fortune, which as they wound the soul of man, produce this melancholy,
and many great inconveniences, by that antidote of good counsel and
persuasion may be eased or expelled. Deformities and imperfections of
our bodies, as lameness, crookedness, deafness, blindness, be they
innate or accidental, torture many men: yet this may comfort them, that
those imperfections of the body do not a whit blemish the soul, or
hinder the operations of it, but rather help and much increase it. Thou
art lame of body, deformed to the eye, yet this hinders not but that
thou mayst be a good, a wise, upright, honest man. [3603]Seldom, saith
Plutarch, honesty and beauty dwell together, and oftentimes under a
threadbare coat lies an excellent understanding, saepe sub attrita
latitat sapientia veste. [3604]Cornelius Mussus, that famous preacher
in Italy, when he came first into the pulpit in Venice, was so much
contemned by reason of his outside, a little lean, poor, dejected
person, [3605]they were all ready to leave the church; but when they
heard his voice they did admire him, and happy was that senator could
enjoy his company, or invite him first to his house. A silly fellow to
look to, may have more wit, learning, honesty, than he that struts it
out Ampullis jactans, &c. grandia gradiens, and is admired in the
world's opinion: Vilis saepe cadus nobile nectar habet, the best wine
comes out of an old vessel. How many deformed princes, kings, emperors,
could I reckon up, philosophers, orators? Hannibal had but one eye,
Appius Claudius, Timoleon, blind, Muleasse, king of Tunis, John, king
of Bohemia, and Tiresias the prophet. [3606]The night hath his
pleasure; and for the loss of that one sense such men are commonly
recompensed in the rest; they have excellent memories, other good
parts, music, and many recreations; much happiness, great wisdom, as
Tully well discourseth in his [3607] Tusculan questions: Homer was
blind, yet who (saith he) made more accurate, lively, or better
descriptions, with both his eyes? Democritus was blind, yet as Laertius
writes of him, he saw more than all Greece besides, as [3608]Plato
concludes, Tum sane mentis oculus acute incipit cernere, quum primum
corporis oculus deflorescit, when our bodily eyes are at worst,
generally the eyes of our soul see best. Some philosophers and divines
have evirated themselves, and put out their eyes voluntarily, the
better to contemplate. Angelus Politianus had a tetter in his nose
continually running, fulsome in company, yet no man so eloquent and
pleasing in his works. Aesop was crooked, Socrates purblind,
long-legged, hairy; Democritus withered, Seneca lean and harsh, ugly to
behold, yet show me so many flourishing wits, such divine spirits:
Horace a little blear-eyed contemptible fellow, yet who so sententious
and wise? Marcilius Picinus, Faber Stapulensis, a couple of dwarfs,
[3609]Melancthon a short hard-favoured man, parvus erat, sed magnus
erat, &c., yet of incomparable parts all three. [3610]Ignatius Loyola
the founder of the Jesuits, by reason of a hurt he received in his leg,
at the siege of Pampeluna, the chief town of Navarre in Spain, unfit
for wars and less serviceable at court, upon that accident betook
himself to his beads, and by those means got more honour than ever he
should have done with the use of his limbs, and properness of person:
[3611]Vulnus non penetrat animum, a wound hurts not the soul. Galba the
emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame: that great Alexander a little
man of stature, [3612]Augustus Caesar of the same pitch: Agesilaus
despicabili forma; Boccharis a most deformed prince as ever Egypt had,
yet as [3613]Diodorus Siculus records of him, in wisdom and knowledge
far beyond his predecessors. _A. Dom._ 1306. [3614] Uladeslaus
Cubitalis that pigmy king of Poland reigned and fought more victorious
battles than any of his long-shanked predecessors. Nullam virtus
respuit staturam, virtue refuseth no stature, and commonly your great
vast bodies, and fine features, are sottish, dull, and leaden spirits.
What's in them? [3615]Quid nisi pondus iners stolidaeque ferocia
memtis, What in Osus and Ephialtes (Neptune's sons in Homer), nine
acres long?
[3616]Qui ut magnus Orion,
Cum pedes incedit, medii per maxima Nerei
Stagna, viam findens humero supereminet undas.
Like tall Orion stalking o'er the flood:
When with his brawny breast he cuts the waves,
His shoulder scarce the topmost billow laves.
