conclusion is foure are of opinion that this cure is repugnant to the grounds of Physicke and the principles of Chirurgery and therefore impossible to be effected the other two are of a contrary judgement and held it feasable and that many times God blesseth the Art and labours of a man not onely beyond expectation but also beyond hope and reason so De Clugny seeing that these two with Michaele were three against foure hee in respect of the tender care and affection he bore his daughter resolves to imploy him and gives him an hundred double Pistollets in hand to attempt it with promise of as much more when he hath performed it whereof this miscreant and hellish Empericke Michaele being exceedingly glad he betakes himselfe to this businesse visits the young Lady who promiseth him to reduble her fathers summe if he make her body straight when to reduce his impious contemplation into infâ—…rnall action he outwardly applieth playsters and seare-clothes to her body and inwardly administreth her pills and potions and O griefe to write it therein infuseth deadly poyson which hee knowes at the end of ten dayes will assuredly make a divorce betweene her body and soule and so send that to the death of this world and this to the life of that to come So this sweete and innocent Lady wishing good to her selfe and hurt to none in the worâ—…d first finds a giddinesse and swimming in her head and within some six dayes after in which time the poyson had dispersed it selfe throughout all the veines and pores of her body many sharpe gripes and bitter throwes and convulsions whereat her father grieves and she weepes onely that gracelesse villaine her Empericke bids them be of good comfort and that the more paine and griefe she suffered the better and speedier hope there was of her cure but yet inwardly in his devillish heart knowes that the poyson effectually operated and wrought with her as hee desired and expected and that by these infallible signes and simptomes his patient drew neere towards the period of her end Whereupon hee repaires secretly to La Hay and bids her provide the rest of his mony for that La Frange could not possibly live two dayes to an end whereat she triumphing and rejoycing with much alacrity againg promiseth it him and indeed the hellish Art of this execrable Empericke doth not now deceive him though in the end the malice of the devill his Doctor will For just as the tenth day was expired this harmelesse sweet yong Lady dyes to the incomparable and unspeakable grief of the good old President her father for that she was the staffe of his age and the chiefe and onely comfort of his life who disconsolatly and mournfully seemed to drown himselfe in his teares hereat cursing the houre that he first saw this accursed Empericke Michaele who had robbed him of his only joy and delight of his deare and sweet daughter La Frange But this murdrous Michaele having learnt of the devill to feare no colours meanes not to step a foot from Tholouse and so sends privately for Lâ—… Hay of whom he craves the performance of her promise for that quoth he he had performed his Why quoth La Hay is that crookbackt dwarfe La Frange dead She is gone quoth Michaele to her eternall rest when La Hay not able to retaine her selfe for excesse of joy runs to him gives him the other hundred crownes together with many kisses which take quoth she as a pledge of my continuall good will towards thee when again swearing secresie they both take leave each of other and part The newes of La Franges death ratlâ—…th and resoundeth over all Tholouse her kinsefolkes grive at it her frinds lament it and all who eyther know her or her fame bewayle it onely De Salez and execrable La Hay excepted who knowing her to have beene the onely stop and hinderance of their mariage they are so ravished with joy heereat as they seeme to contest and envy each other who shall first bring the newes hereof each to other yea the excesse of De Salez his joy is as boundlesse as that of La Hayes delight so that he seemes to flye to her to her fathers house where she with out-spread armes receives and entertaines him and there they mutually congratulate each other for this her death he affirming and she beleeving that La Frange being gone to heaven it shall not bee long ere the Church make them man and wife on earth In the meane time he being wholly ignorant of her poysoning and yet the olde President her father and the rest of her friends suspecting it they cause her body to be opened and although they find no direct poyson yet remarking a little kind of yellow tincture on her heart and liver as also some show thereof through her frozen veines They cause Michaele to be apprehended and imprisoned and so procure a Decree from the Parliament to have him rack'd At the newes whereof La Hay is extreamely tormented and perplexed as well foreseeing and knowing that her life lay at the mercy of his tongue wherefore to fortifie his secrecie and thereby to secure her owne feare and danger she by a confident friend of his sends him a hundred French crownes more