entertain an eternal Sedition within our selves We cannot be happy but by halves our Inclination is upon the rack while our Reason is satisfied It is true that is said of Love that without Inclination it cannot long subsist Without this an Amity has not an entire Satisfaction nor even Confirmation It is a Building without Foundation which needs but a Touch or Blast to throw it down But to finish this Argument with the strongest Proof of all Since Love ceases to live when it ceases to reign and that it cannot divide its Power without losing it That we may sufficiently prove the Love of Inclination to be the most Sovereign and the most Legitimate it is enough to show that it is the most single and that it will never permit that we should love more than one thing As we can have but one Sympathy we cannot love perfectly more than one Object On the contrary as we can seek our Interest in several Persons when we find it not in one alone so this Love of Consideration may be divided it may seek what is profitable in one and what is agreeable and pleasing in another After all if Consideration and Inclination were to dispute before a Wise Judge that he might determine to which of the two Love does most lawfully belong as heretofore the two Mothers pleaded before Solomon for the living Child Inclination would at length have the advantage He would give Love to that since it can endure no Division of it as the other can and because it will possess it or lose it entirely AFTER WE have seen the Reasons which are given to prove that Inclination is the more strong in Amity it is time to examine those which may be brought to show that Election is the more assured and safe in such an important Concern It shall then suffice at the first to make it appear how much Inclination is dangerous to shew how blind it is For as the Dawn precedes the rising of the Sun so Knowledge ought to go before Love and however Sympathy does act without Choice and Light yet that which it does in a Moment causes oftentimes the repentance of the whole Life Election is not so forward nor ready 't is true and also it is not so unfortunate And I think Zeuxis return'd a very prudent Answer to those that reproach'd him for that he was long in finishing his Pieces I says he aâ— a long time in drawing a Picture because what I draw is to endure a long time One may say for a firm Affection that which he said for an excellent Picture It is necessary that a long Experience should precede a true Amity for fear lest a long Regret should follow an Election too lightly made This of Sympathy is an Agreement very suddenly made it often obliges it self without knowing to what Conditions and commonly signs without having look'd upon the Articles The Example of Dido alone sufficiently shews the tragick Effects of this Lightness The Poet had reason to say that her Love was blind and that it consisted of a Fire that had more heat than brightness And in truth I find in this Fable the Infelicity as well as the Blindness of this Love If Dido had an Inclination Aeneas had none at all as she was imprudent he was ungrateful History and Experience afford us Examples enough of this sort and when I make use of Fable I do this for Ornament to my Discourse not to give it greater Strength But to say truth is not this a very weak Reason to perswade a Woman to love me to say that I have a great Inclination for her The same Argument I bring to perswade Love may serve her for the refusal of giving it If I say I follow my Inclination in loving such a Person may not she say she follows hers in not loving me Is not her Aversion as well founded as my Sympathy If I wish that she would renounce her Humour to satisfie mine has not she right to pretend to the same advantage over me In truth I extreamly love what the Poets say of this matter They feign that Cupid has two sorts of Arrows the one of Gold the other of Lead the former gives Love the latter Hatred With the one he inflam'd Apollo with the other he chill'd Daphne Was not the Flight of this Shepherdess altogether as just as the Pursuit of the God If he sought her because of an Inclination to her she shunn'd him because she had an Aversion to him Besides what Assurance have we that any have an Inclination for us what Marks that are sufficiently certain can any give whereby to know it It is true that we may well perceive our own but whereby can we infallibly observe that of others This can only if at all be done by the means of Reason which ought to examine whether that which we take at first for true be not an Illusion or Fiction And to speak rationally of this thing when the Inclination surprises as sometimes it does our Reason so as to make us too easily fall in love with an Object Reason then is found like a Servant interested or corrupted that will engage her Mistress to her Disadvantage The Senâ—â— herein would often debauch the Spirit they are Servants that are traiterous or ignorant and bring false reports to their Master Iâ— it not then a great deal better that we love for the amiable Qualities that we see than for an Inclination that is hidden from us Why should we entertain a Love for which we know neither Cause nor good Reason This is in truth to love by chance here is nothing but Uncertainty There can never be an intire Satisfaction in our Love while we shall be in pain to know whether the Sympathy be equal on both sides We perceive a Wound without knowing the Hand that struck and are enslav'd by invisible Chains And I assure my self that if we would be curious to examine well that which has arrested us we should soon