greatness of it makes us weep even in the midst of our joy through a kind of pitty we have of our selves Or else shall I take it thus that in the sudden motions of a great joy the dilatation of the spirits of the heart is so great that it is weakned thereby and that our soul finding its own weakness by this means is apt to be wounded by every reflexion that hath never so little of trouble in it Or lastly do not these tears of joy proceed from hence that learning all on a sudden that we are delivered from some great evil under which we have lain a long time the news cannot presently gain an entire belief in us and that as a body that is frozen doth not lose its coldness at that very instant it is brought to the fire by the same reason our soul cannot lose that impression of its passed sadness at the very same instant that the good it was deprived of becomes present to it See then the causes which it seems may be given of that marvellous state of man wherein he weeps although he have a serene spirit by an accident which we see sometimes happen in the air when it rains and shines both at once There are are also Tears which abundant laughter brings into our eyes but they are not of the same species with those I spake of but now and I conceive they proceed only from that great and violent agitation which laughter causes within us for there is no passion which shakes a man all over with greater violence and it may very well be that a motion so violent forces out of the eyes some humidity as we see that the violent agitation of a vessel wherein there is some liquor makes some drops of it sparkle out and as the wind that shakes the trees after a rain makes those drops which lay there fall to the ground PROB. 6. Whence comes it that many very wicked men are oftentimes the best friends IT is found by experience that very bad men are often most zealous friends to them that they bear an affection to nay sometimes more then the best of men To enquire then the causes of this effect is it not that there is a kind of amity which is not begotten by reason but by a means more low namely long acquaintance and familiarity so that souls of the lowest rank and that have the least of reason are not incapable of it but on the contrary are in some sort more capable than others because not governing themselves by judgement they do only follow the impressions of other things amongst which that which length of time and use makes is none of the least Or else is it not because good men are friends only ad aras that is as far as will stand with Religion and wicked men beyond So that if they must only prostitute their consciences to their friends and tread underfoot all things sacred and despoile themselves of the fairest ornaments the soul can be adorned with they do it very willingly Or else is it not that as dogs are faithful to us and succour us against those that set upon us partly indeed out of love but partly also because it is their disposition to be easily provoked so wicked men help us with great ardour against our enemies and combat them with great animosity not only for the affection they bear us but partly also for that by reason of their natural curstness and venome of which they are full they are more apt to be inflamed with a violent choler Or else is it because it is very natural for us to love with violence something without us wicked men that love neither God nor Justice nor common goodness are constrained by the force of nature to love infinitely some particular persons Or else is it that cultivating only that part of their duty which consists only in friendship and keeping that only as a remainder of the beauty of the soul which hinders them from altogether resembling savage beasts they have the more love for that as a mother hath the more love for her son if he be her only one Or lastly is it not that the nature of things is such that generally in every extream there is some light mixture of the contrary extream For instance we see by experience that in cold Countries there are sometimes in summer more violent heats then those of the hot Countries and on the contrary the subtilty of the air of the hot Countries is the reason that sometimes the cold there is more penetrating than that of the cold Countries The Germans that pass for the least subtle people of Europe have more of subtilty than any of the rest in all sort of mechanick inventions The most ingenious people are commonly the most awkward and unapt in some slight things Melancholy persons are subject to more violent joyes then those that are sanguine covetous people according to the vulgar opinion are sometimes carried out to a greater excess of prodigality then prodigals Men extraordinary valiant do often tremble more then others at the sight of a great danger Women whose visage is more properly then that of men the seat of Beauty are also more susceptible then men of an extream and horrid ugliness Lastly to return to the mixture of goodness and wickedness one of the cruellest Emperours of Rome could not as the Historian saith be present at the acting of a Tragedy but those faigned miseries which he there heard raised a compassion in him which made him weep We read as much of another Tyrant of Greece of the same nature and when a man is arrived at the highest degree of wickedness the last crime he commits is to be his own murderer and voluntarily to throw himself into everlasting pains by the violence of the remorse of his conscience In which there seems to be a certain air and shaddow of magnanimity and heroick goodness PROB. 7. What is the reason that the Wind which comes in at a window or a little hole is more dangerous than that which we feel abroad in the open field UPon this Problem some may possibly think that as the water meeting with a very narrow channel becomes more rapid so the wind that comes in at a door or a window or a small chink for the same reason redoubles its violence Which is very true but nothing to the purpose for the clearing the difficulty of this Question because it is certain that a very little wind gliding in at a cranny is more apt to hurt one then another wind much more violent when one is in the open field This cause then being thus rejected is it not rather because the wind which we suffer in the open field doth presently close the pores through its coldness and so arms us against it self whereas the wind that comes into the house by some little hole finds us hot all the time and consequently doth as long as it continues blowing
described so much the more doth the imagination of those that hear so indiscreet a lesson grow warm with that base heat which it is accustomed to kindle there And hence I draw one strong reason more in favour of that truth I maintain For since that to speak in proper terms of this low and ignoble part of Love is rather helping than weakening it he that discourses of it in this manner must needs have a design to render it more violent either in himself or others both which are equally beastly Or else it must needs be that at the same time he that talks thus and that he is with his friends whose converse ought to elevate his soul to nobler and more spiritual pleasures he feels himself moved with that lascivious and terrestrial ardour otherwise he would never love to represent to himself the effects thereof so distinctly because they are of such a nature that if the imagination be not delighted with them it is wounded by them it being not possible there should be a medium between these two extreams PROB. 23. Whence comes it that they say whatsoever cures us and is good for us dislikes us and that on the contrary we love that which hurts us IS it that in this they do not say true but that as the Time whilest we are in sadness seems to us longer for the same reason the accidents which are offensive to us seem to us the more frequent Truly I think that from this Source descend many other Vulgar Errours as for example these That a man is hurt sooner in the same part where he is already ill That the wittiest children do commonly die before they can give their parents that contentment which they hope for from them That disasters follow one another and scarce ever come single For as we desire that these accidents should never happen so for fear least they happen we think that they happen alwayes Or else doth not the errour wherein men are in this business proceed from hence that when we love that which profits us no man takes any notice of it because it is a thing conformable to Reason and Nature and upon which our spirit slides away smoothly as our hand slides upon a polished body where it finds no rub or obstacle and that on the contrary when we love that which hurts us as it is a thing that astonishes us and makes us stick some time to search the causes of it so we see it the better and imprint it the deeper into our memories Or else happens it not thus in effect through the imperfection of finite things which produces also many other effects that seem to be against nature As for example we see that Difficulty whets the appetite whereas it should rather dull it and that Evil is more active then Good although it ought to be quite contrary and many other the like things so that this may perswade us that it is through this very imperfection that wholsom things offend and hurtful things delight us Or else is it because the remedy ought to be contrary to the disease and that contraries redouble their force against one another by an Antiperistasis Physick for this reason doth at first heighten the disease and consequently also the pain And as Physick doth at first re-inforce and heighten the disease may it not also be that hurtful things for the same reason do delight us more often at the first and encrease our vigour and that therefore they please us If we suppose for example that a man be sick for want of heat it may be if he uses cold things that are naught for him they will at the first refresh him and give him some strength by making of his heat increase and redouble it self by an Antiperistasis Or else is not nature at first delighted with things that redouble its evil because that by increasing it they may in some sort stupifie and dull its sense And is it not on the contrary hurt by those things that cure it because that in restoring it to its strength by little and little they do as it were awaken it out of that lethargie in which the disease held it and so make the sense of it the more quick Or else is it that Nature when she hath need to be cured is depraved and ill disposed so that it is no wonder if in this condition she be offended with that which is good and pleased with that which is bad for her Or else is it not that as a man cannot take a spot out of his clothes without making the place a little more thredbare nor refine mettals without diminishing them nor cause any great good in a Common-wealth without wrong to some so also we cannot cure our bodies of any great infirmity but we must do it some dammage and that as the remedy in curing us doth us some hurt this is the reason why it is irksom to the sense If you ask me in particular What is the reason that almost all Medicines are bitter and odious to take wherein methinks a great part of the difficulty of this Problem consists I answer that this happens from its quality because if the Medicine were not offensive to the palate neither would it offend the stomach seeing that it is from one and the same quality that things which have been displeasing to the taste when they were in the mouth do excite also a sense of horrour in the stomach and offend it Now if the Medicine do not raise a sense of horrour in our stomachs Nature would not use its utmost strength to rid it self of it and would not reject together with it the ill humours that made it sick for I think it is very probable that it is by this means that most Medicines purge us PROB. 24. What is the reason that Children in Winter though their face and hands seem to show that they are more afflicted with cold than men grown yet are not easily perswaded to warm themselves IS it not because to warm themselves they must stand still a good while in the same place and that Children love to be constantly in motion out of a kind of Impatience which is natural to our spirit at that age Or else is it that when they are cold and come nigh to the fire its heat at first instead of comforting doth more afflict them which happens because it re-inforceth at first the cold of their bodies by an Antiperistasis and that as they want experience and reason and follow the first sentiment of nature they reject this wholsom remedy for want of knowledge to judge that by and by they shall find comfort by it Or else is it that though their bodies be more easily altered by the cold then those of full grown men as it is plain to the eye yet this alteration is not so painful and grievous to them the reason of it is because the cold hurts chiefly by too much hardening and making
