within the course of which theyby a time return to their first heads his destiny constrained him now return into that honorable servitude in which shee captivated the most beautious souls Minerva not lesse wondring at the love of Adraste then satisfied with her own beauties of which she had heer an illustrious proof in this second conquest of this lover answered him in these terms If any other then your self should talk to me thus Adraste either I should not believe him at all or at least should fain not to believe him But the knowledge I have of your goodnesse makes me that as I esteeme you veritable so will I answer you from my own heart believing you speak to me from the bottom of yours And to observe the same method you hold with me in confessing your thoughts I shall discover mine to you and acknowledge that if I were in such condition as I could give me to any one it should be you But I will not forbear to tell you many things that hinder me therin though you do know them neer as well as I to the end that if you do not receive the satisfaction you have promised you you may lay the fault on your own errours and not upon my will that never shall be wanting in good wishes to you nor to perform like deeds on your behalf Minerva discoursing afterwards the causes hindred her from loving of Adraste missed not to put that of god in the first place whom wee ought to love and fear above all things and you said shee that love and feare him above other men would cause me render him my enemy for your love This divine reason is of such force as there is no humane passion can or convince it or withstand the being overcome by it But if you dis esteeme of god which were so enormous an offence wher of the monstrous impiety could never be sufficiently chastised or what could perswade you to make mee believe that I could ever live after being robbed of my honour in this World And you that hazard oft so generously your life to save your honour how dare you heere propose to mee the losse of mine Is not the honour of us Ladies pray all out as choice and delicate as that of men And if you love me as you say and as I do believe why do you desire to lose mee so can you love my person and neglect my honour Madam answered Adraste my discretion may be shield unto your honour and this same innocent feare you have of doing ill by favouring me is void of likelihood God is not the enemy but the author of nature and the offence without scandall is no offence Believe you that the naturall affection the author of nature imprinteth in our souls is averse to the will of him that gives it us and that the first thing he ever commanded he should now forbid us God wisheth us no il but for the ils we do to our selvs nor takes amisse the offeces done to him but those we do to our selvs for being maker of the universe his care is most to perserve his workmanship his offence at that would hinder it and not at that which meerly tendeth to the conservation of it Then is he the enemy of violence injustice cruelty and the ingratitude that tend to the subversion of love and not of love it self and he is angred that we turn his sweets to bitternesse and doe convert to our dammage that which he hath given us for our benefits For as love is the cause of our greatest goods so may it become of our greatest ils but then it must be by our own improvidence and not by his See then who offends most the divinity Madame or I that follow the lawes of love according to the end for which they first were made or you that do endeavour what you may to change and to pervert his institutions and chuse rather to apply you to the counsell of a thanklesse and unnaturall rigour then the true apprehension of a naturall inclination that is not only permitted but commanded It is true that God hath commanded love said Minerva but that which is legitimate all other affections being forbid not only by divine but humane lawes In which I 'le speake no more to him that teacheth others A good cause defends it selfe and one word is sufficient in a truth whereas a lye needs the support of a large discourse Both of them spake against their conscience and contrary to their own beliefe for this discourse of Adraste was quite averse to what he thought and Minerva's answer was no lesse farre from her meaning Adraste desiring to perswade a woman that would be perswaded and whom he perceived to seeke some honest meanes that she might love him without blushing endeavoured by this talk to take from her such shame as naturally retaines all women In which nerethelesse he knew well that he did ill but one so common amongst men whose reasons are overcome by appetite as it seems custome not onely renders them permitted but authorised Minerva speaking truely according to her beliefe stretched yet her thoughts unto such things as she might do accompanying the coldnesse of her words with the quickning flames of her faire looks drew by the gentlenesse of her fweet charms him that she yet repulsed by the force of her strong reasons to let him see the beauty of her minde in the refusing him that of her body so as in yeelding both one and the other to him he should owe the favour rather to her love then to her ignorance And permitting him some small privacies which did not much forbid the greater as they seemed to promise unto him caused him hope that she would doe like the good wives that often resuming what men aske of them yet forbeare not to doe some part of their demands but saying still they will doe nought Whilest Adraste so eagerly solicited Minerva Brassidas and Gracchus both came athwart his designes Brasidas was a little of kinne to Minerva but not so much but he could have wished to have been more neer A man discreet wise subtile and a boon companion chiefly amongst women Gracchus was a little more earthy and retained more of the Souldier then of the Courtier but nerethelesse both of them brave Gentlemen and both Lovers of Minerva who seeing Adraste first in time and consequently in right however such a consequence is not alwaies necessary in affairs of love where the last commers are many times first received agreed both together to ruine him The occasion was offered them by the means of Asteria one that Adraste saw some times and Gracchus likewise however for divertisement onely and each single without the other notwithstanding which they often met there Gracchus being then one day with Asteria she would needs know the newes of Minerva and he knowing that she knew not her but through the report of Adraste asked her again what he said
you the most happie No Madam I love not for my pleasure I love for yours and love not to torment you but to vex my selfe for the love of you by whom I desire still to be tormented I say not this or to flatter you or to decline your anger I know that the one is bootlesse and the other impossible I speake it as a truth by which I am thereto inforced and to make it appeare to you how much my affections are elevate above all others the vassailes and the subjects of your boundlesse Empire The Argument He excuseth himselfe for putting his Mistris in coller by preferring a just complaint unto her and protesteth that hee will never more complaine since hee seeth he cannot complaine without giving her offence Epistle 13. Madam I Were not a man if I had not passions nor a Gascoine were I not violent nor could I be amorous were I not furious But that these conditions are so eminent in me that they have ever appeared to the prejudice of that respect that subjection or that obedience which I owe you I most humbly intreat you Madam be you your selfe the judge and do not as yesternight ye did when desiring with all the humility and submission a slave owes to his Lord but to lament a just resentment you caused me feele the effect of such wrath as I nere merited after the depriving me of an entertainment promised For you alone both pleaded and adjudged the cause with such precipitation not at all hearkning to me that I had more haste to obey you without reply then by reasons to defend my