Soldiers in the Warrs to fight His Tongue that silenc'd is by Death's cold Hand In Life mov'd wisely and could well command It Knowledg gave to those that little knew And did instruct what was the best to do His Heart lyes still no Motion doth remain Ceas'd are the Thoughts in his well-temper'd Brain Where in his Heart all Virtues did abide And in his Brain strong Reason did reside But all is vanquish'd now and Life doth seem No better than a Shadow or a Dream 'T is strange in Nature to observe and see The unproportion'd Links in Destinie For Man's the wisest Creature Nature makes And best Extracts to form his Figure takes And yet so short a Life to him she gives He 's almost dead before he knows he lives Yet she from Man receives the greatest praise He doth admire all her curious ways With wonder he her sev'ral VVorks doth see And studies all her Laws and each Decree Doth travel sev'ral ways within his Mind His Thoughts are restless her Effects to find But in his Travels Death cuts him off short And leads him into dark Oblivion's Court. Thus Nature is unjust Heaven unkind Which strikes the Best the Worst do favour find My Father's Merits might have challeng'd still A longer Life had it been Heavens will But he is dead and I am left behind Which is a torture to my troubled Mind If Soldiers pity have grant my desire Here strike me dead and let my Breath expire Said the Victorious Prince Heaven forbid all horrid Acts we shun For in the Field the purest Honour 's won We stake our Lives for Lives and justly play A Game of Honour on a Fighting-Day Perchance some Cheats may be among the Rout But if they 're found the Noblest throw them out But since you cannot alter Destiny Nor none that live but have some Misery Raise up your Spirits unto Heaven submit And do not here in Grief and Sorrow sit Your Father was a Soldier of great Fame His Valiant Deeds did get an Honoured Name And for his sake judg us which Soldiers be To have Human'ty and Civility Your Father he shall safely be convey'd That he may be by his Ancestors laid But you must stay yet not as Prisoner You shall Command and Rule our Peace and War She answered not in words her Tears did plead That she with her dead Father might be freed But her clear Advocates could not obtain Their humble Suit but there she must remain With the Victorious Prince but he deny'd As Victor in a Triumph for to ride For though the Battel I have won he said Yet I am Prisoner to this Beauteous Maid She is the Conqueress therefore 't is fit I walk as Prisoner she Triumphant sit Then all with great Respects to her did bow So doth the Prince and plead protest and vow To be her Servant and to yeeld his Life To Death's sad strokes unless she 'ld be his Wife But she still weeps his Suit no favour gains Of Fates and Destiny she still complains Why said the Prince should you my Suit deny Since I was not your Father's Enemy Soldiers are Friends though they each blood do spill 'T is not for Spight nor any Malice ill But Honour to maintain and Power to get And that they may in Fame's House higher set For those of greatest Pow'r to Gods draw near For nought but Pow'r makes Men like Gods appear But had I kill'd your Father in the Field Unto my Suit in Justice you might yeeld But I was not the Cause your Father dy'd For Victory doth still with him abide And though that Death stid strike him to the heart Yet his great Name and Fame will never part Men will suppose the Loss is loss of Life And had he liv'd there would be greater strife Between our Armies but if you 'l be mine Our Kingdoms in a Friendly Peace shall join Then she began to listen and give ear She of her Countrey in distress took care And in short time they were both Man and Wife Long did they live and had a happy Life The next a Virgin 's turn her Tale to tell Her Youth and Modesty did fit it well The Surprisal of DEATH A Company of Virgins young did meet Their Pastime was to gather Flowers sweet They white Straw-Hats upon their Heads did wear And falling-Feathers which wav'd with the air Fanning their Faces like a Zephyrus Wind Shadowing the Sun that strove their Eyes to blind And in their Hands they each a Basket held Which Baskets they with Fruits or Flowers fill'd But one amongst the rest such Beauty had That Venus for to change might well be glad Her Shape exact her Skin was smooth and fair Her Teeth white even set a long curl'd Hair Her Nature modest her Behaviour so As when she mov'd the Graces seem'd to go Her Wit was quick and pleasing to the Ear That all who heard her speak straight Lovers were But yet her Words such Chast Love did create That all Impurity they did abate And every heart or head where wild Thoughts live She did convert and wise Instructions give For her Discourse such heavenly Seeds did sow That where she strew'd there Virtues up did grow These Virgins all were in a Garden set And each did strive the finest Flowers to get But this fair Lady on a Bank did lye Of most choice Flowers which did court her Eye And every one did bend their heads full low Bowing their Stalks which from the Roots did grow And when her hands did touch their tender Leaves Each seem'd to kiss and to her Fingers cleaves But she as if in Nature 't were a Crime VVas loath to crop their Stalks in their full prime But with her Face close to those Flowers lay That through her Nostrils those Sweets might find way Not for to rob them for her head was full Of Flow'ry Phansies which her wit did pull And Posies made the World for to present VVith a more lasting and a sweeter Sent. But as she lay upon this pleasant Bank For which those Flowers did great Nature thank Death envious grew she such delight did take And with his Dart a deadly wound did make A sudden Cold did seize her every Limb With which her Pulse beat slow and Eyes grew dim Some that sate by observ'd her pale to be But thought it some false Light yet went to see And when they came she turn'd her Eyes aside Spread forth her arms then stretch'd and sigh'd and dy'd The frighted Virgins ran with panting-breath To tell the sadder story of her death The whilst the Flowers to her rescue bend And all their Med'cinable Virtues send But all in vain their Power 's too weak each Head Then droop'd seeing they could not help the Dead Their fresher Colours did no longer stay But faded straight and wither'd all away For Tears they dropp'd their Leaves and thought it meet To strew her with them as a Winding-Sheet The Airy Choristers hover'd above And
melancholy words all hopes do vail As Golden dust on written lines strewn were Your written lines seem sprinkled with a Tear As by the Heat of Passion spread about For fear that Cruelty should blot it out But let me tell you That my love is such As never Lover loved half so much And with so fervent Zeal and purest Flame Nay something above Love that wants a Name For to express it like to Gods on high For who can comprehend a Deity And though I honour all your Sex yet my Having another Mistress I deny Besides your self and though I do obey To visit the fair Princess nothing say Concerning Love nor yet Professions make As common Lovers promise for her sake Wonders and yet my Life to her will give To do her service but whilst I do live My Heart and Soul is yours and when I dye Still will my Soul keep yours in company Though by Honour my active life is bound Unto your Sex you only will be found Within my Heart and only Love to be From whence my Brain doth Copies take of thee On which my Soul doth view with much delight Because the Soul sees not with vulgar sight For Souls do see not as the Senses do But as transparent Glass the Minds quite through Or rather as the Gods see all that 's past Present or what 's to come or the World vast Or what can be all unto them is known And so are Souls to one another shown And if our Souls do equally agree Our Thoughts and Passions to each known will be But after this Letter they both did get An opportunity by which they met No Complemental-wooing they did use True Love all flattering words it doth refuse But they agreed and both did think it fit Their love to hide not to discover it At last the Queen and Father did agree The Prince and Princess straight should married be Ne're made a question for they doubted not But Youth and Beauty had each other shot With Amorous Loves But when the Prince made known How that his heart was now none of his own His Father seem'd with trouble discontent But the enraged Queen with malice bent Did strive all ways she could for to disgrace The sweet young Lady oft disprais'd her Face Her Person Dress Behaviour and her Wit And for to match with such a Prince not fit The Prince's love so firm no words could break Impatiently did hear but little speak But the Princess heard the Prince to be A Lover to another then did she Tear rail and rave as if she frantick were And of her Rival words she would not spare One day a Company of Nobles met And in a Room they were together set The Prince and his Fair Mistress she did spy And often at them cast a spightful Eye At last her Malice set a-work her Tongue And at the Prince she evil words out flung Which he receiv'd with a submissive face Turning those scorns as favours of her grace But when she had with Scorns his Patience try'd She for to vent her Spleen in Passion cry'd Some of the Company there jesting by The other Lady ask'd if she would cry She answer made she had not the like cause Nor had she broke the Modest Civil Laws But if her Passion had misled her Tongue She would have wept to water or else flung Her self to dust for want of moisture dye Unless her life could issue through her eye But when the Prince perceiv'd such storms to rise And showring tears to fall from beauteous eyes He did absent himself and shun'd to be A trouble to the Princess Company But when the Queen had try'd all means she could To alter his affections nothing would She then their Marriage strove for to prevent And to the Army she the Prince soon sent Then order gave Not to return again But with the Army there for to remain He to his Mistress went his leave to take Perswading her a Journey she would make Unto the Army and there to agree When they should meet straight-way married be At last she did resolve to leave the Court And privately with great speed to transport Her Person to the Prince where he was gone For ne're till then she found her self alone When the Army began for to retire To Winter-Quarters he did there desire His Mistress Company and then did write To those he had entrusted how they might Convey her safely but by some mistake The Queen had means this his Letter to take Which when she read all in a rage she grew And then his Letter into the fire she threw Which when sh' had told her Neece they both did strive And both in Council sate for to contrive To hinder her wish'd-meeting wherefore they Did think it best the Lady to convey Unto some private place and then give out That she was dead which soon was spread about And every one in censuring spent some breath And most did judg she dy'd a violent death But the Queen's anger only would destroy Their Loves because her Neece then should enjoy The Prince on whom her heart in love was set And us'd all means she could his love to get But though at first they thought the Prince might mourn Yet when his grief had been by time out-worn He then might take the Princess for his Wife Concealing the young Lady all her life And though they did not murther her yet they Did strive to grieve and cross her every way Wherefore they did agree that some should tell Her that the Prince in Battel fell The report of her death spread far and near And at last came unto the Prince his ear The news struck him so hard as it did make His strength grow weak and all his limbs to shake But when his strength return'd his mind sad grew And from all company himself withdrew No Orders he would give but left the care Of all the Army to an Officer And from th' Army without the Queen's consent He did return and to his Father went And told him he all worldly things did wave Had buri'd them all in his Mistress Grave And the remainder of his days would spend In holy Devotion his Prayers would send Unto the Gods and my dear Saint said he Will be a Mediator there for me His Father did disswade him all he could But all in vain a Hermit be he would Instead of Palaces he chose a Cell Left Courts and Camps did solitary dwell Instead of Clothes that rich and costly were He wore a Garment made of Camel's hair Instead of Arms a Hermit's Habit took And for a Sword he us'd a Prayer-book Instead of treading Measures in a dance And wanton Eyes that oft would side-ways glance His knees upon hard stone did bowing bend And his sad Eyes unto the Earth descend Instead of flattering words to tempt Maids fair No words did speak but what were us'd in Prayer All wild wandring thoughts were now compos'd And the dead
