The new-yeeres gift presented at court, from the lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, (commonly called Little Jefferie) Her Majesties servant, with a letter as it was penned in short-hand: wherein is proved little things are better then great. Written by Microphilus.

The new-yeeres gift presented at court, from the lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, (commonly called Little Jefferie) Her Majesties servant, with a letter as it was penned in short-hand: wherein is proved little things are better then great. Written by Microphilus.

Table of contents

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Title page

To the Reader.

TO HIS HIGH and Mighty friend, WILLIAM EVANS, Surnamed the Great PORTER.

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To his worthy friend Microphilus.

To Microphilus.

To the Author.

In Laudem operis.

TO THE MOST exquisite Epitome of Nature, and compleatest Compendium of a Courtier, the Lord MINIMVS; the Lady PARVULA wisheth health and happines.

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TO THE MOST exquisite Epitome of Nature, and compleatest Compendium of a Courtier, the Lord MINIMVS; the Lady PARVULA wisheth health and happines.

SIR,

MAY it please your diminutive eminence, permit a devoted lover [Page] of your concise dimensions, to present very lowly, as most fitting to your person, (in remembrance of this New-yeare) a small Token of my unparralleld affection. Confesse I must Compendious SIR my gift is fomewha [...] of the least, but my hope is, being there in so like your selfe [Page] it will not displease you. And if, whatsoever is received, is received according to the measure or size of the receiver, be a true rule in Phylosophy; then, bootlesse had it beene for your Obsequious Hand-maid, to have meditated any Present for size Greater; since how great soever, it would have beene but as very [Page] little, your selfe so very little, being the receiver: Nor is your littlenesse (mistake me not) mentioned as any derogation to worth: Diamonds of most precious value, are but little in substance: And if it might not appeare in me presumption to trouble you with further Discourse, I could with [Page] easie, or no labour, prove things little to bee farre better then things that are Great.

Is not a Microcosme better then a Macrocosme, the little-world, Man, then the Great world, Earth? nay Man the lesser world is, Lord of the Greater; and in the Greater world, which is the Creators Library, (the severall Creatures [Page] being as so many Bookes in it) have wee not rarer Documents from the little decimo-sexto's, the Ant and Dove, then from the Great Folio's, the Elephant and Whale? Recollect your memory of the ancient times, who was it presently after the Flood of Ducalion and Pyrrha violated the Golden [Page] Age, vitiated those most candid manners of men, but the Great Gyants, cloud aspiring Enceladus, hundred-handed Gyges, big-bon'd Porphyrion, and massie Tytius? perceive you not the fruites of Greatnesse? how it swelled them with pride, and puffed them up so high, as to dare wage warre [Page] even with Heaven? On the contrary, who sees not the sweete effects of littlenesse [...] how humble and lowly it makes you, how farre from pride, for the World cannot but testify, you have ever seemed little in your owne eyes: I passe over (for brevities sake) the innumerous impieties & immense cruelties [Page] of those Great ones, Saul and Goliah, onely adding for observation, this latter was vanquished by little David. Turne from sacred to prophane Histories, little Vlysses stood the Grecians at the expugnation of Troy in more steede then Great Aiax with all his might. Many others famous in [Page] their times, as Lycurgus and Solon for Law, this of Athens; the other of Sparta: Demosthenes and Hortensius for eloquence; this of Rome, the other of Greece; Miltiades and Themistocles for Valour, both of Greece? Virgil and Horace for Poetry both of Rome, with that excellent Historian Salust, whom [Page] antiquity hath delivered to bee men of very little stature. And that men of little stature should bee both more valiant and wiser then men of Great, sufficient reasons may be fetched, even from Nature: For seeing that those which are little have all their members contracted, and as it were closer [Page] knitted and ioyned together, but those which are Great have theirs more spread abroad and severed; it is necessary, that in thē forces united, and neerer gathered, render the structure of their bodies, more vigorous and agile; and in these, being scattered, make their bodies lesse valid, a [...] [Page] also ponderous and burthensome: and whereas the two mansions of Wisedome are the heart, and the braine, which in short and little bodies are not so farre distant from each other as in Long and Great; by consequence it is undeniably evident, that the littler sort must be wiser then the Great: [Page] and indeed the Greater sort of people in the World generally, what are they? but vaine and idle, and therefore in ordinary discourse, we ever distinguish them from the better sort, which by consequence will fall out to bee those which are the lesser.

