Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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ID |
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Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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A27301
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Love-letters between a noble-man and his sister
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Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing B1740; ESTC R12977
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368,501
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1,302
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I run but one by the first I shall alarm the whole Cabal with a jealousie of my discovering and those are persons of too great sense and courage not to take some private way of revenge to secure their own stakes and to make my self uncertainly safe by a discovery indeed were to gain a refuge so ignoble as a Man of Honour wou'd scorn to purchase Life at nor wou'd that baseness secure me But in going on oh Silvia when Three Kingdoms shall ly unpossest and be expos'd as it were amongst the raffling Crowd who knows but the chance may be mine as well as any others who has but the same hazard and throw for'â— if the strongest Sword must do 't as that must do 't why not mine still why may not mine still Why may not mine be that fortunate one Cesario has no more right to it than Philander 't is true a few of the Rabble will pretend he has a better title to it but they are a sort of easy Fools lavish in nothing but noise and nonsense true to change and inconstancy and will abandon him to their own fury for the next that crys Haloo Neither is there one part of fifty of the Fools that cry him up for his Interest though they use him for a Tool to work with he being the only great Man that wants sense enough to find out the cheat which they dare impose upon Can any body of reason believe if they had 〈◊〉 him good they would let him bare fac'd have own'd a party so opposite to all Laws of Nature religion Humanity and Common gratitude when his Interest if design'd might have been carry'd on better if he had still dissembled and stay'd in Court no believe me Silvia the Politicians show him to rendersâ— him odious to all men of tolerable sence of the Party for what reason soever they have who are disoblig'd or at least think themselves so to set up for Liberty the world knows Cesario render himself the worst of Criminals by it and has abandon'd an interest more Glorious and Easy than Empire to side with and aid People that never did or ever can oblige him and he is so dull as to imagine that for his sake who never did us service or good unless Cuckolding us be good we should venture life and fame to pull down a true Monarch to set up his Bastard over us 〈◊〉 must 〈◊〉 me if I think his Politicks are shallow as his Parts and that his own Interest has undone him for of what advantage soever the design may be to us it really shocks ones nature to find a son engag'd against a Father and to him such a Father Nor when time comes shall I forget the ruine of Mertilla But let him hope on and so will I as do a thousand more for ought I know I set out as fair as they and will start as eagerâ—y if I miss it now I have Youth and Vigor sufficient for another Race and while I stand on Fortunes Wheel as she rouls it round it may be my turn to be o' th top for when 't is set in motion believe me Silvia 't is not easily fixt however let it suffice I 'm now in past a retreat and to urge it now to me is but to put me into inevitable danger at best it can but set me where I was that 's worse than death when every fool is aiming at a Kingdom what man of tollerable Pride and Ambition can be unconcern'd and not put himself into a posture of catching when a Diadem shall be thrown among the Croud 't were Insensibility stupid Dulness not to lift a hand or make an effort to snatch it as it flys though the glorious falling weight should crush me 't is great to attempt and if fortune do not favour Fools I have as fair a Grasp for 't as any other adventurer This my Silvia is my sense of a business you so muâ—h dread I may rise but I cannot fall therefore my Silvia urge it no more Love gave me Ambition and do not divert the Glorious effects of your wonderous Charms but let 'em grow and spread and see what they will produce for my Lovely Silvia the advantages will most certainly be hers But no more how came my Love so Dull to entertain thee so many minutes thus with reasons for an affair which one soft hour with Silviâ— will convince to what she wou'd have it beliâ—ve me it will I will sacrifice all to her repose nay to her least Command even the Life of My Eternal Pleasure Your PHILANDER I 〈◊〉 no longer patiâ—â—ce I must â—e coming towards the Grove though 't will do me no good more than knowing I am so much nearer my Adorable Creature I conjure you burn this for writing in haste I have not counterfeited my hand To Silvia Writ in a pair of Tablets MY Charmer I wait your Commands in the Meadow behind the Grove where I saw Dorinda Dorilus his Daughter entring with a Basket of Cowslips for Silvia unnecessarily offering sweets to the Goddess of the Groves from whence they with all the rest of their gaudy â—ellows of the Spring assume their Ravishing Odours I take every opportunity of telling my Silvia what I have so often repeated and shall be ever repeating with the same joy while I live that I Love my Silvia to Death aâ—d Madness that my soul is on the Wrack till she send me the happy advancing word And yet believe me Lovely Maid I could grow old with waiting here the blessed moment though set at any distance within the compass of Life and impossible to be till than arriv'd to but when I am so near approach't it Love from all parts rallies and hastens to my heart for the mighty incounter till the poor panting overloaded Victim dies with the pressing weight No more You know it for 't is and will be eternally Silvia's POSTSCRIPT Remember my Adorable 't is now seven a Clock I have my Watch in my hand waiting and looking on the slow paâ—'d Minutes Eight will quickly arrive I hope and then 't is dark enough to hide me hinkwhere I am and who I am twaiting near Silvia and her Philaâ—der I think my dear Angel you have the other Key of thesâ— Tablets if not they are easily broke open you have an hour good to write in Sâ—lvia and â— shall wait unimployed by any thing but thought Send me word how you were like to have been surpriz'd it may possibly be of advantage to me in this nights dear adventure I wonder'd at the Superscription of my Letter indeedâ—â—f whâ—ch Doriâ—us could give me no other account than that you were surpriz'd and he receiv'd it with difficulty give me the story now do iâ— in charity my Angel Besides â— would imploy all thy moments for I am jealous of every one that is not dedicated to Silâ—ia's Philander To Philander I Have receiv'd your Tablets of which I have the key and heaven only knows
