THE Ancient VVriters have delivered, that O­pinion is Sacer morbus, which is of that power, that on whomsoever it lightly breatheth, it doth (as it were) fetter him with chaynes, and doth not suffer his eyes never so little to peep towards the dawning truth. But this is chiefly to be deplored, that having once taken possession of the judgement, where­on the welfare of mankinde doth depend, it commandeth the suffrages and voyces, and swayeth on that which is forestalled [Page 2] with fancy. Nay, in troth, shee her selfe doth execute the place of judicature. Who is so forlorne of sense, as not to confesse that this is apparant in our defendants cause? This same Louce, a creature of fame, and common note, mans familiar guest, & retainer, born and bred of him, his home-batled nursling, and cherished with the warmth of the same harth, borne to the communion of Fortune, & tutelar depen­dency, & allied in the sacred tie of any other domestick relation: yea, your ever trusty companion suffers under the tyrannicall oppression of men, and is made by them as contemptibly infamous as they can: and is not only banisht from sea and land, but al­so is most barbarously expelled and eje­cted from the body of man, which is his onely seate of life and maintenance. The cause whereof being demanded, it will bee found no other but meerely Opinion. The which to have fully driven out of the minde, I thinke it much avayling to the safety of this defendant, whom the more earnestly to commend unto you, I thinke [Page 3] it sufficient to notifie unto you his com­mendable properties. First of all, they say the very name is infamous, heaven help us! which is derived from the most fashiona­ble part of the body (as they themselves dare not deny:) first men did call him pe­dem or foot; afterwards by a loving and flattering appellation they called him pedi­culum, with as honest a name as eyther Oe­dipus or Polypus, which have the same E­timology. See therefore, and thoroughly view the force of Opinion; no man thinks it ugly to say pediculorum montem, populos pediculos, pediculorum agrum, sive flumen, a hill of Lice, a nation of Lice, a field and ri­ver of Lice, that I meddle not with the Lice of leaues and fruites. Although the Romans would not see them want illustri­ous and magnificent names, as when they called them Serpents, or creepers, and Sex­upedes or sixfooted creatures; Yet the Gre­cians much lesse would; which amongst other names haue giuen him one from the very shop of reason, [...] the brayne of man. The Hebrewes haue named him [Page 4] also from a powerfull word canan, which signifies with them to lay a foundation, (from whence can, a pedestall, foot, or foundation;) eyther because they are the foundation, of greater animals, or else be­cause they are supported of many feet, as upon a basis. Therefore they are called cinnim, by that most ancient nation. The Greeke Septuagint called them [...], not as being other cattell (which we euer dee­med) but from their compasse, because [...] is as much to say, as little or small. Whence the Chaldeans also from their pinched and concised body called them cimlin, and the Arabians camla: meaning this selfe same creature. Nor neede any one bee ashamed heereof, seeing valour eyther excuseth or commendeth the thin­nesse and contractednesse of their body, which also euery one admires in Pismires, unto whom the Ancients do ascribe migh­ty wisedome. Nor doe our clients also when they fall upon mans flesh, behave themselves lesse valiantly, as that every one deserve the same cōmendation which [Page 5] the Prince of Poets gives to that great Hero.

Although our defendant thinks it doth not concerne him at all, by what names he is stiled: Which excellent humour of indifferency, doubtlesse he tooke from the Stoicks, when hee lived heeretofore gra­zing in their beards and brows. Further­more, whereas both Orators and Philoso­phers doe fetch the roote and originall of prayse from ones native soyle; (which Plato approoves of also in his Menexenus, our Sparke was borne neyther at Athens, nor Rome; which Cities have beene prai­sed and celebrated by great Orators, even untill the hearers eares were cloyed. The native soile of the Louce is Man; whose worth and prerogative to blazen, were but a silly and idle enterprize: who as hee is onely endued with Reason, so hath also Reason impallaced in his loftiest and most topping part, to wit, the head. And this hath our Client made choyce of deserved­ly, [Page 6] as a castle and fort of great importance. Heere he is bred, heere he is brought up, heere his estate and mayntenance subsist­eth; of this is he the native inhabitant and free denison, scorning the lower regions, and as ancient Poets sayd prettily,

He hath the minde, hee hath the under­standing, he hath prudence and wisedome for his neighbours, and almost familiars, so that the asse, which hath the least por­tion of these, a dull and lumpish creature, only knows not what it is to have a Louce, as it is commonly beleeved. On the con­trary, these most prudent mortall creatures doe besides man, the divine and truely chiefest creature, pursue also most eagerly the dog and the nightingale, whom they perceive to be of most excellent wit, that it might be verified what first Homer, and then Aristotle have sayd, ‘Like will to like.’

