18. Love and Majesty accords but ill for what one follows the other flies Love cannot suffer noise nor Witnesses when it is upon a Throne it is in constraint the higher it sees it self the more it fears and since it is a Childe too great splendor doth affright it 19. Jealousie sometimes proves a remedy for Love by the great Torments which it creates 20. When one is so little jealous that he discerns not that he is so he keeps no guard upon himself but permits it unawares to appear in many of his actions but when he is jealous to that height that he perceives it a wise Lover doth all he can to conceal it and to lock up his Jealousie within himself till he become Master of it But oft-times there is mixt so much fierceness in that feigned indifference wherewith he hides this Passion that it is easily discernable that it proceeds from a jealous despite by which means he betrays himself 21. A jealous Lover cannot hear either good or ill of his Mistriss without equal displeasure so capricious is Love 22. All the little devoirs which a Lover pays to his Mistriss speak for him mingled sighs and a glance of the Eye and a thousand other little amarous actions expose the Souls of two Lovers to each other 23. To be silent in the beginning of an Amour is in effect to speak much 24. When Love is strong and is forbid to speak it acts speaks and shews it self through the eyes 25. He who can weep in Love when he ought to weep is Master of a Heart 26. When we are disposed to begin an Amour we must make our Addresses to one of the most fair and most witty and if we please such a one all others will esteem us the more And this is the means to gain an hundred Mistrisses and to serve but one 27. When a Lover is very passionate far from murmuring at his Sufferings he wishes that he had more than one Heart that he might suffer more for a true Lover feels no Torments or if he do he seems in love with them 28. A Heart which knows how to love truly creates it self a thousand Pleasures from indifferent things even its Grief is pleasing to it 29. There is no Crime that a true Lover does not pardon and there is not any who loves truly who had not rather suffer the punishment the Crime of his Mistriss deserves than to see her exposed to it 30. The least Repentance always finds pardon from a Lover 31. Amongst Lovers there are a thousand little different things which render the one Content and the other Unquiet Jealousies Displeasures short Despites sudden Repentances sweet Remembrances and pleasing Interviews in secret places 32. When two Lovers make a final Breach if the Lady has received any Presents she ought not to keep them nor ought her Lover to demand them again 33. There is much prudence to be us'd by a Gallant in the Presents he makes to his Mistriss otherwise he will loose more than profit by them a profuse Gift obliges not but the grace and manner of giving is preferr'd before the Present as to loose something at Play to disguise the Present but a liberal Fool seems to give an Alms when he makes rich Presents and gives so out of season that it displeases 34. The words I love offer too much violence to the modesty of a Lady a Lover must find terms more sweet to avow his Love 35. A fine Raillery hath great success in their Conversation when the Conversation languishes a little Raillery pleases the most serious it dissipates Melancholy and brings joy into the Heart and Face Every one hearkens with pleasure to Witty things spoke to the purpose and which are said without premeditation but we must fly Buffonrie and Slandering the Phrase must have nothing low nor insolent it must be express'd with a gallant and agreeable Air and much Modesty and Civility in all our Actions 36. When a crafty Mistriss sees her Lover about to forsake her she recals him by flattering language and studied Cajolleries She appeases the greatest Fury and rekindles the extinguishing Flame By an amorous Glance and by counterfeit Smiles all this is easie to her and Love and her Lover and as after War we better taste the sweets of Peace so a re-conquered Lover loves better than ever 37. One cannot be in love but one time or other there will happen some little Anger 's betwixt two Lovers and that is most commonly for things of a trivial nature If any Grief arise from it it is a Crime to conceal it nay even it is sweet to complain After an earnest and amarous Contest the Lovers laugh and agree and with pleasure at last fee that neither of 'em are injured 38. At the beginning when a Lady is touched by Love though she will quickly know it she dare not name it and her Heart which is sensible of the fire will suffer it but not confess it It feigns to be ignorant of its Malady for fear of being obliged to apply a remedy it makes a secret of the name of its Conquerour for fear it should alarm her modesty and shame 39. That foolish Passion must be shun'd which blemishes our Glory not that we ought to have a Heaâ—t as hard as a Rock and impenetrable to Love but it ought to be hardned by Vertue when Love is contrary to it 40. There is nothing so easie as to know the secret of a Lover his regards are always indiscreet he cannot feel a great Fire in his Heart without giving some outward marks of it and even that constraint and endeavour to conceal his sighs is oftentimes that which makes it divined what is in his Heart We take no notice of an ordinary sigh but when one seems afraid to sigh and strives to suppress them it is easily guessed that this caution conceals Love 41. When a Lover desires to conceal that he loves his Tongue must be ignorant of his desires lest it betray him his Heart must not give any confidence to his Eyes or Sighs all his Vows must be mute and all his love locked up in his Heart 42. When a Lady is betrayed by her Lover she weeps when she disputes about taking revenge she sees that if her ingrateful Lover perish she must perish too Thus Hate Love Rage and Tenderness successively triumph in her Soul she findes her self both a Lover and an Enemy at the same time when her despite increases her Passion augments and though her Lover hath betrayed her yet he appears still amiable and in this distraction she can neither love nor hate 43. The designe of being revenged upon a Lover that hath betrayed us serves as a Vertue though it be criminal for Love and Anger will combate each other and we may hope they will destroy each other 44. When we remain in silence in the presence of her we love Love speaks for us but the misfortune is all Ladies do
it self receives a lustre from their mutual Loves In effect the death of these rare Beauties hath nothing hideous one may take it rather for a sweet Sleep than for a true Death one cannot call it Paleness what we see upon the Cheeks of these dying fair ones it is rather such a colour as we see in a clear Night when the Sun retires his Raies Their eyes become even then dangerous the Fire burns even when it is about to be extinguished and as the Sun eclipsed ceases not to be dangerous and ill to our sight the same ma be said of these dying Eyes the Sparks which fall from them have both brightness and heat and I doubt not but they will be able to kindle a Fire in a Heart into which any of them happens to fall By this one may judge of the power of these fair Eyes when they are in their greatest lustre and vigour especially when Wit and Virtue contribute to their Victories It is thus then that these Fair ones attaque us and which oblige us at the sight of their victorious Arms to render our Hearts if we would that our defeat be glorious and our Chains worthy of us and if we would arrive at that charming Island of which I have spoken in which Lovers taste inconceivable Pleasures and Joys of an eternal duration CHAP. III. Of the qualities which a Lover ought to possess to make him capable to please and to render himself beloved by his Mistriss BEfore I speak of the qualities which may render us amiable to these reasonable fair ones which onely deserve to be truely beloved it is necessary to know precisely what Love is Love to define it well is a general alienation of the person who loves it is a Transport without Contract and without hope of return by which we give our selves entirely and without any reserve to the person beloved It is a sweet extasie by which the Soul ceases to live in the Body which it animates for to live in that which it loves From hence it follows that a person who loves passes into the person beloved and assumes in his imagination in his Minde and in his Heart a new and particular being which two Lovers mutually do when Love is reciprocal and thus being united by Reason they live in one another intellectually This being so it follows that to become the moity of an Illustrious Heart that is to say to be beloved of a person of merit it is necessary that our Heart be Illustrious also and that we possess as much merit as that admirable person otherwise these two Hearts can never make that charming Union which makes all the delights of mutual Love The first thing then that we ought to do is to love her by whom we desire to be beloved again for though by a prodigy she may love us without seeing herself beloved her Vertue will disavow her Heart and she will disapprove it as a crime the greatest that can be committed for it is a Maxime among all extraordinary persons of that fair Sex That Love onely is the reward of Love But it is not enough that we love but also that our Love be perfect when you do this you want not the principal means to vanquish her This will give a softness to all our Words a languishing sweetness to our Eyes which will not fail to gain credit with the most inexorable Beauty This Rule being certain that there is nothing more necessary to make our selves beloved than to have Merit and to love perfectly it remains onely that I teach in what true Merit consists First we ought to hold it for an undoubted Principle that