Institutions, Part 2
INSTRUCTIONS OR ADVICE TO HIS GRANDSON. The ſecond Part.
HOmo eſt Animal ſociale: and he that is not ſociable (ſaith Ariſtotle) is more than a man, or leſſe than a man, aut Deus aut bellua, either a God which hath need of none, or a beaſt that will do good to none. And from this principle or inſtinct of nature (for men to live together) he deduceth Families, Villages, Cities and Commonwealths. But the beſt things have a mixture of ill, and a difficulty ariſeth, ſince Mundus in maligno poſitus, how ſhall we converſe and not participate with other mens ſins; touch pitch and not be defiled, or be like fiſhes of the Sea, bred up in ſalt waters, and alwaies ſweet.
Pelagius affirmed that man onelyonly ſinned by imitation: and certainly by ſeeing others ſin before us, we inſenſible ſuck in the poyſon of Vice. This hath been the cauſe, that divers pious and devout men have diſſociated and retired themſelves into rocks, caves and deſart places, thereby to avoid the contagion of Evil: ſuch as Iohn the Baptiſt, Father of the Eremites.
But man by his Fall being judged to eat his bread Sudore vultus ſai, is neceſſitated to live and make choice of an active life, which conſiſteth in labour & commerce, and thereby is engaged to the ſociety of others. And becauſe of temptations, it is good in the firſt place to avoid the converſe of all known wicked perſons, ſuch as …e Cheaters, Ruffians & Debauched, who glory in their ſhame. A …nis bona perdiſces (ſaith Seneca) quod ſi malis adhaeſeris, mentem …uam habes proculdubio perdes. But becauſe the Aſſemblies of …en (and thoſe alſo of the better …ort, which is to be bewailed) …o abound with ſuch, we are to fortify our ſelves with the morall Vertues, and put on the Chriſtian Armour, that thereby (by Gods aſſiſtance) we may avoid the baits and engines wherewith they endeavour to enſnare us, as Solomon adviſeth us; Si alliciant te peccatores, ne acquieſcas eis, &c. Seneca alſo gives us excellent direction: Cum tuis verſare, quite meliorem facturi ſunt: illos admitte, quos tu potes facere meliores. Good is diffuſive, and it is a happy Converſe, when we either profit others or our ſelves.
The firſt place in our Affections muſt be for our Friends. True friendſhip is (as Tully ſaith) inter bonos in bonis; All compacts with wicked men, or in wicked things, are male icta foedera. A Friend is tried in Adverſity: Si poſſides amicum (ſaith Syracides) … tentationibus poſside eum, & … facile credas ei. A good cloſe, not to be too credulous, but to try before you truſt, true friends being very rare among ſo many Profeſſors of friendſhip.
Tuta frequenſ que , via eſt per amici fallere nomen.
The Italians have a proverb, God ſhield me from my friends, I will look to my Enemies my ſelf. It may be an advantage to have an Enemy: he will make you ſtand the ſurer upon your guard: you eye his motions and avenues: but a friend, which boſometh with you, who can prevent? He is like a ſubterraneous engine, which wil blow you up before you hear the report. And therefore Seneca well adviſeth: Sic am a tanquam oſurus, &c. Never love ſo much, but reſerve your ſelf, that if your friend ſhall become your enemy, he ſhall not have power to do you hurt: and yet withall, never hate ſo much, but leave an open gap or overture to let in love. Your hatred muſt be mortall, your love immortall. Love abideth for ever.
The next in order are your Neighbours, (a good Neighbour near, is better than a brother afar off:) with whom, in reſpect of nearneſſe, you are to converſe.
