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LOVE. 
went upon it has been juft, it is evident that it goes di- 
yeftly in oppofition to the happinefs of tlie fpecies, and 
to the great object of the Creator. The individual it cor¬ 
rupts, the fociety it biforders. It ruins the affections, 
and deftroys the tendered: connections of the fpecies. It 
is a fyflem felfiffi and mifchievous. Like all other felfifh 
fyftems, too, it defeats itfelf. Inftead of multiplying our 
enjoyments, it contracts them; inftead of expanding the 
mind, it renders it illiberal ; and deftroys all the nobler 
afFeCtions of the foul, by debating its regards, and teach¬ 
ing it to confine all its views to one unprofitable gratifi¬ 
cation. The fyftem of the married life is, in all refpecls, 
different. The obvious effeft of it is to multiply our en¬ 
joyments, by carrying us beyond ourfelves, and giving us 
the tendered intereft in others. The gratification of the 
paffion is but the opening of the feene. The tendered 
relations are created, the mod delightful connections of 
life arife around us. We acquire the fidelity of friend- 
fhip, and the delights of children. Thefe are by far the 
pureft pleafures of our ftate. They teach us the value of 
our nature, and connect us ftrongly with our kind. They 
give us an intereft in the world, and make us enter inti¬ 
mately into the fociety of our fpecies. Exhaufted with 
our exertions, and fatiated as we fhould be with our own 
experience, we refutne our lives, and renew our purfuits, 
in our children. Thefe give us an intereft in life to the 
laft. In thefe we feel a concern fuperior to any that we 
can feel for ourfelves. They prefent an important objeCt 
to our mind, which furnifhes the mod delightful employ¬ 
ment of our lives ; redoubles the enjoyments, and enables 
us to bear the difficulties of our (late with cheerfulnefs 
and perfeverance.” Mackenzie's Sermons .—We may add, 
that maternal affeElion is the pledge of love, by which na¬ 
ture derives from the heart of a mother an ample com- 
penlation for all her fufferings. Nothing equals the 
anxiety with which a mother feeks her loft child ; nothing 
can exceed her tranfport when, after fatiguing fearch, af¬ 
ter a tedious reparation, ffie at length recovers it, and em¬ 
braces it as if it were juft then born. The defire of fe¬ 
cundity is the brightest charm in the ceftus of Venus; 
nay, it feems to be the only one that can be valuable in 
the eftimation of chafte and virtuous women. Thefe are 
the priefteffes who keep alive the facred fire of Vefta ; and 
perifii that contemptible wretch who, inftead of being 
warmed with this pure flame, burns with a grofs and 
brutal iuft 1 Love has dipped only the point of his fhaft 
with defire ; when the whole weapon is evenomed by it, 
snifery muft attend thofe whom it wounds. Hanjlerhuis's 
Oeuvres Philofophiqves ; Paris, 1792. 
The manners of the Greeks and Romans were fimilar 
to each other in the affairs of love. They generally made 
a difeovery of their paffion by writing upon trees, walls, 
doors, See. the name of their beloved. They ufually decked 
the doer of their dulcinea with flowers and garlands, made 
libations of wine before their houfes, fprinkling the ports 
with the fame liquor, as if the objeft of their affeftion 
were a real goddefs. For a man’s garland to be untied, 
and for a woman to compofe a garland, were held to be 
indubitable indications of their love. When their love 
was without fuccefs, they ufed feveral arts to excite af- 
feftion in the objedt of their defire. They had recourfe 
to enchantrefles, of whom the Theffalian were in the 
higheft eftimation. The means made ufe of were moft 
commonly philtres, or love-potions, the operation of which 
was violent and dangerous, and frequently deprived fuch 
as drank them of their reafon. Some of the moft remark¬ 
able ingredients of which they were compofed were : the 
hippomanes, the jynx, infedts bred from putrefaftion, the 
filh remora, the lizard, brains of a calf, the hairs on the 
tip of a wolf’s tail, his fecret parts, the bones of the left 
fide of a toad eaten with ants, the blood of doves, bones 
of fnakes, feathers of fcreech-owls, twilled cords of wool 
in which a perfon had hanged himfelf, rags, torches, a 
nelt of fwallows buried and famiffied in the earth, bones 
Inatched from hungry bitches, the marrow of a boy fa¬ 
miffied in themidftof plenty, dried human liver; to thefe 
may be added feveral herbs growing out of putrid fiib. 