it lies in our own power to acquire this Merit for if it be above our forces those which want it by reason of the want of power cannot be disdained without Injustice and from hence it is easie to conclude that Merit consists not in the gifts of Fortune because Fortune it self depends on Destiny or to say better of Chance it follows onely its Decrees and dispences onely her Favours according to her own Capricious humour It wants eyes to consider the beauty of those who implore her and ears to hear the charming words of those who employ them to invite her This true Merit therefore consists not in the goods of Fortune since they are not in our power This true Lovers know so well that instead of searching after them they demonstrate a publick and perpetual contempt of them ad not onely so but as soon as they love they swear to quit all their Fortune for their Mistriss In short the Favours of that capricious Fortune were so little worthy of the esteem of a man of Merit that there are many who have rejected them from the number of Moral Goods for Riches have no other value than what Opinion gives them besides Merit hath this property that it gives a Lustre to him who possesses it whereas Riches are never serviceable to him who hath the possession but are onely enjoyed at the point when he parts with them By consequence Riches cannot make a Lover be beloved of these extraordinary persons for Merit ought to be something within us and which we have acquired our selves Birth has no greater advantage than Riches in its pretensions to true Merit for as I have said Merit depends on our Will but on the contrary our Birth is the effect of Chance a Coat of Arms or the Grandeur of a Family makes not Merit and as Eagles are produced in Deserts Reptiles may be ingendred in Palaces and whilst the highest Mountains are curs'd with an eternal Barrenness the fertile Valleys flourish with Palms and Cedars It is not then from our extraction that we derive our Merit Our Illustrious Ancestors contribute little besides their Examples to make us vertuous nay we may become quite contrary to them in our Inclinations and Lives This is so true that Love it self treats Kings and Shepherds in the same manner Yet think not that Love is the cause of any base Condescention no it is so far from that it raises the least perfect to equal the other It is in this noble Designe that he makes the most perfect of these Lovers to speak in this manner to them they love to inflame them to the Acquest of those Illustrious Qualities that they may entertain and discover their Flame without blemishing their Glory Since Love comands whose Power 's above controul That both should have one Thught and both one Soul Exalt thy Thoughts equal to mine Which cannot without shame descend to thine My Vertue then do thou embrace It will the meanness of thy Birth efface Thus Love by Merit equals two persons of a birth so very much opposite and unites them maugre all this opposition Behold how Love hath no regard to Birth and as that Love whereof I speak is caused and nourished onely by true Merit so I have made it appear that Merit consists no more in high
to the end to be beloved and in order to that Designe which this Noble Love inspires he endeavours to become Good Generous Sweet Liberal Civil Wise and Respectuous he labours to acquire Knowledge Address Discretion and Politeness so that all that is perfect in the World seems the effect of a Vertuous Love I shall take leave to make a short research into the nature and effects of each particular Quality necessary to a Lover That which holds the first Rank in the esteem of Ladies is Valour This Quality alone oft-times proves sufficient to subdue a Heart most difficult to be conquered and few who will not avow their Defeat and boast of the Honour and Glory to see a Conquerour crowned with Laurels become their Captive What Lady can chuse but be pleased to see a valiant man return from the War crowned with Laurels and prostrating himself before her ascribe all his Victories to her Charms and the noble Love she kindled in his breast and when he is in the Field of Battel to hear Fame speak loud of his Atchievements it seems more glorious to 'em to have so valiant a Captive than to be Mistriss of the World But this is yet inferiour to those Ravishments which she finds when this Heroe returns to render her an account of his great Actions and to attribute all the Glory to her To a Merit so extraordinary what scrupulous Heroin will not yield her self with joy To be accounted handsome just and learned and well-favoured all this carries no danger with it says Sir Philip Sydney in his Valour Anotomized but 't is better to be admitted to the Title of Valiant Acts for all Women says he desire to hold him fast in their arms who hath escaped thither through many dangers As this Heroick Valour powerfully attracts a Lady's Heart so Love seldom fails to give Courage to his Slaves to render them amiable Love renders a Lover bold and daring in the pursuit of his Love In short how can any make themselves be loved without this Military Vertue of the greatest part of Women for if they are Idolaters of Glory a Gallant cannot pretend to their Hearts without that Vertue If by just and legitimate Reasons a Lady be stimulated to take Revenge how can he without being capable to execute that Vengeance pretend to a Conquest of her Heart And there are those Women to whom Revenge is so sweet that there is no other means to Charm them Some Women go farther for we have seen even Queens who not onely have given their Hearts but even their Crowns to those who have avenged them so ingenious is that Passion in a great Heart when once it is possess'd of it Yet let us not think that these fair ones are unjust in these kinde of Vengeances for there are some Offences so cruel as those which wound the Honours of an Illustrious person which are not repaired but by the death of those who have committed them It is in these occasions where that valour which I speak of is most necessary for he must be capable to dare all things and to vanquish likewise and a true Lover is never awanting to attempt all things But after all it is necessary to know what this true Valour is lest we take the Shadow for the Substance therefore I shall draw the picture of a Man truly Valiant CHAP. IV. The Character of a Valiant Man THe truely Valiant man enterprizes all things without temerity and atchieves them without fear He doth not seek out Dangers but when he findes them he testifies no less courage in braving of them than in suffering them He faces Death in its most dreadful shape without waxing pale If he be constrained to render himself to this common Enemy of Nature he receives it and despises it together in his last breath He ceases not to frame new designes He prevents all ill success before it arrive and if a misfortune which he has not foreseen creates in him any confusion and fear he patiently supports it His Reason makes all his Passions his Slaves it is his Master and directer in all things and by that Victory which he meditates he procures himself the Peace which he desires When he has any Quarrel he considers not so much the strength of his Arm as his Cause nor his Power so much as his Innocence of which his Sword is the last of his proofs he takes it not in hand so much to attaque as to defend And though no other can use it with so much security or manage it with so much grace it is never seen naked till necessity draw it out of the Scabbard and he chooses that you should see his Blood rather than his Back he buys not his Life by shameful conditions He exercises not so much his Courage as his Charity upon him he has vanquish'd If he receives an injury of a man unequal in strength he shews Compassion and not Choler he extinguishes it and will not take a poor revenge insomuch that it seems a doubt whether he more detests Cowardise or Cruelty He speaks not much but boasts less always acting more with his Hands than with his Tongue In all his resolutions Prudence is his guide he is not troubled with the apprehensions of danger of death and if he be thrifty of his Blood when Honour counsels him to manage it he is prodigal of it When Religion his King or his Country requires him to spend it he changes not his Humour When he changes his Condition he has the same constant minde in all things his Will rules his Power The best revenge that he can exercise is that which he exercises least when 't is in his choice and as he knows how to command without Pride so he knows how to obey without Murmuring because he regards himself as above all accidents and hazards Ignorance and Stupidity are not the principles of his Courage but when he has well examined the Danger he despises it and testifies as little emotion when he is Ship-wrackt as when he embarques He is indefatigable in all his Troubles resolute in his Enterprizes entire in his Resolutions happy in all Success and if he happen to be vanquished his Heart is always the most obstinate and the last which renders it self See the Picture of a truely-valiant man it is a Valour like to this which I require in a Lover to be worthy to be beloved of these perfect Beauties of which I have spoken to wit of those who are enamour'd onely of the Merit of their Lover This is so true that there is not one of these Illustrious Fair ones who love not to bear to the Tomb the name of so Valiant a Husband who places not more Glory in such a glorious Title than in any other And it is impossible to all these Illustrious Lovers of Valour to love any after him they have once loved and their first Love is always the last By this Picture of a Valiant man
