Misfortune Subtilty often times makes Snares in which its self is entangled There are evils where flight is better than resistance and the good Swimmers are the most frequently drowned because their skill tempts them to cast themselves into the stream from which they are not able to disengage themselves again THERE IS NO NEED of proofs to shew that the Women are much less and not so frequently perfidious as the Men We have but too many Examples of this and Experience alone does sufficiently discover that they have more need to defend themselves from the perfidiousness of the Men than to correct their own Do we not see among the Heathen Ladies that the Generous Paulina caused her own Veins to be cut when she saw her Husband Seneca condemned to that punishment by Nero refusing to live after the death of him that had taught her to love as a Philosopher that is constantly They clos'd and stopt her Veins against her Will but she always testifi'd from that time by the pale colour and discontent of her looks that this cure was altogether troublesom And that she remain'd in the world with regret since she could see no longer here the Man of whom she had learnt to despise both Life and Death to testifie the constancy of Love The Wife of Mithridates seeing the affairs of her Husband growing desperate she took the Garland that was about her Head and twisted it about her Neck to strangle her self therewith But when it broke with the first attempt she took the remaining piece in her Hand and fell into the most passionate complaints for that such things could only serve to be the Ornaments of a good Fortune but were not able to afford any relief in a bad one And to shew a most admirable effect of their Constancy among the Women that have embraced the Christian Religion in the most noble occasion of Courage that could ever be presented Do we not see a Penitent Woman perfectly resolv'd to attend her Master through all hazards even at the time when his Disciples forsook him tho they had all made too a thousand protestations that they would never abandon him Of Prudence and Discretion THE LADIES ARE but humane in their Beauty but they are as it were Divine if they are Prudent When their Beauty procures them Love Prudence renders them worthy of admiration and respect This is the Vertue that is most necessary to them and which gives them the greatest Authority Since without this all their other fine qualities are without Ornament or at least without Order like the scattered Flowers which the Wind carries confusedly about With this the most Vicious preserve a little while their Reputation if it be fit to call their Cunning by the name of Prudence and without this very often the Vertuous lose theirs For this cause it is very necessary to the Ladies to direct them in what they do and in what they let alone And as the Architects have always a pair of Compasses in their hand to measure every inch of their Works so she that will be Wise ought to have every moment the Rules of Prudence before her Eyes that she may render all her actions the more reasonable But if we should go about to speak all the good effects of Prudence we must recount all the good that there is in Morality or in Politicks As the Poets feign'd that the fire of Prometheus was divided into many parcels for the animating of several Creatures so we may say when we consider this Divine Vertue which regulates all others and which is necessary even to the least designs That whatever it is we call either an Art or a Science it is nothing else in truth but a fragment of Prudence THE SLANDERERS accuse the Ladies that they have no Address but where they have a Passion that they have no Subtlety but for very small or very evil Enterprises That like the Spiders all their Art is Impoysoned and that they spread their Nets but for the catching of Flies But this is an Imposture more worthy of a Punishment than an Answer It is also a Tyranny and a Custom that is not less unjust than it is old to reject them from the Publick Government as if their Minds were not capable of Affairs of Importance as well as those of Men. The Honour of her Sex who now deserves and possesses the Partnership of a Throne is alone a sufficient confutation of this Calumny whose admirable Conduct we have lately seen worthy not only of the Thanks but of the Imitation of a Senate And the Examples following shall further testifie that the Praises we give them are not without foundation and that we have reason to assert that they have often produced remedies for the most desperate and sinking conditions of Estates and Provinces When the Latins demanded liberty of intermarriages with the Romans with Arms in their Hands to take vengeance on the refusal The Senate found themselves mightily at a loss what Answer to give them for they saw that to refuse would bring upon them a certain War and they knew that to consent would bring their Estates in danger for as much as this Alliance was but a pretext in the Latins for the making themselves Masters of Rome Tutola a very young Maid presented her self to give them her Advice and having observ'd a great irresolution and uncertainty what to do in the Discourses of so many Old Senators she no sooner proposed her Counsel but it was approv'd by them all She shew'd them they must agree with these Strangers in what they demanded and cause the Servant maids to be drest in the Habit of Brides That so the Sabines being amused with the pleasure of those Guests might be diverted from the design they had of making a War This succeeded according to her Opinion and these Slaves when they saw their pretended Husbands fallen fast asleep they stole from them their Arms and gave notice to the Roman Souldiers by a lighted Torch that they might come and surprize their Enemies when they were unable to defend themselves We cannot sufficiently praise the Courage the Conduct and the Affection of Tutola who found means for the safety of the Common-wealth when the Wise Senators were at uncertainty what course they should take Let what will be said of the Imprudence of the Women If the Men would sometimes take their Advice as God has given them for a help in the management of their Affairs perhaps they would succeed the more happily And it would be acknowledg'd that they are mightily in the wrong who despise them in a matter where there is need of Address and Prudence When Theseus was exposed to the Minâ—taur in a Labyrinth who gave him the means to escape but Ariadne Without the Clue of Thread which he receiv'd from this Princess had he ever been disengag'd from its windings This Labyrinth is a resemblance of Occasions or Affairs that are difficult Theseus represents a man
