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MISCELLANIES

An Account of Island, alias Ice-land,In the Year 1662

Great Store of Drift-wood, or Float-wood, is every Year cast up on their Shores, brought down by the Northern Winds, which serveth them for Fewel, and other Uses, the greatest Part whereof is Firr.

Of Bears there are none in the Country, but sometimes they are brought down from the North upon Ice, while they follow Seales, and so are carried away. Two in this Manner came over, and landed in the North of Island this last Year, 1662.

No Conies, or Hares, but of Foxes great Plenty, whose White Skins are much desired, and brought over into this Country.

The last Winter, 1662, so cold, and lasting with us in England, was the mildest they have had for many Years in Island.

Two new Eruptions with Slime and Smoak, were observed the last Year in some Mountains about Mount Hecla.³²²

Some hot Mineral Springs they have, and very effectual, but they make but rude Use thereof.

The Rivers are large, swift, and rapid, but have many Falls, which render them less Commodious; they chiefly abound with Salmons.

They sow no Corn, but receive it from Abroad.

They have a kind of large Lichen, which dried, becometh hard and sticky, growing very plentifully in many Places; whereof they make use for Food, either in Decoction, or Powder, some whereof I have by me, different from any with us.

In one Part of the Country, and not near the Sea, there is a large black Rock, which Polished, resembleth Touchstone, as I have seen in Pieces thereof, of various Figures.

There is also a Rock, whereof I received one Fragment, which seems to make it one kind of Pisolithes, or rather Orobites, as made up of small Pebbles, in the Bigness and Shape of the Seeds of Eruum, or Orobus.

They have some large Well-grained White Pebbles, and some kind of White Cornelian, or Agath Pebbles, on the Shore, which Polish well. Old Sir Edmund Bacon, of these Parts, made Use thereof in his peculiar Art of Tinging and Colouring of Stones.

For Shells found on the Sea-shore, such as have been brought unto me are but coarse, nor of many Kinds, as ordinary Turbines, Chamas, Aspers, Laves, etc.

I have received divers Kinds of Teeth, and Bones of Cetaceous Fishes, unto which they could assign no Name.

An exceeding fine Russet Downe is sometimes brought unto us, which their great Number of Fowls afford, and sometimes store of Feathers, consisting of the Feathers of small Birds.

Beside Shocks, and little Hairy Dogs, they bring another sort over, Headed like a Fox, which they say are bred betwixt Dogs and Foxes; these are desired by the Shepherds of this Country.

Green Plovers, which are Plentiful here in the Winter, are found to breed there in the beginning of Summer.

Some Sheep have been brought over, but of coarse Wooll, and some Horses of mean Stature, but strong and Hardy: one whereof kept in the Pastures by Yarmouth, in the Summer, would often take the Sea, swimming a great Way, a Mile or Two, and return the same, when its Provision fail’d in the Ship wherein it was brought, for many Days fed upon Hoops and Cask; nor at the Land would, for many Months, be brought to feed upon Oats.

These Accounts I received from a Native of Island, who comes Yearly into England; and by Reason of my long Acquaintance, and Directions I send unto some of his Friends against the Elephantiasis, (Leprosie,) constantly visits me before his Return; and is ready to perform for me what I shall desire in his Country; wherein, as in other Ways, I shall be very Ambitious to serve the Noble Society, whose most Honouring Servant I am,

Thomas Browne.

Norwich, Jan.15, 1663.

Concerning some Urnes found inBrampton-Field, in Norfolk,Ann. 1667

I thought I had taken Leave of Urnes, when I had some Years past given a short Account of those found at Walsingham,³²³ but a New Discovery being made, I readily obey your Commands in a brief Description thereof.

In a large Arable Field, lying between Buxton and Brampton, but belonging to Brampton, and not much more than a Furlong from Oxnead Park, divers Urnes were found. A Part of the Field being designed to be inclosed, while the Workmen made several Ditches, they fell upon divers Urnes, but earnestly, and carelesly digging, they broke all they met with, and finding nothing but Ashes, or burnt Cinders, they scattered what they found. Upon Notice given unto me, I went unto the Place, and though I used all Care with the Workmen, yet they were broken in the taking out, but many, without doubt, are still remaining in that Ground.

