injure us: Indeed, they do hereby make us more unlike to the beasts, but it is in fuch an excellency, that it were well for us if we furpaffed them. And hence may the reason be given, why those that are thick of hearing may find great benefit by laying their hand dilated behind their ear, or ufing fome otacoufticon, and placing the mouth of it towards the found, that they may thereby the better apprehend it; like unto thofe animals, that, liftning after any noise, prick up their ears, as we fay, and caft them forward, for the more expeditious receiving those motions of the air, that otherwife would pass by them more infenfibly.

The inward ear is a great fecret, and fuch an one, that while the men of greatest knowledge have gone about to find out and defcribe it, they have every one of them funk under his burden, and confefs'd his own inability in fome fuch expreffion as the Pfalmift concerning the general frame of man's body; Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it, Pf. cxxxix. 6. The first part we meet with is a thin, strong, pellucid membrane, called, the tympanum, which being placed tranfverfe the hole of the ear, doth divide between the outward and the inward ear, as the diaphragm doth between the breaft and the belly; within this there are three cavities, the concha, labyrinthus, rochlea; there are G 5

alfo

also three little bones, the malleolus, the incus, and the tapes; moreover, there is implanted in the ear, a pure, fubtil, and quiet air, which is called aer innatus; and laftly, and chiefly, because the proper organ of hearing, we may obferve the filaments, or the utmost extremities of the fofter part of the auditory nerve, as they are wonderfully disposed in the inward cavity by the innate air; and then the whole nerve itfelf; by the help of these feveral parts our hearing is thus performed. The motion of the air (as that of the water) is continued by certain circles and rings, till it be taken by the outward ear, and by the elices is conveyed upon the head of the tympanum, where it makes the very fame impreffion that it received from the body that made it; which impreffion, by reason of the conjunction of the bones before mentioned, is continued unto the innate air, which, because in itself moft quiet and ftill, is eafily moved according to the motion of the tympanum; so that the filaments hereunto annexed muft of neceffity answer the forefaid motion, and so confequently gather into themselves the found or musick, which they convey to the auditory nerve, that from thence it may be sent to be difcerned and judged in the inward sense.

These are the daughters of musick, which, fo long as man abides in ftrength, are exceeding lovely, and flourish; but as he declines

in age, thefe alfo pass their flower, they become humbled, and decline aface towards ufeleffness and deformity.

In age the feveral holes and cavities of the ears are stopped, the drum is unbraced, the hammer is weakened, the anvil is worn, the ftirrop is broken, and the inward air is mixed and defiled; the filaments are dulled, the nerve itself is obftructed; fo that there cannot but follow heaviness of hearing, and at last deafness itself, And this is that imperfection which Barzillai complains of to King David, I am this day eighty years old, and can I discern between good and evil? Can I hear any more the voice of finging men, and finging women, wherefore then should thy fervant be yet a burden to my lord the King? 2 Sam. xix. 35. And this certainly is the principal fymptom here intended by these words, The daughters of musick shall be brought low. And therefore the vulgar Latin translates it only, obfurdescent omnes filiæ carminis; but the word is of a far larger fignifi-cation, and might be translated many ways, as deprimentur, dejicientur, incurvabuntur; but cannot poffibly be better translated than it is already by the Seventy, ταπεινωθήσονται, humiliabuntur, brought low. And this ftill holds out the native latitude of the word; which I would by all means have preferved; that all the daughters of mufick, both active and pasfive, and their infirmities in age.may be here

in

included; fo that all thofe fymptoms of the decrepit ftate of man, that belong to any

of

the organs before mentioned, whether of fpeaking or hearing, are to be understood by this last claufe; All the daughters of musick fball be brought low; and fuch are these that follow: Dyspnoea five fpirandi difficultas, deftillationes tufim inferentes; αιαυδία αφωνία, five vocis abolitio, diminutio aut depravatio; exficcatio afpera arteria, induratio cartilaginum laryngis, fordes aurium, præcipuè autem barycoia five gravis auditus & furditas.

VERSE 5.

Alfo when they fhall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree ball flourish, and the grafhopper fhall be a burthen, and defire fhall fail; becaufe man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.

H

Itherto age hath been described unto us,

as it hath influence upon all the funЯtions and faculties of a man; fuperior and inferior; inward and outward; animal, vital, and natural. And the preacher hath exactly declared unto us, how far they are all weakened in this declining state; he now in this verse paffeth to another head of symptoms, which is ufually called, qualitates mutatæ, taking notice of the fimple affects, and thofe eminent and

moft

moft remarkable alterations that attend men in this condition. And here again he doth most elegantly run over all the parts of man, and give only one moft fignificant alteration in each of them. The compounding parts of man (as all men know, and as we have already heard) are the foul and the body. The principal affect of the mind in Age is that of fear, which is here expreffed in refpect of a double object, a greater and a leffer; which confequently makes the paffion leffer or greater, according to the encrease of age; They shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way. The parts of the body are either inanimate, or animate of the inanimate parts, the hair receiveth the greatest alteration in age, which is here fignified in these words: The al mond tree fall flourish. The animate parts of the body, are also of two forts, either the hard, and crusty parts, or the soft and spongy parts; and these two are ufually known by the names of the spermatical and fanguineous parts. The change of the former of these in age is intimated unto us in those words: The grafhopper shall be a burden; the change of the latter in those, defire fhall fail; as it followeth more clearly hereafter. After this moft mysterious and hieroglyphical description of the symptoms of age, he doth in a plain and easy transition pass from those general symptoms that attend a man all along this

state