the opinion of these Imaginary Kings It is not possible to avoid their sharp censure if we do not submit to their Judgment both the Use and the Approbation are at their dispose the credit they give is necessary to success and there is no glory but what they distribute And although the most able persons disappoint this small traffick and these ridiculous intreagues there are nevertheless some weaker spirits that commit themselves to their Conduct And by this mistake it often comes to pass that very good Books are not relished at first while these petty Impostors decry them and hinder their excellency from being known They perswade themselves that when they have found great fault with the writings of others we shall read none but theirs and that the Ladies will abide by their sentiments as an Infallible Rule But as at last Innocence will appear in spight of all accusations and Merit will shine in desiance of envy so the reputation which is checkt a while by their malice will spread it self the more gloriously and experience will make it appear that we ought not to follow the advice of those who speak not of Books according to truth nor even according to their own inward opinion of them but only according to some interest and design which they have propos'd to themselves The Ladies ought to determine in this matter That they must not so much defer to the Judgments of others as altogether to renounce their own and that there is no colour or appearance of reason for relying entirely upon so bad Conductors as these But I do not intend hereby to put upon them the trouble of reading all Books or that they should affect to read a great number of them On the contrary I esteem this as unprofitable as troublesome and that in reading divers Books we should do as they who visit several Countries where they pass on without staying for after they have seen and traverst a great many they chuse one at least where they fix their abode Why should we seek in many Books what may be found in one alone As if the Sun had need of the assistance of the Stars towards the making of Day or that glorious Luminary had not light enough of his own to enlighten the World It is not a multitude that wise men chuse and one single Book if it be very good may be as serviceable as a Library I find to this purpose an admirable Sentence in St. Jerom who writing to Furia to perswade her to forsake all other reading and apply her self wholly to the study of the Sacred Scriptures says thus As you would sell many Jewels for the purchase of one which should have the beauty and worth of all the other in it self so you ought to renounce all sorts of Books besides and confine your self to that one wherein you may find all that is necessary either to please or instruct you And indeed to read but few Books provided they be such as are useful and agreeable will not diminish our advantage but resine it we shall not be the less rich in improvement but shall be less perplext and confounded On the other side As they who eat incessantly contract but a mass of ill humours so they that read too much are ordinarily incommoded by the confusion of their own thoughts and discourses And as excess of food weakens the natural heat of the body so an excess of reading at length dims the light and abates the vigour of the Spirit It is not then at all necessary to read a multitude of Books but to read only those that are good and above all to avoid the desire of those with which we cannot become acquainted without the danger of becoming vicious It is necessary that in this place I encounter two grand Errors and that I attack too much fear on the one hand and next too much confidence in this matter on the other For there are some persons who scruple to read the Books of the Heathens that yet allow themselves to use Romances There are those that make Conscience of abstaining from the Books of the Ancient Poets and Philosophers tho they be full of most excellent Precepts and are afraid even of Vertue it self if it comes from the Schools of Plato or Socrates BUT NOT TO dissemble Their scruple proceeds from their ignorance and they fear as the Holy Spirit speaks where there is no cause of fear For if God himself commanded the Hebrews to borrow the goods of the Egyptians that they might afterwards be consecrated to the service of the Tabernacle why may not we take the good precepts that are in Heathen Authors provided we do it with a design to employ them to the glory of God and the instruction of our Consciences As the Israelites when they took along with them the Treasures of the Egyptians left their Idols so when we take the Knowledge of the Heathens we do not also for the sake of that take their Errors and Idolatry What danger can there be in ravishing this Divine Wealth from Prophane Possessors to make use of it to some better purpose And since the Church of God has admitted the Infidels themselves to Baptism why may we not render their Fables also and their Histories Christian Especially when we find in them most excellent examples to form our manners by and good rules for the direction of our Lives If we do meet with some things there that are bad we must do by their Books as the Jews did by the Captive Women whom they married whose Nails they first pared and shaved off their Hair I mean that in reading these Ancient Authors we should retrench what is superfluous and whatever contradicts our belief But I all this while am in the wrong when I speak thus of the Ancients for we do not derive any thing from the Heathens when we take whatever is excellent and good in their Books This is the very wealth which they have stolen from our Fathers this is