What in Maximinus, Ajax, Caligula, and the rest of those great
Zanzummins, or gigantical Anakims, heavy, vast, barbarous lubbers?
[3617]———si membra tibi dant grandia Parcae,
Mentis eges?
Their body, saith [3618]Lemnius, is a burden to them, and their spirits
not so lively, nor they so erect and merry: Non est in magno corpore
mica salis: a little diamond is more worth than a rocky mountain: which
made Alexander Aphrodiseus positively conclude, The lesser, the
[3619]wiser, because the soul was more contracted in such a body. Let
Bodine in his 5. c. method, hist. plead the rest; the lesser they are,
as in Asia, Greece, they have generally the finest wits. And for bodily
stature which some so much admire, and goodly presence, 'tis true, to
say the best of them, great men are proper, and tall, I grant,—caput
inter nubila condunt, (hide their heads in the clouds); but belli
pusilli little men are pretty: Sed si bellus homo est Cotta, pusillus
homo est. Sickness, diseases, trouble many, but without a cause;
[3620]It may be 'tis for the good of their souls: Pars fati fuit, the
flesh rebels against the spirit; that which hurts the one, must needs
help the other. Sickness is the mother of modesty, putteth us in mind
of our mortality; and when we are in the full career of worldly pomp
and jollity, she pulleth us by the ear, and maketh us know ourselves.
[3621]Pliny calls it, the sum of philosophy, If we could but perform
that in our health, which we promise in our sickness. Quum infirmi
sumus, optimi sumus; [3622]for what sick man (as [3623] Secundus
expostulates with Rufus) was ever lascivious, covetous, or ambitious?
he envies no man, admires no man, flatters no man, despiseth no man,
listens not after lies and tales, &c. And were it not for such gentle
remembrances, men would have no moderation of themselves, they would be
worse than tigers, wolves, and lions: who should keep them in awe?
princes, masters, parents, magistrates, judges, friends, enemies, fair
or foul means cannot contain us, but a little sickness, (as
[3624]Chrysostom observes) will correct and amend us. And therefore
with good discretion, [3625]Jovianus Pontanus caused this short
sentence to be engraven on his tomb in Naples: Labour, sorrow, grief,
sickness, want and woe, to serve proud masters, bear that superstitious
yoke, and bury your clearest friends, &c., are the sauces of our life.
If thy disease be continuate and painful to thee, it will not surely
last: and a light affliction, which is but for a moment, causeth unto
us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17.
bear it with patience; women endure much sorrow in childbed, and yet
they will not contain; and those that are barren, wish for this pain;
be courageous, [3626]there is as much valour to be shown in thy bed, as
in an army, or at a sea fight: aut vincetur, aut vincet, thou shalt be
rid at last. In the mean time, let it take its course, thy mind is not
any way disabled. Bilibaldus Pirkimerus, senator to Charles the Fifth,
ruled all Germany, lying most part of his days sick of the gout upon
his bed. The more violent thy torture is, the less it will continue:
and though it be severe and hideous for the time, comfort thyself as
martyrs do, with honour and immortality. [3627]That famous philosopher
Epicurus, being in as miserable pain of stone and colic, as a man might
endure, solaced himself with a conceit of immortality; the joy of his
soul for his rare inventions, repelled the pain of his bodily torments.
Baseness of birth is a great disparagement to some men, especially if
they be wealthy, bear office, and come to promotion in a commonwealth;
then (as [3628]he observes) if their birth be not answerable to their
calling, and to their fellows, they are much abashed and ashamed of
themselves. Some scorn their own father and mother, deny brothers and
sisters, with the rest of their kindred and friends, and will not
suffer them to come near them, when they are in their pomp, accounting
it a scandal to their greatness to have such beggarly beginnings. Simon
in Lucian, having now got a little wealth, changed his name from Simon
to Simonides, for that there were so many beggars of his kin, and set
the house on fire where he was born, because no body should point at
it. Others buy titles, coats of arms, and by all means screw themselves
into ancient families, falsifying pedigrees, usurping scutcheons, and
all because they would not seem to be base. The reason is, for that
this gentility is so much admired by a company of outsides, and such
honour attributed unto it, as amongst [3629]Germans, Frenchmen, and
Venetians, the gentry scorn the commonalty, and will not suffer them to
match with them; they depress, and make them as so many asses, to carry
burdens. In our ordinary talk and fallings out, the most opprobrious
and scurrile name we can fasten upon a man, or first give, is to call
him base rogue, beggarly rascal, and the like: Whereas in my judgment,
this ought of all other grievances to trouble men least. Of all
vanities and fopperies, to brag of gentility is the greatest; for what
is it they crack so much of, and challenge such superiority, as if they
were demigods? Birth? Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?
