of such a one that 't is much if Fortune bring it but once to pass in three Ages There is nothing to which Nature seems so much to have enclin'd us as to Society and Aristotle says that the good Legislators had more respect to Friendship than to Justice Now the most supream point of its perfection in this for generally all those that Pleasure Profit Publick or Private Interest Create and Nourish are so much the less Generous and so much the less Friendships by how much they mix another cause and design than simple and pure Friendship it self Neither do the four Ancient Kinds Natural Sociable Hospitable and Venerian either separately or jointly make up a true and perfect Friendship That of Children to Parents is rather respect Friendship being nourisht by Communication which cannot by reason of the great disparity be betwixt them but would rather perhaps violate the duties of Nature for neither are all the secret thoughts of Fathers fit to be communicated to Children lest it beget an indecent familiarity betwixt them neither can the advices and reproofs which is one of the principal offices of Friendship be properly perform'd by the Son to the Father There are some Countries where 't is the Custom for Children to kill their Fathers and others where the Fathers kill'd their Children to avoid being sometimes an impediment to one another in their designs and moreover the expectation of the one does naturally depend upon the ruine of the other There have been great Philosophers who have made nothing of this tie of Nature as Aristippus for one who being prest home about the affection he ow'd to his Children as being come out of him presently fell to spit saying that that also came out of him and that he did also breed Worms and Lice and that other that Plutarch endeavoured to reconcile to his Brother I make never the more account of him said he for coming out of the same hole This name of Brother does indeed carry with it an amicable and affectionate sound and for that reason he and I call'd Brothers but the complication of Interest the division of Estates and that the raising of the one should be the undoing of the other does strangely unnerve and slacken this fraternal tie And Brothers pursuing their Fortune and Advancement by the same Path 't is hardly possible but they must of necessity often justle and hinder one another Besides why is it necessary that the correspondence of Manners Parts and Inclinations which beget these true and perfect Friendships should always meet and concur in these relations The Father and the Son may be of quite contrary humours and Brothers without any manner of Sympathy in their Natures He is my Son he is my Brother or he and I are Cousin-germans but he is Passionate ill Natur'd or a Fool. And moreoever by how much these are Friendships that the Law and Natural Obligation impose upon us so much less is there of our own choice and voluntary freedom Whereas that voluntary liberty of ours has nothing but that of Affection and Friendship properly its own Not that I have not in my own person experimented all can possibly be expected of that kind having had the best and most indulgent Father even to an extream old Age that ever was and who was himself descended from a Family for many Generations Famous and Exemplary for Brotherly Concord Et ipse Notus in fratres animi Paterni And he himself noted the rest above Towards his Brothers for paternal Love We are not here to bring the Love we bear to Women though it be an Act of our own Choice into comparison nor rank it with the others the Fire of which I confess Neque enim est Dea nescia nostri Quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem Nor is my Goddess ign'rant what I am Who pleasing Sorrows mixes with my Flame is more active more eager and more sharp but withal 't is more precipitous fickle moving and inconstant a Feaver subject to Intermission and Paroxisms that has seized but on one part one corner of the Building whereas in Friendship 't is a general and universal Fire but temperate and equal a constant establisht heat all easie and smooth without poynancy or roughness Moreover in Love 't is no other than Frantick Desire to that which flies from us Come segue la lepre ill cacciatore Al freddo al caldo alla montagna al litto Ne piu l'estima poi che presa vede Et sol dietro a chi fugge affretta il piede Like Hunters that the flying Hare pursue O're Hill and Dale through Heat Morning Dew Which being ta'ne the Quarry they despise Being only pleas'd in following that which flies So soon as ever they enter into terms of Friendship that is to say into a concurrence of Desires it vanishes and is gone fruition destroys it as having only a fleshly end and such a one as is subject to Satiety Friendship on the contrary is enjoy'd proportionably as it is desir'd and only grows up is nourisht and improves by enjoyment as being of it self Spiritual and the Soul growing still more perfect