Farther he admonishes all “which should read or take any fruit of his small treatise, to use such moderation in perusing of the same that they do not by and by take in hand to give judgement either of their own, or other men's estates or nativities, without diligent circumspection and taking heed; weighing and considering how many ways a man may be deceived; as by the providence and discretion of the person on whom he gives judgement, also, the dispensation of God, and our fallible and uncertain speculation.” “Wherefore,” he continues, “let all men in seeking hereby to foresee their own fortune, take heed that by the promise of good, they be not elate, or high-minded, giving themselves over to otiosity or idleness, and trusting altogether to the Natural Influences; neither yet by any signs or tokens of adversity, to be dejected or cast down, but to take and weigh all things with such equality and moderation, directing their state of life and living to all perfectness and goodness, that they may be ready to embrace and follow all that which is good and profitable; and also not only to eschew and avoid, but to withstand and set at nought all evil and adverse fortune, whensoever it may happen unto them.” Whoever studies the history of opinions, that is, of the aberrations, caprices and extravagancies of the human mind, may find some consolation in reflecting upon the practical morality which has been preached not only by men of the most erroneous faith, but even by fanatics, impostors and hypocrites, as if it were in the order of Providence that there should be no poison which had not also some medicinal virtue. The books of palmistry have been so worn by perusal that one in decent preservation is now among the rarities of literature; and it may be hoped that of the credulous numbers who have pored over them, many have derived more benefit from the wholesome lessons which were thus unexpectedly brought home to them, than they suffered detriment from giving ear to the profession of a fallacious art. The lesson was so obvious that the Spaniards expressed it in one of their pithy proverbs, _es nuestra alma en nuestra palma._ The thought has been expanded into a sonnet by Bartolome Leonardo de Argensola, a poet whose strains of manly morality have not been exceeded in that language. _Fabio, pensar que el Padre soberano En esas rayas de la palma diestra (Que son arrugas de la piel) te muestra Los accidentes del discurso humano; Es beber con el vulgo el error vano De la ignorancia, su comun maestra. Bien te confieso, que la suerte nuestra, Mala, o buena, la puso en nuestra mano. Di, quién te estorvará el ser Rey, si vives Sin envidiar la suerte de los Reyes, Tan contento y pacifico en la tuya, Que estén ociosas para ti sus leyes; Y qualquier novedad que el Cielo influya, Como cosa ordinaria la recibes?_