hell to earth purposely to erraise them from Earth to Heaven and so religiously to give and consecrate both them and our selves and soules from sinne to righteousnesse and consequently with as much felicitie as glorie from Satan to God THere dwelt in the Citie of Avero in Portugall an ancient Nobleman termed Don Gasper de Vilarezo rich in either qualitie of earthly greatnesse as well of blood as revenewes who was neerely allied to the Marquesse of Denia in Spaine as marrying a Neece of his named Dona Alphanta a Lady exquisitely endued with the ornaments of Nature and the perfections of Grace for she was both faire and vertuous that adding lustre to these and these returning and reflecting embellishment to that which made her infinitely beloved of her husband Vilarezo and exceedingly honoured of all those who had the honour to know her and to crowne the felicitie of their affections and marriage they had three hopefull children one sonne and two daughters he termed Don Sebastiano and they the Donas Catalina and Berinthia Hee having attained his fifteenth yeare was by his Father made Page to Count Manriques de Lopez and continually followed him at Court and they from their tenth to their thirteenth yeares lived sometimes at Coimbra otherwhiles at Lisbone but commonly at Avero with their Parents who so carefully trained them up in those qualities and perfections requisite for Ladies of their ranke as they were no sooner seene but admired of all who saw them But before wee make a farther progression in this Historie thereby the better to unfold and anatomize it I hold it rather necessarie then impertinent that wee take a cursory though not a curious survey of both these young Ladies perfections and imperfections of their vices and vertues their beautie and deformitie that as objects are best knowne by the opposition of their contraries so by the way of comparison wee may distinguish how to know and know how to distinguish of the disparitie of these two sisters in their inclinations affections and delineations Catalina was somewhat short of stature but corpulent of body Berinthia tall but slender Catalina was of taint and complexion more browne then faire Berinthia not browne but sweetly faire or fairely sweet Catalina had a disdainefull Berinthia a gracious eye Catalina was proud Berinthia humble In a word Catalina was of humour extreamely imperious ambitious and revengefull and Berinthia modestly courteous gracious and religious So these two young Ladies growing now to bee capable of marriage many gallant Cavaliers of Avero become Servants and Suiters to them as well in respect of their Fathers Nobilitie and wealth as for their owne beauties and vertues yea their fame is generally so spread that from Lisbone and most of the chiefest Cities of Portugall divers Nobles and Knights resort to their Father Don Vilarezo's house to proffer up their affections to the dignitie and merits of his daughters But his age finding their youth too young to bee acquainted with the secrets and mysteries of marriage puts them all off either in generall termes or honourable excuses as holding the matching of his daughters of so eminent and important consideration as hee thinkes it fit hee should advisedly consult and not rashly conclude them which affection and care of Parents to their Children is still as honourable as commendable Don Sebastiano their brother being often both at Madrid Vallidolyd and Lisbone becomes very intimately and singularly acquainted with Don Antonio de Rivereâ—… a noble and rich young Cavalier by birth likewise a Portugall of the Citie of Elvas who was first and chiefe Gentleman to the Duke of Bragansa and the better to unite and perpetuate their familiaritie hee proffers him his eldest sister in marriage and prayes him at his first conveniencie to ride over to Avero to see her offering himselfe to accompany him in this journey and to second him in that enterprize as well towards his father as sister Don Antonio very kindly and thankfully listeneth to Don Sebastiano's courteous and affectionate proffer and knowing it so farre from the least disparagement as it was a great happinesse and honour for him to match himselfe in so noble a Family they assigne a day for that journey against when Don Antonio makes readie his preparatives and traine in all respects answerable to his ranke and generositie They arrive at Avero where Don Gasper de Vilarezo for his owne worth and his sonnes report receives Don Antonio honourably and entertaines him courteously he visiteth and saluteth first the mother then the two young Ladies her daughters and although hee cannot dislike Catalina yet so precious and amiable is sweet Berâ—…nthia in 〈◊〉 eye as hee no sooner sees but loves her yea her piercing eye her vermillion châ—…ke and delicate stature act such wonders in his heart as hee secretly proclaimes himselfe her Servant and publikely shee his Mistresse to which end hee takes time and opportunitie at advantage and so reveales her so much in termes that intimate the servencie of his zeale and endeare the zeale of his affection and constancy Berinthia entertaines his motion and speeches with many blushes which now and then cast a rosiat vaile ore the milke-white lillies of her complexion and to speake truth if Antonio bee inamoured of Berinthia no lesse is shee of him so as not only their eyes but their contempâ—…tions and hearts seeme already to sympathize and burne in the flame of an equall affection In a word by stealth hee courts her often And not â—…o deâ—…aine my Reader in the intricate Labyrinth of the whole passages of their loves Antonio for this time finds Berinthia in this resolution that as she hath not the will to grant so she hath not the power to deny his suit the rest time will produce But so powerfully doe the beautie and vertues of sweet Berinthia worke in 〈◊〉 his affections that impatient of delayes hee findes out her father and mother and in due termes requisite for him to give and they receive demaunds their daughter Berinthia in marriage Vilarezo thanking Antonio for this honour replies that of his two daughters hee thinkes Berinthia his younger as unworthy of him as Catalina his eldest worthily bestowed on him Antonio answeres that as he cannot deny but Catalina is faire yet hee must confesse that Berinthia is more beautifull to his eye and more pleasing to his thoughts Vilarezo lastly replies that he will first match Catalina ere Berinthia and that he is as content to give him the first as not as yet resolved to dispose of the second and so for this time they on these termes depart Vilarezo taking Antonio and his sonne Sebastiano with him to hunt a Stag whereof his adjacent Forrest hath plentie But whiles Antonio his body pursues the Stag his thoughts are flying after the beautie of his deare and faire Berinthia who as the Paragon of Beautie and Nature sits Empresse and Queene-Regent in the Court of his contemplations and affections hee is wounded at
Devill was by ambition covetousnesse malice and revenge to seduce and perswade Hautefelia and La Fresnay to commit these Murthers and also how just God was in the detection and punishment thereof that the feare of the one may terrifie us from imbracing and attempting the other to the end that as they lived in sinne and dyed in shame so wee may live in righteousnes and dye in peace thereby to live in eternall felicity and glory GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE II. Pisani betrayeth Gasparino of his Mistresse Christeneta Gasparino challengeth Pisani for this disgrace and kills him in the field hee after continueth his suite to Christeneta shee dissembles her malice for Pisani his death shee appoynts Gasparino to meete her in a Garden and there causeth Bianco and Brindoli to murther him they are all three taken and executed for the same WHere Affection hath Reason for guide and Vertue for object it is approved of Earth and applauded of Heaven but where it exceeds the bounds of Charity and the lists of Religion Men pitty it Angels lament it and God himselfe contemnes it for if we are crossed in our love why should discontent make us desperate or to what end should we flie Reason to follow Rage except we desire to ride poast to Hell and to end our dayes on a shamefull and infamous Scaffold here on earth It is an excellent felicity to grow from Vertue to Vertue and a fatall misery to runne from Vice to Vice Love and Charity are alwayes the true marks of a Christian and Malice and Revenge those of an Infidell or rather of a Devill but to imbrue our hands in innocent bloud and to seeke the death of others is to deprive our selves of our owne life as the sequell of this History will declare which I relate with pitty and compassion sith I see the Stage whereon these Tragedies are acted and represented not only sprinkled but goared with great variety and effusion of bloud In Pavia the second City of the Dutchy of Millan the very last yeare that Count Fuentes under the King of Spaine was Viceroy of that State Signior Thomaso Vituri a noble Gentleman of that City had one onely child a daughter of the age of fifteene yeares named Dona Christeneta who was exceeding faire and beautifull and indued with many excellent qualities perfections requisite in a Gentlewoman of her ranke she was sought in marriage by many Gallants of the City but a Cavalier of Cremona must beare her away or at least her affection The History is thus Signiour Emanuel Gasparino a noble young Gentleman of Cremona hearing of Vituri his wealth and of his daughter Christeneta's Beauty and Vertues the Adamants and Load-stones to drawe mens affections resolveth with himselfe to seeke her for his wife he acquaints none herewith but an intimate deare friend of his a young Gentleman of the same City named Signior Ludovicus Pisani by descent a Venetian whom hee prayes to assist and accompany him to Pavia in seeking and courting the faire Christeneta his Mistresse Pisani tearmes himselfe much honoured and obliged to Gasparino and very willingly grants his request and so they prepare for their journy They come to Pavia Vituri bids Gasparino welcome and entertaines him respectfully and courteously as also Pisani he thankes Gasparino for the honour he doth him in seeking his daughter and like a carefull father takes time to consult hereon but for Christeneta she looks not so pleasing nor pleasantly on him as he expecteth he is deeply in love both with her beauty and other perfections but he finds her cold in her discourse and answers and very melancholly and pensive he courts her often and after the Italian fashion with variety of Musicke Ditties and ayres but still he findes her averse and contrary to his desires as if her thoughts were otherwise fixed Gasparino knowes not how to winne her affection nor how to beare himselfe herein he consults with Pisani and prayes him to conferre with Christeneta and to sound her affection But it proves often dangerous still indiscretion to trust a friend in this case Pisani promiseth to performe the office of a friend and to conferre effectually with Christeneta he seekes opportunity and place and findes both he sets out to her Gasparino's merits and paints foorth his praises and in a word leaves nothing untouched which hee thinkes may any way advance his friends content and affection but hee findes Christeneta's minde perplexed and troubled for shee often changeth colours now red then pale and then pale now red againe yet hee observes that her eyes are still stedfastly fixed on him hee prayes her that she will returne a pleasing answer for him to carry to his friend and her lover Gasparino Christeneta would willingly speake but cannot for her heart and paps beat and pant and her fighes very confusedly interrupt her words but at last dying her Lilly cheekes with a Vermillian blush shee tells him that she is not ignorant of Gasparino's merits who deserves farre her better but that shee cannot consent to love him in respect she hath fixed but not ingaged her affection on another Pisani still extolleth his friend Gasparino to the skie and for all honourable parts preferres him before any Gentleman of Lombardy and withall with much industry and insinuation endeavours to request and draw Christeneta to name him her servant which she once thought to have done had not Modesty the sweetest and most precious ornament of a Virgin for that time with-held her when after two or three deepe sighes the outward Heralds of her inward passions she told him thus Pisani it is a deare and neare friend of yours who is the first that I have and the last that I will affect but I will not at present name him onely if you please to meet me secretly to morrow at eight of the clocke in the morne in the Nunnes garden at Saint Clare I will there informe you who it is but in the meane time and ever forbeare to sollicite me any more for Gasparino sith he shall not be my servant nor will I be his Mistresse and so for that time they part and he confidently promiseth to meet her Gasparino demands Pisani how hee findes his Mistresse Christeneta Hee answeres faithfully according as shee told him but conceales their appoynted meeting in the Nunnes garden and now because hee seeth it labour lost to research Christeneta hee will not be obstinate in his suit but will give a law to his passions and affections rather then they shall prescribe any to him and so resolves to take leave of her because as well by her selfe as by her father and mother and now chiefely by Pisani he sees shee is otherwise bent and affected to which end he leaves Pavia and returnes to Cremona Leave we therfore Gasparino to his thoughts and come we to those of Pisani and Christeneta to see what their garden conference will bring forth
to his prison to prepare himselfe to dye Sypontus is no sooner departed from them but they consult on Victoryna whether shee were guilty or innocent of her husband Souranza's Murther but they differ in opinion some would likewise have her Racked but others of them more advised and modest reply that Sypontus his Letter intimated onely his affection to Victoryna but no way her malice to her dead husband Souranza nor that shee was any way guilty or accessary to his Murther so they resolve to forbeare her and not to put her to the torment except Sypontus accuse her at his execution Now the very night that hee was to die the next morne hee infinitely desires his Iaylor to permit him to conferre with Victoryna and to take his last leave of her which is denyed him as having received command from authority to the contrary whereat extreamely grieving hee is called away by some Divines whom the charity of that grave Senate send him to prepare and direct his soule in her passage and transmigration to Heaven So passing the night in teares and prayers for the foulenesse of his crime the morne being come and nine of the clock strucken hee is brought to the scaffold where a world of people concurre and flock from all parts of the City to see this wretched and unfortunate Gentleman act the last Sceane and part of his life upon this infamous Theater Heere Sypontus freely confesseth his foule Murther of Souranza but is yet so vaine and wretched as hee takes it to his death that Victoryna is absolutely innocent hereof hee seemes to bee very repentant and sorrowfull for all his sinnes in generall and for this Murther in particular For expiation and reward hereof his head is severed from his body a just recompence and punishment for so vicious and bloudy a Gentleman who adhering to adultery more then chastity to revenge then charity and to the devill then God forgot himselfe so farre as to commit this execrable and lamentable Murther Now the order and Decorum of our History leades us from dead Sypontus to living Victoryna who I know not whether more grieve at his death or rejoyce that on the Racke and scaffold hee hath acquitted her of her husbands Murther In a word it is remarkeable to behold the vanity and inconstancy of this female Monster for contrary to her vowes and repugnant to her Letters and teares Sypontus is no sooner dead but her affection towards him dyes with him yea his bloud is scarce fo soone cold as her zeale and friendship for shee now holds it a pure folly to cast away her youth and life if shee may preserve the one and save the other and therefore resolves to try her best art and wit to make her innocencie passe currant with her Iudges yea so desirous and ambitious is shee to live as her female heart hath drawne on this masculine fortitude and generosity that if occasion present shee will constantly both out-dare and out-brave the torments of the Racke thereby to prevent her death Some three daies after Sypontus was executed the Iudges againe sit and consult on Victoryna but finding no evidence nor witnesse to accuse her they at first are of opinion to discharge and free her onely they deeme it requisite to terrifie but not to torment