THE LOVES AND ADVENTVRES OF CLERIO LOZIA A ROMANCE Written Originally in French and Translated into English By Fra. Kirkman Gent. LONDON Printed by J. M. and are to be sold by William Ley at his shop at Pauls Chain 1652. TO His much honored Friend WIL. BEESTON Esq Worthy Sir DIvers times in my hearing to the admiration of the whol Company you have most judiciously discoursed of Poësie which is the cause J presume to chuse you for my Patron and Protector who are the happiest interpretor and judg of our English Stage-Playes this Nation ever produced which the Poets and Actors of these times cannot without ingratitude deny for J have heard the chief and most ingenious of them acknowledg their Fames Profits essentially sprung from your instructions judgment and fancy J am vers'd in Forraign tongues and subscribe to your opinion that no Nation ever could glory in such Playes as the most learned and incomperable Johnson the copious Shakespear or the ingenuous Fletcher compos'd but J beleeve the French for amorous language admirable invention high atchievements honorable Loves inimitable constancy are not to be equalled and that no Nation yeilds better Arguments for Romance Playes the onely Poëms now desired then the French Therefore and for you have I translated the Adventures and Loves of Clerio and Lozia and I doubt not though they fail to receive incouragement from you your son Mr George Beeston whom knowing men conclude a hopeful inheritor of his Fathers rare ingenuity may receive them with a gracious allowance And sir though the work be not entirely happy in your construction for my years are not arrived to knowledg to add where the Author wants matter or to lessen where he abounds yet you will find much newness in the Story worthy an excellent Poët to insoul it for the Stage where it wil receive ful perfection equal to the ambition of The constant admirer of your Excellent Parts Fra. Kirkman jun. THE Loves and Adventures OF CLERIO and LOZIA THe Fortune of Man is an obscure riddle which Time only the most Orthodox Interpretor of the Heavens of the Gods and Nature can truely explicate My Ladies The Fortune of the Famous Clerio and the fair Lozia whose lives and loves are both delineated in this insuing History I present to you with this perswasion That as a pleasant Land-skip it will yeild some small contentment to your mindes and recreation unto your Spirits In the Description of whose variable conditions I will first begin with Clerio whom with my pen I will portrait before your eyes as our chiefest and choisest Judges This young Gentleman from his youth being indued with courage and induced by curiositie went abroad into Forraign parts to see the customs of those places to add by industry some higher degree of perfection to that which Nature amorous of him had so freely bestowed upon him After he had seen Germany and the Eastern Countries he stayed three whole years in Italy where he was accounted so perfect and exact in all sorts of exercises becoming a Gentleman that it was impossible to finde any man more perfectly accomplished then himself This Merchant for honour having made a successfull adventure returned home to the Court full fraught both with glory and renown which durst I say so was empty during his absence of the greatest part of its splendor who was not like a star of the first Magnitude shining brightly in the firmament thereof but as a glorious Sun whose presence brought a day and whose absence a night upon the Horizon of the Court which did not only inlighten it but sliding from the eyes it crept into the hearts of the fairest Ladies the Court afforded who at the first sight of so lovely a wonder were wonderfully enamored of him Clerio not setling the circumference of his desires in the center of any of their hearts which were so desirous of his but as a triumphant Conqueror carried al theirs captives into Spain leaving them behind to bemoan their misery in so happy yet unhappy affections where also he murthered a Million of innocent lovers by an over-rigid disdain of their beauties but they were soon avenged on him for this rigorous dealing for not long after he became exceedingly in love with the Princess Lozia who was young rich and very beautiful equally adorned with pulchritude in her face and perfection of parts in her mind And although Clerio was a gentleman but worth fifteen thousand Francs of revenue yet did he undertake to serve so noble a Princess who since the decease of her Father and Mother was under the Gardianship of the Duke of Blanfort her Uncle who intended to match her to the Duke of Doudonne his Son and for fear any other should espouse her he watched her so narrowly above the common custome of the Country both with Argo's and with Lynk's eyes and kept her within so straitned limits that if Clerio could by chance see her yet could by no means come to speak to her Fill'd with love and despair he did so diligently inquire and carefully pursue his desired wishes that at last he came to know her Lady of honour which was named Vincia and was a French Gentlewoman the death of whose husband did so exceedingly afflict her that she was constrained to banish her self by a voluntary exile into Spain Clerio being very joyfull of this news procured the sight of her whom at the first view he knew not although she was his neer Kinswoman because he had not lately seen her and which was the strangest she was acoutred after the Spanish fashion but in fine after a thousand hearty congratulations and welcome imbracements they promised to owe each the other so much service and affection that under this pretext Clerio visited Vincia every day not so much because his respects unto his Cousin did oblige him thereto as he was drawn thither by the attractive loadstone of lovely Lozia The Moon had six severall times received its borrowed light before Clerio durst discover unto his Cousin that affection which he bore to her Mistress but at last not being able to resist those fervent flames that the eyes those two glorious Suns of that famous Princess had kindled in his heart meeting one day with Vincia in the Garden thus aboarded her Vincia do not you know seeing my countenance altered and my face so wan that there is also a change in my heart which appeareth thus upon my brows and that if you were very quick sighted and had but a window to open into my heart you would see the Characters of love so deeply ingraven thereon that the very perusall of them would sufficiently acquaint you with my dolefull condition Vincia being overtaken with sorrow and impatience interrupted his discourse saying Clerio I never had so sensible an apprehension of any afflictions as of that which your dolorous speeches have caused in my heart alas whence hath so sudden a change as since yesterday happened
