be afraid Of him thou hast thy humble Captive made Well may thy Arm his Head and Body part Who with thy â—â—es hast from him torn his Heart THE ELOGIE OF JVDETH IT is not necessary for me to say who Judeth was and what Act she hath done she is sufficiently known to every one For above the space of two thousand yeers she is in all Countreyes and in the sight of all Nations still cutting off the Head of Holofernes and raising the siege of Bethulia This part of her life hath been indeed the most radiant and remarkable but peradventure not the most laborious or Heroick and she more easily defeated Holofernes invironed with a whole Armie then Pleasure and Grief Covetousnesse and Fear then her own Beauty and Youth She was victorious nevertheless in all sorts of conflicts and got the upper hand both of pleasing and terrifying Enemieâ— At the Death of her Husband she overcame Grief by resignation and shewed that with the blood of Patriarchs her Predecessors she had inherited their Faith and Constancie This first Adversary being mastered the overcame also Idlenesse Pleasures and the latter Affections which are the second and most dangerous Enemies of young Widows She not being able to renounce her Youth nor to be rid of her Beauty which were to her like suspected Domesticks and hard to be preserved she kept them continually shut up and likewise â—â—aring lest they should make an escape she weakned them by Prayer Labor â—asting and Hair-cloth She grew warlike by these Domestick and Private Combats and prepared her self all alone and in one single night for this famous Field in which the Fortune of the Assyrians was ruined by the Blow received from the Hand of a victorious Woman and the Head of a vanquished Man Besides in this so magnanimous and perillous an enterprise she was to overcome not only a man whom Love had disarmed and Wine and Sleep had secured but to overcome the power of Gold to which armed Legionâ— submit and strong Forts are rendered she was to overcome the sparklings of pretious stones which wound even souls which are 〈◊〉 to the sharpest point of swords she was to overcome pleasures which is stronger then valour it self and triumpheth every day over the Victorious Besides these pleasing and flattering enemies certain cruel and terrible ones presented themselves which she was likewise obliged to overcome Her Enterprise could not prove successeful to her but by miracle and if it took no effect she was to passe through all the hands of a furious Army she must suffer all the punishments and Deaths which inraged Tyranny can inflict she measured all these punishments and numbred all these Deaths And upon a serious consideration of them all the undertook in their very sight and presence this memorable Action by which with one stroak she shewed her self not onely more couragious and valiant but more intelligent and prudent then all Judea which she preserved and all Assyria which she overcame A MORAL REFLECTION WOmen have not every day Holofernes's to vanquish but every day they have occasion to fight against excess vanity delights and all pleasing and troublesome passions The memory of this Heroick Woman may instruct them in all the enterprises and exercises of this war which though made in shadow and without effusion of blood ceaseth not to be laborious and made with vigour of spirit and stability of courage Let them learn then from this illustrious and glorious Mistresse to discipline their graces and to give to them devotion and zeal To imprison dangerous Beauty and to take from it all the weapons wherewith it might offend Let them learn from her to reform Widowhood and to put themselves under the yoke of God after they are free from that of men Let them learn from her to be loyal to the memory of their deceased Husbands never to divorce themselves from their Names and to place under their ashes all the fire which may be remaining in them as for this celebrious Act by which Judith overcame all Assyria a Tent and struck off with one blow the head of a whole Armie It teacheth men that Heroick Vertue proceeds from the Heart and not the Sex that valour clothed with iron is not alwayes 〈◊〉 and that the weakest and most tender hands may 〈◊〉 the safety of Nations when God directs them A MORAL QUESTION Concerning the Choice which God hath made of Women for the preservation of States reduced to Extremity IT is noted in the Book of Judges and observed there as a wonder and prodigâ—â—â— that meeknesse was once born of force and that nourishment 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 of him that devoutâ— It is a wonder which 〈…〉 of prodigie and which nevertheless hath not been yet observed that 〈◊〉 is a portion of meekness and that the handâ— accused to have been the Authoâ—â— of Death have brought safety and given 〈◊〉 However this second wonder is true and no lesse surprizing then the first not lesse proper to frame a 〈◊〉 Problem and a specious 〈◊〉 The examples thereof are likewise less 〈◊〉 and more known 〈…〉 to be seen of them almost in all the Regions of History And God hath renewed them aâ— often as he hath chosen the handâ— of Women other to establish tottering States or to support their 〈◊〉 The great wonder in this is that God hath almost made this choice 〈…〉 Counsels and Hope and in the last confusion 〈…〉 And in occasions wherein the Arms of the strong were 〈…〉 Heads exhausted he hath raised up Women who 〈…〉 the valiant and 〈◊〉 who have taken away 〈…〉 and the Sword held over the Head of Nations who have chased away from surrendred â—owns Armies already victorious who 〈…〉 and Courage to vanquished King who 〈…〉 and fallen Crown It suffiâ—â—th to believe that such works are not done but by the hand of God and with much of hiâ— spirit and by the Vertue of miracles There are nevertheleâ—â— appearances and Reasons within the reach of out sight which in this particular make good his Providence 〈…〉 Power appears therein more independant and his Wisdâ—m 〈◊〉 infallible and 〈◊〉 There is very often Deâ—eption in 〈◊〉 Thought and mistake 〈…〉 in our Terms We take Force 〈…〉 and that which we call Power ought to be called 〈…〉 and a Weaknesse with a great Train 〈…〉 was to be truly powerful to take Towns and overcome 〈…〉 Canons and other Armâ— but with broken Poâ—â— and 〈…〉 This were to be extraordinarily strong not to throw 〈…〉 with many Engine but to break in 〈…〉 with blowing on the â—ace of it to â—leave a Mountâ—â—n with 〈◊〉 of Snow And the Art as well as the Courage of 〈…〉 might be called Divine who in the sight of a Storm should 〈…〉 with â—ails of 〈◊〉 and with a 〈◊〉 of Paper It â—utes very neer with the manner of Gods acting when in the Tumult of 〈◊〉 and amidst the 〈◊〉 of falling States he 〈◊〉 the Arms of 〈◊〉 and the Heads
