Beasts do lye for Prey Or such a Lane where 's Foul and Dirty VVay And so of VVaters and each Dangerous place But I write not to any mans Disgrace Then Censure not my Satyr-wit for Crime Nor putting this Epistle into Rime SOCIABLE LETTERS I. MADAM YOu were pleas'd to desire that since we cannot converse Personally we should converse by Letters so as if we were speaking to each other discoursing our Opinions discovering our Designs asking and giving each other Advice also telling the several Accidents and several Imployments of our home-affairs and what visits we receive or entertainments we make and whom we visit and how we are entertaind what discourses we have in our gossiping-meetings and what reports we hear of publick affairs and of particular Persons and the like so that our Letters may present our personal meetings and associatings Truly Madam I take so much delight in your wise witty and virtuous Conversation as I could not pass my life more pleasing and delightfully wherefore I am never better pleased than when I am reading your Letters and when I am writing Letters to you for my mind and thoughts are all that while in your Company the truth is my mind and thoughts live alwayes with you although my person is at distance from you insomuch as if Souls die not as Bodies do my Soul will attend you when my Body lies in the grave and when we are both dead we may hope to have a Conversation of Souls where yours and mine will be doubly united first in Life and then in Death in which I shall eternally be Madam Your faithful Friend and humble Servant II. MADAM THe Lady C. E. ought not to be reproved for grieving for the loss of her Beauty for Beauty is the Light of our Sex which is Eclips'd in Middle age and Benighted in Old age wherein our Sex sits in Melancholy Darkness and the remembrance of Beauty past is as a displeasing Dream The truth is a young beautiful face is a Friend when as an old withered face is an Enemy the one causes Love the other Aversion yet I am not of Mrs. U. R.'s humour which had rather dye before her Beauty than that her Beauty should die before her for I had rather live with wrinkles than die with youth and had rather my face cloth'd with Time's sad mourning than with Death's white hue and surely it were better to follow the shadow of Beauty than that Beauty should go with the Corps to the Grave and I believe that Mrs. V. R. would do as the tale is of a woman that did wish and pray she might die before her Husband but when Death came she intreated him to spare her and take her Husband so that she would rather live without him than die for him But leaving this sad discourse of Age Wrinkles Ruin and Death I rest Madam Your very faithful Friend and Servant III. MADAM I Do not wonder there are great factions between the three families C. Y. O. by reason they have no business or imployment to busie their heads about and their servants followers have as little to do which makes them censure backbite and envy each other for Idleness and Poverty are the creators of Faction and Pride and Ambition the disturbers of Peace Wherefore Idleness should be banish'd out of every family which will also be a means to be rid of Poverty for Industry is the way to thrive Besides when men have something to do they will have the less time to talk for many words from discontented persons increase hate and make dissentions the truth is words for the most part make more discord than union and more enemies than friends wherefore Silence is more commendable than much Speaking for the liberty of the tongue doth rather express men's follies than make known their wit neither do many words argue much Judgement but as the old Saying is The greatest talkers are the least actors they being more apt to speak spitefully than to act mischievously another Saying is That musing men rather study to do evil than contemplate on good But I am not of that opinion for if men would think more and speak less the world of mankind would be more honest and wiser than they are for Thoughts beget Consideration Consideration begets Judgement Judgement begets Discretion Discretion begets Temperance and Temperance begets Peace in the Mind and Health in the Body for when men want Temperance they are subject to Insatiable Appetites unruly Passions and wandring Desires which causes Covetousness and Ambition and these cause Envy and Hate which makes Faction and Strife which Strife I leave to Busie Natures Restless Minds Vain Humours and Idle Fools and rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant IV. MADAM THe other day was here the Lady I. O. to see me and her three