Meditations

consistent with the fashion and manner of the Hon. Robert Boyle’s Meditations.

This single stick, that you now behold ingloriously lying in that left out corner, I as soon as knew in a flourishing kingdomin a forest. It was full of sap, complete of leaves, and full of boughs; but now in useless does the busy art of guy pretend to vie with nature, by means of tying that withered bundle of twigs to its sapless trunk; it's far now at first-rate but thereverse of what it was, a tree turned upside-down, the branches on the earth, and the basis in the air; it is now handledthrough each dirty wench, condemned to do her drudgery, and, through a capricious form of destiny, destined to make other matters clean, and be nasty itself; at duration, worn to the stumps in the provider of the maids, 

it's far both thrown out of doors or condemned to the remaining use — of kindling a fireplace. after I behold this I sighed, and said withinmyself, “virtually mortal man is a broomstick!” Nature sent him into the sector robust and lusty, in a thriving situation, wearing his own hair on his head, the proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, until the axe of intemperance has lopped off his inexperienced boughs, and left him a withered trunk; 

he then flies to art, and places on a periwig, valuing himself upon an unnatural package deal of hairs, all blanketed with powder, that by no means grew on his head; howevernow have to this our broomstick faux to enter the scene, proud of these birchen spoils it in no way bore, and all protectedwith dirt, thru the sweepings of the best woman’s chamber, we need to be apt to ridicule and despise its arrogance. Partial judges that we are of our own excellencies, and other men’s defaults!

however a broomstick, perhaps you may say, is an logo of a tree standing on its head; and pray what's a person but a topsy-turvy creature, his animal faculties invariably set up on his rational, his head where his heels ought to be, grovelling on earth? And but, with all his faults, he units up to be a prevalent reformer and corrector of abuses, a remover of grievances, rakes into each slut’s nook of nature, bringing hidden corruptions to the mild, and increases a amazing dirt in which there was none earlier than, sharing deeply all of the at the same time as within the very identical pollutions he pretends to brush away. His last days are spent in slavery to women, and usually the least deserving; until, worn to the stumps, like his brother besom, he is either kicked outside, or made use of to kindle flames for others to warm themselves by means of.