the Academy and every one having made choice of a particular Science Art or Subject he managed it as regularly as he pleased twice a week And by this means we had as many different Lessons as Persons whereof to make our advantage and all the Vertues and Sciences of the Ancients being proposed and laid before us for examples it lookt as if they had left us their Libraries and the exercise of their Heroick actions So that it was impossible but that much or little of all these particular things must stick in the mind and that this variety must sweeten the drinesse of the Precepts and utterly banish the sharpnesse of dispute For it was not there the way to oppose what was said but to hearken with attention and delight and to let the Orator carry the prize he aim'd at in regard that every one spake or wrote upon the matter he had thought fit to elect and ingeniously dispos'd himself to utter nothing but the very cream of what he had been able to gather from it Now the ordinary Subjects were History True and Fabulous Sciences Speculative and Practick the Mathematicks Heraldry the Maps the Horoscopes Travels and merry Tales so that by means of Conversation which is one of the three ways to make a man perfect the other two were put in pfactice without the pains and charge of travel and study For we had all sorts of Books in the heads of our Co-academicks and all the contents thereof in their mouths We travell'd upon the Maps by Geography and we learnt the manners and customes of Countrys and Nations by the Variety of Histories Yea and we had another and better advantage and we were our selves both the Masters and Scholers of the progresses we made in our studies For in regard that all our Notions are imperfect unlesse we produce them and that according to Seneca a good which is not communicated is not pleasing therefore by means of the Discourses and Speeches which we used to make in publick we learnt to write regularly and by frequent exercise we easily acquired a habit of hiding the defects of Nature and making our Artificial qualities seem proper and natural to us So that in a word there was nothing more advantagious and profitable then the exercises of the Academy in regard that all which is requisite to make a man learned eloquent courteous compleasant valiant active dexterous and perfectly compleat in all kinds was there to be learnt How beautiful and delightful is Nature in her diversities and how considerable and adorable is the power of God in the variety of things whereof he hath compos'd the Universe For if variety makes beauty and beauty makes pleasure we may conclude from thence that the variety of matters which we handled was extraordinarily delectable to us and that the Institution of our Academy containing the three points which give life and motion to the great Fabrick of Civil Society we might all easily arive to our desired end which was to be compleat and perfect men without passing through those thorny and craggy difficulties and labours which were prescribed us by divers Sects of Philosophers for so I call their contradictory opinions their Problems their Sophisms and all their odd tricks which cause so many disputes and differences in the Schools for the avoiding whereof all questions and scruples whatsoever which might seem in the least kind contrary to what was pronounc't were absolutely prohibited in our Academy The Counsellor having hearkned to the Baron with attention and admiration said Indeed the method of this Academy deserves to be much esteemed and the particular advantages drawn from the universality of things taught in it highly to be considered for it is of the nature of Indivisible Goods which belong as much in bulk to every one in particular as to all men together nor do I believe there is any false appearance partiality or imposture in it that but that it affords an evident and sensible profit to all Yet will I tell you of another which is no lesse commendable albeit it be like fair faces quite different in all its beauties and seem not to embarass so many Sciences It is that in the Circle of the Assembly every one wonders at some subject and every one takes also by turn the wonders which are proposed to him by the rest For in the first place he must wonder at the Proposition he receives and give the reasons also why he wonders and then he must not wonder and give the reasons likewise why he doth not wonder For example one will say to me Sir I wonder that the Sun which heats the whole world hath no heat in himself To this I must answer that I wonder too and make a handsome discourse to warrant my wonder and from thence by a gentle transition or an imperceptible passage go to the contrary sense and prove with as much eloquence as I can that I do not wonder at it and that there is no cause to wonder That which you say Sir replied the Baron is like the Play of wonders which is used amongst Women at Wakes and other petty Pastimes It may be said the Counsellor that this form of discourse hath been prophan'd in those petty Divertisements and gossipings of Women but I believe not that the Questions amongst them are various or learned or that they know how to handle them handsomely insomuch as for that effect it is needful to have the profundity and universality of the Sciences to handle them regularly and dexterously and to be able to maintain and defend any such argument as may be started by curiosity Now the wonders which are ordinarily moved in this Academy are drawn from Natural Questions from Moral Maxims and from all the most sublime and Speculative curiosities that can fall under a nice and subtle judgement nor is it enought to speak something of them but we must sound the bottome of each