are in so great uncertainties as to the time of death let us prepare our selves from this day to leave one another There doth not pass an hour but somebody loses a Friend I may then likewise reasonably expect every moment to lose one of mine and whenever such a thing happens the circumstances of his death will not encrease my sorrow nor my affliction Perhaps he will shed his Blood upon a Scaffold perhaps a Fire will reduce him to Ashes or he shall be swallowed up in the Sea But don 't imagine that the circumstances of his death should redouble my grief and that I should complain of nothing so much at his Funeral as the manner of his loss 'T is he that I find wanting and it is of no imortance whether he was taken from me by Water Sword or Fire Not that I would be here so wretchedly misunderstood as if I would have a Man become a Barbarian in order to exercise himself to Constancy or that Nature or Friendship have not a right to extract tears from us I am so far from advancing so Brutal an insensibility that I maintain on the other side it would be inhuman to refuse them on certain occasions We sigh and weep justly enough in the first motions of our Grief but a strong vigorous Soul ought soon after to retire within it self and return to that happy scituation from whence the disorders of its Passion had removed it For can a reasonable Man consider the unprofitableness of his Tears and the vanity of his regret but he must of necessity blush at a long and violent Affliction Indeed in those cases where we are able to repair our ill Successes I am wholly of opinion that we ought to employ all sorts of Remedies But in a fatal Accident which is never to be retrieved pray tell me what is the service of a ridiculous affliction and paying Tears which are at best troublesome to those who shed them and unserviceable to those for whom they are shed Why do we sigh or why complain All these Tears are shed in vain Deaf to our sorrows and our grief The Dead receive not this relief Besides this we are to consider that the most sensible persons in the World at length forget their tenderness and the Soul which at first is afflicted to excess soon makes a relaxation of this violence and is not long in exhausting the whole stock of its sorrow Our Complaints wear with our Years and as the Object begins to remove it self from our imagination our displeasure for its loss is insensibly removed from our mind If we were wise then Should we not without reluctance resign up those sentiments of Grief to our Reason which Weakness at last is constrain'd to resign to the length of Years A Father who died but two or three hours ago is as effectually dead as any of our Ancestors and that which is no more for us ought no longer to affect us Your Father summon'd by his Fate Now mixes with his Brother-shades below Not the least tittle of your State Your Grief or Sorrow does he know Tho' but last night he lost his breath Yet since He 's in the hands of Death He 's full as dead as Caesar who we know Died so many years ago This Reason alone is capable of sweetning our bitterness and appeasing all the motions of our Greif He whom I lost but now feels nothing has no further share in the day and enjoys no more Life than those who were swallowed up in the Deluge Why then should I torment my self in vain after a shadow that has neither Voice nor Thought Wisely your vain complaints give o're This foolish Tribute pay no more For empty shadows why should Tears be shed Let 's bury even the memory of the Dead We ought further to consider That in this rigorous separation of Soul and Body nature commits no more violence and shows no more ill usage to us than she does to the rest of the World Of all these prodigious swarms of Men which fill the Earth shew me one single person who is exempted from the cruelty of her Laws I very well know that every one has a sense of his affliction and that those whose example I alledge here relent and complain as well as we For as we don't forbear to tast our own happiness when we know the felicity of others so the knowledg we have of the miseries of our equals deprive not us of the sense of our own misfortunes And since private Persons partake in the Publick Rejoycings How should they otherwise than share in the General Sorrow There are some common misfortunes which have a relation to all Men but every Man has his particular sentiments of them and so endures in that sense the whole weight of his affliction singly Let us confess the Truth That which affects us most in our disgraces is to see no body bear a resemblance to us We cannot with any patience behold our selves destined to suffer an unhappiness alone which all the World may be affected with as well as we And to speak soberly nothing so much augments the sharpness of our afflictions as the fierceness and pride of those who seem to brave and despise them Now it is not mankind alone that attends us to death all Animals of what species soever arrive to the same end and undergo the same Law That strength dexterity and foresight which Nature has bestowed upon them for the conservation of their Life is of no use and service to them at their death The most insensible things have their end which is a sort of death to them Those very Ramparts that were proof against all the batteries of the Cannon and the violence of Men will sooner or later have their share in this universal ruine The Elements themselves which compose all things will be at last destroyed The Heavens will be turned topsy-turvy The Sun and Stars will lose their light and all the Mass of the World will be confounded in a general ruine Can we then demand with justice the everlasting Health of our Friends or of our selves And since we must dye of necessity Is it not a comfort for us to know that all the things we have seen will perish and suffer the same destiny with us The Stars shall lose their glorious light The Element shall jarr and fight And all be buried in vast night The Great Creator of this Ball Master and Sovereign Lord of All Who our of Nothing did display Air and Earth and Fire and Sea Will with the same Almighty Hand To Primitive Nothing All Command And this great Change to our surprize May happen e're to morrows Sun does rise But behold now an Affliction of which I am so sensible that no Arguments no relief drawn from Philosophy can make me support it 'T is that Concern which publick Calamities inspire me with in which my Senses interest me in spite of my self I am not able to hear
any one but her are mere slavery The most regular Visitants secretly reproach themselves for stealing from her the time of looking after her Family They never come soon enough and never depart late enough They go to bed with the Regret to have quitted her and they rise with the desire to behold her afresh But how great is the uncertainty of our human condition At the time when Hortensia seemed to enjoy her Health the best at the time when she innocently enjoy'd all the pleasure which Inclination desires and Reason does not prohibit that she tasted the Sweetness to see herself beloved and esteemed by all the World that those Ladies who had opposed themselves to her establishment were charmed by her Conversation that she had as it were extinguished self-love in the Soul of her Friends every one expressing the same kind Sentiments for her which it is natural to have for ones self At the time when the most lovely of the fair Sex forbore to contend with her Beauty that Envy had concealed itself in the bottom of their Hearts that all repining against her was private or appeared ridiculous as soon as she begun to appear At this happy time an extraordinary indisposition seizes her and we were upon the point to lose her in spight of all her Charms in spight of all our Admiration and Love You were just a perishing Hortensia and so were we You through the violence of your pains we through that of our affliction But is was more than being simply afflicted We felt all that you did and were sick as you were Your unequal moments sometimes carried you to the brink of Death and sometimes recalled you to life We were subject to all the Accidents of your Sickness and to know how it fared with you it was not at all necessary to enquire after your Health We needed only to observe in what state we our selves were Praised be that universal dispenser of good and evil praised be Heaven that has restored you to our Vows and given you again to your self Behold you are living and so are we but we have not as yet recovered the cruel fright that this danger gave us and a cruel Idea still remains behind which makes us more lively conceive what must one day befall you Nature will destroy this beauteous Fabrick which it has taken so much pains to frame Nothing can cxempt it from that lamentable Law to which we are all subject She who was so visibly distinguished from others during her life will be confounded with the meanest at her death And do you then complain you that have only an ordinary Genius a common Merit or an indifferent Beauty