familiar things ought to be favoured against all those that consist in Sympathie or in secret influence or in specifick qualities and yet no doubt we ought to have recourse to these last but it is only as people that are like to be drowned catch at thorns and embrace them in that pressing need that is to say when we find no other means to deliver our selves from a difficulty for so long as there is any other means of escaping it if it be but any thing tolerable this must needs be very bad But to come to the present business Those which have considered that the heat of the Moneth of August is greater then that of the Moneths of June and July although in them the Sun be nearer to us and strikes us with less oblique rayes and makes longer dayes have thence inferred that this excess of heat proceeds from the influence of a Star which is called the Dog to which they have also given other ill qualities for this if we will believe what they say of it is the cause that in August the heat of the Sun is more malignant even when it is no greater then in the other Moneths of Summer that many creatures and especially Dogs do then run mad and that it is then more dangerous to go into the water and that sicknesses are more frequent and greater and that men feel some particular weaknesses in all the parts of the body But all things well considered it will be found that there is nothing in all this that should oblige us to attribute secret and particular vertues to the Dog-star and to leave the large field of known and ordinary causes For first I do not see why we should wonder that the Sun is hotter in August then in July though it be true that in August he regards us somewhat more obliquely and that the dayes are shotter the reason of it is because the Earth having been exceedingly dryed by the former heats is more apt to be violently scorched as we see that any dry thing set before a lesser fire receives a more violent heat then a thing that is moist from a fire that is much greater That this reason is pertinent there is an experience that methinks proves it plainly enough it is that though at noon the Sun be nearer to us and cast more direct rayes on us then he doth any time after yet those that travel in Summer do perceive a more violent heat two or three hours after-noon then at noon it self the reason whereof is that at noon the moisture of the morning is not so well dryed up either on the grass or the air or the earth as it is a while after This example is so put to the subject I apply it to the Question in hand that there cannot be found any difference in it and it may serve well enough to prove what I say for as somebody hath well observed the images of the Four Seasons of the year are to be seen in one only Day in which the Morning by its moisture represents the Spring Noon and sometime after is like the Summer Solstice and the two Moneths that follow it the Evening to the Autum and the arrival of Night to the arrival of Winter Now as this reason renders the heat of August greater it is manifest that withall it renders it necessarily more malign But yet if it be objected that it is often more malignant then that of other Moneths without being more violent I answer that this doth not yet force us to fly to a secret cause for if it were necessary to attribute this particular malignity to the influence of some Star it would follow also that we must give influences to some other Star for to render a reason of the particular malignity of the Sun in March which as having a very feeble hear one would think should not be able to be hurtful and to engender so easily rhumes and catarrhs But to say the truth these two several malignities are the effects only of the course of the year and of two contrary extreams for the Sun in March hath something of malign and dangerous by reason of the great humidity it meets with in the earth nay and in our brain on which it acts so weakly that instead of dissolving it only dilates it And on the contrary the Sun in August is extraordinary hurtful through an excess of dryness which it finds in the earth after it hath endured the heats of a great part of Summer and in our bodies which the same heats have dryed It is this dryness which at this time disposes beasts to madness though indeed Dogs run mad not only in August but also very often in the Moneths of June and July or September which need not for this borrow any thing of the Dog-star From this excessive drynesse proceeds likewise the weakness which we feel then in our bodies and the disposition which this season puts us in to divers maladies for every extream is alwayes nigh an evil and easily falls into one or rather is one it self To conclude if those that swim in this Moneth do find that the waters are more unwholsom then they were before a man may say it is because their more pure and subtile parts have been exhaled by the precedent heats and that what remains is gross and impure And I do not see that there is any thing in this we should need to attribute to the Dog-star more then in the other things we mentioned THE END
A MISCELLANY OF DIVERS Problems Containing ingenuous Solutions of sundry Questions partly Moral partly of other subjects Translated out of French by HENRY SOME M. A. late Fellow of the Kings Colledge in Cambridge LONDON Printed for Charles Adams and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Talbot near St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street Anno Dom. 1662. To the vertuous Ladies Mris Elizabeth Chase Mris Frances Heywood and Mris Laetitia Briggs the three sisters of his dear friend Mr. H. Some Vertuous Ladies WHereas common and low spirits might suspect this action as a design to renew a past sorrow seeing me after a year of mourning recall the memory of so sad a loss I know your more generous souls will rather interpret my intent an endeavour to allay your too long grief when I revive the memory of a dear dead Brother Since your reason being so near of kind to his cannot but judge it a weakness to preferr the passion of an useless sorrow above the merit of a pious gratitude And yet considering that others will be so partial as to blame whatever their fancies do not approve I must forbear to heighten the cause of sadness by recounting the particulars of your loss only I would fain begg your leaves to acquaint the world that in this they and you are partners But how shall I effect that since experience hath now taught the vulgar what was formerly reserved to the knowledge of the more prudent That the commendation of our friend is frequently but the cloak of a self-conceited folly And the world having been of late so much abused by hypocrisie is now become suspicious even of vertue if once recommended especially by a person whose obscurity leaves him lyable to their censure However the love of goodness the obligation of friendship and consciousness of truth shall prevail with me to the hazard of repute I should indeed both betray an high folly in my self and injure the worth of my Friend should I considering my own disability undertake to discourse at large of all his merits and yet thus much I cannot but say his ingenuous discourse his modest deportment his humility and candour gained a more then ordinary respect from all that ever he conversed with and this they shall witness for me They that had the happy opportunity of knowing him more throughly found his Learning so great and communicated with that freeness his piety so true and practised with that innocence that they could not but love him with admiration which also increased in those that had a more special and constant intimacy with him for such knew him so passionate a Lover of all ingenuous Learning that he ever counted that hour lost which was not imployed in some kind or other of it He hated naught so much as idleness or doing nothing and that made his very recreations as serious as others studies And this gave him the advantage of being skilled in modern languages which although he attained unto by a sagacity proper to his disposition and his own industry yet his courtesie would afterwards entertain discourse with the common Tutors and professed Teachers of them upon all emergent occasions This his true love to Learning gave our Nation the opportunity of knowing the Nature and Constitution of the new Famous French Academy by his translation of their History written by Monsieur P. Pellison which was a thing so acceptable to the Author that he was pleased to write him a particular acknowledgement and communicate to him also this present Treatise which likewise at times of divertisement he taught to speak English In the perusal of which I doubt not but the more ingenuous will reap satisfaction and find sufficient cause to love the Translators memory if they consider that it is not offered as a part of his more solid labours but as a valuable Essay of wit and to be used as it was made only in a Diversion That which I offer to you worthy Ladies I give not as a Present but repay as a due which without injustice I cannot detain a greater reason then that which engageth me to a publication entituling you to the right of Patronage For the memory of a dear friendship cannot herein challenge any thing from me but what the interest of a nearer relation makes entirely yours and together with it the Devoirs of Your most humble servant Samuel Thoms Cambridge Jan. 10. 1661. TO THE READER Reader I Conceive it would be rather presumption in me than humility if before you come to read what I here present you I should not give an account of some things that respect my design and the manner of these Problems which may occasion you either to bear with their faults or to condemn them with the more reason and justice In the first place seeing me alledge commonly many several reasons of the Questions I handle you may possibly desire to know Whether I propound part of them to exercise my wit and to beautifie my work like an Oratour that saies not only all he believes to be true or like truth but also all that he thinks advantagious to his cause To this Reader let me tell you that in some places indeed the obscurity of my matter hath given me licence to make bold conjectures and such as seemed to me more likely to add Beauty than Light to my work But that these places are very rare and that everywhere else I have laboured to give only solid reasons and have alledged many of them because having considered my matter many wayes and at several distances I thought they might be all true Some indeed may here say that it is not very likely that one and the same effect should have such different causes for commonly when we think we have found one solid cause of an effect this makes us despise all others and we are apt for this reason to esteem them vain and frivilous But Reader I am not of this judgement nay on the contrary do think that when we discourse upon an effect we should scarce ever content our selves with one good and true cause of it alone because every considerable effect hath many causes which contribute to its grandeur as all Rivers are formed by the uniting of several brooks and many petty rivuletts This is very evident of its self in some kind of things as for example That which casts a man into a disease cannot be alwayes one sole cause but many causes united so when the Question is to discourse of the ruine of a State it is clear that it will never be sufficient to think of finding one solid reason only because it alwayes hath many But though I see my self confined within the bounds of a Preface which I am afraid to exceed too much yet I will in some sort shew you as much as the brevity which I study will suffer me that this is no less true in regard of our Passions Actions and Humours which are
action seems not to have been touched with any remorse of conscience that troubled his judgement for which reason he is accounted more wicked and more unnatural Or else is it that an evil action full of wit and address cannot have been committed by a sudden and pardonable motion and that this address which appears in it shews that a man hath digested it at his leasure that he had a long time had it in his mind and that he executed it with a full and constant will Or else is it because he that sins so craftily seems to have been very violently desirous to sin since it is certain that a violent desire whets the wit and renders it fruitful in inventions Or else is it because the more ingenious a treason is the more close and secret also it is so that there is requisite the more impudence and dissimulation to execute it Or lastly is it because the rendring deceitful by a very refined treason the common assurances which we take of things is an undermining the foundations of publick repose and after a particular manner the shaking of nature which hath not given us any better means to guide our selves in civil society and an instructing of knaves new wayes to hurt honest men so that this is a being doubly guilty as a thief is doubly guilty if not content to steal the fruits of a garden he enters into it by some place formerly inaccessible and makes a new way for those that shall have a mind to imitate him But if this be so whence comes it then that at other times the ingenuity that shines in the execution of an ill action makes us blame it less sharply and sweetens the hatred it ought to beget in us Is it in this case not so odious because the lustre of wit may in some sort repair the defect of it Or else because when experience teacheth us that the beauty of the mind and a black malice seldome lodge together and do not willingly associate we do then frame some excuseable motives to an evil action when we see some gentleness shine in it and conceive that he that did it was forced to it either out of Gallantry or by the strength of some sudden Passion rather than out of an extream Malice and ill-nature PROB. 2. Whence comes the custome of making fire-works and shooting off guns either when a peace is made or after a victory or at the entrance of Princes into some City or upon other the like occasions FIrst as to publick rejoycings Is it because joy which is a violent dilatation of our spirits cannot be better expressed then by shews which consist only in violent dilatations of powder by fire Or else if there be no likelyhood that men did so nicely regard