illustrate with false lights their dim Virtues or give them such Praises they never deserved Wherefore no History should be esteemed but what was written by the Authors themselves as such as write the History of their own Lives Actions and Fortunes and the several Accidents that befell in their time and to their knowledg yet said she I wish I might out-live the Historians of these times that I might write a History of the Historians there to describe their Birth and Breeding their Life their Actions their Fortunes their Interest and let the World judg whether they writ Truth and without Partiality But to draw towards an end of my Tale All sorts of People resorting to hear her speak she became so famous as that a great Monarch whose Kingdom was neighbouring to the Countrey she was born bred and lived in had a great curiosity to see and hear her for the fame of her Beauty was equal to the fame of her Wit and putting himself into a disguise left his Kingdom and Wife to visit this Lady whom when he saw and had heard speak her Wit Beauty and graceful Behaviour did so ravish him that he became a deseperate Lover Whereupon he secretly revealed himself unto her perswading all he could to leave that inclosed life proffering her to be divorced from his Wife and to marry her But she refused his Offers despised his Love forbid his Suit and absented her Person which caused him to return in a rage and fury sending Ambassadors to proclaim Warrs unless the State would deliver the Lady into his Power But they absolutely denied to deliver her thinking it both a wicked and dishonourable disgrace to their Countrey although they perceived an utter ruin was like to fall upon them by reason the Kingdom was in a weak condition caused by former Warrs But it came no sooner to her hearing but she desired to meet the Ambassadors in a publike audience which they granted where multitudes of People came thronging to see her and when they were met she thus spake I come not here to make Eloquent Orations to divulge my Wit or to present my Beauty to the view of many Eyes for though I may thank Nature for her bounteous Gifts Yet I have not that Vanity or Pride For to allure or draw from Virtue 's side But I come to answer these Threatning-Ambassadors for I cannot call them Noble or Honourable since they come upon a base Design and to an unjust End But let me tell them That the Gods would hate me should I break my holy Vow Next I should grieve my Father's sleeping-Ashes should I disobey his dyingcommand Thirdly I should be a dishonour to my Birth and Sex should I live incontinently Lastly I should curse my Birth hate my Life blast my Fame should I be the cause of my Countrey 's Ruin and my Countrey had cause to do the same should it beruined for me But since it will prove a Mischief Sin and Shame to live Honour Prudence Love and Justice bids me dye Wherefore I have sacrificed my Life for my Countrey 's Peace and Safety my unspotted Chastity holy Vows and dutiful Obedience and to quench the raging Lust of a wicked Tyrant And growing very sick she became so weak that she could stand no longer but gently sinking to the ground she fell whereupon all that could get near run unto her to help her but she told them it was in vain for Poyson saith she hath been the Engine that hath broken open the Gate of Life to let Death in and so immediately dyed Which the People no sooner understood but made such outcries lamentations and mournings as if there had been an utter desolation of the whole World Then after some time of Preparations they buried her with great solemnity and intombed her costly the State setting up her Statue of Brass for her Courage and Love to her Countrey the Church Deified her a Saint for her Virtue and Piety and the Clergy raised Altars where all the Kingdom twice a year did offer unto her solemn Sacrifices and the Poets built several Pyramides of Praise of her Beauty Wit Virtue and sweet Graces which Pyramides reach'd to Fame's highest Tower and the Historians writ her Life and Death in Golden Letters and recorded them in Fame's Brazen Tower that all the World might know and follow the Example of her Heroick Spirit Generous Soul Chast Body Pious Life and Voluntary Death HEAVEN's Library which is FAME's Palace purged from Errors and Vices JOVE and some of the other Gods being set in Council Pallas being one rose up and bowing to Jove thus spake Great Jove said she I ought in duty and love to inform you not only of the Vices and Errors which are numerous in the World and in time may bring it to confusion but of those Errors and Vices which are crept into your great Library Fame's Palace and if order be not taken to destroy them they will devour all your best and noblest Records Jove answers That Vices were as Serpents and Errors as Worms bred in the Bowels of Nature of which she could never be cured for the Gods had no Medicine strong enough to purge them out and by reason they were from all Eternity they could not be destroyed for if any thing could be destroyed that is from all Eternity then we our selves might be destroy'd but said Jove we can cast them out of our own Mansions though we cannot cast them out of Nature's Bowels also we can hinder them from coming in wherefore Fame is to be reproved for suffering the Library to be so foul and full of filthy Vermin Whereupon Mercury was sent to call Fame to appear before Jove and his Council so when Fame came Jove told her That Gods and Goddesses ought to be just and upright and to have their Palaces pure and full of Truth which said he you nor your Palace hath not been for you are Partial and your Court full of Faction and my Library your Palace foul and full of Wormy Errors which if it had been kept pure and clean they would never have entred or if they had entred you might have caused them to have been swept out by Old Father TIME Fame answered That it was not her fault for Mars Venus and Fortune had sent them in and it is not for me to oppose so great a God as Mars or so great a Goddess as Venus or to sit as Judg to determine what was best to be flung out or what to be placed therein for none is fit to judg those Causes but you great Jove and your Council Jove approving what Fame said told his Council That after they had taken some repast they would sit in Council again and their only Business should be to purge and cleanse their Library So after they had feasted with Ambrosia and Nectar they returned to Council where they did first decree That all those Records that were to be cast forth should be heapt up
her mercy said he could not look It was so dark and thought he had mistook No said the Bride most sweetly you are right As if our Taper here was shining bright Now Love's Hesperides would touch the same That Place O Place which Place no tongue should name She gentle Dame with roving hand indeed Instead of Crutches found a broken Reed They both now fill'd with Ale Brains in 't did steep So arm in arm our Lovers fell asleep So for the Will though nothing else indeed To Love the Beggars built a Pyramid A Tale of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle called The Philosopher's Complaint I Through a Cranny there did spy A grave Philosopher all sad With a dim Taper burning by His Study was in Mourning clad He sigh'd and did lament his state Cursing Dame Nature for 't was she That did allot him such a Fate To make him of Mankind to be All other Animals their Mold Of thousand Passions makes them free Since they 're not subject unto Gold Which doth corrupt Mankind we see The busie Merchant plows the Main The Pleading-Lawyer for his Fee Pious Divines for Lawful Gain Mechanicks all still Coz'ners be With Plow-shares Farmers wound the Earth Look to their Cattel Swine and Sheep To multiply their Seed Corn's birth And all for Money which they keep The Sun-burnt Dame prevents the Day As her laborious Bees for Honey Doth milk her Kine and spins away Her fatal Thread of Life for Money Mankind doth on God Pluto call To serve him still is all their pleasure Love here doth little Money all For of this World it is the measure Beasts do despise this Orient Mettle Each freely grazing fills his Maw After Love's procreating settle To softer sleep wise Nature's Law They 're not Litigious but are mute False Propositions never make Nor of unknown things do dispute Follies for wise things do not take Or Flow'ry Rhet'rick to deceive Nor Logick to enforce the wrong Or tedious History to weave Troubling the Hearers all along Nor study the enamell'd Sky Thinking they 're govern'd by each Starr But scorn Man's false Astrology And think themselves just as they are Their Pride not being so supream Celestial Bodies moving thus Poor Mortals each awaking dream To think those Lights were made for us Nor are they troubled where they run What the Sun's Matter it might be Whether the Earth moves or the Sun And yet they know as well as we Nor do they with grave troubled looks By studious Learning for to stay Or multiplicity of Books To put them out of Truth 's right way For Policies Beasts never weave Or subt'ler Traps do ever lay With false dissembling which deceive Their Kind to ruin or betray No hot ambitions in them are Trumpets are silent Drums do cease No troublers in their Kind in Warr For to destroy but all for Peace The Stranger valu'd Jemms that dress Our beauteous Ladies like the day A Parrot's Feathers are no less And gossips too as well as they Man's ever troubled 'bout his Fame For Glory and Ambition hot When Beasts are constantly the same In them those Follies enter not Nor hope of Worlds to come that 's higher With several Sects divisions make Or fear an everlasting Fire But quiet sleep and so awake Man still with thoughts himself torments Various desires what shall be And in his life hath small contents Beasts pleas'd with what they have not we Repining Man for what is past Hating the present what they see Frighted with what 's to come at last Beasts pleas'd with what is and must be Ease Man doth hate and Business store A