the ill humours and bad Fortunes of their Husbands but it would have them sick of their Maladies die of their Deaths And as if it had not been sufficient to make them slaves undergo the yoke It made them also Sufferers and Victims and put ordinarily either a rope about their necks or a dagger in their throats The chief thing is that there was a necessity of taking that course to acquire the title of a gallant Woman And such as were able to endure life after the death of their Husbands could not pretend to the acclamations of their present Age nor to the Eternity of History Besides even in these dayes this cruel Custom is used in some parts of the Indie No Widows are seen in those Countries And Families are not prejudiced there by Dowries which issue out of them A Father of a Family being dead the Law of the Country ordains that he be put in an Equipage for the other World And that such things as had been most dear unto him should be burn'd with him The best beloved of his Wives hath this advantage by his last Will and the Right which Custom allows her She dresseth her self more richly and with more care for death then she had done for her Wedding-Feast The whole Kindred in Festival Garments and adorned like her Conducts her Solemnly and in Pomp to the flaming Pile And there she suffers her self to be burnt in Ceremony and with a more Natural and less affected Constancy then did the 〈◊〉 Philosopher who would counterfeit Hercules dying And presented a Spectacle of his death to the Army of Alexander I know indeed that this Superstitious and regular Cruelty of the Indians And that other tumultuary and precipitated Despair of the Romans and Grecians are equally reproved by the Laws of Christianity But I am not ignorant also that conjugal Love hath its Meritorious and Vertuous Deaths And there is some ground to doubt whether such kinde of deaths may happen by way of obligation and concern the Duty of a good Wife To this Question which is not of meer Curiosity but Instructive and Profitable I answer First that desperate and passionate Women who kill themselves to follow their deceased Husbands transgress against conjugal Love and violate the Fidelity they owe them This Proposition draws neer to a Paradox Yet exceeds not its bounds and Truth is there well ballanced One or two Reasons may Justifie it and draw the assent of the most devoted to the Memory of the Pantâ—â—â—â—â— and the Porcia's In the first place it will be granted me that the prime care of Lovers should be to nourish their fire and to keep it still in heat and action To delend it from all that might extinguish it And the least neglects therein are Temptations Doubts are Dispositions to change and commenced Infidelities Now this fire is smother'd in blood and by the violence of desperate Widows It is a great folly to believe that nothing remains after death The earth of Church-yards is too cold to preserve a single spark thereof An such as thunder out so great Oaths that their Ashes will retain everlastingly the heat thereof are highly guilty of Perjury unless they vent them by way of Poesie And if it be an act of Infidelity by tract of time and by piece-meal to suppress ones love from day to day and to deprive it by degrees of nourishment what will it be to smother it violently and on a sudden not to leave it a single spark which may inkindle it I know not how they will take what I have to say in this particular It is true nevertheless and must be spoken in what sense soever it may be taken Conjugal Fidelity is more hainously violated and the dead are far more injured by the delusive Courage of the falsely Constant Women that destroy themselves then by the weakness of those which will open their hearts to new Affections and run to second Marriages These at least preserve the Memory of their Husbands They still retain their Rings on their Fingers They keep their Pictures in their Closets and Hearts And the second fire which â—â—â—â—eth on them is not so incompatible nor so much an enemy to the first that it permits not some sparks thereof and a little heat in the remaining Ashes On the contrary furious and despairing Widows in what manner soever they voluntarily die reserve nothing of their first fire They destroy it even to the Matter to the very Ashes and Harth And their Husbands who might live long and quietly in their hearts perish a second time by the impetuosity of their Despair or by the obstinacy of their Grief Hence I infer a second Reason against the Falsity of impatient and despairing Love It is an opinion generally received and supported both by the Sense and Nature as well as by Speculation and Philosophy That Persons beloved have a particular Being and as it were a second Existency in the Imagination in the Soul and Heart of the Persons that love them They live there intellectually and by their Images And those Images are not dead Figures nor Impostures of a deceiving Art They have Life and Spirit they are true and Natural They possess all the Perfections and Graces of their Originals and have neither the Defects nor stains of Matter Now a Woman who kills her self out of a blinde and precipitious fury or who consumes her self with an obstinate and voluntary Affliction takes from her Husband this second Existency and this intellectual Being and Love by which he surviv'd himself She voluntarily annihilates and violently destroys that which death had left her And if she ought to make a scruple of defacing his Picture with what colour and pretence can she justifie the violence she offereth to an Image which was her second Life and Felicity in this World It is evident thereby that Constancy is not furious and that Fidelity is another thing then Despair That the greatest Love is not that which makes the most haste to poysons and precipices That Wives cannot more Religiously keep the Faith they owe to their Husbands not give them stronger proofs of their Affection then in rendring their Fidelity and Love durable and lasting Then in procuring them in their minde a life full of tranquillity and satisfaction Then in espousing their Memory and making a new Contract with their Images Then in carefully preserving those things which have been dear unto them And if they be good Wives they will not doubt but they were more dear to them then any Worldly treasure Let it not be said that this Philosophy is too remiss and indulgent That it pleads the cause of Nice and Effeminate Dames That it gives credit and authority to self Love This cannot be spoken but rashly and at random And surely as one may kill himself out of self Love and through an excess of tenderness so one may preserve his own life for the Love of another and by a particular
those persons who brought her to this violent Death by a precipitated old Age do not he bitter upon her heart nor disturb the Calm of her mind So clean contrary that she hath laid the very remembrance of their Injuries at the foot of the Cross She hath retired her thoughts from all objects which might exasperate them She called them back from all places whence any succour or pitty might arrive to her and hath deposited them all with her Heart and Faith in the wounds of the Soveraign Patient who assisted her during her imprisonment and at present assists and fortifies her against Death by the Image and Vertue of his Passion He encourages her with the Voyce of his Blood speaks to her by as many Mouths as he hath wounds He arms her with his Thorns and Nails He covers her with his Cross which is to her an invincible sacred Shield a Shield which could not be pierced by all the Darts of her bad Fortune nor shal it be by the Ax it self of the Executioner which will chop off her Head Vnder the protection of this Shield and at the sight of this Example she marcheth couragiously to Death And though a Queen and Innocent it seems not harsh to her to pass through the hands of an Executioner having before her eyes a God executed and Innocence Crucified Can you confide so much in your eyes as to expose them to this lamentable spectacle Mine wounded before the stroke flie back not to behold any more of it Yet I must enforce them to see All. The last Rayes of the setting Sun are the fairest And the last drops of blood great Souls pour forth are more sparkling then the rest and have something I know not what of more Vigorous and Noble Surely this Action must needs be extreamly black since endeavours were used to hide it from the light But the obscurities to which they exposed it will not give it a better gloss and doubtless if they were capable of sense they would fear to be stained by it You would say that these Torches do not contribute thereto their light but with regret You would say that in despite they produce nothing but shadow and smoke The Hall is full of Spectators and hung with black Velvet And not so much as the fatal Scaffold but is set forth w th the stately mourning of this barbarous Tragedy to which it served The cruel Ministers of so cruel an Action thought to sweeten Injustice civilize Cruelty they thought to appease violated Majesty and to abuse the Patient by this vain and sumptuous Hypocrisie They ought to know that Pomp and Ostentation do not justifie