seest here who believes that I am able to love him after he has ravisht from me my Dear Synattus Think with thy self Barbarous Man and acknowledge how much right I have to Sacrifice thy life to that thou hast taken from my Husband I do not value at all my own for I defer'd to put an end to it only that I might give to Posterity one more remarkable Testimony of my Love and of thy Cruelty Camma was happy in this that Sinorix died before her tho he drank last of the fatal draught The Gods gave this satisfaction to her Fidelity and she ended her life calling still upon Synattus that he would come and accompany her in her departure from this World Can any of the Men give a more noble Example of Constancy than this And was it not a Philosophick Madness to maintain in publick that among a thousand Men one should hardly find one constant but amongst all Woman-kind not one After this it is easy to judge whether the Prince of Philosophers had reason to compare Woman to the first Matter because that has always a desire to the changing of its Forms and tho it has gained one that is altogether perfect yet it still retains a general inclination for all other He had a design to shew by the Parallel that the Women are as unsatisfied and unconstant towards the Men as Matter is towards the Forms But this is a Comparison too injurious and such as would agree better a great deal with the Philosopher himself than with any the most unconstant Woman that could be found For he forsook one Mistress for another to whom he made his devout Addresses that he might Testifie with the more solemnity that he himself was guilty of a Crime of which he had accused the Women In truth they have more reason to complain of the Men than they have to fear their Reproaches How are credulous Spirits at this day ill requited for their simplicity Whatever assurances many Men do give they ought rather to be reckoned Deceivers than Inconstant because at the same time that they promise Fidelity they are forming a Design to violate it There is no alteration in their Resolutions but there is in their Words THIS VICE does not haunt those Minds that are above the Common Rank One may be assured of them and their least designs remain firm in all sorts of occasions and under the greatest storms of Fortune Levity comes of Weakness and Constancy from a strength of Spirit After that Affection has bound together two Generous Souls the Separation of them must be impossible For since Love is in its Nature Immortal when it can cease to be it must be acknowledged that it is not true St. Augustine said that his Friend and he seemed to have between them but one Soul both for Life and Love That Death had not so much Separated two as divided one And that after the Loss of this Confident he had a fear of Death and a horrour at Life Because without him he was but half alive and nevertheless he saw himself oblig'd to preserve the rest that his Friend might not entirely die There are but few so constant as this great Person was The Friendships of these times are no longer so firm And if we consider well those between whom the affections they had for each other are ruin'd upon the slightest occasions we may believe that the Union is very often without strength when the Separation is so often made without regret AFTER WE have spoken of Inconstancy we shall encounter Perfidiousness which is ordinarily inseparably adjoyned to it And in truth I am not able to comprehend how it comes to pass that any are Perfidious when the whole World has so great an abhortence of this crime and it does so infallibly procure Enemies They that make use of it ought to fear it and they whom it has hurt will seek to be revenged on it But that which is worthy of astonishment is this Tha the very Aspect of such Persons testifies that while they set the whole World against them they are not in a very good agreement with themselves thus declaring without words the horrour which themselves are filled with at their own wickedness It is not necessary to be very well skill'd in the Rules of Physiognomy to observe upon their Faces the wickedness and the torment of their Minds It must needs be that these are the greatest Criminals in the World since they themselves form their own Process in their own Consciences and that even to the executing it too upon themselves sometimes with their own Hands The forlorn Wretches practise a new form of Justice upon themselves where they alone are Judges and Executioners Accusers and Guilty Altho naturally we love our selves yet such can shew themselves no Mercy and they shew by those their fatal Looks that none can absolve them while their own severe Consciences do condemn and torment them This is the most horrible and the least excusable of all Crimes because those that attempt this are at the cost of so much trouble to commit it and they must do so much harm to themselves to do it to others Faithfulness on the contrary is always chearful even among difficulties and Perfidiousness is always musing and melancholy even in the midst of Divertisements A Mind that is faithful does not resent its Afflictions but that which is treacherous has no tast of its Pleasures Their Sentiments are very differently taken up for the Vice makes the one sort weep even among Delights and the Vertue helps the other sort to laugh even among their Evils and their sufferings When a Soul is sullied with this Vice it is capable of all the wickedness that can be imagin'd and especially does Avarice follow it very near And when once a Woman is become Covetous she has a great deal of difficulty to be faithful there is nothing that she will not do and that she will not sell to be rich This is the most infallible mark of a clownish Spirit and of a Soul debauched The Ladies ought never to testifie that they have any inclination to to this lest they fall under the Fate of Procris who after she had resisted both threatnings and submissions yet she yielded assoon as she saw the Mony told down BUT THAT WE MAY see this Vice in all its Aspects The Credulous and the Ignorant are no less in danger of falling into this than any other They are persuaded to many things which their Easiness afterwards makes them suffer contrary to their Honour It seems to say the truth that these Women are neither Faithful nor Perfidious for they have not the Design that should make them Perfidious nor yet Strength enough to be faithful It is this simplicity as the Poet speaks which is worthy of excuse provided that one does not take pleasure in being deceiv'd The Politick are liable to do by Wickednesses that which the Simple do by
THE EXCELLENT WOMAN Described BY HER TRUE CHARACTERS AND THEIR OPPOSITES Licensed and Entered LONDON Printed for Joseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XC II. TO THE EXCELLENT AND MUCH HONOURED LADY The Lady Mary Walcot MADAM THERE is not any Thing that can Recommend Vertue to the World with so much Force and Advantage as the Examples of those that eminently Practise it Vertue is like Beauty in this That it has Peculiar and Nameless Charms in the Living Original which no Art can possibly represent in the Draughts or Descriptions of it But 't is the great Unhappiness of the World that these Excellent Examples are seldom very Numerous And none but those who live within the Sphere of their Converse can have the Benefit of their Influence And which is yet a greater Disadvantage perhaps several of these like your Ladiship do Love and Chuse Retirement In which case they can be seen but by Few All that we can do then for the Rest of the World towards the making them in Love with Vertue and the perswading them to Court and seek it lies in these following Things We must present them with as exact a Draught and Picture of this Beauty as we can in the clear and distinct Explications of Vertue We must add to this the most fitting and advantageous Dress in giving it the becoming Illustrations and deserved Praises And it may further conduce to our Purpose to draw also and set near the Former the deform'd Characters of the opposite Vices