Daughters which are call'd the three Graces the one is Black the other Brown the third White all three different coloured beauties also they are of different features statures and shapes yet all three so equally handsom that neither Judgment nor Reason can prefer one before another Also their behaviours are different the one is Majestical the other Gay and Aery the third Meek and Bashful yet all three graceful sweet and becoming Also their Wits are different the one Propounds well the other Argues well the third Resolves well all which make a harmony in discourse These three Ladies are resolv'd never to marry which makes many sad Lovers but whilst they were here in comes the Lord S. C. and discoursing with them at last he asks them whether they were seriously resolv'd never to marry they answered they were resolv'd never to marry But Ladies said he Consider Time wears out Youth and fades Beauty and then you will not be the three young fair Graces You say true my Lord answer'd one of them but when we leave to be the young fair Graces we shall then be the old wise Sibyls By this answer you may perceive that when our Sex cannot pretend to be Fair they will pretend to be Wise but it matters not what we pretend to if we be really Virtuous which I wish all our Sex may be and rest Madam Your very faithful Friend and Servant V. MADAM IN my opinion the marriage between Sir A. G. and Mrs. I. S. is no wayes agreeable wherefore not probable to be bless'd with a happy union though she is likelyer to be the happier of the two for 't is better to have an old doting fool than a wanton young filly but he will be very unhappy through Jealousie what with his Dotage and her Freedom which will be like fire and oyl to set his mind on a flame and burn out the lamp of his life Truly I did wonder when I heard they were married knowing her nature and his humour for she loves young masculine Company and he loves onely young female Companion so that he cannot enjoy her to himself unless she barr her self from
rather Ten thousand Millions nay that their number were Infinite that the Issue of my Brain Fame and Name might live to Eternity if it were possible neither do I think or believe it a Sin to Wish it by reason it proceeds from Pure Self-love which is the Root or Foundation of the Love of God and all Moral Virtues I do not mean Corrupted Self-love but as I said Pure Self-love by which God and Nature did Make and doth Order the whole World or Infinite Matter But Madam give me leave to say that this Age doth Corrupt all Wit and Wisdom with Sophistry and because they cannot write Beyond the Antients they will endeavour to Disgrace them although most Writers Steal from them But for this French Author setting aside his Epistle his Book is full of Wit and Reason as it is rendred by the Translator and wishing all Writers could fill their Books with Wit and Reason I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXX MADAM BY Relation Reading and Observation I find that every Age is not alike for Humour Judgement and Wit although alike for Kind Life and Death for some Ages are so Heroick as all their Thoughts are of War and all their Actions Fighting in other Ages all their Thoughts are Considering and their Actions Experiments in other Ages all their Thoughts are Superstitious and their Actions Sermons in other Ages all their Thoughts are Amorous and their Actions Adulteries and so in many other things as Humors Passions Appetites Customs as also in Diets Accoustrements Behaviour Discourse and the like all which I have seriously Consider'd what should be the Cause that men being of One and the same Kind viz. Mankind should Differ so much in several Ages in the Course of their Life But I cannot find any more Reason for it than for several Diseases in several Ages as for Example a Disease namely the Sweating Disease that was Predominant in England and after in Germany and many other Diseases which are Predominant in One Age and not in Another which certainly is produced from an Influence from the Planets But this is to be observed that Evils may proceed from the Planets but what is Good both for Body and Mind proceeds from a Higher Celestial Power And as for this Age we live in now 't is Prodigal to their Enemies and Ungrateful to their Friends but Madam though this Age be so Infected in the Generality yet some Particulars escape this Infection for You and I are as Constant in Friendship as the Light to the Sun which is the Happiness of Madam Your Humble Servant LXXXI MADAM IN your last Letter you desired me to write some Letters of Complement as also some Panegyricks but