pilled rods with which the great Jacob will imprint his colours upon the Lambs of his Sheep-fold So that not contented to instill into their Souls an ordinary and common Piety they bring them by more lofty and elevated paths to the top of an exemplary Devotion making them oftner frequent Spiritual exercises and the holy Sacrament the Spiritual food which nourisheth to a great growth in Vertue such as feed upon it For them these holy Labourers in God's Vineyard have many other ways and holy industries amongst whom the Congregations devoted to particular Servies and under the especial protection of the Blessed Virgin hold a high Rank for there the least Devout are instigated to Devotion by the exemplary Piety of those Professors and the deadest coals take fire at their Charity and flame with Celestial Love in imitation of the great fervency that appears there For there the works of Piety shine the more bright the secreter they are kept and their Piety and Charity on all occasions are ready with their flames to warm all that approach them Our younger Brother remained seven or eight years in this Seminary of Learning and Godliness being every day more accomplisht than other that it seemed he might justly say with David The chiefest Good I seek t' obtain Of him who first did give me Breath Is in his house to spend the same Until he call me thence by Death This young Plant daily grew and spread so fast that it gave great hope of proving at last a stately Tree and one of the top branches of Lebanon He became very expert in Humane Learning and skilful in the Mathematicks the knowledge of Philosophy had long since strengthned and confirmed his Judgment and having saluted the Queen of Sciences and his principal Mistress Divinity he had already been imployed six months in her service amongst an Ecclesiastick order which by their constitution were to be present in their Habits at the Celebrating Divine Service and known by the names of Minors to this he was obliged for the large Revenues he received from the Church where he had made himself sufficiently known by publick disputes in Philosophy and had reaped a great commendation by reading Divinity in the Congregation of our Lady The Fathers of the Company took great joy in his Education receiving infinite satisfaction that they had sown their Doctrine in so good a soil he still proceeded from good to better and the region of his spirit grew white towards a compleat Harvest when on a suddain an impetuous whirlwind an unexpected tempest swept away the fruits of so grand an expectation His Elder Brother had for a great while quitted the Academy for to learn the Arts of Horsemanship Fencing and Dancing require not so long a study as the Sciences he remained in his Fathers house as Heir apparent and led a life honest and modest enough but soft and tender and effeminate according to the custom of great Persons not only of that Nation but most others as if idleness were an inheritance intailed upon Nobility We have nothing to say of him having nothing come to our knowledge pertinent to this History only this that though this Tree brought not much Fruit yet its Leaves being shaken with the winds of but few Passions made little noise thus quietly slipt away the few years which he passed upon Earth till at last he paid his tribute to the Tomb not as the Great Alexander in the middle of his Course but even in the first mounting from his Orient a lingring Fever taking hold of this heavy Melancholy humour which in a short time brought him quietly to his Grave Some say that too violent exercise had shortned his days and that if he had been destined to Letters and a reposed life he might have lived longer but how vain is it to descant upon the Decrees of Divine Providence our weak reasons of that sort being like soft wax before the Sun Proceed ye Parents in this course and found the total of your hopes upon your Eldest but consider how far different the designs of heaven are from terrestrial determinations He who on Earthly glories sets his eyes And fixeth them on splendid vanities Who in proud Palaces rules without fear Of the disasters that attend him there Here let him fix a while and contemplate On the weak frailty of a humane state To express the regrets and sorrows of his Parents is a thing impossible you may a little guess at them by comparing them to those of a laborious Husbandman who after much toilsome labour and wearisom expectation sees an impetuous Tempest destroy all the Fruits of his labour and the means of his subsistence just as it is ready to be reaped for just as they were upon the design of placing richly and honourably in the World this Prop of their house and repository of their hopes by matching him into a Family suitable to theirs in Wealth and Dignity thereby to transmit their Name to posterity they see themselves on a suddain deprived of that happiness which they had so ardently desired so long expected and so vainly hoped But considering how vain it was to lament so irreparable a loss they began to turn their eyes