It was a happinesse of wit that made the Ancients to sirname Plato divine, whose [Page 7] Lice are become a Proverbe. To omit Pherycides, and Alcman, whose tickling ad­herents these were to the last gaspe. The chiefe gentry of them are imparked in the head.

For they doe almost every where send their colonies and make plantations in the apparell, in the eyebrowes, in the beard; though not all of the same kind, and form. If you looke after the antiquity of their pedegree, you must continue it beyond E­richteus and Cecrops, even unto the times of Deucalion. For as soone as the stones waxe warme with humane breath, our Client succeeded that warmth; who ever since hath judged to bee best for him, to keepe himselfe out of the cold as much as he can. Man therefore is borne of stone, but the Lice are borne of Man. So much the nobler in his originall, as a man is no­bler then a stone. Aristotle would have them bred of the flesh, but Theophrastus of the blood, both the most noble and prime [Page 8] parts of the body, (as every one knoweth.) And they say they are born by corruption. Cruell Authors! thinking to batter down innocency by this engine. Suffer not (my Canting Lords) that before your Barre, ig­norance should prejudice and distresse the cause of this defendant, against the trueth. For if they goe on so, it will bee the same case with man, the same case with all o­ther living creatures. For as from the cor­ruption of bloud is sperme, so from the corruption of sperme both man and all o­ther living are bred. What more beautifull then a Peacocke? it is borne from an egge corrupted. What is more prudent then the Bee? what more cleanly? what more needfull in the world? yet is borne from the corruption of an Oxe For Nature doth beget nothing of another, but so, as that something is corrupted; and by this way doth preserve all things. Whereupon Py­thagoras excellently sayd that nothing dy­eth, but all things in this world are onely changed. Yea, on the contrary (so heavens prosper me) you will say, it is wonderfully [Page 9] come to passe, that after the one and the same maner, two famousest creatures are created, the Louce and the Phenix; one from his parents ashes; the other of a Nit; as not without cause the most eminent Au­thors doe conjoyne and compare the ori­ginall of both. If you beleeve Aristotle that there proceedeth nothing from a Nit, then you will make the first authour of a Louce, the deputy of Deity, I meane, The Vniversall heat; which the Arabes, not without cause, have called, The Creator; unto which, when this creature is to bee procreated, the naturall heat is adioyned. Now if you search into his education; as soone as the Louce enters into the Lease of his life, he is instituted in those arts & disci­plines, which he thinketh are most condu­cing and importing for his course of life: he learneth not Swimming, because he liveth upon the continent; nor learning and sci­ences, in that he seeth these doe no wayes avayle their teachers, for the most part, unto the attayning of vertue. Therefore being most an end busied in husbandry [Page 10] and domestique affaires, all the spare time remayning from the exercise and care of feeding, it bestoweth on contemplation, and rest: and herein liveth most of all like the Gods; whom Homer giveth this Epithete of Easie Livers: for hee doth not seeke his forrage, but hath his victuals in a cubbord, ready for his mouth; where­soever he turnes himselfe hee fals to what is afore him, without any servicing. To omit another thing which is common to them with Homers Deities,

