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
Charybdis of Murther for they found the fruits and end of their beastly pleasures farre more bitter then their beginning was sweet yea and because at first they would not looke on repentance at last shame lookes on them and they when it is too late both on a miserable shame and a shamefull misery May we all reade it to Gods glory and consequently to the reformation of our lives and the consolation and salvation of our owne soules IN the beautifull Citie of Avignion seated in the Kingdome of France and in the Province of Provence being the Capitall of the Dutchie of Venissa belonging to the Pope and wherein for the terme of welneere eightie yeeres they held their Pontificall See there dwelt a young Gentlewoman of some twentie yeeres of age tearmed Madamoyselle Laurieta whose father and mother being dead was left alone to her selfe their onely childe and heire being richer in beautie then lands and indued with many excellent qualities and perfections which gave grace and lustre to her beautie as her beautie did to them For shee spake the Latine and Italian tongue perfect was very expert and excellent in singing dancing musicke painting and the like which made her famous in that Citie But as there needs but one vice to eclipse and drowne many vertues so this faire Laurieta was more beautifull then chaste and not halfe so modest as lascivious It is as great a happinesse for children to enjoy their Parents as a miserie to want them For Laurieta's Father and Mother had been infinitely carefull and curious to traine her up in the Schoole of Vertue and Pietie and wherein her youth had during the terme of their lives made a happie entrance and as I may say a fortunate and glorious progression But when God the great Moderator and soveraigne Iudge of the world had in his eternall Decree and sacred Providence taken them out of this world then Laurieta was left to the wide world and to the vanitie thereof without guide or governour exposed to the varietie of the fortunes or rather the misfortunes of the times as a Ship without Pilot â—…r Helme subject to the mercy of every mercilesse winde and wave of the Sea yea and then it was that shee forgot her former modestie and chastitie and now began to adore the Shrines of Venus and Cupid by polluting and prostituting her body to the beastly pleasures of lust and forâ—…cation wherein it grieves mee to relate shee tooke a great delight and felicitie But shee shall pay deare for this bitter-sweet vice of hers yea and though it seeme to begin in content and pleasure yet wee shall assuredly see it end in shame repentance and misery for this sinne of Whoredome betrayes when it seemes to delight us and strangleth when it makes greatest shew to imbrace us so sweet and pure vertues are modestie and chastitie so foule and fatall vices are concupiscence and lust But hee with whom shee was most familiar and to whom shee imparted the greatest part of her favours was to one Monsieur de Belluile a proper yong Gentleman dwelling neere the Citie of Arles by birth and extraction noble but otherwise more rich then wise who comming to Avignion no sooner saw Laurieta but hee both gloried in the sight of her singular and triumphed in the contemplation of her exquisite and incomparable beautie making that his best content and this his sweetest felicitie that his soveraigne good and this his heaven upon earth so as losing himselfe in the labyrinth of her beautie and as it were drowning his thoughts in the sea of his concupiscence and sensualitie hee spends not onely his whole time but a great part of his wealth in wantonizing and entertaining her a vicious and foule fault not onely peculiar to Belluile but incident and fatall to too many Gallants as well of most parts of Christendome in generall as of France in particular it being indeed a disasterous and dangerous rocke whereon many inconsiderate and wretched Gentlemen have suffered shipwrack not only of their reputations healths and estates but many times of theiâ—… lives In the meane time Laurieta more jealous of her same then carefull to preserve her chastitie is advertised that Belluile is not content to cull the dainties of her beautie and youth but hee forgets himselfe and his discretion so farre as to vaunt thereof by letting fall some speeches tending to the blemish and disparagement of her honour so as vaine and lascivious as shee is yet the touching of this string affords her harsh and distastfull melodie For shee will seeke to cover her shame by her hypocrisie and so resolves to make him know the foulenesse of his offence in that of his basenesse and ingratitude To which end at her first interview and meeting of him shee not onely checks him for it but forbids and banisheth him her company which indeed had been a just cause and opportunitie for him to have converted his lust into chastitie and his folly into repentance But hee is too dissolute and vicious to bee so happily reclaimed from Laurieta and therefore hee is resolved not onely to justifie his innocencie but thereby also to persevere in his sinne Hee is acquainted with many Gentlemen who forgetting themselves conceive a felicitie and glory to erect the trophees of their vanities upon the disparagement of Ladies honours yea he seemes to be so farre from being guiltie of this errour as hee taxeth and condemnes others in being guiltie or accessary thereunto So although his Mistresse Laurieta remaine still coy strange and haggard to him yet hee persevereth in his affection to her who at last judging of his innocencie by his constancie and of that by his many letters and presents which hee still sent her as also observing that she had no firme grounds nor could produce any pregnant or valable witnesses of this report shee againe exchangeth her frownes into smiles and so receives and intertaines him into her favour onely with this premonition and caution That if ever heereafter shee heard of his folly or ingratitude