espie him hee powred forth his plaintes and vttered these wordes folowing Alas Narbonus what a Metamorphists art thou made and how can thy tongue expresse the inward greefe of thy hart Can thy tongue vnfolde the miseries thou art fallen into or thy hart imagine the tormentes thou sustainest the one were an endles toyle and the other without the compasse of my capassitie First the death of thy Father and the losse of so good a freend the memory wherof hath taken so déepe roote in my hart as I shall neuer put it out of my stomacke whose fatherly affections and whose entire loue were so great as any coulâ— wish and as much as any one could imagine whose carefull cogitations were alwayes on my well dooinge and whose minde was often mooued with my lyfe to come How great had been thy happinesse hadst thou accompanied him to the graue and how fauourable had béene thy fortune hadst thou departed when hee dyed Were he now here to wayle my want and to beare a parte in this my perplexed passion whose Ghost to awaite on would my soule were set to watch on as I vnfortunate wretch am ouerwearied with watching though nolente and as my soule is like to be drowned in dispaire with the memory of forepassed things though against my will Can the tender trée the earth taken from the roote grow gréene any longer and can Narbonus the sustainer of his life detained liue any longer Can the fléeting fishe liue out of the wallowing water can the flickering foule flye without his winges to beate the weather Can Narbonus liue not hauinge bread to sustayne his hunger and can I prosper not hauing any foode to feede on no no I must pine in penury weare away my dayes in misery leaue my life in my lustinesse and die in the best time of my sprouting beautie O had I stayed still at Wittenberge yet how can I wish my soule more harme the originall of my sorowes and the prime of my penalty the beginninge of my bitternes the first of my friuolous fortune My Unckle forsooth would vnneathes procure mee thyther vnder pretence of my profit where I spent all that was lefte mée and consumed away my liuinge there began my want and here will end my misery there Fortune began to frowne and here shee will spit her spite This was the affection of my Unckle and this the proud pleasure of his mightie minde Had I stayed still in the Countrey and had I not come to Wittenberge my goods had béene encreased and my lyuinge augmented where now my patrimony is spente and I like here to pine But doost thou vniustly condemne thy deare Unckle and vnaduisedly blame thy faithfull fréend whose health dependeth vpon thy hap and whose goods consist vpon thy well dooinge O were these my miseries manifested vnto him or he acquainted with the greatnes of my distres some meanes would be wrought to sustayn my want some subtil shift deuised to helpe my calamity Hee tolde me my chéere would be cold my lodging would séeme hard my dainties not many but my dauÌ„gers plenty which I haue proued by experieÌ„ce though he spake but by heresay Had my God béen so contented my life might haue lasted no longer nor I sustained more misery but the other day bin slaine with my companions left my life wher they got their deaths But I was preserued to a farther incoÌ„uenieÌ„ce my life proloÌ„ged to a greter mischéefe the spaniel is far happier theÌ„ I the barking dog in better case then my selfe for they are rewarded for their brawlinge but I like to sterue for my good seruice O how happy are these creatures whose bellies are alwayes filled with grasse and whose paunches haue euer that suffiseth their hunger who feede them selues fatte and then are slayne but I am likely to dye beeinge but carion and to pay my raunsom béeing no faire flesh My Unckles seruauntes thinke much to take a little toyle to feede on what they list and thinke they are wronged in labouring for their vittailes where the worst morsel they haue would preserue my life and the least péece of bread prolonge my dayes can death it selfe bée worse then this nay how can it bee so bad if death were layd in my dish my woes would quickly ende and were my destinies now ended my miseries would grow no farther O had God giuen man that secrecy to ende his daies when hee would or had hee graunted him that liberty to cut a sunder the thread of his life when it pleased him should my life then be prolonged one houre and my dayes not ended at this instant But Fidelia in what place resteth thy sweet soule and where now is thy delicate body Thou once sawest mee dying but now shalt shortly heare that I am dead would now thou wert here to hasten my death and to giue mee that ende which is my due to dispatche my bloominge breath and to holde my heauy head to wipe these teares from off my moyst eyes and to close them vp after my Ghoste is once gone O Fidelia had my hap beene so good I might haue séene thee againe and challenged thee for my owne or had fortune béene so fauourable I might haue inioyed thy company the happiest in the world Had my harte foreseene this and my minde imagined these â—aungers I would haue barked like the Dogge in his kennell and lurked like the Foxe in his hole I would haue lyen close like the Lyon in his denne and beene hidden like the Bee in the Honny combe But my carckinge was on my credite and my boasting on my brauery O Fidelia could I haue had but one farewell before my departure and one kisse to haue caried to my graue thou the most faithfull I the vnfaithfullest thou the most freendly I the vnfreendlyest thou the most louing I the most vnloyall could not I recouered the Countrey so might I had thy companie could not I that way gayned thy good graces and found thy fréendly fauoure where now banished thy presence and bereaued of thy sight I once embraced thy body and once kissed thy swéete face and once should haue gotten the heauenlyest thing in this world and once woonne thée for my wedded wife But seeing my simple seruice could not be séene in this my lingering life my death shal make it manifest to all the world and my soule in despight of fortune shall awayte on thy blessed body I die to thinke that some vnworthie shall possesse thée and feare that one which not deserueth so pretious a iewell shall weare thée knew I by what meanes to present thée my heart the most loyall in this Kingdome of Spayne no other shoulde haue the bestowing of it but thy sweete selfe nor any other buy it but thy heauenly hands The Théefe hath his deserued hire and the Traytour for his treacherie punished with payne would God I were the one or could not escape the other But why do I
way then on that side now on this dish then on that deuice now she marked the place where Narbonus sate and then the spoone he eate withall now the cup he drancke of and then the trencher he was carued vpon now she remembred his dancing and then his dalying now his parling and last of all his departing hir eyes ranne in euery place and she eate as much as would suffice a Sparow she thought that supper longest of any that euer she was at when hir dinner was foure times so long The Table therefore taken vp and hir obediēce done to hir father she departed to hir Chamber thinking to banish these toyes lying on hir soft bed and resting hir head on hir comfortable pillow but no sooner laid but assailed in like maner as before then séeing no sléepe would enter into hir eyes and that perforce she must yeeld to hir fancie she vttered these words folowing to hir selfe in like maner as ensueth The toyle is set to take the Déere the hooke to hang the Fish the trappe to begile the Mouse the limetwigge for the Bird the net for the Foxe and was not Narbonus thē a sufficiēt baite to take so simple a mayd as my selfe how should I auoid it or how should I not be taken that haue already yéelded and neuer striued to make my flight hauing yéelded my selfe prisoner abādoned my body to the enimies courtesie no doubt but my life shall be redéemed without ransome and frée libertie yéelded at my entreating as if thy life were at his courtesie and thou receyuest thy death without his loyaltie But why denyedst thou him at the first motion and didst not graunt when he offered thée so faire to yéeld at the first sight had bin the part of a light huswife and yet in making deniall I feare his life be denied him where the Towne is yeelded at the first assault there are but fainthearted Souldyours and had Fidelia consented at the first demanding he might haue iudged me common that Colte that will take the bitte at the first manacing is likely to proue but a iade and the Tassell reclaimed at the first lure will proue but a Haggard in the ende and had Fidelia condiscended at the first request he would surely imagined hir a Strumpet after drouping cloudes the Sunne breaketh out into a blaze after my soure sauce he should haue had swéete suger the frost lasteth but in the night and in the day the thaw commeth my heart was not so frosen nor my mind so congealed but had the Sunne of sufferance stayed a tide or the heate of his desire bidden the brunt of his bargaine but it would melt like waxe and thaw like Snow the grasse must haue a night to grow and I one day to loue But as the ill fauoured Horse séemeth fattest in his maisters eye so séeme I most faire that do best féede his fancie and as the grounde sheweth rich in the maisters sight when but barren in the eye of another man so doth my face please his fauoure although he dislike anothers feature yes doubtlesse my triall is too true and my proofe too playne but loyaltie is my life and chastitie my choyce if I leaue the one I can not liue with the other Lucretia mighte haue dissembled hir rauishmente and so saued hir life had she yéelded she had not bin forced and had she not bin forced she might haue condiscended and in yéelding procured the death of him that caused the losse of hir owne life but as she yéelded to lust so did she also yéelde to death she dyed why should I liue and had not she died should not I therfore dye yes surely and dye I would but for doing him seruice whose health wil cause me to liue in happines whose death wil cause me to die in desperatenesse Alas how I fade how I fall how I looke how I lacke how I loue how I like how I dying faint for feare how I fainting am readie to fall to remēber his wanne face with his pale lippes his cold chéeks with his staring eys his dying head lolling down my hand held hard in his fingers with my heart in his habitatiō which I could willingly consented should haue departed with his yet durst I not bewray my thoughtes yet durst I not crie yet durst I not scritch yet durst I not complaine outwardly yet durst I lament inwardly did I not quake did not my heart droupe yes surely I would not haue liued to his losse nor die to his hinderance I thinke he would neither request the one nor desire the other he fell like the blossome faded like the floure he died like the Daisie fainted like as a babe sléepeth he dyed like the cōdemned that layeth his head on the blocke and dieth before the blow come but Narbonus dyed before he had his condemnation pronounced he dyed betwéene thy armes in thy lappe When the Rose is blowē to the full it falleth frō the stalke but Narbonus died before he came to the ful perfection and yéelded before his life was in dāger But reape vp thy remēbrance pull vp thy sprights did not these hāds stay him falling and these eyes behold him recouering these eyes indéede and these handes but from such holdings God graunt I be deliuered and from such sights defended Could I blush to sée my owne heart bloud or could I languish to sée my life linger for the graue could I wéepe to wāt the greatest welfare in this world or could I lament to behold so pitiful a tragedie In séeing thee despaire I saw my owne death and in seeing thee breathlesse I saw my owne bane in seeing thee pine I saw my greatest paine and in seing thee go to the graue I saw my selfe giuing vp the ghost Could Phillis hang hir selfe and couldest not thou kil thy selfe could Andromeda dreame so pitifully and canst not thou bewaile thy fancie as lamentably could Prolixena prolong hir life after the losse of hir louer and canst thou draw forth thy dayes thy desires being detained could Bacchir bath hir selfe in the boule of hir bloud and canst thou blesse thy selfe in the beatitude of thy bargaine was Dido content to die the death for yeelding to the deapth of hir desires and canst not thou be content to sacrifice thy soule for the satisfactiō of that swéete Saint But how did he withdraw himselfe out of my danger and how faded his face from my fancie with heauie cheere and with moorning melodie with mestfull ioy and with little iolitie though he came in the common Cockes path yet went he home by weeping crosse how did he looke when he badde me farewell and what a countenance he did cast on me most sorowful O those eyes his eyes Narbonus eyes nay my eyes my weeping eyes the eyes of Fidelia were they not mine yet he gaue them me but where then are they my hearte harboureth them I beare them in my brest But