her with the Racke before they give her her liberty whereunto they all agree So they send for her and threaten her with the Racke but shee vowes that all the torments of the world shall never inforce her to confesse an untruth and that shee never had the least suspicion that Sypontus was guilty of this execrable Murther of her husband her Iudges will not yet beleeve her so they cause her to be carryed to the Racke whereunto shee very cheerefully and patiently permits her selfe to bee fastened bidding the Executioner doe his worst which constancie of hers her Iudges seeing and hearing they in pitty and commiseration as well of her youth and beauty as to her descent and the teares and prayers of venerable old Beraldi her father cause her to bee loosed and so in open Court acquit and discharge her Here wee see this wretched Courtizans Victoryna acquitted of her Iudges for her husbands Murther so as triumphing more in her good fortune then her innocencie shee now thinkes the storme of her punishment past and ore-blowne and that no fuâ—…e can possibly bee reserved for her or shee for it but her hopes will deceive her for although shee have made her peace with Earth yet shee hath not with Heaven and although she have deluded the eyes of her Iudges yet she shall not those of God but when his appoynted houre and her due time is come then her crimes and sins her adultery and Murther shall draw down vengeance from heaven to her confusion In the meane time wee shall see this Monster and disgrace of her sexe make such bad use of her former danger as shee will againe adde bloud to bloud and Murther to Murther but God will reserve not onely the rod of his wrath for her correction but the full viols of his indignation for her confusion as the sequell will shew thee Sixe moneths are scarce past since the Murther of her husband Souranza and the execution of her Enamorata Sypontus but shee hath already quite forgotten these two mournefull ard tragicall accidents and which is more shee is so frolike and youthfull as shee hath throwne off her mourning attire and drawne on her rich apparell and glittering jewels whereof the curiosity of the nobler sort of Gentlemen and Ladies of the Citie take exact observation and although Beraldi and Lucia her fatheâ—… and mother herein taxe her of indiscretion and immodesty yet shee thinkes heâ—… selfe exempt of their commands and therefore will doe it out of the ambitious priviledge of her owne uncontrolable authority and wilfulnesse Besides her thought are so youthfull and her carriage so light as notwithstanding shee came as it were but now from burying of her first husband yet shee is resolved without delay tâ—… have a second her father and mother checke her of levity and incivility in imbracing this resolution but in vaine for her impudencie returnes them this immodest answer that shee will not trifle away her time but marry They advize her to bee cautious and to doe nothing rashly in this her second match that the misfortune anâ—… scandall of her first may no more reflect on her But shee will make choyce for heâ—… selfe by the eyes of her youth and not by those of their age by those of her ownâ—… fancie and not by these of their election Her husband Souranza dyed rich both 〈◊〉 lands and monies and his Widdow Victoryna without any opposition injoyeth all 〈◊〉 shee needs not looke out for Suters for there are Gallants enow who sue and seekâ—… her but of them all hee whom shee best and chiefly affecteth is one Seignior Loudvicus Fassino a very neat and proper young Gentleman of
the Citie rich and weâ—… descended his parents and kinsmen for the most part being Clarissimo's and Senatorâ—… and all of them Gentlemen of Venice and him Victoryna desires and resolves to makâ—… her husband grounding her chiefest reason and affection on this resolution and foundation that as Souranza was too old for her so Fassino was young enough and therefore fit to bee her husband and shee his wife measuring him wholly by his exterioâ—… personage and not so much as once prying either into his vices or vertues Fassinâ—… who carryed a vicious and pernicious heart under a pleasing gesture and tongue anâ—… loving Victoryna's wealth more then her beauty observing her affection and respect tâ—… him seekes courts and wins her Her Parents understanding hereof as also thâ—… Fassino is a vicious and debosht Gentleman with all their possible power and authoritie they seeke to divert their daughter from him But shee is deafe to their requests and resolved that as shee followed the streame of their commands in her first match so shee will now the current of her owne pleasures and affections in this her second and so to the wonder of Venice and the griefe of all her parents and friends before shee had above ten dayes conferred with Fassino shee marries him But this match shall not succeed according to their desires for Victoryna shall shortly repent it and Fassino assoone rue and smart for it sith it is a maxime that sudden affections proove seldome prosperous for if they have not time to settle and take root they are incident assoone to fade as flourish especially if they are contracted and grounded more for lust then love and more for wealth then vertue The first moneth of this marriage Fassino keepes good correspondence and observance with his wife but thence-foorth hee breakes Pale and rangeth for the truth is although hee were but a young Gentleman yet which is lamentable hee was an old whore-master which lascivious profession of his threatens the ruine not onely of his health but of his fortune and reputation so now when hee should bee at home he is abroad yea not onely by day but by night that upon the whole Victoryna is more a widdow then a wife at which unlook'd and unwish'd for newes shee not onely bites the lip but very often puts finger in her eye and weeps for it gripes grieves her at heart to see her selfe thus slighted neglected and abused by Fassino whom of all the Gallants of the Citie shee had elected and chosen for her husband shee is infinitely grieved hereat and yet her griefe and sorrow infinitely exceeds her jealousie and now as gracelesse as shee is shee thinks God hath purposely sent her this lascivious Fassino for her second husband as a just plague and punishment to revenge her adultery committed against Souranza her first so had shee had more grace and lesse vanitie and impietie she would have made better use of this consideration and not so â—…oone forgotten it and in it her selfe Now as it is the nature of jealousie to haue more eyes then Argus and so to prie and see every where Victoryna her curiositie or rather her malice heerein finds out that her Husband Fassino familiarly frequenteth and useth the company of many Courtezans especially of the Lady Paleriana one of the most famous and reputed beauties of Venice and this newes indeed strikes her at the very gall with sorrow and â—…exation faine shee would reforme and remedy this vice of her husband but how shee knowes not for shee sees little or no hope to reclaime him sith he not onely tenderly loves Paleriana but which is worse shee apparantly sees that for her sake hee â—…ontemnes her selfe and her company for when hee comes home he hath no delight 〈◊〉 her but onely in his Lute or Bookes which is but to passe his melancholly for his Lady Paleriana's absence till hee againe revisit her so as wholly neglected and as I â—…ay truly say almost forsaken of her husband shee knowes not what to doe nor how 〈◊〉 beare her selfe in those furious stormes of her griefe and miserable tempest of her â—…ealousie But of two different courses to reclaime him from this his sinne of whoreâ—…ome shee takes the worst for in stead of counselling and distwading her Husâ—…and shee torments him with a thousand scandalous and injurious speeches but â—…is in stead of quenching doth but onely bring oyle to the flame of his lust for if â—…ee repayred home to her seldome before now hee scarce at all comes neere her 〈◊〉 as shee is a Wife yet no Wife and hath a Husband yet no Husband but this is â—…ot the way to reclaime him for faire speeches and sweet exhortations may prevaile â—…hen choller cannot And now it is that this wretched and execrable Lady againe assumes bloudy resoâ—…ions against her second Husband as shee had formerly done against her first vowing that he shall die ere shee will live to bee thus contemned and abused of him yea her hot love to him is so soone growne cold and her servent affection already so frozen that now shee thinkes on nothing else but how to be revenged and to be rid of him and is so impious and gracelesse as she cares not how nor in what manner soever shee send him from this world to another for the devill hath drawne a resolution from her or rather she from the devill that here he shall not much longer live Good God! what an impious and wretched fury of hell will Victoryna proove her selfe here on Earth for the blood and life of one husband cannot quench the thirst of her lust and revenge but shee must and will imbrue her hands in that of two as if it were not enough for her to trot but that shee will needs gallop and ride post to hell O what pitie is it to see a Lady so wretched and execrable O what an execrable wretchednesse is it to see a Lady so inhumane and so devoyd of pitie But the devill is strong with her because her faith is weake with God therefore she will advance shee will not retire in this her bloody designe and resolution Wherefore wee shall shortly see Fassino his adulterie punished with death by his wife Victoryna's revenge and this murther of hers justy rewarded and revenged with the punishment of her owne the bloodyer our actions are the severer Gods judgements and the sharper his revenge will bee Of all sorts and degrees of inhumane and violent deaths this wretched Lady Victoryna thinks poyson the surest and yet the most secret to dispatch her husband This invention came immediately from the devill and is onely practised by his members of which number shee will desperately and damnably make herselfe one her lust and revenge like miserable Advocates and fatall Orators perswade her to this execrable attempt wherein by cutting off her husbands life she shall find that shee likewise casts away her owne So neither Grace nor Nature prevailing shee sends for
lesse doth his father Castelnovo for that of his sonne onely their griefes comformable to their passions are diametrically different and opposite for hers were fervent and true as proceeding from the sinceritie of her affection and his hypocriticall and faigned as derived from the profundity of his malice and revenge towards him And not to transgresse from the Decorum and truth of our History old Castelnovo could not so artificially beare and over-vaile his sorrowes for his Sonnes death but the premises considered our young afflicted widdow and Lady vehemently suspecteth hee hath a hand therein and likewise partly beleeves that Ierantha is likewise accessary and ingaged therein in respect she lookes more aloft and is growne more familiar with her Lord and Master then before And indeed as her sorrows increase her jealousie so her jealousie throws her into a passionate and violent resolution of Revenge both against him and her if shee can bee futurely assured that they had Murthered and poysoned the Knight her husband Now to bee assured heereof shee thus reasoneth with her selfe that if her Father in law were the Murtherer of his Sonne her husband his malice and hatred to him proceeded from his beastly lust to her selfe and that hee now dispatched hee would againe shortly revive and renew his old lascivious suit to her which if hee did shee vowes to take a sharpe and cruell Revenge of him which shee will limit with no lesse then his death And indeed wee shall not goe farre to see the event and truth answer her suspicion For within a moneth or two after her husband was laid in his untimely grave his old lustfull and lascivious father doth againe burst and vomit forth his beastly sollicitations against her chastity and honour which observing shee somewhat disdainefully and coyly puts him off but yet not so passionately nor chollerickely as before onely of purpose to make him the more eager in his pursuit thereby the better to draw him to her lure that shee might perpetrate her malice and act her Revenge on him and so make his death the object of her rage and indignation as his lust and malice were the cause of the sorrowes of her life But unfortunate and miserable Lady what a bloudy and hellish enterprize dost thou ingage thy selfe in and why hath thy affection so blinded thy conscience and soule to make thy selfe the authour and actour of so mournefull and bloudy a Tragedy For alas alas sweet Perina I know not whether more to commend thy affection to thy husband or condemne thy cruell malice intended to his father For O griefe O pitty where are thy vertues where is thy Religion where thy conscience thy soule thy God thus to give thy selfe over to the hellish tentations of Satan Thou which heretofore fled'st from adultery wilt thou now follow Murther or because thy heart would not bee accessary to that shall thy soule bee now so irreligious and impious to bee guilty of this But as her father in law is resolute in his lust towards her so is shee likewise in her revenge towards him and farre the more in that shee perceives Ierantha's great belly sufficiently proclaimes that shee hath plaid the strumpet and which is worse shee feares with her execrable and wretched Father in Law so as now no longer able to stop the furious and impetuous current of her revenge shee is so gracelesse and bloudy as shee vowes first to dispatch the Lord and Master then the Wayting-Gentlewoman as her thoughts and soule suggest her they had done first the Mother then the Sonne so impious are her thoughts so inhumane and bloudy her resolutions Now in the interim of this time the old Lecher her father is againe become impudent and importunate in his suit so our wretched Lady Perina degenerating from her former vertues and indeed from her selfe she after many requests and sollicitations very feignedly seemes to yeild and strike sayle to his desire but indeed with a bloody intent to dispach him out of this world So having concluded this sinfull fatall Match there wants nothing but the finishing and accomplishing thereof onely they differ in the manner and circumstances the Father is desirous to goe to the Daughter in lawes bed the Daughter to the Father in lawes but both conclude that the night and not the day shall give end to this lascivious and beastly businesse his reason is to avoyd the jealousie and rage of Ierantha whom now although she bee neere her time of deliverance hee refuseth to marry her but the Lady Perina's if that she may pollute and staine his owne bed with his bloud and not hers but especially because shee may have the fitter meanes to stab and murther him and hereon they conclude To which end not only the night but the houre is appoynted betwixt them which being come and Castelnovo in bed burning with impatience and desire for her arrivall hee thinking on nothing but his beastly pleasures nor she but on her cruell malice and revenge she softly enters his chamber but not in her night but her day attire having a Pisa Ponyard close in her fleeve when having bolted his Chamber doore because none should divert her from this her bloudy designe she approaching his bed and hee lifting himselfe up purposely to welcome and kisse her shee seeing his brest open and naked like an incensed fury drawes out her Ponyard and uttering these words Thou wretched Whore-master and Murtherer this life of mine owne honour and the death of my deare Knight and husband thy some And so stabbing him at the heart with many blowes shee kills him starke dead and leaves him reeking in his hot bloud without giving him time to speake a word onely hee fetcht a screeke and groane or two as his soule tooke her last farewell of his body Which being over-heard of the servants of the house they ascend his chamber and finde our inhumane Perina issuing foorth all gored with the effusion of his bloud having the bloudy Ponyard which was the fatall Instrument of this cruell Murther in her hand They are amazed at this bloody and mournefull spectacle so they seize on her and the report hereof flying thorow the City the Criminall Iudges that night cause her to bee imprisoned for the fact which she is resolved no way to denye but to acknowledge as rather glorying then grieving thereat Ierantha at the very first understanding hereof vehemently suspects that her two poysoning Murthers will now come to light and so as great as her belly is she to provide for her safety very secretly steales away to a deare friends house of hers in the City which now from all parts rattleth and resoundeth of this cruell and unnaturall Murther yea it likewise passeth the Alpes and is speedily bruited and knowne in Saint Iohn de Mauriene where although her father Arconeto would never heretofore affect her yet he now exceedingly grieves at this her bloudy attempt and imminent danger but her irregular affection and
