man being unwilling to be the Messenger of so unwelcome Intelligence At length an ancient Officer of the Counts more familiar with him somthing than the rest undertook the design he took â—is advantage one night staid in the Counts Chamâ—er when the rest were gone out and having premised some unprofitable morsels of Morality he desired Don Garcias to proceed no further in his Jourmey for said he it is not in the Road to Compostella your Lady is to be sought it is easie to be imagined whether the Count was surprised at that word He had often supposed that the convenience of this Pilgrimage might deliver the two Cousins from the scruple of Incest pretended but he could not believe the Countess could carry it on farther than some few false oaths of conjugal fidelity He questioned the old Domestick and the more questions he askt the more he was informed and yet not being able to convince himself of so incredible a thing he could not without great difficulty believe what he saw He dispatcht new Scouts upon the heels of the old he gave order for pursuing the Pilgrims not only where he judged they might possible be but in such places likewise where he was assured they were not These Hue and Crys confirmed him in what had been told him he received attestations from all the Inns where the devout Lovers had reposed betwixt Burgos and Bayonne and of the liberty they used Don Garcias understood so many particularities of their Travels that he doubted noâ— but he was a Cuckold That Title disquieted him more than any thing else it was an appellation he always reckoned amongst the most insupportable in the World But he must be patient in spight oâ— his teeth he was not the only man had practised that vertue for whilst he was making the best of a bad Market and meditating revenge suitable to his injury Cupid was taking care to provide him Companions that the fellow-feeling of one anothers calamities might be an alleviation to them all The Star that was so fatal to the Husband this year had not confined its influence to the Climate of Castile the cold as well as hot Countries felt the force of that Constellation Earl Ethelwold a Favourite to Edgar King of England had gained so far upon the affections of his Majesty that he governed both his Subjects and desires as absolutely as himself This King acted nothing but by his Counsels saw nothing but by his Eyes and as if he had been to love nothing but with his heart he intrusted him to go and view a young Lady called Alfreda Daughter and Heir to the Duke of Devonshire one of the greatest Lords in that Kingdom of whom he had heard so well that if his Favourite sound her as she was represented he resolved to make her his Wife Besides her Beauty her Fortune was so great it was no Policy in the King to commit the choice of her to Ethelwold The Duke of Devonshire had been the cause of great troubles during the Reign of the precedent King for which he was confined to his own Territory and that was the reason Alfreda had never appeared in the Court â—f England In this manner was this Favourite qualified with a Commission to furnish the King with a Wife and the Throne of England with a Queen This Conjuncture seemed very consonant with his designs he flattered the King in his desires â—f marrying Alfreda and though intending nothing less than that she should be his Queen the â—eparted with absolute power to conclude or break â—ff the Marriage as he judged convenient MAXIME I. He that with too much power imploys his Friend In Love Intrigues runs greater hazard far Example tells than he 's perhaps aware Vnbounded power whate're it may pretend But seldom answers the expected end For if by chance unfaithful one does prove And who will strive against his own desire His very trust provokes him to aspire He that can once for 's friend with freedom move Takes greater freedom and fr ' himself makes Love â—thelwold being arrived in Devon-shire and the priâ—ate Article of his Commission being the examination of her Beauty he resoved to see her before he â—â—ade any Proposals He pretended he had taken â—â—at Journey to set the Duke right once more with â—â—e Crown of England and this good office deserâ—ing all the Civility could be shewed him the Daughter was called down to bear a part in the acknowledgments Never did old Story speak of any Lady with so much advantage as the English Chronicle does of Alfreda the description made of her therein relishes more of Romance than veritable Narration and yet the effects her Beauty produced were so strange and so great they seem to justifie the Elogy they gave her The Count was dazled at the very first glance and this surprise was presently converted into a violent passion and that into a resolution never to put her into the arms of his Master He proceeded presently to a Treaty but it was for himself thereby teaching Posterity that in matters of Love they should never give their Agents so absolute a power as may tempt them to abuse it There being no person in the Court of England so great as Ethelwold the Duke of Devon-shire took the Proposition as a very great Honour and granted it without any demur so that all things being concluded and nothing wanting to consummate all but the Nuptial Benediction Ethelwold gave the Duke to understand that in duty he was obliged to let his Majesty know of it before under which pretence he took his leave of the Duke for some time and returned presently to Court where he gave Edgar a description of Alfreda quite contrary to what he had already conceived True it is Sir said the Count to the King Alfreda has all things about her requisite to the making a Lady handsom and yet with all those ingredients she is far from it her self She has an ill Meen which discredits her shape she has a red Lip but without any sweetness her Eyes are large grey and well set but she has a way of opening them which renders them abominable her looks are so childish and silly they take much from the excellence of her Complexion in short Sir the features and proportions of this Lady are not made for one another they are so hudled together their confusion spoils their retail and never was there person before the Duke of Devon-shires Daughter that had so much hard favourdness and so much Beauty together To this extravagant Character Ethelwold added certain pretended reasons of his own as that since the Duke of Devon-shire had been banisht the Court he had contracted great debts and ingaged a considerable part of his Country to the Earls and Dukes that were his Neighbours that he was odious to the English that his Journey into Devon-shire having given some Alarm and suspicion the people began already to declaim against the Match and in
this manner imploying all parts to divert his Majesty from those inconvenient desires he wrought upon him so that he gave over his design But this single effect of his Counsels could not content him he knew Edgar was of an amorous Complexion and he must find out something or other to entertain him Ethelwold sent up and down inquired himself and it was not long before he was provided England is not barren of Beauties and it was a Mistress for his Majesty he wanted He pitcht therefore upon a young Lady called Wilfrede who had withdrawn her self into a Monastery to avoid the insolences of her Guardian She was young unfortunate and next the Dukes Daughter the handsomest Woman in that Kingdom The Count presented her to the King to obtain his protection against her Guardian who would needs marry her to a person she could not possibly love and seconding his Harangue with all the commendations he could give her he represented the good qualities of Wilfrede with such efficary that before she left the King she received sensible marks of his inclination Ethelwold liked his success very well he used her with all kindness and compassion undertook to be her Mediator in that affair and in a short time managed things so that he had brought her to his Lure and got an absolute command of her Finding the King ingaged with this Lady he took occasion to renew his Counsels against the Duke of Devon-shire he pretended advice of intelligence betwixt him and the Duke of Normandy and pressing his Majesty to put a stop to the ambition of this man by marrying his Daughter to one of his Subjects it fell naturally into the Kings head to bestow her upon him It is easie to believe he consented without any great trouble and yet he called it a Sacrifice pretending that Alfreda was her self so unacceptable to him that no consideration but the Peace of the Nation could have prevailed with him to marry her But to serve his Master and advantage the Nation what was it he would not readily endure At length having used all the Grimaces and Artifice he could think of Ethelwold is dispatcht into Devon-shire to marry the Dukes Daughter for the tranquillity of the Kingdom Never was any man so happy as this Lover he admired Alfreda even to adoration he esteemed her a thousand times more handsom since she was his Wife than before and though it was obedience only which obliged Alfreda to marry him having never loved any thing but him The bare act of Marriage wrought as effectually upon the heart of this young Lady as long Love did upon other people The presence of her Husband was quickly dear to her she apprehended his absence and perceiving him laying his design of returning whither his ambition called him Ah Sit said she to him one day this is that I have been always afraid of the Loves of a Servant and a Husband are exceedingly different I remember a roguish Song my Governess taught me when I was a Child which I fear contains a fatal prediction of my destiny having said so with an innocent smile that almost ravished her Husband she began to repeat them SONG Whilst Love 's suspended and in fear Of a Repulse nothing's too dear Or good to hang at Ladies ear But if the Damsel once complies And pities Rheum in Servants Eyes Farewel all future Sacrifice Six days possession at the most Makes a man curse his former cost And reckon time and Presents lost No no dear Alfreda replied the amorous Ethelwold catching her fast in his arms nothing shall ever extinguish the passion I have for you I am too much enamoured and you are too handsom not to be always the Mistress of your Hasband Why this leaving me then my Lord replied the melancholy Alfreda could you leave me so soon if you loved me as you say Nay my Dear replied the Count my Journey is of necessity I must needs go where my duty requires me would you have me renounce the favour of my Prince the advantages it beings me and the care of the State which his most gracious Majesty hath committed almost entirely to my Conduct What necessity of this State replied Alfreda or those Chimerical advantates Is not the Duke my Father rich and great enough to erect you a Fortune And can you think that when I cannot enjoy you the thought of your travelling for the good of the Nation will give me any ease Ah my Lord let us consider our own private felicity and leave the general to others the satisfaction and pleasantness of the whole World will not wipe off one of the tears your departure will being upon my cheeks and to tell you may final resolution in a word either you must be kind and stay here with me or so merciful as to let me bear you Company otherwise God knows what danger there will be of our meeting no more These two Propositions were equally fatal to the Count he used all his Art to reduce her to reason He loved Alfreda very well and his Fortune no less he was conscious of the cheat he had put upon the King and he had no mind his Wife should come to Court to convince him He excused himself therefore by the illness of the weather he promised to return again very speedily But the new Bride would not be paid in that Coin she charged him sometimes with inconstancy sometimes with contempt and not allowing him any intermission she forced him at last to confess the whole truth What confidence is to be placed by a Husband in a young person whose heart has been acquainted with Love but a few days and that in a Conjugal way Ethelwold expected that narration should have stopt her desires of accompanying him to London and have cleared that doubt that he loved her not as he should do But alas he was not acquainted with the humor of the greatest part of that Sex Ambition is natural to them and the honour of being a Queen will startle the most Philosophical Lady of them all The Countess easily comprehending by this Discourse that Ethelwold had not only cheated her of a Crown but deprived her of all opportunity of going to Court whilst Edgar was living She found her self possest with so great an abhorrence of her Husbands disingenuity that she began to hate him more than she had loved him before And in truth after this discovery â—â—â—re was no need he should fear her following â—â—â—n against his will She could have seen him depart for the Valley of Jehosaphat and not spoke one word in order to his stay She lookt very â—â—dly upon the Walls of the Town as her perpetual Prison and the only part of the World she 〈…〉 like to see She was still talking with her Father or the new Servants her Husband had left with 〈◊〉 about the Beauty of the City of London the Mâ—gâ—â—ficence of the Court c. and revolving that she was banisht for
her air the sound of her voice the quickness of her Eye and the Pleasantness of her Wit All of them were as charming in appearance as they were in effect and flattering his imagination with a thousand fantastical Chimera's he took his leave of her the most enamoured Person in the World Prince Henry discovered this new passion at the very first he observed the Emperour stick to her as he had been retained by Inchantment He bad the Courtiers especially his Favourites to take notice of that Lady of her Presence and bonne Mine and believing her unknown to the Prince he called him to him two or three times to inquire his opinion about her The Prince was at first well pleased with his Curiosity but considering the violence of his Fathers humour better he apprehended what might follow He made signs to the Conducter of the Masquerades to retire with them immediately and he being intelligent enough took his direction and making use of an opportunity when the Emperour was speaking to a French Embassadour which was there and just come into the Garden he withdrew Constance out of the Crowd and re-conducted her to her Covent All the time they were passing in the Coach betwixt the Garden and the Nunnery they imployed in changing their Habits as they had done as they came They were just got to the Gate they were to go in at when day began to break as if it had attended their coming back before it durst appear but who could imagine the misfortune that befel them She of the Party which carried the Key had been so much taken up with the contemplation of what she had seen that she had forgot where she had laid it She examined her Gallants Habit and she examined her Religious gropt up and down the Coach turned over her Papers but no Key The hour they rise in the Monastery approached The people which brought Commodities to the Market began to appear in the streets and not one of the poor Sisters could imagine by what Miracle they should be conveyed out of the Coach where they were into the Cells where they ought to have been No wonder if they invoked their good Genius and made millions of promises never to run themselves into the like errour again There was not a Saint nor a Protector belonging to their Covent but they promised a Wax-canle though by the tediousness of their delivery they did not seem to be accepted But at length length their Destiny was merciful and their Key found in the fold of her sleeve where she had put it her self and where according to the common accident in such cases she had searcht twenty times and could not find it They gave great thanks for so seasonalbe a discovery they opened the Gates as easily as they could and stole to their Quarters without any noise and in the morning one was troubled with the Colick another with the Head-ach every one had her distemper to excuse their lying in bed the next day The Emperour in the mean time prest by his curiosity was as impatient till the hour os the Rendez-vous came as she was indifferent He got up earlier in the morning than his setting up the night before did seem to permit but all that time he could take no rest though Constance slept very sweetly Scarce was the heat of the day over but the Emperour was at his assignation he took some turns about the Garden before the Ladies which were used to walk there could get into a condition to appear but at length the walking hour approaching he see four or five the handsomest Courtisans in Rome enter amongst whom he imagined his unknown Mistress was one He accosted them and laid her particularly aboard with a Complement upon her good Air her excellent Shape and the Majesty of her Walk The Damoisel was mighty well pleased with his Judgment she bridled she strutted and strained as much as was possible to deserve it she bit her lips to make them look red and put her Eyes into the best posture she could but she might have let them alone as well The Emperour found his mistake and that she had neither the Shape Eyes nor Voice which he lookt for The conversation of this Woman was tedious to him when he compared her with Constance and so leaving and throwing his eyes up and down the Garden he continued there till night but no Nun nor no body to supply the place she had gotten in his heart This disappointment went very near him he could not think of it without indignation and his Choler fermenting with his Love he retired into his Palace so agitated and disturbed one would have thought he had been to fight some great Battel or had the Conquest of all Turkey in his head Whilst he was consuming in his Melancholy and fruitless desires the Prince and Constance did but laugh at his misery he understood by the person he sent home with them of the meeting she had appointed with Frederick and of her resolution to fail and being told that afternoon by some of the Emperours Servants that the Emperour was gone into the Walks He thought that a fit opportunity to visit the Popes Niece to see how she liked the Magnificence of the Solemnity she had seen and to droll with her about the Emperours credulity Thus we may see the advantage youth hath over age and how successful a man is like to be in his Career when his own Son runs against him The abused Frederick having to the motions of a violent curiosity added the impulses of shame and indignation his life became so uneasie and melancholy he was scarce to be known He went from Church to Church from one Company to another searching of a person he did not know when he saw and inquiring after one whose name he could not tell Those who pretend great penetration into matters of Policy attribute that to the Ambition of this Prince which was indeed due to his Love The unquiet air which was visible in his Countenance portended some secret design The frequent Visits he made in quest of his Mistress to the chief Families in Rome presaged some fatal Revolution in the Ecclesiastical State Those who where faithful to his Holiness ceased not to put him in mind of the turbulency of Fredericks Spirit and that he had some evil designs or other in his head which unless carefully prevented would be mature immediately Upon which ad vertisement Siena as a Town like to be the first object of his Ambition was fortified forthwith all his Holinesses Troops had order to march down towards Milan which was lookt upon as inclining to the Emperour The Emperour having notice of what past thought it high time to look to himself His new Love had laid his Ambition asleep but his anger had waked it again and therefore it was necessary he should do something to divert his imagination from the Object that affected him He drew together what
Cueva chief of the Family we have mentioned so lately and since created Duke of Albuquerque would not trouble her self as other Ladies do to conceal it from her Husband she made her Love an Affair of State and King Henry perswaded that it was by his fault his Wife had no Children and being passionately desirous of them he intreated Leonora very civilly that she would contrive some way or other to provide him one She pretended great horrour at the first Proposition that she might have the pleasure of being pressed and the King did her that kindness he prest he intreated and his Election concurring with the Queens the good Monarch conducted the Count de Cueva to the Royal Bed with his own hand The business was executed with full liberty and of this admirable Conjunction that Jane was born who was owned by Henry and for a long time after disputed the Crown with the famous Isabella Grand-mother to the Emperour Charles V. It would be to invert the Laws of Nature and Gallantry to ascribe rigid and severe Vertue to a Daughter of so spurious Extraction we must endeavour to represent her conformable to the Birth wherewith her Mother had honoured her She was not above sixteen or seventeen years of age when Lewis XI King of France the same we have spoken of before as Dauphin in the Gallanteries of Agnes sent the Bishop of Alby to demand her in Marriage for his Brother the Count de Guyenne The Count de Boulogne was imployed particularly from the Count de Guyenne with full power in his Name to do what he thought requisite in the Affair and he thought good to fall in Love with her himself He was handsom and aâ—ery and the French are never so transcendantly illustrious as in foreign Countries The Infanta of Castille saw nothing at King Henry's Court so magnificently spruce as the French Count She could not forbear running into an admiration of their Manners and Deportment and the Count like a good Polititian perswading Monsieur d'Alby that to render their Embassie successful it would be convenient to gain upon the inclinations of the Princess in respect of the power she had over her Mother and her Mother over the King he entertained her with continual Discourses about the liberty with which they made Love in France It had not been long since Charles VII was dead and the severity of Lewis's Regiment was not establisht as yet He talkt of nothing but the wonderful freedoms of the last Reign to have heard him one would have sworn the good qualities of the Ladies were denominated by their Conquests and he assured her that in France one would pass for either simple or deformed if at her age she had not had two or three Amours The Princess was jealous of the reputation of her Charms gave the Count to understand she liked the French fashion very well and according to his description would be very glad to be in it For her first Lesson he caused her Picture to be taken in little by the permission of the Queen to send it as he pretended to the Count de Guyenne but when it was finisht he caused a Copy to be taken and sending that to the Count he kept the Original for himself See Madam said he to the Princess how ingenious men demean themselves in our Court their pretences are honourable and fair in every thing they do Their outward professions are always above censure but the secret intention they reserve to themselves and it would be a sign of a very barren invention to circumscribe it within the bounds of a single design Such solid Lessons as these meeting with a Nature apt and disposed made so great a progress in a few months that the Princess was able to have commented upon his Text. Castille was then in great Troubles by the pretensions of the Infant Alphonso Brother of Isabella and the Nephew of Henry who as Historians say without any lawful Right made Claim to the Crown The Grandees of the Country endeavoured to accommodate the difference The Marquess de Villena supporting Alphonso's and the Duke of Albuquerque Henry's pretensions The young Princess had a mind to bring over the Marquess to the Interests of Henry in which she was ingaged and to that purpose bethought her self of putting the Count of Boulognes Documents in practice The Marquess de Villena hoping to draw some advantage from the Conversation of the Princess which might be profitable to Alphonso prevented the obliging designs she had upon his Heart They began their first Commerce with their Eyes if he thought he understood the meaning of her glances his were no less intelligible to her so that there needed no further explication of that Language There was a Garden belonging to the Palace reserved only for the Queen and her Daughter to walk in into which no man was ever admitted The Princess took the Air there every night without any Attendance but an old Governess the Count de Boulogne had corrupted and her Maids who never came near her but when they were called The Marquess found a way to introduce himself into this Garden he attended the hour in which the Princess was accustomed to walk and following her with his Eye into a Grove of Cypress-trees which formed themselves into a Labyrinth he discovered himself to her when he judged it convenient The Princess was surprised to see a man in that place and the first impression made her retire but the Marquess conjuring her to hear him one word the Infanta was flexible and yielded And for as much as the Daughters of Kings are not to be courted as common persons are reasons of State being always the pretence of an ingenious Lover among them he began first with a Declaration of the absolute Power he had to negotiate in the difference betwixt Alphonso and Henry he next represented how easie it would be for him to propose in the Treaty her Marriage with Alphonso and observing the effect that Overture had upon the Princess he began to infinuate the Love he had for her himself and declared that by her indulgence and affection she might ingage him in her Interests The Princess took a resolution worthy of the Doctrine the French Count had preacht to her she pretended great severity but yet without shifting the Marquesses hopes My heart says she prefers the love of Vertue to all the Dignities in the World nevertheless it is not so ungrateful but a considerable service may have an influence upon it In the midst of this Conference the Princess apprehended she heard some body walk behind the Palissade against which she was leaning and she trembled at the Alarm Though the Queen had made no profession of austerity her self yet she exacted it in others and according to the Maxime of Court Ladies was a declared Enemy to all other peoples Courtship The Princess fearing therefore to be surprised alone in discourse with a man made but one leap betwixt the