Of these Pots none were found above Three Quarters of a Yard in the Ground, whereby it appeareth, that in all this Time the Earth hath little varied its Surface, though this Ground hath been Plowed to the utmost Memory of Man. Whereby it may be also conjectured, that this hath not been a Wood-Land, as some conceive all this Part to have been; for in such Lands they usually made no common Burying-places, except for some special Persons in Graves, and likewise that there hath been an Ancient Habitation about these Parts; for at Buxton also, not a Mile off, Urnes have been found in my Memory, but in their Magnitude, Figure, Colour, Posture, etc. there was no small Variety, some were large and capacious, able to contain above Two Gallons, some of a middle, others of a smaller Size; the great ones probably belonging to greater Persons, or might be Family Urnes, fit to receive the Ashes successively of their Kindred and Relations, and therefore of these, some had Coverings of the same Matter, either fitted to them, or a thin flat Stone, like a Grave Slate, laid over them; and therefore also great Ones were but thinly found, but others in good Number; some were of large wide Mouths, and Bellies proportionable, with short Necks, and bottoms of Three Inches Diameter, and near an Inch thick; some small, with Necks like Juggs, and about that Bigness; the Mouths of some few were not round, but after the Figure of a Circle compressed; though some had small, yet none had pointed Bottoms, according to the Figures of those which are to be seen in Roma Soteranea, Viginerus, or Mascardus.

In the Colours also there was great Variety, some were Whitish, some Blackish, and inclining to a Blue, others Yellowish, or dark Red, arguing the Variety of their Materials. Some Fragments, and especially Bottoms of Vessels, which seem’d to be handsome neat Pans, were also found of a fine Coral-like Red, somewhat like Portugal Vessels, as tho' they had been made out of some fine Bolary Earth, and very smooth; but the like had been found in divers Places, as Dr. Casaubon hath observed about the Pots found at Newington in Kent, and as other Pieces do yet testifie, which are to be found at Burrow Castle, an Old Roman Station, not far from Yarmouth.

Of the Urnes, those of the larger Sort, such as had Coverings, were found with their Mouths placed upwards, but great Numbers of the others were, as they informed me, (and One I saw my self,) placed with their Mouths downward, which were probably such as were not to be opened again, or receive the Ashes of any other Person; though some wonder’d at this Position, yet I saw no Inconveniency in it; for the Earth being closely pressed, and especially in Minor Mouth’d Pots, they stand in a Posture as like to continue as the other, as being less subject to have the Earth fall in, or the Rain to soak into them; and the same Posture has been observed in some found in other Places, as Holingshead delivers, of divers found in Anglesea.

Some had Inscriptions, the greatest Part none; those with Inscriptions were of the largest Sort, which were upon the reverted Verges thereof; the greatest part of those which I could obtain were somewhat obliterated; yet some of the Letters to be made out: The Letters were between Lines, either Single or Double, and the Letters of some few after a fair Roman Stroke, others more rudely and illegibly drawn, wherein there seemed no great Variety. NUON being upon very many of them; only upon the inside of the bottom of a small Red Pan-like Vessel, were legibly set down in embossed Letters, CRACUNA. F. which might imply Cracuna figuli, or the Name of the Manufactor, for Inscriptions commonly signified the Name of the Person interr’d, the Names of Servants Official to such Provisions, or the Name of the Artificer, or Manufactor of such Vessels; all which are particularly exemplified by the Learned Licetus,³²⁴ where the same inscription is often found, it is probably, of the Artificer, or where the Name also is in the Genitive Case, as he also observeth.

