puli suprema lex est," but "esto"; it being one of the laws of the twelve tables,* and after divers laws made, some for punishment, some for rewards, then follows this, "Salus populi suprema lex esto : that is, in all the laws you make, have a special eye to the good of the people; and then what does this concern the way they now go?

2. Objection. He that makes one, is greater than he that is made: the people made the king, ergo, &c. Answer. This does not hold; for if I have £1000 per annum, and give it you, and leave myself ne'er a penny, I made you; but when you have my land, you are greater than I. The parish makes the con

stable, and when the constable is made, he

* Selden's memory seems here to have deceived him : this is not one of the laws of the twelve tables, but one of those which Cicero has proposed for the government of his imaginary republic. "Regio imperio duo sunto: iique præeundo, judicando, consulendo, prætores, judices, consules appellantor. Militia summum jus habento nemini parento. Ollis salus populi suprema lex esto." (De Legibus, lib. iii.)—"Nam quas," says Gravina, e Ciceronis libris de legibus in xii. tab. retulerunt, non veras arbitramur, sed a Cicerone confictas, exemplo legum Platonicarum: quamvis multas legum decemviralium sententias, propter æquitatem quam continebant ex intimâ philosophiâ ductam, Cicero suis legibus comprehenderit." (Origines Juris Civilis, p. 172. edit. Mascovii.)

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governs the parish. The answer to all these doubts is, have you agreed so? If you have, then it must remain till you have altered it.

PHILOSOPHY.

WHEN men comfort themselves with philosophy, 't is not because they have got two or three sentences, but because they have digested those sentences, and made them their own: so upon the matter, philosophy is nothing but discretion.

PLEASURE.

1. PLEASURE is nothing else but the intermission of pain, the enjoying of something I am in great trouble for till I have it.

2. 'T is a wrong way to proportion other men's pleasures to ourselves; 't is like a child's using a little bird, "O poor bird, thou shalt sleep with me"; so lays it in his bosom, and stifles it with his hot breath the bird had rather be in the cold air. And yet too 't is the most pleasing flattery, to like what other men like.

3. T is most undoubtedly true, that all men are equally given to their pleasure; only thus, one man's pleasure lies one way, and another's another. Pleasures are all alike, simply considered in themselves: he that hunts, or he that governs the commonwealth, they both please themselves alike, only we commend that whereby we ourselves receive some benefit ; as if a man place his delight in things that tend to the common good. He that takes pleasure to hear sermons, enjoys himself as much as he that hears plays; and could he that loves plays endeavour to love sermons, possibly he might bring himself to it as well as to any other pleasure. At first it may seem harsh and tedious, but afterwards 't wound be pleasing and delightful. So it falls out in that which is the great pleasure of some men, tobacco; at first they could not abide it, and now they cannot be without it.

4. Whilst you are upon earth, enjoy the good things that are here, (to that end they were given,) and be not melancholy, and wish yourself in heaven. If a king should give you the keeping of a castle, with all things belonging to it, orchards, gardens, &c. and bid you use them; withal promise you that, after twenty years, to remove you to the court, and to make you a privy counsellor ;, if you should neglect

your castle, and refuse to eat of those fruits, and sit down, and whine, and wish you were a privy counsellor, do you think the king would be pleased with you?

5. Pleasures of meat, drink, clothes, &c. are forbidden those that know not how to use them; just as nurses cry "pah"! when they see a knife in a child's hand they will never say

any thing to a man.

POETRY.

1. OVID was not only a fine poet, but, as a man may speak, a great canon lawyer, as appears in his "Fasti," where we have more of the festivals of the old Romans than anywhere else 't is pity the rest are lost.

2. There is no reason plays should be in verse, either in blank or rhyme; only the poet has to say for himself, that he makes something like that which somebody made before him. The old poets had no other reason but this, their verse was sung to music; otherwise it had been a senseless thing to have fettered up themselves.

3. I never converted but two: the one was Mr. Crashaw from writing against plays, by

telling him a way how to understand that place of putting on women's apparel, which has nothing to do in the business; as neither has it, that the Fathers speak against plays in their time, with reason enough, for they had real idolatries mixed with their plays, having three altars perpetually upon the stage. The other was a doctor of divinity, from preaching against painting; which simply in itself is no more hurtful than putting on my clothes, or doing any thing to make myself like other folks, that I may not be odious or offensive to the company. Indeed if I do it with an ill intention, it alters the case; so, if I put on my gloves with an intention to do a mischief, I am a villain.

4. 'T is a fine thing for children to learn to make verse; but when they come to be men, they must speak like other men, or else they will be laughed at. 'Tis ridiculous to speak, or write, or preach in verse. As 't is good to learn to dance: a man may learn his leg, learn to go handsomely; but 't is ridiculous for him to dance when he should go.

5. 'T is ridiculous for a lord to print verses: 't is well enough to make them to please himself, but to make them public, is foolish. If a man in a private chamber twirls his bandstrings, or plays with a rush to please himself,