moves it self and that infirmity looseth the speech or if we do speak it is with pain and stammering whereto the quantity of humors also contributes which through Desire fill the mouth for it hinders that the tongue cannot so easily turn it self and that it strikes not the voice clearly Besides the distraction we now speak of is also a cause that Lovers hear not half what others say and that their discourse is commonly confused extravagant Even the sighs wh ch every moment cut one another owe their first original to that great attention of spirit which diverts the soul and makes it lose the remembrance of the most necessary actions of life for sending not spirits enough to cause respiration the lungs beat but slowly and the heart draws not that help which is expected from their service forasmuch as they furnish not it sufficiently with air to temper that fire which this Passion kindles and that they discharge it not often enough of those fumes and vapors which the agitation of the humors raiseth there Now after this disorder hath continued some time and that at last it might ruine all the natural ceonomy the soul being urged by necessity awakes again and seeks to supply its defect by these great and extraordinary respirations and indeed sighs are principally begot at the issue out of some thought which hath forcibly detained the minde and not whilst it was employed therein The face grows pale whether it be that the spirits retire within the brain as we have already said or because that in the progress of this Passion the stomack grows weak and the blood changeth for since that the diversion of the spirits diverts also the heat vertue which ought to pass into the stomack to cause digestion you must not wonder if it become languishing if the aliments change into crudities and if the blood it makes be impure since that the last concoction corrects not the defects of the former But what helps forward this disorder is the continual ardor which this Passion kindles in the blood and the several agitations which Fear Grief and Anger at every moment excite for that dissipates the spirits and makes the faculties become languishing and the humors enflame and corrupt themselves which at last grows to that Erotick sickness which the Physitians place in the ranck of folly and fury The blood being then in this condition retains no more nether its vertue nor its natural colour It becomes useless to the nourishment of the parts and no longer communicates that pleasing vermillion which formerly it bestowed upon them and so they must needs become pale lean and withered By the same reason the appetite is lost because that the beloved object occupying all the thoughts of the Soul takes away its care of all the functions of Life the spirits being also diverted no longer bear into the stomack that sentiment which causeth the appetite In fine the disorder which is in the humors and in all the natural parts hinders this from performing its function Sleep being the rest of common sence of the spirits seldom happens in violent Passions detaining the Soul and the body in a continual agitation but Love endures it less then the rest because that besides the tempest it raiseth it at last corrupts the blood whose vapours are sharp and which consequently want that sweet humidity which Iulleth the Senses It s true that langour and weariness sometimes procure it because the soul knows that life cannot subsist without it and that after so great a dissipation of spirits its necessary to repair them to which end it gathers them together and stays them For although this moist vapor which commonly provokes sleep happen not here as we said but now yet must we not beleeve that sleep can come by no other means it hath two ordinary and natural causes the vapor which stops the passage of the spirits and the soul which binds and stays them now here being no vapor to produce this effect necessity obligeth the soul to labour it alone of her self But this sleep is interrupted with dreams which continually agitate the minde forasmuch as the imagination which in that condition loseth not the liberty of working and being full of those images which Passion suggests turns over continually confounds and augments them so that they always present to it things greater then in effect they are and afterwards form in the appetite more powerful motions then the true objects would do The remembrance or the unexpected arrival of the beloved party swels the heart and the pulse because the soul dilates the organs to receive the good and to send forth spirits to its encounter a great difficulty upon this occasion is proposed to wit whether Love have a kind of pulse proper to it alone for that some have vaunted the discovery of this Passion by the beating of the arteries But without stopping at the contests which are formed hereupon we will boldly say that there is no more reason to give one which is proper to Anger and to Grief then to Love That the heart can no less resent the motion which this Passion causeth in the appetite then it can that which the others excite and that the organs moving conformably to the intention of the minde this part must be otherwise agitated in Love then in other passions since it hath a diffent designe from what the others have It s true its hard exactly to discover this difference because men have made no just observation thereof and perhaps it is impossible to make it for that the heart is shut up in the Center of the Body and that it suffers motions which it communicates not with the arteries yet amongst