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
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
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
There is indeed some appearance of Ill in the Writings of the Ancients and there is nothing but an empty appearance of good in the Romances which are read insomuch that if we take away the Mask and pierce the Shell of the one and the other we shall find nothing but Vice in these last mentioned and nothing but Vertue in the other We ought not to abandon the Ancients for so little evil as is in them nor espouse the Romances for so little good as is in them It is sufficient to retrench and pare the one sort but the other are to be entirely thrown away IT MAY BE this my Opinion of them may be displeasing to some to whom a Lie appears more beautiful than Truth and who can take no delight but in that which is unprofitable and think the time cannot be well passed away unless it be lost Why say they is the Reading of Romances forbidden when the Use of the Poets is allow'd And what pretence can there be to believe that Fictions are more dangerous in Prose than in Verse What necessity is there that for trivial Considerations we should deprive our selves of the sweetest Pleasures of Life And what greater contentment can a man contrive for himself than to read in Romances so many different successes where we find our Passions still in motion according to the Adventures that are presented Yea and tho we know very well that the Objects which affect us never had a being in the world and never will yet we suffer our selves very often to entertain a true compassion for feigned miseries and dissolve into tears for imaginary Shepherds They add further we ought not to throw away any Books because there is something of Ill in them as it is not reasonable to resolve never to go to Sea because there are Shelves and Sands there or because the art of Navigation is not infallibly successful as appears in that there are some that yearly suffer Shipwreck either by misfortune or by ignorance It is not at all just to abandon that which is good because it is sometimes mingled with bad Prudence teaches to separate the Vice from the Vertue rather than to shun both together otherwise we must pluck out our Eyes that we may not abuse our looks and never venture to stir lest we should happen to fall Besides why is it forbidden to Romances to present us with Lives of them that never were any more than to Painters to draw Imaginary persons or to paint according to their own fancy a piece of Grotesque Why may not the one sort be permitted to divert the mind by their Writings as well as the other to refresh the Eye with their Pictures Why is the Pen in this case to be accounted more culpable than the Pencil and may we not describe in words what we may by Pictures AND TO SAY truth that we may answer to this Apology for Romances I do not at all doubt that if any one of them could be found that were entirely honest it were not Injustice to defend the reading of it And provided one could find in them any good divertisement without danger of corrupting the mind there would be no cause to complain of them any more than of those recreations that innocently pass the time and refresh us after the fatigue of Study or Business But when I think of the very ill things which the most of Romances are fill'd with when I consider how many minds are debauched with these poisonous Books I should account my self very guilty if I did not shew the snares to those who apprehend no danger and declare open war with these corrupters of innocence And in truth to examine this matter throughly what satisfaction can any seek in Romances which may not be found in History May we not see there the sucesses the adventures and the Events that are sufficiently pleasant or sufficiently tragick as well of Love as Fortune to move or instruct or divert Can there be any thing more pleasant than to see the Birth and the ruine of Empires and Monarchies and to know in a little time that which was several long Ages in passing Is not this a very commendable way to shorten the time when it seems too long and even to bring back again that which was past When we find there refreshment against weariness and remembrance to prevent oblivion What can be said to prove that we cannot divert without corrupting our selves or that the mind cannot be pleased unless we bring the conscience in danger But if I grant that sometimes there are good Instructions to be found in Romances Yet what engagement are we under to conform our course of life to an imaginary Representation or how shall we bring our selves to imitate examples which we know to be false Do we miss of excellent Patterns in History or do we need Painted and feigned Stars to serve us in the stead of those that adorn the Sky This is a very great Errour And if Bees are not able to gather Honey from Flowers in a Picture as little is it possible to us to receive advantage from a History which we know was invented to please I may grant too that there is some pleasure in the reading of Romances But is there not often an agreeable relish in the food that is poison'd We must abandon that which pleases to avoid that which would hurt and renounce a great pleasure to avoid a little danger Otherwise to propose to our selves the separating what seems to be good in Romances from what is truly evil there or to take pleasure in the relations without being defiled with the uncleanness which they convey under a disguise and which throws out a thousand Hooks with the pleasant Lines to catch the fancy of the Reader this were to throw ones self into a conflagration that we might rescue something from the flames that is of little worth or importance It were to propose to our selves the separating of Wine from the Poison as we drink after we had mingled them together And indeed since we may find divertisement joyn'd with instruction in a History why should we separate the profitable from the pleasant which we may enjoy together To entertain the mind as well as to preserve the body there is no need that we separate the pleasure of the Palate from the usefulness of the Food since reading as well as eating ought to strengthen at the same time that it pleases It is not only superfluous and needless to read these Books but extreamly dangerous too And how much pains soever we take to defend our selves from infection yet we take it The mischief enters insensibly into our Soul with the pleasing words and under the charms of those adventures that affect us Whatever Wit a person has however innocent he is yet as our bodies do without our consent partake of the quality of the things we eat so our minds espouse even in spite of us the Spirit
