Wit her Graces and Magnificence Her Picture requires far better Colours and more Artificial Touches It must be drawn after another manner then that of 〈◊〉 and Cleopatra Other Incense must be burnt and other Crowns placed before a Martyr then upon the Altar of an Idol Besides all these Titles are equivocal Terms and properly signifie neither Vertue nor Vice Magnanimous Persons are not always Nobly born And a great Courage is not ever of a great House Cedars and Palms grow in Vallies Broom and Fern-Brakes are found upon Mountains Beauty is rarely Innocent And Graces are Flowers which may have an ill odour and grow in a bad Soyl. Concerning the Elevation and Lights of the Minde they are common both to Vertuous and Wicked Persons And oftentimes we see Comets which have more Fire and are more elevated then great Planets In like manner Magnificence is a Vertue which may prove unfaithful and Heretical which may be Imprudent and condemned with the Foolish Virgins And we know that the Piramides of Egypt and other like Wonders have been erected by debauchâ—d Women Let us then lay aside equivocal Titles and ambiguous Elogies We have Proper and Formal ones Let us not say that Mary Stewart was descended from a continued Line of Kings But let us say that she had a more generous Heart a more Royal Soul and Soveraign Reason then all the Crowned Kings from whom she derives her Extraction Let us not esteem her for Beauty which is common to the Rose and the Poppy to Chaste and Lascivious Women but for a Vertuous and Disciplined Beauty of good Odour and Example Let us neither praise her Graces nor her Wâ—t but let us commend the Reservedness and Modesty of her Graces Let us praise the Discretion Sweetness and Moderation of her Minde And let us not speak of her Liberalities or say that they were judicious and well Ordered that they were choice and disposed with Method Let us say that she understood the Art and Secret of a Benefit that she knew how to give with Heart and Spirit with her Countenance and Looks And that after Fortune had taken all from her she continued to be magnificent in Desire and Affection and to make great Presents with slight things The French Muses who lived in her time failed not to praise this part of her Vertues which had been beneficial to them and done honour to Learning And truly they would have shewed themselves very ungratefull if they had not praised Her It was no fault of this good Princess that they were not all Rich and at their Ease that they were not all Apparelled in Cloth of Gold and lodged in the Lourre She Treated them familiarly and as her Companions she recreated her self with them in Prose and Verse and the Sport never ended without some Present which closed up the Cadence and Periods and rendred the Stanâ—a's harmonious Concerning Courage which was her Predominant Vertue and gave her a place in this Gallery it appeared in France Scotland and England In France she resisted Prosperity and vanquished Excess and Pleasures which some have conceived much harder to overcome then Grief and Afflictions She preserved her self from the Corruptions of the Court and from the unwholsom blasts which are ingendred by ease and which attend a plentifull â—ortune She conserved her Innocence in Greatness And what is little less then new Created Planets she shewed much Modesty under a great Crown and upon the highest Throne of the World a most eminent Devotion and a Consummated Piety But because Vertue happy and at ease is in a continual Violence and that violent things cannot last but by Miracle God who made choice of this Princess and would have her all entitâ— withdrew her out of Prosperity which in length of time might have corrupted her and delivered her up to Adversity which Treated her as a Carver Treats Marble And depriving her sometimes of one thing and sometimes of another compleated the â—igure of the Heroick Woman which was yet but rough-drawn in her Being returned into Scotland a Widow to Francis the Second and to his Fortune And her Youth joyned with the Supplications of her People and Reason of State having obliged her once more to Marry that which ought to have been her Support proved the cause of her Ruine Heresie imaged at the Zeal she bore to the Conservation of the Catholique Faith cast Fire into the Royal House to make it pass more easily from thence into the Church Calumny Ambition and Jealousie prepared the Fuel for this Fire and inkindled the Matter But the good Queen having quenched it by her Prudence and Address Heresie which sought to Reign by some one of its Faction blew up the King her Husband by a Mine Besides some endeavoured to blemish her with being the Contriver of this Fire and Mine And they slandered her very Mourning and made her guilty of her second Widowhood This Calumny proved a harsh Tryal to her Yet it was but an Essay and as it were an Advance of the Disorders and Mischiefs which ensued And no Tragedy appears so Confused as the life of this good Princess All her days were marked with some Revolt and Conspiracy They were Celebâ—â—ous by some Combat or Flight There was nothing wanting to her but a Crown of Martyrdom and God gave it her in England after a Conflict of nineteen years rendred in several Prisons and determined at last upon a Scaâ—â—old which was more Glorious to her then the Thrones she had lost MORAL REFLECTION THis Picture moves Compassion and is of great Example There