PErfection is a Flower, that grows not in the Garden of this Sub­lunary World: the fairest Day may be overcast with Clouds; the Moon hath her Spots, and the Greatest their Failings. No Person can plead Priviledge from Error in this Life; for as the Poet saith,

These things considered, it is an asto­nishment to me, that this Innocent and [Page 2] Harmless Sex should meet with such Calumnies (as palpable as injurious) from Hypercritical Men; such as are Facie tantum Homines, non Animo; who bear about them nothing but the Form of Man that's manly; whose best Elocution is the worst Detracti­on, labouring to vilifie them, with­out whose Being they had not been; therefore to them, as to our Second Self, we owe, at least, the Duty of Good Language. Beyond all contro­versie, he is a barbarous Parricide to his Mother's Name, that ingratefully murders her Reputation who contri­buted to his Generation; gave him Lodging and Diet in her own Womb; brought him into the World with Grief, Pain, and Sorrow; bred him up in the World with Care, Cost, and Trouble; and, in Requital, hath no other Return, when he arrives at Maturity, than Foul Ink for the pure Milk wherewith she fed him in his Infancy. Such Persons as these, like [Page 3] peevish Wasps, scorn the Flower from which they fetch'd their Wax, and they that Woman from whom they re­ceived Life.Secker in his Serm. intitl. The Wedding-Ring. Peace, wicked Man! unworthy to breathe, that dost not love thy Breath-giver; unworthy to have a Tongue, that speakest against her through whom thou speakest. In a word, we took our Rise from their Bowels, and may take our Rest in their Bosoms.Id. Ibid. 'Tis not Good thus to play the Butcher with that Naked Sex, who have Arms, but for Embraces. Thus we see the purest White is most subject to the smutch, and the most unspotted Re­putation to the Bespattering of Male­volent Tongues. Thus Noble Gold down to the Bottom goes, whilst worthless Cork above doth floating lye; and, as one saith very well:

But to proceed. Those usual Sa­tyrs and Invectives against that Sweet­ly-temper'd Sex, only Betray Man's greater Imbecillity; for we know, a a good Cause needs not the Patron­age of Passion, but can maintain it self by a Moderate Dispute: besides, a serious Reflection upon Man's own Unworthiness, methinks, should make him backward in challenging Prero­gative above Woman; and I would advise such opinionative Fops, who are Bladder'd up, as much as the Tym­pany of Pride and Vanity can make them, not to have an overshooting Conceit of themselves; but remem­ber they are Men, whose Reason is frequently over-clouded with Error. We are all Moles, even to the Great­est of our own Sins; but, in a Fe­male's Life, we can spy out the mean­est Peccadillo with Eagle's Eyes, or those as sharp, as the Epidaurean Ser­pent's. But certenly they are not Men, who thus Rail against that Sex: [Page 5] no; they'r a Viperous Brood, whom Women, in Charity, take into their Bosoms and cherish, for which they ingratefully sting them; a Fact so barbarous, the Turc himself would Blush to do it to a Christian. And would it not vex a Royal Spleen? A Passion kindle in a Stoic's Breast, to see them thus abus'd? Notwith­standing all this; there are some Men, (would I cou'd only say som) tho beyond all dispute the Children of the Meu Peuple, of a sordid and Base Extract, who never think them­selves well, but when they are in the Predicament of injurious Passion. Nay farther, (if we may credit Fonseca, as undoubtedly we may) he says, (and that modestly too) Non possunt omnes Invectivae & Satyrae in Foemi­nas scriptae uno Volumine comprehendi. All the Invectives and Satyrs against Women cannot be comprehended in one Volume. Yet I'l be bold to maintain; That those Rude and In­digested [Page 6] Pamphlets, which Men have scribled against that Sex, do so stink in the Nostrils of Good Men (who have compos'd as much, nay more in their merited Commendation) that they are only thought fit to be bound up with the Metamorphosis of A-jax, and placed in Pantagruel's Library; so that in short, this only proves, that every Countrey-man can produce a snarling Momus, and every Age a scoffing Lucian; But this profligate Crew are only such, as have vomit­ed out of their Souls all remnants of Goodness; and who can expect a sweet Breath from such foul Stomacs. Their Reasons (if any) are but the Froth and Scum of Envy and Malice; the Fruits of Choler Adust, and the Evaporations of a Vindicative Spirit: Now what they are, and of what Weight you shall soon understand; and in order thereunto we will first remove this Rubbish from the Foun­dation, for the better consolidating [Page 7] of the Superstructure; by demonstra­ting how easily their Aspersions and Sarcasms (as full of Obloquy, as pregnant with Impertinence) may be wip'd off.

First, They object, that Male and Female God made Man, so that Man be­ing first named, is the worthier Person; A pretty Argument indeed! so the Evening and the Morning made the first day; yet few will think the Night better. But the NobleGiovanni Francisco Loredana. Venetian, is so far from this Opinion, that he tells you plainly, had it not been infus'd into Adam by Revelation, that Woman was a part of himself, doubtless Dis­obedience had not been the first Pre­varication, but Idolatry; for Adam was about to adore her as a Goddess.

O! but Man was made her Gover­nour, and so consequently, her Supe­riour; to which one answers very pertinently; That 'twas not the Pre­rogative of his Worth, but the Pu­nishment [Page 8] of her Sin; had they both stood, 'tis probably conjectur'd she had never been in that subjection. There is onePeter Martyr. Divine in­deed, who seems to be of opinion, that Man had Priority be­fore the Fall; but we will confront him with a more Learned, Grave, Greek St. Chry­sostom. Father; whose know­ledge and Modesty will not permit him to be positive; so that he says he very much doubts it; which, in plain English, is no less than a Ne­gative; nay, the power of Comman­ding is in Reality, rather Political, than from equal Nature. Nor (saith aCornelius Agrippa, quoted by Whitlock in his Magne­tick Lady. Learned Author) can Man be above Woman; for, in the choice of Sexes, Christ took Man upon him as the lowest, being he was to ex­piate Man's Pride in the lowest Con­descention possible.

Some are so bold as to say, Wo­man was not created according to [Page 9] God's Image; To this the FamousDr. Donne, in his Sermon on the 28th of Matth. v 6. in his Volume of 80 Sermons, p. 242. Dean of St. Pauls suffici­ently and satisfactorily an­swers: However some Men out of Petulancy and Wantonness of Wit, or out of extravagancy of Paradoxes, and some Singularities, have call'd Womens Faculties and Abilities in question, even in the Root thereof, the Reasonable and Immortal Soul; yet that one thing alone hath been enuf to create a Doubt (almost an Assurance in the Negative) whether St. Ambrose his Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul, be truly his, or no? Now in that Book there is a Doubt made, whether Woman was created after God's Image? Therefore, because the Doubt is made, the Book it self is suspected, not to have so Great, so Constant an Author, as St. Ambrose was; No Author of Gravity, Piety, and Conversation in the Scripture, [Page 10] could admit that Doubt, Whether Woman was created in the Image of God, that is, in possession of a Reasonable and Immortal Soul? And farther, Woman, as well as Man, was made after the Image of God in the Creation; and in the Resurrection, when we shall rise, her Sex shall not diminish her Glory, of which she receives a very fair Beam and Incho­ation in this Text; That the pur­pose of God is communicated by the Ministry of Angels to Women.

Nay, the Blessed Virgin confutes all such frivolous Argumentators with her own Words in the Magnificat, by a pious Distinction of the Soul and Spirit; My Soul doth magnifie the Lord, and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour.

The Stagirite indeed calls (or in truth miscalls) Woman Animal occa­sionatum, a Creature made upon occa­sion, or by chance, and sayes she is Mas laesus, a maim'd, imperfect Male; [Page 11] but, I presume, no Christian dares ad­mit an Aristotle in competition with the Almighty, his Philosophy speaks too dully in this particular; for she is an Artificial Building, and from the Rafter or Plank of a Rib was the World built;Dancy's Ho­nour of La­dies. for this Reason was Eve call'd Living; but of this more hereafter. Man cannot be more perfect than Wo­man, as to the Formal Substance, be­cause the one and the other are com­prehended under the Kind of Man; that in which they differ is not a thing Essential.

Mulier est Vir occasionatus, say some; now if there be any Imperfe­ction in Woman, it must be in the Maker, or the Matter. To say 'tis in the former would be Blasphemy, and to blame the latter, were to wrong the Man, because she was taken out of him: Here let the proudest of those Misogyni answer this Author's Dilem­ma. Nay, the Stagyrite goes farther, [Page 12] and saith; they are Nature's Errata's, continually studying Temptations, comparing Woman to Materia Pri­ma, because it hath alwayes a desire to change it's Form, and tho it enjoy never so perfect a shape, it hath a ge­neral propensity to all other. (This is the Sum of his mutilated Philoso­phy.) The Philosopher intended by this odious Comparison, to prove Wo­man as insatiable and inconstant to Man, as Materia Prima is to Forms; but this is a most injurious similitude, and better agrees with his own, than Woman's Temper, since he (who could not be without them for all his Tatling, the common Fate and Destiny of such rash Inveyers) left Herina, one of his Misses, for ano­ther to whom he erected Altars, (ado­ring what he so much, seemingly, despis'd) to shew with greater So­lemnity, that he was more versatil and unsettled in mind than Woman: thus still we find, that they who play [Page 13] upon them most with their Wits, have them most in their Wishes.

