the Miserable If Justice appoints a great Punishment which is sometimes necessary it is proportion'd to some great Crime but is never harsh or rigorous Severity and Rigour are no part of it but spring from the humour of those persons that execute it As these sorts of Punishments flow from Justice without rigour so likewise does Pardon in some cases rather then from Clemency To pardon Faults of Error is but Justice to the failings of our Nature I might proceed to several other particulars of Justice but it is now high time to think of Religion which ought to be our principal care After the manner that I have liv'd in the World People will not easily believe that I am very solicitous about Salvation Yet I can safely aver that no man e're thought of the next World with more Application than my self 'T is stupidity to set up our Rest in a Life that may terminate every moment Meer Curiosity will make us inquisitive to know what shall become of us after our Death We are too dear to our selves to agree to the irrecoverable loss of our selves Self Love secretly opposes the Notion of annihilation We are desirous to exist always and the Soul as it is interess'd in its own conversation improves this desire we have of receiving some light into a thing so obscure Yet the Body finding by certain experience that it must die and unwilling to die alone seeks reasons to involve the Soul in one common State But the Soul which knows its Actions are independant of those Organs is sensible that it can subsist without ' em I have called all the light I could both from the Antients and Moderns to assist my reflections to dive into so dark a matter I have read all that has been Written on the Immortality of the Soul and after I have done it with all my attention possible the clearest Proof that I find of the Eternity of my Soul is my own perpetual desire that it may be so I wish I had never read Mousieur Descartes's Meditations The great reputation of that excellent Man among us gave me some hope of finding that demonstration he promises but there appears to me rather probability then certainty in his arguments and how desirous soever I was to be convinc'd by his Reasons all that I can do in his favour or my own is to rest where I was before I leave the Study of Metaphysicks to make an enquiry into Religion and looking a Book upon that Antiquity of which I am so fond I find among the Greeks and Romans nothing more then a Superstitious Idolatrous Worship or politick humane contrivances establish'd for the Government of Men. It is not difficult for me to see the advantages of the Christian Religion over all the rest and submitting my self the best I can with reverence to the Belief of its Misteries I leave my Reason to tast with pleasure the purest and most perfect Morality in the World Amidst the diversity of Beleifs that divide Christianity the true Catholick engages me as well by my own free Election were I yet to choose as by the habitual Impression it has long since made upon me What we now call Religion is indeed but a difference in Religion and not a different Religion I rejoyce that my Faith is more sound then a Hereticks yet instead of Hating him for this difference I Love him because he agree's with me in the Fundamentals The means at length to agree in the whole is always to commuicate in something A desire of Reunion can never be inspir'd till the enmity that arises from division be suppress'd Men may seek one another as sociable but they never join with their Enemies Besides the difference of Doctrine in some points affected in every Sect I remark as it were a sort of particular Spirit that distinguishes ' em The Catholick tends particularly to the love of God and good Works We look upon this first Being as an Object soveraignly amiable and tender Souls are touch'd with the sweet and agreeable impressions it makes on ' em Good Works follow necessarily from this Principle for Love once receiv'd within actuates us without and puts us upon endeavouring all we can to please him we love All we have to fear in this case is lest the source of this Love the Heart should be corrupted by the mixture of any Passion altogather humane It is likewise to be feared that instead of obeying the Ordinance of God we should frame methods of serving him according to our own Fancies But if this love be real and pure nothing in the world yields that true sweetness and satisfaction The inward joy of devout Souls rises from a secret assurance they have of being agreeable to God and the true Mortifications and holy Austerities are nothing else but pious Sacrifices of themselves The Reformed Religion divests men of all confidence in merit The Opinion of Predestination which it dares not forgo leaves the Mind languid unmov'd without Affection under prerence of waiting with submission for the Will of Heaven It is Content barely to obey and seeks not to please and in a set common Worship makes God the Object rather of their Regularity than Love The Calvinists abstract from Religion every thing that appears humane to preserve its Purity but in endeavouring to debar Man of what is humane they frequently retrench too much of what is address'd to God Their dislike of our Ceremonies makes 'em industrious to refine upon us Yet when they have attain'd to this dry naked Purity they have not so much Devotion Those that are pious among 'em raise up a private Spirit which they think inspir'd so much dissatisfied are they with a Formality that to them seems too common There are in matters of Worship two sorts of Humours The one wou'd be always adding to and the other always retrenching what is established In the first there is a hazard of giving too much out-side to Religion and covering it with so many Exteriors that the real ground of it cannot be seen through ' em In the other the danger is least after having cut off all that appears superfluous Religion it self should be pared Tho' the Catholicks have abundance of Ceremonies yet that hinders not but that men of understanding may see well enough through ' em The Reform'd use too little and their ordinary Worship is not sufficiently distinguish'd from the common Occupations of Life In places where it is not tolerated the difficulty heightens their disgust and the Dispute raises a warmth that animates ' em Where it rules it produces only an exact Compliance as the Civil Government or any other Obligation might do Good manners among the Huguenots are only the effects of their Faith and the Subjects of their Belief We are agreed on both sides that every Christian is bound to Beleive and live aright but our ways of expressing it differ they say that good Works without Faith are but Dead
