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Or Sir Agrippa, for profound
And solid lying much renown'd:
He Anthroposophus, and Floud,
And Jacob Behmen understood;1

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foreign countries, to avoid the fury of their arms (as the Veneti "did into the islands of the Adriatic sea, when Attila invaded Italy), "and some, if not most into Ireland, who carried with them that learning which the Romans had planted here, which, when the "Saxons had nearly extinguished it in this island, flourished at so 'high a rate there, that most of those nations, among whom the "northern people had introduced barbarism, beginning to recover a "little civility, were glad to send their children to be instructed in religion and learning, into Ireland."

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9 Or Sir Agrippa, for profound

And solid lying much renown'd;] Sir Agrippa was born at Cologn, ann. 1486, and knighted for his military services under the Emperor Maximilian. When very young, he published a book De Occultâ Philosophiâ, which contains almost all the stories that ever roguery invented, or credulity swallowed, concerning the operations of magic. But Agrippa was a man of great worth and honour, as well as of great learning; and in his riper years was thoroughly ashamed of this book; nor is it to be found in the folio edition of his works. In his preface he says, "Si alicubi erratum sit, sive quid "liberius dictum, ignoscite adolescentiæ nostræ, qui minor quam "adolescens hoc opus composui: ut possim me excusare, ac dicere, “ dum eram parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, factus autem vir, eva"cuavi quæ erant parvuli; ac in libro de vanitate scientiarum hunc "librum magna ex parte retractavi."-Paulus Jovius in his "Elogia "doctorum Virorum," says of Sir Agrippa, 66 a Cæsare eruditionis

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ergo equestris ordinis dignitate honestatus." p. 237. Bayle, in his Dictionary v. Agrippa, note O, says that the fourth book was untruly ascribed to Agrippa.

He Anthroposophus, and Floud,

And Jacob Behmen understood;] Anthroposophus was a nickname given to one Thomas Vaughan, Rector of Saint Bridge's, in Bedfordshire, and author of a discourse on the nature of man in the state after death, entitled, Anthroposophia theomagica." A

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Knew many an amulet and charm,

That would do neither good nor harm;

In Rosycrucian lore as learned,2

As he that vere adeptus earned:

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"treatise," says Dean Swift, "written about fifty years ago, by a "Welch gentleman of Cambridge: his name, as I remember, was Vaughan, as appears by the answer to it written by the learned 66 Dr. Henry Moor: it is a piece of the most unintelligible fustian "that perhaps was ever published in any language."

Robert Floud, a native of Kent, and son of Sir Thomas Floud, Treasurer of War to Queen Elizabeth, was Doctor of Physic of St. John's College, Oxford, and much given to occult philosophy. He wrote an apology for the Rosycrucians, also a system of physics, called the Mosaic Philosophy, and many other obscure and mystical tracts. Monsieur Rapin says, that Floud was the Paracelsus of philosophers, as Paracelsus was the Floud of physicians. His opinions were thought worthy of a serious confutation by Gassendi. Jacob Behmen was an impostor and enthusiast, of somewhat an earlier date, by trade, I believe, a cobler. Mr. Law, who revived some of his notions, calls him a Theosopher. He wrote unintelligibly in dark mystical terms.

2 In Rosycrucian lore as learned,] The Rosycrucians were a sect of hermetical philosophers. The name appears to be derived from ros dew, and crux a cross. Dew was supposed to be the most powerful solvent of gold; and a cross + contains the letters which compose the word lux, light, called, in the jargon of the sect, the seed, or menstruum of the red dragon; or, in other words, that gross and corporeal light, which, properly modified, produces gold. They owed their origin to a German gentleman, called Christian Rosencruz; and from him likewise, perhaps, their name of Rosycrucians, though they frequently went by other names, such as the Illuminati, the Immortales, the Invisible Brothers. This gentleman had travelled to the Holy Land in the fourteenth century, and formed an acquaintance with some eastern philosophers. They were noticed in England before the beginning of the last century. Their learning had a great mixture of enthusiasm; and as Lemery, the famous chymist, says, "it was an art without an art, whose begin"ning was lying, whose middle was labour, and whose end was

He understood the speech of birds 3
As well as they themselves do words;

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"beggary." Mr. Hales, of Eton, concerning the weapon salve, p. 282, says, a merry gullery put upon the world; a guild of men, "who style themselves the brethren of the Rosycross, a fraternity, ❝ who, what, or where they are, no man yet, no not they who believe, "admire, and devote themselves unto them, could ever discover."See Chaufepié's Dict. v. Jungius, note D. and Brucker. Hist. Critic. Phil. iv. 1. p. 736. Naudæus and Mosheim. Inst. Hist. Christ. recent. sec. 17. 1. 4. 28.-Lore, i. e. science, knowledge, from AngloSaxon, learn, læran to teach.