her self he will presently reply and so justifies himself that Heaven having made as many different desires as there are Beauties sheweth by that it is its will he should love all and to perswade you the better and to bring you over to his party he malitiously aggravates the pleasures which this distribution of his Heart gives and the disquiett of those who onely love one single person for he addes boldly That he who may please many and will love but one is a great Enemy to his own good Fortune Pleasures are light saith he which are limited but he receives a thousand who loves a thousand Beauties See says he the difference between these two kinde of Lovers and weigh their manners in a just Balance the Inconstant hath a Spirit sweet civil affable and complaisant the Constant is pensive melancholy and unquiet See the reasons of these Inconstants but there is nothing in the World more ridiculous For first it is certain that we cannot divide Love without destroying it and she who doth not possess it entirely possesses it not at all To enumerate all the fatigues that these wandering Lovers endure would much exceed the disquiets that a constant Lover suffers in the pursuit of his Love and is at last recompenced by imperfect Joys and a slight satisfaction not equal to those which a constant Lover enjoys from the equal return of a true and faithful Passion by a Lady in whom he findes all the perfections in the World to delight his Senses and perfections of Minde for the contemplation of his Soul Were it true that the possession of what we love doth necessarily extinguish the amorous Flame they would have some reason but this is a common mistake for our Affections produced by these excellent qualities can never be extinguished for neither Deformity nor Age can deprive them of their Beauty but even when Time or Age hath eclipsed the beauty of the Body these qualities shine out with the greater lustre and more strongly engage and captivate the Soul There are a sort of faithless and inconstant Gallants who will needs maintain themselves to be the most constant in the World say they We always love Beauty and when that forsakes a Lady to love her still would be inconstancy but this merry excuse will not pass for though Beauty fades so fast that it is compared to Roses in the Spring yet if a Lover give his Heart by the consent of his Reason as he ought to do there will remain that Wit and Vertue which will have sufficient Charms to make her ever beloved how little Beauty soever remains Who then can apprehend as dangerous and as destructive to vertuous inclinations a Passion so refin'd which produces in the Soul of Man such glorious effects a Passion which thus ennobles the Minde refines the Spirit and spurs us on to the acquest of all these Illustrious qualities and never ceases till it hath formed us perfectly amiable It is easie from what I have said to see the difference betwixt this reasonable Passion and the Transports of Lust and wilde Desire whose effects and consequences are so fatal to them who are hurried on by its fury to the most unlawful and Villanous Actions of which nothing can resist the Rage and than which nothing more defiles the Soul CHAP. V. Rules for a Gallant in the Conduct of his Love AS Prudence is a necessary and universal Guide in all Enterprizes so it is by that that a reasonable Lover is to commence his Amorous Voyage for it is impossible to put out from the Coast and to sayl with full Sayls without observing the Winds or the Compass without the hazard of perishing And if it be objected that since we love maugre our selves our Actions are consequently out of her government I answer That I onely speak of that Love which is always submitted to Reason and not of that unruly Transport which dethrones it in which sence I maintain that how Amorous soever we are yet we continue free to regulate our Passions and by consequence a Gallant may profitably make use of such Rules if he will as I shall prescribe I say a Gallant because those Rules are different from what I shall prescribe the more Beautiful Sex for they have Rules apart Modesty in a Woman is required Boldness in a Man A Lady sometimes acts prudently in counterfeiting Coldness but a Gallant ought always to testifie an Ardour and Impatience and though he be Ice he ought always to say he burns for an Hippolytus in Love is in this Age very ridiculous The first thing then that a Gallant ought to know that he may love as he ought that is to say to conduct himself in his Love with Prudence is to hold for an undoubted principle That Love ought entirely to possess his Heart and to chase all other Passions from thence to rule alone I acknowledge that Love does not demand so great an Ardour at the first instant how miraculous soe're the Beauty is which renders her self Mistriss of his Heart it exacts onely a simple motion of Love at the first view but when a Lover hath made reflection upon the perfections of her Spirit and Soul he ought to become an Idolater and to love in a manner extraordinary esteeming it his chief Glory to pursue what he loves And which may invite us to love in this manner is that in Love there is nothing which does not justifie the excess The second thing which he is to learn who will be instructed by my Precepts is That he ought to be so loosned from his own Sentiments and so submissive to those of his Mistriss that he always believes that she has Reason in all that she does and in all that she desires And this Resignation ought to go so far as to make him despise the greatest dangers even Death it self in the service of his Mistriss And in that estate he must hold as a Principle assured that there is nothing so glorious nor so sweet to a Lover as that Resignation for if it happen that he die in saving the life of her he loves he finds this sweet in Death that she wishes not to survive him after so great a mark of his Love One thing which ought to contribute the most to comfort a Lover who dies in this manner is That if his Love be grounded upon great Reason even at the beginning of it he holds it to be the infallible Effect of it for he knows that if his Mistriss be inflexible he must die with desire and if she be favourable then he must die with joy and so being resolved to die either by the Malady or by the Remedy he dies content when it is to save the life of his Mistriss There are some Lovers who go yet farther they believe that Life is shameful when they finde no occasion to hazard it for the person they love It is not enough that a Soul of a Lover be full of Love
that you will force at last the most cruel Beauty to love you and at last to avow her love to you She will blush without doubt when she first gives you this knowledge but be not alarm'd at that for it is not at her Love she blushes but at the confession of it and in the end that you may not doubt it when she sees that you observe her disturbance she will say to you obligingly My Blushes proceed not from the Cause that you think yet alas I know not whether it be Confusion or Love I finde you too worthy to be loved not to suspect my self but my Spirit is too high and I can suffer rather the fire in my Heart than in my Mouth and Love shews to me more hard to name than think 'T is this that finishes the Union of two souls who are born one for another and which are linked together by these invisible Bonds that they have no longer than one life because they have no longer but one Heart and it is that sweet Union which forms that amorous Circle in which Lovers are eternally happy For when a Lady testifies her love n the manner that I have supposed a Lover becomes Ravished and Charmed and vows himself entirely to her and submits himself to her without reservation and every minute is enflamed more and more by these amorous Transports It is in these mutual Endearments and Tendernesses which two Lovers which follow the Rules which I have established arrive at the Port and there taste eternal happiness CHAP. VI. Rules for the Conduct of a Lady in an affair of Love THere is no less care and circumspection required in a Lady than in a Gallant at the commencement of an Amour For those enflamed and languishing looks which appear often very passionate yet they are not always true lest therefore a Lady be seduced too soon by false appearances it is necessary that they make this as a certain Maxime That the Faith of Lovers is a very slippery Pledge That their Oaths are vain and their Wit a Deceiver And that their Passions are generally more in their Mouths than in their Hearts This may teach them that they be not too easie of belief in those things which they see and hear said for they may easily mistake a Flame which is onely feigned for a true whereof these false Lovers will boast at their expence yet I would not that they should be too disdainful but that they might take those Methods that might make themselves the more to be valued that a Lover may better know the price of their Loves before it be obtained They ought not to shew at first either Contempt or Rigour for that rather chaces away than gains a Lover Nor ought they to yield their Hearts as soon as they are sollicited for that is rather the effect of a foolish pity than of the merit of their Gallants and he will not be apt to esteem that much which costs him so little and is acquired with so much ease it is thus that these fierce fair ones captivate Hearts by a noble Pride for in despising Love at the first they at last triumph with the greater Power but as I have already said they must not appear too disdainful for by that they totally lose a Lover who possibly will never be reclaimed A Lady then must not be too disdainful nor hold a Lover too long in her Chains for Patience may forsake the Inamarato especially those of the greatest mindes and courages No more must she be too easie to confide too much in the appearances of a passionate Love since thereby she becomes liable to be deceived But let a Lady act with so much prudence that she may gain the perfect knowledge of her Lover's Heart before she trust But see what measures a Lady takes who intends to engage her Lover