Sayings of Wise and Learned Men, Part 6
The Character of a happy Life.
HOw happy is he born and taught
That ſerveth not another's Will,
Whoſe Armour is his honeſt thought
And ſimple Truth his utmoſt skill?
Whoſe Paſſions not his Maſters are,
Whoſe Soul is ſtill prepar'd for Death;
Ʋnty'd unto the World by care
Of Publick Fame, or private breath.
Who envies none whom Chance doth raiſe:
Nor Vice hath ever underſtood.
How deepeſt Wounds are given by Praiſe;
Nor Rules of State, but Rules of Good.
Who hath his Life from Rumours freed;
Whoſe Conſcience is his ſtrong Retreat:
Whoſe State can neither Flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make Oppreſſors great.
Who God doth late, and early pray,
More of his Grace, than Gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmleſs Day
With a Religious Book, or Friend.
This Man is freed from ſervile bands
Of hope to riſe, or fear to fall;
Lord of himſelf tho not of Lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.
Sr. Henry Wotton.
It was an excellent Saying of Sr. John Packinton, in Queen Elizabeth's days, that a ſound Faith was the beſt Divinity: A good Conſcience the beſt Law: And Temperance the beſt Phyſick.
Upon the fall of the Earl of Somerſet.
DAzled ſtill with heigth of place,
Whilſt our Hopes our Wits beguile,
No Man marks the narrow ſpace
'Twixt a Priſon, and a ſmile.
Then ſince Fortunes favours fade,
You that in her Arms do ſleep,
Learn to ſwim, and not to Wade;
For the Hearts of Kings are deep.
But if Greatneſs be ſo blind
As to truſt in Towers of Air,
Let it be with Goodneſs lin'd,
That at leaſt the fall be fair.
Then tho darkned, you ſhall ſay,
When Friends fail, and Princes frown,
Virtue is the rougheſt way,
But proves at Night a Bed of Down.
Sr. Henry Wotton.
It's one of Machiavel's rules: : That they which riſe very high, ſhould deſcend timely, and quit the Envy, leſt they loſe the Honour of their greatneſs.
When Charles the 5th preſented Secretary Eraſo to his Son, Philip the 2d. he ſaid: He gave him ſomewhat greater than his Eſtate, and more Royal than his Empire.
I underſtand not (ſaith mine Author ſpeaking of James Hay, Earl of Carliſle) the reaſon of his Ante-Suppers, the manner of which was, to have the Table coverd at the firſt entrance of the Gueſts, with Diſhes as high as a tall Man could well reach, filled with the choiceſt, and deareſt Viands Sea or Land could afford. And all this once ſeen, and having feaſted the Eyes of the invited, was removed, and freſh was ſet on to the ſame heigth, having only this advantage of the others, that it was hot: At one of theſe Meals, an Attendant did Eat to his ſingle ſhare a whole Pye, reckoned to the Earl at Twenty pound, being compoſed of Amber-Greece, Magiſterial Pearl, Musk, &c. And another went away with Forty pounds of Sweet-meats in his Cloak-bag.
When the moſt able Phyſicians, and his own Weakneſs had paſſed a Judgment upon this Earl, that he could not live many days, he did not forbear his Entertainments, but made divers brave Cloths (as he ſaid) to Out-face naked, and deſpicable Death, adding withal: That Nature wanted Wiſdom, Power, or Love, in making Man mortal, and ſubject to Diſeaſes.
Sr. Thomas Lake was a Man of ſuch dixterity, and diſpatch, that he would indite, Write, and Diſcourſe at the ſame time, more exactly than moſt Men could ſeverally perform them; for which he was then called the ſwift-ſure.
Of Sr. Edward Cook it is recorded, that he would never be perſwaded privately to retract that, which he had Publickly adjudged, Profeſſing, That he was a Judg in a Court, not in a Chamber. He was wont to ſay; No wiſe man would do that in Proſperity, whereof he ſhould repent in Adverſity. His Motto was: Prudens qui patiens.
It's a ſure Principle of riſing, that great Perſons eſteem better of ſuch as they have done great Courteſies to, than thoſe they have received great Civilities from; looking upon this as their Diſparagement, the other as their Glory.
It's an excellent Rule, that no man ſhould let what is unjuſtifiable, or Dangerous to appear under his Hand, thereby to give Envy a ſteady aim at his Place, or Perſon: Nor mingle intereſts with great Men made deſperate by Debts, or Court injuries, whoſe falls have been ruinous to their wiſeſt Followers: Nor pry any farther into ſecrecy than rather to ſecure than ſhew himſelf: Nor to impart that to a Friend, that may impower him to be an Enemy.
It was the Saying of a great Man among us, that a through-paced Papiſt could not be a true-hearted Subject.
It's an excellent Character of great Men: In honore ſine tumore: To be lifted up with Honour, but not to be puffed up with Pride.
Sr. Henry Wotton directed that this only ſhould be written on his plain Marble: Hic jacet hujus ſententiae Primus Auctor: Diſputandi Pruritus fit Eccleſiarum Scabies—Nomen aliàs Quaere.