persons and all is new to us in others And as Odours are better smelt by those who are not used to them than by those who have 'em perpetually about them so likewise do we perceive in our friends a hundred little things which wound us and we are not at all offended at what we carry in our own hearts There passes as I may say a kind of Habit between our reason and our imperfections which makes them subsist together without being at any dissention But 't is not so with the defects our reason discovers it examines 'em condemns 'em pursues 'em and leaves a thousand disorders in its own Empire for it to repare What Timocrates asserts is very agreeably said interrupted Aratus I will only add that it is strange to see how People disquiet themselves in things where they have no interest wherewith they have no right to find fault and which even cannot be corrected and how they abandon their own Interest and Glory But in short said Clorelisa What is requisite to be done for the knowing our selves well 'T is necessary said Timocrates to begin with the Will to know our selves without flattering our selves and to that purpose we are principally to examine our selves as to four things Whether we are just Whether we are sincere Whether we are capable of a true friendship and whether we have Courage These four things are of so great a consequence that almost all the actions of life turn upon those Hinges I do not bring into the account that profound Veneration we owe to the Gods For this is presupposed amongst People who have Reason But for Justice Sincerity Friendship and Courage I maintain that these four Qualities are the foundation of the Morals of honest People and the source of all illustrious actions We cannot have true Vertue without being just We are almost capable of all manner of evil as soon as we want sincerity We are good for nothing if we are uncapable of friendship and without Courage all Vertues are dead and friendship is weak and wavering and by consequence useless and imperfect All this is very fine said Cephisa but what is requisite to be done for the knowing if we have those four Qualities For my part interrupted Aristippus laughing I have a desire to go walk with Cleodea for I am as much afraid of learning to know my self well as the rest of the company seem desirous of that knowledge For first of all as for Justice I declare that I have none and that tho I know very well I have not so much merit as some others I would not suffer patiently that they should be preferred before me Sometimes there are certain things said Clorelisa which we must endure against our Wills tho we are not very glad of 'em and I believe it is ever some kind of Justice to know that we are not just For my part said Cephisa I think my self pretty just I likewise think my self sincere and am perswaded that I have enough of that Courage which makes Generosity in Women and Valour in Men. But as for Friendship I know not if I have so much of it as you say is requisite for I confess in good earnest I have many friends I do not love They all laugh'd at what the fair Cephisa said and at first understood it as a Railery I affirm said Aristippus that I have had formerly several Mistresses I never lov'd but I am much chang'd since that time All the world knows what you say to be true resum'd I. But as for what Cephisa started 't is not easie to comprehend that a Person can have many Friends he does not love and I do not think she spoke seriously when she urged that I assure you resumed she that I said what I think and what I am sensible of and if all the Company would examine themselves well they will find that each has a Friend of that stamp For in fine when we are exposed to the World and know the way of living in 't we have a certain Universal Civility which all those we converse with make what use of they think convenient and which each interprets as he pleases So that there are many People who receive it as a beginning of friendship This being so is it not true that there would be a brutality in undeceiving them We continue to see 'em we receive offices from them and render 'em the like we find 'em able in certain things endued with probity and secresie we trust them with business we esteem 'em sufficiently in several things and it may also happen they love us But after all not finding in 'em I know not what Charm which renders the heart sensible which engages it and makes it love nor merit sufficient for the forcing of it to give it self in good earnest we in some sort esteem those People we converse with 'em serve them yet we do not love ' em When we lose 'em we regret 'em as things useful or convenient but not as real friends We call our reason to afflict us whereas in true afflictions we have need of it to comfort us You speak your thoughts so agreeably said Telesila that it almost perswades me you are in the right But I believe however you are out in one thing which is you call People Friends who ought not to be torm'd so Yet I allow the word Knowledge is too unbounded and too general to sit that sort of People you speak of and a word should he invented to signifie that But after all 't is not over necessary to take that pains For I am perswaded those friends we converse with whom we in some measure esteem and whom we serve without loving are People of a very ordinary merit And indeed friendship not being fantastical and capricious as love is it would be next to an impossibility to converse to esteem and be served by a friend who is perfectly an honest Man without loving him reciprocally and if it were so 't would be ingratitude But Cephisa answered are People masters of their own Sentiments do they love whom they please and provided they render one good turn for another are they ungrateful They are not voluntarily so said Aratus but yet they are so and there must certainly be a great stock of ingratitude in a heart that resists a great Merit and a great Amity For my part said Cloreliza I know a Gentleman who has a thousand Friends of all conditions and for whom to speak the truth no body has a tender love They can easily be without his Company unless they have business with him He would not be much lamented if he should die He seems to hold some place where soever he is and yet finds no room in any bodys heart I assure you resurn'd Cephisa still many other Characters of friends remain besides those we have spoke of for there are those whom People make no scruple to ridicule at the same time they tell
that his being so is no obligation to them The greatest part of Kings because they are born Masters of others imagine that they owe no reward to their faithful Subjects and that Tyranny is a Right of their Soveraignty They who govern Common-wealths are exposed to the Ingratitude of the People And those who have the chiefest employs in States of that nature imagining that those they govern can never blindly enough obey them never think of giving 'em any marks of acknowledgement Masters believe that Slaves are only born to serve without reward Slaves on the contrary are of opinion that their Masters ought to recompence them for the least things and ought to be continually a giving them The Friends we oblige knowing it is the duty of Friendship to serve those we love reckon all as nothing we do for them And those who oblige others expect on the contrary that every thing they do should be put upon the Account A Father in that he has given Life to his Children thinks they ought ever to be as dependant on him as they were while they were still in the Cradle and conning them no thanks for all they do to please him does nothing at all for them Children on their fide being perswaded that Birth is not the greatest obligation that can be had to their Parents are evermore murmuring at the Life they have given them when they do not for them all they are capable of doing Husbands whose Authority is established by Force and Custom thinking their Wives are too happy in obeying 'em do not think themselves obliged by their Complaisance And Women who have Beauty or Virtue thinking their Husbands too much blessed in such Wives nothing can oblige 'em They are commonly Coquetts when they are beautiful or grumbling when they are Chaste Lovers themselves are ungrateful and more ungrateful than all others And indeed added Amiâ—…ar smiling if you heard but all the complaints they make you would think they had met with terrible injustice and cruclty and had never obtained any kindness Yet it very often happens that a Lover after having received a thousand and a thousand Favours makes a thousand and a thousand Complaints onely for that he has been look'd upon a little less favourably than at other times Insomuch as forgetting all the kindnesses he has received he grumbles threatens to pay his vows elsewhere and is perfectly ingrateful As for the fair Ladies pursued he I could cite a hundred Songs wherein they have the quality of Ingrateful given them For I know one which begins with Farewel ungrateful fair One Another with Vngrateful Phillis A third with All the Fair are all Ingrate In short Ingratitude is so general a thing that I almost conclude it would be convenient to do nothing for any one soever and for fear of doing something for an ungrateful person we ought to do nothing at all and resolve to live onely for Lifes sake without taking any care As for Ingratitude said AEmilius I own it does but too much abound I am of your opinion replied Herminius but there would be much less of it if there were no Laziness and no Idleness For commonly the lazy and idle are the most ungrateful and who pretending to the being obliged by all the world yet will oblige no body True it is said then Plotina you have all a great deal of Wit but methinks you are to day in a humour of having more than usual Wherefore I am desirous you would tell me two things which I long to know The first is to examine which is the most shameful to be lazy for want of Wit or for want of Courage And the second is to examine well all the several kinds of Ingratitude which the world is full of to know which is the greatest for there are many sorts of it For my particular I have a friend who keeps no account of the Services that are done her who forgets an hundred considerable Offices without ever thinking of acknowledging 'em who because she is beautiful and loves her Beauty more than her self if I may be allowed to speak in that manner never forgets a flattery or a praise and will do many more kindnesses for those who deceive her provided they praise her than for them who serve her effectually That often happens said Caesonia But before we fall to speak of Ingratitude let us speak a little of those Idle persons whose Idleness has divers causes I know some of 'em added she who are only so because they are Lazy for they have Wit they likewise shew on some occasions when forced to it that they do not want Courage and there are those too to be seen who have no ill habits Those people replied Herminius are altogether culpable For I know nothing more strange than to be useless to the world and useless to ones self than to have Wit and to do nothing with it than to have a certain indifferent Heart which makes people concern themselves in nothing have neither Ambition nor Love and live after so careless a manner as renders 'em incapable of any great Pleasures For my part I should rather chuse to apply my self to something that was not altogether good than to apply my self to nothing For my share replied Plotina I am of Herminius his opinion I find it much more shameful to be eternally idle for want of having the will of undertaking any thing than to do nothing for want of Wit For what can we accuse a poor dull fellow of who in taking any employ can 〈◊〉 shew his stupidity I likewise boldly say that those to whom the Gods have been sparing in the gifts and riches of the Mind are very happy when they make 'em Lazy into the bargain and so they remain concealed in obscurity This imperfection in them produces the same effect that Prudence does in others since it hinders 'em from shewing themselves in the world And indeed no Body but knows there are people who would never be spoken of if they were not in great employments and of whom a thousand disadvantageous things are said because they acquit themselves ill of what they have rashly undertaken Set a Fool to the managing Affairs of State and a Coward to command an Army and you will say that it would be well if there were more idle persons than there are For the Idle never do hurt to any but themselves And those who have employs which they are not worthy of very frequently overturn the order of the World They make War when they ought to make Peace they make Peace when they should make War and not knowing what they do it would be much better they did nothing at all Wherefore after having weigh'd it weâ—…l in my thoughts I am of Opinion it would be much more proper to complain of those busie Fools than of those wretched Idle people who onely seek rest and quiet and who very often by taking rest do much better than they
the other For that a Lover whose Love diminishes does not think himself so obliged as he is to the person he is beloved by But as for Friends we chuse them we are willing they should oblige us we engage them so to do we willingly receive their Services we are not forced thereto either by Laws or an irregular Passion And by consequence Nature Reason Justice Vertue and Glory require that we should always return benefits for benefits and that when we can do so we should at least never forget the Obligation we have to a Friend but proclaim it even with pleasure For my part I do not well apprehend how there can be ungrateful Friends nor how there can be people who can suffer those that are so What surety can there be in the heart of a man who fails his Friend and fails himself By what Sentiment can he be retained who despises Friendship Justice and Glory and makes it likewise be confessed that he is as imprudent as he is false For one that is ungrateful ruines his own Reputation among all persons of Honour and does himself thereby more mischief than he does others though perhaps he is not sensible of it 'T would not be impossible for a man to be ungrateful to his Prince and yet full of acknowledgement to his Friend and his Mistriss And the like of all the other persons we have spoken of But for one ungrateful in Friendship I maintain he may be ungrateful to his King to his Parents to his Children to his Wife and to his Mistriss For Friendship is a thing so sacred that who despises it is capable of despising all things Thus I think I have more reason on my side in this case than Amilcar You have at least a great deal of Wit resumed Herminius And I must confess too that all you say to the advantage of Friendship is admirably well said and it is so much the more so in that it serves to prove that the most horrible of all Ingratitudes is Ingratitude in Love But before that is done I declare there is no Ingratitude excusable and every ungrateful person is worthy of Hatred and Contempt And truly the business is not to examine what 't is we love or hate for to know if we love or if we ought to have acknowledgement For assoon as we have received a good turn we are indispensably obliged not only to be acknowledging for it to our Friends but even to our Enemies when we accept a good Office from them Nay and for ought I know we are obliged to be full of acknowledgement when we even refuse the Services they are willing to do us The word Acknowledgement does so well shew the necessary obligation of the person who receives a favour from any other that none can be ignorant of it And indeed to acknowledge a good office is to be always in a readiness to do all that has been done for us And whoever does not find in his Heart a continual desire of doing for others what has been done to serve him is without doubt a concealed ungrateful man who will discover himself on the first occasion he shall have to serve those by whom he has been served But to come to the particular designe I have of making appear that Ingratitude in Love is the most horrible of all I have no need of many words For though there cannot be any small Ingratitude it is however certain that 't is more or less great according as the party has been more or less obliged For if a man owes his life to a friend he is more obliged than if he was onely indebted to him for his Fortune and will be still more ungrateful than if he were less his Debtor This being so can the Question in hand be brought into doubt And is there any thing that can enter into comparison with Love A man serves his King his Parents his Master his Friend and a Husband and Wife one another