Is one that is fallen out with the world, and will be revenged on
himself. Fortune has denied him in something, and he now takes pet, and
will be miserable in spite. The root of his disease is a self-humouring
pride, and an accustomed tenderness not to be crossed in his fancy; and
the occasion commonly of one of these three, a hard father, a peevish
wench, or his ambition thwarted. He considered not the nature of the
world till he felt it, and all blows fall on him heavier, because they
light not first on his expectation. He has now foregone all but his
pride, and is yet vain-glorious in the ostentation of his melancholy.
His composure of himself is a studied carelessness, with his arms
across, and a neglected hanging of his head and cloak; and he is as
great an enemy to a hat-band, as fortune. He quarrels at the time and
up-starts, and sighs at the neglect of men of parts, that is, such as
himself. His life is a perpetual satire, and he is still girding the
age's vanity, when this very anger shews he too much esteems it. He is
much displeased to see men merry, and wonders what they can find to
laugh at. He never draws his own lips higher than a smile, and frowns
wrinkle him before forty. He at last falls into that deadly melancholy
to be a bitter hater of men, and is the most apt companion for any
mischief. He is the spark that kindles the commonwealth, and the bellows
himself to blow it: and if he turn any thing, it is commonly one of
these, either friar, traitor, or mad-man.