a yong Prince to be a Gallant and an amorous Atchievment gains as much reputation sometimes as the bloodiest Victory But with the Women it is not so a Lady cannot advance one step but she charges her self with the whole Intrigue and a repulse which would be nothing in a Lady to her Servant becomes an unpardonable indignity in a Servant to his Mistress The high-spirited Empress seeing her self rejected by a person she had obliged by so many favours conceived so great a displeasure that she could not conceal it She threatned him with all the mischiefs an inraged Empress could bring upon him and departing with a gesture importing fury and indignation she left him to take his choice whether he would prevent her revenge or feel the effects of it On the other side the Emperour perceiving his passion as tedious to the Dutchess instead of having gained any advantage he left her and that as ill satisfied as the Empress with the Duke They both of them walkt some time up and down to dispel the trouble their disappointments had brought them both of them perceived the Duke and Dutchess come forth of the Arbors where they had left them and enter together into another where they suspected they retired to give an account to one another what had past This Arbor was one of those that were double one might slip by betwixt the Pillars without being seen of those who were either within or without An unluckly concurrence of Curiosity excited these two Lovers to hide themselves behind the Curtain and though Otho knew nothing of the Empresses Intrigues and the Empress had but a slight suspicion of Otho's their passions carried them as it were by consent to two several places from whence without perceiving one another or being perceived by any one else they might hear all that was spoken The discourse was very terrible for all four The Dake and the Duthchess understanding the danger in which the pertinacity of their Persecutors as they called them had placed them exprest their apprehensions in such terms as confounded the two Evesdroppers with jealousie but when from simple Narratives they proceeded to imprecations what Satyr what Invective was it which the Duke bestowed not on the Empress He called her by the worst names he could invent the Dutchess making up the Consort by the same Elogies upon the Emperour They spoke with full liberty for being ignorant of the fashion in which that Arbour was made they believed they were to fear no body they did not see besides the Emperour and Empress being gone in a huff they did not expect that either of them should return In the mean time the two persons of whom they discoursed so liberally heard every word and I leave it to the Reader to judge how much they were surprized to understand such tidings of their affairs The Emperour had no kindness for the Empress and the Empress had too much for the Duke of Modena to care much for him But Honour and Jealousie in their hearts performed the functions of Love Otho could not hear the ill designs of Mary without passion and resentment and Mary was as impatient that the Dutchess should triumph over all the hearts she had interest in She thrust her self furiously out of the place she was hidden and perhaps in the first motion of her transport might have run into some actions less suitable to her Sex than her despair But the Emperour coming out upon the same design at the same time they met and were so surprized at the sight of one another they had no power either to move or to speak The Duke and the Dutchess came out also in the nick and perceiving them in a place where they believed they had heard all they had said the sour Lovers represented such a Scene of silence as is more easie to imagine than express The Emperour cast about his furious eyes sometimes upon the Empress sometimes upon the Duke and sometimes upon the Dutchess The Empress divided betwixt choler and shame changed her colour according to the variety of her thoughts and the two innocent Causes of all this distraction apprehending nothing for themselves but each for the other by the motion of their eyes seemed to say they were ready to become Victims to their Destiny rather than to fail in the least just duty of their Loves Persons of their Character and Quality do seldom evaporate into unprofitable words and in these kind of occurrences silence is more serviceable than Rhetorick The Emperour withdrew without any other intimation of resentment than by his looks and the Empress following in great fury and confusion all the Court did the same The Feast was interrupted in this manner and very few knew the reason Every one guest as his own fancy suggested but scarce three of the whole Company could hit of the right Whether the rage was greater in the Emperour or Empress is not easily decided Some are of opinion that their Love commencing at the same time exprest at the same time and now discovered by the same accident to one another their Revenge kept the same consort But whether it was Otho who had a desire to rid himself of a person who triumpht over him in the heart of his Empress or Mary who had a mind to be revenged for the contempt of her kindness and so prevent the reproaches of the Emperour by taking away the object so it was the Duke was found murdered the night after the Feast The Instruments of the Murder set upon him like Thieves and