Chapter II: BY reason the several Branches of these HEADS are so very many and

different, that to discuss ’em all _Here_, as I ought to do, would too much swell the _Bulk_ of the _Volume_, and enhance the _Price_ of this _BOOK_; which I design for the Good of the _poorer_ Sort of _Women_, as well as the Benefit of the _Rich_. However, what is most _Essential_ and necessarily _Requisite_, shall not be omitted (at least _coincidently_) in its _proper Place_. Wherefore I shall leave the VIRGIN, after a digressive Hint in the following _Section_, upon her darling _Passion_, [_LOVE_]: and supposing her to have _alter’d_ her _Condition_, I shall thenceforward treat her as a WIFE.

CHAP. IV.
_Of LOVE._

_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._

CHAP. V.
_Of COPULATION._

THIS _Conjunction_ of both SEXES, is the _Consummation_ of LOVE, and the _Pinnacle_ of the _Lover_’s natural Felicity. It is the Sum and superlative Degree of their _terrene Happiness_; above which the _Lovers_ cannot aspire, naturally speaking, in _Human Society_.

THIS is also the utmost _Height_ of their eager Desires, and the greatest _Extent_ of their languishing Wishes. It is the _Abatement_, as well as the _Completion_ of their unbounded _Passions_, and the _Tranquillity_ of their restless _Minds_. However yet——

THIS ACT is _Two-fold_; _Fæcund_ and successful, or _Sterile_ and unsuccessful in the Event.