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
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
entertain an eternal Sedition within our selves We cannot be happy but by halves our Inclination is upon the rack while our Reason is satisfied It is true that is said of Love that without Inclination it cannot long subsist Without this an Amity has not an entire Satisfaction nor even Confirmation It is a Building without Foundation which needs but a Touch or Blast to throw it down But to finish this Argument with the strongest Proof of all Since Love ceases to live when it ceases to reign and that it cannot divide its Power without losing it That we may sufficiently prove the Love of Inclination to be the most Sovereign and the most Legitimate it is enough to show that it is the most single and that it will never permit that we should love more than one thing As we can have but one Sympathy we cannot love perfectly more than one Object On the contrary as we can seek our Interest in several Persons when we find it not in one alone so this Love of Consideration may be divided it may seek what is profitable in one and what is agreeable and pleasing in another After all if Consideration and Inclination were to dispute before a Wise Judge that he might determine to which of the two Love does most lawfully belong as heretofore the two Mothers pleaded before Solomon for the living Child Inclination would at length have the advantage He would give Love to that since it can endure no Division of it as the other can and because it will possess it or lose it entirely AFTER WE have seen the Reasons which are given to prove that Inclination is the more strong in Amity it is time to examine those which may be brought to show that Election is the more assured and safe in such an important Concern It shall then suffice at the first to make it appear how much Inclination is dangerous to shew how blind it is For as the Dawn precedes the rising of the Sun so Knowledge ought to go before Love and however Sympathy does act without Choice and Light yet that which it does in a Moment causes oftentimes the repentance of the whole Life Election is not so forward nor ready 't is true and also it is not so unfortunate And I think Zeuxis return'd a very prudent Answer to those that reproach'd him for that he was long in finishing his Pieces I says he aâ— a long time in drawing a Picture because what I draw is to endure a long time One may say for a firm Affection that which he said for an excellent Picture It is necessary that a long Experience should precede a true Amity for fear lest a long Regret should follow an Election too lightly made This of Sympathy is an Agreement very suddenly made it often obliges it self without knowing to what Conditions and commonly signs without having look'd upon the Articles The Example of Dido alone sufficiently shews the tragick Effects of this Lightness The Poet had reason to say that her Love was blind and that it consisted of a Fire that had more heat than brightness And in truth I find in this Fable the Infelicity as well as the Blindness of this Love If Dido had an Inclination Aeneas had none at all as she was imprudent he was ungrateful History and Experience afford us Examples enough of this sort and when I make use of Fable I do this for Ornament to my Discourse not to give it greater Strength But to say truth is not this a very weak Reason to perswade a Woman to love me to say that I have a great Inclination for her The same Argument I bring to perswade Love may serve her for the refusal of giving it If I say I follow my Inclination in loving such a Person may not she say she follows hers in not loving me Is not her Aversion as well founded as my Sympathy If I wish that she would renounce her Humour to satisfie mine has not she right to pretend to the same advantage over me In truth I extreamly love what the Poets say of this matter They feign that Cupid has two sorts of Arrows the one of Gold the other of Lead the former gives Love the latter Hatred With the one he inflam'd Apollo with the other he chill'd Daphne Was not the Flight of this Shepherdess altogether as just as the Pursuit of the God If he sought her because of an Inclination to her she shunn'd him because she had an Aversion to him Besides what Assurance have we that any have an Inclination for us what Marks that are sufficiently certain can any give whereby to know it It is true that we may well perceive our own but whereby can we infallibly observe that of others This can only if at all be done by the means of Reason which ought to examine whether that which we take at first for true be not an Illusion or Fiction And to speak rationally of this thing when the Inclination surprises as sometimes it does our Reason so as to make us too easily fall in love with an Object Reason then is found like a Servant interested or corrupted that will engage her Mistress to her Disadvantage The Senâ—â— herein would often debauch the Spirit they are Servants that are traiterous or ignorant and bring false reports to their Master Iâ— it not then a great deal better that we love for the amiable Qualities that we see than for an Inclination that is hidden from us Why should we