crime that I know than for demanding to speak with my Master But in earnest Boleslaus are you a Prisoner or is this still to continue the stratagem you know of and for which I was sent away because I could not dissemble and act my part so gravely as I should I protest seriously said Boleslaus there is no jeast in what I tell thee and I have almost lost my Reason and Temper in these fopperies The Palatine hath brought us into these broils but I do not see how hee will bee able to enlarge us again sodainly hee beeing in restraint as well as wee How a Prisoner said Arcade did the King command him to bee committed No not the King said Boleslaus but these Peasants under the name of Serife and with him I tell thee they have imprisoned all us that attended Him What answered Arcade is hee then yet in the Ladie 's habit hee had when I left him and his Lady by consequence in Man's and each in a severall Prison But would hee bee committed to Prison without disclosing his Quality Nay more said Boleslaus now that hee is in Prison hee denieth himself to be what hee is and saye's hee is what hee is not This is the strangest fancy answered Arcade that ever I heard of and which will produce new Discourses that will not redound to his Honour However I must speak with him to tell him that hee must speedily take some order to succour his Brother-in-law whom Mieslas who is now at Plocens hath delivered into the hands of certain fellowes that will take away his Life or at least his Honour if they bee not prevented by some sodain remedy Hitherto said Boleslaus thou hast spoken like a discreet Man but now I perceive thou ravest For I know where Liante is and am sure that hee cannot bee in Mieslas hands Their reasoning might have continued long enough e're they could have penetrated each other's meaning Boleslaüs not daring to speak all hee knew for fear of displeasing Iphigenes and never beeing able to imagine the adventures of Modestina The Judges and Commons of the Village who heard all this Dialogue knew not what else to think than that of all the Fools that they had seen in their Lives they never saw any so sens-less After this they led him to Pomeran Pisides and Argal whose discourse was yet more extravagant For they knowing not Liante spake altogether of an Almeria and a Calliante names which Arcade never had heard Insomuch that the Judges could pick nothing out of their various Speeches than cause of laughter But when hee was brought into Calliante's Presence hee began to bless himself his Heart panting as if hee had seen a Ghost For hee could not perswade himself that without Negromancy hee could appear before him there having seen him as hee thought at Plocens At length My Lord Liante said hee is it you whom I see or hath some Spirit borrowed your shape certainly you cannot bee in two places at once and I am as sure that I saw you at Plocens within these two dayes as that your likeness now appear's before my Eyes Either that which I saw at Plocens must bee an illusion or this which here troubleth my sight Yet me-think's it is your voyce which I hear said hee Liante having answered him But in regard Magicians by their Diabolicall Art can counterfeit that as well as Faces give mee leave to touch you that I may know it is your Body Which Liante having permitted This is Flesh and Bones said hee this is no Spirit certainly I will rather believe that the other which I did onely see and that at some distance too was but a Vision whereby the more than barbarous cruelty of Mieslas will bee deceived and I am glad for your sake that you are out of his power for if you were in the place of that Ghost of your's which hee hath put into the hands of some no less inhumane than himself I should esteem you the most unfortunate Gentleman upon Earth These words having bred in Liante's Spirit a curiosity to know what cruelty Mieslas intended to his Person Arcade told him what had passed at Plocens and that it was the main cause of his coming into that Desart to acquaint Iphigenes with that design of Mieslas You may imagine what an allarme this made in Liante's Heart with what impatience hee was presently seized to see himself at Liberty that hee might flie before that storm and avoid the clutches of that rigorous Sarmatian Fear which made him tremble at every shadow bred a suspition in his thoughts that all this Pastorall Comedy had been invented by Iphigenes onely to impe the wings of Time and amuse him untill Mieslas had apprehended him and sent him back to his prison there to force him to suffer the affront whereof Arcade had given him notice These imaginations put him beyond all temper and ready to run into despair hee fulminated terrible threats against those Clowns if they released him not speedily These apprehensions so violent and sovisible gave birth to diverse sinister Opinions in the Judges and Country-men there present making them suspect him for some notorious Criminall or some dangerous Person in regard Arcade talked of murthering or reducing him to an incapacity of aspiring to Marriage yet the strong impression they had Calliante was Almeria and really a Woman made them revoke all this story into doubt as a fiction invented to delude their Senses Insomuch that in stead of giving Liante any hope of a sodain inlargement they made him closer Prisoner having received no other consolation by Arcade's visit than the assurance of Mieslas beeing at Plocens and of the horrible desire hee had to commit in his person the Murther of his Posterity Thence Arcade was conducted to Serife's Lodging who after a long Paradoxicall Conference beeing certainly informed of her Father's arrivall in that Palatinate by whom shee had no will to bee seen in that equipage and a Prisoner to those base People whom according to the authority of Palatines in Polonia with the least word shee could have sent to the Gallowes raising the tone of her voyce in a more grave and Majestick manner than became the quality of a Prisoner shee thus spake to her Judges Gentlemen dispatch quickly your formalities and do mee Justice I begin to bee weary of this Prison Whether I am Man or Woman is nothing materiall to any of you Besides I believe you can lay no Crime to my Charge nor Calliante's who for pastime onely not with any ill intent conspired with those Swains whom you have set at liberty to carry mee away whereof I was advertised and contented what displeasure soever I expressed Do not make mee intreat you twice to discharge mee For if you compell mee to discover who I am there is not hee among you but will tremble at my very name beeing able to render you of Judges Criminals of Apprehenders Prisoners and send you
said Iphigenes so that Liante be free You may well think said Boleslaus in his Ear if Almeria be not taken that Liante is safe enough For they go both one way and under the same Cloaths But when hee advanced towards Mieslas that meeting of the Father and the Son was like to the opposition of the Planets of Mars and Saturn whose Aspects dart none but maligne influences Mieslas taking occasion to speak first said to his Son I think this is an inchanted Castle for the People answer all by contraries I asked for your Diana and they toldmee that Liante was no longer there hath your Bother-in-law been in this place then Sir replied Iphigenes angerly are you come hither to search shew what Commission you have from the King to that purpose otherwise give mee leave to tell you as Palatine of this Country that you have nothing to do to seek either of them here But if I had found either of them said Mieslas I should have made them knew what my Power is and all your strength would have been too weak to have taken them out of my hands As beeing my Father answered Iphigenes you have priviledge to use these tearms But there 's none else breathing upon Earth whom I should not make throughly sensible of the Power I have in the Countries which depend on my authority Therefore Sir you must tell mee if you have taken either of those persons For I will die in the place or I will make him that hath them in keeping release them and whatsoever you are able to do or say nothing shall hinder mee from cutting in pieces all those that accompany you if they are not delivered to my hands For to suffer this breach in my Charge and that before my Face any one should seize upon Persons that are under my Protection is an affront which I can less indure than Death This inflamed the fiery Sarmatian with such Fury