Obrazy na stronie
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by aucthoritie of writers, but also by late experience | Dartmouth. And acquainting master Secretory with of trauellers, and reasons of substantiall probabilitie, that the worlde in all his zones, clymats, and places, is habitable and inhabited, and the seas likewise universally nauigable, without any naturall anoyance to hinder the same; whereby appeares that from England there is a short and speedie passage into the South Seas to China, Malucca, Phillipina, and India, by northerly navigation, to the renowne, honour, and benefit of her maiesties state and communalty.' In corroboration of these positions, he gives a short narrative of his voyages, which, notwithstanding the unsuccessful termination of them all, he considers to afford arguments in favour of the north-west passage. This narrative, with its original spelling, is here inserted as an interesting specimen of the style of such relations in the age of Elizabeth.

the rest of the honorable and worshipfull adventurers of all our procedinges, I was appointed againe the seconde yeere to search the bottome of this straight, because by all likelihood it was the place and passage by us laboured for. In this second attempt the merchants of Exeter and other places of the West became adventurers in the action, so that, being sufficiently furnished for sixe monthes, and having direction to search this straighte, untill we found the same to fall into an other sea upon the West side of this part of America, we should agayne retourne, for then it was not to be doubted but shiping with trade might safely bee conueied to China and the parts of Asia. We departed from Dartmouth, and ariving unto the south part of the cost of Desolation costed the same upon his west shore to the lat. of 66. degres, and there ancored among the ylls bordering upon the same, where wee refreshed our selues. The people of this place [Davis's Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage.] came likewise vnto vs, by whome I vnderstood through their signes that towardes the North the sea was large. In my first voyage, not experienced of the nature At this place the chiefe shipe whereupon I trusted, of those clymattes, and having no direction either by called the Mermayd of Dartmouth, found many occaChart, Globe, or other certayne relation in what alti-sions of discontentment, and being unwilling to protude that passage was to bee searched, I shaped a ceede she there forsooke me. Then considering howe Northerly course and so sought the same towards the I had giuen my fayth and most constant promise to South, and in that my Northerly course I fell upon my worshipfull good friend master William Sanderthe shore which in ancient time was called Groynland, son, who of all men was the greatest aduenturer in fiue hundred leagues distant from the durseys West that action, and tooke such care for the perfourmance Nor West Northerly, the land being very high and theerof that hee hath to my knowledge at one time full of mightie mountaines all couered with snow, no disbursed as much money as any fiue others whatsoviewe of wood, grasse, or earth to be seene, and the euver out of his owne purse, when some of the comshore two leages of into the sea so full of yse as that pany haue bin slacke in giuing in their aduenture. no shipping cold by any meanes come neere the same. And also knowing that I should lose the fauour of The lothsome vewe of the shore, and irksome noyse of master Secretory, if I should shrinke from his direction, theyse was such, as that it bred strange conceipts among in one small barke of thirty tonnes, whereof master us, so that we supposed the place to be wast and voyd Sanderson was owner, alone without farther comfort or of any sencible or vegitable creatures, wherupon I company I proceeded on my voyage, and ariuing unto called the same Desolation; so coasting this shore this straights followed the same eightie leages, vntill towardes the South in the latitude of sixtie degrees, II came among many ylandes, where the water did eb found it to trend towardes the west. I still followed and flowe sixe fadome vpright, and where there had the leading thereof in the same height, and after fiftie beene great trade of people to make trayne. But by or sixtie leages, it fayled and lay directly north, which such thinges as there we found, wee knewe that they I still followed, and in thirtie leages sayling upon the were not Xtians of Europe that vsed that trade; in West side of this coast by me named Desolation, we fine, by seaching with our boate, wee founde small were past all the yse and found many greene and hope to passe any farther that way, and therefore plesant Ills bordering upon the shore, but the moun- retourning againe recouered the sea and so coasted tains of the maine were still covered with great quan- the shore towardes the South, and in so doing (for it tities of snowe. I brought my shippe among those ylls was to late to search towardes the North) wee founde and there mored to refreshe our selves in our wearie an other great inlett neere fortie leages broade where travell, in the latitude of sixtie foure degrees or there the water entred in with violent swiftnes. This we about. The people of the country, having espyed our likewise thought might be a passage, for no doubt but shipps, came down unto us in their canoes, holding up the North partes of America are all ylands, by ought their right hand to the Sunne and crying Yliaout, that I could perceiue therein; but because I was alone would stricke their brestes; we doing the like the in a small barke of thirtie tonnes, and the yeere people came aborde our shippes, men of good stature, spent I entered not into the same, for it was now the unbearded, small eyed and of tractable conditions; by seuenth of September, but coasting the shore towardes whom, as signes would permit, we understoode that the South we saw an incredible number of birdes. towardes the North and West there was a great sea, Hauing diuers fishermen aborde our barke, they all and using the people with kindnesse in geuing them concluded that there was a great scull of fish. Wee nayles and knifes which of all things they most de- beeing vnprouided of fishing furniture, with a long sired, we departed, and finding the sea free from yse, spike nayle mayde a hoke, and fastening the same to supposing our selves to be past all daunger, we shaped one of our sounding lynes. Before the bayte was our course West Nor West, thinking thereby to passe changed wee tooke more than fortie great cods, the for China, but in the latitude of sixtie sixe degrees, fishe swimming so aboundantly thicke about our wee fell with an other shore, and there founde an barke as is incredible to be reported of, which with a other passage of 20 leages broade directly West into small portion of salte that we had, wee preserued the same, which we supposed to bee our hoped strayght. some thirtie couple, or there aboutes, and so returned We intered into the same thirty or fortie leages, finding for England. And hauing reported to master Secreit neither to wyden nor straighten; then, considering that tory the whole successe of this attempt, hee comthe yeere was spent, for this was in the fyne of August, manded mee to present unto the most honorable and not knowing the length of this straight and dan- Lorde high thresurer of England some parte of that gers thereof, we tooke it our best course to retourne fish, which when his Lordship saw and hearde at large with notice of our good successe for this small time the relation of this seconde attempt, I receiued fauorof search. And so retourning in a sharpe fret of able countenance from his honour, aduising mee to Westerly windes, the 29 of September we arrived at prosecute the action, of which his Lordship conceiued

