greatest Tyrants of our Repose since the one carries us away to the time to come and the other makes us return to that which is past Taking away from us the liberty of making the present time happy while we desire those things that are not yet come or unprofitably regret those that are past The abler Spirits do easily resist and defie this Tyranny As when a Ship is tost in a mighty Tempest tho the Mast be broken and the Sails torn in pieces yet the Needle is always pointed towards the Polar Star so ought we always to demonstrate a steddiness of Mind in the most tragick misfortunes and to shew a temper equal amidst the greatest inequality of Affairs And as the Winds can easily drive the Ship besides the Port she designs for but not the Needle from pointing to the Pole After the same manner when some Obstacles retard our pretensions they ought not for all that to drive us from our Reason or make shipwrack of our Constancy NOW I HAVE SAID what there is of good that may be found in the Gay and Chearful Humour it is time to examine what evil may be met with in it And since we have remarked the defects which many attribute to Melancholy let us betake our selves a while to mention its good effects and just praises This is that which renders the Mind subtle for the Sciences indefatigable for affairs serious in Conversation constant in Designs modest in good Fortune patient under Bad and judicious and reasonable in all Things It is of this just and equal Temperament that Vertue serves her self to appear with all her Ornaments This Nature has been wont to chuse when she would form Conquerors or Philosophers And this is that which Grace it self has always employ'd to give to the World the most extraordinary persons It seems as if the Persons of this Humour were born Wise that Nature had given them more than Study and Endeavour can procure to others And that without falling under the inconveniences of Old Age they possess in good time almost all its maturity 'T is true they reproach it with this that their Meditation is of more worth than their Discourse But they ought to know that as the Judgment of such persons is solid so they commonly disdain that superfluous ornament and shew which the slighter Wits make so much use of to procure credit among the Vulgar In this their Modesty they resemble the Eagle in the Apocalypse that had Light within and had Eyes under his Wings Whereas the great Talkers have them only upon the Feathers as the Peacocks on those of their Train being no otherwise reasonable but in Colour and Appearance I do not at all deny but the Gay and Chearful Humours have something of pleasantness but they are also subject to very great defects For as much as the Railery and Jesting which they often engage in tho it be agreeable to some yet it usually does offend more than it pleases And one shall often see this sort of Wits among themselves begin in Jest and play like Puppies and soon end in Earnest and quarrel But especially when Religion or any ones Reputation is their Subject 't is the easiest thing in the World for them to fall into Impiety and Slander And since we cannot rally the Great without Imprudence nor the Miserable without Cruelty and then in doing this we should always contradict either the Rules of Policy or the Laws of Nature The graver Spirits have a great deal of reason to abstain from that which makes them who profess it pass for Buffoons or for Enemies and which often gives themselves in the end an occasion to weep after that they have provided for others something to laugh at For my part I think it no disparagement to Melancholy to own that it has no inclination to so ridiculous a quality which supposes always a lightness of Spirit and very often a great liberty of Conscience It was this giddy-headed Temper which was that of the foolish Virgins and of the same are they who have more Wit than Judgment Who nevertheless seem for the present to have some Light but it is an ignis fatuus or such as like a Spark shines but a moment e're it goes out They let themselves be impos'd upon for want of being able to foresee far enough into Affairs of Importance whereas the Wise are never drowsie when they should prepare themselves for good or dangerous occasions for fear they should afterwards be oblig'd to Repentance and Shame And to speak of things as they are Since the Spirit and the Sense have a quarrel which will last as long as life and the Soul is not strong but in the weakness of the Body as in the ruin of an Enemy There is some ground to say that when the Humour is so brisk and so free that it is become the more strong and on the contrary when it is Humbled and Melancholy 't is become a Slave to Reason like a Maid-servant that shews discontent in her looks when she is hardly treated by her Mistress The Joy which arises from the Conscience has marks that are altogether particular 't is the purest that is and resembles the unspotted brightness of the Stars which always cast forth an Equal Lustre But that which comes from the Body or the Temper is like the Comets which have there nourishment from below by the exhalations of the Earth which presage none but dire Events and which seem to dance in the Air while they run after the Vapours that feed them but go out as soon as they are destitute of that Matter The Passion of the Melancholy has nothing parallel to these Tragick Meteors either in their formation or in what maintains them Their Amity has no Aim besides the Goods of the Mind And as the Fire of their Affection is most pure so it loses nothing of its ardour it endures always in an equal state like that which some Philosophers fancied to be under the Orb of the Moon I readily acknowledge as to what regards Friendship that the Gay Humors are therein more forward and free but then the Melancholy are more discreet in it and fitter to be trusted These adhere constantly to their designs while the other change every moment their Passions and lend themselves out to every Object that presents A very little matter serves either to overcome or persuade them Inconstancy is almost inseparable from this Humour and if they are not capable of corruption through malice at least they are liable to it by weakness But if their Plainness merits some Favour I cannot for all that count it reasonable that we ought to esteem so very much a Natural Goodness which is rather an effect of the Temper than the Choice When a Person cannot be Bad there is no such great glory in being Good And if the Simple do not much mischief they are not to be thought the less culpable for that since notwithstanding
the opinion of these Imaginary Kings It is not possible to avoid their sharp censure if we do not submit to their Judgment both the Use and the Approbation are at their dispose the credit they give is necessary to success and there is no glory but what they distribute And although the most able persons disappoint this small traffick and these ridiculous intreagues there are nevertheless some weaker spirits that commit themselves to their Conduct And by this mistake it often comes to pass that very good Books are not relished at first while these petty Impostors decry them and hinder their excellency from being known They perswade themselves that when they have found great fault with the writings of others we shall read none but theirs and that the Ladies will abide by their sentiments as an Infallible Rule But as at last Innocence will appear in spight of all accusations and Merit will shine in desiance of envy so the reputation which is checkt a while by their malice will spread it self the more gloriously and experience will make it appear that we ought not to follow the advice of those who speak not of Books according to truth nor even according to their own inward opinion of them but only according to some interest and design which they have propos'd to themselves The Ladies ought to determine in this matter That they must not so much defer to the Judgments of others as altogether to renounce their own and that there is no colour or appearance of reason for relying entirely upon so bad Conductors as these But I do not intend hereby to put upon them the trouble of reading all Books or that they should affect to read a great number of them On the contrary I esteem this as unprofitable as troublesome and that in reading divers Books we should do as they who visit several Countries where they pass on without staying for after they have seen and traverst a great many they chuse one at least where they fix their abode Why should we seek in many Books what may be found in one alone As if the Sun had need of the assistance of the Stars towards the making of Day or that glorious Luminary had not light enough of his own to enlighten the World It is not a multitude that wise men chuse and one single Book if it be very good may be as serviceable as a Library I find to this purpose an admirable Sentence in St. Jerom who writing to Furia to perswade her to forsake all other reading and apply her self wholly to the study of the Sacred Scriptures says thus As you would sell many Jewels for the purchase of one which should have the beauty and worth of all the other in it self so you ought to renounce all sorts of Books besides and confine your self to that one wherein you may find all that is necessary either to please or instruct you