but that malicious breath soon vanishes and leaves no stain behind it so I hope your jealousie will do the like it will vanish and leave no doubt behind it Perfection I hope you are not angry with me for telling you or for being my self troubled at what was reported Solid No for innocency is never concern'd it always lives in peace and quiet having a satisfaction in it self wherefore reports only siezes on the guilty arresting them with an angry turbulency Perfection But perchance you may be angry for my jealousie Solid No for jealousie expresses love as being affraid to lose what it desires to keep Perfection Then I hope you do not repent the love you have placed on me Solid Heaven may sooner repent of doing good than I repent my love and choyce Perfection Dear Mistress my mind is so full of joy since it is clear'd of suspition and assured of your love as my thoughts doth fly about my brain like birds in Sun-shine weather Ex. Scene 24. Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo and Madamosel Doltche NObilissimo Sweet Lady will you give me leave to be your Servant Doltche I wish I were a Mistress worthy of your service Nobiliss. There is no man shall admire more your beauty and wit nor be more diligent to your youth nor shall honour your merits and love your vertue more than I Doltche Indeed I had rather be honoured for my merit than for my birth for my breeding than for my wealth and I had rather be beloved for my vertue than admired for my beauty and I had rather be commended for my silence than for my wit Nobilissimo It were pity you should bury your great wit in silence Doltche My wit is according to my years tender and young Nobilissimo Your wit Lady may entertain the silver haired Sages Doltche No surely for neither my years nor my wit are arrived to that degree as to make a good companion having had neither the experience of time nor practice of speech for I have been almost a mute hitherto and a stranger to the VVorld Nobilissimo The VVorld is wide and to travel in it is both dangerous and difficult wherefore you being young should take a guide to protect and direct you and there is no Guide nor Protector so honourable and safe as a Husband what think you of marriage Doltche Marriage and my thoughts live at that distance as they seldom meet Nobilissimo VVhy I hope you have not made a vow to live a single life Doltche No for the Laws of Morality and Divinity are chains which doth sufficiently restrain mankind and tyes him into a narrow compasse and though I will not break those chaining Laws to get lose and so become lawless yet I will not tye nature harder with vain opinions and unnecessary vows than she is tyed already Nobilissimo You shall need no Tutour for you cannot only instruct your self but teach others Doltche Alas my brain is like unplanted ground and my words like wild fruits or like unprofitable grain that yields no nourishing food to the understanding Wherefore if I should offer to speak my speech must be to ask questions not to give instructions Nobilissimo Certainly Lady nature did study the architectour of your form and drew from herself the purest extractions for your mind and your soul the essence or spirits of those extractions or rather you appear to me a miracle something above nature to be so young and beautifull and yet so vertuous witty and wise grac'd with such civil behaviour for many a grave beard would have wagg'd with talking lesse sense with more words Doltche Youth and age is subject to errors one for want of time to get experience the other through long time wherein they lose their memory Nobilissimo Pray let me get your affections and then I shall not lose my hopes of a vertuous Lady to my wife Ex. Scene 25. Enter Madamosel Caprisia and Monsieur Generosity GEnerosity Lady are you walking studiously alone may I not be thought rude if I should ask what your studies are Capris. I am studying how some studies for pain some pleasure some dangers some quarrels some to be wicked some to be learned some to be ignorant some to be foolish some to be famous but few to be wise Generosity Who studies to be wicked Capris. Thieves Murtherers Adulterers Lyers and Extortioners Generosity Who studies to be learned Capris. Linguists Generosity Who studies to be ignorant Capris. Divines Generosity Who studies quarrels Capris. Lawyers Generosity Who studies dangers Capris. Souldiers Generosity VVho studies to be fools Capris. Buffoones Generosity VVho studies fame Capris. Poets Generosity VVho studies pleasure Capris. Epicures Generosity VVho studies pain Capris. Epicures Generosity Do Epicures study both for pain and pleasure Capris. Yes for they that surfeit with pleasure must endure