A

MEDITATION

UPON A

BROOM-STICK:

According to

The Style and Manner of the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE's Meditations.

Written in the Year 1703.

HIS fingle Stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected Corner, I once knew in a flourishing State in a Foreft: It was full of Sap, full of Leaves, and full of Boughs: But now, in vain does the bufy Art of Man pretend to vie with Nature, by tying that withered Bundle of Twigs to its faplefs Trunk: It

is now at beft but the Reverse of what it was; a Tree turned upfide down, the Branches on the Earth, and the Root in the Air: It is now handled by every dirty Wench, condemned to do her Drudgery; and by a capricious kind of Fate, deftined to make other Things clean, and be nafty itself. At length, worn to the Stumps in the Service of the Maids, it is either thrown out of Doors, or condemned to the laft Ufe of kindling a Fire. When I beheld this, I fighed, and faid within myfelf, SURELY MORTAL MAN IS A BROOMSTICK; Nature fent him into the World strong and lufty, in a thriving Condition, wearing his own Hair on his Head, the proper Branches of this reafoning Vegetable; till the Axe of Intemperance hath lopped off his Green Boughs, and left him a withered Trunk: He then flies to Art, and puts on a Perriwig; valuing himself upon an unnatural Bundle of Hairs, all covered with Powder, that never grew on his Head: But now, fhould this our Broomstick pretend to enter the Scene, proud of thofe Birchen Spoils it never bore, and all covered with Duft, though the Sweepings of the fineft Lady's Chamber; we fhould be apt to ridicule and defpife its Vanity. Partial Judges that we are of our own Excellencies, and other Mens Defaults!

BUT a Broomstick, perhaps you will fay, is an Emblem of a Tree ftanding on its Head; and pray what is Man but a topfy-turvy Creature? His Animal Faculties perpetually mounted on his Rational; his Head where his Heels fhould be, groveling on the Earth. And yet, with all his Faults, he fets up to be a univerfal Reformer and Corrector of Abuses; a Remover of Grievances; rakes into every Slut's Corner of Nature, bringing hidden Corruptions to the Light, and raiseth a mighty Duft

where

BROOM-STICK, &c.

57

where there was none before; fharing deeply all the while in the very fame Pollutions he pretends to fweep away. His laft Days are spent in Slavery to Women, and generally the leaft deferving; till worn to the Stumps, like his Brother Bezom, he is either kicked out of Doors, or made use of to kindle Flames for others to warm themselves by.

THE

THE

SENTIMENTS

OF A

Church-of-England MAN,

WITH RESPECT TO

Religion and Government.

Written in the Year 1708.

HOEVER hath examined the Conduct and Proceedings of both Parties for fome Years paft, whether in or out of Power, cannot well conceive it poffible to go far towards the Extreams of either, without offering fome Violence to his Integrity or Understanding. A wife and a good Man may indeed be fometimes induced to comply with a Number, whofe Opinion he generally approves, although it be perhaps against his own. But this Liberty fhould be made Ufe of upon very few Occafions, and those of small Importance, and then only with a View of bringing over his own

Side

The SENTIMENTS of a, &c.

59

Side another Time to fomething of greater and more publick Moment. But, to facrifice the Innocency of a Friend, the Good of our Country, or our own Conscience, to the Humour, or Paffion, or Interest, of a Party; plainly fhews, that either our Heads or our Hearts are not as they should be: Yet this very Practice is the fundamental Law of each Faction among us; as may be obvious to any who will impartially, and without Engagement, be at the Pains to examine their Actions; which, however, is not so easy a Task: For, it seems a Principle in human Nature, to incline one Way more than another, even in Matters where we are wholly unconcerned. And it is a common Observation, that in reading a History of Facts done a thousand Years ago; or ftanding by at Play among those who are perfect Strangers to us; we are apt to find our Hopes and Wishes engaged on a sudden in favour of one Side more than another. No Wonder then, that we are all fo ready to intereft our selves in the Course of publick Affairs; where the most inconfiderable have fome real Share, and by the wonderful Importance which every Man is of to himself, a very great imaginary one.

AND, indeed, when the two Parties that divide the whole Commonwealth, come once to a Rupture, without any Hopes left of forming a Third with better Principles, to ballance the others; it seems every Man's Duty to chufe one of the two Sides, although he cannot entirely approve of either; and, all Pretences to Neutrality are justly exploded by both; being too ftale and obvious; only intending the Safety and Eafe of a few Individuals, while the Publick is embroiled. This was the Opinion and Practice of the latter Cato, whom I efteem to have been the wifeft and the best of all

the