Nor had Xenophilus (another of the same Profession) any better suc­cess, who rail'd downright, for many years, scorned, flouted, and scoffed at them, till at last he came into the Company of Daphnis, a Fair Maid, (as he condoles his mishap to his Friend Demaritis) tho free before, Intactus ullis ante Cupidinibus; was so far in Love, and captivated on a sudden, (so it seems 'twas Love at first-sight) that he came off pittifully with his Victus sum fateor à Daphnide. &c. I confess I am smitten with the Love of Daphnis.

Such another Misfortune had Stratocles, Burtons Me­lanc. p. 461. 462. the Physici­an; that Blear-ey'd, old man, muco plenus, a snotty, snivelling Fel­low, as Prodromus describes him. He, a severe Woman-hater all his Life­time; Foeda & contumeliosa semper in Foeminas profatus; a bitter Persecu­tor [Page 14] of the whole Sex. Humanas As­pides & Viperas appellabat; he for­sware them all still and derided them wheresoever he came, in such vile Terms that to have heard him, and re­plyed upon his [...], his bare word, had bin enuf to have made a Man hate his own Mother: yet this doting Fool (pardon the Expression, because tho a learned Man, he deserv'd it in this particular) was taken, at last, with the Celestial and Divine Aspect of Nupilla, (the poor Daughter of poor Anticles, a poor Gardner) that smirking Wench; that he shav'd off his bushy Beard, painted his Face, curl'd his Hair in a Glass, comasque ad Speculum disposuit, wore a Lawrel to cover his bald Pate, and besides was ready to run mad tor her; tho at last he obtain'd her, and when he was married (a terrible monstrous long day) the invigorated hot-Spur fir'd with Love, could not endure the Flame of his Amours till Night; [Page 15] He could not eat his Meat for kissing the Bride; nay, the Meat was scarce out of his Mouth, but he would needs go to Bed, without bidding adieu to the Guests.

Thus you see the stoutest of them all come at last to their Alma, precor, miserere mei! Fair Mistress pity me! I waste my Life, my Time, my Friends, my Fortune, and all to win your sin­gle Favour, which is all the Favour I aim at: though they have been for­merly most scurrilous and abusive in their Language, they do at length invertere stilum, and unsay what they formerly said with Shame and Confu­sion.

Witness also the great Bononian Doctor,Philippus Bero­aldus Comment. in 6 cap. Apuleii. who was once of Opinion, Impedire studia literarum, that Women did obstruct Men in [Page 16] their Study and Contemplation: but he recanted at last, and in a solemn manner, with true-conceived Words, did ask the World and all Women, Forgiveness. But you shall have the Story according to his own Relati­on: For a long time (saith he) I liv'd a single Life, and could not en­dure Marriage, but as a rambling Lo­ver, Erraticus, ac Volaticus Amator (to use his own Words) per multipli­ces Amores discurrebam. I took a Snatch where I could get it: nay more, I rail'd at Marriage downright; and at a Publick Auditory, when I did interpret the sixth Satyr of Juve­nal, out of Plutarch and Seneca I did heap up all the Dicteries I could against Women, but now recant with Stesichorus, Palinodiam canc, nec poe­nitet censeri in ordine Maritorum, and exhorts all Men to marry, and espe­cially Scholars; that as of old, so they may do now, hold the Candle, as Martia did to Hortensius, Terentiae [Page 17] to Tibullus, Calphurnia to Pliny, Pu­dentilla to Apuleius, Legentibus & Meditantibus candelas & candelabrum tenuerunt, who held the Candle whilst their Husbands did meditate; and so (saith he) doth my Dear Camilla to me. And truly the Fly may very fit­ly be their Emblem who sport thus in jest and are wounded in earnest.

And we may well upbraid and laugh at them with this Distich:

So severe against this Sex all were not, nay many of them had a better Opinion of them; for, they ascribed all Sciences to the Muses, all Sweet­ness [Page 18] and Morality to the Graces, Pro­phetick Inspiration to the Sibyls, and in my small revolving of Authors, I find as high Examples of Vertue in Women as Men. Mr. Howel in his Epistles.

The Divine Plato (whose very In­fancy presaged many fair Expressions of his future Maturity) definitely professed, that among other Blessings which the Gods had bestowed on him, he had greatest cause, of all others, to give them Thanks for three things:

• 1. That they had made him a rea­sonable Creature, and not a Beast.
• 2. A Grecian, civiliz'd, and not a Barbarian; And,
• 3. That he was made a Man, and not a Woman.

Yet did he sometimes ingenuously confess the necessity of them, by winding up all his humane Felicity in these four Particulars: So I may have, saith he,

• 1. Eyes to read.
• [Page 19]2. A Mind to conceive what I read.
• 3. A Memory to conserve what I conceive and read; And,
• 4. A Woman to serve me at my need.

Then should Ad­versity assail me,Brathwait's La­dy's Love-Le­cture. Sect. 1. pa. 423. & 424. it should not foil me; should an immerited Disgrace lye heavy on me, it should not amate me; should my endeared Friends for­sake me, by enjoying my self thus in my own Family I should laugh at the Braves of Fortune, account Reproach my Repute, and partake in the free Society of so sweet and select a Friend within me, as no Child without me could perplex me. Nay, he was an­gry with his Fellow-Philosopher (though otherwise a learned and brave Man) for not sacrificing to the Graces, those gentle Female-Goddes­ses. Some are of Opinion indeed, that he had perus'd the Mosaical Law, and bestowed much time in it during his Residence with his Friend Phoci­an, [Page 20] in Cilicia. No marvel then if he found there the Excellency of their Creation, with their primary Office or Designation, being made a help for Man; and so intimate to Man, as she took her Mold from Man, as Man his Model from Mold.

But yet the Vulgar believe, that if there be no Ill in handsom Women, at least, there is inconvenience; that Tentation is there, tho the Sin be not. To this Mr. Mountague, in his accom­plish'd Woman answers: When Beau­ty is the occasion of Ill, 'tis an Inno­cent that makes the Offender, and those that complain of it do as idly, as if one should accuse the Sun for dazling his sight, when he looks too fixedly on that glorious Body.

Some Buffoons have been so bold as to say, that Woman is a crooked Rib, and consequently of a crooked Temper; but that is a great mistake; for a Rib is bending, and presuppo­seth her pliant, not her crooked Dis­position. [Page 21] Adam for the loss of a Rib regain'd a better Self; had he not had her, he had liv'd an Anachoret in Paradise.

Others of the Rabble will pretend to give you a Learned Derivation of her Name; Woman, quasi, Wo to Man; but De Lawne's Translation of Du Moulin's Logic. 12. of Etymologie, p. 70. Nathanael de Laune, Batchelor of Arts of Cambridge, saith, Good Etymologies in the Eng­lish Tongue are for the most part taken out of Latin; but, (saith he) such as are drawn from the English are commonly absurd and ridiculous, as Woman, Wo to Man; and Brathwait in his English Gentle­woman sings thus;p. 287.

Another Objection against that Sex is, That one cannot love a Woman [Page 22] and be wise; a Gross, Erroneous Te­net: for it is the opinion of wiser Heads, That One cannot truly love, and not be wise; and surely this Opi­nion will soon be hiss'd off of the Stage by Men, both young and old, or else they proclame themselves all Fools; since Mr. Brathwait tells you, p. 288.

If you object, and bid us look up to Heaven, there are but two among the Planets, Venus and Luna, all the rest are Males: you may as well argue that among the Celestial Signs there are but three human Creatures, and seven brute Animals with two inani­mate, that there are more brutes in Heaven than men, would not this be a brutish Argument. And Mr. Howel in his Epistles will tell you, that he [Page 23] believes there are as many Female as Male Saints in Heaven. But Sir, un­der favour, whereas you alledge, that among the heavenly Planets there are but two Females, the rest Males, it shews that Men are of a more erratick and wandring humour than Women.

Thus Men bestow ill-favour'd Names and Expressions (or rather As­persions) on lovely things, as Wo­men; like Astronomers, that call such Stars Bulls and Scorpions that have neither Fury nor Venome, but only Purity and Light.

But Woman was tempted first, and therefore to blame; not so: for, in the first Sin her Fault was least, be­cause her Temptation was greatest and strongest, being beguil'd by the sub­tle Serpent, but Man by a deceived or mistaken Woman. Man was pro­hibited eating the forbidden Fruit, for Woman was not then created; there­fore he sinned by reason the Charge was made to him. Whitlock's Magne­tick Lady, p. 331.

Another Accusation is, That Beau­tiful Women are Scornful; but when we think well of it, we shall find their Disdain proceeds rather from Conscience than Vanity, because they cannot endure the Idolatrous pursuits of the excessive Praises, which Men artificially offer up to surprize them. Mountague's A. W. p. 105. And they that think Women cannot be obliging understand little of the Nature of Virtue, and are so far from a right Opinion that they are absolutely void of all common Sense and Civility.

That Womens Piety is but tender­ness of Nature, or weakness of their Wits: those that imagine thus are not of my Opinion, saith Mountague, p. 30. and methinks they do them no less affront to deny them this Divine Qua­lity, than if they should take their Eyes from them, which makes the best part of the Face: besides, Piety is oftner found as well as Pity in the tender and soft-hearted, than [Page 25] in the more Rough and Robustuous Tempers.

That Timorousness restrains Wo­men from Courtship more than Vir­tue; this is ill argued; for if their Inclination be ill, Sollicitation will embolden it. Indeed there have bin Men that have possess'd this Virtue upon occasion, where some Conside­rations have taken away the Merit from it. Witness Alexander, who te­stified some Constancy to Darius his Wives; but to shew it was rather out of Politie than Virtue, what did he not with the Amazons?

