may declare That Weeping and Complaint do not always testifie Impatience but only they show that we are not utterly insensible Let us declare That if God himself was pleased to show that he was indeed Man too by sadness and tears we ought not to be ashamed to confess our selves such likewise by the same signs and appearances However it be a sign of weakness to do thus yet is this so universal in this World that there is no more blame due to a Man for being liable to Grief than for being subject to Die We are no more unsensible in this Life than we are Immortal After all what advantage is it to be sullen in our Griefs Were it not better to diminish our displeasure by weeping than to be hardened into a Pillar of Salt instead of letting this bitterness drop out by the Eyes or of breathing it off with a few Complaints A great Poet had reason to say That the Tears as well as Waters have a right to a passage and we ought to moderate only not forbid the use of them Grief is sometimes like a Stream it swells if it be resisted it slides away and is spent in the less time if we give it way Provided we can overcome this Enemy what matter is it whether we do this by flying or fighting him But certainly I fear I may be accused for want of Judgment for my insisting upon this matter in as much as it seems no way necessary to allow Women the liberty to complain of their Grievances and the most part of them seem to understand the trade of that but too well They mightily extol the Constancy and Strength of Mind that was in Isabella Queen of Spain because she did not so much as complain under Sickness and the extreamest Pains And nevertheless they find at times enough of their Sex who have a Vice quite contrary to her Vertue such who do not only complain with Reason but with Artifice too and who would seldom be long ill if Complaining were enough to cure them However that be we may learn from what has been said that to have an equal Mind it is not necessary that we always abstain both from laughing or weeping It were a Philosophy too Stoical that would not permit any but the same resentment to events that are favourable or deadly I judge that according to the occasions that present whether they be Good or Evil a Wise Man may be joyful or griev'd yea I believe that he may complain when he has cause without being guilty of Cowardliness in so doing and that he need not be too much a Philosopher as Possidonius who would needs appear well when he was really Sick Let us proceed further and having seen wherein the equality of Mind does not consist let us observe wherein it does and having overthrown the Opinion of the Vulgar let us examine that of the Wise in this Matter I grant then that as there are many sorts of Winds upon the Sea that can toss the Ships so there are also many sorts of Passions within us to trouble and shake our Minds But it must be own'd that among all these Movements there are but two principally which cause the most remarkable changes in us I mean when the presence of Good gives us too much joy or that of Evil too much Grief There are some Passions that make the Blood fly out too much to the extreams of the Body there are others that cause it to retire and throng too much about the Heart and then that dilates or contracts it self too much As it may be seen that fair Weather envites us to walk and a Storm drives us into the House In like manner the Occasions of joy make us go too much out of our selves those of sadness make us retire too much within our selves The Excess of the one and the other hinders the due equality of the Mind It remains then only at present that we show which of these two Passions gives us the greater trouble and disorder and to see whether there be more danger of being too joyful in a Good Fortune or of being too sad in a Bad one CERTAINLY there are more die of Grief than of Joy and there are more Shipwracks in Tempests than in Calms Prosperity destroys less than Adversity And it is not to be imagin'd that Good should do as much Evil as Evil it self Though all the Passions are able to cause some inequality in us yet there is none more capable to destroy us than Grief This appears sufficiently even in the Colour of the Face in those that are afflicted and in the disorder that it brings into the Thoughts of the Wisest Persons I do not wonder at all that those Women who are possest with Grief are also pale and dejected as if they had no Life remaining in them since to speak the truth Grief is no other than a long Death and Death is no more than a short sadness And indeed Grief keeps us too long under Punishment It would seem a very favourable blow that should put an end to our sufferings though together with our Lives We never see any that kill themselves because they are too joyful but there are many do that fatal Office for themselves because they think themselves too much afflicted and who take Death for a Remedy to their Grief How much mischief does this Passion do both to Body and Soul It dispirits the Blood it infects the whole Constitution it gives Diseases to the Body and Inequality to the Mind It