caution is to be had of a Mans Actions and carriage to avoid them by how much they are apt insensibly to invade us in the best of our undertakings Wherefore I shall add no more here since somewhat will be said in the subsequent Section as to the other particulars SECT III. Discourse and Carriage REason it is a Gentleman of all Men should demean himself well and most exemplary which is no easie matter in this wicked Age wherein we live unless he be of a passing good Nature i. e. have an inclination to Virtue and an Habit which is indeed goodness it self and the chief of all other Virtues Such an one must be courteous and civil to all Men as well Strangers as Friends and Relations pityful to and of all in affliction and misery easie to forgive and pass by injuries and grateful for as well small as great favours guifts and obligations Hereby shall all manner of Vice be shun'd and Virtue daily increase Carriage then as it comprehendeth as well Discourse as the outward behaviour is and must be either to a Man's Superiours Equals Inferiours Relations Strangers Friends or Enemies or to Himself SUBSECT I. To Superiours AMong Superiours Kings and Princes are most to be Honoured especially thy own to whom thou owest Obedience Allegiance and all that thou hast or art We must needs be subject not only for wrath but Conscience sake 'T is the Ordinance of God and whosoever resisteth shall receive to himself Damnation Take Solomon's advice To Fear the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and nothing so unseemly as to see any Man to pretend to Gentility and Honour and yet resist the fountain of both no pretence whatsoever can justifie such an Action Let thy speech to him be whether he be a Man of parts or no with that due Reverence his Dignity requireth and so thy Behaviour avoiding all unseasonable Discourses and Jests it being no less hazzardous to be too bold with such as are so far above thee then that of the Flyes playing with the Candle For other Superiours the Honour and respect their place and Quality requireth of thee thou art likewise to give them Yet keep thy distance so as thou mayst be rather beloved than slighted and seem to walk rather humbly than sneakingly Court especially such as are most likely to do you a kindness without casting more obligations on them than what are inevitable For great persons Love rather such whom they have obliged than such as have obliged them for they love not equall retributions by such as are not their Equals and so excite rather Shame or envy than love in them to their inferiours Although Impudence Confidence and Boldness be no Virtues yet the least of these will beggar them all The Italians have therefore a Proverb that speaks thus much in English the World was made for the Presumptuous If a Favourite to a Prince neither write nor speak his faults nor many times what thou knowest of him to be true especially if revealed unto thee as a secret lest by its coming to his eares thou beest ruin'd unawares for such men are more dangerous to be medled with then Monarchs themselves Kings being above all envy or punishment but Favourites knowing they stand in a slippery place as it is alwayes about the Throne creates not only a jealousie of all that can divulge their miscarriages but puts into them contrivances of mischief against all such if not final destruction 'T is not safe therefore to be privy at all to their secrets And whatever thou dost avoid all strife with thy Superiours putting thy hand to what is dangerous and not justifiable and making any great Mans Interest thine own who has lavisht his Estate Neither be perswaded by them to forfeit thy Allegiance to thy King on any pretence whatsoever which can't be without forfeiting a good Conscience towards God and in most likely-hood thy Soul to the Devil Be not therefore so fickle-pated to desire changes in State but satisfie thy self with this That Government is the care of Providence not thine If we rightly consider the condition of Kings we need not envy them they deserving rather our pity being at the best but miserable having but few things to acquire or aim at and many things to dread and afflict them But since we have hinted at this before it shall suffice SUBSECT II. To Equals MY advice is thou follow these few admonitions Make no comparisons Find no faults Meddle not with other mens matters Admire not thy self Be not Opinionative Neither arrogate nor derogate Be not proud nor popular Neither flatter lye nor dissemble Be constant Keep thy word and promise punctually though but in slight and small matters so shalt thou be believed in greater Keep thine own Counsel as to thy intentions and secrets Be respective to thine Equals but not Familiar Insult not Cast not off an old Friend Accuse no man Praise