of her brother had alwaies remained with them and borne them faithfull company In the meanetime Dorilas seeing the month expired within which time he had promised unto the King to bring in Lisander returned to Paris with an intent to combate Lucidon himself according to the offer which had been made and accepted But when he came there finding that his sonne had prevented him and was yet in his bedde wounded and beleeving that it would be thought to be done by his advice to excuse him from that wherein he had formerly ingaged himselfe he was no lesse angry with him for fighting than sorry for his wounds yet understanding that hee was carried to Clarvall hee went to see him and from thence writ unto Otranta newes of this accident Shee hearing that her sonne was wounded and lay at Argires house neere Paris came thither with Calista as speedily as shee could and as secretly as was possible I neede not relate the complements the entertainments and words which passed amongst the Ladies especially with Calista neither could I expresse them Only I will say that having found Lidian a little better than they thought their sorrow was turned into joy seeing themselves together although it was not perfect For besides Lidians wounds the absence of Alcidon Lisander his quarrels and Calista's processe were sharpe thornes amongst these roses In the meane time such as were equally friends unto Lidian and Lucidon seeing they were recovered of their wounds and seeing the small cause for them to remaine enemies there having no words of injury passed betweene them and their wounds being equal they determined to make them friends knowing that with the service which they should doe unto the two Knights in agreeing them they should also please the King which did desire it The honour the friends and the noblenesse of their proceeding had imprinted more affection than the blood which they had drawn one from the other had left hatred wherefore they were easily disposed to agreement provided that in their agreement there might be no speech held of Lisander who was the first cause of their dispute but when they should see one the other which must bee of necessity because Lidian durst not come unto Paris Lucidon was brought unto Clarvall where first embracing Dorilas and after Lidian he was ravished with the beauty of the company especially when his eyes beheld Calista who blinded him with so violent a passion of love that from a mortall enemy which not long since he was of her whole house he was now become a most affectionate servant He was young rich well favoured comely of personage of an excellent spirit and a great courage charmes which might prevaile much with women which neverthelesse were not of force with Calista whose heart was ever turned towards Lisander as the Needle is towards the North although at this time his absence and the little newes of him had much offended her Lucidon finding in Calista a minde drowned in sorrow for the death of Cleander and onely as he conceived capable of griefe as well for his death as that she was thereof accused and not yet justified contented himselfe onely to offer her all his service as well in this as in any other neither pretending nor hoping for more recompence than the honour to call himselfe her Knight And so he tooke his leave with his friends returning to Paris more wounded with the arrowes of her eyes than he had beene before by Lidian her brother and no lesse studying which way to gaine her than to destroy Lisander whom all the world knew both to love her and to be beloved by her thinking therby to satisfie both his love and hatred together wherefore the moneth which the King had given for him to come and enter his pardon was no sooner past but Lucidon remonstrated unto his Majesty that his crime heretofore cleere enough was now more than notorious that otherwise hee would never have failed to appeare within the time which was limited for the enjoying his pardon which was procured with so much instance but that Lisander convinced by his conscience fledde the light of the Sunne which discovered him confessing by his flight that hee could neither deny it in justice nor defend it with armes He therefore entreated his Majesty to revoke the pardon given him yeeld unto the shadowes of Cloridon and Chrisantes the contentment of seeing justice done upon their murtherer and if any were found who in his absence would defend him in so evill a cause that hee might be suffered to fight with him and submit his right unto the triall of armes The King taking Lisanders absence as an ill signe ordained that if within three weekes hee came not nor some other for him to fight with Lucidon the pardon which was offered unto him should be void and hee himselfe should be put into the hands of justice Further his Majesty ordained that the combate should bee on horsebacke the combatants armed at all points and in the presence of his Majesty according to the ancient custome of this Kingdome This order comming unto Dorilas his eare he dispatched Lidian away in Poste