acknowledge our Errour and Imprudence If we did but light up a Lamp as Psyche did perhaps we should find with her that this Love is but a Child who fears to be seen lest we should know and despise his Weakness It is a great unhappiness that we have some Difficulty to undeceive our selves Though the Sentiments which are most natural are not the most reasonable yet as the Earth cherishes best those Weeds that it brings forth of it self more than the Plants that the Gardener sows in it So we seem to entertain more carefully the Affections that come from our natural Corruption than those that proceed from our Reason Nevertheless we ought to consider that as the Physician corrects the Appetite to make it relish what is wholesome nourishment So we ought also if we will be wise to regulate our minds that we may direct our Affections to right Objects We must of necessity treat our selves like sick Persons in this case there is nothing
we ought so much to forbid our selves as that which pleases us most our Inclination is no less deprav'd than their Taste it proceeds from a poison'd Spring it comes not from Nature sound and well but from that which is corrupted I approve mightily the Opinion of them who compare the Amity of Election to the Sun and the Love of Inclination to the Moon for the former is always equal and the latter is commonly unconstant full of Errour and of Spots The Moon of her self has no Brightness Inclination alone has no Conduct It has need to borrow that from Reason And above all after the same manner as the Moon appearing sometimes with the Sun does not make the Day for all that nor contribute any assistance towards the Enlightening of the World so when by good Fortune the Love of Inclination meets with that of Election it ought not to govern us or make it self our Master but on the contrary it ought to borrow all it's Light and Direction from the other But to improve this Comparison a little further I could wish to this purpose that the Ladies would imitate Her whom the Holy Spirit describes in sacred Writ as having the Moon under her Feet and being all over inviron'd and as it were cloathed with the Sun I mean that they ought not utterly to throw away Inclination but to conquer and moderate it that there should be in Love a little of Humour and a great deal of Prudence That Amity has no need of Inclination but in its Birth but has need of Consideration as long as it endures If it be necessary that the one be the Mother of it it is so too that the other be the Nurse and Mistress And in truth Inclination is like an imprudent Mother who loves her Children too well They must be wrested from her Bosom as soon as they are brought forth for fear that in Caressing and Embracing she should stifle them After all this Inclination is nothing else for the most part but a Phantasm the most learned find it difficult to express the Cause or the Nature of it It is so occult and hidden that many not being able to comprehend the Love that it gives Birth to they say it is they know not what which forms it self they know not how and which conquers by they know not what sort of Charms There are some that teach upon the Foundations of Plato's Philosophy That Inclination comes from Remembrance and that our Souls having view'd each other in another World before it seems that this is not the beginning of a Love but the continuance of 〈◊〉 That this is not properly the Birth of an Affection but the awakening of it Insomuch that according to their Opinion our Souls call to mind their former Alliance no otherwise than as two persons that have mutually lov'd heretofore when they see each other again after a long Separation they are surprized at first sight while the Imagination and Memory are at labour to discover and recollect those that touch them There are some others that attribute an Inclination to the Stars and who will have it that the same Cause which produces Flowers in the Bosom of the Earth produces also the Sympathy that is in our Souls Some again ascribe it to the four Qualities that they fansie are mingled in us namely Heat and Cold Dryness and Moisture And others make short Work of it and ascribe it to Destiny But that I may not trouble my self or the Reader with the Opinions of all those that deceive themselves and who seek the Original of the Inclination there where it is not it seems to me that we may philosophize rightly to proceed only from the Love of our selves We love all that which resembles us even to our Pictures we cherish our Image in all things where we see it We love all that which comes from us Fathers for these reasons love their Children Painters their Draughts Artificers their Work It is from hence that we may learn the great danger there is where the Love of Inclination engages us for since we very often love our selves on that side where we are most Imperfect and we embrace even our very shadow like Narcissus It follows from thence that we are in danger to love the Imperfections of others if it happens that they resemble our own If the love of our selves be blind that of Inclination is so likewise this is an Effect that must carry the resemblance of its Cause But if this Love of Inclination were not so dangerous and so full of darkness what need is there of this Sympathy or natural Conformity And why may not Love place it there where it was not Love as well as Death equals all things and makes a likeness where it does not find it In loving as well as dying both Kings and Shepherds find themselves at the same point Herein they are both Men equal in respect of Affection and of Weakness Love