_That Love is nothing but Concupiscence to a high Degree, or that Love
and Lust are the same Thing._
Love is a Passion, which, though we read of it in the Classics, is but
seldom experienced in these Northern Climates.
I never met with a North-countryman who would allow that there is any
Difference between Love and Lust, and even in the Southern Parts of the
Kingdom it is but slightly felt; what little we have of it in England,
serves only to make Diversion for the Girls, one among another, and does
not often produce any Thing of bad Consequence. But in Southern Climes the
Effects of it are violent, as well as much more frequent. The desperate
Actions which our Tragedies are full of, will appear more natural, if we
consider what Country we are in during the Time of the Play.
In England, we should esteem a Person, who killed himself for the Love of
one of inferior Birth and Fortune, but a very silly Fellow; whereas in
Spain or in Italy, to fall upon a Sword for a beautiful Woman, is looked
upon as a certain Indication of a great Soul, and as a Proof that the Heart
of the Enamoured was possessed of a Sentiment unknown to the Minds of the
Vulgar. Not to dwell upon the many Instances, which have happened both
among the Ancients and Moderns, of People who have died for Love, I shall
just make a little Enquiry into the Nature of that Disorder, for so it may
be called, since it sometimes proves fatal.
That Affection which is called Love, seems to be a Fever, not only in the
Mind, but an actual Fever, attended with the Symptoms of that Disorder; and
differs from all others in this Particular, it is what no Physic can cure.
The Symptoms of it are much like those of that Distemper, which the
East-Indians sometimes die of, when they pine for their native Country.
If this is the Case, Love is so far from being another Term for Lust, that
it rather opposes that Desire, which is generally the Concomitant of
Health.
The Heart is capable of a Wound from this little mischievous Urchin, before
Maturity arrives; for the Truth of which I appeal to every one who has
Sensibility enough, to be capable of receiving the Impression of Love,
whether he never found himself electrified by a fine Lady, when he was
about the Age of thirteen.
To conclude: If I hear a Person very positive that Love and Lust are the
same Thing, I take it for granted, that his Nerves are so coarse and
callous, that nothing less than the Stroke of a Blacksmith's Hammer can
possibly have any Effect upon him.
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