them her Consent and Promise At the assigned day for the Ceremonie of her Marriage all things being ready for the Sacrifice she took the cup in which poison was steeped And having out of respect poured forth two or three drops thereof upon the Altar of the Goddess she drank part of it and gave the rest to Sinorix The unhappy Creature expecting to taste the first sweets of his Marriage drank there his Death and the punishment of his Crime Camma had the satisfaction to see him die with her And having enjoyed two or three hours of her Revenge and the Glory of her Fidelity she went to carry the News of both to Sinnatus MORAL REFLECTION ALL the Lines of this Picture are instructive and the very shadows of it are luminous and enlighten the understanding We learn from the unfortunate Beauty of Camma that as there be flowers which impoison so there are Riches which render those unhappy who possess them And that very often we are only slung with what glitters about us as well as with what pleaseth and adorns us We are taught likewise by her Courage that in the Combats of Vertue Victory consists in the strength of the Minde and not of the Bodie That the weakest Sex may herein Dispute in point of advantage with the strongest and that a Crown is more for the Heart then for the Arms or for the Head On the other side we learn from the Crime of Sinorix that unchast Love is a dangerous Guest It enters with Nosegayes in its Hand and Garlands on his Head And assoon as it comes into a House and hath there setled it self it exhibits poisons and swords We gather also from his punnishment that Divine Justice though it sets forth late yet it fails not to arrive in due time And that without causing Executioners to come afar off it often makes our Idols become our Tormentors and our sins our punishments MORAL QUESTION Why Conjugal Love is more Faithfull in Women then in Men. I Suppose the Truth of the Thesis and suppose it upon the Report of History which is the Conserver of Truth and the Depository of fair Originals and eminent Examples I have been consulting on it in all Countreyes and Ages and I confess that in every Countrey and Age where I have examined it History hath shewn me Heroick Women by Troops who dyed out of Fidelity and Love to their Husbands But when I required from it Husbands of the like Vertue and Courage scarce could it furnish me with enough to make a number This certainly is wonderful yet most true And such as shall not have Faith enough to believe it upon my word may inform themselves upon the places They will be shewed in Greece the Ashes of Eâ—adâ—e who cast her self into the flaming Pile of her Husband and who by an honest and lawful Love performed that which a furious Heroe and vaunting Philosophers have done either out of brutish despair or ridiculous vanity They will be shewed the Web wherewith Penelope preserved her self for Vlysses the Cup in which Camma drank death and revenge Another Cup wherin Artemisia drank the Ashes of Mansolus They would cause them to see at Rome the Coals which Porcea swallowed the Dagger of Aria and those efficacious words by which she gave Reputation to her Death and Courage to that of Petus The Lancet wherewith Paulina opened her Veins that she might die with Seneca And divers other famous pieces which are in Veneration with the Ancients and which are seen still coloured with Blood and marked with the Fidelity of Women The sight of these pieces is sufficient alone and without other proof to perswade that Women love more constantly and with more Fidelity then Men. But I suppose this Advantage of Womens Fidelity above that of Men who have hitherto lest no Reliques of it And seeking Reasons for it in Natural and Moral Philosophy I finde eight which added to the Memorials of Antiquity will strengthen this Proposition against the malitious Allegations wherewith some use to assault it And which may make it at least an Article of Human Belief First if Philosophy and Experience have Authority enough to be credited therein Affections follow Humours and take their qualities and tincture from the temper which serves them for matter Now it is not doubted but Melancholy is the predominant Humour in a Woman it is not doubted but that her Temper is more moist and her Complexion more tender then ours we ought not then to doubt but that her Affections are more adhering and setled and that she is more strongly united to whatsoever she fastens her self Why should we doubt it since Melancholy hath been hitherto believed to be the matter of Constancie and the most proper Oyle to nourish the fire of Love Since we see that loft things are better linked together then hard ones and that without Humidity no lasting union can be made From thence comes the ancient saying which declares that the affections of Women can endure no Mediocrity and that whatever they desire they desire it obstinately and without intermission Let us adde Instinct to Humour and Necessity to Complexion and what Faith teacheth us concerning the Creation of Woman taken out of the side of Man being supposed Let us alledge for the second Reason that the Instinct of the part to the whole being of necessity and consequently stronger then the Instinct of the whole to the part which is but of congruity It was according to the order of Nature that a Woman should do by an Intelligent and Judicious inclination what all other separated parts perform out of a blinde and insensible Propension And since Man from whom she was taken is necessary for her conservation it appears nothing strange that she adheres more constantly to him and renders him more affection then she receives And besides this surplusage which she gives him is lesse an advance and a work of supererogation then a duty and acknowledgment After this second Reason there follows a third which is grounded upon the Assistance and good Offices which Women receive from Men. This assistance is frequent and more then ordinary and these offices continual and at all hours Those which the Bodie receives from the Head can hardly suffer lesse interruption those which the Moon expects from the Sun can scarce be more necessary to her And therefore if good offices be the tyes of Hearts and the chains of Souls is it not reasonable that Women should love more then they are beloved and be more strongly â—astned then they fasten since in the Domestick Society they servelesse then they are served and are more obliged then they oblige Should they have lesse of good Nature then 〈◊〉 which fastens it self inseparably to the Tree that supports it and never leaves it either in Life or Death Should they love lesse constantly then the Female Palm which never findes comfort never receives verdure nor is ever capable of Renovation after the Death
Mercy and Iudgement And what is aspiration and desire in their Oratory ought to be reduced to Order and Policy in the Body of the State In this sence it is said that Piety is an universal Good and for all uses And in what sence soever it be spoken the extent of this saying is at present filled up by the extent of your Piety which is the Generall Merit and the Common good of the Kingdom Is it not your Piety which hath forced heaven and overcome the resistance of yeers which hath obtained the fruit of Benediction the expectation and desire of the People after all their desires were exhausted and their hope and patience in a manner consumed Is it not this Piety which hath retained on our side both the Fortune which the death of the deceased King had set at liberty and the reputation which seemed ready to retire with Fortune Is it not this Piety which crowned the ashes of this good Prince and brought Victory to his Funerall which infused resolution and courage into the sorrow of France which shewed unto our Enemies couragious and formidable Tears and a bold and triumphant Sadnesse Is it not this Piety which hath made the Perfume wherewith our malicious Devils have been chased away which hath bound up the spirit of Discord fatall to Regencies and funestous to the Minorities of Princes Our fear Madam was that we did ask too much and did beleeve our wishes too great when we demanded a smooth and peaceable Regency for your Majestie and when we wished the King a Minority free from Rebellion and Troubles Yet what we behold at present Madam is far greater then our wishes and much exceeding our demands VVe see a Regency managed with Vigour and Addresse still attempting and prosperous A Regency which hath the splendor and reputation of the most Illustrious Reignes We behold a Minority Victorious and Conquering A Minority respected by Subjects and dreadfull to Enemies A Minority which is the hope and support of the Christian VVorld VVe see a VVoman who diverts bad blasts and changeth malignant Constellations A VVoman belov'd and follow'd by Fortune A VVoman the Superintendent and Directresse of Victory VVe behold a Child who hath the Credit and Reputation of Reigning Soveraigns VVho is the Arbitrator of Princes and the Master of Nations who ballances and decides the Affairs of Europe All these Prosperities Madam are after God the works of your Piety the fruit of your Devotions and the reward of your good Deeds Your Oratory is the common Fortresse and generall Magazine of our Frontiers It is the principall Peece of our Campes the most redoubtable to our Enemies In your Oratory that is formed which destroys their Engins and disorders their Designes that which takes in their Towns and defeats their Armies And all our Victories commence in your Cabinet through your Zeal and Prayer before the Conduct of Generals and the Valour of Souldiers compleat them in the Field By this way of Combatting you make a holy VVar and fight like a Christian Heroesse Thus the good Angels and blessed Souls fight in the behalf of Men Their Piety is their Valour and their Prayers are their Weapons And your Majestie who so profitably imployes this Victorious Piety and these combatting Devotions merits no lesse thereby the Name of Heroesse and the Title of Conqueress then if you exposed your Person to the labour and toil of Sieges