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
man being unwilling to be the Messenger of so unwelcome Intelligence At length an ancient Officer of the Counts more familiar with him somthing than the rest undertook the design he took â—is advantage one night staid in the Counts Chamâ—er when the rest were gone out and having premised some unprofitable morsels of Morality he desired Don Garcias to proceed no further in his Jourmey for said he it is not in the Road to Compostella your Lady is to be sought it is easie to be imagined whether the Count was surprised at that word He had often supposed that the convenience of this Pilgrimage might deliver the two Cousins from the scruple of Incest pretended but he could not believe the Countess could carry it on farther than some few false oaths of conjugal fidelity He questioned the old Domestick and the more questions he askt the more he was informed and yet not being able to convince himself of so incredible a thing he could not without great difficulty believe what he saw He dispatcht new Scouts upon the heels of the old he gave order for pursuing the Pilgrims not only where he judged they might possible be but in such places likewise where he was assured they were not These Hue and Crys confirmed him in what had been told him he received attestations from all the Inns where the devout Lovers had reposed betwixt Burgos and Bayonne and of the liberty they used Don Garcias understood so many particularities of their Travels that he doubted noâ— but he was a Cuckold That Title disquieted him more than any thing else it was an appellation he always reckoned amongst the most insupportable in the World But he must be patient in spight oâ— his teeth he was not the only man had practised that vertue for whilst he was making the best of a bad Market and meditating revenge suitable to his injury Cupid was taking care to provide him Companions that the fellow-feeling of one anothers calamities might be an alleviation to them all The Star that was so fatal to the Husband this year had not confined its influence to the Climate of Castile the cold as well as hot Countries felt the force of that Constellation Earl Ethelwold a Favourite to Edgar King of England had gained so far upon the affections of his Majesty that he governed both his Subjects and desires as absolutely as himself This King acted nothing but by his Counsels saw nothing but by his Eyes and as if he had been to love nothing but with his heart he intrusted him to go and view a young Lady called Alfreda Daughter and Heir to the Duke of Devonshire one of the greatest Lords in that Kingdom of whom he had heard so well that if his Favourite sound her as she was represented he resolved to make her his Wife Besides her Beauty her Fortune was so great it was no Policy in the King to commit the choice of her to Ethelwold The Duke of Devonshire had been the cause of great troubles during the Reign of the precedent King for which he was confined to his own Territory and that was the reason Alfreda had never appeared in the Court â—f England In this manner was this Favourite qualified with a Commission to furnish the King with a Wife and the Throne of England with a Queen This Conjuncture seemed very consonant with his designs he flattered the King in his desires â—f marrying Alfreda and though intending nothing less than that she should be his Queen the â—eparted with absolute power to conclude or break â—ff the Marriage as he judged convenient MAXIME I. He that with too much power imploys his Friend In Love Intrigues runs greater hazard far Example tells than he 's perhaps aware Vnbounded power whate're it may pretend But seldom answers the expected end For if by chance unfaithful one does prove And who will strive against his own desire His very trust provokes him to aspire He that can once for 's friend with freedom move Takes greater freedom and fr ' himself makes Love â—thelwold being arrived in Devon-shire and the priâ—ate Article of his Commission being the examination of her Beauty he resoved to see her before he â—â—ade any Proposals He pretended he had taken â—â—at Journey to set the Duke right once more with â—â—e Crown of England and this good office deserâ—ing all the Civility could be shewed him the Daughter was called down to bear a part in the acknowledgments Never did old Story speak of any Lady with so much advantage as the English Chronicle does of Alfreda the description made of her therein relishes more of Romance than veritable Narration and yet the effects her Beauty produced were so strange and so great they seem to justifie the Elogy they gave her The Count was dazled at the very first glance and this surprise was presently converted into a violent passion and that into a resolution never to put her into the arms of his Master He proceeded presently to a Treaty but it was for himself thereby teaching Posterity that in matters of Love they should never give their Agents so absolute a power as may tempt them to abuse it There being no person in the Court of England so great as Ethelwold the Duke of Devon-shire took the Proposition as a very great Honour and granted it without any demur so that all things being concluded and nothing wanting to consummate all but the Nuptial Benediction Ethelwold gave the Duke to understand that in duty he was obliged to let his Majesty know of it before under which pretence he took his leave of the Duke for some time and returned presently to Court where he gave Edgar a description of Alfreda quite contrary to what he had already conceived True