entertain a Love for which we know neither Cause nor good Reason This is in truth to love by chance here is nothing but Uncertainty There can never be an intire Satisfaction in our Love while we shall be in pain to know whether the Sympathy be equal on both sides We perceive a Wound without knowing the Hand that struck and are enslav'd by invisible Chains And I assure my self that if we would be curious to examine well that which has arrested us we should soon acknowledge our Errour and Imprudence If we did but light up a Lamp as Psyche did perhaps we should find with her that this Love is but a Child who fears to be seen lest we should know and despise his Weakness It is a great unhappiness that we have some Difficulty to undeceive our selves Though the Sentiments which are most natural are not the most reasonable yet as the Earth cherishes best those Weeds that it brings forth of it self more than the Plants that the Gardener sows in it So we seem to entertain more carefully the Affections that come from our natural Corruption than those that proceed from our Reason Nevertheless we ought to consider that as the Physician corrects the Appetite to make it relish what is wholesome nourishment So we ought also if we will be wise to regulate our minds that we may direct our Affections to right Objects We must of necessity treat our selves like sick Persons in this case there is nothing
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
acquir'd the Habits of many Vertues when they had not the least Disposition towards them There is then a much greater Glory in conquering the Repugnancy that we have to Good than in only letting our selves be carried on with the Inclination that we have naturally to it And upon this account it is that Education is altogether requisite since this polishes yet further a good Nature and corrects the faults of a bad one It is for this Reason that there is not a Person so unhappy in his Birth who may not with some hopes aspire after Perfection since we have the Examples of so many great Spirits that have surmounted the Wickedness of their Temper and conquer'd the natural Aversion that was in them to Good For this Reason we ought to have a great Esteem of Education since it will serve us as our Occasion requires both for Food and Physick It heals Distempers and it maintains Health It improves what is Good and corrects that which is Evil. LET US PROCEED to that which is of most Importance That we may succeed well in this Matter we must begin betimes to render our selves capable of true Goodness by the Means of a religious Education since whatever the natural Repugnance may be that we have to any Evil there is still enough of Vertue to be acquired and of Imperfection to be overcome to give us a great deal of Labour Observe here the Advice which seems to me of more than ordinary Usefulness We cannot set our selves too soon to learn the Hatred of Vice and the Love of Vertue I cannot approve of the Opinion of Hesiod who forbids to teach Children any thing before they are seven years of Age. And I like that of Crysippus much better who maintained That in the short Life of Man there could be no Time well afforded to be lost Can we begin too soon to heap up those good things in which we can never become rich enough Can we study too early any Science in which we can never be sufficiently perfect Men complain of the Length of Art and the Shortness of Life But if we would acknowledge our Errour herein we should own that this Unhappiness comes not from hence that our Life is too soon at an end but from our Beginning in Vertue or Learning too late We might render it much the longer for the Knowledge of good things if we would begin to live and to study together They that do not awake till Noon have no right to complain that the Day is too short They might have retarded the Evening by making a diligent Use of the Morning Since we cannot set the Period further off at least let us begin the sooner Let us advance the Beginning since we cannot keep back the End When is it then that they ought to take care about the Education of Children Certainly they cannot begin too early to teach them that which they ought to practice through their whole Lives As Lalius among the Heathens taught his Daughter from the Cradle the Laws of Eloquence that she might know how to speak well So S. Jerom taught Pacatula the Laws of Christianity from the very Breasts that she might know how to live religiously What is there we ought rather to know than Religion and wherein can we more worthily employ the first Fruits of our Reason and the first Essays of Speech than to acknowledge and adore him who has given us one and the other of these Josephus says that the Israelites by the Commandment of Moses knew the Law before they knew their own Names It is thereabouts that we ought to begin our Christian Education It ought not to be said that at such an Age we are capable of so serious a Knowledge Certainly Childhood is capable of learning the Laws of Religion if it be not of putting them in Practice This Age is capable of the Functions of the Memory if not of those of the Judgment Therefore the Poets feign that the most ancient of the Muses is Mnemosyne that is to say