fiances. Such were the ingredients that entered into the 
compofition of that infernal draught a love-potion. But, 
belides the philtres, various other arts were ufed to excite 
love, in which the application of certain fubftances was 
to have a magical influence on the perfon againft whom 
they levelled their (kill. A hyaena’s udder worn under 
the left arm, they fancied would draw the affections of 
w hatever woman they fixed their eyes upon. That fpecies 
of olives called and barloji-bran made up into a 
parte, and thrown into the fire, they thought would ex¬ 
cite the flame of love. Flour was ufed witli the fame in¬ 
tention. Burning laurel, and melted wax, were fuppofed 
to have the like effect. When one heart was to be har¬ 
dened, and another mollified, clay and wax were expofed 
to the fame fire together. Images of wax were frequently 
ufed, reprefenting the perlons on whom they vvifhed to 
make an impreffion ; and whatever was done to the fub- 
ftitute of wax, they imagined was felt by the perfon re- 
prefented. Enchanted medicaments were often fprinkled 
on fonie part of the houfe where the perfon refided. Love- 
pledges were fuppofed to be of fingular ufe and efficacy : 
thefe they placed under their threfliold, to preferve the 
affeftionsof the owner from wandering. Love-knots were 
of fingular power, and the numlfer three was particularly 
obferved in all they did. But no good effeft was expedited, 
if the ufe of thefe things was not attended with charms 
or magical verfes and forms of words. 
Having mentioned their arts of exciting love, it may 
not be amifs to take notice, that the ancients imagined, 
that love excited by magic might be allayed by more pow¬ 
erful fpells and medicaments, or by applying to demons 
more powerful than thofe who had been concerned in 
raffing that paffion. But love infpired without magic had 
no cure; Apollo himfelf could find no remedy, but cried 
out Hei mihi quod nullis amor ejl medicabilis herbis. The an¬ 
tidotes againft love were generally agnus cajius, which has 
the power of weakening the generative faculty ; fprinkling 
the dull in which a mule had rolled herfelf; tying toads 
in the hide of a bead newly flain; applying amulets of 
minerals or herbs, which were fuppofed of great efficacy 
in other cafes; and invoking the affillance of the inferior 
deities. Another cure for love was bathing in the waters 
of the river Selemnus ; to which we may add the lover's 
leap , or jumping down from the Leucadian promontory. 
This laft, indeed, was the moll effectual cure, becaufe the 
party was generally killed ; though fome efcaped ; as to 
which fee Leucadia, vol. xii. p. 54.7. 
Platonic Love denotes a pure fpiritual affection, fubfift- 
ing between the different fexes, abftrafted from all carnal 
appetites, and regarding no other objeft but the mind, 
and its beauties ; or it is even-a fincere dffinterefted friend, 
{hip fubfifting between perfons of tire fame fex, abftrafted 
from any felfiffi views, and regarding no other objeft but 
the perfon. The term took its rife from the philofopher 
Plato, a ftrenuous advocate for each kind. The world 
has a long time laughed at Plato’s notions of love and 
friendffiip. In effeft, they appear contrary to the inten¬ 
tions of nature, and inconfiftent with the great law of 
felf-prefervation, into which love and friendffiip are both 
• ultimately refolvable. 
LOVE (James), whofe real name was Dance, was one 
of the fons of Mr. Dance, the city-furveyor, (whofe me¬ 
mory will be tranfmitted to pofterity on account of the 
edifice which he erefted for the refidence of the city’s 
chief magiftrate,) received, it is faid, his education at 
Weftminlter-fchool, from whence he removed to Cam¬ 
bridge, which he left without taking any degree. About 
that time a fevere poetical fatire againft fir Robert Wal¬ 
pole, then minifter, appeared under the title of “ Are 
thefe Things fo ?” which, though written by Mr. Miller, 
was aferibed to Mr. Pope. To this Mr. Love immediately 
wrote a reply, called “ Yes, they are ; what then ?” which 
proved fo iatisfaftory to the minilter, that he made him a 
3 handfome 
