the leavs and branches are tossed One would wish to have no il belief but reports conjectures shake us rather to a fearful then a confident conclusion The mind suffers much in this irresolution and apparencies trouble much when one cannot directly judg of the falshood or truth of them There are both good and ill examples both to settle and to shake us and ordinarily our thoughts light upon them that persecute us rather then those that ease us That of Penelope comforts us when we represent to ourselves that her fidelity lasted five twenty years in the absence of her Husband but that of Messalina tyrannizes over us and awakes our suspicions when we think of our infamous impurities our minds are balanced on both sides but the misfortune is that conjectures having given the Alarm that by too strict an enquiry we either find or invent somewhat to change our doubts into beliefs Should we not rest our selves after having had a tryal of a person and may effects for testimonies of the affection But all those proofs keep us not from vexing our selves because fear which is not in our power interprets ill the least appearances and buries it selfe even in false objects when it finds no true What tryal soever we have had of fidelity when love hath nothing left to desire it hath all to fear It is the natural course of our passions that threaten change when they are in extremes and ruine themselves without any occasion only because they are humane Hypocrates has made a good maxime to advertise us that bodies are in danger of sickness when they are too high and strong But a Poet has a better conceit for the alteration of minds raised with too violent an affection The will deserves as well a wheele of inconstancy for her passions as fortune for her favours in the top there is no subsistence long either by reason of misfortune or imbecility Those that are in the highest pitch in love are like those which are on the top of too great Elevations their head growes dizzy and though no body touch them they reel till they fall of themselves meerly by the fear of falling When the Sun is at noon it begins to decline because when it cannot pass that point it retires and removes it self when nothing drives it to its setting or another Hemispheere Our minds seem to have the same motions and distaste followes liking by an order that is as natural as that which makes night succeed the day or ebbs and floods in the sea We feel our selvs insensibly weary even of the loveliest things and though the soul be immortal in her own nature yet she seems in her actions to express a youthfulness and age as bodies do Socrates said that the Gods did strive to mingle pleasure pain one with another but when they could not do that yet at least they tyed them together that the alternative succession may prevent insolence and despair This happens often without our own voluntary contributions and as we slip down from joy to sorrow so oftentimes we perceive our love change into coldnesse or indifferency The diseases of the mind as wel as the body are formed most commonly without our consent we lose the quiet of our soul as our health all at once without any prevision of the change and not knowing how to find the cause or remedy of this passion no more then of a Quartain Ague But I have too long spoke against my own mind as well as reason in favour of a passion that ruines loves reputation and disorders the souls tranquillity Reason ingenders love and love jealousie but the one and the other resemble little wormes that corrupts the matter that forms them The one kills his father and the other his mother How moderate soever this passion be it is alwayes dangerous and in this case there must be injustice committed forbidding the practice by reason of the abuse because they are too much fastned to one another As there is no little Serpent without some Venom there is no so well tempered jealousie that does not produce many misfortunes Those that compare it to Ivy do it very fitly because as that growes ordinarily but upon old heaps of ruines so this passion wreaths it selfe most commonly about tortured and dejected spirits We see Ivy flourishing with green upon trees that are dry and sapples so the older men grow this passion youthens the more and becomes the stronger in such as age or craziness of wit infeebles or stupifies other plants have their root at the foot Ivy has every where and even more root then leaves Jealousy roots it self every day more and more and insinuates it self more inseparably into the soul then Ivy can do into trees or walls It is but the middle kind of wits that are capable of this contagion excellent ones are above it and mean ones below these are ignorant of the occasions and the other unmoved with them It is in this that stupidity arrives at the same point as wisdom and Clowns are as happy as Philosophers otherwise those that afflict themselvs for a mis-fortune where there is no remedy but patience do entertain this error in the world and have a whole moon in their head when they think they have but halfe an one on their forhead It is to be very senselesse to afflict ones selfe without obliging any body and make a damnation in this world for fear of missing it in the next If the mistrust of jealous ones be knowne they augment the il instead of the redress if it be not it is superfluous and it is a hidden pain which silence and modesty render more supportable I do not wonder if jealous ones be lean their passion feeds on nothing but phantasmes Good wits restrain their curiosity while indifferent ones let it loose to learn what should be unknown not considering that in the commerce of this world the most exact do not make best their accounts If we could regulate well our opinions we should suppresse many enemies Melancholy and meditations entertain jealousie diversion and forgetfulnesse put it away Wit as well as sight wearies when it is fixt too long on one object In these occasions we must overcome as the Parthians do by flying and rather divert our thoughts then direct them with too much intentivenesse it is an enemy with poisoned weapons and his approach is enough to overthrow when the memory has once received it reason comes often too late for a resistance One may hinder the entrance but it never goes out before it has ruined the host Cydippus among the Romans was so pleased to see buls baited as he thought so much of it all night as he rose in the morning with hornes on his head This spectacle pleasing him he had entertained his fancy with it and in the end his imagination did him this ill office 'T is thus that many make their heads ake without considering that their unquietnesse and curiosity is