none rashly Give no man cause of offence Lay no wagers Mend in thy self what thou seest amiss in others Take time by the fore-lock Be temperate in these four things Lingua Loculis Oculis and Poculis Watch thine Eye Moderate thy Tongue and thy Expences Hear much but speak little Give no ear to Tale-bearers Be patient meek merciful and grateful Be not fond of fair words Maintain Friendship Do good to all Frquent good company Admonish thy Friend in secret and commend him openly Be not too curious Make not a Fool of thy self to make others merry Avoid contentious disputes but if thou canst not avoid them keep within moderation and charge not farther than thou canst make a safe and honourable retreat and in some Controversies 'twere not amiss to resolve thy Arguments into Questions ever remembring to keep a reserve within thy self that thou dost not discover all thy knowledge that on just occasion thou mayst deliver rather more than less than was expected which will make thee the more Respected 'T is good also sometimes to dissemble thy knowledge in what thou art known or thought to know whereby thou shalt be judged another time to know what perhaps thou knewest not Avoid conceitedness in either thy carriage words or looks seem not better greater or wiser than thou art lest thou beest rendred less than thou shouldest be How ridiculous is it in a Gentleman to seem to carry all with a grave Hum Nod or hard word which perhaps he himself understands as little as they that hear him And in Discourse to take that for granted which he cannot prove or barely on the account of his Quality to venture at what he knows he understands not and yet would fain perswade his Auditors he understands much more than he sayes These are pityful evasions and become none but shallow-witted Gentlemen * Yet many times with the Vulgar the Duil Hard-skull'd Man is taken to be grave when indeed 't is
must needs be driven to acknowledge a supreme hand and a GOD the first moving cause For all actions and mutations in the World are performed by motion which motion being traced through its causes will bring us to an eternal Being and the acknowledgment of a GOD as being the first mover and consequently that he 's Eternal whence 't is easie to prove the rest of his Attributes Causes of Atheism I shan't dispute with such as maintain there is no real Atheist denying GOD in the heart Since this wicked Age wherein we live doth sadly evince to us the contrary But this I shall affirm that hardly any Sect or Opinion in Religion is approved by any but the professors thereof as if they had no m Nulla firmior amicitia quám quae contrabitur hinc nulla Discordia major quám quae a Religione fit Montanus in Micah Charity presently account them Atheists which may be put as another cause of Atheism For none more like to be Atheists than such as place their Religion in this or that Opinion especially if they reflect on the Antipathy each have to other and consider seriously how all confidently conclude themselves in the Right backing their Tenets with Scripture Authority and Reason and that most things they hold as Truths to be but dubious at best unless he be a resolute Person not doubting at all in his Opinion and Sect. But if he waver and be doubtful changing from one Sect to another have taken exceptions at the defects of most 't is a wonder if he fall not out with all and fix on Atheism at last and despise all Religion as a cheat or policy to keep Men in good Order Another cause of Atheism may be Peace and Plenty in a time when Learning flourishes For Prosperity has damn'd more Souls than all the Devils in Hell It makes Men cast off fear of GOD and Man entangles Mens minds in Vanity blinds them in their pleasures and overwhelms them in Sin For whilst we thrive in the World we are apt to turn our backs on Heaven whereas Poverty and afflictions are the dispensations of Providence and the blessings of the Almighty to fit Sinners for Repentance inclining our minds more to true Devotion for the afflicted have God for the most part in their minds and mouthes An Habit of Scoffing and deriding the Scriptures may be another cause This Vain Idle and Phantastical Pityful Childish humour of Jesting proceeds which this Age so Super-abounds with among such as call themselves Gentlemen from Pride and Ostentation For they being generally Men of weak Judgments and unfit for matters of Substance and Solidity as being above their apprehension they immediately with a disdainful Jest scorn what they are uncapable of or proceeds from any that attempt noble things Wit may lawfully be used GOD having given nothing to us in vain but great care ought to be had it be not abused especially in jesting with Holy things for thereby they make a mock of Sin trifle with the wrath of