burthen to himself he is Weary of time yet wishes more Beasts all these Vanities they miss Self-loving Man so proud a Durt Vain 'bove all things when understood Studies always himself to hurt When Beasts are wise to their own good Man makes himself a troubled way Runs into several dangers still VVhen in those thoughts Beasts never stray But do avoid them with their will Man's troubled Head and Brain still swelling Beyond the Power of Senses five Not capable of those things telling Beasts beyond Senses do not strive Nature's just measure Senses are And no Impossibles desire Beasts seek not after things that 's far Or Toys or Baubles still admire Beasts Slander not or Falshoods raise But full of Truth as Nature taught And wisely shun dissembling ways Follow Dame Nature as they ought Nor to false Gods do sacrifice Or promise Vows to break them no No Doctrine to delude with Lyes Or worship Gods they do not know Nor envy any that do rise Or joyful seem at those that fall Or crooked ways 'gainst others tries But love their Kind themselves and all Hard labour suffer when they must When over-aw'd they wisely bend Only in Patience then they trust As Misery's and Affliction 's Friend They seek not after Beauty's blaze To tempt their appetite when dull But drink the Stream that Tempests raise And grumble not when they are full They take no Physick to destroy That Health which Nature to them gave Nor rul'd by Tyrants Laws annoy Yet happy seem with what they have With cares Men break their sweet repose Like Wheels that wear with turning round Beasts quiet thoughts their Eye-lids close And in soft sleep all cares they drown'd No Rattles Fairings Ribbons Strings Fiddles Pipes Minstrelses them move Or Bugle Bracelets or fine Rings And without Cupid maketh Love O happy Beasts that spend the day In pleasure with their nearest Kin And all is lawful in their way And live and dye without a sin Their Conscience ne're troubled is We made so yet forbid it too For Nature here is not amiss We strive 'gainst what w' are made to do Beasts need not Language they despise Unuseful things all Men's delight Those Marks which Language from doth rise If pleas'd with them discourse they might And out of words they argue not But reason out of things they do When we vain Gossipings have got They quiet silent Lives have too Complain'd of Scholars that they sought With envious watching and with spight To leave the good to find a fault In any Author that doth write O vain Philosophy their Laws With hard words still for matter brings Which nothing is nor knows the cause Of any thing unuseful things Why are our Learned then so proud Thinking to bring us to their bow And Ignorance Wisdom allow'd And know not that they do not know Motion's cessation is the end Of Animals both Beasts and Men The longest Lives to that do tend And to Death's Palace his dark Den. Or that Beasts breath doth downwards go And that Men's Souls do upward rise No Post from that World comes you know It puzzled Solomon the Wise. Thus he complain'd and was annoy'd Our grave Philosopher for 's birth That he was made to be destroy'd Or turn'd to sad or colder Earth I piti'd him and his sad case Wishing our Vicar him to teach For to
Cure But he that said The Stone in the Mind was Cruelty caused by the sharpness of Envy the bitterness of Hate and greedy Covetousness bid drink a Draught of Prodigality once a week and it would cure him And he that said Cruelty was the Stone that baked the tender and soft Humours into a hard confirmed Body of Stone bid him take an Ounce of Compassion two Ounces of Charity two Ounces of Generosity as much Clemency and bray them all together then divide them into two parts and lay one half to the Heart and another to the Reins of the Mind and those Medicines will soon dissolve the Stone As for Convulsions of the Mind he that said it was Fury bid the Mind take an Ounce of Discretion half an Ounce of Judgment a Scruple of Gravity mix them all together as in an Electuary and take it fasting and it will cure him And he who said That Inconstancy was the Convulsion in the Mind bid him take an Ounce of Temperance and an Ounce of Judgment one Ounce of Understanding two of Resolution mix these into an Electuary and take a good quantity of it every morning and this will cure him As for a Consumption he that said Pity was a Consumption bid the Mind take a Heart and bake it dry and when it was dried to Powder mix it in his ordinary Drink and it will cure him But he that said Forgetfulness was a Consumption bid him only take a Draught of Remembrance every day As for Dropsies he that said Desires were Dropsies bid the Mind take a Bunch of Reason that grows in a well-temper'd Brain and as much Humility that grows in a good Heart boil them in the Water of Content and drink a Draught three times a day this said he will dry up the superfluous matter But he who said That Desire was that Disease which was called the Dog-like-Appetite bid the Mind make a Bisk of Vanity an Oil of Curiosity and a Hodg-podg of Variety and eat so long till he did vomit it up again and if he could surfeit thereof it would prove a Cure otherwise there was no remedy unless the Mind could get some Fruition which is seldom to be had yet sometimes it is found said he But he that said A Dropsie was a Reluctancy that swelled out with an Aversion bid the Mind only use Abstinence and it would cure him And he that said It was Voluptuousness said That the same Medicine was to be prescribed He that said It was Pride that swelled out with Vain-glory bid the Mind take a great quantity of Humility but if you take it from the hand of Misfortunes said he it will make you sick But the Mind perceiving that they agreed not in any one Medicine or Disease desired that they would depart from him for said he Gentlemen it is impossible you should prescribe an effectual Medicine or Remedy since you cannot agree about the Disease So he paid them their Fees and they departed and the Mind became his own Physician Apothecary and Chyrurgeon First He let himself Blood opening the wilful Vein taking out the obstinate Blood Then he did take Pills made of Society and Mirth and those purged all strange and vain Conceits Also the Mind eat every morning a Mess of Broth wherein was Herbs of Grace Fruit of Justice Spice of Prudence Bread of Fortitude these were boiled with the Flesh of Judgment in the Water of Temperance This Breakfast was a Soveraign Remedy against the malignant Passions for it did temper Heat qualifie Sharpness allay Vapours and mollifie obdurate Passions and foolish Affections Likewise he did take to his Service the strongest soundest and quickest Senses which were Five these waited on him and each in their turn gave him intelligence of every thing and brought him all the News in the Countrey which was a Recreation and a Pastime for him And in thus doing he became the healthfullest and jolliest man in the Parish The Thoughts feasted THERE were two men great Companions one of them told the other That he had made a particular search and a strict enquiry for him three days together and could not hear of him insomuch that he had thought some unfortunate Accident or violent Death had befallen him He answered His Senses had been to visit the Soul which was the cause of his Body's retirement The other said I have heard that the Soul did use to visit the Senses but never heard that the Senses did use to visit the Soul He answered That the Sensitive Spirits did as often in some men visit the Rational as the Rational did the Sensitive Well said he and how doth the Soul live He said As a great Prince should do for the Mansion of the Soul is nobly situated upon a high Hill of Ambition which ascends by steps of Desires whereon stands a very curious Castle of Imaginations and all about are solitary Walks of Contemplations and dark Groves of Melancholy wherein run Rivers of Tears The Castle is Walled with Vain-glory and built upon Pillars of Hope Within the Walls are fine Gardens of Eloquence set full with Flowers of Rhetorick and Orchards of Invention wherein grow fruitful Arts. In this Orchard are many Birds of Fancies which flie from Tree to Tree from Branch to Branch from Bough to Bough singing fine Notes of Poetry in a sweet strain of Verse and chirping Rhymes and building their Nests in Arbours of Love wherein they hatch Conceits Likewise said he the Soul hath another House which is a most stately Palace it stands in the midst of a large Plain of good Nature wherein run Rivers of Generosity This Palace is walled about with Fortitude and stands upon Pillars of Justice There are long straight level Walks of Temperance where is fresh Air of Health This Palace is built very convenient for on the out-side are Stables of Discretion wherein are tyed up wild Opinions Phantasms and all skittish Humours and a large Riding-Room of Judgment where all Opinions are managed Also there are Granges of thrifty Contrivance wherein are Cattel of Prudence that give the Milk of Profit Besides there are Kitchins of Appetite Dining-rooms of Luxury Galleries of Memory Cellars of Forgetfulness Chambers of Rest and Closets of Peace But said he after my Senses had viewed every place they took their leave of the Soul who told them That they should stay and feast with her So the Soul invited all his Subjects the Thoughts The first of all were the Generous Thoughts who are the Nobles then the Gentry who are the Obliging and Graceful Thoughts the Heroick Thoughts were Commanders of Warr the Factious Thoughts were the Commons the Mercenary were Trades-men the Plodding-Thoughts were the Yeomantry the Ordinary Thoughts were Labourers and Servants Then there were the Politick Thoughts which were Statists the Proud Thoughts Magistrates and the Pious Thoughts Priests the Censuring Thoughts were the Judges the Wrangling and Pleading Thoughts Lawyers and the Terrifying Thoughts Sergeants the