with Death which entred by this wound or red with the blood which flowed from thence His eyes which to him had been ill Advisers and unfaithful guards and had suffered themselves to be surprised by beauty and sleep bewail the mortal errour they had committed and seem willing to cast forth with their blood and tears the pleasing poyson which they have taken in from the looks of Jâ—hel Besides they turn up and down in their last pains as if they sought her out to reproach her of Infidelity And the very sight of Debora and Barac hapning to be present at this Tragick spectacle increases their torment and begets in him a second confusion The victory of his Enemies proves a torment to him Death nay even such a death made it another death to him But the third yet more sensible and cruel death was that his enemies in his very presence and sight rejoyce at his death and at their victory Surely also this sight may be called the death of Sisera and the wound which he received therby in his heart though it cast forth no blood at all is yet more painful to him then that of his pierced head You would say that he is ready to dart out of his mouth a thousand Blasphemies against Heaven and as many Imprecations against Jahel But his voice is stifled with the presse of his passions and dies in his throat There issueth forth of it nothing but froth which is the blood of his inflamed rage and not being able to blaspheme with his tongue he blasphemeth with his countenance and the motion of his lips Debora and Barac look upon him in silence and with a kinde of Religious horror Astonishment which opens their mouth deprives them of breath and their stretched out hands seem willing to speak for their tongues that are tyed up The very servants which are of their Train are strucken with the like amazement and as if there were a charm in this spectacle it took from them their voice by gazing on it Sisera who could not astonish them by his valour and with a sword in his hand doth now amaze them by his punishment and with the Nail in his head And if all the people should be destroyed if the Ark it self were a captive and if the Cherubâ—â—s which guard it were prisoners there could not appear more Trouble in the minde of Barac nor more Emotion upon the face of Debora But this trouble and Emotion will be quickly followed with joy and every one resuming the Function which this spectacle hath suspended Debora inspired with the spirit of Prophesie shall sing a Hymn unto God of the wonders which have finished so great a war with the point of a nail and destroyed the Empire of the Canaanites with the stroke of a hammer and by the hand of a woman SONNET IN Jahels Bresta Hero's Soul survives Which prompts her modest thoughts to brave atchives Her flaming eyes declare with how much heat She did an Army in one Head defeat Sisera her strugling his black Soul doth groan That by a Womans hand he 's overthrown It quits his Breast amazed Rage conceives And in his Blood its wrath enkindled leaves Behold Man's â—ickle state how neer ally'd His Ruine is to his insulting Pride And with what ease this Ball is ev'ry way By Fortune racketed to finde her play She can advance him when in most despair As though she rais'd him with a puff of Air As strangly too without her VVheels full poise She by the pâ—â—cking of a Nail destroyes THE ELOGIE OF JAHEL JAHEL gave the last blow unto the Pride of the Canaanâ—â—es and finishing the victory which Debora had begun she shewed that God had chosen the hands of a Woman to break the yoke of his people Sisera the Lieutenant General of Jabin seeing his Army defeated by the Israelites saved himself aâ—oot in the Tent of Jahel But Death knows no Sanctuarâ— or place of Refuge And it is evident that she suffered him 〈…〉 in the heat of the conflict to kill him afterwards more at 〈◊〉 and at more leaâ—ure out of the Battel Jahel inspired by God 〈◊〉 And to quench the extream thiâ—â— which labour flight and 〈◊〉 had caused presented him with milk to drink There are some dangerous charities and courtesies whereof we must bewaâ—â— And sometimes the presence of Women have defeated those who could not be overcome by stratagems or armed Legions 〈…〉 together with the freshness of this drink having 〈…〉 unfortunate Sisera Jahel without noise pulled up one of the Nail wherewith her Tent was fastned and with the blow of a 〈…〉 to deep into his head as the Nail pierced it clean through and entred into the earth with his blood and Soul This Woman waâ— worth an Armie and a Nail in her hand effected that which ten thousand 〈◊〉 and as many Swords were not able to effect 〈◊〉 may well believe that this action was done by inspiration otherwâ—◠〈…〉 not have violated Hospitality which is naturally holy 〈…〉 to the Law of Nations She would not have corrupted 〈…〉 and favour not have staâ—nd it with blood and murther She would have at least respected the gentlenesse of her Sex and the sanctity of her Tent But it was Gods will on that day that two Women should work the Redemption of a whole Nation And that by this example they should teach posterity that great forces are not necessary to great Actions that the powers of the earth break asunder if never so little touched and that without framing Engines or rolling mountains there needs but one thrust to cause the fall of a Colessus A MORAL REFLECTION I Fear that if I propose the Example of Jahel to gallant women they will reject my proposition and abhor the blood and 〈◊〉 of this Precedent Nevertheless they may imitate her without violating the Lawâ— of Hospitality without exasperating the mildeness of their Sex without â—â—taging oâ— framing the 〈◊〉 with blood There are no more Canaanites to overcome not 〈◊〉 there another Sisera to vanquish But there are 〈…〉 there are commanding and 〈◊〉 Passion which are to the 〈…〉 at that day what Sisera and the Canaanites were heretofore to the Israelites Not only Men ought to take up arms against these spiritual 〈…〉 but even Women also must enter into this war and the 〈…〉 which they should hold with them would be a kinde of treason and 〈◊〉 Above all it there be any woman who hath entertained some Sisera in her 〈◊〉 who hath opened her heart and promised security unto some predominant Passion the ought to be advertised that this sort of charity is destructive and not to be 〈◊〉 in and that toward 〈…〉 mercy proves 〈◊〉 and fidelity scandalous and of dangerous example Saul was reproved for the 〈…〉 thrown to the king of the Amalekites and because he was pitiful out of â—â—ason and against the will of God he lost both â—rown and 〈…〉 Take heed of the liâ—e fault if you