to judge the more impartially of you has endeavoured to continue free The means he took to keep himself so was to shun you as much as was possible for him 'T is not enough for one not to see you after he has once beheld you and this remedy which is elsewhere infallible does not carry an intire safety with it in Relation to your self Perhaps you will tell me that a Man whose Sentiments are somewhat tender is not generally Master of so rigorous a Judgment But altho' you shou'd give your self the trouble to tell me what displeases you I shall scarce take the Pains to undeceive my self a discernment which does not seem advantagious to you cannot subsist but in your absence for to repeat what I have already told you do but appear Madam in the midst of your Portraitures and Characters and you will soon efface all the Images the most fruitful imagination can form of you A Letter to Madam the Countess of d' Olonne and sent with the foregoing Character I Have here sent you your Character which tells you the general Sentiments of the World concerning you and which will inform you if you never knew it before that there is nothing so Beautiful in all France as your self Don't be so rigorous to your own merits as to deny your self that justice which all the World pays you The greatest part of Ladies suffer themselves to be easily perswaded and receive these sweet errours with Pleasure and it wou'd be very strange indeed if you cou'd not be prevailed upon to believe the truth Besides the Publick Opinion you have the Judgment of Madam d'Longueville on your side Submit to so authentic a Testimony without further scruple and since she believes it believe your self to be the most Charming Creature that was ever beheld From your Beauty Madam I pass to the mischiefs it has occasioned and to the infinite numbers of those that daily languish and dye for you 'T is not my design to render you compassionate on the contrary if you will follow my advice it shall cost one of your unfortunate admirers his Life Our Poets and Authors of Romances have too long entertained us with false Deaths I demand a true one of you which will be a new addition to your other atchievements To counsel you only to Love Subjects that are worthy of you is to reduce you to an impossibility and properly to counsel you never to Love Nothing now remains but to excuse my hardiness in finding out your faults and indeed I cou'd hinder it for otherwise I had gone against the rules of Character whose perfection consists in well separating the good and bad qualities After all I have infinitely more occasion to complain than you have one quarter of an hour is time sufficient for you to read them over but I passed whole Nights to discover them These were the first difficulties of this Nature I ever met and for a mark of a very extraordinary merit one of our nicest Criticks here in Town has found my praises easie and natural A LETTER to Monsieur D. B. I Don't know why you should admire my Verses since I don't admire them my self for I must inform you that in the opinion of a celebrated Master in Poetry a Poet is always the most affected with his own compositions As for my self I acknowledge abundance of faults in mine which I might correct is exactness were not extreamly troublesome to my Humour and did not take up too much time for a Person of my Age. Besides this I have another excuse in reserve which you 'l admit too unless I am mightily mistaken Essays are not often the best Master-pieces and my praises of the King being the first true and sincere one I ever gave you are not to admire if my success was not extraordinary great Your commendations of me are an ingenious Irony which figure I was so great a Master of formerly that the Marshal d'Clarambaut thought no one but my self capable to dispute the merit of it with you You ought not to employ it against a Man who has lost the use of it and who is so much your humble Servant as I am You see I am sufficient proof against laughter and yet in spight of all my precautions I cannot forbear to take in good part the Praises you give me upon the score of my Judgment 'T is your interest it shou'd be good just and delicate for the Idea of yours which I always preserve by me is the rule of mine That Miracle of Beauty which I formerly saw at Bourbon is the same Miracle of Beauty which I see at London Some Years which have arrived to her since have given her more Wit and taken away none of her Charms Fair Eyes so sweetly Charming and Divine That Cause such Transports where you Shine Oh! ne're to grief your Christal Treasures pay Your Pearls on grief are thrown away Tears from those Orbs let no misfortunes move So rich a Tribute's only due to Love A Panegyrick upon the Dutchess of Mazarine By Mr. BROWN I Have undertaken to day a thing without President I have undertaken to make the Funeral Oration of a Person who is in better Health than her Orator This will surprize you Gentlemen But if we are permitted to take care of our Tombs to order Inscriptions for them to give a greater extent to our vanity than Nature has been willing to give our Lives If those that are alive may appoint the Place where they are to lye when they shall be no longer in the Number of Living If Charles the Fifth caused his own Funerals to be celebrated and for two Years assisted at them in Person can you think it strange Gentlemen that a Beauty more illustrious by her Charms than that Emperour was for his Conquests is willing to enjoy the happiness of her Memory and hear whilst she is alive what may be said of her after her Death Let others endeavour to excite your sorrows for one that is dead I will command your Tears for one who is Living for a Person who is to dye one day by the necessary misfortune of humane condition and who ought to live for ever for the sake of her admirable qualities Weep Gentlemen and not tarrying to bewail a Beauty till she is lost afford your Tears to the Melancholy consideration that we must once lose her Weep weep Whoever expects a certain and unviolable Misfortune may already Stile himself unfortunate Hortensia will dye That Miracle of the World will dye one day The Idea of so great a calamity deserves your Tears Yes Charminng Goddess you must leave us Death will remove the heavenly prize And of those numerous Charms bereave us That now employ our hearts and Eyes Let us turn our imaginations from her Death to her Birth that we may steal one moment from our grief If your see her come into the World you will immediately remember that she is to depart out of it
prefer the Age of Augustus upon the account of Virgil and Horace and perhaps more yet upon the score of Maecenas who encouraged Men of Learning than for those Men of Learning themselves It is neverthelsess certain that their Parts as well as Courages began at that time to decay Grandeur of Soul was converted to Circumspect Conduct and sound Discourse to Polite Conversation I know not what to think of the Remains of Maecenas unless it be that they had something of Grimace which was made to pass for delicate Maecenas was Augustus's great Favourite The Man that pleas'd and whom all the Polite and sprightly Witts courted now is it not likely that his judgment over-rul'd the rest that they affected his Air and Ap'd as much as they could his Character Augustus himself leaves us no great Idea of his Latinity What we see of Terence what was reported at Rome of politeness of Scipio and Laelius the Reliques of Caesar and what we have of Cicero with the complaint of this last for the loss of what he calls Sales Lepores Venustates Vrbanitas Amaenitas Festivitas Iucunditas all together make me believe upon better consideration That we must search some other time than that of Augustus to find the sound and agreeable Wit of the Romans as well as the pure and natural Graces of their Tongue It may be said That Horase had a very nice Palate in all these Matters which perswades me that the rest of his Contemporaries had not For the nicety of his Relish consisted chiefly in finding that of others ridiculous But as for the Impertinencies false Manners and Affectations which he laugh'd at his sense wou'd not at this day