fix her Eyes upon him this was to stir up a devouring flame within her self of which she could not make him feel the least spark not being able to contrive a way to make him the least sign for beside that he neither thought of her nor of any of her Sex much less could he fix his attention on a Woman who had her face all covered with a veil and besides she had those watchful Eyes about her who look't but for an opportunity of her moving her Veil never so little to make report of it to the jealous Ears of him in whom a second Error would be far worse than the first What troubles still destroy her peace How her perplexities encrease Her Soul 's wrackt with inquietudes And sorrows which do never cease How plagues assault sinners in multitudes We have said before that Alcimus his thoughts were not also set upon Vanities but that he had some left for Heaven that he frequented the Church and Sacraments and was very punctual in his Devotions in a neighbouring Monastery There was a certain Sunday in which an eminent Fraternity of the City caused a great Procession to be made the solemnity and Indulgences of which drew a great many people thither to be partakers Our feigned Saint who was very zealous for gaining Pardons failed not to be there with her Mother Alcimus whether by his good or evil Genius I know not was drawn thither It was in this occurrence that Vannoza invented a stratagem as horrible as the end it was designed for was wicked Alcimus in order to prepare himself for the holy Table intending to examine his Conscience and discharge himself of the faults he should find there went to make his confession at the feet of his ordinary Confessor who was a Religious Father and Brother of this Monastery and who then discharged the Office of Confessor in that Solemnity Vannoza whose head was filled with other designs then those that seemed to bring her thither considered attentively all his actions remarking the place where he went to receive the benefit of Absolution intending like a crafty venomous Spider there to pitch her net to trap this innocent fly She goes a little while after as if desirous of the like Medicine from the same holy Physician there accusing her self of some little feigned crimes which made her admired by this holy Personage who judging of the Bird by her note thought he had met a soul made up of purity and perfection Thus did she cast dust or rather seemingly divine rays in the eyes of this good man which dazled them so far as to take her for little less then a Saint and as there is nothing of equal consolation to those that work in God's Vineyard in this troublesome office which of Confessors makes them Martyrs as to meet amongst the thorns of a thousand iniquities with which their ears are daily pestered the roses of some beauteous souls moistned with the dew of grace and which render a sweet savour in Jesus Christ this good Father blessed God and all that was within him did praise his holy name that he had yet reserved to himself in the world such holy souls and faithful servants who instead of bending the knee to Baal and worshipping the calves of Bethel did endeavour to work out their salvation with fear and trembling This crafty penitent finding by the good man's pious praises of heaven for the divine graces which he thought lodged in her Soul that her dissembled holiness was rooted in his belief having humbled her self the best she could with the most artificial words she could invent like bladders puft full of wind which bound the higher the more forcibly they are thrown against the ground so she continuing still a more zealous discourse and painting her self with the colours of a Woman most desirous to please God and preserve her honour sent out a flood of Crocodile-tears mixt with a sigh which seemed to proceed from the bottom of her breast which were followed with these following words Alas Father said she may I without offending God discover to you some of the imperfections of my Neighbour God knows that it is for no ill will I bear him for I desire him as much happiness as my self it is only for the avoiding a grand disastre which hangs over his head and which threatens no less then the loss of his life and the ruine of my honour Daughter answered the Confessor you are not ignorant of the seal of Confession the same thing you think in your mind you may as safely reveal here for whatsoever is buried in the ears of Confessors does never come to a resurrection Nor can I imagine you can think me so ignorant of the grand importance of these holy secrets which cannot be revealed without my losing both life and honour nor so wicked as to outrage my conscience so infinitely by so unworthy an action upon which accounts you may assuredly confide in my fidelity and freely commit this secret to my trust not distrusting the faithfulness to which all Laws both Divine and Humane oblige me I am to the Soul what the Midwife is to the Body aiding it in the discharge of that weight which presseth it down with an insupportable burthen It belongs only to you to judge in what my interposition may be serviceable to your consolation and fear not but you have met in me a true Paternal affection Thus spoke this good old Father whose Dove-like innocency well suited his name which was Simplicius comforting a soul whom he thought to have great need of his assistance Finally this crafty female having thus by her artifices prepossest his spirit spoke with a great earnestness to give the better colour to her dissimulation as followeth Holy Father it is not my distrust of your sufficiency piety or fidelity which causes me to speak these words which I would more willingly have buried in a profound silence the cause of it is the violence I must do to my self to reveal the inconsideration and imprudence I had almost said the impudence of another Notwithstanding which I will discover it since you assure me there is no evil in laying open another's faults provided it be not out of malice or an intention to defame him And moreover necessity constrains me to it a necessity exempt from rules and laws of Ceremony Though Father you are dead to the World and have few Concerns in Secular Companies and Conversations yet do so much of them come under your knowledg by the practice of your Office that you cannot but have heard of the name of Alcimus which has so much advantage in fame above those of other Gentlemen of this City and that you may the better remarque him I am informed that he lives not far from your Monastestery and to point him out plainly with my finger it is the young Gentleman who came not long before me to discharge alas I know not whether as he ought his
pilled rods with which the great Jacob will imprint his colours upon the Lambs of his Sheep-fold So that not contented to instill into their Souls an ordinary and common Piety they bring them by more lofty and elevated paths to the top of an exemplary Devotion making them oftner frequent Spiritual exercises and the holy Sacrament the Spiritual food which nourisheth to a great growth in Vertue such as feed upon it For them these holy Labourers in God's Vineyard have many other ways and holy industries amongst whom the Congregations devoted to particular Servies and under the especial protection of the Blessed Virgin hold a high Rank for there the least Devout are instigated to Devotion by the exemplary Piety of those Professors and the deadest coals take fire at their Charity and flame with Celestial Love in imitation of the great fervency that appears there For there the works of Piety shine the more bright the secreter they are kept and their Piety and Charity on all occasions are ready with their flames to warm all that approach them Our younger Brother remained seven or eight years in this Seminary of Learning and Godliness being every day more accomplisht than other that it seemed he might justly say with David The chiefest Good I seek t' obtain Of him who first did give me Breath Is in his house to spend the same Until he call me thence by Death This young Plant daily grew and spread so fast that it gave great hope of proving at last a stately Tree and one of the top branches of Lebanon He became very expert in Humane Learning and skilful in the Mathematicks the knowledge of Philosophy had long since strengthned and confirmed his Judgment and having saluted the Queen of Sciences and his principal Mistress Divinity he had already been imployed six months in her service amongst an Ecclesiastick order which by their constitution were to be present in their Habits at the Celebrating Divine Service and known by the names of Minors to this he was obliged for the large Revenues he received from the Church where he had made himself sufficiently known by publick disputes in Philosophy and had reaped a great commendation by reading Divinity in the Congregation of our Lady The Fathers of the Company took great joy in his Education receiving infinite satisfaction that they had sown their Doctrine in so good a soil he still proceeded from good to better and the region of his spirit grew white towards a compleat Harvest when on a suddain an impetuous whirlwind an unexpected tempest