Leaves nor shorten the Life for it may live as long as Nature pleases for all mee but you eat out the Seeds which are their young Off-springs and the Earwigs eat off the Leaves and the Worms devour the Roots when I bear nothing away but what is free for all which is that which falls from the Heavens By this we may perceive That it is the nature of most Creatures that are guilty and do the greatest Wrongs to be the first Accusers The Third Tale of the Ant and the Bee IT chanced that an Ant and a Bee wandring about met in a Honey-pot the Honey being very clammy stuck so close to the Ant and weighed so heavy that she could not get out but like a Horse in a Quagmire the more pains she took to get out the deeper she sunk in Whereupon she entreated the Bee to help her The Bee denied her saying She should become guilty of Theft in assisting a Thief Why said the Ant I do not entreat you to assist my Stealth but my Life but for all your pretended Honesty and Nicety of Conscience you endeavour to steal Honey as much as I. No said the Bee this Honey was stoln by Man out of our Commonwealth and it is lawful not only to challenge our own but to take it wheresover we find it Besides Man most commonly doth cruelly murther us by smuthering us with Smoak then destroys our City and carries away the Spoils But Men are not only the most wicked of Creatures in making the greatest Spoils and Disturbances in Nature but they are the subtillest of all Creatures to compass their Designs and the most inventive for several destructive and enslaving Arts. But Nature knowing the Ingenuity of Man to Evil and the proneness of his Nature to Cruelty gave us Stings for Weapons to oppose and defend our selves against them which they finding by experience invented the way of smuthering us with Smoak The Ant said I hope that the Cruelty you condemn and have found by experience in Man will cause you to be so charitable as to help me out of my Misery There is no reason for that answered the Bee for if Man doth unjustly strive to destroy me it doth not follow I must unjustly strive to help you But whilst the Bee was thus talking the Honey had clammed the Bee's Wings close to her sides so that she could not loosen them to flye and in strugling to get liberty for flight plunged her whole Body in the Honey O said the Bee I shall be swallowed up and choaked immediately What said the Ant with your own Honey O said the Bee the Quantity devours me for Water refreshes Life and drowns Life Meat feeds the Body and destroys the Body by Surfeits besides a Creature may choak with that which might nourish it O unhappy Creature that I am said the Bee that my Labour and Industry should prove my ruin but the Honey rising above her Head stopped her speech and kill'd her The Ant after a short languishing dyed also Thus we see the same Mercy and Assistance we refused to others is refused to us in the like Distress And many times in the midst of Abundance are our Lives taken away When we are too greedily earnest in keeping or taking what we can justly call our own we seldom enjoy it either by losing it or our selves Which shews there is no secure Safety nor perfect Felicity nor constant Continuance in the Works of Nature A Tale of the Woodcock and the Cow A COW seeing a Woodcock sitting close to a a green Turf and observing him not to stir asked him why he sate so lazily there having so strong a Wing as he had to flye O said the Woodcock it is a laborious action to flye but sitting here I take my ease and rest The Cow said If I had Wings to flye I would never lye upon the cold Earth but I would mount up near to the warm Sun whose Heat clarifies the Air to a Crystalline Skye whereas the Earth is only a gross Body sending forth thick and stinking Fogs which many times give us the Rot and other Diseases by the unwholsome Vapours that arise from it and cold Dews that lye upon the Ground when the Air is sweet and refreshing warm and comfortable 'T is true said the Woodcock the Sun is a glorious and powerful Planet his Heat is our Comfort and his Light is our Joy and the Air is a thin and fine Element But alas said he though we be Birds that can flye therein yet we cannot rest therein and every Creature requires rest sometimes neither can we live only by the Sun for the Sun cannot fill us though he warms us his Light fills not our Crops although it doth our Eyes nor is the Seed sown in the Air and though the Winds furrow and plow the Clouds yet the Air is too soft an Element to bear Corn or any other Vegetable nor doth there grow sweet Berries on the Sun-beams as on the Bushes besides great Winds beat down our sailing-wings and when the Air is thick and full of Water it wets and cleaves our Feathers so close they will not spread which causeth difficulty of flight which tires us and puts our Limbs to pain when you sit lazily here all day long chewing the Cud having your Meat brought by Man to encrease your Milk and in the Summer you are put to rich Pasture or lye in green Meadows growing thick with Cowslips and Dazies or else for change you walk up to the Mountains tops to brouse on wild Thyme or sweet Marjoram and yet you rail against our good Mother Earth from whose Bowels we receive Life and Food to maintain that Life she gives us She is our kind Nurse from whence we suck out of her springing breasts fresh water and are fed by her Hand of Bounty shaded under her spreading-Boughs and sheltred from Storms in her thick Groves Besides said the Woodcock you are safe from Dangers whenas we have many Airy-Enemies as the Tyrant-Eagle and Murtherous Hawk But said the Cow we that only live upon the Earth are dull and melancholy Creatures in comparison of those that flye in the Air for all Birds are ingenuous and seem to have more Wit than Beasts besides they are of chearfuller Dispositions and have clearer Voices by reason their Spirits are more refined whereof the Serene Air and the hot Sun is the cause by agitating the Spirits to that degree that they seem to have more Life than we Beasts have or any other Creature for those Bodies that are most active and those Minds that are more cheerful have most although not longest Life having more of the innated Matter which is Self-motion in them than duller Creatures have And since Nature hath given you a greater proportion of Life that is more lively Spirits slight not her Benefits but make use of them for to that purpose she gives them Wherefore get up and sit not idly here Mount up
on high above the Clouds appear The Woodcock said When we are up on high We rather swim like Fishes and not flye The Air is like the Ocean liquid plain The Clouds are Water and the Roof is Rain Where like a Ship our Bodies swift do glide Our Wings as Sails are spread on either side Our Head 's the Card our Eyes the Needles be For to direct us in our Airy Sea Our Tail 's the Rudder moves from side to side And by that motion we our Bodies guide Our Feet's the Anchors when to ground them set We mend our Sails that 's prune our Feathers wet And every Bush like several Ports they be But a large Haven is a broad-spread Tree O said the Cow this Voyage to the Skie I fain would see whilst on the Ground I lie To satisfie you said the Woodcock I Will mount so rose and shak'd his Wings to flie But the Woodcock had not flown above a Cast high but a Faulcon who had soared above for a Prey seeing the Woodcock underneath him came down with such force that he knocked him on the head with his Pounces Which when the Cow saw she lowed out with sorrow and made a most lamentable Voice bewailing the Woodcock 's misfortune and out of a sad melancholy and discontented grief for the Woodcock his death and for the unfortunate counsel she gave him she mourned and lamented putting on a black Hide which Hide she wore to her dying-day and all her Posterity after her and not only her Posterity but many of her Acquaintance The MORAL Some are so busily-good that they will perswade and counsel not only all those they have relation to or all they know and have acquaintance with but all they meet although they be meer strangers to them But although some do it out of a meer busie nature and intermedling humour and disposition yet questionless some do it out of a desire and natural inclination they have for a general fruition of Happiness putting themselves in the last place But these sort of men have more Good-nature than Judgment for their Counsel oft-times brings Ruin at least Sorrow both to those that take it and those that give it through a blind ignorance of both Parties But those that are prudently wise never give Counsel but when it 's asked and then not without great Caution chusing the safest ways and the likeliest means joining their own Reputation with the Party 's Good fearing to lose the one or hurt the other by a rash Advice Of a Butcher and a Fly IN Shamble-Row a Butcher walking in his Shop where Meat was lying upon his Shop-board and being in the heat of Summer a number of Flies were busily working thereupon which the Butcher seeing was very angry and said That Flies were good for nothing but to corrupt Dead Flesh. At which words the Flies murmured against the Butcher making a humming-noise to express their Passion But one of the ancientest and gravest Flyes amongst them which Fly living long and observing much had studied Natural and Moral Philosophy having observed the Humours and Actions of all Creatures especially of Man and more especially of Butchers by reason they most commonly frequent the Shambles she answered the Butcher thus Why said the Fly do you rail and exclaim against us when we do nothing against Nature but do good service to the Countrey for we create living Creatures out of that you destroy whereby we keep Nature from ruin and those only that destroy Life are Nature's Enemies but those that maintain or create Life are Nature's Friends Thus we are Friends and you are Enemies to Nature for you are cruel striving to destroy Nature not only by taking the Life of barren Creatures that are past producing but of young Creatures that would encrease had they been suffered to live in not killing them before their natural time to dye Besides said the Fly to the Butcher you are a Cheat and a Robber as well as a Murtherer for you cozen and rob Time of the Goods he is intrusted to keep until such time as Nature requires them to whom he carefully easily peaceably delivers them to the right Owner Also you do not only rob him of those Goods he hath in charge but you maliciously or covetously spoil his Work for those Creatures that he hath but newly made and shaped and some before they are quite finished nay some which he hath but moulded in a lump together you destroy which not only spoils old Father Time's Labours but defaces his Architecture disgracing his Skill Likewise you do not only endeavour to destroy Nature and rob and disgrace Time but you take away Divine Worship from the Gods who receive their Worship from Life which you destroy for which they may justly punish you to Death After the Fly had made an end of this Discourse Now saith the Butcher to the Fly you think you have spoke wisely honestly and piously but your Speeches shew you to be a formal prating Coxcomb For first Nature creates more Creatures from Death than from Life from the Grave than from the Womb for those Creatures she creates from the Womb she creates for the most part by single ones or couples as Mankind and most sorts of Beasts but those that she creates from Death and the Grave as from dead Carkasses and Corruption she produceth by numbers as Maggots Worms and the like and most commonly your impertinent Worships are created in that manner And if the Gods are only served by Life we serve the Gods best for we by killing of single Creatures are the cause of creating millions of living Creatures Neither have you reason to brag for it is not you that are the only cause that those Creatures are produced from those Carkasses but Corruption which is the Mother of Life and which by your Bloth you hasten whereby you take Time's Work out of his hands and so you do usurp on Time's Prerogative for which I will whisk you out of my Shop as a Company of busie prating idle foolish Creatures you are Whereat they being frighted flew away Of a Man and a Spider A MAN whose Thoughts were not busily employed upon potent Affairs but lazily sitting in his Chair leaning his Head on his Hand with his Face towards the Window viewing a crafty Spider and marking what pains she took in spinning a Web to entangle the innocent Flyes saw that her Work was no sooner done but a Fly was catch'd therein He seeing this poor Fly dragg'd along and ready to be murthered by the cruel Spider who had watched her coming thither thus spake Mischievous Spider says he who art only industrious to an Evil Design spinning out thy own Bowels only to entrap a Creature that never did nor meant thee harm Hadst thou spun out of a charitable intention to clothe the Naked thou hadst been worthy of my Commendation but now thy Malice falls justly under my Wrath and taking the Tongs intended to kill