appear so very just I own that of Augustus to have been the Age of excellent Poets but it follows not That it was that of Universal Genius's Poetry requires a peculiar Genius that agrees not overmuch with good sense It is sometimes the Language of Gods sometimes of Buffoons rarely that of a Civil Man It delights in Figures and Fictions always besides the reality of things tho' it be that only that can satisfy a found Understanding Not but that there is something Noble in making good Verse but we must have a great command of our Genius otherwise the mind is possess'd with something Foreign which hinders it from the free management of it self He 's a Block-head say the Spaniards that can't make two Verses and a Fool that makes four If this Maxim prevail'd over all the World we should want a thousand fine Works the reading of which gives us a very delicate pleasure but this Maxim respects Men of Business rather than profess'd Poets However those that are capacitated for such great Works will not oppose the force of their Genius for what I can say and it is certain that amongst Authors those only will write few Verses who find themselves curb'd more by their own natural Unaptness than by my Reasons Excellent Poets are as requisite for our pleasure as great Mathematicians for our use But it is sufficient for us to be acquainted with their Works and not engage our selves in the solitary Enthusiasm of the one or to exhaust our Spirits in Meditation like the other Of all Poets Comedians are most proper for the converse of the World For they oblige themselves to paint naturally what passes in it and to express after a lively manner the Thoughts and Passions of Men. How new an Air soever may be given to old Thoughts that sort of Poetry is very tedious which is fill'd with Similies of the Morning the Sun Moon and Stars Our Descriptions of a calm and a tempestuous Sea represent nothing which the Antients have not done much better Now we have not only the same Ideas but the very same Expressions the same Rhymes I never hear of the Harmony of Birds but I prepare my self for the murmuring of Brooks the Shepherds are always lolling upon Fern and you may sooner find a Grove without a Shade in its proper sight than in our Verses This must necessarily at length be very tedious which cannot happen in Comedy where with pleasure we see our own Actions drawn and are touch'd with Paralel Motions A Discourse of Woods Rivers Meadows Fields and Gardens make but a very languishing Impression upon us unless their Beauties be wholly new But a discourse of Humanity its Inclinations Tendernesses and Affections finds something at the bottom of our Souls prepar'd to receive it the same nature produces and receives 'em and they are easily transfused from the Actors to the Spectators The Delicacy of Love sooths me and its tenderness touches me and as in Spain they love the best of any Country in the World I am never weary of reading in their Authors Amorous Adventures I am more affected with the Passion of one of their Lovers than I shou'd be with my own were I yet capable of any The very Imagination of those Amours raises in me certain motions for the Gallant which I cou'd never feel for my self There is perhaps as much Witt in the other Writings of that Nation as in ours but it is a Wit that gives me no satisfaction except that of Cervantes in Don Quixot which I cou'd read all my life without being disgusted one single moment Of all the Books I have ever read Don Quixot is that of which I shou'd be most ambitious to have been the Author Nothing in my Opinion can contribute more to the forming in us a true relish of every thing I wonder how Cervantes cou'd as it were out of the Mouth of one of the greatest Fools in the World shew himself maiter of all the Understanding and Knowledge imaginable I admire the diversities of his Characters which are of the most uncommon stamp in the World and at the same time the most natural Quevedo indeed appears a very Ingenious Author but I esteem him more for wishing all other Books Burnt when he had read Don Quixot than for having been able to read ' em I am not acquainted enough with Italian Verse to taste their delicacy or admire their Grace and Beauty I meet with some Histories in that Tongue above all the Moderns and some Treatises of Politicks even above what the Antients have Written As for the Morality of the Italians it is full of Conceipts which savour more of a Fancy that aims to Sparkle than of solid Sense founded on deep Reflections I am very curious of every thing that is fine in French and am very much distasted at a thousand Authours that seem only to have written for the Reputation of being Authors I read not for the credit of having read abundance and this is it which tyes me up to certain Books where I 'm assur'd to meet satisfaction Montagne's Essays Malherbe's Poems Corneille's Tragedies and Voiture's Letters have established to themselves as it were a Title to please me during Life Montagne has not the same success with others through their
whole Course As he particularly lays open Men the Young and the Old are pleased to see themselves in him by the resemblance of their Thoughts The space intermediate to these Ages takes 'em off from Nature to other Professions and then they find less in Montagne that fits ' em The Art Military employs the General Politicks the States-man Divinity the Church Man and Law the Judge Montagne returns upon us when Nature has brought us back again to our selves and the approach of Age when we truly feel what we are recalls the Prince as well as his meanest Subjects from his Engagements to his Function to the more near and sensible interest of his Person I Write not this out of any impulse of vanity which urges Men to make their Fancies publick I instruct my self by what I say and understand my self better by expressing the Notion I have form'd of my self then I could by private thoughts and Internal Reflections The Idea a Man has of himself by simple attention to Internal Meditations is always a little confus'd The Image which is outwardly express'd is much more exact and gives us much truer Judgment of our selves when it is again submitted to the Examination of the mind after having been laid before our eyes Besides the flattering Opinion of our own merit loses half its Charms as soon as it comes into the light and the complaisance of self Love insensibly vanishing leaves behind it only a disgust of its sweetness and shame for a vanity as foolishly entertain'd as judiciously quitted To equal Malherbe to the Antients I find nothing finer then his own compositions I wou'd only in his works retrench what is not worthy of him It were injustice to postpone him to any one whoever But he must bear with us if for the honour of our own Judgments we make him give place to himself Almost the same we may say of Corneille He wou'd be above all the Tragedians of Antiquity if he were not in some of his pieces much below himself He is so admirable in what is fine that he take saway all patience for what is indifferent What in him is not excellent methinks is naught not that it is bad but that it wants the perfection of the rest It is not enough for him to please us lightly he 's bound to touch us to the quick If he ravishes not our minds they employ their utmost penetration enviously to discover the difference between him and himself Some Authors may simply move us But those