swept away the fruits of so grand an expectation His Elder Brother had for a great while quitted the Academy for to learn the Arts of Horsemanship Fencing and Dancing require not so long a study as the Sciences he remained in his Fathers house as Heir apparent and led a life honest and modest enough but soft and tender and effeminate according to the custom of great Persons not only of that Nation but most others as if idleness were an inheritance intailed upon Nobility We have nothing to say of him having nothing come to our knowledge pertinent to this History only this that though this Tree brought not much Fruit yet its Leaves being shaken with the winds of but few Passions made little noise thus quietly slipt away the few years which he passed upon Earth till at last he paid his tribute to the Tomb not as the Great Alexander in the middle of his Course but even in the first mounting from his Orient a lingring Fever taking hold of this heavy Melancholy humour which in a short time brought him quietly to his Grave Some say that too violent exercise had shortned his days and that if he had been destined to Letters and a reposed life he might have lived longer but how vain is it to descant upon the Decrees of Divine Providence our weak reasons of that sort being like soft wax before the Sun Proceed ye Parents in this course and found the total of your hopes upon your Eldest but consider how far different the designs of heaven are from terrestrial determinations He who on Earthly glories sets his eyes And fixeth them on splendid vanities Who in proud Palaces rules without fear Of the disasters that attend him there Here let him fix a while and contemplate On the weak frailty of a humane state To express the regrets and sorrows of his Parents is a thing impossible you may a little guess at them by comparing them to those of a laborious Husbandman who after much toilsome labour and wearisom expectation sees an impetuous Tempest destroy all the Fruits of his labour and the means of his subsistence just as it is ready to be reaped for just as they were upon the design of placing richly and honourably in the World this Prop of their house and repository of their hopes by matching him into a Family suitable to theirs in Wealth and Dignity thereby to transmit their Name to posterity they see themselves on a suddain deprived of that happiness which they had so ardently desired so long expected and so vainly hoped But considering how vain it was to lament so irreparable a loss they began to turn their eyes from him that was now nought but dust in the Grave to the other who though alive was buried as to the World thinking now to transplant the care of their Posterity to that onely remaining soil as if they had lived under the old Mosaical Law where the living Brother shall raise up seed to the dead to retrieve his Name and Memory from the Tomb of oblivion It is hard to tell you how the younger Brother received this news for he found his soul so divided and so moved on all sides by several passions that he needed a strong clew of Reason to conduct him out of that Labyrinth He saw himself called to a large Inheritance but having levelled his designs a quite contrary way he was ill troubled to change his intentions seeing himself so far advanced into that Vocation which he had at first supported with as great trouble and reluctancy as Simon the Cyrenean did the Cross of our Saviour and was now more unwilling to part with it and did passionately declare that his desire was to leave the dead to bury the dead and pursue his former enterprize to avoid the reproach of having laid his hand to the plough and then looked back and begun a building which he could not finish But he had still been educated with so much subjection to his Imperious Parents who so rigorously exercised their power over him that as he durst not gainsay them when they imbarked him into a profession so contrary to his inclination no more durst he now thwart them when they would bring him into another so contrary to the habits he had contracted amongst so many contrarieties Austere and savage Parents who make Tables of your Families and use your Children as you do your Table-men at Chess
all the excuses he could none of which would content this Gentleman who protested to retract his Promise and retake his former passages through the streets which he had already done with the addition of far worse Errours for fear of leaving his Honour engaged and making himself a scorn and laughing-stock to his Enemies Simplicius continued firm in his resolution but for fear of sending him away angry and discontented he desired him to give him time to beg permission of the Person who had informed him which was agreed to and the next day came Vannoza in her usual manner to renew her antient Complaints and to tell Simplicius that Alcimus having for some days followed his advice and kept his Promise had now renewed his wonted Courses and Carreers with more pride and insolency than before better accoutred and accompanied and with greater variety of actions which drove her Husband into desperation and would at last provoke him into action which could not but produce some tragical and dismal Event Simplicius protested to her that Alcimus had not the least design upon her but only stood upon a Punctilio of Honour scorning to give this advantage to his Adversary of bragging that he frighted him out of the publique street That he was no man to make love to stone walls who never did it to any woman living who indeed are living walls but plaister'd with so unslaked lime as is easily fired by the Tears of a Lover All he could say was That he was a young Cavalier and so head-strong that it was hard for a holy Father to guide him by the Bridle of Religion That if Capoleon attacque him he will bring himself in danger of undergoing a great part of the mischief That her Husbands Passion was as full of injustice as the other was of candour and ingenuity in his proceedings For this said the subtle Female I see but one remedy That is said the holy Father to satisfie him in his extreme curiosity which press'd me to tell him whence I had this advice which I durst not discover without your permission thinking it unfit to bring you into the quarrel Father said Vannoza let me alone for the love of God to discover it to him since it is for the charitable saving of his Soul and I fear not but to find a happy issue or at least to prevent its ending in so bloody a Catastrophe For if Alcimus and my Husband should come to blows which Heaven forbid our Sex is still exempt from duels and the most base and barbarous Courages have still some respect for Ladies so that I fear no prejudice by being made a Party and I assure my self that with one word I should do more with him towards the plucking from his heart the fruitless hope which flatters and abuseth him by making him hope for access to an Object which can never be lawfully acquired than you can perhaps do by all your conscientious perswasions In the mean time if you please you may satisfie his Curiosity that this advice comes from me and if you please to bring us together I will in your presence disswade him from his former actions That so he may a Med'cine bring Thence where the Malady did spring Simplicius from a well-meaning heart not only approved but highly praised this design being much rejoyced to see the Scorpion's Oyl prepared to cure the sting and then Vannoza by this means cutting off all hope would thereby take away all occasions of his continuance in his fond Amours He therefore promis'd to confront her with him that this Adam taken in the fact if I may so say and convinced in his presence might seek no further pretexts or palliations to cover his iniquity And so forward was this good Man in this design thinking therein to do all things for the best and believing that all would pass under the Seal of secresie that he judged this fittest to be done at the very Confessional which according to common Custome having two places for the Penitents and one in the middle for the Confessor he might thereby more expresly convince the Criminal himself being present at the Testimony But O execrable Invention she fearing least her Invention might turn to her own confusion desired this good Father that she might a little before have one moments conference with Alcimus promising thereby more gently to compose his spirit to an acknowledgment of his fault lest being surprized on the sudden he might fly out into some extravagant recrimination or positive denial The good opinion which the Father had of this Female Hypocrite made him approve well of her Poposition in so much that he appointed a day for this rencounter before which he told Alcimus that the relation came from Vannoza her self which would witness his false proceedings to his face Provided she lift up her Veil said Alcimus I am confident you will find hers overspread with blushes if there remain in her the least quantity of blood With which words the Conference ended and they parted till the appointed day of meeting should come The End of the Second Book ALCIMUS AND VANNOZA LIB III. THe day being come Vannoza having