call nay think him Valiant Honest and Wife Sir said he to the Duke Pray flatter Fortune and offer some Prayers and Praises to her Deity in my behalf though it be but for your own sake for he that hath not a feeling interest in the business can never pray with a strong devotion for a good success but their Prayers will be so sickly and weak that they can never travel up far but fall back as it were in a swoun without sense In the mean time the Vice-Roy and the Unkle had drawn up Articles and had concluded of the Match without the young Lady's consent but the Unkle told her afterwards She must prepare her self to be the Vice-Roy's Bride and said he if you consent not never come near me more for I will disclaim all the interest of an Unkle and become your Enemy His words were like so many Daggers that were struck to her heart for her grief was too great for tears But her Maid who had ventured her Lady's Anger for Gold had conveyed the Duke into such a place as to go into her Chamber when he pleased He seeing her stand as it were without life or sense but as a Statue carved in a Stone went to her which Object brought her out of a muse but struck her with such a maze as she fixt her Eyes upon him as on some Wonder and standing both silent for a time at last she spake Sir said she this is not civilly done to come without my leave or my Unkle's knowledg nor honourably done to come like a Thief in the night to surprise me Madam said he Love that is in danger to lose what he most adores will never consider Persons Time Place nor Difficulty but runs to strengthen and secure his side fights and assaults all that doth oppose him and I hear you are to be married to the Vice-Roy but if you do marry him I will strive to make you a Widow the first hour cutting your Vows asunder and your Husband instead of his Bride shall embrace Death and his Grave shall become his Wedding-bed or I will lye there my self shrowded in my Winding-sheet from the hated-sight of seeing or knowing you to be anothers But if Knowledg lives in the Grave think not your self secure when I am dead for if Ghosts as some imagine can rise from the Earth mine shall visit you and fright you from delights and never leave you until you become a Subject in Death's Kingdom But if you are cruel and take delight to have your Bridal-Health drunk in Blood marry him where perchance we may be both dead-drunk with that warm red Liquor Sir answered she It is an unheard-of malice to me or an impudent and vain-glorious pride in you neither to own me your self nor let another but would have me wander that the World may take notice and say This is your forsaken Maid and I live to be scorned and become friendless for my Unkle will never own me which will prove as a Proclamation to proclaim me a Traitor to Gratitude and Natural Affection by committing the Treason of Disobedience The Duke said You cannot want an Owner whilst I live for I had nor have more power to resign the Interest I have in you than Kings to resign their Crowns that come by Succession for the Right lies in the Crown not in the Man and though I have played the Tyrant and deserved to be uncrowned yet none ought to take it off my Head but Death nor have I power to throw it from my self Death only must make way for a Successor Then said she I must dye that your Duchess may have Right and a free Possession Nay said he You must claim your own just Interest and place your self where you should be What is that said she Go to Law for you Yes said he If I be cast said she it will be a double shame You cannot plead and be condemned said he if Justice hears your Cause and though most of the Actions of my Life have been irregular yet they were not so much corrupted or misruled by Nature as for want of good Education and through the Ignorance of my Youth But Time hath made me see my Errors And though your Beauty is very excellent and is able to enamour the dullest Sense yet it is not that alone disturbs the peace of my Mind but the being conscious of my Fault which unless you pardon and restore me to your Favour I shall never be at rest I wish there were no greater obstacle said she than my Pardon to your Rest for I should absolve you soon and sleep should not be more gentle and soft on your Eyes than Peace to your Mind if I could give it but my Unkle's dislike may prove as fearful Dreams to disturb it though indeed if his Anger were like Dreams it would vanish away but I doubt it is of too thick a Body for a Vision The Duke said We will both kneel to your Unkle and plead at the Barr of either Ear I will confess my Fault at one Ear whilst you ask Pardon for me at the other And though his Heart were Steel your Words will dissolve it into compassion whilst my Tears mix the Ingredients My Unkle said she hath agreed with the Vice-Roy and his Word hath sealed the Bond which he will never break The Duke said I will make the Vice-Roy to break the Bargain himself and then your Unkle is set free besides you are mine and not your Unkle's unless you will prove my Enemy to deny me and I will plead for my Right Heaven direct you for the best said she it is late Good-night You will give me leave said he to kiss your Hand I cannot deny my Hand said she to him that hath my Heart The next day the Duke went to the Vice-Roy and desired to have a private hearing about a business that concerned him And when he had him alone he shut the door and drew his Sword which when the Vice-Roy saw he began to call for help Call not nor make a noise if you do Hell take me said the Duke I 'le run you through What mean you said the Vice-Roy to give me such a dreadful Visit I come said the Duke to ask you a Question to forbid you an Act and to have you grant me my Demand The Vice-Roy said The Question must be resolvable the Act just the Demand possible They are so said the Duke My Question is Whether you resolve to be married to the Lady Delicia Yes answered he The Act forbidden is You must not marry her Why said the Vice-Roy Because said he she is my Wife and I have been married to her almost nine years Why said he you cannot have two Wives No said he I will have but one and that shall be she And what is your Demand My Demand is That you will never marry her How says the Vice-Roy Put the case you should die you will then give me leave to
Fool and a Disease most Men have being married young But a Man in years is solid in his Counsels sober in his Actions graceful in his Behaviour wise in his Discourse temperate in his Life and appears as Nature hath made him Masculine Whereas a young Man is rash in his Counsels desperate in his Actions wild in his Behaviour vain in his Discourses debauch'd in his Life and appears not like his Sex but Effeminate A fair Forehead and a smooth Skin a rosie Cheek and a ruby Lip wanton Eyes and a flattering Tongue are unmanly appearing like Women or Boys let them be never so Valiant and as if they would sooner suffer the Whip than handle the Sword In an ancient Man every Wrinkle is a Trench made by Time wherein lies Experience to secure the Life from Errors and their Eyes are like active Soldiers who bow and sink down by the over-heavy Burthens of their Spoils which are several Objects that the Sight carries into the Brain and delivers to the Understanding as Trophies to hang up in the Magazine of the Memory His white Hairs are the Flage of Peace that Time hangs out on the Walls of Wisdom that Advice and Counsel may come to and fro safely Nay the very Infirmities of Age seem manly his seeble Legs look as if they had been over-tired with long Marches in seeking out his Foes and his Palsey-Hands or Head the one seems as if they had been often used in beating of their Enemies and the other in watching as if they knew not what Rest meant Sir said the Duchess you commend Aged Husbands and dispraise young ones with such Rhetorick torick as I wish the one and hate the other and in pursuit of my Hate I will cross my Husband's Amours as much as I can In the mean time the Duke was gone to the old Gentleman the young Lady's Unkle who when he saw him enter he started as if he had seen an Evil he desired to shun Sir said he What unlucky occasion brought you into my House First Repentance answered the Duke and then Love and lastly my Respect which I owe as a Duty My Repentance begs a Forgiveness My Love offers you my Advice and good Counsel My Respect forewarns you of Dangers and Troubles that may come by the Marriage of your Neece to the Vice-Roy Why what danger said he can come in marrying my Neece to a Wise Honourable Rich and Powerful Man and a Man that loves and admires her that honours and respects me But said the Duke put the case he be a Covetous Jealous Froward Ill-natured and Base Cowardly Man Shall she be happy with him But he is not so said he But answered the Duke if I can prove him so Will you marry her to him Pray said he spare your Proofs of him since you cannot prove your self an Honest Man Sir said the Duke Love makes me endure a Reproach patiently when it concerns the Beloved but though it endures a Reproach it cannot endure a Rival Why said the old Gentleman I hope you do not challenge an Interest in my Neece Yes said the Duke but I do and will maintain that Interest with the power of my Life and never will quit it till Death and if my Ghost could fight for her it should Heaven bless my Neece said the old Gentleman What is your Design against her Is it not enough to fling a Disgrace of Neglect on her but you must ruin all her good Fortunes Is your Malice so inveterate against my Family that you strive to pull it up by the Roots to cast it into the Ditch of Oblivion or to fling it on the Dunghill of Scorn The Duke said My Design is To make her happy if I can and will oppose all those that hinder her Felicity disturbing the content and peace of her Mind for she cannot love this Man besides he disclaims her and vows never to marry her Sir said the Gentleman I desire you to depart from my House for you are a Plague to me and bring an evil Infection Sir said the Duke I will not go out of your House nor depart from you until you have granted my Request Why said the Gentleman you will not threaten me No said the Duke I do petition you The Gentleman said If you have any Quarrel to me I shall answer it with my Sword in my hand for though I have lost some strength with my years yet I have not lost my Courage and when my Limbs can fight no longer the heat of my Spirits shall consume you besides an Honourable Death I far prefer before a baffled Life Sir said he I come not to move your Anger but your Pity the Sorrows I am in for the Injuries I have done you being extream great and if you will be pleased to take me into your Favour and assist me by giving my Wife your Neece leave to claim the Laws of Marriage and Right to me all my Life shall be studious to return Gratitude Duty and Service to you Yes answered he to divulge her Disgrace declaring your neglect in an open Court and to make my self a Knave to break my Promise Sir said the Duke your Disgrace by me is not so much as you apprehend but it will be a great Disgrace when it is known the Vice-Roy refuses her as I can shew you his hand to it and if he deserts your Neece you are absolved of your Promise made to him and to let you know this is a Truth here is his Hand The whilst the old Gentleman was reading the Papers the Vice-Roy comes in O Sir said he you are timely come Is this your Hand says he Yes answered the Vice-Roy And do you think it is honourably done said the Gentleman Why said the Vice-Roy Would you have me marry another Man's Wife Well said the old Gentleman when your Vice-Roy-ship is out as it is almost I will give you my Answer till then fare you well But the Duke went to the young Lady and told her the progress he had had with her Unkle and his Anger to the Vice-Roy After the old Gentleman's Passion was abated towards the Duke by his humble submission and the Passion enflamed towards the Vice-Roy he hearkned to the Law Suit being most perswaded by his Neece's Affection which he perceived was unalterably placed upon the Duke And at last advising all three together they thought it sit since the Parties must plead their own Cause to conceal their Agreements and to cover it by the Duke's seeming dissent lest he should be convicted as a Breaker of the known Laws and so be liable to punishment either by the hazzard of his Life or the price of a great Fine Being thus agreed of all sides the Law-suit was declared which was a business of discourse to all the Kingdom and the place of Judicature a meeting for all curious inquisitive and idle People When the day of hearing was come there was a Barr set out where the Duke