selfe though it were most evident on my side and that your award was not onely unjust but likewise injurious But Madam I begge yet of you though it were yesterday forbidden mee to speake it may be permitted this day to write and that you will receive this complaint as the last I hope ever to preferre For since I cannot complaine without offending you I shall rather chuse to undergoe all the rigours in the world then once to complaine of any one You are Madam so just as you never give cause of complaint to man and if any one do of himselfe offer it you returne him such satisfaction as a man much injured could not but be well contented There is none but mee onely destinate to suffer not alone hopelesse of satisfaction but more most ascertained to bee checked and curbed for all sorts of occasions and for all sorts of people which I should embrace yet as a fauour if no other but your selfe might take advantages thereby But you haue entitled mee unto the place that does give way to all the world and forceth me give you away to others for whom I should most gladly give my life If instead of those whole daies you say you will afford mee you would vouchsafe mee onely but one houre to accept the adue you have commanded me to come and render you it would be easie for me to justifie this truth If not then must I beare it away within my breast together with an eternal sorrow to have most innocently offended you The Answere Sir HAd I words so sufficient as I had yesterday cause to be in coller I should inforce you to confesse that you are in an error to take it ill at my hands And if you please to be at the paine to to come hither I shall not forbeare to tell you what I thinke therein and assure you that I am your Servant The Argument Hee endeavours to maintaine a wager hee had propounded to have lay'd that he would write no more to her and begs pardon that hee doth not aske her pardon for it Epistle 14. Madam YEsterday upon the assault of my first motions I offer'd to have laid a wager with you of which having better considered I find that I had reason to have done it and that you were in an error to take offence at it for what can I more in writing present you with which I have not alreadie sent and said unto you And if all that I have said and all that ever I can say will not yet encline you at all to pitty to what purpose should I trouble my selfe in a labour that is not onely bootlesse unto me but likewise hurtfull For is it not true that they are so many firebrands to incense those flames wherewith I am alreadie most miserably burned And if I must not hope for any ease therin why would you that I should againe enkindle them If the most perfect love of the world the most extreame fidelity the discreetest modesty and most stedfast constancie that ever was if all these together so often tried and so many times approved by your selfe have not power to leave the least impression in your breast but that on the contrary my complaints have served meerely for your sport and pastime why should I obstinately continue to lament me of an ill which you have told me and my perseverance lets me see is altogether helplesse In a word Madam why are you pleased that I should ever aske you that which you will never grant me Would you not thinke a man extreamly cruell that should put his enemie to death that had beg'd life at his hands Yet am not I your enemy and yet you use me in this manner I and worse for you do take offence both when I aske and when I do not aske But Madam I have so perfectly conceived the greatnesse of your demerits and finde my words so meane in comparison of this conceit as the despaire to attaine it onely is a sufficient cause to make me hold my peace and religiously adore in silence what I cannot in my discourses honour but imperfectly Here is the great offence I did you yesterday Madam I most humbly intreate you pardon me that I aske you not your pardon for it The Argument After his Mistris departure he comforteth her in her afflictions by the example of his own adversities Epistle 15. Madam AFter having bid adue and followed you with both my eyes so farre as the way you held would give me leave I returned to go visit those pledges you left here behind you in the Citty where the sorrow not to see you with them renew'd those griefes I had for your departure And sending my man thither to day Mistris N. let mee know that shee would write unto you which hath invited mee to doe the like I can assure you Madam if it be a consolation to the afflicted to have companions in misery you have great cause to comfort you in your sorrowes by the example of mine which really are the most sensible I ever yet have felt You have not wept alone you have taught me the mysterie and a mysterie that hath been altogether unknowne to me ere since I knew my selfe I most humbly intreat you that my sorrowes may mitigate yours that now at need you make use of your constancie and fit your heart to beare
they doe but tyrannize But though it be a marvell I should herein confine me to so little speech having such reason to extend me in so sensible a cause for all this I wish not that my passion Madame should yet render me importunate but on the contrary I most humbly crave you will pardon me if the sorrow to know you in these displeasures and the feare to see you fall in others yet more great have made me hazard the displeasing you It is no part of my designe no rather may I dye then once to think it You know how much I honour you I wish no other witnesse of the affection I beare you then your selfe Beleeve then it is that which makes me speake and that I looke upon all other things sans interest Here then accuse me not of humour and of phantasie upon mine honour there is none if you call not humour and fancie an extreame passion to doe you faithfull service for which there is no desire of honour nor necessity of businesse that I 'le not quit nor man upon the earth I would not undertake and he by so much the more heartily then others as he does undertake concerning you and does not onely marre the good of your affaires but more the beauty of your daies in shadow of obliging you Yet pardon me that I doe take offence at the ill is doneto you I cannot chuse but doe it being so intirely yours as that you have not any thing so properly belonging to you as my selfe And after having pardoned me give leave I bid you here farewell The Argument Having fought this morning upon the occasion spoken of in the former Letter and having astonisht his Mistresse by the recitall of so unlooked for an action he writes to her that her astonishment caused him to judge that she hoped some better end or feared a worse And shewes that neither the one nor the other could be Epistle 37. Madame THe astonishment wherein I saw you o'rewhelmed at the recitall of an action wholly advantagious as well for you as me and whereunto I did not bring lesse consideration for any thing might have regard to you then ought that might concern my honour or my life hath put me in care for what you undergoe and caused me judge or that you hoped of a better successe therein or feared a worse To hope a better Madame it could never be that one should render satisfaction in the field more happily then I have done unto a man so offended in his honour without the least submission made or any hurt received and for to feare a worse I cannot thinke he hath received so much content therein as that he covets much to come more there And to what purpose were it indeed to returne to the place from whence we of our selves retired without the least obligement from another one For me I am well pleased to have rendred him the satisfaction he did desire to see me with my sword in hand and he hath seen me but he hath not let me see that he understood so well the maximes of honour as by his chartell he did promise me since he did let me part from him without inforcing of the satisfaction which he did pretend unto See here the cause by which he most importunes me to speake no more of this our combate then I have done