in this kinde shee would never looke him in the face except with contempt and detestation So these their dis-joynted affections as well by oathes as protestations are againe confirmed and cimented but such lustfull contracts and lascivious familiarities and sympathies seldome or never make prosperous ends Now to give forme and life to this Historie Not long after a brave young Gentleman of Mompillier named Monsieur de Poligny having some occasion comes to Avignion who frequenting their publike Balles or Dancings no sooner saw our faire and beautifull Laurieta but hee falls in love with her and salutes and courts her and from thencefoorth deemes her so fayre as hee useth all meanes to become her servant but not in the way of honour and Marriage rather with a purpose to make her his Courtezan then his Wife But hee sees himselfe deceived in the irregular passion of his affection for Laurieta is averse and will not bee
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
hereat but how to remedy it she knowes not For his discontent hath made him so vicious his vices so obstinate and his obstinacie so outragious and violent as his Mother surfets with his Love-sute to Eleanora and will no more entermeddle with it Hee prayes and reprayes her to make one Iourney more for him to Vercelie to see what alterations time may have wrought in the hearts of Cassino and Eleanora but shee is as averse and wilfull as he is obstinate and peremptory and therefore constantly vowes neither to write nor ever to conferre more with them herein But this resolute answer of the Mother breeds bad blood in the Sonne yea it makes a Mutiny in his thoughts a Civill warre in his heart and a flat Rebellion in his resolutions against her for the same to which the Devill the Arch-enemy and Incendiary of our soules blowes the Coles For he who hereâ—…ofore looked on his Mother with obedience and affection cannot or at least will not see her now but with contempt and malice yea hee is so devoid of Grace and so exempt of Goodnesse that hee lookes from Charitie to wrath from Religion to Revenge from Heaven to Hell and so resolves to murther her thinking with himselfe that if hee had once dispatcht her he should then be sole Lord of all her wealth and that then this his great and absolute estate would soone induce Cassino and Eleanora to accept of his affection But he reckons without his soule and without God and therefore no marvell if these his bloody hopes deceive and betray him his Religion and Conscience cannot prevaile with him neither hath his Soule either grace or power enough to divert him from this fatall busines and execrable resolution for he will be so infernall a Monster of nature as to act her death of whom he received his life He consults with himselfe and the Devill with him whether hee should stab or poyson her but he holds it farre more safe and lesse dangerous to use the Drug then the Dagger and so concludes upon poyson to which â—…nd he being resolute in his rage thus to make away his Mother he as an execrable Villaine or indeed rather as a Devill provides himselfe of poyson the which hee still carries about him waiting for an opportunitie to give an end to this deplorable busines the which the Devill very shortly administreth him The manner thus This refusall of Cassino to her Sonne Alphonso and his miserable relapse to whoredome drunkennesse and neglect of prayer doth exceedingly distemper the Lady Sophia his Mothers spirits and they her body so that she is three dayes sicke of a Burning feaver when to allay the fervor of that unaccustomed heate shee causeth some Almond-milke to bee made her the which shee compoundeth with many coole herbes and other wholesome Ingredients of that nature and quality which she takes three times each day morning after dinner and before shee goes to bed So the third day of her sicknesse walking in the afternoone in one of the shaddowed Allies of her Garden with her Sonne and there with her best advice rectifying and directing his resolutions from Vice to Vertue she is unexpectedly surprised with the Symptome of her Feaver when sitting downe and causing her waiting Maid to hold her head in one of the Arbours she prayes her Sonne Alphonso to runne to her Chamber and to bring her a small wicker Bottle of Almond milke the which he doth but bloody Villaine that he is nothing can withhold him but his heart being tempered with inhumanitie and crueltie hee first poures in his poyson therein and then gives it her who good Lady drinkes two great draughts thereof when a sweat presently over spreading her face and shee beginning to looke pale he as a wretched Hypocrite makes a loud outcry from the Garden to the house and calling there Servants to her assistance hee likewise cals for a Chaire so she is brought to her Chamber and laid in her bed and within few houres after as a vertuous Lady and innocent Saint she forsakes this life and this world for a better and the ignorance of her Servants and her bloody Sonne drench'd as it were in the rivolets of his fained teares together with his excessive lamentations doe coffin her dead body up somewhat privately and speedily so that there is no thought nor suspicion of poyson and thus was the lamentable Murther and deplorable end of this wise and religious Lady Sophia committed by her owne wretched and infernall Sonne Now this Devill Alphonso to set the better luster on his forrowes and the better varnish and colour on his mourning for the death of his Mother gives her a stately Funerall the pompe and cost whereof not only equalized but exceeded their ranke and quality For he left no Gentleman or Lady in or about Cassall uninvited to be at her buriall and his Feast and dighted himselfe and all his Kinsfolkes and Servants in mourning attire thereby the better to carry off the least reflexion or shaddow of suspicion from him of this his foule and inhumane Murther The newes of the Lady Sophia's death runs from Cassall to Vercelie where Cassino and his Neece