and to render the blessing more dear and desirable When a Lover hath discovered his Passion to the end to make him more ardently wish a Pleasure which is onely great according to the Grandeur of his desire before she suffers her self to be moved to pity she takes some time to make proof of his Constancie and covers her cruelty and injustice with the Vail of Honour and of Chastity and to render the happiness more great after the pain and to appear more amiable she seems inhumane and oft-times counterfeits an excessive Pride the better to charm with her Caresses But as her most principal work in this Art is to please she makes her Eyes look sweet when her Mouth is severe and lets her Lover see in casting upon him a dying look that her fierceness combates whilst her Heart renders up it self It is thus that a Lady ought to behave her self to her Lover after she hath tried his love by all the disguises that she can invent to be more certain of the true estate of his Heart But these artifices and these rigours ought not to continue after she has gained this knowledge but she ought to return love for love when she is once assured of the love and merit of her Servant for 't is this alone that finishes and establishes the Conquest of her Lover who will be apt to revolt when he finds his subjection too severe There are some Ladies who serve themselves very successfully of Choler in the engaging their Lovers Hearts but in this it is requisite that their Choler be feigned and appear to be light for there is nothing more dreadful and full of Transport than a Woman in fury I condemn not sometimes some little Coldnesses which these fair ones make use of for there are some who have such a grace in this artificial Coldness that a Lover sometimes chuses rather to see himself disdained by her than to be caressed by others But to succeed in this there is required a peculiar Talent which is very difficult to obtain for it is necessary that it be very natural not onely to please but not to repulse I would not have a Lady so prodigal of her advances that she shew her Eyes sweet to all who make their addresses because this is the quality of a perfect Wanton for the property of a Wanton is to make a great amaze of Sweetness obliging Words Caresses Cares Tendernesses and false Regards which promises all things to credulous Lovers without giving any thing in effect See how one of these Coquets boasts her self and how she makes her own Picture As for me says she I love every where and without neglecting the least Conquest I strive to engage all all things contribute to my good Fortune and amongst a thousand I render one or other jealous and though I have one Heart I promise it to all whilst every one endeavours to please me and each lives in hope The absence of any one afflicts me not for a thousand others that are present take from me the thoughts of them who are absent I fear neither Death nor Change there remains
For the Conduct of Ladies and Gallants in their Amours CHAP. I. Of the nature and power of Love VArious have been the Opinions concerning Love that Passionate Love I mean which is only found between persons of a different Sex and the mistakes about it have opened the mouths of many wise and religious men against it who speak of it as pernitious to Youth born of Idleness and Ease and nourished by Sloth and Luxury as a Weed that grows up in youthful mindes which destroys the early seeds of Vertue and hinder 'em in the pursute of glorious Actions making no distinction between it and that brutish desire which we call Lust with this difference onely that when our desires are determin'd to this or that person it is called Love and when like a Flame driven with the Wind to which it is compared it rages every where and knows no bounds they give it that other name From hence it is they abound with Precepts and Cautions to prevent the minds of Youth from being poyson'd as they term it with this destructive Passion forbid the reading of Romances from whence they pretend young Ladies fancies are depraved and debauched and disposed with ease to dispence with Duty and Honour and all other considerations to follow the fortunes of any spruce and impertinent fool or desperate ruffian I know not what Instances they can produce of these pernitious consequences or how many examples in those excellent Romances which are the common entertainment of the most vertuous Ladies They have been writ as Images of Vertue and as Representations of the beauty and glory of a Life without blemish Honour Generosity Courage and Fortitude and all other qualities which render a person most amiable are set off in the greatest lustre to engage us to pursue the acquisition of them and to render hateful and detestable the contrary Vices which are represented with all the deformity and destructive consequences but it fills say they the minde with extravagant Visions and imbues the Soul with a foolish enderness and pity which makes 'em liable to become an easie Prey to any one who by flattery and feigned submissions have the opportunity to insinuate themselves into their company I answer That there will always be a number of vain fond and indiscreet persons in the World but how can that be ascribed to the reading of those Books which the rather help them to discern into the little Arts and Practises of men and women to enshare each other acquaint 'em with all the Cajolings and counterfeit Vertues and teach them to distinguish between the true and false crowning the constant Vertue after it has taught him patience and fortitude in the Traverses of this life and leading the other to Infamy Confusion and Disgrace the consequences of all inglorious actions The greatest enemies to Love are such who are possess'd with contrary Passions for an old rich Cormorant when he finds his Son or his Daughter touched by this Passion he stays not to examine the Merit of the person it is nothing to him whether he be Wise Vertuous and Valiant If it cross his designes of Avarice he labours all he can to chase it from their breasts and to destroy the early Seed He raves and storms and thunders in his trembling Childrens ears That Love is a Folly Weakness and Madness and wants not many Examples of the deplorable effects and ruinous consequences of it confounding a Passion full of Innocence and grounded upon Vertue with that of Lust whose lawless Rage is the cause of all thee disasters which he unjustly charges upon Love Unjustly I say for though that inordinate and irregular desire which we call Lust oft proves calamitous and the cause of many misfortunes involving sometimes whole Families in bloud and infamy yet without doubt Love when 't is grounded upon Reason works far different Effects and is that which makes up the Felicity of those in whose breasts that Divine Flame finds entertainment Of this Love I cannot say any thing too advantageous it is the Soul of the Soul of the Soul the very Source of all our laudable Passions it makes us Generous Brave Civil Liberal it refines the Wit and inflames to all worthy Actions These are the natural Effects being the means to obtain that Charming Object which we love It sweetens the most Rough and Salvage Tempers softens the Heart and renders milde and affable the most Barbarous Dispositions Without it we have none of those noble Sallies of the Soul which excite to Heroique Actions which make us surmount the most difficult Obstacles Nothing is impossible to Love it is fruitful in Miracles and renders all things easie to a Lover whom at last vanquishes and triumps over all things it inflames his desires excites his hopes and gives Fire to all those Passions which may advance its Empire Those persons whom I have mentioned being prepossess'd with a false Vertue whereof they make an idol look upon it as contrary to Heroick Actions and are so gravely scrupulous as hat they will not suffer it to touch their ears They treat at it as a Chimaera and meer extravagance and if any friend of theirs become inamoured they always finde something to reproach him for with so much blindness and precipitation do they censure what deserves true Elogies stopping their ears to all justification But what is the reason of this but the want of reflection on the means to render it reasonable for they regard it as a blinde Fury in its greatest violence and as a Torrent when it is most rapid without considering that the greatest Fury in its birth is but a light Passion and that the Torrent which is most impetuous in its course is but a Gut of Water in its Source The same may be said of Love which in its birth is no other than a ligh emotion which is excited in our Souls by the Charm of a beautiful and pleasing Object convey'd by the eyes to the heart If we attack it in that Infant estate we may easily vanquish it and reduce it to terms of Reason yet in this Combate we must regard it as a formidable enemy and spare neither Force nor Stratagem It s power extends over the Universe and all our other Passions are led Captive by it It disarms our Fury changes our Hate and assumes an absolute Empire over our Wills which Empire is as universal as that of Death No Nation no Age nor Sex but live under its Laws and whilst all other Empires have their bounds Love knows not any The greatest professors of severe Vertue have not been wholly exempt from his imperious power he darts his irresistible Arrows to their Hearts and renders them one time or other amorous maugre all their strivings and on these Love seems to take its greatest vengeance because of their resistance No Age can plead exemption from its Laws for if you urge your Youth Love will tell you That he 's a Boy and yet has