dispute with you who have already desprived me insensibly of the use of my Reason and with a dolorous sigh and a doleful voyce which were evident symptomes of an afflicted spirit she breathed out this subsequent discourse O delightfull liberty which hitherto I have stedfastly preserved from inthraldome to so many puissant Princes who have used their utmost power to captivate it to their love and merits A liberty no more a liberty but a shamfull slave unto a thousand foolish passions to thee I profess I am exceedingly obliged for keeping me so long a commander over the most noble Spirits of this age whom I have tirannically wounded And thou ô divine Reason now I come to take my farewell of thee permit me to give thee thy last embraces and that having been so familiarly conjoyned I should now shed some tears of sorrow for so long and irksome a separation Farewell But Reason interrupted her farther Soliloquies saying Fair Princess what is it that thus you perplex your self about intend you to ruinate that honour and renown which hath so long a time run in the veines of your predecessors consider that if you wholly devote your self being yet but a child to the government of your unbridled passions you will become one of the meanest shrubs that hath grown in so great a garden you will take the crown of glory off your head and lay it in the dust and then no doubt if it be quickly buried by the tomb-stone of reproach you will spoyle the glorious garland of your honour by giving the choysest flower away to so mean a person and darken your glorious Sun by conjunction with so small a star what if the wound in your reputation should not be utterly incureable yet at least your credit wil be accounted little in the worlds valuation by reason of the remainder of the scar Cannot you who are a peerless Princess both in goods and goodness elect some mighty Monarch and in stead of a base degeneration by your foolish love into a lower stock ascend by a lawful and honorable marriage into a more noble family Shall not you have more contentment in the being a mother unto a Noble Prince who will carry upon his front the lively image both of your mighty husband and your self which will give cause of hope and expectation to your servants who will be much loved of his friends and more feared of his Foes then to be matched unto a low not to say vile person who will be equally slighted by your friends and scorned by your enemies The charm must needs be very great which hath thrown all your senses into such a swoon that they are insensible of their pains and foresee not their inevitable perdition 't is neither the slight account that you make of me nor the fear of my unhappiness which doth provoke me to such complaints but rather a charitable sympathizing with you in your unavoideable misery for whilst I see you such an exile from your self tormented with such stinging griefs I can do no less but do this my last Office as the safest remedie to recall your Spirit from out of that mortall dream of deceitfull conceits upon which you ruminate and raife you from the thoughts of foolish fancies to settle your affections upon more honourable objects Lozia knew her fault but knew not where to finde a remedie to amend it full both with love and with grief she vented out these sayings My loving friend these worthy and weightie councels would be sufficient to turn me from fome light and little love but not from so passionate affection which hath already gained so absolute a conquest over me that I account all imployments whatsoever as unprofitable except those which give me occasions and oppertunities to meditate upon so defireable a subject Thou proposest nothing to me but vanitie glorie ambition and oftentation which are lent out but for use and taken away in an instant leaving nothing behind but a sting of sorrow because they cannot be regained This life is so short yet so fil'd with thorns that they are miserable indeed who to fill their chests with gold and their persons with praise empty their eyes of rest and their spirits of sweet contentment fill their heads with stinging cares to get and their hearts with fears to lose what may be obtained It is a great default in fathers duty to seek for such marriages for their children where there is a great stock of money but none of love wedding them rather to the portion then the person and not give them liberty to chose where they like and settle their loves upon worthy though not wealthy persons satisfaction riseth not out of superfluitie neither discontent from want I can be well contented with an empty purse together with the full enjoyment of my beloved Clerio and had rather be a servant unto him then the Queen of the most flourishing Kingdome in the world rather had I be a subject to him then have the world subject unto me What are Dukedomes and such things to me which can neither satiate my desires nor content my spirit my Clerio his deserts will be a sufficient dowry to which I will add some chains of precious Margarites and peeces of pure gold which will maintain my love and I in any part of the world in which we will live as Princes though not Princes over it It is an act of a weak judgment not to content it self with less then the surplusage of what it hath which should be willingly spared in the time of adversitie but used at pleasure for contentations only in the calm of prosperity Had not I better voluntarily deprive my self of the possession of a Principality more absolutely to command the Virtues of Clerio then keeping the possession of mine estate should by a bloody War be shamefully driven out of all as Craesus was by Cyrus This poor Princess was so enamored with Clerio that doubting of her succesfull issue she resolved rather to lose her estate then her servant more would she have said to Vincia had not one come to call her to Supper The Princess hearing the voyce of her Lady of Honour framed her countenance as well as she could to its wonted colour lest she should perceive it change supposing that Clerio was in love with Vintia which might be a remora to her prosperous proceedings But she did it not so cunningly but Vincia read in her face what grieved her heart as dissembling goes not long undiscovered before a discerning eye and frequent familiarity advantaged likewise her knowledg of the change of her Soul by that alteration that appeared in her face Vincia very joyful that her affairs did go forward without any impediment did not as yet make any shew of her design to her Mistress for fear of displeasing her but seeing her disquietness was likely to continue not being as a Land-flood for the present swelling over the banks but a constant spring which