all her life time at least for 〈◊〉 Youth from a place where she might have reigned as Queen but for the Treachery of Ethelwold sHe gave her self over to Melancholy so that nothing could comfort her The Duke imagining this sadness had proceeded from the absence of her Husband assured her constantly of his speedy return He shewed her the Letters he had received to that purpose and used all means possible to divert her But it was not the sight of her Consort she longed for she feared it as much now as she had desired it before Whilst her thoughts were in this agitation a Painter arrived at that City who went from Court to Court to make a collection of the Pictures of all the fine Ladies in Europe to hang up in the Gallery of his Master the Duke of Modena This Picture-drawer had heard much of the Beauty of Alfreda from a French-man of his acquaintance in Rome who had been some time in England Upon the report of this French-man he concluded he could carry nothing more grateful to his Master than the Picture of this Lady He came therefore to Davon and having withal due formality begged leave of the old Duke that his Daughter might sit he obtained it without any scruple The Old man loved his Daughter very tenderly and not knowing his Son in Laws Intrigue he thought the giving her Picture but an indifferent thing But the Countess lookt upon it in another nature she contributed all her power to make it more amiable and perceiving she had hit her design and her Picture very well done she told the Painter if he would acouit himself well of his Commission he must go to the Court of Edgar where the greatest Beauties were but the Painter intended that before The English Women in all Ages have been allowed the handsomest in the World and though the Italian and got the choice of all in the Picture of the new Countess yet he must needs have Wilfredes too for the reputation she had of being the Kings Mistress As soon therefore as he had dispatcht in Devon-shire he repaired to London but Alfrede having dispatcht some of her Creatures before she caused a report to be spread abroad under-hand of an Italian Painter who was coming thither with most admirable Rarities She had been told that Edgar was very curious in Pictures She hoped by this means he might come to have a sight of hers and be taken out of the errour the Count had drawn him into without her contribution Nor was she mistaken in her fore-cast The King would needs see his Pictures as soon as he heard he was arrived And though the Duke of Modena had directed him to shew them to very few persons the liberality of the King removed that difficulty When a thing is desired in that way by a King he is seldom denied The Italian promised Edgar he should see the best he had and the King chose Wilfreds Chamber to see them in as being desirous to have her share in the divertisement The Painter beseeched that he would bring as few with him as he could and to comply with his design Ethelwold was the only Person had the Priviledge to attend him The first Picture the Painter took up was Eleonor Daughter to the Earl of Guyenne married afterwards to Lewis sirnamed le Jeune King of France History has represented this Lady so beautiful it will be needless in me to describe her She it was that charmed the brave Saladin General of an Army of Sarrasens and having let him know that she could not believe his protestations of Love unless delivered in her own language she forced the great Captain to betake himself to his Book and to study the French Tongue which he attained in some sociable proportion in a fortnight After her came the Picture of Elvira Mistress to Ramire the Conquerour who first erected the County of Arragon into a Kingdom Ethelwold who knew the story very well and had a mind to be entertaining of Wilfred giving them the relation he told the King This Elvira is a famous Example that Honour and Love are not incompatible in the heart of great Persons Never was Prince more renowned than Ramire they reckoned his Victories by the number of his days and yet he thought Love so necessary to his Courage that he used to have his Mistress in some weak place when he went to engage that his desire to preserve her out of his Enemies hands might oblige him to extraordinary Actions in the Battel This kind of History pleased Wilfred exceedingly she made her acknowledgments to the Count by her simpring and nodding her head and promising to her self that he would tell her as much of every one she should see she addrest her self to him to know who that Adelaid was which the Painter was then shewing She was formerly Madam replied the Favourite Queen of the Lombards and dyed lately Wife to Otho the Great who is at this day Emperour of the West The Amazonian Habit in which the Painter has drawn her corresponds exceedingly with the actions of her life for she defended a Town in Lombardy in the absence of her first Husband as well as the best Captain he had in the War Otho the Emperour had lately with the Sclavonians and Dalmatians she did him as much service as the best of his Generals These Actions of Valour replied Edgar interrupting him a little are rare in persons of that Sex and I cannot but commend the Judgment of the Painter in the Election of his Pictures In this manner the King of England and his Favourite were discoursing of the Italians Pictures and the Count perceiving his Majesty much delighted with his stories there was not a Character of Beauty a Punctilio of Art nor the least particular Adventure but gave him opportunity of some pleasant Narration when of a sudden the Painter changed the Scene of their mirth by producing the Picture of Alfreda and struck the poor Count as it had been a clap of Thunder The Countess had given him no notice that her Picture had been drawn and so he was utterly unprepared against so unexpected an Accident He lookt pale he trembled and the King perceiving his distraction and attributing it to his surprize in which he shared with him himself Is it possible says he to the Painter that this Picture should be after the life Yes Sir said the Count interrupting the Painter and it is the Picture of my Wife but so flatter'd and improved that if the other Ladies you have seen be used at the same rate I dare assure your Majesty there is no one Original to be known by its Copy The Painter knew well enough it was no hard matter for him in her case to justifie the fidelity of his Art Alfreda was much handsomer than her Picture and she was not above three or four days Journey from London But observing the Count her Husband decrying her Beauty with more than ordinary
vehemence he supposed very prudently he had some private reasons for what he did and being unwilling to contradict a Person of his Authority he replied very coolly I have not seen Sir all the persons whose Pictures I have with me some of them are Copies as Adelaid and Elvira who are both of them dead others were taken by some of my Companions who have assisted me in satisfying the impatience of my Master But for those I have done my self I dare assure his Majesty I have added nothing to the life This prudent and judicious answer one would have thought might have eased the Count of his trouble but the King was so surprised with the contemplation of Alfreda's Picture that he took no notice of what had been said What says he in great transportation is it possible but the features of this face must make the handsomest Woman in the World Tell me Ethelwold and tell me ingenuously has your Wife these Eyes this Mouth this Nose and in short this Tour or mould of her Face Yes Sir replied Ethelwold much distracted with those kind of questions she has all of them and if your Majesty be pleased to recollect you may remember that in the description I have of her I told you that never an ugly Woman was so well provided to be handsom and that all the features in her Face were excellent but they are not so well laid and connected in her Face as in the Picture The Majestick and vigorous Air you behold is but the fancy and strong imagination of the Painter and not at all visible in the life I will see this Prodigy replied the King with some eagerness For if Alfreda has all these lineaments as his Pencil has represented and be ill-favour'd notwithstanding she is in my judgment the greatest Miracle in the World This Proposition of Edgars made both Ethelwold and Wilfred tremble and though Ethelwold did his utmost to constrain himself and answered the King as if he had bin nothing concerned that his Wife would be much honoured with such a Visit yet nothing is more certain than that he turned every stone that might divert his resolution He admonisht Wilfred to contribute what she could he counterfeited Letters that Devon was visited with the Plague and when he had done opened them in the presence of the King he bribed all the Physicians to oppose themselves against his Journey but all to no purpose The Picture of Alfreda had inspired so fierce a Curiosity in the breast of the King that no danger nor dissiculty could withstand it he appointed a Hunting-match at a Country-house he had about a days journey from Devon and resolved to see the Countess the next day All the Count could obtain was the liberty to go two or three hours before to give the Duke notice of his coming There is no difficurty to conceive how his thing It s were imployed all the while he was upon the Koad His Ambition and his Love divided them equally When he considered the crime he had committed against his Majesty in betraying his confidence and the inevitable danger he was in of being discovered he believed he could do no less than to deliver up his Wife with his own hands to the King and to try how far that would work for his pardon On the other side when he remembred her endued with all the Beauties which were capable to adorn her he resolved to dye a thousand deaths rather than to see her in the possession of another and this last resolution being fortified with the sight of her he used all his Rhetorick to perswade her to counterfeit her self ill and conceal her self from the King But good God! to whom was it he addrest himself Alfreda would have purchased that sight he prohibited with the loss of her life She told him that the humour of concealing her self from the Kings curiosity would but aggravate and augment it that be being King and she his Subject he would see her some time or other is he had made it his resolution that the best way was to appear cheerfully seeing there was no possibility to avoid it These Arguments made the poor Count almost desperate but considering there was reason in what she said and that the King if he saw her not that day would be sure of her another seeing she consented her self he cryed Well then see him if you please see the most curious Monarch in the World he is our Master he will see you and I know very well you are pleased with his resolution but let me desire one thing of you dear Alfreda not to make the best of your Beauty nor exhibit to his Eyes all the Charms with which it is in your power to attaque him let me beg of you at least to be ill drest negligent to speak little and what you do as far as you can from the purpose Alfreda made the same use of his Doctrine as a witty Woman would do she knew by his directions how to displease the King what course she was to steer to give him satisfaction MAXIME II. No you 'r deceived when you suppose Your Wives mill part with Whisk or Cloaths Or paint to purchase your repose If their obedience you design Bid them be proud unconstant fine Their dutiful my life for thine But but confine them though to th' Court The Law of Nature will exsert And God knows what becomes o th' Fort. Whatever he injoyned her Alfreda did clear contrary never was she so handsom nor never so well drest The King went away strangely enamoured he admired and loved her already at his very soul her Wit her Air and every thing took him insomuch that not being able to conceal his resentment of the Counts infidelity he had certainly clapt him in Prison had not the apprehension of displeasing his Wife restrained him It is not to be askt whether Alfreda came to Court after this Visit Edgar found her too handsom to suffer her to languish in the solitudes of the Country He conferred great Offices and Preferments upon the Duke to bring him nearer with his Daughter The Duke came and his fair Daughter along with him Ethelwold forbid his Wife coming near London but to no purpose she had too great a Protector to apprehend any revenge he could design his best play was patience But such kind or usage being troublesom to such Husbands as have more the ordinary affection of their Wives the poor Count took his misfortunes so deeply it would have been charity to have knockt him on the head In a short time he dyed of Melancholy and the love of Edgar being no longer restrained by the presence of Ethelwold it ran up to so high a degree that no less than the Throne of Great Britain was able to circumscribe it and indeed it was not long before Alfreda was advanced to it in spight of all arifices to the contrary the fury her Ambition exercised in so eminent a place makes
consented to the conditions without any resistance as well because it was his real intention at that time as because he supposed this Uncle not in a posture to constrain him if he repented it afterwards The Uncle disguised himself in an ordinary Habit was followed by none of his Servants and judging his true Name might fright him from promising he took another more suitable to the Quality he profest which Don Garcias regarded no more than if he had been no body at all Radegond finding her self so well supported she kept touch with the Count and that without much trouble for she had no more to do but to deliver him the Key of Madam Valery's Lodgings The Husband being very angry got himself conducted by several Footmen which he hired And Paris being a Town where they who have money may do any thing and the Count having found his Pilgrim and his Wife close in one Bed he needed but one stroke to rid himself of both When he had satisfied his vengeance in this manner I am of opinion he would willingly have had no further business in Paris than to provide for his return He began to talk of compounding with Radegond he offered her a sum of money to dispense and 't is generally believed his conscience would have been much at rest could he have prevented the accomplishment of his Vow But the pretended Uncle would not admit of any such terms The thoughts he had of seeing one of his Mistresses in the Throne of Castile flattered his vanity exceedingly he discovered himself who he was and the Count de Castile being in no condition in Paris to contend with the interest of one of the chief men in France he thought if sufficient that he had been the discourse of all Spain by his first Marriage without making himself so at Paris by his second He married Radegond as he had promised and the Marriage being ratified and all the Grandees in Castile assembled Radegond was pronounced Soveraign of Castile under the the same Name her Brother had carried in that Country before Some may say perhaps that Don Garcias might have as well have accomplished his Vow in the person of his old Wife Isabel de Vermandois as in the person of Radegond The Subjects were equally disposed Harlots they were both and the repentance of the first might as well have been expected as the conversion of the latter But this second alliance satisfied his revenge more than Madam Valeries remorse besides the debauchery of the Countess was known in Castile whereas Radegond might pass there for a Saint He presented her to the Castilians for a great Example of Vertue for a person who abhorring the wickedness of her Brothers life had chose rather to deliver him up to Don Garcias indignation than to see the honour of her Family depraved by so ungodly an action it is strange how the natures of things change according to their different faces We know none of these intrigues bu by the imprudent discovery of some persons concerned and those persons appear to us the shame of their Sex many times by the incontinence they are charged with who perhaps are much more discreet than they which accuse them Love is a nimble Deity and marches a great way in a little time From the Territory of Castile he has brought us into England in the time we can read half a sheet of Paper from London he has re-conveyed us to Burgos and from Burgos to Paris with the same expedition and now he is carrying us out of the middle of France into the Court of the Emperour of the West without desiring more time for the Journey than is requisite for the writing a few lines In the preceding stories he has pleased himself in triumphing over Marriage in this he sides with it and leaves the succeeding pair an everlasting instance of Constancy and Vertue MAXIME III. Some Husbands still there are whose Love is more After their Marriage than it was before Their Wives are welcome and themselves they please As much in them as when th' were Mistresses But when the good man's nought and every room Smoaks with his curses when his Wife comes home The story 's sad and surely't may be said Love lyes intombed in that Marriage-bed Examples of this kind I must confess are rare yet we are not without some and the Duke and Dutchess of Modena fall very luckily into my memory for an instance This Duke had for a long time been in Love with the Princess of Bavaria Daughter to Duke Henry and Cousin German to Otho the Third at that time Emperour of the West His passion for her had ingaged him to follow Otho in all his Wars against the Sarrazins in Pouille and against Lothaire the French King in Austrasia Love is a kind of Proteus and assumes all shapes upon occasion if it meets with a base mind it becomes the Author of all sorts of baseness but when it is so happy as to meet with a noble and sublime inclination it excites to the greatest actions and nothing prompts more to vertue or makes a man more illustrious This was the Character it had taken in the heart of the young Duke of Modena The Princess of Bavaria being the price he had proposed to himself of all his Atchievments he had done Miracles to deserve her For her sake it was he had fought many Battels and defended many Towns The Idea he had of her beauty accompanied him in his greatest perils and considering his Conquests as so many steps which advanced him towards the possession of the Princess and alliance with the Emperour one may say that Otho ought more of his Victories to the passion of the Duke of Modena than to the Armies of his Subjects or the Conduct of his Generals So glorious an affection could not but be crowned with glory The Duke of Modena obtained the Princess of Bavaria as an acknowledgment from the Emperour The Imperial Residence being at that time at Aixla Chapelle the Marriage was celebrated there and the new Dutchess being well worthy of whatsoever the Duke had done for her and the Duke on the other side as worthy of what Love the young Dutchess was capable of never was Bride and Bridegroom more happy than the Duke of Modena and his Princess they exprest the same cares and complacences as are used by the most violent Lovers they delighted to be near one another and were never separated but in publick their Eyes their actions their every thing discovered the kindness of their Hearts and in a word they loved at that rate they set all persons a gog who observed them The Empress Mary Wife to Otho who merited as much from him as the Dutchess did from the Duke not meeting so much kindness from her Husband began to envy her felicity She cast that Matriage in Otho's dish upon all occasions as an Example he ought to follow and the reproaches of the good Women being the worst
a yong Prince to be a Gallant and an amorous Atchievment gains as much reputation sometimes as the bloodiest Victory But with the Women it is not so a Lady cannot advance one step but she charges her self with the whole Intrigue and a repulse which would be nothing in a Lady to her Servant becomes an unpardonable indignity in a Servant to his Mistress The high-spirited Empress seeing her self rejected by a person she had obliged by so many favours conceived so great a displeasure that she could not conceal it She threatned him with all the mischiefs an inraged Empress could bring upon him and departing with a gesture importing fury and indignation she left him to take his choice whether he would prevent her revenge or feel the effects of it On the other side the Emperour perceiving his passion as tedious to the Dutchess instead of having gained any advantage he left her and that as ill satisfied as the Empress with the Duke They both of them walkt some time up and down to dispel the trouble their disappointments had brought them both of them perceived the Duke and Dutchess come forth of the Arbors where they had left them and enter together into another where they suspected they retired to give an account to one another what had past This Arbor was one of those that were double one might slip by betwixt the Pillars without being seen of those who were either within or without An unluckly concurrence of Curiosity excited these two Lovers to hide themselves behind the Curtain and though Otho knew nothing of the Empresses Intrigues and the Empress had but a slight suspicion of Otho's their passions carried them as it were by consent to two several places from whence without perceiving one another or being perceived by any one else they might hear all that was spoken The discourse was very terrible for all four The Dake and the Duthchess understanding the danger in which the pertinacity of their Persecutors as they called them had placed them exprest their apprehensions in such terms as confounded the two Evesdroppers with jealousie but when from simple Narratives they proceeded to imprecations what Satyr what Invective was it which the Duke bestowed not on the Empress He called her by the worst names he could invent the Dutchess making up the Consort by the same Elogies upon the Emperour They spoke with full liberty for being ignorant of the fashion in which that Arbour was made they believed they were to fear no body they did not see besides the Emperour and Empress being gone in a huff they did not expect that either of them should return In the mean time the two persons of whom they discoursed so liberally heard every word and I leave it to the Reader to judge how much they were surprized to understand such tidings of their affairs The Emperour had no kindness for the Empress and the Empress had too much for the Duke of Modena to care much for him But Honour and Jealousie in their hearts performed the functions of Love Otho could not hear the ill designs of Mary without passion and resentment and Mary was as impatient that the Dutchess should triumph over all the hearts she had interest in She thrust her self furiously out of the place she was hidden and perhaps in the first motion of her transport might have run into some actions less suitable to her Sex than her despair But the Emperour coming out upon the same design at the same time they met and were so surprized at the sight of one another they had no power either to move or to speak The Duke and the Dutchess came out also in the nick and perceiving them in a place where they believed they had heard all they had said the sour Lovers represented such a Scene of silence as is more easie to imagine than express The Emperour cast about his furious eyes sometimes upon the Empress sometimes upon the Duke and sometimes upon the Dutchess The Empress divided betwixt choler and shame changed her colour according to the variety of her thoughts and the two innocent Causes of all this distraction apprehending nothing for themselves but each for the other by the motion of their eyes seemed to say they were ready to become Victims to their Destiny rather than to fail in the least just duty of their Loves Persons of their Character and Quality do seldom evaporate into unprofitable words and in these kind of occurrences silence is more serviceable than Rhetorick The Emperour withdrew without any other intimation of resentment than by his looks and the Empress following in great fury and confusion all the Court did the same The Feast was interrupted in this manner and very few knew the reason Every one guest as his own fancy suggested but scarce three of the whole Company could hit of the right Whether the rage was greater in the Emperour or Empress is not easily decided Some are of opinion that their Love commencing at the same time exprest at the same time and now discovered by the same accident to one another their Revenge kept the same consort But whether it was Otho who had a desire to rid himself of a person who triumpht over him in the heart of his Empress or Mary who had a mind to be revenged for the contempt of her kindness and so prevent the reproaches of the Emperour by taking away the object so it was the Duke was found murdered the night after the Feast The Instruments of the Murder set upon him like Thieves and demanded his Purse but they quickly made it evident it was his life not his money they sought for for having given him three mortal wounds they left him expiring upon the ground without taking his purse which they demanded or his Jewels which he had in plenty about him It is not necessary to insert how the fair Widow resented so foul an action I should have exprest the affection she had for her Husband but weakly if the Reader could not imagine the extream sorrow she conceived for his death She doubted not but it was contrived by the Emperour or the Empress and lest she should mistake in the object of her Revenge she resolved to sacrifice them both I shall not mention the means she used to accomplish it such Tragical Catastrophes do not accommodate with Annals of Love and I shall refer the Reader to the Chronological History to inform himself how the Dutchess having revenged her self upon the Empress by the resentment of the Emperour made use of the Empresses Creatures to sacrifice the Emperour to her Ghost But some will say why this insatiable fury why doth it not stop in the middle of its Career The Empress death was but just and it was no more than the Dutchess was obliged to she accused her of the Murder of her Husband and if she was not the only Instrument of his death she was the moving Cause for had she not loved the
