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SECT. 22

In seventy or eighty years a Man may have a deep Gust of the World, Know what it is, what it can afford, and what ’tis to have been a Man. Such a latitude of years may hold a considerable corner in the general Map of Time; and a Man may have a curt Epitome of the whole course thereof in the days of his own life, may clearly see he hath but acted over his Fore-fathers; what it was to live in Ages past, and what living will be in all ages to come.

He is like to be the best judge of Time who hath lived to see about the sixtieth part thereof. Persons of short times may Know what ’tis to live, but not the life of Man, who, having little behind them, are but Januses of one face, and Know not singularities enough to raise Axioms of this World: but such a compass of Years will shew new Examples of old Things, Parallelisms of occurrences through the whole course of Time, and nothing be monstrous unto him; who may in that time understand not only the varieties of Men, but the variation of himself, and how many Men he hath been in that extent of time.

He may have a close apprehension what it is to be forgotten, while he hath lived to find none who could remember his Father, or scarce the friends of his youth, and may sensibly see with what a face in no long time oblivion will look upon himself. His Progeny may never be his Posterity; he may go out of the World less related than he came into it; and considering the frequent mortality in Friends and Relations, in such a Term of Time, he may pass away divers years in sorrow and black habits, and leave none to mourn for himself; Orbity may be his inheritance, and Riches his Repentance.

In such a thred of Time, and long observation of Men, he may acquire a Physiognomical intuitive Knowledge, Judge the interiors by the outside, and raise conjectures at first sight; and knowing what Men have been, what they are, what Children probably will be, may in the present Age behold a good part, and the temper of the next; and since so many live by the Rules of Constitution, and so few overcome their temperamental Inclinations, make no improbable predictions.

Such a portion of Time will afford a large prospect backward, and Authentick Reflections how far he hath performed the great intention of his Being, in the Honour of his Maker; whether he hath made good the Principles of his Nature, and what he was made to be; what Characteristick and special Mark he hath left, to be observable in his Generation; whether he hath Lived to purpose or in vain, and what he hath added, acted, or performed, that might considerably speak him a Man.

In such an Age Delights will be undelightful and Pleasures grow stale unto him; Antiquated Theorems will revive, and Solomon’s Maxims be Demonstrations unto him; Hopes or presumptions be over, and despair grow up of any satisfaction below. And having been long tossed in the Ocean of this World, he will by that time feel the In-draught of another, unto which this seems but preparatory, and without it of no high value. He will experimentally find the Emptiness of all things, and the nothing of what is past; and wisely grounding upon true Christian Expectations, finding so much past, will wholly fix upon what is to come. He will long for Perpetuity, and live as though he made haste to be happy. The last may prove the prime part of his Life, and those his best days which he lived nearest Heaven.

SECT. 23

Live happy in the Elizium of a virtuously composed Mind, and let Intellectual Contents exceed the Delights wherein mere Pleasurists place their Paradise. Bear not too slack reins upon Pleasure, nor let complexion or contagion betray thee unto the exorbitancy of Delight. Make Pleasure thy Recreation or intermissive Relaxation, not thy Diana, Life and Profession. Voluptuousness is as insatiable as Covetousness. Tranquillity is better than Jollity, and to appease pain than to invent pleasure. Our hard entrance into the world, our miserable going out of it, our sicknesses, disturbances, and sad Rencounters in it, do clamorously tell us we come not into the World to run a Race of Delight, but to perform the sober Acts and serious purposes of Man; which to omit were foully to miscarry in the advantage of humanity, to play away an uniterable Life, and to have lived in vain. Forget not the capital end, and frustrate not the opportunity of once Living. Dream not of any kind of Metempsychosis or transanimation, but into thine own body, and that after a long time, and then also unto wail or bliss, according to thy first and fundamental Life. Upon a curricle in this World depends a long course of the next, and upon a narrow Scene here an endless expansion hereafter. In vain some think to have an end of their Beings with their Lives. Things cannot get out of their natures, or be or not be in despite of their constitutions. Rational existences in Heaven perish not at all, and but partially on Earth: That which is thus once will in some way be always: The first Living human Soul is still alive, and all Adam hath found no Period.