before by a Note advertised Alcimus of her design they neither of them failed to meet at the Confessional of the good Father whose pious intentions to dis-intangle this Clew did by this weakness intangle it more than ever for Vannoza having put him in mind of his promise of letting her predispose the spirit of Alcimus in order to the bringing him to an acknowledgment of his fault the good Simplicius for these pious considerations leaving his Tribunal as if called away by some affairs of these Statues upon their Pedestals but such Statues as Pigmalion's for they then found themselves alive and their Tongues at liberty Vannoza most prompt to lay hold on this occasion which she had so long sought for began first as followeth Seigneur Alcimus You will perhaps wonder at the many subtleties I have used to attacque you but Necessity the Mistress of Invention was furnished with Artifices which opened me the way Know then and assure your self it was only I who by means of this holy Father gave you this false alarm of the imaginary jealousie of my Husband of you I say imaginary as to you for his jealousie being notorious through all the City I durst not in general terms stile it feigned but it is so universal that without pitching upon you or any other in particular it extends to all the world he must be a stranger in this Town who knows not the evil usage which that hath caused me and my long and close Imprisonment is a subject of sorrow to all that hear of it it is natural to the smallest Bird to search about her Cage for a hole to escape from slavery which I am resolv'd to obtain or lose my life in the attempt which is but a burthen wanting my liberty I know how little worth or merit I have
Ennuch of Candace was presently baptized by St. Philip you now speedily restore to him that Grace of which he had deprived himself by his bad designs The Passion with which Alcimus has hitherto been custamed is such that if violence be not used to pluck it from his Soul he will continue in his sin I in pain and my Husband in his evil humour You say very well Daughter said the good Simplicius for since the hour of death is so uncertain why should he delay converting himself to God who hath promis'd him as saith the glorious Father St. Angustine to receive him to mercy every moment but has not assured him to allow him space till death to cry him mercy It being but just that that sinner should forget himself in death who hath never thought of God through all the course of his life What think you of this continued he my Son Alcimus the Grace of God hates delays and he that presents it you to day has not promised to do so to morrow if you put your self amongst the foolish Virgins you must expect to hear that sad Sentence in the Day of Judgment Depart from me I know you not Will you by the impenitent perseverance of a wicked heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Will you be silent when you ought to speak and be deaf to the Voice of God who calls on you by me the Voice of the Turtle which summons you to a forsaking of your disordinate and irregular Passions Woe unto you if you keep silence There is a time to be silent and a time to speak It is a Malignant Devil which makes us deaf to the Remonstrances and dumb to the Confession of our sins from which I beseech God to deliver you I perceive you are in danger to defer your repentance a while during which time the Devil will return with greater fury to recover the prey which grace has almost snatcht out of his clutches and if he make himself once stronger and better armed in the fortress of your heart it is to be feared he will guard it so strongly as to keep out the holy Spirit and so your last errour will be worse than the first Consider that it is humane frailty to fall but diabolical madness to persevere Is it fit to consult hang backwards or deliberate when you are summoned to render your self to God and to quit the creature for the Creator to whom none is like than whom none is stronger whom none can resist nor any enter into comparison with â—iâ— Almighty Majesty Vannoza hearing this Discourse backed by the vehemence of that charity which animated this good Father who wrought upon his stoney heart as if he had been exercising one possest and fearing that the efficatious strength of this word Which converteth Souls uttered with such a vehemency of spirit should shake those yet but feeble roots which she had planted in the heart of this Neophite to obstruct his spiritual resurrection Alas said she Father in this new springing of his fault you must not press too hard upon his heart least you oppress it The gentle West-wind that makes the Flowers spring is sweet and fragrant but the impetuosity of the North pincheth and destroys them The first condescention which I found in him makes me not doubt of a second but to this end time must give assistance unto reason Your Maximes doubtless are good and prevalent but be the Medicines never so wholsome and well compounded yet are they not alwaies efficatious if there be not a fit disposition in the patient that receves them It is to be thought that Alcimus his Apostume is not yet ripe because it is still unbroken the time will come when like a good Tree planted by the streams of Grace he will bring forth Fruit in due season I know he now perceives at last The folly of his Errours past And in short time I hope see His Flames to Ice will changed he I conceive with submission to your better counsel it is fit to give him respite as to a bad pay-Master that if his levity should bring him to return unto his vomit it may take from him all excuse of having had too short a time to resolve and to pluck up by reason and the force of arguments a passion which has so long rooted in his breast Simplicius easie to work on as a true Monastick who thought that all the World like him proceeded in their actions with charity and sincerity gave his hand to this female-councel which he thought fit to be sometimes followed and sometimes not and that Adam and Pilate were equally guilty the one for following and the other for rejecting the the Counsel of a Woman Thus was Alcimus ballanced on the one side with Divine Love and with Humane on the other and at last suffered himself to be weighed down by the later directly towards Hell and Destruction I will not trouble my self nor the Reader with a Discovery of the progress and success of the artifices used in this unfortunate infection I would say affection but have spoken more properly then I intended nor declare in what manner these two impious Lovers abused the innocence of this good man to maintain an intelligence betwixt them Sometimes Alcimus making him believe that he could not or at least not so soon rid himself of this passion sometimes Vannoza continuing her false complaints and feigned fears whereby they made this holy Father their Shuttle-cock and through their joynt and deceitful propositions be entred into such real apprehensions of the loss either of the Soul or Body of Alcimus that it robbed him of his rest and his trouble brought him to a pining leanness In this Spiritual Cure he resembled those Physitians who not well understanding a Distemper take care of one part of it whilest the other part destroyes the Patient And as those Corporal Physitians know not the Disposition of the Interiour parts but from the relation of the Patient so these Spiritual ones know them not but by the report of the penitent which made the Philosopher say to a young man Speak that I may see thee and as the eye being single the whole body is thereby conducted by the aid of an amiable light so contrarily he walks in darkness whose eyes are clouded and how should our Spiritual Guides conduct us rightly through a holy discipline if we do not truly and sincerely discover our selves to them without disguising and deceit for which cause the wise man declareth that the Heart is deceitful above all things and a double Tongue is an abomination before God I will not here make register of the execrable subtleties of these fire-brands of Hell of explaining themselves to one another by an innocent Interpreter of whom one may say as David did of the Patriarch Joseph That he heard a Language which he had no understanding of but is the fault in the Sword if one commit Murther with it or of a