Eleanora understanding thereof they both of them exceedingly lament and sorrow for it in regard she was a very Honourable Wise and Religious Lady and to whom the tender youth of Eleanora was infinitly beholding and indebted for many of her sweet vertues and perfections so that as her Vncle honoured her so this his Neece held her selfe bound to reverence her as making her eminent and singular vertues the mould and patterne whereon shee framed all her terrestriall comportments and actions which in few moneths after were so many and so excellent that as she was knowne to bee one of the most beautifull so shee was likewise justly reported to be one of the wisest young Ladies of all that Citie and Countrie which together with her owne great Estate as also that of her Vncle Cassino's to the full enjoying whereof in contemplation of her vertues and consanguinity he had justly both designed and adopted her his sole heire the which made her to be sought in marriage by divers young Gallants of very noble and chiefe houses most whereof were superiour to Alphonso both in blood and wealth When her Vncle at last with her owne free affection and consent privately marries her to Signior Hieronymo Brasciano a rich and brave young Gentleman of Vercelie who was Nephew and Heire to the Bishop of that Citie but he being likewise very young the tendernesse of both their ages dispenced them from as yet lying together and both the Bishop and her Vncle Cassino for some important reasons best knowne to themselves caused this their marriage as yet to bee concealed from all the world with great privacie and secrecie hee for the most part living with the Bishop his Vncle at the Citie of Turin which is the Court of the Duke of Savoy and she in Vercelie
with many fearefull imprecations and asseverations stands peremptorily in her innocencie and out of the heat of her malice and choller termes them devills or witches that are her accusers But her Iudges who can no longer be deluded with her vowes nor will no more give eare to her perfidious oaths command to have her Paps seared off with hot burning Pincers thereby to vindicate the truth of her cruell murther from the falsehood of her impious and impudent denyall thereof Whereat amazed and astonished and seeing this cruell torment ready to bee inflicted and presented her God was so indulgent to her sinnes and so mercifull to her soule as the devill flying from her and she from his temptations shee rayning downe many rivolets and showres of teares from her eyes and evaporating many volleyes of sighes from her heart throwing her selfe downe on her knees to the earth and lifting up her eyes and handes unto Heaven with much bewayling and bitternesse shee at last confesseth to her Iudges that shee and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla were the murtherers of Belluile and for the which shee sayd that through her humble contrition and hearty repentance shee hoped that God would pardon her soule in the life to come though shee knew they would not her body in this Whereupon the Iudges in horrour and execration of her inhumane and bloudy crime pronounce sentence of death upon her and condemne her the next day after dinner first to be hanged then burnt in the same street right against her lodging Monsieur de Richcourts house and likewise sith Lucilla was both an accessary and actour in this bloudy Tragedy that her body should be taken up out of her Grave and likewise burnt with hers in the same fire which accordingly was executed in the presence of an infinite number of people both of the Citizens and adjacent neighbours of Avignion Laurieta uttering upon the Ladder a short but a most Christian and penitent speech to the people tending first to disswade them all by her example from those foule and crying sinnes of whoredome revenge and murther and then to request and perswade them that they would assist her with their religious and devout prayers in her soules passage and flight towards Heaven yet adding withall that as her crime so her griefe was redoubled because as she had killed Belluile for Poligny's sake so she was sure that Belluile had killed Poligny for hers And thus Christian Reader were the dissolute lives and mournefull deaths of these two unfortunate Gentlemen Poligny and Belluile and of this lascivious and bloudy Curâ—…izan Laurieta and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla A tragicall History worthy both of our observation and detestation and indeed these are the bitter fruits of Lust Whoreâ—…ome and Revenge and the inseparable companions which infallibly awayt and attend them the very sight and consideration whereof are capable not onely to administer consolation to the righteous but to strike terror to the ungodly O therefore that wee may all beware by these their fatall and dangerous sinnes for this is the onely perfect and true way to prevent and avoyde their punishments GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE IX Iacomo de Castelnovo Iustfully falls in love with his daughter in law Perina his owne sonne Francisco de Castelnovo's Wife whom to injoy he causeth Ierantha first to poyson his owne Lady Fidelia and then his said son Francisco de Castelnovo in revenge whereof Perina treacherously murthereth him in his bed Ierantha ready to dye in travell of child confesseth her two Murthers for the which she is bang'd and burnt Perina hath her right hand cut off and is condemned to perpetuall imprisonment where she sorrowfully languisheth and dyes WEe need not send our curiosity or our curiosity us to seek Tygers and Monsters in Africa for Europe hath but too many who are so cruell and inhumane not only to imbrue but to imbath themselves in the innocent bloud of their Christian brethren And as Religion prohibites us to kill and commands us to love our enemies with what audacious and prophane impiety dare wee then murther our friends nay those of our owne bloud and who are the greatest part of our selves And although Italy