is like a Fire which can kindle another any where It does not only transmit it self into the subject it burns but also has power to dispose that to receive it It removes the qualities contrary to its own to put in others It drives the Enemy from the place it lays Siege to before it does render it self Master of it And to say the truth as there are hidden Forms in the Bosom of Matter which natural Agents are able to excite and produce so there are hidden Inclinations in our Souls which Conversation and Familiarity may give birth to There needs no more but to seek well after them and if we find them not at first yet a little time usually produces them How often do we see some Persons that distast us at the first and who nevertheless after a little Conversation do highly please us And others again who ravish us at the first sight and afterwards displease us as much Love may succeed to Aversion as well as Aversion to Love Experience sufficiently shows this and as those Trees that are of different kinds being well grafted do not fail to bring forth Fruit so the Amity that is formed between two Persons of different Humours may not fail to succeed well Plato had some reason to say That Love is a Teacher of Musick for as much as an Affection may breed as well in an inequality of Humours as a harmony may be made up of unequal Voices And indeed what sort of Conformity can we find between the young and the old who yet nevertheless do often mutually Love and Caress each other What proportion or likeness is there between the Loadstone and the Iron If the one drew the other out of Sympathy and Resemblance would not Iron be rather attracted by Iron than by the Stone to which it has a great deal less likeness But to the end that we may the better see how shameful and unjust this Love of Inclination is it is enough to consider that they who love us
an Argits with his hundred Eyes It can give Wings to convey us from a Labyrinth There is nothing that it will not endure that it will not undertake And if it be said we may see some that can surmount this and make themselves Masters of their Inclination it must in truth be acknowledged that this is very rare it must rather be believ'd that such were never seiz'd with this Malady than that they are cured of it Whatever any feign all that which proceeds from our selves is very agreeable to us we yield our selves to be carried easily away with the Stream of it we can refuse it nothing and when this Eve presents us with even a forbidden Apple yet to comply with her we forsake all our Interests Neither should any wonder at this since she was taken from our own Side and is even a part of our selves Though she sometimes may seem to us but evil yet our Reason does not domineer over her but with regret When we go about to combat this we resemble those Fathers that are constrained to make War with their own Children and who have as much fear even to gain the Victory as to lose it But in truth what ground is there that we should be willing to hinder the effects of our Inclination when they are so sweet and so natural What reason is there why this should be idly barren and that so pleasant a cause should produce nothing Can there be a better Amity or Love than that which comes from thence Can there be a more faithful or more constant one It is as pleasing as it is strong it has no less sweetness than duration We take no more pains to love an Object that Inclination carries us to than a Stone does to fall towards its center or the Fire to mount upwards towards its Sphere If the Elements are neither heavy nor light in their natural places and there is need of violence to draw them from thence so neither can we divert our selves but with pain and trouble from the Object that we love out of Inclination It is here that our affection finds its repose and its most pure delights There is some reason to say That the Love which proceeds from Consideration does resemble the Fire that we have here below which has always a need of nourishment and which goes out if it be not always affixed to some combustible Matter but on the other side the love of Inclination is like that above in the Sun its proper Element which endures always equally and maintains its self This is the most natural as it is also the most noble This Love is not mercenary at all it does not nourish it self by any shameful pretentions it proposes to it self no other end but only Love I do not wonder at all if the Love of Consideration endures but a little while and if it is stronger while it hopes than when it is in possession since it fastens upon us by Interest and has no other bond but that of Pleasure or Profit It holds us but by rotten Cords which need but a little misfortune or sickness to break them And if we are to judge that Amity the best which is able to endure the longest we ought to account that of Inclination the most excellent which as it is the most pure is also the most constant and lasting There are some nevertheless who think it enough to disparage this to say That it proceeds from the Love of our selves but it seems to me that this Argument makes much for its Commendation since one would conclude from thence That 't is almost as impossible to separate us from that we love with Inclination as to separate us from our selves and at least that it will continue a long time if it comes from such a source And if it be said That we may also judge hereon that this Love is blind as that commonly is which we bear to our selves In truth I must return That I am not able to see how this Opinion can maintain it self I cannot