maister and the marriners very francklie desiring the Pilot sith he himselfe was a stranger to guide him to some honest Inne where hée might make his aboade while he staied in the countrie Who being verie desirous to gratifie the Gentleman carried Pharicles to a verie friends house of his who for the Pilottes cause gaue Pharicles such curteous entertainment as hée thought himselfe to haue hapt on a verie good hoast Where by the way Gentlemen we sée the tickle state of such yong youthes whose wits are wils and their wils are lawes coueting so much sensual libertie as they bring themselues into perpetuall bondage for the Polype hath not more colours nor the Camelion more sundrie shapes than they haue change in thoughts now liking now loathing for a while professed enimies to Venus court then sworn true subiects to the crowne of Cupid so variable as a man can neither iudge of their nature nor nourture vnlesse by natiuitie they be lunatikes not taking this worde as the English men do for starke mad but as borne vnder the influence of Luna and therfore as firme in their faith as the melting waxe that receiueth euerie impression thinking as Pharicles did that it is a Courtiers profession to court to euerie dame but to bee constant to none that it is the grace to speak finely though without faith and to be wedded in words to as many as the lusting eie can like so that at length whē their talke is found tales their loue lust and their protested promises smal performance then their credite béeing crackt they must be trauellers to séeke that in a strange country which they could neuer find in their own they must into Sicillia for shiftes into Italie for pride to France for fraude and to Englande for fashions and follie so that they returne home laden not with learning but with leaudnesse not with vertue but with vice yea their whole fraught is a masse of mischiefes I speake not of all trauellers Gentlemen but of such as Pharicles which take their iourney either that their credite at home is crasie or else being wedded to vanitie séeke to augment their follie But againe to Pharicles who now safely setled in Saragossa the chiefe citie in Sicillia a place of no lesse suspition than resort and yet the most famous mart in all the countrie dealt so clarkely in his calling and behaued himselfe so demurely as his pretensed kinde of life gaue occasion to no man to suspect his fained profession for his Palmers wéed was worne with such a grauitie in his countenance and such a modestie in his maners as all men thought the man to be halfe mortified For Pharicles knew verie well that he could not liue in Saragossa vnder the state of a gentleman but either he must spende with the best or sit with the woorst yea beside that without companions hée could not bée and hée thought it verie harde to choose a dramme of golde among a pounde of drosse to finde one Gemme amidst a whole heape of flint one Eele among many Scorpions and one friend amōg a thousand flatterers it might assoone be his happe to chaunce on a dissembling Dauus as on a trusty Damon to commit his counsel to a subtil Sinon as to a faithfull Pilades to take him for a professed friend which might be a protested foe in the fairest grasse to finde the fowlest Snake in Oryllus boxe a deadly poyson in Carolus scarph a withered roote in the shape of a friende the substance of a foe Hée thought likewise that such a Citie as Saragossa was often times as well stored with Parasites as garded with souldiers and as full of counterfaites as counsellers and that he might finde many cousins claiming more acquaintance to his purse than kinred to his person more allyed to his liuing than to his linage to conclude more to féed his fancie for gaine than either good wil or friendship Pharicles partly feared and partly perswaded with the consideration of the former premisses was fully resolued in his minde to abandon all company to giue a finall farewel to his forepassed follie to make a change of his chaffer with better ware of his drosse with golde and of his fléeting will with staied wisedome Hauing thus determined to leade a Pilgrims life to punish his bodie with this Palmers penance in satisfaction of his disloyall dealings with his trusty louers he had not liued in this Hermits state by the space of a moneth but he proued the Pilots talke to be no tales nor his wordes to be winde but a setled sentence for want of company so increased his care and brought such melancholike motions to his musing mind as now he perceiued solitarinesse to be the nursse of sorrow and discontinuance the father of fancie The modestie of Mamillia the constancie of Publia his credite crakt in Italie his youth spent in vanity his great promises and smal performance his fained faith forged flatterie so battered the bulwarke of his brest gaue such fierce assaults to his carefull conscience as he thought himselfe to be in a second Hell vntill he might find a meanes to mitigate his miserie and therfore as solitarines was the sore so he meant societie should be the salue determining to driue away those dumpes