offer a goodlye and acceptable sacrifice and of farre more merite then the supersticious oblations of the olde ydolâ—tours for penance and satisfaction of their sinnes wherein I coulde wishe the societie of Aryadne by whose pollicie the poore desperate Theseus founde meanes to winde out such a Dedalus as Monophylo hath figured vnto vs ah Madam quod I how religious you are in opinion from which much lesse that the night your absence or chaunge of place haue taken any authoritie but rather haue added as it séemes an inuincible force the better to establishe your fancie in the matters of our conuersation yesterdaye yea who woulde haue thought that by your meanes and counsayle our louer woulde haue enforced the gates of so honest a prison to hope to settle himselfe eftsoones in libertie Oh seigneur Pasquier sayth Phylopolo are you yet to knowe that tormentes can make men tell truth and a pinching sore cannot abide a smarting playster euen so oftentimes the rude and harde handeling which we finde of our friendes or Ladyes bringes occasion to eschewe their societie or at least to labour to auoyde it and yet I dare not bring Madam Chariclea within the compasse of that condicion whether shée be or not sayth the Ladie I accompt you without commission to enquire and my selfe without reason to yeld your reckoning And yet I hope you wil not note it strange in mée if according to the care I haue ouer the state of poore louers the same concurring with the nature of our present exercise I vse the compassion of my sexe and calling to wishe them rather a plawsible libertie then this darcke and hydeous prison wherin I sée them so martired not that I chalenge any propertie in these spéeches or that such matters resemble me aboue the reast as you thinke But because I haue dwelt alwayes in this minde that notwithstanding the pleasures distending with loue is great in the highest degrée in respect of other felicities yea without comparison yet in coÌ„mon experience it comes not néere the least part of the sorrowes tormentes which of it are nouzled and trayned as a thousand suspicions ten thousand ielowsies with infinite distempered feares the proper substitutes of loue with whome as raine in a mightie wind is brought such passions panges that to a man of sounde iudgement there séemes no difference betwéene the laborinth of this endelesse traueyle and the infernall gulphe which continually castes vp nothing but loathsome vapors and flames of sulphur For my part I neuer knew louer fauored with anye hower or moment of happye time which he bought not both before and after the act at an vnlawfull price and vsurie For before he trauelles in a confusion with incertaintie of successe as being not yet come to the assurance of his vnbrideled affections and after hauing got with charge that which he kéepes with care he lyues in feare to loase what he hardelye holdeth in déede the perfite louer who standes assured in his felicity liues without the compasse of those doubtes But whome maye we tearme this assured louer yea who can giue vnto himselfe such certaine warraunt of the will of his Ladie as of his owne fayth and constancie I spare here to aleage vnto you the speeche of the people which for the single honour of his mistresse hâ—e ought to satisfie For if such be the malice of the worlde now a dayes as a simple conuersation of a young man and a woman doth drawe people into opinion and suspicion what trauell of minde and inconuenience of pollicie is he tyed vnto who being vowed to a mystresse must both supplye hir will and satisfie the popular spéeches séeing the nature of loue making men properly silent and sorrowfull serues here as a proper trumpet to discouer their passions What make you heare also of a sharpe repulse after a long sute yea how disgest you a false reporte whether of spite touching your selfe to your mystresse or of disdaine of hir to your selfe Suer those pilles and ague fittes are of more bitter qualities then all the pleasures that can be ymagined in loue containe felicitie and albeit the ioyes be great in number and pleasaunt in condicion yet are they not without their continuall propertie of fretting melancholie I coulde here enlarge further in the ordinarie accidentes in loue whose number is no lesse infinite then their qualitie intollerable and theyr actions most true in example were not I shoulde doe wrong to the experience of your other Gentlemen whose practise proues you in those affaires déepe iudgement onely in my knowledge I neuer sawe or knewe any one truely transfigured into the state of a perfite louer on whome notwithstanding he had possessed the actuall felicitie in loue did not attende inwarde perplexities and outwarde disquietnesse confused counsayles and carelesse execution broken spéeche and vnsounde iudgements yea suche a generall necligence in all his actes and conuersation of lyfe that in a due consideration of the effectes of loue in his example it may be easily discerned that there is more gall than honye lesse pleasure then payne farre more care care than commoditie and more want of courage than any