comprehend why so many will have it that Inclination is blind We believe it has not Eyes because we do not see them and if sometimes we cannot discover the causes of it we chuse rather to say it has none than to own that they are unknown to us It is true we cannot so well judge of the resemblance of Humours as of that of Faces But nevertheless if any would give themselves the trouble to search well into the Original of our Inclination they would often find it If they would give themselves leisure to Philosophise a little upon the Perfections of the Object that pleases us they would infallibly find out wherein it is amiable It is from this Inclination it comes to pass many times that of many who look upon a beautiful Face there shall not be it may be more than one of them that has any lively feeling of its Charms and those that deserve best find oftentimes more admirers than Servants We do not love all that we commend the Will does not always take the part of Reason and we give sometimes our Approbation to a thing when we deny our Love to it Many may have the same judgment but it is not so easie that they should have the same Inclination and though I grant that several Persons may love the same thing yet this seldom comes to pass by the same Reason As we have not an Appetite for all sorts of Meats not even those that we may judge to be good so we cannot have Inclination for all sorts of Persons not even for those sometimes whom we judge to have a great deal of Merit As there are divers relishes in the sense so there are different Inclinations in the Soul But why should we not follow Inclination in Love when we follow it almost in all other things In the chusing an Office in the learning of a Trade or in the studying of a Science we have regard to the Humour and Temperament Why then may we not do this as much in our love which is the most Important thing in the World And in truth if we examine our Nature and Complexion before we addict our selves to Learning or any other Exercise Why shall we not also seek for a Disposition to love as well as to study since there is nothing more true than that as we cannot succeed in the Arts in despite of our Nature so neither can we any better succeed in an Amity when it is against our Inclination It must be acknowledg'd that as the same Earth is not proper for all sorts of Seeds so the same Heart is not capable of all sorts of Affections It ought not to be a Wonder if we have Inclination for one thing and not for another any more than to see the Load-stone draw the Iron rather than Copper or Lead And if we have a Love that is a little contrary to our humour how do we
and if they hold their peace on many occasions it is not so much to chuse words as to seek them These persons would need take but little pains to become good Disciples of Pythagoras Were it not that while they hold their peace but meerly out of necessity they are not capable to learn how to speak with address They want a School quite contrary to that of Pythagoras where they may study that Readiness which they want they have more need of Medicin than Precept and to cure them it is not only necessary to read Lessons but also to work Miracles As it seems much more easy for the Fire to descend than for the Earth to mount so 't is possible that they who have a ready forward Humour may moderate it by reading and experience But they that have the gross and heavy Souls let them employ themselves in whatever study they will have a great deal of difficulty to render them more lively or more subtle The Birds have Wings that inable them to fly yet they fold them up when they will to refresh themselves And the most transcendent Spirits can do as much as they either for action or repose But when the Melancholy set themselves to animate their faintness they put themselves into the danger of Icarus who was too dull and had not enough of Address to fly upon the Wings of Artifice Their Discourse and their behaviour are altogether unhandsome when they force themselves to express and shew in them a heat that they have not in their nature They resemble those old Men who run when they think only to go or mend their pace but by chance and then they lose their breath all at once after the least effort because they do not wisely accommodate their pace to their weakness Whatever some say in commendation of their Coldness To Imagine that this is of excellent use in business I think a Man had need to be possest with the same humour If they suceed in that it is more the effect of Chance than of Knowledge If the forward Spirits are to be accused for taking Occasions too soon and snatching them before they be ripe the Melancholy are in danger of coming always too late and of staying till they are rotten and if the former do not attend till they present the later think not of them many times but when they are past They are too subject both to Fear and to Despair As they are without heat they are without action and their Icy humour represents all things impossible whether they are what they should avoid or what they should undertake Their Senses are stupified with a Lethargy and cannot be roused but by cutting or burning them They seem to want a resurrection rather than an awakening and are a sort of Sick persons that must be made to die to teach them that they are not dead If they have Judgment to deliberate they have almost no Confidence to resolve and yet have less of Courage to execute This is a Paralytick Vertue that needs to be spur'd upon occasions and remains always Languishing with remedies at hand without being able to make use