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
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
are worthy of Admiration but those that have it not find pretexts for their weakness The Example serves them for a Reason and they cannot imagine that Crystal can resist those Bodies which are able to break Marbles or Diamonds IF WE MAY be permitted to give some advice after we have been commending Since the Son of God himself had a more tender affection for one of his Disciples than for any of the other There may be particular inclinations allow'd without any offence to Chastity which does not banish the Affections but only regulate and moderate them However we ought to take care that if Friendship in its own nature be a Vertue it does not become a Vice in our practice That it may not be therein abused we ought to examin the end and design of it as soon as it commences and to assure our selves it is dangerous if we pretend to any thing else but Affection And above all to preserve the more assuredly this Vertue it is good for them to betake themselves always to some commendable Exercise Evil Thoughts have no less advantage of an idle Spirit than Enemies have over a man when he is asleep And I am of the same opinion with him who call'd this languishing Repose the burying of a person alive Because that as Worms breed in the Body when 't is without the Soul so bad Desires and Passions from themselves in a Soul that is without employ And if dishonest Loves are the trade of those who do not spend their time in something that is commendable It ought to be believed that Chastity will be preserv'd by the help of employment as it is corrupted by Leisure Her whom the Ancients held for the Goddess of Love they also took for the Mother of Idleness Diana follow'd the Chace and Minerva Studied but Venus did nothing Of Courage IT SEEMS to the Men that Courage is a Quality that should be peculiarly affixed to their Sex without their producing any other Title to it than only their own presumption But he who made so much difficulty to imagine that there was one strong and couragious Woman in the World he made the Sex a very honourable amends for so great an injury And tho he was esteemed the Wisest and the Ablest of all Men he nevertheless lost this high advantage among the Women and became so shamefully feeble and was so far conquer'd by them that they obliged him to sacrifice to Idols Histories are full of their generous actions which they have perform'd to preserve their Country and out of Love to their Husbands and for the Religion of their Ancestors BUT TO SEE whether our Praises are true or false in this matter it is necessary to examin what is the opinion of the Wise and what that of the Vulgar concerning the true nature of Courage There is nothing then more true than this That as the strength of the Brain appears in walking over the highest places without fearing a fall that of Good Spirits consists in the seeing a danger without being troubled at it And nevertheless the Stupid have no advantage in this matter while they wait till occasions come without concern nor have the rash any that seek them It is only the Wise that defend themselves from misfortunes without being precipitant or insensible Since Courage ought always to be join'd with a free deliberation and that it is not a Vertue either wholly constrain'd or purely natural I cannot persuade my self to account those to be generous who have a Temper so light that it is raised without good Cause nor those that have a Nature so heavy and dull that one cannot provoke them tho by ill treatment and injury Here is either an excess or a defect of resentment which may better be term'd Levity or Stupidity than Courage If Judgment should be found in all the Discourses of an Orator Prudence ought to be met with in all the Actions of a Wise Man Without that let Polyphemus be as strong as he will he shall not fail to lose first his Eye and then his Life And tho Vlysses was much weaker than he yet the bulky Giant could not defend himself from him with all the force that he had in his Arms. AFTER WE have seen wherein the true Courage does consist those that know the temper of Women must allow that they have a great disposition to this Vertue For they are not so cold as to be unsensible nor so hot as to be rash We do not see that the most Couragious among the Men do precipitate themselves upon all sorts of occasions as if they had as many Lives as there are Hazards and Misfortunes in the World Whatever good Face they may put upon it the most understanding persons have some difficulty to resolve upon a thing that depends upon Opinion and have regret at the committing such a fault in the loss of Life as can never be repair'd This would tell us that this Vertue ought to have Eyes as well as Arms and Prudence as well as Vigour And therefore they who know Morality well will never give the name of Courage to Anger nor to Despair and I am not able to believe that the Men have Reason when they call the Women Timerous only because they are not Hasty or Imprudent But if any say that I have made an Apology for Cowardise they must not take it ill if I accuse them of recommending Brutality What glory has a man by cutting his own Throat And what advantage