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324
HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUC1ANS,
often observe in commutation, and keep a geometrical pro-
portion in both, whereby becomming equal to others, I become
unjust to myself, and suberogate in that common
principle, ' Doe unto others as thou wouldst be done unto
thy
self '
; yet I give no alms to satisfie the hunger of my
brother, but to fulfil and. accomplish
the will and command
of God. This general and indifferent temper of mine doth
nearly dispose me to this noble virtue amongst those million
of vices I do inherit and hold from Adam. I have
escaped one and that a mortal enemy to charity,
the first
and father sin, not onely of man, but of the devil, Pride
a vice whose name is comprehended in a monosyllable, but
in its nature not circumscribed with a world. I have
escaped it in a condition that can hardly avoid it ; these
petty acquisitions and reputed perfections that advance and
elevate the conceits of other men add no feather unto mine.
And this is the observation of my life I can love and
forgive even my enemies."
The materials supplied in this singular fragment of an
autobiography are supplemented by a " Life of John
Heydon," from the pen of Frederick Talbot, Esq., which
was prefixed to " The Wise Man's Crown," and which I
shall present to my readers in a compressed form,
to avoid
the prolixity and irrelevance of much of the original.
John Heydon, the son of Francis and Mary Heydon, now
of Sidmouth in Devonshire, is not basely but nobly de-
scended. Antiquaries derive them from Julius Heydon,
King of Hungary and Westphalia, that were descended
from the noble family of Csesar Heydon in Eome, and since
this royal race the line runs down to the Hon. Sir Chris-
topher Heydon of Heydon, near Northwick ; Sir John
Heydon, late lord-lieutenant of the king's Tower of Lon-