But a Lover gives himself to his Mistress and a Mistress to her Lover Nothing but Love a one of two Hearts can make one I know very well that Friendship may boast of this as well as Love but it bâ—…atis of it without reason Two Friends I say two intimate Friends may each have a Mistress who will divide them or at the least will render their Friendship less sensible since it will be no longer their greatest pleasure But for Heroick Love though it strongly unites two persons whose Hearts are tender and Minds rational I defie all the power of Friendship to divide them It is then methinks very easie to conclude that since Love is an Union incomparably more strong and more perfect than Friendship and nothing can be compared to the Obligation we have to a person who gives his Heart entirely up There is no blacker Ingratitude than that of a Lover for a Mistress or a Mistress for a Lover Besides when I speak of Love I do not mean those frivolous and criminal Amours which bear a name they do not merit For they who love one another after that manner onely give one another the time which they equally lose in trifling it away They engage in nothing but to divert themselves as well as they can as long as they shall have the fancy of seeing and loving one another But I mean a certain ardent and sincere love grounded upon Esteem and Virtue wherein there is made a true exchange of Hearts wherein the Wills are mingled and which seem as if they were to last eternally For as there is nothing more precious in the world than an affection of that nature whosoever is capable of Ingratitude after having received one of that sort is the most perfidious and the basest of all the Ungrateful Nevertheless there is a certain self-interessed Spirit which almost obliges all men to despise more an ungrateful person that shall forget a good office which has been done him in order to his Fortune than one ungrateful in Love who shall forget all the marks of tenderness he has received However to speak rationally there is nothing more unjust nor even more Inhumane than to be capable of Ingratitude for a person who in giving his Heart has given all he can give For in Love we ought not to reckon the Services we receive as we reckon them in Friendship because two persons loving perfectly it must be supposed that they are capable of doing for one another all that Virtue allows of even to the losing their Lives Thus from that time they love one another they owe all the good offices that love can cause to be rendred and they ought to keep an account of them as Services already done since they need no more than the occasion which dependsâ—… only on Fortune But to hear you speak resum'd AEmilius coldly it seems that acknowledgement in Love does only regard happy Lovers I should be very glad this were so said Plotina laughing and
If I had known it my self replied he agreeably with a smile I should have spoke it before now But to tell you sincerely I know it not yet my self For as I am sufficiently sensible of Love I would willingly at least retain that Passion But besides as I am naturally very lazy methinks I should not be over-forry though no Passions were in the World because I imagine that if there were none at all Mankind would be continually in a certain languishment of Spirit and a pleasant kind of Laziness that would have something altogether charming Ah! as for Laziness you speak the truth resum'd Amilcar For true it is if there were no Passions all well-bred people would have nothing to do And indeed pursued he if there was no Ambition we see a hundred thousand people come and go through the world who would do nothing of what they do and would onely Enter Rest a while and then Return If a Lover was deprived of the Passion which poffesses him he would become very Idle If Kings were without that Ambition which makes 'em desire to surpass all their Equals they would never be distinguished by themselvs but onely by their rank And the Brave having no passion for Glory would remain content to be jumbled among the Base and Esseminate without having any thing to employ themselves in I also believe that the Fields would not be cultivated neither Cities nor Houses would be built and Mankind would remain scattered up and down the Country without seeking any other Lodging than that of Grotto's which Nature has made And for the greatest part of Ladies if there were no Passions in the World I know not what they would do For as they are the weakest if their Beauty did not produce Love in the Hearts of men and if it did not serve them instead of Force I should rather chuse I fancy to be a pretty Fly than a pretty Woman For they would certainly not onely be Slaves but would also be in a very irksome Idleness since they would not know what to do all the time they spend in decking themselves And truly you need but see a fair Lady in a place where she thinks no body will come to believe that if the Ladies knew they could never give Love they would not take the pains to be half a day doing a thing which must necessarily be undone every Evening I except however from this rule a small number of Ladies as those who are here whos 's Wi and Virtue raise them above all men But to return to the Passions judge ye if it would not be a great pity if there were none since then all the Ladies would be less amiable and would not be beloved But if they were not beloved rejoyn'd Arontius agreeably neither would they be hated since seldom any thing but Love makes them hated by those who are so unjust as to do so For commonly misused Lovers or Jealous Husbands are the onely persons who have an aversion to Ladies True resum'd Amilcar they would not be hated But if they were not beloved they would think the time strangely tedious And there are very few Women I am sure who have Youth and Beauty but would rather chuse to be hated by a hundred unjust Lovers and an hundred Jealous Husbands provided they were beloved than not to be hated by whomsoever it was upon condition of not being beloved by any body and of not loving any thing Let us not complain then of the Passions since they alone afford all the Occupations and Pleasures of Mankind Yet 't is a very difficult thing resumed Artemidorus to overcome them That 's true resumed Amilcar with his usual sweetness but since 't is so difficult do not struggle with them abandon your self to 'em and instead of amusing your self with endeavours to conquer them seek rather to satisfie 'em and then they will not so much torment you For my part added he I am not at all amazed that the Passions tyrannize over the Hearts of men for we do nothing else than preach up this Doctrine that we must struggle with 'em and subject them We find it written in Verse and in Prose The Philosophers have it the Wise men order it Fathers teach it their Children Husbands their Wives and Mothers their Daughters Insomuch as those poor Passions seeing they have so many Enemies make a great effort that they may not sink under them and to reign in all Hearts from which endeavours are used to banish 'em with a world of injustice And truly 't is the place of their birth they cannot subsist elsewhere They give infinite Pleasures to those who seek to satisfie 'em they hardly ever do any mischief but to those who would destroy them For my part resumed Zenocrates they never torment me after that manner For as I am perswaded there would be too much trouble to vanquish them I love rather to submit my self to ' em Thus my Reason and my Passions are never at War together for when my Passions are stronger than my Reason my Reason subjects it self to them And when my Reason is more powerful than my Passions it flatters 'em without undertaking to destroy ' em You so little understand what the great Passions are replied Arontius smiling that it does not belong to you to speak upon this Subject But if you had had any violent or obstinate Love or if your own Desires had made you suffer a thousand punishments and even if hope it self had given you a thousand disquiets you might be allowed to speak of the force of Passion For when we have once tried one of them we may easily imagine the Tyranny of all the rest True it is said then Orontes that who knows all the force of Love may easily comprehend that of Ambition and all the other Passions Yet I am perswaded replied Artemidorus we can never judge equitably of other peoples Passions and we ought never to judge but of our own For though every where they be equally Passions and Love is Love in Greece as well as in Italy 't is however true that it has different operations in the Hearts of all Mankind And the diversity of Temperament does likewise produce many different effects of one and the same Passion For Love in Tarquin's Heart made him commit a thousand Crimes And the same thing in the Heart of Aruntius makes him perform a thousand Heroick Actions Very true resumed Thrasylus but I still maintain that in what Heart soever the Passions reign they give that person trouble enough to satisfie them And I still maintain on the contrary resumed Amilcar that without the Passions we should not be happy If you take away all Passions said Aruntius Indifference must of necessity reign in all Hearts and by consequence there can be no more Heroes I do not speak pursued he of the Indifference which the fair Cleocrita is reproached with because a person may neither have a tender Heart nor Love
lived in that State but two or three years But she was not afraid of loving him because she knew he was capable of having more than one Mistress at a time and though he promised her she should ever be the first in his Heart she with case rejected his Passion Thrasylus loved her likewise but he had a Mistress and it was an obstacle for her Besides he is something too arrogant and a little fantastical As for Androcles he had two and had too little Virtue There was not one besides Theramenes who seemed to have no other Passion But she was perswaded in general there was not a man who would love but one person all his Life and she would not expose her self to the not being beloved any more or to the being less beloved But said I to her one day in favour of Theramenes whom I infinitely esteemed Do not you see that Socrates the wisest man that ever was is married But can you be ignorant answered she that he is unhappy in being so And do not you know what he has said to one of his Friends That whether we Marry or do not Marry we always repent and Repentance for Repentance I love rather not to marry at all You know added she that when Alcibiades was first married he was very much in love with his Wife You know she was Beautiful and Virtuous of great Quality and abounding in Wit For though I was very young I remember her well enough to know she was very Charming yet he gave her so much Jealousie that she parted from him and left him I know it very well said I to her but notwithstanding her Jealousies he loved her still and to such a degree that he seiz'd on her by force and brought her back to his House That I grant answered Melicrita but she quickly died there of grief and assoon as she was dead he fell in love with me or pretended to be so I know it very well said I but Alcibiades and Theramenes are of a very different humour You know added I that since you have seen the World you have constantly been beloved by Theramenes He has shewn you his Love by a thousand Cares All that can please and divert he has done for you He has never been wanting in any thing Why then my dear Melicrita will not you render him happy Shall I said the embracing me and blushing at the same time discover to you my Secret upon condition you will never reveal it I do solemnly engage it said I to her and I will not fail my word Well then replied she I will confess to you ingenuously that if Theramenes had no passion for me if I had not a great esteem a great inclination for him and that I could resolve to marry I would accept him for my Husband For in short a man of honor does always live well with a rational person And when it is so a Woman of good Sense who loves her Repose and her Reputation ought not to make a hurry though her Husband should have some Gallantry For her own sake she ought to be ignorant of it as much as she can and when she can no longer doubt of it not so much as forment her own Husband But when there has been a mutual Love before Marriage it is not possible to suffer an infidelity with patience And nothing seems to me more insupportable than to be jealous of a Husband whom we must love and respect be he what he will When we are jealous before marrying a man we complain we hate or despise But a Husband with whom we are to live until the very last moment and live in peace if he should no longer love what he is always obliged to love is I must confess what I cannot suffer the thoughts of nor expose my self to that misfortune and I should prefer the being Theano's Companion amongst the Virgins of Minerva before being the Wife of Theramenes if I was necessarily bound to chuse one of the two Cease then Theolinda said she to me speaking to me in favour of Theramenes I know but too well his Merit and the Passion he has for me And would to the Gods I knew neither the one nor the other And for the discovering to you all the delicacy of my Sentiments which perhaps you will find capricious know that the tenderness of Theramenes his heart is what most allarms me For my dear Theolinda he has naturally a passionate Soul and I am likewise something afraid that I am as much indebted for his Love to his Temperament as to my own pretended Merit His looks his words his Letters all is full of Passion And when I think what my grief would be if I saw him have for another the same tenderness he has for me I confirm my self so strongly in the resolution of not marrying him that nothing can make me change But can you marry another said I to her In no wise answered she and it is for that reason I am making a strict Friendship with Theano For if I had the misfortune to lose those I owe my life to I would go demand the vail of her In fine Theolinda this is all the Secret of my Heart which I pray you not to reveal to any body without exception according to your promise For I would not have Theramenes know the inclination I have for him You raise my pity said I to her seeing you so disquiet your self and upon such ill-grounded fears Ah! I beseech you replied she observe but the Conduct of all those you are acquainted with You know there is a Miss here whose extraordinary Beauty attracts all the men in general married or unmarried Aspasia with her Wit has done no less than Diodota with her Beauty The greatest men have had a weakness for these two Women without Virtue principally the former And would not you have me fear that Theramenes should be weak as well as a thousand others have been No no pursued she whether Capriciousness or Reason you shall not change my Heart As she was saying these last words Theramenes Alcibiades and Androcles came into my Chamber And as the last is a great lover of telling all the news of Athens he told us that Socrates all-wise as he is had had the curiosity to go with three or four of his Friends to see the Beauty of Diodota while an excellent Painter was drawing her Picture Androcles said this with a malicious smile as not finding this curiosity worthy of Socrates Melicrita looked upon me then with an Air which suited with her secret Sentiments And Alcibiades following his facetious humour said he was something surprized at this for that Socrates had told him a hundred times he was to fly from Beauty But Theramenes perceiving that Androcles would have made a poyson of that Curiosity broke silence and said he just came from seeing a Friend of Socrates who had been at the Visit he had made and that he
