agitated and subtlest only get in while the rest is dispersed into all the other parts of the body Now these very subtle parts of the blood make the animall spirits and they need not to this end undergoe any other change in the brain but only be separated from the other lesse subtle parts of the blood for what I here call spirits are but bodyes and have no other property unlesse tha they are bodies exceeding small which move very nimbly as the parts of a flame issuing from a torch so that they stay not in any one place but still as some get into the cavities of the brain some others get out through the pores in the substance of it which pores convey them into the nerves and from thence into the muscles by means whereof they mould the body into all the severall postures it can move The 11th Article How the muscles are moved FOR the only cause of the motion of all the members is that some Muscles shrink up and their opposites extend as hath been already said and the only cause why one muscle shrinkes rather than his opposite is that there come though never so little more spirits to the one than the other not that the spirits which flow immediatly from the brain are alone sufficient to move these Muscles but they dispose the other spirits which already are in these two Muscles of sally forth immediatly from one of them into the other by means whereof that from whence they came becomes longer and flaggier that wherein they are being suddenly swelled up by them shortens and attracts the member appendent to it which is easily conceived when it is known that there are but very few animal spirits which proceed continually from the brain to every Muscle but that there are abundance of others lockt in the same Muscle which move very swiftly in it sometimes in whirling round only in the places where they are this is when they find no passages open to get out at and sometimes by slipping into the opposite Muscle For there are little overtures in each of these Muscles through which hese spirits can slide from one to another which are so disposed too that when the spirits which come from the brain towards one of them are but never so little stronger than those going to theother they open all the entries through which the spirits of the other Muscle can fly into this and in the same instant bar up all those through which the spirits of this might get into that whereby all the spirits formerly contained in both Muscles crowd suddenly into one so swelling it up and shortning it while the other extends it self and gives The 12th Article How outward objects act contrary to the organs of the senses IT remains yet to know the causes why the spirits slide not from the brain into the Muscles always after one manner and wherefore they come sometimes more towards some than others For besides the action of the Soul which in truth is in us one of the causes as I shall shew hereafter there are yet two besides which depend not of any thing but the body which it is necessary to take notice of the first consists in the diversitie of motions excited in the organs of the senses by their objects which I have already amply enough explained in the Dioptricks but that those who see this may not need to have read ought else I will here repeat that there are three things to be considered in the sinews to wit their marrow or interiour substance which stretches it self out in the form of little threds from the brain the originall thereof to the extremities of the other members whereunto these threds are fastened next the skins wherein they are lapt which being continuous with those that invelope the brain make up litle pipes wherein these threds are enclosed lastly the animal spirits which being conveyed through these very pipes from the brain to the muscles are the cause that these thredd 's remain there entirely unmolested and extended in such a manner that the least thing that moves that part of the body whereunto the extremity of any one of them is fastened doth by the same reason move that part of the brain from whence it comes just as when a man pulls at one end of a string he causeth the other end to stirre The 13th Article That this Action of objects without may differently convey the spirits into the Muscles AND I have made it evident in the Diopticks how all the objects of the sight are not communicated to us any way but thus they move locally by mediation of transparent bodies between them and us those little thredd 's of the Optick nerves which are at the bottome of our eyes and after them the places of the brain from whence those nerves come they move them I say as many severall kinds of wayes as there are diversities of objects in things nor are they immediatly the motions made in the eye but in the brain that represent these objects to the Soul in imitation whereof it is easie to conceive that sounds odours heat pain hunger thirst and generally and objects as well of our other exteriour senses as our interiour appetites doe also excite some motion in our nerves which passes by means of them unto the brain and besides that these severall motions of the brain create in our soul different resentments it may so be that that without her the spirits direct their course rather towards some Muscles than others and so they may move our members which I will prove here only by one example If any one lift up his hand on a sudden towards our eyes as if he were about to strike although we know he is our friend that he does this only in jest and that he will be carefull enough not to doe us any hurt yet wee can scarce refrain from shutting them which shews it is not by the intermedling of our soul that they shut since it is against our will which is the only or at least the principall Action thereof but by reason this machine of our body is so composed that the moving of this hand up towards our eyes excites another motion in our brain which conveys the animal spirits into those muscles that close the eye-lids The 14th Article That the diversity of the spirits may diversifie their course THe other cause which serves to convey the animal spirits variously into the muscles is the unequal agitation of these spirits and the diversity of their parts for when any of their parts are more gross and agitated than the rest they passe forwards in a direct line into the cavities and pores of the brain and by this means are conveyed into toher muscles whereinto they should not had they been weaker The 15th Article What are the causes of their diversity ANd this inequality may proceed from the divers matters whereof they are composed as is seen in those who have
the rest to our Soul The 23th Article Of apprehensions which we attribute to objects from without us Those which we attribute to things without us to wit to the objects of our enses are caused at least if our opinion be not false by those objects which exciting some motions in the organs of the exteriour senses by intercourse with the nerves stir up some in the brain which make the soul perceive them So when we see the light of a torch and hear the sound of a bell this sound and this light are two everall actions who meerly in this regard that they excite two severall motions in some of our nerves and by meanes of them in the brain deliver the Soul two different Resentments which we so attribute to those Subjects which we suppose to be their causes that we think we see the very flame and hear the bell not onely feel certain motions proceeding from them The 24th Article Of apprehensions which we attribute to our body THe apprehensions which we attribute to our body or any of the parts thereof are those we have concerning hunger thirst and other our naturall appetites whereunto may be added paine heat and the rest of the affections we feel as in our members and not in the objects without us So we may at at the same time by the intercourse of the same nerves feel the coldnesse of our hand and the heat of the flame it drawes neere to or contrarily the heat of the hand and the cold of the aire whereto it is exposed and yet there is no difference between the Actions that make us feel the heat or the cold in our hand and those which make us feel that which is without us unlesse that one of these Actions succeeding the other we conceive the first to be already in us and that which followes not to be yet in us but in the object that causeth it The 25th Article Of the apprehensions which we attribute to our Soul THe Apprehensions attributed only to the Soul are those whereof the effects are felt as in the Soul it selfe and whereof any neer cause whereunto it may be attributed is commonly unknown Such are the resentments of joy wrath and the like which are sometimes excited in us by the objects which move our nerves and sometimes too by other causes Now although all our Apprehensions as well those attributed to objects without us as those relating to divers affections of our body be in truth Passions in respect of our Soul when this word is taken in the more generall signification yet it is usuall to restrain it to signifie onely those attributed to the Soul it selfe And they are onely these latter which I here undertake to explaine under the notion of Passions of the Soul The 26th Article That the imaginations which depend onely on the accidentall motion of the spirits may be as reall Passions as the apprehensions depending on the nerves IT is here to be observed that all the same things which the Soul perceives by intercourse with the nerves may also be represented to it by the accidentall course of the spirits and no difference between them but this that the impressions which come from the brain by the nerves are usually more lively and manifest than those the spirits excite there which made me say in the one and twentieth Article that these are onely as the shadow and representation of those It is also to be noted that it sometimes fals out this picture is so like the thing it represents that it is possible to be deceived concerning the apprehensions attributed to those objects without us or those referred to any parts of our body but not to be srved so concerning the Passions forasmuch as they are so neer and interiour to our Soul that it is impossible she should feele them unlesse they were truely such as she doth feel them So oftentimes when one sleeps and sometimes too being awake a man fancies things so strongly that he thinkes he sees them before him or feels them in his body though there be no such thing but although a man be asleep and doate he cannot feel himselfe sad ormoved with any other Passion but it is most true that the Soul hath in it that passion The 27th Article The definition of the Passions of the Soul AFter we have thus considered wherein the passions of the Soul differ from all other thoughts me thinkes they may be generally defined thus