Crimes that artificial specious Cruelty is no other Fury then naked unpolished Cruelty And that the voice of blood causeth it self to be no less heard upon Velvet Carpets then upon the bare ground I need not shew these cruel Ministers unto you They are discernable enough by the greediness of their eyes thirsting after blood and by the impatience and fierceness of their looks To see the attention they afford this spectacle you would say that every one of them is the Executioner That every one is ready to give the blow with his eyes and that this blow was designed against the Head of the Catholique Church and not against the Queen of Scotland All the other Spectators in whose hearts there remains some tincture of Humanity detest this cruel Example And as many Tears as they shed are as many Voyces and Imprecations against those that both advised and put it in execution But the voice of just blood unjustly spilt will shortly make a greater noise It will be heard by all People and Ages it will be the eternall malediction of that person who so unworthily violates Nature in a Kinswoman Majesty in a Queen Hospitality towards a Refugiate and Adversity it self in an unfortunate Creature consecrated by more then twenty years of misery You see her kneeling before the Executioner but you see not her soul already elevated in the presence of God where by advance it takes possession of the â—hrone prepared for her Her despairing Women are on their knees with her as if her condemnation were theirs and that they were to die by her Death The fatal Ax hath pierced their souls and the blood tricles down by their eyes upon the ground Their sorrows are none of those which disturb and make a noise It deprived them of motion and voice even of the sense of their Sighs and Tears And in the condition they remain I see nothing which resembles them but those â—igures of Marble which seem to weep no less then Fountains The noble and couragious Patient with a serene Countenance beholds this sadness in her VVomen Her Soul elevated above the inferiour portion is no longer subject unto its tempests and showers to its sighs and tears The Clouds of Matter begin to clear up about her and she already casts forth certain Rayes of advanced glory which mingle themselves with those Angels who are come both to guide her and give a beginning to her Triumph The Crown which they brought her is not of the same matter as the other two which are taken from her No Thorns or Reeds enter there There is nothing sharp or brittle nothing which offends or burthens And it is not an Ornament of the same stuff and weaving like our Diadems which serve only to make Slaves glorious and proud Mortals miserable It is a Crown of solid and pure Glory It is independent of Fortune and stronger then Time And the wise Queen who understood the value of it would have given all earthly Crowns to possess but one flower of it Behold with what stedfastness of mind she presents her Head to the Executioner to receive from his hand this glorious Crown But stay do not stain your eyes with the murther of the Innocent God will have an account of the least drops of her blood And wo to the Hands and Hearts wo to the Mouths and Ears wo even to the Eyes in which any stain of it shall be found SONNET SHall we unmov'd behold the Tragick Sight Where Death puts out this fair Scotch Planet's light Shall Honour Justice Law see Vertue bleed In Mary's Death as for some heynous Deed Her Grief 's Heroick th' Ax no Paleness brings Vpon her Blood sprung from so many Kings Her Graces speak when words her Tongue denyes Her modest Pride endears her to 〈◊〉 Eyes To what renown'd Inchanter do we ow This piece of wonder From this Picture grow Joy and Regret while there the gazing sight Do's from a torment entertain Delight Art by a gentle force surmounteth clear The pitch of Nature in this Pourtraict where A Queen that 's Innocent is made sustain An Endless Death without affront or pain Elogy of Mary Stewart I Might have a scruple if into the Elogy I am going to make of Mary Stewart my Pen should insert her Nobility her Beauty her
him and the Imperial Forces which he had called to his aid having betrayed him after a long Siege he lost Sivil and Cordona And in this extremity he remembred the tears of Indegundis and acquainted Leovigildus with the inclination he had to Peace and Obedience The old Man who was not ignorant that despair is a dangerous weapon and that the last Efforts of the vanquished and the bitings of dying Beasts are equally to be feared sent his Brother Richardus to him who ended the matter by perswasion and brought him in without giving other Assurance then his Word This confidence was Hazardous and full of Danger And it is credible that the remembrance of Indegundis wrought more effectually therein then the perswasions of Ricaredus The old man also having him in his power forgot his own Blood and Nature and having in vain tryed him like a Tempter and a Tyrant with Offers and Threats Chains and Prisons not being able to deprive him of his Faith he took off his Head Indegundis received this Newes with a sad Satisfaction And a Resentment wherein even in Despite of her Nature was present with Grace She bewailed her dead Husband and crowned him a Martyr And she could not crown him more richly then with her Tears A few dayes after God called Indegundis to give her a Crown Affliction Love and Zeal loosned her Soul she died Victorious over Nature and Heresie And at her expiring cast forth a light which illuminated all Spain and finished the Conversion of that Countrey under the Reign of Ricaredus who succeeded 〈◊〉 The Combats of Cloâ—â—ldâ— were no lesse celebrious nor lesse glorious to France then these of Indegundis But Spain drew not thence the same advantage And the ill treatment it gave her had not so happy a sequel She was Daughter of the great Clodovens and of this holy and wise Cloâ—ldâ— whom Christian France acknowledged for her Mother and Instructresse The King her Father caused her to espouse Amanlry who was a Goâ—â— by Birth and an Arian by profession He was ignorant what a Monster is formed of Barbarism and Heresie assembled in one and the same Bodie but he believed that a far stranger and dreadful Monster might be charmed by the Vertue of his Daughter He believed that the Name of Cloâ—â—lda was an Apostolical and miraculous Name and that the second might well effect in Spain a Conversion like that which the first had wrought in France But the time for this Conversion was not yet come Amaâ—lry imitated those obstinate Asps which are mentioned in Scripture He shut his Eyes and Stopped his Eares for fear of being charmed by Cloâ—lda So far was he from respecting the Graces which instructed him and from submitting to so sweet and pleasing a Vertue that he became a Tyrant and Executioner to them He used all possible Inventions to pervert these Graces He practised all sorts of Violence to betray this Vertue to Heresie It lay not in his power to overcome the Courage of Clodâ—veâ—s and the Sanctity of their Daughter The good Princesse armed with their Spirit and fortified by the remembrance of their Triumphs and Miracles resisted his Wiles and Violence How little soever she had complyed and given way to the Tempter she might have reclaimed the Tyrant and made him a good Husband But the preferred Honourable Wounds before deceitful and dangerous Carresses and rather affected a Tyrant who might crown her then a Husband who might corrupt her It cannot be expressed how costly this crown was to her and how much she suffered from a Prince and People equally Barbarous and possessed with the same Devil and Heresie Her Husband tormented her at Home with the Countenance of a Hangman and with words of Blood and Death and abroad she suffered the outrages of an insolent and 〈◊〉 Multitude which followed her with Reproaches and throwing of stones when she went to Church The Heretical Ministers added 〈◊〉 to this publick Violence And Amaulry himself who authorized it by his Example did once so outragiously beat the poor Queen that he covered her all over with Blood leaving her half dead Having recovered her senses she sent her bloody Hankerchief to her Brethren Kings The Blood of the Innocent had both Spirit and Voice upon this Linen and carried Indignation and Wrath thorowout all France 〈…〉 took horse and marched at the Head of thirty thousand men to require his Sister This journey cost Amaulry his Life and Spain chastised deâ—â—ayed the Charges of it As for Cloâ—ilda she was called to Heaven before her Arrival in France Peradventure God foresaw that her Merit would suffer some diminution by repose and that her Crown might be lessened thereby And intending to give it her compleat and fulls round he bestowed it on her immediately after her Victory However it were Cloâ—ilda added to Indegundis to Blanch of Bourbon and others who followed them made us believe that Spain was fatal to our Princesses as it hath been thought to be fatal to those Planets who go thither to expire In effect all those that have been sent thither dyed very young and replenished with Life and Light But this death was only in appearance like that of the Planets God made