't is wisedome to hold their peace Quisque Tacenâ— sapit and Love makes the most ignorant to become witty for he teaches them the wit to love Love a great Master sure must be Who can so soon teach Clowns Philosophie So sings Marini and Tasso In lov's school what cannot be learn'd I wonder that Lovers should desire and long for nothing more than the dark night as a reward for their services or an earnest of their enjoyments as if not deserving the amorous delights they waiâ—e for night to have the opportunity to steal them do not the eyes infinitely encrease the enjoâ—ments of a beauty and does not the sight according to Plato enflame the affections of the body in a moment and being assisted by the objects seen renews with mighty power and creats fresh desires in our hearts and souls This is truth and wherefore then is darkness so much longed for whose black vaile can only hide the charm's of beauty from the eyes Wherefore is that black night so much wish'd for which only Eclipses the beloved Sun Most understanding most divine lovers They know love is not begot or bâ—ed but by Silence being therefore willing to beget affection in their Mistresses hearts they first seek out the deepest silence which ordinarily makes its residence in the solitary Palace of the night Hatred is the of spring of the Tongue which commonly affronts and wounds the calmest and most patient spirits which makes its venom the more incureable and insupportable and therefore all those that have much Tongue are naturally odious and hated For this cause Scilla according to the testimony of Plutar hated the Athenians more for their words than actions Now then if the Tongue be so great an enemy unto love by the reason of contraries love is the only child and issue of Silence And from whence proceeds the love of Princes towards their favorites but from their Silence should not the favorites be faithful Privado's to conceale the secrets and vices of their Princes they could never bear such sway and so Tyrannize over their affections as they do The Athenians were once invited by the Ambassadors of King 〈◊〉 and these to trace a path to the love and favour of the King knowing that all they said would come to his ear they all in a vain oftentation bragg'd and vanâ—ed either of their Births Valours or other high deserts only Zenon alone more wise than all the rest kept himself silent For which cause one of the Ambassadors asked him Zeno and what shall we tell the King of thee Tell him replied Zenon that in Athens there is an old man that can hold his Tongue a most prudent answer and worthy of so great a Philosopher since the love of Princes cannot be obtain'd but by Silence Women do not love men so entirely as they would because they are not more secret could they but hope or be assured of Silence in them they would love them all most infinitely and conforme themselves readily to any of their desires And women expecting love from Men to them again cannot believe there is any true love where there is not an inviolable Silence 〈◊〉 da Lamporecohlo says that only by being verily thought to have no Tongue it bred and inspired love and lasciviousness in the very bosoms of those Nunns that had made vowes of Chastity and virginity and therefore Marino when he would perswade his Lady to love bragg'd that he had Silence in possession And our excellent Master Cowley â—en out of Wisdome women out of pride The pleasant theses of love do hide That may secure thee but thou hast yet from me a more infalliable security For ther 's no danger I shall tell The joyes which are to me unspeakable What thing Sirs is more hideous and fearful then the stormy Sea unruly implacable unmerciful which though it contain the worlds greatest riches in its own empire already does yet every day swallow up the Merchants wares and treasures Those that do not dread and hate its deafning roarings must either be ignorant of its power and danger or lodg a heart of brass within them when it murmurs softly t is treacherous and deceitful and if it loudly roare then t is infinitely perilous But yet if with an absolute gentle calm it smoothes its self into a Looking-glass or so far imitate the even vault of Heaven as to wear the perfect Image of the Sun with all its beauty in its warry bosom which any curious Eye may safely look upon without offending the sight Then who does not delight in 't and love it who does not praise and admire it By this therefore appears that love is the child of Silence Wherefore is the Musick and Harmocy of the Sphear's so much celebrated and lov'd but because t is so silent to our ears which Silence alone does create and beget our venerations and love towards it Nay the very Heavens it self becomes fearful and hateful to us when with a thundering mouth and a fiery Tongue it blasts or threatens poor Mortals and on the contrary how much it is beloved when with a clear and serene Countenance it smiles upon us and by its Silence seems to study new blessings for us And wherefore is Silence so strictly commaded to all religious people but because Silence begets love and therefore they by a sacred and Religious Silence should strive to get the love of God in their hearts and learn what veneration is due to such a Majesty But whil'st I make Love to be the ofspring of Silence I would not have my much talk beget your hatred towards me Nor would I have it said to me Aut sile aut meliora quovis afferos silentio I shall therefore now hold my peace hoping that my silence will beget your Love towards me III. What thing does most prejudice the Beauty of the Face BEauty is natures silent Letter of recommendation written in divine Characters which flatteringly insnares the Soul to its most sweet Tyranny whose empire by how much it is the more excellent so much the shorter is it's duration for the greater the beauty the shorter liv'd it is and the more tempting and grateful to our Eyes the sooner does it flie away T is but a flash of Lightning which vanishes as soon almost as it appears and cannot be fixed even by the possessors of it themselves Poor Beauty somtimes transform'd by Age into a grave where it lies buried alive in the deep wrincles of its own ruin'd face and sighs for ever after for its own frailty sometimes tormented with the passions of the Soul or the various accidents of Fortune sometimes fowly blasted by envious Tongues or an unhandsome disease and most commonly hurried to the Chambers of death in the midst of its florid spring or maturer summer by the inexorable cruelty of fate Briefly it is the decree of Heaven that all things
