both equally ill grounded Joy is commonly more hurtfull then Sadness because this enduing a man with reservednesse and Warinesse doth in some sort encline him to Prudence whereas the other render those who give themselves up thereunto inconsiderate and rash The 144th Article Of Desires whose events depend only on our selves BUt because these Passions cannot sway us to any actions but by the interposition of the Desire that they excite it is Desire which wee ought peculiarly to regulate and therein consists the principall part of Morality Now as I said just now it is alwayes good when it follows a true knowledge so it cannot chuse but be bad when it is grounded on an errour and me thinks the most ordinary errour committed in Desire is when a man doth not clearly enough distinguish the things which absolutely depend on our selves from those which doe not For concerning those which depend of us that is of our free disposition it is enough to know that they are good not to desire them with too much vehemence because it is a following of vertue to doe the good things that depend of us and it is certain he cannot have too ardent a Desire after Vertue Besides what we thus desire cannot chuse but be accomplished since it depending only on us we ever receive the plenary satisfaction wee expect but the usuall fault herein is not that we desire too much but too little and the soveraigne remedy against that is as much as in us lies to ridde the spirit of all kind of Desires less usefull then to strive to know clearly and consider with attention the goodness of that which is to be desired The 145 Article Of those which depend meerly on other causes and what Fortune is FOr those things which depend not any wayes of us how good soever they be they ought never to be desired with Passion not only because they may not befall and by this means afflict us so much the more by how much more they were desired but chiefly because when they possesse our thoughts they divert us from bending our affection to other things the acquisition whereof depends of our selves and there are two generall remedies against these idle Desires the first generosity which I will speak of hereafter the second is that we ought to reflect on divine Providence and imagine to our selves that it is impossible that any thing happen otherwise then this Providence hath determined from all eternity so that there is a kind of fatality or unresistable necessity to oppose Fortune to destroy her as a Chimera proceeding only from the errour of our understandings for wee can desire nothing but what we think in some manner possible and wee cannot suppose things which depend not of as possible seeing we think they depend not on Fortune that is wee suppose they may happen and the like hath happened formerly Now this opinion is only grounded upon this that wee not undersTanding all the causes contributary to every effect for when a thing which we supposed to depend on Forume doth not fall out that shewes some of the causes necessary to produce was wanting and consequently that it was absolutely impossible and that the like did never happen that is where a like cause of its Production was wanting so that had wee not been ignorant of that before we should never have imagined them possible nor consequently should ever have desired them The 146th Article Of those that depend of us and others too THis vulgar opinion then that there is without us a Fortune which causeth things to fall out or not to fall out according to her pleasure must be utterly rejected and it must be understood that all things are guided by a divine Providence whose eternall decree is so infallible and immutable that unless those things which the same decree hath pleased to let depend on our free disposition we ought to think for our parts that nothing happens but what of necessity must as if it were fatall so that without a crime we cannot desire it may happen otherwise But because the most part of our Desires extend to two things which depend not altogether on our selves nor altogether else-where we ought exactly to distinguish what in them depends on our selves that we may not let our Desire ramble any farther then that and for what is over and above though we should esteem the successe thereof absolutely fatall and immutable that our Desire busie not it selfe thereabout we should not omit to consider the reasons why it ought lesse or more to be hoped for that they may serve to regulate our actions For if for example wee had any businesse at a place whither wee might goe two severall wayes one whereof uses to be much safer than the other although the decree of Providence may be such that if we go that way which is conceived safest wee shall not escape robbing and on the contrary we might have gone the other way without any danger yet we ought not therefore to be indifferent which we take nor rest upon the immutable fatality of this decree But reason wills us to choose the way which used to be safest and our Desire herein ought to be fulfilled whatsoever evill befall us by following it because this evill or mischiefe having been as to us inevitable we have no occasion to wish to be exempted from it but only doe the best our understanding can comprehend as I suppose we have done and it is certain that when a man exerciseth himselfe so to distinguish betwixt Fatallity and Fortune he easily habituates himselfe so to regulate his Desires that seeing the fulfilling of them depends onely on our selves they may alwayes give us an absolute satisfaction The 147th Article Of the interiour emotions of the Soul I Will onely adde here one consideration which me thinks is very usefull to hinder us from receiving any discommodity by our Passions it is that our good and will depends chiefly of interiour emotions excited in the Soul onely by the Soul