favour A Lady gave me once her cheek to kiss Being no less than I my self did wish For this I 'll say and bind it with an oath Her cheek tastes sweeter far than do's her mouth But there is nothing so much discovereth the vain Pride of these Beauties as a coyness to their Servants in their Wooing and Winning If they affect you that affection must be so shrowded and shaddowed as Lynceus's eyes could not disclose it Walk from them their eyes are on you walk to them their eyes are from you There is no argument be it never so well-relishing nor sorting with their liking that they will give ear to No posture be it never so graceful they will afford an eye to Opposition suiteth best with their condition To a stranger they will shew themselves familiar to you whose intimacy hath got a room in their hearts they will seem a stranger If you appear merry it must be expounded trifting childishness if grave stoick fullenness It were a gift above apprehension in every particular to fit their humour And yet they must be humour'd or they are lost for ever Beauty is coveted by all and where Nature has not cast the Face and Body in one of her finest Moulds what Arts what Costs are used to repair her work and varnish over her defect that they may not be obvious Beauty was so greatly Admired by the Ancients that whereas Gorgon by some called Medusa had such a loveliness imprinted on her Face that she fixed the Admiring Spectators for a time Immovable rendring them as Men Amaz'd and Astonished They hereupon feigned that she converted Men into Stones with the dazling brightness of her Eyes The Barbarous Nations had also such veneration for it that they thought none capable of any extraordinary Action unless nature had Impressed an Excellent shape and Loveliness upon their Persons to dignifie and distinguish them from others Holding that the accidental meeting of a Beautiful Person was an Augury or presage of good fortune whereas the contrary was looked upon as an unlucky Omen And indeed Beauty has found its favourers amongst all sorts of Persons pleading more powerfully than the most refined Oratory No Armour is proof against it's pointed rays the Sword and the Gown bend to it and pay it homage as the Soveraign Commandress of Affection And lays a Thousand snares for even the most stubborn and stoical of Mankind which they cannot at all times escape Beauty so Captivated the heart of that Renowned Warriour Edward the Fourth King of England that after in a Bloody War with the House of Lancaster having obtained the Crown the Lady Elizabeth Gray Widow to Sir John Gray slain in the Quarrel of Henry the Sixth coming to petition him for her Husbands Estate that had been declared Forfeited and Seized to the Kings use He at the first sight of her was so passionately in Love that though the Great Earl of Warwick who had by his Valour been mainly Instrumental in making him King was at that time as his Proxy Wooing for him the Infanta of Savoy he finding she would not yield to be his Mistress made her his Queen though to the hazard of his Kingdom Being driven out by the Inraged Earl who for this Affront took part with Henry the Sixth and remained as an Exile for a considerable time till Fortune favouring him he again by force of Arms assumed the Royal Dignity Beauty in Aspasia the daughter of Hermotimus the Phocian surpassed all the Virgins of her Age in the Elegance of her form being a perfect Pattern of an Excellent Beauty Attracting the Affections of all that gazed upon her so that he who came a Spectator departed a Lover and is by Aelian described in this manner Her Hair Yellow and naturally Curling her Eyes bright Sparkling and full her Ears small and her Nose a Gentle rising in the Midest her Skin smooth and her Countenance of a Rosie Colour For which cause the Phocians whilst she was a Girl gave her the Name of Milto her Lips Were red and her Teeth white as Alablaster her Feet small and her Voice had something in it so smooth and sweet that whilst the spoke it was like the Musick of Syrens she used no Feminine Arts to render her Beauties more Advantageous as being born and brought up by poor Parents she was as Chaste as Lovely so that allured by both Cyrus the Younger King of Persia made her his Wife And after his Decease she was Married to King Artaxerxes the force of Beauty and Chastity having so Transcendant a power as to make her twice a Queen and have the Ascendant over the most Celebrated Monarchs of Asia Beautiful Phryne being accused of Lewdness and having Learned to plead for herself at Athens baring her Breasts and disclosing but part of her Beauty so charmed her Judges that notwithstanding the proof against her they declared her innocent At that time notwithstanding they ordained for the prevention of the like Rapture or Surprize that no woman should ever after Plead her Cause And so admirable was her Beauty Naturally without the Assistance of Art that she took all in her snares that had the least Glimmering of a Conversation with her Beauty was so Dazling Triumphant in Lais that