and gracious Courtiers on earth you may become triumphant and glorious Courtiers in heaven THis garbe as it suites not with all Persons so sorts it not to all Places For a Mechanicke to affect Complement would as ill seeme him as for a rough-hewen Satyre to play the Orator It is an excellent point of discretion to fit ones selfe to the quality or condition of that place where he resides That Vrbanity which becomes a Citizen would rellish of too much curiosity in a Countrey-man That Complement which gives proper grace to a Courtier would beget derision or contempt being personated by a Merchant or his Factor In affaires of State is required a gracefull or Complete posture which many times procures more reverence in the person interessed then if that state were omitted Whereas in ordinary affaires of trafficke it were indiscretion to represent any such state or to use any expression either by way of discourse or action that were not familiar That person who prefers Complement before profit and will rather speake not to be understood then lose one polite-stollen phrase which hee hath purchased by eare onely and understands not may account himselfe one among his bank-rupt brethren before hee breake It is pittifull to heare what a remnant of fustian for want of better Complement a Complete-Countrey-Gossip for so shee holds her selfe will utter in one houre amongst her Pew-fellowes How shee will play the Schoole-Mistresse in precepts of Discipline and morall Behaviour Nothing so gracefull in another which shee will not freely reprove nothing so hatefull in her selfe which shee will not confidently approve Teach shee will before shee be taught and correct Formâ— it selfe to bring Forme out of love with it selfe To which malady none is more naturally subject then some Ladies cashiered Gentlewoman or one who hath plaid Schoole-Mistresse in the City and for want of competent pay removes her Campe into the Countrey where she brings enough of vanity into every family throughout the Parish Shee will not sticke to instruct her young Pupils in strange points of formality enjoyning them not to aske their Parents blessing without a Complement These as they were never Mistresses of families so they are generally ignorant in employments of that kind Those three principall workes or faculties of the Vnderstanding which might enable them to Discourse Distinguish and to Chuse are so estranged from them as their Discourse consists solely in arguments of vanity their Distinction in meere shadowes of formality their Choyce in subjects and Consorts of effeminacy Eight things saith Hippocrates make ones flesh moist and fat the first to be merry and live at hearts ease the second to sleepe much the third to lye in a soft bed the fourth to fare well the fifth to be well apparelled and appointed the sixth to ride alwayes on horse-backe the seventh to have our will and the eighth to bee employed in Playes and pastimes and in such time-beguiling recreations as yeeld contentment and pleasure These are the onely receits in request with those Shee-Censors wee now discourse of and of whom it may be said as was sometimes spoken of one Margites that he never plowed nor digged nor did any thing all his life long that might tend unto goodnesse and by necessary consequence wholly unprofitable to the world Who howsoever they are lesse then women at their worke yet at their meat so unconfined is their appetite they are more then men and in their habits so phantasticke is their conceit neither women nor men So as were Diogenes to encounter one of these hee might well expostulate the cause with her as hee did upon like occasion with a youth too curiously and effeminately drest If thou goest to men all this is but in vaine if unto women it is wicked But these wee hold altogether unworthy of your more generous society whose excellent breeding hath sufficiently accommodated you for City Court and Countrey and so fully inform'd you how to demeane your selves in all affaires as I make little doubt but you know wherein it may bee admitted as mainely consequent and wherein omitted as meerely impertinent I meane therefore to descend briefly to the last branch of this Observation declaring what Ornament gives Complement best beauty or accomplishment IT is true what the sonne of Sirach sometimes said When a man hath done his best hee must beginne againe and when hee thinketh to come to an end hee must goe againe to his labour There is nothing so exact which may not admit of something to make it more perfect Wee are to goe by stayres and steps to the height of any story Vertues are the Staires Perfection the Spire But I must tell you Gentlewomen the way for you to ascend is first to descend Complete you cannot be unlesse you know how replete you are of misery Humility is the staire that conducts you to this spire of glory Your beauty may proclaime you faire your discourse expresse a pregnancy of conceit your behaviour confirme you outwardly complete Yet there is something more then all this required to make you absolutely accomplished All these outward becommings be they never so gracefull