is much to Deplore yet more to Imitate And for the Instruction of eminent Fortunes and the Consolation of mean Ones Greatness is there Innocent and Unhappy Mary Stewart conserved her Innocence under two Crowns And in the Vastness of two Kingdoms which she lost one after the other she was much longer a Christian and with more Constancy then a Queen On the one side this teacheth elevated Persons that there is no Condition estranged from God nor any Fortune rejected by him provided it be just That the Unction which makes Kings and Queens doth not efface that which Forms Saints and Holy Women That Palaces and stately Mansions are not out of the Road of Heaven That though Piety Modesty and Patience reside not usually at Court yet they are no strangers there And that Vertue is more Perswasive and Exemplar upon a Throne then in the Tub of the Cynick Likewise on the other side they should learn from the Afflictions of this great Queen to make less Account of Diadems which are torn in pieces of Scepters which are broken and of Thrones which tumble down if never so little touch'd by Fortune then of the Grace of God which was a Purple Robe that remained to this devested Queen an Unction which is not obscured in her Prison nor effaced with her Blood A Crown which cannot be taken off with the Head She was not only an Innocent
be not prepared against the 〈◊〉 misfortune And if you have afforded a place of retreat to some Soveraign passion to some Capital and commanding vice Remember that you are bound in honour both to betrâ—y it and to keep no faith with it as it is a Sisera to you so ought you to be a Jahel to it and you shall be to it an Heroick and victorious Jahel if you â—ull it asleep with the blood of the Lamb and plane a Nail of the Cross in the Head of it A MORAL QUESTION Whether there was Infidelity in the Act of Jahel THe act of Jahel is not numbred amongst those which instantly gain approbation and which at first sight informs the understanding The colour of it is not so beautifull nor the face of it so taking There appeareth therein much dexterity and courage but there is deâ—â—ipt in this address and this courage hath something of barbarous in it 〈◊〉 the breach of faith seems in that action very evident cabinet and chamber 〈◊〉 cannot fail to fill their Common places therewith and to compose a piece against the infidelity of women But here and every where else we must defie seeming illusions and the false lights of the superficieâ—â— We must beware of fastning our opinions upon the 〈◊〉 of things and of judging by the colour The outside 〈◊〉 deceitful and 〈◊〉 into beliefe And very often colours are more 〈◊〉 and have more Justice about vice then vertue Moreover since the holy Ghost himself hath set forth the praise of Jahel since he hath inspired her with a prophetick mouth and hath even dictated it to one of his writers we need not fear to hazard our esteem upon his approbation not make a scruple to honour the memory of a vertue whereof he hath lest us the 〈◊〉 and picture after his own manner There was then prudence and conduct addresse and courage in this action of Jahel and particularly fidelity which is questioned was herein couragious and magnanimous It was fortified with zeal and consecrated to Religion I know not whether Jahel might owe something to Sisera and the Canaanites who were the enemies of God Tyrants over his people and publick oppressors of the posterity of the Patriarchs But I know very well that she could not engage unto them a second faith against the first which she owed to God against the Law of her forefathers and to the ruine of that holy nation A treaty of this nature had been an Apostaâ—ie of State and Religion and she could not have kept her word without the breach of her saith without betraying her brethren without sinning against God and Moses The Holy Scripture very well observes that there was some kinde of peace between the house of her husband Hebar and the Canaanites But this was not a regular peace and according to usual forms It was but a good interval hardly and dearly purchased by the weakest side It was but 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and pillages which the Canaanites accorded to the house of Hebar in respect of the contributions they drew from them And doubtlesse this Accord on Hebars part was without preâ—udice to the faith he owed to God and his people and this particular repose which he purchased was not a falling off from the common cause It was in all probability of the same nature as particular Treaties are now adayes between common people residing upon Frontiers who 〈◊〉 and sword with money who divert the â—undation and inâ—oad of the Enemie by contributions which they lay upon them this is properly called and without abusing the term so conâ—ure a tempest and charm wilde beasts But these charms and comutations do not binde the Common people who put them in practise They live within the limits of 〈◊〉 and under the duty of joyning as occasion serves with the Troop of their 〈◊〉 of maâ—â—hing against the common enemie of 〈◊〉 the same beasts which they themselves had enchanted The Treatie of Hebar with the Canaanites was in this form It was not a surrender of his right not a dispensation of his duty It was an innocent Charm against 〈◊〉 and sword against Tyrants and oppressors And the waâ— undertaken against them proceeding from the will of God 〈◊〉 by expresse