SECT. 24

Since the Stars of Heaven do differ in Glory; since it hath pleased the Almighty hand to honour the North Pole with Lights above the South; since there are some Stars so bright that they can hardly be looked on, some so dim that they can scarce be seen, and vast numbers not to be seen at all even by Artificial Eyes; Read thou the Earth in Heaven, and things below from above. Look contentedly upon the scattered difference of things, and expect not equality in lustre, dignity, or perfection, in Regions or Persons below; where numerous numbers must be content to stand like Lacteous or Nebulous Stars, little taken notice of, or dim in their generations. All which may be contentedly allowable in the affairs and ends of this World, and in suspension unto what will be in the order of things hereafter, and the new Systeme of Mankind which will be in the World to come; when the last may be the first and the first the last; when Lazarus may sit above Cæsar, and the just obscure on Earth shall shine like the Sun in Heaven; when personations shall cease, and Histrionism of happiness be over; when Reality shall rule, and all shall be as they shall be for ever.

SECT. 25

When the Stoick said that life would not be accepted if it were offered unto such as knew it,³⁶⁸ he spoke too meanly of that state of being which placeth us in the form of Men. It more depreciates the value of this life, that Men would not live it over again; for although they would still live on, yet few or none can endure to think of being twice the same Men upon Earth, and some had rather never have lived than to tread over their days once more. Cicero in a prosperous state had not the patience to think of beginning in a cradle again. Job would not only curse the day of his Nativity, but also of his Renascency, if he were to act over his Disasters, and the miseries of the Dunghil. But the greatest under-weening of this Life is to undervalue that, unto which this is but Exordial or a Passage leading unto it. The great advantage of this mean life is thereby to stand in a capacity of a better; for the Colonies of Heaven must be drawn from Earth, and the Sons of the first Adam are only heirs unto the second. Thus Adam came into this World with the power also of another, nor only to replenish the Earth, but the everlasting Mansions of Heaven. Where we were when the foundations of the earth were lay’d, when the morning Stars sang together,³⁶⁹ and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy, He must answer who asked it; who understands Entities of preordination, and beings yet unbeing; who hath in his Intellect the Ideal Existences of things, and Entities before their Extances. Though it looks but like an imaginary kind of existency to be before we are; yet since we are under the decree or prescience of a sure and Omnipotent Power, it may be somewhat more than a non-entity to be in that mind, unto which all things are present.

SECT. 26

If the end of the World shall have the same foregoing Signs, as the period of Empires, States, and Dominions in it, that is, Corruption of Manners, inhuman degenerations, and deluge of iniquities; it may be doubted whether that final time be so far of, of whose day and hour there can be no prescience. But while all men doubt, and none can determine how long the World shall last, some may wonder that it hath spun out so long and unto our days. For if the Almighty had not determin’d a fixed duration unto it, according to his mighty and merciful designments in it, if he had not said unto it, as he did unto a part of it, hitherto shalt thou go and no farther; if we consider the incessant and cutting provocations from the Earth, it is not without amazement how his patience hath permitted so long a continuance unto it, how he, who cursed the Earth in the first days of the first Man, and drowned it in the tenth Generation after, should thus lastingly contend with Flesh and yet defer the last flames. For since he is sharply provoked every moment, yet punisheth to pardon, and forgives to forgive again; what patience could be content to act over such vicissitudes, or accept of repentances which must have after penitences, his goodness can only tell us. And surely if the patience of Heaven were not proportionable unto the provocations from Earth; there needed an Intercessor not only for the sins, but the duration of this World, and to lead it up unto the present computation. Without such a merciful Longanimity, the Heavens would never be so aged as to grow old like a Garment; it were in vain to infer from the Doctrine of the Sphere, that the time might come when Capella, a noble Northern Star, would have its motion in the Æquator, that the Northern Zodiacal Signs would at length be the Southern, the Southern the Northern, and Capricorn become our Cancer. However therefore the Wisdom of the Creator hath ordered the duration of the World, yet since the end thereof brings the accomplishment of our happiness, since some would be content that it should have no end, since Evil Men and Spirits do fear it may be too short, since Good Men hope it may not be too long; the prayer of the Saints under the Altar will be the supplication of the Righteous World. That his mercy would abridge their languishing Expectation and hasten the accomplishment of their happy state to come.

