XIIII.

OF NOBILITY.

For

WE will speake of Nobility, first as a Portion of an Estate; Then as a Condition of Particular Persons. A Monarchy, where there is no Nobility at all, is ever a pure, and absolute Tyranny; As that of the Turkes. For Nobility attempers Soveraignty, and drawes the Eyes of the People, somewhat aside from the Line Royall. But for Democracies, they need it not; And they are commonly, more quiet, and lesse subject to Sedition, then where there are Stirps of Nobles. Mens Eyes are upon the Businesse, and not upon the Persons: Or if upon the Persons, it is for the Businesse sake, as fittest, and not for Flags and Pedegree. Wee see the Switzers last well, notwithstanding their Diversitie of Religion, and of Cantons. For Utility is their Bond, and not Respects. The united Provinces of the Low Countries, in their Government, excell: For where there is an Equality, the Consultations are more indifferent, and the Payments and Tributes more cheerfull. A great and Potent Nobility addeth Majestie to a Monarch, but diminisheth

Power; And putteth Life and Spirit into the People, but presseth their Fortune. It is well, when Nobles are not too great for Soveraignty, nor for Justice; And yet maintained in that heigth, as the Insolencie of Inferiours, may be broken upon them, before it come on too fast upon the Majesty of Kings. A Numerous Nobility, causeth Poverty, and Inconvenience in a State: For it is a Surcharge of Expence; And besides, it being of Necessity, that many of the Nobility, fall in time to be weake in Fortune, it maketh a kinde of Disproportion, betweene Honour and Meanes.

As for Nobility in particular Persons; It is a Reverend Thing, to see an Ancient Castle, or Building not in decay; Or to see a faire Timber Tree, sound and perfect: How much more, to behold an Ancient Noble Family, which hath stood against the Waves and weathers of Time. For new Nobility is but the Act of Power; But Ancient Nobility is the Act of Time. Those that are first raised to Nobility, are commonly more Vertuous, but lesse Innocent, then their Descendants: For there is, rarely, any Rising, but by a Commixture, of good and evill Arts. But it is Reason, the Memory of their vertues, remaine to their Posterity; And their Faults die with themselves. Nobility of Birth, commonly abateth

Industry: And he that is not industrious, envieth him, that is. Besides, Noble persons, cannot goe much higher; And he that standeth at a stay, when others rise, can hardly avoid Motions of Envy. On the other side, Nobility extinguisheth the passive Envy, from others towards them; Because they are in possession of Honour. Certainly Kings, that have Able men of their Nobility, shall finde case in imploying them; And a better Slide into their Businesse: For People naturally bend to them, as borne in some sort to Command.

XV.

OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES.

SHEPHEARDS of People, had need know the Kalenders of Tempests in State; which are commonly greatest, when Things grow to Equality; As Naturall Tempests are greatest about the Equinoctia. And as there are certaine hollow Blasts of Winde, and secret Swellings of Seas, before a Tempest, so are there in States: :

- Ille etiam cæcos instare Tumultus

Sæpe monet, Fraudesque, & operta tumescere Bella.

Libels, and licentious Discourses against the State, when they are frequent and open; And in

like sort, false Newes, often running up and downe, to the disadvantage of the State, and hastily embraced; are amongst the Signes of Troubles. Virgil giving the Pedegre of Fame, saith, She was sister to the Giants.

Illam Terra Parens irâ irritata Deorum, Extremam (ut perhibent) Cao Enceladoque sororem Progenuit.

As if Fames were the Reliques of Seditions past; But they are no lesse, indeed, the preludes of Seditions to come. Howsoever, he noteth it right, that Seditious Tumults, and Seditious Fames, differ no more, but as Brother and Sister, Masculine and Feminine; Especially, if it come to that, that the best Actions of a State, and the most plausible, and which ought to give greatest Contentment, are taken in ill Sense, and traduced: For that shewes the Envy great, as Tacitus saith; Conflata magna Invidia, seu benè, seu malè, gesta premunt. Neither doth it follow, that because these Fames, are a signe of Troubles, that the suppressing of them, with too much Severity, should be a Remedy of Troubles. For the Despising of them, many times, checks them best; and the Going about to stop them, doth but make a Wonder Long-lived. Also that kinde of Obedience, which Tacitus speaketh of, is to be

held suspected; Erant in officio, sed tamen qui mallent mandata Imperantium interpretari, quàm exequi; Disputing, Excusing, Cavilling upon Mandates and Directions, is a kinde of shaking off the yoake, and Assay of disobedience: Especially, if in those disputings, they, which are for the direction, speake fearefully, and tenderly; And those that are against it, audaciously.

Also, as Macciavel noteth well; when Princes, that ought to be Common Parents, make themselves as a Party, and leane to a side, it is as a Boat that is overthrowen, by uneven weight, on the one Side; As was well seen, in the time of Henry the third of France: For first, himselfe entred League for the Extirpation of the Protestants; and presently after, the same League was turned upon Himselfe. For when the Authority of Princes, is made but an Accessary to a Cause; And that there be other Bands, that tie faster, then the Band of Soveraignty, Kings begin to be put almost out of Possession.

Also, when Discords, and Quarrells, and Factions, are carried openly, and audaciously; it is a Signe, the Reverence of Government is lost. For the Motions of the greatest persons, in a Government, ought to be, as the Motions of the Planets, under Primum Mobile; (according to