the leavs and branches are tossed One would wish to have no il belief but reports conjectures shake us rather to a fearful then a confident conclusion The mind suffers much in this irresolution and apparencies trouble much when one cannot directly judg of the falshood or truth of them There are both good and ill examples both to settle and to shake us and ordinarily our thoughts light upon them that persecute us rather then those that ease us That of Penelope comforts us when we represent to ourselves that her fidelity lasted five twenty years in the absence of her Husband but that of Messalina tyrannizes over us and awakes our suspicions when we think of our infamous impurities our minds are balanced on both sides but the misfortune is that conjectures having given the Alarm that by too strict an enquiry we either find or invent somewhat to change our doubts into beliefs Should we not rest our selves after having had a tryal of a person and may effects for testimonies of the affection But all those proofs keep us not from vexing our selves because fear which is not in our power interprets ill the least appearances and buries it selfe even in false objects when it finds no true What tryal soever we have had of fidelity when love hath nothing left to desire it hath all to fear It is the natural course of our passions that threaten change when they are in extremes and ruine themselves without any occasion only because they are humane Hypocrates has made a good maxime to advertise us that bodies are in danger of sickness when they are too high and strong But a Poet has a better conceit for the alteration of minds raised with too violent an affection The will deserves as well a wheele of inconstancy for her passions as fortune for her favours in the top there is no subsistence long either by reason of misfortune or imbecility Those that are in the highest pitch in love are like those which are on the top of too great Elevations their head growes dizzy and though no body touch them they reel till they fall of themselves meerly by the fear of falling When the Sun is at noon it begins to decline because when it cannot pass that point it retires and removes it self when nothing drives it to its setting or another Hemispheere Our minds seem to have the same motions and distaste followes liking by an order that is as natural as that which makes night succeed the day or ebbs and floods in the sea We feel our selvs insensibly weary even of the loveliest things and though the soul be immortal in her own nature yet she seems in her actions to express a youthfulness and age as bodies do Socrates said that the Gods did strive to mingle pleasure pain one with another but when they could not do that yet at least they tyed them together that the alternative succession may prevent insolence and despair This happens often without our own voluntary contributions and as we slip down from joy to sorrow so oftentimes we perceive our love change into coldnesse or indifferency The diseases of the mind as wel as the body are formed most commonly without our consent we lose the quiet of our soul as our health all at once without any prevision of the change and not knowing how to find the cause or remedy of this passion no more then of a Quartain Ague But I have too long spoke against my own mind as well as reason in favour of a passion that ruines loves reputation and disorders the souls tranquillity Reason ingenders love and love jealousie but the one and the other resemble little wormes that corrupts the matter that forms them The one kills his father and the other his mother How moderate soever this passion be it is alwayes dangerous and in this case there must be injustice committed forbidding the practice by reason of the abuse because they are too much fastned to one another As there is no little Serpent without some Venom there is no so well tempered jealousie that does not produce many misfortunes Those that compare it to Ivy do it very fitly because as that growes ordinarily but upon old heaps of ruines so this passion wreaths it selfe most commonly about tortured and dejected spirits We see Ivy flourishing with green upon trees that are dry and sapples so the older men grow this passion youthens the more and becomes the stronger in such as age or craziness of wit infeebles or stupifies other plants have their root at the foot Ivy has every where and even more root then leaves Jealousy roots it self every day more and more and insinuates it self more inseparably into the soul then Ivy can do into trees or walls It is but the middle kind of wits that are capable of this contagion excellent ones are above it and mean ones below these are ignorant of the occasions and the other unmoved with them It is in this that stupidity arrives at the same point as wisdom and Clowns are as happy as Philosophers otherwise those that afflict themselvs for a mis-fortune where there is no remedy but patience do entertain this error in the world and have a whole moon in their head when they think they have but halfe an one on their forhead It is to be very senselesse to afflict ones selfe without obliging any body and make a damnation in this world for fear of missing it in the next If the mistrust of jealous ones be knowne they augment the il instead of the redress if it be not it is superfluous and it is a hidden pain which silence and modesty render more supportable I do not wonder if jealous ones be lean their passion feeds on nothing but phantasmes Good wits restrain their curiosity while indifferent ones let it loose to learn what should be unknown not considering that in the commerce of this world the most exact do not make best their accounts If we could regulate well our opinions we should suppresse many enemies Melancholy and meditations entertain jealousie diversion and forgetfulnesse put it away Wit as well as sight wearies when it is fixt too long on one object In these occasions we must overcome as the Parthians do by flying and rather divert our thoughts then direct them with too much intentivenesse it is an enemy with poisoned weapons and his approach is enough to overthrow when the memory has once received it reason comes often too late for a resistance One may hinder the entrance but it never goes out before it has ruined the host Cydippus among the Romans was so pleased to see buls baited as he thought so much of it all night as he rose in the morning with hornes on his head This spectacle pleasing him he had entertained his fancy with it and in the end his imagination did him this ill office 'T is thus that many make their heads ake without considering that their unquietnesse and curiosity is
