worst; and though I hope I have wronged no man, yet in Medea's words I will crave pardon. -Illud jam voce extrema peto, Ne si qua noster dubius effudit dolor, Maneant in animo verba, sed melior tibl Memoria nostri subeat, hæc iræ data Obliterentur * And in my last words this I do desire, I earnestly request every private man, as Scaliger did Cardan not to take offence. I will conclude in his lines, Si me cognitum haberes, non solum donares nobis has facetias nostras, sed etiam indignum duceres, tam humanum animum, lene ingenium, vel minimam suspicionem deprecari oportere. If thou knewest my modesty and simplicity, thou wouldst easily pardon and forgive what is here amiss, or by thee misconceived. If hereafter anatomizing this surly humour, my hand slip, as an unskilful 'prentice I lance too deep, and cut through skin and all at unawares, make it smart, or cut awry, pardon a rude hand, an unskilful knife, 'tis a most difficult thing to keep an even tone, a perpetual tenor, and not sometimes to lash out; difficile est Satyram non scribere, there be so many objects to divert, inward perturbations to molest, and the very best may sometimes err; aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus (sometimes that excellent Homer takes a nap), it is impossible not in so much to overshoot; -opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum. But what needs all this? I hope there will no such cause of offence be given; if there be, "Nemo aliquid recognoscat, nos mentimur omnia. I'll deny all (my last refuge), recant all, renounce all I have said, if any man except, and with as much facility excuse, as he can accuse; but I presume of thy good favour, and gracious acceptance (gentle reader). Out of an assured hope and confidence thereof, I will begin. Quod Probus Persil Borpados virginali verecundiâ Persium fuisse dicit, ego, &c. Incuria fudit, aut humana parum cavit natura. Hor. these things to himself, they are all but fictions." *Quas aut 4 Prol. quer. Plaut. "Let not any one take 78 LECTORI MALÈ FERIATO. Tu vero cavesis edico quisquis es, ne temere sugilles Auctorem hujusce operis, aut cavillator irrideas. Imo ne vel ex aliorum censura tacite obloquaris (vis dicam verbo) ne quid nasutulus inepte improbes, aut falso fingas. Nam si talis reverâ sit, qualem præ se fert Junior Democritus, seniori Democrito saltem affinis, aut ejus Genium vel tantillum sapiat; actum de te, censorem æque ac delatorem aget e contra (petulanti splene cum sit), sufflabit te in jocos, comminuet in sales, addo etiam, et deo risui te sacrificabit. b Iterum moneo, ne quid cavillere, nedum Democritum Juniorem conviciis infames, aut ignominiose vituperes, de te non male sentientem: tu idem audias ab amico cordato, quod olim vulgus Abderitanum ab Hippocrate, concivem bene meritum et popularem suum Democritum, pro insano habens. Ne tu Democrite sapis, stulti cutem et insani Abderitæ. "Abderitanæ pectora plebis habes." Hæc te paucis admonitum volo (malè feriate Lector), abi. TO THE READER AT LEISURE. WHOEVER you may be, I caution you against rashly defaming the author of this work, or cavilling in jest against him. Nay, do not silently reproach him in consequence of others' censure, nor employ your wit in foolish disapproval, or false accusation. For, should Democritus Junior prove to be what he professes, even a kinsman of his elder namesake, or be ever so little of the same kidney, it is all over with you: he will become both accuser and judge of you in your spleen, will dissipate you in jests, pulverise you into salt, and sacrifice yon, I can promise you, to the god of Mirth. I further advise you, not to asperse, or calumniate, or slander, Democritus Junior, who possibly does not think ill of you, lest you may hear from some discreet friend, the same remark the people of Abdera did from Hippocrates, of their meritorious and popular fellow-citizen, whom they had looked on as a madman; "It is not that you, Democritus, that art wise, but that the people of Abdera are fools and madmen." "You have yourself an Abderitian soul;" and having just given you, gentle reader, these few words of admonition, farewell. ⚫Si me commôrit, melius non tangere clamo. Hor. b Hippoc. epist. Damageto. Accersitus sum ut Democritum tanquam insanum curarem, sed postquam conveni, non per Jovem desipientiæ negotium, sed rerum omnium receptaculum deprehendi, ejusque ingenium demiratus sum. Abderitanos vero tanquam non sanos accusavi, veratri potione ipsos potius eguisse dicens. Mart. HERACLITE fleas, misero sic convenit 30, Nil nisi turpe vides, nil nisi triste vides. Nunc opus est (tanta est insania) transeat omnis Weep, O Heraclitus, it suits the age, Unless you see nothing base, nothing sad. Laugh, O Democritus, as much as you please, Unless you see nothing either vain or foolish. Let one rejoice in smiles, the other in tears; Let the same labour or pain be the office of both. Now (for alas! how foolish the world has become), A thousand Heraclitus', a thousand Democritus' are required. Now (so much does madness prevail), all the world must be Sent to Anticyra, to graze on Hellebore. THE SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST PARTITION. Impulsive; Sin, concupiscence, &c. Instrumental; Intemperance, all second causes, &c. Of the body Epidemical, as Plague, Plica, &c. or 300, which areParticular, as Gout, Dropsy, &c. Or (Its Equivocations, in Disposition, Improper, &c. Subsect. 5. Memb. 2. Humours, 4. Blood, Phlegm, &c Similar; sperinatical, or flesh, contained as or digression parts of anatomy, Subs. 2. containing in which observe parts of Vegetal. Subs. 5. Subs. 1. Soul and its faculties, as Sensible. Subs. 6, 7, 8. Rational. Subsect. 9, 10, 11. Memb. 3. Its definition, name, difference, Subs. 1. Melancholy: The part and parties affected, affectation, &c. Subs. 2. in which consider Species, or which are Of the head alone, Hypo- (with their several Proper tochondriacal, or windy melancholy. Of the whole causes, symptoms, prognostics, cures, body. parts, as Or Indefinite; as Love-melancholy, the subject of the third Partition. Its Causes in general. Sect. 2. A. Its Symptoms or signs. Sect. 3. B. Its Prognostics or indications. Sect. 4. 4. Its cures; the subject of the second Partition. |