is extremely sorrowfull hereat and prayes his sister to name him her servant shee bindes him by oath to secresie So hee swearing shee informes him it is Seignior Paulus Sturio a very ancient Noble man of the Citie Hee tels her hee is a Gentleman more Noble then rich and shee replies that Bertolini is more rich then Noble and therefore shee will refuse him and marry Sturio Hee is obstinate in his requests as shee resolute in her denyall So having performed the part of a friend for his friend and commending the nobility and vertues of Sturio as much as hee pittyed the weakenesse of his estate and wealth hee leaves his sister to her affection and designes and so with an unwilling willingnes without any extenuation delivers his friend Bertolini her definitive answer yet performes his promise to his sister in concealing Sturio his name Bertolini is all in fire and choller at this newes and begins no longer to looke on his friend Brellati with the eyes of affection but of contempt and indignation and so consulting with his passion not with his Iudgement with rage and not with reason as immoderate anger seldome lookes right commonly squint-eyed hee in the heat of his wrath and height of his revenge very much neglects and slights him yea and most uncivilly and abruptly departs from him as if hee were no longer worthy of the bare complement of farewell Which Brellati well observes and in observing remembers and in remembring grieves at sith Bertolini was his most intimate and dearest friend and in whose behalfe did occasion present hee was ready not onely to sacrifice his best service but his best life Lo here the first breach and violation which Bertolini gives to their friendship but the second is not farre behinde For in the next company hee meets which was some two dayes after walking in Cardinall Farnesi his Galleries in presence of some foure or five other Gentlemen both of his and of Brellati's acquaintance hee forgot himselfe so much as some demanding for his consort Brellati hee chollerickly replyed that he was a base and beggerly Gentleman and therfore henceforth disdained his company and that his sister Paulina was a lascivious and dissembling strumpet But although the fire of his choller had foolishly banded forth these speeches in the ayre yet they fell not to the ground but some of the company then present that very night report them to Brellati It is impossible for my pen to relate how passionately and tenderly hee takes it yea his affliction and griefe herein is far the more redoubled in that contrary to his desires and wishes hee is assured his sister Paulina is likwise acquainted with the vanity and injustice of these speeches the conceit and remembrance wherof make her inraged and sorrowfull eyes powre forth many rivolets and rivers of teares upon the Roses and Lillies of her beauty But as she is two impatient to rellish this scandalous affront and disparagement so her brother Brellati is too generous and noble to digest it whereof burning to know the truth and resolving if hee found it true sharpely to revenge it on Bertolini hee passeth away the night in restlesse and distracted slumbers And so the very next morne taking his Sword and Lackey with him hee goes to Bertolini his fathers house and meeting first with him demands of him for his sonne Seignior Iohn Battista Bertolini His father informes him hee is in the Garden very solitarily walking and prays Brellati to goe to him who needing not many requests entreth and with his hat in his hand approacheth him Bertolini doth the like and meetes him halfe way when hee beeing pale for anger and Bertolini blushing for shame he prays him to exempt the Garden of his servants because he hath something to reveale and impart him in secret which needeth no witnesses when Bertolini commanding his servants to depart Brellati chargeth him with these disgracefull speeches vomited forth two dayes since against his honour as also that of his onely deare sister Paulina in Cardinall Farnesi his Palace in presence of Seignior Alessandro Fontani Seignior Rhanutio Pluvinio and Seignior Antonio Voltomari which words we have formerly understood Bertolini is no way dismayed or daunted hereat either in courage or complexion and so losing his honour in his indiscretion or rather burying his discretion in his dishonour hee with fire in his lookes and thunder in his speeches tells Brellati that hee confesseth these speeches his adding withall that what his tongue hath affirmed his sword shall bee ready to make good and justifie whereon they cover When Brellati demanding of him if this were his last resolution hee told him yea Then quoth he I pray expect mine shortly and so without giving each other the good morrow they part Brellati still leaving Bertolini in his fathers Garden His sister Paulina having notice of her brothers speaking with Bertolini very curiously and carefully awaits his returne when rushing into his Chamber shee with teares and sighes demands him of the issue of his conference with Bertolini and whether hee were so impudent to deliver these dishonourable and base speeches both of her selfe and him But her brother like a true noble Romane is too generous and brave to acquaint her with his designe and resolution and so in generall tearmes prayes her not to afflict her selfe at these speeches and that this difference will bee very shortly decided and ended to her honour and his owne content Brother quoth shee if you will not right mine honour and vindicate the unspotted purity of my reputation I am sure that my true Lover Seignior Paulus Sturio will though with the hazzard and losse of his owne life had hee but the least notice thereof Hee shall not need sister quoth hee for a day or two will reconcile and finish this businesse and so for that time hee leaves his sister Paulina and shuts himselfe up in his chamber where not long able to containe himselfe against the insolencie and basenesse of Bertolini he cals for pen and paper and more respecting his honor then his life writes him this challeng the which immediately after dinner he sends him by Seignior Valerio a confident Gentleman his follower BRELLATI to BERTOLINI THy scandalous reports like thy selfe are so base and I and my sister so honourably descended and bred as I doubt not but the disgrace and disparagement which thou hast unjustly offered us will as justly retort and fall on thy selfe And to the end thou maist finde that my Sword is purposely reserved to correct and chastise thy tongue as thou art a Romane and a Gentleman meet mee single to morrow at five in the morne without Port Populi in the next field behinde Cardinall Borromeo's Palace and there I will give thee the choyce of two good Rapiers and Ponyards and gladly accept of the refusall to draw reason of thee for those wrongs wherewith thou hast injuriously and maliciously traduced us and to write thee the truth as I
and counsell and to send it him by the ordinary Carrier of Tholouse which was then in that Cittie bound thither from Paris his letter spake thus 〈◊〉 to DE SALEZ IT is out of a fatherly and as I may say a religious care of thy good that I now send thee these few ensuing lines for thy Youth cannot see that which my Age knowes how many miseries are subject to wait and attend on Vice and how many blessings on Vertue if La Frange be not faire yet she is comely not contemptible but sith her defects of Nature are so richly recompensed with the Ornaments of Fortune and the excellencies of Grace why should thy affection preferre La Hay before her who hath nothing but a painted face to overvaile the deformity of her other vices If thou wilâ—… leave a Saint to marry a strumpet then take La Hay and forsake La Frange but if thou wilt forsake a strumpet to take a Saint then marry La Frange and leave La Hay for looke what difference there is betweene their births thou shalt finde ten times more betweene the chastity of the one and the levity of the other If thou espouse the first thou shalt find Content and Honour if the second shame and repentance â—…or I know not whether La Frange will bring thee more happinesse or La Hay misery This letter shall serve as a witnesse betwixt God myselfe and thee that if thou performe me not thy promise and oath I will deny thee my blessing and deprieve thee of my lands ARGENTIER De Salez having received this his fathers letter in Tholouse exceedingly grieves to see him disgrace his mistresse by the scandalous name of a strumpet which hee knowes she is not and therefore will never beleeve it yea he vowes that if it were any other in the world who had offered him that intollerable affront hee would revenge it though with the price and perill of his life La Hay perceives this discontent and alteration of mirth in him but from what point of the Compasse this wind proceeds she neither knowes nor as yet can conceive but withall determineth to make the discovery thereof her greatest Ambition and not her least Care which she now well knowes it behooves her to doe sith she finds De Salez lesse free and more reserved and pensive in her speeches than accustomed But when in vaine she had hereunto used many smiles and feâ—…ches loâ—… here falls out an unlook't for accident which bewrayes her the very pith and quintescence of the Mistery For on a time when hee lay slumbering on the table shee as accustomed diving into his pockets for sweet meats or rather for gold of both which he many times went well furnished she finds his fathers aforesaid letter which she knew by the direction and so flying into another chamber and bolting the doore after her she there reads it both with griefe and choller when stunge to the quicke and bitten to the heart and gall to see her reputation and Honour thus traduced and scandalized by the father of her pretended husband she with teares and interjected sighes and grones flies backe to De Salez and holding the letter in her hand like a dissembling and impious strumpet as she was there shewes it him takes Heaven and Earth to beare witnesse of her innocency and of the irreparable and extreame wrong his father hath offered her in seeking to ecclips the Glory of her chastity which she sweares she will beare pure and unspotted not onely to his bed but to her owne grave But Alas alas these are the effects and passions of dissimulation not of truth of her prophanenesse not of her piety which time will make apparent to De Salez though now her beauty and teares be so predominate with his judgement and folly as he cannot because he will not see it So being still as constant in his â—…ottishnesse as she in her hypocrisie he gives her many sweet kisses and with a Catalogue of sugred words seekes to appease and comfort her whom he hath farre more reason to excerate and curse But for her part her heart is not so afflicted for remembring her selfe still her â—…its are her owne and so remembring the conclusion of the letter and fearing that De Salâ—…z his promise and oath to his father might infringe and contradict his to her she tels him that her love is so fervent and infinite towards him as shee can give no intermission nor truce to her teares before he reveale her his oath and promise which his fathers letter informed her he had formerly made him De Salez seeing himselfe put to so strict an exigent and push doth both blush for shame and againe looke pale for anger when for a small time irresolute how to beare himselfe in a matter of this different Nature wherein hee must either violate his obedience to his father or infringe his fidelity and honour to his mistris hee at last consenting with folly not with discretion and with Vanity nor with Iudgement doth so adore her beauty and commiserate her teares as he sottishly reveales her his oath given his father Verbatim as we have formerly understood it adding withall that she hath far more reason to rejoyce than grieve hereat That a little time shall cancell his said late promise and oath to his father and confirme his former to her For sweet La Hay quoth he come what come will two moneths shall never passe ere I marry thee when sealing his speaches with many kisses our hypocriticall afflicted Gentlewoman is presently againe come to her selfe and in all outward appearance her discontents are removed her choller pacified her teares exhaled and her sighes evaporated and blowne away But all this is false like her selfe and treacherous like her beauty For this letter of Argentier to his sonne and his promise and oath to his father hath acted such wonders in her heart and imprinted such extravagancies in her thoughts as she cannot easily remove or supplant it nor difficultly forget or deface it whatsoever she speake or make shew of to the contrary for thus she reasoneth with her selfe That 〈◊〉 whoredomes are already revealed to Argentier and for any thing she knowes â—…y likewise be discovered to his son how closely soever she either act or conceale them That La Franges descent wealth and vertues will in the end overprise and weigh downe her meane extraction poverty and beauty and in the end that the wisdome of the father will infallibly triumph ore the folly of the sonne except her pollicy interpose and her vigilency prevent it which to prevent and effect she sees no other obstacle to her content nor barre to her preâ—…erment but only La Frange for quoth she if La Frange shine in the firmament of De Salez affection La Hay must set or if La Hay will shine La Frange must set againe if she fall not I cannot stand and if she stand I must needs fall and as the skie is
passe his time that Winter partly hoping that his father will discharge his debts in his absence but more especially to become acquainted with the beauties of that City thereby to obtaine some rich young heire or old widdow for his wife whose estate and wealth might support his pride and maintaine his excessive prodigality and voluptuousnesse and indeed although the two former of these his hopes deceive him yet he shall shortly finde and see that the third and last will not Living thus in Mans the bravery of his apparell and equipage the freenesse of his expences his comely talke personage blacke beard and sanguine complexion makes him as soone acquainted and affected as knowne of many Ladies and Gentlewomen and farre the more because they know his father De Manfrelle to bee a very ancient and rich Gentleman of that Countrey of Maine and although hee is not his heire yet in regard hee is his second sonne as also a Traveller he was the more honoured and respected of all those he frequented so that the very fame and name of Monsier de Merson beganne to bee already divulged and knowne in the City yea and because hee was a great Balladine or Dancer there was no solemne assembly either publike or private but still De Merson made one and there was not a reputed beauty or supposed courteous Lady in Mans or thereabouts but such was his vanity as hee soone wrought and insinuated himselfe into her acquaintance and familiarity the which he made not onely his delight but his glory And although that in a small time the wiser sort of the Gentlemen and Ladies of the Citie found his wit and experience to come infinitely short of his brave apparell yet the more illiterate ignorant of them who esteeme all men by their lustre not by their brave worth as preferring gay apparell and the comelinesse of the body before the exquisite endowments and perfections of the mind they hold him in so high a repute esteeme as they thinke him to be the most absolute Gallant not onely of Mans but of all the Country of Maine so easie it is to captivate the conceits and judgements of those who onely build their judgements in their conceits and not their conceits in judgement And of this ranke and number was our old widow La Vasselay who having many times heard of De Mersons fame and comely personage and seene him once at a Sermon and twice at two severall Nuptiall feasts where his skill and agility proved him to be one of the prime dancers she is so farre in love with him as in her thoughts and heart she wisheth she had given halfe her estate dowrie conditionally that she were his wife and he her husband yea she is so ravished with the comelinesse of his feature and the sweetnesse of his complexion and countenance as all the world is not halfe so deare to her as De Merson nor any man whatsoever by many thousand degrees so delicious to her eye and pleasing to her heart and soule as himselfe And although she be in the frozen Zone of her age yet her intemperate lust makes her desires so youthfully intemperate as forgetting reason and modestle that the best vertue of our soule and this the chiefest ornament of our body she a thousand times wisheth that either De