Epistolæ Ho-elianæ familiar letters domestic and forren divided into sundry sections, partly historicall, politicall, philosophicall, vpon emergent occasions / by James Howell.

LVIII. To Sir Ed. Sa. Knight.

SIR,

VVEr ther a Physitian that could cure the maladies of the mind, as well as those of the body, hee needed not to wish the Lord Major, or the Pope for his Uncle, for he should have Patients without number: It is true, that ther be som distempers of the mind that proceed from those of the body, and so are cure∣able by Drugs and Dyets; but ther are others that are quite ab∣stracted from all corporeall impressions, and are meerly mentall; these kind of Agonies are the more violent of the two, for a•…•… the one use to drive us into Fevers, the other precipitat us oftentimes into Frensies: And this is the ground I beleeve, which made the Philoso∣pher think, that the rationall soul was infus'd into man partly for his punishment, and the understanding for his executio∣ner,

unless wisdom sit at the Helm, and steer the motions of his Will.

I thank God I have felt both (for I am not made of stone or steel) having had since I was shut in heer a shrewd fit of the new disease; and for the other, you must needs think that thirty one months close restraint, and the barbarousnes of the times, must discompose and torture the imagination, somtimes with gripings of discontent and anguish, not as much for my own sad conditi∣on, as for my poor Countrey and frends, who have a great share in my Nativity, and particularly for your self, whose gallant worth I highly honour; and who have not been the least suffe∣rer.

The Moralist tells us, that a quadrat solid wise man, should in∣volve and tackle himself within his own vertue, and slight all ac∣cidents that are incident to man, and be still the same Etiam si fractus illabatur Orbis; t•…•…er may be so much vertue and valor in you, but I profess to have neither of them in that proportion. The Philosopbers often prescribe us Rules, that they themselves, nor any flesh and bloud can observe: I am no statue, but I must resent the calamities of the time, and the desperat case of this Nation, who seem to have faln quite from the very faculty of rea∣son, and to be possess'd with a pure Lycanchropy, with a Wol∣vish kind of disposition to tear one another in this manner, in∣somuch, that if ever the old saying was verified, Homo homini lu∣p•…•…, it is certainly now: I will conclude with this Distic,

They err, who write no Wolves in England range, Her Men are all turn'd Wolves, O monstrous change!

No more, but that I wish you Patience, which is a Flower that grows not in evry Garden;

Your faithfull Servitor, J. H.

From the Fleet, Decem. 1. 1644.