SECT. 27

Though Good Men are often taken away from the Evil to come, though some in evil days have been glad that they were old, nor long to behold the iniquities of a wicked World, or Judgments threatened by them; yet is it no small satisfaction unto honest minds to leave the World in virtuous well temper’d times, under a prospect of good to come, and continuation of worthy ways acceptable unto God and Man. Men who dye in deplorable days, which they regretfully behold, have not their Eyes closed with the like content; while they cannot avoid the thoughts of proceeding or growing enormities, displeasing unto that Spirit unto whom they are then going, whose honour they desire in all times and throughout all generations. If Lucifer could be freed from his dismal place, he would little care though the rest were left behind. Too many there may be of Nero’s mind, who, if their own turn were served, would not regard what became of others, and, when they dye themselves, care not if all perish. But good Mens wishes extend beyond their lives, for the happiness of times to come, and never to be known unto them. And therefore while so many question prayers for the dead, they charitably pray for those who are not yet alive; they are not so enviously ambitious to go to Heaven by themselves: they cannot but humbly wish, that the little Flock might be greater, the narrow Gate wider, and that, as many are called, so not a few might be chosen.

SECT. 28

That a greater number of Angels remained in Heaven, than fell from it, the School-men will tell us; that the number of blessed Souls will not come short of that vast number of fallen Spirits, we have the favorable calculation of others. What Age or Century hath sent most Souls unto Heaven, he can tell who vouchsafeth that honour unto them. Though the Number of the blessed must be compleat before the World can pass away, yet since the World it self seems in the wane, and we have no such comfortable prognosticks of Latter times, since a greater part of time is spun than is to come, and the blessed Roll already much replenished; happy are those pieties, which solicitously look about, and hasten to make one of that already much filled and abbreviated List to come.

SECT. 29

Think not thy time short in this World since the World it self is not long. The created World is but a small Parenthesis in Eternity; and a short interposition for a time between such a state of duration, as was before it and may be after it. And if we should allow of the old Tradition that the world should last Six Thousand years, it could scarce have the name of old, since the first Man lived near a sixth part thereof, and seven Methusela’s would exceed its whole duration. However, to palliate the shortness of our Lives, and somewhat to compensate our brief term in this World, it’s good to know as much as we can of it; and also, so far as possibly in us lieth, to hold such a Theory of times past, as though we had seen the same. He who hath thus considered the World, as also how therein things long past have been answered by things present, how matters in one Age have been acted over in another, and how there is nothing new under the Sun, may conceive himself in some manner to have lived from the beginning, and to be as old as the World; and if he should still live on ’twould be but the same thing.

SECT. 30

Lastly, if length of Days be thy Portion, make it not thy Expectation. Reckon not upon long Life: think every day the last, and live always beyond thy account. He that so often surviveth his Expectation lives many Lives, and will scarce complain of the shortness of his days. Time past is gone like a Shadow; make time to come present. Approximate thy latter times by present apprehensions of them: be like a neighbour unto the Grave, and think there is but little to come. And since there is something of us that will still live on, join both lives together, and live in one but for the other. He who thus ordereth the purposes of this Life will never be far from the next, and is in some manner already in it, by a happy conformity, and close apprehension of it. And if, as we have elsewhere declared, any have been so happy as personally to understand Christian Annihilation, Extasy, Exolution, Transformation, the Kiss of the Spouse, and Ingression into the Divine Shadow, according to Mystical Theology, they have already had an handsome Anticipation of Heaven; the World is in a manner over, and the Earth in Ashes unto them.

NOTES ON CERTAIN BIRDS AND FISHES FOUND IN NORFOLK

I willingly obey your commands in setting down such birds fishes and other animals which for many years I have observed in Norfolk.

Beside the ordinarie birds which keep constantly in the country many are discouerable both in winter and summer which are of a migrant nature and exchange their seats according to the season. Those which come in the spring coming for the most part from the southward those which come in the Autumn or winter from the northward. So that they are obserued to come in great flocks with a north east wind and to depart with a south west. Nor to come only in flocks of one kind butt teals woodcocks felfars thrushes and small birds to come and light together, for the most part some hawkes and birds of pray attending them.

