XXXVII.
If you have assumed any Character above your Strength, you have both made an ill Figure in that, and quitted one which you might have supported.
XXXVIII.
As, in walking, you take care not to tread upon a Nail, or turn your Foot; so likewise take care not to hurt the ruling Faculty of your Mind. And, if we were to guard against this in every Action, we should undertake the Action with the greater Safety.
XXXIX.
The Body is to every one the measure of the Possessions proper for it; as the Foot is of the Shoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keep the Measure: but, if you move beyond it, you must necessarily be carried forward, as down a Precipice: as in the Case of a Shoe, if you go beyond its Fitness to the Foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple[1], and then studded with Jewels. For to that which once exceeds a due Measure, there is no Bound.
XL.
Women from fourteen Years old are flattered with the Title of Mistresses, by the Men. Therefore, perceiving that they are regarded only as qualified to give the Men Pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves; and in that to place all their Hopes. It is worth while, therefore, to fix our Attention on making them sensible, that they are esteemed for nothing else, but the Appearance of a decent, and modest, and discreet Behaviour[2].