They do not manure or till the ground, but gently twich and prick mans flesh. If you demand the constitution of their bo­dy, it doth almost escape the eye-sight. Curious Nature hath woven together their members with such exceeding fine­nesse, as that they fall under the intellect, and are almost invisible; wherein they are of affinity with incorporeall things, who by their excellency, are above the senses, being to bee apprehended only by [Page 11] reason. And also with the atomes where­with Leucippus in his contemplative ar­chitecture, Democritus, and Epicure Car­penter-like, made the world off, which therefore a Roman Poet of the Retinue of Epicures did call The materiall bodies, The first bodies, The principles, The seeds of things, and The matter. But especially Acarus or the Hand-worme, known unto Aristotle, hath this affinity with atomes, which hath almost got the same name; howsoe­ver of the same signification: for it can neither bee divided, nor cleft, nor scarce seene: which if it should offer it selfe to the eye, and every particular member to be viewed: I would make you presently see first the Lice, and also the concurrence of hooked, rough, and smooth Atomes. Now it hath made choice of a quiet and and retired course of life, not fluttering as birds do, nor skip-hopping as a flea, but according to the dignity of his life, stable, and still: hee walketh with a slow, and gravely composed gate: nor doth he seem to imbrace any point of Philosophy more [Page 12] than the Pythagorean silence; for nothing disturbeth more the intentivenesse of the minde, than a hurry, and a bustling noyse: which intentivenesse being continuall, it surmounts the blisse of man. Neither is hee altogether idle, and abstayning from action, for hee is alwayes feasting and cramming. Aristotle said well, that Man is a sociable creature, and therefore the foundation, and ground of a Common­wealth. The which no man (unlesse hee never saw him) but knoweth may as per­tinently be said of this our client: for they live in familiar society one with another, and with man also: it is not so easily judged what kinde of forme they com­monly use; only it is not much different from a popular State, for they are esteemed by the number; and are not transcended in judgement and worth by the plebeans; and they march to warre not in long rancks, and wedgewise-squadrons: but in clustred and round troopes; nor have they mutinously any civill conflicts among themselves, which in mankinde is both [Page 13] mad and horrid, but they encounter and bicker with man himselfe, whom often­times they conquer triumphantly: nor are they lesse constant in their leagve of of friendship with man, nay they surpasse him in fidelity, for

But a Louce is a constant stickler to a man: and neither comes nor goes with fortune; but is cheefly delighted with adverse (that is yours) fortune; so generous and nobly minded he is, for hee is a true companion and attendant to poverty:

Wherefore as Scipio anciently said, that he was never lesse at leisure, then when he was at leisure: so I also doe thinke that you (Mendicant Senators) are never lesse a­lone, then when you are alone in prison and chaines: for you have about you per­petuall and trusty companions, that doe accompany you to the very Gallowes, but [Page 14] especially the Crab-lice, which doe take up their station in your Codpiece, Arme-pits, Beards, and Eye-browes: for what place so­euer they doe gripingly seaze on, they keep their hold untill the last gaspe. Concerning the rest, it is exceeding wonderfull, and al­most incredible, what I shall tell you; for as famous Authors doe relate, that the great and tutelar gods of the Trojans did abandon the city, upon the Grecians sack­ing of it: so these also doe when they per­ceive any body marked for death, they pack away by troopes, and this obseruation ne­uer failed the wisest Physitians and Philoso­phers. Whereupon some have thought that these haue a propheticall faculty in di­uining. Beholding the measure and com­passe of their body, you will thinke they are able to atchieue either little, or no­thing, but

You will presently change your opinion, for whether it bee through an ingenious modestie, or else tooke up with other af­faires, [Page 15] they doe contemne Chronicles, they doe conceale their praises and valiant acts, men being neuer the sorryer for it. Scylla the chiefe man of the world, and Com­mander of the Romans, who vanquisht Marius twice, and twice Mithridates, who dismantled and sackt Athens, who besmea­red all Italy with slaughters: This man, I say, they did inuade with troopes; to say nothing of Arnulphus, Antiochus, Herode, Maximinian, Pheretimus, Honorius, Cassan­der: all Kings and Princes: not descending to relate of priuate personages, over whom they got most illustrious victories, incoun­tring them weaponlesse and souldierlesse: as that if I have any judgement, my Client may deservedly challenge, and assume to himselfe this encomiasticke title out of the Greeke,

