The Colloquies of Erasmus Part 42

_Boy._ Sir, the Gentlemen are come.

_Eu._ You are welcome, Gentlemen, that you are come according to your Words; but you're twice as welcome for coming so early, and bringing the best of Company along with you. There are some Persons who are guilty of an unmannerly Civility, in making their Host wait for them.

_Ti._ We came the earlier, that we might have Time enough to view all the Curiosities of your Palace; for we have heard that it is so admirably contrived every where, as that it speaks who's the Master of it.

_Eu._ And you will see a Palace worthy of such a Prince. This little Nest is to me more than a Court, and if he may be said to reign that lives at Liberty according to his Mind, I reign here. But I think it will be best, while the Wench in the Kitchen provides us a Salad, and it is the cool of the Morning, to take a Walk to see the Gardens.

_Ti._ Have you any other beside this? For truly this is a wonderful neat one, and with a pleasing Aspect salutes a Man at his entring in, and bids him welcome.

_Eu._ Let every Man gather a Nosegay, that may put by any worse Scent he may meet with within Doors. Every one likes not the same Scent, therefore let every one take what he likes. Don't be sparing, for this Place lies in a Manner common; I never shut it up but a-Nights.

_Ti._ St. Peter keeps the Gates, I perceive.

_Eu._ I like this Porter better than the _Mercuries_, Centaurs, and other fict.i.tious Monsters, that some paint upon their Doors.

_Ti._ And 'tis more suitable to a Christian too.

_Eu._ Nor is my Porter dumb, for he speaks to you in Three Languages.

_Ti._ What does he say?

_Eu._ Read it yourself.

_Ti._ It is too far off for my Eyes.

_Eu._ Here's a reading Gla.s.s, that will make you another _Lynceus._

_Ti._ I see the Latin. _Si vis ad vitam ingredi, serva mandata_, Mat.

19, 17. If thou wilt, enter into Life, keep the Commandments.

_Eu._ Now read the _Greek_.

_Ti._ I see the _Greek_, but I don't well know what to make on't; I'll refer that to _Theophilus_, who's never without _Greek_ in his Mouth.

_Th._ [Greek: Metanoesate kai epistrepsate. Praxeon to trito.] _Repent and be converted._ Acts 3. 19.

_Ch._ I'll take the _Hebrew_ upon myself, [Hebrew: vetsadik be'emunato yihyeh] _And the Just shall live by Faithfulness._

_Eu._ Does he seem to be an unmannerly Porter, who at first Dash, bids us turn from our Iniquities, and apply our selves to G.o.dliness, and then tells us, that Salvation comes not from the Works of the Law; but from the Faith of the Gospel; and last of all, that the Way to eternal Life, is by the Observance of evangelical Precepts.

_Ti._ And see the Chapel there on the right Hand that he directs us to, it is a very fine one. Upon the Altar there's _Jesus Christ_ looking up to Heaven, and pointing with his right Hand towards G.o.d the Father, and the holy Spirit; and with his Left, he seems to court and invite all Comers.

_Eu._ Nor is he mute: You see the _Latin; Ego sum via, veritas, et vita; I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life._ [Greek: Ego eimi to alpha kai to omega.] In _Hebrew_, [Hebrew: Lechu banim shim'uh li, yr'at adonai alamdeichem] _Come, ye Children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord._

_Ti._ Truly the Lord _Jesus_ salutes us with a good Omen.

_Eu._ But that we may not seem uncivil, it is meet that we pay back an Acknowledgment, and pray that since we can do nothing of ourselves, he would vouchsafe of his infinite Goodness to keep us from ever straying out of the Path of Life; but that we casting away _Jewish_ Ceremonies, and the Delusions of the World, he would guide us by the Truth of the Gospel to everlasting Life, drawing us of himself to himself.

_Ti._ It is most reasonable that we should pray, and the Place invites us to it.

_Eu._ The Pleasantness of the Garden draws a great many Persons to it; and 'tis a rare Thing that any Pa.s.ses by Jesus without an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n. I have made him Keeper, not only of my Garden, but of all my Possessions, and of both Body and Mind, instead of filthy _Priapus_. Here is you see a little Fountain pleasantly bubbling with wholsome Waters, this in some Measure represents that only Fountain of Life, that by its divine Streams, refreshes all that are weary and heavy laden; which the Soul, tired with the Evils of this World, pants after, just as the Hart in the Psalmist does after the Water Brooks, having tasted of the Flesh of Serpents. From this Fountain, whoever thirsts, may drink _gratis_. Some make it a Matter of Religion to sprinkle themselves with it; and others for the Sake of Religion, and not of Thirst, drink of it. You are loath, I perceive, to leave this Place: But it is Time to go to see this little square Garden that is wall'd in, 'tis a neater one than the other. What is to be seen within Doors, you shall see after Dinner, when the Heat of the Sun keeps us at Home for some Hours like Snails.

