her of the difference betweene the two Bashaw's for her sake and how that she now remained in the power of the Cadi his Master for the conveying and presenting her to the great Turke Selim at Constantinople But rather then this should take effect he hoped in the true God in whom hee beleeved though a bad Christian that he would dispose otherwise of her advising her withall that by bearing her selfe fayrely she should work and insinuate her selfe into Halima's favour and good opinion Wife to the Cadi his Master in whose power she was to remaine till they should send her to Constantinople acquainting her withall with Halima's conditions and qualities and besides these told her many other things which might make much for her good holding talke and discourse with her all the way till he had brought her to and left her in the Cadi's house and in the power of Halima to whom hee delivered his Masters message The Moore for that she saw she was so well clad and so beautifull gave her a very kinde and friendly welcome Mahamut having rendred up his charge into Halima's hands returned back to the Tents to recount unto Ricardo what had passed betwixt himselfe and Leonisa and meeting with him told him all point by point from the beginning to the ending But when I came to tell him how sorrowfull Leonisa was when I signified unto her that hee was dead the water stood in his eyes I told him how I had feigned that counterfeit story of Cornelio's being a Captive to see how she would take it I acquainted him with her coldnesse to Cornelio and the bad conceit she had of him for his undervaluing her All which was as a soveraigne cordiall to Ricardo's afflicted heart Who sayd unto Mahamut There comes now into my minde friend Mahamut a tale which my Father told mee who you know how curious hee was and have heard I am sure what great honour the Emperour Charles the Fifth did him whom he still serv'd in honourable places in his Warres I tell you that he told me that when the Emperour was at the Siege of Tunez and tooke it together with the Fort Goleta being one day in the field in his Tent they presented unto him a Moore as a singular rarity for her beauty and that at that very time wherein they presented her unto him entred in certaine beames of the Sunne at the one side of the Tent and rested on the haires of the Moore which seemed to stand in competion with those of the Sunne being betweene red and yellow resembling the collour of golden Wyars A rare and strange thing amongst the Moores with whom your blacke haires are in greatest esteeme and request He told mee likewise that on that occasion there were in the Tent amongst many other two Spanish gentlemen both very discreet and both Poets the one of Andaluzia the other of Catalunia The former having taken a view of her vented certaine verses which they call Coplas ending in rhime but being at a stand when hee had uttered five of his verses the other gentleman seeing him sticke and that hee could goe no further to make an end of what hee had begunne for want of words which on the suddaine did not offer themselves to his liking who stood close by him and had heard these his Verses went presently on where hee left adding instantly five other to the former And this presented it selfe unto my memorie when I saw that most beautifull Leonisa enter the Bashaw's Tent not onely out shining the beames of the Sunne should they have lighted on her but even Heaven it selfe with all it's starres Hold sayd Mahamut no more least friend Ricardo thy tongue runne riot for at every word thou utterest I am afrayd thou wilt passe so farre beyond the bounds of not onely reason but religion in the praise and commendation of thy fayre Leonisa that leaving to seeme a Christian thou wilt bee taken for a Gentile Let mee heare those verses or Coplas or what else you please to call them that wee may afterwards talke of other things that may bee more pleasing and perhaps more profitable In good time sayd Ricardo but let mee once againe advertise thee that the Andaluz vented the first five verses and the Catalan the other five both extempore and these they bee And. Whilest I behold thy glittering golden hayreâ—… Disheveld thus waving about thy eares And see those lockes thus loosed and undone For their more pompe to sport them in the Sunne Love takes those threads and weaves them with that Art Cat. Hee knits a thousand knots about my heart And with such skill and cunning hee them sets My soule lies taken in those lovely â—…ets Making mee cry faire prisâ—… thâ—… dost hold My heart in fetters wrought of â—…nisht gold I like them well sayd Mahamut but much better my Ricardo that you are in this good humour of repeating verses because the saying 〈◊〉 making of them requireth the mindes of men that are disapassâ—…nated Men likewise use replyed Ricardo to wayle over Hearses as to sing verses both are verse But laying this aside tell mee what thou mindest to do in this our businesse for though I understood not what the Bashaw's treated in the Tent till thou hast carried away Leonisa a Renegado of my Master a Venetian told me all who was then present and understood the Turkish language very well And therefore above all things it is most needfull and requisite to set our wits a worke and seeke out some plot to prevent Leonisa's comming to