CVPIDS MESSENGER OR A trusty Friend stored with sundry sorts of serious wittie pleasant amorous and delightfull Letters What Cupid blushes to discouer Thus to write he learnes the Lover Newly written How Not loue Thou Shalt loue Printed at London by M. F. and are to be sold by Francis Groue ouer against the Sarazens head without Newgate 1629. The Contents A Letter inuiting his Friend to write to him Fol. 1 The answer A Letter excusatory for not writing Fol. 2 A Letter to a friend vpon the death of his wife Fol. 3 A comfortable Letter vpon the losse of an husband Fol. 4 A Letter of griefe for friends absence Fol. 5 A Letter for the entreaty of good will to a young Gentlewoman ibid. Her Answer Fol. 7 Another Letter to his Mistris desiring her loue Her answer Fol. 8 To a beauteous Lady vpon a long affection Fol. 9 Her Answer Fol. 10 To a iudicious Gentlewoman Her answer Fol. 11 To a Lady with whom he fell in loue seeing her at a solemn Triumph Fol. 12 Her Answer Fol. 13 To his Mistris that was of wanton and light cariage Fol. 14 Her Answer Fol. 15 A desperate Louer to his quondam Mistris Fol. 16 Her Answer Fol. 17 A Letter of true kindnesse Her answer Fol. 18 A Letter of counsell from a discreet mother to her daughter newly maried Her answer Fol. 19 A Letter in case of wrong supposed to be commited Fol. 20 A Letter from his Seruant to his Master Fol. 21 An answer of a Letter for curtesie and fauour receiued Fol. 22 The Fathers Letter against the Sonne Fol. 23 The Answer Fol. 24 To his mistris quondam hauing spent all his meanes vpon her in prosperitie he being imprisond she forsakes him Fol. 25 To his friend lying long sicke Fol. 26 A Letter wherein is recommended to a Nobleman from his inferiour the conditions and behauiour of a person Fol. 27 The Answer Fol. 28 A merry Letter to his friend in London Fol. 29 A Letter gratulatorie Fol. 30 A Letter to his silent friend The Answer Fol. 31 A Letter expostulatory for breach of promise Fol. 32 To his friend salue to pouerty ibid. A Letter of a Gentlewoman to a Gentleman with whom she fell in loue and His Answer Fol. 33. 34 A Letter from a Chapman in the Country to a Tradesman in London with The Answer Fol. 35. 36 A Letter of thankfulnes for kindnesse shewed to his son Fol. 37 The Answer Fol. 38 A Letter to his Mistresse in the Country that desired newes from the Citie ibid Her Answer Fol. 40 A wooing and comfortable letter to a noble widow that had newly lost her husband Fol. 41 Her Answer Fol. 42 Another to the same purpose Fol. 43 Her Answer Fol. 44 A Letter of discontent after the falling out of Louers Fol. 45 To his angry Mistris Fol. 46 A Letter from an Apprentice in London to his father in the Country ibid. A Letter from a husband to his wife Her Answer Fol. 47. 58 A Letter from one kinsman to another in London or any other place Fol. 49 A Letter to request the borrowing of hundred pounds Fol. 50 The Answer Fol. 51 A Letter to his friend for breach of promise Fol. 52 The Answer Fol. 53 To his friend a Mercer Fol. 53 A Letter to an vnfaithfull friend ibid. A Letter for admittance into seruice Fol. 55 To his loue vpon a long and fruitlesse affection Fol. 56 To his sweet heart in the Country ibid. A young mans Letter to his enamoured mistris Fol. 57 Her kinds answer Fol. 58 A Letter of Request ibid. A Letter of discontent vpon a deniall of a Request Fol. 59 To a Court Lady Her Answer Fol. 59. 60 CVPIDS MESSENGER DELIVERING SVNDRY Excellent Letters A Letter inuiting his Friend to write to him THough the want of your swéet societie my worthy Friend doe occasion reason of griefe yet it lies in you euen by the often mission of your desired Letters to mitigate that sorrow and since the distance of place doth denie vs our accustomed conference and orall communication let the passage and entercourse of our Letters supplie that defect Now our tongues cannot be heard let vs be frequent in our writing and let not the change of places alter our mindes Therefore that you might not iudge mée negligent of our fore passed amitie or forgetfull of our olde friendship I haue tooke boldnesse to visit you with this letter desiring you to be no niggard in this kinde of friendly remembrance I wish to you all prosperous fortunes as to my selfe and continue my loue to you with all sinceritie But lest the proliritie of my Letter grow to the length of an Oration I set bounds to my writing and remains Yours in boundlesse affection C. D. London Febr. 4. 