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
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
less foolish to believe that there is no longer any Love in the Mind of one that is jealous than it would be to think that a Man has no Life in him when he complains he is sick On the contrary as the grief and the sense of Sickness are not found in those that are Dead so Jealousie can never be met with where there is really a Hatred and Indifference And it may well be that this Passion may have an appearance of Reason for it since God himself heretofore permitted to the Husbands a tryal of the faithfulness of their Wives with the Water which was call'd the Water of Jealousie or Probation If the suspicion of this sort had been a thing extravagant and unjust God had forbidden it directly instead of appointing so solemn a remedy for the cure of it and had testified a Hatred rather than a Compassion for this Malady Also they deceive themselves grosly who think they have rendered Jealousie altogether Criminal when they have said That it makes us have too bad an Opinion of our own Merit or of the Fidelity of the Person whom we love If we examine well this Passion we shall not find that it comes often from a distrust of our selves and that we do not cease for that to believe our selves Amiable or others Amorous It is a fear that does not so much discover our weakness as it does declare that the Merit of what we love may make it sought after And what do any in this which is not done by all for a Treasure or any other valuable thing which it is not possible for us to love without having some fear of losing it As they that believe very firmly may receive something of doubt so the most assured in love are capable of some suspicion The strongest Trees are moved with the Winds though the Roots are fast when the Branches and the Leaves are shaken One would perhaps be very willing to throw off an ill Opinion but the likenesses and conjectures sollicit and shake us till we are forced to conclude rather on the side of fear than assurance During this irresolution the Mind suffers much and the appearances give a great deal of pain when we cannot certainly judge whether they be true or false There are good and bad Examples either to make fear or to cure it but ordinarily we fix our Thoughts more upon those Examples that persecute than on those that may comfort us Such an one as that of Penelope affords comfort when one represents to himself that she was twenty five Years faithful during the Absence of Vlysses so long But that of Messalina torments and awakens suspicion when one thinks of her Infamy and Filthiness Our Spirit wavers between both sides and it is an unhappiness that conjectures having alarm'd us we find or we invent by much examining something to change our doubt into a belief And if it be said that we ought to be at rest after the experience that we have made of a Person who has testified her Affection by many effects It seems to me that these Proofs cannot hinder but that we shall have a great deal of Trouble because the fear that sometimes is not in our power will put the worst Interpretation upon the least appearances even to the busying it self afterwards with false Objects when it has not true ones Whatever Fidelity we have proved when Love has no more to desire it begins to fear all This is the natural course of our Passions which always threaten a change when they are extream and which fall of themselves without a true cause to do so only because they are mutable and humane Hippocrates has given us a Maxim to be observed That our Bodies are in danger of a Disease when they have too much health and strength A Poet has made an handsomer one concerning the alteration of those Minds that have too violent an Affection The Will says he deserves a Wheel of Inconstancy for its Passions as well as Fortune does for her Favours when we are raised to the top we cannot long stay there either out of our infelicity or our weakness Those that are arrived at the most eminent degree of Love are like them that stand upon a very high building or hill their Brain is confused and though no Person thrusts them they stagger and even fall of themselves through the meer fear of falling When the Sun is arrived at the heighth of Noon he begins to go downward for that not being able to get above that pitch he retires and withdraws himself into another Hemisphere without being driven by any Person to it Our Minds seem to have the same Motions a disgust follows the pleasure by an order no less natural than that which makes the Night succeed and take place of the Day We find our selves insensibly weary'd with pleasant things and though the Soul be Immortal in its Nature yet in its Actions which have the Body and Animal Spirits for their Instruments it fails not to testifie a Youth or Old Age with the Body Socrates said That the Gods had endeavour'd to mingle together Pleasure and Pain but when they found this could not be done at least they would needs fasten them by their Tails to the end that one might succeed the other so to hinder in us both Insolence and Despair This comes to pass sometimes when we contribute nothing towards it voluntarily and as we pass from Joy to Sadness so we often perceive that our Love changes it self either into coldness or indifference The Distempers of the Mind as well as those of the Body do very often form themselves without our consent we lose the Rest of the Soul as we do our Health all at once sometimes without having foreseen this change and without being able to find either the Cause or the Remedy of this Passion any more than we can that of a Quartan Ague BUT I HAVE too long spoken against my own sentiment as well as against truth it self in favour of a Passion that ruins our Love our Reputation and the Quiet of the Mind Reason begets Love and Love Jealousie but both the one and the other of these prove what some sorts of Worms are to the Subject in which they are bred that is the Destruction of it The one kills the Father the other the Mother Let this Passion be moderated as it can be it is always dangerous and for this it is necessary to to commit an Injustice in taking away the use of it for the sake of the abuse because the one is too much fastened to the other As there is not any Serpent so little but it has some Poison so there is no Jealousie so well regulated as not to engender a great deal of Mischief They that compare it to the Ivy have made a handsome Comparison for ordinarily that grows only upon old and ruinous Buildings in like manner this Passion chuses out of all the rest of Mankind
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
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
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