[3630]It is non ens, a mere flash, a ceremony, a toy, a thing of
nought. Consider the beginning, present estate, progress, ending of
gentry, and then tell me what it is. [3631]Oppression, fraud, cozening,
usury, knavery, bawdry, murder, and tyranny, are the beginning of many
ancient families: [3632]one hath been a bloodsucker, a parricide, the
death of many a silly soul in some unjust quarrels, seditions, made
many an orphan and poor widow, and for that he is made a lord or an
earl, and his posterity gentlemen for ever after. Another hath been a
bawd, a pander to some great men, a parasite, a slave,
[3633]prostituted himself, his wife, daughter, to some lascivious
prince, and for that he is exalted. Tiberius preferred many to honours
in his time, because they were famous whoremasters and sturdy drinkers;
many come into this parchment-row (so [3634]one calls it) by flattery
or cozening; search your old families, and you shall scarce find of a
multitude (as Aeneas Sylvius observes) qui sceleratum non habent ortum,
that have not a wicked beginning; aut qui vi et dolo eo fastigii non
ascendunt, as that plebeian in [3635]Machiavel in a set oration proved
to his fellows, that do not rise by knavery, force, foolery, villainy,
or such indirect means. They are commonly able that are wealthy; virtue
and riches seldom settle on one man: who then sees not the beginning of
nobility? spoils enrich one, usury another, treason a third, witchcraft
a fourth, flattery a fifth, lying, stealing, bearing false witness a
sixth, adultery the seventh, &c. One makes a fool of himself to make
his lord merry, another dandles my young master, bestows a little nag
on him, a third marries a cracked piece, &c. Now may it please your
good worship, your lordship, who was the first founder of your family?
The poet answers, [3636]Aut Pastor fuit, aut illud quod dicere nolo.
Are he or you the better gentleman? If he, then we have traced him to
his form. If you, what is it of which thou boastest so much? That thou
art his son. It may be his heir, his reputed son, and yet indeed a
priest or a serving man may be the true father of him; but we will not
controvert that now; married women are all honest; thou art his son's
son's son, begotten and born infra quatuor maria, &c. Thy great great
great grandfather was a rich citizen, and then in all likelihood a
usurer, a lawyer, and then a—a courtier, and then a—a country
gentleman, and then he scraped it out of sheep, &c. And you are the
heir of all his virtues, fortunes, titles; so then, what is your
gentry, but as Hierom saith, Opes antiquae, inveteratae divitiae,
ancient wealth? that is the definition of gentility. The father goes
often to the devil, to make his son a gentleman. For the present, what
is it? It began (saith [3637]Agrippa) with strong impiety, with
tyranny, oppression, &c. and so it is maintained: wealth began it (no
matter how got), wealth continueth and increaseth it. Those Roman
knights were so called, if they could dispend per annum so much.
[3638]In the kingdom of Naples and France, he that buys such lands,
buys the honour, title, barony, together with it; and they that can
dispend so much amongst us, must be called to bear office, to be
knights, or fine for it, as one observes, [3639]nobiliorum ex censu
judicant, our nobles are measured by their means. And what now is the
object of honour? What maintains our gentry but wealth? [3640]Nobilitas
sine re projecta vilior alga. Without means gentry is naught worth,
nothing so contemptible and base. [3641]Disputare de nobilitate
generis, sine divitiis, est disputare de nobilitate stercoris, saith
Nevisanus the lawyer, to dispute of gentry without wealth, is (saving
your reverence) to discuss the original of a merd. So that it is wealth
alone that denominates, money which maintains it, gives esse to it, for
which every man may have it. And what is their ordinary exercise?