to the perils and hazards of Battels Force is not so great as it is esteemed for being cloathed in Iron for handling fire and steel for making a breach with Canon-shot True and eminent Force is to defeat Armies by desiring their overthrow It is to demolish Citadels and Forts by bowing knees and lifting up hands to Heaven It is to take in Cities and to subject Nations by a Tear let fall a hundred Leagues from thence by a word which no man heareth Such was the Force of the Prophets Generals of the Hosts of God Such was that of Moses Gideon and Debora who led the Elements and Meteors to the Warres who had Nature and Fortune in their Troups who effected more by a signe given by their hands then could be performed with armed Nations and a whole world of Engins Such was the Force of the Victorious VVidow who vanquished all Assria encamped before a City and defeated it with a few sighes and tears It was like that of St. Hellen who overthrew Maxenâ—ius his Party by her good works Like that of Pulcheria whose Alms and Fastings were the principall weapons of two Raignes Like that of Câ—otilda who preserved Clodoueus ingaged in a disadvantagious Encounter and repulsed the Germans who poured down like a deluge upon their Frontiers And even at present Madam this Force is the same with that of your Piety which at the foot of Altars performes all the memorable Exploits of our field Armies And which even in your Closet gains Battels and takes Towns in all the parts of Europe But this commanding and Victorious Piety is not the onely Peece of your Regency It is assisted by Prodence and Justice by the Graces and Magnificence by all serviceable and delightfull Vertues And these Co-operating Vertues acting as they do in the Spirit and by the conduct of Piety which governs them are indeed of another Elevation then those which Act in the spirit of the World and by the direction of Morality That Prudence which the VVorld inspires is but a tutor'd and disciplin'd Malignity but a certain Venome tempered with Flegme and infused with method Your Majestie purified both within and without hath nothing of Malevolent or Imposture nothing of captious or double Dealing The lights of your VVisdom cannot be false comming from so high a Region and from so cleer a Source They cannot be defective Marching with so even a pace and levelling at so elevated an End nor cannot it be reproached as having either by mistake or weaknesse fixed it thoughts upon those mean and inferiour Ends which humane Prudence seeks in Time and within the limits of Matter Justice meerly Morall is to expresse it well but an authorized VVilfulnesse a wilde and cruell Habit which lawfully offends It s force is but a force of Obstinacy and unpliableness By striving to over-bend the Level it breaks it It snaps in two the line by endeavouring to hold it too straight And being often enough abused by the small distance between the extremity of right and the extremity of wrong It acts great cruelties where it thinks to produce great Examples Your Justice Madam illuminated and tempered by Piety which governs it is equally remote from those two Extreams It is truely forceable and entire but it is of a temperate and gentle Force It is of an Integrity like that of Laws which are far from Cruelty and harshnesse which are modest and respectfull And ordaining things with this Integrity and Force it commands Persons with respect and sweetens in them the sense of what may be
be afraid Of him thou hast thy humble Captive made Well may thy Arm his Head and Body part Who with thy â—â—es hast from him torn his Heart THE ELOGIE OF JVDETH IT is not necessary for me to say who Judeth was and what Act she hath done she is sufficiently known to every one For above the space of two thousand yeers she is in all Countreyes and in the sight of all Nations still cutting off the Head of Holofernes and raising the siege of Bethulia This part of her life hath been indeed the most radiant and remarkable but peradventure not the most laborious or Heroick and she more easily defeated Holofernes invironed with a whole Armie then Pleasure and Grief Covetousnesse and Fear then her own Beauty and Youth She was victorious nevertheless in all sorts of conflicts and got the upper hand both of pleasing and terrifying Enemieâ— At the Death of her Husband she overcame Grief by resignation and shewed that with the blood of Patriarchs her Predecessors she had inherited their Faith and Constancie This first Adversary being mastered the overcame also Idlenesse Pleasures and the latter Affections which are the second and most dangerous Enemies of young Widows She not being able to renounce her Youth nor to be rid of her Beauty which were to her like suspected Domesticks and hard to be preserved she kept them continually shut up and likewise â—â—aring lest they should make an escape she weakned them by Prayer Labor â—asting and Hair-cloth She grew warlike by these Domestick and Private Combats and prepared her self all alone and in one single night for this famous Field in which the Fortune of the Assyrians was ruined by the Blow received from the Hand of a victorious Woman and the Head of a vanquished Man Besides in this so magnanimous and perillous an enterprise she was to overcome not only a man whom Love had disarmed and Wine and Sleep had secured but to overcome the power of Gold to which armed Legionâ— submit and strong Forts are rendered she was to overcome the sparklings of pretious stones which wound even souls which are 〈◊〉 to the sharpest point of swords she was to overcome pleasures which is stronger then valour it self and triumpheth every day over the Victorious Besides these pleasing and flattering enemies certain cruel and terrible ones presented themselves which she was likewise obliged to overcome Her Enterprise could not prove successeful to her but by miracle and if it took no effect she was to passe through all the hands of a furious Army she must suffer all the punishments and Deaths which inraged Tyranny can inflict she measured all these punishments and numbred all these Deaths And upon a serious consideration of them all the undertook in their very sight and presence this memorable Action by which with one stroak she shewed her self not onely more couragious and valiant but more intelligent and prudent then all Judea which she preserved and all Assyria which she overcame A MORAL REFLECTION WOmen have not every day Holofernes's to vanquish but every day they have occasion to fight against excess vanity delights and all pleasing and troublesome passions The memory of this Heroick Woman may instruct them in all the enterprises and exercises of this war which though made in shadow and without effusion of blood ceaseth not to be laborious and made with vigour of spirit and stability of courage Let them learn then from this illustrious and glorious Mistresse to discipline their graces and to give to them devotion and zeal To imprison dangerous Beauty and to take from it all the weapons wherewith it might offend Let them learn from her to reform Widowhood and to put themselves under the yoke of God after they are free from that of men Let them learn from her to be loyal to the memory of their deceased Husbands never to divorce themselves from their Names and to place under their ashes all the fire which may be remaining in them as for this celebrious Act by which Judith overcame all Assyria a Tent and struck off with one blow the head of a whole Armie It teacheth men that Heroick Vertue proceeds from the Heart and not the Sex that valour clothed with iron is not alwayes 〈◊〉 and that the weakest and most tender hands may 〈◊〉 the safety of Nations when God directs them A MORAL QUESTION Concerning the Choice which God hath made of Women for the preservation of States reduced to Extremity IT is noted in the Book of Judges and observed there as a wonder and prodigâ—â—â— that meeknesse was once born of force and that nourishment 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 of him that devoutâ— It is a wonder which 〈…〉 of prodigie and which nevertheless hath not been yet observed that 〈◊〉 is a portion of meekness and that the handâ— accused to have been the Authoâ—â— of Death have brought safety and given 〈◊〉 However this second wonder is true and no lesse surprizing then the first not lesse proper to frame a 〈◊〉 Problem and a specious 〈◊〉 The examples thereof are likewise less 〈◊〉 and more known 〈…〉 to be seen of them almost in all the Regions of History And God hath renewed them aâ— often as he hath chosen the handâ— of Women other to establish tottering States or to support their 〈◊〉 The great wonder in this is that God hath almost made this choice 〈…〉 Counsels and Hope and in the last confusion 〈…〉 And in occasions wherein the Arms of the strong were 〈…〉 Heads exhausted he hath raised up Women who 〈…〉 the valiant and 〈◊〉 who have taken away 〈…〉 and the Sword held over the Head of Nations who have chased away from surrendred â—owns Armies already victorious who 〈…〉 and Courage to vanquished King who 〈…〉 and fallen Crown It suffiâ—â—th to believe that such works are not done but by the hand of God and with much of hiâ— spirit and by the Vertue of miracles There are nevertheleâ—â— appearances and Reasons within the reach of out sight which in this particular make good his Providence 〈…〉 Power appears therein more independant and his Wisdâ—m 〈◊〉 infallible and 〈◊〉 There is very often Deâ—eption in 〈◊〉 Thought and mistake 〈…〉 in our Terms We take Force 〈…〉 and that which we call Power ought to be called 〈…〉 and a Weaknesse with a great Train 〈…〉 was to be truly powerful to take Towns and overcome 〈…〉 Canons and other Armâ— but with broken Poâ—â— and 〈…〉 This were to be extraordinarily strong not to throw 〈…〉 with many Engine but to break in 〈…〉 with blowing on the â—ace of it to â—leave a Mountâ—â—n with 〈◊〉 of Snow And the Art as well as the Courage of 〈…〉 might be called Divine who in the sight of a Storm should 〈…〉 with â—ails of 〈◊〉 and with a 〈◊〉 of Paper It â—utes very neer with the manner of Gods acting when in the Tumult of 〈◊〉 and amidst the 〈◊〉 of falling States he 〈◊〉 the Arms of 〈◊〉 and the Heads