Merson were impalled in her armes or she incloystred in his But doting yea I may well neere truly say dying old Gentlewoman is this a time for thee to thinke of a young husband when one of thy old feet is as it were in thy grave 〈◊〉 being in thy 〈◊〉 yeare of threescore and three art thou yet so fraughted with levity and exempt of continency as thou wilt needs seeke to marrie one of five and twenty Foolish La Vasselay if it be not now time yea high time for thee to sacrifice thy desires to continencie when will it be if ever be Didst thou resolve to wed a husband neere of thine owne age and so to end the remainder of thy dayes with him in chaste and holy wedlocke that resolution of thine were as excusable as this in desiring so young a one is worthy not onely of blame but of reprehension and I may say of pitie Consider consider with thy selfe what a preposterous attempt and enterprise is this of thine that when thou shouldest finish thy dayes in devotion and prayer thou then delightest to begin them in concupiscence and lust O La Vasselay mocke at those rebellious and treacherous pleasures of the flesh which seeme to mocke at thee yea to betray thee and if there be yet any sparke of thy youth which lies burning under the embers of thy age why if thy chaste thoughts cannot yet let modesty or at least piety extinguish them God hath already given thee two husbands is it not now therfore time yea more than time for thee to prepare to give thy selfe to God Hitherto the chastity of thy youth hath made thee happy and wilt thou now permit that the lust of thine age make thee unfortunate or peradventure miserable and that the purity and candeur of that be distained and polluted by the foulnesse and obscenity of this Alas alas incontinent inconsiderate Gentlewoman of a grave Matron become not a youthfull Gigglet or if thou wilt not suffer the eyes of thy body at least permit those of thy soule to look from thy painted cheeks to thy snow-white haire who can informe and tell thee that thou art far fitter for Heaven than earth sith those pleasures are transitory and these eternall for God than a husband sith he onely can make thee blessed whereas in reward of thy lascivious lust this peradventure may be reserved to make thee both unfortunate and wretched But the vanity of this old Gentlewomans thoughts and desires doe so violently fix and terminate on the youth beauty of young and as she immodestly tearms him faire De Merson as the only consideration of her delight and pleasure weighes downe all other respects so that neither reason nor modesty advice nor perswasion can prevaile with her resolution to divert her affection from him but love him she doth and which is repugnant as well to the instinct of Nature as to the influence of modesty and rules of civility seeke him for her husband shee will yea she is already become so sottish in her affection and so lasciviously fervent in her desires towards him that her heart thinks of him by day her soule by night that admires him as the very life of her felicity and thus adores him as the onely content and glory of her life shee will not see the greatnesse of her owne estate and wealth nor consider the smallnesse of his meanes and hopes in that he is not an heire but a second brother she will not enquire after his debts and vices to know what those may be what these are she will not thinke what a preposterous disparity there is betwixt the
Widdowes and Wives to beware by her mournful and execrable example her flames and prayers made expiation for the offence of her body and her soule mounted and fled to Heaven to crave remission and pardon of God who was the only Creator of the one and Redeemer of the other And such were the deplorable yet deserved ends of this bloody and wretched couple La Vasselay and La Villette for so cruelly murthering harmelesse Gratiana and innocent De Merson And thus did Gods all-seeing and sacred Justice justly triumph ore these their crying and execrable crimes O that their examples may engender and propagate our reformation and that the reading of this their lamentable History may teach us not only how to meditate thereon but also how to amend thereby GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XIV Fidelia and Caelestina cause Carpi and Monteleone with their two Laquayes Lorenzo and Anselmo to murther their Father Captaine Benevente which they performe Monteleone and his Laquay Anfelmo are drowned Fidelia hangs her selfe Lorenzo is hanged for a robbery and on the gallowes confesseth the murthering of Benevente Carpi hath his right hand then his head cut off Caelestina is beheadeâ—… and her body burnt OUr best parts being our Vertues and our chiefe and Soveraigne Vertue the purity and sanctity of our selves how can we neglect those or not regard this except we resolve to see our selves miserable in this life and our soules wretched in that to come and as charity is the cyment of our other vertues so envie her opposite is the subversion of this our charity from whence flowes rage revenge and many times murther her frequent and almost her inseperable companions but of all degrees of malice and envie can there be any so inhumane and diabolicall â—…s for two gracelesse daughters to plot the death of their owne father and to seduce and obtaine their two lovers to act and performe it whereof in this insuing History we shall see a most barbarous and bloody president as also their condigne punishâ—…nts afflicted on them for the same In the reading whereof O that we may have the grace by the sight of these their 〈◊〉 crimes and punishments to reforme and prevent our owne that wee may looke on their cruelty with charity on their rage with reaâ—…on on their errors with compassion on their desperation with pitty and on their 〈◊〉 wiâ—…h pâ—… that the meditation and contemplation thereof may terrifie ouâ—… 〈◊〉 quâ—…ch both the fire of our lust and the flames of our revenge so shall our faiths be fortified our passions reformed our affections purified and our actions eternally both blessed and sanctified to which end I have written and divulged it So Christian Reader if thou make this thy end in perusing it thou wilt then not faile to receive comfort thereby and therefore faile not to give God the Glory MAny yeeres since the Duke of Ossuna under the command of Spaine was made Viceroy of the Noble Kingdome of Naples the which hee governed with much reputation and honour although his fortunes or actions how justly or unjustly I know not have since suffered and received an Eclipse In the City of Otranto within the Province of Apulia there dwelt an ancient rich and valiant Gentleman nobly descended tearmed Captaine Benevente who by his deceased Lady Sophia Eliaâ—…ora Niece to the Duke of Piombinâ—… had left him two daughters and a sonne he tearmed Seignior Richardo Alcasero they two the Ladies Fidelia and Caelestina names indeed which they will no way deserve but from whom they will solely dissent and derogate through their hellish vices and inhumane dispositions to blood and murther wee may grace our names but our names cannot grace us Alcasero lives not at home with his father but for the most part at Naples as a chiefe Gentleman retayning to the Viceroy where he profiteth so well in riding and tilting a noble vertue and exercise beyond all other Italians naturall and hereditary to the Neopolitans that he purchased the name of a bold and brave Cavalier but for Fidelia and Caelestina the clockes of their youth having stroke twenty and eighteene the Captaine their father thinking it dangerous to have Ladies of their yeeres and descent farre from him keepes them at home that his care might provide them good husbands and his eye prevent them from matching with others It is as great a blessing in children to have loving Parents as for them to have obedient children and had their obedience answered his affection and their duty his providence wee had not seene the Theatre of this their History so be sprinckled and gored with such great effusion of blood This Captaine Benevente their father for his blood wealth and generosity was beloved and honoured of all the Nobility of Apulia and for his many services both by sea and land was held in so great esteeme in Otranto that his house was an Academie where all the Gallants both of City and Country resorted to backe great Horses to run at the Ring and to practise other such Courtly and Martiall Exercises whereunto this old Captaine as well in his age as youth was exceedingly addicted so as the beauty of his two daughters Fidelia and Caelestina could not be long either unseene or unadmired for they grew so perfectly faire of so sweet complexions and proper statures that they were justly reputed and held to be the Paragons of Beautie not only of Apulia but of Italy so as beauty being the Gold and Diamonds of Nature this of theirs so sweet in its influence and so excellent and delicious in that sweetnesse drew all mens eyes to love them many mens hearts to adore them so had they beene as rich in Vertue as in Beauty they had lived more fortunate and neither their friends nor enemies should have lived to have seene them die so miserably for now that proves their ruine which might have beene their glory They are both of them sought in marriage by many Barons and Caviliers as well at home as abroad but the Captaine their father will not give care nor hearken to any nor once permit that such motion be moved him They are so immodest as they grieve hereat and are so extreamly sorrowfull to see that a few yeares past away makes their Beauties rather fade than flourish where Vertue graceth not Beauty as well as Beauty Vertue it is often 〈◊〉 presage and fore-runner of a fortune as fatall as miserable But as their thoughts were too impatient and immodest to give way to such incontinent and irrigular conceits so on the other side the Captaine their father was too severe and withall too unkind I may say cruell to hinder them from Marriage sith their beauty and age had long since made them both meritorious and capable of it It was in them immodesty in him unkindenesse to propose such ends to their desires and resolutions for as hee hath authority to exact obedience from them
hee will die his faithfull servant But wee shall see him have more grace than to keepe so gracelesse a promise Carpi flattering himselfe with the fidelity and affection of his Laquay resolves to stay in the City but hee shall shortly repent his confidence Hee was formerly betrayed by Fiesco which mee thinks should have made him more cautious and wise and not so simple to entrust and repose his life on the incertaine mercy of Lorenzo's tongue but Gods Revenge drawes neare him and consequently he neare his end for he neither can nor shall avoid the judgement of Heaven Lorenzo on the gallowes will not charge his soule with this foule and execrable sinne of murther but Grace now operating with his soule as much as formerly Satan did with his heart hee confesseth that hee and the Baron of Carpi his Master together with the Knight Monte-leone and his Laquay Anselmo murthered the Captaine Benevente and his man Fiamento and threw them into the Quarrie the which hee takes to his death is true and so using some Christian-like speeches of repentance and sorrow he is hanged Lorenzo is no sooner turned over but the Criminall Iudges advertised of his speeches delivered at his death they command the Baron of Carpi his lodging to be beleagred where he is found in his study and so apprehended and committed prisoner where feare makes him looke pale so as the Peacocks plumes both of his pride and courage strike saile He is againe put to the Racke and now the second time hee reveales his foule and bloudy murther and in every point acknowledgeth Lorenzoes accusation of him to be true So he is condemned first to have his right hand cut off and then his head notwithstanding that many great friends of his sue to the Viceroy for his pardon The night before he was to die the next morne one of his Judges was sent to him to prison to perswade him to discover all his complices in that murther besides Monte-leone and his Laquay Anselmo yea there are likewise some Divines present who with many religious exhortations perswade him to it So Grace prevailes with Nature and Righteousnesse with Impiety and sinne in him that he is now no longer himselfe for contrition and repentance hath reformed him hee will rather disrespect Caelestina than displease God whereupon he affirmes that she and her deceased sister Fidelia drew him and Monte-leone to murther their father and his man Fiamento and that if it had not beene for their allurements and requests they had never attempted either the beginning or end of so bloudy a businesse and thus making himselfe ready for Heaven and grieving at nothing on Earth but at the remembrance of his foule fact he in the sight of many thousand people doth now lose his head This Tragedy is no sooner acted and finished in Naples but the Judges of this City send away poast to those of Otranto to seize on the Lady Caelestina who in the absence of her husband for the most part lived there A Lady whom I could pitie for her youth and beauty did not the foulenesse of her fact so foulely disparage and blemish it She is at that instant at a Noblemans house at the solemnitie of his daughters marriage where she is apprehended imprisoned and accused to bee the authour and plotter of the Captaine her fathers death neither can her teares or prayers exempt her from this affliction and misery She was once of opinion to deny it but understanding that the Baron of Carpi and his Laquay Lorenzo were already executed for the same in Naples shee with a world of teares freely confesseth it and confirmes as much as Carpi affirmed whereupon in expiation of this her inhumane Paracide she is condemned to have her head cut off her body burnt and her ashes throwne into the ayre for a milder death and a lesse punishment the Lord will not out of his Justice inflict vpon her for this her horrible crime and barbarous cruelty committed on the person of her owne father or at least seducing and occasioning it to be committed on him and it is not in her husbands possible power to exempt or free her hereof Being sent backe that night to prison she passeth it over or in very truth the greatest part thereof in prayer still grieving for her sinnes and mourning for this her bloudy offence and crime and the next morne being brought to her execution when she ascended the scaffold she was very humble sorrowfull and repentant and with many showres of teares requested her brother Alcasero and all her kinsfolkes to forgive her for occasioning and consenting to her fathers death and generally all the world to pray for her when her sighs and teares so sorrowfully interrupted and silenced her tongue as she recommending her soule into the hands of her Redeâ—…mer whom she had so heynously offended shee with great humility and contrition kneeling on her knees and lifting up her eyes and hands towards heaven the Executioner with his sword made a double divorce betwixt her head and her body her body and her soule and then the fire as if incensed at so fiery a spirit consumed her to ashes and her ashes were throwne into the ayre to teach her and all the world by her example that so inhumane and bloudy a daughter deserved not either to tread on the face of this Earth or to breathe this ayre of life She was lamented of all who either knew or saw her not that she should die but that she should first deserve then suffer so shamefull and wretched a death and yet shee was farre happier than her sister Fidelia for shee despaired and this confidently hoped for remission and salvation Thus albeit this wretched and execrable young Gentlewoman lived impiously yet she died Christianly wherefore let vs thinke on that with detestation and on this with charity And here wee see how severely the murther of Captaine Benevente was by Gods just revenge punished not onely in his two daughters who plotted it but also in the two Noblemen and their two Laquayes who acted it Such attempts and crimes deserve such ends and punishments and infallibly finde them The onely way therefore for Christians to avoid the one and contemne the other is with sanctified hearts and unpolluted hands still to pray to God for his Grace continually to affect prayer and incessantly to practise piety in our thoughts and godlinesse in our resolutions and actions the which if wee be carefull and conscionable to performe God will then shrowd us under the wings of his favour and so preserve and protect us with his mercy and providence as we shall have no cause to feare either Hell or Satan GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XV. Maurice like a bloudy villaine and damnable sonne throwes his Mother Christina into a Well and drownes her the same hand and arme of his wherewith he did it rots away from his body aad being discrased of