pain and Epicures studies the height of pleasure which no sooner injoyed but pain follows Generosity VVho studies to be wise Capris. They that study Temperance Prudence Fortitude and Justice Generosity And what study you Capris. I study how I may avoid the company of mankind also to be quit of your Lordships presence He alone She goeth out Generosity She is so handsome no humour can ill become her Ex. Scene 26. Enter Monsieur Profession and Monsieur Comorade Comorade Thom. Give me leave to rejoyce with thee for the resurrection of thy heart that was kill'd with thy Mistresses cruelty and buried in her constancy Profession VVell well make your self merry Comorade But prethee in what plight is thy heart I doubt it is lean weak and pale and in a puling condition lying in the Grave of thy Mistresses inconstancy Profession Faith I cannot tell the good Angel that brought into life can give a better account of it than I can Comorade VVhere shall I seek this good Angel amongst the effeminate or masculine Sex For I suppose it is an Angel that is of one Sex although I have heard Angels are of neither Sex but prethee of which shall I inquire Profession Of the divine Sex and the divinest of her Sex Comorade You may as well bid me inquire of that which is not to be found for every particular man that is a Servant to any particular of these angelical creatures will prefer his own Mistress to be the divinest and so the most absolutest Profession All men that sees my Mistresse and doth not adore her as the only She is damned in ignorance and condemned to perpetual blindnesse Comorade Say you so then I will not see her for fear I should be one of the damned and therefore I will give over that design as the search of her and go to a Tavern and drink the good health of thy heart and leave the inquiry after it and if you will go with me so Profession I cannot without the breach of gratitude deny thy kindnesse wherefore I will bear thee company Ex. Scene 27. Enter Doctor Freedom and Madamosel Doltche Madamosel Solid Madamosel Volante
several way Also her life was like a Monarchy where Reason as sole King did govern al her actions which actions like as Loyal Subjects did obey those Laws which Reason decreed Also her life was like Ioves Mansions high as being placed above this worldly Globe from whence her Soul looked down on duller earth mixt not but viewed poor mortals here below thus was her life above the world because her life prized not the Trifles here Perchance this Noble Company will think I have said too much and vainly thus to speak That Fathers should not praise their Children so Because that from their Root and Stock did grow Why may not Roots boast if their Fruites be good As hindering worth in their own Flesh and blood Shall they dissemble to say they are naught Because they are their own sure that 's a fault Unpardonable as being a lye that 's told Detracting lyes the baser lyes I hold Neither can strangers tell their life and worth Nor such affections have to set them forth As Parents have or those that 's neer of Kin Virtuous Partiality sure that 's no sin And virtue though she be lovliest when undrest Yet she is pleas'd when well she is exprest But Oh! my words have spent my stock of breath And Life 's commanded forth by powerful Death When I am dead this company I pray The last rites done me by my daughter lay And as her soul did with the Muses flye To imitate her in her a verse I dye He falls back in his Chair and is dead Mr. Comfort Noble Friends you heard his request which was to be buryed in his daughters grave and whilst you show your charity in laying the Corps of his daughter in the grave I will carry out his body and put it into a Coffin and then lay him in the same grave The Company said Do so Goes out with the body The whilst the Virgins take up the Lady Sanspareiles Herse and whilst they are putting it into the grave this Song following was sung Tender Virgins as your Birth Put her gently in the earth What of Moral or Divine Here is lapt up in this shrine Rhetorick dumb Philosophy Both those arts with her did dye And grieved Poets cannot choose But lament for her their Muse When she was putting into the Grave this Song following was sung Her Tomb her Monument her Name Beyond an Epitaph her Fame Death be not proud imbracing more Now than in all thy reign before Boasting thy Triumphs since thou must But justly glory in her dust Let thy Dart rust and lay it by For after her none 's sit to dye After this her Peal is Rung on Lutes by Musicians And the Company goes out Scene 23. A Tomb is thrust on the Stage then the Lord de l'Amour enters LOrd de l'Amour Now I am free no hinderance to my own Tragedy He goeth to