them passe from thence to a better Life and to a Kingdom of longer durance And it is credible that they have there a particular Lustre and hold the rank of Princesses amongst highly descended Martyrs and noble Sufferers CAMME Princesse de Galatie victorieuse de l'Amour et de la Mort fait un sacrifice fidelité et de vengeance à l'Ombre de Sinnate son Mary 〈…〉 Camma HOW vain are the Hopes of Man And how dangerous Imposters and treacherous Guides are Desires Sinnorix came hither to give a beginning to his Marriage Death which is found every where would be at the Feast in Despite of the publick Joy That which is very strange Love himself brought him thither and by a new and Fatall Revolution of all things Vertue is there a Cheat and a Homicide And the betrothed serve as Victimes to the Sacrifice prepared for the Ceremonie of their Nuptials Fidelity and Treacherie are the Subject of this Action Camma and Sinnorix are the Actors and the Temple is the Scene Sinnorix not being able to overcome the Chastity of Camma at last caused her Husband Sinnarus to be slain that he might succeed to his Bed and Throne And Camma knowing no other way to be quit with Sinnorix compassed it by the feigned Consent she gave to his Addresses She deserted not her Revenge to time and occasions which might happen she would not expect obscure and Domestick ones she believed that she ought to satisfie her self in a high and remarkable way And without giving one moment of Truce to her Enemie she comes to poison her self publickly with him by the drink which was prepared to confirm with Ceremonie and by a solemn sacrifice the Contract of their Marriage The Declaration she made of so
trac'd did me attend When they were gone to guide me to my end But envious Fortune in revenge did strive By cross Designs to keep me still alive My cruel Friends amidst this hot alarm By their offensive cares my hands disarm Therein obstructing like inhumane foes My passage to sweet Death whose gates they close But Love to give my Soul desired room Came with his Shafts to open me my Tomb And I for want of weapons to expire Swallow'd the Coals his Torch had set on fire The Elogy of Porcia THis Picture is of a magnanimous Woman who dies of Grief and Love and resolutely like a Stoick It is the famous Porcia who was the Rival of a Father Defender of the Publick Liberty and of a Husband the destroyer of Tyrannie And who renewed in the Age of Riot and Pleasure the Vertue and Severity of the Primitive Republick She was the daughter of Cato and the wise of Brutus Of the one she was born constant and invincible she became wise and learned from the other and had Vertue for her inheritance and Philosophy for her Dowry Her Husband ruminating upon the death of Caesar and the Deliverance of the oppressed Republick she deservâ—d to be admitted to the communication of this fatal secret and to assist his high thougâ—ts busied in contriving the Destiny of the Empire She conspired with him in heart and spirit she promised to send at least her desires her vows and zeal to the execution And since her Husband seemed to mistrust her silence and fidelity she made by one stroke of a dagger a great and painful wound in her thigh And thereby she shewed him what she was able to do against torments and gave him some of her blood in Hostage for her Constancy and Loyaltie After the death of Caesar and the ruine of Pompey's Faction Brutus having slain himself upon the bloody Body of the Republick defeated in the Philippian Plain Porcia dâ—ed not like him blaspheming against Vertue and repenting her self for having ever served it She continued her reverence to it to the last and honoured it with her last words Seeing her self besieged by her kindred which took from her all means of cutting asunder the tyes of her soul she resolved to kindle there a fire with burning Coals which she swallowed down Thus she set at liberty what remained of her Father and Husband And by her death the blood of the one and the heart of the other once more overcame Tyrannie MORAL REFLECTION WOmen ought to learn from this example that the fault cannot be charged upon their Sex that they are not valiant That their infirmities are vices of Custom and not any defect of Nature And that a great heart is no more discomposed by a tender body then is a great Intelligence by a beautiful Planet Doves would have the boldness of Eagles and Erins the courage of Lyons if their souls were of the same Species One may gather out of the same Example another instruction for Husbands Brutus was a man honest enough and a Philosopher able enough to read them a Lecture And they should not be ashamed to learn of him that Wives are given them for Assistants and Co-adjutresses that they ought to have a place for them as well in their Closets as Beds and to share with them in affairs no less then at Table And that capacity grows from imployment and fidelity from confidence Judgement proceeds from the head which is not changeable from the variety of that which covers it Augustus proposed nothing to the Senate upon which he had not deliberated with Liâ—ia who was as his Associate in the Empire and if one may say so his Domestick Colleague The Holyest of our Kings being a Prisoner to the Saracens would conclude nothing about his Freedom but with the consent of the Queen his Wife And under the Reign of Ferdinand Spain was not happy and victorious but by the prudence and courage of Isabella The ensuing Question will inform us whether Porcia were endued with generosity And whether women be capable thereof MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen be capable of an Eminent Generosity I Have been present at some Disputes undertaken upon this Question And sometimes it hath caused me to have innocent and pleasing quarrels with my Friends I have seen some who could not endure that a Woman should be commended for Generosity It is said they as if one should praise her for having a good seat on horse-back and for well handling her Arms It is as if one would set her forth with a Helmet or the skin of a Lion It were to confound the bounds which sever us and place disorder in Morality And a generous Woman is no less a Solecism then a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier It is an incongruity almost as undecent as a bearded Woman To this I did Answer that Vertues having their seat in the Soul and needing only a good disposition of the Soul to operate belong to both Sexes That Generosity is one of those Vertues That the office of the Body and the action of its Members are not necessary to it That all its Functions are interiour and performed in the heart And that the heart of Man and Woman is of the same Matter and Form I added thereunto that the Comparison of Arms and Military Exercises concluded nothing against the Generosity of Women That all things are becoming to well-shaped persons and of a handsom aspect That Semiramâ—â— Hâ—psicrates and 〈◊〉 were as gracefully set forth with Helmets as with Crowns And that another as well known in Fables was not found unhandsom in the Lions skin which Hercules wore That besides that there have been women seen who knew how to manage a horse to throw a dart use their swords with a good grace No just comparison can be made nor a right consequence drawn from the exercises of the Body in reference to the Habits of the Soul That a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier were but Errors of Grammar which do not violate Morality That Generosity not being fastened to the heart of a man as a beard is to his face it might belong without any incongruity or undecency to both Sexes To these Reasons which came to my minde and which I alledged tumultuary and without choice in like Disputes others of more weight and better prepared may be added upon meditation Generosity to define it rightly is a heighth of courage or an Elevation of minde whereby a soul raised above interest and profit is led inviolably and without deviation unto Duty which is labourious and to Gallantry which is painful and difficult in appearance And because this disposition taken in its usual foyle and in respect of matter scarce belongs to any but Great and Noble Persons the name of Generosity hath been given to it which is a name of Greatness and Nobility Whether then that we take Generosity materially and for that cream of good blood and pure Spirits which nourish
