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CHAP. IV. Of LOVE.

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LOVE is the first Impression that affects the Appetite; proceeding from the Pleasure conceiv’d in a Real or Imaginary GOOD.

IT is the CEMENT of Affections, and the Effect of a certain Congruity of Minds; sympathetically arising from the DIASTOLE and SYSTOLE of affected Hearts.

IT is (as a certain Author defines it) a sacred Frenzy of the Soul, and a Divine Madness, elevating Men to the Pitch of Saints, and rendring them the Care of Benigner Dæmons: so far that they are every where safe, being under the Protection of GODS and Men; as the Poet familiarly expresses it, Quisquis Amore tenetur, eat tutúsq; sacèrq;——

IT is a kind of a wonderful satisfactory Death, and a voluntary Separation of Soul and Body. The Lover’s Mind is in one Place; his Body, in Another; and He himself is No Where, if he be not with the Object of his LOVE: So that (in a manner) it transforms the LOVER into the Object beloved; and all this without any evident Trouble, or if there be any Trouble, still the Trouble is lov’d, with apparent Satisfaction and Delight. As it is ingeniously said, Ubi Amatur, non laboratur; & si laboratur, labor Amatur.

LOVE always springs and blooms with fresh Desires, with young and vigorous Inclinations. It is so riveted in our Natures, that our Blood must first grow cold and be congeal’d by Death, before this FLAME can be extinguish’d: Nay, sometimes it is more fervent, tho’ of shorter Duration, in our latest Hours, than in our Prime. For like as the OIL which feeds a Lamp, when almost spent, the startled Flame begins to rouze itself, and burn afresh, as if it would fain subsist a little longer; tho’ on the very Dregs of its accustomed Fuel, it crackles and flashes with greater Noise and Lustre than before, but presently expires: So does the Amorous Fire, when we are nearest our Dissolution, begin to trouble us most, and makes our Soul to blaze with greater Fevers of Desire and Grief, knowing its Period to be near at hand.

LOVE is like the Palm-Tree, the more oppressed with Weights, the Higher it grows. It always desires to encrease, dilate, and stretch itself farther still, leading to an Harmonious Union of Hearts. Riches cannot purchase Love. Neither Threats nor Violence can either force or restrain it; which being free by Nature, as proceeding from the Freedom of the Will, disdains all Compulsion; subduing all, and unsubdued by any Opposition. In short, it is so generous, that whereas all other Affections and Actions aim at different Rewards; LOVE only is contented with Love, holding nothing else as a sufficient Recompence.

LOVE made Ulysses, rather than forsake his dear Penelope, refuse IMMORTALITY itself at Calipso’s hands.

LOVE is the oldest of our Passions, in that it came into the World with us; and from thence it becomes habitual to a good NATURE, and a brave SOUL.

LOVE is the most noble and generous of our Passions, it soon removes all puny Obstacles in its way. It is ready, prompt, and dexterous to find Excuses or Forgiveness for the greatest FAULTS, and much more to palliate the Peccadillo’s of the Beloved. It does by a peculiar Force and Virtue extirpate all Revenge, and blot out the MEMOIRS of past Unkindnesses.

LOVE triumphantly overcomes all Things. All things yield to its Power; and the more we oppose it, the stronger Resistance it makes. It conquers the greatest Hearts, and victoriously subdues the most magnanimous Souls. Alexander the Great, was not exempted from this insuperable Passion, at the sight of Darius’s fair Daughters. No, LOVE made Hercules, the Son of JUPITER himself, stoop and truckle to the Female Conqueror; according to the following known Distich,

“Lenam non potuit, potuit superare Leænant,

“Quem Fera non potuit vincere, vicit Hera.

IN fine, I think it is also ingeniously well defin’d in this ensuing Hexastick, by Mr. Howel^[35],

“Fax grata est, gratum est vulnus, mihi grata Catena est,

“Me quibus astringit, lædit & urit Amor;

“Sed Flammam extingui, sanari Vulnera, sulvi

“Vinc’la, etiam ut possem non ego posse velim:

“Mirum equidem Genus hoc Morbi est, Incendia & Ictus

“Vinc’laq; vinctus adhuc, læsus & ustus Amo.

Grateful’s to me the Fire, the Wound, the Chain,

By which Love burns, Love binds, and giveth Pain:

But for to quench this Fire, these Bonds to loose,

These Wounds to heal, I would not, could I, choose:

Strange Sickness, where the Wounds, the Bonds, the Fire

That burns, that bind, that hurt, I must desire.

THE Omniscient Creator, at the Beginning, implanted in the Nature of Both Sexes this Faculty of Love, accompanied with a fervent Desire of Procreation; furnishing them (for this Purpose) with proper adapted Organs, and other suitable Means of Generation: which, in themselves, are no less wise and wonderful, than the great Design of propagating the World by successive Generations, is profound and miraculous; as will more manifestly appear, by explaining their Order, Propriety, and Disposition, in Sect. 4. Chap. 5, 6, &c.

AND to compensate many subsequent Griefs thereupon, Nature added to Man and Woman an ardent Desire of mutual Embraces, concomitated with certain alluring Enticements to Multiplication; to the end that in Congression they might be so delightfully charme’d, as to forget, or at least vilipend and slight all other trifling Annoyances.

THUS, in short, Nature hath cared and provided for Propagation and Posterity; not only in the Human Race, but also in all other Species of Creatures, according to the excellent Poet^[36];

“Omne adeo genus in terris hominúmq; Ferarúmq;

“Et genus Æquoreum, pecudes, pictæq; Volucres,

“In furias ignemq; ruunt: Amor omnibus idem.——

“Quid Juvenis, &c.——

Thus ev’ry Creature, and of ev’ry Kind,

The secret Joys of sweet Coition find:

Not only Man’s imperial Race; but they

That wing the liquid Air, or swim the Sea,

Or haunt the Desart, rush into the Flame:

For Love is Lord of all; and is in all the same.

’Tis with this Rage, the Mother-Lion stung,

Scours o’er the Plain; regardless of her Young:

Demanding Rites of Love, she sternly stalks;

And hunts her Lover, in his lonely Walks.

’Tis then the shapeless Bear his Den forsakes;

In Woods and Fields a vast Destruction makes.

Boars whet their Tusks, to battle Tygers move,

Enrag’d with Hunger, more enrag’d with Love.

BUT all ludicrous Diversions apart! I proceed hence to a necessary Consequence of this Noble Natural PASSION; viz.