such kinds of pulses as have been observed we may yet find some one which particularly belongs to Love To understand this you must know that the heart hath many motions which are common to several Passions for it dilates it self in Joy in Hope and in Anger and contracts it self in Grief and in Fear and in Despair in some it goes quick and with violence in others slow and languishing and its certain these general differences cannot all alone mark those which are proper to every Passion but as Physick teacheth us that there are twenty kinds of simple pulses and that they may diversly mix the one with the other every Passion may finde in this great variety that kind which is proper to it thus the pulse of Anger is not only great and lifted up or quick or frequent or vehement but it is composed of all these differences That of Fear is quick hard unequal and irregular That of Joy is great rare and slow That of Grief is weak little slow and rare and as they say these are the kindes of pulses which are proper to these Passions we may also observe in the same manner one proper to Love and indeed therein the beating of the arteries is great large unequal and irregular it
In fine it is from thence that all natural vertues draw their force and vigour for as they do not work but by the assistance of the spirits when they come and shed themselves on the organs they must necessarily grow stronger and their functions must be done more perfectly so there are no ill humours which may corrupt the purity of the blood seeing the vertue which concocts them is always mistris of them and that which expels them findes them obedient for the spirits melt them and send them to the surface and open the passages to let them out So that it is true there is no Passion which is so great friend to health as Joy so as it be moderate for if it be excessive it changeth all natural oeconomy it quencheth the heat of the intrails and at last by Mortal Syncopes or by incurable languors it causes even the loss of our lives We have already touched the Reasons in the former Discourse where we shewed that Love and Joy carried the spirits abroad with precipitation it often happens that in the violence of that transport they lose the union which they should have with their principle whence follow Faintings and Syncopes For I doe not esteem that the dissipation of the Spirits as is commonly said is the principal cause of those actions since so many watchings so many toyles so many sicknesses which dissipate them more then any Passion whatsoever cause not these sad Symptomes but according to my opinion it comes from that they disunite and separate themselves from the heart and that the Soul being unable to animate the separated parts or communicate any vertue to them the actions which they ought to do must cease by this separation which the vehemency of their motion caused This is the cause why water cast on the face oft-times puts away those faintings and sends back the straggling spirits to the heart which would not be were they quite lost It is not but that here they make a great dissipation as they abundantly disperse themselves on all the parts and principally on the outward and the soul which is wholly occupied in the enjoyment of good takes no care to continue the course and to produce new ones it must necessarily make a great loss of them and consequently natural heat must diminish whence comes weakness and the languishing of the parts the corruption of the humours corroding diseases and at last death It might be demanded why Joy causeth death rather then Love or Anger but we have shewed this in the particular discourse of the Passions There remains nothing now but the Motions of the Heart of the Arteries and of Respiration to be examined which are all alike in this that they are great rare slow and without vehemency unless this Passion be excessive for then they become little weak and frequent and even often they quite cease to be The hearts motion then is rare and flow because the heat is not vehement having sent it with the spirits towards the outward parts So that having no need of any great refreshing it hasts not so much to move considering that also the soul which is ravished in the enjoyment of good minds not the motion of the heart but as it is urged by necessity whence it comes that it moves slowly and with great intervalls But to supply its negligence it every time very much opens and extends it recompencing its neglect by the greatness of its motion Now because there must be always some vigour thus to open and extend that part when the violence of the Passion hath dissipated its forces the motion of the heart must become weak and little and the necessity it hath to move for the generation of spirits renders it quick and frequent because it cannot supply its slowness by the greatness of the motion So that if the weakness be extreme it loseth also its swiftness and so becomes slow and rare and at last quite ceaseth The same is done in the Pulse and in Respiration for they have the same customs and the same causes with the hearts motion as Physick teacheth us CHAP. IV. The Characters of Laughter I Know not why Socrates heretofore said that Man was a ridiculous creature But I know if any reason can make it credible we need go no further to seek it then in Laughter it self since there is nothing so ridiculous as to see him who undertakes to control all Nature and who believes himself to be her Confident to be ignorant of what is most proper and familiar to him To laugh at every moment without knowing