would never cease to cast out its water till it were dryed up by the enjoyment of her long'd for Clerio She as curious to know her distemper and cautious of her health would demand the cause of such a sudden change All supper time she did so narrowly eye her actions that she was past all peradventure perswaded that she was in a love-sick Paroxism Then began the Princess to revive her spirit with the exhilerating thoughts of excellent Clerio then again is there ingendred in her brest carnest desires for his sweet enjoyments with affectionate sighings for that long'd for opportunity whose lives were no sooner began by love but they were strangled in the womb by fear and discretion Her humid eyes firmly fastened downward her trembling body her unaccustomed startlings and disquietness her asking for one thing in stead of another would have sufficiently evidenced her perplexity of spirit to any body which would have added the least suspicion to an intelligent mind As soon as Vincia was gone from table she wrote this Letter unto her Cousin CLERIO Your merits and your wining behavior are such powerful Orators for you to your Mistress that I hope you will not need your Cousins help I have many things to acquaint you withall but those I had rather speak then write thereby to be honored with your company I fear this unexpected joy may be as great an impediment to your rest as your accustomed afflictions were Clerio read the Letter but did not make an appearance of any change lest Lozia's Page should discover any thing thereby After he had prayed him to stay till he returned he went into his Closet and wrote this ensuing Answer I should did not I repose my whole confidence in your gracious endeavors and anchor my hopes upon the assurance of your constancy be tossed up and down as a Ship is upon the waves in the expectation of so great a happiness as you promise to me and if many others had not received the like courtesies and favours from Fortune as I now do wait for I should doubt of the obtaining of my desires I have desired nothing more then the fruition of the fair Lozia as witnesseth my superlative passions to be her servant which I have much desired but yet have despaired hitherto to encompass because she is the most fair and famous Princess in the world Lozia sustaining her spirit with hope to finish her begun love would often turn her eyes towards the Chamber of her servant upon what errand you know well enough but missing the view of Clerio she saw her Page with a Letter in his hand coming from his house to whom she presently sent one of her Gentlewomen for the Letter and the Page before he had spoken to any body Presently the Gentlewoman went and conducted the Page unto Lozia who was alone in a Gallery Lozia demanded who had sent him to Clerio his house he not knowing any thing freely told her that Vincia had sent him with a Letter to her Cousin and he had there the Answer to it She without any more ado opened the Letter and read it and not dreaming of any thing less then the ardent affections that were in Clerio towards her at the sight of such unexpected tydings she was ravished almost between love and the extasie of joy Wherefore she commanded the Page to go his way that he might not discover that sudden and cheerful alteration that was easily legible in her countenance Who hath seen the Sun after he hath for a season retired from us return and with his glittering beams dissipate all those mists clouds and vapors that did obscure our light and with a fair day give us also so fructifying a warmth that the Earth which did before in his absence bring forth nothing but brambles and thistles by the profitable approach thereof is made the mother of a fruitful Harvest he might have also seen the Sun of his Love disperse those griefs and sorrows and discloud those gloomy days and enliven a number of sweet delights and joyful raptures which before were stifled with immoderate fears This fair Princess after she had read and kissed the Letter an hundred and an hundred times uttered forth these words drawn from the bottom of her affected heart If those Mortals are esteemed most happy and most in Heavens favor which are most gratified with divine Benedictions there is no Princess in the world which at this time can truly say she is more happy then my self who am so highly honored by the most perfect and peerless Gentleman in all the world whose vertues and person I reverence admire and adore altogether as much as the love and knowledg that I already have of his unmatchable merits do oblige me O sweet Letter I cannot but kiss thee once again seeing thou hast been touched with the hands of my Clerio let me behold thee with admiration and affection seeing I find in thee so perfect pleasure let me read thee that I might retain in memory those selected words of thine which assure me of thy love my noble Clerio O mine head open the flood-gates of thy tears and expend them upon the excess of thy present extasie of joy O mine heart still contribute more fuel unto the flames of thine affections and make as it were a bonefire therein in token of triumph for thy conquest over so loving an enemy Lozia being a little recovered from this sweet and sudden transportation call'd Vincia and took her by the hand and told her her heart saying You know the affection which I have born to you ever since you entered into my service and those desires I have had to do you any courtesie but your not having occasion nor I opportunity to oblige you must not be objected against my natural disposition which inclineth me to engage indifferently all sorts of persons but principally those to whom I am deeply indebted as I am to you And if the sensibility of so many faithful services which I have received from you should not draw me to an acknowledgment of your affections yet mine own honour and reputation and your deserts would freely force me to procure your advancement I know that you having a sufficient estate have made choyce of me among many others who have desired you not for any inconveniency in your affairs but affection unto my welfare I am not ignorant of your quality nor those perfections wherewith you are endowed which is the reason I have permitted you so familiar a society with my self above all others which are near me There is not need of any other testimony of the truth thereof then your own knowledg But if it fall out to my misfortune to have more need of your assistance then you have of my protection will you therefore Vincia cease to continue your former favours and upon the utterance of these words embraced her and poured from her beautiful eyes a pearly showre of tears upon the bosom of