her self wherein they differ from these Passions which ever depend of some motion of the spirits And although these emotions of the Soul be often joyned to the Passions resembling them they may also be often found among other Passions and even spring from those that are contrary to them For example when a husband weeps for his deceased wife whom as oft it falls out it would vex him to see restored to life againe it may be his heart is straightned by Sadnesse which the solemnity of the funerall and the absence of a person whose conversation he was used to excite in him and it may be some remnants of Love or Pity which present themselves to his imagination draw true tears from his eyes notwithstanding that in the mean time he feels a secret Joy in the most interiour part of his Soul whose emotion is so strong that the Sadnesse and tears accompanying it cannot diminish any of its force And
spirits reflected from the image so formed on the kernell go from thence to fall part into the nerves which serve to turn the back and stirre the legs to run away and part into those which as is spoken of before let out or draw upon together the orifices of the heart or which else so agitate the rest of the parts from whence the blood is sent that this blood not being rarified there in the usuall manner sends spirits to the braine that are fitting to maintain and confirm the passion of fear that is such as are proper to hold open or open again the pores of the brain that convey them into the very same nerves for the meere entry of these spirits into these pores excites in this kernell a particular motion instituted by nature to make the soul feel that passion and because these pores relate principally to the little nerves that serve to lock up or open wide the orifices of the heart this makes the soul feel it as if it were chiefly in the heart The 37th Article How it appears they are all caused by some motion of the spirits ANd because the like happens in all the other Passions to wit that they are principally caused by the spirits contained in the cavities of the brain seeing they direct their course towards the nerves which serve to enlarge or straiten the orifices of the heart either to thrust the blood in the other parts differently to it or whatsoever other way it be to feed the self same Passion it may be clearly understood by this wherefore I formerly inserted in my definition that they are caused by some peculiar motion of the Spirits The 38th Article An example of the motions of the Body that accompany the Passions and depend not of the Soul MOreover as the course which these spirits take towards the nerves of the heart is sufficient to give a motion to the kernell whereby fear is put into the soul even so by the meere going of the spirits at that time into those nerves which serve to stirre the legges to run away they cause another motion in the same kernell by meanes whereof the soul feels and perceives this flight which may in this manner be excited in the body by the meere disposition of the organs the soul not at all contributing to it The 39th Article How the same cause may excite divers Passions in divers men THe same impression that the presence of one formidable object workes upon the kernel and which causeth fear in some men may in others rouze up courage and boldnesse the reason whereof is that all braines are not alike disposed for the same motion of the Kernell which in some excites feare in others causeth the spirits to enter into the pores of the brain which convey them part into the nerves which serve to use the hands for defence and partly into those which agitate and drive the blood towards the heart in that manner as is requisite to produce spirits proper to continue this defence and retaine a will to it The 40th Article What the principall effect of the Passions is FOr it must be observed that the principall effect of all the Passions in men is they incite and dispose their Souls to will the things for which they prepare their Bodies so that the resentment of fear incites him to be willing to fly that of boldnesse to be willing to fight and so of the rest The 41th Article What is the power of the Soul in respect of the Body BUt the will is so free by nature that it can never be constrained and of two sorts of thoughts which I have distinguished in the Soul whereof some are her Actions to wit her Wils others her Passions taking that word in its generall signification which comprehends all sorts of apprehensions the first are absolutely in her owne power and cannot but indirectly be changed by the body as on the contrary the last depend absolutely upon the Actions which produce them and they cannot unlesse indirectly be changed by the Soul except then when her selfe is the cause of them And all the Action of the Soul consists in this that she meerely by willing any thing can make the little kernell whereunto she is strictly joyned move in the manner requisite to produce the effect relating to this Will The 42th Article How the things one would remember are found in the memory SO when the Soul would remember any thing this Will is the cause that the kernell nodding successively every way drives the spirits towards severall places of the braine untill they excounter that where the traces which were left there of the object one would remember are For these traces are nothing else but the pores of the braine through which the spirits formerly took their course by reason of the presence of that object have thereby accquired a greater facility to be open in the same manner again than the rest can have by the spirits that come to them so that these spirits meeting these pores enter into them easier than the others whereby they excite a peculiar motion in the kernell which represents the same object to the Soul and makes it know that