So far was this Daughter from tempting and assaulting him with the Ruines of his tottering House that she represented to him the importance of his suffering for that Cause that Men and Angels were Spectatours of his Victory that he had the Applause and Congratulation of the Church and that the Glory of his Family was raised to the Alliance of Martyrs She spake nothing to him which he knew not before but she said nothing which did not confirm him Old reasons received a new light from her Tears and issued with more vigour out of her Mouth And whether God placed in her Voice and upon her Lips some tincture of Divine Spirit whether pleasing persons have a natural Charm and an Eloquence without Art or that their sole presence is perswasive It seemed as if an Angel appearing to this Moor had inflamed him with more Zeal or infused into him more Light In fine having received the Sentence of Death after Fourteen Moneths of imprisonment and an illustrious and solemn Confession of his Faith made in the presence of all the Ministers of the Schism his good Daughter was willing to be a spectatâ—ess of his Combat and to fortifie her self by the Evidence of his Faith and with the last Act of his Constancie she expected him in his passage and went to imbrace him in the midst of the people who gave back out of respect and with their Admiration and Tears honoured so resolute and so examplar a Piety At these last imbraces the fervour of friendship mixed with that of Zeal ascending from her Heart to her Head caused some Tears to distill from her eyes But these were couragious Tears and such as heretofore the first Heroes of Christianity shed upon the wounds and Crowns either of their Fathers or Children still warme with Martyrdom After the execution of the impious sentence which had submitted this High Judge of Equity to the sword of a Hangman Margaret prepared her self to tender her last duties to the Bodie of her Father Concerning whose Head after it had served a whole Moneth for a spectacle of terrour upon London Bridge she bought it of the Executioner and caused it to be inchased in Silver to the end it might remain with his Writings the Relique of his Family and of her Domestick Devotion Notwithstanding this Devotion wanted not Accusers and was pursued by Justice It was made a crime of State that they might have a pretence to persecute Sir Thomas Moor even after his Death and cause that part of his Heart and Spirit which he had left to his Daughter to suffer a second Martyrdom She was made a Prisoner and examined before the Schismatical Tribunal But she shewed so much Constancie in prison she answered so prudently and with so great courage she made so resolute and a noble confession of her Faith that the Commissioners themselves being become her Admirers conceived it much fitter to send her back then to give a second Victory to her Father and multiply Martyrs and Crowns in his Family MARIAMNE 〈…〉 Mariamne THIS Terrace incompassed with â—allisters of Jasper belongs to the Palace of Herod And it can be no other then Mariamne who comes out of it with so much splendour and so sumptuously apparelled There needed no Diadem and Sceptre to make her known Her Dignitie is neither Artificial nor borrowed It is from her Person and not from her Fortune And her Heroick Stature her Majestical Countenance and soveraign Beauty came from the Maccabees as well as her Blood and Courage Can you believe seeing her so Beautiful and Resolute that she is going to Execution She goes thither most fair and undaunted as you see her And all the Graces and Vertues accompany her to that place Bloody and murtherous Judges suborned by her Husband Mother and Sister in Law come to give the Sentence of death against her She appeared before this Tribunal of Tyranny and Injustice with a Countenance of Authority and a Soveraignty of Heart equal to that of her Face You would have said that the Criminal was to pronounce the Decree and that the Lives of the Judges were in her Mouth But as good Intervals stay not with sweetned Tyrants nor with charmed Vipers so malice and poison quickly return to the Judges of Iniquity Their fury which Innocence and Beauty equally Imperious had chained up with respect is loosned and confirmed And they at last pronounced her Sentence but still with Fear and Trembling As if their Faces had accused their Consciences and given the Lye to their Tongues As if their very Tongues had retracted what was done their Palenesse and stammering made a Declaration contradictory to their Decree and justified condemned Innocence In what manner do you think she received this unjust Sentence and procured by her own Husband With more Equality of Spirit with more Indifferency then she could have received his Carresses And had it been but a feigned Death they pronounced against her she could not have appeared lesse moved She is come hither with all the Calmnesse of her Heart the Reproaches and Injuries of her wicked Step Mother who combined with her Enemies did not provoke her And had she gone to a publick Sacrifice or to some solemn Feast She could not have carried thither a better composed Modesty Since it is decreed that she must die she resolves to die resolutely and like a Macchabee And there will not only appear a Constancy in her Suffering but even a Dignity and Grace Pitty it is nevertheless that so perfect a Light should be extinguished at its high Noon and in the midst of its Carreer And the Mists must needs be very thick and malignant which could not be dissipated by it But we amuse our selves in bewailing her we lose her last splendour and the last examples of her Vertue She is already arrived at the Place of Execution And the envious Saloma hath so violently pressed the Execution that at the very instant I speak there is an end of poor Mariamne Herod himself is come too late to save her His Retraction was fruitlesse They left him not so much leasure as to suspend the wicked Sentence or to keep back even for one moment the Arm of the Executioner And repentant Love which brought him thither found nothing but sorrows to vent and unprofitable tears to shed Affrightment Horror and Despair entred into his Soul at the sight of Mariamne dead Spite Anger and Jelousie at the same time issued from thence And the marks of these Passions mix'd at their encounter caused this distemper in his Eyes and the Confusion you behold on his Face His Bodie half reversed and his arms extended follow the posture of his Soul which remains as it were in suspence between astonishment and aversion between the respect and horrour of these deplorable Reliques He was willing at once both to remove his sight from thence and to sacrifice himself upon them for the expiation of just blood by blood that was guilty And to
Couragious and so little expected an Action raised a Tumult in the Temple and confusion amongst the people No person is seen there who reflects on the Goddesse or remembers the Sacrifice The Victimes which were already at the Foot of the Altar crowned with Garlands of Flowers and powdred over with fine Meal were affrighted at the Noise made about them And saving themselves with their Garlands and Ribbons threw down the Perfumes and Censors and scattered the Assistants surprized with Astonishment Superstition and Fear Instead of bringing them back the most confident accompany them in their Flight The Virgins of Diana only stayed behinde and they themselves were detained by a Terrour which tyed their feet and congealed the Blood in their Veins Their astonishment and fear appeared on their faces which bore the Color of their Garments The very flowers of their Crowns seemed to wax pale by their Example and Affrightment The Torches fallen from their Hands are extinguished by the Milk and and Wine of the Goblets which were tumbled down And of these two confounded Liquors a third is composed which retains the Colour of them both In this general tumult Camma alone remains quiet and undaunted She was never more fair and Graceful then you now behold her She never drank any thing more delicious or pleasing to the taste then that Remnant of Death she newly gave her Enemie The sweetnesse of the Revenge she took wrought upon her Heart before the poison and penetrated even to the bottom of her Soul There was spread from thence upon her face an effusion of Joy accompanied with a majestical and pleasing fiercenesse even Anger it self was there graceful and the last drops of its Gall had there a kinde of Sweetnesse Nothing is seen in her of that Death she had taken in her Couutenance resembles a Conqueresse and in her Attire something appears festival and Triumphant The very Flowers where with she is Crowned seem to rejoyce that they shall not be carried to a profane and polluted Bed And that they shall dye Ghast and without Blemish in her Company It was believed that she had taken them to sacrifice with more decencie and to render Honour to her Ministery and new Marriage And this was done to go more adorned to Sinnatus and to Triumph over Sinorix with more Pomp. The wretched Man dejected by the Guilt of his Conscience and pierced by the Reproaches of Camma falls on the Ground with the Fatal Cup which deceived him The Palenesse of Death which he drank begins to spread it self on his Face And disquieted by his Despair no lesse then by his Anger he looks upon Camma with Eyes which speak neither a Lover nor a Husband I think also that he vents forth against her all the Gall of his Spirit which is more bitter and comes from a far worse spring then the poison he drank And being able to do her no more mischief he dismembers her at least by his desires and Gesture And makes of her Bodie as many pieces as he sends forth Imprecations and Reproaches against her She hears him coldly and without Trouble It may be said that she loves him in this Condition And having never beheld him without Horrour she now sees him with Joy Meanwhile the Poison gaining on her Noble Parts and finding the Heart half open by the Effort which her