into the same dust with that of her former Lover of whose singular Worth Fame hath diffused so honourable a report And having thus hastily delivered to her the Cause of his desperate Resolution he begins again to free his hands of the encumbrance of hers that he may speedily effect it But good and tender hearted Creature her Affection was too great to suffer her to yield to any thing conducing to his death and the more he strives to disingage her breast from his the closer she clings to him vowing withal That if he wounded himself it should be by forcing the sword first through her body â—o which she added that she would not live to be so miserable as to lose so dear a person so soon and in the same plâ—ce where she had been so happy to find him unexpectedly that very Gratitude forbad her to consent to the taking away his life who had lately and miraculously preseâ—ved hers and as she had some reason to believe infused a new life into her that it would be less affliction to her to die before him than to survive and behold at once the dead bodies of Two persons each of which she had loved infinitely above her own life and that the death he so much dreaded from from the Hangman was not so unavoidable as his Fears had made him imagine but there were other ways of evasion besides self-murder and would he but follow her advice she doubted not to put him upon such a course as should procure both his own security and her content The Soldier more effectually wrought upon by this last clause than by all else she had said and remembring the old saying that Womâ—n are always more subtle and ingenious at Evasions in sâ—ddain Exigences than men he easily promiseth as who would not in his case to listen to her Counsel and pursue it also if it appeared reasonable Well then saith this Good-Woman since the body of the best and greatest of mortals is but a lump of Clay after the departure of the soul which gave it life sense and motion that all Relations are extinguished in Death all Piety is determined in the Grave and that it is but Charity to use the reliques of the Dead in case of necessity to preserve the Living why should not I dispense with the Formality of posthume Respects to the putrifying Corps of my deceased Husband and make use of it for the preservation of my living Friend with whose life my own is inseparably bound up and whose danger therefore is equally mine Come therefore my Dear and let us take my Husbands body out of his Coffin and place it upon the Gibbet in the room of the Malefactor which you say hath been stoln away Death you know doth so change disfigure the Countenance as to disguise it from the knowledge of even the most famâ—liar Acquaintance Who then can distinguish this his naked body fâ—om the other Besides we will besmear his face with blood and dirt and rather than fail in any part of resemblance break his Arms and Lâ—gs and make the same wounds in him the Executioner did in the Rogue 's so that his neerest Relations shâ—ll not be able to find a difference much less shall strangers who come to gaze upon such horrid spectacles out of a savage Curiosity and commonly stand aloof off Here I cannot but cry out with Father Chaucer in his Bâ—llad of the praise of Women Lo what gentillesse these women have If we could knowe it for our rudeness How busie thei be us to keepe and save Both in heale and also in sickness And alwaie right sorie for our distress In every maner thus she we thei routh Tthat in hem is all goodness and trouth For of all creatures that ever were get and born This wote ye well a woman was the best By her was recovered the bliss that we had lorne And through the woman we shall come to rest And been â—saved if that our self lest Wherefore me thinketh if that we had grace We oughten honour women in every place The Souldier quickly approves the Woman's project how to excuse him and having no time for now day was approaching to insist upon acknowledgement either of her great Love or of the felicity of her Wit he joyns his strength with hers and removes the Husband's Corps out of the Vault to the Gibbet whereon he placeth it in the same posture he had left the villains omitting no part of those resemblances she had suggested as requisite to delude the spectators Which done He and his incomparable Mistress secretly retire to his obscure lodging there to consult further not only of their present safety but also how they might continue that mutual happiness which Fortune had so unexpectedly begun betwixt them And while they are there deliberating give me leave to deliver my self of a certain Conceipt I have in my head which is that the witty invention this Matron lighted upon on the suddain and in desperate extremity was that which gave the first occasion to this Proverb A Womans wit is always best at a dead lift FINIS THE Cimmerian MATRON To which is added THE MYSTERIES And MIRACLES OF LOVE By P. M. Gent. Qui cavet ne decipiatur vix cavet etiam cum cavet Etiam cum