wherefore and to know neither the subjects nor the motions which form this Passion For all the great men of the past ages which have enquired the causes thereof have freely confess'd that their mindes were incapable of that knowledge remitting us to that Philosopher who laughed continually and that it was hid in the same depth wherein he had enclosed the Truth Now although we do not think our selves clearer sighted then they yet our designe having obliged us to handle this Subject we are constrained to go beyond them and to undertake a thing wherein they lost their courage But what success soever we have the Discourse cannot but divert and please us for if it do not discover the nature of Laughter yet it will at least augment the number of ridiculous things To begin therefore according to the Order we have hitherto observed we must first draw the picture thereof and then enquire the causes which produce it Now as it may be weak mean or vehement it is certain that we are chiefly to observe the Characters of the later because that in all kinde of things the Greater is always to be the measure of the Lesser because its effects are more sensible then the others nay we may even say that there are no Passions how violent soever which cause such great alterations in the body as this doth For if you consider the Face The Forehead extends it self the Eye brows decline themselves the Lids contract themselves at the corners of the eyes and all the skin about them becomes uneven and wrinkles it self all over the Eyes extenuate and half shut themselves they grow sparkling and humid and even those from which Grief could never draw a tear are then obliged to weep the Nose crumples up and grows sharp the Lips retire and lengthen themselves the Teeth discover themselves the Cheeks lift themselves up grow more firm and sometimes the middle of them sweetly hollows it self and forms those delightful pits wherein the Poets lodg'd Laughter with the Graces the Mouth which is forced to open it self discovers the trembling and suspended Tongue and the Voice which issues is nothing but a piercing and interrupted sound which cannot be stopped which ends onely with the loss of our breath the Neck swells and shortens it self all the Veins are great and extended a certain sweet splendor disperseth it self over all the
who were of that temper walked after that manner this proposition would be somewhat probable But besides that all those who are robustious walk not so There are those which are not so to whom this gate is natural or at least who in some occasions use it as in Boldness in Pride and the like We must then refer this effect to a more general cause which must not be constant and unchangeable as the temperature is but changeth according to its encounters And truly if it be a Character proper to Boldness it must proceed from the agitation of the Soul whether it serve its design or be done out of necessity Now he that will consider that the Soul which will board the enemy stiffens herself to fortifie herself and begins to raise herself as to make trial of the assault she is going about will judge for the reasons which we have so often alleadged that she ought to inspire the same motions into the organs and consequently that she stiffens them and drives them vigorously So that the march and the other actions of the Body must suffer some change and must be performed after another manner then they were wont to be by reason of that new and extraordinary impression which they receive A man then which is animated with Boldness marcheth with a stiffer and more vigorous pace having a greater number of Muscles which stiffen it and that all his body weighs and rests it self on that foot which upholds it So that he the more strongly treads the ground when he walks wherein the stediness of the things supported consists and because he cannot so readily displace that foot which stands strong under so great a burthen of necessity his pace must be slow and he must go the more heavily But this slowness is recompenced by the greatness and largeness of his steps his strength seconding the desire he had to get to his Enemy mixing if we may so say haste with gravity In pursuit of those motions the Shoulders are moved and stirred as we have said Because all the Body stiffening it self and laying all the weight on the foot it must needs be that changing place and carrying the same burthen to the other the Shoulder must advance and weigh down it self on the same side and this being done with vigor the impetuosity of the motion causeth it to turn somewhat inwardly and passing so from the one to the other it ballanceth all the body in marching Thus then Boldness useth this kinde of gate so that if it be natural and ordinary in some it 's a sign of greatness of Courage because the Soul which hath a secret knowledge of the motions it ought to make by instinct bears it self to this kinde of pace which is proper to Boldness and to Generosity and marching without minding it as if she ought alwayes to affront the Enemy Furthermore Why he stoops his Head when he assaults when a Bold man is near danger and upon the point of assaulting his adversary he stooping his Head throws himself on him whether he thinks he should therewith knock against him or that his desire of fighting makes him advance that part as it doth the rest of them Or that stiffening the Arms to strike the Neck must stiffen it self to support the endeavor of that motion and in pursuit the Muscles shorten themselves and so cause the Head to stoop or in fine because it