is it she would remember The 43th Article How the Soul can imagine be attentive and move the Body SO when one would imagin any thing one hath never seen this Will hath the power to make the kernell move in the manner requisite to drive the spirits towards the pores of the braine by the opening of which this thing may be represented So when one would fix his attention some pretty while to consider or ruminate on one object this Will holds the kernell still at that time leaning ever to one side So in fine when one would walk or move his body any way this Will causes the kernell to drive the spirits towards the muscles which serve to that purpose The 44th Article That every Will is naturally joyned to some motion of the kernell but that by industry or habit itmay be annexed to another NOtwithstanding it is not alwayes the Will to excite in us any motion or other effect that can cause us to excite it but that changes according as nature or habit have differently joyned each motion of the kernell to each thought as for example if one would dispose his eyes to look on an object farr distant this Will causes the ball of them to dilate themselves and if one would prompt them to behold an object very neer this Will contracts them but if one thinks onely to dilate the ball he had as good doe nothing that dilates it not at all because nature hath not joyned the motion of the kernell which serves to drive the spirits to the optick nerve in that manner as is requisite to dilate or contract the ball of the eye with the will of dilating or contracting it but with the will of looking on objects remote or at hand and then when we
interest on such an occasion they are exquisitely courteous affable and officious to every one Withall they are absolutely masters of their Passions especially of their Desires Jealousie and Envie because there is nothing the acquisition whereof depends not on them whose worth they suppose can countervaile a hearty Desire of them and of Hatred against men because they esteem them all and of Feare because the confidence of their own verture secures them and lastly of Wrath because little valuing all things without themselves they never give their enemies so much advantage as to acknowledge that they are angry with them The 157th Article Of Pride ALL such as have a good conceit of themselves for any thing else whatsoever have not a reall Generosity but only Pride which is alwayes very vitious though it be so much the more as the cause for which a man esteems himselfe is more unjust and the most unjust of all is when he is proud for no reason that is though no man can see for all this any desert in him for which he should be prized but only because worth is trampled on and he imagines Renown is nothing but meere usurpation he believes that they who attribute most to themselves have most This vice is so unreasonable and absurd that I should scarce believe there were any such men who gave themselves up thereunto if no body had ever been praised unjustly but flattery is so common every where that there is no man so deficient but hee oft sees himselfe esteemed for things which merit not any praise yea that even deserve blame which gives occasion to the more ignorant and stupid to fall into this sort of Pride The 158 Article That the effects thereof are contrary to those of Generosity BUt whatsoever be the cause for which a man esteems himself if it be ought else but the Will he perceives in himselfe alwayes to use well his free Disposition from whence I said Generosity came it ever produces a Pride exceeding blame-worthy and so different from this true Generosity that the effects whereof are absolutely contrary For all other goods as wit beauty riches honours c. Using to be the more esteemed for being found in fewer persons and being for the most part of such a nature that they cannot be communicated to many therefore proud men endeavour to abase all other men and being slaves to their desires their Souls are incessantly agitated with Hatred Envy Jealousie or Wrath. The 159 Article Of Dejection FOr Dejection or vitious Humility it consists chiefely in this that a man perceives himselfe weak or little resolute and as if he had not the absolute use of his free disposition he cannot refraine from doing things whereof he knowes not whether he shall repent or no afterwards then besides that he beleeves he cannot subsist of himselfe nor forgoe many things whose acquisition depends from without him So it is directly opposite to Generosity and it oft befalls that men of a meane spirit are most anogant and proud just as the most generous are most modest and humble But whereas those of a generous spirit alter not their nature by any prosperity or adversity that befalls them those who are weake and abject are onely guided by fortune and prosperity doth not puffe up so high but adversity brings them down as low Yea it is often seen that they abase themselves shamefully to such as they expect profit or feare evill from and at the same time lift themselves up insolently over those from whom they neither hope nor fear any-thing The 160th Article What the motions of the spirits in these Passions is MOreover it is easie to understand that Pride and dejection are not onely vices but Passions because their emotion is very palpable exteriourly in those who are suddenly puffed up or brought down by any new occasion But it may be doubted whether Generosity and Humility which are vortues may also be Passions because their motions appeare lesse and it seemes vertue doth not so much Symbolize with Passion as vice doth Yet I see no neason why the same motion of the spirits which serves to fortifie a thought when it hath an ill ground should not also fortifie it when it hath a just one And because Pride and Generositie consist onely in the good opinion a man hath