true commendation of a noble minde You are not far from the truth sayth Glaphyro and for that selfe cause certaine auncient Philosophers fayned loue to be borne of Porus and Penius as making him the sonne of aboundance and penurie to figure vnto vs that louers in their greatest contentment are notwithstanding miserable by a certaine insatiable lust yea euen he that possesseth is neuer absolutely contented and that was the cause aunswered the Ladie why I woulde wishe this louer to finde some issue in loue if it were to be founde Here Monophylo the onelye protector of this little murderer by whome mooued all his gréefe I knowe not Madam sayth hée by what occasion you happen into these tearmes yea I meruell so much the more as I knowe your wisedome and high discression to cary no smal praise amongst men of iudgement and yet by the manner and phrase of your spéeche you séeme to resemble him who for a small transitorie delight which he promised himselfe by the vewe of his mistresse dispised an imortalitie prepared for him by the Goddes this I saye as séeing you wish a louer to leaue his profession for certaine light disquiets of minde which being banished from him you estéeme him more then happie But good Madam what is hée in whome this disease hath not béene incurable or who hath euer béene vnfurnished of those passions yea generallie I aske what state of mortalitie hath bene euer so absolutely happie on whome in the greatest delight of the worlde hath not attended some discontentment I meruell that by the same meane you desire not that children shoulde not be borne séeing the more wée loue and estéeme them aboue others so much the more doe they bring vnto vs care and gréefe doe we not feare desier hope and trauell our bodies and mindes
from reason then frée from all conformitie to truth séeing mutuall nouriture kindles a custume and certaine sparkes of priuate familiaritie but neyther one bodie nor one spirite sure seigneur Phylopolo the more I aspire into consideration of this great diuinitie which we speake of the more am I rapt into cōfusion with such ghastly amase that me thinks it were better for me to iudge that loue is not then raysing my thoughtes aboue the reach of nature to séeke to flie into his dwelling to discouer the force wherewith nature hath armed him euen from the beginning of the worlde And euen as who pretendes to comprehende the substaunce and maiestie of this vniuersall maker and creator of vs all discourseth in himselfe his most infinite myracles as thys rounde and firme plot of the earth and the voluble course of the skies aboue so discending from one woonder to an other fyndes at last by the greatnesse of these effectes that the great GOD is not to be discerned by the facultie of mortall iudgement but that he contaynes an essence exceding mans consideration euen so to whome so euer it laye in desire to vnderstande at large what loue is it is needefull he enter into a perticuler contemplation of all his woonderfull effectes and so resolue and ende that it is a thing whose knowledge can not enter into the spirite of man So that séeing loue takes his being neyther of a heauenly influence nor conformitie of conditions nor lastlye of a custome or mutuall conuersation what other thing shall I tearme him to be than a mocion sturring I know not how which is farre more easie to be felt in our hartes then vttered by spéech yea it so knittes and vnites our mindes that being the cause of a perpetuall death yet it reuiues vs in an other making vs forget our proper condicion to remember our selues eftsoones in an other seconde our selues and drawes vs besides by a deuine power with such a strong and indissoluble bonde returning to the first Androgina of our father Adam that he distils two spirites into one bodye by the same miracle brings to passe that two spirits be made one minde in two bodies is not this I praye you a most soueraigne and extréeme miracle wherein to the ende to draw you to a better vnderstanding of my saying and not to thinke it a fable is it not as it were to haue one spirite in two bodies when a man and woman differ not in desire of thinges but appliyng in conformitie of willes and affections the one doth not desire but that which the other doth wish and yet being one minde in two bodies they become in the ende by a singuler metamorphesis exchaunge two spirites in one body bycause my mistresse standing in full possession of my hart I likewise ruling ouer hir affections I can not but esteme my selfe to possesse both mine owne and hirs and she lykewise to gouern them both séeing that like as if I be named Lorde ouer hirs and hir I may rightfully meane my selfe the onely possessor of both our heartes so albeit we séeme both depriued of two mindes and two hartes yet we retaine and possesse both the one and other in our selues And therefore who can saye that the knowledge of loue is hable to happen into our mindes or that wée haue the facultie to discerne the true substaunce and matter of loue This is the cause why the auncient fathers and philosophers amongst the demons which they established