CHAPTER III. P. I.
WHOLESOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE VANITY OF FAME.
Whosoever shall address himself to write of matters of instruction, or of any other argument of importance, it behoveth that before he enter thereinto, he should resolutely determine with himself in what order he will handle the same; so shall he best accomplish that he hath undertaken, and inform the understanding, and help the memory of the Reader.
GWILLIM'S DISPLAY OF HERALDRY.
Who was the Doctor?
We will begin with the persons for sundry reasons, general and specific. Doth not the Latin grammar teach us so to do, wherein the personal verbs come before the impersonal, and the Propria quæ maribus precede all other nouns? Moreover by replying to this question all needful explanation as to time and place will naturally and of necessity follow in due sequence.
| Truly I will deliver and discourse The sum of all.1 |
1 G. PEELE.
Who was the Doctor?
Can it then be necessary to ask?—Alas the vanity of human fame! Vanity of vanities, all is Vanity! “How few,” says Bishop Jeremy Taylor, “have heard of the name of Veneatapadino Ragium! He imagined that there was no man in the world that knew him not: how many men can tell me, that he was the King of Narsinga?” When I mention Arba, who but the practised textualist can call to mind that he was “a great man among the Anakim,” that he was the father of Anak, and that from him Kirjath-Arba took its name? A great man among the Giants of the earth, the founder of a city, the father of Anak!—and now there remaineth nothing more of him or his race than the bare mention of them in one of the verses of one of the chapters of the Book of Joshua: except for that only record it would not now be known that Arba had ever lived, or that Hebron was originally called after his name. Vanitas Vanitatum! Omnia Vanitas . An old woman in a village in the West of England was told one day that the King of Prussia was dead, such a report having arrived when the great Frederic was in the noon-day of his glory. Old Mary lifted up her great slow eyes at the news, and fixing them in the fullness of vacancy upon her informant, replied, “is a! is a!—The Lord ha' marcy!—Well, well! The King of Prussia! And who's he?”—The “Who's he” of this old woman might serve as text for a notable sermon upon ambition. “Who's he” may now be asked of men greater as soldiers in their day than Frederic, or Wellington; greater as discoverers than Sir Isaac, or Sir Humphrey. Who built the Pyramids? Who ate the first Oyster? Vanitas Vanitatum! Omnia Vanitas.
| Why then doth flesh, a bubble-glass of breath, Hunt after honour and advancement vain, And rear a trophy for devouring Death, With so great labour and long-lasting pain, As if his days for ever should remain? Sith all that in this world is great or gay, Doth as a vapour vanish and decay. Look back who list unto the former ages, And call to count what is of them become; Where be those learned wits and antique sages Which of all wisdom knew the perfect sum? Where those great warriors which did overcome The world with conquest of their might and main, And made one mear of the earth and of their reign?2 |
2 SPENSER.
Who was the Doctor?
Oh that thou hadst known him, Reader! Then should I have answered the question—if orally, by an emphasis upon the article,—the Doctor; or if in written words, THE DOCTOR—thus giving the word that capital designation to which, as the head of his profession within his own orbit, he was so justly entitled. But I am not writing to those only who knew him, nor merely to the inhabitants of the West Riding, nor to the present generation alone;—No! to all Yorkshire,—all England; all the British Empire; all the countries wherein the English tongue is, or shall be, spoken or understood; Yea to all places, and all times to come. Para todos, as saith the famous Doctor Juan Perez de Montalvan Natural de Madrid, which is, being interpreted, a Spanish Cockney—para todos; porque es un aparato de varias materias, donde el Filosofo, el Cortesano, el Humanista, el Poeta, el Predicador, el Teologo, el Soldado, el Devoto, el Jurisconsulto, el Matematico, el Medico, el Soltero, el Casado, el Religioso, el Ministro, el Plebeyo, el Señor, el Oficial, y el Entretenido, hallaran juntamente utilidad y gusto, erudicion y divertimiento, doctrina y desahogo, recreo y enseñanza, moralidad y alivio, ciencia y descanso, provecho y passatiempo, alabanzas y reprehensiones, y ultimamente exemplos y donaires, que sin ofender las costumbres delecten el animo, y sazonen el entendimiento.
Who was the Doctor?
The Doctor was Doctor Daniel Dove.