of them and stay a good while upon these two parts of the Problem I must confesse said the Baron that this is a handsome order but not so profitable either for the Speakers or Hearers as that of the Academy whereof I told you which comprehended all the Sciences and which had the true and only way to make a man Compleat I remember said the Count that you said that Reading Travel and Conversation make a man Compleat and that all these things were in your Academy But to my apprehension there are other Schools no lesse if not more proper then that which are the Court the Camp and the Houses of great Persons The Camp said the Baron is included in Travel and the Court and the houses of great Persons in Conversation for there is a frequent and continual resort which makes the Conversation both stronger and closer It is true that every body is not fit for the Court and for great mens Houses but if a Country Gentleman at his first coming thither find himselfe
tempered with moderation A Champion is not a Champion because he hath courage but brutal if he joyn it not with the dexterity of judgement and with the circumstance of times and places for he cannot exercise his courage and bring it to an issue by any other means then by conduct and reason and hereby it is that we must moderate our boyling motions which might otherwise make us fall upon a man of honour in place of respect and that for slight and frivolous matters upon which before we shew any disgust we must maturely consider with our selves whether they be worth our resentment or no and when the offence deserves it to conduct our proceedings with address that we may not be worsted and to be sure to perish rather then do a base action It is principally in the point of combat that a truly free and stout Soul hath need of all the counsel and judgement to preserve her honour and her life and to bridle her passion and judiciously to consult all the praecautions necessary as well for the right and equality of weapons and advantage of places as for the subtle addresses of Vapourers and Quarrellers And as for your part said this wise Lord what fury or what dulnesse blinded you in the choice of your Pistols that you had not the patience to charge at your pleasure that which was left you and that after having cool'd the courage of your adversary who could not reach you with his sword you received the affront of giving false fire Henceforward be more considerate and hazzard not your life without praecaution for impetuosity never gets any entire victory in Duels either with Sword or Pistol whereas he who fights temperately and coldly will always be even with his enemy and seldome receive disadvantage To stand upon your fencing postures and passes as they do in the Schools with Foyls is uselesse and very different from fighting in earnest and though the heat and disorder of a desperate fellow do sometimes puzzle the stoutest and skilfullest Sword-man yet the firmnesse of a good judgement either tires him out or keeps his hands only off so as afterwards by promptitude and activity he gets the better Be therefore I say better advised then you have been hitherto both about the incense of quarrels and the distinction of persons and husband your life better in the field then you have hitherto done Then the Marquesse interrupted the Counsellor and said Sir was there nothing of love in your Brothers quarrel and was it not for some Mistresse that he fought No my Lord said the Counsellor Oh! I was afraid of that said the Marquesle for in that case the cause had been good and had deserved no reprehension since the absolute power which love hath acquir'd over Reason renders all faults excusable and that Mistresse of Passion being so much subject to it as she is finds all her justification in the blindnesse of her servitude The one dims the other by taking too much root in our inclinations and gains a superiority of power to make it undertake any thing with impunity and to make inestimable the meanest actions which concern it yea and my self being strucken with this blindnesse thought my self worthy to be celebrated in History for having so briskly squabled and quarrelled with a certain Lord who was with a Lady of my acquaintance and that only because Love that blind and sawcy Baby led me to this frollick I was ravisht my Lord said the Philosopher to the Marquesse with excesse of joy at the news of the last Duel you fought upon this subject with so much honour and gallantry as being certainly inform'd before of the cause of your going into the field and I only wanted the knowledge of your Enemies meeting you to enable me to make an infallible judgement of the advantage you had upon him for all the world knows by reputation the bravery of your heart but it is difficult to judge by experience of your skill in regard that there is no living after the trial thereof for without having a supernatural subsistence I do not believe that they who have felt the point of your sword can possibly last long unlesse the greatnesse of your courage vouchsafe to use some clemency towards them after having forc't them to have recourse to your pitty and beg their lives The excesse which this joy produc't in me came not from the news I had of your victory because I had already fore-seen it but from the share I take in your exploits the happinesse and force whereof which are the highest degree of valour diffuse themselves upon all your friends and make them also after a sort redoubtable Indeed said the Marquesse I perceived well enough that my duty obliged me to interrupt you and answer your civilities but you discourst so handsomely that I resolved to forbear till you had done not that the subject of your fine words