amongst a thousand of finer value His Name and hers was Ingraven instead of a Poesie in it which was only Philander and Silvia and which he took no notice of and parted from each other in the tenderest manner that two young Gentlemen could possible be imagin'd to do tho it were more than so on her side for she was madly in Love with him As soon as Silvia came to Bruxells she sent in the Evening to search out Brilljard for she had considered if he should come to the knowledge of her being in Town and she should not send to him he would take it so very ill that he might prevent all her designs and rambles the now Joy of her Heart she knew she could make him her Slave her Pimp her any thing for Love and the hope of her Favour and his interest might defend her and she should know all Philander's motions whom now tho she lov'd no more she fear'd She found him and he took her Lodgings infinitely pleas'd at the trust she reposed in him the only means by which he could arrive to happiness She continues her Mans Habit and he supplyed the place of Vallet dress'd her and undress'd her shifted her Linen every day nor did he take all these Freedoms without advancing a little farther upon occasion and opportunity which was the hire she gave him to serve her in more Lucky Amours the Fine she paid to live free and at ease She tells him her adventure which tho it were Daggers to his Heart was however the only way to keep her his own for he knew her Spirit was too violent to be restrained by any means At last she told him her design upon a certain young Man of quality which she told him was the same she Incountered She assures him 't was not Love or Liking but perfectly Interest that made her design upon him and that if he would assist her she would be very kind to him as a Man that had gain'd very greatly upon her Heart This Flattery she urg'd with infinite fondness and art and he over-joy'd believed every word as Gospel so that he promised her the next day to carry a Billet to the young Don In the mean time she caus'd him to Sup with her purposly to give her an account of Philander Cesario and Hermione whom she heard was come to Bruxells and liv'd publickly with the Prince He told her it was very true and that he saw them every day nay every moment together for he verily believed they could not live asunder That Philander was every Evening Caballing there where all the male contents of the Reformed Religion had taken Sanctuary and where the Grand Council was every Night held for some great things were in Agitation and debating how to trouble the repose of all France again with new Broils he told her that all the World made their Court to Hermione that if any Body had any Petitions or Addresses to make to the Prince 't was by her sole Interest she sate in their closest Councils and heard their gravest debates and she was the Oracle of the Board The Prince paying her a perfect Adoration while she whose Charms of Youth were ended being turned of thirty fortifyed her decays with all the Arts her Wit and Sex were capable of and kept her Illustrious Lover as perfectly her Slave as if she had ingag'd him by all those tyes that Fetter the most circumspect and totally subdued him to her Will who was without Exception the most lovely Person upon Earth and tho Madam you know him so perfectly well yet I must tell you my opinion of him He is all the softer Sex can wish and ours admire he is form'd for Love and War and as he is the most amorous and wanton in Courts he is also the most fierce and brave in Field His Birth the most elevated his Age arriv'd to full blown Man adorn'd with all the spreading Glories that Charm the Fair and ingage the World and I have often heard some of our Party say his Person gain'd him more numbers to his side than his Cause or Quality for he understood all the useful Arts of Popularity the gracious smile and bow and all those cheap Favours that so gain upon Hearts and without the expence of any thing but Ceremony has made the Nation mad for his Interest who never otherwise oblig'd 'em and sure nothing is more necessary in the great than Affability nor shows greater marks of Grandure or shall more etternize them than bowing to the Crowd As the Maiden Queen I have read of in England who made herself idoliz'd by that sole Piece of politick Cunning understanding well the stubborn yet good Nature of the People and gained more upon 'em by those little Arts than if she had parted with all the Prerogatives of her Crown Ah! Madam you cannot imagine what little Slights govern'd the whole Universe and how easie 't is for Monarchs to oblige This Cesario was made to know and there is none so poor an Object who may not have Access to him and whom he does not send away well pleased tho' he do not grant what they ask He dispatches quickly which is a grateful Vertue in great Men and none ever espoused his Interest that did not find a Reward and a Protection 'T is true these are all the Tools he is to work with and he stops at nothing that leads to his Ambitionâ— nor has he done all that lies in the Power of Man only to set alâ— France yet in a Flame but he calls up the very Devils from Hell to his Aid and there is no Man fam'd for Negromancy to whom he does not apply himself which indeedâ— is done by the Advice of Hermione who is very much affected with those sort of People and puts a very great Trust and Confidence in ' em She sent at great Expence for a German Conjurer who arrived the other Day and who is perpetually consulting with another of the same sort a Scot by Birth called Fergusano He was once in Holy Orders and still is so but all his Practice is the black Art and excellent in it he is reported to be Hermione undertakes nothing without his Advice and as he is absolutely her Creature so his Art governs her and she the Prince She holds her Mid-night Conferences with him and as she is very superstitious so she is very learned and studies this Art taught by this great Master Fergusano And so far is this glorious Hero bewitched with these Sorcerers that he puts his whole Trust in these Conjurations and Charms and so far they have imposed on him that with an inchanted Oyntment which they have prepared for him he shall be invulnerable tho' he face the very Mouth of a Cannon They have at the earnest Request of Hermione calculated his Nativity and find him born to be a King and that before twenty Moons exspire he shall be crown'd in France And flattering his easie