that fetching a Career hee had fallen upon Iphigenes like an hasty storm if hee who was no less dexterous than the other fierce had not handsomly slipped aside and let pass the impetuosity of that Torrent Then those that attended him interposing themselves to hinder them from joyning you might have seen Mieslas foaming with rage and brandishing his naked Sword with threats to dip it in his own blood that was in the body of Iphigenes who having not so much as laid his hand upon the Guard of his was resolved rather to die by his Father's hand than draw his Sword against him But as how graceless soever Children are yet there remain's some raye of Paternall reverence in their Souls So in the Heart of a Father what Choler soever animate's him against his Children there is a secret Advocate which plead's their Cause and make's the Weapons fall out of their hands This was verified by that occurrence for what Passion soever transported Mieslas at the present hee was afterwards glad of those Gentlemen's opposing his fury and that they had given his Indignation leisure to appease the impetuosity of it's violent Surges beeing better satisfied to have killed his Son with his Tongue then his hands and run him through with threats then with his Rapier At length Iphigenes beeing assured by the Gentleman of the Castle and the Souldiers that Liante had given them the slip the day before his mind was indifferently well pacified but yet much troubled that hee knew not whither hee was gone So the storm beeing quite blown over the Father and Son accosted each other and Mieslas abating not a little of his rigid haughtiness By said hee swearing desperately I think you will force mee to deliver those whom I have not in my power but if I had you should assoon wrest the Club out of Hercules hands as teare them out of my clutches I bless the Heavens Sir said Iphigenes that things be in the condition they are I must confess I should be much troubled to see persons ill treated in any territories whose preservation is pretious to mee But said Mieslas may not I know if that was Liante Sir answered Iphigenes that equivocall appellation deceive's you it is Almeria who having put on Man's cloaths to go a Hunting and do violent exercises with more Freedom and Activity call's herself Calliante which name I imposed upon her in an humour it signifie's Fair-Flower What Fair-Flower said Mieslas indeed shee did well to vanish before I came For never any Haile did so much spoil in the Vineyards as my Blowes should have done on Her Shoulders if I could have laid hold on Her With some other such like passages which wanted not Quips and Jarring words they re-entred the City of Plocens Iphigenes having alwayes his hand upon his wound that is his thoughts continually returning to his Loss of Liante The Pilot that in the midst of dangerous Rocks is agitated by a raging Tempest and from whose Eyes the horrid shades of Night doe hide the twinkling flames of his directing Star is not in greater perplexity then our Iphigenes not knowing which way to steer his course in pursuit of his dear Liante With what an Eye did hee behold the Princess at his return esteeming her the principall cause of all these troubles Hee carried himself with such indifference towards her abating so much of those Courtesies and Compliments whereof hee was esteemed the onely Master that it was much the despight of seeing her affection so ill recompensed had not cured her of that wound which the Beauty of Iphigenes had made in the Center of her Heart But alas it was incurable since neither Time Absence Cruelty nor Disdain the sovereign remedies of that Desease were able to asswage the torment of her languishing Pain Mieslas very unsatisfied with his Son's deportments resolved to depart next Morning for Podolia as well to give orders concerning the affairs of his Charge and Family as to cause Modestina to be more strictly garded take his Daughter Clemencia with him to Court there to attend the Queen untill the Prince Cassin should marry her And the Princess Respicia settled her resolution to return to the Court more in love than ever with the perfections of Iphigenes but less satisfied with his Courtesie Onely Hope which never leaveth us in the midst of the greatest disasters somewhat appeased the tempest of that Ladie 's thoughts by the assurance which Iphigenes confirmed to her of making himself her 's assoon as his dispensation had restored him to himself The same Night shee went from Plocens Iphigenes found under the Carpet in his Chamber a note the Characters and sense whereof accused the hand and invention of Respicia all the contents were amorous complaints and exclamations against inconstancy but no subscription nor any particular address to him yet hee needed no Oedipus for the expounding of that Riddle hee plainly saw that shee complained of him but hee feared less that despight would cure her Love than to see her flames increase
poor innocent Orphanes to the merciless pitty of Men but under the tuition of that great King of Heaven and Earth who taketh little Ones for his Heritage who taketh care even of young Ravens when abandoned by their Dams and who gives himself the style of Guardian and protector of the Fatherless In the charge of the Palatinate of Podolia succeeded Rosnald a Noble-Man of a middle Age named Mieslas who was born of a very antient noble Family But that falls out in Generations sometimes which is alwaies incident to the most stately structures that is Time with his gentle file doth insensibly waste and diminish them For it is frequently seen that the Nobleness of an Extraction advancing and inlarging its greatness by the long succession of years the Estate is divided into divers branches which so weakneth and lesseneth the stock that in the end it is a shame to be so Noble and so poor to have so great a Heart and such weak Reins that not having faculties sufficient a man cannot maintein the splendor extracted from his Ancesters For this Reason in great Houses the heirs have in a manner all to the end that by this industrie their wealth may serve as nerves and supporters to uphold that magnificence which distinguisheth those of Illustrious Descents from the Vulgar Mieslas being elevated to this eminent Dignity which renders men in Polonia of equall qualitie with the Peers of France Grandees of Spain and Earles of England that is to say the chief and most remarkable Persons of that Country for they are as much as Vice-Kings And seeing himself as mean for matter of Estate as considerable for Honour both by Birth and Qualitie was on a suddain cast into an inconceivable distraction of Mind and pain not much unlike unto that of the fabulous Midas who not being able to feed or nourish himself becaus everie thing hee touched was presently turn'd to Gold poor in his abundance Hee abhorred in a manner what he had aspired to with so much eagerness being angrie with himself that his Abilities would not reach to maintein by a competent and suiteable expence the Pomp and magnificence of his Dignitie The Condition of this ambitious Sarmatian me thinks is very lively represented by the Child in the Emblem whose wing seems to flutter up on one side but the other is depressed to the ground with a heavie stone being pricked one while with the spur of Glory which puff'd him up by reason of his high birth and qualitie another while being inflamed with an extreme desire of having where withall to support the Height of his Dignitie and Extraction He was like an high mettled Hors which feeling two sharp spurrs in his Flank curvets and fling's as if hee disdained a Rider But as the twisting Ivie cannot raise it self from the ground unless it embrace the Trunk of some neighbouring Tree or be back't by some kind Wall so Mieslas deeming Wealth the greatest luster and as it were the main Pillar of Honour resolved to use any means lawfull or unlawfull to purchase it The first that the Power shall I say or the Tyrannie of his new charge put into his greedy minde was to load his shoulders with the sweet burthen of the Gardianship of the two Pupills already mentioned although their Kindred strove to subvert his design perceiving plainly that hee would prove like an Eagle's feather which eats away and consumes the others that is to say That this old Saturn would devoure those pirtifull young Children In a word having by favour obteined the Wardship or tuition of them and being established by Authority in the