by practice Under and subsellious to this perfect Friendship I cannot deny but that the other vain Affections have in my younger Years found some place in my thoughts that I may say nothing of him who himself confesses but too much in his Verses So that I had both these Passions but always so that I could my self well enough distinguish them and never in any degree of comparison with one another The first maintaining its flight in so lofty and so brave a place as with disdain to look down and see the other flying at a far humbler pitch below As concerning Marriage besides that it is a Covenant the entrance into which is only free but the continuance in it forc'd and compell'd having another dependance than that of our own Free-will and a Bargain commonly contracted to other ends there almost always happens a Thousand Intricacies in it to unravel enough to break the Thred and to divert the Current of a Lively Affection whereas Friendship has no manner of Business or Traffick with any but it self Moreover to say truth the ordinary Talent of Women is not such as is sufficient to maintain the Conference and Communication required to the support of this Conjugal Tie nor do they appear to be endu'd with Constancy of Mind to endure the pinch of so hard and durable a Knot And doubtless if without this there could be such a free and voluntary familiarity contracted where not only the Souls might have this entire fruition but the Bodies also might share in the Alliance and a Man be engag'd throughout the Friendship would certainly be more full and perfect but it is without example that this Sex could ever arrive at such perfection and by the Ancient Schools is wholy rejected as also that other Grecian Licence is justly
inform lumps and of so various a contexture that every piece plays every moment it s own game and there is as much difference betwixt us and our selves as betwixt us and others Magnam rem puta unum hominem agere Since ambition can teach men Valour Temperance and Liberality and even Justice too seeing that Avarice can inspire the courage of a Shop-boy bred and nurst up in obcurity and ease with the assurance to expose himself so far from the Fire-side to the mercy of the Waves in a frail Boat that she does farther teach Discretion and Prudence And that even Venus can inflate Boys under the discipline of the Rod with boldness and resolution and infuse masculine courage into the Heart of tender Virgins in their Mothers arms Hac duce custodes furtim transgressa jacentes Ad juvenem tenebris sola puella venit The tender Virgin dreadless of all harms Steals in the dark to her young Lovers arms 'T is not all the understanding has to doe simply to judge us by our outward Actions it must penetrate the very Soul and there discover by what springs the motion is guided But that being a high and hazardous undertaking I could wish that fewer would attempt it CHAP. II. Of Drunkenness THe World is nothing but Variety and Disproportion Vices are all alike as they are Vices and peradventure the Stoicks understand them so but although they are equally Vices yet they are not equal Vices And that he who has transgrest the ordinary bounds a hundred paces should not be in a worse condition than he that has advanced but ten is not to be beleived or that Sacrilege is not worse than stealing a Cabbadge Nec vincet ratio tantumdem ut peccet idémque Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti Et qui nocturnus divûm sacra legerit Nor seemes it reason he as much should Sin Steals but a Cabbadge Plant as he who in The dead of night a Temple breaks and brings Away from thence the Consecrated things There is in this as great diversity as in any thing whatever The confounding of the order and measure of Sins is dangerous Murtherers Traytors and Tyrants are therein so very deep concerned that it is not reasonable they should flatter their Consciences because such another is Idle Lascivious or less assiduous at his Devotion Every one lays weight upon the Sin of his Companions but lightens his own Our very Instructors themselves ranck them sometimes in my opinion very ill As Socrates who said that the principal office of Wisdom was to distinguish Goods and Evils We whose best faculties are always vitious ought also to say of Knowledge that it is to distinguish betwixt Vice and Vice without which and that very exactly performed Vertuous and Wicked will remain confounded and unknown Now amongst the rest Drunkenness seemes to me to be a gross and brutish Vice The Soul has the greatest interest in all the rest and there are some Vices that have something if a man may so say of generous in them There are Vices wherein there is a mixture of Knowledge Diligence Valour Prudence Dexterity and Cunning This is totally Corporeal and Earthly and the thickest sculled Nation this day in Europe is that where it is the most in fashion Other Vices discompose the understanding this totally