it is Sir said the Count to the King Alfreda has all things about her requisite to the making a Lady handsom and yet with all those ingredients she is far from it her self She has an ill Meen which discredits her shape she has a red Lip but without any sweetness her Eyes are large grey and well set but she has a way of opening them which renders them abominable her looks are so childish and silly they take much from the excellence of her Complexion in short Sir the features and proportions of this Lady are not made for one another they are so hudled together their confusion spoils their retail and never was there person before the Duke of Devon-shires Daughter that had so much hard favourdness and so much Beauty together To this extravagant Character Ethelwold added certain pretended reasons of his own as that since the Duke of Devon-shire had been banisht the Court he had contracted great debts and ingaged a considerable part of his Country to the Earls and Dukes that were his Neighbours that he was odious to the English that his Journey into Devon-shire having given some Alarm and suspicion the people began already to declaim against the Match and in
No man can tell its power till he hath tryed it and no man that hath tryed is fit to describe it Henry de Lorraine the Husband of Theresia of Castile and Prince of the Conquests in Portugal being of a Family to which life and Generosity were connatural with great sorrow understood the distraction of the Royal House of Castile Any body but he would have made his advantage of them the displeasure of the Father against two of his Daughters must needs be of great importance to the third But the Princes of his Race are not capable of so mean a thing as private interest He departed from Lisbon immediately went directly to his Father-in-law the King of Castile and undertook to mediate betwixt his two Brothers-in-law But for as much as new Acquisitions are more tottering and uncertain than what are anciently establisht Henry apprehending his absence might give opportunity to new Commotions he kept his Journey very close and leaving Fernandez Paw a Portugal to assist his Wife in the Government of that Kingdom he departed so suddenly for Castile that Theresia had scarce time to write two lines to her Father But for the making the occurrences at Castile at the Arrival of Prince Henry perspicuous it will not be amiss if we insert what passed in Portugal before he set out This Fernandez Paw whom he had left chief Counsellor to the Princess in his absence had long since possest himself of that Character in her heart Henry was a young Prince more enamoured of the Quality than the Person of Theresia This Paw admired her for both and it is a great satisfaction to a Woman to have her Dominion founded upon her own Excellence Paw therefore had got an intimacy with the Princess upon that score and having managed it very discreetly Prince Henry had gotten no notice of it Paw served his Prince so well in his Foreign Affairs he was not the least suspected at home Theresia carried herself with as much modesty as could be expected but by misfortune the day before Henry was to depart there had been some Letters past betwixt Theresia and Paw the Princess was subject to some Christian reflexions which had put her Gallant into some confusion He had writ to her upon that subject and Theresia was so prest by her Husband to close up her Pacquet to Castile that she sealed up Paws Letter instead of one to her Father This mistake was not discovered till three or four hours after the Prince was departed They had been imployed all that time in instructions pro and con But when the Princess was alone and had a mind to read Paws Letter which she believed she had left sealed upon the Table she was much surprized to find the Letter she had writ to her Father Alphonso in its place That she sigh 't and wept and tore her hair is no great difficulty to imagine Nothing could serve but she must dye Fernandez could not comfort her and to speak truth he himself wanted no little consolation But there was no remedy but patience The Example of her other Sisters gave his some relaxation she could not do worse than they had done before her In the mean time Henry arrived at Burgos with Paws Letter instead of his Fathers The good Alphonso was much revived at the sight of his dear Son-in-law and looking now upon Theresia as the sole Inheritrix of that Love of which Elvira and Vrraca had rendred themselves unworthy he observed the tears drop down his venerable Cheeks at the sight of the Letter the Prince presented him from her He opened the Pacquet with great joy and supposing there was nothing in the heart of his Daughter to which her Husband might not be privy he began to read it aloud but recollecting immediately that it was not Theresia's hand he stopt at the first line and then looking upon the Superscription to see how it was directed he found it For the King of Castile and that the Superscription was written by Theresia her self he concluded then that she might have some reasons which he did not know to make use of a Secretary and then stepping to the Window he read these Lines which to accommodate our selves to all sorts of Readers we have taken the pains to translate our of Spanish Ah my dear Princess how insupportable are you grown with your remorses have I not told you a thousand times that there is nothing owing to Husbands but the conservation of their Honours That the great discretion lyes in chusing a friend who by the prudenee of his Conduct would keep them from scandal and these Formalities