Duke Otho had not been bound in honour to have made him away The Emperour ought not to be comprehended in the Revenge he might be innocent for ought she knew and if he were guilty he might have married her and ransomed his life I must confess this objection is not altogether impertinent But in affairs of Love all men persue Their proper fancies and the man whose Fate Directs him to a means legitimate Is just and happy though his way be new For when the heart 's indued with Grace and fear Of Heaven what e're it does what e're it will Is but a Sacrifice to Honour still Yet sometimes when no sense of that appears Vice eggs them on as furiously to kill As all thy Vertue in the World were there The Dutchess of Modena was necessitated by her Stars and her Revenge justified by her Conjugal Love and perhaps she would have done as much for her Servant had she had one for minds as tender and as constant as hers are capable of great Enterprises but marching under the Standard of Duty that which at another time had been furious and criminal was at this an Example of Vertue But let us leave her in the injoyment of a passion whose violence was a vertue and proceed to an Accident of no such Constancy and Resolution THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE SECOND PART THE Chronology of History not according exactly with the Chronology of Love there are some years in which no amorous Intrigues are to be found and there are others in which all the considerable Accidents are Love My Annals containing only matters of Courtship I cannot be strict in the observation of Times but shall presume upon occasion to put the passages of the same Age into the Amours of the same year and so skip from one Age to another in my Description of Years I shall begin therefore this third Annal by the Reign of a Prince who lived about a hundred years after the Emperour I mentioned before Castile being a Country too flourishing to continue long under the denomination of a County Don Garcias Fernandez of whom we spake in the beginning of our Annals was the last of its Counts It took the Title of a Kingdom under Sanchyle Grand next Successor to Garcias Fernandez and having past in that way to the time of Sanchy III. it devolved by his death to his Brother Alphonso King of Leon who was from that time called King of Castile At the beginning of his Reign this Prince was perplext with several Wars the Mores and the Sarracens infested him so that he was forced to implore the aid of the King of Fance against those Enemies of Christianity Many Knights and Reformades repaired to him from all parts But the French as the more Martial were most kindly received Raymond the Son of William Duke of Burgundy Raymond Earl of Toulouse and Henry Lorraine Son to William Earl of Boulogne Brother to Godfrey of Boulogne performed such eminent Exploits that Alphonso believed he could do nothing more for the advantage and security of his Crown than to continue those three Captains in the Command of his Armies He had three Daughters two of them natural and the other legitimate The eldest called Vrraca he married to Raymond of Burgundy and gave him in Dowry the Principality of Galicia Theresia the eldest of the two naturals married Henry of Lorraine and had for her share the Conquests in Portugal and the youngest Elvira much handsomer and better beloved by her Father than either of the other was married to Raymond of Tholouse with secret ingagement from Alphonso to assure to him the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon after his death And thus I have given you the Commencement of this year not so eminent for Love as it promised in appearance These six persons had almost no sooner seen one another but they were married and no soouer married but they differed so that this place would be more proper for an Historical Abridgment than the Introduction of an amorous Intrigue But bold determine not Loves ways are strange He had his private and peculiar Laws Nothing is so remote but he can change And bend it to the Model of his Cause He makes the Lady fair the Statesmen great Though one be old the other near so mean And when he please can both of them defeat And throw them down to their old state again When he 's dispos'd to sport himself the man 'S unhappy let him be as happy as he can Elvira was so obsequious to her Father and he so transcendently kind to her that Vrraca being his only legitimate Child and by consequence had best right to that preference began much to resent it She had private advertisement every day that Alphonso designed the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile for his Daughter Elvira and judging it necessary that either the Prince her Husband or her self should be constantly about his Majesty to have the better eye upon his actions they consulted together to resolve which of the two was most proper for the Journey and it fell to Prince Raymond Never did French man of his Age and Spirit and married for interest as he was refuse any opportunity of travelling Vrraca in the mean time continued in Galicia to govern that new Territory in the absence of her Husband and the Prince set forth for the Court of Castile The pretence of his Journey being a concern for the Kings health it is easie to imagine he was not unwelcome at his Arrival There was no noise but of Entertainments and Balls Raymonds business there was not to complain he came thither to discry and make advantage of his observation The young Elvira was much pleased with Divertisements and indeed at her age who is it that hates them She was extreamly delighted with those her Brother-on-law gave her and she wanted neither Civility to invite nor kindness to press him to stay at that Court as long as he could And to speak the truth she had no hard task to perswade him to stay This Countess was one of the greatest Beauties in the World Raymond had always thought her much handsomer than his Wife And though Elvira had scarce seen the Prince before he was married yet she also esteemed him more compleat than the person she married But Persons of their Rank are the least guided by their own inclinations The advantages Raymond purposed by his Marriage with Vrraca made him prefer her to Elvira and Alphonso's Election happened upon the Count de Tholouse for his youngest Marriages in this nature do seldom suffer the Husbands to consider the vertue of their Wives Hence it was the Prince of Galicia found his Sister-in-law as charming under the Title Countess of Tholouse as he had judged her when she was but Elvira of Castile Behold them therefore in perfect intelligence the Countess took singular satisfaction in the Company of the Prince and the Prince was as much pleased with the Commands of te
No man can tell its power till he hath tryed it and no man that hath tryed is fit to describe it Henry de Lorraine the Husband of Theresia of Castile and Prince of the Conquests in Portugal being of a Family to which life and Generosity were connatural with great sorrow understood the distraction of the Royal House of Castile Any body but he would have made his advantage of them the displeasure of the Father against two of his Daughters must needs be of great importance to the third But the Princes of his Race are not capable of so mean a thing as private interest He departed from Lisbon immediately went directly to his Father-in-law the King of Castile and undertook to mediate betwixt his two Brothers-in-law But for as much as new Acquisitions are more tottering and uncertain than what are anciently establisht Henry apprehending his absence might give opportunity to new Commotions he kept his Journey very close and leaving Fernandez Paw a Portugal to assist his Wife in the Government of that Kingdom he departed so suddenly for Castile that Theresia had scarce time to write two lines to her Father But for the making the occurrences at Castile at the Arrival of Prince Henry perspicuous it will not be amiss if we insert what passed in Portugal before he set out This Fernandez Paw whom he had left chief Counsellor to the Princess in his absence had long since possest himself of that Character in her heart Henry was a young Prince more enamoured of the Quality than the Person of Theresia This Paw admired her for both and it is a great satisfaction to a Woman to have her Dominion founded upon her own Excellence Paw therefore had got an intimacy with the Princess upon that score and having managed it very discreetly Prince Henry had gotten no notice of it Paw served his Prince so well in his Foreign Affairs he was not the least suspected at home Theresia carried herself with as much modesty as could be expected but by misfortune the day before Henry was to depart there had been some Letters past betwixt Theresia and Paw the Princess was subject to some Christian reflexions which had put her Gallant into some confusion He had writ to her upon that subject and Theresia was so prest by her Husband to close up her Pacquet to Castile that she sealed up Paws Letter instead of one to her Father This mistake was not discovered till three or four hours after the Prince was departed They had been imployed all that time in instructions pro and con But when the Princess was alone and had a mind to read Paws Letter which she believed she had left sealed upon the Table she was much surprized to find the Letter she had writ to her Father Alphonso in its place That she sigh 't and wept and tore her hair is no great difficulty to imagine Nothing could serve but she must dye Fernandez could not comfort her and to speak truth he himself wanted no little consolation But there was no remedy but patience The Example of her other Sisters gave his some relaxation she could not do worse than they had done before her In the mean time Henry arrived at Burgos with Paws Letter instead of his Fathers The good Alphonso was much revived at the sight of his dear Son-in-law and looking now upon Theresia as the sole Inheritrix of that Love of which Elvira and Vrraca had rendred themselves unworthy he observed the tears drop down his venerable Cheeks at the sight of the Letter the Prince presented him from her He opened the Pacquet with great joy and supposing there was nothing in the heart of his Daughter to which her Husband might not be privy he began to read it aloud but recollecting immediately that it was not Theresia's hand he stopt at the first line and then looking upon the Superscription to see how it was directed he found it For the King of Castile and that the Superscription was written by Theresia her self he concluded then that she might have some reasons which he did not know to make use of a Secretary and then stepping to the Window he read these Lines which to accommodate our selves to all sorts of Readers we have taken the pains to translate our of Spanish Ah my dear Princess how insupportable are you grown with your remorses have I not told you a thousand times that there is nothing owing to Husbands but the conservation of their Honours That the great discretion lyes in chusing a friend who by the prudenee of his Conduct would keep them from scandal and these Formalities being observed there is no more due from you to Prince Henry Courage Madam overcome this unseasonable compunction and that it may be nipt in the bud permit that I may wait upon you this night with new Arguments against it Never was any man so surprized as Alphonso at the reading of this Letter It was to be his common custom to see his Daughters disloyal Elvira had taken that liberty in private Vrraca did it publickly and the old King of Castile was so good a Father as to impute all to the imprudence of his Sons-in-law He could not believe it was their temperament or natural inclination which disposed them to so unnatural actions The one was debaucht by the Jealousie of her Husband the other by her desire of Revenge but for Theresia he had nothing to say in her defence Henry was accomplisht in himself he had setled the French oeconomy in his Family and Theresia lived at Lisbon as she would have done at Paris He was liberal frank and faithful so that Alphonso was so much transported at the injury done to this Prince that he could not master his first resentments However it had been but prudence in him to conceal the exorbitance of his Daughter but the good man was so transported with choler that he threw the Letter upon the ground cast up his eyes to heaven as a person under some eminent affliction and answering his own thoughts as it had been his Daughter he cryed out You shall dye unhappy Child you shall dye if your Husband should be so merciful to forgive you I would tear you in pieces with mine own trembling hands rather than your infidelity should go unpunisht The Prince of Portugal had like to have swounded at this transport he could not conceive the Contents of the Letter nor the cause of Alphonso's disorder and asking him in his surprise what infidelity it was he charged upon Theresia the King took up the Letter again and delivering it into his hand here says he see what reason I have to be disturbed and confess I have brought Monsters not Daughters into the World Henry took Paws Letter from the King he knew the hand and reading it half out was so astonisht at the Contents he could scarce tell whether he was waking or asleep His conversation in the World had not been so small but he
knew a Womans vertue was not to be warranted without good counter-security He understood the Sex by experience and was not ignorant that the best friends are usually they which disparage the Husband But to consider that he should be the Porter of that unfortunate Letter was a Pill he could not swallow nor digest His misfortune was too common to be incredible but the Circumstance with which it was accompanied was beyond all belief and it was not so much Paws Letter that affected him as that it was his Destincy to deliver it This consideration stownded him for some time and the transportation of his Father-in-law added fuel to his fire but at last the storm was blown over In that Age as it is in this the Tilte of Cuckold was so common it was scarce any trouble to be so The disgrace lyes only where it is known when a Womans inconstancy is publick nothing is greater dishonour to her Husband where it is managed with secrecy nothing is so trivial Henry lookt upon it as no point of discretion to publish the infirmities of his Wife and therefore gave himself some few days to digest his resentment But the Examples of his Brother-in-law having learnt him some Wit he came one morning to the Kings Chamber and said to him You see Sir by the Letter I have brought you that your Daughters have no reason to upbraid one another They were born under the same Constellation and if any thing discriminated me from the Prince of Galicia and the Count of Tholouse it is this that their unhappiness is known and mine is a secret I have no inclination to publish it and if you please you may conceal the Letter you shewed me Send word to your Daughter that you kept it from me and I will never convince her of her errour In giving me Theresia your Majesty gave me also a Province which I hope in time to improve into a Kingdom I have Children already which may succeed me hereafter There is no necessity the Portugals should suspect whether they be mine or Paws Conceal the dishonour of your Daughter with as much care as I and by the Example of your Family we will demonstrate that it is the discretion of the Husbands which makes the difference betwixt the Women which are prudent in appearance and those which are really irregular The King of Castile took this Proposition very kindly He began to repent himself of what he had done insomuch that magnifying the Generosity he had exprest he seconded his Counsels with several Examples and most irrefragable Arguments and the troubles in Castile being appeased by the death of the Count of Tholouse and the interpostion of the King of France Henry returned into Portugal without any mark or token of that he knew The truth is he found out a pretence to send Paw out of the World and I have been told he had another to make his Wife more obsequious for the future But as he presaged very judiciously his Posterity have reigned several years in Portugal whereas the younger Sons of the Royal Family of Castile have always disputed the Crown with the Children of Vrraca MAXIME V This I 'le affirm let things to how they can The marri'd's really the happiest man Let her be what she will I 'le lay my life His owns more faithful than this Neighbours Wife But shall we never have done with these Daughters does no other condition of life but the married afford matter for our Annals Yes certainly History is so fertile in amourous accidnets she supplies us with variety About the same time while things were in this agitation in Spain Love which had laid about him so in the Royal Family of Castile was not idle in the Court of the Emperour of the West This Empire was then under the Dominion of Frderick Barberossa a valiant and ambitious Prince He had signalized the beginning of his Reign by remarkable Victories so that there was nothing discoursed of in all Europe so much as his Power and Greatness He kept his ordinary Residence in Rome as well because the Climate agreed with his body as upon certain secret Designs he had upon the Lands of the Church and because his remoteness from the heart of his Empire caused him to apprehend some Mutiny in the Towns of Germany he obliged Prince Henry his Son to continue in that Province the greatest part of the year This young Prince was extremely hopeful the people of the Empire loved him entirely So that his Father conceiving some Jealousie lousie thereupon took the pretence of his Coronation to recal him to Rome They past the Winter very lovingly together and the Emperour having a mind to pry into the Conduct of Alexander the Third who was then Pope and in possession os the Patrimony of S. Peter he ordered his Son to visit him frequently The Prince in obedience to his Father waited upon him as often as he was visible He attended him in all his devitions and among other places to a Monastery of Nuns where his Holiness had a Niece he loved most entirely She was descended from the Blood Royal of Si ily and her Uncle the Disposer of all Ecclesiatical preferments but as yet she was not of years to be an Abbess and therefore at Rome was known by no other name but Madam Gonstance She was as handsom as was possible to wish and besides several other good qualities she had a good voice and sung incomparably well at one of the Solemnities of that Covent the Prince heard her one day and being a great Lover of Musick he had a great ambition to see her the dignity of her relation to the Pope authorizing his desire he askt leave to see Constance when the Ceremony was ended He was much transported at the sight of her and had never seen so many graces in one Assembly before Till that day he was free his soul was his own and he seemed born for Mars's not Venus Wars But he was not the first man hath become a Captive to the simplicity of a Nun. There is a sort of people not to be captivated but in this shape and there have been Letters seen in our days which have taught us that of all people in the World none make Love with that confidence and freedom as the Nuns The Monastical Gallantry hath its Laws and Rubricks apart There are no elegant Entertainments no Assiduities nor publick Attendances all things within the Cloister are so carried privately and with discretion nevertheless their Religious Civility is so great they will not discourage any mans affection and there is but few which attempt them but they arrive at their designs The Imperial Prince was a handsom Person and a fine Gentleman Constance had taken a Monastick life upon her more in obedience than choice and in vows of this Nature there is something always reserved to direct the intention Thus have we brought them into Cupids High-way The Prince seconded his
without Constance presented her self where the Emperour attended She fell into a large Encomium of his confidence told him that that was the surest way to win her heart and having ingaged to follow what directions he would give her she conjured him to return her the Letter and to chuse rather to receive her favours from her own pure will than to owe them to any fear or constraint which would be unworthy of either of them Whilst this Letter is in your hands Sir said she you will always believe you obtain that by force which nothing but your merit ought to make you to hope This imagination must needs trouble your joy and I am perswaded you are of a more gentle and delicate temper than to govern like a Tyrant where you may reign like a lawful Prince Restore my Letter then I conjure you I beg it in the name of whatever it be that is most dear to you and I do promise my acknowledgements shall follow your Generosity so close you shall not have time to repent you of any thing you do This Proposition was not pleasting to Frederick He had a mind Constance should make the first step and told her she ought to have the same confidence in his word as she desired he should have in hers But the conning Nun knew to complain so artificially of his injustice to her sincerity she was so apt to take his unkindness to heart and he was so well pleased with her tenderness it was not possible for him to refuse her any longer He pulled the Letter out of his Pocket and gave it into her hands but he was much surprised to see her run away with the Paper and to observe that at the very first step of her flight he heard some body cry fire round about the Covent This noise was made by her three Companions from their several Postes they had agreed among themselves of this Stratagem before and the Emperour suspecting nothing of it was advancing towards the house to examine what might be the reason But the Confusion was so great and his Train which he had placed without hearing the Name of Frederick and Emperour frequently reiterated in the Covent they perswaded him so forcibly that it was not safe for him to stay longer in the Garden that he retird with all speed and went directly to his Palace so mad and outragious at the Trick they had put upon him that had he followed the first motions of his Choler he would have set fire to the Monastery indeed and sacrificed Constance and all her Sisterhood to the justice of his resentment But not thinking himself strong enought at that time in Rome he durst not attempt so great a piece of violence besides it would not have been easie for him to have done it for at the first Alarm about the Town and the Palace of Alexander that some body was stealing his Holiness his Niece the Monastery was immediately encompassed with such a number of Souldiers it would have been a difficult matter to have made any such Attempt The Popesent one of his Officers to inform himself of the particulars Constance told her story so well there was no body but believed her She said she had been drawn by force out of her Cell and carried into the Garden whence they had certainly conveyed her through the breach of the Wall had not the Cryes of her Companions who heard her skreek out prevented their violence This Tale was so well invented and the Evidences against the Emperour so probable that the Pope doubted not in the least but the Emperour was the Author of this Tumult Constance had long since complained of his Visits She affirmed she heard his voice in the throng He went abroad that night attended by several armed men and had been met in the street with his Mirmidons by some of his Holinesses Servants which put the Pope into the highest indignation against the rashness of that Prince He commanded his Guards to their Arms he beset the Emperours Palace with resolution to revenge himself for the indignity done to him in the person of his Niece But Frederick had prevented his diligence he had withdrawn himself and his Family into the Quarters of one of his Troops where he complained as much of the Affront done to him as Alexander did on the other side From hence it was arose that famous War betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibelins which was the desolation of Italy for so long time and divided all the Princes of Christendom The publick pretence was That the Pope refused the Bishoprick of Ravenna to a Favourite of the Emperours but the occult cause was Constances rejection of the Emperours Love and that passion being turned into Rage by the Trick she had put upon him it is a hard matter to describe the effects that rage did produce Rome was pillaged his Holiness forced to abandon the holy See and seek Sanctuary in France Autipopes where chosen Excommunications thundred abroad and all these the consequence of a fatal Amour though of so many dire accidents are reported in History there are few people that can trace them from their true source and Original The ambition of Frederick and the perversness of the Pope are generally charged with these disorders The latter hath been condemned of severity the first of an injustifiable design upon the Lands of the Church The super Aspidem Basiliscum of Alexander the Third is recorded in Capital Letters in all the Relations of that time But there are few Memoires which attribute that to Constances Gallant which History imputes to the Protector of the Antipope and thus it is the great Affairs of the World are secretly carried on They have all several faces and we see nothing but as the partiality or ignorance of the Historian represents But without fear of digressing too much from the ways of truth we may always mingle some amorous Occurrences with the Accidents which seem most remote and foreign to that passion for if we take our measures right there is seldom any passage how Tragical soever it may appear of which the Annals of Love may not become a Chronological History As Constance was the secret Cause of the War it was but just she should give her Uncle all the assistance she could to maintain it She writ word to Prince Henry all the violences the Emperour had designed against her and the ways she took to defeat them Jealousie hath been always a kind of Apple of Contention which spares not the most Sacred Alliances The Emperour was most violently jealous of his Son as well in point of Honour as of Love He saw he had a great Reputation in the Army and he imputed the Affront Constance had done to him to her passion for his Rival so that the secret dissatisfactions of the Prince cooperating with the ill disposition of the Emperours mind they began to look upon one another with diffidence to that diffidence succeeded