I must intreat you to Excuse me for my Style in Writing is too Plain and Simple for such Courtly Works besides give me leave to inform you that I am a Servant to Truth and not to Flattery although I confess I rather Lose than Gain in my Mistress's Service for she is Poor and Naked and hath not those means to Advance her Servants as Flattery hath who gives Plenty of Words and is Prodigal of Praise and is Clothed in a Flourishing Style Imbroydered with Oratory but my Mistress Truth hath no need of such Adornings neither doth she give many Words and seldom any Praise so as her Servants have not any thing to live on or by but mere Honesty which rather Starves than Feeds any Creature yet howsoever I being bred in her Service from my Youth will never Quit her till Death takes me away and if I can Serve you by Serving her Command me and I shall Honestly Obey you and so rest Madam Your faithful Fr. and S. LXXXII MADAM IN your last Letter you Condemn me for living a Country Life saying I Bury my self whilst I Live and you wonder that knowing I love Glory I should live so Solitary a Life as I do I confess Madam both the Manner of my Life and my Ambitious Nature If a Solitary Life be not to Live in a Metrapolitan City spred broad with Vanity and almost smother'd with Crowds of Creditors for Debts and as I Confess my Solitude so I Confess my Glory which is to Despise such Vanities as will be rather a Reproach to my Life than a Fame to after Ages and I should Weep my self into Water if I could have no other Fame than Rich Coaches Lackies and what State and Ceremony could produce for my Ambition flies higher as to Worth and Merit not State and Vanity I would be Known to the World by my VVit not by my Folly and I would have my Actions so VVise and Just as I might neither be Asham'd nor Afrai'd to Hear of my self But Madam as you Condemn My Life so I Condemn Yours for the Nobles that live in a Metrapolitan City live but as Citizens and Citizens that live in the Country live like Noble men with less Expences and more Liberty having large Extension of Lands and not Imprisoned in One House and their Recreations are more Various and Noble neither do they spend their Time in Idle Visiting but Prudent Overseeing In short Madam there is so much Difference in either sort of Life as the One is like Heaven full of Peace and Blessedness the Other full of Trouble and Vice and so living in the sweet Air of Content I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant LXXXIII MADAM IN your last Letter you Chid me for Loving too Earnestly saying Extreme Love did Consume my Body and Torment my Mind and that whosoever Love to a High Degree are Fools If so I Confess Madam I am as much a Fool as ever Nature made for where I set my Love it is Fix'd like Eternity and is as Full as Infinite My Love is not Fix'd Suddenly for it takes Experience and Consideration to help to Place it both which have been my Guides and Directors to Love you which makes me Love you Much and shall make me Love you Long if Souls Die not and so I shall alwayes and in all occasions be Madam Your Constant Friend and Humble Servant LXXXIV MADAM NOw we be both Return'd into our Native Country let us Meet to Rejoyce together for though our Husbands have Lost much yet the Broken parts of their Estates they have Recover'd by the Just Laws of this Kingdom will afford us some Recreation Pastime and Harmless Sports As for the Place of our Meeting If I may Advise it shall be N. whose Owner is M. N. a Person that hath Lost the Most of any Subject yet he is the Best Contented and so the Happiest for he never Troubles himself for any Worldly Wealth especially when he cannot tell Honestly which way to Repair his Estate And though he be Wisely Prudent yet he is not Basely Miserable as to be Miserably Sparing but will Entertain us Civilly Friendly Generously Pleasantly Delightfully So expecting when you will appoint the Time I rest Madam Your faithful Fr.