have lately afforded many tragicall presidents and fearefull Examples of this nature wheâ—…of I have given some to my former and reserved others to my future bookes yet in my conceipt it hath produced none more bloudy and inhumane then this whether we respect the Murthers or the persons For here wee shall see a wretched and execrable old man so besotted in lust and flaming in malice and revenge as being both a husband and a father hee by a hellish young Gentlewoman his strumpet poysonâ—…th both his owne wife and his owne sonne It was his vanity which first inkindled the fire of his lust it is then his Impiety which gives way to the Devill to blow the coales thereto and so to convert it into Murther O that Sinne should so triumph o're Grace and not Grace o're Sinne O that Age and Nature should not teach us to bee lesse bloudy and more compassionate and charitable And alas alas by Poyson that drug of the Devill who first brought the damnable invention thereof from hell to be practised here on earth onely by his agents and members Wee shall likewise see him killed by his daughter in law for formerly poysoning of her husband Lust seduced him to perpetraâ—…e those Affection or rather bloudy Revenge drew her on to performe this and consequently to her punishment due for the same Had they had more Grace and Religion they would not have beene so inhumane but falling from that no marvell if they fell to be so wretched and miserable for if we die well we seldome live ill if live ill we usually never die well for it is the end that crowns the beginning not the beginning the end Therfore if we will be happy in our lives and blessed in our deaths we must follow Vertue and flie from Vice love Chastity and Charity and hate Lust and Envie preferre Heaven before Earth our Soules before our Bodies and defie Satan with a holy resolution both to feare and love God SAvoy is the Countrey and Nice the City seated upon the Mediterraneâ—…m Sea being the strongest Bulwarke against France and the best Forâ—…resse and Key of Italy where the Scene of this insuing Tragicall History is layd the which to refetch from the Head-spring and Fountaine of its originall it must carry our curiosity and understanding over those famous Mountaines the Alpes and from thence to the City of Saint Iohn de Mauriena where of late and fresh memory dwelt an aged Gentleman of rich revenues and great wealth named Seignior Antonio de Arconeto who had newly by his deceased Wife the Lady Eleanora de Bibanti two Children to wit a Son and a Daughter that named Seignior Alexandro and this the Lady Perina a little different in yeares for he was eighteen and
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
Saint Clou of his sonne De Salez being there timely in the morning and withall that his Trunkes were all safe and nothing wanting they banish all suspition and without farther enquiry of doubt commend the dead corps to the grave Whose funerall with exteriour shew of extreame griefe and sorrowe De Salez performes in Parâ—… with all Decency and Decorum answerable in all respects to his fathers ranke and quality But wee shall shortly see this maske of his devillish hypocrisie pul'd off and this inhumane paraside of his both shamefully and sharpely revenged by the just judgement and finger of God The manner is thus This harmelesse and innocent old father Argentier is no sooner laid in his untimely grave but his bloody and execrable sonne De Salez within eight dayes after leaves Paris and returnes to Tholouse where already this sorrowfull newes is dispersed and divulged being for his vertues and integrity of life generally bewayled of the whole City onely gracelesse and impudent La Hay triumphs hereat and her very heart and thoughts dance for joy hereof she welcomes home her De Salez with a world of sweet and sugred kisses who as glad of her presence returnes her them with a plentifull and prodigall interest but his lustfull love to her is so fervent and his folly in himselfe so perverse and obstinate as he hath scarce the patience much lesse the respect and modesty to weare blackes for his fathers six weekes but casts them off takes on gaudie and scarlet apparell and very solemnely marries La Hay Whereby in respect of the inequality of their descents and meanes but especially of her whoorish conditions hee makes himselfe the laughter and May-game of all Tholouse But good God what a prodigious and hellish match is this sith man and wife and both are Murtherers O execrable and miserable wretches O bloody and impious miscreants for sure if this marriage of yours prove happy I may boldly and truely say there will never any prove unfortunate and miserable For Alas alas what doe those impious and damnable crimes of theirs deserve and portend but misery ruine and confusion of all sides neither shall the curiositie of our enquiry carry us far before we see it surprise and befall them For before they had been fully married three moneths De Salez reaping his desires and feasting himselfe with the pleasures of her youth he directly contrary to his hops and expectation is in forced to see and know that which before he would have thought never to have knowne or seen for thinking his wife to have been a modest and chast Diana he now sees she is a deboshed Layis â—…ea his misery is so great as he needs no spectacle to see that she dayly makes him a Knight of the forked order and almost every houre despight of his care and jelousie claps a cuckowes feather in his hat which to prevent and remedie hee first administreth requests and perswasions and then comblaines to her father But these are too weake reasones and too gentle motives to prevaile with so insatiable a strumpet so as he is constrained to adde threats to his requests and in the end blowes to his threats But as it is impossible for the Leopard to change his skin and the Aethiopian his hew so de Salez sees it labour lost to thinke to reclayme his wife from her beastly sinne of adultery wherein notwithstanding