And as men that are little are very excellent: [Page] So likewise that which is excellent in or about men is very little: Wit, the thing so admired, is not that in men very little? Money, the thing so desired, though a man have much, yet he esteemes it as little; and things ever are to be iudged as they are valued: Is not honesty in men very little? [Page] when Sophistry hath fled the schooles, and is become a shopkeeper, and Tradesmen think if they lose their lying, they lose their living: Looke for obedience, of things the best, is it not little? when Princes commands are rather questioned then obeyed. Looke for Malice, of things the [Page] worst, is it not very Great? when Fooles had rather spēd much in Law, then forgive somewhat in charity. Whose desires more rectified then the desires of a moderate man? and he desires but little. Is there any thing more sought, and lesse found then content? yet Nature (the Mother of us all) is content with a [Page]little. Little is the rule of iudgement, for wee commonly use to say, (Ex pede Herculem) you may iudge by a little of the whole: Little is the onely discourse of wise men, they talke but little: the best remedy for sicke men, for they eate but little: and to speak truth little is the delight of most men, [Page] for what do men take more pleasure in, then the reall courtesies of a friend, and are not the reall courtesies of friends, now a dayes very little: On the other side, how many hopeful yong Heires have Great Estates undone? (but if not through the possessing of a Great estate, yet I am sure, through the wanting [Page] of a little wit.) How odious doth Covetousnesse render a man in the eye of the wise. and what is Covetousnesse bu [...] a Great desire and Longing after Much? you have seene, Sir, the commodity of little, and discommodity of Great at Large in others; in briefe, take notice of them in your selfe: [Page] Had you beene Bigge and Great ten to one you never had prooved a Courtier; 'twas onely your littlenesse preferr'd you. According to these rules I cannot conceive how any iudicious indifferent man can deny little to bee better then Great: Neverthelesse (such are the high-flowne times) [Page] this modest opinion is peremtorily opposed by those whose high towring and ambitious thoughts vainely aime at Greatnesse; who crush the little ones that are under them, crouch to all Great ones above them; are your friend in a complement, but not in a businesse; familiarly give you the [Page] hand without the heart, skuller-like rowing towards Westminster looke towards the Bridge, pretend one thing, intend another; who if but once in an age, and that too by chance; they do you a trifling courtesie, no gratuity will satisfie, if not Great; for if little, they disdaine it, though [Page] seemingly accept it their mad humour being, to account all Great things amiable, little things despicable. But to convince those men (for your little sake) of their errour, which is no little one, but like themselves, very Great; what Gassendus in his Booke of Paradoxes against Aristotelians, [Page] saith of Court male-contents: Improbant aulam in qua tamen consenescunt, They speake ill of the Court, and yet are so troublesome, as to live and dye there: So may bee said of these; how happens it, Great Estates which (as all things Great else) belike they so love, they so oft part with, and exclaime against little, [Page] when as they keep little? or what is it that feeds or clothes them their future hopes, which are so Great, or their present revenues which are little? & then too, is not one bird in the hand worth two in the bush, their little possessions more cōfortable then their Great expectations of I know not what [Page] which because they looke after I know not why, they may obtaine I know not when. In the fancy of a man not acquainted through observation with the absurdities of the World, it would raise a combustion to immagine there were beeing such a crue of Heritiques: [Page] for is it not very plaine and evident, performances are better then promises, and are not promises Great, performances but little? Why, every ordinary Gallant almost you meete with wil rise up an argument in this, for in his easie ambling Discourse you shall find though [Page] he cannot speak much to the purpose, yet he can speake little to the purpose, and is not that which is to the purpose better then that which is not? 'Tis true, the Vulgar people of the World, are likewise of opinion with the former. But wrong not your selfe (most perfect abridgment of Nature) so as [Page] to bee led by the inconstant opinions of the vulgar, who account this a Paradox, which is most Orthodox; little better then Great: the vulgar, that Hydra-headed multitude whose very reasons (not much unlike those in their shops, fraile ones) because of their rarity wi [...]h them are to bee suspected, [Page] but as for their obstinat tenents of all wisedomes followers to be detested & abhorred. I wil not deny but that there may be some oblique, seeming-faire, colourable reasons pittifully forced by them for the inveagling of men to bestow credit on their poore assertion, yet it can [Page] never bee beaten into my braine but that they may bee gently confuted in it by their owne home-spun Proverbs. A Great Head is signe of a little wit; that's one of them; then I demand, which is better, a Great Head without a little wit, or a little wit without a Great Head? [Page] for any Head will serve with a little wit, better then a Great Head without any Wit: Another of them is this: A little head is signe of a Great Wit: Which (but by granting their assertion, Great is better then little) confutes their assertion, and proveth little better then Great: [Page] For if a Great Wit bee found in a little head, then a little head must be better then a Great Head, because it containes the better, that is, the Greater Wit; and if a little wit bee found in a Great Head, then a little wit must needes be better then a Great Wit, because it groweth in a better soyle, [Page] the Greater Head: I hope therefore that as they will not deny to turne upon them their owne proverbiall weapon, Too much of one thing is good for nothing: so beeing thus convict, they cannot but confesse, A little of every thing is excellent in all things. I, but they never [Page] thought (because it was generally received) there were any reasons to the cōtrary; there would bee a great scarsity of reasons sure in the World, if there were no other then those they could think of; and though they doe not perceive a reason why little should be better then Great; [Page] there may bee a reason which they doe not perceive; well though they have lived in ignorance, it were to bee wished they would give us some hope, they meant not to dye so, by recanting their errour.