GOD and play like Fools with Hell-fire whither without Repentance they are posting This way of fooling is beneath a Gentleman for it Hebetates the Reason and renders him empty flashy and Phantastical Another cause may be the Clergy live scandalously which is a great eye-sore and a main cause what can be more unseemly than to see such as should lead men to Heaven walk themselves as if there were no Hell That should be Instructers of others in Sobriety Humility and all Piety live loosely proudly in all Riot and Excess Drinking Whoring Lying Swearing Pride and Covetousness are odious in every one but especially in those that should teach otherwise are they aggravated Such are a dishonour to their Coat the scandal of the Church and an occasion of the Enemies Blaspheming Who will believe those are sins as they exclaim in the Pulpit if they themselves all the week after walk in them with delight A Gentleman though he shou'd with much indignation abominate such vile practices and if in power endeavour to suppress them yet shou'd not be so narrow spirited as therefore to neglect the Ordinances of GOD since the Author and Finisher of our Faith and Religion Commands the very Apostles themselves to hear the Scribes and Pharisees those whom he calls so often Hypocrites and against whom he pronounces so many woes only with this Restriction That they do not as they do However their Doctrine was good and therefore enjoyned To do as they say A Minister that has a Lawful Call ought rather to be reprehended than slighted He may be evil himself yet instruct others in good works These make large Rents in the Church Union of all things else ought to be desired therefore And why are there so many differences among us Either because we are wedded to our own wayes and Opinions or because we quarrel with shadows Order Ceremonies and things indifferent and not of Faith while we neglect the Substance and fundamentals in Religion Many times through weakness of Judgment violent contests arise between party and party and yet neither differ in the main and perhaps not in the thing it self neither which through their ignorance notwithstanding they know not how to Reconcile To Compose these Differences is by fair and gentle not foul and rigorous means according to the Laws A weak Brother is to be restored in the Spirit of meekness Consciences are not to be compell'd by Fire and Sword For that Religion which is established by the sword must needs bek in to Mahomet's let the pretences be what they will or worse As we have lately too wofully experimented in our blessed times of Reformation in which they did not stick in their Zeal to destroy the Lord 's Anointed If they had been men after Gods own heart as they were Saints their hearts would certainly have melted with sorrow and remorse as David's smote him for but cutting off the skirt of Saul's Garment and yet he never intended to cut his throat But their hearts were hardned if not seared Nothing more unbecoming a Gentleman than to oppose his Sovereign the fountain of Gentility or Government the Ordinance of GOD. Can any man be so stupid as to imagine there can be any Religion in Rebellion or Reformation in murthering of Kings subverting of Government and destroying many Families Innovations in Religion are dangerous unless gradual and by the steps of time for so they 'l hardly be perceptible No Innovation unless by the product of time can suit well with any well-governed Nation for long-continued Customs agree best together although perhaps in themselves bad whereas better being unused link not so well and therefore prove more troublesome So that great caution is to be had in Reformation that the Alteration be for Reformation and not the Reformation a pretence to Rebellion which a Gentleman in all publick Conferences Consultations and Counsels ought carefully to avoid Let all Discourses of Religion be
declares that Men alone are not couragious and fit for politick Martial affairs If there were many great Heroes and Conquerours were there not as many Amazons Was not the great Monarch Cyrus Conquered by a Woman Zenobia Queen of the Palmyrians taught her Sons the Greek Latine and Egyptian Tongues and wrote an Epitomy of the Eastern Histories As Cornelia taught the Gracchies her two Sons the Latine Eloquence for which also our Queen Elizabeth was famous Aretia taught her Son Aristippus Philosophy Socrates himself did not disdain to hear the publick Philosophical Lectures of Diotima and Asyacia as Apollos was not ashamed though Learned to be Catechized by Priscilla Likewise Tullia inherited her Fathers Oratory as well as Estate Hipatia the Wife of Isidore the Philosopher of Alexandria was excellently well skill'd in Astrology Sappho in Poetry the Inventress of Saphick Verses As also the