Three Diatribes, Title page – To the reader
THREE DIATRIBES OR DISCOURSES.
Firſt of Travel, Or a Guide for Travellers into Forein Parts.
Secondly, Of Money or Coyns.
Thirdly, Of Meaſuring of the Diſtance betwixt Place and Place.
By Edward Leigh Eſq and Mr. of Arts of Magdalene-Hall in Oxford.
Teucri vox apud Ciceronem Tuſcul. quaeſt. l. 5,
Socrates, cum rogaretur, Cujatem ſe eſſe diceret, Mundanum, inquit, totius enim mundi ſeincolam, & civem arbitrabatur. Cicero ibid.
LONDON, Printed for William Whitwood, at the ſign of the Golden Bell in Duck-Lane, near Smithfield. 1671.
The Epiſtle DEDICATORY.
To his deſervedly Honoured Friend Francis Willughbie, Eſq
SIr, Since I have had the happineſs to be known to you, (my Habitation being not far diſtant from yours) I have found ſo much Candour and Civility in you, that I thought I needed not to ſeek further for a perſon, to whom I ſhould dedicate this little Tract of Travel and Coyns, you having Travelled into the moſt famous Countries of Europe, Mr. Firth in his Sts. Monument, reports of my Lord Willughbies eldeſt Son, that he had ſeen Rome, though he was not at all tainted with her errours: he brought over many of the rarities of other Nations, but none of their ſins.and (being inquiſitive after all Curioſities) alſo improved your travel both to the acquiring and knowledge of Coyns, and many other rarities, ſome of which you were pleaſed formerly to ſhew me and others, and have (for the better completing of this Treatiſe) communicated to me ſeveral Obſervations, about Forein coyns eſpecially. I would our Gentry generally were more ſtudious, and would ſpend their time as profitably as you and ſome others do. That would confirm what Mr. Burton in his Melancholly *Part 1. Sect. 2. Subſect. 15.obſerves of ſome of our Engliſh Gentry, that they are excellently well learned, like thoſe Fuggeri in Germany, Du Bartas, Dupleſſis, Sadael in France, Picus Mirandula, Scottus, Barottus in Italy. There is an Honourable Gentleman aRobert Boye Eſqnow of the Royal Society, (whereof you are likewiſe a worthy Member) who hath Travelled abroad to good purpoſe, and by his Philoſophical bExperimenta Fructi fera & Luci. fera.Experiments and other uſeful Treatiſes, hath much honoured the Nation. I may here relate, what I have heard from a very worthy Divine; that he never knew a Family, wherein the Men and Women both, were of ſo obliging a Carriage, and of ſuch great abilities. There is alſo a learned Knight and Baronet cSir Nor…on Knatchball.of this Parliament (mentioned among the Benefactors to the Polyglott Bible) who hath written Critical notes in Latine on the New Teſtament. I ſhall onelyonly adde this, that it may ſeem ſtrange for me to publiſh a Diſcourſe of Money, who (when I had the honour to be a Member of the Houſe of Commons) was alwaies ſilent when that Subject came into debate,
Sir, Your Affectionate Friend to ſerve you Edward Leigh.
TO THE Candid READER.