do you complain that you must dy Don't murmur injust as ye are Hortensia will dy like you A time will come Oh that this infortunate time would never come when we may say of this Miracle She 's now resolv'd to common Clay She that did Beauty's Empire sway Fate cruel Fate would have it so Fate that governs all below Now vulgar Souls learn to resign your Breath And without murmuring submit to Death In my opinion a Funeral Oration ought not to end without leaving some Consolation to the Auditors After we have drawn their Tears for a Person who has quitted the World 'T is usual to tell them the party deceased is in heaven that the Idea of his Happiness may form in us some Sentiments of Joy Let us pass let us pass from Grief to Pleasure we have already wept because we saw Hortensia upon the point to dye Let us now rejoyce to behold her living Our Sovereign is well What can be greater What can we desire more There are but few Reigns which we are not glad to see finished The lightest Chains are heavy to those that bear them They appear easie to none but those that wear them not Your Reign Madam still continues and we wish it may continue for ever Your Subjects find themselves happy under your Government There is not one of them but looks upon his Liberty at the greatest Misfortune Set us rejoyce our Sovereign is living and we live To live is the chief of humane Blessings and to live for her is the chief of them 'T is the sweetest and the best use we can make of our Life REFLECTIONS Upon the DOCTRINE OF EPICURUS By Mr. Brown EVery one knows that the greatest part of Men condemn Epicurus and reject his Doctrine not only as unworthy of a Philosopher but what is more severe as dangerous to the Common-wealth They solemnly declare that a Man becomes vicious from the very moment he declares himself one of his Disciples that his Opinions are directly contrary to good manners and thus they cover his Name with all imaginable Scandal and Infamy Notwithstanding all this the Stoicks who were his greatest Enemies never treated him so ill they combated his Hypothesis but never invaded his Reputation and the Books they have left us plainly discover in abundance of Places the singular Esteem and Respect they had for him From whence then proceeds this extraordinary difference and why don't we rather follow the opinion of the wise It is an easie matter to give the true Reason of it which is that we don't do as they do We don't vouchsafe to inform our selves of any thing but blindly adhere to what is told us without instructing our selves in the nature of things we judge those to be the best that have the most Examples and the greatest Crowd of Admirers we don't follow Reason but only the resemblances of it We stifly retain our Errors because they are countenanced by those of other Men. We rather chuse to believe implicitly than to put our selves to the expence of judging and are so strangely injust as to conclude that the Antiquity of an Opinion is a sufficient Title to authorise us to defend it even in defiance to reason it self This in short is one of the Causes that has made Epicurus fall into the publick Hatred aud has prevail'd with almost the generality of Mankind to discard him out of the number of Philosophers We have condemn'd him without condescending to know him we have banish'd him without hearing him speak for himself nay we have deny'd him the justice to explain his own Sentiments But after all in my Opinion the chief and indeed the most plausible Pretence that Men have had to despise his Doctrine has been the irregular Life of some Libertines who as they abused the Name of this Philosopher so they have ruined the Reputation of his Sect. These People have recommended their own Vices under the reputation of his Wisdom they have corrupted his Doctrine by their ill Manners and came over in vast Numbers to his Party only because they understood that Pleasure was mightily commended by them All the Mischief is that they would not know what this Pleasure was and what these Praises meant that they contented themselves with his Name in general that they
of the publick Liberty and the Infamy of Servitude would not permit this generous Person to deliberate Whether he ought to chuse the Pain of dying gloriously to avoid the Pleasure of living after a manner which to him seem'd unworthy of a Roman It was this Maxim that obliged Regulus to deliver himself into the hands of his Enemies where the cruelty of his Executioners was less sensible to him than the remorse for having broke his word would have been It was this Maxim which as it made Fabricius despise the Treasures of the King of Epirus so it made him despise those evil desires which attend the possession of Riches to preserve the repose of his Mind and the chief Pleasure In fine it was this Maxim which compell'd Cicero to declaim against Anthony and to devote himself for the preservation of the Republick at a time when he might have lived peaceably at his own House and enjoyed all the ease of Life and the diversions of Study There is nothing commendable in the World which cannot be reduced to this Maxim and whatever Heroick Actions these great Men have done you will find that if they chose one Pain it was to avoid a greater and on the other hand if they have not practised certain Pleasures it was only to acquire by this abstinence others that were more satisfactory and solid For to what other cause can you assign their illustrious Actions Do you imagine that they parted out of this World with so much Indifference That they rejected the possession of Gold That they drew dangerous Enemies upon their Heads and did not at the same time think that what they did was either for their Profit or Pleasure Don't let us do them this Injustice Don't let us impute the effects of their Wisdom to the efforts of their irregular Minds Let us believe that in all these things they acted with Deliberation and let us not represent them in a worse Condition than the most savage Animals which are never so strangely transported but that we may easily to conclude whither the impetuosity of their Motion tends Cato parted with his Life it was become a Burthen to him He found much less Pain to quit the World than to submit to Cesar whom he did not believe to be an honest Man and much more Pleasure in not Living at all than in Living under an ignominious Servitude Regulus returned back to Carthage had he not done so he had been accused of Perfidiousness Fabricius could not be corrupted by Pyrrhus in this he testified his Integrity he served his Country and with the bare pleasure of refusing Riches satisfied himself infinitely more than if he accepted them In short Cicero publickly reproached Antony and declared himself his capital Enemy If he had no reason to do so he deserves indeed to be blamed but if he designed to establish the tranquillity of the Republick though it were at the expence of his own if he endeavoured to ruin Anthony that he might save Rome besides that by this Conduct he contributed to the Safety of his Fellow Citizens wherein his own was in a manner wrapt up so much more did he deserve the praises of all the World and the love of the Roman People These great Men in Truth of History were not of the Family of Epicurus nay one of them in some of his Writings has attempted to confute his Opinions but 't is sufficient that the Authority of their Examples is to be found in the Doctrine of this Philosopher and that the World should be informed that Virtue alone was not their chief Motive or at least that what they call Virtue ought to be named Pleasure Not but that several Persons of the greatest Bravery have been bred up in this School who in a degenerate corrupt Age have done Actions full as vigorous and noble as those of the antient Romans in the most Flourishing days of their Republick Under Nero's Empire the World no less admired the Death of Petronius than they had done that of Seneca The Emperour's Tutor did not purchase any Glory by dying which his Master of the Revels did not afterwards acquire And the common opinion was That this Stoick who had all along preached up a contempt of Life did not quit it more generously than Petronius who studied all the Pleasures of it I am obliged for the honour of Epicarus to enlarge somewhat upon the Life and Death of this Courtier who was one of his greatest Disciples and it will be impossible for me to handle this Subject without giving you a sensible Entertainment Since you are not at this time of day to be made acquainted with the Qualities of illustrious Men I am sure you will not be unwilling to allow Petronius a place in this number and to observe en passant the marks of his Generosity and Wisdom This famous Epicurean far from resembling our modern Debauchees that eat and drink away their Estates made profession of a cultivated polite Luxury and minded nothing but refined Pleasures And as Industry and Diligence give a Reputation to the rest of Mankind he was the only Person in the World that acquir'd it by his ease and