such a relation and that mans imagination out of a secret impulse took up a thing that resembles the motion of joy to express it by Is it rather because Light which all these Artificial fires redouble is naturally the Emblem of Joy and does naturally delight the imagination more than any thing And therefore we call sadness a dark cloudy humor and when we speak of it we say that it overspreads the mind as 't were with a cloud Or else is it not because we finding that our own voice is too weak to represent our joy and that it is wholly unequal to the greatness of our contentment we borrow the mouth of Cannons and the noyses of powder to express it and to carry the news of it speedily on every side and make it as it were even mount up to heaven It is manifest that Joy of all the Passions is that which desires most to be known and published and a joyfull man is equally ravished that his friends and enemies know that he is so Or else as it is a pleasure to see the picture of some great Dragon which had frighted us after that we have no more cause to fear it is it not also delightful for the same reason to see the vain images of troubles violences and passed wars in the fires of joy after that a peace is begun Or else may we take it thus that as it is a sign a man hath fast bound a savage beast when he can play with it without harm and without dread and make a pass-time of its rage and fury so it is a sign that one hath fast chained up that cruel monster War when one can freely sport with the most terrible instruments of its fury when one can make them vomit up whatever they have most hurtful and affrighting without any mans receiving either fear or hurt thereby and that one makes them serve for a divertisement to Women and Children Or else is not this secondary and innocent use which we make of them as it were a testimony that we abolish the first and therefore also when we would speak of a profound peace we use to say that all the instruments of War shall become instruments of Husbandry or shall be employed to other uses Now seeing that fireworks and the reports of the Canon are used to represent a publick joy is it not for the same reason that they are used at the entrance of Princes into some City as it were to testifie to them that their arrival is esteemed a publick happiness Or else was it not first instituted on this manner out of an extream flattery as if they meant to say that they judged the soul of the Prince that is thus received so Martial that they thought they could not better please him than by shows that represent War If any one notwithstanding all this shall wonder that to receive a Prince we do to him in like manner as we would do if we desired to drive him away and that we express our kindness by the most proper marks of hatred and hostility is it not on the contrary partly for that the imagination of men is carried to it because naturally a violent love borrows the characters of hate Therefore we see that beasts when they make much of their little ones they strike them little blows and toss them up gently into the air and that mothers caressing their children with all tenderness give them little pats and call them rogues and that the best friends delight to quarrel with one another seemingly and in jest and we might questionless prove the same by wanton love chose we not rather to pass by this proof then to write any thing that should defile this paper And if yet you demand of me why a violent love borrows the characters of hatred Is it not out of a too great desire of flying the appearances of flattery and false amity that it runs into this contrary extream which is more irrational as if flying from an enemy a man should cast himself down a precipice Or rather that in this there is nothing done otherwise than ought to be but that extream love hath some characters like to the violence of
hatred because generally all extreams resemble one another PROB. 3. Whence is it that the Choler of him that hath no cause to be afraid of us and hath our necks under his feet is sometimes sooner appeased by bravado's and boldness than by humility and entreaties IS it not for the reason that Montagne gives of it namely that generous persons suffer themselves rather to be overcome by the generosity and greatness of the courage of him whom fortune hath laid low than at his cryes and groans because they are more ready to reverence the image of vertue then simply to be bent by compassion which many times may be unreasonable Or else is it from some other causes as for instance this that it is a thing that astonishes and surprizes him who can do what he please with us to see that instead of submitting to him we brave him and that every astonishment is as it were an arrest and surprizal of the spirit which consequently interrupts the motion of Choler and gives the soul that is surprized with it time to be better advised To this might be added perhaps that in Choler the soul many times moves not but by the violence of the first swing that is given it and that in this case if one can stop it it is infallibly extinct as one deads the motion of a body which is moved only by the violence of an impression it receives if one stop it but one sole moment Or else is it because the bravado's and boldness of those whom an extream misfortune hath cast down doth not shew so much Constancy and Resolution although at the first sight it seems to do so as on the quite contrary Despair because he that hopes nothing doth likewise fear nothing so that instead of raising Choler it excites Pitty Or else may we venture to say that naturally every thing is extinguished by the same causes which made it live when they are too abundant and that as Love is extinguished by too free and too wanton caresses and Fire by too great an abundance of wood cast on it it may fall out some times after the very same manner that the extremity and utmost excess of injuries appeases Choler instead of provoking it Or else is it not because the reproaches and bravado's of those that see themselves to be in our power are a testimony of their freeness and that we believe they have no worse thoughts than those that they dare thus express with so much liberty whereas if they beg of us with submission and humility we suspect them of hypocrisie and fear least this dissimulation covers some black revenge and an implacable and furious hatred against us Or else is it that for a man to humble himself before us is to furnish us with a subject of only Vulgar clemency which as it is less fair so it doth with less violence attract us and that on the contrary to brave us after having offended us is to furnish us with matter for an heroick clemency which is more beauteous in its self and followed with more of glory Or lastly is it that he which doth freely reproach us and boldly declares our injustice cutting our soul to the very quick by this violence of his discourse doth awaken it makes it come to its self forces it to be attentive to the reasons he alledges and makes it comprehend them better after which though its interest oblige it to a greater revenge then before it cannot still continue its rage because as Aristotle saith very well a man is never angry injustly that is to say against that which he doth very clearly know to be reasonable PROB. 4. Whence comes it that Tears are a comfort to sadness and how are they formed IS it not that Tears do not properly unload the heart as it is commonly said but the brain which being more dry after it is delivered of those humidities serves the soul better and is the cause that he which is afflicted having his reason more clear and strong sees better the just grounds he hath to comfort himself Certainly it is probable enough that the brain becomes more free and the spirit more serene after this storme of tears as we see the air is never more serene than after rain and the example of children teaches us that the moistness of the brain accompanies the weakness of reason Or is it moreover that by weeping we discharge part of the pituitous humour or of the melancholy humour both which cast the spirits into pensiveness and a dull heaviness or stupidity Truely this second reason seems not to be void of likelyhood no more than the first But will some one say whence proceed Tears and what is their fountain Certainly it is no easie question to answer and perhaps to resolve it exactly would require a longer search then can be allowed a Problem But yet methinks one might venture to say according to the appearances we see that our inward parts compressing themselves in sadness as it is the property of compression there issues from them some moisture by this compression as from a spunge squeezed Or else that the brain continuing cold in sadness by reason of the spirits flying to the heart it yeilds through its coldness some thin substance which becoming heavy seeks its way out Or else as sadness generally weakens whatever is in us that retentive faculty of him that is sad is not strong enough to keep back as it did before those humidities which we call Tears but suffers them to run out when it relaxeth its self PROB. 5. What is the reason there are Tears of joy IS it that a too violent good wounds us many times as well as too strong a light Or else that every change of condition in which one hath long continued how happy and advantageous soever it be hath alwayes something of incommodious in it Or else that there is some bitterness and as it were an infusion of wormwood in the greatest part of the sweets of this life Or else is there not some natural reason in it and may we not say that joy excessively dilating our inward parts doth by this means drive out some humidity because that which is dilated cannot contain it self in the same bounds where it was before Or else is it not that in an affliction we are hindred from weeping out of a fear for the future which makes us imploy all our thoughts in consideration of means that may deliver us from that which we fear so that after we are become more happy we do yet many times nevertheless cry to satisfie that desire which we had to do so Or else is it not credible that we never understood our misery better then when being delivered from it we can compare the image of it which is still very fresh in our memory with a quite contrary condition so that it is not to be wondred at if many times this comparison which discovers to us the
find our flesh soft and easily penetrable Or else is it because the wind that cools only one part of us such as that is which comes in at a little crack makes the spirits to which this coldness is an enemy fly to the other parts which is hurtful to this Or else in plain terms as the welfare of a Common-wealth consists in a certain proportion of the Citizens one to another so the good state of the body is a certain equal temper of all the parts so that when any thing breaks this equality and harmony and cools one part while the rest continue warm this is in it self a malady and it were better they had been all equally cooled Or else is it because the wind that one suffers in the open field is a very wide and as it were broad motion of the air which arriving at us must needs break it self against our body as it were a wave and pass on each side without penetrating it Whereas the wind of a little hole being sharp doth the better penetrate our pores and doth us the more mischief as we see that an arrow which does not hurt us if it be cast at us broadwise wounds and pierces us if it hits us with the point Or lastly doth not that which Plutarch saies contribute to the same effect viz. that the wind of a little hole hurts us the more because we take no heed of it and that so we suffer it a great while before we put our selves in a condition to avoid it PROB. 8. What is the reason that Evil is more active than Good IT is a very strange thing and yet very true that Evil is more active than Good Grief which is an evil is more active than pleasure and surmounts it so much in violence that although a man be at the same time tickled with all the pleasures that can flatter the senses a small Grief will be able to spoil all his happiness As Grief is stronger than Pleasure so Fear which is a production of Evil is a passion much more violent than Hope which is a production of Good Bad examples have more force to debase our minds then good have to raise them up Poysons are stronger than Remedies and whereas there is not any remedy that can cure us of our maladies unless it be applyed to us there are poysons so violent that they kill us with the very smell of them if they do but come nigh our nostrils Things that are the sweetest to the taste as Honey and Sugar are not yet so sweet as Wormwood is bitter and if you mingle an equal quantity of them together the result will be bitter and not sweet the ill favour prevailing over the good Lastly to omit nothing upon this subject and to run through all kind of things by which this truth may be cleared although amongst colours White be naturally more excellent than Black as more approaching to the nature of Light So it is as Painters have observed that it is the most feeble of all and that if one mixeth it in an equal quantity with black it is alwayes vanquisht But what then is the cause of a thing that seems so contrary to reason I answer that there can be no other given of it but this that Good here below is not in its fountain and that we see only some weak raies and small sparks of it for if it were at home in its fountain it would infallibly conquer Evil and would be too strong for it since that Activity being a Good it is impossible but that it should be a property and