That Women are of a fearful and cowardly Temper. I cannot think that Men have reason to call Women Fearful, because they are not hasty and unadvis'd; for they that know their Temper, will confess, they have a greater disposition to true Courage than Man; being neither cold to a de­gree of Insensibleness, nor hot to a de­gree of Rashness. Mountag. A. W. p. 49.

Upon this Account, I suppose, it was more curiously than usefully, more subtilly than fruitfully demand­ed, why Woman might not as pro­perly Woe Man, as Man Woman? And that Arabian Resolution retrieved from the very depth of Imagination, with much Ingenuity assoiled the Question. Woing, said the Arabian Wit, is a Lovely Seeking; now we seek not for that we have, but what we have not: it is more proper for the Man in Love's Quest to seek for what he has lost, than for the Woman to seek for what she already has. The Man hath lost his Rib, and he seeks after her that has it: it is for him to seek it, who, tho he may not have it, yet he seeks to enjoy her who has it. Brathwait, Sect. 2. p. 442.

As to their Levity and Inconstan­cy, whatsoever Slanderers invent to their disparagement in that particular, we must confess they are more firm in their Passions than Men; at least, [Page 27] we learn by the Holy Writ, that on the most noble occasion that ever of­fered it self, where we owe more Af­fection and Courage to the Service of God; there were seen three Ma­ries under the Cross, and Mary Mag­dalen constantly followed him to the very last, when the Disciples fell off, after all their Protestations of never deserting him.

Women are shallow, and unfit for Knowledge; methinks this is to mis­judge of Constitutions; which, as the Physicians and Philosophers say, be­ing more delicate than ours, is also better disposed for it; but it may be 'tis an effect of their Judicious Choice to quit freely the Vexatious musings of Studie's wearisomness; I may say without flattering them, or pretend­ing by this Insinuation to the Honour of their good Graces, that they are capable of as many Virtues as Men; and if sometimes they quit their claim, which they may lay to them, 'tis ra­ther [Page 28] out of Modesty or Considerati­on, than Unaptness. Nay, there have not been wanting Champions in Phi­losophy, Law, and History, to answer or confute Opposers, and some of them, to say truth, have not under­taken the Cause effeminately. Plu­tarch counted it worth his pains to bestow a whole Book De Virtutibus Mulierum.

But now adays such is the sad Fate of Females, they are depriv'd of all means to advance themselves; so that no wonder they are not publickly Famous, being forc'd to lead a re­tir'd Life at home; their Needle is their only Recreation, or Cloyster'd in some Nunnery, or if married, con­fin'd to their Husband's Humour. Men bespatter them, because their Soul is not contain'd in so rich a Ca­binet; they climb by Intrusion to Honour and Dignity, not by Title or Merit, not by Rule or Divine Command, but by Strength, and [Page 29] might. The best Land incultivated bears nothing but Briers and Thorns, where Art and Labour might bring forth Lillies and Tulips; it is that that is often wanting to their good Inclinations and Desires, when Ty­ranny, or some other misfortune barrs them the possession of these fair Qua­lities, of which Nature has given them a Capacity.

The Oracle of Apollo declared So­crates the wisest of men; and he con­fess'd, that his Diotinia taught him the Wisdom and Prudence which the Gods themselves judged incompara­ble. It was no small advantage to this Woman to instruct this Philosopher, who might prescribe Rules to all men for Life and manners. The Empe­rour Justinian, the great Civilian, would not judge of any matter till he had first given an account of it to his Wife. And Plutarch writes, that the Roman Lady Porcia endeared Ce­thegus so far, that he enterpriz'd no [Page 30] Design, nor managed any Affair with­out her Advice and Approbation. Priscilla was so knowing, that she in­structed Apollo, a Bishop, and Aspatia was judged worthy to teach Pericles. Nay, whole Nations, as well as single Persons, have honoured them for their Knowledge. The Scythian Women judged of Publick matters, and their Verdict was of great Esteem.

Our Antient Gauls divided with them the Glory of Peace and War, reserving only the Active part of Arms unto themselves, and leaving the Women the Establishment of Laws, and Preservation of Commonwealths; that was not to be done by Ignorant Persons; and one may judge in what esteem our Ancestors held them, since they allotted to the Men only the Exercise of the Body, and to the Wo­men, the Abilities of the Mind.

But Women are Deceitful, and can command Tears at will: Admit they can, and do frequently weep, it is a [Page 31] great Argument of their Tenderness and Pity; for a Woman, if ever she weeps, she thinks her self oblig'd so to do, because all the World is not so good as she her self.

It was a snarling Speech of a Cy­nique, when passing by a Tree where­on a Maid had hang'd her self, wish­ed that all Trees might bear such Fruit; but his very name implies an Answer; it was a Dog-like and cur­rish Expression.

The odd opinion that the Jews and Turks have of Women, that they are of an Inferior Creation to Man, and therefore exclude them, the one from their Synagogues, and the other from their Mosquets, is in my Judg­ment not onely Partial, but Prophane; for the Image of the Creator shines as much in the one as in the other. Howel's Letters.

Some will deprive Women of their Priviledge of going abroad; and I know what Philosopher he was [Page 32] that would have them appear but thrice abroad all their Life-time; at their Christening, Marriage, and Bu­rial; but the reason was not their Wantonness, but his own Lust, that he might have the better opportunity to go the oftener to them at home in private; and in truth Jealousie (which was one cause of it) is a fear which dis­covers not so much, as it confesseth, the Merit of our Enemy. Yet I am not so Laconically severe (saith Bur­ton in his Melancholy) or Stoically Rigid, as to debarr Women of all Society and Meetings, they may im­prove them by a Civil and Moral Use, to their Advantage and Benefit, they may Converse with a modest and be­coming Freedom.

The Latin Tongue styles a Friend Amicus, a Sweet-heart Amica; and in this that Language is Injurious to that Sex, as if it were incapable of any kind of Familiarity or Friendship, but in way of Marriage. Fuller in his [Page 33] Holy State; but daily Experience confutes this Argument, and there­fore 'tis not worthy an Answer.

But the Herculean and Irrefragable Argument is still to come; viz. That Women are subject to paint, which is a kind of Self-Adultery, a Metamor­phosis of God's Works, &c. But one of the best Wits of our Nation hath penn'd a Treatise in Defence of it, call'd Auxiliary or Artificial Beauty; who saith, It is but a Fixation of Na­ture's Inconstancy, and is no more Adulterating of God's Works, than to die Wool, Linnen, or Silk, out of their Native Simplicity, or to wash the Scurf and Filth off, which riseth naturally from our Bodies by Sweat­ing or Evaporation.

It is no more the Adulterating of Nature, than the applying of sweet Smells and Scents to our Clothes, Bodies, or Breath; not on­ly as a Delight, but Remedy to the Native Rankness or Offensiveness [Page 34] which some Persons are subject to, both in their Breath and Constituti­on, which not to Cure, or alter by Art, is to condemn such Persons (otherwise not ill Company) to So­litude, by reason of those very Sa­vours, which make them fitter for Cells than Society.

We cannot, (that is, we may not) make one hair of our Head white or black, Matthew 5.36. So Men may not, by the same reason, that are Mad, be restrain'd from their Extravagan­cies, because God hath afflicted them; so Sick men must bid Defiance to all Physicians, accounting them as so ma­ny bold Giants, or Monsters, who daily seek to fight against Heaven by their Rebellious Drugs and Doses, prescribed in strange affected Terms of Art, and ill-scribled Bills, which seem to be as so many Charms or Spells. So Lame Men may not either use Crutches to supply the weakness of their Legs, or to shore up the tot­tering [Page 35] frame of their Body. Any one undoubtedly may lawfully redeem himself from the uncomeliness of such an untimely Accident, by dying his Hair, or by using a Perruque suitable to his greener Years, without inter­fering with our Saviour's meaning, that we cannot make one Hair white or black, which only shews the un­changeable Bounds and Principles of Nature, as to God's Fixation and Pro­vidence in all things; but not to for­bid the Ingenious Operations of Hu­mane Art and Invention, to which the Works of God in Nature are sub­jected, so far as they are managed within the Limits of Moral Intention and Religious Ends.

It seems to me no better than a strait-lac'd Superstition, which thus pinches God's Bounty, and a Christi­an's Liberty, which makes Christiani­nity such a Captive to such unneces­sary Rigors and pedling Severities, as if it were never in a due Posture [Page 36] and Habit, till its Nails be pared to the quick, and its Hair shaven to the Skull. To be Godly, it is not necessary to be ugly; nor doth De­formity add any thing to our Devo­tion, God's Mercy to our Souls, de­nies us not due care and considerati­on of our Bodies.

After these Methods of Holy Ill-husbandry, we must let our Fields and Gardens be oppressed under the Usurpation of Brambles, and the Ty­ranny of all evil Weeds, which are the Products of Providence, as well as the best Herbs and Flowers; and you may not by the invention of Artifici­al Day, supply the Sun's absence with Candle or Torch-light, nor dispell the horrour of that Darkness which Providence brings over the face of the Earth in the Night. You may as well discommend a Glass-Eye, when the Natural one is out. Surely Face­mending is no sin, nor to help a wither'd Autumnal Complexion no [Page 37] Crime; nor to fill up the Ranks and rotted Files of the Teeth with Ivory Adjutants and Lieutenants.