And indeed to read but few Books provided they be such as are useful and agreeable will not diminish our advantage but resine it we shall not be the less rich in improvement but shall be less perplext and confounded On the other side As they who eat incessantly contract but a mass of ill humours so they that read too much are ordinarily incommoded by the confusion of their own thoughts and discourses And as excess of food weakens the natural heat of the body so an excess of reading at length dims the light and abates the vigour of the Spirit It is not then at all necessary to read a multitude of Books but to read only those that are good and above all to avoid the desire of those with which we cannot become acquainted without the danger of becoming vicious It is necessary that in this place I encounter two grand Errors and that I attack too much fear on the one hand and next too much confidence in this matter on the other For there are some persons who scruple to read the Books of the Heathens that yet allow themselves to use Romances There are those that make Conscience of abstaining from the Books of the Ancient Poets and Philosophers tho they be full of most excellent Precepts and are afraid even of Vertue it self if it comes from the Schools of Plato or Socrates BUT NOT TO dissemble Their scruple proceeds from their ignorance and they fear as the Holy Spirit speaks where there is no cause of fear For if God himself commanded the Hebrews to borrow the goods of the Egyptians that they might afterwards be consecrated to the service of the Tabernacle why may not we take the good precepts that are in Heathen Authors provided we do it with a design to employ them to the glory of God and the instruction of our Consciences As the Israelites when they took along with them the Treasures of the Egyptians left their Idols so when we take the Knowledge of the Heathens we do not also for the sake of that take their Errors and Idolatry What danger can there be in ravishing this Divine Wealth from Prophane Possessors to make use of it to some better purpose And since the Church of God has admitted the Infidels themselves to Baptism why may we not render their Fables also and their Histories Christian Especially when we find in them most excellent examples to form our manners by and good rules for the direction of our Lives If we do meet with some things there that are bad we must do by their Books as the Jews did by the Captive Women whom they married whose Nails they first pared and shaved off their Hair I mean that in reading these Ancient Authors we should retrench what is superfluous and whatever contradicts our belief But I all this while am in the wrong when I speak thus of the Ancients for we do not derive any thing from the Heathens when we take whatever is excellent and good in their Books This is the very wealth which they have stolen from our Fathers this is that sublime Philosophy of Egypt which they transported to Athens Whatever their Poets or their Sophisters have of good in them they drain'd our Prophets for it This is the Learning of the Caldeans too tho they have given it another form and veil'd it under certain Riddles that they might the better conceal their Theft So then we steal not from the Heathens what we take from them but only recover what is our own And so far is it from a fault to do this that on the contrary It is no less meritorious to draw these excellent instructions from their Books than to deliver Innocent Captives from the hands of Infidels But now as for the reading of Romances we must needs speak of that after a very different manner for there is nothing in them that is not extreamly bad and extreamly dangerous and That mingled with what is agreeable and pleasing but in the other there is excellent morality alloy'd with somewhat superfluous
of the Books we read Our humour is alter'd while we think not of it we laugh with them that laugh we are debauch'd with the Libertine and we rave with the Melancholick To that degree are we influenced as to find our selves altogether changed with our reading of some Books we entertain other Passions and Steer another course of life The reason of this is not difficult to be found out for as teeming Mothers cannot look intently upon some Pictures without giveing their Infants some marks of what they observe why should we not easily believe that the Lascivious stories in Romances may have the same effect upon our Imagination and so leave some Spots upon the mind I grant indeed that we know what we read to be meer fiction yet it fails not for all that to give real motions while we read it the inclination that we have to evil is so strong that it improves by examples of evil tho we know them to be false ones As the Jvy mounts and supports its self by the hollow and dry Tree as well as by the sound and green one so our natural corruption and irregular Appetites carry us so strongly to what is forbidden that even a false and feigned History is sufficient to encourage and animate us to the most wicked undertakings As the Birds were invited to peck at the Painted Grapes of Xeuxis so our Passions take fire at the Amours that are described in Romances The reading of so many wanton things in those Books heats a Person by little and little and insensibly destroys that reluctancy and horrour that should always possess us against all that is evil We grow so familiar with the Image of Vice that we fear not when we meet with the thing it self And after a Man has lost the modesty of his mind he must be in a great deal of danger to lose also that which his modesty alone could have preserved As the Water infallibly runs west when the Banks that restrain'd it are broken down so our affections escape with all manner of liberty after that this honest fear which should govern them is remov'd This licentiousness indeed is not always form'd in a moment nor do we become vicious all at once by this reading The contagion of these Books gains upon the heart almost by insensible degrees it works in the mind as Seed does in the Earth first it spurts then it shoots out and grows every day stronger and stronger that it may bring forth at last the pernicious Fruit of wickedness But this is not yet all the evil that attends the reading of Romances But after it has render'd us bold enough and given courage to do ill in the next place it renders us ingenious and cunning we derive from thence subtilty with confidence and do not only learn the evil we should be ignorant of but also the most delicate and charming ways of committing it And to speak with reason how can it be imagin'd possible to read some Paragraphs in those Books without a great deal of danger When we often see there this Woman quitting her Country and her Parents to run after a stranger whom she fell in love with in a moment Or read how the other found ways to receive Letters from her Gallants or to give them their guilty assignations These are nothing but Lessons of Artifice and skill to teach persons how they may sin with subtilty And for my part I am not able to apprehend with what appearance of reason any can justify so dangerous a Reading On the contrary the Lacedemonians forbad the hearing of Comedies because they present sometimes Murders sometimes Thefts or Adulteries and because in a well regulated Common-wealth nothing ought to be suffer'd that is contrary to the Law not even in fictions or plays Why then are these Romances permitted where we read almost nothing but actions that are dishonest examples that are lascivious and passions that are extravagant Shall we dare to read those things in Books which the Heathens forbid to be represented on Theaters Shall it be said that Christians have less love for Vertue than Infidels And if they were afraid lest the People should be debaucht by such sights have not we reason to fear that weak minds may be corrupted by so filthy reading Nevertheless some may accuse me of too much severity who will be vext to see me ravishing from them their beloved Idols in taking away their Romances who will be griev'd no less for their losing of these bad Books than the Women of whom the Holy Scripture speaks that were weeping for the loss of Jammuz A falsehood shall often have more of the Vogue than truth and they will more willingly read those Books that corrupt the manners than those that regulate them and there are many Ladies that learn to tell without Book the Stories of Amedis while they neglect those of the Holy Writt Lastly they take much less pleasure in the best Sermon than in a sorry Comedy and go oftner to hear a Buffoon than a Preacher Straton complain'd very justly that he had fewer Scholars than Menedemus because there are many more to be found who seek the School of Pleasure than there are that follow that of Vertue and we love rather those who flatter us and make us laugh than those that make us sad and menace us tho for our advantage AND THAT I may conceal nothing that is to the purpose It is extreamly unhappy to mankind that it is enough to raise a curiosity for the Reading of any Book to know that it is forbidden as we observe by daily experience I think the same Evil Spirit who deceiv'd the first of Women possessing her to her destruction with the pleasures of the Tree of knowledge does still inspire others after the same manner promising their eyes shall be opened and they shall see admirable things in what is forbidden them and making them believe 't is out of envy alone that such reading is forbidden them This errour corrupts a great number of those who are persuaded by their Flatterers that as weak persons are always in danger even in the midst of things that are good So the most able Spirits are never in danger no not among a multitude of things that are bad and therefore all reading is to be forbidden to the one sort and all is to be permitted to the other But for my part I must needs think the contrary and declare that whatever measure of Wit any can have they are not withstanding always oblig'd to flee from danger And I doubt there are very few that have the strong constitution of Mithridates to nourish themselves with Poison and live upon that which is mortal to all others I approve no more of the Poets than Romances when there is any thing of ill in them In what ever Period or Page I find any thing of Vice it is my intention to make War with that And let the World think of this
