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
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
Honour perhaps of Health of Fortune and Estate And it shows the Safe and the Honourable Roads of Vertue And is it not a very Important and necessary thing to be taught these Matters before we launch into the World Without this we shall be in danger of learning the Shelves in this dangerous Sea by running aground there and the Rocks by splitting upon them Without a previous Admonition and Instruction about what we are to avoid and what to chuse we shall learn the World only to imitate it we shall learn and comply and endeavour to be as like it as we can we shall be led away with the Error of the Wicked and follow a Multitude to do Evil. We are naturally prone to imitate what we see done by others and more prone to imitate Evil than Good and we shall commonly meet with more Ill Examples than Good ones By consequence we shall be in greater likelihood of learning and following Vice than Vertue if we are not fenced against it by Good Instruction before we venture into the World Let me add 'T is of very great Importance to you to be as early as is possible acquainted with these things to learn betimes the Knowledge and Practice of Vertue For as much as Habits of Good or Ill are continually growing in us but especially in our young and tender Years Our Actions in those Years are as it were the Seeds or Foundations of future Habits which we contract when we are young and are not able to leave when we are old But if we cannot rightly discern Good from Evil we shall become accustomed to do Evil before we know what it is And if once we are arrived as this it will be a matter of as much difficulty to cure our selves as it were for the Ethiopian to change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots This encreases the difficulty of convincing us of our Faults We shall be loth to own that we have been in an Error This will engage us to justifie our Faults rather than acknowledge them that we may let our selves go on without shame or remorse And besides if we are convinced of a Fault after that difficulty is over there is more remaining and 't is yet a very large task to conquer and forsake it when 't is become as it were a second nature It is easie to correct and form young and tender Inclinations to Evil. But when several Years are gone over them and they are become confirm'd Habits they are then not easily subdued We must then know Vertue and Vice betimes and know them in their least beginnings and lowest degrees that we may practice the one and abstain from the other And 't is necessary that we begin betimes to practice Vertue and to resist and avoid Vice that we may be inured and accustomed to do so Then will it be easie to be Vertuous all our Days and we must put a Violence and Constraint upon our selves if we would comply with the Solicitations of any Vice Whereas without this we shall fall into that unhappy State that it will be easie to us only to be Vicious and we must put a Constraint upon our selves when we are to do that which would become us and would be for our Interest or our Honour Besides 't is our Wisdom and Happiness to have as little occasion for repentance as is possible and therefore to begin a Course of Vertue betimes And 't is our Honour to have attain'd a great and eminent degree of Vertue but the sooner we begin to endeavour this the more likely we are to attain it Vertue in youth settles a good Constitution and confirms Health in the strong Bodies and supports a tender and weak Constitution which Vice would quickly destroy Vertue in youth makes the best Provision of Worldly Enjoyments and Comfortable Thoughts for Old Age. It defers the Infirmities of Old Age and makes that commonly the freer from the things that are usually grievous to it To Young Persons then I would particularly recommend the Vse of this Book for the promoting of Vertue among them To conclude The Women have here an excellent Mirrour wherein they may see themselves and all the World they may discover whatever Spots or Deformities are upon themselves or others This is a Glass that will certainly show you what does best become and most adorn you Drest by this you must needs like your selves and may do so with good reason and without flattering your selves and you would also approve your selves to God and the Holy Angels and to the best and wisest among Mankind I must only desire you to take notice of this further That I do not apply the great Character I have given of this Book to what you now see of it but to the whole that which is here is at most but half worthy of it for it is but half the intended design The other half is actually under Hand and I hope will be speedily presented to you And then I doubt not but it will appear worthy of your Esteem and of my Recommendation and Highly Vseful to promote your Honour and Happiness the end for which it is designed A TABLE OF THE Subjects Treated on in this BOOK Chap. 1. OF Reading with some Remarks upon that of this Book Page 1 Chap. 2. Of Conversation Page 31 Chap. 3. Of the Chearful Humour and the Melancholy Page 51 Chap. 4. Of Reputation Page 70 Chap. 5. Of the Inclination to Vertue and of Devotion Page 82 Chap. 6. Of Chastity and of Complaisance Page 91 Chap. 7. Of Courage Page 102 Chap. 8. Of Constancy Page 112 Chap. 9. Of Prudence and Discretion Page 123 Chap. 10. Of the Learned Women Page 131 Chap. 11. Of Habits or Ornaments Page 141 Chap. 12. Of Beauty Page 148 Chap. 13. Of Curiosity and Slander Page 156 Chap. 14. Of the Cruel and the Compassionate Page 163 Chap. 15. Of a Good Grace Page 170 Chap. 16. The Debauched or Lewd Woman Page 176 Chap. 17. Of Jealousie Page 183 Chap. 18. Of Friendship and the Love of Inclination and that of Election Page 196 Chap. 19. Of the Complaisant or Pleasing Humour Page 216 Chap. 20. Of Birth or Nature and Education Page 252 Chap. 21. Of an Equal Mind under Good and Bad Fortune Page 279 ERRATA PAge 8. Line 5. for least read last p. 18. l. 6. for west r. wast p. 20. l. 8. for Jammuz r. Tammuz P 57. l. 28. for void r. avoid p. 121. l. 18. for Wickednesses r. Wickedness p. 134. l. 15. for really r. rarely p. 180. l. 20. for Impudence r. Imprudence p. 272. l. 2. for are r. are not Of READING With some Remarks upon that of this Book THERE IS NOT any thing more true than that Reading Conversation and Contemplation are three of the most useful and most charming emploiments in the world By Reading we enjoy the Dead by Conversation the Living and by Contemplation our Selves Reading enriches the Memory Conversation polishes the Wit