from him that was now nought but dust in the Grave to the other who though alive was buried as to the World thinking now to transplant the care of their Posterity to that onely remaining soil as if they had lived under the old Mosaical Law where the living Brother shall raise up seed to the dead to retrieve his Name and Memory from the Tomb of oblivion It is hard to tell you how the younger Brother received this news for he found his soul so divided and so moved on all sides by several passions that he needed a strong clew of Reason to conduct him out of that Labyrinth He saw himself called to a large Inheritance but having levelled his designs a quite contrary way he was ill troubled to change his intentions seeing himself so far advanced into that Vocation which he had at first supported with as great trouble and reluctancy as Simon the Cyrenean did the Cross of our Saviour and was now more unwilling to part with it and did passionately declare that his desire was to leave the dead to bury the dead and pursue his former enterprize to avoid the reproach of having laid his hand to the plough and then looked back and begun a building which he could not finish But he had still been educated with so much subjection to his Imperious Parents who so rigorously exercised their power over him that as he durst not gainsay them when they imbarked him into a profession so contrary to his inclination no more durst he now thwart them when they would bring him into another so contrary to the habits he had contracted amongst so many contrarieties Austere and savage Parents who make Tables of your Families and use your Children as you do your Table-men at Chess
or Towns of every County and the distance of the same from London And likewise the Names of all Market Towns and upon what dayes they are kept c. ALCIMUS AND VANNOZA LIB I. IN one of the most famous Cities of Italy the name of which I conceal for certain important reasons a Lord of great Quality and an Illustrious house which by many Generations had derived down to him the title of Marquess had two Sons besides Daughters and as it ordinarily happens in great Families the Children are designed to several Vocations before they have years enough to make them fit to be judged of to what they are most proper the younger of a more sprightly and active temper than the elder was by the designation of earthly interest more than sound judgment or a reasonable examen designed for the Altar to suffer the Spiritual Circumcision of the Evangelical Eunuchs and to have Dina for his Hire that is to be maintained at the expences of the Daughter of Jacob and Sion the Church Thus were our two Brethren born like Lycurgus his two dogs upon one cushion but destined to as different ways and as far separated as Earth from Heaven Happy younger Brother if he had continued in the possession of Mary's portion but it was afterwards taken from him as much against his will as it was at first imposed upon him The Elder Brother was sent to the Academy there to learn the Exercises proper for a Gentleman that was to be bred to the Profession of Arms to which he was flexible enough not that his disposition which was rather lumpish than active was much inclined to so robust an imployment which besides a manly body required a stout and martial Soul but having as pliable and docile a temper as was requisite for a compliance with the Authority and Commands of his Parents he rendered his will so agreeable to their desires that his chief study was Obedience But as it is impossible for the endeavours of Art to vanquish the inclinations of Nature or to give a hard and impregnable temper to that which is composed of a brittle clay instead of growing hardy and vigorous amongst his exercises of Arms and Horsemanship he daily grew more weak and unactive so that to all appearance this Plant required a transplantation to some other soil I mean to another more agreeable course of life But that was a thing which he might rather desire than hope for from his inflexible Parents who more regarding in him his Age than Inclination his Elder Brotherhood more than his Natural temper and disposition forced his Genius to bend to what they desired constraining him to pitch upon a course of life which he accorded to with such reluctancy that it was more likely to shorten his days than to advance his reputation Vain are their hopes who think that they Can bring anothers will in all things theirs t' obey Or bend anothers inclinations To suit designs and humour all their passions Our younger Brother of a more vigorous Body and active Spirit was by a violent restraint upon them both put into an Academy more reserved more peaceable and more retired which at first he could look upon no otherwise but as a Prison but was forced to bend his neck under the yoke of a Superior Authority a yoke too strong to be broken by the weakness of his tender years in which his Parents had so great an ascendant over his youthful affections He was confined as a sacrifice to the Church and Muses to be educated amongst