1629. The Answer A Letter excusatory for not writing I Am afraid iudicious and kind sir that it is with me as it is with that vnfortunate Pylot who falls into the Gulfe of Scylla while he indeauors to avoid the danger of Charybdis Incidit in Scyllam cupidus vitare Charybdim I confesse I haue receiued Letters from you and seeking by not answering all this while to conceale the rudenesse of my vnpolished penne from the deepe discerning eye of your iudgement I doubt whether I haue not made shipwracke of your good opinion who happely imputes my silence vnto my negligence of your loue or to my obliuion of your passed kindenesses But I beseech you kindest Sir to haue thus much confidence in disposition that no confused Chaos of cogitations no fullnesse of imployment shall banish your remembrance out of my thoughts though I bee neuer so busie I make answer to those I little regard I dare scarce write to you I am possessed with such a due reuerence of your worthinesse when I am most at leisure Yet finding in my selfe how farre greater a crime it is to neglect duty then to lay open my imperfection to a well wishing friend I haue chosen the latter to make tender of the former wishing that as you equalize graue Nestor in wisedome so you might parallell him in the longaeuity of a happy life I humbly surccase At your command E R. Newcastle Iune 2. 1629. A Letter to a friend vpon the death of his wife THe acquaintance I had with your vertuous wife honest friend makes me feele the sense of her losse for hée that can be insensible of the losse of a good woman is an alien to nature and a rebell to all morall vertues I may truly say she was praise-worthy for her many good parts but they were but good prouisions for the world to come Giue me leaue to aske you why you mourne I meane not why you mourne outwardly which is an old custome and a matter of formality but why doe you mourne inwardly which is the true sorrow you will say I say for the losse of a companion Indeed you doe well for as a man was solitary before God gaue
that value and my dealing for much more yearly betwéene vs might without other circumstances therein haue satisfied you I must tell you plaine in the countrie there are many good men whose estates are knowne very sufficient which cannot raise money vpon their credit in an instant we want a common banke with vs which might furnish vs suddenly and thorowly Broakers trade not here nor Vsurers take their place but in Summer for their recreation thinke friend me an honest man and so you haue much cause to thinke confident in which though my estate were brittle as I thanke God I know it is sure you may be armed I will neuer faile nor deceiue you I roue not beyond my compasse neither make a sure foundation out of other mens ruines but content with a little leauing a blessing to my children and a good memorie amongst my neighbours Let me heare from you concerning the cause of this breach and a note of the reckoning betwéene vs which I will make euen and rather rest honest then rich Septemb. 6 Your true friend as you shall vse me L. M. The Answer MAster M. truly it much grieues me you were so disappointed and the negligence of my man went not away vnpunished by whose default the Carrier went without them beleeue me on my word and I account my selfe happier in being a master of that then in much riches no fear of payment nor least doubt of your estate was any hindrance to it I haue well knowne you by others and haue had so much experience of you my selfe that you shall sooner want occasion for wares then I confidence to trust you your neighbours speake much good of you and all men that know you giue you a faire report which makes me happie both in your custome and friendship If sinister occasions shall any time happen as while wee are here they are incident vnto vs I shall rather pittie your fortunes then call in question your faire dealings And know we are all men accountable euery instant for all our possessions The Cartier this weeke brings those commodities and better and more vendable you neuer had of me and I verily beleeue the Gentleman will thinke themselues happily repaid in the stay with the exceeding goodnesse and lastingnesse of the waies For your reckonings at more leisure I will peruse and send them in whose place receiue my kind commendations and entreâ—ty for my mans carelesnesse I bid you most heartily farewell Your friend as you know I. G. A Letter of thankfulnes for kindnesse shewed to his Sonne SIr the fauours you haue already done me are of such effect and merit that I shall neuer be at quiet vntill I haue made some requitall of them I am ashamed you should be thus continually troubled with a sonne of mine whom I haue charged to obey you in al things as my selfe and I pray you doe so much as haue a carefull hand ouer him as if you were his father or hée your onely childe I kindly and heartily thâ—nke you for the apparell you haue made him lâ—â—ely which is decent