Apprehensions resentments or emotions of the Soul attributed particularly to it and caused fomented and fortified by some motion of the spirits The 28th Article An explication of the first part of the definition THey may be called Apprehensions when this word is used in a generall sense to signifie all thoughts that are not Actions of the Soul or the wills but not then when it onely signifies evident knowledges For experience shewes us that those who are most agitated by their Passions are not such as understand them best and that they are in the Catalogue of those apprehensions which the strict alliance between the soul and the body renders confused and obscure they may also be called resentments because they are received into the soul in the same manner as the objects of the exteriour senses and are not otherwise understood by her but they may justlier be stiled the emotions of the Soul not only because this name may be attributed to all the mutations befalling her that is all the various thoughts thereof but particularly because of all kinds of thoughts that she can have there are none that agitate and shake it so hard as these Passions doe The 29th Article An explication of the other part I Adde that they are attributed particularly to the Soul to distinguish them from other resentments relating some to exteriour objects as smells sounds colours the others to our body as hunger thirst pain I also subjoyn that they are caused fomented and fortified by some motion of the spirits to distinguish them from our Wills which cannot be called emotions of the Soul attributed to her but caused by her self as also to unfold their last and immediate cause that distinguisheth them again from other resentments The 30th article That the Soul is united to all the parts of the body joyntly BUt to understand all these things more perfectly it is necessary to know that the Soul is really joyned to all the body but it cannot properly bee said to bee in any of the parts thereof excluding the rest because it is One and in some sort indivisible by reason of the disposition of the organs which do all so relate one to another that when any one of them is taken away it renders the whole body defective and because it is of a nature that hath no reference to extension dimensions or other properties of matter whereof the body is composed but only to the whole masse or Contexture of Organs as appears by this that you cannot
spirits reflected from the image so formed on the kernell go from thence to fall part into the nerves which serve to turn the back and stirre the legs to run away and part into those which as is spoken of before let out or draw upon together the orifices of the heart or which else so agitate the rest of the parts from whence the blood is sent that this blood not being rarified there in the usuall manner sends spirits to the braine that are fitting to maintain and confirm the passion of fear that is such as are proper to hold open or open again the pores of the brain that convey them into the very same nerves for the meere entry of these spirits into these pores excites in this kernell a particular motion instituted by nature to make the soul feel that passion and because these pores relate principally to the little nerves that serve to lock up or open wide the orifices of the heart this makes the soul feel it as if it were chiefly in the heart The 37th Article How it appears they are all caused by some motion of the spirits ANd because the like happens in all the other Passions to wit that they are principally caused by the spirits contained in the cavities of the brain seeing they direct their course towards the nerves which serve to enlarge or straiten the orifices of the heart either to thrust the blood in the other parts differently to it or whatsoever other way it be to feed the self same Passion it may be clearly understood by this wherefore I formerly inserted in my definition that they are caused by some peculiar motion of the Spirits The 38th Article An example of the motions of the Body that accompany the Passions and depend not of the Soul MOreover as the course which these spirits take towards the nerves of the heart is sufficient to give a motion to the kernell whereby fear is put into the soul even so by the meere going of the spirits at that time into those nerves which serve to stirre the legges to run away they cause another motion in the same kernell by meanes whereof the soul feels and perceives this flight which may in this manner be excited in the body by the meere disposition of the organs the soul not at all contributing to it The 39th Article How the same cause may excite divers Passions in divers men THe same impression that the presence of one formidable object workes upon the kernel and which causeth fear in some men may in others rouze up courage and boldnesse the reason whereof is that all braines are not alike disposed for the same motion of the Kernell which in some excites feare in others causeth the spirits to enter into the pores of the brain which convey them part into the nerves which serve to use the hands for defence and partly into those which agitate and drive the blood towards the heart in that manner as is requisite to produce spirits proper to continue this defence and retaine a will to it The 40th Article What the principall effect of the Passions is FOr it must be observed that the principall effect of all the Passions in men is they incite and dispose their Souls to will the things for which they prepare their Bodies so that the resentment of fear incites him to be willing to fly that of boldnesse to be willing to fight and so of the rest The 41th Article What is the power of the Soul in respect of the Body BUt the will is so free by nature that it can never be constrained and of two sorts of thoughts which I have distinguished in the Soul whereof some are her Actions to wit her Wils others her Passions taking that word in its generall signification which comprehends all sorts of apprehensions the first are absolutely in her owne power and cannot but indirectly be changed by the body as on the contrary the last depend absolutely upon the Actions which produce them and they cannot unlesse indirectly be changed by the Soul except then when her selfe is the cause of them And all the Action of the Soul consists in this that she meerely by willing any thing can make the little kernell whereunto she is strictly joyned move in the manner requisite to produce the effect relating to this Will The 42th Article How the things one would remember are found in the memory SO when the Soul would remember any thing this Will is the cause that the kernell nodding successively every way drives the spirits towards severall places of the braine untill they excounter that where the traces which were left there of the object one would remember are For these traces are nothing else but the pores of the braine through which the spirits formerly took their course by reason of the presence of that object have thereby accquired a greater facility to be open in the same manner again than the rest can have by the spirits that come to them so that these spirits meeting these pores enter into them easier than the others whereby they excite a peculiar motion in the kernell which represents the same object to the Soul and makes it know that is it she would remember The 43th Article How the Soul can imagine be attentive and move the Body SO when one would imagin any thing one hath never seen this Will hath the power to make the kernell move in the manner requisite to drive the spirits towards the pores of the braine by the opening of which this thing may be represented So when one would fix his attention some pretty while to consider or ruminate on one object this Will holds the kernell still at that time leaning ever to one side So in fine when one would walk or move his body any way this Will causes the kernell to drive the spirits towards the muscles which serve to that purpose The 44th Article That every Will is naturally joyned to some motion of the kernell but that by industry or habit itmay be annexed to another NOtwithstanding it is not alwayes the Will to excite in us any motion or other effect that can cause us to excite it but that changes according as nature or habit have differently joyned each motion of the kernell to each thought as for example if one would dispose his eyes to look on an object farr distant this Will causes the ball of them to dilate themselves and if one would prompt them to behold an object very neer this Will contracts them but if one thinks onely to dilate the ball he had as good doe nothing that dilates it not at all because nature hath not joyned the motion of the kernell which serves to drive the spirits to the optick nerve in that manner as is requisite to dilate or contract the ball of the eye with the will of dilating or contracting it but with the will of looking on objects remote or at hand and then when we
alone hath more heat and motion than any of our limbs we may be assured that heat and all the motions within us seeing they depend not on the mind belong onely to the body The fifth Article That it is an errour to believe the Soul gives motion and heat to the body WHereby we shall eschew a very considerable error which many have faln into so farre that I believe it the cause of hindering the Passions and other things which belong to the soul from being explained hitherto It is this that seeing all dead bodies are deprived of heat and consequently of motion people imagine the absence of the soul wrought this cessation of motion and heat and so erroniously conceive that our naturall heat and all the motions of our body depend on the soul whereas indeed the contrary should be supposed that the soul absents it self in death only because this naturall heat ceaseth and the organs which seem to move the body are corrupted The sixth Article What is the difference betwixt a living and a dead dody THat we may then avoid this errour Let us consider that death never comes by any defect of the soul but onely because some one of the principall parts of the body is corrupted and conceive that the body of a living man differs as much from that of a dead one as a watch or any other AUTOMA that is any kind of Machine that moves of it self wound up having in it self the corporeall principle of those motions for which it was instituted with all things requisite for its action and the same watch or other engine when it is broken and the principle of its motion ceases to act The seventh Article A brief explication of the parts of the body and of some of its functions TO make this more intelligible I will in few words display the pieces and lineaments whereof this Machine our body is composed There is none that doth not already know