of our soule but our whole soule For in matters of his divine worship and service which consists in that of our faith and of his glory he will not admit of any Rivall or Competitor nor bee served in any other manner than as he hath taught us by his sacred Word and Commandements and instructed us by his holy Prophets and blessed Apostles But againe to Harcourt and Masserina whose lascivious hearts and lewd consciences not permitting them to rest in assurance or reside in security any where the very day after they had dispatched the messenger with their Letters to La Precoverte holding Geneva no place for them nor they for Geneva they trusse up baggage and so with much secrecie leave it and direct their course to the great and famous Citie of Lyons some two and twenty leagues thence and which is the frontier Towne of France and there they thinke to shrowd themselves among that great affluence and confluence of people which inhabite and aboord there from divers parts and they make choice to live in this frontier Citie because it is neere to Savoy where if any danger should chance to betide or befall them they might speedily and safely retire themselves there and so lay hold on the law and priviledge of Nations which is inviolable throughout all the world At their arrivall at Lyons they take their chambers and residence neere the Arsenall though for the two first nights they lie in Flanders-street They have not beene in Lyons fifteene dayes but there befell them an accident very worthy both of our observation and of their remembrance which was thus A Gentleman of the City of Tholouse named Monseiur De Blaise having some five dayes before treacherously killed his elder brother Monseiur De Barry in the high way as they travelled together upon a quarrell which fell out betweene them for having deboshed and clandestine stollen away his said elder brother De Barry's wife from him and conveyed and transported her away with them There was a privie search then made in Lyons when that same night Harcourt and Masserina were upon suspition apprehended for them and laid in sure keeping But the next morning before the Seneschall and Procureur Fiscall they justified their innocencie by many who knew De Blaise and so were cleared but yet it gave them both a hot Camisado and fearfull Alarum and left an ominous impression in their hearts and minds whereof for the conformity of the circumstances of this action with their owne had they had the grace to have made good use they had not hereafter made themselves so famously infamous nor consequently this their History so prodigiously deplorable Harcourt and Masserina whiles they stay here in Lyons as guilt is still accompanied with feare doe seldome goe forth their lodgings and when they doe they for their better safety disguise themselves in different apparell and for her part shee goes still close masked and muffled up in her Taffeta coyffe Yea both of them make it their practise to frequent the fields often but the Churches and streets seldome as if their foule crime of Adultery had made them unworthy the communion of Gods Saints and consequently all good company too worthy for them He exceedingly feares his brother Vimory's silence and revenge and she highly envieth and disdaineth her sister in law La Precovertes jelousie and still that disgracefull word of Strumpet which she upbraided her with and obtruded to her in her Letter strikes sincks deeply in her heart and remembrance in such sort that it so possesseth her thoughts with malice and takes up her minde with choller fierce indignation as she vowes to her selfe not thus to let it passe in silence or to vanish and die away in oblivion quite contrary to that which her late Letter to her sister La Precoverte promised and spake And here it is that the devill first begins to take possession of her heart and by degrees to seize upon her soule and to make her wholly to forsake God For knowing La Precoverte to be wife to her brother in law and lover Harcourt whom she affects a thousand times dearer than her owne Husband yea than her owne life shee is therefore so great a beame to hereye so sharpe a thorne to her heart and so bitter a corrasive to her content as shee not onely assumes bad thoughts but bad bloud against her For vowing that none shall share with her in his affection shee forgetting her Conscience and Soule Heaven and God is speedily resolved to cause her to be poysoned her inraged malice being capable of no other excuse or reason but this that it is impossible she can reape any perfect felicity or content in earth till she have dispatch't and sent her to Heaven To which end she insinuates her selfe into the acquaintance of two Apothecaries of that City and deales with them severally and secretly to effect this hellish businesse for the which she promised either of them a hundred crownes of the summe in hand and as much more when they have effected it and fifty more to defray the charge of their journey But the devill hath made her so crafty and subtile as she still retaines from them the name Masserina and the place Troyes where the party dwelt There are good and bad men of all countryes faculties and professions these two Apothecaries are as honest as she is wretched and as religious and charitable as shee is prophane and bloody so the one denies her request with disdaine and choller and the other with charity and compassion alleaging her many pious considerations and reasons to divert and disswade her from this foule and bloody act the execution whereof though tacitely yet infallibly threatneth saies hee no lesse than the utter subversion of her fortunes and the ruine and confusion of her life in this world if not likewise of her soule in that to come So shee being hereat a little galled and stung in Conscience to see that this great City of Lyons affoords poyson but no poysoners to act and finish this her bloody project The devill hath yet notwithstanding made her so curious in her malice and so industrious and resolute in her revenge as enquiring whether there were any Italian Empericke or Mountebancke in that City whom she thought might bee made fit and flexible to her bloody desires and intents she is advertised that there departed one hence some eight daies since who is gone to reside this spring of the yeare at the Bathes at Pougges a mile from the city of Nevers his name being Signior Baptista Tivoly whom I conjecture may derive his surname from that pleasant small towne of Tivoly some twenty small miles from Rome wherein there are many Cardinalls country Pallaces or houses of pleasure being very skilfull in Mineralls and in attracting the spirits and quintessence of divers other vegitives Of a vaine glorious and ambitious humour and disposition and yet of a very poore estate and
and constantly avoid it in our selves THe foundation of this History is layd in the faire and famous City of Verona anciently a great Colony of the Romans since a free estate of it selfe but now dependant and subject to the Estate and Seignory of Venice wherein their lately dwelt an old Gentleman being a widdower and one of the chiefest and noblest families of that City named Seignior Fabritius Miniata who was rich in lands but exceeding wealthy in money whereof he had put a great and remarkeable Sum in the bank of Venice he had one only Childe a daughter of some eighteene yeares of age named Dona Felisanna who was wonderfull faire and a most lovely sweet Creature tall and slender of stature of yellow golden haire and sanguine damaske Rose Complexion Now as her beautie was every way answerable to her birth and extraction no lesse were her singular vertues and sweet perfections to her beautie and as wealth beautie and vertue concurring and meeting together are three powerful lures and attractiue Adamants to draw the desires and affections of many Noble gentlemen to seeke her in mariage So two of her chiefe Suitors and who cheifly flattered their hopes to enioy this sweet and pretious Jewell of nature and who stood in best possibility to beare away her affection and her selfe was Seignior Thomas Planeze a brave young gentleman of the neighbour citie of Mantova of a sweet presence and proper comely feature of some twentie five yeares old not verie rich yet indued with competent meanes to maintaine himselfe like himselfe but infinitly well bred and adorned and honored with all those generous parts and endowments which are requisit to make the gallants of our times compleat and the other Seignior Inan de Borlari a verie rich Gentleman of the same citie of Verona a proper man of countenance but of personage some what crooke backed and much Camber leggd and drawing towards fortie yeares of age but of education conditions and qualities so ignorant and inciuill as hee seemed to bee rather a Citizen then a Gentleman or indeed more a clowne then a citizen and yet otherwise of mettall and courage enough And that we may the more apparantly see and perfectly know upon what tearmes they both stand aswell in the opinion of the Father as the affection of the Daughter Miniata is infinitly desirous of Borlari for his Sonne in law but not of Planeze and Felisanna is excedingly affected to take Planeze for her Husband but not Borlari which they both perceiving whiles Borlari intends to seeke the affection and cosent of the Father before that of the Daughter Planeze shapes a contrary course resolues to seeke and prefer that of the daughter before the Father the regard of Borlari his wealth and of Planezes poverty with covetous Miniata like a furious stream or impetuous Torrent beares downe all other regardes and considerations before it But the consideration and respect of Borlari his deformed personage and then that of Planezes sweet feature and deportment with amorous Felisanna as a delicious charme and heart-ravishing extasy sweepes away all other regards and respects whatsoever The Father bids Borlari to be couragious and cheerfull and then hee shall not faile to have his daughter for his wife But the daughter wills Planeze to be descreet and constant and then she will not faile to take him for her Husband Miniata to shew his love to Borlari forbids Planeze his his house and the company of his daughter Felisanna to reveale her deere and fervent affection to Planeze assureth â—…m he shall often enjoy both her sight and company but confidently if not peremptorily prohibits Borlari to approach her presence Thus whiles Borlari often frequenteth and converseth with the Father publikely no lesse or indeed farre oftner doth Planeze privatly and whiles the first hath more cause to despaire than reason to hope of her affection and consent to be his wife the second hath all the reasons and causes of the world not onely to hope but to assure himselfe thereof But the patience of a little time will shortly resolve our curiositie whereunto these different affections will tend and what the event and issue will bee of these their opposite intentions and resolutions But because the ambition and wisdome of Borlari will make it conspicuous and apparant to his Mistris That there is as much difference betwixt him and Planeze as there is betweene her selfe and her Chamber-Maid Radegonda Hee therefore seeing that he cannot hitherto gaine her by the perswasion of her Father now hopes and attempts it by this her maids solicitation as holding her to be a fit instrument for the compassing of his desires and a proper Agent for the perfecting and crowning of his wishes because his best genius and intelligence informe him that shee hath a great power and beares a great stroake and sway with her Mistres But we shall shortly see and he too soone finde the contrary and that these his ill grounded hopes and undervalewing attempt of his will both deceive his ambition and betray his wisdome and judgement Now to gaine this her chambermaide Radegonda to his will that thereby with the more facility and cheerefullnesse shee may obtaine him her Mistris her favour and affection Hee bribes her with silver and Gold and many other gifts if not too costly for his giving yet I am sure too rich for her receiving and in requitall thereof she with her tongue promiseth him her best power and assistance towards her Mistris but in her heart intendes the contrary which is directed to betray him He sends likewise by her to his love and her Mistris divers curious rich presents and two Letters and prays her to take time at advantage and so to deliver them to her from him the which likewise shee faithfully promiseth but yet intends nothing lesse so she holds it rather a vertue than a vice to keep these presents for her selfe and to give the letters to his Corrivall Planeze to whom by solemne oath she had formerly ingaged her best art and power and her chiefest assistance Which policy or rather which fallacy of hers is not so secretly borne betwixt Planeze and herselfe but Borlari by some sinister accidental meanes hath perfect notice therof which he takes so unkindely at Radegondaes hands as consulting more with passion then reason his heart is so inflamed with Choller and his resolution with revenge against her that impatient of all delaies he sends for her one afternoone to meet him at the Amphitheatre and from thence goes with her to the next street to a friends house of his where ascending a chamber and bolting the doore withinside to him he with choller and threats chargeth her with this her ingratefull infidelity and treachery towards him when drawing all the truth from her by making herselfe a witnesse against her selfe aswell of the delivery of his letters to Planeze as also of keeping her presents for her selfe and that her Mistris and he are
happinesse to you as I your sorrwfull daughter and his poore mother see my selfe borne to affliction and misery God will requite this your charity to him and thereby I shall the sooner forget your unnaturall unkindnesse and cruelty towards my selfe And so may you live in as much prosperity as I feare I shall shortly die in extreame indigence and misery FERMIA Her father Moron receiveth and peruseth this third Letter of his daughter Fermia whereat being yet nothing moved in charity or touched in compassion towards her but onely towards her young sonne and his grand childe Thomaso he returnes her this short answer MORON to FERMIA I See thou art both wilfull and obstinate in disobeying my commands with thy Letters wherein I beleeve thou takest more glory than either I conceive griefe at the relation of thy wants or sorrow at the repetition of thy miseries the which I am so farre from releeving as I onely pitie it that I am thy father but not as thou art my daughter And yet because thy young sonne Thomaso is as innocent as thou art guilty of my displeasure and indignation therefore give him to this bearer whom I have purposely sent to receive hiâ—… of thee and I will see whether it be the pleasure of God that I shall be as happy in hiâ—… as I am unfortunate in thy selfe and if in his sacred providence he hath ordained and decreed that he prove as great a comfort to thy age as thou art a crosse and calamity to â—…ine which if it prove so then give God the onely praise and glory which is the best use and requitall which thou canst make or I desire MORON Our poore and desolate Fermia having received and over-read her fathers letter although she be wonderfull sorrowfull at the perseverance of his cruelty towards her selfe yet she is infinitely glad and joyfull at his compassion and kindnesse towards her young son who apparelling the very best that possibly she could which God knowes is ragged meane and poore she with a thousand sighs teares prayers blessings and kisses gives him to her fathers messenger and to whose affection and education as also to Gods gracious protection and preservation shee religiously recommends him when to her exceeding griefe and sensible affliction she sees it out of her possible power once to perswade her husband Lorenzo either to kisse or see him at his departure as if it were no part of his affection to blesse it or of his duty to pray to God to blesse it much lesse to kisse it at parting A most unkinde and unnaturall part of a father to his sweet and pretty young sonne Which strange and discourteous ingratitude of his it is not impossible for us to see God as strangely both to requite and revenge Sorrowfull Fermia having thus sent away her little sonne Thomaso to her father Moron at Savona she the very same night dreames in her poore bed and house in Genova that she shall never be so happy to see him againe when being awaked and remembring this her sorrowfull dreame she for meere griefe bitterly weeps thereat and although she would yet she cannot possibly forget or suppresse the remembrance thereof or once put it out of her minde so that thinking her selfe fortunate in placing this her little sonne with her father and his Grandfather shee is now very