comely and profitable and the monie you â—aue paid for him you may accommodate him with the rest if you thinke it fitting for my part I giue you all power and authoritie ouer him seeing you are pleased to take the trouble vpon you So wishing but to meet with some good occasion that may lie in my poore power to acknowledge how much I am beholding vnto you I for this time commit you to the protection of the Almighty Resting Your assured louing friend D. B. The Answer MAster B. I haue receiued your Letter concerning your son Sir for any fauour I can doe you either in this or any other I shall be right willing knowing how much from time to time I and mine are bounden vnto you And assure your selfe it shall be no trouble vnto me to vse the best of my counsell and care ouer him For his apparell it will keepe him warme I know which is the principall thing I ayme at and I hope pleasing to him and his friends The other money I shall deliuer him as I shall see good both for himselfe to vse and the credit of you his father Moreouer Sir he is to me very dutifull and louing by which he shall lose nothing in my care of his welfare and hee very well spends his time at Schoole and to good purpose I hope wherein I doubt not you shall haue great comfort He behoueth himselfe so well by his good demeanure to all that he is generally beloued of all my neighbours For my power and authority ouer him I will imploy my selfe onely for his good and your fatherly care committed to me And so with a thousand commendations I commit you to God Your friend I.D. A Letter to his Mistresse in the Country that desired newes from the Citie MOst excellent mistris your command which is to me a law binds me to obey you and though the task be infinite hard to containe so great a beast in so little paper yet for your satisfaction I will delineate to life the proportion of some of his members It is newes you desire beléeue me faire one since I came into the Citie I haue not seene or heard any thing old euen from the Capitoll to the Cottage all things are in their new garments the Court hath new fauourites the Citie a new Senate and the Common-wealth new officers the first are as great as good the second are as rich as wise and the third as awefull as iust Men are new for where they should loue they feare women are new for where they should honor they subdue and children are new for where they should reuerence they astonish Customes and manners are new for the poore daily féed the rich the rich cozen the great and the great make fooles of the good ones The fashions though they were neuer old are now newer then euer for in man and woman there is not a point to chuse betwixt the sexes the one hath descended so much downward and the other ascended so much vpward that met in one circle they are both now trussed vp together without difference Apparell that was made to couer is now made to discouer folly and lewdnesse and they are finest that are nearest to the naked Anatomie Discourse is new for wise men talke of their wealth learned men of their deceit and great men of vanitie Old men like old Wolues boast of their preyes past middle age like Lyons talke of that which is in their powers and children like dogs barke of the reuenges which shall be Our Citizens like Asses are proud of rich burthens and like Apes ioy in pyde trapping and our gallants like Béere-brewers horses bragge how much drinke they can carrie To conclude all things are so new that euen vertue her selfe is despised in old garments and hée that kéepeth any phrase of his forefathers is but a rude speaker for to say Hic
labour so nothing but great disdaine will grow from my vexation So hoping you will make that hope desperate which is without all hope of vertue I rest Your chast friend P. C. Rowel March 7. A Letter of true kindnesse IF dame Nature had béene pleased to haue made my bosome transparent your eies should see the secrets of my heart which if it haue any happinesse in the world it is in the hope of your fauour but amazed with the admiration of your worth I know not what to say of your worthinesse but onely this that finding the due of your desert exceeding my capacitie in commendatiō I wil leaue the excellencie thereof to more honourable inuention and thinke Fortune enough fauourable if shee prefer my seruice to your commandement presents I haue none worthy the sending but the heart of my loue at your emploiment which being nothing more then what you will I rest euer one and the same Your seruant W. W. Her Answer IF your speeches be led by your thoughts it is needlesse to desire a transparencie in your bosome for when as the heart and the tongue agree together then mens protestations are followed