there is within us a heart a braine a stomach muscles sinews arteries veins and the like it is as commonly known that meats eaten descend into the stomack and bowells from whence the juice of them trickling into the liver and all the veines mixes it self with the blood in them and by this means augments the quantity thereof Those who have heard talk never so little of Physick know besides this how the Heart is composed and how all the blood of the veines may with facility drop into the hollow vein on the right side of it and from thence passe into the Liver by a vessell called the venous arterie then return from the liver into the left side of the heart through the Pipe called the arterious vein and at length passe from thence into the great arterie the branches whereof spread themselves all over the body Yea even all those whom the authority of the Ancients hath not totally blinded and who have vouchsafed to open their eyes to examine the opinion of Harvy concerning the circulation of the blood make no doubt but all the veins and arteries of the body are like channells through which the blood continually and easily glides taking its course from the right cavity of the heart through the arterious veine whereof the branches are dispersed into every part of the Liver and joyned to those of the venous arterie by which it passeth from the Liver into the left fide of the heart from thence going into the great arterie the branches whereof being scattered over all the rest of the body are joyned to the branches of the hollow vein which cary the same blood again into the right cavity of the heart so that the two cavities are as it were the sluces of it through each of which all the blood passes every round it walks about the body Moreover it is notorious that all the motions of the members depend upon the muscles and that these Muscles are opposite to one another in such a manner that when one of them shrinks up it drawes after it that part of the body whereto it is knit which causes the muscle opposite to it to stretch forth at the same time then again if at another time this last shrink up the first gives way suffering the other to attract that part it is joyned unto In fine it is knowne that all these motions of the muscles as also all the senses depend on the sinews which are as little strings or like small tonnells coming all from the braine and containing as that does a certain aire or exceeding subtle wind which is tearmed the Animall spirits The eighth Article What is the principle of all these functions BUt it is not commonly known in what manner these animall Spirits and nerves contribute to these motions and senses nor what is the corporeall principle that makes them act wherefore although I have already glanced upon it in former writings I will not here omit to say succinctly that while we live there is a continuall heat in our heart which is a kind of fire that the blood of the veines feeds and this fire is the corporeall principle of tall the motions of our members The ninth Article How the motion of the heart is wrought THe f irst effect of it is that it dilates the blood wherewith the cavities of the heart are fill'd which is the reason that this blood having need of a larger room passes impetuously from the right cavity into the arterious vein and from the left into the great arterie then this dilatation ceasing immediately new blood from the hollow vein enters into the right cavity of the heart and from the veinous arterie into the left for there are little skins at the entrance of these foure vessells so contrived that they will not let the blood get into the heart but by the two last nor come out but by the other two The new blood being gotten into the heart is there immediately rarified as the former was Hence onely is that pulse or palpitation of the heart and arteries for this beating is reiterated as often as any new blood gets into the heart It is also this alone which gives motion to the blood and causeth it uncessantly to run very swiftly in all the arteries and veines by means whereof it conveyes the heart acquired in the heart to all the other parts of the body and is their nutriment The tenth Article How the animall spirits are begotten in the braine BUt what here is most considerable is that all the most lively and subtle parts of the blood that heat hath rarified in the heart continually enter in abundandance into the cavities of the braine and the reason why they go thither rather than any where else is because all the blood that issues out of the heart by the great artery bends its course in a direct line thither ward and it not being possible for all to get in because there are none but very narrow passages those parts thereof that are the most
conceive the half or third part of a Soul nor what space it takes up and that it becomes not any whit less by cutting off any part of the body but absolutely withdraws when the Contexture of its organs is dissolved The 31th Article That there is a little kernell in the brain wherein the soul exercises her functions more peculiarly than in the other parts IT is also necessary to know that although the foul be joyned to all the body yet there is some part in that body wherein shee exercises her functions more peculiarly than all the rest and it s commonly believed that this part is the brain or it may bee the heart the brain because thither tend the organs of the senses and the heart because therein the Passions are felt but having searched this businesse carefully me thinks I have plainly found out that that part of the body wherein the soul immediatly exercises her functions is not a jot of the heart nor yet all the brain but only the most interiour part of it which is a certain very small kernell situated in the middle of the substance of it and so hung on the top of the conduit by which the spirits of its anteriour cavities have communication with those of the posteriour whose least motions in it cause the course of the spirits very much to change and reciprocally the least alterations befalling the course of the spirits cause the motions of the kernell very much to alter The 32th Article How this kernell is known to be the principall seat of the soul THe reason which perswades me that the soul can have no other place in the whole body but this kernell where shee immediatly exercises for functions is for that I see all the other parts of our brain are paired as also we have two eyes two hands two ears lastly all the organs of our exteriour senses are double and forasmuch as we have but one onely and single thought of one very thing at one and the same time it must necessarily be that there is some place where the two images that come from the two eyes or the two other impressions that come from any single object through the double organs of the other senses have some where to meet in one before they come to the soul that they may not represent two objects in stead of one and it may bee easily conceived that these images or other impressions joyn together in this kernell by intercourse of the spirits that fill the cavities of the brain but there is no other place in the body where they can be so united unlesse it be granted that they are in this kernell The 33th Article That the seat of the Passions is not in the heart FOr the opinion of those who think the soul receives her Passions in the heart it is not worth consideration for it is grounded upon this that the Passions make us feel some alteration there and it is easie to take notice that this alteration is only felt in the heart by the intercourse of a small nerve descending to it from the brain just as pain is felt in the feet by intercourse of the nerves of the foot and the starres are perceived as to be in the firmament by the intercourse of their light and the optick nerves so that it is no more necessary that our soul exercise her functions immediatly in the heart to make her Passions be felt there than it is necessary shee should be in the sky to see the stars there The 34th Article How the Soul and the Body act one against another LEt us then conceive that the Soul holds her principall seat in that little kernell in the midst of the brain from whence she diffuseth her becames into all the rest of the body by intercourse of the spirits nerves yea and the very blood which participating the Impressions of the spirits may convey them through the arteries into all the members and remembring what was formerly said concerning this machine our body to wit that the little strings of our nerves are so distributed into all parts of it that upon occasion of severall motions excited therein by sensible objects they variously open the pores of the braine which causeth the animall spirits contained in the cavities thereof to enter divers wayes into the muscles by whose means they can move the members all the severall wayes they are apt tomove and also that all the other causes which can differently move the spirits are enough to convey them into severall muscles let us here adde that the little kernell which is the chief feat of the soul hangs so between the cavities which contain these spirits that it may be moved by them as many severall fashions as there are sensible diversities in objects but withall that it may be moved severall wayes by the soul too which is of such a nature that she receives as many various impressions that is hath as many severall apprehensions as there come severall motions into this kernell As also on the other side the machine of the body is so composed that this kernel being only divers wayes moved by the soul or by any other cause whatsoever it drives the Spirits that environ it towards the pores of the brain which convey them by the nerves into the muscles by which means it causeth them to move the members The 35th Article An example of the manner how the impressions of objects unite in the kernell in the middle of the brain AS for example if we see any creature come toward us the light reflected from his body paints two images one in each eye and these two images beget two others by intercourse with the optick nerves in the interiour superficies of the brain that looks towards its concavities from thence by intercourse of the spirits wherewith these cavities are filled these images glance in such a manner on the little kennell that these spirits encompasse it and the motion which composes any point of one of these images tends to the same point of the kernell to which that motion tends that frames the point of the other image which represents too part of this creature by which meanes the two images in the brain make up but one single one upon the kernell which acting immediately against the Soul shews her the figure of that creature The 36 Article An example how the Passions are excited in the Soul FUrthermore if this figure be very strange and hideous that is if it have much similitude with such things as have formerly been offensive to the body it excites in the Soul the Passion of fear afterwards that of boldness or else an affright or scaring according to the various temper of the body or the force of the soul and according as a man hath formerly protected himself by defence or flight against noxious things whereunto the present impression hath some resemblance for this renders the braine so disposed in some men that the