the onlye searchers out as they thought of our thoughtes and actions called loue Demon as to aduise vs thereby that it is a thing enforced by a natural instinct as it were by an impression which we kéepe of our auncient ymage without other consideration a thing to be discerned by actuall example séeing that euen as when we encounter vpon a sodaine any of our olde friends whose long absence leades vs in a want of knowledge of him we wauer in iudgement and yet being assured in the ende that it is the same of whome we doubted in the beginning we embrace him with plawsible signes of so happie a méeting euen so reseruing some knowledge of that auncient custom wherin it séemes the heauens if we may vse the phrase of the Philosophers did consent to vs as soone as our eye hath taken holde of hir to whome our nature doth drawe vs we beginne as all amazed to enter into knowledge and albeit not wel assured otherwaies than in féeling some litle spark of the auncient coniunction fortifiyng our selues in our selues by little and little as being then assured to haue founde againe the obiect whervnto the heauens haue vowed vs we delight we congratulate and become familiar with euery pleasure end contentment wherein notwithstanding I doe not holde that after such carectes engraued within vs and that the two louers be tyed togither in one minde by I know not what benefite which they vnderstand not for so hath loue taught me to saye we do not desire after a long vse conuersation togither a coniuntion of the two bodyes one in another the same being that appetite which nature hath infused generallye into vs all and that we finde it better in our Ladies than in anye other woman whatsoeuer in respect of the great sympathya and bound of friendshish which is betwéene hir and vs the same retayning such a force in action of our loue that if after such a valyaunt beginning we chaunce to be called to perticipate in the pleasure much lesse in mine opinion that our loue diminishe or fall into any default but rather that it will take new force and alwaies encrease more and more Where if euen in the beginning we had not trauelled but for that poynt the conquest had béene lothsome and the continuaunce none séeing when the desire had béene satisfied our delight woulde haue vanished as the smoke dissolues when the fire forbeares his action and euery effect mortefieth when the cause is taken awaye so that as I can not alowe that loue if loue it may be called eyther constant or of continuaunce whose onely purpose is to possesse that poynt so also he is weake in opinion whose feare makes him doubt that the greatnesse of hys loue will diminishe by this meane and therefore dare not intreat his mistresse in that respect Loue is then a power lying betwéene the two worse extremities not setting his originall vpon this common lust and yet though long hée doe reiect it at last he doth admit it the same being the cause as I beléeue why all our church lawes in the consomation of a true mariage wherein ought to consist the marke and ende of true friendeship require not but the consent of the parties as though this true loue of mariage ought not to passe but vnder a conformitie of mindes and not by any lust or suggestion of the fleshe Thus ended Monophylo not without a singuler contentment to Chariclea who to witnesse
rule of men â–ª haue eyther necligently dissolued or at least euen in their first entrie béene â—allowed with the name of tyrannie although I am not ignoraunt that there is no rule so generall which hath not his exception And Madam to renewe eftsoones the vertues of your Semyramys did not shée I praye you open the first way to make hir successors monarches euen vntill Sardanapalus by whose monstrous and filthie lustes the gate was eftsoones closed vppon his subiectes as giuing occasion to the Meadeâ— to inuade the empire vppon them of which seconde monarchie notwithstanding I meane not to speake for the small estimation which the historians make of it But if we distende to the Persians what was their meane in the beginning to rule ouer so many nations but onelye the vertue and valyaunt mindes of women when all that people vnder the conduct of Cyrus séeking to warraunt themselues by flight against the furie of Astiages king of the Meades the women ashamed of the infamie of their husbandes yssued out of the towne wherein they had pretended their safetie and running against them with their secret partes all bare asked them if they would enter againe into the place from whence they tooke their birth the same kindling such confusioÌ„ in their husbands y turning faces vpon their enimies with new harts they charged them so hoatlye that they put them to flight and kéeping from that time forwarde the better of them they became also as by that fortune and meane peaseable possessors of the greatest part of the worlde in memorie of these and as it were in an euerlasting monument it was ordained that euery king afore his entrie into that towne out of the which the women made such valiaunt yssue shoulde giue to euerie woman Citizen of that place a certaine summe