There are two Honorable Neighbours, that in effect encircle your Eſtate: 1 The Right Honorable Viſcount Tracy, w…o hath the preheminence of all the Families in theſe parts for Antiquity. Your Anceſtors have from them received much honour by divers Truſts and Services recommended and repoſed in them. Their lands at Alderton lye promiſcuouſly with yours, and many differences have ariſen between the reſpective Lords & Tenants, which have been alwaies compoſed in an amicable way. Many graces and favours I have received in my Country; have proceeded from this Honorable Lord, and his Son Sir Robert Tracy, the true Inheritor of his Honours & Vertues. And though I might command you, yet had I rather intreat you to aſſiſt me to pay that deep debt of duty and ſervice which I ow to thoſe of that Honorable Family.
The other is the Lord Chandos; nay, the Lord Butlers long before, as I am very well able to ſet forth. The Lord Edmund Chandos Knight of the Garter, in much infirmity of body did adventure towards Gloceſter to do Sr. Iohn Higford honour, when he was firſt High Sheriff, but falling more ſick in the Journey, returned to his Caſtle and died before the Aſſizes were ended. The Lord Giles Chandos employed Sr. Iohn Higford in the Government of his Eſtate, and in the Lieutenancy of the County: & for his good ſervice done therein promoved him to the Queens Majeſtie (a great Houſewife of her Honour) who dignified him with the order of a Knight (in thoſe days communicable only to perſons of worth and quality) 14. Sept. 1591. At which time alſo her ſaid Majeſtie created Sr Iohn Scudamore Knight, the goodlyeſt Parſonage then in the Court of England, and in high favour, her Majeſtie uſing many gracious ſpeches to them both. The Lord Grey Chandos, truely noble both in learning and Armes brought me firſt into the Commiſſion of the Peace, and did me many Graces both in Court and Country. This noble Lord, with whom you are almoſt coetaneous, hath ſhewed many remarkable Indices of his Proweſs and Honour.
Nec imbellem feroces
Progenerant Aquilae columbam.
Follow the train of your Anceſtors, and ſo grow up in his favour.
Principibus placuiſſe viris haud ultima laus eſt.
You have alſo many other worthy Gentlemen your Neighbours, and ſome of your Alliance too, from whom your Anceſtors have received many high favours. Your Anceſtors knew no other way to continue their good Affections, but Affability, Sweetneſs, and mutuall Offices of love. Moroſity and ſtrangeneſs will looſe your friends, and benefit you nothing at all.
Deſcendendo aſcendes.
The next Companions in order are your ſervants and Domeſticks, but theſe are ill companions, leſt they prove inſolent. It is written of Nero, the worſt of Princes, Non habuiſſe ingenium ſupra ſervos; when the great affaires of State were in debate in the Senat houſe, he was converſant with his Favourite Tigillinus and the reſt of his ſervants. And this hath alſo been a diſparagement to many worthy Gentlemen, who affecting to be the beſt of their company, have negclected the converſe of their ſuperiors, many times to their great diſadvantage.
That you may be the better obeyed by your ſervants, you muſt carefully govern your ſelf, that by your own example you may the better govern them. Longum eſt iter per praecepta; breve & efficax per exempla.
In the choice of your ſervants, you muſt take care, that they be negotiis pares, and then enjoyn them buſineſs enough, and exact accounts from them, leſt by remiſſneſs they grow idle and unſerviceable. Pay them their due Salaries: ſo will they be the more tyed and aſſured to you: Non manebit apud te opus mercenarti uſque mane. Your Commands muſt be lawfull, pious, and religious, tantum in Domino: remembring, that as they are your Servants, ſo they are Gods Freemen. Holy David will direct you in the choice of them: He that leadeth a Godly life, he ſhall be my ſervant. Faithfull Abraham will inform you how to govern them: I know, ſaith God, that Abraham will Command his Houſhold, that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousneſs and judgment. Abraham had a good ſervant whom he employed in the negotiation of his ſons marriage: if you finde ſuch a ſervant, let your ſoul love him, and defraud him not of liberty, neither leave him a poor man.