Out of one was brought unto me a Silver Denarius, with the Head of Diva Faustina on the Obverse side, on the Reverse the Figures of the Emperor and Empress joining their Right Hands, with this Inscription, Concordia; the same is to be seen in Augustino; I also received from some Men and Women then present Coins of Posthumus, and Tetricus, Two of the Thirty Tyrants in the Reign of Gallienus, which being of much later Date, begat an Inference, that Urne-Burial lasted longer, at least in this Country, than is commonly supposed. Good Authors conceive, that this Custom ended with the Reigns of the Antonini, whereof the last was Antoninus Heliogabalus, yet these Coins extend about Fourscore Years lower; and since the Head of Tetricus is made with a radiated Crown, it must be conceived to have been made after his Death, and not before his Consecration, which as the Learned Tristan Conjectures, was most probably in the Reign of the Emperor Tacitus, and the Coin not made, or at least not issued Abroad, before the Time of the Emperor Probus, for Tacitus Reigned but Six Months and an Half, his Brother Florianus but Two Months, unto whom Probus succeeding, Reigned Five Years.

There were also found some pieces of Glass, and finer Vessels, which might contain such Liquors as they often Buried in, or by, the Urnes; divers Pieces of Brass, of several Figures; and in one Urne was found a Nail Two Inches long; whither to declare the Trade or Occupation of the Person, is uncertain. But upon the Monuments of Smiths in Gruter, we meet with the Figures of Hammers, Pincers, and the like; and we find the Figure of a Cobler’s Awl on the Tomb of one of that Trade, which was in the Custody of Berini, as Argulus hath set it down in his Notes upon Onuphrius, Of the Antiquities of Verona.

Now, though Urnes have been often discovered in former Ages, many think it strange there should be many still found, yet assuredly there may be great Numbers still concealed. For tho' we should not reckon upon any who were thus buried before the Time of the Romans, [altho' that the Druids were thus buried, it may be probable, and we read of the Urne of Chindonactes, a Druid, found near Dijon in Burgundy, largely discoursed of by Licetus,] and tho, I say, we take not in any Infant which was Minor igne rogi, before Seven Months, or Appearance of Teeth, nor should account this Practice of burning among the Britains higher than Vespasian, when it is said by Tacitus, that they conformed unto the Manners and Customs of the Romans, and so both Nations might have one Way of Burial: yet from his Days, to the Dates of these Urnes, were about Two Hundred Years. And therefore if we fall so low, as to conceive there were buried in this Nation but Twenty Thousand Persons, the Account of the buried Persons would amount unto Four Millions, and consequently so great a Number of Urnes dispersed through the Land, as may still satisfy the Curiosity of succeeding Times, and arise unto all Ages.

The Bodies, whose Reliques these Urnes contained, seemed thoroughly burned; for beside pieces of Teeth, there were found few Fragments of Bones, but rather Ashes in hard Lumps, and pieces of Coals, which were often so fresh, that one sufficed to make a good Draught of its Urne, which still remaineth with me.

Some Persons digging at a little Distance from the Urne Places, in hopes to find something of Value, after they had digged about Three Quarters of a Yard deep, fell upon an observable Piece of Work, whose Description this Figure affordeth. The Work was Square, about Two Yards and a Quarter on each Side. The Wall, or outward Part, a Foot thick, in Colour Red, and looked like Brick; but it was solid, without any Mortar or Cement, or figur’d Brick in it, but of an whole Piece, so that it seemed to be Framed and Burnt in the same Place where it was found. In this kind of Brick-work were Thirty-two Holes, of about Two Inches and an Half Diameter, and Two above a Quarter of a Circle in the East and West Sides. Upon Two of these Holes, on the East Side, were placed Two Pots, with their Mouths downward; putting in their Arms they found the Work hollow below, and the Earth being clear’d off, much Water was found below them, to the Quantity of a Barrel, which was conceived to have been the Rain-water which soaked in through the Earth above them.