are but reflections in a glasse quite vanished so soone as the glasse is removed Critolaus balance was of precious temper and well deserving estimation with Heires of Honour who poised the goods of body and fortune in one skale and goods of the mind in the other where the goods of the mind so farre weighed downe the other as the Heaven doth the Earth and Seas To lead a dance gracefully to marry your voice to your instrument musically to expresse your selves in prose and verse morally are commendable qualities and enforcing motives of affection Yet I must tell you for the first though it appeare by your feet to be but a meere dimension in the opinion of the Learned it is the Divels procession Where the Dance is the Circle whose centre is the Divell Which may be restrained by a more easie or moderate glosse to such wanton and immodest Revels as have anciently beene used in the Celebration of their prophane feasts by Pagans and are to this day by Pagan-christians who to gaine applause from the Spectator care not what shamelesse parts they play in the presence of their Maker But what are these worth being compared with these inward Ornaments or beauties of your mind which onely distinguish you from other creatures and make you soveraignesses over the rest of Gods creatures You have that within you which will best accomplish you Let not that bee corrupted by which your crooked wayes may be best corrected Hold it no such necessary point of Complement to shew a kind of majesty in a Dance and to preferre it before the Complement of a Religious taske Those sensuall Curtezans who are so delighted in songs pipes and earthly melody shall in hell rore terribly and howle miserably crying as it is in the Apocalips Woe Woe Woe Woe shall
shall be no lesse usefull to your selves if rightly observed then motives of comfort if duely and exactly considered Hee was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question When a man should marry A young man not yet an elder man not at all Of which opinion was Arminius that Ruler of Carthage whose harsh conceit of marriage proceeding either from personall disability or some experience of womans levity deserves small approbation For had it beene Arminius fortune to have matched with Arminia hee would doubtlesse rather have fallen into admiration of so sacred a rite then into distaste of it For this Noble Lady being bidden to King Cyrus wedding went thither with her husband at night when they were returned home her husband asked of her how shee liked the Bride-groome whether she thought him to bee a faire and beautifull Prince or no Truth saith she I know not for all the while I was forth I cast mine eyes upon none other but upon thy selfe Or had Calanus prevented Hiâ—â—o of his choice hee would have fallen from his Stoicall dreame to a Nuptiall song for one of Hieroâ—s enemies reproaching him with a stinking breath hee went home and questioned his wife why she told him not thereof but what answer gave this continent Lady Surely said shee I thought all men had the same savour Or had Claudian injoyed so inimitable a consort as the no lesse beauteous then vertuous Clara whose constant affection to her decrepit and diseased Valdaure in shâ—wing most love when a loathsome bed might have ministred most distaâ—â—e hath recommended her living memory to the succeeding Annals of posterity Oâ— had Timon attained the happinesse to joyn hands with Theogena wife to Agathocles hee had not inveighed so much against the state of Marriage for this renowned Lady shewed admirable constancy in her husbands greatest misery showing her selfe most his owne when hee was relinquisht and forsaken of his owne saying That she was not given him to bee a sharer onely in his prosperity but in what fortune soâ—ver should befall him Or had Zenocrates enjoyed Zenobia hee would no lesse have admired his fortune then beshrewed himselfe for depriving himselfe so long of so sweet a Companion For this princely Lady after the death of Odonatus though a Barbarian Queene yet by her reading of both Roman and Greeke Histories so managed the state after the decease of her husband as shee reteined those fierce and intractable people in her obedience being a woman no lesse absolute for learning then discreet governing for she abridged the Alexandrian and all the Orientall Histories a taske of no lesse difficulty then utility whereby she attained the highest pitch of wisdome and authority Or had Aristippus beene so happy as linked himselfe with Artemisia hee would have preferred so kind and constant a yoke-fellow before all exteriour contemplations for this chaste and choice Lady after the death of her beloved Mansolus thought it not sufficient to erect a glorious monument in his memory but to enshrine him in her owne body by drinking his ashes and interring him in her selfe Many such eminent women may wee reade of in Histories both divine and humane whose vertues have equalled if not surpassed most men So as howsoever it was the Milesian Thales his saying that hee had cause to give Fortune thankes for three things especially first for that hee was