are petty ticklings pleasing enough when we have nothing else to mind Corneille prepares our minds for transports If they be not elevated they are left in a condition more uneasie than languour It is I confess hard always to Charm Very hard at pleasure to raise a mind from its temper to unhinge a Soul But Corneille by having done it so often has laid upon himself an Obligation to do it always Let him expunge what is not noble enough for him and he will leave us in a full admiration of those Beauties which no one can Parallel I should not excuse Voiture for a great many of his Letters which he ought to have suppress'd had himself been the Publisher But he was like some Fathers equally kind and prudent who have a natural affection for their Children and in secret cherish those that want worth thereby to avoid exposing their Judgments to the Publick by their Indulgence He might have shew'd all his Fondness to some of his Works for there is something in 'em so unaccountably ingenious so polite so fine and so agreeable that it takes away all taste of the Sales Attici ' and the Roman â—rbanitas ecclypses quite the Spirit and Wit of the Italians and the Gallantry of the Spaniards We have in French some particular pieces of admirable Beauty of which number is the Funerall Oration of the Queen of England by Monsieur de Meaux There is a certain Spirit diffus'd through the whole discourse which gives as great an opinion of the Author before he is known as of his Work after 't is read His Character is impress'd on all that he says so that altho' I have never seen him I pass easily from the admiration of his Discourse to that of his Person Nor am I less affected with the Abridgment of General History done by the same Prelate Such reach is there in his Reflections The sense so sound so great a purity of Reasoning What a capacity of mind must he have in one Scheme to comprehend so great a variety of Events so far disjoyn'd both in time and place What Judgment to reconcile 'em as he do's and draw from 'em Consequences so advantagious to the true Religion How great soever the pleasure of Reading is to me yet that of Conversation will ever be more sensible The acquaintance of the Ladies would afford the sweetest if their Charms did not put us to too much pain to defend our selves from doing Homage to ' em Yet this is a violence I rarely suffer as my Age renders me unacceptable my Experience makes me nice and if they can't be pleas'd with me I am by way of return as little satisfied with them There are some whose Merits make a considerable impression on my mind but their Beauty has little influence on me And if I am at any time surprized by it I presently reduce my Passion to a pleasing reasonable Amity that has none of the uneasinesses of Love Amongst Ladies the most meritorious person with them is the Lover the next the Confident of their Inclinations the third he that ingeniously sets off all that is amiable in ' em If nothing will win their hearts we may at least gain their Favours by Complements for next to the Lover to whom all must give place he pleases 'em most that can make 'em please themselves best When you converse with 'em avoid carefully all indifference they are from their Souls Enemies to such coldness or love your self or flatter what they love or paint 'em so as to plunge 'em still deeper in Love with themselves For Love of some sort or other they must have it is a Passion their Hearts are never unfurnish'd with Direct a poor Heart how to employ it 'T is true some of 'em can have esteem and even tenderness too without Love and others there are as worthy of our Confidence and Secrets as the most trusty of our Friends I know some that have no less Wit and Discretion then Charms and Beauty But those are Rarities that Nature wantonly bestows on the World whether by design or caprice and we can draw no Consequences in Favour of the Generall from things so particular and from Qualities so uncommon Women so extraordinary seem to invade the Character of Men and perhaps it is a kind of revolt from their Sex to shake off the Natural Conditions of it for the real Advantages of ours I confess I have formerly been more difficult in
its Object The second comes from without and is either caused by a secret sympathy or by the violence of an amorous impression The one is a Good that only occasions Pleasure but yet it is always a Good and lasts as long as their Beauty does The other is capable of touching them more sensibly but is more subject to change and alteration To this advantage of duration which the pleasure that the Ladies take in their Beauty has above the influence of an Amour we may add the following one viz. That a Beautiful Woman is more concerned to preserve her Beauty than her Lover and shews less tenderness for a Heart already vanquish'd than she expresses vanity and ostentation in extending her Conquests Not but that she may very well be allowed to be sensible for her Gallant but in all probability she will sooner resolve to suffer the loss of what she loves than lose and ruine what causes her to be beloved There is a certain sort of a pleasure tho' 't is in a manner impossible truly to describe it which we feel in deploring the death of one we love Our Love supplies the place of a Lover in the Reign of grief and thence proceeds that affection to this mourning which has its Charms Cease Thyrsis cease by an ill tim'd relief To rob me of my best Companion Grief Sorrow to me all lovely does appear It fills the place of what I held so dear But 't is not so with the loss of Beauty This loss is a full consummation of all other Calamities it cruelly robbs the Ladies of the hopes of ever receiving any pleasure as long as they live As long as a Woman is in full possession of her Beauty no Misfortune can befall her which she cannot in some measure alleviate But when once that Blessing has left her all the other advantages of Fortune will never be able to give her any tolerable satisfaction Where-ever she goes the remembrance of what she has lost or the consideration of whashe is at present will give her a thou sand uneasinesses In such a case her best remedy will be to employ all her discretion to make her self easie under that unfortunate Condition But alass what an unpalatable remedy is it for a Woman who has once been adored to abandon so dear a vanity and come back to her Reason 'T is a new and mortifying experiment this after a person has been used to entertain her self with such agreeable Thoughts The last Tears that beautiful Eyes reserve are spent in bewailing themselves after they are effaced out of all Hearts The only person that still laments a lost Beauty is the miserable Possessor One of our best Poets endeavouring to comfort a great Queen for the loss of her Royal Spouse would make her asham'd of the extravagance of her Affection by citing to her the Example of a certain Princess in despair who so wholly abandon'd her self to this weakness that she reproached the Stars and accused the Gods for the loss of her Husband Boldly she charges every Power above So much her Reason's govern'd by her Love With all that fruitful anger can inspire When Grief indulg'd renews the glowing Fire But finding that the horrour of Impiety was not strong enough to make any impression on a mind so disordered by grief for his last and concluding Reason he represents to her that it was her Interest to be sedate as if he had no