most Luminous and highest part of Heaven He is next to God the Mediator of holy Marriages and well united Pairs He is the common Spirit of Christian Sympathyes and the Moderator of Chaste Agreements and Vertuous Harmonies Such an Exhorter is most powerful and his Inspirations leave nothing to be acted by Reason However he is not the sole perswader of the Princess Her Husband though fast asleep is no less Perswasive nor Eloquent them he If Prince Edward speaks not with his mouth he speaks by the paleness of his face He speaks from the Ardour of his Feaver and the Palpatation of his heart He speaks from his wound which hath a Voice of Blood and words of Passion In silence the Princess yields attention to this Voice and to these VVords And Answereth them with her Sighs and Tears which are no less Eloquent nor less Passionate And ere long when she shall thrust her Tongue and Mouth into this VVound her Heart will descend upon her Lips to bid the last adieu to the Princes Heart and to transmit into it her last Flame together with her Life But fear nothing in her behalf This Love her Inciter will preserve them both He put a secret Antidote in to her Mouth and gave her Spirit the gift of Healing Her Lips which he purified with a Spiritual and Sacred Fire will Exorcise Death and dispossess it of this Body without taking it into her own And one day Edward Cured and Eleonor Preserved will be reckoned amongst the miracles of Heroick Charity SONNET ON some Exploit Prince Edward Dreaming lyes VVith Death in 's Wound and slumber in his Eyes His Spouse to Cure him is resolv'd to Dy VVith Heart like those of her brave Ancestry Love more then Nature skill'd in Life's repairs Makes him a precious Balsome of her Tears VVhose Soul already heals him in Designe And at his VVound do's with his Soul conjoyne Approach thy Mouth and Heart couragious VVife 'T is that must save thy gallant Edwards life That Heart of thine with true Affection Crown'd Shall make thy Tongue a Plaister for his Wound To Cure thy Prince employ no other Skill The Fire the Blood the Spirits that Distill From thy fair Soul shall from his Body drive Th' empoyson'd VVound and keep thy Prince alive Elogy of Eleonor HEroick Vertue doth not alwaies Kill not imploys Fire and Sword in all she takes in hand All her Exploits are not stained with Blood she knows how to perform them of more then one fashion and colour and acts not everywhere with Noise though in every place with Force There are Obscure victories without witnesses wherein she hath need of no less boldness then in those which are gained in the view of whole Nations and with the noise of Canons and Trumpets The victorie represented in this Picture is one of these Edward Prince of Wales was come back from the Holy Land with a wound he had received from an Impoysoned Arrow The Physitians had allayed all their speculations and practises and all those ways having been unprofitably tryed they declared to him that he could not be cured but by the destruction of some Person who might have the courage to suck in death with the poyson of his wound Being condemned by this Declaration he prepares himself to dye resolving not to preserve life by the death of another nor to make a remedy of an Impoysonment The Princess his Wife Daughter unto the King of Castile conceiving her self condemn'd by the same sentence received it as if love it self had pronounced it to her And seeing her self necessitated to dye either by the death or cure of her Husband She resolved to chuse of these two deaths that which seemed to her the most Honourable and least bitter and which ought of the two moyties of her life to conserve to her self that which was most dear and precious This resolution taken with her love she defers the Execution to the next night And as soon as the Prince was prepared for it by rest she gently discovers his wound and begins to cure it by the purest blood of her soul which she pours into it with her Tears That done she set her mouth to the wound and with her tongue plunged her heart into it By little and little she sucks out the Poyson and so seasonably casts it forth as she drew from thence all that was Mortal without retâ—â—ning any part thereof to her self Whether that this malignant humour were consumed by the subtile and penetrating fire which her heart diffused by her mouth Or whether God who is Life and Charity had laid his Spirit upon her lips she preserved her Husbands life without loosing her own and by one act cured two sick Persons and wrought two Miracles MORAL REFLECTION THere is a large 〈◊〉 in this Picture and an excellent lesson for married Women This couragious Spaniard added to the Romans Greciams and even to those Barbarians who dyed for their husbands will speak Eternally for the constancy and fidelity of their Affections And wil highly prove and in an Heroick fule that the loving portion of the heart is more vigorous and couragious in their Sex then in Ours But she will also prove for their instruction that nothing is impossible to well ordered Charity That her hands have the gift of Cures and that the vertue of Miracles resides on her Lips That she single and unarmed hath more Force then Death with all his swords and poysons and that Barbarous and heathenish Love which knew onely how to dye vainly and with Audacity was but an impatient and desperate Love compared to a Chaste One which knows how to save in dying and to reap benefit even by its Dangers and Losses But this saving and Wonder-working Love ought not to be a busie and Effeminate Love or a Love of Interest and propriety It must be a Philosophick and Couragious Love Extatick and Prodigal Elevated above all that pleaseth and affrights This Torch must be like that represented in the Canticles not a wandring and Volatile fire but a fire ever Equal and Active A fire which consumes all the little threds of Interests all Forraign tyes all Chains and Fetters even those precious Chains which Fortune frames nay those very Fetters which are more worth then Diadems and which fasten Princes on Thrones Some will have it that it consumes even the tyes of the Soul and Body And alleadge that place of the Canticles where the power of Love is equalled with that of Death This point is both important and instructive And because one might be dangerously mistaken therein it is fit to make a Question of it apart MORAL QVESTION Whether it appertains to the Duty and Fidelity of VVomen to expose themselves to Death for their Husbands IF in this point we believe Antiquity Conjugal Love was heretofore very Tyrannical And married Women who subjected themselves to it ought to be well resolved It was not satisfied that they should bear with
of Jasper and Porphire SONNET WHile this Heroick Mede attempts to gain O're weighty Palms be by their poyse is slain His Brow still sweats with Gallans Actions done Still do's the Blood about his Armour run His Hearts late active Flames have lost their Fire And through its reaking Blood in Smoak expire While couch'd among the Dead his Soul pursues The wand'ring Shades of those the sword subdues O hold Panthea hold thy best Relief Rests in the moderation of thy Grief Save thou at least thy Husbands second Heart And let one Death suffice your common Smart In thee he still survives and may again In thee fair Cruel by thy Hand be slain Thâ— inhumane Steel that shall dismiss thy Breath To him must needs procure a second Death ELOGIE OF PANTHEA PANTHEA had a Philosophers Spirit in a Womans Bodie and a knowing and disciplined Soul under a Barbarous Climat There was nothing weak or rustical in her Life All her Actions were full of Courage and Dexteritie Chastity Grace and Modesty excepted nothing appeared in her agreeable to her Sex Having remained a Captive after the Defeat of the Assyrians vanquished by Cyrus she was set apart as the most precious piece of the Spoil and as the choicest fruit of the Victory And in this occasion her Vertue appeared more rare and prizable then her Beauty A noble man of Persia having had the Impudence to attempt upon her Honour Discretion Chastity and Fidelity defended it And the Victory which remained to her evidently shewed that Fortune had not yet overcome her And that though she were an absolute Captive yet she had alwayes a free Heart and a soveraign Soul The Affection she bore to her Husband Abradates was serious and manly she did not consume it in affected Discourses and superfluous Apprehensions She truly loved his Life and Repose but she was jealous of his Reputation and Renown And she would rather have wished him an untimely and glorious Death then a dishonoured and compleat old Age. So far was she from making him lose in her Closet the hours of the Field and from withdrawing him from Gallant Encounters and Honourable Dangers that she sent him thither in a costly Equipage like a Conquerer that she delighted to see in him an adorned and sumptuous Valour which might both dazle and affright which might beget at once both Admiration and Fame He died likewise Victorious in the Gold Armour which she had bought for him with her Pearl and pretious Stones as if she intended thereby either to adorn his Death or to set a Value and Lustre on his Victory Being brought to her covered over with his own Blood and that of his Enemies she received him Couragiously and with a manly Constancy mixt with sorrow and Majesty She forbore not to bewail him but it was done with those modest and decent Tears which do not soften the Heart but beautifie the Face Not being able to make his Soul return into his Body she essayed to substitute her own in the place of it For that end she opened her Bosom by a wide wound and leaning on him as if she were willing to fill his Heart with her Blood and Life she dyed in two Bodies and yeelded up her Soul through her Husbands Wound and and her own MORAL REFLECTION I Put not here a Sword into Womens Hands nor invite them unto Poison a Halter or Precipice Voluntary Death might appear handsom and becoming in this Barbarian it would seem black and hideous in a Christian Woman But Chastity Fidelity and Constancie are in use with all Nations and requisite for All Sects And our Christian Women without darkning or disfiguring themselves may imitate Barbarian Let them learn of her that Conjugal Love is not an effeminate and mincing Passion That it is vigorous and serious That it is capable of great Designes and of Noble and Couragious Thoughts Let them understand that though their Sex be exempted from the Dangers and Functions of War yet their Fortunes and Mindes are not so that they ought to serve with their Goods and Possessions if not with their Persons And that it were a Disgrace for them to spare two or three Pearls and Parcels of rich Cutwork in Occasions wherein Princes are Liberal of their Blood and Kings expose their Crowns and Heads In fine let them know that their chief Ornament consists in their Husbands Glory that they ought to adorn themselves with all that contributes to their Credit and Reputation And that a man without Honour is as great a Deformity to a brave Woman as a Head of Clay to a Statue of Ivorie MORAL QUESTION Concerning the Order which a Gallant Woman ought to observe in Conjugal Love IF good Eyes and a great Light be requisite to love regularly more Courage and Vertue is yet required to it And well ordained Charity what sweetness soever it promiseth is the most powerful and the most rare perfection of a Gallant Woman There are many who tenderly love their Husbands The Heart of a Turtle or the Soul of a Dove without other Philosophie would suffice for this Tendernesse But surely few there