bating the brutish custom in making Ostentation of a Trade where the Barbarous Goths and Vandals have been the Masters and of which they gave us the cruel Rules and Examples What is there more easie than for a man to let himself be transported into Fury and to follow the Motions of his Passion Those whom the Vulgar call Courageous resemble the Glasses which we cannot touch almost without breaking them They do not know that the Minds of Men as well as their Bodies are always there most sensible where they are most weak For if this be brave and generous to be provok't or to complain every Moment then the sick are more so than the sound the Old than the Young and the Vulgar than the Wise Since Fear and boldness are both reasonable they are not contrary to each other The one opens our Eyes to discover Evils before they arrive and the other animates us to repulse them when they are present BUT LET US leave off reasoning to come to Examples and in truth we have admirable ones of this kind Has not Titus Livius left us a History much to their Advantage which he writ as himself confesses with Astonishment and Love After that Philip King of Macedon had put to Death the Principal Lords of Thessaly many to avoid his Cruelty fled and betook themselves into other Countries Poris and Theoxene took their way to Athens to find that security there which they could not have in their own
seest here who believes that I am able to love him after he has ravisht from me my Dear Synattus Think with thy self Barbarous Man and acknowledge how much right I have to Sacrifice thy life to that thou hast taken from my Husband I do not value at all my own for I defer'd to put an end to it only that I might give to Posterity one more remarkable Testimony of my Love and of thy Cruelty Camma was happy in this that Sinorix died before her tho he drank last of the fatal draught The Gods gave this satisfaction to her Fidelity and she ended her life calling still upon Synattus that he would come and accompany her in her departure from this World Can any of the Men give a more noble Example of Constancy than this And was it not a Philosophick Madness to maintain in publick that among a thousand Men one should hardly find one constant but amongst all Woman-kind not one After this it is easy to judge whether the Prince of Philosophers had reason to compare Woman to the first Matter because that has always a desire to the changing of its Forms and tho it has gained one that is altogether perfect yet it still retains a general inclination for all other He had a design to shew by the Parallel that the Women are as unsatisfied and unconstant towards the Men as Matter is towards the Forms But this is a Comparison too injurious and such as would agree better a great deal with the Philosopher himself than with any the most unconstant Woman that could be found For he forsook one Mistress for another to whom he made his devout Addresses that he might Testifie with the more solemnity that he himself was guilty of a Crime of which he had accused the Women In truth they have more reason to complain of the Men than they have to fear their Reproaches How are credulous Spirits at this day ill requited for their simplicity Whatever assurances many Men do give they ought rather to be reckoned Deceivers than Inconstant because at the same time that they promise Fidelity they are forming a Design to violate it There is no alteration in their Resolutions but there is in their Words THIS VICE does not haunt those Minds that are above the Common Rank One may be assured of them and their least designs remain firm in all sorts of occasions and under the greatest storms of Fortune Levity comes of Weakness and Constancy from a strength of Spirit After that Affection has bound together two Generous Souls the Separation of them must be impossible For since Love is in its Nature Immortal when it can cease to be it must be acknowledged that it is not true St. Augustine said that his Friend and he seemed to have between them but one Soul both for Life and Love That Death had not so much Separated two as divided one And that after the Loss of this Confident he had a fear of Death and a horrour at Life Because without him he was but half alive and nevertheless he saw himself oblig'd to preserve the rest that his Friend might not entirely die There are but few so constant as this great Person was The Friendships of these times are no longer so firm And if we consider well those between whom the affections they had for each other are ruin'd upon the slightest occasions we may believe that the Union is very often without strength when the Separation is so often made without regret AFTER WE have spoken of Inconstancy we shall encounter Perfidiousness which is ordinarily inseparably adjoyned to it And in truth I am not able to comprehend how it comes to pass that any are Perfidious when the whole World has so great an abhortence of this crime and it does so infallibly procure Enemies They that make use of it ought to fear it and they whom it has hurt will seek to be revenged on it But that which is worthy of astonishment is this Tha the very Aspect of such Persons testifies that while they set the whole World against them they are not in a very good