therein For me Madame I am not so ill versed in the mystery but I know well it will be said we had no great desire to hurt our selves and that these sacrifices ever are by so much the lesse honourable as they are little bloudy but it was to preserve my honour and not to atchieve thereof from him that I came there I have acquired enough in hotter places farre and as I doe not feare the faces or the swords of all of any enemy I likewise not desire to reduce them unto such despaires as make them undertake more then their courage could He was offended and he hath done nothing that I know but beare away the sad repentance of his own offence and left with me the pleasure of it Good day my goddesse send me back my man to the intent he may direct me where you please The Argument He complaines that she had judged amisse of a good action Saith that hee beleev'd that shee had seene the man of whom hee spake and got from him the confession shee desired How conformable which was to his words hee should finde when she should fulfill hers And that hee nere should rest till hee had made him avow the truth Epistle 38. Madam IF so I caused your astonishment this morning by the discourse I had with you you have now after dinner render'd me againe sufficiently amazed at your judgement and opinion thereof I am become so much dismaid to see you doubt the verity of my words and blame my carriage as that there cannot bee that fault wherof I deeme my selfe not guilty I was this morning much satisfied in my proceedings and it seemed to mee I had done well inso easily rendring him content that was so much displeased But your opinion Madam quite perverteth my whole sence And as I rather do beleeve in what you say then what I doe my selfe I now conceit whatsoever I did think wel done before most ill for that you judge it so And the worst of all is that as on the one side you absolutely forbid me to doe better so on the other you most openly inforce mee thereunto And if you knew how much I suffer in this thought and how much I esteeme me miserable in that sufferance to loose the blisse of your presence for having but too carefully endeavoured it you then should have the most mercilesse heart that ever was if so you had not pitty of my life But Madam I beleeve you have seene the man of whom I speake and got from him the confession you so much desired I know right well you will not tell me so for you are forbidden to reveale it but I shall finde if so it be conformable unto my words when you accomplish yours that promised mee nere more to make esteeme of his friendship and in such case I demand not but the continuance of yours But by the esteeme that you shall henceforth make of him I shall perceive or that you are no woman of your word or else that he hath disavowed of mine I assure you Madam I shall never rest untill I have inforced him to avow the truth of what I have said And doe assure you yet once more that you shall not againe blame me for having done too little Adue Madam impart yet of your hand to him who you doe utterly debarre your sight The Argument He saith that he hath something to say to her which he had not yet sayd for that whatsoever hee premeditateth to tell her in absence flies his memory when she is present Represents to her his languishings and the put offs wherewith shee
would He returnes that the party whom shee fained her to be unable to be rid of was rather commanded to stay purposely to keep him off And that be needed not his assistance in such case knowing well that she might absolutely command and forbid him what she pleased in full assurance to bee obeyed 166 He complaines of the languishing he suffers in her absence and entreats her presence of her as the onely thing sufficiently able to chase her image from his thoughts 168 He begs of God hee will inspire him with words of force to make her more favourable And he complains that hee had beene made to attend all the day for an Answere 169 She answers to his precedent Letter that she knowes not what to say or send word of and complaines much of the importunity of those that visit her 170 He replyes that if she knows not what to say or send him word of he knowes lesse what to do 171 Hee praies her not to loose her peace of minde in the affaires wherein she is busied And so fals in discourse of his passions and sufferings for her love ibid. She answers that if he knew how much she partakes in his sufferings hee would rather lament her then himselfe and that no one should ever esteeme better of his merits nor so cherish his affections as herselfe 173 Hee sayth that it is impossible hee should undoe him from the thoughts that have undone him Represents to himselfe the time he hath lost in serving her what she hath taken from him and what shee hath yet left him And concludes that it is high time that he retire all naked as he is to some desart whither her image shall not be able to pursue him further But that all this discourse vanisheth on her presence 176 He complaines that they would debar his visits on the passion weeke and that it was not a generall rule but his greatest griefe was to leave her in the hands of her enemies whose drifts he discovereth to her and offers himselfe to undertake them 178 Having fought this morning upon the occasion spoken of in the former Letter and having astonisht his Mistresse by the recitall of so unlooked for an action he writes to her that her astonishment caused him to judge that she hoped some better end or feared a worse And shewes that neither the one nor the other could be 179 He complaines that she had judged amisse of a good action Saith that hee beleev'd that shee had seene the man of whom hee spake and got from him the confession shee desired How conformable which was to his words hee should finde when she should fulfill hers And that hee nere should rest till hee had made him avow the truth 181 He saith that he hath something to say to her which he had not yet sayd for that whatsoever hee premeditateth to tell her in absence flies his memory when she is present Represents to her his languishings and the put offs wherewith shee had from time to time protracted him yet without complaint for that loving her with an extraordinary affection hee was well pleased to testifie it by respects in common 183 Hee persisteth still in the discourse of his languishings and some others which hee framed in walking alone a long the Seine At last hee concludes absence for absence it were more supportable farre off then neere and that the more hee deferreth the more hee draweth out in length the violence of his torments and vexations 185 He conjures her take some pitty on his languishings and not still to detaine him in the solitude shee had the day before Complaines that he having so little time to spend with her should waste it so ill that he abides here but onely for the sight of her and yet hee sees her not but amongst such company as doe deprive him of her sight 188 Vpon a quarrell which he had had on her occasion of which shee had endeavoured an accord upon some tearmes Hee intreats her to pardon him if so be he would not endure that it should be conceived in that manner 189 Being pressed to an honourable agreement and threatned with her disfavour in case he should refuse he saith that shee urged him to a thing that she would upbraid him with so soone as he had done it Notwithstanding which he would consent to whatsoever shee should doe to testifie his obedience to her 190 Vpon some coldnesse in his Mistresse he saith that he dares not so much as send to her house to know when she will be pleased he may come thither Nor yet can he but doe it having so little time to live neere her 191 Vpon a promise she had made him to afford him her company and entertaine at 5 of the clocke he sent to see if her watch were not stayd or put backe or if shee had not yet againe some other demurre to put him off to another time 192 He excuseth himselfe of an action to which the violence and indiscretion of a bad woman had born him in the lodging and presence both