the Tomb This Tomb her sacred Body doth contain He draws his Sword then he kneels down by the Tomb and then prayes Dear Soul pardon my crimes to thee they were crimes of ignorance not malice Sweet gentle Spirits flye me not but stay And let my Spirits walk thy Spirits way You lov'd me once your Love in death renew And may our soules be as two Lovers true Our Blood 's the Bonds our wounds the Seals to Print Our new Contract and Death a witnesse in 't He takes his Sword Had I as many lives as Poors in skin He sacrifize them for my ignorant sin As he speaks he falls upon his Sword Enter his Friend Master Charity He seeing him lye all in blood almost dead runs to him and heaves him up Friend I did fear this which made me follow him but I am come too late to save his life O my Lord speak if you can Lord de l'Amour Friend lay me in this Tomb by my affianced Wife for though I did not usher her to the grave I will wait after her Dyes EPILOGUE Noble Spectators now you have seen this Play And heard it speak let 's hear what now you say But various judgements various sentences give Yet we do hope you 'l sentence it may live But not in Prison be condemn'd to lye Nor whipt with censure rather let it dye Here on this Stage and see the Funeral Rites Which is to put out all the Candle lights And in the grave of darknesse let it rest In peace and quiet and not molest The harmlesse soul which hopes Mercury may Unto the Elizium fields it safe convey But if you sentence life the Muses will Attend it up unto Parnassus Hill If so pray let your hands here in this place Clap it as an applause the triumph grace FINIS These Verses the Lord Marquesse writ This Song the Lord Marquesse writ This Song was writ by the Lord Marquesse This Song was writ by the Lord Marquesse of New-castle The first Part of the Lady Contemplation The Actors Names Lord Title Lord Courtship Sir Experience Traveller Sir Fancy Poet Sir Golden Riches Sir Effeminate Lovely Sir Vain Complement Sir Humphrey Interruption Mr. Adviser Doctor Practise and other Gentlemen Tom Purveyer Roger Farmer Old Humanity Servants and others The Lady Contemplation The Lady Conversation The Lady Visitant The Lady Ward The Lady Virtue Lady Amorous Mrs. Troublesome Mrs. Governesse the Lady Virtues Attendant Nurse Careful Nurse to Lady Ward Maudlin Huswife Roger Farmers wife Mall Mean-bred the daughter Nan Scape-all Maid to the Lady Virtue The first Part of the Lady Contemplation ACT I. Scene 1. Enter the Lady Contemplation and the Lady Visitant VIsitant What Lady Contemplation musing by your self alone Contemplation Lady Visitant I would you had been ten miles off rather than to have broken my Contemplation Visitant Why are you so godly to be so serious at your Devotion Contemplation No faith they were Contemplations that pleas'd me better than Devotion could have done for those that contemplate of Heaven must have death in their mind Visitant O no for there is no Death in Heaven to disturb the joyes thereof Contemp. But we must dye before we come to receive those joyes and the terrifying thoughts of Death take away the pleasing thoughts of Heaven Visitant Prethee let me know those pleasing thoughts Contemplation I did imagine my self such a Beauty as Nature never made the like both for Person Favour and Colour and a Wit answerable to my Beauty and my Breeding and Behaviour answerable to both my Wisdome excelling all And if I were not thus as I say yet that every one should think I were so for opinion creates more and perfecter Beauties than Nature doth And then that a great powerful Monarch such a one as Alexander or Caesar fell desperately in love with me seeing but my Picture which was sent all about the world yet my Picture I did imagine was to my disadvantage not flattering me any wayes yet this Prince to be inamoured with this shadow for the substance sake Then Love perswaded
the Air of Conversation but when continually kept close in the Chamber of Contemplation they will be apt to fall into many several diseases as melancholy Opinions and extravagant Fancies which may over-heat the minde and sire the thoughts wherefore Lady let me give you Counsel Lady Contempl. What Counsel would you give me as a Lawyer or Physician Sir Fan. Poet As a Physician Lady Contempl. For the Body or the Minde Sir Fan. Poet For the Minde Lady Contempl. The Physicians for the Minde are Divine Sir Fan. Poet No the best physicians for the Minde are Poets Lady Contempl. How will you prove that Sir Fan. Poet By Example and Skill for when the Minde is raging mad Poets with gentle perswasions in smooth numbers and soft musick cure it and when the Mind is despairing Poets draw hopes into numbers which beats out the