of them if it be not stir'd up with great endeavour It were indeed too great an offence to believe that there is not a great number of very wise and excellent persons of this temper But also it ought to be allow'd they would be too injurious to Wisdom and Vertue that should make it always musing and reserv'd as if they who have nothing to fear or desire out of themselves ought not at all to shew a smiling Countenance for a Testimony of the satisfaction of their Conscience On the contrary if Serpents breed in Standing Waters so do ill Thoughts enjoy themselves in this muddy Humour And if the Spirit of such persons is fit to invent what is wicked their Face is no less fit to cover it When a Rust is gotten among the Wheels of a Clock there is no more any Rule in the motions or any certainty in the Dial of it And when a profound Melancholy has mingled it self with our Thoughts the Spirit is full of Inquietude and the Visage of Grimaces What Light or what Reason can be expected where a multitude of black Fumes from Melancholy infect the Brain Just as the Demons have sometimes mingled themselves with a Storm to kill the Men or burn the Temples so they often serve themselves of this gloomy Humour to possess the Soul with Superstition Despair or Hypocrisy Cesar well testified what we ought to judge of these Melancholy Humours when he openly declar'd that he fear'd a great deal more those that were Melancholy as Brutus than those that were Merry as Dolabella It ought not to be taken ill if I to describe this Melancholy Humour do say some of those things that it produces that we may the better observe the nature of the Cause in that of the Effects There are then some Hypocondriacks to whom Mirth and innocent freedom are no less displeasing than Day-light to an Owl and as their Visage shews always I know not what of Fatal in it so one cannot chuse but have an Aversion for their sad Mein Nevertheless if their Coldness is only an effect of the Temperament it deserves either Excuse or Compassion But if it proceeds from Artifice it cannot be exempted from Suspicion or Blame So that to examin well the difference that is usual between these two Humours The Modesty of the Native Plainness is all in the Heart that of the Labour'd and endeavour'd Persons is all on the Forehead and the Outside The One in truth are not Good nor the Other Bad but in appearance I grant the Casuists have some reason to say of Sports and Pastimes as the Physitians judge of Mushrooms That the best of them are good for nothing And yet I am not willing so absolutely to decry those pleasures that are indifferent in themselves and which the Intention alone can as well render Good as Bad. St. Elizabeth of Hungary did not refuse sometimes to dance yet nevertheless her Good Humour did not hinder her from being Canonized Those that lay so great restraint upon the Usage of things that are honest are usually very free in the enjoyment of what is forbidden when they can avoid the having a Witness to their Actions And nevertheless it is the Unhappiness of these Times that people live under so much disguise and endeavour that one hardly can laugh without giving occasion of suspicion to weak minds or of slander to those that are wicked as if a chearful humour were a certain sign either of a light Spirit or a small Judgment We ought rather to deride such a Censure than be troubled at it And those Ladies that would preserve their good humour without putting constraints upon themselves out of regard to this Vulgar Error they ought also to forbid themselves as much as may be either desire or regret as being two of the
contemplation but that of Fools and such as are distemper'd And in truth this Meditation in them would cause no less hurt than it does fear of it it would be as contrary to them as it is unpleasing It dazels the Spirits of those that are wicked the one sort it Blinds and others it severely Scourges It is not to be imagin'd that they who have nothing but Darkness in the Mind and Guilt in the Conscience can take any delight to enter into themselves or to search there for satisfaction or repose But to despise Contemplation because there are some that may lose themselves in it is not this as great an Error as if one should find fault with the Sun because the Owls cannot bear his brightness without considering that the Eagles can stedsastly behold it and that we should not tax this glorious Star for that our feeble Eyes are dazled by his Rayes and we find Darkness even in the Source of Light it self I have now said enough concerning these two Humours Having thus compar'd them together there is not a person who may not easily judge what ought to be her usage of both that she may succeed well in Conversation If the Chearful humour seems most agreeable the Melancholy seems most solid the one is the most beautiful the other the most rich They have both of them something of Good and something of Evil and indeed to speak my Opinion I judge that as the mixture of hot and cold is the support of our lives so all the force of agreeableness and a good Grace is derived from the tempering of these two Humours when it is so done that the one serves for a remedy to the other And if the Romans esteem'd those the best of their Tribunes who testified the most inclination to the Senate and those the wisest among the Senators which most favoured the interests of the People in like manner I think we may say that the most excellent among the Chearful Persons are they who approach nearest to the Melancholy and among the Melancholy they are the best who have most Gayety of Mind