three Corynnae the first of which out-did Pindar five times notwithstanding he was the Prince of the Lyrick Poets Nay the very Apostles themselves were taught by Women or the Women were as it were Apostles unto them when Christ first appeared to Mary she was to go and tell the Apostles c. But every History will afford us some Woman or other equalling some of our best Men. Wherefore they that think to find the Nobleness or abjectness in the Sex seek where nothing is to be found for the being a Man or a Woman makes them neither Noble nor Ignoble as was said but the being an xecellent Man or an excellent Woman So then if there be any defect it is from the individual person and no more from the Sex than from the whole Species This being so 't is great folly in Parents especially the Nobility Gentry and such as have Estates if they have not in a prudent way as much care in the Education of their Daughters as Sons especially in this Age wherein they need to be furnisht with abundance of Virtue to withstand the continual assaults Men make on their Chastity Why should they then not be instructed in all manner of Good Learning and Literature which is one great and chief part of Education and the other is like unto it Travel PART I. Learning Literature and Studies for a Gentleman LEarning good Literature and Studies tend chiefly to the Rooting of Virtue and good manners as well as wisdom in a Gentleman and to perfect our Natures And this rests in good Seminaries of Learning and good Societies such as are the Universities When Grammar hath Instructed him in Language true Orthography and to understand what he reads Philosophy both Natural and Moral should be lookt into for as much as they make a Gentleman both grave and profound The knowledge of a few good Books is better than a Library and a main part of Learning As for Logick Rhetorick and such Studies that tend only to Contention and Ostentation time is but ill spent about them and when all is done signifie little Experimental Philosophy is much to be preferred especially the Spagyrical and Cartetian Experience being that chief thing indeed that perfects our Studies Being thus well grounded that he may be well accomplisht to serve and Honour his Creator his King and be serviceable to his Countrey let him acquaint himself chiefly with History Poetry and Oratory The first in as much as it makes past times as they were present by comparing one with another and observation will give him wisdom The second Invention and nimbleness of wit And the last Ornament and an awfull respect of his Auditors allowing a convenient time for meditation of what thou hast read for that will make it thy own Since then all our Studies tend to the glory of God the welfare of our Countrey and the advantage of Man or Neighbour we will shew a little how a a Gentleman may be fitted to do both SECT I. The Grounds of a Gentlemans Religion LEt me here in so weighty a matter a little take the Liberty to expatiate As Religion is the Cement that keepeth the Church from falling and knitteth the Members thereof together and prevents Confusion so uniformity is the Cement of Religion and is both well pleasing to God and advantagious to man The breach thereof being the in-let to Sects Schisms Heresies Atheism Superstition and all Prophaness and Confusion Uniformity in Religion increaseth faith towards God and all good works as well as peace in the Church peace of Conscience Love and Charity towards our Neighbours Causes of Atheism Whereas Divisions and contrary Opinions in Religion is the Inlet of all evill the increaser of feuds emulation envy and malice one against another neglecting peace and unity to follow a party and k Nihil est quod tam impotenter Rapiat Homines quam suscepta de salute Opinio siquidem pro ea omnes gentes corpora animas Devovere solent arctiffimo necessitudinis vinculo se invicem colligare faction And without doubt keeps off many from the Church and may be the most probable Reason for ought I know why this Age so swarms with Atheists So that it is almost come to that pass that he that will not Blaspheme his maker nay and deny there is any such thing as a Deity and declare himself a down-right Atheist is accounted no Gentleman The existence of a Deity against Atheists Whenas they may sooner doubt whether they themselves be than whether there be a God For if they be only Entia a primo as I have noted elsewhere they must first know him that is primum before they can know themselves A flashy drolling wit and some small Notions and sips in Learning inclines many men to Atheism yet for the most part they are but half-witted fellows though they make a great bustle in the World but true wisdom and a large draught of Learning brings them to the knowledge of a God Who can but admire