of himselfe and differ onely herein that the opinion in one is unjust in the other just me thinkes they may be attributed to one and the same Passion which is excited by a motion compounded of Admiration Joy and Love as well that a man beares to himselfe as to the thing for which he doth esteeme himselfe As on the contrary the motion that excites Humility whether vertuous or vitious is composed of Admiration Sadnesse and self Love mixed with Hatred of those defects which cause one to be contemned And all the difference that I observe in these motions is that that of Admiration hath two properties the first that the surprize makes it strong from the very beginning the other that it is equall in its continuance That is the spirits continue moving at the same rate in the braine Of which properties the first is found oftner in Pride and Dejection then in Generositie or vertuous Humility and on the other side the last is more observed in these than in the others The reason whereof is that vice proceeds commonly from ignorance so that they who least understand themselves are aptest to grow more proud or become more abject than they ought to bee because every new thing that befalls them surprizeth them and causeth them that attributing it to themselves they admire and esteeme or contemne themselves as they judge that which is befallen them advantagious to them or not But because as soon as one thing hath elated them comes another that dejects them the motion of their Passion is various Contrarily there is nothing in Generositie incompatible with vertuous Humility nor any thing extraneous that can alter it wherefore the motions thereof are firme constant and ever like themselves But they proceed not so much from surprizall because they who in this manner esteem themselves do very well understand the reasons why they so esteem themselves Yet it may be said that these causes are so wonderfull to wit the power of their free Disposition which makes them prize them-themselves and the infirmities of the subject in which this power is which makes them not to vallue themselves too high that as often as they are presented new they still cause new Admiration The 161. Article How Generosity may be acquired ANd it is to be noted that what commonly are called vertues are habits in the Soul which dispose it to certain thoughts so that they are different from these thoughts but they may produce them and reciprocally be produced by them It is also to be noted that these thoughts may be produced onely by the Soul but it oft befalls that some motion of the
matter of requests a man hath no reason to be ashamed of any unlesse such as hee makes meerly for his own peculiar benefit to those from whom in justice hee ought not to exact any So far should hee be from being of those that tend to the publique utilitie and profit of them to whom they are made that on the contrary hee may extract glory from them especially when hee hath already bestowed things on them worth much more than hee would obtain of them and for speaking advantagiously of a mans selfe it is true it is a most ridiculous and blameable pride when hee speakes false things of himselfe and it is even a contemptible vanity too when he speaks only truths meerly out of ostentation and so that no good accrew to any one thereby but when these things so much concern other men to know it is most certain they cannot be concealed but out of a vicious humility which is a sort of baseness and weakness Now it highly concerns the publique to be advertised of what you have gathered in Sciences that thereby judging what you are able to discover in them further it may be incited to contribute its utmost to help you therein as in a work whose end is the generall good of mankind and the things you have already given the important truths you have laid down in your Books are worth incomparably much more than any thing you can ask for this purpose You may also say that your works speak enough and there is no need of adding promises and brags which being the merchandize of juggling Mountebanks seem not becomming a man of honour who only searcheth after truth but Mountebanks are not blame-worthy for talking high and well of themselves but for speaking untruths and things they cannot make good whereas those which I urge you should speak of your self are so true and so manifestly proved in your writings that the strictest rules of modesty give you leave to ascertain them and those of Charity oblige you thereunto because it concerns others to know it For although your writings say enough to those who examine them throughly and are able to understand them yet that is not sufficient for the designe I would advise you to because every one is not able to read them and they who manage the publique affaires can scarce have any leisure to doe it It may be some who have read them tell them of it but whatsoever a man say to them of it the little coile they know you keep and the too great modesty you have ever observed in speaking of your self make them not take any great notice thereof And indeed because it a usuall thing among them to bestow the highest tearms imaginable on the commendation of very indifferent men they are not apt to receive the immense praises bestowed on you by those who know you for exact truths whereas when any man speaks of himself extraordinarily they hearken to him with more attention especially if hee be a man of good birth and they know him to bee neither by nature nor his rank likely to act the Mountebank and because hee would become ridiculous if he should use hyperbolies on such an occasion his words are taken in their true sence and they who will not believe them are incited at least by their curiosity or jealousie to examine the truth of them wherefore it being most certain and the publique being much concerned