UC-NRLF SB 7 7 i 1! XV 4&r>~ INSTITUTIONS, INSTITUTIONS: ADVICE TO HIS GRANDSON. IN THREE PARTS. BY WILLIAM HIGFORD, ESQ. LONDON : 1658. LOAN STACK London : Re-printed by W. Bulraer and Co. Cleveland-Row, St. Jame S ' S ,-18l8. Hs London, Upper Fitzroy -street, 18th March, 1818. MY DEAR HIGFORD, THE following- little Work was written by one of your Ancestors ; and came into my hands with some papers which had belonged to your dear Mother's Father. As it contains good moral instruction, and also useful advice for the conduct and deportment of a Gentleman, I determined to re- print a few copies, that it might not be lost to Posterity ; and, as you are, on your Mother's side, one of the co-heirs to the Homlacy Estate belonging to the Scudamore family, of one of whose 525 [vi] ancestors, Sir James Scudamore, ho- nourable mention is made, and a pleas- ing picture is exhibited in the Work, I have no doubt but you will feel much interested and much gratified by having it in your possession. Allow me to enforce upon you a particular attention to those parts which have a tendency to promote your happiness, your intellectual improvement, and eternal felicity. I remain, my Dear, your truly affectionate Father, D. BURR. From Lieut.-General Burr, To his Son Daniel Higford Davall Burr. [vii] TO HIS NOBLE FRIEND, JOHN HIGFORD, SIR, I HAVE, by your per- mission, gathered out of your Manuscript, what I conceived to be fittest for the public use. Young Gentlemen, who shall read this, will acknowledge your favour in imparting it: And I shall think my pains well requited, if they please to take the good advice humbly presented to them from the noble and learned Author, under your beloved name, by THE TRANSCRIBER. EPITAPHIUM GULIELMI HIGFORD. Hicjacet Higfordus. Quis? Saxo sufficit isti Inscriptum nomen. Ccetera Fama docet. Higford lies here : we only write his name Upon the grave,, and leave the rest to Fame. FAMA LOQUITUR. Give me my trumpet, that I may proclaim, With lasting sounds, the noble Higford's name : That this ungrateful world may know he's gone, And know whom they have lost. For he was one Whom only few, that is, the wise, did know, And rightly value, while he liv'd : but now All must lament and love. So the sun's light We estimate by the dark shade of night. He was a light indeed : when he drew nigh, And with his beams shin'd on our company, All clouded brows were clear' d, and every face Was beautified with smiles ; such comely grace Appear' d in his behaviour ; such true wit, Sharp wit, but inoffensive, always fit For the occasion and the persons, still Mingled with his discourse j H' ad wit at will. And learning too he had in readiness, Such as his book contains, worthy o' th' press, [*] His manuscript to his son's son. O ! when Will it come forth, for th' use of gentlemen ! He was well read in books and men j both these, Studied, made what he spake or wrote to please : Old authors he lov'd best j and well he knew The old religion from the late and new ; And though he read and honour' d Bellarmine And great Aquinas, he did not decline From th' English Church, but held fast to his death The Reformation of Queen Elizabeth, Wherein he had been bred ; ever the same j Warping neither to Rome nor Amsterdam. One note of his religious mind take hence, (Exemplar to us all,) his patience. Among his papers, gather what his muse Hath left us in remembrance ('twas his use) Of honour' d persons ; Chandos, Dutton, do Live in his verses still, and Capel too. Let Higford also live with them ; his name With lasting sounds my trumpet shall proclaim. THE PREFACE. MAN is a proud creature, ambitious of immortality ; but it is denied him by the immutable law of God edicted against all flesh,, once to die : Omnia mors poscit ; lex est non poena perire. But yet he solaceth himself with a fancy of immortality, at leastwise to live in specie, and by his posterity, more conspicuously in his first-born to re-continue his memory: Hceres est xii THE PREFACE. alter ipse (saith Syracides) et jUlus est pars patris : mortuus est pater, et quasi non est mortuus, quia reliquit similem sibi. The application, dear Cousin, re- flecteth upon you. You are to me both my cousin and my son ; my cousin by the remotion of a degree, but my son according to the civil law, jure reprce- sentationis, because you represent the person of my dear son, your late father, now with God : so that in you are in- vested all his rights and prerogatives of birth, and upon you (by God's mercy) is likely to descend all the honour (if any such be) right and travel of our ancestors, and in you we all must live. And because in this your absence from Dixton, I cannot impart my soli- citous thoughts unto you, nor acquit myself of that reciprocal duty I owe THE PREFACE. xiii you, nor manifest the entire affection which I bear you by personal confer- ence ; love must creep where it cannot go : and therefore not knowing other- wise how to make my approaches unto you, I have framed and dedicated unto you this ensuing Address, that it may be (if worthy your perusal) a support to your tender youth, apt to slip, and a guide unto you in this your journey upon earth, and also a present or token of my love unto you upon the entrance of this new year, which together with the whole course of your life, I heartily pray may be successful and happy. Machiavel, in his Third Book of his Decads upon Livy, Chapter XXXIV. (a book which I would recommend unto you in his due time, for I am not of the opinion of those rigid divines, that place so deep a searcher into xiv THE PREFACE. histories and Roman antiquities amongst their Apocrypha books) re- counteth that in the institution of a young- nobleman or gentleman (for gentlemen are nobiles minores) three things are very considerable. 