of his Mistresse for which he humbly entreateth her either to pardon or punish him So taking againe a discourse in hand that he had left he humbly entreats her to weigh the importance of it and to afford him one houre upon that subject 193 The Answer 195 The Reply on the same occasion ibid He saith that he will write to her continually since she hath commanded it and will never lament him for that she hath forbade it Confesseth that he wants the good parts might oblige her to wish him well and that he hath but too many ill ones to merit her bad usage saith that all things worke according to their properties and that he having a heart of flesh and she one of stone it must be that she should be as insensible of his affections as he is quickly sensible of hers 196 Shee answers that the cause why shee prayd him to write was that her deserts could not be commended but by the judgment he gave thereof That she sorrowed that a passion so worthily entertained should be for a subject so uncapable of the acknowledgment 198 He replyes that if she knew the greatnesse of his passions she would not say that he did worthily entertaine them but that hee injures them And intreats her to give him leave to come and learne at hers the subject for which shee desired hee should become passionate according to her promise to him 199 Hee saith that if hee did not by obedience what hee also doth through affection hee knowes not why hee should write to one that is as litle mov'd by his letters as the posts and corners of the walls to which our Bills be usually fixed That instead of animating an image and rendring it sensible of his passions he hath rendred her sencelesse by the vertue of his sighes And of a heart of flesh he hath made one of impenetrable stone 200 Having forborne
three dayes without writing backe one word to him whatsoever may be sayd in her answere for missing this morning shee seemes astonisht at his silence and commandeth him to aske her pardon for it 202 After so many complaints and delayes thereon upon which hee had resolved to speake no more then in one Letter he intended to send her on his departure he yet gives her answer and bids her farewell ibid. Meeting him yet by chance and being made friends she failes againe of her promise to him which obligeth him to breake with her once for all and send her this his last farewell 206 The Answer 210 His Mistris being informed hee was in blacks tooke occasion to write word unto him by which she condoled with him the new affliction she beleeved had beene befallen him ibid. After having a long while dispated with himselfe whether hee should answere her Letters or not he tels her that besides the afflictions hee under goes for her he slighted all such as could happen to him That he could not beleeve that she condoled theills she dayly augmented And wherefore he beleev'd so 211 She replyes that she is more amarvailed then offended at his Letter and wisheth that all his vanities were in that paper to the end they obliged no other one to answere them 213 He answers her threats and to the vanities she accuseth him of in a stile altogether estranged from the respect he had wont to render her though not from his discretion 214 He answers to certaine complaints that Minerva had made some while after as well to his friends as himselfe of his indifference and sheweth that it was founded on the necessity of obeying her and upon good reason 222 Faults escaped in some Copies PAge 10. line 30. for that reade it p. 11. l. 19. for others r. ours p. 21. l. 7. for revenger r. revenge l. 14. for who shall then r. who shall then l. 17. for such as r. those that l. 19. for inconstant r. constant l. 20. for misery r. mischiefe p. 39 l. 29. for these r. those p. 42. l. 7. for or what r. what p. 46. l. 15. for esteemed r. seemed p. 50. l. 15. for to obey r. to obey you p. 55. l. 2. for most provoked him r. most troubled him she was it that most provoked him p. 60. l. 15. for on yours Adraste r. on yours Adraste l. 27. for book r. broake p. 74. l. 7 for penthouse or a long r. penthouse a long p. 81. l. 3. for passion r. possession l. 22. for agreed r. angred l. 31. for forgot to r. forgot not to p. 82. l. 15. for after in death r. after death p. 83. l. 6. for to quite me of r. to quit me of p. 85. l. 10. for discourse that it r. discourse for that it line 18. for or least r. or at least l. 30. for Adraste hath purged r. Adraste having purged p. 95. l. 16. for could tender r. would render p. 100. l. 8. for and to went set r. and so went and set p. 106. l. 26. for compassionate r. compatiate p. 110. l. 11. for that would r. that she would p. 113. l. 31. for desire r. designe p. 116. l. 11. for nor to be to r. nor be to l. 17. for render me r. render it me p. 117. l. ult for satisfaction to r. satisfaction then to p. 118. l. 23. for light doth rejoyce r. light thou that dost rejoyce p. 119. l. 7. for state r. fate l. 13. for lesse r. left l. 27. for once as yet r. once more as yet and some others which in courtesie may be borne withall Love and Valour OR The divers affections of MINERVA The Argument Minerva commeth to solicite her suits in Paris is beloved of Balamyr Crassus Arnolphus and Adraste but loveth onely Arnolphus The dissavour of Adraste causeth that of Crassus Adraste desirous to give a Serenade to Minerva accompanied with Periste and Oristene runneth a dangerous misfortune CHAP. I. DId I desire to frame the foundations of a true story upon a tale I might say the earth never produced the equall of Minerva and deriving her originall from heaven it were not onely a lye but blasphemy to bring her backe againe to earth So then let us not speake untruths for feare of lying nor let us blaspheme for feare of blasphemy fable hath no part in this discourse the Star by which I meane to steere my course being truth it selfe This here is not that Minerva the Goddesse but a woman whose cleere minde and brave spirit hath acquired her the name of that Pallas president of Art and Armes her birth was not of the head of Iupiter but of an illustrious family the worth whereof hath beene ere whiles graced with the most honourable charges of this Realm her father having left her very young she was married at 9 yeeres old to a husband but of eleven and as the one nor the other were then capable of love they produced no other but hate Her desire to be divorced from one she loved not caused her come to solicite her affaires at Paris where her beauty did acquire her rather servants then Iudges and where her youth more proper to the exercises of love then businesse of law rendred her apter to hearken to the suits of her servants then to give eare to or prosecute her necessary suits I know not whether she were cruell or favourable on their behalfe but certaine am I that the Sejan horse was never more unhappy to his Masters then she to some of her servants Whilest she followed her affaires Balamyr was the first of whose service she admitted I have heard him say she esteemed more of his valour then she loved his person and that her vanity to captivate so great a courage caused her suffer the importunity of his pursuit their love became hatred Balamyr were it through judgement or inconstancy with or without cause quit her for another Mistresse and was unlamented of Minerva sometime after slaine But she continued not without a servant for she wonne on all she would and she would win on all she could and for all that she complained here sometimes of the miserable conquests she made against her will She made no acquisition but to her profit and wherewith she served not her selfe in some designe or other See here the cause why she contemned not the affection of Crassus howsoever his ill shape and worse favour rendred him sufficiently contemptible But Arnolph was he that most feelingly touched her to heart all the rest were amorous of her and she only of him It was not that his services or quality obliged her to love him more then ordinary it was a certain inclination proceeded of the sympathy in their wils and I know not what feminine humour more taken with a soothing observance or handsome legge making then with all the faire qualities or good parts can be in a man or the faithfullest services that can be rendred