Vincia and especially in one thing wherein I am constrained to come to you for counsel and to bind you by the strictest Oaths that can be made to speak the truth Is it true that Clerio is so deeply drowned with sorrow and so fervent and passionate for the love he bears me as appears by the Letter he hath wrote to you which I have subtilly gotten from the Page which carried him yours Madam said Vincia I conceive none should ever dissemble before Princes and conceal any thing that they should discover much less should I to you to whom I am a servant as well as subject The truth is this Clerio hath for six Moneths been exceedingly amorous of you and hath not acquainted me therewith till within this day or two Your Greatness caused in me as great apprehension of his misfortune as did his violent passion pity in me for his pains But seeing that his good fortune hath granted him so much honour from you as to prevent the extream desires he hath for you with the inestimable good of your favour My Mistress I prostrate my self at your feet humbly to adore you for the honour you bestow upon us protesting to you that seeing you judg us worthy of it we will return you as much obedience and humble service as if I durst say it that you shall be more happy in the mean condition of your Clerio who will all his life long believe that his Summum Bonum dependeth upon your gracious aspects then if you had made a more ambitious election This noble Princess impatient to see her at her feet interrupted her discourse in the middle to raise her up and embracing of her said Vincia my dear Cousin it is not me to whom you give this duty a posture inconsistent with mine honour to tolerate but from henceforth ought you to live with me as the most kind and benign Cousin that you have in the world I so much honor the merits both of you and your Cousin Clerio that I will prefer any one that belongeth to him before the nearest relations I have Let us forget all those passed vanities full of pricking thorns the Roses whereof are gathered by frequent familiarity I perceive my self to be so perfectly happy by the love of you and your Cousin that I desire we may consult of a way to conceal it from the watchful eyes of so many that spy after my actions I know your spirit is able to find out some fit invention Vincia answered her Mistress it is very late and I am afraid that you may get some sickness or at least your folks which are so suspicious may doubt something to see us talk so long together I pray Mistress go to bed for this business deserveth to be dreamt of a little to morrow Clerio shall come see you who being of a very quick apprehension and advantaged by the knowledge of his exceeding happiness in your favour will soon finde out a way to continue us all in so happy a condition Lozia approving her counsel went to bed presently and when her gentlewomen were withdrawn and she alone with Vincia she began to delight her self with the imagination of her new lover after some love talk Vincia asked her if she wished Clerio was there she answered her smilingly Yes Vincia provided you are there and what you would be afraid of him No but I should be asham'd Vincia seeing the childishness of this child began to laugh and begged of her to sleep sleep had ho sooner with the night of her eye-lids obscured those two fair Suns her eyes but a pleasant dream crept into her head and lodged there till the morning Her Soul half ravished with these sweet delights had continued longer in this amorous extasie had not Vincia call'd her out of it Her eyes at their opening as a clear and ruddy morning gave light to a thousand beauties and graces that Heaven and Nature had with their own hands made appear upon her face Her gently languag'd mouth enriched with a red Coral opened it self to disclose the dream to Vincia and perfuming with her odoriferous breath all the air of the chamber at the same time discovers in her mouth the richest and most Orient Pearls and Treasures that the East can shew which would equally enamor and astonish all that saw it This fair Princess began thus Vincia thou hast done me a displeasure to deprive me of those sweet enjoyments my sleep afforded me and that thou mayst give me thine advice concerning such wonderful things I will recount them to thee as well as I can Vincia I was no sooner asleep but methoughts I was in a great Forrest of Cedars and Palm-trees where there was the most delightfullest Walks that can be desired the warbling noise of a thousand Nightingales did make it so sweetly resound that a Lute whose strings are dextrously fingered by some experienced Nymph could not make such pleasant Harmony Constantly keeping in the midst of these delights at last I met with an Hermit who came thither to gather Herbs and Roots for his refection according to his custom for forty Years This good father after he had courteously saluted me accoasted me and asked me if I desired to behold those most remarkable things that were near his Cave beleeve Curiosity had constrained me to go walk there and setting himself before prayed me to follow him we had not gone two hundred paces but at the end of the Wood we met with one of the fairest Dens that could possibly be made built by two Lovers so sumptuously in sweet solitariness to enjoy their amorous desires Entering within the door we saw two white Torches lighted that the Souls of these two Lovers carried in their hands the better to guide all those that came thither At the entry there was a Fountain enriched with all sorts of workmanship that either Art or Nature could afford it Venus pourtrayed in white Marble excellently imbossed with a thousand hearts under her feet as a Trophy of her Beauty and in her hand she had a cup of Agate out of which she poureth pure water to wash the hands of those which do come in Passing further these Torches lighting us we came into the Cave it self at the entrance whereof was another great Fountain fifteen paces square covered all over with pure Marble in which by an incredible Art was made swim an Hart a couple of Dogs and two Hunters following them all of Marble into which this water did pleasantly inspire motion and voyce on each side was a delightful Forrest in boss of Marble too filled with Birds so livelily painted that they would have been taken for living whose melodious singing was so sweet that Art excelled Nature it self A thousand Characters Trophies of Love and Sonnets were read of these faithful Lovers written with their own hands and indited by their passions upon the Pillar and all the angles of this spacious Cave Six Nymphs did sing so pleasantly