would cover it self and not give aim to the enemies blows for this reason it is that he bows all his Body that he gathers himself up that he contracts himself and puts himself on his guard to use the terms of Art In the heat of the Combate His Face is inflamed his Eyes become ardent and his sweat runs from all parts Forasmuch as the spirits and the humors cast themselves impetuously to the outward parts and that the heat which the Soul stirs up in this encounter expands it self every way dissolves the humors and causeth them to run through the pores which she keeps open It 's thus That in great endeavors we have often seen blood startle out of the Eyes Lips and other parts and sometimes even from all the Body in form of sweat But when this last happens the transport of the Soul must be excessive For she must be much urged and constrained to do a very extraordinary endeavor after this manner to drive out of the veins this treasure of life He beats the earth with his feet to make his Force and vigor appear and to astonish the enemy by the noise and tempest which at once his Foot his Voice and his blows make He darts himself forth and leaps lightly his forces being augmented by heat and by the motion of the spirits which render him lighter and better disposed His respiration is strong and impetuous because heat is encreased which augments the force of the vital parts and requires a greater refreshment for which cause the Breast and the Lungs extend and enlarge themselves the more to attract the greater quantity of fresh air and they fall with precipitation the more readily to drive away the fumes which the boiling of the spirits and the humor excite The Pulse is great high quick frequent and vehement for the same reasons for the Arteries open and extend themselves very much that they may receive the more air for the refreshing of the spirits and as this opening satisfies not yet the need which presseth the Heart the Soul adds to the greatness of its motion swiftness and frequency the more readily to attract refreshment and the oftner to discharge those fumes which heat raiseth up To conclude Because she gathers together her forces to assault and combate ill we need not doubt but the vital Faculty grows stronger but that she more powerfully moves her organs and that consequently she makes the Pulse more strong and vehement It 's true that all these divers beatings of it are also in Anger but when we speak of that Passion we will shew the difference she makes therein Let 's go to more pleasing subjects which hither to have been observed by no man or at least which our ordinary Philosophy hath not yet examined PART II. CHAP. I. The Characters of Constancy or of the strength of Courage IF it be true that Boldness hath no other function but to assault and combate Constancy is different from Boldness yet is the Soul often obliged to labour in its own defence and simply to resist those ills without daring to assault them there must necessarily therefore be a Passion which must serve it in this encounter and must be different from Boldness And truly fince Passions are motions there must be several Passions where there is a diversity of motion Now the motion which the Soul makes in resisting is altogether different from that which she makes in assaulting whether it be in the manner wherewith it 's agitated or in the end which she hath proposed to
exposeth her self to danger and abandons her self to all the rage which possesseth her The Respiration in this is just as it is in Boldness for although it proceeds from the same causes the Pulse doth that it is of the same use and that its motions have the same relation yet hath it not all the differences or at least it hath not made them known because we are not sensible by the touch of the Body of the Lungs where it is formed as we are sensible of that of the Arteries and that there is not such a tie betwixt that and the rest of the exterior organs which renders it sensible as there is betwixt the Heart and these kind of Veins for which cause there is neither hardness nor softness in the Respiration as is in the pulse nor can we observe any thing which comes near this kind of beating which we said was proper to Anger although the Lungs suffer the same changes and be in the same condition as the Heat then is for Hippocrates assures us that in this Passion both the one and the other retire and restrain themselves in themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although heat at the same time swells them and lifts them up Now although we cannot doubt but these contrary motions come from the mixture of these two Passions whereof we have spoken yet it is not easie to observe how they may be compatible together nor what parts are destined for their reception it being not probable that the same should be agitated by both together For we cannot herein say of the Heart and Lungs what we have said of the Arteries their natural constitution and the action which they are obliged to perform suffers them not to be restrained as they are to be lift up It must necessarily be that they must extend when they open themselves But if they extend themselves so how can they restrain themselves Certainly we must say that their flesh and substance gathers comprench and restrains it self and that their cavities enlarge themselves instead that in Joy all the parts release and soften themselves having not that need to fortifie themselves as here they have in effect the pulse which appears harder in Anger then in Boldness is a certain sign that the substance