apparition of his Love was in little confidences only as in discovering to her his thoughts and Characters of the great Lords in his Court. From these trifles he past higher and at length told her the secret of his Marriage and that he was Eleonor Husband only by name Bidaura was exceedingly surprised at a discourse so little understood She lookt earnestly upon the King as if by so doing she could discover the truth of what he said in his eyes and not perceiving any thing in his person but what seemed to accuse him of equivocating she ventured to tell him That he had bin abused and that what they had perswaded him was nothing but a Chimaera Alas replied the young King very sadly this Chimaera is too real for my repose one of the most famous Physicians of our Kingdom hath sworn it and Eleonor her self confirms me that it is true What advantage would it be to her to put such a fallacy upon me she would rather convince me if it were otherwise Bidaura ruminating upon what the King had told her desired to know the Physicians name who had perswaded him of that impotency and understanding it was a Castilian who she knew was entirely at the Queens disposal she stood still for some time as recollecting her memory when starting out on a sudden and clapping her hands together Courage Sir said she to the King you shall be cured very suddenly now the cause of your distemper is known After which words she fell into a discourse of the intimacy betwixt Eleonor and the Castillian Lord That all Castile believed they had been privately married and recollecting that the Physician which upon the Queens perswasion had put that Errour into the head of the King had all his life long been a Creature of Eleonors Gallant she represented to his Majesty how probably it was that this might be a design to preserve the Queen of Arragon to her secret Husband The King was much satisfied at the likelihood of what Bidaura had said and he would have given half his Kingdom to have been cured so well He went imme drately to Eleonor and charging her positively with what Bidaura but suspected supposing he had made some further discovery she confest is without much ado But it was with such strong protestations that she could use him no otherwise without violence to all Law both humane and divine and with such instant supplication that he would protect her against the indignation of her Nephew That the young Prince was so far from reproaching her for abusing his Credulity and small Experience that he commended her fidelity to her first Love and promised her protection In the mean time Bidaura began to add Ambition to her Love at first she aspired only to be his Mistress but finding the Queenship of Arragon vacant she fancied it might fall to her share to supply it She drest and made her self as lovely as possible she redoubled her diligence and Complacences and having brought the King to a Condition of making tryal of his recovery she knew so well how to keep her self within the bounds of Civility she put him upon the first motions of Matrimony The Marriage of Eleonor and the King was not quite nulled The truth is it had never been consummated and the Counsel of Arragon had sent to Castile and to Rome to press an absolute dissolution but Affairs betwixt Kings and Queens are not so easily dispatcht The passion of Eleonor for her Paramour might decline by degrees if ambition or solid reason should take the place of her Love it would have been more casie to break her pretended Marriage with her Castillian Lord than her publick Contract with the King of Arragon We may say then that Eleonor was the Wife of James till further Order from his Holiness But the King prest by Bidaura's Charms could not with patience believe those Formalities were to be prefer'd before the desires of his heart He married Bidaura privately and this Marriage being as blameable as it was unequal he made it in his Conditions that she should not discover it This Proposition was not at all pleasing to Theresia and she did what she could possibly to divert him but finding the King obstinate and inexorable she thought it good to be a Queen upon what terms soever it might be And these were some of the Articles agreed on betwixt themselves which perhaps may be of some use to the Reader if he be in the same predicament The Private Articles of their Marriage We who subscribe these Articles design As our Love is our Marriage Clandestine Next the word duty shall be laid aside No Sover aignty in Bridegroom or in Bride In case of difference both shall comply And neither be too humble nor too high If Husband sins the Woman must connive If she the man dispenses with the Wife All must be one one Love one lofe one joy And what does one must both of us destroy These Terms we marry on but reasons bid Conceal the Marriage and let it be hid With this severe condition ' cause good Wives Love tattling gen'rally as they love their lives If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss These Articles were observed very religiously by the King His private Marriage was every was as pleasant as his private Amours and pleasanter in this that there was no occasion for remorse and though his Marriage with Eleonor was solemnly dissolved and she left to be his Wife to whom she had been formerly ingaged yet Theresia de Bedaura could never obtain liberty of the King to appear publickly upon the Throne she had this satisfaction that it was not possest by another and she brought Children into the World who stood fair one day to govern the Kingdom of Arragon but for all this she could never work upon the Kings resolution He had been so much dissatisfied with his publick Marriage before that he could not be won to renounce the pleasure of his private Bidaura she had got the Ministers to her side and all the Religious in the Kingdom were her Sollicitors but the King answered them all with this Article If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss But we do ill to imploy so much leisure upon so barren a Story Our Chronology leads us insensibly to a far better History and it is time now to bring Love upon the Stage in better form than as yet it hath appeared THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE THIRD PART IT is the Universal Confession of the whole World that Constraint creates an appetite of Liberty we desire nothing so ardently as what is prohibited and yet some Husbands there are which cannot be cured of restraining their Wives The Italians be the Husbands in the World the most lyable to this kind of madness and are by consequence most subject to the ill Accidents which follow They tell stories of their revenge upon their
Wives which would pass for Prodigies in any other place where their Captivity doth not authorize them But the most pleasant in my Judgment that ever was transmitted by History was that which happened betwixt the Roman Ladies and the Traticelles These honest Gentlemen were near twenty young Fellows living about four hundred years since In their time there was a great year of Gallantry in Rome and Courtship The Lovers running like Rats up and down the streets all night long sometimes with their Serenads sometimes petrolling under the Windows of the most illustrious Houses in hopes of a happy glance from the Persons they adored But these amorous Exploits being too frequent to be private the suspicious Husbands took the Alarm and augmented the number of their Spies to such a Proposition that that Trade was in a short time quite interrupted The young Devots we mentioned before were heavily afficted at that sad Information they had had no share in the nocturnal Gallantries which had past and they thought it unreasonable that they should be punisht for the indiscretion of other people Seeing then this Clutter and publick Ostentation of Love had been the cause of so much disorder they resolved to carry on theirs privately and à la Sourdine without giving any more occasion of Jealousie than needs must They pretended to live very recluse they affected an outward mortification and forming themselves into a new Religious Order under the Name of Fraticelles they became in a short time so venerable for their visible piety that they were never mentioned but as a new sort of Anchorets Some of the most unquiet and worst coupled Husbands had a great curiosity to see these Devots those persons who are under the anxiety of that Domestick care find great comfort in pious Discourses and the Conversation of these Fraticelles being then very grateful there was scarce a married man in Rome but expected from their charitable admonitions the Conversation of his Wife were she never so extravagant The Husbands were mad to be at home to tell their Wives of this new Institution and the good Women looking upon the pretence of a Visit as a good opportunity to gad exprest great satisfaction at the News and had a strange desire of seeing these good Brethren immediately By this means the Fraticelles were visited by degrees very often and the good men at home as well contented as might be For the Fraticelles for the better establishment of their Dominion preacht nothing but Conjugal Love Fidelity and Obedience in the Wives towards their Husbands and variety of such other Precepts as were very useful for the tranquillity of a Family and of great comfort to the Gentleman at home But because what was good to be said to the one might not perhaps be proper or agreeable to the other they desired the good Women would come by themselves to the end said they That we may labour the more effectually for your entire Conversion There was no great difficulty of obtaining that mark of their respect they had rather go th Church than not stir out at all and the private Lectures of the Fraticelles not appearing so hard to be put in practice as the Documents of the Ordinary Priest they became very assiduous to the great satifaction of their Husbands See Daughter said one of the cunningest of the Fryars to one of the handsomest of the Penitents one day Appearances and secious Pretences are the Children of Prudence which cost but little bringing up and are of great use in Civil Society What pleasures do you find in the disorders of a jealous Husband Alas is it not an easie matter to deceive him a little Kiss given opportunely hides a blush sometimes from his eyes that had he seen it would have been as welcome as a Dagger to his heart A counterfeit sorrow when you take your leave makes him the more courteous and hastens your departure And to speak truth we do very well consider all flesh is but frail we do not when you come for instruction expect you should be Statues of Marble All that we admonish is this that you study the humour of your Husbands and cajole it so cunningly that they may not complain and you do as you please Love what is lovely write Letters appoint Meetings 't is no matter they are things not criminal in themselves it is the pratling and discovery that makes the Crime and that it is so let me ask you do not you know Segniora Petronilla who lives at the Corner of the Via Appia Yes certainly replied the Penitent my Husband casts her every day in my dish and proposes her to me as an admirable Example of Vertue and doubtless she is one of the wisest Women in Rome You are misinformed good Daughter as to that replied the Confessor she hath had ten Gallants in her time and I know them all my self The Marquess Cocles was one of them he courted her two years together and upon her score it was the brave Brundivisi was killed The money she pretended to give to the poor was carried privately to a younger Brother of the House of Vrsini by a Templer an Acquaintance of mine and that Father you see with her so often with long sleeves was formerly one of our Fraternity banisht for his licentiousness and is now driving on an amorous Intrigue with her under pretence of religious Conference but I must needs say the Hypocrite hath Wit she disguises her inclinations with a visible modesty she caresses her Husband complies with him in every thing and makes the Servants pay him a most transcendant respect Thus indeed it is Husbands ought to be dealt with thus would I have you do with yours and I 'le assure you I speak it out of a true Charity for you Such judicious Doctrine as this could not chuse but produce great effects in all the discontented Families The most cross-grain'd Wife of them all became a Patern of Complacency and the Husbands came in Troops to give the Fraticelles thanks for the repose they had procured The Fryars perceiving their Reputation pretty well setled they began to reflect about their own private felicity They chose from amongst them a Superior they called Fryar Conrard an acute man eloquent his gravity and superciliousness imposed upon the World and his outward Conversation he managed as he pleased This new Governour chose out of the rest twenty of the youngest the cunningest and the most plausible men he could find and as it were restraining the piety of the Order to this number he chose as many she-Penitents for them and one half by Lot and another by Election bestowed them all amongst his Brethren so that each of them had one Having setled their Chapter in this manner they devided the rest of their Congregation into two inferiour Orders one of which being absolutely ignorant of what past amongst them believed the Fraticelles as really devout as they pretended to be and applying themselves
Complaint against my Husband Hear it I beseech you with patience and judge of my Reasons I was born in Montpellier a Town very famous for the handsom Women it produces and my Name is Mariana Nogaret A Gentleman who lived not far off in the Country having occasions at Montpellier happened to see me by chance and liked me so well he pretended he loved me This confidence not being a thing so terrible in our Country as in other places I must confess freely I thought my self very much obliged to him But the beginnings of our Amour was of no long duration for my Servant was called to the Court of France upon an Affair not at all important to this Story and King Philip sirnamed le Bel conceived so great kindness for him he kept him about his person He gave me notice of the favour he was in and for some time I had reason to believe he would not force himself to forget me He writ to me often and his Letters seemed to be passionate but the Court having this in propriety to forget all former obligations Nogaret by degrees became lazy and would not write often and at length neglected it quite I past two whole years without hearing one word of him but about the third year afterwards being sent by the King his Master to Pope Boniface passing through Languedoc either by accident or design he came to Montpellier I may say without vanity had the Reputation of that time of being the handsomest Woman in that Province I was grown something fatter than when Nogaret first saw me my Neck and proportions were better shaped and Nogaret was grown also the finest Gentleman in France We had no great trouble to revive our old flame I saw nothing in all Languedoc to be compared to Nogaret and he swore as heartily he had seen nothing in all France or Italy so lovely as my self The trick of inconstancy which he had plaid me in his first Voyage made me not relye too much upon his protestations then I remembred he had promised as stoutly before and forgot it almost as soon as out of sight but he gave so fair pretences for his silence and I had so great a desire they should be true that I assisted the cheat and contributed to my own deception His Fortune and his Duty requiring his return he staid not long at Montpellier but he gave me sufficient grounds to believe that what he left behind him this time was much dearer to him than it had been before He writ to me from all places upon the Road there was not a fashion in the Court of France but I had the Pattern one of the first and the kindness of King Philip having raised him to a Rank in which he needed not fear being denied if he demanded me of my Parents he did it with so much ardour and advantage on my side that he easily obtained me I was conducted to Lyons where Nogaret met me and our Marriage being celebrated there my new Husband conducted me to Court with an Equipage more like a Triumph than a private Train The King received Nogaret with great demonstrations of Joy the Queen honoured me with Presents and Caresses and if I had the pleasure to see Nogaret outdo all the young Lords of his Age he had the satisfaction to hear his choice commended by every one that saw me Three or four months we continued at this rate with so much felicity and content both to the one and the other that I cannot think upon that happy time without being melancholy to think it lasted no longer But Madam what I am going to tell you is it to be believed The first transports of our Joy was scarce past but the names of Husband and Wife became insupportable to us Nogaret increased daily in Esteem and Reputation and I may say the air of the Court was no diminution to my Beauty Had not Nogaret been my Husband I should have had need of my whole stock of Vertue to have kept me from loving him more than I ought and he protested had not I been his Wife he had dyed for Love of me before that but the indispensable necessity of loving one another gave us continual temptations to hate We could not be alone together half an hour but it was troublesom if Custom or Capricio put us upon any Caresses they went against the hair and seemed done only to acquit our selves of an ungrateful duty that lay upon us without the least kindness or satisfaction in the World Not but that we had a foundation of respect one for another which indeed nothing could destroy Nogaret lived with me very honourably and I would have dyed a thousand deaths before I would have been deficient in my duty to him But we lookt upon one another as good friends who being assured of one anothers affection love on but in a quiet and serene kind of way without the least passion or transport This sort of Civility gives the good Woman all the Priviledges her Rank requires of her Husband and secures the good man against all tempests at home But this is not enough for young Hearts who expect something further They would have Love continue with the same fervour it began for think they when that which ought to be the effect of Love is but the effect of Policy and Complacence Marriage becomes a heavy burden to those who are any thing delicate These considerations rendring us unquiet and morose Sara Colonne one of Nogarets particular Friends began to perceive it This man was famous over all Europe for his irreverences towards Pope Boniface Nogaret had made a Journey into Italy with him and besides the familiarity which Travelling produces among Travellers Colonna was a lovely Person and very judicious he prest my Husband to let him know the occasion of his Melancholy and assuring him he should hold his friendship suspected for the future unless he vouchsafed him that mark of his affection he ravisht it from him that it was his disgust of me How says Colonna disgusted with Madam Nogaret Tell me I beseech you do you know any Woman living more handsom and more worthy of your Love than she 'T is not of her Beauty I complain replied my Husband I must confess that is great and any man but a Husband might be happy in it But tell me I pray you of what use is that Beauty of what use replied Colonna for whose or for what use should your Wife be but for yours do you make no difference then betwixt a handsom Woman and an ill-favour'd and if you restrain the pleasures of Matrimony only to the eye is it not more pleasant for a Husband when he comes home to find a young a lively and neat Woman ready to embrace him than to be received by a loose-bodied mouldy old Woman Ha my dear Friend replied Nogaret in a scornful way a Wife is always handsom enough considering how little her Husband regards her A
Lady he sollicited with so much zeal without knowing her and went to meet in despight of so many dangers and impediments to be daily at his disposing in his own house was so pleasant a thing perhaps the like never happened before Poor Nogaret finding himself in a stinking Bog upon an insensible Jade which despised the correction both of his hand and his heel made a thousand vows and obsecrations to Love to deliver him out of so villanous a place He thought once to have alighted off his Horse and tryed to have disengaged himself on foot but besides that the Slough was deep and muddy he had but one pair of Breeches about him and was unwilling to defile them in such an Adventure He kickt he spur'd he swore he repined but he might have kickt and swore and repined long enough had not the officious Colonna come in luckily to his assistance This good man imagining very discreetly that this Intrigue betwixt Nogaret and me could not probably be discovered without some kind of displeasure came to prevent by his presence any ill consequence that might arise The Moon was up and Nogaret knew him by the light of it he cryed out to have him come to him and being come Ah my dear Friend said he to him with a voice trembling betwixt choler and cold help me I beseech you I can do no more I have been two long hours in this Slough and without your assistance I am like to be here all night Colonna knew him and seeing him in such a condition for an Enterprise which deserved better luck as so pleased with the Adventure that he could not answer him for laughing How said Nogaret to him in a rage is it thus you relieve your Friend at a time when he hath so much need of your assistance What assistance would you have replied Colonna laughing all the while I am neither Ploughman nor Mariner and it would require all the Altars both of the one and the other to fetch you off where you are What in Gods name do you there who conducted you and how came you to march alone in the night without any Servants and upon an ugly Jade that is none of your own We will satisfie you to those questions hereafter replied Nogaret much discomposed both with anger and shame this is no time for such Narratives as those but do what you can to deliver me I beseech you Colonna alighted took his Hackney by the Bridle spoke to him and batter'd the Beast till at last with much ado he got him to a place where Nogaret might throw himself off on his back upon the ground When he was landed they marcht together to the next Village where my poor Husband was scraped and made clean and Colonna sent out to get another Horse for him for his old Hackney was dying But my Husbands impatience not giving him leave to attend the hiring of a new one he leapt up upon Colonna's and rid away full speed to the place of the Assignation I was in Bed when he arrived foreseeing the hour past and not daring to venture back to Paris in the night I resolved to lye where I was being assured I could justifie my absence if it should be required Nogarets transport was so great when he found himself alone in my Chamber that he did not think of bringing the Candle with him to my Bed-side He threw himself upon his knees and taking me by the hand he kissed it with so much joy and affection I was afraid he had been mad I confess I began to be troubled at his mistake and should have thought my self much indebted to Fortune had she done that in my favour which she had done in his I would not have committed a Crime but I could have wisht some Inchantment like my Husbands had communicated to me as much pleasure in his Caresses as he received in bestowing them He threw himself upon the Bed embraced my knees through the Counterpane and gave me a thousand thanks for my goodness in the best Language his Love could suggest But when after his first motions of trouble and transport he came to draw the Curtains quite and in the unknown Person he so tenderly loved he discovered the same Woman he so long had despised He swore a great oath I think in my Conscience 't is my Wife and stepping a little back to inform himself better he fell down under the Chairs so amazed at his Adventure I feared he would never have recovered No Sir said I it is none but your Wife you see how dangerous it is to commit your self to the conduct of your heart you would never have suspected yours to have been guilty of this mistake Mariana is so indifferent to you under the Name of Madam Nogaret that you could not think she could charm you in another shape I am nevertheless the Lady in the Mask you were so taken with in the Garden belonging to the Palace This Shape these Eyes this Neck in short all this Person you so passionately desired when unknown is the very same you lookt upon so disdainfully now you know me I sent you word in the Letter you lost that your passion would be over as soon as you saw me I know not whether nogaret overlaid with these reproache was not able to endure them any longer or whether ther his indignation for being deceived augmented the horrour he exprest at the sight of me but he ran down stairs as fast as he could and calling for his Horse away he went for Paris with all speed as ill satisfied now with his Assignation as he ever had been pleased He was scarce gone a moment but Colonna came in I told him what had past at our Enterview and I understood from him what had befallen Nogaret by the way I could not forbear laughing for my heart when I fancied him in the Puddle but my kindness returning after a time I dispatcht Colonna after him lest some new Accident might befal him I lookt upon all this Accident as a JesT and I did hope Nogaret would have lookt upon it no otherwise but I was mistaken in my opinion He was so much inraged at the fallacy that he hath not forgiven me to this day Colonna thought good to let him know that it was Fortune which began it and that if either of us had reason to complain of the Consequence it was certainly I. He replied to his remonstrances that I was an Imposture and that a Woman which could disguise her self so well would act the greatest and most horrible disloyalties when-ever she had a mind to it Seeing then I could not mollife him by any means I caused it to be proposed to him to come hither and implore that Priviledge you so graciously are pleased to afford all such Husbands as are dissatisfied with their Wives The Coundition he stood in in France made him averse at first but the good men which think themselves burdened with their