overthrows it and renders the body stupid cùm vini vis penetravit Consequitur gravitas membrorum praepediuntur Crura vacillanti tardescit lingua madet mens Nant oculi clamor singultus jurgia gliscunt When fumes of Wine doe once the Brain possess Then follows straight an indisposedness Throughout the Legs so fetter'd in that case They cannot with the reeling trunck keep pace The Tongue trips Mind droops Eyes stand full of Water Noise Hiccups Brawles and Quarrels follow after The worst estate of man is that wherein he loses the knowledge and government of himself And 't is said amongst other things upon that subject that as the Must fermenting in a Vessel works up to the top whatever it has in the bottom So the old Wine in those who have drank beyond their measure vents the most inward Secrets tu sapientium Curas arcanum jocoso Consilium retegis Lyaeo Thou in thy Cups and wild debaucheries Blabb'st out the secret Counsel of the Wise. Josephus tells us that by giving an Ambassador the Enemy had sent to him his full dose of Liquor he worm'd out his secrets And yet Augustus commiting the most inward secrets of his affairs to Lucius Piso who conquered Thrace never found him faulty in the least no more than Tiberius did Cossus with whom he intrusted his whole Counsels though we know they were both so given to Drink that they have often been fain to carry both the one and the other Drunk out of the Senate Hesterno inflatum venas de more Lyaeo Their head being yet full of the day before And the design of Killing Caesar was as safely communicated to Cimber though he would sometimes be Drunk as to Cassius who Drunk nothing but Water We see our Germans when Drunk as the Devil can know their Poste remember the Word and perform their Duty nec facilis victoria de madidis Blaesis atque mero titubantibus Nor is a Vict'ry easily obtain'd Ore men so Drunk they scarce can speak or stand I could not have beleiv'd there had been so profound senceless and dead a degree of Drunkenness had I not read in History that Altalus having to put a notable affront upon him invited to Supper the same Pausanias who upon the very same occasion afterwards killed Philip of Macedon a King who by these excellent Qualities gave sufficient Testimony of his Education in the house and company of Epaminondas he made him Drink to such a pitch that he could after dispose of his Beauty as of a Hedg-whore to the Muletteers and Servants of the basest Office in the house And I been further told by a Lady whom I highly Honor and Esteem that near Bourdeaux and about Castres where she lives a Country-woman a Widow of chast repute perceiving in her self the first symptoms of Breeding innocently told her Neighbours that if she had a Husband she should think her self with child But the causes of suspition every day more and more encreasing and at last growing up to a manifest proof the poor Woman was reduc'd to the necessity of causing it to be Proclaimed at the Prosne of her Parish-Church that whoever had done that deed and would frankly confess it she did not only promise to Forgive but moreover to Marry him if he lik'd of the motion Whereupon a young fellow that served in the quality of a Labourer encouraged by this Proclamation declared that he had one Holy-day found her having taken too much of the Bottle so fast a sleep in the Chimney and in so undecent a posture that he might conveniently come to doe his business without
the persecutor of the Law of God having sent his Souldiers to seize upon the good old man Razis sirnam'd in honor of his vertue the Father of the Jews the good man seeing no other remedy his Gates burnt down and the Enemies ready to seize him choosing rather to dye generously than to fall into the hands of his wicked adversaries and suffer himself to be cruelly butcher'd by them contrary to the honor of his ranck and quality he stabb'd himself with his own sword but the blow for hast not having been given home he ran and threw himself from the top of a wall headlong among them who separating themselves and making room he pitcht directly upon his head Notwithstanding which feeling yet in himself some remains of life he renu'd his courage and starting up upon his feet all bloody and wounded as he was and making his way through the Crowd through one of his wounds drew out his bowells which tearing and pulling to pieces with both his hands he threw amongst his pursuers all the while attesting and invoking the Divine vengeance upon them for their cruelty and injustice Of violences offer'd to the conscience that against the chastity of woman is in my opinion most to be evaded for as much as there is a certain pleasure naturally mixt with it and for that reason the dissent cannot therein be sufficiently perfect and entire so that the violence seems to bee mix't with a little consent of the forc't party The Ecclesiastical History has several examples of devout persons who have embrac't death to secure