a very good opinion. The next yeere, although diuers of the aduenturers fel from the action, as al the western merchantes and most of those in London, yet some of the aduenturers both honorable and worshipfull continued their willing fauour and charge, so that by this meanes the next yeere 2. shippes were appointed for the fishing and one pynace for the discouery.

accomplished gentleman, well prepared, by previous study, for his travels, which are distinguished by erudition, sagacity, and a love of truth, and are written in a pleasant style."* He devoted particular attention to the allusions of the ancient poets to the various localities through which he passed. In his dedication to Prince Charles, he thus refers to the

[Modern State of Ancient Countries.]

Departing from Dartmouth, through God's merciful fauour I ariued to the place of fishing and there according to my direction I left the 2 shipps to follow that busines, taking their faithful promise not to depart vntili my returne vnto them, which shoulde bee in the fine of August, and so in the barke I proceeded for the discouery, but after my departure in sixteene dayes the shippes had finished their voyage, and so presently departed for England, without regard of their promise. My selfe, not distrusting any such hard measure, proceeded in the discouerie and followed my course in the free and open sea, betweene North and Nor west, to the latitude of sixtie seuen degrees, and there I might see America west from me, and Desolation east; then when I saw the land of both sides, I began to distrust that it would prooue but a gulfe. Notwithstanding, desirous to knowe the full certaintye, I proceeded, and in sixtie eight degrees the passage enlarged, so that I could not see the westerne shore; thus I continued to the latitude of seuentie fiue degrees, in a great sea, free from yse, coasting the westerne shore of Desolation. The people came continually rowing out vnto me in their Canoas, twenty, forty, and one hundred at a time, and would giue me fishe dried, Samon, Samon peale, cod, Caplin, Lumpe, stone base, and such like, besides diuers kindes of birdes, as Partrig, Fesant, Gulls, sea birdes, and other kindes of fleshe. I still laboured by signes to knowe from them what they knew of any sea towards the North. They still made signes of a great sea as we vnderstood them; then I departed from that coast, thinking to discouer the North parts of America, and after I had sayled towardes the west neere fortie leages I fell upon a great bancke of yse; the wind being North and blewe much, I was constrained to coast the same towardes the South, not seeing any shore West from me, neither was there any yse towards the North, but a great sea, free, large, very salt and blue and of an unsearcheable depth. So coasting towardes the South I came to the place wher I left the shippes to fishe, but found them not. Then being forsaken and left in this distresse referring my selfe to the mercifull prouidence of God, shaped my course for England and vnhoped for of any, God alone releuing me, I ariued at Dartmouth. By this last discouerie it seemed most manifest that the passage was free and without impediment towards the North, but by reason of the spanish fleete and unfortunate time of master Secretoryes death, the voyage was omitted and neuer sithens at-ance that, as there is nothing unchangeable saving tempted.