cavisse ratus est is cautor captus est Plautus In the SAVOY Printed for Henry Herringman at the Sign of the Anchor in the Lower-walk of the New-Exchange 1668. TO THE AUTHOR OF THE Ephesian Matron My dearest Friend YOu can be I perceive both highly obliging and no less severe to one and the same Person in one and the same act When you were pleas'd last Summer to send me your EPHESIAN MATRON with strict Command that I should entertain her as jealous Italians do their Mistresses mew her up in my Cabinet from sight of the whole world You sent a Present I acknowledge than which nothing could have been more gratefull but you conjoyn'd therewith a Râ—striction than which none could have been more rigorous You gave me good Wine and then gelt it with Water as the Spanish saying is of such who destroy their own benefits Like an imperious Lord you would have had the Lady my Tenent at your will and after you had made me a free Grant you inserted a Proviso to render it void In a word your Injunction to me to restrain her from the conversation of all others was not only tyrannical and inhumane in it self for as our great Moralist and beloved Author Chaucer in the Wise of Bath's Prologue He is to great a Diggarde that will werne A man to light a candle at his Lanterne but also inconsistent with both the goodness of her nature and the freedome of my enjoying the pleasures thereof For First the love of Liberty is no less natural to the soft and delicate Sex than to our harder and martial one nor doth our Magna Charta contain more Priviledges and Franchises than theirs
be denyed but that Fitness is the only Motive to the Appetite nor that the Desire arising upon the Knowledge of that Fitness is the Love and the only Love that can be betwixt Male and Female as Male and Female Of Love determined BUt beside this General Love of a different sex which is no more but the Appetite of Procreation Indefinite there is yet another Love in which the same Appetite though respecting diversity of sex is yet determined to some one particular Person and such as are in this Passion are properly said to be in Love Now the Question doth concern not the General Love betwixt Male and Female but this Particular or Determined Love since this seems to be that which Ladys mean when they distinguish Love from Lust. Concerning this Personal Love therefore I say that forasmuch as it cannot be without diveâ—sity of Sex and tendeth as violently if not more to the same end as the general or indefinite Love doth viz. to the Act of Procreation and in both those respects doth participate of that sensual pleasure which accompanieth the indifferent Love it follows that Love of the Sex and Love of some one person of that Sex make but one and the same affection or Passion in Nature Nor is there indeed any other cause that makes this Love quit its indifferency to all of that divers Sex and fix only upon some one single peâ—son but only this that the perâ—on Loving or rather in Love apprehending that the Marks or Signs of the power Generative are more conspicuous in the person loved than in any other of that Sex thereupon imagineth that the Fruition of that peâ—son that is the doing that Act whiâ—â— is necessary to continuation of the kind with that person will better conduce to the satisfaction of the Appetite to Geneâ—ation than the doing of it with any other So that this Opinion or Imagination in the person loving is the cause why the person loved is courted and puâ—sued with that violence of desire which always agitateth and disquieteth those that are in Love And hence it comes that comely and proper men as they call them such as are of good complexions and well proportioned bodies are generally in great reputation with Women and fâ—ir and Beautiful Women in as high esteem and honour with Men. For it being a certain rule in Nature tâ—at all inward poweâ—s are more or less peâ—fect according â—o the more or less exact temperament and structure of the parts of the body upon which they depend and that the exact shape and constitution of the body and all its parts are marks of the perfection of the same poweâ—s where the senses discover the Marks in a more eminent measure there the soul concludeth to find the Powers themselves also in as eminent a degree and thereupon loves and pursues with proportionate ardency the person in whom they appear to be For particular instance Comliness and Strength of body in a Man being signs of the goodness of the power Generative Women no sooner perceive those signs but well understanding what they signifie they cannot chuse but have a greater liking esteem and inclination for such men in whom they appear than for others in whom they do not appear at least so conspicuously On the other side sweetness of complexon justness of stature and all that is comprized in the word Beauty being the Character which Nature hath imprinted upon a Woman by which we may judge of the Goodness of the passive power in Generation in such