The Sarcasm which was us'd by a Witty and Eloquent Preacher, whom we both heard at Oxford (meaning the two Ladies disputing about Paint­ing, in the Treatise of Auxiliary Beau­ty) who speaking against the abuse of Womens Ornaments, instanced in Jezabel's being eaten with Dogs, as shewing (saith he) that a Woman so polished and painted was not fit to be Man's meat; which Expression had more of Wit and Jest in it, than Weight or Earnest, as if the Heart received sinful Infection by any Co­lour or Tincture put to the Face, more than it doth moral defilement by any thing that enters into the Mouth.

To deprive Women of Additional Arts, is to reduce them from the Poli­ture and Improvement of after Times and Experience, to their first Caves and [Page 38] Cottages in primitive Skins and A­prons.

St. Jerom, writings to Gaudensius about the Clothes of young Pacutu­la, seems to excuse the Curiosity of Women, in very remarkable terms. Their Sex (saith he) is curious in Ornaments, and studies natural­ly the Sumptuousness of Clothes; insomuch as I have seen many chaste Ladies that dress themselves very costly, without having any aim in their Designs, but their particular Contentment, by a certain harmless Complacency or Satisfaction. This Inclination is so natural to them, as heretofore many Ladies did intomb their Ornaments with themselves, to carry into the other World that which they had acknowledged so much in this.

It is true, there is a Story, That Caesar seeing his Daughter Julia Augu­sta too curiously brave, considered her a great while without gracing her [Page 39] with a Word, expressing his Dissatis­faction by his Silence. The next day seeing her more modestly dress'd, he told her with a smiling Countenance, that that Habit better became the Daughter of Augustus: but the Reply of this Princess was not less conside­rable than the Admonishment of the Emperour; I was dressed Yesterday (said she) for my Husband, but to Day for my Father.

But they will object, That Paint­ing is an adventitious Stealth, a ba­stardly kind of Adoption.

You never are jealous of any Scar­let, Crimson, or purple Tincture in your Cloaths, wherein you please your selves more than in deader co­lours: they are but the simple Juice or Extract of some innocent Herb, Leaf, Flower or Root, of which no other use in Physick or Food can be made.

Beauty is a great Blessing among those little momentary ones which [Page 40] our Dust is capable of; and artificial helps of Beauty carry with them their own Antidote, while they are Moni­tors of our Wants and Infirmities, which like the swallowing down the Stone keeps us from surfeiting of the Cherries we eat: and the remedying of Deformity, by artificial Applications can be no more a Temptation to Pride than the use of Crutches and Spectacles to those that are lame and dim-sighted. We read no where in Scripture that the Beauty and Bravery of Colours is either forbidden or reproved, unless unseasonably worn, when God calls for Sack-cloath and Blackness of Face. Lydia, a Seller of Purple, Acts 16.14. (whose Dye or finer Tincture was of more worth than the Substance it self) yet is not forbidden, when she was converted to be a Christian, ei­ther to dye or sell any more of that rich Colour. Against this honest Li­berty of Painting nothing wars so much as Prejudice, and a kind of [Page 41] Wontedness to think the contrary.

Mr. Downam, in his Warfare, c. 14. calls Painting the Devil's Invention, a Sin, not only in the Abuse but the very Use, &c. He brings Tertullian arguing against it as the Devil's coun­terfeiting and mocking of God, &c. And he quotes St. Cyprian, telling the veil'd Virgins, that the Devil, by these Arts, doth but distort and poi­son what God hath made handsome and wholsome. He might have ad­ded many more, as I find in our Eng­lish Authors, who produce the Au­thority of St. Ambrose, St. Austin, St. Chrysostom, and St. Jerom, against all additional Beauty.

No Soul was more shaken than I was (saith the Author of Auxiliary Beauty) in the minority of my Judg­ment, when I had more of Traditional Superstition than of Judicious Religi­on, and valued more the number of mens Names than the weight of their Reasons. And now out of the Non-age [Page 42] and Minority which kept me in the Wardship and Awe of Mens Names and Number, I considered that these alone signified no more to make up any Reason, or to prove any Sin, (in point of Conscience) than so ma­ny Counters can make up a Sum, which have no Figures before them.

Good and Great Men are not set beyond Mistakes.

They might Decree possibly these Helps in some Women, not as abso­lutely evil, but as inexpedient and needless in those times of Persecution, when they were to be married to the Faggot and Flames. They do not oppose things of this Nature argu­mentatively so much as oratoriously; not denying the use of them to some Persons, in some Cases, at some times, but the Abuse of them. Besides, their greatest strictness seems to have been to Votaries or reserv'd Virgins.

How did many great Ministers in­veigh against Tobacco in the Pulpit, [Page 43] before they generally fell to taking it themselves, fancying at last, that they never had more devout Medita­tions or sharp Inventions, than those which were begun by the Midwifery of a Pipe of Tobacco. Their Report seems fitted to the Polity and Bent of those Times. Mr. Downam did not distinguish between the thing done, and the End, or Mind of those that do it; as if the sober Relief of a pa­lid Infirmity, or the modest Study of outward Decency, were the same thing with Pride, Levity, and Wan­tonness. At the same rate he may in­veigh against quenching one's Thirst, or drinking to Chearfulness, because of the sordid consequences of Drink­ing, Riot, and Debauchery.

His other heap of Arguments are only assertory, not prefatory; he makes it not good, that it was an ab­solute Sin in the use, but neither by any Proofs, or pregnant Reason, or God's Word.

But all are lewd and wanton that use it, saith he; and this is as harsh as rash for him to maintain: and how could he in Charity do it, unless he had known their Hearts that use those Arts. Thus, like a mad Man with a Sword, he lays about, and smites all that come near him. Very few exa­mine the Marrow and Inside of things, but take them upon the credit of cu­stomary Opinion. Few Mens Judg­ments are so died in Grain, but they will fade and discolour, being for the most part dip'd by vulgar Easiness in common Opinion.

To conclude this Particular, all is but verbal painting or oral colouring that is used against Artificial Hand­somness, or Auxiliary Beauty; or like the ratling of Hail upon Tiles, which neither wets with Moisture, nor pier­ceth with it's Strokes and Noise. But that which I Wonder at is, that Men should rail against Women for that which they themselves are more cri­minally [Page 45] guilty: witness Hortensius the Roman Orator, who spent half the day in beholding and dressing himself in a Glass instead of studying his Ora­tions; and Stratocles the Physician, that painted his wither'd Face and adorn'd himself to court his Mistris.

But truly I cannot yet see, but that in the height of religious Severity, it may be put among those venial Vani­ties of Humane Life, of which no stricter account in point of Morality need to be given or exacted, but on­ly that Divine Intelligence by which God in innocent Freedom, as a Fa­ther to a Child, gives us leave to adorn and please our selves without any of his Displeasure.

But admit, when all is said and done, that Women when they prove bad are a sort of the vilest Creatures imaginable, yet still the same Reason gives it, Corruptio optimi est pessima, and this also will tend to their Ad­vantage in despite of all Opposers.

Thus they seek to murder Womens Reputation whenas they destroy their own; for, the Calumniator is but ano­ther Pigmalion, the Artisan of his own Misfortune, and indeed, is a Murder­er, Tres uno perimit ictu; he kills three at once, viz. Himself, the Party that hears it, and the Person from whom he detracts. But, how truly do these Females trace the Method of Charity, to suffer all these opprobri­ous Scoffs and Scurrilities without re­action! Alas! they know that if Rea­son cannot curb their lashing Tongues, their Dispraises will, after the manner of the Tartar's Bow, shoot back up­on themselves from whence they came. They do but with the Wolves of Sy­ria, bark against the Moon, which is out of their reach; for their Virtues sit above Mens Calumnies; their Ex­cellency is such, that it needs not the reedy under-proping of vulgar Opi­nion: they understand, that Neglect will kill an Injury sooner than Re­venge. [Page 47] Besides, they may ever ex­pect weak blows where they find strong words. Woman scorns to flame at every fiery Tongue's Puff; for the Crackers of the Brain and Squibs of the Tongue will dye alone, if not reviv'd, and the best way to have them forgot by others, is first to forget them her self. She has a Spirit planted above petty wrongs: the Temper of her Genius is too Stoical to be sensible in the least of the weak Assaults of that Cowardly Pigmy, De­traction, whom handsomly to over­come, is to scorn.

By such Obloquies Men think to debase Women, and all to as little purpose as to cast Chains into the Sea, or to tye the Ocean with Fet­ters; and these frequent Dispraises at best are but the Faults of unchari­table Men; But alas! she that will question every disgraceful word that is spoken of her, shall have few Friends, little Wit, and much Trou­ble. [Page 48] Let them consider, that if there were neither Malice, nor Enemies in the World, there are few Things so sure, or so true that cannot be taken divers ways; and if we examin well all our Actions, it seems that they are all subject to Interpretation and Dis­pute. Mount. A. W. p. 27.

It is not to any Man given abso­lutely to be absolute; and Fools are the greater number among them; for Wise-men are like Timber Trees in a Wood, here and there one. Fel­tham's Resolves.

Thus Men puff up themselves as big as Pride and Vanity can make them, with a conceit of their own Meritoriousness; tho it be a sordid thing for a man to be the Herald of his own Praise: But it may be said of these Airmongers as it is of the Cameleon, which is Nil praeter Pulmones, Nothing but Lungs, or of the Nightingale, Vox & praeterea ni­hil, nothing but Voice; so that as it [Page 49] was said of Trajan the Emperour, when he vaunted his Parthian Tro­phies before the Gods; they may, he said, as justly to be [...], more respecting a sound of Words, than a sound Matter.