that sublime Philosophy of Egypt which they transported to Athens Whatever their Poets or their Sophisters have of good in them they drain'd our Prophets for it This is the Learning of the Caldeans too tho they have given it another form and veil'd it under certain Riddles that they might the better conceal their Theft So then we steal not from the Heathens what we take from them but only recover what is our own And so far is it from a fault to do this that on the contrary It is no less meritorious to draw these excellent instructions from their Books than to deliver Innocent Captives from the hands of Infidels But now as for the reading of Romances we must needs speak of that after a very different manner for there is nothing in them that is not extreamly bad and extreamly dangerous and That mingled with what is agreeable and pleasing but in the other there is excellent morality alloy'd with somewhat superfluous
and Contemplation improves the Judgment But among these noble Occupations of the Soul if we would determine which is the most important it must be confessed that Reading furnishes both the other And without that our Contemplation would be of no advantage and our Conversation without pleasure It is necessary to the Ladies of greatest Wit as well as to those of the meanest in that it gives to the former much the greater Lustre as it mends the Imperfections and Defects of the latter It renders these tolerable and makes them admirable And to say the truth Reading shews us many things which our own reasoning could never discover it adds solidity to our thoughts and a charming sweetness to our discourse It finishes and compleats that which Nature has but only begun Nor is it strange that we should receive so great advantage from this since the best Inventions in the world have ow'd their Original to Reading join'd with Judicious Thinking and the one is as the Father the other a Mother to the sinest Thoughts And because neither of these separately can produce any thing of perfection it is easie to comprehend why they who have no love for Books can speak nothing but what is trivial and their conversation is no better than a persecution of their company That a good Wit may set off its self well enough without any thing of Study as they say a good Face needs no Ornaments is what I cannot without dissimulation allow But on the contrary it must be said that as the stomachs which have greatest heat have need of most food to keep the body in good plight and maintain life so the brightest Wits have most need of reading to acquire thereby politeness and fulness and especially to moderate that vigour which cannot succeed but by chance when it is altogether alone It is then in this incomparable School they must learn what is excellent to entertain the company that is good and to be a remedy against the bad Here the Ladies must receive antidotes against the persecutions of those whose discourse is all Idle and Impertinent It is Reading that renders Conversation most grateful and Solitude least tedious There are others nevertheless of another opinion and such as think that 't is sufficient for learning the best things in the world to enjoy the conversation of good Wits without putting ones self to the trouble of turning over Books But tho I grant that the Conversation of Worthy Persons is very necessary and may as a living School influence us most powerfully while we see the rule and an excellent example together Yet it seems to me that they who content themselves with the company of those that Know much might become more compleat by reading their works It is my Opinion that if Conversation gives readiness Reading affords abundance that the former distributes only what this latter acquires and is liberal of the riches which reading heaps together Moreover since men take more pains about what they write than what they speak and no man employs so much care in that which is to endure but for a moment as in that which is to endure for ever It must be own'd that we may rather expect to find excellent things in the Writings of great Persons than in their Discourse for while they let nothing pass in their Books that is not finisht it is not possible but many things imperfect will slip from them in discourse and conversation Besides there needs no more but an agreeable voice or with some a great noise a sweet accent or a good grace to charm those that hear But there is nothing to abuse or impose upon them that read It is much more easie to deceive the Ear than the Eye Discourses pass on with but a superficial notice taken of them and hardly have we the leisure to observe their defects But Writings remain steadily exposed to the Censures of those that judge and the faults of them are never pardon'd Herein there lies as I think a very good reason for the reading of good Books that the great Wits have in them left us their best performances and they have employ'd their watchings and studies more to the Writing than Speaking well However if it be necessary for the proof of this to join Experience with Reason what can any desire for the Ornament of the Mind that may not be met with in Books We may find there Instructions of every make we may see Vertue under every sort of Visage We may there discover Truth in every representation of it we can desire we may see her with all her strength among the Philosophers with all her purity among the Historians and with all her beauty postures and sine disguises in the Orators and Poets And from this so agreeable variety it is possible for all sorts of humours and conditions to find content and instruction It is here that Truth is not disorder'd by Passions that