had had no other designe than to know if Diodota had Wit enough to reform her ill Conduct And indeed Madam Socrates spent all his Life in inspiring Sentiments of Virtue into all those he sees Insomuch that at the first according to his way he had rallied with that Woman for the taming her But after having well observed that her Wit was not worthy of her Beauty he ridicul'd her deploring the misfortune of that Woman who having wherewith to make her self adored made her self despised by all the Earth I looked upon Melicrita in my turn to see in her Eyes if the virtuous Sentiments of Theramenes did not please her She blushed and would dexterously have turned the Conversation upon another Subject But is it possible said I then that people should call Love the Passionate Sentiments that men have for such a Lady as Diodota who would willingly be beloved by all those that see her without being cruel to any one of her pretended Gallants If it be Love said Alcibiades it is at least a transport of a weak and passionate Heart Truly said Melicrita you give that weakness a very soft name He who can love one of those Women without Virtue is not virtuous himself But Madam resumed Theramenes Do not you know you who love all fine and ingenious things and understand them so well too you I say who esteem Euripides so much do not you know what he has asserted in one of his finest Pieces that there are two sorts of Loves If I did know it replied she I have forgotten it but I do not believe to have seen it I then desired Theramenes to tell us the passage if he remembred it and seeking a moment in his Memory he recited these Verses drawn out of a much larger Work The Sentiments of Euripides upon Honest Love Two sorts of Love in humane Breasts do reign And o're their Minds a different Empire gain Venus the wanton Parent of the one Does from the frothy Ocean bear her Son Who with thick foggy Thoughts our Souls inspires And preys upon us with material Fires Th' other adorn'd all o're with perfect Grace Is of a pure Divine and heavenly race That in the filthy muddy senses has its place By Beauties treacherous Charms it does betray And makes of sensual an Fools an easie prey And Reason our best Guide does still annoy By too much sense it does all sence destroy But with this Love all Virtues do combine And real Modesty does with Prudence joyn This is their fate alike they seem to be Yet the one being mortal they disagree For the other is endu'd with Immortality These Verses are out of Euripides I had not seen those Verses said Melicrita but I believe Euripides has made them to shew that there ought really to be two sorts of Love and that this does not prove there is so Before that your indifference Madam said Alcibiades had taken from me all hopes of being looked upon favourably by you I should have allowed of Euripides his distinction But as I dare not now own any more than Respect and Admiration for your Ladiship I confess sincerely said he rallying to perplex Theramenes that I believe but one kind which varies a little according to the persons we love But at the bottom there are many more Loves which die than Eternal Loves It is not sufficient to say said Theramenes Love varies according to the persons we love For I believe it may be more truly said Love varies according to the person who loves since it is properly the Heart of a Lover which renders Love either inconstant or faithful And indeed when we are born to love well the indifference and cruelty of the Person beloved do not make Love die And on the contrary the Beauty Wit Virtue and even the most tender Correspondence cannot fix a heart naturally unfaithful there must then needs be a frivolous Amour such as Euripides describes it and a virtuous Love such as he represents it to us I assure you resumed Melicrita rising to break off the Conversation that the Loves in Verse and in Prose are very Chimerical Loves and what Love there is in the heart of all men is very light and very frivolous You speak too generally Madam replied Theramenes I am of your opinion resumed I and a general Rule must never be made in any thing This Alcibiades agreed to and Androcles durst not oppose it But at length Melicrita went away without suffering any of the men in my Chamber to lead her to her Chariot refusing them all equally But Madam not to abuse your patience during six Months Theramenes forgot nothing of all that Love can inspire into a very witty man for the obtaining Melicrita's Consent to demand her of Aristocrates her Father She would never allow him to do it nay stretched her câ—…uelty much farther For she forbid it him so absolutely that he durst not disobey her And besides he would only owe her to her self He sometimes discovered in spight of Melicrita's endeavours that she did not hate him But he was so much the more unhappy He sought to divert her by Feasts by Musicks and by a hundred ingenious Gallantries He attempted to touch her Heart by passionate Letters by Tears by Sighs by tender and touching words All this was to no purpose Insomuch as lying under these unhappy circumstances he resolved to endeavour the curing himself by absence Socrates having no fancy for Voyages did all he could to divert him from this design and blamed in his presence the excessive Curiosity of great Travellers as well as thaâ—… of all the Philosophers who had preceded him For all the world knows Socrates values nothing but Morality and believes it a thousand times more necessary than so many uncertain Knowledges which the most part of men make the business of all their Lives Theramenes did not tell Socrates the true cause of his design But he resolved to pursue it and departed without being able to take his leave of Melicrita For she carefully shun'd him for fear he should see in her Eyes the secret of her Heart But he wrote to her and the Letter was delivered her on the morrow after his departure The Letter was as follows I depart Madam that I may not importune you any more with my Passion and though I am perswaded my absence will not be sensible to you I easily perceive yours will be so cruel to me that Death will quickly put a period to my Sufferings Perhaps Madam when you have lost me for ever you will perceive I merited a less rigorous treatment Be not offended if I entertain so light a hope since it is the onely recompence I can pretend to for the most violent and most constant passion that the heart of man was ever capable of Theramenes addressed to me his Letter and desired me by another to deliver it to her for he was very much my Friend And though I had inviolably kept Melicrita's
seizes to run and even to fly But great Fear does as it were strike dead and renders motionless And we may conclude from its contrary effects it is not what people would have it to be I have seen men in the Army said Lisander whom excessive Fear has forced to be valiant but commonly it is the source of Cowardise Fear said Xenophon is in such ill reputation that in all Times and Places where Sacrifices have been made the Priests would never make use of timerous Victimes which have ever been imputed as unworthy of being offered to the Gods I assure you said Eupolia laughing I had not made that Reflection but I perceive if I had been in Polixena's place I should not have been sacrificed Fear said Xenophon does not onely magnifie evils it multiplies 'em and knows likewise how to perswade those it possesses that what is good is evil or may become so All other evils have bounds pursued he Fear has none at all For it often makes us apprehend what is not what will perhaps never happen and even what never can come to pass Yet it is natural to fly from Evils said Eupolia True resumed Melicrita but Fear meets 'em and invents false ones which nevertheless do cause real Griefs That is very well observ'd said Theramenes And we may also adde extream Fear does neither suffer the Memory the Judgement nor Will to prevent the mischief it causes men to apprehend It often happens but not always that Fear proceeds as much from want of Judgement as from want of Heart and what proves this is that the evils which Fear causes men to foresee are more great and numerous than those which can really happen Fear pursued Alcibiades is the most usual Source of the Apparitions which are so much talked of in the World and there is no Passion which makes so sudden a subversion of the Reason In War Cowards take Trees for Cavalry The Dust which is raised by a Flock of Sheep puts sometimes a disorder into an Army when pannick fear seizes on the Souldiers Hearts And as I have already said there is no Passion so powerful as Fear no not Love it self Ah! as for that said Eupolia I comprehend methinks sufficiently why it is more cult to resist Fear than the most tyrannick of all Pissions which is Love For as I try it in my self assoon as Fear seizes on the Hearts of those who are very susceptible of it it disturbs their Reason whereas generally speaking the first moment of Love does but begin to seduce it That is very well observed said Alcibiades And we may adde methinks that assoon as Fear arises in a Soul disposed to receive it it is great and terrible from that very first instant And the Imagination accommodating it self to it and following the weakness of a timerous Heart not onely multiplies the Objects but aggrandizes 'em and makes 'em Monsters which the Reason being subdu'd cannot surmount nay sometimes not so much as struggle with But pray cried Eupolia it is my Heart which begins to fear and not my Mind But from the very first moment that Fear seizes me I know no more what I say nor what I do And sometimes I cannot comprehend why all the World is not as much afraid as my self There is methinks said Theramenes a very remarkable Circumstance against Fear which is that the panick Fears which happen in Armies and amongst people passes for Divine Punishments Yet I assure you interrupted Eupolia smiling I do not think my self so crâ—…inal towards the Gods as to be punished with Fear And I would rather own it to be a Weakness than a Punishment from Heaven But still said the Princess would I willingly know if all sorts of Fears are blamable In no wise Madam answered Xenophon But we must know when to be justly afraid Fears that are just and bounded by Reason are praise-worthy the others are weak and childish Who fears nothing is void of Reason For Earth-quakes and a thousand other dreadful things are to be feared But properly speaking blamable Timidity is that which causes us to fear what is not to be apprehended Methinks said Areta with her usual modesty we may remark one thing which is that of all the Passions Fear is the onely one which does not give one sole moment of Joy Anger Hatred Envy Covetousness Revenge how violent and unjust soever they may be give sometimes Pleasure even in their Fury but Fear can never afford any and it even poysons all the Presents that Fortune can make it being certain there are no agreeable Blessings to those who are always afraid of losing ' em But after all said Theramenes there is a Fear which proceeds from a source altogether Noble which is Love and this I maintain to be just and laudable and which is found in the Hearts of good Subjects towards their Kings of good Citizens for their Country of Children to their Parents and in general in that of every one who knows how to love whether in Love or in Friendship That I grant said Xenophon but that kind of Fear very far from disturbing the Reason helps the Judgement and fortifies Virtue And I boldly aver that Fears of that stamp bounded by a right reason ought not properly to be called Fears they are rather wise Reflections The most just of all Fears added he is without doubt that of the Gods and yet that must have its bounds For it must be moderated by the hopes we ought to have in their goodness In a word excessive Fear is always blamable and a Great man of my acquaintance advises the fearing Vices and not fear Dangers or Misfortunes For if they are inevitable we must prepare for 'em and rest contented And if we may avoid 'em we must endeavour to do it without disturbing ourselves by Fear That is very easie resumed Eupolia for such Heroes as you to say but I am perswaded there is a thousand things which Ladies may be allowed to fear For by example pursued she how is it possible for a virtuous Woman and one who loves her Reputation not to be afraid of Detraction I am not of that opinion said Melicrita she ought to look upon it with contempt and onely be afraid of deserving it Melicrita is in the right said Hiparetta but I am perswaded we ought to be allowed to fear being deceived I am too happy interrupted Eupolia that I can oppose some sort of Fear But in this occasion I oppose it and I maintain that to be always afraid of being deceived is the way to be so often There is likewise a kind of Fear which I find blamable added she which is that which makes certain people fear they are laugh'd at Ah! as for that said Hiparetta it is ridiculous But I know others whom I do not think over praise-worthy which are those persons who are always fearful of doing wrong or speaking ill and who through this fear take a wrong
in all Encounters For my particular said Theander when I am in such Company as this I ever hold all pleasures are well chosen and I easily range my self to that which is propos'd to me And I said Clarice to him do out of indifference what you do out of an obliging complaisance to your friends And for what concerns me said Artemira I have sooner done in desiring nothing than in examining if I desire one thing rather than another for I have hardly perswaded my self that I have chosen than that I blame my choice and no longer care for what I had a mind to But may be then said Parthenia you no longer care to be here All the Company laugh'd at what that lovely Person said Ah! Madam reply'd Artemira agreeably 'T is my mind that is wavering but as for my heart that is perfectly constant and as there are persons here whom I have a very tender love for I am overjoyed to be amongst 'em and I know no irresolution in such a juncture I am perswaded said Theander that we ought necessarily to conclude upon all sorts of things and to make a choice even of Pleasures Ah! as for Pleasures cryed Parthenia you are in the greatest errour imaginable if you think 't is possible to choose Pleasures which we will not change for from the time we begin to speak until we expire Pleasures change and ought to change We play while Infants love divertisements and eagerly seek 'em in Youth allow and enjoy them without seeking 'em in the Age which follows that and then in fine frame to our selves others in the rest of our lives I am moreover of Opinion added she that in one and the same time in the very same day one and the same thing may both divert and tire us Long Pleasures cease being so neither Plays nor Consorts of Musick ought to be too long Balls when we have danced too much are no longer diverting Long Raileries are nauseous And it is properly in Pleasures variety and intervals are requisite and the Heart and Mind have need of rest To speak in general we see that Men can be capable of contenting themselves with one only Occupation A Souldier is contented with his Profession a Magistrate with his a Student the same a great Painter paints all his life-time without growing weary and an Engraver is ever making Statues and is never out of humour but when he has no occasion so to do But never any Man had one only pleasure For that reason it is we commonly in our Tongue talk of Pleasures and not of Pleasure when we mean amusements and divertisements we now discourse of and not of that inward motion of joy and satisfaction which they may produce in us every one supposing secretly that one only thing cannot produce it always and that Change Variety and Novelty do make the principal part of it If any one would then choose a Pleasure for all his life I fancy he would quickly come to that pass of having none at all I am altogether of a contrary Opinion said Artemira and you do not take notice that each of those Pleasures you speak of has almost an infinite variety and extent which discovers it self every day more to those who apply themselves entirely to it and renders it always new though always the same If it be so reply'd Theander we must then choose those to which we would stick fast I assure you added Clarice this word of Choice is too serious for that purpose and in my Opinion we ought to follow them according to our inclination For I suppose that the Pleasures we speak of are properly such as are innocent So that there being no deliberating whether they are just or unjust I conclude we must take them at hazard as they are offered to us and according as they suit with our humour For in short there is nothing to be decided in this case Notwithstanding my incertainty said Artemira I know that the fair Parthenia reasons on her side Not but that added she if any Man should propose to one of my friends to go a hunting in bad Weather as resolute Hunters do he would rather choose to go to a Play We do not tell you said Clarice you are obliged to accept all the Pleasures which are proposed to you for my part I love Fishing as little as you do Hunting and I never could understand that there was any great Pleasure in seeing a great number of Fish strugling in the Nets troubling the Water suffering themselves to be taken without being able to make any resistance Knowing that you dance perfectly well added she I imagine you prefer Balls before all other Pleasures Balls are certainly very agreeable entertainments replied Artemira but as Ladies dance only with a good grace in the World for a certain number of Years I am already thinking what other Pleasure I shall pursue two or three Years hence Musick is one which may last all our Lives said Theander That I believe reply'd Artemira But methinks when a Woman who has had the reputation of being pretty no longer hears the Songs that were compos'd in her Praise and meets with none but new tunes that are made for blooming Beauties they then afford her but little Pleasure and I am perswaded that those who no longer have any share in them and who judge they never shall have not then so much kindness for Musick But as to Plays at least said Theander you must grant that it is a Pleasure for all Ages all Seasons and all Humours For there are serious Poems and others more Comical 'T is a Picture of all the Passions the beauties of History and of Fable are there often joyned together upon the Stage you see Vice punished and Vertue recompenced and every one may there find what is acceptable to his Palate And principally interrupted Artemira smiling those People whose hearts are filled with Ambition since it is in a Play-House you see all the great events of History But for my share I confess sincerely that though I love to see all well-writ Plays especially when they are new I would not have it my only Pleasure and it would not afford me delight if I had not some other I may affirm said Parthenia I take 'em as chance offers me them without troubling my thoughts any further I neither seek 'em nor do I fly them I believe we may seek Fortune and find it But methinks that Pleasures fly from those who pursue them with so much eagerness and that the pains they take for that purpose makes them too dear a Purchase You are in the right lovely Parthenia said Theander to her It often happens that great premeditated Pleasures grow loathsome at the length and it has been my Fortune several times in my life to divert and tire my self by turns in one of those long Feasts where all divertisements are in a Crowd And indeed they are made rather to shew the magnificence