are that love them according to measure and in order to their duties few that know how to afford just proportions to their kindnesses and to set every office in its place and in the degree which is proper to it Finally few that can boast with the Spouse in the Canticles of having a regular Love and a well ordered Charity And neverthelesse it is this regular Love and well ordered Charitie which must accomplish the Fortitude of a Woman For according to the saying of S. Augustine these give the Character and Tincture to all other Vertues of what Sex soever they be and by what Names soever they are called Morever this Order to draw the Designe of it in little and to teach it by Epitomie must be taken from the very order of those Objects that are beloved Wherein this proportion is to be exactly observed that every Object be ranked in the esteem and according to the degree of its Merit That the most pretious and important should have the first Cares and be furthest advanced in the Heart that the rest of lesse consequence should remain in the superficies and rest satisfied with the second thoughts and remaining Affections And generally that love should grow intense or remisse rise or fall act or acquiesce according to the different weight according to the several degrees according to the Value of the good which is to be affected and pursued This Rule ought to be in a Gallant Woman what the Rod was to the Angel whom Ezekiel saw measuring the Temple She ought not to Love but with proportion according to the quantity of merit And how vast soever her Heart is she must yet be wary of pouring it out rashly and at random she ought to give nothing of it but by weight and measure Not that I permit her to divide and distribute it to whom
Collatin and Lucrecius her good Father They being come with Brutus and Valerius their intimate Friends she with Tears related to them the sad Accident of her violated Chastity and having engaged them by Oath to Revenge it she on a sudden preventing their Excuses and foresight of her Intention struck her self to the Heart with a Dagger which she kept hid under her Gown Behold the last Act of this funestous Tragedy which will perchance have yet more sad sequels and you are come very seasonably to receive the last sights of the first Roman Heroesse She gave her self but one blow and all that were present received it A stream of blood ran from Lucrecia's VVound Streams of Tears flowed from her Husbands and Fathers VVound And of these tvvo sorts of VVounds I know not which is the deepest and most painfull I know not whether the blood comes more from the Center of the heart or whether it slides away with more resentment then the tears However it were Lucrecia appears well satisfied with the stroke she newly gave her self You would say that with her blood there issues forth something I know not what that is luminous and clears the dark clouds which the shame of the last night had left in her eyes and on her brow You would say that her Innocence and purity of heart are seen through her wound and her wound is to her as it were a new mouth which cals upon the eyes and perswades in silence Do you hear what this mouth eloquent without noise and perswasive without words uttereth It protests against the outrages and tiranny of the Tarquins it implores the revenge of Gods and Men and doubtless it will obtain it from them both and obtain it by the voice of her blood which is couragious and bold which is animated with indignation and justice which is full of a Roman spirit and vertue There is nothing seen effeminate or weak in her person nothing which is not either a proof of her innocence or a mark of her courage And though there were no other testimony for her yet her justification is clear and manifest in her looks in the ayr of her face and countenance The tincture of vertue is not there a superficial painting and an addition of art it is there interiour and natural it hath been still entertained by the effusions of her heart and the â—ayes of her soul And now that her soul hath abandoned it and that her heart pours it self out through her wound this fair tincture resists still the colour of death which effaces all the rest you will not believe that I say too much if I aver that it would neither submit to the stain of vice nor to the dye of impudence You may have seen bashfulness elsewhere All honest women have this tincture and the brown should have it as well as the fair You may have also observed modesty elsewhere it is a natural ornament and no costly dress which may be used by rich and poor But perhaps you may have never seen but upon this face a couragious bashfulness and a vigorous and heightned modesty This temper belongs to the ancient Heroesses who armed the Graces and led them forth to the wars Those of Lucrecia though not warlike appear not less bold and her beauty though brought up in the shade and under a veil hath no less vigour or courage Nevertheless this powerfull and couragious beauty begins to decay and these wounded Graces will quickly expire one after another Mean while it is apparent that the loss of their Honour doth more disorder them and is more sensible to them then the loss of life Their shame is still fresh and entire and fear is not yet come upon them Their blushes do not vanish though their spirits steal away with their blood and before they die of their wound they will expire with regret for having complyed with the last nights crime though they then assisted without being seen and by meer constraint Collatin who had the greatest loss by this accident seems the most afflicted He supports Lucrecia who sinks between his arms and he himself would need anothers arms if he were not sustained by wrath which came to the succour of his heart and inflamed his countenance Seised as he was with wrath and grief indignation and pitty he could not express himself but by his eyes and his tears since his voice failed him bid unto Lucrecia the last adieu and confirm to her the good opinion he had of her Innocence To this discourse of tears Lucrecia makes answer with blood and sighs She casts down her eyes upon her wound as if she meant to give a sign to Collatin to behold at least her naked heart through this gaping wound I believe that the last motion of her lips is an oath whereby she assures him that he shall find it free from the stains of her body that he shall meet there with no other image then his own nor any print of a forraign flame and that if there remain still any ashes of it they are the ashes of a lawfull fire which he alone hath inkindled and which is no less pure then the sacred fire of the Vestals Though there be nothing but spirit and breath in this oath yet it is understood by Collatin who makes the like protestation of fidelity for the future But it is only exprest in tears and sighs he hath forgotten all other terms And Lucrecia who yet well understands them accepts the protestation of his eyes and consigns it to her soul which carries it with joy to the other world Brutus who stands by makes a third protestation which is of a different form and will not be accomplished but with fire and sword The countenance you behold in him is not his ordinary meen The language he speaks is new to him and without doubt the Genius of Rome hapening to be present at this action appeared to him and inspired him to the full It is from his light this Romans eyes are ardent and his whole face as flaming fire It is with his spirit he is possessed and they are his words which issue forth of his mouth VVith one hand he holds the bloody Dagger which he but newly drew forth of Lucrecia's wound and seems to offer it as a sacrifice to the Genius that speaks to him the other he lifts to Heaven and accompanying with his voice and fire the voice and smoke of the chaste blood which distils from the fatall Dagger he vows to the Gods and his Country the ruin of the Tarquins and the extirpation of Soveraignty This new fire stayes not with him it passes to Valerius and Lucrecius the Father It dryes up the tears upon their Cheeks and sadness in their hearts and inkindles in place thereof an anger which is yet but a particular and domestick fire and such an one as will soon set Rome and all Italy in an universall flame These two grave Senators confirm by
pittiful Reliques And in this state able to beget Emulation in all the Vertuous Women of Antiquity she rendred up her Soul not upon the Body of her Husband who was no more but upon his Shadow and Memory ISABELLE de Castille suâ—e le â—enin et le peril de la playe de son Mary desesperé des 〈…〉 par sa â—uerisâ—n que l'Amour est le Maistre de la vie et de la mort 〈…〉 Eleonor of Castile Princess of wales ALL England is dangerously sick upon this Bed with Prince Edward The Fortune of the Publike being wounded to the heart by the wound he brought from the Holy VVar endures the same Convulsions as he feels And the Physitians give them but one day of life if God send not an Angel and a Miracle to cure them Surely it is very strange that the hearts of a whole Nation should be wounded by one blow and that one shaft which hath hurt but one Body should draw Blood from so many Soules But such is the condition and as it were the destiny of good Princes They have a heart and soul in every one of their Subjects Their blood and veines disperse themselves throughout all the parts of their Dominions and their least wounds are followed by publike Symptomes and popular Maladies Prince Edwards wound is one of those The King his Father and all his Subjects lament it and their Tears are the Blood of their Soules which have been wounded by his Body You will believe notwithstanding that in this generall sickness and amidst these common lamentations the Princess his wife is the most sick and most to be lamented There is also a good half of the Prince in her and reciprocally more then a good half of her in the Prince Her love at least is there intire and with her love there is more of her Life and more of her Soul then is left behind Though far remote from the fight yet she was wounded there to death with him Her heart found it self just in the offended part and ever since her soul and life have issued forth by the same wound with her Husbands blood At present hope is returned to her but it is a dolefull hope and such as may come from despair The Physitians have declared to her that the Prince might yet be cured and that to cure him it was necessary to seek out some affectionate and couragious person who would expose himself to take in his Death by sucking the poyson out of his wound Her Love which was present at the Consult of the Physitians perswaded her that this affection could not be expected but from a woman nor this Courage but from a Princes That this fatall wound could not have a more soveraign Salve then her Tongue and that if it were her Husbands destiny to receive a second Life he could owe it to no other then her Spirit and Mouth This inspiration greedily received by her heart drew from thence this bold and vigorous heat and this tincture of hope and joy which you see in her Face There appears in her Countenance something I know not what of fierce and stately which seems to require respect and yet begets affection It is peradventure a certain Ayr of Spain which passed the Seas with her and followed her into England It is perchance a visible expression of her Heroick thoughts and an exteriour sign by which her Soul declares what she newly concluded For whatever this little fierceness may be taken and what name soever they give it it sets a harmless edge upon the sweetness of this