she inflamed all Greece many at the report of her Excellent Features falling in love with her when being pestered with Troops of Adorers whom she refused she at last fell in Love with Hypolochus and went to him at Meglopolis but there her Beauty proved her destruction for the Women envying her rare Perfections in Nature wherein themselves were so much out-done surprized the charming Lady and carryed her to the Temple of Venus where in a fit of jealous rage they Stoned her to death which so grieved the Men that they Branded the place from that time with the Temple of Venus the Murtheress Beautiful Polyxena Daughter of Pryamus King of Troy is Discribed by Dares to be in this manner of stature She was Tall Beautiful in her Features her Neck long and white as Down of Swans her Eyes sparkling her Hair of a Golden Colour and Long her Body exactly Shaped throughout her Fingers small and long her Legs Streight with a declining Calf her Feet neatly compacted And in the whole frame of Nature such a one as for Beauty excelled all the Women of her time besides which in Modesty she was Plain Hearted Bountiful and Affable to all Persons Beautiful Helena of Greece whose story is not unknown to the World since in her Cause so many Thousand Lives were spent and the famous City of Troy after a hard Ten Years Siege reduced to Ashes Is thus Discribed by the aforementioned Dares a Phrygian who was present in the War She saith he was of a Golden Hair full and Sparkling Eyes exceeding Fair of Face her Body well Shaped her Mouth Small and Curiously made her Legs Exactly Framed and a Mold between her Eye-brows her Disposition was Open and
Margaret d' Valois Sister to his Predecessor Mary d' Guise Daughter to Claude the first Duke of Lorrain she was Married to Lewis Duke of Longueville and afterward to James the first King of Scotland Mary Queen of England Daughter to Henry the Eighth Marred to Philip of Spain she was a great Persecutor of the Protestants and caused many of them to perish in the Flames by Tortures Imprisonment c. She died Childless of a burning Fever or as it was then called the Sweating Sickness November 17th 1558. and was succeeded by Elizabeth Second Daughter to Henry the 8th who abolished Popery and restored Protestantism Mary Queen of Scots Daughter to James the fifth promised in Marriage to Edward the Sixth of England but the Scotch Nobility after the Death of Henry the Eighth breaking their word and sending her privately to France she was Married to the Dauphin who soon after dying and she returning to Scotland she Married Henry Stuart Lord Darnley and Duke of Rothsay by whom she had King James the Sixth but he being murthered viz. blown up by a Train of Powder laid under his House great troubles arose which forced her to fly for England where she was unhappily put to Death being beheaded at Fotheringay Castle upon suggested Fears and Jealousies Mathide Daughter to Bonijacius Marquess of Tuscany she succeeding her Father incited thereto by the Pope warred upon Henry the Fourth Emperor and so devoted she was to the Roman See that she bestowed all her Hereditary Lands upon it she was a Woman of great Courage and died at the Age of 76. Anno. 1115. Maud she was Daughter to Henry the First of England who Married her to Henry the Fourth Emperor of Germany but he dying and leaving no Issue by her she returned again to England and afterward Married Geoffery Plantagenet Earl of Anjou by whom she had a Son who after long Wars and contending for the Crown of England succeeded King Stephen by the Stile of Henry the Second Mavia Queen of the Saracens she Conquered or spoiled Palestius and Arabia in the time of the Emperor Valens but being converted to the Christian Religion she made a Peace with him and Assisted him with a powerful Army against the Goths that had broken into Italy and other parts of the Empire Maximilia she was Disciple to Montanus the Herenick and kept him Company in an obscene manner she at lenght joyn'd to her Priâ—cilla who made it their business to seduce and draw others into the Error using their Beauties as a Snare for the men and by their Riches and soft deluding Tongues they inticed the weaker Sex but at last she and Montanus falling out killed each other Meditriva a Pagan Goddess whom the Ancients concluded to take care of Physick and it's Operation in the Bodies of Men and Women and at her Festivals they mixed Old and new Wine which they drank moderately by way of Cordial or Physick Medusa one of the Gorgons with whom Neptune fell in Love till Minerva turned her hair into Snakes and her Head being cut off by Perseus Minerva placed it in her shield and whatever living Creature looked on it was turned into a Stone Magera one of the Furies Daughter of the Night and Acheron she instilled Madness into the minds of People Melania Wife to Pinienus Son to Severus a noble Man of Rome the Destruction of that City being revealed to her two years before Alaric laid it waste she remov'd with her Family to Carthage and was there Instructed by St. Augustin then