him again?" And when his friends, on perceiving the outrages and abuse he submitted to from Xantippe, endeavoured to stimulate him to revenge, he wisely replied, "No, gentlemen, I shall not, by quarrelling with my wife, furnish you with sport and laughter, and enable you to stand by and cry, while you clap your hands,Now, Socrates!-Now, Xantippe!' as men do dogs when they fight, to animate them more fiercely in the combat." Following the advice of false or foolish friends, to resent those petty injuries which patience and wise mediation might happily compose, is frequently the cause of great vexation and disquietude. Recompense to no man evil for evil, but overcome evil with good, and as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men; for if thine enemy hunger, and thou feed him; if he thirst, and thou givest him drink; thou shalt, in so doing, heap coals of fire on his head therefore avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for vengeance is mine, saith the Lord." Submission in such contests is victory. Durum et durum non faciunt murum'; two refractory spirits will never agree; and obsequio vinces, one must stoop to conquer. Soft words pacify wrath, and overcome the fiercest spirits. Humility and wisdom always triumph over pride and folly. Justice, by means of mildness and humility, inflicts on the head of the guilty the punishment which was intended for the injured party, as Haman was hanged on the very gibbet he had provided for the destruction of Mordecai. To shun provocation,

let it be remembered, that the least fly has a spleen, and the smallest bee a sting; and therefore to live quietly ourselves, we must do no wrong to others. It is as much the nature of a wicked man to do an injury, as it is the duty of a wise and honest man to bear it; for he who cannot bear injuries, witnesses against himself, that he is no good man. These observations

will also apply with equal force to scoffs, slanders, contumelies, obloquies, defamations, detractions, pasquillings, libels, and the like. A wise citizen of Athens, who had a scolding wife, whenever she bawled, played upon his drum, and by that means drowning her noise, rendered it of no effect. Aristophanes attempted to ridicule the character of Socrates on the stage; but the philosopher attended the representation, and, wisely laughing at the attempt, defeated, by his ease and unconcern, the whole effect of the malice which the poet had levelled against him. Anger and revenge, indeed, are their own punishment, as Praxiteles experienced, when passionately dashing on the floor the mirror which reflected the deformities of his face, he beheld his displeasing features multiplied in every fragment of the glass. A steady, erect, composed, and temperate conduct, always defeats the intended effects of malice and ill-nature.

There are many other grievances which happen to mortals in this life, from friends, wives, children, servants, masters, companions, neighbours, and ourselves, to the cure of which the following rules will greatly contribute: "Recompence evil with good : do nothing through

contention or vain glory; but every thing with meekness of mind, and love for one another."

But if the rectifications of the six non naturals already mentioned, will not effect the cure of melancholy, the patient must then have recourse to Pharmaceutics, or that kind of physic which cures by medicines; for which we must refer him to the advice of his apothecary and physician, observing only that he is most likely to succeed in removing this disease,

Who strives, with anxious heart and pious care,
The sense of every evil to repair;

And, by his reason, learns a wise disdain
Of gloomy melancholy and mental pain.

CHAPTER VI.

OF LOVE MELANCHOLY.

LOVE is a delectation of the Heart, occasioned by some apparently good, amiable, and fair object, the favor or possession of which, the Mind ardently wishes to win, and seeks to enjoy. Of this passion there are two species, nuptial and heroic. Nuptial love is the warm, but sincere, and steady affection of a virtuous heart, seeking its happiness in that high and honourable union, which was appointed by God in Paradise.

For those who spurn not Hymen's powers,
But seek for bliss within his bowers,

By sweet experience know,
That marriage, rightly understood,
Gives to the tender and the good,
A Paradise below.

This species of love captivates the soul by such irresistible powers, is surrounded by such an assemblage of persuasive charms, comes re

commended by such rational and satisfactory motives, and is capable of filling the bosom with such transcendent and refined delight, that no man who has not a gourd for his head, or a pippin for his heart, can avoid it. It is the true Promethean fire, which heaven, in its kindness to the sons of men, has suffered to animate the human breast, and lead it to felicity.

This is the love that ties the nuptial knot, Dictates to friendship its most binding laws, And with chaste vows does what is bound confirm : Thrice happy they when love like this, from heaven, Gains an ascendent o'er their virtuous minds.

No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as this charming passion can do with only a single thread; for when formed on just and rational principles, it possesses the virtues of the adamant, and leads to an inexhaustible source of increasing pleasure. It renders the union perfect and complete. The husband sways his willing consort by virtue of his superior understanding and knowledge in the affairs of life; but she again commands his heart by the influence of her charms: he is her kind protector, and she his only joy and constant comfort. They are not only of one flesh, but of one mind. Geryon like, they have one heart in two bodies. She is, as Plutarch says, a beautiful mirror, to reflect her husband's face and temper; for if he be pleasant, she will be merry; when he laughs, she will smile; and when he is sad, her heart will participate in his sorrow, and ease him of half his pain. As the bride saluted the bride

still

groom of old, in Rome, she continually exclaims, "Ubi tu Caius, ego semper Caia ;" "Be you Caius, and I will for ever be your Caia." It is, indeed, a happy state, as Solomon observes, "when the fountain is blessed, and the husband rejoices with the wife of his youth; when she is to him as the loving hind, and the pleasant and he is always ravished with her love." There is, under such circumstances, something in woman beyond all human delight. She possesses a magnetic virtue, a quality that charms, a secret attraction, and most irresistible power. No earthly happiness can be compared to that which results from the possession of a sweet and virtuous wife.

roe;

O come, ye chaste and fair, come, old and young, Whose minds are willing, and whose hearts are pure, Drink deep of happiness, drink health and peace From the sweet fountain of connubial love;

And, like Seneca with his Paulina, Abraham with Sarah, Orpheus with Eurydice, Arria with Pætus, Artemnisia with Mausoleus, and Rubenius Celer with his lovely Ennea, live in uninterrupted felicity and increasing happiness.

Happy, thrice happy, they whose blameless joys
Spring from the unbroken union of the heart:
No murmurings vex, no strife annoys,

But their last day alone shall part.

But the heroic passion, which so frequently causes Melancholy, and is improperly dignified with the honourable appellation of Love, is an irrational and inordinately violent attachment, which disgraces or disdains the happy union of