› He understood the speech of birds] The senate and people of Abdera, in their letter to Hippocrates, give it as an instance of the madness of Democritus, that he pretended to understand the language of birds. Porphyry, de abstinentiâ, lib. iii. cap. 3. contends that animals have a language, and that men may understand it. He instances in Melampus and Tiresias of old, and Apollonius of Tyana, who heard one swallow proclaim to the rest, that by the fall of an ass a quantity of wheat lay scattered upon the road.—I believe swallows do not eat wheat. [Certainly not.] Philostratus tells us the same tale, with more propriety, of a sparrow. Porphyry adds,— a friend "assured me that a youth, who was his page, understood all the arti"culations of birds, and that they were all prophetic. But the boy

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was unhappily deprived of the faculty; for his mother, fearing he "should be sent as a present to the emperor, took an opportunity, "when he was asleep, to piss into his ear." The author of the Targum on Esther says, that Solomon understood the speech of birds.

The reader will be amused by comparing the above lines with Mr. Butler's character of an Hermetic philosopher, in the second volume of his Genuine Remains, published by Mr. Thyer, page 225. a character which contains much wit. Mr. Bruce in his Travels, vol. ii. p. 243. says, There was brought into Abyssinia a bird called Para, about the bigness of a hen, and spoke all languages, Indian, Portuguese, and Arabic. It named the king's name; although its voice was that of a man, it could neigh like a horse, and mew like a cat, but did not sing like a bird-from an Historian of that country. -In the year 1655, a book was printed in London, by John Stafford, intitled, Ornithologie, or the Speech of Birds, to which probably Mr. Butler might allude.

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Could tell what subtlest parrots mean,
That speak and think contrary clean;
What member 'tis of whom they talk,
When they cry Rope-and Walk, Knave, walk.*
He'd extract numbers out of matter,"
And keep them in a glass, like water,
Of sov'reign pow'r to make men wise;"
For, dropt in blear, thick-sighted eyes,
They'd make them see in darkest night,
Like owls, tho' purblind in the light.
By help of these, as he profest,

He had first matter seen undrest:

♦ What member 'tis of whom they talk,

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When they cry Rope-and Walk, Knave, walk.] This probably alludes to some parrot, that was taught to cry rogue, knave, a rope, after persons as they went along the street. The same is often practised now, to the great offence of many an honest countryman, who when he complains to the owner of the abuse, is told by him, take care, Sir, my parrot prophesies-this might allude to more members than one of the house of commons.

5 He'd extract numbers out of matter,] Every absurd notion, that could be picked up from the ancients, was adopted by the wild enthusiasts of our author's days. Plato, as Aristotle informs us, Metaph. lib. i. c. 6. conceived numbers to exist by themselves, beside the sensibles, like accidents without a substance. Pythagoras maintained that sensible things consisted of numbers. Ib. lib. xi. c. 6. And see Plato in his Cratylus.

And keep them in a glass, like water,

Of sov'reign pow'r to make men wise ;] The Pythagorean philosophy held that there were certain mystical charms in certain numbers.

Plato held whatsoe'er incumbers,

Or strengthens empire, comes from numbers.

Butler's MS.

He took her naked, all alone,
Before one rag of form was on.7
The chaos too he had descry'd,
And seen quite thro', or else he ly'd:
Not that of pasteboard, which men shew
For groats, at fair of Barthol'mew;"
But its great grandsire, first o' th' name,
Whence that and Reformation came,
Both cousin-germans, and right able
T' inveigle and draw in the rabble :

But Reformation was, some say,

O' th' younger house to puppet-play."

By help of these, as he profest,

He had first matter seen undrest :

He took her naked, all alone,

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Before one rag of form was on.] Thus Cleveland, page 110. "The next ingredient of a diurnal is plots, horrible plots, which "with wonderful sagacity it hunts dry foot, while they are yet in "their causes, before materia prima can put on her smock."

• Not that of pasteboard, which men shew

For groats, at fair of Barthol'mew;] The puppet-shews, sometimes called Moralities, exhibited the chaos, the creation, the flood, &c.

9 But Reformation was, some say,

O' th' younger house to puppet-play.] It has not been unusual to compare hypocrites to puppets, as not being what they seemed and pretended, nor having any true meaning or real consciousness in what they said or did. I remember two passages, written about our author's time, from one of which he might possibly take the hint. "Even as statues and puppets do move their eyes, their hands, their "feet, like unto living men; and yet are not living actors, because "their actions come not from an inward soul, the fountain of life, "but from the artificial poise of weights when set by the workmen ; even so hypocrites." Mr. Mede.

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Bishop Laud said, "that some hypocrites, and seeming mortified

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