in body and honour you with my heart And for my loialtie if it be not comparable to any that euer liued and my loue as much as any that euer breathed I pray héere from the bowels of my soule and from the inner part of my heart God the Iudge of all secretes the acknowledger of all thoughts to poure his plagues as thicke as Hayle and his punishments as plentifully as rayne and after the leauing of this life all the Hagges in Hell and al the Féends wheresoeuer with Fire to torment me and with their Forkes always to pursue my sinfull soule You iudged I am sure my inward griefe by my outward sorow when I was at your Fathers house and in the deapth of my dauncing and had I then ended my dayes and lost my life I should haue thought my happe comparable to any and inferiour to none wher now if I possesse not my desires nor obteine my felicitie my life wil be more lothsome my death not so acceptable stand not therfore vpō delayes neyther vse any lingering excuses pronounce eyther my happie felicitie or death my earthly destinie which if you giue me I shall as willingly I cā not speake more before you reply Sir Narbonus answered Fidelia your wordes are precise and very prestrict to answere your demaunds at the full and to reply in such order as you will me I stand amazed what to do and yet fully you must be reanswered you prefer my personage you say before al other earthly creatures and in doing so much if you perfourme what you say you do but your dutie and requite but my curtesie You loue me so well as euer wight was beloued and honour me as the habitation of your owne soule I will not say I loue you better nor that I honour you more which if you do not in euery respect perfourme and to the vttermost of your power seeke to mainteyne you wish to be punished with plagues and the Hagges of Hel to haunt you God guide you from them heereafter but whilest you are héere I hope to defend you You are content to sacrifice your soule for my sake and to haue your body suffer the torments of death in my behalfe the common saying is after you is maners but I will be first in this respect then vse your owne as you list My Fathers house you say was a signe sure ynough and that I saw your loue sufficiently well O Narbonus hadst thou then dyed or there lefte thy life thy Soule should not haue wandred without the felowship of faithfull Fidelia nor gone into the graue without the company of me thy most assured till death Thou willest me not to driue off with delay for that tomorrow bréedeth sorow know thou therefore Narbonus that Fidelia is vowed thy faithfull féere and thou the only Saint that I will serue and the barking of fearefull Cerberus in Hell or the gaping of that Dragon of Hesperia shall neuer cause me forsake thée or euer force me flie from thée the which to confirme somewhat more surely and to bind as we are willed with the bonds of amitie take héere my hand otherwise my heart shall seale me a spéedie pasport therefore giue me quickly my death or yeeld me the thing without the which I will neuer after this day behold the sunne or looke vp to Heauē which is thy swéete selfe and no other thing Narbonus you imagin or else do I quickly gaue hir his hand and would I thinke haue died in hir embracings had not the company bin there O faithfull Fidelia the fréendlyest that euer breathed and the swéetest that euer liued how am I rapt that earst was bestraughted and how reuiued that but now was at deathes dore am I in Heauen or do I holde my auntient habitation thy life my ioy and I will not liue but to die with thée nor die but to do thée seruice But Narbonus as I haue yéelded thée my life as thou louest me vse secrecie and hold thy hande on thy mouth til such time as our ioyes may be obteined at the full our mariage rites celebrated to the depth of our desires The rest of the cōpany had spent this time in pleasant talke now were set roūd togither where they al cōdiscended that euery mā shuld tell a pleasant tale to the which Narbonus was enuited and Fidelia willed to make vp the messe who came as ioyfully as they were requested earnestly it was alotted a Gentleman of the company should begin the other cōsequently to follow who began thus THere dwelt in Venice a Merchant whose credite caried some port and his word was worth much This yong youth longed belike to be in loue for in euery corner hée was wooinge séeking alwayes some one honest woman and sometimes amōgst the maidens of Flora he was moued too much with diuers honest mens daughters of great calling good behauior but none liked him or pleased his fancie but one of his owne choosing and not of any others Thus fed he his fancie now with this Dame then with that Damsell nowe louinge then lustinge now suing then seruing After this lawlesse life ledde by the space of certaine moneths and that he waxed wéerie of this diet he fell in loue with a manerly mayden as he thoughte but in déede such a one as was hired for euery mans siluer and set to sale at a certaine price and long it was ere he could get graunt of hir consent or winne hir to his Wife yet another man might haue borowed hir good cheape or at the least of an easie price she so flattered him to the will of his fancie and so bragged alwayes of hir honestie which he thought to be most true and that he had found some singuler péece and to make him beléeue the better of hir honestie and to thinke that she could not be but good she would hit him in the teeth with some one man of his profession or some woman so honest as hir selfe that had bin plagued for their wickednes and punished for their sinnes My maister Merchant thought hir pennie good Siluer and that there was no better hay in Denshire determined therefore to abide the brunt of this bargaine and to dispatch his mariage which ended and that he had certaine dayes vsed hir companie he suspected that which was so indéede and beléeued that whiche was so true as his Créede for he perceiued hir trickes and hir toyes hir becks and hir glauncings hir paynting and hir paltring and though it be a matter méerely mistrusted in Italy to conference and familiaritie of a mans Wife yet vsed she hir former fashions that way and denied not to talke with any but she had a wrong Sow by the tayle for that he was acquainted with these caruers before he therefore bewayled his vnfortunate wedding and wished it had neuer bin done but séeing no remedie that necessitie is lawlesse he determined to put away his Wife or
slaue vnto your person yeelding you that which no others shall possesse for the faithful perfourmance of which promises and the true meaning of my cleere conscience take héere my right hand that member next my heart a reward altogither insufficient and too simple a dish for so worthy a Maister and could I giue you better you should not haue worse God is my Iudge whom I call as witnesse to testifie my troth and manifest my mind plighted to your person and rendred to your gratious goodnesse Behold here Gentlemen a lincked league of amiable amitie with a quicke confederacie spéedy dispatch of two friends earst vnknowen now so ioyntly ioyned so perfectly vnited as no meanes shal make mutabilitie or any deuice dissolue their amitie no bale that shal be bitter nâ— fortune froward no chance that shal be chapman in their choyce no griefe aggrauate their glorie nor any diuelishe déedes of dissention sowen amidst the forrowes of their faith that shal hinder the felowship of their fidelitie or by any meanes vndoe the linckes of their loyaltie but that which shall grow for their gréedie gaines and certainely serue for their security in what affaires soeuer frowning fortune be interchangeably annexed These plights of parliance ended with the contents of couenants and the ioyning of hearts and haÌ„ds they both departed the floured fields and pleasant pastures as well contented as they desired as fully satisfied as they both wished Going into the Towne to dinner they fed on the confections of their preter promises glutted theÌ„selues with their former talke the rest of the day they spente in their antieÌ„t customes swéet talkings Drawing toward night that the day waxed néere spent each gaue to other the Baselos manus a fréendly farewel for the night and hard it was to be adiudged whether Narbonus for his péereles purchased freend louing coÌ„panioÌ„ were best coÌ„tented or Phemocles for the inward insolutioÌ„ of his preoptated desire or most fauourable felicie best pleased but this is most certaine and the truth very manifest that the interiour instigation of the habitation of the heart or the resting place of the thoughts was so rauished with the remembrance of their most delightfull daliances or new conceyued ioyes that their hearts coulde wish to haue or their soules desired to sée was for the time so senselesse or void of any feeling as if the mind moued as it were with heauenly motions or filled with angelicall contemplations were drawne from earthly thoughts and called from terrestriall cogitations into the heauenly harbour of al happinesse or the priuate Paradise of most deyntie deuises But hauing put on their former perplexitie and digested those pleasant drugges they were after so armed with amorous amplifications and so drowned in their former preambulations as melancholies for a season was vtterlye abolished and all bitter heauinesse vanished out of their stomackes and their thoughts dropped with honny that earst were gorged with gall Thus fared it with our two friends and thus swamme they in their secure safeties Narbonus woulde not haue changed his choyce or sought such another friend to gaine so much goodes as he before forfaited or to finde moe iewels than his backe would beare As for Phemocles his case better liked him than if he should haue gayned all the wealth of Cressus or had all the passing pearles of Arabia Narbonus came to his Chamber after his former fashion and olde accustomed manner thinking to trie the strings of his louing Lute or to fill his eares with Musicke as he had done but his hearte hopped so without a Harp and dauÌ„ced in delights without a Musition as if he had then bin maried with some dayntie delights or vsing something for his felicitie the greatest in the world Phemocles departed also to his stately stacion or earthly mansion where in stead of rest he was receaued with reioysing and for his bed and boulster the late battaile of their imbracinges bounced so in his braines and troubled so his toyish thoughtes as hee iested of his ioy to him selfe and laughed with inward lust of his happy felicity if the one were daunted with inestimable desires and drowned in the dewe of terestriall triumphes the other was fatted with the fruition of his fantacies abolished the beauty of all other braueries bathing himselfe in the beatitude of that protrated picture and seemely Sainct which though hee bare it not in his shining shielde yet he ware it in the wombe of his harte and kept it in as priuily as a Iewell of great price Who can best saye for others safety and best praise others perfection spareth not for speaking neither tarieth for intreating and the more to augmeÌ„t their antiquity of amity and prolong the leÌ„gth of their loyalty they were not euery houre in their Oratories nor euery morninge in their méetinges not euery day in their daunces nor alwaies in their daliaunces for who hath not the faculty of this facility or who not the knowledge of this plaine misery that a litle absence maketh a déepe desire and the restraining of beeing togeather maketh the méetinge more ioyfull for they so tempered their affections and so dyeted their desires that euery méetinge was as gainefull as the first and euery gréeting as benificiall as the frontire of their felicity If they met it was by méere chaunce and they neuer poynted any time of parlyance their departure was with â—aynefull protestations and their encountering with amiable affiances they tooke their leaues as if they should haue left their liues where at their next méeting their hearts hopped like the carefull Captaine comming home with conquest or reioysed like him that had escaped the hands of his enimies for is the extremitie of the passion of the Citizen comparable the vnspeakeable reioysing of the Souldioure no trust me for the ioy of the one is at all times alike and not greater this day than the morow folowing alwayes without danger of death and euer without losse of liuing but the other hauing escaped the scouring or bidden the brunt returneth with triumph furthered with felicity reuiued as it were from the graue therfore reioyceth without measure and his gladnes as much as may be thought But fortune disdayning their happy felicitie and enuious at their prosperous proceedinges murmuring at the multitude of their mirth and hating their heauenly happines frowning at the goodnes of their gladnesse and hauinge in contempt the depth of their desasters caused their seperation by a quicke dispatch and prouided their departures so sodainly as might be found a meanes to put the one far enough from the other and had a deuice to make them part company imagined a craft to make a daungerous distance of their merry méetinges and inuented a drifte to drowne their dooing for a time And no maruaile if it were so for what is otherwise is not the flowre to day finely flourishing to morrow stamped vnder féete the trée in sommer fresh and