Wives fancy nothing impâ—â—lible that may ease them We have left our Country upon these terms and are now present in your Court But see Madam and admire the unconstancy of my Stars the liberty I now enjoy of parting with Nogaret makes me begin to think our separation insupportable I beseech you therefore most Excellent Princess continued Mariana throwing her self at Margarets feet obtain of Duleinus in my behalf that Nogaret may not have that permission which I know he demands As I imitated him in his disgust it is possible he may do as much for me in my return The necessity of our Loves begat our Antipathy and who knows but the liberty to hate may revive our affections Mariana was not out of the way when she dissed in this manner She had scarce ended her Petition but Dulcinus came in to desire Margaret in the behalf of Nogaret to grant to such permission to Mariana In short this Couple took one another again and loved one another as entirely as when they were married at first Their Example was so good that being followed by several others it carried many a good man and his Wife back again into France who renounced the Priviledge of Divorce and demonstrated to the World That liberty to change takes away the desire to do it That did well and like wise men to carry themselves so they would have been constrained otherwise by force to what they did willingly for Pope Clement the Fifth having intelligence of what past in Lombardy and finding this new Law inconformable to the Laws of Christianity raised a strong Army and sent it against Dulcinus under the Command of a Legat his Nephew The Legat overcame him forced him to renounce his Errour and rescued his Subjects from that Libertinism in which they began to be plunged Vnhappy days unhappy War whose rage Swallowed whole Countries cost so many lives Wer 't to be fought again in this our Age We'd pull down Pope rather than keep our Wives Whilst Margaret was bewailing the success of the Legat and some Husbands apprehending the Consequences of that War hasted very prudently to gain the benefit of that Priviledge Don Pedro King of Castile applied himself to the Establishment of that Custom in his Kingdom which was so unfortunately supprest in Lombardy He had sent Ambassadours into France to negotiate a Marriage for him with Blanche the Daughter of Peter Duke of Bourbon a near Kinsman to Philip of Valois the first King of France of that Race The Castillians are a flegmatick people in matters of Negotiation and those whom Don Pedro had imployed about this driving at the advantage of the Kingdom more than the particular interest of the King they were so tedious in concluding upon their Conditions that Don Pedro began to be weary of their delay He was as violent as they were cautious when he sent to make that Overture about Blanche he had prepared his patience for no longer expectation than was necessary for a Journey betwixt Burgos and Paris and finding that elapsed and no intimation when the Wife was to come he began to think of easing his impatience by some gentle diversion for by that name it is all beginnings of Love are Christned that which makes oftentimes the greatest affair of a mans life is lookt upon at first but as a transitory fancy and whilst one thinks but to play and dally with Love as with a Child the least of his scratches become incurable and mortal At this rate it happened to our young Monarch He discovered his inclinations to Nugnez de Prade Grand Master of the Order of Callatrava and the chief of his Favourites Such kind of Confidences as these are not very honourable in themselves but the favour ennobles them It is always good to be imployed in the Secrets of ones Master let the part he be to act be what it will Nugnez thought himself much honoured that the King of Castile had made choice of him to serve him in his Amours and to acquit himself honourably of his Trust he gave himself up entirely to the finding out a Mistress for Don Pedro. This is an imployment which requires no great trouble Ladies are generally very well inclined when they are desired for a Prince but Nugnez could not accommodate with all that was offered him He was as dutiful a Subject as he was a dextrous Sollicitor and not being willing give the King any more than a bare diversion it cost him some trouble to find out a Person handsome enough to please him and yet not so compleat as to work him into a passion He thought he had met with one according to his mind in the person of Maria de Padilla one of the Maids of Honour to the Dutchess of Albuquerque This young Lady was witty and lively she was young and handsom and though she was neither of Beauty nor Quality sufficient to give any obstruction to the Marriage intended yet she was well enough to satisfie his impatience till the Princess arrived To relate the Formalities of our Monarch towards this Virgin or the Virgins to the King would be to charge our Annals with an impertinent Circumstance Lovers of Don Pedro's Rank are not subiect to the Punctilioes of a Romance They carry their Mistresses by absolute Power and it is not for them the Loveforms were devised Nugnez told Padilla the King likes you very well and Padilla replied What will his Majesty command me but this bargain made with so much expedition and consummated with so much ease had not a conclusion suitable to its beginning Padilla had athousand qualities capable of making a Lover happy more than indifferent persons could discern The vivacity of her Wit animated all her actions her humour and complacency supplied the defects of her Beauty and the Kings Magnificence making her eminent for a natural inclination to neatness Don Pedro at the very first found that his Mistress which the Grand Master hoped he would never have discovered He prest his Embassadours no more to dispatch and the little concern he had for her return making him think it precipitate when they did he scarce believed the Princess was come out of Paris when advice was brought that some body was to be Deputed to receive her upon the Frontiers These tydings both surprised and afflicted him He could have wisht never to have heard it whilst he lived but the Marriage of Kings being no jesting matter there was a necessity that Don Pedro should pretend to be content He dispatcht Nugnez de Prade to attend the new Queen and advancing himself some three days Journey from Burgos in order to meet her he resolved to content himself in this business as well as he could but his Love for Padilla would by no means concur her absence though but for three days seemed an Age to him He must needs return to her he could not endure the thoughts of marrying Blanche and looking upon his lawful
betray'd the Fort before Love 's an ill habit seising on the sense And th' more we'ave lov'd making us love the more The Emperour sent for his Son and having remonstrated to him and rebuked him for his coldness to the Infanta he demanded if he had discovered any new fault in her which he perceived not before if she had betrayed him in any thing already or if he apprehended she would do for the future No Sir replied the Prince the Infanta is as wise as she is fair and I have no cause at all to complain of her proceedings Why then said the Emperour do not you love her as well as you have dose It is Sir replied the Prince because there is nothing eternal here below do you know Sir any thing upon the Earth but hath an end or can any man instance in an Amour that lasted as long as the Lover lived I confess says the Emperour there is nothing more common than variation in Love but those variations have their Causes either in the possession of the thing they love or in the attraction of some new Mistress Can you pretend either of the two what new Lady is it has captivated you or has the Infanta's good Nature permitted your Love to advance so far that it is at its achme and must of necessity decline No Sir replied the Prince I have neither of those reasons to pretend the Infanta is virtuous and I must needs say deserves to be better beloved but Sir no man is master of his own sentiments and it is as vain as unjust for a Mistress to call her Servant to an account for inconstancy as we love many times in spight of our teeths so we cool and abate in our Loves and sometimes give quite over without any reasonable cause However replied the Emperour for a passion to stop in the middle of its Cariere as yours has done is a thing I have not heard of before whether it be more or whether it be less you love the Infanta still though but indifferently and that indifference is but the effect of some extraordinary kindness she has shewn you which has satiated your desires I beseech you Sir replied Emanuel do not trouble your self with those apprehensions I am nothing at all of what you think and nothing else but what I tell you I have not those violent passions and inquietudes I formerly have had but it is only because I fancy them unseasonable I look upon my self now as the Master of the Infanta's affections she has no Intrigue nor Jealousie I tell her what I please I see her when I please and I am assured I shall possess her whence then should I derive my apprehensions what reason have I to lye sobbing and counting the minutes when I can speak to her when ever I desire why should I be jealous when I am satisfied I have no Rival Take away these emotions from Love the case will be mine and nothing remaining but what is in me The Emperour was transported to hear his discourse yet it was not without regret for fear he should return This coolness of yours Son replied the Emperour very slyly can never last long those who are accustomed to the pleasures of Love cannot so easily renounce them it is hard for one to clear himself of the secret transports the amorous disquiets the fears the impatiences and in a word the whole train of indispensable consequences which attend upon that passion they do so pleasantly possess the Soul they inhabit the very want of them is troublesom when the passion ceases On the contrary Sir replied Emanuel interrupting him I must tell you if it be lawful for me to be of an opinion opposite to yours that the Effects of Love which create that violence in the beginning hastens may precipitate the Cure when a Lover is but once arrived at this that he can look soberly upon his Love I cannot imagine how it was possible my reason could dispense with the extravagancies I have committed I am ashamed of my former Errours and I do now find them a great corroboration to my Philosophy Not Sir but I am resolved to marry the Infanta of Trebisonde because I have promised it and I dare promise you to live with her as you will desire But I beseech you Sir oblige me no farther than the Civilties and Formalities of a Husband the ardencies and violences of Love are not to be expected from me This was a point the Emperour had no design to press upon his Son and therefore he left him without expostulating farther and forming his hopes upon what he had told him he clapt such persons about the Infanta as were buzzing perpetually into her Ears That the Emperour was not troubled with any of the incommodities of old age That in Activity and Courtship he out-did all the rest of his Court and That doubtless he was so vigorous and strong his Son was like to languish a long time before he could expect to arrive at the Empire To these discourses which were delivered as it were by accident they added more positive The Prince gave no tokens of his indifference to the Infanta but the Emperour made her sensible of them if he left her as it happened often to speak to another Lady What an Age do we live in Madam would he cry in my time it was esteemed a Crime to lose the least moment a man could dedicate to his Mistress we thought we had never time enough to speak our affections and when Emanuel contradicted his Mistress in any thing Do you believe would he say that when I was a young man it would have been permitted a Servant should have been of one mind and his Mistress on another no certainly their Love or their Breeding was better than so and when I was at the age of Emanuel if I should have been guilty of doing that once which he practises continually I should have been thought the most giddy and inconstant Lover in the World How said he another time does Emanuel converse with other Ladies in your presence and I not find his Eye upon you all the time of his discourse Believe me Madam said he you must discipline this young man and teach him his duty a little better his felicity besots him and you will lose him in time if you give him not now and then a quarter of an hours experience of your rigour The Princess made use several times of Calo-Johns advice but without any success The Prince was never the more fond for those kind of Artifices he found the Infanta always sweet enough upon him to serve his turn and when she was angry it concerned him less than when she was kind As he was in this disposition the Emperour had advice that Mammomas having insinuated with certain Lords of a Province belonging to the Empire not far from Peloponessus had debauched them to a Revolt He sent the Prince Emanuel with an Army to reduce them and in
his absence declaring to the Princess what he understood of the indifferencies of his Son he knew so well how to represent to her the resentment a discreet Woman ought to conceive when she finds her self despised by her Husband and described all the Discourses he had held with his Son so exactly that he found he had stir'd up her indignation before he was aware The Letters she received from Emanuel did not a little confirm the suggestions of his Father They contained nothing but indifferent relations and if indispensable Civility caused him to mention any thing of Love it was so flat and insipid it was easily to be discerned he did it by constraint One would have thought he had apprehended the vigilance of some jealous person he exprest his desires so indifferently one would have thought his prudence had retained the best half of his mind He forgot himself one day so far in his tranquillities that he gave a most excellent Character of Mammomas to the Infanta not considering he was his Rival and such a Rival as had been able to keep him from the possession of his Mistress This is too much cryed the Princess when she read the Letter the Prince at length tires out my patience and I shall be reproacht all Greece over as an insensible person if knowing how Emanuel uses me I let him not understand again that I am not ignorant of ways to revenge my self And this resolution was no sooner taken than executed The Infanta told the Emperour that she was at last grown weary of the Princes neglects that she would dye a thousand deaths before she would marry him and that she was come to acquaint him she would sacrifice her self before she would submit to the Conditions of the Treaty This was it the Emperour designed he commended her resentment protested the deportment of his Son was no less ungrateful to his Ears than to hers and wishing with all his heart he had been of an age to make her reparation himself he sollicited her to vengeance so hard that at length she listned to his Proposals She writ a Letter to the Emperor of Trebisonde by agreement with Calo-John the Pacquet was delivered into the hands of an Agent very faithful to the Emperour and of a Wit as considerable as his fidelity It would be requisite to delineate Calo-John exactly as he was at that time to make the Reader conceive all that Love is able to make a man of his age do He brake the brains of all the Officers of his Chamber to invent him new dresses he trusted none but his own Eyes in the choice of the Colors he wore and passing whole hours in conversation with his Glass What thinkest thou Calo-John said he to himself how dost thou like this Figure in the Glass this Complexion is it not fine these Eyes are they not soft and well made they are not so sparkling indeed as when I was young but in Love the softness and sweetness of the Eye doth more execution many times than the quickness and vivacity What say you to this Shape this Leg this whole Contexture said he marching two or three steps with great magnificence Ha! Calo-John 't is not for nothing the Infanta of Trebisonde prefers you to your Son thou art a thousand times handsomer and more desirable than he and this Election of the Princess is an effect of the solidity of her Judgment rather than a token of her anger Whilst the Emperour was pleasing himself in this manner in his own Efficacy and Merits his Son had reduced the Rebels to the Terms his Father desired and there being nothing left to detain him longer upon the Frontiers he returned to Constantinople with the same serenity he departed He found the Princess much colder to him than formerly and the Emperour more spruce but he did not concern himself for either he was glad to find the Princess no more troublesom and did not dive into the fineness of his Father He recounted his Exploits to his Mistress in the same style he had writ them and she told him Ironically she was much obliged to him for the description he had given her of Mammomas that she had a great honour for his qualities and that she did not believe when she vanquisht his heart she had had so illustrious a Captive Our Lover being hardned took all in the literal sense and justified every tittle he had mentioned in his Letter A good way to moderate the transport of a Mistress at the return of her Servant The Infanta's indignation increased every hour and the affairs of the Emperour went better and better He failed not to ply her with thanks both by Letters and word of Mouth and supposing his acknowlegments would be more eloquent in Verse than in Prose he rub'd up his old fancy for a Paper of good Verses Our Memoires do not represent them in a style à la mode as to their Art or Invention but his ardour and sincerity is conspicuous in them to this day One time when he had out-done himself in the expression of the felicity he promised to himself the Princess by ill Fortune dropt the Paper before the Prince who taking it up had a Curiosity to read it contrary to his Custom but the Infanta discerning what it was Do not read it Sir said she to him they are Love-Verses Emanuel smiled and not believing what she said I am sufficiently your Friend Madam replied he to be intrusted with your Secrets and having said those words opened the Paper The Princess clapt her hand upon it and told him you do not believe me and yet I 'le assure you I say true Yes said the Prince interrupting her a little angerly I do believe you it may be some body makes Love to you but I will see by your favour after what manner he doth it who-ever it be he is something audacious and has chosen an ill field to engage in and then forcing the Paper from the Infanta and knowing it to be the Emperours hand How says he smiling is it the Emperour in truth let 's see if he can make Love as well now as of old When my poor heart 's already laid In dust for Love of gentle Maid What boots it to call out for aid My blood burnt up my vigour spent Mine Enemy omnipotent What boots it boots it to lament And yet methinks my hopes contend And still inculcate mark the end Your enemy shall prove your friend Ah! gentle hopes don't flatter me I should should I that minute see Happier than in my Empire be Emanuel thought the Emperour had but jested before and looking upon it as a design of the Infanta's to make him jealous he laught in his sleeve at the innocence of the project But when he perceived the Emperour was in earnest he began as seriously to be displeased Sure said he the Affairs of the Empire are but very few when the Emperour can have leisure to imploy himself
barricadoed himself in the Inn resolved to perish before he would surrender The persons sent after him having express Orders to bring him dead or alive never stood upon Complements they prest him so close there was no possibility of escaping and those who are far gone in Stoicism being not far from Barbarity the Count took up a resolution suitable to the fierceness of his own Nature and his hatred for Amedy He killed the fair Countess and stab'd himself when he had done Let the Reader imagine if he pleases the transport the Duke was in at this horrible News He said and he did things very inconsistent with his Dignity but that which gave the highest tincture to his despair was to understand that it was his dear Favourite the Marquess of Savona had given him this bob The Count reproaching the Countess by the way had let fall some words which assured her of the truth which words she had writ down in her Table-book found in her Pocket after she was dead with design to send them by the first opportunity to the Duke The Prince finding himself betrayed to satisfie his Revenge used all the means a just indignation and an absolute power could invent He caused the Marquess to be stab'd he confiscated the Count de la Morienes Estate and annext it to his demeasness and not being able ever after to be reconciled to the World he resigned the Government into the hands of his Son Charles whom he married to the Princess of Cyprus and retiring to his solitude of Ripaille he remained there till he was made Anti-Pope During this recess he composed his Memoires out of which we have taken this Relation The general History says only this that Amady retired upon some secret discontent but gives no account of particulars Our Annals of Love supply that defect as they have done several other and could have carried their disquisition much further if they might have been permitted An Anti-pope of the Dukes humour is very proper to furnish us with Rarities but the Italian Proverb tells us Al negocio del Cielo Se bastava gli Angeli Let Angels sing the things above They are too high for Tales of Love We are in an humour of speaking of the strange Effects of Love Agnes de Castro and must satisfie the Capricio of our Genius Don Pedro Prince of Portugal Son to Don Alphonso was almost contemporary with Amedy the King his Father had a second Wife who governed him absolutely The Prince obtained no favour from the King but what he ought to his Complacence for the Queen and as the highest excess of her Tyranny she would constrain him to marry a Daughter of hers called Leonora which she had had by her first Husband James of Arragon The Lady was handsom and had not Don Pedro been under a necessity of loving her it is possible he would have loved her well enough but Love is hardly to be obtruded upon a generous Soul Don Pedro's natural inclinations were great his Courage-high he could not truckle to the Orders of the Queen and the more eager she was to force his affection for the Princess he was the more obstinate and averse He had a Nurse widow to the Marquess de Castro who had an influence upon him In all the Countries on that side the Mountains the Nurses are chosen as chosen as much by their Extraction as any other Qualification whatever They have an opinion that the inclinations of ordinary Women are transfused with their milk and I am not certain whether it be altogether irrational The Queen accumultated her Caresses and Presents upon this Lady and conjured her to imploy the utmost of her interest to dispose the young Prince to what she desired but who is it but knows how much Fortune delights to defeat the designs of humane Prudence The way the Queen proposed to make her project successful proved the greatest and most effectual obstruction This Marquesses Lady had a Daughter named Agnes a sprightly and handsom young Lady The Prince had seen her without any Concernment whilst he had viewed her en passant but the Commission her Mother had received from the Queen giving him more frequent occasions of entertaining her the Prince became enamour'd at last What he had suckt from the breast of her Mother fermented in his heart in favour to the Daughter and the Love which was produced from so natural a Sympathy was violent from its very beginning The Prince was not able to suffer without declaring it The Terms in which he did it were not displeasing to the young Castro and being a handsom man in his person it cost him no great trouble to insinuate into her affection the greatest discouragement she had was their uncertainty of her Mother She was a Woman entirely devoted to the Interest of the Royal Family she would not see her own Daughter advanced to the Throne at the expence of the least difference betwixt the King and his Son and being not of a Temper to be easily deluded Agnes was perswaded she would not endure the passion of the Prince She represented her Judgment to him and though of her self she could have heard them eternally yet she conjured him for those reasons to give over that discourse But those kind of Conjurations are always in vain a Lover is never so furious as where reasons are introduced to perswade him to the contrary The Princes passion was augmented by this difficulty but to accommodate with the prudence of Anges which he could not deny to be upon very good grounds he resolved to counterfeit an affection for the Princess of Arragon but with this contrivance that whatever he should be forced to say to Leonora should be received by Agnes as intended to her and the progresses he made upon the heart of the one should be constantly placed upon the account of the other This resolution being taken and the Conditions agreed Don Pedro pretended to comply with his Nurses advice The King and the Queen overjoy'd with this change advanced the whole Family of the Marchioness and made a thousand Presents to Agnes It was a rare thing and very much to the Reputation of Love of Lovers of that Age to delude the Dagacity of two wise and interested Women and a King accomplished in all the Mysteries of Government but that which was most pleasant of all was the blindness of the Princess of Arragon who knowing her self handsom enough to be beloved and receiving the same-expressions which the Prince if he durst would have made to the young Castro made many acknowledgments to her Rival for her assistance without suspecting the least One night when in the presence of Agnes the Prince beg'd a kiss of Leonora so earnestly he was in a fair way to have prevailed Not so fast Madam if you pleased cryed the young Castro you do not consider what you are about to do there are more persons concerned in your conduct than perhaps you
down the stairs The Prince followed her as close as he could but not knowing the turnings of the House and the Fugitive being still some distance before there was always a Chamber betwixt them Young Agnes without doubt could have wisht he had been nearer and began already to fear lest he should hurt himself in the dark and as if the stairs had been the bounds of her apprehension she was just thinking of returning from whence she came but she was prevented in that by her Mother and the Princess of Arragon Her Mother did not believe the Princes desires were lawful nor if they had that they could have ever-been executed and therefore had kept her Parole very punctually with the Queen She had watcht the two Lovers so close she had discovered their nocturnal Entertainments she had given faithful advertisement and Leonora like an inraged Lover delighting to reproach his Treason to the Traitor himself got leave of the Queen that she might lye privately in the Marchionesses House and if possible catch her Gallant in the fact At so an unexpected apparition Agnes gave a skreek and would have run to the Prince to have saved her but her Mother stopt her and giving her a twirl by the Elbow thrust her towards the next Chamber As she opened the door there came so sudden a gust of wind out of it as blew out the Marquesses Candle she was afraid her Daughter should have escaped in that interval and having a mind to surprise the Prince whom nevertheless she believed to be under the Window she seized upon Agnes her self and would not let her stir till a new light was brought Leonora committing the care of securing the young Castro to her Mother slipt privately without any noise into the Chamber from whence her Rival came out The Prince by the glimmering of the Moon which was then rising was just got thither and taking Leonora for the person he pursued he threw himself upon her and clipt her in his Arms with as much ardour as could be expected from the affection of an amorous young man Dear Agnes said he to the Princess why do you withdraw from my affections are you not sensible of their purity I swear Agnes and I call Heaven to witness my design is nothing else but to set the Crown of Portugal upon your Head sweeten this attempt of mine with some expression of your kindness and trust your self for once to the faith of a Person that adores you You are not ignorant of my passion you are acquainted with all the fallacies I have put upon Leonora the indeed inhumane way I have taken to make her a blind and a cover for my affection to you and the little advantage I have made of her Errours have given you an entire prospect of my Soul The innocence of the Princes intentions made him a little bold he interrupted his discourses with some little exorbitances and so resolute he was to make Agnes his Wife that doubtless he would have presumed to have anticipated in some points had not the Marchioness came into the Chamber with her Candle It is no easie matter to determine who was in the greatest Consternation the Princess to have heard the Princes Discourss the Marchioness to find Don Pedro where he was and the Prince at the Apparition both of the one and the other For some time they were all of them amazed and stood gazing one upon another without speaking a word but at length old Castro coming first to her tongue she accosted him thus How Sir said she to the Prince and is it true that you make no scruple of sullying the Honour of a Person which gave you your first nourishment Is this Sir my recompence for having born you so often and with so much tenderness at my bosom Ha! Sir could I ever have expected this treatment from Don Pedro or from the Son of the Great King Alphonso Was I then to be the Victime of your secret passions added the Princess did I serve but as a stale and pretence and was it only for the Love of Agnes you pretended to love me The Prince at this second Charge conceiving the Service too hot quitted the field and having with great speed secured his Ladder he rescued himself from the reproaches of two outragious Women This Adventure made as much noise in the Court as could be expected from the fury of the Queen and the Authority she had usurped over the Spirit of the King The promises which Don Pedro made by mistake to Leonora interfering with the Power of the King there was no kind of reprehension but it drew upon the Prince those appearances of Love wherewith he had abused the Princess of Arragon giving occasion of offence to the Royal Family from whence she was descended pusht on the Queen in her murmurs and threats even to an excess she exclaimed against the consequences of that insolence and nothing could repair it but either the Prince must marry her immediately or else the King must give her leave to retire with her Daughter into the Kingdom of Arragon The Marchioness her self who by Leonora's condonation was become clearly of her side and desired his Majesty to assign her a Husband for her Daughter declaring that after such contumacy as she had committed it was but reason she should expect one no where else but from the bounty of the King The Prince endeavoured to dis-entangle himself as well as he could sometimes he stormed like a mad man sometimes he submitted sometimes he threatned to attempt any thing for the vindication of his liberty and then again he would call for quarter to purchase a little repose The King observing his disorder to increase and that the more violent it became the more it was opposed he thought no way so sure to put an end to it as to cause Agnes to be killed She dyed as the Queen gave out of the small Pox but the more learned Authors are of opinion it was by poyson It is easie to conceive Don Pedro's distraction at so Tragical an accident he resolved to revenge himself upon whom ever he did but suspect to have an hand in it and his Father dying just in the nick hence it was there arose an irreconciliable quarrel betwixt the two Crowns of Arragon and Portugal Don Pedro sacrificed ten years War and so much blood to the Ghost of his dear Agnes as might well have given him the addition of Cruel had not the gentleness of the latter end attoned for the beginning of his Raign THere was another Agnes living almost about the same time The Countess of Pontieuvre no less famous in the History of France than Agnes de Castro in the History of Portugal She was Mistress to Charles VII who governed the French Monarchy from the year 1422 to the year 1461. The troubles which happened in his Raign are not my province in this place There are Authors enough have related the Invasion of the