better a remedy against this excess but to put her in mind of the great injury it did her Beauty Those charming Locks the rudest Hands would spare And yet they suffer by your own despair Alass what Crimes have those fair Tresses done Think what a train of Conquests they have won Is grief so cruel or your rage so blind That to your self you must be thus unkind He excused the Ladies for paying some Tribute to their Sorrow but he never pardons them the Sin of making themselves less amiable This is a Transgression that he imagins will easily create an horror in them without urging any farther Considerations It had been mere impertinence to endeavour to reduce them by reason but to set before their Eyes the interest of their Beauty was the strongest Argument he could think of to oppose to the obstinacy of their Grief and he knew nothing beyond that which was capable to reform this extravagance That we may fully know how far the Ladies are devoted to their Beauty let us consider the most retired and solitary amongst them There are some in that station who have renounced all Pleasures who are weaned from the Interests of the World who endeavour to please no body and whom no body pleases But amidst all this coldness and indifference for every thing else they secretly flattor themselves to see they are still agreeable enough There are others that abandon themselves to sorts of austerities yet if they accidentally happen to see themselves in a Glass you shall hear them sigh to behold so Melancholly an alteration They do every thing that helps to disfigure their Faces with all imaginable readiness but can't endure the sight of them when they are once disfigured Nature that can consent to destroy herself out of Love to God secretly opposes it self to the least change of Beauty out of a principle of self-love that never dies with us Let a Fair Person retire into what place she pleases let her condition be what it will yet her Charms and Features are still dear to her They will be dear to her even in the time of sickness and if her sickness goes as far as Death the last sigh that passes from her is more for the loss of her Beauty than for that of her Life A LETTER TO Monsieur the Count de B. R. By the same Hand YOU ask me what I have been doing in the Country and since the place cou'd not furnish me with agreeable Conversations whether I did not take great Pleasure to entertain my self in Contemplation I will tell you then without affection that I endeavour to divert my self as much as possible where I am Every Country has its Rarities which we learn not without satisfaction and the most Savage places have their Pleasures if we are in a capacity to use them It cannot otherwife happen but that every thing must displease me whenever I begin I employ my self in Meditation for to speak soberly upon the matter we never fail to be tiresome to our selves in too long and too serious a commerce with our own Thoughts Solitude has this peculiar to its self that it imprints upon us I don't know what sort of a Mournful Air barely with thinking upon the wretchedness of our State Oh strange condition of Man If he intends to live happy he must make but few reflections upon life nay he must often depart as it were from himself and amidst the Pleasures which exteriour Objects furnish him with steal from the knowledge of his own Miseries Divertisements
effectual than meer blustering and big words At last the Contest was renewed a fresh The former being resolved to dye a Martyr for his Opinion and the other still maintaining the cause of ignorance with great ardour and resolution When a charitable Father who chanced to be in the Room interposed to accommodate the difference being ravished to meet so favourable an opportunity to show his Wit and Learning He cough'd thrice very Methodically and then turning himself towards the Doctor he thrice sneer'd as your Men of the World use to do at our pleasant Ignoramus When he thought he had composed his Countenance well enough digitis gubernantibus vocem he spoke after this manner I must tell you Gentlemen I must tell you that Learning adds to the Beauty of Nature and likewise that a natural Genius gives a grace to Learning A genius of it self without Rule and Art is like a Torrent that pours down irregularly And Knowledge without a natural Talent resembles those dry and barren Fields that are so disagreeable to the sight Now Gentlemen the business is how to reconcile what you have so unadvisedly divided to re-establish an Vnion where you have made a Divorce Learning is nothing in the World but a perfect knowledge and Art is nothing but a Rule that directs Nature And wou'd you Sir addressing himself to N. be ignorant of the things you speak of and value your self only upon your natural force which is irregular and far from perfection And you Mr. B. will you renounce the natural Beauty of the Mind to render your self a slave to troublesome Precepts and borrow'd Knowledge Come come replies N. very briskly let us make an end of this Discourse I wou'd rather bear with his knowledge than with the great Harangue you have made us here At least he is Laconic and I understand you no better than I do him The good Man who was not of an irreconcileable Nature soon suffer'd himself to be sweetned and to quit scores with N. prefer'd his agreeable ignorance to the Magnificent words of the Father A Letter to Madam L. HOW violent soever my Friendship is it has left me force enough to write to you with less concern than I used to do And to tell you the truth I am somewhat ashamed to send you Country sighs which have neither the sweetness nor delicacy of those you hear But let them be what they will I must of necessity hazard them and endeavour to make you remember me at a time when all the World endeavours to make me be forgotten I don't question but that the interview of your Pious Mother and the rest of your godly Family was accompanied with abundance of Tears To be sure to such a Mother's Tears you paid a civil and respectful return like a well-bred Daughter But then you know the World too well to exchange a real tenderness for the grief of Hyppocrites whose Virtue is nothing else but a mere Artifice to deprive you of those Pleasures which themselves regret 'T is enough you show'd your obedience once and Sacrificed your Repose to a complaisance which perhaps you did not owe her she is unjust if after she has exacted so severe an obedience from you she pretends to regulate your Inclinations and constrains the only thing she has left in your power We Love that which pleases us and not what is barely permitted to us so that if you must demand leave of your Parents before you are suffer'd to Love so well am I acquainted with their humour that I dare assure you you 'l have but a little occaon to be accquainted with that Passion should you live as long as a Sibill. But perhaps this discourse may seem very impertinent to you and considering your present circumstances I ought rather to be apprehensive of those persons that counsel you to Love than those that forbid it Perhaps you may follow the advice I give you and laugh at the reprimands of your Mother How do I know but that this poor Mother of yours to whom I wish so much mischief may be in my interests and that to stifle a growing Friendship in its birth she does not give you the liberty to Love a Person so remote from you Hitherto I have had all the reason in the