of siluer according to the rate and measure of the law And albeit this monarkye by Alexanders meanes was translated to the Macedonians yet consult with the cronicles and sée what continuance it had as taking his beginning in him and also ending with him and all bicause against the office of mortalitie he as a man had conspired to subdue the whole worlde and so in one instaunt that empire was deuided by scantlinges which euen hée in whome the worlde reposed most for valyauntcie with such wearie trauell had conquered But nowe to an other what common wealth hath bene euer more noble than the Romaine state who being raysed aboue all others may vaunt to haue proouâ—â— all maner of pollitick gouernementes and from whence did shée drawe hir originall béeing but from the good maâ—râ—nes of Troye who ariuing vpon a coaste of Italie when their husbandes were gon of forraging for vituals entred into common accorde aswell touching their common reast and quiet as professing a present benifit with continuaunce of honour to their posteritie and determined at one instaunt to burne all their vesselles and shippes which being put to execution by the councell of one of them named Roma in memorie of which fact the towne of Rome tooke and hath continued hir name they gaue occasion to the Troyans to establishe there their abode and dwelling So they began to erect kinges who adding diuerse names and qualities as albania and then Rome became by successe of tyme to be abused and yet such was the suffraunce of destinye who hatched in it selfe a newe forme of common wealth by the meane of Lucretia defiled by Tarquin this monarchy chaunged into a populer estate such as was after obserued by the space of fiue hundreth yeares here you may saye that kinde of common wealth was not iutroduced by the wisedom or councell of women euen so it maye be aunswered that vpon them fell the lotte and meane to direct that Cittie in an other forme more profitable for the common sort But as there is no eternitie in mortall doinges so this common wealth declining into corruption by the licentious ambition of potentates to whose peruersitie of maners was required a newe pollecye there rose vp a Iulius Cesar who in a hawtie stoutnesse inuerting all auncient lawes translated eftsons the order of this cittie into a monarchie but what monarchy maye we name it if not an empire of perpetuall tyrannie disguised sometimes by the goodnesse of a fewe who against their willes were called and chosen to that dignitie of an emperour and yet it was not for the regarde of men that the Gods prepared such reformations But now to a last example of familiaritie it is not yet sixe score yeares past that in one of the greatest monarchies euen in the heart of christendome a simple mayde sent by gods prouidence was sufficient to deliuer the whole country from a general seruitude wherein they had long liued so that it séemes God hath reserued to women the best part of honorable victories as not leauing to vs to possesse but their small remainder and therefore with wrong our auncestors sought to oppresse this sex as thinking to rayse our owne which not to disguise the truth comes not néere their excellencie by a million of paces For this haue I to giue you thankes sayth the Ladie Chariclea although thankes be no sufficient rewarde to so great a merite and by thys is worthyly prooued your noble condicion which I promise you shall remaine with me in no small estimation onelye I am now sorie I vsed my authoritie heretofore so preciselie ouer your silence séeing by howe much I restrayned you to speake by so much was I a secret enimie to my selfe which open wrong to your déepe iudgement tempered with a modestie of spéeche not ordinarie to the most sort of Gentlemen But hauing yet to ende mine owne Caruer touching the iealouse language of Phylopolo which tended to prooue that chastitie was more requisite in women than in men I praye you lette me aske him by what law men haue that priuilege aboue women if it by the lawe of God eyther you vnderstande it not rightlye or alleadge the text necligently séeing the scripture abhorres the same against chastitie aswell in the man as in the woman And if you chalenge it by the statutes of man you can not alleadge them to my preiudice vnlesse in this cause you will hold an estate both of iudge and partie But be it eyther sort I will not muche impugne your saying not that I will confesse such an aduantage for so may I call it to procéede by bonde or naturall lawe as you maintayne but by a certaine honestie by which we women plasing it before our eyes are alwayes more in studie to garde our chast honour than men to whome it is a custome to bequeath their heartes vpon credite vpon the least suggestion that mooues wherein if by our wisedome we haue learned to bridle our naturall lustes and you men as in a possession and custome without memorie doe slacke the raines to your loathsome desires to the first that offreth I sée no reason to allowe you in the matter of