and promiseth him to give him a rich Diamond worth as much againe who as before being extreamely covetous and the Devill resembling himselfe still haâ—…ping to him on that string which most delights him his heart is so devillishly obdurated and his fortitude so armed and prepared as his patience and constancy not onely endures but outbraves the crueltie of his torments and so he is acquited of this his pretended crime but he hath not as yet made his peace with God And now is De Salez resolved to make a Journey to Paris to draw his fathers consent that he may marry La Hay but the wisedome of the father shall anticipate the folly of the Sonne for he having heard in Paris of La Franges death and still fearing that because of his frequent familiarity with that strumpet La Hay he will in the end marry her He in Paris buyes a Captaines place for him in the Regiment of the Kings Guard and likewise dealt with a very rich Counsellour of that Court of Parliament named Monsieur de Brianson that his sonne may marry his eldest daughter Madamoyselle de Plessis a very sweet and faire yong Gentlewoman and the old folkes are already agreed on all conditions onely it rests that the young sees and loves To which end Argentier writes away with all speed to Tholouse for his sonne De Salâ—…z to come up to him who before he had received his fathers letter as wee have formerly understood was ready to undertake that Journey La Hay infinitly fearefull and jealous to lose her pray with Crocodile teares in her eyes and Hyena aspects in her lookes informes De Salez that she feareth that his father hath provided a wife for him in Paris
so odious as Nature cannot excuse and so diabolicall as no Clemencie can pardon And yet this age and this world is but too plentifull and fertile of such bloudy Tigers and inhumane Monsters and Butchers of mankinde as if they had not a Conscience within them to accuse them a God above them to condemne them and a Hell below them to punish them or as if they had not the sacred Oracles of Gods eternall Word I meane the Law and the Gospell and the blessed Precepts and Doctrine of the holy Prophets and Apostles yea of Christ Iesus himselfe the great Shepherd and sacred Bishop of our soules to teach us the rules of Mercie Meekenesse and Long-suffering whiles wee live in this vale of misery here below and that wee must imbrace and follow Peace and Charity with all men if ever wee thinke to participate of the true felicity and joyes of Heaven above But neverthelesse yea directly contrary hereunto this insuing History will produce us one who though sufficiently instructed in the rules of Piety and Charity yet hee wilfully abandoned the first and contemned the second by cruelly and unnaturally imbruing his hands in innocent bloud for the which wee shall see that hee in the end suffereth a severe and shamefull death May we reade this History to the glory of God and the instruction of our selves THe Scene of this History is layd in Spayne in the famous Province of old Castile and in the faire and ancient City of Burgos where lately dwelt a noble and rich old Gentlewoman termed Dona Catherina Aâ—…z a Sirname much knowne and famous in that City Province and Kingdome who had by her deceased Husband Don Roderigo de Ricaldo two sonnes Don Pedro and Don Martino and one Daughter named Dona Cecilliana Her eldest sonne Don Pedro was a gallant Cavallier of some eight and twenty yeares of age tall and well-timbred by complexion and hayre blacke and of a swart and martiall countenance who for the space of seven yeares served as a voluntary Gentleman under that wise and valiant Commander Don Gonsalez de Cordova in Germany and against the Lords States of the Netherlands and since in the Voltoline and Millane against the Grisons and French In both which warres he left behind him many memorable testimonies of his prowesse and purchased divers honorable trophees of true valour and generosity but for any other intellectuall endowments of the minde hee was no scholler and but of an indifferent capacity yet very honest courteous and affable particularly to his friends and generally to all the world His Brother Don Martino was of some foure and twenty yeares of age short of stature very slender but crooke-back'd of an Aubrun hayre a withered face a squint eye of inclination extreamely sullen and of disposition and nature envious and revengefull as desirous rather to entertaine a night-quarrell in the street then a day-combate in the Field but as God is many times pleased to countervaile and reward the defects of nature in the body with some rich gifts and perfections of the mind so though not by profession yet by education he was an excellent Scholler of an active and sharpe wit a fluent tongue and singularly able either to allure or divert to perswade or disswade according as the streame of his different passions and affections led him Vertues enough relucent and excellent to build a fame and sufficient to rayse an eminent fortune if his former vices doe not too fatally eclipse the one and deface the other Their