in knowing that no man in the world but your selfe at least whose writings wee have ever discovered the true principles and understood the first causes of whatever is produced in nature and that having already given an account by these Principles of all those things which are most visible and frequently observed in the world you need only some particular observations to find out in like manner the reasons of whatsoever may be usefull to man in this life and so give us a compleat knowledge of the nature of all mineralls the vertues of all Plants the properties of animals and generally all that may be beneficiall to Physick or other arts And lastly that these particular observations not being possible to bee all made in a small time without great expence all people of the earth ought emulously to contribute thereunto as to the most important thing in the world wherein they have all an equall interest This being I say most certain to bee sufficiently proved by your works already printed you should talk so lowd of it publish it with so much care and put it so punctually in all the Title-pages of your Books that none hereafter might pretend ignorance So at least you would immediately beget a longing in many to examine what the matter is so that the further they enquired into it and the more diligently they read your Books they would the more clearly understand you not unjustly boasted And I would wish you chiefly to clear three things to the world First that there are a numerous company of things to be found out in Physicks that may bee extreamly profitable for life Secondly that there is great reason to expect the finding them out from you And thirdly that the more conveniences you had to make experiments the more of them you could find out It is necessary to be informed of the first because most men think there can nothing be found out in the Sciences better then what hath been found by the Ancients and some conceive not so much as what the meaning of Physicks is or what they are good for Now it is easie to prove that the too great reverence born to antiquity is an errour extreamly prejudicial to the advancement of Sciences For it is seen that the savage people of America and many others who inhabite places lesse remote have many lesse conveniences of life then wee and yet their originall is as ancient as ours so that they have as much reason as wee to say that they are satisfied with the wisdome of their fathers and that they believe no man can teach them better than what hath been known and practized among them from all Antiquity And this opinion is so prejudiciall that till it be rejected it is impossible any new learning can be acquired besides experience shewes that the people whose mind it is deepest rooted in are they who are yet most ignorant and least civilized and because it is frequent enough yet amongst us that may be one reason to prove that wee are farre from knowing all wee are capable of Which may be proved by many exceeding prositable inventions as the use of the Compasse the Art of Printing Perspective glasses and the like which were not found out till these latter ages although now they seem very easie to those that know them But there is nothing wherein our necessity of acquiring new knowledge is more apparent than in Physick For although no man doubts that God hath furnished this earth with all things necessary for man to conserve him therein
the rest to our Soul The 23th Article Of apprehensions which we attribute to objects from without us Those which we attribute to things without us to wit to the objects of our enses are caused at least if our opinion be not false by those objects which exciting some motions in the organs of the exteriour senses by intercourse with the nerves stir up some in the brain which make the soul perceive them So when we see the light of a torch and hear the sound of a bell this sound and this light are two everall actions who meerly in this regard that they excite two severall motions in some of our nerves and by meanes of them in the brain deliver the Soul two different Resentments which we so attribute to those Subjects which we suppose to be their causes that we think we see the very flame and hear the bell not onely feel certain motions proceeding from them The 24th Article Of apprehensions which we attribute to our body THe apprehensions which we attribute to our body or any of the parts thereof are those we have concerning hunger thirst and other our naturall appetites whereunto may be added paine heat and the rest of the affections we feel as in our members and not in the objects without us So we may at at the same time by the intercourse of the same nerves feel the coldnesse of our hand and the heat of the flame it drawes neere to or contrarily the heat of the hand and the cold of the aire whereto it is exposed and yet there is no difference between the Actions that make us feel the heat or the cold in our hand and those which make us feel that which is without us unlesse that one of these Actions succeeding the other we conceive the first to be already in us and that which followes not to be yet in us but in the object that causeth it The 25th Article Of the apprehensions which we attribute to our Soul THe Apprehensions attributed only to the Soul are those whereof the effects are felt as in the Soul it selfe and whereof any neer cause whereunto it may be attributed is commonly unknown Such are the resentments of joy wrath and the like which are sometimes excited in us by the objects which move our nerves and sometimes too by other causes Now although all our Apprehensions as well those attributed to objects without us as those relating to divers affections of our body be in truth Passions in respect of our Soul when this word is taken in the more generall signification yet it