dependance of Good rather then of Evil. But as of two Kings he that is the strongest may be vanquished by the other in a place where he hath not the body of his forces and his greatest power So it may very well be that Good may be more active than Ill and yet that it may be vanquisht by it in this world where we are and as I may so say in this lower region of things where it is not in its fountain and in its greatest glory and from hence may be drawn a very strong consideration to demonstrate the existence of God as I could shew more at large and more clearly if it were here my design PROB. 9. What is the reason that Water-drinkers are greater lovers of fruit then others IS it not because water hath a certain faint quality that offends the stomach and the juice of fruit corrects that quality and is to them as a kind of wine which they are not averse from Or else doth not the same reason that makes them love water make them also love fruit to wit because they love all things that are moist and cooling and that fruit as well as water is in the number of things that are most so Or else is it not because they which drink water only do with more difficulty digest and for this reason they love things that are easily digested such as are most fruits and prefer them before viands that give more pain to the natural heat And if any demand Whence it is that they say also that on the contrary those which are great lovers of wine do not care at all for fruit Is it not the contrary to those reasons I now mentioned Or else do they not hate fruit because by their moisture they dull and deaden the palate and so render it less sensible of the pleasure to which they are so much addicted Or doth not the same reason for which they love salt and drying meats make them also hate those that quench the thirst amongst which it seems fruit holds the first rank PROB. 10. What is the reason there is no such enmity as that which succeeds amity IS it not because our mind doth ardently affect all new things and loves change and that when we come to hate him whom we have a long time loved it is a very great novelty and an extream change which consequently hath some particular allurement to attract our minds and engage it more violently in its design Or else do not great friendships leave behind them great enmities because they could not have been destroyed but by great quarrels and great subjects of hatred and discontent Or else is it because as a stranger whom we do not know cannot be either hated or loved by the same reason he that is very well known may be hated more and loved more than another and that there are none so well known to us as those whom a long friendship hath made us familiarly acquainted with And indeed as the great knowledge we have of them makes us more lively imagine the motions of hatred they bear us the words they will say the thoughts they will have and their very gestures in their anger it is credible that this serves to inflame our wrath Or else perhaps we may say that those that are great lovers of one another do only seem to hate more then
the influence of the Stars the operations of his Senses are of much more difficult explication then all those of the Loadstone and he is a great marvail that admires little ones Not to go too far in this discourse the consideration of the marvels which are discovered in the Silk-worms may furnish us with some proofs of it they seem at first sight to surpass or equal the things that are most strange and those that have described them have not been able sufficiently to admire that this creature should be killed by the sole noise of thunder that it should have an instinct to spin unprofitably and even with the loss of its life seeing that it stifles it self in its own work that it can draw out of its body that Silk of which it composes it that a long time after it is dead it revives that it transforms it self into a Butterfly and after it is thus transformed it can live still many dayes without meat that is to say to the end of its life But how strange soever all these things seem I conceive that if we would consider them somewhat exactly we should perswade our selves that there is no necessity of leaving the bounds of common and ordinary causes to unvail and clear the secrets of them and to do it I will lay down only two things First that Silk-worms are excessive cold and Secondly that they are full and as I may so say overglutted with an excessive moisture their moisture is apparent of its self to our sight since that it makes them wholly transparent and it is credible that it is this that renders them so fruitful Their extream coldness may also be felt by our hands and doth besides discover it self by certain reasons to our minds seeing that in the midst of Summer if the weather come to be a little coldish they dye with cold which doth not befall any other creature and seeing those which take the pains to keep them are carefull to keep them very warm and in a place that is not exposed to the Northwind These two things being thus supposed it is no wonder in the first place that the noise of thunder kills them this manifestly proceeds from the fear which so terrible a noise causes in them for they must needs be very fearful since that they are so cold and are void of blood and when fear adds its coldness to that which is natural to them so violent an excess may easily deprive them of life Now as the Silk-worm is very cold and when it begins to grow old its natural frigidity by this means encreasing it is not to be wondred at that it seeks to envelop and cover it self to the end that it may be warm for all other creatures being pressed with cold do the like and search out holes wherein they lie in the straw and enwrap themselves even in the cloaths and hangings of our houses to be the less troubled with it Hereto serves the Silk which it vomits and we must not wonder that it can vomit this rich matter for it is nothing but the remainders of its nourishment which its too weak heat cannot digest and as it were a superfluous humour which their abundance of it hath caused Besides when it puts it forth it is not dry but viscous and hath a clammy moistness but presently after the air hardens and dries it as if it were glue Being thus covered for warmth it is not stifled as folks believe nature doth not give creatures any instincts that are so destructive to them It dies not unless by a natural death for want of strength but rather it makes its Bed when we think it builds its Sepulcher and sleeps when we believe it dyes And indeed if we open this pretended grave after that we believe it is dead we shall clearly perceive that it is only in a profound sleep its natural frigidity which even before it thus locked it self up caused it to sleep longer then ordinarily other creatures do making it sleep much longer since it lockt it self up enveloped as it is in silk which it wisely drew out of its own body to cast round about it it grows a little warm by reason that its heat is on all sides hindred from exhaling and driven back just as a man becomes warm by means of the cloaths he covers himself with But whence comes it you will say that it transforms it self into a Butterfly I answer that there is no colour to say it is transformed that the Wings it acquires were due to it from its birth that nature intended it should flye with them but that they could not grow out untill that being covered with silk which it vomited it had gotten together a little more heat to strengthen its vegetative faculty and enable it to put them forth as it doth to that of Trees to put forth their fruits leaves and flowers the production whereof was formerly hindred by the coldness of the Winter Nor doth this happen only to Silk-worms for Caterpillers spin the like upon trees locking themselves up in their own work and being there they get wings as well as these But that which further proves to us that the heat of the Silk-worm uniting it self after the manner aforesaid may serve to put forth its wings is that flying Serpents are to be seen only in very hot Countries by reason it seems that the extream heat of the air supplying the defect of the coldness of their temper gives their formative faculty power to produce them But if we must say that they are transformed and that they change their nature in acquiring wings because that immediately after their birth they have none we must for the same reason say that many other creatures are transformed when they acquire Teeth Nails or Horns which they had not when they were born and that the very birds are transformed when they get wings since that when they were hatcht they had none The Silk-worm therefore is not transformed but only becomes able to fly somewhat slowlier and to conclude my story it is reasonable we should believe that after it hath slept much the same cause that awakens other creatures awakens this also Then doth wise nature make it vomit forth a thin sharp moisture which helps it to gnaw that silk which it was on all sides environed with and by this means out it comes and continues for many dayes and even to the end of its life without eating any thing wherein consists the last marvel that we are to speak of But I conceive we may easily guess the cause of it if we remember that it hath a very great moisture joyned with a very small heat for we shall see that this small heat must finde for a long time sufficient aliment in this great moisture without having need to receive any other and hereupon might be alledged the strange story of a German maid that having a very weak heat and a body full of a viscous
the matters the greatest part of this book is composed of First for our Actions and the particular and ordinary motions of our mind I may say that all our Passions do there appear together alwayes and act their parts there though it be not alwayes after the same fashion just as in each Comedy that is acted they are the same Actors that appear upon the Stage though they do not there represent the same persons And as they say that no Element ever appears to us in its purity that is entirely separated from others and void of all mixtures I conceive also that after the very same manner not one of our ordinary Passions which are as it were the Principles and Elements of our manners doth ever appear in its purity and without some mixture of the others so that by this means it scarce ever happens that it is only one spring which moves and actuates our spirits It would be as long as it is easie to prove this by abundance of examples but I shall content my self to alledge some of them If it be demanded Why we desire glory It is without question to give one solid reason of it because we look upon it as a second Life and that we think our Being is amplified and extended according as our renown spreads very far and as we are known to many men but for all this if there be not another cause given we shall not very well satisfie this demand For it is very evident that we desire it also because the good opinion that others have of our excellency fortifies and upholds the opinion which we have of it our selves Besides we do without doubt desire to gain Esteem because it is a way to make us be beloved and that we desire to be beloved nay farther we wish it both for its own sake because there is a natural sweetness in being beloved and that none of the least and for the conveniences that come by it Even so too if a man enquires Why we revenge our selves he will presently find that we do it for divers several causes which come from different respects For it is partly because pretending that the injury received hath cast us down we labour to raise our selves up again by making him repent that did it And partly we do not desire only to make him repent but we think also that we discharge our selves in some sort of the hurt we received from him in making him suffer as much As we see that children think to free themselves of a kiss which one hath given them by force in re-kissing him from whom they have received it and say they will give it back to be rid of it themselves Partly also without having any regard to the thing in its self we revenge our selves for the opinion of others and for fear one should come to think that we had not power or credit enough to do it Besides this we do it out of Fear for the future and to the end that he which hath offended us may not presume to do so any more For though this be not formally the desire of Revenge certain it is that it alwayes contributes thereunto And lastly we revenge our selves because that as the shaking of Fear ceases not so soon as the danger is over so the hurt we received hath left in us a blind impression of hatred which lasts still after that is past and hath only its self for the reason of its self If we should now examine the motion of the soul in Love we should find in it a stranger mixture of all sorts of Causes Natural and Moral Corporal and Spiritual In a word we should as easily find that it is the same with all the other ordinary and extraordinary humours of our minds I mean that there is not any of them that hath one only source and that they have alwayes many roots some whereof look backward and some forward some to the right hand others to the left nay we should find they have almost alwayes quite contrary causes since that most commonly they come to us partly from strength and partly from weakness partly from reason and partly from blindness and that they almost alwayes shew both some perfection and some imperfection both at once Behold Reader the first thing I was to speak to you of upon which I have it may be insisted too long Pass we now