vi. Pan, or Nature.

HE Ancients have exquifitely defcribed Nature under the Perfon of Pan, whofe original they leave doubtful; for fome fay that he was the Son of Mercury, others attribute unto him a far different beginning, affirming him to be the common Offfpring of Penelope's Suitors, upon a Sufpicion, that every one of them had to do with her; which latter Relation doubtlefs gave occafion to fome after Writers to Entitle this ancient Fable with the Name of Penelope, a Thing very frequent amongst them, when they apply old Fictions to young Perfons and Names, and that many times abfurdly and indifcreetly, as may be seen here: For Pan being one of the Ancient Gods, was long before the

time of Ulyffes and Penelope. Befides (for her Matronal Chastity) she was held venerable by Antiquity. Neither may we pretermit the third Conceit of his Birth: For fome fay, That he was the Son of Jupiter and Hybris, which fignifies contumely or disdain. But howfoever begotten, the Parca (they fay) were his Sifters. He is portrayed by the Ancients in this Guife; on his Head a pair of Horns to reach to Heaven, his Body Rough and Hairy, his Beard long and fhaggy, his Shape biformed, above like a Man, below like a Beaft, his Feet like Goat's hoofs, bearing thefe Enfigns

of his Jurisdiction, to wit, in his Left-hand a Pipe of seven Reeds, and in his Right a Sheep-hook, or a Staff crooked at the upper end, and his Mantle made of a Leopard's Skin. His Dignities and Offices were these: He was the God of Hunters, of Shepherds, and of all Rural Inhabitants: Chief Prefident alfo of Hills and Mountains, and next to Mercury, the Ambaffador of the Gods. Moreover, He was accounted the Leader and Commander of the Nymphs, which were always wont to Dance the Rounds, and Frisk about him; he was accofted by the Satyrs and the old Sileni. He had Power alfo to ftrike Men with Terrors, and those especially Vain and Superstitious, which are termed Panick Fears. His Acts were not many, for aught that can be found in Records, the chiefest was, that he challenged Cupid at Wrestling, in which Conflict he had the Foil. The Tale goes too, how that he caught the Giant Typhon in a Net, and held him fast. Moreover, where Ceres (grumbling and chafing that Proferpina was ravished) had hid herself away, and that all the Gods took Pains (by difperfing themselves into every Corner) to find her out, it was only his good Hap (as he was Hunting) to light on her, and acquaint the reft where she was. He prefumed alfo to put it to the Trial who was the best Musician, he or Apollo, and by the Judgement of Midas was indeed preferred: But the wife Judge had a pair of Ass's Ears privately chopped to his Noddle for his Sen

tence. Of his Love-tricks, there is nothing reported, or at least not much, a Thing to be won

dered at, especially being among a Troop of Gods fo profufely amorous. This only is faid of him, that he loved the Nymph Echo (whom he took to Wife) and one pretty Wench more called Sirynx, towards whom Cupid (in an angry and revengeful Humour, because so audaciously he had challenged him at a Wrestling) inflamed his Defire. Moreover, he had no Iffue (which is a Marvel alfo, feeing the Gods, especially those of the Male kind, were very Generative) only he was the reputed Father of a little Girl called Jambe, that with many pretty Tales was wont to make Strangers Merry; but fome think that he did indeed beget her by his Wife Jambe. This (if any be) is a noble Tale, as being laid out and big-bellied with the Secrets and Mysteries of Nature.

Pan (as his Name imports) represents and lays open the All of Things or Nature. Concerning his Original there are two only Opinions that go for Current; for either he came of Mercury, that is, the Word of God, which the Holy Scriptures without all Controverfy affirm, and fuch of the Philofophers as had any smack of Divinity affented unto; or else from the confused Seeds of Things. For they that would have one fimple Beginning, refer it unto God; or if a materiate Beginning, they would have it various in Power. So that we may end the Controversy with this Distribution, That the World took Beginning, either from Mercury, or from the Seeds of all Things.

Virg. Eclog. 6.

Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta.
Semina terrarumque, animæque, marisque fuissent,
Et liquidi fimul ignis: Et his exordia primis
Omnia, et ipfe tener mundi concreverit Orbis.

For rich-vein'd Orpheus sweetly did rehearse
How that the Seeds of Fire, Air, Water, Earth,
Were all pack'd in the vast void Universe :
And how from these as Firstlings, all had Birth,
And how the Body of this Orbick frame,
From tender Infancy so big became.

But, as touching the third Conceit of Pan's Original, it seems that the Grecians (either by intercourse with the Egyptians, or one way or other) had heard something of the Hebrew Myfteries; for it points to the State of the World, not confidered in immediate Creation, but after the Fall of Adam, exposed and made subject to Death and Corruption: For in that State it was (and remains to this Day) the Offspring of God and Sin. And therefore all these Three Narrations concerning the manner of Pan's Birth may seem to be true, if it be rightly diftinguished between Things and Times. For this Pan or Nature (which we fufpect, Contemplate, and Reverence more than is fit) took beginning from the Word of God by the means of confufed Matter, and the entrance of Prevarication and Corruption. The Destinies may well be thought the Sifters of Pan or Nature, because the Beginnings and Continu

ances and Corruptions and Depreffions, and Diffolutions, and Eminencies, and Labours, and Felicities of Things, and all the Chances which can happen unto anything, are linked with the Chain of Causes natural.

Horns are attributed unto him, because Horns are broad at the Root, and sharp at the Ends, the Nature of all Things being like a Pyramis, fharp at the Top. For individual or fingular Things being infinite, are firft collected into Species, which are many alfo; then from Species into Generals, and from Generals (by ascending) are contracted into Things or Notions more general; so that at length Nature may feem to be contracted into an Unity. Neither is it to be wondered at, that Pan toucheth Heaven with his Horns, feeing the height of Nature or Univerfal Ideas do, in fome fort, pertain to Things Divine, and there is a ready and short Paffage from Metaphyficks to natural Theology.

The Body of Nature is elegantly and with deep Judgement depainted Hairy, representing the Beams or Operations of Creatures; for Beams are as it were the Hairs and Briftles of Nature, and every Creature is either more or less Beamy, which is most apparent in the faculty of Seeing, and no less in every Virtue and Operation that effectuates upon a distant Object, for whatsoever works upon any Thing afar off, that may rightly be said to dart forth Rays or Beams.

Moreover, Pan's Beard is faid to be exceeding long, because the Beams or Influences of Celestial