tickled my ears and made me delight in the form of your complacencies more then in the matter but because I would not deprive these Gentlemen of the admiration of your eloquence To which Angelin answered with submission and respect My Lord when I say any thing in favour of your reputation I pay but one part of the homage I owe your merit nor is at any production of my complacency for you are so accomplisht a person that all the Panegyricks which might be composed of you would be beneath the esteem which the whole Court hath of you and I think that its esteem is just and lawful in your behalf only in regard that sometimes it falsely bestows it upon unworthy persons and denies it to such as deserve it th ough not so worthily as your Lordship I confesse said the Marquesse I should never consent to the loss of modesty had any body but you undertaken to rob me of it but your eloquence makes me in a sort a complice of the theft and almost guilty of the sinne Then the Count catching up their complements said to the Marquesse The learned Angelin hath so many partakers in his belief that your merit must needs appear your modesty lie hidden The strength of his wit repli'd the Marquesse at least appears not borrowing from others what abounds in himself and I am of opinion that by undertaking to speak of me he meant to make a picture of himself My Lord said the Baron your complements will last till the end of the Cours and methinks this is no fit place for them stay till we be passing some Gate or at the top of a pair of stairs where you may be able to animate them with gestures and congees for here you can hardly stir Let us change our subject digressions are delightful and are the supream divertisements of conversation How glorious is that illustrious Conquerer who is lately come to Town for having made so advantagious a conquest for France and planted our Palms and our Laurels in a Country
strike him quite dumb and really all the honour he hath gotten consists in the indignation of the whole world which he hath purchast to himself nor is his fault to be pardon'd at all as not being able so much as to imitate our Author after ten years study and yet as worthy as this Pedant hath been of a just rebuke the Gentleman hath never defended himself against his presumption with any other weapons then those of the vertue of silence And as Narses that great and victorious Captain subdued the Goths conquer'd the Bactres and subjugated the Germans more by patience then by force just so hath he vanquisht his adversary who perceiving that there was nothing to be gotten by attempting his constancy at length grew weary of the field and defeated himfelf whereby the silence of the persecuted is become perfectly victorious and hath given him as great an advantage over the persecutor as he hath by the excellency of his Works A Spirit when it is prickt and exasperated by passion produces still more and dictates better things then when it is not and therefore had this Gentleman been subject to revenge having shewn us such wonders in quiet and tranquillity what could we have expected but Divine Answers from him But as it was not sufficient for the Legislators of the Greeks only to understand Philosophy but also to put it in practice so was it also his pleasure to profess the Precepts of the Stoicks and particularly that of taming his passions and utterly extingnishing them before he would prescribe us any Laws in the art of well speaking The obligations which France hath to him render her incapable of acknowledgement and the thanks we owe his pen are much greater then the satisfaction which we should be able to receive from the testimonies of our duties Let him go boldly on to purchase the benedictions of the Kingdom since he cannot be paid with other coyn and by the productions of new Works furnish the rest of the world with matter both for envy and admiration for without being any thing lesle then a Barbarian no man can henceforward endeavour to blemish a wit which makes our Language flourish so much as he hath done and I shall always hold my self a good French-man as long as I shall be of this opinion If this Apology said the Philosopher had been made and publsht whilst Philark was alive it would certainly have made his pen fall out of his hand and his persecution would not have lasted so long You may also say said the Marquesse that in that case the Counsellor would have been likewise censured as well as he whom he defends and must certainly have made one in that great quarrel I would challenge my self said the Baron in regard that the Laws of fighting oblige us to serve not only our friends but also all such as employ us without exception yea and that even without being employ'd we ought to fight with any such as engage us in the field But I am also confident that I should have had the advantage on my side in regard of the justice of the Cause which I should have maintain'd and that having many reasons to protect a docil Spirit which fought with patience the victory would surely have been mine and all the world have declared for us As to the point of the reasons said the Colonel by undertaking this Apology wherewith you have entertain'd us the Counsellor hath left the reasons and figures of the Art of Oratory which he had begun to shew us I am returning thither said the Counsellor and Cicero had just cause to desire as I told you that the Orator be possest with the same passion to which he endeavours to perswade his hearers if he mean to act with efficacy and to establish in good Rhetorick that strong reasons and pressing figures are necessary for him to animate for they are in effect the most powerful reasons of an Orator to keep him from being