and sustain it Whether we take it Morally for an immutable and constant resolution to pursue Duty and Gallantry even to the contempt of Interest and with the loss of benefit it will appear that in either sense Women are no less capable thereof then Men. First it was never said that Nobility appertained only to one Sex and that the cream of good blood was all on the one side all the dregs on the other The distribution of it is equally made and according to natural Justice Sisters possess it in common and without distinction with their Brothers And it is with noble Races as with Pomegranate Trees which bare no Flowers without Purple nor Fruit without Crowns And it is the like with Palm Trees whole Males and Females are of equal Nobleness Wherefore a noble minde belonging no less to Women then Men and the pure blood dispersing its self equally through the veins from their Birth it remains that Generosity should have on either part an equal stock and that the matter of which it is composed should be common Secondly The true form and proper spirit of Generosity proceeds from the Intention and pursuit of that pure and laborious Good which is its object And this object is not so difficult nor placed in so high a Region as women cannot pretend to it They are not so meanly born that they cannot raise themselves above what is pleasing and profitable they may have higher aâ—ms and more noble desires Nature hath given them as well as to us the rellish and appetite of acting gallantly And in History the foot-steps remain still fresh of those who have arrived to this vertue through thorny passages and precipices even through flames and tortures The frequent toyls they have undergone to run after a luminous and deceitful Fantome testifie their disposition and forces shewing what they are able to do herein and when Queens and Princesses shall be exposed who have cast themselves from their Thrones who have mounted upon flaming Piles who have passed through Swords to follow a seeming and imaginary Good who will be so incredulous and obstinate as to deny that Women have a Natural inclination to an effective and real Good Thirdly as Princes and great Persons have their Duties and a Gallantry which is proper to their Fortunes So Princesses and great Ladies besides the Duties and Gallantry of their Sex have second Duties and a particular Gallantry which appertains to the Decency of their condition Now if these Duties be laborious if this Gallantry be difficult and environed with dangers if one cannot arrive to it but with trouble and ruines If to attain to it one must abandon certain Interest and ruine a present Fortune If one must part with his blood and expose his life what will a Couragious Woman and of quaâ—â—ty do and to what side will she betake her self Can any one wish that she should submit to fear and conjectures That she should expose her honour to preserve her Fortunes That she should fail in her Duty not to prejudice her estate That she should suffer her blood to be stained rather then part with one drop of it This truly would be very poor and unworthy of a Noble Soul She must then renounce the pleasure and profit she must trample upon the Mines of her Interests she must renounce Fortune and reject her Parents she must expose her self even to death and punishments to advance 〈◊〉 and with decency to Duty Since this cannot be effected without an Heroick Generosity one must of necessity either grant this Generosity to Women or allow that they may be Covetous and Interessed out of Duty that they be lazy and disloyal handsomly and with decency ungrateful and treacherous by the right of Nature and the priviledge of their Sex But Nature hath not conferred on them so bad a Right noâ— so scandalous a Priviledge On the contrary she would have them all born with an inclination to what is glorious And whether she hath infused some Ray into their souls or whether their hearts in their very Birth have received in Impression of it like to that which Iron receives from the Load stone theâ— hearts adhere unto this lustre in what matter soeveâ—â— is found And their souls at the first Idea which exciteâ— the rage 〈◊〉 they have received of it turn to it by their own instinct and without exâ—pecting any extrinsical motion which presseth them to it From thence it comes that Women are generally curious in what is fair and glorious diligently seeking after all the Species of it and observing all the Rules and Formes thereof And if upon their Bodies and in their Garments in their Moveables and all things else they so pasâ—ionatly affect a materiall and sensible Beauty which is of the lowest Order It is not credible that they have less inclination to the Intellectual Beauty and of the first Order which is the Beauty of what is Noble and Gallant From hence we may conclude regularly and in good form that the inclination to this Splendoâ— being as truly it is the Fountain of true Generosity one cannot deprive them of it without taking from them thereby that inclination which is most Natural to them it being the second spirit of their hearts and the first property of their Sex But why should we take it from them Hath Nature made them lesâ— Noble then the Females of other Animals to whom she hath given another kind of Generosity which she hath not bestowed on the 〈◊〉 I know not whether any man hath made this observation before me yet it ought to be made and Women may draw instruction and advantage from thence Lions and Tygers Leopards Male-Eagles and all other beasts which are naturally so fierce and couragious never fight but for Interest and Prey And their whole Courage to express it well is but a violenâ— greediness Their Valour is but for necessity and Rapine Hunger is the only Punctilio of Honour which sets them on and without this provocation their fierceness pines away and their mettal grows dull It is not the same with Females their mettal is more Noble and their valour less Interested They fight not only for their proper necessities and do it as couragiously as the Males But they fight also for others wants for the defence and preservation of their young ones which the Males use not to do even to that heighth that they expose themselves to fire and sword for this Duty which is the only Duty and Good they are capable of Hath Nature then given Generosity to Lions and Eagles hath she given it to Turtles and Doves and shall it not be in her power to give it to Women to whom she hath given a Soul of the same form a Heart of the same temper Blood and Spirits of the same tincture as she hath given to Men Let us conceive her to be more regular and exact in her Works We will believe nothing of it gratis noâ— out of complacency
bawling and Arrogant Creature I should have presently concluded that a good Woman could have no commerce with Philosophy There is a third which is the true Mistress of Life and the Directress of Manners which hath the general charge of Vertue and Sciences and is no enemy to the Graces which is endowed with a modest Capacity and a Courage without Pride or Fierceness And if the Question be concerning this Philosophy we must boldly say and without fearing to do her injury that she hath no Sex no more then the Intelligences that she is come as well for Women as Men and she being the last perfection of the Understanding and the compleatment of Reason all rational Souls are equally capable of her Discipline And to the end this Decision may be established with Method it is to be noted that there is Philosophy Speculative and Scientifical and a Philosophy which is Moral and Active Both are within the Sphear of Womens understanding and have no Functions which exceed their forces The Speculative doth contemplate the Works of God and the secrets of Nature She studieth the Harmony of the World and the marvellous Agreements both of the superiour and inferiour parts composing it And the end of her contemplation and study is the satisfaction she receives from known Verities and acquired Sciences The Moral flies not ordinarily so high but her study is Practical and her Knowledges are applyed to Action Her Office is to govern the Liberty of Man to marke him out Bounds and regulate his Actions and her â—â—nd is to guide those to Happiness who observe these Orders and keep within the limits thereof Surely in all this there is nothing which the Understanding of Women may not attain nothing which is above their reach and the tracts which Nature hath laid open to them Why should they not be as capable as our selves of Contemplation and of the Sciences belonging to Speculative Philosophy Are their souls more Terrestrial and more fastned to matter then ours Are they of a different Temper and of another Extraction Hath Nature clogged them with some ponderous load Hath she tyed them with some chain to keep them from ascending Are they absolutely uncapable of those wings which Plato hath observed in Contemplative souls All things then are equal between Men and Women in respect of the soul which is the Intelligent part and makes Learned men and Philosophers And if there be any Inequality in relation to the body as the same cannot be denyed Women have the advantage and it Perfects in them the Capacity whereof I Discourse Some reproach them with the Humidity of their Complexion but no Man will reproach them of it when he shall remember that moistness is the matter of which those Images are formed which are useful to Sciences That it is the proper temper of the Memory which is the Depository and Nurse thereof that it can contribute to the light of the Understanding as it doth to that of the body that the moist Stars and Planets have no less brightness then the other And that dry heads are not reputed to be the most replenished and best furnished As for tenderness without doubt they that make it the subject of their Accusation have not advised with Aristotle They would then know that the most delicate Temper is the least burthen'd with matter the most pure and apt to be