So far was this Daughter from tempting and assaulting him with the Ruines of his tottering House that she represented to him the importance of his suffering for that Cause that Men and Angels were Spectatours of his Victory that he had the Applause and Congratulation of the Church and that the Glory of his Family was raised to the Alliance of Martyrs She spake nothing to him which he knew not before but she said nothing which did not confirm him Old reasons received a new light from her Tears and issued with more vigour out of her Mouth And whether God placed in her Voice and upon her Lips some tincture of Divine Spirit whether pleasing persons have a natural Charm and an Eloquence without Art or that their sole presence is perswasive It seemed as if an Angel appearing to this Moor had inflamed him with more Zeal or infused into him more Light In fine having received the Sentence of Death after Fourteen Moneths of imprisonment and an illustrious and solemn Confession of his Faith made in the presence of all the Ministers of the Schism his good Daughter was willing to be a spectatâ—ess of his Combat and to fortifie her self by the Evidence of his Faith and with the last Act of his Constancie she expected him in his passage and went to imbrace him in the midst of the people who gave back out of respect and with their Admiration and Tears honoured so resolute and so examplar a Piety At these last imbraces the fervour of friendship mixed with that of Zeal ascending from her Heart to her Head caused some Tears to distill from her eyes But these were couragious Tears and such as heretofore the first Heroes of Christianity shed upon the wounds and Crowns either of their Fathers or Children still warme with Martyrdom After the execution of the impious sentence which had submitted this High Judge of Equity to the sword of a Hangman Margaret prepared her self to tender her last duties to the Bodie of her Father Concerning whose Head after it had served a whole Moneth for a spectacle of terrour upon London Bridge she bought it of the Executioner and caused it to be inchased in Silver to the end it might remain with his Writings the Relique of his Family and of her Domestick Devotion Notwithstanding this Devotion wanted not Accusers and was pursued by Justice It was made a crime of State that they might have a pretence to persecute Sir Thomas Moor even after his Death and cause that part of his Heart and Spirit which he had left to his Daughter to suffer a second Martyrdom She was made a Prisoner and examined before the Schismatical Tribunal But she shewed so much Constancie in prison she answered so prudently and with so great courage she made so resolute and a noble confession of her Faith that the Commissioners themselves being become her Admirers conceived it much fitter to send her back then to give a second Victory to her Father and multiply Martyrs and Crowns in his Family MARIAMNE 〈…〉 Mariamne THIS Terrace incompassed with â—allisters of Jasper belongs to the Palace of Herod And it can be no other then Mariamne who comes out of it with so much splendour and so sumptuously apparelled There needed no Diadem and Sceptre to make her known Her Dignitie is neither Artificial nor borrowed It is from her Person and not from her Fortune And her Heroick Stature her Majestical Countenance and soveraign Beauty came from the Maccabees as well as her Blood and Courage Can you believe seeing her so Beautiful and Resolute that she is going to Execution She goes thither most fair and undaunted as you see her And all the Graces and Vertues accompany her to that place Bloody and murtherous Judges suborned by her Husband Mother and Sister in Law come to give the Sentence of death against her She appeared before this Tribunal of Tyranny and Injustice with a Countenance of Authority and a Soveraignty of Heart equal to that of her Face You would have said that the Criminal was to pronounce the Decree and that the Lives of the Judges were in her Mouth But as good Intervals stay not with sweetned Tyrants nor with charmed Vipers so malice and poison quickly return to the Judges of Iniquity Their fury which Innocence and Beauty equally Imperious had chained up with respect is loosned and confirmed And they at last pronounced her Sentence but still with Fear and Trembling As if their Faces had accused their Consciences and given the Lye to their Tongues As if their very Tongues had retracted what was done their Palenesse and stammering made a Declaration contradictory to their Decree and justified condemned Innocence In what manner do you think she received this unjust Sentence and procured by her own Husband With more Equality of Spirit with more Indifferency then she could have received his Carresses And had it been but a feigned Death they pronounced against her she could not have appeared lesse moved She is come hither with all the Calmnesse of her Heart the Reproaches and Injuries of her wicked Step Mother who combined with her Enemies did not provoke her And had she gone to a publick Sacrifice or to some solemn Feast She could not have carried thither a better composed Modesty Since it is decreed that she must die she resolves to die resolutely and like a Macchabee And there will not only appear a Constancy in her Suffering but even a Dignity and Grace Pitty it is nevertheless that so perfect a Light should be extinguished at its high Noon and in the midst of its Carreer And the Mists must needs be very thick and malignant which could not be dissipated by it But we amuse our selves in bewailing her we lose her last splendour and the last examples of her Vertue She is already arrived at the Place of Execution And the envious Saloma hath so violently pressed the Execution that at the very instant I speak there is an end of poor Mariamne Herod himself is come too late to save her His Retraction was fruitlesse They left him not so much leasure as to suspend the wicked Sentence or to keep back even for one moment the Arm of the Executioner And repentant Love which brought him thither found nothing but sorrows to vent and unprofitable tears to shed Affrightment Horror and Despair entred into his Soul at the sight of Mariamne dead Spite Anger and Jelousie at the same time issued from thence And the marks of these Passions mix'd at their encounter caused this distemper in his Eyes and the Confusion you behold on his Face His Bodie half reversed and his arms extended follow the posture of his Soul which remains as it were in suspence between astonishment and aversion between the respect and horrour of these deplorable Reliques He was willing at once both to remove his sight from thence and to sacrifice himself upon them for the expiation of just blood by blood that was guilty And to