this bondage which wereto her no lesse then three ages perpetually thinking of some meanes to redeeme her At last having resolved upon it think you not Sir said she that the assembly of so many wrongs and injuries as you doe daily heape on me will not one day breake upon and strike you too for me I should rather chuse to dye then once to give you cause to use me thus But I confesse unto you truely that indeed I had much rather dye then longer to indure them Tatins not being used to be braved by a woman much lesse by his wife answered sternely to her that there was no meane between them but that she must resolve to endure the one or of the other Minerva replyed not to him but bethought her presently what she would doe upon this The mishap or imprudence rather of Tatius would that he must to Paris which ministred to Minerva an opportunity to order her affaires and to dispose them in such manner that upon the returne of Tatius she caused him to be told that she had reserved two chambers to her selfe which she intreated him to afford her and content him with the rest of the house which she left wholly to him Tatius that lookt not for this would needs to her to answer her in proper person but she would not suffer him speake to her or by any meanes once see her and in stead of now playing the Master at home he found that she was at home in truth and that he was become the weaker So as neither prayers nor threats being able to shake the resolutions taken by a determinate woman he was constrained to returne backe to Paris whether she followed him soone after with purpose to sequester her estate from his very sorry that two children that she had had by him were the cause she could not be separated from him in body as well as in goods The Argument Minerva commeth back to Paris The second loves of Adraste with her are ruined by the practices and confederacie of Brasidas and of Gracchus her Kinsmen and Lovers CHAP. III. MInerva being disburthened of a charge shee thought her self very unfit to beare turned her whole Meditations to the meanes by which shee need never return under his charge and to this effect having established some order in the managing the affairs of her house according to the necessity of her new Common-weal shee took her way presently to Paris whither shee was called not onely for the execution of her designe but likewise for the accomplishing of her desires For her usuall residing in this incomparable City where shee had tasted so many delights was become more deer and farre more pleasing to her then that of the Country where shee had reaped no other then a bitter harvest Tatius not lesse feeble in adversitie then insolent in his better fortunes understood not so soon that shee was there arrived but hee sent unto her to intreat so much favour as to be admitted to seeher It was too soon to descend so low as to beg leave of his wife to see her in stead of the possession which hee wont and ought yet to have had of her and a wife which but three dayes before he not suffered to see any man Hee should have done like Alcibiades that bore away his wife by force through the publike hall and from amidst the assembly of all the people where she had summoned him to appear But he passed from one extreme to another and fell from a most insupportable tyranny into a dejected and most insufferable servitude Minerva admitted him to come seeher and this weak man thinking to mollifie by prayers her whom he had not had power to overcome by threats and recover by humility what he had lost by arrogāce not onely made her al the offers due from a husband to a wife but rather all the submissions that a slave oweth his Master Minerva for her part did render him all the honour of the world but without the least being moved by his prayers or any way slacking her pursuit most humbly intreating him to pardon her if shee sought the assurance of her life in that of herestate of which shee had not so much as thought had not hee himself inforced her to it So were their estates parted and by consequence their bodies for Minerva said she had children enough for the fortunes she possessed not being able to maintain any more she would by no means make any more Poor Tatius didst thou for this remove the earth Eye heaven it self almost to sequester this woman from her first husband to the end to see her now again sequestred even from thee Must thou make merchandise of thy whole fortunes and thy honours both of whatsoever thou didst possesse in all the World to have a wife which thou indeed hast not Minerva having rid her of this thorn out of her foot learned the news of Adraste and having bin informed of his lodging gave him presently to understand where hers was and Adraste went thither to see her soon after at their first greeting they staid some while to view one another both equally astonished Minerva with a little shame and Adraste with some wonder Well Madam said Adraste having saluted you have found at last that I am no lesse veritable then unhappy since my predictions have not onely proved true but unavoydable likewise Would I had never spoke them since they have proved so inprofitable and were received as ill presages which for the most part but foregoe mishaps Indeed Adraste said Minerva I avow it that you have shewn more judgement by foretelling my misfortunes then I have in myaddresses to avoid them but you are not ignorant it is more easie to foresee then to prevent such things by much The cause why we sometimes wisely undertake the things that doe not alwaies well succeed being cleere that it rests but in our powers to undertake as wholy it belongs longs to God to give the event You onely said Adraste have the art to make those things shew well that in themselves are nothing so which here I come not to subvert much lesse yet to complaine of you whose fortunes I lament more then my owne So have you indeed more cause to plaine my miseries then to complaine of my actions answered Minerva no one of them ere tending to your displeasure But tell me now how rest I in your memory and how may I hope to be therein reserved henceforward Assure you Madame answered Adraste you abide there better then ever where I preserve you with much more ease and farre lesle trouble then I was wont to doe And as for what depends on time to come you know we positively can say nought And I have been so much deceived in the event of things are past that I dare promise nought in future else had I sworne to you ere this that all the waters fleeting in oblivions streame are not of force to wash
an entertainment to day should not have left him as she had to finde out his enemies and that she was not stoln away so much for any devotion she had to Church as for the desire she had to see them there But next day he was much more troubled thinking to goe make his complaint when they told him she was gone out to walk with them Then presently conceived he the plot was not combined against him but with her counsell and assent and that she had not onely approved but designed it And so returning backe his brest fraught with more despight then love and not so much reason as rage after having resolved now to breake with her once for all he wrote to her THat as hee had pitied her weaknesse seeing shee suffered her selfe to be rather perswaded by passion on the part of his Enemies then by the truth of his words so hee received no small contentment to see that for his having cheered himself before them and for ever being too d screet and respectfull on her behalf and at her instance on theirs he was now deprived of what they possessed for having been the contrary That the time had been when this privation now so easie to undergo had been most difficult for him to believe but considering that of all things that most provoked him and the chiefest cause of his vexation and worst tormenting passions