and write to 'em obliging things There are some from whom we are willing to receive good offices and yet have no mind to return 'em the like others whom we converse withal tho they tire us Others whom we find diverting and yet we do not esteem 'em and others to whom we impart forged secrets that we may draw from them such as are true In a word if we make a strict search I am certain we shall find a great Troop of friends amidst whom it would be difficult to make a good choice All the company confessed that the Novelty of the expression which Cephisa had made use of was more proper than they at first imagin'd when she said that she had many friends she did not love But after all said Telesila let us return to the art of knowing ones self well and desire Timocrates to continue the instructing us in it something more at large Methinks Madam said Aratus very galantly 't is mighty dangerous for all your friends that you should be well acquainted with your self For if Timocrates can bring it to pass that you should know exactly what you are you will have so great a contempt for all the rest of the World you will not be able to endure it I should be very cautious rejoyn'd Timocrates of teaching her so necessary an Art if I thought she could make an ill use of it For my meaning is that a rational person by learning to know his own imperfections ought to learn at the same time to support those of others As for the rest this Art varys according to persons Such a Man may know himself better by the report of others than by himself But it is sufficient as I have said to have the will of knowing without flattering our selves and to set upon observing our selves mainly in things which our inclinations are most prone to and calling our selves to an account of what we have done that we may discover precisely the true motives thereto For there are such sudden Sentiments in our mind that tho they succeed one another yet we know only the last that sets us on acting However to judge well of an action 't is necessary to know 'em all This little study has its delights when we are accustom'd to it Sometimes you 'll find that we hate some People because we love others and that all the Passions disguise themselves We must therefore seek out the source of them if we have a mind to know 'em thoroughly People may even follow Vertue by motives unworthy of it Ill Causes may in some Encounters have good effects but the good can very rarely have such as are bad Wherefore we must always if possible have good intentions in all things Love which seems to be of all Passions the most easie to discover has very obscure causes as well as the rest Men sometimes accuse fair cyes whose weakness is often in the heart they have wounded There are Loves of temperament inclination habit acknowledgment capâ—…ice interest vanity and of a hundred other kinds So that when we would subdue this Passion necessary it is to know its true source But amongst all the Passions that which is least known by those it does possess is Avarice None of a covetuous humour think they are so They only fancy themselves good Husbands prudent and able They have sometimes the confidence to tell themselves to conceal the sordidness of their Sentiments that they are only the Depositaries of the benefits which God has bestowed upon them They call those Prodigal who are Liberal They think all is lost that is given aud know no other felicity than that of having useless Treasures The truth is said Aratus I know covetous People who fancy they merit infinite praises for those very things for which they are condemned by all the World You do well said Clorelisa agreeably to say that you know Covetous People For you your self are not acquainted with Avarice You I say who have given away considerable Treasures which the King of Egypt bestowed upon you I assure you replied Aratus I am less to be commended than you imagine and I can say what Cyrus once answered to one of his Ministers who represented to him that he gave all he had to his Courtiers I do not give it them said he I only leave it'em to keep If I should have occasion for it at any time they will restore it me with Usury and I shall gain their hearts at a cheap rate All the World knows what we are to believe in this point said Telesila but I am very desirous Timocrates would tell us how we may know Envy for I believe it very difficult to discover You have reason to say so Madam replied he and very often an envious person thinks he loves Vertue and hates Vice when he speaks ill of those whom he bears an envy to and in whom he seeks for imperfections which he would be very sorry not to find The Source of Envy pursured Timocrates is properly an ill grounded Pride which is the reason that those persons who are capable of it instead of seeking to become more perfect seek to Tarnish the good Qualities of those they esteem more than themselves tho they do not know it and this secret Malignity dissuses it self from their Heart not only into their imagination but into their Senses They neither see nor understand things any more as they are and their own Reason being seduced by the false representations of the Senses it makes them afterwards commit a thousand injustices My Opinion is said Cephisa that we may see things otherwise than they really are Not that added she I am very envious on the contrary I love very much to praise but I am very easie to be offended When I am in anger I know no more what I see and if Telesila had displeas'd me all perfect as she is I should have found her very different from what you see her I should find her pale instead of finding her fair I should think her too witty I should call her Modesty coldness and indifference in short I should figure to my self a Telesila that would not be at all like her For my part said Aratus I am not of your disposition For if I imagin'd I had any reason to complain of the beautiful Telesila I should think she had some concealed reason to use me ill I should examine my own imperfections and should rather accuse my self than accuse her I am not at all of that humour said Aristippus I always accuse my self the last and I rather blame Fortune than my self In love replied Lysiades I rather tax my Rival than my Mistress But in friendship I take time to deliberate before I accuse my Friends but when I am once perswaded they have been really faulty I hate 'em as much as I lov'd them before and can never be prevailed with to grant 'em my pardon This Sentiment said Telesila does not in the least
you know ' em But you do not think â—…ou have against you your own Sences your â—…leasures your Inclinations your own Conâ—…itution and that Self-love which cannot be â—…oo much talk'd of which disguises it self so well that tho it possesses our whole heart â—…nd mind insinuates it self into all our Sentiments yet we do not perceive it we know it not nor are willing to know it And indeed of a Million of Persons who â—…eek to know others out of reasons of Inteâ—…est or Curiosity there are not perhaps a â—…lundred who seek to know ' emselves well â—…ut of an interest of Vertue And you your â—…elf lovely Cephisa if you are sincere will â—…onfess you have not employed much time â—…n knowing your self well That I grant reply'd she But the reason is I see my self with the same easiness as I see the Sun when look upon it But I beseech you Cephiâ—…a reply'd Telesila take notice that in the â—…rst moment we see the Sun to make use of â—…he comparison we see it bright and dazzling But we must look upon it a long time with â—…pplication before we can observe the spots that People discover in it Thus when weâ—… examine our selves for an instant we know our selves but imperfectly 'T is necessary to have seen ones self on very difficult occasions to judge well of ones self When Fortune smiles upon us we ought to forecast what we would do when it frowns We mustt found our own hearts for the hindring of hate to prepossess us for the opposing of anger and a disguised Envy which seems in some persons only a love of perfect Vertue which is hardly any where to be found and makes us murmur against others when we think they have more happiness than they deserve It is necessary to observe whether we love out of choice or out of blindness 'T is necessary to distrust ones own heart to know it well and to distrust iâ—… often to make an exact review of it For iâ—… may change as well as that of others and when any one becomes more happy than hâ—… was he must examine if he be the same to his friends On the contrary if he become miserable I would have him observe if he be not prepossest against his Enemies if he still see what they have good in 'em thro all the reasons he has to hate them He must likewise take notice if his firmness in misortunes is calm and sedate and not rather a disguised Pride than a true Constancy In a word he must examine himself in all particulars not excuse himself upon other Peoples imperfections Flatter himself in nothing not be dazzled at his own Vertue which perhaps may hide from you some defects which you will discover in time when occasions of shewing 'em shall come I confess to you in good earnest said Cephisa I do nothing of all this you would have done and by consequence reply'd Telesila you cannot know your self And to prove it to you pursued she from whence comes it that you told me formerly a thousand fine things of a friend of yours whom I never hear you mention now she is as beautiful as ever has as much Wit all the World courts her company as well now as they did then and yet you do not see her with the same Eyes you find her chang'd in all things and all this because you have had a little dispute together which prejudices you against her Nevertheless I own it is more easie to prove that we do not know others well than to demonstrate clearly that we know our selves well And this proceeds from the difficulty which our own Passions bring to this knowledge Is there one Usurer in the World who confesses he is covetous He calls it Oeconomy good Husbandry a desire of providing well for his Children The Prodigal do not they conceal their Vice under a very Royal Vertue Women also that are Coquettes boast of their having no Intrigue and think themselves very vertuous Those who have but one gallantry boast likewise of their good conduct The indifferent commend ' emselves for loving nothing as if honest friendship were a Crime In a word those who think they know themselves best know ' emselves but very imperfectly I am of your Opinion in both points resum'd Timocrates that perfect knowledge is very difficult to acquire both of others and our selves But convenient perhaps it would be as we have already said to consider which of those two knowledges is the most advantageous I do not see said Cephisa there is any occasion to doubt of ' em For of what Quality socver a person be the knowledge of others is absolutely necessary in the Affairs of the World and whether in Love Ambition Friendship Business and for the upshot in all manner of things if we do not in some measure know those with whom we are to deal we can never be successful A Courtier who to the bottom has searched the mind of his Master and the minds of those about him may almost be assured of making his Fortune A Lover who perfectly knows his Mistress will quickly gain her heart A friend who knows his friend well will never be deceived by him In sum this perfect knowledge if it might be had would be a wonderful advantage and this does not enter into comparison of the knowledge of our selves The other has a thousand Pleasures and this has none or very few How do I pity you Cephisa said Telesila interrupting her for being in an errour unworthy of so great a Wit as you For briefly what knowledge soever you may have of others it is never a certain knowledge and besides your knowing the imperfections of your friends does not correct ' em I agree in general that for the advancing ones fortune the knowledge of others is most necessary But to advance in Vertue the knowledge of ones self is a thousand times more advantageous Assoon as we know our own imperfections I suppose we think of correcting them or at least of concealing ' em From thence it likewise comes that we act more surely and more to the purpose on all occasions If every person knew well what he is proper for we should not sâ—…e so many things taken by the wrong byass as we daily see Every one would content himself with his own Talent would succeed therein and would not usurp an others Province If those who make ill Books knew it by themselves they would make none at all If Detractours knew well the horrour of Revilings and that a Calumny does blacken 'em for ever they would never more speak ill of their Neighbours If the pleasant Satyrists by profession knew truly how unbecoming that Trade is to a Gentile Wit to what danger they expose ' emselves and how little fensible the honest People they bespatter are of their injurious language and how much they slight and despise 'em they would spend their time more innocently and not incur the hatred of