demanded his Purse but they quickly made it evident it was his life not his money they sought for for having given him three mortal wounds they left him expiring upon the ground without taking his purse which they demanded or his Jewels which he had in plenty about him It is not necessary to insert how the fair Widow resented so foul an action I should have exprest the affection she had for her Husband but weakly if the Reader could not imagine the extream sorrow she conceived for his death She doubted not but it was contrived by the Emperour or the Empress and lest she should mistake in the object of her Revenge she resolved to sacrifice them both I shall not mention the means she used to accomplish it such Tragical Catastrophes do not accommodate with Annals of Love and I shall refer the Reader to the Chronological History to inform himself how the Dutchess having revenged her self upon the Empress by the resentment of the Emperour made use of the Empresses Creatures to sacrifice the Emperour to her Ghost But some will say why this insatiable fury why doth it not stop in the middle of its Career The Empress death was but just and it was no more than the Dutchess was obliged to she accused her of the Murder of her Husband and if she was not the only Instrument of his death she was the moving Cause for had she not loved the
Duke Otho had not been bound in honour to have made him away The Emperour ought not to be comprehended in the Revenge he might be innocent for ought she knew and if he were guilty he might have married her and ransomed his life I must confess this objection is not altogether impertinent But in affairs of Love all men persue Their proper fancies and the man whose Fate Directs him to a means legitimate Is just and happy though his way be new For when the heart 's indued with Grace and fear Of Heaven what e're it does what e're it will Is but a Sacrifice to Honour still Yet sometimes when no sense of that appears Vice eggs them on as furiously to kill As all thy Vertue in the World were there The Dutchess of Modena was necessitated by her Stars and her Revenge justified by her Conjugal Love and perhaps she would have done as much for her Servant had she had one for minds as tender and as constant as hers are capable of great Enterprises but marching under the Standard of Duty that which at another time had been furious and criminal was at this an Example of Vertue But let us leave her in the injoyment of a passion whose violence was a vertue and proceed to an Accident of no such Constancy and Resolution THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE SECOND PART THE Chronology of History not according exactly with the Chronology of Love there are some years in which no amorous Intrigues are to be found and there are others in which all the considerable Accidents are Love My Annals containing only matters of Courtship I cannot be strict in the observation of Times but shall presume upon occasion to put the passages of the same Age into the Amours of the same year and so skip from one Age to another in my Description of Years I shall begin therefore this third Annal by the Reign of a Prince who lived about a hundred years after the Emperour I mentioned before Castile being a Country too flourishing to continue long under the denomination of a County Don Garcias Fernandez of whom we spake in the beginning of our Annals was the last of its Counts It took the Title of a Kingdom under Sanchyle Grand next Successor to Garcias Fernandez and having past in that way to the time of Sanchy III. it devolved by his death to his Brother Alphonso King of Leon who was from that time called King of Castile At the beginning of his Reign this Prince was perplext with several Wars the Mores and the Sarracens infested him so that he was forced to implore the aid of the King of Fance against those Enemies of Christianity Many Knights and Reformades repaired to him from all parts But the French as the more Martial were most kindly received Raymond the Son of William Duke of Burgundy Raymond Earl of Toulouse and Henry Lorraine Son to William Earl of Boulogne Brother to Godfrey of Boulogne performed such eminent Exploits that Alphonso believed he could do nothing more for the advantage and security of his Crown than to continue those three Captains in the Command of his Armies He had three Daughters two of them natural and the other legitimate The eldest called Vrraca he married to Raymond of Burgundy and gave him in Dowry the Principality of Galicia Theresia the eldest of the two naturals married Henry of Lorraine and had for her share the Conquests in Portugal and the youngest Elvira much handsomer and better beloved by her Father than either of the other was married to Raymond of Tholouse with secret ingagement from Alphonso to assure to him the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon after his death And thus I have given you the Commencement of this year not so eminent for Love as it promised in appearance These six persons had almost no sooner seen one another but they were married and no soouer married but they differed so that this place would be more proper for an Historical Abridgment than the Introduction of an amorous Intrigue But bold determine not Loves ways are strange He had his private and peculiar Laws Nothing is so remote but he can