World to commend your constancy and resolution but I doubt whether a meer Idea will be able to dispute it long against a Face and memory against Conversation I have too great a concern upon me to leave the advantage of being present with you any longer to those Gentlemen that daily behold you and within a few days no manner of business shall hinder me from throwing my self at your feet While you are expecting that I should come and entertain you with my passion remember how many Thousand Oaths you have sworn to Love me and only me as long as you Live Another Letter to the same Person YOU imagine Madam that I hate you and so far you are in the right on 't that if you consult the reason I have to do so you may well believe that I hate you most abominably But then if you consider what a mighty power you have always had upon me you conclude rightly enough that it is not in my power to hate you and to my shame I acknowledge it that I still Love and Doat upon you after all the cruel injuries you have done Men. The difference between your and my way of procedure is extraordinary enough you wish me ill because you have been obliged by me on the other hand I wish you all the Prosperity in the World in spite of the ill treatments I have received at your hands For God sake Madam pardon me the injuries you have done me forget what I have done for you and you will remove all the occasion you have to hate me Let us therefore if you please begin a new sort of Friendship where neither reproach nor Justification nor Quarrels nor Reconcilements shall have any thing to do The only motive of my Friendship is because you are lovely in all respects that of yours ought to be the opinion you now have or at least I desire you to have that I am an honest well meaning Admirer of yours Excuse my Vanity The practice and custom of the Gascons could not give me a less share of it and provide I keep my self here without making further advances you I are sufficiently even with one another but I will by no means promise to imitate those People in all things particularly where you have any manner of Concern A Letter to Madam O. I Remember Madam that as I went to the Army I begg'd of you to Love the Count of B. In case I should be so unfortunate as to meet my Death there in which particular I have been so well obeyed that you do not hate him at all during my life to learn I suppose how to love him the better after my Death Madam you have punctually
HORTENSIA de MANCHINI was born at ROME of an Illustrious Family Her Ancestors were always considerable but tho they had all of them governed Empires they had not brought her so much Glory as she reflects back upon them Heaven formed this great Masterpiece by a Model unknown to the Age we live in To the shame of our time it bestow'd upon Hortensia the Beauty of ancient Greece and the Virtue of old Rome Let us pass over her Infancy in silence without stopping our Discourse there Her Infancy was attended with a thousand pretty simplicities but had nothing of Importance enough for our Subject Gentlemen I demand your Tears I demand your Admiration To obtain them I have both Misfortunes and Virtues to represent to you It was not long before Cardinal Mazarine was sensible of the Advantages of his beautiful Niece and therefore to do Justice of the Gifts of Nature he destin'd Hortensia to carry his Name and to possess his Wealth After his death she had Charms that might engage even Kings to court her out of Love and a fortune capable to oblige them to do it out of interest But what occasion had you Madam to become a Sovereign Do's not your Beauty make you reign wherever you go There is no Nation that do's not pay a voluntary Submission to the Power of your Charms there is no Queen that has not a greater ambition for your Beauty than you can possibly have for her Grandeur All Climes and Countries do adore her Fresh Triumphs on her Beauties wait The World injustly calls her Rover She only views the limits of her State In effect what Country is there which Hortensia has not seen What Nation has seen her that has not at the same time admir'd her Rome beheld her with as great Admiration as Paris did That City in all ages of the World so glorious boasts more upon giving her to the World than producing such a race of Heroes She believes that so extraordinary a Beauty is preferable to the greatest valour and that more Conquests were to be gained by her eyes than by the Arms of her Citizens Italy Madam will be everlastingly obliged to you for abolishing those importunate Rules that bring a greater constraint than regularity with them for freeing her from a science of Formality Ceremony and Civility mixt together from the tyranny of premeditated respects that render Men unsociable even in Society itself 'T is Hortensia who has banish'd all Grimace and all affectation from thence who has destroy'd that art of Trifles which only regulates appearances that Study of exteriour things that only composes mens Countenances 'T is she who has rendred ridiculous a stiff awkward Gravity which supply'd the place of Prudence and who has triumph'd over a politick Itch without concern and without interest busied only to conceal the defects a Man finds in himself 'T is she who has introduced a sweet and innocent Liberty who has rendred Conversation more agreable and made Pleasure more pure and delicate A Fatality caused her to come to Rome and a Fatality caus'd her to leave it Madam the Constable Colonna's Lady had a mind to quit her Husband and imparted this resolution to her Sister Her Sister as young as she was represented to her upon this occasion all that a Mother could have done to hinder it But seeing her unalterably fixt to execute her design she follow'd her out of Love and Affection whom she could not disswade by her Prudence and shared with her all the Danger of flight the Fears the Inquietudes and the Inconveniencies that always attend such sort of Resolutions Fortune who has a great Power in our Enterprises but a much greater in our Adventures made Madam the Constable's Lady wander from Nation to Nation and threw her at last into a Convent at Madrid Right Reason advised Hortensia to seek her repose and a desire of retirement oblig'd her to settle her abode at Chambery There she found in her self by her Reflexions by a Commerce with learned Men by Books and by Observations all that solid Satisfaction which a Court do's not give Courtiers who are either too much taken up with business or too much dissolved in Pleasures Three whole years did Hortensia live at Chambery always in a state of Tranquillity but never obscure Whatever Inclinations she might have to conceal herself her merit establish'd for her a small Empire in spight of her and made a Court of a Retreat In effect she commanded that City and all the Country about it Every one acknowledged with pleasure those Rights which Nature had given her even He who had them over all the rest by virtue of his Birth forgot them freely and entred into the same subjection with his People Those of the greatest merit and quality quitted the Court and neglected the Service of their Prince to apply themselves particularly to that of Hortensia and considerable Persons of remote Countries made a Voyage to Italy to furnish themselves with a pretence to see her 'T is an extraordinary thing to be able to establish a Court at Chambery 'T is as it were a Prodigy that a Beauty which had a mind