a Seminary of Jesuits And as there is no yoke so hard no burthen so heavy but Custom which is another Nature makes the one easie and the other light time by continual and insensible drops hollowing by degrees the resistance of his Spirit at length gained such footing that what was before constrained now became voluntary he making a Vertue of necessity which is a harsh and imperious Mistress Like the Horse which at first being forced by traces to pace is ready to fall at every step but once having learnt what they are designed they go as nimbly as if they had no restraint upon their legs so the Gally-slave when once accustomed to the bank and chain the Oar which was before so insupportable is at last easily managed So he by little and little tempered and moderated the boilings and emotions of his haughty courage and as the Italian spirits are naturally pliable to any form and are like wax susceptible of any impression he so far moderated the contrariety of his Palate that what was Physick before now became Natural food and being Catechized there by his Tutors which are the rarest in the World to range unruly spirits to their terms of Duty he became of so sweet humble modest and tractable a temper so fitted for the reception of Learning to which he had the accomplishment of an excellent Memory that all these added together rendred him a youth of great expectation His Reason too begun to come over to that Party and assisted the design by forming these considerations in his Fancy that his Parents better advised than himself knew better the bent of his inclinations and that aspiring to the Ecclesiastick Scarlet a colour whose splendor does usually dazzle the eyes of those of that Nation he might at last arrive to the highest Degree of Honour amongst Men and make a plus ultra to the Pillars of Hercules and that it would be far more advantageous to him to be a rich Beneficiary than a poor Gentleman that his Brother by the tyranny of Custome inheriting all the Estate of his Ancestors to keep up in him the splendour of the Family there remained nought to him but Alexander's portion Hope Finally the bread of the Church seemed to him hearty and pleasing delighting his Palate with a Royal gusto He was not deceived in his conceits for his Parents seeing him take the bridle in his teeth resolving vigorously to proceed to an accomplishment in his Profession did soon after obtain for him a Priory and Abby besides a rich Pension here see him in a high degree of opulency and just upon the steps to further Preferment The Religious of this great and holy Fraternity under whose directions he sucked in Learning with his Letters seeing him destined by the determinations of his Parents to an Ecclesiastick Profession as well as by his own Inclinations spared no care nor diligence for his instruction in Sciences as well as Morality fitting for a subject whos 's later season promised great fruits to the Church For though these Devout and Learned Fathers have an Universal care without acceptation of Persons to water diligently the young Plants committed to their charge yet both by their Pious Inclination and Religious Institution they have a nearer attention to those who are more particularly dedicated to the Service of the Altar who must one day be the Light of the World the Salt of the Earth and the
fix her Eyes upon him this was to stir up a devouring flame within her self of which she could not make him feel the least spark not being able to contrive a way to make him the least sign for beside that he neither thought of her nor of any of her Sex much less could he fix his attention on a Woman who had her face all covered with a veil and besides she had those watchful Eyes about her who look't but for an opportunity of her moving her Veil never so little to make report of it to the jealous Ears of him in whom a second Error would be far worse than the first What troubles still destroy her peace How her perplexities encrease Her Soul 's wrackt with inquietudes And sorrows which do never cease How plagues assault sinners in multitudes We have said before that Alcimus his thoughts were not also set upon Vanities but that he had some left for Heaven that he frequented the Church and Sacraments and was very punctual in his Devotions in a neighbouring Monastery There was a certain Sunday in which an eminent Fraternity of the City caused a great Procession to be made the solemnity and Indulgences of which drew a great many people thither to be partakers Our feigned Saint who was very zealous for gaining Pardons failed not to be there with her Mother Alcimus whether by his good or evil Genius I know not was drawn thither It was in this occurrence that Vannoza invented a stratagem as horrible as the end it was designed for was wicked Alcimus in order to prepare himself for the holy Table intending to examine his Conscience and discharge himself of the faults he should find there went to make his confession at the feet of his ordinary Confessor who was a Religious Father and Brother of this Monastery