Davis made five voyages as a pilot to the East Indies, where he was killed in 1605 in a contention with some Japanese off the coast of Malacca.

GEORGE SANDYS.

The parts I speak of are the most renowned countries and kingdoms: once the seats of most glorious and triumphant empires; the theatres of valour and heroical actions; the soils enriched with all earthly felicities; the places where Nature hath produced her wonderful works; where arts and sciences have been invented and perfected; where wisdom, virtue, policy, and civility, have been planted, have flourished; and, lastly, where God himself did place his own commonwealth, gave laws and oracles, inspired his prophets, sent angels to converse with men; above all, where the Son of God descended to become man; where he honoured the earth with his beautiful steps, wrought the works of our redemption, triumphed over death, and ascended into glory which countries, once so glorious and famous for their happy estate, are now, through vice and ingratitude, become the most deplored spectacles of extreme misery; the wild beasts of mankind having broken in upon them, and rooted out all civility, and the pride of a stern and barbarous tyrant possessing the thrones of ancient and just dominion. Who, aiming only at the height of greatness and sensuality, hath in tract of time reduced so great and goodly a part of the world to that lamentable distress and servitude, under which (to the astonishment of the understanding beholders) it now faints and groaneth. Those rich lands at this present remain waste and overgrown with bushes, receptacles of wild beasts, of thieves and murderers; large territories dispeopled, or thinly inhabited; goodly cities made desolate; sumptuous buildings become ruins; glorious temples either subverted, or prostituted to impiety; true religion discountenanced and oppressed; all nobility extinguished; no light of learning permitted, nor virtue cherished: violence and rapine insulting over all, and leaving no security except to an abject mind, and unlooked-on poverty; which calamities of theirs, so great and deserved, are to the rest of the world as threatening instructions. For assistance wherein, I have not only related what I saw of their present condition, but, so far as convenience might permit, presented a brief view of the former estates and first antiquities of those peoples and countries: thence to draw a right image of the frailty of man, the mutability of whatsoever is worldly, and assur

God, so nothing stable but by his grace and protection.

The death of Sandys, which took place in 1643, was somewhat preceded by that of a contemporary traveller,

WILLIAM LITHGOW,

Five years after that event, GEORGE SANDYS, a son a Scotsman, who traversed on foot many Euroof the Archbishop of York, and author of a well-pean, Asiatic, and African countries. This indiviknown metrical translation of 'Ovid's Metamor- dual was one of those tourists, now so abundant, who phoses,' set out upon a journey, of which he pub- travel from a love of adventure and locomotion, withlished an account in 1615, entitled A Relation of a out having any scientific or literary object in view Journey begun Anno Domini 1610. Four Books, con- According to his own statement, he walked more taining a Description of the Turkish Empire of Egypt, than thirty-six thousand miles; and so decidedly of the Holy Land, of the Remote Parts of Italy, and did he give the preference to that mode of travelling, Islands adjoining. This work was so popular as to that, even when the use of a carriage was offered to reach a seventh edition in 1673-a distinction not him, he steadfastly declined to avail himself of the undeserved, since, as Mr Kerr has remarked, in his accommodation. His narrative was published in Catalogue of Voyages and Travels, Sandys was an * Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. xviii. p. 558.