sitting still His Words and Actions were very free and negligent and as they show'd the candor and sweetness of his Temper and carried an air of Simplicity they were always received with a great deal of Satisfaction and Delight Nevertheless this excellent Man very well knowing that there is a time when a wise Man ought to quit the repose and tranquillity of his Life to serve the Publick abandon'd this happy way of Living when he was elected Proconsul of Bithynia and afterwards Consul and by acquitting himself worthily in these illustrious Employs he demonstrated by his vigour and by his conduct that he was capable of managing the greatest Affairs At his leaving these Offices he betook himself to his old way of Living and afterwards happening to become one of Nero's greatest Friends although this Prince had none but vitious Inclinations yet he was so strongly enchanted by his merit that he made him the Arbitrator or Comptroller of all his Pleasures and believed that amidst all his Affluence and Plenty he ought not to esteem any thing as sweet and agreeable unless Petronius first approved it I speak here only of Lawful Pleasures and Virtuous Delights for our Epicurean was so far from having any Share in Nero's brutal Excesses that this Prince was in a strange Confusion when he knew they were arrived to the knowledg of Petronius who reproached him with them in some Writings and caused Silia to be punished because he suspected that she had revealed them to him From that moment Tigellinus looked upon him as his Competitor and fearing least by the means of this wise and honest Pleasure whereof he made Profession he might effect what Seneca could not by the Authority of his Sect that is recal Nero from the disorders of his Life he resolved to destroy him
Monsieur d' Aubigny weary of his gravity was now minded to end the Conference and after the usual civilities at parting every one returned to his home extreamly well satisfied Mr. d' Aubigny had afterwards a very particular Conference with the Woman and in spite of the Rules of Marriage she told him all that happen'd during their imaginary Possession A LETTER To Monsieur D'OLONNE By the same Hand AS soon as I heard of your disgrace I gave my self the honour of writeing to you in order to testify my great concern for you and I write to you at present to let you know that you ought at least to avoid so troublesome a Companion as Melancholy is at a time when it is not in your power to relish any joy If such valuable commodities as Men of good Sense are to be had in the place where you are their Conversation may in some manner repair the loss of the Correspondences you have quitted And if you find none there Books and good chear may be a great assistance to you and give no ordinary consolation I speak to you like a Master that designs to prescribe Lessons not that I presume much upon the force of my Reasoning but I fancy I have some right to assume an Authority over persons that are Unfortunate by the long experience I have had of Misfortunes and unhappy Revolutions Amongst the Books you are to choose for your entertainment in the Country apply your self principally to those that strike in with your humour by their agreements rather than those that pretend to fortify your Mind by Arguments and Reasons The last engage with your Distemper which is always done at the expence of the person in whom this troublesome Scene is Acted The first makes it to be forgotten and it is no hard matter to make a sentiment of Joy succeed to an obliterated Grief Systems of Morality are only proper to set the Conscience in good order and retrieve it from confusion and I have seen several grave and composed Men come out of its School who were not over-stocked with the Rules of a prudent behaviour Your true Men of Sense need not hunt Books to read these Lessons but only to make Lessons for themselves for as they know what 's good by the singular exactness of their Taste so they are disposed to it by their own voluntary motion Not but that there are certain occasions wherein such assistances are not to be rejected but where it is a Man's fortune to have need of its aid he may easily deliver himself from these perplexities If you were reduced to the necessity of having your Veins opened I would permit you to read Seneca and to imitate him Yet would I choose rather to fall into the carelessness of Petronius than to study for a constancy which is not obtain'd without a great deal of difficulty If you were of a humour to devote your self for your Country I would advise you to read nothing else but the lives of those Romans who courted a glorious Death for the good of their Nation But considering your present Circumstances I think you lie under an Obligation to live for your self and to spend the remainder of your life as agreeably as you can Now things being in this scituation leave off all study of Wisdom which doth not contribute to the lessening of your troubles or to the regaining of your Pleasures You will seek for Constancy in Seneca and you will find nothing in him but severity Plutarch will be less troublesome however he will make you grave and serious rather than sedate Montagne will instruct you better in what relates to Man than any other But after all this rational Tool this Man with all his mighty stock of knowledge which is usefull indeed in good Fortune to teach him moderation has nothing but sad and afflicting Thoughts which serve to deject him in the bad Let not the unhappy then seek in Books to be disturbed at Our Miseries but to rejoyce at Our follies For this reason you will prefer the Reading of Lucian Petronius and Don Quixot before that of Seneca Plutarch and Montagne But I recommend to you Don Quixot above all What pressure soe're of affliction you have the fineness of his ridicule will insensibly conduct you to the taste of Joy You will tell me perhaps that I am not of so pleasant and easie a humour in my own Misfortunes as I appear to be in yours and that it is indecent for a Man to afford all his concern to his own unhappiness when at the same time he preserves an indifference nay and even a gayety for the misfortune of his Friends I should agree with you in that respect if I behaved my self so But I can affirm to you with reality that I am not less concerned at your Exile than your self and the joy which I advise you to is in order to have a share of it my self when I shall see you capable of receiving any As for what relates to my Misfortunes if I have formerly appeared to you more afflicted under them than I seem to you at present it is not that I was so in effect I was of opinion that disgraces exacted from us the decorum of a Melancholy Air and that this apparent Mortification was a respect we owe to the will of Superiors who seldom think fit to punish us without a design to afflict us But then you are to know that under this sad out-side and Mortified Countenance I gave my self all the satisfaction I could find in my self and all the Pleasure I could take in the correspondence of my Friends After having found the vanity of that grave temper we learn from Morality I should be ridiculous my self if I continued so serious a discourse upon this score I shall quit the Subject and give you some Counsels that shall be less troublesome than Instructions Adapt as much as possibly you can your Palate and Appetite to your Health 't is a great secret to be able to reconcile the agreeable and the necessary in two things which have been almost always repugnant and opposite Yet after all to arrive to this great secret or mistery we want nothing but Sobriety and Judgment and what ought not a sensible man to do that he may learn to chuse those delicious Dishes at his Meals which will keep both his Mind and Body in a good disposition all the remainder of the Day A man may be Sober without being Delicate but he can never be Delicate without being Sober Happy is the Person that enjoys both these qualities together He doth not separate his Diet from his Pleasure Spare no cost to obtain the Wines of Champagne were you 200 Leagues from Paris Those of Burgundy have lost all their credit with Men of good taste and scarce do they preserve a small remainder of their old Reputation with the Merchants There is no Province that affords excellent Wines for all Seasons but Champagne