a man and not a beast secondly that hee was a man and not a woman thirdly that hee was a Greeke borne and not a Barbarian Women there be whos 's more noble endowments merit due admiration because as in their sex weaker and inferiour so in the gifts of the mind richer and superiour But now to our Choice for it is to be received as already granted being by the authority of an Apostle confirmed that Mariage is honourable among all and every honourable thing is more eligible then that which is not honourable So as hee that shunneth Mariage and avoideth society is to be esteemed a foe to humanity or more then a man as hee whom Homer reprehendeth saying That hee was tribe-lesse law-lesse and house-lesse I could wish every young Gentleman to make that Choice of his Mistris which Seneca would have one observe in the choice of a Master Choose him for thy Master saith he whom thou mayest more admire seeing him then hearing him Neither altogether as Egnatius in Catullus is brought out shewing the whitenesse of his teeth for all outward perfections are but as fuell to feed desire without that inward faire which onely maketh woman worthy loving For what is a beautifull complexion being an exteriour good or that which Euryclea his nurse praysed when shee washed the feet of Vlysses namely gentle speech and tender flesh wanting those inward graces which truely adorne and beautifie women So as it is much better to follow his direction in the choice of a wife who said that they were to be chosen Modestiâ non formâ which Modestie cannot admit of this ages vanity where there is nothing lesse affected then what is comely For these garish fashions agree well with none but prostitutes and shamelesse women Neither can that face bee a good one which stands in need of these helpes For what madnesse is it to change the forme of nature and seeke beauty from a Picture Which Picture is vices posture and the ages imposture Neither doe these affected trumperies nor exquisite vanities become a Christian. For what is more vaine then dying of the haire painting of the face laying out of brests Doe not say that these can have shamefast minds who have such wandring and immodest eyes For the habit of the mind is to be discerned by the carriage so as even in motion gesture and pace is modesty to be observed How miserable then is the state of these phantastick Idols who can endure no fashion that is comely because it would not bee observed How base is her shape which must borrow complexion from the shop How can she weepe for her sinnes saith S. Hierome when her teares will make furrowes in her face With what confidence doth she lift up her countenance to heaven which her Maker acknowledges not I would I poore wretch saith Tertullian might see in that day of Christian exaltation whether with Cerusse and Vermillion and Saffron and those tyres and toyes upon your head you are to rise againe which if they doe they shall certainely witnesse against them to receive the reward of their painting in a Lake of tormenting For these are they who lay hands upon God correcting with a hand of contempt the workemanship of God These never carry a box of oyntment to bestow on the members of Christ but a box of complexion they have in readinesse to bestow on a cheeke Which sort of Wantons for how should I otherwise terme them are well displayed by one in their
and all things in it confessed the same I asked the Sea and the depths and the creeping things in them and they answered wee are not thy god seeke him above us I asked the breathing Aire and the whole Aire with all the inhabitants thereof made answer Anaximenes is deceived I am not thy God I asked the Heaven Sun Moone and Stars neither are we thy god answered they And I spake to all these who stand about the gates of my flesh tell me what you know concerning my god tell me something of him and they cried out with a great voice He made us Then I asked the whole Frame and fabricke of this World tell me if thou be my god and it answered with a strong voice I am not said it but by him I am whom thou seekest in mee hee it was that made mee seeke him above me who governeth mee who made mee The interrogation of the creatures is the profound consideration of them and their answer the witnesse they beare of God because all things cry God hath made us for as the Apostle saith the invisible things of God are visible to bee understood by those things which are made by the creatures of the world Thus wee understand the Author of our Creation of whom seriously to meditate and with due reverence to contemplate is to die to all earthly cogitations which delude the sinne-be-lulled soule with extravagancies And let this suffice for the first Memoriall or Consideration to wit who it was that made us we are now to descend to the second particular which is for what end he made us He who rested not till hâ— had composed and disposed in an absolute order of this Vniverse proposed us an example that we should imitate So long as we are Pilgrims here on earth so long as we are Sojourners in this world we may not enjoy our spirituall Sabbath wee may stay a little