes carry more out of the ways of Truth and leads further into the ways of Ignorance than all the Reason Nature hath given can add to our Knowledg and there is no Reason so strong but may be contradicted by another Wit If our Reason be so false a Guide and not only the Creation but the Tract of the World is so hard to be found out How shall we find a direct way to Jove's Mansion Wis. I will tell you The way to walk is by the Line of a good Life and to take hold of Faith and to climb up to Heaven by the Ladder of Prayers Lear. Nature is a Chymist and Water is the Mercury Fire is the Sulphur Air is the Volatil Salt Earth is the fixed Salt the fixed Starrs are the Crystalline part Life is the Spirits or Essences Death is the Caput Mortuum Wit Wit which is the Scholar of Nature is as good a Chymist for Wit doth extract something out of every thing Wis. And Wisdom knows how to apply the Extraction to the best use Learn As the agitation of the Air makes us draw our breath so the agitation of the World makes it continue Wit The agitation of the Brain makes a sharp ready Wit Wis. The agitation of Virtue makes a peaceable Commonwealth Learn Some Moral Philosophers hold That no Creature hath Reason but Man Wis. Men only talk of Reason but live like Beasts following their Appetites without Rules Wit Men may as soon set Rules to Eternity as to themselves for their Desires are so infinite and so intricate that we may as soon measure Eternity as them for Desires are like Time still run forward and what is past is as it had never been Wis. But Man may set Rules to Himself not to his Desires and as wise Laws govern the Life so that Reason Which Men say they have should govern their insatiable Desires Learn 'T is said History instructs the Life it registers Time it enthrones Virtue it proclaims Noble Natures it crowns Heroick Actions it divulges Baseness and hangs up Wickedness It is a Torch that gives light to dark Ignorance It is a Monument to the Dead and a Fame to Persons of Merit Wit In Poetry is included Musick and Rhetorick which is Number and Measure Judgment and Fancy Imitation and Invention It is the finest Art in Nature for it animates the Spirits to Devotion it fires the Spirits to Action it begets Love it abates Hate it tempers Anger it asswages Grief it eases Pain it encreases Joy allays Fear and sweetens the whole Life of Man by playing so well upon the Brain that it strikes the strings of the Heart with Delight which makes the Spirits to dance and keeps the Mind in tune whereby the Thoughts move equally in a round Circle where Love sits in the Center as Mistress and Judg. Learn Some Philosophers hold That all the Changes in the World are only caused by Dilatation and Contraction Wit I am sure too much Dilatation of the Spirits causeth a weakness by dis-uniting their Forces and contracting of Humours causeth Diseases Yet a dilatating Wit is best spreading it self smoothly flowing and easily which if it be contracted it makes it constraint hard and unpleasant and becomes difficult to the Understanding VVis Let us contract our Vanities and moderate our Appetites with sober Temperance and dilate our Virtues and good Graces by Noble Actions and Pious Endeavours Learn The Mind some say is nothing but Local Motion in the Brain which we call Spirits in Animals that is Vapour indeed Vapour of Vapours that is the thin and sharp Vapours it is an Extract of Vapour from Vapours like Essences or Smoak that arises from the porous and liquid parts of the Body especially the Blood This Essence hath an innated Motion arising from the acuteness thereof yet its strength is often allayed by the dulness and coldness of grosser Vapours or obstructed or hindred by the thickness of dull Matter and oft-times it evaporates out of the Body by too much rarification caused by too quick a Motion Wit The Mind is like a God an Incorporeal thing and so infinite that it is as impossible to measure the Mind as Eternity Indeed Vapour is a great Instrument to the Wit for gross Vapour stops up the Wit cold Vapour congeals it hot Vapour inflames it thin and sharp Vapour quickens it Thus all sorts of Vapours make Variety of Wit and the several Figures and Works and Forms that the Vaporous Smoak ariseth in causeth several Fancies by giving several Motions to the Brain VVis Well Sisters to conclude your Dispute The best Ingredient of the Mind is Honesty and the best motion of the Brain is Reason otherwise the Brain would be mad and the Mind wicked wherefore moderate the one and temper the other Learn Learning encreases Knowledg begets Understanding employs Time and enriches the Mind Wit Wit invents profitable Arts it creates Sciences it delights the Mind it recreates the Life and entertains Time VVis VVisdom guides the Life safe gives honest