Their first care after the conclusion of Peace was to choose a fit person to fill up the Throne which Autharus dying without Children left vacant It is apparent that the Customes of Nations the Interests of State and the Pretentions of particular persons would have 〈◊〉 return into Barâ—â—ta Her Vertue yet carryed it against Custome the Graces made sure for her and gained all the voyces on her side and by a general consent her hands already accustomed to govern well were judged the most proper to mannage happily the interests of the State and to divert with addresses the mischief which was feared from the ambition of parâ—â—â—â—lar persons The Crown was solemnly delivered up to her And from that time she began to Reign of her self and by the right of her Vertue which is the fairest right of Kings and the most illustrious claim which can enter into their 〈◊〉 Surely this cannot be paralleld in History And there would need a very perswasive vertue and of great authority to effect it They must be Graces of a high expectation and of a fair carriage which could gain with so much ease upon great Ambitious Men and a mercenary People and procure the unitement of them both in the choice of a Woman and a Stranger Being satisfied of her dexterity and capacity they invested her with absolute Power and Soveraignty without restriction They did not imitate those that binde their Princes upon their Thrones who tye their hands to the Scepter which they make them bear and take from them dispolute of the same Authority which they give them They only declare unto her that if after the having tryed the weight of Regality she should think fit to share it with a Husband they wished that she world seek no Forreign assistance but settle her affection upon some person of that Kingdom Confirmed by this proposition and by the advice of her Councel she cast her eyes upon 〈◊〉 Duke of Thâ—â—â—n and divided with him her Person and Regality This 〈◊〉 was a young Prince of a handsom aspect and of 〈◊〉 courage who was endued with all the Qualities fit to undertake and overcome And it was to be â—eared leâ—t Fortune which he might court should raise him to the Throne had not 〈◊〉 prevented her Not content to have made him a great King she undertook to make him a Catholick King and to withdraw him out of the slavery of the Arian Heresie This was evidently an enterprize of greater labour and of longer time then all those which are performed with iron and silver Engines with â—leets and Armed Nations Nevertheless she accomplished it by her cares and good offices with Prayers and â—ears Her Prayers drew upon 〈◊〉 the light of Heaven And every Tear proved a perswasive reason to him which all the Arian Doctors were never able to answer Her conquest reacheth farther then one individual soul though it were a Soveraign one and raised above others It was more ample and of greater advantage to the Church The chief Noblemen of the Kingdom and almost the whole People being converted by the Conversion of their new King submitted with him to the zeal and piety of their good Queen And this zeal was so 〈◊〉 is and of so great authority this piety was so efficacious and victorious that in a very short time all 〈◊〉 and the Provinces subject to it abjured Arianism and became Catholique by the industry of a Woman She effected much more and advanced the â—â—tivity of her zeal and the victories of her piety to a higher degree Adalulsus had increased his sins and dominions by the violated rights of the Church and by usurped Lands He had thrown Catholique Bishops out of their Seas and introduced into the sheepfold disguised Thieves publike impoisoners and Doctors of Error and Pestilence The vertuous Queen enjoyed no repose till the good Pastors were recalled till the Church was re-established in her Rights and Honors and till restitution was made her 〈◊〉 the â—ands which impetuous and bold Heresie had taken from her These actions did not proceed from an unprofitable and idle Vertue The most couragious and warlike ones did never act so vigorously and with so much success And all the Crowns gained by the valiant Women in this History were never worth so much as a flowre of Theodelind's Crown The great Saint Gregory who governed the Church at that time understood the weight and importance of her Services And being willing to reader her publike and lasting thanks for them he Dedicated his Dialogues to her by a Preface wherein she triumphs to this day and wherein there iâ— not a word which is not worth a Statue erected to her Vertue Some time after the Eâ—ark of Ravenna did over-run the Territories of Agilulsus and took in some Places which lay convenient for him and were ill guarded This â—â—on which was become more gentle yet had not suffered himself to be enchained quickly found again his Teeth and Claws and hastened to take revenge All things tended to a perilous and scandalous War and not only the Eâ—arkâ—at of Ravenna but even the Patrimony of Saint Peter was in danger if 〈◊〉 gained by Saint Gregory had not extinguished by