What though little better then Great, seeme to the vulgar [Page] a Paradoxe? may it be ever the lesse Orthodoxe, considering all things are not as they seeme? as for example, some men want not onely that which they have not, but also that which they have: This seems to be an incongruous speech, and yet though seeming so, it is not so, for it is verified of the [Page] Covetous. One would thinke this to bee an absurd saying: If hee bee a foole hee is a wise man; if hee bee a wise man hee is a foole, yet though seeming so, it is not so, for it is verified (as a Philosopher avouch'd it) of a man that is silent. How confident are men in beleeving the [Page] world is very bigge, and that the Sea is of an unk [...]owne profund [...]y, when as the World is but a d [...]yes walke [...] the Sunne goes about it in 24 houres, and the Sea which men thinke so deepe is but shallow, for 'tis but a stones cast to the bottome. The Impuritans of the time who [Page] set their Sermons on the tenters, and use most prolixe and long winded sentences, casting their auditory into a holy nap, through the ilnesse of their matter, and waking them againe by the shrilnesse of their clamour, may be (happily) by wise men censured to do it out of [Page] tedious ignorance, & 'tis a grave coniecture: yet (under favour) wise men are but men, and may mistake, for it is out of conscience to allow long measure to their course ware: If then speeches which seeme improper, yet may bee nothing lesse, and many men, even wisemen, [Page] have beene, are dayly, and to the worlds end more or lesse will be mistaken in their opinions; why may not little bee better then Great, although it seeme not so, or though some men (reputed in other things very Wise) have thought to the contrary.

[Page]And if a man but seriously observe, hee shall finde very few things such as they seeme: and by reason wise men also have their weake times, their verdict to bee no sufficient argument to command universall beliefe, especially where reason is pregnant with probable proofes on [Page] the adverse side, add to this, diffidence being so necessary a part of wisedome.

Besides, admit this position little better then Great, seeme very strange, yet stranger then this have bin admitted, after a rationall examination, and therefore why not this upon the like consideration? [Page] When I had one servant, I had a servant; when I had two servants, I had halfe a servant; when I had three, I had never a one: this speech I presume may be beleeved to be a very mad one, and yet it is a most wise one; for 'tis resolved thus: A Master having but one servant, thought him over-burthened [Page] with work, and therfore tooke another to helpe him, (now hee had two) but each so trusted to the others observance, that they were often missing, and the worke not done; he chose another, (so he had three) and was then worse served then before: All things at Sea are mad: This saying likewise [Page] I presume would bee reputed a very mad one (especially by Sea-faring men, they would storme at it) and yet why may not it bee a most true one? The Ship is mad, for it never stands still: The Mariners are mad to expose themselves to such imminent dangers: The Waters are [Page] raging mad in perpetuall motion; and the Windes are as mad as the rest, they know not whence they come, nor whither they would goe. Was not the quadrature of the circle maintained by men of approved iudgement Hippocrates Chius among the ancient, and by Orontius Finaeus among [Page] the moderne? Did not that excellent Philosopher Copernicus affirme the earth wee stand on did not stand still, but move circularly? the good old man was to bee commended in that he dealt roundly with the world, and told them the truth of his opinion, which (happily) was the opinion [Page] of truth: for why may not the Earth moove, we departing from the Heavens, and they stand still, as well as the Earth bee thought to stand still, and the heavens moving, seeme to depart us? Did not Pythagoras avouch the Spheares to be musicall? but our soules locked up in our bodies, for the present can not [Page] heare the Harmony? such Musick certainely there is, the like was never heard of. And Lucian, that splendid wit, did in his Iudgement beleeve, that the soules of griping Vsurers (if they had any) at their Deaths, for certaine thousands of Yeeres transmigrated into the bodies of Asses, [Page] and why should not others beleeve it? it were but fitting, that poore men with whip and cudgell might take their pennyworths out of them.