beblinded by any other nice part of his discourse and from being inebriated with the vapor of the good opinion he hath of what he intends to perswade and of the justice of his design And if the force of his figures and the violence of his reasons which are the strongest ways to convince do not transport him he will never obtain what he aims at but will certainly find in mens minds many difficulties and much resistance for him to overcome For howbeit Rational Souls seem to be invincible to Reason because they are fortified therewith and because that was the first object of their creation yet do we find that Reason is their most susseptible or obnoxious part and that such thoughts as are founded thereon and such discourses as are compos'd by ratiocination captivate them with ease and facility But it is to be wisht that those reasons may have many conditions and that they may be well follow'd for it is indeed a shame that there should be laws against such as break the images of Princes and such as conterfeit money and yet that we should suffer falsity in rational discourses yea and that even those persons who passe for the most just and reasonable should surprize and gull the people with Sophisms Paradoxes and false apparences of reason Now for the avoiding of these surprizes and for the strict examination of such reasons as are not ordinary we must observe whether they be certain or at least probable and proportionate to the motions we mean to raise in the affections and to excite the motions with successe the Orator must urge such reasons as are easie to be understood well deduc't not hard to be explicated animated with figures and not over numerous for then one spoils the effect of another and above all he must take heed least though he expresse them with artifice there appear neverthelesse some natural plainesse for the later must be visible and the other invisible in regard that if it be never so little discovered it forthwith produces a contrary effect If the Orator will observe all which I have said in his Style and if the reasons which he means to propose be sustained with such props as are necessary there is no doubt but he will charm with his eloquence and acquire with his sweetnesse and when he lists with affect or strain those motions he intends to exact from the hearer All this is highly delightful said the Philosopher to know if a man who will needs seem to be a great Speaker be effectively eloquent or no and to prove that the high point of Eloquence consists not in the inventing and coyning of words but in the practice of men of honour in conditions requisite both for reasons and conceits in the accommodation of the Style and in the decisive perfection of the Orator But now we must examine the way we are held to make a distinction of Wits in general and what apparent signs we may observe to judge effectively whether
of it as a Stomach which regorges with too much meat is corrupted by worms This poor distracted fellow whom you see is much to be pitied for he hath been one of the most learned men of his time and the greatest Speculative Philosopher of many Ages He hath sustain'd divers opinions against the followers of the ancient Philosophers as for example that the Earth moves and the Heavens stand still That the Sun is hot in his Nature and not in his beams That the four Elements operate with equal force and vertue in a just composure and that if any one of them predominated the composure could not stand any longer and such like questions of this kind Now you see Gentlemen the unhappy effect which the admirable notions of this poor man have produc't and how mediocrity and moderation in all things is evermore advantagious then excess These accidents of folly said the Philosopher happen to learned and studious men by a too great contention of mind which is made in the production of the lights and notions they have for whereas these notions strive to sally out altogether they make an effort or strain and stupifie a man or else coming out in too great abundance they confound the Objects and offuscate the understanding yea and perhaps the mischief happens because the Spirits in this great contention and maze ascend all to the brain and burn it and so by puzling the Imagination they scatter the Judgement And it is very likly that this hapned to him by some one of these ways for if the violence of a passion causes a commotion and an exundation of all the Humors in a Body and casts it into Apoplexies and if even an indifferent motion which is only counterfeited by the Will causes certain perclusions or numnesses in some members and universal Palsies as was seen upon the Stage at Paris in the person of a Player who acted the part of Herod in the Mariana and who in the heat of the motion of his speech was suddainly strucken with a numnesse If I say the strain of a natural motion and even of a studied one causes strange accidents in the Body we must not wonder that the commotions of the dissipations and excesses in the mind which is frail and delicate make it weak and sick It is said that Cousin grew mad in an Academy by holding a famous dispute and by maintaining a certain point of Philosophy wherein he had the advantage of all them who oppos'd his opinion and it was a prodigious thing that after having disputed three hours together and after having held the highest discourses that could be he was seen in the fields raving and tauing playing a thousand odd prancks and freaks and casting himself by little and little into horrible extravagances What point was that Sir said the Philosopher which caused that great and vehement dispute I was told of it said the Counsellor and I found that it was but a trivial Proposition