Spoken to them Neither do I wonder that Others in Great Authority and Power will Advance Some Persons when they have but a New Acquaintance or rather a Sight of them to Place and Office and before they are Setled in their Offices Displace them again without any Reason or Knowledge either of Advancing or Displacing Nor do I wonder Others will be so in Love for two or three Dayes as they almost Sigh out their Breath of Life for their Wished Desires and a Day or two after Reproach or Laugh at those they were so much in Love with as they Desired their Favour more than Heaven All this I say I do not VVonder at Observing and Perceiving the Inconstant Natures of Mankind But I wonder to Perceive or Find any one to be Constant Seven Years or One Year much more to be Constant their Whole Life time for Constancy is as Seldom or Rarely Seen as a Blazing Star Indeed Constancy in this World is somewhat like a Blazing Star it Lasts for a time and then Goes out for it is not as the Fix'd Stars but rather as the Wandring Planets though truly I am constantly Fix'd to be Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant CXIX MADAM I Give you many Thanks for your Counsel and Advice concerning my Health for certainly an Over-studious Mind doth Wast the Body which is the Cause for the most part that Painful Students are Lean for the Mind Feeds as much upon the Body as the Body upon Meat But truly I am sometimes in a Dispute with my self whether it be better to live a Long and Idle than a Short but Profitable Life that is to Imploy a Little time Well or to Wast a Great Deal of Time to no Purpose and I Conclude that a Little Good is better than Nothing or better than a Sum of Evil for 't is better through Industry to Leave a Little to After Age than Die so Poor as to Leave Nothing no not so much as After Ages may say there Liv'd such a one in Former Ages than to Die and be quite Forgotten and therefore should I live out the Course of Nature or could live so Long as Methusalem when the Time were Past it would seem as Nothing and perchance I should be as Unwilling to Die then as if I Died in my Youth so that a Long and a Short time of Life is as one and the same 'T is true Death is Terrible to Think of but in Death no Terrour Remains so as it is Life that is Painful both to the Body and Mind and not Death for the Mind in Life is Fearful and the Body is seldom at Ease But howsoever I will endeavour Madam so to Divide the time of my Bodily Life as to Imploy part of my Time for Health and part for Fame and all for Gods Favour and when I Die I will Bequeath my Soul to Heaven my Fame to Time and my Body to Earth there to be Dissolved and Transformed as Nature Pleases for to her it belongs I do not much Care nor Trouble my Thoughts to think where I shall be Buried when Dead or into what part of the Earth I shall be Thrown but if I could have my Wish I Would my Dust might be Inurned and mix'd with the Dust of those I Love Best although I think they would not Remain Long together for I did observe that in this last War the Urns of the Dead were Digged up their Dust Dispersed and their Bones Thrown about and I suppose that in all Civil or Home-wars such Inhuman Acts are Committed wherefore it is but a Folly to be Troubled and Concerned where they shall be Buried or for their Graves or to Bestow much Cost on their Tombes since not only Time but VVars will Ruin them But Madam lest I should make you Melancholy with Discoursing of so sad Subjects as Death and Graves Bones and Dust I leave you to Livelier and Pleasanter Thoughts and Conversation and rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant CXX MADAM YOu were pleased to tell me in your last Letter that Many have desired your Charity which have been Ruined by these last Civil VVars and that they who before this time were able to Relieve many with their Wealth now do Want Relief themselves by which we may know that neither Riches nor Peace is Permanent and many are not only Ruin'd in their Estates and Banished their Native Country but Forsaken of their Friends which is a terrible Misery but Misery and Friends seldom keep together and it is to be observed that a Civil VVar doth not only Abolish Laws Dissolve Government and Destroy the Plenty of a Kingdom but it doth Unknit the Knot of Friendship and Dissolve Natural Affections for in Civil VVar Brothers against Brothers Fathers against Sons and Sons against Fathers become Enemies and Spill each others Blood Triumphing on their Graves for when a Kingdom is Inflamed with Civil War the Minds of all the People are in a Fever of Fury or a Furious Fever of Cruelty which by nothing but Letting Blood by the Surgeon of VVar can be Cured and that not a Little but Most must Bleed ere there will be a Perfect Cure It is the Plague of the Mind as well as the Plague of the Body for the Minds of Men are Infected with Covetous Desires Ambitious Designs Treacherous Plots and Murderous Intentions and so General it is that Few Minds escape the Infection which shews it proceeds from the Malignity of the Air or the Influence of some Raging Planet and if so it proceeds from a Natural Cause although it be an Unnatural War or else it proceeds from Unwise Government where many Errours gather into a Mass or Tumor of Evil which Rises into Blisters of