be denyed but that Fitness is the only Motive to the Appetite nor that the Desire arising upon the Knowledge of that Fitness is the Love and the only Love that can be betwixt Male and Female as Male and Female Of Love determined BUt beside this General Love of a different sex which is no more but the Appetite of Procreation Indefinite there is yet another Love in which the same Appetite though respecting diversity of sex is yet determined to some one particular Person and such as are in this Passion are properly said to be in Love Now the Question doth concern not the General Love betwixt Male and Female but this Particular or Determined Love since this seems to be that which Ladys mean when they distinguish Love from Lust. Concerning this Personal Love therefore I say that forasmuch as it cannot be without diveâ—sity of Sex and tendeth as violently if not more to the same end as the general or indefinite Love doth viz. to the Act of Procreation and in both those respects doth participate of that sensual pleasure which accompanieth the indifferent Love it follows that Love of the Sex and Love of some one person of that Sex make but one and the same affection or Passion in Nature Nor is there indeed any other cause that makes this Love quit its indifferency to all of that divers Sex and fix only upon some one single peâ—peâ—son but only this that the perâ—on Loving or rather in Love apprehending that the Marks or Signs of the power Generative are more conspicuous in the person loved than in any other of that Sex thereupon imagineth that the Fruition of that peâ—peâ—son that is the doing that Act whiâ—â— is necessary to continuation of the kind with that person will better conduce to the satisfaction of the Appetite to Geneâ—ation than the doing of it with any other So that this Opinion or Imagination in the person loving is the cause why the person loved is courted and puâ—sued with that violence of desire which always agitateth and disquieteth those that are in Love And hence it comes that comely and proper men as they call them such as are of good complexions and well proportioned bodies are generally in great reputation with Women and fâ—ir and Beautiful Women in as high esteem and honour with Men. For it being a certain rule in Nature tâ—at all inward poweâ—s are more or less peâ—fect according â—o the more or less exact temperament and structure of the parts of the body upon which they depend and that the exact shape and constitution of the body and all its parts are marks of the perfection of the same poweâ—s where the senses discover the Marks in a more eminent measure there the soul concludeth to find the Powers themselves also in as eminent a degree and thereupon loves and pursues with proportionate ardency the person in whom they appear to be For particular instance Comliness and Strength of body in a Man being signs of the goodness of the power Generative Women no sooner perceive those signs but well understanding what they signifie they cannot chuse but have a greater liking esteem and inclination for such men in whom they appear than for others in whom they do not appear at least so conspicuously On the other side sweetness of complexon justness of stature and all that is comprized in the word Beauty being the Character which Nature hath imprinted upon a Woman by which we may judge of the Goodness of the passive power in Generation in such a Woman no sooner is this Character discerned by the eyes of men but they instantly know what it imports and thereupon honour and love those Women in whom that Mark is seen more than others in whom it doth not shew it self in so full a measure To confirm the Truâ—h of this besides the Natural Reasons here alledged we have also the suffrage of Experience For what woman was ever in love with an Eunuch though otheâ—wise exceedingly handsome Nay what Woman is there that doth not secretly despise any man of whose insufficiency whether Native or by Misfortune in the power of Generation she hath had any the least notice on the otherside what Man hath ever continued his passion for a Woman after he hath been once convinced of her impotency to club with him in the Act of procreation though she were in all other things the most beautiful of her Sex Which considered I confess I find my self a little inclined to suspect that few wives who have no Children by their Husbands love them half so well as they pretend and that as few Husbands abstain from breach of wedlock who have reason to complain of the Barrenness of their Wives For though Discretion may make them secret and â—lose in their amorous stealths yet without the restraint of great virtue desire of Issue and experiment of their Abilities will go neer to make them affect change Now after all this I hope it will be no longer a Paradox that the indefinite desire of different Sex which is geneâ—â—lly called Lust and desire of some one particular person of that different Sex which is generally called Love are one and the same Appetite to the Act of Procreation