The great and noble kind of Agle calld Aquila Gesneri I have not seen in this country but one I met with in this country brought from Ireland which I kept 2 yeares, feeding it with whelpes cattes ratts and the like, in all that while not giving it any water which I afterwards presented unto my worthy friend Dr Scarburgh.

Of other sorts of Agles there are severall kinds especially of the Halyætus or fenne Agles some of 3 yards and a quarter from the extremitie of the wings, whereof one being taken aliue grewe so tame that it went about the yard feeding on fish redherrings flesh and any offells without the least trouble.

There is also a lesser sort of Agle called an ospray which houers about the fennes and broads and will dippe his claws and take up a fish oftimes for which his foote is made of an extraordinarie roughnesse for the better fastening and holding of it and the like they will do unto cootes.

Aldrovandus takes particular notice of the great number of Kites about London and about the Thames. Wee are not without them heare though not in such numbers. There are also the gray and bald Buzzard of all which the great number of broad waters and warrens makes no small number and more than in woodland counties.

Cranes are often seen here in hard winters especially about the champian and feildie part it seems they have been more plentifull for in a bill of fare when the maior entertaind the duke of norfolk I meet with Cranes in a dish.

In hard winters elkes a kind of wild swan are seen in no small numbers, in whom and not in common swans is remarkable that strange recurvation of the windpipe through the sternon, and the same is also obseruable in cranes. Tis probable they come very farre for all the northern discouerers have obserued them in the remotest parts and like diuers other northern birds if the winter bee mild they commonly come no further southward then Scotland; if very hard they go lower and seeke more southern places. Which is the cause that sometimes wee see them not before christmas or the hardest time of winter.

A white large and strong billd fowle called a Ganet which seemes to bee the greater sort of Larus, whereof I met with one kild by a greyhound neere Swaffam another in marshland while it fought and would not bee forced to take wing, another intangled in an herring net which taken aliue was fed with herrings for a while. It may be named Larus maior Leucophæopterus as being white and the top of the wings browne.

In hard winters I have also met with that large and strong billd fowle which Clusius describeth by the name of Skua Hoyeri sent him from the Faro Island by Hoierus a physitian, one whereof was shot at Hickling while 2 thereof were feeding upon a dead horse.

As also that large and strong billd fowle spotted like a starling which Clusius nameth Mergus maior farrœnsis as frequently the Faro islands seated above Shetland, one whereof I sent unto my worthy friend Dr Scarburgh.

Here is also the pica marina or seapye, many sorts of Lari, seamewes and cobs; the Larus maior in great abundance in herring time about Yarmouth.

Larus alba or puets in such plentie about Horsey that they sometimes bring them in carts to Norwich and sell them at small rates, and the country people make use of their egges in puddings and otherwise. Great plentie thereof haue bred about Scoulton meere, and from thence sent to London.

Larus cinereus greater and smaller, butt a coars meat; commonly called sternes.

Hirundo marina or sea swallowe a neat white and forked tayle bird butt longer then a swallowe.

The ciconia or stork I have seen in the fennes and some haue been shot in the marshes between this and Yarmouth.

The platea or shouelard, which build upon the topps of high trees. They haue formerly built in the Hernerie at Claxton and Reedham now at Trimley in Suffolk. They come in March and are shot by fowlers not for their meat butt the handsomenesse of the same, remarkable in their white colour copped crowne and spoone or spatule like bill.

Corvus marinus, cormorants, building at Reedham upon trees from whence King Charles the first was wont to bee supplyed. Beside the Rock cormorant which breedeth in the rocks in northerne countries and cometh to us in the winter, somewhat differing from the other in largenesse and whitenesse under the wings.

A sea fowl called a shearwater, somewhat billed like a cormorant butt much lesser a strong and feirce fowle houering about shipps when they cleanse their fish. 2 were kept 6 weekes cramming them with fish which they would not feed on of themselues. The seamen told mee they had kept them 3 weekes without meat, and I giuing ouer to feed them found they liued 16 dayes without taking any thing.

Barnacles Brants Branta are common sheldrakes sheledracus jonstoni.

Barganders a noble coloured fowle vulpanser which breed in cunny burrowes about Norrold and other places.