all that possible he can doe she takes such a delight and habite as by this time she is growne so extreamely impudent as when her husband is at home she is abroad ranging and he is no sooner abroad but she is instantly at home revelling with her ruffians Yea she is growne to that hight of obscenity as she contemns and sleights her husband that whether he be abroad or at home shee will play the whore before his face with open doores which although it bee too late for him to remedy yet it bites him to the heart and grieves him to the gall and now it is that hee a thousand times thinkes of his fathers advise and councell in forsaking her and as often wisheth hee had followed it Now it is that his unnaturall murthering of his father thunders foorth horror terror and repentance to his foule and guilty conscience and now it is that hee wisheth from his heart and soule that hee had beene blind when hee first saw her and fairely laid in his grave before he first lay with her in bed But these his complaints and griefs bring him onely vexation and misery insteed of comfort for now he utterly dispaires and sees no hope of his wives reformation Whereupon he resolves to divorce himselfe from her and to that end takes counsell thereon but it is not so secretly managed by him but the strumpet his wife hath present notice and inckling thereof whereupon seeing her husband exceeding rich both in lands coyne plate and other rich houshold-stuff she vowes not to quite her great joynter share and interest hereof thus But before he had inrolled his suite in the Spirituall Court or any way vented his owne shame and his wives infamy in publike she like a true Courtisan and debaushed strumpet as she was vowes to prevent him that would prevent her and to send him to his death that would seeke to divorce her and in respect of his jelousie and malice that as shee had formerly poisoned La Frange for her husbands sake so shee would now murther him for her owne But miserable and execrable wretch Oh to what a monstroues heigh and huge summe will all these thy beastly sinnes and bloody enormities arise and amount unto But Lust malice and Revenge like three infernall furies so possesse and preoccupate her senses as she will not retyre till she hath sent her husband into another world in a bloody winding-sheet To which end watching the time when most of her servants were gone abroad to gather in the Vintage she softly opening her husbands chamber doore steales in and finding him soundly sleeping approcheth his bed when drawing forth a rasor from her sleeve which she had purposely provided she with an implacable and damnable malice steps to him and cuts his throat speaking onely these words to her selfe Loe heere the reward of thy Ielousie when throwing the knife and her outward Taffata Gowne into the house of office she leaving him weltring in his blood very secretly conveyes her selfe through the Gallery to the Garden where her wayting Gentlewoman attends her and so hyes away to the Church thinking with a wretched impiety to cloake this her second murther as her former under the vaile of religion and piety but her hopes and the Devill that gave them her will now deceive her De Salez her husband striving and strugling for life against the pangs of death feare and hast contrary to her intent and minde had so made his murtherous wifes hand shake and tremble as she did not so fully cut his throat-boale but he could yet
Mother in the defence of Pont de Sey assaulted and taken by the King her sonne Now although this old widdow La Vasselay in respect of her Age was farre more fit to seeke God in the Church than a new Husband in her bed yet shee is weary of a single life although it be not fully six moneths since shee hath buried her second husband for the Reader must understand she had formerly buried her first at least five and twenty yeares before and is now againe resolved to take a third and albeit she knew that the civility of the widdowes in France was such that they seldome marrie but almost never within the tearme of a whole yeare yet her conceit and fancie thinks it not onely lawfull but fit to breake this too austere custome and therefore she peremptorily resolves to live a wife and not to die a widdow But this resolution of hers were shee either in the Summer or the Autumne of her yeares had beene as excusable and praise-worthy as now it savoured of undecencie and inconstancie sith she was in the Winter thereof For Age despight of her Youth and youthfull desires had throwne snow on her head and new dyed the colour of her haire from blacke to white yea shee was so farre from retaining any signes or reliques of an indifferent beauty as the furrowes of her face could not justly shew any ruines or demolitions thereof and yet forsooth she will marry againe Now her Birth and wealth rather than her Vertues and personage invite many old Widdowers and some rich Gentlemen and Counsellours of the famous Presidiall Court of that City to seeke her in marriage and indeed both for lands and money none her inferiours but all at least her equals and some her betters But in vaine for the vanity of her thought suggest her that either shee is too young for them or they too old for her and therfore she will have none of them yea her lust seemes so youthfully to give a law to her age and the lye to her yeares as she casts off her mourning attire decks her selfe up in gay apparell powders her haire paints her face with a resolution forsooth to have no old Dotard but a young Gallant to her husband as if therein she wholly placed not onely her content but her felicity But wee many times see such irregular desires and such incontinent designes met with unexpected misery and unthought of repentance Now during the time that the vaine carriage and deportment of this old Gentlewoman and widdow La Vasselay made her selfe the laughter and by-word of all Mans home comes a young Gentleman of this Countrey of Maine termed Monsier De Merson from his