with reall performance words of admiration trouble discretion in construction and eloquence in loue hath not the best commendation inuentions are ready where fancy is studious but where wit is vertuous there is will gracious your present most worthy of all acceptance cannot be better requited then thankfully remembred and if conceits meet in a mutuall content what comfort may follow I leaue to the heauens fauour and so I rest Your friend A. W. A Letter of counsell from a discreet mother to her daughter newly maried MY good daughter thou art now going into the world and must leaue to be a child and learne to be a mother and looke to a familie rather then to the intertainment of a friend and yet both necessarie in their kinds finde the disposition of thy husband and in anie wise moue not his impatiencie let thy kindnesse bind his loue thy vertue his comfort thy huswiferie his commendations auoid tatling gossips yet be kind to thy neighbours and no stranger to thy kindred be gentle to thy seruants and not ouer familar haue an eie to thy doore and a locke to thy chest keepe a bit for begger and a bone for a dog cherish the Bée that brings home honie and make much of the Cocke that makes much of his Chickens take heed abroad of the Kite and within of the Rat pray to God for his blessings on all thy proceedings and haue a religious care of thy modest gouernment and rather for charitie then praise giue relife vnto the poore if at any time thou hast need of any good I can doe thee be assured whilst thou hast a mother thou hast a friend so hoping in thy kindnesse thou wilt take care of thy counsell beseeching God to blesse thée that I may euer haue ioy of thée with my hearts loue to his tuition I leaue thée Thy most louing mother R. S. Her Answer MY good Mother I haue passed the yeares of a childe and know the care of a mother and therefore for your kind aduise for my cariage I thanke you and what benefit I will make of your lessons you shall finde in the fruit of my obseruation I am but newly come into the world and God knowes when I shall goe out of it and am yet scarce warme in my house and therefore hardly know yet how to goe through it For me husbands humour if he alter not his nature I doe not doubt but wee shall liue as Doues while care and kindnesse shall continue content my seruants shall find me both a mistris and a friend my neighbours no strangers and idle gossips no companion Thus in the duty of loue with thankes for your motherly care in prayer to the Almighty to blesse me with his grace and to liue no longer then in his loue and yours I take my leaue for this time but rest during life Your most louing daughter P. E. A Letter in case of wrong supposed to be committed SIr your Letter is more troublesome to my conceit then sauouring as I am credibly led to thinke of that your wonted most noble disposition vnto me I haue receiued With what supportation and vnaccustomed griefe I haue retained them I referre to any one guiltlesse accused and suspended from so high sauours as formerly by your bountie to me haue beene performed simply to bee coniectured Long was it ere I could satisfie my selfe by any accesse that might be to profer my selfe or these humbled Letters vnto you yet neuerthelesse weighing how farre different those new occurrents were from those your ancient fauors I surmised with my selfe that the instigation procéeded solely from others hardly perchance bearing those graces wherein I stood with you and becomming thereupon my bitter enemies the sinister deuise whereof stood vpon me wholly to ouerthrow or impugne For which hauing no other nor better meanes at this time then these submissiue lines I purpose them vnto you as solicitors of your former liking confessing if in any waies I haue erred vnto you as I will not vtterly seclude my selfe from euery error it was but as a young man rather by ignorance then of malice any way to be intended as touching any other obiection let me but craue pardon to haue accesse vnto your presence and then iudge as you finde me two waies are only left my accusers to my face or mine owne simplicitie to cleare me This is all I require and so much I hope you will not denie me wherewith resting in due acknowledgement of that your former bountie I humbly surcease this 15 of Decemb. 