penetrated by the Lights of the Understanding The best prepared for fair Images and for the Impression of Sciences Saint Thomas also being to prove the Natural Excellency of the minde of Iesus Christ conceived that he could not alleadge a more pertinent Reason then the Delicacy of his Complexion And generally the most tender and frail matters are particularly covered in most subtile and perfect Forms And the rarest and most accomplished pieces of the Arts are ordinarily framed of Silk ingraven on Christal and turned in Ivory Nature hath but one soul intelligent capable of Discipline And this Soul is the form of the weakest parts of the whole Body And even in this so frail Body the seat of the Understanding and Reason is not in the Bones and Nerves but in the Brain which is the softest and most tender part Whereunto one may likewise add that in Politick Bodies the more knowing sort of Men are not composed of Tradesmen and Labourers of those ignoble Members who are of strong complexion and hardened by Labour They are Studious and Sedentary Persons such as have been brought up in Repose and in the shade Quickness is only remaining which malicious Persons call Lightness and whereof they think to compose a strong piece against Women who pretend to Sciences But to weaken this piece and unnerve its force A question is only to be asked of those who busie themselves about it Whether Ponderosity arises from the mind and Agâ—â—ty from matter Whether the Angels and Planets Intelligence and Light make things heavy and immovable And whether amongst Men the able be the slow and the quick the stupid Sciences require the wings of Eagles and not the feet of Tortuses This is the reason why the Seraphins who are the most knowing and Theological Intelligences have wings up to their heads The very word Discourse is a word of agility and quickness And not to say that the eyes which are in us the only parts capable of Study cannot Study but by a continual motion The Animal spirits which are assistants of Reason and the material Springs of an immaterial Action are the lightest and the most agile part of our substance Let us then acknowledge that Women may share with us in the possession of Sciences Nature had no designe to exclude that Sex from them And the reasons themselves which are alledged against their Right confirm it the more and have the force of new titles It is known also that since the time of the Muses which were Female Sages erected into Goddesses there is no Age which hath not had a sufficient number of most capable Women 〈◊〉 hath left us a long Last of Ancient and Modern ones whose reputation he found to be already perfected and so many names as he had collected in this Last are as many efficacious and apparant proofs for the Capacity of Women for Sciences But these dead proofs and remote from our sight are not necessary for us We have some which have life and spirit which perswade our eyes and ears And when all other proofs should fail us the sole House of Ramâ—â—â—â—-lâ—t would have in this point all the Authority which an approved and renowned Academy might have There is in that House a Mother and a Daughter in whom the pure tincture of the Roman Spirit is preserved with the good Blood and Generosity of the Ancient Republick They are both of them knowing in the Science of the 〈◊〉 the Iulia's and the Paulina's their Progenitresses of these judicious and lovely Women who were the Cabinet-Councel the Domestique Theater of Consuls and Dictators
permit her to adorn and Crown me I must to morrow suffer her to crush and tear me in pieces Besides with what Crown she doth present me A Crown which hath been violently and shamefully wrested from Katherine of Arragon who dislikes the punishment of Arme of Bullen and of others who wore it after her Why would you have me add my blood to theirs and to be the fourth Victime from whom this Fatal Crown may be ravished with the Head But in case it should not prove fatal to me and that all its venom were consumed If Fortune should give me warranties of her Constancy should I be well advised to take upon me these Thornes which would delacerate though not kill me outright to burthen my self with a Yoke which would not fail to torment me though I were assured not to be strangled with it My Liberty is better then the chain you proffer me with what precious stones soever adorned and of what gold soever framed I will not exchange my Peace for Honourable and Precious Jealousies for magnificent and glorious Fetters And if you love me sincerely and in good earnest you will rather wish me a secure and quiet Fortune though mean then an elevated Condition exposed to the wind and followed by some Dismal fall These Reasons were powerful and must needs be perswasive yet they took not effect The ambition of the Dukes of Northumberland and Suffolk was more prevalent The Lord Guilford fortified her with his reasons And Iane overcome by so many pressing Solicitors and in Authority resigned to them her Freedom and Life This resignation proceeded from a Soveraign Vertue and a consummated Philosophy And not doubting but a Scaffold was prepared for her behinde the Throne and that the Crown which was offered her might not cause the loss of her Head she submitted her self to Fortune and consented to accept of Soveraignty with more courage and moderation then she had refused it Matters being thus concluded they brought her to London where she was solemnly acknowledged Queen and received with Ceremony the Oath of Fealty from all degrees But this Oath held as little as her Soveraignty And scarce had she spent ten days in the Tower according to the Ceremony observed by new Kings but the Parliament and People retracted them Oath and Acclamations and delivered her up to the Princess Mary her Rival and the Lawful Heir of the Crown A more Eloquent man then my self would say that Fortune irritated by her Refusals plaid her this Prank to humble her Virtue and to take revenge of the cruelty of her Philosophy I had rather say and I will speak it more Christianly and with more appearance of truth that it was God who permitted this revolution to save Jane by her fall and to draw to himself by a Scaffold so pure and couragious a Virtue which evidently had perished if she had grown old upon the Throne There are dangerous Prosperities and scandalous â—levations which God grants us in his wrath There are wholsom Adversities and edifying Falls And those happen to us when God resumes for us his thoughts of Peace and disposeth us to Grace Material men who onely behold the present and outside of things judge far otherwise of them But this Judgement to speak properly is a Judgement of frantick men who had rather dye with Ragouâ—s then to be cured with Rhubarb They triumph in the danger of their Souls and praise God for the marks of Reprobation They deplore the presages and earnest of their Salvation And they desire so unhandsomly they pray so propostrously and in so bad terms as if God were to punish them he could not do it more severely then in hearing their prayers and gâ—anting their Petitions Iane judged more solidly of Gods designs and of the course of his Providence And albeit so great a Revolution was a very distasteful Remedy yet she couragiously resigned her self thereunto and took it with much cheerfulness Being sent prisoner to the Tower of London it was observed that she entred it with as Serene a countenance and with the same dignity of look and action as she had done the first time to begin the sad Ceremony of her fatal Reign While she remained there she remitted nothing of her Constancy and her usual Studies Vigour and Authority appeared in all her words all her actions were free through the freedom of her Minde which was enriched with a milde Grace and a confident Modesty And even in the Pallace and upon the Throne it self she could not have more Majesty nor appear more Resplendant and Soveraign The Sentence of Death being pronounced she Couragiously submitted to it and answered nothing else but That her Crime was not for having laid her hand upon the Crown but for not having rejected it with force enough That she had less erred through Ambition then out of respect and reverence to her friends That her respect nevertheless was a Crime and that her reverence deserved punishment that she would willingly admit of death and that she could do no less then render satisfaction to the State and voluntarily take off and in obedience to the Laws the Scandal which she had given by a forced Obedience and rendred by constraint to her kindred Her Husband condemned to the same punishment having sent to give her the last visit to the end he might arm himself with the example of her Constancy and by the vertue of her last words She sent him word That he demanded a lenative which would put fire into the wound and that it was to be feared her presence would rather weaken then strengthen him That he ought to take courage from his Reason and derive Constancy from his own heart and that if his soul were not firm and settled she could not settle it by her eyes nor confirm it by her words That he should do well to remit this interview to the other world That there indeed friendships were happy and Unions indissolvable and that theirs would be â—â—ternal if their souls carried nothing with them of Terrestrial which might hinder them from rejoyning As she was led to the place of Execution she passed by a Gallery from whence she saw her Husbands body carried to the Chappel of the Tower This unexpected Object somewhat moved her and begot compassion in her But it was a manly and wel becoming compassion and this Emotion did not so strongly invade her mind as to hinder it from furnishing her in repose with three Sentences in three Languages She wrote them down in her Table-book which she gave to the Lieutenant of the Tower with an excuse for the trouble she had given him The Greek expressed that if his Executed body should give testimony against her before men his most blessed soul would give an Eternal proof in the presence of God of her Innocence The Latin added that humane Justice was against his Body but the Divine mercy would be for his Soul The English concluded that if her