of the Arteries restrains and hardens it self and we cannot doubt but that the hardness of these parts comes from the contraction of the Soul since it is for that onely reason that the pulse becomes hard in Fear All the difficulty remaining is To know why the Arteries which borrow the vertue of moving themselves from the Heart have not a motion like his and that they streighten their cavity on the sides although that enlargeth his own on all sides To resolve this difficulty we must observe that the beating of the Arteries is not the same which is in the Heart since those open and lift themselves up whilst this fall and shuts it self So that they must needs be too different motions and consequently proceed from two different vertues And if this be true there is no necessity that they should resemble in all things and the Heart in any sence may enlarge it self without any necessity for the Arteries to do the same now as the Heart hath its Ventricles placed on the right and left which necessarily ought to open themselves to receive blood and air which enters therein it 's impossible the Soul should cause it to make a motion conformable to the Passions wherewith it is agitated as is made in the Arteries where this impediment is not and where she hath all the liberty to satisfie Grief by restraining them and Boldness by raising them up as hath been said As for the Lungs there is a particular reason for which they cannot restrain themselves as the others do for they have not the power to move themselves and of themselves they lift themselves not up to give place to the air which enters It is the muscles of respiration which extending themselves widen the capacity of the Breast and constrain the Lungs to open to hinder a vacuum for which cause waving the motive Faculty they have not those kinds of motion which depend therefrom But it is to pry too far into the secrets of Physick and the further clearing hereof would be useless to those who know it and those who are ignorant of it would never be sufficiently informed Let us onely say That although Anger causeth often very great disorders in the Soul and in the Body Anger is profitable to health yet it is not always an enemy to Reason nor to Health It is absolutely necessary for weak and idle minds and for cold and gross constitutions and even in all others it may be compared to winds which how impetuous soever they are drive away vapors and mists clearing the air and rendring it the more pure and wholesom In effect if we seek to hinder its course or that we would restrain it without suffering it so much as to exhale it self by words it preserves it self a long time in the Soul and at last alters the humors whence often happen great and pernicious sicknesses For as the inferior part is deaf to the counsels of Reason and that she proposeth to herself revenge as the end she tends unto she will cause her motion to cease untill she is at least in some manner revenged So that the Will may then hinder those actions over which it hath a power such as are words blows and the like but for those which are not under its direction as are the motions of the Heart and the agitation of the Humors they must necessarily be continued they must even by this restraint be rendred the more violent and they must last the longer time since we delay our revenge which is the end which ought to terminate them FINIS
is great and large because the heart opens to receive the good which presents it self as was before said it is unequal and irregular by reason of the several Passions with which this is continually traversed for as we do not here speak of that simple and imperfect Love which is yet but in the soul but of that which is compleat and finished and which hath already made impressions on the body it is impossible but Desire and Fear Joy and Grief should at every moment confound themselves with it whence consequently happens the unequal motion of the heart and of the arteries and this is chiefly to be observed at the remembrance or unexpected arrival of the beloved person For after this first elevation which is made at this encounter it changeth a hundred wayes it appears little and languishing and immediately returns to its first vehemency from swift and light it becomes slow and heavy and all at once it reassumes its first quickness which it loseth again in an instant and passeth thus from one difference to another without order and without proportion There are but very few Characters which remain to be examined whose causes are not very evident For the disquiet comes from the divers agitations which the soul feels the shiverings and the ardors follow the flowing and ebbing of the Spirits forasmuch as Fear and Grief which retire them within take away from the exterior parts the heat they had even as Joy and Hope restore and augment it and as Boldness and Anger gather the spirits together strength also encreaseth as it diminisheth when Joy dissipates or Grief stiffles them There remaines no more difficulties to be found but in the Syncopes and Extasies which sometimes happen to Lovers but we have already shewed that Love could not alone cause Syncopes nor faintings but that it must be Grief Despair or Joy For the Extasie its true it may proceed from Love yet we must observe that the word hath divers significations the Physitians often take it for an extreme alienation of the spirit such as those have who are frantick or mad sometimes for that strange disease which they call Catoche which all at once takes away the use of sence and motion and keeps the