Princess It is to her Beauty and Graces a modest and well-becoming boldness It is as it were a reflection of her Heart upon her Face and as a demonstration of the greatness and vigour of her Soul But whether it proceed from the greatness and vigour of her Soul or from the force and greatness of her affection she valueth not death to which she is going to expose her self nor is affrighted at this great train of Terror which the people set before her She considers and hearkens to nothing but her Love which calls her to an action which will equall Spain to ancient Greece and old Italy which will efface the glory of renowned men and women and infuse jealousie into both Sexes which will be the honour of this Age and the admiration of Posterity and will manifest that Charity no less then Faith hath the gift of Cures and the vertue of Miracles Her Imagination was full of these great Objects But her Husband is the main one and approacheth nearest to her heart In her mind she renounceth Reputation and Glory and by an express Oath taken upon the name and picture of the Prince which you see in her hand She dedicates her self to his Cure and obligeth her self to suck in her own Death or to give him Life Let us accompany her to the Execution of this business and place our selves behind this piece of Arras with the Princes servants who observe her in silence and with gestures of astonishment Vertue cannot have too many witnesses in like Enterprizes And this would merit that time past should return and the future advance to convey to her Spectators of all Ages Behold her already upon the Princes Bed and couched upon the wound she hath discovered You would say that her Soul to accomplish the Transport she hath vowed and to pass from the subject she animates to that she loveth flows away by her Eyes with her Tears and drop by drop penetrates the Body of the sick Prince Do not fear that these Tears should inflame his wound or that the Ardour of his Feavour be augmented by them These Tears indeed are very warm and come from a scorching spring but they are gentle and benigne and I believe that not a Tear doth fall which carryeth not with it some part of the Princesses Soul and some drop of her Life distilled therein VVhat do you think of this Love who exhorts her with his very looks and action Doth he not seem to be newly come out of her Heart to declare himself the Author of this great Design and to enjoy it neerer and in an open way He is not one of these Interested and Propriatory Ones that will ingross all to themselves and aym meerly at their own private satisfaction Less also is he one of those Discontented and Contentious Ones who are armed on all sides with teeth and nails who carry not a Flower which is not accompanied with Thornes who make not so much cleer fire as they do noise and smoke You see no Shafts nor Torch about him because he is a Saving and no Tyrannical Love He is come to cure an old wound and not to make new ones And there entreth nothing but a pure Spirit and Light into the Flames which he inkindles He is not of the Country of Romances nor of the Region of Fables His Origen is from Heaven even from the
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
James and because he could not depose him but by death resolved to have his head to obtain his crown This resolution 〈◊〉 taken and obstinately determined he seeks out trusts and resolute Executioners and without going out of his own 〈◊〉 he found some who were truly fit instruments for such an undertâ—â—â—â— At the appointed day a Groom of the Kings Bed-chamber 〈◊〉 them in and shews them the door without defence This Traitor 〈◊〉 the â—arl had taken away the bolt as if he meant to corrupt and 〈…〉 it to his crime All things being preparâ—d for the Execution and the moment of the last Act approaching an Officer discovered the Conspirators and desiring to 〈◊〉 the Kings Bedchamber from whence he newly came he drew upon himself their first blows and the prologue of their fury At the 〈…〉 Assassinate Catherine Dâ—â—glas who was attending on the 〈…〉 to the door and finding it without any stay and uncapable 〈…〉 her courage and necessity which is inventive 〈…〉 thing defensive makes her arm supply the place of 〈…〉 Groom of the Chamber had taken away 〈…〉 had been as strong as her heart the door would have 〈…〉 and sword nay even against Engines and Canon◠〈…〉 for this use it was broken at the first assault and the 〈…〉 over the belly of the faithful Lady entred furiously 〈…〉 who had no other guard then his Queen This good and couragious Princess was no way frighted at the glittering of so many swords already staind with blood and even reaking with the murther which was newly committed at the door She boldly advanced before her husband and alone acted the part of al the Archers of his Guard But the match was too unequal and fidelity being abandoned and without arms could not resist a multitude nor overcome an armed Furie The King being thrown on the ground the Queen cast herself upon him and covered him with her body to the end at least he might not be wounded but through her wounds nor receive death but through her own Her Sex was not respected the Vertues and Graces of her person proved no Sanctuary to her she received two blows upon her husbands body and these furious Murtherers having at last by Violence taken her from him the poor Prince being mangled all over with wounds rendered up his soul in the tears and blood of his wife The Author of this execrable Patricide and the cruel executioners who had assisted him with their hands carried not far the blood of their Prince Divine Justice and the revenging Angel of Kings followed them by the track and voice of this blood which cryed out against them and there was none of them which was not brought to condigne punishment there was made the same example in several spectacles and the people had full leasure to be instructed and to glut themselves with their punishment The detestable Earl of Athâ—e was reserved for the last act of the Tragidy which lasted three dayes in each of which he appeared under several Engines of torment and terrour with a Crown of hot iron upon his head And thereby unfortunatly and contrary to his own sense was verified the vain prediction of a woman who had assured him that he should be one day solemnly crowned and before a great assembly of people We may learn by this History that the Majesty of Kings is sacred that their blood and lives are holy things and that there is in Heaven a particular Tribunal and selected Executioners established against those who violate them From hence also it is learnt that the end of Ambition is commonly bloody and tragical and that it is a dangerous thing and full of hazard to commit crimes and to attempt upon the promises of a Fortune-Teller In fine to return to my subject we are taught thereby that the strength of hands is not necessary for the force of Action that delicate and polished Graces can do as much as couragious and strong Vertues and that Women are no lesse capable of an Heroick and eminent fidelity then Men. IVDITH 〈…〉 Iudith THIS strong place which seems to be borne upon the top of this Rock is the Citie of Bethulia And this Camp which takes up all the Plain about it is the Camp of the Asâ—yrians who besiege it You may boldly approach it and pass securely and without fear even to the Tent of Holofernes Wine and sleep have defeated all the Courts of Guards They have not left a Centinel which was not laid on the ground even the Fires which should watch for the whole Camp become drowsy and are half extinguished You would say that they have been corrupted or forgotten the ancient Discipline Do not accuse the liberty of the Souldiers nor the negligence of the Commanders A stronger vertue then the Souldiers and a greater Authority then the Officers hath overcome them both and conâ—ounded the duties and orders of War This defeat without murther or effusion of blood is a blow from the Angel of Israel who is come in person to defend the Frontiers of his Countrey He hath made darknesse which hath something I know not what of resemblance with that which he heretofore caused in Egypt And the Night was advanced by his command to contribute its silence and obscurity to the great Action which he prepares But this obscurity serves onely for the enemies of the people of God this intelligent night is discreet like that of Egypt it knows how to distinguish the faithful and to put a difference of persons That which is cloudy and dark for other shall be light for us And were there nothing but the brightnesse of these luminous spirits added to the resplendency of the zeal and eyes of Judith which seem to infire all the pretious stones of that stately Pavillion yet there would be enough to discern from thence the Tragedie which is begun in the Tent of Holofernes All things are disposed there to a strange revolution and this fatal conjuncture hath in an instant reduced to extremity the life of Holofernes the honour of Judith and the safety of Bethulia The gallant and victorious Widow who so couragiously exposeth her honour for the safety of her people hath but this moment to manage and if she doth not happily manage it and with successe there is an end of her honour and the safety of her people there is an end of Bethulia even of Jerusalem it self and of the Temple besieged in Bethulia It is her work to save all this and all this cannot be done but by one stroak and by the death of Holofernes Behold how she is prepared to give this fatal and important blow which must cut of an hundred and fifty thousand-heads and restore spirit and heart to twelve desolate Provinces She did not cause Legions or armed Elephants to march before her she came not accompanied with Giants or Engins of war she is only invironed with Beauty and Graces But it is a bold and victorious Beauty they are magnanimous