1. That he descend from worthy parents ; for that will be presumed, that children will be such as their parents were (until the contrary doth appear.) Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis. 2. The choice of his company and converse ; for this doth very much demonstrate what the person is in his genius and disposition, as Syracides well observeth : " All flesh will resort unto their like, and every man will keep company with such as himself." 3. That he be very careful, how he THE PREFACE. xv demean himself in the entrance of his youth that he act nothing, which shall be vile, sluggish or remiss : but that his actions savour of quickness and mag- nanimity : and if opportunity invite him thereunto that he undertake some noble essay, aliquod egregium f acinus, some notable adventure, thereby to give re- putation and lustre unto his subsequent life. 2 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. your origin and birth is to know a good part of yourself. I have in my custody six offices or inquisitions, in serie (which also are transcribed into the several of- fices at London) all which I will take care faithfully to leave unto you, because it shall not be through my default, that you lose any of your just rights either in honour or profit : these offices and the quiet enjoyment of your ancestors en- suing thereupon, being in truth the very nerves and sinews of your estate, and the conduits whereby it doth appear how their blood runneth in your veins, of all which I shall be ready to give you an account. PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 3 But I beseech you (this your de- scent be it what it will) that you make no boasting or ostentation thereof, or comparisons with other gentlemen ; than which nothing is more vile or putid : but lay it aside by you to vindicate you from in- dignities and affronts, and when you find yourself disparaged, or the title of your land questioned, then with modesty (the comeliest ornament of youth) and with such weapons as are left unto you, de- fend the same. Let upstarts and buyers of honour brag and boast: Pervia dant vada plus murmuris, alta nihil. Armories have suffixed unto them mottos or short sentences ; and 4 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. that which your ancestors have long used is, VIRTUS VERUS HONOS. By which it doth appear, that unless you imitate their virtues, you cannot participate their honours. Without virtue honour is but a false gloss : for titles of honour do not ennoble men, but worthy men ennoble their titles of honour : Virtu te decet non sanguine niti. This honour, though it be a cha- racter indelible, which cannot be lost, but by your own default ; yet it will be much impaired and in effect lost, neither can it be well preserved, without the preservation of your estate also. They are like two PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 5 twins, inseparable, born together, and must Jive and die together : Unijugis vitae est una, necisque dies. Poverty and honour are very un- suitable companions. Every acre of land you sell, you lose in pro- portion so much gentile blood : and therefore you may take notice that you are but Fiduciarius, that is (according to the civil law) a trustee for others : and that piety which your ancestors had to preserve an estate for you, you are to extend the same unto those who shall suc- ceed you. If you dissipate, you break that tacit and implicit trust, which so many ancestors, in so many ages, have reposed in you. 6 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. Now to preserve an estate is an art and skill, as Ovid telleth you : Non minor est virtus, quam quaerere, parta tueri : Casus inest illis, hie erit artis opus : The virtue which best conduceth to this end, is the most excellent virtue parsimony, I mean the me- dium between nimium and parum, sordid avarice, and profuse prodi- gality. Cato being demanded what was the greatest revenue, made an- swer, Maximum vectigal parsimonia. Use parsimony betimes before a waste be made, for Seneca tells you, Sera est in f undo parsimonia. In respect of the distance of years which is between us, you are very likely to be master of your estate, PAST I.] INSTITUTIONS. 7 in part or in whole, betimes, yea in the very entrance of your youth. The civil law limiting the majority of males at the age of twenty-five, better provideth for the security of estates than the common law of our land, which appointeth the full age at twenty-one. More families, I dare say, have decayed, or at least re- ceived the deadly wound in this in- terval, which is but four years, than in all other years of man's life. Be not therefore too jolly at the first, nor apt to be blown by parasites and flatterers (the bane of youth, who as summer birds, but withal birds of prey, do always resort to the spring of an estate) that your estate is greater than it is : this hath 8 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I- deceived many. Make yourself rather less than you are. Good grounds of frugality at first once well laid will make your estate continue firm and stable : Dimidium facti, qui benc coepit, habet. Land, by which a man is fed, is most honourable : money (as Syra- cides hath it) answereth all things, but it is not so honourable, and more casual. Land and money sort best together. If you cannot set your land, you may stock it. When it is more profitable for you to dis- stock, you can take your best mar- ket. Cast yourself once behind, whereby you must be enforced to receive your rents before they are PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 9 due, or to engage your tenants and servants, it is wonderful what ways and projects will be laid to keep you down. Riches may be well compared unto cisterns or pools, which a small stream will easily fill, if there be no leaks or wastes, but small wastes and expenses continuing, and not prevented, have deceived, and un- done many, no man knoweth how. Look to your exports, as well as your imports, and so prevent grow- ing mischiefs. Idem facit sentina neglecta, quod flumen irruens. Ista levia noli contemnere. Qui spernit modica, paulatim decidet. The ancient historians agree that by this virtue parsimony most 10 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. especially, the state of Rome came to sovereignty over the whole world. Quintus Cincinnatus was taken from the plough and made dictator, and at the end of his dictatorship re- turned to the plough again. But the Roman state, after the conquest of Asia, being rotten with luxury, and the delicacies thereof (prope ad summum, prope ad exitum) fell as fast, and at last resting in sinu im- peratoris, the whole Roman empire was not sufficient to satiate the throat of one man, as did well ap- pear in those monsters of men, Vi- tellius and Heliogabalus. But what do we seek for exam- ples of parsimony so ancient and remote, when you have so lively one PART!.] INSTITUTIONS. 11 of your own. Your worthy mother, you see, bred up in all affluence, denieth herself all the conveniences and contentments becoming her sex and honour. What to do ? to give yourself and brothers a virtuous education. Certainly, you will much degenerate, if you comply not with her in so eminent a virtue. Much more might be added by comparing the contrary effects to this virtue, because contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt : but they are all checked by this rare virtue parsimony, the wholesome preser- vative against all inordination. Another, and that an especial means to preserve your estate is your 12 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. choice of a wife, when as maturity of years and your own affections shall incline you thereunto : which also by your care will add unto you both an increment of estate, and strength and alliance of friends. It is the weightiest action you can perform in all your life, and it is resembled to war, in which it is said, you cannot err twice. Non est in hello bis peccandum. If love be your incentive, let discretion be your directive. Take your worthy mo- ther by the hand with you ; she looketh upon you with a double aspect, as entrusted by your late father, and by her own goodness, and indulgence toward you, exact- ing by the laws of God and Nature PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 13 duty and obedience from you. To whose advice, if you join your prayers lo the Almighty, you shall then know that a good wife is a portion from the Lord. Love is a fire which requireth fuel, and therefore I trust you will take care by your marriage to advance and augment your estate, that thereby your affectionate mother may be enabled to make provision for your brothers, to undergo those progressions into which they have made so happy and virtuous a commencement. And this is also another preserva- tion of your estate, and security. If your self should fail, these like tw o arches will preserve the same- 14 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. These are noble emissaries, which are sent abroad to afford you honour and reputation at home. If any sad adventure happen to them, your house must be an asylum or sanctuary unto them. You are three in number : Numero Deus impare gaudet. And as Solomon saith, The triple- twisted cord is not easily broken. Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso. There be many ways and mid- desses by which families have de- cayed, and many seeming wise men have overthrown their own estates. Such are they that grasp more than they can hold. Mortgage not your own land upon a certain title, for PART!.] INSTITUTIONS. 