For being thus temper'd the first shall be the more Discreet and the latter less Austeer and Imposing Of Reputation BE IT SO THAT Reputation is a Mighty Treasure and that it serves no less to Vertue than Day-light does to a Picture to make it appear Nevertheless if it be well considered after what manner some lose or some possess it in these days we might rank it among the Goods of Fortune in which the Foolish have many times a larger share than the persons of greatest Merit If there were Wise and Just Judges to distribute this it were enough to be Vertuous for the obtaining a Reputation and Esteem among Men But it does frequently depend upon so very ill Arbitrators that if it were not for this that we are always oblig'd to avoid as much as we can the giving of Scandal it would really become those that are Wise to content themselves with the Testimony of a good Conscience alone without any further care for the Opinion of the Imprudent which a meer Chance may render either Good or Bad. This is a thing that depends too little upon our selves to be that which can render us happy And this were a Felicity but very ill secured which the Ignorance or the Malice of an Enemy can take from us A Renown or Great Fame is many times an Effect which seems to have nothing of a Cause and which rises like those groundless Alarms which put sometimes a whole Army into a Pannick Fear and Disorder while they can no ways find out what should be the subject or occasion of it I must also approve the opinion of those who compare it to the Winds because it rises and falls as lightly as they and above all because there is no one knows certainly the Original of them And since it is then so uncertain a thing why should any man labour with great unquietness of mind to know how he stands in the opinion of others and afflict himself for the Error of the Vulgar as if it were but now that the Ignorant had begun to mistake or lie I have taken occasion to wonder with Aristotle that the Ancients gave more recompences to strength and force of the Body than to the abilities of the Mind distributing their Lawrels to a bulky Wrestler and not to the Wise or Prudent It cannot be but that Ignorance and Poverty must have hinder'd them from putting a Price upon Vertue Ignorance might do this because Vertue being a thing that is hid in the Heart men are often abused in the judgments which they make of it And Poverty might cause it too because when they were forced to acknowledge its excellency they had nothing in the World sufficiently precious to make Rewards or Garlands worthy of it Now then if Human Judgments are so full of uncertainty what advantage or what wrong can Vertue receive from their Error In truth they cannot recompence it since they cannot know it they are not knowing enough for this nor rich enough O what Blindness and what Levity is in the World May we not see some persuading themselves there is great Vertue there where there is truly nothing but Vice and some on the contrary that give base and unworthy names to excellent things Like Astrologers that call some of the Stars the Bull or the Scorpion which have nevertheless nothing either of Fury or Venom but only Purity and Light I could heartily wish that they who meddle with judging of things without knowing well the nature of them might be Punisht as Midas was This Ignorant Judge prefer'd the rustick Sound of Pan's Pipe before the ravishing Harmony of Apollo's Lute giving his Vote to that which made the greatest noise And his fit condemnation was to wear Asses Ears having but an Asses Head and Wit before His Judgment was very like to that of a great many who esteem things only by their Colour and Mein and they are no less worthy of long Ears for a mark of their stupidity And indeed to make more account of the Appearance than the Truth of a thing Is not this to prefer Pan to Apollo a Pipe before a Lute and a Noise before a Harmony There is a great deal of Brutality in an Opinion so barbarous And nevertheless there are of such as these a great many in the World and these are they who give a bad repute to those that merit only a good one I shall therefore reserve my Resentment for those who can give just condemnations or praises and I shall not be at all of the mind to suffer my self to be uneasy at that which I ought to deride There are very few persons that judge with any soundness of that which they see The mind of the most does not penetrate far it stops as the Eyes do at the Colour and Surface Their Opinion is of very little Importance and I think
in our Discourses and Writings As if Clearness would render the Sciences less venerable or as if the Darkness serv'd them for Ornament and Luster as if the Force and the Dignity of reasoning were necessarily tackt to the Rudeness of Terms On the contrary we no more diminish their price in taking away the Veil that conceals them than it lessens the value of Gold to dig it out of the Entrails of the Earth to refine it and make it serviceable to Commerce I judge that they who clearly explain the Sciences do discover to us true Treasures and that they merit some part of the Glory of Socrates who brought Wisdom down from Heaven to Earth that is he render'd it easy to be understood by those minds which seem'd to be the most uncapable of it There is then nothing more true than that when the Sciences are well and rightly conceiv'd and understood they may also be exprest even in any Language whatever and the Ladies are then capable to understand them ON THE OTHER SIDE tho some say that all the hindrance lies on the part of their Minds as not being