revelation and declared by the Regâ—nâ— Prophetâ—â— as he might list himself without any â—reachers amongst the Troops and â—oyn hiâ— Arms with the common Armâ— for the liberty of the people In Jahel with a good Conscience and meâ—â—t might let her hand to the same work the might be aâ—ding by her 〈◊〉 and forces to break the Chaâ—â— of her brethren she might finish by a particular inspiration the victory which Debora had begun with publick Authority and by the Spirit of Prophesie This particular inspiration supported the common Interest and strengthened natural reason And Jahel exâ—ited on the one side and perswaded on the other exposed for the people both her life and reputation to a hazardouâ— enterprise and which might leave her an ill â—ame Thereby the performed an 〈◊〉 Act of fidelity towards God whom she obeyed towards the â—aw of her Ancesters which she established by the ruine of the opposite Power towards her people whole â—oke she brake and whose chainâ— she rent in pieces towards posterity to which she conserved both Religion and the Sanctuary Freedom and Hope Neverthelese this Act is reckoned amongst those extrâ—ordinary oneâ— which surpaâ—â— received Laws and exceed such measures as are in use It may well 〈◊〉 us admiration and respect but we cannot 〈◊〉 a model of it and draw copies from thence And since Fidelity is an essential part in a Gallant Woman it is proper to produce some exampleâ— whereby vertue all Pure and without the least appearance of stain may serve as well for Imitation as Shew EXAMPLE Joan of Beaufort Queen of Scotland and Catherine Douglas IT is with the History of Scotland as with those frightful pictures wherein nothing is represented but dead and wounded Bodies nothing but fired houses and ruines One cannot ingage himself in it without passing over blood and murthers nay even upon sacred blood and paracide murthers and it is very strange that so little a crown should be divided by so many factions and so often stained with the death of those who have worn it That of James the First was a Tragedy which might passe for an Oriâ—â— either in the time of 〈◊〉 or in the Age of Oedipus But as there is never any Age represented so cruel wherein some person of good life doth not interâ—â—ne who reads not upon the stage lessons of Vertue and corrects the scandal which others give Two women who were present at the death of this good Prince gave an example of Fidelity which cannot be seen now adayes in history without applauding and 〈◊〉 it at least in thought The 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 a Scotchman being possessed with the Ambition of 〈◊〉 which is a bloody Devil and the Instigator of Paracid◠〈◊〉 against his Nephew King
the dying victorious and they that strike and kill were the vanquished The Combat is for the God of Abraham and Moses for the Law of the Patriarchs and Prophets On the other side this cause is defended by abandoned and naked Faith and on the other assaulted by Infidelity armed with Engins and punishments The match seems to you to be unequal And you will hardly believe that Infirmity and Tendernesse can be of more Force then Iron and Fire that a Mother weak both in Sex and Age and Children both abandoned and unarmed should vanquish a furious and armed Tyrant and overcome all the Executioners of his Train Nevertheless they subdued them all and there are alreadie on their side as many Victories as Deaths Salomona was present at all these particular Combats All entire that you see her she hath already delivered up six parts of her heart And I believe that she is now come to her last Childe and to her seventh Crown Her face bears as many Victories as Years There is something I know not what of venerable and August in her wrinkles and you would say that even the Law it self is come out of the Propitiatory in humane shape to infuse Zeal into her Followers and to teach them Fidelity and Constancy Certainly Beauty whatsoever is said of it belongs not only to Youth Vertue is graceful in every Age Her flowers are of the latter season as well as her fruits And whether by natural right or by an Immemorial Priviledge she hath ever preserved the advantage of being at once both Beautiful and Ancient and of having charms under gray Hairs and wrinkles You will profess at least that she hath commanding Attractives in this half dried up skin and upon these withered â—heeks And you will be as much inamored of these venerable Ruines and this Heroick and generous Caducity as of adorned Youth and a scandalous Vivacity Besides do not believe that her Constancie is blinde and obstinate it is fortified with Sence and Reason and its solidity is resplendent and penetrated with light as well as that of the Diamond As if she were not furnished enough with that which is intrinsical and diffused from her own Spirit A light more vigorous and pure descends to her from Heaven which infires her Heart and her heart being inflamed with this fire seems ready to issue forth of her Eyes to receive it even in its source By the Charity of this Divine Light she came to know the short and ruinous Carreir of time and the Immense and sollid Extent of Eternity She hath seen the Waste and Defects of Fortune through the Paints and Disguises wherewith she varnishes her self And one Single Ray miraculously extinguished in her apprehension all those Piles of Wood which are set on fire for her self and Children and made