Discontents and then Breaks out into Civil War or else Heaven sends it to Punish the Sins of the People Besides it is to be observed that Vices Increase in a Civil War by reason Civil Government is in Disorder Civil Magistrates Corrupted Civil Laws Abolished Civil Manners and Decent Customs Banished and in their Places is Rapine Robbing Stabbing Treachery and Falshood all the Evil Passions and Debauch'd Appetites are let Loose to take their Liberty But this is so commonly Known to those that have seen a Civil War as I should not have needed to Mention it although those that have Liv'd alwayes in Peace will not Believe it but I have Suffered so much in it as the Loss of some of my Nearest and Dearest Friends and the Ruin of those that did Remain that I may desire to Forget it Wherefore leaving this sad Discourse I rest Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant CXXI MADAM IN your last Letter you were pleased to tell me that the Lady E. E. and the Lady A. A. are alwayes Quarrelling with each other when they Meet and Rail on each other when they are Asunder and their Husbands in the Behalf of their Wives do the like But I Wonder they should do so whenas they are
so my Husband at the first Reading will so Humor the Sense and VVords of the VVork as if he himself had Made and VVrit it nay I have heard him Read some Works that have been but Mean and Plain Pieces so Well as to give a Grace to the Author and to make his Work Sound Harmoniously like as an Ill Instrument Well Played on whereas others put Rare Instruments out of Tune wherefore knowing the Difference as what Harmony or Discord Reading makes I am so Affected with fear of Unskilful Readers for my Poor Works as when I Look upon them I cannot choose but Mourn for their Danger of Disreputation yet to Pacifie my Grief I imagine that every several Person likes his own way of Reading Best and so will not Dislike my Writing for want of Well Reading But for Fear I should Anger your Patience to Read so Long a Letter I take my leave and rest Madam Your Faithful Friend and Servant CLXXIV MADAM THe Lady F. N. and her Pretty Young Daughter had th' other day a Quarrel insomuch as her Mother intended to Whip her but she Disputed so well for her self as her Mother Forgave her Fault and the chief Cause of the Forgiveness was that she told her Mother she had rather be Racked as a Traitor than be Whip'd as a Slave although said she I have neither Committed Treason nor Deserved Thraldome or Slavery besides said she I am Ten years of Age too Old to be Whip'd almost Old enough for an Husband but whilst the Daughter and Mother were Disputing in came the Father and Sir W. S. who found her Weeping but they Comforted her saying they came Purposely to Save her she told them that as long as she was in her Mothers Power she was subject to be Whipped Sir W. S. asked her if she would Live with him since she was Displeased with her Mother she said yes if he pleased to take her but her Father said he would not Agree to that unless he would make her his Wife Sir W. S. said she was too Young for a VVife the Father told him that Three or Four years would make her Old enough he said not for him for he would neither be a Nurse nor a Tutor for he knew VVomen were not Capable to be Instructed until they were Thirteen or Fourteen years of Age and then they must have some time to Learn Seven years at least neither can they Keep themselves as they ought but when I Marry said he I will Marry a VVife of such an Age as hath been Instructed both to know Good and Evil to know Evil by Relation and Good by Practice such a one as can be a Companion and is not a Nursling such a one as can Converse Rationally and not one that can speak a VVitty VVord or two by Chance as Children do such a one as may bring me Strong Healthful Children not Children that will be Children all the time of their Lives if they Live as being Infirm VVeak and Sickly or else do Die as soon as they are Born and from the VVomb go into the Grave and to have a VVife that is fit for Breed and Conversation she must be Two or Three and Twenty at least the truth is said he I had rather Marry a VVife of Four-score than of Fourteen for I could take more Content to Admire Antiquity or to Listen to an Aged Sybil or Read in an Old Chronicle than to Play with a Baby to Listen to a Parrat or to Read the Horn-book there being so much Difference between Youth and Age but when I Marry said he I will Marry a VVife that 's near to my own Age for if I Marry a VVife much Younger than my self I shall be Jealous of her and if I Marry one much Older than my self my VVife will be