be despised but when they are scarce they will be eagerly laid hold on out of fear that they will not return with so much advantage IN ALL CASES how extream soever a Jealousie may be I think the Example of Vulcan may serve for a remedy to it When he was Jealous of Mars and Venus he laid Nets to catch them in the sight of all the Gods but what did he get at last by his Curiosity and Cunning but only to be declar'd infamous with the more solemnity and to be cast out of Heaven and break a Log with the fall Nevertheless that none may deceive themselves in this matter I desire they would take notice of this Distinction That Jealousie respects Love Envy the goods of Fortune and t is Emulation that follows Vertue The goods of Fortune are too gross those of Love are too slight for our Minds there are only those of Vertue that can deserve to be the Object of it It is only in the pursuit of this that Competitors can endure one another as well as many may agree to serve themselves of the Light of the Sun or the Influence of the Stars Also we may see among the Ancients that the three Graces hold each other by the Hand and are united in the Alliance of Vertue while the Goddesses are at strife for the Honour of excelling in Beauty and the Famous Triumvirate fell out about the Possession of the Universal Empire And if we may add for this purpose any thing of Christianity to our Morals that we may find a remedy for the greatest Persecutions of Jealousie let us observe the Example of the Blessed Virgin and her Husband Joseph where we may find that the most Chast of all Women yet gave some Jealousie to the most Honest and Sincere Man There is in this sometimes more of Misfortune than of Malice and therefore those that are liable to be Jealous should like him despise the slight appearances of ground for it and those that are wrong'd by Jealousie should like her suffer patiently the suspicions of it It would be no small Consolation to think that after all the Proofs and all the Witnesses that might constrain us to judge ill it is better in this extremity to believe a Miracle than a Sin and to own the Power of God than the weakness of a Creature Of Friendship and the Love of Inclination and that of Election SINCE there is no Pleasure in Life without Friendship and the greatest Prosperity is tedious and the least Affliction without this is insupportable it is not fit I should forget this Divine Quality of Amity wherein the Ladies have at all times greatly recommended themselves It is not reasonable that I should pass by this lovely Vertue to which they have even erected Altars among the most Barbarous Heathen Nations and which exercises an Empire most absolute over the Hearts of Men in all places where there is any Sense or Knowledge of it There is then no need of long Proofs to make it appear that Love and Amity are necessary to the World It is of more importance to show how it is dangerous It is more profitable to show the Use than the Worth of it Most certainly if any know not how to distinguish well what is worthy of their Love they must be very unhappy for the imprudent and ill-placed Affections ordinarily prove a cause of the greatest evils that afflict our Lives The disposal of Love is truly a source of Misery if not well directed as well as it is of Felicity if it be so For this reason we ought to examine our Love and Amity from the very birth of it since all the Passions and all the Motions of the Soul depend on this For as heretofore among the Romans when they had chosen a Dictator they did at the same time depose all those that had any other Office to the end that a new Lord might be attended with new Officers so also when we change our Love all the other Passions change their nature they all follow this first mover If we hope or if we fear still yet it is not for the same end as it is not for the same Object And in truth when I think with my self that this Passion not only gives motion to all the rest but also that it constrains us to espouse the qualities of those whom we love and above all that it never ends but as it were with Life I declare that it is in this more than in any other concern that our choice is of great importance and that we know not how to employ too much care and prudence to examine well whether that which at first we esteem worthy of our Love does not indeed deserve our hatred and aversion This choice is not less difficult than necessary But since they commonly say that Love has two Eyes that of Inclination and that of Election I think that to speak of this subject with some method it will be convenient to show with which of these it may see most clearly that which is Amiable AND TO BEGIN with the Love of Inclination which many esteem the best What the Poets said of Achilles may give us a great light into it For as we learn from Fables that this great Captain had but one place in all his Body that was capable of receiving a Wound and that every where besides neither Dart nor Arrow could injure him In like manner it seems to me that the only part in which our Soul is most sensible is that of Inclination and that they who have found out this fatal place as Paris did the Heel of Achilles need only to touch that that they may wound and conquer us Without finding this let any render the best services they can they will all be unprofitable to them or if they succeed sometimes it is with great difficulty and hazzard One only look with Inclination has more effect than without this the devoirs of many Years can obtain It is violent and yet constant though it is excited in a moment yet it fails not to endure a long time It sometimes finds in one instant its birth and its perfection It was that which rendered Dido in Love with Aeneas from the very first time that she beheld him she begun to love as soon as she begun to know him without taking any notice that this was a stranger whom a Tempest and not Love had cast upon the Coasts of Carthage It is true that reason and consideration at first as it was with this Queen will endeavour sometimes to stifle those Sentiments that the Inclination gives birth to But these are very uneffectual efforts and we with difficulty resist the love that pleases Reason it self takes its part and becomes as complaisant as was the Sister of that Princess even to the devising and trying means to succeed in our desires Inclination has no less of Skill and Cunning than of Courage It can Enchant and Deceive even
entertain an eternal Sedition within our selves We cannot be happy but by halves our Inclination is upon the rack while our Reason is satisfied It is true that is said of Love that without Inclination it cannot long subsist Without this an Amity has not an entire Satisfaction nor even Confirmation It is a Building without Foundation which needs but a Touch or Blast to throw it down But to finish this Argument with the strongest Proof of all Since Love ceases to live when it ceases to reign and that it cannot divide its Power without losing it That we may sufficiently prove the Love of Inclination to be the most Sovereign and the most Legitimate it is enough to show that it is the most single and that it will never permit that we should love more than one thing As we can have but one Sympathy we cannot love perfectly more than one Object On the contrary as we can seek our Interest in several Persons when we find it not in one alone so this Love of Consideration may be divided it may seek what is profitable in one and what is agreeable and pleasing in another After all if Consideration and Inclination were to dispute before a Wise Judge that he might determine to which of the two Love does most lawfully belong as heretofore the two Mothers pleaded before Solomon for the living Child Inclination would at length have the advantage He would give Love to that since it can endure no Division of it as the other can and because it will possess it or lose it entirely AFTER WE have seen the Reasons which are given to prove that Inclination is the more strong in Amity it is time to examine those which may be brought to show that Election is the more assured and safe in such an important Concern It shall then suffice at the first to make it appear how much Inclination is dangerous to shew how blind it is For as the Dawn precedes the rising of the Sun so Knowledge ought to go before Love and however Sympathy does act without Choice and Light yet that which it does in a Moment causes oftentimes the repentance of the whole Life Election is not so forward nor ready 't is true and also it is not so unfortunate And I think Zeuxis return'd a very prudent Answer to those that reproach'd him for that he was long in finishing his Pieces I says he aâ— a long time in drawing a Picture because what I draw is to endure a long time One may say for a firm Affection that which he said for an excellent Picture It is necessary that a long Experience should precede a true Amity for fear lest a long Regret should