I also adde it is of that good which the impressions of the brain represent to her as her own that I may not confound this Joy which is a Passion with that Joy purely intellectuall which comes into the Soul by the sole action of the Soul and which may be called a pleasing emotion in her excited by her selfe wherein consists her enjoyment of good which her understanding represents to her as her own it is true while the Soul is joyned to the body this intellectuall Joy can hardly be rid of the company of that which is a Passion for as soon as ever our understanding perceives that we possesse any good although this good may be so farre different from all that belongs to the body that it be not imaginable yet will not the Imagination forbear to make immediatly some impression in the brain whereupon ensue the motion of the spirits which excite the Passion of Joy The 92 Article The Definition of Sadnesse SAdnesse is a displeasant languishing wherein consists the discommodity the Soul receives from evill or defect which the impressions of the brain represent unto her as belonging to her and there is also an intellectuall Sadnesse which is not the Passion but which wants but little of being accompanied by it The 93 Article What are the causes of these two Passions NOW when the intellectuall Joy or Sadnesse so excites that which is a Passion their cause is evident enough and one may see by their defintions that Joy comes from the opinion a man hath that he possesses some good and Sadnesse from the opinion of some evill or defect but it oft falls out that a man is Sad or joyfull and yet he cannot distinctly observe the good or evill which are the causes of it to wit when this good or this evill make their impressions in the brain without the intercourse of the Soul sometimes because they belong only to the body and sometimes too although they belong to the Soul because shee considers them not as good or evill but under some other notion the impression whereof is joyned in the brain with that of good and evill The 94th Article How the Passions are excited by Goods and evills which only respect the budy and wherein consists tick ling and pain SO when a man is in sound health and the weather is fairer then ordinary hee feels a lightsomnesse in himselfe which proceeds not from any function of the understanding but only from the impressions which the motion of the spirits makes in the brains and he feels himselfe sad likewise when his body is indisposed although he know not that it is Thus the tickling of the senses is so closely followed by Joy and pain by sadness that most men cannot distinguish them yet they differ so farre that a man may somtimes suffer pains with Joy and receive ticklings that displease but the cause why Joy commonly follows tickling is because all that is called tickling or a pleasing touch consists in this that the objects of the senses excite some morions in the nerves which would be apt to hurt them if they had not strength enough to resist it or the body were not well disposed which makes an impression in the brain which being instituted by nature to signifie this good disposition and this strength represents it to the Soul as a good belonging to her seeing she is united to the Body and so excites Joy in her the cause is almost the same why a man naturally takes delight to feel himself moved to all sorts of Passions yea even Sadness \ and Hatred when these Passions are caused only by strange adventures which he sees personated on a stage or by such like occasions which not being capable to trouble us any way seem to tickle the Soul by touching it And the reason why pain usually produces Sadness is because that feeling which is called pain proceeds alwayes from some action so violent that it offends the nerves so that being instituted by nature to signifie to the Soul the dammage the body receives by this action and its weaknesse-in not being able to resist it it represents each of them to him as evils alwayes displeasing unlesse then when they cause some good things which she esteems of more than them The 95th Article How they may also be excited by goods andevils which the Soul observes not though they belong to her as the delight a man takes to run into a danger or remember an evil past SO the delight which oft-times young men take to undertake difficult things and expose themselves to great perills though they do not so much as look for any profit or honour thereby comes from hence the conceit they have that they undertake a difficult thing makes an impression in the brain which being joyned to that which they may make if they thought it a good thing to be couragious fortunate active or strong enough to dare to hazzard so farre is the reason that they take delight in it and the content which old men take when they remember the miseries they suffered proceeds from hence they imagine to themselves it is a good thing that they could subsist in spight of them The 96th Article What are the motions of the blood and spirits that cause the five preceding Passions THe five Passions which I have here begun to explain are so joyned or opposed to one another that it is easier to consider them all together then to treat distinctly of each as I handled Admiration and their cause is not like that in the braine onely but also in the Heart Spleen Liver and all other parts of the body in as much as they serve to the production of the blood and afterwards of the Spirits For although all the veins convey the blood they contain into the heart yet it sometimes falls out that the blood of some of them is driven with a stronger force than the rest and it happens also that the overtures through which it enters into he heart or those through which it goes out are more dilated or contracted one time than another The 97th Article The principall experiments conducing to the knowledge of these motions in Love NOW considering the sundry alterations that experience lets us see in our bodies while our Soul is agitated with divers Passions I observe in Love when it is alone that is when it is not accompanied with any extream Ioy desire or Sadnes that the beating of the pulse is even much greater and stronger than ordinary that a man feels a gentle heart in his breast and quick digestion ofmeat so that this Passion is profitable for the health The 98 Article In Hatred ON the contrary I observe in Hatred that the pulse is uneven weaker and oftentimes faster that a man feels colds intermingled with I know not what sharp and pricking heat in the breast that the stomack ceases to do its office is enclined to vomit and reject the meats he hath
by some kind of tickling which exciting the Passion of Joy in her breeds afterwards Love of that she believes to be the cause of it and at last Desire to acquire that which may either cause this Joy to continue in her or to enjoy after it another like it which shews that they are all five very usefull in behalfe of the body and indeed that Sadnesse is in some sort superiour to and more necessary than Joy and Hatred than Love because it is of more moment to repell things noxious and destructive than to acquire such as adde some kind of perfection without which it is possible to subsist The 138th Article Of their faults and the means to correct them BBut although this use of the Passions be the naturallest they can have and all irrationall creatures regulate their life only by corporall motions resembling those which in us use to follow them and whereunto they incite our Soul to consent yet it is not alwayes good seeing there are many things hurtfull to the body which at first cause not any Sadness nor yet conferre Joy and others beneficiall to it though at first they be incommodious And besides they most commonly make the evills and goods they represent to us seem much greater and weightier then they are so that they incite us to seek after the one and avoid the other with more vehemency and anxiety then is convenient as we see beasts are often entrapped by baits and to shun little evills they precipitate themselves into greater Wherefore wee ought to make use of our experience and reason to distinguish good from evill and know their just valew that we may not take one for the other nor addict our selves to any thing excessively The 139th Article Of the use of the same Passions as they relate to the Soul and first of Love THis were sufficient if wee had only a body or if that were our better part but seeing it is the least we ought chiefly to consider the Passions as they relate to the Soul in respect whereof Love and Hatred proceed from Knowledge and precede Joy and Sadness except when these two last hold the place of Knowledge whereof those are sorts and when this Knowledge is true that is when the things it inclines us to love are truly good and those it inclines us to hate are truly evill then Love is incomparable better then Hatred nor can it be too great or fail to produce Joy I say this Love is extraordinary good because joyning true goods to us it makes us so much the more perfect I say also that it cannot be too great for what the most excessive can do is but to joyne us so absolutely to those goods that we put distinction between the love we bear to that and our selves which I beleeve cannot be evil And it is necessarily followed by Joy because it represents what we love as a good be-belonging to us The 140 Article Of Hatred HAtred on the contrary cannot be so small but it hurts and it is never without Sadnesse I say it cannot be too small because we are not incited by Hatred to any Action but what we may be by Love of the good contrary to it at least when this good and evil are enough understood For I confesse that the Hatred of evil which is not manifested but by pain is necessary in respect of the Body but I speak here of that which proceeds from a more cleare knowledge and I attribute it only to the Soul I say also that it is never without Sadnesse because evill being but a privation it cannot be conceived without some reall subject wherein it is and there is nothing reall but hath some goodnesse in it so that the Hatred which make us refrain from evill doth also make us refrain from the good whereunto it is annexed and the privation of this good being represented to our Soul as a defect in her excites Sadnesse For example