Soul makes there to sally forth and reunite it self to Sinnatus behold her sinking between the Hands of her Maids They are well recovered of their first disorder but in no Condition to help her if their tears serve not for an Antidote The best they can do is to lift up their Eyes and hands to the Goddesse and to demand of her by their Gestures and Sighes the preservation of so sublime a Vertue for the Honor and Example of their Sex Do not believe that they are heard Camma opposeth their Petitions and offers up Prayers to the contrary In the Smoak of the extinguished Torches and the overturned Censors she beholds the Ghost of Sinnatus still bleeding from his VVound who gives her a signe that it is time to depart And that she is expected in the Region of Chast and Faithful Souls Her impatience redoubles at this Object And her Heart closing up she takes leave of the Goddesse Craves Pardon for having in her Temple and at the Foot of her Altar and Image sacrificed to Love and Revenge And with these last words rendred up her Spirit with a serene Countenance and such as a Conquerour would have who after the gaining of a Victory should expire in the fâ—uition of his Glory SONNET THis Queen whose noble wrath admits no rest With poison at her Lips Death neer her Breast Do's the now trembling Synnorix upbraid With that sad stroke his murd'rous Hand convey'd Her Husbands Ghost which often call'd in vain With Langnor pale yet bloody as when slain Waits to receive her in that Cloud the late Extinguish'd Torches with their smoak create Brave Soul forsake not thy fair Prison stay Do not Renowned Camma post away To thy Sinnatus ere the poisnous Draught Have on his Murd'rers Head due Vengeance wrought To which the Heav'ns and all things else conspire With his sad Fate and thy inflamed Ire And Love himself iâ— accelerate his pain Megrra's Torch and Deaths cold Shafts hath ta'ne ELOGIE OF CAMMA CAMMA Princess of Galatia and the Wife of Sinnatus was doubly Soveraign and reigned by the right of her blood and by that of her Face Her Beauty which was her first Crown drew Suters to her and furnished her with Combats and these Combats rendred her Spint sit for War and manifested her Courage and â—idelity Her Vertue made Fortune Jealous and her Beauty begot Love in Sinorix But not complying with Sinorix and abandoning all to Fortune she remained victorious over both Sollicitations and Services proving unsuccesseful to Sinorix he employed Despair and Crimes And perswaded that a vacant place would be weakly defended and with lesse obstinacie he murdered Sinnatus and of his Bodie makes a step to his Bed and Throne This Blow strengthened the Couragious Princesse instead of dejecting her She gave no Ear to the bloody Ghost of Sinnatus which summoned her And before she would follow him resolved to revenge his Death After so soul and base a Treachery Sinorix renewed his addresses and sweetned them with the Name of Marriage He presented himself to Camma with all the Artifices and Disguisement by which he thought to hide from her his Crime She failed not to discern it through all his Arts and Disguises and to scent the Murther and blood which remained still fresh upon him Nevertheless the restrained her self And for fear of losing her stroke if she lifted up her hand too high she enclosed her Designe in her Heart with her Anger In sine after many premeditated difficulties and counterfeit irresolutions she seigned to submit to the perswasions of her Kindred who sollicited her in Sinorix behalf and gave
solicitation Gondeberga who was one of those generous Ladies who are not to be touched without punishment and who have thorns of Roses as well as their Graces Blushes remaining a while without making any reply either because she feared to prostitute her voice and soul to the ears of this infamous person or that she deliberated on the punishment of his Audacity she suddenly rose up and without other answer spit in his face at her departure I expect indeed that gentle spirits will not approve this quickness and that they will alledge against her the address moderation of the wise and vertuous 〈◊〉 who punished with a profitable and honourable dismission that lunatick Spâ—â—â—rd who had discovered his love to her But surely the boldness of the Lombard who violated the sanctity of a Crown which came neer to Sacriledge was another kind of folly then that of the Spaniard which related more to his head then heart who was respectfull and modest And passing no farther then to Congiâ—â— and Grimaces might be satisfied with wind and smoke Let not the Stoicâ—s and their Paradoxes take offence at it all fools are not of the same stamp nor will be treated in the same manner And if mildness were seasonably used by the Princess of Spain towards a melancholy Innocent who discoursed not of his folly but to windows and only expressed himself by his guittar in his Serenades The severity was no less opportune which the French Lady exercised on a furious person who had need of chains However it were Adâ—lulsus equally confounded and irritated by the affront he conceived to have been offered him by Gondeberga retired with shame upon his face and poyson in his heart He likewise deferred not long the vomiting it forth and what he vented troubled all Lombardy and dispersed its bad odour as far as France He represented to himself that in affairs of this nature one ought not to be fearfully wicked and by halfes that bold and consummated Crimes were the most successful and that since the King could not sail to be advertised of what had happened it were good to begin first and turn the storm upon the head of Gondeberga Being fortified by this resolution and his natural Audacity he presented himself before the King with the face of an Impostor and a countenance versed in the art of dissimulation and lying He began by a counterfeit grief false regrets He complains of the harshness of a new duty which changeth the duties of his condition and offers violence to his honor He calls that necessity cruel and unfortunate which enforces him to become an informer against a person who was sacred to him and for whom he would have exposed a thousand lives And after a tedious intâ—â—cacy of many confused words by design and craft it fell from his mouth that he had discovered a strange practice between the Queen and Tason Governor of Tâ—kanâ— That the end of this practice was to poison the King and to raise Tason to his Bed and Throne That there remained nothing but a fit conjuncture to execute this design And that if an efficacious and couragious prudence were not opposed to so pressing a mischief and which hung already over his head it is to be feared that his delay and circumspection might prove fatal to him And that a moment of time ill managed might draw together with his death a general ruin upon the State Aâ—â—â—lus affrighted with so strange a relation and a danger so little expected remained speechless for a while And his mind perplexed with the confusion of wandring thoughts and ballanced between belief and doubt knows not what resolution to take His thoughts being fixed at last upon the testimony of Adalulsus the contestation was great in his heart between a Husband and a King between Love and Fear And these pieces being so neer to him and so contrary in themselves he neither presented to his mind an expedient whereby he might reconcile them nor any considerable reason upon which he might justly give sentence for either At last he submitted to fear and declared for the King upon whose conservation the Husband depended And being perswaded that in dangers of this nature distrust brings safety and to be credulous is the part of a wise man without deferring the business till the next morning on the same day he secured the Queen and caused her to be carried to the Castle of Amello where during the space of three years she had commerce with no person whatsoever And light it self beheld her only by intervals and stealth The wise Princess patiently did acquiesce to the will of the King her Husband And endured this civil death with a constancy which shewed cleerly that there was something in her more noble then her blood and more Soveraign then her Crown This trial though harsh and painful proved not unprofitable to her It gained her the consummation and the last purity of vertue And when God perceived this last purity and this compleatment which forms great Examples and Heroick models he caused a deliverer to come from this side the Alpes who took her out of prison and replaced her with honor upon her Throne Dagâ—bert advertised of this unjust Treatment and contrary to the Articles which the King of Lumbardy had entred into concerning his Neece sends an Embassie to him to complain of the injury and to require the justification of the prisoner Anseloâ— to whom the Commission is given discharges it couragiously and with words of authority which savored more of command then Remonstrance He represented to him that the blood of France had been till then pure and held in veneration That it hath never been yet known that one single drop of it was ever stained That the King his master could not perswade himself that it had begun by his Neece to lose its lustre and become corrupt that it concerned his honor and duty to justifie her That to this end he had sent a Champion to fight with the Informer And that if 〈◊〉 refused to grant the Combat according to justice and custome he would come in 〈◊〉 â—â—solve his Neece with a hundred thousand men and inkindle 〈◊〉 fire at the gate of her prison that all Lumbardy should feel the 〈◊〉 of it 〈◊〉 having assented to the Combat for the decision of this affair 〈◊〉 the Queens Cousin threw down his Pledge and it was taken up by 〈◊〉 who judged it more safe to commit his life and honor to the fortune of Arms which might prove favorable to him then to abandon them both to a certain loss by an anticipated Declaration Adalulâ—us was indeed both dexterous and valiant But there is no Address against the providence oâ— God There is no valour which sinks not under his justice He was overcome and punished by death after a publike confession of his impeâ—â—tute And Gondeberga was re-established with the general Aplause of all Lumbaray which had deplored her misfortune and still conserved