with the worme and neuer appeareth outwardly till rotting it droppe from the trée or consumed fall to the earth or as the old tree consumed and hollow within neuer appeareth in the wind till it fal to the earth or consume as it standeth so shall I fade so shall I fall so shall I droupe so shall I die so shall I rotte so shall I be bereaued of the rarest Iewell that Europe bréedeth Alas are these the rewards of loue and the recompences of my good meaning to hazard my life and to die vnwounded but doe thy eyes pierce worse than arrowes and thy sight infect like the Basalik◠If one enimy hurt another he either séeketh a present salue or giueth him his spéedie death If a Dogge be bitten by another of his kind he licketh himself whole againe If the fléeting fishe be wounded he healeth himselfe in the running Riuer But doth not the lamenting Déere the arrow sticking in his side repaire to some thicke groaue or busshie lawne where he moorneth till he die walketh himselfe till senselesse he fall dead to the earth Alas is not my case such and my wound in like order my carefull Chamber yeelds me small comfort and what reape I héere but the fruites of infelicitie but thou Nouice did she giue thée this gléeking gall nay was it not thy owne eyes why then blamest thou hir whose faith is thy felicitie whose countenance thy comfort whose louing lookes the prolonger of thy life whose amiable grace the greatnesse of thy goodnesse and whose swéete words the very restoritie of thy mutabilitie complaine not then on hir who was not the causer of thy maladie for had not thy owne eyes bin the instruments she had not procured thee and hadst thou not looked thy loue had bin little and had not thy loue bin so great thou hadst bin loose at libertie where now thou art tied to hir courtesie and bounde to hir beautie And what if thou be so tied repentest thou thy bargaine or art thou sorie for thy choyce no no the faire Rose hath a swéete smell the Uermilion violet a most pleasant sent the white Lillie most amiable to behold Do we not daylie sée that misshapen things haue as deformed conditions and the brauer the beautie the finer the qualitie the fairer the face the more fruitefull the fancie Can there lodge in Fidelia any mistrust or any deceite any dishonestie or any enuie any malitiousnesse or any wickednesse not in so excellēt a creature or in so goodly a personage in whose feature and in which formall body the Creator shewed the thirde parte of his cunning and Nature I thinke enuied she shoulde haue one degrée more for had she bin celestiall as she is but terrestriall the heauenly Goddesses would haue enuied hir for excelling their fauoures and passing them in beautie hir excellencie is the cause of my imperfection were she not so heauenlie my desires would be but earthlye hir Angelicall face hath infected my ill fauoured feature and hir swéete graces bewitched my sottish senses and in my minde it is one of the wonders of the Worlde and one of the rarest matters that may bée how she that hath bin behelde of so many hath not bin loued of all but no doubt hir maners draw the heartes of others and make their maladies not vnlike to mine How could they in hir Fathers house beholde hir and not loue hir with what face could they loke on hir fauour and not blushe at hir beautie would not hir words melt in their mouthes and hir swéete sayings moue their modest minds Narbonus thou art deceiued the Diuell loueth a Collier and the Crow thincketh hir owne Bird fairest The sotte is sooner wonne to lust than lured to loue the more noble mind the more worthy enterprise the valiant feares no frownings nor the worthie dreads no danger Will the Faulcon pray vpon a Crowe or the Gossehauke cease vppon carion the Eagle on a dead Horsse or the Tassell on a starued Dogge The Lion will deuoure no dead thing nor the foule Beare touch a man lying on the Earth I knowe there are moe maydens than Malkin and moe louers than Phillis yet but one that liketh mee or any that shall loue me but Fidelia But what shall I doe or what meanes shall I make to whome shall I bewaile my wante or who will helpe mee who will releeue mee or who will assist mee who will further mee or who wyll take my parte who will solicite my suite or who will pleade for mee my case shall bee manifested to my Unckle who will as contentedlye assiste mee as I willinge to craue helpe But thou Foole what knowest thou whether hee will like of thy loue or condemne thy madnesse perhappes hee regardeth some other and wyll counsell thée to match after his mind and to loue after his liking and if happily his liking be so and that contentedly he will consent as gladly as my selfe shall he therefore be my spokesman and breake the matter first then will she thinke he loueth not my loyaltie or regardeth not my chastitie for then would he not spare to speake nor despaire to spéede is not his cause best heard that pleadeth himselfe being plaintife and doth not he most preuayle that pitifully moueth the Iudge himselfe yes trust me that way is therefore the worst and that inuention without a good deuice why the assault is already giuen and the breach is begonne yet haue I not looked the enimie in the face or know how I shall spéede yes I haue séene him that hurt me and scared on the partie that wounded me yet know I not whether he will bandée or yéeld if he fight mine is the foile if I bee ouercome shall I turne home like a coward or be driuen backe like a dastard no trust me yet will I rather choose a honourable death than a reprochful life rather a faire Hearce thā a defiled body and sooner a glorious graue than a miserable estate thou hast indéede begun blessedly and thy inception not to be disliked God graunt thou perseuere as happily the end not to be detested but what did thy dying in hir hand betoken and thy fainting in such order presage was it not a sure signe thou shouldest léese thy life for hir sake and séeke hir Soule as Aeneas sought Dido in Hell but she fled from him and he neuer recouered hir sight againe but if hir soule flie from me and departe my sight I will neuer ceasse but séeke hir and neuer leaue till I find hir thou diuinest like a Doctour God grant thy imaginatiō proue thée not a Sophister thou standest héere vpon law points and driuest doubts vnlooked for leauing the principall to feede thy fancie the more speedely thou speakest the more hastelie thou shalt be answered and the sooner thou doest solicite thy suite the sooner shalt thou receiue iudgement Well then Narbonus this deuice shall bréede thy delight and to put this in practise wil yéeld
where art thou now Narbonus and in what place resteth thy bestraughted life if safe I not sad if merie I glad if helthy theÌ„ am I hole if sicke I sorie but my diuining may bréede my decay my bewailing procâ—re my woe for though he fainted did he fall for me and though he laÌ„guished did he lament for me though he soothed me sweetely he may vse me as sourely and though he praysed me passingly yet may he hate me hartely though he looked earnestly yet may he loue me slenderly for some sullen sicknes was the cause of his sounding some old foistring disease did begin againe to renew his wonted course he faynted for feare rather thaÌ„ feared my fauour he that was before sicke how could he be then sound and he that was before infected how could he heere be healed why do I not then reiect him and remoue him out of my mind his fancie shall not breede my feare nor his fauour begile my feature I wil roote out his remeÌ„brance burne the bil wherewith I bid the bargaine his heart shal be out of my habitatioÌ„ my liberty not detained with his loue let him looke some other louer and finde some fitter fréend prooue some other Préest and parley with some other Prelate trye some other more trusty and loue some other more loyall know some other more kinde and serue some other more faithfull the surest will proue but sowre and the swéetest but sawce thou hast deuined right Fidelia and spoken but the very truth bid therfore thy carefull bed adue and write to him of his wanton wiles in séekinge to mollifie so modest a mayden as my selfe and to mingle such mischéefe to so vnfained a fréend as Fidelia then shée lefte her carefull couch and gan to write as foloweth ANd couldest thou for my so great courtesie requite mée with a congratulatioÌ„ of periury although I loked on thée yet lusted I not after thee and though I daunced with thee yet was I not bereft of my honesty thou hast wooed in Wittenberge some wantons wedded to thy wiles and thou lookest here in Vienna to lure mee to thy luste but alas thou castest thy baites in a dry Ditch and if any bite they will prooue but Frogges Is this one of thy Schoole trickes and this thy lesson learned so earnestly to carrye two heades in one hoode and two faces in one bodye two tongues in one mouth and two hartes in so little a lumpe of fleshe No no goe fishe amongst foolish Fryers and singe thy Sirens songes amidst the fellowship of Flora I would thou knewest Diana is my Mistresse and for such cutters as thy self they come not in our crue I am one of those which haue vowed vestality as for thy lyking thou maist séeke the layety of Layis goe finde out some flirt to bestow thy frumpes on make loue to some Lozell like to thy self O how thou wouldest die forsooth and leade Apes in Hell thou diddest fainte because I lowred and thou wouldst sell thy soule because I would not make sale of my honesty did I hold thee by the hand when thou dyinge saydst and if no and so diddest fall fainting But out alas Fidelia And with those wordes the teares flowed downe her face and her head ran round shée knew not how her sences were drowned with dispaire and her soule sanke softly to the ground for shee slept seeâ—ely for a sâ—asoâ— and dreamed not of any her desires who then had beheld her would haue thought her life had been â—led to Limbo Lake her soule gone to wander amongst the infernal ghostes But when she returned to her former imaginacions and had fully possessed the freedome of her selfe marualliâ—ge what shee had doone and into what place shée had â—eene transported began to gaze on the walles and to stare on euery place then shee beheld her bed and mused whither it were her owne or not then erecting her body vpon hir fallen féete and turninge to her window looked on other thinges then seeing her glasse looked into it wherâ— perceiuinge her watry eyes and her bubbles â—héekes her haire about hâ—r face and her head so out of order was rauished to know the cause and amazed at thiâ— sight theâ— leaning on the side of her window and turning her selfe to the other part shee sawe Paper scribled on and Inke standing by it wherat catching hastily shee red the effect of the prescript where seeing her owne folly and sorowfull for that was done shée began againe so lamentably to lamente and so bitterly to wéepe as though her soule should no longer haue liued in this painefull pilgrimage and as if shâ—e would at that instant forced her selfe to die then taking the paper written on shee rent euery peece and euery parcell euery worde and euery letter which her imaginacion did giue her to bewray any thing or her fancy thought would bee any way perceiued and in this outragious rigour shee spake these wordes Had this writing euer béene seene of any other but my selfe or beene red of any but mée vnfortunate wretch the hand that wrote it should haue been carued with as many cuttes as there were letters writteÌ„ the mouth that spake them should so haue beene rente as neuer to haue spoken any more as for the head that inuented it should neuer made mee such inuentions O Fidelia whither were thy wits wandred and into what place thy right sences seduced to deuise so madde a mistery and to inuente so diuelishe a deuice to preache so shamelesse a Sermon and to sound such Hellish harmony to that sweet Sainâ—t whose life is my lyuinge and without whom my carefull carkas shall prooue my peâ—â—ry in yeelding my soule into the body of him whom no one thing in this worlde is to mee so deare Therfore come happe come â—eauinesse come sorowing come â—olacinge come sorow come felicity come aduersity come Hagge come Hell come death come Diuell I will write to him my wéeping will and send the effect of my meaning let him take mée or let him turne mee away let him loue mee or let him hate mée let him accept mée or let him forsake mee the worst that can come is but death and I looke for no lesse neither doo I deserue more What care I if death ende my dayes and that my life bee now at the last cast so I may dye to serue him whom to enioye I would not feare to fetch the GouldeÌ„ Apples from the Dragon or to passe amidst the gulfe of Caribdes then shée tooke other Paper and began to write as followeth WHen as Narbonus thy fréendly face and louinge countenance presented the patterne of the perfectest picture yâ— Nature nourisheth or at the least the only forme that Fidelia honoureth I incensed with the light then pawsing a while and reading it ouer againe shée blotted it out and began a new Of all the humayne creatures that God wrought and of all the workes that hee made man hee framed after