weakens the Instruments first and then the Reason It has sometimes need of Physick as well as Philosophy to heal it I own that there are seasons sometimes wherein Afflictions quicken us and open our Eyes but if we examine them throughly we shall find that they dull the Spirit more frequently than they awaken and excite it And that we may not dissemble the truth how many women may we see who in their Adversities become like the Niobe of the Poets who lost all sense in her misery and was turn'd into a Marble Statue How many are there that grow stupid and Immovable as she was who testifie neither Wit nor Courage who abandon themselves to their Grief and are to such a degree disabled that they cannot make one Effort either towards the comforting or defending of themselves It ought not therefore to be thought strange if sadness does so much destroy the Wit since as this is ordinarily accompanied with dispair it makes no resistance it stands with the Arms across it gives up its self a prey to the Enemy One may judge from hence how much more dangerous this is than Joy for that Moderation depends more upon us than Patience It is much more difficult says Aristotle to support ones self under Grief than to abstain from pleasure Temperance has its dependance on our Liberty but Toleration depends upon the Malice of our Enemy If Joy perswades sadness constrains us
make Reflections upon their Unsteadiness they would confess that when the Poets invented their Chimera they had a design to draw their Picture since to speak the truth there is as prodigious a variety in their Sentiments as in the feigned Body of this Monster In truth it is just matter of wonder that the same Mind should be capable in so little time of so different Thoughts even to contrariety sometimes If many of these Women had a Painter hired to take every day a Draught of them according to their different Resolutions I assure my self that there would appear every night under their Hands a meer Landskip of a Wilderness We may see some of them that will on this day appear mighty Chast and on the next they are Lewd now they show themselves Covetous and anon Liberal It would be well for them that they could forget this shameful variety and that they were without Memory as well as without Steadiness For the little Memory they have however little it is will make them ashamed of their Judgment I could wish to them that which Epictetus requires in a Wise Man that is That they knew the Art of Regulating their Opinions and of Subjecting them to Reason They would herein have conquer'd many of their Enemies and appeased those Winds which ordinarily cause all the Tempests of their Life But when is it that these Women are more subject to this Ridiculous inequality than when they are elevated with a High Fortune since from that time every one worships their Opinions even the most Extravagant of them and their Imperfections are praised and their very Vices term'd Vertues since also they have then all things so much at their Wish and are sometimes so weary even of Delight that their own Disgust which arises from their being cloy'd causes their Inconstancy Having tired themselves with true Pastimes their sickle Minds busie them with Imaginary ones It is for this Reason that Prosperity and Levity are very often lodged together Let none deceive themselves in this Matter nor think that to render any Steady in their Minds I have a Mind to make them Obstinate It is not always blameable to change there are Seasons wherein this is not contrary to Prudence It is as great a fault altogether to adhere to an Opinion when it is an ill one as to change from that which is good Obstinacy and Inconstancy both are equally contrary to Election because the one is Immoveable when it ought to change and the other changeable when it ought to be fixed That we may be Steady or Constant there is nothing more required than that we persevere in Truth and Equity Besides I know very well that the Minds of the wisest Persons may be moved at the first in some Re-encounters Aulus Gellius says That the Stoicks themselves do not deny but their Wise Man is capable of some change because say they the Emotion is not in our Power but the Consent to it is And to speak in the Terms of their Sect the Visions do not depend upon us but only the Approbations I blame then the Unsteadiness which proceeds from our selves and not at all that which is join'd to the weakness of our Sence and is not in our own Power I HAVE a Mind to discover yet other Causes of the Unevenness of the Mind I suppose then that even knowing Persons may have sometimes their Mind uneven and as it were irresolute because the greatness of their Light does as it were dazle them and make their Election waver and while they look upon the same Object under various Appearances they cannot easily determine themselves but do find some probability as it seems to them even on all sides Nevertheless it must be own'd that this Uncertainty is yet more common to the Ignorant for that while they know not the true Nature of Good or Evil there is more of Hazard than Assurance in their