body stiffe in the same posture in which it surprised it there are some who beleeve that the true Extasie is made when the soul doth no action in the body whether it dwell there or that indeed it issue forth for a time as it happens in those which are possest and in those who are ravished by the spirit of God but that whereof we speak is nothing else but a certain ravishment of the soul which takes from the body the use of exterior sence and motion the imagination and the understanding not forbearing to operate which happens by a strong attention which binds the soul to the beloved object which makes it lose the care of all animal functions and which imploying all the spirits in that thought hinders them from flowing to the organs of sence and motion and this ravishment may sometimes Pass to such an excess that the vital faculties may receive no more influence from the soul so that respiration will cease and that there will be onley natural vertue to sustain life PART 5. Of the nature of Beauty in general and why it begets LOVE ALthough the Senses were given to the Minde to help it to know things yet it seems that those things which are the most sensible are the least known And I know not whether it be a grace or an artifice of Nature to bring those things neerest our Senses which ought to be furthest from our Mindes and by that exteriour knowledge to recompense the little progress we might make in that which was true and essential However it be it s most evident that we are sensible of nothing in the world more then of Beauty nor nothing is more difficult to be known the greatest men who have been most sensible of its effects were ignorant of the Causes thereof and we may say that it hath made them lose their Reason when they were but touched with it and would have discoursed of it For some have said that it was a just proportion of the parts others that it was the form of things in fine that it was the splendor and glittering of Goodness it self But this last definition is equivocal and metaphorical and the other cannot be applied but to the Divine beauty which is the source and model of all Beauties forasmuch as in the Unity and infinite Simplicity of God there can be no proportion or form That we may therefore steer a more certain course then what hitherto hath been followed and that we may not wander in so vast and difficult a matter we must consider that things are not esteemed fair but as they fall under a very distinct and exact knowledge So that there are only the objects of the Understanding and of Seeing and of Hearing to which we allow Beauty because that all the Knowing faculties are those which most perfectly judge of their objects and are the least mistaken in them And these same objects which we judge Fair are also esteemed Good for we do not onely say A fair minde a fair speech or a fair colour but they may be also called good But the objects of the other Senses and all the other powers may onely be stiled Good and can never deserve the title of Fair for it were a ridiculous thing to say that heat or humidity sweetness or bitterness were fair Whence we must necessarily conclude that all what is Good is not Fair but all that is Fair is good and therefore that Fair is a species of Good Now as Good is not good but as it is agreeable the Fair since it is good must be agreeable to something and therefore if what is fair serve but for an object onely to the knowing faculties we must necessarily conclude that Fair is that which is agreeable to the intelligent faculties as good is agreeable to what ever it be Now because Knowledge hath no other object but the essence and the truth of things Beauty must needs be of that kinde and the objects must be the fairer where the essence and the truth are best exprest for which cause Souls are fairer then Bodies and the Understanding which knows interiour things is more capable to judge of Beauty then the Senses which know onely the exteriour Whence it also happens that Beasts are seldom moved by Beauty because Sense onely works in them in stead that in Man the Understanding concurs to his action and penetrates further into the Nature and Essence of its objects And we experiment in our selves that those things which we do not greatly heed and whose nature we do not well know seem less fair unto us and that its onely for Masters in an Art to judge of the beauty of a work because they alone have the true knowledge thereof
them towards Good for when they can go no further they must either stop or return to their source or disperse themselves They cannot stop themselves since they follow the then-disturbed agitation of the soul they cannot return to the heart since nothing but the presence of Ill can constrain them thereunto They must then overflow and disperse themselves And the Soul which employs the same motives for the motion of the Spirits as for her own takes care to make them move so that they may be the more united to Good as we have before said For by this effusion they dilate themselves in their organs and occupying more room they think to touch the Good in more of its parts But where can they disperse themselves To understand this you must remember that Good toucheth not the soul but by its presence and that it is Knowledge onely which renders it present Now this Knowledge is made by the Understanding and by the Imagination or by the Senses And as the Imagination is seated in the brain and the Senses in their particular organs so Good must be in the one or the other of them and consequently Love must carry the Spirits