being observed there is no more due from you to Prince Henry Courage Madam overcome this unseasonable compunction and that it may be nipt in the bud permit that I may wait upon you this night with new Arguments against it Never was any man so surprized as Alphonso at the reading of this Letter It was to be his common custom to see his Daughters disloyal Elvira had taken that liberty in private Vrraca did it publickly and the old King of Castile was so good a Father as to impute all to the imprudence of his Sons-in-law He could not believe it was their temperament or natural inclination which disposed them to so unnatural actions The one was debaucht by the Jealousie of her Husband the other by her desire of Revenge but for Theresia he had nothing to say in her defence Henry was accomplisht in himself he had setled the French oeconomy in his Family and Theresia lived at Lisbon as she would have done at Paris He was liberal frank and faithful so that Alphonso was so much transported at the injury done to this Prince that he could not master his first resentments However it had been but prudence in him to conceal the exorbitance of his Daughter but the good man was so transported with choler that he threw the Letter upon the ground cast up his eyes to heaven as a person under some eminent affliction and answering his own thoughts as it had been his Daughter he cryed out You shall dye unhappy Child you shall dye if your Husband should be so merciful to forgive you I would tear you in pieces with mine own trembling hands rather than your infidelity should go unpunisht The Prince of Portugal had like to have swounded at this transport he could not conceive the Contents of the Letter nor the cause of Alphonso's disorder and asking him in his surprise what infidelity it was he charged upon Theresia the King took up the Letter again and delivering it into his hand here says he see what reason I have to be disturbed and confess I have brought Monsters not Daughters into the World Henry took Paws Letter from the King he knew the hand and reading it half out was so astonisht at the Contents he could scarce tell whether he was waking or asleep His conversation in the World had not been so small but he
without Constance presented her self where the Emperour attended She fell into a large Encomium of his confidence told him that that was the surest way to win her heart and having ingaged to follow what directions he would give her she conjured him to return her the Letter and to chuse rather to receive her favours from her own pure will than to owe them to any fear or constraint which would be unworthy of either of them Whilst this Letter is in your hands Sir said she you will always believe you obtain that by force which nothing but your merit ought to make you to hope This imagination must needs trouble your joy and I am perswaded you are of a more gentle and delicate temper than to govern like a Tyrant where you may reign like a lawful Prince Restore my Letter then I conjure you I beg it in the name of whatever it be that is most dear to you and I do promise my acknowledgements shall follow your Generosity so close you shall not have time to repent you of any thing you do This Proposition was not pleasting to Frederick He had a mind Constance should make the first step and told her she ought to have the same confidence in his word as she desired he should have in hers But the conning Nun knew to complain so artificially of his injustice to her sincerity she was so apt to take his unkindness to heart and he was so well pleased with her tenderness it was not possible for him to refuse her any longer He pulled the Letter out of his Pocket and gave it into her hands but he was much surprised to see her run away with the Paper and to observe that at the very first step of her flight he heard some body cry fire round about the Covent This noise was made by her three Companions from their several Postes they had agreed among themselves of this Stratagem before and the Emperour suspecting nothing of it was advancing towards the house to examine what might be the reason But the Confusion was so great and his Train which he had placed without hearing the Name of Frederick and Emperour frequently reiterated in the Covent they perswaded him so forcibly that it was not safe for him to stay longer in the Garden that he retird with all speed and went directly to his Palace so mad and outragious at the Trick they had put upon him that had he followed the first motions of his Choler he would have set fire to the Monastery indeed and sacrificed Constance and all her Sisterhood to the justice of his resentment But not thinking himself strong enought at that time in Rome he durst not attempt so great a piece of violence besides it would not have been easie for him to have done it for at the first Alarm about the Town and the Palace of Alexander that some body was stealing his Holiness his Niece the Monastery was immediately encompassed with such a number of Souldiers it would have been a difficult matter to have made any such Attempt The Popesent one of his Officers to inform himself of the particulars Constance told her story so well there was no body but believed her She said she had been drawn by force out of her Cell and carried into the Garden whence they had certainly conveyed her through the breach of the Wall had not the Cryes of her Companions who heard her skreek out prevented their violence This Tale was so well invented and the Evidences against the Emperour so probable that the Pope doubted not in the least but