little Offices of Kindness, that are due to a Person of Merit: But he had every jot as good Reason to leave her off, and give her over, as foon as ever he found his tendereft Cares were fruitlefs, and that there was no longer any room for Hope. Befides, are not there good Reafons for quitting the worfe for the better, and for leaving Phillis, who, all charming as fhe is, falls infinitely fhort of Califta? Thus it comes to pass, that all Lovers may be allow'd to be reasonably inconftant, altho' they have no other Reason for ceafing to love them, but that they cease to be amiable and lovely in their Eyes.

REASON.

THO'I an't thoroughly convinc'd of all you've been faying, I will not throw away time upon fending and proving any farther as to that Point, because I have another thing to ask of you, that touches me nearer, and goes more to my Heart than all the reft. How come you, cruel and unjust Love, how come you fo often to fteal in between Perfons of unequal Rank and Condition, and that fo very unequal too, that fometimes by your Juftice, Princes are feen to fall in Love with Waiting Women, and Queens with Slaves? I can very willingly pardon you, when you join together Perfons that are equal; nay, more, I then approve your Conduct, I come into your measures, and give you the Advantage of my Name and Authority. But how can you think I will ever fuffer, that a Lady of Quality shall sometimes prefer a great brawny broad-back'd ill-favour'd Clown to the best made Gentleman that can be? How can I help complaining, when a Prince, or fome great Lord chooses in the midst of a vaft Number of Women, as confiderable for Beauty as their Birth, the Daughter of a Cit, or fome Waiting Woman, that has in her nothing taking, nothing fine, but what you put into the Head of that Prince or Lord, and abuse and affrent his Imagination with? Mayn't one condemn your Irregularity on the like Occafion? Mayn't one justly accuse you of breaking thro' your own Principles, fince Sympathy, which ought to be the Principle of all your Ac

tions,

tions, has no hand in Amours of this kind; for what Sympathy can there be between a Prince and a Waiting-Woman, a Queen and a Slave? Yet have we many of thefe Examples, that convince the World, that you are intirely my Enemy.

LOVE.

I never did what you reproach me for. I know Princes have fometimes lov'd their Slaves; but it follows not at all from thence, that I have join'd Persons that are unequal. When 1 kindle up in their Souls an unequal Flame, I either raife the Slave to the Princefs, or bring down the Princess to the Slave. And I always put them upon a level, in regard to my self, tho they don't appear fo to the Eyes of those who are ignorant of my powerful and myfterious Ways of acting. I always ftrictly obferve that Sympathy which you accufe me of renouncing; For Sympathy does not confift, as you feem to imagine, in a Parity of Condition, Wealth and Honour; but it confifts in a Similitude of Birth, of being under the fame Conftellation, having the fame Temper, and the fame Inclinations. And mayn't there be fuch a Conformity as this between two Persons, whom Condition, Riches and Honours may have put upon an unequal Footing? I can explain and clear up this Matter to you, that this Sympathy is fufficient to put all the World upon a level; but this is a Knowledge that I referve to my own felf; and Policy teaches me, for the Good of my Empire, that it ought ftill to remain a Secret and undifcovered to Reason. That Sympathy, that unfeen Equality, thofe fecret Springs of Paffion, thofe hidden Rivers, that join together the Hearts and Souls of different Sexes, are the Foundations on which all my Power fubfifts: Or rather, all those things put together, am I my own felf in the Abftract, who love to appear in my Effects, and to hide their Caufe. This is what conftitutes a fubftantial Difference between your Empire and mine : For you can't give out your Orders like an abfolute Miftrefs, because you are bound to give a Reason for every thing you do: And indeed, to tell you the Truth of the Matter, 'tis a

L 3

Maxim

Maxim establish'd in my Dominions, That one who reafoneth well must be but a weak Lover; and one rubo, well and truly loveth, must be but a bad Reafoner.

REASON.

