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by defending it earnestly, as oft as I could judge it to behoove me, notwithstanding any false name that could be invented to wrong or undervalue an honest meaning. Wherein although I have not doubted to single forth more than once such of them as were thought the chief and most nominated opposers on the other side, whom no man else undertook; if I have done well either to be confident of the truth, whose force is best seen against the ablest resistance, or to be jealous and tender of the hurt that might be done among the weaker by the intrapping authority of great names titled to false opinions; or that it be lawful to attribute somewhat to gifts of God's imparting, which I boast not, but thankfully acknowledge, and fear also lest at my certain account they be reckoned to me rather many than few; or if lastly it be but justice not to defraud of due esteem the wearisome labours and studious watchings, wherein I have spent and tired out almost a whole youth, I shall not distrust to be acquitted of presumption: knowing, that if heretofore all ages have received with favour and good acceptance the early industry of him that hath been hopeful, it were but hard measure now, if the freedom of any timely spirit should be oppressed merely by the big and blunted fame of his elder adversary; and that his sufficiency must be now sentenced, not by pondering the reason he shows, but by calculating the years he brings. However, as my purpose is not, nor hath been formerly, to look on my adversary abroad, through the deceiving glass of other men's great opinion of him, but at home, where I may find him in the proper light of his own worth; so now against the rancour of an evil tongue, from which I never thought so absurdly as that I of all men should be exempt, I must be forced to proceed from the unfeigned and diligent inquiry of my own conscience at home (for better way I know not, readers) to give a more true account of myself abroad than this modest confuter, as he calls himself, hath given of me.

J. MILTON

255. LEAGUE BETWEEN KING HENRY VIII. AND THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. AGAINST FRANCIS I. KING OF FRANCE.

He was influenced, however, by other considerations. The advantages which accrued to his subjects from maintaining an exact neutrality, or the honour that resulted to himself from acting as the arbiter between the contending princes,

appeared to his youthful imagination so inconsiderable, when compared with the glory which Charles and Francis reaped from leading armies or conquering provinces, that he determined to remain no longer in a state of inactivity. Having once taken this resolution, his inducements to prefer an alliance with Charles were obvious. He had no claim upon any part of that Prince's dominions, most of which were so situated, that he could not attack them without great difficulty and disadvantage; whereas several maritime provinces of France had been long in the hands of the English monarchs, whose pretensions, even to the crown of that kingdom, were not altogether forgotten; and the possession of Calais not only gave him easy access into some of these provinces, but afforded him in case of any disaster a secure retreat. While Charles attacked France on one frontier, Henry flattered himself that he would find little resistance on the other, and that the glory of reannexing to the crown of England the ancient inheritance of its monarchs on the continent, was reserved for his reign. Wolsey artfully encouraged these vain hopes, which led his master into such measures as were most subservient to his own secret schemes; and the English, whose hereditary animosity against the French was apt to rekindle on every occasion, did not disapprove of the martial spirit of their sovereign. W. ROBERTSON

256. ORDERS OF BOTH HOUSES FOR SUBSCRIBING MONEY AND PLATE FOR THE DEFENCE OF THE KING REFUSED, A. D. 1642. Most of those who abhorred their impious designs, not thinking it lawful for them to be present at such consultations, withdrew before the day came, or absented themselves then. But many had the courage to be present, and stoutly to refuse what they thought they could not honestly consent to. Sir Henry Killigrew, who was a remarkable enemy to all their devices, being called upon, told them, ‘if there were occasion, he would provide a good horse, and a good sword; and made no question but he should find a good cause.' But, within very few days, both he, and all those who were taken notice of for refusing found it safest for them to leave the town; there being very visibly great animosity against them both within and without the walls. And a gentleman of good quality assured me afterwards, that, within.few days after he had refused to subscribe, he was privately advised by one of the other faction, who yet

retained some kindness to him, 'to leave the town, lest his brains were beaten out by the boys in the streets.' And many of those who too impotently desired not to be looked upon as refractory persons, and had pleased themselves with subscribing more articulately for the defence of the king's person, found it afterwards necessary to supply whatsoever they had subscribed, to be employed that way as was declared to be for the defence of the king's person, whatsoever their intention was at first, or their opinion after. And it is hardly credible, what a vast proportion of plate was brought in to their treasurers within ten days, there being hardly men enough to receive it, or room to lay it in; and the throng being so great of the bringers, that in two days' attendance many could not be discharged of their seditious offerings.