Jealous of me so as we shall be Unhappy either wayes besides in Unequal Ages Men and their VVives are apt to Upbraid one anothers Age but when their Age is Equal neither hath Cause to Dislike each others and for the most part in Equal Ages are Equal Loves and Fearless Lives as neither of them is Jealous and if we have Equal Strength and Constitutions we shall not Out-live one another Long nor Wish one anothers Death nor grow Weary of one anothers Life but I will if you will Consent Keep your Daughter as a Baby or a Toy for a Closet but not take her for a Wife to Govern my House and Family by my Faith said her Father she shall be no Toy if I can help it but if you will take her for a VVife I will give her ten Thousand Pound and if I have no more Children I will Double or Treble it said Sir W. S. I am Content for though she be too Young to Govern my Family I am Old enough to Dispose of her Wealth and for Society and Conversation I know no better Companion no better Governour nor no better Friend than Mony it is Beloved of every one but Loves no man so as I shall not Fear Mony will Cuckold me it will rather Bawd for me and so for Love to Mony I will take your Daughter to VVife VVhereat her Father said he should have her and so much Mony too And so leaving them to Conclude the Match I rest Madam Your faithful Fr. and S. CLXXV MADAM IN your last Letter you Advised me to VVrite a Book of Orations but how should I VVrite Orations who know no Rules in Rhetorick nor never went to School but only Learn'd to Read and Write at Home Taught by an Antient Decayed Gentlewoman whom my Mother kept for that Purpose which my Ill hand as the Phrase is may sufficiently Witness yet howsoever to follow your Advice I did try to Write Orations but I find I want Wit Eloquence and Learning for such a Work and though I had Wit Eloquence and Learning I should not find so many Subjects to VVrite so many Orations as will Fill a Book for Orations for the most part are concerning VVar Peace and Matters of State and Business in the Common-wealth all which I am not Capable of as being a VVoman who hath neither Knowledg Ability nor Capacity in State Affairs and to Speak in VVriting of that I Understand not will not be Acceptable to my Reading Auditors Nevertheless to let you see how Powerful your Perswasions are with me I will send you those two or three Orations I have Written for a Trial if you Approve of them I will Write as many as I can find Subjects to make Orations of and if I can get so many as will make a Book I will set them forth in Print although I have no Hopes nor Confidence in that Work for I fear it will be Lost Labour and Wast Time but I am in all Times Madam Your faithful Friend and Servant CLXXVI MADAM SOme Ladies th' other day did Visit me and in their Discourse they spoke of the Duke of D. the Marquess of C.
Eleonora Duarti THe last VVeek your Sister Kath'rine and your Sister Frances were to Visit me and so well Pleased I was with their Neighbourly and Friendly Visit as their Good Company put me into a Frolick Humour and for a Pastime I Sung to them some Pieces of Old Ballads whereupon they desired me to Sing one of the Songs my Lord made your Brother Set and you were pleased to Sing I told them first I could not Sing any of those Songs but if I could I prayed them to Pardon me for neither my Voice nor my Skill was not Proper nor Fit for them and neither having Skill nor Voice if I should offer to Sing any of them I should so much Disadvantage my Lord 's Poetical Wit and your Brother 's Musical Composition as the Fancy would be Obscured in the one and the Art in the other nay instead of Musick I should make Discord and instead of Wit Sing Nonsense knowing not how to Humour the VVords nor Relish the Notes whereas your Harmonious Voice gives their VVorks both Grace and Pleasure and Invites and Draws the Soul from all other Parts of the Body with all the Loving and Amorous Passions to sit in the Hollow Cavern of the Ear as in a Vaulted Room wherein it Listens with Delight and is Ravished with Admiration wherefore their VVorks and your Voice are only fit for the Notice of Souls and not to be Sung to Dull Unlistning Ears whereas my Voice and those Songs would be as Disagreeing as your Voice and Old Ballads for the Vulgar and Plainer a Voice is the Better it is for an Old Ballad for a Sweet Voice with Quavers and Trilloes and the like would be as Improper for an Old Ballad as Golden Laces on a Thrum Suit of Cloth Diamond Buckles on Clouted or Cobled Shoes or a Feather on a Monks Hood neither should Old Ballads be Sung so much in a Tune as in a Tone which Tone is