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CHAP. LXVIII.
Of Regal Oeconomy, or Court-Discipline.
WE have now a fit opportunity to treat of Regal or Court Oeconomy. And to say Truth, the Court is nothing else but a Colledge of Gyants, that is, of noble and splendid Knaves, a Theater of a Wicked Life-guard, a School of most corrupt Man∣ners, where Pride, Arrogancy, Haughtiness, Extortion, Lust, Luxury, Envy, Gluttony, Violence, Impiety, Malice, Treachery, Deceit, Cruelty, and whatsoever other corrupt Customes and Vices rule and bear sway; where Adulteries, Rapes, and Fornication are the sports of Princes and great Persons, where oftentimes the Mothers of Kings and Princes are Bawds to their own Sons, where the Storms and Tempests of Vice cause an unspeakable Shipwrack of all Vertue, where every Good Man is oppressed, the worst of Men are advanc'd; where the Downright are laugh'd to scorn, the Just are Persecuted, the bold and Arrogant are Promoted. There only Flatterers, Whisperers, Detractors, Talk∣bearers, Calumniators, Sycophants, Lyars, Supplanters, Inventers of Evil, sowers of Discord prosper, and the worst of Crimes are openly Professed. Their Lives ••d Conversations are the most dishonest of all Mens,
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and whatsoever Hainous is to be observ'd in the single Natures of the worst of Monsters, all seems as it were to be amass'd together in the Rout attending a Court. There is to be seen the fierceness of the Lyon, the cruelty of the Tygre, the rudeness of the Bear, the rashness of the Bore, the pride of the Horse, the gree∣diness of the Wolf, the craft of the Fox, the uncon∣stancy of the Camelion, the various colours of the Leo∣pard, the currishness of the Dog, the timorousness of the Hare, the petulancy of the Goat, the nastiness of Swine, the desperateness of the Elephant, the revenge of the Camel, the stupidness of the Ass, the scurrility of the Ape. There Inhabit the raging Centaures, the pernicious Chimera's, the mad Satyrs, the filthy Har∣pies, the wicked Syrens, the horrid Struthiocamels, the devouring Gryphens, the rapacious Dragons, and whatsoever fatal Monsters and destructive Prodigies at which Nature is Affrighted; where every particular Vertue finds a Tyrant and a Hangman. In fine, a man must fit himself for all Wickedness, Malice, and Impiety, or not come neer a Court.
It is not Lawful unless far from Court
Vnpunish'd to be good.—
The provok'd Power of a Potent Courtier, is like a Comet, the Fore-runner of many Mischiefs, and a most Contagious Pestilence where it fixes; leaving be∣hind most uncurable Effects of its Venome, like the biting of mad Dogs. The Court is generally accom∣panied with scarcity, the price of things being en∣hansed, where men think to gain by the Confluence of People: it is accompanied by the excess of Luxury in Dyet, with new-fangled Dishes, driving out the customary Dyet of the Country. It is attended with the height of Pride, which when Men and Women
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strive to imitate, and seek in change of Fashions to out-vye one another, they consume and waste their Patrimony in Apparel. Now when a Court departs out of any City or Town, what a filthy Tail it leaves behind! Here Men find their Wives Adulterated, there their Daughters carried away for Whores, their Servants corrupted and abus'd: What follows? great Complaints, and the face of the whole City is be∣come as it were the Face and Countenance of a Whore. I know a Famous City of France by these means so corrupted, that there was hardly a Chast Ma∣tron or a Virgin left; so that it was counted a great Honour to be a Count's Whore: and the old Women were generally Bawds to the younger; and so shame∣less they became at length, that Modesty was quite Exil'd; so that Men never took notice of their Wives playing the Whores, so that, as Abraham sayes, It were well with them for their sakes.
Of Regal Oeconomy, or Court-Discipline.
WE have now a fit opportunity to treat of Regal or Court Oeconomy. And to say Truth, the Court is nothing else but a Colledge of Gyants, that is, of noble and splendid Knaves, a Theater of a Wicked Life-guard, a School of most corrupt Man∣ners, where Pride, Arrogancy, Haughtiness, Extortion, Lust, Luxury, Envy, Gluttony, Violence, Impiety, Malice, Treachery, Deceit, Cruelty, and whatsoever other corrupt Customes and Vices rule and bear sway; where Adulteries, Rapes, and Fornication are the sports of Princes and great Persons, where oftentimes the Mothers of Kings and Princes are Bawds to their own Sons, where the Storms and Tempests of Vice cause an unspeakable Shipwrack of all Vertue, where every Good Man is oppressed, the worst of Men are advanc'd; where the Downright are laugh'd to scorn, the Just are Persecuted, the bold and Arrogant are Promoted. There only Flatterers, Whisperers, Detractors, Talk∣bearers, Calumniators, Sycophants, Lyars, Supplanters, Inventers of Evil, sowers of Discord prosper, and the worst of Crimes are openly Professed. Their Lives ••d Conversations are the most dishonest of all Mens,
Page 225
and whatsoever Hainous is to be observ'd in the single Natures of the worst of Monsters, all seems as it were to be amass'd together in the Rout attending a Court. There is to be seen the fierceness of the Lyon, the cruelty of the Tygre, the rudeness of the Bear, the rashness of the Bore, the pride of the Horse, the gree∣diness of the Wolf, the craft of the Fox, the uncon∣stancy of the Camelion, the various colours of the Leo∣pard, the currishness of the Dog, the timorousness of the Hare, the petulancy of the Goat, the nastiness of Swine, the desperateness of the Elephant, the revenge of the Camel, the stupidness of the Ass, the scurrility of the Ape. There Inhabit the raging Centaures, the pernicious Chimera's, the mad Satyrs, the filthy Har∣pies, the wicked Syrens, the horrid Struthiocamels, the devouring Gryphens, the rapacious Dragons, and whatsoever fatal Monsters and destructive Prodigies at which Nature is Affrighted; where every particular Vertue finds a Tyrant and a Hangman. In fine, a man must fit himself for all Wickedness, Malice, and Impiety, or not come neer a Court.
It is not Lawful unless far from Court
Vnpunish'd to be good.—
The provok'd Power of a Potent Courtier, is like a Comet, the Fore-runner of many Mischiefs, and a most Contagious Pestilence where it fixes; leaving be∣hind most uncurable Effects of its Venome, like the biting of mad Dogs. The Court is generally accom∣panied with scarcity, the price of things being en∣hansed, where men think to gain by the Confluence of People: it is accompanied by the excess of Luxury in Dyet, with new-fangled Dishes, driving out the customary Dyet of the Country. It is attended with the height of Pride, which when Men and Women
Page 226
strive to imitate, and seek in change of Fashions to out-vye one another, they consume and waste their Patrimony in Apparel. Now when a Court departs out of any City or Town, what a filthy Tail it leaves behind! Here Men find their Wives Adulterated, there their Daughters carried away for Whores, their Servants corrupted and abus'd: What follows? great Complaints, and the face of the whole City is be∣come as it were the Face and Countenance of a Whore. I know a Famous City of France by these means so corrupted, that there was hardly a Chast Ma∣tron or a Virgin left; so that it was counted a great Honour to be a Count's Whore: and the old Women were generally Bawds to the younger; and so shame∣less they became at length, that Modesty was quite Exil'd; so that Men never took notice of their Wives playing the Whores, so that, as Abraham sayes, It were well with them for their sakes.