Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wit_n	world_n	write_v	85	3	4.9990	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27276	All the histories and novels written by the late ingenious Mrs. Behn entire in one volume : together with the history of the life and memoirs of Mrs. Behn never before printed / by one of the fair sex ; intermix'd with pleasant love-letters that pass'd betwixt her and Minheer Van Brun, a Dutch merchant, with her character of the countrey and lover : and her love-letters to a gentleman in England.	Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.; Gildon, Charles, 1665-1724.	1698 (1698)	Wing B1712; ESTC R30217	289,472	572

in montibus Aemi Sistet ingenti Ramorum protegat Umbra Poetry the supream Pleasure of the mind is begot and born in Pleasure but oppress'd and kill'd with Pain So that this Reflection ought to raise our Admiration of Mrs. Behn whose Genius was of that force like Homer's to maintain its Gayety in the midst of Disappointments which a Woman of her Sense and Merit ought never to have met with But she had a great Strength of Mind and Command of Thought being able to write in the midst of Company and yet have her share of the Conversation which I saw her do in writing Oroonoko and other parts of the following Volume in every part of which Sir you 'll find an easie Style and a peculiar Happiness of thinking The Passions that of Love especially she was Mistress of and gave us such nice and tender Touches of them that without her Name we might discover the Author as Protogenes did Apelles by the Stroak of her Pencil In this Edition Sir are three Novels not Printed before and considerable Additions to her Life from all which I 'm perswaded you will draw a very agreeable Entertainment which I always wish you in your Conversation with the Muses for we often seek the Company that pleases us among which if I shall hereafter by the Indulgence of a better Fortune be able to place any thing worthy your Perusal I shall enjoy a very sensible Satisfaction for Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est and I cou'd find no readier way to obtain so agreeable an Event than thus by putting my self with so powerful a Bribe as Mrs. Behn's Histories under your Protection Sir where the Malice of my Enemies or the Malignity of my Misfortunes will never be able to give any uneasie at least anxious Thoughts to SIR Your most Humble most Obedient and Devoted Servant Charles Gildon Advertisement to the READER THE Stile of the Court of the King of Bantam being so very different from Mrs. Behn's usual way of Writing it may perhaps call its being genuine in Question to obviate which Objection I must inform the Reader That it was a Trial of Skill upon a Wager to shew that she was able to write in the Style of the Celebrated Scarron in Imitation of whom 't is writ tho' the Story be true I need not say any thing of the other Two they evidently confessing their admirable Author THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND MEMOIRS OF Mrs. BEHN Written by one of the Fair Sex MY intimate Acquaintance with the admirable Astrea gave me naturally a very great Esteem for her for it both freed me from that Folly of my Sex of envying or slighting Excellencies I cou'd not obtain and inspir'd me with a noble Fire to celebrate that Woman who was an Honour and Glory to our Sex and this Reprinting her incomparable Novels presented me with a lucky Occasion of exerting that Desire into Action She was a Gentlewoman by Birth of a good Family in the City of Canterbury in Kent her paternal Name was Johnson whose Relation to the Lord Willoughby drew him for the advantageous Post of Lieutenant-General of many Isles besides the Continent of Surinam from his quiet Retreat at Canterbury to run the hazardous Voyage of the West-Indies with him he took his chief Riches his Wife and Children and in that Number Afra his promising Darling our future Heroine and admir'd Astrea who ev'n in the first Bud of Infancy discover'd such early Hopes of her riper Years that she was equally her Parents Joy and Fears for they too often mistrust the Loss of a Child whose Wit and Understanding outstrip its Years as too great a Blessing to be long enjoy'd Whether that Fear proceed from Superstition or Diffidence of our present Happiness I shall not determine but must pursue my Discourse with assuring you none had greater Fears of that Nature or greater Cause for 'em for besides the Vivacity and Wit of her Conversation at the first Use almost of Reason in Discourse she wou'd write the prettiest soft-engaging Verses in the World Thus qualify'd she accompany'd her Parents in their long Voyage to Surinam leaving behind her the Sighs and Tears of all her Friends and breaking Hearts of her Lovers that sigh'd to possess what was scarce yet arriv'd to a Capacity of easing their Pain if she had been willing But as she was Mistress of uncommon Charms of Body as well as Mind she gave infinite and raging Desires before she cou'd know the least her self Her Father liv'd not to see that Land flowing with Milk and Honey that Paradise which she so admirably describes in Oroonoko where you may also find what Adventures happen'd to her in that Country The Misfortunes of that Prince had been unknown to us if the Divine Astrea had not been there and his Sufferings had wanted that Satisfaction which her Pen has given 'em in the Immortality of his Vertues and Constancy the very Memory of which move a generous Pity in all and a Contempt of the brutal Actors in that unfortunate Tragedy-Here I can add nothing to what she has given the World already but a Vindication of her from some unjust Aspersions I find are insinuated about this Town in Relation to that Prince I knew her intimately well and I believe she wou'd not have conceal'd any Love-Affair from me being one of her own Sex whose Friendship and Secrecy she had experienc'd which makes me assure the World there was no Affair between that Prince and Astrea but what the whole Plantation were Witnesses of A generous Value for his uncommon Vertues which every one that but hears 'em finds in himself and his Presence gave her no more Beside his Heart was too violently set on the everlasting Charms of his Imoinda to be shook with those more faint in his Eye of a white Beauty and Astrea's Relations there present had too watchful an Eye over her to permit the Frailty of her Youth if that had been powerful enough As this is false so are the Consequences of it too for the Lord her Father's Friend that was not then arriv'd perish'd in a Hurricane without having it in his Power to resent it Nor had his Resentments been any thing to her who only waited the Arrival of the next Ships to convey her back to her desir'd England Where she soon after to her Satisfaction arriv'd and gave King Charles the Second so pleasant and rational an Account of his Affairs there and particularly of the Misfortunes of Oroonoko that he desir'd her to deliver them publickly to the World and satisfy'd of her Abilities in the Management of Business and the Fidelity of our Heroine to his Interest After she was marry'd to Mr. Behn a Merchant of this City tho' of Dutch Extraction he committed to her Secrecy and Conduct Affairs of the highest Importance in the Dutch War which obliging her to stay at Antwerp presented her with The Adventures of Prince