Proteus redivivus, or, The art of wheedling or insinuation obtain'd by general conversation and extracted from the several humours, inclinations, and passions of both sexes, respecting their several ages, and suiting each profession or occupation / collected and methodized by the author of the first part of the English rogue.

CHAP. IV. What are the Praecognita, or things first necessary to be known, before the Student in this Art of Wheedling, enter upon the Practice of the Profession.

I Have in the foregoing Chapters, given you an Account of the Nine first requisite Qua∣lifications of our Wheedle; in the next place I shall endeavour to discover what other things he consults for his Advantage, before he puts in practice his Art of Insinuation, which indeed are the principal discoverers in the profitable Science of reading or knowing Men.

Man is a difficult Book to be read, if we only take an outward view of his Person and Actions; for without much caution, and cir∣cumspection, they may both prove dangerously deceitful, though it's said, That the Face is the Index of the Mind, yet Experience tells us, it is no infallible Indicium of the Nature or Disposition of the Person. For which cause Socrates would not believe his own Eyes, but his Ears rather; for, when a Youth was highly commended to him for his excellent Parts, and great endowments of Mind, he did not pry into

his outward Feature, which was admirable, and needed not to have demurred his approbation of him, if that lovely hew, and sweet counte∣nance would have done it, but took a contrary way, by asking him, Loquere puer, ut te videam, which Seneca alluded to in one of his Epistles, Videre, & non eloqui, nec videre est, which puts me in mind of an Italian Proverb, A Lucca te vidi, a Pisa te conobbi, I saw thee at Lucca, I knew thee at Pisa; he had an external super∣ficial View of him at one place, but by converse he gain'd an inward acquaintance with him in another.

Yet it must nor be denied, but that the Eye is the Casement of the Soul, through which we may plainly see it, as one lately saw the Pride of a Rich Phanatick through his thread-bare holy Cloak, as he was going to a Conventicle, upon one of his own Solemn Days of Humiliation.

The Tongue is the truest Touchstone of the Heart, and Herauld of the Mind, but not always; for what is more deceitful and treacherous than it; how sweetly will it Wheedle to obtain its end; lye and flatter to propagate Interest; and hath so full a command, and power over the Heart, that it can utter nothing without her as∣sistance; and when the Tongue pleaseth, will corruptedly speak what the Heart dictated.

Again, (as one well observes) all is not Gold that glisters; and it was well observed by a Phi∣losopher, concerning a young man that was well proportioned and spoke ill, a Leaden Rapier in a Golden Sheath; Nero's Beard in a Golden Box; wrinkled Faces, and rugged Brows, lurk under smooth Paint; a rotten Nutmeg gilt over, or a gaudy outside with a Baudy rotten inside; an old deformed Woman in a New-fashion'd Gown; yet on the other side, when we see a Body well framed, as wrought out of the purest Virgin-wax, as tempered with the cunning hands of beauty and favour, enriched with the very prodigality of Nature; shall we say this golden Mine affords only leaden Metal? This is no wonder, no rare thing to see Wit, Wisdom, and Virtue in fellowship, or in one House-hold with Beauty; wherefore we must not censure too far by the outward resemblance, or else to instruct knowledge it self in this: That always to see, is not to know.

Neither can any see the Deformity of the Soul by the blemishes of the Body; not but that a man may give a shrewd conjecture, and many a hanging look hath presaged his certain going to the Gallows, some years before the approach of that sad Catastrophe.

I cannot deny but that we may gather some∣thing from outward appearances; for men large∣ly

sized are seldom witty Men we find; little Eyes in men betoken crafty, and circumventing Dispositions; in Women, salacity or lechery, with an obstinate selfish humour: a great head, a small wit; goggle eyes, a stark staring fool; great ears, a dull heavy Ass; large breasted, long liv'd; a plain unfurrowed brow, liberal; thick nails, harsh hair, and a gross hard skin, are certain signs of a dull understanding; a fat belly bespeaks a little ingenie, because the subtile Spirits are affected with gross and turbulent Fumes which darken the understanding.

Fat Panches make lean Pates, and grosser bits Enrich th' Ribs, but Bankrupt quite the Wits.

This will not hold good, if you examin the great Wit, notwithstanding the corpulent Body, of Doctor R. W.

Now since these are no certain Signs, which may direct us to the knowledge of Mankind, let us consider what other helps remain, which I find to be four, very important and necessary to be understood by all the Students of this Art or Science, viz. The four Temperaments or Humours, Inclinations, Passions, and Conversa∣tion: of these I shall speak in order.