her dexterity and Tears the fire which already began to be inkindled Thereby she preserved liberty to the Church and sacred things she freed the Church from her yoke she brake in pieces the Chaines prepared for the successor of the Apostles and chased away the Barbarians from before Rome Her whole life was thus powerfull And I know not whether there ever passed away one hour of it which was not beneficiall both to the Publike and particular persons The most Magnificent Churches were built by her and what is more to be prized then many erected Churches was that by her cares and good offices Lumbardy re-entred into the Church But we must not make a whole Book of one Example And I have sufficiently discoursed of it to encourage the Vertue of Women to give them a holy and profitable Emulation to withdraw them from idleness to make them understand that Christian Conquests Conversions of People Heroick Works and great Crowns belong as well to their Sex as ouâ—s PORCIE aâ—â—le des charbons ardens pour aller apres son Mary et par la hardiesse et 〈◊〉 de sa mort egale la reputation de Catâ—n et la gloire de Brutus 〈…〉 Porcia THE defeat of Brutus could not be concealed from Porcia The noise and mourning for it are great everywhere The Publik as well as Particulars regret it equally and in common and I believe that the very Statues in the Senate and Tribune have lamented a Citizen with whom in fine the Republike and Liberty of Rome even then expired This generous woman did not receive this loss with outcryes and fainting fits she did not violate her Cheeks and Hair she did not accuse Heaven nor reproach Fortune for it and one may say that the news of Brutus
The most peevish and harsh of all Authors have written for the Instruction of Women I speak of Tertullian who besides the Book he wrote concerning the veil of Virgins hath composed another touching the Apparel of Women and a third concerning their Attires And if there be any harshness or asperity in those works as in all others of his Composure this harshness is at least magnificent and like the riches of Barbarians These asperities have a kinde of Dignity and Splendor They have something I know not what which shines and wounds which resembles unpolished Gold and misshapen Diamonds The holy Fathers have not only applyed Moral Philosophie and Rhetorick to the Instruction of Women but have made Poesie and the Muses serve to the same use And those severe ones who lived only of pure Light and Spirit did not conceive it unworthy the severity of their Life or the Sanctity of their Priesthood to measure Syllables to adjust Words to paint and flourish their Discourses to give a Relish to their Doctrines and Grace unto Vertue to instruct by divertisement and to make what is profitable passe under the Colour of delightfull Adhelâ—â—â—s who was one of the most learned Bishops of Scotland hath left us a Poem where Virginity Chastity Modesty Devotion and the other Vertues of Maids are adorned with all the Gold and pretious Stones of Parnassus which is the Peru of Poets We have likewise another of the same matter and form which Avitus Arch-Bishop of Vienna composed to Crown the Virginity of his Sister Fuscina And albeit this Crown be in the time of the first Lilies which were sent into France yet the Flowers thereof remain at present as fair and fresh after twelve hundred Yeers as if they were but newly gathered Thereby these two holy Bishops have rendred Honour to the Muses They have reconciled them to Chastity They have sanctified their Ornaments and Attires They have done to them what Moses and Aaron did with the Looking-glasses and Jewels of the Egyptian Ladies My designe is not to assemble here all the Authors who have contributed their Lucubrations and Writings to the Instruction of Women The Assembly would be too great for so narrow a space And it were to make a compleat Library of a Preface Such as I have alledged are sufficient to evince the Importance of this Instruction and to perswade that it forms at least the Moity of Christian Policy Could Doctors and Prelats so inlightned by God so penetrated by the Unction of the Holy Ghost so purified and heated by the Fire of the Altar lose their Fire in unprofitable Productions Have they consumed their Time and wearied their Hands to effect nothing considerable And would Saint Iohn himself have written to a Woman with the Pen of an Eagle wherewith he had written to the Angels and Churches of Asia wherewith he had made the first Draughts of what was before and will be after time if he had not believed that a Letter written to a Woman might be as Canonical and profitable as Letters directed to Angels and Churches These Reasons and Instances more powerful then any other have ingaged me in this Work My Pen is not the Pen of an Eagle like that of Saint Iohn I write not by the Wisdom and Light of the Holy Ghost as Solomon did I have no Gold to employ like Saint Chrysostome I fall very short of the Idea's and Conceptions of the alledged Fathers And if these great Saints and eminent