The upper Part of the Work being broke, and opened, they found a Floor about Two Foot below, and then digging onward, Three Floors successively under one another, at the Distance of a Foot and Half, the Stones being of a Slatty, not Bricky, substance; in these Partitions some Pots were found, but broke by the Workmen, being necessitated to use hard Blows for the breaking of the Stones; and in the last Partition but one, a large Pot was found of a very narrow Mouth, short Ears, of the Capacity of Fourteen Pints, which lay in an enclining Posture, close by, and somewhat under a kind of Arch in the solid Wall, and by the great Care of my worthy Friend, Mr. William Masham, who employed the Workmen, was taken up whole, almost full of Water, clean, and without Smell, and insipid, which being poured out, there still remains in the Pot a great Lump of an heavy crusty Substance. What Work this was we must as yet reserve unto better Conjecture. Mean while we find in Gruter that some Monuments of the Dead had divers Holes successively to let in the Ashes of their Relations, but Holes in such a great Number to that Intent, we have not anywhere met with.

About Three Months after, my Noble and Honoured Friend, Sir Robert Paston, had the Curiosity to open a Piece of Ground in his Park at Oxnead, which adjoined unto the former Field, where Fragments of Pots were found, and upon one the Figure of a well-made Face; but probably this Ground had been opened and digged before, though out of the Memory of Man, for we found divers small Pieces of Pots, Sheeps Bones, sometimes an Oyster-shell a Yard deep in the Earth, an unusual Coin of the Emperor Volusianus, having on the Obverse the Head of the Emperor, with a Radiated Crown, and this Inscription, Imp. Cæs. C. Volusiano Aug. that is, Imperatori Cæsari Caio Vibio Volusiano Augusto. On the Reverse an Human Figure, with the Arms somewhat extended, and at the Right Foot an Altar, with the Inscription, Pietas. This Emperor was Son unto Caius Vibius Tribonianus Gallus, with whom he jointly reigned after the Decii, about the Year 254; both he, himself, and his Father, were slain by the Emperor Æmilianus. By the Radiated Crown this Piece should be Coined after his Death and Consecration, but in whose Time it is not clear in History.

Concerning the too nice Curiosity ofcensuring the Present, or judginginto Future Dispensations

We have enough to do rightly to apprehend and consider things as they are, or have been, without amusing our selves how they might have been otherwise, or what Variations, Consequences and Differences might have otherwise arose upon a different Face of things, if they had otherwise fallen out in the State or Actions of the World.

If Scanderberg had joined his Forces with Hunniades, as might have been expected before the Battel in the Plains of Cossoan, in good probability they might have ruin’d Mahomet, if not the Turkish Empire.

If Alexander had march’d Westward, and warr’d with the Romans, whether he had been able to subdue that little but valiant People, is an uncertainty: We are sure he overcame Persia; Histories attest, and Prophecies foretel the same. It was decreed that the Persians should be conquered by Alexander, and his Successors by the Romans, in whom Providence had determin’d to settle the fourth Monarchy, which neither Pyrrhus nor Hannibal must prevent; tho' Hannibal came so near it, that he seem’d to miss it by fatal Infatuation: which if he had effected, there had been such a traverse and confusion of Affairs, as no Oracle could have predicted. But the Romans must reign, and the Course of Things was then moving towards the Advent of Christ, and blessed Discovery of the Gospel: Our Saviour must suffer at Jerusalem, and be sentenc’d by a Roman Judge; St. Paul, a Roman Citizen, must preach in the Roman Provinces, and St. Peter be Bishop of Rome, and not of Carthage.

Upon Reading Hudibras

The way of Burlesque Poems is very Ancient, for there was a ludicrous mock way of transferring Verses of Famous Poets into a Jocose Sense and Argument, and they were call’d Ὠδέαι or Parodiæ; divers Examples of which are to be found in Athenæus.

The first Inventer hereof was Hipponactes, but Hegemon Sopater and many more pursu’d the same Vein; so that the Parodies of Ovid’s Buffoon Metamorphoses Burlesques, Le Eneiade Travastito, are no new Inventions, but old Fancies reviv'd.