she speaks without fear as well as without design and dreads not to enter the Palaces nor even the Presence of the greatest Monarchs For this reason too is Reading extreamly requisite to the Ladies for since they want Mute Instructors as well as Princes and as well Beauty as Royalty does not so easily find Teachers as Flatters It is necessary that for the apprehending their defects they should learn sometimes from the admonitions of the Dead That which the Living dare not say to them It is in Books alone that they can remark the imperfections of their minds as in their Mirrors they discern those of their Faces It is there they will find Judges that cannot be corrupted either by their Love or Hatred It is there that the most fair as well as the least so are equally treated having to do with Arbitrators that use the Eyes they have only to put a difference between Vertue and Vice BUT HOWEVER since all Books are not excellent and there are many which truly deserve to be brought to no light but by the fire the printing of which should rather have been hindred than the reading them It must be acknowledged that there is no less difficulty in choosing good Books to employ us when we are alone than to choose good Wits for our entertainment in company So that if any find they must not rely upon themselves in this matter for the making of a good choice they ought at least to follow the counsel of the most knowing and most vertuous for fear that in reading they may happen to infect the Mind or debauch the Conscience I cannot forbear in this place to reprehend the tyranny of certain Wits who form among themselves a kind of Cabal for the censure of all things and think the approbation of their Cabal must be first obtained before a thing can deserve to be approved by others As the value of Money derives it self from the Ordinance of the Prince so must the value of Books and the purity of Language depend upon
of the Books we read Our humour is alter'd while we think not of it we laugh with them that laugh we are debauch'd with the Libertine and we rave with the Melancholick To that degree are we influenced as to find our selves altogether changed with our reading of some Books we entertain other Passions and Steer another course of life The reason of this is not difficult to be found out for as teeming Mothers cannot look intently upon some Pictures without giveing their Infants some marks of what they observe why should we not easily believe that the Lascivious stories in Romances may have the same effect upon our Imagination and so leave some Spots upon the mind I grant indeed that we know what we read to be meer fiction yet it fails not for all that to give real motions while we read it the inclination that we have to evil is so strong that it improves by examples of evil tho we know them to be false ones As the Jvy mounts and supports its self by the hollow and dry Tree as well as by the sound and green one so our natural corruption and irregular Appetites carry us so strongly to what is forbidden that even a false and feigned History is sufficient to encourage and animate us to the most wicked undertakings As the Birds were invited to peck at the Painted Grapes of Xeuxis so our Passions take fire at the Amours that are described in Romances The reading of so many wanton things in those Books heats a Person by little and little and insensibly destroys that reluctancy and horrour that should always possess us against all that is evil We grow so familiar with the Image of Vice that we fear not when we meet with the thing it self And after a Man has lost the modesty of his mind he must be in a great deal of danger to lose also that which his modesty alone could have preserved As the Water infallibly runs west when the Banks that restrain'd it are broken down so our affections escape with all manner of liberty after that this honest fear which should govern them is remov'd This licentiousness indeed is not always form'd in a moment nor do we become vicious all at once by this reading The contagion of these Books gains upon the heart almost by insensible degrees it works in the mind as Seed does in the Earth first it spurts then it shoots out and grows every day stronger and stronger that it may bring forth at last the pernicious Fruit of wickedness But this is not yet all the evil that attends the reading of Romances But after it has render'd us bold enough and given courage to do ill in the next place it renders us ingenious and cunning we derive from thence subtilty with confidence and do not only learn the evil we should be ignorant of but also the most delicate and charming ways of committing it And to speak with reason how can it be imagin'd possible to read some Paragraphs in those Books without a great deal of danger When we often see there this Woman quitting her Country and her Parents to run after a stranger whom she fell in love with in a moment Or read how the other found ways to receive Letters from her Gallants or to give them their guilty assignations These are nothing but Lessons of Artifice and skill to teach persons how they may sin with subtilty And for my part I am not able to apprehend with what appearance of reason any can justify so dangerous a Reading On the contrary the Lacedemonians forbad the hearing of Comedies because they present sometimes Murders sometimes Thefts or Adulteries and because in a well regulated Common-wealth nothing ought to be suffer'd that is contrary to the Law not even in fictions or plays Why then are these Romances permitted where we read almost nothing but actions that are dishonest examples that are lascivious and passions that are extravagant