We ground our belief upon Natural Reasons and the Morality which Philosophy alledges for it We believe upon ancient Examples and those Modern ones which History hath conceived of it And if all others were forgotten we should have enough of this which is of our Nation which is present before our eyes which hath begotten astonishment in our Age and will give emulation to all Posterity EXAMPLE Francis Cezely the Lady of Barry THere are some froward persons who never esteem any but strangers and can approve nothing but Antiquity who generally dislike all that is of their own Country and have always a quarrel to the Age they live in These kind of People adore Demy Caesars of Plaister and Pompeys of Marble who time hath maimed and scarce cast their eyes upon entire and living Hero's of their own Age. They shew us Tamberlâ—â—s and 〈◊〉 as a wonder who are the Divinities of their Galleries and Closets They alledge to us Alphonsos and Gâ—smans not without an Elogy and incessantly Preach to us of Granadian vertues of a Moorish Wisdom As for French Vertues which speak their own Language and are born in their sight they cite them not but with a spirit of contradiction and to reprehend them These Gentlemen think much to endure the Aire and Soyle of their own Country And if they bear any respect to the Sun which inlightens them the reason is because it comes from the Indies and was in being before the Deluge We ought to harbour more reasonable thoughts and judge of things more discreetly and with more equity Vertues are not National nor tyed to differences of Time There are some of all Countreys and Ages And I may say that it is the same with those of these dayes as with our Sun which is as Great as in the time of our Progenitors and as luminous as that which produces the gold and precious stones of the Indies This will appear in the subsequent Example It is Modern and of France and more to be valued then all that Antiquity whether Grecian or Roman hath ever seen most Generous and Illustrious Whilst Henry the Third fought against the Head of the League about Paris the Provinces being torn in pieces by their own Members received dangerous wounds His strongest Attempts were upon 〈◊〉 where the Confederates had either taken by force or gained by practice all the best Places They only wanted Laâ—cate to become absolute Masters of that Province and to have free Commerce with Spain which was a great supporter of the League Being out of hope to possess it by open Hostility and to enter it like Lions by a Breach they had recourse to a Stratagem of ill example and sought out by-wayes to enter in like Foxes This Device being dexterously managed took effect as they had Designed And Monsieur de Barry who held Laâ—cate for the King being gone out with no sinister intention upon the Liberty which a short Cessation of Arms had given him fell into an Ambuscado which was laid for him The Confederates of the League conceived Laâ—cate to the taken with the Governour but they had neither taken his Fidelity nor Constancy And in case his Fidelity and Constancy should have been taken he had intrusted the place with another Constancy and a second Fidelity which were better fortified and harder to be taken then its Bulwarks and Half-moons I speak of his Wife whom he privately advertized of his mishap injoyning her by a few words written with a coal upon his Handkercher to repair as soon as possibly she could to Laâ—cate This Gallant and Generous Woman did not deliberate upon the Orders which required the conduct and courage of the best experienced Captain And because expedition was particularly recommended to her she immediatly put to Sea and exposed her self to the dangers of Water and Fire to Tempests and the Frigots of the Enemy And God who reserved her for a far more Heroick and exemplar combat ordained that she should happily arrive at Laâ—cate Mean while Monsieur de Barry was carryed prisoner to Narbâ—â—â— And Laâ—cate was there aâ—taqu'd by continual Assaults given to his Courage and Fidelity There was neither fire nor sword imployed in these Assaults A man of so much Honour and Courage who had contemned two thousand Pikes and as many Muskets upon a Breach could not fear a Dagger or a Pistol in a Chamber He was batterd only with large Offers and magnificent Promises with Governments and Pensions Unto which to Batter him on all sides words of terrour and threats of death were added against his Children and Wife in case he provided not for their safety by the rendition of the Place In all these Assaults Monsieur de Barry shewed himself a dis-interessed Servant a Couragious Husband and undaunted Father His Answer was That he had never known other Interest to preserve then his Honour not pretended to any other Fortune then the discharge of his Duty That Governments Pensions were too weak Arms to vanquish him That an innocent and unspotted Poverty would be more glorious to him and give him better content then criminal and sullyed Riches That the death of his Wife and Children which they placed before his eyes was a Fantome which did no wayes affright him that he owed much to his own Blood and Nature but far more to his Loyalty and Prince That his Reputation was never to him then his Family and his Conscience more interiour and of an older date then his Posterity That a fit of the Cholick might to morrow take away his Wife that his Children might be as soon hurryed away by a Feaver and that it should not be said that to reserve his Wife for the Cholick and his Children for a Feaver he had robbed his Prince of his Right his Country of Repose his Name and Race of their Honours When Laâ—cate was Battered in this manner at Narbâ—â—â— the Confederates of the League battered it at a neerer distance in a place which they conceived less Naturally strong And it was done with weapons from which they expected more effect then by Mines and Canons They presented themselves before Laâ—â—ate and demanded to speak with Madam de Barry who was prepared for all the sad events which so dismal a beginning might produce They acquainted her that her Husband was their Prisoner That after his lost Liberty he was still in the Eve of loosing his life that both nevertheless depended on her That an easie ransom should be set upon him And that without alienating his Lands without emptying his Coffers or pawning his Jewels in a word he should be restored to her for the bare keys of Laâ—cate This Lady was of a Family which a Canonized Saint and a Pope esteemed Blessed had in some kinde Sanctifyed By her Father she was of the Race of St. Roâ—â— By his Mother who was of the House of the Earl of Roâ—â—â— she came to be allyed to Vrban the fift Besides this Heriditary Sanctity
the ill humours and bad Fortunes of their Husbands but it would have them sick of their Maladies die of their Deaths And as if it had not been sufficient to make them slaves undergo the yoke It made them also Sufferers and Victims and put ordinarily either a rope about their necks or a dagger in their throats The chief thing is that there was a necessity of taking that course to acquire the title of a gallant Woman And such as were able to endure life after the death of their Husbands could not pretend to the acclamations of their present Age nor to the Eternity of History Besides even in these dayes this cruel Custom is used in some parts of the Indie No Widows are seen in those Countries And Families are not prejudiced there by Dowries which issue out of them A Father of a Family being dead the Law of the Country ordains that he be put in an Equipage for the other World And that such things as had been most dear unto him should be burn'd with him The best beloved of his Wives hath this advantage by his last Will and the Right which Custom allows her She dresseth her self more richly and with more care for death then she had done for her Wedding-Feast The whole Kindred in Festival Garments and adorned like her Conducts her Solemnly and in Pomp to the flaming Pile And there she suffers her self to be burnt in Ceremony and with a more Natural and less affected Constancy then did the 〈◊〉 Philosopher who would counterfeit Hercules dying And presented a Spectacle of his death to the Army of Alexander I know indeed that this Superstitious and regular Cruelty of the Indians And that other tumultuary and precipitated Despair of the Romans and Grecians are equally reproved by the Laws of Christianity But I am not ignorant also that conjugal Love hath its Meritorious and Vertuous Deaths And there is some ground to doubt whether such kinde of deaths may happen by way of obligation and concern the Duty of a good Wife To this Question which is not of meer Curiosity but Instructive and Profitable I answer First that desperate and passionate Women who kill themselves to follow their deceased Husbands transgress against conjugal Love and violate the Fidelity they owe them This Proposition draws neer to a Paradox Yet exceeds not its bounds and Truth is there well ballanced One or two Reasons may Justifie it and draw the assent of the most devoted to the Memory of the Pantâ—â—â—â—â— and the Porcia's In the first place it will be granted me that the prime care of Lovers should be to nourish their fire and to keep it still in heat and action To delend it from all that might extinguish it And the least neglects therein are Temptations Doubts are Dispositions to change and commenced Infidelities Now this fire is smother'd in blood and by the violence of desperate Widows It is a great folly to believe that nothing remains after death The earth of Church-yards is too cold to preserve a single spark thereof An such as thunder out so great Oaths that their Ashes will retain everlastingly the heat thereof are highly guilty of Perjury unless they vent them by way of Poesie And if it be an act of Infidelity by tract of time and by piece-meal to suppress ones love from day to day and to deprive it by degrees of nourishment what will it be to smother it violently and on a sudden not to leave it a single spark which may inkindle it I know not how they will take what I have to say in this particular It is true nevertheless and must be spoken in what sense soever it may be taken Conjugal Fidelity is more hainously violated and the dead are far more injured by the delusive Courage of the falsely Constant Women that destroy themselves then by the weakness of those which will open their hearts to new Affections and run to second Marriages These at least preserve the Memory of their Husbands They still retain their Rings on their Fingers They keep their Pictures in their Closets and Hearts And the second fire which â—â—â—â—eth on them is not so incompatible nor so much an enemy to the first that it permits not some sparks thereof and a little heat in the remaining Ashes On the contrary furious and despairing Widows in what manner soever they voluntarily die reserve nothing of their first fire They destroy it even to the Matter to the very Ashes and Harth And their Husbands who might live long and quietly in their hearts perish a second time by the impetuosity of their Despair or by the obstinacy of their Grief Hence I infer a second Reason against the Falsity of impatient and despairing Love It is an opinion generally received and supported both by the Sense and Nature as well as by Speculation and Philosophy That Persons beloved have a particular Being and as it were a second Existency in the Imagination in the Soul and Heart of the Persons that love them They live there intellectually