whose misery will come soon enough without the addition of wings And then putting her hand into her pocket she drew out a purse with two hundred Crowns which she prepared for him and when she had put it into his hands to whom he said the residue of his help was at her service when opportunity should afford him means to effect it and whatsoever happened to Lozia to make her unhappy yet her whole life should be exceeding contentful though Fortune took away the first as his yet Vertue did preserve the other In this instant Vincin heard some one tread in the Gallery which made them all silent to hear who it was Vincia told her it was the Duke of Blanfort and the Prince of Doudonne Lozia run presently to meet them and Vincia conveyed the Magician out another way and came instantly to her Mistress to accompany her The Duke of Blanfort meeting her saluted her who was yet undressed almost at dinner time Mounsier quoth Lozia you will account me very lazy to be yet undressed but the reason is because I have been busied all the morning in looking upon the thing in my Cabinet but if it please you to dine here I will be ready by that time you have walked two or three turns in the Garden I am willing my Niece And after he had took his leave of her he went down Lozia gave him Vincia to discourse with till she was ready and took one of her Gentlewomen to help her attire her self The Prince of Doudonne her Cousin and servant stayed with her who would one while hold the Looking-glass then would give her a Ribbon thinking by such amorous services to render himself more acceptable to Lozia hoping that she in conclusion would affect him not as a loving Cousin but a passionate Mistress But poor Lovers how do I bemoan you who forced either by destiny or inclination do desperately affect your Mistress who do publiquely honour you when in their Souls they disesteem and contemn you as sordid servants they sweetly shew the Roses and Lillies in their hands and and faces though far from their hearts to those that do respect them and secretly give the Thorns to those that serve them that after a thousand griefs and wounds and sorrows they may make your patiences condign with such passions and that your blood may serve for a sacrifice to their parts and graces which conquer the greatest Conquerors and captivate them to their pleasure who have undergone the greatest perils They have eyes full of sweet alluring glances and charms to subjugate the most famous spirits whose hope dependeth not upon your deserts but on their sickle humors This is that in which the condition of Lovers is miserable For he is more happy which meeteth with his Mistresses inclination then he which is filled both with grace and goodness Poor blind people you accept of the discretion not the love that forceth them to tender you this duty You are possessed with a folly next to madness to imagine that this Sex which is the weaker hath more Reason and Judgment then you which ordinarily honour ill-favored and foolish persons and pass by both amiable and honorable Objects Do not you think that they are often troubled with fantastical humors which carry them beyond the bounds of Reason and even the knowledg of the condition and deserts of those who desire to serve them to follow their own fancies in the loving and esteeming those who are unworthy and slighting of those which are deserving If they are indifferent fair and rich a thousand folks as well as you will endeavor to acquire their good grace and this cannot be without a thousand unquiet and vexing thoughts If they are already engaged you may as soon subdue a Kingdom as conquer them and well leave your designs to Courtiers who knowing not where to imploy their time better then in familiar frequentation of Ladies companies which is the last and the best file to polish the noblest spirits may at their leasure and pleasure stretch out these amorous strings to their own contentment and sustain all defeats and denyals with incredible patience I speak to those which serve Ladies as the Prince of Doudonne and many others did the Princess Lozia to gain her love and were all repulsed to augment the honour of a Gentleman who was raised upon their rejections and served himself with their disdain as a Trophy to honour his triumph for his conquest over the beauty and graces of his Mistress who as soon as she was accoutred not according to her custom but her haste with a white Damask Gown lined with Sattin and a Peticoat of Silver Cloth and so went down to her Uncle who was discoursing to Vincia concerning the design he had to wed his daughter to her Mistress and intreated her to assist him therein knowing how prevalent she was with her he promised her money means love affections profit pleasure and what not and would have persued his discourse but that the sweet voyce of his Neice did interrupt him This unparallel'd Princess in beauty and grace did with a smiling face desire the Duke of Blanfort to go to dinner and excused her self for making him stay so long Her Uncle did find her so courteous that he said Nature hath made you so amiable and perfectly beauteous that I find you more gracefully arrayed with your graces and beauties then any other can be with the most rich Stuffs and Orient Pearls of the East I wonder not if your merits and beauty do acquire so many gallant servants and if the knowledg you have thereof maketh you so disdainfully handle them and I protest you have reason for it for I conceive that the most meritorious Prince in Europe cannot deserve your honorable grace unless that doth more voluntarily resign it self then any ways merit it Sir quoth the lovely Lozia you begin dinner with deriding me and spare me no more then strangers I do possess these deserts and beauties rather from your gallant application then from the gift of Nature for which I have more cause to complain then I am beholding to your complement which hath attributed that unto me which Nature hath denyed me I do beleeve my portion rather then my person and my means then my merits do oblige so many to honour me with their love who sometime praising and commending me for the defects in my Soul and my parts which rather provoke me to bewail my misery then foolishly affect their hiperbolical expressions And if I should be so beautiful as they would make me beleeve the apprehension of the loss of that little I have moveth me with as much displeasure as the possession can give me content Seeing the Table covered they altered their discourse and receiving from a Gentleman her servant a Towel offered the end thereof to her Uncle who refused to wash first and therefore both did together and after they had a little disputed about the