to see men fancy such idle chymeras in their Heads as all things are produced by Nature When if they were able to salve all her Phaenomena yet they must be constrained to confess that at the beginning there must be an Infinite Omnipotent and Omniscient Being to dispose that confused Chaos or Heap of Atoms to cause an universal Harmony and especially to convert those Atoms into those various seminal contextures on which most of the abstruse operations and productions of Nature depend Besides 't is less difficult to conceive the Eternity and all the Attributes of a GOD than to conceive Infinite Eternal Self-existent and Self-moving Atoms To Judge by sundry Causes of many things if not of most is to judge amiss and on imperfect grounds for we knowing nothing but as our Senses represent them unto us we must needs judge of things not really as they are but according to the Analogy they have with us and so many times we rest in them and search no further But if we seriously weigh the concatenation of Causes we
present Infamy for therein the blood coming from interiour parts to the Heart is transmitted through the Arteries to the Face where by a moderate sadness 't is fixed and hindred from returning again to the Heart for a time Likewise Redness of Face is seen also in Anger and an eager desire of Revenge Why the Face is red in Anger mixt with Love Hatred and Sadness and many times in Weeping Of Weeping Tears for Tears flow not from extreme sadness but that which is moderate joyned with Love and frequently with Joy For we must know Tears are only certain effluviums which continually expire from the eyes that emit more than any other part of the Body by the pores or otherwayes by reason of the largeness of the optick nerves and the abundance of small Arteries through which they pass which abounding or else not being well agitated condense and convert into water as is apparent in such as are weak and infirm who frequently sweat in that the Humours are not well agitated so when they abound though they are not more agitated as we see sweat ensues moderate Exercise But the eyes sweat not Tears therefore are either occasioned by changing the figure of the pores by which the Vapours pass through any accident whatever which retarding their motion and altering the order and disposition of the pores those Vapours which before passed regularly through those Channels run one into another as is frequently seen when any hurt befals the eye by any stroke dust c. and so become Tears Or by Sadness which cooling the blood contracts the pores of the eyes and consequently diminishes the Vapours but being joyned with Love than which nothing increaseth them more by the blood sent from the Heart it converts them into Tears in an abundant manner As we see Old Men and Women through Affection and Joy these Passions sending much blood to the Heart are exceeding apt to weep and this is frequent without any sadness at all For the blood by those Passions sending many Vapours to the eyes their agitation being retarded by their Natural coldness are instantly converted into Tears The like may be seen in all such as are subdued by small occasions of Grief Fear or Pity Groans how occasioned Tears are accompanied moreover by Groans which are caused by an abundance of blood in the Lungs driving out the Air they contained by the Wind-pipe impetuously The cause of Scrieches Crys and Laughter And sometimes Scrieches and Cries ensue which are usually more sharp than those that accompany Laughter though they are occasioned almost in the same manner in that the Nerves which contract and dilate the Organs of the Voice to make it sharper or flatter being joyned to those that open the Ventricles of the Heart in Joy and shut them in Sadness cause these Organs to be dilated or contracted at the same time For Laughter is only an inarticulate sound or clattering voice occasioned by the blood proceeding from the right Ventricle of the Heart by the Arterious Vein suddenly puffing up the Lungs and at several fits forces the Air they contain to break forth violently through the Wind-pipe which motion of the Lungs and eruption of the Air move all the muscles of the Diaphragma Breast and Throat whereby those of the Face are also moved having some connexion therewith Though Sighs as well as Tears presuppose Sadness yet the cause is exceeding different The Caufe of Sighs For as was said Tears follow when the Lungs are full of blood Sighs when they are almost empty and when some imagination of Hope or Joy opens the orifice of the venous Artery which Sadness had contracted for then the little blood that is left in the Lungs rushing at once into the left ventricle of the Heart through the venous Artery and driven on by a desire to attain this Joy which at the same