Cleorante said Cephisa to her what would become of the love of my own repose No no added she let us not deceive our selves therein our own particular Concerns do always take place of the General Interest and all those Zealots for their Country are often only so for their own good So I declare I should choose a thousand and a thousand times rather that Pisistratus were the Tyrant of Athens than mine I am so far from being so replied he looking upon her after a passionate manner that I am perswaded there is nothing more impossible If you have not a care said then Cephisa smiling and turning towards Cleorante by forbidding Pisistratus to talk of Politicks you will perhaps oblige him to entertain you with love Tho I am not very fond of such entertainments replied Cleorante I think if one talk'd of love to me after a gallant manner and that but little and seldom I should better comply with it than be obliged to hear Affairs of State thrumn'd for a whole day together principally by certain People there are in the World And yet we daily see such Persons whom it does not concern who governs being they have no interest in the State torment ' emselves about it just as if they had as much right to pretend to all as Pisistratus But is there any one interrupted he who has no interest in the Government and the very Slaves can they be happy when their Masters are not so I know not truly said she to him in the most agreeable fret imaginable whether they can be so or not But I know very well there is no great happiness in seeing you when you have got your Politick Humour in your Head If you please said he to her then you shall never hear more of it as long as I live If your forbearance would not be mortal to you replied she smiling I should take it for a very great favour But added he I engage my self only upon this Condition that I shall say of you and my self all I shall think fitting Pisistratus had no sooner said those words than that Cephisa and I pass'd Sentence upon her to accept of Pisistratus his offer However she excused her self for some time very agreeably for after all said she what can he tell me of himself and me If he tells me of my imperfections he will put me out of humour and if he praises me it will be as little to my Diversion for I do not love Praises that are given me in my presence Moreover if he commends himself I shall esteem him the less for it and if he blames himself I shall still think 't is a disguised Pride So as not foreseeing what pleasure I can have in admitting him to talk often of himself and me it must be concluded I am a great Enemy to Politicks if I accept the Proposition he makes me But in short Madam this pleasant Treaty was concluded Pisistratus engaged to speak no more of Affairs of State to Cleorante and Cleorante promis'd likewise to Pisistratus to allow him to say of her and himself all that he thought convenient Yet giving him this liberty only when he should be in one of his Politic Humours Of the Passions which Men have invented AFter the Princess was departed the Company fell a talking of the multitude of Passions which Men have invented And truly said Celâ—…nira the Passion of Gaming in proper Terms is not a natural Passion but was invented and produc'd by the Wit and Industry of Men. This Passion replied Alcaeus has nevertheless its Source as well as all others in the Heart of Man and what makes up the Passion of Gaming in particular is the Passion of Pleasure in general which varies according to our divers genius's and several Constitutions All Men have a secret Passion for Diversion which attracts 'em to what does suit with their humour Some love Gaming others Hunting Some the Sciences others the Arts and some all these things together and that secret Passion which inclines to Pleasure serves as much to make a Learned Man love Study as to make a Beautiful Person love Dancing Glory all dazzling as it is is attended and the most difficult Vertues are followed by it Alcaeus is in the right said Philocrita and many People would dispence ' emselves from their duty if they found no pleasure in doing it But do we not see many People said I who shun Pleasure and make as I may say a kind of Passion of that pettish humour which possesses 'em all their lives they condemn the Pleasures of others they cannot agree ' emselves in what they have a mind to they murmur against the Custom of their Country and their Age they complain of the Prince and Government they equally blame Covetousness and Liberality and find no thing but what they judge worthy of their censure Those People said Celanira have certainly no Passion they have only a peevish disposition which makes them judge wrong of all things in the World I should have Curiosity enough said Philocrita to know of all those who are here present which is their strongest Passion I except Love added she for the Men here are Courtiers enough to choose that speaking in the presence of Ladies So that my meaning is every one should say which is the ruling Passion of his heart with exception to that As for mine said Celanira it is constant Friendship My Darling said Philocrita is an innocent joy wheresoever I find it For my share said Alcinor 't is I know not what that's glittering in all I do which makes People every where distinguished and all which is in order for it does sensibly touch my heart That Passion said Iphicrates is hard to be contented Mine is not of so great a lustre for it consists in complying with times things persons and the pleasure of doing it with success But that which you say replied I is Prudence and no Passion I call Passion replied Iphicrates what People love to do most and which regulates almost all our actions For my part said I then my most sensible Passion is the love of Truth But as for Cleander added I 't is unnecessary to ask him which is his greatest Passion What I said perplex'd Cleander and Celanira for a while But Cleander having made me explain my self I told him that his ruling Passion was the love he had for his Prince And indeed said I to him I have not yet been able to distinguish whether you have Ambition because you love your Prince or whether you love your Prince out of Ambition And after having observed you carefully I have concluded you have a kind of Passion without name wherewith you are more taken up and possessed than all those who have one of another sort can do But this Passion replied Cleander is or ought to be in all rational Peoples minds tho much stronger in some than in others through the divers circumstances of their condition and life
And I add hereto when it is as strong as it ought to be in a wellsorm'd heart and for an accomplisht Prince it contains somewhat of all the strongest Passions that can make us love This is carrying the thing very far said Alcinor I am of the same Opinion said Philocrita and without pain I give to Princes Respect Obedience and if you will Admiration when they are worthy of their Station But as to the tenderness of heart I keep it for my friends Very far from going from what I have asserted replied Cleander I maintain this sovereign Passion if I may be allowed to use that Term holds something of all we know most strong in the heart of Man I mean the most ardent motions of Piety Respect and Acknowledgment which good-natur'd Children have for their Parents and generous Persons for their Benefactors of the Union of Interest and Heart which is met withal in a happy Marriage of the greatest and most firm friendship and of the most solid Love This is a very bold Assertion said I. True it is said Celanira that we do not at first well apprehend how this can be so As for the first thing which Cleander asserted interrupted Alcaeus I easily comprehend it And indeed added he a Man must be perfectly bruitish and stupid not to know by this great and beautiful prospect of Nature that 't is the work of a mighty and a sovereign power He must likewise be little sensible of motions natural to see so many Thousands of Men voluntarily obey one person who sometimes has no other excellence than his Character and not know that there must needs be in this I know not what that 's Divine which lays the first foundation of our affection to our Princes Alcaeus has exactly spoke my thoughts replied Cleandâ—…r But I shall add what I have considered a Hundred times with amaâ—…ment which is that Men who have established so many several sorts of Government have never succeeded so well as when they have seem'd to abandon their own Wisdom to commit ' emselves to that of Heaven Sometimes they thought fit that every one should keep his Vote his Suffrage an equal power in the Republick which also seem'd most consonant to Nature Sometimes they were of Opinion it was only for the wisest to govern and by consequence for the oldest Sometimes they have taken their Masters only out of the most Illustrious Familys Sometimes they declared Merit alone could attain to that Station Sometimes they have chosen 'em out of a very great number sometimes out of a less and sometimes out of a very small one They also one while reduc'd ' emselves to one sole Prince but Elective another time to ways of Government mixed of all these together But they did never any thing so well which contributed more to the Grandeur Tranquility and Continuance of States as when they resolved to take their Kings of one only Race from Father to Son such as it should please Heaven to bestow upon 'em sometimes Warlike sometimes Pacific sometimes Excellent sometimes Mean in Knowledge with Vertues and Vices which Humane Wisdom cou'd not foresee at such a distance It is not to be imagined that such a thing as that can be done by Chance An Accident once casually happen'd whereof all Ages will speak that a Painter throwing his Spunge finish'd a Picture incomparably better than all his Art was able to have done But in the most important of worldly things it would be madness to say that Chance alone gave a better success to Hereditary Principalities than to others that by Chance there has been of 'em from the beginning of the World not only more than of any other sort of States but more than of all the others together that by Chance in all Times and in all Climates so many different Nations in Temperament Genius Inclination Manners and Language have most commonly chosen a Form of Government which seem'd at first the furthest off from the relish and interest of each one in particular and this is without doubt what cannot be well imagined That I grant said Alcaeus the World must necessarily yield either to a certain Experience which makes the good success to appear of that sort of Government or else it has followed I know not what blind Instinct which mov'd it thereunto and it seems to be rather the latter for as much as we may see by Histories the first Ages have had no less inclination than the latter for that sort of Government And indeed added Cleander there were towards the middle of Ages as I may say several Republicks but all weak languishing agitated with Civil Divisions and in fine of a very short continuance except the Roman which began in Monarchy and ended too in it But in general no Republick has lasted so long by much as several Monarchics and especially the French Monarchy which was never so formidable to all its Neighbours as it is at prefent after so many Ages and which is in short so flourishing that there is reason to believe it Eternal it not being possible to conceive where it can be defective So from this Instinct of Nations for a Successive and Hereditary Government of one only Person I believe we may justly gather somewhat Divine which passes into the hearts of Men and inspires into 'em a dutiful love mixt with Religion I assure you said Philocrita laughing I shall be henceforward a better Subject than I was For tho the Prince in whose Dominions I was born is such an one as his People could wish 't was ever my Opinion that if I had lived in the First Ages and had a voice to deliberate in such like things I should never have bethought my self of making Kings nor of being a Queen But after all said Celanira Cleander has reason to say that there is something Divine which ties the hearts of Subjects to their Princes As for what Cleander has asserted said Alcinor that the Passion which one hath for his Prince has something of the Veneration and Acknowledgement which we have for a Father and Benefactour this is easie to be understood in those who owe all their Fortune to the Prince but much less in those of whom perhaps he never so much as thought I grant replied Cleander 't is much stronger in the first but I maintain that it is also in all the rest if they are endued with Reason and Vertue In the first place pursued he the Prince has no Subject of whom he does not sometimes think how unknown soever he may be to him in thinking of all his Subjects and of their general Good There are none but owe to a good Prince their Repose Tanquility and all the happiness of their lives The true sign of an ungrateful heart is to distinguish very subtily between the Obligations and their Causes By that means they banish all Obligation and Acknowledgment out of the World I easily apprehend said Alcaeus that there are
other inferiour by the fame which still remains of the one which the others have not And indeed not one of our Sex is ignorant of Alexander Scipio or of Cicero himself But we hardly know what is the meaning of Hephestion Laelius and Atticus tho we have lately seen the life of the last in Print in our own Tongue For my part added Philocrita pleasantly having not had the honour to know any of 'em I promise you to call them only henceforward without truobling my self with their names the three Friends of Alexander Scipio and Cicero But in short said Cleander I boldly maintain that Friendship can never be firm and stedfast unless it has been able to level the great space there is between one friend and another and surmount that first difficulty which seem'd to hinder any reliance to be made upon it A Prince in stooping to his Subjects gives the greatest mark of goodness and friendship that can ever be shewn and a Subject is very miserable if he does not recompence the Magnanimity of that Friendship by the Ardency and Excess of his own At the worst if you will needs have that this acceptation of Friendship is improper I agree to 't But 't is certainly something that has all which the most steddy and most tender friendship can have and that suffices me I have been long expecting resum'd Philocrita you would say somewhat of Love 'T is so ample a Subject said Alcinor that it would furnish us abundantly with matter to discourse upon Alcinor is in the right said Iphiâ—…tes But in my Opinion he is in the wrong said Celanira For I believe it the hardest thing in the World to speak properly upon that Subject Let us then see how Cleander will speak on 't as to the point we have before us As I never seek to speak thereof but only to speak what I think replied Cleander I say without more ado that the Essential Differences betwixt Love and Friendship are fervency disquiet suspicion obedience submission jealousie injustice vexation discontents reconciliations change of an Opinion in an instant and sometimes divers changes in one and the same hour For in truth Friendship has only the shadow of all those Motions and moreover that too is when Friendship is so strong as to râ—…mble Love But there is no Courtier wedded to the Prince but seels all those Motions almost as violent as the most perfect Lover Whatsoever Equality the Prince should make between 'em thro Friendship Always Submission Respect and Obedience on their side as from a Lover to a Mistress their disquiet is extream their diffidence eternal Incessantly they are in fear of losing the favour of their Master even when they are most assured of it They all look upon one another as Rivals They are only possessed with that Passion Who could represent how half a word a smile a look penetrates and Charmes 'em to the very bottom of their Souls were it not for what occurs in Lovers Their injustice is beyond all comparison and is the true mark of a violent Passion for tho they understand well enough the Prince owes his Caresses to all the World one would say he stole from 'em all the favours he bestows upon others If by Chance he casts not his Eyes upon them it is sufficient to put 'em out of humour for a whole day together One and the same hour sees 'em contented and discontented charmed and dissatlsfied with the Court swearing to quit all and ready to give their Lives for the Service of their Master In a word all that is capricious in Love cannot be sound methinks in any other Passion than that of Courtiers for their Prince You are in the right said Alcaeâ—… and for my part when I see People who are naturally of great understanding and whom a long Experience has polished and rendred very able sometimes suffer ' emselves to be lur'd and decoy'd to the very end of their Lives by the vain hopes of the Court nay though they are very sensible they delude 'em Methinks I see that Lover of the Ancient and Modern Theater who says Ingrate I find her yet I love My Love and Death with equal steps do move I am resolv'd to Love and Die Since besides This That has no Remedy Beating Death at 's own Arms I Fear Lest now the King of Terrours fail me here So much does Love my Heart possess That not to die would be Vnhappiness But to hear you speak of Love said Philocrita to Cleander one would say you are almost as much in Love as you 're Ambitious Celanira blush'd and Cleander was in pain how he should make answer without discovering what he was willing to conceal and without Celaniraes accusing him likewise of want of Love and using too much dissimulation but resolving at length I was ever perswaded said he to Philocrita that People ought hardly ever to explain themselves upon this Subjâ—…ct by reason they are hardly believed whether they say they are in Love or say they are not And as to my particular if I had any Passion of that nature I would love so as it should be rather judged by my Actions than by my words You are in the right said I to him and Actions are more sincere than Words But after all Cleander there is a great distinction to be made between sincere Courtiers who love their Prince and interested Courtiers who only love their Fortune OF COMPLAISANCE AS Adherbal was speaking in this manner Valeria and Flavia came into the Room Clearchus came thither a moment after and were presently followed by Caesonia and Plotina whom Amilcar very seldom leaving arrived before all the Company were seated but as he seem'd more than usually out of Humour Claelia ask'd him the reason of it Tho 't is not easie for me to refuse any thing to a Person of your Merit yet am not over willing replied he to give you the satisfaction you request For you would laugh at me if I should tell you what you ask You are so seldom expos'd to such an Adventure rejoyn'd Plotina that tho it were out of Curiosity I should advise you to run this Risque Be assured replied Amilcar you will not believe me tho I tell you what I complain of As it will not be perhaps the first time that Credit has not been given to your words answer'd Plotina smiling you need not be so much in fear of not being believed Know then said he that in my Life I was never so much tired as I was to day for three hours together I was with a Man whom I have discours'd withal upon a hundred several subjects It must then be some Man of no great Sence said the Prince of Numidia That is not the business Sir reply'd Amilcar and I do not complain of his Stupidity It must then be one of those Men who dispute upon all matters said Clearchus who must be opiniatively contested with in regard they always