which like a Black-a-more by a Fair Lady will set off the Beauty to more Advantage Thus much I presume is tolerably perform'd in the following Book which is greatly Ambitious to obtain the Honour of Your Ladiship 's Approbation Besides these there is but one Thing remaining that can be serviceable to our Purpose But 't is that which seems as Necessary and Conducing as all the Rest that we can do And that is to assure the World That the Excellent Draught or Picture we have made is the Description and Character of some Real Person who rather Excels than falls short of the Representation Without this the Skill of the Representer may be admired but the Thing represented cannot when it is not known that there is any such Thing really in Being and so the Design of the Labour would be lost and the End frustrated When we propose a Person in whom those Excellent Characters of Vertue may all be found and that with advantage then we make it known that the Precepts and Rules prescrib'd are not Notions but Practice they are not only what ought to be done but what is done they are not invented but are raised frâ—â— Observation When we can mention an Excellent Example we confute that Prejudice which deters the Cowardly and Mean Spirits from the Pursuit of Vertue who represent it to themselves as too strict in the Rules of it as a Thing in Imagination only and as too difficult or even impossible to be put in Practice And we do that which will inspire the more Generous Souls with a Spirit of Emulation and kindle in all such a brave Ambition to imitate and equal if they can what is so Excellent and Commendable It is for this Madam that I have made so bold as to set Your Ladiship 's Name to the Front of this Book 'T is well known of Your Ladiship by all that have the Honour and the Happiness of Your Acquaintance that the best Characters here are no more the Description of an Excellent Woman than they are Characters of You. And they will all bear with me this Testimony to Your Worth that wherein soever this Description comes short of the Subject it might be perfectly compleated by one that were able to compleat Your Excellent Character To the Instances of particular Vertues in the Body of the Book I had a Desire to add an Universal One. This Apology Madam I ought to make for my Interrupting Your better Employment for venturing to Publish those Vertues to the World which Your Ladiship does seek to Conceal and for ascribing those Praises which You are as unwilling as deserving to receive I hope You will be pleased to Pardon that which a Zeal for the Honour and Advantage of Your Sex has inspired and suffer me to Subscribe MADAM Your Ladiship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant T. D. THE PREFACE To the Female Sex I Present you here with a Piece of Morality wherein you have the Characters of Vertues and Vices drawn indeed with design to Recommend the One Sort and to Expose the Other Yet I think it is done with Sincerity too and that there needs no more but to represent these Things truly for both those Purposes The Book I am sure would most effectually recommend its self to you if you would take the Pains to Read and Consider it well and compare what it says with the Common Practice of the World This is the best Way to know fully how Vseful and Important to you those Intimations are which are here presented But since this cannot be known without such an use of it and especially those who have most need of these Instructions will be apt to neglect them I think fit to say some few Things to Recommend the Reading of it It is design'd and directed to serve the Honour and Happiness of the Female Sex who are perhaps the larger Half of Mankind and who doubtless are or may be as Important at least as the Other I cannot chuse but think that the Glory and Worth and Happiness of any Nation depends as much upon them as upon the Men. And perhaps others will be of my Mind if it be consider'd That we are born of them that we commonly derive from them what we are in our Nature more than from the other Parent So far as this does depend upon the frame of the Body which is not a little it is form'd in the Womb. We are beholden to our Mothers Vertue and good Disposition and wise ordering of her self for our natural Inclinations to any Vertue for the Calmness of our Temper for the Brightness of our Wit for the Regularity of our Constitutions and for the Strength of our Bodies And on the contrary from their Exorbitant Passions we are disposed to great Passions and from their ungovern'd Appetites their Intemperance and other Vices we often derive the Strength of Vitious Inclinations a crazy Constitution and a weak Body But further will their Influence upon the World appear if we consider that Invincible and Vniversal Law of Nature which inclines the other Sex to love and seek their Conversation and Company From hence it must needs follow That their Influence upon the Men may be commonly as great as they will Their Example will effectually lead us we cannot chuse but put on some Conformity to those whom we love Their Perswasions and Instigations will powerfully provoke and excite us their Approbation and Applause is
should appear that these were absolutely necessary to the recommending them to your Favour and Esteem and this also would return to your advantage since by this Influence upon the World it would come to pass that you could not want a proportionable number of fit and worthy Objects of your Affections and Choice To your great advantage it would be to stir up in the Men an Ambition to be well accomplisht too to make them asham'd of Ignorance and Vice by your Example and you your selves would be the more happy in Brothers Husbands and Children And the Women of our Age have perhaps greater advantage than ever their Ancestours had for the Improvement of their Minds at least so far as the Reading of Good Books can contribute towards this When you have a great many of the best Books in the World either wrote in your own Language or Translated into it Translation is a mighty Favour to you It brings the Wisdom of the Ancients to you unveil'd and inables you to study and learn it without the previous discouraging fatigue of Learning Languages We have lately seen some of the choicest Histories and best Pieces of useful Philosophy that Greece or Rome could boast of Translated into English And still this Work of Translating goes on and will especially do so if it has the Encouragement and Favour of your Sex And I would hope to see our own Language as Learned as any other in the World And why may we not see the costly useless Trifles that fill the Closets of our Ladies thrown out and Excellent and Vseful Books set up there in their stead You have almost nothing else to do but to study all the time that you live single and are at liberty from Affairs of the World To be sure there is nothing you can do so much to your advantage as to entertain and employ your selves much with Good Books I need not Recommend to you Plutarch or Hierocles or Livy or Seneca or the Excellent Antoninus lately Translated with the Learned and Vseful Reflections of Madam Dacier a Philosopher of your own Sex at this time Famous for her Wit and Learning Nor shall I mention any more since they may be met with at every Booksellers And it is chiefly my present Business to Recommend the following Book Here then you have the