Wild geese Anser ferus.

Scoch goose Anser scoticus.

Goshander. merganser.

Mergus acutirostris speciosus or Loone an handsome and specious fowle cristated and with diuided finne feet placed very backward and after the manner of all such which the Duch call Arsvoote. They haue a peculiar formation in the leggebone which hath a long and sharpe processe extending aboue the thigh bone. They come about April and breed in the broad waters so making their nest on the water that their egges are seldom drye while they are sett on.

Mergus acutarostris cinereus which seemeth to bee a difference of the former.

Mergus minor the smaller diuers or dabchicks in riuers and broade waters.

Mergus serratus the saw billd diuer bigger and longer than a duck distinguished from other diuers by a notable sawe bill to retaine its slipperie pray as liuing much upon eeles whereof we haue seldome fayled to find some in their bellies.

Diuers other sorts of diuefowle more remarkable the mustela fusca and mustela variegata the graye dunne and the variegated or partie coloured wesell so called from the resemblance it beareth vnto a wesell in the head.

Many sorts of wild ducks which passe under names well knowne unto the fowlers though of no great signification as smee widgeon Arts ankers noblets.

The most remarkable are Anas platyrinchos a remarkably broad bild duck.

And the sea phaysant holding some resemblance unto that bird in some fethers in the tayle.

Teale Querquedula, wherein scarce any place more abounding, the condition of the country and the very many decoys especially between Norwich and the sea making this place very much to abound in wild fowle.

Fulicæ cottæ cootes in very great flocks upon the broad waters. Upon the appearance of a Kite or buzzard I have seen them vnite from all parts of the shoare in strange numbers when if the Kite stoopes neare them they will fling up spred such a flash of water up with there wings that they will endanger the Kite, and so keepe him of agayne and agayne in open opposition, and an handsome prouision they make about their nest agaynst the same bird of praye by bending and twining the rushes and reedes so about them that they cannot stoope at their yong ones or the damme while she setteth.

Gallinula aquatica more hens.

And a kind of Ralla aquatica or water Rayle.

An onocrotalus or pelican shott upon Horsey fenne 1663 May 22 which stuffed and cleansed I yet retaine. It was 3 yards and half between the extremities of the wings the chowle and beake answering the vsuall description the extremities of the wings for a spanne deepe browne the rest of the body white, a fowle which none could remember upon this coast. About the same time I heard one of the kings pellicans was lost at St James’, perhaps this might bee the same.

Anas Arctica clusii which though hee placeth about the Faro Islands is the same wee call a puffin common about Anglisea in Wales and sometimes taken upon our seas not sufficiently described by the name of puffinus the bill being so remarkably differing from other ducks and not horizontally butt meridionally formed to feed in the clefts of the rocks of insecks, shell-fish and others.

The great number of riuers riuulets and plashes of water makes hernes and herneries to abound in these parts, yong hensies being esteemed a festiuall dish and much desired by some palates.

The Ardea stellaris botaurus, or bitour is also common and esteemed the better dish. In the belly of one I found a frog in an hard frost at christmas. another I kept in a garden 2 yeares feeding it with fish mice and frogges, in defect whereof making a scrape for sparrowes and small birds, the bitour made shifft to maintaine herself upon them.

Bistardæ or Bustards are not vnfrequent in the champain and feildie part of this country a large Bird accounted a dayntie dish, obseruable in the strength of the brest bone and short heele layes an egge much larger then a Turkey.

Morinellus or Dotterell about Thetford and the champain which comes vnto us in September and March staying not long, and is an excellent dish.

There is also a sea dotterell somewhat lesse butt better coloured then the former.

Godwyts taken chiefly in marshland, though other parts not without them accounted the dayntiest dish in England and I think for the bignesse, of the biggest price.

Gnats or Knots a small bird which taken with netts grow excessively fatt. If being mewed and fed with corne a candle lighted in the roome they feed day and night, and when they are at their hight of fattnesse they beginne to grow lame and are then killed or as at their prime and apt to decline.

Erythropus or Redshanck a bird common in the marshes and of common food butt no dayntie dish.

A may chitt a small dark gray bird litle bigger then a stint of fatnesse beyond any. It comes in May into marshland and other parts and abides not aboue a moneth or 6 weekes.