follow an Election too lightly made This of Sympathy is an Agreement very suddenly made it often obliges it self without knowing to what Conditions and commonly signs without having look'd upon the Articles The Example of Dido alone sufficiently shews the tragick Effects of this Lightness The Poet had reason to say that her Love was blind and that it consisted of a Fire that had more heat than brightness And in truth I find in this Fable the Infelicity as well as the Blindness of this Love If Dido had an Inclination Aeneas had none at all as she was imprudent he was ungrateful History and Experience afford us Examples enough of this sort and when I make use of Fable I do this for Ornament to my Discourse not to give it greater Strength But to say truth is not this a very weak Reason to perswade a Woman to love me to say that I have a great Inclination for her The same Argument I bring to perswade Love may serve her for the refusal of giving it If I say I follow my Inclination in loving such a Person may not she say she follows hers in not loving me Is not her Aversion as well founded as my Sympathy If I wish that she would renounce her Humour to satisfie mine has not she right to pretend to the same advantage over me In truth I extreamly love what the Poets say of this matter They feign that Cupid has two sorts of Arrows the one of Gold the other of Lead the former gives Love the latter Hatred With the one he inflam'd Apollo with the other he chill'd Daphne Was not the Flight of this Shepherdess altogether as just as the Pursuit of the God If he sought her because of an Inclination to her she shunn'd him because she had an Aversion to him Besides what Assurance have we that any have an Inclination for us what Marks that are sufficiently certain can any give whereby to know it It is true that we may well perceive our own but whereby can we infallibly observe that of others This can only if at all be done by the means of Reason which ought to examine whether that which we take at first for true be not an Illusion or Fiction And to speak rationally of this thing when the Inclination surprises as sometimes it does our Reason so as to make us too easily fall in love with an Object Reason then is found like a Servant interested or corrupted that will engage her Mistress to her Disadvantage The Senâ—â— herein would often debauch the Spirit they are Servants that are traiterous or ignorant and bring false reports to their Master Iâ— it not then a great deal better that we love for the amiable Qualities that we see than for an Inclination that is hidden from us Why should we entertain a Love for which we know neither Cause nor good Reason This is in truth to love by chance here is nothing but Uncertainty There can never be an intire Satisfaction in our Love while we shall be in pain to know whether the Sympathy be equal on both sides We perceive a Wound without knowing the Hand that struck and are enslav'd by invisible Chains And I assure my self that if we would be curious to examine well that which has arrested us we should soon acknowledge our Errour and Imprudence If we did but light up a Lamp as Psyche did perhaps we should find with her that this Love is but a Child who fears to be seen lest we should know and despise his Weakness It is a great unhappiness that we have some Difficulty to undeceive our selves Though the Sentiments which are most natural are not the most reasonable yet as the Earth cherishes best those Weeds that it brings forth of it self more than the Plants that the Gardener sows in it So we seem to entertain more carefully the Affections that come from our natural Corruption than those that proceed from our Reason Nevertheless we ought to consider that as the Physician corrects the Appetite to make it relish what is wholesome nourishment So we ought also if we will be wise to regulate our minds that we may direct our Affections to right Objects We must of necessity treat our selves like sick Persons in this case there is nothing
an Argits with his hundred Eyes It can give Wings to convey us from a Labyrinth There is nothing that it will not endure that it will not undertake And if it be said we may see some that can surmount this and make themselves Masters of their Inclination it must in truth be acknowledged that this is very rare it must rather be believ'd that such were never seiz'd with this Malady than that they are cured of it Whatever any feign all that which proceeds from our selves is very agreeable to us we yield our selves to be carried easily away with the Stream of it we can refuse it nothing and when this Eve presents us with even a forbidden Apple yet to comply with her we forsake all our Interests Neither should any wonder at this since she was taken from our own Side and is even a part of our selves Though she sometimes may seem to us but evil yet our Reason does not domineer over her but with regret When we go about to combat this we resemble those Fathers that are constrained to make War with their own Children and who have as much fear even to gain the Victory as to lose it But in truth what ground is there that we should be willing to hinder the effects of our Inclination when they are so sweet and so natural What reason is there why this should be idly barren and that so pleasant a cause should produce nothing Can there be a better Amity or Love than that which comes from thence Can there be a more faithful or more constant one It is as pleasing as it is strong it has no less sweetness than duration We take no more pains to love an Object that Inclination carries us to than a Stone does to fall towards its center or the Fire to mount upwards towards its Sphere If the Elements are neither heavy nor light in their natural places and there is need of violence to draw them from thence so neither can we divert our selves but with pain and trouble from the Object that we love out of Inclination It is here that our affection finds its repose and its most pure delights There is some reason to say That the Love which proceeds from Consideration does resemble the Fire that we have here below which has always a need of nourishment and which goes out if it be not always affixed to some combustible Matter but on the other side the love of Inclination is like that above in the Sun its proper Element which endures always equally and maintains its self This is the most natural as it is also the most noble This Love is not mercenary at all it does not nourish it self by any shameful pretentions it proposes to it self no other end but only Love I do not wonder at all if the Love of Consideration endures but a little while and if it is stronger while it hopes than when it is in possession since it fastens upon us by Interest and has no other bond but that of Pleasure or Profit It holds us but by rotten Cords which need but a little misfortune or sickness to break them And if we are to judge that Amity the best which is able to endure the longest we ought to account that of Inclination the most excellent which as it is the most pure is also the most constant and lasting There are some nevertheless who think it enough to disparage this to say That it proceeds from the Love of our selves but it seems to me that this Argument makes much for its Commendation since one would conclude from thence That 't is almost as impossible to separate us from that we love with Inclination as to separate us from our selves and at least that it will continue a long time if it comes from such a source And if it be said That we may also judge hereon that this Love is blind as that commonly is which we bear to our selves In truth I must return That I am not able to see how this Opinion can maintain it self I cannot comprehend why so many will have it that Inclination is blind We believe it has not Eyes because we do not see them and if sometimes we cannot discover the causes of it we chuse rather to say it has none than to own that they are unknown to us It is true we cannot so well judge of the resemblance of Humours as of that of Faces But nevertheless if any would give themselves the trouble to search well into the Original of our Inclination they would often find it If they would give themselves leisure to Philosophise a little upon the Perfections of the Object that pleases us they would infallibly find out wherein it is amiable It is from this Inclination it comes to pass many times that of many who look upon a beautiful Face there shall not be it may be more than one of them that has any lively feeling of its Charms and those that deserve best find oftentimes more admirers than Servants We do not love all that we commend the Will does not always take the part of Reason and we give sometimes our Approbation to a thing when we deny our Love to it Many may have the same judgment but it is not so easie that they should have the same Inclination and though I grant that several Persons may love the same thing yet