which is reason and the other they say possesseth the inferior partes which they name lust or desire wherein albeit that which occupieth the partes more noble ought to assist the other as being most wise and forséeing yet such is our share and part with this massie earth being tickled by their flattering and deceitfull passions communicating with them hir secrets and as it were conspiring secretly against hir submittes hir selfe oftentimes to their mercie to hir great confusion For example who ought to haue bene more deuested of all humaine passion than our originall father Adam being in his innocencie séeing our mortall nature was as then in his most great perfection and yet was not he rather ouer ruled by concupiscence then guided by reason when in an ambicious humour he rebelled against the will of God But if we distende more familiarly by what other effect I praye you are we deuided from beastes but by this reason onelie which notwithstanding we sée so abused in thousandes of men that they séeme to pertake more with beasts than with humanity wherin what better testimonie can we produce than the doinges of wisemen and such as are inraged replenished with furie in whome notwithstanding that lust or desire neuer fayled which kepes residence in vs all which makes me think that when this mightie generall architector began to fashion man he framed him deuided as it were halfe diuine halfe brutish so that as he would not make him altogither ignorant in things passed nor directly to foresée chaunces to come so he intercepted him to flie with the winges of his minde to the consideration concerning only himselfe which is the knowledge of the truth but séemes contented only with our faith and credulitie And so in the matter of beautie wée néede not much to meruaile if our iudgement wauer séeing it hapneth in all other humaine actions which I thinke procéedes by the great prouidence of God yea euen in the matter of our present question bycause such women as of certayne are estéemed fowle séeme sufficiently fayre to others as not to be wholy abandoned being as necessarie for the encrease of the worlde as those that stande in a greater estimation of beautie And yet we must thinke that although in this opinion loue makes himselfe common with all other thinges of the worlde yet he containes a certaine nature in himselfe by which he is made altogither heauenly For except this generall league of pollicie which procéedes of the vnitie of our heartes whereof I will not now speake I haue alwaies learned of suche as imagined the heauenlie felicitie that the contentment that most wée founde in this supernall region is a perpetuall contemplation of this deuine essence which makes vs forget our selues wherein albeit I ought not to applie so high a similitude to the subiect we speake of yet if we be suffred to imprint in our heartes an ymage of that diuinitie I may well say that the impression we haue of the formes and figures of our Ladies doth so rauishe vs in them that by them we doe not onely holde all the ioyes of the worlde as transitorie but also they take from vs the knowledge of the very cause why we loue as being rapt in woonder in them euen as by a dilligent beholding the sunne we loase the naturall light of our owne eyes I consent to all you saye sayth Glaphyro confessing withall that as by the imbecilitie of our sences it is not lawfull for vs to flie or aspire to this truth so I beléeue also that it is the onelye cause of the diuersitie of lawes altogither contrarie in diuers places And yet you cannot denie to me that in the question of beautie there be not thinges which by common consent of the worlde are not allowed most fayre as who in a selfe obstinate fancie will giue vnto the crooked and wrinckled a more singularity in beautie then those whome nature hath created vpright and perfite hath in mine opinion no lesse mayme in his sight then imperfection of reason and iudgement I speake not of monsters sayth Monophylo but of thinges common and indifferent for séeing nature hath created vs all vpright I will not entangle our question with suche sort of people as you speake of affirming that in what proportion so euer we are framed if we procure to our selues no other defect of members then according to Gods generall distribution we are a substaunce sufficient ynough to be beloued Bicause all other accidents happening appeare not to vs eyther fayre or foule but according to the diuersitie of our humours which leade vs to that opinion yea we perswade often times a thing to séeme fayre in some season which in an other appeares foule and loathsome So that seigneur Glaphyro if this generalitie vary according to the diuersitie of tymes let vs not thinke straunge if our mindes in the same respect differ perticulerly wherin touching women on whome your late spéech did runne I can hardelye beléeue that in this varietie of opinions they finde not some friende in affection albeit not so commonly as others bicause they are further estraunged from our common nature herein you are both deceyued sayth Phylopolo for nature neuer created thing so rare but for admiration And albeit in regarde of their bodies suche women are not so