Sister Cecilliana aged of some twenty yeares was of an indifferent height but growing to corpulencie and fatnesse of a blacke hayre an amiable browne complexion a big rolling eye and the ayre of her countenance rather beautifully amorous then modestly beautifull Shee was of a nimble wit of humour pleasant and facetious yet so reserved in the externall demonstration thereof that through her Mothers pious and austere education of her shee in all outward semblance seemed rather to bee fit for a Nunnery then a Husband and more proper to make a Saint then a Wife but as the face proves not still a true Index of the heart nor our lookes and speeches still a true Sybile of our soules so how retired soever her Mother kept her from the company of men yet her wanton eye conspiring with her lascivious heart made her the more desirous thereof and farre the more licentiously in regard shee was strictly forbidden it so as not to contradict or dissemble the truth I am here inforced to relate and affirme that shee imparteth her favours upon two or three young Gentlemen of that Citie of her private acquaintance and is more familiar with them then modesty can well warrant or chastity allow of But there is a young Gallant of this City likewise more noble by birth then rich in estate and meanes named Don Balthazar de Monfredo who deeming Cecilliana as famous for her chastity as for her beauty beares a singular affection to her yea his heart and thoughts are so fervently intangled in the snares of her delicious beauty that in publicke and private in his desires and wishes and in his speech and actions he proclaimes her to bee his Mistresse and himselfe her servant and if hee affect and desire Cecilliana for his Wife no lesse doth shee Monfredo for her Husband so that they many times by stealth meet and conferre privately in remote Churches and Chappell 's it being rather a prophane then a religious custome of Spaine wherein Heaven is too much made to stoope to Earth and Religion to Impiety for men to court their intended wives and which is worse many times their Courtizans and Strumpets Cecilliana oftentimes warranted by her Mothers indisposition can no sooner take Coach to injoy the pleasure and benefit of the fresh ayre abroad in the fragrant fields but Monfredo assuredly meets her where leaping from his Coach into hers and leaving his Page to accompany her Wayting-gentle woman in his own they at first familiarly kisse and confer and in a few of these meetings at last effectually resolve to give themselves each to other in the sacred bonds of marriage so he gives her a rich Diamond ring and she reciprocally returnes him a paire of Gold bracelets in token of marriage and they then and there calling God to witnes very solemnly contract themselves man and wife yet for some solid reasons and important considerations which conduce to the better accomplishing of their desires they for a time conclude to beare it secretly and silently from all the world and it is concluded and agreed betweene them that a moneth after and not before hee shall attempt to seeke her publikely in marriage both of her Mother the Lady Catherina as also of her two Brothers Don Pedro and Don Martino So when this moneth is past over which to these out two Lovers seemes to be many ages Monfredo very fairely and orderly seekes her of her Mother in marriage and
affection to Monfredo and therefore with frownes in her lookes and anger in her eyes she thunders out a whole Catalogue of disprayses and recriminations against him and because yet shee despayreth to prevaile with her hereby shee now thinking it high time resolves to divert and change the streame of her affection from him to God and so at last to mew and betake her to a Nunnery whereon her desires and intentions have so long ruminated and her wishes and vowes aymed at to which end calming the stormes of her tongue and composing her countenance to patience and piety she with her best art and eloquence speakes to her thus That in regard she will not accept of don Delrio for her husband with whom shee might have injoyed prosperity content and glory but will rather marry Monfredo from whom she can and must expect nothing but poverty griefe and repentance shee therefore out of her naturall regard of her and tender affection to her hath by the direction of God bethought her selfe of a medium betweene both which is to marry neither of them but in a religious and sanctifyed way to espouse her selfe to God and his holy Church when thinking to have taken time by the forelocke shee depainteth her the felicity and beatitude of a Nunnes profession and life so pleasing to God and the World to Heaven and Earth to Angels and Men When her daughter Cecilliana being tyred and discontented with this poore and ridiculous oration of hers shee lifting up her eyes to Heaven with a modest boldnesse and yet with a bold truth interrupts her mother thus that God hath inspired heâ—… heart to affect Monfredo so deerely and to love him so tenderly as shee will rather content her selfe to beg with him then to live with