pensive and sorrowfull for his absence because she can no longer see him play with him and kisse him and is infinitely disconsolate and mournfull when she thinks of her dreame of him In the meane time her lewd husband growes from bad to worse so that her cohabitation is but a bondage with him and her mariage and wedlocke but an Indenture of slavery and a contract of misery under him Such is her incomparable griefe such her unparalleld afflictions and calamities Five yeares our disconsolate Fermia lives in this rich misery and miserable poverty with her husband and yet all the whole world cannot perswade her father Moron to take her home to him and maintaine her She hath no consolation left her but prayers nor remedy but enforced patience so shee armes her selfe with the last and adorneth her selfe with the first She was contented to begge for the maintenance of her little sonne Thomaso but now being eased of that burthen she will give it over so she works hard to get her hard and poore living which yet she cannot get so fast as her husband spends it prodigally and lasciviously Her care and vertues make her the pitie as his lewdnesse and vices make him the scorne and contempt of all their neighbours So whiles she sits at home close at her needle in poore apparell he idlely wanders and gads abroad untill he have brought his apparell to ragges and himselfe almost to nakednesse And here it is that her wretched husband Lorenzo now first beginnes to hearken to the devill yea to prove a very devill himselfe towards this his deare and vertuous wife for he enters into a consultation with himselfe that if he were once rid of his wife Fermia he might marry some other with a good portion to maintaine him and so againe set up his trade of baking which now had forsaken him because he had vitiously and unthriftily forsaken it When his faith being as weake with God as his infamous life and vices were odious to the world he assumes a bloudy and damnable resolution to murther her and hereunto the Devill is still at his elbow to provoke and egge him onward and continually blowes the coales to this his malice and indignation against her So neither his minde or heart his conscience or soule can divert him from this fearfull enterprize and lamentable and bloudy businesse The which to performe and perpetrate he on a great holiday which was the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary takes her with him into a Vineyard some halfe a mile from the City of Genova under colour to recreate themselves and to take the aire which God knowes she poore soule takes for a great because an unaccustomed favour and courtesie at his hands where she most lovingly and willingly goes with him and there feigning himselfe fast a sleep and she innocent harmlesse young woman then thereslept soundly and every way being as devoid of feare as he was of grace he with a barbarous and diabolicall cruelty seeing the coast cleare softly riseth up and cuts her throat without giving her the power time or happinesse to utter one word before her death Where leaving her weltring and goring in her bloud he speedily and politikely enters Genova by a contrary gate thereby to avoid all suspition of this his bloudy and damnable fact The very same night this her breathlesse murthered body is found out by some of Genova who accidentally walked that way and they causing it to be brought to the City it is knowne by some of Lorenzo's neighbours to bee his wife Fermia whereat to adde the better cloke to his knavery and shadow
and may well be called the Fortresse of Christian piety against the tentations of Sathan so by the contrary wee expose and lay open our selves to the treacherous lures and malice of the Devill For if by Faith wee doe not first beleeve then pray unto God for our owne preservation it will bee no hard matter for him to tempt us in our choller to quarrell with our best friends and in our malice and revenge to murther even our neerest and dearest Kindred O Faith the true foundation of our soveraigne felicitie O Prayer the sweet preservative and sacred Manna of our soules how blessed doe you make those who embrace and retaine you and contrariwise how miserable and wretched are they who contemne and reject you Of which last number this insuing Historie will produce us one who by his debauched life and corrupt conversation trampled those two heavenly Vertues and Graces under his feet without thinking of God or regarding much lesse fearing his judgements But how God in the end requited him for the same this Historie will likewise shew us May we therefore reade it to Gods glory and to our owne instruction IN the Citie of Verceli after Turin one of the chiefest of Piedmont bordering neere to the Estate and Dutchy of Millan there lately dwelt a rich Cannon of that Cathedrall Church named Alosius Cassino who had a daintie sweet young Gentlewoman to his Neece named Dona Eleanora whose mother being sister to Cassino named Dona Isabella Caelia lately died and left this her onely daughter and â—…ild her heire very rich both in demeanes and moneys when her Vncle Cassino â—…eing neerest her in blood takes Eleanora and her Estate into his protection and â—…ardship and is as tender of her breeding and education and as curious of her â—…omportment and cariage as if shee were his owne daughter for there is no sweet â—…alitie nor exquisite perfection requisite in a young Gentlewoman of her ranke and extraction but he caused her to become not superficiall but artificiall therein as in Dancing Musicke Singing Painting Writing Needling and the like wherof all the Nobility and Gentry of Verceli take exact notice and knowledge yea her beautie grew up so deliciously with her yeares that she was and was justly reputed to be the prime Flower and Phenix of the Citie Cassino considering that his house was destiâ—…te of a Matron to accompany and oversee this his Neece Eleanora that his age was too Stoicall for her youth and that his Ecclesiasticall profession and function called him often to preach and pray hee therefore deeming it very unfit and unseemely in the Interims of his absence to leave her to her selfe and to be ruled and governed by her owne fancy and pleasure shee being now arrived to twelve yeares of age He therefore provides her new apparell and other pertinent necessaries and giving her a wayting-mayd and a man of his owne to attend her hee sends her in his Coach to the Citie of Cassall in the Marquisat of Montferrat to the Lady Marguerita Sophia a widdow Gentlewoman lâ—…ft by her deceased husband but indifferently rich but endowed with all those ornaments of Art and Honour which made her famous not onely in Piedmont and Lombardie but also to all Italy and to her he therefore writes this ensuing Letter to accompany his Neece and chargeth his man with the delivery thereof to her CASSINO to SOPHIA TO satisfie your courteous Requests and my former promise I now send you my Neece Eleanora to Cassall whom I heartily pray thee to use as thy daughter and to command as thy Hand-maid She hath no other Vncle but mee nor I any other acquaintance but thy selfe with whom I would entrust her for her Education and recommend her for her Instruction Shee is not inclined to any vice that I know of except to those imperfections wherein her youth excuseth her ignorance and it is both my order and charge to her that she carefully and curiously adorne her selfe with vertues in thy example and imitation without which the privileges of Nature and Fortune as Beauty and Wealth are but only obscure shadowes and no true substances because there is as much difference betwixt those and these as betweene the puritie of the soule and the corruption of the bodie or betweene the dignitie and excellencie of Heaven and the invaliditie and basenesse of Earth I am content to lena her to you for a few moneths but doe infinitely desire to give her to thy Vertues for ever In which my voluntary transaction and donation thou wilt conferre much happinesse to her and honour to mee and consequently for ever bind both her Youth and my Age to thee in a strict obligation of thanks and debt What apparell or other necessaries thou deemest her to want thy will shall be mine God ever blesse her in his feare and you both to his glory CASSINO The Lady Sophia receives this sweet young Virgin with much content and joy yea shee sees her tender yeares already adorned with such excellent beautie and that beautie with such exquisite vertues that it breeds not only admiration but affection in her towards her whom shee entertaineth with much respect and care as well for her owne sake as also for her Vncle Cassino's whose letter shee againe and againe reads over highly applauding his vertuous and honourable care of this his Neece whom in few yeares she hopes will prove a most accomplished gracious Gentlewoman when Cassino's Coach-man after a dayes stay deeming it high time for him to returne to Verceli to his Master he takes his leave of his young Mistris Elianora who out of her few yeares and tender affection and dutie to her Vncle with teares in her eyes prayes him to remember her best service to him at his comming home and the Lady Sophia by him likewise returnes and sends him this letter in answere of his SOPHIA to CASSINO I Know not whether you have made mee more proud or joyfull by sending me Eleanora wherein you have given mee farre more honour than I deserve though farre lesse than she meriteth and who henceforth shall be as much my Daughter in affection as shee is your Neece by Nature and if I have any Art in Nature or Iudgement in Inclinations her vertues and beautie doe already anticipate her yeares for as the one is emulous of Fame and the other of Glory so as friendly Rivals and yet honourable friends they already seeme to strive and contend in her for supremacie to the last of which as being indeed the most precious and soveraigne if my poore capacitie or weake endeavors may adde any thing I will esteeme it my ambition for your sake and my felicitie for hers But if you resolve not rather to give her to mee for some yeares than to lend her to mee for a few moneths you will then kill my hopes in their buds and my joyes in their blossomes and so make me as unfortunate in her absence as I shall
odious in the sight of God and man that he acknowledged hee no longer deserved to tread on the face of the earth or to looke up to Heaven That he knew not justly whereunto to attribute this infamy and misery of his but to his continuall neglect and omission of prayer whereby he banished himselfe from God and thereby gave the Devill too great an interest over his body and soule that he desired God to forgive him these his two soule and bloody crimes of Murther as also that of his neglect of Prayer and so with teares in his eyes besought all who were there present likewise to pray unto God for him When againe beseeching the vertuous young Lady Eleanora to forgive him the murther of her good old Vncle Cassino hee often making the signe of the Crosse and recommending himselfe into the hands of his Redeemer bad the Executioner doe his office who presently with his sword severed his head from his body and both were immediatly burnt and the ashes throwen into the River of Ticino without the wals of Vercelie although his Iudges were once of opinion to send his said head and body to Cassall for the Iudges of that place to doe their pleasure therewith for there poysoning of his owne Mother the Lady Sophia And thus was the miserable and yet deserved death and end of this bloody and execrable Gentleman Alphonso and in this sort did the judgements and punishments of God befall him for these his two most inhumane and deplorable Murthers May God of his infinit grace and mercie still fortifie and confirme our faith by constant and continuall prayer the want whereof was the fatall Rocke whereon hee perished that so we may secure our selves in this world and our soules in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRAble Sinne of Murther HISTORIE XXIV Pont Chausey kils La Roche in a Duell Quatbrisson causeth Moncallier an Apothecary to poyson his owne Brother Valfontaine Moncallier after fals and breakes his necke from a paire of staires Quatbrisson likewise causeth his Fathers Mâ—…er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murther and strangle Marieta in her Bed and to throw her body into his Mill-Pond Pierot the Miller is broken alive on a wheele and Quatbrisson first beheaded then burnt for the same WEe may truely affirme that the world is in her wane when Murther is become the practice of Christians which indeed is the proper office of the Devill and how frequently those wofnll accidents happen wee cannot thinke of but with much horrour nor remember but with grieâ—…e of mind and compassion of heart For is it not to mâ—…ke our selves wilfull Traitors and Rebels to God to violate his Divine Majestie in spoiling his true Image and resemblance yea is it not the high-way of Hell But that this age of ours produceth such Monsters of nature reade we but this ensuing Historie and it will informe us of much innocent blood shed we know not whether more wilfully or wickedly IT is not unknowne that the Province of little Britaine was long since annexed and united to the flourishing Kingdome of France by the marriage of Charles the Eighth with Anne the young Dutchesse thereof notwithstanding that she weâ—…e formerly contracted to Maximilian Arch-duke of Austria where we shall understand that in the Citie of Vannes formerly the Court and Residence of those British Dukes thereof late yeares dwelt a noble Gentleman of rich Demaines and Revenues termed Monsieur de Caerstaing who by his wife Madamoyselle de la Ville Blanche had two Sonnes the eldest named by his title Monsieur de Quatbrisson and the youngest Monsieur de Valfontaine The first aged of twenty foure yeares being short and corpulent the second of twentie being tall and slender both of them brave and hopefull Gentlemen as well in their outward personages as in the â—…ward perfections and endowments of their minds For in all respects the care and affection of their Parents had made their education answerable to their births Valfontaine for the most part lived in the Citie of Nantes the second of that Dutchie with an Vncle of his named Monsieur de Massie being President of the Kings Chamber of Accounts which is kept there who frequenting the Bals or publike Dancings whereunto the youth of France are generally adicted amongst many other excellent beauties wherewith that Citie is graced and those pastimes and meetings honoured he sees a young Gentlewoman being a stranger and newly come to the Citie so infinitly rich in the excellencies of nature and the treasure of lovelinesse and beauty as with a kind of imperious commanding power shee atracts all mens eyes to behold to admire to affect her So as although Valfontaines youthfull heart and yeaâ—…es had never as yet stooped or sacrificed to Love yet at the very first sight of this sweet young Gentlewoman whose name wee shall not goe farre to know hee cannot retaine his enamored eyes from gadding on the Roses and ranging on the Lillies of her sweet complexion nor his resolutions from enquiring what her name and her selfe was when being informed that she was the onely daughter and heire of a rich and noble Gentleman a Widdower termed Monsieur de Pennelle of the Parish of Saint Aignaw fower leagues from the Citie and her name Madamoyselle la Pratiere of the age of some seventeene hee at the very first sight likes her so well and loves her so deerely that if her interiour vertues come not too fhort of her exteriour beauty and feature he vowes he will be her Sutor and Servant and so he attempts to court and seeke her for his wife To which end he more like a Tutor then a Pupill in the Art and Schoole of love is so farre from neglecting any as he curiously and carefully seekes all opportunities and occasions to enjoy the felicity of her company and so for the most part hee conducts her to and from the dauncings sits and talkes with her in her lodgings meets her at Church where as well at Vespers as Masse he accompanies and prayes with her and briefly shee can difficultly be present any where where he is long absent from her For by this time which is scarce a moneth since he first saw her her peerelesse beauty and unparalell'd vertues and discourse have acted such amorous wonders in his heart as hee vowes hee must either live her Husband or die her Martyr But see the providence and pleasure of God for if Valfontaine tenderly love our sweet and faire La Pratiere no lesse doth shee him for knowing him to be the Sonne of his Father and therefore a Gentleman of noble extraction and worth and seeing him to bee wise discreet and proper as also remembring and marking that he fervently and infinitly affects her shee is so delighted with his neat feature and personage and ravished with the melodie of his discourse as albeit at first her tongue bee so civill and modest to conceale her affection from him yet her eyes the Ambassadors of