doubtful Foe And for Example David with his Poetical Inspirations and Harpsical harmonious Musick allay'd the ill Spirit and raging passion of Saul for Poets take from the sweet Spring of Nature an Oil of Love and from Heaven the Balsom of Mercy and pour them through golden numbers and pipes of wit into the fester'd wounds of despair when oft-times Divines in stead of supple Oil pour in corroding Vitriol and in stead of healing Balsoms pour in burning Sulphure which are terrifying threats and fearful menaces wherefore Lady let me advise you as a Poetical Physician to keep your minde cool and your thoughts in equal temper wherefore in order thereto when the minde is wrapt in the mantle of Imagination if it finds it self very hot therewith let it lay that mantle by and bathe it self in the fresh clear pure Rivers of Discourse Lady Contempl. By your favour Sir for the most part the Mind becomes hotter with the motion of the tongue than the mantle of Imagination for when the tongue hath liberty it runs wildly about and draggs the minde after it and rather than I will have my minded dragg'd and hurried about by my unruly tongue which will neither endure the bit of Reason nor the bridle of Discretion but runs beyond all sense I will tye up my tongue with the cords of silence in the stable of the mouth and pull down the Port-cullis of the teeth before it and shut the doors of my lips upon it Thus shall it be treble lock'd and kept with the Key of Judgment and the Authority of Prudence Exeunt Scene 20. Enter the Lady Conversation and a Grave Matron LAdy Conversat. Did you hear him say he had layn with me Matron Yes Madam Lady Conversat. O the wicked base vain-glory of men to bely the pure chastity of a woman But surely he did not plainly express so much in clear words as by nods winks shrugs dark sentences or broken discourses Matron He said plainly he had layn with you in an unlawful manner Lady Conversat. Fates assist me in revenge for it is no dishonour to be reveng'd of a base person that hath maliciously slander'd me or vain-gloriously injur'd me Matron Revenge is against the Laws of Honour Madam Lady Conversat. It may be against the Tenets of some particular Religion or religious Opinions But a noble revenge is the ground or foundation of Heroick Honour Matron But what do you call a Noble Revenge Lady Conversat. First to be an open Enemy as to declare the enmity next to declare their endeavour to prosecute to the utmost of their power either their Enemies Estate Liberty and Life whereas a base Revenger is to dissemble in professing they have forgotten and forgiven their injury and pardon'd their Enemy yet under-hand and disguisedly endeavour to do their Enemy a mischief Not but an honourable Revenger may choose their time for executing their revenge but they must declare they will be revenged before they execute their revenge and let their Enemies stand upon their Guard Matron But a revengeful woman is not good Lady Conversat. Why not as well as a revengeful man For why may not a woman revenge her scandaliz'd honour as well as a man Is there any reason why it should be a dishonour for a man to pass by a disgrace and for a woman to revenge her disgrace Is it not as great a blemish to the honour of a woman to be said to be unchaste as for a man to be said to be a Coward And shall a woman only sit and weep over her lost honour whilest a man fights to regain his And shall it be thought no dishonour for a man to pistol or at least bastonade another man for an injury or an affront receiv'd and a fault for a woman to do or cause to be done the like Must women only sit down with foolish patience and endure wrong when men may execute revenge with fury These were both injustice and an unjust act of Education to our Sex as also it would be an unjust sentence not only from men but from the Gods since neither Gods nor men will suffer injury wrong or dishonour without revenge But if Gods Men and Education should be so unjust to our Sex yet there is no Reason in Nature we should be so unjust to our selves But for my part as I am constant to an honest friend and can easily forgive an honourable Enemy so I can never forgive a malicious Foe nor forget a vain-glorious bragging fool or false slandring knave but will persecute them to the utmost of my power and the weight of my revenge should be according to the pressure of my injury or dishonour Matron But let me tell you Madam those that brag are seldome believ'd and there is none that believe these vain bragging Ranters for it 's well known that all Ranters are idle deboyst persons and do usually belye the most Honourable and Chaste Ladies for which all worthy persons hate them and account