the Hatred which makes us refrain from the evill manners of any one does by the same meanes make us refrain from his conversation wherein we might otherwise finde some good which we are vexed to be deprived of And so in all other kinds of Hatred some subject of Sadnesse may be observed The 141. Article Of Desire Joy and Sadnesse FOr desire it is evident that when it proceeds from a true knowledge it cannot be evill provided it be not immoderate and that this knowledge regulate it It is evident also that Joy cannot chuse but be good nor Sadnesse but be evil in respect of the Soul because in the last consist all the inconveniences that the Soul receives by evil and in the first all the enjoyment of good belonging to her So that if we had no Bodies I durst say we could not give our selves up too much to Love and Joy nor too much shunne Hatred and Sadnesse But the corporall motions that accompany them may be all hurtfull to the health when they are very violent and on the other side usefull when they are but moderate The 142 Article Of Joy and Love compared with Sadnesse and Hatred FUrthermore since Hatred and Sadness ought to be rejected by the Soul even then when they proceed from a true knowledge much more ought they to be when they come from any false opinion but it may be doubted whether Love and Joy are good or no when they likewise are ill grounded and me thinks if it be only considered what they are precisely in themselves in respect of the Soul it may be said that although the Joy be less solid and the Love lesse advantagious then when they have a better foundation they are at the worst to be preferred before Sadness and Hatred as ill grounded so that in the occurrences of life where we cannot avoid the hazard of being deceived wee doe alwayes best to lean to those Passions which tend towards good then those which have relation to evill although it be to shun it Nay sometimes a false Joy is better then a Sadness from a true cause but I dare not say the same of Love in relation to Hatred For when Hatred is just it removes us not from any thing but the subject which contains the Evill from which it is good to be separated whereas unjust Love joyns us to hurtfull things or at least to such as desire not to be so much considered by us as they are which devours and abases us The 143 Article Of the same Passions as they relate to Desire ANd it must be exactly noted that what I now spake of these foure Passions takes place only when they are considered precisely in themselves and encline us not to any action for seeing they excite Desire in us by whose interposition they regulate our manners it is certain that all those that come from a wrong cause may hurt and on the other side those that come of a just cause may be usefull and further that when they are
drunk much wine The vapours of this wine entering suddenly into the blood mount up from the hear to the brain where they convert into spirits which being stronger and more abundant than ordinary are apt to move the body after many strange fashions This inequality of the spirits may also proceed from the divers dispositions of the heart liver Stomacke spleene and all other parts contributing to their production For it is principally necessary here to observe certaine little nerves inserted in the basis of the heart which serve to lengthen and contract the entries of its concavities by meanes whereof the blood there dilating more or lesse strongly produces spirits diversly disposed It is also to be noted that although the blood which enters into the heart comes thither from all the other parts of the body yet it falls out often times that more is driven thither from some parts than others by reason the nerves or muscles which answer to those parts oppresse or agitate it more and for that according to the diversity of the parts from whence it comes most it dilates it selfe diverfly in the heart and at last produces spirits of different natures as for example that which comes from the lower part of the liver where the gall is dilates it selfe otherwise in the heart than that which comes from the spleene and this after another manner than that which comes from the veines of the leggs or armes and lastly this quite otherwise than the juyce of meats when being newly come out of the stomack and bowels it passes through the liver to the heart The 16th Article How all the members may be moved by the objects of the sences and by the spirits without the help of the Soul Lastly it is to be observed that the machine of our body is so composed that all the changes befalling the motion of the spirits may so worke as to open some pores of the braine more than others and reciprocally that when any one of these pores are never so little more or lesse open than usuall by the Action of those nerves subservient to the senses it changes somewhat in the motion of the spirits and causes them to be conveyed into the muscles which serve to move the body in that manner it ordinarily is upon occasion of such an Action So that all the motions we make our will not contributing to them as it often happens that we sigh walk eat and to be short doe all actions common to us and beasts depend onely on the conformity of our members and the streame which the spirits excited by the heat of the heart follow naturally into the braine nerves and muscles Just as the motion of a watch is produced meerely by the strength of the spring and the fashion of the wheeles The 17th Article What the functions of the Soul are HAving thus considered all the functions belonging to the body only it is easie to know there remaines nothing in us which we ought to attribute to our Soul unlesse our thoughts which are chiefly of two kinds to wit some Actions of the Soul others her Passions Those which I call her actions are all our wills because we experimentally find they come directly from our Soul and seem to depend on nought but it as on the contrary one may generally call her Passions all those sorts of apprehensions and understandings to be found within us because oftimes our Soul does not make them such as they are to us and she alwayes receives things as they are represented to her by them The 18th Article Of the Will Again our Wills are of two sorts For some are actions of the Soul which terminate in the Soul it selfe as when we will love God or generally apply our thought to any object which is not materiall The other are actions which terminate in our body as in this case that we have onely a will to walke it followes that our legges must stir and we goe The 19th Article Of the Apprehension OUr Appprehensions also are of two sorts the Soul is the cause of some the Body of the other Those whereof the Soul is the cause are the apprehensions of our wills and all the imaginations or others thoughts thereon depending For we cannot will any thing but we must at the same time perceive that we doe will it And although in respect of our Soul it be an Action to will any thing it may be said also a passion in her to apprehend that she wills Yet because this apprehension and this will are in effect but one and the same thing the denomination comes still from that which is most noble therefore it is not customary to call it a Passion but onely an Action The 20th Article Of Imaginations and other thoughts framed by the Soul WHen our Soul applies her elfe to fancy any thing which is not as to represent to it selfe an inchanted Palace or a Chimera and also when she bends her selfe to consider any thing that is only intelligible not imaginable for example to ruminate on ones owne nature the apprehension she hath of things depends ptincipally on the Will which causeth her to perceive them Wherefore it is usuall to consider them as Actions rather than Passions The 21 Article Of Imaginations caused onely by the body Among the apprehensions caused by the body the greatest part depend on the nerves But yet there are some that depend not at all on them which are called Imaginations too as well as those I lately spoke of from which neverthelesse they differ herein that our Will hath no hand in framing them which is the reason wherefore they cannot be numbred among the actions of the Soul and they proceed from nothing but this that the spirits being agitated severall wayes and meeting the traces of divers impressions preceding them in the brain they take their course at haphazzard through some certaine pores rather than others Such are the illusions of our dreames and those dotages we often are troubled with waking when our thought carelessely roames witout applying it self to any thing of its own Now though some of these imaginations be Passions of the Soul taking this word in the genuine and peculiar signification and though they may be all called so if it be taken in a more generall acception yet seeing they have not so notorious and determined a cause as those apprehensions which the Soul receives by mediation of the nerves and that they seem to be onely the shadow and representation of the others before we can well distinguish them it is necessary to examine the difference between them The 22 Article Of the difference betwixt them and the other apprehensions ALL the apprehensions which I have not yet explained come to the Soul by mediation of the nerves and there is this difference between them that we attribute some of them to the objects from without that beat upon our senses some to our body or some parts of it and lastly