and by their Images And those Images are not dead Figures nor Impostures of a deceiving Art They have Life and Spirit they are true and Natural They possess all the Perfections and Graces of their Originals and have neither the Defects nor stains of Matter Now a Woman who kills her self out of a blinde and precipitious fury or who consumes her self with an obstinate and voluntary Affliction takes from her Husband this second Existency and this intellectual Being and Love by which he surviv'd himself She voluntarily annihilates and violently destroys that which death had left her And if she ought to make a scruple of defacing his Picture with what colour and pretence can she justifie the violence she offereth to an Image which was her second Life and Felicity in this World It is evident thereby that Constancy is not furious and that Fidelity is another thing then Despair That the greatest Love is not that which makes the most haste to poysons and precipices That Wives cannot more Religiously keep the Faith they owe to their Husbands not give them stronger proofs of their Affection then in rendring their Fidelity and Love durable and lasting Then in procuring them in their minde a life full of tranquillity and satisfaction Then in espousing their Memory and making a new Contract with their Images Then in carefully preserving those things which have been dear unto them And if they be good Wives they will not doubt but they were more dear to them then any Worldly treasure Let it not be said that this Philosophy is too remiss and indulgent That it pleads the cause of Nice and Effeminate Dames That it gives credit and authority to self Love This cannot be spoken but rashly and at random And surely as one may kill himself out of self Love and through an excess of tenderness so one may preserve his own life for the Love of another and by a particular
Effort of Courage Seneca affirms that for this much Vertue is required and that the bravest men ought to employ therein the whole vigour of their Souls And this Stoack who was as severe by his own inclination as by the Genius of his Sect who had been inured to the Axioms and opinions of the strongest Philosophy who had so frequent trials of himself against grief and death freely confesseth and in good earnest that he was become a thrifty dispoler of his bad remainders and had spared the dirt and dreggs of his Old Age to the end he might preserve the Spirit and youth of Paulâ—â—s who lived in him To this first Decision Which allows not to Women the use of poyson and Steel and imposeth an absolute necessity on them to survive their husbands I add a second which replaceth them in the freedom even in the Right and Duty of dying for them And the strength of this second Decision is not repugnant to the moderation of the former I say then that albeit the Law which forbids murther and especially all self-murther be express and general Yet in a perilous occasion where the life of a husband should be in danger his wife would be obliged to expose her self for him to this hazard and to give her own life for the preservation of his if there were an occasion of making this exchange I do not ground this obligation upon the right of Common Justice nor on the Duties of Charity in general Common and Universal Charity doth not extend so far I ground it upon the Right and Duties of Conjugal Love which is of greater rigour then the most rigorous justice and imposeth more Obliging and strict Laws then the strictest Charity And to begin with what is more particular and essential We know that the proper effect the specifical Function of Conjugal Love is to reunite two Moyties which the Creation hath severed and to reassemble Man and Woman into one body Moreover we see in all Natural bodies that the less Noble parts expose themselves by instinct to fire and sword in the defence of the Nobler We see that the Arms and Hands stuffen and extend themselves to meet the danger which menaceth the head to receive the blows directed against it To protect it even by their wounds even by their death and torture What our Members do by this instinct which is a more ancient duty then all Laws Law makers which is a blinde Love and a Natural Charity without merit a married Woman ought to do it freely and by election through the duty of this strict and rigorous Charity which Conjugal Love imposeth on her She is but the second part of the body composed by marriage Man to whom the Command belongs is the Head thereof and the Law which from the begining was imposed upon Woman to apply her self to this Head not onely ordains her to take light and Conduct from thence but also wils that to preserve this principle of her Conduct and this source of her light she should lay aside the care of her own safety and repose that she should take upon her self his dangers and wounds and even save him by her death if it will be received in Exchange Besides Love of its own Nature is a general Alienation of the whole Person that loveth It is a Transport without Contract or Hope of a Return by which one gives himself all entire and makes a free Donation of all that he hath and is to the Person he affects Now if this Alienation and Transport may be valid and of force in any kinde of love it is doubtless in Conjugal Love which leaves no right of reserve in Married Persons Which takes from them even the free use of their Bodies and engageth them in a mutual Dependency And this Dependency is yet more strict and indispensible on the Wives part who owes unto her Husband even the hairs of her Head and the very Dreams and Fancies which are within it Whether by Reason the subjection is greater and the Duties more Natural and necessary of the Body towards the Head and of the Accessory toward the Principal then of the Head towards the Body and the Principal towards the Accessory or whether because Wives give themselves with less reserve and love more Sincerely and with more Fidelity then Men This Alienation when it is free and compleat doth not only establish on a Husband a just Title over all the Cares and Affections of his Wife but it also establishes in him a new Right over her Blood and Life And albeit this Right cannot be exacted by Justice yet it may be done by Love which is a far less severe and vexatious Exacter but yet more pressing and more efficatious then Justice Nevertheless this Exacter ought to know that he cannot make use of this Right but in the Extremity of Hope and after the Tryal of all other Remedies An arm of a Man is not cut off to cure him of Rhume and Head-ach And one may say truly that this kinde of Love would play the Tyrant and Executioner and even cut the throat of a Wife to make a Bath for her Husband sick of the Sciatica or the Stone In the third place Love is a true and sensible Transmigration of the Soul or as some define it grounded on the Doctrine of St. Deâ—ys It is an Extasie by which the Soul ceaseth to live in the Body which she animates to live in that which she Loves Upon which it is not necessary to make a Commentary in this place nor to say by way of gloss that the Word to live ought not to be understood of the first and Substantial but of the second and Active Life of this sweet and sensible Life which affords Gust and Delight to the first Every one ought to know that Love is the Original and as it were the Fountain of Joy Pleasure and Satisfaction and of whatsoever hath a share in the sweetness of Life And therefore the sweet life of Lovers cannot subsist but in the place where they love Their minds are sick and languishing every where else All their thoughts which tend not thither are heavy and Terrestrial are Melancholy and burthened with Anxiety Their Musings and their Cares can follow no other Track And of those Souls it may well be said that they are Aliens and Incommodated at home And that their Bodies are to them as bad Innes nay Prisons and Sepulchres Hence it grows that it doth not only belong to the Duty but also to the Interest and Repose of a good Wife to Sacrifice her own life for her Husband and that the gain which may be made thereby is by two thirds greater then the loss Thereby she only hazards the most unquiet and worst part of her two lives She exposeth nothing but her Sorrows and Vexations for the preservation of her Joyes and Pleasures Of the two places where her Soul lives she only forsakes that which is sad and
to fancy or opinion and will submit all that she can reasonably and with decency to lawfull Customes and to instructed and cultivated Nature But having once satisfied these duties of tendernesse which proceed more from the superficies then the bottome of the heart she will reserve her self for more solid and serious duties of greater force and use wherein her affection and fidelity may act more profitably and be produced with more honour and reputation The weak widows who raise up a heavie and slothfull sadness to a degree of Vertue and the wilfull who glory in an incurable grief will oppose to these duties the example of the widow Palme I mean of that Palme from which the Male is taken away She is never cured as they say of her driness which is her affliction and what care soever is taken to reestablish her she dies at length languishing and of I know not what secret disease which resembles our Melancholy However it fares with the widowhood of the Palme which is but a Metaphoricall and figurative widowhood as her love is but symbolicall and allegoricall If it be lawfull to make comparisons and render figure for figure I will say that a prudent widow ought to leave unto weak souls examples of weakness which resides in the lowest story of souls and to seek out in the Region of light and pure spirits patterns of a generous mourning and of an active and well governed affliction She will performe during a widowhood of many yeers what the Moon doth during a widowhood of few hours An obscurity is seen upon the face of the Eclipsed Moon And this obscurity is to speak properly but the sadness and mourning of her widowhood occasioned by the interposition of the Earth between her and the Sunne But this sadness which deprives her of colour takes not away her force It makes her not descend from her Elevation nor diverts her course Though she appears black to us yet she forbears not to keep her Station and to move regularly and in order And her mourning doth not hinder her from following the conduct of her Intelligence The affliction of the sage Widow ought to be just and regular like that of the Moon Her mourning ought not to deject her heart nor discompose her carriage It ought not to obscure the light of her soul nor retard the activity she owes either her House or the Republique to which she is after the death of her Husband what the Moon is to the World in the absence of the Sunne Her affliction is not exempted from these duties and her Sex gives her no dispensation for them The Widow and afflicted Turtle doth not abandon the care of her neast and the feeding of her little ones And the Mother Eagle when the Male is taken from her doth not forbear to prey and make warre upon Serpents There are examples enough of this Active and Couragious Widowhood of this reasonable and well ordered sorrow of this discreet and magnanimous mourning This which I am going about to propose is Illustrious and full of Reputation and the sight of it ought to be so much the more delightfull in respect a Copy of it is now drawn which posterity will esteem no lesse then its Originall EXAMPLE Blanch of Castile Queen Regent of France SPain