Maitland Club > Works of Sir Thomas Urquhart

210 EK2KTBAAATPON.
may possibly be had by his lost papers, and by what in the preceding articles hath
been in this little tractate promulgated, shall, within half a yeer after the date hereof,
o-ive any apparent testimony to the world that he hath any insight in this invention.
Which, that it is good and desirable, is evident by the first and second axiomes ;
and that it is a discovery, and a discovery of learning, by the ninth and twelfth ; that
the discovery of a matter of less moment then it, deserveth great sums of money, is
manifest by the tenth and thirteenth ; and that a retribution of great value should
attend the disclosure of so prime a secret, by the eleventh and fourteenth ; that the
knowledge of this invention is of more worth then either strength or wealth, is proved
by the fifth and sixth ; and that it is more to be desired then any thing that is at the
disposure of fortune, by the third and fourth ; that it doth promote reason, illuminate
the judgement, further and improve literature, by polishing and imbellishing the in-
ward abilities of man, and faculties of his minde, is clear by the seventh and eighth.
Thus much of the invention, or thing invented ; which, as the fruit is to be ac-
counted of less worth then the tree, which yeerly produceth the like ; cistern-water,
that daily diminisheth, then that of a fountain, which is inexhaustible ; and a hay-
mow, then the meadow on which it grew, being, as in reason it ought, to be estimated
at a rate much inferior to the inventer, from whose brains have already issued off-
springs every whit as considerable, with parturiencie for greater births, if a malevolent
time disobstetricate not their enixibility, it followeth of necessity that he should reap
the benefit that is due for the invention, with hopes of a higher remuneration for what
of the like nature remaineth as yet unsatisfied. And although his being a Scot, and a
prisoner of war, may perhaps, in the opinion of some, eclipse the splendor of so great an
expectation, yet that it should not, is most perspicuously evinced by the fifteenth axiome.
That he is a Scot, he denieth not ; but that he thereby meriteth to be either praised
or dispraised, is utterly to be disavowed, because it lay not in his power to appoint
localities for his mother's residence at the time of his nativitie, or to enact any thing
before he had a being himself.
True it is, that nothing is more usual in speech, then to blame all for the fault of
the greater part; and to twit a whole country with that vice to which most of its in-
habitants are inclined. Hence have we these sayings ; The Spaniards are proud ; The
French inconstant ; The Italians lecherous ; The Cretians lyers ; The Sicilians false ;
The Asiaticks effeminate ; The Crovats cruel ; The Dutch temuleucious ; The Polo-
nians quarrelsome ; The Saxons mutinous ; and so forth thorow other territories, nur-
series of enormities of another kinde ; although nothing be more certain, then that
there are some Spaniards as humble, French as constant, Italians chaste, Cretians
true, Sicilians ingenuous, Asiaticks warlike, Crovates merciful, Dutch sober, Polo-
nians peaceable, and some Saxons as loyal, as any in the world besides. By which
account, all foreigners, for such are all the inhabitants on the earth in relation to those
that are not their compatriots, yeelding to the 7>wst and some of each stranger-land, in