that the time requireth not now to stande vpon trifling toyes and too shorten this time with troublesome tales for that our matters are of more importance and our affaires of greater weight youre councell in this case must be comfortable and your deuice paide of danger for that lingering may import disliking and delayes bréede doubte â—oo dot 〈◊〉 or experienâ—â— teache vs and do we not see it our selues that boyling leade will â—e as colde as stone first let vs vanquish those thoughts which other wise wil breede our decayes which once repressed and troden vnder 〈◊〉 we may bâ—ast with victorie and triumph with ioy 〈…〉 slayne hiâ— Enimies he had escaped himâ—elfe but thinking 〈◊〉 to blotte out their rage and to put their déedes in tâ—o â—li◠〈◊〉 he vndid himselfe and moue the 〈…〉 destruction Had Romeo 〈…〉 first and manifesâ—ed the intent of his 〈…〉 done very wisely and 〈◊〉 licence for the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 faithfull friends and if Narbonus take 〈…〉 it is time he must stay the fall and abide the 〈◊〉 Therfore Fidelia for the inward 〈…〉 loue and the â—â—tward 〈…〉 let vs nâ—t flatter our â—elueâ— in the 〈…〉 nor 〈◊〉 off 〈…〉 with delâ—yes 〈…〉 is condemned and â—he hopeth 〈…〉 our hope will little auayle if fortune 〈…〉 shall we hope for when we are 〈◊〉 of our purâ—â—sâ—â— The olde saying is Hope well and haue well hope for 〈◊〉 rope and haue a haulter not so when the thing is at 〈◊〉 be put it not to shall be as we 〈◊〉 had prosperous eâ—uentes so mâ—y we haue contagious rauillings the thing that is to day to morrow was to day wee enioy life to morrow dead and gone to day wée liue in libertie to morrow we pine in prison to day we â—â—imme in proâ—speritie to morrow wée are drowned in aduersitie aâ— we are not sure so are we 〈◊〉 we 〈…〉 of wealth and to morrow vncertayne of wâ—e but we may be vncertayne of the 〈◊〉 and not sure of the other put downe therefore your mind with my determination and what you shall thinke good I shall not thinke yll what you desire not disliked of me Fidelia therfore framed hir selfe to make him an answere and spâ—ke as followeth Beloued Narbonus fully to satisfye you what the substance of loue is or to wade that way farther than I may safelie come backe againe my senses are altogither vnable and my wit too wanton to make you a warrantise but as my skill was neuer schooled and my mind vnmortified my rimes must be without reason and reason not so reasonable aâ— sufficient to satisfie yet thus much my brayne can holâ— forth and this I dare presume to say the richest and the greatest the highest and the lowest the proudest and the poorest the strongest and the stoutest not only men mortall but also Gods deuine haue bin entangleâ— with loâ—e and pricâ—ed with his piercing Dart. 〈…〉 vnder the likenesse of a Boy suche like tâ—ke 〈…〉 vpon him to inuest the virginitie from vs simpl◠〈…〉 ascendeth from the heart and doth enflâ—me the minde a mixture in the heauenly 〈◊〉 and a 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 where the fauour of the 〈◊〉 and complexion of the other is added to coequall substance 〈…〉 an every respect 〈◊〉 examples of the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 of â—â—â—oures we haue a number toâ— great to recite in a day and more than now reason would I should name as Dido Deianira Procris Phillis Bacchiâ— Prolixena with others too many for their prâ—fites and little to the pleasure of others whatsoeuer it is or how the meaning is let it be what it can be you haue tasted a little and I haue tried somewhat as for drifts indéed bréede but doubtes and delayes coÌ„monly bring dangers when the Sunne is set it is too late to call backe that day againe and when the clocke strikes the houre is passed when death is in the dish iâ— bootes not to bid him tarrie and when the man is dead what should the surgion doe all Trees haue their times and all séedes their seasons all plants their planets and all beastes their bearing all Foules their feathering and all fishes their engendring WheÌ„ the Eagle hath cast hir old bill she can not put it on againe when the Snake hath left hir skinne behind hir she can not créepe into it againe when the Henne hath hatched hir Chicke she can not put it into the shel againe and when the Bucke hath cast his hornes he can not put them on againe euery propertâ—â— hath his portion and euery sute his season euery fashion his action and euery qualitie his cause euery profite some discommoditie and euery good motion entangled with some yll meaning the Sunne riseth but falleth not there at night the Moone encreaseth and decreaseth not in one fort nighte the Cloudes that rocke to the East returne not presently thither againe the tide must be taken at the full for time tarieth not for any Bycause therefore time shall not trie vs Traytours nor prolonging shall not cause repenting you shall vnderstand that I will pretende a voyage and frame some excuse therefore a little into the Countrey about foure miles from the town where for change of diet and altering my fare where in stéede of Partrich and Quayles I shal find Cruddes and Creame for Pheasant and Kayles Puddings and Pancakes for Capon and Swanne Butter Bacon there I will stay a fortnight at the least but as I thinke more in the which time you may cloake your craft and coyne some excuse to make vp our nuptiall rites and quickly to dispatch what eare you shall thinke good which ended you may returne when you please and departe as you shall sée occasion then afterward we may stay a tide and watch the time when we may vnfold our doings manifest that whiche hath passed and therevpon take my hand in stead of my heart the one I can giue you outwardly the other I can affoord you but inwardly Looke to your loyaltie remember the time And therewithall turning hir from him to sincke all suspition and that the dauncing was ended she went to the other company and left him eleuated to the Skyes with Moyses into Heauen or raysed as Lazarus was reuiued from the graue he swamme so in the Seas of securitie and bathed so in the beatitude of his owne blisse in such order as he knew not whether he were bestraught or amased heauenly were his cogitations and angelicall his glories his meanes wer without measure his happinesse without hardnes for now he had atteyned the plâ—asures which in this world his soule desired all that he required could not be more thaÌ„ he had now granted him This courteous company hauing spent the best parte of the day and delighted themselues as they desired gaue the grauitie of gratulation thankes for their boldnesse and courtesie for their kindnesse Narbonus tooke leaue of Fidelia and gaue hir the gentle Conge he well pleased and she a little eased
yet knoweth not who shall reape his profite or geather his grayne the Gardener grafteth his plantes and settteth his Hearbes proyneth them and wéedeth them cleane soweth them best for the Sunne and bestoweth them out of the shadow yet eateth not one Apple him selfe nor smelleth to one flower The Marchant maketh a masse of money and prepareth for his Marte furnisheth a ship and sendes her on the Seas yet knoweth hee not whyther hee shall enioye any of his Marchandize or euer see his fraught come home are not our dooinges manifest and our miseryes common our daungers not dayntye and our infelicitie plenty but happe what may come and let fortune do hir worst the worst is but death and the greatest but the losse of my life and in dying my soule may wayte on thée and my ghost follow thy fancie therefore Fidelia as you haue regard of your health and as you beare loyall loue vnto me comfort your aduersitie with consolation and assist your desperate desaster with the hope of spéedie returne for you may assure your selfe that my gaynecome shall be as speedie as is possible and my hast with so great desire as may be meane while I wish you all the ioyes that this lingering life can giue you and desire all the happinesse that this earthly pilgremage can affoord you Farewell the secret seruant of faithfull Fidelia THis Letter sealed with sorow and deliuered with danger he gaue to a man of his Uncles whose faith he credited and whose trust in other matters before he tryed The next day his Unckle had ocâ—asion to send him into the Countrey and to spéede him about some businesse not farre from the place where she lay nor greatly out of the way as she should go who glad to pleasure Narbonus and contente to perfourme his request strayned a little courtesie with his Maister and deliuered the letter Fidelia receyued the Letter and rewarded the seruant asking if it required answere or if naught but the deliuerie who answered not that he knewe of and saide none that he heard of The Seruant departed better pleased than she was afterward contented she therefore hasted to hir Chamber expecting some newes and posted to open it hoping for better then she found therein for there was that comforted hir like the pangs of death and that written which delighted hir like the Diuels daunce but reading it and pervsing it well she looked on hir aperne strings and hir minde was on hir maydenhead she construed euery worde and reconstrued euery letter sometimes she laughed though not hartelie sometimes shée wept but that bitterly now she imputed hirselfe the first of this follie and then she condemned him for a Traytour doing hir that iniurie now she lamented the departure of suche a friende and then she blamed his staying in the Towne now shee confessed that hée entirely loued her and dearely lyked her with the greatest affection and the most good will of any that loued or any that enioyed this worlde then she doubted his loyalty was not correspondeÌ„t to his property nor his loue so great but his lust was greater for theÌ„ would he haue deuised a thousand shifts to procured his staying and inuented a number of meanes to haue bidden at home Now she persuaded hir fancie to find no more fault and entreated hir desires to be content for purchasing hir libertie he woulde gaine his owne infelicitie and get his owne death rather than she shoulde be frustrated of hir wish then she wished hir wauering will to let fall those fancies and moued hir minde to banish those doubts to comfort hir selfe so well as she could and to take the matter as merrie as she might for that to say is not to do and to promise faire is not to perfourme plentie for he spared not for speaking but cared not for doing dayned not to promise but denyed to perfourme therfore his meaning was but to wrest his wanton will and so bid hir good night And this last presumption and fine imagination tooke such firme roote in the ground of hir heart that there it grewe so long as she liued and there it remained vntill she was buried for she stayed still vpon these poynts and had alwayes these sayings by the end to tarrie at home is cowardlike and to lurke in a corner the part of a dastard for said she had his loue bin so affectionate as his lust was outragious he would haue cropen in a bench hole before gon in such order and line in some darke corner before haue gone in such manner is it dastardlike and the parte of a momard in gaining a little credite and perhappes with losse of his life to leese the purest propertie in this life and to obteyne the onely felicitie in this worlde He was no dastarde for he durst deceyue so simple a mayden as my selfe neyther was hée a dotard for he could beguile me to whome he had plighted his faith but let him spurne at the Spanish péeces and trie them with their trumpeâ—ies as for my wooll it is but weatherbeaten yet too fyne for his wearing or too good for his handling are these thy swéete Cirenes songs are these thy paynted protestations to sell thy safetie to trust a Stranger and to bestow thy loue vpon some outlandish broode they that tryed thée must not first trust thee and shée that enioyeth thée must weare thée first a yeare about hir necke but who will weare thée that art not woorthie to be wedded and who will wedde thée that art more wanton than wise the Drumme sounds and thou must bée gone the Captayne calles and thou must away if Vienna haue neuer more wante then to lacke so lustie a Lubber as thy selfe nor neuer more distressed then being bereaft of so rancke a Rebell the Towne will neuer repente thy departure nor wish thy welcome home How happie is thy good Unckle depriued of such an vnthrift and how fortunate I Fidelia in forgoing so faithlesse a freend thy Unckle may ioy thy speedie posting and I be glad of thy happie hasting thy Unckle is well lightened of a licentious loyterer and I well deliuered from so false a flatterer But happie it was that my oare was stricken no farther in the bancke and blessed was I that my Torch was burnte no further fortunate was I that my Trée was not grafted fauourable was my felicitie that hée was in my hande but out of my hearte God graunt that I may as easilie remoue him as I was willing to entertayne hym but my warrante shall bée written with water and sealed with sauce put into the Paper of obliuion and deliuered with the hande of forgetfulnesse And arte thou indéede gone Narbonus then farewell faithlesse friend and adue false Iason thou sayest by séeing me thou shalte see thy death and beholding my face thou shalte forgoe thy owne fauour then shalte thou neuer die by my consente and my countenance shall neuer seduce thee into thy owne destruction am I a Basalike