were gone out after that manner and then they began their Dance in seven or eight different airs with a world of Characters and Figures interlaced which caused them all to admire As it was done Mars and Love fought and after a world of blows Mars perceiving his eyes wounded with a bolt which Love had secretly shot at him in stead of being daunted by so sweet a wound was rather madded and vexed that he should be thus vanquished and so fell on so courageously that coming something near him he snatched away Cupids band which blindfolding his eyes caused him to strike a many fruitless blows But Love recovering his sight the loss of which had made him so often fail took one of the sharpest arrows in his Quiver and shot it so directly that piercing the very heart of his enemy he gained his honour and his life The gods which were upon the Heavens of these Clouds quitted their divine Seat and came presently to put the band again about Cupids eyes lest this divine Archer should see to dispeople the Heaven of gods the Earth of men and that sharing in the Empire of Pluto they should dwell together in those obscure shades Jupiter as the greatest and also the most incensed of them all spake thus unto them Mortals who not being able to comprehend and dive into the reasons of divine actions offend us often by your rebellious ignorance That it may not happen to you to fall any more into this disobedience know that Love having taken its original from Heaven doth yet retain some sparks of Divinity among you earthly humanes and that you are not to give him battel but obedience If we bind up his eyes it is not to blind his sight but only make him a little more submissive and that we may set him free when any one is so foolish as to disdain and contemn so great an infant as to equal his strength to his These words ended the gods returned into their proper places and Jupiter to demonstrate his anger suddenly did eclipse the glorious Sun and in stead of light gave the company a sweet showre of rain with hail of Pearls and Sugar-plums Whilest the company was busie in the gathering of them this superbe Vanquisher receiving the Trophies and the Laurels that Mars had upon his head went to sacrifice them with his heart and liberty to the beauty and graces of the fair Lozia and kneeling unto this sacred Deity after he had kissed the border of her Gown spake as followeth Fair Princess I give unto your eyes all the honor of this glorious Conquest to whom I consecrate these Laurels as an acknowledgment of this favour and these Mirtles as the first homage after my new subjection If their sweet flames have inflamed my Soul with an amorous heat their dainty darts serving themselves with my hands have utterly extinguished it in mine enemies I hope this Mask hath not given you any mistrust of my love and beleeve what I have untertaken hath been to deceive this peoples eyes and not yours my fair Princess To which I wish that the violent flames that I have received therefrom these six moneths and the entertainment which I shall keep always ready for your service may be as continual as is my countenance which carrieth both my love and heart upon the front thereof as the most weighty testimony of the truth of my words And saying so he plucked aside his Mask to shew Lozia his face and put it on presently again for fear of being seen of others The Lord and Ladies supposed it to be some Country Gentleman and his companions thought he would tell her some tale and so without suspicion he deceived both the one and the other and continued his discourse saying Fair Princess whose Sun may it never set permit me this day to call you the Mistress of my desires and all my wills together that I may have the honour to receive the honorable quality of the most humble servant of yours which I shall esteem as great a favour as your beauty your graces and merits making you the noblest Paragon of all others give me desires and knowledg of so great an happiness swearing to you by the faithfullest oaths a constant Lover can make unto his Mistress That I will rather dye then disobey the least of your Commandments and shall honour nothing more then the flames of love and passion which your beautiful eyes have kindled in my brest If love transformed into your face animateth my heart with the sweet heat of your eyes with an impatient desire to serve you the vertue under the sweet object of your merits much more ravishing by its admirable attractions takes away with a thousand delectable transportations my will from my will to leave me nothing but the inclination to honour you for ever as the Soul of my Soul which giveth motion to my life by that of mine affection Fair goddess were I to write thy delicate loves I would not invoke as did the ancient Apollo for his divine heat but would come unto thy fair eyes to animate so effectually my spirit and my pen that my discourse may be so gravely sweet that it may delight the most delicate ears of those which read it and so learnedly grave that the most elevated spirits may highly esteem it who seek rather for the steeled points of weapons to satisfie their minds then the quaint and alluring sweetness of fair words to please their ears which is the outward bark of all unto generous spirits Princess I finish my words to give beginning to those which you shall say to your servant Clerio saith Lozia your noble spirit and your gallantry are sufficient not only to oblige Lozia but the greatest and graciousest Queen in the world to honour your love and merits I perceive my self so happy in the amorous assurance of your affections that I ten times more esteem the possession of your good grace then of twenty Realms A Lady which sate somewhat near her not dreaming of any thing less then of these Loves came nearer to hear their discourse to whom Lozia breaking her discourse said without any appearance of alteration Madam you do me a pleasure to come hither for this hour hath this same Maskman talked to me in Italian and I know not what he saith therefore I pray you be mine Interpreter and you will ease me of a hard task This Lozia said purposely that Clerio who speak perfect Italian might quckly deride her for her broken language and drive her away for shame He being of a quick apprehension knew his Mistresses intentions and so began to tell an hundred jests which so amazed this poor woman that she knew not what to do but that others did come to participate of the pleasure which Clerio seeing stole away and unmasked himself and went to his Cousin with whom he discoursed till the Dance was ended of the contentment he had received by the honour Lozia did