boasts to have produced Artemisias as well as antient Lidea And she boasts not of them without reason The chiefest point is that she hath produced them as Quarries of stone produce fair Statues Their matter was indeed of Spain but the lineaments and beauty of their Figure they owe to France Blanch the Mother of St Lewis was one of these Artemisia's born in Spain and formed in France Her Race was one of the most Illustrious and Remarkable in that Countrey The Mines of Gold and the Veins which bear the most Precious stones were not so rich nor famous And we may say that her Heroick life and great actions were to the greatness of her birth what a rare Figure is to rare Matter She was the most respected and renowned of four Crowned Widows who in their time were the honour of their Condition Sex and Age. The first was Margarite of France sister to Philip the August who had the Courage to undertake a Warre against Infidels and to go seek out in the Holy-Land honourable and renowned Dangers and Crowns Blessed by God and Men. No lesse Courage was requisite for Queen Blanch to consent to the Expedition of her Son Lewis against the Turk and his enterprizes beyond the Seas then was necessary for Margarite to begin a holy Warre and to ingage her self by an expresse Vow in dangers of the Sea and Warre And whatsoever the most Malignant interpreters of the best actions may say of it who avouch in despite of History that Blanch perswaded St. Lewis to take a Journey into Syria that she might Reigne a second time by a second Regency It is certain that this Crosiad or holy Warre was the heaviest cross of her life the punishment of her heart and the torment of her soul the death of her pleasures and joys And the Couragious Queen since the very moment her Son left her did nothing but suffer in minde and fight in imagination Nothing but dangers and objects of fear were presented before her Eyes And in the Loâ—â—er it self she was continually tossed by Tempests and thought her self in danger of suffering shipwrack with her Son every day she was a Prisoner and sick with him and every night she died by the Hand of some Arsacide or Sarazâ—n whom her apprehensions and dreams represented to her The second illustrious Widow of her time was Hedâ—â—ga Dutchess of Silecia The Church to which appertains the Crowning of Vertues rendred Honour to her long and difficult Repose to her painful and laborious Solitude And judged her worthy to be Canonized after a Widowhood of thirty years spent in a Monastery The Vertue of Blanch had need of no lesse Consâ—ancie at Court Her Widowhood was no lesse laborious her Devotion no lesse servent nor less exercised or profitable in that place and she required no lesse Courage against the pleasures of the Palace and the Pride of Authority then was necessary for 〈◊〉 amidst the Ausâ—ctities and Humiliations of a Religious Life Elizabeth of Hungary was the third Widow who honoured this Age so fruitful in Soveraign Examples and Crowned Vertues Her Charity and Works of Mercie retain still a good odour in the Church and edifie the faithful It is reported that the Emperor Frederick the second who was present at the opening of her Tomb made an offering to her of three Crowns of Gold And by this Ceremonie crowned in one single Person a holy Virgin a holy Wife and a holy Widow The Charity of Queen Blanch was practised in a higher degree then that of Elizabeth Her works of Mercie were more universal more necessary of greater use and better Example The poor were not only entertained and the
the more burthened nor the more exposed to Tempests None being able to perswade these Barbarous People to receive her all entire she did not forbear in spight of them to imbark her spirit and heart with her Husband and that she might follow him at least in part she put her Body into a Fishermans Bark and exposed it to the Winds and Waves which carried away the rest Fortune favoured so couragious a Fidelity The Spirit and Body of Arria arrived at Rome at the same time And being re-united at their arrival did joyntly and with mutual cares sollicite the freedom of Cicinna Her endeavours finding ill success she resolved to die And she sufficiently explained her self by the reproach she used towards the wife of 〈◊〉 for surviving the death of her Husband slain in her bosom Her Son-in-Law Thrascus alledged all that he could devise to perswade her to live All that he could invent not prevailing with her You have a mind then saith he that your Daughter should abandon her self to the like despair And you condemn her to die with me when Fortune shall ordain that I must perish My Example doth not condemn her replyed she And when she shall have lived as long and with as sweet an harmony as I have done with Cicinna she may die boldly without my coming back to take the sword out of her hand or the poison out of her mouth Her kindred being advertised by this Answer that her Resolution was of more force then their Reasons they renewed their cares and diligences towards her She besought them to suffer her quietly to die and not to change an easie death into a painfull one Having said this she violently threw her self against the next Wall and fell into a swound Being come again to her self with much ado I did tell you saith she that all you could do was but to hinder me from dying quietly and at ease All the violent Attempts which Arria made upon her soul did not loosen the soul of Cicinna nor perswaded it to depart Honourably out of the World and without expecting the violence of his Enemies She went at last to see him And declared to him that if he had not courage enough to go first he ought at least to have enough to follow her She represented to him on the one side the shame of being continually made a 〈◊〉 game by a prostituted Woman and an insolent Servant who made a Scene of the Court and a Fantome of his Masters On the other side she remonstrated to him the Infamy which the Executioner left to the Ashes and Memory of those that died by his hands She often repeated to him that death was only terrible to irresolute and timerous persons That it doth never wound such Couragious Souls as loosen voluntarily themselves and prevent the hand of force That this last Act would be more looked upon in History then his Consulship and would be more resplendent then the Triumphs of his Ancestors And perceiving that he still deliberated between Resolution and Fear she plung'd a Dagger into her own bosom which she had provided for that purpose And then drawing it forth warm and dropping she presented it to him with these words which were the most Heroick and Victorious that ever issued from a Romans mouth Take this Dagger Cicinna it hath done me no harm Cicinna received from her hand with the Weapon the Spirit and Courage which came forth of her wound And died rather by the Magnanimity of Arria then by his own Courage MORAL REFLECTION LEt Christian Ladies learn of this Idolatress in what dis-interessed Love and conjugal Fidelity doth consist Let them observe how many Combats she hath fought and how many Victories she hath gained She had a present and future Interest in his Possessions and Hopes She was Young Rich and the friend of Messalâ—â— She might have left her husband to Justice and reserved her self for a better Fortune and a more happy Marriage Her Riches her Beauty her Youth were no Criminals They had not conspired against the Prince And it was not against them Commissioners were appointed and Informations given She rejected nevertheless the Temptations of her Age and Interest She listened only to her Fidelity and Love And taught her whole Sex by her Example that a good Woman hath no other Interest then her Huâ—band that to her there was but one Man in all the World and that he dying Riches Youth and Beauty die to her Arria likewise reads a second Lesson to Women which is no less important nor less useful then the first she teacheth them how that Person is deceived who said that Marriage was but a name of pleasure And that even now adayes they are much mistaken who believe it to be a community of Goods and Fortunes It is a name of Yoke and Affliction a community of Evils and Troubles a society of Cares and Labours And it is fit that young Women should be advertized on the day of their Marriage that they are not to be Marryed only for that day but for all the rest which are to follow how stormy soever they may prove and what unpleasing hours soever they may have They ought to know that with the person of their Husbands they espouse all their present and future Fortunes and that they are obliged to follow them to what place soever the wind drives them in what storm soever the Heavens pours down upon them But this veâ—ity will be more enlarged in the ensuing Question MORAL QVESTION Concerning the Duty of VVives towards Husbands in the time of 〈…〉 and Misfortunes I Could not as yet Divine why Married Women are crowned and 〈…〉 celebrated with so great pomp and with so much joy 〈…〉 properly and without a figure it is to adorn Slaves and 〈…〉 it is to lead them to Prison in pomp and jollity it is 〈…〉 them with Ceremony and Musick I am well read in the 〈…〉 Custom I see very well that Time Example and the 〈…〉 People are for it But I know also that Antiquity is neither all 〈…〉 Holy The first Men may have left us their abuses as well as then 〈◊〉 And old Errours are not better conditioned then 〈…〉 are not justified by the crowd of those that commit them It were 〈…〉 to the purpose and of far better example that the Weddingâ— of Christians should be grave and modest That the Ceremony should be serious and frugal and that instead of being an object of access and pleasure for new married Couples it should be a Lesson of Petience and a preparative to Troubles There would not be seen so many Rich persons â—â—umbred nor so many Innocent Repentants There would not so many complain of being caught by a specious bait who curse the flowers under which so many thornes have been hid They would have at least made trial of the burthen before they laid it on their shoulderâ— They would have measured theâ— forces with this yoke They would