But when all is done, since men assume so much to themselves and derogate so much from Females; Let any Man rake all the History in the World and find out among them if he can, such a coveteous Midas as to wish the very Meat he eat to be turn'd into Gold, or such a passionate and incompatible Revenger as with Silla never to forgive, nor forget the In­jury done him by an Offender; or such a marrow-eating, envious Tetter, as Ctesiphon, who macerated himself in the Prosperity of another? or such an Idolater of Honour as Themistocles, who could not sleep for the Ambition he bare to the Triumphs of Miltiades? or such a Glutton as Cambles, who devour'd his own Wife in Bed, and [Page 50] the next morning, finding one of her Hands in his Mouth, swallowed it? or such a Gulo as Vitellius or Helioga­balus; the former whereof had serv'd up at one Feast 2000 Fishes and 7000 Birds; the latter had his Table cover'd at a single Supper with 6000 Ostriches? or such a Gourmand as Maximinus, who devoured every day 40 pound of Flesh, and drank five Gallons of Wine? or such a Catamite as the Bithynian, who was a Woman for all Men, and a Man for all Women, an equal Agent, or Patient to satisfie Nature? or such a lazy Lollard as Margites, who never dig'd, plow'd, sow'd, nor ever did any good all his Life long, but slept out his time in a sluggish posture and useless manner? or such a Ludus Amoris, a Cupid's Whirlegig (as Juno calls Jupiter in Lucian) who was so often changed into Shapes; for Europa into a Buck, for Aegina into a Flame, for Dana [...] into a Shower of Gold; for Astraea [Page 51] into an Eagle, for Leda into a Swan; for Antiope into a Satyr; for Mnemo­sine into a Shepherd, for Dois into a Serpent; for Calisto into a Wood-Nymph, or Nun? or such an Apostate as Julian, or Atheist as Lucian, who, tho rare Wits, and their Images were to be had in esteem for their Ingenu­ity, yet were they to be spurn'd at for their Impiety? Thus you see, notwithstanding all this, how envi­ous Men seek to envenom the Names of Women, and inveigh against them in such terms as you have heard, with many other as groundless, as bitter Sarcasms, that a Beast hath Wit enuf to apprehend the heinousness of such obloquies; so scandalous, that I can­not forbear crying out with the Poet Horresco referens; I blush at and ab­hor the farther Repetition of them, and scorn to fully my Paper with such black scandals, or teach my Pen such undutiful Language. And tho this be more than Statute madness in Men, yet [Page 52] such Carpers ubique stabulant; but such they are, and only such who have vomited out of their Souls all Rem­nants of Goodness, and who can ex­pect a sweet Breath out of such foul Stomachs; and their very Reasons, if any, are but the scum of base Malice, the Fruits of Choler adust, and the Evaporations of a Vindicative Spirit; and yet notwithstanding all these high Provocations, ungentile and gross Affronts, methinks I hear that undaunted and deserving Sex acqui­esce patiently with this Requiem, and conclude,

In Examination of the whole Sex, we shall find, that all makes more for their Honour than most men have ac­knowledged. Socrates, Plato, Aristo­tle, and several others, have commen­ded [Page 53] them: and to compleat all, let us hear what the snarling Cynick Dioge­nes says of them, who was composed of nothing but Gibe and Jest. He calls proper Women Queens; Quod facerent Homines quod praeciperent, because men were so obedient to their Commands; so that it appears before these late years of Phrenzy, there was a time (and pitty 'tis so good a time had ever Wings to fly away) when due Reverence was paid unto that Sex, whose just praise is a Task will dull the very Edge of Rhetorick, and I fear I shall sully it in the delivery. Here is a Field for an Orator to use Eloquence in. Here is a Subject fit to put Phancie upon the Rack, and torture Wits, as Agues do Physici­ans. But as Dr. Brown, in his Religio Medici, has it, where there is an ob­scurity too dark for Reason, it is good to sit down with a Description or Adumbration. A purer Substance is defin'd by a combin'd Heap of Nega­tives. [Page 54] Ask what a Spirit is! The re­ply will be it hath no Matter. No other ways can I define a Vertuous Woman; she is not as others are; what seems perfection in others it is her perfection to want. All the World is but her Periphrasis. She is the best Creature that ever the Uni­verse brought forth from the Birth of Time till now. A Person in whom the Sum and Abridgment of all Per­fection meet, like Paralels in their proper Center. She is a pretty piece of Flesh and Blood printed in a fair Letter and neatly bound up; no Man that is Master of Reason, but would be glad to take her with her Errata's, if any. She is a heap of Wonders able to amuse the clearest Understan­ding.

She was born Fair and Good, to shew, that Nature is no Step-mother to that Sex, how much soever Men (Sharp-witted only in evil speaking) seek to disgrace them.

When Providence first cleav'd our Sire, and made Eve out of Adam, she was created his Equal, only the difference was in the Sex, otherwise they both were Man. Her Body is more admirable and Beautiful than Man's, fuller of Curiosities and Na­ture's Wonders, both for Concepti­an, and fostering the produced Birth. And can we think God would put a worse Soul into a better Body? Nay, if the Philosophical Maxim holds good, That the Temperature of the Soul follows that of the Body, we must necessarily conclude, that as her out­ward, so her inward Affections must be more purely refin'd. When Man was created, 'tis said, God made Man, but when Woman, He Built her; as if he had been about a Frame of Ra­rer [Page 56] Rooms, and more exact Composi­tion. Finxit Hominem, Aedificat Co­stam; so that Man was but Figmen­tum, Woman Aedificium. If Place can priviledge her, we find her built in Paradise; She was form'd on that Ho­ly Ground where Angels resorted, whenas poor Man was made in the open Field with four-footed Beasts. Thus the Place, Name, and Matter of which she was form'd is more Noble than Man's. 'Tis certain, they are by Constitution Colder than the Boyling Man, and so by consequence more Temperate; 'tis Heat transports Man to Immoderation and Fury; 'tis that which hurries him to a Savage and Li­bidinous Violence. When a Woman grows bold and daring, we say she's Impudent, and too like Man; in our selves we magnifie what we condemn in her; Is not this Injustice? Every Man is so much the better, by how much he comes nearer God. Man in nothing is more like God, than in be­ing [Page 57] Merciful, yet Woman is far more Merciful than Man, it being a Sex wherein Pitty and Compassion hath dispersed far brighter Rays. God is said to be Love; and Women exceed every where for transcending in that Quality. 'Tis Injustice then in Men to pass Sentence upon them before they be heard. They have ever held the Parliament, and enacted what they will, not permitting them to speak; therefore in this Case let the Divine Seneca be their Advocate, and speak for them;

Thus far Feltham in his Resolves; With little Alteration.

From the Order and Method of the Wise Architect of the Universe, we may infallibly conclude Woman the more Excellent Creature.

Incorrupt things were first made, as Stars, Planets the Chrystalline and Primum Mobile; then Minerals, then Plants and Trees, then Sensitives, then Man, and last of all Woman, as being the Perfection of the Creation. Wo­man was last in Humanity and first in Divinity. The Blessed Virgin brought forth the Blessed Babe, that made Man Blessed, without the help of Man. Jacob got his Blessing by his prudent Mother. When our Saviour arose he appear'd first to a Woman. In the Sacred Pages we find it recorded, that the Male Children were slain, the Female sav'd.

Conelius Agrippa the Woman's pro­fessed Champion, and their Attorney General, (quoted by Whitlock in his Magnetick Lady) He begins his Argu­ment from the very name [...] Chau­va signifying Life; and Adam, but Earth (tho the prating Rabbins sport another derivation from [...] Chiva to tattle.) from the order of the Crea­tion he Argues her Excellency and [Page 59] Perfection. She was created last of all, and so admitted into this World, tanquam Regina in Regiam paratam, like a Queen into a ready furnished Palace. Besides, her Matter was not of so low an extract as Adam's, but of finished Man (whose prime materi­al was ruder Dust) was this rare piece made; hence it is, that there is a grea­ter Eminency of Beauty generally in that Sex than in the other; so as what Beauty the World it self contains in severals, seems to be contracted in this Model, that all Creatures might re­verence and admire this compleat piece. Nor is it fabulous, that Spirits them­selves have bin enamour'd with some Women: We read their Beauty spoken of throughout the whole Book of Truth, with more signal Observations than that of Man. She is the Consum­mation and Perfection of Man. Id­circo illam omnis Homo amet necesse est, &c. Who therefore can but love that Sex? Who ever hates it must needs [Page 60] be a Stranger to Virtue, Courtesie and Humanity it self. Can any Lady for­bear giving this their Attorney a Fee? Nay, one of our own Nation saith in plain homely terms, He that loves not a Woman suck'd a Sow; and questi­onless he must be either Barbarous or Divine, that's Proof against the Charms of Female Beauty. What He­resies or Errors were ever broached by Women? Christ was betray'd, abus'd, and crucified by Men, not Women; for Pilat's Wife did use all possible means to dissuade her Husband from pro­nouncing so Unjust a Sentence, as that was against our Saviour. By his very Peter deny'd, only the Women accom­panied him to the Cross: and no small part of the Schole-men affirm, Ecclesiam tunc non nisi apud solam Mulierem, puta Virginem Mariam mansisse; That the Church of Christ remain'd then only in the Virgin Mary: Nay, Women were the first Trumpets to publish the Resurrection.