them from the outrages prepar'd by Tyrants against their Religion and honor Pelagia and Sophronia both Canoniz'd the first of these precipitated herself with her mother and sisters into the river to avoid being forc't by some Souldiers and the last also kill'd herself to evade being ravish't by the Emperor Maxentius It may peradventure be an honor to us in future Ages that a learned Author of this present time and a Parisian takes a great deal of pains to persuade the Ladies of our age rather to take any other course than to enter into the horrid meditation of such a despaire I am sorry he had never heard that he might have inserted it amongst his others stories the saying of a woman which was told me at Tholouze who had past thorough the handling of some Souldiers God be prais'd said she that once at least in my life I have had my fill without sin I must confess these cruelties are very unworthy the French sweetness and good nature and also God be thanked the air is very well purg'd of it since this good advice 't is enough that they say no in doing it according to the Rule of the good Marot History is every where full of such as after a thousand ways have for death exchanged a painful and irksome Life Lucius Arruntius kill'd himself to fly he said both the future and the past Granius Silvanus and Statius Proximus after having been pardoned by Nero kill'â— themselves either disdaining to live by the favour of so Wicked a man or that they might not be troubled at some other time to obtain 〈◊〉 second Pardon considering the proclivity and faculties of his Nature to suspect and credit accusations against worthy men Spargapize's the 〈◊〉 of Queen Tomyris being a Prisoner of War 〈◊〉 Cyrus made use of the first favour Cyrus shew'â— him in commanding him to be unbound to kill himself having pretended to no other beâ—nefit of liberty but only to be reveng'd of himselâ— for the disgrace of being taken Bogez Governor in Eion for King Xerxes being beseigeâ—â— by the Athenian Arms under the conduct 〈◊〉 Cimon refused the conditions offered that 〈◊〉 might safe return into Asia with all his wealthâ— impatient to survive the loss of a place his Masteâ— had given him to keep wherefore having defended the City to the last extremity nothinâ— being left to eat he first threw all the Gold and what ever else the Enemy could make bootâ— of into the River Strymon and after causing 〈◊〉 great pile to be set on fire and the throats 〈◊〉 all the Women Children Concubines and Serâ—vants to be cut he threw their Bodies into thâ— fire and at last leapt into it himself Ninacheâ—tuen an Indian Lord so soon as he heard thâ— first whisper of the Portugal Vice-Roy's determiâ—nation to dispossess him without any apparent cause of the Command in Malaca to transâ—fer it to the King of Campar he took this resoâ—lution with himself He caus'd a scaffold more long than broad to be erected supported by Columns royally adorn'd with tapestry and strewd with flowers and abundance of perfumes All which being thus prepar'd in a Robe of cloth of Gold set full of Jewels of great value he came out into the street and mounted the Steps to the Scaffold at one corner of which he had a pile lighted of Aromatick wood Every body ran to the novelty to see to what end these unusual preparations were made When Ninachetuen with a manly but discontented countenance began to remonstrate how much he had oblig'd the Portuguese Nation and with how unspotted fidelity he had carried himself in his Charge that having so often with his sword in his hand manifested in the behalf of others that honor was much more dear to him than life he was not to abandon the concern of it for himself that Fortune denying him all means of opposing the affront was design'd to be put upon him his courage at least enjoyn'd him to free himself from the sence of it and not to serve for a fable to the People nor for a tryumph to Men less deserving than himself which having said he leapt into the Fire Sextilia the wife of Scaurus and Praxea the wife of Labeo to encourage their husbands to evade the dangers that prest upon them wherein they had no other share than meer conjugal affection voluntarily expos'd their own lives to serve them in this extream necessity for company and example What they did for their husbands Cocceius Nerva did for his Country with less utility though with equal affection This great Lawyer flourishing in health riches reputation and favour with the Emperor had no other cause to kill himself but the sole compassion of the miserable Estate of the Roman Republick Nothing can be added to the nicety of the death of the wife of Fulvius a familiar favourite of Augustus Augustus having discover'd that he had vented an important secret he had intrusted him withal one morning that he came to make his Court receiv'd him very coldly and lookt frowningly upon him He returns home full of despaire where he sorrowfully told his wife that being fall'n into this misfortune he was resolv'd to kill himself To which she roundly replied 't is but reason you should seeing that having so often experimented the incontinency of my tongue you could not learn nor take warning but let me kill my self first and without