and if they hold their peace on many occasions it is not so much to chuse words as to seek them These persons would need take but little pains to become good Disciples of Pythagoras Were it not that while they hold their peace but meerly out of necessity they are not capable to learn how to speak with address They want a School quite contrary to that of Pythagoras where they may study that Readiness which they want they have more need of Medicin than Precept and to cure them it is not only necessary to read Lessons but also to work Miracles As it seems much more easy for the Fire to descend than for the Earth to mount so 't is possible that they who have a ready forward Humour may moderate it by reading and experience But they that have the gross and heavy Souls let them employ themselves in whatever study they will have a great deal of difficulty to render them more lively or more subtle The Birds have Wings that inable them to fly yet they fold them up when they will to refresh themselves And the most transcendent Spirits can do as much as they either for action or repose But when the Melancholy set themselves to animate their faintness they put themselves into the danger of Icarus who was too dull and had not enough of Address to fly upon the Wings of Artifice Their Discourse and their behaviour are altogether unhandsome when they force themselves to express and shew in them a heat that they have not in their nature They resemble those old Men who run when they think only to go or mend their pace but by chance and then they lose their breath all at once after the least effort because they do not wisely accommodate their pace to their weakness Whatever some say in commendation of their Coldness To Imagine that this is of excellent use in business I think a Man had need to be possest with the same humour If they suceed in that it is more the effect of Chance than of Knowledge If the forward Spirits are to be accused for taking Occasions too soon and snatching them before they be ripe the Melancholy are in danger of coming always too late and of staying till they are rotten and if the former do not attend till they present the later think not of them many times but when they are past They are too subject both to Fear and to Despair As they are without heat they are without action and their Icy humour represents all things impossible whether they are what they should avoid or what they should undertake Their Senses are stupified with a Lethargy and cannot be roused but by cutting or burning them They seem to want a resurrection rather than an awakening and are a sort of Sick persons that must be made to die to teach them that they are not dead If they have Judgment to deliberate they have almost no Confidence to resolve and yet have less of Courage to execute This is a Paralytick Vertue that needs to be spur'd upon occasions and remains always Languishing with remedies at hand without being able to make use of them if it be not stir'd up with great endeavour It were indeed too great an offence to believe that there is not a great number of very wise and excellent persons of this temper But also it ought to be allow'd they would be too injurious to Wisdom and Vertue that should make it always musing and reserv'd as if they who have nothing to fear or desire out of themselves ought not at all to shew a smiling Countenance for a Testimony of the satisfaction of their Conscience On the contrary if Serpents breed in Standing Waters so do ill Thoughts enjoy themselves in this muddy Humour And if the Spirit of such persons is fit to invent what is wicked their Face is no less fit to cover it When a Rust is gotten among the Wheels of a Clock there is no more any Rule in the motions or any certainty in the Dial of it And when a profound Melancholy has mingled it self with our Thoughts the Spirit is full of Inquietude and the Visage of Grimaces What Light or what Reason can be expected where a multitude of black Fumes from Melancholy infect the Brain Just as the Demons have sometimes mingled themselves with a Storm to kill the Men or burn the Temples so they often serve themselves of this gloomy Humour to possess the Soul with Superstition Despair or Hypocrisy Cesar well testified what we ought to judge of these Melancholy Humours when he openly declar'd that he fear'd a great deal more those that were Melancholy as Brutus than those that were Merry as Dolabella It ought not to be taken ill if I to describe this Melancholy Humour do say some of those things that it produces that we may the better observe the nature of the Cause in that of the Effects There are then some Hypocondriacks to whom Mirth and innocent freedom are no less displeasing than Day-light to an Owl and as their Visage shews always I know not what of Fatal in it so one cannot chuse but have an Aversion for their sad Mein Nevertheless if their Coldness is only an effect of the Temperament it deserves either Excuse or Compassion But if it proceeds from Artifice it cannot be exempted from Suspicion or Blame So that to examin well the difference that is usual between these two Humours The Modesty of the Native Plainness is all in the Heart that of the Labour'd and endeavour'd Persons is all on the Forehead and the Outside The One in truth are not Good nor the Other Bad but in appearance I grant the Casuists have some reason to say of Sports and Pastimes as the Physitians judge of Mushrooms That the best of them are good for nothing And yet I am not willing so absolutely to decry those pleasures that are indifferent in themselves and which the Intention alone can as well render Good as Bad. St. Elizabeth of Hungary did not refuse sometimes to dance yet nevertheless her Good Humour did not hinder her from being Canonized Those that lay so great restraint upon the Usage of things that are honest are usually very free in the enjoyment of what is forbidden when they can avoid the having a Witness to their Actions And nevertheless it is the Unhappiness of these Times that people live under so much disguise and endeavour that one hardly can laugh without giving occasion of suspicion to weak minds or of slander to those that are wicked as if a chearful humour were a certain sign either of a light Spirit or a small Judgment We ought rather to deride such a Censure than be troubled at it And those Ladies that would preserve their good humour without putting constraints upon themselves out of regard to this Vulgar Error they ought also to forbid themselves as much as may be either desire or regret as being two of the
they may do all that they know And if it be said that tho they are not better yet they are more happy than the others because their mind is without inquietude as it is without design In truth it were the greatest injury that could be done them to speak of them in this manner For this were to found their Felicity in their Defect and to own that they are no otherwise happy but because they are Stupid or Ignorant If a Marble Stone feels nothing of pain we do not say for that reason it is very well We do not account it in health but unsensible It is after this manner that the thoughtless are not unhappy for 't is the wanting of a sense of it that hinders them from being so And this is no very honourable advantage to them that they are free from care and trouble as Stones are free from Sickness or Beasts from Remorse of Conscience If the Stupid are found sometimes at the same point with the Philosophers in the tranquility of their Mind 't is yet with a great deal of difference between them in that the latter surmount what the others are ignorant of The Serpents under the Earth are not less safe from a Tempest than any persons that are above the Clouds The meaner Spirits like them by creeping find their safety in their weakness But it is much more glorious to be above the Storm than beneath it and to have it under our Feet than over our Heads Since the true Felicity cannot be acquir'd without Vertue and Morality the Happiness of the Simple is of another Nature than that of the Wise And in my Opinion they are no otherwise happy in this World than those in a feigned Limbus in the other where they stay between good and bad without being touched by either of them The Melancholy do not live in this indifference they owe not their felicity