the hands of the Grand-Signior That which is fittest first of all to bee done answered Mahamut is that thou come to bee in the power of my Master This being effected wee will afterwards consult on that which shall convene best for us Whilest they were thus talking came the Guardian of the Christian Captives belonging to Hazan and carried Ricardo away with him The Cadi returned with Hazan to the Citie who in a few dayes dispatched Ali's Residencie and gave it him roll'd up and sealed that hee might carry it along with him to Constantinople Hee taking his leave prepared forthwith to let forward on his journey being very instant with the Cadi that hee would hasten the sending of the Captive and withall write his Letters to the Grand-Signior in his favour for the better furthering of his pretensions the Cadi promised him he would but with trecherous bowells which were almost turned into ashes so were they set on fire by the inflamed love which he bare to the Captive Ali being gone full of false hopes and Hazan abiding behinde not voyd of them Mahamut so brought the businesse about that Ricardo came into the power of his Master Houres and dayes ran on the time past away and the longing desire to see Leonisa did so presse and wring Ricardo that hee could not take one poore short minute of rest Ricardo changed his owne name into that of Mario because his might not
gentle Lambe is shee which holds mee in this wretched and miserable estate For I must give thee to understand that from my tender yeares o◅ at least ever since I had the use of reason I did not onely love but adore her and did serve her with such solicitude and devotion as if neither on earth nor in Heaven there were any other Deitie for mee to serve and adore save her selfe Her kinsfolke and Parents knew my desires considering withall that they were directed to an honest and vertuous end And that therefore many a time and oft which escaped not my knowledg they acquainted Leonisa with the fervent love and affection I bare unto her for the better disposing of her will to accept mee for her Husband But shee who had placed her eyes on Cornelio the Sonne of Ascanio Rotulo whom you know very well a young Gallant neate and spruce with white hands and curled haires having a melifluous voice and amorous words at will and in a word being all made of Amber Muske and Civet clad in Tissue adorned with rich embroyderies would not vouchsafe to cast so much as one glaunce of her eye on my countenance which was not so delicate as that of Cornelio neither would entertaine notwithstanding my best endeavours to please her with thankefulnesse my many and continuall services requiting my good will with disdaine and hatred And to such extreames did the excesse of my love bring mee that I should have held my selfe happie had her disdaines and unkindnesses kil'd me outright that I might not have liv'd to have seene her conferre such open though honest favours on Cornelio Consider now being anguished with disdaine and hatred and almost mad with the cruell rage of jealousie in what miserable case you may imagine my soule was two such mortall plagues reigning therein Leonisa's Parents dissembled those favours which she did to Cornelio beleeving as they had good reason to beleeve it that the young man attracted by her most exquesite and incomparable beautie which none could match but her owne would make choice of her for his Spouse and so in him gaine a richer sonne in Law then in me and well if he were so might he be so But I dare be bold to say without arrogacie be it spoken that as good bloud runs in my veines as his my quality and condition nothing inferiour to his and for his minde it cannot bee more noble then mine nor his valour goe beyond mine But that indeed which did over ballance mee was Leonisia's favour and her Parents furthering the businesse and this onely made the scales uneven by their enclining to Cornelio Now it so fell out that persisting in the pursuite of my pretensions it came to my knowledge that one day in the moneth of May last past which this very day makes up a yeare three dayes and five houres Leonisia her Parents and Cornelio and some friends of his went to solace themselves accompanied with their kindred and servants to Ascamo his Garden neare adjoyning to the Sea-side in the way that leads to the Salt-pits I know that place passing well sayd Mahamut goe on Ricardo I was more then foure dayes in one of them I could have wisht I had beene there but foure minutes I knew that replied Ricardo and in that very instant that I knew it my soule was possessed with such a fury such a rage and such a hell of jealousies and with that vehemencie and rigour that it bereaved mee of my senses as thou shalt plainely by that which I presently see did which was this I hyed mee to the Garden where I was told they were where I found most of the cōpany solasing themselves and Cornelio Leonisa sitting under a Walnut-tree somewhat out of the way from the rest How my sight pleased them I doe not know but know to say so much of my selfe that her sight wrought so upon mee that I lost the sight of mine owne eyes and stood stocke still like a Statuaa without either voice or motion But I continued not long so before that my anger awakened my choler choler heated my bloud my bloud inflamed rage