and breath under the Crosse after the example of our best Master but rest wee may not For what end then did hee make us That wee might live such lives as may please him and die such deaths as may praise him lives blamelesse and unreprovable lives sanctified throughout pure without blemish fruitfull in example plentifull in all holy duties and exercised in the workes of charitie that he who begetteth in us both the Will and the Worke may present us blamelesse at his comming Now that our lives may become acceptable unto him to whose glory they ought to bee directed we are in this Tabernacle of clay to addresse our selves to those studies exercises and labours which may benefit the Church or Common-wealth ministring matter unto others of imitation to our soules of consolation in both to Gods name of glorification wherein appeareth a maine difference betwixt the Contemplative and Active part for sufficient it is not to know acknowledge and confesse the divine Majesty to dispute or reason upon high points touching the blessed Trinitie to bee wrapt up to the third heaven as it were by the wings of Contemplation but to addresse our selves to an actuall performance of such offices and peculiar duties as wee are expresly injoyned by the divine Law of God Our Lord in the Gospel when the woman said Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the brests that gave thee sucke Answered Yea rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it And when one of the Iewes told him that his mother and brethren stood without desiring to speake with him Hee answered and said unto him that told him Who is my mother and who are my brethren And stretching forth his hand toward his Disciples hee said Behold my mother and my brethren For whosoever shall doe the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my brother and sister and mother It is not knowledge then but practise which presents us blamelesse before God Therefore are wee exhorted to worke out our salvation with feare and trembling Not to idle out the time in the market-place as such who make their life a repose or cessation from all labours studies or vertuous intendements Of which sort those are and too many of those there are who advanced to great fortunes by their provident Ancestors imagine it a Taske worthy men of their places to passe their time in pastime and imploy their dayes in an infinite consumption of mis-spent houres for which they must bee accomptants in that great Assize where neither greatnesse shall bee a subterfuge to guiltinesse nor their descent plead priviledge for those many houres they have mis-spent O how can they answer for so many vaine and fruitlesse pleasures which they have enjoyed and with all greedinesse embraced in this life Many they shall have to witnesse against them none to answer for them for their Stoves Summer-arbours Refectories and all other places wherein they enjoyed the height of delight shall be produced against them to tax them of sensuall living and witnesse against them their small care of observing the end for which they were made O Gentlemen you whose hopes are promising your more excellent endowments assuring and your selves as patternes unto others appearing know that this Perfection whereof we now intreat is not acquired by idling or sensuall delighting of your selves in carnall pleasures which darken and eclypse the glory or lustre of the soule but in labouring to mortifie the desires of the flesh which is ever levying and levelling her forces against the spirit Now this Mortification can never be attained by obeying but resisting and impugning the desires of the flesh Wherefore the onely meanes to bring the flesh to perfect subjection is to crosse her in those delights which shee most affecteth Doth shee delight in sleepe and rest keepe her waking takes shee content in meats and drinkes keepe her craving takes shee solace in company use her to privacie and retiring takes she liking to ease inure her to labouring Briefly in whatsoever she is delighted let her bee alwayes thwarted so shall you enjoy the most rest when shee enjoyes the least Hence it was that Saint Ierome that excellent patterne of holy discipline counselleth the holy Virgin Demetrias to eschew idlenesse exhorting her withall that having done her prayers she should take in hand wooll and weaving after the commendable example of Dorcas that by such change or variety of workes the day might seeme lesse tedious and the assaults of Satan lesse grievous Neither did this divine Father advise her to worke because she was in poverty or by this meanes to sustaine her family for she was one of the most noble and eminent women in Rome and richest wherefore her want was not the cause which pressed him to this exhortation but this rather that by this occasion of exercising her selfe in these laudable and decent labours shee should thinke of nothing but such as properly pertained unto the service of God which place hee