If any should out, of Aristotle, allege, That Men are more Noble, Wise, Vali- &c. then Women; I demand what Men of the most Eminent hath not this Sex out-done? but we will pro­duce Aristotle against Aristotle, and answer the Stagirite by the Stagi­rite, tho their profess'd Enemy, and this his own Argument. That kind or Rank of Creatures, whose best is bet­ter than the best of any other; even that kind it self is better than any other kind; but such is the Virgin Mary (the best of that Sex) above St. John Baptist, the greatest of the other Sex, (according to our Saviour's own Ar­gument, Matth. 11) so that but na­ming the Virgin Mary, the Cause is carried for that Sex against the Di­vinity of the Male. To go on; How many do we reade in Scripture condemned to Eternal Torments, but not Women? whence came the first original of all Vices? Did not in Adam all die? not in Eve. Did not [Page 62] his eldest Son Cain first open Hell Gates? Lamech was the first Digamist; Noah the first surpriz'd with Wine. Run through all the Vertues, you will find the Women so Famous, that some of them excelled Men; for Virgi­nity, the Virgin Mary; for Prophecy, Moses's Sister; for Constancy in the Faith, Esther, Ruth, Mary Magdalen, that believed when the Apostles doubt­ed; and for Martyrdom that rare ex­ample Maccab. 2.6. Have not Wo­men in Martyrdom equal'd the num­ber of Men? and to complete the History of that Truth, Ne cui dubium Mulieris ea omnia posse quae Viri, That Women doubntless can and have done whatsoever Man hath done. In Priest­hood was not Melissa famous among the Heathens themselves for a Priestess Mera to Venus, Iphigenia to Di­ana; & in nostra Religione licet mulieribus Sacerdotii functione inter­dictum sit, s [...]imus tamen Historiis pro­dictum Mulierem aliquando mentito [Page 63] Sexu ad Summi Pontificatus apicem conscendisse; (I give you his own VVords, because Agrippa (tho a Catho­lick,) is so ingenious as to confess a Pope Joan) Even in our own Reli­gion tho we forbid VVomen the Priesthood, yet History assureth us of a VVoman that arrived at the Popedom, and she rul'd for two years or thereabout, as well as the best of them. Thus, saith he, I have prov'd the preeminence of VVomen by their Name, Order of Creation, Nature, Religion, &c. Ne debitas illis Laudes, &c. lest I should hide a Talent in­trusted to me, if I should conceal what Truth hath said for them, p. 334. and 335. Whitlock's Mag. Lady.

Women are made of purer plastical Ingredients; there went more refin'd Stuff to their Composition than that of Man: for, if Man be of never so fine a Paste, if he wash his hands in the clearest Water, in several Basons, never so often, yet he will leave some [Page 64] foulness and feculencie behind; but a Woman can wash and leave the Wa­ter at last as clear, fair, and limpid as when it came from the Source or Foun­tain it self in few times washing. As to their Modesty, take this Example; The Daughter of Pythagoras being de­manded what most shamed her to dis­course of, made Answer, [...], Those Parts which made her Woman. And if that of Justin be true, Vera mulierum ornamenta Pudicitiam esse, non Vestes, That Mo­desty is the best Apparel of a Woman; They have the best Ornaments: Hey­lin. So modest they are when alive, that they cannot enter into Company without a Maiden-blush; nay, 'tis pro­verbially call'd a Maiden-blush, as if they only had a Patent to dye that Colour, tinctur'd like a fair Morning in May. And if we may believe Pliny the great Naturalist, one of Nature's Prothonotaries (who had strip'd her to her Smock, and lay with her as [Page 65] familiarly as a Wife) they retain this Grace of Modesty even after Death; for if a Woman be drown'd, she swims with her Back-parts upward, the Man with his Belly; but such Cases as these must not be argued in the Common Pleas. Nay, the Woman swims, the Man sinks, if they fall into the Water. Man's Head, his greatest Ornament, is sometimes deform'd with Baldness; but on the contrary, VVo­men retain their Ornamental Tresses to the last.

Fonseca is of Opinion, and so am I, that there is something in Woman beyond all humane Delight; a mag­netick Virtue, a charming Quality, and powerful Motive to incite Love and Affection. Nay, Alexander being much in Love with Apelles, as one highly rapt with the Exquisite­ness of his Art, proposed him that Model for his Task, which he of all others affected most, commanding him on a time to paint Campaspe, a Beau­tiful [Page 66] Woman, naked: which Apelles having done, the Picture wrought such an Impression on his Affection, that Apelles fell in Love with her; and Alexander perceiving it, bestow'd it upon him. If such impressive mo­tives of Affection draw Life from a Picture, what may be conceiv'd by the Substance. To illustrate this, there is a Story recorded in the Lives of the Fathers, concerning a Child who was educated in a Desart from his Infancy, by an old Eremite. Be­ing come to Man's Estate, he acciden­tally spied two Comely Women, wan­dring in the Woods, and inquir'd of the Aged Father (having never seen such Amiable Creatures before in his Life) what they were? The Eremite told him they were Fairies: (here note by the way, tho Eremites pre­tend never so much Religion and San­ctimony, they can now and then swallow a Lye without choaking, as well as vitious Persons) After some [Page 67] tract of Time, being in Discourse, the Old Man demanded of him which was the pleasantest and most delecta­ble Sight that ever he saw in his Life? He readily replied, the two Fairies he saw in the Woods; so that indu­bitably there is in a fair and beautiful Woman a magnetick and natural, in­bred, attractive Faculty, which moves Man to love her.

But we need not have rambled in the Desart to prove this, since we have a Confirmation thereof at home; An Ambassador, who being to be en­tertain'd by Queen Elizabeth (where the greatest State was still observ'd) first passed through a Lane of the Guard in their rich Coats, next through the Gentlemen-Pentioners, and so through all the greater Offi­cers, the Lords, Earls, and Counsel­lors. The Queen sat there in State at the upper end of a long Gallery, which when the Ambassador was to enter, the great Ladies, of either side, [Page 68] richly attir'd, were placed; through the midst of whom, as he passed along, he, so amazed at the State, or admiring at their Beauties, cast his Eyes first on one side, then on the other, and that not without some Pause, as if he had been to take a particular Survey of all their Features; but by degrees coming toward the Queen, who sat like Diana among her Nymphs, or Ariadne with her Crown of Stars, instated above the lesser Lights, to give him Entertainment; and obser­ving his Eye still to wander, thus be­spake him; Averte oculos, ne videas vanitatem, to whom he suddenly re­plied, Imo potius mirabilia opera Dei, such wonderful Fabricks are Women. And this confirms Plato's Opinion, That Beauty is a humane Splendor amiable in it's own Nature, that has the power to ravish the Mind with the Eyes. And Mr. Mountague saith, Those that adore or despise Beauty offer too much or too little to the [Page 69] Image of God; for we as seldom find Beauty without Vertue, as Ugliness without Mischief: and heretofore deformed Ministers have been rejected from the Temple; let us not therefore believe ill of Beauty, since God him­self hath thought it necessary for those that approach his Altars.

Heliogabalus from a Priest of the Sun rose to be Emperour of all the World for his Beauty; and the Face of Scipio the African subdued many a Barbarous Nation, without so much as drawing his Sword.

In the expression of the Affection, which requires a great measure of Dis­cretion, we shall find a more rare Temperature in the Feminine Sex; they can shadow their reserv'd Love with a Discreet Secresie, and an ab­solute Command (of what Soverani­zeth most in the contrary Sex) decli­ning the seeming grounds of Jealou­sie: or if they fall in Love, as they are subject to Passions as well as we, [Page 70] so Modest they are, that they will suf­fer, rather than discover their Affe­ction: witness that fair Lady Eliza­beth, Daughter to Edward the Fourth, who being Enamor'd with Henry the Seventh, that noble young Prince, and newly saluted King; she brake forth into this passionate Speech: O that I were worthy of that comely Prince! but my Father being dead, I want Friends to motion such a Mat­ter. What shall I say? I am all alone, and dare not open my Mind to any. What if I acquaint my Mother? Bash­fulness forbids. What if some Lords? Audacity wants. O that I might but confer with him! Perhaps in Discourse I might let slip such a Word as might discover my Intention. Modesty in W [...]men is like the Angels flaming Sword, to keep vile Men out of the Pa­radise of their Chastity.

The four Parts of the World had been lost for want of a certain Name, and utterly unknown but for Women.

What were the 9 Muses? The 3 Graces? The 12 Sibils? Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom? and the watchful Hesperides; were they not all Women,

We may from Birds derive Womans Prerogative. The Eagle is Queen of the winged Inhabitants of the Air; the Phoenix but one, and she a Fe­male too; but the killing Basilisk is accounted King of Serpents.

Next consider her under the No­tion of a Wife, and you shall find more Argument of Praise and Admi­ration than the contrary, if the most Refined Wits of the Times are in the right, some of whose Opinions shall be insisted on; for should they be all amass'd and heap'd up, the Contents would be too large for one Volume: and first of Marriage it self.

Marriage,St. Paul. Heb. 13.4. Smith's preparative to Marriage (saith the learned Apostle of the Gentiles) is Honoura­ble; and well he might; for God [Page 72] Honoured it himself. It is Honourable (as one of our own Divines hath it) for the Author, Time and Place. For the Author, because it was or­dained by himself, whereas all other Ordinances were appointed of God by the Hands of Men, or Angels. For Time; for it was the first ordinance God instituted, and that in the state of Innocence, before Man had any other calling, he was call'd to be a Husband; therefore it hath the Ho­nour of Antiquity, because it was the first, and consequently the most An­tient Ordinance.