her discern afar off in the hands of Abraham and Jacob the Crowns prepared for them Illuminated by these Lights and fortified by this Object she hath already overcome even six Deaths and behold her wrastling with the seventh which assaults her by the youngest and last of her Children There is tendernesse indeed on that side but nothing of weaknesse and this last part of her Heart in being the most innocent and lesse fortified by time shall not be the less invincible The Tyrant thinks to gain upon her by that way but he was not well acquainted with her He perswades himself that at least with this single drop of blood which was left her she would preserve the hope and restauration of her Posterity But the blood of the Macchabees would not endure the least stain for its Conservation and so holy and glorious a Race could not end more honourably then by seven Martyrs She was far from contributing her voice and Carresses to iniquity and from becoming the Temptress of her Son she fortified his Minde and strengthened his Courage she discovered to him her Bosom and Breasts which are reasons so much the more powerful as having the more tendernesse she shews him the Heavens open and the God of Abraham a Spectator of his Conflict with the Patriarchs and Prophets I think also that the spake to him of his Ancestors the Macchabees and made him understand that this great Light is that of their Conquering Souls which are descended to assist his Victory and to finish by his Constancie the Glory and Coronation of their Name the Triumph and Sanctity of their Race The Couragious Youth heareth her with a manly Constancie his Resolution is visible already in his Eyes and gives a Color to his Face His Constancie in Punishments will quickly shew that he is twice born of this Heroick Mother that he is no less the fruit of her Heart then of her Womb and that he hath sucked with his Milk the Spirit and Quintessence of her Vertue and the very blood and Marrow of her Soul Being now assaulted by large Promises and magnificent VVords he only opposeth his silence to this vain Battery and one motion of his Head accompanied with a Gesture of Scorn over turns all those Mountains of Gold which are offered him The Tyrant being irritated thereby bites his very Lips wrath prepares new Fires in his Heart both for the Mother and the Son Some sparkles of them are seen already to issue from his Eyes and smoak out of his Mouth and two great stacks of wood will suddenly be here enkindled with his Breath and the Fire of his VVrath Mean while Salomona rejoyceth at the Courage of her Son she animates him afresh to the Combat and proposeth to him the Example of his Brothers She shews him their souls already crowned who remain at the Gate of Heaven staying only for his to begin their Triumph Those are their Bodies which you see amidst the Executioners and Tortures Of six two of them have been delivered up to the Furnace incompassed with Fire and the four other have been divided between two great Caldrons They live no longer and yet still resist They seem to contest with Insensibility which is to them as it were a second Constancy and a natural Force which their souls have left them at their Departure You would say that they had a mind to make shew of a distinct Virtue from that of their mindes and to possess their labours and merits apart in this common cause You would say that every member hath a Heart peculiar to its self and a particular life to expose Their blood though shed retains still its vigour There issueth thence a smoak which proceeds from the fire of their Zeal nay even their flead skins and their lopped off Feet and Hands retain still something of the Spirit of the Macchabees and seem to seek a second Victory There remain none about them but these two Executioners All the rest are out of the Combat and have lost their Resolution with their Forces The Fires which have been kindled to consume these Holy Victimes are overcome by the Divine Fire which hath left
Immolate the jealous Penitent to executed Innocence He wished that he were able at least to tear out his Heart and to rid himself with it of his Crime and Punishment His Eyes besieged by a Death as yet warm and bloody and by two Specters equally frightful finde every where Torment and Reproaches Me thinks this Fury strikes Fear into you Surely she is frightfull And the most Resolute and Heroick Souls even those which deride Death with all its disguises cannot behold her without Trembling if she appears to them Of these Serpents which you see upon her Head some raise sinister Reports and bad Rumors others infuse suspitions and distrusts There are some which steal in by the Eyes of Husbands others which enter by the Ears of VVives The fairest Flowers wither as soon as they are touched by them The best united Hearts are severed if never so little bitten by them and from their mouth doth fall as well the Gall which imbitters the sweetest Humours as the Venom which corrupts the fairest Flowers of Marriage The Torch which she holds in her Hand is no less pernitious then the serpents about her Head All the bad Colours wherewith the most innocent Actions become darkned are compounded of this Coal Her Smoak obscureth the purest and clearest Lights and draws Tears from the fairest Eyes she robs the fairest Faces of their Lustre and Attraction Her Fire seizeth on both Souls and Bodies she causeth Frenzies and Calentures