the Emperour was the Author of this Tumult Constance had long since complained of his Visits She affirmed she heard his voice in the throng He went abroad that night attended by several armed men and had been met in the street with his Mirmidons by some of his Holinesses Servants which put the Pope into the highest indignation against the rashness of that Prince He commanded his Guards to their Arms he beset the Emperours Palace with resolution to revenge himself for the indignity done to him in the person of his Niece But Frederick had prevented his diligence he had withdrawn himself and his Family into the Quarters of one of his Troops where he complained as much of the Affront done to him as Alexander did on the other side From hence it was arose that famous War betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibelins which was the desolation of Italy for so long time and divided all the Princes of Christendom The publick pretence was That the Pope refused the Bishoprick of Ravenna to a Favourite of the Emperours but the occult cause was Constances rejection of the Emperours Love and that passion being turned into Rage by the Trick she had put upon him it is a hard matter to describe the effects that rage did produce Rome was pillaged his Holiness forced to abandon the holy See and seek Sanctuary in France Autipopes where chosen Excommunications thundred abroad and all these the consequence of a fatal Amour though of so many dire accidents are reported in History there are few people that can trace them from their true source and Original The ambition of Frederick and the perversness of the Pope are generally charged with these disorders The latter hath been condemned of severity the first of an injustifiable design upon the Lands of the Church The super Aspidem Basiliscum of Alexander the Third is recorded in Capital Letters in all the Relations of that time But there are few Memoires which attribute that to Constances Gallant which History imputes to the Protector of the Antipope and thus it is the great Affairs of the World are secretly carried on They have all several faces and we see nothing but as the partiality or ignorance of the Historian represents But without fear of digressing too much from the ways of truth we may always mingle some amorous Occurrences with the Accidents which seem most remote and foreign to that passion for if we take our measures right there is seldom any passage how Tragical soever it may appear of which the Annals of Love may not become a Chronological History As Constance was the secret Cause of the War it was but just she should give her Uncle all the assistance she could to maintain it She writ word to Prince Henry all the violences the Emperour had designed against her and the ways she took to defeat them Jealousie hath been always a kind of Apple of Contention which spares not the most Sacred Alliances The Emperour was most violently jealous of his Son as well in point of Honour as of Love He saw he had a great Reputation in the Army and he imputed the Affront Constance had done to him to her passion for his Rival so that the secret dissatisfactions of the Prince cooperating with the ill disposition of the Emperours mind they began to look upon one another with diffidence to that diffidence succeeded
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
down the stairs The Prince followed her as close as he could but not knowing the turnings of the House and the Fugitive being still some distance before there was always a Chamber betwixt them Young Agnes without doubt could have wisht he had been nearer and began already to fear lest he should hurt himself in the dark and as if the stairs had been the bounds of her apprehension she was just thinking of returning from whence she came but she was prevented in that by her Mother and the Princess of Arragon Her Mother did not believe the Princes desires were lawful nor if they had that they could have ever-been executed and therefore had kept her Parole very punctually with the Queen She had watcht the two Lovers so close she had discovered their nocturnal Entertainments she had given faithful advertisement and Leonora like an inraged Lover delighting to reproach his Treason to the Traitor himself got leave of the Queen that she might lye privately in the Marchionesses House and if possible catch her Gallant in the fact At so an unexpected apparition Agnes gave a skreek and would have run to the Prince to have saved her but her Mother stopt her and giving her a twirl by the Elbow thrust her towards the next Chamber As she opened the door there came so sudden a gust of wind out of it as blew out the Marquesses Candle she was afraid her Daughter should have escaped in that interval and having a mind to surprise the Prince whom nevertheless she believed to be under the Window she seized upon Agnes her self and would not let her stir till a new light was brought Leonora committing the care of securing the young Castro to her Mother slipt privately without any noise into the Chamber from whence her Rival came out The Prince by the glimmering of the Moon which was then rising was just got thither and taking Leonora for the person he pursued he threw himself upon her and clipt her in his Arms with as much ardour as could be expected from the affection of an amorous young man Dear Agnes said he to the Princess why do you withdraw from my affections are you not sensible of their purity I swear Agnes and I call Heaven to witness my design is nothing else but to set the Crown of Portugal upon your Head sweeten