that we never see them troubled even when they are constrained to yeeld to necessity since they keep a secret retreat within themselves whither the storms of Fortune cannot reach 'T is thither where the soul retires to maintain her self in an eternall serenity where she obtains an absolute Empire over her opinions where she entertaines her self solitarily even in the midst of company and the crowd of the world interrupts not her repose and silence 'T is in this solitude of the superiour part that the minde fortifies it self and learns true morality and where she advanceth to her self almost without time or experience the providence of old Men and the Wisdome of Philosophers Lastly 'T is here where if we lay up the Images of pleasant things by these means we may furnish our selves alwayes with fair thoughts for if the pleasing Objects displease us we may coming back into our selves content our spirits while our senses are persecuted and entertaine our fancy with Beauty at the same time when Deformity takes up our eyes But who can praise enough this noble thoughtfulnesse of the Melancholly since it is by that the soul seemes to rid her self when she pleaseth of the troublesome commerce with the senses and we consider with an intention lesse distracted what we are when our imagination reflects us to our selves more clearly and with lesse danger then the lovely Fountain did to Narcissus I wonder not that the Poets faine that he lost himself since he looked for himself out of himself We are to be found truly no where but in our selves every where else we meet but with our fantasme or our shadow And therefore many have reason to say That Meditation is harder then Extasie as its easier to go out of our selves then to re-enter into them without the use of this noble Thoughtfulnesse to which the temper of Melancholy is disposed Man seems to have but an imperfect reason and even an uselesse For as Bees must retire themselves to make the honey when they have gathered the matter from flowers so it is necessary that after we have surveyed many objects we should make a regress into our selves to gather their fruit and to draw from them conclusions otherwise all the study or experience we can have will be but a confusion or mixture it would be wealth that we should be ill husbands of our actions would be misguided our thoughts without order and our discourse without judgment The most part of grosse spirits are of a quite contrary opinion and cannot imagine pensivenesse to be any thing but such a trans as mad men or sick persons are in this kind of meditation would hurt them as much as it frights them and would be as contrary to them as unpleasing It dazels weak spirits and vexeth malicious ones it is the blind of the one and the torment of the other it is not like that they that have nothing in their mindes but ignorance or in their conscience but crimes should bee much pleased to look into themselves to seek there satisfaction or rest But to despise pensivenesse because many lose themselves in it is it not to condemn the use of fire and water for some incommodities they have without considering their necessity for our life I had as lieve blame the Sun because Owls cannot endure the brightnesse of it which Eagles look upon so fixedly as if one should quarrell with the Light because weak eyes are dazled with its beams and because they draw darknesse even from the spring it self of Light There is enough said for the Apology and praise of Melancholy and for fear of being tedious in the Problem if I should go on since both Humours have somewhat good and ill in them I have nothing to add but that they should serve for remedies to one another For the Romans accounted them best among the Tribunes that were most inclined to the Senate and those the wisest among the Senators that favoured most the Party of the People to divert on the one side authority from tyranny and on the Other liberty from insolence So it seems that the most excellent of the Merry humour are those that draw nearest to Melancholy and amongst the Melancholy they that confine closest to the Merry for being so tempered the first will be discreeter and the other lesse austere and troublesome Of Reputation REputation is a great Treasure and is no lesse usefull to Vertue then light to Pictures to set them off it is the fairest ornament of our civill Life and without which the most glorious and illustrious actions remain smothered and obscured But as it is got and lost now a dayes it may be reckoned among the benefits of Fortune of which fools have often a better share then deserving persons If it were to be distributed by good Iudges Vertue would suffice for the acquisition of it but it hath often so ill Arbitrators that were we not bound by all means possible to avoid Scandals worthy persons might content themselves with the testimony of their own Conscience without being troubled for the Opinions of the unadvised which chance may make good or ill Opinion depends too little on our selves to make us unhappy and it were a felicity very unsure that the ignorance or malice of an Enemy could remove Fame is sometimes an effect that seems to have no cause and is rais'd like those alarms that disorder a whole Army without any bodyes conceiving the occasion Why then should we spend our spirits with so much unquietnesse to know how we stand in the opinion of others and afflict our selves for the errour of the vulgar as if the ignorant began but now to deceive themselves and belie others I should have reason to wonder with Aristotle why the Ancients rewarded rather the strength of the body then minde giving Lawrels to Wrastlers and not to Wise men but that ignorance and poverty disenabled them to set a prize of Vertue Ignorance because having the foundation and roots in the heart Men abuse themselves in their judgments of Vertue Poverty because when we perceive the excellency of it there is nothing in the world precious enough to serve for the recompence or Coronation The unadvised conceive often Vertue where there is nothing but Vice and without thinking what they do give ill-favoured names to lovely things like Astronomers that call some Stars Buls and Scorpions that notwithstanding have neither fury nor venom onely purity and light I could wish that those that undertake to judge of things without well understanding the nature of them were punished with such a correction as Midas that as Ovid reports did prefer the noise of Pan's rustick Field-pipe before the sweet ravishing tunes of Apollo's Lute giving his voice to that whch made most noise His judgment is like many of these times that value every thing by the colour and looks deserving no lesse then he to wear long Ears for a mark of their stupidity and indeed to make more account