thee Did not the carterly Ptholomy slay cowardly yâ— noble Pompey who a nobler Captaine theÌ„ the one who a viler Prince then the other Was not Caesar the onely man of his time and stabbed in by his trayterous Senatous who then hee a more noble Prince who then they more Traytourlike Rebels Yet in scaping all these scourings and biding all these bitter broyles in flinginge out too farre thou hap to be taken and in ventring some thing too muche thou come shorte home who will raunsome thée or who will acquite thee who wil set thée frée or who wil fetch thée backe Answer will be made he was foolishhardie and vnaduised vnruled and disdeyning to be refourmed let him therefore either raunsome himselfe or trie out his fortune What shall I say or what shall I do how shall I find thée out or how shall I fetch thée home where shall I séeke thée or in what part of the Countrey shall I looke for thée I dread the woorst and I feare thy fal I doubt thy danger and I dread thy death how can I hope thy health when there is no likelyhode of thy returne the time is not now to trie I feare me nor the place to be appointed thy life is alreadie alotted and thy death determined but honourably I wish thée come to thy graue and that thy death may be lamented of others But some will replie the death of the fielde is honourable and farre better then to be buried at home in a mans graue The death I confesse is honourable and the déedes commeÌ„dable but God giue thée that honour to die at home and to be buried in Vienna amongst thy friends at thy tumbling into the hole or the raking vp of thy bones thou mayest happe to get a volue of shot or a peale of Gunnes which any Souldiour hath so much and the greatest Captaine hath no more Tumbling himselfe amidst these doubtfull desires and tossing amongst these dreadful dangers he leâ—t his slouthfull bedde and rose out of his sincke of securitie thinking to abandon these curious cogitations by walking in the Féeldes to driue these fonde fancies into the open aire which purpose tooke so good effecte as he put it straight in practise where no sooner entred but his auntient remeÌ„brance and forepassed fancies of his faithfull friend and banished exile assailed him as before and troubled him as at the first for the floured feeldes were rather a helpe to renew his Rebellious than to put into obliuion his contrarie conceytes for let any man afflicted come into any Pallace of pleasure or fine fieldes furnished with fragrant floures if pleasantly disposed they augment his felicitie if pensiuely perplexed they encrease his sorowes he therefore that earst was pensiue can not there boast of his brauerie and he that before was afflicted can not there be reléeued But now he deuiseth what meanes he may worke to go to him and how to temper with his Father to get his consente now he hopeth then he doubteth now he flattereth himselfe that his Father can not denie him so reasonable a request then he feareth that he will deuine vpon some dreadfull daungers the troublesome trauell in that the Countrey lyeth full of Souldioures in euery corner and their robbing and spoyling of him who to packe their pouch full of redde Ruddockes or for the gayne of little gold regard not the murthering of a man and the selling of their Soule to the Diuell who is their good Mayster and so let him be let them serue him so long as they list and the best they can in the ende they come home by weeping Crosse and crie Peccaui now he doubted this and then dreaded some other thing now deuised and then vndid it againâ— now counsailed and then sette it at sale now bidde the bargaine and then drew his head out of the coller firste fayned then framed first agréed then decréede first propounded then renounced then he thought to bidde the bargaine was but the parte of a choyce Champion and to giue the assaulte but the duetie of a good Souldyours and he rather to aske than the other to demaunde his nay at the firste was no deniall nor his gaynesaying to stand as a bonde of aduantage the worst that could happe was but nay and the greatest deniall might in time be graunted Then he thought to frame some excuse and vnder some pretence to vndertake that voyage then hee remembred agayne that playne dealing was a iewell and the trueth woulde bée tried out in the ende Then agayne this troubled him the vncertaintie of his finding and the not knowing in what place he was if he should be gone from the Camp or be thrust into garrison into some Towne his Captayne he was not acquaynted withall neyther dyd hée know any that wente in his companie then thought he that to make suche spéedie poasting woulde grow to some suspition maruelling what his pretenced hast shoulde meane comming so lately home and but then refreshed of his forepassed trauell then hée thought to stay some time and to watche a season for the requesting of his suite this was the greatest certaintie and tooke surest effect Who then had séene him in this perplexitie and so rauished in his desires flattering still his fancie that he shoulde obtaine his desires and perswading himselfe he could not be denied his wittes ranne he knew not whither and his senses were seduced into sundry places his thoughtes were now in Naples and then in Wittenberge now in Vienna and then in Roome now in Germanie and then in Spayne Thus was Phemocles neuer contented but alwayes troubled till he had pouredfoorth the effect of his froward fancie vnfolded the inwarde cogitations of his doubled thoughts thinking then hée should be sufficiently satisfied that once obtayned which hee desired Octauian after the departure of Anthonie and his secrete flying was so incensed with outrage and enflamed with furie as he coulde not abide to heare him named or any man to speake of hym but submission made and pardon craued of his owne person when the boysterous blastes were ouerblowen and rigorous outrage put into obliuion hee gayned agayne that quiet caulme whiche contented him obtayned his pardon and gayned his fauoure whiche grewe greatelye to the aduantage of the common wealth Was not Peeter more faithfull after he receyued pardon for his offence and Paule must finde fault after he lefte persecuting Phemocles now imagined to get that by entreating whiche he coulde not gayne without asking and to obtayne that by fauoure whiche he shoulde neuer winne without friendship watching therfore a time so conuenient as he thought none could be more beneficiall and espying such place as he imagined he should not be gainesayed he plucked vp his spirits and spake thus to his Father Sir the idle spending of time and the wearing of a mans yong yeares without any profite is no meanes eyther to get credite or gaine riches to obtaine wisedome or to learne knowledge
hold my hands from so dying and stay my knife from executing my selfe were it not offensiue to God and contrarie his commaundes my heart shoulde quickly consent and my hand soone strike the stroke Of all the Creatures that God hath made and all the features he hath formed Man is eyther most vnfortunate or in greatest vnhappinesse All other creatures regarde nought but their foode to fill their paunches and care for nothing but meate to serue their turnes and they all haue sufficient and neuer any of them that perish with hunger but we want and we wayle we wéepe and wée lament we crie and we craue The firste signe of our life after our procreation is bitter teares and the formost motion of our liuing soules is wéeping a sure signe of our miserie to come a token that our life shall continue with lamēting my money is spent long since my apparel al lost freends héere are none that wil releeue me and who wil succour me in this deepe distres but if my backe hee colde is not my bellie also bare yes I sée nought but death before my face and my lingering life beginneth to wast and this death is most miserable in this kinde of dying I shal seeme the most vile creature that euer liued and to sterue thus with hūger the most loathsome of any that héertofore hath breathed but in so dying do there not a great nūber leade the daunce before thée and in beeing so miserable are there not many that pine in like perplexitie if I steale any thing to sustein my pining paūch or filch ought to gorge my gréedy gut death thē is my due no cōpassion shal be shewed me O my beloued Phemocles that I were now at thy courtesie and that my plaints were poured forth before thée that thou didst behold these watrie eyes that thou didst looke vpon these blubbred chéekes that thou didst sée this throbbing hearte so miserably afflicted that thou didst behold my soule so drowned in despaire but to be hold héere my deformed face to sée thus these eyes suncke into my head thou wouldest beare a part I am assured of these my inwarde miseries and were ther any heere to poure foorth some teares with me or to bewaile my want so much as my selfe my heart would quickly yéeld to the furie of death my soule giue cōsent to yéeld vp my ghost And gaineth not death a great iewell and getteth he not a mightie rewarde to haue me his owne yes trust me a loathsome body and a stincking carcasse a rotten trée and a consumed carion But O good God are these the fruites of all warres and are these the liues of all Souldiours is this the life of all those forced by their Princes and is this the case of all such as go out of their owne Countrey the soule Beare findeth somewhat to teare on and the hungrie Tigre getteth something to mainteine hir life the Wolfe hath some what to pray vpō and the wilie Foxe doth not perish with hūger Thou feedest O Lord the yong Rauens with the dew of Heauen wilt thou suffer vs to go into Hell for wāt of sustenance we must eyther pay pence for that we take or render our liues in pawne giue gold or gaine our graue Thou hast giuē to euery fowle of the aire séedes to the beastes of the field grasse to feede on to the fishes the wide sea to fleete in to the vile wormes the rotten earth to liue by These creatures sterue not for lack of foode nor perish being pined with hunger Is man the perfectest creature and the likenes of thy own image hast thou made him most excellēt giuen him the vilest cōdition the best fauoured and the worst beloued the most superial to loke vpō yet the most vnfortunate of all others Other thy creatures stand not one at the mercy of the other one is not forced to beg of the other one cōdēneth not the other none of thē giues cōsent to haue the other slaine The Oxe is cōtent his fellow shal feede by him the Shéepe craueth the cōpany of his cōpanions The Hart will not féede alone the ramping Lion neuer hurteth his fellow yet we suffer oure heéethrē to pine in pouerty sée our fellowes to die with hunger Is the shape of man so goodly and his condition so vile his face so amiable his nature so filthy his life so pure his déedes so detestable We haue séene that brute beastes haue fed yong children nourished their natures susteined their liues if they of nature be so gentle why should not we be more louing if their affection to vs be so great why shuld it not be far greater to our selues O miserable sexe O vile generatiō O most vnpure O most odious of al others Should our doings resemble God why then do we follow the Diuel should our works be perfect to our maker why then are we so vnperfect towards our selues if perfection worke such imperfectiō and if the inward motions worke such outward miserie if the secret things in nature manifest so great calamity why then O God hast thou made vs the way to excéede other creatures to excell thē al in these misteries as the heart the mind the soule regeneratiō nature yéelds thē al their generation works thē al a beginning their procreation their being and hath not nature wrought that in them as they al liue and are all susteyned they are all nourished and not one of them perish for wanting their foode Is then our gaine greater or our life larger our happinesse comparable to their felicitie and our goodnesse like to their pleasure no Narbonus thy dayes must be shortned for lacke of sustenance and thy life dried vp wanting reliefe Farewell that noble Countrey of Germanie and adue that famous Citie of Vienna farewell the Uirgins that vow vestalitie and adue thou my faithfull Fidelia farewell my déere Unckle with the rest of my fréendes and adue Phemocles of all the men the only floure But miser that I am to lament my losse doth but encrease my sorow and to renue my plaintes but augment my gréefe bestirre therefore thy selfe and walke abroade happilie thou mayest méete with some that will reléeue thy staruing state and by chaunce find out some fréend to giue thée some foode But alas whome shall I aske or whome shall I call to whome shall I bewayle my wante vnto or who will help me out of this miserie if I go out to séeke some pray or go about to gaine some bootie is not the enimie hard at our héeles and commeth he not close to our Camp If I be taken I die tenne thousand deaths and if my life be yéelded into his handes I were better suffer any torments perhappes be thrust into their Galleys which is woorse than thousands of deathes or put to a worse office whiche I were better yéeld my selfe