if the object presented Have nothing in it that surprizeth us we are not a whit moved at it and we consider it without Passions The 54 Article Estimation Contempt Generosity or Pride and Humility or Dejection TO Admiration is annexed Estimation or contempt according to the greatnesse or smallnesse of the object we admire So too we may either esteem of or contemne our selves from whence come first the Passions afterwards the habits of Magnanimity or Pride and Humility or Dejection The 55th Article Vereration and Disdaine BUt when we esteem or contemn other objects which we consider as free causes capable to doe either good or hurt from Estimation comes Veneration and from meere contempt Disdain The 56th Article Love and Hatred NOw all the precedent Passions may be excited in us and we not any way perceive whether the object that causeth them is good or bad But when a thing is represented to us as good in relation to us that is as being convenient for us this breedes in us love to that and when it is represented to us as evill or hurtfull this excites hatred in us The 57th Article Desire FRom the same consideration of good and evill arise all the Passions but to ranke them in order I distinguish of the time and considering that they encline us more to look after the future than the present or part I begin with desire For not onely than when a man desires to acquire a good which he yet hath not or eschew an evill which he conceives may befall him but when he desires onley the conservation of a good or the absence of an evil which is as far as this Passion can extend it self it is evident that it alwayes reflects upon the future The 58th Article Hope Fear Jealousie Security and Despaire IT is sufficient to thinke that the acquisition of a good or the avoiding an evil is possible to sbe incited to desire it but when a man considers further whether there be much or small probability that he may obtaine what he desires that which represents much excites Hope in us and that which represents small excites fear whereof Jealousie is one Sort. And when Hope is extreame it changes its nature and is called Security or Assurance as on the contrary extream fear becomes Despaire The 59th Article Irresolution Courage Boldnesse Cowardice Affright ANd we may hope and fear though the event we expect depends no wayes on us but when it is represented to us as depending on us there may be a staggering about the election of meanes or the execution of them From the first proceeds Irresolution which disposeth us to debate and take councell This last Courage or Boldnesse opposes whereof Emulation is one sort And Cowardice is contrary to Courrage as Scaring or Affright to Boldnesse The 60th Article Remorse ANd if a man were resolved on any Action before the Irresolution be taken off that breedes Remorse of conscience which looks not on the time to come as the other precedent Passions but the present or past The 61 Article Joy and Sadnesse ANd the consideration of a present good excites Joy in us that of an evill sadnesse when it is a good or an evil represented as belonging to us The 62 Article Derision Envy Pitty BUt when it is represented to us as belonging to other men we may either esteem them worthy or unworthy of them and we esteeme them worthy that excites in us no other Passion but joy seeing it is some good to us that we see things fall out as they should doe There is only this difference in it the joy which comes from good is serious whereas that which proceedes from evil is accompanied with laughing and derision But if we esteeme them unworthy of it the good excites Envy the bad Pitty which are sorts of Sadnesse And it is to be noted that the same Passions which relate to goods or evills present may also oftimes relate to that which are to come forasmuch as the opinion a man hath that they will come represents them as present The 63th Article Satisfaction of a mans selfe and Repentance WE may also consider the cause of good or evill aswell present as past And the good which hath been done by us gives us an inward satisfaction which is the sweetest of all the Passions whereas evil excites repentance which is the bitterest The 64th Article Good-will and Gratitude BUt the good which hath beene by others causeth us to bear Good-will to them although it were not done to us and if it be done to us to Good-will we adde Gratitude The 65th Article Indignation and Wrath. IN the same manner evil done by others having no relation to us breeds only in us Indignation against them and when it relates to us it moves wrath also The 66th Article Glory and Shame MOreover the good which is or hath been in us in reference to the opinion other men may have of it excites glory in us and the evil shame The 67th Article Distaste Sorrow and Lightheartednesse ANd sometimes the contiuance of a good causeth wearinesse or Distaste whereas that of evill allayes Sorrow Lastly from good past proceeds Discontent which is a sort of Sorrow and from evil past Lightheartednesse a sort of Joy The 68th Article Wherefore this Numeration of the Passions is different from that commonly received THis is the order which seemes best to me for reckoning of the Passions Wherein I know very well I digresse from the opinion of all who have written before me but I doe it not without great cause For they deduce their Numeration thus they distinguish in the sensitive parts of the soul two appetites the one they call concupisscible the other Irascible And because I understand not any distinction of parts in the Soul as I said before me thinkes it signifies nothing unlesse that it hath two faculties one to desire another to be angry and because it hath in the same manner faculties to admire love hope fear and also to admit into it every one of the other Passions or to doe the Actions whereunto these Passions impell them I see not what they meant by attributing them all to Desire or Anger Besides their Catalogue comprehends not all the principall Passions as I beleeve this doth I speak here onely of the principall because one might yet distinguish many more particular ones and their number is indefinite The 69th Article That there are but six primitive Passions BUt the number of those which are simple and primitive is not very great for doe but review all those I have cast up and it may easily be noted that there are but six such to wit Admiration Love Hatred Desire Joy and Sadnesse and that all the other are compounded of some of these six or are sorts of them Wherefore that the multitude of them might not perplex the readers I will here treat distinctly of the six primitive ones and afterwards shew in what manner the
they contain to break out impetuously through the gullet where it formes an inarticulate and clattering sound and as well the lungs by their blowing and this aire by breaking forth shove all the muscles of the Diaphragma breast and throat by which means they cause those of the face which have some connexion with them to move and it is only this gesture of the face with this inarticulate and clattering voyce that is called Laughter The 125th Article Wherefore it doth not accompany the greatest joyes NOw though laughter may seem to be one of the chiefe signes of Joy yet this cannot cause that but only when that is mean and that there be some little Admiration or Hatred mixed with it for it is found by experience that when a man is extraordinary Joyfull the occasion of this Joy never makes him break out into Laughter and besides he can never be so easily invited to it as when hee is Sad the reason whereof is that in the greatest Joyes the lungs are continually so full of blood that they cannot be blown up any more by fits The 126th Article What are the chiefe causes of it ANd I can mark but two causes which blow up the lungs thus suddenly the first is a surprizal of Admiration which being joyned to Joy may so quickly open the Orifices of the heart that a great abundance of blood getting in all together at the right side of it through the hollow veine is rarified there and passing from thence through the arterious veine blows up the lungs the other is the mixture of some liquour that augments the rarefaction of the blood and I find none fit for that purpose but the wheyest part of that which comes from the Spleen which part of the blood being driven to the heart by some light emotion of Hatred assisted by a surprize of Admiration and mixing there with the blood which comes from the other parts of the body which Joy causes to enter in thither abundantly may cause this blood to dilate much more then usual as we see many hquours swell up over the fire if one fling but a little vinegar into the vessel where they are for the wheyest part of the blood which comes from the spleene is of a nature like vinegar Experience also shews us that in all rencounters producing this lowd Laughter which-comes from the lungs there is still some little occasion of Hatred or at least of Admiration and those whose spleens are not sound are subject not only to be more sad but by intervalls more merry and disposed to laughter then others forasmuch as the spleene sends two sorts of blood to the heart one thick and grosse which causeth Sadnesse the other exceeding fluid and subtile which causeth Joy And oft-times after much Laughter a man feeles himselfe naturally enclined to sadnesse because the most fluid part of the blood of the spleene being exhausted the grosser followes it to the heart The 127th Article What is the cause thereof in Indignation FOr that kinde of Laughter which sometimes accompanies Indignation it is usually artificiall and seigned But when it is naturall it seemes to come from the Joy a man hath to see he cannot be hurt by the evil whereat he is offended and withall that he finds himselfe surprized by the novelty or the unexpected encounter of this evil So that Joy Hatred and Admiration contribute to it Yet I will suppose that it may be produced without any Joy by the meer motion of Adversion which sends the blood from the spleen to the heart where it is rarified and thrust from thence into the lungs which it easily blowes up when it findes them empty And generally whatsoever suddenly blowes up the lungs in this manner causeth the exteriour Action of Laughter except when Sadnesse alters it into groanes and shrickes that accompany tears Vives 3 de Anima cap de Risu Writes of himselfe which is very pertinent to this that when he had been a long time fasting the first bits he put in his mouth made him laugh which might come from hence his lungs empty of blood for want of nutriment was suddenly blowne up by the first juyce that passed from his Stomack to his heart or else the meer imagination of eating might convey it thither even before that of the meat might get thither The 128. Article Of the Originall of Teares AS Laughter is never caused by the greatest Joyes so Tears proceed not from an extream Sadnesse but an indifferent one and that accompanied with or followed by some resentment of Love or also of joy And to understand their originall well it must be noted that although abundance of vapours continually issue forth from all parts of our Body yet there is none from whence there come so much as from the eyes by reason of the greatnesse of the optick neerves and the multitude of little arteries through which they come and that as sweat is made of the vapours which issuing our of the other parts convert into water on the superficies of them so teares are made of vapours issuing from the eyes The 129. Article Of the manner how vapours turn into water NOw as I have written in the Meteors explaining after what manner the vapours of the aire convert into rain that is proceeds from their being lesse agitated or more abundant than ordinary so I beleeve that when those that issue from the Body are farre lesse agitated then usually although they are not so abundant yet they may convert to water which causeth the cold sweats that sometimes proceed of weaknesse when a man is sick And I beleeve that when they are more abundant provided they be not withall more agitated they also convert into water this causeth sweat when one useth exercise But then the eyes sweat not because while the Body is exerecised the greatest parts of the spirits going into the muscles which serve to move it there go lesse through the optick nerve to the eyes And it is but the same matter which compounds the blood in the veins or arteries and the spirits when it is in the brain nerves or muscles and vapours when it issues out in the likenesse of aire And lastly sweat tears when it thickens into water on the superficies of the Body or the eyes The 130. Article How that which hurts the eye excites it to weep ANd I can see but two causes that make the vapours issuing from the eyes to change into teares The first is when the figure of the pores through which they passe is changed by any accident whatsoever for that retarding the motion of these vapours and altering their order may cause them to convert into water So there needs only a straw in the eye to draw out some teares by reason that exciting paine in it it altars the disposition of the pores so that some becoming more narrow the small parts of the vapours passe lesse quickly through it and whereas formerly they issued out