to conceal it self in places almost inaccessible should make a greater noise in Europe than all Europe together The most beautiful Persons of every Nation had the displeasure to hear a continual mention made of an absent Fair. The most lovely Women had a secret Enemy that ruined all the Impressions they could make It was the Idea of Hortensia which was pretiously preserved in those places where she had been seen and was formed with pleasure in those where she had never been Such was the Conduct of Hortensia such was her Condition when the Duchess of York her Relation passed through Chambery in the way to find the Duke her Husband The singular merit of the Duchess her Beauty her Wit and her Virtue inspir'd Hortensia with a desire to accompany her but her Affairs would not permit her So she was obliged to delay that Voyage till a more favourable opportunity the curiosity she had to see one of the greatest Courts in the World which she had never beheld fortified her in this Resolution the death of the Duke of Savoy determined it This Prince had the same Sentiments of her as all People that had the happiness to behold her He had admired her at Turin and this Admiration Madam of Savoy interpreted to be Love A jealous black Impression produced a behaviour very little obliging towards the person who hád caused it There needed no more than this to oblige Hortensia to depart out of a Country where the new Regent was in a manner absolute To separate herself from the Duchess of Savoy and approach the Duchess of York was but one and the same Resolution Hortensia acquainted her Friends with this determination who imployed all their Arguments to disswade her from it but 't was in vain never was seen so great a profusion of Tears As
pain the Death of Persons dear to us altho it is the first evil of Opinion is no great evil if it doth not expose us much to the evils of Nature Let us examine then at present what consequences the Death of your Friend draws after it Whether it abandons you to an indisposition of Body Whether it gives you over to Servitude Whether it reduces you to Poverty And I believe we shall soon discover that it draws down upon you none of the evils of Nature How should it abandon you to an indisposition of Body Your Friend was Old and you are Young He could not have dispensed with your cares tho you could have been without his assistance He reached the end of his Race before you arrived to the middle of yours and the time of his Death had much got the start of your Infirmities It is true if it was not impossible for you to have an infirm Youth But all possible evils are not formidable Human Prudence doth not look upon Objects that are too wandring and too remote We should not fear evils that threaten not and we should not much fear even those that threaten at a distance How should it give you over to Servitude Thanks to our Religion our Laws and our Manners we are free and if we except those whom the Service of God and the State engage to cross the Seas there are scarce any but Vagabonds that can become Slaves But tho by the Revolution of Human Affairs Servitude should come and seek after you from one end of the World to the other or should meet with you upon its own Lands would you not enjoy Consolatory means enough in all your great Qualities Would you not easily attract the veneration of your Masters And would not your Masters employ all their Power to hinder you from depriving them of your presence Yes Madam you might always render your condition supportable to your self But in case it should appear uneasy to you your Friend would never be capable of changing it Your Ransom would exceed his Power Your Merit would obstruct your Liberty and if they should exact your real value it would be impossible for you to find Redeemers In fine how should it reduce you to poverty Your Friend was not rich and it is hard that you should be poor One cannot be so with the Graces the Vertues the Sciences and Arts which you possess and the world is not yet become so insensible of merit as to give you leave fo fear extremities which would dishonour your Age. Don't apprehend then Madam any lamentable consequences from the Death of your Friend Nothing will be wanting to you in life not even such Friends as he you have lately lost There will arise some from the dust of him you lament and there is no Man of equal honour and wit with him but will love you as he did and like him will be devoted to your service But you are in pain perhaps whether there are still such perfect friends to be found Make no question of it Madam Vertue loses nothing no more than Nature The seeds of goodness circulate eternally and pass without intermission from one subject to another and the principles which contribute to the production of the wise no more annihilate than those which concur to the generation of Men. Your Friend has made room for an infinite number of others to succeed him and 't is only your province to elect him a successour in the most numerous Court that ever Sacrificed to the Graces You will find that Heaven will restore you full as much as it has ' taken from you How do you know but it will give you even more You will discover in him you shall make choice off all that was in him you have lost and perhaps something more possibly more youth and a better meen possibly a vertue less severe and a friendship more agreeable Let the things we lose be of never so great yet we must not abandon our selves to immoderate grief when we only lose what we are able to recover You need only defend your self from this popular mistake which makes us apprehend in second friendships either the jealousy of the dead or the censure of the living The dead are offended at nothing and the living are affronted at all things But the living are of a very scurvy humour when they oblige us to sacrifice our selves to the dead If the dead loved Sacrifices they would take the pains to demand them of us They must needs have lost the tast of the things of this World since they entertain no commerce with us And if they are so unmindful of us why should we be reduced to live only for them Assure your self Madam that their state is a state of Insensibility or a state of Repose and that we can do nothing to make them either happy or miserable What is it in your oppinion that has prescribed to us the duty of preserving fidelity to the Dead but the weakness and tyranny of the Living Every one would flatter himself with the thought of fixing another to himself when he is no longer fixed to any one Our Vanity is so great that it exacts veneration for our Ashes and endeavours to make our shadows triumph over our Rivals It is not just Madam to have regard to this fancy At the moment we are buried the world is quit of all obligations in relation to us The duties of interment are called the last duties and beyond the Funeral all that is given to the Dead is taken from the Living Lamentations that are too long not only hurt Nature but Society likewise They render us incapable of the duties of a civiâ— Life And one may say that out of complaisance to those Friends we have lost they make us wanting to those whom we still retain Observe all those people that indulge their sorrow and seek to get reputation by their Grief Is it not certain that their affliction seems to suspend their Friendship or at least that it dispenses them from acting in favour of the Friends Nay one may say that 't is an Incivility to offer a petition to them and request a service of them So much doth Grief devote them to the Dead and render them unuseful to the Living But what must there be no lamenting for the death of our friends No Madam there must be none if it were possible This passion is absolutely pernicious and if it were good in any respect it would only be in demonstrating that we knew how to Love But if tears were certain marks of love the greatest weepers would be the firmest Lovers and we are sensible of the contrary Weak Women cry more than those of stronger courages and the latter love more than the former I am not surprised to find Tears were in so great reputation with the Poets and despised by the Philosophers Poetry borrows its fineness from the Passions and the infirmity of Nature And