An Excellent Parodie there is of both the Scaligers upon an Epigram of Catullus, which Stephens hath set down in his Discourse of Parodies: a remarkable one among the Greeks is that of Matron, in the Words and Epithites of Homer describing the Feast of Xenocles the Athenian Rhetorician, to be found in the fourth Book of Athenæus, pag. 134. Edit. Casaub.

CHRISTIAN MORALS,

BY

SR THOMAS BROWN,

OF NORWICH, M.D

And Author of

RELIGIO MEDICI

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

DAVID EARL OF BUCHAN

viscount auchterhouse, Lord cardross

and glendovachie,

one of the Lords Commissioners of police, and Lord

Lieutenant of the Counties of Stirling

and Clackmannan in North-Brittain

My Lord,

The Honour you have done our Family Obligeth us to make all just Acknowledgments of it: and there is no Form of Acknowledgment in our power, more worthy of Your Lordship's Acceptance, than this Dedication of the last Work of our Honoured and Learned Father. Encouraged hereunto by the Knowledge we have of Your Lordship's Judicious Relish of universal Learning, and sublime Virtue, we beg the Favour of Your Acceptance of it, which will very much Oblige our Family in general, and Her in particular, who is,

My Lord,

Your Lordship’s

most humble Servant,

Elizabeth Littelton.

THE PREFACE

If any One, after he has read Religio Medici, and the ensuing Discourse, can make Doubt, whether the same Person was the Author of them both, he may be Assured by the Testimony of Mrs. Littelton, Sr. Thomas Brown’s Daughter, who Lived with her Father when it was composed by Him; and who, at the time, read it written by his own Hand: and also by the Testimony of Others (of whom I am One), who read the MS. of the Author, immediately after his Death, and who have since Read the Same; from which it hath been faithfully and exactly Transcribed for the Press. The Reason why it was not Printed sooner is, because it was unhappily Lost, by being Mislay’d among Other MSS. for which Search was lately made in the Presence of the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury, of which his Grace, by Letter, Informed Mrs. Littelton, when he sent the MS to Her. There is nothing printed in the Discourse, or in the short notes, but what is found in the original MS of the Author, except only where an Oversight had made the Addition or transposition of some words necessary.

John Jeffery

Arch-Deacon

of Norwich.

CHRISTIAN MORALS

PART I

SECT. 1

Tread softly and circumspectly in this funambulatory Track and narrow Path of Goodness: Pursue Virtue virtuously: Leven not good Actions, nor render Virtues disputable. Stain not fair Acts with foul Intentions: Maim not Uprightness by halting Concomitances, nor circumstantially deprave substantial Goodness.

Consider whereabout thou art in Cebes’s Table, or that old Philosophical Pinax of the Life of Man: whether thou art yet in the Road of uncertainties; whether thou hast yet entred the narrow Gate, got up the Hill and asperous way, which leadeth unto the House of Sanity; or taken that purifying Potion from the hand of sincere Erudition, which may send Thee clear and pure away unto a virtuous and happy Life.

In this virtuous Voyage of thy Life hall not about like the Ark, without the use of Rudder, Mast, or Sail, and bound for no Port. Let not Disappointment cause Despondency, nor difficulty despair. Think not that you are Sailing from Lima to Manillia, when you may fasten up the Rudder, and sleep before the Wind; but expect rough Seas, Flaws, and contrary Blasts: and ’tis well, if by many cross Tacks and Veerings you arrive at the Port; for we sleep in Lyons Skins in our Progress unto Virtue, and we slide not, but climb unto it.

Sit not down in the popular Forms and common Level of Virtues. Offer not only Peace Offerings but Holocausts unto God: where all is due make no reserve, and cut not a Cummin Seed with the Almighty: To serve Him singly to serve ourselves were too partial a piece of Piety; not like to place us in the illustrious Mansions of Glory.

SECT. 2

Rest not in an Ovation³²⁵ but a Triumph over thy Passions. Let Anger walk hanging down the head; Let Malice go Manicled, and Envy fetter'd after thee. Behold within thee the long train of thy Trophies not without thee. Make the quarrelling Lapithytes sleep, and Centaurs within lye quiet. Chain up the unruly Legion of thy breast. Lead thine own captivity captive, and be Cæsar within thy self.