1628. Yours to command T. C. A Letter from a Seruant to his Master SIr my humble dutie remembred vnto you and to my good mistris You may please to vnderstand that I haue dispatcht the businesse vnto Master C. for the monie you sent mee for and haue giuen him an acquitance for the same and according to your good remembrance vnto 〈◊〉 I haue bought for you twelue gallons of the best Sacke and eighteene gallons of Claret and fifteene yards of fine Broad cloath and thirtie ells of fine Holland all which I hope by Gods grace shall come vnto your hands I haue sent you also here inclosed your Bill of parcels and their seuerall prices I wrote formerly vnto you for certaine commodities out of the Country which I haue now receiued by the Carrier Here is at this present small newes worth the writing vnto you wherfore praying vnto all Almighty God for the health and prosperity of you and all yours I humbly take my leaue and rest Your faithfull and ready seruant to command I.P. An answer of a Letter for courtesie and fauour receiued MY good friend M. G. how much I am bound vnto you for multitude of fauours and especially for that you haue made choice of me as to write your
kinde and friendly Letters in my befalse I can no other waies expresse then to continue your affectionate poore friend and will for euer acknowledge it as of your great kindnesse beyond any merit of mine owne and as by duty I am bound no day shall passe me that I will not pray to God for your health and prosperitie and the redoubling of your daies beseeching you to excuse me in that in person I cannot doe or performe what I desire by reason at this time some hast extraordinary will not permit me I therefore most humbly take my leaue of you this 14. May. Your affectionate poore friend P. C. The Fathers Letter against the Sonne THe sight of your Letters and message receiued by your seruant haue good Cousen bred to me in perusing and hearkning vnto the same no small matter of disquiet not that your letters or messages for themselues are or haue béene at any time ill welcome to my hands but in respect of him for whom they come so filled haue I beene long since with the euils by him committed I am nothing ignorant that of meere loue and good will you framed your spéech vnto me in the behalfe of my vngratious Sonne I neede not repeat here vnto you with what fatherly care I haue brought him vp to mans estate how likewise I sought both with maintenace and place of credit to continue him as a Gentleman I placed him with a right godly and worshipfull Knight Sir T. H. who for my sake loued him and I know tooke paines to reforme him Complaints were infinite against him This man could not be quiet for him that mans seruants he misused this party hee deceiued and others hiâ—hly wronged Since which too much to be reuealed how stubbornly in mine owne house how iniuriously amongst mine owne people hath he behaued himselfe And because it was against Christmas and I would not dismisse him vnfurnished I gaue him for himselfe and his man a couple of good Geldings and twentie pound in his purse he was no sooner gone twentie miles but spent his money at Cards and Dice pawnd his apparell sold his Geldings and in the end comming to one of my tenants to borrow money which he denied to lend him hee fell vpon him and beat him Thus louing Cousen you see in part his ill led life and may thereby conceiue my griefe Sending in the meane time my commendations and earnest thanks for your care of my well being to you and your bedfellow This 20 Aug. 1628. T. R. The answer I Haue receiued your letter my kind vncle in answer to the last letter I sent which was the businesse of your son I am very sory that a Gentleman of your grauity and knowledge in the world and for the good estimation that the country hath of you that Master F. C. your sonne should deale so vnkindly with you I know your fatherly care of him from time to time and how diligent and not sparing any cost in bringing him vp and to place him with a gentleman of the best ranke in all the country was nobly done yet with all you might if so you please doe well to consider he is your owne sonne and if you looke into your owne youth you shall finde these were your youthfull straines and so much the more to bee borne withall and time and age will tame all these things in an ingenious and witty Gentleman I desire you for my sake retaine him kindly into your fauour this once more for he hath vpon the reputation of a Gentleman promised neuer to doe the like enormities but to liue as a most dutifull and louing sonne and for the same I dare passe my credit I pray you entertaine him respectiuely and I will euer remaine Your louing kinsman T. F. To his mistris quondam hauing spent all his meanes vpon her in prosperitie he being imprisond she forsakes him IF my paper were made of the skins of croking Toades or speckled Adders my inke of the blood of Scorpions my penne pluckt from the Screech-owles wings they were but fit instruments to write vnto thee that art more venemous more poisonous more ominous then the worst of these for doe but descend into the depth