Melancholy And by the ruine of her Prison she secures her Palace And that by the choice of a death which lasts but a moment and is sweetned and purified by Love She avoids a Widow-hood which is to Lovers a long and bitter death A death of the Heart and Minde a death which endures and makes it self felt as long as it lasteth Thereby in fine her Love enjoys the purest and highest satisfaction whereof it is capable Which is to produce it self entire To fill up the whole Extent that lies open to it to pass even to the utmost bounds and to the last Tryals Now so long as it advanceth not so far as death there still remains a great Vacâ—â—â—â— before it And the most important and perswasive point is yet wanting to Tryals Being assured by the Testimony of Holy Writ that Perfect and Consummated Love is only found in such as Sacrifice their Lives for those who are dear unto them Moreover this last and Supream Duty which Conjugal Love imposeth on Wives and which it may also impose on Husbands is not one of those Duties in 〈◊〉 and Speculation whereof no Example is seen but in Romances The Couragious Spanish Princess whose Picture I have newly drawn was not a Fantome of that Country And so many others so well known in true History were not born in the same Places as the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 I leave the Ancient and Forreign Dames to seekers of far-fetched Curiosities The French Lady whom I am to produce is of a Family good and rich enough to be an Honour to her Country and Age And such as treat of Modern Vertues as of the younger bâ—ood will learn at least by this Example that the younger Daughters of France are nothing inferiour to the eldest Daughters of Greece and Rome EXAMPLE Margaret of Foixe Dutchess of Espernon IT is no new thing to hear me Discourse of the bad Intelligence which is between Friendship and Fortune It hath always been believed that Greatness was too much Interessed and Propriatory to love really and that it had a certain Pride and Rigour which left no room for Tenderness and soft Passions It hath been said that Love and Majesty never dwell together That it rather affects a mean and quiet Condition then an elevation exposed to Winds and Tempests And they that have resembled it to a Bird have not made it flie with Eagles nor placed it upon the top of Cedars and the summet of Mountains They have ranked it amongst Bees which are Armed and live like it of the quintiscence of â—owers and of the pure Spirit of the Planets They have lodgd it amongst Rose Trees where there is Fire and Thorns like its own But whatever hath hitherto been believed or said Friendship and Vertue are not equally at variance with all great Fortunes There are Grandeurs very Affectionate and wel-Natured as well as Rude and Intractable And if the Lizard which walks only upon his hands as Solomon saith be so bold as to ascend even to the Palaces of Kings and to dwell with them as their Domestique We must not believe that Love which is Nobly Descended and to whom so excellent wings are given is only born for Cottages There are no Houses shut against it And it shall appear by this Example into what House soever Vertue introduceth it there is no Greatness which gives not place to it nor any Interest which obeys it not The Fortâ—ne of the deceased Duke of Esperâ—on hath been long admir'd throughout all France It was likewise Extraordinary and Wonderful and there was not only colour in the pieces which composed it but also Force and Solidity they were all great and Illustrious In my Judgement nevertheless the decealed Lady his Wife was the greatest and most Illustrious of all those pieces nay the strongest and most solid though it lasted not so long as the rest This great Lady possessed in an eminent degree all the Qualities which may conduce to the glory of a Family and the happiness of a Husband Her Nobility was of the first rank And I know not whether in all Europe there were any Soveraign Title or Crown wherein she had not a share But there is a Nobility which is proud and insolent yet hers was Modest and Civil The Titles of her House did not puff up her Mind And the Crowns of her Allies and Predecessors made her not receive others with scorn To this Nobleness of Blood was added the Nobleness of her Countenance and that Soveraignty of Natural Right and Ancient Descent which begets Majesty in Beautiful Persons but she was not of those fair Ones who erect their Soveraignty into Liberty and Tyranny Hers still remained within the limits of a lowly and exemplar Sobriety Detraction which is so bold in lying and findes out stains in the most Beautiful Planets had not one word to say against her Nevertheless her Vertue was no sullen Vertue she was none of those curst ones who have not a drop of good nature who know onely how to scratch and bite She was naturally milde and cultivated by study and the Graces had so well tempered what might perchance have been over tart in her as she gave content even where she was severe But all these rare qualities do not concern the subject we now treat of my Question is about Conjugal Love and the deceased Dutchess of Espernon hath given an Example thereof which equals the force of ancient Models There are even in these days Illustrious and Remarkable witnesses which speak not of it but in terms of Praise But what ever they say of her Esteem and respects of her Obedience and Cares of her good Offices and Complacences though they speak nothing thereof which is not Great and Exemplar yet it leaves not so high an Idea of this Love as the action of Angouâ—â—â—â— In that General Revolution which happened at Court in the year 1588. The Heads of the Leagâ—t raised all their Engines against the Duke of Espernâ—â— and used both openly and privately all sorts of endeavours to destroy him However he was not shaken so that these Engines did onely assault the favour and good will of his Prince But as soon as Calumny took hold of his Fidelity and that he was accused for holding intelligence with the King of Nâ—varre his good Master who till then had defended his own benefits and interpos'd between his Work and those envious Persons who designed his ruin withdrew his Protection and consented to the Plot which was laid to seiz on him in Angoâ—leme The enemies which he had in the Cabinet Councel entended the Kings consent even to his destruction And Orders were sent from the Court to the Magistrates of Angoâ—leme to bring him alive or dead The execution of this dangerous Plot was defer'd till the tenth of August and that day the Magistrate who was not ignorant how hard a chase he had to follow presented himself with two hundred selected and armed men to seiz
closing of the Shoulders the Stern is handled otherwise then the Oaâ— and other forces and hands are required for the Scepter then the Hatchet Women as well as Men may have these hands and forces Prudence and Magnanimity which are the two principal instruments of 〈◊〉 appertain to both sexes There is as much discourse concerning the sight and courage of the Female as of the Male Eagles The heart of a â—â—onesse is as great as the heart of a Lion And the female Palm as well as the male serves to make Crowns and support Trophies Women are accused of excesse inconstancy and weaknesse and notorious examples of them are alleadged which cannot be disavowed But surely 〈◊〉 proceed from persons and not from sexes and if we abandon reason to act by producing presidents and memorials I fear very much that the Catalogue of bad Princes will be found more ample and their actions more dark and staind with blood then those of bad Princesses Let us speak freely our Abab was little better then their Jevabâ—l not our Manasses then their Athalia our Tiberius and Caligula were not better then their Cleopatra and Messaline and three or four hours of 〈◊〉 reign proved more fatal to the Roman Empire then the whole life of his Mother Agrippina if we except the night of his conception and the day which brought him forth Women cannot only reproach us with the Monsters of our sex which dishonoured Diadems and sullyed Sceptres but may also alleadg the Vertues and Graces of their own which bore them with Dignity and managed them with addresse And not to introduce Amazons and others in the time of Fables which are the imaginary spaces of History Zenobia conserv'd the conquests of her husband Odenatus and stoutly upheld the Forces of the Empire Pulcheria governed under Theodocius and Marcian and had Vertue enough to supply the duties of two Emperours and to contribute unto the happinesse of two Reigns The Regency of Blâ—â—ch was more fortunate to France then all the lives of its slothful Kings But it is not needful to look so far back into History to finde women who have governed with wisdom and courage Some of them may be found there whose memory is very fresh and who but lately appeared upon the stage EXAMPLE Isabel Infanta of Spain Arch Dutchesse of the Low-Countreys I Hear daily that the same is said of Spaniards as of Hawks and it is a common saying That the Females are better then the Males but in my opinion the saying is biting and over sharp And it would savour much more of Civility to say with one of our Authors that great Queens and Women sit for commands are of Spain as great Kings and valiant Men are of France To alledg none but celebrious and remarkable example Blanch the Mother of S. Lewis Isabel the Wife of Ferdinand Margarite Daughter to Charles the fift and Isabel her Neece the Daughter of Philip the second are sufficiently illustrious and of credit enough to defend this truth And their bare Names without other discourse may be invincible Arguments and of soveraign Authority to such as would prove that the Princesses of Spain understand the Art of ruling powerfully and with a Majestical grace that they know how to manage the Scepter with address and that there is no Crown so weighty which is not well supported on their Heads I will reserve the two 〈◊〉 for another subject and content my self to give a touch with my Pensil upon the two last They are not as yet clean out of our sight and we have their pictures drawn to the life and their blood with their spirit in our good Queen their Neece Isabel the Intanta of Spain and Arch-Dutchesse of the Low-Countreys hath thown to what height the understanding of Women may advance in the Science of well governing And though fortune made her not a great Queen yet Vertue made her a Heroesse who gives place in nothing to those that make the greatest noise in History I shall not need to produce Testimonies thereupon or to cite Books and Authors Our whole Age is equally knowing in the life of this wise Princess her memory is publikely honoured in all the Courts of Europe nay even such as were no Friends to her House had for her the Castilian heart and the Flemish spirit They have applauded her in good earnest with handsfree from the Dominion of Spain and besides she is daily crowned at Paris and Leyden as well as at Madrid and Bruxels Her vertues were no shadowes nor parcels of vertues they were solid and perfect ones vertues for every use and of every form and Policie is acquainted with no vertues which had not in her all their force and extent Though they have all an affinity with each other yet all of them have not the same resemblance nor the same functions in the civil life There are some which are born with us and are as it were the advances and graces of Nature There are some which must be acquired and are the fruits of labour and study There are some which are strong and vigorous fit for action there are pleasing and polished ones which serve onely for shew The Infanta possessed them all and what most imports she had them all great and in a condition to practise them with splendor First she was born with this graceful Soveraignty and by natural right which hath its title and force upon the face of beautifull persons and this Soveraignty is a powerful and very useful piece when it is well managed it governs by the bare aspect the most harsh and least tractable hearts It softens the hardest commands and takes from them what is biting and vexatious it would infuse even mildenesse and grace into Tyranny Certainly it is not beauty which deliberates which judgeth which enacts Laws and Ordinances But the Common people for whom the most part of Laws and Ordinances are made is an Animal into which there enters more of the body then minde and which obeyes more by sense then reason Likewise it is true that this flower lasts not long and appears only in the Spring but saded Roses retain full a good odour And besides that the Infanta kept all her life time certain remnants beautiful enough of this first flower these very remnants were supported by so sweet and becoming a Majestie they were accompanied with so many graces and civilities and so many other flowers of the latter season were mixed with them as no body could well distinguish between them and those of Youth The Intellect is the eye of Wisdom and the guide of all vertues It is the chief Minister of Princes and their natural Counseller and Policie can effect nothing if it be not enlightned by it The Infanta's understanding was ranked amongst the most elevated and capable ones and could suffice for all the parts and duties of Government There were no affairs so vast or weighty which it did not comprehend and manage