[3642]sit to eat, drink, lie down to sleep, and rise to play: wherein
lies their worth and sufficiency? in a few coats of arms, eagles,
lions, serpents, bears, tigers, dogs, crosses, bends, fesses, &c., and
such like baubles, which they commonly set up in their galleries,
porches, windows, on bowls, platters, coaches, in tombs, churches,
men's sleeves, &c. [3643]If he can hawk and hunt, ride a horse, play at
cards and dice, swagger, drink, swear, take tobacco with a grace, sing,
dance, wear his clothes in fashion, court and please his mistress, talk
big fustian, [3644]insult, scorn, strut, contemn others, and use a
little mimical and apish compliment above the rest, he is a complete,
(Egregiam vero laudem) a well-qualified gentleman; these are most of
their employments, this their greatest commendation. What is gentry,
this parchment nobility then, but as [3645] Agrippa defines it, a
sanctuary of knavery and naughtiness, a cloak for wickedness and
execrable vices, of pride, fraud, contempt, boasting, oppression,
dissimulation, lust, gluttony, malice, fornication, adultery,
ignorance, impiety? A nobleman therefore in some likelihood, as he
concludes, is an atheist, an oppressor, an epicure, a [3646]gull, a
dizzard, an illiterate idiot, an outside, a glowworm, a proud fool, an
arrant ass, Ventris et inguinis mancipium, a slave to his lust and
belly, solaque libidine fortis. And as Salvianus observed of his
countrymen the Aquitanes in France, sicut titulis primi fuere, sic et
vitiis (as they were the first in rank so also in rottenness); and
Cabinet du Roy, their own writer, distinctly of the rest. The nobles of
Berry are most part lechers, they of Touraine thieves, they of Narbonne
covetous, they of Guienne coiners, they of Provence atheists, they of
Rheims superstitious, they of Lyons treacherous, of Normandy proud, of
Picardy insolent, &c. We may generally conclude, the greater men, the
more vicious. In fine, as [3647]Aeneas Sylvius adds, they are most part
miserable, sottish, and filthy fellows, like the walls of their houses,
fair without, foul within. What dost thou vaunt of now? [3648]What dost
thou gape and wonder at? admire him for his brave apparel, horses,
dogs, fine houses, manors, orchards, gardens, walks? Why? a fool may be
possessor of this as well as he; and he that accounts him a better man,
a nobleman for having of it, he is a fool himself. Now go and brag of
thy gentility. This is it belike which makes the [3649]Turks at this
day scorn nobility, and all those huffing bombast titles, which so much
elevate their poles: except it be such as have got it at first,
maintain it by some supereminent quality, or excellent worth. And for
this cause, the Ragusian commonwealth, Switzers, and the united
provinces, in all their aristocracies, or democratical monarchies, (if
I may so call them,) exclude all these degrees of hereditary honours,
and will admit of none to bear office, but such as are learned, like
those Athenian Areopagites, wise, discreet, and well brought up. The
[3650]Chinese observe the same customs, no man amongst them noble by
birth; out of their philosophers and doctors they choose magistrates:
their politic nobles are taken from such as be moraliter nobiles
virtuous noble; nobilitas ut olim ab officio, non a natura, as in
Israel of old, and their office was to defend and govern their country
in war and peace, not to hawk, hunt, eat, drink, game alone, as too
many do. Their Loysii, Mandarini, literati, licentiati, and such as
have raised themselves by their worth, are their noblemen only, though
fit to govern a state: and why then should any that is otherwise of
worth be ashamed of his birth? why should not he be as much respected
that leaves a noble posterity, as he that hath had noble ancestors? nay
why not more? for plures solem orientem we adore the sun rising most
part; and how much better is it to say, Ego meis majoribus virtute
praeluxi, (I have outshone my ancestors in virtues), to boast himself
of his virtues, than of his birth? Cathesbeius, sultan of Egypt and
Syria, was by his condition a slave, but for worth, valour, and manhood
second to no king, and for that cause (as, [3651]Jovius writes) elected
emperor of the Mamelukes. That poor Spanish Pizarro for his valour made
by Charles the fifth marquess of Anatillo; the Turkey Pashas are all
such. Pertinax, Philippus Arabs, Maximinus, Probus, Aurelius, &c., from
common soldiers, became emperors, Cato, Cincinnatus, &c. consuls. Pius
Secundus, Sixtus Quintus, Johan, Secundus, Nicholas Quintus, &c. popes.