time agitates 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 which we term a Sigh Laughter whence occasioned So Laughter seems chiefly to proceed from Joy and yet is rather from Sadness In that in the greatest Joys the Lungs are so repleat with blood that they cannot be blown up by fits Whence it is Joy never unless it be very moderate is the occasion of Laughter or that there be some small admiration or hatred joyned therewith And therefore 't is very obvious extraordinary Joy never produces Laughter Now the surprize of Admiration joyned with Joy so suddenly opens the orifices of the Heart that abundance of blood rushing in together on the right side thereof through the Vena Cava and rarified there passes thence through the Arterious Vein and blowing up the Lungs causes a sudden Laughter And so doth the mixture of some Liquor that rarifies the blood as the wheyest part of that which comes to the heart from the Spleen by some small emotion of hatred assisted by a sudden admiration which mixing with the blood there that is sent thither abundantly by Joy from the other parts may cause an unusual dilatation of the blood The cause of Joy and Grief Now the Spleen sending two sorts of blood to the Heart the one thick gross the other exceeding subtile thin and fluid Whence from this proceeds Joy as from that Grief and Sadness is the Reason why those who have infirm Spleens have their Lucida intervalla are subject by fits to be sadder and at other times merrier And so frequently after much Laughter sadness ensues in that the most fluid part of the blood from the Spleen being exhausted the more undepurated follows it to the Heart Laughter is also accompanied with Indignation but then for the most part 't is but feigned and artificial yet sometimes 't is and may be Natural as proceeding from the joy a Man has he cannot be hurt by the evil whereat he is offended especially finding himself surprized by the Novelty or unexpected encounter of the evil Nay without Joy by the mere motion of Aversion it may be produced forasmuch as thereby the blood being sent to the heart from the Spleen and there rarified and conveyed into the Lungs are easily blown up when it finds them empty For whatsoever thus suddenly blows up the Lungs causeth the outward action of Laughter Except as was said when sadness and grief convert it into groanes and shrieks which are accompanied by Weepings Another effect of these passions you have heard is Tremblings They are Of Tremblings rather an effect of Sadness and Fear which by thickning the blood the brain is not sufficiently supplied with spirits to send into the Nerves The same doth cold Air. They are occasioned also when too many or too few spirits are sent from the brain into the Nerves whereby the small passages of the muscles cannot be duely shut and so the motion of the Member is impedited Tremblings
The best Natures most affectionate loving and such as have most goodness are most prone and inclined to the first proceeding only from a sudden Aversion that surprizes them and not any deep hatred For being apt to imagine all things should be in the way they conceive as soon as any thing falls out contrary they admire it and are often angry too even when it concerns not themselves For being full of affection they concern themselves in the behalf of those they Love as for themselves So that what would be an occasion only of Indignation to some is to them of wrath but is not of any duration because the surprize continues not and when they see the occasion that moved them was not of any moment to do so they Repent thereof Yet they cannot forbear again when the least occasion offers in that their inclination to Love causeth alway much blood and heat in their hearts and the aversion that surprizes them driving never so little Choler thither causes a sudden violent emotion in their blood Inward Close and Occult Anger The Inward Close and Occult Anger is composed of hatred and sadness of which in it there is a very large proportion and is hardly perceptible at first but by the aspect and perhaps paleness of Face but increases by little and little through the agitation which an ardent desire of Revenge excites in the blood which being mixed with Choler driven to the Heart from the Liver and Spleen excites therein a very sharp pricking heat The proudest meanest Spirited and lowest are most prone to this sort of Anger How befitting it is a Gentleman then As the most generous Souls are to gratitude For injuries are so much the greater by how much Pride makes a Man value himself A Gentleman should be free of this above all nothing more unbecoming him then Pride and this low mean-spirited Anger more becoming a Pesant and yet many madly and rashly account this their shame their glory by Duelling