change And bend it to the Model of his Cause He makes the Lady fair the Statesmen great Though one be old the other near so mean And when he please can both of them defeat And throw them down to their old state again When he 's dispos'd to sport himself the man 'S unhappy let him be as happy as he can Elvira was so obsequious to her Father and he so transcendently kind to her that Vrraca being his only legitimate Child and by consequence had best right to that preference began much to resent it She had private advertisement every day that Alphonso designed the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile for his Daughter Elvira and judging it necessary that either the Prince her Husband or her self should be constantly about his Majesty to have the better eye upon his actions they consulted together to resolve which of the two was most proper for the Journey and it fell to Prince Raymond Never did French man of his Age and Spirit and married for interest as he was refuse any opportunity of travelling Vrraca in the mean time continued in Galicia to govern that new Territory in the absence of her Husband and the Prince set forth for the Court of Castile The pretence of his Journey being a concern for the Kings health it is easie to imagine he was not unwelcome at his Arrival There was no noise but of Entertainments and Balls Raymonds business there was not to complain he came thither to discry and make advantage of his observation The young Elvira was much pleased with Divertisements and indeed at her age who is it that hates them She was extreamly delighted with those her Brother-on-law gave her and she wanted neither Civility to invite nor kindness to press him to stay at that Court as long as he could And to speak the truth she had no hard task to perswade him to stay This Countess was one of the greatest Beauties in the World Raymond had always thought her much handsomer than his Wife And though Elvira had scarce seen the Prince before he was married yet she also esteemed him more compleat than the person she married But Persons of their Rank are the least guided by their own inclinations The advantages Raymond purposed by his Marriage with Vrraca made him prefer her to Elvira and Alphonso's Election happened upon the Count de Tholouse for his youngest Marriages in this nature do seldom suffer the Husbands to consider the vertue of their Wives Hence it was the Prince of Galicia found his Sister-in-law as charming under the Title Countess of Tholouse as he had judged her when she was but Elvira of Castile Behold them therefore in perfect intelligence the Countess took singular satisfaction in the Company of the Prince and the Prince was as much pleased with the Commands of te
apparition of his Love was in little confidences only as in discovering to her his thoughts and Characters of the great Lords in his Court. From these trifles he past higher and at length told her the secret of his Marriage and that he was Eleonor Husband only by name Bidaura was exceedingly surprised at a discourse so little understood She lookt earnestly upon the King as if by so doing she could discover the truth of what he said in his eyes and not perceiving any thing in his person but what seemed to accuse him of equivocating she ventured to tell him That he had bin abused and that what they had perswaded him was nothing but a Chimaera Alas replied the young King very sadly this Chimaera is too real for my repose one of the most famous Physicians of our Kingdom hath sworn it and Eleonor her self confirms me that it is true What advantage would it be to her to put such a fallacy upon me she would rather convince me if it were otherwise Bidaura ruminating upon what the King had told her desired to know the Physicians name who had perswaded him of that impotency and understanding it was a Castilian who she knew was entirely at the Queens disposal she stood still for some time as recollecting her memory when starting out on a sudden and clapping her hands together Courage Sir said she to the King you shall be cured very suddenly now the cause of your distemper is known After which words she fell into a discourse of the intimacy betwixt Eleonor and the Castillian Lord That all Castile believed they had been privately married and recollecting that the Physician which upon the Queens perswasion had put that Errour into the head of the King had all his life long been a Creature of Eleonors Gallant she represented to his Majesty how probably it was that this might be a design to preserve the Queen of Arragon to her secret Husband The King was much satisfied at the likelihood of what Bidaura had said and he would have given half his Kingdom to have been cured so well He went imme drately to Eleonor and charging her positively with what Bidaura but suspected supposing he had made some further discovery she confest is without much ado But it was with such strong protestations that she could use him no otherwise without violence to all Law both humane and divine and with such instant supplication that he would protect her against the indignation of her Nephew That the young Prince was so far from reproaching her for abusing his Credulity and small Experience that he commended her fidelity to her first Love and promised her protection In the mean time Bidaura began to add Ambition to her Love