A TRUE FRIEND 213 a good wife, more deare than a brother, else the wisest King had been mistaken: but our times justifie his Proverbe true, which hee knew before. He is Solamen in miseriis, a Copartner in distresses with you, and inwardly (not fainedly) beareth halfe the burthen. Love and amity hath so knit him to you, that 'tis a question whether you be two or one, reciprocally answering each other in affection, and are equally sensible of each others defects or disturbances. Hee is no Meteor or Comet, no nine dayes wonder, or wandring Planet, but a fixed starre, by whose operative influences, his needy is nourished. For he is not compos'd of words, but actions, alwayes ready at a dead lift, to draw Dun out of the myre. Not onely a bare Counsellor to goodnesse, and so leave you without meanes of prosecution (the niggardly wisedom of these times) but an assister in the way, and goes on the first mile with you for company, and lookes after you in the rest of your journey, if he doth not travell throughout the same. Hee never aymes at any of his owne ends in doing courtesies, but doth them freely and quickly; not drownding his good deeds in the dull performance; for, Qui citò dat, bis dat; He that gives timely, gives twice. He's a certaine perpetuity, that cannot bee lost by non-payment of Rent, and ought to bee loved above fee-simple. He is the pillar of constancy, & the very touchstone of Truth. One that lookes upon men with the eye of Religion, and is not rounded in the eare with worldly applause for it. Hypocrisie and vain-glory are as farre from his heart, as the contrary Poles are from each other, for his right hand shall not know what his left hand doth. Hee is, (in these iron dayes) Rara avis in terra; a blacke Swan, or a white Crow, as rare as the Phoenix, and such a precious Jewell as the Indies cannot afford his parallel. He is most happy that hath him, and I advise him to make much of him, for he hath great fortune indeed, if he findes a second. ... The second Edition ... London, 1635. [A Merry Man' and A Scrivener' from this.] 38 characters. 26 in the first edition. For The treatment of the thirty-eight characters in this little book varies nearly as much as their subjects. while these range from The World' or ' A Jealous Man' to An Usurer' or 'A Countrey Alehouse,' the method and ideas are at times hackneyed; but happily, in a fair number, the sketches are marked by acute observation and a pleasant style. The account of the Faire' is picturesque, and the affectations of speech in its Gentlewomen visitors are again amusingly recorded in A Fine Dame,' whose 'mouth is drawne into so narrow a compasse that she will not speake a broad word, but calls her husband, hisband.' The Melancholy man' may have been well known to Milton. We know little of Saltonstall's story: an Oxford man, of Queen's College, he wrote and tutored, but fell into misery,' and his stern sketch of a 'Scrivener' (or notary) may be related to this part of his life. A Merry Man His heart is so light that it leapes in his breast, and daunces to the tune of his owne conceits. He is the musicke in all companies, and you cannot please him better then to laugh at his Jest, which proves like an Egge in the breking, for as the one is ful of meate, so the other is full of wit. He was fram'd by nature for mirth, for when he tells some merry story, it is doubtfull whether his words or action doe best become him, and it is his Art to hide what followes, that the conclusion may make them laugh, till they cry out of their sides, and are even pain'd with pleasure. Young maides doate upon him, for he tells them stories of love with such a sensible feeling of the passion, that his words are so many arrowes to strike them in love. He is good to comfort sickemen, for if he finde them too indulgent to their disease, he will make them ashamed of their humour, while his jesting reprehension shall prevaile more than the counsell of friends. In this merry vaine, he observes both the time, place, and persons, for to laugh when others weepe is an unseasonable folly. His conceits are not raked out of the dunghill of obscene language, but are season'd with the salt of judgement, so that the severest Cato, cannot chuse but delight in them. He can apply himselfe to all humors, but cannot endure a melancholy man, for when they meete together, they are sure to have a bout at the weapons of wit, and though the merry man give more hits, yet the melancholy man wounds deeper. He brings himselfe into company with a Jest for his first Induction, and hee takes his leave with this complement, hilares sedete, sit yee merry. Lastly, he is the glew of good company, a harmlesse consumer of time, that makes it passe away undiscerned, and shortens the winter evenings with merry Tales; and as his life made his friends laugh, so his death makes them weepe for the losse of his merry conversation. A MELANCHOLY MAN A Melancholy Man 217 Is a full vessell which makes not so great a sound, -as those that are more empty and answer to every knocke. His wise parsimony of words shewes more wisedome, than their many, which are oftentimes more than wise. Hee can be merry without expressing it by an ignorant laughter. And if his company screw themselves up to an excessive straine of mirth; he proves amongst them but like a jarring string to a consort of musicke, and cannot raise himselfe to so high a note of jollity. When other men strive to seeme what they are not, hee alone is what he seemes not, being content in the knowledge of himselfe, and not waying his owne worth in the ballance of other mens opinions. If he walke and see you not, 'tis because his mind being busied in some serious contemplation, the common sense has no time to judge of any sensuall object. Hee's hardly with much invitation drawne to a feast, where every man sits an observer of another mans action, and had rather with Diogenes wash his owne Roots at home, than with Aristippus frequent the Court of Kings. His actions shew no temerity, having beene long before Intentions, and are at last produc'd as the ripe issue of a serious, and deliberate resolution. His speech shewes more matter in't than words, and like your gold coyne contaynes much worth in a little, when other mens is but like brass-farthings, and expresses little in much. As his apprehensions so his passions, are violent and strong, not enduring on the suddaine any opposition of good counsell, but like a torrent beares downe all before it. If he fall in |