15 other land of whose title you can* not be so well assured. Such as these Syracides well noteth : He that buyeth land with other men's money, is like one that buyeth a heap of stones to bury himself. It is not the number of acres will give you content, when you are besieged and oppressed with debts and ne- cessities. Melior est pauper (saith Solomon) sibi sufficiens, quam qui multa possidet, et tanien egenus. Such as these are gamesters also, who out of a covetous desire and overweening to gain, sometimes make a patrimony but a Christmas- cast. Others have more sport for their money, who adventure bag after bag, and never leave off till 16 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. all be lost. This hath accelerated the ruin of many noble families. I am not so supercilious to con- ceive, but that it may be a fitting decorum for you to play, when by noble company you are invited thereunto : nay, not to play is a defect : but then not to adventure more than you can well spare, and for which the loss will not discon- tent you. And in this your disport, you are to have some respect unto time, and not to make that to be your vocation which is only in- tended for your recreation. Ludendi modus est retinendus, saith Tully. And it will also become you to know the advantages of games ; so shall you not altogether commit PART!.] INSTITUTIONS. 17 your money, which is so precious, to the temerity of fortune. Money is the hand to all actions, and it is also called alter sanguis, and regina pecunia, cui omnia obediunt. A consequent of the two former is the taking up of money upon inte- rest : what though you see many of the nobility and gentry involved and plunged therein, Multitude errantium non parat errori patrocinium. Cato being demanded, Quid estfaenerare, made answer, Hominem jugulare. The Jews (well versed in the trade ever since) were permitted to lend upon usury, to those nations, whom God had commanded to be cast out before them, thereby to extirp them. "It devoureth states and kingdoms 18 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. The King of Spain, called the King of the Golden Purse, upon whose dominions the sun never setteth ; was not able to pay the interest of money, taken up from the merchants of Genoa, for the supply of his army in the Low Countries. A concomitant to this of usury is suretyship, which hath also undone many. Money cannot be procured but upon high security ; whereby you must make use of your friends, even of your best friends. If you suffer them to be sued and im- pleaded, actum est de amicitia. But for the most part, the borrowers of money (as at a mart) are engaged one for another, by a law of con- gruity. Those that stand engaged PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 19 for you ; you must underwrite for them also : so that thereby your person and estate will not only lie exposed to your own engagements, which might be weighty enough to pull you down, but for other men's debts also. And then it will be too late for you to hearken unto Solo- mon, whose advice is : If thou be surety for thy neighbour, and hast stricken hands zvith a stranger , give no sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a doe from the hands of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Your own engagements, with others also, by a figure of multiplication, may so redouble and treble upon you, that in a moment you may be 20 INSTITUTIONS. [PART I. swallowed up alive, and that house wherein your ancestors have been glorious for bounty and hospitality, may become the den of a merciless usurer : Your enemies will laugh you to scorn, your friends passing by will lament and say, O domus antiqua, quam dispari dominaris domino ! But to prevent these and other the like mischiefs, you have a sure way. Be you the fruitful servant of Almighty God, you shalj take deeper root : You shall be like a tree planted by the water side, which will bring forth fruit in due season : your leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever you do, it shall prosper. Thus much for the preservation of your honour and estate, which de- PART I.] INSTITUTIONS. 21 scencl upon you from your ancestors. You may take breath a little, and then proceed to the Second Part of this discourse, concerning your company and converse. INSTRUCTIONS; OR, ADVICE TO HIS GRANDSON, THE SECOND PART. HOMO est animal sociale : and he that is not sociable (saith Aristotle) is more than a man, or less than a man, aut Deus aut bellua, either a 24 INSTITUTIONS. [PAET II. God which hath need of none, or a beast that will do good to none. And from this principle or instinct of nature (for men to live together) he deduceth families, villages, cities, and commonwealths. But the best things have a mixture of ill, and a difficulty ariseth, since mundus in maligno positus, how shall we con- verse and not participate with other men's sin ; touch pitch and not be defiled, or be like fishes of the sea, bred up in salt waters, and always sweet. Pelagius affirmed that man only sinned by imitation : and certainly by seeing others sin before us, we insensibly suck in the poison of vice. This hath been the cause, PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 25 that divers pious and devout men have dissociated and retired them- selves into rocks, caves and desert places, thereby to avoid the con- tagion of evil : such as John the Baptist, Father of the Eremites. But man by his fall being judged to eat his bread sudore vultus sui, is necessitated to live and make choice of an active life, which consisteth in labour and commerce, and thereby is engaged to the society of others. And because of temptations, it is good in the first place to avoid the converse of all known wicked per- sons, such as are cheaters, ruffians and debauched, who glory in their shame. A bonis bona per disces (saith Seneca) quod si malis adhteseris, 26 