and who then discharged the Office of Confessor in that Solemnity Vannoza whose head was filled with other designs then those that seemed to bring her thither considered attentively all his actions remarking the place where he went to receive the benefit of Absolution intending like a crafty venomous Spider there to pitch her net to trap this innocent fly She goes a little while after as if desirous of the like Medicine from the same holy Physician there accusing her self of some little feigned crimes which made her admired by this holy Personage who judging of the Bird by her note thought he had met a soul made up of purity and perfection Thus did she cast dust or rather seemingly divine rays in the eyes of this good man which dazled them so far as to take her for little less then a Saint and as there is nothing of equal consolation to those that work in God's Vineyard in this troublesome office which of Confessors makes them Martyrs as to meet amongst the thorns of a thousand iniquities with which their ears are daily pestered the roses of some beauteous souls moistned with the dew of grace and which render a sweet savour in Jesus Christ this good Father blessed God and all that was within him did praise his holy name that he had yet reserved to himself in the world such holy souls and faithful servants who instead of bending the knee to Baal and worshipping the calves of Bethel did endeavour to work out their salvation with fear and trembling This crafty penitent finding by the good man's pious praises of heaven for the divine graces which he thought lodged in her Soul that her dissembled holiness was rooted in his belief having humbled her self the best she could with the most artificial words she could invent like bladders puft full of wind which bound the higher the more forcibly they are thrown against the ground so she continuing still a more zealous discourse and painting her self with the colours of a Woman most desirous to please God and preserve her honour sent out a flood of Crocodile-tears mixt with a sigh which seemed to proceed from the bottom of her breast which were followed with these following words Alas Father said she may I without offending God discover to you some of the imperfections of my Neighbour God knows that it is for no ill will I bear him for I desire him as much happiness as my self it is only for the avoiding a grand disastre which hangs over his head and which threatens no less then the loss of his life and the ruine of my honour Daughter answered the Confessor you are not ignorant of the seal of Confession the same thing you think in your mind you may as safely reveal here for whatsoever is buried in the ears of Confessors does never come to a resurrection Nor can I imagine you can think me so ignorant of the grand importance of these holy secrets which cannot be revealed without my losing both life and honour nor so wicked as to outrage my conscience so infinitely by so unworthy an action upon which accounts you may assuredly confide in my fidelity and freely commit this secret to my trust not distrusting the faithfulness to which all Laws both Divine and Humane oblige me I am to the Soul what the Midwife is to the Body aiding it in the discharge of that weight which presseth it down with an insupportable burthen It belongs only to you to judge in what my interposition may be serviceable to your consolation and fear not but you have met in me a true Paternal affection Thus spoke this good old Father whose Dove-like innocency well suited his name which was Simplicius comforting a soul whom he thought to have great need of his assistance Finally this crafty female having thus by her artifices prepossest his spirit spoke with a great earnestness to give the better colour to her dissimulation as followeth Holy Father it is not my distrust of your sufficiency piety or fidelity which causes me to speak these words which I would more willingly have buried in a profound silence the cause of it is the violence I must do to my self to reveal the inconsideration and imprudence I had almost said the impudence of another Notwithstanding which I will discover it since you assure me there is no evil in laying open another's faults provided it be not out of malice or an intention to defame him And moreover necessity constrains me to it a necessity exempt from rules and laws of Ceremony Though Father you are dead to the World and have few Concerns in Secular Companies and Conversations yet do so much of them come under your knowledg by the practice of your Office that you cannot but have heard of the name of Alcimus which has so much advantage in fame above those of other Gentlemen of this City and that you may the better remarque him I am informed that he lives not far from your Monastestery and to point him out plainly with my finger it is the young Gentleman who came not long before me to discharge alas I know not whether as he ought his
