with those principles in
their husbands, that they see them in their faces, and hear them from
the tone of their voices in conversation, yea, they feel them on their
breasts, arms, and cheeks: but we, from the zeal of our love for your
happiness, and at the same time for our own, pretend not to know them;
and yet we govern them so prudently, that wherever the fancy, good
pleasure, and will of our husbands lead, we follow by permitting and
suffering it; only bending its direction when it is possible, but in no
case forcing it." I asked, "Whence have you this wisdom?" They replied,
"It is implanted in us from creation and consequently from birth. Our
husbands compare it to instinct; but we say that it is of the divine
providence, in order that the men may be rendered happy by their wives.
We have heard from our husbands, that the Lord wills that the husband
(_homo masculus_) should act freely according to reason; and that on
this account the Lord himself from within governs his freedom, so far as
respects the inclinations and affections, and governs it from without by
means of his wife; and that thus he forms a man with his wife into an
angel of heaven; and moreover love changes its essence, and does not
become conjugial love, if it be compelled. But we will be more explicit
on this subject: we are moved thereto, that is, to prudence in governing
the inclinations and affections of our husbands, so that they may seem
to themselves to act freely according to their reason, from this motive,
because we are delighted with their love; and we love nothing more than
that they should be delighted with our delights, which, in case of their
being lightly esteemed by our husbands, become insipid also to us."
Having said this, one of the wives entered her chamber, and on her
return said, "My dove still flutters its wings, which is a sign that we
may make further disclosures." They then said, "We have observed various
changes of the inclinations and affections of the men; as that they grow
cold towards their wives, while the husbands entertain vain thoughts
against the Lord and the church; that they grow cold while they are
conceited of their own intelligence; that they grow cold while they
regard with desire the wives of others; that they grow cold while their
love is adverted to by their wives; not to mention other occasions; and
that there are various degrees of their coldness: this we discover from
a withdrawal of the sense from the