ין

London in 1640, with a long title, commencing thus-lish vessel which had been seized in Sardinia on a The Total Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations of Long Nineteen Years' Travels from Scotland to the most famous Kingdoms in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Perfited by Three Dear-bought Voyages in Surveying Forty-Eight Kingdoms, Ancient and Modern; Twenty-One Reipublics, Ten Absolute Principalities, with Two Hundred Islands. One of his principal and least agreeable adventures occurred at Malaga in Spain, where he was arrested as an English spy, and committed to prison. The details which he gives of his sufferings while in confinement, and the tortures applied to him with the view of extracting a confession, are such as to make humanity sicken. Having been at length relieved by some English residents in Malaga, to whom his situation accidentally became known, he was sent to London by sea, and afterwards forwarded, at the expense of King James, to Bath, where he remained upwards of six months, recruiting his shattered frame. He died in 1640, after having attempted, apparently without success, to obtain redress by bringing his case before the Upper House.

JAMES HOWELL.

JAMES HOWELL was one of the most intelligent travellers and pleasing miscellaneous writers in the early part of the seventeenth century. Born in Carmarthenshire about 1596, he received his education at Hereford and Oxford, and repaired to London in quest of employment. He was there appointed steward to a patent-glass manufactory, in which

James Howell.

capacity he went abroad in 1619, to procure materials and engage workmen. In the course of his travels, which lasted till 1621, he visited many commercial towns in Holland, Flanders, France, Spain, and Italy; and, being possessed of an acute and inquiring mind, laid up a great store of useful observations on men and manners, besides acquiring an extensive knowledge of modern languages. His connexion with the glass company soon after ceased, and he again visited France as the travelling companion of a young gentleman. After this he was sent to Spain, as agent for the recovery of an Eng

charge of smuggling; but all hopes of obtaining redress being destroyed by the breaking off of Prince Charles's proposed marriage with the infanta, he returned to England in 1624. His next office was that of secretary to Lord Scrope, as president of the north; and in 1627 he was chosen by the corporation of Richmond to be one of their representatives in parliament. Three years afterwards he visited Copenhagen as secretary to the English mbassador. Having complimented Charles I. in two all poems, he obtained, in 1640, the clerkship of the council, an appointment which lasted but a short time, as, three years afterwards, he was imprisoned in the Fleet by order of a committee of parliament. Here he remained till after the king's death, supporting himself by translating and composing a variety of works. At the Restoration he became historiographer-royal, being the first who ever enjoyed that title; and continued his literary avocations till his death, in 1666. Of upwards of forty publications of this lively and sensible writer, none is now generally read except his Epistola Ho-Eliance, or Familiar Letters, first printed in 1645, and considered to be the earliest specimen of epistolary literature in the language. The letters are dated from various places at home and abroad; and though some of them are supposed to have been compiled from memory while the author was in the Fleet prison, the greater number seem to bear sufficient internal evidence of having been written at the times and places indicated. His remarks on the leading events and characters of the time, as well as the animated accounts given of what he saw in foreign countries, and the sound reflections with which his letters abound, contribute to render the work one of permanent interest and value.

[graphic]

To Dr Francis Mansell.

These wishes come to you from Venice, a place where there is nothing wanting that heart can wish; renowned Venice, the admired'st city in the world, a city that all Europe is bound unto, for she is her greatest rampart against that huge eastern tyrant, the Turk, by sea; else, I believe, he had overrun all Christen lom by this time. Against him this city hath perfors ed notable exploits, and not only against him, but divers others; she hath restored emperors to their thrones, and popes to their chairs, and with her galleys often preserved St Peter's bark from sinking: for which, by way of reward, one of his successors espoused her to the sea, which marriage is solemnly renewed every year in solemn procession by the Doge and all the Clarissimos, and a gold ring cast into the sea out of the great Galeasse, called the Bucentoro, wherein the first ceremony was performed by the pope himself, above three hundred years since, and they say it is the self-same vessel still, though often put upon careen, and trimmed. This made me think, nay, I fell upon an abstracted notion in philosophy, and a speculation touching the body of man, which, being in perpetual flux, and a kind of succession of decays, and consequently requiring, ever and anon, a restoration of what it loseth of the virtue of the former aliment, and what was converted after the third concoction into a blood and fleshly substance, which, as in all other sublunary bodies that have internal principles of heat, useth to transpire, breathe out, and waste away through invisible pores, by exercise, motion, and sleep, to make room still for a supply of new nurriture: I fell, I say, to consider whether our bodies may be said to be of like condition with this Bucentoro, which, though it be reputed still the same vessel, yet, I believe there's not a foot of that timber remaining which it had upon the first dock, having been, as they tell me,