this seldom comes to pass by the same Reason As we have not an Appetite for all sorts of Meats not even those that we may judge to be good so we cannot have Inclination for all sorts of Persons not even for those sometimes whom we judge to have a great deal of Merit As there are divers relishes in the sense so there are different Inclinations in the Soul But why should we not follow Inclination in Love when we follow it almost in all other things In the chusing an Office in the learning of a Trade or in the studying of a Science we have regard to the Humour and Temperament Why then may we not do this as much in our love which is the most Important thing in the World And in truth if we examine our Nature and Complexion before we addict our selves to Learning or any other Exercise Why shall we not also seek for a Disposition to love as well as to study since there is nothing more true than that as we cannot succeed in the Arts in despite of our Nature so neither can we any better succeed in an Amity when it is against our Inclination It must be acknowledg'd that as the same Earth is not proper for all sorts of Seeds so the same Heart is not capable of all sorts of Affections It ought not to be a Wonder if we have Inclination for one thing and not for another any more than to see the Load-stone draw the Iron rather than Copper or Lead And if we have a Love that is a little contrary to our humour how do we
Religion and Learning and then they are railed at for Ignorance Folly and Vice To this Cause must all their Emptiness and Impertinence be imputed hence 't is they are no more useful to the World To this also we must impute all their Vices the ill Influence they have among Men and all the Mischief they do Thus we may see how Important it is to the World and how much for the Interest of the Other Sex that the Women be bred to useful Knowlege and Vertue And thus I have follow'd the Common Custom in giving the Preference to the Men and speaking first of their Interest in this Matter I shall now apply my self directly to the Women themselves and endeavour to make it appear to them how Important and Vseful it is to themselves to be Learned and Vertuous Something is said of Learning in the following Book and therefore I shall say the less here and the Particular Vertues are recommended and therefore I shall only insist upon some General Commendations of it Let me intreat you then to consider the Pleasure and the Advantage of Knowledge This is like Light Chearing and Delightful to the Mind and Ignorance like Darkness is Vncomfortable and Sad. Knowledge enlarges the Soul Ignorance contracts it The former is the Brightness and Beauty of the Soul and adds Lustre to it as Polishing does to a Jewel the latter sullies and dims and makes it ugly Knowledge elevates the Mind Ignorance depresses it Knowledge tends to refine it from the Dregs of Sensuality Ignorance leaves it polluted Knowledge improves its Powers encreases its Liberty and Freedom and releases its Activity from the Shackles that Ignorance lays upon it Ignorance is weak and poor Knowledge is rich and Strong Enough cannot be said in Praise of this inestimable Thing But especially are Moral and Divine Knowledge most to be valued these do especially improve and adorn and will make you acceptable to God and the World and easie and happy in your selves The Rules of Pious and Vertuous Living are the certain Rules of Happiness The making of us Vertuous and Good is the greatest Blessing and the highest Benefit that can possibly be conferr'd upon us Those are most deplorably Ignorant of the Natures both of Vertue and Vice that imagine there can be a greater Good than the One or a greater Evil than the Other that we can be Happy and Vicious or miserable and excellently Vertuous Vertue and Wisdom tame the Appetites and guide them Safely and Honourably They Compose and Calm the Passions and quiet the Mind Vertue sets the Soul in Order which is Beautiful and Pleasant it teaches every Faculty and Power in us its right Place and Office makes it know its Bounds and do its Duty Vice Disorders and Confounds all Vertue is the Health Vice the Sickness of the Soul and as the Health of the Body improves and maintains its Beauty and Strength so does Vertue for the Soul and Vice on the contrary Weakens Deforms and gives it Pain à nd Trouble Vertue is Serene and Calm Vice is Stormy and Tempestuous The Vertuous Woman may live without Fear or Distrust in Tranquility and Repose She has no cause to blush in Company nor to tremble when she is alone She can enjoy the Present Time with Quietness and Peace has neither Shame nor Remorse for what is past and none but fair and joyful Hopes for what is to come The most lasting and most tasteful Pleasure attends it Pleasure that no Man can take from her such Delight as does not Torment with Impatience nor make her Sick with Disgust that does not depend as those of the World do on innumerable Circumstances whereof if any one be wanting they are Odious or Insipid Vertue and Wisdom are the only Things that can fit you for all Conditions to adorn them and be happy in them They direct to the most Honourable and comfortable Vse both of a Good and Bad Fortune both of a Married and a Single State These believe me are the most powerful and the most lasting Charms These will gain you true Admirers and sincere Servants while outward Beauty and Ornament procure only fiegned Ones And will hold the Hearts they win faster than the fading Advantages of an outside Inclination may make a Man Court and Seek you it may be enough to be a Woman for this especially if to that there be added Beauty and the Invincible Charms of a good Fortune but these cannot beget a true and lasting love Without Wisdom and Vertue and Knowledge The Servant is no sooner better acquainted but it may be Folly and Vice distaste him and his Addresses are at an End If Interest engage him still then he proceeds to make up the proposed Bargain and there is a Marriage without Love which is an Hell upon Earth Beauty without these Things though it be Charming at the first Sight yet it can secure none but the lightest and most foolish Part of Mankind and in them it kindles no more than a brutish Desire which turns into Distaste very commonly as soon as it is gratified Their mighty Admiration falls into Contempt and one may see the fine and pretty thing sitting alone for all him while the Passionate Lover is hugging a Bottle perhaps and kissing the Glass instead of her and any thing is able to draw or detain him from her Company Knowledge and Vertue would make you worthy of that Love-which Nature inclines us to present you and would make your Society always pleasant and always desirable and that to the best and wisest of Men. It is no small advantage to you that as Wisdom and Vertue are the most charming things and will give you the greatest power you can have over the other Sex so they will direct you to judge rightly of Men and to place your Favours and Affections there where they are best deserv'd where they will be best requited where it will be most for your Honour and Happiness to place them As these will inable you to know and discern which are the best and wisest of them so they will dispose you to value such Men most and to prefer them When guided by these you will not be caught with fine Cloaths or a spruce Mien you will not fall in love with a Man for his boasting of and commending himself nor for his addressing blasphemous Complements to you you will not judge of his worth by the former trick nor of his love by the latter You will not think to be happy and be at the mercy of a fool or expect that he will use you well who has not one Vertue to direct or dispose him to do so Nor will you think that an abundance of Wealth is sufficient alone to make you happy And let me add That your Constant preference of the best and wisest Men would be one of the most powerful means to reform the Age. It would soon make Vertue and Wisdom more generally sought after among Men when it