LORD CLARENDON

257. QUEEN ELIZABETH, HER ORATION, WHEN SOLICITED TO ADOPT THE CAUSE OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, A.D. 1560. 'Tis natural for all men, as the proverb is, 'To worship the rising rather than the setting sun?' I have learned that from my own times, to omit other examples; When my sister Mary sat at helm, how eagerly did some men desire to see me placed in the throne! how solicitous were they in advancing me thereto! I am not ignorant what danger they would have undergone to bring their design to an issue, if my will had concurred with their desires. Now perhaps the same men are otherwise minded: just like children, when they dream of apples in their sleep, they are very joyful; but waking in the morning and finding themselves frustrate of their hopes, their mirth is turned into. mourning. Thus am I dealt with by those who, while I was yet a private woman, wished me so well: if I looked upon any of them a little more pleasantly than ordinary, they thought presently with themselves that as soon as ever I came to the throne they should be rewarded rather at the rate of their own desires, than of the service they performed for me; but now, seeing the event hath not answered expectation, some of them do gape after a new change of things in hope of a better fortune: for the wealth of a prince though never so great, cannot satisfy the insatiable desires of all men. But if the good-will of my subjects do flag towards me; or if their minds are changed because I am not profuse enough in my largesses, or for some other trivial

cause; what will be the event when the malevolent shall have a successor named, to whom they may make their grievances known and in their anger and pet betake themselves? What danger shall I then be in, when so powerful a neighbour-prince is my successor? The more strength I add to her in ascertaining her succession, the more I detract from my own security. This danger cannot be avoided by any precautions, or by any bounds of law: nay, those princes who have the hope of a kingdom offered them will hardly contain themselves within the bounds either of law or equity. For my part, if my successor were publicly declared to the world, I should think my affairs to be far from being settled and secure. Translated from G. BUCHANAN

258. THE DESIRE OF COMMUNICATING KNOWLEDGE. The desire of communicating knowledge or intelligence is an argument with those who hold that man is necessarily a social animal. It is indeed one of the earliest propensities we discover, but it may be doubted whether the pleasurefor pleasure there certainly is-arising from it be not often more selfish than social; for we frequently observe the tidings of ill communicated as eagerly as the annunciation of good, Is it that we delight in observing the effects of the stronger passions? for we are all philosophers in this respect, and it is perhaps among the spectators at Tyburn that the most genuine are to be found.

H. MACKENZIE

259. THE EMPEROR JULIAN, HIS INITIATION AND FANATICISM. The devout and fearless curiosity of Julian tempted the philosophers with the hopes of an easy conquest; which, from the situation of their young proselyte, might be productive of the most important consequences. Julian imbibed the first rudiments of the Platonic doctrines from the mouth of Ædesius, who had fixed at Pergamus his wandering and persecuted school. But as the declining strength of that venerable sage was unequal to the ardour, the diligence, the rapid conception of his pupil, two of his most learned disciples, Chrysanthes and Eusebius, supplied, at his own desire, the place of their aged master. These philosophers seem to have prepared and distributed their respective parts; and they artfully contrived, by dark hints, and affected disputes, to excite the impatient hopes of the aspirant, till

they delivered him into the hands of their associate, Maximus, the boldest and most skilful master of the Theurgic science. By his hands, Julian was secretly initiated at Ephesus, in the twentieth year of his age. His residence at Athens confirmed this unnatural alliance of philosophy and superstition. He obtained the privilege of a solemn initiation into the mysteries of Eleusis, which, amidst the general decay cf the Grecian worship, still retained some vestiges of their primæval sanctity; and such was the zeal of Julian, that he afterwards invited the Eleusinian pontiff to the court of Gaul, for the sole purpose of consummating, by mystic rites and sacrifices, the great work of his sanctification.

E. GIBBON

260. CONSIDERATIONS ON DEATH. The wild fellow in Petronius, that escaped upon a broken table from the furies of a shipwreck, as he was sunning himself upon the rocky shore, espied a man rolled upon his floating bed of waves, ballasted with sand in the folds of his garment, and carried by his civil enemy, the sea, towards the shore to find a grave: and it cast him into some sad thoughts: That peradventure this man's wife, in some part of the continent, safe and warm, looks next month for the good man's return; or it may be his son knows nothing of the tempest; or his father thinks of that kiss which still is warm upon the good old man's cheek, ever since he took a kind farewell, and he weeps with joy to think how blessed he shall be when his beloved boy returns into the circle of his father's arms. These are the thoughts of mortals; this is the end and sum of all their designs: a dark night and an ill guide, a boisterous sea and a broken cable, a hard rock and a rough wind dashed in pieces the fortune of a whole family, and they that shall weep loudest for the accident are not yet entered into the storm, and yet have suffered shipwreck. Then looking upon the carcass, he knew it, and found it to be the master of the ship, who the day before cast up the accounts of his patrimony and his trade, and named the day when he thought to be at home. See how the man swims who was so angry two days since; his passions are becalmed with the storm, his accounts cast up, his cares at an end, his voyage done, and his gains are the strange events of death; which, whether they be good or evil, the men that are alive seldom trouble themselves concerning the interest of the dead. JEREMY TAYLOR II

FOL. CENT.

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