Policy so great so admirable and so long flourishing in Vertue and Happiness without any Institution or Practice of Letters ought certainly to be of very great weight Such as return from the new World discover'd by the Spaniards in our Fathers days can testifie to us how much more honestly and regularly those Nations live without Magistrate and without Law than ours do where there are more Officers and Laws than there are of other sorts of Men and Business Dicittatorie di libelli D'esamine di carte di procure Hanno le mani il seno gran fastalli Di chiose di consigli di letture Percui le faculta de poverelli Non seno mai ne le citta sicure Hanno dietro dinanzi d'ambi i lati Notai procuratori advocati Her Lap was full of Writs and of Citations Of process of Actions and Arrest Of Bills of Answers and of Replications In Courts of Delegates and of Requests To grieve the simple sort with great Vexations She had resorting to her as her Guests Attending on her Circuits and her Journeys Scriv'ners and Clerks and Lawyers and Attorneys It was what a Roman Senator said of the later Ages that their Predecessors Breath stunk of Garlick but their Stomachs were perfum'd with a good Conscience And that on the contrary those of his time were all sweet Odour without but stunk within of all sorts of Vices that is to say as I interpret it that they abounded with Learning and Eloquence but were very defective in moral Honesty Incivility Ignorance Simplicity and Roughness are the Natural Companions of Innocency Curiosity Subtlety and Knowledge bring Malice in their Train Humility Fear Obedience and Affability which are the principal things that support and maintain Human Society require an empty and docile Soul and little presuming upon it self Christians have a particular Knowledge how Natural and Original an evil Curiosity is in Man The Thirst of Knowledge and the Desire to become more Wise was the first ruin of Human-kind and the way by which he precipitated himself into Eternal Damnation Pride was his ruin and corruption ' is Pride that diverts from the Common Path and makes him embrace Novelties and rather chuse to be Head of a Troop lost and wandring in the Path of Error to be Regent and a Teacher of Lyes than to be a Disciple in the School of Truth suffering himself to be led and guided by the hand of another in the right and beaten Road. 'T is peradventure the meaning of this old Greek saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Superstition follows Pride and obeys it as if it were a Father O Presumption how much doest thou hinder us After that Socrates was told That the God of Wisdom had attributed to him the Title of a Sage he was astonished at it and searching and examining himself throughout could find no Foundation for this Divine Sentence He knew others as just temperate valiant and learned as himself And more eloquent more handsom and more profitable to their Country than he At last he concluded that he was not distinguished from others nor wise but only because he did not think himself so And that his God consider'd the Opinion of Knowledge and Wisdom as a singular Brutality in Man and that his best Doctrine was the Doctrine of Ignorance and Simplicity the best Wisdom The Sacred Word declares those Miserable who have an Opinion of themselves Dust and Ashes says it to such What hast thou wherein to Glorifie thy self And in another place God has made Man like unto a Shadow of whom who can judge when by the removing of the Light it shall be vanished Man is a thing of nothing whose Force is so far from being able to comprehend the Divine Height That of the Works of our Creator those best bear his Mark and are with better Title his which we the least understand To meet with an incredible thing is an Occasion to Christians to believe and it is so much the more according to reason by how much it is against Human Reason If it were according to reason it would be no more a singular thing Melius scitur Deus nesciendo says St. Austin God is better known by not knowing And Tacitus Sanctius est ac reverentius de actis Deorum credere quà m scire It is more Holy and Reverend to believe the Works of God than to know them And Plato thinks there is something of Impiety in it to require too curiously into God the World and first Causes of things Atque illum quidem parentem hujus Viversitatis invenire difficile Et quum jam inveneris indicare in vulgus nefas says Cicero To find out the Parent of the World is very hard And when found out to reveal him to the Vulgar is Sin We pronounce indeed Power Truth and Justice which are words that signifie some great thing but that thing we neither see nor conceive at all We