this that Love doth most extend its Empire This Respect augments with Love and with the fear we have for the person beloved In short we see every day that he who strives not to please by Respect and principally at Court where Love is most reasonable and most refined never succeeds in his Amours This Respect is the very Source of all Love's power and it may be truely said that without it that Love is not capable to make those glorious and difficult Conquests which it Atchieves It is that which we observe when Love attacks those hearts whose scrupulous Vertue being sensible of their weakness fears the sight of those Lovers which press them for then these equally severe and tender Souls finde themselves in a very pitiful estate sometimes they fear to give ear to their Sighs because they finde themselvs too weak without running the risque of engaging their hearts and other times they are equally affraid to appear inhumane If they refuse to hearken to them it is because they believe that there is too much rigour in such a Refusal yet at last they finde themselves constrained to be pitiful insomuch that their hearts are engaged insensibly by that inquietude As soon as they perceive they love that which they fear their hearts complain of them and making at once reflection on what it suffers in this hard Combate it cannot forbear sighing Love which makes all these Attacks is astonish'd with this resistance and may be would carry his Attempt no farther if he did not serve himself of Respect which he makes appear to the Attaqu'd heart in the eyes of her Lover whose looks are so animated with Love that in a moment Respect triumphs over her heart maugre all resistance and thus renders Love victorious See the true Picture of this Combate and of this Victory made by one of these fearful and scrupulous Ladies I wou'd and straight I wou'd not thus I roul Incertain thoughts in my unquiet Soul To his Complaints and Sighs to stop my ears Inhumane and too rigorous appears When he his Love and Sufferings doth confess My Heart doth melt with too much tenderness Then sighing straight I do my self accuse Yet think 't unjust my pity to refuse At last his Love joyn'd with a deep Respect Betrays my Thoughts and does my Heart subject It is so true that the chief power of Love consists in this Respect that when a Lover behaves himself in a manner full of Respect before one of these fair severe ones it seems to her-that such a Lover intends with all her Enemies to betray her and to vanquish her So much does she finde her self attacked in all the places of her Heart In that thought and in that Assault she findes she wants the force to resist him and she abases her self even to conjure this respectuous Lover to affront and to provoke her hate so much she findes her self pressed by the violence of his Respect Ah! Tircis cease cease I desire Do not against my Peace conspire Banish Respect me Cruel call Reproach Affront and still against me rail And say I 'm proud fantastical and vain This soon will mitigate my pain Then I shall yet be Mistriss of my Will And able to resist thee still Spare me the Shame and Blushes which will rise Into my Face and Eyes When thou compelst me to disclose My Weakness and my Troubles to expose For when thou sighst alas I feel a smart And Pity steals into my yielding Heart Fear does not onely beget Love which makes use of it not onely to introduce it self into a Heart but also by its means Love establishes it self there and secures it self from being despoyl'd of the Fruit of its Victories It is by dissembling this Fear that a Lady who loves and is unwilling to loose her Servant tells him trembling That she would not for all the world any should know her tenderness for him She caresses him onely in secret to the end he may esteem her favours greater Thus she awakens by this Fear and Circumspection which she feigns the Fires which else might die without it because that then that abused Lover sets so much a greatervalue upon her Favours and Caresses as they cost him more dear and are given more rarely and in secret This is most usually practised by the expert Miss of the Town who always paints an Image of Fear upon her Face to increase the price of her Favours which else might be neglected It is then certain that the fear which ought to defend us against Love when it is not reasonable forsakes us as the other Passions and flies over to the party of Love whensoever it pleases Choler which by reason of its transport seems most contrary to Love fails not to accord with Love and to take part against us when it pleases And certainly if Love be ingenious in managing all our other Passions against us he shews an Art wholly admirable in the use of this See how he works when he sees a Lover who believes himself betrayed by his Mistriss and who with a just despite comes to reproach her Levity and Inconstancy he is so affraid that this Captive should break his Chains that he quickly has a recourse to Choler he blows it into the heart of that fickle Mistriss making her do all the extravagant Actions that Rage and Despair can inspire into a Lady who looses all that she loves By this feign'd Choler he imprints so tender a pity in the heart of that abused Lover that he becomes more amorous than ever and if his Friends reproach him with his Weakness he answers That he cannot return her less than Love for the marks of a Love so great exaggerates a thousand furious actions that he hath seen this desparing Lady do by which he suffers himself to be entirely re-enslaved beyond redemption Behold how Love serves it self of this Passion to make us love even more violently than we ever did for by these Quarrels which happen betwixt Lovers Love re-enforces it self and there seems a new birth of it in the heart of him who accuses when the accused justifies her self for what disorder soever Reproaches produce betwixt Lovers the Criminal finds Pardon a sweet Remedy which is always attended by some new Favours In short there is nothing so ravishing and so sweet to a Lover after a transport of Choler against his Mistriss which he believes unfaithful than to see her in pain to appease him and to give good reasons to excuse an imaginary offence and to wipe her eyes with her fair hand and to pay his unjust Tears by a thousand fresh favours It onely remains that I speak of Joy and Grief to let you see that Love is absolute Master of all our Passions when it pleases I mean when we do not subject it to our Reason If we consider that Joy is no other thing than the fruition of an agreeable Good which renders the Soul content and which interdicts the
Wit CHAP. II. The means to submit Love to Reason IF we would subject Love to Reason we must surprize and arrest it whilst it is still in our eyes to the end that we may consult our Reason before it go too far and the better to know it and to stay it in its passage we must know how it makes its first entrance and what it is we feel when it makes its nearer accesses to the Heart of which it will quickly become Master if we be not as subtile as it and prevent its progress When we observe something rare which we cannot express in a beautiful person we at present regard it with attetion onely to content our curiosity This is the first stage that Love makes thence it glides into our Eyes with the charming Idaea At the first view the Object appears onely agreeable and onely gives a simple desire to know what it is when we have learn'd this our Curiosity augments and desiring to learn more we carefully seek the means to speak to her that we may see whether her Spirit and Conversation answers to her Beauty Having tried her Wit and gained some knowledge of her humour we begin to have a more than ordinary complaisance for her we feel a secret pleasure when we see and speak to her which we do so oft that it becomes so much a custome that we cannot quit her company without regret When we part with her we are pensive and the Soul without perceiving any thing flatters it self by a thousand amusing and delightful thoughts When we have dallied a few days with these thoughts we begin to be sensible of something without a name which begins to trouble our repose our sleeps which begin to be unquiet represent a thousand agreable Images which beget many wishes even in our Dreams 'T is then we may conclude that our Hearts are no longer our own but are become Captives whilst we thought them free See how Love glides into the Heart through the Eyes and in what manner it acts to render it self master when it findes a person who makes little resistance and who does not dispute its Triumphant Progress by opposing all the forces of Reason to it When we perceive our selves moved by that first curiosity which fastens our Eyes upon a beautiful Object let our first thoughts be to distrust our selves and to hold for an undoubted principle that there is nothing more cunning or insinuating than that fair Sex and that there is no kinde of Stratagem which they make not use of to make themselves beloved because in that they place their greatest glory With this diffidence we must examine with care all the draughts of that beauty which begins to charm us and how extraordinary soever they are let us not give an entire credit to our Eyes but imagine that our Senses may be deceivers and to fortifie our selves in these thoughts hold for a principle as certain that there are no Beauties absolutely perfect or at least the number is very small Let us not therefore presently believe that what we see hath not so much beauty as she appears to have let us always fancy that she may have some concealed deformity which will be too late for us to discover when once our Hearts are no longer in our own possession for when the Soul is possessed with that flagrant Passion the sick Fancy does so unite the scattered perfections that no imperfections can be visible to an entangled Inamarato We must not therefore suffer our selves to be dazled by these surprizing interviews but preserve our selves free for some time and not believe a Beauty all perfect till we have viewed and examined all things at our leisure Yet it