when we read strange adventures in a book or see them personated on a stage it sometimes excites Sadnesse in us sometimes Joy or Love or Hatred and generally all the Passions according to the diversity of objects that offer themselves to our imagination but withall we take a delight to feel them excited in us and this delight is an intellectuall Joy which may as well spring from Sadnesse as all the rest of the Passions The 148 Article That the exercise of Vertue is a Soveraigne remedy against the Passions NOw forasmuch as these interiour emotions doe touch us neerest to the quick and consequently have more power over us then the Passions they differ from which are met withall in them it is certain that provided our Soul have wherewithall to content her interiour part all the troubles that come from abroad are not able to hurt her but rather serve to augment her Joy in that seeing she cannot be injured by them it lets her understand her own perfection And that our Soul may be thus contented she need do nothing but exactly follow the track of Vertue For whosoever hath lived so that his Conscience cannot hit him in the teeth for failing to doe all things which he judged to be best which is the thing I mean here by following the track of Vertue he from thence receives a satisfaction so effectuall to make him happy that the most violent assaults of the Passions shall never be strong enough to trouble the tranquility his Soul The Passions of the Soul The third part Of Particular Passions The 149th Article Of Estimation and Contempt NOw the six Originall Passions are explained which are as the kinds or Genera whereof all the rest are but sorts or Species I will here succinctly observe what there is peculiar in every one of the rest and I will keep still the same order wherein I have formerly marshall'd them The two first are Estimation and contempt For though they commonly signifie onely the opinions a man hath without any Passion of the vallue of any thing yet because from these opinions doe often spring Passions which want peculiar names me thinkes these may be attributed to them And Estimation as it is a Passion is an inclination of the Soul to represent unto her selfe the vallue of the thing esteemed which inclination is caused by a peculiar motion of the spirits so conveyed into the braine that they there fortifie the impressions belonging to that purpose As on the contrary the Passion of contempt is an inclination of the Soul to consider the meannesse or smallnesse of what it contemnes caused by the motion of the spirits which fortifie the Idea of this smallnesse The 150 Article That these two Passions are but Sorts of Admiration SO both these Passions are but sorts of Admiration For when we neither admire the greatnesse nor smallnesse of an object we make neither more nor lesse account of it than reason dictates to us we ought to doe so that we then esteeme or contemne it without Passion And though oft-times Estimation be excited in us by Love and Contempt by Hatred that is not so alwayes and proceeds onely from this that a man is more or lesse inclined to consider the greatnesse or smallnesse of an object as he hath more or lesse affection to it The 151 Article That a man may esteem or contemne himselfe NOw these two Passions may generally relate to all sorts of objects but they are especially remarkable when we referre them to our selves that is when it is our own merit that we either esteem or contemne and the motion of the spirits which cause them is then so manifest that it even changes the countenance gesture gate and generally all the actions of those who conceive a better or worse opinion of themselves than ordinary The 152 Article For what cause a man may esteem himselfe ANd because one of the chiefe parts of Wisdome is to know in what manner for what cause every one ought to esteem or contemn himself I will here endeavour to give my opinion thereof I observe but one thing in us which may give us just cause to esteem our selves to wit the use of our free Disposition and our empire over our Wills For only the actions depending on this free Disposition are those for which wee may justly be praised or blamed and it makes us in some manner like unto God by making us masters of our selves provided wee doe not lose the priviledges it gives us by our unworthiness The 153 Article Wherein Generosity consists SO I believe true Generosity which causeth a man to set himself at the highest rate he justly may consists only partly in knowing there is nothing which truly he can call his own unlesse this free Disposition of his Wills nor wherefore he ought to be praised or blamed unlesse for using that well or ill and partly in feeling a constant and firme resolution in himselfe to use it well that is his Will shall never be wanting to undertake and execute such things as hee shall judge to be best which is to follow Vertue absolutely The 154th Article That it restraines a man from contemning others THose who have this knowledge and resentment of themselves are easily perswaded that every other man hath such of himselfe too because there is nothing in it that depends of any thing else Wherefore they never contemne any body and though they oft-times see other men commit errours that make their weaknesse appeare yet they are evermore enclined to excuse than blame them and to believe that they doe it rather for want of knowledge than good will And as they doe not think themselves much inferiour to those who have greater estates honours nor yet more wit knowledge beauty or generally that surpass them in any other perfections so they do not esteem themselves much above those whom they surpasse because all these things seem very little considerable to them in comparison of their good Will for which only they esteem themselves and which they suppose is or at least may be in every other man The 155th Article Wherein vertuous Humility consists SO the most generous use to be most humble and Vertuous Humility consists only in this that the reflexion wee make on the infirmity of our own nature and the faults we may have formerly committed or those we are like to commit which are no whit lesse than those committed by others is the reason why we do not preferre our selves before any body but think that others who have their free Disposition as well as we may use it as well The 156th Article What the properties of Genorosity are and how it serves for a remedy against all unruliness of the Passions THey who thus are generous are naturally addicted to doe great things and yet to undertake nothing they are not capable of and because they esteem nothing greater than to doe good to other men and to contemn their own
besides a sort of modesty or Humility and mistrust of ones selfe for when a man esteems himselfe so highly that he cannot imagine any one can contemne him he cannot easily be ashamed The 206 Article Of the use of these two Passions NOw there is the same use of Glory and Shame in that they incite us to Vertue one by Hope the other by Feare it is onely needfull to instruct the Judgement concerning what is truly blameworthy or laudable not to be ashamed of well-doing and not to boast of vices as many doe but it is not good absolutely to divest our selves of these Passions as the Cynicks did heretofore for although the people judge very waywardly yet since we cannot live without them and that it behoves us to be esteemed by them we ought oftentimes to follow their opinions rather than our own concerning the exteriour part of our actions The 207 Article Of Impudence IMpudence which is a Contempt of Shame and oft of Glory is not a Passion because there is not any peculiar motion in us that excites it but it is a vice opposite to Shame and also to Glory while either of them are good as Ingratitude is opposite to Gratitude and Cruelty to Pitty And the chiefe cause of Impudence comes from often receiving great affronts for there is none when he is young but imagines that Praise is a good and Infamy an evill much more important to life than experience finds they are when having received some eminent affronts a man sees himselfe utterly degraded of honour and contemned by every one wherefore they become impudent and measuring good and evill only by the conveniences of the body they see that they enjoy them afterwards as well Yea and sometimes better because they are eased of many hardships whereunto Honour obliged them and if the losse of their estate be joyned to their disgrace yet there are charitable people who will give them some The 208 Article Of Distaste DIstaste is a sort of Sadnesse proceeding from the same cause whereof Joy came before For we are so made up that the most part of the things we enjoy are onely good to us for a season and afterwards become incommodious Which especially appears in drinking and eating which are onely usefull while a man bath a Stomack and troublesome when he hath no more and because they then leave to be pleasant to the taste this Passion is called Distaste The 209 Article Of Sorrow SOrrow is also a sort of Sadnesse which hath a peculiar bitternesse in that it is ever joyned to some despaire and remembrance of the delight we took in enjoying it for we are never sorry for any goods but those we have enjoyed and which are so lost that we have no Hope to recover them at that time and in that manner as we sorrow for them The 110 Article Of lightheartednesse LAstly that which I call Lightheartednesse is a sort of Joy which hath this thing peculiar to it selfe that the sweetnesse of it is augmented by the remembrance of misfortunes suffered whereof a man feeles himselfe eased as if he felt himselfe discharged of a heavy burden he had long born on his shoulders And I see nothing very remarkeable in these