Delrio in the greatest prosperity which either this life or this world can afford her that although shee had no bad opinion of Nunnes yet that neither the constitution of her body much lesse of her minde was proper for a Nunnery or a Nunnery for her in which regard shee had rather pray for them then with them and honour then imitate them when the Lady her mother not able to containe her selfe in patience much lesse in silence at this audacity and as shee thought impiety of her daughter she with much choller and spleene demands her a reason of these her exorbitant speeches When her daughter no way dejecting her lookes to earth but rather advancing and raysing them to heaven requites her with this answer That it is not the body but the minde not the flesh but the soule which is chiefly requisite and required to give our selves to God and his Church that to throw or which is worse to permit our selves to be throwne on the Church through any cause of constraint or motion of distaste or discontent is an act which savoureth more of prophanenesse then piety and more of earth then heaven that as Gods power so his presence is not to bee confined or tyed to any place for that his Centre is every where and therefore his circumference no where that God is in Aegypt as well as in Palestyne or Hierusalem and that heaven is as neere us and wee heaven in a Mansion house as in a Monastery or Nunnery that it is not the place which sanctifyeth the heart and soule but they the place and that Churches and Cloysters have no priviledge or power to keepe out sin if we by our owne lively faith and God by his all-saving grace doe not Which speech of hers as soon as she had delivered and seeing that the Lady her mother was more capable to answer her thereunto with silence then reason she making her a low reverence and craving her excuse departs from her and leaves her here alone in the Garden to her selfe and her Muses Her mother having a little walked out her choller in seeing her daughters firme resolution not to become a Nunne shee leaves the garden and retires to her Chamber where sending for her sonne Martino she relates him at full what conference had there past betweene his sister and her selfe who likewise is so much perplexed and grieved hereat as putting their heads and wits together they within a day or two vow to provide a remedy for this her obstinacie and wilfulnesse As for Cecilliana shee likewise reports this verball conference which had past betweene her mother and her selfe to her brother Don Pedro and Monfredo when according to promise they met that afternoone in the Augustines garden who exceedingly laugh thereat and yet againe fearing lest the malice of their brother Don Martino towards them mought cause his mother to use some violence or indurance to her and so to make force extort that from her will which faire meanes could not they bid her to assume a good courage and to be cheerefull and generous promising her that if her mother attempted it that Monfredo should steale her away by night and that hee as hee is don Pedro her brother will assist her in her escape and flight whereon they all resolve with hands and conclude with kisses Neither did their doubts prove vaine or their feare and suspicion deceive them herein for her incensed mother being resolute in her will and wilfull in â—…er obstinacie to make her daughter a Nunne shee shuts her up in her Chamber makes it no lesse then her prison and her brother don Martino her Guardian or â—…ather her Goaler Poore Cecilliana now exceedingly weepes and grieves at this â—…ruelty of her mother and brother don Martino which as yet her deare brother don â—…dro cannot remedy by perswading or prevailing with them to release her hee acquaints Monfredo herewith and they both consulting finde no better expedient to free her from this domesticall imprisonment then counterfeitly to give her mother to understand and believe that her daughter hath now changed her mind and that by Gods direction shee is fully resolved to abandon Monfredo and so to spend and end her dayes in a Nunnery but contrariwise they resolve to fetch her away by night and without delay Accordingly hereunto Cecilliana acts her part well and pretends now to this spirituall will and resolution of her mother sa before she was disobedient Her mother infinitly rejoyceth at this her conversion and no lesse or rather more doth her brother don Martino who to fortifie and confirme her in this her religious resolution they send some Friers and Nunnes to perswade her to appoynt the precise day for her entrance into this Holy house and Orders which with her tongue shee doth but in her heart resolves nothing lesse or rather directly the contrary The mother now acquaints both her sonnes with this resolution of their sister which is the next Sunday to give her selfe to God and the Church and to take holy Orders when don Pedro purposely very artificially seemes as strongly to oppose as his brother don Martino cheerefully approves thereof now extolling her devotion and piety as farre as the