said nothing and he indeed hath said nothing who hath spoken ill XIX Which is most potent to beget affection Either a fair Face Weeping Or a fair one Singing The Plea for Weeping THat fair God who for his being the most beneficial to the world might above all others excuse the Idolatry of blind Gentilisme becoming inamoured of a young Maiden descended from the Throne of the Gods to try whether that divinity which had been able to obtaine the adoration of the Universe could gain an amorous affection in the heart of a Virgin He pursued implored tempted but she conspiring with nature was transmuted into a Laurel either to tryumph over his power or to shew that the resolutions of women many times do not participiate of the instability of the female Sex Miserable Apollo truly thou mightest rather have thought to have found even amongst the Rocks a heart that should have been molified at thy requests then amongst hearts a stone that would not relent for all thy prayers How much he was astonished every one may guess A certain Poet writes that imediately that God was seen to weep who otherwhile was ever wont to sing And who knows Perhaps he would tâ—y since his Cruell Daphne already as woman did not accept his singing whether as a Tree she would Love his tears which he poured on her from those two weeping Fountaines of his Eyes This Fable Illusterous Academs gives an occasion to doubt whether singing or weeping are the most potent instruments in a fair face to captivate a heart and from hence arises matter of contention betwixt these two The fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the fair singer Nor would the decision of their discord be so facile to end had they not equally agred to refer it to your sentence in whom they are confident to find together both the judgment of Paris and the integrity of Aristides The tears vaâ—nt to be the more powerful as having even Apollo's decision already in their favour since after he saw his dearest converted into a Tree he laid aside his Musick and makes tryal of his tears as if he thought them even so potent as to move the very trees therewith Consider Sirs that thee tears are the ofspring of the Eyes the pretty sisters of the sight taught and instructed in those Schooles of animated brightness where they profess no other Doctrine but to inamour Let singing therefore yeild its pretences which proceeding from the Mouth is as much inferiour to weeping both in power and efficacy as the tears are superior in the sublimity of their birth and nobleness of their Progenitours Nature has consigned our tears to no others Custody but the heart nor would she have their pomp and glory appear in any other place but in the Eyes as if she esteem'd them worthy to have those Kings of the Members for their Guardians and the fairest part of the body to be the Throne of their Majesty The Eyes were created to be the Miracles of beauty and the tears to be the Miracles of the Eyes and who is not astonished to behold them powering forth such floods of water from their Sphears or Element of Fire These in our sorrows serve us for funeral pomps and mournings and in our joyes they solemnize our excessive Contentmentâ— Dearest tears which in all occasions deserve to be the Ornaments of the Face Perhaps 't was for this reason that a Phylosopher fell so in Love with tears that he spent all his time constantly in weeping you will never find any man Sirs so in Love with singing as to judge it worthy of his continual and vertuous employment Consider therefore the efficaey of tears which even makes Philosophers enamoured with them They that call them by the simple name of Pearls do not fully express their dignity and worth Those are generated by the influence of the Sun but at a far distance from the Sun and these by the influence of two Suns and within the very Spheare of those Suns themselves Those are nourished in the water and these in the mid'st of flames Those are made fit by art to adorne the purity of a whiter neck and these are reserved by nature to enrich the beauties of a Rosie cheek Then let us call them pretious and if they be soft they may inform us thus much that if one of those being dissolved by Cleopatra had power to force Mark Anthony to confess his heart was overcome one of these liquified even by the hands of Nature her self with greater power shall constraine us to acknowledg that our affections are vanquished Love the great God of War does still invent new and various Stratagems to conquer and subdue our hearts and Souls Sometimes he attempts to overthrow us only with the sounds of precions metals sometimes erects his bridg upon the base of our most instable hopes sometimes assaults us with the sweetness of an inchanting voice and othertimes endeavours the Scalado upon the Cords of a well-tuned Instrument But in fine all these potent and flattering stratagems are nothing if compared to a fair weeping face Many times there are such who being stored with principles and resolutions