Shall we dare to read those things in Books which the Heathens forbid to be represented on Theaters Shall it be said that Christians have less love for Vertue than Infidels And if they were afraid lest the People should be debaucht by such sights have not we reason to fear that weak minds may be corrupted by so filthy reading Nevertheless some may accuse me of too much severity who will be vext to see me ravishing from them their beloved Idols in taking away their Romances who will be griev'd no less for their losing of these bad Books than the Women of whom the Holy Scripture speaks that were weeping for the loss of Jammuz A falsehood shall often have more of the Vogue than truth and they will more willingly read those Books that corrupt the manners than those that regulate them and there are many Ladies that learn to tell without Book the Stories of Amedis while they neglect those of the Holy Writt Lastly they take much less pleasure in the best Sermon than in a sorry Comedy and go oftner to hear a Buffoon than a Preacher Straton complain'd very justly that he had fewer Scholars than Menedemus because there are many more to be found who seek the School of Pleasure than there are that follow that of Vertue and we love rather those who flatter us and make us laugh than those that make us sad and menace us tho for our advantage AND THAT I may conceal nothing that is to the purpose It is extreamly unhappy to mankind that it is enough to raise a curiosity for the Reading of any Book to know that it is forbidden as we observe by daily experience I think the same Evil Spirit who deceiv'd the first of Women possessing her to her destruction with the pleasures of the Tree of knowledge does still inspire others after the same manner promising their eyes shall be opened and they shall see admirable things in what is forbidden them and making them believe 't is out of envy alone that such reading is forbidden them This errour corrupts a great number of those who are persuaded by their Flatterers that as weak persons are always in danger even in the midst of things that are good So the most able Spirits are never in danger no not among a multitude of things that are bad and therefore all reading is to be forbidden to the one sort and all is to be permitted to the other But for my part I must needs think the contrary and declare that whatever measure of Wit any can have they are not withstanding always oblig'd to flee from danger And I doubt there are very few that have the strong constitution of Mithridates to nourish themselves with Poison and live upon that which is mortal to all others I approve no more of the Poets than Romances when there is any thing of ill in them In what ever Period or Page I find any thing of Vice it is my intention to make War with that And let the World think of this
a great Encouragement and their Condemnation or Dislike necessarily weakens and dispirits our Endeavours Do not these things appear in the Experience of all Ages Could Adam himself long keep his Innocence when Eve had eaten the forbidden Fruit and added to that the Perswasion of him to do the same Was not the Mighty Saul mov'd to a mortal Envy against David because the Women in their Songs and Applauses had preferr'd the lucky Youth before the practis'd Warriour Did not the Idolatrous Wives so far prevail with Solomon as to draw that wise Prince into the absurd Sin of Idolatry Do not Histories show us that they have been able to perswade even the greatest Men to what they would That they have by their Instigation overturn'd Kingdoms confounded Commonwealths laid Cities desolate and brought to pass the greatest Revolutions and Confusions And that on the other side they have sometimes been the Springs and first Movers of the Bravest Actions Have they not saved many Cities and Contributed greatly many times to the Strength and Prosperity of Commonwealths Some of these Things may be seen in the following Book We may see it common in the World that the other Sex are often but the Tools and Slaves to their Vices or the Instruments and Servants of their Vertues And indeed that they take Delight in being so that 't is usually their greatest Joy and Pleasure and the most sensible part in the Reward of their Hazards and Labours to have pleased this Sex in what they have done to have promoted the Honour and Interest or to have gain'd the Praise and Favour of the Woman that is loved These Things are not said to Impute to them all the Vice and Folly of the World but to show from the Influence which they can have in it How necessary and Important it is that they be brought up in Learning and Vertue and have their Minds well furnish'd and govern'd by these Accomplishments They have contributed no more towards Vice than towards Vertue What harm that Sex did to the World in Eve they have made us a sufficient amends for in the Blessed Virgin What harm soever they do to the present Age and whatever their share may be in the Vices and Follies of it this we may justly blame the Men for who take upon them to govern all Things and condemn the Women to such an Education as can render them but very little useful and leaves them apt to be only mischievous and hurtful to the World Certainly there cannot possibly be a greater over-sight than to banish them to those little trivial and useless Employments which usually take up their precious Time of Leasure and a single Life To confine them to the Molding up of Wax when they should be forming of their Minds by the Laws of Vertue and Wisdom To learn the adjusting of their Cloaths rather than of their Words and Actions If these Employments keep them out of the way of such