its Object The second comes from without and is either caused by a secret sympathy or by the violence of an amorous impression The one is a Good that only occasions Pleasure but yet it is always a Good and lasts as long as their Beauty does The other is capable of touching them more sensibly but is more subject to change and alteration To this advantage of duration which the pleasure that the Ladies take in their Beauty has above the influence of an Amour we may add the following one viz. That a Beautiful Woman is more concerned to preserve her Beauty than her Lover and shews less tenderness for a Heart already vanquish'd than she expresses vanity and ostentation in extending her Conquests Not but that she may very well be allowed to be sensible for her Gallant but in all probability she will sooner resolve to suffer the loss of what she loves than lose and ruine what causes her to be beloved There is a certain sort of a pleasure tho' 't is in a manner impossible truly to describe it which we feel in deploring the death of one we love Our Love supplies the place of a Lover in the Reign of grief and thence proceeds that affection to this mourning which has its Charms Cease Thyrsis cease by an ill tim'd relief To rob me of my best Companion Grief Sorrow to me all lovely does appear It fills the place of what I held so dear But 't is not so with the loss of Beauty This loss is a full consummation of all other Calamities it cruelly robbs the Ladies of the hopes of ever receiving any pleasure as long as they live As long as a Woman is in full possession of her Beauty no Misfortune can befall her which she cannot in some measure alleviate But when once that Blessing has left her all the other advantages of Fortune will never be able to give her any tolerable satisfaction Where-ever she goes the remembrance of what she has lost or the consideration of whashe is at present will give her a thou sand uneasinesses In such a case her best remedy will be to employ all her discretion to make her self easie under that unfortunate Condition But alass what an unpalatable remedy is it for a Woman who has once been adored to abandon so dear a vanity and come back to her Reason 'T is a new and mortifying experiment this after a person has been used to entertain her self with such agreeable Thoughts The last Tears that beautiful Eyes reserve are spent in bewailing themselves after they are effaced out of all Hearts The only person that still laments a lost Beauty is the miserable Possessor One of our best Poets endeavouring to comfort a great Queen for the loss of her Royal Spouse would make her asham'd of the extravagance of her Affection by citing to her the Example of a certain Princess in despair who so wholly abandon'd her self to this weakness that she reproached the Stars and accused the Gods for the loss of her Husband Boldly she charges every Power above So much her Reason's govern'd by her Love With all that fruitful anger can inspire When Grief indulg'd renews the glowing Fire But finding that the horrour of Impiety was not strong enough to make any impression on a mind so disordered by grief for his last and concluding Reason he represents to her that it was her Interest to be sedate as if he had no better a remedy against this excess but to put her in mind of the great injury it did her Beauty Those charming Locks the rudest Hands would spare And yet they suffer by your own despair Alass what Crimes have those fair Tresses done Think what a train of Conquests they have won Is grief so cruel or your rage so blind That to your self you must be thus unkind He excused the Ladies for paying some Tribute to their Sorrow but he never pardons them the Sin of making themselves less amiable This is a Transgression that he imagins will easily create an horror in them without urging any farther Considerations It had been mere impertinence to endeavour to reduce them by reason but to set before their Eyes the interest of their Beauty was the strongest Argument he could think of to oppose to the obstinacy of their Grief and he knew nothing beyond that which was capable to reform this extravagance That we may fully know how far the Ladies are devoted to their Beauty let us consider the most retired and solitary amongst them There are some in that station who have renounced all Pleasures who are weaned from the Interests of the World who endeavour to please no body and whom no body pleases But amidst all this coldness and indifference for every thing else they secretly flattor themselves to see they are still agreeable enough There are others that abandon themselves to sorts of austerities yet if they accidentally happen to see themselves in a Glass you shall hear them sigh to behold so Melancholly an alteration They do every thing that helps to disfigure their Faces with all imaginable readiness but can't endure the sight of them when they are once disfigured Nature that can consent to destroy herself out of Love to God secretly opposes it self to the least change of Beauty out of a principle of self-love that never dies with us Let a Fair Person retire into what place she pleases let her condition be what it will yet her Charms and Features are still dear to her They will be dear to her even in the time of sickness and if her sickness goes as far as Death the last sigh that passes from her is more for the loss of her Beauty than for that of her Life A LETTER TO Monsieur the Count de B. R. By the same Hand YOU ask me what I have been doing in the Country and since the place cou'd not furnish me with agreeable Conversations whether I did not take great Pleasure to entertain my self in Contemplation I will tell you then without affection that I endeavour to divert my self as much as possible where I am Every Country has its Rarities which we learn not without satisfaction and the most Savage places have their Pleasures if we are in a capacity to use them It cannot otherwife happen but that every thing must displease me whenever I begin I employ my self in Meditation for to speak soberly upon the matter we never fail to be tiresome to our selves in too long and too serious a commerce with our own Thoughts Solitude has this peculiar to its self that it imprints upon us I don't know what sort of a Mournful Air barely with thinking upon the wretchedness of our State Oh strange condition of Man If he intends to live happy he must make but few reflections upon life nay he must often depart as it were from himself and amidst the Pleasures which exteriour Objects furnish him with steal from the knowledge of his own Miseries Divertisements
effectual than meer blustering and big words At last the Contest was renewed a fresh The former being resolved to dye a Martyr for his Opinion and the other still maintaining the cause of ignorance with great ardour and resolution When a charitable Father who chanced to be in the Room interposed to accommodate the difference being ravished to meet so favourable an opportunity to show his Wit and Learning He cough'd thrice very Methodically and then turning himself towards the Doctor he thrice sneer'd as your Men of the World use to do at our pleasant Ignoramus When he thought he had composed his Countenance well enough digitis gubernantibus vocem he spoke after this manner I must tell you Gentlemen I must tell you that Learning adds to the Beauty of Nature and likewise that a natural Genius gives a grace to Learning A genius of it self without Rule and Art is like a Torrent that pours down irregularly And Knowledge without a natural Talent resembles those dry and barren Fields that are so disagreeable to the sight Now Gentlemen the business is how to reconcile what you have so unadvisedly divided to re-establish an Vnion where you have made a Divorce Learning is nothing in the World but a perfect knowledge and Art is nothing but a Rule that directs Nature And wou'd you Sir addressing himself to N. be ignorant of the things you speak of and value your self only upon your natural force which is irregular and far from perfection And you Mr. B. will you renounce the natural Beauty of the Mind to render your self a slave to troublesome Precepts and borrow'd Knowledge Come come replies N. very briskly let us make an end of this Discourse I wou'd rather bear with his knowledge than with the great Harangue you have made us here At least he is Laconic and I understand you no better than I do him The good Man who was not of an irreconcileable Nature soon suffer'd himself to be sweetned and to quit scores with N. prefer'd his agreeable ignorance to the Magnificent words of the Father A Letter to Madam L. HOW violent soever my Friendship is it has left me force enough to write to you with less concern than I used to do And to tell you the truth I am somewhat ashamed to send you Country sighs which have neither the sweetness nor delicacy of those you hear But let them be what they will I must of necessity hazard them and endeavour to make you remember me at a time when all the World endeavours to make me be forgotten I don't question but that the interview of your Pious Mother and the rest of your godly Family was accompanied with abundance of Tears To be sure to such a Mother's Tears you paid a civil and respectful return like a well-bred Daughter But then you know the World too well to exchange a real tenderness for the grief of Hyppocrites whose Virtue is nothing else but a mere Artifice to deprive you of those Pleasures which themselves regret 'T is enough you show'd your obedience once and Sacrificed your Repose to a complaisance which perhaps you did not owe her she is unjust if after she has exacted so severe an obedience from you she pretends to regulate your Inclinations and