the Memory to shew that this is the first Thing whereof we are capable For as there can be nothing expected from a Field that is never sown so there can be nothing hoped for from all our Endeavours if this Mother of Arts and Sciences lies barren It ought therefore to be rendred fruitful betimes by an holy Education to the end it may produce wholsome Effects when we shall have the Use of Reason and Understanding Children are capable to receive if they are not to produce They are capable of Impression if not of Action The Knowledge of Good forms it self in the Soul just as the Seed shoots in the Earth There is a time when they are hid there is another when they flourish and wherein they bear Fruit. Ah how happy are those Women that know Heaven before Earth and learn Devotion before Vanity This divine Foundation can never be ruin'd What is imprinted at first in this clean Paper can never be got out again The holy Scent with which the new Vessel is perfum'd will abide in it a long time For this Reason 't is highly important that they should have Impressions of Good made in them before they be exposed to those of Evil. And if Quinctilian wish'd that even the Nurse should be Eloquent for the making an Oratour and for the better Forming of the Speech of Children there would be reason also to desire that she were devout for the better Forming of the Conscience and to lay betimes the first Foundations of Vertue I do not intend herein that we should begin all at once to make Children learn the highest Mysteries of our Religion We must accommodate Instruction to their Minds as we need to do Food to their Stomachs and give them first Milk before we give them any solid Nourishment I know well enough we cannot reasonably attempt to make the little Creature sensible of the Grandeur of the Eternal Glory which would desire a Sugar-Plum more or to teach the Worth of Obedience to her that lifts a little Hand to strike her Mother I know well that the Knowledge of Christianity has as Tertullian speaks certain Degrees and even several Ages wherein to grow and raise it self by little and little But after all supposing that Children cannot comprehend that which is so elevated must we therefore not teach them any thing but what is superfluous and idle Why is it do we think that they are always in Action and play so many Tricks Is not this as a silent Complaint of the Time which they are suffered to lose Is not this a sign that they want better Employment and that even already they might be busied about something else than in Play and about Babies I do not herein desire that any should fasten themselves upon my Opinion I have not so great an esteem of my own Thoughts as to be willing to impose them for a Rule to all others But let us observe
what S. Jerom says concerning the Education of the young Pacatula and which may be of great use to those of her Sex As soon says he as She shall have passed the Age of seven Years let her learn the Psalter by heart and let the holy Scripture be all the Treasure of her Soul She ought to begin to be instructed he adds as soon as she begins to blush As soon as they are capable of Shame they are capable of Discipline From the Time that they show the Marks of their Conscience upon the Countenance it ought to be believed that Remorse has taken place of Innocence since they already know to put a Difference between Good and Evil. See here the Opinion of that holy Man which perhaps may seem too severe to a great many But let the World think of it what they will the Corruption of Education which we commonly see is an unparallell'd Disorder When we may see Young Persons allow'd all manner of Liberty and that they are praised for that which they ought to be corrected for and as if there were a Fear that they should not learn to sin soon enough they are accustomed to see and to do Evil to the end they may have the less Fear when they shall be arrived to a riper Age. THAT NONE MAY accuse me of too much Severity I declare that too great a Restraint is often very dangerous and the Danae whom the Poets tell of was corrupted in that Tower where her Parents had shut her up to keep her safe This Solitude was more dangerous to her than Company might have been I own that as Waters pent in rush with the greater Violence when they get loose so those humours that have been too hardly used fly out with the greater License when they can meet with a favourable Occasion Lastly I grant that there ought to be Moderation used in this Matter That they ought not to have all things permitted nor all forbidden them that Prudence should shew us a certain Path between Licentiousness and Tyranny and that we should mannage wisely our Promises and Threatnings our Sweetness and Rigour BUT HOWEVER in my Opinion Restraint is more safe for this Age than Liberty And if one has not a very good Understanding the Chains of Fear hold us to our Duty much better than the Cords of Love Gentleness is good for those who have some Knowledge and a good Wit but to those that want these it is very dangerous If they have a good Nature Liberty may corrupt it If a vicious one they want nothing but Occasions or Opportunities to do ill It seems to me convenient to treat young Persons as they do those