should appear that these were absolutely necessary to the recommending them to your Favour and Esteem and this also would return to your advantage since by this Influence upon the World it would come to pass that you could not want a proportionable number of fit and worthy Objects of your Affections and Choice To your great advantage it would be to stir up in the Men an Ambition to be well accomplisht too to make them asham'd of Ignorance and Vice by your Example and you your selves would be the more happy in Brothers Husbands and Children And the Women of our Age have perhaps greater advantage than ever their Ancestours had for the Improvement of their Minds at least so far as the Reading of Good Books can contribute towards this When you have a great many of the best Books in the World either wrote in your own Language or Translated into it Translation is a mighty Favour to you It brings the Wisdom of the Ancients to you unveil'd and inables you to study and learn it without the previous discouraging fatigue of Learning Languages We have lately seen some of the choicest Histories and best Pieces of useful Philosophy that Greece or Rome could boast of Translated into English And still this Work of Translating goes on and will especially do so if it has the Encouragement and Favour of your Sex And I would hope to see our own Language as Learned as any other in the World And why may we not see the costly useless Trifles that fill the Closets of our Ladies thrown out and Excellent and Vseful Books set up there in their stead You have almost nothing else to do but to study all the time that you live single and are at liberty from Affairs of the World To be sure there is nothing you can do so much to your advantage as to entertain and employ your selves much with Good Books I need not Recommend to you Plutarch or Hierocles or Livy or Seneca or the Excellent Antoninus lately Translated with the Learned and Vseful Reflections of Madam Dacier a Philosopher of your own Sex at this time Famous for her Wit and Learning Nor shall I mention any more since they may be met with at every Booksellers And it is chiefly my present Business to Recommend the following Book Here then you have the Characters of the Vertues and Vices very faithfully and truly drawn Whereby you may learn to distinguish the one from the other and may avoid that common and mischievous Error of mistakeing Vertue for Vice and Vice for Vertue Vice is an Vgly Name and that which almost all abhor should be imputed to them and Vertue is generally in the Notion commended and esteemed and therefore almost all pretend to Vertue in general But when we come to the reproof of particular Vices and to charge them upon those that are Guilty and so when we come to insist upon particular Vertues and to urge the Practice of them Then the World boggles and hesitates or it may be is angry and opposes Then the beloved Vice will not be believed to be a Vice and it shall be accounted ill nature or moroseness or a particular spite that calls it so And the Vertue that we want and do not care to put in practice will not be allow'd to be a Vertue but shall be disputed against The one will be defended under a soft and specious name and the other rejected under a bad one Thus do many Persons often deceive themselves to their disparagement and shame and misery While they cannot discern aright in this matter they perhaps shun the most Honourable Vertues and embrace the most shameful Vices They will refuse what is good and betake themselves to what is hurtful They will be asham'd of Vertue and boast of their Vices Further as Persons are apt for themselves to find out this way to evade the Arguments for Vertue and the Reproofs of Vice so they will endeavour to influence others after the same manner They that are Vicious naturally desire to have others like themselves that their better practice may not condemn or disparage them that others may fall into the same inconveniencies which they have brought themselves to by their wickedness and so may not be able to deride or despise them or that they may accomplish upon those who are yet afraid of Vice some base and shameful design To these Purposes they endeavour much the confounding of all things and especially of the natural and common signs of Passions and Vices in the Soul These they would fain have not regarded nor believed to be the Marks and Symptoms of any such things Highly necessary it is then to be possest with a clear and distinct knowledge of these things And here you have Vertue represented in her true Beauty and Lustre and the ugly Mask the frightful Vizor which spiteful Sinners put upon her is taken off You may see her in all her Charms as far as they can be represented in a Description or Picture of her which I confess cannot have the advantages of the Life in a sublime Example but yet may be sufficient to beget in us some Love and Admiration of the Beauty And here you have also Vice represented in its true Colours and all her Deformity shown as far as was consistent with Modesty and Discretion and the Paint and Disguise which the Vicious Wit of the World puts upon her is also removed Here are Motives to Vertue and just Disswasives from Vice proposed The Means of practising and improving in the one and of abstaining from and mortifying the other You have the Subjects treated on such as are of common Vse and Concern such as relate to every one The Vertues such as all may reach and the Vices such as all are exposed to You have all the Discourse plain and easie Free from the crabbed terms of the Schools You have a Philosopher not dictating after the rudeness of an Academy but complementing and insinuating his wholsome Counsels in the stile and manner of a Courtier And if thà t will recommend the Book further I must tell you That the most of it was written by a very Eminent Person in a Neighbour Nation who had the Honour to be a Counsellour and Preacher in Ordinary to the King that then Reigned there Here you have an Excellent Anatomy as it were of the Soul a view of the Insides of Mankind so that you may see the secret Motions Workings and Effects of all sorts of Passions and Humours Here you may learn the World then without mingleing with it which is the safest way and the pleasantest of doing this For thus you will not be in danger of being corrupted or vexed with the wickedness and folly of it while you are learning it which things in Converse you will be constantly exposed to This Book like a Mariners Chart shows the Rocks and Shelves of Vice whereon unwary and untaught Souls are wont to make Shipwrack of
matter what they will I will eternally condemn these ill Books which serve but as a School to teach persons to sin with address and which one may very justly call the Politicks of the Vicious and of the Libertines I declare my self an enemy to all that which is an enemy to Vertue And to speak in a few words what I think of the Reading of good or bad Books It is very necessary that they who are not able to make a difference should follow the counsel of the most intelligent And they who are the most capable to discern aright in this matter should yet not suffer themselves to be carried away with a curiosity to search into what is forbidden which seems to be a humour even natural to the most It is without all doubt that reading is both pleasant and useful and if care be taken to read such Books as are truly good it will instruct the ignorant reform the debauched and divert those that are Melancholy It affords remedies to them that are greatly afflicted against the greater evil of Despair and to the happy and prosperous it administers antidotes against Insolence It exhibits examples fit to humble the one sort and to encourage the other It makes our discourses the better when we entertain and our thoughts when we are alone Without that it is impossible both to meditate or to speak well But this subject is too copious and if I should pursue it as I might instead of putting an end to this discourse of it I might begin and exhaust another There is then no doubt to be made but the reading of honest Books is a most agreeable employment But we should always remember that it is not enough that this be useful to the Understanding unless it be so moreover to the Conscience As Vertue is of much more worth than Knowledge the Ladies ought to think that 't is of more avail to them to be good than learned And I fear not to say that if they have a true Modesty they would blush no less at the reading of an ill Book than if they were surprized alone and shut up with a debauched Man THUS MUCH I thought fit to say concerning the reading of other Books But to make now as I promised some remarks upon the reading of this of mine I believe it will be very useful to the Ladies after that I have shewn them why I make so much use of Fables why I make a great part of the Subjects I treat of to appear with two Faces why I have not produced such general Instructions as would have serv'd for the Men as well as the Women and why I have not descended to instructions so particular as the Vulgar could wish for that they might be touched the more sensibly These are the four principal parts of this Book of which it seems to me I ought to give an account for the rendring it the more profitable to those who will take the Pains to read it AS FOR FABLES if I bring in some examples of them I do this but to explain my self with the greater clearness I do it not to support my Arguments but to embelish them t is not to render Truth more strong but only to make it more agreeable All the World know that the examples of Fables divert us more than those of History because they are contri'vd to please The Historians recount successes Poets invent them So that when I serve my self of these only to recreate and not to convince I have contented my self often to chuse the most diverting rather than the most