they desire nothing so furiously as what is refused them When he observed the Countesses Eye fixt upon him he turned his face another way if she entertained him with discourse and turned it upon Love to give her self opportunity to represent the disposition on of hers he talkt of nothing but the indifference of his temper and the pain it would be to him to love any thing long At length his wiles had their intended effect for one night when the whole Court was at the Appartment of Madam la Dauphine and Chabannes in his old way had shifted off the oeillades of Madam la Countesse she took him aside towards a Table where there was a Glass and pretending to rectifie her Hood she askt him why it was he avoided the looks of the Ladies so much I am afraid Madam replied he to shew you the object of your disdain and I cannot but respect you even where you are unjust Agnes blusht at his answer and remembring what she had said to Mortating she was impatient to be home to know upon what grounds that Wench discovered to the Count what she had discoursed to her in private She caused her to be called as soon as she was got to her Chamber and reproaching her by the lightness of her tongue in the bitterest language the could think of she commanded her to tell her truly what it was prevailed with her to be so foolish Mortaing supposing her Mistresses hatred for the Count as violent and immortal as she pretended concluded she had committed a great Crime in entertaining the Propositions of his Love She threw her self down at her feet told all S. Colombe had said to her conjured her to pardon what was past and wisht a thousand imprecations if ever she were guilty again in that nature for the future There is no great hurt in the bufiness neither said Madam Agnes sweetning her again the Crime was that you concealed it from me do not you make such Secrets another time for I will have nothing pass in my House but I will know it my self Alas Madam replied the trembling Mortaing I durst not tell you for my life for you told me you hated the Count Dammartin perfectly Yes says she and I do hate him without doubt but that hinders not but I may be well enough pleased to hear he hath a kindness for me it is a way to exercise my Revenge do you ask his Valet de Chamber the progress of his Love and when he tells you give me an account but be sure do not let him know I desire to hear it for it concerns me much he should be ignorant Mortaing promised to keep it most sacredly but she had no Secret she could conceal from her Colombe Chabannes had intelligence of all and being a while after at a Pastime in the Queens Appartment where the men demand a Secret of the Ladies and give them their answer in some pretty-conceited Verse it fell to his share to ask a Secret from the Countess de Pontieuvre when one has so much concern for the hatred of people replied the Countess it is but reason they should endeavour to remove it A wise man replied Chabannes doth nothing without Orders I conceive I have yours at this time and in that opinion he made his Verses which the King though ignorant of the true meaning caused to be set and he and the whole Court sung nothing else for some time and thus have I have rendred them for the satisfaction of the Reader The SONG I am no Pilot that defies the Seas And launches spight of Winds he can't appease He that despairs to merit with his Love Vainly attempts those Charms will mortal prove As Rocks Winds Seas the wise man will avoid Those perils which so many have destroy'd The prudent Labourer ne're manures a field But what he hopes some recompence will yield The Dauphin perceiving Madam Agnes whispering with the Count was impatient to know what she had said he took him out therefore into the Garden by Moon-light to demand what it was We triumph dear Prince we triumph said the Count to him smiling the Lady is reduced to a Parley already and it is now our business to give her an Answer Haste then and do it replied the Prince I shall own all my tranquillity to you if you ruine that Woman but have a care shew not too much respect to her tell her that after such declaration of her hatted as she made it will be requisite you should have good proofs to assure you of the contrary demand some kind Letters from her tell her you delight in such things and drive on the business with all speed to an Assignation You may tell her you desire that favour but as a fign of her confidence and if you will swear stoutly you will never abuse it He concerned himself not much whether he had the real injoyment of the Lady so he had but a manifest assurance to obtain it To the instructions he had given him the Dauphin added all opportunity imaginable he obliged Madam Dauphin to be more frequently with the Countess to please the King as he pretended and taking Chabannes along with him he invented so many specious ways to separate the Company that there was few days but he ordered things so there was a particular Entertainment betwixt Madam Agnes and the Count. But these opportunities produced an effect which neither Prince nor Dammartin did ever expect The Countess was one of the handsomest Ladies in the World and the Count was of an age that is seldom indifferent He found there was no dallying with Love without being punished at last and what he intended hypocritically proved really true This Experiment produced great alterations in his Politicks he became discreet when he was most guilty of indiscretion and the Prince could get nothing out of him now but relations of Madam Agnes's cruelty Whence comes this sudden turn said the Dauphin to him I thought she had been running head-long upon the Precipice we had prepared for her who is it has stopt her She has doubtless some intelligence of our design replied the Count Ladies which have had any such affairs in the World can easily discriminate betwixt true Love and pretended It is strange said the Prince that this Woman should never be faithful but now when I should make my advantage of her infidelity I knew ten persons belonging to the Court none of them comparable to you with whom she has communicated in that time They had more Merit or more Love than I then replied the Count smiling But Sir said he very subtilly if you have already so many assurances of the Countesses infidelity what need is there that I constrain my self any longer to make Love to her the Intrigues she has had with another are not they as criminal towards the King as if I were the Gallant my self No says the Prince they are idle timorous Fellows and dread the falling
more he exasperated his Father His Friends advised him to withdraw till the storm was over and accordingly he retired into the Province of Dauphine as some say much better satisfied with Trimouille than they could have imagined Chabannes in the mean time returned peeceably to his own House the man that had run away with him was the English Womans Husband in whose Cloaths the Count was escapt This Woman had run away from her good man upon pretence of ill usage and he being not at all consenting to the Divorce and not daring to offer any violence to the Sanctuary she had chosen he watcht her perpetually in the streets resolved to secure her whenever he met her as he thought he had done in the person of Chabannes When by the reproaches he made him the Count perceived his mistake he pulled up his Hood and the man being undeceived he beg'd his pardon and reconducted him to the Citizens house whither he was going before when he stopt him Chabannes changed his Cloaths and came immediately to Court to see how things past He was exceedingly surprised to understand their proceedings and dispatcht S. Colombe to Madam Agnes in Post-haste he prevailed upon her more by that one Message than the King had done with all his importunities She took her leave of her Covent and returned to Court illustrious and more pleasant than ever But she enjoyed not long the advantages of her restauration for she dyed not many days after The causes of her death were found to be unnatural and Monsieur Tremouille's sudden Retreat to the Dauphin at the same time made it too probable he was instrumental in the business The good King Charles was so passionately afflicted therewith he would admit of no consolation Chabannes had like to have dyed with sorrow but the Kings favour supported him He had Tremouilles place vacant by his absenting himself confer'd upon him by the King during whose life he quickly enjoyed it It is not to be imagined he was in such favour when the Prince came to the Crown he was arrested before he could escape and the Dauphin being now Lewis XI would have sacrificed him to his new Dignity had not he evaded his indignation by escaping out of the Bastille I refer the Reader to the History it self to be informed of all the Occurrences The Annals of Love observe only the more remarkable Passages and represents them without any regular Order THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE SIXTH PART ABout the same time we have spoken of before Feliciane the Wife of a Spanish Merchant who traded into the Levant being taken Prisoner by the Corsaires and her Husband slain in the fight she was sold to one of the principal African Lords whose ordinary Residence was in Tunis The African Lord became enamour'd of his Slave and finding her too vertuous to make a bare advantage of his passion he was constrained to marry her He had one Daughter by her which he called Feliciane after the name of her Mother The Mother and the Daughter begat a kindness in him to the Spanish Nation He suffered his Wife to teach his Daughter that Language as her Mother-tongue and when any Spaniard of Quality came into Barbary he lodged them usually at his own House and performed all the good offices to them he was able Alphonso Ribiero Son to Don Garcias Ribiero born in Alcantara came to Tunis to treat about the Ransom of his Elder Brother who sailing into Greece was taken by the Pirats and exchanged with certain Slaves of Barbary Alphonso was too young to be intrusted alone with so great a Negotiation he was appointed only to the Ceremonial part for there was an old Servant of his Fathers sent along with him to manage the Bargain He was received by the Father of Feliciane not only as a Spaniard but as a person particularly related to his Wife She had been at his birth and passed the prime of her years in Don Garcias House The young Feliciana and he were presently surprised with a violent inclination one for the other Nature had it seems delighted her self to prepare ways for their affection Alphonso resembled the young African so exactly and the African Alphonso that they might well have been mistaken had not their Habits distinguisht both their Sexes and Persons But Love 's no need of likeness he desplays A thousand Arts contrives a thousand ways To bedge in peoples hearts by secret turns The most unlike and the most cold he burns Nought's incombustible when he conspires No humane temper can withstand his fires Feliciana seeing her own Picture in Alphonso as he did in Feliciana she fell in Love almost at first sight their looks their manners their motions every thing in them prevented the office of their Tongue so that they were immediately advanced to their reciprocal promises Simpathy is a great promoter of such Adventures and makes a great deal of ground in a little time Great was the joy for their Love he performed his Honorary part very well he was the Priest and the Deity both But the liberty of his elder Brother was an unseasonable impediment to the Mystery Alphonso used all the Arts he could invent not to return into Castille there was not a Curiosity a man of his age could be capable of pretending but he made use of to stay but his Brother was inexorable and he must go along yet this was not without solemn promises from Alphonso to come back again in a short time if he lived and as fincere assurances from Feliciana never to falsifie that faith which she had given him Their Adieu was sorrowful and kind excess of Love was at that time in season for Love has its seasons as well as other things and is as troublesom to those whose desires are satisfied as it is agreeable where they are in their spring Alphonso being departed and Feliciana very impatient of his return many months passed and no News of her Castillan There were several Spanish Ships arrived upon the Coast of Barbary and in them some Alcantara Merchants with Presents from Don Garcias for Feliciana's Mother but no Letter nor no private Message for her This negligence startled her she was afraid she was betrayed and the first effect of that opinion being a resolution to reproach the crime to the Criminal himself she insinuated with a Master of Biscay and perswading him she would go over into Spain to turn Christian she made him promise her to land her in the Port of Carthagena The bargain made and the hour of her Embarkment arrived Feliciana put on a Suit of Cloaths of Alphonso's which he had left by accident behind him and providing her self with certain Chains of Gold away she went to meet with her Biscayen The Seas and the Winds were so favourable to her designs that she landed at Carthagena without any accident she brought a Horse there immediately and taking a Guide put herself upon the Road for Alcantara She
inquired of Alphonso where-ever she came in some place they knew not where he was in others they knew him not at all but at length there was an old Hostess of Toledo who told our disguised African there was to be a Meeting of all the Ribieros in that Town within a few days that she understood so much from a Neighbour of hers at whose House that Family used to lodge and that the same Neighbour told her withal that Don Garcias came to be present at the Marriage of his younger Son with one Hypolita de Cueva which was reckoned the handsomest young Maid in Castille This News struck Feliciana to the heart she wondred not now her Lover had been so lazy as never to write to her she found he had other affairs upon his hands she resolved however to attend him at Toledo and causing her self to be called Felician her shape and her legs concurred so well with her design she was not suspected in the least She was handsom and the Sex she pretended to in her Disguise made her Beauty more rare She never stir'd out of her Inn but the received some Complement or other One Evening as she was walking in one of the Walks in Toledo and according to her old custom had been interrupted by several idle Propositions a certain Lady in a Vail came to her pulled her privately by the Arm and made signs to her to follow her Feliciana or Felician as you please thought this also was another of his Mistresses whose hopes she was constrained to betray and in that opinion would have steered her course another way but the Lady laying hold on her Follow me thou perfidious Alphonso said she to her follow me or I 'le be thy destruction The Name of Alphonso awakening the Curiosity of Feliciane she followed the Lady into a Chamber where there were several Candles lighted The Spanish Lady as soon as she was entred turned up her Vail and discovering a singular Beauty Whence is it Alphonse said she to her that you constrain me to these Stratagems to gain a little of your Converse what reason have you to change your Name and call your self Felician why do you conceal your self from Hypolita de Cueva in short what is this Mystery and what grounds have you for it Feliciane perceived by her discourse it was her Rival whom Fortune had delivered into her hands and being firmly resolved to give her no quarter This Mystery is greater than I can tell you Madam replied she I would spare my self the hardship of telling you my self and that is the true reason I have declined you for some days But Madam since you will force me I must needs confess I am not capable of accomplishing our Marriage Don Garcias Journey to Toledo will be in vain for the faith you expect so impatiently from me is alas ingaged to another a long while ago How cryed Hypolita in a mighty surprise your faith ingaged to another Yes Madam continued Felician an African Lady inferior to your self neither in Birth nor in Love and to one that was in Love with her not much behind you in Beauty has received that faith which you challenge Ha! why then thou perjured Person replied Hypolita hast thou been so audacious as to promise me I am a man replied Feliciana and he that names Man names Unconstancy your Beauty made me forget for a while what I ought to my African but I am returned to my first Love and since I must be free with you let me tell you I will dye a thousand deaths before I will betray her Ha! Traitor cryed the disconsolate Hypolita I always pierced into your heart through all your Disguises I observed always a force upon your actions which me-thought gave your Language the lye and you know vile man I have told you so often But said she pursuing her transport you shall never boast you have captivated Hypolita unpanisht what my kindness cannot expect my vengeance must obtain And then calling up people to seize upon Feliciana whom she mistook all this while for Alphonso she ran to her Fathers Chamber to give him an account what she had done The old Castillan applauded the indignation of his Daughter he commanded Feliciana should be kept safe that night and the next day he sent her to Prison A Magistrate of no small Authority in that Town was desired to examine her She began to relent would have changed her story and pretended she was mistaken for another but Hypolita's allegation and the testimony of several other persons which assured him it was Alphonso prevailed so far above all that she could say that she was almost brought to the miserable Election of marrying Hypolita or losing her head She had rather have dyed than have cured the Jealousie she had created in her Rival but considering that what she was unwilling to do her self Alphonso would do of course she writ Hypolita word that she was so far from being Alphonso she was the African Lady she had told her of and that if she would take the pains to come to the Prison the should satisfie her own eyes with the truth of it This Letter was delivered to the Keeper and he desired to see it conveyed to Hypolita He received it without any difficulty lookt upon it as a Recantation and knew the whole Family of the Cuevas desired nothing more than that Alphonso would do as he was obliged without further compulsion But by accident the Count de Atrevalo Confident to this Alphonso of Castille and one who disputed the Crown with King Henry made his Entry that day into Toledo as Covernour of the Town The Keeper must needs be a Spectator of this Ceremony and ingaging himself too far in the Crowd he lost his Letter It was taken up by one of the Counts Officers who finding the Contents a little odd and unusual would needs shew it his Master The Governour was as much surprised with the Adventure as his Man and had a great Curiosity to understand the Particulars He sent word to old Seigneur Cueva he desired to know the difference betwixt him and Alphonso Ribiero and upon that pretence sending for the Prisoner he told her what he knew of her affairs already and desired her to inform him of the rest She satisfied his Curiosity she was resolved to oppose the Marriage betwixt Alphonso and Hypolita and she believed it so near a conclusion that she thought she ought not to make a Secret any longer of that which the whole World would know in a very short time But it fell out otherwise however The Count de Atrevano who by the ntural propensity of his Nation was inclinable to impressions of love took a great liking to the African he thought he should do great Service to the Families both of the Cuevas and Ribieros to keep this Lady out of their sight and fancying great pleasure besides in having so fair a Mistress in his Chamber without any
Parents or Relations to call him to an account he caused Feliciana to be removed to a Castle a few days Journey from Toledo The carrying her away made a strange noise in the Town â— Hypolita's Friends believed Don Garcias had caused it Don Garcias on the contrary who expected to find Alphonso in good Intelligence with Hypolita and was come thither to see her married was much surprised to hear News so contrary to his expectation he demanded his Son of Seigneur Cueva and old Cueva demanded him of him To explain the Intrigue the Governour attended for Alphonso but Alphonso did not appear considering therefore that he could not declare what he knew without discovering what he had a mind to conceal he resolved to say nothing and therefore leaving the Parents to dispute it among themselves he went himself to the Castle whither he had caused Feliciana to be conducted He had ordered her Womens Cloaths and Women to attend her and the Count found her as handsom a Lady as he had been a Cavalier He acquainted her with his intentions and telling her it was unreasonable so excellent a Person should be served only by a Lover that had been false he offered himself to repair the injury she had received from young Alphonso Feliciana trembled at his tydings but returned him this answer That she gave him many thanks for the Civility of his Offer but being come into Spain only in quest of her Alphonso she beg'd of him the liberty to pursue her design The Governour would not openly contend with her obstinacy he had a mind to be happy with as little trouble as he could He made several rich Presents to the African and she accepted them with scorn he shewed her the Rarities of the Castle and she seemed not to regard them he resolved to have a little patience and see how that would work and therefore returned to his new Government and leaving one of his Nephews called Don Ferdinand in Command he gave him express charge to have a care of her Person and so to prepare her with his Counsels that he might find her tractable at his Return He put his affairs into safe hands to succeed Don Fernand had been no less smitten with the sight of Feliciana than his Uncle the Count When he found himself Master of his Destiny he began to pay her such respects as were not at all compatible with his Commission he sighed he raved flew out so far as to make ridiculous Pictures of his Uncle and by degrees fell into expressions to this purpose that if he were in Love with Feliciana his thoughts were more innocent than his it was not long before he blurted quite out and told the African the whole bottom of his heart All Lovers in the World but Alphonso were indifferent to her the legitimacy of Fernandos desires were no advantage to him at all and she had no more inclination to be married to him than to be Mistress to his Uncle but judging very prudently notwithstanding that by opposing one of them against the other she might secure her self against both she pretended to hearken to Don Fernands Propositions and let fall some trisling Complacences on purpose A witty Woman is at no great expence to please a man that is in Love with her Fernand was extremely well satisfied with his good Fortune Feliciana prevailed with him to let her escape but upon promise to stay for him upon the Frontiers of Arragon where in a few days he ingaged to wait upon her and conduct her into France He had a great mind to have gone away with her from the first but she perswaded it would be more convenient for him to stay with the Count and to facilitate her Escape by perverting the Hue and Crys and sending them the wrong way The Project being laid with all possible deliberation and all things prepared that were necessary for its execution Feliciana resumed the Habit of her Cavalier mounted upon a Horse Don Fernand had given her and deluding the vigilance of her Women stole away one morning from her second Imprisonment to seek out a refuge for the innocence of her Love Don Fernand fastned a Cord to her Bed-Chamber Window that it might be presumed she had escapt that way he pretended to be infinitely concerned for her escape and for his better dissimulation he put himself in pursuit of her as if he had had an unsatiable desire to have recovered her He was but just gone out when Alphouso came to repose himself an hour or two in the Castle He had his reasons not to venture himself in the Towns and knowing the Magnificence of the Count d' Atrevalo he doubted not but a Stranger of his Garb would be well received in any place belonging to him nor was he deceived They entertained him very civilly appointed him to eat and Feliciana's Appartment being open and lying most conveniently the Steward attended the new Guest into her Champber There was a Picture of Feliciana's hung up in the Room exceedingly like her which Don Fernand had beg'd of her one time when his Uncle had sent Painters to adorn a Gallery in the Castle Alphonso was surprised at the sight of that Picture as is easily to be imagined Feliciana was drest in the Spanish Mode and that Dress disguised her a little but however she was discernable to Eyes less penetrating than a Lovers He was going out to inquire of some body whose that Picture was and how it came thither but in his perplexities he took one door for another and instead of going into the Antichamber which led to the stairs he found himself in a little Closet adorned with Pictures whose Frames of Wainscot were all covered over with Love-knots wounded Hearts and double FF these fancies augmented his astonishment and to carry it on to the highest degree he found a little Table-book lying open upon the Table and written as he conceived with Feliciana's own hand he took it up and read these Verses ensuing Ingrateful Wretch and perjur'd what can be Equal to th' guilt of infidelity What more transgressive to Loves laws what more ' Gainst Nature than t'forget what you have swore But hold fond Heart let not his present state Expunge the kindness he exprest of late Betray'd I ought but loving cannot hate And at the bottom of these Verses there was writ in great Characters THE PROFESSION OF AN AMOROVS FAITH This Title promised some rare and divertising Articles but Feliciana had not had time to write them and if she had Alphonso was in such trouble he could not have had the power to have read them He went down the first stairs he could meet with which stairs went directly to her Maids Chamber where by accident having taken Physick that day the Governess was in Bed She was an old Woman truckling under the burden of her age and yet seeing but a man come into the Room she skreekt out and hid her face under the