them so base as they will shun their companies no man of honour will come near them unless it be to beat them But if you appear to the world as concerned you may raise those doubts which would never have been raised had you took no notice thereof Lady Conversat. Indeed Disputes raise doubts wherefore I will not bring it into a Dispute but take your Counsel and take no notice of it Matron You will do vvisely Lady Exeunt Scene 21. Enter Sir Golden Riches to Poor Virtue SIr Gold Rich. I vvish my tongue as smooth as oil to make my vvords as soft as Air that they may spread about your heart there intermixd with your affection Poor Virtue Words cannot win my love no more than wealth nor is my heart subject to those infections Sir Gold Rich. I will build thee Palaces of burnish'd gold where thou shalt be worshipd whilest thou livest and when thou diest I will erect a Monument more famous than Mausolus's was Poor Verrtue My Virtue shall build me a Monument far richer and more lasting for the materials with which it shall be built shall be try'd Chastity as
give away what they have Portrait Talk not of womens souls for men say we have no souls only beautiful bodies Bon' Esprit But beautiful bodies are a degree of souls and in my Conscience please men better than our souls could do Superbe If anything prove we have no souls it is in letting men make such fools of us Matron Come come Ladies by Womens Actions they prove to have more or at least better souls than Men have for the best parts of the Soul are Love and Generosity and Women have more of either than Men have Grave Temperance The truth is that although Reason and Understanding are the largest parts of the Soul yet Love and Generosity are the delicatest parts of the Soul Enter Monsieur Heroick Heroick Goodmorrow young Ladies you appear this morning like sweet-smelling flowers some as Roses others as Lillies others as Violets Pinks and Primroses and your associating in a company together is like as a Posie which Love hath bound up into one Bucket which is a fit Present for the Gods Bon' Esprit If you would have us presented to the Gods we must die for we are never preferred to them but by Death wherefore we must be given to Death before the Gods can have us they may hear us whilest we live and we may hear of them but partake of neither until we die Heroick O that were pity Ladies for there is nothing more sad in Nature than when Death parts a witty Soul from a young beautiful Body before the one hath built Monuments of Memory and the other gained Trophies of Lovers And as for the Gods you will be as acceptable to them when you are old as when you are young Ambition As nothing could make me so sad as untimely death of Youth Wit and Beauty so there is nothing could anger me more as for Fortune to frown upon Merit or not to advance it according to its worth or to bury it in Oblivion hindring the passage into Fames Palace Temperance For my part I believe Death will neither call nor come for you before his natural time if you do not send Surfet and Excess to call him to take you away Pleasure Indeed Mankind seem as if they were Deaths Factors for they do strive to ingross and destroy all other creatures or at least as many as they can and not only other creatures but their own kinde as in Wars and not only their own kinde but themselves in idle and unprofitable Adventures and gluttonous Excess thus as I said they are Deaths Factors buying sickness with health hoping to gain pleasure and to make delight their profit but they are cozen'd for they only get Diseases Pains and Aches Matron Pray Ladies mark how far you are gone from the Text of your discourse as from sweet-smelling flowers to stinking carrion which are dead carkasses from a lively good-morrow to a dead farewel from mirth to sadness Portrait You say right Mother Matron wherefore pray leave off this discourse for I hate to hear off death for the thoughts of death affright me so as I can take no pleasure of life when he is in my mind Heroick Why Ladies the thought of death is more than death himself for thoughts are sensible or imaginable things but Death himself is neither sensible nor imaginable Portrait Therefore I would not think of him and when I am dead I am past thinking Superbe Let us discourse of something that is more pleasing than Death Heroick Then by my consent Ladies your discourse shall be of Venus and Cupid which are Themes more delightful to your Sex and most contrary to death for Love is hot and Death is cold Love illuminates life and Death quenches life out Bon Esprit Let me tell you Sir Love is as apt to burn life out as Death is to quench it out and I had rather die with cold than be burnt with