probable Besides No one ought to think it strange if I have endeavour'd to render the Metamorphosis profitable since it ought to be accommodated to the gust of those that are to be persuaded and there are many that love Fables and that read them If we cannot utterly destroy Serpents out of the World at least we have reason to make remedies of their Poison and if the reading of fictions be dangerous we endeavour to draw some profit from it and to find good in that evil which we cannot hinder Let it be consider'd that the Ancients have conceal'd in a manner all their Morality and all their Divinity under Fables and tho they could have serv'd themselves of Examples that were true as well as of false yet they sometimes chose the latter to make their instructions the more sensible AND AS I make use of Fables sometimes to render my thoughts the more clear and the more agreeable it is for the same reason too that I treat of many Subjects in the way of Problems It is that the variety may gratifie and that I may yield delight at the same time that I give instruction I have constrain'd my self to endeavour that I might Please while I Teach I believe that the Mind as well as the Eye is recreated with variety and that men take delight to see both what is evil and what is good in all things And moreover since the best instructions ought to shew at the same time both what we ought to avoid and what to do I have thought that to succeed in both these things it would be good to make appear on every Subject what it is that is worthy of our Love and what will deserve our Hatred And cannot every one see that there is nothing but the matters of Faith which we may not view under divers aspects If the Melancholy Humour has something that is Good is it not also true that there is in it something Evil If it be wise for deliberation yet it is not sufficiently strong to enterprize It is a Paralytick that has good Eyes but the Hands are feeble and it cannot move of it self And may not as much be said of the Gay Humour which on the one side appears fit to entertain but on the other hand is found too much a Pratler to contain secrets and too light for designs of Importance I might here repeat several passages of my Book to demonstrates that if I have made use of Problems it is because all moral actions are full of circumstances which give occasion to consider the same thing under several visages and make it now appear good and anon to appear evil Tho I have always concluded that vertue ought to be lov'd I have yet sometimes shewn that it has two Extreams of which men ought to be aware Lest they run into the danger of being Prodigal instead of practising Liberality or of becoming opinionative while they aim at constancy or fall into impudence while they seek to be pleasant This is that I believe which deceives the Vulgar Readers that while I present the excess and the defect it seems to them as if I did praise and did condemn the same thing Who are to understand that I am willing to shew what it is that abuses us and to discover in every subject that which is worthy of our choice and of our aversion If I attack the
are worthy of Admiration but those that have it not find pretexts for their weakness The Example serves them for a Reason and they cannot imagine that Crystal can resist those Bodies which are able to break Marbles or Diamonds IF WE MAY be permitted to give some advice after we have been commending Since the Son of God himself had a more tender affection for one of his Disciples than for any of the other There may be particular inclinations allow'd without any offence to Chastity which does not banish the Affections but only regulate and moderate them However we ought to take care that if Friendship in its own nature be a Vertue it does not become a Vice in our practice That it may not be therein abused we ought to examin the end and design of it as soon as it commences and to assure our selves it is dangerous if we pretend to any thing else but Affection And above all to preserve the more assuredly this Vertue it is good for them to betake themselves always to some commendable Exercise Evil Thoughts have no less advantage of an idle Spirit than Enemies have over a man when he is asleep And I am of the same opinion with him who call'd this languishing Repose the burying of a person alive Because that as Worms breed in the Body when 't is without the Soul so bad Desires and Passions from themselves in a Soul that is without employ And if dishonest Loves are the trade of those who do not spend their time in something that is commendable It ought to be believed that Chastity will be preserv'd by the help of employment as it is corrupted by Leisure Her whom the Ancients held for the Goddess of Love they also took for the Mother of Idleness Diana follow'd the Chace and Minerva Studied but Venus did nothing Of Courage IT SEEMS to the Men that Courage is a Quality that should be peculiarly affixed to their Sex without their producing any other Title to it than only their own presumption But he who made so much difficulty to imagine that there was one strong and couragious Woman in the World he made the Sex a very honourable amends for so great an injury And tho he was esteemed the Wisest and the Ablest of all Men he nevertheless lost this high advantage among the Women and became so shamefully feeble and was so far conquer'd by them that they obliged him to sacrifice to Idols Histories are full of their generous actions which they have perform'd to preserve their Country and out of Love to their Husbands and for the Religion of their Ancestors BUT TO SEE whether our Praises are true or false in this matter it is necessary to examin what is the opinion of the Wise and what that of the Vulgar concerning the true nature of Courage There is nothing then more true than this That as the strength of the Brain appears in walking over the highest places without fearing a fall that of Good Spirits consists in the seeing a danger without being troubled at it And nevertheless the Stupid have no advantage in this matter while they wait till occasions come without concern nor have the rash any that seek them It is only the Wise that defend themselves from misfortunes without being precipitant or insensible Since Courage ought always to be join'd with a free deliberation and that it is not a Vertue either wholly constrain'd or purely natural I cannot persuade my self to account those to be generous who have a Temper so light that it is raised without good Cause nor those that have a Nature so heavy and dull that one cannot provoke them tho by ill treatment and injury Here is either an excess or a defect of resentment which may better be term'd Levity or Stupidity than Courage If Judgment should be found in all the Discourses of an Orator Prudence ought to be met with in all the Actions of a Wise Man Without that let Polyphemus be as strong as he will he shall not fail to lose first his Eye and then his Life And tho Vlysses was much weaker than he yet the bulky Giant could not defend himself from him with all the force that he had in his Arms. AFTER WE have seen wherein the true Courage does consist those that know the temper of Women must allow that they have a great disposition to this Vertue For they are not so cold as to be unsensible nor so hot as to be rash We do not see that the most Couragious among the Men do precipitate themselves upon all sorts of occasions as if they had as many Lives as there are Hazards and Misfortunes in the World Whatever good Face they may put upon it the most understanding persons have some difficulty to resolve upon a thing that depends upon Opinion and have regret at the committing such a fault in the loss of Life as can never be repair'd This would tell us that this Vertue ought to have Eyes as well as Arms and Prudence as well as Vigour And therefore they who know Morality well will never give the name of Courage to Anger nor to Despair and I am not able to believe that the Men have Reason when they call the Women Timerous only because they are not Hasty or Imprudent But if any say that I have made an Apology for Cowardise they must not take it ill if I accuse them of recommending Brutality What glory has a man by cutting his own Throat And what advantage bating the brutish custom in making Ostentation of a Trade where the Barbarous Goths and Vandals have been the Masters and of which they gave us the cruel Rules and Examples What is there more easie than for a man to let himself be transported into Fury and to follow the Motions of his Passion Those whom the Vulgar call Courageous resemble the Glasses which we cannot touch almost without breaking them They do not know that the Minds of Men as well as their Bodies are always there most sensible where they are most weak For if this be brave and generous to be provok't or to complain every Moment then the sick are more so than the sound the Old than the Young and the Vulgar than the Wise Since Fear and boldness are both reasonable they are not contrary to each other The one opens our Eyes to discover Evils before they arrive and the other animates us to repulse them when they are present BUT LET US leave off reasoning to come to Examples and in truth we have admirable ones of this kind Has not Titus Livius left us a History much to their Advantage which he writ as himself confesses with Astonishment and Love After that Philip King of Macedon had put to Death the Principal Lords of Thessaly many to avoid his Cruelty fled and betook themselves into other Countries Poris and Theoxene took their way to Athens to find that security there which they could not have in their own