and so fierce and bloody in their resolutions as they thinke every houre an age before they see it effected All this while our innocent and harmelesse old Palmerius albeit hee have the will but not the power to please his young wife Imperia by night yet by day yea and almost every day hee hath hoth the power and will to bestow some rich gifts and presents on her and to raine downe showers of Gold into her lap as Iove did to his faire Danae and as one way hee held it his felicity to gaze contemplate on the excellency of her pure beautie so againe he made it his delight and glory to see her flant it out in rich and brave apparell and also to provide her the most rarest Viands and dantiest dyet that gold or silver could procure But poore Palmerius all this cost and courtesie of thine to thy Wife notwithstanding I am enforced to write with equall pitty to thee and shame to her little dost thou conceive or thinke what a dangerous Cockatrice or pernitious Viper thou harbourest in harbouring her in thy House thy Bed thy Bosome The dismall night being now come which these foure execrable person have designed and destined for the finishing of this deplorable businesse It is no sooner twelve of the Clocke by Morosini's watch but hee with Astonicus and Donato with their Rapiers and Pistols without any light iffue forth their Lodging and presently trip away to Palmerius house where according to promise they find the street doore a little open and Imperia as a fury of hell there readie to receive them when although it were a time and place farmore fitter for them to tremble than kisse yet so fervent is the fire of Morosini Imperias lascivious and furious affection as they cannot yet refraine from giving each other one or two at least When leaving Donato with his Rapier drawn closewithin the doore to guard and make it good against all opposing and intervening accidents Morosini leades Imperia by her right arme and Astonicus by the left and so for the more securitie purposely leaving their shoes below with Donato and drawing on wollen pumpes they all three ascend the staires when shee with wonderfull silence first conducts them to her owne Chamber which was some two distant from her Husbands where the windowes being close shut and a small waxe candle burning on her table and her prayer booke by it wherein still expecting the houre of midnight shee silently read whiles the Divell held the candle to her shee there gives each of them a pillow to worke this damnable fact having silently given such order that her Husbands Nephew Richardo and all the Servants of the house were gone to bed above three houres before Thus this treacherous Shee-Devill Imperia for I can no more tearme her a woman much lesse a wife and least of all a Christian is the fatall guide to bloody Morosini and Astonicus who brings them first to the doore of her old Husband Palmerius his Chamber which shee had purposly left a little open and then to his bed who is deeply and soundly sleeping in his innocency towards them as they were but too too wide waking in their inveterate malice against him shee keeping the doore and Morosini standing by one side of the bed and Astonicus by the other they there in regard of his impotency and weakenesse doe easily stifle him to death not so much as suffering him either once to cry or screech and then to make sure worke they speedily and violently thrust a small Orenge into his mouth thereby the better to cover and colour out this their villany to the world in making all men beleeve that it was Palmerius himselfe who had put that Orenge into his owne mouth thereby purposely to destroy himselfe when leaving his breathlesse body in his bed they secretly issue forth the Chamber and shee drawes fast the door after her and so descends with them down the staires to the street doore where with much triumphs ioy and thankes betweene them all Morosini giving his Imperia many kisses and shee desiring them all three immediately to repaire to their Lodgings and not to stirre thence till they heare from her which she promiseth Morosini shall be as soone as conveniently and possibly shee can they depart home When she first softly bolting the street doore and then her owne chamber doore shee presently with much security and no repentance betakes her selfe to her bed where vilde wretch that shee is shee no more wakes for griefe at the life but now sleepes for joy at the death of her old doating Husband Palmerius But wee shall not goe farre before we see God convert these her triumphes into teares and this her false joy into true misery and confusion for the same The manner thus Whiles Morosini Astonicus and Donato doe in their lodging for joy of this their bloudy fact carowse the remainder of the night and the next morning keepe their beds till nine of the cloke without once thinking of God or heaven or of fearing either Hell or Satan Imperia putting an Angells face on her divellish heart goes according to her accustomed manner about sixe of the clocke in the morning away with her waiting maid and her prayer booke and beades