Characters of the Vertues and Vices very faithfully and truly drawn Whereby you may learn to distinguish the one from the other and may avoid that common and mischievous Error of mistakeing Vertue for Vice and Vice for Vertue Vice is an Vgly Name and that which almost all abhor should be imputed to them and Vertue is generally in the Notion commended and esteemed and therefore almost all pretend to Vertue in general But when we come to the reproof of particular Vices and to charge them upon those that are Guilty and so when we come to insist upon particular Vertues and to urge the Practice of them Then the World boggles and hesitates or it may be is angry and opposes Then the beloved Vice will not be believed to be a Vice and it shall be accounted ill nature or moroseness or a particular spite that calls it so And the Vertue that we want and do not care to put in practice will not be allow'd to be a Vertue but shall be disputed against The one will be defended under a soft and specious name and the other rejected under a bad one Thus do many Persons often deceive themselves to their disparagement and shame and misery While they cannot discern aright in this matter they perhaps shun the most Honourable Vertues and embrace the most shameful Vices They will refuse what is good and betake themselves to what is hurtful They will be asham'd of Vertue and boast of their Vices Further as Persons are apt for themselves to find out this way to evade the Arguments for Vertue and the Reproofs of Vice so they will endeavour to influence others after the same manner They that are Vicious naturally desire to have others like themselves that their better practice may not condemn or disparage them that others may fall into the same inconveniencies which they have brought themselves to by their wickedness and so may not be able to deride or despise them or that they may accomplish upon those who are yet afraid of Vice some base and shameful design To these Purposes they endeavour much the confounding of all things and especially of the natural and common signs of Passions and Vices in the Soul These they would fain have not regarded nor believed to be the Marks and Symptoms of any such things Highly necessary it is then to be possest with a clear and distinct knowledge of these things And here you have Vertue represented in her true Beauty and Lustre and the ugly Mask the frightful Vizor which spiteful Sinners put upon her is taken off You may see her in all her Charms as far as they can be represented in a Description or Picture of her which I confess cannot have the advantages of the Life in a sublime Example but yet may be sufficient to beget in us some Love and Admiration of the Beauty And here you have also Vice represented in its true Colours and all her Deformity shown as far as was consistent with Modesty and Discretion and the Paint and Disguise which the Vicious Wit of the World puts upon her is also removed Here are Motives to Vertue and just Disswasives from Vice proposed The Means of practising and improving in the one and of abstaining from and mortifying the other You have the Subjects treated on such as are of common Vse and Concern such as relate to every one The Vertues such as all may reach and the Vices such as all are exposed to You have all the Discourse plain and easie Free from the crabbed terms of the Schools You have a Philosopher not dictating after the rudeness of an Academy but complementing and insinuating his wholsome Counsels in the stile and manner of a Courtier And if thà t will recommend the Book further I must tell you That the most of it was written by a very Eminent Person in a Neighbour Nation who had the Honour to be a Counsellour and Preacher in Ordinary to the King that then Reigned there Here you have an Excellent Anatomy as it were of the Soul a view of the Insides of Mankind so that you may see the secret Motions Workings and Effects of all sorts of Passions and Humours Here you may learn the World then without mingleing with it which is the safest way and the pleasantest of doing this For thus you will not be in danger of being corrupted or vexed with the wickedness and folly of it while you are learning it which things in Converse you will be constantly exposed to This Book like a Mariners Chart shows the Rocks and Shelves of Vice whereon unwary and untaught Souls are wont to make Shipwrack of
Poverty and Jealousy into their Families They often carry three or four Manners hanging at their Ears and with this specious pretext spare neither Pearls nor Diamonds But in truth it is not without reason that such are suspected by many Persons and it is not these Ornaments that entertain the Conjugal affection and there is ground to believe that the wantonness of their Dress is rather contriv'd for their Gallants than their Husbands Of Beauty THEY THAT ADORE or that despise Beauty do defer too much or too little to the Image of God It is one of the rare presents that Heaven has made to this lower World but we ought to attribute all the worth of it to the Power and Bounty of him that has gratified us therewith In the Opinion of Plato it is an Humane Splendour amiable in its own Nature that has power to ravish with pleasure the Mind and the Eye And certainly this ought to be a sign of the inclination that we have to good For as much as Heretofore the Priests that were deform'd were excluded from the Temple let us not have an ill opinion of Beauty which God himself did judge necessary to them that were to approach his Altars The Judgments that we make of the Beauty of the Mind by that of the Body are not often the worst grounded The Soul like a Queen makes the richest preparations where she intends to appear with the greatest luster and advantage And in truth if Vertue be necessary for the establishment of Sovereign Authority it seems that Beauty is at least as necessary to grace it If we find sometimes the fine Wits in ill contriv'd Bodies these are like Relicks ill enshrin'd to which a great many will not pay so much Reverence as they would if they were cover'd with Gold and Pearls This Lovely Quality is worthy of Empire in all places where there are Eyes and Reason It has Enemies no where but there where it meets with the blind and the stupid The only glorious Countenance of Scipio Africanus made him conquer several Barbarous Nations even without drawing his Sword and Heliogabalus himself from being Priest of the Sun became Emperor of the whole World as soon as his Mother had shew'd him to the Souldiers Thus do the whole World pay their Respects to those to whom Nature has given this advantage and however they sometimes blame Beauty yet at least they pity it too THE VULGAR believe that if there is not Evil cover'd with Beauty yet at least Misfortune attends it and there is danger in it if Sin be not found with it But to say the truth when this is an occasion of evil it is often an Innocent that makes the Criminals and they who complain of it do as unjustly as they who should accuse the Sun for dazling their Sight when they have been staring too steddily upon that Star That is but hardly kept says Theophrastus which a great many love and desire and there can be no great assurance or safety in the possession of that which the whole World aspires to Sometimes they will lay so long Siege to those Cities and attack them on so many sides that at length