Institutions, Errata – Preface
Corrigenda & mutanda.
Pag. 45. lin. 11. lege ab aliis diſsidet. 47.21. tranſlatio noſtra. 105.4. omneſue ad unumferè. Nam ſunt inter Reformatos, qui de lectione hujus nominis non male ſentiant: quos aliquando nominabo, ſi à me nominari volent. 107.7. Loca ubi Iehova &c. Tota haec notatio deleri poſſet, …uum antea verbis Merceri cadem dicta ſint.
INSTITUTIONS OR ADVICE TO HIS GRANDSON, In Three Parts.
By William Higford Eſq
Diſce Puer virtutem ex me.
Virg.
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Warren, for Edmund Thor… of Oxford. MDCLVIII.
To his Noble friend Iohn Higford Eſq;
SIR,
I Have, by your permiſſion, gathered out of your Manuſcript, what I conceive to be fitteſt for the publick uſe.
Young Gentlemen, who ſhal read this, will acknowledge your favour in imparting it: And I ſhall think my pains well requited, if they pleaſe to take the good Advice humbly preſented to them from the Noble and Learned Author, under your beloved Name, by the Tranſcriber.
Epitaphium Gulielmi Higford.
HIc jacet Higfordus. Quis? Saxo ſuffici… i…i
Inſcriptum Nomen. Caetera Fama docet.
Higford lyes here: we onelyonly write his Name
…pon the Grave, and leave the reſt to Fame.
Fama loquitur.
Give me my Trumpet that I may proclaim,
…b laſting ſounds the Noble Higfords Name:
That this ungrateful world may know He's gone,
And know whom they have loſt. For he was one
Whom onelyonly few, that is, the wiſe did know,
And rightly value, while he liv'd: but now
All muſt lament and love. So the ſun's light
It eſtimate by the dark ſhade of night.
He was a light indeed: when he drew nigh,
And with his beams ſhin'd on our Company,
All clouded brows were clear'd, and every Face
Tis beautify'd with ſmiles; ſuch comely Grace
Appear'd in his behaviour; ſuch true wit,
Sharp wit, but inoffenſive, alwayes fit
For the occaſion and the perſons, ſtill
Mingled with his diſcourſe; …ad wit at will.
And Learning too he had in readineſſe,
Such as his Book conteins, worthy o'th preſſe,
His Manuſcript to his …o…s ſon. O when
Will it come forth, for th' uſe of Gentlemen!
He was wel read in Books, and Men; both theſe,
Study'd, made what he ſ…ke or wrote to pleaſe:
Old Authors he lov'd beſt; and well he knew
The Old Religion from the late and n…w,
And though he read and honour'd Bellarmine
And great Aquinas, he did not decline
From th' Engliſh Church, but held fast to his death
The Reformation of Queen Elzabeth,
Wherein he had been bred; ever the ſame;
Warping neither to Rome nor Amſterdam.
One note of his Religious minde take hence
(Exemplar to us all) his Patience.
Among his Papers, Gather what his Muſe
Hath left us in remembrance ('twas his uſe)
Of Honour'd perſons; Chandos, Button, do
Live in his Verſes ſtill, and Capel too.
Let Higford alſo live with them; His Name
With laſting ſounds my Trumpet ſhall proclaim.
THE PREFACE.
MAn is a proud Creature, ambitious of Immortality; but it is denyed him by the immutable Law of God edicted againſt all fleſh, Once to dye.
Omnia mors poſcit; lex eſt non poena perire.
But yet he ſolaceth himſelf with a phanſy of Immortality, at leaſtwiſe to live in ſpecie, and by his Poſterity, more conſpicuouſly in his Firſt-born to recontinue his memory: Haeres eſt alter ipſe (ſaith Syracides) & filius eſt pars patris: mortuus eſt pater, & quaſi non eſt mortuus, quia reliquit ſimilem ſibi.
The Application, Dear Coſin, reflecteth upon you. You are to me both my Coſin and my Son, my Coſin by the remotion of a degree, but my Son according to the Civil Law, Jure repraeſentationis, becauſe you repreſent the perſon of my dear Son, your late Father, now with God: ſo that in you are inveſted all his Rights and Prerogatives of Birth, and upon you (by Gods mercy) it likely to deſcend all the Honour (if any ſuch be) right and travel of our Anceſters, and in you we all muſt live.
And becauſe, in this your abſence from Dixton, I cannot impart my ſolicitous thoughts unto you, nor acquit my ſelf of that reciprocal duty I owe you, nor manifeſt the entire affection which I bear you by perſonal conference; love muſt creep where it cannot go: and therefore not knowing otherwiſe how to make my approaches unto you, I have framed and dedicated unto you this enſuing addreſſe, that it may be (if worthy your peruſal a ſupport to your tender youth, apt to ſlip, and a Guide unto you in this your journey upon earth, and alſo a Preſent or Token of my love unto you upon the entrance of this new year, which together with the whole courſe of your life, I heartily pray may be ſucceſſefull and happy.
Machiavel in his third book of his Decads upon Livy. ch. 34. a book which I would recommend unto to you in his due time, for I am not of the opinion of thoſe rigid Divines, that place ſo deep a ſearcher into Hiſtories and Roman Antiquities amongſt their Apocrypha books) recounteth that in the inſtitution of a young Nobleman or Gentleman (for Gentlemen are Nobiles minores) three things are very conſiderable.
1. That he deſcend from worthy parents; for that will be preſumed, that Children will be ſuch as their parents were (until the contrary doth appear.)
Fortes creantur fortibus & bonis.
2. The choice of his Company and Converſe; for this doth very much demonſtrate what the perſon is in his Genius and diſpoſition, as Syracides well obſerveth: All fleſh will reſort unto their like, and every man will keep company with ſuch as himſelf.
3. That he be very carefull, how he demean himſelf in the entrance of his youth that he act nothing, which ſhall be vile, ſluggiſh or remiſs: but that his actions ſavour of quickneſſe and magnanimity: and if opportunity invite him thereunto, that he undertake ſome noble Eſſay, aliquod egregium facinus, ſome notable adventure, thereby to give reputation and luſtre unto his ſubſequent life.