of thy guilty conscience and sée how manie vowes promises and deepe protestations nay millions of oathes hast thou sworne thy fidelitie vnto mée which one day will witnesse against thee If I should speake with the voice of Mandrakes or as loud as the noise of the Summers thunder yet could I not proclaime vnto the world thy infinite basenesses I being so firme and constant vnto thée when I swomme in the golden flouds of prosperitie then wast thou as often thou didst protest firme and constant vnto mée But when the water began to ebbe and my ship run on ground then like thy selfe thou forsookest me At first thy loue was as hot to me as an Italian to a wench of fifteene but when my gold was spent and consumed then thy loue grew as cold to me as a Fishmongers fingers are in a great frost Doe not thinke I write this vnto thee to bée a meanes to helpe me in this my great distresse and imprisonment for know thou though all my friends haue forsaken me nay though death griefe affliction and all the miseries that possibly can befall a miserable man in this wretched world while he liueth here and all these griefes doe euerie minute torment me yet I had rather fall by their force then rise by thy assistance so hatefull grieuous so loathsome so tedious and so incomparably abominable is thy very name vnto me Leprosie compared to thée is all health and all manner of infection but a flea-biting and all manner of diseases though they were fetcht from twentie Hospitals were but like the fit of an Ague for thou art all Leprosie all diseases for neither thy bodie nor thy soule are frée thy body from the disease of shame and disgrace of the world nor thy soule frée from the sicknesse of sinne God amend and pardon thée Once thy friend I. P. To his friend lying long sicke MY worthie friend Master Prince though the distance of place be such that we cannot heare one another you in the center of the Kingdome London I at Yorke yet you shall sée me in my Letter my tongue my penne my heart are all your seruants You plainly perceiue a long lingring sicknesse will draw you to a long desired rest where long your mind hath had his residence You now perceiue Fame is but smoake metalls but drosse pleasure but a pill with sugar All these earthly delights if they were sound how short they are fléeting euery day they are but as a good day betwixt two Agues or like Sodomes Apples faire red outsides being handled are blacke dust I admire the faith of Moses but presupposing his faith I wonder not at his choice that he preferred the afflictions of Israel to the pleasures of Aegypt and chose rather to eate
giuen a new life to all things which the tempestuous winter had left forlorne the ioyfull Merchant hath made a rich returne and the laborious husbandman hath cramm'd his barnes with the plenteous crop of the euer fruitfull earth Euerie one hath his hope onely my selfe more vnfortunate then all the rest in this reuolution of time haue not had any successe I am you sée péerelesse in misfortune it rests in you with the sympathie of affection to make me péerelesse in felicity of which I will neuer despaire there being no heart that is more infinitely affected toward you then the heart of Your truest seruant E. I. To his sweet heart in the Country Sole mistris of my affections THough in London where I now am many singular beauties are daily obuious to my sight yet I beséech you not to charge me vnfained lines with flatterie if in the iust collaudation of your owne vnparalleld pulchritude I prefer your vnmatchable forme before the ratest of their composures Their formosities come as far short of yours as the splendor of the twinkling Stars comes short of the all-enlightning radiance of the Sun beames and they all are as far your inferiors in the rauishing gifts of Nature as the vilipended pibble is inferior to the worth of the most high prized Carbuncle To which outward endowments when I reuolue in my mind and no houre passeth without commemoration of your perfections how swéetly you haue vnited all internall graces then am I distracted with griefe for my absence and though my vnrestrained mind be inseparably with you yet I curse the distance of place which depriues me of all comfort because it disioynes mée from your presence which till I enioy all ioy is banished out of my brest and I haue giuen griefe a frée dominion in me I cannot say I rest but I remaine Your entire vessall I. S. A young mans Letter to his enamoured mistris Fairest of a thousand IF you were not absolute I would not be thus resolute onely to loue you whom I hold onely worthie louing your beautie tels mine eye and your kindnesse perswades my heart of your goodnesse for if you were proud I should