Laws to the VVill sets noble Rules to the Actions it governs Misfortunes easily it prevents Misfortunes prudently it employs Time thristily it makes Peace it gets Victory it tempers those Passions that would disturb the Soul it moderates those Appetites that would cause Pain to the Body it endures Sickness patiently and suffers Death valiantly Learn There are many several kinds of Arts as Arts of Pleasure enticing Arts vain-glorious Arts vain Arts superfluous Arts superstitious Arts ambitious Arts covetous Arts profitable Arts destructive Arts. Arts of Pleasure are Gardens Groves Bowers Arbours Grots Fountains Prospects Landskips Gilding Painting Sculpture likewise Musick of all sorts Confectionary Cookery and Perfumes Enticing Arts are Artificial Singing Artificial Speaking Artificial Dressing Dancing Powdring Curling Perfuming Rich Clothing Luxurious Entertainments Vain Arts are Feathers Fancies Ribbons black-Patches and Side-Glasses Amorous Arts are flattering Complements false Professions affected Garbs affected Speeches affected Countenances affected Actions Sonnets Poems Frolicks Questions and Commands Proposes and Riddles Presents Private Meetings and Conference Expensive Arts are Feasting Masquing Balling Carding Dicing Racing
from Violence and Scandal in a Wandring-life or a Travelling-condition IN the Kingdom of Riches after a long and sleepy Peace over-grown with Plenty and Ease Luxury broke out into Factious Sores and Feverish Ambition into a Plaguy Rebellion killing numbers with the Sword of Unjust Warr which made many flye from that Pestilent Destruction into other Countreys and those that stayed sent their Daughters and Wives from the Fury of the Inhuman Multitude chusing to venture their Lives with the hazzards of Travels rather than their Honours and Chastities by staying at home amongst rough and rude Soldiers But in ten years Warrs the Ignorant-Vulgar being often in the Schools of Experience whipt with Misery had learnt the Lesson of Obedience and Peace that laid all that time in a Swound was revived to life and Love the Vital Spirits thereof being restored to their orderly Motions and Zeal the Fire of the Publick Heart flaming a-new did concoct the undigested Multitudes to a pure good Government and all those that Fear or Care had banished were invited and called home by their natural Affections to their Countrey A Lady amongst the rest enricht by Nature with Virtue Wit and Beauty in her returning-voyage felt the spight of Fortune being cast by a storm from the place she steered to upon the Kingdom of Sensuality a Place and People strange unto her No sooner was she landed but Treachery beset her and those she entrusted left her Her years being but few had not gathered Experience enough to give her the best direction Thus knowing not how to dispose of her self wanting means for support and calling her young and tender Thoughts to counsel at last they did agree She should seek a service And going to the chief City which was not far from the Haven-Town with a Skipper whom she had entreated to go along with her he left her in a poor and mean house to Chance Time and Fortune where her Hostess seeing her handsome was tempted by her Poverty and Covetousness to consider her own Profit more than her Guest's Safety selling her to a Bawd which used to traffick to the Land of Youth for the Riches of Beauty This old Bawd having commerce with most Nations could speak many Languages and this Lady 's amongst the rest and what with her Languages and her flattering Words she inticed this young Lady to live with her and this old Bawd her supposed vertuous Mistress used her kindly fed her daintily clothed her finely insomuch as she began to think she was become the Darling of Fortune but yet she keeps her closely from the view of any until her best Customers came to the Town who were at that time in the Countrey In the mean time her Mistress began to read her Lectures of Nature telling her She should use her Beauty while she had it and not to waste her Youth idly but to make the best profit of both to purchase Pleasure and Delight besides said she Nature hath made nothing in vain but to some useful End and nothing meerly for its self but for a common Benefit and general Good as you see by the Earth Water Air and Fire Sun Moon Starrs Light Heat Cold and the like So is Beauty with Strength and Appetites either to delight her Creatures that are in being or to procure more by Procreation for Nature only lives by Survivers and that cannot be without Communication and Society Wherefore it is a sin against Nature to be reserved and coy and take heed said she of offending Nature for she is a great and powerful Goddess transforming all things out of one shape into another and those that serve her