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

VIII. To the right Hon^ble my Lo. of D.

My Lord,

THe subject of this letter may peradventure seem a Paradox to som, but not, I know, to your Lordship when you have pleas'd to weigh well the reasons. Learning is a thing that hath bin much tried up, and coveted in all ages, specially in this last century of yeers, by peeple of all sorts though never so mean, and mechani∣call; every man strains his fortunes to keep his children at School, the Cobler will clout it till midnight, the Porter will carry bur∣thens till his bones crack again, the Ploughman will pinch both back and belly to give his son learning; and I find that this ambi∣tion reigns no wher so much as in this Island. But under favour, this word learning is taken in a narrower sense among us, than a∣mong other nations, we seem to restrain it only to the Book, wher∣as, indeed, any artisan whatsoever if he know the secret and myste∣ry of his trade may be call'd a learned man; A good Mason, a good Shoomaker that can manage Saint Crispins lance handsomly, a skillfull Yeoman, a good Shipwright, &c. may be all call'd learned men, and indeed the usefullest sort of learned men, for without the two first, we might go barefoot, and ly abroad as beasts having no other canopy than the wild air, and without the two last we might starve for bread, have no commerce with other nations, or ever be able to tread upon a Continent: these with such like dextrous A•…•…tisans may be tearmed learned men, and the more behoovefull for the subsistence of a Countrey, than those Polymathists, that stand poring all day in a corner upon a moth-eaten Author, and con∣verse only with dead men; The Chineses (who are the next neigh∣bours to the rising sun on this part of the hemisphere, and conse∣quently the acutest) have a wholsom peece of policy, that the son is alwaies of the fathers trade, and 'tis all the learning he aimes at,

which makes them admirable artisans, for besides the dextrou•…•…∣nes and propensity of the child, being descended lineally from 〈◊〉〈◊〉 many of the same trade, the father is more carefull to instruct him and to discover unto him all the mystery therof; this general•…•… custom or law, keeps their heads from running at random after book learning and other vocations: I have read a tale of R•…•… Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln, that being com to his greatnes he had a brother who was a husbandman, and expected great matters from him in poinc of preferment, but the Bishop told him, that i•…•… he wanted money to mend his plow or his Cart, or to buy tacklings for his horses, with other things belonging to his husbandry, he should not want what was fitting, but he wish'd him to aim no high∣er, for a husbandman he found him, and a husbandman he would leav•…•… him.

The extravagant humour of our Countrey is not to be altoge∣ther commended, that all men should aspire to bocke learning: Ther is not a simpler animall, and a more superfluous member of a state, than a meer Scholer, than a only self pleasing student, he i•…•…—Tellur is inutile pondus.

The Goths forbore to destroy the libraries of the Greeks and Ita∣lians, because books should keep them still soft, simple, or too cautious in warlike affairs. Archymedes though an excellent En∣gineer when Syracusa was lost, was found at his book in his study intoxicated with speculations; who would not have thought ano∣ther great learned Philosopher to be a fool or frantic, when being in a bath he leapd out naked among the peeple and cryed I have found it, I have found it, having hit then upon an extraordinary conclusion in Geometry? Ther is a famous tale of Thomas Aqui∣nas, the Angelicall Doctor, and of Bonadventure the Seraphicall Doctor, of whom Alex. Hales (our Countreyman and his Master) reports whether it appeard not in him that Adam had sinn'd: Both these great Clerks being invited to dinner by the French King of purpose to observe their humors, and being brought to the room where the table was layed, the first fell a eating of bread as hard as he could drive, at last, breaking out of a brown study he ery∣ed out conclusum est contra Manichaeos; The other fell a gazing up∣on the Queen, and the King asking him how he lik'd her, he an∣swered, on Sir, if an earthly Queen be so beautifull, what shall we think of the Queen of Heaven; The later was the better Courtier of the two. Hence we may infer, that your meer bookmen, your deep Clerks, whom we call the only learned men, are not alwaies the civillest or the best morall men, nor is too great a number of