of the deare affection and tender respect which I beare you will then fall on my knees to my Father to hasten his consent to our marriage that in seeking my content you may therein find your owne and this is my resolution wherewith if yours concurre and sympathise Heaven may but Earth shall not crosse our desires LA PRATIERE Valfontaine receives this second Letter from his Mistris with smiles and frownes with smiles to see her inviolable constancie and affection with frownes to behold his brother Quatbrissons continuall malice and treacherie towards him the which considering as also because it so neerely concernes him hee resolves to taxe him thereof and to see whether by faire requests and perswasions hee may reclaime him from affecting his faire and deere La Pratiere and so to give over his sute to her but first hee knowes himselfe indebted and obliged to returne her an answer to this her last Letter the which he doth in these termes VALFONTAYNE to LA PRATIERE IT is every way your affection no way your duty sweet La Pratiere which againe advertiseth me of my Brother Quatbrissons perseverance in his treachery towards mee by seeking to betray and bereave mee of your selfe in whom my heart and thoughts imparadise their most soveraigne earthly felicity and your resolution in nipping his hopes and your Fathers will by electing me or your grave for your Husband doth so ravish my heart with joy and so rap my conceits in an extasie of sweet content as I am confident God hath reserved La Pratiere to bee Valfontaines sweet Wife and he to bee her deare Husband But as I know not whether my unkind and treacherous Brother will yet farther bewray you his folly in exercising your patience with his importunity so to save you that labour and penance which for my sake and love you are ready to impose to your selfe I am both ready and resolved not onely to fall on my knees to your Father but also to your sweet selfe that our marriage be hastned for as your resolution herein is and ever shall be mine so our hearts and thoughts sympathising in these wishes I hope that both Heaven and Earth have resolved not to crosse but shortly to consummate and finish our desires VALFONTAINE He having thus dispatched and sent away his Letter to his sweet and faire Mistresse hee now resolves to have some conference with his unkind Brother to see what a brazen face hee either will or can put upon this his ingratitude and treachery But Quatbrissons policie will anticipate and prevent him for he having his heart and contemplations deepely fixed on La Pratieres beauty and having ranne over all the inventions of his art and affection how to make her forsake he coynesse and so how to obtaine her for his wife hee at last resolves to faine himselfe sicke and so then to reveale to his brother Valfontaine that it is his deare and fervent affection to La Pratiere which is the cause thereof To which purpose hee keepes his bed and in his perfect health is twice let blood thereby to looke ill when sending for his brother to his Chamber and exempting all other company thence he acquaints and informes him That since he first saw La Pratiere hee still most tenderly loved her and that hee must now die because she will not affect and love him He prayes and conjures him by vertue of all the same blood which equally streames in both their bodies for the saving and preserving of his life that hee will now abandon his affection from her and so yeeld him up all the power and interest that hee hath or pretends to have in her and that in requitall thereof if occasion require hee shall still find him ready not onely to expose all his meanes but his dearest blood and life at his command A request so unjust and a proposition so devoid of common sense and reason as Valfontaine observing it and therein seeing his brothers impudencie now growne to the height of basenesse and folly hee exceedingly incensed thereat with a disdainefull looke returnes him this sharpe and bitter yet deserved reply Was it not enough that I understood your treachery by my faire and deare La Pratiere in seeking and attempting to bereave me of her but that thou art thy selfe become so sottish to â—…ake thy tongue the Advocate as well to plead and apologise thy treachery to me as to publish thy shame to thy selfe and to the whole world in seeking and desiring me to surcease my affection to her and to renounce my interest of her to thy selfe No no base Quatbrisson for henceforth I highly disdaine to terme or esteeme you my brother I give thee to understand and know that in heart and in honour she is mine and I hers and therefore you shall die and damne before I will permit thee to inrich thy selfe with my losse of her whom I affect and prise a thousand times dearer then my selfe or then all the lands and treasures of the world when without any other farewell he hastily and chollerickly flings forth his Chamber from him Quatbrisson seeing his brothers furious departure and remarking his peremptory and incivill answer to him hee in his heart and thoughts vowes revenge and in his resolutions sweares to make him repent it To which effect forsaking his bed and abandoning his counterfeit sicknesse his choller hardly affording his patience three dayes to recover his blood and strength but knowing his brother to be now at Nantes with their Vncle De Massy hee seekes out a deare and intimate friend of his named Monsieur La Roche whom ingaging to be his second in a Duell against his owne brother Valfontaine they ride over to Nantes when comming to 〈◊〉 small Parish termed Saint-Vallerge within a league of the Citie he writes a Challenge delivers it to La Roche and so dispeeds him away with it to his broâ—…r La Roche comes to Nantes finds out Valfontaine at the President his Vncles â—…use being in the company of a very intimate friend of his of that Citie naâ—…ed Monsieur de Pont Chausey and delivereth him his brothers Challenge fast sealed â—…e which hee hastily breaking open and perusing hee finds that it speakes this â—…guage QVATBRISSON to VALFONTAINE â—…N regard it is impossible for both of â—…s to enjoy the faire La Pratiere to wife therefore it is fit that one of us dye that the other may survive and live to be enriched with so â—…ious a treasure and crowned with so inestimable a blessing and felicity which considering as also because my modest requests have undeservedly met with thy incivill carriage and beene requited with thy malicious execrations Therefore find it not strange to see affection give a Law to Nature and mine honour to contemne thy contempt and malice in enviting thee and thy Second to meet me and mine with your single Rapiers to morrow twixt two or three after dinner in a faire meddow at the East end of
of the stinch thereof but they hardned by their feare and encouraged by their affection doe willingly rush towards it but cannot as yet discerne what she was by reason the fishes had almost eaten away all the flesh from her bones which therefore no way satisfying their curiosity and enquirie they then fall to wash away the mud and oze from her clothes hoping to draw some information and light from them as alas they now instantly doe for they find the Wast-coat and two Petty-coats that of ash colour serge and these of greene and red bayes to be the very same which their Daughter Marieta wore when she either fled or was stolen from them whereat crossing their armes and sending their sighes to heaven and their teares to earth this poore afflicted Father and Mother cry out that it was the dead body of their faire and unfortunate Daughter Marieta and doubtlesse that either Monsieur Quatbrisson or Pierot the Miller or both of them were her Murtherers whereat all the people admire and wonder every one speaking thereof as their severall fancies led them and as they stood affected or disaffected to Quatbrisson and the Miller But Pont Chausey rides presently to Vannes leaving the other three Gentlemen his friends to guard the Miller in his mill and advertiseth the Seneshall and the other two Iudges of this deplorable fact so they send for this Miller to Vannes and the next day being brought before them they examine and accuse him for thus murthering of Marieta but having learnt his answer and resolution of the Devill hee with many bitter oathes and curses denies it deposing and swearing that he never knew her nor saw her but this false answer and counterfeit coine of his will no way passe current with his Iudges but they forthwith ordaine him to the Racke Our wretched Miller Pierot is amazed and terrified at the sight hereof yea now his courage begins to faile him as fearing it to be the true Prologue and fatall Harbinger to his death so he endures the single torment reasonable well but feeling the pinches and tortures of the second and well knowing that his heart Ioints and patience can never endure it hee then and there confesseth to his Iudges that he was the only Author and Actor of this murther and that he strangled her in his Mill and then suncke her in his Pond because she would never consent or yeeld to be his wife but speakes not a word of Quaâ—…brisson or that hee had any way seduced or hired him to commit it but fed his exorbitant thoughts and erroneous hopes with the ayre of this vaine beleefe That when he was condemned to die here in Vannes that hee would then appeale thence to the Court of Parliament of Rennes where he knew his young master Quatbrisson then was and where he presumed he had so many great and noble friends as he should not need to feare his life But contrary to these his weake and poore hopes the very next morning when hee expected to heare the sentence of death pronounced against him his Iudges againe adjudge him to the torments of the Scarpines to know if Monsieur Quatbrisson or any other were accessary with him in this murther when they cause his left foote to be burnt so soundly as hee will not endure to have his right touched and so confesseth that his young master Quatbrisson seduced and hired him to strangle Marieta in her bed in his Mill and promised him the Fee Simple or Lease thereof to performe it that he it was who likewise threw her into the Pond and that he also beleeves she was quick with child by his said master All Vannes wonder and talke of Quatbrissons base ingratitude and cruelty towards this silly and harmelesse young countrey maiden Marieta yea this foule and lamentable murther administreth likewise talke in all the adjoyning Townes and Parishes So this execrable Miller Pierot is by the Seneshall condemned to be broken alive on the Wheele but yet in regard of the necessitie of his confrontation they deferre his execution till Quatbrisson be apprehended in Rennes where the Seneshall and Kings Atturney Generall of Vannes doe by post send away his accusation to that famous Court of Parliament where whiles hee is prauncing in the streets of that Citie on his great Horse and ruffling in his scarlets and sattins with three Lackies richly clad at his heeles the height of this his pompe and bravery makes his shame the more apparant and his crime the more foule and notorious For then when he thought himselfe to bee farthest from danger loe the Iustice and Providence of God brings him neerest to it for hee is now here by a band of Huysiers or Pursâ—…vants taken off from his horse apprehended and imprisoned by the command of the Lieutenant Criminall of that great Court who yet vainely reposing on the fidelitie and secrecie of Pierot his Fathers Miller hee seemes to be no way dismaid or daunted thereat But when he heares his accusation and enditement read that Marieta's murthered body was found in the Pond that Pierot the Miller was apprehended and imprisoned for the same and that he had confessed him to bee the Author and himselfe the Actor of this her cruell murther then I say hee is so appalled and daunted and so farre from any hope of life as he utterly despaires thereof and palpably sees the Image of death before his eyes When with a few teares and many sighes he here to his Iudges confesseth himselfe to be the Author of this foule fact and so begs pardon thereof of God for from these his grave and incorruptible Magistrates hee is assured and confident to find none Whereupon although foure of the Councellors and one of the Presidents were resolved in regard of this his inhumane and base crime to have him hanged yet the rest of that wise and honourable Senate knowing him to bee Sonne and Heire to a very ancient Gentleman nobly descended they ore sway and prevaile with the others and so they adjudge him the very next day to have his head cut off although this his sorrowfull aged Father Monsieur de Caerstainge offred the one halfe of his lands to save his life and likewise was a most importunate Suppliant to the Duke of Tremoville who then and there preceded at the Estates for the Nobility to intercede with that Farliament for his reprivall and with the King for his pardon but in vaine For that noble Duke considering the basenesse and enormity of this his inhumane fact was too wise to attempt the one and too honourable and generous to seeke the other So the very next morning Quatbrisson apparalled in a sute of blacke Sattin trimmed with gold Lace is brought to the Scaffold at the common place of execution which is in the midst of the Citie where a very great concourse of people of all sorts resort and flocke to see him take his last farewell of this world of whom the greatest part
contrary The next day all Granado rings and resounds of this murther and of the suspition and imprisonment of Don Hippolito for the same when the Lady Cervantella goes to the Criminall Iudges of the City and accuseth him for the same and with griefe sorrow and passion followes it close against him and although Hippolito at his first examination denies it yet being by his cleeresighted Iudges adjudged to the racke for the same hee at the very first sight thereof confesseth it for the which bloody and lamentable crime of his hee is sentenced the next day to be hanged although hee proffered all his estate and meanes to save his life But the zeale and integrity of his judges was such to the sacred name of Iustice as they disdained to bee corrupted herewith So the next Morning this old bloody wretch Hippolito is brought to the common place of execution where a very great concourse of people repaire from all parts of the Citty to see him take his last farewell of the world most oâ—… them pittying his age but all condemning the enormity of this his foule and bloody crime He was dealt with by some Priests and Fryers in prison whose Charity and Piety endevoured to fortifie his heart against the feare of death and to prepare his soule for the life and joyes of that to come But the Devill was yet so strong with him that hee could not bee drawne to contrition nor would not bee either perswaded or enforced to repentance or to aske God or the world forgivenesse of this his bloody fact but as hee lived prophanely so hee would dye wretchedly and desperately for on the Ladder hee made a foolish speech the which because it savoured more of beastly concupiscence and lust than of Piety or Religion I will therefore burie it in oblivion and silence and so hee was turnedover Come we now to speake of Don Emanuell de Cortez the Father who understanding of his Sonne Roderigo his continuall frequenting of Dona Cervantella's house and her daughter Dominica's company and now hearing of this murther of her Sonne to her doore his owne Sonne being then therein present he is much discontented therewith and because he will sequester him from her sight and provide him another Wife hee sends him to Asnalos a mannor house of his some tenne leagues off in the Country with a strong injunction and charge there to reside till his farther order to returne Roderigo is wonderfull sorrowfull thus to leave the sight of his faire and deere Mistris Dominica and to the view of the world no lesse is shee so hee transporteth only his body to Asnallos but his heart he leaves with her in Granado But a moneth is scarce expired after his departure But the Lady Cervantella by the death of her Sonne Don Garcia wanting a man to conduct and governe her affaires especially her law sutes wherewith as wee have formerly heard she is much incumbred shee thereupon as also at the instant request of her Daughter writes Roderigo this letter for his returne CERVANTELLA to RODERIGO AS thou tenderest the prosperity of my affaires and the content and ioy of my Doughter I request thee speedily to leave Asnallos and to returne to reside heere in Granado for I wanting my Sonne Garcia who was the ioy of my life and shee her Roderigo who art the life of her joy thou must not finde it strange if my age and her youth and if my Law sutes and her love