_Ti._ Bless me! What a delightful Prospect is here.

_Eu._ All this Place was designed for a Pleasure Garden, but for honest Pleasure; for the Entertainment of the Sight, the recreating the Nostrils, and refreshing the Mind; nothing grows here but sweet Herbs, nor every Sort of them, but only choice ones, and every Kind has its Bed by itself.

_Ti._ I am now convinced that Plants are not mute with you.

_Eu._ You are in the Right; others have magnificent Houses, but mine is made for Conversation, so that I can never be alone in it, and so you'll say, when you have seen it all. As the several Plants are as it were form'd into several Troops, so every Troop has its Standard to itself, with a peculiar Motto, as this Marjoram's is, _Abstine, sus, non tibi spiro: Keep off, Sow, I don't breathe my Perfume for thee_; for though it be of a very fragrant Scent, yet Sows have a natural Aversion to it: And so every Sort has its t.i.tle, denoting the peculiar Virtue of the Plant.

_Ti._ I have seen nothing yet more delightful than this little Fountain, which being in the midst of them, does as it were smile upon all the Plants, and promises them Refreshment against the scorching Heat of the Sun. But this little Channel which shews the Water to the Eye so advantageously, and divides the Garden every where at such equal Distances, that it shews all the Flowers over on both Sides again, as in a Looking-gla.s.s, is it made of Marble?

_Eu._ Marble, quoth thee, how should Marble come hither? It is a counterfeit Marble, made of a sort of Loam, and a whitish Colour given it in the Glasing.

_Ti._ But where does this delicious Rivulet discharge itself at last?

_Eu._ Just as it is with human Obligations, when we have served our own Turns: After this has pleasured our Eyes, it washes our Kitchen, and pa.s.ses through the Sink into the common Sh.o.r.e.

_Ti._ That's very hard-hearted, as I am a Christian.

_Eu._ It had been hard-hearted, if the divine Bounty of Providence had not appointed it for this Use. We are then hard-hearted, when we pollute the Fountain of divine Truth, that is much more pleasant than this, and was given us for the refreshing and purging our Minds from our l.u.s.ts and vicious Appet.i.tes, abusing the unspeakable Bounty of G.o.d: For we make no bad Use of the Water, if we put it to the several Uses for which he appointed it, who supplies every Thing abundantly for human Use.

_Ti._ You say right: But how comes it about, that all your artificial Hedges are green too?

_Eu._ Because I would have every Thing green here. Some are for a Mixture of Red, because that sets off Green: But I like this best, as every Man has his Fancy, though it be but in a Garden.

_Ti._ The Garden is very fine of itself; but methinks these three Walks take off very much from the Lightsomeness and Pleasantness of it.

_Eu._ Here I either study or walk alone, or talk with a Friend, or eat, as the Humour takes me.

_Ti._ Those speckled, wonderful, pretty party-coloured Pillars, that at equal Distances support that Edifice, are they Marble?

_Eu._ Of the same Marble that this Channel is made of.

_Ti._ In Truth, a pretty Cheat, I should have sworn they had been Marble.

_Eu._ For this Reason then, take Care that you neither believe, nor swear any Thing rashly: You see how a Man may be mistaken. What I want in Wealth, I supply by Invention.

_Ti._ Could you not be content with so neat, and well furnished a Garden in Substance, without other Gardens in Picture besides?

_Eu._ In the first Place, one Garden will not hold all Sorts of Plants; and in the second, 'tis a double Pleasure, to see a painted Flower vie with the Life; and in one we contemplate the Artifice of Nature, in the other the Skill of the Painter; and in both, the Goodness of G.o.d, who gives all Things for our Use, in every Thing equally admirable and amiable: And in the last Place, a Garden is not always green; nor the Flowers always fresh; but this Garden is fresh and green all the Winter.

_Ti._ But it is not fragrant.

_Eu._ But then on the other Hand it wants no dressing.

_Ti._ It only delights the Eye.

_Eu._ But then it does that always.