at first she aspired only to be his Mistress but finding the Queenship of Arragon vacant she fancied it might fall to her share to supply it She drest and made her self as lovely as possible she redoubled her diligence and Complacences and having brought the King to a Condition of making tryal of his recovery she knew so well how to keep her self within the bounds of Civility she put him upon the first motions of Matrimony The Marriage of Eleonor and the King was not quite nulled The truth is it had never been consummated and the Counsel of Arragon had sent to Castile and to Rome to press an absolute dissolution but Affairs betwixt Kings and Queens are not so easily dispatcht The passion of Eleonor for her Paramour might decline by degrees if ambition or solid reason should take the place of her Love it would have been more casie to break her pretended Marriage with her Castillian Lord than her publick Contract with the King of Arragon We may say then that Eleonor was the Wife of James till further Order from his Holiness But the King prest by Bidaura's Charms could not with patience believe those Formalities were to be prefer'd before the desires of his heart He married Bidaura privately and this Marriage being as blameable as it was unequal he made it in his Conditions that she should not discover it This Proposition was not at all pleasing to Theresia and she did what she could possibly to divert him but finding the King obstinate and inexorable she thought it good to be a Queen upon what terms soever it might be And these were some of the Articles agreed on betwixt themselves which perhaps may be of some use to the Reader if he be in the same predicament The Private Articles of their Marriage We who subscribe these Articles design As our Love is our Marriage Clandestine Next the word duty shall be laid aside No Sover aignty in Bridegroom or in Bride In case of difference both shall comply And neither be too humble nor too high If Husband sins the Woman must connive If she the man dispenses with the Wife All must be one one Love one lofe one joy And what does one must both of us destroy These Terms we marry on but reasons bid Conceal the Marriage and let it be hid With this severe condition ' cause good Wives Love tattling gen'rally as they love their lives If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss These Articles were observed very religiously by the King His private Marriage was every was as pleasant as his private Amours and pleasanter in this that there was no occasion for remorse and though his Marriage with Eleonor was solemnly dissolved and she left to be his Wife to whom she had been formerly ingaged yet Theresia de Bedaura could never obtain liberty of the King to appear publickly upon the Throne she had this satisfaction that it was not possest by another and she brought Children into the World who stood fair one day to govern the Kingdom of Arragon but for all this she could never work upon the Kings resolution He had been so much dissatisfied with his publick Marriage before that he could not be won to renounce the pleasure of his private Bidaura she had got the Ministers to her side and all the Religious in the Kingdom were her Sollicitors but the King answered them all with this Article If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss But we do ill to imploy so much leisure upon so barren a Story Our Chronology leads us insensibly to a far better History and it is time now to bring Love upon the Stage in better form than as yet it hath appeared THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE THIRD PART IT is the Universal Confession of the whole World that Constraint creates an appetite of Liberty we desire nothing so ardently as what is prohibited and yet some Husbands there are which cannot be cured of restraining their Wives The Italians be the Husbands in the World the most lyable to this kind of madness and are by consequence most subject to the ill Accidents which follow They tell stories of their revenge upon their
persecution to force him to a relinquishment of her that she had urged to him her Marriage with the Duke of Parma and prest him very hard to a reprisal but that understanding a while after she was a Widow he had escapt out of Prison and was come to throw that Prince at her feet who had not only loved her always himself but flattered himself with the thoughts of being beloved by her The Dutchess demanded if he loved her so well why he never writ to her I writ several times Madam replied he but Xerina without doubt who expected that from my ruine which she could not hope from my restablishment took such Orders to intercept them as never any of them could come to your hand My Captivity was very severe I was treated like one that was beloved but could get no liberty to free my self from the trouble of that Character The Dutchess of Parma overjoy'd with the relation of a Constancy so well represented made as many excuses as Congies to her mistaken Cousin She appointed him an Appartment according to his supposed Quality assigned him a suitable Equipage and furnisht him with grave men to send as his Deputies to the Estates of Portugal That Deputation caused a strange surprise as may be imagined They selected six out of their Assembly some of which had been Ministers to Don Sebastian and sent them into Italy