And not onely mens Opinions, but likewise many of their Actions demonstrate All things are not as they seeme: For what think you of him who made [Page] diligent search at all the Innes of the Towne to finde his yong chesnut colour'd Gelding, with a Starre in his fore-head, and a white foote, when as the knave had none, but came thither a foote: of another, who going to the Faire, after hee stately stalked thorow the chiefe Streets, cheapning Orient Iewels, [Page] choise pictures, new-fashion'd plate, rich hangings, and the dearest imbroideries, departed home with the buying only of a woodden dish: or of a third, who going to their shops that sell costly apparrell, calls confidently to see a suit of an hundred pounds, and when they were agreed [Page] of the price, quarrels with his boy for following him without his purse.

Nor is this verified onely in such Peripateticall madcaps, but in contemplating Philosophers, in conquering Commanders: Did not Diogenes, seeing a company of unskilful Archers shooting (that [Page] he might save himselfe from the Arrowes) runne and stand at the marke, that in his knowledge being, and in successe proving, though not so to standers by at first seeming, the onely place of safety. Did not Bessus a Captaine, who thought for feare with his company to have fled; [Page] mistaking his way, runne headlong with them upon his enemies, & so gave them a famous overthrow, his side by that means getting the day: If errours in wars bee the way to get Conquests, and shooting-markes be places for men to stand at for safety, the former proved in the happy successe of a [Page] Commander, the latter ratified in the wise choyse of a Phylosopher, & such a one as Alexander vouchsafed to say; If I were not Alexander, I would bee Diogenes: doubtlesse then the World is in credit ingaged to recant many of its credulous customes; (custome without verity being but an old heresie) [Page] that so men being disburthened of those Great errours wherewith their opinions have beene loaded so long, they may prove more capable of the entertainmēt of truth and her propositions, of which one of the most refinedst is this now treated of, little better then Great: which now for any to deny [Page] as impossible, could be reputed no lesse then presumptuous obstinacy, since so really hath been demonstrated, All things are not as they seeme, by various Arguments, fetched from the speeches, opinions, and actions of the better sort of men.

And not only some particular persons in [Page] their speeches, opinions, and actions, but whole professions, nay flourishing Nations by their apparant customes demonstrate this assertion: First, for Professions; who seeme more devout then Clergy-men? or who seeme to take more delight in Law then Lawyers? or in medicines then Physitians? [Page] and yet (according to the saying of a learned Arch-bishop of Florence) Lawyers goe not to Law, Physitians take no physick, and some Divines are scarce good Christians. Secondly for Nations, it is the fashion of the women of Muscovy, to love that Husband best which beateth them [Page] most, and to thinke themselves never loved or regarded, unlesse they be two or three times a day wel favouredly swadled. In Tartaria a man sees not her he intends to wed, till they be married, but hearing a good report of the young woman, sollicits her father for her; If he be willing they [Page] meete at the Chancell of the Church in which there is a partition, through a hole whereof hee puts his hand, and taketh his wife by hers; then her mother with a sharpe instrument all to bee pricketh his hand, if he let her goe they deeme it a refusall, but if hee hold her fast and wring her [Page] by the hand till shee squeake, then is he accounted a most loving husband, and her friends reioyce for her happy match.