five years for as the years of Twenty by his Parents Perswasion being a younger Brother at that time although afterwards he was lest the first of his Family by the death of his Eldest Brother he married a Widow being Noble and Rich but well stricken in years never bearing Child And thus being wedded more to Interest than Love was the cause of his seeking those Societies which best pleased him But after long Conflicts and Doubts Fears Hopes and Jealousies he resolved to remove her from that House and to try to win her by Gifts and Perswasions And sending for a reverent Lady his Aunt whom he knew loved him he told her the passage of all that had hapned and also his affection praying her to take her privately from that place and to conceal her secretly until he was well recovered entreating her also to use her with all the Civility and Respect that could be Going from him she did all that he had desired her removing her to a House of hers a Mile from the City and there kept her The young Lady in the mean time expecting nothing less than Death was resolved to suffer as valiantly as she had acted So casting off all care she was only troubled she lived so idly But the old Lady coming to see her she prayed her to give her something to employ her time on for said she my Brain hath not a sufficient stock to work upon it self Whereupon the old Lady asked her If she would have some Books to read in She answered Yes if they were good ones or else said she they are like impertinent persons that displease more by their vain talk than they delight with their Company Will you have Romances said the old Lady She answered No for they extol Virtue so much as begets an Envy in those that have it not and know they cannot attain unto that perfection and they beat Infirmities so cruelly as it begets pity and by that a kind of love Besides their Impossibilities makes them ridiculous to Reason and in Youth they beget Wanton Desires and Amorous Affections What say you to Natural Philosophy said she She answered They were meer Opinions and if there be any Truths said she they are so buried under Falshood as they cannot be found out Will you have Moral Philosophy No said she for they divide the Passions so nicely and command with such severity as it is against Nature to follow them and impossible to perform them What think you of Logick She answered It is nothing but Sophistry making Factious Disputes but concludes nothing Will you have History No said she for they are seldom writ in the time of Action but a long time after when Truth is forgotten but if they be writ at present Partiality Ambition or Fear bears too much sway Will you have Divine Books No said she they raise up such Controversies that cannot be allayed again tormenting the Mind about that they cannot know whilst they live and frights their Consciences so that it makes men afraid to dye But said the young Lady Pray give me Play-Books or Mathematical ones the first said she discovers and expresses the Humours and Manners of Men by which I shall know my self and others the better and in shorter time than Experience can teach me And in the latter said she I shall learn to demonstrate Truth by Reason and to measure out my Life by the Rule of good Actions to set Marks and Figures on those Persons to whom I ought to be grateful to number my days by Pious Devotions that I may be found weighty when I am put in the Scales of God's Justice Besides said she I may learn all Arts useful and pleasant for the Life of Man as Musick Architecture Navigation Fortification Water-works Fire-works all Engines Instruments Wheels and many such like which are useful besides I shall learn to measure the Earth to reach the Heavens to number the Starrs to know the Motions of the Planets to divide Time and to compass the whole World The Mathematicks is a Candle of Truth whereby I may peep into the Works of Nature to imitate her in little It comprises all that Truth can challenge All other Books disturb the Life of Man this only settles it and composes it in sweet Delight The old Lady said By your Beauty and Discourse you seem to be of greater Birth and better Breeding than usually ordinary young Maids have and if it may not be offensive to you pray give me leave to ask you From whence you came and What you are and How you came here She sighing said I was by an unfortunate Warr sent out of my Countrey with my Mother for safety being very young and the only Child my Parents had My Father who was one of the Greatest and Noblest Subjects in the Kingdom and being employed in the Chief Command in that Warr sent my Mother not knowing what the Issue would be to the Kingdom of Security where he had been formerly sent Embassador So my Mother and I went to remain there until the troubles were over But my Father being killed in the Warrs my Mother dyed for grief and left me destitute of Friends in a strange Countrey only with some few Servants I hearing a Peace was concluded in the Kingdom was resolved to return to my own Native Soil to seek after the Estate which my Father left me as his only Heir When I embarked I only took two Servants a Maid and a Man but by an unfortunate Storm I was cast upon a Shore belonging to this Kingdom where after I was landed my two Servants most treacherously robb'd me of all my Jewels and those Moneys I had and then most barbarously left me alone where afterwards my Host sold me to an old Bawd and she to one of her Customers who sought to force me whereas I to defend my self shot him but whether he be dead or alive I know not afterwards I was brought hither but by whose directions you I suppose can give a better account to your self than I yet I cannot say but that since I came hither I have been civilly used and courteously entertained by your self who seem to be a Person of Worth which makes my fears less for I hope you will secure me from Injuries though not from Death And since you are pleased to enquire what I am and from whence I came I shall entreat the same return to instruct me in the knowledg of your self and why I was brought hither and by whose Order The old Lady said She was Sister to the Prince's Mother and a tender lover of her Nephew and to comply with his desires she was brought there to be kept until he should dispose of her Then she told her what he was but never mentioned the affection he had for her but rather spoke as if her Life were in danger So taking her leave she left her telling her She would send her such Books as she desired Thus passing
he had such a Gift to present to the King which Present he knew his Royal Master would prize above all the World which made him chuse to go with it for had the Spoils been less he had sent them with some Messengers but being so Rich he durst trust none to guard it but himself The King hearing of their coming made all the Preparations of State that could be sending the Prince a Triumphant Chariot and his own Robes to wear which Chariot coming as they were ready to enter the City the Prince sets the Queen thereon and walks on foot by the Chariot-side as being Mistress to the King his Master And the King being attended by all his Nobles of the Kingdom met the Queen and with great respect led her to his Palace where when she came the King kissed her Hand and smiling said The Gods had brought her thither for certainly said he the Gods by their Fates have decreed and destin'd you to be my Queen in which Gift the Gods have made me like themselves to enjoy all Felicity She with a Face clothed in a sad Countenance answered Fortune was his Goddess and if he were like her he might prove unconstant and then said she you may change from Love to Dislike if so I may chance to have liberty either by Death or to be sent into my own Kingdom again If you will accept of me said he you shall not only have your own Kingdom but mine wherein you shall be adored and worshipped as the only She in the World She answered I had rather have what I adore than to be adored my self Then was she conducted to a strong and safe but a pleasant place to be kept in where the King visited her often treated her civilly courted her earnestly loving her with an extraordinary Passion The Prince in the mean time was in high favour with the King who asked and took his Counsel in every thing And sending for him one day when he came hung about his Neck as was his Custom so to do saying to him O my Friend for that was his usual Name he gave him my Cruel Prisoner said he you brought me despises my Affection slights my Addresses condemns my Suit scorns my Proffers hates my Person What shall I do to gain her Love Alas said the Prince I have had so ill success in Love that what I doted on most did hate me worst which is the cause I have left my Countrey Friends and Estate and lost the peace of Mind the joy of Mirth the sweets of Pleasures the comfort of Life hating my self because she doth not like nor love me Jealous I am of Light Darkness Heat Cold because they come so near as to touch her I wish her dead because none should enjoy her but my self yet I cannot live without her and loath I am to dye and leave her here behind Thus hang I on a tortur'd Life and bear my Hell about me Whilst they were thus lamenting their hard Fortunes in Love a Messenger brought News that their Forces were beaten that were sent into Amity How can that be said the Prince Most of the Nobles being here and none but Peasants left behind who have no skill in Warrs and only fight like Beasts But the Alarms came so thick one after another to tell that they had not only beat their Forces but were entred into their Kingdom With that the King in haste dispatched the Prince with a fresh Supply added to those Forces he brought the Queen with so march'd out to meet the Enemy For Travelia hearing the Queen was taken Prisoner was highly enraged which Choler begot a Masculine and Couragious Spirit in her for though she could not have those Affections in her for the Queen as a Man yet she admired her Heroick Virtues and loved her as a kind and gracious Princess to her which Obligations made her impatient of Revenge Then calling