they will make themselves Masters The Authority of this Great person does no prejudice to Beauty since 't is impossible to say any thing more to its praise than to own that all desire this as an Object the most pleasing to them And if the Fair sometimes suffer themselves to be won upon this complaint must be directed to their Minds rather than their Faces A Place is not the less strong because they have yielded it up who ought to defend it the default is in the Captain rather than in the Citadel Be it as it will the Homely have no advantage in this reproach For since they are never sollicited there is no resistance there to give a judgment of their strength They are at more cost and pains to defend themselves from disdain than pursuits and Patience is the Vertue which they have rather most occasion for THERE ARE SOME will accuse the Fair of being scornful But if this be well consider'd it would be acknowledg'd that their Disdain comes often from the goodness of their Conscience rather than from their Vanity because they know not how to endure those Idolatrous Addresses and excessive Praises which enamour'd Fools or crafty Pretenders make use of to catch them with As wise Kings deride the Complements of depending Courtiers as knowing that 't is Interest more than Affection that inspires them The Ladies also ought to deride the Respects of such Gallants for as much as with all their cares and all their labours they seek nothing still but their own pleasure and the destruction of those that give ear to them All their labour and endeavour aims at and is confind to their own pleasure and the ruin of the imprudent There is not so much Presumption in the most Fair as there is of Cowardliness in those Men who put themselves into the Fetters the Services which they pay and the proud Names they give the conquering Mistress do discover as much their own weakness and extravagance as they do their Passions Is there any ground to call that Empire Tyrannical where the Vassals are so Voluntary and so much the Enemies of their own Liberty YET I DO NOT intend for all this to make an Apology for those that are really Vain but only for those that ingenuous and plain Those Women who persuade themselves that the great number of their Gallants adds something to their Beauty and who please themselves so much in the submissions and respects that they pay them these give a great advantage to their Enemies and shew that they may be conquer'd at an easy rate since that there is nothing necessary to this but a few Respects and flattering Commendations These are things of which the Men will be no less prodigal than the Women can possibly be desirous of them But the Women ought to believe that when plain Ingenuity makes a bargain with Craft and Artifice it can never make it to advantage It often comes to pass that if the Women are fair those that praise have a design to deceive them if they are not fair they intend to deride them For this reason they have all of them great occasion both for Wit and Vertue in order to defend them selves from danger and contempt THERE ARE that scruple altogether the praising of Beauty because it fades in a little time it endures but like the sudden flashes of Lightning and that very often it forebodes no less than the approach of Storms and Tempests It is a Flower say they which is gone almost as soon as it is blown which the Winds tear in pieces the Sun withers and the Rain beats down and which is of so delicate a constitution that even without the help of Enemies it perishes by its own Weakness But what do they herein say of this which may
not also be said of other things in the world which also are not able to last always If they complain of Beauty it is because this has not the duration of the Stars as it has the Value and the Brightness of them And nevertheless it must be acknowledged that the most Fair may find an excellent remedy against Vanity and Pride if sometimes at the age of sixteen or of twenty years they would present to themselves the defects and inconveniences of Old Age. Whatever fine Feathers nature or art now affords they would be as much asham'd as the Peacock is when he views his black Feet if they would foresee a little so great alterations and ruins I do not make profession here of Preaching the four last things that men must come to but it seems to me that none ought to afflict themselves for a thing that Time will take away from them insensibly yea which diminishes every moment in spight of all the Art that can be used to preserve it It is true that Cato had so great an esteem of Beauty that he said publickly that it was no less crime to injure it than to rifle a Temple But he spake of that which is Natural not of that which is Studied and affected Sulpitia among the Romans had so beautiful Eyes that those of her time could not look upon her without being ready to adore her The Neck and Breasts of Theodora the Athenian were so agreeable that Socrates himself became in love with her These are the Features or Charms that ought not either to be sought by Artifice or possest with Vanity Nature has favour'd some persons with these things with design to please the Eye and to elevate the Mind to the love of him who is the source of all human Perfections The forced and feigned Beauties luckily fail in the view of all the world just after the manner of those false and seeming Stars which after they have a while abused our Eyes do demonstrate by their fall that we took a Vapour for a Star How much Art and Pains do many fruitlesly employ to cover the defects of Nature as if it were not better worth their while to have recourse to Vertue than to Disguise or as if it would not be much more to their advantage to repair what is wanting in the Face by the qualities of the Mind Their design succeeds extreamly ill and must do so because their Vanity appears with their Homeliness and they are not the more excusable hereby but more ridiculous They would think it very strange if they were treated after the fashion as Phryne did with those that came into her Company As soon as this Courtisan appear'd she defaced the lustre of all the Ladies at the Assembly leaving them no other Colour than what Shame and Jealousie could afford She invented a Play to make them merry wherein every one commanded by turns in their rank She commanded Water to be brought and that every one should wash her Hands and her Face As soon as they had obeyed her Commands there was discover'd all their Paint and Disguise there was not a person could be known they had quite other Faces all full of Blemishes and Features that were frightful This Sport would not be at all less troublesom to many of our Age than it was advantageous to that extraordinary Beauty It was also by her that the Areopagites themselves lost the reputation of being incorruptible Judges for they did not believe her Innocent nevertheless after they had seen her they were not able to judge her guilty Hipperidus pleaded unsuccessfully against her tho he was a most eloquent man for as soon as she appear'd her Presence serv'd her for an Apology and she needed but to shew that she might defend her self It is not only now-adays that the Fair carry the Cause After that Justice has lifted up her Vail to see them let them plead as little as they will their Cause will succeed well for them Of Curiosity and Slander CURIOSITY is