by frequenting of companie which otherwise woulde haue bredde his vtter bane respecting neither cost expences nor hazarding of himselfe so his minde might remaine in quiet Pharicles hauing thus cast off his Pilgrimes wéed and Pilgrims profession gaue the citizens of Saragossa in short time to vnderstand that hée was as well a Gentleman by nature as by nurture and as worthily brought vp as worshipfully borne For first hée made a restraint of his will by wit then vsed his wit so warilie and wiselie shewing such a curteous countenance and franke liberalitie to al estates as he draue them into a dout whether the comlines of his person or the worthinesse of his mind deserued greater commendation In so much as those yong Gentlemen thought themselues happie which might be counted companiōs to this new guest aboue all the rest of this courtly true which kept him company a yong gentlemā named Ferragus onely sonne to the gouernour of Saragossa was ioyned with him in most priuate familiarity thinking that day euill spent wherein he had not visited his new friend Pharicles and the more to do him honor being a stranger hée oftentimes carried him to his fathers house where in short time Pharicles wonne such credit by his curtesie that Signor Fernese for so was the old gentleman called thought his house the more luckie he had such a guest his sonne the more happie he had chosen such a companion but for al this Pharicles fearing to find a pad in the straw and a burning sparke amongst colde ashes was a foe to none nor a friend to anie neither durst trust Ferragus without sufficient triall but bare himselfe so indifferent to all yet shewing
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
most monstrous Method to all men wherby they may learne to allure simple women to the fulfilling of their lust and the loosing of their owne honor but also hath set downe his bookes de remedio amoris to restraine their affections from placing their fancies but for a time vpon any Dame which bookes are so sauced with suche blasphemous descriptions of womens infirmities as they shewe that with the Satire hée could out of one mouth blow both hote and cold Yea Iuuenall Tibullus Propertius Calimachus Phileta Anacreon and many other authors haue set downe caueats for men as armours of proofe to defende themselues from the alluring subtilties of women But alas there is none contrariwise which hath set downe any prescript rules wherewith women should guide themselues from the fained assault of mens pretended flatterie but hath left them at discouert to be maimed with the glozing gunshot of their protested periuries which séemeth repugnant to nature For if the sillie Lambe had more néede of succour than the lustie Lyon if the weake and tender vine standeth in more néed of props than the strong oakes women sure whom they count the weake vessels had more néede to be counselled than condemned to be fortified than to be feared to be defenced thā both with Nature and Art to be assaulted But this their iniurious dealing were a sufficient caueat if women were wise to cause them beware of mens pretended pollicies and not to be inticed to that traine whereunder they know a most perillous trap to be hidden The beastes will not come at the Panther for all his faire skinne because by instinct of Nature they know he is a murtherer the fish wil not come at the baite though neuer so delicate for feare of the hidden hooke neither can the glistring feathers of the bird of Egypt cause the sillie Larke to kéepe her companie sith she knew her for her mortall enemie Yet we simple women too constant and credulous God knowes to deale with such trothlesse Iasons yéelde our heart and hand our loue life and liberties to them whom we know cease not only publikely to appeach vs of a thousand guiltles crimes but also secretly séek with forged flatterie to scale the Fort and to sacke both honour and honestie But Madam omitting womens foolish simplicitie in trusting too much mens subtill flatterie séeing it is as well giuen by Nature for the woman to loue as for the man to lust I will first define what loue is namely a desire of beautie and beautie according to the minde of sundrie writers is of thrée sorts of the minde of the bodie and of the spéech which if they concurre in one particular person and especially that of the minde sufficiently furnished with vertues requisit quallities such a one ought a Gentlewoman to choose but the chance is as hard as to finde out a white Ethiopian Sith then it is so difficult among infinite Scorpions to find out one sillie Eele amidst a whole quarrey of flint to choose out one precious iemme and amongst a thousande lusting leachers one loyall louer and so hard to descrie the true sterling from the counterfeit coyne and the precious medicine from the perillous confection I will as well as I can point you out the crue of those cogging companions which outwardly professe themselues to be trustie louers and inwardly are rauening Wolues and troathlesse leachers There are some Madam of this dissembling troup which rightly may be termed