Temptations as would corrupt them yet what good do they put into them If they keep them from Vice what Vertue do they form in their Minds The Truth is they cannot hinder the growth of Vice and Folly from the Seeds of them that are in our corrupted Nature These will improve and get Strength in them by the Exercise of their own Thoughts Ill desires will be stirring if they are kept from evil Actions And they may be corrupted by their own untaught and ungovern'd Discourses with each other There is no Opposition to Vice and Folly made by this Sort of Education and then it must needs grow if it be not check'd and kill'd yea it rather serves to cherish and promote it They are bred in a great concern and care abeut their Bodies and in a neglect of their Minds they are taught to strive to recommend themselves to the World without any real worth and meerly by the Ornament and disposal of the Outside What measure of Chastity are they taught by making the Image of a Fair Woman with but one Garment on and Caressing a Black-a-moor Their Musick joyn'd with such Songs as have for their common Subjects either fond Love or obscene Intimations or blasphemous Flatteries of their Sex what does it but cherish Vanity and Pride and feed and excite foolish and shameful Desires And what Vertue are they taught what useful Knowledge are they possess'd with by this Education What Vertue do they learn by the Management of the Needle How little may they understand of Fortitude or possess of it for all the Forming of a Broad-shoulder'd Image in Wax and the setting it by a Pillar Or what degrees of Charity does it put into them and what Rules of Exercising it are taught them by their learning to make up the Image of a Woman with Three naked Children about her What do they learn of the Nature and Vse of Fruits and Plants while they learn to imitate them in their Shape and Colour Might not the Wit that can excel in these Curious and Vseless Trifles be taught more important Things Why might they not learn Physick and Chirurgery as well as Cookery to save as well as to destroy Men pleasantly That which is a Vice rather than an Accomplishment as commonly practised why are they not as soon taught the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of Meats and Drinks as what is Pleasant and Grateful to the Palate Why have they not Lectures of Morality read to them in their Schools and the Mistresses showing them the Importance and Vsefulness of the Precepts of Vertue Why may not they learn Languages as well as we Whenever they set well about it they commonly do it better than we can And if they were taught the Art of Reasoning and the Art of Speaking if their Minds were well furnished with Philosophy and Divinity if they were plentifully endowed with useful Knowledge and refined Vertue we should not think one Language nor hardly one Tongue enough for them Their chief Time for Improveing is spent without Improvement and all they learn in it is not any thing that they can ever be the wiser or the better or the happier for Their Education is not directed nor design'd to teach them how Odious a Thing Vice is how shameful and contemptible Ignorance and how Glorious and Lovely a Thing it is to be Vertuous We have reformed our Nunneries the Schools of our Women from Popery and Superstition but not from Pride and Vanity nor have made them as we should do the Schools of Vertue and Religion and useful Knowledge See here the Ground and Reason of all the Defects and Disparagements of that Sex Hence are we so often vexed or tainted with their Vices and Follies This is the fundamental Occasion of all the just Complaints that are made against them And most unjusty are they used while they are bred to be of no use and then are despised for being so and while there is no care taken to possess them with Vertue and
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
Crafty and Deceitful and after that condemn the Imprudent If I blame them that give too much and then do not approve those that give too little 't is without doubt that some gross wits may imagin that I mingle my condemnations and praises instead of acknowledging that this is the true way of putting a difference between Good and Evil to do it agreeably That this is not to confound but to separate and these are not superfluous Problems but reasonable Distinctions LET ME SPEAK NOW to those who say that this Book might have been made serviceable to the Men as well as to the Women and that I have not descended to circumstances sufficiently particular for the subjects that I treat of I own that a great part of my instructions which are good for the one Sex may be also useful to the other But what is it that they could wish I had found out in particular for the Ladies when they were to be taught the hatred of Vice and the pursuit of Vertue Is there another and a particular Morality for them Is there for them a distinct Christianity Must we for them invent a new Religion or a particular Philosophy Do not the Preachers speak at the same time concerning Vertues and Vices both to the one and the other Sex Let these persons consider what 't is they desire since we have together the same Law the Instructions may be common provided the Examples be Particular And this is that which I have constrain'd my self to do through the whole as far as the matter would permit and as seem'd to me decorous that I might not engage my self too far in some certain matters wherein I should have rendred my self more Ridiculous than Useful IT IS TIME NOW to satisfie those who say that I disguise my Precepts under Praises and that I ought to have descended to circumstances more particular I wonder how