of Jasper and Porphire SONNET WHile this Heroick Mede attempts to gain O're weighty Palms be by their poyse is slain His Brow still sweats with Gallans Actions done Still do's the Blood about his Armour run His Hearts late active Flames have lost their Fire And through its reaking Blood in Smoak expire While couch'd among the Dead his Soul pursues The wand'ring Shades of those the sword subdues O hold Panthea hold thy best Relief Rests in the moderation of thy Grief Save thou at least thy Husbands second Heart And let one Death suffice your common Smart In thee he still survives and may again In thee fair Cruel by thy Hand be slain Thâ— inhumane Steel that shall dismiss thy Breath To him must needs procure a second Death ELOGIE OF PANTHEA PANTHEA had a Philosophers Spirit in a Womans Bodie and a knowing and disciplined Soul under a Barbarous Climat There was nothing weak or rustical in her Life All her Actions were full of Courage and Dexteritie Chastity Grace and Modesty excepted nothing appeared in her agreeable to her Sex Having remained a Captive after the Defeat of the Assyrians vanquished by Cyrus she was set apart as the most precious piece of the Spoil and as the choicest fruit of the Victory And in this occasion her Vertue appeared more rare and prizable then her Beauty A noble man of Persia having had the Impudence to attempt upon her Honour Discretion Chastity and Fidelity defended it And the Victory which remained to her evidently shewed that Fortune had not yet overcome her And that though she were an absolute Captive yet she had alwayes a free Heart and a soveraign Soul The Affection she bore to her Husband Abradates was serious and manly she did not consume it in affected Discourses and superfluous Apprehensions She truly loved his Life and Repose but she was jealous of his Reputation and Renown And she would rather have wished him an untimely and glorious Death then a dishonoured and compleat old Age. So far was she from making him lose in her Closet the hours of the Field and from withdrawing him from Gallant Encounters and Honourable Dangers that she sent him thither in a costly Equipage like a Conquerer that she delighted to see in him an adorned and sumptuous Valour which might both dazle and affright which might beget at once both Admiration and Fame He died likewise Victorious in the Gold Armour which she had bought for him with her Pearl and pretious Stones as if she intended thereby either to adorn his Death or to set a Value and Lustre on his Victory Being brought to her covered over with his own Blood and that of his Enemies she received him Couragiously and with a manly Constancy mixt with sorrow and Majesty She forbore not to bewail him but it was done with those modest and decent Tears which do not soften the Heart but beautifie the Face Not being able to make his Soul return into his Body she essayed to substitute her own in the place of it For that end she opened her Bosom by a wide wound and leaning on him as if she were willing to fill his Heart with her Blood and Life she dyed in two Bodies and yeelded up her Soul through her Husbands Wound and and her own MORAL REFLECTION I Put not here a Sword into Womens Hands nor invite them unto Poison a Halter or Precipice Voluntary Death might appear handsom and becoming in this Barbarian it would seem black and hideous in a Christian Woman But Chastity Fidelity and Constancie are in use with all Nations and requisite for All Sects And our Christian Women without darkning or disfiguring themselves may imitate Barbarian Let them learn of her that Conjugal Love is not an effeminate and mincing Passion That it is vigorous and serious That it is capable of great Designes and of Noble and Couragious Thoughts Let them understand that though their Sex be exempted from the Dangers and Functions of War yet their Fortunes and Mindes are not so that they ought to serve with their Goods and Possessions if not with their Persons And that it were a Disgrace for them to spare two or three Pearls and Parcels of rich Cutwork in Occasions wherein Princes are Liberal of their Blood and Kings expose their Crowns and Heads In fine let them know that their chief Ornament consists in their Husbands Glory that they ought to adorn themselves with all that contributes to their Credit and Reputation And that a man without Honour is as great a Deformity to a brave Woman as a Head of Clay to a Statue of Ivorie MORAL QUESTION Concerning the Order which a Gallant Woman ought to observe in Conjugal Love IF good Eyes and a great Light be requisite to love regularly more Courage and Vertue is yet required to it And well ordained Charity what sweetness soever it promiseth is the most powerful and the most rare perfection of a Gallant Woman There are many who tenderly love their Husbands The Heart of a Turtle or the Soul of a Dove without other Philosophie would suffice for this Tendernesse But surely few there are that love them according to measure and in order to their duties few that know how to afford just proportions to their kindnesses and to set every office in its place and in the degree which is proper to it Finally few that can boast with the Spouse in the Canticles of having a regular Love and a well ordered Charity And neverthelesse it is this regular Love and well ordered Charitie which must accomplish the Fortitude of a Woman For according to the saying of S. Augustine these give the Character and Tincture to all other Vertues of what Sex soever they be and by what Names soever they are called Morever this Order to draw the Designe of it in little and to teach it by Epitomie must be taken from the very order of those Objects that are beloved Wherein this proportion is to be exactly observed that every Object be ranked in the esteem and according to the degree of its Merit That the most pretious and important should have the first Cares and be furthest advanced in the Heart that the rest of lesse consequence should remain in the superficies and rest satisfied with the second thoughts and remaining Affections And generally that love should grow intense or remisse rise or fall act or acquiesce according to the different weight according to the several degrees according to the Value of the good which is to be affected and pursued This Rule ought to be in a Gallant Woman what the Rod was to the Angel whom Ezekiel saw measuring the Temple She ought not to Love but with proportion according to the quantity of merit And how vast soever her Heart is she must yet be wary of pouring it out rashly and at random she ought to give nothing of it but by weight and measure Not that I permit her to divide and distribute it to whom
have â—â—epared their courage and head to bear it cheerfully 〈◊〉 even as I say and it is profitable to be often said to the end Ignorance may not give way to Decent Marriage is not what it appears afar off and 〈◊〉 It hath not only more thornes then flowers and more bad then good moments Not only the dayes of mourning and 〈…〉 there longer and more numerous then the Festival ones But what is more strange there is not one thorn which causes not a double 〈…〉 one single touch There is not one bad moment which is not reckoned 〈◊〉 No day of mourning or vexation which is not double I mean that a married Woman besides her particular thornes and pains which 〈◊〉 proper to her ought over and above and by the obligation of 〈…〉 to burthen her self with the troubles and afflictions of her Huâ—band She ought to expose her self to the same dangers and to 〈◊〉 of the same storms It is not allowed her to be at quiet whilst 〈…〉 him She cannot handsomly shelter her self from the 〈◊〉 which are cast against him She ought to be tossed up and down with him to have her share in all the strokes be receives to bleed at all his wounds And this is according to Justice and Law even natural Justice and the fundamental Law of Marriage First If we consider the End which God proposed to himself in the Creation of Woman we shall finde that she was given to Man to be his Domestique assistant a neer Co-adjutress and of the same Birth with him Now it is certain that assistances and services are not necessary for any body in time of Prosperity Good Fortune hath no need of comfort or support of having her Tears dryed up or her Blood stanched It is not for her Oyles and Balm is provided that Plaisters and Seat clothes are made She hath a sound Body and a free Minde She is equally discharged from all that is Burthensom and Afflicting It is only to bad Fortune Charity and Compassion I enitiâ—es and Remedies are necessary She is always either Sick or Wounded in some part Her eyes are never dry her Wounds are never closed and at all times she hath need of a Preparative and Consolation of a Physitian and Philosopher Women who are Naturally Assistants to Men and their Co-adjutresses by Divine Institution appertain more to their Husbands when Suffering and Persecuted then when Happy and in Favour And surely their Offices would not be very important not their Cares very considerable and usefull if they should be willing to be accommodated with their Husbands Riches and Illustrious with their Dignity and Glory if they should freely offer themselves to accompany them in Purple and under a Canopy of State if they should make no difficulty to share in their Feasts and to receive with them the gifts of Fortune And yet when those Feasts were over and another Fortune arrived they should become Strangers in their Houses and to their Husbands they should be unwilling to suffer with them one drop of rain they should not speak to them but at distance and with a scornfull gesture as if the very â—ight of their Husbands portended mischief and that even their shadow were become infectious Let us add for a second Reason That as at the Creation of Woman God considered the incommodities of Solitude the need man had of a Companion and Assistant so he considered what was wanting to his entire Perfection and would not that so noble a Work and begun with so much Art should remain Defective and like those rough-drawn pieces in which there is nothing formed but the Head He then Created Woman and gave her to Man not only as an Officious and Affectionate Co-adjutâ—â—â—s but as a second Moity and as a necessary part to his Perfection God having formed and joyned together these two Pieces he declared in express terms that his Design was that they should make but one Body And it is in this sense the words of Saint Paul ought to be understood when he saith Man is the 〈◊〉 of the Woman This second Reason is yet more precise and pressing then the former And wives thereby are more straightly obliged to take part in either Fortune of their Husbands And certainly if a Calm and Tempest be common to those that sayl in the same Vessel If all the Persons of one house have the same days and nights and suffer joyntly all the inequalities of Seasons The Community doubtless ought to be more entire and better linked together between the parts of the same Body and this would be strange and seem Monstrous if their Sentiments were not equal and their