is not enough that a Woman be fair onely to merit our Love for there is nothing so frail and changeable as Beauty nor nothing so fading as its Charms It is also necessary that the Beauty of the Minde and of the Soul accompany it if we desire our Loves should be solid and endure as long as our Lives When we finde a Beauty in all things perfect in which the Sun it self cannot discover the least blemish let us reflect that there is nothing so subject to a miserable change as her Beauty for nothing is so fading or hath so many Enemies as its Charms The Sun is its jealous Enemy and the Fire destroys it All things in Nature seem to conspire the ruine of the fairest things This may teach us to make but small account of the Beauty of the Body if it be not accompanied by that of the Minde Nature wills that Roses should endure but for a moment and Thorns for ever Hence it is that we see every day a thousand Lovers who mock at those proud Ladies who have onely the beauty of the body for their Portion for when their Pride and Vanity swell so high that they believe all men ought of duty to die for 'em this unjust Rigour causes those poor Idolaters to return to Reason and then perceiving how little incense these fair Inhumanes deserve there is not one who in his turn will not say in scorn 1. Imperious Beauty take what care you will Be scornful and disdainful still Your Beauty gone I shall be free From this inglorious Slaverie 2. One scorching Feaver will deface Each beauteous Linament and Grace And in that heat which sets you all on fire My ardent flames will soon expire 3. When once the Roses from your Cheeks depart And Lustre from your Eyes I 'll pluck the Thorns out of my Heart And your pass'd Charms despise 4. In time that old Physitian Age My Torments will asswage Who every day will play the Thief And of your Beauty you bereave Snatching you from the number of the Fair And me at once from those who wretched are See how these proud ones are treated whilst their Beauty flourishes but they are more outrageously dealt with when Diseases or Wrinkles claps on a frightful and unmovable Vizard on their Faces 't is then the Gallants whom they scornfully used will revenge themselves by a thousand Scoffs Reproaches and Lampoons Thus Beauty changes and with it all its fond Idolaters we must not therefore suffer our selves to be captivated though we finde a Beauty in perfection but let us examine well whether the beauty of the Soul answer to that of her Body for 't is that alone which can entertain Love longest and will render us the most happy In short there is nothing more fading than those Amorous sweets which make the Paradise of Lovers if they are not refin'd and spiritual for if they be not they are more proper for Beasts than reasonable Creatures We ought not therefore though we finde a person infinitely fair and charming to suffer our selves to be ensnared by her if she be not as infinitely Witty for Wit makes all the sweets of a reasonable life and without it Love cannot render us happy or at least for any long time for
her disdain And humbly thank her for the pain Which she creates who doth my flame despise But that which is more funest than all this miserable life is that since Love transforms us as oftentimes into the person beloved so he who is caught in the Toyls of a person capricious and unfaithful will become like her unfaithful and humoursome and so both the Lover and his Mistriss do nothing all their lives but torment one another and all their comfort is in doing injurys to each other and in making reciprocal reproaches This makes them the sport and contempt of all that know them for in breaking publickly their Chains they complain to all the World of the indignities they have endured and curse the fatal day in which with so little Glory they submitted to such feeble Charms and to such a dishonourable Vassallage It is thus that those who abandon themselves to Love without consulting Reason finde themselves constrained to confess their blindness and errour with shame to all the World and that they are fallen from those hopes which they had too lightly and vainly conceived and that they are weary with their long-suffering and there is nothing more shameful than for a man to be reduced to publish himself that he hath trifled away his time in the pursuit of a Woman without merit and at last to be obliged to to renounce the faith he has once given with a thousand Oaths never to infringe For to what shameful extremity must he be reduced who to become free must become guilty of a base crime since there is none more great than the breach of that faith which we have so solemnly given It is therefore as I have said not onely necessary to know whether they have Wit but also to be assured that the beauty of the Soul is replenished with goodness equal to that of the Body and if you finde the least defect in that flie their presence as you would a Monster and mock at that Beauty which is not attended by Goodness and Vertue and the more surprizing and charming these Syrens are stand more upon your guard and suffer not your selves to be vanquished by those by whom it is a shame to be conquered Behold the dangerous consequences of an imprudent Love to oblige all those who have Reason to make use of it against its allurements be not therefore wanting to consult and to follow the Precepts I have given and let it be done quickly before Love has made its progress from the Eyes into the Heart and let it not pass so far without the strictest scrutiny into the nature and quality of it for when it is there how well soever it be disguised it will be in vain to call Reason to your succour and if you should attempt to turn out that turbulent Stranger you will finde it as much in vain and ridiculous as if a Moor should mask his Face to avoid the raies of the Sun which can do no injury to his sooty complexion Follow then the Precepts which I have given as soon as you are smitten by an extraordinary Beauty examine at leisure whether she has not some concealed Deformity If you finde her perfect in Body and Minde after you have considered her a long time and be well assured that they are not appearances then you may believe that Reason permits you to love and will take the Conduct of it then you may submit your self without acting any thing against your Glory and may expect nothing but Happiness from it for that Love which is guided by Reason is never followed by Sorrows or Regrets Secrecy Constancy and Discretion will attend your happy Flames and though it be always vehement yet it will always act regularly and without extravagance Thus conserving your mutual Flames always in a just heat you will be always happy and always amorous and you will never have reason to blush at so fair and laudable a Passion And though such a Lover should not be successful in the Conquest of the Heart he does besiege yet such a Vertuous Lady is always just and reasonable and a Lover cannot be dis-satisfied for behold what her Conduct is If she grant nothing she permits a Lover to hope all things all the Ills she causes may be well endured since she pities them her very Refusals displeases him not she is neither easie nor too severe she nourishes both his Hope and Desire and knows the Secret to make her self Mistriss of Souls she kindles the Fire and feeds the Flame but never suffers either the Favours which she bestows nor the Ills she makes him endure to go to excess Thus a Reasonable Lover is in perpetual repose and in lieu of Complaints and Reproaches which other Lovers do constantly load their Mistrisses with he on the contrary has nothing to return her but Thanks and Praises It is thus that Lovers who govern themselves by Reason taste a thousand Sweets in the way to a happy Island where all their Desires are crowned Love is an Island where all Pleasures gnow And Streams of Joy perpetually do flow Princes and Peasants equally do bend Their Courses bither where their Travels end Eternal Spring doth crown the verdant Fields With Flowers and every day new Pleasures yields Here no rude Storms the Blossoms-do-destroy No Windes but Sighs no Showers but Tears of Joy The Skie in brightest Azure doth appear And not one Cloud is seen through all the year The amorous Birds flutter from tree to tree And Love 's the Subject of their Harmony The Brooks with pleasing murmurs do delude Our Thoughts and render sweet our solitude Each Grot each Bower and every Mirtle Grove In this fair Isle is consecrate to Love A happy Lover here doth feel no pain He meets no rigour nor unjust disdain Celia is always kind and always fair And all her Sweets doth with Amyntas share All things to his content do here conspire No cross event doth frustrate his desire But when all Storms are overblown and past A thousand unknown Sweets he drinks at last See the beauty of this Charming Island where all reasonable Lovers are Crowned where they taste the Pleasures which never finish but with their lives And it is in this place that they see themselves at the height of their Glory Felicity and they know so certainly that this Glory and Felicity will endure eternally by the knowledge that they mutually have of their Vertues that they defie without fear both Heaven and Earth ever to trouble it also all their Words serve onely to express that common joy and that common assurance It is not without reason that such Lovers boast of the eternal duration of their Love for that Beauty of which they are reciprocally amorous that is to say the beauty of the Soul and of the Minde whose brightness receives a new splendor from the Body never changes no Malady ever renders them displeasing to each other They are agreeable till death and Death