and even in this Life she makes Devils and damned Souls All this teacheth you that this Furie is Jealousie and Enemie of the Graces and the Corruptresse of Love She is come as you see to act her second part and begins to revenge that Murder to which she her self did instigate All the Serpents which are wanting on her Head are about Herods Heart and even tears his Conscience The Bloody sword which she shews him is a dreadfull Looking-glass to his Imagination He beholds there the horror of his Crime he sees there the wounds of his Heart and the stains of his Soul This Apparition indeed is frightful but the incensed Ghost which ariseth from this beautiful Bodie is much more And Herod suffers an other fire and other stings then from the Torch and Snakes of the Furie His wandring and troubled Eyes change their station at every moment They are obsest with these two Spectres which haunt them every where And thinking to repose them upon this dying Beauty wherein heretofore consisted his chief Happinesse he findes there a Tribunal and Scaffold his condemnation and punishment His Yesterdayes Idoll is to day his judge and Executioner This just Blood which still reaks is a devouring fire which fills his distemper'd Imagination and there comes out of it Imprecations and Complaints Outcries of Reproach and Vengeance These cold and tyed up Hands tear his Heart in pieces and this Beautifull Head which caused all his joyes and happy dayes is now the Principal part of his Torment Mean while she hath only changed place the blow which cast her down hath not shaken off her flower her Grace and Beauty are thereby a little faded but not defaced And her open and still â—â—rene eyes seem to expect another Death as if there needed more then one to extinguish them Thus the eclipsed Moon is still fair and the Sun sets daily without losing one single Ray or changing Countenance The mischief is that whereas the Moon recovers her defections and is cured of her Eclipses and the Sun riseth again the next day after his setting there is no renovation of Light or a new day to be expected for Mariamne And this Beautiful Head is fallen in her own Blood never to rise again SONNET MAriamne's dead her Corps is now the seat Of Whiteness only by her Souls Retreat The Royal Blood that tinctur'd it with Red In Crimson streams flowes from her sever'd Head Megaera holds before the Tyrants Eyes The murd'ring Sword He in that Glass espyes The stains wherewith his Heart is cover'd ore And sees his Image purpled with her gore The Vigorous impressions of this sad And â—atal Object render Herod mad Two vindicating Ghosts his Eyes invade With flaming Torch and with a glittring Blade But now his Fury dreads nor Flames nor Swords Her Blood that 's boyling still such Fumes affords As make him feel all Hells tormenting Evils Without the Scorch of Fire or Scourge of Devils ELOGIE OF MARIAMNE MARIAMNE hath appeared too often upon the Theater not to be known in this Picture All things were great in her Birth Beauty Vertue Courage nay bad Fortune She was the Grand-Childe of Patriarchs Prophets Kings and High Priests Her Countenance captivated Herod and inchainâ—d him for a time and her Picture stood in Competition with Cleopatra in the Heart of Anthonie Her Vertue neverthelesse did not consent to this concurrence and being far from thinking on forbidden Acquisitions she never dained to put any constraint upon her self for the preservation of that which she lawfully possessed Her Chastity was so severe and so little indulgent outwardly that there remained within something I know not what of stately and piccant which exasperated Herod and made him return to his own Nature But she was the same to the bitings of this inâ—aged Beast as she had been to his Indeerments She retained her confidence and preserved all her Majesty amidst suborned Accusers confederate and corrupted Judges The Face of the Executioner did not alter at all the serâ—â—ity of her Countenance and her Head was struck off without paling her Brow or displacing her Heart Her Constancie did not begin by her punishment it began by that which is termed her good Fortune Having espoused a jealous Tyrant it was requisite for her to be as couragious in the Palace as in the Prison and Resolution was as needful for her under the Diadem as under the Sword The Blow which struck off her Head was less her Death then the End of her punishment for one Crown it cut off it brake a dozen chains and it was a Redeemer and not an Executioner which delivered her from Herod MORAL REFLECTION HEROD glorious and tormented and Mariamne crowned and unhappy teach us that the greatest Tranquillity is not found in the Highest Regions of the World There are no priviledged Territories nor exempt from Malediction Many sufferers are seen in Prisons and upon Scaffolds but the worst treated Persons remain in Pallaces and upon Thrones These nevertheless cause more Envie then Pitty The People admire what they ought to lament and when there is occasion of drawing the Picture of Happiness they represent her upon a Throne and place a Scepter in her Hand and a Crown upon her Head But the People are ignorant Judges and very unskilful Painters Every day they judge at Random and without knowing the Cause Every day they vent Chimaera's and Caprichio's for well regulated Figures They sufficiently understand of what matter Crowns are made and discern well enough how they