generally delitefull to vs yet they haue alwayes a helpe of the minde to satisfie that default for God was neuer so niggardly bent to any but if he raysed an imperfite bodye he supplied it with some inwarde excellencie of minde as in the nature of insensible thinges we haue an example of the Vine who albeit seemes most crooked and counterfeyt of all other sortes of woode yet he contaynes euen in his succéeding effectes the spirite and minde of vs men This is somewhat to purpose for you sayth the Ladie and albeit you had vsed no other spéeche at all yet by these last wordes you shoulde haue bene dispensed with all touching all your blasphemies wherein all this afternoone you haue taken your voluntarie pleasure beséehing you all my Gentlemen and déere friendes to suffer this last spéeche of Phylopolo to cloase vp our long question of loue wherein Monophylo séemes to chalenge a singuler triumph who least he should ouer wéene in himselfe I thinke it is not impertinent so to moderate the state of his prosperitie as by our meane hée hoyse not sayle aboue our power to embase it by discresion wherein I holde opinion with an auncient Capitaine of Athens who being asked if he tooke not pleasure to learne the art of memorie no rather sayth he I delight in the art of forgetfulnesse bicause in his iudgement hée preserued well all thinges in his minde which being learned he forgat not But aboue all if a thing once engraued in vs cannot be defaced without great paine loue only once rooted in our heartes is most hardly yea impossible drawne from vs by any humaine art or pollysie and
therefore I holde it no lesse necessarie to learne the meanes to eschewe such a place then profitable to knowe the causes for the which we enter into it A small perswation Madam sayth Glaphyro woulde drawe me to your opinion but let vs take héede least offering to make a roade or inuasion vpon loue the night charge vs not behinde whose darcke ministers may doe vs more harme than any way we can gréeue him vpon whome we haue made this warre and therefore Madam as the present season requireth it were better to make a safe retraict than a perilous follye vnder this charge notwithstanding if the companie so like to renewe this warre the next morning when I doubt not the pleasaunt dewe as the teares of Iupiter distilled will no lesse delight vs than the Sunne hath specially fauoured our exercise this afternoone And so this little band of amorous souldiours fearing the swift approche of the night and finding withall a necessarie appetite to reléeue theyr bodies aswell as their mindes were delighted with pleasaunt discourse approoued the counsayle of Glaphyro and also his condicion of returne the next morning which they performed as you may heare ⧠The second Booke of Monophylo THat was truelie a lawdable custome and most familiar with the Fathers of olde time who by how much they reposed a dignitie in their workes by so much were they curious to choose patrons of high condicion vnder whose authoritie their indeuours might spreade abroade For which cause they consecrated both their names and bookes to the Goddes onely and the Muses as assuring the world therby that the ende whervnto they aspired rested not in any mortall pretence But in your opinion Madame if the worlde might become a Metamorphosis and all those great personages eftsoones returne to lyfe woulde you not thinke that as the complexcions of men be chaunged so also generallye they woulde alter custome as leauing their Goddes and Goddesses to searche out newe protâ—ctors and yet if we waigh with the condicion of their age past the nature of the present season wherein we liue we shall finde their time more generally enclined to assist that custome of theirs then any consideration at all to follow our exercises what vertue or varietie of wit so euer they containe For as in their dayes when golde and siluer stoode not in suche authoritie as nowe hée only was estéemed aboue the rest whose vertue and science gaue best shew of a singuler wel qualified minde So being since fallen into more extréeme seasons which fauour not the facultie of good and excellent wittes vnlesse they haue a societie with welth and riches it is not also to bée merueyled if such as haue succéeded them in writing aspiring euen with them to the selfe same poynt of ymortalitie séeke to reclaime Princes to whome as to the high executors of Gods benefites they make offer of the fruites or best of their facultie as by suche meane to pertake with their high liberallities and bounties By whose example we not onely direct to Princes and great men the greatest part of our workes but also euen repose and depende the value of our wittes vpon their willes as vpon the onely poynt and ceinter vpon which all our thoughtes do rest and hang wée finde by fayth of Autentike writers what happie numbers of learned men florished in Rome in the life oâ— the Emperour Augustus the onely macaenas for science in his time and of the contrarie how naked that profession grew when the Gothes enimies to all Arte and humanitie raigned ouer Italie wherein Madam enter not