Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A19558
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Amanda: or, The reformed whore. Composed, and made by Thomas Cranley gent. now a prisoner in the Kings-bench, Anno Dom. 1635
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Cranley, Thomas, fl. 1635.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 5988; ESTC S118905
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47,524
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98
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AMANDA OR THE REFORMED WHORE Composed and made by Thomas Cranley Gent. now a Prisoner in the Kings-bench Anno Dom. 1635. Admiranda canunt credenda aliquando Poetae Poets doe tell of strange things not a few Yet often times those things though strange are true Printed at LONDON and are to be sold at the golden Key over against the midle 〈…〉 To the worshipfull his worthy friend and Brother in law THOMAS GILEOVRNE Esquire All health and happinesse SIr having composed this small Volume J was resolved to Dedicate it to a right worthy and worshipfull Gentleman living within the wals of the City of London being perswaded thereunto by an intimate friend and familiar acquaintance of mine which Gentleman as he reported unto me was an especiall favourer of the Muses But upon better consideration well knowing that for my owne part J had no particular relation unto him neither was he a man with whom J had at any time the least acquaintance or one whom to my knowledg I had ever sixed my eye upon J was doubtfull left some ill construction might have bin made of my honest and simple meaning and therefore unwilling to be taxed with over bold presumption J thought it better to reflect my eye upon a more familiar object and to present the dedication of these poore labours to such a man of whose goodnesse and worth J have had sufficient tryall by the testimony of many yeeres acquaintance and the more imboldned thereunto by that conjugall affinity which hath more strongly united me to anindeered and in violable obligation If I consider of the worke it selfe I may well blush at the performance thereof and with the Poet say Cum relego scripsisse pudet quia plurima cerno Me quoque qui feci judice digna lini For although I have had an Idaea in my minde which hath presented me with a better forme yet my productions I must confesse are lame and imperfect and come farre short of the extentions of my wishes and imaginations Let your better judgment rather allow of my intentions then of my unpolisht expressions and what I am not able to delineate in words let my well-meaning endeavours be supplied out of the treasure of your more judicious apprehension So shall I have a further tryall of your favours and acknowledge a sacrifice which I owe unto the graces and you and shall alwaies rest Your most obliged THOMAS CRANLEY Iuly 1. 1635. Perlegi hoc opusculum cui titulus Amanda or the Reformed Whore quod continet folia 52º aut circiter in quibus nihil reperio quo minùs cum utilitate publica imprimi queant modò supprimantur quae deleta sunt intra sex menses proximè sequentes reliqua typis mandentur GVILIELMVS HAYVVOOD RR. P Arch. Cant. Cap. dom The Author to his Booke GOe little Booke the issue of my braine Begot in bondage now at last made free To keepe thee still in prison 't were in vaine Make triall how the world will favour thee If none receive thee turne againe to me I am no starter here thou shalt me sinde Shift for thy selfe be gone thou knowst my minde But whether shall I have thee goe at first Vnto the Cruicke no let him alone Many are bad but he of all is worst I 'de rather thou should'st die and goe to none Be sure avoide his hands of any one Shun Momus too lest he at thee doe carpe And Zoilus for his rebukes are sharpe Avoide their sight and then goe where thou wilt Thy meaning 's good how ere it take effect Although with words of art thou art not guilt Some thy unlearned plainenesse will respect And perchance fancie this thy Dialect That may please some which will not profit all Although thy lines are not didacticall Chiefely I send thee to the female sexe Whom I doe truely honour and regard Thy ready service shall attend their becks Without expecting profit or reward Oh that some one would take thee to their guard Mayst thou please them as I could wish it so I care not if the rest be pleas'd or no. In thy first interprize thou conquerd'st one And drag'd her by thy force out of the mire Let that encourage thee and suffer none To shun thy strong encounter till thou try her Boldly goe on and neither faint nor tyre God knowes so happy the successe may be To one resisting thou mayst conquer three Thou hast thy charge and now thou mayst be gone Goe to the Countrey City and the Court They all yeeld matter for to worke upon I send in earnest goe not thou in sport To great aswell as meane doe thou resort If so thou be esteem'd of any worth I shall be glad that ere I sent thee forth Cranley CRANLEYS Amanda Or The Reformed Whore HAving beene many monthes a prisoner in the Fleete and overwearyed with the teadious length of idle time glad of the least occasion of imployment as well to put the thoughts of my distracted fortunes out of my head as also to helpe waste and bring to an end the wearisome day It was my fortune walking one day solitarily on the Leads being on the top of an high Tower adjoyning unto my Chamber and looking over the battlements into the Fleete-lane I espied in one of the Houses right opposite against me a young Gentlewoman of a comely feature and sweete grace apparelled very richly and attired according to the fashion then most in use she was looking out at a window into the streete and I standing on the toppe of the Tower being almost two stories higher then her chamber window could easily discerne her without being seene my selfe where after she had looked a while into the street she retires into her chamber and shuts the casement I thinking she had beene a stranger and came to visit some friend or kinsman in that house tooke little regard of her for that time But afterwards walking many times upon the Leads looking againe into the Lane I by chance cast mine eye against the same window out of the which I did first see the Gentlewoman to looke where I might darkly perceive through the Glasse the casement being then shut the same Gentlewoman stand busy about something which I could not discerne and perceiving her to be the same woman which I had there formerly seene I began to thinke that she might perchance lodge in the same house and knowing her to be a stranger and not inhabitant there and that it was no fit place for a Gentlewoman of her fashion as she seemed to be to lodge in such a place whereas every house almost in the Lane was filled with prisoners I began to enquire if she were wife of any prisoner or if she were a prisoner herselfe because such women as are prisoners doe for the most part lie in the Lane upon enquiry I understood that she was neyther prisoner nor prisoners wife but a stranger newly come out of the City and that she