of chastity will repel all those assaults and tryals though seconded and assisted with many tempting caresses and other provoking Artifices but when he beseiges us with a sea of tears ther 's no humanity can resist him none but such as glory in their Inhumanity and we may well believe he will expugne that obdure soul of its strongest fortress when he comes rowling and shouring in with such torrents of over-flowing tears Smith's do use to besprinkle their Coales with water which being after blown upon do burn with the greater ardour And Love being a smith's son does often use his Fathers policy For when he is resolved to inflame a heart most he first lets fall a soft showre of tears to moysten it and after with deep sighs blows it into a most consuming flame Even the Sun to make his Beams become more hot and scorching does seem to unite them together and dart them through a Cloud which is no other than rarified water which being condens'd desolves and drops in tears from Heaven again There is nothing which communicates more vigour and nourishment to plants than heat conjoyned with moisture If then it be true what some have said that Love is a plant 〈◊〉 may truly believe that nothing else is aâ—le to advance its growth so much as the Sun-shines of two fair Eyes mixed with the soft showres of their distâ—lling tears The Globes of those 〈◊〉 Suns being invironed with floods of tears can be esteemed no other than artificial 〈◊〉 which burne under the water and are the more ardent by reason of the Antiperistasis Excuse me Sirs if this conceit seem strange to you that I should say tears are the Milk of the Eyes and why must that be esteemed so unlikely that those Eyes should flow with milk which do so often bring forth Love And
if you do grant this Caprichio give me leave to conclude that there is nothing more proper to nourish affection than tears since they are milk and Love is still a Child If any one should ask a Lover they would return this answer that the tears are no other than the quintescence of the soul distilled through those Eyes which pretend to teach us thereby how liberal we should be of our Love to them who do so prodigally wast their souls for us Others have said that tears are extracted from the purest blood in the heart which may serve us for an argument that if the blood of Caesar dead had power to move the souls of the Romans to a Mutiny much more will these living drops of the fair weepers Eyes be able to stir up our Affections to Mutinies and Tumults And if you say that this might be tumultuous because a Tyrants remember that beauty likewise is no other than a Tyrant But to know whether the power of tears be greater than of singing consider that these move by nature only and singing all by Art I know you will not deny but that a spring which casts forth pure and murmuring streams out of its Rocky bosome naturally does flatter and delight our sences more then those magnificent and stately Romane fountains though those artificial structures have no stone in them which is not worth a treasure A pure and unsophisticated beauty how much more it does charme and captivate our hearts than such as are made handsome only by art your selves may judg who have so often yeilded to their commanding swetness The Poets seigned Cupid always naked to shew us that a natural beauty naked of all false cloathing artifice does soonést tempt insnaâ—e and wound the soul but if you reflect upon singing you shall not find one note which is not artificial nor hear one sigh but what is seign'd somtimes it seems to languish in a whyning passion and tell sad tales then streight turns into joyful strains again Dissembling all its passions cunningly changing it self into an hundred severall humors of mirth and sadness and if it have any thing pleasing in it it must be somthing only natural and how can the soul possibly Love that singing which glories in its bewitching fraud and vaunts that it obtains respect and reverence only by a sweet nothingness To express the power of singing sayes one it is an inchantment but sirs if you will know how much weeping prevailes above it remember that that Armida who otherwhile triumphed over the Marrial Squadrons by power of her inchantments was forced to make use of her tears to add more Vigour to those very inchantments So that the spirits and furies themselves are too weak to resist the charms of a beauteous weeper Nor need we wonder at it for theirs at most is but an infernal power and the tears dropping from a handsome Face are no less than the showers even of a clouded heaven Musitians themselves confess that to add more vigour to their singing they are necessitated to make use of frequent sighs trembling quavers and soft languishing strains and what else are these but parts of sorrow and weeping These they make use of because otherwise that musiâ—k would seem to have no life or spirit in it that could not humor its passion with a deep sadness and sighing affection Consider therefore the power of weeping from which even singing it self does borrow so much help That Ambiâ—ious Musitian gloried that he had redeemed his dear Euridice from Hell by the powerful sweetness of his voice But let me rather say that if he did obtain her because he sung so excellently well perhaps he lost her so suddenly again because he did not weep sufficiently And what can you imagine the heavens desires or expects from us unless it be Love When it so often poures down shours of tears Pythagoras believed that the Sphears were ever making a sweet harmony But I see that we often returne thanks to heaven for its weeping but never for its imaginary musick Poets have sometimes commended a beauty hid under a mourning Cypress vayle as if the resplendant Beams of such a beauty being concentred together