if it do not flatter nor no light if it be true and though they pretend much to the devotion of the time they never go to Masse till the holy water be spent for fear that receiving any of it their plaisters should be moystened and that there should be stains discovered on their faces but their designe shows it self with their deformity because striving to shadow their Defects they make them the more conspicuous Gracefulness is so averse to this slavery and fetterednesse as though we could alwayes do well it is a question whether that would alwayes please There must be in every thing intermissions to unbend our spirits Art in this should conform it self to Nature that hath not set Stars all over the heaven nor Flowers over the earth and though flowers are not so fair and precious as Stars yet we look upon them with more pleasure and attentivenesse because their beauty being of so little stay leaves us alwayes a desire of seeing them again Our spirits are cloyed as well as our Senses they need some rest and relaxation to digest delights 'T is not my meaning to perswade by these reasons that one should affect faults but so they be but light ones we may sometimes commit them so happily as they prove advantageous because bashfulnesse that followes them and displayes it selfe in the face is an infallible testimony of an innocent soul that is far from conceiving of great ills since it is so sensible of slight ones and sometimes when they are but imaginary If gracefulnesse then be described by doing all things by Nature and not by studiedness an ingenuous freedom is better then constraint All the world yeelds that difficulty consists in rarities there is no dexterity to declare a painfulnesse since a Clown may do as much but to hide it so finely as the cunning of it may not be discerned Candor and Ingenuity is not lesse to be wished for Discourse then for Action the most ordinary words are most excellent a word that is obscure is forbidden The Philosopher that alwayes wept it may be would have had a mind to laugh if he had heard many women that would passe for Learneder then they are use in their Discourse such hard words that do easier expresse their Extravagancie then Conceit This excessive desire of pleasing which wee have blamed goes along almost alwayes with the apprehension of not being liked and then when these two contrary passions meet they cause great inequalities because if desire excites them fear cools them when the one animates us to speak wel orsharply the other interrupts us and tyes us to silence by this one may judg how much apprehension as well as vanity injures gracefulnesse It happens ordinarily that such that are alwayes on their guard and fear every moment to fail do almost nothing else Extreme fearfulnesse disposeth the mind to error as well as the body to sickness Me thinks if one examined well the cause of this same troublesome passion that Education doth not contribute lesse to it then Constitution or Nature There are those that are bred in such a slavery they can do nothing freely they dare not hold up their heads with that becoming confidence that graces actions their thoughts are alwayes low and what good inclinations soever they have shamefac'dnesse retards the successe of their purpose Those that have seen nothing are subject to be amazed at a very little because the diffidence of themselves makes them admire or fear every thing Most commonly after their Salutations they begin their Complements as we end our Letters They would find an excellent remedy if they could beleeve that so little things are not to be admired and that if one were at leisure to examine that which we wonder at first after an hours conversation we should often change the subject of our admiration into the object of our contempt But every body cannot attain to this resolution 't is hard even for the best Wits to have dexterity without experience or facility without practice Actions beget Habits with difficulty and then the Habit being formed it produces actions with gracefulnesse and ornament Yet notwithstanding in blaming this rustick shamefac'dnesse I doe not mean to praise Impudency because both have limits and effects irregular because the one carries us beyond our power and decency and the other keeps us short of them whereas the modesty that I desire is between these two vitious extremes to distance us from too good or too ill opinion of our selves Of Cloathes and Ornaments THere must be a certain discretion observed in cloaths lest old men should tax the excess or theyoung defects and that a decency may keep the one from laughing and the other from being angry This is the reason that it is so hard to please all and to sute the fashion well to reason because there are some so absurd humours as they can endure nothing done in the fashion and will certainly conclude every thing unjust if the invention of it be not proved by at least one ages Antiquity This is very much to undervalue the present time and to honour that that is past without considering that wisdom suffers what it cannot redresse and that there is also lesse vanity and difficulty to follow the received fashion then to resuscitate the antiquated Indeed the light and giddy invent fashions but the wise and sober accommodate themselves to them in stead of contradicting them Habits and words should be suted to the time and as one would think them mad that should speak in the Court the language of Chaucer so we could not judg better of such as would affect to be cloathed so too Those that censure the inconstancy of the French should do better to quit their own slavish opinions that forbid them their owne commodity lest they should not be cloathed like their Grandfathers I would fain know of those that will not follow the times of what date they would have their cloathes because if Antiquity must be the rule they should go back as far as Adam to cloath themselves with leaves to render the fashion more venerable by this ancient derivation Those that say reason and custome resemble the Sun and the Moon did light well upon it because we must serve our selves according to the occasions of the Illuminations of both these Lights though the one be clearer then the other Excesse is blameable in all things but principally in novelties t is folly to dispaire them and vanity to be too much affected with them As I do not approve those women that study with too much curiosity new fashions so I cannot esteeme those that yet lament the putting down of high wyers and vardingals This obstinacy comes from self love they are no lesse punishable then those that would make old medals current in commerce for mony against the lawes of Princes and custome of the Country Such women make their owne antiquity ridiculous and make much a do to bring the