to the Ignorance but to the Goodness of their Minds and it would be too shameful a happiness to them and such as they would complain of if it were necessary to them to be insensible of Good that they might be so of Evil. To know how much the Melancholy Humour excels all other it ought to be consider'd that they who are forward and light are no less uncapable to defend themselves from Misfortunes than to tast the true Pleasures Their Heat precipitates them into extreams They do nothing but in Frolick as if they were made up only of Sulphur and Gun-powder they need but a mear Spark to set on Fire both their Actions and their Thoughts And of this there is no other remedy but to wait for the end of their Impetuosity which often tires its own self and of it self the Fire goes out The Spirits that are without Conduct in their Enterprises are also without Courage in their Afflictions They are a bad sort of Souldiers that use well neither the Sword nor the Buckler and the same lightness which makes them very rash in their onset does also render them weary and impatient when they come to suffer or defend themselves On the contrary the Melancholy have always the Spirit equal They are free from Insolence in a Good Fortune and from Despair under an Evil One. They endure what they cannot overcome they surmount the Maladies of the Soul by Strong Reasoning and those of the Body by Invincible Patience And if heretofore a Man could find himself bold enough to assault the person of a Duke of Milan in the middle of his Guards in the face of his Court and even in a Church only for the having practised several times upon the Picture of this Prince What boldness ought those Wise Men to have who are of this Temper what can they find of new in any Events that may be able to put them in a Wonder Instead of being surprized they discover things to come at a distance by their foresight that they may in good time accustom themselves to them They render things as easie to them by Meditation as they become to the Vulgar by long experience It ought not to be strange if the Melancholick are very constant and one can never see them troubled even when they are constrain'd to give way to Force since they always reserve a secret place within themselves where the Storms of Fortune know not how to arrive It is thither that the Soul withdraws her self to maintain an eternal Serenity there she gains an Absolute Empire over her Opinions And there she entertains her self alone even in the midst of Company without suffering any interruption of her repose and silence by the Throng or Tumults of the World It is in this solitude and abstractedness of the Superior Part in us that the Spirit fortifies it self that Morality is learnt and that some possess before-hand even without a multitude of years and a long experience the Prudence of Old Men and the Wisdom of Philosophers Lastly It is in this place that we shall have always the means of having pleasant Thoughts if we preserve in our selves the Images of those things that are agreeable For if the present Objects displease us we may by entring into our selves render our Minds easie and content while our Senses are under a persecution We may entertain our selves with the thoughts of a beauty at the same time when an ugly Face is before our Eyes But who can ever enough commend this Noble Contemplation of the Melancholick Since 't is by this that the Soul seems to quit when it will the troublesom commerce of the Senses And we may consider with an Attention the less distracted what we are when our Imagination represents us to our selves which it does more clearly and with less danger than the foolish Narcissus is said to have seen himself in the Fountain I do not wonder at all that the Poets feign'd he destroy'd himself because he fought himself out of himself It is in truth impossible we should find our selves but in our selves by all that is besides we meet with nothing but our appearance and shadow Insomuch that without the Use of this Noble Meditation to which the Melancholy Temper is disposed a man seems to have his Reason imperfect and even unuseful For as the Bees must retire themselves to the making of Hony after they have been collecting Matter for it among the Flowers So 't is necessary that after we have viewed a diversity of Objects we should retire within our selves to derive the fruit of our Observation and to make the Consequences it will afford Without this whatever Study or Experience we have it will be nothing but a confusion and medly of things we may gather good things but shall be very ill Managers of them our Actions will appear without Conduct our Thoughts witâ—out Order and our Discourse without Judgment The greatest part of the grosser Spirits have a sentiment quite contrary to this and cannot bring themselves to imagine that there is any other
much Confidence And to give a touch at the Principal Vices which are contrary to this Vertue Those Women that kill themselves are not courageous but desperate this is to give way instead of defending our selves It is to yield our selves to an Enemy without putting him to the trouble to conquer us There is no great need of Resolution to lay hold on Death for a rememdy to it self There is no great strength of Spirit to practise upon our selves the Office of an Hangman It is better to seek the end of a Disease in good Medicaments than in Poison otherwise this is not a resistance but a flight this is not to seek a remedy but to render our ruin the more Infallible As we count the Body weak when it sinks under a small Burden so we ought to believe the Mind cowardly when it faints under an Affliction It is indeed upon this ground that many accuse the Women But the Men have no Reason to Reproach them for a Vice which themselves are often guilty of As Lucretia kill'd her self for the Loss of her Honour Cato did the same thing for the Loss of Liberty And why should they blame a young Lady for that which many have so highly commended in a Philosopher And to say the truth though some have set themselves to invent Slanders for the disparagement of the Women it ought to be own'd that they are more firm to their designs than the Men. At least let us learn from the Holy Scripture that upon an occasion which required the greatest Affection and Courage towards the Service of God One might have seen three Mary's under the Cross where there was but one of Twelve Disciples Of Constancy and Fidelity THOSE THAT HAVE been possest with a belief that Levity is natural to Woman when they read this Discourse which undertakes to prove the contrary they will perhaps think that we pretend to find Stability in the Winds a good foundation upon the Waters or strength in Reeds But setting aside their Opinion since it is not our Design or Commission to rectify all those who are in an Errour we will make it appear that as to what concerns Inconstancy that Sex are more in danger to be injur'd by it than to be guilty of it And that their distrust is very just in an Age when the Friendships that are promised with a great deal of Ceremony are without Truth or but of a Moments Duration Constancy is not used but in good things and Obstinacy in those that are evil otherwise Wickedness would be Eternal and Repentance should be forbid for fear of a change When an alteration is just it is a matter of Choice when 't is not so it proceeds from Levity As it is not reasonable that they who are sick should remain always in that condition that they might not be inconstant so likewise I do not think there is any more fault in forsaking an ill Opinion than in getting rid of a Fever And I believe that to Repent may be as necessary to the Mind as Medicines are sometimes to the Body What danger is there in preferring a greater merit to a less or to own that the Sun has more of light than the Stars Otherwise the first things that we shall happen to see in the World would put a Shackle upon our Liberty even to the taking away from us the right of Chusing or to the making us love that which may be worthy of Hatred Those that highly esteem'd Nero while he manag'd himself wisely in the first five years of his Empire Were they oblig'd for this to love and Honour him also when he was become a Tyrant After he had cashier'd all his Vertue must they still owe him Friendship I did love this Man for his Merit this Face for its beauty this Flower for its Colour this Man is debaucht and become vicious this unhappy Face is grown ugly this fine Flower Alas is wither'd why would you have me to be still fond of an object where the lovely Qualities are no more to be found And can the Building stand when the Foundation is taken away If this be a due preserving of these Melancholy Laws of Constancy They who love a curious Picture would be oblig'd to admire the Cloth too after that the fine Draught were defaced There is no Religion in that Love which obliges to pay an Honour to such Relicks any more than as our Affection may be changed into Pity with the decay of the Object or unless it were to avoid Ingratitude rather than Inconstancy It is for this reason that they who love nothing but the Beauty of the Body have a great deal of difficulty to live long in Love It is only the Beauty of the Mind and the never fading Charms of Vertue that can lay hold of us for ever Faces as well as the Years have their Seasons How