that are sick We must have regard to what is profitable to them not to what would be most pleasing There is too great Hazard in committing them to their own Conduct Distrust in this Case is one of the fittest Parts of Prudence which ought not only to regard the Evils impending but also those that are possible so as to make Provision against them By keeping them at a Distance from Temptation and Opportunity at least we take from them the Effects if we take not the Desires If the Venom stays with them of a vicious Inclination it is hinder'd from hurting And that we may the better make it appear how far the Fear of Danger ought to extend let us observe that S. Jerom did forbid to the young Pacatula not only the Company at Balls and Comedies but also even the Assemblies of the Church when there was Danger These in truth are Holy Places but there are in them sometimes Spectators and Occasions that are Profane BUT IF WE enquire further into the Original of Evil we shall find that the greatest Danger of Corruption for young Children is very often Domestick And if many Daughters have the Vices of their Mothers this is by Imitation as well as by Resemblance in Disposition A bad Example has no less Power and Influence in the Matter of Education than the Blood has upon the Birth I blush when I consider the Disorder of the Age. How is it possible that this Child should not be addicted to Gaming who has perhaps hardly ever seen his Father without the Dice or Cards in his Hand And how can this Daughter be Chast who knows her Mother daily sighing after her Gallants who sees her every Moment receiving Love-Letters and never hears her speak but of Walks and Assignations that are suspected Besides this How can we reprove them for a Vice who have seen us committing the same To speak the Truth Whatever Menaces whatever Lectures we give them still the Example shall have more Power to carry them to Ill than Corrections or Forbiddings can have to withhold them from it As the Vine lifts it self upon the first support it can find so Childhood conforms its self to the first Model that it sees Not being yet able to act by reason it moves by Example Childhood receives the bad Impressions easily but they cannot be defaced again but with a great deal of Difficulty And if the Apostles seem'd to find it difficult to drive out a Devil from one that had been possess'd from his Youth we ought to believe this a Miracle very rare The Conversion of a Person debauched from his Childhood Whenever the Education is bad Vice gets so deep rooting in our Souls that it is in a manner impossible to get rid of it And let it be judged what Hope there is of saving a Person when a vicious Habit is added to a vicious Nature To oblige Mothers to think the more seriously of this Matter we have many Examples as well sacred as profane which might be produced but I shall content my self to shew them that of the Eurydice in Plutarch This illustrious Lady being now well advanced in Years made her self be taught the Arts and Languages to the end that she might be able to teach them her self to her Children She did not at all think it sufficient to give them Life by bringing them forth if she did not also render them vertuous by their Education How lovely is this Example From hence we may learn that the Mothers who have no Merit nor Goodness ought to acquire it at least on purpose for the Instruction of their Children And if a Heathen had so much Care for the teaching of her Children to speak well how much more should the Christian Ladies have for the Instructing of theirs to live well Of an Equal Mind under Good and Bad Fortune IT IS NOT a small difficulty to determine whether the Women are more capable of Moderation in a good Fortune or of Patience in a bad one Whether they are more subject to Despair under Affliction or to Insolence when they are Prosperous since to speak the truth both Grief and Pleasure sometimes do no less harm to our Spirits than Frosts or great Hearts of the Sun do to Flowers and as a Flame goes out by
either too little or too much of the Matter that feeds them so the Spirit is lost by too little or too much of Contentment If our Fickleness be well examin'd it will be found to proceed from these two sources Fortune assaults us with Sword or Poison It destroys us either with the Face of a Syren or with that of a Fury and for fear least we should avoid the mischiefs she intends she will employ even that which is good to the doing of us harm Let us not dissemble our weakness we waver both in one and the other Fortune And as the Painters observe the same wrinckles of the Face serve both for laughing and crying so certainly experience shows that we laugh and weep very often like Children for the same cause I will say somewhat more The same Persons who rejoice too much in what favours them are also too sad under evil The defect as well as excess causes inequality in them and as those Bodies which are very sensible of heat are alike sensible of cold so those Spirits that suffer themselves to be too much overtaken with Grief do also suffer themselves to be too much transported with Pleasure they are commonly the same Persons who are subject to Insolence and Impatience There are few Persons