in Philosophy to wit whether the world be from Eternity or from Time And Cousin who was an Academical Philosopher maintain'd the opinion of Plato But what could he say against Aristotle's reasons said Angelin For I will prove to you that the world hath always been and in fine the Peripateticks have ever carried it against the Acadamicks And you will see that this Fool will have cast you into disputes of Philosophy and that with his plato and his Aristotle who never agree you will be fain to define their contradictory opinions by the discourse of the creation of things which is now in question I perceive said the Count that Monsieur Angelin hath an itch to dispute that he would be highly pleased to have me follow his inclinations and frame Subjects of Philosophy which to please him and not displease the Company I will do but if I find him apt to Ergotize I will instantly break off and then we shall have fine sport to hear him dispute alone I maintain therefore the opinion of Plato which is that the world is not Eternal and this is the best and soundest doctrine and authorized by the Scripture where the Eternal Wisedom by the mouth of Solomon Cap. 8. of his Proverbs says God possessed me in the beginning of his ways and before he made any thing And Jesus Christ who is the same Wisedom incarnate confirms the opinion of the Creation of the world when Cap. 17. of St. John he says Father clarifie me with that brightnesse which I had in thee before the world was made and which I possest when men were not yet form'd in thy praescience and before the constitution of things If the world were Eternal men would be so too and having been always in Formal Being and not in Praescience they would be co-equal and co-eternal with God But for proof of the contrary we know at what time began the inventers of Arts History teaches us the true origin of man and we dayly see his end If God created not the world from all Eternity it is not that he envied or grudged man that happinesse but that he found it good to make it at his own time and pleasure for he acts freely and not by force or necessity he wanted nothing to compleat his greatnesse since he cannot be better satisfied then with himself and because we admit no necessary Communication in the Divinity but that which is made by the production of the Divine Persons which from all Eternity have acted internally For had he done otherwise he had shewn that he wanted help to encrease and support for his glory and without the Creation and Settlement of the world in Time he had not been acknowledged above it and Omnitent as he is Doubtlesse he had from all eternity the will to create the world though he created it not eternall but just at that time when he did it for otherwise the premeditated design would be taken for the deed and we should be fain to reverse this principle establisht in good Philosophy that the Will cannot dispose of a former action because the Will being the cause of the action must need be before it and for that the former Will is the cause of the present action and if this Will be restrained to the circumstance of time wherein this action is produc't as is evident in the Creation of the world which God made at such a time having had the will to create it before it may be askt said the Baron why it is said In the beginning God created the Heaven and Earth and consequently all things It is said the Counsellor because it was the first work of the Creation and not the first work of God who never had any beginning and this word beginning resolves that Heaven and the World are not from Eternity because they had their beginning Many great Doctors as S. Augustin Philon the Jew and Caietan after having said that God is Sovereignly Good and infinitely Eternal and that it
is the property of a Good to communicate it self if not in whole at least in part affirm that he who lives Eternally created all things of nothing and that they are not Eternal And after them almost all the Sects of Philosophers have believed that it is not Eternal and that there is nothing eternal but God however they have had various opinions concerning the Creation Democritus says that it sprung by the congression and from a masse of Atoms which are certain little almost invisible and indivisible bodies Plato from an Inherent matter Diodorus from an inform and imperceptile matter Zoroastus from a Chaos or Confusion of things Pithagorus from Numbers and Degrees Epicurus from a grain of Imaginary Spaces Socrates Calistines Dion Aristophanes and the Caldean Priests from a First Cause wherein they agree with us And with the greatest part of the ancient Stoicks and Scinicks So that you see Gentlemen by Rational Arguments by Canonical Authority and by a good number of the Pagan Philosophers that the World is not Eternal And you see Sir replied the Philosopher that I have had the patience to hear you out and therefore it is but justice for you to hear me also since I have not been forward to contest and dispute with you as you doubted I would I pray tell me what shall become of our Aristotle who is the Prince of Philosophers and who hath ever been generally followed Can you deny what he says of the Eternity of the world and are you able to refute the force of his arguments It is the principal ground of the Articles of Faith that there is a God and that he is Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Independent and Immutable Now it follows that remaining still with equality the same he acts always equally and does the same thing and that being Immutable as he hath said he hath ever been the same which he is and therefore either he hath always produc't the world or if he have been without producing it he hath never