constrains the only thing she has left in your power We Love that which pleases us and not what is barely permitted to us so that if you must demand leave of your Parents before you are suffer'd to Love so well am I acquainted with their humour that I dare assure you you 'l have but a little occaon to be accquainted with that Passion should you live as long as a Sibill. But perhaps this discourse may seem very impertinent to you and considering your present circumstances I ought rather to be apprehensive of those persons that counsel you to Love than those that forbid it Perhaps you may follow the advice I give you and laugh at the reprimands of your Mother How do I know but that this poor Mother of yours to whom I wish so much mischief may be in my interests and that to stifle a growing Friendship in its birth she does not give you the liberty to Love a Person so remote from you Hitherto I have had all the reason in the World to commend your constancy and resolution but I doubt whether a meer Idea will be able to dispute it long against a Face and memory against Conversation I have too great a concern upon me to leave the advantage of being present with you any longer to those Gentlemen that daily behold you and within a few days no manner of business shall hinder me from throwing my self at your feet While you are expecting that I should come and entertain you with my passion remember how many Thousand Oaths you have sworn to Love me and only me as long as you Live Another Letter to the same Person YOU imagine Madam that I hate you and so far you are in the right on 't that if you consult the reason I have to do so you may well believe that I hate you most abominably But then if you consider what a mighty power you have always had upon me you conclude rightly enough that it is not in my power to hate you and to my shame I acknowledge it that I still Love and Doat upon you after all the cruel injuries you have done Men. The difference between your and my way of procedure is extraordinary enough you wish me ill because you have been obliged by me on the other hand I wish you all the Prosperity in the World in spite of the ill treatments I have received at your hands For God sake Madam pardon me the injuries you have done me forget what I have done for you and you will remove all the occasion you have to hate me Let us therefore if you please begin a new sort of Friendship where neither reproach nor Justification nor Quarrels nor Reconcilements shall have any thing to do The only motive of my Friendship is because you are lovely in all respects that of yours ought to be the opinion you now have or at least I desire you to have that I am an honest well meaning Admirer of yours Excuse my Vanity The practice and custom of the Gascons could not give me a less share of it and provide I keep my self here without making further advances you I are sufficiently even with one another but I will by no means promise to imitate those People in all things particularly where you have any manner of Concern A Letter to Madam O. I Remember Madam that as I went to the Army I begg'd of you to Love the Count of B. In case I should be so unfortunate as to meet my Death there in which particular I have been so well obeyed that you do not hate him at all during my life to learn I suppose how to love him the better after my Death Madam you have punctually
their Suffering It is hard to comprehend how the Soul can be perfectly happy while Diseases afflict its Companion the Body how it can think of Joy whilst the violence of pain extorts Complaints from it or how it can be sensible of Pleasure whilst it is present at all those Places where the Indisposition rages Let the Stoicks boast as long as they please of the insensibility of their wise Man and of this rigorous Virtue that laughs at Pain When they come once to the suffering part they 'll find that their Body is by no means of this Opinion and that although these Discourses are really magnificent and lofty yet for all that they are neither to be reconciled to Nature nor to Truth I will not justifie this Proposition by the Examples of the generality of their Philosophers I will not cite any name which they may have the least Pretence to reject nor urge any Man upon them whose Virtue may be called in question Hercules alone shall assert the truth of what I have delivered This Hercules who is reckoned amongst the Gods whom so many Exploits have made immortal and whom the Stoicks have chose for a perfect model of their Strength and Wisdom Let us a little reflect upon the dying behaviour of this Heroe and consider the last Actions of his Life Without doubt this invincible Man will depart out of the World as he came into it by doing something Heroical and great To be sure he 'll not let a syllable drop from him that may dishonour his mighty Exploits or seem unworthy of his former Character We shall find our selves extremely mistaken if we are of this Opinion The force of his Pain triumphs over his Courage his Constancy yields to the rage of the Poyson that burns him He does not only complain but he weeps he cries he stamps he flings about At circum gemunt petrae Locrorum alta Euboeae promontoria And by these his last effects of Rage and Despair he quits his life to go and take his place amongst the Gods Let the Stoicks therefore come over to our party Let them amuse us no more with their insensibility let them not pretend that their wise Man can be happy amidst his Tortures and let them not despise pain with their usual insolence since they see Hercules himself could not support himself under the Pressure of it But if they answer that the Poet has been guilty of a great Solecism in representing Hercules after this manner and continue to give other Relations of this Heroe contrary to the Authority of Books and the Consent of the Theatre Posidonius heretofore one of the Masters of Cicero and the greatest of all the Stoicks for so this celebrated Disciple of his calls him will furnish us with a notorious Example and we shall see one of the strongest Pillars of the Porch shaken by a slight Indisposition The Gout which at last attacqued this Philosopher proved to be the rock on which his Constancy split He complained of his pain with as much impatience as any ordinary man would have done and tho he reproached it by vaunting that all its Efforts should never constrain him to own that it was an Evil yet he could not forbear to afflict himself with it to complain of it and herein he testified more Opiniatretè than Constancy and Reason It seems that Cicero was scandalized at weakness of this wise Man or at least that he was astonished at it I have beheld says he Possidonius the greatest Man amongst the Stoicks suffer the pains of the Gout with as little Resolution and Bravery as my Landlord Nichomachus the Tyrian whom he esteemed but as an ordinary Man And indeed I am so far from believing that the Felicity of Humane Life is compatible with pain that I am of Opinion it would be the Action of a wise Man to quit it in case he were not able to set such an uncomfortable Attendant as some distance from him And although I have the memory of Maecenas in great Veneration and think that no one ought to mention his Name but with the profoundest respect yet I could wish if it were possible to be done that some Verses of his were utterly lost and that he had never inform'd us that he was more fond of a wretched Life than I don't say a Philosopher but a Man of the meanest Courage ought to be You cannot offer him Life upon never so disadvantageous Terms but he readily accepts it Let him be deformed it signifies nothing let him be crooked he still comforts himself that he is alive Let him endure all the united Torments of the most violent Diseases he is still contented if they are not mortal and though you should condemn him to the most cruel Death imaginable yet by his good will he would not be brought to quit his Life provided he could still preserve it amidst the most terrible Punishments Debilem facito manu Debilem pede coxâ Tubber astrue gibberum Lubricos quate dentes Vita dum superest bene est Hanc mihi vel acutâ Si sedeam cruce sustine His effeminacy no doubt on 't dictated these Verses to him whilst he tasted all the pleasures of Life He had never experimentally known what pain was before and I dare boldly aver That if he had found himself in this lamentable Condition of his own chusing he would have earnestly desired Death to rid him of his Torments By this 't is an easy matter to conjecture that Maecenus was a Man of Pleasure but not an Epicurean since those Philosophers had too elevated a Soul to condescend to such ignominious Conditions They were less apprehensive of Death than of Pain and sometimes renounced Pleasure for the sake of Pain And the reason is That Epicurus very well judging that the generality of Men corrupted by the enjoyment of Pleasures and suffering themselves blindly to be hurried on by their Appetites would not be in a Condition to foresee the Griefs and Afflictions which would be the certain consequences of their irregular Courses And on the other hand fearing that the love of Ease and an effeminacy of Spirit join'd to the fear of Labour and Pain would oblige them to be deficient in their respective Duties and render them inserviceable in the whole course of their Life he was of opinion that at some certain times when a wise Man had full liberty to chuse for himself and nothing hindered him to pursue his full Satisfaction he might abandon himself to Pleasure and entirely remove himself from Pain But then that there were certain conjunctures when the obligation of his duty and the necessity of affairs ought to incline him not to refuse Pain and to reject Pleasure It was this generous Maxim that obliged Cato Vticensis to dye For although he might have continued safe upon the Ruins of his own Party and Cesar would have been proud to have given him his Life Nevertheless the Shame to survive the loss