who know how to regulate their Resentments and who can show a strength of Spirit on great occasions of Joy or Grief There are few that are like Socrates in this who always show'd a Countenance and Mind equal in all sorts of Occurrences We suffer our selves to be carried away with the Stream Occasions command us We are like those Birds that are swimming upon the Water during a Tempest that are exalted or abased by the Wave that carries them LET NOT ANY imagine now that to describe an equal Mind I will make a stupid one I desire the Lady to be Prudent not Unsensible I do not mean that she should quite rid her self of Passions but that she should tame them This would be no less unjust than impossible But if this were a thing that could be done were it not a very inhumane Philosophy that should renounce Compassion and Mercy or Love and Hope A great Person of the present time had reason to say That to think of taking away the Passions entirely were to propose the turning of a Man into a Rock or a God by putting him either too much above or too much beneath resentment The Opinion of Epictetus in this matter seems to me admirable We ought not to be without Affection says he as the Brutes nor without reason as Fools but we ought to be so sensible as still to know how to oppose Reason to Grief because when we live after that manner we show that we can be Sick and can cure our selves that we have both a sence and wisdom Or otherwise we should not have an equality of Mind but a stupidity and it were to show that we have either no resentment or no reason to govern it And in truth I cannot approve of a Mind constant after the Stoical manner The Wise Person they would frame resembles the Caeneus in Pindar who had a Skin so hard that it could resist Arrows and Darts though he were perfectly naked Their Insensible Philosopher seems to be composed of Adamant he is shut up close but will not acknowledge himself a Prisoner though he grows old yet he does not think himself wearing out he is Ugly but very agreeable however he is a King but enjoys nothing but his Arguments he possesses all things but begs his Bread his Fancy serves him for a Horn of Plenty even in Poverty it self and to say truth he is not happy but only because he is unwise This Stoical Spirit will not suffer itself to be touched with Joy any more than with Sorrow To be of an equal Mind according to the Mode of this Sect one must not put ones self to any trouble if a Friend be Sick or Unfortunate We ought not any more to rejoice at a Good Fortune than to make our selves sad at an Evil one A state of good Health should no more render us content than that of Sickness We must even pass from one to the other of these without any resentment of the change See here the equal Mind of the Stoicks But is not this a very extravagant Morality Must it not be said That those who maintain this Doctrine might more fitly call themselves Poets than Philosophers And are not their Wise Men like the Mighty Knights in Romances that stop Rivers and encounter the Stars themselves and carry away every where Prodigious Victories It is not at all of this sort that I desire a well composed Mind to be I do not seek for an imaginary force of Mind and such as would destroy Humanity instead of regulating it I desire only a Wisdom that is possible and reasonable I declare That there are times and occasions wherein one may very justly weep or laugh and may be joyful or sad Also I judge that when Euphrante had lost an Excellent Wife he had reason to complain of his Philosophy for that it commands us as he said to love that which is good and yet forbids us to be grieved when we have lost it Since we ought to express a joy when we have with us an Object that pleases us may we not also testifie some regret when we have it no longer That which any possess with love they cannot lose but with grief It is no less natural to be sad for the presence of Evil than to be joyful for the presence of good Provided there be no excess in these things it is but a mad Philosophy that would forbid us the having resentments so natural and reasonable To be joyful in the Morning upon good Tidings and sad in the Evening for bad News this is not a Vicious inequality this change is just and as our Taste is diversly affected with that which is bitter or with that which is sweet our Mind also must be moved with that which is good or evil What danger is there in owning that our Soul is capable of joy and sadness as well as our Senses are of Pain or Pleasure In truth it may be said That Reason is not contrary to Nature and it is possible to show our selves wise and sensible both at once Let us make this Error yet a little more manifest There are some that think it a great effect of Constancy to make no Complaints of any evil that they endure but certainly there is sometimes no less danger than blindness in so doing It is a Vanity that has cost many Ladies very dear while they have encreased their ill by being desirous to conceal it and because they would not shed a few Tears they have been seen to Die suddenly upon the place Since our Lord Jesus himself willingly testified his Grief by weeping and surely none can accuse him of having an uneven or unconstant Mind we