to that which remains with all possible brevity Some of my friends whose least advice weighs much with me counselled me not to forget in several places of this Book some reasons that are commonly given upon the Questions I here handle for fear least I seem to be ignorant of them But I told them that this might breed in you a great dislike and that besides though those causes which are vulgarly given of divers Questions are many times very good yet are they more often superficial or at least not the principal and this in my opinion proceeds from hence that the vulgar hath the common sense much better than its understanding and that by this means it sees indeed well enough with a single eye the things that touch the common sense but is much less able to give the reasons of them or discovers ordinarily only the shallowest This I told them for mine own justification and after they had heard me they believed it was sufficient that I alledge these vulgar reasons when it is altogether necessary to do so and that I should here acquaint you that I have slighted many others or for fear of rendring my self tedious I would not alledge them all Moreover I have formed the most part of these Problems in a very concise and succinct manner and by way of Question in imitation of several antient Philosophers and that I might comprehend the more things in fewer words But because a concise and succinct reason which strâ—kes the mind suddainly seems at first to be more acute and gentle than solid and profound and because I know that people judge often enough of things as of men by their countenance and habit I was not willing to tie my self alwayes to this method and have many times vented my reasons after a more Dogmatical and positive manner and made my discourse a little more diffuse Nevertheless I hope that in judging the whole work in gross you will acknowledge to me that I could not have allowed less room to these meditations which I here offer you and that I had not a design to make you lose in the reading of my book any considerable part of your time which you ought to imploy better otherwise These are the three things Reader which I desired to speak to you of However I do not pretend by telling you what I have endeavoured to do to prejudice you in favour of me I say only that I have endeavoured and not that I have performed any thing and on the contrary to take from you all preoccupation and to leave
other men and perhaps they seem so because that some relicks of friendship which they cannot chase out of their mind rendring the injuries which they mutually do one another more grievous makes them complain thereof with words fuller of passion and talk of it uncessantly Indeed it is questionless much more grievous to be wronged by him that one loves then by him that one hates because this kind of wrong raises as it were a Civil war in our passions exciting one part of our heart against the other and hinders us not only from obtaining what we desire but also from desiring it compleatly and without repugnance of a piece of our selves and Lovers may be good testimonies of this truth for it is certain as there are many waters that do not offend the sound parts of our bodies but yet when they touch a sore place cause there incredible pain So this sweet wounding of their heart makes them most sensible of injuries which without that would not vex nor move them at all Or lastly those that loved very dearly do combate one another with the cruellest acts of enmity to learn as I may so say to hate one another and to confirm themselves in that bitterness and violence into which they are faln because they find that all sorts of habits are fortified by exercise and by the acts which they produce PROB. 11. Why hath extream affliction no tears DOth it not proceed from hence for that the soul in an extream affliction hath no lively apprehensions such as those must be that raise tears but falls into a kind of stupidity and insensibleness Or is it not because when we are extreamly afflicted Nature which finds that the greatness of our Affliction would make us shed too many tears and that so great an evacuation might excessively weaken instead of comforting us keeps them back altogether and resists the motion of our disordered minds which were it not for that would abuse this soveraign remedy and employ it to our own ruine Or else may we not upon this subject say that he that is mightily afflicted cannot weep as he would do because generally every excessive passion hinders it self from arriving at its end and becomes an obstacle to its self and that for this reason those that are oppressed with too much Fear desiring to flie find that it hath nailed their feet to the ground and that their hand shakes that are too much in Choler and that they cannot express but by inconsequent and disjoynted words the greatness of their passion no more then those whom a too great Love possesses or those who are in a too great excess of Joy Certainly it seems that this is not void of likelihood And if it be asked Why every excessive passion fails of arriving at its end it may be answered that this happens to it because it is a malady of the soul and a defect and that the qualities proper to a malady are impotence weakness and ill success Or else every inordinate passion is an obstacle to its self and is impotent because it desires things vast and infinite and beyond all possibility which hinders our soul from executing those that are real and possible For we see evidently that he which is moved with a very great Choler cannot express at least in common and ordinary words his resentment and the indignity which raised it because he seeks the most strong and desires to use a more eager expression then the language of man is capable of It is plain also that Lovers do many times hack and hammer instead of speaking for the same reason namely because they would invent terms that should be as it were all flame and have more force and energie then they can have and that a like desire is the cause also why Joy which is so talkative becomes mute in being increased too much or brings forth only sighs and inarticulate and confused sounds And as for excessive Fear though this be a passion to which one cannot so easily apply this reason yet one may say possibly that he which is too lively possest by the image of a terrible and present danger hinders himself that in this perturbation and trouble wherein he is he desires not simply to run but to use some means more prompt and efficacious then natural and ordinary ones by which a man runs away and that his imagination thus overslipping whatsoever is real and possible as that of others which we spake of but now does not by reason hereof put in practice those faculties that move the parts of his body for it is evident that it is the operation of the Fancy that must put in practice those faculties But however it be it is very likely that Anger Joy and Love fail of expressing themselves well for this reason and if it be so we may with likelihood say that even so he which is very much afflicted cannot weep because that his soul disdaining the common characters of sadness searches in that ardour wherein it is so great ones that they are impossible Or else we may say that it doth not search for such but as that antient Painter that chose rather to cover with a veil the face of Agamemnon then venture to represent his grief it also chuseth rather to refrain tears and words and not to paint forth the greatness of its affliction then to be forced to paint it by the same things which the smallest of afflictions make use of If any one be not satisfied with all these reasons it may yet possibly be added that as we said before a moderate compressing of the inward parts may squeeze forth the humidity of tears and a too violent compression of the same parts may on the contrary keep them in by closing up the passages by which they use to come to the eyes PROB. 12. What is the reason some things are gotten best by neglecting them WE said in the fore-going Problem that a Passion being wrought to a very high pitch is an obstacle to its self and hinders us from arriving at what we aim at Now we will endeavour to give a reason of a difficulty like to that but yet greater viz. Why there are many things which are best acquired by neglecting them and looking another way Thus for example the Philosophers have observed to us that Glory is of such a nature that the best means to get it is to run away from it and not to desire it and that she favours those most that do least regard her Pleasure if we consider it well is like to it in this for the soul being softened through the love of pleasure and rest becomes so sensible of incommodities and griefs so vulnerable by all sorts of crosses and so feeble that the least thing wounds it mortally and makes it despair and even the smallest misfortunes become great unto it On the contrary the contempt of pleasure gives it presently a more strong constitution by which it
then he is and having something of generous in him he labours to refute by his actions this ill opinion which we have of him and desires to shew unto us that we were in an errour when we had such a conceit of him PROB. 20. Whence comes it that Beasts do naturally know how to swim and that Man hath need to learn THey answer commonly that Man doth not naturally know how to swim as Beasts do because that the first time he tryes to do it he is seized with a Fear which hinders him from making use of his legs and arms freely But I do not approve this answer for beasts have at least as much fear as man the first time one casts them into the water and I have seen some of them that would tremble for fear a long time after and remain astonisht and for all that ceased noâ— to swim very well Besides if it were only Fear that hindred man from knowing how to swim this would be nothing to them that are very bold and cast themselves without fear into great dangers and a man in this case would know at least how to swim in the water of a Bath in the midst of a company of his friends since that then he would have nothing to fear Or else he would know how to swim in a very narrow brook where the bottom may be seen all the way and can leave him no considerable fear Since therefore this answer doth not suffice and leaves the difficulty wholly untoucht I conceive rather that a man doth not naturally know how to swim because the first time he tries he cannot choose but mannage his legs and arms by Reason and that this hinders him from doing it right because it is an action that must be done by the imagination only after a brutish and blind manner We see clearly by experience that there are many things which we do worst when we would do them by Reason Besides I believe it is naught for a man the first time he tries to swim to be prepossest with this belief that he doth not know how to swim whereas beasts are exempt from all this preoccupation for to believe infallibly that one doth not know how to do any thing is a disposition to do it ill and to come scurvily off But besides these two reasons in my opinion it is very remarkable that when beasts swim they are in their natural posture because they have not an erect stature and do move according as they have an inclination to move naturally namely with all their feet at once and that on the contrary man lying at his length upon the water to swim is not in the posture in which he should naturally be and so hath the greater pains to move himself in this manner as even upon the earth it would be painful to him to march upon all four Or else I may say upon this subject that the difficulty is not so much to know why creatures that are much more light than man are more proper to swim but why he doth not know how to swim as well as Oxen horses and such other creatures that are heavier than he To which I answer that it is because Oxen and Horses and such other beasts have an inward capacity and cavity of their bodies much greater which is the cause that though their bodies sink deeper under water by reason of their weight there yet remains part thereof above and that it happens to them as it doth to vessels that are high built to wit that they continue above the water whilest others that are not so much laden but are much less do sink Or else too one may rationnlly say that beasts do naturally swim because they have for the most part a longer neck than man so that although all the rest of the body be heavy enough to sink under water yet in holdlng up their necks they take their breath at ease whereas mans body being ready naturally to sink under water as well as theirs he hath not a neck long enough to keep his head notwithstanding out of the water and by this means keep himself from being choaked So then Beasts have in this received from nature divers advantages above Man in which she hath not done him any wrong but on the contrary hath manifested the same wisdom which she shews in all other things that she is guided by a most admirable and penetrating judgement which fore-sees things that depend upon a long train of consequences For this wisdom foresaw that Man only among all other creatures should know how to make Boats and Bridges or to pass the rivers on Hors back PROB. 21. What is the reason that the fruits which grow at the tops of the boughs are the best IS it because that which is most earthy and gross in the nourishment cannot reach to the tops of the boughs so that they receive only that which is more subtile and doth easier find passage through the narrow streights of the wood Or else is it because that the tops of the branches are the newest and youngest parts of the tree and that for this reason they have the more vertue Or else is it for that the fruit which grows at the tops of the boughs are more exposed to the rayes of the Sun which ripens them better Or else because they are more exposed to the beating of the rain which serves to soften their hardness and to make them also sweeter as we see that fruit is sometimes softned between our hands and made sweeter according as we handle it Or else is it that when there is abundance of nourishment in a tree it passeth to the extremities after it hath provided for the necessities of all the other places but that being arrived at the extremities and not able to pass further it amuses it self and so feeds those fruits that grow there the better which consequently must have more of juice and of savour Methinks one may express the course of this nourishment by the example of a brook which runs as long as it finds any way but meeting at last some obstacle which is laid before it and hinders it from passing further it swells and gathers its waters into an heap Or else lastly is it that the nourishment according as it ascends from the root to the branches is still more and more concocted by the Natural heat of the tree so that for this cause it must needs be that which comes to the ends of the branches must be most concocted and most purified PROB. 22. Why do good men think they ought to speak in proper terms of other Passions and Vices but not of things that regard wantonness and corporal Love SOme antient Philosophers discoursing upon the same Question which we have here propounded have though that this modesty which hinders us from speaking plainly of things that belong to lasciviousness and the lower and more terrestrial part of Love was but an abuse and vain