should through that obscurity thus united have the more power to make a speedy conquest over the Soul Now observe Sirs that a weeping beauty is a beauty clad in its morning weeds which should merit our affections the sooner because it seems to put on that sad habit to perform the obsequies for your expired liberty By the Law of Nature we should give credit to their affections which can bring good witness that they Love Now what are such tears else but testimonies of a heart that Loves sincerely which come to Natures tribunal attending on the Soul to demand a Reciprocall Correspondence Aristotle says that our tears are a kind of sweat and if we justly merit wages for sweat and labour who can deny the reward of Love to those fair Eyes which perhaps sweat and pant lying under the burden of an amorous affection Tears have such efficacy to Enamour that I believe the offerings of Myrrhe and Incense are grateful and pleasing to the gods for no other Reason but because they are Tears though shed by senceless trees Those lighted Candles which often shine upon a sacred Altar where we implore the grace of Heaven if you but marke it do never burn without letting fall some drops like tears perhaps to teach fair Eyes that if the tears even of inanimate lights have power to move the heavens the drops of two such bright and living torches must needs have as much influence on Men. We do not ordinarily ascribe any other Epithets to musick than those of melody and sweetness But when we treat of tears we use to call them by a more Viril name womens arms or Weapons Now do you guess Sirs whether they be not potent since they have obtained even the name of Weapons And I believe it was for no other reason that the gods blinded Cupids Eyes but only because if he could have added tears to the power he hath already there were no means left for any to resist his power and might Our infant age does most require the Love and tender affection of others by reason of our own insufficiency And yet natures Care has provided us with nothing else in that age but only our tears And are they so potent in our infancy that even a child though bound by Nature and reason to be under the Fathers Tuition and Jurisdiction Yet weeping tenderly does seem to claime and often over swayes the parents will Who will say then that tears are not most powerfull instruments since they have so much strength though managed by a weak unskilful Child Tears are the Language of the Soul and passions taught us by natures self that it might be the better understood by every one Tears are the Souls Ambassadours which being sent to declare the state of its own
favour can a lover receive since the foot is a guide to the head the instrument of motion an argument of the affections of the soul and of the defects of the body the supporter and base of a little world The Egyptians Hieroglyphiok of inconstancy was a foot not sustained at all by any thing and therefore when by an excessive savor my Mistriss would demonstrate how constant she ever resolved to be towards me she set her foot upon mine because a foot thus placed with stability did amongst the same Egyptians signifie a fixed constancy and duration Some others by the foot did use to represent a slave or Servant and indeed the feet may with reason be called the slaves and servants of the body because they are ever employed to support and carry up and down like slavish Potters the whole burden of all other members My Mistriss therefore being willing to entertain me for her servant vouchsafed to tread on my foot it being the custome of the ancient Conquerors to tread on the feet of their Prisoners to shew them their subjection The foot according to Valerius is the Symbole of a work quite perfected and finished Therefore we proverbially say ad calcem when we mean to declare the perfect termination of any thing What greater favour then would I receive from a Lady who by trampling on my foot did advertize me that the work was finished that is that my affection and faith had found a gracious acceptance and lodging in her Soul and Heart The foot as Aristotle sayes is the coldest of all the members and therefore Physiâ—ians above all things Counsel their sick patients to keep their feet warm because by their natural coldness they are most apt to receive hurt from the evil qualities the aire does produce in them Therefore such a Lady could not favor me more eminently then to shew by treading on my foot that my affection had inflam'd her even the coldest parts and farthest extremities from the heart which by consequence are most frozen The ancients were wont to make signs with their feet when they adherr'd to any mans desires or opinions and from thence comes that Proverb Pedibus in Sententia discedere Now what greater honor could I receive or desire then to be ascertain'd of the Ladies affection Since by her foot she gave a sign of her compliance with my affection and testified her approbation of my service The refusal of any one to let us touch their feet is an argument of pride Therefore sayes Boccace L'havereste Levata in tanta superbia che le piante de piedi non le si sarrebbone potute tocare Now my Mistriss to shew that such a vice as haughtiness or pride had no Jurisdiction over her soul by this humility and excess of honor to me caused me to touch the sole of her Foot Achilles a Heroe so glorious as to merit that Homer should become the trumpet of his never dying fame who was envied by Alexander the great himself could not be wounded in any part but the heel have not I cause then to glory in this immortal favor vouchsafed by such a Lady who though she had a thousand other wayes to wound me yet that I might be paralelled to Achilles she would only stick me in the foot In fine I cannot but be proud of the honor