Compassion mutual But it would truly exceed all that is strange and exorbitant if in the Compound which is made of Wife and Husband whilst that part which Governs is in Mourning and Affliction the other which is subject should be jocund and play the Wanton and would leave off nothing of her Ornaments or Pleasures If the Body of a Wounded and bleeding Head were delightfully adorned covered over with Perfumes and loadon with Flowers If a Wife would make one at all Meetings of Pleasure and take her share in all Divertisements whilst her Husband suffers the rack of the Sciatica and the torture of the Stone One may also say the better to establish this Duty and perswade it more efficaciously that amongst all kinds of Friendships there is not any so straight not better linked together then that of Marriage It is not exteriour and superficial like other Amities Nor is it upheld like those by civil Tyes which are weak and break asunder if never so little touched It is an Union of the whole Soul and Body the Tyes thereof are firm and solid There is Nature and Grace in it The whole Person is fastned therewith and Time which wears out Brass and Steel cannot dissolve them Now Friendship as every one knows is a Community of Sentiments and Wills of Joyes and Afflictions of good and evil Fortunes We are further advertised by the Wife that blessings cannot 〈◊〉 there but after evils And that good Fortune ought not to have any place there but as succeeding to the bad Whereupon we may remember the words of Seneca who saith that such Persons understand not Friendship as seek in a Friend a merry and Table Companion a Solicitor of 〈◊〉 an Agent of favour a Mediator of Fortune That we must seek out a Person with whom we may cheerfully enter into Prison whose Bondage and Chains we bear A man in whose company we suffer Shipwrack without exclaiming against the Planets or complaining of the Tempest A man for whom we endure the Wrack without pain for whom we die smiling and with Joy And if common Friendship which is free and superficial and supported only by Nature hath so painful Duties and so heavy and hazardous burthens what must be the Duties and Burthens of the Friendship of Marriage which is so interiour and
necessary which hath the assistance of God and the Vertue of the Sacrament which is sustained by Nature and fortified by Grace Can it be either Interessed or Timerous with any Decency can it handsomly express a niceness can it apprehend sorrow and death can it avoid bad Fortune I might also affirm that this Duty is reckoned amongst the comely qualities of a Wife and the honour of a Family and that no baser perspective can be seen in a house then a sick and afflicted Husband and a gossiping and tricked up Wife This defect wounds generally all eyes and there are no Pictures in Italy not Forreign Landschaps there are no Ancient or Modern Figures can rectifie it Honor and decency is not only concerned therein but even contentment and satisfaction And as hands touch tenderly a sick and wounded head and as it is a torment to them if they be hindred from easing its pain and touching its wounds so a good wife who hath a heart truly fixed who is induâ—d and penetrated by the Grace of the Sacrament cannot have a purer satisfaction then to suffer with her husband And should even good Fortune her self tye her hands and feet to detain her by force with her and should hinder her from following her persecuted and unfortunate husband good Fortune would be abhorred by her with all her kindnesses and were her tyes made of Crowns and Diadems they would be unsupportable to her For these reasons Arâ—â—a accompanyed Cicinna to death after she had followed him through rocks and tempests 〈◊〉 dyed couragiously with Sâ—biâ— after she had lived nine years enterred with him Hypsicratea hardned the tenderness of her Sex and condition made the Graces and Beauty warlike that she might accompany Mitâ—ridates pursued by the Romans and Fortune And generally all the faithfull Women in ancient times have performed the famous and exemplar actions which we behold with applause in History EXAMPLE Jane Coeâ—lo the VVife of Anthony Perez Secretary to Philip the Second THe memory of Anthony Perez ought still to be fresh at Court We have seen him there a long time ago in Person And every day we see him there in his Relations and Letters I know not whether the name of his wife be so well known there but I know very well that this is the first time she appears in that place And peradventure she would never have come if I had not brought her thither It is convenient nevertheless that she should come and make her self known there She will there not only contract no bad habits nor will her vertue be altered by it but she will give also good examples to our Ladies and read them Lectures of Fidelity and Constancy She will teach them that Marriage is not a society of Pastimes and Traffick that the Duties thereof do not alter with seasons that its Tyes ought neither to be broken asunder nor loosened by Fortune She will teach them that they ought to be the same to their ruined and unfortunate Husbands as to those that are raised up to honours and in favour that they ought to love them as dearly under a Chain as under a Crown that they ought to bear respect to their ruines even to the pieces of their Shipwracks and to the instruments of their Punishments This wife and Couragious Woman was of the House of Coello who held an Honorable rank amongst the Illustrious Families of Spain But Nobility without Vertue is but the half of a good Woman It is a precious matter to which fair Features and a perfect Figure is wanting Jane Coello was not one of these shapeless and defective Nobles she was none of these rich and rude lumps of these Marbles which are only esteemed for the Name and Antiquity of the Quarry from whence they come All the features of a good Woman were compleated in her as the matter was there pure and precious And her Vertue was properly to her Nobility what an exact and regular Figure is unto a rare piece of Marble By espousing Anthony Perez she thought not only to have married a Secretary and the Favourite of a Prince a Minister of State and a great man in expectation but she believed to have Espoused all that Anthony Perez was and could be And prepared her self to Love him in what condition soever Fortune might place him If all wives entred into Marriage with the same foresight and preparation If in the Ceremony of their Nuptials and when they are to pronounce this word of Engagement and Servitude this great Word which cannot be retracted they did give themselves up in such sort to what is apparently Rich and Glorious that they still reserve themselves for what is poor and infirm to which either may be reduced 〈◊〉 behinde the Favourite and the Grandee they did consider the misfortunes and ruins which might happen to them there would be found more solid pleasure and more true satisfaction less disgusts out of Fancy and less considerable complaints in Marriages Bad Fortune would not disunite so many Couples nor make so many Divorces And Wives equally prepared for the misfortunes and prosperities of their Husbands would not change then hearts towards them upon every blast of wind noâ— would have so many different faces as are seen in the Moon Iane Coello was not subject to this inequality of heart nor to these varieties of looks She doth not alter them with bad times because bad times produced no change in her Husband And knowing that it was Perez whom she had married and not a Favourite and Minister of State she was the same to Perez Criminal and a Prisoner as to Perez the Confident and Secretary of Philip. History indeed speaks of the favour and credit of this Anthony Perez and gives sufficient testimony that his Credit was not a credit acquired at random and by meer chance He served a long time in the place of Secretary of State to Philip the second the ablest Prince of his Age and the most knowing in the Science of Princes He understood all his Policies and lived neer those Springs by which this King governed so many Kingdoms He was acquainted with the secret of that fatal Cabinet-Councel where so many Battels and Sâ—eges were designed where Europe was assaulted on all sides and new Territories invaded And without doubt he was not an unprofitable piece in this Cabinet and his hand very often set a going deâ—terously and with success those Springs which gave motion to so many Engines But as Fortune never makes a gift of her Person though sometimes she lends it And as the Court is not a Heaven in which fixed Stars are seen so Anthony Perez fell in his turn from this high â—levation and passed suddenly and without â—â—dium from favour into disgrace Some have written that the murther of Secretary Escoredo was the cause of his misfortune But those have seen but the outside of Affairs and have taken the Watch for the Spring We ought rather to believe the
Speculatives of the I scurial from whom we have learnt by tradition that the death of Escoredo made away by the secret order of King Philip was indeed the pretence for imprisoning Perez But the concurrence of Philip and Perez in the love of the Princess of Floby was the true cause of it Nature had accomplished with extraordinary Care both the minde and body of this Princess but she had formed but one of her eyes whether she disparted to make her a second like to the first whether she would have her reseâ—ble therein the Day which hath but one whether as Perez himself spake it to Henry the Great she apprehended if she had two eyes she might infiâ—e the whole World However it were this Defect did not hinder her from subjecting a Prince who boasted of having two World under his subjection and of reigning as long as the Sun shines And the Malignant Constellation of Anthony Perez designed that his inclination should concur with that of his Master Truly that Concurrence is very perilous and the danger so much the more certain as Fortune appears more favourable and gives there the â—aâ—â—est hopes In all times it hath been preached to Courtiers and in all seasons it will be unprofitably preached to them without amendment There are some arrogant and temeâ—arious Loves which give a bold shock to Crowns and Scepters which take delight in making Honourable and Soveraign Rivals which are like that vain-glorious Youth who would wrastle and run with none but Kings But these arrogant and temerarious Loves are subject to cruel Tragedies And not long since remarkable and sad examples have been seen of them amongst our Neighbors Anthony Perez who was in other things so judicious and prudent did not in this make use of his Judgement nor advised with his Prudence He loved the Princess Floby with Philip And perchance to his misfortune he was better beloved by her then Philip. He had a pleasing and affable Wit he Wrote gallantly both in Prose and Verse He had an excellent gift in composing a Letter he translated well a Sonnet and Stanza His Services favoured not of Authority nor resembled Obligations The Graces and Muses which are attractive and perswasive spake to his Mistress in his behalf And Philip had for himself but a dazling and incommodious greatness and that Majestly which tortures Love and imprisons the Graces This good Fortune if I may stile it so was the ruine of Perez Philip chose rather to part with a good Servant then to endure a Rival more happy then himself And the death of Escoredo happening in this conjuncture he put Perez in a Place where he had leasure to learn