héere vnto all furies O infamous agonie and superexcellente calamitie would to God my soule would now yéelde the last gasp of this liuing life and I woulde that at this instant the executioner helde the axe ouer my head to cut it off if it were but one death to be taken prisoner I would of purpose go to yéeld my selfe but I know not how many deathes I shal die and stil liue liue I alas liue dying and yet not die whose case is so hard that in staying héere I die in going abroade to refresh my body I must more thaÌ„ die yet in staying héere my lingering life may weare to some end in going foorth more than death shal be my destinie In going to séeke reliefe in our owne Camp and aske there of our owne Souldiours the greeuous gronings of those afflicted the lameÌ„table coÌ„playnings of these infected pittifully crying help help yet none helpeth nor any succoureth them some lye cryinge and some sprawlinge some struglinge and some striuing to dye would terrifie I thinke the stoutest stomacke liuing and affray the stongest hart that hath béene knowen to beholde some pittifully lyinge vpon the ground and some beating their bellies against the earth some bouncinge them selues with their fistes others lyinge with their faces vpward some tearing their heares others scratching their faces some wresting their mouthes to speake but cannot some holdinge vp their handes sayinge misery misery the stenche of some so stronge and the sauour so horrible as I often wonder that I am not infected and many times meruaile that I am not incensed but hee that doubteth not death dreadeth not any daunger To see these pittifull sighes and to heare them calling meate meate and others drinke drinke and others helpe helpe others I die I dye and others kill mee kill mee and others stop my breath stop my breath and others close my eies what harte so harde or what stomacke so stonye what minde but would bee mooued to pittie and what soule but would giue some succour to heare them so pittifully complayne and so lamentably lament thinking to come neare to giue them some succour or imagininge to take holde on them to helpe them vp the smell is so terrible and the sauour so horrible that had a man the harte of Hercules or were a man amongst the puddels of Caron he could not féele a greater stinke nor helpe them any other way some sprawling out of their Cabins and some creepinge vpon all foure some tumbling out on their backes and others offering to goe fall downe againe Others goe réelinge tottering forward they know not them selues whether and others fall sodaynly downe and neuer rise againe But alas how shall I succour others that cannot helpe my selfe a blinde man may as well giue an eye to another or the cripple giue him a leg that is sound Should I say O mors quam amara nay rather O mors quam iucunda But who staieth the Tide and hath not his passage and who tarieth till the houre bee ended and heareth not the clocke strike O that I had a Glasse to beholde the feature of my face or that my picture were now drawen and conueyed to my fréendes would they know mee or would they saye it is his face would they say it resembleth the picture of such a one or would any say it is the counterfayt of Narbonus would Fidelia say it is the face of my beloued or would Phemocles say it is the picture of my faythfull fréende no they coulde not know mee nor tell whom it resembleth But if they did know mee could they send me reléefe or if they had seene it could they succour mée could they giue mee a playster for my wound or could they minister Phisicke for my weake body Yes if not all faythfull yet some woulde prooue loyall if not all true yet some would bée trustie But yet thou mayest be deceiued of thy imagination and made frustrate of thy purpose The longest grasse groweth not on the highest Hill and the tall Ceder trée beareth no good fruite the fairest face may bee found full of fraude and in the gréenest grasse lurketh the vilest Serpent thou diddest neuer trie them how then canst thou trust them thou diddest neuer prooue them how art thou then certaine thou neuer hadst experience how then canst thou make boast The Eagle is the fairest bird yet is shée filthy meate the faire Faulcon delighteth thee to holde her on thy fiste yet is shee no dishe of seruice the Lyon the goodliest of all other Beastes yet no meate for thy eating If thou giue iudgement by lookes thou maiest liue by losse if thou ioy in faire faces thou maist be mocked in their foule fashioÌ„s if thou reioyce in swéet words thou maiest mistake them then soure sauces are better doost thou not often sée a rusty Rapier in a painted shèathe and a goodly purse filled with counters vnder braue apparrell often walketh a botched body in a braue body may bee a defiled soule the swéet muske is not pleasaunt to eate and the Lilly flowre hath no good tast the Nettle looketh gréen as other herbes the thistle beareth a faire blossom experience teacheth thée thy owne reason should cause thee conceiue so much As faith is flickering so are fréends â—ained if I had the wit of Themistocleâ— the experience of Phillip I might bée deceiued in the one mistooke in the other Caine offered fréendly to talke with his brother Abell then slue him and Iudas kissed Christ before hee betraied him Thou louest them dearely but art not certaine they fauour thée hartely they may speake thée faire yet flatter falsely professe the fauouring of thy fortune yet repine at thy prosperity that Crocadile wheÌ„ she hath caught a man first wéepeth then deuoureth him the Cat first culleth the Mouse before she eate him the Fly trusteth the blaze of the candell till she is burnt and the olde dog playeth so longe with the whelpe till hee bite him when the Lyon is full gorged the other beastes play before him but when hee beginneth to roare they all hide them selues or run out of his sight Let the simplicitie of small thinges make thy wit grow greater happy are thy freendes for they liue in prosperity but vnfortunate is Naâ—bonus who pineth in aduersitie looking long agaynst the sunne will make a man blinde for a time and I with lookinge on my beloued was depriued of my fences my longe lookinge lyked mee to loue and my louinge hath loste mee my lyberty But vnfortunate doost thou condemne thy fréends and blame her who lyked thee beste who preferâ—ed thee beefore any other and who lyked thy loue but regarded not thy lyuinge who imbraced thy behauiour and marked not thy rytches who tooke pleasure in thy wisedome and wayed not thy wealth who honoured thy health and cared not for thy coyne Caste therfore these imaginations from thee and deâ—e away these doubtes bee
in the same place about the number of fortye and all of their owne Campe who repaired thither thinkinge to lodge as beefore they had lefte a Gate open and this company came into the Court where perceyuinge great lightes within the house knew not what to imagine one perceiued them that was within the house and shot a peece ouer them at the discharging whereof all this company lay close Comming into the Court they shutte the gate after them and left one of their company without who romed vp and downe he knew not whither they within the house concluded to put out all the lightes and to goe out closely at a backe gate There left they their Fish hanging ouer the fire and wente closelie out at a posterne gate where hard by the house they layde them selues close in ambush meaning to sette vpon them at aduantage when they came foorth Lying thus closely that they could not be perceyued the fellow running vp and downe came iust amongst them where they lay which perceyued by one of the companie ranne towards him saying Rendera vou viliaco The fellow amazed and thinking of no suche matter yéelded himselfe thinking he should die no other death whome after they had long examined founde him to bée one of their owne Camp who told them the whole matter and how those within were of their owne companie then went they all in and feasted themselues with the Fish that hung ouer the fire The day following they marched all towardes the Camp where they founde small-chéere and woorse lodging Not long after Narbonus gote a pasport of his Captaine for himselfe and other companie the firste day they lost their labour but for a little rotten fruite that hung vpon the trées the next day they came into a Uillage where they founde two Calues which they made readie and thought to make good chéere withall but their meate was not halfe rosted nor their feast begun when one of their companie espyed by chance a greate number at the Townes ende which he thought were the Enimies hée therefore ranne in and tolde it to his companie some tooke â—â—e spittes with the meate on them and went a good space before them the other came something behinde meaning to fight if the enimie followed but they were but a little out of the Towne when they saw the other hard at their héeles Héere beganne a prettie Skirmishe and the supposed enimies were halfe so many agayne as the other they therefore pursued botelye and the other mainteyned still their Shotte marching on apace thus they followed by the space of two miles till in the ende they recouered a Woodde which perceyued of the others they retired backe and this good companye hadde no hurte but one man shotte into the legge whiche was without danger there they rosted their meate againe and there ended their Banquet The nexte daye repairinge towardes the Campe they passed through a Woodde and as they wente a long they perceyued some companye then one discharged a Péece to knowe whether they were the Enimies or not then repairinge the one companye néere the other there beganne a hote Skirmishe and continued a certayne space they hadde the trées to defende them and so foughte a long space withoute any slaine in the ende there was a Prisoner taken and they likewise had taken one whiche examined they were founde to bee fréendes then they lefte off with hurte on eyther side and laughed well at the matter Afterwards they departed to the Camp and Narbonus neuer after went abroade for he grew shortly so sicke as he doubted greatly his recouerie which his Captaine séeing and suspecting that hée could not liue was content to let him goe home if hée would for that there went a great number besides himselfe very sicke and maruellous weake he made no refusall but departed straight towardes the Sea when hée came there the Shippe was alreadie prouided for the sicke Souldioures and hée was appoynted one amongst them and séeing the companie some sicke of the Plague and others the sores running on them thought with himselfe that those smelles woulde kill him and if hée went with them hée coulde not liue till hee came to Vienna therefore determined rather to die there than to ende hys lyfe amongst suche loathsome creatures and then hee remembred that to dye amongst them and to bee cast ouer boorde his Unckle shoulde neuer héere of his deathe nor anye of his fréendes knowe where hée was become and dying in that place and laying there his bones it mighte bee knowen to his Unckle and notifyed to the rest of hys friendes but better happe came to him than hee looked for and fortune nowe beganne to bee fauourable that long had hated him After the departure of these Sicke Creatures there came to the house where Narbonus lay a Merchaunte who was readye to take Shippe fraughted to Vienna and stayde but euen for the nexte Tyde Talking of some matters Narbonus vnderstoode that hee was of Vienna and also knewe his Unckle and therefore offered willingly if hee woulde to goe in hys Shippe to whiche greate courtesie Narbonus made no denyall but séemed the best contented man liuing The appoynted houre nowe come and all thinges in readynesse they wayed their Anckours and hoysed vp theyr Sayles the winde filled theyr Sayles with a sweete softe gale and the Seas séemed very fauourable to trauell on yet Narbonus was verye fearefull and hee doubted greately of his passage for beeing strong and lustie at his comming ouer and yet extreame sicke hee thought nowe beeing so weake that hee must néedes dye but he was so weake that the Sea coulde not make him sicke but hee that in sixe dayes before tasted no meates began now to séede hungerly Sayling towards his desired home as many sundrie cogitations assayled him as he thought there were Starres in the Skie he remembred his déere Unckle and the pitifull wordes he woulde vse to him when he came home he maruelled whether he would be perplexed séeing him so miserable or reioyce of his safe returne how he would disgest the discourtesie of his Captaine and the hard dealing with him that shewed him so faire a face in the time of prosperitie but regarded him not drowned in aduersitie Then he maruelled that Phemocles neyther sente letter to him nor certified him by any messenger doubting him to be but fickle and fréend in felicitie vnstedfast and vnstayed fléeting from him in this vnfortunate time and giuing him ouer when hée most néeded his help doubting their former procéedings and mutuall amitie to be drowned in the floud of forgetfulnesse and put into euerlasting obliuion he being in securitie and the other in calamitie mistrusting those faithfull vowes and entire embracings woulde be left without liking and conueyed into curiousnesse Then blamed he himselfe for iudging so hardly of his fréend and condemning him without any proofe that had not yet falsifyed his fidelitie nor violated his honestie Then remembred hée the
