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Gusto relevante.
A palate to relish no ordi∣nary things.
EVery great capaci∣tie is ever hard to be pleased: The Gusto must as well be improv'd as the wit. Both rais'd and improv'd are like Twinns begotten by capacity and coheirs of excellency: Ne∣ver sublime wit yet bred a flat or abject Gusto. There are perfections like the sun, others like light. The Eagle makes love to the sun. The poor frozen fly
destroyes her self in the flames of a Candle. The height of a Capacity is best taken by the elevation of a Gusto.
It is somthing to have it good, but more to have it elevated. By communica∣tion Gustoes are linkt toge∣ther, and it is a rare thing when two are met that are superlative.
Many esteem it the greatest felicitie to have what they desire, account∣ing all others unfortunate, but it returns to be six all, at seaven up: and so wee see the one half of the world Laughing at the o∣ther, more or lesse foolish∣ly
as it happens.
A Critical Gusto, and a palat hard to please, have something in them of no∣ble and qualified; the most acomplisht objects live in aw of them, and the secu∣rest perfections are afraid of them.
Estimation is most pre∣tious, and only wise men can merchand it to profit. All Covetousnes in mo∣ney of applause is gene∣rous, and contrary, the pro∣digalities of estimation de∣serve to be punisht with scorn.
Admiration is Comon∣ly the superscription of ig∣norance: It is not bred so
much out of the perfecti∣on of objects, as the imper∣fection of our conceptions. The perfections of the first magnitude are singular, but in valuing of things there ought to be a great reser∣vation.
He that had the Royall Gusto was the wisest of the Philips of Spain: he was accustomed to miraculous objects, and was never pleas'd with any thing but what was rare in its kind.
A Merchant of Portu∣gall presented him one day with a star of the earth (I mean an orientall dia∣mant) an epitome of ri∣ches, an astonishment for
splendour: Every one ex∣pected that Philip should admire it; but he beheld it rather with a careless dis∣dain: Not that he deligh∣ted in discurtesie, but in a kind of gravity, like one that having had his Gusto inur'd to Miracles both of Art and Nature, could not be so vulgarly affected as others. What may this di∣amant be worth to a no∣ble fancy? (quoth the King) Sir, reply'd the Merchant, the seventy thousand Duckets which I abridged into this rare production of the Sun, need not be an offence to any body; I, but reply'd
the King, what didst thou think when thou payedst so dear for it? I thought Sir, said the Merchant, there had bin a second Phi∣lip in the world. This an∣swer so unexpected, prickt him to the quick more neer than the price; whereupon he commanded the Dia∣mant to be paid for, and the Jentilesse of the Por∣tugall's answer to be re∣warded; shewing thereby the superiority of his Gu∣sto both in the price and in the recompence.
Some are of an opinion that he that exceeds not in the commendation of a thing, dispraiseth it; But I
would say, that all excesses of praise are from a defect of capacity; And that he that praises any thing be∣yond reason, either mocks himself, or those that hear him.
The Greek Agesilaus condemned that man for an ill master of his trade, that would fit the shooe of the Giant Enceladus, to the foot of a Pigmy, and in the matter of praises it is the best skill to take a first measure.
Europe was fill'd with the praise and prowess of that great Duke D'Alva, and yet though they filled the world with his praises,
they took not a right mea∣sure of his Gusto, which left him unsatisfied; Some of his friends desiring to know a reason, He told them that for forty years wherein he had bin a Con∣querour, and having had for his Camp all Europe, and for blason all the Em∣presses of his time, yet it seemed nothing to him, because he had never seen one of those prodigious armies of the Turk before him, the defeat whereof had been a tryumph of dexteritie more than of force; And such an exces∣sive power subdu'd, would have enhaunst the experi∣ence
and merit of a Gene∣ral: so many things must go to the entire satisfacti∣on of the elevated Gusto of an Heroe.
Let not this quality make a perfect Man of a Momus, for that were an unsufferable disorder, but only to be a faithfull Cen∣sor of things to their va∣lew: Some there are that make their judgement a slave to their wills, pervert∣ing the offices of the sun and of darknesse: Let eve∣ry thing carry reputation for it self, and not by the subornation of a Gusto.
Only a great knowledge favoured with a great ex∣perience
arrives at a right understanding of the va∣lue of perfections. And where a discreet man can∣not give his vote with clearness, let him not pre∣cipitate, but retain himself for fear he make a disco∣very rather of what him∣self wants, than of what o∣thers have too much.
This was Philip the second of Spain in allusion to that great Philip of Macedon.