SECT. 3

He that is Chast and Continent not to impair his strength, or honest for fear of Contagion, will hardly be Heroically virtuous. Adjourn not this virtue untill that temper, when Cato could lend out his Wife, and impotent Satyrs write Satyrs upon Lust: But be chast in thy flaming Days, when Alexander dar’d not trust his eyes upon the fair sisters of Darius, and when so many think there is no other way but Origen’s.³²⁶

SECT. 4

Show thy Art in Honesty, and loose not thy Virtue by the bad Managery of it. Be Temperate and Sober, not to preserve your body in an ability for wanton ends; not to avoid the infamy of common transgressors that way, and thereby to hope to expiate or palliate obscure and closer vices; not to spare your purse, nor simply to enjoy health: but in one word, that thereby you may truly serve God, which every sickness will tell you you cannot well do without health. The sick Man's Sacrifice is but a lame Oblation. Pious Treasures lay’d up in healthful days plead for sick non-performances: without which we must needs look back with anxiety upon the lost opportunities of health; and may have cause rather to envy than pity the ends of penitent publick Sufferers, who go with healthful prayers unto the last Scene of their lives, and in the Integrity of their faculties return their Spirit unto God that gave it.

SECT. 5

Be charitable before wealth make thee covetous, and loose not the glory of the Mite. If Riches encrease let thy mind hold pace with them; and think it not enough to be Liberal, but Munificent. Though a Cup of cold water from some hand may not be without it's reward, yet stick not thou for Wine and Oyl for the Wounds of the Distressed, and treat the poor, as our Saviour did the Multitude, to the reliques of some baskets. Diffuse thy beneficence early, and while thy Treasures call thee Master: there may be an Atropos of thy Fortunes before that of thy Life, and thy wealth cut off before that hour, when all Men shall be poor; for the Justice of Death looks equally upon the dead, and Charon expects no more from Alexander than from Irus.

SECT. 6

Give not only unto seven, but also unto eight,³²⁷ that is, unto more than many. Though to give unto every one that asketh may seem severe advice,³²⁸ yet give thou also before asking; that is, where want is silently clamorous, and mens Necessities not their Tongues do loudly call for thy Mercies. For though sometimes necessitousness be dumb, or misery speak not out, yet true Charity is sagacious, and will find out hints for beneficence. Acquaint thyself with the Physiognomy of Want, and let the Dead colours and first lines of necessity suffice to tell thee there is an object for thy bounty. Spare not where thou canst not easily be prodigal, and fear not to be undone by mercy. For since he who hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Almighty Rewarder, who observes no Ides but every day for his payments; Charity becomes pious Usury, Christian Liberality the most thriving industry; and what we adventure in a Cockboat may return in a Carrack unto us. He who thus casts his bread upon the Water shall surely find it again; for though it falleth to the bottom, it sinks but like the Ax of the Prophet, to rise again unto him.

SECT. 7

If Avarice be thy Vice, yet make it not thy Punishment. Miserable men commiserate not themselves, bowelless unto others, and merciless unto their own bowels. Let the fruition of things bless the possession of them, and think it more satisfaction to live richly than dye rich. For since thy good works, not thy goods, will follow thee; since wealth is an appertinance of life, and no dead Man is Rich; to famish in Plenty, and live poorly, to dye Rich, were a multiplying improvement in Madness, and use upon use in Folly.

SECT. 8

Trust not to the Omnipotency of Gold, and say not unto it Thou art my Confidence. Kiss not thy hand to that Terrestrial Sun, nor bore thy ear unto its servitude. A Slave unto Mammon makes no servant unto God. Covetousness cracks the sinews of Faith; nummes the apprehension of any thing above sense; and only affected with the certainty of things present, makes a peradventure of things to come; lives but unto one World, nor hopes but fears another; makes their own death sweet unto others, bitter unto themselves; brings formal sadness, scenical mourning, and no wet eyes at the grave.