The next Companions will be your Tenants, who are your Neighbours, and will have recourſe unto you, in reſpect of their Eſtates which they hold of you. Tillage is the preſervation of a Commonwealth in providing bread, which is called the Staff of man, whereupon he leaneth: which Staff, if it fail, Man falleth to the ground. Terra dicitur a terendo: and in a Fine Tillage-land is firſt ſet down, becauſe it is worthyer than any other land. For, as Cicero ſaith, Omnium rerum ex quibus aliquid exprmiitur, nihil eſt Agricultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius. By this Kings have their Subſidies, and the Bodies of men for ſupply of their Armies, (for, as Tacitus ſaith, Ex agro ſupplendum robur exercitus) and Incumbents alſo recieve their full Tithes. Theſe Men live innocent lives without deceit: they onelyonly rely upon God, who giveth the former and the later rain. To incloſe, or not to ſuffer them to renue their Eſtates, whereby deſolation ſhall enſue, draweth on a woe.
They hold of you by Fealty, that is, Fidelity, to be faithfull unto you for the Lands they hold. you muſt in Relation give them protection, whereby they may follow their exceſſive labours.
Finiunt, reaprant que labores.
Your Anceſtors have been moderate in their Fines, and I truſt God will bleſs you the better for it. Let theſe men of bread enjoy and eat the bread which they dearly labour for and earn: Panis pauperum, vita pauperum: qui defrandat eos, vir ſanguinis.
To your Tenements and Manour you have an Advouſion that is Appendant. An Advouſion, in the eye and conſtruction of the law, is no more but a Pleaſure for a Friend, a good friend indeed which may lead you to God. Omnia cum amico delibera, ſed de ipſo prius,
Cardinal Ximenes Archbiſhop of Sevilla in Spain would never conferr any Benefice to any perſon who made ſuit for the ſame. K. Henry 7. one of the Sages of the Kings of England did never promote any one to any Office or dignity upon the motion of another. Give your Benefice your ſelf, ſo ſhall you have the thanks: Give it with Iudgment, not with partial affection, St. Paul will direct you how to chooſe: Irreprehenſibilem, ornatum, prudentem, pudicum, hoſpitalem, doctorem; non violentum, non percuſſorem, non cupidum; ſed modeſtum, non neophytum, ne in ſuperbiam elatus in judicium incidat diaboli. Againſt this yong man I ſhould except a little. Young men are Aguiſh, their pots are boiling, and they have many Meanders. The Cardinals in their conclave would once adventure (& that but once) to make a young Pope, which was Leo the 10. of the Houſe of Medices: but ſee what followed: This yong Pope by promiſcuous granting and ſelling of Pardons and Indulgences to the German Nation, gave occaſion to Luther to write againſt him what a defection hath ſince enſued from that See? The Cardinals ſince grown more wary in their choice, do except againſt any one (though otherwiſe well parted for ſo high a function) unleſs he be alſo old enough to be Pope.
Coram cano capite conſurge, (ſaith Syracides.) The Elder man fixeth a deeper impreſſion in the hearts of his Auditors, and the gray hairs exact a better attention, as it is lively expreſſed by Virgil.
Tum pietate gravem, & meritis ſi forte virum quem
Conſpexere, ſilent, arrectiſ que auribus aſtant:
Ille regit dictis animos, & pectora mulcet.
The elder man alſo, if he be froward, is of leſs continuance.
Non datur beneficium niſi propter officium, ſaith the Law. If you have provided him of the temporal part, he muſt afford you the ſpiritual. Amongſt other his qualifications, peaceable muſt be one; in reſpect of the Intereſt he ſhall have in yours and your Tenants Eſtates. When you make a feaſt, though furniſhed with variety of delicacies, your feaſt will be much impaired, if you have no ſalt. This is your Salt.