unto Lisander remaining himselfe at Clarevall expecting newes But being one day at Paris whither hee ordinarily went a little after Lidians departure hee met with two Gascoigne Gentlemen of his acquaintance who came lately out of the country by whom informing himselfe of Lisander no way disguising the trouble of minde that hee had by his absence considering what businesse called him thither they told him that they had left him about a businesse which did well deserve his stay And what businesse said Dorilas can be of such importance unto him that it can make him forget the care which he ought to have of his honour and his life Wee know not said they neither doth he beleeve that his honour doth oblige him to come hither but the cause which detains him there is I think partly because he cannot be here in that safety which he desires and partly for the satisfaction which hee desires to give unto his parents after so long an absence but the true and strongest chaine which tyeth him is the love which hee beares unto a faire Amazon who will not give him so much liberty to runne up and downe in the world as hee hath done Then did they so lively describe Hippolita's vertues and beauties adding the greatnesse of her estate unto her other perfections that Dorilas certainely beleeved it was the onely reason why Lisander was deafe unto his letters and infinitely bewailing that he had sent Lidian unto him hee returned to carry this newes to Calista at Clarvall To tell you the ravage which this newes made in her minde the rage and the fury of her jealousie the despite and the shame she had to see her selfe so despised and deceived by a man who had adored her with submissions and humblenesse as if it had beene to a Deity it is not possible
presently hee heard a noise at the door and turning his head that way he saw a man come into the chamber of the same shape proportion and countenance that his dead Host was who comming unto the chair wherein Cleander sate stood still stedfastly looking him in the face without doing or saying any thing Cleander whose heart was capable of any thing but feare felt neverthelesse an unknowne shivering run thorow all his veines which curdled his blood yet he had the heart to say unto him Good even my Host I was told you were dead So I am answered the Spirit How then come you here answered Cleander I come to tell you that I am killed said hee and withall to intreat you by our ancient acquaintance that you will cause me to be buried you shall finde my body in such a pit under a great heap of stones which have beene cast upon me I doe conjure you once againe to give me buriall Well mine Host answered Cleander to morrow I will cause you to be buried Will you no other thing No said the Spirit and giving him good night retired leaving Cleander more desirous to see day than to sleep yet he was not further troubled all that night The next morning rising very early he sent for the Justice of the place unto whom having recited the vision which he saw not sleeping but waking and before hee went to bed hee led him unto the pit which the Spirit had told him of and finding it full of stones they caused it to be emptied untill they found the body which lay under them easily known to be the old Host every body was astonished at the fact Cleander left the information of the cause unto the Justice and to acquit himselfe of his promise to the Host caused him to bee buried with an honourable service wherein having spent all that day hee resolved to lye that night againe in the chamber Being there alone much about the houre that hee came the night before my Hoste came againe and at his entrance into the chamber hee said God give you a good evening Sir Cleander who could willingly have spared this visitation answered him Good even my Hoste have I not performed my promise Yes Sir answered the Spirit I am now come to thanke you and to tell you that if you please to command me any thing where I goe there is nothing which I can doe for you that I will not doe Friend answered Cleander there is nothing that I have to doe in that countrey which you speake of wherefore God give you Peace and the Rest which you desire The like I wish unto you said the Spirit and so Sir I bid you farewell Farewell my Host said Cleander unto whom these complements began to be troublesome Neverthelesse the spirit being at the doore ready to goe away Cleander called him againe and said unto him Mine Host one word with you The Spirit returning said What is your pleasure Sir I intreat you said Cleander if you have any power where you goe you would oblige mee so farre as to advertise me of my death three dayes before I dye Well answered the Spirit I will doe it if I can Thereupon hee vanished and Cleander presently after going to bed slept till the morning neither he nor any other ever after either hearing or seeing any thing in that Chamber In this time Lisander lying at his sisters house in Burgundy very sicke fell into that weakenesse that hee lost all knowledge and was given over by the Physitians who