Pearls which were drowned in Bitternesse and abandoned to Tempests All her dayes were serene and all hours sweet and quiet under the Climate of France and by a Destiny contrary to that of Roses which have prickles onely upon their stalks and must be first gathered to be Honoured she was Happy and Honoured whilst she was a Maid and lived in the House of John Duke of Bourbon her Father The Tempest Bitterness and Tragical Revolution of her Life began from the very Moment of her Marriage with Peter the Cruel King of Castile Certainly also the Allyance was too unequal and the union too ill made between Innocency and Cruelty between a most pure Grace and a Devil composed of Blood and Durt Before Blanch went into Spain the Prince had no longer any Heart to give her Mary of Padilla was become Mistresse of it and whether it were by Conquest or Usurpation she reigned there so absolutely and with so great a Command as all the Authority of the Queen her Mother and all the Favour of Albuquerque her principal Counseller were needful to dispose him to the Consummation of the Marriage The Wedding was not celebrated it was tumultuary precipitated and done in silence without the least Shew or Pomp. It was rather a mournful Act then a Feast of Joy and if this forced Prince brought to it nothing but discontent and aversion the unfortunate Princesse assisted there with the Spirit of a Mourner and the Countenance of a Victime designed to Death They had not been two dayes together but Peter resolved to leave her He could not live content far off from his Heart and his Heart was in the Hands of his Mistresse who laid a charge against him for marrying Blanch and threatned him as a Rebel Subject and a fugitive Slave The Queen his Mother and his Aunt Elenor being advertised of his Designe replaced before his Eyes the wrath of an offended God the ill opinion of his scandalized People and the incensed Arms of France He loosneth himself from all these Chains he overcomes all these Obstacles and rides post where his Love or his wicked Devil called him After some Moneths dedicated to them both he returns to his Wife drawn by the earnest Intreaties of his Mother by the good Offices of Albuquerque by the Counsels and Sollicitations of his Grandeâ—â— But he returned to forsake her two dayes after and to give her by a second Divorce a second Wound more injurious and sensible then the former The noise of it was great and the History also saith that this so violent aversion was wrought on him by a Charm and that a Jewish Magitian corrupted by Mary of Padilla's Brothers fastned this Charm to a 〈◊〉 beset with rich Stones which Blanch had presented to the King But 〈◊〉 if a certain Person said that Love was a Sophister and a Mountebank I may well say that it was a powerful Sorcerer and a great Incaanter It knew how to pervert and corrupt â—ounder Heads and better tempered Hearts then that of this Prince without either Spels or Characters And whatever Men say of the power of Magick It knows no Hearbs more Efficacious nor can compound any Dâ—â—nk more to be feared then the depraved Habits of a Soul abandoned by God and delivered up to a reprobate Sense Whatever it be this Cruel King not only left his Wife a second time never to see her more but even Banished her to a little Place where he converted her Chamber into a Prison and assigned her as many Goalets and Spiâ—s as Guards And his Cruelty passed so far as he was deliberating whether he should appoint Commissioâ—ers to cause her to be put to Death Juridically and according to the forms of Law This barbarous and unjust Treatment of the Fairest and most Vertuous Princess of her Age was a Scandal to all Europe The Pope sent a Legat armed with Excommunications and Anathema's to set at Liberty oppressed Innocence and to punish the Incorrigible and Scandalous King The Princes of Castile and Aragon made a League with the Inhabitants of 〈◊〉 Cordona and other principal Cities and joyned in common their Offices and Arms. France offended with the Calamity of a Princesse of the Blood hastned to side with them Heaven it self took in hand this Cause And the King being a hunting a Spirit appeared to him in the shape of a hideous and frightful Shepherd which threatned him with Divine Vengeance if he recalled not his Wife All this did not mollifie the obdurate heart of this Prince On the contrary being perswaded that the Life of Blanch was the Fatal Fire-brand which nourished all these Fires and that they would be all extinguished with her He caused her to be impoisoned at Medina in Andaloâ—za where by a Couragious and Magnanimous Piety she knew so well how to joyn Devotion to Patience and Incense to Mirrhe as she sanctified her Prison and made it a House of Sacrifice and Prayer I know not whether any Princess was more perfect then this but in all appearance there was never any one lesse happy she was Espoused in Mourning she was a Widow during Marriage and the Wedding day which is 〈◊〉 for all others and makes Flowers to grow even upon the Chains of Slaves darkned her Diadem obscured her Purple and â—ielded her nothing but Smoak and â—horns But God would have her accomplished and pure and it was his good pleasure that Adversity and Constancy should give her the last Hand and that Princesses should learn by this Example that Martyrs may be made as well between Ballisters and under a Cloth of State as upon Scaffolds and Amphitheaters PANTHEE se deffaâ—â— de la vie pour sunire Abradate et 〈◊〉 aussi glorieusement son amour et de sa fidelité 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mort de son courage et de sa victoire 〈…〉 The Gallant Barbarian VVomen Panthea YOU see that it was a remarkable Day which proved Fatal to vanquished Lydia And which was like to prove no lesse to Victorious Persia. The Blood runs still from the Wounds of these two great Rivals And the Earth is covered all over with the pieces of their broken Armies But Lydia was not acquit for a little Blood and some sleight wounds She lost there her best Men and such as remained were put in Chains It is not yet known how Fortune and the Conquerers will despose of Craesus He was newly driven by Force into his Capital Citie And his Riches instead of fighting in his defence and preservation were taken and led Captives with him Persia also did not purchase this Important Victory at a cheap Rate she lost there much of her pure Blood and a great number of useful and precious lives Abradates was the most generally Lamented His Death though Illustrious obscured this fair Field and mingled Mourning with Triumph And even in the fruition of Victory it made victorious Cyrus to sigh and drew tears from his â—â—yes If we had come one moment sooner we
should have seen these Noble and Generous Tears trickle down they would have taught us that the Eyes of Heroes are not Adamantine Eyes And that the Vulgar are deceived who take great Hearts for Hearts of Brass Cyrus then bewailed Abradates but he did it magnificently and after an Heroick manner His tears were followed by a profusion of Riches which will be presently burned with the Dead And he is newly returned to the Camp to give out Orders for the Funeral Pomp and to make choice of the Victimes which were to be Immolated to the Ghost of his Friend He believes him still in the Field of Battel where he enjoyes his Reputation and numbers the Dead and his own Victories As for these sad Preparatives and Funeral expences they are made for the Consolation of Panthea no less then for the Honour of Abradates But Panthea is no longer in a Condition to Comfort her self with burn'd Purple or Gold consumed to Ashes with the Smoak of a Flaming Pile and the Blood of a Butchered Flock with the large shadow and great Images of a vast Sepulchre Her Grief was too violent to expect such Superficial and VVeak Remedies and to be cured by Ceremonies and Superstitions She had Recourse to a Consolation of less Cost and far more Efficacious She believed that a small Piece of Steel plung'd into her Bosom would be to her Sorrow a more Infallible and Speedy Remedie then Mines of Gold and Quarries of Jasper erected into Pillars and Pyramids over her Husbands Bodie And this Remedie which she conceived the most speedy and Infallible she newly took couragiously and with a boldnesse which merited to be reserved for a lesse Tragical Occasion Behold on her Face the Confidence of her Spirit and the graceful Composure of her Grief Every thing is very Becoming to Beautiful Persons Their Sorrows and Anger 's look handsomly Their Tears adorn them and their very despites Beautifie them And there is nothing even in their Maladies and VVounds which appears not Decent There is not any thing even in their Deaths which seems not pleasing from their Attractives and shines not from the same Lustre which it extinguisheth That of Panthea hath nothing hideous or gastly you would rather take it for a sweet Sleep then for a violent Death The Graces themselves if there be any such as Painters and Poets describe could not sleep more modestly And a Flower which the North Winde hath withered could not more gently bow down its Head nor die more gracefully It is not likewise a Palenesse which you see upon her Brow and Cheeks It is a tincture resembling that dying Brightnesse which appears in a Clear Cloud when the Sun withdraws his Beams from it Trust not her Eyes though they begin to close The Fire Burns still even when it is extinguished And the Sun being in the Ecliâ—se ceaseth not to be dangerous and to offend the sight The like may happen to these dying Eyes The Sparkles which fall from them retain still a kinde of Lightning and He it and I do not doubt but if 〈◊〉 were here and that one of them should enter into his Heart it would in kindle there a second Feaver and send back the Fire into his former VVound VVhilst her Eyes half shut cast forth their last Light and that her Mouth is open to her last â—ords you observe peradventure the passage of her Soul and desire to know whether it will issue out by her Eyes or Mouth Aâ—â—ure your self that through what art soever it passeth it will passe generously and depart victorious and through a fair gate It is credible neverthelesse that it will sally forth by the nearest Gate to the Heart and which she her self newly made with her own Hand A stream of Blood which goes before this great Soul prepares the way And spurting up even upon the Bodie of Abradates enters there through all his VVounds as if it would fill his empty Veins as if it would even penetrate his Heart to reinkindle the extinguished Fire and dispose it by the Spirits which it brings to receive the Soul which was to follow them Her Countenancâ— though languishing expresses joy at this encounter Her life seems to passe in good earnest with her Blood into her Husbands Bodie and her Soul is assured to finde there a second Abode which will prove more happy then the former had been Comforted by this Vain and sweet Imagination she let fall her Head upon the Head of Abradates You would say that she prepares her self to expire upon his Lips And that after the transmitting into him her Blood and Spirits she resolves to place her Sighs and last Breath upon his Mouth Love supports her in this Action But it is an Heroick and Magnanimous Love a Love which instructed her in Vertue and fortified her Courage For Loves if you are yet to learn it are not all Wanton and Voluptuous There are Austere and Chaste Loves there are Valiant and Philosophical ones And amongst them Glory and Vertue have their Confederates and Disciples as well as Vice and Pleasure He that assists Panthea with so much Care is one of these Confederates of Vertue and Disciples of Glory It is he that strengthened her against Temptations and the Courtships of Ariaspes he that inspired her with Chastity and Conjugal Faith he that taught her to apparel her self with the Reputation of her Husband and to Adorn her self with his Victories he that perswaded her rather to love Abradates glorious and dying with a good Name then living and Infamie This manner of loving Gallantly and like a Heroess was indeed according to Abradates own Heart And you see in what Posture he set himself to correspond therewith We have not seen him in the Conflict breaking a Squadron of Egyptians and pursuing the Victory in a Warlike Chariot But we behold the Glorious Colours which he brought thence and received even between the Arms of Victory It seems that his Valour could not die with him At least it appears still heated in his Wounds and stately on his Face The Rich Armour which his Generous Wife had bought him with her Pearl was pierced thorow in divers Places as if a great Soul could not fally forth by one single passage The blood which trickles down from thence is mixed with the blood of his Enemies wherewith he is covered and seems willing still to overcome All things have in him some Mark of Honour and Generosity And even Death it self is bold upon his Brow and resembles Victory In this so glorious and Mournfull Condition his Vertue begot Pittie even in those to whom in the Conflict it had bred Emulation It was Honoured by the Blood of Enemies and by the Tears of his Rivals by the terrour of the one and the affliction of the other And immediately a sumptuous Monument erected over his Bodie and that of Panthea buried in the same Garment will be to each of them as a second Life and an Immortalitie