I can fee plainly, by the laft Words that came out of your Mouth (ill-natur'd Adverfary of mine!) that my Converfation begins to be troublesom to you. You have not been accuftom'd to Reafon for fo long together: 'Tis a Violence done upon your Temper, to hold you in Difcourfe upon this point, though I have a great many things to ask you: I will have done, because it will offend you. Befides, I know 'tis time loft, and that we fhall never be able to come to any End in a Treaty of Peace. I had it once in my head, that by our meeting together in the wife and beautiful SIMPLICIA, we fhould have contracted fuch an Union. as never was feen between us; and that in the Prefence of fo charming a Lady, I might have brought Love to Reafon.

LOVE.

COMFORT your felf, good Madam, as to that Point; it has happen'd much better than you defign'd: If Reafon hath not brought Love to be reasonable, I am willing to believe, that in the Prefence of SIMPLICIA, Love has brought Reason to be a Lover.

B

Friday,

N° 684.

M

Friday, June 27.

Et vera inceffu patuit Dea·

Virg.

Y own Paffion comes upon me apace, and whilft I am promoting Wedlock for the Happiness of others; which fhews that, tho' I am an old Fellow, I have a true Relish for that kind of Felicity, and I should be guilty of an unpardonable Injury to my felf, if I totally neglect my own Concerns in that Way. IfI am old, it is Simplicia's Praife that she could, as it were, new create me, and recal me into Youth. And I defire no more Perfons to praise her Power, than what fhall be convinced by the "Character I give of her, that The deferves it all; because I am convinc'd my own felf, that as many as fhall read this Character, will join in her applaufe, and the more after having affured them that the beauty of her Character had infinitely fuffer'd under my Hands, if in any other Particular, I had offered to omit, or pretended to add to the Truth. For I will own, as much a Lover as I am, that I am not become one of those gay Coxcombs of Fire, whofe Reason is melted away in the raging Heats of Paffion. What I write, fhall be pretty Simplicia her own felf; and what better Entertainment can my Countrymen defire for one Day, than to hear the real Character of a young Blooming Beauty, who is the Ornament of the Country wherein the lives.

NOTHING furely, in Nature, can exceed those Eyes that glitter in fo fine a Face; that Shape, in the Comparison of which, the Grecian Mould of Venus would perhaps feem not fo exact and regular; that Mien, that Air, in Brightnefs, Comelinefs, Delicacy of Proportion, in Grace and Majefty, in fine, in an overcoming Vivacity; but the inferior Beauties and Virtues of her

L4

Mind,

Mind, which can be equall'd by nothing but that Wit which is beflow'd on her to make her alone perfect, and to render fome of her Perfections more communicable to that Sex, of which she is the Pride, the Boast and the Glory.

SHE never valued her Beauty, as the chief Confideration on which the defired to be valued, but looks upon that fo liable to Accident, that it is commonly but a bad Security, and indifferent Infurance, for any more than a fhort liv'd Regard; and the looks on thofe Women as justly ferved by Mankind, who ceafe to be admired, when they lofe thofe Features, that Bloom of Complexion, that fet of Teeth, and Tincture of the Skin, for which alone they admired and loved themselves.

SHE is however fenfible, that what the poffeffes is the Gift of Heaven, and is very thankful and grateful for it, inasmuch as Men of Senfe and Merit, who have Eyes as well as others, may be by that firft allured, and put upon the fearch to find out her more intrinfick Worth. And when a Man of Senfe hath been with her a Moment or two, he well presently find that she is gifted with that kind of Converfation, in the enjoyment of which it would be the most agreeable thing to him in the World, to pass his whole Life. For in Matters that are ferious, there are few Ladies that can fhewa ftock of good Senfe, and fo exquifite a Judgment; and in things of lefs Importance, that are only the mere Subjects of Discourse, no Body has that Vivacity of Thought, and that polite and dexterous Turn of Words, which makes her the very Mistress of that Character which Mr. Dryden gives to Wit, viz.

Propriety in Word and Thought.

AND what is more admirable, this is in her no borrow'd Beauty, fhe does not gather and collect it out of Books; but all the witty Phrafes the utters, are the pure Marks of her natural Genius, and not the Effects of her Memory. For with all the Wit fhe has, fhe has no more than a Woman ought to have, and it is of that very fort, which diftinguishes the fine Gentlewoman. She has fo much Civil Art, that with wonderful Ad

drefs