it was easie for him to endure the losse of a good the possession wherof was so extremly damageable Wherfore he would now as with a sponge wipe off the fair impressions which he had formerly admitted in his memory and hee intreated her to favour him so farre as not to oblige him ever by the replacing them Hee avow'd it the mediate will of Heaven without which hee had beene as unable 'to execute as rash in undertaking this designe For which hee only was to thank her ingratitude that thinking to work him so much ill had been the cause of so great good to him And that he did beseech her by this last and by all other and so many vowes no lesse religious then unprofitable which hee most foolishly had rendred her that henceforth shee would never more call them to minde assuring her he should esteem him fully satisfied for all his services when he should finde they were forgot and that she held them so indifferent that hee had never cause to joy in or complain of them The Argument Adraste closeth againe with Minerva comforteth her on the death of Arnolphe Commotions in France and divers adventures upon that subject CHAP. IIII. WHat delight soever the company afforded could not be so pleasant to Minerva as this Letter was bitter to her But howsoever she took it extreamly ill from Adraste she would not yet loose him so No though she knew not to what purpose to reserve him for she had sufficiently manifested the little good will she bore him But there are some women that delight themselves to render all men amorous of them and they affecting none Or it may be she held this maxime of the wise that say a man should not breake with friends no not for any cause whatsoever for that such as are unfit for one thing may yet serve to another and it may be she intended to accommodate her selfe by Adraste to some other purpose Whatsoever it were she forbore to answer his Letter till her choler was past over nor wrote she to him then but passing some daies after by his lodging she caused him to be told that there was a Gentlewoman in the street asked for him Adraste came down and Minerva made him come into her Coach where she was then accompanied onely with one gentlewoman and going to take the aire She told him that she had not answered his Letters for that shee could not bethink her of termes sufficiently powerfull to make him senceable of her anger So then Madame answered Adraste if you have not given me offence I stand not obliged to you for it but your ill memory that had not means to find words sufficiently capable to expresse the offence you intended mee T is true said shee but you are a naughty man to write such Letters to mee And you are then a naughty woman answered Adraste to inforce mee to it by so many just and rightfull causes as you have If I have given you such replyed she and have so little reason in my actions why have you so little judgment in your love you have lesse reason then mee to love one that hath none at all and by the extravagance of your unfound minde accuse me of your own defaults Madam answered Adraste I have caused you to see most cleerly that you are in the wrong since you cannot finde meanes to answer my Letters But how should you finde reasons that could not indeed finde the offence Wherby it follows that being you have done the wrong you cannot have reason on your side since wrong and reason cannot be united in one subject And yet cry you that I am reasonlesse to love one that hath none I answer you that though I am reasonlesse it followes not but you are so likewise as I have proved without denying but I was my self so And on the contrary I have always endevoured to let you see that I had litle reason in me ever to shew that I had so much love for you Since if I had I could not have loved you or at least but in such sort as I had been loved again of you And if you were reasonable you would love mee as I love you See then wherfore I love you in two sorts without reason first for that you are reasonlesse secondly because I am so also As to the extravagances of my diseased minde I apprehend them to my own advantage Remember you what I have ever said that my weaknesses and failings were the things that I desired to cause you see T is well I am there arrived Minerva fell a laughing at these words and as particular complaints do usually succeed the generall Adraste complain'd of her for that when hee had left his entertainment to his enemies upon her promise to afford him one more private and favourable she had not onely turned him off to her mother Arlande but her self had stoln away from him to go to them had depriv'd him of the honour of her company and conduct to afford it unto them and had wronged a man whose goodnesse was so known to her therby to favour others whose malice was to her no lesse manifest Minerva excused her on the just fear shee might have of the bloudy effects their quarrell might have produced said that the same fear had caused her not to suffer him to lead her and that she had also denied it unto them And on the contrary having found Brasidas Gracchus at Church shee had prayed them not onely to forbeare to lead her but to see her Notwithstanding that Brasidas being since
your love and yet have you the heart to sigh for another before my face and the power to interdict my passions to make me wed yours I see a dead body preferr'd to me which living I in affection yet preceded and find you as insensible and whollie inanimate on my behalfe as he is on yours My whole labours all my affections and best qualities are altogether bootlesse you know without acknowledging my faith you looke upon my afflictions without once being moved and whatsoever might commend a perfect affection you behold in me not daigning ought to regard it Thou too too much beloved dead man whose condition is most happy in comparison of mine thou wert living beloved of the most lovely beauty under heaven and thou art onely he that art beloved of her as yet even after death Thou wert not onely beloved of thy Mistresse but thou wert likewise of thine enemie In stead of persecuting thee even to thy grave as thiefe and robber of my good which thy remembrance hinders me as yet to have I have honoured thy memory with my writings which have so imprinted it in the heart of thy Mistresse as now there is no other impression can take place for that Is there any complyance Is there any passion or perfection indeed in love that can come neere to this Madame I implore here the beauty of your wit and the integrity of your owne soule in default of mine that with this thought passeth away in transe and leaves me not with other hope or desire then here to see my life faile me with my speech The Argument He complaines of his Mistresse that she had failed him in a meeting appointed by her to walke Epistle 9. YOu sent yesterday to let me know that you could not come and that I should not attend you any longer I was told that you supped very late and you chased me away upon pretence that you would sup in good time A man should be extreamely purblinde not to see that there was something more in this then matter of Mastership and that you having threatned to deprive me of a particular entertainment would let me see that you were a woman of your word Hug your selfe for it Madame you shall never more be troubled though I continue ever in torment I shall not onely leave you your liberty but mine own which I pretend not to withdraw from so worthy a servitude where I chuse rather to suffer extreame tyranny then elsewhere to live beneath the perfects Empire No Madame what I pretend to is to make you see in an unparalleld respect an affection incomparable and in a blind obedience mute and inconsiderate how much inferiour to me I leave such as aspire to the glory of your love and how much I hope to exceed them by those actions which my courage and the violent ambition I have to merit you do promise meto atchieve in this war The Answere YOu conceive things otherwise then they be and according to your fancies whereupon you write to me as you please I