or Tables place and displace them without regard to any thing but your temporal advantage learn not to violate the Will which God has created free and upon whom he who hath formed the Soul hath reserved to himself no constraint over it but is contented to conduct it by instructions and inspirations We will leave this Elder Brother without troubling our selves with his Name because falling Stars have none but only those that continue fixed to their Spheres and since it is not necessary to our History let us leave him to the enjoyment of that Name which God had given him in a better life and return to the now eldest and only remaining Son Alcimus who is the chief subject of our ensuing Narrative He expressed a thousand regrets to his Religious Fathers to whom he was indebted for his Education that he must now be forced to quit that habit which sate so easily upon his body after it had been unwillingly put on and would far rather have chosen had it been in his power to be an abject servant in the House of God than to possess at pleasure both Riches and Honour in the Tabernacles of the World But let him think or speak what he will he has neither liberty to deliberate nor consult and though a grave and Pious Father who had a good while been his Tutor remonstrated to his Parents the signal disasters which usually attend such changes he was as little listened to or believed As fam'd Cassandra who of old The ruine of proud Troy foretold That flames of Lust which first did burn At last would all to ashes turn They contemned his admonitions with the scurrilous appellation of Cloister-Maxims But Divine Truth is unchangeable which has threatned to forsake those that abandon it and that their Names shall be blotted out of Heaven whose only care is to have them written upon Earth who for their own broken Cisterns quit and forsake those of living water Those who have once quitted the burning City of the World for Zoar ought not to look back for fear lest they become Pillars of Salt a Spectacle to Passengers and a fearful testimony of Divine Vengeance Alcimus having quitted his former fetters which were now to him grown golden ones for the Yoke of God has this property that it every day grows more soft than other by the right application of the Oyl of Grace and now brought into the liberty of a Child of the World begun by degrees to efface his former impressions and the Genius he had sucked in with his Milk so true is that of the Poet Though Nature be supprest by force 'T will still return t'its former course So much easier is it to descend than ascend His Fathers house was for him formed into an Academy where in a short time he learnt so well did his active body suit his docil wit the exercises fitting for a Man that had changed the Cassock for a Corselet the Book for a Sword See here the Metamorphoses incident to a Human state He thought no more of the continuation of his daily devotion as if the management of a Horse were of greater importance than a communication with God To quit his Ecclesiastical revenues was the least of his thoughts for that fat morsel was too delicious to his taste like Ruth's Kinsman who was willing to redeem the estate but not to be troubled with the Woman there are many willing to receive the benefice few to discharge the office though the one was designed only for a recompence for the other and that they are or ought to be as inseparable as the shadow and the substance the accessory and principal He alledged that it would not be long e're by Marriage he should quite those revenues with his coelibate but the truth is he was wholly ruled by his Parents whose design was he should keep them till they could light on some old Kinsman or ancient Friend on whom they might have them bestowed by whose hands they might one day be transmitted to the Children yet unborn See here the ordinary designs of those who say Let th' heritage with us remain Which only doth to God pertain Not considering the Flames which are usually created by these Sacrilegious Morsels in the nests of such rapacious Eagles finally he continued in this secular course of life to enjoy these Spiritual revenues without the small Tribute of ever officiating in Divine Service The learned Fathers who had cultivated his Spirit carefully so long as his Parents intentions or his own inclinations design'd him for the Church begun to treat him so sharply and with such irresistible shocks to shake the Foundation of his conscience as were enough to tear up this impiety by the Roots which nevertheless like a young Tree shaken by the wind took faster footing till he began to prove to them as a stranger a Publican and reject the practice of the maxims of true Christian Piety and Religion for to speak truth what is this but to halt between two opinions to swear by God and by Milcom to joyn God with Baal Christ with Belial and light with darkness to mix the Eagles feathers with those of the Dove to make one Sacrifice to God and to Idols to be at once cold and hot to eat the fat of the Altar and never officiate at it Is not this I say to sow the Earth with two sorts of grain to weave a piece of two stuffs and to plough with an Oxe and an Ass They who admitted not into their congregations of Devotion any Souls of a mixt Metal and consciences which would not endure the touch did forthwith exclude him or rather Alcimus separated from them of his own accord prodigally rejecting the substance of his Heavenly Father not altogether so shamefully as the young Man in the Gospel who foolishly and sottishly wasted his Portion in a far Countrey but yet very unworthily for a Man of his Condition he turned out of the ways of Sion no more frequenting her solemnities But the Proverb saith there are no pots so ill but there is a cover to fit them there are no consciences so large for commission but there are others big enough to fit them with an absolution there are enow that will praise to the wicked the desires of his Soul and bless him in his iniquity there are but too many guides that are as little judicious as infinitly blind and are not content to be so themselves unless they bring others into the same predicament There are flatterers enough whose interest makes them speak the Language of slaves and with smooth words bring those to sleep in an assured repose who have the greatest subject in the World to fear to whom there is nothing more easie than to forge causes apparently sufficient for the unjust deteinure of the goods of the Altar And an Erroneous conscience having once taken footing in the Soul it is then ready to receive all Vice and wickedness which being
Lacquey who were so many Spies and Sentinels kept in Pay by her Husband to keep a strict watch on all her Actions And now what was she able to do being alone confined revengeful and amorous She must use some means to escape from this perplexity either through the window of Despair or the door of Artifice A religious Artifice that was the door of the Temple which she thought to be specious but was very fallacious wherefore she resolved To try all wayes that Wit or Art could yield Before she to despair would quit the field One day as she was Cajoling her aged Tithon according to the Custome of Women when they mean to deceive redoubling her toyings and caresses she protested to him That Imprisonment in his company was the highest happiness she coveted on Earth and so she enjoyed but the sight of him all others in the World were indifferent to her so she might but enjoy this shadow of liberty to go to the Churches in the Company and Conduct of her Mother to procure Indulgences to frequent the Sacraments and Confessions and to hear Sermons That all other Exercises besides these and her domestique ones were as contrary to her temper as fire to water she being no more concerned for the companies and conversations of the World than if she had never seen nor known it She knew so well to colour this just request with sweet and plausible words and to accompany her dissimulation with such real tears that Capoleon's heart was not so steely but to be softened by them or had it been of stone the falling of these streams had been enough to wear it He took her inside to be as lovely as her out and that both ways though clothed with flesh she was altogether Spiritual and that though yet on Earth she breathed nothing but what was Angelical He thought that so holy a request could not be rejected without impiety And that he could not without meriting some severe Judgment from Heaven resist the motions of the holy Spirit and stop the progress of Grace in this holy Soul The Proverb saith That it is hard to find a trick to catch the old one since their long experience has armed them against all devices Yet this young Wit refined by a Passion which inspires the most simple with subtlety needed not to go to School to the most ancient Crafts-Masters Capoleon falls into the snare and opening the door to a seeming Piety he lets in the blackest mischiefs Wine taken after Hemlock is a good Antidote against its poyson because its gentle heat refreshing the heart tempers the mortal coldness of the other but when they are both swallowed together there remains no further remedy for the one opening the pectoral veins makes the deadly venom of the other a more easie entrance and renders it so penetrating and active that the vital heat is suddainly extinguish't In like manner the most puissant remedy after the poison of sin is the supernatural heat of grace Grace which is the true enlivener of the spirits which does temper the natural frigidity of the Soul the Sacraments and other Divine Mysteries are the Conduit-Pipes that convey this Divine Mercy from the Fountain of Salvation but when one swallows them down mixed with the venome of Sin then surely this iniquity is deplorable which turns the Haven to a Whirl-pool the Potion to a Poison Death into Sinners entring at this Gate Hurries them headlong to a damned state And this mischievous invention of Vannoza was sufficient to hurry her to the brink of Perdition