into further woonder then the reason of the cause requireth séeing as euery season hath hir reuolutions so no estate is exempt from the power of voluble time and naturallye wée are all drawne to doe good vnder a hope of honour which being not estéemed vnlesse it be pricked full of the fethers of transitorie riches euery one wée sée applieth himselfe to the good pleasure and seruice of him from whome he plucks profit and commodity And yet I say he cannot be to highly recompensed whose witte and penne as the painefull handemaydes of truth trauell to set foorth the accidentes of tyme séeing all the valiaunt actes which wée sée stande vpon the heades of great men cannot be raysed into a higher degrée of fame than by the meane of a penne well disposed to whome all prescription of times hath giuen this priuiledge to embase the prowes of great men and rayse the doinges of the meaner sort at his pleasure which was not vnknowne to the great conquerour Alexander when hée lamented to be disfurnished of suche a trompet as fortune had stirred vp for Achylles in the person of Homer By what other occasion I pronounce it with reuerence and priuate gréefe are our histories become seasoned with such small value and estimation if not by the slender care of our great Lordes who flattering their time with other professions in their necligent regarde to learning take awaye also all example or courage from all men that exercise their wittes that way Kinges giue life vnto wittes and the learned in counterchaunge crowne princes with ymortalitie the trauell of writers is a monument of perpetuitie and the indeuour of the penne preserues memorie aboue time learning as sayth the Psalmes comfortes the afflicted soule and giues ayde to the frayle infirmities of the fleshe it rules betwéene Prince and Prince and directes priuate causes of meane men it is a testimonie to the matter and a iudge to the controuersie which cannot bée corrupted yea by learning we haue conuersation euen with God in writing he hath left amongest vs the wordes of his infallible will which being well obserued leades vs as the Prophet sayth aboue the heauens But Oh miserable condicion of our great men who in place to preferre learning plucke away the meanes to preserue it as in not assisting the painefull indeuours of writers are vnthankefull euen to the benefites of God whose prouidence they vse vnworthylie and are guiltie in the spoyle of their owne monumentes and eternitie For by how much God blesseth our age with men of qualitie and science a constaunt signe of his care ouer vs by so much it lyeth you in charge you noble men and states of welth so to gouerne this singuler blessing as neyther the soyle in the séede nor the séede in the fruite be vnthankefully vsed least with the plague of other tymes your monumentes be defaced and your names and actions runne in a darcke memorie as the eclipse of the Moone when shée is barred from hir naturall light But Madam amongst so manye eloquent wittes albeit I iustlye estéeme my selfe inferior euen to the woorst as standing also lesse in the fauour of nature then they yet with the Bée that yeldes honnie for his house rent I must confesse that if euer anye fruite went out of this little gardaine of myne you onelye haue planted it and as others aspire to Kinges and Princes for
for their sakes wée desire to sée them great as then to become the staye and comfort of our old age wherein wee employe no small diligence wée feare their venterous youth as not to fall into daunger of body or infection of minde by lewde conuersation and for that cause we prouide tutors to moderate their rashnesse suche is our torment and care of minde for them that wée euen féele the displeasures they suffer and endure a share in their woes and miseries yea if wée waighe in euen ballaunce the gréeues distending with such as we bring into this worlde with the pleasures wée receyue by them we shall hardelie iudge the difference and yet such is the vehement nature of our affection as it makes vs forget the sorrow and trouble whereof they are the cause it is impossible that in matters by which wée receyue extreame contentment that sometimes also they turne vs not to heauie gréeues and annoyes what one thing in the worlde doth more necessarilye delight vs then the fier and yet by it wée sée stately cities and pallaces reuersed and consumed who denies water to be most conuenient for the necessitye of man and yet it is the element in which much people perish and great treasure is deuoured So that notwithstanding the perillous accidentes happening by these two elementes yet to hinder or take awaye their vse were to driue nature from hir course and confuse the thinges of the worlde euen so is it of loue whose profession you wish vs to leaue for certaine light inconueniences accompanying him by circumstaunce and nothing considering the soueraigne benifits which secretly lie shrowded and hidde within him wherein to offer you familiaritie of experience why wishe you not in like sort that wée were not borne at all séeing that as béeing once entred into this worlde our