In generall to conclude, have you not heard of men that stumble at strawes, and leap over blocks: Of Democritus a Phylosopher, who having put his eyes out, that [Page] hee might the better contemplate, yet saw more then all Greece: and in that Greece that there was never lesse wisedome then in the time of the seven Wise men, of Brutus when hee seemed maddest was the wisest of the Tarquines; and of one Supputius who to converse but with one Wise man, [Page] travelled all over Europe, which men thought so full of them, and yet returned without his errand, and could find none. Omne meum, & nihil meum, that saying of Macrobius is not so knowne as true. Is it not true, that when Princes (prompted by Heaven) confer dignity on excelling men, [Page] though the Greater sort thinke the Honor onely doth accrue to the receivers, yet the wiser few in their hearts confesse, and then in their tongues to the world expresse it chiefly to bee in the givers. A man may see much, and yet perceive little; a strange position, and yet verified of a weake Traveller. [Page] A man may be seene abroad, and yet walke invisible; and unusuall speech, and yet verified of an able reserved man. One may have bad policy in him, & yet be a good man; a suspected sentence, and yet verified of a faithful profound Statist, (that hath by Art his Engines to fore-see forraigne mischiefes, [Page] and prevent them, to the advantage of his Masters honour, not onely dexterity, when they are fallen, to shift them, to his Masters content) for bad policy may bee in the knowledge of good men, but in the practice of wicked. Some man payes not so much for any thing, [Page] as for that which is given him; an unlikely, yet a certaine truth: for it is knowne of the generous, who by taking a courtesie, parts with that hee accounts most deare, his liberty: I could bee yet infinite in instances, (most Honour'd Sir) but that I study brevity, that I may like you in all things: I [Page] presume any cleare iudgement may have satisfaction by these, so as not any way to offer to deny, since so many things are not as they seeme (especially adding to consideration things more unlikely are true, as for a creature to eate iron, as the Estridge; or to live in fire, as the Salamander) [Page] but that it is in it selfe possible, little may be, and upon reasons alleadged probable, little is, better then Great.

When the Lapidaries digge in the earth, what is al their pains for, but to finde parvum in Magno, a little of gold in a Great deale of Ground; and if Great were so excellēt as men doe fancie it, [Page] yet you may finde Magnum in parvo that Great excellency in sūdry little things. We know there are foure parts of the World, and among them Europe the least; yet in fertility of grounds, variety of people and kingdomes, and in the flourishing wits of most learned men, it surpasses the Greatest, [Page] nay them all: In Europe how little was Rome, yet shee hath visited Europe, Asia, and Africke with wars and victories, and to the whole world given Lawes & command. Among beasts what more valiant then the Lyon? who compared with a Bull, Horse or Elephant is but little; or [Page] if it be obiected, a Lyon is somewhat Great, it must be confessed a Cocke is wondrous little, at whose crowing the Lyon for all his Great valour will tremble. Quid solertius prudentia apum? parvae sunt. Quid laboriosius diligentia formicarum? parvae sunt. Quid subtilius ingenio aranearum? parvae sunt. (as [Page] the Orator aptly. Among the chirping Quiristers of the Aire, those which sing sweetest or flie swiftest, are of birds the least. What excellent soule-ravishing notes heare we from a little Nightingall?

And as on things little, Nature hath bestowed a kind of excellency, for which they [Page] become so admired: so with that excellency, potency, least they should be despised, and utility that they might be desired of all. The potency of little appeares, in that life it selfe dependeth but on a small thread, and the least gnat in the aire can choake one, as it did a Pope of Rome; [Page] a little haire in Milke strangle one, as it did a Councellor in Rome; a little stone of a Raisin stop ones breath, as it did the Poeticall pipe of Anacreon: and well knowne it is by men experienced in Histories, how Themistocles little army overcame Xerxes Great Hoast. And can any thing bee more [Page] cōmodious for Schollers and Travellers, then little maps in which are perfectly delineated the Greatest Kingdomes? But why call we any kingdome Great, when as all things in the World, as it selfe, are very little? Alcibiades braggeth of his lands, Socrates reacheth him a Mappe, bids him [Page] demonstrate where they lye; alas hee could not finde them, nor scarce discerne Athens it selfe, it was so small a poynt in respect of the World, & the World is but as a point in respect of Heaven, & Heaven being finite, is but as a little point compared to its maker, which is infinite. The Sunne how [Page] Bigge in compasse soever it bee in it selfe, it is the pleasure of Heaven to shew it to us according to the smalnesse of a peck: and those coelestiall Glowormes the Starres, we [...]ee but as little pibbles. What so vexes the Sea, and makes it roare, but its Greatnesse? how angry and furious grows it, even [Page] to the losse of many mens lives, when the Winde presumes to puffe it into Bigge-swelling waves; whereas let it have but its owne liberty in a vent, how swiftly runs it, as eager of lessening it selfe, and though imprisoned, y [...]t through naturall pollicy it secretly undermines by degrees [Page] those bankes which violently keep it in its full Greatnesse, as endeavouring ever to bee little. What though Rivers so commodious to commonwealths be very Great, yet the Spring-head from whence they flow are but little. Flumina Magna vides parvis de fontibus orta, Ovid. The Cloudes [Page] weepe not downe their gratefull teares in Great Floods, but by droppes. Great and High Mountaines, natures Bulwarkes, cast up (as the Spaniard saies) at God Almighties owne charges; what are they but heaps of rubbish, and offals left of the creation of the World, as so many warts or [Page] pimples, disfiguring the smooth face of the earth? the difficulty of their ascent, the horridnesse of their crags, the wildnesse of their inhabitants (beasts or people) the chilnesse of their frosty toppes; with the inhospitable barrennesse of their rugged sides leave often an imputation of poverty & barbarousnes [Page] to that Coūtry that hath most of them: Whereas the low vallies are most pleasant, most fruitfull, most hospitable, enriching the inhabitants, refreshed with wholesome springs, beautified with curious structures; among which likewise the Cedarbuilt Pallace is oft strucke with thunder, [Page] when the shrubby cottage is secure.