into Praises He himself will compose an Elogy of Claelia and seriously and with a solid reward crown the same Vertue which he menaceth with his countenance The Soldiers who went disorderly out of their Tents render not so much Honor to his Vertue nor look upon it with so respectfull and peaceable an eye The alteration appears as extream in their spirits and their indiscreet and tumultuous anger clearly demonstrates that in Armies sound judgement is not common and reason resides ordinarily all in the Generall Cast your eyes in this occasion upon these who are as immovable as if this adventure had charmed them You would take them for armed Statues or for Gyants that sleep standing and with open eyes They have likewise but an uncertain and confused sight and the least amazed amongst them cannot say whether he sees what is done or whether he dreams Behold others who stretch forth and stir their arms as if they had wings and were to flie after these Maids But whatever hath been said of Icarus they will not rise up from the ground with their arms and their whole flight being meerly imaginary nothing but their reproaches and imprecations will pass the River The arrows of these Archers are much more to be feared by Claelia and her Companions They have iron teeth and reall wings they can flye faster and wound more dangerously then the reproaches and imprecations of the rest Behold the straining of some in bending their Bows and the strength of others in discharging their Arrows Let us cry out to them to spare innocent and disarmed Beauties and not to offer violence unto a Sex for which VVar and Barbarity it self hath respect to pardon at least the Graces of Rome if they will not honor its Vertues and submit to its Fortune But by no means let them alone their Arrows will be more humane and discreet then themselves they will better understand the rights of their Sex and the common respects which are due to them The noise they make in the ayr is as it were a complaint of the violence which hath been offered them You would not take them for Courriers sent after these Fugitives you would take them for other Fugitives who save themselves after the first Some fall down at Claelia's feet others sink before her Companions and all these Arrows plunging themselves in the River assure them by their fall that they come not to hurt them Meanwhile the couragious Damsels recover the other shore where Glory and the Genius of the Republike expects them Claelia who instigated them is still their guide and advances first upon a Horse generous by Nature and probably proud with the Beauty and Nobleness of his burthen That other so famous Beast upon which Europa crossed the Sea of Creete was less stately and swam less gallantly and with less pomp See how he manages his feet in measure and cadence and how his lofty head salutes afar off the Towers of Rome Surely he would merit to be consecrated as well as the she VVolf which was Nurse to the Founders of the City And the Senate will appoint him at least a Statue and cause her memory to be kept in Marble She that governs him is as little affrighted with the Arrows as with the cryes and reproaches which follow her Fierceness is beautifull and boldness pleasing on her Face There is something I know not what that is Noble and Majesticall about her which resembles Soveraignty And were she armed one would imagine that it vvere Victory her self which abandons the Tuscans and is going to render her self to the Romans Her Companions follow her vvith a bold and resolute cheerfulness The vveakest are mounted two by two upon their Horse the rest hold by their Tayles and swim the best they are able They have all an equall confidence and the fire vvhich issues forth of their eyes and addes something I know not vvhat of splendor to the fierceness of their looks clearly shews that they are very pure Roman vvomen and that their hearts are full of the blood and spirit of the Republike The vvaves becomming smooth under their bodies carry them vvith respect and delight It seems that some Soveraign Genius and full of Authority is come opportunely to keep them in awe And if some of them rise above the rest they do it vvith so much modesty as gives occasion to believe that it is only to applaud this Adventure and to testifie their joy The God of the River comes forth in person to be a spectator and to partake of the hopes of Rome and of the presage of her Victories Behold him Crowned vvith branches of Corrail and Encompassed with Reeds vvho expresses his astonishment by his action Tears of joy trickle down from his eyes vvhich are mingled vvith the vvater vvhich fals from his Hair and Beard Horacius vvas lately received by him vvith less gladness when he cast himself between his Arms after the fall of the Pridge vvhich had been so bravely and couragiously defended by him And his hands lifted up to Heaven seem to thank the Gods for having allyed him to a Republike whose Daughters triumph over Kings and know how to vanquish Armies without fighting SONNET CLAELIA speaks CLaelia escapes she to the shore is nigh The Fortune of great Rome do's with her fly Before a Camp whose shafts pursue her pace Her heart to brave them mounts into her face Tyber invites her from his Channel 's side His waters under her do gent'ly glide And while she swims triumphantly do even Shine with her beauties like a spangled Heaven You beauteous Fugitives depose all feare Of meeting Death these shafts in their careere Stop to respect you and these waters show Your fires consume them they are sunk so low But set these Charmes apart yet were 't in vain To think you e're could perish You obtain From Vignon's Pencil an enlivening breath And what he quickens is exempt from Death Elogy of Claelia THe Republike was but newly born when she was attaqued in her cradle by the Tarquins and besieged by their Allies 〈◊〉 a yong Roman ambitious to set her at liberty entred in a disguised habit into their Camp and attempted upon the life of Porcenna The blow and death he carried having by a happy mistake for the King lighted upon his Secretary The inraged Roman punished his hand for the error of his eyes And in the sight of Porcenna and his People he burnt it with the fire of the Altar which was there prepared for a sacrifice Thereby he gave them a second astonishment far greater then the first and affrighted them more with the punishment he inflicted upon himself then he had done by his bold attempt Porcenna despairing of taking the City from whence as many Gladiators might sally forth against him as there were young men whose blood and courage the burnt hand of Mucâ—us might inflame sent Propositions of peace to the Senate which entertained them and offered him the
We ground our belief upon Natural Reasons and the Morality which Philosophy alledges for it We believe upon ancient Examples and those Modern ones which History hath conceived of it And if all others were forgotten we should have enough of this which is of our Nation which is present before our eyes which hath begotten astonishment in our Age and will give emulation to all Posterity EXAMPLE Francis Cezely the Lady of Barry THere are some froward persons who never esteem any but strangers and can approve nothing but Antiquity who generally dislike all that is of their own Country and have always a quarrel to the Age they live in These kind of People adore Demy Caesars of Plaister and Pompeys of Marble who time hath maimed and scarce cast their eyes upon entire and living Hero's of their own Age. They shew us Tamberlâ—â—s and 〈◊〉 as a wonder who are the Divinities of their Galleries and Closets They alledge to us Alphonsos and Gâ—smans not without an Elogy and incessantly Preach to us of Granadian vertues of a Moorish Wisdom As for French Vertues which speak their own Language and are born in their sight they cite them not but with a spirit of contradiction and to reprehend them These Gentlemen think much to endure the Aire and Soyle of their own Country And if they bear any respect to the Sun which inlightens them the reason is because it comes from the Indies and was in being before the Deluge We ought to harbour more reasonable thoughts and judge of things more discreetly and with more equity Vertues are not National nor tyed to differences of Time There are some of all Countreys and Ages And I may say that it is the same with those of these dayes as with our Sun which is as Great as in the time of our Progenitors and as luminous as that which produces the gold and precious stones of the Indies This will appear in the subsequent Example It is Modern and of France and more to be valued then all that Antiquity whether Grecian or Roman hath ever seen most Generous and Illustrious Whilst Henry the Third fought against the Head of the League about Paris the Provinces being torn in pieces by their own Members received dangerous wounds His strongest Attempts were upon 〈◊〉 where the Confederates had either taken by force or gained by practice all the best Places They only wanted Laâ—cate to become absolute Masters of that Province and to have free Commerce with Spain which was a great supporter of the League Being out of hope to possess it by open Hostility and to enter it like Lions by a Breach they had recourse to a Stratagem of ill example and sought out by-wayes to enter in like Foxes This Device being dexterously managed took effect as they had Designed And Monsieur de Barry who held Laâ—cate for the King being gone out with no sinister intention upon the Liberty which a short Cessation of Arms had given him fell into an Ambuscado which was laid for him The Confederates of the League conceived Laâ—cate to the taken with the Governour but they had neither taken his Fidelity nor Constancy And in case his Fidelity and Constancy should have been taken he had intrusted the place with another Constancy and a second Fidelity which were