they come to believe that the Ladies have need of Lessons so course and a conduct so sensible They are only the Blind that we lead by the Hand it is enough to carry a Torch before those that have a good Sight This is to do wrong to their good Wit or their good Nature They must have less understanding to know what is good or less inclination to practise it to need this treatment I am assured that they who are of the contrary opinion are some petty Regents in a Country Village who would exercise a tyranny there where they ought rather to submit themselves They should consider I speak not here as a Master but as a Counsellor That I do not make Ordinances or Laws but only as I ought I content my self to give advice It is enough to me to praise good things and to blame the bad to say that they ought to shun the one and love the other I should be asham'd to turn Legislator as some do who in like matters talk thus I will I mean It must be I approve I condemn If the manner of their writing be observ'd one shall see that it has no whit more of force but has less of respect Their Style is not more strong but more uncivil After all I conceive that there is no better secret can be observ'd in Writing than to render ones self the more agreeable that one may be the more useful There is a way to instruct without disobliging and I believe they will not blame that Physitian who had found an art to give good Medecines without disgust and bitterness We may speak of the manner of Teaching after that of Healing and it must be believed that there is nothing done amiss if both the one and the other be done agreeably Provided we can succeed on this occasion I judge it much better to use persuasions than Precepts There is a great deal of difference between the Laws of an Emperor and those of a Philosopher Casar and Seneca are not obeyed alike The Commands of the one are supported by Power those of the other by the Address But suppose I had all this Power what pretence can there be for my abusing it so as to render my self troublesom and to treat with rudeness a Sex to which we cannot speak with too great civility And when 't is said that I might give them Instructions more particular towards the rendring themselves excellent without violating the respect that is their due I answer that this had not only been superfluous but indeed it is altogether impossible If I would descend to Instructions very particular instead of one Book I should have been constrain'd to compose many Volumes What When I have said that an Excellent Woman ought not to be Ignorant of what is becoming to her Age and her Condition Must I needs then come to shew the way of playing on the Lute or how she must Dance or dress her Head or make her Curtesie Must I do the Office of a Musick-master instead of that of a Philosopher I grant that these petty accomplishments are not to be neglected but they are no more than the Nails or the Hair of an Excellent Woman It is in Morality alone that these qualities are to be found which are requisite to form such a person as I recommend I endeavour above all things to regulate the Mind and the Conscience These are in my opinion the two parts the most considerable in the person that ought to be esteemed Excellent This is moreover that which I have laboured in and I have not treated of any other conditions of the Sex either because it had been impertinent to my design or because they are of so easie attainment as there is no need to lose time in prescribing Rules for them Thus I think I have said what I ought to these things for the satisfaction of those that would not take the pains to read Prefaces I CANNOT be advised to comply with those who say that there are many Comparisons in my Book and but few Connexions I shall content my self to send them to the reading of Plutarch or Seneca to learn after what manner the greatest persons have treated of Morals And above all if there are here any thoughts that can please them tho they have not so much of connexion as they could wish for I entreat them not to cast them away for want of that and to consider that Pearls may be very precious tho they are not strung Of Conversation AS THERE IS nothing more important to the Ladies than to know how to chuse good Wits to converse with and good Books to read so there is nothing more difficult than this Because there are so many things evil which resemble the good that without a great judgment or extraordinary good fortune they can rarely make a good Election in these cases It must needs be acknowledged a thing too difficult to pass the time innocently and pleasantly too either in company or retirement Indeed if we were still in the times of the primitive
in our Discourses and Writings As if Clearness would render the Sciences less venerable or as if the Darkness serv'd them for Ornament and Luster as if the Force and the Dignity of reasoning were necessarily tackt to the Rudeness of Terms On the contrary we no more diminish their price in taking away the Veil that conceals them than it lessens the value of Gold to dig it out of the Entrails of the Earth to refine it and make it serviceable to Commerce I judge that they who clearly explain the Sciences do discover to us true Treasures and that they merit some part of the Glory of Socrates who brought Wisdom down from Heaven to Earth that is he render'd it easy to be understood by those minds which seem'd to be the most uncapable of it There is then nothing more true than that when the Sciences are well and rightly conceiv'd and understood they may also be exprest even in any Language whatever and the Ladies are then capable to understand them ON THE OTHER SIDE tho