agreeable and lovely soever a Spring may be we must expect to see the Flowers wither'd away and to endure a Winter after the fine days NEVERTHELESS there is no ground to condemn so noble a Vertue and a quality so necessary to the World as Constancy without which all the Love in it were but Treachery and Deceit Let it then be taken how it will whether as Men are wont to do or according to reason I say the following Examples will shew that the Men are very injurious when they give the Names of Vices to the Vertues of the Women when they will needs call them obstinate or fickle tho they have reason to change or not to change Sinorix being deeply in Love with Camma the Wife of Synattus he employed all his Arts to win her consent to his Passion But when all his endeavours together with the Luster of his Quality were not of force sufficient to shake the Resolution of this Woman he imagin'd that if her Husband were but taken out of the World he should then easily possess what was now refused him He kill'd him and after that Cruelty he so importun'd the Parents of this Widow that by their influence she at last consented in appearance to the Marriage of Sinorix When they were come then to Celebrate the Marriage and that they must go to the Temple of Diana This Chast Lady brings out a Cup of Wine of which she drinks a good part to Sinorix and gives him the rest he received it joyfully and drank it all not imagining in the least that it was poisoned Camma seeing her design now accomplisht she threw her self upon her Knees before the Image of Diana to whom she gave her thanks and made her excuses after this manner Great Goddess thou knowst with how great a Constraint and with what Design I have consented to marry with this Murderer If Grief would kill as often as it is extream I should not have been now in this World where nevertheless I have not refused to stay a while that I might take vengeance on this perfidious Man whom thou
than of Shame and persuade themselves that those who make use of their Pastime do steal something from them They are of the humour of the Emperor Tiberius who sent his Officers about the City of Rome to discover and condemn the Adulterers that there might be none but himself alone The Vertuous excuse Faults rather than publish them And on the Contrary the Vicious are always unmerciful towards those that are like themselves to make shew as if that Crime were unknown to them But the effects give the Lye to their words and this Artifice succeeds so ill to them that they disgrace instead of defending themselves The Honest and Good Women chase Vice out of the World by their Charity and the Licentious banish Vertue by their Slanders But if I grant that some do not utter Slanders themselves yet nevertheless when they listen and give credit to these their two Ears are no less guilty than the Tongue of the others And if Calumny is a Murder of the Reputation these are at least to be accounted Accessories It is easie to know a Woman that is Chast from her that is not so The latter will examin all things even to the least circumstances their own Wickedness serves them for pattern to judge of evil by their own experience and design make them put bad interpretations upon innocent things After Procris had been treacherous to her Husband she was always a distrustful Spy upon upon his Actions she could not without difficulty believe him innocent in a thing wherein her self was so guilty The Vicious are always in an Alarm they fear that others should abuse their liberty and cannot perswade themselves that a Walk or a little Conversation can be innocent They apprehend that others will do as much ill as they themselves have done or as they were willing to have committed if they had had as much power as wickedness And nevertheless in truth they have no better way in the World to conceal their own sin than to make shew of astonishment and displeasure when they hear others condemned For in refusing to give credit to Slanders people would be ready to judge of them that they are far from being guilty of a Crime of which the very Name is Odious to them But if they testifie their repugnance but by halves and their Look permits what their Tongue forbids this will give Courage to the Vicious who are very glad to have to do with those that will not use them roughly BUT TO EXAMINE the Vice well it will be convenient to see wherein Flattery and Slander are alike or different The one assaults us with Poison the other with a Sword But considering the thing well it seems to me that there are more to be found who resist Slander than Flattery because the love of our selves which fortifies us against Blame renders us weak when we are assaulted with Praise It was a Sentence derived from Divine Wisdom which Solomon has to this purpose As a fiâ—ing Pot for Silver and the Furnace for Gold so is a Man to his praise I put these two Vices together because they are in a manner always inseparable and we may ordinarily find that those given to Slander are as much addicted also to Flattery The one and the other comes from Cowardice in that this is a want of Courage for a Man not to dare to speak the truth freely and not to be able to reprove the things that are Faulty to their Faces who commit them But to say truth if there be weakness of Spirit in them who exercise Slander there is no less in those who cannot conquer and deride it For what necessity is there that we should be sick when the pain and the sense of it depends upon our selves There is not a necessity for Patience here it is enough to despise we ought not to receive the Wounds of Slander when we have it in our power to hinder them from reaching to us There are some that use great Art in venting their Slanders who are not willing to hurt but with gilded Weapons they disguise their disparagement of another under an appearance of Praise If they speak any thing that is ill they will pretend it is with regret that they do so But this is to imitate the Archers who draw the Arrow towards them but 't is that they may the better send it to the Mark they aim at How much Error and Vanity is there in our Judgments and Discourses since even between the Morning and the Evening we differ more from our selves than perhaps we do from others How can we be assured that she who yesterday was involv'd in Pleasures may not to day be chusing Austerities But supposing that our Judgment were not false we cease not for all that to sin against Charity though we do not against Truth Those that have as yet committed but one Fault ought not to be denominated Vicious those that have done many it may be will continue in them no longer the former have perhaps corrected the latter have changed themselves And in truth there can be no great assurance that we can speak any sort of ill concerning any Person without being in danger of a lye since there needs but one moment or one thought to alter her who is called by an ill name and to make her a Penitent or a Sinner After all it is no small Consolation to Innocence to think that Calumny even at its first birth had the Impudence to assault the Pure and most Holy God and that through all Ages this has been the base Enemy of Vertue This is a forcible reason why we should not be troubled at it But that you may not be guilty of it the grand remedy is to avoid Idleness and to believe that there is no time more proper and fit to speak evil in than that which we do not employ in doing Good Of the Cruel and the Compassionate WHATEVER the most of Men think of the Fury of Women yet is Pity so natural to them and their Inclination is so strongly carried to Mercy that the Furies themselves could not forbear to weep for the Misfortune of Orpheus when he went down into Hell to beg that his Wife Euridice might be return'd to him But if those merciless places where it is said horrour continually reigns together with implacable Cruelty could not possibly stifle the motions of Compassion to this miserable Person may not this Fable alone make us judge that Gentleness and Pity is a quality inseparable from the Ladies if we had nothing else to incline us to this belief as indeed we have a great number of Examples and most true Instances in History that may dispose us to it Does not this Fiction show that even the worst of the Sex have always I know not what tenderness in them that they cannot wholly put off and that they never are wholly destitute of Compassion for the Unfortunate nor of Clemency to the Guilty Nevertheless