in hand to heare Masse at Saint Francis which is the gray Fryers Church neere to the Iewes Street with an intent to stay there in her Oraisons till past eight But let the reader judge with what a prophane zeale and prodigious and impious devotion shee doth it as also farther know that God who is the great Iudge of Heaven and Earth in his sacred Iustice is now resolved to bring this lamentable murthering of Palmerius to detection and light and to proclaime and publish it to the sight and knowledge of the world by a way no lesse strange than remarkeable Within lesse than halfe an houre that Imperia went away to Masse to Saint Francis Church an Innekeeper of Loretto who dwelt there at the signe of the Crowne named Antonio Herbas arrives there in Ancona to Palmerius house with a letter for him from his Father Bondino who speaking with his Nephew Richardo hee delivereth and sendeth up the Letter to his Vnckle who then opening the latâ—…h of his chamber doore he no sooner entereth but with his foote hee stumbles at a paire of rich gloves which taking up and knowing them to belong to Seignior Morosini because some two or three daies together he had seene him weare them he with a smile claps them into his pocket and so giving his Uncle the good morow he advanceth up to his bed to deliver him this Letter When withdrawing the curtaines he contrary to his expectation findes him dead and well neere cold in his bed with a whole small Orenge in his mouth wherat he makes so lamentable and sorrowfull an outcry that the noise thereof brings up two Servants of the house to enquire and know what the
yield and render up to the Kings lawes and justice but hee is resolute to defend himselfe They threaten him with their Pistols but their sight doe as little amaze him as their report and bullets So they alight from their Horses and environ him with their Swords and having hurt two of them and performed the part of a desperate Gladiator the third joyning with him they breake his Rapier within a foote of the Hilt whereat hee yields himselfe Alsemero thus taken is the same night brought backe to Alicant in whose Gates and Streets a wonderfull concourse of people assemble to see him passe who as much pitty his person as execrate and condemne his fact The Senate is assembled and Alsemero brought to appeare who considering the hainousnesse of his treacherous and bloudy fact which the Devill had caused him to commit hee stayes for no witnesses but accuseth himselfe of this Murther the which from point to point hee confesseth and so they adjudge him to lose his head but this is too honourable a death for a Gentleman who hath so treacherously and basely dishonoured and blemished his Gentility As hee is on the Scaffold preparing himselfe to dye and seeing no farther hope of life but the image of death before his eyes knowing it no time now either to dissemble with God or to feare the Law hee to the amazement of all the world tells the people that although he killed Don Thomaso Piracquo yet hee had no hand in the Murther of his brother Don Alonso whom hee sayd De Flores at the instigation of his wicked and wretched wife Beatrice-Ioana had murthered and buryed in the East Casemate of the Castle and withall affirmed that if hee were guilty in any thing concerning that Murther it was onely in concealing it which hee had done till then and whereof hee sayd he now most heartily repented himselfe as being unwilling any longer to charge his soule with it sith hee was ready to leave this world and to goe to another and so besought them all to pray unto God to forgive him whose sacred Majesty hee confessed hee had highly and infinitely offended and wished them all to beware and flie the temptations of the Devill and to become better Christians by his example The Iudges advertised hereof cause his head to be strucken off for murthering of Don Thomaso Piracquo and his body to be throwne into the Sea for concealing that of Don Alonso which was accordingly executed and from the place of Execution they immediately goe to the Castle and so to the East Casemate where causing the stones to be removed they find the mournfull murthered body of Don Alonso Piracquo which they give to his kinsfolkes to receive a more honourable Buriall according to his ranke and degree and from thence they returne to the Churches where the Bodies of De Flores and Beatrice-Ioana were interred after they were brought backe from Valentia the which for their horrible Murther they at the common place of Execution cause to bee burned and their ashes to be throwne into the ayre as unworthy to have any resting place on earth which they had so cruelly stayned and polluted with innocent bloud Loe here the just punishment of God against these devillish and bloudy Murtherers at the sight of whose executions all that infinite number of people that were Spectatours universally laud and prayse the Majesty of God for purging the earth of such unnaturall and bloudy Monsters GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE V. Alibius murthereth his Wife Merilla hee is