heat for cold kills with a dead numness when heat kills with a raging madnesse Pleasure But Lovers are tormented with fears and doubts which cause cold sweats fainting of spirits trembling of limbs it breaks the sweet repose of sleep disturbs the quiet peace of the mind vades the colours of beauty nips or blasts the blossome of youth making Lovers look withered before Time hath made them old Heroick It is a signe Lady you have been in love you give so right a Character of a Lover Pleasure No there requires not a self-experience to find out a Lovers trouble for the outward Actions will declare their inward grief and passion Superbe Certainly she is in love but conceals it she keeps it as a Secret Pleasure Love cannot be secret the passion divulges it self Portrait Confess Are you not in love Faction Nay she will never confess a Secret unless you tell her one for those that tell no secrets shall hear none Portrait O yes for a Secret is like a child in the womb for though it be concealed for a time it will come out at last only some comes out easier than others and some before their time Ambition Nay whensoever a secret comes out it 's untimely Faction Secrets are like Coy Ducks when one is flown out it draws out others and returns with many Pleasure Then like a Coy Duck I will try if I can draw all you after me Exit Pleasure Bon' Esprit She shall see she is like a Duck which is like a Goose and we like her for we will follow her Exeunt Scene 8. Enter Monsiuer Tranquillities Peace and his Man TRanquill Peace Have you been at Monsieur Busie's house to tell him I desire to speak with him Servant Yes I have been at his house Tranquill. Peace And will he come Servant Faith Sir the house is too unwieldy to stir and Monsieur Busie is too Active to stay at home but the truth is I went at four a clock this morning because I would be sure to find him and his servants and their Master was flown out of his nest an hour before Then I told his servants I would come about dinner-time and they laugh'd and ask'd me what time was that I said I supposed at the usual time about Noon or an hour before or after but they said their Master never kept any certain time of eating being full of business Then I asked them what time that would be when he would come home to bed They answered that his time of Resting was as uncertain as his time of Eating Then I pray'd them to tell me at what time they thought I might find him at home They said it was impossible for them to guess for that their Master did move from place to place as swift as thoughts move in the Mind Then I pray'd them that they would tell him when he came home that you would desire to speak with him They told me they would but they did verily believe he would forget to come to you by reason his head was so full of busie thoughts or thoughts of
at least VVanton That 's all one for Cupid wounds Age as well as youth Ease But I had thought that an old womans heart had been so hard Love could not have enter'd VVanton Old Mother Matron proves it otherwise for her Heart is as tender as the youngest Heart of us all Idle While I am young I will be a Lover because I will not be a Fool when I am old Ease That 's the way to be a Fool whilst you are young and a Lover when you are old VVanton No that is to be a Curtezan whilst she is young and a Bawd when she is old Idle Nay faith when I can no longer traffique for my self I will never trade for any other VVanton Covetousness will tempt your reverent Age Exeunt Scene 9. Enter Ambition Pleasure Faction Portrait Bon' Esprit Superbe Wanton Ease Excess PLeasure How shall we entertain our time Portrait Let us sit and chuse Husbands Bon' Esprit What in the Ashes Portrait No in our Speeches Faction Content Ambition Begin but let your Maids Lady Pleasure sit and chuse Husbands with us Pleasure If I were to chuse a Husband I would chuse a man that was honourably born nobly bred wisely taught civilly behav'd also I would have him to speak rationally wittily and eloquently to act prudently valiantly justly and temperately to live freely magnificently and peaceably I would have him honourably born because I would not have him a Boor by Nature which is surly rude grumbling and miserable I would have him nobly bred because I would not have him a Shark a Cheat or a Sycophant I would have him wisely taught because I would not have him an ignorant fool nor a pedantical fool I would have him civilly-behav'd to please my Eyes I would have him to speak rational witty and eloquent to please my Ears I would have him valiant to defend his Country to guard his Family and to maintain his Honour I would have him prudent to foresee misfortunes and to provide for the future