Asia in order to raise her own Grief and that of the Spectators for who is it that can avoid being sensibly touched with this Discourse Must Ilium then the Scene of all my Joys Must all this Wealth be made a Grecian prize The rich aspiring Mansions of the Gods Worthy their names their presence and abodes And glitt'ring Roofs Or what heart would she not inspire with horror and pity when she thus goes on All this I saw consum'd by impious Fire And Priam by a barb'rous hand expire â—ove's Altar with the Royal Victim stain'd And Hector's Blood by common dust prophan'd Nor was this all But my prevailing Miseries to Crown From a high Tower his Son thrown head-long down So that I don 't at all wonder if the people of Rome were strangely affected when they heard these Verses repeated or if when I read them my self I cannot forbear the Tribute of a few Tears To say the Truth Hecuba had great reason to complain of her ill Destiny she had lost her Husband her Son her Kingdom and her Liberty If she had beheld these Calamities without lamenting them she had been insensible and we should be inhumane if after so many Losses we should hinder her Tears But then after she had for some time wept we should not be at all unjust to prescribe bounds to her Grief to regulate her Complaints and her Sorrow and lastly to advise her to oppose strength of Reason to that of Despair Some Persons that are touched with her Complaints may perhaps alledge in her Justification that those who would limit her Grief and not suffer it to exceed its first Motions would resign themselves up to it till the very last Moments of their Life if they once shared with her those Misfortunes the weight of which they can only conjecture and that our Philosophy which speaks of nothing less than Conquests and Triumphs would faint under such a pressure of Calamities if it saw them present and inevitable Now for my part I wish a perpetual Sunshine of Prosperity to so tender so melting a Man as this is for no doubt on 't if any Disgrace happens to him he will discover his Infirmities very plentifully on this condition that by way of requital to me for my Wish he will dispense with me for not believing what he says nor oblige me to judge of the strength of Philosophy by the weakness of his Reason For without losing any time to refute word by word this sort of Reasoning which can obtain credit no where but amongst effeminate Men I shall content my self to convince those Persons that make use of it by two known Examples that ought to overwhelm them with confusion These Examples are drawn from two Persons whom their Age and their Sex ought to render extremely feeble but who notwithstanding all this weakness preserved such a presence of mind that I shall despair to find the like among the Philosophers Let us consider Astianax and Polixena as they are going to die one is a Boy the other a young Maid The Greeks had condemned both of them to Death Observe Vlysses who advances first leading the former by the hand and marching hastily to throw him down the Precipice But see the Child does not follow him with less Assurance Sublimi gradu Incedit Ithacus parvulum dextrâ trahens Priami Nepotem nec gradu segni puer Ad alta pergit moenia Consider that amongst all those that accompany him and weep for him he is the only Person whose eyes are dry and who refuses to pay Tears to his own death Observe that whilst these barbarous Executioners invoke the Gods to this bloody Sacrifice he throws himself headlong from the Tower from the top of which they were to cast him and voluntarily puts an end to that Life which he had scarce begun But now turn your eyes on the other side for by this time Polixena is placed upon Achilles's Tomb and only waits the fatal Blow which is to appease the Anger of the Greeks and to rejoyn her Soul to that of her Parents Admire her Beauty that still appears so charming and so serene Her Countenance is not at all changed with the Apprehensions of Death On the other Hand this Sun which is going to set for ever seems to receive a new Splendor at the last moments of its light Nay there is something in her air more bold and undaunted than her Sex and her present Circumstances ought to promise And to do her right she is not content to wait the Blow for without avoiding it she goes to meet it with an Heroick Bravery Conversa ad ictum stat truci vultu ferox And when Pyrrhus has given her the cruel stroke it seems that her last Action is an Action of Courage that she does not suffer herself to fall upon the Sepulchre of Achilles but with a design to make the earth lie more heavy upon him and to revenge herself upon him even as she dies Tell me now freely is it not a shame for Hecuba to see her Children more couragious than herself Tell me whether it looks well for her to shed so many Tears when Astianax and Polyxena die without shedding any Tell me whether you don't think these two Persons infinitely happy in comparison of this miserable Creature Or if you have nothing to say for her confess at last with us that she has too little courage in her Misfortunes and that she wanted strength of Mind to resent them less cruelly Now if it be true that Weakness is the only thing that renders our Misfortunes insupportable to us and which causing us to abandon the Helm in the most violent Tempests makes us suffer Shipwrack in those places where we might have rode securely ought we not to search after this strength of Mind to serve us instead of an Anchor to oppose it to the fury of the Wind and Water and preserve us from the violence of the Storm We ought to sustain our selves by this Pillar which serves as the Basis to Pleasure and to joyn this Virtue to Temperance and Wisdom and that we may live in repose and in a privation of Misery believe that by her influence a couragious persevering Spirit is above all Pain and ill Fortune since it despises Death and is so prepared for Pain that it always reshembers itself that Death is the remedy of the most violent ones that the lesser have abundance of good Intervals and that it is the Master of the ordinary ones Matters being thus we ought to say that we don't blame Cowardise and Weakness as also that we don't practise Temperance and Valour for their own particular respect but that we are to reject the former and desire the latter because those foment Griefs but these preserve us from them It only remains now for us to examine Justice and then we shall have dispatched the principal Virtues But these things one may say on this Chapter are almost the same with
in the pursuit All our Actions have no real object but Pleasure without that the most Laborious Persons would Live languishing and idle 'T is that alone which makes us active 't is that which stirs all bodies 't is that which gives motion to all the Universe Let every one then follow that method which suits best with his innocent inclinations and enjoy all Delights that present themselves to him when they are not repugnant to the true Sentiments of Honour or Conscience To Mademoiselle L. …A Consolatory Discourse upon the Death of Monsieur M… By Mr. MANNING I Hear Madam that you lament the death of Monsieur M… and am sensible that it is your Duty to lament it He was a person of extraordinary Merit he Lov'd you tenderly he had done you great Services How cruel how unjust nay how ungrateful would you be if you did not bewail his loss I am so well perswaded of the greatness of it that I am even in pain to know if you have been able to preserve your Senses all this while I wish the abandoning of your Eyes and Mouth to sorrow may be the utmost of your affliction What way soever you escape you will give the World sufficient proofs of your Wisdom if you don't run Mad. Let others shed Tears by measure and proportion their sadness to the occasion of it I shall not be surprised but it would be an amazing thing to see you afflict your self by Rules you who may so justly mourn you who have no other way to signalize your gratitude than by your lamentation Perhaps it may be represented to you that you ought to weep with more moderation