wringing the other and imagining that Vannoza had discovered to him the real Jealousy of her Husband founded upon the false opinion of Alcimus his pursuits he contented himself with what his Penitent had already discover'd but to prevent all future mishaps and to pluck up by the roots the hatred from his heart which he had conceived against Capoleon whom he had already named his Enemy a word of war and defiance in this spleenatique Country he again protested to him that Capoleon neither by himself nor Deputy had given him this advertisement or made these menaces but that it was a religious and timorous Soul which perhaps had too far exaggerated the matter and according to the Proverb had painted the Lyon fiercer than he was that he desired him not to look upon Capoleon with the worse eye for this nor to do any thing further to promote his Malady which was of the nature of those artificial Fires which every thing would nourish but nothing extinguish That he ought to have compassion of such infirmities of spirit according to the Apostles advice who would that Spiritual Persons and those who are fortified within should bear with greater fortitude and patience the faults and insolencies of the weak to accomplish the Law which would that we should bear with one another's infirmities Adding that the only remedy he perceived for this misunderstanding was to abstain for the future from these passes in the Street at least till time with his insensible Spunge had effaced from the spirit of this offended Husband the impressions which his evil humour might perhaps have engraved there it being no part of a prudent man to exasperate the Wasp or to provoke the Bee which last though naturally of a sweet and gentle temper as being born and bred amongst Honey knew well enough how to manage its Sting to defend its Comb And further That a true Penitent was not only oblig'd to part from the Territories but from the Confines of Evil for to what purpose is it to quit the unfortunate City of Iniquity and take up Quarters in the Suburbs I mean within those of the occasions of Evil to fly to Zoar and look back to Sodom It is not enough for the true Nazarites to drink no Wine nor strong Drink unless they also abstain too from the very Grape least the taste of the one breed a desire of the other With these Reasons Simplicius strengthened his Remonstrances without assuming the power of commanding but certainly with Counsel accompanied with the Spirit of God he advis'd Alcimus to turn away his course from the frequentation Of those so dreadful Rocks and Shelves Where multitudes had split themselves Alcimus found it very difficult to submit to these Injunctions alledging that the Laws of Cloisters and those of the World were very far different that the one prescribed to honour a blind submission and a renunciation of all Earthly enjoyments but that in the World it was one of the greatest marks of Infamy to receive Laws from the will of the Enemy and that Couragious souls like an unshaken Rock Undauntedly should brave the rudest shoock Nothing 's more base than to bad men to yield Or to their proud attempts to quit the field Hereby Simplicius perceiving that this was a spark of that hidden fire which would not suddainly be extinguisht Seigneur Alcimus said he if you find this remedy too difficult you will constrain me to say that you chain your self to the Bank of Iniquity and tug at the oar of violence and then feign obstacles for your obeying of wholesome Precepts Remember Saul 's malediction for disobeying Samuel t' is a Crime to disbelieve but a kind of Witchcraft to disobey to speak plainly you would hereby perswade me to that which I am unwilling to believe and under pretext of opposing your wrath to the hatred of the Husband make me suspect a secret affection for the Wife For Who often'st saith I hate does prove Most commonly deepest in Love Moreover you are bound in Conscience to give no occasion of offence or scandal in your deportments for if the great Apostle declare that he would eat no flesh so long as he lived rather than by eating to offend the weakest of his Brethren How much more ought you to avoid the Actions and Occasions which might give suspicion of the works of the flesh unjustly desired or pursued after And if the same Apostle would not that the least mention of Fornication should be made amongst Christians how much more odious and detestable ought Adultery to be either in action or affection Father said Alcimus your discourses are backt with Reason and speak you both a Christian and Religious Person but be pleas'd to consider that I am not of your Religious Orders but yet a Christian like you although a secular and mundain one and though there be no more agreement betwixt the rules of Piety and those of the World than betwixt light and darkness the Ark and Dagon or God and Mammon yet are we obliged in performing the one not to omit the other if we intend to preserve our Reputation without which we render our selves the reproach of the World and the most abject dregs or scum of the People Consider that I am now a Sword-man and that formerly studying Cases of Conscience I have