Masquers some hypocrites some Poets some Crocodiles some Scorpions and the Genus to all these forepassed Species is flatterers The Masquers are they Madam which couertly vnder the colour of curtesie shrowde a pestilent and péeuish kinde of curiositie their countenance shal be graue though their cōditions be without grace and when they sée anie Gentlewoman addicted to be curteous honest wise and vertuous they wil straight with the Polipe chaunge themselues into the likenesse of euerie obiect knowing that it is impossible to intise the birds to the trap but by a stale of the same kind They carrie in outward shew the shadow of loue but inwardly the substance of lust they haue a fine die though a course thréed and though at the first they shrinke not in the wéeting yet that poore Gentlewoman shal haue cause to curse her peniwoorth which tries them in the wearing shée shall finde them whom she though to be Saints to be Serpents that those who in wooing are Doues in wedding to be diuels that in the fairest grasse lies hid the foulest Snake in the brauest tombe the most rotten bones in the fairest countenance the fowlest conditions those whom I terme to be hypocrites are they who pricked forward with lust to fixe their fléeting fancie vppon some sillie dame whom nature hath beautified both with the shape of beautie and substance of vertue iudging that it is naturally giuen to women to be desirous of praise séeke to call them to the lure with recounting their singular quallities and extolling their perfections euen aboue the skies flourishing ouer their flatterie with a Rhetoricall glose of fained dissimulation the poore mayd whō they cal their mistresse they like counterfeites cannonize for an earthly goddesse comparing her for her beautie to Venus for her wit to Minerua for her chastitie to Diana yet this vertue the chéefest thing they séeke to spoile her of her eyes are twinkling starres her téeth pearles her lips corall her throate Iuorie her voice most musicall harmonie yea shée is so perfect in all pointes as they maruell how so heauenly a creature is shrowded vnder the shape of mortalitie these I say who haue honie in their mouth and gall in their heart are such hypocriticall flatterers as they séeke with sugred words and filed spéech to inueigle the sillie eyes of wel meaning Gentlewomen when as inwardly they scoffe at the poore maids which are so blinde as not to sée their extréeme follie and grosse flatterie Pratling Poets I call those who hauing authoritie with Painters to faine lie and dissemble séek with Syrens songs and inchanting charms of diuellish inuention to bewitch the mindes of young and tender virgines vnder the colour of loue to draw them to lust painting out in Songs and Sonets their great affection and deciphring in fained rimes their forged fancie they be taken in the beames of her beautie as the Bée in the Cobweb they are singed at the sight of her faire face as the Flie at the Candle they suffer worse paines than Sisiphus more tormentes than Tantalus more griefe than Ixion they are plunged in Plutoes pitte and so drowned in distresse that vnlesse the sillie maide by selling her fréedome and loosing both honour and honestie giue a salue to their surmised sore they shall ende their daies in hellish miserie yea to decypher their sorrowes more narrowly they are so ouergrowne with grief as in all their bodie they haue no place whole but their heart nothing at quiet but their minde nor
coosin germain to trecherie yet he feared not to mock so long with Mamillia dissemble with Publia vntill he gained nothing for his reward but a ship of sorrow to disgest the recklesse roote of repentance for as he had receiued the stroke by ficklenesse so he meant to salue the sore by flight as he had bred his bane by their presence so he would cure his disease by absence thinking that Aristotle his sentence in Logick was also an Axiome in loue that one contrary driues out another Iudging as priuate familiaritie was the father of fancie so discontinuance should be of sufficient force to quench out the frying flames of loue But he sate beside the saddle for he spake by gesse and not by experience by wit but not by wisedome The sting of a serpent by continuance enuenometh the whole bodie He which is charmed of the Torpedo by procrastination runneth mad and the pricke of loue by delay is vncurable yet Pharicles blinded with the vale of vanitie and sowsed in the seas of selfeloue was so wrapped in the waues of wilfulnesse as at the first hee thought his iourney into Sicilia a perfect pumicestone to race out the memorie of his daintie dames in Italie But he skipt beyond his skill and was verie grossely blinded with folly for he was not only frustrate of his imagination but did euen frie amidst the flouds that as he sailed on the seas the bewtie of his goddesses gaue his conscience such a cruell canuizado by the meanes of fancie as the poore Gentleman driuen almost into the dungeon of despaire burst forth into these termes O infortunate Pharicles hath the dolorous destinies decréed thy destructiō or the peruerse