faithfully and according as she commands she puts them in an easie and delightful Form but those that displease her she makes them to be a trouble and torment to themselves wherefore serve Nature for she is the only and true Goddess and not those that men call upon as Jupiter Juno and a hundred more that living-men vainly offer unto being only Men and Women which were Deified for Invention and Heroick Actions for unto these dead though not forgotten Gods and Goddesses as they are called through a Superstitious Fear and an Idolatrous Love to Ceremony and an Ignorant Zeal to Antiquity Men fruitlesly pray But Nature is the only true Goddess and no other wherefore follow her Directions and you shall never do amiss for we that are old said she are Nature's Priests and being long acquainted with her Laws and Customs do teach Youth the best ways to serve her in The young Lady being of a quick apprehension began to suspect some Design and Treachery against her and though her Doubts begot great Fears yet her confidence of the Gods protection of Virtue gave her Courage and dissembling her discovery as well as she could for the present gave her thanks for her Counsel But when she was gone considering in what a dangerous condition she stood and that the Gods would not hear her if she lazily called for help and watch'd for Miracles neglecting Natural Means whereupon she thought the best way was secretly to convey her self out of that place and trust her self again to Chance by reason there could not be more danger than where she was But those thoughts being quickly cut off because she could find no possibility of an escape being strictly kept by the care of the old Bawd for fear she should give away that by enticement which she meant to sell at a high rate Wherefore she was forced to content her self and to satisfie her Fears with hopes of finding some means to be delivered from those dangers praying to the Gods for their assistance to guard her from cruel Invaders of Chastity But after two or three days a Subject Prince of that Countrey which was a grand Monopolizer of young Virgins came to the Town which was the Metropolitan City of that Countrey where as soon as he came he sent for his chief Officer the old Bawd to know of her how his Customers encreased who told him she had a rich Prize which she had seized on and kept only for his use telling him She was the rarest Piece of Nature's Works only faith she she wants mature confidence but Time and heat of Affection would ripen her to the height of Boldness So home she went to prepare for his coming adorning her House with costly Furniture setting up a rich Bed as an Altar to Venus burning pleasant and sweet Perfumes as Incense to her Deity before the Sacrifice of Chastity Youth and Beauty and instead of Garlands dress'd her with costly and rich Jewels But the fair Aspect of her Beauty her lovely Features exact Proportion graceful Behaviour with a sweet and modest Countenance was more adorned thus by Nature's dress than those of Art But these Preparations turned Miseriae for so she was called from Doubts to a perfect belief of what she feared before and not knowing how to avoid the Shipwrack she grew
middle nature as betwixt Water and Air for by the rarifaction it is not so gross nor so wet as Water nor rarified so much as to be as thin and dry as Air. Then they asked her What she thought of those that were of the opinion That under the Line it was uninhabitable through an extream heat She said She thought they were like those that were blind of one eye which saw perfectly on the one side but not on the other for their Reason discovered there was a great Heat but it did not discover the refreshing-Winds and moistning-Dews which are constantly in that place which Winds and Dews quench the fiery heat which makes it temperate for Heat and Cold make an equal temper when they are equal in degrees and because there is twelve hours night and twelve day there is as much Cold as Heat for the Dews and the Winds join'd with the Night makes it temperate but if it were not for the equal hours and those Dews and Winds it would be as they thought it was insufferably hot but they wanted information concerning the Dews and the Wind and did not throughly consider when they miss'd the Night Then they asked her the reason of the light of Clow-worms Tails She answered That it was probable the purest thinnest and oilest extracted parts of the Body were in the Tail which the radical Fire enflamed which Flame was Light and said she the Worm having no solid Bones tough Sinews firm Flesh gross Blood or thick Skin in that part to obstruct or eclipse the light it visibly shines in the Night when the Sun is gone whose greatest light drowns all other lesser lights and the reason it shines