lived a Monastick Life after she had perswaded many to turn Christians Melenia a Roman Lady Daughter to Mercelinus she burying her Husband when she was very young in sorrow forsook all worldly Pleasures and went a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem carrying one of her Children with her she confronted the Arrians and undeceived many of their Errors when building a Monastery at Jerusalem she dwelt Twenty five years in it and died in that City Melissa she was Daughter to Melissus King of Creet said to Nurse Jupiter and bring him up with Goats Milk Melpomene one of the Nine Muses Mellona a Goddess who had the care over Bees that they should not fly away in their swarming time Merrades Bacchinalians or Women that attended on Baschuses's Drunken-Feasts or Revels who did much mischief in their Wine Mene a Goddess worshipped by the Roman Women for the better ordering their Bodies in their monthly Purgations Meplictis the Goddess of Pools and muddy Lakes Merope one of the Seven Pleiades Daughter to Atlas and Pleione said to be married to Sysiphus Messalina Wife to the Emperor Claudius who not content to keep Gallants in the Court to satisfie her Lust if such a thing could be done but in her Husbands Absence she publickly married C. Silius a handsome Roman Knight for which the Emperor caused her to be beheaded Metra she was Daughter to Ercysichthon a Lord of Thessaly who to save her Fathers Life who was ready to Famish prostituted her self for Food to sustain his Life Minerva styled the Goddess of Arts and Wisdom said to be conceived of the Brain of Jove delivered thence by Vulcan who cleaving his Skull this Goddess sprung out in bright Armour she is often taken for Pallas who in some Cases is styled Minerva Miroselde a poor Weavers Daughter of whom King Charibert was so Enamoured that upon her refusing to comply to be his Concubine he married her and after her Death he married her Sister for which he was Excommunicated by St. Germain Mirrah Daughter to Cyniâ—as King of the Cipriots she fell so desperately in Love with her Father that making him drink Wine she lay with him but the matter being discovered by her being with Child she fled into Arabia and brought forth Adodonis but she dying of that Travel Venus turned her into a Mirrh-Tree and put Adonis to Nurse ro Nimph Herclea when being grown up and proving very Comely Venus fell in Love with him and often enjoyed him in the Idalian Groves but at last contrary to her perswasions undertaking to hunt a wild Boar he was slain by the furious Beast and greatly lamented of the Goddess who turned him into an Enemy Molza Tarquinia a Lady of Modena very Learned and Skilful in the Languages she much haunted the tops of Parnassus and bathed often in the River Helicon to them the invention of Songs and Sciences are attributed they are called viz. Clio Vrania Calliope Vterpt Erato Thalia Melpomene Terphiscare and Polylymnia they are held by some to be the Daughters of Coelum and the Earth Mirriam or Mary Sister to Moses she was smitten with Leprosie because she and Aaron murmured against him and shut him out of the Camp but being a Prophetess all the People stayed till her days of cleansing were fulfilled and she again received into the Congregation Aarons Punishment was remitted upon Moses praying for him Malhatun the fair Wife of Othoman the first Founder of the Turkish
Veneries and Pleasures attending her and is by him preferred before a Myriad of the rarest Beauties nay before all the Goddesses he has read of or are told in Fables when a man or woman is so taken it shows the Symptoms of Love in an extraordinary manner and denotes a kind of witchcraft in Love A Gordian knot that is altogether difficult if not impossible to untie and requires the Sword of Alexander to cut it in sunder That is a man must do violence to himself in breaking such a slavish Chain take himself away as it were whether he will or no from the Temptation and be weaned by absence 'till with the Eyes of his Reason he is capable of discerning his Mistake and Folly and then there is hopes of a cure for his Frenzy but till then his Recovery is despaired of Melancholly Lovers of all sorts are thus entangled like unthinking Indians they barter Gold and Diamonds for Beads and painted Glass If I did says Lucreâ—ia but let my Glove fall I had one of my Suiters nay two or three ready to take it up and as a Favour kiss it then with a low Congy deliver it into my hand and if I walked another was ready to sustain me a third provided Pears Plumbs Apricocks Cherries and the rarest of Fruits to accommodate and proud was he from whose hand I accepted them nor is the other Sex less dotingly overseen for come to me says a fair Lady in Aristâ—â—etus Come quickly Sweet-heart for all other men are meer Clowns Block-heads and Satyrs in my Eyes to thy lovely self thy Gestures Looks and Actions are incomparable beyond all others Venus never so admired her Adonis 〈◊〉 pleased with Hipolytus Ariaâ—ne with Theseus or Hero with Leandeâ— as she was taken and Enamoured