betwixt Speaking and Singing for the Sound is more than Plain Speaking and less than Clear Singing and the Rumming or Humming of a VVheel should be the Musick to that Tone for the Humming is the Noise the Wheel makes in the Turning round which is not like the Musick of the Spheres and Ballads are only Proper to be Sung by Spinsters and that only in Cold Winter Nights when a Company of Good Huswifes are Drawing a Thread of Flax but as these Draw Threads of Flax so Time Draws their Thread of Life as their VVeb makes them Smocks so Times Web makes them Deaths Shirts to which as to Death afterwards those Good Huswifes are Married and lie in the Bed of Earth their House being the Grave and their Dwelling in the Region of Oblivion and this is the Fate of Poor Spinsters and Ballad-Singers whenas such a Singer as you such a Composer as your Brother such a Poet as my Lord are Cloth'd with Renown Marry Fame and Live in Eternity wherein Death hath no Power Time no Limit and Destinies Shears are Useless but though I am willing to Sing an Old Ballad yet not to Dwell in Oblivion for I love your Company so well as I would Live in Eternity with you and would be Clothed as you with Renown for no Fashion'd Garments Please me so well and though the Stuff or Substance is not the same with yours the Substances being as Different as the Several Qualities Faculties Proprieties Virtues or Sweet Graces and the like yet I will have as Good as I can get I will Search Nature's Ware-house or Shop and though I cannot have a Piece or Measure of Silver Sound or Broccaded Art yet certainly I hope to get a Piece or Measure of Three-poil'd Philosophy or Flower'd Fancy for though my Lord hath taken many several Pieces or Packs out of Nature's Shop and hath Inhaunced the Prices yet he must not Ingross this last Commodity to himself 'T is true he hath Ingross'd two Commodities as Weapons and Riding out of Art's Shop the Hand-maid of Nature yet sure he will be never able to Ingross all the several Kinds and divers Sorts of Wares that Nature and Art yet have in their Store-houses But I perceive that you three as my Lord You and your Brother do Traffick so much with Nature and Art as I shall be but as a Pedlar Howbeit it is better to have some Dealings than none at all and I will rather Trade with Toyes than Starve for want of a Living and in order to make my self Capable I have bound my self Prentice to my Lord and am willing to Serve out my Time but my Lord is so Generous as to give me my Freedom and I must also desire you to give me at present so much Freedom as to Subscribe my self Madam Your very faithful Friend and Servant CCIII MADAM YOu ought not to take it Ill if I do not Obey your Commands in Speaking to A. F. to Grant your Requests by reason I think those Requests would Prejudice you should they be Granted so that if I Speak as you Desire I must Plead against your Good and my own Conscience which I will never do although I were sure to have your Hate for I had rather you should Hate me for the Love and Esteem I have for you than you should Love me for doing an Unfriendly Part or Act for I Prefer your Good before your Love neither must you take it Ill that I send your Present back to you again for it did appear to me like a Bribe besides I desire to keep my self free from such Obligations your Love being all that I desire and more worth than all the Service of my Life should I Live Long and Act Much But if you think I have Omitted your Commands out of an Evil Design or Malice Splene or Spite you do me wrong for you should find me if I were able to Serve you neither Cross Negligent nor Unwilling but most Industrious Ready and Joyful to your Service nay were it to Ingage my Life wherefore whatsoever you Conceive of me yet I have this Satisfaction in my Conscience that I am was and will be as long as I Live Madam Your Ladiships faithful Friend and Servant CCIV. Sweet Madam C. H. I Am sorry to hear that you are Parted from your Parents through a Discontent which is in the way to Disobedience and let me tell you that Unnatural Unkindness is many times the Death of Natural Affection our Parents are our Makers and will you Rebell against your Maker your Father is your Earthly God and your Mother your Earthly Goddess to whom you ought to Kneel down Pray Worship and Obey and not to Murmur Cross or Neglect them all the Endeavours of your Life are due to them untill you have a Husband nay a Husband must not hinder you to Assist them to the utmost of your Power which Power 't is likely will be according to your Husbands VVill but a Good VVife most commonly hath the Power of her Husband's