Would a man live happily and well? let him ever be getting a little, for Horace saith: Vivitur parvo bene. Is he not yet content, but would live better? let him still continue his endeavours of getting, though never so little, for Claudian saith: Vivitur exiguo melius: [Page] Nay, little is so lovely, that wee should not onely endeavour for it, as a thing necessary (for is it not most necessary every one should have a little?) but reioyce in it as a thing pleasant; and Great is so cumbersome, that we should not onely not desire it, but flie from it, and both these prooved [Page] out of Catullus. Quod nimium est fugito, parvo gaudere memento.

But you perhaps (Sir) may demand, is a little wit better then a Great Wit? or a little estate, better then a Great Estate? or little honesty, better then Great Honesty? or little knowledge, better then Great Knowledge? I will not presume, [Page] being of the weaker Sexe (admired Sir) herein to decide any thing; onely bee your selfe the iudge: The Philosopher saith, There is no Great Wit without a mixture of madnesse; then probably (by the rule of contraries) no little wit without a mixture of prudence; now iudge you which is better, [Page] to bee with a Great Wit madde, or with a little wit wise? As for Estates, the practice of the World (contrary to their opinions) in effect maintaines the affirmative; for every man possessing a Great Estate accounts money but as durt, but when once by any casualtie it becōes little, [Page] then he makes much of it: Yet howsoever, grant a Great Estate were better, yet all know it is commonly gained but by degrees, that is, by little and little. A Lord who hath Great Revenues, is oft found melancholy, sighing; when his hired Groome (who has little or nothing) is blithe, whistling. As [Page] for honesty, wheresoever it is found, it is (I confesse) very excellent; yet more excellent (likely) where it causeth, besides love, admiration; then where it barely moves affection: We love it in good men, we both love and wonder to discover it in knaves; now is not good mens honesty very [Page]Great? and finde wee not it in knaves very little? Lastly, how little knowledge is better then Great, may bee thus demonstrated, the Greatest-Clerkes are not the wisest men.

Little childrē (as most innocent) best for imitation; little women (as most nimble-spirited) best for generation; little men (as [Page] most witty) best for negotiation. Aske every Schoole-boy, and he can tell you, parvi penditur honestas, honesty it selfe is but of little account: Aske the tradesman, and he will tell you, that a short terme is better then a Long Vacation: Aske the Scholler, and hee will tell you, nothing is better then Wisedome, [Page] and then aske any Courtier, whether little be not better then nothing.