I would have giuen you the Latin, but that Pediculus, runs from a Roman verse; more friendly complying with the Greeks, as he hath reason; though he is courteous [Page 16] and sociable enough with others, that hee hath begun the least familiarity with: for he doth not gash, nor hurt any one, but onely tickles them, unlesse whom hee in­vades in a troope, wherin (as Socrates saith in Plautus Phoedon) 'tis a question whether it be a greater paine, or pleasure: but that if there be any paine, it is the progenitor of pleasure; which dainty kinde of tickling, (my Lords) I thinke you are so taken with, as that I imagine, it is your chiefest and most lushious relishment of your poore and miserable condition. Often haue I seene with what expressive delight, you use to rubbe and scratch, sometimes your backe, sometimes your head, sometimes your sides, sometimes another part, to which this your guest doth give the gentle itching twitch: for if Pleasure be as Plato saith, but a meere repletion, and that rising from indigencie: I wonder if you can bring any other cause of that your so mighty fri­cative pleasure, but this your accused de­fendant, whom (I will tell you a pretty jest) by all your scratching of your head, [Page 17] and scrubbing of your body, you destroy never a whit the more, but multiply him. The Philosophers can tell you the cause hereof. What will you say and they prove Chirurgians, for the best approved Physi­tians do confesse, that it is good to have lice in the head. As for their death, with what wonderfull courage, how undaunted­ly do they suffer. For many times (being now at deaths doore, shaking hands with all the world, and scaffoled upon the very comb, the usuall place of execution, he wal­keth about securely, without being moved in minde at all; that he might do nought contrary to the dignity of his forepassed life, or scandalize his credit, whereof no­ble and brave spirits are ever especially cheary. Augustus Caesar is said to have wished for an easie departure, and quicke riddance in his death, which this creature (I thinke) onely hath, for he is not martyrd with lingering and chronicall, for with smart and acute pangs: hee feeles not the Pleuresie, Stone, or winde-collick, I guesse, because at his birth, Venus stood in the eight [Page 18] place from the horoscope, which as the Mathematicians doe well declare, doth prognosticate a most easie and unpaining death to mortals; among whom, our Cli­ent is not the lowest in degree. Thus he is gone, but with the turning of a thumbe; herein onely to be lamented, because he suf­fers undeservingly, though not therefore the more miserable, for no man in his re­ctified judgement, can call calamitous in­nocency, infelicity: which they say Socrates said also before his death, when some of his friends did therefore grieve, that so good a man as he should suffer so undeser­vingly. Now the most part are extinguisht with untimely death, and therefore with­out Pompe, Shewes, and a Herauld, with a private, not a solemne funerall: they are exposed, rather then reposed in their tombes, perhaps because they dye in their minority, and before they come to age: wherefore commonly they decease inte­state. These are but a few commendations, culled and flosculated out of many: for who dares hope to be able for to display [Page 19] them all. Since the top of all knowledge, and oracle of wisedome, Homer, (if the Greekes may bee beleeved) could not unfold the nature of this his perpetuall companion in a riddle:

And overcome with fretting at so high a mysterie, fairely made a dye on't. Per­haps it was in just judgement too, for some doe thinke, that some where in his verses, he spake contemptuously and unreverent­ly of his Worship: especially the Gramma­tians thinkes so, which have never stood ill affected to this our Client, being his he­reditary friends and familiars.

Now you Fathers and Peeres of the beging regiment) take all heed hereafter what you do: for if you please to inflict a penalty on them, you may with a trice confine and banish them; for they may bee either gently set down to the ground, or else in your courtesie they may bee merrily & iudiciously bestowed upon another; where they may live as they did afore, and change nothing but the place; you have exam­ple [Page 20] for it, & reformation in a matter of conse­quence is never too late. You cannot chuse but know that the Indians, ever since the Gym­nosophists, have been held the wisest of men, and almost the only sages. It is reported that that there is among them a Bancan nation, so named in that part, which now they call Guz­zarat, who almost only conceiving of the ex­cellency and endowments of this admirable creature, do cherish, harbour, and welcome it, as much as they can. Now as hee is won­derfully multiplying and increasing, after that his numerous ofspring is begun to be diffused­ly propogated,

That nation calleth for a Priest out of a de­sart, who receiving them with his hallowed hands, putteth them in his head, for their honest education. Some when they catch them, lay, and hide them in chincks of wals; and if any one in their presence do go about to kill them, they make intercession with their teares, and prayers, to forbeare such a sinne in in their sight: and if all be in vaine, they give [Page 21] a golden ransome for their lives, and pay it down on the nayle. With these the wisest na­tion, the Iewes do agree, who in their Tal­mud or Canon-law, do censure the murderer of a Louce on the Sabbath day, and hold it unlawfull to looke for Lice by their Sabbath candels If you never heard of this, now at last bee moved, and let your conscience feele some compunction: Be mercifull to them, J adiure you by the ghosts of their martyred pre­decessours. Spare your miserable suppliant con­quered, cosens and kindred, that are borne of you, that are bred by you, which tend on you, follow you, and adhere to you; which are ready to undergo either fortune with you. Be­ware, lest you apostatize from truth, by idola­trizing upon only fancy, or maintaining stifly a conceit aggravated with felony.