my Lady did me shewing she so much esteemed me by treading on my foot that doubting least I should have quitted her affection she by that means seemed to constrain me to abide here for ever and who would not think it was a great honor to me that she should let me feel her weight But least I should make this discourse too long by a foot except of this my imbecilities which I sacrifice to our Prince as a tribute of my obedience as anciently the feet were Consecrated unto Mercury And I believe that he to conclude Who sets out at the Foot come to the place Sooner then he that sets out at the Face V. Whether the Rose do presage Felicity or Infelicity to a Lover I Should now cloathing the sentiments of my Soul with the beauty and ornaments of handsome words bless and thank that hand which being Prodigal of its favours hath vouchsafed to bestow a Rose on me the Queen of Flowers though its purple did not claime that just preheminence such gifts are common which oblige us but to common expressions My tongue has not so much sweetness or sufficiency as to satisfie these obligations which my heart is bound to acknowledg and I am the less capable to do it because the late learned discourser of dreames has so possessed and charmed my intellects that I can only wonder at the height of his inimitable Elequence that made it And then if I should say it has the precedency above all Flowers and for that cause perhaps it wears the Regal Ornaments that if Gardens were Heavens the Rose would be the Sun in those Heavens that it shuts it self up with the day because it fears to be in the obscurity or blasted by the malignity and treachery of the night that t is the Image and perfect mirror of Princes bearing in its self both the rewards and punishment that to beautifie it self it robbed Venus of her blood and the Gods of their Nector that 't is the glory of the spring a miracle of Nature and an excess of the benignity and bounty of heaven all these notwithstanding would be but poor conceits of a mendicated Eloquence either blazed already a thousand times by the common breath of Fame or infinitely beneath the just encommiums it deserves and the grandeur of its merits The Rose it self is a praise to its own self and for no other reason does its leaves sproute forth in the forms of tongues but to declare that it self is only worthy to proclaime and publish its own just praises and having not the benefit of speech though the Proverb says that Roses speaks yet it expresses it self sufficiently by its perfumed breath But how much the more worthy the Rose is amongst all other Flowers so much the more incertainty does it breed in this question whether it can presage happiness or infelicity to Lovers The Etymologie of the name Rose coming from Riso promises joy to my affections but as it may possibly come from the verbe Roderam it threatens me with the continual knowings and languishing of my Soul by concupiscence The sanguine Colour in the Rose prognosticates the blushes of my Cheeks if I should give my soul the liberty to doate and admire too much the beauties of any Face But it may also presage that I shall love a beauty so singular and excellent that it shall force each one to blush that shall but dare to contend with her for the priority of beauty I might fear least the bloody colour of the Rose should predict my Martyrdome for Love But on the other hand I am assured
Vulneris auxiliur Polios hasta tulit And else where Forsitan ut quondam Leuthranâ—ia regnatenenti Sic mihi res â—adem vulnus opemque feret And in a third place Telephus â—terna consumptus tabe perisset Si non quâ— nocuit dextra tulisset ope And propertius Myrus Hemonia juvenis qua cuspide vulnus Senserat hac ipsa cuspede sensit opem And Caelius Rhodiginus Aâ—re cuspide sive etiam serrea Telephum sanasse Achilles perhibetur Unde natum Adagium Quodque vulnus intulit ille diem persanabit And Lucian Ergo Telephi illud necesse erit facere ut ad cum à quo vulnerati sumus redeamus ab illo medicinam petamus Et Phil. Beroldus Notum est quemadmodum Telephus ab Achille vulneratus ab Achille sanatus fuit eodem telo The Germans according as Tacitus relates by holding their Lances at too great a length which made them misâ— their stroakes were overcome by the Romans and were so many Trophies of their Victory I fear the same fate having held so long a Discourse of the Lance and been so wide from the marke that who â—ver shall oâ— pose me or discourse on the same subject will overcome my weak argument and subdue me by their more potent Eloquence XIII Wherefore Old people sleep ordinarily less than young ones NO doubt but in all appearance sleep seems to be more proper to old folks than to young The nature of ancient people is to be cold Thus Aristotle will have it Senectus fregida est and commonly those Animals sleep most that are of the coldest constitution Dormiunt diutius says Albertus Animalia illa quae sunt frigida and therefore is sleep more likely to be proper for old people then young yet experience teaches us the Contrary and so says Aristotle e Senes vigiles sunt Whereupon Corn Gall. Sings Ipsa etiam cunctis gratissima somnus Avolat sera viae mihi nocte redit Cogor per mediam turbatus surgere Nocte Multaque ne patiar deteriora pati I believe the reasons may be many â—herefore the old ones sleep less then young people Sleep though it come of cold yet hath its Original from heat the vapours conveyed through the Veins to the head are cooled by the Frigidity of the Brain Somnus says Aristotle est infrigidatio si causa sint calidae quia vaporis per Venas ad caput elevati infrigidentur in capite Wherefore the more Vapours are sent to the Brain the more are they incited to sleep Now who doubts but young people are filled with more Vapours than old and therefore sleep