of straw 180. Where being full of aches sores and biles Thy beauty turned to a tawny hue And that consum'd which was so faire ere whiles Vnknowne of those that thee but lately knew As a just vengeance to thy merits due Breathest thy last beneath some open stall Or di'st diseased in an Hospitall 181. There lies thy pompe and glory in the dust Thy body cloth'd with rags and all too torne Thy flesh comsum'd and wasted by thy lust Loathed condemn'd disdain'd and held in scorne Not one of all thy friends for thee will mourne Nor hardly thinke thee worthy for to have To hide thy stinking corps a simple grave 182. Loe here Amanda view thy selfe at large Behold thy life and after that thy death Peruse each line and letter I thee charge Let it not be forgotten in a breath To thy best thoughts I doe the same bequeath Advisedly consider of the matter I tell thee what is true and scorne to flatter 183. And if it take effect as I desire And breede a sorrow for thy time mispent If it shall cause thee from thy course retire And be a meanes to make thy heart relent And be reform'd by my admonishment Assure thy selfe that thou hast gain'd a friend That shall not faile thee till his life doth end 184. For my sake therefore I adjure thee here To turne thy course and bend another way For thy friends sake to whom thou shouldst be deere Come home unto thy selfe and doe not stay For thine owne sake I charge thee to obey And in compassion of that soule of thine Live not in darknesse when the sunne doth shine 185. Pity thy yeeres that are but young and tender Pity thy fathers care thy mothers love For thy sad kindreds sorrow pity render Let thy acquaintance some compassion move Looke not still downe but raise thy thoughts above If no thing else prevaile let feare of God Worke thy conversion and his threatning rod. 186. Strive to regaine the honour thou hast lost And seeke thy ruin'd credit to repaire Thy conscience is benum'd with follies frost Let thy warme teares of sorrow thaw the ayre That chils thy heart with nipping cold despaire And so dissolve thy crusty yce of sinne That hot repentance may let mercy in 187. Redeeme the time that thou hast spent in vaine And persue honour as thou followd'st vice Although unwilling yet thy selfe constraine Against thy will to vertue be not nice Tire not in acting goodnesse twice or thrice But persevere from one unto another As happy daughter of a blessed mother 188. And when thou hast this little Pamphlet read And seene the scope whereto these lines doe tend Let them not passe an hower out of thy head Vntill thy sorrow make thy life amend And worke a reformation in the end Doe not oh doe not put them from thy heart But to thy sickly soule some helpe impart 189. Then shall my prayers flie aloft with thine And my desires seeke earnestly thy blisse Thy happinesse shall be to me as mine Thy godly sorrow for thy life amisse Shall breed such joy as none shall be like this The comfort that thy soule shall thereby taste Shall be a Crowne of glory at the last 190. In hope therefore of this my good successe And of a happy welcome to these lines Wishing thou mayst thy wicked lusts suppresse I leave thee unto him whose grace refines Praying his blessing unto these designes Heavens grant thee that which none on earth can give A life prepar'd to die a death to live When I had written these lines I made them up in a little booke and by a friend which I had sent them unto her lodging with a letter likewise to be delivered unto her both which my friend presented to her owne hands and she receiving of them thankfully read over the letter presently in his sight and told him that so soone as she had perused the booke which should not be long she would send her answer unto me and so my friend taking a courteous farewell left her and returned telling me of the kinde welcome both of the letter and the booke which I was glad to heare of and therefore hoped in a short time to receive her answer which I did wish might be according as I both expected and desired I wayted for her answer about ten daies and not hearing from her well knowing in that time she might at her leisure have read it over I began to wonder what the reason should be imagining that eyther she was loath to bestow so much paynes as to reade it or else having read it she was offended at it and being willing to be satisfied herein yet unwilling that she should take any notice of my desire I sent another friend not to her lodging but neere unto it to the end that I might be assured whether she still continued there or whether she were removed to any other place my friend taking occasion secretly to enquire of her understood by one of the neighbours that she kept her old lodging and that she had lately beene very sicke and was not then recovered Of which her sicknes when I understood I was in some hope that she had considered seriously on the contents of the booke and that it had wrought so farre with her that she had layd the same to her heart and was thereby drawne to a strict examination of her owne life which might be the meanes of troubling her conscience so farre as that it might breede a distemper in her body and so be the cause of impayring her health desirous therefore to understand how she digested it whether there were any other cause of her disease I sent my friend to her lodging to see how she did not taking any notice that I had knowne of her sicknesse and withall to excuse my not comming unto her all that time whither when he came he was willingly conducted into her chamber where she then lay in her bed and delivering his message unto her she told him that she had beene very ill and wonderfull desirous to see me and entreated him to signifie so much unto me and that she was minded to send a messenger unto me but that by reason of her sicknesse she knew not how conveniently to doe it not speaking one word unto him concerning the booke My friend not staying long with her and promisig to acquaint me with her desire departed and telling me what her request was and in vvhat case he found her I resolved vvithin fevv daies to visit her and accordingly within a day or two after I came unto her chamber where being entred I found her sitting in her chaire by the fire and weeping exceedingly I comming in so suddenly and she turning her head espying of me presently leapt out of her chaire and comming towards me tooke me by the hand and looking earnestly in my face she began to speake to me to this effect the substance whereof for memory sake I