or the diuersitie of his imaginations like the ebbing and flowing of the Seas I thinke Anthonie at his returne to Roome was not better contente to enioy his forepassed pleasures than was Narbonus to possesse his quiet Countrey and courteous companyons And Aeneas not more gladde when hee had escaped from the slaughter of Troy then he contented in crossing the Seas and leauing the place of his pouertie Caesar not more reioyced of his triumphes after his trauell nor Vlisses better contente to come to his owne home then hee desirous of the place hee now possessed or ioyfull of his good happe for comming so wel and I thinke Narbonus would choose to be a prentise in Vienna before a Prince of Spaine though he were troubled with his sicknesse and the change of his diet had altered his fauour yet could he not sléepe in his bedde for the ioyes he conceyued nor rest that nighte for comforting himselfe with his safe returne but within foure or fiue dayes after with kéeping good diet and vsing good order he retained his former fauour and gained his auntient complexion determined therefore to spend that day in visiting his fréend Phemocles and in renuing of his old acquaintance then went he to his Fathers house and enquired of him for his sonne but he answered that he was gone into Spayne two moneths sithence and he was not certaine of his returne Narbonus yéelded him thanks for his courtesie and so departed home againe The inwarde ioy he conceyued belike of his safe arriuall or pricked with some imaginations to forget their fidelitie forepassed but this is most certaine his desire towardes Phemocles was nothing so â—éepe as before nor his loue to Fidelia nothing so great as before his going Afterward desirous to speake with Fidelia or by some meaneâ— to vse some conference with hir yet fearefull to be mistrusted or to haue any suspition grow as well for his owne honestie as for hir credite shortly after he wente to the Churche and there thought to méete with hir thinking that she who of late was so deuoute a Votarie was still so sainctly a seruitour and she that of late was sworne the Seruant of Venus was not now one of the Virgins Vestall she that but late was the only ioy of Narbonus was yet his faithfull freend and prest at his commaundemente There he sate all the time of seruice and watched the deuotion of his Saincte but he gained as much sight of hir as if he had bin out of the Churche for hir deuoutenesse that daye was nothing and she came not to the place of Prayer at all thus hee returned home so wise as hée was before though not so well contented as hee thought to bee Not longe after his Unckle made a great Feast and inuited all his neighboures aboute him and least Fidelia shoulde be there lacking Narbonus woulde take the paynes to bidde her himselfe to the accomplishmente whereof for that there was none so fit as him selfe hee was content to take that office vpon him and his Unckle willingly condiscended it should bée so At the appoynted day hee inuited first one and then an other then went hee to the Father of Fidelia vncertayne what to doo whither to bid her Father and her both or but him alone if but him alone then he doubted shee should not come or to say first him selfe and then her or after his speaking to him to request her himself then thinkinge so she might lawfully frame some excuse then bee thought to desire him and hee should speake to his Daughter But in fine goinge boldly and hauinge reiected all feare hee wente into the house where hee found one of his men who askinge for his Maister the Seruaunt answered hee was in his Chamber then hée requested the Seruaunt that hee might speake with his Maister from Henricus the man went and certified his Maister therof who came presently to him and imbraced Narbouus ioifully to sée him so safely returned he questioned with him of many matters touchinge the estate of the Warres and asked him of many thinges in his trauayle who answered him directly to his demaunds and resolued him in euery thinge that was asked Then sayd Narbonus Sir so it is my Unckle hath inuited certaine of his Neighbours and fréendes and your household for one amongst the rest pleaseth you therfore to accompany that honest crue your comming shall be very grateful though your entertainement â—ée but simple Hee thanked Henricus for his great courtesie and promised to fulfill his lawfull request Narbonus departed not so well satisfied as hée would haue wished yet better pleased then hee imagined hee should haue bin but amongst other matters hee maruelled hee could not see his Saint hee serued but yet arminge him selfe with the helpe of hope hee departed home driuing out one nayle with another coÌ„ceyte depriued of dispaire and certified of safety Then declared hée to his Unckle at the appointed day they would all accomplish his desires meane while hee fed vpon felicity and chewed nought but his owne conceytes yet his drugges were not so hard to digest as béefore his voyage nor his Pilles so perilous but that hee could put them ouer without daunger of death The desired day now come and the time that Narbonus long expected now expired the appoynted guestes approched first one and after another in the ende came the Father of Fidelia and then shee her selfe but had shee knowen Narbonus to beene so neare her shée would haue strayned courtesie and stayed still at home Henricus courteously welcomed first her Father and then her selfe Then Narbonus in the best manner hee could welcomed the Father and comminge to her his eyes bewrayed the secrecye of his thought and his lippes stayed so longe vpon her cheekes as the company might imagined him to be dumbe then holding her fast by the faire fist hee spake as followeth And you Gentlewoman better welcome then Golde and more lyked of mee then all the precious thinges in Germanie Let not your trauayle therfore seeme troublesome nor your iourney gréeuous for the one shall bee requited with courtesie and the other gratified with good will which pleaseth you to accept patiently shall bée surrendred bountifully Her replye hee would not stay fearinge beeinge suspected of the company then sate they all downe to Dinner and fedde on such fare as there was prouided Narbonus glutted him selfe with the sweete sight of his seemely Sainct alwayes feedinge on her amorous eyes but Fidelia fedde on disdayne and could eate no meate till shee had eased her stomacke to Narbonus Then beholding the great cheare and seeinge the sumptuous fare hee was not vnmindfull of his late feastes and could not forget those dainty dishes Dinner ended the company disposed them selues to sundry actions and diuerse pastimes the elder company to questions touchinge their estate and the younger to more pleasaunt sportes and alwayes as one waxed stale they renewed it with some other more fresh Narbonus espying Fidelia
without any to talke withal and leaning at a Window began thus to assayle her and spake as foloweth Mistresse Fidelia Vlisses after the longe time of absence and the sharpe showers hee endured returned to his welbeloued Penelope and inioyed her at length whose seconde meetinge was as acceptable as their first mariage The Daughter of Iepthath had such an inward desire to haue the first sight of her Father as it cost her the best bloud in her belly and Tullie was more ioyfully receyued into Rome after the death of Scilla then in al his life time beefore and Narbonus hauinge gayned the sweete sight of his faythfull Fidelia is now contente to offer him selfe sacrifise to pleasure his beloued Mistresse the time of my absence hath beene tedious and my toylinge iourney not without daunger the greater my greefe and the harder my happe often at the bitter brincke of my gapinge Graue but now safely returned eased of my pensiuenesse and attayninge the type of my former felicitie surrenderinge my selfe to the curiousnesse of your courtesie and offeringe my selfe slaue to the brauery of your beauty which I offer not parte but all into your heauenly handes the helper of my happinesse and the redeemer of my fore lost libertie Whereof beeing depriued my life shall not long last nor my dayes any time endure But as my contagious cares could not bee counted nor my miseries manifested my dyinge deathes and yet lyuing In like case can now my heauenly graces be shewen or my earthly pleasures manifested gayninge your goodnesse and hauinge your happinesse Can the foule fly her feathers plucked away and her flickering winges left naked and bare doth shée not presently fall to the earth so pine away The sory shéepe depriued of her flouncinge fleece is subiect to the scorchinge of the Sunne and the bitinge of flyes seeking the shades and couetinge the couertes till the waighty wooll haue couered her bare backe and her fleece growen in such order as before The true Turtle hauinge lost the company of her Mate mourneth till shee die and neuer enioyeth any thinge Liuia sooner gayned Anthony his pardon then all the rest of the Romaynes could and Fidelia hath woonne Narbonus to loue her which beefore could not bée perswaded to like any and is he not tyed to the fayth of Fidelia and prest to die a thousand deathes to pleasure his swéete Mistresse Pleaseth you therfore to tarry no moe times nor to driue of no moe dayes to bid no moe bargaynes nor to looke for no other intreatinges but to ende this tractable Tragedy and finish the fulnes of our felicitie by protesting before God and answering béefore the patient audience our auncient amitie by ioyning of handes and vniting of two seuerall soules in one body and the Church rites vsed as the order is Pleaseth you therfore to will the time and appoynt the place I shall bée prest at your commaund and obedient to doo as you shall like As for my spéedy departure and the posting of my iourney I was hasted by a Harbinger that would not stay a time and mooued by such a messenger that would not awayte my leysure forced therefore frowardly to abandon your beautie and hasted to fly your fauourable face which had I made denyall my penalty should haue beene payed to my preiudicialitie and my punishment more greeuous then gaynefull my loue would haue lost the lyking of my loyalty and my liberty would haue cost me my life Had I come to taken my fréendly farewell and as dutie woulde to haue knowen your pleasure the sighes and the sobbes the teares and the kisses the farewels and the parting 's would haue bin so vnpleasant and the mutabilitie so hard to disgest the last adue so lamentable and my bewaylings more bountifull than were the sorowes of Orpheus leesing his Wife againe after he had recouered hir out of Hell In déede I confesse euery blotte is a fault and euery hole blame worthie Offensiue I was in departing and giltie in going without licence for the which my misdemeanour and voluntarie presumption I stande bounde at the barre of your beautie and appeale to your fauourable courtesie and if therein I did offende willingly I craue pardon earnestly I stay your fauourable answere and the pronouncing of your penaltie Small penaltie Sir replyed she but such as it is hath bin long sithence pronounced and it is neyther better nor worse but that from henceforth you neuer offer to moue one motion of such matter nor follow the pursuite of this your frustrate purpose any farther you know Narbonus the Eyas Hauke is soone reclaymed but if she be not fedde she will quickly away the Colte béeing well handled will be made to the Saddle but vse him not well and he will haue the tricke of a iade the bricke must be firste made before the house bee built and the Taylour must haue his cloath before he fashion the garmente the Shomaker must haue his leather before hée can fashion his lachet and the Apothecarie his confections before hee make his drugges you recken without your hostes therefore you are like to pay déere for your pennyworth you fishe before the nette and you haue found a Frogge you shotte your shaft before you set your marke therefore you were best to leuell againe Doth not the Sunne make the grasse grow and doth it not also drie vp the water the rayne breaketh the sprouting eares of Corne yet maketh the Béeche freshe and gréene doth not the running Riuer soften the dirt and harden the pitch hath the sight of my beautie so infected you that your senses are seduced out of your owne custodie The restreyning of your courtesie shall therefore hencefoorth be kept so close as you shall not find one eye to looke vpon me vaynely He that should tast the courtesie of so quicke a caruer should arise from Dinner so hungrie as he sate downe and she that should trust your talke so full of toyes should make a long haruest of a few thistles The running Riuer neuer returneth nor floweth as the walowing Sea the Westerne winde retireth not to the place from whence it came and the Rayne and Snow go not backe into the Skies againe If in this I haue spoken I turne my cappe or alter my mind count my words neuer to be woorth credite and my déedes to deserue double infamie Though I were as hote as Aetna yet now am I as colde as Cacasus and though I blazed like a hauin yet now I lie smothering like wette straw if at the first so hâ—te as a tost yet now so cold as a stone and neuer so hote in loue but now as colde in desire There are I know in Spayne proper péeces and pretie paragons daintie Damsels and trimme trulles more fitte for your feeding and more daintie for your diet more louely to looke on and more handsome in behauiour more daintie in their dealings and more faithfull in their fancies more beautifull in fauour and