most Luminous and highest part of Heaven He is next to God the Mediator of holy Marriages and well united Pairs He is the common Spirit of Christian Sympathyes and the Moderator of Chaste Agreements and Vertuous Harmonies Such an Exhorter is most powerful and his Inspirations leave nothing to be acted by Reason However he is not the sole perswader of the Princess Her Husband though fast asleep is no less Perswasive nor Eloquent them he If Prince Edward speaks not with his mouth he speaks by the paleness of his face He speaks from the Ardour of his Feaver and the Palpatation of his heart He speaks from his wound which hath a Voice of Blood and words of Passion In silence the Princess yields attention to this Voice and to these VVords And Answereth them with her Sighs and Tears which are no less Eloquent nor less Passionate And ere long when she shall thrust her Tongue and Mouth into this VVound her Heart will descend upon her Lips to bid the last adieu to the Princes Heart and to transmit into it her last Flame together with her Life But fear nothing in her behalf This Love her Inciter will preserve them both He put a secret Antidote in to her Mouth and gave her Spirit the gift of Healing Her Lips which he purified with a Spiritual and Sacred Fire will Exorcise Death and dispossess it of this Body without taking it into her own And one day Edward Cured and Eleonor Preserved will be reckoned amongst the miracles of Heroick Charity SONNET ON some Exploit Prince Edward Dreaming lyes VVith Death in 's Wound and slumber in his Eyes His Spouse to Cure him is resolv'd to Dy VVith Heart like those of her brave Ancestry Love more then Nature skill'd in Life's repairs Makes him a precious Balsome of her Tears VVhose Soul already heals him in Designe And at his VVound do's with his Soul conjoyne Approach thy Mouth and Heart couragious VVife 'T is that must save thy gallant Edwards life That Heart of thine with true Affection Crown'd Shall make thy Tongue a Plaister for his Wound To Cure thy Prince employ no other Skill The Fire the Blood the Spirits that Distill From thy fair Soul shall from his Body drive Th' empoyson'd VVound and keep thy Prince alive Elogy of Eleonor HEroick Vertue doth not alwaies Kill not imploys Fire and Sword in all she takes in hand All her Exploits are not stained with Blood she knows how to perform them of more then one fashion and colour and acts not everywhere with Noise though in every place with Force There are Obscure victories without witnesses wherein she hath need of no less boldness then in those which are gained in the view of whole Nations and with the noise of Canons and Trumpets The victorie represented in this Picture is one of these Edward Prince of Wales was come back from the Holy Land with a wound he had received from an Impoysoned Arrow The Physitians had allayed all their speculations and practises and all those ways having been unprofitably tryed they declared to him that he could not be cured but by the destruction of some Person who might have the courage to suck in death with the poyson of his wound Being condemned by this Declaration he prepares himself to dye resolving not to preserve life by the death of another nor to make a remedy of an Impoysonment The Princess his Wife Daughter unto the King of Castile conceiving her self condemn'd by the same sentence received it as if love it self had pronounced it to her And seeing her self necessitated to dye either by the death or cure of her Husband She resolved to chuse of these two deaths that which seemed to her the most Honourable and least bitter and which ought of the two moyties of her life to conserve to her self that which was most dear and precious This resolution taken with her love she defers the Execution to the next night And as soon as the Prince was prepared for it by rest she gently discovers his wound and begins to cure it by the purest blood of her soul which she pours into it with her Tears That done she set her mouth to the wound and with her tongue plunged her heart into it By little and little she sucks out the Poyson and so seasonably casts it forth as she drew from thence all that was Mortal without retâ—â—ning any part thereof to her self Whether that this malignant humour were consumed by the subtile and penetrating fire which her heart diffused by her mouth Or whether God who is Life and Charity had laid his Spirit upon her lips she preserved her Husbands life without loosing her own and by one act cured two sick Persons and wrought two Miracles MORAL REFLECTION THere is a large 〈◊〉 in this Picture and an excellent lesson for married Women This couragious Spaniard added to the Romans Greciams and even to those Barbarians who dyed for their husbands will speak Eternally for the constancy and fidelity of their Affections And wil highly prove and in an Heroick fule that the loving portion of the heart is more vigorous and couragious in their Sex then in Ours But she will also prove for their instruction that nothing is impossible to well ordered Charity That her hands have the gift of Cures and that the vertue of Miracles resides on her Lips That she single and unarmed hath more Force then Death with all his swords and poysons and that Barbarous and heathenish Love which knew onely how to dye vainly and with Audacity was but an impatient and desperate Love compared to a Chaste One which knows how to save in dying and to reap benefit even by its Dangers and Losses But this saving and Wonder-working Love ought not to be a busie and Effeminate Love or a Love of Interest and propriety It must be a Philosophick and Couragious Love Extatick and Prodigal Elevated above all that pleaseth and affrights This Torch must be like that represented in the Canticles not a wandring and Volatile fire but a fire ever Equal and Active A fire which consumes all the little threds of Interests all Forraign tyes all Chains and Fetters even those precious Chains which Fortune frames nay those very Fetters which are more worth then Diadems and which fasten Princes on Thrones Some will have it that it consumes even the tyes of the Soul and Body And alleadge that place of the Canticles where the power of Love is equalled with that of Death This point is both important and instructive And because one might be dangerously mistaken therein it is fit to make a Question of it apart MORAL QVESTION Whether it appertains to the Duty and Fidelity of VVomen to expose themselves to Death for their Husbands IF in this point we believe Antiquity Conjugal Love was heretofore very Tyrannical And married Women who subjected themselves to it ought to be well resolved It was not satisfied that they should bear with
exhibite them in this Place my Designe not being to Write for Strangers or blinde men As for what concerns these two Soveraign and predominant Passions which are the Noblest matter Heroick Vertue can employ the Constancy and Force of Conjugal Love even the Transport and last Perfection thereof will never be brought in Dispute against Women by any man that hath entertained himself but for one quarter of an hour in History They are not less capable of making good use of anger of purifying its fire by a more spiritual fire of guiding it to the supream degree of Honour by an Heroick transport And to conclude this point by a single Example but a remarkable and crowned one you will finde nothing but Blood Sallies and a hasty and precipitate Impetuosity in all that is related of those Heroesses whom we know if compared to what Semiramis did in this kinde A Province which she had newly conquered having chased away her Lieutenants and shaken off its yoke by a publick Revolt The news of it being brought to her at the instant her head was dressing She did not presently Proclaim that Ropes and Gibbets should be prepared as some Princes have done in like occasions But without the least raising of her voice or uttering one tart Word without making shew of my alteration or surprisal she took an oath that they should never finish the dressing of her head till she had chastised these Rebels This Oath taken with a tone of Rallery and with a Majestical and graceful sternness