were ignorant of his disease unto the prayers of the religious Hee had lost both speech and sight and when he recovered either it was onely to see fearefull illusions or speake raving or doe such extravagant actions as never entreâ— into the thought of man Ambrisia bewailing his evill with teares as bitter as the remedy was desperate and seeing the Physitians knew not what to give nor what to doe as one who is accustomed to have recourse unto God when humane helpes faile sent for a Capuchin from a Covent which was neere to exhort him with constancy to give up his life unto him who was the author thereof At her sending two Capuchins came before whom Lisander fell into so grievous a vomiting that among other things which he vomited up at his mouth he cast up Pen-knives Inke-hornes Images of waxe Bracelets of haire Cart-nailes which were not illusions and fained but so reall and true that they yet remaine in the hands of the Capuchins and are kept as perpetuall reliques unto their Covent These good Fathers seeing so wonderfull a Prodigie lifted up their eyes and voices to heaven praying God to have pity upon this Knights soule whose body they thought was so neere an end One of the two who was young and who hid a goodly personage and a beautifull facâ— under this poore habit began to poure forth so many teares that all the standers by no lesse wondred at him than at the unknowne and strange sickenesse of Lisander unto whom seeing him a little recover his spirits hee spake in this manner Lisander my ancient friend seeing it hath pleased God to reduce you into this pitifull estate bee it either to call you to the glory of a second life or to let you see the misery of this pull out of your minde these deceiving thoughts of the World before you bee constrained to leave them and lift your minde unto heaven before you goe thither You shall see that it is the Haven of our Navigation the end of our Course and the true land which hath beene promised by our Father This is a cursed one into which we have beene banished for our sinnes and our bodies are the Prisons where wee are detained If it please God that it bee broken by death and that you bee called from this banishment resolve your selfe freely to the liberty of your soule and unto the glorious returne thereof into the holy city of the heavenly Jerusalem which is the naturall Countrey thereof There shall you bee free from so many travels wherewith you are now enslaved and there shall you no more remember the stormeâ— wherewith you have beene beaten you shall onely there give praise to God that you have avoided them without shipwrack enjoying the soveraigne good in recompence of all your evils and changing the miserable condition of man into the happinesse of Angels Courage then Lisander valiantly meet death in the face whom you have so many times braved in the most perillous hazzards of this life the passage from earth unto heaven is not so terrible nor so painfull as is thought Our Lord hath himselfe plained the way and so disarmed death that hee can neither hurt nor feare those who rest assuredly in his goodnesse Emplore his aide hee neither can nor will refuse any person relying upon him for what can hee refuse unto us having given himselfe for us so much lessening himselfe as to be borne basely to live
wherein he was cloathed and great distance from the place where he had left him contradicted his judgement and made him doubt of what hee saw But the Slave beholding him and being in the like perplexity and doubt could not imagine that this Pilgrime was the same Lisander who foure or five months before had left him in Paris wherefore to cleare his doubt he came unto him then knew him plainly both in face and voice Lisander seeing it was his friend Cleander running to embrace him with teares of joy asked him by what good or evill fortune he was met in a place so remote from his owne and in a habite so differing from his condition Cleander no lesse ravished with the same astonishment and joy asked him the like question The admiration of this meeting ceasing they entred into greater when they told unto one another the accidents which happened unto them Lisander told him how hee had beene sicke and of those strange things which prodigiously hee had vomited at his mouth and how having beene visited by the Capuchins when all hope of life was lost he was knowne by Clarangeus now entred into a religious Order whose conversation together with his owne extreme sickenesse had caused him to make that vow which he had there to pay never once thinking of so happy an encounter Cleander more wondring than before at his friends relation in exchange told him the discourse of his owne journey and the vision of his Hoste and proceeding in telling what you have heard hee also said how being returned from Naples to Rome and from thence to Lygorne the convenience of a small Galley which was bound for Marcels and the desire which hee had to hasten his returne into France made him imbarque himselfe but being upon the coast of Genoa they were encountred