and rage gave motion to my hands and tongue Howbeit my hands were bound by the respect which me'thought was due to that fayre face which I had before mee But my tongue breaking silence vented forth these words How canst thou finde in thy heart how give thy selfe content Oh thou mortall enemie of my rest in having and therin taking so much pleasure before thine eyes the cause which must make mine to overflow with rivers of teares and by my continuall weeping become another Deluge Come come cruell as thou art a little nearer and wreathe thy twining Ivie about this unprofitable truncke which wooes thy embracings Let him lay his head in thy lap and let thy fingers learne to play with those breaded lockes of this thy new Ganimede what thou wilt doe doe quickly Make an end at once of delivering up the possession of thy selfe to the greene and ungoverned yeares of this your Minion to the end that I losing all hope of obtaining thee may together with that end this my life so much by mee abhorred Thinkst thou peradventure thou proud and ill advised Damosell that this young Princoxe presumptuous by reason of his riches arrogant by your gracing of him unexperienced in that hee is too young and insolent by his relying on his Linage will love as he ought and you deserve No hee cannot no hee knowes not how to love constantly nor to esteeme that which is in estimable nor come to have that understanding and knowledge which accompanies ripe and experimented yeares If you thinke so doe not thinke it for the World hath no other good thing save the doing of its actions alwaies after one and the same manner For none are deceived but by their owne ignorance In yong men there is much inconstancie in rich pride vanitie in the arrogant in the beautitifull disdaine and in those that have all these foolishnesse which is the mother of all ill successe And thou oh young Gallant art such a one who thinkst to carry all before thee and to goe cleare away with that reward which is more due to my good desires then thy idle protestations Why dost thou not arise from that Carpet of flowers whereon thou lyest and come to take this my soule from me which so deadly hateth thine Not because thou offendest me in that which thou doest but because thou knowest not how to esteeme that good which fortune gives thee and it is cleare and evident that thou makst little reckoning of it since thou wilt not rise up to defend it that thou mayst not put thy selfe to the hazzard of discomposing that painted composure of thy gay cloathes If Achilles had had thy reposed condition or beene of thy cold temper Vlysses might very well have beene assured that he would not have gone through with that which hee undertooke Go get
Auncestors services shall any whit benefit him him in this particular but that hee in his owne person shall dispose himselfe to serve mee and for to merit for himselfe and by his owne prowesse this sweet pledge whom we esteeme and reckon of as if she were our owne Daughter Isabella had scarce heard this last word delivered when humbling her selfe againe on her knees before the Queene shee spake unto her in the Spanish tongue to this effect As graces which brings such graces with them most noble Queene are rather to be accounted happinesse then misfortunes And since that your Majestie hath beene pleased to grace me with the name of Daughter upon so good a pledge what ill can I feare or what good may I not hope for Looke what Isabella uttered came from her so gracefully and so wittingly that the Queen stood extreamely affected towards her and commanded that shee should remaine at Court in her service and recommended her to a great Ladie the chiefest amongst those of her Bed-chamber that shee might trayne her up according to the Court fashion Ricaredo who saw that his life was taken away in taking away Isabella was readie almost to have lost his wits and therefore though overtaken with a tumbling and sudden passion of heart he went and fell upon his knees before the Queen and sayd unto her That I may serve your Majestie I need not to be incited thereunto by any other rewards then by those which my fore-fathers and Auncestours have gotten by serving their Kings But since that it is your Maiesties pleasure that I should serve you with good desires and pretensions I would gladly know in what kinde and in what employment I may manifest that I cumply with that obligation which I owe unto your Maiestie and put my selfe to that which you shall impose upon me I have two Ships royall answered the Queene ready to put forth to Sea whereof I have made Generall the Baron of Lansae of one of these I make you Captaine him Admirall and you Vice-Admirall For the bloud from whence you come and runneth in your veines doth assure mee that you will supply the defect of your yeares and consider well the favour which wee doe you since that therein I give you occasion that corresponding with that which you are and doing things answerable to the race from whence you come by serving your Queene you may show the worth of your noble disposition and of your person and you shall receive thereby the greatest reward which in your opinion you can wish or desire I my selfe will be Isabella's Guard though she give Vs manifest tokens that her owne honestie will be her safest and surest guard God blesse