seest here who believes that I am able to love him after he has ravisht from me my Dear Synattus Think with thy self Barbarous Man and acknowledge how much right I have to Sacrifice thy life to that thou hast taken from my Husband I do not value at all my own for I defer'd to put an end to it only that I might give to Posterity one more remarkable Testimony of my Love and of thy Cruelty Camma was happy in this that Sinorix died before her tho he drank last of the fatal draught The Gods gave this satisfaction to her Fidelity and she ended her life calling still upon Synattus that he would come and accompany her in her departure from this World Can any of the Men give a more noble Example of Constancy than this And was it not a Philosophick Madness to maintain in publick that among a thousand Men one should hardly find one constant but amongst all Woman-kind not one After this it is easy to judge whether the Prince of Philosophers had reason to compare Woman to the first Matter because that has always a desire to the changing of its Forms and tho it has gained one that is altogether perfect yet it still retains a general inclination for all other He had a design to shew by the Parallel that the Women are as unsatisfied and unconstant towards the Men as Matter is towards the Forms But this is a Comparison too injurious and such as would agree better a great deal with the Philosopher himself than with any the most unconstant Woman that could be found For he forsook one Mistress for another to whom he made his devout Addresses that he might Testifie with the more solemnity that he himself was guilty of a Crime of which he had accused the Women In truth they have more reason to complain of the Men than they have to fear their Reproaches How are credulous Spirits at this day ill requited for their simplicity Whatever assurances many Men do give they ought rather to be reckoned Deceivers than Inconstant because at the same time that they promise Fidelity they are forming a Design to violate it There is no alteration in their Resolutions but there is in their Words THIS VICE does not haunt those Minds that are above the Common Rank One may be assured of them and their least designs remain firm in all sorts of occasions and under the greatest storms of Fortune Levity comes of Weakness and Constancy from a strength of Spirit After that Affection has bound together two Generous Souls the Separation of them must be impossible For since Love is in its Nature Immortal when it can cease to be it must be acknowledged that it is not true St. Augustine said that his Friend and he seemed to have between them but one Soul both for Life and Love That Death had not so much Separated two as divided one And that after the Loss of this Confident he had a fear of Death and a horrour at Life Because without him he was but half alive and nevertheless he saw himself oblig'd to preserve the rest that his Friend might not entirely die There are but few so constant as this great Person was The Friendships of these times are no longer so firm And if we consider well those between whom the affections they had for each other are ruin'd upon the slightest occasions we may believe that the Union is very often without strength when the Separation is so often made without regret AFTER WE have spoken of Inconstancy we shall encounter Perfidiousness which is ordinarily inseparably adjoyned to it And in truth I am not able to comprehend how it comes to pass that any are Perfidious when the whole World has so great an abhortence of this crime and it does so infallibly procure Enemies They that make use of it ought to fear it and they whom it has hurt will seek to be revenged on it But that which is worthy of astonishment is this Tha the very Aspect of such Persons testifies that while they set the whole World against them they are not in a very good agreement with themselves thus declaring without words the horrour which themselves are filled with at their own wickedness It is not necessary to be very well skill'd in the Rules of Physiognomy to observe upon their Faces the wickedness and the torment of their Minds It must needs be that these are the greatest Criminals in the World since they themselves form their own Process in their own Consciences and that even to the executing it too upon themselves sometimes with their own Hands The forlorn Wretches practise a new form of Justice upon themselves where they alone are Judges and Executioners Accusers and Guilty Altho naturally we love our selves yet such can shew themselves no Mercy and they shew by those their fatal Looks that none can absolve them while their own severe Consciences do condemn and torment them This is the most horrible and the least excusable of all Crimes because those that attempt this are at the cost of so much trouble to commit it and they must do so much harm to themselves to do it to others Faithfulness on the contrary is always chearful even among difficulties and Perfidiousness is always musing and melancholy even in the midst of Divertisements A Mind that is faithful does not resent its Afflictions but that which is treacherous has no tast of its Pleasures Their Sentiments are very differently taken up for the Vice makes the one sort weep even among Delights and the Vertue helps the other sort to laugh even among their Evils and their sufferings When a Soul is sullied with this Vice it is capable of all the wickedness that can be imagin'd and especially does Avarice follow it very near And when once a Woman is become Covetous she has a great deal of difficulty to be faithful there is nothing that she will not do and that she will not sell to be rich This is the most infallible mark of a clownish Spirit and of a Soul debauched The Ladies ought never to testifie that they have any inclination to to this lest they fall under the Fate of Procris who after she had resisted both threatnings and submissions yet she yielded assoon as she saw the Mony told down BUT THAT WE MAY see this Vice in all its Aspects The Credulous and the Ignorant are no less in danger of falling into this than any other They are persuaded to many things which their Easiness afterwards makes them suffer contrary to their Honour It seems to say the truth that these Women are neither Faithful nor Perfidious for they have not the Design that should make them Perfidious nor yet Strength enough to be faithful It is this simplicity as the Poet speaks which is worthy of excuse provided that one does not take pleasure in being deceiv'd The Politick are liable to do by Wickednesses that which the Simple do by
less foolish to believe that there is no longer any Love in the Mind of one that is jealous than it would be to think that a Man has no Life in him when he complains he is sick On the contrary as the grief and the sense of Sickness are not found in those that are Dead so Jealousie can never be met with where there is really a Hatred and Indifference And it may well be that this Passion may have an appearance of Reason for it since God himself heretofore permitted to the Husbands a tryal of the faithfulness of their Wives with the Water which was call'd the Water of Jealousie or Probation If the suspicion of this sort had been a thing extravagant and unjust God had forbidden it directly instead of appointing so solemn a remedy for the cure of it and had testified a Hatred rather than a Compassion for this Malady Also they deceive themselves grosly who think they have rendered Jealousie altogether Criminal when they have said That it makes us have too bad an Opinion of our own Merit or of the Fidelity of the Person whom we love If we examine well this Passion we shall not find that it comes often from a distrust of our selves and that we do not cease for that to believe our selves Amiable or others Amorous It is a fear that does not so much discover our weakness as it does declare that the Merit of what we love may make it sought after And what do any in this which is not done by all for a Treasure or any other valuable thing which it is not possible for us to love without having some fear of losing it As they that believe very firmly may receive something of doubt so the most assured in love are capable of some