government or more properly in the injoyment of their most plentifull estates as hee succeeded their Father Rosuald in the Palatinate without scruple hee made use of his riches to maintein the Port and Magnificence of his great Birth and Office But that Eternall Power which resides in Heaven which presides over the designes of Men who sees their thoughts a far off knowes their waies and counts their steps and who hath in his hands the ends of the Earth It is he that dissipates the Counsells of the wicked and reproves their inventions It is Hee that takes into his safe-guard the widow and the Fatherless and confounds the waies of the evill-doers As we shall see in the progress of this Narration which will demonstrate how Providence did by her disposing take the Counter-point in opposition to the purposes of Mieslas and whereas hee intended to swallow Rosuald's Estate and make that Family fall into his Heaven brought to pass the contrary For as the Appetite comes with eating and the desire of having being commonly compared to an Hydropicall humour which the more it drinks the more it thirsts Mieslas not contented with the administration of his Ward 's whole Estate which hee found a very plentifull and almost undreinable Source of Riches whereof hee disposed at his pleasure like one that cuts in the whole Piece and made use of it to maintein the Pomp and State that high degree of honour whereunto Fortune had raised him did require aswell to avoid any Demands or Inquiries and not to be subject to render an account to any as to make this Estate in some manner his own and without inchantment to make the Corn leap from another's ground upon his Hee passionately desired to draw unto himself that mighty Mass of Wealth by some Alliance the ordinary hook that great ones use to catch the fattest Preys But God who meerly by the confusion of Tongues subverted the proud designe of the Children of Nimrod laughing at the vain pretensions of Mieslas gave him no Off-spring but Daughters and every body knowes that sex is far more likely to transport a succession into another family then to continue a name and convey it to Posterity This multiplicity of Daughters put the fierce Sarmatian not only into impatience but transported him into a boundlesse and unheard-of fury For as if his Wife a Lady full of Honour and Vertue had been voluntarily the cause of his discontentment he used her so barbarously that his inhumanity drew upon him the hatred and scorn of the whole World Isaac at the importunity of Rebecca who bad him get her Children if hee would not see her dye with grief answered that hee was not God to give her Progenie implying that as it is not from him that plants or from him that sowes that fruits proceed but from God who gives life and growth to every thing and who opening his hand fills every creature with his blessing and fecundity so Husbands cannot give Issue if God showres not down upon their Marriage the Benediction of his sweetness neither can they have Children according to their own wishes but according to the good pleasure of him who is Creator of both Fathers and Children and from whom proceeds all Paternity in Heaven and on Earth It was by an industry inspired from above that Iacob spotted with white and
it was easie to judge hee was as much in his Element at those recreations as hee was out of it when his Spirits were tormented with the thorns of the Grammer One time it hapned that complaining to his dear Brother-in-law of the oruell Martyrdome which hee was made to suffer at his Book and how he abhorred that long robe hee was compelled to wear gret drops of tears like so many Pearls ran down his face from the Orient of his Eyes This sight so mollified the tender heart of Iphigenes who was of a Sex that hath tears at command that mingling his with Liante's hee fell on his face and casting his arms about his neck hee gave him manie loving yet innocent embraces which Liante received with such motions of joy and sweet delight as surpass the tearms of any expression then with an incomparable harmlessness they interchanged some kisses wherein the malignitie of Nature put some difference by certain ardours which are not found in those that pass betwixt persons of the same sex both of them feeling themselves transported with a certain pleasure and ravishment whereof the Cause was yet unknown to them but which proceeded from the treachery of Love disguised under the appearance of Brotherly Friendship Boleslaüs Seeing that this intimacie increased more and more betwixt the two Brothers was afraid lest those Caresses and familiaritie should pass to such tearms as might discover to Iphigenes that of which through his industrie and vigilancie Hee was yet ignorant concerning himself Aretuza never saw them together without unspeakable heart-beatings trembling for shee thought her husband would never pardon her if hee should come to the knowledg of the deceipt whereby she had abused and amused him so long time Besides she feared lest Iphigenes honour might bee interessed through Ignorance though not Immodestie Insomuch by this perplexity of thoughts her Mind did feel no less convulsions and pangs than a Woman in travell endureth in her Body Whilest shee was in this trouble the Union of the two Brother's hearts grew to such a perfection that it seemed as if there had been but one Soul in their two Bodies the same No and the same Yea comming at the same instant out of their Mouths You could never see the one without the other if they were separated their parting was never without tears Modestina was already become in a manner nothing with Iphigenes in comparison of Liante and if shee had been of a jealous disposition shee had cause enough to believe that her Brother withdrew the affection of her sweet Husband from her but she imputed that rather to Childishness then any thing else imagining that assoon as Iphigenes was advanced somewhat more towards Man-hood she should easily turn the course of his inclinations Iphigenes in mean time having opened Liante's eyes for his Sister Clemencia was not contented to have put or to have begun to put the fire into his brest if he conveyed not all the flame into his Sister's heart to whom hee gave such a Character of the vertues gracefulness and perfections of his dear Liante that in short time that spark grew to so furious a blaze that it was neer reducing her to ashes Hee had so framed the way to her Mind that she was taken on a suddain according to the Nature of certain subtile fire which takes sooner and more fiercely in green wood than in drie and whose first burning is alwaies the most violent There was no comparison betwixt Clemeneia's passion and Liante's for hee possessed far more attractive qualities to make him bee beloved of her than shee had to captivate his liberty Nevertheless Love being an Appetite which tends to the production of it's like it is no wonder as a Torch that 's burning doth easily communicate it's light to one that 's out if Love first begets another Love in the heart beloved since to wish well doth almost of necessity challenge a reciprocall well-wishing The Paleness which soon took up its seat on Clementia's cheeks The looks messengers of her passions which sent glances as suppliants to Liante's eyes The delight shee seemed to receive in his coversation The regret shee felt for his absence The fear of discontenting him The desire of pleasing him and the exceeding contentment shee expressed in speaking of him All these prettie Lovesymptomes spake her somewhat more than Child and bringing her neer Woman-hood changed the libertie of her Innocence into a Bondage whose chains did seem so golden and so sweet to her that shee thought shee never had tasted anie felicitie but since the time shee had rendred her self a prey to the amiable Liante's charms This Passion passing through her ear into her heart being ingraven by the tongue of Iphigenes as with an instrument of flame in the profoundest of her thoughts devoured or consumed her so that shee was readie to die of the wound if her kind Brother who had kindled the fire had not applyed the remedie by assuring her of the reciprocall affection of him whom hee had perswaded her to love Liante being acquainted herewith by Iphigenes ingenious to hinder his own advantages began by the gate of his Interest to receive some inclinations for Clemencia conceiving that might bee a means for him to recover his Estate and procure Honours Afterwards