discovered first by Bernardo then by Emilia his owne daughter so he is apprehended and hanged for the Fact HOw farre are they from having peace with God and all his creatures when they lay violent hands on their owne wives yea when they murther them in their beds in stead of reposing their secrets and affections in â—…heir bosomes These are hellish resolutions and infernall stratagems that nature neither allowes nor grace approves For besides the Vnion betwixt God and his Church there is none so absolute and perfect on earth as is that of Man and Wife for as this world hath made them two persons so God hath conjoyned and made them one and therefore what madnesse nay what cruelty is it to be so cruell to those who if not our selves are at least our second selves Charity the daughter of heaven teacheth us to love all the world but especiâ—…lly those who are our kinsfolkes or friends Religion the mother of Charity steps a degree farther and injoyneth us to love those who hate us yea these likewise are not onely the rules of nature but the precepts of grace therefore to kill those who love us and to depâ—…ive those of life who did occasion present are ready to sacrifice theirs for the preservation of ours it must needs proceed rather from a monster then a man or rather from a devill then a monster but such devills and such monsters are but too rife and common in these our sinfull times And amongst others I here produce one for exâ—…mple who for that cruell and inhumane fact of his by the justice of God was justly rewarded with a halter And may all those who perpetrate the like crime partitipate of the same or of a worse punishment IN the Parish of Spreare some fifteene miles distant from the beautifull and noble City of Brescia in the Territories of the Venetians there dwelt a poore countrey man termed Alibius who could vaunt of no other wealth left him by his deceased parents but that hee was a man of a comely stature and proportion and withall that they were of an honest fame and reputation so if his vertues had answered theirs his poverty had never proved so pernicious and fatall an enemy to him as to ruine his fortunes with his life and his life with his fortunes or had the vices of his soule not contaminated or stayned the perfections of his body my pen had slept in silence and his History layne raked up in the dust of his grave but sith his actions have exceeded the bounds both of nature and grace yea sith hee hath learned of the Devill to imbath his hands in poyson and to imbrue them in innocent bloud I incouraged by the connivencie and silence of others not out of any want of charity to the memory of dead Alibius but in detestation of his bloudy resolution and actions and chiefely and especially to the comfort and instruction of the living who may abhorre his crime by the sight of his punishment I have adventured and resolved to give this a place among the rest of my tragicall Histories that Italie as well as Brescia and Spreare and peradventure the whole Christian world with Italie may understand thereof This Alibius as soone as he had attained the age of five and twenty yeares marryed an honest Mayden termed Merilla being a Farmers daughter of the same Parish of Spreare with whom he had but small
with many fearefull imprecations and asseverations stands peremptorily in her innocencie and out of the heat of her malice and choller termes them devills or witches that are her accusers But her Iudges who can no longer be deluded with her vowes nor will no more give eare to her perfidious oaths command to have her Paps seared off with hot burning Pincers thereby to vindicate the truth of her cruell murther from the falsehood of her impious and impudent denyall thereof Whereat amazed and astonished and seeing this cruell torment ready to bee inflicted and presented her God was so indulgent to her sinnes and so mercifull to her soule as the devill flying from her and she from his temptations shee rayning downe many rivolets and showres of teares from her eyes and evaporating many volleyes of sighes from her heart throwing her selfe downe on her knees to the earth and lifting up her eyes and handes unto Heaven with much bewayling and bitternesse shee at last confesseth to her Iudges that shee and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla were the murtherers of Belluile and for the which shee sayd that through her humble contrition and hearty repentance shee hoped that God would pardon her soule in the life to come though shee knew they would not her body in this Whereupon the Iudges in horrour and execration of her inhumane and bloudy crime pronounce sentence of death upon her and condemne her the next day after dinner first to be hanged then burnt in the same street right against her lodging Monsieur de Richcourts house and likewise sith Lucilla was both an accessary and actour in this bloudy Tragedy that her body should be taken up out of her Grave and likewise burnt with hers in the same fire which accordingly was executed in the presence of an infinite number of people