Men did not believe that the matter upon which I Labour was unworthy of their Capacity and beneath their Idea's I ought not to fear that it may appear Noble and Precious enough for mine And no man ought to call in question the Utility of a Work whereof so many Learned Hands have left such excellent Models It is true that I have given a new sonn to this matter and altered the Shape and Figure of those Patterns There is a Philosophy more delightful and instructive then that Anatomized one read in the Schools Her Attractives are modest and accompanied with Force she hath no affected Dress and having a more lovely Aspect and better Fashion then the other she gives not less Edification nor a worse Example She doth not produce like that other crude and discoloured Axioms formless and dry Decisions She Beautifies them with exquisite Inventions with curious and coveted Figures She knows how to adde Lustre to Force and to give Grace and Dignity to what is solid I conceived that my Designe might fall into the hands and under the direction of this Inventive and pleasing Philosophie magnificent in Materials and rich in Designs And to the end she might not have all the trouble of the Work I have to her associated Portraiture Poesie and History which are three other illustrious and renowned Co-operatresses and these three associated to this noble Superintendent have framed this whole Structure which I consecrate to the Publick under the Title of The Gallery of Heroick Women This Title is not so limited as it may seem to some who know not Vertues but by the Draughts which Painters form of them and do not believe that there is any other Fortitude then that which they see with a Helmet on its Head and a Pillar on its shoulders This armed and robustious Fortitude is but subordinate to another general one which assists all the Vertues which is present in all great Actions which supports all good Works which is the Directress of all Heroes both in Peace and War It is to this Fortitude St. Ambrose and St. Gregory attribute after Plato the Victories of the Spirit over the Flesh those of Vertue over Fortune those of the Honest and Honourable Good over the Delightful and Profitable It is of this Fortitude Solomon speaks in that Picture where the Heroick Woman is drawn with so fair Colours and Crowned with so magnificent an â—â—ogy In effect Temperate and Chaste Women require Fortitude Loyal and Constant Women need it Modest Reserved and Devout Women need it as much And peradventure they require more then those presumptuous and haughty Gallants who fancy to themselves that they support States And that their Arms are the Pillars of Empires Courage is necessary both to bear handsomly the Chains of Marriage which though never so well gilded are yet painful and to endure its Yoke which is never so smooth as not to incommodate it is so needful to resist both pleasing and frightful Passions flattering and dreadful Objects It is requisite to regulate Love even that Love which is Honest and Lawful It is necessary to bridle Lawful Joyes and innocent Pleasures to moderate obligatory Sorrows and Afflictions authorized by Nature and Custom In a word there is no Christian or Moral Vertue to which Courage is not required And for this Reason my Gallery hath a larger extent then the Frontispiece doth promise There is room for all Vertuous Women by what Names soever they are called And the Prudent
to seek thy Freedom it expects thee there Gold is as hard as Iron A blow from these Vessels may as well break thy Chain in pieces as the stroke of a Sword and if thou art well resolved to dye there are Rocks for thee there is a Precipice at the corner of this Table God will pardon necessity and excuse so just a Violence He hath heretofore Inspired Crowned the like And the Church Honours those Saints which drowned themselves to purchase Salvation who have ascended into Heaven by a Precipice But what am I that attribute Inspirations to my self and rank my self amongst the Saints From whom have I learned to discern Spirits aâ—d their Motions Do I know of what colour that Spirit is who sollicites me And if he be a Spirit of Imposture and indisguise If what I take for Zeal be Despair Whither will this Despair carry me and under the Conduct of this Spirit of Imposture but to the Unhappy end of the Foolish Virgines Let us leave Uncertainty to the Providence of God since he is a Jealous God he will take into his care the Honour of his Spouses And if heretofore he deprived Fire of Heat and suspended the hunger of Lyons well may he extinguish if he please the Ardour of the Tyrant and suspend his Concupiscence This Resolution was followed with a Prayer which came more from her heart then her lips and into which there entred more Faith then Words However she was quickly interrupted by the Euâ—aâ—chs who came to bring her to Mahomet whose new Passion could allow him no Repose The contempt of his Captive had incensed him it troubled him that amongst the Ruins and Ashes of a Sack'd Town any thing should be found more