say that God fears that God is angry and that God loves Immortalia mortali sermone notantes Giving to things immortal mortal Names Which are all Agitations and Emotions that cannot be in God according to our Form nor we imagine it according to his it only belongs to God to know himself and to interpret his own Works and he does it in our Language improperly to stoop and descend to who grovel upon the Earth How can Prudence which is the Choice betwixt Good and Evil be properly attributed to him whom no Evil can touch How the Reason and Intelligence which we make use of by obscure to arrive at apparent things Seeing that nothing is obscure to him And Justice which distributes to every one what appertains to him a thing begot by the Society and Community of Men how is that in God How Temperance Which is the Moderation of Corporal Pleasures that have no place in the Divinity Fortitude to support Pain Labour and Dangers as little appertains to him as the rest these three things having no access to him For which reason Aristotle holds him equally exempt from Vertue and Vice Neque gratia neque ira teneri potest quod quae talia essent imbecilla essent omnia He can neither be affected with Favour nor Indignation because both those are the effects of Frailty The Participation we have in the knowledge of Truth such as it is is not acquir'd by our own â—orce God has sufficiently given us to understand that by the Witness he has chosen out of the common people simple and ignorant Men that he has been pleased to employ to instruct us in his admirable Secrets Our Faith is not of our own acquiring 't is purely the Gift of an others Bounty 'T is not by Meditation or by Vertue of our own Understanding that we have acquir'd our Religion but by Foreign Authority and Command wherein the Imbecillity of our Judgment does more assist us
more particular uncertain and contradicted they are by so much thou employ'st thy whole endeavour in them The Laws of thy Parish bind thee those of the World concern thee not run but a little over the Examples of this kind thy Life is full of them Whilst the Verses of these two Poets treat so reservedly and discreetly of wantonness as they do methinks they discover it much more Ladies cover their Necks with Net-work as Priests do several sacred things and Painters shadow their Pictures to give them greater lustre and 't is said that the Sun and Wind strike more violently by Reflection than in a direct Line The Aegyptian wisely answer'd him who ask'd him what he had under his Cloak it is hid under my Cloak said he that thou mayst not know what it is but there are certain other things that People hide only to shew them Hear this that speaks plainer Et nudam pressi corpus adusque meum And in these naked Arms of mine Her naked Body I did twine methinks I am eunuch'd with the Expression Let Martial turn up Venus's Coats as high as he can he cannot shew her so naked He who says all that is to be said gluts and disgusts us He who is afraid to express himself draws us on to guess at more than is meant There is a kind of treachery in this sort of Modesty and specially whilst they half open as they do so fair a path to Imagination both the action and description should relish theft The more respective more timorous more coy and secret Love of the Spaniards and Italians please me I know not who of old wish'd his weason as long as that of a Crane that he might the longer taste what he swallow'd it had been better wish'd in this quick and precipitous Pleasure especially in such natures as mine that had the fault of being too prompt To stop its flight and delay it with preambles all things a Wink a Bow a Word a Sign stand for favour and recompence betwixt them Were it not an excellent piece of Thrift in him that could dine on the steam of the roast 'T is a Passion that mixes very little with solid Essence much more with vanity and feverish raving and we are to reward and pay it accordingly Let us teach the Ladies to value and esteem themselves to amuse and fool us We give the last Charge at the first Onset the French impetuosity will still shew it self By spinning out their favours and exposing them in small parcels even miserable old Age it self will find some little share of reward according to its worth and merit who has no fruition but in fruition who wins nothing unless he sweeps the stakes and who takes no pleasure in the chace but in the quarry ought not to introduce himself in our School The more steps and greices there are so much higher and more honourable is the uppermost Seat We should take a pleasure in being conducted to it as in magnificent Palaces by Portico's Entries long and pleasant Galleries by many turns and windings This disposition of things would turn to our advantage we should there longer stay and longer love without hope and without desire we proceed not worth a pin Our Conquest and intire possession is what they ought infinitely to