by a Pirate of Argire named Marrabut who having quickly taken them being altogether without armes and so without any meanes of resistance was carrying them into Affrick when a storm favourable unto all us Captives cast him into the Gulfe of Barcelon where being retaken by a Galley of Malta which a Spanish Knight commanded they were set at liberty and seeing himselfe so neere unto our Lady of Mount Serrat hee had come thither to give thankes unto God for his deliverance That day and the night following they ate and rested together they and their people for the other Slaves with Cleander were his servants and Lisander had a Gentleman and two Lackeyes with him Cleander enquiring if hee had learnt any newes of Lidian I did perswade my selfe answered Lisander that I should have learnt something of him from Clarangeus but he told mee that hee had neither seene him not heard of him since the time they departed from Olinda I much feare said Cleander that the same despaire which wrought upon Clarangâ—us hath also brought him to the like extremity With this talke sleepe assisted with wearinesse tooke fast hold of them untill it was faire day next morning which was a great feast unto our Lady upon which occasion a number of Pilgrims were come unto the Covent when word was brought them that they should rise if they would heare a Hermite of the mountain preach unto whom in regard of the great fruite of his eloquence it was permitted being otherwayes against the rule which forbid them the better to follow their contemplative life This newes made them rise and goe to the Church where the Sermon was already begun and so great a number of Pilgrims that they could not come neere the Pulpit At the first they perceived this Hermits Eloquence to bee accompanied with great youth and excellent beauty whereby hee no lesse delighted his Auditors eyes with his sight than hee charmed their eares with his words Hee had such action in his speech and such grace in his action that he raised attention with no lesse admiration than silence and although he spake Spanish hee was so neat in his discourse saying nothing which could well be omitted nor omitting any thing which ought to be spoken his words were neither curious nor affected but did properly signifie the things which hee would expresse and were received by long use and custome a rule which whoso followes cannot faile Hee spake not alone from his lippes but from his heart neither did hee alwayes observe one sound in his voice but did carry it according to the diversity of the subject alwayes grave and deliberate full of sentences without staying upon after repetitions for the spending of his houre sometimes more earnest sometimes more gentle but never idely wandring from his matter And as his words were not affected so his countenance was not composed but naturall and without art His discourse was free but orderly in briefe so excellent that our Pilgrims who were borne and nourished in the pure French ayre did wonder that Spaine could bring forth so excellent a spirit but at the end of his Sermon having discovered his head and Lisander considering him more nearely judged by many circumstances but principally by the ayre of his countenance that hee had nothing in him of Spanish but his tongue and leaning unto Cleander said unto him in his eare What thinke you of this Hermite is hee not an able man So good answered Cleander that if hee did appeare to mee but little lesse I would say I knew him but fearing to witnesse my being deceived I dare not speake what I thinke Thinke you what you will answered Lisander but if I did beleeve that Lidian were learned and spake so good Spanish all the world should not perswade mee that hee were any other For Spanish answered Cleander hee speakes it as naturally as French and so he doth Latine and Italian But for the doctrine although he be not so ignorant as the most part of our French Gentlemen who out of an unexcusable sottishnesse doe take it as a glory to bee ignorant of learning yet I doe not thinke him capable of treating of this point whereof this Hermite hath so happily acquitted himselfe Whilest they thus discoursed Lidian being the same Hermit of whom they spake whom despaire whereinto his Mistresse had driven him as well as Clarangeus had brought into this Mountaine comming out of his Pulpet went into a little Chappell and kneeled before the Altar whither Cleander together with Lisander and their servants following the better to cleere the suspicion which they had that he was his brother-in-law after the Hermit had finished his praying said unto him Father wee are here three or foure French slaves who within small time have beene taken captives by the Turkes and have beene delivered yet have lost all that we have I doe therefore pray if you preach againe this day or to morrow to doe us the favour to recommend our poverty unto the charitable almes of your well disposed audience Lidian looking stedfastly upon him who thus spake and seeing Cleander cloathed in those ragges which were no other than