to the disposition of the Heavens Having said thus he proposed that Prince Chasan should make Love to Imerselle in his Name We shall have no great task to obtain conveniencies continued Prince Caly we are of the same stature and have the same voice let us commit the rest to the Conduct of Love It was not many days after this resolution was taken before the Princes met an occasion for an Essay The Prince Imerse was retired to the Court of Bajazet II. Emperour of the Turks who had given hopes of restoring him to the Throne of his Fathers Campson Sultan of Egypt declared Enmity to Bajazet being glad to divert those Troops which might otherwise be imployed against him sent Thoman Bey who succeeded him in that Monarchy to the Sophy to offer him Alliance and conjure him to an Union This Overture was too much to Ismaels advantage to be refused he received the Embassadour very honourably and to do something the Egyptian might more particularly apply to his own esteem and his Country's the Court of Persia invented Dances à l' Egyptienne in which they danced masked and habited after the manner of Egypt This Disguise furnishing the Princes with the opportunity they wanted they caused their Habits to be made exactly alike and Caly giving place to his Brother and paying him all the respects that might signifie him to be elder Brother he got the liberty to be with Zuria whilst Chasan supplied his place next Imerselle The Princess Imerselle found her false Caly much more passionate than her true one he exprest himself so zealously and in such terms as the sincerity of her old Caly could not dispense with one of the conditions of this Ball was that they should have liberty to steal little discourses whilst it lasted and Chasan received those his good Fortune gave him with the Princess with so great transportation the Princess was surprised I believe Sir said she to him smiling the Habit you wear hath some secret propriety to make you amorous you never appeared so much to me before and 't is no longer ago than last night I was telling the Princess Zuria your Cousin that if your coolness continued I should be the first would expose my self to the rigour of the Law rather than see you obey the Sophy with so much reluctancy Disguise Madam replied Chasan is many times so necessary to Love Lovers can speak nothing passionately without it It is not the Command of the Sophy that brings me thus near you it is the desire of my own heart I might be another not Caly without yours or my Fathers perceiving it But my heart acting by peculiar Principles of its own without any foreign constraint it is Love which speaks by my mouth and not the Sophy's Decree that excites me But this Love is it more constrained in my Closet replied Imerselle or in another place you please to chuse than in the confusion of so great an Assembly Were we of those kind of Lovers to whom all occasions of Converse were interdicted or whose actions were exposed to the eyes of our Enemies I should not wonder you should want a Disguise to declare your affection but by his direction to whom Nature and Fortune hath obliged us both you may impart it how where and as often as you please all places are proper and all expressions allowed you how comes it then you have been so indifferent before and are so vehement now The Prince would have been put to some trouble to have answered this second question had not the Company broke up and relieved them His Brother and he ran to the Window as it had been to take a little air and returning without their Masks Scach Caly was obliged to give Imerselle his hand and to wait upon her to her Appartment but it was done with a coldness so unconformable to the Discourse she had had before that she could not but admire the difference The Sophy believing it had been his eldest Son that entertained Imerselle all the while and perceiving him whom he took to be his second to keep close to Zuria he fancied he was in Love with her and was not displeased Chasan said he to him next morning I am sensible of the secret inclinations of your heart fatherly Love is full of observation and I have discovered that which perhaps you never intended I should see I might complain that you consulted me not but I am a good Father and will impute that want of respect to the impetuosity of a passion which by my own experience I know is not to be master'd by persons of your age Chasan could not at first recollect what should cause this Errour in the Sophy he suspected he had discovered him by some or other of his gestures whilst he was in Conference with Imerselle and that preferring the satisfaction of his Children to the rigour of his Laws he would not constrain their inclinations Is it possible Sir your paternal Love should have so excellent an efficacy replied Chasan Yes dear Son it has replied Ismael and I give you my inviolable word the same day your elder Brother marries the Princess of Persia the same day you shall marry your Cousin Zuria His Cousin Sir replied Caly who was present at the promise Yes his Cousin replied the Sophy I observed him discoursing with her last night as with a person not indifferent to him and though I might well dispose of him otherwise yet such is my indulgence I shall gratifie his desires It was very lucky that the Sophy went into his Closet as soon as he had spoke these words the Princes discomposure had discovered that which they intended to conceal They retired to their Appartments so afflicted and confused they had scarce power to contain themselves from murmuring How said Chasan is it not sufficient to satisfie the rigour of my Destiny that I have loved a Princess from my Childhood and dare not hope to injoy it But I must marry one I neither can nor ought to love Is it nothing said Caly that I must be deprived of Zuria but I must be forced to marry Imerselle and my Brother whom I love as my self must he become the only Person in the World I ought to hate How Zuria must be married to Chasan then Chasan it is I must esteem the only ruine and supplanter of my happiness It shall never be Sir replied the young Prince I can love no body but Imerselle and therefore will never be married to Zuria You would marry her replied the disconsolate Caly could you but conceive the secret Charms wherewith she effacinates the hearts of all that approach her could you but discern the sweetness of her Wit the excellence of her Soul and the obliging way she has in all her actions Ha! dear Brother 't is impossible you should see that Princess with the least assiduity but you must needs be in Love with her I am afraid rather replied Chasan you will not
't is my Honour and nothing else is exasperated by your slights Find but a way of enfranchizing me from the penalty of the Decree restore me but once freely to my self and dispose of your self afterward as you please I 'le assure you I shall not be concerned but whilst I continue under the ingagement that is upon me I expect it should be reciprocal and you sensible of your obligation as well as my self This Discourse drawing on Chasan into a Conversation he did not like he was constrained to personate Caly all the rest of the Walk he beg'd her pardon for what he had not done and made a thousand prayers and protestations They had the true Character of Love that passion is never more prodigal of its favours than at the time of reconciliation Chasan had a Ring given him by the Princess off of her finger upon this condition that whenever she was required by that Signal to perform her ingagement she would chearfully receive him for her Husband The Prince Caly had almost the same assurances from Zuria she could not whatever she said resolve to expose a person she loved so entirely to the severity of his Father But Love having inspired him with thoughts of running to some Sanctuary she consented and obliged her self that when-ever they found themselves reduced to that necessity she would readily submit These favourable hopes quieted the disorders of the two Brothers they past that night with more tranquillity than they had done five or six before but their sleep was a Cheat which inchanted them for some hours only to make their sorrows the more sensible when they waked The Prine Imerse having advertisement of Ismaels designs upon the person of his Sister being averse to that Alliance and retaining a just hatred to the Usurper of his Throne he resolved to attempt any thing might obstruct the accomplishment of the Marriage The Sophy held his Court at that time at Xiras the Capital City of that Province in Persia This City preserved a fidelity for its Prince which all Ismaels Authority could never eradicate Imerse sent private Agents to the principal Inhabitants remonstrated the trouble it would be to him to see his blood confounded with the blood of his implacable Enemy and conjured them if they could possibly to prevent that disparagement by stealing Imerselle away His Agents acquitted themselves so well of their Commission that the very night after the Walk we have mentioned the Princess of Persia was surprised and the Princess Zuria with her who unfortunately for Caly lay that night with Imerselle The Enterprise was performed without any great noise the Princesses Lodging in a quarter of the Palace a good distance from the Sophys Appartment the Instruments of the design were let in by the Princesses Women who were most of them related some way or other to the heads of the Party and the Prince Imerse having charged them with express Order under his Hand that his Sister might not mistake there was only Zurias skreeks to be prevented which were stopt before she was well awake They clapt the Princesses into a Coach which attended on purpose conveyed them out of a Gate they had secured and following the Road to Texel with all speed they were received into that Town by Imerse and the Sultan Selim the Son of Bajazet II. who in the name of his Father had the Command of all Phrygia It is easie to imagine the affliction of the two Princes at this sorrowful News they mounted immediately and being followed by the whole Court they endeavoured to discover which way these Ravishers were gone but they could have no information till it was too late to overtake them They seemed to be inconsolable and their Love not being to be confined within the bounds of simple grief they resolved to get to their Princesses if they could and try all ways possible for their relief They took upon them the Habit of certain new Dervises of the Sect of Scaydar who was a famous Commentator upon the Alcoran and from whom they were descended and alluding the Cautions of their old Father they took their way towards Phrygia They had not marcht far before they had News of what they sought after The Sultan Selim was fallen in Love with Imerselle at first sight and Imerse had as great a passion for Zuria their Loves were so conspieuous by their publick magnificences there was scarce one person ignorant of it in the whole Country Our loving Dervises were almost distracted at the Report they hastened their march and in a short time were advanced within half a days Journey of Cibotis called otherwise Apamia where the Sultan Selim held his Court. They took up their habitations in a Desart near the River Meandre a Grot with two or three murmuring Fountains were presented to them by Chance as it had been by Command Such persons as they had been constrained to bring along with them they sent into the City to supply such things as they wanted and to diffuse the noise of their extraordinary Vertue among the people which was so effectually performed they were not long before they were visited by all the Bigots and Fanaticks in Mahumetism They entertained their devout Visitants with Discourses only of the Vanity of this World and the solid pleasure in the Contemplation of the next It is a general Maxime the hypocritical Devout is always more eloquent than the true their soul is full of nothing but it self the humility of good men and meditation upon what they are to treat and this Evangelical simplicity which is the imitable Character of true piety adding much to the riches of their expression they become very strong and powerful in their perswasions Our pretended Dervises joyning to their Hypocrisie a high natural Wit made so great a progress among the Inhabitants of Texel that in a short time the News of them came to the ears of Sultan Selim. The new Scaydars were not mentioned but as the eldest Sons of Prophets and by an usual Hyperbole in such occasions several persons affirmed they had seen them do Miracles who never heard of them but from the mouth of some fantastical Enthusiast or the relation of some private Emissaries of their own This high reputation drawing upon them the esteem of the Sultan he sent Presents to the pretended Dervises and conjuring them to recommend him to their Prophet They promised him their intercession but his Presents they returned pretending they renounced all things belonging to this World and had now no Commerce but with the Angles This Answer moved the Curiosity of Selim he made an agreement with the Prince Imerse to make them a Visit The two Princes had advertisement of their design they had their Spies in the Town who observed and gave notice of the motions of their Rivals They studied gravity for some time wherewith they might receive them and Selim being arrived at their Cave they knew so well how to furnish it
with such things as might perswade him of their Sanctity that the best piece of Houshold-stuff to be seen was the instrument they kept to mortifie their flesh The Inventory almost frighted the two Curiosoes they were afraid of profaning so holy a place and the Dervises seconding their Errour Most dear Children of our great Prophet said Caly to them be not fearful to approach the most humble Servants of the Eternal 't is for your sakes only we are sent into this Province and it is the charitable care the Heavens take of your Conduct that has put it into your hearts to visit us Hark you Sultan Selim Hark you Prince Imerse the Stars do look upon you with a malevolent Aspect and you have a strong disposition to follow their malign Influence Our Divine Prophet has thought you worthy of his own direction in so perillous a passage and we are the sacred Interpreters of his adorable intentions At these words adorable sacred Interpreters delegated to them from so venerable a Prophet the Sultan Selim and Prince Imerse made a most profound Reverence and protesting they would receive with as much submission as saith the divine Decrees it should please those Scaydars to pronounce they humbly intreated they would vouchsafe to begin the Exercise of their Mission The counterfeit Dervises concluded it best to pretend as much difficulty as they could to confirm their Rivals in their credulity The Mysteries of Heaven are neither explained nor received with so little preparation said Chasan there must be prayers and austerities to open the sacred Repositiories of the Celestial graces You have a heart repleat with mundane desires how can you believe till they be expelled there should be room for divine Inspirations Purge purge away the pollutions wherewith that is defiled and then our great Prophet will replenish you with such salutriferous emanations as he has reserved for you Love hatred and ambition are like so many Tempests in your Soul force your selves what you can to calm them excite your selves what you can to tranquillity deprive your selves of the sight of such objects as produce those turbulencies in your soul we do not name them because our revelation tell us you will divine even that of which we think not convenient to remember you But dear Princes let us acquaint you we are not ignorant of the most secret of your thoughts and when you shall be worthily prepared for our instructions shall tell you such things as will surprise you God then and put your selves into a condition to merit that bounty wherewith the Heavens are pleased to favour you and when you judge your souls in such a posture as is required repair to us again and be further informed These cunning Dervises referred the Rivals to a second Conference as well to agree upon what they were to say as not to render themselves suspected of a premeditated design and this adjournment producing the effect they expected the Sultan calculated the importance of their advice by the difficulty they made of giving it he thought he might from these Holy persons draw such wholesom instructions as might direct him in the conduct of his whole life These Fathers have a strict Communication with Heaven said he to Prince Imerse the brightness of their vertue blazing in their actions and there is a Character of piety so visible in their faces it seems to be expanded by the divine hands of that great Prophet himself Imerse concurred exactly in Selims observations and both of them projecting to make their advantage of the Present Heaven had made them of these wonderful men they sent to give them an account of the preparations they had made for a second Visit and to desire their opinions whether they were sufficient The Princes sent them word no They had sent out their Scouts for more news and from the people which came to see them wheedled out such Intelligence as was necessary for their design they had a mind to gain more time to compleat their informations and contented themselves to send them this single Injunction that above all things they should forbear the Conversation of Women lest they should abuse the authority their Director had given them there was no sort of penance but they exacted from their Rivals they made them fast they made them watch and their subtleties extended to greater tryals than those But at length supposing themselves sufficiently inlighted they let fall their secret persecution and the day for their second Visit being appointed the abused Princes came again to their Grot. The anger of Heaven said Chasan to them as soon as he saw them begins to dispel the instance of your prayers and the piety of your works have mollified the rigour of that sentence Stars seemed to pronounce against you And that you may believe we speak not of our selves you shall hear what our great Prophet has revealed to us You Sultan Selim said he to the Turkish Prince taking him afide you have drawn down the divine displeasure upon your head by a secret animosity you had against your Brother Mahumet you would have been preserred before him to the Government of Amasia and not succeeding in your design the despight you conceived prevailed with you to excite the people of that Province to complain of him so vigorously their complaints cost him his life Do not I tell you true Sir said Chasan The Sultan was forced to confess he had actually committed all he was charged with and having added something of his own he confirmed the Dervis in whatever their perquisition had caused them to suspect The Heavens justly incensed against you for so detestable a crime continued he has provoked you to the Love of a Princess of Persia which will be certainly your ruine It is decreed and our great Prophet has sent us on purpose to give you advice but your and our prayers begin to incline him He was a man as you are and though his humanity was sustained by divine Qualifications he knows nevertheless how far the frailties of your Nature may carry you Let that Princess be brought hither let her Attendants be as few as they can for we delight not to converse with more in this World than is necessary for your preservation and for no other reason but for the accomplishment of our Prophets designs could we be induced to any private Entertainment with Womankind But we know our instructions and it is for the execution of them only we are come into this Province The Sultan was so respectful and so serious in his attention the counterfeit Dervis had much ado to compose himself and retain the gravity required nor was Caly in the mean time under lesser temptation he was gotten into the particulars of all Imerses affairs That Prince had ingenuously confest all the Circumstances of the stealing the Princesses named the persons with whom he had Intelligence in Xiras and discovered several other Secrets of importance which the Dervis fisht
out of him by pretending he knew all before and demanded his recapitulation as a mark only of his submission to the will of the Prophet and passing from matters of State to matters of Love You are in Love Sir said he with the Princess Zuria the prescience where with we are indued gave us information of that Love even before it was conceived But Sir let me tell you you will meet with great difficulties in that Enterprise it is not at all pleasing to our divine Prophet and you will make him a Sacrifice infinitely grateful if you surmount that passion and desist Ha holy Father replied Imerse it is not possible to surmount it if any thing could have prevailed the Princesses severity would have done it she is insensible of all my pains and recieved my offers with most insufferable neglect Without doubt replied Caly her heart is prepossest in favour of some other person Has not the Sultan Selim think you made no impression there he is young he is handsom has his just expectation of the Ottoman Throne and I am afraid by what I observe in the Constellations that Prince will betray the confidence you have in him If he must betray me replied Imerse it is not upon this occasion he is extravagantly in Love with my Sister and the Princess for whom my passion is so violent has no less indifference for all the World than for me Yet I cannot but think her of an amorous temper replied the Dervis she is born under a Planet not guilty of such indifferent Influences and I dare promise I could find out a place in her heart capable of those impressions had I but discoursed with her as long as I have done with you How I beseech you said Imerse interrupting him will you vouchsafe to discourse with her and I will bring her to you when-ever you please she will make no scruple of coming she has already an extreme curiosity to see you and when the other day I gave her a description of your person I observed an emotion in her countenance so great as I thought she had not been capable of I commend her zeal replied Caly the desire of seeing persons eminent for their piety is a happy preparative to their imitation Heaven does not grant those graces to all the World and I know by that Zuria is a Darling of the divine Prophet upon which assurance you shall obtain that act of charity from me when you please But it must be speedily for the time that was assigned us for our conversation of men is now almost expired and we must ere long leave our association with prophane persons to renew our Commerce with the Angels The credulous Imerse knockt his knees with a holy trepidation at the Dervises news and making the bargain as strong as he could for the next day Selim obtained of Chasan that Imerselle might bear her Company The Dervises slept but little the night before that blessed Enterview Caly's joy produced transports incompatible with his repose and his Brothers apprehensions kept him as watchful on the other side He was afraid to find Imerselle prepossest with kindness for the Sultan he was handsom and the little Love the Princess had for Caly made him afaird Selim would not meet any considerable defence He durst not mention it in the least to his Rival lest he should not be able to master his confusion in so subtile a point reserving himself therefore to be informed from the Princesses own mouth he prepared himself for those informations with inexpressible commotion The deluded Lovers were in no less anxiety Hope is an unquiet passion which gives the mind more agitation many times than a real despair They proposed the business to the Princesses at their return they approved it especially Zuria who finding the description of the Dervises not much differing from Ismaels two Sons had a violent imagination of the truth She was got up and ready befor day and pressing Imerselle to make as much haste they were got to the Grot before they were expected Their new Lovers would accopany them by all means which was foreseen by the Dervises but they thought that obstacle would be removed by the respect they would shew them They had shrowded themselves each of them under a Hat with a long tail pulled down in such sort it covered most of their faces That kind of Dress they pretended was the Habit of their Piety when they were forced upon any Conference with Women Chasan made signs to Imerselle to follow him to the foot of a Rock where he designed his Communication and Caly took Zuria aside to walk under the Trees and that the Turkish Prince and his Camarade might give no interruption they gave them certain prayers in the Turkish Language with injunction to go into the Grotto and say them over there for their happy success The Rivals were flexible and obeyed They were so possest of the Dervises Sanctity they would have extended their conformity much further if it had been desired Chasan having placed Imerselle upon a part of the Rock which was covered with moss keeping himself just before her upon his feet that the Sultans Equipage who stood round about the Grot might have no prospect of his face I have great things to relate to you young Princess said he dissembling his voice as much as he could I know things of you you do not know of your self but as the ingenuous declaration of our most secret sentiments is the ordinary Channel of Celestial graces do you merit by that act of submission the good things which are in my power to impart tell me sincerely what was your thoughts of Seach Caly what of Chasan Helif and what is your present opinion of the Sultan Observing her to change colour you are surprised Princess said he to find me so skilful in your affairs but let me tell you those persons who are honoured with a familiar Conversation with Heaven are ignorant of nothing that passes upon Earth I know you have a secret inclination to Chasan you discovered as much to Caly himself that night you were walking in the Palace Garden at Xiras which if my memory fails not was the night before you were carried away judge now if I be not acquainted with your affairs and save me the labour of telling you any more Alas replied Imerselle in a great surprise I can say no more to you having discovered my affection for Chasan you have discovered the greatest secret of my soul I confess that Sympathy was born with me yet when I thought it my duty to resist it I did it with some kind of success he never had the least inclination of it from me as you have had now But if I must confess the true state of my heart I must acknowledge that inclination increases every day upon me I love Chasan much better in Phrygia than I did in Persia and by I know not what Capricio of Love absence
