The third book of the works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick containing the heroick deeds of Pantagruel the son of Gargantua / now faithfully translated into English by the unimitable pen of Sir Thomas Urwhart.

CHAP. IV. Panurge continueth his Discourse in the praise of Borrowers and Lenders. (Book 4)

ON the contrary, be pleased to repre∣sent unto your Fancy another World, wherein every one lendeth, and every one oweth, all are Debtors, and all Cre∣ditors. O how great will that Harmony be, which shall thereby result from the regular Motions of the Heavens! Me thinks I hear it every whit as well as ever Plato did. What Sympathy will there be amongst the Elements? O how dele∣ctable then unto Nature will be our own Works and Productions? Whilst Ceres ap∣peareth loaden with Corn, Bacchus with Wines, Flora with Flowers, Pomona with Fruits, and Iuno fair in a clear Air, whol∣som and pleasant: I lose my self in this high Contemplation.

Then will among the Race of Mankind Peace, Love, Benevolence, Fidelity, Tran∣quility, Rest, Banquets, Feastings, Joy, Gladness, Gold, Silver, single Money,

Chains, Rings, with other Ware, and Chaffer of that nature be found to trot from hand to hand; no Suits at Law, no Wars, no Strife, Debate, nor wrangling; none will be there an Usurer, none will be there a Pinch-penny; a Scrape-good Wretch, or churlish hard-hearted Refuser. Good God! Will not this be the Golden Age in the Reign of Saturn? The true Idea of the Olympick Regions, where∣in all Vertues cease; Charity alone ruleth, governeth, domineereth and triumpheth? All will be fair and goodly People there, all just and vertuous.

O happy World! O People of that World most happy! Yea, thrice and four times blessed is that People! I think in very deed that I am amongst them, and swear to you, by my good Forsooth, that if this glorious aforesaid World had a Pope, abounding with Cardinals, that so he might have the Association of a Sacred Colledge, in the space of ve∣ry few years you should be sure to see the Sancts much thicker in the Roll, more numerous, wonder-working and mi∣rifick, more Services, more Vows, more Staves and Wax-Candles than are all those in the Nine Bishopricks of Britany, St. Yves only excepted. Consider (Sir) I pray you, how the noble Patelin, having a

mind to Deity, and extol even to the Third Heavens the Father of William Ios∣seaume, said no more but this, And he did lend his Goods to those who were desirous of them.

O the fine Saying! Now let our Mi∣crocosm be fancied conform to this Model in all its Members; lending, borrowing and owing, (that is to say) according to its own Nature: For Nature hath not to any other end created Man, but to owe, borrow and lend; no greater is the Har∣mony amongst the Heavenly Spheres, than that which shall be found in its well∣ordered Policy. The Intention of the Founder of this Microcosm is, to have a Soul therein to be entertained, which •••• lodged there, as a Guest with its Host, it may live there for a while. Life consi∣steth in Blood, Blood is the Seat of the Soul; therefore the chiefest Work of the Microcosm, is, to be making Blood continually.

At this Forge are exercised all the Mem∣bers of the Body; none is exempted from Labour, each operates apart, and doth its proper Office. And such is their Hi∣erarchy, that perpetually the one borrows from the other, the one lends the other, and the one is the others Debtor. The stuff and matter convenient which Nature

giveth to be turned into Blood is Bread and Wine. All kind of nourishing Vi∣ctuals is understood to be comprehended in these two, and from hence in the Go∣thish Tongue is called Companage. To find out this Meat and Drink, to prepare and boil it, the Hands are put to Work, the Feet do walk and bear up the whole Bulk of the Corporal Mass; the Eyes guide and conduct all; the Appetite in the Ori∣fice of the Stomach, by means of little sowrish black Humour (called Melancho∣ly) which is transmitted thereto from the Milt, giveth warning to shut in the Food. The Tongue doth make the first Essay, and tastes it; the Teeth do chaw it, and the Stomach doth receive, digest and chy∣lifie it; the Mesaraick Veins suck out of it what is good and fit, leaving behind the Excrements, which are, through spe∣cial Conduits for that purpose, voided by an expulsive Faculty; thereafter it is car∣ried to the Liver, where it being changed again, it by the vertue of that new Transmutation becomes Blood. What Joy, conjecture you, will then be found amongst those Officers, when they see this Rivolet of Gold, which is their sole Re∣storative? No greater is the Joy of Alchi∣mists, when after long Travel, Toil and Expence, they see in their Furnaces the

Transmutation: Then is it that every Member doth prepare it self, and strive a-new to purifie and to refine this Trea∣sure. The Kidneys through the emul∣gent Veins draw that Aquosity from thence which you call Urine, and there send it away through the Ureters to be slipt downwards; where, in a lower Re∣cepticle, and proper for it, (to wit, the Bladder) it is kept, and stayeth there un∣til an opportunity to void it out in his due time. The Spleen draweth from the Blood its Terrestrial part, viz. The Grounds, Lees or thick Substance setled in the bottom thereof, which you term Melan∣choly: The Bottle of the Gall substracts from thence all the superfluous Choler; whence it is brought to another Shop or Work-house to be yet better purified and fined, that is, the Heart, which by its agitation of Diastolick and Systolick Moti∣ons so neatly subtilizeth and inflames it, that in the right side Ventricle it is brought to perfection, and through the Veins is sent to all the Members; each parcel of the Body draws it then unto its self, and after its own fashion is cherished and ali∣mented by it: Feet, Hands, Thighs, Arms, Eyes, Ears, Back, Breast, yea, all; and then it is, that who before were Lender••, now become Debtors. The Heart doth

in its left side Ventricle so thinnifie the Blood, that it thereby obtains the Name of Spiritual; which being sent through the Arteries to all the Members of the Bo∣dy, serveth to warm and winnow the o∣ther Blood which runneth through the Veins: The Lights never cease with its Lappets and Bellows to cool and refresh it; in acknowledgment of which good the Heart through the Arterial Vein im∣parts unto it the choicest of its Blood: At last it is made so fine and subtle within the Rete Mirabilis, that thereafter those Animal Spirits are framed and composed of it; by means whereof the Imagination, Dis∣course, Judgment, Resolution, Delibera∣tion, Ratrocination and Memory have their Rise, Actings and Operations.

Cops body, I sink, I drown, I perish, I wander astray, and quite fly out of my self, when I enter into the Consideration of the profound Abyss of this World, thus lending, thus owing. Believe me, it is a Divine thing to lend, to owe an Heroick Vertue. Yet is not this all; this little World thus lending, owing and borrowing, is so good and charitable, that no sooner is the above-specified Alimentation finish∣ed, but that it forthwith projecteth, and hath already forecast, how it shall lend to those who are not as yet born, and by

that Loan endeavour, what it may, to eternize it self, and multiply in Images like the Pattern, that is, Children. To this end every Member hath of the choi∣cest and most precious of its Nourishment, pare and cut off a Portion, then instantly dispatcheth it downwards to that place, where Nature hath prepared for it very fit Vessels and Receptacles, through which descending to the Genitories by long Am∣bages, Circuits and Flexuosities, it receiv∣eth a competent Form, and Rooms apt enough both in the Man and Woman for the future Conservation and perpetuating of Humane kind. All this is done by Loans and Debts of the one unto the other; and hence have we this word, the Debt of Mar∣riage. Nature doth reckon Pain to the Refuser, with a most grievous Vexation to his Members, and an outragious Fury amidst his Senses. But on the other part, to the Lender a set Reward, accompanied with Pleasure, Joy, Solace, Mirth and merry Glee.