is usuall to restrain it to signifie onely those attributed to the Soul it selfe And they are onely these latter which I here undertake to explaine under the notion of Passions of the Soul The 26th Article That the imaginations which depend onely on the accidentall motion of the spirits may be as reall Passions as the apprehensions depending on the nerves IT is here to be observed that all the same things which the Soul perceives by intercourse with the nerves may also be represented to it by the accidentall course of the spirits and no difference between them but this that the impressions which come from the brain by the nerves are usually more lively and manifest than those the spirits excite there which made me say in the one and twentieth Article that these are onely as the shadow and representation of those It is also to be noted that it sometimes fals out this picture is so like the thing it represents that it is possible to be deceived concerning the apprehensions attributed to those objects without us or those referred to any parts of our body but not to be srved so concerning the Passions forasmuch as they are so neer and interiour to our Soul that it is impossible she should feele them unlesse they were truely such as she doth feel them So oftentimes when one sleeps and sometimes too being awake a man fancies things so strongly that he thinkes he sees them before him or feels them in his body though there be no such thing but although a man be asleep and doate he cannot feel himselfe sad ormoved with any other Passion but it is most true that the Soul hath in it that passion The 27th Article The definition of the Passions of the Soul AFter we have thus considered wherein the passions of the Soul differ from all other thoughts me thinkes they may be generally defined thus Apprehensions resentments or emotions of the Soul attributed particularly to it and caused fomented and fortified by some motion of the spirits The 28th Article An explication of the first part of the definition THey may be called Apprehensions when this word is used in a generall sense to signifie all thoughts that are not Actions of the Soul or the wills but not then when it onely signifies evident knowledges For experience shewes us that those who are most agitated by their Passions are not such as understand them best and that they are in the Catalogue of those apprehensions which the strict alliance between the soul and the body renders confused and obscure they may also be called resentments because they are received into the soul in the same manner as the objects of the exteriour senses and are not otherwise understood by her but they may justlier be stiled the emotions of the Soul not only because this name may be attributed to all the mutations befalling her that is all the various thoughts thereof but particularly because of all kinds of thoughts that she can have there are none that agitate and shake it so hard as these Passions doe The 29th Article An explication of the other part I Adde that they are attributed particularly to the Soul to distinguish them from other resentments relating some to exteriour objects as smells sounds colours the others to our body as hunger thirst pain I also subjoyn that they are caused fomented and fortified by some motion of the spirits to distinguish them from our Wills which cannot be called emotions of the Soul attributed to her but caused by her self as also to unfold their last and immediate cause that distinguisheth them again from other resentments The 30th article That the Soul is united to all the parts of the body joyntly BUt to understand all these things more perfectly it is necessary to know that the Soul is really joyned to all the body but it cannot properly bee said to bee in any of the parts thereof excluding the rest because it is One and in some sort indivisible by reason of the disposition of the organs which do all so relate one to another that when any one of them is taken away it renders the whole body defective and because it is of a nature that hath no reference to extension dimensions or other properties of matter whereof the body is composed but only to the whole masse or Contexture of Organs as appears by this that you cannot
equally distant the one from the other and so were separated They come to meet because the order of these pores is molested by which meanes they joyn together and so convertinto teares The 131. Article How one weepes for Sadnesse THe other cause is Sadnesse followed by Love or Joy or generally by any cause which makes the heart thrust much blood into the arteries Sadnesse is requisite thereunto because making the blood cold it contracts the pores of the eyes But because according as it contracts them it also decreases the quantity of vapours whereunto they should allow passage that is not yet sufficient to produce tears unlesse the quantity of vapours be at the same time augmented by some other cause And there is nothing that encreaseth it more then the blood sent from the heart in the Passion of Love We see also that they who are sad do not continually shed tears but onely by intervalls when they make any new reflexion on the objects they affect The 132. Article Of the groanes which accompany tears ANd then sometimes the lungs two are blown up all at once by the abundance of blood which gets into them and drives away the aire they contained which breaking forth through the gullet begets groanes and cryes which usually accompany tears And these cries are commonly more sharp than those which accompany Laughter though they be produced almost in the same manner the reason whereof is that the nerves which serve to enlarge or contract the organs of the voice to make it stronger or sharper being joyned to those which open the Orifices of the heart in Joy and contract them