REader, It is ſaid of Ulyſſes, Qui mores hominum multorum vidit, & urbes, Horat. De Arte Poetica. Yet I would not have thee read my Diſcourſe of Travel, Peregrinante animo. The Commodity which comes to humane Societies, by the Travells of prudent, pious, and well governed perſons, is very great. The Apoſtles, the Diſciples of Chriſt, and alſo their Diſciples, and many others, have gon through a great part of the World to convert the Gentiles. So if a Voyage be undertaken to know the rites and cuſtomes of ſeveral places, and the forms of Cities, as the Roman Decemviri were ſent to Greece, that they might know the Laws of that Countrey, and eſpecially Solons. Pythagoras, Plato, Apollonius did go into divers Countries to increaſe their knowledge. Diodorus Siculus & Strabo Travelled into ſeveral parts of the World, that they might be acquainted with the Hiſtory and Scituation of thoſe places. Pauſanias *He hath written that excellent book of the Monuments and Antiquities of Greece, remaining in his time.compaſſed Greece, Arrianus, the Euxine Sea, and Cluverius Travelled into many Countries of Europe, that they might more exactly deſcribe thoſe parts. The knowledge of Languages hath incited many to Travel; Voſſius *De Orig. & Prog. Idololat. l. 3. c. 37.instanceth in Jacobus Golius (that famous Arabiſt) who not ſatisfied with the inſtruction of Thomas Erpinus in the Arabick Language, In Aethiopicis operam impendebat …uam. D. M. Wanſlebius, qui ad perpoliendum ejus in iiſdem ingenium, in varias orientis oras longa atque periculoſa ſuſcepit Itinera. D. Caſt. Praelat. ad Lexic. Heptaglot. Chriſtianus Rarius Clenard, and Warner, travelled ar for the ſame purpoſe. Dr. Caſaubon of Credulity and Incredulity. part 1. ſaith, that Jo. Erneſtus Burgravius profeſſeth to have travelled the greateſt part of Europe to ſatisfie his Curioſity. Eraſmus in his Colloquia entitles one of them Peregrinatio Religionis ergo.went firſt into Mouritania, and being choſen Succeſſor to Erpenius in his place after his death, he took a long Voyage into Syria, and there staid till he had perfected his skill in that Language. I may very well here mention, our worthy profeſſor of the Hebrew and Arabick Tongues in Oxford, Dr. Edward Pocock, who was long abroad at Aleppo, and other places on the ſame account. Where he ſo demeaned himſelf, that he was very much reſpected by the Natives, and choſen for an Ʋmpire amongst them, to compremiſe ſuch differences as fell out there. The learned works he hath publiſhed, give ample Teſtimony of the skil he attained in the Arabick, eſpecially by that long Voyage. The Jeſuits themſelves and others write much, how induſtrious the Jeſuits were in the propagation of the Chriſtian Faith, and how they have ſown the ſeed of ſaving truth in China or elſewhere.
Mr. Baxter in the 2d. part of his last Book of Christianity, c. 14. p. 488. ſaith, The attempts of the Jeſuits in Congo, Japon and China were a very noble work, and ſo were the Portugal Kings encouragements: but two things ſpoiled their ſucceſs.
First, That when they took down the Heathens Images, they ſet them up others in their stead; and made them think that the main difference was, but whoſe Image they ſhould worſhip.
Secondly, But eſpecially, that they made them ſee, that while they pretended to promote Religion, and to ſave their ſouls, they came to promote their own wealth, or the Popes Dominion, and to bring their Kings under a Forein power.
The honest attempts of Mr. Eliots in New-England, is much more agreeable to the Apostles way, Videſis Voretii Diſputat. Select. Theol. partem fecundum De Gentiliſmo pag. 650.and maketh more ſerious ſpiritual Chriſtians.
Juſtus Heurnius (ſon to John Heurnius the learned Phyſician) left the ſtudy of Phyſick, and wholly gave himſelf to the ſtudy of Divinity, that thereby he might be the better inabled to promote the Converſion of the Indians, and taking an Evangelical Embaſſie to the Indies, he there abode above 14 Years, preaching to the Indians in their Mother Tongue, Catechiſing them, and admoniſhing them privately, and by his ſingular innocenſie, He hath publiſhed a Book (which I have ſeen) De Legatione Evangelic… ad Indos capeſſenda.humility and modeſty, and daily fervent devotion, and great charity to the poor; He endeavoured to propagate the Kingdome hf Chriſt among them.
The Pilgrimages *See Cartwright Confutat. of the Rhemiſts Tranſtat. on Mat. 2.2. and Du Moulin De Peregrinationibus Superſtit.of the Turks to Meccha, and of the Papiſts to Loretto are vain, we need not to travel for to find God.
I have joyned theſe three Diſcourſes together, ſince in that of Money and Meaſuring, I write of the Forein Coyns and Meaſures, and ſo hoping, that they may be all uſeful to the Traveller, I remain
Thy Hearty Well-willer, Edward Leigh.
A Diatribe OF TRAVEL.
By Edward Leigh Eſq;
Pſal. 107.23, 24.
They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that do buſineſs in great waters:
Theſe ſee the works of the Lord: and his wonders in the deep.
Patri eſt, Ubicunque eſt bene.
Printed in the Year, MDCLXXI.