Socrates, Virgil, Horace, libertino parte natus. [3652]The kings of
Denmark fetch their pedigree, as some say, from one Ulfo, that was the
son of a bear. [3653]E tenui casa saepe vir magnus exit, many a worthy
man comes out of a poor cottage. Hercules, Romulus, Alexander (by
Olympia's confession), Themistocles, Jugurtha, King Arthur, William the
Conqueror, Homer, Demosthenes, P. Lumbard, P. Comestor, Bartholus,
Adrian the fourth Pope, &c., bastards; and almost in every kingdom, the
most ancient families have been at first princes' bastards: their
worthiest captains, best wits, greatest scholars, bravest spirits in
all our annals, have been base. [3654]Cardan, in his subtleties, gives
a reason why they are most part better able than others in body and
mind, and so, per consequens, more fortunate. Castruccius Castrucanus,
a poor child, found in the field, exposed to misery, became prince of
Lucca and Senes in Italy, a most complete soldier and worthy captain;
Machiavel compares him to Scipio or Alexander. And 'tis a wonderful
thing ([3655] saith he) to him that shall consider of it, that all
those, or the greatest part of them, that have done the bravest
exploits here upon earth, and excelled the rest of the nobles of their
time, have been still born in some abject, obscure place, or of base
and obscure abject parents. A most memorable observation,
[3656]Scaliger accounts it, et non praetereundum, maximorum virorum
plerosque patres ignoratos, matres impudicas fuisse. [3657]I could
recite a great catalogue of them, every kingdom, every province will
yield innumerable examples: and why then should baseness of birth be
objected to any man? Who thinks worse of Tully for being arpinas, an
upstart? Or Agathocles, that Silician king, for being a potter's son?
Iphicrates and Marius were meanly born. What wise man thinks better of
any person for his nobility? as he said in [3658]Machiavel, omnes eodem
patre nati, Adam's sons, conceived all and born in sin, &c. We are by
nature all as one, all alike, if you see us naked; let us wear theirs
and they our clothes, and what is the difference? To speak truth, as
[3659]Bale did of P. Schalichius, I more esteem thy worth, learning,
honesty, than thy nobility; honour thee more that thou art a writer, a
doctor of divinity, than Earl of the Huns, Baron of Skradine, or hast
title to such and such provinces, &c. Thou art more fortunate and great
(so [3660]Jovius writes to Cosmo de Medici, then Duke of Florence) for
thy virtues, than for thy lovely wife, and happy children, friends,
fortunes, or great duchy of Tuscany. So I account thee; and who doth
not so indeed? [3661]Abdolominus was a gardener, and yet by Alexander
for his virtues made King of Syria. How much better is it to be born of
mean parentage, and to excel in worth, to be morally noble, which is
preferred before that natural nobility, by divines, philosophers, and
[3662]politicians, to be learned, honest, discreet, well-qualified, to
be fit for any manner of employment, in country and commonwealth, war
and peace, than to be Degeneres Neoptolemi, as many brave nobles are,
only wise because rich, otherwise idiots, illiterate, unfit for any
manner of service? [3663] Udalricus, Earl of Cilia, upbraided John
Huniades with the baseness of his birth, but he replied, in te
Ciliensis comitatus turpiter extinguitur, in me gloriose Bistricensis
exoritur, thine earldom is consumed with riot, mine begins with honour
and renown. Thou hast had so many noble ancestors; what is that to
thee? Vix ea nostra voco, [3664]when thou art a dizzard thyself: quod
prodest, Pontice, longo stemmate censeri? &c. I conclude, hast thou a
sound body, and a good soul, good bringing up? Art thou virtuous,
honest, learned, well-qualified, religious, are thy conditions
good?—thou art a true nobleman, perfectly noble, although born of
Thersites—dum modo tu sis—Aeacidae similis, non natus, sed factus,
noble κατ' ἐξοχήν, [3665]for neither sword, nor fire, nor water, nor
sickness, nor outward violence, nor the devil himself can take thy good
parts from thee. Be not ashamed of thy birth then, thou art a gentleman
all the world over, and shalt be honoured, when as he, strip him of his
fine clothes, [3666]dispossess him of his wealth, is a funge (which
[3667] Polynices in his banishment found true by experience, gentry was
not esteemed) like a piece of coin in another country, that no man will
take, and shall be contemned. Once more, though thou be a barbarian,
born at Tontonteac, a villain, a slave, a Saldanian Negro, or a rude
Virginian in Dasamonquepec, he a French monsieur, a Spanish don, a
signor of Italy, I care not how descended, of what family, of what
order, baron, count, prince, if thou be well qualified, and he not, but
a degenerate Neoptolemus, I tell thee in a word, thou art a man, and he
is a beast.