Imperfections and will be painted with but half a Face if they want an Eye There are more that suffer themselves to be catch'd with the Charms of it than there are that defend themselves from them Complaisance is an Enemy that is resisted only by flying from it it has poison'd Weapons it needs but to touch that it may Wound and to come near that it may conquer us It has Charms that are of great value even to the most grave and serious We cannot repulse them without Regret we shun it only that it may seek us and if we refuse it Entrance 't is only in jest and pretence and as to a Mistress against whom her Lover shuts the Door only that she may thrust it open As soon as this has gain'd the Ear it wins the Heart and to defend our selves from it we must be either very wise or very insensible Especially the more it pleases the more it hurts us it is by so much the more dangerous by how much it is agreeable It was for this Reason that Artemidorus said to his Friends That there was danger of seeing a Flatterer even in his sleep and that there can be no safety even with his Shadow or Picture You may judge from hence of the Malice of this Enemy since his very Picture is mischievous and deserving our Caution This is not but too true at this time We live in an Age wherein Complaisance is more in Vogue and has more of force than ever We are in a time when they who know not how to Flatter are accounted Clownish and those who will not be flattered are esteem'd Dull At this day they who have not the Art of Flattery know not how to Please In the present Age as well as in that of Saint Jerom they take Flattery for an effect of Humility or Good-Will insomuch that they who abandon this shameful Trade are held for Envious Persons or Proud BUT certainly if we examine well those whom Flattery corrupts we shall commonly find that it has no power at all but upon the smallest Wits The Pyramids of Egypt are said to cast no shadow notwithstanding that they are very high and the good Wits will not suffer about them this Complaisance or Flattery They are no more dazled with the Rays of Truth than the Eagles are with those of the Sun Antisthenes his Comparison seems to me most admirable when he said that the Complaisant Persons resemble Courtisans in that they desire all things in their Servants excepting Reason and Prudence These are things greatly wanting in those who love to Complement those that have good Judgment abhor such cringing and the excellent Wits had rather be troublesome than dissembled and much rather may I say they had rather be troubled than flattered Those that are wise are neither willing to be deceiv'd nor desirous to deceive they are not willing their Judgment should commit an Error any more than their Will If we do not see the Artifice of the Complaisant it is our Ignorance if we do discover this and yet endure it 't is an intolerable Ambition This compliance is proper only to the looser Souls and freedom is natural to the generous If the Hypocrite is thought the most guilty of all Sinners the Flatterer may be deem'd the most pernicious of all Enemies for as the former would impose upon the Eyes of the All-knowing God so the latter would also abuse the Eyes of them that are Wise And as God abhors a false Devotion so a wise Man ought to detest a false Amity BUT IF this Complaisance were not dangerous yet it is infamous both in those that receive and in those that practise it It is a sign of weakness of Spirit to let it corrupt us and the Ladies that have a good Judgment cannot be pleased with this fashionable trick of finding Vices and Vertues where ever one will Aristippus said That the only fruit he had received from his Philosophy was to speak plainly to all the World and to tell freely his Thoughts of things The good Minds should have no other aim but this nor any other sense of things but what they declare though the Vulgar may perhaps endeavour only to conceal what they think I esteem very much that other Philosophy which taught the Disciples of it this one thing as conducing enough to a good Life alone which was That they should always observe the Sun to the end they might thereby learn that as that Planet scatters even the smallest Mists so a good Conscience will dissipate all manner of disguise and constraint All this Artifice is a sign either of Wickedness or Cowardise and of a Spirit very feeble or very ill disposed As Prudence and Courage are inseparable so Policy and Weakness are always together Reeds yield more to the Winds than Oaks do and Foxes are more crafty than Lions the fearful than the generous and the little Spirits than great ones The best and wisest Minds ordinarily hate tricks and cheating and if at any time they make use of Artifice 't is only as a counter-poison it is never to do evil but only to avoid it 't is not to assault any others but only to defend themselves It is one of the most noble effects of Magnanimity to love and to hate only openly Besides those that are wise must be always equal but the Complaisant are under a necessity of changing every moment there is nothing certain or steady in their humour any more than in their looks because that as well as the other depends upon the humour of the Person they would please They are forced sometimes to condemn in the same hour that which they have before commended or to extol to the Skies the same thing which they had before damned to the bottomless Pit Complaisance then has commonly attending upon it these two shameful qualities Cowardise and Inequality or Unconstancy I speak nothing in all this but what the Complaisant themselves will own and so those that are most expert at this Trade will not address themselves to any but the untaught and meaner Wits They are like those Mountebanks that produce their sorry Medicines only before the Ignorant Vulgar They that have but a small measure of Knowledge can lift up the Mask and deride the Cheat they will more regard what these Persons are in effect than what they are in the Opinion of others And if we understand this matter rightly we shall know it is from hence that they who mightily love themselves do also love those that flatter them for it is very seldom that we can find together much knowledge and a great admiration of our selves They that well know themselves and what they are will give no heed to the Complements that ascribe to them what they are not They therefore that Idolize their own Opinions have an Aversion for all those that contradict them They like Ahab love none but the fawning Prophets and they care not if one does
sort than two Persons would do by throwing Flowers at each other The same that have the Humour of Contradicting have also a perpetual Inclination to Correct and reform all Matters but they are as unprofitable as troublesome they know not how to testifie a Good-will in their reproofs no more than a good Spirit in their Disputes All that which comes from their harsh Humour is displeasing though they speak that which is true they do it so ungracefully that instead of making People good they make them their Enemies As soon as such Persons are seen they are distasted after that we have an aversion for them at last an abhorrence they are generally the Objects either of Hatred or Laughter Complaisance succeeds much better since as it commends without Flattery so it reproves without Injury This knows the Art of curing pleasantly it takes from the Medicine its bitterness without robbing it of its strength It is a Sun that does not diminish his Light to make it the more tolerable to sore Eyes it refrains from dazling with its Beams but not from enlightning If the Load-stone has not only the Vertue to attract Iron but also to show the Pole Complaisance Charms the greatest Spirits as well as the small ones It enlightens those that have Eyes and attracts those that have none They who know and understand it see its force they that do not yet feel it In truth it has a secret Vertue for the conquering of Hearts it is a Loadstone that draws even Iron I mean the most Clownish and Barbarous It insensibly wins upon us even when it reproves it does not fall with an impetuous violence like Hail but as gently as Snow Though the Snow be cold yet it wraps up the Earth as in a Mantle of Wool to which the Holy Ghost compares it to the end it may cherish and keep warm the Seed that is in it In like manner though Reproof be in it self somewhat disagreeing yet it fails not to make good Designs and vertuous Undertakings bud and sprout in our Hearts Complaisance obliges while it reprehends And if this strikes it is but with a Rod of Roses where it strikes it leaves a Flower instead of a Wound Without this the best Advice seems but a Reproach without it Correction is Injurious Praise is disagreeable and Conversation troublesome Complaisance is not a blind Vertue it has Eyes as well as Hands it does not strike blindfold There are some faults it reproves and some it bears with it endures what it cannot hinder and prevent And in truth excepting the brotherly Correction to which Christianity obliges us what matter is it to us if many Erre or if they have ill Opinions unless it be in matters of Conscience or that concern their Salvation As we do not undertake to heal all that are Sick we are not bound to endeavour the undeceiving of all those that are in Error We should have no less trouble and difficulty in becoming the Correctors of all the ill Opinions in the World than if we should go about to heal all the Distempers that are in it We have not this in charge this care appertains to the Providence of God and not to us Besides what need is there that we should speak all our Sentiments or make known every where all that which displeases or contents us One that is wise ought well to consider always that which he says but he is never bound to say all that he thinks There is no need that for the avoiding of a lye he should fall into Indiscretion To be free he does not need to be Uncivil we do not injure Truth every time that we do not speak it We are always forbidden to say that which is false but we are not commanded to say always all that is true There is no Law that obliges us to speak all our Sentiments or to discover all our Thoughts On the other side this great