three Passions Nor have I placed them here but to follow the method of my former enumeration But me thinks this Enumeration was usefull to shew that we have not omitted any which was worthy of peculiar consideration The 211 Article A generall remedy against the Passions ANd now we know them all we have lesse reason to fear them than we had before For we see that naturally they are all good and that we ought to avoid onely the ill use of them or their excesses for which the remedies I have laid down may suffice if every man were carefull enough to practise them But because I have put Premeditation and Industry among these remedies whereby the defects of nature may be corrected by using to separate the motions of the blood spirits in ones self from the thoughts wherewith they use to be joyned I confesse few men are thus prepared against all encounters and that these motions excited in the blood by the objects of Passions doe so immediately follow the meere impressions in the brain and the disposition of the organs although the Soul be no way contributary that no humane wisdome is able to resist them when one is not enough prepared so many cannot refrain from laughing when they were tickled though they take no delight in it for the impression and surprize of Joy that hath made them laugh formerly on the same occasion being awakened in their fancy makes their lungs be blown up on a sudden whether they will or no by the blood that the heart sends thither So they who are much addicted by nature to the emotions of Joy or Pitty or Chearfulnesse or Wrath cannot refrain from swouning weeping trembling or having the blood stirred as if they had a Fever when their fancy is throughly sensible by an object of any of these Passions But what may be done on such an occasion and what I think to lay down here as the most generall remedy and the easiest to he practised against all exorbitances of the Passions is that when a man perceives his blood thus moved he ought to be wary and remember that whatsoever is presented to our Imagination tends to the delusion of the Soul and makes reasons that serve to perswade the object of Passions appear farre stronger than they are and those which serve to disswade farre weaker And when Passion perswades things the execution whereof admits of some delay he must abstain from giving his judgement thereon immediatly and divert himselfe from it to other thoughts untill time and rest have wholly allayed the emotion in the blood And lastly when it incites to actions concerning which resolutions are instantly to be taken the Will must peculiarly dedicate it selfe to consider and follow the reasons repugnant to those which the Passion represents although they appear less weighty as when a man is suddenly assaulted by an enemy occasion doth not give him leave to waste any time in debate but what it seems those who are accustomed to make a reflexion on their own actions may do that is when they feel themselves struck with an Affright they will endeavour to divert their thoughts from the consideration of the danger by representing to themselves the reasons wherefore there is more safety and honour in resistance than flight and on the contrary when they feel the Desire of revenge and Wrath incite them to rush inconsideratly on those who beset them they should call to mind that it is indiscretion to destroy themselves when they may be saved without dishonour and if there bee too much odds it is better to make a handsome retreat or take quarter than savagely to expose themselves to a certain death The 212 Article That from them alone all the good and evil of this life depends NOw the Soul may have her delights distinctly by her self but for those which are common to her with the body they absolutely depend on the Passions so that that those men whom they move most may be apt to taste most sweetnesse in this life It is true they may also find the most bitternesse when they doe not understand how to employ them well and fortune is adverse to them But wisdom is herein especially requisite that it teach us so to make our selves masters of them and manage them with so much dexterity that the evils they cause may be easily endured and we may even extract Joy from them all The End
equally distant the one from the other and so were separated They come to meet because the order of these pores is molested by which meanes they joyn together and so convertinto teares The 131. Article How one weepes for Sadnesse THe other cause is Sadnesse followed by Love or Joy or generally by any cause which makes the heart thrust much blood into the arteries Sadnesse is requisite thereunto because making the blood cold it contracts the pores of the eyes But because according as it contracts them it also decreases the quantity of vapours whereunto they should allow passage that is not yet sufficient to produce tears unlesse the quantity of vapours be at the same time augmented by some other cause And there is nothing that encreaseth it more then the blood sent from the heart in the Passion of Love We see also that they who are sad do not continually shed tears but onely by intervalls when they make any new reflexion on the objects they affect The 132. Article Of the groanes which accompany tears ANd then sometimes the lungs two are blown up all at once by the abundance of blood which gets into them and drives away the aire they contained which breaking forth through the gullet begets groanes and cryes which usually accompany tears And these cries are commonly more sharp than those which accompany Laughter though they be produced almost in the same manner the reason whereof is that the nerves which serve to enlarge or contract the organs of the voice to make it stronger or sharper being joyned to those which open the Orifices of the heart in Joy and contract them in Sadnesse cause these organs to be dilated or contracted at the same time The 133. Article Wherefore children and old men are aptest to Weep CHildren and old men are apter to Weep than they of a middle age but for severall reasons Old men Weep oft-times out of affection and for Joy for these two Passions joyned together send much blood to the heart and from thence many vapours to the eyes and the agitation of these vapours is so retarded by their natural coldnesse that they are apt to convert into tears although no sadnesse preceded But if some old men are apt to Weep for vexation too it is not so much the temper of their Body as that of their mind which disposeth them thereunto And this befals only those who are so weak that they suffer themselves to be absolutely overcome by small occasions of griefe fear or pitty the same happens to children who doe not Weep commonly for Joy but rather for sadnesse that unaccompanied with Love For they ever have blood enough to produce many vapours the motion of which being retarded by Sadnesse they convert into Tears The 134. Article Wherefore some children wax pale instead of Weeping YEt there are some who wax pale instead of Weepig when they are vexed which may denote an extraordinary judgement and courage in them that is when it proceeds from the consideration of the greatnesse of the evil they prepare themselves for a strong resistance as they doe who are elder But it is ordinarily a mark of an ill nature that is when it proceeds from their inclination to Hatred or Fear follow for they are Passions that diminish the matter of tears And on the contrary it is seen that those who are prone to Weep are inclined to Love and Pity The 135. Article Of Sighes THe cause of Sighes is very different from that of tears though it like them presupposes Sadnesse For whereas a man is excited to Weep when the lungs are ful of blood he is incited to sigh when they are almost empty and when some imagination of Hope or joy opens the Orifice of the venous artery which Sadnesse had contracted because then the smal remainder of blood in the lungs falling all together into the left side of the heart through this venous artery and driven on by a Desire to attain this Joy which at the same time agitates all the muscles of the Diaphragma and breast the air is suddenly blown through the mouth into the lungs to fill up the vacant place of the blood And this is called sighing The 136. Article From whence proceed the Passions which are peculiar to certain men FUrthermore that I may here in few words supply all that may be added hereunto concerning the several effectts or causes of the Passions I am content to repeatthe principle whereon all that I have written of them is grounded to wit that there is such a tye betwixt our Soul and Body that when we once have joyned any corporall Action with any thought one of them never presents it self to us without the other and that they are not alwayes the same Actions which are joyned to the same thoughts For this is sufficient to give a reason of all that any man can observe peculiar either in himself or others concerening this matter which hath not been here explained And for example it is easie to conceive that the strange Aversions of Some who cannot endure the smell of roses the sight of a Cat or the like come only from hence that when they were but newly alive they were displeased with some such like objects or else had a fellow-feeling of their mothers resentment who was so distasted when she was with child for it is ceertain there is an affinity between the motions of the mother and the child in her womb so that whatsoever is displeasing to one offends the other and the smell of Roses may have caused some great head-ach in the child when it was in the cradle or a Cat may have affrighted it and none took notice of it nor the Child so much as remembred it though the Idea of that Aversion he then had to Roses or a Cat remain imprinted in his brain to his lives end The 137th Article Of the use of the five precedent Passions as they relate to the body NOw the definitions of Love Hatred Desire Joy and Sadness are laid down and the corporall motions that cause them or accompany them treated of we have no further to doe but consider the use of them Concerning which it is to be observed that according to the institution of Nature they all relate to the body and are not given to the Soul but as joyned to it so that their naturall use is to incite the Soul to consent and contribute to the actions which may be useful to conserve the body or make it in some kind more perfect and in this sense Sadnesse and Joy are the two first that are set on work for the Soul is immediatly warned of those things that are hurtfull to the body by the feeling of pain whch first of all produces the Passion of Sadness in her then Hatred of that which causes this pain and in the third place the Desire to be rid of it as also the Soul is not immediatly advertised of things beneficiall to the body but