more loyall in heart This iourney you framed of a sette purpose and thinke to blind my eyes with a bald excuse but you halt before a criple and limp before a lame body you a fléeter and I faithfull shall you gaine my loue and shall I lose my libertie nay you shall first be deceyued of your hope and I depriued of a flatterer you a flincher and flytouch and I stéele to the hard backe you vnder pretence of loue thinke to lure me to your lust I in safegarde of my honestie discharge you of such lustly loyaltie But you haue missed the cushion and sitte on the bare bench I frustrated of a faithlesse fréend and discharged of a rancke Rebell you sette your honestie to sale but I sell not my maydenhead in shoppes you a shifter in deceyuing so simple maydes as my selfe and I of no honest behauiour to retayne so trustlesse a treacher your perfumed fancies and wanton wordes shall not reclayme me to your call but my courtesie not excéeding the bandes of honestie haue not made you a warrant to winne me to your will You can prate like a Parrat and flatter like Aristippus the one shall not infect me nor the other ouercome me He that will leaue his wife to find a louse in another Countrey shall neuer be my faithfull fréende though I be his faithlesse foe In déede Sir it is a cowardly part to tarrie at home where you should winne credite and I were a carelesse trull to match with such a mate as when he can finde no other would then pray vpon me but you are beside the saddle and haue missed your marke Thinke you in this long time of your absence I am to séeke of a husband no trust me another hath wonne me by wisedome and hee shall weare me by wit You lost me by leauing your loyaltie I forsake you not forcing your flatterie If my sight at your departure should haue dangered your disease my coÌ„panie at your returne shal not infect your fancie You are a good Souldiour and the stragglers you know come ofteÌ„ short home Bycause therfore you haue wandred so wide let some other take you vp for stumbling set you at sale that would sel others honestie No Iason was a false fléeter and Aeneas a lewde louer the one taried a time and then returned afterward went and neuer came againe the others villainous preteÌ„ce once gotten fled and neuer looked behind him These both Princes they both Pirats these both louers they both Traitours these two Ladies lost their liues with loue they both laughed in their sléeues once hauing gained their lust He that would not tarrie at home to weare me shall not now he is come home win me to wed me But why do I make a long season about a few Grapes and wheÌ„ they are gathered they will prooue but rotten Know this therefore Narbonus that as you had me so shall you neuer haue me and as you woonne me so haue I lost you I was not so soone caught but I am as quickly gone When you had wonne me you should then haue worne me but now you haue lost me I am not for your liking my answere is therefore that you kéepe your toung still in your mouth and wast not your wordes in vayne To tell you who shall enioy me you were neuer the wiser and I little the better but assure your selfe whosoeuer do weare me shall first wedde me and he that hath wedded me shall then weare me at his pleasure as for your selfe I giue you for euer the Basalos manos therefore neuer tempt me with wanton words nor alure me with paltrie promises if you doe I will make you no answere or if you moue me neuer so much I will kéepe still my toung and not opeÌ„ my mouth Narbonus was nipped in the head like a Cockâ—sparow and gréeued at the gall neyther knew he how to looke nor what to answere but at last thinking to giue hir as faithlesse a farewell as she gaue him a gréeuous gratulation he framed himselfe to speake and replyed as followeth I sée Fidelia that it is no fable and not so common as true that a womans good will endureth but a wincking and hir loue lasteth but the lighting of a Candle to know the cause of this suedaine breache and to vnderstande the meaning of your flying so fickly away would do me little ease and lesse pleasure And hath my absence procured so your perplexitie and could you not stay my returne bycause I went therefore was I faithlesâ—e and had I stayd at home should I not bin as haplesse thou sayest my going was to gaine some girle so honest as thy selfe no thou knowest I was forced to go and in going I lost my libertie at home and in not being at home I lost thy liking and haue gained thy yll will a great iewell surely and a péerelesse péece a painted sheath or an Appothecaries pot better lost thaÌ„ found better forsaken thaÌ„ followed for who findes thée shall finde a flirter and who inioyes thee I wishe him no greater plague Am I as false as Iason nay art thou not as light as Layes am I Appius to spoyle thee of thy virginitie nay art not thou Flora that will bid all welcome am I Clodius that went in womans apparrel to depriue Pompey of heâ— honesty nay art not thou Medalia that would holde vp thou carest not to whom am I Eneas that gayned his pleasure and then weÌ„t his way and art not thou so bad as runnagate Atlante that lost the lyues of so many Nobles in déede Lucretia dyed her honesty once lost and Virginia would rather lose her life then forgoe that iewell her virginity but thou that liuest in lust wilte neuer die of loue thou mayest well frye against the fire but thou wilte neuer bée burnt with the flame were thy case like to Lucretia thou wouldest not refuse so gentle an offer to take so shamefull a death and werte thou Phillis thou wouldest sée tenne husbandes hanged before thou wouldest die thy selfe In déede I woon the thee with an Apple and shall léese thée with a Nutte was thou of late so hote as Oyle and now so colde as Iron thou in loue ouer the shooes and now in hate ouer the Bootes thou cloakest thy collusion vnder the pretence of my absence and couldst thou not stayed one yeare thou wouldst yll haue stayed ten When euery one doth like thee some one shall wed thée God giue him good but his haire is like to grow out at his hoode such faire faces and such frowarde fancies such louing lookes such lustly desires such faire words and such false farewels such wanton eyes and such dissembling déedes such a heauenly hart and such a diuelish imagination thou hast Hony in thy mouth and a stinge in thy tayle thy wordes are Suger but thy déedes sauce a paynted Pot with poisoned Pottage thou that wast drowned in dispaire art now drenched in disdayne hath
we march one day without filling of our greate guttes we thinke straight we shall to the potte or no other remedie but present death and they can march thrée dayes with drincking a cuppe of cold water and eating a morsell of bread and regard no more eating till their enterprise be ended if haplie at their returne they gaine any thing by their trauaile and haue taken any spoyle with their payne they make their conquestes appeere by the brauerie of their backes and their gold shall gilte their Rapiers and headpeeces We hauing gotten any thing by spoyle or gained ought by sacking all goes into oure bellies and had wee more it were too little for our piâ—ed paunches then tumble wee like beastes and wallow in our wickednesse as druncken as Swine and as diuelish as Epicures and forsooth hee is best Souldioure that most can tipple and hee oldest frayned that can firste sette his fellow â—oâ—â—er the Shoes these are commendable and these are to bee liked these are to bee loued and these to bee embraced theâ— foloweth swearing and brawling lying and â—â—rsing for a trifle togither by the eares and with a wette â—â—nger fréendes agayne they contrarie so moderate their affections and so rule their appetites that a trifle shall not force them to quarrel nor euerie toy cause them fighte but he that offereth iniurie shall be iniuriouslie dealt withall and hee that vseth discourteous wordes were better offer boysterous blowes and who so giueth the lye may happe so togayne the losse of his life they therefore muffle their mouthes that they speake not too broade and tie vp their toungs least they babble those things for whiche afterwarde they crie Peccaui I thinke therefore their modestie doth passe our manlinesse and their goodnesse nothing inferiour to oure greatnesse Replyed Phemocles their feates of armes maye bee greate and their prowesse euerye way equalâ— to ours but when a woorde shall cost a man his life and euerye crosse aunswere required with a Stabbado their â—â—stinesse I thinke is intâ—llerable and their haughtie mindes desire too much reuengemente and if in talking a man shall so offende whome shall hee trye to trust and if in walking a mâ—n must bee so warye they shoulde goe alone withoute anye companie Is this manhoode nay is it not malitiousnesse eache man thinketh hys fellowe infeâ—ioure and euerie one his companyon not woorthye his calling Are not these disdeynefull to contemne their fellowes and fréends and are they not hatefull to pretende mischiefe for so sleÌ„der occasioÌ„ Is this courtesie it is indeede curiositie a signe of a mischeuous mind and a certaintie of a disdeynefull stomacke Then said that Gentleman standing by who brought them to the Barre Gentlemen I am sory that time will not serue to go farther with your argumente and place not permitte to end that which is begunne we therefore giue you thankes for your courtesies and can not but commend of your iudgement Sir replyed Narbonus this courtesie is but small which we haue vsed and our curiositie had bin great had we made denyall of your demands And for my part if any pleasure be conceyued by my ragged reasons I reioice the time hath bin so bestowed and thanke this good audidience for lending their fauourable eares to so simple a Sophist as my selfe And sayd Phemocles if fauour be graunted me for my good will and fréendship giuen for that which I sayd it is the greatest gaine I looke for and the most pleasure I expect and if any occasion haue â—in offered to the preiudicialitie of any or some word escaped that 〈◊〉 not be disgested I gréeue at my rash sayings and craue paÌ„rdon for my lewde wordes but the prouokers I thinke will haue me excused and those the procurers cloake this my rude riming anâ— for their audience being so fréendly I yéelde thankes bountifully doâ—bting not but in time to prooue a more perfect Clâ—arke in the Rules of 〈◊〉 the and a déeper 〈◊〉 in the iudgement of my elders But Sir by 〈◊〉 fréendly fauour may I craue the name of you the defendant which pleaseth you to let me vnderstande I shall be bouâ—dâ— to yoâ—re courtesie and vnited to youre fréendship Sir said Narbonus to denie you my name were small courtesie and great curiositie therefore you shall neyther condemne me of the one nor conuince me of the other know you therefore that I am called Narbonus Nephew to that Gentleman Henricus Phemocles at that worde stared in his face as vncertaine whether hee had heard him speake or not seen him standing there before him but casting all cause of suspicion aside and arming him selfe with the truth of his eyes hee ran and imbraced him so harde as if hée should haue reuiued him beeinge swounded and then vttered these wordes and spake as foloweth And hath my hap béene so harde to contend this daye in argument and to make such seuerall replyes agaynst my deare Narbonus my best beloued fréend and him only whom my harte hath so longe desired Which had I knowen my mouth should not haue opened against thée nor my tongue vnfolded those thoughtes which procéeded from my harte But what soeuer hath béene foolishly passed let nothinge I praye thee bée malitiously taken but this good hap I thinke God bestowed on vs to manifest vnto each other the fréendship before passed and to renue our auncient amity by these contrary questions know thou therfore Narbonus that my selfe is thy faythfull Phemocles who preferreth thy life beefore his felicitie and honoureth thy health as his owne happinesse Then sayd Narbonus and art thou here the most faithfull liuing and haue I at last obtayned thy sight againe my lot was lucklesse and my hap to hard to contend with thy fauour and to speake so boldly against him whose life is more deare vnto mee then my owne health and whose happinesse I prefer before any other thing liuing And had I knowen these â—â—uishe lippes had spoken such way warde wordes before thy fauourable face I would eyther haue forced them neuer to speake more or else to moderate their sayings with such modesty as they should neither offended frowardly nor haue spoken so wilfully But as my hart the inuentor of all my sayinges neuer meâ—â—te thee mischeefe nor pretended theé trechery so pardon I beséech thée this my boldenesse and forgiue my misâ—emeanour in not crauing thy courteous name and asking some questions touching thy estate which seeing thou hast consented to bee the first inuentor in askinge I shal as willingly condiscend to any thinge whatsoeuer and longer I wishe not to drawe the bitter breath of my lingringe life then to bée alwayes ready to die the faithfull fréend of Phemocles and looke what soeuer you shall commaund Narbonus hee is alwayes prest a Voster commaundemente The company vpon this renewed amitie lefte the siege and departed euery man to his proper Mansion Phemocles and Narbonus departed to a secret place where they recounted each to other their tragicall liues and