Immolate the jealous Penitent to executed Innocence He wished that he were able at least to tear out his Heart and to rid himself with it of his Crime and Punishment His Eyes besieged by a Death as yet warm and bloody and by two Specters equally frightful finde every where Torment and Reproaches Me thinks this Fury strikes Fear into you Surely she is frightfull And the most Resolute and Heroick Souls even those which deride Death with all its disguises cannot behold her without Trembling if she appears to them Of these Serpents which you see upon her Head some raise sinister Reports and bad Rumors others infuse suspitions and distrusts There are some which steal in by the Eyes of Husbands others which enter by the Ears of VVives The fairest Flowers wither as soon as they are touched by them The best united Hearts are severed if never so little bitten by them and from their mouth doth fall as well the Gall which imbitters the sweetest Humours as the Venom which corrupts the fairest Flowers of Marriage The Torch which she holds in her Hand is no less pernitious then the serpents about her Head All the bad Colours wherewith the most innocent Actions become darkned are compounded of this Coal Her Smoak obscureth the purest and clearest Lights and draws Tears from the fairest Eyes she robs the fairest Faces of their Lustre and Attraction Her Fire seizeth on both Souls and Bodies she causeth Frenzies and Calentures and even in this Life she makes Devils and damned Souls All this teacheth you that this Furie is Jealousie and Enemie of the Graces and the Corruptresse of Love She is come as you see to act her second part and begins to revenge that Murder to which she her self did instigate All the Serpents which are wanting on her Head are about Herods Heart and even tears his Conscience The Bloody sword which she shews him is a dreadfull Looking-glass to his Imagination He beholds there the horror of his Crime he sees there the wounds of his Heart and the stains of his Soul This Apparition indeed is frightful but the incensed Ghost which ariseth from this beautiful Bodie is much more And Herod suffers an other fire and other stings then from the Torch and Snakes of the Furie His wandring and troubled Eyes change their station at every moment They are obsest with these two Spectres which haunt them every where And thinking to repose them upon this dying Beauty wherein heretofore consisted his chief Happinesse he findes there a Tribunal and Scaffold his condemnation and punishment His Yesterdayes Idoll is to day his judge and Executioner This just Blood which still reaks is a devouring fire which fills his distemper'd Imagination and there comes out of it Imprecations and Complaints Outcries of Reproach and Vengeance These cold and tyed up Hands tear his Heart in pieces and this Beautifull Head which caused all his joyes and happy dayes is now the Principal part of his Torment Mean while she hath only changed place the blow which cast her down hath not shaken off her flower her Grace and Beauty are thereby a little faded but not defaced And her open and still â—â—rene eyes seem to expect another Death as if there needed more then one to extinguish them Thus the eclipsed Moon is still fair and the Sun sets daily without losing one single Ray or changing Countenance The mischief is that whereas the Moon recovers her defections and is cured of her Eclipses and the Sun riseth again the next day after his setting there is no renovation of Light or a new day to be expected for Mariamne And this Beautiful Head is fallen in her own Blood never to rise again SONNET MAriamne's dead her Corps is now the seat Of Whiteness only by her Souls Retreat The Royal Blood that tinctur'd it with Red In Crimson streams flowes from her sever'd Head Megaera holds before the Tyrants Eyes The murd'ring Sword He in that Glass espyes The stains wherewith his Heart is cover'd ore And sees his Image purpled with her gore The Vigorous impressions of this sad And â—atal Object render Herod mad Two vindicating Ghosts his Eyes invade With flaming Torch and with a glittring Blade But now his Fury dreads nor Flames nor Swords Her Blood that 's boyling still such Fumes affords As make him feel all Hells tormenting Evils Without the Scorch of Fire or Scourge of Devils ELOGIE OF MARIAMNE MARIAMNE hath appeared too often upon the Theater not to be known in this Picture All things were great in her Birth Beauty Vertue Courage nay bad Fortune She was the Grand-Childe of Patriarchs Prophets Kings and High Priests Her Countenance captivated Herod and inchainâ—d him for a time and her Picture stood in Competition with Cleopatra in the Heart of Anthonie Her Vertue neverthelesse did not consent to this concurrence and being far from thinking on forbidden Acquisitions she never dained to put any constraint upon her self for the preservation of that which she lawfully possessed Her Chastity was so severe and so little indulgent outwardly that there remained within something I know not what of stately and piccant which exasperated Herod and made him return to his own Nature But she was the same to the bitings of this inâ—aged Beast as she had been to his Indeerments She retained her confidence and preserved all her Majesty amidst suborned Accusers confederate and corrupted Judges The Face of the Executioner did not alter at all the serâ—â—ity of her Countenance and her Head was struck off without paling her Brow or displacing her Heart Her Constancie did not begin by her punishment it began by that which is termed her good Fortune Having espoused a jealous Tyrant it was requisite for her to be as couragious in the Palace as in the Prison and Resolution was as needful for her under the Diadem as under the Sword The Blow which struck off her Head was less her Death then the End of her punishment for one Crown it cut off it brake a dozen chains and it was a Redeemer and not an Executioner which delivered her from Herod MORAL REFLECTION HEROD glorious and tormented and Mariamne crowned and unhappy teach us that the greatest Tranquillity is not found in the Highest Regions of the World There are no priviledged Territories nor exempt from Malediction Many sufferers are seen in Prisons and upon Scaffolds but the worst treated Persons remain in Pallaces and upon Thrones These nevertheless cause more Envie then Pitty The People admire what they ought to lament and when there is occasion of drawing the Picture of Happiness they represent her upon a Throne and place a Scepter in her Hand and a Crown upon her Head But the People are ignorant Judges and very unskilful Painters Every day they judge at Random and without knowing the Cause Every day they vent Chimaera's and Caprichio's for well regulated Figures They sufficiently understand of what matter Crowns are made and discern well enough how they