trac'd did me attend When they were gone to guide me to my end But envious Fortune in revenge did strive By cross Designs to keep me still alive My cruel Friends amidst this hot alarm By their offensive cares my hands disarm Therein obstructing like inhumane foes My passage to sweet Death whose gates they close But Love to give my Soul desired room Came with his Shafts to open me my Tomb And I for want of weapons to expire Swallow'd the Coals his Torch had set on fire The Elogy of Porcia THis Picture is of a magnanimous Woman who dies of Grief and Love and resolutely like a Stoick It is the famous Porcia who was the Rival of a Father Defender of the Publick Liberty and of a Husband the destroyer of Tyrannie And who renewed in the Age of Riot and Pleasure the Vertue and Severity of the Primitive Republick She was the daughter of Cato and the wise of Brutus Of the one she was born constant and invincible she became wise and learned from the other and had Vertue for her inheritance and Philosophy for her Dowry Her Husband ruminating upon the death of Caesar and the Deliverance of the oppressed Republick she deservâ—d to be admitted to the communication of this fatal secret and to assist his high thougâ—ts busied in contriving the Destiny of the Empire She conspired with him in heart and spirit she promised to send at least her desires her vows and zeal to the execution And since her Husband seemed to mistrust her silence and fidelity she made by one stroke of a dagger a great and painful wound in her thigh And thereby she shewed him what she was able to do against torments and gave him some of her blood in Hostage for her Constancy and Loyaltie After the death of Caesar and the ruine of Pompey's Faction Brutus having slain himself upon the bloody Body of the Republick defeated in the Philippian Plain Porcia dâ—ed not like him blaspheming against Vertue and repenting her self for having ever served it She continued her reverence to it to the last and honoured it with her last words Seeing her self besieged by her kindred which took from her all means of cutting asunder the tyes of her soul she resolved to kindle there a fire with burning Coals which she swallowed down Thus she set at liberty what remained of her Father and Husband And by her death the blood of the one and the heart of the other once more overcame Tyrannie MORAL REFLECTION WOmen ought to learn from this example that the fault cannot be charged upon their Sex that they are not valiant That their infirmities are vices of Custom and not any defect of Nature And that a great heart is no more discomposed by a tender body then is a great Intelligence by a beautiful Planet Doves would have the boldness of Eagles and Erins the courage of Lyons if their souls were of the same Species One may gather out of the same Example another instruction for Husbands Brutus was a man honest enough and a Philosopher able enough to read them a Lecture And they should not be ashamed to learn of him that Wives are given them for Assistants and Co-adjutresses that they ought to have a place for them as well in their Closets as Beds and to share with them in affairs no less then at Table And that capacity grows from imployment and fidelity from confidence Judgement proceeds from the head which is not changeable from the variety of that which covers it Augustus proposed nothing to the Senate upon which he had not deliberated with Liâ—ia who was as his Associate in the Empire and if one may say so his Domestick Colleague The Holyest of our Kings being a Prisoner to the Saracens would conclude nothing about his Freedom but with the consent of the Queen his Wife And under the Reign of Ferdinand Spain was not happy and victorious but by the prudence and courage of Isabella The ensuing Question will inform us whether Porcia were endued with generosity And whether women be capable thereof MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen be capable of an Eminent Generosity I Have been present at some Disputes undertaken upon this Question And sometimes it hath caused me to have innocent and pleasing quarrels with my Friends I have seen some who could not endure that a Woman should be commended for Generosity It is said they as if one should praise her for having a good seat on horse-back and for well handling her Arms It is as if one would set her forth with a Helmet or the skin of a Lion It were to confound the bounds which sever us and place disorder in Morality And a generous Woman is no less a Solecism then a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier It is an incongruity almost as undecent as a bearded Woman To this I did Answer that Vertues having their seat in the Soul and needing only a good disposition of the Soul to operate belong to both Sexes That Generosity is one of those Vertues That the office of the Body and the action of its Members are not necessary to it That all its Functions are interiour and performed in the heart And that the heart of Man and Woman is of the same Matter and Form I added thereunto that the Comparison of Arms and Military Exercises concluded nothing against the Generosity of Women That all things are becoming to well-shaped persons and of a handsom aspect That Semiramâ—â— Hâ—psicrates and 〈◊〉 were as gracefully set forth with Helmets as with Crowns And that another as well known in Fables was not found unhandsom in the Lions skin which Hercules wore That besides that there have been women seen who knew how to manage a horse to throw a dart use their swords with a good grace No just comparison can be made nor a right consequence drawn from the exercises of the Body in reference to the Habits of the Soul That a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier were but Errors of Grammar which do not violate Morality That Generosity not being fastened to the heart of a man as a beard is to his face it might belong without any incongruity or undecency to both Sexes To these Reasons which came to my minde and which I alledged tumultuary and without choice in like Disputes others of more weight and better prepared may be added upon meditation Generosity to define it rightly is a heighth of courage or an Elevation of minde whereby a soul raised above interest and profit is led inviolably and without deviation unto Duty which is labourious and to Gallantry which is painful and difficult in appearance And because this disposition taken in its usual foyle and in respect of matter scarce belongs to any but Great and Noble Persons the name of Generosity hath been given to it which is a name of Greatness and Nobility Whether then that we take Generosity materially and for that cream of good blood and pure Spirits which nourish
this Generosity was Heroick And Spain so magnificent in great words and in vast and high expressions hath no words so great nor expressions so vast which can equal it Nevertheless the action of a Woman and a French Woman hath surpassed it And the Loyaltie of Madam de Barry was so much the more Gallant and Generous then that of Guâ—man in as much as a dearer pledge and a more irreparable and sensible loss was to be hazarded thereby The Spaniard consented to the loss of a young Plant which was dear to him and made one part of himself But perchance this young plant was not single This part was served from him And besides others might grow up in its place The French Woman came not off at so cheap a rate she was to undergo the loss of the Stem and of all the Roots She was to suffer the Incision of a part which was inherent in her which stuck to her flesh and bones which was flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone which made up the moâ—ty of her heart and spirit And the chiefest matter is that this so difficult and costly fidelity was exercised in a time of trouble and tumult In a time when Laws were in disorder and Duties in confusion when Rebellion was Canonized by the People and Loyaltie made an Hackny when Soveraignty was Lâ—tigious and brought into Dispute when the oppressed Crown seemed ready to be torn in pieces or to change its Master The Command of Laâ—cate continued to this generous Widow And for the space of seven years she performed the Functions of it with so much courage and with so laborious an Assiduity as she left nothing more to be desired in point of her care and conduct By her presence she gave incouragement to the labours and exercises of the Souldiers She was assisting in their Duties and kept them in an exact Order and under a regular Discipline She Commanded pleasingly and with Dignity and she her self added example and the shew of action to her Commands And whatsoever an active and vigilant Captain Armed with Authority could have done in a Garrison Town this gallant Woman did it generously and with success she did it with comeliness and a pleasing grace The deceased King Henry the Great who esteemed nothing rashly and out of fancy highly prized this Generosity And when some Courtiers affecting the Government of Laâ—cate represented to him that a Place of such importance was not safe in the hands of a Woman He often Answered That he reposed more Trust in this Woman then in the ablest Man of his Kingdom That he knew not any one who could give so gallant an Earnest or so precious a Pledge of their Fidelity as she had done And that above all it concerned the honour of France to have it known that there were Ladies of that Nation not inferiour to Captains Nothing could be added to these few words They spake more then our longest Elogies can do They Crown the Memory of this Generous Woman and are a greater Honour to her then a triumphant Arch and many Statues ARRIE fortifie son Mary contre la Mort et par l'essay et l'exemple de la sienne 〈…〉 qu'on meurt sans douleur quand on meurt auec courage 〈…〉 Arria WEE are come too late and have lost the fairest piece of the most magnanimous action Rome hath ever seen The Actors as you see are few in number but all choice and famous ones And what they doe in private and without noise will be speedily carryed to Theatres and publike Places and wiâ—l receive Applauses from all free and Roman Hands You come not so far off and are not so great a stranger to Rome that you have heard no speech of Arria She is a modern Copy of the ancient Vertue she is a young woman and hath the Features of the old Republike Her Apparell and Speech sutes indeed with this time but her Courage Constancy and Fidelity are of the Sabiâ—s Age. And though she lives under the Reign of Claudius the Simple and in the Court of Messeline the Incontinent yet nothing of this Reign nor of this Court appears in her Manners They are of Lucrecia's Age or of some other far purer Time and less remote from the primitive Vertue Common Fame may have told you all that can be said of this womans Vertue but it could not as yet inform you what you see of her Courage Shâ— returned long since from Dalmatia following in a small Bark the Fortune and Ship of her Husband who was led away Captive You may have heard that he had been one of the Heads of the Scribonian Conspiracy and that he hâ—d liberty to pass which way he pleased to Messalin and Narcissus His wife perceiving him irresolute between Fear and Courage she her self took a couragious resolution that she might fortifie him by her example and teach him how to make choise of a Consular Death and equall to the 〈◊〉 and Triumphs of his Ancestors I could wish that we had been present at the Discourse which she newly had with him VVe might have heard the Images of the Cicinnaâ—s speak we might have seen the memory of Cato and Brutus and the glory of all the Defenders of Liberty laid before him to give him Courage To the force of so many Heroick reasons and of so many magnanimous words she added the force of her Example which is far more Heroick and Magnanimous And the mortall stroke she but even now gave her self set a value upon her Reasons and fortified them by a present Authority and by a Personall and still-fresh Experiment She exhorts him with her eyes and countenance as you see she exhorts him with her hand with which she presents him a Dagger But her most efficacious and pressing Exhortation is that of her wound which is a mouth of good credit and belief a mouth which can only say what it thinks and nothing which it doth not perswade This stream of blood which flows from thence hath her voice and spirit and this spent all warm that it penetrates the heart of Cicinnas dissipates his fears and coldness stayes his trembling fits and fortifies his weakness and raises up there against Death a true Patriciman Vertue of the Age of Liberty and of the spirit of Rome Arria accompanies with the sweetness of her eyes the vigour of this spirit and the shadow of approaching Death was so far from obscuring them that they never cast forth more fire they never diffused so pure and penetrating a light You believe peradventure that this is done by an effusion which is naturall and common to all Torches which draw near their end For my part I believe and believe it with more probability that this surplusage of light issues from the very soul of Arria which shews it self openly by these fair Gates to the soul of Cicinnaâ— and exhorts it to â—ally forth couragiously after her But from what spring sâ—ever this pure and
glorious effusion ariseth it is certain that Cicinna is penetrated by it and his soul which fear had imprisoned being now inflamed and attracted by the power of this light expects only the fatall stroke which was to set it at liberty To give this blow Arria presents him a Dagger still warm with her blood and courage Love is the mediator of this commerce and at the same time and by the same inspiration infuseth courage into the mind of Arria and resolution into the spirit of Cicinna Take not this Love for one of those nice ones in whom Poppy causeth the head-ach and who would not adventure to touch a Rose unless it be disarmed It is one of those couragious and magnanimous Loves of those which have produced Heroes and Heroesses of those which know no other Garlands but Helmets no other Posies but Swords of those which take delight in Frost and Rain in Chains and Prisons And I am much mistaken if it be not the very same Love which led Euadne to the flaming pile of her Husband which sparkled the Sword wherewith the true Dido guarded her self from a second Marriage and which lately also cut off the Hair of the Vertuous Hypsicratea put the Helmet on her head and made a Queen become a Foot-soldier in the Army of Mithridates At present this Love playes the Exhorter and Philosopher it speaks to Cicinna of liberty and glory and animates him to follow the Example and Courage of his wife You would say that in guiding his hand to the Dagger which is offered him she assures him that it will cut off the ligaments of his soul without hurting him that it hath been mollified in the bosome of Arria and by the fire of her heart that her blood hath qualified it and take from thence all that it had of malignity and sharpness and that not only so Noble and Honourable a weapon as that but even a Cord presented by the hand of so gallant a woman would be more glorious then many Diadems wrought by the hand of Fortune and presented by those of Messaline Cicinna seems fully perswaded by these reasons and confirms them by his gesture and countenance He is no longer the same fearfull and irresolute man as before He hath still the same head and body but another heart is placed in this body and another spirit in this head He hath no longer any blood in his veins which is not Romane All his thoughts are triumphant and all his sentiments worthy of a Consul and shortly his soul greater then Fortune and stronger then Death will depart victorious over both and re-unite it self to the soul of Arria This Example of constancy and conjugall Fidelity is very precious to Rome at this time and no doubt but the young Arria and Trascus her Husband who are spectators thereof will make good use of it They greedily and studiously collect the circumstances thereof and look upon it as the principal piece of their Patrimony Truly it is wonderfull to behold a wisdom at the age of eighteen to behold maturity and youth in one and the same head To see a woman couragious and constant a woman grave and serious in an age of divertisements and pleasures She conceives her self more rich from the lessons and examples of her mother then from the succession of all the Consuls of her House and three drops of her blood and four syllables of her last words have something in them which is dearer to her then all the Pearls of her Ancestors She likewise stores up these words and layes up about her heart all that she can gather of his blood and of the spirit which is mingled with it Surely this must needs be her good Genius who inspires her so timely to arm her self thereby and she cannot choose but foresee the occasions wherein it will be usefull to her to have conserved the memory of her Mother and fortified her self with her Blood and Courage Traseus was no less solicitous to reap benefit by this illustrious Example The present misfortune of Cicinna is a presage to him of his future mishap and not finding himself so weak as to crouch under the age nor so powerfull as to alter it he clearly sees that the least he can expect is to be ruined by it after the rest He restifies at least by his countenance that he will not fall cowardly nor expect till they push him on and all the rules of Phisiognomy are deceitfull or he will be an Original of his time and his death will have one day a place amongst the Heroick Examples SONNET ARRIA speaks ARria instructs her Husband by her wound That in a gallant Death no smart is found The Noble Blood which from her Bosome flows Of her Chaste Fire the heat and tincture shows Conjoynth with this blood of matchless worth A Fate-subduing Love hath issu'd forth Who thus Cicinna's coldness doth exhort To close thus gallant Scene with like effort Thy Honour now Cicinna is at slake No less then is thy Life then Courage take Beware lest abject fear restrain thy hand And put thy Glory to a shamefull stand Arria thy wound upon her self hath taâ—ne To her own Death she hath annext the pain Of thâ—â—e and by 〈…〉 extreamly rare Hath only leâ—t it's Glory to thy share Elogy of Arria IT is true that the Reign of the fift Caesar was but a perpetual Comedy But the Interludes thereof were bloody and Traâ—â—call And cruelty was almost continually mixed there with the loves of Messalâ—â— and the Impostures of Narâ—issa The Spectators grew at length weary of so ill composed and represented a Scene And some of the least patient and most Couragious amongst them resolved to force the Republike out of the hands of these Stage-Players Nevertheless the Conspirators failing in the success they promised themselves 〈◊〉 who was their Head happened to be killed in 〈◊〉 And his Complices abandoned by reason of his death remained in the power of the Beast whom they had inraged Afterwards 〈◊〉 who was the most ingaged in the Plot was apprehended and brought to Rome The Couragious and Faithful Arria did not deliberate whether she ought to follow him It came not into her thoughts that Adversity was a Divorce she did not believe that bad Fortune ought to be more powerful then Love nor that it could Lawfully dissolve Marriages On the contrary she believed that she was the Wife of Cicinna a Criminal and Prisoner as she had been of Cicinna's a Favourite and Consul and that she ought to have as great a share in his Chains and Punishments as she had in his Fortunes and Glory She accompanied him to the Ship And at the instant of Imbarking seeing her self put back by the Guards You will permit at least saith she that a Senator of an ancient Consulary Race may have some body to wait upon him during so long a Voyage I alone will supply the Places of his Attendants And the Ship will not be
fault that his soul is not already at liberty he presseth it with vehemency enough and hath made for it Orifices large enough in all his Veins But Seneca must be long a dying that his lingring death may be a lasting Instruction and a Pattern of a large extent Surely this Seneca is not the man of whom Envy and Detraction hath made so many false Pictures I perceive nothing of weakness or vice wherewith they reproach him And this Death what ever ignorant and traducing spirits say cannot be the Tragedy of a seemingly Vertuous person of a masked Philosopher of a Counterfeit and Sophisticall Doctor His calm and setled Constancy shews outwardly the stability of his mind He seems to confirm with his eyes and brow whatsoever he hath written concerning the contempt of Fortune and Death You would say that he alledges himself for the proof of his Doctrine He Philosophizes by as many mouths as there are wounds And every drop of his blood is a Stoicall Demonstration A proof of his Opinions and a testimony which he renders to the Courage of his Sect. His weeping and mourning friends receive with his last words the last spirit of Philosophy and the pure lights which already his almost loosned and descryed Soul diffuseth The attention they give him is full of respect and hath something I know not what of Religion It would be hard to say whether it be to his voice or blood they are attentive whether it be the dictates of his mouth or those of his wounds which they write In this extremity this severe man who so boldly looks upon Death as if he were seeing a Mask dares not fix his eyes upon Paulina I think that he apprehends lest friendship might soften his spirit and the Husband be found more powerfull in his heart then the Philosopher But â—e not scandalized at this tenderness It is not unseemly in a wise man He may with credit afflict himself for another And the Tears which friendship hath exprest may decently trickle down on his Face SONNET PAULINA speaks PAulina meets Death's Launcet with a Mind No less of Stoick then of Roman Kind A Philosophick Love which charms her Heart Will give the stroke to sweeten all her smart Inhumane Fortune through remorse or hate Runs to rebuke her and repair her Fate But her great Soul resists a forced stay And with her Blood makes haste to slide away You daring Sages who for Truths promote Your high fictitious Dreams and from us Vote Our Noble Passions Learn of this Heroique And Famous Woman to be truly Stoique And know this truth whatever you in vain Have learn'd from your fantastick Founder's Brain That the most Tragick Deaths delightfull grow VVhen Love himself shall give the fatal Blow Elogy of Paulina IF there were great Vices in Nero's Age there were also eminent and very exemplar Vertues The darkest nights have their Planets And in the worst Seasons the Sun hath his good Intervals and fair hours This Monster inrag'd against Reason which made him see his Errours fell upon Seneca who had cleer'd and disciplin'd that faculty in him As if it had proceeded from the Masters fault who polished the Glass and not from his own Deformity that he was hideous He then gave order for his death And this excellent Man who was grown old under another Mistress then this slight fencing Philosophy which is only bold in a School