seeing her so full of affection that her too-much loving cast her into a languishing for him hee answered her desires more out of Compassion than Passion or rather for Pittie than Affection for indeed shee had more sweetness in her dispositions to mollifie than Beautie in her face to attract the heart of the brave Liante But the Conduct of these Amoretta's required more judgement and discretion than the small experience of such tender years could promise They were to deceive so many eyes that pryed incessantly into their actions that it was too hard a task Love like a fire being difficult to be kept hid within the Bosom And yet if any one perceived the least of this inteligence all 's lost all these Designs will vanish into smoak all these Projects flie away with the wind Nevertheless Iphigenes had the dexteritie to manage this business with such circumspection Liante had learnt to counterfeit with such subtilitie and Clemencia assured of her Lover's mutuall flame could dissemble with so much constancie that sex having a great empire over themselves when there is a necessitie of feining that they practiced for a good while this commerce of Love without discovering but very weak sparkles of their fire What cannot this Passion do when it refineth and subtilizeth thus such young Souls Observe but how it brings to School again all the Prudence of hoarie heads Modestina and Clemencia had but one Governess but the two Brothers-in-law had severall Conducters in regard they were applyed to different exercises yet neither Liante's Master nor Perpetua perceived any thing of this secret correspondence betwixt Clemencia and the intended Clergie-Man so attentive was shee to
that hee should accompany him in his Facetious Enterprise of going in a Peasant's Habit to make love to Almeria Pisides and Argal being not so considerate were no sooner acquainted with the Design but they approved it and with a complacency familiar to Courtiers they presently made Proffers of their Services fancying already a thousand inventions to abuse the simplicity of those clownish Souls There was none but Boleslaüs Foster-Father and Confident to Iphigenes who participated of the truth of this Story or knew whereunto tended the Morall of this Fable Hee had already disguised like a Traveller been to confer with Almeria of whom hee learnt the Dispositions of those Rustick Spirits wherewith shee was environed and the Politick Old Man by whose counsell Iphigenes chiefly directed his course cast now and then into the Soul of this supposed Shepherdess certain hopes which gently flattered Her Ambition All things beeing thus ordered Iphigenes with his three Friends Pomeran Argal and Pisides not forgetting Boleslaüs whom hee called Father marched like Country-fellowes to the Village where the solemnity was thither likewise came Almeria accompanied with Belida Remonda and Merinda ushered by Lupicin and the four Competitours Manile Fleurial Antalcas and Polemas To make a comparison betwixt those Reall Rusticks and these disguised ones I had need have the Pencill of that Painter who with onely turning the Picture of an Horse that was tumbling in the dust made one running full speed and beating the dust in his Carreer I will not here amuse my self in the Description of an Antick nor abuse the time and the Reader 's Patience with the Representation of a County-solemnity I shall onely say that our Strangers appeared amongst those rough-hewen Boors like that golden Sand which shines amongst the gravell of the River Tagus There were no Eyes but for them nor any but upon them They carried away with such advantage the Glory in all the Exercises as Dancing Wrestling Jumping Slinging of Stones flinging the Bar Shooting or whatsoever that they seemed as if they were come thither purposely to dazle the sight of all that did behold them But their Carriage beeing too gentile for such mean Habits their cleer Complexions and their studied Slights betrayed them Every one ask't Who are they whence are they but no body could give an account This bred a suspition that there was some Plot in their coming and that they were some cunning Shavers that intended to surprise them To repeat you the Discourse of these Stage-Peasants would bee too long and Frivolous or to tell you that amongst the throng of Females Almeria was presently noted for her which deserved the Golden Apple would bee as needless If Amity is formed betwixt equalls or equalizeth those whom it unite's there was no Body how envious soever that seeing Iphigenes Discoursing with Almeria would not judge them the best Maach't Couple in the World onely Hee appeared too white for a Man and shee too brown for a Woman but her brownness was Alablaster in comparison of the rest Pisides and Argal commended Iphigenes who had given himself the Name of Iphis for his choyce But Pomeran who alwayes suspected this seemingly feined Love conceiving that it had some reality which hee could not discern had his mind balanced in the Flood and Ebb of different Imaginations Sometimes reflecting upon the Resemblance of the Picture Iphigenes had shewen him hee thought shee might indeed bee Modestina but that conjecture was soon effaced by some homely Actions which Almeria counterfeited with so much Art that the most cleer-sighted would have taken them for Dame Nature's own production Iphigenes ravished with delight to see his Design succeed opened his Heart in private to Boleslaüs who participated of his contentment to see how they were all deceived in Almeria and shee her self in him And in regard the pleasure would have been too short if confined to one daye 's time our Disguised Gentlemen continued their Visits to Almeria and the rest in Celian's House for the space of half a Moon during which time the Palatine made a Report bee spread in Plocens which was the chief City of his Government that hee was retired to a Castellain's House in the Country for some Affairs of great Importance In the fifteen Dayes time which Iphigenes with his Companions spent in a Rich Farmer 's House not far from Celian's their Expences and great Cheer quickly made appear that they had nothing of Country-men but the Habit. They went not to Plough nor followed any such exercises as the others did but making Fishing or Hunting their daily Occupations they missed no opportunity of accosting Almeria either in the Groves in the Meddowes under the shade by the Rivers side or neer some cool Spring These frequent Meetings confirming Merinda in the Opinion shee had that Almeria was a Maid turned Belida and Remonda to their first belief Lupicin with the four Concurrents lost the suspition they had that shee was a Man to embrace this That these Strangers were perchince The Men which had shipwracked her Honour in the City These surmises kindled their Fires and their Fires redoubled their Jealousies seeing themselves supplanted by persons unknown Envie saith the Wise Man is the vice of base abject Spirits This Monster whose Pain is another's Ease and who feed's upon his own Heart seated himself in the Souls of these Churles who could not indure the luster of so many gentile Qualities as rendred those New-comers recommendable And as Wolves Creatures that are singular insociable and which tear one another to pieces do agree and go together if there be question of falling upon a Flock of Sheep or breaking down a Fold So those Swains who hated each other as Rivals complotted with a secret intelligence how to chase away these strangers from Almeria and conspired Machinations against her which were the Effects of Hatred though they proceeded from a contrary Cause I omit their Reproaches and Detraction against her Innocency For their Jealousie beeing visible our Gentlemen gave no credit to their Speeches knowing that they troubled the pure Waters of that cleer Fountain onely to hinder them from admiring and staying neer it It was a pleasure to see the Schism that was amongst them and how their deceitfull Lips uttered words quite opposite to their Hearts Some reported that Almeria was a Man pursued by the Justice for a Murther and had transvested himself to avoid the punishment of his Crime Others gave out that shee was really a Maid but of a deboshed and lewd Life who to shun the fury of her Parents that would have chastised her for her Fault or to Live with more Liberty had cloathed Herself in a Shepardesse's Weeds One said shee was a Citizen's Daughter another that shee was born in the Country some said shee was of one Province others of another Some affirmed shee was Celian's Neece others denyed it If Remonda called her Cousin Merinda declared shee knew her not Belida gave her the style