agreement with themselves thus declaring without words the horrour which themselves are filled with at their own wickedness It is not necessary to be very well skill'd in the Rules of Physiognomy to observe upon their Faces the wickedness and the torment of their Minds It must needs be that these are the greatest Criminals in the World since they themselves form their own Process in their own Consciences and that even to the executing it too upon themselves sometimes with their own Hands The forlorn Wretches practise a new form of Justice upon themselves where they alone are Judges and Executioners Accusers and Guilty Altho naturally we love our selves yet such can shew themselves no Mercy and they shew by those their fatal Looks that none can absolve them while their own severe Consciences do condemn and torment them This is the most horrible and the least excusable of all Crimes because those that attempt this are at the cost of so much trouble to commit it and they must do so much harm to themselves to do it to others Faithfulness on the contrary is always chearful even among difficulties and Perfidiousness is always musing and melancholy even in the midst of Divertisements A Mind that is faithful does not resent its Afflictions but that which is treacherous has no tast of its Pleasures Their Sentiments are very differently taken up for the Vice makes the one sort weep even among Delights and the Vertue helps the other sort to laugh even among their Evils and their sufferings When a Soul is sullied with this Vice it is capable of all the wickedness that can be imagin'd and especially does Avarice follow it very near And when once a Woman is become Covetous she has a great deal of difficulty to be faithful there is nothing that she will not do and that she will not sell to be rich This is the most infallible mark of a clownish Spirit and of a Soul debauched The Ladies ought never to testifie that they have any inclination to to this lest they fall under the Fate of Procris who after she had resisted both threatnings and submissions yet she yielded assoon as she saw the Mony told down BUT THAT WE MAY see this Vice in all its Aspects The Credulous and the Ignorant are no less in danger of falling into this than any other They are persuaded to many things which their Easiness afterwards makes them suffer contrary to their Honour It seems to say the truth that these Women are neither Faithful nor Perfidious for they have not the Design that should make them Perfidious nor yet Strength enough to be faithful It is this simplicity as the Poet speaks which is worthy of excuse provided that one does not take pleasure in being deceiv'd The Politick are liable to do by Wickednesses that which the Simple do by
ill things it is necessary then that we retrench our Inclinations as the superfluous Branches of Trees are pruned away that so the Sap may be all spent upon those which must bear Fruit. I confess that we must sometimes have regard to temper for that as every sort of Land will not bear every sort of Seed so every Humour is not capable of all sorts of Impressions If Nature without Art has no certainty Art without Nature has no strength nor sweetness It must needs be then that in this case the Form must have Matter to sustain it and the Accident must support it self by some Substance I CONFESS that Nature is somewhat necessary to our succeeding well but it must also be owned that it may be constrain'd and that there is no less labour necessary to the excelling in a Vertue to which we have an Inclination than for that to which we have none at all In truth this Point of Morality is not less agreeable than necessary That we may not abuse our selves then in this matter it is convenient to observe that Nature does not give us an Inclination to Vertue so much as to the extreams about it It mounts to an Excess or falls even to Defect if it be not fastened in the point of Mediocrity by the means of Education and Art Nature needs either a Bridle or Spur it either freezes or burns it passes from one extream to another if Education does not show it the Middle where Vertue dwells Upon the whole when Nature carries us to any excess as to Rashness or Prodigality we are thought to have an Inclination to some Vertue there where in truth we do only encline to a Vice It is for this reason that Morality has much more difficulty to cure the Distempers of the Soul than Medicine has to heal those of the Body Physick hardly heals those Distempers that proceed from Want and Morality can hardly conquer those which proceed from Abundance Physick more easily retrenches what is superfluous than it can repair what is wanting Morality does more easily repair than retrench So much truth there is in this that we have sometimes most difficulty to do well even on that side to which our Inclination most carries us It is harder for a Prodigal Person to become rightly liberal than for one that is covetous It is more easie to raise a Defect up to a Mediocrity than to bring an Excess down to it Behold the reason of this It is because the Excess allures us with more of Pleasure than the Defect and though the two Extreams are equally Vicious nevertheless we carry our selves more freely to that which is excessive than