| Title: | Letter, John Beale To Hartlib |
|---|---|
| Dating: | 22 September 1658 |
| Ref: | 51/17A-18B |
| Notes: | Copy of enlosed letter at 51/17?. |
[51/17A]
<Hartlib: No.62. (.1.) Sept. 22. 58>
cum lit.ad Mr Austen [illeg.word]
Dearest Sir
By yours of Sept 18 I find our carriers default. Now I pray you remember to expunge freely. For in many places there were light lines, & you must consider That the lines of a man in an agony must bee of nice conceipt. The remainder must bee the balaste. I dare not say all my thoughts of honour, least it should seeme to affront the Courte. For as I conceive it, It deserves to precede the charge of murder; as being of a more divine, & more publique concernement. But howe can it bee soe, if it bee, or easily may bee a meere title, and without relation to a matter, & merit of fact. Let the rule or lawe precede, & the matter of fact & merite bee proved coram populo & then the title deserves to bee hereditary. This is a Romane or Spartane, or republican notion Wee have drawne & subscribed an addresse <differing from that which I sent you>. You may let Mr Secretary know it. You may let Mr Dury know that for Herefdshire & Shropshire (whither I am now going) I stand engaged, as Mr Baxter for Shropshire. From whom I undertake an answere to your demands forth
[51/17B]
with. I am sorry to leave the troubles of Swede & Dane, & I doubt the Dutch in the end must pay for all. For tis their due debt For the Mnemonicall Contrivances I could chiefly wish it were done upon the holy records. You will find That I am not unwilling that wee should have bibles in a grasse greene character. As weake & fainting men doe but discerne the benefit of pure ayre, & can least of all beare dust & smoake, & like annoyances; Soe my selfe having weake eyes, am tormented with red letters, & find a greate refreshment, if I doe but cast my eye upon the silken strings of a perfect greene color. Others will deride this curiosity, but I find many others of the same tendernes. I have seene Ororius [altered from Osorius] de gloria soe printed, That every interlocuter had a severall character Tully de Oratore did better deserve it but if it had beene allso in a severall colour, had it not beene more binding? And doe not the Scriptures better deserve it, That Gods expresse worde
[51/18A]
might have an emphaticall color? And our Saviours Sermons bee distinguished in severall cognisanses from the Devills Sophistry?
I shall sit close to our carrier for I long for the letteres.
The Cavaleres do fill the world afresh wth lyes That the Protector is dead, Lord H cast away by a storm. Lord Fleetewood the man. But with a contest That hath filld all the streetes of London with bloud. This from Worcester & Gloucester in all mens [mouths? MS edge torn] Your lettere did recovr mee. For I was not without my share of feares. Popular men affirmd it. Mr Secret should know this, & put a checke to bablers, & regulate the streames of fame.
I can never cease to pray for you & for all your deare relations. Being ever
Dearest sir Your most affectionate servant
Sept.22.1658 I Beale
The inclosed (by your helpe) is for Mr Austen
with deare respects.
[51/18B]
For the Right Worthy
Samuel Hartlib Esqr etc
At his house over against Angel Court
neere Charing Crosse
[squiggle] London
[seal]