Choice and by so much the more as their Spirit is weak they are unconstant SEE AGAIN a Cause of this of another Kind There are some who have truly some Wit and Knowledge but they have nevertheless also I know not what natural Easiness of Temper that renders them susceptible of all sorts of Opinions Their Spirit has some Light but it has nothing of Force it knows how to propose but has need of Assistance towards the making a good Conclusion There are but too many of this Sort who see the Truth but are not able to follow it Who set sail towards the right Port but every the least Tempest casts them upon another Coast and who suffer themselves to be carried away with a Perswasion as Ships are by the Winds and Stream of the Tides As they are Credulous they are Unsteady AND IN TRUTH may we not see some that have a certain Distrust of their own Sentiments though they are not bad and that cannot go without a Guide though they are not blind Paschalius says that Women ordinarily believe very lightly when they are in great prosperity and that it is from hence that they appear so uneven He brings the Example of Procris in Ovid to show that they very easily believe what they fear or what they desire since she her self was so credulous to the Reports of Slanderers and yielded so readily to the Offers of Cephalus her Husband when he was disguised that she became as lightly Jealous as she was Amorous And in truth those that are in a great Fortune let themselves easily be catch'd with Flattery or moved to Revenge And as there is no injury so small for which they will not insist upon a Satisfaction so there is no praise or Commendation of them so excessive as that they will not receive it It is their constant Misfortune to give Credit to Flatterers and Slanderers LASTLY to find out the more ordinary and dangerous Source of Unevenness we may observe that we shall find none more capable of this than those Women who have no Design or those that have bad ones There are some careless Wretches that do not propose to themselves any end at all who live in I know not what sort of Indifference like those Archers that let fly their Arrows into the Air without aiming at any Mark or as Mariners that should let themselves wander upon the Ocean without steering towards any Port. It cannot be but such must be very unconstant But those that have any ill Design must needs be yet more so because the frequent Remorses that gripe them cause their minds almost every moment to change their Opinion as they do their Faces to change Colour So that to have a steddy constant mind there is nothing more requisite than to keep it Innocent And to this purpose I have a most admirable Rule which I took from a Person very knowing and religious To preserve said he an Equality of Mind in all our Designs and in all our Sentiments without giving our Consciences any Reason ever to reproach us we ought to take care in all our Pretensions that Justice do seek Prudence find Strength revenge and Temperance do possess There ought to be Justice in the Affection Prudence in the Understanding Courage in the Effects and Temperance in the Use The Practice of this excellent Advice would confirm the most unconstant Thoughts and happily determine those that are most true For that none may flatter themselves it must be said that the true Evenness of Mind is inseparably join'd to Purity of Conscience LET US FINISH this Discourse too with that which is of Importance Whatever it is that happens to us that is strange or deadly what need is there that it should mightily trouble us Certainly there would be many more that would endure well and constantly the Evils that befall them if they could represent to themselves that 't is God who tries us and that Patience is a Vertue so lovely that in the Exercise of this Men are apt to think well of ones Actions though they are none of the best There are many more would defend themselves from Sadness if they would but consider that this Passion is no less unprofitable than dangerous If I say they would consider that in the greatest Extremities either there is a Remedy or there is none If there be one why should we not employ all possible means without admitting so great a Trouble of Mind till we see how they shall succeed If there be no Remedy we must resolve to suffer as we must to die since as the one is inevitable according to the Laws of Nature so we see the other to be so according to the Laws of Necessity After all How superfluous is Sorrow and Grief It cannot find again that which is lost nor call to life what is dead it cannot hinder but that Evils will come nor can it cause the good things that are gone away to return And nevertheless as if this fatal Passion could not do us harm enough alone we help it to persecute us There are some that do not put forth the least Endeavour towards the helping of themselves who seek Solitude for fear they should be diverted from their Grief and who fly from Comforters as if they were Murtherers What a Blindness is it to do ones self so much Mischief without any appearances of Advantage If we examine this Case well we shall find that we are not so unhappy in any thing else for the most part as we are in our Grief and Trouble of Mind Or that we are not so truly sad because we are unhappy as we are unhappy in that we are sorrowful and sad FINIS ADVERTISEMENT The ARTS of EMPIRE and Mysteries of State Dis-cabineted in Political and Polemical Aphorisms grounded on Authority and Experience and Illustrated with the Choicest Eâ—â—mples and Historical Observations By the Ever Renowned Knight Sir Walter Raleigh Published by John Milton Esq Printed for Joseph Wats at the Angel in S. Paul's Church-Yard
