1 On ' there were «'-G. ' Erasmus writes that he knew some such cardinals.
1 Qu. there were. u. p ^ j, yi^. Valerian; Eckhel, vu. 307.-G.
1 ieS cTd";- Boze in EoL de I'Academie de Sciences et Belles Lettres, vol. xxiii.: Zenobia, as before.— G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
people. , Seneca, speaking of him, saith, that he who in the morning was swollen with titles, ere night there remained not so much as a mammock i of flesh for the hangman to fasten his hook in. 2
Belisarius, a most famous general under Justinian the emperor, after all the great and famous services that he had done, he had his eyes put out in his old age by the Empress Theodora ; and at the temple of St Sophia forced to beg: Date partem Belisario, &c., Give a crust to old blind Belisarius, whom virtue advanced, but envy hath brought into this great misery. 3
Henry the Fourth, emperor, in sixty-two battles, for the most part, he became victorious ; yet he was deposed, and driven to that misery that he desired only a clerk's place in a house at Spires, of his own building, which the bishop of that place denied him: whereupon he brake forth into that speech of Job : ' Miseremini mei, amid; quia manus Dei tetigit me, Have pity upon me, oh my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me,' Job xix. 21. He died of grief and want.^
Bajazet, a proud emperor of the Turks, whom Tamerlane a Tar- tarian took prisoner, and bound him in chains of gold, and used him for a footstool when he took horse ; when he was at table he made him gather crumbs and scraps under his table, and eat them for his food.5
Dionysius, king of Sicily, was such a cruel tyrant that his people banished him. After his banishment he went to Corinth, where he lived a base and contemptible life. At last he became a schoolmaster ; so that, when he could not tyrannise any longer over men he miffht over boys.^ °
Pythias was pined to death for want of bread, who once was able to entertain and maintain Xerxes his mighty army 7
Great Pompey had not so much as room to be buried in; and William the Conqueror 8 corpse lay three days unburied, his interment being hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his
Caesar having bathed his sword in the blood of the senate and his own countrymen is after a while, miserably murdered in the senate by his own friends, Cassius and Brutus
««'!^'°^.^''Fl!w*'-^ S^^""* MT^^ ^^^ ^^^^^1«' ^as brought so low as to entreat his friend to send him a sponge, a loaf of bread, and a harp; a sponge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his life, and a harp to solace himself in liis misery 8
A Duke of Exeter, who, though he had married Edward the Fourth's sister, yet was seen begging barefoot in the Low Comitries 9
Ihe Emperor Nero promoted Tigelenus to the greatest dignities of the Roman empire, but it was because he had been the privfte aSnt to his base and lascivious delights, for which he was justly Svefof his honours and hfe by Otho the emperor.io ^ ^ aeprived ot
^ 'Morsel/ a Shakeeperian word: Coriolanus, i. 3 -G ' Seneca, De Tranquillitate, cap. 11.— G ^ Ci Lord Mahon's ' Belisarius.'— G ' 4 a „ u *
" As before.— G * As before.— G.
^ Turk. History, p. 220. [Knolles 1 8 4^"^— .^•
» Philip de Comines saw him thus beg. Procopms reports this of him.
'" See Tacitus in Otho's Life, f Annals tv ^7 ia „ j ^i But, L 72, and PluUrch am.. 2,'lS,"lt 19 "sS^'-oTh", 1 stTd'i'd.j"' ''"'""
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
By all these instances, and many more that might be produced it is most evident that worldly glory is but a breath, a vapour, a froth a Sasm a shadow, a reflection, an apparition, a very nothing Like the incurs or nightmare in a dream, you imagine it a substance, a weigSt you grasp at it and awaJ.e, and it is nothing Pljasurejid ifl iJii o^iflp n ^pnse or two— the one a touch or taste, the other a r^M^thl ts ; butto of glory can neither be felt seen, or under- s^Sod The phi osophers are at strife among themselves where to fix r'n any being or existence, whether in honorante, or m honorato the giver or thf taker. The inconstancy and shppermess of it is dis- cerrlble in the instances last cited. It hath raised some, bu hah ruined more ; and those commonly whom it hath most raised it hath ^st ridned Sir, if there be anything glorious in the world, it is a S?nd that divinely contemns that glory ; and such a mind I judge and W God haTgiven you. I have hinted a little at the vamty of Sdly glory, because happily this tr^tise, passing up and down the wor d may fall into the hands of such as may l^^troubled with that S anf if so, who can tell but that that little that I have said may prove a sovereign salve to cure that Egyptian botch: and if so, I have
"^^A nothing lie so near your heart in all the ^orld^« «Jf «^. ^^^^^ things- 1 Your sins, to humble you and abase you at the foot of God. 2 Free and rich and sovereign grace, to soften and melt you down into the wUl of God. 3. The Lord Jesus Christ,to assist, help, strengthen andXence you to all the duties and services that are incumbent upon yo^^^^^^ The blessed Scriptures, to guide you and lead you, 'and to be a lamp unto your feet, and a hght unto your paths, i 5. T^ JSicU^ns of'joseph! to draw out your « X^^'/^]^^^^^^^ pathy and compassion to men in misery. 6. The glory and naj^pi ness of another world, to arm you and steel you aginst all the ems, snares Tnd temptations that your high places, offices, and circuni- stenci may lay you open to. 7. The grand points in this treatise wS S h^d upo^your heart by the warm hand of the Spirit,
^'t'tl^nZlZ%r2gnsly^ as to tell the world how many several score pounds of your money hath passed through my hands t^arisXre'^ief, refreshment, support and preservation of such who fortheh- piety and extreme poverty and necessity, were proper objects of your charity; but shall take this opportumty to te you, and all otC into who e hands this treatise may fall that of al the duties of reSn there are none, 1. More commanded than his of chanty pi V compassion, and mercy to men in misery <=f P'^<='''»y *? «;7 °* f the household of faith;' 2. There is no one duty more highly com-
' Col. i. 10-13 ; PM. ■'"■ 12-"; G-l- "• 2« i 1 C»r. xv. 10 ; 2 Cor. xil. 10 ; P.. oxix. 105; Amos vi. 3-6; Nek i. 1-5.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOKY.