nothing frée but their affection they are indéede so passionate in their penne and such inckpot louers that the poore maid which by trusting too much is charmed with their magicall inchantments shall finde their firmest fancie was but forged follie their loue was but tickling lust and that the hotnesse in their chase was but to make shipwracke of her chastitie The nature of the Crocodill Madame is with gréeuous grones and trickling teares to craue helpe as one in distresse but who so commeth to succour him is presently deuoured so Madame those kinde of louers whome I terme Crocodiles are they which when neither flatterie can preuaile nor supposed curtesies is of force to scale the Fort of their inuincible honestie then knowing that gentlewomen are pitifull and wholie framed of the moulde of mercie they fall with the Crocodill to their fained teares seeking with dissembled sighes and sobs with wéeping and wayling with distressed crie and pitifull exclamations to mooue hir to take pitie of their plaint whome after with gréedie gripes they bring to vtter decay and ruine But Madame as the iuice of the hearbe Baaran drieth faster than it can be pressed out and as the water of the fountaine Sibia can no faster be powred into brasse but it turneth into mettall so there is nothing in the world that drieth sooner than a louers teares nor no sicknesse sooner inwardly salued than a louers sorrow their care may soone be cured because it commeth not from the heart and their mourning soone amended sith it no whit mooueth the minde yet they can so cunningly counterfeit the shadowe of a perplexed patient and haue trickling teares and farre fetcht sighes so at their commaund that few well meaning and pitifull maides can escape the traine of their alluring subtilties Scorpions Madame are they which sting with their taile and séeke with despightfull termes to abuse the credite of Gentlewomen these be those kinde of louers which hauing neither comelinesse of person nor cōditions of minde neither wit wisedome beautie or learning nor any other good qualitie to purchase them credite or winne them the fauour of women but are vtterly reiected as vnsauerie salting neither woorth the tasting nor eating séeke then with blasphemous reproches and iniurious rayling to call the fame of honest Gentlewomen in question then they condemne them of inconstancie comparing them to Camelions Polipes and wethercocks affirming their fancies to be fléeting their loue to be light and their choise wholy setled in chaunge that they bée malicious deceitfull inchaunting Syreus craftie Calipsoes as subtill as Serpents as cruell as Tygres and what not and the cause of this their vniust accusing commeth not through any iniurie offered them by Gentlewomen but that they themselues are so imperfect both in minde and bodie that both by nature and arte they may iustly be appeached of want Hauing now Madame though not eloquently yet truly set downe before your face in plaine collour the Anatomie of such licentious louers as séeke with alluring baites to intrap the mindes of chast maydens sith loue is the laberinth which leadeth vs to be deuoured of these incestuous monsters let vs learne to flie it as warily as wyse Vlysses did the Mermaides Anacreon who spake by experience and writ by proofe calleth loue a tyrant mischéeuous cruell hardie vnkinde foule vngratious cursed wicked and the cause of all mischiefe Loue of beawtie sayeth he is the forgetting of reason the father of frenzie the disturber of the minde the enemie to health the sincke of sorrowe the garden of griefe and to conclude a confused chaos of miserie so that if it might be séene with bodilie eyes or be an obiect to our exteriour senses the Basiliske is not more feared nor the Cockatrice more auoided than lothsome loue would be eschewed and detested What follie is it for that woman which is frée to become captiue which is at libertie to become a perpetual slaue to another man who hauing the choise in her own hand to liue at her own lust will willingly yéeld herselfe subiect to be directed at another mans pleasure But this affection of loue naturally traineth entrappeth young mindes and especially of women wherfore they had néede to take the more héede least happily it stealeth vppon them for commonly it commeth vpon such as will not seeke meanes to preuent but careleslie receiue it as a sweete pleasant thing not knowing what and how perilous a poyson lyes hid vnder that pleasant face Let her therefore that will auoide this franticke foolish affection giue no more eare vnto the alluring charmes of the fained louer than vnto the song of an inchanting sorcerer let her consider that as it is proper to the Camelion to change to the Fox to be wilie to the Lyon to be hautie and to the Hiena to be guilefull so it is the propertie of louers to dissemble that when he doth most frie in fancie then he doth most frize in affection when he faineth Etna he proueth Caucasus when hée complaineth of care then is he most secure when he waileth outwardly then he laugheth inwardly like to the stone Ceraunon which whē it burneth most feruently being broken distilleth most cold liquor The ende also of these louers affection is to be considered which is not for her vertue wisedome or honestie but either allured by her beautie which she enioyeth or her riches that she possesseth The skinne of the Ermelyn is desired and the carkasse despised the horne of the Vnicorne most preciously receiued and his flesh reiected the hoofe of the Leopard is the thing that hunters séekes or else hée is contemned so the beautie and riches of a woman is highly regarded but her vertue and honestie lightly estéemed that as the taste being once glutted thinketh the swéet wine sower or as the finest delicates to a full stomacke séemeth but course cates so he that buildeth his loue vppon beautie of the bodie and onely regardeth riches when the beautie is faded his loue decreaseth or being satiate with pleasure loatheth the plentie or if wealth want his loue pineth with extréeme penurie But put case the minde is alreadie caught in the snares of Cupid and hath yéelded her self as a vassall vnto Venus let vs finde a remedie to draw her out of this perillous Laborinth I remember the saying of Dant that loue cannot roughly be thrust out but it must easilie créepe and a woman must séeke by litle and litle to recouer her former libertie wading in loue like the Crab whose pace is alwaies backward calling to her remembrance that if her louer be faire he will be proud of his person if rich his substance procureth statelinesse if of noble parentage it maketh him disdainfull that the stone Echites is most pleasaunt to the eye but most infectious to be handled that the hearbe called Flos Solis is beautifull to behold but deadly to be tasted that the fairest face hath oft times the falsest heart and the comeliest
cause thou art frée from thy promise without care yea as he hath laide his loue vpon Publia so laie thou thy liking vpon some other gentleman which both for his person and parentage may deserue as well to be loued as hée to be liked and in so doing shalt thou content thy parents procure thine owne ease and pay Pharicles his debt in the same coine Why Mamillia art thou mad or is fancie turned into frenzie Shal the cowardize of the Kistrel make the Faulcon fearefull Shall the dread of the Lambe make the Lion a dastard Shall the leaudnesse of Pharicles procure thy lightnesse or his inconstancie make thée wauering His new desire in choice make thée delight in chaunge Shall I say his fault make thée offend his want of vertue force thée yéeld to vanitie If hée by committing periurie be a discredite vnto men wilt thou by falsifying thy promise be an vtter infamie to women No the Gods forbid For since Pharicles first wonne me either he himselfe or none shall weare me and although he hath crackt his credit violated his oath-falsified his faith and broke his protested promise yet his inconstancie shall neuer make mée to wauer nor his fléeting fancie shall not diminish mine affection But in despight both of him and fortune I will be his in dust ashes Yâ—â—â—uen that vnfaithfull Pharicles shall be the saint at whose shâ—â—â—e I meane to doo my deuotion vntil my haplesse heart through extreame sorrow receiue the stroke of vntimely death which if it come not spéedelie these hands inforced by dispaire by some sinister meanes shall ende my miserie and with that such scalding teares distilled from her christall eyes as they were sufficient witnesses of her insupportable sorrow Where by the way Gentlemen if fond affection be not preiudiciall vnto your iudgement wée are by conscience constrained to condemne those vnséemly Satyres and vaine inuectiues wherein with taunting tearmes and cutting quippes diuerse iniurious persons most vniustlie accuse Gentlewomen of inconstancy they themselues being such coloured Camelions as their fondnesse is so manifest that although like Aesops asse they clad themselues in a Lions skinne yet their eares wil bewray what they be yea they accuse women of wauering when as they themselues are such weathercocks as euerie wind can turne their tippets and euerie new face make them haue a new fancy dispraising others as guiltie of that crime wherewith they themselues are most infected most vniustly straining at a gnat and letting passe an elephant espying one dram of drosse and not séeing a whole tunne of ore so iniuriously descanting vppon some one dame which for her wauering minde perhaps deserueth dispraise and not attributing due honor to so manie thousand Ladies which merite to be canonized as Saintes for their incomparable constancie But now their cauilling is so common and their causelesse condemning come to such a custome as Gentlewomen thinke to bee dispraised of a vaine iangler rather bringeth commendation than inferreth discredite estéeming their wordes as winde and their talke as tales yea their despightfull spéeches carrie so litle credite as euerie man thinkes they rather come of course than of cause that their cynicall censures procéed rather of selfe will than either of right or reason Well Gentlemen if I might without offence inferre comparison we should plainly perceiue that for inconstancie men are farre more worthie to be condemned than women to be accused For if we reade the Romane records or Grecian histories either fained fables or true tales yet we shall neuer finde anie man so faithfull which hath surpassed women in constancie Their onelie paragon wherof they haue to boast is poore Piramus which killed himselfe for Thisbe but to giue them a sop of a more sharper sauce let them tel me if euer any of their brauest champioÌ„s offered to die for his wife as Admeta did for her husband Alcest What man euer swallowed burning coales as Portia did for Cato Who so affectioned to his wife as Cornelia was to Gracchus Who euer so sorowed for the misfortune of his Lady as Iulia did for the mishap of her best beloued Pompey Did euer any adueÌ„ture such desperat dangers to inioy his loue as Hipsicratea did for her husbande Mithridates What shuld I speak of Tercia Aemillia Turia Lentula Penelope or this our constant Mamillia with innumerable other whose chastitie faith constancy toward their louers could not euen by the dint of death be chaunged But least for saying my fancie some accuse me of flatterie againe to Mamillia who thus plunged in perplexity driueÌ„ into the dangerous gulf of distrust ouercharged afresh with the remembrance of Pharicles discurtesie had burst foorth a new into her woonted teares had not her father preuented her by comming into the closet where finding her so bedewed with teares yea in such distresse as a woman halfe in dispaire blamed her follie in this effect Daughter quoth hée as it is a signe of a carelesse minde not to be moued with mishap so it is a token of follie to be careful without cause and to be gréeued for that which if it were iustly weied offreth at al no occasioÌ„ of sorow in which you commit the fault deserue the blame for your care is too great the cause none at all The sodain departure of your friend Pharicles as I gesse brought you into this dumpe which in my fancie could bréed no doubt for although sundrie and vncertaine rumors be spredde of his iourney and diuerse men descant diuerslie of his departure as fonde affection leadeth them his friendes supposing the best excuse his faulte his foes mistrusting the worst accuse him of follie and yet they both ayme at the marke as the blinde man shootes at the crowe Pharicles perhaps hauing so iust occasion of his iourney as his spéedie and happie returne shall make manifest that his friends by hoping well shall merite praise and his foes by iudging ill discredite But perhaps the late report how either he was married or betroathed to your cousin Publia is the fretting canker which so combers your disquiet conscience which tale in my opinion as it was last set abroach so it deserueth least trust and especially on your behalf since neither you haue heard him counted for inconstant nor you your selfe haue tryed him wauering Wil you then be so light as to call his credite in suspence which neuer gaue you occasion of suspition and reward him with distrust which neuer gaue you occasion to doubt No Mamillia beware of such fondnesse least Pharicles hearing of your follie performe that in déed whereof you suspect him without desert But suppose the worst he hath falsified his faith hath crackt his credit and like a troathlesse Theseus proued himselfe a traitor what then Shall this his dissembling driue thée into dispaire or his péeuish inconstancie be thy perpetuall care No but rather Mamillia as he hath stained his faith so straine thou thy affection as hée hath fainted in
perfect being old Losyna the Quéene of the Vendales at the first a vicious maiden but at the last a most vertuous matrone But to aime more neare the marke was not Rodope in the prime of her youth counted the most famous or rather the most infamous strumpet of all Egypt so common a curtizan as she was a second Messalyna for her immoderate lust yet in the floure of her age being married to Psammeticus the king of Memphis she proued so honest a wife and so chaste a Princes as she was not before so reproached for the small regard of her honestie as after shée was renowned for her inuiolable chastitie Phryne that graceles Gorgon of Athens whose monstrous life was so immodest that her carelesse chastitie was a pray to euerie stragling stranger after she was married to Siconius shée became such a foe to vice and such a friend to vertue yea she troad her steppes so steddily in the trade of honestie as the Metamorphosis of her life to her perpetuall fame was ingrauen in the brazen gates of Athens So Pharicles if the Gods shall giue me such prosperous fortune as to receiue some fauour of thée in liew of my most loyal loue and I shall reape some rewarde for my desertes and haue my fired fancy requited with feruent affection assure thy self I will so make a change of my chaffre for better ware of my fléeting will with staied wisdome of my inconstancie with continencie from a most vicious liking to such a vertuous liuing from a lasciuious Lamia to a most loial Lucretia as both thou and all the worlde shall haue as great cause to maruell at my modestie as they had cause to murmure at my former dishonestie thus languishing in hope I wish thee as good hap as thou canst desire or imagine Thine though the Gods say no Clarynda CLarynda hauing thus finisht her Letter called one of her maydes which shée thought most méete for suche a purpose and willed her to carrie it with as much spéede as might bee to Pharicles who hauing taken the charge in hand dealt so clarklie in the cause as shée sought such fit opportunitie for the performance of her message that shée found Pharicles sitting solitarie in his chamber to whom she offered the letter in her mistresse behalf on this wise Sir quoth she if my bold attempt to trouble your studie may import small manners or little modestie the vrgent cause being once knowne I hope both I shal be excused and you pacified For so it is that my mistresse Clarynda by the space of two or thrée daies hath bene pinched with such vnacquainted paines and griped with suche vnspeakeable griefs as the extremitie of her sicknesse is such as we looke onely when the stroake of death shall frée her from this incredible calamitie Yet amidst the sorest panges of her pinching distresse she commaunded me to present this letter to your worships hands wherein both the cause and the sickenesse it selfe is decyphered For she hath heard by report that you haue such perfect skill in curing that kinde of maladie which by fortune is inflicted vpon her that eyther of her death or the restoring of her health consisteth in your cunning which if it be such as no doubt it is if eyther you haue the nature of a Gentleman or your courtesie be such as all Saragossa speaketh of I hope her disease being once knowen you will send such a soueraigne salue for her sickenesse as we her poore handmaides shall haue cause to giue you thankes for our mistresse health and she her selfe be bound to remayne a duetifull debter of yours for euer Pharicles hearing the subtile song of this enchaunting Syren doubted to touch the scrappe for feare of the snare and was loath to taste of any daintie delicates least he might vnhappilie be crossed with some impoysoned dish of charming Cyrces for Pharicles knewe himselfe an vnfitte Physition for such a paltring patient neither could he on the sodaine diuine of her dangerous disease nor coniecture the cause of her insupportable sorowe vnlesse she were fallen in loue with his friend Ferragus and thought to make him a meanes to perswade his friend to the like affection But to auoide the trappe whatsoeuer the trayne were he though best to looke before he did leape and to cast the water before he gaue counsell least in knéeling to Saint Francis shrine he should be thought a Fryer of the same fraternitie to auoyde therefore such inconuenience as might happen by replying too rashlie he gaue her this vncertaine answere Maide quoth he as you haue for your part sufficientlie satisfied me with this excuse not to thinke euill of your boldnesse so you haue driuen me into a doubt what I should coniecture of the strangenes of the message sith that since I soiourned in Saragossa I haue neither openly professed my selfe a Physition nor secretly ministred to any of my friends wherby any such supposition might be gathered but perhaps it pleaseth your Mistresse to descant thus merily with me for my pilgrims apparell which at my first cōming to Saragossa I did vse to weare which if it be so tell her I traueiled not as a Pilgrim that had cunning to cure the disease of a Curtizan because I would not buy repentance too déere but that my pilgrims wéed did warne me to beware for cheaping such chaffre as was set to sale in the shamelesse shop of Venus Marrie if your mistresse be in earnest that her disease be so dangerous that all the learned Physitions in Saragossa dare not deale withall and yet my small skill may cure it I meane first to séeke out the nature of the sicknesse and then the vertue of the simples to make the receipt which being done my Page shal bring her an answer of her letter spéedily The maide hearing this doubtfull answere departed but Pharicles desirous to sée what clarklie conclusions he should find in the Curtizans scrowle could scarcely stay while the maide had turned her back from vnripping the Seales wherein he found Clarinda combred with such a perilous sicknesse as must of necessity bréede her death if she were not cured or his extreme miserie if she were amended séeing himselfe therefore chosen a Physition for such a passionate patient as would reward him with large reuenewes rich possessions for his paines yea and that which was more yéelded her person into his power in part of payment whose comely proportion surpassed the brauest dames in Europe if the stayne of her honesty had not béen a blemish to her incomparable beawtie he was with these large offers driuen into a doubtfull dilemma what he should replie to Clarindas demaunde his dissembling with Mamillia his treacherie to Publia his credite crackt in Italie the losse of his friends the hate of his foes and nowe againe the riches of Clarinda her surpassing beawtie and her promise to take a new course of life so assaulted the fort of this perplexed Pharicles as