better fortified and harder to be taken then its Bulwarks and Half-moons I speak of his Wife whom he privately advertized of his mishap injoyning her by a few words written with a coal upon his Handkercher to repair as soon as possibly she could to Laâ—cate This Gallant and Generous Woman did not deliberate upon the Orders which required the conduct and courage of the best experienced Captain And because expedition was particularly recommended to her she immediatly put to Sea and exposed her self to the dangers of Water and Fire to Tempests and the Frigots of the Enemy And God who reserved her for a far more Heroick and exemplar combat ordained that she should happily arrive at Laâ—cate Mean while Monsieur de Barry was carryed prisoner to Narbâ—â—â— And Laâ—cate was there aâ—taqu'd by continual Assaults given to his Courage and Fidelity There was neither fire nor sword imployed in these Assaults A man of so much Honour and Courage who had contemned two thousand Pikes and as many Muskets upon a Breach could not fear a Dagger or a Pistol in a Chamber He was batterd only with large Offers and magnificent Promises with Governments and Pensions Unto which to Batter him on all sides words of terrour and threats of death were added against his Children and Wife in case he provided not for their safety by the rendition of the Place In all these Assaults Monsieur de Barry shewed himself a dis-interessed Servant a Couragious Husband and undaunted Father His Answer was That he had never known other Interest to preserve then his Honour not pretended to any other Fortune then the discharge of his Duty That Governments Pensions were too weak Arms to vanquish him That an innocent and unspotted Poverty would be more glorious to him and give him better content then criminal and sullyed Riches That the death of his Wife and Children which they placed before his eyes was a Fantome which did no wayes affright him that he owed much to his own Blood and Nature but far more to his Loyalty and Prince That his Reputation was never to him then his Family and his Conscience more interiour and of an older date then his Posterity That a fit of the Cholick might to morrow take away his Wife that his Children might be as soon hurryed away by a Feaver and that it should not be said that to reserve his Wife for the Cholick and his Children for a Feaver he had robbed his Prince of his Right his Country of Repose his Name and Race of their Honours When Laâ—cate was Battered in this manner at Narbâ—â—â— the Confederates of the League battered it at a neerer distance in a place which they conceived less Naturally strong And it was done with weapons from which they expected more effect then by Mines and Canons They presented themselves before Laâ—â—ate and demanded to speak with Madam de Barry who was prepared for all the sad events which so dismal a beginning might produce They acquainted her that her Husband was their Prisoner That after his lost Liberty he was still in the Eve of loosing his life that both nevertheless depended on her That an easie ransom should be set upon him And that without alienating his Lands without emptying his Coffers or pawning his Jewels in a word he should be restored to her for the bare keys of Laâ—cate This Lady was of a Family which a Canonized Saint and a Pope esteemed Blessed had in some kinde Sanctifyed By her Father she was of the Race of St. Roâ—â— By his Mother who was of the House of the Earl of Roâ—â—â— she came to be allyed to Vrban the fift Besides this Heriditary Sanctity
glorious effusion ariseth it is certain that Cicinna is penetrated by it and his soul which fear had imprisoned being now inflamed and attracted by the power of this light expects only the fatall stroke which was to set it at liberty To give this blow Arria presents him a Dagger still warm with her blood and courage Love is the mediator of this commerce and at the same time and by the same inspiration infuseth courage into the mind of Arria and resolution into the spirit of Cicinna Take not this Love for one of those nice ones in whom Poppy causeth the head-ach and who would not adventure to touch a Rose unless it be disarmed It is one of those couragious and magnanimous Loves of those which have produced Heroes and Heroesses of those which know no other Garlands but Helmets no other Posies but Swords of those which take delight in Frost and Rain in Chains and Prisons And I am much mistaken if it be not the very same Love which led Euadne to the flaming pile of her Husband which sparkled the Sword wherewith the true Dido guarded her self from a second Marriage and which lately also cut off the Hair of the Vertuous Hypsicratea put the Helmet on her head and made a Queen become a Foot-soldier in the Army of Mithridates At present this Love playes the Exhorter and Philosopher it speaks to Cicinna of liberty and glory and animates him to follow the Example and Courage of his wife You would say that in guiding his hand to the Dagger which is offered him she assures him that it will cut off the ligaments of his soul without hurting him that it hath been mollified in the bosome of Arria and by the fire of her heart that her blood hath qualified it and take from thence all that it had of malignity and sharpness and that not only so Noble and Honourable a weapon as that but even a Cord presented by the hand of so gallant a woman would be more glorious then many Diadems wrought by the hand of Fortune and presented by those of Messaline Cicinna seems fully perswaded by these reasons and confirms them by his gesture and countenance He is no longer the same fearfull and irresolute man as before He hath still the same head and body but another heart is placed in this body and another spirit in this head He hath no longer any blood in his veins which is not Romane All his thoughts are triumphant and all his sentiments worthy of a Consul and shortly his soul greater then Fortune and stronger then Death will depart victorious over both and re-unite it self to the soul of Arria This Example of constancy and conjugall Fidelity is very precious to Rome at this time and no doubt but the young Arria and Trascus her Husband who are spectators thereof will make good use of it They greedily and studiously collect the circumstances thereof and look upon it as the principal piece of their Patrimony Truly it is wonderfull to behold a wisdom at the age of eighteen to behold maturity and youth in one and the same head To see a woman couragious and constant a woman grave and serious in an age of divertisements and pleasures She conceives her self more rich from the lessons and examples of her mother then from the succession of all the Consuls of her House and three drops of her blood and four syllables of her last words have something in them which is dearer to her then all the Pearls of her Ancestors She likewise stores up these words and layes up about her heart all that she can gather of his blood and of the spirit which is mingled with it Surely this must needs be her good Genius who inspires her so timely to arm her self thereby and she cannot choose but foresee the occasions wherein it will be usefull to her to have conserved the memory of her Mother and fortified her self with her Blood and Courage Traseus was no less solicitous to reap benefit by this illustrious Example The present misfortune of Cicinna is a presage to him of his future mishap and not finding himself so weak as to crouch under the age nor so powerfull as to alter it he clearly sees that the least he can expect is to be ruined by it after the rest He restifies at least by his countenance that he will not fall cowardly nor expect till they push him on and all the rules of Phisiognomy are deceitfull or he will be an Original of his time and his death will have one day a place amongst the Heroick Examples SONNET ARRIA speaks ARria instructs her Husband by her wound That in a gallant Death no smart is found The Noble Blood which from her Bosome flows Of her Chaste Fire the heat and tincture shows Conjoynth with this blood of matchless worth A Fate-subduing Love hath issu'd forth Who thus Cicinna's coldness doth exhort To close thus gallant Scene with like effort Thy Honour now Cicinna is at slake No less then is thy Life then Courage take Beware lest abject fear restrain thy hand And put thy Glory to a shamefull stand Arria thy wound upon her self hath taâ—ne To her own Death she hath annext the pain Of thâ—â—e and by 〈…〉 extreamly rare Hath only leâ—t it's Glory to thy share Elogy of Arria IT is true that the Reign of the fift Caesar was but a perpetual Comedy But the Interludes thereof were bloody and Traâ—â—call And cruelty was almost continually mixed there with the loves of Messalâ—â— and the Impostures of Narâ—issa The Spectators grew at length weary of so ill composed and represented a Scene And some of the least patient and most Couragious amongst them resolved to force the Republike out of the hands of these Stage-Players Nevertheless the Conspirators failing in the success they promised themselves 〈◊〉 who was their Head happened to be killed in 〈◊〉 And his Complices abandoned by reason of his death remained in the power of the Beast whom they had inraged Afterwards 〈◊〉 who was the most ingaged in the Plot was apprehended and brought to Rome The Couragious and Faithful Arria did not deliberate whether she ought to follow him It came not into her thoughts that Adversity was a Divorce she did not believe that bad Fortune ought to be more powerful then Love nor that it could Lawfully dissolve Marriages On the contrary she believed that she was the Wife of Cicinna a Criminal and Prisoner as she had been of Cicinna's a Favourite and Consul and that she ought to have as great a share in his Chains and Punishments as she had in his Fortunes and Glory She accompanied him to the Ship And at the instant of Imbarking seeing her self put back by the Guards You will permit at least saith she that a Senator of an ancient Consulary Race may have some body to wait upon him during so long a Voyage I alone will supply the Places of his Attendants And the Ship will not be