strong enough for Learning It seems to me that this is a very wrong Judgment of their Temperament which according to the Physicians being more delicate than ours it is also more disposed to the study of Arts and Sciences Whatever can be said they are capable of these as well as the Men and if they quit sometimes what they might pretend to this is more out of Modesty or Consideration than out of Weakness Do we not see in History that the Ancient Gauls divided with their Women the glory of Peace and of War that the Men reserv'd the Arms to themselves but left to the Women the Establishment of Laws and the Preservation of their Republicks This could not be done out of Ignorance and it may be judg'd from hence what Esteem they had of the Women when the Part allotted to the Men was the Exercises of the Body and they committed to them the matter of Conduct and the exercises of the Mind What Science so difficult can be imagin'd wherein they have not excell'd at least as far as the Men Was not Aspasia judg'd worthy to teach Pericles who yet was able himself to give Instructions to all the World Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi composed Letters so excellent as that her Sons afterwards derived from them all their Eloquence which was also great and these Letters of hers did Cicero himself admire Pamphila wrote so many as an hundred and three Books of History which all the Learned Men of that Age highly esteem'd And as for the Sacred Sciences Does not St. Gregory himself acknowledge that his Sister serv'd him for a Tutouress and that she gave him the knowledge of the best Learning But it is not necessary to search the Ages past for Examples of this kind We have in our own some Instances so extraordinary as may be compar'd with any the greatest in Antiquity We have Ladies that know how to write upon the most serious and the most difficult Subjects In truth I cannot chuse but believe that the most obstinate Persons would yield the cause if they would only take the Pains to read the Homilies that Madam the Vicountess of Auchy has Composed upon St. Paul She has not undertaken those places that are more plain and where she might most easily have succeeded She has bestow'd her pains upon the Epistle to the Hebrews which contains as every own knows the most secret and the most lofty Mysteries of our Religion Nevertheless in a matter so Elevated there is nothing can conquer the force of this great Spirit she marches over Thorns as another would do upon Roses her Style has nothing forced or affected it is sweet and pompous both together and the nicest Persons would admire in this Work that which one shall rarely find in the same Author there is Clearness joyn'd with Vigour and Sharpness with Politeness There is that will instruct the devout and satisfie the curious The learned and the delicate will there find things that do deserve to be consider'd with Attention and they that persuade themselves a Woman cannot write well would confess their Errour after the reading of that Book What need is there to enumerate a great many more To mention those amongst us that have excell'd in Poetry to that degree as to force Applauses from their Competitours in Fame This Subject is too large to be follow'd through And tho the Men have been very sparing and cautious in writing the praises of Women yet they have not been able wholly to refrain from bringing Testimony to this Truth and many of their Books have afforded room for their Commendations And if it may be permitted us for this purpose to appeal to Fable for our assistance we may learn that if the Men have an Apollo for the Author of the Sciences the Women have also a Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom who Invented the better Learning and who gives them a just right to pretend to the same If I did not fear to support so known a Truth upon Fictions I should content my self to send them that yet doubt in this to the Famous Nine Muses of the Poets to whom all the Ancients ascribed the Invention of Arts. Of Habits or Ornaments IT IS CERTAIN that in whatsoever Fashion we can possibly cloath our selves we shall very hardly please all sorts of persons either the Old or the Young will find in our Habit something or other to find fault with And it is next to Impossible that we should avoid falling under either the Derision of the one or the Censure of the other There are some melancholy Spirits that cannot endure we should do any thing according to the Fashion and who will infallibly find out something unlawful in our Dress if we cannot prove that it has been a thousand Years invented and used This is to disdain altogether the present Time that we may give too much Honour to that which is past Without considering that we must bear with that which cannot be hinder'd and that there may often be less Vanity in following the New Modes than in adhering to the Old ones It is true that the Foolish invent them but the Wise may conform too instead of contradicting them The Habit as well as the Words we use ought to be conform'd to the Time we live in And as they would take him for a Madman who should talk in the Court the Language used in the time of King William the First so we ought not to think better of them who would cloath themselves as he did Those who blame without a distinction the alteration of our Fashions would better become themselves in quitting their slavish Sentiments Who would forbid the seeking our Convenience or Decency for fear we should not be habited like our Ancestours Were it not in truth an indecent Confusion to see a Boy in the same