It will be an eſpecial act of Piety in you to ſettle a godly preaching Miniſter to officiate at Dixton; It will be a ſingular comfort to you and your Family, to be informed in your duty to God by the example of his life and by his doctrine. It is ſaid, Facundus comes in via eſt pro vehiculo: certainly, in this your journey ad patri am, which is Heaven (for we are all but pilgrimes upon earth) ſuch a companion will be as a Chariot to bring you to Almighty God: and perhaps ſome of your Anceſtors have been leſs ſucceſsfull by the omiſſion thereof.
Now, being upon the Treaty of Sacred things, I ſhall recommend and tranſmit unto you the care of certain Lands piouſly bequeath'd by William Higford Eſq; to the uſe of the Church of Alderton by his Deed bearing date in October, the 28. Henry 8.
The Church doth pray in aid of Brachium ſaeculare to ſupport it, and the firſt Law in the Statutes of Magna Carta, whereunto the King at his Coronation is ſolemnly ſworn, is, That the Church of England ſhall be free, and have all her Rights entire, and her liberties inviolate. You are and muſt be a Brachium ſeculare, and ſupport to thoſe Lands, which being ſeparated and ſet apart from profane uſes, muſt be now onelyonly imployed according to the diſpoſition of the Donour per formam doni. To alien or divert the profits to any other uſe (which is often attempted by the Pariſhioners to ſave their own mony) or to indeavour to gain theſe Lands to your ſelf, is Sacriledge, a crying ſin, greatly tending to the diſhonour of Almighty God, and which alſo may infect your other lands. There are many examples of ſuch who have broken the Truſts repoſed in them, but their Names do rot upon the earth. Horrendum eſt incidere in manus Dei. You will find other pious Acts of your Anceſtors, which to their glory and honour you are to maintain, as you will expect to be honoured your ſelf.
You have alſo another Companion, which readeth to you. Generoſus Animus facilius ducitur quàm trahitur. You muſt hearken to him as ſubſtituted by your worthy Mother, unto whom God hath confirmed a power over you. The Heir (ſaith the Apoſtle) differeth in nothing from a Servant (in his Minority) but is under Tutors and Governours. Diſobedience in this kind is deſtructive. Maledictio Matris eradicat fundamenta. This your Overſeer is to give you your firſt liquor: and then you know.
Quo ſemel eſt imbuta recens ſervabit odorem
Teſta diu.
Sir John Higford, who was an eminent man in his Country, had for his Tutor the famous Biſhop Jewel; my Father Doctor Cole, an excellent Governour; My ſelf Doctor Sebaſtian Benefield, native of Presbury, a very learned man: All three of Corpus Chriſti Coll. Oxon. And if we may tranſcend higher, Alexander who conquered the world, had for his Tutor Ariſtotle, who conquered the Arts: Thomas Aquinas, the Champion of the Roman hoſt (of whom they boaſt, Tolle Thomam & diſsipa Eccleſiam) had for his Tutor our Countryman and near Neighbour Alexander of Hales, ſurnamed Doctor irrefragabilis: Charles the Great, Emperour of the Weſt, Alcuinus: Charles the fift, Pope Adrian: King James, a King of learning as well as of power, had for his Tutor the famous Buchanan. Theſe Princes and great Perſons obtained great renown by their Inſtitution from their Tutors.
The Ieſuits boaſt, that Imperium literaerum penès Ieſuitas: and they profit & raiſe their Scholars moſt by the choiceſt Lecturers that may be gotten to read unto their youth (and ſo alſo do Both our Univerſities, both in private Colledges and publick ſchooles) after the lecture they meet together, hold diſputation, whet their wits by diſcourſe, and rivet what they have heard, adding thereunto writing the heads for the helps of fallible memory: thus the work is done. Reading maketh an able man, Diſcourſe a ready man, and writing a perfect man.
There are alſo other Companions, and theſe are Books, held to be the beſt companions of all, becauſe they will not flatter: but in the choice of them you ought to be very curious. And therefore in the firſt place caſt away from you all wanton, leud and licentious Pamplhets: and read good books, and thoſe in order and method. For as in your diet, health is preſerved by a few diſhes, and thoſe of good juice and nouriſhment: ſo in learning, a few Books well ſtudyed and digeſted will profit you more than a great number not will choſen. Lectio certa prodeſt: ſaith Seneca.