Speculatives of the I scurial from whom we have learnt by tradition that the death of Escoredo made away by the secret order of King Philip was indeed the pretence for imprisoning Perez But the concurrence of Philip and Perez in the love of the Princess of Floby was the true cause of it Nature had accomplished with extraordinary Care both the minde and body of this Princess but she had formed but one of her eyes whether she disparted to make her a second like to the first whether she would have her reseâ—ble therein the Day which hath but one whether as Perez himself spake it to Henry the Great she apprehended if she had two eyes she might infiâ—e the whole World However it were this Defect did not hinder her from subjecting a Prince who boasted of having two World under his subjection and of reigning as long as the Sun shines And the Malignant Constellation of Anthony Perez designed that his inclination should concur with that of his Master Truly that Concurrence is very perilous and the danger so much the more certain as Fortune appears more favourable and gives there the â—aâ—â—est hopes In all times it hath been preached to Courtiers and in all seasons it will be unprofitably preached to them without amendment There are some arrogant and temeâ—arious Loves which give a bold shock to Crowns and Scepters which take delight in making Honourable and Soveraign Rivals which are like that vain-glorious Youth who would wrastle and run with none but Kings But these arrogant and temerarious Loves are subject to cruel Tragedies And not long since remarkable and sad examples have been seen of them amongst our Neighbors Anthony Perez who was in other things so judicious and prudent did not in this make use of his Judgement nor advised with his Prudence He loved the Princess Floby with Philip And perchance to his misfortune he was better beloved by her then Philip. He had a pleasing and affable Wit he Wrote gallantly both in Prose and Verse He had an excellent gift in composing a Letter he translated well a Sonnet and Stanza His Services favoured not of Authority nor resembled Obligations The Graces and Muses which are attractive and perswasive spake to his Mistress in his behalf And Philip had for himself but a dazling and incommodious greatness and that Majestly which tortures Love and imprisons the Graces This good Fortune if I may stile it so was the ruine of Perez Philip chose rather to part with a good Servant then to endure a Rival more happy then himself And the death of Escoredo happening in this conjuncture he put Perez in a Place where he had leasure to learn that it is a dangerous thing to stand in competition with his Master His Couragious and Faithful Wise did not account her self a Widow by the fall of her Husband she did not believe that his Imprisonment had set her at Liberty The Princess of Floby was no corrosive to her and she did not rejoyce in her minde with Philip for having with one stroke freed her from a Rival and himself from a Competitor These thoughts of Liberty would have become a tatling Dame who might have had a loosned spirit and a Widdowed heart in an engaged Body And an â—â—â—â—tated Jealousie might have been satiated with these bitter imaginations and these desires of Revenge The prudent Wife equally remote from a Gossiping humour as well as Jealousie considered that unhappy and devested Perez was not another Man then Perez in favour and invested with the grace of his Prince That bad Fortune gives no right of retraction nor justifies unfaithful Women And that a heart fastened in good earnest never withdraws from any thornes which grow in the place where it is fixed She represented to her self that her Husbands faults did not dispense with her Duty that a strange and forreign fire had not burnt her Tyes nor consumed the yoke of her Marriage that her Fidelity would appear so much the more Christian and Heroick for being stronger and victorious over a more dangerous Adversary She perswaded her self that the most eminent Generosity of a good Woman and the perfection of her Vertue consisted in preserving her self all entire to her divided Husband and to secure unto him even to the last the donation of her heart though he should every day withdraw his own by piece-meal In accompanying him to what place soever he should be cast by a storm And above all in taking as great a share in his adversities as himself even in those adversities which are the punishment of his faults Fortified by these considerations she made her self a prisoner with Perez and reserved to her self so much liberty as he wanted to solicite their common friends to implore from time to time the goodness of the King to employ by intervals the credit and favour of tears and supplications for the inlargement of her Husband Behold how many Combats she fought how many Victoâ—â—es she gained in this single action She overcame Jealousie which is the most powerful and dangerous enemy of Women She deprived her self of liberty and repose which are natural and inherent Blessings Blessings which are not parted with but by extream violence She subdued Avarice by the continual profusions she was enforced to make to render the Gaolers and Guards plyable in giving them their fill She was stronger then a Prison rigorous and terrible by reason of its incommodity but far more rigorous and terrible in respect of the Princes anger which had banished all pitty from thence which had re-inforced the Gates and redoubled the obscurities thereof which had added a new hardness to the Iron and Walls In fine she was victorious over tortures and death it self exposing her self as she did to both by the boldness she shewed in conveying her Husband out of Prison and in deceiving the expectation and anger of the Prince Truly this boldness was very Ingenious and Witty And Love was not only resolute in this action but a Deceiver in good earnest and without scandal Notwithstanding all this the Couragious Woman would have answered with her head both for the Inventions of her boldness and the deceits of her Love if Philip had consulted with the jealousie he had of his Authority and of his Mistress Anthony Perez seeing all wayes barred up against hope and that not one single Ray of mercy appeared from the Escurial resolved by the advice of his Wife to seek of himself an end to his Miseries without importuning any more unpowerful Intercessors and a deaf Clemency The resolution was that Iane Coello should procure a Womans Garment to be secretly brought and that Perez in the evening might go forth with her disguised in this attire and mingled with the Women of her Train The Plot took effect as they had designed it Iane Coello went forth accompanied with this new Attendant and intreated the Guards with gold in her hand to permit her Husband to take some rest who
fault that his soul is not already at liberty he presseth it with vehemency enough and hath made for it Orifices large enough in all his Veins But Seneca must be long a dying that his lingring death may be a lasting Instruction and a Pattern of a large extent Surely this Seneca is not the man of whom Envy and Detraction hath made so many false Pictures I perceive nothing of weakness or vice wherewith they reproach him And this Death what ever ignorant and traducing spirits say cannot be the Tragedy of a seemingly Vertuous person of a masked Philosopher of a Counterfeit and Sophisticall Doctor His calm and setled Constancy shews outwardly the stability of his mind He seems to confirm with his eyes and brow whatsoever he hath written concerning the contempt of Fortune and Death You would say that he alledges himself for the proof of his Doctrine He Philosophizes by as many mouths as there are wounds And every drop of his blood is a Stoicall Demonstration A proof of his Opinions and a testimony which he renders to the Courage of his Sect. His weeping and mourning friends receive with his last words the last spirit of Philosophy and the pure lights which already his almost loosned and descryed Soul diffuseth The attention they give him is full of respect and hath something I know not what of Religion It would be hard to say whether it be to his voice or blood they are attentive whether it be the dictates of his mouth or those of his wounds which they write In this extremity this severe man who so boldly looks upon Death as if he were seeing a Mask dares not fix his eyes upon Paulina I think that he apprehends lest friendship might soften his spirit and the Husband be found more powerfull in his heart then the Philosopher But â—e not scandalized at this tenderness It is not unseemly in a wise man He may with credit afflict himself for another And the Tears which friendship hath exprest may decently trickle down on his Face SONNET PAULINA speaks PAulina meets Death's Launcet with a Mind No less of Stoick then of Roman Kind A Philosophick Love which charms her Heart Will give the stroke to sweeten all her smart Inhumane Fortune through remorse or hate Runs to rebuke her and repair her Fate But her great Soul resists a forced stay And with her Blood makes haste to slide away You daring Sages who for Truths promote Your high fictitious Dreams and from us Vote Our Noble Passions Learn of this Heroique And Famous Woman to be truly Stoique And know this truth whatever you in vain Have learn'd from your fantastick Founder's Brain That the most Tragick Deaths delightfull grow VVhen Love himself shall give the fatal Blow Elogy of Paulina IF there were great Vices in Nero's Age there were also eminent and very exemplar Vertues The darkest nights have their Planets And in the worst Seasons the Sun hath his good Intervals and fair hours This Monster inrag'd against Reason which made him see his Errours fell upon Seneca who had cleer'd and disciplin'd that faculty in him As if it had proceeded from the Masters fault who polished the Glass and not from his own Deformity that he was hideous He then gave order for his death And this excellent Man who was grown old under another Mistress then this