theirs Clerio live in the belief of this that as you are the first so the most faithfully loved by Lozia in all the world Fortune yesterday gave you this ring on your finger and Lozia gives you to day her heart and her pourtraiture which is in this Box as an earnest of her true affection wear it for my sake I desire you And giving it him gave him likewise a kiss which did so amorously conjoyn their lips and loves that from thence their souls and hearts were knit in an insolvable knot This is not all quoth Vincia Mistress to give such happy beginnings to so firm amity if withall you do seek out some ways to continue it you know that all the rest in the house depend upon your Uncle and I only solely upon you who will rather dye then expend my life upon any other service and so necessary is our diligence in the pursuing of our affairs for to preserve my life and safety with my Cousins that our neglect to regard them will ruine us I know if you will both be advised by me how to actuate this present business as to finish it to our contentment Those which are passionate if they are prudent must be governed by the directions and dictates of those which are exempted from it Clerio you must as I have formerly hinted to you continue your simulation of loving me I am neither so old nor ill-favour'd yet that none will credit it that every time you are discoursing with my Mistress they may think it is to employ her in our loves You must first collogue with the Duke of Blanfort and the Prince of Doudonne because it is needful that they should be first gulled who are most interested in the business And my Mistress you must not make any shew of sorrow and if you cannot altogether impede its entrance into your heart yet let wisdom so curb your natural inclination that you discover it not unto your familiars which that you may the better perform from henceforth make as if you loved reading which will be an excuse for that little alteration any one shall perceive and still have a little book in your pocket which take out and read when you cannot rid your self of those troublesom thoughts which break in upon you and for my part leave me to act that without the advantage of instructions Lozia and Clerio concluded of this as their securest course and intended to pursue it and so received reciprocal assurances of each others affections with abundance of joy and contentment That as those Lands which are nearest to the Sun have their fruits soonest ripe and ready to gather so these two faithful Lovers equally passionate did in the midst of their ardent flames approach so near to love that by the vertue of its vicinity like the Orange trees they put forth in few days the leaves flowers and fruit Hence-forward did this superstitious Lover so dote upon his Mistress that he kissed her hands now a thousand times which before he durst scarce look on Consider noble Knights that Ladies sometimes cause you to pass beyond the narrow limits of your first condition honorably to enlarge them Knights I beseech you once again as a testimony of your birth and breeding to respect Ladies and think not you have less honour for the honorable performance of this duty then you should have if it were freely tendered by the greatest of the world They are capable of making you more glorious and renowned then all your own perfections and deservings There is nothing in the world so perswasive as them who with their words and actions do inchant our wills and deprive our senses of their proper function and with their eyes give life and motion to our spirits and desires We are the true Chameleons of their humors who receive in our hearts all the various and vive impressions of so fair and divine objects These are those glorious Suns whose splendid light our eyes cannot any more remove then can our hearts the heat thereof which they receive according to the disposition of our minds and not the strength of these divine and amorous beams If there is any spirit so agitated that it never could see the dawning of a glorious day nor a sparkle of light as a pledg of future Sun-shine such must rather weep for and complain of then any ways desire and expect a favorable aspect from these frowning malign Planets Briefly he who knoweth not this gallantry is accounted more fit for a Clown then a Courtier and a simple Sot rather then a Noble man Thus far are we indebted to them they give grace to our actions eloquence to our words a day to the obscure shadows of our spirits a Soul to the hearts and spirits of those which have none Fair Ladies little but little indeed gods upon Earth who are the absolutest Commanders of men tyrannize not over Nobility who alone knoweth and esteemeth your merits Live so discreetly with them that none may ever go discontented from your company It is no graceful thing to make your selves pensive on purpose to excuse that sottish humor wherewith you are troubled in the company of those whose society you do not affect All those whom you see are neither your Husbands nor your Cousins that you should impatiently bear their imperfections Cannot you courteously entertain a Gentleman which will be gone within an hour without a discovery of rancor or malice or at least contempt Do not make signs to your consorts nor brabble and tattle with them without sufficient reason whilest any Gentleman is in discourse with you which will make him think you do deride him rather if he be a Sot then if a sweet-behavior'd and ingenuous Gentleman for foolish persons will expound all texts to their own disadvantage and thence proceed stinging words and netling speeches which well-bred women should avoyd as a dangerous Precipice which always bringeth fears or hurts Frequentation with foolish company is a contagious air that will infect the most perfect reputation and taint the most unstained honour this gives the first motion of life to the calumnies and opprobrious speeches which active men fruitful mothers and well-fed nurses do bring forth and hatch up Thus fair Ladies to invite these unhappy accidents I set your souls and hearts at liberty from inthraldom to any but honor all and above all the Nobility who draw their swords in your service who is of the same quality as you your Sex only making the difference and those whose spirit and parts you do sometime misprise do often enter into your service advantaged by their means only If fire hath neither the quality nor the name of fire so long as it is contained in the stone which conceives it your vertue likewise is not truly vertue because of the secret possession thereof but because of the publique cognizance that there is had of it Men have not the nature of gods they know not the cause