them convenient for any state, leading a soft sedentary life, spe∣cially those who feed their own fancies only upon the publike •…•…ocke. Therfore it wer to be wishd that ther raignd not among the peeple of this land such a generall itching after book-learning, and I beleeve so many •…•…rce Schools do rather hurt than good: Nor did the Art of Printing much avail the Christian Common wealth, •…•…t may be said to be well near as fatall as gunpowder, which came up in the same age; For, under correction, to this may be part∣•…•…y ascribd that spirituall pride, that variety of Dogmatists which 〈◊〉〈◊〉 among us; Add heerunto that the excessive number of those which convers only with Books, and whose profession consists in them, is such, that one cannot live for another, accor∣ding to the dignity of the calling; A Physitian cannot live for the Physitians, a Lawyer (civill and common) cannot live for Lawyers, nor a Divine for Divines; Morcover, the multitudes that profess these three best vocations, specially the last, make them of far less esteem. Ther is an odd opinion among us that he who is a contemplative man, a man who wedds himself to his study and swallowes many books, must needs be a prosound Scholler, and a great learned man, though in reality he be such a dolt that he hath neither a retentive faculty to keep what he hath read, nor wit to make any usefull application of it in common discours, what he drawes in, lieth upon dead lees, and never grows •…•…it to be broachd: Besides, he may want judgement in the choice of his Authors, and knows not how to turn his hand either in weighing or winnowing the soundest opinions: Ther are divers who are cryed up for great Clerks who want discretion. Others, though they wade deep into the causes and knowledg of things, yet they are subject to scrue up their wits, and soar so high, that they lose themselves in their own speculations, for, thinking to transcend the ordinary pitch of reason, they com to involve the common principles of Philosophy in a mist, instead of illustrating things they render them more obscure, instead of a plainer and shorter way to the palace of knowledg, they lead us through bryery odd uncouth paths, and •…•…o fall into the fallacy call'd notum per ignotius. Som have the •…•…ap to be tearmed learned men, though they have gatherd up but the scraps of knowledg heer and there, though they be but smat∣terers, and meer sciolists scarce knowing the Hoties of things, yet like empty casks, if they can make a sound, and have a gift to vent with confidence what they have suckd in, they are accounted great Schollers. Amongst all book-learned men, except the Divine to whom all learned men should be laquays, The Philosopher who

hath waded through all the Mathematiques, who hath div'd into the secrets of the elementary world, and converseth also with ce∣lestiall bodies, may be term'd a learned man: The criticall Hi∣storian and Antiquary may be call'd also a learned man, who hath convers'd with our fore fathers, and observ'd the carriage, and contingencies of matters pass'd, whence he drawes instances and cautions for the benefit of the Times he lives in: The Civilia•…•… may be call'd likewise a learned man if the revolving of huge vo∣lums may entitle one so, but touching the Authors of the Com∣mon Law, which is peculiar only to this Meridian, they may be all carried in a wheelbarrow, as my Countreyman Doctor Gwin told Judge Finch: The Physitian must needs be a learned man, for he knows himself inward and outward, being well vers'd in Au∣tology, in that lesson Nosce Teipsum, and as Adrian the sixt said, he is very necessary to a populous Countrey, for were it not for the Physitian, men would live so long, and grow so thick, that one could not live for the other, and he makes the earth cover all his faults.

But what Doctor Guyn said of the common law-books, and Pope Adrian of the Physitian, was spoken, I conceive, in meriment; for my part, I honour those two worthy professions in a high degree: Lastly, a polygot or good linguist may be also term'd a usefull lear∣ned man, specially it vers'd in School languages.

My Lord, I know none of this age more capable to sit in the Chair, and censure what is true learning, and what not, then your self, therfore in speaking of this subject to your Lordship, I fear to have committed the same error, as Phormio did in discoursing of War before Hanniball. No more now, but that I am,

My Lord,

Your most humble and obedient Servant, J. H.