For Place; Marriage was instituted in Paradice, in the happiest Place, and so hath the honour of Place above all other Ordinances.

As God the Father Honoured Mar­riage, so did the Son, not only by his Birth, but Miracles; for the first Miracle the blessed Jesus wrought, was at a Marriage in Canaan, John 2.6. where he turned Water into [Page 73] Wine. Nay farther, he honoured it with his Praises, Matt. 22.2. for he compareth the Kingdom of God to a wedding, Verse 11. and Holi­ness to a wedding Garment; Can­tic. 5.8. Nay, he himself is said to be wedded; all which premises, if se­riously and duly consider'd, do suf­ficiently and undeniably evince the Honour of a Marriage State, let the single chatter what they please.

Next, as to the Wife, take her ensu­ing Character. A Wife is a Man's best Moveable;Sr. Tho. Over­bury's Wife. one that is more than a Friend, less then Trouble▪ a Scions incorporate with the Stock, and equal with him in the Yoke. Nothing pleaseth her that displeaseth him; She is Relative in all, and he without her is but half himself; she frames her Nature to his howsoever. The Hyacinth follows not the Sun more willingly. Stubborness and obstinacy are Flowers, that grow not in her Garden. A Husband with­out [Page 74] her is a misery in Man's Apparel [...]▪ and if Age hath snow'd gray Hai [...] upon his Head, She is both a Staff and a Chair, to ease and support him. She is his absent Hands, Eyes, Ears, and Mouth, his present, and absent all.

The good Wife never crosseth her Husband in the Spring-tide of his Anger;Fuller's Ho­ly State. but stay's till it be ebbing-VVater. Her Carriage is so Modest, that she dis­heartens VVantons, not only to take, but even besiege her Chastity. Her Children, tho many in number, are none in noise; steering them with a look, whither she listeth. A great and eminent Divine of this Modern Age, a Man scarcely to be parallel'd for Sanctimo­ny,George Wicelius. by twenty six Arguments com­mends Marriage, as a thing necessary for, most laudable and fit to be em­braced by all sorts of Persons: and is persuaded withall, that no man can live and dye religiously, as he ought [Page 75] to do, without a VVife. These are his very words; Persuasus sum nemi­nem posse, neque pie vivere, neque bene mori citra Ʋxorem. Let all Stale Batchelers that seem to boast of their Resolution against, and Aversion to so sacred an Ordinance as Matrimony, ruminate on this; He is an Enemy to the Kingdom of Heaven, injurious to himself, destructive to the VVorld, an Apostate to Nature, and a Rebel against Heaven and Earth, who de­clines Marriage and leads a single Life.

The Hebrews have a saying; He is not a Man, that hath not a VVoman, i. e. a VVife: for tho Man a­lone may possibly be good,Secker's wed­ding Ring. yet it is not good for Man to be alone. As for the Catholicks, who exact the Virgin state so extravagantly; it is like him that commended Fasting, when he was cloy'd with Feasting. Where there is no Generation, there can be no Regeneration; the Church could not be expatiated without Marriage. [Page 76] It was a Question that one put to him, who said, Marriage Peoples the Earth, but Virginity Heaven; How can the Heaven be full, if the Earth be empty? VVilt thou condemn all for the Faults of one? as if it were true Logic, be­cause some are Evil, therefore none are good. To blast thy Helper is to blame thy Maker. Is a solitary as good as a married Life? then can one string make as good Harmony as a Consort. God commanded Abraham to do as his good VVife Sarah com­manded. A happy Couple! He joy­ing in her, she joying in her self; but in her self, because she enjoyed him. Both increased their Riches to each other, each making one Life, double, because they make a double Life, one; where desire never wanted Satisfaction, nor Satisfaction bred Satiety: He ru­ling, because she would obey; or rather, because she would obey, he therein ruling.id ib. Nature when a Female was first born, vow'd her a Wo­man; [Page 77] and as she made her the Child of a Mother, so to do her best to be Mother of a Child. She gave her Beauty to move Love, VVit to know Love, and an excellent Body to re­ward Love.

James de Voragine, upon those words in the second of Genesis, Ad­jutorium simile, &c. by an honest Ju­ry of Arguments proves the excellen­cy of Marriage above Virginity; as followeth; viz.

• 1. Hast thou Riches? Thou hast one to keep and increase them.
• 2. Hast thou none? Thou hast one to help to get them.
• 3. Art thou in Prosperity? Thy Happiness is doubled.
• 4. Art thou in Adversity? She'll Comfort, assist, and bear a part of thy Burthen to make it more tolerable.
• 5. Art thou at home? She'll drive away Melancholy.
• 6. Art thou abroad? She looks after thee going from home, wishes [Page 78] for thee in thy Absence, and joyfully welcomes thee at thy return.
• 7. Ther's nothing delightful with­out Society; no Society so sweet as Matrimony.
• 8. The Band of Conjugal Love is Adamantine.
• 9. The pleasant Company of Kins­men increaseth, the number of Parents, Children, Brothers, Sisters, and Ne­phews, is doubled.
• 10. Thou art made a Father by a fair and happy Issue.
• 11. Moses curseth the barrenness of Matrimony, how much more of single Life?
• 12. If Nature her self escape not Punishment, surely thy Will shall not avoid it.

Heinsius (a Learned man) saith, Nemo in Severissima Stoicorum Fami­lia, &c. There will not be found (I hope) no not in the severe Family of the Stoicks, any one Person that will refuse to submit his grave Beard and [Page 79] supercilious Look to the clipping of a Wife, or disagree from the rest of that Sect in this Particular. Women are stiled by our ingeni­ousLord Verulam in his Essays. Lord Chancellor,

And the Venusian Poet sings sweetly,

In English thus:

There is no Joy,Burton's Mel. p. 585. no Sweet­ness, no Pleasure, like to that of a Good Wife.

Her Love can no more change than a Star his Course, or Fate it's Everla­sting Laws.

Marriage makes us immortal. It is, as one says very prettily, Nodosa Aeternitas, a kind of knotty Eternity, Immortality being, as it were, piec'd and lengthned out by the Succession of Children.Tacitus lib. 4. 'Tis Firmis­simum Imperii Munimentum, The Seal and chief Prop of an Empire: and the PoetPal­ingenius. tells you,

She is the sole Comfort of Man's Life; born ad Ʋsum & Lusum Hominum, [Page 81] for the Use and Diversion of Man; she isLechaeus. Firmamentum Familiae, the Basis and so­lid Foundation of a Family. Optima viri possessio est Ʋxor Benevola. A lo­ving VVife is the best Possession a Man can purchase. Mitigans omnia & avertens animum ejus à Tristitia, mild upon all occasions, and the only Helebore to purge away her Consort's melancholy.

Horace.No such Comfort as Placens Ʋxor, a sweet Wife.Xenophon. She is the highest ground of Humane Felicity.Theognis. No­thing can be more amiable than an [Page 82] honest Woman; nothing conferring more Joy upon man, saith sententious Xistus. Brathwait. p. 345, 346. In fine, She is in Quality a Helper, in Society a Comforter, in the perplexi­ty of her Consort a Counsellor, and in all these a Sharer. Is her Husband young? She will bear with his Youth till better Experience bring him to the Knowledge of Man. Is he old? His Age shall beget the more Reve­rence in her. Is he rich? much good may it do him, this shall not make her proud; but her Desire shall be to improve it to his best Advantage. Is he poor? His Poverty shall make her rich: There is no want where there wants no Content. Were he poor as Irus, Fancy will make him dearer than rich Croesus. Her Husband may seem a Thersites to others, but he is a Paris in her Eye. A Mother is the best Grammarian, let the Gram­maticasters boast never so vauntingly of their speaking well; when every [Page 83] Nurse does shamefully exceed them in their Faculty of teaching. Had not Speeches their Original from the Mo­ther? Yes indisputably, and for that very Reason every ones Native Lan­guage is call'd the Mother Tongue.

'Twas wittily replyed of a Gentleman,Fuller. who heard a drolling Batcheler say, Next to no Wife a good Wife was best; no, Sir, said he; next to a good Wife, no Wife is best. And as pleasantly said of another, who maintain'd;Brathwait's English Gentleman. Pa 256. that Wives are young Mens Mistresses, Companions of middle Age, and old Mens Nurses.

Let a man be never so Volatile, a good Wife will fix him; She is Res bona, not bounded within the Limits of Predicable, Predicament or Topic.

It was the saying of the wisest of Kings,Solomon. Prov. c. 18. v. 22. He that findeth a VVife, findeth a [Page 84] good thing, and receiveth favour of the Lord; and that he might more Emphatically express the incompara­ble estimat of a good VVife, and how far in the scale of Judgment She is to be prefer'd before Substance, Riches, or any worldly Inheritance, to give a more proper and genuine Distincti­on, he makes use, not only of a di­stinct Gradation, but also a different Derivation, and Riches are the In­heritance of the Father, but a prudent VVife cometh of the Lord, and ma­ny other Encomia of VVomen are scattered throwout Solomon's whole VVorks:Prov. C. 11. V. 16. as a gratious VVoman retaineth Honour and Her price is far above Rubies: chap. 21. ver. 10. Nay, he styles her Coronam Viri, the Crown of her Hus­band; and St. Paul call's her Gloriam Viri, the Glory of Man; Nay, the French say proverbially, Femme bonne vaut une Couronne; A good VVife is not to be valued under the Price of a Diadem,

And, as one saith very well, Houses without VVomen are Desarts and Places ill cultivated. Nay, where is there true Politie to be found but in Houswifery!