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. mentem quam habes proculdubio perdes. But because the assemblies of men (and those also of the better sort, which is to be bewailed) do abound with such, we are to fortify ourselves with the moral virtues, and put on the Christian armour, that thereby (by God's assistance) we may avoid the baits and engines wherewith they endeavour to en- snare us, as Solomon adviseth us ; Si alliciant te peccatores, ne acquiescas eis, Sec. Seneca also gives us ex- cellent direction : Cum tuis versare, qui te meliorem facturi sunt : illos admitte, quos tupotesfacere meliores. Good is diffusive, and it is a happy converse, when we either profit others or ourselves. PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 27 The first place in our affections must be for our friends. True friendship is (as Tully saith) inter bonos in bonis ; all compacts with wicked men, or in wicked things, are male icta f&dera. A friend is tried in adversity : Si possides amicum (saith Syracides) in tentationibus posside eum, et ne facile credas ei. A good close, not to be too credulous, but to try before you trust, true friends being very rare among so many professors of friendship. Tuta frequensque, via est per amici fallere nomen. The Italians have a proverb, God shield me from my friends, I will look to my enemies myself. It may be an advantage to have an enemy : 28 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. he will make you stand the surer upon your guard : you eye his motions and avenues : but a friend, which bosometh with you, who can prevent ? He is like a subterraneous engine, which will blow you up before you hear the report. And therefore Seneca well adviseth : Sic ama tanquam osurm, Sec. Never love so much, but reserve yourself, that if your friend shall become your enemy, he shall not have power to do you hurt : and yet withal, never hate so much, but leave an open gap or overture to let in love. Your hatred must be mortal, your love immortal. Love abideth for ever. The next in order are your PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 29 neighbours, (a good neighbour near, is better than a brother afar off:) with whom, in respect of nearness, you are to converse. There are two honourable neigh- bours, that in effect encircle your estate : one, the Right Honourable Viscount Tracy, who hath the pre- eminence of all the families in these parts for antiquity. Your ancestors have from them received much honour bv divers trusts and services */ recommended and reposed in them. Their land s at Aid erton lie promiscu- ously with yours, and many differ- ences have arisen between the respec- tive lords and tenants, which have been always composed in an amica- ble way. Many graces and favours I 30 INSTITUTIONS. [PART 11. have received in my country ; have proceeded from this honourable lord, and his son Sir Robert Tracy, the true inheritor of his honours and virtues. And though I might com- mand you, yet had I rather in treat you to assist me to pay that deep debt of duty and service which I owe to those of that honourable family. The other is the Lord Chandos ; nay the Lord Butlers long before, as I am very well able to set forth. The Lord Edmund Chandos, Knight of the Garter, in much infirmity of body did adventure towards Glocester, to do Sir John Higford honour, when he was first high sheriff, but falling more sick in the PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 31 journey, returned to his castle, and died before the assizes were ended. The Lord Giles Chandos employed Sir John Higford in the government of his estate, and in the lieutenancy of the county : and for his good service done therein promoved him to the Queen's Majesty (a great housewife of her honour) who dig- nified him with the order of a knight (in those days communicable only to persons of w r orth and quality) 14th of September, 1591. At which time also her said Majesty created Sir John Scudamore knight, the goodliest personage then in the court of England, and in high favour, her Majesty using many gracious speeches to them both. 32 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. The Lord Grey Chandos, truly noble both in learning and arms, brought me first into the commission of the peace, and did me many graces both in court and country. This noble lord, with whom you are almost coetaneous, hath shewed many remarkable indices of his prowess and honour : nee imbellem feroces Progenerant aquilae columbam. Follow the train of your ancestors, and so grow up in his favour. Principibus placuisse viris baud ultima laus est. You have also many other worthy gentlemen your neighbours, and some of your alliance too, from PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 33 whom your ancestors have received many high favours. Your ancestors knew no other way to continue their good affections, but affability, sweetness, and mutual offices of love. Morosity and strangeness will loose your friends, and benefit you nothing at all : Descendendo ascendes. The next companions in order are your servants and domestics, but these are ill companions, lest they prove insolent. It is written of Nero, the worst of princes, Non habuisse ingenium supra servos; when the great affairs of state were in debate in the senate house, he was conversant with his favourite D 34 