Goe on, goe on therefore, (diminutive Sir) with the guide of Honour, and service of Fortune, your lovelinesse being such, as no man can disdaine to serve you, your littlenesse such, as no man needes to feare you, the [Page] first having put you without hatred, the latter below envy: Your little low person (me thinkes) is natures humble pulpit, out of which shee reads graces diviner lectures to High-aspiring Mortals: and whereas some in the world (wedded to errour) may fondly imagine your residence at Court, to bee rather [Page] for wonder and merriment, then for any use or service; you may require from them no lesse satisfaction then a publique recantation: For as it hath beene the custome of famous Princes to use (at chiefe times) some ceremony which represented some hidden Morall: as at the Court of Bel-gian David, [Page] or Prester Iohn, the powerfullest Potentate in all Africke, the first Dish served in at their Festivalls is a Deaths-head; and it hath beene in use, that the Coronation of Kings was celebrated at the Sepulcher of their Fathers; and the Pope at his Inaugura [...]ion hath 4. Marble stones presented unto [Page] out of which he chooseth his toombe-stone: So (at all times) the residence of dwarfes in Courts hath a twofold Representment, Theologicall, and Politicall, the first to the Soveraigne, the second, to the Subiect: For the first, as Philip King of Macedon betimes every morning had a little boy came unto him, and [Page] cryed, Philippe, memento te esse mortalem, O Philip, remember how thou art mortall: So little dwarfes (boyes in proportion, though perchance men in discretion) being about a Monarch, though silent, yet their very persons (being with Princes of the same naturall extraction) are as a voice crying, Rex, [Page]memento te esse minimum: O King remember how thou art little, borne like others little, to teach thee to Heaven, humility, to Earth, humanity: For the second, the civill regard in relation to the subiect: the residence of dwarfes about Monarchs hath beene by those who are grounded Politicians [Page] accounted emblemattically necessary, to denote those who desire to approach neere Princes ought not to bee ambitious of any Greatnesse in themselves, but to acknowledge all their Court-lustre is but a beame of the Royall Sunne their Master, which when, and to whom, he please hee [Page] can send forth or withdraw.

Minde not, minde not therefore (most perfect abridgement of Nature) the Great neglect which the ignorant vulgar cast upon littlenesse, considering it hath made you an attendant of Princes, & is in it selfe so full of worth, that for it onely you were thus preferred. [Page] And though it seemes a meere riddle to say, You are alwaies at Court, and yet are very little there; yet your person makes it so famous a one, that were Homer alive, and had his eyes againe, again he would by this loose them, or else weepe them out, that he lost them before by that lowsy one of Fishermen [Page] (Quod capimus perdimus, Quod non capimus tenemus: What wee take wee loose, what wee take not wee keepe) and missed the happy aenigma of your admired corpusculum. And since little is prooved better then Great, little Schoole-boyes (I doubt not) will wisely relinquish their old theame-exordium: [Page]Vt olim Alexander ille Magnus Macedonum Rex: and learning out by enquiry some of your splendid deeds, will learnedly front their exercises thus, Ut nuper Galfredus ille parvus Britanniae pumilio. Certainely if there be any thing in the World worth the relying on, it is very little; no Great or Long [Page] happinesse here to bee expected, but very little and short. When one's undone by fire or shipwrack, or goods taken by Pyrats, what sets him up but the Kings Breve. briefe? and alas, how would many a poore Knight live, if he had not a little to keepe him? Consider little morally, and vertue is in the meane; [Page] consider little theologically, and the whole Church is but a little flocke; consider little civilly, and who dare deny, (I assume spirit from truth) but that the little prince is a better man then the Kings Greatest Subiect? Nay, the King himselfe, who is Gods Epilogue, and mans Prologue, take him [Page] in the better consideration, with God, he is minor; take him in the other, with man, he is Maior; for so Tertullian, Imperator est Maior omnibus, solo Deo minor: A King is Greater then all others, lesse onely then God. And I will for ever heartily pray Heaven blesse our Queene, because she hath made the Kingdome happy [Page] by bringing his Maiesty so many little ones.

In short, who desireth not in debt to be as little as may bee? and what a rare temper is it in men of desart not to bee ambitious of Greatnes? & even in the Highest matters which men attempt, how commonly the most doe come short, and in their Greatest businesse [Page] effect but little. And therefore as it was said of Scipio that he was nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus, never lesse alone, then when alone: so it may be said of you (excellent abstract of Greatnesse) that you are nunquam minus parvus, quam cum parvus, never lesse little, then when little. I hope you will pardon me, [Page] if in my stile I have used a little boldnesse, and familiarity, you knowing it to bee so commendable, and that it is Nimia Familiaritas, Great Boldnes onely which breedeth cōtempt; especially since you are no stranger, but of my owne Countrie, an Englishman, though some (iudging by your stature) [Page] have taken you to bee a Low-country-man. Many merry New-yeares are wished unto you, by

The sworne servant of your Honours perfections, PARVULA.

Postscript.

If the Great Length of my Letter hath molested your more serious Affaires, you may thence gather the convenience of little; and yet that it might not displease, I appointed it (by my servant Microphilus) to be written in your owne hand.

FINIS.

[Page]

§

§

[Page]

[figure]

Gaze on with wonder, and discerne in me,

The abstract of the worlds Epitome.