shall better answer you by word of mouth then by Letter and making you finde your errour it will belong to you to make me satisfaction The Argument He justifieth his fancies Epistle 10. THe party you left with me yesterday can tell you how I knew not what to doe with my selfe after I had then lost you When howsoever it were neer night it seemd to me a tedious day There is a faire Lady neere you who lately told me she would gladly see me I light on him had procured me this honour who endeavoured what he could to get me thither but prevailed nothing howsoever I knew not how to busie me but in thinking of you turning and returning in my memory such things as you have said to me and those humours and conjectures whereof you accuse me after having your selfe caused them I humbly intreat you Madame take notice there may be fancies and humour without love but not love without humour and fancy and if you upbraid me with them as an error it is yet a generall one and common to all lovers above whom I have this advantage yet that I order them so as they never trouble her I love Most beauteous Minerva glory of my thoughts the soveraigne good of my life and extreame felicity of my soule who can render a more faithfull testimony of this truth then your selfe that can so casily moderate the furies of my violence How many times have you staied the most impetuous motions of my passions with one word yea with a looke No more then blame my humours that doe rather merit commendations since they make mee honour the cause that brought them forth and are not onely proofes of my love but also of my obedience The Argument Why his Mistresse should not be moved at his Martyrdome upon his departure Epistle 11. THere is nothing so strange nor any thing so wonderfull the accustomed vse whereof weares not out the astonishment Observe that death is most horrible notwithstanding which the habit theeves have in murther causeth that they kill men not onely without horror but with some kinde of pleasure and voluptuousnesse The comparison is bad but it is proper I would say that albeit my martyrdome be without example and that the novelty thereof amazeth me and renders me my selfe thereat affrighted you are so accustomed to plaints and to the teares of such whom you make sigh as that you suffer not your selfe to be the least touched at mine No Madame I beleeve your intellect extreamely generous and consequently pittifull but it is beaten so with such discourse as it but laughs thereat and lookes on me dying not only with dry eyes but with some sort of pleasure too Oh Madame were I capable of comforting the afflicted I should and not without good cause begin with my selfe rather then with those whose jealousies are more worthy of derision then of pitty You Madame with whom I am to part this day in no lesse sorrow then if I were to be separated from my proper life expect not words at my depart my sorrowes will not suffer them it will be much if I be able but to bid adue since that is the last word a man should use in leaving life The Argument He intreats his Mistris so torment him to the end such pleasure as she takes therein be increased proportionably to the increase of his torments Epistle 12. Madam I give you good night letting you know besids for newes that my dolours are become more pleasing then they were since I tooke notice of the contentment they bring you Wherefore I intreat you not to lessen them but to provide me new vexations to the end your delights bee increased proportionable to the aboundance of my punishments For I am not content to undergoe onely the ills you do me but I would yet too suffer those are done to you and become the most miserable soule that ever lived to render
which certaine ought to be permitted to the miserable like my selfe and which yet I will not stretch so farre as to the importuning you but rather chuse to burn and hold my peâ—ce as hoping in your helpe more from your pitty then my own complaints Good day Minerva faire one once more good day and againe once more good day permit I here doe give good morrow to my Lady your mother too together with the antiquity of theeves which I did promise her But t is to you indeed I ought to have presented it as to the greatest thiefe on earth For if they be the greatest theeves that make the greatest thefts what greater robber can there be then one that steales away our hearts The Argument She answers that if he knew how much she partakes in his sufferings hee would rather lament her then himselfe and that no one should ever esteem better of his merits nor so cherish his affections as her selfe Epistle 34. IF you knew how much I partake in your sufferings and how often I wish some meanes in my power to remedy them you would rather lament me then your selfe no one shall ever esteem better of your merits then I nor more cherish your affections then I doe if so I could assure you of this truth by effects worthy you and my own desires I should not now make use of these misbecomming words which nerethelesse I intreat you to accept for that they come from her that honours you the most The Argument Hee saith that it is impossible he should undoe him from the thoughts that have undone him Represents to himselfe the time he hath lost in serving her what she hath taken from him and what she hath yet left him And concludes that it is high time that he retire all naked as he is to some desart whither her image shall not be able to pursue him further But that all this discourse vanisheth on her presence Epistle 35. IT is impossible I should ever undoe me from those thoughts have utterly undone me You are with me as Hellen with the Trojans So oft as they in absence did consult on her affaires they concluded that they would discharge themselves of her but if so be that she were present then they did resolve they would retaine her yet So when I call to minde the many years that I have spent in serving you where seeking to obtaine you I have lost my selfe there is no reason but doth counsell me to put you off But what I have lost all care of my affaires the repose of my minde the health of my body the pleasure of life and the remembrance of my selfe You have taken from me my memory understanding and will and have not left me my life but to prolong my torments or for the pleasure that you draw from them or for the glory since you receive such honours yet therein as are not rendred unto any other one Is it not time all naked as I am left I seek to save me in some desart place where your pursuing image nere can finde me out but this discourse doth vanish all if once I come in sight of you and I in stead of my supporting it become as one that dumbly playes the Amorous demanding straight your pardon to have had the thought orecome not by your reasons but your beauties And in your absence is it yet much worse I weep not no my dolours were full light if I could heale them with my teares I dye in passion not to be beleeved whilest you do cause and yet doe sleep secure and carelesse of my ill I was yesterday to have seen some Ladies to have diverted me intending to have spoke to them of love as unto them indeed I did but it was still of yours or rather indeed of mine Pressed thereupon to name the cause from whence my sighing did proceed I told them there I sighed not for a woman but a deity My goddesse then adue receive part of the sighes you cause which bring you a good morrow and know the King departs on Monday without faile I am to goe this morning into many places whither I shall not carry other then my body howsoever I have much to doe with the best gifts of my soule Of which if so that you be asked the newes say boldly that it dwels with yours in Flying-heart street I his sufficeth not I must adde that you have lost one half of my Letters which I intreat you to look out Argument He complaines that they would debar his visits on the passion weeke and that it was not a generall rule but his greatest griefe was to leave her in the hands of her enemies whose drifts he discovereth to her and offers