more Therefore Aristotle Dormuint say he vehementur puâ—ri quia nutrimentum sursum serter omne The food of ancient people besides that it is ordinarily much less in quantity than what young ones cat turns most to Excrements and does not generate those superabundant spirits it produces in the young which ascending to the brain occasion muth sleep Therefore Aristole Senies excrementis abundant vigiles sunt Old Folks by reason of their weakness and frigidity are less able to concoct their nourishment than young ones Senes says therefore Aristotle quia frigidiores sunt debiliores ad concoquendum imeptiores longi temporis spaciam reddidit Whence any one may gather that so much the less are they invaded by sleep by how much the less they digest their food food being the primary and most natural cause of sleep Dormire says the same Aristotle contingit animal quiâ— dum aliter ascendit vapor ab alimento ad caput ubi absumptus suerit quia ad cerebrum ascenderat vapor redit Vigilia Age is an incurable infirmity accompanied with Myriads of thoughts and thousands of unhappy accidents Hear Boetius Venit enim properata malis inopina senectus Et Dolor aetatemjussit inesse suam And Sophocles Infirma difficilis Senectus amicis invisa cui universa Mala super mala cohabitant It is no wonder then if ancient people oppressed with the load of so much evil sleepless than young ones Anciant people as Aristotle affirms are timerous standing ever in fear of being betrayed Wherefore Cor. Gallus sings Stat dubius tremulusque senex semperque malorum Credâ—lus stultus quae facit ipse timet Which may be a great reason why they sleep less than young folkes there being nothing more an enemy to sleep than fear Fear which all sleep does chase away Sings the Prince of Romancers and Marina in his Ariana Soon does our fear drive all sweet sleep away There is nothing that old people fear so much as death They know by their wrincles and gray hairs the ruines of age and the footsteps of death that the time of horrour and darkness approaches which makes them desire to sleep the less because sleep is the Image or brother of that death they so much dread Therefore Plato Dormiens nemo ullius pretii est multo magis quam qui non vivit and Cicero Nihil morti tam simili quam somnus The neerer things approach to their Center the more forcibly do they move The stone the nigher it comes to the earth with the more hast does it press downwards in its fall Sleep is nothing but an idleness or rest of the soul if we believe Aristotle Somnus says he est otium animae Now the Soul without doubt will be less idle at the time of its approach neer its Center The Soul of an aged person is certainly neerer its center than young ones and by consequence less idle Hence it proceeds that Ancient people sleep less than youthful ones XIV Whether Gifts or Stealth's do most felicitate Lovers THat the felicity of Lovers consists in receiving Gifts or obtaining by stealth's the fruits and enjoyment of Love I think none will deny Illustrious Prince virtuous and noble Academians Because the desires of Lovers being fixt as in their Sphear in the possession of the beloved object they are equally satisfied either by Gifts or stealth's the one betokening a free Principality the other an amorous Tyranny Stealth's and Gifts flâ—ttering our complaisance do truly recreate our Eyes with Beauty rejoyce our hearts through hope and comfort our souls with the pleasing remembrance of our future delights But whether these stealth's or gifts should bring most felicity towards a Lovers full content I know not Illustrious Princes amidst the uncertain opinions of these Gentlemen what valuable decision to make Those things being most grateful which depend most upon the will of the beloved object makes me decide the Question in favour of gifts yet this Consideration suspends the sentence because those things do most delight our Genius which are gained with most toyle and sweat As those delights are but ordinary which are offered to us with a Prodigall hand so on the other side those favours
ever find a harbor on that soul which is ever considering and beholding its own ruine in the sud Looking-glass of death and every moment in his thoughts builds its own Sepulchre He that sleeps much associate and acquaints himself with death contemplates and converses with him sleeping is no other according to Cicero than an Image of death or an interrupted death and can we then blame those that sleep much Dreams if we believe Tertullian reveal honors bestow sciences teach sanctity discover treasons and tell us where hid treasures are How then shall that Man not be worthy of encomiums who sleeps much T is the opinion of Aristotle confirmed by the whole worlds experience that there is no equality for half the time of our lives between Kings and Slaves since sleep makes them all equal and renders them a like so long as they are under its drowsie Empire And shall we blame such a one who sleeps much thereby to enjoy the more that equality with the greatest and most happy persons that are on Earth Who though he be poor when awake yet then thinks himself as rich as Cresus himself and if miserable yet thereby becomes equal to those whom the world stiles the darlings of Fortune He that watches or is awake says Heracliâ—us enjoys only one world common to all other mortals On the contrary he that sleeps and sleeps much makes himself Master alone and can behold and enjoy an infinite Number The Heaven Earth Paradice and Hell it self becomes Theaters to make shews of their wonders and Marvels to his thoughts and shall we not therefore excuse him that sleeps much The world is a vally of Miseries and tears The disordinate affections of humanity have made it become odious to the most understanding souls and the most