so often planked and ribbed, calked and pieced. In like manner, our bodies may be said to be daily repaired by new sustenance, which begets new blood, and consequently new spirits, new humours, and, I may say, new flesh; the old, by continual deperdition and insensible perspirations, evaporating still out of us, and giving way to fresh; so that I make a question whether, by reason of these perpetual reparations and accretions, the body of man may be said to be the same numerical body in his old age that he had in his manhood, or the same in his manhood that he had in his youth, the same in his youth that he carried about with him in his childhood, or the same in his childhood which he wore first in the womb. I make a doubt whether I had the same identical, individually numerical body, when I carried a calf-leather satchel to school in Hereford, as when I wore a lamb-skin hood in Oxford; or whether I have the same mass of blood in my veins, and the same flesh, now in Venice, which I carried about me three years since, up and down London streets, having, in lieu of beer and ale, drunk wine all the while, and fed upon different viands. Now, the stomach is like a crucible, for it hath a chemical kind of virtue to transmute one body into another, to transubstantiate fish and fruits into flesh within and about us; but though it be questionable whether I wear the same flesh which is fluxible, I am sure my hair is not the same, for you may remember I went flaxen-haired out of England, but you shall find me returned with a very dark brown, which I impute not only to the heat and air of those hot countries I have eat my bread in, but to the quality and difference of food: you will say that hair is but an excrementitious thing, and makes not to this purpose; moreover, methinks I hear thee say that this may be true only in the blood and spirits, or such fluid parts, not in the solid and heterogeneal parts. But I will press no farther at this time this philosophical notion, which the sight of Bucentoro infused into me, for it hath already made me exceed the bounds of a letter, and, I fear me, to trespass too much upon your patience; I leave the farther disquisition of this point to your own contemplations, who are a far riper philosopher than I, and have waded deeper into and drunk more of Aristotle's well. But, to conclude, though it be doubtful whether I carry about me the same body or no in all points, that I had in England, I am well assured I bear still the same mind, and therein I verify the old verse

Cœlum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt,

The air, but not the mind, they change,
Who in outlandish countries range.'

For, what alterations soever happen in this microcosm, in this little world, this small bulk and body of mine, you may be confident that nothing shall alter my affections, specially towards you, but that I will persevere still the same-the very same

Jam Howell

VENICE, July 1, 1621.

To Sir William St John, Knight.

SIR-Having seen Antenor's tomb in Padua, and the amphitheatre of Flaminius in Verona, with other brave towns in Lombardy, I am now come to Rome, and Rome, they say, is every man's country; she is

called Communis Patria, for every one that is within the compass of the Latin church finds himself here, as it were, at home, and in his mother's house, in regard of interest in religion, which is the cause that for one native there be five strangers that sojourn in this city; and without any distinction or mark of strangeness, they come to preferments and offices, both in church and state, according to merit, which is more valued and sought after here than anywhere. But whereas I expected to have found Rome elevated upon seven hills, I met her rather spreading upon a flat, having humbled herself, since she was made a Christian, and descended from those hills to Campus Martius; with Trasieren, and the suburbs of Saint Peter, she hath yet in compass about fourteen miles, which is far short of that vast circuit she had in Claudius his time; for Vopiscus writes she was then of fifty miles in circumference, and she had five hundred thousand free citizens in a famous cense that was made, which, allowing but six to every family in women, children, and servants, came to three millions of souls; but she is now a wilderness in comparison of that number. The pope is grown to be a great temporal prince of late years, for the state of the church extends above three hundred miles in length, and two hundred miles in breadth; it contains Ferrara, Bologna, Romagnia, the Marquisate of Ancona, Umbria, Sabina, Perugia, with a part of Tuscany, the patrimony, Rome herself, and Latium. In these there are above fifty bishopricks; the pope hath also the duchy of Spoleto, and the exarchate of Ravenna; he hath the town of Benevento in the kingdom of Naples, and the country of Venissa, called Avignon, in France. He hath title also good enough to Naples itself; but, rather than offend his champion, the king of Spain, he is contented with a white mule, and purse of pistoles about the neck, which he receives every year for a heriot or homage, or what you will call it; he pretends also to be lord paramount of Sicily, Urbin, Parma, and Masseran; of Norway, Ireland, and England, since King John did prostrate our crown at Pandelfo his legate's feet.