liberty of speaking is not only-unjust or troublesome but also dangerous this Imprudent plainness provokes the most mild Persons when the true Complaisance would soften the most rugged Clytus lost the love of Alexander by speaking too freely Scipio won the Heart of Syphax by having treated him with gentleness The one by Complaisance preserved his Life in company of a Barbarian the other by using an indiscreet freedom lost his by an intimate Friend Daily experience affords us examples enough of this sort so that we need not seek for them in the Histories of past Ages we sufficiently find every day that without Complaisance we become odious and intolerable to all the World Where there is no Complaisance there can be no Civility and without these two lovely Qualities Society cannot be but very troublesome Especially let the Ladies observe that as their Faces cannot please without Beauty so neither can their Conversation without Complaisance BUT THAT WE may say what yet further concerns them After we have seen how Complaisance ought to be practised let us now take notice how they should receive it Let us learn the difference there is between a Complaisant Person and a Flatterer for fear the Ladies should take the one for the other The Example of Panthea seems to me sufficiently famous to make a good Discovery of this This Lady was no less Modest than Fair she despised praises as much she deserv'd them Lucian describing the Perfections of her Wit and her Face compared her to the Minerva of Phidias and the Venus of Praxiteles Panthea would not accept of the praises that seem'd to her excessive nor endure that they should compare her to the Goddesses Lucian to give an answer to this and to justifie the Comparison he had made shows in a very few words the difference that there is between the praises of an Orator and those of a Flatterer We ought not says he when we would praise a thing to compare it to that which is below it for this were to abate the merit of it nor to that which is its equal for that were to do no more than if it were compared with its self But the Comparison ought to be made with something that is more excellent to the end that what we praise may have the more of brightness and lustre A Hunter says he will not compare a good stout Dog to a Fox when he would commend him because this were too mean a Comparison nor to a Wolf because this is a thing too like him but rather to a Lion who has more of Force and Courage If Praises are without Foundation they are Flatteries If they are without Ornament they are injurious Those who can join Ornament with merit in doing this are just and allowable in what they do It were Flattery to praise one that is crooked for her fine Shapes or one that is bald for the fine Hair she has It may be seen according to this reasoning of Lucian That in praising what is little may be elevated to indifferent
While the one solicits the other carries us along It is much more in our power to defend our selves from the Songs of a Syren than from the Impetuous Violence of a Tempest It is for this reason that there were some Philosophers who were of Opinion That Patience was the least Voluntary of all the other Vertues since to bring that into the World it must be that some commit Injuries and others endure them and there must be Tyrants that there may be Martyrs But whatever they think there must be much liberty and freedom of our own Wills in our Patience since 't is capable of a Reward and if there be some Pains necessary for the putting on this Vertue this is that which augments the worth of it For all the World know well enough that 't is more easie to resolve the taking our Pleasure than the enduring of Evil. After this ought it not to be own'd that Sadness has more power to destroy us than Joy and that we have more of difficulty to preserve our Minds even while we are in Adversity than during our Prosperity Is it not true that we are less in danger under an evil when the remedy depends upon our selves than when it depends upon others And must it not be confess'd That we are much more excusable when our Enemy kills us than when we kill our selves And that we may show yet further that Sorrow is much less subject to our will than Joy it must be said That we have much less Inclination to this than to the other The Tears which we shed when we are coming into the World testifie that we are rather born to weep than to laugh We are born in Tears we live in trouble and die in grief Therefore Themistius spoke to the purpose when he said That if we naturally weep it ought not to be a wonder forasmuch as that when Prometheus was holding the Clay in his Hands of which he was to Form Man he would not temper it with any other Water than that which came from his Tears The Fable herein conceals a Truth which Experience discovers to us every moment But if this be true of both the Sexes it is yet more particularly so concerning the Women to whom Sadness seems to be rather more natural than to the Men For as their Temper has much less Heat so it is also much more capable of this Passion in Proportion as it is more moist Melancholy lodges there as in its proper Element and upon every the least cause for weeping they are able to shed Tears in abundance As the Worms breed rather in that Matter which is tender than in that which is more hard so Sadness forms it self more easily in an Effeminate Complexion than in one that is more Masculine and Strong This natural softness or delicacy is the most sensible of Grief In so much that if that Sex would defend themselves from sorrow they have not only Fortune to Combate in the case but even Nature it self This is an Enemy that they have so much the more reason to fear for that it is Interiour and Domestick All this is but little yet towards the discovery of that Mischief which Sadness may do them the Ladies ought to consider that this Passion is not only capable to craze the Constitution to disfigure the Countenance to trouble the Reason but moreover also to debauch the Conscience It is for this Reason that the Casuists forbid it as well as the Philosophers And that they cannot say Adversity shows us Heaven when Prosperity would hide it from us Certainly if there are Rich Men that are Impious there be also Poor that are Blasphemers If there are those that are Ungrateful for good there are others impatient under evil If there are some Insolent in their Prosperity there are others desperate in their Misery Let not any object to me that God makes himself be acknowledged better by an evil Fortune sent to us than by a good one If any see this sometimes come to pass they must ascribe it to our error and weakness For what reason is there to think that God should be more visible to us in a Privation than in that which is true and solid And how can this be that he should engrave the Image of his Divinity in the Evil that he has not made rather than in the Good which is his Work and Creature Besides why cannot we as well bless the Hand that bestows Favours as that which smites us I grant that after it has pleased God to attempt the making us love him and it has prov'd in vain He is as it were constrain'd to make us fear him But must not the Cause of this be reckon'd only our own Ingratitude and Ignorance Would he ever make use of Severity if we would suffer our selves to be attracted with the Charms of his Love Let us declare the Truth We are no less liable to offend God under an excess of Evil than in a great Prosperity the Conscience is no less in danger in Affliction than in Felicity the Miserable may conceive designs as dangerous as the Happy and if some are refin'd like Gold in this Furnace of Affliction there are many more that are like Chaff consum'd in it Lastly that we may speak with a great King to this case We do not see that they who fall into the Bottomless Pit do praise God any more they murmur even in Hell but they adore and worship in Paradise It is not the Mouth of the Dead but that of the Living that praises and publishes his Grandeur and Power see then the mischief that Sorrow does when 't is excessive see how it takes away Fervour from Piety Vigour from Action Health from the Body Light from the Reason and Repose from the Conscience NOW AFTER THAT we have seen how much the Spirit is in danger under an Evil Fortune let us see how much more it is so under a good one I desire to begin to do this on that side which is most important A good Fortune makes us Proud Misery renders us Humble The one makes us go out of our selves the other makes us retire and dwell at home This conceals our weakness the other makes us know it Alexander learnt much better that he was Mortal when he saw his own Blood flowing from him than his Father Philip did from the Message of his Page who had it in charge to tell him every Morning That he was but a Man The Son understood better our Humane Misery by his Wound than the Father could do it by a Complement and Message It is sometimes very hard for one to know her self rightly in a great Prosperity Vanity and Flattery hinder us from seeing rightly what we are It is for this reason we have elsewhere said That a Good Fortune has no more true Friends than an Evil one because if all the World shuns this for fear of the Charge of Succour no one will approach the