for she thus obtained this favour of her husband who thought this as great an act of prudence as of condescention hereby stopping the mouths that were daily open to blame his former unreasonable Severity and so thought he might safely put his honour under the conduct of the Conscience of so devout a Wife Vannoza's Parents advertised of this good resolution came to visit and thank Capoleon for it and to congratulate with their Daughter thereupon She knew so well how to win her Mother's affection who had for her a heart truly Maternal that instead of being conducted by her she brought her to accord to all that she desired See here our Israelite under the rod of a Mothers direction delivered from the Aegypt of her Prison and the Captivity of her Pharaoh to go feed upon the Manna of absolution and the Word of God in the desarts of Penitence But her intention was to pass that way into a Land of Promise that flowed with Milk and Honey far from Coelestial To render her Stratagem more Compleat she clothed her self the meanliest that was possible and promised her husband to veil her face so diligently that none but a Lynx his eyes should perceive it all which he believed as Oracles Her Mother astonisht to see her in this equipage became sorrowful for her fixing upon so strict a devotion fearing it would end in a destructive Melancholy Her Maids that followed her fancied that they had an invisible Mistriss and that she rather seemed a moving shadow than a real substance Capoleon who according to the custome of the Jealous watch'd her with Argus eyes could espy nothing but most devout and modest and as he loved nothing more then the sight of her when she was at home he now cherisht the thoughts of her whil'st she was abroad Thus did she dazzle the Eyes of all Men and was so diligent a manager of her time that in a few days she had learnt all the Jubiliees the Stations Fraternities Feasts and Sermons that were in the whole City and had all the Kalender by heart She was seen to go from one Church to another and from Monastery to Monastery still at her Mothers heels as if she had still continued an obedient young Daughter which was a sight commended by all the beholders Mean while her designs were so secret That the most Curious Imagination would not in the least have suspected the smallest part of them All thought it was the Mother that conducted the Daughter when indeed it was the Daughter was the Shepherdess who though she came behind drove her Leader whither she pleased so desirous was this good Woman of the Spiritual Consolation of her beloved Daughter One would have thought she had gone with violence and fervour to the Conquest of Heaven when her Enterprizes were all fixed upon Earth like Eagles who when they tour aloft in the Air have their thoughts still fix'd below to fall upon the first prey they can espy Her veil concealed her from the sight of others but hindered her not from the sight of divers objects which presented themselves to her sight which above all desired to satiate its self with the sight of Alcimus This was the Butt of her pretensions her Indulgence and her Jubilee Alas She could see him sometimes in Churches but he passed out as swift from her sight as lightning or if he stood long enough for her to
Judgments incomprehensible and his ways inscrutable How many malefactors have we seen dragged to punishment for crimes which they never acted and yet had other-ways merited death for more black and wicked Villanies which had been hid till revealed by their own discoveryâ— Sure God is just and his Judgment is right and he knows both how and why he punisheth Who can the Sun of darkness blame Or who ' gainst God complaints can frame Or say his Judgments are not right Who 's of Justice made up as t'other is of light The Sun had scarce restored his face all crowned with Rayes to our Horizon when Alcimus who had never closed his eye-lids but tormented with divers fancres leapt from his bed whose Feathers were more pungent than so many Thorns not able to find rest till he had reduced his Soul to its Centre that is to God who is it's true place and his Grace the Tabernacle of the God of Jacob he went streight-away to Father Simplicius to be cleared of all these Aenigma's which had overwhelmed him with so many inquietudes Simplicius suffered himself to be long press'd and intreated before he would grant him audience but the double force of obedience and condescention render'd exorable the charity which animated him Alcimus having declared to him the torment in which he had left him and the inquietudes which had robb'd him of that nights sleep I question it not reply'd Simplicus for a bad Conscience is an executioner to him that has not quite lost the sence of his Crime It is a good sign when one awakes from a lethargick slumber this gives some appearance of recovery but when one continues sleeping in the Regions of the shadow of death 't is a sign that the enemy of our Salvation prevails against Grace God be praised who by the healing Eye-salve of my Remonstrance hath restored you your sight and made you see the deplorable and dangerous state in which you before did sleep so supinely Be of good courage you shall not die but live to sing eternally the marvellous operations of divine Mercy My dear Father reply'd Alcimus I am now blinder than ever and more ignorant of what as I am your spiritual Son I suppose you ought to tell me more plainly ' cause that I may see as the blind man said to our Saviour for certainly however it be you ought more plainly to lay open to me the particulars of this report that if it be true I may say as David did to Nathan I have sinned or if it be otherwise with Joseph falsely accused and unjustly imprisoned I am innocent of what is laid to my charge Seigneur Alcimus said Simplicius pray speak no more of your innocence being so notoriously convinced otherwise you will make me believe you are one of those whom Solomon speaks of who think themselves clean and pure and yet are filled with filth and iniquity If the Infant but one day old is not exempt from sin as the Scripture tell us one of your age accomplishments and liberty that is free and dis-intangled from all sorts of love both lawful and unlawful may well be accounted A Bird as rare As black Swans are But think not to feed me now as yesterday you did with aery words for I have more serious affairs to look after and which do more justly merit the time which we imploy here in cajolleries and vain contestations I have have said enough to you therefore as Joshuah said to Achan Give glory to God in confessing your fault and reconciling your self by a true Repentance to him whom you have so grievously offended I know how unserviceable I am to you in any Function but this and you may find Companions enough in the World amongst whom to ease your itch of talking without troubling the repose and silence of a Cloister with the same Father replied Alcimus the giving glory to God by a true Confession is the sole scope of my intention for I see well the little credit which my words can obtain if not supported by this prop of Penitence and mixed with a Sacrament the profaning of which by a Lye merits no less the eternal Damnation for which cause I am more firmly resolved than ever to disburthen my Soul to you in a sincere and hearty Confession Simplicius knowing that there are twelve hours in the day and that the Sinner ought to be seiz'd on in the critical minute without further delay accepted this condition thinking this the only means to withdraw this Soul from the jaws of the infernal Wolf and from the open Gates of eternal perdition At this Sacred Tribunal from whence Lyes are banish'd under so severe Penalties the innocent Alcimus discovered the secrets of his heart to his Ghostly Father who yet took all this for nought but artifices wherefore after many menaces of the wrath of God if he remained obstinate in his will and after having pressed home to him this Sentence of Tertullian If thou hidest thy self in Confession here thou shalt be hid in the eternal Dungeons hereafter Alcimus answered Holy Father if the gaping jaws of Hell were now ready to receive me and all its dismal Inhabitants fitted to receive me I am able to say no more than I have done I only desire this favour which those that like you do mannage and direct our Consciences ought not to deny to the most miserable that you would please to endeavour to supply by your Interrogatories what you think wanting in my Confession David could not have forgot his Murther and Adultery yet he remain'd a whole year without consideration or discovery of it till the Prophet laying his hand upon the sore presently made him feel the smart and look out for a remedy Certainly reply'd Simplicius I may answer you as St. Ambrose did Theodosius who alledged this Example That you that have followed him in his sin if not in effect yet at least in intention which is the same Crime in the sight of God should likewise answer him in repentance And you Father answered Alcimus be pleas'd to follow Nathan 's steps in drawing this thorn gently out of my heart Simplicius thinking at this word that he had won the Town without losing time and designing to accommodate himself to this tender spirit which he thought to be sick of the most dangerous of all Feavers which is that of Love after having by many circumlocutions imitated the Chyrurgion who seeming only to anoint with Cotton dipt in Oyl the aposthumed breast of a delicate Lady does dextrously open it with a hidden Lancet so he by degrees at last brought Alcimus upon the point of his evening airings and motions on Horseback all which Alcimus confessed exaggerating like a true Penitent the excess and superfluity of his Habits and Attendance the pleasure he took in hearing the praises and applauses of those that beheld him and the extreme vanity with which his Soul was this way swelled Thence Simplicius proceeded to the street