this attempt of mine with some expression of your kindness and trust your self for once to the faith of a Person that adores you You are not ignorant of my passion you are acquainted with all the fallacies I have put upon Leonora the indeed inhumane way I have taken to make her a blind and a cover for my affection to you and the little advantage I have made of her Errours have given you an entire prospect of my Soul The innocence of the Princes intentions made him a little bold he interrupted his discourses with some little exorbitances and so resolute he was to make Agnes his Wife that doubtless he would have presumed to have anticipated in some points had not the Marchioness came into the Chamber with her Candle It is no easie matter to determine who was in the greatest Consternation the Princess to have heard the Princes Discourss the Marchioness to find Don Pedro where he was and the Prince at the Apparition both of the one and the other For some time they were all of them amazed and stood gazing one upon another without speaking a word but at length old Castro coming first to her tongue she accosted him thus How Sir said she to the Prince and is it true that you make no scruple of sullying the Honour of a Person which gave you your first nourishment Is this Sir my recompence for having born you so often and with so much tenderness at my bosom Ha! Sir could I ever have expected this treatment from Don Pedro or from the Son of the Great King Alphonso Was I then to be the Victime of your secret passions added the Princess did I serve but as a stale and pretence and was it only for the Love of Agnes you pretended to love me The Prince at this second Charge conceiving the Service too hot quitted the field and having with great speed secured his Ladder he rescued himself from the reproaches of two outragious Women This Adventure made as much noise in the Court as could be expected from the fury of the Queen and the Authority she had usurped over the Spirit of the King The promises which Don Pedro made by mistake to Leonora interfering with the Power of the King there was no kind of reprehension but it drew upon the Prince those appearances of Love wherewith he had abused the Princess of Arragon giving occasion of offence to the Royal Family from whence she was descended pusht on the Queen in her murmurs and threats even to an excess she exclaimed against the consequences of that insolence and nothing could repair it but either the Prince must marry her immediately or else the King must give her leave to retire with her Daughter into the Kingdom of Arragon The Marchioness her self who by Leonora's condonation was become clearly of her side and desired his Majesty to assign her a Husband for her Daughter declaring that after such contumacy as she had committed it was but reason she should expect one no where else but from the bounty of the King The Prince endeavoured to dis-entangle himself as well as he could sometimes he stormed like a mad man sometimes he submitted sometimes he threatned to attempt any thing for the vindication of his liberty and then again he would call for quarter to purchase a little repose The King observing his disorder to increase and that the more violent it became the more it was opposed he thought no way so sure to put an end to it as to cause Agnes to be killed She dyed as the Queen gave out of the small Pox but the more learned Authors are of opinion it was by poyson It is easie to conceive Don Pedro's distraction at so Tragical an accident he resolved to revenge himself upon whom ever he did but suspect to have an hand in it and his Father dying just in the nick hence it was there arose an irreconciliable quarrel betwixt the two Crowns of Arragon and Portugal Don Pedro sacrificed ten years War and so much blood to the Ghost of his dear Agnes as might well have given him the addition of Cruel had not the gentleness of the latter end attoned for the beginning of his Raign THere was another Agnes living almost about the same time The Countess of Pontieuvre no less famous in the History of France than Agnes de Castro in the History of Portugal She was Mistress to Charles VII who governed the French Monarchy from the year 1422 to the year 1461. The troubles which happened in his Raign are not my province in this place There are Authors enough have related the Invasion of the
more he exasperated his Father His Friends advised him to withdraw till the storm was over and accordingly he retired into the Province of Dauphine as some say much better satisfied with Trimouille than they could have imagined Chabannes in the mean time returned peeceably to his own House the man that had run away with him was the English Womans Husband in whose Cloaths the Count was escapt This Woman had run away from her good man upon pretence of ill usage and he being not at all consenting to the Divorce and not daring to offer any violence to the Sanctuary she had chosen he watcht her perpetually in the streets resolved to secure her whenever he met her as he thought he had done in the person of Chabannes When by the reproaches he made him the Count perceived his mistake he pulled up his Hood and the man being undeceived he beg'd his pardon and reconducted him to the Citizens house whither he was going before when he stopt him Chabannes changed his Cloaths and came immediately to Court to see how things past He was exceedingly surprised to understand their proceedings and dispatcht S. Colombe to Madam Agnes in Post-haste he prevailed upon her more by that one Message than the King had done with