that I may never want for the present I would have him temperate lest Excess should ruine his Fortune Health or Esteem I would have him just because others should be just to him to live freely as not to be inslaved to live magnificently for to be respected to live peaceably to avoid brawleries And such a man as this will be kind to his Wife loving to his Children bountiful to his Servants courteous to his Friends civil to Strangers faithful to his Trust and just to his Promise Superbe If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a man that were Rich honour'd with Titles and were Powerful I would have him Rich because I would have him live plentifully to feed luxuriously to be adorn'd gloriously I would have him to have Titles of Honour because I would take place of my Neighbours to have the chief place at a Feast and to have the first and choisest meats offer'd me I would have him Powerful to oppose my Opposers to insult over my Enemies and to neglect my Friends which if I be poor and helpless they will do me Thus I shall be honour'd by my Superiours crouch'd to by Inferiours flatter'd by Sycophants brag'd of by my Friends obey'd by my Servants respected by my Acquaintance envy'd by my Neighbours sought to by my Enemies Thus I might advance my Friends punish my Enemies tread down my Superiours inslave my Inferiours insult over my Foes and inthrone my self Ambition If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a man whom all other men are slaves to and he mine And what can I desire more than to be absolute Bon' Esprit If I were to choose I would choose a man for a Husband that were an honest and plain-dealing man patient and wise that I might neither be deceiv'd by his falshood nor troubl'd with his quarrels nor vex'd with his follies Faction If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a subtil crafty Knave that can cheat an honest Fool with which cheats I can entertain my time like those that go to see Juglers play tricks VVanton If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a man that were blind deaf and dumb that he might neither trouble me with his impertinent Questions nor see my indiscreet Actions nor hear my foolish Discourses Thus I may say what I will and never be crost do what I will and never be hinder'd go where I will and never be watch'd come when I will and never be examin'd entertain whom I will and never be rebuk'd Thus I may Govern as I will Spend as I will Spare as I will without Controlment Portrait If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a man that were industrious thrifty and thriving for the pleasure is not so much to enjoy as getting like those that are hungry have more pleasure in eating their meat than when their stomacks are full Excess If I were to choose a Husband I would choose a man that were a busie Fool which would continually bring me fresh although false News for his busie mind which fills his Head with Projects which Projects will feed my excessive Ambition with his high Designs although improbable and set my thoughts at work with his several Atchievments although there is no leading-path therein But howsoever this will furnish my Imagination imploy my Thoughts please my Curiosity and entertain my time with Varieties wherein and wherewith I may pass my life with fine Phantasms or like a fine Dream Pleasure It is a sign you love sleep excessively well so as you would have your life pass as a dream Excess Why Madam sleeping is the lifes Elizium and our dreams the pastime therein and our beds are our living graves to the greatest part of our life and most are best pleased therein for it gives rest to our wearied and tired limbs it revives the weak and fainting spirits it eases the sick and pained it pacifies the grieved it humours the melancholy it cherishes age it nourishes youth it begets warmth it cools heat it restores health it prolongs life and keeps the mind in peace Ease I will not choose but vvish and pray which is if ever I marry I pray Jove that I may out-live my Husband Bon' Esprit O fie Women pray that their Husbands may out-live them Ease If they do in my Conscience they dissemble but howsoever I will never pray so for I perceive when men are Widowers they are more hasty to marry again than Batchellors are and the last love blots out the first and I should be sorry to be blotted out Ambition But if men do marry after they have buried their first Wife yet perchance they will not love their second Wife so well as the first Ease I know not that but yet to the outward view I perceive a man seems to forget his first Wife in the presence of his second Wife Faction By your favour a second Wife puts a Husband in remembrance of