Nevertheless that I may not seem either ignorant of what hath given occasion to men to imagine a real difference betwixt them or willing to innovate a vulgar phrase by which they express their different sentiments I shall not omit to observe that when we Condemn this Appetite we give it the disparageing name of Lust and when we Approve it we cloath it in the neater word Love so that Lust and Love nevertheless are no more but divers Terms by which we express the divers Conceptions we have of one and the same Passion Nor will it be a whit to my disadvantage if I add also that the desire of different Sex in general is not accompanied with that Delight of the Mind as the Determined or personal Love is since in the Former men seek only to please themselves whereas in thâ— Latter they seek to please the Woman whom they love as much as if not more than themselves and by how much more they find themselves able to please their Mistresses by so much the more are they Delighted themselves For this Delight is not sensual as being that Pleasure or joy of the Mind which consisteth in the opinion we have of our own Power or Ability to please another especially the Person whom we love and therefore an effect rather of Charity which is a Desire to assist another in obtaining what he wanteth or is pleased with when he hath it than of this Love betwixt Male and Female of which I now discourse and so hinders not Love and Lust to be still one and the same thing as I have pâ—oved it to be Of Platonick Love IT remains only that we briefly examine the Purity of that Love which such profess who distinguish themselves from the herd of
most resolved spirits have felt the force of it nor is Ambition it self esteemed Lord Paramount of all the Passions able to contest with it for absolute dominion over the soul. For an example of Wisdom reflect on Solomon who laid-bâ— all his divine Precepts and gave himself over to dotage upon Pharaoh's fair daughter and upon Appius Claudius Decemvir of Rome a Law-giver and most austere man who yet was transported to a mad degree of love For one of Ambition we have Marcus Antonius half-partner of the great Empire who in the Zenith of all his power and greatness found the power of Cleopatra's beauty strong enough to make him her willing captive And for Resolution we have the memorable confession of Lais That she had more Philosophers and those Stoicks too her servants than men of any other sort Divine Plato you may remember confesses himself so passionately in love with his Archianassa that forgetting his doctrine of Idea's he knew none but that of her face and the grave Stagirite sacrificed to his Herpelis as to Ceres But what need we these examples to assure the tyranny of Love over even Heroical Minds when the frequency of it hath given occasion to men to call it the Heroicall Passion And when the antient Poets meant no other thing by their fictions of the Amours of Iupiter and other Deities but this that Love mastereth the greatest and wisest men in the world This considered what wonder is it if our Matron a weak and frail Creature being shot at by the winged Archer whose Arrows have this Faculty that they cure the Ulceâ—s of sorrow in a moment and pierced to the quick soon yielded up her self to be led captive among those many millions that attend his triumphant Chariot So that if this new Affection of hers be a Fault certainly it is such a one as was not in her power to avoid and all who understand the force of such secret flames as we may believe she felt will easily excuse Nor ought you to blame her for the Haste she made in the payment of that Homage which all women owe and first or last must pay to the Inspirer of such desires since you know not what strong and pressing Arguments and Motives the adventurous Souldier used to induce her to that dispatch For the Souldier hath ikneled so And told her all his love and all his wo And sworn so depe to her to be true For well or wo and change for no newe And as a false Lover so well can plain The selie Matron rewed on his pain And toke him for husbond and became his wife For evermore while that hem last life and sâ—nce the wisest Women commonly esteem those servants most valiant and worthy their favours who are quickest in obtaining them qui timidè rogat docet negare I am not ignorant there are a sort of Heretiques in Love whose prize no pleasures that come easily and think it below their Courage to engarrison that Fort whose Gates are thrown open at first summons as if Delight were the more grâ—teful and transcendent for being difficult and tedious in acquisition But our Matron was none of these She was too Wise too Masculine to insist upon the nicety of a long Courtship and thought not the way to oblige was by delay No finding her defences weak and the Besieger strong she conceived she might make the better conditions by how much the sooner she surrendred Besides Fortune had faiâ—ly given her an opportunity and Pâ—udence would not permit her to neglect it There have been many