to that which is defective We rather chuse what is too much than what is too little We love to be swoln and puffed up with Fat even till we grow unwieldy rather than to be meagre and lean It seems to us as if there were more Courage and Excuse for Transgressing by Prodigality than by Avarice and by Rashness than Fearfulness It is certain then that Nature gives us nothing of Regular it only makes us Prodigal or Rash it is only Art or Education that can teach us how we must govern our selves to be rightly liberal or courageous It is not difficult to judge from hence that they who seem to have the best Nature have need of the best Education to the end they may retrench or regulate that which Nature has given them Let us declare the truth A Lady born with the faculty of Speaking readily will without Education become a meer Tatler A serious Humour will become Morose A Prudent Wit will grow crafty and deceitful Nature wanders if we do not conduct and guide it even the force and vigour of it becomes prejudicial if we have not Art and Light for it to make use of BUT IF I suppose all that which I have been last speaking may be false and that it is more easie to become exactly Vertuous in that to which we incline than in that which we do not incline to what praise then would be merited hereby What great matter is it for a Man to be good when he cannot be bad What honour can we pretend to deserve in being Vertuous there where we cannot offend but by constraint and endeavour If there be good fortune in this yet there is no glory due to it It is no more a matter of Praise to have a Vertue so natural than to be born with a fair Face or a robust Body And to speak rightly concerning this matter it must be said Those Vertues which are natural to us proceed very often from an ill Principle the Patience that is natural comes from Flegm and Stupidity the Boldness that is allied to the Temperament comes from Ignorance or want of Wit And especially since there is no liberty nor choice in the matter there can be neither any glory or merit But if I grant there is some knowledge and choice attending the practice of those Vertues yet certainly where there is so much easiness to do what is done it must be reckon'd to deserve the less Praise It was not so much a matter of wonder to see Demades become a good Orator as it was for Demosthenes to be so I say Demosthenes because Nature had seem'd to deny him both Tongue and Lungs and yet he rendred himself so admirable in Eloquence that his Example alone is sufficient to show that there is almost nothing impossible to Art and that there is hardly any defect which we may not correct as he did his by labour and study It is in this that we merit the greatest glory when notwithstanding a natural repugnance and aversion that we have to do well in any case yet we do not fail to acquire a habit of doing it Certainly to raise a Vertue in a Temper that is contrary to it is to do as those Kings who to show their Power cause Palaces and places of Pleasure to be made in Desarts and upon Rocks What a glory was it to Heraclides to become a Philosopher when he had so very little Inclination to Wisdom and for Socrates to become a good Man who had so little Disposition to Vertue What a glory is it to see a Person Chast while Nature makes the Blood boil high in the Veins How glorious was it to see a Philosopher drag a trembling Body to the Wars and to see a Spirit bold while the sense is weak and fearful In truth I love better the Courage of Cato than that of Ajax I like the Boldness that is founded in Reason rather than that which proceeds from the Blood I do not wonder at all that the Blind make nothing of Lightning or that the Deaf are not terrified at Thunder In the same Proportion that there is a want of the knowledge of an evil there must be without doubt a want of the fear of it That only amazes me to see so many great Persons who have
THE EXCELLENT WOMAN Described BY HER TRUE CHARACTERS AND THEIR OPPOSITES Licensed and Entered LONDON Printed for Joseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XC II. TO THE EXCELLENT AND MUCH HONOURED LADY The Lady Mary Walcot MADAM THERE is not any Thing that can Recommend Vertue to the World with so much Force and Advantage as the Examples of those that eminently Practise it Vertue is like Beauty in this That it has Peculiar and Nameless Charms in the Living Original which no Art can possibly represent in the Draughts or Descriptions of it But 't is the great Unhappiness of the World that these Excellent Examples are seldom very Numerous And none but those who live within the Sphere of their Converse can have the Benefit of their Influence And which is yet a greater Disadvantage perhaps several of these like your Ladiship do Love and Chuse Retirement In which case they can be seen but by Few All that we can do then for the Rest of the World towards the making them in Love with Vertue and the perswading them to Court and seek it lies in these following Things We must present them with as exact a Draught and Picture of this Beauty as we can in the clear and distinct Explications of Vertue We must add to this the most fitting and advantageous Dress in giving it the becoming Illustrations and deserved Praises And it may further