and that your Sex your Age and your Condition exempt you from abandoning your self intirely to your Grief But believe me Madam don't for all that deprive your self of the satisfaction of Weeping Answer the Duties of a just Friendship to the full Mourn without constraint for a Man whose chast delights you were and without shame lament a Man who could not be but the delights of the Chast. In dying he has set all your Sentiments at Liberty and his death delivers you from those scruples which tormented you during his Life It would be in vain for Slander to misinterpret your complaints The Relation that was betwixt him and you doth but too highly justify you 'T is apparent as you were so nearly joyn'd in blood nothing but a lawful correspondence could be established between you You could find nothing in him but Wit Honour and Wisdom These Qualities generally speaking are not overmuch the favourites of our Senses They are fitter to raise Friendship than Love and to serve as a support for Virtue than to afford matter for Passion You could not be tempted either with Youth Beauty Riches or Splendor He had neither wherewith to purchase or seduce you and Nature and Fortune equally conspired to deny him what might engage a Lady of your merit to Love and what might engage himself to miscarry Alas who is ignorant that if you had been inclined to one of the two either your Love might have chosen Demy-Gods for its Objects or your Wants might have found Treasures for their Recompense Let them alone then let them talk who have not the gift of silence Innocence and Virtue are not a sufficient sanctuary against Calumny Sanctity it self has not defended the Pauls the Melanius's and if Canonized Friendships have been suspected why should not yours as untainted as it is be brought into question Besides Where 's the advantage of constraining your self you run an equal hazard both by dissimulation and by divulging your Grief If you divulge it you will perhaps awaken the Reproach but if you dissemble you will undoubtedly encrease it And as it is always sooner fastened upon concealed Actions than those that are above-board it will impute your moderation to your Artifice and the serenity of your Face to the easie submission of your mind But Madam I would have your Grief keep to appearances and take a superficial Calm for a profound Tranquillity What will you advance by this Conduct If it doth not find you too tender it will find you too ungrateful I leave it to you to judge whether it is better to be accused of a Vice or of a Passion And if it is more shameful to appear susceptible of Love than capable of ingratitude But why should I seek Reasons to encourage your affliction Can it be possible that you should fear to hazard your Tears upon the death of your Friends and that you must be heartned against the attempts of Calumny to dispose you to pay the last offices to Friendship In the mean time what can my design be here and who obliges me to wish that your Grief may be free and violent instead of being moderate and constrained I would have it free lest it should prove dangerous I would have it violent for fear it should be of continuance It might attempt some violence upon you if you should keep it captive It would be lasting if you should let it be moderate I consent to have it make your tenderness appear but I pretend likewise to have it demonstrate your force of Mind you will acquit your self of the Duty of a good Friend in lamenting your Friend As you will perform the duty of an Heroic Woman in not lamenting too long Manage your self then in such a manner that your Grief may not be unworthy of him and that it may be worthy of your self Lament then if you please as a Heroe but lament him in the quality of a Heroine I allow you more than this abandon your self for some time to your affliction but take care to see it so well satisfied in that time that it may require no farther a Tribute from you Entertain it as long as you think fit with the Idea you conceive of your Illustrious Deceased Represent to your self that Noble Countenance that severe Air those venerable Wrinkles in a word that Head of Socrates which denoted so well both the Soldier and Philosopher Then proceed to the qualities of his Mind Reflect upon that natural elevation which rendred things of the greatest moment entirely familiar to him Consider with what clearness he pierced into the obscurest matters with what subtilty he examined the most curious with what fecundity he handled the most barren and with what solidity he made choice of the most important From thence proceed if you will to the equality of his Soul Consider what an absolute Command he had over his Senses and his Moderation that made him renounce all Pleasures Then after you have considered the regularity of his Manners consider also how easie they sate upon him What indulgence had he not for all those defects that might be supportable in a civil Life Did he not seem to believe that he singly was obliged to be Wise And directly opposite to the rest of Men did he not more easily dispense with the greatest
pain the Death of Persons dear to us altho it is the first evil of Opinion is no great evil if it doth not expose us much to the evils of Nature Let us examine then at present what consequences the Death of your Friend draws after it Whether it abandons you to an indisposition of Body Whether it gives you over to Servitude Whether it reduces you to Poverty And I believe we shall soon discover that it draws down upon you none of the evils of Nature How should it abandon you to an indisposition of Body Your Friend was Old and you are Young He could not have dispensed with your cares tho you could have been without his assistance He reached the end of his Race before you arrived to the middle of yours and the time of his Death had much got the start of your Infirmities It is true if it was not impossible for you to have an infirm Youth But all possible evils are not formidable Human Prudence doth not look upon Objects that are too wandring and too remote We should not fear evils that threaten not and we should not much fear even those that threaten at a distance How should it give you over to Servitude Thanks to our Religion our Laws and our Manners we are free and if we except those whom the Service of God and the State engage to cross the Seas there are scarce any but Vagabonds that can become Slaves But tho by the Revolution of Human Affairs Servitude should come and seek after you from one end of the World to the other or should meet with you upon its own Lands would you not enjoy Consolatory means enough in all your great Qualities Would you not easily attract the veneration of your Masters And would not your Masters employ all their Power to hinder you from depriving them of your presence Yes Madam you might always render your condition supportable to your self But in case it should appear uneasy to you your Friend would never be capable of changing it Your Ransom would exceed his Power Your Merit would obstruct your Liberty and if they should exact your real value it would be impossible for you to find Redeemers In fine how should it reduce you to poverty Your Friend was not rich and it is hard that you should be poor One cannot be so with the Graces the Vertues the Sciences and Arts which you possess and the world is not yet become so insensible of merit as to give you leave fo fear extremities which would dishonour your Age. Don't apprehend then Madam any lamentable consequences from the Death of your Friend Nothing will be wanting to you in life not even such Friends as he you have lately lost There will arise some from the dust of him you lament and there is no Man of equal honour and wit with him but will love you as he did and like him will be devoted to your service But you are in pain perhaps whether there are still such perfect friends to be found Make no question of it Madam Vertue loses nothing no more than Nature The seeds of goodness circulate eternally and pass without intermission from one subject to another and the principles which contribute to the production of the wise no more annihilate than those which concur to the generation of Men. Your Friend has made room for an infinite number of others to succeed him and 't is only your province to elect him a successour in the most numerous Court that ever Sacrificed to the Graces You will find that Heaven will restore you full as much as it has ' taken from you How do you know but it will give you even more You will discover in him you shall make choice off all that was in him you have lost and perhaps something more possibly more youth and a better meen possibly a vertue less severe and a friendship more agreeable Let the things we lose be of never so great yet we must not abandon our selves to immoderate grief when we only lose what we are able to recover You need only defend your self from this popular mistake which makes us apprehend in second friendships either the jealousy of the dead or the censure of