all his importunities She took her leave of her Covent and returned to Court illustrious and more pleasant than ever But she enjoyed not long the advantages of her restauration for she dyed not many days after The causes of her death were found to be unnatural and Monsieur Tremouille's sudden Retreat to the Dauphin at the same time made it too probable he was instrumental in the business The good King Charles was so passionately afflicted therewith he would admit of no consolation Chabannes had like to have dyed with sorrow but the Kings favour supported him He had Tremouilles place vacant by his absenting himself confer'd upon him by the King during whose life he quickly enjoyed it It is not to be imagined he was in such favour when the Prince came to the Crown he was arrested before he could escape and the Dauphin being now Lewis XI would have sacrificed him to his new Dignity had not he evaded his indignation by escaping out of the Bastille I refer the Reader to the History it self to be informed of all the Occurrences The Annals of Love observe only the more remarkable Passages and represents them without any regular Order THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE SIXTH PART ABout the same time we have spoken of before Feliciane the Wife of a Spanish Merchant who traded into the Levant being taken Prisoner by the Corsaires and her Husband slain in the fight she was sold to one of the principal African Lords whose ordinary Residence was in Tunis The African Lord became enamour'd of his Slave and finding her too vertuous to make a bare advantage of his passion he was constrained to marry her He had one Daughter by her which he called Feliciane after the name of her Mother The Mother and the Daughter begat a kindness in him to the Spanish Nation He suffered his Wife to teach his Daughter that Language as her Mother-tongue and when any Spaniard of Quality came into Barbary he lodged them usually at his own House and performed all the good offices to them he was able Alphonso Ribiero Son to Don Garcias Ribiero born in Alcantara came to Tunis to treat about the Ransom of his Elder Brother who sailing into Greece was taken by the Pirats and exchanged with certain Slaves of Barbary Alphonso was too young to be intrusted alone with so great a Negotiation he was appointed only to the Ceremonial part for there was an old Servant of his Fathers sent along with him to manage the Bargain He was received by the Father of Feliciane not only as a Spaniard but as a person particularly related to his Wife She had been at his birth and passed the prime of her years in Don Garcias House The young Feliciana and he were presently surprised with a violent inclination one for the other Nature had it seems delighted her self to prepare ways for their affection Alphonso resembled the young African so exactly and the African Alphonso that they might well have been mistaken had not their Habits distinguisht both their Sexes and Persons But Love 's no need of likeness he desplays A thousand Arts contrives a thousand ways To bedge in peoples hearts by secret turns The most unlike and the most cold he burns Nought's incombustible when he conspires No humane temper can withstand his fires Feliciana seeing her own Picture in Alphonso as he did in Feliciana she fell in Love almost at first sight their looks their manners their motions every thing in them prevented the office of their Tongue so that they were immediately advanced to their reciprocal promises Simpathy is a great promoter of such Adventures and makes a great deal of ground in a little time Great was the joy for their Love he performed his Honorary part very well he was the Priest and the Deity both But the liberty of his elder Brother was an unseasonable impediment to the Mystery Alphonso used all the Arts he could invent not to return into Castille there was not a Curiosity a man of his age could be capable of pretending but he made use of to stay but his Brother was inexorable and he must go along yet this was not without solemn promises from Alphonso to come back again in a short time if he lived and as fincere assurances from Feliciana never to falsifie that faith which she had given him Their Adieu was sorrowful and kind excess of Love was at that time in season for Love has its seasons as well as other things and is as troublesom to those whose desires are satisfied as it is agreeable where they are in their spring Alphonso being departed and Feliciana very impatient of his return many months passed and no News of her Castillan There were several Spanish Ships arrived upon the Coast of Barbary and in them some Alcantara Merchants with Presents from Don Garcias for Feliciana's Mother but no Letter nor no private Message for her This negligence startled her she was afraid she was betrayed and the first effect of that opinion being a resolution to reproach the crime to the Criminal himself she insinuated with a Master of Biscay and perswading him she would go over into Spain to turn Christian she made him promise her to land her in the Port of Carthagena The bargain made and the hour of her Embarkment arrived Feliciana put on a Suit of Cloaths of Alphonso's which he had left by accident behind him and providing her self with certain Chains of Gold away she went to meet with her Biscayen The Seas and the Winds were so favourable to her designs that she landed at Carthagena without any accident she brought a Horse there immediately and taking a Guide put herself upon the Road for Alcantara She
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