conduce to our Purpose to draw also and set near the Former the deform'd Characters of the opposite Vices which like a Black-a-more by a Fair Lady will set off the Beauty to more Advantage Thus much I presume is tolerably perform'd in the following Book which is greatly Ambitious to obtain the Honour of Your Ladiship 's Approbation Besides these there is but one Thing remaining that can be serviceable to our Purpose But 't is that which seems as Necessary and Conducing as all the Rest that we can do And that is to assure the World That the Excellent Draught or Picture we have made is the Description and Character of some Real Person who rather Excels than falls short of the Representation Without this the Skill of the Representer may be admired but the Thing represented cannot when it is not known that there is any such Thing really in Being and so the Design of the Labour would be lost and the End frustrated When we propose a Person in whom those Excellent Characters of Vertue may all be found and that with advantage then we make it known that the Precepts and Rules prescrib'd are not Notions but Practice they are not only what ought to be done but what is done they are not invented but are raised frâ—â— Observation When we can mention an Excellent Example we confute that Prejudice which deters the Cowardly and Mean Spirits from the Pursuit of Vertue who represent it to themselves as too strict in the Rules of it as a Thing in Imagination only and as too difficult or even impossible to be put in Practice And we do that which will inspire the more Generous Souls with a Spirit of Emulation and kindle in all such a brave Ambition to imitate and equal if they can what is so Excellent and Commendable It is for this Madam that I have made so bold as to set Your Ladiship 's Name to the Front of this Book 'T is well known of Your Ladiship by all that have the Honour and the Happiness of Your Acquaintance that the best Characters here are no more the Description of an Excellent Woman than they are Characters of You. And they will all bear with me this Testimony to Your Worth that wherein soever this Description comes short of the Subject it might be perfectly compleated by one that were able to compleat Your Excellent Character To the Instances of particular Vertues in the Body of the Book I had a Desire to add an Universal One. This Apology Madam I ought to make for my Interrupting Your better Employment for venturing to Publish those Vertues to the World which Your Ladiship does seek to Conceal and for ascribing those Praises which You are as unwilling as deserving to receive I hope You will be pleased to Pardon that which a Zeal for the Honour and Advantage of Your Sex has inspired and suffer me to Subscribe MADAM Your Ladiship 's Most Humble and Devoted Servant T. D. THE PREFACE To the Female Sex I Present you here with a Piece of Morality wherein you have the Characters of Vertues and Vices drawn indeed with design to Recommend the One Sort and to Expose the Other Yet I think it is done with Sincerity too and that there needs no more but to represent these Things truly for both those Purposes The Book I am sure would most effectually recommend its self to you if you would take the Pains to Read and Consider it well and compare what it says with the Common Practice of the World This is the best Way to know fully how Vseful and Important to you those Intimations are which are here presented But since this cannot be known without such an use of it and especially those who have most need of these Instructions will be apt to neglect them I think fit to say some few Things to Recommend the Reading of it It is design'd and directed to serve the Honour and Happiness of the Female Sex who are perhaps the larger Half of Mankind and who doubtless are or may be as Important at least as the Other I cannot chuse but think that the Glory and Worth and Happiness of any Nation depends as much upon them as upon the Men. And perhaps others will be of my Mind if it be consider'd That we are born of them that we commonly derive from them what we are in our Nature more than from the other Parent So far as this does depend upon the frame of the Body which is not a little it is form'd in the Womb. We are beholden to our Mothers Vertue and good Disposition and wise ordering of her self for our natural Inclinations to any Vertue for the Calmness of our Temper for the Brightness of our Wit for the Regularity of our Constitutions and for the Strength of our Bodies And on the contrary from their Exorbitant Passions we are disposed to great Passions and from their ungovern'd Appetites their Intemperance and other Vices we often derive the Strength of Vitious Inclinations a crazy Constitution and a weak Body But further will their Influence upon the World appear if we consider that Invincible and Vniversal Law of Nature which inclines the other Sex to love and seek their Conversation and Company From hence it must needs follow That their Influence upon the Men may be commonly as great as they will Their Example will effectually lead us we cannot chuse but put on some Conformity to those whom we love Their Perswasions and Instigations will powerfully provoke and excite us their Approbation and Applause is