learnt that when an Enemy shall attacque me I am not bound to fly and save my life with the loss of my Honour and though the Evangelical precept of turning the other cheek to him that smites him on the one extend its self to secular persons as well as regular yet we see it otherwise practised by both Our blessed Saviour asked that Wretch who shamefully struck him Why he did so and though he did not call Legions of Angels to his succour or employed Thunder and Tempests to revenge such injuries as he might have done yet did he mix this point of severity amongst his admirable meekness and incomparable humility If Capoleon attack me I think it will be lawful to resist him and perhaps with the same weapons I shall turn the mischief upon him which he designed for me and confound this Conjurer with his own Devil for I am resolved not to suffer my self to be assassinated by his treacherous hands Here Simplicius interrupted this Discourse fearing that if he let Alcimus proceed he would excite that choler in himself which he should be ill troubled to allay and perhaps according to the promptitude of his youthful inclination proceed at last from words to execution He therefore smooth'd and flatter'd this generous courage protesting indeed too truly Capoleons innocence and that the report which had been made him might perhaps be false too truly false but that this his Paternal zeal and care made him not only worthy of Pardon but of Praise and Affection saying O Alcimus Alcimus you know not what it is to be a Father a spiritual Father had you but experimented how the bowels of
highly good can in one moment be Hurry'd into the worst impiety None from the top of Virtue in a trice Plungeth into the lowest depth of Vice And though this seem to be the last period of it when a celestial Cloak is fitted to infernal actions this I say may well be thought the Hercules Pillars beyond which wickedness can scarce pass any further Yet our Criminals found this way so environed with thorns their encounters so perillous their interviews so short and their conversations so incommodious that though the Roses of this Passion seem not delicious but amongst such picquant difficulties yet they soon left their tract of iniquity be-because having experimented one before more easie and more accommodated to their gust it seemed to them as hazardous as it was in it self horrible and impious For besides that the discovery of this Stratagem would expose them to publick infamy and make them hated and hiss'd at by all as the God of War and the Black-smiths Wise amongst the adulterous Poetical gods were in the invisible snares It further seemed that humane Justice would hardly invent a punishment suitably rigorous to so enormous a Crime Their next recourse was therefore to a Ladder which Alcimus having procured to be made of silk and as secretly delivered it to Vannoza in one of their private Monastick meetings which she in the night at the appointed hour fastened to the Window of the room of her pretended Devotion and cast down the other end to the ground where by his activity readily getting over the Walls of the Court-yard easily mounted to the highest Pinacle of his intended happiness without fearing a Precipice into the horrible depths of destruction any more than that of his body upon the Pavement not thinking of the former since he could escape the later by his strength and nimbleness No wonder if Vannoza pleased her self in her private Chappel which she had builded on the top of her house since there like Micah she kept her hidden Idol and instead of burying it at the foot of the Oak of Sichem as Jacob did those of his family by a sound repentance she sacrificed to it but this word is too honourable for so dishonest an action I may more properly term it a prostitution of her Affections Soul and Honour And if Covetousness be called Idolatry and Gluttons are said to make a God of their Belly how much more fitly may we term sensual Persons Idolaters who seem to acknowledge no other Divinity than the object of their filthy desires like unclean Beasts wallowing in the mire loosely abandoning the Service of the Creator who is the sole disposer of infinite Delectations for that of a vile and wretched Creature for as he that adheres to God becomes of the same Spirit with him so he that sticks unto a loose Woman becomes a Member of her Body and of the same substance so that they resemble two Captives who by one Chain are conducted to the eternal Gaoles unless their repentance prevent their Condemnation But this practice as perillous as unhappy was not long without interruption according to the saying of the Poet Those whom the highest joys do bless Abide not long in happiness The World like th' Ocean ne're's secure A peaceful Calm can't long endure Felicity ne're rests long in one place And Fortune's Wheel moves not a measur'd pace Besides their continual fears the inseparable scourge of the wicked and the apprehensions not only of being surprized in the act but of being espied by some Passengers in the street their