all the last night could not sleep by reason of his disquiets and discontents Perez set at Liberty by this Device repaired to Henry the Great who received him with Honour And Iane Coello staied behinde in Spain esteemed by every one for her Courage and Fidelity I am the first that have shewn this Couragious and Faithful Woman to France And I now present her unto the Court to the end our Ladies may learn of her that great Expences and studied Excesses do not form a gallant Woman That so fair a Figure deserves better Lineaments and Colours That the Noblest blood of the World is obscure and wants lustre if Vertue doth not give it That Marriage is a Companion as well for bad Times and rugged Tracks as for fair Dayes and delightful Roads And that the affection of a good Woman should resemble Ivy which sticks close and inseparably to that Tree which it hath once imbraced never leaving it what snow soever falls upon it what wind soever shakes it what tempest soever bears it down PAVLINE 〈…〉 Paulina IS it one of the Graces or an wounded Amazon who dyes there standing and in the posture of a Conqueress She is truly a Grace even a manly and magnanimous Grace No Amazon unless a Philosophick and long Robâ—d Amazon She is the wise and vertuous Paulina who became a Stoick in the house of Seneca and resolves to die in his Company and by his Example You may have heard what common rumour hath published of Neros ingratitude and of the Fatal command of death he sent his Master This second Parricide no less scandalized the Senate and all the People then the first which is yet fresh and whose blood still reales upon the Earth And the impiety of the Tyrant after it had caused Agrippina to be murthered who had been twice his Mother and brought him no less into the Empire then into the world after it had put Seneca to death the Instructer of his youth and the Father of his spirit could not ascend higher if it rise not up against God himself if it fall not on Religion and holy things Though this last stroke fell only upon Seneca yet he is the only person that was not surprized with it and having often beheld the soul of Nero open and even to the bottom he ever indeed believed that figures of Rhetorick and sentences learnt by roat would not be more acknowledged then the Life and Empire he received from his Mother He received likewise that barbarous Order with a Tranquility truly Stoick and worthy the Reputation of his Sect. He did not appeal to the Senate he knew very well that the Senate is now but a Body divested of Power a dismembred Body and still bleeding of the wounds it had received from the Tyrant He did not implore Redress from the Laws they were all at present either banished or dead He was content to obey without noyse or delay and you could not arrive more seasonably to see a Stoick dying according to the forms and principles of his Profession Paulina would also shew that Constancy belonged to her Sex no less then to ours and that VVomen might be Philosophers without having commerce with Lycea and Portica without making Dilemmaes or Sylogismes She believed that being the one half of Seneca she might be couragious by his Courage and dye by the example of his Death as she had been enriched by his Riches and honoured by his Fortune Their Veins hapned to be opened by the same hand and Lancet Their blood and spirits were mixt together in their wounds And that of Seneca entring into the Arm of Paulina with the Lancet penetrated her very heart and seated it self about her soul. You see also that being instructed and fortified by this spirit which serves for a second reason and an accessory Courage she had the fortitude to expect death standing which is the last Act of Soveraign Vertue and the true posture of dying Heroes The blood streamed from her Arm with violence as if her soul pressed it to have the glory of going out the first And to behold the purest and most spirituall parts thereof which spurt up from the Bason into which it fell you would say that it takes a pride in the Nobleness of its Extraction and conceives it self too well descended to be spilt on the ground Paulina calmly and without the least alteration beholds it trickling down And saving that her Colour vanished away by degrees and Paleness succeeded as it doth to the last Rays of a fair day which dyes in a beautiful Cloud no change was to be seen in her Countenance Her Constancy is no savage Constancy It hath a serenity and Grace but it is a pale serenity and an expiring Grace She is more covetous of her Tears and Sighs then of her Blood and Life she prohibited her Eyes and Mouth to shew the least sign of weakness And a Statue of white Marble which should make a Fountain of its artificiall Veins could not have a more peaceable stability nor a more gracefull confidence This example is very rare but it is sad and cannot instruct the mind but by wounding the heart The steam of so Noble Blood draws almost tears from your eyes And it afflicts you that you are not able to save the fair remains of so beauteous a Life Let it no longer torment you The Tyrant advertised of Paulina's generous resolution sends Souldiers to hinder her Death and inforce her to live Not that he takes care of the Vertues or is willing to preserve the Graces which are ready to dye with her He is Nero in all his actions and doth no less mischief when he saves then when he kiâ—s It is because he delights to sever the best united hearts and to divide the fairest Couples It is because he takes pleasure in forcing inclinations and violating sympathies It is because he hath a desire to exercise upon friendships and souls an interiour and spirituall Tyranny It is because after the death of Seneca he will have the heart of Seneca in his power The Balisters of Porphiriâ— upon which you see him leaning is the same as they say on which lately at the noise and light of flaming Rome he sung the firing of Troy He speaks from thence to the Souldiers he sent to Paulina and commands them to make hast Though she had but two steps to make yet they will enforce her to retreat and fasten her again to life by binding up her wounds It were to be wished for the good of Rome that they had done as much to Seneca But if they had Swathes and Remedies to apply to him Nero could wish that they might be impoysoned Swathes and killing Remedies The last year he caused the same Remedies to be applyed to gallant Burrus his other Governour And doubt not but he will shortly send the like to Seneca if 〈◊〉 Soul make not the more haste to expire It is not the good old mans