travell in Italy whose father dwelt betwixt La Vall and Gravelle tearmed Monsier De Manfrelle being a Gentleman well descended and rich and to whom De Merson was second sonne who in a yeares absence in Italy being purposely sent thither by his father to enrich his experience and capacity which is the true essence and glory of a traveller thereby to bee the more capable to serve his Prince and Countrey as also to be a comfort to his age and a second prop to his house and linage he had made such poore and unprofitable use of his travels as forgetting the obtaining of the language and all generous exercises perfections and qualities so requisite and gracefull in Gentlemen he delighted in nothing so much nay in nothing else but to passe his time with Curtisans and strumpets especially in Venice Rome and Naples where for their sakes and his lascivious pleasures hee built up the greatest part of his Residence where he so prodigally spent and exceeded his fathers exhibition as he returnes into France not loaden with Vertues and Experience but with Vices and Debts being otherwise ignorant in all things which he should know and knowing nothing but that wherein he should be ignorant Onely to the end he might thereby set the better counterfeit tincture on himselfe and false lustre on his Endowments and Proficiencie he superficially brought away or rather borrowed some Italian Phrases and complements which hee thought would not onely passe currant with the Gentlemen and Ladies of France but also draw them into admiration as well of himselfe as them When immediately upon his arrivall that he might the better see and make himselfe seene of the world hee flaunts it out in brave apparell both in L'avall Angiers and Mans Yea there is scarce any great feast or marriage in all those parts but if he be not invited yet hee purposely invites himselfe thereat thereby to make himselfe the more conspicuous and apparant to the eyes of the world especially of the Ladies and Gentlewomen in whose acquaintance and favour he not onely endevours to initiate but strives to ingraft himselfe But his old father Manfrelle judiciously observing the vaine behaviour and light deportment and carriage of this his son he exceedingly grieves thereat because he had well hoped that his travels would have returned him as capable and discreet as now he finds him ignorant and which is worse debosh'd sith he well knew that either of these two vices was enough sufficient and powerfull not onely to ruine his reputation but his fortunes Againe to adde more sorrowes to his griefe and more discontent to his sorrowes for the vanity and levity of this his sonne every weeke nay almost every day brings him in new bills of his debts a third falling in upon the necke of first and second and a fourth on the third which being greater than his estate or at least his pleasure would permit him to pay hee takes his sonne De Merson aside and very sharply checks him for his old and new prodigalities vowes that hee will neither sell nor morgage his lands to discharge his foolish debts and therefore hee bids him looke to satisfie them for that hee is resolved not to see much lesse to speake with any of his Creditors how great or small soever the summes bee he owes them This cooling card of Manfrelles makes his sonne De Merson not onely bite his lips for sorrow but hang his head for anger and vexation yea his folly doth so eclipse and overvaile his judgement herein as in stead of making good use hereof hee takes a contrary resolution and so resolves to embrace and follow the worst for whereas hee should have made his pride and prodigality strike saile and now rather seeke to reintegrate himselfe into his fathers favours than any way futurely attempt to incense or exasperate him against him he onely taking counsell of his Youth Passions and Choller which as false and treacherous guides most commonly lead us to misery and repentance againe precipitates and ingulphs himselfe afresh in new debts both with his Vsurer Mercer and Taylor and no longer able to digest his fathers checks and frownes hee very inconsiderately and raâ—…ly packs up his baggage leaves his house rides to Mans and there resolves to
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
was a crying Sinne which despight of sorcery and of Hell would in Gods due time draw downe vengeance to Earth from Heauen on their Authors That if he were guiltie of his accusation he had no better plea than confession nor safer remedie than repentance That contrition is the true marke of a true Servant of God and though we fall to Nature and sinne as being men yet wee should rise againe to grace and righteousnesse as being Christians That to deny our Crimes is to augment them and consequently their punishments both in Earth and in Hell and that he was not a Christian but an Infidell who would attempt to save his life with the losse of his soule with many other religious exhortations concurring and looking that way But all this notwithstanding Idiaques his Faith and Conscience was yet so strong with Sathan and therefore so weake with God that he left no excuse policy or evasion uninvented to bleare the eyes of these Corigadors and so to make his innocency to passe current with them But his eloquence and asseverations cannot prevaile with the solidity of their Iudgements for God will not suffer them to bee led away with words nor seduced or deluded with shadowes But from the circumference of circumstances they now flie to the centre of truth and to the Authour and giver yea to the life and soule thereof God So they againe adjudge him to the rack for his second accusation of Murther as they formerly had done to him for his first At the pronouncing of which sentence If wee may judge of his heart by his face hee seemed to be much afflicted appaled and daunted which his Iudges perceiving before they expose him to his torments they in Honour to his Age and qualitie but farre more to Truth and Iustice whom they know to be two