Let no terrae filius, or upstart, insult at this which I have said, no
worthy gentleman take offence. I speak it not to detract from such as
are well deserving, truly virtuous and noble: I do much respect and
honour true gentry and nobility; I was born of worshipful parents
myself, in an ancient family, but I am a younger brother, it concerns
me not: or had I been some great heir, richly endowed, so minded as I
am, I should not have been elevated at all, but so esteemed of it, as
of all other human happiness, honours, &c., they have their period, are
brittle and inconstant. As [3668] he said of that great river Danube,
it riseth from a small fountain, a little brook at first, sometimes
broad, sometimes narrow, now slow, then swift, increased at last to an
incredible greatness by the confluence of sixty navigable rivers, it
vanisheth in conclusion, loseth his name, and is suddenly swallowed up
of the Euxine sea: I may say of our greatest families, they were mean
at first, augmented by rich marriages, purchases, offices, they
continue for some ages, with some little alteration of circumstances,
fortunes, places, &c., by some prodigal son, for some default, or for
want of issue they are defaced in an instant, and their memory blotted
out.
So much in the mean time I do attribute to Gentility, that if he be
well-descended, of worshipful or noble parentage, he will express it in
his conditions,
[3669]———nec enim feroces
Progenerant aquilae columbas.
And although the nobility of our times be much like our coins, more in
number and value, but less in weight and goodness, with finer stamps,
cuts, or outsides than of old; yet if he retain those ancient
characters of true gentry, he will be more affable, courteous, gently
disposed, of fairer carriage, better temper, or a more magnanimous,
heroical, and generous spirit, than that vulgus hominum, those ordinary
boors and peasants, qui adeo improbi, agrestes, et inculti plerumque
sunt, ne dicam maliciosi, ut nemini ullum humanitatis officium
praestent, ne ipsi Deo si advenerit, as [3670]one observes of them, a
rude, brutish, uncivil, wild, a currish generation, cruel and
malicious, incapable of discipline, and such as have scarce common
sense. And it may be generally spoken of all, which [3671] Lemnius the
physician said of his travel into England, the common people were
silly, sullen, dogged clowns, sed mitior nobilitas, ad omne humanitatis
officium paratissima, the gentlemen were courteous and civil. If it so
fall out (as often it doth) that such peasants are preferred by reason
of their wealth, chance, error, &c., or otherwise, yet as the cat in
the fable, when she was turned to a fair maid, would play with mice; a
cur will be a cur, a clown will be a clown, he will likely savour of
the stock whence he came, and that innate rusticity can hardly be
shaken off.
[3672]Licet superbus ambulet pecunia,
Fortuna non mutat genus.
And though by their education such men may be better qualified, and
more refined; yet there be many symptoms by which they may likely be
descried, an affected fantastical carriage, a tailor-like spruceness, a
peculiar garb in all their proceedings; choicer than ordinary in his
diet, and as [3673] Hierome well describes such a one to his Nepotian;
An upstart born in a base cottage, that scarce at first had coarse
bread to fill his hungry guts, must now feed on kickshaws and made
dishes, will have all variety of flesh and fish, the best oysters, &c.
A beggar's brat will be commonly more scornful, imperious, insulting,
insolent, than another man of his rank: Nothing so intolerable as a
fortunate fool, as [3674]Tully found out long since out of his
experience; Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum, set a beggar
on horseback, and he will ride a gallop, a gallop, &c.
[3675]———desaevit in omnes
Dum se posse putat, nec bellua saevior ulla est,
Quam servi rabies in libera colla furentis;