Another small bird somewhat larger than a stint called a churre and is commonly taken amongst them.

Stints in great numbers about the seashore and marshes about Stifkey Burnham and other parts.

Pluuialis or plouer green and graye in great plentie about Thetford and many other heaths. They breed not with us butt in some parts of Scotland, and plentifully in Island [Iceland].

The lapwing or vannellus common ouer all the heaths.

Cuccowes of 2 sorts the one farre exceeding the other in bignesse. Some have attempted to keepe them in warme roomes all the winter butt it hath not succeeded. In their migration they range very farre northward for in the summer they are to bee found as high as Island.

Avis pugnax. Ruffes a marsh bird of the greatest varietie of colours euery one therein somewhat varying from other. The female is called a Reeve without any ruffe about the neck, lesser then the other and hardly to bee got. They are almost all cocks and putt together fight and destroy each other, and prepare themselues to fight like cocks though they seeme to haue no other offensive part butt the bill. They loose theire Ruffes about the Autumne or beginning of winter as wee haue obserued keeping them in a garden from may till the next spring. They most abound in Marshland butt are also in good number in the marshes between Norwich and Yarmouth.

Of picus martius or woodspeck many kinds. The green the Red the Leucomelanus or neatly marked black and white and the cinereus or dunne calld little [bird calld] a nuthack, remarkable in the larger are the hardnesse of the bill and skull and the long nerues which tend vnto the tongue whereby it strecheth out the tongue aboue an inch out of the mouth and so licks up insecks. They make the holes in trees without any consideration of the winds or quarters of heauen butt as the rottenesse thereof best affordeth conuenience.

Black heron black on both sides the bottom of the neck white gray on the outside spotted all along with black on the inside a black coppe of small feathers some a spanne long, bill poynted and yallowe 3 inches long.

Back heron coloured intermixed with long white fethers.

The flying fethers black.

The brest black and white most black.

The legges and feet not green but an ordinarie dark cork colour.

The number of riuulets becks and streames whose banks are beset with willowes and Alders which giue occasion of easier fishing and slooping to the water makes that handsome coulered bird abound which is calld Alcedo Ispida or the King fisher. They bild in holes about grauell pitts wherein is to bee found great quantitie of small fish bones. and lay very handsome round and as it were polished egges.

An Hobby bird so calld becaus it comes in ether with or a litle before the Hobbies in the spring, of the bignesse of a Thrush coloured and paned like an hawke maruellously subiet to the vertigo and are sometimes taken in those fitts.

Upupa or Hoopebird so named from its note a gallant marked bird which I have often seen and tis not hard to shoote them.

Ringlestones a small white and black bird like a wagtayle and seemes to bee some kind of motacilla marina common about Yarmouth sands. They lay their egges in the sand and shingle about June and as the eryngo diggers tell mee not sett them flat butt upright like egges in salt.

The Arcuata or curlewe frequent about the sea coast.

There is also an handsome tall bird Remarkably eyed and with a bill not aboue 2 inches long commonly calld a stone curlewe butt the note thereof more resembleth that of a green plouer and breeds about Thetford about the stones and shingle of the Riuers.

Auoseta calld shoohinghorne a tall black and white bird with a bill semicircularly reclining or bowed upward so that it is not easie to conceiue how it can feed answerable vnto the Auoseta Italorum in Aldrovandus a summer marsh bird and not unfrequent in Marshland.

A yarwhelp so thought to bee named from its note a gray bird intermingled with some whitish fethers somewhat long legged and the bill about an inch and half. Esteemed a dayntie dish.

Loxias or curuirostra a bird a litle bigger than a Thrush of fine colours and prittie note differently from other birds, the upper and lower bill crossing each other, of a very tame nature, comes about the beginning of summer. I have known them kept in cages butt not to outliue the winter.

A kind of coccothraustes calld a coble bird bigger than a Thrush, finely coloured and shaped like a Bunting it is chiefly seen in sum̄er about cherrie time.

A small bird of prey calld a birdcatcher about the bignesse of a Thrush and linnet coloured with a longish white bill and sharpe of a very feirce and wild nature though kept in a cage and fed with flesh. A kind of Lanius.