THIS ENVY, which goeth in the modern Languages by the Name of DISCONTENT, (and fhall be more fully handled under the Title of SEDITION,) is in Kingdoms and States not unlike to INFECTION. For as INFECTION fpreads upon thofe Parts that are found, and taints them; fo alfo when ENVY is once got into a State, it traduces even the best Actions and Ordinances thereof, and turns them into an ill Odour. And therefore there is little won by intermingling plaufible and popular Actions with odious ones; for that does but argue Weaknefs, and Fear of ENVY, which hurts fo much the more; as it is likewife ufual in INFECTIONS, which, if you are afraid of them, come upon you the fooner.

AND this Publick ENVY feems to bear more upon principal Officers and Ministers, than upon Kings and Estates themfelves. But take this as a Rule that feldom fails: If the ENVY upon the Minister be great, when the Cause of it in him is fmall; or if the ENVY be general

neral in a manner, and takes in all the Minifters of a State; then the ENVY (though fecretly) strikes at the King or State it self. And fo much for PUBLICK ENVY, or Male-content; and the Difference thereof from PRIVATE ENVY, which we handled in the first Place..

WE will add this alfo in general touching the Affection of ENVY; that of all the Affections it is the most importune and continual. For of other Affections there is Occafion given but now and then: But it was well faid, that Envy has no Holy-days, because it ever finds Matter to work upon. Whence it is alfo noted, that LovE and ENVY make Men pine; which other Affections do not, because they are not continual. ENVY alfo is the vilest of Affections, and the most depraved; for which Cause it is the proper Attribute of the Devil, who is called the envious Man, that fow'd Tares amongst the Wheat by Night; as it always cometh to pass, that Envy workE 2

eth

eth fubtilly, and in the dark, and to the Prejudice of the beft Things, fuch as is the Wheat. comin

X. Of LOVE.

TH

HE Stage is more beholden to Love, than the Life of Man. For as to the Stage, LovE is always Matter of Comedy, and now and then of Tragedy too: But in Life it does much Mischief, fometimes like a Syren, fometimes like a Fury. You may obferve, that amongst all the Great and Illustrious Perfons (whereof the Memory remains, either ancient or modern) there is not one that hath been driven to the mad Degree of Love: Which fhews, that great Spirits and great Bufinefs do not admit this weak Paffion. You must except, nevertheless, Mark Antony the Half-Partner of the Empire ・of Rome, and Appius Claudius the Decemvir,

cemvir, and great Law-giver amongst the Romans: Whereof the Former was indeed a luxurious and voluptuous Man; but the Latter was an auftere and wife Man. Whence any one may difcern clearly, that Lo v E (though rarely) can find Entrance, not only into an open Heart, but also into a Heart well fortified, if Watch be not well kept. It is an abject and poor-fpirited Saying of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter alteri Theatrum fumus: As if Man, made for the Contemplation of Heaven and heavenly Objects, fhould do nothing but adore a little Idol, and fubject himself, tho' not to the Mouth (as Beasts are) yet to the Eye, which was given undoubtedly for higher Purposes.

IT is ftrange to confider the Excefs

of this Paffion, and how it infults the Nature and true Value of Things, by this only, that the speaking in a perpetual Hyperbole is decent in nothing but in LOVE. Neither does this Hyperbole appear only in the Phrafe, For whereas it hath been well faid, that the E 3 Arch

Arch-Flatterer, with whom all the petty Flatterers have Intelligence, is a Man's felf; certainly the LOVER is fomething more. For there was never Proud Man thought fo abfurdly well of himfelf, as the LOVER doth of the Perfon LOVED. And therefore it was well said, That to Love, and to be Wife, is scarce poffible even to a God. Neither doth this Weakness appear to others only, and not to the Party LOVED; but to the Perfon LOVED most of all, unless the LOVE be Reciprocal. For it is a true Rule, that LovE is ever rewarded either with the reciprocal, or with an inward and fecret Contempt. By how much the more Men ought to beware of this Paflion, which lofes not only other Things, but it felf. As for the other Loffes, they are prettily figured in the Fable of the Poets, That be that preferr'd Helena, loft the Gifts of Juno and Pallas. For whofoever too much indulges amorous Affections, quits both Riches and Wisdom.