stiff all the parts of our body and that theirs are so tender and so soft that by reason thereof they cannot but very hardly be brought into the contrary extream PROB. 25. Whence comes it that when we are in affliction we are better diverted by the representation of some Tragick History or by the recital of some great misfortune then by more merry shews or facetious tales IS it that the soul being lively afflicted shuns light and vain joyes because that without truely comforting it and without taking away the grounds of its affliction they do only dilate the spirits by a superficial emotion of pleasure with which they tickle the imagination and that this dilatation of the spirits cannot be but offensive to the soul if it still keeps its sadnesse at the bottom of the heart since that it is for its good and to the end that it may have the more strength it keeps them together in affliction Indeed it seems to be for this reason chiefly that the soul being thus afflicted doth thus fly from gay and delightsome objects and loves sad ones just as a weak eye hates chearful and light colours and on the contrary loves such as are dark and have but little light Or else when we are profoundly afflicted and are present at shows full of mirth are we not displeased to see others laugh there with a most pure and perfect joy because this doth more sadly put us in mind of our own misfortune whereas in hearing read or seeing acted a Tragick history we finde our selves lesse unhappy by considering the miseries befallen others Or else doth not the recital of other folks misfortune comfort us chiefly for this reason that for a time they take off our thoughts and affections to our selves and fix them upon a forraign object Or else is it that as they say nothing doth better drive out one love then another love for the same reason nothing doth better expell one sad thought then another Without doubt this reason is upon good ground and to speak more generally when ever one desires to take away from a man wholly and for ever any strong passion one should endeavour to put him first into some other passion that is nigh it For when we have wrought any change in a mind that had given it self up through length of time to some certain inclinations we may after that bring him to what we please as we see that when a man hath moved a stone a little out of its place which long lying had fastened to the earth afterwards he draws it whither he pleases Or else the sadnesse which Tragedies and other such like spectacles beget is it not more apt to diminish afflictions then are other things more sportful for this universal reason That an evil is alwayes more easily cured by another evil then by a good which happens thus because to go from evil to good is a longer way and must receive a greater change then to passe from one evil to another PROB. 26. Why do some noises make a man sleep IS it that noises which one hears near at hand being only a motion of the air or at least such as cannot be formed unless the air be moved do excite some motion in the organs of the brain by striking the air enclosed in the ears and that this motion being very proper to hinder the operation of the spirit makes a man sleep Or else doth not the noise of wind or rain or of a spring make us sleep by delighting us And therefore we see also that many fall asleep more easily when they make some part of their body be rubbed through the pleasure that comes of it and that children also sleep sooner and with the more facility when we rock them because they love to be rocked Indeed that pleasure may help to produce sleep methinks may further be proved in that they which are in a great and profound pleasure whether of body or of mind do shut their eyes stretch their arms carelesly and continue in the same posture as if they were really asleep and that we say pleasure puts a man as it were into a sound But why hath Pleasure this property to be more apt to cause sleep then the other passions of the soul Is it not that the passions being necessarily either pleasures or griefs or desires or hopes or fears the soul that hopes or fears or desires or suffers is in sollicitude and seaches every thing and therefore it sets its reason on work and so hinders it self of being seized by sleep whereas when it is in pleasure it searches after nothing being content with the present and therefore its reason ceases to act and by ceasing to act causes sleep to ensue just as Night comes when the Sun ceaseth to shine Besides noises that tickle the ear do make us sleep not only because they give us pleasure but also because this pleasure is altogether sensual For a spiritual pleasure makes us imploy our reason and so keeps up within us this internal light of the mind which doth no lesse hinder us from sleeping then an external light which strikes upon our eyes and on the contrary a pleasure meerly corporal is an obstacle to meditation But why of sensual pleasures doth that of hearing produce sleep Is it not because it is that only which we can admit in an intire repose of the whole body and without doing any thing on our part For for example the pleasures that come from delightful savours cannot be tasted without moving the tongue and jaws and we cannot also well enjoy a good odour if we do not make some effort to draw it in and smell it nor can we well admit the pleasures of the eye without turning the eyes this way and that and without straining to hold them open by drawing back towards the forehead the skin that covers them but to Hear you cannot say we should need to do any such thing Or else may we not explain this Problem thus that a pleasant noise which strikes the Ear produceth first a suspension and cessation of all other thoughts by that sweetnesse which charms us and afterwards takes from us even the sence of it self because an object that hath been long present to the faculty strikes it no more and is not perceived which appears in that Custom is so proper to render both good and bad things insensible to us and that he which hath long had his mind fixt upon a work that he composes becomes unable to judge rightly of it untill he hath for a while given his mind some other object But why must the noises which make one sleep be in some sort uniform and why for instance doth the noise of a spring because it is all of one kind make us sleep better then of a musical instrument which yet is more sweet Is it that in noises which are not uniform the same object is not alwaies present to the faculty that they
have in them grave or sharpe sounds high or low slower or swifter ones whereas in noises that are uniform it is precisely the same object which is alwayes present to the faculty and that by this means it may after it hath effaced all other objects of our thoughts efface it self also and make it self imperceivable by the continuance of its action as we said and so beget sleep Or else is it that the pleasure which is given us by the noise of a brook or a fountain is a pleasure purely sensual and of the ear only but that the pleasure which the harmony of a musical instrument creates is not a pleasure of the ear only but also of the imagination and of the memory since that a man must compare in it one concord with another and consider the proportion of the sounds to one another to dislike or approve it and that seeing it exerciseth the fancy and the memory it is not to be wondred if it be not so proper to make a man sleep PROB. 27. What is the reason we aggravate our miseries and love to perswade others that we are very unfortunate IF we search why we aggravate our misfortunes we cannot deceive our selves in saying it is to perswade others that we are very unfortunate But it is a greater difficulty to know for what reason we desire they should believe so because oftentimes they are persons that we do not hope to receive any succour from and that our very misery rendring us lesse able to be useful to others may hinder many base and mercenary minds from doing us any good To enquire then the cause of this humour of the afflicted is it not in the first place that they are never assured that any man may not for the future be in a capacity to help him and therefore they tell their misfortunes to all they see and aggravate them to them to the end that if hereafter they should discover any means to succour them the pitty which they have raised in them may presently produce its effect Or else do they desire to have all that come near them know their evil and believe it to be very great thereby to incite them to give them some consolation Or do they not hope that he to whom they have aggravated their misery if he be not able to help them may at the least pray for them and that these prayers may prevail with the divine goodnesse Or else do they not desire that those very persons from whom they cannot hope for any succour should bemoane them for that they think that some body else that shall have the means to deliver them from their miseries will do it so much the more willingly if he sees that many persons do compassionate him and are affected therewith because the more general the good is which we are intreated to do and the more persons it regards the more ready are we to do it Or else is it that to be beloved being in it self a good we do therefore exaggerate our miseries thereby to raise pitty and by pitty love because we know naturally that pitty is so near to love that there is nothing more easie then to slip from one to the other Or else do we not desire that a man should believe that we suffer very much because we desire he should talk much and long of us both while we live and after our death and that we foresee that men will talk so much the more of us as they think that our miseries have been great Or is it not out of a vain affectation of glory which is annexed to constancy and to be in some sort admired by others that we paint forth as very excessive incomparable and in a word much greater then they are the evils which men see we suffer with so much patience our Vanity being so essential and united to our souls that Grief it self cannot expell it and that that accompanies it even in the midst of torments upon the Rack and at the Stake as the Stoicks said of their Wisemans Happinesse Or else do we aggravate our miseries because through humane weaknesse we do in our miseries many times think that the Providence which governs the Universe doth us some kind of wrong and that to prove it we dare not alledge our perfections and our innocence but we alledge only the evils which it sends us which we say are greater then all that ever man suffered Or else because we believe that all things have their course in the world and succeed one another do we not for this reason delight to perswade our selves that we have been for the time past very unhappy to the end that we may build upon this foundation hopes of being happy for the future and of seeing our felicity return in its course as the Day returns after Night Summer after Winter and Fair weather after a long Storm Or as Caesar very wisely painted forth to his Souldiers the enemies forces much greater then they were to the end that afterwards seeing them lesse they should lesse fear them and be provided of resolution and courage more then enough doth not our soul by a like artifice fain to its self its misfortunes greater then they are to the end that afterwards returning to consider the truth of the businesse it may receive some comfort in undeceiving its self and that when the violence of its evil shall return to oppresse it it may have laid in a large provision of courage and find its self provided of more constancy then is requisite for the undergoing of it Or else do we not aggravate our miseries to provoke our selves to weep more abundantly because we finde that tears are a refreshment to us and therefore also in Tragedies afflicted persons do commonly exhort one another to shed abundance of Tears Or else to conclude do we thus aggravate our evils because we think that great and excellent things having only great destinies either in good or evil it is some token of elevation and excellence to have been exercised by great evils If any man object to me that herein we should make but a simple consequence I do freely confesse it but I believe he will also grant me that the mind of man hath very many weaknesses and follies and especially that he is so passionate for his own excellence that he lets not slip by in vain the least shaddow of the least mark that he can give to himself of it And therefore we see many men blame themselves for having a bad memory that from thence they may draw some advantage for their judgement because though they see this consequence cannot but be very weak since that there are every-where thousands of blockheads that have neither memory nor judgement yet they think that this is some slight sign of it because of an opinion that is received by many to this purpose the truth whereof we do not here examine and that which is yet more you