SECT. 9

Persons lightly dipt, not grain’d in generous Honesty, are but pale in Goodness, and faint hued in Integrity. But be thou what thou vertuously art, and let not the Ocean wash away thy Tincture. Stand magnetically upon that Axis, when prudent simplicity hath fixt there; and let no attraction invert the Poles of thy Honesty. That Vice may be uneasy and even monstrous unto thee, let iterated good Acts and long confirmed habits make Virtue almost natural, or a second nature in thee. Since virtuous superstructions have commonly generous foundations, dive into thy inclinations, and early discover what nature bids thee to be, or tells thee thou may'st be. They who thus timely descend into themselves, and cultivate the good seeds which nature hath set in them, prove not shrubs but Cedars in their generation. And to be in the form of the best of the Bad, or the worst of the Good,³²⁹ will be no satisfaction unto them.

SECT. 10

Make not the consequence of Virtue the ends thereof. Be not beneficent for a name or Cymbal of applause, nor exact and just in Commerce for the advantages of Trust and Credit, which attend the reputation of true and punctual dealing. For these Rewards, though unsought for, plain Virtue will bring with her. To have other by-ends in good actions sowers Laudable performances, which must have deeper roots, motives, and instigations, to give them the stamp of Virtues.

SECT. 11

Let not the Law of thy Country be the non ultra of thy Honesty; nor think that always good enough which the law will make good. Narrow not the Law of Charity, Equity, Mercy. Joyn Gospel Righteousness with Legal Right. Be not a mere Gamaliel in the Faith, but let the Sermon in the Mount be thy Targum unto the law of Sinah.

SECT. 12

Live by old Ethicks and the classical Rules of Honesty. Put no new names or notions upon Authentick Virtues and Vices. Think not that Morality is Ambulatory; that Vices in one age are not Vices in another; or that Virtues, which are under the everlasting Seal of right Reason, may be Stamped by Opinion. And therefore though vicious times invert the opinions of things, and set up a new Ethicks against Virtue, yet hold thou unto old Morality; and rather than follow a multitude to do evil, stand like Pompey’s pillar conspicuous by thyself, and single in Integrity. And since the worst of times afford imitable Examples of Virtue; since no Deluge of Vice is like to be so general but more than eight will escape; Eye well those Heroes who have held their Heads above Water, who have touched Pitch, and not been defiled, and in the common Contagion have remained uncorrupted.

SECT. 13

Let Age not Envy draw wrinkles on thy cheeks, be content to be envy’d, but envy not. Emulation may be plausible and Indignation allowable, but admit no treaty with that passion which no circumstance can make good. A displacency at the good of others because they enjoy it, though not unworthy of it, is an absurd depravity, sticking fast unto corrupted nature, and often too hard for Humility and Charity, the great Suppressors of Envy. This surely is a Lyon not to be strangled but by Hercules himself, or the highest stress of our minds, and an Atom of that power which subdueth all things unto it self.

SECT. 14

Owe not thy Humility unto humiliation from adversity, but look humbly down in that State when others look upwards upon thee. Think not thy own shadow longer than that of others, nor delight to take the Altitude of thyself. Be patient in the age of Pride, when Men live by short intervals of Reason under the dominion of Humor and Passion, when it’s in the Power of every one to transform thee out of thy self, and run thee into the short madness. If you cannot imitate Job, yet come not short of Socrates, and those patient Pagans who tired the Tongues of their Enemies, while they perceived they spit their malice at brazen Walls and Statues.

SECT. 15

Let not the Sun in Capricorn³³⁰ go down upon thy wrath, but write thy wrongs in Ashes. Draw the Curtain of night upon injuries, shut them up in the Tower of Oblivion³³¹ and let them be as though they had not been. To forgive our Enemies, yet hope that God will punish them, is not to forgive enough. To forgive them our selves, and not to pray God to forgive them, is a partial piece of Charity. Forgive thine enemies totally, and without any reserve that however God will revenge thee.