Consciences were still plagued with a thousand remorses Alcimus always went in the night to the abode of this deceitful Siren alone and armed resolved to set upon the first that should interrupt his designs but it being impossible for him to mount the Ladder with so many Arms as he carried in quitting them which he left at the bottom he was seized always with a fear of being surprized thus unarmed so that that of the Sacred Pages might justly be applied to him Combats without and Terrours within But if affection sharpen the understanding how was it possible for him to continue blind amongst so many perils as on all parts invironed him How should it be but that like Balaam he should perceive the flaming Sword of Divine Justice waved over his head and ready to divide it asunder But it is in vain for us to desire he should avoid that mischief he so earnestly pursues The reason of this is well expressed in these words of the Royal Prophet The fire is fallen and they have not seen the Sun for when the flames of desire tyrannize in their Souls the light of their eye that is their Reason remains no longer with them and the faculties of it quite forsake them The jealous in the excess of their love have this property to be always suspicious and consequently fearful and even then when they have least subject for it 'T is this that banisheth repose from their eye-lids and causes that the juyce of Poppy which night sheds upon the earth cannot infuse sleep into their eyes they are always waking or rather awaking and the ear chiefly in the dark is always open to the least noise so that though these two used all means imaginable to be neither seen nor heard yet walking in darkness or in the Scripture Phrase groping by the wall and in elevated places whose Symmetry was less discernible than the rest of the Building it was impossible but that they must make some noise or sound which would easily reach a watchful ear Vannoza had oft been advertised of this by Capoleon who was troubled that his Wife usually spent a great part of the night in this Garret in the conversation of the wandring Ghosts and Goblins of the night thinking her Devotion had by this time brought her into the Visions of St. Anthony or of St. Macarius and that the Demons strove to interrupt her Prayers Vannoza sometimes told him it was nothing and that she was not so good as he supposed or she desired that she was neither in so profound Contemplations nor such deep Extasies to give occasion to the Angels of Darkness to envy her Piety or interrupt it by Apparitions or Illusions Otherwhiles she made him some crafty excuses alledging that during the silence of the night the least noise seemeth great that there are certain Animals which stir not abroad but in the dark principally on the tops of houses and alwayes make a rattling and a noise that if she had been of a timerous humour her solitude had administred causes enough of fear avowing to him that she had often seen Fantomes in different fashions but that she attributed it to the interruption of her spirits or the weakness of her sight amongst the shades of night rather than to her vertue or piety As if these visits of Satan were marks of the grand merits of such his impious servants O Vannoza remember that God is not
this Device which he termed a Gallantry unhappy that he was thus to glory in his Crime and rejoyce in his Confusion to enjoy her with the greater freedom See the deep subtlety that 's here exprest And by this one act judge of all the rest If formerly the excellency of a Painter appeared in a line direct streight slender and almost imperceptible Judge whether by this unthought of Artifice Alcimus did not manifest himself a good proficient in the School of Vannoza's subtlety But finally as if they had been weary of living longer amidst these constraints they consulted how to set themselves at large in the fields of wickedness by the assistance of trusty persons To which end Vannoza thought it most material to endeavour to make her Sentinels and Gaolers instrumental to her design so that finally after many Artifices and Caresses having dazzled the eyes of two of her attendants with a Metal almost as sparkling as the Sun that makes it and by the rayes of a Thousand promises he exacted from them the vows of a faithless fidelity bound with such solemn Oaths that their horrour presaged their breach and nullity and consequently she declared to them her passion for Alcimus her secret intelligences and the desire she had to possess him and be possessed by him with a greater freedom Capoleon who before had these Maids his stipendaries had by one of them the door opened which gave him a view of all these dark proceedings It is hard to judge whether it be more proper to call this servant Treacherous or Faithful for if she was perfidious to her disloyal Mistress she was faithful to her Master who had paid and appointed her to watch his honour To speak more properly let us term her a female and cast upon her Sex the fault of incapacity of guarding a Secret rather