The state of the apostolic see here in Italy lieth 'twixt two seas, the Adriatic and the Tyrrhene, and it runs through the midst of Italy, which makes the pope powerful to do good or harm, and more capable than any other to be an umpire or an enemy. His authority being mixed 'twixt temporal and spiritual, disperseth itself into so many members, that a young man may grow old here before he can well understand the form of government.

The consistory of cardinals meet but once a-week, and once a-week they solemnly wait all upon the pope. I am told there are now in Christendom but sixtyeight cardinals, whereof there are six cardinal bishops, fifty one cardinal priests, and eleven cardinal deacons. The cardinal bishops attend and sit near the pope, when he celebrates any festival; the cardinal priests assist him at mass, and the cardinal deacons attire him. A cardinal is made by a short breve or writ from the pope in these words, 'Creamus te socium regibus, superiorem ducibus, et fratrem nostrum :'[We create thee a companion to kings, superior to dukes, and our brother.'] If a cardinal bishop should be questioned for any offence, there must be twentyfour witnesses produced against him. The bishop of Ostia hath most privilege of any other, for he consecrates and installs the pope, and goes always next to him. All these cardinals have the repute of princes, and besides other incomes, they have the annat of benefices to support their greatness.

For point of power, the pope is able to put 50,000 men in the field, in case of necessity, besides his naval strength in galleys. We read how Paul III. sent Charles V. twelve thousand foot and five hundred horse. Pius V. sent a greater aid to Charles IX.;

and for riches, besides the temporal dominions he hath in all the countries before named, the datany or despatching of bulls, the triennial subsidies, annats, and other ecclesiastical rights, mount to an unknown sum; and it is a common saying here, that as long as the pope can finger a pen, he can want no pence. Pius V., notwithstanding his expenses in buildings, left four millions in the castle of Saint Angelo in less than five years; more, I believe, than this Gregory XV. will, for he hath many nephews; and better it is to be the pope's nephew, than to be a favourite to any prince in Christendom.

nose,

so a shepherd is still governor and preserver. But
whereas the French have an odd saying, that
Jamais cheval ni homme,
S'amenda pour aller à Rome.
Ne'er horse nor man did mend,
That unto Rome did wend ;'

truly, I must confess, that I find myself much bet-
tered by it; for the sight of some of these ruins did
fill me with symptoms of mortification, and made me
more sensible of the frailty of all sublunary things,
how all bodies, as well inanimate as animate, are sub-
ject to dissolution and change, and everything else
under the moon, except the love of-Your faithful ser-
vitor-J. H.

ROME, September 13, 1621.

To Captain Thomas B.

Noble Captain-Yours of the 1st of March was delivered me by Sir Richard Scot, and I hold it no profanation of this Sunday evening, considering the quality of my subject, and having (I thank God for it) performed all church duties, to employ some hours to meditate on you, and send you this friendly salute, though I confess in an unusual monitory way. My dear Captain, I love you perfectly well; I love both your person and parts, which are not vulgar; I am in love with your disposition, which is generous, and I verily think you were never guilty of any pusillanimous act in your life. Nor is this love of mine con

