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THE CURE OF MELANCHOLY.

IF princes would do justice, judges be upright, clergymen truly devout, and so live as they teach, if great men would not be so insolent, if soldiers would quietly defend us, the poor would be patient, rich men would be liberal and humble, citizens honest, magistrates meek, superiors would give good example, subjects peaceable, young men would stand in awe : if parents would be kind to their children, and they again obedient to their parents, brethren agree amongst themselves, enemies be reconciled, servants trusty to their masters, virgins chaste, wives modest, husbands would be loving and less jealous: If we could imitate Christ and his Apostles, live after God's laws, these mischiefs would not so frequently happen amongst us; but being most part so irreconcileable as we are, perverse, proud, insolent, factious and malicious, prone to contention, anger and revenge, of such fiery spirits, so captious, impious, irreligious, so opposite to virtue, void of grace, how should it otherwise be? Many men are very testy by nature, apt to mistake, apt to quarrel, apt to provoke and misinterpret to the worst, everything that is said or done, and thereupon heap unto their selves a great deal of trouble, and disquietness to others, smatterers in other men's matters, tale-bearers, whisperers, liars, they cannot speak in season, or hold their tongues when they should, Et suam partem itidem tacere, cum aliena est oratio: they will speak more than comes to their shares, in all companies, and by those bad courses accumulate much evil to their own souls, qui contendit, sibi convicium facit, their life is a perpetual brawl, they snarl like so many dogs, with their wives, children, servants, neighbours, and all the rest of their friends, they can agree with nobody. But to such as are judicious, meek, submiss, and quiet, these matters are easily remedied: they will forbear upon all such occasions, neglect, contemn, or take no notice of them, dissemble, or wisely turn it off. If it be a natural impediment, as a red nose, squint eyes, crooked legs, or any such imperfection, infirmity, disgrace, reproach, the best way is to speak of it first thyself, and so thou

shalt surely take away all occasions from others to jest at, or contemn, that they may perceive thee to be careless of it. Vatinius was wont to scoff at his own deformed feet, to prevent his enemies' obloquies and sarcasms in that kind; or else by prevention, as Cotys king of Thrace, that brake a company of fine glasses presented to him, with his own hands, lest he should be overmuch moved when they were broken by chance. And sometimes again, so that it be discreetly and moderately done, it shall not be amiss to make resistance, to take down such a saucy companion, no better means to vindicate himself to purchase final peace: for he that suffers himself to be ridden, or through pusillanimity or sottishness will let every man baffle him, shall be a common laughing stock to flout at. As a cur that goes through a village, if he clap his tail between his legs, and run away, every cur will insult over him: but if he bristle up himself, and stand to it, give but a counter-snarl, there's not a dog dares meddle with him : much is in a man's courage and discreet carriage of himself.

The Anatomy of Melancholy.

P. 34, 1. 2. Foliots, stated below to be Italian, but connected apparently with Fr. follets, pucks, will-o'-the wisps: Trulli, the Scandinavian troils.

P. 35, 1. 19. Telchines, of Rhodes and other places, a tribe or family of half divine or superhuman attributes, to whom Greek mythology assigns attributes not unlike those of trolls and brownies.

P.

37, 1. 20.

P. 37, 1. 22.

Lop, i.e. Lob Nor, north of Thibet.

M. Paulus, better recognized, perhaps, as Marco Polo.

P. 38, L 3. The poor would be. This must not be mistaken for a consequence. It and the other clauses in the same case are part of the hypothesis, “if” being alternately dropped and inserted at the writer's pleasure.

P. 39, 1. 3. Vatinius. Both the later or Neronian Vatinius and Cæsar's friend, of whom it was said, per consulatum pejerat, were ill favoured in person. I am not certain to which this story refers. Cotys again was the name of at least four kings of Thrace.

EDWARD HERBERT,

LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY.

Edward Herbert, elder brother of the poet George, was born at Montgomery Castle in 1581. He was educated at Oxford, travelled much abroad with some romantic adventures, and was raised to the peerage for diplomatic services. He died at London in 1648. His theological writings have caused him to be rather loosely styled the first English deist: his autobio graphy is curious and characteristic of the time.

THE EVIDENCE OF ANOTHER LIFE.

AND certainly since in my mother's womb this Plastica or

Formatrix which formed my eyes, ears, and other senses, did not intend them for that dark and noisome place, but as being conscious of a better life, made them as fitting organs to apprehend and perceive those things which should occur in this world so I believe since my coming into this world my soul hath formed or produced certain faculties which are almost as useless for this life, as the above-named senses were for the mother's womb; and these faculties are Hope, Faith, Love, and Joy, since they never rest or fix upon any transitory or perishing object in this world, as extending themselves to something further than can be here given, and indeed acquiesce only in the perfect, eternal, and infinite. I confess they are of some use here, yet I appeal to every body whether any worldly felicity did so satisfy their hope here, that they did not wish and hope for something more excellent, or whether they had ever that faith in their own wisdom, or in the help of man, that they were not constrained to have recourse to some diviner and superior power, than they could find on earth, to relieve them in their

danger or necessity; whether ever they could place their love on any earthly beauty, that it did not fade and wither, if not frustrate or deceive them, or whether ever their joy was so consummate in any thing they delighted in, that they did not want much more than it, or indeed this world can afford to make them happy. The proper objects of these faculties therefore though framed, or at least appearing in this world, is God only, upon whom Faith, Hope, and Love were never placed in vain, or remain long unrequited.

Life of Lord Herbert.

P. 40, 1. 1. Plastica or Formatrix, sc. Natura.

THE

THOMAS HOBBES.

Thomas Hobbes was born at Malmesbury in 1588. After leaving Oxford he became tutor in the Cavendish family, with whom he long resided. He abode also much in France, especially during the Civil War. At the Restoration he was pensioned. His work is voluminous: the Leviathan, his most famous book, was published in 1651. He died in 1679.

DREAMS AND APPARITIONS.

HE imaginations of them that sleep are those we call dreams. And these also, as all other imaginations, have been before, either totally or by parcels, in the sense. And because in sense, the brain and nerves, which are the necessary organs of sense, are so benumbed in sleep, as not easily to be moved by the action of external objects, there can happen in sleep no imagination, and therefore no dream, but what proceeds from the agitation of the inward parts of man's body; which inward parts, for the connexion they have with the brain, and other organs, when they be distempered, do keep the sense in motion; whereby the imaginations there formerly made, appear as if a man were waking; saving that the organs of sense being now benumbed, so as there is no new object, which can master and obscure them with a more vigorous impression, a dream must needs be more clear, in this silence of sense, than our waking thoughts. And hence it cometh to pass, that it is a hard matter, and by many thought impossible, to distinguish exactly between sense and dreaming. For my part, when I consider that in dreams I do not often nor constantly think of the same persons, places, objects, and

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