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II . Tigillinus and the restof his servants. And this hath also been a disparage- ment to many worthy gentlemen, who affecting to be the best of their company, have neglected the con- verse of their superiors, many times to their great disadvantage. That you may be the better obeyed by your servants, you must carefully govern yourself, that by your own example you may the better govern them . Longum est iter per pracepta; breve et efficax per exempla. In the choice of your servants, you must take care, that they be negotiis pares, and then enjoin them business enough, and exactaccounts from them, lest by remissness they PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 35 grow idle and unserviceable. Pay them their due salaries : so will they be the more tied and assured to you : Non manebit apud te opus mercenarii usque mane. Your com- mands must be lawful, pious, and religious, tantum in Domino : remem- bering, that as they are your ser- vants, so they are God's freemen. Holy David will direct you in the choice of them : He that leadeth a Godly life, he shall be my servant. Faithful Abraham will inform you how to govern them : I know, saith God, that Abraham will command his household, that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and judgment. Abraham had a good servant whom he employed in the 36 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. negociation of his son's marriage : if you find such a servant, let your soul love him, and defraud him not of liberty, neither leave him a poor man. The next companions will be your tenants, who are your neighbours, and will have recourse unto you, in respect of their estates which they hold of you. Tillage is the preser- vation of a commonwealth in pro- viding bread, which is called the staff of man, whereupon he leaneth : which staff, if it fail, man falleth to the ground. Terra dicitur a terendo : and in a fine tillage-land is first set down, because it is worthier than any other land. For, as Cicero saith, Omnium rerum ex qitibus aliquid PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 37 exprimitur, nihil est agricultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius. By this kings have their subsidies, and the bodies of men for supply of their armies, (for, as Tacitus saith, Ex agro supplendum robur exercitus) and incumbents also receive their full tithes. These men live innocent lives without deceit : they only rely upon God, who giveth the former and the latter rain. To enclose, or not to suffer them to renew their estates, whereby desolation shall ensue, draweth on a woe. They hold of you by fealty, that is, fidelity, to be faithful unto you for the lands they hold. You must in relation give them protection, 38 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. whereby they may follow their ex- cessive labours : Finiunt, reparantque labores. Your ancestors have been mode- rate in their fines, and I trust God will bless you the better for it. Let these men of bread enjoy and sat the bread which they dearly labour for and earn :Panispauperum,vitapaupe- rum : qui defraudat eos, vir sanguinis. To your tenements and manor you have an advowson that is ap- pendant. An advowson, in the eye and construction of the law, is no more but a pleasure for a friend, a good friend indeed, which may lead you to God. Omnia cum amico delibera, sed de ipso prius. PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 39 Cardinal Ximenes, Archbishop of Sevilla in Spain, would never confer any benefice to any person who made suit for the same. King Henry VII. one of the sages of the kings of England, did never promote any one to any office or dignity upon the motion of another. Give your benefice yourself, so shall you have the thanks : give it with judg- ment, not with partial affection: St. Paul will direct you how to choose : Irreprehensibilem, ornatum, prudentem, pudicum, hospitalem, doc- torem; non violentum, non percus- sorem, non cupidum ; sed modestum, non neophytum, ne in superbiam elatus injudicium incidat diaboli. Against this young man I should except a 40 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. little. Young men are aguish, their pots are boiling, and they have many meanders. The cardinals in their conclave would once adven- ture (and that but once) to make a young pope, which was Leo X. of the house of Medicis : but see what followed : this young pope, by pro- miscuous granting and selling of pardons arid indulgences to the German nation, gave occasion to Luther to write against him. What a defection hath since ensued from that see! The cardinals since grown more wary in their choice, do ex- cept against any one (though other- wise well parted for so high a func- tion) unless he be also old enough to be Pope. PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 41 Coram cano capite consurge (saith Sjracides.) The elder man fixeth a deeper impression in the hearts of his auditors, and the gray hairs exact a better attention, as it is lively expressed by Virgil. Turn pietate gravem, et meritis si forte virum quern Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus astant : Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet. The elder man also, if he be froward, is of less continuance. Non datur beneficium