his riches may make him truly happy It is a miserable state that starves the owner I will perswade him to enjoy his owne and so avoyd basenesse to reserve a provident care for his owne and shunne profusenesse Againe Is hee poore His poverty shall make me rich there is no want where there wants no content This I shall enjoy in him and with him which the world could not afford mee liv'd I without him It hath beene an old Maxime that as poverty goes in at one doore love goes out at the other and love without harbour falls into a cold and aguish distemper but this rule shall never direct my thoughts should poverty enthrall me it shall never appall me my affection shall counterpoize all affliction No adversity can divide mee from him to whom my vowed faith hath individually ti'd me In a word Is hee wife He shall be my Thales Is hee foolish I will by all meanes cover his weakenesse As I am now made one with him so will I have mine equall share in any aspersion that shall bee throwne on him Thus if you expostulate your Christian constant resolves shall make you truly fortunate Your Fancy is on deliberation grounded which promiseth such successe as your Marriage-dayes shall never feare the bitter encounter of untimely repentance nor the curelesse anguish of an afflicted Conscience THe selfe-same rule which Augustus was said to observe in his choyce and constant retention of friends are you Gentlewomen to apply to your selves in the choice of your second-selves Hee was slow in entertaining but most constant in reteining Favorites are not to bee worne like favours now in your hat or about your wrist and presently out of request Which to prevent entertaine none to lodge neere your heart that may harbor in his brest ought worthy your hate Those two Motto's I would have you incessantly to remember for the useful application of them may highly conduce to your honour The one is that of Caia Tranquilla which shee ever used to her royall Spouse Caius Tarquinius Priscus Where thou art Caius I am Caia The other that of Ruth unto Naomi Whither thou goest I will goe and where thou dwellest I will dwell There is no greater argument of lightnesse then to affect the acquaintance of strangers and to entertaine variety of Suites These as they distract the eye so they infect the heart Constant you cannot bee where you professe so long as you affect change Vowes deliberately advised and religiously grounded are not to be dispenc'd with But say you never vowed have you made outward professions of love and entertained a good opinion of that object in your heart Againe are you resolved that his affection is reall towards you That his protests though delivered by his mouth are engraven in his heart Let not so much good love bee lost insult not over him whom unfained affection hath vow'd your servant Let Wolves and Beasts bee cruell in their kindes But Women meeke and have relenting mindes It were to much incredulity in you to distrust where you never found just cause of distaste Yea but you will againe object Wee are already by your owne Observations sufficiently instructed that Fancy is to bee with deliberation grounded that love lightly laid on lasts not long Should wee then affect before we finde ground of respect Should wee entertaine a Rhetoricall Lover whose protests are formall Complements and whose promises are gilded pills which cover much bitternesse No I would not have you so credulous lest your Nuptiall day become ominous Make true triall and experiment of his Constancy who tenders his service to you Sift him if you can finde any branne in him Taske him before you take him Yet let these be sweetly tempred with lenity Let them not bee Taskes of insuperable difficulty This were tyrannize where you should love This was Omphales fault to make her faithfull servant a servile slave Alas shall hee fare the worse because hee loves you This would induce others who take notice of your cruelty to loath you And make your discarded Lover surprized with an amorous distemper to reply as Absalom to 〈◊〉 Is this thy kindnesse 〈◊〉 â—hy friend My counsell is that as it will bee usefull for you to deliberate before you take so much as the least Notions of an affectionate Servant yea and to second that deliberation with some probable proofe or triall that hee is truly constant so it will bee a gratefull office in you to reteine him in your favour with a gracious respect to countenance the improvement of his constancy with a cheerefull and amiable aspect to banish all clouds of seeming discontent and to give him some modest expressions of the increase of your good Conceit towards him Let this bee done till Hymen make you individually one Then and never till then may Love enjoy her full freedome Shee stands priviledg'd by a sacred rite to taste that fruit which before was forbidden Mutuall respects like so many diametrall lines pointing all to one Centre are then directed to one exquisite object the purity of love which produceth this admirable effect it makes one soule rule two hearts and one heart dwell in two bodies Now I would have you when your desires are drawne to this period to become so taken with the love of your choyce as to interpret whatsoever hee shall doe ever to the best sense It were little enough that you reteined