both of the Citizens and adjacent neighbours of Avignion Laurieta uttering upon the Ladder a short but a most Christian and penitent speech to the people tending first to disswade them all by her example from those foule and crying sinnes of whoredome revenge and murther and then to request and perswade them that they would assist her with their religious and devout prayers in her soules passage and flight towards Heaven yet adding withall that as her crime so her griefe was redoubled because as she had killed Belluile for Poligny's sake so she was sure that Belluile had killed Poligny for hers And thus Christian Reader were the dissolute lives and mournefull deaths of these two unfortunate Gentlemen Poligny and Belluile and of this lascivious and bloudy Curâ—…izan Laurieta and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla A tragicall History worthy both of our observation and detestation and indeed these are the bitter fruits of Lust Whoreâ—…ome and Revenge and the inseparable companions which infallibly awayt and attend them the very sight and consideration whereof are capable not onely to administer consolation to the righteous but to strike terror to the ungodly O therefore that wee may all beware by these their fatall and dangerous sinnes for this is the onely perfect and true way to prevent and avoyde their punishments GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE IX Iacomo de Castelnovo Iustfully falls in love with his daughter in law Perina his owne sonne Francisco de Castelnovo's Wife whom to injoy he causeth Ierantha first to poyson his owne Lady Fidelia and then his said son Francisco de Castelnovo in revenge whereof Perina treacherously murthereth him in his bed Ierantha ready to dye in travell of child confesseth her two Murthers for the which she is bang'd and burnt Perina hath her right hand cut off and is condemned to perpetuall imprisonment where she sorrowfully languisheth and dyes WEe need not send our curiosity or our curiosity us to seek Tygers and Monsters in Africa for Europe hath but too many who are so cruell and inhumane not only to imbrue but to imbath themselves in the innocent bloud of their Christian brethren And as Religion prohibites us to kill and commands us to love our enemies with what audacious and prophane impiety dare wee then murther our friends nay those of our owne bloud and who are the greatest part of our selves And although Italy have lately afforded many tragicall presidents and fearefull Examples of this nature wheâ—…of I have given some to my former and reserved others to my future bookes yet in my conceipt it hath produced none more bloudy and inhumane then this whether we respect the Murthers or the persons For here wee shall see a wretched and execrable old man so besotted in lust and flaming in malice and revenge as being both a husband and a father hee by a hellish young Gentlewoman his strumpet poysonâ—…th both his owne wife and his owne sonne It was his vanity which first inkindled the fire of his lust it is then his Impiety which gives way to the Devill to blow the coales thereto and so to convert it into Murther O that Sinne should so triumph o're Grace and not Grace o're Sinne O that Age and Nature should not teach us to bee lesse bloudy and more compassionate and charitable And alas alas by Poyson that drug of the Devill who first brought the damnable invention thereof from hell to be practised here on earth onely by his agents and members Wee shall likewise see him killed by his daughter in law for formerly poysoning of her husband Lust seduced him to perpetraâ—…e those Affection or rather bloudy Revenge drew her on to performe this and consequently to her punishment due for the same Had they had more Grace and Religion they would not have beene so inhumane but falling from that no marvell if they fell to be so wretched and miserable for if we die well we seldome live ill if live ill we usually never die well for it is the end that crowns the beginning not the beginning the end Therfore if we will be happy in our lives and blessed in our deaths we must follow Vertue and flie from Vice love Chastity and Charity and hate Lust and Envie preferre Heaven before Earth our Soules before our Bodies and defie Satan with a holy resolution both to feare and love God SAvoy is the Countrey and Nice the City seated upon the Mediterraneâ—…m Sea being the strongest Bulwarke against France and the best Forâ—…resse and Key of Italy where the Scene of this insuing Tragicall History is layd the which to refetch from the Head-spring and Fountaine of its originall it must carry our curiosity and understanding over those famous Mountaines the Alpes and from thence to the City of Saint Iohn de Mauriena where of late and fresh memory dwelt an aged Gentleman of rich revenues and great wealth named Seignior Antonio de Arconeto who had newly by his deceased Wife the Lady Eleanora de Bibanti two Children to wit a Son and a Daughter that named Seignior Alexandro and this the Lady Perina a little different in yeares for he was eighteen and