if it do not flatter nor no light if it be true and though they pretend much to the devotion of the time they never go to Masse till the holy water be spent for fear that receiving any of it their plaisters should be moystened and that there should be stains discovered on their faces but their designe shows it self with their deformity because striving to shadow their Defects they make them the more conspicuous Gracefulness is so averse to this slavery and fetterednesse as though we could alwayes do well it is a question whether that would alwayes please There must be in every thing intermissions to unbend our spirits Art in this should conform it self to Nature that hath not set Stars all over the heaven nor Flowers over the earth and though flowers are not so fair and precious as Stars yet we look upon them with more pleasure and attentivenesse because their beauty being of so little stay leaves us alwayes a desire of seeing them again Our spirits are cloyed as well as our Senses they need some rest and relaxation to digest delights 'T is not my meaning to perswade by these reasons that one should affect faults but so they be but light ones we may sometimes commit them so happily as they prove advantageous because bashfulnesse that followes them and displayes it selfe in the face is an infallible testimony of an innocent soul that is far from conceiving of great ills since it is so sensible of slight ones and sometimes when they are but imaginary If gracefulnesse then be described by doing all things by Nature and not by studiedness an ingenuous freedom is better then constraint All the world yeelds that difficulty consists in rarities there is no dexterity to declare a painfulnesse since a Clown may do as much but to hide it so finely as the cunning of it may not be discerned Candor and Ingenuity is not lesse to be wished for Discourse then for Action the most ordinary words are most excellent a word that is obscure is forbidden The Philosopher that alwayes wept it may be would have had a mind to laugh if he had heard many women that would passe for Learneder then they are use in their Discourse such hard words that do easier expresse their Extravagancie then Conceit This excessive desire of pleasing which wee have blamed goes along almost alwayes with the apprehension of not being liked and then when these two contrary passions meet they cause great inequalities because if desire excites them fear cools them when the one animates us to speak wel orsharply the other interrupts us and tyes us to silence by this one may judg how much apprehension as well as vanity injures gracefulnesse It happens ordinarily that such that are alwayes on their guard and fear every moment to fail do almost nothing else Extreme fearfulnesse disposeth the mind to error as well as the body to sickness Me thinks if one examined well the cause of this same troublesome passion that Education doth not contribute lesse to it then Constitution or Nature There are those that are bred in such a slavery they can do nothing freely they dare not hold up their heads with that becoming confidence that graces actions their thoughts are alwayes low and what good inclinations soever they have shamefac'dnesse retards the successe of their purpose Those that have seen nothing are subject to be amazed at a very little because the diffidence of themselves makes them admire or fear every thing Most commonly after their Salutations they begin their Complements as we end our Letters They would find an excellent remedy if they could beleeve that so little things are not to be admired and that if one were at leisure to examine that which we wonder at first after an hours conversation we should often change the subject of our admiration into the object of our contempt But every body cannot attain to this resolution 't is hard even for the best Wits to have dexterity without experience or facility without practice Actions beget Habits with difficulty and then the Habit being formed it produces actions with gracefulnesse and ornament Yet notwithstanding in blaming this rustick shamefac'dnesse I doe not mean to praise Impudency because both have limits and effects irregular because the one carries us beyond our power and decency and the other keeps us short of them whereas the modesty that I desire is between these two vitious extremes to distance us from too good or too ill opinion of our selves Of Cloathes and Ornaments THere must be a certain discretion observed in cloaths lest old men should tax the excess or theyoung defects and that a decency may keep the one from laughing and the other from being angry This is the reason that it is so hard to please all and to sute the fashion well to reason because there are some so absurd humours as they can endure nothing done in the fashion and will certainly conclude every thing unjust if the invention of it be not proved by at least one ages Antiquity This is very much to undervalue the present time and to honour that that is past without considering that wisdom suffers what it cannot redresse and that there is also lesse vanity and difficulty to follow the received fashion then to resuscitate the antiquated Indeed the light and giddy invent fashions but the wise and sober accommodate themselves to them in stead of contradicting them Habits and words should be suted to the time and as one would think them mad that should speak in the Court the language of Chaucer so we could not judg better of such as would affect to be cloathed so too Those that censure the inconstancy of the French should do better to quit their own slavish opinions that forbid them their owne commodity lest they should not be cloathed like their Grandfathers I would fain know of those that will not follow the times of what date they would have their cloathes because if Antiquity must be the rule they should go back as far as Adam to cloath themselves with leaves to render the fashion more venerable by this ancient derivation Those that say reason and custome resemble the Sun and the Moon did light well upon it because we must serve our selves according to the occasions of the Illuminations of both these Lights though the one be clearer then the other Excesse is blameable in all things but principally in novelties t is folly to dispaire them and vanity to be too much affected with them As I do not approve those women that study with too much curiosity new fashions so I cannot esteeme those that yet lament the putting down of high wyers and vardingals This obstinacy comes from self love they are no lesse punishable then those that would make old medals current in commerce for mony against the lawes of Princes and custome of the Country Such women make their owne antiquity ridiculous and make much a do to bring the