suspicion The strongest Trees are moved with the Winds though the Roots are fast when the Branches and the Leaves are shaken One would perhaps be very willing to throw off an ill Opinion but the likenesses and conjectures sollicit and shake us till we are forced to conclude rather on the side of fear than assurance During this irresolution the Mind suffers much and the appearances give a great deal of pain when we cannot certainly judge whether they be true or false There are good and bad Examples either to make fear or to cure it but ordinarily we fix our Thoughts more upon those Examples that persecute than on those that may comfort us Such an one as that of Penelope affords comfort when one represents to himself that she was twenty five Years faithful during the Absence of Vlysses so long But that of Messalina torments and awakens suspicion when one thinks of her Infamy and Filthiness Our Spirit wavers between both sides and it is an unhappiness that conjectures having alarm'd us we find or we invent by much examining something to change our doubt into a belief And if it be said that we ought to be at rest after the experience that we have made of a Person who has testified her Affection by many effects It seems to me that these Proofs cannot hinder but that we shall have a great deal of Trouble because the fear that sometimes is not in our power will put the worst Interpretation upon the least appearances even to the busying it self afterwards with false Objects when it has not true ones Whatever Fidelity we have proved when Love has no more to desire it begins to fear all This is the natural course of our Passions which always threaten a change when they are extream and which fall of themselves without a true cause to do so only because they are mutable and humane Hippocrates has given us a Maxim to be observed That our Bodies are in danger of a Disease when they have too much health and strength A Poet has made an handsomer one concerning the alteration of those Minds that have too violent an Affection The Will says he deserves a Wheel of Inconstancy for its Passions as well as Fortune does for her Favours when we are raised to the top we cannot long stay there either out of our infelicity or our weakness Those that are arrived at the most eminent degree of Love are like them that stand upon a very high building or hill their Brain is confused and though no Person thrusts them they stagger and even fall of themselves through the meer fear of falling When the Sun is arrived at the heighth of Noon he begins to go downward for that not being able to get above that pitch he retires and withdraws himself into another Hemisphere without being driven by any Person to it Our Minds seem to have the same Motions a disgust follows the pleasure by an order no less natural than that which makes the Night succeed and take place of the Day We find our selves insensibly weary'd with pleasant things and though the Soul be Immortal in its Nature yet in its Actions which have the Body and Animal Spirits for their Instruments it fails not to testifie a Youth or Old Age with the Body Socrates said That the Gods had endeavour'd to mingle together Pleasure and Pain but when they found this could not be done at least they would needs fasten them by their Tails to the end that one might succeed the other so to hinder in us both Insolence and Despair This comes to pass sometimes when we contribute nothing towards it voluntarily and as we pass from Joy to Sadness so we often perceive that our Love changes it self either into coldness or indifference The Distempers of the Mind as well as those of the Body do very often form themselves without our consent we lose the Rest of the Soul as we do our Health all at once sometimes without having foreseen this change and without being able to find either the Cause or the Remedy of this Passion any more than we can that of a Quartan Ague BUT I HAVE too long spoken against my own sentiment as well as against truth it self in favour of a Passion that ruins our Love our Reputation and the Quiet of the Mind Reason begets Love and Love Jealousie but both the one and the other of these prove what some sorts of Worms are to the Subject in which they are bred that is the Destruction of it The one kills the Father the other the Mother Let this Passion be moderated as it can be it is always dangerous and for this it is necessary to to commit an Injustice in taking away the use of it for the sake of the abuse because the one is too much fastened to the other As there is not any Serpent so little but it has some Poison so there is no Jealousie so well regulated as not to engender a great deal of Mischief They that compare it to the Ivy have made a handsome Comparison for ordinarily that grows only upon old and ruinous Buildings in like manner this Passion chuses out of all the rest of Mankind
we ought so much to forbid our selves as that which pleases us most our Inclination is no less deprav'd than their Taste it proceeds from a poison'd Spring it comes not from Nature sound and well but from that which is corrupted I approve mightily the Opinion of them who compare the Amity of Election to the Sun and the Love of Inclination to the Moon for the former is always equal and the latter is commonly unconstant full of Errour and of Spots The Moon of her self has no Brightness Inclination alone has no Conduct It has need to borrow that from Reason And above all after the same manner as the Moon appearing sometimes with the Sun does not make the Day for all that nor contribute any assistance towards the Enlightening of the World so when by good Fortune the Love of Inclination meets with that of Election it ought not to govern us or make it self our Master but on the contrary it ought to borrow all it's Light and Direction from the other But to improve this Comparison a little further I could wish to this purpose that the Ladies would imitate Her whom the Holy Spirit describes in sacred Writ as having the Moon under her Feet and being all over inviron'd and as it were cloathed with the Sun I mean that they ought not utterly to throw away Inclination but to conquer and moderate it that there should be in Love a little of Humour and a great deal of Prudence That Amity has no need of Inclination but in its Birth but has need of Consideration as long as it endures If it be necessary that the one be the Mother of it it is so too that the other be the Nurse and Mistress And in truth Inclination is like an imprudent Mother who loves her Children too well They must be wrested from her Bosom as soon as they are brought forth for fear that in Caressing and Embracing she should stifle them After all this Inclination is nothing else for the most part but a Phantasm the most learned find it difficult to express the Cause or the Nature of it It is so occult and hidden that many not being able to comprehend the Love that it gives Birth to they say it is they know not what which forms it self they know not how and which conquers by they know not what sort of Charms There are some that teach upon the Foundations of Plato's Philosophy That Inclination comes from Remembrance and that our Souls having view'd each other in another World before it seems that this is not the beginning of a Love but the continuance of 〈◊〉 That this is not properly the Birth of an Affection but the awakening of it Insomuch that according to their Opinion our Souls call to mind their former Alliance no otherwise than as two persons that have mutually lov'd heretofore when they see each other again after a long Separation they are surprized at first sight while the Imagination and Memory are at labour to discover and recollect those that touch them There are some others that attribute an Inclination to the Stars and who will have it that the same Cause which produces Flowers in the Bosom of the Earth produces also the Sympathy that is in our Souls Some again ascribe it to the four Qualities that they fansie are mingled in us namely Heat and Cold Dryness and Moisture And others make short Work of it and ascribe it to Destiny But that I may not trouble my self or the Reader with the Opinions of all those that deceive themselves and who seek the Original of the Inclination there where it is not it seems to me that we may philosophize rightly to proceed only from the Love of our selves We love all that which resembles us even to our Pictures we cherish our Image in all things where we see it We love all that which comes from us Fathers for these reasons love their Children Painters their Draughts Artificers their Work It is from hence that we may learn the great danger there is where the Love of Inclination engages us for since we very often love our selves on that side where we are most Imperfect and we embrace even our very shadow like Narcissus It follows from thence that we are in danger to love the Imperfections of others if it happens that they resemble