some times and not others may be some outward cause that eclipses it from our sight as a little Cloud will do the Sun whereas a much smaller Vapour or the like cause will serve to obscure the light of the Glow-worms Tail and certainly said she if we could see through the Bodies of Animals and likewise throught their Skull as easily as the Glow-worms Tail we should see said she a much brighter flame in the Heart and the Brain which flame is the light of Knowledg and the several Objects that the Senses bring in are there visibly perceived these Lights Sickness eclipses and Death puts out Then they asked her What the Moon was She answered A Body of Water and the several Changes said she is the ebbing and flowing thereof which makes it fuller sometimes in one part of the Circle than in the other and when it is High-tide we say it is Full Moon and when it is Low-tide it is in the Wane and as it encreases or decreases we say it is in the First Second or Third Quarter Then they asked her What made it give light She said The Sun's Reflexion thereon for you may observe said she that as the Water shines with the Reflexions or Beams of the Sun so doth the Moon as we say with a Watrish light and said she it is more or less light as that side next to the Sun is swelled fuller or ebbed lower Then they asked her of the rest of the Planets She said She believed that Venus Starr was a Body of Water as the Moon was but for the other Planets said she I take them to be Earthly Bodies but not such as our Globe is but much finer and of as great a difference said she as between Porceline and Clay which makes them shine so bright the substance being so pure that it is as it were transparent Then they asked What the fix'd Starrs were She answered Suns Then they asked her What was the reason that the Breath was hot and cold all at one time as it were for when a Man breathed upon his hand it would feel hot and when he blows upon it it would feel cold She said There was a reason for that for said she a Dilatation causeth heat and a Contraction causeth cold and said she if one breathes on the hand they open the Mouth and Lips wide by which the Breath dilatates like a steam or a vapour which is hot and when one blows upon the hand then the Mouth and Lips are drawn into a narrow compass and that contracts the Breath into a cold wind These several Motions make one and the same thing from one and same manner or passages to work two several effects and surely those Winds that are coldest from whence soever they issue out their passage is narrow and those Winds that feel warm as many times Winds will do their passage is wider and are rather a breathing Vapour than a perfect Wind. There is nothing shews that VVind is made cold by Contraction so much as to blow upon the hand which shews that VVind is contracted Air. Then they asked her VVhat was the reason wind could blow out flame and in a flame it could kindle and put out fire She said That wind did strive to dissipate all things it did encounter and where it hath not so much power to dissipate it only dilatates and when fire is set to any combustible Matter as wood or the like the wind having not a forcible power to dissipate it into dust or ashes it beats the heat of the fire into it and fire having a nature to catch hold and to dilatate and so to feed it self upon all things or at least upon most when the Matter is too hard for the siery-points to enter or at least to enter suddenly the wind like a Hammer strikes them in and so lends the fire force and helping the fire to extend by its dissipating-power dilatates the Heat into the smoak or vapour of the Matter and so into a flame but when it puts out fire or flame it is when it hath so much force as to dissipate the Matter the fire works on and if the wind destroys or disperses the Matter it must needs put out the fire having nothing to work on for fire dyes when it hath no Fuel to work or feed on This is the reason a Man with his Breath can blow out the flame of a Candle and with his Breath blow the flame in again if the snuff of the Candle be full and throughly fired or else he cannot but if it be full and throughly fired he may blow so hard as to dissipate the flame yet not so hard as to dissipate the fiery snuff or wieck of the Candle so that the flame by the dissipating goeth out being dilatated to a dissipation and when the flame is out and the fire remaining with a gentle wind he may dilatate the fire into a flame again and so many times as long as the body of fire remains but if they should blow so hard or strongly as to dissipate the body of fire they put out both fire and flame Then they asked her VVhat Snow Hail Ice and Frost was She answered That Snow was curded VVater like curded Milk for saith she cold doth curdle