not also be said of other things in the world which also are not able to last always If they complain of Beauty it is because this has not the duration of the Stars as it has the Value and the Brightness of them And nevertheless it must be acknowledged that the most Fair may find an excellent remedy against Vanity and Pride if sometimes at the age of sixteen or of twenty years they would present to themselves the defects and inconveniences of Old Age. Whatever fine Feathers nature or art now affords they would be as much asham'd as the Peacock is when he views his black Feet if they would foresee a little so great alterations and ruins I do not make profession here of Preaching the four last things that men must come to but it seems to me that none ought to afflict themselves for a thing that Time will take away from them insensibly yea which diminishes every moment in spight of all the Art that can be used to preserve it It is true that Cato had so great an esteem of Beauty that he said publickly that it was no less crime to injure it than to rifle a Temple But he spake of that which is Natural not of that which is Studied and affected Sulpitia among the Romans had so beautiful Eyes that those of her time could not look upon her without being ready to adore her The Neck and Breasts of Theodora the Athenian were so agreeable that Socrates himself became in love with her These are the Features or Charms that ought not either to be sought by Artifice or possest with Vanity Nature has favour'd some persons with these things with design to please the Eye and to elevate the Mind to the love of him who is the source of all human Perfections The forced and feigned Beauties luckily fail in the view of all the world just after the manner of those false and seeming Stars which after they have a while abused our Eyes do demonstrate by their fall that we took a Vapour for a Star How much Art and Pains do many fruitlesly employ to cover the defects of Nature as if it were not better worth their while to have recourse to Vertue than to Disguise or as if it would not be much more to their advantage to repair what is wanting in the Face by the qualities of the Mind Their design succeeds extreamly ill and must do so because their Vanity appears with their Homeliness and they are not the more excusable hereby but more ridiculous They would think it very strange if they were treated after the fashion as Phryne did with those that came into her Company As soon as this Courtisan appear'd she defaced the lustre of all the Ladies at the Assembly leaving them no other Colour than what Shame and Jealousie could afford She invented a Play to make them merry wherein every one commanded by turns in their rank She commanded Water to be brought and that every one should wash her Hands and her Face As soon as they had obeyed her Commands there was discover'd all their Paint and Disguise there was not a person could be known they had quite other Faces all full of Blemishes and Features that were frightful This Sport would not be at all less troublesom to many of our Age than it was advantageous to that extraordinary Beauty It was also by her that the Areopagites themselves lost the reputation of being incorruptible Judges for they did not believe her Innocent nevertheless after they had seen her they were not able to judge her guilty Hipperidus pleaded unsuccessfully against her tho he was a most eloquent man for as soon as she appear'd her Presence serv'd her for an Apology and she needed but to shew that she might defend her self It is not only now-adays that the Fair carry the Cause After that Justice has lifted up her Vail to see them let them plead as little as they will their Cause will succeed well for them Of Curiosity and Slander CURIOSITY is not very often at a good agreement with Silence those that are desirous to learn abundance of News are not usually resolv'd to conceal it and Slander does infallibly make waste of that which an Imprudent Curiosity has collected The Mind of these Curious Women resembles the Barrel full of holes which the Danaides were condemned to fill which still let out the Water as fast as it was put in That which enters by the Ear goes out immediately at the Mouth because the indiscretion which lets them hear no less inconsiderately than they speak does no more refuse the opening to Lies for their going out than for their coming in I do not blame at all that Divine Curiosity of the Philosophers and the great Wits which reveals to us the Secrets of Nature