least with Sincerity for without that their Dissimulation would be ineffectual True it is said Mathilda we hear nothing talk'd of but Sincerity all Conversations are stufft with it all Letters are full of it People Crack of it in Love in Friendship in Affairs in the Commerce of the World in Compliments and yet I maintain that Sincerity which seems so general is the scarcest thing in the World and very often those who speak of it the best are those who have and practice it the least For my part said Padilla I would know very exactly what Sincerity is and whether there be any difference betwixt being true and being sincere Do not doubt of itin the least reply'd Mathilda for tho Truth be as I may say the Soul of Sincerity there is howevera distinction to be made between the one and the other People can never be sincere unless they be true But one may on some occasions not deserve to be called sincere Tho a Man is not a Lyar he may be of a close temper and hate Lying But Sincerity must of necessity carry along with it all the Beauty of Truth all the Charms of Freedom all the Sweetness of Confidence It commonly produces a certain openness of heart which appears in the Eyes and renders the Physiognomy agreeable Sincerity does not like Truth turn upon Words All our Actions must also be sincere It is ever an Enemy to Artifice and all Dissimulation excessive Prudence is not in use with it In a word it is a beauty without paint which fears not to be seen in the truest light nor to be nearly observed On the contrary 't is for its advantage that it be carefully examined for fear of being taken for a false sincerity which sometimes deceive those who are not acquainted with the real one Nevertheless there 's a great difference between 'em the one is ever contriving to seem what it is not and the other does not so much as think of seeming what it is false sincerity studys it self views it self and proportions it self to others but the real without reflecting upon others or it self is always the same Yet if a Man was so excessively sincere interrupted Don Pedro would he not be sometimes either imprudent or troublesome Not at all replied Mathilda For I do not mean that People should have an uncivil and rude sincerity which causes 'em to reproach the imperfections of the Person they converse with nor that they should say all they know I mean not I say that to appear sincere they should lose their Judgment 'T is by it that all Vertues may have a good use and without it Justice and Clâ—…cy which two are the greatest of allHeroiâ—…k Veâ—…s would not always be in their place Theâ—…e are two Vertues which can never cease being so But this does not hinder but there are occasions wherein Justice is more necessary than Clemency And others wherein Clemency is more Noble than Justice Sincerity it self ought to be attended with a just discretion which fets bounds to it and regulates its use We ought never to be Hypocrites nor cease being sincere But when we meet with cunning and treacherous People we are allowed not to open our hearts and it is very convenient to reproach them with their imperfections by a quite contrary procedure and to have Sincerity and Generosity both together to shew we do not approve of ' em But if we carry Sincerity so far said Padilla we must renounce Society Consider I beseech you after what manner People live at Court and then you will judge if I am in the right The Ambitious can they be sincere without renouncing Fortune Would Lovers be belov'd if they were always downright Do not they say they sigh perpetually they burn they die and of all this there is hardly any thing true Ah! Madam said then Alphonso You speak like a Person who does not well understand Sincerity You make it a Slave whereas ' tisa Queen You use it as a trifle and it ought to possess the hearts of all Persons of Honour There is a certain flattering Language introduced into the World which deceives no body added Mathilda and does not destroy sincerity The Lovers who burn and die in Songs don't delude their Mistresses if they are endued with Reason But the Man who should act the Lover without being so should seem to act very seriously and at the bottom aim at nothing but deluding her he Courted would certainly be a Cheat And I am perswaded a Man of Honour except in certain Gallantrys full of Civility which Custom has established and by which as I have already said no body is deluded ought neither to speak nor to act against the Sentiments of his heart in Love or business Besides we ought not to fancy that Sincerity says all it knows to all the World But it never says what it does not know Once again said Padilla See now your People perfectly sincere Take my word Mathilda they ever say more or less than they think and when I examine my self I am very sensible that Sincerity often quits me I have said a hundred times to Women of my Acquaintance that I thought 'em beautiful well dress'd well made that they danced admirably and yet I believ'd nothing of all this We conceal Love Hatred Ambition and we only shew what we believe may please or be useful The World has ever took this course and ever will And that you may be convinc'd of the truth of what I say recall into your mind Persons of all Conditions Kings themselves can they and ought they to be always sincere and if there be any who have sincerity it must undoubtedly have its source in their own hearts for they hardly ever see it either in the looks or words of those about ' em All the World is careful to hide their Sentiments and Ambition from all those who are able to bestow Favours They would have People believe that they hate all they hate that they only aim at their Glory and not at all at their own Interest Then the Courtiers conceal ' emselves from one another they make a Mystery of their Pretensions their Engagements and Intrigues They are merry with the Facetious grave with the Melancholy They have Love or Hatred according as their Interest requires When two Men of Quality have a Quarrel if they do not go to both their Houses they have their Service offered to him with whom they have not been by a third person if he may be made use of in any matter and so commonly they choose the most powerful side I shan't descend into a lower Rank But we do not now adays find more Sincerityin other Conditions without excepting the very Slaves I know a certain sort of People among others said Don felix who have no sincerity who are Authors both in Prose or Verse for if they commend the Works that are shewn 'em they praise 'em more than they believe
they deserve and if they blame them when the Author is not present they exceed their own Sentiments At least you 'll admit me to assert said Mathilda that there 's sincerity between real Friends When you shall have shewn the Friends you speak of replied Don Pedro we shall see what I shall have to say It would be a strange thing rejoyn'd Mathilda if there was no sincere Friendship in the World I do not say said Lucinda there is no sincerity nor friendship But I hold there is no perfect sincerity for to be such it must always be equal betwixt two Persons who love one another perfectly well However I maintain that between those who love one another best there are sometimes certain disgusts whereof they do not unbosome themselves at least while they last This likewise happens oftner in the hearts of persons who love perfectly than in those of others because they are more nice and sensible and know better the tenderness of their assection than those they love can do This being so you may easily judge that during those secret pets exact Sincerity is wounded That I grant reply'd Mathilda But 't is the fault of the Person who gives occasion to those Vexations if they are well grounded and not of him who has them for in a tender and faithful Affection we are almost obliged to divine the fault that is committed A strange thing is this same Love said Alphonso he is always Master wheresoever he comes Do not you take notice how we abandon Sincerity to speak of him Right said Mathilda For 't is not commonly under his Empire we are to seek it Friendship is much more proper for Sincerity than Love There is certainly something more strong that is required to oblige a Person to be sincere at all times and in all things There must be Sentiments above Reason without which that Sincerity which is so much talk'd of is a Quality that has nothing fix'd which complys with Times Occasions and those to whom we speak No without doubt added he that exact Sincerity so full of Confidence can only be found in a violent Love which makes a Man as sincere to the Person he loves as he is to himself as I may say Insomuch as said Padâ—… smiling to have that perfect Sincerity which Mathilda so much esteems we must necessarily have Love Ah! Padilla interrupted Mathilda do not wrest my words so contrary to my meaning But usually added she looking upon her it is not requisite to be young beautiful to love for to be belov'd and to love ones self much to be very sincere for one has too many interests to manage and 't is necessary to be as I am a good natur'd Person who prizes Friendship beyond all things and should count it for nothing if it were without Sincerity You have too much interest in Youth and Beauty reply'd Padilla to speak as you do and I something doubt that a person who so well knows the Art of making her self beloved can be much displeased at Votaries of that kind But without examining this any further I desire to know whether there is commonly more Sincerity between Men than between Women or from one Sex to the other Ah! as for the Ladys said Don Felix they never use it to one another at least to all those who pretend to any thing in the World They are all born as I may say in different Interests All the excellent Qualities which render 'em Amiable set them at Dissention The Fair put the Brown in the second Rank the Brown tho with less Lustre think to make more assured Conquests than the Fair. The Beautiful make no account of Wit Those who have more Wit than Beauty weaken as much as they can this powerful Charm which attracts so many hearts They undesignedly make each an Antagonist and that secret desire they have in their hearts permits 'em not to have ever any real sincerity for one another Yet this Rule is not so general There are Mathildaes Lucindaes and some others who are exceptions to it But in short according to my Sentiments there is little sincerity among Ladys If the Interests you attribute to Ladys reply'd Mathilda do so divide 'em as to be an Obstacle to Sincerity how can there be any among Men who have much greater Interests to set 'em at Dissention They have Honour to manage for which reason many of the Brave cannot allow of Valour in their Enemys nay not in their very friends Ambition Love Envy Affairs Intrigues of the World and a thousand other things still put more and more obstacles to true Sincerity among them than among Women In short interrupted Padilla I perceive we must conclude there is ordinarily more Sincerity between an honest Man and an honest Woman than between two friends of the same Sex That I grant said Don Alphonso without giving the exclusion of Sincerity to any Body and I declare I should esteem my self the most happy Man in the World if a beautiful and charming Person I know could resolve to admit of my Sincerity I fancy said Padilla the greatest advantage we shall draw from this Conversation is that Don Alphonso will have found a new way to make a Declaration of Love which no Body will dare to be offended at for who can be so unjust as to refuse the Sincerity of a Man of so much Honour The End of the First Tome CONVERSATIONS UPON Several Subjects Written in FRENCH By Mademoiselle de SCVDERT And done into ENGLISH By Mr. FERRAND SPENCE The Second TOME LONDON Printed for H. Rhodes next door to the Bear-Tavern near Bride-lane in Fleetstreet 1683. OF IDLENESS AND INGRATITUDE AS the Conversations of choice Persons whose number is not very great are of all the most agreeable Caesoniae Amilcar AEmilius and Herminius being one day in the charming Plotina's Chamber they fell into a Discourse that proved very diverting though the occasion of it was somewhat sorrowful For coming to speak of Claelia and Arontius they pitied them with much tenderness and foreseeing all the Misortunes which they seemed to be threatned withal the beginning of their entertainment was something sad and melancholy But as Amilcar could not talk long on such dismal things without fitting 'em to his humour It must be confessed cried he all on a suddain those who are capable of great Passions are much more miserable than others and it is much better in the general to love all that pleases than to make our Pleasure consist in one-sole Object And indeed added he I think that to love but one thing in the whole Universe is to act after a manner injurious to Nature But do not you remember replied Plotina smiling you would fain make me believe I am the Mistress of your Heart and yet what you say is not altogether proper for the gaining my Love You have your self forgotten rejoyn'd he that your Maximes are not very different from mine and it is rather Joy than
