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
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
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