make Reflections upon their Unsteadiness they would confess that when the Poets invented their Chimera they had a design to draw their Picture since to speak the truth there is as prodigious a variety in their Sentiments as in the feigned Body of this Monster In truth it is just matter of wonder that the same Mind should be capable in so little time of so different Thoughts even to contrariety sometimes If many of these Women had a Painter hired to take every day a Draught of them according to their different Resolutions I assure my self that there would appear every night under their Hands a meer Landskip of a Wilderness We may see some of them that will on this day appear mighty Chast and on the next they are Lewd now they show themselves Covetous and anon Liberal It would be well for them that they could forget this shameful variety and that they were without Memory as well as without Steadiness For the little Memory they have however little it is will make them ashamed of their Judgment I could wish to them that which Epictetus requires in a Wise Man that is That they knew the Art of Regulating their Opinions and of Subjecting them to Reason They would herein have conquer'd many of their Enemies and appeased those Winds which ordinarily cause all the Tempests of their Life But when is it that these Women are more subject to this Ridiculous inequality than when they are elevated with a High Fortune since from that time every one worships their Opinions even the most Extravagant of them and their Imperfections are praised and their very Vices term'd Vertues since also they have then all things so much at their Wish and are sometimes so weary even of Delight that their own Disgust which arises from their being cloy'd causes their Inconstancy Having tired themselves with true Pastimes their sickle Minds busie them with Imaginary ones It is for this Reason that Prosperity and Levity are very often lodged together Let none deceive themselves in this Matter nor think that to render any Steady in their Minds I have a Mind to make them Obstinate It is not always blameable to change there are Seasons wherein this is not contrary to Prudence It is as great a fault altogether to adhere to an Opinion when it is an ill one as to change from that which is good Obstinacy and Inconstancy both are equally contrary to Election because the one is Immoveable when it ought to change and the other changeable when it ought to be fixed That we may be Steady or Constant there is nothing more required than that we persevere in Truth and Equity Besides I know very well that the Minds of the wisest Persons may be moved at the first in some Re-encounters Aulus Gellius says That the Stoicks themselves do not deny but their Wise Man is capable of some change because say they the Emotion is not in our Power but the Consent to it is And to speak in the Terms of their Sect the Visions do not depend upon us but only the Approbations I blame then the Unsteadiness which proceeds from our selves and not at all that which is join'd to the weakness of our Sence and is not in our own Power I HAVE a Mind to discover yet other Causes of the Unevenness of the Mind I suppose then that even knowing Persons may have sometimes their Mind uneven and as it were irresolute because the greatness of their Light does as it were dazle them and make their Election waver and while they look upon the same Object under various Appearances they cannot easily determine themselves but do find some probability as it seems to them even on all sides Nevertheless it must be own'd that this Uncertainty is yet more common to the Ignorant for that while they know not the true Nature of Good or Evil there is more of Hazard than Assurance in their Choice and by so much the more as their Spirit is weak they are unconstant SEE AGAIN a Cause of this of another Kind There are some who have truly some Wit and Knowledge but they have nevertheless also I know not what natural Easiness of Temper that renders them susceptible of all sorts of Opinions Their Spirit has some Light but it has nothing of Force it knows how to propose but has need of Assistance towards the making a good Conclusion There are but too many of this Sort who see the Truth but are not able to follow it Who set sail towards the right Port but every the least Tempest casts them upon another Coast and who suffer themselves to be carried away with a Perswasion as Ships are by the Winds and Stream of the Tides As they are Credulous they are Unsteady AND IN TRUTH may we not see some that have a certain Distrust of their own Sentiments though they are not bad and that cannot go without a Guide though they are not blind Paschalius says that Women ordinarily believe very lightly when they are in great prosperity and that it is from hence that they appear so uneven He brings the Example of Procris in Ovid to show that they very easily believe what they fear or what they desire since she her self was so credulous to the Reports of Slanderers and yielded so readily to the Offers of Cephalus her Husband when he was disguised that she became as lightly Jealous as she was Amorous And in truth those that are in a great Fortune let themselves easily be catch'd with Flattery or moved to Revenge And as there is no injury so small for which they will not insist upon a Satisfaction so there is no praise or Commendation of them so excessive as that they will not receive it It is their constant Misfortune to give Credit to Flatterers and Slanderers LASTLY to find out the more ordinary and dangerous Source of Unevenness we may observe that we shall find none more capable of this than those Women who have no Design or those that have bad ones There are some careless Wretches that do not propose to themselves any end at all who live in I know not what sort of Indifference like those Archers that let fly their Arrows into the Air without aiming at any Mark or as Mariners that should let themselves wander upon the Ocean without steering towards any Port. It cannot be but such must be very unconstant But those that have any ill Design must needs be yet more so because the frequent Remorses that gripe them cause their minds almost every moment to change their Opinion as they do their Faces to change Colour So that to have a steddy constant mind there is nothing more requisite than to keep it Innocent And to this purpose I have a most admirable Rule which I took from a Person very knowing and religious To preserve said he an Equality of Mind in all our Designs and in all our Sentiments without giving our Consciences any Reason ever to reproach us we ought to take care in all our Pretensions that Justice do seek Prudence find Strength revenge and Temperance do possess There ought to be Justice in the Affection Prudence in the Understanding Courage in the Effects and Temperance in the Use The Practice of this excellent Advice would confirm the most unconstant Thoughts and happily determine those that are most true For that none may flatter themselves it must be said that the true Evenness of Mind is inseparably join'd to Purity of Conscience LET US FINISH this Discourse too with that which is of Importance Whatever it is that happens to us that is strange or deadly what need is there that it should mightily trouble us Certainly there would be many more that would endure well and constantly the Evils that befall them if they could represent to themselves that 't is God who tries us and that Patience is a Vertue so lovely that in the Exercise of this Men are apt to think well of ones Actions though they are none of the best There are many more would defend themselves from Sadness if they would but consider that this Passion is no less unprofitable than dangerous If I say they would consider that in the greatest Extremities either there is a Remedy or there is none If there be one why should we not employ all possible means without admitting so great a Trouble of Mind till we see how they shall succeed If there be no Remedy we must resolve to suffer as we must to die since as the one is inevitable according to the Laws of Nature so we see the other to be so according to the Laws of Necessity After all How superfluous is Sorrow and Grief It cannot find again that which is lost nor call to life what is dead it cannot hinder but that Evils will come nor can it cause the good things that are gone away to return And nevertheless as if this fatal Passion could not do us harm enough alone we help it to persecute us There are some that do not put forth the least Endeavour towards the helping of themselves who seek Solitude for fear they should be diverted from their Grief and who fly from Comforters as if they were Murtherers What a Blindness is it to do ones self so much Mischief without any appearances of Advantage If we examine this Case well we shall find that we are not so unhappy in any thing else for the most part as we are in our Grief and Trouble of Mind Or that we are not so truly sad because we are unhappy as we are unhappy in that we are sorrowful and sad FINIS ADVERTISEMENT The ARTS of EMPIRE and Mysteries of State Dis-cabineted in Political and Polemical Aphorisms grounded on Authority and Experience and Illustrated with the Choicest Eâ—â—mples and Historical Observations By the Ever Renowned Knight Sir Walter Raleigh Published by John Milton Esq Printed for Joseph Wats at the Angel in S. Paul's Church-Yard