and against Fantosmes was ready to submit to this barbarous Command for proof of his Doctrine and to put in Practice what he had set forth in Propositions and Opinions When it was time to depart he did not so much as turn his head to listen to Fortune who solicited and called him to the Empire He departed out of a house more worth then ten Millions as if he had gone out of a thatchâ—d 〈◊〉 He shewed himself only sensible for Paulina whom he leâ—t young and exposed to the outrages of a bad season and the insolencies of a Tyrant who had caused it He endeavoured to perswade her to live and take comfort in her own Vertue and the Goods he had left her But she remonstrated to him that these indulgent and careful perswasions were not fit to be used to the Wife of Seneca That his Example counselled her better then his Reasons That it taught as well as Philosophy how to die resolutely and with courage Their veins were opened with the same Lancet they mingled their Blood their Spirits and Examples And the soul of Paulina would have followed that of Seneca if it had not been detained at the last step she was to make Nero apprehending lest the death of so illustrious a Lady and of so high a Reputation might compleat the drawing on him a publick hatred sent Souldiers who bound up her veins and used violence to make her live But she retained all that she could of death which was then kept from her And ever after conserved the desire of it in her heart and the paleness of it upon her face MORAL REFLECTION PAulina who is still victorious over death in this Picture informs us that Philosophy hath no Sex that it communicates it self without making any distinction between Garments and Faces That the Graces themselves may become Valiant and Couragious under her Discipline And that Cowardise proceeds from the corruption of the heart and not from the tenderness of the temper nor the dispositions of Fortune It likewise informs us that Vertue must needs be very weak and Christianity superficial in the greatest part of Christian Ladies who perplex themselves about a Necklace and a few Pearls who have their hearts fixed on a lac'd Petticoat who are slaves to a small Fortune which to express it well is but a figure of guilded dirt The least they can expect is to be condemned by this Heathen woman who had a soul dis-ingaged from Riches which may vie with those of Kings who had a free heart even in the arms of a Fortune which was as large as the Empire and which raised jealousie even in the Fortune of the Emperour himself The ensuing Question will manifest whether Paulina could be a Philosopher and a Stoick and whether I had reason to say that Philosophy hath no Sex MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen be capable of true Philosophy A Woman hath been heretofore seen playing the Orator in publick places who did with unprofitable and studied Discourses what the Mountebanks now adayes use to do with their Drugs and Antick faces There was also a lewd Woman who affected a brutish and impudent Freedom who braved Fortune and Nature with a Staff and Wallet who was Beggerly and Arrogant and who had under a ragged and tottered Garment a worse Pride then is found under cloth of Gold and Purple Both the one and the other was called Philosophy But both had but the name and a false mask which drew Spectators to them And certainly if no other Philosophy had descended from Heaven then from this
fault deserved punishment her youth at least and her imprudence were worthy of excuse and that God and posterity would shew her favor Constancie Grace and Majesty which had ever accompanied her ascended also upon the Scaffold with her One would have said that all that was seen there could be nothing else but a meer representation of her punishment And that all this Tragical preparation was but a fiction and a meer Ceremony She rendred thanks to the Catholick Divine who had assisted her and comforted her dispairing servants with so well composed a manner and with so vigorous and Noble words so full of Judgement and Courage as it seemed to some that if Philosophy her self had been to dye she could not have dyed more couragiously and with more Dignity She made her self ready for the stroak of the Executioner and to humble her beauty though it were innocent of her Misfortune she made a Wreath or Head-band of her own Hair whereof it seemed Nature had formed her a Diadem They offered to strike off her head with a Sword as if the Sword could have diminished the shame of her punishment and Dignified her Death and the hand of the Executioner But she rejected this unprofitable and superstitious Ceremony And resolved to be Executed with the same Ax which newly came from the Execution of her Husband Whether that she desired to mingle her bloud with his Whether she believed that a more painful death would be a more just Expiation of her faults And that the Iron of the Ax would better purifie her soul then the Iron of the Sword Such was the end of the Reign and Life of Iane Grey who was an Athenian and Roman in England many Ages after the ruin of Athens and Rome She shewed our Predecessors an Image of the ancient Constancy and primitive Vertue And taught us that the Graces may be learned as well as the Muses That Philosophy belongs to both Sexes And that even in our daies under the Purple and upon the Throne she might be as vigorous and couragious as she was heretofore under the Wallet and in the Tub of the Sunck VNE Dame chrestienne et Francoise combat iusques à la mort pour sa chasteté 〈…〉 parcille a celle de Iudith egale la France à la Iudée 〈…〉 Gallant Christian Women The French Iudith HEre we must beware of a bad Calculation by our Fancy and of a mistake in our sight if we believe them in this point we are in the Age of Nabuchodonosor and in Judea And the Tragick Action we behold is the death of Holyfernes and the victory of Judith Nevertheless we are far remote from that time and see indeed another Countrey and other things It is not credible that Holyfernes is returned so many years after his Death It is also less credible that Judea hath removed from Asia into Europe If whole Races and even the Ages themselves do not revive if Cities change not Regions and cross the Seas assure your self there is nothing in this of the Adventure of Bethulia Know then that you are in France and upon the Territories of Gontran King of Burgundy and that this Maid which you see with a naked and bloody sword in her hand is a Native of Champaigne Do not ask me concerning her Birth This well beseeming Anger and this modest and composed Fierceness will confirm you better then my self that she must be of a good Family And though her Phisiognomy may not induce us to believe it her blood must needs be as noble as her countenance As for this man who looseth his blood through two great wounds which will be perchance more beneficiall then they are honourable to him his Domestiques who hasten to his â—yde caâ—l him Duke Amolon I dare not tell you that he is 〈◊〉 a French man there is too much of savageness in his manners and saith And it would be too great a shame for France which is so noble a Mother so Generous so Civilized and to Christian to bring forth Scythians and Tartars and that under so temperate a Climate and so benign Planets there should be found souls of the same temper with those which are born under the Pole But let him be a French man by birth and a Tartar or Scythian by nature it doth not hunder Vertue which playes the principall part in this Action from being French And this second Judith will one day more honour her Country then this second Holyfernes could disgrace it You see the boldness of her Countenance and the Vertue of her Face There is much of Judith in both But there is more then the Look and Face more then the boldness and Vertue of Judith It is no common chaste woman you see It is a Virgin nay a victorious Virgin which newly fought even to the effusion of her blood And by these two features wherein she transcends Judith the French Copy exceeds the Originall lew and the Modern obscures the Ancient Judith After a long and obstinate battle fought against this Tyrant she was carryed away by his people and laid with violence upon his Bed but this was no longer his Bed but a Scaâ—â—old made of Silk and Feathers it was the place ordained for the end of his Tyrannie and for the punishment of his Crimes VVine and Sleep had already closed up his eyes and tyed his hands and there wanted but a Sword and an Executioner to make a great and celebrious example of him His Arms being near at hand the chaste French woman inspired by the same Angel who inspired the chaste Iew took advantage of the Sleep and Sword of her enemy and made of Amolon an Holyfernes The two great wounds which you see in his head were given by that fair and chaste Hand Pain awakened his bound up and benummed Reason and the first drops of his blood extinguished the dishonest fire which the Tears and Prayers of this innocent Maid had enkindled He is no longer the same brutish and furious person as before The wanten flames of his heart and the impure imaginations of his head are all fallyed forth at his wounds Iudgement and Respect are entred in their Room you would say that he awakes with new eyes Those at least retained no longer any thing of that sulphure which was enkindled by the smallest Rayes of Beauty and which was set on fire by every lovely glance which issued from it He seems to endure with torment the sight of his chaste and couragious Enemy He suffers it nevertheless and his confusion mixed with astonishment his shame accompanied with reverence make a silent Declaration upon his face by which he justifies the attempt and acknowledges it for a lawfull Victory He doth consider that the same person is in his power who had newly plunged him in blood and who had heretofore inflamed him who had pierced his heart and newly wounded his head He no longer remembers his Love he resents not his injury His eyes