that it is a dangerous thing to stand in competition with his Master His Couragious and Faithful Wise did not account her self a Widow by the fall of her Husband she did not believe that his Imprisonment had set her at Liberty The Princess of Floby was no corrosive to her and she did not rejoyce in her minde with Philip for having with one stroke freed her from a Rival and himself from a Competitor These thoughts of Liberty would have become a tatling Dame who might have had a loosned spirit and a Widdowed heart in an engaged Body And an â—â—â—â—tated Jealousie might have been satiated with these bitter imaginations and these desires of Revenge The prudent Wife equally remote from a Gossiping humour as well as Jealousie considered that unhappy and devested Perez was not another Man then Perez in favour and invested with the grace of his Prince That bad Fortune gives no right of retraction nor justifies unfaithful Women And that a heart fastened in good earnest never withdraws from any thornes which grow in the place where it is fixed She represented to her self that her Husbands faults did not dispense with her Duty that a strange and forreign fire had not burnt her Tyes nor consumed the yoke of her Marriage that her Fidelity would appear so much the more Christian and Heroick for being stronger and victorious over a more dangerous Adversary She perswaded her self that the most eminent Generosity of a good Woman and the perfection of her Vertue consisted in preserving her self all entire to her divided Husband and to secure unto him even to the last the donation of her heart though he should every day withdraw his own by piece-meal In accompanying him to what place soever he should be cast by a storm And above all in taking as great a share in his adversities as himself even in those adversities which are the punishment of his faults Fortified by these considerations she made her self a prisoner with Perez and reserved to her self so much liberty as he wanted to solicite their common friends to implore from time to time the goodness of the King to employ by intervals the credit and favour of tears and supplications for the inlargement of her Husband Behold how many Combats she fought how many Victoâ—â—es she gained in this single action She overcame Jealousie which is the most powerful and dangerous enemy of Women She deprived her self of liberty and repose which are natural and inherent Blessings Blessings which are not parted with but by extream violence She subdued Avarice by the continual profusions she was enforced to make to render the Gaolers and Guards plyable in giving them their fill She was stronger then a Prison rigorous and terrible by reason of its incommodity but far more rigorous and terrible in respect of the Princes anger which had banished all pitty from thence which had re-inforced the Gates and redoubled the obscurities thereof which had added a new hardness to the Iron and Walls In fine she was victorious over tortures and death it self exposing her self as she did to both by the boldness she shewed in conveying her Husband out of Prison and in deceiving the expectation and anger of the Prince Truly this boldness was very Ingenious and Witty And Love was not only resolute in this action but a Deceiver in good earnest and without scandal Notwithstanding all this the Couragious Woman would have answered with her head both for the Inventions of her boldness and the deceits of her Love if Philip had consulted with the jealousie he had of his Authority and of his Mistress Anthony Perez seeing all wayes barred up against hope and that not one single Ray of mercy appeared from the Escurial resolved by the advice of his Wife to seek of himself an end to his Miseries without importuning any more unpowerful Intercessors and a deaf Clemency The resolution was that Iane Coello should procure a Womans Garment to be secretly brought and that Perez in the evening might go forth with her disguised in this attire and mingled with the Women of her Train The Plot took effect as they had designed it Iane Coello went forth accompanied with this new Attendant and intreated the Guards with gold in her hand to permit her Husband to take some rest who
But let no man believe that there is a pride and presumption in this Science That it is one of those which turn the brain and cause Convulsions in the minde Let no man take it for a Mass of indisgested and tumultuary Notions for a collection of Fables and Histories learnt by roat It is Modest and Civil with vigour It is solid without ostentation and rudeness It conduceth to the conduct of life and the regulation of manners And it wants nothing of that which may give imployment and adress to the Muses Comeliness and Ornament to the Graces And of these two rare and learned Persons there may be made an illustrious Demonstration concerning the Capacity of Women And by the same reason that heretofore it hath been said that Athens was the Greece of Greece one may well say in reference to them that the House of 〈◊〉 is the Court of the Court I do not say of the interressed ambitious and corrupted Court I say of the ingenious and spiritual of the Gallant and Modest Court Nevertheless whatever I have said it is not my intention to summon Women to the Colledge I intend not to make Graduats of them nor convert their Needles and Distaffs into Astrolabes and Sphears I bear too much respect to the bounds which fever us And my question is only in order to what they may and not unto what they ought in the condition wherein things have been placed whether by the Order of Nature or by an immemorable Custom and as old as Nature her self But surely as I would not hold with those who should perform in their Closets all the Exercises and Functions of a Colledge Who should discourse only in Enthymema's and Syllogisms And should have nothing in their heads but the Ideas of Plato and the Atoms of Epicurus So cannot I sufficiently praise those which put themselves under the Discipline of that other practical and active Philosophy which illuminates the minde with her lights and fortifies it with her principles which establisheth Decency in Manners and Stability in Life which adjusts all Conditions and all Fortunes to her rules First if there be a question concerning Capacity it cannot be brought in dispute in relation to them Some have been found amongst them who have followed as close as any man the most sublime and speculative Philosophy who have run through all that may be open to Humane reason and have been more eminent then Sâ—â—rates and Plato and more ancient then Aristotle and Theophrastes Moreover this practical Philosophy is not of an unknown Country nor out of the Common Road It is not needful to have the wings and sight of an Eagle to approach her one may go thither a foot-pace and from all the Regions of the World from all the degrees of State and from all the orders of life She hath Disciples that are Soveraigns and Disciples that are Slaves And in her Schools King and Subject Rich and Poor Master and Servant have their assigned places according to the diversity of their Conditions and the difference of their Offices Besides the perfection of this Philosophy is not cumbersom nor subject to disorder She allowes all other Lawful professions and accommodates her self to all degrees of Fortune she gives Lessons for affairs and for the whole world she gives them also for repose and solitude And to learn these Lessons it is not necessary that a Woman should abandon the managing of her houshold affairs That she should be divorced from her Husband that she should renounce honest Pleasures and Civil Society That she should shut her self up in a Chamber hung with Maps and furnished with Sphears and Astrolabes Let us add that Moral Philosophy hath been given us to order our Passions to distinguish our Duties and Offices to teach the exercises of Vertue to guide us as by the hand to Beatitude And have not Womens Passions need of a Governess as well as Ours May they not be mistaken in their Offices and Duties Are they born so well instructed and perfect that they can learn Vertue without a Lesson or Method Are they so happy that they can attain to Be atitude by their own address and without a guid The injustice would be then extream to deprive them of this Philosophy the Governess of Passions the Mistress of Vertues and the necessary Guide for all those that pretend to Beatitude In fine Women as well as we are to defend themselves against the Gifts and Outrages of Fortune They are apt to Swellings and Convulsions which follow good and bad Accidents And no man hath a head so naturally strong that be can bear Prosperity without the Vertigo or Adversity without fainting and weakness Ought we to expect that Women should be preserved from all these infirmities by the meer strength of their Constitution that their heads should not turn round upon the top of the Wheel and amidst the perfumes of good Fortune that their hearts should not change their seats when they themselves shall change their Posture and that those hearts should stand after their owners fall There is no Constitution so well prepar'd nor of so good a temper from which this Constancy and Equality ought to be expected without the help of Moral Philosophy And therefore we must conclude that Philosophy is not only neither against the Decorum nor beyond the capacity of the second Sex but that she is an Ornament and a necessary support to it and that neither good nor gallant Women can be formed but according to the Designes and by the Rules of Morality All the vertuous and magnanimous Women which we admire in History have been modelled according to these Designes and compleated by these Rules We have known and do know also some who have the same features and are composed after the same manner And if I did not fear that some might accuse me of Flattery and Affectation I would here manifest that France hath at this time her Cornelia's and Porâ—â—â—s her 〈◊〉 and her 〈◊〉 But let us yield obedience to the Wise-man who forbids us to praise living Vertues And let us end this Dispute by an Example within the Memory of our Fathers in which we shall behold a learned Princess overcoming with an equal Courage both the temptations of good and the outrages of bad Fortune and by a more then Stoical Constancy bearing upon a Scaffold the same countenance which she had born upon a Throne EXAMPLE Of Jane Gray of Suffolk Queen of England HEnry the Eight being dead stain'd with the blood of those Martyrs which he had made and amidst the Ruines of the Church of England which he had overthrown Edward the Son of Scymer his third Wife succeeded to his Crown and Dominions But as there is no Seed so unhappy nor of so short a durance as that of wicked men so the Excommunication and Curse which had been Fulminated against the Father being fallen upon the Son this poor Prince died before he knew well how