produc't it God and Nature are always doing that which is best nor is there either mediocrity or extremity in their productions And it is much better that the world should be Eternal then Temporary wherefore ought we to doubt but that it hath ever been in regard that durance is incomparably better then the end and cessation of being and that Eternity is the only prize of so vast and noble a matter The Circular Motion hath neither beginning nor end and consequently is Eternal as Heaven which is Gods habitation is Eternal as well as He is who inhabits it and glorifies it For otherwise we must admit with some certain Philosophers of the Imaginary Spaces and give God another residence and another imployment before he operated in the creation and conservation of things Take notice if you please that I answer all your objections and that I borrow of Aristotle and Procles that if the world were made in Time why was it made at that time rather then at another And if God could and would not make it it looks as if he had grudged man that happinesse as on the other side to say that he would and could not would suppose a want of power in God which were abominable and blasphemous to think The terms of my reasons follow yours but differ in this that mine are indivisible and without reply for the Soveraign Good ought to communicate it self infinitely but not in part as you have said and therefore God must have made the world from all Eternity to produce an Infinity which was equal to him or otherwise its production would be defective and consequently would not seem to have come from him But suppose that the opinion of Plato be true who will not believe as well as you that the world is Eternal yet will you grant me however that it is also true that Nature which acts by constraint acts quite differently from God who is Free and whom it suffices to do all he does upon good formal Reason which is his Infinite Goodnesse by which he acts and makes all things Supposing your opinion I say and granting the Free-Will of Almighty God we must ask him the reason why he staid so long from communicating his Divine Goodnesse to man and why the moment of the Creation which hath neither beginning nor end of extention in him in order either to the subject why or to the space wherein we conceive it to have been made Why Sir I say should this moment be later then other if they be all equal and contemporary and of one and the same instant in his Divinity That Argument which you started though it seem'd to be for you was in effect for me for it is resolved in Divinity that in God there is no Time and that all those Times which you admit are present to him And therefore we must conclude that since God produc't the Universe he produc't it from all Eternity for otherwise if there were Time in the Divine operations he could not be himself Eternal and Infinite This is confirm'd by Cicero when after having said that God is a pure Spirit a Free Understanding a Proper Essence and an Infinite Being he both calls him and proves him to be an Eternal Moment as Philon the Jew also doth when he notes two Eternal Powers in God namely the Creative Power which gives him the name of God and the Gubernative to use the School-term which gives him the title of Lord. For if a moment have no time and if these two Powers be eternal in God we must conclude that he rules and governs all from all Eternity and that so eminent and so immortal a Principle hath no lesse productions then co-equal and co-eternal and that all is Eternal with it I subscribe not however so positively and peremptorily to this opinion and if I have spoken to you like a Philosopher and not like a Christian it was but for argument and recreation sake and not for a testimony of my belief For I blindly submit to all things of Faith without offering to oppose them with any Sciences or erroneous opinions and for fear least I be accused of having too much correspondence with Aristotle I heartily renounce his Sect and render my self wholly up to your Plato Let them both alone Gentlemen said the Marquesse your discourses are very good well deduc't and far from the School but these matters are too high for the Cours and more fit to be reserved for the Sorban For I perfectly perceive that you reap up the Colloquies which you hold at the Academies and that instead of diverting and recreating our minds you make us fix them upon certain Problematical Questions and Abstractions which appertain to the Closet and the Gown And therefore I pray you lay aside all Philosophical Contestations and hunt no more after contradictory reasons upon sure Principles Let us leave doubts and jealousies to determinate Spirits and Syllogistical acts to stated
was not so good either for the Scene or for the Actors and the Subject of it was a little peccant too as alluding to the disparagement of women What Subject was it then said the Marquesse who had not been then in their company to see it It was said the Counsellor the Jubiley of Caelibat or Single Life wherein were represented all the gallantries which possibly could be invented in contempt and scorn of Ladies and therefore it was not only not applauded but all the Spectators for their sakes were much disgusted because the Ladies who are the Oracles which either give or take away the approbation of men were much troubled at the blemishing of their credit and the deminution of their honour I will tell you said the Marquesse of a Bal which I made in our Country this Lent a little after I employ'd my self for that young Gentleman whose sad story I have related to you and I believe you will find the Subject to be very good and the Invention most pleasant It was this After the death of Alexander