a Woman no sooner is this Character discerned by the eyes of men but they instantly know what it imports and thereupon honour and love those Women in whom that Mark is seen more than others in whom it doth not shew it self in so full a measure To confirm the Truâ—h of this besides the Natural Reasons here alledged we have also the suffrage of Experience For what woman was ever in love with an Eunuch though otheâ—wise exceedingly handsome Nay what Woman is there that doth not secretly despise any man of whose insufficiency whether Native or by Misfortune in the power of Generation she hath had any the least notice on the otherside what Man hath ever continued his passion for a Woman after he hath been once convinced of her impotency to club with him in the Act of procreation though she were in all other things the most beautiful of her Sex Which considered I confess I find my self a little inclined to suspect that few wives who have no Children by their Husbands love them half so well as they pretend and that as few Husbands abstain from breach of wedlock who have reason to complain of the Barrenness of their Wives For though Discretion may make them secret and â—lose in their amorous stealths yet without the restraint of great virtue desire of Issue and experiment of their Abilities will go neer to make them affect change Now after all this I hope it will be no longer a Paradox that the indefinite desire of different Sex which is geneâ—â—lly called Lust and desire of some one particular person of that different Sex which is generally called Love are one and the same Appetite to the Act of Procreation Nevertheless that I may not seem either ignorant of what hath given occasion to men to imagine a real difference betwixt them or willing to innovate a vulgar phrase by which they express their different sentiments I shall not omit to observe that when we Condemn this Appetite we give it the disparageing name of Lust and when we Approve it we cloath it in the neater word Love so that Lust and Love nevertheless are no more but divers Terms by which we express the divers Conceptions we have of one and the same Passion Nor will it be a whit to my disadvantage if I add also that the desire of different Sex in general is not accompanied with that Delight of the Mind as the Determined or personal Love is since in the Former men seek only to please themselves whereas in thâ— Latter they seek to please the Woman whom they love as much as if not more than themselves and by how much more they find themselves able to please their Mistresses by so much the more are they Delighted themselves For this Delight is not sensual as being that Pleasure or joy of the Mind which consisteth in the opinion we have of our own Power or Ability to please another especially the Person whom we love and therefore an effect rather of Charity which is a Desire to assist another in obtaining what he wanteth or is pleased with when he hath it than of this Love betwixt Male and Female of which I now discourse and so hinders not Love and Lust to be still one and the same thing as I have pâ—oved it to be Of Platonick Love IT remains only that we briefly examine the Purity of that Love which such profess who distinguish themselves from the herd of
should dare to entertain a thought so much conducing to their disparagement On the other side the causes of suspicion are strong and manifest for if it be true as certainly it is that Nature not contented only to have given Man a tongue wherewith to express his thoughts hath also imprinted on hiâ— countenance the images of his most secret passions and intentions and that upon this ground Philosophers have built that most excellent of all Arts the Art of Knowing-Man the principal part of civil prudence which teacheth how to dive into the most secret recesses and hidden conceptions of the mind only by observing the Figures and Characters that her inward motions draw upon the forehead eyes and other parts of the face I say if this be true we have good reason to suspect that our Matron hath newly felt the power of Love's inevitable Dart and she now buâ—ns as extreamly in the flâ—mes of amorous desires of the Soldier as she was lately fâ—ozen in the ice of soâ—â—ow for her Husband Her looks and gestures betray her and all the Airs of high Content and Pleasuâ—e appearing in her face will no longer permit me to doubt but she hath lately tasted and more then tasted of that delight which Lovers are sensible of in the act of Fruition and which being it self a kind of Extasy cannot be described so as to be understood by any but such as feel it nor those but when they feel it Nor need you longer remain in â—uspence for behold she now throws her self into the Soldiers Arms she embraceth him she kisseth him and with that violence that greediness as if she were unsatisfied with the bare touches of his lips and longed to leave the impression of hers upon them Nay she takes no care to shut them as if that