Extraction than in Riches There are some who set a value upon nothing but Wit and stoutly maintain that in it alone true Merit doth consist but these abuse themselves as well as the other and for the same reason for we see so many persons without Wit and who yet desire and pretend to have it that it is evident that it depends no more of us than Birth or Riches and consequently does not make this true Merit Some persons we see who scarce have a grain of good sence whom we would judge have been made of the very dregs of Matter and you would say there is not one spark of this Celestial fire in their Constitutions There are other who are quite contrary to them who seem to be formed of the purest extract of matter whose Souls are so pure and so refin'd that it hardly reflects all the bright Impressions it receives all its motions are so just and regular that it seems not flattery or extravagance to compare those excellent Spirits to Stars and Influences Yet this cannot as I have said properly be called Merit since it is not of our acquisition Yet I deny not that Wit is necessary to make us esteemed yet I maintain that it alone is not sufficient though we possess it in an infinite degree to merit the love of those extraordinary persons of whom I speak Nor is it enough for a Lady to be perfectly fair or infinitely witty to oblige us to love her for there is required besides Vertue to establish that mutual Love which is the sole end to which we must aspire as the onely Object of our Felicity It is then in Vertue alone that Merit doth properly consist and 't is this alone which advances us above the rank of ordinary persons being the onely good which we can call our own and which lies in our power to acquire I do not mean that ordinary Vertue which is found in common Souls I mean that eminent Vertue which onely meets entertainment in great Mindes which we call Heroick This is that kinde of Vertue which I demand in a person to render himself worthy to be beloved and capable to subject the most Illustrious Hearts It is necessary to explain what a Heroe is and what I mean by Heroick Vertue Many extravagant Wits have rendred very unjust Images of it and represented it as a thing uppracticable They are not contented with an Heroe who doth not things above Humane force who beats not down Walls of Cities and routs not whole Armies by his single Valour It is necessary to reform the wilde imaginations of these persons and to reduce them to just measures 'T is not the stature or the strength of body which makes a Heroe it is the vigour and firmness of the mind for there may be Souls very elevated in little Bodies and extreamly constant and of extraordinary vigour in an infirm and delicate Body Consequently all men are capable of this Heroick Vertue and 't is attainable by persons of both Sexes being equally capable of it It is possessed in different degrees of eminence according to the dignity of the Object and the different powers of minde of those who pursue the acquisition of it The first cause of this Heroick Vertue is the dignity of its Object which is Glory this being no other thing than the splendor of a good and vertuous life and a recompence which Vertue exacts from the Mouths of all vertuous persons which maugre Death makes us live even in the Tomb. This makes Glory the onely Rule Commencement and End of all the Enterprizes of great men preferring it before all other things and sacrificing all things to it The second cause of this Heroick Vertue is the perfection of the faculties by which it acts of which the Understanding and the Will are as the Heart and Head The third is the nobleness of all the principal Functions which make us act with undauntedness and to suffer courageously and with constancie The fourth is an extraordinary transport of the Soul by which it elevates it self to Objects beyond the common reach of men and because our forces are too weak of themselves to reach those high Objects we are apt to believe something of Divine in these extraordinary efforts which exalt Nature which Transports we are forc'd to express by the Words Flight and Rapture These Transports are divers and of different kindes according to the faculties which are transported and according to the difference of their Objects If the Transport be onely of the Understanding and Imagination we conceive elevated Idaeas and noble and pompous Images and Phantomes and this is properly that inspiration which the Ignorant call the Folly of Poets This being esteemed something Divine is the reason that Poetry in which we finde these exalted Idaeas hath been called the Language of the Gods Thus you see the effects of this Transport when it is of the Imagination and Understanding but when this Transport is universal when the Understanding and the Will and all the faculties of the Soul and functions of the Body move with one common effort they all tend to that eminency which in this life is the last bound of Vertue consummate This general Transport which is a Transport of action is the Divine perfectionw hich ever compleats a Heroe and which the Poets and Philosophers call Heroick Vertue The fifth and last cause which is the principle and Spring of Heroick Vertue is Love And for this reason it is alwaies made the ruling Passion of a Heroe as that by which all other Vertues are purified and from whence they receive their last perfection from whence it follows that to be a Heroe it is necessary to be amorous for Love by refining the Soul and spurring us on to glorious Actions renders us amiable by the practise of all those Vertues which lead to the Temple of Honour Hence you may see that this Vertue is not a Quality of Ease and Sloth nor a Habit for Ostentation but of Travel and of Action a Habit of Combate and of Victory She usually appeared to the Ancients in Armour her Palace seems built of the Ruines of Cities Chains Wrecks and Thunder-bolots It may be said that this painful Vertue is proper for Warriors but not for Amorous persons who think they ought onely to combat with Respects and Submissions but they are deceived for there are no fewer Battels nor Victories to be performed in Love than War and a Lover must be Valiant as well as Amorous In short that true Merit which renders us worthy to be beloved by an Illustrious person consists onely in this Heroick Vertue and indeed how should it not consist since a vertuous Love is the source of all the Vertues themselves and the spring of all Amiable Qualities for when Love proposes to it self an honourable and legitimate end and whose chast desires are eloigned from Crime the person whose Soul is possess'd with it strives to render it self amiable
choice which he knows to be made without Love or without Disdain of him he ought to be appeased and an Heroick courage ought to pardon her for following that ambitious order of her duty to comfort himself for it and to deceive his grief in believing that her Heart has not followed her hand when she gave it It is then requisite for a Lady who will love according to Reason not to return love till she knows her self to be beloved nor to love against her Duty or against her Glory but yet this is not enough for she must also avoid a thousand little weaknesses which may blemish the glory of her love and above all Jealousie for there is nothing renders one of so tedious and disagreeable a humour as Jealousie nor nothing which hinders her more from appearing amiable For when a Soul is possessed the Fancy is troubled with a thousand different motions of Love Rage Despite Fear and a million of other tumultuous Passions and in that estate the Soul languishes miserably without knowing the grief which wounds it A Lady must then as I have said never be Jealous but always appear gay and with a smiling countenance for there is nothing so disagreeable as those inequal humours which are sometimes gay and affable and sometimes sad and froward and they are so far from pleasing that there is not one Lover who can endure a Lady of this humour and who will not in the end quit her with Reproaches Shun then these inequal capricious humours if you would conserve your Conquests and above all be constant and faithful that your Lovers may follow your example for if you be light and unfaithful your Lovers will become so also though it be onely for honour-sake to be quit with you but above all have a care when years begin to diminish your attractions Let therefore your love endure as long as you live and when you die die faithful because as I have said in another place That Love is onely the reward of Love and a true Heart never wants Charms for another that is equally honest and true Behold the principal Maximes that Ladies who desire to govern themselves prudently ought to follow and these are sufficient provided the beauty of their Spirits and of the Soul be as great as that of their Bodies In fine if two persons such as I have described love truely and follow my precepts no Age or Deformity can ever make them unhappy by diminishing their mutual loves Thus I have shewn that Love may be subjected by Reason how great soever its power is and that the most scrupulous Vertue may not onely be permitted to love but to avow the same if she follow the Rules I have given which teach how to master the Master of the World and that there is nothing more sweet or more innocent than Love which addes a sweetness to all other Pleasures when 't is guided by Reason for otherwise to Love is to give up our selves to perpetual disquiets and to joyn to the most sorrowful Days more tedious and unquiet Nights and to banish for ever Repose and Joy CHAP. VII How to discover when a Mistriss returns us with Love AFter all the great difficulty which remains is how to discern whether the Love which is pretended be real and whether a true Passion be not repayed onely by artifice The usual flattery of our selves does commonly betray us into an easie belief that we are beloved There are few Ladies how ugly soe're they are yet when they consult their Glasses do fancy some peculiar grace or other capable enough to conquer more than