which I understand not reproach to him his contradictions fight against him with those arms which he hath put into my hands and appear more able and more understanding by this censure of him then indeed I am On the contrary to commend any one with success one must not suppose for ttue any thing that he saies but must prove and maintain it by reasons fetcht elswhere PROB. 35. What is the reason that when the Winter hath been very cold they commonly say the Summer that follows will be very hot THere are sometimes some slight things the clearing whereof fails not to bring some light to our common sense and in this number one may reckon this which at first sight hath some difficulty by reason that one would think the quite contrary that if the Winter hath very much cooled the Earth and Air they should be the more difficultly heated by the following Summer Is it therefore quite otherwise that the heat of the Summer finding the earth and air very cold doth redouble its violence by the opposition of its contrary Or else do they say so because they see that one contrary doth naturally succeed another in the same degree as for example the water doth naturally ascend as much as it hath descended the excess of heat in a feaver ariseth to the same violence with the excess of cold great friendships leave behind them great enmities and great displeasures when they end produce extream contentments after an extraordinary cloudy and wet season we enjoy an extraordinary serenity and purity of air and much fairer then that which went before it and one that is recovered from a great sickness hath commonly better health then he had before and recovers a soundness that is more firme and of a greater value then that which he had lost Or else is it that when the Winter hath been extraordinary cold it hath also been necessarily dry by the same reason the earth being very dry is disposed to receive a great heat Or else that when it hath been long cold it is a sign that the matter of the cold and Northern wind or of the other causes that do cool the air is spent for a long time and therefore it is likely it will be very hot PROB. 36. What is the reason that Fear makes ones hair stand on end FOr the clearing of this Problem I think it is needful to consider in the first place that Admiration and Fear have some affinity and do often accompany one another Which being so it seems that as Admiration makes a Chilness run through ones whole body by reason that it brings into the soul a certain shadow of Fear So Fear makes the hair stand on end out of some mixture of Admiration Indeed this seems so much the more probable because the frights which make the hair stand on end must spring from a danger whose image presently strikes the soul and yet it knows no cause of it and that those frights which come upon us when we think we see dead men or Ghosts or Devils do chiefly produce this effect because they are not only fearful things but also very admirable as being supernatural Virgil hath excellently well comprized this for when he would expresse the Fear which the ghost of his wife Creusa strook into Aeneas the prodigy of Polydorus's tomb the arrival of Mercury that came to bring him a message from Jupiter or the Fear that Turnus was in seeing an infernal monster flap his buckler with its wings upon all these occasions he puts down this circumstance that their hair stood up right because that all these things were as Admirable as terrible But in other kinds of fear he is contented to mention only coldness and trembling And if any demand of me why Admiration makes the hair to stand up right I answer that the soul having its faculties intent on the consideration of that which appears admirable doth also contract the organs of the brain and with them the skin that covers the head Now a man may easily imagine that we cannot contract this skin but by pulling it up nor pull it up but the hairs will stare a little It is true that the motion of fear doth also contribute thereto because it makes one cold and that a part of our body cannot be cold without being a little more contracted then before PROB. 37. Whence comes it that many being in a frenzy have spoke Latin or Greek without having ever learned either of these languages MAny of those that have examined this Question endeavouring to rid themselves of the great difficulty which it presents at first to the mind have in my judgement made use of such answers as are more against all appearance of reason then the Question it self and given us remedies worse then the disease For they would give such strange force to our imagination that no man of a sound judgement is able to give credit to their vain discourses Wherefore omiting all that they have said of it we will search only amongst known causes according to our custom the reason of so marvellous an effect First then it is remarkable that those words which many being in a frenzy have pronounced in a tongue which they knew not have been ordinarily Latin or Greek or sometimes Hebrew according to the report of those that have treated of them In the second place I suppose that the words which they have thus spoken did not make any discourse that was coherent or that was pertinent to that which was asked them since that the transports of their frenzy hindred them from discoursing rationally These two things being thus supposed one may add that although those that have spoken Latin Greek or Hebrew in a frenzy never studied it and yet they easily may have heard those words before which they spoke seeing that these three languages are commonly taught throughout Europe and that private houses and those places which are set apart for speaking in publick do very often retain them Now it is possible that these words at the same time when they heard them made some impression in the organs of their memories which through its weakness did not appear to them untill they fell into madness because that the heat of the frenzy by its immoderate subtilizing of the spirits of the brain renders the sense of the imagination so quick and so delicate that there cannot be in its organs any impressions so weak which it discovers not and is lively enough affected with it And that the images of certain things can lodge in our memories and we have no knowledge of them at all because they are only painted very weakly and as it were with dead colours may sufficiently be proved by Reminiscence which brings to our minds many things which we thought we had utterly forgotten Besides many otherlike impressions are also made oftentimes in the other organs of our faculties and we never perceive it and it is not to be doubted
for example but that when the weather is about to change our bodies although we perceive nothing on it do receive within them some change as well as those of birds that thereby do presage fair or foul weather In the third place one may confess that certain images may be imprinted in our organs without being perceived after the example of a man that is very short-sighted who doth questionless for all that receive the images of objects very far distant because that he would see them if on a suddain the power which he hath of seeing should become more subtile and quick And if any man wonders not that these freneticks we speak of are able to retain and conserve a long time in their memories the images which they do not know are there but that the words which they heard only by the by should be able to leave there any light and weak picture of themselves He must remember that besides that the organs of the memory are without doubt very delicate and very susceptible of all impressions the activity of natural things is marvellous and hath many times much greater extent then we believe For for example could we easily perswade our selves that a beast that runs can in running imprint it s sent in all the places where it goes if the dogs of chase did not prove it and when we have handled a ring of glass or silver or gold would we believe at the first that so small touching of it should take away any thing from it and yet Philosophers hold that it must needs be so since that at length we diminish it sensibly by handling it I add further that it is not necessary that the persons we now speak of should have heard those words they pronounce in their frenzy only once they may have heard them two or three several times and a man must the less wonder that we have the images of things without knowing it when he considers that our very desires are hidden from us when they are as yet very feeble and newly born PROB. 38. What is the reason that a too earnest entreaty makes us unwilling instead of inciting us to grant that which is desired of us IS it not because man being a rational creature and one thaâ— ought to act freely loves to leaâ— himself the dance in all his actions and to have the beginning of theâ— in himself and that when one desires to constrain him with too much ardour and violence to any thingâ— he thinks he is rather drawn by thâ— ardour and pressing importunity then put upon it of himself which consequently displeases him and makes his will more cold instead of heating it Or else is it because he which begs of us earnestly makes us foresee plainly enough that we cannot deny him his desire without putting him into a great choler and making him our enemy that is to say that he provides for us his enmity as it were a punishment in case we fail of compliance toward him in which our mind sees yet a greater image of constraint and that which displeaseth it more for it hates nothing so much as to seem to do a thing out of fear Or else is it because we judge that he which desires a thing with immoderate and excessive passion is apt to tell a lie to gain it sooner then another man that desires it with less violence and that he doth purposely conceal from us some circumstance which would make his request unreasonable and unjust Or else is it because that which is very violently desired seems to us of more consequence and that in things of consequence we are wont to demur and consider a good while before we resolve any thing because we are affraid of committing some great errour Or else is it because he which prayes us with too much earnestness sayes many things which make us believe that he hath his eye fastened only upon his own interest and that he regards only the good or evil that may happen to him upon our denyal or consent and not on the good or evil that may befall us which we dislike with some reason as being unjust for according to equity and reason he that would have us be disposed to do good to him ought also on his part to wish us well and that in desiring of us an act of good will towards him he have not a will indifferent toward us Or else lastly is it not because too earnest prayers and supplications are commonly accompanied with too low and base a submission and a too servile flattery which commonly do quite contrary to that a man thinks they should It is manifest indeed that a too low and sordid submission is apt to be contemned and every one knows it well enough but that which deceives men is that oftentimes they do not consider long enough before the consequences of this contempt and see not that it not only extinguishes Affection in us but also inclines us even to Hatred just as Pity inclines us to Love Besides the submission that any one renders to us is not more apt to please us and by this means to get some benefit of us then to make us think it comes from a base and dejected mind since that all the advantage we can finde in it proceeds only from the mind that it comes from and as for the excessive praises which are given us by him that desires to obtain some favour from us by his too base flattery if we think that they do not come from the heart we consider them only as so many cheats and if we believe that he doth really esteem us with that excess as he makes shew of first we do not much thank him for it because the esteem which a man hath of any one is a thing forced and depends not on him that gives it and in the second place we do not now take so much care to preserve and augment this esteem in him by our benefits as thinking it both great enough and well enough established whereas when any one respects us but with more moderation we labour what we can to encrease this esteem by our beneficence and take care to cherish and cultivate as I may so say a belief which we see is both profitable and glorious to us PROB. 39. What are the causes of the marvelous things which we observe in the Silk-worm TO say the truth there is nothing so admirable as that which no body admires Those which we call occult qualities in the Elements or in other things may have the most common causes like Juglers tricks which seem to be grand mysteries before one hath discovered them but Man whose ordinary operations and common motions we do not at all admire offers us nevertheless in these operations and motions far more worthy subjects of astonishment his Passions are more admirable then the ebbing and flowing of the sea the power of his understanding over his Will more marvelous then