those persons who brought her to this violent Death by a precipitated old Age do not he bitter upon her heart nor disturb the Calm of her mind So clean contrary that she hath laid the very remembrance of their Injuries at the foot of the Cross She hath retired her thoughts from all objects which might exasperate them She called them back from all places whence any succour or pitty might arrive to her and hath deposited them all with her Heart and Faith in the wounds of the Soveraign Patient who assisted her during her imprisonment and at present assists and fortifies her against Death by the Image and Vertue of his Passion He encourages her with the Voyce of his Blood speaks to her by as many Mouths as he hath wounds He arms her with his Thorns and Nails He covers her with his Cross which is to her an invincible sacred Shield a Shield which could not be pierced by all the Darts of her bad Fortune nor shal it be by the Ax it self of the Executioner which will chop off her Head Vnder the protection of this Shield and at the sight of this Example she marcheth couragiously to Death And though a Queen and Innocent it seems not harsh to her to pass through the hands of an Executioner having before her eyes a God executed and Innocence Crucified Can you confide so much in your eyes as to expose them to this lamentable spectacle Mine wounded before the stroke flie back not to behold any more of it Yet I must enforce them to see All. The last Rayes of the setting Sun are the fairest And the last drops of blood great Souls pour forth are more sparkling then the rest and have something I know not what of more Vigorous and Noble Surely this Action must needs be extreamly black since endeavours were used to hide it from the light But the obscurities to which they exposed it will not give it a better gloss and doubtless if they were capable of sense they would fear to be stained by it You would say that these Torches do not contribute thereto their light but with regret You would say that in despite they produce nothing but shadow and smoke The Hall is full of Spectators and hung with black Velvet And not so much as the fatal Scaffold but is set forth w th the stately mourning of this barbarous Tragedy to which it served The cruel Ministers of so cruel an Action thought to sweeten Injustice civilize Cruelty they thought to appease violated Majesty and to abuse the Patient by this vain and sumptuous Hypocrisie They ought to know that Pomp and Ostentation do not justifie Crimes that artificial specious Cruelty is no other Fury then naked unpolished Cruelty And that the voice of blood causeth it self to be no less heard upon Velvet Carpets then upon the bare ground I need not shew these cruel Ministers unto you They are discernable enough by the greediness of their eyes thirsting after blood and by the impatience and fierceness of their looks To see the attention they afford this spectacle you would say that every one of them is the Executioner That every one is ready to give the blow with his eyes and that this blow was designed against the Head of the Catholique Church and not against the Queen of Scotland All the other Spectators in whose hearts there remains some tincture of Humanity detest this cruel Example And as many Tears as they shed are as many Voyces and Imprecations against those that both advised and put it in execution But the voice of just blood unjustly spilt will shortly make a greater noise It will be heard by all People and Ages it will be the eternall malediction of that person who so unworthily violates Nature in a Kinswoman Majesty in a Queen Hospitality towards a Refugiate and Adversity it self in an unfortunate Creature consecrated by more then twenty years of misery You see her kneeling before the Executioner but you see not her soul already elevated in the presence of God where by advance it takes possession of the â—hrone prepared for her Her despairing Women are on their knees with her as if her condemnation were theirs and that they were to die by her Death The fatal Ax hath pierced their souls and the blood tricles down by their eyes upon the ground Their sorrows are none of those which disturb and make a noise It deprived them of motion and voice even of the sense of their Sighs and Tears And in the condition they remain I see nothing which resembles them but those â—igures of Marble which seem to weep no less then Fountains The noble and couragious Patient with a serene Countenance beholds this sadness in her VVomen Her Soul elevated above the inferiour portion is no longer subject unto its tempests and showers to its sighs and tears The Clouds of Matter begin to clear up about her and she already casts forth certain Rayes of advanced glory which mingle themselves with those Angels who are come both to guide her and give a beginning to her Triumph The Crown which they brought her is not of the same matter as the other two which are taken from her No Thorns or Reeds enter there There is nothing sharp or brittle nothing which offends or burthens And it is not an Ornament of the same stuff and weaving like our Diadems which serve only to make Slaves glorious and proud Mortals miserable It is a Crown of solid and pure Glory It is independent of Fortune and stronger then Time And the wise Queen who understood the value of it would have given all earthly Crowns to possess but one flower of it Behold with what stedfastness of mind she presents her Head to the Executioner to receive from his hand this glorious Crown But stay do not stain your eyes with the murther of the Innocent God will have an account of the least drops of her blood And wo to the Hands and Hearts wo to the Mouths and Ears wo even to the Eyes in which any stain of it shall be found SONNET SHall we unmov'd behold the Tragick Sight Where Death puts out this fair Scotch Planet's light Shall Honour Justice Law see Vertue bleed In Mary's Death as for some heynous Deed Her Grief 's Heroick th' Ax no Paleness brings Vpon her Blood sprung from so many Kings Her Graces speak when words her Tongue denyes Her modest Pride endears her to 〈◊〉 Eyes To what renown'd Inchanter do we ow This piece of wonder From this Picture grow Joy and Regret while there the gazing sight Do's from a torment entertain Delight Art by a gentle force surmounteth clear The pitch of Nature in this Pourtraict where A Queen that 's Innocent is made sustain An Endless Death without affront or pain Elogy of Mary Stewart I Might have a scruple if into the Elogy I am going to make of Mary Stewart my Pen should insert her Nobility her Beauty her
Time and Matter The Vertue of a Pilot hath its chief action amidst the tumult of turbulent Waves and boysterous Winds amidst the confusion of the melting Heavens and the townng Seas The Vertue of a Physitian and of Drugs express their force upon mutulated members and wounds through which the blood slides away with life By the same reason a Wrastler is as no Wrastler at a Tableâ—â— and a Souldier is as no Souldier at a Ball. The Vertue of them both must be assaulted It requires Resistance and Adversaries it is atchieved by Sweat and Dust with Blood and Wounds It is the same with Moral Vertue nay with Christian Vertue which is of an Order transcending all the rest Her condition is to labour and fight to part with her blood and to receive wounds And if this condition seem troublesome to her she must remember that in the list of this life the Prize and Acclamations of the Combat are not reserved for Spectators for those lazie persons Crowned with Flowers and Perfumes who are content to look on quietly and at their ease They are for those that fight Couragiously who mingle their blood and sweat with the dust of the lists who shew great Hearts and great Souls by great Wounds But Vertue is Innocent And the wounds of the Innocent are more painfull then those of the Culpable Such persons as are wounded and overcome in the Lâ—sts such as endure Rain and Wind in the Trenches such as leave their Arms and Legs upon a Breach or in a pitcht Battle are not Criminals drawn out of a Dungeon or a Gally And after all if Wounds do so much torment this innocent Vertue she may lay down her Arms and depart out of the Lists She may also settle her self if she thinks good near to Voluptuousness paint and adorn her self like her take half of her Nosegayes and Perfumes borrow her Looking glass and Fan. But this once done she must no longer call her self Vertue nor pretend to Glory and her Crowns Besides Vertue never yet appeared effeminate and voluptuous nor painted or perfumed And no person was ever seen to pretend to Glory and run after her Crowns with a head covered over with painting and loaden with Flowers with a Fan in her hand and a Looking glass at her Girdle Afflictions and Adversities are then the proper state of Vertue as War is the proper season of a Souldier as the Lists is the proper place for him who pretends to the Prize And therefore let us no longer say that Innocent and Vertuous Women are unjustly afflicted Let us no longer impute to hazzard and tumult what is according to natural order and placed in a just proportion And let us learn once for all that if Vertue be in her right place when she is in Adversity if she doth her duty when she suffers Ladies who follow her freely and in good earnest cannot complain of their ill Treatment when God obligeth them to the same duty and ordains them to remain in the same state On the contrary he cannot afford them a more important tryall of his Love not more efficaciously testifie that he hath the thoughts of Salvation and the heart of a Father for them Thereby he purifies and frees them from vitious superfluities He deprives them of what adulterates and corrupts He prepares them for Crowns and the Inheritance of a Future Life It is certain that there is no Vertue so pure which hath not some stain There is not any so sound which hath not some part either infected or indisposed And if this be true of Vertue which saved her self in the Desert which put off her shooes and forsook with them the dirt and High ways at the foot of the Mountain What will become of that Vertue which resides at Court and amongst the great Ones which hath been nourished with a dangerous and corrupted Fortune which hath Domestiques as much cryed down as Riches as Scandalous and Debauch'd as Pleasures Is it possible that she should be so sound and have so good Preservatives as the Ayr of the Court cannot corrupt her that she should suffer nothing from the Opinions and Customs of Men that she should not be infected by the Contagion of Fortune that Riches should not puff up her Heart and Head that Pleasures should not beget in her Infirmity or Corruption And if there be no Vertue so Vigorous not Reason so well Fortified which is able to resist so many things which spoil and corrupt I ask of a Lady what usage might be best for her in that state and what choice she would make if God had left it to her self I hardly believe that she would choose to be given over by the Physitian The Election would not be much better then if she should make choice of a Precipice the Dispute would not be about the End but the way to it And if she had rather perish by a Precipice she cannot do it more certainly then by sickness It remains then that she put her self into the hands of the Physitian and relye on him for the ordering of her Maladies and Wounds But she should be very ignorant if she expected to be cured by him with divertisements with leaving her to her ease with making her laugh Do the Maladies of the Body become obedient to such Remedies Do they heal her wounds with Leaves of Roses and the Oyl of 〈◊〉 Do they not proceed against them with Bitterness and Pain with Irons and Fire Nevertheless these Wounds remain only in the Superficies and these Maladies are often caused by a grain of Sand which pains them or by a drop of Humour slipt out of its place And shall we likewise believe that Interiour and Spiritual Maladies that voluntary and inveterate Wounds will be cured with Ragouts and Perfumes that they will pass away at Play or at Table Shall we believe that the Friendly and Domestick Paâ—sions of the Soul that Vices avowed by the Will and habituated in the Heart will flie at the sound of Musick will be chased away by the â—n oak of a Persuming Pan They will need bitter Potions and painful Incisions They will require Remedies of Iron and Fire And these Remedies of Iron and Fire are the Adversities which God Ordains them and which are profitably and successfully applyed to them by Patience It is much better then for Ladies to be Purged and Cured by Adversity how distastful soever her Medicines may be then if by an unfortunate Indulgence they were abandoned to Contagious Prosperity which would compleat their Corruption This so harsh Treatment and painful in appearance will be yet found more wholsom and beneficial if we adde that thereby they are prepared for the Wedding of the Lamb and for the Crowns of the other Life We are not received at this Feast with soul Garments and hands fullied with dâ—t And the fauest Head of the World which should have but one stain will never be Crownd there It is necessary then for
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