cause of so many great Misfortunes which happen to Men. I confess 't is a good thing to search God in Spirit and Truth This first Essence this soveraign Intelligence deserves our most purifi'd Speculations But when we have a mind to disengage our Soul from all commerce with our Sense are we assur'd that an abstracted Knowledge is not lost in wandring Thoughts and does not create more Extravagancies than it discovers Truths Whence think you comes the Absurdity of so many Sects scatter'd through the World but from deep Meditations where the Mind as it were in a Dream meets with nothing but its own proper Fancies Forget Sir this melancholy Disgust you have to our Images Images stop in a manner this Spirit so difficult to be fixed Moreover there is nothingmore natural to Man than Imitation and of all Imitations there is nothing so lawful as that of a Picture which represents to us only what we ought to Worship The Idea of vertuous Persons creates in us a love of Vertue and produces a just desire to attain that Perfection which they have arrived to There are Emulations of Holiness as well as Jealousies of Glory and if the Picture of Alexander animated the Ambition of Caesar to a Conquest of the World the Image of our Saints may well excite in us the ardour of their Zeal and inspire us with that happy Violence which ravishes Heaven I allow you that the Old Testament did not permit us to form any thing that looked like the resemblance of God This God painted himself in the great Work of the Universe The Heavens the Sun the Stars the Elements were the Images of his Immensity and Power The wonderful Order of Nature exprest his Wisdom to us Our Reason which would know all finds in her self a kind of Idea of this Infinite Being and this was all that could be figur'd of a God who did no otherwise discover himself to Men but by his Works But it is not thus in the New Alliance Since that a God is become Man for our Salvation we may well make to our selves Images of him to stir us up to the knowledge of his Goodness and Love And in effect if those are condemn'd as Hereticks that deny'd his Humanity is not it a strange Absurdity to call us Idolaters for loving to see it represented You are commanded to think always of his Passion to meditate always upon his Sufferferings and it yet is made a crime in us to have Figures that should support the Remembrance of them They would have the Image of his Death always presented to our Souls but won't allow of any before our Eyes Your Aversion for the Ornaments of our Priests has no better Foundation Do not you know Sir that God took the pains himself to ordain even the Fringe of the Habit of the High Priest And do you find that our Pontifical Habits are very different from those under the Jewish Oeconomy You are not less forward to deny us our Musick than to condemn our Images You ought to have remembred Sir that David recommended nothing frequenter to the Israelites than to sing the Praises of the Lord with all sorts of Instruments The Musick of our Churches exalts the Soul purifies the Spirit inspires the Heart and rectifies or augments the Devotion When a Mistery or a Miracle is treated of you understand nothing but Sense and Reason In Natural things which lead to Purity Sense and Reason are your Enemies There you give all to Nature here to Grace there one can alledge nothing supernatural but you laugh at it Here one says nothing of Humane to you but you think it Prophane and Impious Contrarieties have lasted but too long Agree with us about the lawful establisht Customs and we will write with you against the Abuses that have been introduc'd As to the Doctrine of our Church touching the real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of our Altar you have no more reason to dispute it You say that it is difficult to agree with us about a Body without Figure and Extension But is it more easie for us to agree with you about your Spiritual eating it After this manner who eats really the Substance of this same Body The difficulty of comprehending the Mistery is it less great on your side And is not a Miracle as necessary to your Opinion as ours So that if in spite of all this the love of a Separation still possesses you and that you cannot disengage your self from the prejudice of your Sentiments do not complain of that which is taken from you as an Injustice but rather be thankful for that which you have left as a Grace Melancholly Muttering and Opposition will rather hurt than serve you Whereas a Conduct more respectful and an Interest more discreetly manag'd than violently maintain'd might hinder the design of your Ruine if it were thought on One of the chiefest points of Discretion and the oftenest recommended is to respect in all Countries the Religion of the Prince To condemn the Belief of the Soveraign is to condemn the Soveraign himself at the same time A Protestant who in his Discourse or Writings taxes the Catholick Religion of Idolatry accuses the King by a necessary Consequence to be an Idolater and makes an assault upon him in his own Dominions which the Emperours of Rome would never suffer I know well that I exhort you to no purpose in the humour you are at present A Sentiment as it were natural which is form'd in our first Impressions the inclination one has for ancient Customs the difficulty that one suffers to quit a Belief one has been born in to embrace another which one has always oppos'd a delicacy of Scruple a false opinion of Constancy are bonds which will not easily be broken But then at least leave to your Children the liberty of chusing that which your long Engagements will not suffer you to do You complain of the Edict that obliges them to choose a Religion at seven years old Now this is the greatest favour could have been done them by that they are restor'd to their Country which you robb'd them of It returns them into the Bosom of the Common-wealth whence you drag'd them It makes them capable of Honours and Dignities that you had excluded them from Do not envy them Sir those Advantages that you will not benefit by and keeping your Opinions and Misfortunes to your self remit the care of their Religion to Divine Providence which shews itself so visible in such a conduct Where is the Father who does not inspire the Zeal of his Party as well as his Religion into his Children And what does any one know what may happen from this Zeal whether it will proceed to Fury or Piety if it will produce Crimes or Vertues In this Uncertainty Sir remit all things to the disposition of a Law which has no other end then the Publick Good and the particular Interest of your