charged him had been told from his own mouth he declared them to the Natolians with advantage and promising them no less than inestimable riches in this life and eternal felicity in the next if they assisted towards the erection of that new Dominion they concurred ingaged to receive him into their City and take Arms under his Conduct to maintain the Sect of the Scaydars This Treaty was managed in the most obscure part of the Desart at the same time the Dervises gave so great a testimony of their Sanctity by refusing Bajazets Envoy The day set for the Enterprise and all things prepared for its execution they sent word to Sultan Selim that at length the moment was come in which the Divine Prophet commiserating the violence they had done to themselves in conversing so long among sinners had given them leave to withdraw from that slavery and retire into a Desart unknown to all persons affected with the pleasures of this World and that when they were once gone they should be heard of no more till they were dead that before their departure they had obtained by singular favour a liberty of revealing all their secrets to them effectually which they had done hitherto but in part that if he pleased he might come to them to the Grot and bring the two Princesses with him to whom likewise they would declare the last pleasure of their Prophet but that they should have as few of their Attendants as possible in respect of the horrour they conceived at the sight of the people of this World The Sultan ran head-long into the Trap he had laid for him he went to the Grot with the Princesses and Prince Imerse and not above eight or ten armed men in their Company The Persian Princes lay in Ambuscade upon a pass at the head of three or four hundred new Sectaries which they had divided into several Squadrons and disposed privately up and down to prevent the danger of an Alarm but with directions upon a Signal agreed to draw into a Body which they did and fell upon the Sultan when he least expected such entertainment The Princesses were secured and carried away by their true Lovers to the City Antalia where the Princes were received They drove away the Beglierbey and put all that opposed to the Sword after which they got so many men together by their false predictions and possest themselves of so many Towns that by the assistance of Ismael they maintained War several years against all the Disciples of Osman and mist narrowly of extinguishing them quite They gained three great Battels killed three Bashaws and which was more to their satisfaction injoyed their Princesses quietly whom the death of Ismael and Imerse who lived not long after left entirely to their disposition Don Sebastian King of Portugal Don Sebastian animated against the Mores rather by his Christian zeal than his prudence passed into Africk at the Head of a puissant Army in the year 1580. The pretence of this War was the oppression of Muly Mahomet King of Marocco and Fez whom his Uncle Muley Moluc called otherwise Abdelmelec would dispossess of his Kingdom as belonging to him Equity and Justice were of Abdelmelecs side but the Christians for Muley Mahomet He had passed his word to them that if they secured him in his Throne he would embrace the Catholick Faith and that ingagement outweigh'd all other considerations Sebastian armed himself sollicited all Christian Princes past with his Army into Africk and I am apt to believe with many grave Authors the interest of Religion was the only motive that carried him But Love insinuates many times where it is not desired Muley had a Daughter called Xerina who being born of a Greek was not so black as your ordinary Africans She was as well proportioned as was possible and the Courtship of Granada was not worn out of the Manners of the Mores at that time Don Sebastian could not defend himself against her Charms though he was contracted to Mary of Portugal his Cousin was to marry her at his return and loved her exceedingly before he was acquainted with Xerina this Marriage was of great importance to the repose of Portugal But obstacles in Love do but allure And tempt th' indifferent Lover to desire That God delights in difficulties sure Who will not suffer soft and gentle fire What reason prompts is but esteem not Love And to pursue it civil and no more What passion non-sense will and humour prove And run the desperate Lover out of door Let reason then triumph let passion fall Be wise and civil but not fond at all Don Sebastian being of too great Eminence and Quality to apprehend a repulse it was not long before he acquainted Xerina with his affections The Princess approved of him well enough and her ambition increased her approbation She received the declaration of his Love without any difficulty and promising Don Sebastian to turn Christian as he promised to relinquish the Princess of Portugal Love was so witty as to prevent the remorse for his inconstancy by perswading him he did a meritorious act in quitting his first Mistress to make his second a Proselyte and thus were these new Lovers united in a quiet and firm union Don Sebastian intrusted Xerina with his most secret thoughts and the Princess to recompense that confidence shewed him all the kindness imaginable In this posture they lived whilst the War was in suspence but Abdelmelec having forced Muley to a Battel in the Plains of Tamista the Kings of Morocco and Portugal were slain and with them so great a number of the Portugal Nobless there was scarce one left to return with the sad news Xerina losing at that defeat the Crowns of Morocco and Fez and her hopes of Portugal with them was transported with a most inconsolable sorrow A little before day she ran her self into the Plain of Tamista attended by only one Christian Slave called Laura who was privy to all her secrets resolving with her own hands to have sacrificed her self upon the Corps of her beloved King she searched for him among the dismal numbers of the dead and the dying with which that Plain was covered at that time Some of the wounded who had yet so much sense left them as to know her directed her to that part of the Battel where he fought she ran thither with great fury and supposing she had met with her Monarch in the person of a young Portuguez who resembled him very much she fetcht a sad shreek and prepared her self to execute her dire resolution but the poor man opening his eyes at her Cry and it being by that time clear day she perceived he was not dead From an unmeasurable sorrow she past to so immoderate a joy it had almost cost her her life but recollecting her self and calling Laura to her assistance her Love re-inforced her natural strength so well she drew her beloved from amongst the dead and haled him to
the Grand Duke of Tuscany who lodged not far from her House and came usually very late home hearing of her Cry ran in to see what was the matter Jacaya knew the Tuscan Envoy having seen him many times in the streets He desired his protections and in few words told him he was that Ottoman Prince which made so much noise in the World The Tuscan had received private Letters before that Jacaya was in Poland in disguise The Prince endeavoured to perswade him to a belief and though the Polander lookt upon the relation as fabulous and conjured the Tuscan to receive it no otherwise yet he did not think fit to be perswaded by one who was so much concerned He took the person of Jacaya into his protection till the morning resolving to carry him to the King to have the truth more strictly examined and he was found to be as he pretended He had all the declarations of the Sultaness his Mother of the Eunuch and the Bishop of Thessalonica he had Letters from some of the Bashaws of Asia which they had lately writ to him under the name of Hope and to dash all scruples that might be pretended there was a Chaous from Achmet at that time in the Court who had been sent to the revolted Bashaws when he was amongst them which knew him The testimony of this Chaous was irrefragable and had not the malice of his offended Master diverted his Majesties inclinations Jacaya had found the refuge and security he wanted in the Court of that Monarch but that incensed person laid so many impediments in his way and contrived so many Plots against him the Turkish Prince thought it not prudent nor safe to stay there and expose himself any longer He tryed to have him assasinated he misrepresented him to the King and he had no sooner cleared himself of one calumny but he was aspersed with another He conjured the Tuscan Envoy to deliver him from this persecution and procure him a Retreat to the great Dukes Court and the Tuscan acquitted himself of that generous Act with zeal and success Jacaya departed for Florence not without great trouble to Metzala but she must of necessity be patient The Grand Duke received him with great kindness and assigned him considerable Pensions the secret differences in the Turkish Empire seconded the liberality of the Duke and the person of Jacaya being every way compleat he became immediately the Love and Admiration of the whole Tuscan Court which though it be not altogether so great as other Courts of Europe yet the Ladies are naturally handsom in that Climate not a Florentine Woman he saw but could easily expunge the memory of Metzala At firsthe plaid the generous Gallant but not finding that kind of Courtship so agreeable with his mind he restrained his desires to the person of a young Lady called Angelicadi Strozzi who was reputed the handsomest young Woman in Tuscany Her Mother was dead and the Marquess de Strozzi her Father having been happy enough in his former Amours to suspect the vertue of all the Women in the World he was a continual Watch upon his Daughter so as she never went abroad but to Church or some other Festivals where her quality did indispensably require her and even on those occasions she was attended by an old Widow her Kinswoman who would never trust her out of her sight It cost Jacaya by that means many a sigh before he could gain a favourable opportunity to explain himself he endeavoured to have made his Eyes his Interpreters but Angelica was at that time too young to understand that language One night when they were making great Fire-works in the Grand Piazza at Florence in joy for the Dutchesses being brought to bed of a Son and Angelica was among the rest of the Court-Ladies looking out of the Windows the Duke having called aside the Marquess for his Judgment about the Fire-works which he understood perfectly well and the old Sentinel being removed upon some other occasion Jacaya thought best to take this opportunity as not being able to assure himself when he should have another He got as near his young Mistress as he could and shewing her a Squib thrown into the air which fell down with more than ordinary noise So it is Madam said he with Lovers desires the constraint and confinement makes them more impetuous when they break forth so that what ought not in strictness to be said under whole years attendance seems in some measure to be excused as soon as occasion is offered to speak it I love you Madam and I do it exceedingly I am sensible of all the precautions Civility exacts of a Lover in order to this declaration But Madam should I imploy as much time in attending a convenient opportunity as I have past already without meeting one I should dye without doubt before your Ladiship would understand my disease The young Strozzi was so surprised at the discourse she knew not what to answer besides she had no time for the old Scout perceiving their Converse flew back like Lightning to disturb it The Prince cast many a glance upon his new Mistress all the rest of the night or to speak more properly he never took his Eyes off of her he observed her much discomposed she lookt down upon the ground as soon as she perceived him but he apprehended there was more of modesty than anger in her discomposure After the Fire-works were done there was a magnificent Supper and after that a Ball. The Turkish Prince took out Angelica to dance and gave her all the intimations of his passion that the vigilance of the old Marquess would permit him to give He did not perceive Angelica do it and none else of the Company came near enough to him to convey any thing into his Pocket nevertheless when he came to his Chamber he found a little Table-book there with certain Lines in Italian to this purpose Impetuosity and ardour in fire which hath been long constrained is pardonable but the noise and cracking is abominable At the reading of these words the Turkish Prince was in as great a Transport as a Lover could be He doubted not but it was in Answer to the Declaration he had made and overjoy'd she had received it so favourably he past that night in extraordinary hopes The next day he went to Mass to the Church where Angelica went ordinarily where he observed a grave Matron attending him and making signs to him now and then to follow him out of the Church He submitted to the signal and the Matron demanding if he had found nothing in his Pockets over night he was afraid at first to confess lest he should do Angelica a mischief before he was aware but the old Woman observing his confusion Tell me truly said she to him for it was I that put the Table-book there and the advice which is given comes from me I am Angelica's Nurse I was behind her yesterday when you had
not be afraid of your heart we know a way to secure it But the Prince marcht on to his Coach without seeming to hear them The Ambassadress who was naturally amorous and according to the inclination of her Sex could not but hold her self obliged to the Turkish Prince for the Character he had given her told her Companions it was an affront to them to have a man run from them in that manner and that if she might advise they should make him repent of his insolence They liked her counsel very well they had none of them any design upon the heart of Jacaya they had already as many of those as they could tell how to manage but they thought it pleasant to torment the poor Prince The Duke of Mantua promised to assist them he did not look upon it as any defect of the friendship he had promised them to deliver him up to three or four the handsomest Ladies in the World at their earnest request Jacaya came not into the Queens Appartment but through twenty or thirty oeillades the Ladies of the League gave the word to ingage him by turns every one in a particular conversation and the pretence they made use of rendring their desire but merriment it was no strange thing for a person of quality to be seen walking with the Sultan or in entertaining him otherwise alone Ha! Ladies said he to them one day I am here in my Asylum do not violate the Priviledges of the place by endeavouring the Captivity of my heart Alas if you had it you knew not how to use it I know the humour of the French Ladies already their greatest weakness is their levity In the Countries from whence I come they are constant they speak nothing but they think and when they think a thing all their care is to put it honestly in execution Those Ladies would be much troubled to destroy a man but in this Court the Goddess most adored is Pretence Great liberty great kindness Society is not only permitted but commanded and when of that which in another Country would be all we endeavour to make our advantage in this we find that all amounts to just nothing Quarter therefore Quarter fair Ladies for a poor Stranger The French Ladies were generous and conceiving they had diverted themselves long enough with what they entertained at first only for their diversion they began to think of letting the poor Sultan alone to enjoy himself after his own Mode But the Ambassadress was not so indulgent in her judgment Jacaya demanded Quarter in such a way as was not fit to be granted She found him in the Thuileries with the Duke of Mantua one day and accosted him May one be so bold Sir said she to the Sultan passing near him as to desire the honour of your Ushership No Madam replied Jacaya you are too handsom at this time and having said so he made a low Reverence with design to have been gone but the Duke of Mantua catching him by the Arm It shall never be said said he you made your friends blush for your incivility towards the Ladies Sir said the Prince to the Duke with some discontent in his countenance I cannot comport with your manner of usage and if you anger me any further I will fall in Love with the Ambassadress The Duke of Mantua blusht indeed at that menace without knowing the reason He could not get it out of his head during the rest of their Conversation and taking the Sultan home with him to Supper he demanded of him very seriously if he were in earnest when he said he would love the Ambassadress of Savoy It was not yet come to a resolution but the Sultan who had a mind to be merry in his turn and observed the Duke askt him that question with some little commotion he was glad of that occasion to revenge himself Yes Sir said he very gravely I am most certainly in earnest do not you think her worthy of being beloved 'T is not of her worth I speak replied the Duke the question is whether she will love you again What would you say said the Turkish Prince if she be in Love with me already I will say you are a happy man replied the Duke Read these Verses then said Jacaya and giving him a Table-book out of his Pocket the Duke opened it and found these words Nothing 's so deep below so high above But feels the mighty influence of Love The rugged Earth th' inexorable Sea The Winds the Stars all owne his Soveraignty Nothing 's too far too great too good he sways All things at will and ev'ry thing obeys What are these Verses to the purpose continued the Duke Turn the leaf replied the Sultan and when you have read all I 'le satisfie your Curiosity The Duke followed Jacaya's directions and found on the other side as followeth The little Bird which claps his wings And hops from th' Myrtle to the Thorn From thence to th' Elm and chirps and sings What would it say had it been born With reason in those warblings But oh blest Love that dost inspire Such Anthems for my shady Quire The Bull that in the Pasture lies And stamps and stares about and lows Shows not his rage so much thereby As his affection for the Cows The gentle Brook which murmuring flies Why in such haste but that it shows It loves it longs and would be there And would you dear be singular Now Sir said the Prince of Turkie to the Duke of Mantua what is your opinion would not one resolve to love upon less sollicitation I confess replied the Duke these are of importance but tell me sincerely is it the Ambassadress who invites you from your indifference in this manner You are very strange in your questions replied the Prince smiling am I not indiscreet enough of my self but your affected incredulity must render me more so Had the Duke told the Sultan at the same time of his own affection for the Ambassadress it was then in time and Jacaya had supprest his natural inclination But the Duke dissembled as well as he and told the Sultan he was glad of his good Fortune In the mean time it is not to be imagined the effect this Juggle of Jacaya's produced in the Duke of Mantua's mind Till that very minute he never perceived he loved the Ambassadress but when he examined the secret displeasure it was to him to believe the Sultan in her affections he doubted not but that displeasure arose from an inkling of Love He past away that whole night in detesting the ignorance of his passion and representing to himself what he had done towards the making of that Intrigue which disturbed him he could not sufficiently admire the oddness of his Destiny As soon as she was to be seen the next day he made a Visit to the Ambassadress and found her translating a piece of Pastor Fido out of Italian into French The Lady being as courteous as witty
the least spark of kindness in your Eyes Tell me I beseech you is it enough for a Lover that they be sparkling without kindness or do you think they have acquitted themselves of their duty when they have dazled a poor Creature I must see Love in them or renounce their Empire and when mine declare I love more than ever I expect yours should make answer And I 'le assure you there 's no Love lost If that be all replied the Ambassadress rather than the Duke shall want his Lesson I 'le look upon you as you please Do I look well now continued she fixing her Eye upon him with as much tenderness as she could Ha! I know you dear Eyes said the Sultan I see now you are disposed to hear me and then he ran out into a thousand amorous expressions but the Duke of Mantua who took no recreation in that kind of divertisement interrupted him by departing hastily out of room Jacaya observed his Physiognomy so changed he was afraid he had been ill and desired the Ambassadress she would permit him to follow him which he did but could not overtake him till he came to his Lodgings The Prince of Turkie desired to know what it was obliged him to retire so abruptly and assured him the Ambassadress was very unquiet till she could be satisfied of his health The Duke being brim full of passion answered not the Sultans Complement but looking fiercely upon him with his Eyes in which grief and rage were both livelily delineated Actum est it is decreed cryed he I love her my Love hath not been thus long constrained but to break out with the greatest violence and I will perish a thousand times before I will endure my Rival shall be beloved Jacaya thought him in a Phrensie and taking him by the Arm to feel his Pulse What do you talk of a Mistress and a Rival you are in a burning Feaver do you remember who it is that speaks to you Yes Prince replied the Duke with somewhat more moderation I know you too well you are the Ambassadresses Darling but you must resolve to take away my life or renounce those addresses Why Sir said the Sultan in a great surprise do you love the Ambassadress To say I love her replied the Duke is too mean I admire I adore her and either you must resign or one of us must dye Jacaya confounded at this Alarm as may well be imagined fell down upon the Chair that was next him and leaning his Elbow upon the Table fell into a contemplation of his Destiny He loved the Ambassadress entirely and though his passion was begun in sport and continued in a Frolick yet at the bottom he was most absolutely serious He was of an amorous Complexion much subject to Love and in that respect it was no easie matter for him to renounce it on the other side he had been infinitely obliged to the friendship of the Duke he had protected him against the Conspiracies of the Strozzi he had given him all necessary supplies and he had never been admitted in France but by his means Love Ha cruel Love cryed he with a sigh will you be always mine Enemy Alas Sir said he addressing himself to the Duke I foresaw the misery is befallen me and had you left me in that liberty I desired I had never pulled it down upon me Had you no other way of breaking with me than by making me your Rival I suppose my friendship hath tryed you and I do not admire it the unfortunate are often tedious to their friends but had it not been enough to let me have known so without adding the consequences of an infructuous passion Do not call me to an account said the Duke for what I have done I knew nothing of it my self and would have sworn I should never have been in Love with the Ambassadress The very moment before I knew she had a kindness for you my Love began to declare by the approaches of my Jealousie the news of your being in Love set me also on fire and that fire having been a long time deprest secretly in my heart that part of it which appears but its beginning is indeed the utmost extremity It is not that I am weary of your friendship and I offer you mine as pure as you have found it But dear Sultan shew me your compassion by your compliance Ladies are unconstant and perhaps you will do that of your self one day either out of weariness or revenge that I conjure you to do now in kindness to me The Turkish Prince could not relish that Proposition all that his obligations and Policy could get from him was only a promise to endeavour to master himself In order to which he absented himself for some time and pretending a Curiosity to see the Kings Houses and other Palaces about Paris he had several Entertainments with several Lords of the Court. Whether in some of those Entertainments the Duke of Mantua laid any design for him or whether the consideration of his misfortune in his Love exstimulated him to retire into some unknown part of the World where that passion was a stranger is not known but certain it is he disappeared in an instant and could never afterwards be heard on The Duke of Mantua was not much happier for the Ambassadour dying in France and his Lady returning into Savoy the Dukes Affairs called him into Italy and gave him no leisure to abandon himself to the desires of his passion A TABLE of all the Histories contained in these Eight Parts THe Countess of Castile page 1 The Pilgrim page 4 Alfreda of England page 14 Don Garcias of Spain page 30 The Duke and Dutchess of Modena page 37 The three Princesses of Castile page 53 Constance the fair Nun. page 81 James King of Arragon page 106 The Fraticelles page 113 Dulcinus King of Lombardy page 156 Nogaret and Mariana page 163 Don Pedro King of Castile page 185 John Paleogolus Emperour of Greece page 205 Amedy Duke of Savoy page 223 Agnes de Castro page 251 The Countess of Pontieuvre page 262 Feliciane page 286 Jane supposed of Castile page 310 The Persian Princes page 325 Don Sebastian King of Portugal page 355 Jacaya a Turkish Prince page 380 FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for John Starkey Booker-seller at the Mitre in Fleetstreet near Temple-Bar Divinity Folio's THirty six Sermons preached by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln the fifth Edition corrected price bound 18 s. 2. The Jesuits Morals collected by a Doctor of the Colledge of Sorbon in Paris who hath faithfully extracted them out of the Jesuits own Books which are Printed by the permission and approbation of the Superiors of their Society Written in French and exactly translated into English price bound 10 s. Quarto 3. Tetrachordon Expositions upon the four chief places in Scripture which treat of Marriage or nullities in Marriage Wherein the Doctrine and