of Kinswoman Lupicin used another tearm In summe never a one could agree with his Companion their Relations and Opinions beeing as differing as their Faces You would have said Almeria had been the Moon for whom her Mother could not shape a Garment because shee was never long in the same condition These various rumours marvellously divided the Spirits of Argal and Pisides for amongst so many uncertainties they knew not what to apply their beliefs unto Sometimes the Masculine courage of Almeria and her vigorous exercises made them incline to the thought of her beeing a Male Feminiz'd and when shee acted the Maid the sweetness of her Carriage perswaded them the contrary The brown tincture of her Complexion seemed to plead in favour of their former conjecture but the Loveliness and attractive Motion of her Eyes confirmed them in the later However that her Education or Birth were of an Air which resented nothing of Rusticity was evident Insomuch that they were really of the mind that whilest they thought to cheat her with their disguises shee laughed at their Artifices and by a coun-termine would render all their Indeavours fruitless These imaginations they communicated to Iphigenes who was ready to die with delight to see them so handsomly seduced But Pomeran took no pleasure in these passages for out of all these contrary Relations Hee drew these Consequences If Almeria bee a Man and what is worse a Murtherer What honour is it for us to amuse our Times about an Object that one day upon a Gibet must make Faces at those that pass Indeed wee are fallen into a rare conversation of Clowns and Gallows-clappers If shee bee a Woman and of a loose Life what credit will it bee for Iphigenes to singe the Wings of his desires at the Flame of so stinking a Torch No I cannot endure to see him cast himself away in the Embraces of a dissolute slut But hee must first bee diverted by the sweetness of the Rayes of solid Reasons and afterwards by the violent Buffets of strong Remonstrances and before the light of his Judgement bee quite extinguished hee must be made to understand that hee is upon the Brink of a Precipice whose fall is so steep that if hee do but trip he will never bee able to recover himself untill hee comes to the bottom Iphigenes rejoycing to see him so perfectly mistaken it cannot bee imagined what delight hee took in imparting these particulars to Almeria And whilest hee employed all his thoughts and time in entertaining his Penelope those that accompanied him seeing they could not make him hear of returning fell a courting her Attendants for what else should I call the two Sisters Belida who were continually in Almeria's company I should bee too long if I should relate in what manner those subtile Wits inveagled the simplicity of those silly Maulkins for to doubt of the advantages which the quaintness of Courtiers hath above the rude ignorance of Countrie-People were to make a question when it is most light at Noon or at Mid-night They made such fair Stories to those dull Souls that presently they forgat the incertain Passion they had for Almeria to frame new affections for these strangers who told them wonders of their Flocks of their possessions and of the commodities of their Village which they described to bee a Paradice on Earth insomuch that all three Sisters were almost perswaded to follow them out of a certain inclination naturall to every Body to seek that which is most advantageous This bred strange thoughts in Celian Lupicin Fleurial and the rest seeing these unknown Persons and who had nothing of Peasants but their out-side should breed alterations in the minds of those where they had lodged their Affections Nevertheless as all base and dull-spirited Souls are alwayes guilty of cowardize what Anger soever their Malice is hatching they have not courage enough to produce any bold or resolute Effects they quietly suffered themselves to bee dispossessed of their ordinary Conversations And this supplantation was easie enough for the Clowns beeing pressed with Necessity were more attentive at their Work and Profit than their Pleasure whereas these Strangers having nothing else to do than to spin out their Time and besides spending high and making such cheer as the others were not accustomed to see might with much facility have advanced their Designs if they had had any other than to give their minds some recreation In mean time Iphigenes who desired absolutely to blot out of Almeria's Thoughts the Affection of Clemencia and place himself in her room in making himself bee cherisht by his feined Mistris otherwise than a Friend perished like Tantalus in presence of his Remedy Hundreds of times Hee was upon the nick of Declaring all the secret to this beloved Object But Boleslaüs without whose advice he did nothing of importance served as a Bridle to moderate the violence of his desires telling him that the time of his Manifestation was not yet expired and that hee must bee contented untill hee was Repealed from banishment to the end his Marriage might bee in the establishment of a Fortune more favourable for Liante Who will now furnish mee with tearms to express Resentments which for their singularity mee-think's ought to bee remitted to Thought alone When these two Friends could steal any time to themselves for which they sought all possible opportunities It was a pleasure to see the Admirations of Almeria who sometimes thus entertained Iphigenes My dear Brother indeed it is not amiss that our so passionate conversation is not in my Sister's sight for although it is but her Image and the lines of some resemblance of her which you love in mee doubtless shee would find some cause to bee jealous of her Picture I never saw you so fond of her nor render such endeering devoirs to the Originall It is true that therein you were to bee Excused by reason of the tenderness of your Age which did not make you Susceptible of so great fire as you express to mee on purpose to deceive more neatly those who do attend you To deal really were not the advantages of our Sex incomparable I could almost wish my self as my Habit speak's mee out of a conceit I have that you would love mee as well as my Sister and could I change my Nature it should bee meerly to bee your Wife not to share in those Honours and Wealth which environ you but for the Merits of your own Person which are abundantly more Estimable than all the Benefits which blind Fortune distributeth ordinarily to those that have no reall Desert Oh! why am not I Almeria indeed and these feined Affections which you so dexterously do represent to mee why are not they essentiall Believe mee after that my Ambition would be at an end Who can but think that this Discourse deliciously flattered the imagination of Iphigenes who to prolong that agreeable amusement and still touch that String whose sound was so
who were not so blockish as not to like the company of this new Guest Onely Manile was ready to run beyond his Reason protesting with many Oathes to his Father to leave his House if hee entertained that stranger Celian to pacifie him shewed him how hee was an enemy to his own good Fortune telling him that those Angells were not onely the Gardians but the enrichers of his Family Whereunto Hee beeing deafned by Jealousie could give no eare but continued murmuring incessantly against his Father's covetousness Mean time Almeria to disabuse her two lately created Kins-women tell 's them another new forgery It is true said shee I came hither in Man's Habit having made use thereof to withdraw my self from under my Parent 's Wings not that I had made anie breach in my Honour but fallen off from my Obedience to them And I thought that their severitie did furnish me with a Sufficient dispensation For beeing desired in Marriage by one Iphis a Young Gentleman richer and of a better Extraction than I am although contrary to the will of his friends in whose Opinion I seemed too mean a Fortune for him my Father not daring to promise mee to him without the consent of his Father whose power was redoubtable wee deliberated to be free from that servitude to betake our selves to the wide World and therefore having put on Disguises to facilitate our Escapes wee fled into these Woods expecting untill Time which bring 's all