affections and desires assume this resolution Thy Father is a Noble man of Reason and his Sonne shall finde this to bee a request both 〈◊〉 and reasonable except thou wilt so farre publish thy weakenesse to the world thaâ—… thou doest more feare thy Father than love my Daughter for if thou shouldest once â—…mit thy obedience to him so farre to give a Law to thy affection to her thou wilt then make thy selfe as unworthy to bee her Husband as I desire it with zeale and shee with passion Shee is resolved to second this my letter with one of her owne to thee to which I referre thee God blesse thy stay and hasten thy returne CERVANTELLA Dominica resolving to make good her promise to her mother and that of her mother to Roderigo she withdrawes her selfe to her chamber to write and knowing her mothers messenger ready to depart chargeth him with the delivery of her letter to her lover Roderigo and to cast the better lustre and varnish over her affection she takes a Diamond Ring from her finger and likewise sends it him for a token of her love DOMINICA to RODERIGO AS the death of my Brother Don Garcia made 〈◊〉 extreame sorrowfull so thiâ—… of thy absence made mee infinitely miserable for as that nipt my joyes and hopes in their blossomes so this kills them in their riper age and 〈◊〉 When I 〈◊〉 received thy love and gave and returned thee mine in exchange I had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hadst affected me too dearly so soone to leave my sight and to â—…sh thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my company but now I see with griefe and feelewith sorrow that thâ—… lovest thy Fâ—…er farre bettter than â—…ee and delightest to preferre his content befâ—… 〈◊〉 for else thou hadst not made me thus wretched by thy absence who am as it were but entering into the happinesse of thy presence If thou canst finde in thy heart to obey his commands before thou grant my requests then come not to Granado but stay still in Asnallos but if the contrary then leave Asnallos and come to mee in Granado wâ—…ere I will chide thee for thy long stay and yet give thee a world of thankes and kisses for thy so soone returne and as my heart and soule doth desire it so the prosperity of my Mothers affaires doth likewise want and therefore crave it Iudge of the fervency of my affection to thee by thine to my selfe and then thou wilt speâ—…dily resolve to see thy Dominica who desires nothing so much under Heaven as to have the happinesse of thy sight and the felicity and Honour of thy Company DOMINICA Roderigo receives these their two Letters reputes that of the mother to much respect and this of her Daughter to infinite affection so as the very knowledg and consideration thereof makes him rejoyce in the first and triumph in the second and therefore knowing himselfe to be a man and past a child and that as he is bound by nature and reason to obey his farther so he is not tyed to bee commanded by him beyond it wherefore he resolves to give content to the mother for the daughters sake and to the daughter for his own saâ—…e and so by their own messenger returnes them these answers That to the Lady Cervantella spake thus RODERIGO to CERVANTELLA I So much tender the prosperity of thy affaires and thy daughters content and joy that my resolutions shall so dispose of my selfe towards my Father as verie shortly I will see thee with respect and observance and
taking his leave of Denisa or any way acquainting her therewith and now when it is too late this wretched wench exceedingly grieves thereat when knowing his returne uncertain his affection to her doubtfull her self poore and her Lady Mistris Dominica as then not able to maintaine her or her child shee assumes another bloody resolution which is that as shee was formerly accessary to the poysoning of her Master so shee now will bee a principall Actor in murthering and making away of her owne child as soone as it shall be borne and neither conscience nor her feare are able to divert her from this her bloody and damnable purpose For being provoked thereunto first by her shame then by her necessity but chiefly and especially by her fâ—…all Counsellor and instigatour the Devill shee being delivered almost a moneth before her time of a faire young Sonne as soone as it had cried once to bewaile his owne misery and his inhumane Mothers cruelty she as an execrable fury of hell strangles it giving him his mournefull and untimely death in that very same houre and instant which God and her selfe gave it life and the very same evening wrappes it in a cleane white liâ—…in cloth and with a Packthred tyes a great stone thereunto and the devill giving her strength the very same night caries it halfe a mile off to a pondwithout the east gate of the Citty where seeing no body present to see her shee not as a mother no not as a woman but rather as a fury of hell there throwes it in which before her departure thence presently sunck to the bottome And here let us behold and contemplate on the wonderfull mercy and Iudgment of God in so speedily revealing this deplorable and cruell murther of this harmelesse and innocent little new borne babe whom being so newly brought from the adulterate wombe of his pittilesse mother she malitiously cast into that Pond giving it death for life the Pond for its Cradle a banck of mud and Oze for its bed and pillow For upon the instant of Denisas delivery and her murthering and throwing of this her infant babe into the Pond God to revenge this soule and bloody fact of hers deprived her of discretion and judgement to returne for that night to her Masters house for shee thinking to make sure and sound work for her owne reputation and safety shee that very night takes up her lodging in the next poore Inne which was at the signe of Saint Ioâ—… head where to the Host and Hostesse shee pretends â—…amenesse by the receit of a fall But God will give her but small time to rest and repose her selfe in the guiltinesse of this her cruell sinne of murthering her own innocent new borne babe for with in one houre after a Groome riding to water his horse in the same pond his Horse â—…eth and starts exceedingly pawing in the water with his farther fore foote and many times thrusts downe his head therein The Groome gives him the 〈◊〉 and switch to bring him off but in vaine for the horse the more paâ—…th with his foote 〈◊〉 â—…eth with his nose yea so long till at last it seemes the packthred being broken the white cloth appeares and flotes upon the water which the groome upon the strange behaviour of his horse but indeed by the immediate providence and pleasure of God who then and there was well pleased to make this reasonlesse Beast an instrument of his glory in the detection of this cruell murther causeth to bee fetched a shore where opening the cloth in presence of some others who flocke thither to the pond side to see what this may be They find a sweet young Infant boy whose body was as white as the snow with a flaxen coloured haire a cheerefull looke a cherrie lip and some blacknesse about his throate and necke wherby they guessed it to be newly borne and strangled of some Strumpet his mother whom to detect and finde out they search all the adjacent houses and at last finde out Denisa in her Inne when the Officers of Iustice setting a Midwife and some three or foure elderly women to search her they dispight of her resistance or prayers to the contrary give in evidence against her that shee was that day delivered of a child so shee is imprisoned and the next day brought to her arraignement where threatned with the racke shee confesseth the strangling of her child and the throwing of it into this pond for the which soule and in humane fact of hers shee is the next day condemned to bee hanged When desirous to save her soule though through the instigation of Satan she hath miserably cast away her body she entreateth that father Eustace a Priest of her acquaintance may be sent to her in Prison to prepare her soule for her spiritual journy to heaven who is accordingly sent her Who after a long and a religious exhortation to her falling on this point that she should do well to disburthen her conscience of any other capitall crime which she in all the whole course of her life might have committed as affirming that the revealing thereof exceedingly tended to Gods glory and the felicity of her owne foule she with teares and sighes deepely thinkes thereof that night in prison Now the next morning shee is brought to the place of execution where a great number of people flocke together to see her end and there on the Ladder after shee had againe confessed the strangling of her infant and her throwing of it into the Pond shee likewise then and there confessed That she was accessary and consented with her Lady Dominica to poyson her Master Roderigo which shee affirmed they both effected in the same manner as wee have formerly understood The confession of this her otherfoule murther as also of her Lady Dominica doth much amaze her Auditors and astonish her Judges who to cleere and vindicate the truth hereof they cause her to descend the Ladder and to be confronted with her said Lady Dominica who by this time in the middest of her security is likewise apprehended and brought before the Criminall Judges where contrary to her expectation being enforced to understand the effect and tenour of her Chamber maid Denisa's confession and accusation against her for the poysoning of her Husband Roderigo shee with much passion and choller tearmes her witch and devill and curseth the houre that ever shee fostered up so pestilent a Viper in her house to eate out her own heart and life when with more confidence and boldnes than contrition and repentance being first by her judges threatned with the torments of the racke she confesseth her selfe likewise to be guilty of murthering her first Husband Roderigo So Denisa's sentence is altered for shee is condemned to be hanged for her first murther and her dead body after to be burnt to ashes for her second and the Lady Dominica to bee hanged for poysoning her husband which newes so resounds and rattles through
time but bootlesse for mee either to paliate the truth or to flatter with God or man the worst of his crime he being my servant was the least courtesie hee owed to mee I being his mistris which after with mine owne hands I had committed that deplorable fact was to bring mee home from the fields to my fathers house and for assisting mee to cast the friers frocke the false beard and haire the almes box breviary and two pistolls into the next deepe pit or precipice thereunto adjoining where as yet they still lie for this my heinous offence the very remembrance whereof is now grievous and odious unto mee I aske pardon first of God then of mine owne deare father and next of the Lady Bertranna and if the words and prayers of a poore dying gentlewoman have any power with the living then I beseech you all in generall and every one of you in particular to pray unto God that hee will now forgive my sinnes in his favour and hereafter save my soule in his mercy the which as soone as shee had said and uttered some few short prayers to her selfe shee often making the signe of the crosse takes leave of all the world when pulling downe her vaile in comly sort over her eies and face and erecting her hands towards heaven shee was turned over now as some of her spectators rejoyced at the death of so cruell and bloody or female monster so the greatest part of them in favour of her birth youth and beautie did with aworld of teares exceedingly lament and pittie her but all of them doe highly detest and execrate the base ingratitude infidelity and treachery of this ignoble Baron of Sanctifiore towards her which no doubt was the prime cause and cheifest motive which drew her to these deplorable and bloody resolutions As for her honest coachman Sebastiano although his owne torments on the racke and now this solemne confession of his Lady Vrsina at her death had sufficiently proclaimed and vindicated his innocency in this murther of Sanctifiore yet such was his widdow Bertrannas living affection to her dead husband and her deadly malice to living Sebastiano for thinking him to bee guiltie and accessary hereunto with his Lady Vrsina that her power and malice so far prevailed with the integrity of the judges for the further disquisition of this truth as they now againe sentence him to the double torments of the racke the which hee againe likewise endureth with a most unparalleld patience and constancy without confessing any thing the which his judges wondering to see and admiring to understand and having no substantiall proofes or reall and valable evidences against him they now fully absolve and acquit him of this his suspected crime when being moved in charity justice and conscience to yeeld him some reward and satisfaction for thus enfeebling his body and impairing of his health by these his sharpe and bitter torments they therefore adjudge the plaintiffe widdow Bertranna to give him three hundred duckatons whereof shee cannot possibly exempt or excuse her selfe And thus lived and died our unkind Baron Sanctifiore and our cruell hearted young Lady Vrsina and in this manner did the sacred justice of God requite the one and condignly revenge and punish the other Now by reading this their history may God of his best favour and mercy teach us all from our hearts to hate this Barons levitie and from our soules to abhorre and detest this Ladies cruelty and impiety AMEN GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XXX De Mora treacherously kills Palura in a duell with two pistolls His Lady Bellinda with the aid of her gentleman usher Ferallo poysoneth her husband De Mora and afterwards shee marrieth and then murthereth her said husband Ferallo in his bed so shee is burnt alive for this her last murther and her ashes throwen into the aire for the first IN the generall depravation of this age it is no wonder that many sinfull foules are so transported by Sathan and their owne outragious passions to imbrue their guilty hands in the innocent blood of their christian brethren and it were a great happines and felicity to most countries and kingdomes of Europe if they were not sometimes infected with the contagion of this bloody and crying sinne which with a presumptuous hand seemes to strike at the majestie of God himselfe in killing man his creature but because wishes availe little and for that examples are more powerfull and prevalent and prove the best precepts to the living therefore I here produce a lamentable one of so inhumane a condition that by the knowledge and consideration thereof wee may know how to detest the like and avoid the temptations in our selves IN the famous kingdome of Portugall and within a very little league of Stremos one of the sweetest and fairest cities thereof there within these few yeares dwelt a noble gentleman of some fifty six yeares old named Don Alonso De Mora Issued and discended from one of the best and famous houses of that kingdome as being Nephew to that great and wise Don Christopher de Mora of whom the histories of Spaine and Portugall make so often and so honourable mention and although hee were by his ancestors and parents left very rich in lands and possessions yet his ambition and generosity caried him to serve his king Phillip third of Spaine in his warres of Africa and Flanders wherein hee spent the greatest part of his time and of himselfe wonne many renowned laurells and martiall trophees of honour and as an excellent cavalier left behinde him many approved markes and testimonies of his true valour and magnanimity But as all men are naturally constant in unconstancy and subject and co-incident to mutations and that the world still delights to please us with changes and to feed our fancies and affections with different enterprises and resolutions so our De Mora at last calls home his thoughts and himselfe from warre to peace and resolves to spend the remainder of his age in as much ease pleasure as formerly hee had done the heate and strength of his youth in tumults and combustions hee now sees that there is no life nor pleasure comparable to that of the country for here the sweetnesse of the imbalmed aire the delicacy of the perfumed and enamelled fields the unparalleld pastime of hauking and hunting and the free and uninterrupted accesse which wee have to arts in our study and to God in religious praiers and meditations makes it to bee no lesse than either an earthly paradise or a heaven upon earth For the campe despite of commanders abounds with all kinds of insolencies and impieties the cittie despite of magistrates with all sorts of vice deceit covetousnes and pride and the court despite of good kings and Princes too often with variety of hippocrisie perfidiousnes and vanity To his owne great mannor house neere Stremos therefore is our De Mora retired with a resolution