not very often at a good agreement with Silence those that are desirous to learn abundance of News are not usually resolv'd to conceal it and Slander does infallibly make waste of that which an Imprudent Curiosity has collected The Mind of these Curious Women resembles the Barrel full of holes which the Danaides were condemned to fill which still let out the Water as fast as it was put in That which enters by the Ear goes out immediately at the Mouth because the indiscretion which lets them hear no less inconsiderately than they speak does no more refuse the opening to Lies for their going out than for their coming in I do not blame at all that Divine Curiosity of the Philosophers and the great Wits which reveals to us the Secrets of Nature and has afforded us the means to govern the Passions of the Soul I condemn only that Curiosity which carries us after the knowledge of things unprofitable or vicious and leaves us strangers to the knowledge of our selves And to say the truth I have no less shame than compassion when I see several that amuse themselves with the little stories of the place they live in and who know nothing but what is impertinent and troublesome to good Companies They seek to adorn their Minds as the Chineses do to beautifie their Cabinets I mean with some antiquated outlandish Trifle or sorry Pedlary I would advise those of this humour who are for spending all their time about things unuseful to learn themselves the Anatomy of little Flies or the Art of numbring the Atoms of the Air And that they may treat their Bodies as ill as they do their Minds I would have them live upon such things as Cray-fish where they may find more employment than nourishment This inconsiderateness gives but an ill credit to their Wit and no better to their Conscience We shall judge hereupon that they do not employ their Time only to hear superfluous things but also to hear evil ones And above all the readiness they have to believe a fault in another is a most certain sign of that which they have to commit as much themselves THERE ARE THEN some that listen with delight to all manner of Slanders that cannot endure one should speak to the advantage of any and who think that while their Company are finding fault with all the World besides them they make an Apology for their faults in shewing them many like themselves As if the number of Criminals could authorise their Wickedness When they hear the Vertues of some rewarded with their deserved Praises they sit as sad and uneasie as the Ugly are wont to be when the Fair are complemented in their presence And if we should examin well their thoughts we should find here yet a much blacker source of evil They are glad to have Companions in the Infamy but they would not have any partake with them in the Pleasure they have more of Jealousie
be despised but when they are scarce they will be eagerly laid hold on out of fear that they will not return with so much advantage IN ALL CASES how extream soever a Jealousie may be I think the Example of Vulcan may serve for a remedy to it When he was Jealous of Mars and Venus he laid Nets to catch them in the sight of all the Gods but what did he get at last by his Curiosity and Cunning but only to be declar'd infamous with the more solemnity and to be cast out of Heaven and break a Log with the fall Nevertheless that none may deceive themselves in this matter I desire they would take notice of this Distinction That Jealousie respects Love Envy the goods of Fortune and t is Emulation that follows Vertue The goods of Fortune are too gross those of Love are too slight for our Minds there are only those of Vertue that can deserve to be the Object of it It is only in the pursuit of this that Competitors can endure one another as well as many may agree to serve themselves of the Light of the Sun or the Influence of the Stars Also we may see among the Ancients that the three Graces hold each other by the Hand and are united in the Alliance of Vertue while the Goddesses are at strife for the Honour of excelling in Beauty and the Famous Triumvirate fell out about the Possession of the Universal Empire And if we may add for this purpose any thing of Christianity to our Morals that we may find a remedy for the greatest Persecutions of Jealousie let us observe the Example of the Blessed Virgin and her Husband Joseph where we may find that the most Chast of all Women yet gave some Jealousie to the most Honest and Sincere Man There is in this sometimes more of Misfortune than of Malice and therefore those that are liable to be Jealous should like him despise the slight appearances of ground for it and those that are wrong'd by Jealousie should like her suffer patiently the suspicions of it It would be no small Consolation to think that after all the Proofs and all the Witnesses that might constrain us to judge ill it is better in this extremity to believe a Miracle than a Sin and to own the Power of God than the weakness of a Creature Of Friendship and the Love of Inclination and that of Election SINCE there is no Pleasure in Life without Friendship and the greatest Prosperity is tedious and the least Affliction without this is insupportable it is not fit I should forget this Divine Quality of Amity wherein the Ladies have at all times greatly recommended themselves It is not reasonable that I should pass by this lovely Vertue to which they have even erected Altars among the most Barbarous Heathen Nations and which exercises an Empire most absolute over the Hearts of Men in all places where there is any Sense or Knowledge of it There is then no need of long Proofs to make it appear that Love and Amity are necessary to the World It is of more importance to show how it is dangerous It is more profitable to show the Use than the Worth of it Most certainly if any know not how to distinguish well what is worthy of their Love they must be very unhappy for the imprudent and ill-placed Affections ordinarily prove a cause of the greatest evils that afflict our Lives The disposal of Love is truly a source of Misery if not well directed as well as it is of Felicity if it be so For this reason we ought to examine our Love and Amity from the very birth of it since all the Passions and all the Motions of the Soul depend on this For as heretofore among the Romans when they had chosen a Dictator they did at the same time depose all those that had any other Office to the end that a new Lord might be attended with new Officers so also when we change our Love all the other Passions change their nature they all follow this first mover If we hope or if we fear still yet it is not for the same end as it is not for the same Object And in truth when I think with my self that this Passion not only gives motion to all the rest but also that it constrains us to espouse the qualities of those whom we love and above all that it never ends but as it were with Life I declare that it is in this more than in any other concern that our choice is of great importance and that we know not how to employ too much care and prudence to examine well whether that which at first we esteem worthy of our Love does not indeed deserve our hatred and aversion This choice is not less difficult than necessary But since they commonly say that Love has two Eyes that of Inclination and that of Election I think that to speak of this subject with some method