§

§

[Page]

THE NEW-YEERES GIFT: PRESENTED AT Court, from the Lady PARVULA to the Lord MINIMUS, (commonly called Little JEFFERIE) Her Majesties Servant, with a Letter as it was penned in short-hand: wherein is proved LITTLE THINGS are better then GREAT. Written by MICROPHILVS.

Printed at London by N. and I. Okes, dwelling in Little St. Bartholmewes. 1636.

To the Reader.

[Page]

[Page]

AS they are not alwaies most valiant who are most violent: so commonly the most censorious, be the least judicious. I expect the judgment of the wise, and the censure of the over-wise; and wish I were of the formers pardon as certaine, as the latter are of mine. The censures of [Page] the learned ought to bee judicious, the censures of the unlearned humble, the censures of them both, charitable. Howsoever if any shal say, when I undertooke this worke I had but little to doe, it shall no way displease him, who is, and will remaine to his friends a servant, and to his foes a

MICROPHILUS.

TO HIS HIGH and Mighty friend, WILLIAM EVANS, Surnamed the Great PORTER.

[Page]

WIL, be not angry, this small booke is read

In praise of one no bigger then thy head.

'Tis not in envy of thy greatnesse made

Which might be unto twenty such, a shade:

Though hee bee small in Body, and in Limbe,

[Page]Yet wee commend somethin [...] that's great in him.

The greatnesse of his spiri [...] and his minde,

Whose vertues are not lik [...] thy strength confin'd

Vnto his bulke: but pure with out a dreg:

And has a body streighte [...] then thy leg.

Doubt not, in emulation som [...] will straine

His sinewy Muse, for to advance thy fame,

Then be not angry, this smal [...] Lord is prais'd,

Since thou by Nature, he by wit is rais'd.

S. M.

§

§

[Page]

To his worthy friend Microphilus.

HOw should one blaze the worth of little things?

Thus; th'are as sparkling Diamonds to rings:

But what needs praise from any, since thy pen

Hath prov'd a Dwarfe the miracle of men.

D. L.

[Page]

To Microphilus.

THe lesse the Subject, greater is the Wit,

That undertaking for to treate on it,

Makes almost nothing something, wherefore I

Thy rare invention dare to deifie.

T. Little.

[Page]

To the Author.

THou shew'st (Dwarfes Champion) that Nature sets

Her rarest Gems in smallest Cabinets:

Muses on tip-toes stand to reach his praise,

Whose worke deserves a never-fading Bayes.

W. Loe.

In Laudem operis.

[...]uta solet parvis rebus inesse fides. W. Short.

[Page]

[...].

Aris [...] V. cap. XI.

[...].

Aristot. de repub. Lib. V. cap VIII.

Sunt quae ob id ipsum grat [...] quod minuta, veluti gemmae [...] sculpturae: idem us [...] venit in ep [...] stolis et libris, qui non raro ip [...] brevitate redduntur commendat [...]ores. Sunt in delic [...]s et pumili [...]nes non ob aliud quam insigne [...] corporis parvitatem.

Erasmus Adag.

In minimis rebus omnia an [...] quae consuetudinis monumēta se [...]vanda.

Valerius Maximus Lib. I

Information about this book

Title statement

The new-yeeres gift presented at court, from the lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, (commonly called Little Jefferie) Her Majesties servant, with a letter as it was penned in short-hand: wherein is proved little things are better then great. Written by Microphilus.

Slater, Master.

Edition statement

1636

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A12313

ID [STC]

STC 22631

ID [STC]

ESTC S111064

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99846486

ID [PROQUEST]

99846486

ID [VID]

11458

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A12313)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 11458)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1008:8)

Source

— The new-yeeres gift presented at court, from the lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, (commonly called Little Jefferie) Her Majesties servant, with a letter as it was penned in short-hand: wherein is proved little things are better then great. Written by Microphilus., Slater, Master., Heywood, Thomas, d. 1641, attributed name., Slater, Master, attributed name..

Extent

[12], 116, [4] p. : port. (metal cut)

By N. and I. Okes, dwelling in Little St. Bartholmewes,. Printed at London :: 1636.. (Microphilus is a pseudonym. Attributed to Thomas Heywood.) ("Author identified as 'Master Slater' in an entry in the Registers of the stationers' Company on April 6, 1636."--NUC.) (The last two leaves are blank.) (Reproduction of the original in the Folger Shakespeare Library.)

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