and inconsiderate to submit my self to the captivity of the charms of unlawful love you would then think me stupid and insensible if before such a fire I should endure without heat or flame but be pleased to consider that our affections principally those that are grown inveterate are not put off so easily as a garment Would God we could as easily quit our habitudes as our habits as the primitive Christians cast all they had even to their garments at the Apostle's feet so I had presently deposited at yours all the passion that I had for this Lady But I pray consider which you know better than I how hard it is for the Aethiopian to change his colour or the Leopard his spots but still more for a sinner so suddainly to rid himself of that which is so deeply ingraved in his soul I hope nevertheless by the grace of God and the assistance of your Prayers and good Conduct to draw this thorn out of my heart which I once took for a most pretious and fragrant rose the impressions of which will hardly yet be effaced from my spirit though I feel sufficiently the pungency of it so that I now find how rational that saying was I see what 's good but my malignant will Bends me to love and follow what is ill Though this will be the very separation of my soul from my body by so violent an effort yet when it shall please God to break these fatal bonds of iniquity which environ me I will sacrifice to him an hecatomb of praises and every where publish the glory of his name All I can at present do is to protest that for the future I will do my best endeavour to efface out of my memory the Idea of so many graces and perfections that have enchanted it and essay to shut the gate against those thoughts which nourish my passions and finally to take that resolution which is incident to the most irresolute to hope no further where the evil is incurable I say not this because mine is so but I see by the firmness of this Lady that she is no less chast than fair and if she have attractions which make her be beloved she has no less severity to make her be feared and all attempts are fruitless upon one so firmly bent upon the conservation of her honour I will henceforth endeavour to extinguish my unlawful fire with the tears of penitence and seeing the waxed wings of my designs melted by so audacious an approach I will like Icarus drown them in that Sea of repentance It is fit I banish from my spirit those Idaea's which flattered my passion and withal seemed so delicious for instead of the contentment which I promised my self from their success I now see nothing attend me but sorrow and regrets Upon sound advice I find my self obliged rather to commend her vertuous resolution than to blame unjustly her holy rigour which now has proved the onely eye-water to restore the sight I have been so long deprived of And since she cannot be pitiful to me but by being cruel to her self nor satisfie my humour but at the expence of her Honour I shall shew far more judgment in making my retreat than I did in beginning my enterprize And I heartily bless God that having fallen it is into such hands hers and yours by whose assistance I cannot fear but to obtain a recovery and making profit of my misfortune have cause to say it was good for me to have this fall after which I hope to stand faster than before Judge now by this Discourse whether the Children of Darkness be not more in their perverse generation than those of the light and whether they be not more witty prudent and discreet and wsthal more accomplishâ—d for the bringing about their wicked designs Was not this cajollery able to pass not only upon the innocency of the well-meaning Simplicius but even upon the craâ—tiest in the world This good Father reply'd My Son 't is a good step towards health to be cured though you come somewhat late to repentance yet all is soon enough if well enough I told you before that all that smoke could not be without some fire and that your Mine would at last be discovered though never so secretly wrought But now God be praised who has melted the Ice of your obstinacy by the Sun of truth and that the acknowledgment of your fore-past fault promiseth us a future amendment and that which does most rejoyce me is to see you hope in the Divine Mercy which is an Abyss without bounds or bottom and will not let us want that which it would have extended even unto Judas had he not prevented it by despair to which the extremity of his grief reduced him He who begg'd pardon for his Crucifiers will surely do the same for those who with a sincere heart do now invoke his bounty whilst he is in the Throne of Glory performing the Office of our Advocate And after turning towards Vannoza which heard all this Mystery with that attentation and joy which you may well magine possest her to see her designs succeed so happily You see Madam said he our Criminal convinced by his own Confession What now rests but to condemn him not to punishment but amendment It is true we are here in a Tribunal where a free Confession serves for an excuse and where excusing aggravates the Crime A Tribunal where Mercy has predominance over Judgment and where there needs only a sound Confession of a fault to obtain remission since here we hold the place of him who hath said At what time soever a sinner returneth towards me my arms shall be open to receive him for I am the living God who would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his iniquity and live If Wine Women and Truth are asunder judged in Scripture to be the three strongest things in the world what must they needs be when united in one Subject We have here the Wine of Charity and Divine Love washing away the filthy putrefaction of this prophane Passion You Madam are that strong Woman which Solomon desireth whose price is above Rubies or the precious things the world can yield and have by your fortitude reduced to Reason this wandring Soul by repelling all his assaults But above all the Strength of Truth is greatest for you see that Alcimus confounded by the first Ray that it darted in his face To this Vannoza replied in the Apostle's Phrase for she wanted neither wit nor words to express it had she but had Grace to apply it better Not I Father but the Grace of God in me the Grace of God which often makes use of the weakest things to confound the strongest of a Rod to tame the pride of the Aegyptians and of the hand of a woman to behead the great Assyrian Captain But Father to strike now whilst the Iron 's hot what hinders but that as the
repulses had rendred desperate and who by that means was come to this extremity which was an injury for which no earthly punishment was great enough adding That for all this God had been so merciful unto him that Capoleon's Heart was not thereby fill'd with any suspition or rage and that notwithstanding his former Jealousies which time and her Pious Endeavours had now well near effaced he was now more inclined to hold the Servants Accusation for false than to imagine that the Master could admit of so base and unworthy a design Simplicius knew not what to answer hereunto onely That her suspitions might be true but yet that it was possible for them to be false since Fear has the property to make us easily believe ill of those we mistrust as love makes us ever think well of those we affect but yet it was necessary to be well informed before we condemn for fear of passing a rash Judgment Promising her withal to use his utmost endeavour to free her from this trouble and the oppression of her frantick pursuer and so comforting her the best he could he dismist her with a blessing Alcimus betaking himself to the same Asyluâ— came to excuse himself to this good Father and to make protestations of his Innocence taking the common Report for his Vindication alledging That the voice of the People and of many waters was that of God and withal inveighing against the treachery of his Servants who to bring one of their Comrades out of Prison had conspired against his Honour to save themselves under the shelter of his authority Simplicius replyed That he had really been of this perswasion and that he had answered the same to the continual suspitions and ordinary Complaints of Vannoza who daily buzzed in his ears her suspitions of these passages for realities Alcimus who desired nothing more than a Personal Conference with this Lady protested to him That in his presence he could bring her to confess