to those places and Joy disperse them in the same precincts For if Good be onely in the Fancie and that it toucheth not the exteriour Senses all the Spirits arrive at the seat of the Imagination and disperse themselves in the brain But if any of the Senses possess this Good then the Spirits which ran thither disperse themselves also on their organs and carry thither heat redness and vivacity This effusion augments the Pleasure of the Minde by reason of that sweet and temperate heat which runs thorow the parts which flatters and tickles them So that those Pleasures which are accompanied with this corporal agitation are greater and more sensible then when they are without it Nay even after the emotion of the Appetite hath ceased the agitation of the Spirits continuing leaves the soul in a certain confused Joy which comes not from the object which at first touched it but from that tickling which the Senses made known unto it as a thing conformable and convenient for their nature And this makes me believe that all those secret Joys which we feel without knowing a reason of them come from the same cause and that there must necessarily be something which disperseth the Spirits and which inspires Pleasure in the soul whether it be the knowledge it hath of the tickling of those parts or whether that all the differences of the motions which it employs in every Passion being known unto her she sees this to be fit for Joy and at the same time forms a delightful object as we said it happened in that love which is out of inclination You will perhaps say that this effusion of Spirits may often be without Pleasure That Anger which casts them into the face that Grief which draws them to the diseased parts and that the Fever which drives them everywhere with impetuosity afterwards disperseth them and causeth the same alteration which Joy imprints on the body and yet that the Soul is then sensible of no pleasure But we may two ways answer this First it is true that the most delightful objects are often diverted by little griefs from making an impression in the soul This motion of the Spirits which is so secret and which the Senses can scarce discover ought to be far less powerful against great obstacles which cause these troublesome encounters But supposing they did cause pleasure it is so weak and so light that it is stifled by the least sensible inconvenience For it is an observable thing that although it seems that the Sensitive Appetite at the same time cannot suffer contrary Passions it is not absolutely true since we evidently know that the tongue is pleased with agreeable savours whilst the heart is full of bitterness and grief And the reason of this is that the Sensitive Appetite is not shut up in one part onely as the most part of the other faculties are it is dispersed thorow all the organs of the Senses and we may say that its stock and root are indeed in the heart but that its boughs and branches are extended thorow all the body For it s a general and necessary power to all the parts of the Creature and it must have been communicated to all that Motion might not be far off from knowledge and that the Soul might not languish in expectation to possess a good or flee from an ill when they were once come to her knowledge Nature having made for the appetite what she made for the pulse whose principal organ is the heart and yet which forms it self in all the arteries where even it is sometimes found different from that which agitates the heart Which being so Pleasure may be in one place and Grief in another although they are in one part incompatible But it is also true that when Passion is raised in the Centre and source of the appetite that which is in the little rivulets is very weak and seems to vanish although the Spirits cease not to agitate in those places where it was formed whence these secret feelings of Pleasure follow which often steal themselves from the knowledge of the understanding nay even of the imagination This is the first answer which may be made to the proposed objection now for another which pleaseth us more as being better fitted to our designe for we will show how every Passion hath a particular motion of the spirits and that then if the effusion be in others as well as Joy there must be some difference which renders it fit and particular and which is not to be found in the rest We must then confess that Anger Grief and Terrour and divers other exterior things may disperse the spirits but by violence and as a tempest which scatters the rain and transports it here and there with impetuosity in stead whereof Joy sweetly disperseth them and makes them distil on the parts as a sweet dew now this causeth many different impressions on the Senses For the spirits which are driven with force which precipitate themselves one on the other cause a troublesome sentiment to nature and rather provoke it then flatter it but those which disperse themselves as themselves and sweetly insinuate themselves into the parts tickle and content it Considering that in those Passions which have ill for their object the spirits keep themselves united contracted to assault or flee from it whence it is that they are piercing and offend the parts they light on but in Joy wherin they dilate themselves to embrace the good it must needs blunt their point and make them lose the impetuosity they had before So that what effusion soever there is in Anger and in Grief its never accompanied with pleasure because it is not like that which is with Joy to avow this we must onely consult the countenance of