memorable adventures in the World in which Time it self hath had a principal hand and there are certain Fortunate and Critical Minutes wherein many things are to be effected that ever after are impossible Why then should this Woman be accused of extream Levity only for taking occasion by the Foretop and at siâ—st Encontre making sure of what perhaps she otherways might have lost When you are Hungry and have good Meat before you will you account it kindness in your Host to detain you from eating with tedious Ceremonies and long impertinent discourses till the dishes are grown cold and unsavory What reason is there then that any one should think it so hainous an offence against the modesty of Woman-hood that our Matron addressed her self to the satisfaction of an appetite as Natural and many times as impatient of delay as Hunger as soon as fortune had proffered her the means wherewithal to do it For my part seriously think others what they please though I will not justifie the Act she did yet I do not judge it to be the worse because done so soon But you perhaps may think that I have cloathed the deformity of this Womans fact in too favourable and plausible a dress of Phrase making king that Noble and Heroique passion Love to be the Cause of her so easie prostitution which was indeed the meer and proper effect of a Carnal Appetite or base and unbrideled Lust. To this therefore I say that notwithstanding the nice distinction which Flattery hath imagined betwixt Love and Lust as if one were the genuine off-spring of the Mind alone the other the spurious issue of the Body which never intruded her self into the society of her Sister without debauching and dishonouring her Virgin and immaculate Nature yet those unprejudicate Enquirers who have searched deep enough into the Origine and essence of that desire of Conjunction in persons of different Sexes or the Appetite of Male and Female each to other which is generally understood to be Love for we are not now upon the consideration of Amity or Friendship will not be easily perswaded that there is any so great dissimilitude or Disparity betwixt them as that they may not be deduced from one and the same principle at least that they can be divided This I presume will be somewhat distâ—steful to the pure and refined Disciples of the Platonique sect who profess to be ennamoured only on the beauties of the Soul wholly rejecting all respects of flesh and blood and entirely devoting their Courtship to contemplate and entranse themselves in admiration of the lovely Idea's of Virtue nor will the Ladies made doubtless of a mold much finer and less sulphureous than other courser Mortals are be well pleased to hear their sweet and cleanly Flames should be aspersed with the mixture of gross and sooty Exhalations such as arise from ardors of the Body And therefore Truth it self which I prefer to all other interests engageth me to assert this my opinion and make it appear that though it be a Paradox yet it is highly Reasonable Which that I may do I aske leave to present you a Picture of Love in little not copied from the descriptions of other mens Phansies but drawn to the life from the very original of Nature and if I am not much mistaken so full of true resemblances that who so shall attentively contemplate the same will I doubt
night linnen like a Bride going to bed which adding more Fewel to his suspicion and exasperating the sense of his wrong he puts on the countenance of rage and terror with enflamed and threatning eyes staring as Caesars Ghost upon Brutus upon his poor surprised wife who stood as still by reason of her astonishment as if she had been congealed by lightning or transformed into a Statue For shame upon the unexpected frustration of an evil design doth ususually produce confusion Her soul conscious of infidelity hitherto only in imagination and design began to presage more evils than it could have deserved had her design succeeded iâ—to Actâ— the violence of her passion being favourably considered But could she so soon have recollected her disordered spirits and recovered the use of her tongue her Husband 's fury would have restrain'd her and he yet could only breath revenge not utter it in words After a little pause going into her bed-chamber he there encounters with fresh causes of suspicion the dressing-Table by the bed-side richly furnisht with provoking delicates clean sheets perfum'd pillows and above all his spie the Chambermaid conjur'd out of the way confirm'd in his jealousie by these convincing signs he now meditates upon nothing but Revenge and how to effect it with the more security and apparence of justice Resolved therefore by cruelty to extort a Confession and so make her her own accuser without speaking a word he strips her to her snow-white skin and carrying her down into the Porch there binds her delicate Arms to one of the Pillars had you been so happy to have beheld her in that deplorable posture doubtless you would have thought you had seen the beautiful Andromede a second time