The Right Honourable, the Lord Viſcount Scudamore is beſt able to direct you (when you can have acceſs to his Lordſhip) he is foreign, a great lover of learning and very learned: and a moſt bountifull Mecaenas to all Schollars and men of parts.
The Book, wherein you are to be moſt converſant, is the Holy Scriptures. This muſt be your Vade mecum. Non recedat Volumen legis hujus ab ore tuo, ſed meditaberis in eo diebus & noctibus. This word is a lantern unto your feet, and a light unto your paths. The Scripture is compared to a River, wherein a Lamb may wade, and an Elephant may ſwim: in ſome places eaſie, in ſome places hard to be underſtood. The eaſie muſt expound the harder: and where you doubt, you muſt follow the Adviſe of St. James Si quis indiget ſapientia, poſtulet a Deo: and alſo have recourſe to Gods learned Miniſters and Embaſſadors, of whom it is ſaid, Vobis datum eſt nôſſe myſteria dôi, whereto the Prophet Malache agreeth: The Prieſts lips preſerve knowledge: ſeek the law at his Mouth. Thus doing, yo muſt acquieſce, and captivate your underſtanding to the obedience of Chriſt.
The Pſalms of Holy David you are to read as they are appointed for the Day, being a chioce part of the word of God, and the ejaculations of a perſon according to Gods heart.
Among other Books I would commend unto you eſpecially, in divinity, the learned Hookers, Eccleſiaſtical politie; in Hiſtory, the honour of our Nation Sr. Walter Raliegh & Plutarchs Lives; for the knowledge of our own Country, Mr. Camdens Britannia, and my freind Sr. Richard Baker's Chronicle; for precepts of Morality and vertuous Education, Xenophons Cyrus, and Tullies Offices, together with K. James Baſilicon Doron: and to refreſh your ſelf with poetical ſtories, you may take Sr. Philip Sydney in ſteed of all. When I was young, it was a defect for a Gentleman not to be verſed in Him.
Alfred, one of the Saxon Kings during the Heptarchy, & Founder of the Univerſity of Oxford, divided the 24. hours of the Day into 3. parts: whereof one third part he ſpent in the neceſſities of Nature, viz. eating, drinking, dreſſing, ſleeping &c. another third part he imployed in hearing and compoſing matters of ſtate, & negotiations of his Kingdome: but the other third part he conſtantly devoted to Meditation and acquiſition of wiſedome. Kings and Princes have many and great difficulties, and Crownes have thornes: and ſo in like ſort all Maſters of Families and Trades, in their ſeveral myſteries and vocations, have a full imployment of their time: of whom it may be ſaid, as Seneca, Ipſa vita vitae apparatu conſumitur: But in you, who are freed frem all thoſe incumbrances, it were noble to vindicate from ſleep and ſports ſome Hours every day, and to diſpoſe them in the exerciſe of learning.
Of all profeſſions the Lawyer is moſt painfull: and it may well be ſo: Gold is an eſpecial Invitement to induſtry. I have known divers Students of the Law, who have, without any failer, ſet apart eight, nay ſome ten hours & more every day in ſtudy of the Law: whereby they became great Gainers, and were advanced to the higheſt place of Iudicature.
Titus the ſon of the Emperour Veſpaſian, called Deliciae Generis Humani (becauſe he was of ſo ſweet a diſpoſition, that it is ſaid, Neminem ab eo triſtem diſceſſiſse) this Titus kept a Diary of all his Actions, and when at night he had found upon examination, that he had acted nothing memorable, he would exclame, Amici diem perdidimus. This example I commend to you, Dear Coſin, and adde no more here, concerning your converſe either with Men or Books.