in Sadnesse cause these organs to be dilated or contracted at the same time The 133. Article Wherefore children and old men are aptest to Weep CHildren and old men are apter to Weep than they of a middle age but for severall reasons Old men Weep oft-times out of affection and for Joy for these two Passions joyned together send much blood to the heart and from thence many vapours to the eyes and the agitation of these vapours is so retarded by their natural coldnesse that they are apt to convert into tears although no sadnesse preceded But if some old men are apt to Weep for vexation too it is not so much the temper of their Body as that of their mind which disposeth them thereunto And this befals only those who are so weak that they suffer themselves to be absolutely overcome by small occasions of griefe fear or pitty the same happens to children who doe not Weep commonly for Joy but rather for sadnesse that unaccompanied with Love For they ever have blood enough to produce many vapours the motion of which being retarded by Sadnesse they convert into Tears The 134. Article Wherefore some children wax pale instead of Weeping YEt there are some who wax pale instead of Weepig when they are vexed which may denote an extraordinary judgement and courage in them that is when it proceeds from the consideration of the greatnesse of the evil they prepare themselves for a strong resistance as they doe who are elder But it is ordinarily a mark of an ill nature that is when it proceeds from their inclination to Hatred or Fear follow for they are Passions that diminish the matter of tears And on the contrary it is seen that those who are prone to Weep are inclined to Love and Pity The 135. Article Of Sighes THe cause of Sighes is very different from that of tears though it like them presupposes Sadnesse For whereas a man is excited to Weep when the lungs are ful of blood he is incited to sigh when they are almost empty and when some imagination of Hope or joy opens the Orifice of the venous artery which Sadnesse had contracted because then the smal remainder of blood in the lungs falling all together into the left side of the heart through this venous artery and driven on by a Desire to attain this Joy which at the same time agitates all the muscles of the Diaphragma and breast the air is suddenly blown through the mouth into the lungs to fill up the vacant place of the blood And this is called sighing The 136. Article From whence proceed the Passions which are peculiar to certain men FUrthermore that I may here in few words supply all that may be added hereunto concerning the several effectts or causes of the Passions I am content to repeatthe principle whereon all that I have written of them is grounded to wit that there is such a tye betwixt our Soul and Body that when we once have joyned any corporall Action with any thought one of them never presents it self to us without the other and that they are not alwayes the same Actions which are joyned to the same thoughts For this is sufficient to give a reason of all that any man can observe peculiar either in himself or others concerening this matter which hath not been here explained And for example it is easie to conceive that the strange Aversions of Some who cannot endure the smell of roses the sight of a Cat or the like come only from hence that when they were but newly alive they were displeased with some such like objects or else had a fellow-feeling of their mothers resentment who was so distasted when she was with child for it is ceertain there is an affinity between the motions of the mother and the child in her womb so that whatsoever is displeasing to one offends the other and the smell of Roses may have caused some great head-ach in the child when it was in the cradle or a Cat may have affrighted it and none took notice of it nor the Child so much as remembred it though the Idea of that Aversion he then had to Roses or a Cat remain imprinted in his brain to his lives end The 137th Article Of the use of the five precedent Passions as they relate to the body NOw the definitions of Love Hatred Desire Joy and Sadness are laid down and the corporall motions that cause them or accompany them treated of we have no further to doe but consider the use of them Concerning which it is to be observed that according to the institution of Nature they all relate to the body and are not given to the Soul but as joyned to it so that their naturall use is to incite the Soul to consent and contribute to the actions which may be useful to conserve the body or make it in some kind more perfect and in this sense Sadnesse and Joy are the two first that are set on work for the Soul is immediatly warned of those things that are hurtfull to the body by the feeling of pain whch first of all produces the Passion of Sadness in her then Hatred of that which causes this pain and in the third place the Desire to be rid of it as also the Soul is not immediatly advertised of things beneficiall to the body but