and clammy humour continued some whole years without eating or drinking Now as this temper of the Silk-worm discovers to us the cause why it can live so long without meat So this entire abstinence in which it passes a great part of its life may be a new confirmation to us that it hath the same temper which we attributed to it at first For though for a certain season it eats abundantly enough of which there may be easily some other particular reason yet considering its whole life in gross it must pass for one of the soberest creatures These are then in my opinion the causes of whatsoever appears marvelous in the Silk-worm If any one hath a mind to think that there are more strange and more occult ones it is not my intent that this discourse should hinder him But yet I believe that as we oftentimes do not see many things because they are too far distant from the eyes of our mind so at other times we do not see them because they are too near and that we search at the other end of the world for that which lyes before our noses and that the great eagerness that our understanding uses to arrive at their causes makes it go much beyond them PROB. 40. Why are good men often-times subject to a light promptitude of Choler DO they not only seem to be so because they are more free and open and so know not how to dissemble the smallest anger and least discontentments that arise in them but let them presently appear in their eyes and words whereas those that are less free do conceal them what they can possibly Or else is it that those that have honest and good minds are angry for many things that regard not their particular interests as for example for the glory of God and for any thing that respects Honesty and Piety so that as these are general things which come every moment into our discourse ordinary conversation offers them more often occasion to speak with heat and emotion and in some sort to be provoked whereas a brutish man to whom all things are indifferent except his own proper interest can hear without any disturbance all kind of discourse which he is not the subject of be they never so strange which makes him often appear more sweet and gentle because his interests being some particular things and little known to others they scarce ever come to be the matter of a common discourse Or else may we not give light to this Problem by that which Aristotle saith that Choler is enclined to obey Reason but that it obeyes it too soon and stayes not until the first appearance of Reason hath given place to another more clear and solid And may it not be said that if so it must needs be that good minds must naturally have some seeds of a light promptitude to Choler because the inclination readily to obey Reason is without doubt a good disposition of mind and a token of excellence though by accident-there may arise from it vitious actions and other inconveniencies Or else may we not add further that one shall have less reason to wonder that Good men have many times such a disposition if it be considered that there are some kinds of Anger so handsom that one may maintain they mark out more of Goodness Tenderness and Love of good than even motions of Pitty or Good-will because in the motions of Affection and Pitty the soul doth meerly desire to do good but those of a generous and laudable Anger are the motions of a soul that doth so much love good and hate evil that it troubles it self at it even to fury and becomes foolish for a time It may indeed be further alledged in favour of this Paradox that the tenderness of nature of any creature appears not so much for example when it takes care to give food to its little ones as when full of anger and as it were in a fury it layes on load with its wings or horns or other arms that Nature hath given it on those that would come too near them Or else in conclusion we may say that there are certain emotions of choler in which a man hath no intentions to do any hurt to those of whom he complains with sharp words but rather to incite them to produce their justifications to be able to find them innocent or less culpable and to continue by this means to love them so that as they do not proceed out of malice but tenderness there is no cause to wonder that good men are subject thereunto and that they shew a good nature like in this to Lightnings that appear in Summer evenings and are oftentimes signs of fair weather whereas they should seem rather to presage foul PROB. 41. Whence comes it that they say The Love of Grand-fathers to their Grand-children is greater then that of their Fathers IS it not because a man attains through longer cares to have a Grand-child then to have a Son and that alwayes that which we acquire through more care is more dear to us Or else is not a Grand-child dearer because it hath been a long time desired Or else do we not look upon it as a more rare favour and such as heaven eommunicates only to few persons which makes us love it the more because generally all rare things have a particular allurement for our minds Or else is not a Grand-child more beloved of his Grand-father then of his Father because that his Grand-father as being more old and nigher his death doth for this reason desire the more to live again in another Or else is it because the love we bear to those that proceed from us arising from a desire to extend our being successively to many generations he that by this natural course is more removed shews to us this design more advanced and so doth more touch our inclinations Or else is it because the Father loves his Son only for his own sake but the Grand-father loves him for his own sake and for his Sons sake too and sees in him the image of himself and of him whom he hath begotten and that these two divers considerations do produce in him two divers tendernesses very powerful Indeed this reason is very likely for to go about to object that the Father hath likewise two divers causes of loving his Son because he may love him for the Grand-fathers sake this makes nothing to the purpose since that as every one knows the affection which blood inspires hath much less force in ascending than in descending But if still another reason must be given of this Problem one may also say that perhaps the affection of Grand-fathers doth only seem to be greater then that of Fathers because the Son being in a more particular manner the very blood and substance of the Father the Father for this reason thinks that to love him very much is to love himself very much and that therefore he
cold and serious tone surprizeth us the more because we did not expect to see it in this form and under this appearance and so it is proper to cause laughter which must arise from a being surprized whereas he that laughs whilest he tells a merry story doth as it were threaten us and give us warning before hand so that he doth not surprize us at all But why must laughter arise from a surprize Is it as some say because it proceeds from Admiration which is raised chiefly by a novelty Or else is it because that which makes us laugh is alwayes so vain that if our minds could consider it a little at leisure it would not find in it any subject of contentment Or else do we not laugh when he that tells us any merry thing laughs much at it because he seems to us as if he commended himself and that otherwise that which he sayes seems to be less pleasant and less apt to cause laughter when we see he helps it forward by beginning to laugh first Or else lastly is it because he which tells a merry passage without laughing appears to have some politeness and with all gravity of manners So that as he appears a more honest man so likewise whatever he saith hath more of grace in his mouth and delights us the more whereas if he laughs too much he appears only a Bouffon and by this means whatever he saies though never so good loses more then half its grace and beauty PROB. 47. Why do we laugh in seeing a thing very ill-favoured since that which delights the mind one would think ought to have in it some perfection TO escape this difficulty which is not so slight but that many ancient Philosophers and Oratours have laboured to little purpose for the clearing of it may we not say in the first place that a man doth not laugh at ugly things when they are wholly and altogether such since that on the contrary we do then call them horrible and fly from them as things odious but that most commonly a man laughs at some trifling and slight grace mixt with their deformity as for example it is clear that the habit of a Bouffon though it be deformed hath many times I know not what grace that may tickle the imagination But what is the reason this remnant of grace and this vain and slight ray of goodness that may be found in some ill-favoured things makes one laugh more then a thing reasonably well made would do May it not possibly be because in a thing ill made the defects that it hath may by their opposition render in some sort more pleasant and more gratefull to the fancy that little grace which shines in it Or else rather is it not because generally every grace or prettiness that makes one laugh either in handsome or unhandsome things should be alwayes vain and slight and not solid as we said in the foregoing Problem But why should it be so Is it not because solid graces chiefly affecting the Judgement and approving themselves to us by our discretion and understanding do produce a pleasure though greater yet more sober and such as hath something of grace in it but a vain and slight grace affecting especially the imagination and being chiefly liked by our weakness fills us also with a joy that manifests somewhat of weakness and childishness and takes from us all gravity and makes us not able to hold our countenance which is that we call laughter and therefore they say it is a sign of folly in those that are much subject to it Or else do not things that are very ill-favoured delight those that look upon them because they are rare as well as things perfect and excellent Or else is it not that as our soul loves to have its Ideas perfect and intirely expressive of their objects for this reason it is pleased more in considering things very ill done then moderately well because these first do perfect and accomplish the Idea which it hath of ugliness and fills up its knowledge to the full every way whereas those that are moderately well done can give it only imperfect notions Or else do not objects that are very ill done by giving us an Idea of extream imperfection furnish us with an easie way to draw from thence the image of extream perfection and to render it more lively in us so that they very much instructing our mind it delights it self to consider them not for any reason that perswades it that it should do so but by a natural and blind motion that makes it search in it to perfect its knowledge and to instruct its self Or else do we not love to see things very ill done to shew our abilities in condemning them But what is the reason we cannot as well show them in praising those that are moderately well done Is it not because every body knows at first sight that which is extream and findes more difficulty in that which is moderate Or because as we said in another Problem it is easier to blame then to commend Or else do we not delight to express the rules of good whereof we have all some Theory rather on the subject of an ill made thing then of one that is well made because a thing well made contains them in its self and so seems to suggest them to us and to leave nothing to our invention whereas when we express them by blaming a deformed thing we seem to invent them our selves It is probable indeed that fools do it for this reason because they think they cannot manifest their wit better then by detracting and finding fault Or else to conclude is it not in many meerly an odd fantastical and childish humour to like a thing that is deformed and to consider it with satisfaction and therefore we see that all fools laugh more heartily at monstrous and extravagant things and that good and discreet men smiling only at these do laugh more heartily at things excellent and handsome as at a bold and neat reply at a pretty compendious way by which some one hath brought about his desires or at some gentleness that shines in his actions at a gracefull motion of the body at the fit proportions and correspondence of all the parts of an History or Fable at a passion naturally exprest or some such like thing PROB. 48. What is the reason that Man being inclined to flatter himself doth nevertheless aggravate his own imperfection above the truth as for example in saying there is nothing but folly and injustice and ingratitude in the world FIrst it may be said on this subject that in truth man attains most commonly to a mediocrity of wisdome seeing there are scarce any that have not the use of common sence and that to speak civilly he also attains ordinarily to a moderate and common Virtue seeing there are few that become unnatural but that for all this when we come to compare this