their subjects are but so to their own wills and refusers of liberty The grave Cato reverenced beauty so much as he said publickly it was no lesse crime to injure it then to sack a Temple Those that imagine that the number of their Gallants addes something to their beauty and are over-pleased with the submissions and duties that are rendred them goe out to meet their enemies and shew they be easily overcome since respects and praises are strong enough against them of which men are no lesse prodigall then women can be covetous but they should believe that when ingenuity bargains craft that it seldome gets any thing by it If women are handsome those that praise them would deceive them if not but make sport with them Therefore all kind had need of wit and vertue to exempt themselves from danger or neglect There are some that are scrupulous to praise beauty because it passes away so soon and lasts no longer then lightning and most commonly as well as that promises tempests and stormes 'T is a flower say they that fades as soon as ever it is blown which the wind sheds the Sun dries the rain flaggs and hands do gather it and that is so delicate that without being touched or having enemies in a moment dyes by its own naturall faintnesse But is not the same to be said of all other things in the world which cannot last alwaies and all beauty can be complained of is that it hath not the durance of stars as well as the fairnesse and lustre The fairest women would find an excellent prevention of vanity if they could represent to themselves at sixteen or twenty years old the defects decayes and incommodities of age What fair plumbs soever nature or art decks them with they would like Peacocks be ashamed looking downe to such horrible feet if they foresaw so much change and ruine I do not professe here to preach mortification but mee thinkes they should not so much afflict themselves for what years drawe from them insensibly and even diminishes it selfe every moment in spite of Art were it not for painting which discovers the defects 't is laid upon they would be comfortless and irremediable Natural beauty deserves estimation but that of their own making nothing but aversion Sulpitia among the Romans had so lovely eyes that those of her time could not see her without adoring The cheeks of Lavinia were so cornation that they amazed the Roses into palenesse The neck and brest of Theodota an Athenian were so beautiful that Socrates himself fel in love with them These features or charms must not be acquired by art nor possessed by vanity nature blesses some persons with them on purpose to please our eyes and elevate our spirits to the love of him that is the head of all humane perfection Counterfeit beauties fall shamefully in the sight of all the world almost like those false stars which after they have abused our eyes a while shew us by their fall that what we tooke for stars was but a little lighted vapour Yet for all this we must not altogether forbid ornament or care for the face since we whiten over walls when they are old The ill-favoured also are to be allowed to paint so it be for publick good and out of a consideration of not frighting those that look upon them They would be very much surprized if they were used as Phryne used those in her company as soon as ever this Curtisan appeared saith Gallen she distasted all those of the assembly leaving them nothing to shew but shame and jealousie they invented a Game to relieve their dejection which was mutuall commands to one another when it came to Phrynes commands she gave order there should be water brought and they should all wash their hands and faces as soon as they had obeyed her one might see patches and plaisters float and none almost knew one another they were other faces full of spots and fearful features This game would trouble many of this time that naturall beauty remained with a great advantage By her the Are pagites themselves lost the names of uncorrupted because not believing her innocent yet having seen her they could not judge her faulty Hyperides pleaded against her to no purpose though he was very Eloquent as soon as she appeared her presence made her Apology and she did but shew her self for her defence It is not now adayes only that handsome Women get their Causes when Justice unvayles her self to see them with a very little Solicitation they get a happy Tryal Of Gracefulness THe Soul is not more requsite to life then gracefulnesse to please it takes off from the defects of the ill favoured and sets off the beauty of the handsome by an addition to their perfections When one is possessed with this lovely quality whose praises I write rather then rules all that one undertakes is comely There be many kinds of it hearts as well as bodies are wounded with severall weapons the complexion the hair the gate the shape the looks the discourse the actions the voice and even silence have diverse attractions There have beene those that were never so handsome as when they cryed Panthea had so graceful a melancholy as she obliged Araspes to adore her tears it seems that Ladies possesse this taking quality with more advantage then men and this command which they obtain by these charms is much more powerful and more assured then that which we take by violence Though this be a gift of nature rather then art yet it needs some rules to perfect it which are learned with pleasure and easinesse in the conversation of Ladies If the face be the mirror of the soul morality is necessary to preserve this perfection since it prescribes rules to the motions both of the body and the mind And indeed anger fear the disquiet and repose of the conscience are well figured in the looks and malice has an inseparable remorse which dissimulation cannot long bail by this we may perceive that the beauty of the body depends partly on that of the mind and that the rules of gracefulness are annexed to those of this regularity One may better understand the effects of this admirable quality then expresse the nature of it It is never to be found where there is constraint art or ignorance we must not aspire to an impossible excellence And art cannot straine it self too high no more then nature without making monsters It happens often that the extreme desire that some have to please begets hate in stead of love On the contrary naturalnesse has so gentle charms as none resists because they arise from innocence and affectation is never without some imperfection or too much self-love How ridiculous is it not to dare to laugh for fear of loosning their patches or not to change their looks but in the morning when they dress them yet this is the fashion of the life of those which will have no glasse