disdaine you and if you were not faire I would not affect you now if you know the one true in your selfe beléeue the other in me and wrong not your selfe in not doing mée right Modestie and vicenesse are two and delayes are the hindrances of happinesse to vrge your patience with importunitie I will not and yet to giue ouer my suit I cannot and therefore knowing your iudgement sufficient to vnderstand your owne good I hope to finde your disposition not inclinde to hurt him who remaineth Your as you will and when you will T. D. Her kinde answer MY worthy friend how long I haue loued you was from the first instant that I beheld you how much I doe loue you I would I could tell you how dearly I will loue you my best endeauors shall truly make knowne vnto you and if vnder heauen I may find such happinesse on the earth as to be regarded in your fauour I will thinke it idle that figures earthly felicity for your excellence being almost without exception let my loue be without comparison and if truth may haue beliefe let my affection be without suspition and as you haue won my heart with your eyes make it happy with your hands so hoping that so sweet an aspect can haue no sowrenesse in spirit in the hope of your kinde answer I rest Yours deuoted to be commanded A. B. A Letter of Request KInde friend I would entreat a kindnesse but for feare of a deniall not out of mine owne deserts but rather your disposition which I doubt is too neare the nature of the world rather to grant then to gratifie excuses are more trials of wit then truth and a faithfull heart hath no stop in loue and therefore that I may not haue cause to wrong my selfe in my assured confidence of your worth doe right to your selfe in the good of that performance that without parenthesis may conclude in a full point of kindnesse The substance of my suit I haue sent you by word of mouth because my hand-writing shall not witnesse my vnhappinesse if my hope should faile the expectation of my affection in which without greater care of the contrarie I rest Yours as you know D. S. A Letter of discontent vpon deniall of a Request My small friend I Thanke you for nothing more then that I haue nothing to thanke you for wherein you rather considered what I am then your selfe should be pardon my folly in presuming aboue knowledge and beleeue mée no more if I fall into the like error of opinion you willed mée to make account of your vttermost power in my good It may bée it was in wishes which are easily requited but when they are void of effects they are but troubles to reason I cannot spell without letters nor vnderstand words without substance therefore loath to be tedious when I haue vnwillingly béene troublesome I pray you let complements be without cost so shall kindnesse continue in that condition of iudgement that shall make me alwaies readie to requite your deniall of my request as I finde cause Your friend to command R. T. To a Court Lady IF Loue could dissemble patience could haue no passion but truth is so tyed to affection that as a sound limbe it cannot halt If you aske the reason of my affection looke into the excellencie of your owne worth and then if there be any extreame take it in the best part which groweth from your selfe for such is my iudgement of your deseruing as can be answered in nothing but in admiring for surely hée must be either verie dim sighted that doth not preferre your beautie to all shadowes or dull witted that vnderstands not the honour of your worthinesse O 〈◊〉 me leaue then out of the sight of my best sense and sense of my best sight to deuote my seruice to your command that may giue a happinesse in your employment and while idle Complements are but Court fashions let plaine truth haue such acceptance in your fauour that suspition may not wrong a true affection in which I vow euer to rest Yours all or mine owne not at all I. G. Her complementall answer VVHat words shall I vse to win your affection holding vnder heauen my happines but in your loue if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would please you in your affaires I would neuer rest 〈◊〉 in your fauour if gifts might be graciously accepted I would giue you my selfe for your loue if pitty might moue you I would lay before you my passion and if my death might onely answer your desire I would not liue to despaire of your comfort but loue being a spirit of that nature that onely is pleased in being himselfe I will leaue all my hopes to that happy houre wherein he may in your eies cast those blessed beames of fauour vpon the faith of my heart that may make me in the infringible bond of deuoted seruice to the last period of my life Yours wholly and onely to be commanded E. N. FINIS