there were some distinction to be made in case of acknowledgement For otherwise I should be in despair were I obliged not to be ungrateful to three or four men who pretend to love me There is without doubt great distinction to be made in such things repli'd Herminius and indeed except in Love we may never receive a good office without having an heart capable of returning it and without thinking our selves obliged But 't is not so in Love and a good acknowledgement ought never to be either against Justice or against Virtue However it would be contrary to them both if a Lady acknowledged the affection equally of four or five Lovers for in short Love can never be divided But what will become then of the Services of unhappy Lovers replied AEmilius And why shall not that woman be accused of Ingratitude who shall receive 'em without acknowledging them Impossibility replied Herminius gives bounds to all things and 't is easie to understand it A Lady does not love when she pleases and when she loves any one she can make no other acknowledgement for those she does not love and who serve her than that which obliges her to pity 'em to be desirous they were cured of their Passion and to serve them as true Friends if she finds an occasion so to do The Virtues never destroy one another and a person could not be truely grateful if he committed an injustice in being so We are not allowed to prejudice one Friend for the serving another And when I said we ought to acknowledge all the good offices we receive That is to say so as can reasonably be done Thus a Lady may not return Love for Love without being ungrateful and properly speaking 't is onely reciprocal Love that can have that black Ingratitude which I think so horrible and which terrifies me so much the more in that it can never be addressed but to the person in the world by whom we are the most beloved and whom we ought most to love And then to speak of Ingratitude in general it can never be good for any thing Ambition may have good effects Love often spurs people on to great Actions Anger serves sometimes to support Justice Cruelty as hideous as it is may be in some sort useful in the heart of those who for the saving of a mans life are obliged to cut off his Arm And Ingratitude is almost the only thing that is onely good to do mischief Gratitude on the contrary which is a Virtue that does not make so much noise as many others is notwithstanding altogether Heroical in the heart of those who truely know it And for ought I know there may be sometimes as much glory in acknowledging a Benefit with a good grace as there is in rendring ones self a good Office Of the way to Invent A FABLE AMilcar having done reading the Story of Hesiod perceived that all the Ladies Hearts were moved with Compassion and he had afflicted instead of having diverted the Company I must confess said Claelia the death of Clymene very sensibly touches me For my part said Valeria I have more pity for Hâ—…siod than I can express I have the same for Lysicrates added Clidamira I am not of your mind rejoyn'd Berilisa for I have never any Compassion for those who have once ceas'd loving though Love is renew'd in their Hearts My Compassion proceeds much further than yours said Salonnia for I also pity the poor Troilus Mine is still much greater than that you boast of replied Plotina smiling for at the moment I speak I die for fear that poor Dog so faithful to his Master after having caused his Murderers to be discovered was lost in the crowd of People or that he died of grief after the loss of his Master and Mistress All the Company laugh'd at Plotina's pity and went a walking in several Companies except Claelia Valeria Plotina Anacreon Herminius and Amilcar who began to rally Plotina for the pity she bore to Hesiod's Dog No no interrupted Anacreon be not so severe upon her for this reason Perhaps the pity she had for that poor Dog has a more substantial foundation than the pity we have for the death of Clymene For to speak to you sincerely though I am a Greek and moreover a Poet yet I am of opinion that the History you have now read is almost all invented Nevertheless it is pretty ingeniously done added he For I not onely find it more beautiful than Truth but more probable too And indeed the History says nothing else of Hesiod but that he dwelt in the Burrough of Asera in Baotia near Helicon that he was inblown by the Muses that an Oracle uttered upon his account obliged him to remove farther from the Temple of Nemaea which is in Peloponnesus that he travelled into several places obtained the golden Tripus and won the advantage over Hâ—…mer by the judgement of Paris Yet some say that these two great men were not contemporaries But at least all those who have written of Hesiod agree that he was at Locris and content themselves with saying in three words that he lodged at Antiphanes and Ganictors house who had a Sister and that having suspected him of being the Confident of an Amour of hers they killed him with his Slave that the Slave'sBody was found at a Cape to which was since given the name of Trailus by reason of him That that of Hesiod was carried by Dolphins near to a Temple of Neptune where a great Sacrifice was made that Hesiod's Dog made his Murderers known who were torn to pieces by the People and that for fear the Orcomenians shou d have taken away his Body they conceal'd his Sepulchre As for his Works he who hath invented that History has supposed nothing of it but the Song those four Verses he makes Hesiod say and that Hymn which he supposes him to have made for the Sacrifice of Neptune After this will not you grant me that Fiction in this Encounter is more probable than Truth When an Author causes extraordinary events to happen 't is without doubt better to introduce Love therein than any other cause This has been practised by the person who invented this Story For by supposing the love of the Prince of Locris that of Lisicrates and that of Hesiod for Clymene he has made you acqualnted with all those several persons and has obliged you to love them who were to be the most unhappy Then he made that probable which had little likelihood in it For there is much more appearance that two ambitious and wicked Brothers should be led away to kill a man whom they thought an obstacle to their Fortune by hindring their Sister to be favourable to a Prince from whom they expected their advancement than not to kill him as the Confident of a Lover of their Sister Now Crime for Crime 't would be much better to kill the Lover than the Confident There would likewise have been reason
be disputed However the most tender Amity replied she never produces any good Effects but what may be expected from mine For is there any one who loves to serve her Friends more or is more glad to see 'em than my self You ought to adde rejoyned I nor who can be more easily comforted for their absence True said she I do not run mad and though I lose sight of 'em I lose not my own Reason But pray pursu'd she what great pleasure would my Friends have though I had the greatest grief in the world for their absence I am without doubt sorry for it but 't is without growing stark mad and without tiring the Friends I had left by an insupportable peevishness which would be of no use to those Friends of mine that are gone but incommode those I am with and distract my self without having any other advantage thereby than the reputation of a tender Heart But my sence is that it would be to have a weak Soul Truly if I did not esteem my Friends as much as they deserved if I did not serve them when they stood in need of my assistance and did not look well upon them when they came to see me I would give them leave to condemn me as they do But because I do not give my Heart entirely up and have it not sensible of the last sensibility and because I do not mingle in all my Discourses the words of Tenderness ardenâ—… Affection and the like I pass for indifferent though truly speaking I am only as a rational person ought to be This is what I cannot endure And is it not true pursued she laughing that those wise men who are so much talked of in the World make Wisdom to consist in a disengagement from all things And according to their Precepts I am by Constitution what they would have people become by their Instructions Those wise men you quote replied Thrasylus never condemn'd Friendship Neither do I condemn it replied she but I regulate it and give it bounds For to think that Friendship ought to distract and destroy its Votaries is too unjust 〈◊〉 thing And I should rather chuse to have Ambition Hatred and Anger than to have Friendship as certain persons have it being assur'd I should suffer lâ—…ss in having those three violent Passions than if I had that kind of Friendship which I think is called Tender Friendship or Heroick Friendship You ought likewise to wish the having Jealousie said Thrasylus for the heightning the exaggeration If one could have Jealousie without Love replied she laughing I should have ranked it with the others But if you please I will joyn Envy to it which is little less tormenting than Jealousie that you may comprehend how troublesom I take that Tender Friendship to be True it is added she I am perswaded there is much less of it than people imagine and if the Hearts were seen of all those people who make profession of it as I shew mine they would be found little more tender or more sensible And all the difference there is between me and others is that I say nothing but what I think and that I will not pass for what I am not and for what I mean not to be Ah! 〈◊〉 beseech you cried I content your self with excusing your Indifference and do not undertake to condemn Friendship which is the most just the most innocent and the sweetest thing in the World and as you have said the most Heroick For that Friendship which you so much contemn is of such a nature that without it there would be no true satisfaction in the World All other Pleasures are imperfect and do but at most touch the Senses and the Mind But that of Loving and of being Beloved fills and charms the Heart with an infinite delight 'T is without doubt Friendship which sweetens all Griefs redoubles all Pleasures makes that in the greatest Misfortunes we find helps and Consolation And 't is it in short which has caus'd a thousand Heroick Actions to be performed through the whole world And indeed pursued Thrasylus it is in veneration amongst all Nations And bute Cleocrita there is not a person in the world but is offended at an Accusation of having no Friendship Do not make that exception in me replyed she for I take it not well of those who say I do not love my Friends But true it is I care not much People should believe that the friendship I have for them is not of the same stamp with that on which you bestow so many Elogies If you knew what true Friendship is resum'd I you would blush for the shame of having called by so glorious a Name that kind of affection which your Heart is capable of Let it be how it will said she I find my self much at ease and I would not willingly change my Thoughts For my share said Artemidorus who had not yet spoken when I consider that Love and Ambition do occasion almost all misfortunes some moments there are I could wish that there were no passions in the Hearts of men Ah! for Heavens sake cried Amilcar smiling do not make so dangerous a wish If men had no Passions instead of wishing so ardently to live as they do they would wish to die now I know nothing more tiresom than to lead a certain lukewarm and sedate life which without any desires or any fears comes to have nothing more sensible than that we see in Flowers Truly said Artemidorus I am perswaded the Passions onely produce all Pleasure That is so true replied Amilcar that if one of those Seven Wise men of Greece should rise again from the dead I would make him confess that Wisdom it self would be of no use if no Passions were in the Hearts of Mankind and that this is a Treasure they could not be without I say moreover added Aroncius and I maintain that all the Heroick Actions which have been done in the whole extent of Ages would never have been performed had there been no Passions I agree to what you say resumed Artemidorus but you must withal confess that without these same Passions all the great Crimes would not have been committed whereof the Memory is come down to us That I grant rejoyn'd Amilcar but though I grant it I must tell you that as we do not forbear loving Roses though they have Prickles admiring the Sea though it occasions Shipwreck loving the Sun though it incommodes us sometimes by its Heat and the Earth though it equally produces both dangerous and salutary Herbs So I say with all the mischiefs of the Passions I should be heartily sorry they were taken from all men For I am perswaded that whosoever would take 'em all away would take away all Pleasures and almost all the Heroick Virtues as Aruntius has very well observed But still I would willingly know added he addressing his Speech to Zenocrates who did not concern himself in this Dispute Of what opinion are you
Passion could be excusable in a Lady the Merit of Xenophon would excuse Philesia for there is not a man in the World better made nor of a greater Air no not Alcibiades himself His Humour is more sage and more reserved His Wit is agreeable He speaks as he writes and he writes better than any man soever And truly he has been called the Muse and the Athenian Bee to shew the sweetness of his Style His Heart is as perfect as his mind being solidly Pious without Ostentation He is as renowned amongst the great Captains and amongst the great Philosophers and the best Historians He is not one of those Bullies who onely esteem their own Valour Nor is he a Writer who would attribute to himself the Works of others For I have heard him say that in the Battle of Delion so fatal to the Athenians Socrates performed wonders in his own person and that finding himself engaged and hurried away against his will by those of his own Party he retired slowly yet facing the Enemy and fighting like a Lyon Xenophon said that Socrates in that condition having found him entangled under his Horse and wounded he disingaged him in spight of the Enemies and took him upon his Shoulders until he was far enough from 'em as not to fear they would kill the man whose Life he was desirous of saving Xenophon told me this after an Heroick manner and all Greece knows never any other did so highly commend the Works of Thucydides as himself Xenophon loved Hunting and Horses and all Military Exercises Alcibiades loved them likewise but his humour is very impetuous and his Pleasures are very often dissolute and very changeable Magnificence attends him in all places and never any besides himself has had Seven Chariots at the Olympick Games Yet these two men alike in some things and so different in others were intimate Friends of the wise Socrates As for Lisander who is of the Race of Heraclides as he has been brought up in the simplicity not to say politick Poverty of Sparta his Character is very different But under that seeming modesty he conceals a great deal of Pride And very far from refusing a Throne if he could attain it he would not refuse an Altar nor all the Homages that are paid to the Gods Having likewise been suspected of endeavouring to suborn in several places those who render Oracles for the attaining of his ends You may easily judge Madam that this variety among these Great men rendred the Society the more agreeable The famous Euripides Socrates his Friend to such a degree that the envious said this wise Philosopher has some share in his Works was likewise at the Baths But understanding people onely believe he has given him good hints and Counsels His Birth is without doubt obscure but yet he has a Haughty Melancholy and Arrogant Air And his great Merit gives him a certain Noble Audaciousness which is not unpleasing for that the beauty of his Wit and of his Works do maintain it and is however civil and understands Conversation aright He gained all the Prizes of the Exercises during his younger years and has vanquished several times by his fine Tragedies without there appearing in his Eyes any motion of Joy for the Victory he had gained It could not be observed either by his Actions or his Words that he was a lover of Ladies though the famous Sophocles has formerly reproached him that he onely hated them upon the Stage But though there are some places in his Works where there is Love yet he is no professed Gallant Androcles said likewise that part of his trouble came from his being unhappy in a Wife as well as Socrates And that it was after a much more cruel manner As for Philocles he had wherewith to please without having any extraordinary qualities He had no Imperfections his Heart his Wit and his Person had an equality of Merit which suted to all the World and disgusted no body Thrasybulus has also Merit Wit and Valour but he is something unequal in his Humour and a little too haughty But as for Theramenes Madam I dare not hope to represent him to you well and we may say he has all the great Qualities of the others without having any of their Imperfections and he unanimously passes for a man of the most honour in Athens and the most solidly Virtuous and likewise one of the most Valiant having moreover all that can render a Virtue charming in a person of Quality good Meen a noble Air an ingenious Physiognomy speaking well an agreeable Humour without being Comical and of a Probity that cannot be surpassed And indeed he has as much share in the Friendship of Socrates as Criton Cebes Simmias and all the others I have named These Madam were the principal persons at the Bath I add that as long as the Ladies were in their Tents there were Consorts of Country-Harmony all along the Balisters and when they were at Alpena they had Harps and Voices Alcibiades having a fancy of not being able to endure Consorts of Flutes in his presence by reason those who play upon them have their Faces disfigured This is to such a degree in his head that he says he will have them banished from Athens and shall have Socrates on his side Socrates I say who has not an unsociable virtue who has not even despised Dancing who complies with the innocent joy of the Feasts of men of Merit who have so great a respect for him that he alone has more share in the Conversation than all those he meets with But Madam for the better understanding of what I have to say to you in the sequel I must bring you back to Athens and having to tell you what passed at the Baths I must inform you of what passed in that famous City where Melicrita and my self were born You must know then that Theramenes had been long very much in love with Melicrita and that their adventure though without great Events merits you should know the beginning of it For to take pleasure in the sequel in what I have to acquaint you concerning it I shall tell it you then in few words and then will bring you back to the Bath The Father of Melicrita being the Neighbour of Socrates and of Theramenes likewise we may say the praises this Great man gave them from their Infancy made them esteem one another but with this difference that the esteem of Theramenes became a violent Passion which he durst not unbosome and the esteem of Melicrita was followed by a great inclination to which her Reason gave bounds thinking sometimes rather to become one of Minerva's Virgins than to marry because the Merit of Theramenes made her fear â—…t her heart would engage it self more â—…an she was willing it should Besides the Merit of Theramenes whereof I have spoken to you retained her Alcibiades was for some time in love with her after the death of his Wife who