a good opinion of him who stands in so many severall ingagements obliged for you Should your riot bring him into debt his restraint must make you free Durance must bee his suit while better stuffe makes you a Coate Hee must content himselfe with restraint to give you content let nothing discontent you more then to entertaine him with contempt Yea what Conscience is there in it but hee should receive and affable and amiable respect from you seeing if your Conscience be no Conformalist hee must pay for you These respects should perpetually tye you to honour him who becomes so legally ty'd for you Requite these then with constancy and reteine this ensuing Example ever in your memory Theogena wife to Agathocles shew'd admirable constancy in her husbands greatest misery shewing her selfe most his owne when hee was relinquisht and forsaken of his owne clozing her resolution with this noble Conclusion She had not onely betaken her selfe to bee his Companion in prosperity but in all fortunes that should befall him Conforme your selves to this Mirror and it will reforme in you many a dangerous errour Thus if you live thus if you love honour cannot chuse but accompany you living much comfort attend you loving and a vertuous memory embalme you dying WAnton Love seldome or never promiseth good successe the effect cannot bee good when the object is ill Sense must bee the blind Lanthorne to guide her while shee rambles in the street for Reason shee leaves her sleeping with the Constable What devices shee hath to purchase
in age of too much Pride ibid. The humour temper and danger of our Tame-Beasts or State-Parasites ibid. A reservancy of State in Pace face every Posture recommended by an insinuating Faune to a Phantasticke Gallant ibid. Sycophancy the ruine of many a Noble family ibid. An election of honest and discreet followers ibid. Gentlewomens lives as they are lives to themselves so should they bee lights unto others ibid. For Popular honour Vice will but varnish it it is Vertue that will richly enammell it Singular motives to Mortification pag. 390 That Vertue may receive the first impression by meanes of an in-bred noble disposition seconded by helpes of Education ibid. A pleasant Epigram alluding to all humerous Ladies Marg. pag. ibid. A Choice recollection and expression of such vertues as sort and suit with the condition of our noblest Ladies with Cautions to attemper them in all extreames by an usefull reflection upon all the Senses and those Commanding passions which domineere most over the Senses ibid. 391 A Singular Meditation for recollection of our affections pag. 391 392. Vice throwes her aspersions o◠no Subject so much as on Honour ibid A fruitfull application to all young Gentlewomen for regulating their dispositions and bow to make them true inheritrices of Honour ibid. Vertue reduced to habit aspires to perfection pag. 393 There is nothing under heaven that can satisfie a Soule created for heaven ibid. Exquisite directions for Virgins Wives and Widowes ibid. 394 We are to esteeme no life sweeter than when every day improves us and makes us better ibid. A divine Contemplation reflecting upon our mutabilitie on Earth our immortality in Heaven ibid. 395 A Review of our Ladies Court and Citty solace ibid. Recreations run a Maze while they lay their Scene of Mirth on Earth ibid. A Twofold consideration full of sweet and select consolation ibid. How happy many Eminent Personages had beene had they never beene taken with this Shadow of happinesse ibid. No passage to the Temple of * Honour but through the Temple of Vertue * HONOR virtutis praemium VIRTUS honoris pretium ibid. If Gentlewomen desire to be great let it be their height of ambition to aspire to honour in the Court of vertue ibid. What a brave Salique State shall Gentlewomen enjoy when vigilancy becomes Warden of their Cinque Ports pag. 395 Perseverance is the Crowne of goodnesse ibid. A constant resolution the Diadem of a Christian in her dissolution ibid. A Character entituled A Gentlewoman wherein such an One is described whose desert answeres her descent whose actions truely ennoble her selfe with a briefe touch or review of all his Observations Which are showne to bee Objects of her love improvements of her life An Appendix upon a former supposed impression of this Title wherein the Authors feares are suggested discussed and resolved and his compleat ENGLISH GENTLEWOMAN to as compleat a GENTLEMAN espoused Where they rejoyce like two tender Turtles in their mutuall triumph of Love and Honour joyntly combined FINIS WHat may be wish'd in Widow Wife or Maid Is in our Frontispice to life portraid Who seekes for more may thus much understand Shee takes that feature from an Higher hand Vpon the Errata TO describe an ENGLISH GENTLEVVOMAN without an Error were a glozing palpable Error And to free her more than an ENGLISH GENTLEMAN of Error were to incurre a prejudicate Censure Of both which without farther apologie the Presse hath sav'd me a labour Yet reflect upon the weakenesse of her Sexe whose purest Selfe dignifies her Sexe and the Subject will injoyne thee to hold