powerful then his Victory greater and more sublime then his Fortune And he would not have it said that a Maid nay an Unarm'd and Inchained Maid had held out against him after the taking of so many places after the Defeat of so many Fleets and Armies Nevertheless he tempered himself in her Presence and renewed to her the same Promises augmented with boundless and unreserved Additions But this second Battery shook her as little as the former and as the Tyrant prepared himself to add Violence to his Promises the Couragious Maid put him back with a fierceness both in Countenance and Action which manifested that she was able to hold out against his Violence as against his Promises and that he could neither gain her by Composition nor Force It is very true that Love is Impatient and Stately upon Crowned Heads that it is soft and easily wounded in hearts accustomed to Overcome The Heart of Mahomet being mortally wounded by this Action gave way to Anger which is never more Furious or Terrible then when it comes in the Rear of a Potent Love And Mahomet Transported with this second Passion laid his hand upon his Cymeter and with one blow Crowned the Captive broke her Chain and struck off her Head This Victory was not in the time of the Primitive Church yet it is no less Illustrious then those of that Age. Mahomet the Conquerour was as Redoutable as Nero the Esseminate and his Tent was a Field of Battel no less dangerous then an Amphitheater Ladies ought to learn from hence that Heroick Chastity hath her Enthusiasms and Raptures And these Enthusiasms and Raptures ought to master all Fears and Hopes These Raptures ought to surmount all that is both Delightful and Terrifying But they ought never to Precipitate her if the Holy Ghost doth not transport her and if she be not excited by a Forreign Violence MARIE Stuart Reyne d'Escosse seussre le Martyre pour la Foy et par la constance 〈…〉 temps les exemples de l'ancienne Eâ—hse 〈…〉 Mary Stewart YOu will scarce believe what you are going to see And what testimony soever your eyes render to the truth of this Tragical Spectacle you will give them more then once the lye and suspect something of Illusion or Imposture Truly a holy Criminal and an executed Queen is a strange Fantome And it is a more prodigious thing then all the Prodigies in Fables to see three Kingdoms dishonoured upon a Scaffold To see a Head which hath born two Crowns laid under the Ax of an Executioner The Tragedy is not only Inhumane but Monstrous And yet England applauds this horrid Act which will be deplored by all Europe Mary heretofore Queen of France and at present Queen of Scotland goes to die upon a Scaffold after she was grown old in Prison Insolent and furious Heresie respects in this fair Head neither Regality which is a kinde of visible and commanding Divinity nor Beauty which is a Soveraignty by naturall Rights and a Domination without violence And what the most Barbarous Antiquity may not perchance have ever seen what the most credulous Posterity will peradventure never believe all the Vertues and Graces are violated in her Person and condemned to the same Punishment She goes couragiously to it and with a Countenance which bears still the mark of her Dignity and the Declaration of her Innocence She preserved them both after the loss of her Kingdom and Liberty and Fortune which deprived her of her Subjects and is going to deprive her of Life cannot deprive her Heart of Soveraignty nor her Looks of Authority They are not fastned to Her they are born with Her and create a Majesty independent on a Crown and Purple And thereby she will be no less a Queen upon a Scaffold then she hath been upon a Throne You do not behold in her those fair Rayes of Beauty and Youth which were heretofore the splendor and spectacle of the Loâ—vre which were the joy and serenity of all France But at least you see her not dejected by her mishap nor obscured by her bad Fortune Her greatness appears all entire now that the steps and footstool are taken from her And if her lights were then more pleasing and lively those at present are more vigorous and less apt to be extinguished Her Adversities have not only fortified but rendred her far greater and the Admirers of her Beauty who heretofore called her the Sun of the North and the Planet of the Sea did not foresee that her Vertue would resemble the Sun and Planets which appear greater through a Mist then in a most pure serenity and without a Cloud Her white Haires which you see are not occasioned by Age they proceed from Afflictions and Persecutions They are caused by unkind Kindred and bad Subjects They come from Elizabeth and her Ministers And if this be very unworthy it is little less strange that so beautifull a Head should grow white before its time under so many hands imployed to darken it But this whiteness is no dishonour to her nor lessens any thing of her Grace Innocence and VVisdom are of this colour And even Majesty it self is seen sometimes adorned thereby and rendred more Venerable and August Would you believe that