chained naked to a Rock and one though perhaps not quite so chaste as she yet if Beauty had its due She could not merit any bonds beside Those with which Lovers mutualy are tyed and well worthy another Perseus to deliver love and enjoy her The hard-hearted Usurer fancying to himself some satisfaction in this first Act of the Tragedy he intended retires to his bed though likely to have but a melancholy night of it without his Consort hoping by sleep to recompose his troubled mind In the mean time our Man of War who had promised to himselfe the height of all enjoyments lay Soldier like perdue in the open Air and when he had till almost midnight in vain watched his Mistresses door which still continued as fast shut as the Temple of Ianus in time of peace he returns back to the house of his She-Officer the Bawd whom he found halfe naked and prepared to keep one of Venus's Vigils with a Client of hers for her Clients were often forced to gratifie her for solliciting their Love-causes with such Fees whom at that very hour she expected Ho Mother says he with what teâ—ious hope do I purchase from the Lady the pleasure promised me I have already consumed a whole hour longer indeed than a whole winters night in fruitless expectation while she who sought my Love and made the Assignation hath not vouchsafed to open the door 'T is very strange methinks unless having forgot both her self and her appointment she hath buried her amour in sleep Go thy ways dear Mother and enquire the cause of my disappointment and what commands the Lady hath for me if to readvance lo I am ready for the combat if to retreat I am as ready to march off with flying Colours and deferr the encounter till another night Scarcely were these last words out of his mouth when the Bawd incited partly by the sense of her honour for those of her Trade must be punctual in their assignations and partly by commiseration of his impatience hastily casting a Mantle a most useful garment in such cases over her shoulders catches the Soldier by the hand and conducts him back to the door which she opens with a Key given her by the Matron some while before for her private access upon occasion and entreating him to stand close and silent for a few minutes without she passes on through the Wood-yard and a little Garden till she arrived at the walk under the Porch where groping along she had almost run her head against â—he living Statue there bound to a Pillar which she no sooner discern'd but surpriz'd with horror as at sight of a Ghost or Apparition she stood still and gazed with affrighted eyes The milky whiteness of the Matrons skin to some degree overcame the darkness of the moonless night nor would it suffer her to be longer unperceived so that the Bawd soon recovering her self out of her first consternation boldly approaches to the Lady and omitting to enquire into the cause of her being in that strange and lamentable condition delivers in few words the Soldiers message even at that time not ungrateful to the receiver for the Lady finding the chains of Love more intollerable than those of her barbarous Husband and endowed with a Wit no whit inferior to her Beauty soon apprehended that now she had an opportunity to convert this her misfortune into a benefit and that she ought not to despond nor despair of reaping the delights which the jealousie of her Husband had hitherto prevented Thus reaâ—imated with fresh hope she begins to wheadle the Engineer of Lust and pouring the oyl of good language and endearing expressions into her ears My dearest Mother says she my good Angel I can bear this my affliction with patience becoming the undaunted resolution of a Lover yea more I can change it into a complete Felicity if you will but vouchsafe me your assistance I know no way to revenge my Husbands cruelty but to deserve it by acting what he so much fears Help me then to meet and embrace my Lover that he who hath so kindly entertain'd my invitation so justly observed our appointment may either accuse me of breach of faith nor want the reward due to his Fidelity Let your courteous hands untie the knots that hamper mine and for a few minutes free me from these bonds that I may really deserve them These charms soon wrought upon the good nature of the Bawd who was the very Renet of Concupiscence so that she readily disingaged her Daughter from the cold embraces of the Pillar Who being thus happily at liberty assumes more Courage and Wit from her adventure and falls to perswade her deliverer to suâ—fer her self to be bound with the same Cord and to supply her room only while she hasted to her Gallant to give him an assurance of her constancy she told her there could be no hazard in the enterprize since her Husband was in his bed and fast asleep and all the world but themselves at quiet and within two minutes she would return and relieve her Hereto she added such golden promises as might have overcome a mind much more obstinate and doubtful than the Bawds who boggled at no danger to oblige a friend but accordingly