to survey their dear Monarch their Eyes perswaded them it was he but not daring to relye wholly upon them they askt him certain questions they would have sworn none but the right Don Sebastian could have answered But he was throughly instructed by Xerina Love had transported the soul of the King of Portugal into that of the Princess of Morocco and by an effect of the same Love the soul of Xerina was transmigrated into the false Sebastian The Ambassadors convinced that no man living could have resolved those questions but the true Sebastian made their Report to the Estates he was undoubtedly their King The Competitors accused them of Treachery protested they were corrupt and demanded that Don Sebastian might appear in person at the Assembly of the States General to be formally interrogated before them Such as were affected to the memory of Don Sebastian could not be perswaded it could be done with security to him the Assembly was divided such as were for the King were called Royalists such as were for the Princes were called the League During which disorders he that was the cause of them had his Residence at Parma attending till there should be an Army raised to vindicate his interest at the Head of which he resolved to demand Restauration He ought his life to Xerina he was loved entirely by her and had loved her as well But the Princess of Parma ingaged the Princes of Italy in his quarrel and when the design of being King interposes in an Intrigue reason of State rules the roast and leaves all others in the lurch He sacrificed his gratitude to his ambition without any remorse and imploying those Lessons of kindness he had received from Xerina against her self he made them the foundations of that Complacence and artifice to which the heart of the Dutchess was forced to submit She loved him for his person much more for his quality she began to be jealous without knowing any reasonable grounds for her jealousie such passions as hers are seldom without great curiosity One evening when her counterfeit Sebastian was leading her by the side of a Canal which is one of the greatest Ornaments to the Palace of Farnese she spied a Ribband hanging out of his Pocket which she judged might be one of those Letter-cases called in Italy Cartero's she stole it out gently and having conveyed it into her own Pocket without being perceived she began to be impatient to be peeping She could not have had any thing more proper to have justified her secret suspicions than that It was a parcel of Xerinas Letters and Verses which the false Sebastian had found that morning in a little Cabinet he brought with him out of Africk and had put them in his Pocket with resolution to have burnt them but he was interrupted by the coming in of the Dutchess and this Walk having followed immediately upon the Visit he was forced to keep them in his Pocket till the curious Dutchess thought good to remove them She read two or three Notes at first which seemed to be nothing but assurances of the Sacrifice her Monarch pretended to have made to her of the affections of Xerina That Princess had complained of the unconstancy of his Love and reproacht him by his infidelity But she not having had always reason to complain there were Letters of his recriminating upon her They were all writ in Portuguese but one among the rest was sealed up which the tender Xerina had sent to her Ingrate some few days before his departure from Hoscore and contained a Paper of Verses upon their late difference so sensible and kind I could not but insert them Is it decreed then and pronounc'd above We must have no return no mutual Love Can't our old inclination and converse Which seems ought to make our absence long and fierce And seems t' assure me of your heart can't they Contribute and remove those blocks away My wrath ne're went so far I never meant When my rash tougue to your voyage did consent You should have t a'ne th' advantage e'en when I Felt my poor heart give my false tongue the lye In vain I seek thee now in places where So oft in Love to me thou didst appear In vain I seek thee where thou never wert Since th' day thou overcam'st my pride and heart No place escapes me but I think on you No place occurs but I expect you too Where-e're I come on whatsoe're I see I leave methinks sweet images of thee Which at my next return required they To my poor fancy as faithfully repay Each dream each sudden noise each thought in vain Seems to return my Love my King again I run where hope conducts deluded and Whate're I see I call Sebastian Come come cry I indulge my sweet desires Come where my Love come where my faith requires Rouse up thy dying flames try with what Art Pretended wrath new ardour can impart Wrath not allow'd in Lovers breasts to burn But to endear and sweeten their return Shall these complaints shall these requests which were But errours fruits vanish in idle air No without doubt Love will convey them so They 'l have access and influence on you Methinks I feel th' agreement of our souls And your kind Love your negligence controuls Methinks you'r weary too of our debate Let Love alone how to accommodate He 'l rectifie our quarrels let you see A thousand new complacencies in me Mine eyes I fancy will appear more bright Than when they first discover'd my delight And to consummate all you 'l love me too As well and long dear