it will be convenient to show with which of these it may see most clearly that which is Amiable AND TO BEGIN with the Love of Inclination which many esteem the best What the Poets said of Achilles may give us a great light into it For as we learn from Fables that this great Captain had but one place in all his Body that was capable of receiving a Wound and that every where besides neither Dart nor Arrow could injure him In like manner it seems to me that the only part in which our Soul is most sensible is that of Inclination and that they who have found out this fatal place as Paris did the Heel of Achilles need only to touch that that they may wound and conquer us Without finding this let any render the best services they can they will all be unprofitable to them or if they succeed sometimes it is with great difficulty and hazzard One only look with Inclination has more effect than without this the devoirs of many Years can obtain It is violent and yet constant though it is excited in a moment yet it fails not to endure a long time It sometimes finds in one instant its birth and its perfection It was that which rendered Dido in Love with Aeneas from the very first time that she beheld him she begun to love as soon as she begun to know him without taking any notice that this was a stranger whom a Tempest and not Love had cast upon the Coasts of Carthage It is true that reason and consideration at first as it was with this Queen will endeavour sometimes to stifle those Sentiments that the Inclination gives birth to But these are very uneffectual efforts and we with difficulty resist the love that pleases Reason it self takes its part and becomes as complaisant as was the Sister of that Princess even to the devising and trying means to succeed in our desires Inclination has no less of Skill and Cunning than of Courage It can Enchant and Deceive even
an Argits with his hundred Eyes It can give Wings to convey us from a Labyrinth There is nothing that it will not endure that it will not undertake And if it be said we may see some that can surmount this and make themselves Masters of their Inclination it must in truth be acknowledged that this is very rare it must rather be believ'd that such were never seiz'd with this Malady than that they are cured of it Whatever any feign all that which proceeds from our selves is very agreeable to us we yield our selves to be carried easily away with the Stream of it we can refuse it nothing and when this Eve presents us with even a forbidden Apple yet to comply with her we forsake all our Interests Neither should any wonder at this since she was taken from our own Side and is even a part of our selves Though she sometimes may seem to us but evil yet our Reason does not domineer over her but with regret When we go about to combat this we resemble those Fathers that are constrained to make War with their own Children and who have as much fear even to gain the Victory as to lose it But in truth what ground is there that we should be willing to hinder the effects of our Inclination when they are so sweet and so natural What reason is there why this should be idly barren and that so pleasant a cause should produce nothing Can there be a better Amity or Love than that which comes from thence Can there be a more faithful or more constant one It is as pleasing as it is strong it has no less sweetness than duration We take no more pains to love an Object that Inclination carries us to than a Stone does to fall towards its center or the Fire to mount upwards towards its Sphere If the Elements are neither heavy nor light in their natural places and there is need of violence to draw them from thence so neither can we divert our selves but with pain and trouble from the Object that we love out of Inclination It is here that our affection finds its repose and its most pure delights There is some reason to say That the Love which proceeds from Consideration does resemble the Fire that we have here below which has always a need of nourishment and which goes out if it be not always affixed to some combustible Matter but on the other side the love of Inclination is like that above in the Sun its proper Element which endures always equally and maintains its self This is the most natural as it is also the most noble This Love is not mercenary at all it does not nourish it self by any shameful pretentions it proposes to it self no other end but only Love I do not wonder at all if the Love of Consideration endures but a little while and if it is stronger while it hopes than when it is in possession since it fastens upon us by Interest and has no other bond but that of Pleasure or Profit It holds us but by rotten Cords which need but a little misfortune or sickness to break them And if we are to judge that Amity the best which is able to endure the longest we ought to account that of Inclination the most excellent which as it is the most pure is also the most constant and lasting There are some nevertheless who think it enough to disparage this to say That it proceeds from the Love of our selves but it seems to me that this Argument makes much for its Commendation since one would conclude from thence That 't is almost as impossible to separate us from that we love with Inclination as to separate us from our selves and at least that it will continue a long time if it comes from such a source And if it be said That we may also judge hereon that this Love is blind as that commonly is which we bear to our selves In truth I must return That I am not able to see how this Opinion can maintain it self I cannot comprehend why so many will have it that Inclination is blind We believe it has not Eyes because we do not see them and if sometimes we cannot discover the causes of it we chuse rather to say it has none than to own that they are unknown to us It is true we cannot so well judge of the resemblance of Humours as of that of Faces But nevertheless if any would give themselves the trouble to search well into the Original of our Inclination they would often find it If they would give themselves leisure to Philosophise a little upon the Perfections of the Object that pleases us they would infallibly find out wherein it is amiable It is from this Inclination it comes to pass many times that of many who look upon a beautiful Face there shall not be it may be more than one of them that has any lively feeling of its Charms and those that deserve best find oftentimes more admirers than Servants We do not love all that we commend the Will does not always take the part of Reason and we give sometimes our Approbation to a thing when we deny our Love to it Many may have the same judgment but it is not so easie that they should have the same Inclination and though I grant that several Persons may love the same thing yet this seldom comes to pass by the same Reason As we have not an Appetite for all sorts of Meats not even those that we may judge to be good so we cannot have Inclination for all sorts of Persons not even for those sometimes whom we judge to have a great deal of Merit As there are divers relishes in the sense so there are different Inclinations in the Soul But why should we not follow Inclination in Love when we follow it almost in all other things In the chusing an Office in the learning of a Trade or in the studying of a Science we have regard to the Humour and Temperament Why then may we not do this as much in our love which is the most Important thing in the World And in truth if we examine our Nature and Complexion before we addict our selves to Learning or any other Exercise Why shall we not also seek for a Disposition to love as well as to study since there is nothing more true than that as we cannot succeed in the Arts in despite of our Nature so neither can we any better succeed in an Amity when it is against our Inclination It must be acknowledg'd that as the same Earth is not proper for all sorts of Seeds so the same Heart is not capable of all sorts of Affections It ought not to be a Wonder if we have Inclination for one thing and not for another any more than to see the Load-stone draw the Iron rather than Copper or Lead And if we have a Love that is a little contrary to our humour how do we