Daughters of Heaven they now hold it a point of Charity and Piety to send him two Diuines to his prison to worke upon his Conscience and Soule which they doe And God in the depth of his goodnesse and the richnesse of his mercy was so mercifully propitious and indulgent to him that hee added such efficacy to their perswasions and power to their exhortations as at the very sight of the racke hee with teares in his eyes then and there confessed unto them That hee was innocent of Mathurinaes murther but guiltie of poisoning his owne wife the Ladie Honoria for the which he said he most heartily and sorrowfully repented himselfe Whereupon his Iudges and the rest present admiring with wonder and praising God with admiration for the detection of this his foule bloody and lamentable crime they pronounce sentence against him That for expiation thereof hee at eight of the clocke the next morning shall have his head cut off at the place of common execution in that Towne When Idiaques who yet adhered so much to Satâ—…an that hee could never be devested of his mortall sinnes before he were first deprived of his sinfull life doth yet still flatter himselfe with some further hope of life and so hee appeales from the judgement and sentence of this Court of Coimbra to that of Santarem as being native and resident thereof as also because he committed his murther there for which they not his competent Iudges adjudged him to death Whereat although the Corigadors of Coimbra for the preservation of the priviledges of their Court and Towne doe obstinately expose and vehemently contest it yet at last well knowing and being conscious with themselves that smaller Townes and Courts in Portugall are bound and subject to depend of the greater They therefore making a vertue of necessitie and contenting themselves to give way to that which they cannot remedie doe ordaine that Idiaques should bee conveighed and tryed at Santarem But yet before they suffer him to depart their Towne they in honour to Iustice in wisedome to themselves and in reputation to their Towne and Court doe seriously and religiously charge him in the name and feare of God to declare truly to them whether his unburyed Daughter in Law Marsillia were not likewise accessary with him in poysoning his Wife the Lady Honoria which at first he strongly denies to them But then they send away for the two Divines who had formerly dealt with him and his Conscience in Prison who exhort him to carrie a white and candyd soule to Heaven and threaten him with the torments of Hell fire if hee doe not When with sighes and teares he confesseth that to them and that it was hee himselfe who administred that poyson to his wife but that his daughter in Law Marsillia bought it for him So these Iudges upon the validity of this free and solemne confession in detestation of this her lamentable crime doe reverently resolve to second and glorifie God in his Iudgements towards her and therefore they presently condemne her dead body to bee burnt that afternoone in their market street the common place of execution which accordingly is then and there performed in presence of a great concourse of people who infinitly rejoyce that God so miraculously destroyed the life and their Iudges the body of so execrable a female Monster By this time we must allow and imagine that our old Lecher and new murthere Idiaques by vertue of his appeale is brought to his owne City of Santarem and I thinke either with a ridiculous hope or a prophane and impious resolution to see whether God will punish him there with death or the Divell preserve and save him from it Hee hath many friends in this Court who are both great and powerfull and therefore builds all his hopes of life on this reeling quicksand this snow this nothing that his great estate of money and lands will undoubtedly act wonders with them for his pardon But still he hopes because still the divell deceives him He is arrived here at Santarem where this faire Citie which might heretofore have proved his delight and glory is now reserved for his shame and appointed and destined for his confusion They cannot brook the sight much lesse the cohabitation and company of such monsters of nature and divels incarnat of men who glory in making themselves guilty of these soule sinnes and crying crimes Adultery Incesâ—… Murther So that Idiaques who hath made himselfe a principall of this number and a monster of Art in these sinnes thinking here in Santarem to find more mercy and pity during his life shall find lesse of both of them after his death For the criminall Iudges of this Court who reverence and honour Iustice because Iustice doth daily and reciprocally performe the like to them doe confirme the sentence of Coimbra that the next morne he shall lose his head but in detestation and execration of these his foule and bloody crimes they adde this clause and condition thereto that both his head and body shall be afterwards burnt and his ashes throwne into the ayre which gives maatter of talke and admiration not onely to Santarem
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