all the chief of the Kingdom together thus spake unto them Honourable and most Noble You have heard the sad News of the Queen's being taken Prisoner which cannot chuse but strike your Hearts through your Ears and make them burn in flames of high Revenge and may those Flames be never quenched until you fetch her back and set her in her Throne again She went to keep you safe and nothing can be more ungrateful than to let her live amongst her Enemies Nor can you here be free whilst she is made a Slave your Wives and Children will be bought and sold and you be forced to do their Servile Work What Goods you now possess your Enemies will enjoy Then let your Hands and Strength redeem your Countrey 's Loss or sacrifice your Lives in the Service After she had spoke they proclaimed her with one Voice General raising new Forces making Vows they would never forsake their Queen but dye or be Conquerors Then sitting themselves in order thereunto Travelia as their General and chief Governour caused a solemn Fast and Procession sacrificing to the Gods for good Success After that she took a view of her Arms and Ammunition selecting out the ablest and youngest Men to fight making the better sort Commanders that Envy might not breed Disobedience The Aged she chose for her Councellors her old Father being made one the most Mechanicks as Smiths Farriers Pioneers Cannoneers Sumpter-men Wagoners Cooks Women and the like went with the Bag and Baggage Neither did she omit to take good Chyrurgeons Doctors Apothecaries and Druggists to help the Sick and Wounded At the Army 's going out she caused a Proclamation to be read That all the Women and Children and infirm persons which were left behind not being fit to go should pray incessantly to the Gods for Victory and safe return for said she Women and Children and the Infirm are the best Advocates even to the Gods themselves being the most shiftless Creatures they have made wherefore the most aptest to move Compassion Thus setling the Kingdom in a devout and orderly posture they marched on re-taking their Towns Forts and Castles lost beating the Enemy out of every place insomuch as they did not only clear their own Kingdom of their Enemies but entred into theirs And being gone some days journey their Scouts brought them word there was an Army coming to meet them and after a short time the Armies were in view of each other Whereupon she drew up her Forces the right and left Wings she gave to be commanded by two of the Valiantest and Experienced Commanders the Rear unto another the Van she led her self the Reserve she gave her old Father in charge to bring in as he saw occasion praying him he would not stand with it so far off but that he might come soon enough to their aid nor yet to stand so near as to be annoy'd with their present Fight Father said she I give you this part to command because I dare trust your Faith as well as your Judgment Courage and Skill Then
to the creation of the Mind or Soul the Sensitive to the Body But said she Opinion creates one way and Nature another way which Opinions except there be sense and reason in them are the false Conceptions in Nature But the learned Students study so much the Parts that they never consider the Parties that work therein The Authoress of these Opinions of the Rational and Sensitive spirits says she brings Sense and Reason to dispute for their truth which no other Opinions do and they that will not believe Sense and Reason will believe nothing but express by their incredulity that they have but a small quantity of that innated Matter in their Brains Whatsoever treats of innated Matter as the Sensitive and Rational spirits is to be compared to my Philosophical Opinions Then they asked her Whether she thought there could be Repetitions in Nature She said Yes for said she if anything in Nature cannot be so dissolved as to be annihilated it may be repeated for if the same Matter and same Motions are in being the same Figures may be repeated and if there can be in Creations said she a repetition it is probable there are repetitions of one and the same Creature only the time and changes of time makes a difference and obscurity in which obscurity the Creature is ignorant of it self and its former Being whereby one and the same Creature may come to envy his own Renown which was kept alive by Records from Age to Age as if Homer should be created again and envy his own Works or at least strive to out-work them or that Alexander and Caesar should be created again and should envy their own Actions Victories and Powers or at least grieve and repine they cannot do the like for if they were created again they might miss of the same Occasions Opportunities or Powers Birth or Fortunes for though the Body and Soul may be the same as also the Appetites and the Desires yet the outward concurrence may not be the same that was in the former Being for though the Concurrents as well as the Creature may be repeated yet perchance not repeated in one and the same Age or Time but if they should fall out to be repeated in one Age the same Actions would fall out to be as Caesar's or Alexander's were to conquer the World again as they did before and there would be the same Warr betwixt the Grecians and Trojans if the same Occasions were but Homer would not write the same Poems if they were on record for though it be an honour to conquer what was conquered although after the same manner yet it is no honour to Wit to write what was writ before upon the same Subject nor indeed upon any other Subject for both the Wit and the Subject must be new at least the Wit to gain as great and lasting Renown Then they asked her What Fire was She said That Fire was not only the quickest motion but it is a perpetual quick motion that hath no intermission by which it hath a strange power over every thing so that it hath a stronger power by the continuance than by the quickness The Third sort that visited her were Moral Philosophers The Moral Philosophers asked her If it were possible to alter or abate the Passions No said she you may pacifie or imprison them and enforce them to conceal themselves in the heart not only from outward appearance but from the very understanding in the head but never alter or change their natures to weaken their natural strength or abate their natural vigour for Passions said she are like the Sun they may be eclipsed or clouded but never can be alter'd and as the Sun saith she draws forth Vapour from the Earth so do the Imaginations draw forth Passions from the Heart and as a Bucket draws up Water from the bottom of a Well so do outward Objects draw up Passions from the Heart Then they asked What was the difference betwixt the Passions and the Appetites She said The Appetites were the Passions of the Body and the Passions the Appetites of the Mind and the Mind is as apt to surfeit of the one as the Body of the other Likewise saith she the Mind is as seldom pleased as the Body is seldom at ease being both restless and never satisfied for the height of sensitive Pleasure is the beginning of Pain and the height of Passion is the beginning of Desire and Desire hath no Period no Pleasure no Center Then they asked her What sort of Love was the perfectest She said That Love that descended for Love that descends is more solid than that which ascends and draws more towards perfection as being most contracted for that which ascends is airy and disperses soon like smoak but that which descends is like falling showers of Rain that join into a River or Sea of Love running with force to perfection This is the reason Parents love their Children better than Children can love their Parents This is the reason Nature loves her Creatures better than the Creatures can love Nature This is the reason The Gods love Mankind better and more perfectly than Mankind loves the Gods Thus the perfectest Love is from the Gods to Men for the greater the descent is the more force there is The like said she is Hate for that Hate which descends is more inveterate and malignant than that which ascends for we are easily perswaded to pardon the Injuries or Wrongs we receive from our Superiors but seldom are pacified without a high revenge for the Wrongs we have received from Inferiors I mean not only the Inferiors of Birth or Fortunes but Merit This is the reason Noah could not forgive his Son Cham for the disgrace which he received for no Hate is like to that of Dishonour This is the reason that Heaven hates Hell more than Hell can hate Heaven Then they asked her Why the Passions forced the Body to weep to sigh to groan to laugh to sing to complain to rail to curse to commend to extoll to implore to profess to protest to look pale to look red to shake to tremble to strike to embrace She said That the causes in the mind did work their Effects upon the Bodies as the Causes in Jove did work their Effects upon Nature Or in a lower Comparison said she the Mind is as the Sun and the Body like the Earth the Sun having several Faculties as the Mind several Passions it gives life and light strength and growth it comforts and warms it weakens corrupts withers and decays it burns and destroys it dilatates and contracts it doth digest and expel it sucks it draws and confirms so doth the Mind it gives the Light of Knowledg and the Life of Understanding it comforteth and warmeth by Invention it strengthens by Judicious Advice it encreases by Temperance it weakens withers and decayes by unsatiable Intemperance it drys and parches it by grief inflames it by anger burns it
Kings being jealous are apt to suspect the worst which made him observe with a stricter Eye setting Spies and Watches on all his Actions until he catcht him in the Trap of his Rebellion for speaking some dangerous and seditious words he was cast into Prison until further trial A day being appointed for his hearing a Council was called of all the Peers of the Land which were his Judges and the Witnesses being brought he was cast and condemned to dye Great Preparations were made against the Day of Execution Scaffolds were set up Windows were pulled down that People might behold him Guards were set at each corner of the Streets and the multitude did so throng that when this Noble-man passed along every Eye strove to out-stare each other and every Neck stretch'd to out reach his fore-standers head and every Ear listned to hear if he did speak and every Tongue moved with Enquiries every Mind was filled with expectation of the Event and every one as busie as a Judg to condemn him or a Hang man to execute him and those that profest most Friendship to him in his Prosperity were his greatest Enemies upbraiding him with the Name of Traytor though truly yet not seemly from former profest Friends But he with a slow pace and a sad countenance habited in Black went on until he came to the Scaffold Then turning his Face to the People he thus spake I do not wonder to see so great a Multitude gathered together to view the Death of a single Person although Death is common to every one and that there is as many several ways to dye as Eyes to look on yet Beasts do not gather in Troops to see the Execution of their Kind But I wonder Men should change their Opinion with the change of Fortune as if they did applaud her Inconstancy hating what she seemed to hate and loving what she seemed to love calling them Fools which she casts down and those Wise which she raises up although it be without Desert