things to perfection should dispose our Parent 's wills to condescend to our chaste desires Thus in few words you have the History of our Lives wherein I see no other Crime than this ardent Affection which hath made us fall not into any Dishonesty for we detest Vice with horror but into some sort of Lightness immodesty which may easily be pardoned by them who know to what Extrmities are transported those that are touched with the same Passion that animate's our Souls This Discourse shee made to Merinda Remonda Belida which beeing ended the two later looked as disdainfully as their Passion could make them upon the other reproaching her of the false Accusations shee had raised against Almeria's Honesty Whereupon Merinda very confusedly Answered that Almeria had with so many different Stories overturned her belief that indeed shee knew not how to trust her her former Lies prejudicing what Truths shee might afterwards deliver To represent the divers Motions this last Invention cast into the spirits of these three Parcae would require too much time for seeing their hopes nipped in the Bud as well on Almeria's part whom one while they thought to bee a Man as on the other Stranger 's whom they imagined did keep them company onely to wait on Iphis they concurred like the Parcae indeed in the same conclusion which was to cut the Thred of these strange Practises by hunting away those unknown Persons that disturbed their repose The same Design had Lupicin and his companions But before they came to any violence and to make use of the Lion's skin they were not so little politick as not to know that the Foxe's ought to bee employed first having gained so much power over themselves as to dissemble what they thought However they broke their minds to Celian laying before his Eyes the many hazards whereunto he exposed himself by concealing in his House persons that were liable to the Law and who durst not shew their Heads for fear of the Justice But the vertue of that yellow metall which is the measure of all things had so strongly operated in his brain that he was incapable of any other reason than that of his profit In mean while the Time passed away so deliciously with Iphigenes who serving with a condition to do no Work which was likewise Almeria's Agreement saw not onely every day but every hour of the day the beloved Object which onely could comfort him and yet which was the sweet cause of all his disquietness Great was the astonishment of his Friends to see that Passion had reduced him to so vile a Function Especially Pomeran was in an unspeakable anguish for his Transfiguration yet durst not speak much to him for fear of exasperating his humour knowing that fair perswasions would prevail much more upon his generous spirit than the sharpness of Reproaches Argal and Pisides were more moderate and complacent making a favorable construction of all his Actions yet they could not sometimes but resent a little indignation to see him so Wedded to that Almeria in whom observing no such exquisite Beauty they could not imagine whence should proceed those Charms that so strongly bewitched and besotted his Reason then condemning themselves again of too much harshness they sought Excuses in the tenderness of their Affections to him saying This fantasie will not last long it is too violent the necessitie of the affairs of his charge will shortly call him back to his Government All these passages will quickly bee carried to the Court and Shame will make him forsake this enterprise The actions of great Persons how secret soever they be are at last divulged such publick Ministers can act nothing in private Those that are exposed to the light of the Day and to the view of the whole World cannot remain long in obscuritie Mean time we must endure this storm and take our share of this unpleasant pastime we would willingly follow the Palatine in some other occasions as more glorious so more perillous the worst that can befall in this is but laughter and besides the Passion which produceth these actions carrieth it's excuse in its blindness Thus did the friends of Iphigenes discourse amongst themselves But Hee was like unto those who having Ulcers in their Bodies do not apprehend any thing more than the hand of the Surgeon Presents saith an Antient Writer pacifie both the Gods and Men the Heavens and the Earth have a delight in receiving Hee that invented Gifts hath forged Chains to inthrall Hearts The poor Peasants have a custome to bring petty Presents to their Land-lords either to preserve or purchase their Favours And our Rusticks received Gifts from those strangers to let them live peaceably amongst them Celian was ravished and thought it was Jupiter that was come to visit his House in a showre of Gold his Daughters were all repaired with the Favours Iphigenes and his Companions bestowed on them Not so much as Lupicin Fleurial Manile Antalcas and Polemas but every one of them resented the benefits of their Benevolence besides the good Cheer which they made every day at their charge Wine beeing as plentifull with them as Water and no spare made of delicate Dishes These Exercises of the Teeth hindred for a while their Tongues from murmuring and did make as it were a Dam to stop the torrent of their envy Nothing was to be thought upon but Feasts and Banquets after the Country fashion wherein Iphigenes made a great shew with a little Expence Hee was presently taken
believed Iph ' excuse mee Gentlemen if his name who ought to bee odious to mee beeing at my Tongue 's end had like to have broke through my Lips since out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh with precipitation shee answered I say that shee thought that Nobleman had no more design upon her than shee had inclination for him That she took all his discourse and compliments but as essayes of his abundant wit or tricks of Affectation which the Court-Gallants hold for commendable qualities and that all his expressions proceeding only from the out-side of his Lips penetrated no farther than the Superficies of her Ears preserving her heart clear from the contagion of that venimous Passion which most persons do condemne but few eschew But not to weary you with too tedious a relation notwithstanding his Scorpion-like subtilty to hide the Poison of his Intentions her simplicity too ingenious for her destruction the End which useth to Crown good Actions with Glory discovered to us the ignominy of their evill practises as you shall hear When this great Favorite being fallen into some disgrace at Court was in a manner exiled to his own Palatinate at this departure their two Hearts whose Bodies had perchance contracted another alliance than that of words could not support their dis-union Insomuch that by the King's command hee beeing enforced to leave the agreeable Climate of the Court it was no difficult matter to perswade the imprudent Almeria to transvest her self and follow him judging that in that habit every one would take her for mee Shee presently condescended to this proposition which as it was the Life of her desire proved the Death of her reputation So taking a Suit of mine of Sea-green layed with Silver-lace and having handsomely put up her Hair under a Grey Hat covered with a White Plume shee Mounted one of my best Horses and in the Dusk of the Evening repaired to the place where her Paramour had assigned her since which time I could never learn any certainty what was become of her untill Fame the inseparable shadow of great Persons Bodies informed us that this Nobleman being come into his Government was no where less than in the City of his Residence but consumed all his time in Hunting amongst these Woods where hee was become a Prey to a Shepherdess of such beauty that bred Envy in all those Ladies of the Court whose Affections hee had ravished formerly Hereupon a thousand imaginations arose in my troubled Mind sometimes that hee had left my Sister inclosed in some Castle as a Trophy to his Vanity contemning her with as much Cruelty after abusing her as hee had seduced her with Malignity Sometimes my Fancy seemed to perswade mee that shee who denying her Sex had had the Courage to Disguise her self in Man's Cloathes to follow him might well renounce that condition and take upon her the habit of a Shepherdess thereby to enjoy his conversation with less Suspition and more Liberty At length to satisfie my own Curiosity and my Mother's desires resolving to search out my Criminalls