The witty Epigrammatist styles good VVives Domiportae, Damae por­tae, &c. they are the choicest Associats of human Solace, so that if the VVorld were to be held a VVilderness with­out Society, it might justly despair of that Comfort without their Com­pany: whence it is, that the Wise­man concludes, without a Woman would the House mourn.

Surely, howsoever some no less properly then pregnantly have Emble­matriz'd a married VVoman by a Snail, because she is Domiporta; and carries her House about her; as is the property of a good Houswife, yet in my Judgment,Brathwait pa. 298. a modest, and well behav'd Woman may, by her frequent Resort to publick Places, confer no less Be­nefit [Page 86] to such as observe her Behaviour, than occasion of profit to her private Family, where She is overseer. I have seen some (saith the same Author) in those Places of publick Repair, express such a well seeming State, without a just Formality, as that every Action deserv'd the Imitation of such as were in their Company. Their Conceits were sweetly temper'd, without light­ness, their Jests savory, yet without saltness; their Discourses free without niceness; their Answers mild, with­out tartness; their Smiles pleasing, mixt with Bashfulness; their Pace Graceful, without too much Active­ness; Their whole Posture Delight­ful, with a seeming Carelesness. These are such Mirrors of Modesty, Patterns of Piety, as they would not for a World, transgress the Bounds of Ci­vility. These are Matrons in their Houses, and Models in publick Places.

It was a wild Speech of the Philo­sopher, to say, that if our Conversa­tion [Page 87] cou'd be without Women, An­gels wou'd come down and dwell among us, but then they must be evil ones; for the Good Angels durst not disallow of Marriage, which God him­self ordain'd, and hath stamp'd his Blessing upon. But to pass by such Moth-eaten Philosophers, and come to a Modern Physician of our own.

It was a most Unmannerly thing of him,Dr. Brown in his Rel. Med. whilst he dis­plays his own Religion, to wish that there were a way to Propagate the World, otherwise than by Conjun­ction with Woman (and Paracelsus, that German Quack, undertakes to teach him that way) whereby he seems to Repine (tho (I understand) he him­self Wiv'd a little after) at the Ho­nourable Degree of Marri­age,Epistolae Hoe­lianae. which I hold to be the Prime Link of Humane Society, the chiefest Happiness of Mortals, and wherein Heaven hath a special hand.

And Sir Kenelm Digby, in his Ob­servations on Religio Medici, (whom Famous Dr. Charleton thus Characteri­zeth; That Noble Person, who hath built up his Reason to so Transcen­dent a height of Knowledge, as may seem not much beneath the state of Man in Innocence) Blames the Dr. for his wishing that Men cou'd Pro­create, like Trees, without Conjuncti­on, calling it the Foolishest Act of a Wise Man (tho afterward he seems to Excuse himself) I believe (saith that Learned Knight) your Lordship (mean­ing Edw. Earl of Dorset, who desir'd him to peruse that Book) will scarce­ly joyn with him in his Wish, that We might Procreate, and beget Chil­dren without the help of a Woman, or without any Conjunction or Com­merce with that sweet Sex.

Then again, a little after: Besides his Unkindness, or rather Froward­ness, to that Tender-hearted Sex, (which must needs take it ill at his [Page 89] hands) Methinks he sets Marriage at too low a Rate, which is assuredly the Highest and Divinest Link of Human Society; and where he speaks of Cupid and Beauty, it is in such a Phrase, as puts me in mind of the Learned Greek-Reader of Cambridge, Courting his Mistris out of Stevens his Thesaurus. Thus far that Noble Knight, of that Noble Sex.

But we can produce both Modern and Antient Autority to confute Dr. Brown.

Burton, that Melancholic Wit, after some Discourse of Women, saith, I am not willing to prosecute the Cause against them; therefore take heed you mistake me not; Matronam nullam ego tango. Horace. I Honour the Sex with all Good Men, as I ought to do, and rather than Displease them, I will take this Oath,Mercurius Bri­tannicus De­script. l. f. 95. Me nihil unquam mali Nobilis­simo Sexui, vel verbo, vel facto machinaturum. That I will ne­ver [Page 90] contrive any hurt against that No­ble Sex, either in Word or Deed; And another Author declares himself thus:Ric. Whit­lock, in his Magnetick Lady. I am none of those Vulgar reasoning De­spisers of that Sex, which we cannot deny to be as habitable a Part of the Microcosm or little World, as any, for Abilities or Vertues, tho not so Populous.

As for Autority of the Antients; the Great Greek Historian tells you plainly,Xeno­phon. that he thinks, among all God's Ordinances, scarce any one can be found that is more Commendable or Profitable than Wed­lock: nay, there are other Antient Sages,Musonius, Hierocles, &c. who declare, that they think it so necessary to a good and convenient way of Li­ving, that the Life of Man without it seems to be maim'd.

Plato 6: de Leg.The Divine Philosopher will have it, that he that marrieth not before he is thirty five years of [Page 91] Age, shall be forced, or punished, and the Money Consecrated to Juno's Tem­ple, (who was Goddess of Marriage) or applied to Public Use.

Mercurius Trismegistus (which is as much as to say in plain English, the thrice Greatest) a very Antient Philosopher, understanding the Ver­tues and Perfections of Women, left this Recorded in his Writings to Po­sterity; That those Men were to be shunned and extremely avoided, that had no Wives; because that from a Woman, as from an abounding Foun­tain, all Perfection and Goodness flows in a most plentiful manner.

Epictetus, an Eminent Philosopher, adviseth all Men, of what Condition soever, to enter into the Happy Lists of a Married Life: nay, whole Nati­ons (as well as single Persons) have and do Honour their Wives at this day. The Affectionate Sabines call'd their Wives Penates, or Houshold-Gods, for the incomparable Comfort [Page 92] they conceived in them, and great Be­nefits deriv'd from them; and that not without Cause: for we read that Tres Filii ab Excubiis, quinque ab om­nibus Officiis liberabant; Three Chil­dren, among the Romans, free'd the Father from painful Offices, and Five from all Contributions: both Graeci­ans and Romans priviledged Wedded VVomen;Aelian. l. 6. c. 5. A. Gellius, l. 2. c. 15. and tho the Romans had their Vestals, yet after thirty years conti­nuance, the Cruelty of inforc'd Cha­stity was no longer in force.

By the Julian Law Precedence is gi­ven to him that hath most Children; and in Florence, at this day, he that hath five Children, immediatly upon the Birth of the fifth is exempted from all Imposts and Subsidies; and here in England likewise, a married Man (out of a tender Respect to his Poste­rity) is not so soon prest into the Wars, as a Batcheler. Nay Spain, at this present, is more noble then the rest [Page 93] of the World, by giving the Surname of the maternal Line very frequently to some of the Male Children.

The Civil, Common, and Divine Laws are all very favorable to VVo­men.

The Imperial, or Civil Law permits not a VVoman, tho a criminal, to go into the common Gaol.

The common Law,Dalton. by the courtesie of England, if VVo­man arrive at any degree of Estate, they never lose it by marrying after more meanly, but still take place ac­cording to the State of their first Hus­band; Nay farther, the Law tenders the speedy advancement of Women,Instit. Imperat. de Nuptiis. quia maturiora sunt vota Mulierum, quam Virorum. VVomen are sooner capable of Conception then Men of Generation, which is the Reason the Law permits Women to marry at the Age of twelve, and Men not till fourteen.

Brathwait. pa. 257.The harsh and Eremitical conceit of Arminius the Ru­ler of Carthage, touching Marriage; who being ask'd, when shall a young Man marry? replyed not yet; VVhen an old Man? Not at all; proceeded rather from Disability then Truth or Reason, and therefore not to be regar­ded: for had it bin Arminius his fortune to have matched with Arminia, he would doubtless have fallen into Ad­miration of so Sacred a Rite, rather than into distast.

Such Persons therefore, who have their Humor in their Ink-horn, and rail against Marriage; if ever they enter into the State of VVedlock, deserve for their Pains a pair of large and spacious Horns, that may extend from one end of our Metropolis to the other (our mother City, so cal­led in honour of VVomen) and so we leave them to the Admiration of all Mankind, to be laughed at, like Actaeon, for their egregious Folly.

But is it not a strange Cu­stom, and worthy of Reproof,Mountagu's Accom. Wo­man. to see Men take all kind of Liberty, without allowing the least? One might think, by their Tyranny, that Marriage was instituted only to make them Gaolers for Women. There is much Ingratitude, as well as Inju­stice, to exact a Fidelity, which one will not return, when the obligations to it are equal. Women have Wit and Conscience enuf to believe, that revenge would cost them too dear, if they lost their own Virtue to take satisfaction of their Husbands Vitious­ness. Octavia did not desist from lo­ving Marc Antony singularly, whilst he made his Amours to Cleopatra, and left a greater Beauty at Rome, to pos­sess a less in Egypt. They that have this Constancy deserve Admiration; but those that have it not, have some colour for their Weakness; Example pleads for them; for they imagin that it is not likely, that a Chrystal should [Page 96] resist Blows, that might break Dia­monds, or Marble.