some say that all the hindrance lies on the part of their Minds as not being strong enough for Learning It seems to me that this is a very wrong Judgment of their Temperament which according to the Physicians being more delicate than ours it is also more disposed to the study of Arts and Sciences Whatever can be said they are capable of these as well as the Men and if they quit sometimes what they might pretend to this is more out of Modesty or Consideration than out of Weakness Do we not see in History that the Ancient Gauls divided with their Women the glory of Peace and of War that the Men reserv'd the Arms to themselves but left to the Women the Establishment of Laws and the Preservation of their Republicks This could not be done out of Ignorance and it may be judg'd from hence what Esteem they had of the Women when the Part allotted to the Men was the Exercises of the Body and they committed to them the matter of Conduct and the exercises of the Mind What Science so difficult can be imagin'd wherein they have not excell'd at least as far as the Men Was not Aspasia judg'd worthy to teach Pericles who yet was able himself to give Instructions to all the World Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi composed Letters so excellent as that her Sons afterwards derived from them all their Eloquence which was also great and these Letters of hers did Cicero himself admire Pamphila wrote so many as an hundred and three Books of History which all the Learned Men of that Age highly esteem'd And as for the Sacred Sciences Does not St. Gregory himself acknowledge that his Sister serv'd him for a Tutouress and that she gave him the knowledge of the best Learning But it is not necessary to search the Ages past for Examples of this kind We have in our own some Instances so extraordinary as may be compar'd with any the greatest in Antiquity We have Ladies that know how to write upon the most serious and the most difficult Subjects In truth I cannot chuse but believe that the most obstinate Persons would yield the cause if they would only take the Pains to read the Homilies that Madam the Vicountess of Auchy has Composed upon St. Paul She has not undertaken those places that are more plain and where she might most easily have succeeded She has bestow'd her pains upon the Epistle to the Hebrews which contains as every own knows the most secret and the most lofty Mysteries of our Religion Nevertheless in a matter so Elevated there is nothing can conquer the force of this great Spirit she marches over Thorns as another would do upon Roses her Style has nothing forced or affected it is sweet and pompous both together and the nicest Persons would admire in this Work that which one shall rarely find in the same Author there is Clearness joyn'd with Vigour and Sharpness with Politeness There is that will instruct the devout and satisfie the curious The learned and the delicate will there find things that do deserve to be consider'd with Attention and they that persuade themselves a Woman cannot write well would confess their Errour after the reading of that Book What need is there to enumerate a great many more To mention those amongst us that have excell'd in Poetry to that degree as to force Applauses from their Competitours in Fame This Subject is too large to be follow'd through And tho the Men have been very sparing and cautious in writing the praises of Women yet they have not been able wholly to refrain from bringing Testimony to this Truth and many of their Books have afforded room for their Commendations And if it may be permitted us for this purpose to appeal to Fable for our assistance we may learn that if the Men have an Apollo for the Author of the Sciences the Women have also a Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom who Invented the better Learning and who gives them a just right to pretend to the same If I did not fear to support so known a Truth upon Fictions I should content my self to send them that yet doubt in this to the Famous Nine Muses of the Poets to whom all the Ancients ascribed the Invention of Arts. Of Habits or Ornaments IT IS CERTAIN that in whatsoever Fashion we can possibly cloath our selves we shall very hardly please all sorts of persons either the Old or the Young will find in our Habit something or other to find fault with And it is next to Impossible that we should avoid falling under either the Derision of the one or the Censure of the other There are some melancholy Spirits that cannot endure we should do any thing according to the Fashion and who will infallibly find out something unlawful in our Dress if we cannot prove that it has been a thousand Years invented and used This is to disdain altogether the present Time that we may give too much Honour to that which is past Without considering that we must bear with that which cannot be hinder'd and that there may often be less Vanity in following the New Modes than in adhering to the Old ones It is true that the Foolish invent them but the Wise may conform too instead of contradicting them The Habit as well as the Words we use ought to be conform'd to the Time we live in And as they would take him for a Madman who should talk in the Court the Language used in the time of King William the First so we ought not to think better of them who would cloath themselves as he did Those who blame without a distinction the alteration of our Fashions would better become themselves in quitting their slavish Sentiments Who would forbid the seeking our Convenience or Decency for fear we should not be habited like our Ancestours Were it not in truth an indecent Confusion to see a Boy in the same