you in your Voyage and since that you goâ—…hence deepely as I imagine in love I promise great matters unto my selfe of your noble exploits Happy shall that King that goes to warre bee who shall have in his Armie ten thousand Souldiers that are in love for they will live in hope that the reward of their victories shall be the enioying of their best beloved Rise up Ricaredo and bethinke your selfe if you will or have any thing to say to Isabella for to morrow you must be gon Ricaredo kissed the Queenes hand humbly thanking her and highly esteeming the favour which she did him and presently went from her to Isabella and would feigne have spoken unto her but could not for love and grief had knit such a knot in his throat and so tied his tongue that had his life layen upon it hee could not utter one word But the water stood in his eies and were so brimme-full that they ranne over and silently trickled downe his cheekes which he thought to dissemble and smother them all that hee possibly could yet notwithstanding could hee not hide them from the eyes of the Queene and therefore she said unto him Thinke it no shame Ricaredo to weepe neither valew your selfe the lesse for having given at this your farewell such tender demonstrations of your heart For it is one thing to fight with your enemies and another thing to take your leave of her you love Isabella embrace Ricaredo and give him your benediction for his excessive sorrow and loathnesse to leave you doth very well deserve it Isabella who stood amazed and astonished to see Ricaredo's tender heartednesse and how truely he did grieve and all for her sake whom she loved as her Husband did not understand what the Queene had commanded her but began to shed teares so without thinking what she did and stood so still and without any motion that it seemed not to be a living soule but a Statua of Alablaster that wept The affections of these two true and tender lovers made the standers by to melt likewise into teares And so Ricaredo without speaking a word to Isabella or Isabella to him they turned each from other and Clotaldo and they that came with him doing reverence to the Queene went out of the Presence full of compassion discontent and teares Isabella now remained like a poore Orphane comming from the buriall of her Father and Mother and as full now of feare as before of griefe least that her new Ladie to whom shee was recommended would make her to change those manners and customes wherein she had been formerly bred up In conclusion there shee remained and within two daies after Ricaredo hoysed sayle and put forth to Sea beaten amongst many other with this thought that he must do some notable peece of service that might intitle him the deserver of Isabella But in conclusion he besought Heaven to be propitious unto him that such occasions might be offered unto him wherein by shewing himselfe valiant hee might cumply with the dutie of a Christian leaving the Queene satisfied and Isabella deserved Sixe daies these two Shippes sailed with a prosperous winde shaping their course for the Tercera Islands a place where never are wanting either Ships of Portugal from the East-Indies or some that come thither from the West-Indies And at sixe daies end there arose such a crosse-winde full in the teeth of them and continued so long and so strong that without suffering them to reach the Islands they were inforced to make for Spaine neere unto whose Coast at the mouth of the Streight of Gihraltar they descried three Ships the one a very tall and goodly Ship and the other two much lesse Ricaredo's Ship made up to that which was Admirall for to know of his Generall whether or no he would set upon those three Ships which they had descried But before that he came up unto them he might discerne that upon the toppe of the maine mast there was hung out a blacke streamer and comming a little neerer he might hear Fifes and Trumpets sounding faintly and hoarsely cleare and apparant signes that the Generall was dead or some other principall person of the Shippe At last comming within hearing that they might speake one to another which they had not done
after that his Master was a bed and asleep they should all come downe to the Tornell and that without all fayle they should heare the voice he promised them True it is that before he told them this hee had with most earnest entreaties besought his Master that he would be pleased to play and sing that night at the Tornell that he might make good his word and cumply with the promise hee had made that the Maydes should heare an admirable voyce assuring him that he should be much made of by all of them His master after a great deale of entreating yeelded at last to doe that which the Negro or rather himselfe so much desired Howbeit he made shew that it was onely at his schollers request and to give him content without any other interest of his owne The Negro embraced him and gave him a kisse on the cheek in token of the contentment which that his promised favour had caused in him and that day he feasted Loaysa and made him better cheere then peradventure he should have found at home The night came and in the midst thereof little more or lesse they began to heare a whispering about the Tornell whereby Luys presently understood that the whole packe of them were