for had I been prosperous in my evil Intention I should have had as many Acclamations as now I have Accusations had been called Wise Valiant Generous Just and all the Names that Praise could honour me with and not only they would have called me so but have thought me to have been so But O odd Man how art thou made To have so much Ambition as to desire the Power of Gods and yet to be more foolish than Beasts and as ill-natur'd as Devils of Hell For Beasts follow the Laws of Nature but Men follow their own Laws which make them more miserable than Nature intended them to be Beasts do not destroy themselves nor make they Laws to entangle themselves in the Nets of long strong Suits but follow that which pleaseth them most Unless Men vex them they weary not themselves in unprofitable Labours nor vex their Brain with vain Phantasms they have no superstitious Fear nor vain Curiosity to seek after that which being found they are never the better nor strange Opinions to carry them from the Truth nor Rhetorick to perswade them out of the right way And when Beasts prey upon one anothe it is out of meer Hunger not to make Spoil Man who is so disorderly as that he strives to destroy Nature her self and if he could pull Jupiter out of Heaven But when we come near to be destroyed by Death then we have a seeming-Repentance and flatter the Gods to have pity on us And though my Nature is so bad as being of Mankind that I may dissemble so nicely as not to perceive it in my self yet I hope the Gods will have as much mercy on me as I think I am truly sorrowful for my Fault and then kneeling thus said O Jupiter how should weak and frail Men agree amongst themselves when there have been Quarrels in thy Heavenly Mansions envying thy glory and being ambitious of thy Power conspiring against thee And since Ambition hath been in Heaven pardon it on Earth for it was not against thee my Maker but against my Fellow-Creature O Jupiter check thy Vice-gerent Nature for making me of such an aspiring quality coveting to be the chiefest on Earth for she might have made me Humble and Lowly and not of so proud and haughty a Disposition for it was in her power to have made me in what temper she had pleased I do not expostulate this out of a Murmuring-discontent but to draw down thy pity for my unhappy Nature which in a manner enforced me thereunto But I submit as thou hast commanded me and am content to obey thy will and either to undergo Pulto's Punishments or to be annihilated But if thy Judgment may be diverted send me to the blessed Elyzium Then turning to the Block he was executed No sooner was his Head off but all his Acquaintants Friends and Kindred forgot him as the living usually do any the dye And although most rejoyce at the fall of those that are most Eminent as if the chiefest Ingredient of Man were Malice and Spight which produceth Cruelty yet when the Multitude saw all was done and that their greedy Appetite was satisfied with Blood then a lazy and sleepy Pity seized on them and with yawning wishes would have had him alive again But King Oberon and Queen Mabb after the Execution having given Order for his Quarters to be set up on the Gates of the City rid to their Palaces in State hoping they should have no more such Traiterous Subjects disturb their Peace Assaulted and Pursued Chastity PREAMBLE IN this following Tale or Discourse my endeavour was To shew young Women the danger of Travelling without their Parents Husbands or particular Friends to guard them for though Virtue is a good Guard yet it doth not always protect their Persons without other Assistance for though Virtue guards yet Youth and Beauty betrays and the Treachery of the one is more than the Safety of the other for Young Beautiful and Virtuous Women if they wander alone find but very often rude entertainment from the Masculine Sex witness Jacob's Daughter Dinah which Shechem forced and others whose Forcement is mentioned in holy Scripture and in Histories of less Authority sans nombre which shews that Heaven doth not always protect the Persons of Virtuous Souls from rude Violences neither doth it always leave Virtue destitute but sometimes sends a Human Help yet so as never but where Necessity was the Cause of their Dangers and not Ignorance Indiscretion or Curiosity for Heaven never helps but those that could not avoid the Danger nay if they do avoid the Danger they seldom avoid a Scandal for the World in many Cause judges according to what may be and not according to what is they judg not according to Truth but Shew nor by the Heart but by the Countenance which is the cause that many a Chast Woman hath a spotted Reputation But to conclude I say Those are in particular favoured by Heaven that are protected
from Violence and Scandal in a wandring-Wandring-life or a Travelling-condition IN the Kingdom of Riches after a long and sleepy Peace over-grown with Plenty and Ease Luxury broke out into Factious Sores and Feverish Ambition into a Plaguy Rebellion killing numbers with the Sword of Unjust Warr which made many flye from that Pestilent Destruction into other Countreys and those that stayed sent their Daughters and Wives from the Fury of the Inhuman Multitude chusing to venture their Lives with the hazzards of Travels rather than their Honours and Chastities by staying at home amongst rough and rude Soldiers But in ten years Warrs the Ignorant-Vulgar being often in the Schools of Experience whipt with Misery had learnt the Lesson of Obedience and Peace that laid all that time in a Swound was revived to life and Love the Vital Spirits thereof being restored to their orderly Motions and Zeal the Fire of the Publick Heart flaming a-new did concoct the undigested Multitudes to a pure good Government and all those that Fear or Care had banished were invited and called home by their natural Affections to their Countrey A Lady amongst the rest enricht by Nature with Virtue Wit and Beauty in her returning-voyage felt the spight of Fortune being cast by a storm from the place she steered to upon the Kingdom of Sensuality a Place and People strange unto her No sooner was she landed but Treachery beset her and those she entrusted left her Her years being but few had not gathered Experience enough to give her the best direction Thus knowing not how to dispose of her self wanting means for support and calling her young and tender Thoughts to counsel at last they did agree She should seek a service And going to the chief City which was not far from the Haven-Town with a Skipper whom she had entreated to go along with her he left her in a poor and mean house to Chance Time and Fortune where her Hostess seeing her handsome was tempted by her Poverty and Covetousness to consider her own Profit more than her Guest's Safety selling her to a Bawd which used to traffick to the Land of Youth for the Riches of Beauty This old Bawd having commerce with most Nations could speak many Languages and this Lady 's amongst the rest and what with her Languages and her flattering Words she inticed this young Lady to live with her and this old Bawd her supposed vertuous Mistress used her kindly fed her daintily clothed her finely insomuch as she began to think she was become the Darling of Fortune but yet she keeps her closely from the view of any until her best Customers came to the Town who were at that time in the Countrey In the mean time her Mistress began to read her Lectures of Nature telling her She should use her Beauty while she had it and not to waste her Youth idly but to make the best profit of both to purchase Pleasure and Delight besides said she Nature hath made nothing in vain but to some useful End and nothing meerly for its self but for a common Benefit and general Good as you see by the Earth Water Air and Fire Sun Moon Starrs Light Heat Cold and the like So is Beauty with Strength and Appetites either to delight her Creatures that are in being or to procure more by Procreation for Nature only lives by Survivers and that cannot be without Communication and Society Wherefore it is a sin against Nature to be reserved and coy and take heed said she of offending Nature for she is a great and powerful Goddess transforming all things out of one shape into another and those that serve her faithfully and according as she commands she puts them in an easie and delightful Form but those that displease her she makes them to be a trouble and torment to themselves wherefore serve Nature for she is the only and true Goddess and not those that men call upon as Jupiter Juno and a hundred more that living-men vainly offer unto being only Men and Women which were Deified for Invention and Heroick Actions for unto these dead though not forgotten Gods and Goddesses as they are called through a Superstitious Fear and an Idolatrous Love to Ceremony and an Ignorant Zeal to Antiquity Men fruitlesly pray But Nature is the only true Goddess and no other wherefore follow her Directions and you shall never do amiss for we that are old said she are Nature's Priests and being long acquainted with her Laws and Customs do teach Youth the best ways to serve her in The young Lady being of a quick apprehension began to suspect some Design and Treachery against her and though her Doubts begot great Fears yet her confidence of the Gods protection of Virtue gave her Courage and dissembling her discovery as well as she could for the present gave her thanks for her Counsel But when she was gone considering in what a dangerous condition she stood and that the Gods would not hear her if she lazily called for help and watch'd for Miracles neglecting Natural Means whereupon she thought the best way was secretly to convey her self out of that place and trust her self again to Chance by reason there could not be more danger than where she was But those thoughts being quickly cut off because she could find no possibility of an escape being strictly kept by the care of the old Bawd for fear she should give away that by enticement which she meant to sell at a high rate Wherefore she was forced to content her self and to satisfie her Fears with hopes of finding some means to be delivered from those dangers praying to the Gods for their assistance to guard her from cruel Invaders of Chastity But after two or three days a Subject Prince of that Countrey which was a grand Monopolizer of young Virgins came to the Town which was the Metropolitan City of that Countrey where as soon as he came he sent for his chief Officer the old Bawd to know of her how his Customers encreased who told him she had a rich Prize which she had seized on and kept only for his use telling him She was the rarest Piece of Nature's Works only faith she she wants mature confidence but Time and heat of Affection would ripen her to the height of Boldness So home she went to prepare for his coming adorning her House with costly Furniture setting up a rich Bed as an Altar to Venus burning pleasant and sweet Perfumes as Incense to her Deity before the Sacrifice of Chastity Youth and Beauty and instead of Garlands dress'd her with costly and rich Jewels But the fair Aspect of her Beauty her lovely Features exact Proportion graceful Behaviour with a sweet and modest Countenance was more adorned thus by Nature's dress than those of Art But these Preparations turned Miseriae for so she was called from Doubts to a perfect belief of what she feared before and not knowing how to avoid the Shipwrack she grew