we ought so much to forbid our selves as that which pleases us most our Inclination is no less deprav'd than their Taste it proceeds from a poison'd Spring it comes not from Nature sound and well but from that which is corrupted I approve mightily the Opinion of them who compare the Amity of Election to the Sun and the Love of Inclination to the Moon for the former is always equal and the latter is commonly unconstant full of Errour and of Spots The Moon of her self has no Brightness Inclination alone has no Conduct It has need to borrow that from Reason And above all after the same manner as the Moon appearing sometimes with the Sun does not make the Day for all that nor contribute any assistance towards the Enlightening of the World so when by good Fortune the Love of Inclination meets with that of Election it ought not to govern us or make it self our Master but on the contrary it ought to borrow all it's Light and Direction from the other But to improve this Comparison a little further I could wish to this purpose that the Ladies would imitate Her whom the Holy Spirit describes in sacred Writ as having the Moon under her Feet and being all over inviron'd and as it were cloathed with the Sun I mean that they ought not utterly to throw away Inclination but to conquer and moderate it that there should be in Love a little of Humour and a great deal of Prudence That Amity has no need of Inclination but in its Birth but has need of Consideration as long as it endures If it be necessary that the one be the Mother of it it is so too that the other be the Nurse and Mistress And in truth Inclination is like an imprudent Mother who loves her Children too well They must be wrested from her Bosom as soon as they are brought forth for fear that in Caressing and Embracing she should stifle them After all this Inclination is nothing else for the most part but a Phantasm the most learned find it difficult to express the Cause or the Nature of it It is so occult and hidden that many not being able to comprehend the Love that it gives Birth to they say it is they know not what which forms it self they know not how and which conquers by they know not what sort of Charms There are some that teach upon the Foundations of Plato's Philosophy That Inclination comes from Remembrance and that our Souls having view'd each other in another World before it seems that this is not the beginning of a Love but the continuance of 〈◊〉 That this is not properly the Birth of an Affection but the awakening of it Insomuch that according to their Opinion our Souls call to mind their former Alliance no otherwise than as two persons that have mutually lov'd heretofore when they see each other again after a long Separation they are surprized at first sight while the Imagination and Memory are at labour to discover and recollect those that touch them There are some others that attribute an Inclination to the Stars and who will have it that the same Cause which produces Flowers in the Bosom of the Earth produces also the Sympathy that is in our Souls Some again ascribe it to the four Qualities that they fansie are mingled in us namely Heat and Cold Dryness and Moisture And others make short Work of it and ascribe it to Destiny But that I may not trouble my self or the Reader with the Opinions of all those that deceive themselves and who seek the Original of the Inclination there where it is not it seems to me that we may philosophize rightly to proceed only from the Love of our selves We love all that which resembles us even to our Pictures we cherish our Image in all things where we see it We love all that which comes from us Fathers for these reasons love their Children Painters their Draughts Artificers their Work It is from hence that we may learn the great danger there is where the Love of Inclination engages us for since we very often love our selves on that side where we are most Imperfect and we embrace even our very shadow like Narcissus It follows from thence that we are in danger to love the Imperfections of others if it happens that they resemble our own If the love of our selves be blind that of Inclination is so likewise this is an Effect that must carry the resemblance of its Cause But if this Love of Inclination were not so dangerous and so full of darkness what need is there of this Sympathy or natural Conformity And why may not Love place it there where it was not Love as well as Death equals all things and makes a likeness where it does not find it In loving as well as dying both Kings and Shepherds find themselves at the same point Herein they are both Men equal in respect of Affection and of Weakness Love is like a Fire which can kindle another any where It does not only transmit it self into the subject it burns but also has power to dispose that to receive it It removes the qualities contrary to its own to put in others It drives the Enemy from the place it lays Siege to before it does render it self Master of it And to say the truth as there are hidden Forms in the Bosom of Matter which natural Agents are able to excite and produce so there are hidden Inclinations in our Souls which Conversation and Familiarity may give birth to There needs no more but to seek well after them and if we find them not at first yet a little time usually produces them How often do we see some Persons that distast us at the first and who nevertheless after a little Conversation do highly please us And others again who ravish us at the first sight and afterwards displease us as much Love may succeed to Aversion as well as Aversion to Love Experience sufficiently shows this and as those Trees that are of different kinds being well grafted do not fail to bring forth Fruit so the Amity that is formed between two Persons of different Humours may not fail to succeed well Plato had some reason to say That Love is a Teacher of Musick for as much as an Affection may breed as well in an inequality of Humours as a harmony may be made up of unequal Voices And indeed what sort of Conformity can we find between the young and the old who yet nevertheless do often mutually Love and Caress each other What proportion or likeness is there between the Loadstone and the Iron If the one drew the other out of Sympathy and Resemblance would not Iron be rather attracted by Iron than by the Stone to which it has a great deal less likeness But to the end that we may the better see how shameful and unjust this Love of Inclination is it is enough to consider that they who love us