that her opinion was as false as the contrary was true being now perfectly cured of the impressions that her Beauty had struck into his Soul By this means they were so subtilly wicked as to discover their Minds before this good Father but in a Language which he understood not these being of those deceitful lips which the Psalmist speaks of that spoke with a heart and a heart And thus by the charitable interposition of this Pious Man whose zeal they abused with as much Impiety as Impudence they both by word and writing renewed their former intercourses and what was more horribly wicked in those holy places adding to the rest the abuse of those Sacraments which if rightly used are the seal of Salvation but by that means the instruments of insupportable damnation from that Eternal God to whom not only the Intelligences which rule the World do bow but even the Infernal Powers tremble O extremity of hard-heartedness and more than Diabolical iniquity Capoleon who had always his Sentinels set watching the deportments of his immodest Wife and the means to draw her into the snares he had pitched was advertised of all these proceedings and being informed that she was often in Confessions with Simplicius where Alcimus still came as to Confession and where they had long discourses together this Man whose Jealousie was even encreased to a frenzy meditating nothing else but vengeance took it for granted that this Father was an accomplice of his Wife's wickedness his spirit being now open to the most horrible and worst impressions His suspitions redoubled by the Visits which Simplicius made to his Penitent in his house to alleviate the afflictious of spirit which seemingly tormented her even to despair caused as well by Alcimus his deportments as by the jealousies of her suspitious Husband all which were but so many inventions to cloak her sublime subtlety These well-meaning Visits of Simplicius in Capoleon's house were not without some short remonstrances to the Old man not lightly to believe the rumours of the Town the reports of Lacqueys and such loose kind of people whose only design was to advance themselves by flattery at the expence of another's reputation and to work their own credit by the defamation of the most virtuous persons This added strength to his Jealousie and suspition of Simplicius whom he hereby concluded to be one of the parties and thereby worthy to be included in their punishment And thus by a mis-intelligence of what was spoken in sincerity this poor innocent Monk was mark'd out for destruction amongst the rest My haste to finish the recital of so many horrible iniquities will make me slip more slightly over many of the malicious industries which Satan suggested to these his devoted servants to plunge them first into their filthy pleasures and lastly into Eternal destruction The Poets amongst their many fabulous inventions metamorphose not their gods into so many shapes as Alcimus took to encounter his Vannoza for as if he had absolutely took upon him the profession of a Comedian there was no sort of habit which he made not use of to see or speak to her who had wholly transformed him from what he was before which was the more easie for him to accomplish since Capoleon had now laid the reins on their necks whom he saw runing headlong to a Precipice She went and came whither she pleased and that without the company of her Mother and Alcimus daily saw her under pretexts and different shapes In Monasteries and Churches in a Religious habit Otherwhiles in Churches he convers'd with her in the habit of a veiled Woman If she walk in Gardens he becomes Gardiner sometimes accosting her as a Beggar sometimes as an Artisan a seller of Wares a Waiting-Woman a Kinswoman and divers other ways his face being still disguised and suited to his several habits by which means he deceived Vannoza's followers who were so many Guards and Spies upon her actions to make report unto her Husband of all her passages turns and conferences Iâ— will a little expatiate upon one of his refined subtleties whereby the sharpness of his invention seemed to triumph over that of Vannoza Walking one day to a neighbouring Church accompanied onely by one of her Maids she was seemingly accidentally almost covered over with dirty Water which was cast out of a Window which defiled all her clothes in a shameful manner and suddainly a Woman whom she knew not appeared at the Door to excuse the mis-hap seeming to be inexpressibly sorry and offering her her House her Chamber and the choice of all her Clothes to make her reparation for this heedless injury These Excuses for an Affront seemingly unpremeditated appeased Vannoza's anger and the present necessity of avoiding the disgrace and laughter of the people constrained her to enter into this offer'd Lodging where she was no sooner admitted but sending home her Maid for other Clothes she being left alone Alcimus presently appeared and let her know That it was he who had invented
wringing the other and imagining that Vannoza had discovered to him the real Jealousy of her Husband founded upon the false opinion of Alcimus his pursuits he contented himself with what his Penitent had already discover'd but to prevent all future mishaps and to pluck up by the roots the hatred from his heart which he had conceived against Capoleon whom he had already named his Enemy a word of war and defiance in this spleenatique Country he again protested to him that Capoleon neither by himself nor Deputy had given him this advertisement or made these menaces but that it was a religious and timorous Soul which perhaps had too far exaggerated the matter and according to the Proverb had painted the Lyon fiercer than he was that he desired him not to look upon Capoleon with the worse eye for this nor to do any thing further to promote his Malady which was of the nature of those artificial Fires which every thing would nourish but nothing extinguish That he ought to have compassion of such infirmities of spirit according to the Apostles advice who would that Spiritual Persons and those who are fortified within should bear with greater fortitude and patience the faults and insolencies of the weak to accomplish the Law which would that we should bear with one another's infirmities Adding that the only remedy he perceived for this misunderstanding was to abstain for the future from these passes in the Street at least till time with his insensible Spunge had effaced from the spirit of this offended Husband the impressions which his evil humour might perhaps have engraved there it being no part of a prudent man to exasperate the Wasp or to provoke the Bee which last though naturally of a sweet and gentle temper as being born and bred amongst Honey knew well enough how to manage its Sting to defend its Comb And further That a true Penitent was not only oblig'd to part from the Territories but from the Confines of Evil for to what purpose is it to quit the unfortunate City of Iniquity and take up Quarters in the Suburbs I mean within those of the occasions of Evil to fly to Zoar and look back to Sodom It is not enough for the true Nazarites to drink no Wine nor strong Drink unless they also abstain too from the very Grape least the taste of the one breed a desire of the other With these Reasons Simplicius strengthened his Remonstrances without assuming the power of commanding but certainly with Counsel accompanied with the Spirit of God he advis'd Alcimus to turn away his course from the frequentation Of those so dreadful Rocks and Shelves Where multitudes had split themselves Alcimus found it very difficult to submit to these Injunctions alledging that the Laws of Cloisters and those of the World were very far different that the one prescribed to honour a blind submission and a renunciation of all Earthly enjoyments but that in the World it was one of the greatest marks of Infamy to receive Laws from the will of the Enemy and that Couragious souls like an unshaken Rock Undauntedly should brave the rudest shoock Nothing 's more base than to bad men to yield Or to their proud attempts to quit the field Hereby Simplicius perceiving that this was a spark of that hidden fire which would not suddainly be extinguisht Seigneur Alcimus said he if you find this remedy too difficult you will constrain me to say that you chain your self to the Bank of Iniquity and tug at the oar of violence and then feign obstacles for your obeying of wholesome Precepts Remember Saul 's malediction for disobeying Samuel t' is a Crime to disbelieve but a kind of Witchcraft to disobey to speak plainly you would hereby perswade me to that which I am unwilling to believe and under pretext of opposing your wrath to the hatred of the Husband make me suspect a secret affection for the Wife For Who often'st saith I hate does prove Most commonly deepest in Love Moreover you are bound in Conscience to give no occasion of offence or scandal in your deportments for if the great Apostle declare that he would eat no flesh so long as he lived rather than by eating to offend the weakest of his Brethren How much more ought you to avoid the Actions and Occasions which might give suspicion