nisi propter officium, saith the law. If you have provided him of the temporal part, he must afford you the spiritual. Amongst other his qualifications, peaceable must be one ; in respect 42 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. of the interest he shall have in yours and your tenants' estates. When you make a feast, though furnished with variety of delicacies, your feast will be much impaired, if you have no salt. This is your salt. It will be an especial act of piety in you to settle a godly preaching minister to officiate at Dixton : it will be a singular comfort to you and your family, to be informed in your duty to God by the example of his life and by his doctrine. It is said, Facundus comes in via est pro vehi- culo . certainly in this your journey ad patriam, which is heaven (for we are all but pilgrims upon earth) such a companion will be as a chariot to bring you to Almighty God : and PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 43 perhaps some of your ancestors have been less successful by the omission thereof. Now, being upon the treaty of sacred things, I shall recommend and transmit unto you the care of certain lands piously bequeathed by William Higford, Esq. to the use of the church of Alderton by his deed bearing date in October, the 28th of Henry VIII. The church doth pray in aid of Brachium saculare to support it, and the first law in the statutes of Magna Carta, whereunto the King at his coronation is solemnly sworn, is, That the Church of England shall be free, and have all her rights entire^ and her liberties inviolate. You are 44 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. and must be a Brachium seculare, and support to those lands, which being separated and set apart from profane uses, must be now only employed according to the disposi- tion of the donor per formam doni. To alien or divert the profits to any other use (which is often attempted by the parishioners to save their own money) or to endeavour to gain these lands to your self, is sacrilege, a 9rying sin, greatly tending to the dishonour of Almighty God, and which also may infect your other lands. There are many examples of such who have broken the trusts reposed in them, but their names do rot upon the earth. Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei. You PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 45 will find other pious acts of your ancestors, which to their glory and honour you are to maintain, as you will expect to be honoured yourself. You have also another compa- nion, which readeth to you. Gene- rosus animus facilius ducitur quam trahitur. You must hearken to him, as substituted by your worthy mother, unto whom God hath con- firmed a power over you. The heir (saith the Apostle) differeth in no- thing from a servant (in his minority) but is under tutors and governors. Disobedience in this kind is de- structive. Maledictio matris eradicat fundamenta. This your overseer is to give you your first liquor : and then, you know, 46 INSTITUTIONS. [PART II. Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu. Sir John Higford, who was an eminent man in his country, had for his tutor the famous Bishop Jewel ; my father Doctor Cole, an excellent governor ; myself Doctor Sebastian Benefield, native of Pres- bury, a very learned man : all three of Corpus Christi College, Oxon. And if we may transcend higher, Alexander, who conquered the world, had for his tutor Aristotle, who conquered the arts : Thomas Aquinas!, the champion of the Roman Host (of whom they boast, Tolle Thomam et dissipa ecclesiam^) had for his tutor our countryman and near PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 47 neighbour Alexander of Hales, sur- named Doctor irrefragabilis : Charles the Great, Emperor of the West, Alcuinus : Charles V., Pope Adrian : King James, a king of learning as well as of power, had for his tutor the famous Buchanan. These princes and great persons obtained great renown by their institution from their tutors. The Jesuits boast, that Imperium literarum penes Jesuitas: and they profit and raise their scholars most by the choicest lecturers that may be gotten to read unto their youth (and so also do both our Universities, both in private colleges and public schools) after the lecture they meet together, hold disputation, whet 48 INSTITUTIONS, [PART II. their wits by discourse, and rivet what they have heard, adding thereunto writing the heads for the helps of fallible memory : thus the work is done. Reading maketh an able man, discourse a ready man, and writing a perfect man. There are also other companions, and these are books, held to be the best companions of all, because they will not flatter : but in the choice of them you ought to be very curious. And therefore in the first place cast away from you all wan- ton, lewd, and licentious pamphlets: and read good books, and those in order and method. For as in your diet, health is preserved by a few dishes, and those of good juice and PART II.] INSTITUTIONS. 49 nourishment : so in learning, a few books well studied and digested, will profit you more than a great number not well chosen. Lectio certa prodest ; saith Seneca. The Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Scudarnore is best able to direct you (when you can have access to his Lordship) he is