with her Mopsus tho' Characters of deformity were Engraven on him by the hand of nature and vice had slamp'd Imperfection on his mind O Call me Sister Call me Servant chuse Or rather thy dear Love 〈◊〉 thine to use What shall we say when all these things are seriously weighed and Considered but that the best name we can give these sorts of Love is a noble madness though some will have it that amongst the many absurd and irksom Symptoms Phantastick Fits Passions and Inconveniencies incident to persons thus infascinated there are some Beams of pure Light penetrating the Fogs and Mists and shining bright some graceful Qualities in these Lovers which this Affection causeth at certain times for as it sometimes makes wise Men Fools so again by dear bought Experience it opens the eyes of Fools and renders them Wise it makes the Sordid become Generous Cowards Couragious the Covetous Liberal and Magnificent the Clown Civil the Cruel Gentle the Prophane Religious Slovens Neat the Lazy Active observant and the like Marriage it's Joys and real Comforts c. Marriage or Matrimony derives it's Honour and Antiquity from Paradice where God himself joyned the first and most Lovely pair that ever entered into that Comfortable State and has enjoyned it as a great Happiness to Man to distinguish him the more nobly from irrational Creatures though it is not nor has been so exactly observed as the happy Conveniences of it require In the first Ages of the world People were rude and boisterous having corrupted their ways and in a great manner thrown off this â—oly State living promiscuously Therefore some of great Antiquity will have it that Câ—crops King of Athens some hundreds of years after the Flood reformed Mens manners in Europe by perswasions and wholsome Laws shewing them the Inconveniences of brutal Lust and the Praise and Advantages accruing by living Chaste and Virtuous Lives It is indeed the happy sweet of Life where the Married Couple met upon such Terms as the State was first designed for To be a help and comfort to each other to be tender kind of goal Natur'd the Man striving to do all for the Womans good and she Labouring as much as in her liâ—s to requite his Care and Industry never to give cause of Anger or Disturbance but to stifle or bridle those Passiâ—ns that would make it uneasie and disturb it's Quiet There is not only your own Proneness â—o hinder the true Felicity that arises from his State but there are Satans Instruments malicious People who take a Pleasure in mischief and labour to disturb and hinder so sweet a Harmony as a Constant and unshaken Love makes in the Souls of those who take care to keep it pure For although in several parts of the World Marriage is highly prized yet they have such Fantastick ways in the Celebration and Continuance that they make it appear ridiculous The Persians Partbians and most of the Eastern Nations having by the Customs of their Countries liberty to marry as many Wives as they can maintain and live in common among them and in some Countries the Bramins or Heathen Priests always have the Brides Maiden-head or the Profit of it by assigning her over to any one that will give Money for the first Nights Enjoyment It was a Law in Scotland that the Landlords should have that advantage over their Tenants Wives and it held a long time till Malcolm the Third abolished it among the Romans Marâ—rage was kept Inviolable and as a most Honourable Estate till such time as they got the knack of Divorcing which now none use more often Amongst the Indians of the East it was a Custom many Years that all the Brothers should have but one Wife in common and therefore when he that went unto her set his staffe at the Door which any of the other seeing retired till it was removed The Assyrians and Babilonians were either very Proud that they would not sue to the Female Sex for their Favours or else Awkard or Lazy in the Art of Courtship for we find they generally especially those of the more inferior Rank bought their Wives some of their Parents privately others in the publick Market and indeed Ladies we must own that obtaining them at such a rate they held an absolute Tyranny over and abridged them of those Liberties and Priviledges which by Prerogative in Nature and Merit is justly due to your Sex but through the happy influence of your more Auspicious Stars you live in a Climate more temperate and not subject to such misfortunes but sit Commanding on the Throne of your Beauties compelling the stubbornest of Mankind to pay you Homage Marriage was formerly attended with other Ceremonies than at present even in England for upon the Wedding-day there was carried before the Bride who was led by two young Persons as a Bason of Gold or Silver whilst on her Head she wore a Garland of Corn-Eats signifying Riches and Plenty and Wheat was scattered upon her by other Attendants in token of Fruitfulness and upon the Bridal Night before she entered the Streets a Censer with Fire and Incense was put in one hand and Water in the other as Emblems of Piety Virtue