the living The dead are offended at nothing and the living are affronted at all things But the living are of a very scurvy humour when they oblige us to sacrifice our selves to the dead If the dead loved Sacrifices they would take the pains to demand them of us They must needs have lost the tast of the things of this World since they entertain no commerce with us And if they are so unmindful of us why should we be reduced to live only for them Assure your self Madam that their state is a state of Insensibility or a state of Repose and that we can do nothing to make them either happy or miserable What is it in your oppinion that has prescribed to us the duty of preserving fidelity to the Dead but the weakness and tyranny of the Living Every one would flatter himself with the thought of fixing another to himself when he is no longer fixed to any one Our Vanity is so great that it exacts veneration for our Ashes and endeavours to make our shadows triumph over our Rivals It is not just Madam to have regard to this fancy At the moment we are buried the world is quit of all obligations in relation to us The duties of interment are called the last duties and beyond the Funeral all that is given to the Dead is taken from the Living Lamentations that are too long not only hurt Nature but Society likewise They render us incapable of the duties of a civiâ— Life And one may say that out of complaisance to those Friends we have lost they make us wanting to those whom we still retain Observe all those people that indulge their sorrow and seek to get reputation by their Grief Is it not certain that their affliction seems to suspend their Friendship or at least that it dispenses them from acting in favour of the Friends Nay one may say that 't is an Incivility to offer a petition to them and request a service of them So much doth Grief devote them to the Dead and render them unuseful to the Living But what must there be no lamenting for the death of our friends No Madam there must be none if it were possible This passion is absolutely pernicious and if it were good in any respect it would only be in demonstrating that we knew how to Love But if tears were certain marks of love the greatest weepers would be the firmest Lovers and we are sensible of the contrary Weak Women cry more than those of stronger courages and the latter love more than the former I am not surprised to find Tears were in so great reputation with the Poets and despised by the Philosophers Poetry borrows its fineness from the Passions and the infirmity of Nature And
they should pursue the Advantages And 't is from the same Principle that a Statesman in Publick Affairs commits the same Solecisms as a private Man does in those of his Family If a Man after having taken his Measures on all sides happens to succeed in any thing let him take a great deal of care not to suffer himself to be overcome with the flattering Design which Self-love inspires those with who have too much Satisfaction in any happy Success for there is need of as much Moderation not to be corrupted by one's good Fortune as Patience not to be cast down at the bad Besides one ought to have the power to stop one's self in the middle of one's most favourable Enterprizes The Torrent of Prosperity ought not to carry us away against our Wills 'T is often times necessary not to desire one's Victory as far as one might a wise Retreat is no less glorious than a couragious Attack 't is by retiring from the World in good time that we can secure the Glory we have acquired in it and 't is the Character of a consumated Merit to be able to live in a Retreat with Honour after having liv'd in the Publick with Lustre See here my Lord in what manner it seems to me that a young Man who would maintain an illustrious Figure in the World ought to begin proceed and finish his Actions I am very well assured there are many other things might be said upon this Subject but in the little I have writ upon this Occasion there is enough to make me understood to one that has had so much Experience as your Lordship and whose Thoughts are so much elevated above those of other Men. Reflections upon what a Man ought to do to live Happy 'T IS a great Advantage towards the Tranquility of Life to behold it through the most agreeable part of it A thing must be very adverse indeed that one cannot draw some profit from we grieve oftentimes and give ourselves abundance of trouble for something that in a little time becomes of itself easie to us 2. Satyr may give us a great deal of pleasure whether we write it our selves or hear it from another but this pleasure should not inspire us with a kind of Melancholy that is to be seen in the Conversation of some People who are seriously concerned at the Follies or Extravagancies of other Men who are not pleased with the Condition they find the World in and do not consider disagreeable Objects but to be displeased with ' em What good did it do Heraclitus to sigh and grieve Did he by those means reform the Abuses of the Age The wisest side is to take care of one's self and to leave to others the managing their own Persons Has not every one enough to do with his own Affairs 3. When a Man is in trouble he ought to remember that he has had some favourable minutes and impute to his good Fortune all his former happiness in short one is less Unhappy when one can charm one's Sorrows either by a remembrance or an hope of a Condition more Happy 4. The greatest part of Mankind look upon the Honours Riches and Pleasures of others as Adulterers do upon other Mens Wives in despising those they enjoy Cannot a Man make use of Life with pleasure without possessing all that may belong to it Why should we make a Necessity of an hundred things without which we may live content enough providing we be but a little reasonable 5. Although Ambition oppose this yet we are more at quiet when we consider those that are below us she would have us aspire to the first Rank and despise this petty sort of Tranquillity but had she any better recompense to put in its place 6. The measure of our Happiness ought to be taken from that of our Passions he that has the fewest desires hopes or such like other motions of the Mind without doubt will be the most content 7. There is nothing except the desire of Vertue which ought to be limited if one would live happy For in fine how many Vertues are there incompatible How many Undertakings which are not proper to all sorts of People it ought to suffice us that acquit ourselves in the Employ wherein we are and there to bound all our Duty 8. That Man 's truly miserable who goes to search for Sorrows in Futurity 't is an Abiss so profound that the prospect from above is enough to fright one To make use of the present good is a very rare Secret but not that a Man ought to be prepar'd for the different Accidents of Life This may shield us from the Insults of Fortune No Misfortune can happen to us when one has a sufficient Fund of Patience and Reason to overcome it 9. 'T is very much to misunderstand one's self to be troubled and frighted when one has done amiss A man must have a great deal of Vanity not to know his Weakness But if he knows it at least he may gain this Advantage by it to remain in a calm Condition after any Frailty whatsoever 10. There is nothing more frights the World than Death as if it were not a passage to a better Life Live well and the thoughts of Death will but create in you an excess of Joy 11. Let not your Soul prevented by any austere Maxims hinder you from taking the innocent pleasure of Life There are some Men that build themselves up a Merit by refusing the smallest and most natural Sweets that Heaven has been pleas'd to mingle with the Bitters of Life to render them supportable 12. Solid Content proceeds from a good Conscience without that there is no Pleasure which does not become uneasie for there is no body that receives more Satisfaction or Uneasiness than either to be in good or bad Circumstances with himself Now 't is the thought that we have performed our Duty that makes us be content at Home and on the other hand nothing gives us more Pain and Inquietude than the mortifying Reflections we make on the ill Disposition of our Hearts 13. Happy is the Man who knows to make a right Judgment of what is truly Good and truly Evil for there are a thousand false Scruples that nevertheless give us true Vexations And therefore if we desire to regulate them we must by no means reject the Natural Instincts we have of all that is really Good The Quiet of those Persons who have lost their Conscience is a lamentable Lethargy that leads to Infallible Destruction Of Logick by the same Hand INstead of a great number of Precepts of which the Logick we learn at the College is wholly compos'd and which are for the most part either Unprofitable or too Intricate it seems to me that these four only may suffice to all those who have a mind to conduct their Reason surely in their Search after Truth 1. We ought not to determine That a thing is or is not without