gathered there together And calling to his Master they came both downe from the Hay-loft with a well strung but better tuned Ghitterne Luys ask't who and how many there were of them that were to heare him They answered they were all there save only their Mistris who was in bed with her husband for the which Loaysa was very sorry yet notwithstanding hee was willing to give an induction to his designe and to give satisfaction to his scholler and so touching with a soft and gentle hand his Ghitterne he did play so sweetly that the Negro wondered thereat and the women that heard him were ravished therewith What shall I say they thought when they heard him play loth to depart and that taking tune of the Zarabanda the newest then in Spaine There was not the oldest amongst them which did not fall a dancing nor the yongest which did not tricke it with their armes a kembo but very softly and with a strange kind of silence having set Sentinels and spyes to give them notice if the old man should chance to wake Loaysa likewise sung a merry pleasant Ballad wherewith he sealed up the eares of his Auditors who earnestly intreated the Negro that hee would tell them who was this so rare a Musitian The Negro told them That he was a poore beggar but withall the gallantest and bravest gentleman of all that beggerly Corporation in Sevill They then intreated him that he would so order the businesse that they might come to have a sight of him and that for a fortnight he should not let him goe out of the house and that they would entertaine him all that while very well and that he should lack nothing that was needfull for him Then they asked him how he came to get him into the house Hereunto hee returned them not one word but told them that if they had a mind to see him they should make a little hole in the Tornell which afterward they might stop up with Waxe and that he would take it upon him to keepe him in the house Loaysa spake likewise unto them offering them his service in such good language that thereby they did perceive that such words could not come from the wit of a poore beggar They intreated him that he would repayre another night to the same place and that they would procure their Mistris to come downe to heare him maugre the light sleepe of their Master which lightnesse grew not from his many yeares but from those many jealousies that he had in his head Whereunto Loaysa answered that if hee would heare him without fearing the old mans troubling them hee would give them a powder to put into his wine that should make him sleepe soundly above his ordinarie time God blesse me sayd one of the Damosels if this prove true what good fortune hath entered within our doores without our dreaming or deserving it This will not bee so much a powder of sleepe for him as a powder of life for all of us and more particularly for our poore Mistris Leonora his wife who is never from her ni a sol ni a sombra neither night nor day not suffering her to bee out of his sight one sole minute Oh sweet sir if ever you will doe any thing for us and that our best wishes may wait on you in all that you desire or endeavour bring this powder delay no time bring it bring it I beseech you and it shall be my taske to mixe it with his wine I will be his skinker and I wish it with all my heart that the old ladde may sleep three whole dayes and so many nights that we may have as many of mirth and jollitie Doubt ye not but I will bring it sayd Loaysa and such a one shall it be that it shall do him no other hurt that takes it save to provoke him to a most profound sleepe Then all of them joyntly besought him that he would bring it as soone as possibly hee could And so resolving the next night to bore a hole with an augour in the Tornell and to draw their Mistris thither that she might see and heare him they tooke their leaves And the Negro though it were neere upon breake of day would needes take forth a new lesson which Loaysa gave him and withall made him beleeve that of all the schollers that ever he taught not any one had a better â—…are then himselfe yet the poore Negro knew not nor ever would come to know what a musicall note meant Loaysa his friends tooke it to their care to come nightly to listen between the two doores of the streete to see if their friend had any thing to say unto them or if hee needed ought and making a certain signe agreed upon between themselves Loaysa knew that they were at doore and at the hole before mentioned He gave them a short account of the good tearmes whereon his businesse stood earnestly entreating them that they would seeke out something that would procure sleepe for to bee given to Carrizales For he had heard some say that there were some powders which would worke this effect They told him that they had a Phisitian a friend that would give them the best that he knew or had for that purpose And so animating him to prosecute the enterprize hee had undertaken and promising him to bring it him the next ensuing night they speedily tooke their leave Night came and the whole flocke of Pigeons came at the call of the Ghitterne together with them came that simple soule Leonora fearefull and trembling least her husband should awake for though she overcome with this feare was not willing to come yet so many perswasions did her servants use and more