conuersation runnes vnder infinite and intollerable miseries euen so our destinie caries this condicion that the higher we are raysed into degrées of felicitie the redilier we encline to reuolution and féele with more gréefe the pinching stinges of displeasure which Madame me thinkes might drawe you to a fauourable consideration of loue by whome if sometimes wée are lifted into actes of high and perfit pleasure it is not out of reason if at other seasons he leade vs in effectes of more harde and straunge nature séeing that if at one time the pleasure should be litle euen so at an other season the displeasure coulde not but be lesse for so hath God vnited and paysed the one with the other as to bridle our presumption in vaunting to be happy on all sides and therefore he doth drawe ouer our calme of pleasure and felicitie a darcke clowde of gréefe calamitie and yet our voluble pleasure is farre more great without comparison in the respect of our present controuersie then the inwarde gréeues which wée féele for where the lamentable teares the strayned sighes the broken sorowes which oftentimes wée poure out in loue are not enforced by other occasion or meane then as perticipating of our mortalitie subiect to all infirmitie and miserie the pleasures on the other side which like swéete honye distilles by his suggestion laye vs in resemblaunce with Aungelles as though in that contemplacion we imparted with the heauenly powers and to vse a direct truth loue would establish vs as it were in a perfite felicitie vpō earth were not that his pleasaunt mocions be sometimes mingled with certaine light disquietes Wherein maye be discouered a great prouidence of God who to laye afore vs our humanitie hath tempered our delightes with pilles of sorowe and prouided our riuer of transitorie ioye to runne in a streame of anguishe and gréefe not that those small accurrauntes should challenge such authoritie and force as for them it shoulde bée néedefull to deuest our selues of so great beatitude But it behooues amid such distresses to prooue the heart of a true and loyall louer euen as golde is tryed in the furnace séeing that to whome so euer liuing continually nourished in pleasures suche as eyther he woulde haue or can wish for without proofe of displeasure or gréefe it is a hard experience to haue a true taste of the swéete fruite which the gardaine of such delightes doth yéelde yea it standes not with incongruent necessitie to make his taste and iudgement more perfite to entangle his pleasures with some easie and light annoyes like as to giue a good season to meate is required not onely sugar and swéete thinges but also some sharpe spices of qualitie to be hardelye disgested which applyed and tempered with other drugges doe giue a good and perfite taste to that which otherwayes woulde carrie no season at all Ah seigneur Monophylo sayth the Ladie suche is your force in spéeche and reasons to perswade that I could euen settle in your opinion were it not that for you alone ouer whome a voluntarie force holdes the heauie yoake of loue there may be founde thousandes and ten thousandes who bitterlye doe washe their mouthes in curses and complaintes against the daye and hower wherein they tooke first footing in that miserable pryson yea such is eyther theyr naturall blindenesse or prouidence of destinie that albeit they beholde their owne spoyle and ruine yet the missery of their thrall estate holdes so strayght a hande vpon them that neyther force nor pollicie can delyuer them euen like vnto the Déere entangled in nettes who the more he striues the faster contendes he against his deliuerie Why hath nature then sayth Phylopolo who valued louers with brute beastes indued man with a soule of reason as to deuide him from beastlye creatures if he loasing the custome of reason enter willingly into a place which afterwardes without hys great confusion he cannot eschewe the same resembling the condicion of the sillie birde albeit more excusable to whom onelie belonges to complaine of nature as taking from hir all knowledge to resist the swéete charme of the fowler by whome if shée escape death shée is suer at least of captiuity where man drawing to himselfe hys selfe destruction without other power of remedy then to late a repentaunce wherein I praye you is he to be deuided from other creatures but only in the outward eface vnder the which hée couereth his great beastelinesse What syr aunswereth Charyclea who here though good to cut of his ielouse spéech wished him not to presume so far of his owne felicitie séeing he had neyther pollicie nor speciall prerogatiue aboue others to auoyde the misterie if the mischiefe fell vpon him For sayth shée euen as the experience is common that many Marinors vndertaking a long voyage commit themselues to the sea vnder a showe of fayre weather smiling at the first vpon them albeit their hope being turned to heauinesse they stande at last so déepe in the daunger of the tempest that notwithstanding their indeuours they are enforced to abandon their shippe to the mercie of the waues without meane of remedie euen so