planets in thy natiuity conspired thy bitter bane Hath froward fortune sworne to make thée a miserable mirrour of her mutabilitie Shall thy friendes sorrow at thy hap and thy foes reioyce at thy chance yea all the worlde wonder at thy staylesse state of life Shall Mamillia muse at thy madnesse in change and Publia laugh at thy lightnes in choise Yea shal they count thée more curious thā careful more wittie than wise more light in thy loue than lewd in thy life and yet so lewd as sufficient to winne the best game Ah Pharicles shall thy daintie dames in Italie trie by experience that although thy person is so brauely beautified with the dowries of nature as she séemed to shew her cunning in caruing a péece of so curious perfection yet thy mind to be so blotted with the blemish of inconstancie and so foiled with the filthie spot of ficklenesse as nature may séeme to make a supplie in the bodie sith there was such a want in the mind Shall I say they compare thée to the diamonde who for all her glistering hue distilleth deadly poyson To the Seastar whose shell stayneth the Iuorie and whose meat is blacker than Iet Vnto the trées in the Mount Vermise whose barke burneth like fire and whose sap is colder than Ice Well Pharicles cast thy cardes make thine accountes and thou shalt finde the greatest gaine to be losse and thy profite to be such as hee that maketh of a mountaine of golde a myerie moulhill of an Elephant a Gnatte and commeth from a wealthie merchant to a bare banckrout Consider with thy selfe thou hast stayned thy stocke and what more to be regarded Thou hast crackt thy credite and what of greater price Thou hast lost thy friendes and what of more value Thou hast purchased two most trustie louers to be thy mortall foes and exiled thy selfe as a poore pilgrime into a strange countrie Why Pharicles can these thy dolorous discourses cure thy care or can vnfoulding of thy infortunate life be a meanes to mittigate thy miserie rubbe not thy galded conscience for feare of a déeper sore but if thou hast béene carelesse in chaunge be nowe carefull and constant in choyce if thou hast committed a fault séeke in secret wise to make some part of amendes if thou hast offended by breaking promise make a recompence in paying performance Yea but the salue be it neuer so pure is not worth a rush if vnapt for the soare the medicine being vnfit for the patients disease though neuer so soueraigne bringeth small profite so this thy clarkely counsell vnapt for the cause will procure thée but litle ease for thou hast deceiued Mamillia and halted with Publia thou hast made a fault to both and canst make amendes but to one thy promise is to laie thy loue on two where the performance can light but vppon some particular person so that in any wise thou canst not make a ful satisfaction for thy fault vnlesse thou take vpon thée such a charge as thou shalt neuer bée able to rule nor they suffer O vnhappie man art thou the onelie marke at which fortune meanes to vnloose her infortunate quiuer And with that hée cast foorth such a sigh as it was a sufficient sign to witnesse a ready remorse in his troubled mind that the maister of the ship taking compassion on this perplexed pilgrim thought to comfort his care with this merrie motion Sir quoth he your bitter teares and déepe sighs which you powre foorth so plentifully as tokens of some inwarde griefe hath driuen both the marriners me into a diuerse dumpe as we all stand in doubt whether those pittifull plaints procéed from a carefull cōscience combred with sin or else that you are of that order of pilgrims whose pretensed pilgrimage is to séeke S. Iames but their heart deuotion is vowed to an other Saint which with a crabbed countenance hath giuen them such a cutting corasiue as they séek by absence either to mittigate her moode or procure their owne ease and if you bée of the same case and in the like minde I will thinke you as madde as he that counteth fasting a soueraigne preseruatiue against famine Pharicles hearing the Pilots parle to touch him somewhat perceiuing his talke to sende to some end thought as closely to stand him the warde as he had clarkely giuen him the blow and therefore trickt vp his talke with this cunning scuse Pilot quoth Pharicles although they skill in nauigation be great yet if thou hadst no greater cunning in stirring of the stearne than in coniecturing the cause of my sorrow I would verie lothly haue committed my selfe vnder thy charge to haue sailed into Sicillia for whether thou presumest vppon phisiognomie or follie it is but a bare diuision to say that either loue or sinne must be the cause of griefe but put case thou hast hit the marke and that my outward sighes be signes of inward loue will not absence thinkest thou diminish affection Yes quoth the Pilote when you finde solitarinesse a soueraigne salue against sorrow then will the dewe of discontinuance quench out the fire of fancie but leauing these amorous questions you are welcome to the coastes of Sicillia Pharicles séeing the cockboate readie to carrie him to the shoare rewarded both the