intermediary affections
To My Followers from Folly Speaks

Folly carefully distinguishes the passions, belonging to the senses in which the 'vulgar crowd' is enmeshed, from the higher affections, however hesitant she may remain about these. They are 'intermediate', 'quasi'-natural, capable of being transferred to the highest point of the soul. The uncertainty is transferred from the Enchiridion, where some of the affections come near to being virtuous. Erasmus, far too empirically minded to systematize his teaching, does in fact move towards a greater sympathy with these 'intermediary' affections.