us to be purified before we present our selves to this Feast And those Souls doubtless are the most happy which arrive there perfectly cleansed Besides that they are not made to wait at the Gate they have Purity here at a cheaper rate then in that Country The fire of Adversity what hand soever inkindles it what winde soever blows it is not by much so ardent as the Fire of Purgatory And we are better Treated by Tribulation nay by the most severe and harsh can be imagined then by these purifying Devils which as a Holy Father saith Act the same thing upon Souls as Fullers do upon Stuffs which are put out to be Dyed This so entire and perfect Purity ought to be accompanied with all the Features of an exact and compleat Beauty And this Beauty also ought to be Royallie endowed and to have a large stock of Riches Now the Beauty of a Soul which is beloved of God and his Holy Angels is not formed with Paint and Plaister with Silk and Flowers She is framed by Maladies and Wounds and her most delicate Painting ought to be composed both of Blood Tears and Ashes The Beauty of St. Teâ—la was formed by Fire and the Claws of Lions That of St. Apolloâ—â—â— by Flines with which her teeth were broken That of St. Cicilâ—â— by the boiling water of a Furnace That of St Cathâ—rine by a Sword and a Wheel And generally there is no Beauty in Heaven which Adversity hath not made and Patience adorned As for those Riches which should make up the Dowry of this Beauty they are not the Fruit of a sweet Life nor the Revenue of Pleasure and Pastime The very Riches of the Earth even those gross and Material Riches which belong to the lowest Story of the World are Fruits of Adversity and arrive to us from the Tribulations and Afflictions of Nature Pearls and Coral are found in the Element of Tempests and Bitterness Precious Stones are taken out of Precipices and Rocks Gold and Silver are born Prisoners and in Dungeons And if they be drawn out of their dark holes it is to make them pass through Iron and Fire it is to make them suffer all the Punishments of Criminals Certainly if Terrestrial and meer Imaginary Riches are the Fruits of Labour and the Daughters of Adversity it would not be Just that the Riches of the Minde which form the Great Saints of the Kingdom of God and the quiet Possessors of Eternity should be the reward of Idleness and the Heritage of Delights These Spiritual Riches then are the Inheritance and Revenue of Adversity And consequently this harsh and Laborious Adversity is more Beneficial to great Ladies then Prosperity which stain's and infect's them which sometimes even impoyson's and strangles them Surely they would be very nice if they did bear their good Fortune impatiently and with complaints if they were wounded by their Ornaments if they groaned under the Matter of their Crowns Since Adversity is sent them by the Bridegroom to prepare them for his Wedding It is very just that at least so good an Office should make them rellish the rudeness of its Hands and the severity of its Countenance Surely they would weep with a very ill Grace if they lamented that pressure which adornes them Because it loads them with Gold and Jewels because it pricks them by fastening on them Garlands and Crowns They suffer indeed the Fortune on their Heads and the Rack on their Bodies they expose themselves to Iron and Fire to appear Beautiful in the eyes of men And it would be truly a great shame that they should please God with less Trouble and more at their Ease But here is enough to justifie the Providence of God and to shew to Vertuous and Afflicted Ladies how highly they ought to esteem the Grace and Riches of Tribulation It remains to confirm them by a second Example which hath the same Features and almost the same Colours as the first and I hope it will have no less Force nor prove less perswasive though it be less fresh and more remote from our sight EXAMPLE Margaret of Anjou Queen of England IT is true that Crowns are great Ornaments to Beautiful Heads Nevertheless they are Ornaments which Pain more then they Adorn. And I very much doubt that no Person would burthen himself with them if their Thorns were visible However their Thorns are not so well hid but that some of their Points still appear And besides the secret Rack and Interiour Crosses which great Fortunes endure there are likewise Exteriour and Publick Ones upon which by a particular Order of Divine Providence they are Tormented in the sight of the World for the Instruction of the People who are present at their Sufferings And in this Point the People ought to be advertised that these Punishments of Great Persons are not always Ordained for great Crimes Riches are seen without Vice as Gold without Brass There are Great Persons who like Great Planets have much Light and very few Blemishes And yet very often the Crosses of these Grandees are more harsh and heavy then those of Violent and Impious Rich Men then those of Bloody and Tyrannical Great Ones God Ordains it in this manner as I said before to prepare them for Crowns by Patience and to leave unto Great Men under Persecution and to Great Ladies under Affliction Examples of their Rank and Models of their Condition And because there is an unmoveable Patience which suffers quietly and without Action and a stirring and laborâ—ous Patience which adds Action to Sufferance it is just that after the having given a Queen of Scotland for a President of the first I should give a Queen of England for the second Margaret of 〈◊〉 Daughter to Reâ—â— King of Sicily was one of the most Raâ—e and Perfect Princesâ—es of her Age And her Perfections most Rare as they were received not respected from adverse Fortune She was descended from the most eminent Race of the World Reeds are not beaten down by Tempests but the Branches of great Trees She was one of the Fairest and most Spiritual But the Planets which are so Beautiful and Governed by pure Spirits have their Defections and Eclipses they are persecuted by Mists and dark Clouds by Imprecations and Calumnies She was Liberal and Beneficent Is there any Bounty more lasting then that of Springs more delated then that of Rivers Is there a greater Inclination to do good then that of the â—arth And yet we see that stones are cast into publike Springâ— and that all sorts of Ordures are thrown into Rivers We see that the â—arth is beaten with Storms trodden upon by Animals torn up by men impoverish'd and denuded once every year There was nothing then strange and against the course of the World in the Afflictions of â—o Noble so Beautiful so Able and Magnificent a Princess and Fortune did nothing against Her whereof she had not Publike Examples in Nature She was Married to Henry