she commanded her Women to lock up her perfumes and jewels sent for her Arms and gave out Orders for the marching of her Troops Took horse with her hair half pin'd up and half discheveld And the not only began but finished the War in this posture And if my memory fail me not it was after the end of the War she caused that vast and stupendious Statue to be erected which I formerly mentioned Let us acknowledge that there was much of Magnaminity and Gallantry in this Transport Let us confess that this half dress'd head was upheld by a great heart That there was not a stronger nor a more capable One And that a Crown could not be found too great or too glorious for it Hitherto I have taken Heroick Vertue by lights purely humane and have scarce spoken of any other then That which hath been known to Philosophers But if the Question be concerning an Heroick Vertue which is Christian and sanctified by Grace which hath been illuminated by the Rayes of Iesus Christ which hath been imbrâ—â— by his blood and penetrated by the Spirits thereof upon Mount Calvery which is called to that Divine and Soveraign Good which is of a degree infinitely raised above all the goods of Nature there can be no doubt but that Women may pretend to it as well as we and that their Pretentions are as Lawful and grounded upon as good Right as ours Iesus Christ hath given his Blood and Spirit in common He cals us in common to the participation of his Croâ—â— and to Mount Calvery And it is particularly noted that when he was there in Person many women but one single man ascended thither after him I am unwilling to say that there was some Presage in this and that it prefigured what was to come I will only say that ever since they have been seen to ascend thither in greater numbers and with greater ardour then we and to throng more about the Cross which is the 〈◊〉 Throne of Heroick Vertue There have been Heroesses then according to all forms and in all the degrees of Heroick Vertue in the degree of Patience in the degree of Magnificence in the degree of Magnanimity in the degree of Courage and Valour And without further inlarging our Reasons the Example I am going to produce will be an universal and abbâ—â—â—â—ated proof thereof EXAMPLE Isabella Queen of Castile THe Design of the Monarchy of Spain is not of Plates time nor according to the Model of his Republick It is Modern and even within the Memory of our Fathers Nevertheless the Author thereof is not known so generally And even at this day men Dispute it as they would do about a half defaced piece of Antiquity Some attribute this â—nterprise to Ferdinand who was a Politick yet Timerous and Sedentary Prince who managed not Affairs but with his Minde and Counsel and acted all by the hands of his Captains and Lieutenants Others on the contrary will have it to be set a foot by Charlâ— the Fift that Fortunate and bold Workman who was as good for the Field as for Councel who put his own hand to the Work together with his Fortune who was both the Conâ—â—â— and Undertaker of his Designes But whatever may be alledged on either side This so vast and enormous Designe to speak the truth 〈◊〉 neither of a Timerous Person nor of a Conquerour It is neither of the Head of Ferdinand nor of the Arm of Charls it springs from the War and Courage of Isabella of Castile This single word serves her for a great abbreviated Elogy It is the abridgement of a long History and the subject of many Volumes And the Heroick Vertue of this great Queen cannot have a more magnificent and ample proof then a Structure which hath the extent of two Hemisphears and comprehends as well Nature already discovered as that which is to be discovered This so great an Enterprise was of a far greater Soul and assisted by all the enâ—â—oent Vertues Such as ingeniously Project such as consult with Prudence such as execute with address and such as act with force laboured therein conjoyntly with her Nothing but Great and Heroick was observed in all the parts of her life All her days were days of labour or preparatives to it And before she arrived to the Age of overcoming by Action she learnt to overcome by Sufferance Divine Providence having made choice of Her to manifest to these last Ages how far a great Vertue assisted by efficacious Grace may Advance deprived her early both of Father and Mother and placed her single and without support in the way of Vertue as soon as she could support her self It was no â—mall advantage to her to have been severed so soon from softning Tendernesses and corrupting Pleasures At least she resembled thereby the Ancient Heroes and to use the terms of that Age There was less of the Milk then Marrow of the â—â—on in her nourishment Her Childhood also was Disciplined and became the sooner Active thereby She was Serious and Discreet Temperate and Severe from the Age of Childish Toyes and Pastimes And when other Maids play with Babbies or are flattered by their Nurses Adversity made her Warlike and taught her to vanquish Fortune This Severe and Disciplined Childhood was followed by a Youth full of Storms and Troubles And God who would not suffer her to have other then grave Satisfactions and solid Contentments permitted that the first
and without staining his hands with her Blood Although I have said that Women will not ascend in Troops to this high degree yet some there are who have arrived to this Pitch and gone thither more innocently and couragiously then Monima she whom I shall immediately produce will finde few equals She cannot be placed in too great a light nor upon too fair a Stage She cannot have too noble Spectators and History will never give her so many applauses and Crowns as she deserves EXAMPLE The Brave Hungarian THe Wound which Hungary received at the taking of Seget was great and dangerous And if God had not reached out his hand and upheld that Kingdom it was ready to perish by this wound The siege was famous by the presence of Solymon the second who began this last Expedition with five hundred thousand men and left the finishing of it to his Reputation and Fortune dying a few dayes before the taking of the place and almost in the sight of Victory It was not the Earl of Serins fault who defended the Town that Solymons Fortune and Reputation died not there with his Person and that Victory did not abandon him in this Action and remain to the Christians The Ladies of Seget did what service they could with their Jewels and Pearls which were converted into Money for the pay of the Garrison they served also there with their persons And by a Zeal much bolder then that of the Carthaginians who gave their hair to make Ropes for Engins of War they employed their Arms to the repairing of the Walls and exposed their Heads to the defence of the breaches and Gates At the last assault given by the Turks the Earl of Serin perceiving that the hour of perishing was at hand resolved to dye most magnificently and in Pomp and to give Lustre and Reputation to his Death He â—ought in an Imbroidered Sute and with a string of Diamonds tyed about his Hat having the keyes of the Town fastned to his Scarse and a hundred Crowns in his Pocket for that Souldier who should send him to Triumph in Heaven The History renders this testimony of his Death that it was a Triumphant and Victorious Death But though it was victorious yet it did not equal the Death of a Ladie of Siget who surpasseth all that is left us of the Memory of Heroick time She was a Woman of quality and one of the fairest but she was none of those languishing Beauties and without Vigour of those Beauties which resemble the stars of the North which have no activity and shine faintly and without heat She was vigorous and bold yet vigorous with sweetnesse and bold with a good Grace and Comlinesse Her Husband who loved her passionately and even to the degree of Jealousie scared nothing but her taking in the taking of Siget The Image of captivated and inchained Hungary nay of flaming and bloody Hungary was to his apprehension a lesse dreadful apparition then the Image of his Captive Wife To rid himself of this Fantome which followed him every where and to secure the Honour and Freedom of his Wife of whom he was more Jealous then of the Honour of Christianity and the Liberty of Europe He resolved to take her out of the World before the Victorious Turk should enter the City which was no longer able to resist and had too good hearts left to yield themselves This so Tragick and soul a resolution was no sooner fixed in his Minde but the slains thereof appeared even in his Eyes and upon his Face His Wife who was discreet and quick-sighted observed them and was touched therewith she pardoned his Jealousie in consideration of his Love And though she was fully prepared for death yet she did not desire a death which might make him a Criminal whom she loved more then her own life She took him aside and made him understand that his bad intention could not be hidden from her She was so dexterous as to draw the confession of it from his own mouth and upon his Confession she strongly and efficatiously represented to him the infamie which would remain to him from so Barbarous an Act and the Scandal which he would give