ingenious spirit The Philosopher Heraclitus said he found on every side continual subjects for his weeping Wherefore then should we blame him that shall sleep much since the more he sleeps the more he flies from this miserable life and removes himself the further from the infelioities of the world And though it were a defect to sleep much yet he might well deserve an excuse that were such a sleeper since his very life payes for the usury of that pleasure of sleeping because its certain that every sleep is so much time cut of from our life And then what sin what vice can be more excuseable then that which is committed sleeping Sleep is a thing that 's necessary and good because it proceeds from nature and because 't is the quieter and calmer of the sences It subdues the passions refreshes weariness cures our troubles and nourishes life Those therefore that sleep most do most enjoy this good and appropriate and participate most of this utility and can we then put their praise in doubt who sleep much since they enjoy so great a good and benefit above all others Fear frights and chaces away sleep and therefore fearing least I should trouble and cloy you with too Prolix a Discourse I shall cease and wave all further Discourse of sleep If I have ill defended the many reasons for it I hope you will bear with it because treating of sleep my sences became dull and drowâ—ie You perhaps mean to imitate the Ancient who joyned the graces to sleep having heard me with so much patience and sweetness Pardon me if I have discoursed too largely because enjoying beyond deserts so grateful an intention and silence I thought I had dreamed XVIII Wherefore great Men ordinarily do not favour vertuous Persons reduced to necessity VVE are necessitated to have the protection of great Men because Jove ever has his thunder-bolts in hand And great Men do not succour the Miseries of the virtuous because they cannot be perswaded that a virtuous person can be reduced to Poverty He only is poor that is ignorant Virtue has dominion over all nothing is placed so high either by the hands of power or fortune which virtue cannot reach Quae homines arant navigant aedificant virtute omnia Parent He is sufficiently rich that desires nothing poverty consisting not in the want of money but in the poorness of the mind and desires He therefore that is virtuous cannot be poor because he desires nothing that saying of Cicero being indubitable Vertus se ipsa contenta Poverty is not believed to be with any virtuous person and therefore not assisted by great men Nor do they act without reason in this because Poverty and Vertue are incompatible Ut vera dicat Pauperi non creditur Sayes Menander b and else where Inest aegeno quod fidem non invenit Licet Sapiens sit Virtue which payes the tribute of Obsequiousness to none but its own self is not subject to any necessity It hath no need but of it self because it enjoys all the things which is possesses and desires not those things which it hath not No new acquired thing can alter its gusto because it bends its desires only towards the contemplation of its own beauty Quaeris quare virtus nullo egeat Praesentibus gaudet non concupiscit absentia nihil illi magnum est quia satis Therefore t is with reason that great Men do not succour vertuous persons when they are poor because being such they cannot believe them to be virtuous Admire the wisedome of great Men with reason do they believe themselves to be the Images of God on Earth They do not relieve the virtuous because if the virtuous were not poor they would not be virtuous Poverty being the schoole and teacher of all things whereby the souls of Men are instructed in all manner of virtue Necessitas says Plutarch omnia docuit and Arcesilaâ—s paupertas est virtatis gymnasium He that hath wealth is employed to keep and secure it and all that time it Robs him from himself and virtue Divites propter divitias magnis occupationibus detimetur How many are hindred from study more by Riches than by Poverty said one Quod enim putas propter abundantiam potius quam in opiam prohibere à studio litterarum Do you not sèe added the same Man that Poverty makes men virtuous since only the poor for the most part do become Philosophers An non videas pauperrimos ut plurimum Philosophari And who knows not that the rich obliged to their imployments which always respects their wealth cannot dedicate and addict the powers of their souls to virtue Whereas the poor having no other faculties but those of the soul rest only upon those Non vides sayes the forecited Thaletes a Quod multis negoâ—iis occupati divites studiis sapientiae vacare nequeant pauper vero nihil habet quot agat ad Philosophia se convertit But whilst I discourse of Poverty I bethought not my self how I displaid the Poverty of my own understanding I implore your excuse because treating of Poverty which is a nothing being a privation I believed I
should Tyrannize over that beauty which can alone Tyrannize over the Souls of those that in all other things do command the whole universe How ever there is nothing in my opinion which does so much prejudice the Beauty of a Face as Chastity I hope I shall need no excuse for my confidence in this beleif Nor do I fear the anger of that Goddess since indeed there is no such Deity as Chastity but only in the credulous opinions of Men. Beauty being a ray and splendor of the brightness and bounty of God ought to be communicable to all The Sun it self would loose its worth if with an interrested partiality it should deny its light and splendor to any creature What 's Beauty tell me if not viewd or viewed if not pursu'd or if pursu'd pursued by one alone But where chastity takes footing it kicks out all pretence of curiosity and will not suffer the least look or glance Chastity