opinion to seize on their ship which is at anchor in the Roade termed the Realto of Venice a name I thinke derived and taken from the marchants Exchange of that ciâ—…ty tearmed the Realto or else from the Realto Bridge which for one Arche is doubtlesse the rarest fairest and richest Bridge of the world which ship was of some three hundred Tonnes and bore some twenty peeces of Ordinance and then presently after to seize on themselves in their Lodging But upon more mature deliberation they resolve to abandon this their opinion and so to seize on their persons but not to arrest or make stay of their Ship and although their reale to justice and hast for their apprehension be very great yet Mercario out of his respects to Imperia and affection to Marosini tripped on through the by Streetes and neerest way to the Key so swiftly as hee had allready secretly related him and his two consorts the sorrowfull newes which Imperia sent them by him Whereat with feare in their hearts and courages and amazement in their lookes and countenances they all three leape from their beds to their swords discharge their Inne packe up their Truncks and bagage and resolve with all possible speed to flie to their ship and then if not with yet against the windes to put into Sea and for their safetie to leave Ancona and saile for Venice But yet here Morosini's heart is perplexed with a thousand Torments to understand of his Imperia's eminent and apparant danger and with many Hels in stead of one to see that hee must now thus sodainly leave her deere sight and company which hee every way esteemes no lesse then either his earthly felicity or his Heaven upon earth But here againe violently called away by the importunate cries of Astonicus and Donato and yet farre more by the consideration of his owne proper feare and danger Mercario is no sooner stollen away from them but they all three with their swords drawne rush downe the stayres with equall intents and resolution to exchange their Inne for their Ship and thereby to metamorphose their danger into security But they shall see that these weake and reeling hopes of theirs will now deceive them For they finde all doores of their Inne lockt within â—…ide and surrounded and beleagured without with many armed Serjeants Soldiours and Citizens for their apprehension And although Morosini Astonicus and Donato were so inflamed with their youthful bloud and courage as they were once generously resolved to sell their lives deerely and with their Pistolls and Swords to prefer an honourable to an infamous death yet being farre overmastered with numbers and therefore enforced to take a Law of the stronger Whereunto they the sooner hearken and consent in regard the Serjeants and officers doe politickly cry out to them and pray them to yeeld as affirming that to their knowledg their resolution and feare doth far exceed the danger of their offences They make a vertue of necessity and unlocking the doores of their In and chambers do cheerfully yeeld up their persons pistolls and swords to the Popes Officers of Iustice who as soone conveigh them all three to the common prison of that Citty which was the same wherein our not so sorrowfull as unfortunate Imperia was already entred and where to her unexpressible griefe and Morosini's unparalel'd affliction disconsolation such exact charge was given of the Podestate and such curiousheed observed and taken of the Goaler that he could not possibly be permitted either to see or speak with her or she with him the which indeed they conceived to be farre more sharp than their crime and infinitly more bitter than the consideration either of their feare or danger Now the newes of these lamentable Accidents being speedily posted from Ancona to Loretto our Imperia's cruell Father Bondino no sooner is ascertained thereof But seeing his sonne in law Palmerius murthered in his bed and his wife and his own only daughter Imperia with her Ruffian Morosini and his two consorts to be imprisoned as the Authors and actors thereof hee for the love hee bore to her life and the tender pitty and sorrow hee felt of the infamy of her approaching death sodainly falls sicke and dies Wherof his imprisoned Daughter Imperia understanding shee in regard of his former severity towards her is so much passionate and so little compassionate as shee rather rejoyceth than lamenteth at it Onely shee prayes God to forgive his soule of that crueltie of his in enforcing her to marry Palmerius which shee knowes to bee the the originall cause and fatall cloud from whence have proceeded alâ—… these dismall stormes of affliction and tempests of untimely death which shee feares must very shortly befall both her selfe and her second selfe Morosini Whiles thus Astonicus and Donato grieve at their hard fortune and danger and Morosini and Imperia doe reciprocally more lament and sorrow for their separation then for their imprisonment and that the Podestate and other officers of Iustice of Ancona are resolved first to informe the Pope and then to expect his holinesse pleasure for the arraignment and punishment of these foure prisoners it pleased God exceedingly to visit the towne of Loretto and especially the Cittie of Ancona with the Plague wherof many thousands in a few moneths were swept away so by speciall commission and order from Rome they in company of divers other Prisoners are conveyed to the citty of Polegnio two small dayes journey from Ancona and there to be arraigned and tried upon their lives and deaths At which time as they past by the old little Citie of Tolentino where I then in my intended travells towards Rome lay upon my recovery of a burning feaver When I say the nature of their crimes and the quality of their persons made my curiosity so ambitious as to see and obserue them in their severall chambers of the Inne where they that night lay which was at the signe of the Popes armes as for Astonicus and Donato I found them to be rather sad than merry Morosini to be farre more merry then wise and Imperia to bee infinitly more faire than fortunate and all of them to bee lesse sorrowfull for their affliction and danger than for the cause thereof Within three houres of their arrivall to Foligâ—…io they are all foure convented before the two criminall Judges who are purposly sent from Rome thither and are there and then severally charged with this foule murther of stifling to death the old Signior Palmerius in his bed which all and every one of them apart doe stifly deny Notwithstanding that Fundt the hoast and Richardo the Nephew give in evidence of strong presumption against them and also notwithstanding of Morosini's gloves and Bondino's letter written to his Sonne in law Palmerius and delivered by Herbas as we have formerly understood But these two grave and prudent Iudges yet strongly suspecting the contrary they will not be deluded with the airy words and