dread when they wholly surrender themselves up to the mercy of our Fidelity and Constancy they run a mighty hazard they are Virtues very rare and hard to be found they are no sooner ours but we are no more theirs Postquam cupidae mentis satiata libido est Verba nihil metuere nihil perjuria curant When our Desires and Lusts once sated are For Oaths and Promises we little care And Thrasonides a young man of Greece was so in love with his Passion that having gain'd a Mistresses consent he refus'd to enjoy her that he might not by fruition quench and stupifie the unquiet ardour of which he was so proud and with which he so pleased himself Dearness is a good Sauce to Meat Do but observe how much the manner of Salutation particular to our Nation has by its facility made Kisses which Socrates sayes so powerful and dangerous for the stealing of Hearts of no esteem It is a nauseous and injurious Custom for the Ladies that they must be oblig'd to lend their Lips to every Fellow that has three Foot-men at his heels how nasty or deform'd soever Cujus livida naribus caninis Dependet glacies rigetque barba Centum occurrere malo culilingis And we do not get much by the bargain for as the World is divided for three beautiful Women we must kiss threescore ugly ones and to a tender Stomach like those of my Age an ill kiss over pays a good one In Italy they passionately court even their common Women who prostitute themselves for money and justifie the doing so by saying that there are degrees of fruition and that by their Services they will procure themselves that which is best and most intire They sell nothing but their Bodies the Will is too free and too much its own to be expos'd to sale so say these that 't is the Will they undertake and they have reason 'T is indeed the Will that we are to serve and have to do withall I abhor to imagine mine in a Body without Affection And this madness is methinks Cousin-German to that of the Boy who would needs lye with the beautiful Statue of Venus made by Praxiteles or that of the furious Egyptian who violated the dead Carcass of a Woman he was embalming which was the occasion of the Law afterwards made in Egypt that the Corps of beautiful young Women of those of good Quality should be kept three dayes before they should be delivered to those whose Office it was to take care for the Interrment Periander did more wonderfully who extended his conjugal Affection more regular and legitimate to the enjoyment of his Wife Melissa after she was dead Does it not seem a Lunatick humour in the Moon seeing she could no otherwise enjoy her Darling Endymion to lay him for several Months asleep and to please her self with the fruition of a Boy who stirr'd not but in his sleep I likewise say that we love a Body without a Soul when we love a Body without its consent and concurring desire All Enjoyments are not alike There are some that are Hectick and languishing a thousand other causes besides good Will may procure us this Favour from the Ladies this is not a sufficient testimony of Affection Treachery may lurk there as well as elsewhere they sometimes go to 't but by halves tanquam thura merumque parent absentem marmoreamve putes So coldly they unto the work prepare You 'd think them absent or else marble were I know some who had rather lend that than their Coach and who only impart themselves that way You are to examin whether your company pleases them upon any
but generally I give way and accommodate my self as much as any one to necessity Sleeping has taken up a great part of my Life and I yet continue at the Age I now am to sleep eight or nine hours together I wean my self to my advantage from this propension to sloth and am evidently the better for so doing I find the change a little hard indeed but in three days 't is over and see but few that live with less Sleep when need requires and that more constantly exercise themselves nor to whom long Journeys are less troublesome My Body is capable of a firm but not of a violent or sudden Agitation I evade of late all violent exercises and such as make me sweat wherein my Limbs grow weary before they are hot I can stand a whole day together and am never weary of walking But from my Youth I never lov'd to Ride upon Pavements On foot I go up to the Breech in dirt and little Fellows as I am are subject in the Streets to be Elbow'd and Justled for want of Presence and Stature and I have ever lov'd to repose my self whether sitting or lying with my Heels as high or higher than my Seat There is no profession is more pleasant than the military a profession both noble in its execution for Valour is the strongest proudest and most generous of all Vertues and noble in its cause There is no Utility either more Universal or more Just than the protection of the Peace and grandeur of a mans Country The company of so many Noble Young and Active men delights you the ordinary sight of so many Tragick Spectacles the