will have no other associate then it self t is a Melancholly Devil that still bolts up it self from all others in a solitary retiredness and fears the very whispering of the winds and the mutinies of its own thoughts Thus Beauty is prejudiced by it making it loose the attributes of divine and good by not communicating its glory and sweetness unto others Strickt Chastity will not permit a Lady to consult with her own Looking-glass nor to adorn her self so as to be able to contend for the precedency of Beauty with others It will not suffer her to curle her Locks into a winding Labyrinth to catch her lovers Nor add sometimes a graceful blush to her paler Cheeks to please and tempt fond gazers with that borrowed sweetness they must not hide any little defects or be so bold as to help natures mistakes with a skillfull curiosity much less may they cloath the whole Face with a false though fair vizard of youthful spring in their declining Autume or robb the Graves of their rich treasures of hair to weave a Crown for their own Heads and Majesty and does not this chastity therefore extramly wrong and spoile a beauty of its charms and advantages by denying those lawful Ornaments which only can preserve or advance its reputation The greatest glory of a beauty is to be the object and delight of all Eyes and as 't were the soul of all hearts That beauty is poor in power and merits which hath not the applause of every Tongue and like a supream Intelligence gives motion to all mens hearts and affections But if they be chast they leese so much of their value and esteem as they want services and obedience so much must they abate of their deserts as they are destitute of obsequious servants Thus again does chastity appear to be a prejudice to beauty robbing them of so many votaâ—ies so great applauses and daily adorations It being only a Placonical fancy to think that lovers can be satisfied and pleased with their Mistrisses chastity and not have any further aime in their Services The eyes are the perfection of the faces beauty and that with reason because they are composed all of light and for no other cause were they seated under the brows but to demonstrate that they ought to wear those arches in tryumph of their beauty Now chastity makes them bend and cast down their sight and looks having according to Philostratus no other nest or residence to shelter it self under but the Eye-lids See then how chastity deprives beauty of its chiefest Ornament hiding its most illustrious perfections and with some reason we may think that beauty but a dead one which hath already lost its Eyes and sight Fame which is the Eccho of all voyces proclaiming the glories of a beauteous Face renders it venerable to all hearts and desireable to every Eye But the chast beauty is oblig'd to concealâ— her self even from the Eye of Heaven and the Tongue of Fame it self She must not be contaminated by the sound of that trumpet which may be profan'd by a thousand falsities and so beauty must suffer for its reservedness and loose that general approbation and applause which would be published by the mouth of Fame to its most infinite advantage Love spreads his Nets and layes his ambushes in every place and others strengths and resistance seâ—ves only to make his victories the more glorious If a chast beauty then will secure it self from such a puissant enemy she must of necessity put on Armour Therefore Alicato teaching how Virgins should guard themselves represents Pallas armed with a weighty sheild in one hand and a strong Sphear in the other Now consider what a prejudice and trouble this must be to delicate beauties They must be constrained to sinke under the weight of heavy Armour and bury the sweetness of their lovely beauty within an Iron prison Unhappy beauty which for its chastity must ever stand upon a watchful guard and enjoy no other content or receive any other reward then its own fear and toyle Therefore all Authors conclude that beauty and charity are incompatible and cannot possibly dwell together that a chast breast is an argument of a deformed Face and therefore Ovid makes Paris write to Helena c that if she will be chast she must first cease to be beautiful for no other reason certainly but because chastity does so much wrong and prejudice to beauty that t is almost impossible a chast Lady should either be or believe her self to be beautiful And therefore wise antiquity will have Venus who is the fairest of all the Goddesses to be the most wanton and unchast to demonstrate that beauty can receive no greater prejudice than what proceeds from Chastity But I forget whilst I discourse of beauty how much I discover the deformity of my own Genius I beseech you pardon me and except of it because I knowing beauty to be the mother of love pretended by speaking of beauty to obtain the love of you all towards me IV. What is the greatest Favour that a Lover can receive from a Lady of Honor. VVOman is an abstract of all Natures glory and riches she is an amorous Heaven casting down most gracious influences and therfore innumerable are the favors which a lover from her liberal goodness may receive But I my self who never had so much merit or confidence as to aspire to the head have alwayes through humility prostrated and planted my greatest hopes beneath their feet and thought my ambition fairly satisfiâ—d when a Lady of Honor hath vouchsafed to trample on me I meane to tread on my foot and this I thought to be the greatest favor she could bestow to selicitate the vows and wishes of my heart esteeming it a happy Omen of the progress my love did make whilst her feâ—t were in that motion and an assurance I should be one day entirely possessed of her heart since our effections had already taken such good footing And truely what greater