Secret he knew well enough I blam'd her carriage towards him But in short he departed I delivered his Letter Melicrita would not read it but I read it to her She blushed she sighed and I perceived she could hardly conceal the trouble of her Heart We were interrupted and she avoided during several days to speak to me in particular But this was extraordinary in this occasion that she treated those who were in love with her much worse since Theramenes was absent revenging her self upon them for the torment she suffered in not daring to abandon her Heart to the inclination she had for him But in a short time after Athens was exposed to two the greatest Calamities in the World War and Pestilence wherewith it had long before been menaced by an Oracle I shall say nothing to you of that War since you are perfectly informed of all its Events And I have already told you that Alcibiades and Socrates signalized and distinguished themselves therein after such a manner as that they were not to be equalled by any other These two misfortunes together put Athens into a great Consternation all those persons who had Country-houses retired to them But the Air being infected they met with the Pestilence in all places The Contagion was brought into the Camp before Potidaea where many died of it Almost all those died who had any understanding in Physick so as people died without help And this had so much the Air of a Divine Punishment that publick Prayers were made in all the Temples but the Mortality was so great that few people were seen there It was not as formerly a popular Malady persons of the highest Quality were attacked by it as well as others Thucydides had that terrible Disease but recovered My Husband died of it in the Army being very young so that I retired with Stebonia Melicrita's Mother into the Country Socrates was almost the onely man of all those who were at the Army who was spared by the Infection and this was attributed to the protection of the Gods and his great Sobriety Melicrita has confessed to me since that sometimes she was very glad her cruelty had banished Theramenes from a place where he might have perished either by War or by Pestilence but she knew not that the same Passion which had sent Theramenes away recalled him and exposed him to the same dangers which she thought to have made him avoid And indeed Madam assoon as Theramenes had notice his Country was in War and his Mistress exposed to the Pestilence he changed his Course and Design how far off soever he was and retuned with much more diligence than he weâ—…t away But to shew that the Love of Melicrita had more share in his Return than the love of Glory instead of going directly to the Army he approached Athens to know where she was But he found there a hideous Solitude and more dead Corps than living Bodies They told him I was with Melicrita in the Country that Stenobia was very sick though not of the Contageous Disease And that Melicrita having had news her Father was taken with the Pestilence in his return from the Army his Domesticks all dead of it except a young Slave and that knowing the lamentable condition her Father was in she would have left me with Stenobia and gone to Aristocrates iâ—… I had not hindred her from so doing Theramenes hearing all this forced as I may say by great Presents the onely Physician who remained at Athens to go with him and wrote to Melicrita in these terms Love Madam banish'd me from my Country the same Passion calls me home that I might have the Consolation to see my self near you and endeavour to succour him to whom you owe your Life Continue with Stenobia Madam I am carrying to Aristocrates a very able Physician I steal him from a great City but I value you above all the World If I can by my cares save Aristocrates's life and that his Disease does not prove Contageous to my self I will go seek Death in the Army too happy in having rendred you a Service which perhaps will be the onely one of all my life that will be acceptable to you Theramenes used all possible precaution in writing to us He came from a good 〈◊〉 took a Table-book out of such things as had not been in Athens He sent them by a Slave he had brought with him from the Country he came and went directly to the place where he knew Aristocrates lay ill I forgot to tell you that I received Theramenes's Packet as I was weeping with Melicrita who underwent a mortal Grief knowing that her Father whom she tenderly loved had so terrible a Disease without having any help All his Servants were dead at the Army and not a man could be found to be sent to him we had onely Women except an old Domestick who was not in a condition to undertake a Journey All the others were sted away and I could not divert her from going without knowing however how she should get to Aristocrates In that condition we received Theramenes's Messenger as a Messenger from Heaven And when she knew the care this generous Lover had taken to procure her Father a Physician and that he was going to expose himself to the Pestilence for the love of her It must be confessed said she that this action is admirable and without saying a word more she went to acquaint Stenobia her Husband would not die without help and that Theramenes was going to him This News gave so much joy to that virtuous Woman that her Fever diminished two hours after 〈◊〉 then represented to Melicrita all I thought capable of moving her but she was ingenious in tormenting her self Do not you see said she to me that it is not now a fitting time to speak to me of Theramenes's Passion Perhaps he came too late perhaps it lies not in his power to save Aristocrates And perhaps alas added she sighing he will meet with his own death in endeavouring to render me a great Service which would be to me a greater misfortune than I can express In fine notwithstanding the severity of my Conduct added she blushing I love Theramenes and it is onely the tenderness of my Heart which has made me treat him so as I have done What touch'd her still more is that I knew from the Messenger Theramenes had sent us and who had Wit enough that his Master had been under a mortal Melancholy during his Travels not having had the least curiosity wandring almost here and there at hazard yet still going farther off In the mean while we knew not what course to take for to hear from Aristocrates and Theramenes But the Slave he had sent us offered his service which we accepted and Melicrita after having twenty times changed her Resolution wrote these few Lines to Theramenes by Stenobia's Command I obey a Mother whom your generous action does restore to life again
as to that said Iphicrates and tell you in few words all that has been done before I acquaint Melicrita with her Fathers Command All the Company being very willing to know so extraordinary an occurrence Iphicrates satisfied their curiosity in these terms As you have not been at Athens since the desolation of the Pestilence for that you came from the Country to the Bath said he to Melicrita and to me and that Theramenes at his delivery out of Prison came directly hither after having seen Aristocrates at his Country-house you cannot comprehend to what a degree is the solitude of that City So as that at the first Assembly which was held for the renewing the Senate of Five hundred they were terrified to see the diminution of the people For as you know being divided into ten Tribes it is the more easily remarkable And as you are not ignorant that no Proposition is made to the People but what has been examined by the Senate after that by the Lot of White Beans and Black the Senators were elected and that they had regulared the Prytanes who as you know have all the authority during five Weeks There was one of 'em who had six Daughters to marry and another three or four Sisters Those two Prytanes caused notice to be taken that the War having swept away great numbers of Men as well as the Pestilence there was a great number of Maidens who could not be married and that it was nevertheless necessary for the repeopling their City to to marry 'em all This Proposition was contested by some but he who had six Daughters to marry and the other who had three or four Sisters urged and maintained this point so strongly that it was concluded by those ten Prytanes that the matter should be proposed to the people in a general Assembly And this having been performed accordingly the people with an unparallel'd precipitation would needs make a Law which should absolutely constrain all the Men to take two Wives But a man of good sence having made a vigorous and eloquent Remonstrance it was agreed this Decree should merely bear a permission of having two adding great praises for those who out of zeal to their Country should take two accordingly So that Socrates who makes the Publick good his darling Passion though cruelly tormented by Xantippa his first Wife has wedded Mirton Grand-Daughter of Aristides the just for the shewing an Example to others And it is evident this action of his was neither out of Voluptuousness nor Interest since he chose a Woman who had nothing of Beauty and was in such a condition as not to know what would become of her if Socrates had not married her as he did And indeed this Example of Socrates has been so powerful that there has been made several double Marriages in imitation of him I have certainly for Socrates resumed Theramenes all the respect his Virtue merits but I boldly declare I will never imitate him in this business Aristocrates does expect you will not reassumed Iphicrates and it is for that reason he has given me in charge to order Melicrita whom he tenderly loves to engage you to promise her not to make use of the permission of the Decree for having adopted you for his Son and being desirous to live and die with you he is willing to be assured you would not bring any Stranger into his Family I promise it solemnly said Theramenes and I am ready to swear it at the Feet of the Image of Minerva Protectrice of Athens and in the mean while I swear it before Theano who serves that great Goddess This being so added Iphicrates Theolinda when the Baths are ended must bring Melicrita to Aristocrates his Country-house where you are to marry her before you return to Athens to let pass during some time the fancy which the people have for these double Marriages Iphicrates had hardly done speaking but Theramenes gave him a thousand thanks And Melicrita though so reserved made appear in her Eyes a modest Joy which rendred 'em their Brightness and their Charms and re-established her so well she was in a condition to receive Company So as that in the Afternoon all the Illustrious persons at the Bath having known by those to whom Androcles had with regret told that this pretended Law was onely a permission to have two Wives and not a Command came to see us without excepting the Princess of Sicyon Theano returned with her Companions and Alcibiades Euripides Lysander Xenophon Philocles and Polemon spent the rest of the day at our Lodgings You must at least confess said Eupolia agreeably speaking to Melicrita that this Fantastical Law put you into a terrible fright Truly Eupolia replied she blushing you are very cruel in reproaching me with so just a Fear You I say who have daily such as are so ill-grounded I do not blame you for it resumed Eupolia I onely put you in mind of it Alcibiades interposed after a pleasant manner in this Conversation not being able to forbear admiring the resolution of Socrates For in short said he if he was in love I should not wonder at it at all But that the Publick good should so influence a man as to make him take a second Wife both ugly and poor when he has a very sad peevish and troublesom one already I must confess I do not conceive it Euripides spoke in much sharper terms against Marriage for a private reason he had for so doing And yet said Alcibiadoes Euripides is no Enemy to love as appears by the Verses he made yesterday That is true said he but the reason is Love and Marriage do seldom jump and it is this rarity which is going to make the happiness of Theramenes and Melicrita As I knew this Discourse did but make 'em uneasie I asked Alcibiades what the Verses were they talked of and he told us that having discoursed together the day before of Xenophon's Knowledge and Politeness joyned to the tenderness of his Heart He had made a Copy upon that Subject which he had still in his Memory The Princess of Sicyon desired him to rehearse 'em and Euripides without further pressing told us 'em himself They are as follows These Verses are out of Euripides The School of Love that 's all beset with charms Quickens Old Age and yet fierce Youth disarms Love too does render Learning more polite Loves Divine Flame makes Vertue dazling bright Love fills all humane breasts with hopes joy Love grief does banish which would us anoy Yet not the least of innocence destroy Though all Mankind should fall to censure me I 'll have no Friend who can't a Lover be He must be Salvage who lives without Love Love does the Beauties of the world improve Love the whole Vniverse does new adorn Without Love's aid all things would droop and mourn The God of Love does nought but mirth inspire The God of Love does what we all admire Right reason then your priviledge maintain But do not Loves Prerogative disclaim It must be confessed said the Princess that these Verses are worthy of Euripides and of their Subject Xenophon made a very modest defence and the Conversation was very pleasant all the rest of the day On the morrow in the Evening Theramenes made a very agreeable Feast during which all the Tents at the Bath were lighted by marvellous Illuminations which Theramenes had caused to be prepared before the bad news This shew'd the finest object imaginable These Illuminations were accompanied with several Consorts of Instruments There was a Ball at the Princess's house where Androcles durst not appear and all the Company at the Bath did partake in Theramenes and Melicrita's joy Iphicrates went to Corinth upon some business he had there but obliged us to depart two days after Theano and her Companions went away on the morrow Melicrita out of modesty would not suffer Theramenes to come along with us but he departed the same day and made haste before to thank Aristocrates for the care he had taken of his happiness I dare say all the illustrious persons at the Bath regretted the loss of our Company Alcibiades Xenophon and Euripides conducted us half a days Journy and would have came further if we would have suffered ' em But in short we arrived safely at Aristocrates his House And as Theramenes was got thither with extraordinary expedition we found all things ready for the Wedding so as that he married Melicrita three days after with an inconceivable Joy which I am perswaded will last all their lives This is Madam what you ordered me to acquaint you with if I had had more Wit and more Art you would have found this Relation more agreeable and entertaining FINIS BOOKS lately Printed and Sold by Henry Rhodes 1682. THe History of the Glorious Life Reign and Death of the Illustrious Queen Elizabeth By S. Clark Price bound 1 s. The History of the Victorious Life Reigh and Death of King Henry VIII with the Life of King Edward VI. Price bound 1 s. Pastime Royal or the Gallantries of the French Court A new Novel Price bound 1 s. Female Prince or Frederick of Sicily A new Novel Price bound 1 s. Round-heads or the Good Old Cause A Play by Mrs. A. Behn City Heiress or Sir Timothy Treat-all A Play by Mrs. A. Behn With all sorts of new Plays A new Voyage to the East-Indies and more particularly of the Kingdom of Bantam The second Edition with Additions Price bound 1 s. Conversations on several Subjects Written in French by Madamoiselle Scudery and done into English by Mr. Ferrand Spence