am as much King of my Two Pence, as you of your Ten Pence. If you therefore go about to take away my Two Pence, I will defend it, for there you and I are equal, both Princes.

4. Or thus, two supreme Powers meet: one says to the other, give me your Land; if you will not, I will take it from you; the other, because he thinks himself too weak to resist him, tells him, of Nine Parts I will give you Three, so I may quietly enjoy the rest, and I will become your Tributary. Afterwards the Prince comes to exact Six Parts, and leaves but Three; the Contract then is broken, and they are in Parity again.

5. To know what Obedience is due to the Prince, you must look into the Contract betwixt him and his People ; as if you would know what Rent is due from the Tenant to the Landlord, you must look into the Lease. When the Contract is broken, and there is no third Person to judge, then the Decision is by Arms. And this is the Case between the Prince and the Subject.

6. Question. What Law is there to take up Arms against the Prince, in Case he break his Covenant? Answer. Though there be no written Law for it, yet there is Custom, which is the best Law of the Kingdom; for in England they have always done it. There is nothing expressed between the King of England and the King of France, that if either Invades the other's Territory, the other shall take up Arms against him; and yet they do it upon such an Occasion.

7. "Tis all one to be plundered by a Troop of Horse, or to have a Man's Goods taken from him by an Order from

the Council Table. To him that dies, 'tis all one whether it be by a Penny Halter, or a Silk Garter; yet I confess the silk Garter pleases more; and like Trouts, we love to be tickled to Death.

8. The Soldiers say they fight for Honour, when the Truth is they have their Honour in their Pocket; and they mean the same thing that pretend to fight for Religion. Just as a Parson goes to Law with his Parishioners; he says, For the good of his Successors, that the Church may not lose its Right; when the meaning is to get the Tithes into his own Pocket.

9. We govern this War as an unskilful Man does a Casting-Net: if he has not the right trick to cast the Net off his Shoulder, the Leads will pull him into the River. I am afraid we shall pull ourselves into Destruction.

10. We look after the particulars of a Battle, because we live in the very time of War; whereas of Battles past we hear nothing but the number slain. Just as for the Death of a Man: when he is sick, we talk how he slept this Night, and that Night, what he eat, and what he drank But when he is dead, we only say, he died of a Fever, or name his Disease, and there's an end.

11. Boccaline has this passage of Soldiers. They came to Apollo to have their Profession made the Eighth Liberal Science, which he granted. As soon as it was noised up and down, it came to the Butchers, and they desired their Profession might be made the Ninth: For

* Ragguagli di Parnasso, Centuria I. cap. lxxv. This book seems to have been a favourite with Selden, he has cited it elsewhere. It was extremely popular for its wit and satire.

say they, the Soldiers have this Honour for the killing of Men; now we kill as well as they; but we kill Beasts for the preserving of Men, and why should not we have Honour likewise done to us? Apollo could not Answer their Reasons, so he reversed his Sentence, and made the Soldier's Trade a Mystery, as the Butcher's is.

be

Witches.*

HE Law against Witches does not prove there any; but it punishes the Malice of those People, that use such means to take away Men's Lives. If one should profess that by turning his Hat thrice, and crying Buz, he could take away a Man's

There is a remarkable coincidence of opinion on the justice of punishing Witchcraft between Selden and Hobbes. "As for Witches, I think not that their witchcraft is any real power; but yet that they are justly punished for the false beliefe they have that they can do such mischiefe, joyned with their purpose to do it if they can their trade being nearer to a new Religion than to a Craft or Science."-Leviathan, p. 7, ed. 1651.

This however would only apply to those who practised witchery with an evil intention, or to impose on credulity. Many of the poor wretches who were cruelly tormented and executed as supposed witches, were the victims of wicked informers or malevolent and ignorant neighbours, or enemies. And their confessions were extorted from them by cruel tortures. It seems now marvellous that the belief in witches so long maintained itself not only among the people, but among men of high intellectual power, a Glanville and a Henry More. Even Bentley defends the belief in witchcraft on the ground of the existence of a public law against it declaring it felony, and Dr. Samuel Clarke in his Exposition of the Church Catechism appears to countenance the popular credulity.

Life, though in truth he could do no such thing, yet this were a just Law made by the State, that whosoever should turn his Hat thrice, and cry Buz, with an intention to take away a Man's Life, shall be put to death.

Wife.

E that hath a handsome Wife, by other Men is thought happy; 'tis a Pleasure to look upon her, and be in her Company; but the Husband is cloyed with her. We are never content with what we have.

2. You shall see a Monkey sometime, that has been playing up and down the Garden, at length leap up to the top of the Wall, but his Clog hangs a great way below on this side: the Bishop's Wife is like that Monkey's Clog; himself is got up very high, takes place of the Temporal Barons, but his Wife comes a great way behind.

3. 'Tis reason a Man that will have a Wife should be at the Charge of her Trinkets, and pay all the Scores she sets on him. He that will keep a Monkey 'tis fit he should pay for the Glasses he breaks.

Wisdom.

Wise Man should never resolve upon any thing, at least never let the World know his Resolution, for if he cannot arrive at that, he How many things did the King resolve in his Declaration concerning Scotland, never to do, and

is ashamed.

yet did them all! A Man must do according to Accidents and Emergencies.

2. Never tell your Resolution beforehand; but when the Cast is thrown, play it as well as you can to win the Game you are at. "Tis but folly to study how to play Size-ace, when you know not whether you shall throw it

or no.

:

3. Wise Men say nothing in dangerous times. The Lion you know called the Sheep to ask her if his Breath smelt she said, Aye; he bit off her Head for a Fool. He called the Wolf and asked him: he said no; he tore him in pieces for a Flatterer. At last he called the Fox and asked him: truly he had got a Cold and could not smell.

Wit.

FIT and Wisdom differ; Wit is upon the sudden turn, Wisdom is in bringing about ends.

2. Nature must be the ground-work of Wit and Art; otherwise whatever is done will prove but Jack-pudding's work.

3. Wit must grow like Fingers. If it be taken from others, 'tis like Plums stuck upon black Thorns; there they are for a while, but they come to nothing.

4. He that will give himself to all manner of ways to get Money, may be rich; so he that lets fly all he knows or thinks, may by chance be Satirically Witty. Honesty sometimes keeps a Man from growing Rich, and Civility from being Witty.