History and because it is curious and practicall The ensuing Question will teach us the speculation and use thereof MORAL QUESTION Whether it appertains to the dutie of a gallant Woman to expose her Life to satisfie the minde of a Jealous Husband IT would be very Inhumane to go about to lay more weight upon the yoak of married Women It lieth heavy enough already upon their necks and hearts And if the most Couragious amongst them had not their comforts they would scarce be able to bear it one hour It is enough that they have been condemned to obedience and subiection without being still subject to Jealousie And that an imaginary and barbarous duty which nature avows not and which is neither according to the universall nor written Law should oblige them to sacrifice themselves as often as it shall please this fantasticall fury Truly not to speak of other burthens The condition of Mothers would be harder and more deplorable then was heretofore the condition of Children who were immolated to fiery and sanguinary Idols And if they owe their bloud and life to the cure of their jealous Husbands there is scarce any so happily married or so discreet that three or four times a week ought not to prepare her self either for a knife rope poison or precipice Extream and expensive Remedies are not for daily Maladies and there is no Malady so popular and common to weak Spirits as Jealousie nor is there any infirmity which doth so easily and at random seiz upon unsetled brains There needs but a piece of Ribbon or a Nosegay but a word which signifieth Nothing but a sigh vented by chance to make a man jealous And being once so made he hath visions and raving sits which exceed the whimsies of frantick people His minde and thoughts will quarrell with all the Figures in a piece of Tapistry and will take them for Rivals that debauch the eyes of his Wife and court her in silence If she presents her self before her looking-glasse he will accuse her very Image of bringing her some message of assignation And in case she commend but an ancient marble Statue or look but fixedly on a Picture it will hinder his sleep He will even mistrust the prayer Books he shall see in her hands And when she shall say her Hours he will beleeve that she reads Love-letters There will be no Domestique upon whom he will not ground some suspition And the most faithfull will in his conceit be taken either for disguised Gallants or confidents maintained at his expence Would it be just to oblige Women to the Warranty of all these extravagancies And would it not be extreamly cruell to demand their bloud to make a Remedy for so fantasticall a Disease There is then no written Law nor any Tradition which ordains them to die for their jealous Husbands But excepting life and conscience they can have nothing so intimate to their Souls nothing so fixed to their Hearts which they ought not to tear from both be it to prevent Jealousie which might grow or to cure that which may be already grown This they owe first to their Conscience and to the Evangelical Precept which ordains them to cut off their Hands and Feet if they be feet of Offence and hands of Scandal I say not that they should cut them off with Saw or Rasor but by an unbloody and moral incision whereby without tearing one single Nail without taking from them one Hair they deprive them of all the functions which may occasion a fall It imports not that these functions be innocent of their own Nature and that besides there be no evil intervening intention to spoil them Persumes are excellent things yet Women to whom Persumes are offensive would not excuse their Husbands indiscretion should they take pleasure to torment them with Essences and Spanish Gloves Let them use as much Justice in the Subject now in question and let them not conceive themselves innocent before God when they obstinately persist in torturing their Husbands with Conversations and Customs which though indifferent and without bad designe cease not to beget strange convulsions of Minde and to cause sometimes their Brains even to turn in their Heads Secondly it concerns the purity of their Reputation that they generously rid themselves of all the habits which make way for suspitions and may leave any shadow of Jealousie It is a strange Domestick It is impossible that it should remain long in a House without causing a great noise and fume Now this noise bears a part in all Tatlings and detractions And the same fume which makes the Husbands Head turn round and fills his mouth with bitternesse slains also the reputation of the Wife If she be not esteemed unfaithful she will at least be accounted disobedient And though of these two blemishes the second be lesse sordid and savoureth not so ill as the first yet it is still a blemish which sullies and when Reputation comes to be once sullied on the one side no great scruple is made to stain it on the other But though Women had no Conscience nor Reputation to preserve yet the very interest of their quiet should be alone prevalent enough to withdraw them from Gossipping Certainly those small delights wherewith they amuse themselves cost them strange anguishes of Minde and are followed with very tart reproaches They bring not a Flower from any suspected Walking-place which becomes not at home a Thorn in their Heart and Head and very often tormenting Devils approach them in Angelical shapes They finde a Domestick Hell under an imbroidered Heaven This implies not that Jealousie doth every where perpetrate murders and that it alwayes imployes poison Sword and halter yet is there no place where it doth not bite and scratch It is never without Teeth and Nails and its Teeth which cause nothing but pain are more to be scared then Ropes and Swords which might give Repose in taking away Life A Gallant Woman will not insist upon these three Reasons where Interest is more prevalent then Honour She will passe to the fourth where Glory is most pure and Vertue is disinterested What others will do through terrour of Conscience or to preserve their quiet and good repute she will do the same upon the sole account of her Husbands affection and out of a Complacencie purely conjugal There is yet more and this is the last degree to which without doubt Women will never ascend in Troops Her Love being Heroick and her Complacencie vigorous and Couragious not only to cure her apprehensive Husband and to remove all the Thorns from his Heart and all cares out of his Head She will rid her self of objects even of the shadow of objects which might nourish these Cares and Thorns She will even destroy her own Beauty if he do but suspect it she will extinguish her Graces if he mistrust them of holding any intelligence with a Forreign Love she will dye couragiously provided she may die innocent