Touching the temporal government of Rome, and oppidan affairs, there is a prætor and some choice citizens, which sit in the Capitol. Amongst other pieces of policy, there is a synagogue of Jews permitted here (as in other places in Italy) under the pope's but they go with a mark of distinction in their hats; they are tolerated for advantage of commerce, wherein the Jews are wonderful dexterous, though most of them be only brokers and Lombardeers; and they are held to be here as the cynic held women to be-malum necessarium. There be few of the Romans that use to pray for the pope's long life, in regard the oftener the change is, the more advantageous it is for the city, because commonly it brings strangers, and a recruit of new people. The air of Rome is not so wholesome as of old; and amongst other reasons, one is, because of the burning of stubble to fatten their fields. For her antiquities, it would take up a whole volume to write them; those which I hold the chiefest are Vespasian's amphitheatre, where fourscore thou-ferred upon you gratis, but you may challenge it as sand people might sit; the stoves of Anthony; divers rare statues at Belvidere and St Peter's, specially that of Laocoon; the obelisk; for the genius of the Roman hath always been much taken with imagery, limning, and sculptures, insomuch that, as in former times, so now I believe, the statues and pictures in Rome exceed the number of living people. One antiquity among others is very remarkable, because of the change of language; which is, an ancient column erected as a trophy for Duillius the consul, after a famous naval victory obtained against the Carthaginians in the second Punic war, where these words are engraven, and remain legible to this day, 'Exemet leciones Macistrates Castreis exfocient pugnandod caped enque navebos marid consul,' and half a dozen lines more. It is called Columna Rostrata, having the beaks and prows of ships engraven up and down, whereby it appears, that the Latin then spoken was much differing from that which was used in Cicero's time, 150 years after. Since the dismembering of the empire, Rome hath run through many vicissitudes and turns of fortune; and had it not been for the residence of the pope, I believe she had become a heap of stones, a mount of rubbish, by this time: and however that she bears up indifferent well, yet one may say

Qui miseranda videt veteris vestigia Romæ,
Ille potest merito dicere, Roma fuit.
They who the ruins of first Rome behold,
May say, Rome is not now, but was of old.'

Present Rome may be said to be but a monument of
Rome past, when she was in that flourish that St
Austin desired to see her in. She who tamed the
world, tamed herself at last, and falling under her own
weight, fell to be a prey to time; yet there is a provi-
dence seems to have a care of her still; for though her
air be not so good, nor her circumjacent soil so kindly
as it was, yet she hath wherewith to keep life and soul
together still, by her ecclesiastical courts, which is the
sole cause of her peopling now; so that it may be said,
when the pope came to be her head, she was reduced
to her first principles; for as a shepherd was founder,

your due, and by way of correspondence, in regard of those thousand convincing evidences you have given me of yours to me, which ascertain me that you take me for a true friend. Now, I am of the number of those that had rather commend the virtue of an enemy than soothe the vices of a friend; for your own particular, if your parts of virtue and your infirmities were cast into a balance, I know the first would much outpoise the other; yet give me leave to tell you that there is one frailty, or rather ill-favoured custom, that reigns in you, which weighs much; it is a humour of swearing in all your discourses, and they are not slight but deep far-fetched oaths that you are wont to rap out, which you use as flowers of rhetoric to enforce a faith upon the hearers, who believe you never the more; and you use this in cold blood when you are not provoked, which makes the humour far more dangerous. I know many (and I cannot say I myself am free from it, God forgive me), that, being transported with choler, and, as it were, made drunk with passion by some sudden provoking accident, or extreme ill-fortune at play, will let fall oaths and deep protestations; but to belch out, and send forth, as it were, whole voilies of oaths and curses in a calm humour, to verify every trivial discourse, is a thing of horror. I knew a king that, being crossed in his game, would amongst his oaths fall on the ground, and bite the very earth in the rough of his passion; I heard of another king (Henry IV. of France), that in his highest distemper would swear but Ventre de Saint Gris,' [By the belly of St Gris ;'] I heard of an Italian, that, having been much accustomed to blaspheme, was weaned from it by a pretty wile, for, having been one night at play, and lost all his money, after many execrable oaths, and having offered money to another to go out to face heaven and defy God, he threw himself upon a bed hard by, and there fell asleep. The other gamesters played on still, and finding that he was fast asleep, they put out the candles, and made semblance to play on still; they fell a wrangling, and spoke so loud that he awaked; he hearing them play on still, fell a rubbing his eyes, and his conscience presently prompted him that he was struck blind, and that God's judg ment had deservedly fallen down upon him for his

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