than to accuse her of treachery since as is to be supposed making a profession of honesty besides inconstancy she further imitated the Sea which will not harbour a dead Carcass or Carrion unless kept down by a Weight but vomiteth it out upon her Shoars A Secret in Woman being like new Wine which purgeth its self and works out at the mouth of the Vessel And indeed what reason had she to keep faith with her who had broken hers to her Husband It is the Receiver that makes the Thief and if there were not these Mediators there would be fewer Adulteries This Servant in accusing the Treason of her Mistriss must necessarily discover that of her Companion and the cautelous Capoleon having doubled her Salary and made further promises of Golden Mountains when he had surprized the Delinquents and accomplish'd his design he was thereby hourly advertised of all the Words and Intercourses of our two Lovers and Capoleon had so wholly won this Servant to his party whom we shall call Adriana that like a Coy-Duck she served him to draw the rest into the Net so that by her Master's order cutting both ways she accommodated her self to all the designs of her Mistress holding in seemingly with her and her Lover but really with Capoleon she on all hands reaped a Golden Harvest The other whom we will call Lisarda whether it were that she naturally abhorr'd such double dealing or whether she feared that her report as seemingly it would should be the occasion of blood and mischief or were it that she took compassion of her Mistress having a horrour of deceiving her who had so freely imparted a Secret to her which imported no less than her life or were it which is most likely that the strongest Adamant attracted this Iron and that the double recompences of Alcimus and Vannoza joyned to the gale of promises which filled the Sail of her desires out-weighed the sparing Salaries of this penurious Old Man Which soever of all these was the Motive she wholly quitted Capoleon's Party for the other of her Mistresses and firmly embarqued her self amongst all her Enterprizes But yet she acting with more fear and mistrust of Capoleon than her Compassion did she saw not without Envy the ordinary disease of feeble spirits her self less intrusted and imploved than Adriana was who behaved and suited her self with greater boldness and complaisance to all the impudent designs of her infamous Mistress Under the guidance of these two Stars nothing seemed impossible nay nothing difficult to these two criminal Lovers who raising Trophies to their Conquests seemed to lead Capoleon's Honour in triumph and thought themselves so far raised above fear as Thunder and Tempests should for the future be below their fact But as Holophernes dulled with the vapours of the Wine and Sisera with the Milk which they had plentifully sucked in were unsuspectedly transmitted from the Brother to the Sister from sleep to death by Judith and Jael so our impenitent Offenders securely sleeping amidst the stupefactions of their sins did insensibly draw on their punishment by those means which they thought most conducing to a pleasant and delicious life They now proceeded with impunity and seemed now to glory in their crime and colour their unlawful passion with some image of reason Capoleon advertised by Adriana of all their wickedness and mockeries kept his patience that like Vulcan he might take them at his ease and have his turn to laugh at their Tragical success Imagine but what flegme the enraged Capoleon must have to qualifie so much choler and how dexterously he retired to make a greater leap and deferr'd his vengeance to execute it the more severely all the Letters which passed through Adriana's hands were communicated to him by which he understood all the motions of this unhappy Cabal Oft-times overcome with rage and fury he was on the point of breaking out into a bloody execution but whether he thought the fruit not yet ripe enough whether he were not sufficiently assured of his men who were to assist him in the action whether God the hour of Chastisement of these execrable offenders being not yet come withheld the arm of this Executioner of his Justice by moderating the Motions of his heart to attend the repentance of the Criminals or whether after the Mode of that Nation he staid for an opportunity to envelope in one common ruine all those whom he thought Accomplices in this fact However it were he was restrained by some secret cause till one day the measure of the sins of these Sacrilegious Adulterers being now arrived to the height after having provided himself of all things necessary both of Men and Arms he pretended to take a Journey about an Important Affair which he had at a Town three days Journey from home Now consider by what follows whether it were not high time for Capoleon to come to a conclusion seeing the extream madness and last point of Villany to which these two Criminals were now arrived for as it is common with Adulterers and especially those who have Sacriledge annexed to draw on Homicides in the train of their