Pitty them The 188 Article Who those are that are not sensible of it BUt there are none but malignant and envious spirits who naturally hate all men or else those who are so belluine and blinded by good fortune or desperate through ill that they think no further evill can befall them who ar ein ensible of Pitty The 189 Article Why this Passion excites weeping NOw a man weeps easily in this Passion because Love sending much blood to the heart causeth many vapours to issue through the eyes and the coldness of Sadness retarding the agitation of these vapours converts them into tears as hath been formerly said The 190 Article Of Satisfaction of ones selfe THe Satisfaction that they have who constantly follow the paths of vertue is a habit in their Soul called Tranquility or quiet of conscience but that which a man acquires anew when he hath lately done any action that he thinks good is a Passion to wit a sort of Joy which I believe is the softest of all because the cause thereof depends only on our selves yet when this cause is not just that is when the actions from whence we deduct this Satisfaction are not of consequence or else are vicious it is ridiculous and serves only to produce a Pride and impertinent Arrogance which may particularly be observed in those who believing themselves to be devout are only hypocriticall and superstitious that is who under pretence of frequenting the Church saying many Prayers wearing short hair fasting giving alms suppose they are exquisitely perfect and imagine they are Gods so intimate friends that they can doe nothing that can displease him and whatsoever their Passions dictate to them is a good Zeale although it sometime dictate to them the greatest crimes that can be committed by men as betraying of Cities murdering of Princes exterminating whole Nations meerly for this that they are not of their opinion The 191 Article Of Repentance REpentance is directly contrary to Satisfaction of ones selfe and is a sort of Sadnesse proceeding from a beliefe that a man hath done some evill action and it is very bitter because the cause comes only from our selves Yet neverthelesse this hinders it not from being very usefull when it is true that the action we repent of is evill and that we have a certain knowledge thereof because it incites us to do better another time but it oft-times comes to pass that weak spirits repent the things they have done not knowing certainly that they are evill they perswade themselves so only because they fear it is so and had they done the contrary they had repented too which is an imperfection in them to be pittied and the remedies against this defect are the same that serve to take away Irresolution The 192 Article Of Good-will GOodwill is properly a desire to see good befall any one hath a Goodwill to but I use this word here to signifie this Will as it is excited in us by some good Action of him to whom we bear it for we are naturally addicted to love those who do things which we esteem good although no good come to us by them Goodwill in this sense is a sort of Love not desire though the desire of seeing good befall him whom we wish well to alwayes accompanieth it And it is ordinarily joyned with pity because the disgraces that we see betide the unfortunate cause us to reflect the more upon their deserts The 193 Article Of Gratitude GRatitude is also a sort of Love excited in us by some Action of him to whom we offer it and whereby we beleeve he hath done us some good or at least had an intention to do us some So it includes all that Goodwill doth and this besides that it is grounded on an Action we are very sensible of and whereof we have a desire to make a requitall Wherefore it is far more strong especially in Souls never so little noble and generous The 194 Article Of Ingratitude FOr Ingratitude it is not a Passion for nature never put any motion of the spirits in us to excite it but it is onely a vice directly opposite to Gratitude seeing this is ever vertuous and one of the principall bonds of humane society s Wherefore this vice appertaines to none but belluine men and the foolishly arrogant who thinke all things their due or the sottish who reflect not on the good deeds they receive or else the weak and abject who feeling their own infirmitie and necessity basely seek assistance from others and after they have received it hate them because having no Will to return the like or despairing ever to doe it and imagining the whole world as mercenary as themselves and that none doe good but with Hope of being rewarded for it they think they have desired it The 195 Article Of Indignation INdignation is a sort of Hatred or Aversion that a man naturally beares to those who doe some evil of what nature soever it be And it is often mixed with Envy or Pity but yet the object thereof is altogether different from them For he carryes an Indignation onely against those who doe good or evil to persons unworthy of it but he envies those who receive this good and pities those who receive this evil It is true in some respects it is evil to possesse a good whereof a man is not worthy Which may be the reason wherefore Aristotle and his followers supposing that Envy is alwayes a vice have called that Indignation which is not vicious The 196 Article Why it is sometimes joyned with Pity and sometimes with Derision TO doe an evill is also in some respects to receive one from whence it comes that some with their Indignation joyn Pity and others derision according as they bear a good or ill Will towards those whom they see commit faults Thus the laughter of Democritus and the weeping of Heraclitus might proceed from the same cause The 197 Article That it is often accompanied with Admiration and is not incompatible with Joy INdignation is also oftimes accompanied with Admiration For we use to think that all things shall be done in the same manner we conceive they ought to be done that is after that manner which we esteem good Wherefore when it falls out otherwise it surprizeth us and we Admire it Nor is it incompatible with Joy although it most commonly be joyned with Sadnesse For when the evill we bear an Indignation against cannot hurt us and we consider that we would not doe the like it gives us some delight and this may be one of the causes of Laughter which sometimes accompanies this Passion The 198 Article Of the use of it FUrthermore Indignation is observed to be more in those who would seem vertuous than those who really are For althought they who love vertue cannot without some Aversion look upon the vices of others they are Passionate onely against the great and extraordinary ones For it is to be nice and