and has afforded us the means to govern the Passions of the Soul I condemn only that Curiosity which carries us after the knowledge of things unprofitable or vicious and leaves us strangers to the knowledge of our selves And to say the truth I have no less shame than compassion when I see several that amuse themselves with the little stories of the place they live in and who know nothing but what is impertinent and troublesome to good Companies They seek to adorn their Minds as the Chineses do to beautifie their Cabinets I mean with some antiquated outlandish Trifle or sorry Pedlary I would advise those of this humour who are for spending all their time about things unuseful to learn themselves the Anatomy of little Flies or the Art of numbring the Atoms of the Air And that they may treat their Bodies as ill as they do their Minds I would have them live upon such things as Cray-fish where they may find more employment than nourishment This inconsiderateness gives but an ill credit to their Wit and no better to their Conscience We shall judge hereupon that they do not employ their Time only to hear superfluous things but also to hear evil ones And above all the readiness they have to believe a fault in another is a most certain sign of that which they have to commit as much themselves THERE ARE THEN some that listen with delight to all manner of Slanders that cannot endure one should speak to the advantage of any and who think that while their Company are finding fault with all the World besides them they make an Apology for their faults in shewing them many like themselves As if the number of Criminals could authorise their Wickedness When they hear the Vertues of some rewarded with their deserved Praises they sit as sad and uneasie as the Ugly are wont to be when the Fair are complemented in their presence And if we should examin well their thoughts we should find here yet a much blacker source of evil They are glad to have Companions in the Infamy but they would not have any partake with them in the Pleasure they have more of Jealousie
Religion and Learning and then they are railed at for Ignorance Folly and Vice To this Cause must all their Emptiness and Impertinence be imputed hence 't is they are no more useful to the World To this also we must impute all their Vices the ill Influence they have among Men and all the Mischief they do Thus we may see how Important it is to the World and how much for the Interest of the Other Sex that the Women be bred to useful Knowlege and Vertue And thus I have follow'd the Common Custom in giving the Preference to the Men and speaking first of their Interest in this Matter I shall now apply my self directly to the Women themselves and endeavour to make it appear to them how Important and Vseful it is to themselves to be Learned and Vertuous Something is said of Learning in the following Book and therefore I shall say the less here and the Particular Vertues are recommended and therefore I shall only insist upon some General Commendations of it Let me intreat you then to consider the Pleasure and the Advantage of Knowledge This is like Light Chearing and Delightful to the Mind and Ignorance like Darkness is Vncomfortable and Sad. Knowledge enlarges the Soul Ignorance contracts it The former is the Brightness and Beauty of the Soul and adds Lustre to it as Polishing does to a Jewel the latter sullies and dims and makes it ugly Knowledge elevates the Mind Ignorance depresses it Knowledge tends to refine it from the Dregs of Sensuality Ignorance leaves it polluted Knowledge improves its Powers encreases its Liberty and Freedom and releases its Activity from the Shackles that Ignorance lays upon it Ignorance is weak and poor Knowledge is rich and Strong Enough cannot be said in Praise of this inestimable Thing But especially are Moral and Divine Knowledge most to be valued these do especially improve and adorn and will make you acceptable to God and the World and easie and happy in your selves The Rules of Pious and Vertuous Living are the certain Rules of Happiness The making of us Vertuous and Good is the greatest Blessing and the highest Benefit that can possibly be conferr'd upon us Those are most deplorably Ignorant of the Natures both of Vertue and Vice that imagine there can be a greater Good than the One or a greater Evil than the Other that we can be Happy and Vicious or miserable and excellently Vertuous Vertue and Wisdom tame the Appetites and guide them Safely and Honourably They Compose and Calm the Passions and quiet the Mind Vertue sets the Soul in Order which is Beautiful and Pleasant it teaches every Faculty and Power in us its right Place and Office makes it know its Bounds and do its Duty Vice Disorders and Confounds all Vertue is the Health Vice the Sickness of the Soul and as the Health of the Body improves and maintains its Beauty and Strength so does Vertue for the Soul and Vice on the contrary Weakens Deforms and gives it Pain à nd Trouble Vertue is Serene and Calm Vice is Stormy and Tempestuous The Vertuous Woman may live without Fear or Distrust in Tranquility and