liberty of this Conversation without Art with a Masculine and unceremonious way of living pleases you the variety of a Thousand several Actions the encouraging Harmony of Martial Musick that ravishes and inflames both your Ears and Souls the Honour of this exercise nay even the sufferings and difficulties of War which Plato so little esteems that he makes Women and Children share in it in his Republick are delightful to you You put your selves voluntarily upon particular Exploits and hazards according as you judge of their lustre and importance and see when even life it self is excusably employed Pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis And we conceive it brave to die in Arms. To fear common dangers that concern so great a multitude of men not to dare to do what so many sorts of Souls and a whole people do is for a heart that is low and mean beyond all measure Company encourages so much as Children If others excell you in Knowledge in Gracefulness in Strength or Fortune you have third causes to blame for that but to give place to them in stability of mind you can blame no one for that but your self Death is more Abject more Languishing and Painful in Bed than in Battel and Fevers and Catharrs as Painful and Mortal as a Musquet-shott And whoever has fortified himself valiantly to bear the accidents of common life would not need to raise his courage to be a Souldier Vivere mi Lucilli militare est To live my Lucillus is to make War I do not remember that I ever had the Itch and yet scratching is one of natures sweetest gratifications and nearest at hand but the smart follows too near I use it most in my Ears which are often apt to Itch. I came into the World with all my Senses intire even to perfection My Stomach is commodiously good as also is my Head and my Breath and for the most part uphold themselves so in the height of Fevers I have past the age to which some Nations not without reason have prescrib'd so just a term of Life that they would not suffer men to exceed it and yet I have some intermissions though short and inconstant so clean and sound as are little inferiour to the Health and Indolency of my Youth I do not speak of Vigour and Spriteliness 't is not reason that it should follow me beyond its limits Non hoc amplius est liminis aut aquae Coelestis patiens latus My sides no longer can sustain The hardships of the Wind and Rain My Face and Eyes presently discover me All my alterations begin there and appear worse than they really are My Friends oft pity me before I feel the cause in my self My Looking-glass does not fright me for even in my Youth it has befaln me more than once to have a scurvy complexion and of ill Prognostick without any great consequence insomuch that the Physicians not finding any cause within answerable to that outward alteration attributed it to the mind and some secret passion that tormented me within but they were deceiv'd If my Body would govern it self as well according to my Rule as my Mind does we should move a little more at our ease My mind was then not only free from Trouble but moreover full of Joy and Satisfaction as it commonly is half by Complexion and half by its own Design Nec vitiant artus aegrae contagia mentis I never yet could find That e're my Body suffer'd by my mind I am of the opinion that this temperature of my Soul has oft rais'd my Body from its lapses It is oft deprest and if the other be not brisk and gay 't is at least quiet and at rest I had a Quartan Ague four or five months that had made me look miserably ill my mind was always if not calm yet pleasant if the pain be without me the weakness and langour do not much afflict me I see several corporal faintings that beget a horrour in me but to name which yet I should less fear than a thousand passions and agitations of mind that I see in use I resolve no more to run 't is enough that I crawl along and no more complain of the natural decadency that I feel in my self Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus than I regret that my duration shall not be as long and entire as that of an Oak I have no reason to complain of my imagination for I have had few thoughts in my Life which have so much as broke my sleep if not those of desire which have awak'd without afflicting me I dream but seldom and then of Chimera's and fantastick things commonly produc'd from pleasant thoughts and rather ridiculous than sad and believe it to be true that dreams are the true Interpreters of our inclinations but there is art requir'd to sort and understand them Res quae in vita usurpant homines cogitant curant vident Quaeque agunt vigilantes agitantque ea sicut in fomno accidunt minus nimirum est 'T is no wonder if what men practice think care for see and do when waking should also run in their Heads and disturb them when they are asleep Plato moreover says that 't is the office of Prudence to draw instructions of Divination of future things from