slight fencing Philosophy which is only bold in a School and against Fantosmes was ready to submit to this barbarous Command for proof of his Doctrine and to put in Practice what he had set forth in Propositions and Opinions When it was time to depart he did not so much as turn his head to listen to Fortune who solicited and called him to the Empire He departed out of a house more worth then ten Millions as if he had gone out of a thatchâ—d 〈◊〉 He shewed himself only sensible for Paulina whom he leâ—t young and exposed to the outrages of a bad season and the insolencies of a Tyrant who had caused it He endeavoured to perswade her to live and take comfort in her own Vertue and the Goods he had left her But she remonstrated to him that these indulgent and careful perswasions were not fit to be used to the Wife of Seneca That his Example counselled her better then his Reasons That it taught as well as Philosophy how to die resolutely and with courage Their veins were opened with the same Lancet they mingled their Blood their Spirits and Examples And the soul of Paulina would have followed that of Seneca if it had not been detained at the last step she was to make Nero apprehending lest the death of so illustrious a Lady and of so high a Reputation might compleat the drawing on him a publick hatred sent Souldiers who bound up her veins and used violence to make her live But she retained all that she could of death which was then kept from her And ever after conserved the desire of it in her heart and the paleness of it upon her face MORAL REFLECTION PAulina who is still victorious over death in this Picture informs us that Philosophy hath no Sex that it communicates it self without making any distinction between Garments and Faces That the Graces themselves may become Valiant and Couragious under her Discipline And that Cowardise proceeds from the corruption of the heart and not from the tenderness of the temper nor the dispositions of Fortune It likewise informs us that Vertue must needs be very weak and Christianity superficial in the greatest part of Christian Ladies who perplex themselves about a Necklace and a few Pearls who have their hearts fixed on a lac'd Petticoat who are slaves to a small Fortune which to express it well is but a figure of guilded dirt The least they can expect is to be condemned by this Heathen woman who had a soul dis-ingaged from Riches which may vie with those of Kings who had a free heart even in the arms of a Fortune which was as large as the Empire and which raised jealousie even in the Fortune of the Emperour himself The ensuing Question will manifest whether Paulina could be a Philosopher and a Stoick and whether I had reason to say that Philosophy hath no Sex MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen be capable of true Philosophy A Woman hath been heretofore seen playing the Orator in publick places who did with unprofitable and studied Discourses what the Mountebanks now adayes use to do with their Drugs and Antick faces There was also a lewd Woman who affected a brutish and impudent Freedom who braved Fortune and Nature with a Staff and Wallet who was Beggerly and Arrogant and who had under a ragged and tottered Garment a worse Pride then is found under cloth of Gold and Purple Both the one and the other was called Philosophy But both had but the name and a false mask which drew Spectators to them And certainly if no other Philosophy had descended from Heaven then from this
Castle in Triumph and by a Breach 〈…〉 The Maid of Orleans HAD you known that this day was to be a day of Miracle and Safety to France and that you should have assisted at the most Heroick action which hath been ever seen since Sieges and Battles have been in use you would be sorry to have come too late But here is yet enough to give you a right prospect thereof The adventure is wonderfull in all its Parts there is something great and prodigious in all its Circumstances And that which remains for us to see exceeds by much whatever can be regularly imagined and with any true resemblance You are no strangers to this Country and need not learn from me to know Orleans by her Steeples and the circumference of her VValls Likewise you are not ignorant of the Constancy and Fidelity which this great City had shewed when it was besieged by the English and reduced to the extremity of hope But that which you do not yet know and what no man dares hope for is that in despite of the English and in the very sight of their Camp and VVorks Succours safety and liberty hapned to enter into this Place under the Conduct of a Maide Not only hope was not so bold as to advance so far but even belief it self fortified by the sight hath much ado to reach unto it Yea as a Maide even a Country Maide and a Sheperdess hath wrought this so little expected Miracle The importance is that this Country Maide is a Prophetess and that this yesterdayes Sheperdess is to day the Generall of an Army and will be to morrow a Conqueress The same God who loosned from the Mountain the little Stone wherewith the great Colossus was overturned who drew from amidst stocks of Sheep a youth victorious over Lions and Gyants made choice of this Maide to force France out of the hands of strangers and sent her to the King loaden with VVarlike Commands and promises of Victory The King by the advice of his Counsell after an exact and juridicall Inquisition into her life and words furnished her with Arms and Troops to chase away the English before Oreleans She but now forced their Camp with two hundred Lances and behold her already with Victory and safety at the Gates of the City This first prosperous Action is an efficacious and famous justification of her Innocence It is a powerfull and victorious answer to false Rumours and passionate Calumny And suddenly the Coronation of the King followed by the totall defeat of the Enemy will be a more solemn and authenticall proof of the authority of her Mission and of the verity of her Prophesies I could wish that we had seen her in the heat of Fight handle her first Arms by Efforts of consummated Valour But if we are come too late to be spectators of this Valour to behold the lightnings and impetuosity of this Heroick fire which gave an action so lively to her Arms and so sudden motions to her whole Body we may at least discern the light thereof upon her Face and a remnant of hear which still excites not with so much violence as before but with more dignity and due proportion Combat and Victory have left a pleasing mixture of a scarlet dye upon her Cheeks and on her Brow and the spirits of boldness receive a kind of sweetness from thence and a new Grace from the spirits of joy which were mingled with them Nothing of the ayr of her Birth nor of the manners of her Education is seen in her There is nothing even in her Countenance but appears Noble and VVarlike And this sudden Metamorphosis which is made in her from a Sheperdess into an Amazon hath something I know not what which resembles an Illusion and savors of a Prodigy and Fable VVould you say that the very thoughts of grazing and the inclinations of a Sheperdess had ever entred into this head which is so free and gracefull under an Helmet VVould you say that the Sheep-hook had hitherto the charge and imployment of these hands which handle so vigorously and with so much dexterity the Banner and Sword VVould you not say that she is born in a Magazine of Arms and that she is trained up in a Camp That she is come to us from the Countrey of Amazons That she is animated with the same Spirit which animated heretofore the Hipolita's the Rodoguna's and the Zenobia's Beware of saying it This were to praise her injuriously and to dishonour her in handsome Termes This were to scandalize Innocence and prophane a Person whom God hath particularly Consecrated The Spirit which possesseth her is another Spirit then that of the Zenobiars and Rodoguna's It comes farther off then the Countrey of Amazons It is of a much purer and higher Region You have heard some discourse of that double Spirit which inspired Debora with Truth and Valour and equally replenished the two parts of her double Ministery Of this double Spirit which was a Spirit of Fire to David a Conquerour and a Spirit of Light to David a Prophet It is the same Spirit which descended upon our Maide which filled her with his Light and Heat which gave her the science of Predictions and the vertue of Victories The Sword which you see in her hand makes me remember that Meteor with two Faces that famous and mysterious Fire which an Angel-conducter carryed before the People of God Like that Meteor it is luminous and stained with Blood like that Meteor it summons on the one side safety and liberty and on the other side it threatens death and destruction Nevertheless it hath not like that a light only for shew Its splendor is not presaging It were inconsiderable if like Lightning it wounded nothing but the sight it ruines and destroyes like Thunder And they say also that like Thunder it was drawn out of the bosome of the Earth For this Sword if you know it not is a fatal Sword and resuscitated by Miracle It belonged to another Age then this And the Maide divinely inspired caused it to be taken out of an ancient Tomb where it rested quietly with the Ashes of its old Master Scarce had it felt the vertue of this glorious hand but the agedness thereof fell off with its Rust. It hath received a new lustre which gives it a new force and a second life and behold it already stained with the Blood of strangers and throughly heated with this first prosperity Two hundred Lanciers march bravely and in an handsome order after this Maide Had Fortune her self or Victory led the Party they could not have done more gallantly nor given more terror to the Enemy To behold the confidence and boldness of their looks To behold this Noble and couragious joy which appears on their Faces and in all their motions you would not say that they intend to cast themselves into a beleagured City but that they rather march to some Triumph The enemies still affrighted by the