heart of them both There are some men who have not so much as the first glimmerings of sound judgement You would swear that they had been made out of the Lees and Dregs of Matter You would say that not one single spark of this Coelestiall Fire is entred into their Constitution And their souls are so burthened the rinde which incompasseth them is so obscure and thick as no light can penetrate them with on single Ray of Truth which can give them a beginning of any vertuous heats On the contrary there are some Women who seem to be onely made out of the pure Extraction of rectified matter The superiour portion of their souls is so pure and so lively reflects all the luminous impression it receives the Inferiour hath two so noble fires and moves so regularly and with so measured and just a swiftness that it would not savor of flattery to compare them to those fair Compounds which are formed of the Intelligences and Planets It is not then the difference of Sex which makes any difference in the faculties of a soul and since they have the same perfection both in Man and Woman since both may be imbued with the same light and penetrated by the same fire let us descend freely step by step to the consequence to which this discourse leads us and let us agree that Women may be disposed by this light and fire to the principal Functions of Heroick vertue History is as knowing and perswasive in this point as Philosophy and the Examples she alledges are as just and formal demonstrations as those which are framed according to the Rules of Logick If it be shewed by these Examples that Women are capable of the most vigorous and illustâ—ous Actions it is consequently and of necessity proved by the same Instances that they are also capable of an Heroick Transport of this Enthusiasme without which we cannot pass beyond the bounds which Moral Philosophy hath prescribed to common Vertues Iudith indeed must needs have been transported with this Enthusiasme when she ran the hazard of her Life and Honour when she passed over Walls and Trenches when she cast her self single and unarmed into the midst of more then one hundred thousand Combatants to redeem Iudea out of their hands to take off their Generals Head by one blow of a Sword Susanna must needs have been stimulated by the same Enthusiasme when being sollicited to her Dishonour by Pleasure and Fear she couragiously rejected them both and hastened to her Duty through 〈◊〉 and Death and a whole storm of stones heaped up against her There must needs have been much of this Transport and Enthusiasme in the Mother of the 〈◊〉 when she exposed her self to Hatchets and burning â—â—â—drons when she marched over the skins and bloody limbs of her â—â—ead and dilacerated children when she gave up her heart and entrals her soul and spirit unto seven different Deaths to gain the eight which was worthy the memory of the 〈◊〉 and sutable to the Reputation of her Race But without going so far from our Age and Modern History was there not a Transport in that Maid of Agria who preparing her self to fight upon a breach by which the Turks endeavoured to bring fire and sword into the bosom of her Country when her Mother joyning in the same duty with a great stone upon her head was born away by a Canon shot appeared no waies surprized with this Accident quitted neither her resolution not post Her heart did not so much as tremble at the blood which might have demolished even the strongest wall and with unchanging countenance she took up this stone still warm with the blood and death of her Mother and rolled it upon the heads of the first that entred the breaâ—h Was there not an Enthusiasme in the action which a young Woman of the same Town performed at the same Siege She fought compleatly armed between her husband and mother and when her husband after a long and obstinate fight was killed by her side her mother advising her to withdraw and render him her last duties God defend me replyed she from so unseasonable a piety Now is the time to revenge his death and not to deplore it his â—uneral may be well performed afterwards if we live and if it be ordained for me to dye upon his body mine will be a Tombe glorious enough for him and my blood mixt with his will do him more honour then my tears These couragious words were followed by a far more glorious action She threw away her own sword and took up that of her husbands whether she esteemed it better then her own and most accustomed to overcome or whether she thought it might have retained some remnant of his Valour and dexterity which would fight with her and bring her good fortune And fortified by this imagination she cast her self fiercely and with order upon those enemies that were the farthest advanced She killed tâ—ree with her own hand made the rest give back and that done she retired with her husbands body and the satisfaction to have revenged his death which was to her as just and manly a satisfaction as that which is sought in a spruce and flaunting mourning in a sorrow as Ambitious and Vain as the Excesse Besides this Transport which is a visible and commendable excess of Valour and Constancy there is another kinde of excess which Magnificence seeks in its actions which also appertain to Heroick vertue And we must not forget to affirm by the way that Women have gone as far and raised themselves as high as Men by this second kinde of Excess One cannot speak without vast terms of the Egyptian Pyramides And the abreviated draughts which Antiquity hath left us of them do even tire our sight Nevertheless the highest and most stately of these Pyramides were built by the boldness and Magnificence of Women The Maâ—solâ—um exhausted the skill of all Architects and of all the Sculptors of Greece and left neither Marble not precious stones in Asia and this Monument was the invention and enterprize of a Woman The pendent Gardens of Babylon and those Walls so famous for their matter and structure were the work of a Woman And this self same person who was filled with nothing but vast thoughts and unlimited designs resolving to have her Statue erected in a place where she had gained a battel caused it to be made out of a whole Mountain cut out into a humane Figure and seated upon a Throne And because it would not have been decent to see a Queen alone she commanded the Artist to dispose the outward and superfluous pieces of the Mountain with so much Art as there might be wherewith to make out of them half a dozen of Guards Without dis-interring ruins buried under so many Ages there are in France sumptuous proofs enough of the Heroick Magnificence of Women But being exposed as they are to publick view it is not necessary to
not to make so great Account of an Embroideâ—ed and Tottering Greatness exposed to Tempests and Precipices Famous by its Shipwracks and Ruins And when they shall perceive that only Glittering things are subject to be broken that elevated Ones are liable to Falls and such as are swoln up do only burst asunder they will be affrighted with that which is the matter of their Vanity and will apprehend their Splendor Elevation and Pride Moreover Prosperous Fortunes are advertised hereby of their own Inconstancy and Frailty and the Unhappy of the Patience they ought to have and of the Merits they may Acquire In fine Men and Women of what Gold or Earth soever their Fortunes are Composed and in what Story soever of the World they are lodged ought to be instructed by this Example that no Condition or lazy Vertue can be Priviledged in this Life That the Carreer of Adversities is open to all sort of Persons That Providence Assigns to every one the Rank and Function which is proper to him That there is no Victory which is not preceded by some Combat and that it is a very great shame that Christians should endure so many Afflictions and expose themselves to so many Dangers for a handfull of Flowers which last but a day for a Perfume which is dispersed by the first blast of Wind for a Crown of Glass which may break every moment And that for Insatiable and endless Delights and for a Solid and Eternal Glory they should fear to endure but the pricking of a Thorne THE END A TABLE Of the Pictures Morall Questions and Examples The Gallant JEVVS Dâ—â—ORAH Page 1. Her Elogy p. 5. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of Government p. 7. Examples Isabella 〈◊〉 of Spain Arch-Dutchess of the Low-Countries p. 9. Margaret of Austria Dutchess of Parma Governess of the Low-Countries p. 17. JAEL p. 19. Her Elogy p. 22. Moral Question Whether there were Infidelity on the Actiâ—â— of Jael p. 24. Example Jone of Beusort Queen of Scotland Catharine Douglas p. 26. JUDITH p. 29. Her Elogy p. 34. Moral Question Concerning the choice which God hath made of Women for the preservation of States reduced to Extremity p. 36. Example Marulla of Scilimena p. 38. SALOMONA p. 41. Her Elogy p. 46. Moral Question Whether Religion be the principal Vertue of a gallent Woman p. 47. Example Margaret Moore the Daughter of Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chancelour of England p. 49. MARIAMNE p. 53. Her Elogy p. 57. Moral Question Why the most perfect Women be commonly the least Fortunate p. 59. Example Blanche of Bourbon Queen of Castle p. 61. The Gallant Barbarian Women PANTHEA p. 63. Her Elogy p. 68. Moral Question Concerning the order which a gallant Woman ought to observe in Conjugal Love p. 69. Example Indegonda and Clotilda of France p. 72. CAMMA p. 77. Her Elogy p. 81. Moral Question Why Conjugal Love is more Faithful in Women thâ—â— in Men p. 82. Example Sanchia of Navar p. 85. ARTEMISIA p. 91. Her Elogy p. 95. Moral Question In what manner a gallant Woman should mourn and what ought to be the Duties of her Widdowboâ—d p. 96. Example Blanche of Castile Queen Regent of France p. 98. MONIMA p. 103. Her Elogy p. 108. Moral Question VVhether it appertains to the duty of a gallant VVoman to expose her life to satisfie the minde of a jealous Husband p. 110. Example the brâ—ve Hâ—â—garian p. 112. ZENOâ—IA p. 115. Her Elogy p. 120. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of Military Vertues p. 122. Example Jone of Flanders Couâ—tesâ— of Monâ—fort p. 125. The Gallant Roman Women LUCRECIA p. 1. Her Elogy p. 7. Moral Question Whether Chastity belongs to the honour of Herâ—â—sses and great Ladies p. 8. Example Gondeberga of France Queen of Lombardy p. 11. CLOELIA p. 17. Her Elogy p. 23. Moral Question VVhether the Vertue of VVomen â—e as beneficial to the Publick as that of Man p. 25. Example Theodelinda Queen of Lombardy p. 29. PORCIA p 33. Her Elogy p. 38. Moral Question VVhether VVomen be capable of an eminent Generosity p. 39. Example Francis Cezely the Lady of Baâ—â—y p. 42. ARRIA page 49. Her Elogy p. 55. Moral Question Concerning the Duty of 〈…〉 Husbands in the â—â—ne of their Distresses and Misfortunes p 58. Example Jone Coello VVife of Anthony Peâ—ez Secretary to Philip the 〈◊〉 page 61. PAULINA page 67. Her Elogy p 72. Moral Question Whether Women be capable of 〈◊〉 Philosophy p. 73. Example Of Jane Gray of Suffolk Queen of England p. 78. The Gallant Christian Women THe French JUDITH p. 85. Her Elogy p 91. Moral Question Whether more Resolutiâ—n and Courage be required to make a Man Valiant then to make a Woman Chasteâ— p. 93. Example Blanche of Rossy p. 97. ELEONOR of Castile Princess of Wales p. 101. Her Elogy p. 107. Moral Question Whether it appertains to the Duty and Fidelity of Women to expose themselves to death for their Husbands p. 106. Example Margaret of Foâ—xe Dutchess of Elpernon p. 114. The Maid of ORLEANS p. 119. Her Elogy p. 125. Moral Question Whether Women may pretend to Heroick Vertue p 127. Example Isabella Queen of Castile p. 132. The Victorious Captive p. 139. Her Elogy p. 145. Moral Question Whether an Heroick Transport be necessary to the Perfection of a Womans Chastity p. 147. Example The Chaste Venetian p. 152. MARY STEWART p. 159. Her Elogy p. 165. Moral Question Whether great Ladies in Prosperity be not in a better Condition then those in Adversity p. 168. Example Margaret of Anjoâ— Queen of England pag. 173. 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