_LOVE_ is the oldest of our _Passions_, in that it came into the World with us; and from thence it becomes _habitual_ to a _good NATURE_, and a _brave SOUL_. _LOVE_ is the most noble and generous of our _Passions_, it soon removes all puny Obstacles in its way. It is ready, prompt, and dexterous to find _Excuses_ or _Forgiveness_ for the greatest _FAULTS_, and much more to palliate the _Peccadillo_’s of the BELOVED. It does by a peculiar Force and Virtue extirpate all _Revenge_, and blot out the _MEMOIRS_ of _past Unkindnesses_. _LOVE_ triumphantly _overcomes all Things_. All things yield to its Power; and the more we oppose it, the stronger _Resistance_ it makes. It conquers the greatest _Hearts_, and victoriously subdues the most magnanimous _Souls_. _Alexander_ the Great, was not exempted from this insuperable _Passion_, at the sight of _Darius_’s fair _Daughters_. No, _LOVE_ made _Hercules_, the Son of _JUPITER_ himself, stoop and truckle to the _Female Conqueror_; according to the following known _Distich_, _“Lenam non potuit, potuit superare Leænant, “Quem Fera non potuit vincere, vicit Hera._ IN fine, I think it is also ingeniously well defin’d in this ensuing _Hexastick_, by Mr. _Howel_[35], _“Fax grata est, gratum est vulnus, mihi grata Catena est, “Me quibus astringit, lædit & urit Amor; “Sed Flammam extingui, sanari Vulnera, sulvi “Vinc’la, etiam ut possem non ego posse velim: “Mirum equidem Genus hoc Morbi est, Incendia & Ictus “Vinc’laq; vinctus adhuc, læsus & ustus Amo._ Grateful’s to me the _Fire_, the _Wound_, the _Chain_, By which LOVE _burns_, LOVE _binds_, and giveth _Pain_: But for to quench this _Fire_, these _Bonds_ to loose, These _Wounds_ to heal, I would not, could I, choose: Strange _Sickness_, where the _Wounds_, the _Bonds_, the _Fire_ That _burns_, that _bind_, that _hurt_, I must desire. THE Omniscient CREATOR, at the Beginning, implanted in the Nature of _Both Sexes_ this Faculty of LOVE, accompanied with a fervent Desire of _Procreation_; furnishing them (for this Purpose) with proper adapted ORGANS, and other suitable MEANS of _Generation_: which, in themselves, are no less _wise_ and _wonderful_, than the great DESIGN of propagating the World by successive _Generations_, is _profound_ and _miraculous_; as will more manifestly appear, by explaining their _Order_, _Propriety_, and _Disposition_, in _Sect_. 4. _Chap. 5, 6, &c_. AND to compensate many subsequent _Griefs_ thereupon, NATURE added to _Man_ and _Woman_ an ardent Desire of mutual _Embraces_, concomitated with certain alluring _Enticements_ to _Multiplication_; to the end that in _Congression_ they might be so delightfully charme’d, as to forget, or at least vilipend and slight all other trifling _Annoyances_.