Fortune conducted mee into these parts where I am incouraged with some hope of finding what I seek And now Gentlemen I must conjure your Courtesie by all that I read of Humane in your Faces and doe believe to bee in your Hearts to Favour mee in this so just a Cause which I have so ingenuously revealed unto you to the end this Freeness of mine joyned to the Generosity which is so naturall to all Persons of Honour may oblige you to afford me your assistance For not to conceal the least point of Truth from you I am resolved in this business which concerneth not only mine but the Honour of my Family to play Double or Quit or to stake all I have and like the Bee which puts her life in her revenge leaving her Sting in the Wound shee makes cease to live after the loss of my Honour for to injoy Life without Honour I'esteem a condition farworse than a thousand Deaths Therefore if I finde assuredly that my Sister hath passed beyond the bounds of her Duty and preferred her Pleasure before her Reputation my resolution is by plunging this Poniard into her Bosome to tear that polluted Soul out of her unchaste Body if otherwise I will press the conclusion of her Marriage as much as I can and decency will permit For if Love equalizeth Lovers Honour doth render the Condition of Gentlemen equall to the greatest Nobles and my Extraction is not so obscure but that I can reckon divers Palatines of my Ancestors in whose Dignities though I have not had the fortune to succeed I cease not however to inherit a part of their Courage Besides I want neither Friends nor Kindred who espousing my Interests will joyn their Arms with mine in this just quarrell And since hee is Master of another's Life who despiseth his own there is no sort of hazard whereinto I shall stick to precipitate my self to get satisfaction from that Ravisher of Almirea how great soe're hee bee beeing perswaded by this Maxime That hee dyeth gloriously who perisheth with his adversary in the resentment of an injury Nevertheless not to run head-long or like one that 's blind I will first bee satisfied of the truth and then I shall see how to settle my Resolution Calliante filed these and diverse other particulars on the thred of his Narration with such Art pronounced them with an Air and Accent so full of grace and animated his Speech with Actions though feined which seemed so reall that Boleslaüs who knew all the mysterie could not sufficiently admire his industry that could so dexterously put a Mask upon his Tongue which at the same instant deceived the Eyes Ears and Thoughts of all that were present who though appearing as you know to bee all of one condition by their Habits were of two sorts extreamly different yet equally deluded by the subtilty of Calliante The Answers which hee received from these Auditors were very different or rather contrary For the Peasants through a vice which is ordinary to them beeing extreamly jealous of Iphis thought they had met with a fair opportunity to satisfie their malicious humor and destroy him by declaring to the stranger that Almirea who was in a Shepherdesse's habit and called her self Almeria was not onely in love with Iphis but had lost her self in his embraces which they said was manifest enough by their running away together This Deposition was strengthened by the testimony of the Shepherdesses who hating Almeria no less than they loved Iphis endeavored all they could not to wound but rend in pieces the Reputation of her who ravished them whilest they thought her of a Sex contrary to her habit But the disguised Gentlemen's Answer was quite otherwise For Pomeran speaking for them all and shewing himself full of zeal for the preservation of Iphis having boldly denied all that the malice of those base Souls had calumniously
time beeing bound by a certain respect which Vertue and Verity do usually imprint in the most brutall and least tractable Spirits So having calmed his countenance hee replyed Iphigenes I see that contrary to your custom you grow cholerick and that your Passion transports you beyond the limits of that reverence which is due to mee I thought I had had more power with you and a greater credit in your Dominions than I finde I have But you are to remember that how eminent Dignities soever the King hath conferred upon you no humane Law can exempt you from the obedience which by the Precepts of Heaven you owe to mee as your Father In contradicting mee you plead against your self For do you not see that what I do is for you that I scrape together onely to make you rich Will you undoe what I design for your good will you preserve those whom I seek to destroy to establish you Are not you like the Peacock which uncover's the House where hee roost's or Ivy which pull's down the wall that hold's it up Sir answered Iphigenes Every one act 's according to his understanding and is the Artificer of his own good or bad Fortune I will not ground mine upon the maximes which you hold nor therein imitate your ways If I am an honest Man I have Wealth and Honours enough already by the meer liberality of the King my Master If I am wicked I have but too much And I hold as an especiall favour of Heaven this image of disgrace which hath absented mee from Court and thereby hinder's mee from atteining to that utmost degree of Fortune that is envied by all the World and which cast's those who are elevated to that height into the publick Hatred and tearms of continuall apprehension when Hope can promise them no more And to declare freely my sense I had rather be reduced to the extreamest Period of Misery than live splendidly by the unjust acquisition of another's Estate beeing resolved if I do Marry the Princess Respicia to renounce all that I can pretend of Modestina's without compelling her to intomb herself alive within the walls of a Monastery much less to force Liante's Genius which hee hath so oft professed to mee to be averse to Learning and an Ecclesiastick Life and wholy inclined to Arms and Martiall Exercises and it may happen if of a good Souldier hee become's a good Captain that hee may make you restore by force of Arms in his Majority what you have usurped of his during the weakness of his Minority For my part I will not mingle the Good with the Evill that is what I have justly acquired by the King's Bounty with that which you shall rake together by such unjust practises This discourse said Mieslas is the Child of your Scruples and proceed's from the little experience you have yet in Worldly affairs You think it is but to open the Sailes and receive the Wind of Favour as you have done hitherto But if once Fortune knit her brow you will catch at what you can and to uphold yourself you will grasp with both hands as well as others But I perceive through the ashes of the counterfeited coldness which appeareth in your Speeches certain coales that are yet burning in your Brest for that Modestina whom you call your Wife although shee was no more joyned to you in Heart then in Body according to your own confession since you acknowledge never to have consented but with your Lips to her Marriage And you are so simple as to consider Liante as your Brother-in-Law although hee hath not the least relation to you I say still answered Iphigenes that I never was greatly in love with Modestina but my Friendship can admit of no out-vier For if our Faces tan insensibly by beeing in the Sun and cloaths are perfumed by lying neer sweet odours it is impossible but that the long education you have given us together should have planted in my Soul the roots of affection which make's mee desire her happiness and detest that which doth her mischief I may say with much truth I love her as my Sister and by the same reason Liante as my Brother and in this quality wee have so often joyned hands of association that I should esteem myself a Traytor and an execrable Monster both to God and Men If I should imbrace the thought of doing them any injury Therefore Sir I conjure you by all that hath any power to move your Heart to give order speedily that no harm be done to Modestina otherwise I will go my self to rescue her If it be your pleasure to re-imprison her in the same Castle where shee was untill the arrivall of the Dispensation for my leaving her my Consent shall attend your Will but upon this condition that finding another Match you shall give her a Dowry according to her quality otherwise I will settle upon her of my own Estate as much as you detein of her's protesting to