Repose She has no cause to blush in Company nor to tremble when she is alone She can enjoy the Present Time with Quietness and Peace has neither Shame nor Remorse for what is past and none but fair and joyful Hopes for what is to come The most lasting and most tasteful Pleasure attends it Pleasure that no Man can take from her such Delight as does not Torment with Impatience nor make her Sick with Disgust that does not depend as those of the World do on innumerable Circumstances whereof if any one be wanting they are Odious or Insipid Vertue and Wisdom are the only Things that can fit you for all Conditions to adorn them and be happy in them They direct to the most Honourable and comfortable Vse both of a Good and Bad Fortune both of a Married and a Single State These believe me are the most powerful and the most lasting Charms These will gain you true Admirers and sincere Servants while outward Beauty and Ornament procure only fiegned Ones And will hold the Hearts they win faster than the fading Advantages of an outside Inclination may make a Man Court and Seek you it may be enough to be a Woman for this especially if to that there be added Beauty and the Invincible Charms of a good Fortune but these cannot beget a true and lasting love Without Wisdom and Vertue and Knowledge The Servant is no sooner better acquainted but it may be Folly and Vice distaste him and his Addresses are at an End If Interest engage him still then he proceeds to make up the proposed Bargain and there is a Marriage without Love which is an Hell upon Earth Beauty without these Things though it be Charming at the first Sight yet it can secure none but the lightest and most foolish Part of Mankind and in them it kindles no more than a brutish Desire which turns into Distaste very commonly as soon as it is gratified Their mighty Admiration falls into Contempt and one may see the fine and pretty thing sitting alone for all him while the Passionate Lover is hugging a Bottle perhaps and kissing the Glass instead of her and any thing is able to draw or detain him from her Company Knowledge and Vertue would make you worthy of that Love-which Nature inclines us to present you and would make your Society always pleasant and always desirable and that to the best and wisest of Men. It is no small advantage to you that as Wisdom and Vertue are the most charming things and will give you the greatest power you can have over the other Sex so they will direct you to judge rightly of Men and to place your Favours and Affections there where they are best deserv'd where they will be best requited where it will be most for your Honour and Happiness to place them As these will inable you to know and discern which are the best and wisest of them so they will dispose you to value such Men most and to prefer them When guided by these you will not be caught with fine Cloaths or a spruce Mien you will not fall in love with a Man for his boasting of and commending himself nor for his addressing blasphemous Complements to you you will not judge of his worth by the former trick nor of his love by the latter You will not think to be happy and be at the mercy of a fool or expect that he will use you well who has not one Vertue to direct or dispose him to do so Nor will you think that an abundance of Wealth is sufficient alone to make you happy And let me add That your Constant preference of the best and wisest Men would be one of the most powerful means to reform the Age. It would soon make Vertue and Wisdom more generally sought after among Men when it
persuading himself that a Woman had Learning enough when she could put a difference between the Shirt and the Doublet of her Husband The Opinion of this Prince would be very ridiculous in those Countries where People go Naked or as well among those Nations who make the Shirt and the Doublet all of a piece The Esteem which he had of the Ignorant and Simple does oblige me to believe he might have made a Vow that he would love none but those that were like himself The Emperor Theodosius made not so great account of the Ignorant He married Athenais only because she was Learned and of a good Wit without any regard to this that she was Daughter to a Father of but mean Extraction who left her no other Dowry but the Beauty she was born with and the Philosophy of his School They that will distrust a Woman when she knows a little more than ordinary are certainly such weak people as deserve to fall under what they fear and who found their Suspicions upon the very Reasons themselves which ought to give them Assurance Moreover the Ladies that have some Knowledge and Learning do of all others afford the greatest pleasure in Conversation and they receive no less in solitude when they entertain themselves alone Their Thoughts have wherewithal to content them while the Ignorant are subject to Evil Thoughts because they know nothing commendable to employ their minds about As their Conversation is tedious so their Musing can be but extravagant They that say the Women have a great advantage in their Ignorance do they not give too much honour to the