the Great which was the noble cause of dividing the Empire of the world amongst his Captains and prescribing limits to ambition Antigonus the Father of Demetrius and Salcucus had each of them certain Kingdoms for their shares for in regard they were the Chief Commanders who had signalized themselves in Battails and Victories and had in great part by their exploits forwarded their Master in the atchievement of that Universal Soveraignty it was therefore fit and just that they should be requited for their pains and dangers with a recompense suitable to the greatnesse of their minds and the merit of their actions and that their valor should be rewarded with Kingdoms since nothing but Triumph and Potency can be the just and equivalent price of vertue Wherefore to Demetrius and his Father was allotted the Kingdom of Phrygia and that of Syria to Seleucus who had to wife the Lady Stratonica Daughter to Demetrius a Princess as much worthy of admiration for the singular beauty of her Body as of adoration for the incomparable gifts and endowments of her mind To assure you of the Historical part of the subject it is hard because there is no Author who hath written truely and perfectly of it but I conceive it to be thus Fame the flying Trumpet of Stratonica's beauty had already spread it as a Prodigy upon the whole face of the earth and erected as many Altars as there are Princely and Soveraign hearts to conceive love and ambition for her This coming to the Court of Syria and breeding some disorder in the Kings Family it also possest Seleucus and his Son Antiochus with an equal passion of love towards her but Antiochus as a Son and a Subject must submit to the Law of Nature and to the Royal Power by concealing his flame and tempering his Passion by force and duty For Seleucus having imposed silence upon those internal and hidden motions which his Son was like to discover in his brest declared to his Counsel the resolution he had to take Demetrius his Daughter to his second wife and for this effect he sent Appelles into Phrygia to draw her Picture thereby to know by the Copy of so perfect a hand whether the Original were answerable to the reputation and whether his passions were seconded by verity The Divine Appelles whose name will never die and merited alone to be styled the Author of a Second Nature lived at that time upon the coast of Syria and was a Subject to Seleucus But this Picture proved fatal to all such as beheld it for they were all deprived of the use of some member of their bodies because it was drawn in the Temple at the time of Sacrifice This was the Subject of my Mask which I intituled The Enchanted Picture of STRATONICA and the Order and Entries of it were these The great Hall of the Palace was the place where they daunc't because it was the most capable of the company and the most remarkable to help their memories to retain the representation of this dumb History A vast and stately Theater was built from the floor a dorn'd with a Scene magnificently drest where an excellent Concert of Instruments and voices entertain'd the Spectators till the Assembly was full and in the mean time a stain'd cloth with the Subject painted upon it hid from their eyes the proud Decorations and Ornaments of the Scene and afforded a gentle and sweet liberty to their ears to enjoy the charms of the Musick and avoid the confounding of the functions of the Senses that so they might suddainly and all at once surprize them with the magnificence and splendor thereof and pleasantly beguile them by the distance of the Object Fame as the principal Subject of the History of this Mask with her clothes full of eyes and tongues and Gazets or News-books in her hands shewed her self with incomparable celerity at the first Entry and dauncing with an imperceptible agility made the Beholders believe that she flew in her steps and that he who represented her who was a Dauncing-Master had both the wings and lightnesse of that Goddesse At the end of his part he scattered his Gazets in the Hall and Exit In the second Scene was exhibited the Frontispiece of a stately Temple which being opened by a Sacristain or Sexton displaid a most excellent and resplendent Piece of painting representing the Altar and Trevet where the Idol rendred the Oracles which was very recreative by means of the variety of actions which the Sacristain perform'd in just measure and cadency of the daunce to prepare and accommodate all things for the sacrifice and which was as cleer and intelligible indeed as any Part of a Play The adorable Stratonica led by her Gallant daunc't the third Scene and afforded admiration to all the Spectators by the Majesty of her countenance by the Statelinesse of her Habit and by her most sweet and regulated gravity in the exactnesse of the daunce Having ended her Part she kneel'd down in a corner of the Temple and her Gallant behind her expecting the Sacrisice The fourth represented the coming of Appelles from Syria to the Court of Phrygia to take a Picture of Stratonica who having understood that she was in the Temple at a Sacrifice which her Father Demetrius had commanded to be made as a thanks-giving for a victory which he had obtain'd came in with his stain'd Cloth his Slice and his Pensils and having daunc't a while hid himself behind a corner of the Altar over against the Princesse to steal her Picture during the time of the Sacrifice the most secretly he could according to his order The high Priest follow'd by two Sacrificers having each of them a Thurible in his hand made the fift Entrey with a Majestick gravity and a Statelinesse of Habit taken out of the ancient Medals fit for the Parts they acted and as they were dauncing offred Incense to