do the like for Liante what is more to become their Protectour in such manner against all their enemies that I will prosecute with Fire and Sword whosoever shall do them any injury I fore-see then replied Mieslas sparkling Fire out of his Eves that you and I must have ae quarrell Sir said Iphigenes I shall kiss your weapons and lay my Standard under your Feet whensoever you appear but excepting your Person I shall esteem my mortall Enemies those that shall attempt any thing against Creatures who are so much my Friends If I suffer for so good a cause I shall bless my Persecutions and hug Death if shee seizeth on mee in so just an action humbly beseeching you to excuse mee if for the lawfull defence of my Friends I use these words of Precipitation and exceed the terms of a respectfull Modesty I see said Mieslas that you speak like a Palatine in your own Palatinate that is like a Sovereign and not a Son But Fortune may so turn her wheel that you will bee glad to creep under the shadow of my wings and shelter your self under my Authority Sir you see that I do what You will and I judge to be reasonable I marry without injoying my Wife I unmarry I marry again and all this more to satisfie your desire than follow my own inclinations you are the Rock I am the Polypus I receive my colours but from you I am as Wax to your impressions and yet if I speak in favour of a friend you presently cry out against my disobedience Pardon mee Sir if I tell you that you requite very ill the sincerity of my intentions and that you give mee cause to make use of that liberty which the Heavens gave mee at my Creation the liberty that is in my Soul which Soul I received by their infusion having nothing from you but this wretched Body which I can no less than abhor when I contemplate it's misery yet in the greenness of it's youth you will bind
by the Ice of his neglect Let her be pleased or displeased said hee within himself that concerne's mee little For sooner or later her error must be manifested and coming at length to understand how unable I am to answer her desires that knowledge will make her lose all farther hopes Oh! that my misery consisted onely by beeing in her Prison then my disease would never trouble mee for any mean medicine would be able to heal my wound But the rigour of my Fate never ceasing to persecute mee make's mee love in so strange a manner that groaning under the pangs of Death in my Martyrdom I dare not express my sufferings Oh! if in the presence of the Object which ravished mee and which is now ravished from mee with so much cruelty I had not the confidence to declare my condition and my smart how should I doe it in his absence and such an absence as is to mee an absolute loss since in my disaster I am yet so unhappy as not to know where hee is Ah! Liante could you have the Heart to steal your self away from the person in the World which love's you most without leaving mee the consolation of beeing advertised where you were retired For your flying and my following should have been in the same path and if you had flown before as the Lightning I should have come as close after as the Thunder-claps Judge by this discourse how forcible is the attraction of inclination Iphigenes was no more where hee was but where hee loved and as hee knew not where that was which hee loved hee knew not well where hee was himselfe like an Archer that shoot's without seeing the mark or one that run's a race without knowing where to end his Career So great riches and such high honours as environed him were but as many burthens to the wings of his desires hee would have esteemed himself more happy if his condition had been more miserable To repeat his Exclamations against the severity of his Father who not satisfied to have persecuted him from his birth seemed to aim at nothing but the ruine of his contentments would bee superfluous What recreations soever Pomeran and his other friends invented to mitigate the sense of his Affliction nothing had the power to divert him from his Melancholly musings Beeing deprived of the Aspect of the Star of his desites nothing but obscurity and confusion possessed his thoughts At length after the revolution of some dayes consumed in a comfortless discontentment having received no answer from the severall places whither hee had sent to inquire after Liante at a time when hee least expected newes hee received from the hands of an unkown Messenger a Paper wherein hee read these words LIANTE'S Letter to IPHIGENES Since the Fortuen of your Family and the Misfortune of mine have conspired to make mee perish be not displeased dear Brother that I go to seeke in the Warrs an honourable Grave the edge of Mars's VVeapons cannot cut so deep but that it will yet bee more favourable to mee than that which the rigour of your Father insatiable of my calamities hath designed for mee You conceive I presume my meaning therefore I shall not express myself in any other tearms lest this Paper should blush at that which cannot bee related with any Face under which remain's the least drop of generous Blood nor projected but by a Soul that 's absolutely Brutall it were too little to say Barbarous This Reason is sufficient to justifie my flight which I never would have undertaken without your privity could I have given my Soul as much confidence in your Power as I had of your Will to protect mee and could I have banished from my apprehension the just distrust I conceived of the fury of that inhumane Tartare The greatest displeasure I have is that before the Death whereinto I am going to precipitate my self I could not give you the last ADIEU and assure you that my Affection to you shall survive my Ashes and that the coldness of Death shall never have the power to lessen it's agreeable ardours If I have not deserved to Live neer you and in your service at least it shall bee for your service that I die thus destant from you too too happy in this last indeavour if I could make you see the oblatition which I shall Sacrifise to you of my one Life I know that this is the intention of Mieslas and that I can doe nothing through the whole course of my Life that will bee more agreeable to him than to end it and thereby sate his extream covetousness of having that little fortune which my Father left mee Oh Heavens if the resigning of my whole Estate to him would purchase mee the happiness of injoying freely your presence how well satisfied should I bee Let all Riches the causes of so many troubles perish Hee did well that cast all his into the Sea saying that hee had rather lose them than stay till they lost him And for my part I should think nothing lost if I possessed you but not seeing you any more I have now nothing to lose but my Life if it bee living to spin out tedious Dayes languishing in the privation of that which wee esteem the dearest of any thing the World produce's All my Despair is that going to the War wherewith this Kingdome is threatned by this last commotion I shall bee constrained by the severe Law of Necessity to imbrace an interest which my own Conscience and the generall Opinion holdeth the least justifiable But what safety could I promise my self in the King's Army where Mieslas cannot faile of having eminent Command's were not that to deliver my self to my Enemies in doing service to my Prince Hee that hath a will to die present's himself to the blow such is my resolution not to disserve his Majesty to whom my Family oweth all its Fortune I conjure you if you are recalled to the Court to make him understand the sincerity of my intentions and assure him that my casting my self on the Rebell 's side is not to maintain their interest or foment that unnaturall Fire but to ruine and subvert their designes at least if my birth procure's mee any power and credit among them In mean time I bid you a long ADIEU by these Lines less black with their Ink than my sorrow ADIEU Brother no less beloved than you are lovely and the onely Idoll of my Heart ADIEU since the unkinde influence of our Starres separates us and since I could not Live to Die at your Feet if I Die as I am determined let mee Live in your memory Preserve mee some place in your Thoughts and believe that your Name and the Idea of your Perfections shall bee to Eternity the most pretious Treasures of mine Was not this Discourse sufficient to make our Amorous Palatine die with Love had hee not already been overwelmed with Grief Oh sighs of Iphigenes the Winds must bee your supporters