one single heart and few Gallants who do not imagine something extraordinary in their persons and deportment worthy of esteem This Self-opinion contributes so much to their being deceived that it is not onely in vain but injurious for a man to perswade his Friend with Arguments drawn from any imperfection in himself not to be too credulous in this Affair First we must observe well and attentively all the motions of her eyes it is by them that we most usually discover the state of her Heart how exquisite soe're she be in dissimulation These ardent and indiscreet Libertines cannot retain her secrets and they cannot long dissemble for the more they strive to conceal it the more they make it appear 'T is not very easie for a Lover to endure the brightness of the eyes of his Mistriss for they usually imprint so much fear that the most bold cannot behold them long without trembling but maugre this respectuous fear we must regard fixedly those fair eyes and hearken attentively to their Language since it is by them chiefly that we can come to the knowledge of her Heart Observe then first if her Looks be sweet and languishing for nothing so much manifests the state of a Heart as the languishing of the Eyes Yet though this languishing does not appear we must not presently conclude that our Mistriss has not Love in her heart for sometime the eye is grave when the heart is sensible though it is an undoubted Mark that the Heart is touched when her Looks are sweet and languishing If then we do not observe it we must not be repulsed by that for there are a thousand other Marks which will make known the state of the Heart We may conceive great hopes when we find our Mistriss confused at our presence and to speak in disorder and unusual constraint in her actions proceeding from an endeavour to appear more agreeable in her conversation and behaviour This amiable Constraint is very different from the ordinary Affectation of those pert and impertinent Melantha's which is so tedious and ridiculous and it is very distinguishable from that want of breeding and bashful simplicity of young Country-Ladies and indeed that Love is very much to be suspected which does not produce these kind of disorders and confusions From hence it is that the very name of her we love causes such an emotion as doth easily discover the Sentiments which we endeavour industriously to conceal Love may work many of these effects and yet not be absolutely perfect or refin'd therefore let us carefully examine whether Ambition or Avarice make not up part of its Composition for if it have these ingredients a Lover cannot promise himself to be longer happy than he is fortunate for that love is onely nourished by Plenty and is blasted by the frowns of Fortune But he who loves truely and as he ought sacrifices his Ambition and Avarice to his bove For Love a Lover doth all things forgo None can adore his Gold and Mistriss too He who himself doth to Love's Altar bring Thinks all he has too cheap an Offering He doth his Gold and such base thrift despise Offering with that his Blood a Sacrifice He in whose Heart so noble a flame doth rule His Mistriss to preserve would loss his Soul If then we finde any remains of these two Passions we may conclude that
which I have drawn it is easie to see that Valour is a greatness of Courage or a haughtiness of Spirit by which a Soul elevated above interest carries it self inviolably to a Duty which is laborious and to Actions which appear most difficult From whence follows there are two kinds of Valour When he does onely those bold actions which even terrifie those who hear 'em but related this Vertue is called simply Valour but when we act as a Duty what onely regards our Honour or that of her whom we Love that is to say when it is to sacrifice all our Pleasures our Interests and even our Lives to our Glory and to make that the sole end of all our Actions that Vertue is not onely Heroick but Heroick to the highest degree This is called Generosity and as that second Species of Valour is infinitely above the first it is by consequence more capable than it to give us that extraordinary Merit which is so necessary to make us be loved by those Illustrious Fair ones of whom I have spoken To make the difference between these two Vertues more easily comprehended and to make known perfectly the Character of the one and the other I will give you this Example following The Valiant Perseus found Andromeda chained to a Rock and exposed to a Monster That Heroe fought the Monster which seemed impossible to be overcome he slew him and delivered the Nymph whom he render'd to her Parents See here a bold Enterprize which is of that first Species of Valour of which I have spoke and that Verture which is simply called Valour But after that Heroick Action Perseus became infinitely amorous of that same Nymph The King his Father and the Gods themselves declared themselves in his favour and will'd that he should marry her Yet that great man far from making advantage of his Credit and her Parents Authority fell at her feet and protested that he had rather die than to owe his happiness to any other thing than onely to her Inclination and left her entirely to her liberty to chuse a Husband who was destined to him if she had loved him and that for recompence of having saved her and dying for love of her he desired no other Glory than to render her happy See here an Action of that last kind of Valour which is infinitely above the first It was by this high Vertue which is called Generosity by which he gained the heart of Andromeda and that he chased away Phineus whom she loved and intended to marry the same day The Cowardize of Phineus excused her change and set off the glory of that generous Lover by the opposition from which she conceived as just an Aversion to him as she was charmed by the Courage and Generosity of the other Thus we may see what power this Generosity has not onely to conquer an Illustrious heart but also to chase a Lovers Rival from thence It is therefore necessary that a Lover be generous if he will legitimately pretend to be loved by these Illustrious Women who onely yield themselves to true Merit A Lover must onely consider glory in his Love and sacrifice to it all his Interests and all his Pleasure for it is the character of a true Lover to be generous and disinteressed and such a one will not only force the most insensible to love him but even a Heart that is most prepossessed with another Love and animated with hate and fury against him Those which are conversant with the Poets which are correct will finde the advances this Vertue makes in the affection of the most inflexible and how by degrees Aversion gives place to Esteem and that by degrees throws down all that opposes the entrance of Love We are not to wonder at the effects of this marvelous quality since it is accompanied with all others which make up an extraordinary Merit for this Merit is acquired by Patience by Prudence by Fidelity by Constancie by Respect by Discretion by Perseverance and by a hundred other like Vertues Generosity comprehends all in it for he that is said to be generous is inclusively said to be Patient Prudent Faithful Constant Respectuous and Discreet and in a word all that one can figure of most perfect and of most amiable and it is so true that all other qualities are the inseparable Companions of Generosity that they are recommended to all Lovers as infallible Maximes amongst them and by which they are assured to make themselves beloved if they observe them inviolably First Patience is an inseparable Vertue of all who are generous Love never ceases to perswade them whom he will enrol under his Banner for when he would teach them how they must love and how they must conquer he tells 'em it is accomplish'd by Care and Patience and that none can arrive to the height of Felicity without much pain difficulty Love is preceded by Labours and Torments but those Ills change at last into Delights and Pleasures inconceivable He who is patient in a Love-pursuit In time may hope to reap the pleasing fruit To suffer Torments Rigors and Disdains Raises the Merit of his Pains And of his Loyalty and Love Assured Marks will prove And how much more of torment he endures His Glory he augments and Love secures His past Disquiets will improve The Sweets and pleasures of his Love Constancy and Fidelity are no less the Companions of Generosity than of Patience and are no less to be recommended to a Lover than that rigid Vertue and Love makes no less advantage of it in making its most Illustrious Conquests If you fear the preference of a powerful Rival and you despair of succeeding in your amorous Enterprize and are ready to abandon your pursuit Love will re-animate your Hope and let you see that a constant and legitimate ardour is to be prefer'd before the splendor of a vain grandeur By the aid of these Illustrious Companions of Generosity Love finishes its most noble Conquests But since the inconstant and unfaithful are of a contrary opinion it is necessary to make 'um see their errour and to draw 'um out of it They say to maintain their false opinion that these Vertues of which I speak produce more Thorns than Roses and many more ill Nights than good Daies to a Lover but they are much deceived and are ignorant of the Pleasures two constant Lovers enjoy even amidst all their pains for all their amorous cares and inquietudes are intermixed with such happy moments that one of them is a sufficient recompence for an age of trouble The professed Inconstants will not yield to these Reasons how convincing soever but maintain that they alone are the most reasonable Lovers It is better say they to love perfectly in many places at a time If one say to them that this kinde of Love gives but little Honour to her he loves because there is none so little fair who does not believe she deserves a Heart entire to