her hands to kiss which was an extraordinary favor Don Allio departed and went to joyn his forces to those of Clerio's who went before to meet him and offered him the Command of his Army but he thanked him for this honor and said to him I give my self and friends to you then Clerio embraced him and told him that he was his servant and Clerio asked him if he would lead the Rear or the Van guard Don Allio desiring to fight often desired to have the conduct of the Vanguard Then Clerio set his Army in battaile aray and went to besiege the Duke of Blanfort who was in one of the best places in the Country which the deceased father of Lozia had caused to be fortified as the most assured place of retreat The fortifications of this place were so strong that it was in a manner accounted impregnable When Clerio aproached the Duke of Blanfort issued forth but was forced to retire but in the end he was so blocked up by sea and by land that it was impossible for a Lackey to come forth and they had some quotidian bickerings with the enemy and the Duke of Blanfort in the town did much damage to Clerio's Army by his pieces of Cannon but Clerio did timely prevent it with much diligence notwithstanding all his endeavors he continued in the siege so long that in the mean time the Queen of England sent a great Army into Spain which landed without any repulse and the King being surprifed lost many towns before he could fortifie one The Captain General of the English Army sent two Lords to Clerio to treat of peace with him or at leastwise a Nutrality At the same time the King of Spain sent to his Cousin Lozia to aid him with her forces Clerio gave the charge of the Siege to Don Allio and went to his fair Mistriss to ask counsel of her after their accustomed imbracement Clerio said to her Mistriss I remember that I have read a Fable which says that whilest two great Mastiffs fought for a piece of flesh a little dog got it away You may here see the like occasion that whilest these two puissant enemys fight with one another it will be an easie matter for me to triumph over them both they both call me to their aid but this siege serveth as a fair excuse which I think best if you think good to continue until opportunity serve to execute our design and in the mean time to remain as Neuter I know well Clerio said Lozia that you have a courage and understanding admirable go forward with your design Lozia and what means she can procure shall assist your ambition even to the end Having said thus and having tears in her eyes she further said Clerio my friend I pray write to me often to the end that being deprived of your presence I have your spirit continually before my eyes She then called the Gentle man who came from the King of Spain and said to him Sir go with the General of my army and treat with him for a young Maid as I am cannot understand the mannaging of affaires and assure the King that I am his most humble Servant This Gentleman took leave of Lozia and went to the Army with Clerio who so soon as he was arived writ this Letter to the King of Spain Sir YOur Majestie hath not a more affectionate servant in this Kingdome then I am who never had so much sorrow for any thing as that I cannot testifie it in so good an occasion so soon as I desire my honour the good of my Mistress do so much depend on this Siege which I cannot raise unless I lose one or the other But soon after the taking of this town which will be suddainly as I think I have commandment to go finde your Majesty to render to you all the good services I shall be worthy of Yours CLERIO When the King had read this excuse he was angred nevertheless the hope which he had of soon having this aid did extreamly content him In the mean time the English lost no time for he surprised places he besieged good towns became Master of the field and sent new Embassadors to Clerio with fair and rich presents to desire his Company Clerio returned them this answer Sirs I cannot honestly fight against my King this duty hinders me to enter into League with you but however I will not refuse the affection of so great a Queen as is yours you see that six thousand men are not sufficient to take this town and with the twenty thousand more which remain I shall but incommodate your Army Nevertheless I promise you not to remove any thing until I have taken it which will not be suddainly and then I shall see what I have to do These men being thus satisfied returned to their General who was very glad that Clerio shewed himself to be indifferent In this time Clerio's Lacquies never left carrying of Letters between him and Lozia and if they all gave consolation to her minde yet one proved unfortunate for a bullet of a Cannon flew against the window of Clerio's Chamber and killed a Gentleman whose bones gave Clerio such a blow that he fel down for dead as he was a writing to his Mistress The Lacquey seeing what had happened took the letter half written and carried it with this sad news to Lozia who being wholly transported to see this Paper took it of him and before she had read it being impatient asked of him if Clerio were dead who answered yes at this word she fell down in a swoon Vincia presently sent away the Lacquey and took so great care of her Mistress that she brought her to her sences in a quarter of an hour when she read these words which Clerio had written FAir Princess you could not more honorably renderme slave to a thousand and a thousand amorous wishes of the beauties and graces which Heaven and Nature hath bestowed on your soul and Visige then in making me Leader of so fair an army who having the honor to command it am deprived a thousand times in a day of the honor to obey you So full of displeasure and love Fair one I die At these last words she cryed out Oh disastrous Lozia then being interrupted with a violent grief she lost her speech which love soon made rendition of unto her Lozia no but the miserablest living seeing that in a moment thou hast lost the possession of the gallantest Cavaleer in the world whom Nature had formed the most perfect and most reserved that she had to render an amorous marvel of Virtue and Honor Clerio dare I any more in this misfortune pronounce this fair name which I religiously honor who in his life time hath given me a thousand sweet deaths and in his honorable deaths a thousand unhappy lives O my eyes weep until your cold tears of grief extinguish with my life their deadly flames which have sometimes served