and without staining his hands with her Blood Although I have said that Women will not ascend in Troops to this high degree yet some there are who have arrived to this Pitch and gone thither more innocently and couragiously then Monima she whom I shall immediately produce will finde few equals She cannot be placed in too great a light nor upon too fair a Stage She cannot have too noble Spectators and History will never give her so many applauses and Crowns as she deserves EXAMPLE The Brave Hungarian THe Wound which Hungary received at the taking of Seget was great and dangerous And if God had not reached out his hand and upheld that Kingdom it was ready to perish by this wound The siege was famous by the presence of Solymon the second who began this last Expedition with five hundred thousand men and left the finishing of it to his Reputation and Fortune dying a few dayes before the taking of the place and almost in the sight of Victory It was not the Earl of Serins fault who defended the Town that Solymons Fortune and Reputation died not there with his Person and that Victory did not abandon him in this Action and remain to the Christians The Ladies of Seget did what service they could with their Jewels and Pearls which were converted into Money for the pay of the Garrison they served also there with their persons And by a Zeal much bolder then that of the Carthaginians who gave their hair to make Ropes for Engins of War they employed their Arms to the repairing of the Walls and exposed their Heads to the defence of the breaches and Gates At the last assault given by the Turks the Earl of Serin perceiving that the hour of perishing was at hand resolved to dye most magnificently and in Pomp and to give Lustre and Reputation to his Death He â—ought in an Imbroidered Sute and with a string of Diamonds tyed about his Hat having the keyes of the Town fastned to his Scarse and a hundred Crowns in his Pocket for that Souldier who should send him to Triumph in Heaven The History renders this testimony of his Death that it was a Triumphant and Victorious Death But though it was victorious yet it did not equal the Death of a Ladie of Siget who surpasseth all that is left us of the Memory of Heroick time She was a Woman of quality and one of the fairest but she was none of those languishing Beauties and without Vigour of those Beauties which resemble the stars of the North which have no activity and shine faintly and without heat She was vigorous and bold yet vigorous with sweetnesse and bold with a good Grace and Comlinesse Her Husband who loved her passionately and even to the degree of Jealousie scared nothing but her taking in the taking of Siget The Image of captivated and inchained Hungary nay of flaming and bloody Hungary was to his apprehension a lesse dreadful apparition then the Image of his Captive Wife To rid himself of this Fantome which followed him every where and to secure the Honour and Freedom of his Wife of whom he was more Jealous then of the Honour of Christianity and the Liberty of Europe He resolved to take her out of the World before the Victorious Turk should enter the City which was no longer able to resist and had too good hearts left to yield themselves This so Tragick and soul a resolution was no sooner fixed in his Minde but the slains thereof appeared even in his Eyes and upon his Face His Wife who was discreet and quick-sighted observed them and was touched therewith she pardoned his Jealousie in consideration of his Love And though she was fully prepared for death yet she did not desire a death which might make him a Criminal whom she loved more then her own life She took him aside and made him understand that his bad intention could not be hidden from her She was so dexterous as to draw the confession of it from his own mouth and upon his Confession she strongly and efficatiously represented to him the infamie which would remain to him from so Barbarous an Act and the Scandal which he would give to his Age and leave unto posterity I confesse said she that I owe you all my blood And behold me ready to give it without reserving one drop But have patience till some other come to shed it Do not fullie your hands with it stain neither your memory nor your soul therewith Do not inkindle an eternal fire by it For my part I apprehend far more Life then Death and all the Scimiters of the Turks cause in me far less fear then their most gentle and pretious Chain were it more sweet and pretious then the Diadem of the Sultanesse But permit me to die gloriously and with Reputation Do not dishonour the Repose which you seek Disparage not your good affection My Honour is not so desperate that it cannot be preserved but by a Crime You think to justifie your self by laying the blame upon Love You are much mistaken if you take it for a murderer Do not put the Dagger into its hands Do not solicit it to commit a murder and if you cannot restore it the goods you have received from it leave it at least its Reputation and do not envie its Innocencie An honourable Death is not so hard a thing to find in a Town taken by force There enter enough of them by Gates and Breaches Let us fallie forth together with Swords in our hands to chuse an illustrious and renowned end Let it be by fire or sword let it be short or lasting it imports not It will be sweet to me provided I dye a rival to your Valour and not a Victime to your Jealousie Having said this she caused her self to be compleatly armed and went out with a Sword in her hand and a Buckler upon her arm her Husband followed her armed with the like weapons and encouraged by her words and Example which gave him a second Heart and a new Spirit They went on boldly where fire noise and danger were greatest And as soon as they came to the place where they were to fight between the flaming Fire and the victorious Army They shewed by the wonders which they did that there is no valour like the valour of despairing Love and of Graces armed in defence of their Honour After a long and rude fight they were at last rather overpressed then overcome by a barbarous multitude irritated by their own losses and their resistance And feeling their strength stealing away with their Blood they gave each other their last imbraces and fell upon a heap of dead bodies which had been slain by their Hands They could not die more sweetly then in the fruition of their mutual Fidelity They could not have a more magnificent Tomb then their Arms and Victories Their souls which imbraced each other as well as their Bodies could not be severed by Death