our own If the love of our selves be blind that of Inclination is so likewise this is an Effect that must carry the resemblance of its Cause But if this Love of Inclination were not so dangerous and so full of darkness what need is there of this Sympathy or natural Conformity And why may not Love place it there where it was not Love as well as Death equals all things and makes a likeness where it does not find it In loving as well as dying both Kings and Shepherds find themselves at the same point Herein they are both Men equal in respect of Affection and of Weakness Love is like a Fire which can kindle another any where It does not only transmit it self into the subject it burns but also has power to dispose that to receive it It removes the qualities contrary to its own to put in others It drives the Enemy from the place it lays Siege to before it does render it self Master of it And to say the truth as there are hidden Forms in the Bosom of Matter which natural Agents are able to excite and produce so there are hidden Inclinations in our Souls which Conversation and Familiarity may give birth to There needs no more but to seek well after them and if we find them not at first yet a little time usually produces them How often do we see some Persons that distast us at the first and who nevertheless after a little Conversation do highly please us And others again who ravish us at the first sight and afterwards displease us as much Love may succeed to Aversion as well as Aversion to Love Experience sufficiently shows this and as those Trees that are of different kinds being well grafted do not fail to bring forth Fruit so the Amity that is formed between two Persons of different Humours may not fail to succeed well Plato had some reason to say That Love is a Teacher of Musick for as much as an Affection may breed as well in an inequality of Humours as a harmony may be made up of unequal Voices And indeed what sort of Conformity can we find between the young and the old who yet nevertheless do often mutually Love and Caress each other What proportion or likeness is there between the Loadstone and the Iron If the one drew the other out of Sympathy and Resemblance would not Iron be rather attracted by Iron than by the Stone to which it has a great deal less likeness But to the end that we may the better see how shameful and unjust this Love of Inclination is it is enough to consider that they who love us
only out of Inclination do affront us they do not love us at all for any Merit in us since very often they love before they know us and become amorous before they can well know whether we are amiable or not This is an effect of their Temper rather than Choice and in my Opinion we have no great Obligation to them for the doing that which they cannot hinder HAVING thus shown what there is of Good on of Evil in these two sorts of Amities it will be very easie to observe what will be the best life of them It is not necessary to divide but only to regulate them It is true that these are to our Minds like the two fansied Poles to the Heavens on which they turn these are the Poles of our Thoughts and Actions And as the one Pole of the Heavens is under our Feet while the other is elevated above our Heads so it seems fit that we have less regard to Inclination than to Election and this latter ought to serve us for a Star to guide our Love and Friendship by They say the Great Alexander had two Favourites whom he obliged after a very different fashion He lov'd Ephestion tenderly as the Companion of his Pleasures and Craterus strongly for the government of his Estate and Affairs As Emperour he esteem'd the one as Alexander he lov'd the other It is necessary to join these two sorts of Love together to make a perfect one lest Love being without Inclination be constrain'd or being without Election it be too Imprudent If there be no Consideration Love is without Conduct If there be no Sympathy in it 't is without much Pleasure and Sweetness In truth it seems as if these two Loves are in one Soul after the same manner that those two Twins of whom the Holy Scripture speaks were in the Womb of their Mother These are two Brothers of which the one is foremost in the Order of Nature but nevertheless he must not have the advantage of this The one is the more violent and impetuous the other is the more gentle and prudent And it is the unhappiness of our Minds as it was of their dying Father to encline more to the side of that love which is the more natural and which proceeds from Sympathy But as the Mother of Jacob gave him means to supplant his Brother iâ— ought also to be that reason should direct as how to regulate Inclination to the 〈◊〉 that Election may be the Mistress of it After all if any should demand of me the Rules that are most necessary to be observed in our Amity as well for the satisfaction of the Conscience as of the Mind in my Opinion there is no better than this To believe that our Affection is unjust whenever it is contrary to that we owe to God As the Ark was between the Cherubims so 't is necessary that God be present between two Hearts that mutually love This ought to be the Knot of our Loves that we may render them strong and reasonable And to say as that Reverend Bishop who has writ so Divinely on the Love of God Love is the more commendable on Earth by so much as it is the more like that which is between the Wise and Pure Inhabitants of Heaven Of the Complaisant or Pleasing Humour IT IS TRUE that there is nothing of more importance than to know the Art to Please and to make ones self beloved in all Companies As we have all an Inclination towards Society we ought to enquire after the means to succeed well in it and to gain the Affection and Esteem of those we meet when we are in Conversation or in Business It is true that among all the Qualities necessary to this there is not one that seems more requisite than Complaisance or Courteousness since without that all the other are without Gracefulness and are as it were dead But it is also very certain that the Use of this is very difficult Most easily does this offend either in Excess or Defect If it be not attended with a great deal of Judgment and Discretion then the Ladies that are too Complaisant pass for Loose or Affected and if they are not enough so they shall be thought to be Disdainful or Uncivil There is not less danger in receiving this than in giving it Those Ladies that render too much Complaisance are liable to be troublesome those that receive too much are in danger to be seduced There are those that will mingle Flattery with Complaisance to bring them into Error as Wine is mingled with Poison to draw down the deadly Draught There is therefore danger lest many should take the Poison for Food and lest they drink the Flattery while they think themselves receiving only a simple Complaisance Commonly the one of these is so strictly join'd to the other that there is need of a great deal of Prudence to be able to separate them And that we may the better succeed in this it seems to me convenient to examine in the first place what there is of Good or of Evil iâ— the Complaisant Humour to the end we may learn with the better method and the greater facility wherein the Use of this is allow'd or forbidden to us AS THE Complaisance which I must condemn is nothing else but the Art to deceive pleasantly it must be acknowledg'd that the most pernicious of its Effects are that it makes an appearance pass for truth and a feigned Friendship for a true one Those Spirits that are most dissembled constrain themselves to appear Genuine and Sincere to the end they may gain the Credit of Confidents and Friends But it is herein that their Artifice is discovered and it comes to be known that they have not that Freedom and Ingenuity they pretend to in that they over-act their Pretences to iâ— Though Patrâ—â—lus made use of all the Armour of Achilles and some of his Weapons yet he would not venture to use his Javeline because this was of such a sort as that Achilles alone was well able to manage it In like manner though a dissembled Person does take all the appearances of one that is Vertuous yet she should not dare to meddle with the pretence to Freeness or â—â—genuousness of Temper This is a quality that cannot possibly sit well upon her she cannot counterfeit Plaâ—â—ness without betraying that she wâ—â—â—â— it As the Câ—â—â—leons take all sorts of Colours from the things they lie upon excepting only the white so â—â—â—se disguised Souls will take all sorts of â—â—â—pes will appear under all forms of Countenance but after all their Artifice it will be always observ'd That it is impossible to serve themselves well of a pretence to Freedom and Candour As upon painted Faces we may commonly see both the Paint and the ugliness too so we may see at the same time upon the looks that are too Complaisant the plain traces of Dissimulation and Knavery The Ladies have but too much experience