it thine highest honour to salve her Error with an ingenuous Candor So maist thou vindicate the Author and by beeing a vertuous Lover gaine a most deserving Mistresses favour PRELUM Crimen Authores patiuntur omnes PRAELIUM TYPUS Crimen Authores patiuntur omnes CIPPUS Errata In the ENGLISH GENTLEWOMAN PAge 273. line 27. for Eber read Ebor. pag. 274. l. 12. f. mortality r. morality pag. 276. l. 19. f. Balcone r. Belcone pag. 347. l. ult f. and r. an pag. 349. l. 8. f. Anacrons r. Anacreons pag. 361. l. 29. f. Phavorius r. Phavorinus pag. 383. l. 41. f. strinks r. shrinks HAd Woman Mans choyce succour ne're beene Sinner Pure as Shee 's faire Shee 'd had no Error in her Now humble Soule her Error to descrye Shee still reteines the Apple in her eye A LADIES LOVE-LECTVRE COMPOSED AND FROM THE CHOICEST FLOWERS OF Divinitie and Humanitie Culled and Compiled As it hath beene by sundry Personages of eminent qualitie upon sight of some Copies dispersed modestly importuned To the memory of that Sexes honour for whose sweet sakes he originally addressed this Labour BY RI. BRATHVVAIT Esquire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by IOHN DAVVSON 1641. TO THAT ABSOLVTE OWNER AND HONOVR OF DISCREET FANCY Mris ELIZABETH WESTBY Mistris REceive here with a Booke the reall abstract of your selfe For in it when you have read it do but converse with your owne thoughts and you shall finde your selfe portrayed Phidias could never with all his art present a Master-peece of such beautie as vertue can doe in drawing her line bestowing on it a modest blush to enliven fancie These Idaea's are Englands Cynthia's You were sometimes pleased to peruse your selfe shadowed in my Elegiack Poem require this for a more lasting and living Embleme Now as to wish you what you already have I neede not so to wish you more then you already have I cannot unlesse some new choice might accomplish his happinesse that should attaine it Goodnesse is such a Dower as no Maid can bring with her a better Portion nor no Widow enfeffe herself in a fairer Iointure May you ever shine in these which make a woman most eminent while you leave me infinitely joying in enjoying the Title of Your affectionate Servant RI. BRATHVVAIT THE STATIONER TO THE READER AT the instancy of sundry persons of qualitie to my knowledge was this our Author induced to publish this Epitome Extracted from the choicest flowers of fancie But in such a compendious method and manner as it may abide the test of the severest Censor seeing all such light passages taking life from the too loose Pens of Ariosto Tasso Baccace Rheginus Alcaeus c. are here omitted lest the modest eares of those Beauties at whose request and to whose bequest this Epitome or Love-enlectured Lady was addressed might be offended by such affected levitie Entertaine it as thou shalt reape profit by it Farewell A LADIES LOVE-LECTVRE STORED With all varietie of ingenious Moralitie Extracted from the choicest flowers of Philosophie Poesie ancient and moderne History And now published At the instancy of sundry persons of qualitie Ovos conspicui lumina Phoebi The excellency of Women in their Creation SECTION I. HOwsoever that divine Plato whose very infancy presaged many faire expressions of his future maturity definitely professed that he had amongst many other blessings which
the Gods had bestowed on him greatest cause of all others to give them thankes for three things First was for that they had made him a reasonable Creature and no Beast Second was for civilizing him a Grecian and no Barbarian Thirdly in making him a Man and no Woman yet did hee sometimes ingenuously confesse the necessitie of them in winding up all his humane felicitie in these foure particulars So I may have said he eyes to reade my mind to conceive what I reade my memory to conserve what I have conceived and read and a woman to serve me at my neede should adversitie assaile me it should not foile me should an immerited disgrace lye heavy on me it should not amate me should my endeared friends forsake me by enjoying my selfe thus in mine owne family I should laugh at the braves of fortune account reproach my repute and partake in the free societie of so sweet and select a friend within me as no cloud without mee could perplex me Here was a brave Philosophicall resolution He could see nought on earth that could divert his thoughts from the contemplation of Heaven provided that he enjoyed that on earth which made his earth seeme a second Heaven Some are of opinion indeede that hee had perused the Mosaicall Law and that he bestowed much time in it during his reside with his deare friend Phocion in Cilicia No marvaile then if he found there the excellency of their Creation with their primary office or designation Being made helpes for man and so intimate to man as she tooke her mould from man as man his modell from mold Yea but she was made of a rib will some say and that implide a crooked condition No but rather thus A rib is bending which presupposed her pliable disposition And if that ancient Philosophicall Maxim hold good That the temperature of the soule followes the