and such rash fooling and impious as well as ungenrile Actions before condemned Of Glory and shame Glory is a kind of Joy grounded on Self-love and proceeding from an Opinion or hope a Man has to be applauded or esteemed by some others for some good that is or has been in him as evil excites shame for this causes a man to esteem of himself when he sees he is esteemed by others and may become a Gentleman well enough provided he bear not so great Sail as to over-set the Bark Besides as was said before it excites to Virtue and Noble atchievements by hope as shame by fear Impudence is not a Passion but a contempt of shame and many times of Of Impudence Glory too Because there is not any peculiar motion in us that excites it 'T is a vice opposite to both glory and shame while either of them are good and proceeds from the frequent receipt of great affronts whereby a Man thinking himself for ever degraded of Honour and condemned by every one he becomes Impudent and measuring good and evil only by the conveniencies of the Body he many times lives more happy than such as merit much more Such a sway has Impudence with most Men in the World For though it be no Virtue yet it will beggar them all However very unbecoming a Gentleman Of Distaste Distaste is a kind of Sadness arising from the too much continuance of a good which occasions weariness or Distaste As our food is good unto us no longer then we are eating ir and afterwards distastful Of Sorrow and Light-Heartedness Sorrow is also a kind of Sadness that has a peculiar bitterness being ever joyned to some despair and remembrance of the Delight taken in the thing lost or gone having little hope of its Recovery As from good past proceeds discontent a kind of Sorrow so from evil past Light-heartedness a kind of Joy whose sweetness is increased by remembrance of past misfortunes And thus have I given an hint at every Passion to shew not only how they depend one on the other but also by knowing what we are incident to their Nature Rise and Causes we may be the better able to regulate and subdue them which is the part especially of a Gentleman SUB-DIVISION V. Passions Rectified IN the next place having described unto you the several Passions we are all incident to at one time or other we are to endeavour a Regulation or at least a mitigation of them which most of all becomes a Gentleman Forasmuch as he that can govern and command himself the microcosm is more then if he governed or conquered the macrocosm Alexander that subdued the World was himself a slave to his own Passions and Lusts Hic Labor hoc opus est For indeed although now we have described and explained them with their Rise and Causes we have the less reason to fear their over-swaying us Yet since most Men through inadvertency not duly premeditating and for want of Industry in separating the motions of the blood and Spirits in a Mans self from the thoughts and Imaginations wherewith they are usually joyned whereby Natures defects should be corrected and since on the objects of Passions the motions excited in the blood do so suddenly follow the impressions they make in the Brain although the Soul be no wayes assistant it is almost impossible for even the wisest Man if not sufficiently prepared to oppose them However the best way is when thou perceivest thy blood and Spirits moved at the object of any Passion to remember that whatsoever is presented to the Imagination tends to the delusion of the Soul and therefore shouldest weigh the Reason why thou art so on what ground what is the cause and then whether it be just or no and divert thy self by other thoughts till time have allayed that emotion of thy blood and Spirits Learn Octavian's Lesson to repeat the Letters of the Alphabet or rather the Lord's Prayer for diversion so shall thy Passion be smothered for the present and Reason will have the more space to operate and suppress it wholly as elsewhere I have particularly hinted touching Anger or thou shouldest counterbalance them with Reasons directly repugnant to those they represent or make them Familiar to thee and follow the Tract of Virtue viz. Live so as thy Conscience cannot accuse thee of not doing all things which thou judgest to be best Irresolution Remorse Cowardize and Fear Rectified As for instance the Remedy against Irresolution and Remorse is to accustom thy self to frame certain and determinate Judgments of all things that Represent themselves and conceive thou dost alwayes thy Duty when thou dost what thou conceivest best though it may be thou hast conceived amiss As that of Cowardize is Remedied by augmenting Hope and Desire And Fear by using premeditation so as to prepare thy self against all events So Generosity checks Anger which making a Man set no great value on such things as