of the works of the flesh unjustly desired or pursued after And if the same Apostle would not that the least mention of Fornication should be made amongst Christians how much more odious and detestable ought Adultery to be either in action or affection Father said Alcimus your discourses are backt with Reason and speak you both a Christian and Religious Person but be pleas'd to consider that I am not of your Religious Orders but yet a Christian like you although a secular and mundain one and though there be no more agreement betwixt the rules of Piety and those of the World than betwixt light and darkness the Ark and Dagon or God and Mammon yet are we obliged in performing the one not to omit the other if we intend to preserve our Reputation without which we render our selves the reproach of the World and the most abject dregs or scum of the People Consider that I am now a Sword-man and that formerly studying Cases of Conscience I have learnt that when an Enemy shall attacque me I am not bound to fly and save my life with the loss of my Honour and though the Evangelical precept of turning the other cheek to him that smites him on the one extend its self to secular persons as well as regular yet we see it otherwise practised by both Our blessed Saviour asked that Wretch who shamefully struck him Why he did so and though he did not call Legions of Angels to his succour or employed Thunder and Tempests to revenge such injuries as he might have done yet did he mix this point of severity amongst his admirable meekness and incomparable humility If Capoleon attack me I think it will be lawful to resist him and perhaps with the same weapons I shall turn the mischief upon him which he designed for me and confound this Conjurer with his own Devil for I am resolved not to suffer my self to be assassinated by his treacherous hands Here Simplicius interrupted this Discourse fearing that if he let Alcimus proceed he would excite that choler in himself which he should be ill troubled to allay and perhaps according to the promptitude of his youthful inclination proceed at last from words to execution He therefore smooth'd and flatter'd this generous courage protesting indeed too truly Capoleons innocence and that the report which had been made him might perhaps be false too truly false but that this his Paternal zeal and care made him not only worthy of Pardon but of Praise and Affection saying O Alcimus Alcimus you know not what it is to be a Father a spiritual Father had you but experimented how the bowels of
the Soul yern after the Infants of the Spirit you might be capable to judge of that ardour which made those words boyl over from the mouths of Moses and St. Paul when they desired to be accursed for the good of their dear Children and Brethren in righteousness the day will come when you will know this verity and look upon that in me with a good eye which perhaps does now appear otherwise to you Your heart dear Father answer'd Alcimus is too right towards me to do or say any thing amiss what ever comes from you to me can never be received otherwise than well but withal I once more intreat you not to condemn me without hearing for judgment without preindication and prejudice without judgment is the high way to errour it is easie to impeach but not to convince to say not to produce witnesses to declare but not to prove if accusing will suffice who can be innocent what shelter for the good if the storms of the wicked be Oracles And Father since God injâ—â—â— it to obey him I am willing to walk iâ— an unpleasant path and shall gladly look â—â—on Capoleon as my friend and dear Christian Brother and I am so far from wishing him any evil that I desire him all sorts of good but since distrust is the Mother of security you must allow me to beware of my self and that not only of my life but of my Honour which every noble mind will esteem more than life In this temper of mind and having disburthened my Soul to you of all that laid upon it I hope you will not deny me the benefit of absolution Here Simplicius found himself surprized having to deal with a Souldier who knew as well how to feign with his Tongue as Sword one thing only he required of him in the Name of the Lord which was To shun all rash attempts in his just hate And make his wrath way to evaporate And principally for some days to avoid his accustommed passages in that street and at last by much conjuring and intreaty he extorted this Promise rather violently from his mouth than voluntarily from his heart this was not the first and free droppings of the Myrrhe but rather the second gathering extracted from the Tree by scratching it with Iron Instruments Alcimus left Simplicius more satisfied with his having disabused him than with his simplicity in so slightly believing the report and troubled withal that he could not learn from him whence he had had this advice for he would rather have suspected any person in the world than Vannoza whom he held for dead amongst its obscurities In what darkness and ignorance do we spin out the thread of a frail life Mean while Vannoza who sleeps little and the Devil much less are hatching mischiefs on all hands for whilst the one as subtle as invinsible blows wrath and malice into the ears of Alcimus the other as dangerous as visible presents her self to those of Simplicius to know the success of her false report for it was her principal design like another Eve to open the eyes of Alcimus by tasting the forbidden Fruit and to procure him to look diligently in his passage towards every part of her house from whence he was otherwise regarded than she pretended he suspected or Simplicius believed that she might thereby find means to make signs to him as Vessels stuck fast upon a Shelve or in other distress do for help to those Ships that pass by But she was infinitely astonish'd when she found by Father Simplicius his recital that she had ruined her own project and wounded her self by her own Weapon and by an ill-temper'd Plaister brought her Sore from an Ulcer to a Gangrene and further when she learnt that Alcimus had not the least thought or affection for her this consideration made her despair of success but to those who are irremediably overthrown it is a kind of comfort that they can fear no further mischief She took new vigour when she understood from Simplicius the indifferency he had for all her Sex judging that the purity and whiteness of this Paper would easily be susceptible of the first impression and that this green Wood once lighted would burn most fiercely Love being a Mystery in which the Apprentices are Masters She begun to project new Designes how to bring down that untamed Courage which was yet proof against all Loves Assaults and to recal this wild and untaught Hawk to the Lure At present she only told Simplicius that his Monastick life and Relious innocence rendred him less subtle in searching into the secrets of the heart and the spiritual wickedness of worldly thoughts and of those who under pretence of affection make it their glory to deceive believing that Heaven laughs at their Perjuries and Oaths which are only writ on running waters who hold for a Maxime That Love Wine and Secrets are worth nothing when they have taken the Air and that it seemed in our Age men had effaced this practice from the number of sins it being not only common but commendable finally that it was the shuttle-cock of Courts but the ruinous Arrow of hearts she only wisht him to beware of a surprize and since he had drawn from Alcimus a promise not to pass through that quarter of a good while that he should take care that he found a firm performance and long continuance See here how this subtile crafty Female spoke what was as far from her desire as intention In the mean time having painted her face with a lively joy she returned home rather dead than living with sadness so deeply rooted in her Soul or rather her Soul so deeply plunged in sorrow that she knew not whether it were fittest to reckon herself amongst the dead or living She had now lost the sight of her North-Star her days were now become but nights and the very sight of the Sun was disagreeable overwhelm'd with sadness sorrow and melancholy she did nothing else but sigh and groan like the solitary widowed Turtle bewailing nothing but the loss of the sight of her amiable Alcimus Was not I said she sufficiently miserable without adding more to my misfortunes To what new mischief do the Heavens reserve me having thus condemned me to perpetual darkness O thou Light of my Eyes how art thou clouded those short and little glances of thee which I once enjoyed did give me some sort of consolation but this sad Eclipse is insupportable which for ever deprives me of so dear an Object and which to me does seem the pleasantest in the World But come what will I must once more have a sight of my dearest Alcimus and I will never leave any way unattempted though never so dangerous before I resolve to perish Mean time the days slipt away and this Star never appeared O Nights far longer than those of Norway She oft stood Sentinel like another Hero but never could set eye on her Leander The confusion of her thoughts