to his Age and leave unto posterity I confesse said she that I owe you all my blood And behold me ready to give it without reserving one drop But have patience till some other come to shed it Do not fullie your hands with it stain neither your memory nor your soul therewith Do not inkindle an eternal fire by it For my part I apprehend far more Life then Death and all the Scimiters of the Turks cause in me far less fear then their most gentle and pretious Chain were it more sweet and pretious then the Diadem of the Sultanesse But permit me to die gloriously and with Reputation Do not dishonour the Repose which you seek Disparage not your good affection My Honour is not so desperate that it cannot be preserved but by a Crime You think to justifie your self by laying the blame upon Love You are much mistaken if you take it for a murderer Do not put the Dagger into its hands Do not solicit it to commit a murder and if you cannot restore it the goods you have received from it leave it at least its Reputation and do not envie its Innocencie An honourable Death is not so hard a thing to find in a Town taken by force There enter enough of them by Gates and Breaches Let us fallie forth together with Swords in our hands to chuse an illustrious and renowned end Let it be by fire or sword let it be short or lasting it imports not It will be sweet to me provided I dye a rival to your Valour and not a Victime to your Jealousie Having said this she caused her self to be compleatly armed and went out with a Sword in her hand and a Buckler upon her arm her Husband followed her armed with the like weapons and encouraged by her words and Example which gave him a second Heart and a new Spirit They went on boldly where fire noise and danger were greatest And as soon as they came to the place where they were to fight between the flaming Fire and the victorious Army They shewed by the wonders which they did that there is no valour like the valour of despairing Love and of Graces armed in defence of their Honour After a long and rude fight they were at last rather overpressed then overcome by a barbarous multitude irritated by their own losses and their resistance And feeling their strength stealing away with their Blood they gave each other their last imbraces and fell upon a heap of dead bodies which had been slain by their Hands They could not die more sweetly then in the fruition of their mutual Fidelity They could not have a more magnificent Tomb then their Arms and Victories Their souls which imbraced each other as well as their Bodies could not be severed by Death
And it was believed that God who is the Author of chast Unions received them into Heaven in this condition and crowned them with the same Glory ZENOBIE Reyne des Palmyreniens victorieuse des Reys et des Lyons 〈…〉 la chasse et les dresse par sen exemple à la vaillance et à la victorie 〈…〉 Zenobia CONFESSE that this new Spectacle hath surprised you And that you could not have believed the Graces so Couragious nor Lovers so Adventurous as to go in chase of Tygers and Lyons Besides if it were to the chase of Swans which are harmonious and amiable and armed only with feathers If it were to the chase of Bees which have nothing but honey in their bodies and respect Innocents and Virgins the party would be lesse unequal and the divertisment lesse hazardous and rash Beauty which is the Mother of the Graces and Loves goeth also sometimes a hunting But it is onely to the chase of Eyes and Hearts which have neither teeth nor nails and can neither bite nor scratch And now adayes the children of this Mother have the boldness to hunt Tygers and Lyons But shew no fear for them they are accompanied by Zenobia who yesterday gave chase to the Roman Eagles which are more dreadfull and furious Beasts then Lyons and Tygers Yes she whom you see hunting there so gallantly and with so gracefull a boldnesse is the famous Zenobia Queen of the Palmyrenians who lately gave Chase to the Roman Eagles And by the defeat of the Imperiall Army secured to her self the Conquest of Egypt So glorious and painfull a Chase well deserved that peace and divertisments should succeed But this generous Woman hath not learn'd to refresh her self like others in her Closet and under a Canopy of State Her very repose is Active and Heroick and her divertisments ars dangerous Combats and essayes of Victories You may approach without danger and contribute at least with your eyes to the noblest Chase which was ever given It is not like those which are practised in the Amphiaters of Rome where captive Beasts are chased by captive Men There is nothing here which is not Glorious and Noble They are Soveraignes that chase and are chased And that which is yet more wonderfull Lovers are here bold and the Graces adventerous and dreadfull Beauty indeed was heretofore seen armed but it was rather for shew then a Combat And her weapons were as little dangerous as the prickets which Roses bear Zenobia was not content with furnishing her with Arms she made her warlike and taught her all serious and practick Combats Consider with what boldnesse she attaqu's this Lyon It appears by her countenance that she takes this danger for a pastime of her Courage The fiercenesse you see in her is not a fiercenesse of any trouble or emotion It is a demonstration of courage and a tincture of boldnesse spread upon her face It is a valour of countenance and a Meene of Combat It is a manly and military Grace It is a tart sweetnesse which pleasingly affrights which begets at once both fear and love But Zenobia imployes not here any thing of this tartness she reserves it for other occasions when she is to grapple with Consuls and Kings This Chase is to her but a meer divertisment And her heart could not be more calme nor her face more serene had she been to deal only with Beasts in a painted Cloth Her Horse couragious by Nature and proud of the fair burthen he bears casts forth his feet as if he meant to give the first stroak and anticipate the Javelin which is ready to part from the Princesses hand The chased Lyon prepares to receive them both And he was even ready to have cast himself upon Zenobia but the lightnings which her heart and spirit dart into his eyes the flaming of those feathers which dance about her head and the jewels wherewith she is adorned making her appear like a flaming fire he looks upon her with an irresolute Anger mixt with Fear And you would say beholding his posture that he deliberates between the dazling brightnesse and the threatning Javelin Disquiet not your self and abandon the fear you expresse to have of Zenobia she is accustomed to overcome all sorts of Enemies and if she should fail of her stroke Araspes who is present with a sword in his Hand to second her would have Courage enough to draw upon himself the danger and Fury of the Beast He could not be worse treated by him then he is by his own Love which exposeth him to a thousand cares and vexations tearing him in pieces without teeth or nails Likewise the most frightful instruments and the greatest wounds do not alwayes cause the greatest Torments Such as delivered up their Slaves to Lions were lesse cruel then he that commanded his own to be cast amongst Lampryes and it were better to be crushed in pieces by an Elephant then to be gnawn by Rats or eaten up by Flies This poor Prince Zenobia's Prisoner even a Prisoner without Chains and Manacles is come from a remote Countrey to offer her his Person with his Kingdom But he assaults a place too well provided and though a Scepter and a Throne be powerful Engines yet in vain will he bend the forces of his Throne and Scepter against her The Heart of Zenobia is too well fortified against all sorts of second affections The Name and Image of Odenatus leaves no place empty there And surely she will not violate the Vow of VVidowhood which she made to his Ghost and Memory Eraspes is in Despair of her as you see yet his Despair is respectful and accompanied with esteem And he loves better Zenobia generous and inflexible then he would do Zenobia base and yeelding Observe his Respect in his very looks his Despair by his Palenesse and the fire of his Heart under the Ashes of his Face See how he suspends his Address and Courage before his Conqueresse He will leave her all the Glory of the Chase And looking on her with imploring eyes he demands of her for himself the same fair Death she prepares for the Lion and intreats her to do that favour at one stroke to them both But she was satisfied in having wounded him with her eyes without undertaking to wound him by her hand And so far was she from taking away his life that she was ready to have given him his Liberty and reduced him to himself if he would have embrac'd it As for this stately Beast he will carry no further either his Liberty or Life And in recompence of them both he will have the Glory to be overcome by the same Arm which Yesterday vanquished the Roman Eagles Her two sons who stand by her intend to share in her Victory and finish with their Bowes what she is going to begin with her Javelin It is not requisite that I shew them to you to make them known Their Beautiful and Couragious Mother is so to the