negligent posture were more natural to the freedom of her kindness or as if she were in more readiness to receive that soul she would have him breath into her Nor doth any thing make her take off her mouth from his but the impatience to have her eyes so long empty of the images of his form and when she hath feasted that sense with giving and receiving some fixt amorous looks for now they are no longer oblique glances she instantly returns again to her banquet of kisses as if the pleasures of her Eye though high and ravishing among mutual Lovers were yet inferior to those of the Touch or as if the pleasures which each of these excellent senses doth affect the soul with in such cases were so great and violent as that she is not capable of being intent upon both at once but is forced to apply her self one while to one alone another while to another lest being distracted betwixt them she might lose any whit of what her passion tells her is requisite to consummate the fruition she aims at In a word for we are fallen upon a Subject whose nature is not to admit of much discourse there is nothing of liberty nothing of dalliance nothing of caresses and indearment which this sportful Lady doth not use both to make her self grateful and charming to her new Gallant and to enkindle fresh ardors in him So that if what we see be not Venus her self sporting with her beloved Mars yet doubtless it is one of her own daughters in the heighth of solace with one of his sons But here Modesty commands us to turn our backs upon this pleasant couple for I perceive he hath not yet exhausted all his Amunition and that grown more sensible of the Magique of her wanton incitements he is arming himself for a second encounter and stands ready to do that Acâ— which though the most pleasant and entrancing of all others cannot yet be with good manners named much less lookt upon in the doing by strangers And you as well as my self know how implacably angry the Cyprian goddess useth to be with such immodest curiosities as darâ— to prye into the Mysteries of her sacrifices which she hath therefore commanded to be offered in the dark and only by Couples Let us therefore seasonably avert our yet innocent Eyes and leave these her new Votaries quietly to finish those Cytherean Rites they are going about especially since their Zeal is so servent as not to scruple at the nicety of making the Dead Husband's Coffin the Altar whereon to kindle and exhale the incense they have brought And while they are busie at their silent devotions let us have recourse to the Oracle of Reason and there consult about the powerful Cause of this great and admirable Change in our Matron who you see is no longer either Mourner or Widow ¶ To charge this suddain and prodigious Metamorphosis upon the inherent Mutability and Levity of Womans Nature though it may have somewhat of Philosophy in it yet cannot have much of wisdom as importing more Reason than Safety For albeit it be well known that the softness and tenderness of their Constitution is such as renders them like wax capable of any impressions and especially such as correspond with those their inclinations that Nature hath implanted in them as goads to drive them on toward that principal End for which it hath made them yet who is so rashly prodigal of his life as to incense that Revengeful sex by calling in question that Constancy in affection which every Woman so much boasteth of and is ready to defend even with her blood and whereof every day produceth so many notable Examples For my part truly notwithstanding I was never so happy as to be much in the Favour of Ladies yet will not the honour I bear them permit me willingly to incurre their displeasure especially by asserting so scandalous an Heresie nor will I omit any opportunity to demonstrate that the services I desire to do them are such as hold exact proportion with the strongest of their Inclinations and the highest of their Perfections There is not an Attribute their Excellencies challenge even in their own opinion which all allow to be favourable enough but I am ready to give it them nor can I doubt the verity and weight of any thing they say but admire and believe them as Oracles My Ears cannot so soon drink in their promises as my Faith swallows them down for Sacrâ—mental and inviolable obligations If I hear any Lady but say though she use no protestations that she either hath been or will be constant and firm to her Servant I am ready instantly to believe and swear the Heavens themselves even in their substance are more subject to Alteration that Nature her self can sooner change her Course her Laws and run into the confusion of her primitive Chaos than she be removed from the Object upon which she hath placed her Love When any Widow sighs and weeps at the funeral of her Husband I compassionate the Reality and Profoundness of her Grief am afraid she should despair and destroy her self and I sooner expect to see her Husband revived than