untaught simplicity of the Village which is commonly much in danger when it meets with Importunity and Occasion Or if this Sentiment be good why may we not say as well that the Blind are great gainers in the loss of their Eyes if it were enough to shut the Eyes for the avoiding of a Precipice In the Court as in the Ocean it is necessary to know the Shelves if we would avoid the making Shipwreck and if the Ladies do that which is evil after they know it to be so we ought to place the Cause of their Misfortune in their Design not in their Knowledge And nevertheless I will maintain as Reason does oblige me That a Lady ought to be Learned that she may make a figure in Conversation It may be that this Sentiment will at first sight offend that of the Ignorant and Stupid who persuade themselves that they should find their own dear resemblance every where that a Woman cannot study nor read without becoming Vicious or at least without being suspected But they that judge so rashly in this case do despise that which they ought to desire as if they were oblig'd to hate all the accomplishment which they have not themselves or as if they ought not to make account of any but very little Spirits Whereas they ought to represent to themselves that those Women who have not Judgment enough to know Vice they have not enough neither for the choice of Vertue or to know how according to the Occasions they should prefer Truth to an appearance Also they who understand ever so little of Morality cannot be for this Advice since we are daily taught by experience to acknowledge that the light of our Reason is as it were a natural Vertue which disposes to do good almost without any Study and that we really see a very good Wit without a good Conscience The assistance of Learning fortifies the good Inclinations and they that persuade themselves the reading of Books is only a School to teach them to commit Evil with Address might more decently believe that the Ladies may find there more to correct than to corrupt them Reading and Conversation are absolutely necessary to render the Wit and the Humour agreeable and as the one collects for us matter for Discourse the other by use teaches the method of unfolding it gracefully that we may join together Readiness and Abundance without this our Conversation is nothing else but an insupportable Tyranny and it is impossible without putting ones self upon a Rack to stay long with these Women who can entertain us with nothing but the number of their Sheep if they be of the Country or if they be of the Town then can talk of nothing but the Heads and Petticoats in fashion It ought not then to be imagin'd that in speaking of this accomplisht Woman whose Character we are framing we do intend to describe a Mother of a Family that knows well how to follow her Servants or takes care to comb her Children Tho we do not condemn these things yet we must declare that skill in Musick History and Philosophy and the like accomplishments are more agreeable to our design than meer good Houswifry And there can be none so much Strangers to Common-Sense as not to own that without these good Attainments tho the Women may have an excellent Wit yet they will be apt to have their minds fill'd with things very Evil and very Impertinent Their good Nature and their good Inclination remain without effect under the want of Reading and Conversation when the Tyranny of their Mothers or of their Husbands or else some other misfortune hinders them from attaining those excellent qualities which they are born capable of FOR TO SAY that the Sciences are too obscure for the Ladies and that they cannot comprehend the Arts even in their Principles because of the Terms that are too hard to be understood This in truth is a very strange Error It is an opinion altogether extravagant to think that the Sciences cannot as well be exprest in English as in Greek or Latin These Disputers that through Ignorance or Malice have obscur'd the Arts under Terms that are rude as under ragged Cloaths and who will not unravel the Confusion that we may still have recourse to them as to an Oracle They do them no less wrong in forcing them to appear in an Apparel so shameful than the Libertins do to Vertue when they describe it as terrible and inaccessible that they may deter others from venturing upon it But the Worthy Persons know how to take away this Mask It is an Imposture that gives no trouble but to the Spirits of the Vulgar I easily allow that as for Philosophy and Theology one may find in them some words that seem not to be purely English I grant that when other Arts have their peculiar Terms which are not usually softned and explained to be accommodated to them who do not make profession of those Arts it is not reasonable that two of the noblest Sciences in the World should make themselves more familiar than the others I own too that in strong reasoning there are sometimes words used which are a little mysterious because they express the truth somewhat better than those that are more Polite But after all where there is not this necessity what need have we to affect Obscurity