temperature of the body we must necessarily conclude that as their outward temperature and composure is more delicate so their inward affections must be more purely refined No violent passion so predominant which their mild temper cannot moderate provided that they be seasoned with grace which makes them proficients in all spirituall growth For a quicke unsanctified wit is a meere pery for the Divell whereas witts accompanied with humilitie make their privatest Soliloquies to converse with actions of glory These and onely these reteine in memory the object and end of their creation And as those affectionate Sabines call'd their wives their Penates their Houshold Gods through that incomparable comfort they conceived in them and benefits they derived from them So are these Domi-portae Damae-portae delitiae horti as that witty Epigrammatist was sometimes pleased to enstile them the choicest Sociates of humane Solace So as if the world were to be held a Wildernesse without societie it might justly despaire of that comfort without their company Whence it is that the wise man concludeth Without a woman would the house mourne When that Delphick Oracle had told that flourishing and victorious state that her many triumphes and trophies should not secure her nor her numerous ports so enrich her nor that confidence she reposed in her powerfull Allyes priviledge her For the very beautifull'st City she had her sole magnificent Metropolis whose present glory aspired to the Clouds should labour of her owne providence and interre her honour in the dust if they did not by sprinkling the purest dust that earth could afford upon their prophaned Altars expiate her guilt and appease their wrath A strong and serious consultation being forthwith taken they advised amongst themselves which might be the purest and most precious dust but so many men so many mindes For the Earth-worme who made Gold his God and that Dust his Deitie held none to be purer then the soile or dust of gold Others held that none was purer then the dust of that Copper whereof the Athenians had made the pictures of the two Tyrants Armodius and Aristogyton because their death gave life to the state their dust recovered their countries fame Others held Ebonie because the most continuate Monument of humane memory and monumentall Embleme of his mortalitie Others held Ivorie because an Emblematicall Mettall of puritie While one whose opinion was delivered last though his judgement appeared best freely imparted himselfe to them taxing them all of errour For saith he it is not the pouder dust or ashes of any materiall shrine that can be possibly any way propitious to the gods as the enormitie of our losses hath incensed them so must the ashes of some living sacrifice appease them My opinion then is positively this The ashes of some undefiled virgin must be sprinkled on their Altar if we meane to preserve our state and honour This experience hath confirmed long since so highly usefull as wee may reade what eminent states had perished how their glory had been to dust reduced nay their very names in oblivion closed and with dishonour cloathed had not the fury of the incensed gods beene pacified and by offertories of this nature attoned This might be instanced in those sacrifices of Iphigenia Hesyone Mariana with many others whose living memory raysed it selfe from dust in so free and voluntary offering themselves to the stake to deliver their endanger'd state confirming their country-love with the losse of their dearest life Search then no further yee Conscript Fathers how to appease their wrath Virgin ashes cannot but be the purest dust of Earth Whose sacred vowes as they are dedicated to Vesta who cannot admit her Temple to be prophaned by any impure touch So ha's shee conferred such an excellent priviledge on a virgin state as the fierce untamed Vnicorne when nothing can bring him to subjection nor attemper the madding fury of his disposition as if he had quite put off his nature and assumed another temper he will be content mildly to sleepe in the lap of a Virgin and in eying her allay his passion With joynt voyce and vote all the Ephori inclined to his opinion which so well appeased those divine furies as their state before by the Oracle so highly menaced became secured their Altars which were before prophaned purged and those pollutions whereof their City laboured clearely expiated These poeticall Fictions though they easily passe by the eare yet they convey by a morall application an Emphaticall impression to the heart For hence might be divinely concluded There is nothing comparably precious to a continent soule Nothing of so pure nor pretious esteeme as a virgin state And that a woman being the weaker vessell when shee either in her virgin-condition remaines constant or in her conjugall state loyall she so much more inlargeth her glory as her Sex or condition partakes more of frailtie But to divert from these eye her in the Excellency of her Creation you shall finde her in her qualitie an helper in her societie a comforter in the perplexities of her consort a counsellour and in all these