himselfe to undertake them Epistle 36. Madam NOt seeing you yesterday at Church according to that you have told me I judged you were retained at home by some unhappy discontent but I was ignorant of meanes to inform my selfe thereof for to have sent to you it was at such an houre as you had not dared to have returned me answer and for to have had me come unto you much lesse I too remembred me of what you said concerning visits on these daies of which I think full well and should much better yet were it a generall rule for all and not a particular exception for me onely But if it were not amisse as yesterday it is yet good to day and to morrow better and I being to depart on Monday shall consequently goe without the honour to see you for whom I not onely am and stay here but for whom onely I live which is not the greatest of my unhappinesse though it be extreame since having alwaies placed your pleasure above my owne I easily can resolve of any thing contenting unto you but my misfortunes being to me a much lesse burthen then are yours it is the greatest sorrow I can have to leave you in your enemies hands from whence it seemes you have no will to free your selfe and from whence my minde foregives me that you will not part but by the light of some debate Madame to say truth it is not for me to talke of this for as it is fatall to me to foretell you verities it also seems that you are destinate not once to credit them and that you have no faith nor cares that you can lend to any one but such as will deceive you By so much the more as you are good and generous by so much are you subject to deceit since generosity is alwaies opposite unto distrust Who doth no ill suspecteth none and one that doth not thinke ere to deceive a friend beneath the shadow of affection cannot beleeve that in an other they cannot once conceive in themselves But feele you not the effects of some designes that you have never seene doe you not see that they have got possession of your goods and of your liberty and that under a pretence of serving you
to knit the faster with them is it not to make seen that she the only approved their actions but also that she coÌ„ceivd formd theÌ„ before they were produc'd But since she disavowes others actions let us look a little into her owne When honour and the service of my King called me before Saint Iean 3 or 4 daies before I bore my life thither fell she not out with me on the Eve of my departure pretending that my visits were scandalous unto her Neighbours Since hath she not let mee see the weaknesse and untruth of this her pretence when shee hath permitted him for whom I was turned off not onely to see her at all houres but also to take a lodging in the same street to besiege her in hers and to hinder the resort of all others thither There is no more to be said then of scandall to them of the street then to those of the Indies Called she me not backe before my going to the end I carried her figure along with mee in my breast as I did with so lively an impression as the practise of so much paines suffered in so long and laborious a journey nor the frequent Alarums of so dangerous a fortune speeding to the aproaches assaults and bloody sallies of so many sieges had ever power to eface the draught Writ shee not to me that so long an extended absence could not be compatible with great love complaining that I testified unto her more courage then affection Forced she me not from the beloved place of my birth and from between my parents armes wher the contentment of my soule and good of my affaires required me here to make me wed vexations and misfortunes infinite in hope yet of incomparable happinesse I knew well the King would come againe and that I should do nothing here but take an unprofitable walke of some two or three hundred Leagues for the love of her But I was passionated with so violent a desire to see her that I beheld all other things sans interest and deemed the time I passed from her not onely lost to me but even that it was death it selfe to forbeare her sight Let us see now this great good fortune and this glory so desired hoped for at my return as end and crowne unto so great a Martyrdome T is true that I was welcom'd well received and much made on the first day of my arrive they tould mee that they had grieved my absence and deplored my death that a false bruit had spread and all full of other complements and pratles of a woman but found I not my place possessed by my Rivall and those former favours she had permitted me and I againe look'd to have had cut from my hopes and to another given before my face Set by those subtilties the escapes and the repaires wherewith so long she entertained and did abuse my too credulous easinesse the meetings given out of her house whilst others saw her day by day not onely with all liberty but Emptry also the irreconcilable enmities and bloudy quarrels she by her imprudence caused me and her vanity for yet I would pardon those But to bestir her so much as she could possibly on all sides to give unto my enemies the advantages God gave me over them to say my sword was longer then my Rivals that he hurt himselfe and that my Laquay was a lyar when hee recounted the truth of this action though his wound and his naturall innocence in telling of the tale spoke sufficiently for him and whom she her selfe had given me but the day before for most trusty To be sorry that t was said I had the better and she to say gainst al the world and truth it selfe I had the worst to forget her selfe so farre as in opposition of my selfe overweeningly to dispute a thing of which she knew nothing and which I my selfe had done Can it be imagined that a woman worshipped and adored with so much passion and respect as she or rather that the waight of all th'ingratitude of women kinde melted together and reduced in masse should ere bring forth the effâ—cts of so profound a malice In summe she turned me off not for a single friend but for some five or six nor yet for such as lov'd her more or those were better made then I but much much worse She hath beene the cause I have beene challenged by my friends that I have much neglected my Parents estate that I have forborne to follow my King into my owne Country and seemed to shâ—n those occasions I have ever sought and which is more then all that I have left my self to pursue the injustice and cruelty of her fond passions that I have preferred her martyrdomes before the sweetest rest her love to Gods himselfe who had made mee happy had I served him so as her where she hath render'd me most miserable still for having served her better farre then him To love her then as yet after all this were but to be a sot and no way amorous Perfidious and most thankelesse Soule what wrong hath thy unthankfulnesse and thy faith-breach done to thee what glories have they ravisht from thy memory I had prepar'd thee a place in heaven where the luster of thy starre had been adored saluted and made known to all mortall kinde where those that live beneath another Pole had worship'd thee even as their chiefest constellation Thy image and thy name had beene so venerable to posterity that our Nephewes had not filled the earth but with thy Altars nor had perfumed the ayre but with the odours of thy sacrifice The universe had beene thy Temple where men had preached but thy vertues Celebrated but thy praises and publisht but thy merits And thy renowne had been so famous ore the world as it had found no other bounds then the extreamity of that 's extent and the eternity of its lasting And though I could yet heape upon thee as much blame as the honor I prepared for thee and satisfie my selfe with as much vengeance as an outraged heart could wish yet will I not afflict thee with a greater punishment Then leave thee buried in the abisse of thy owne forgetfulnesse And not remember mee henceforth of thee but to detest thy memory The Argument He answers to certaine complaints that Minerva had made some while after as well to his friends as himselfe of his indifference and sheweth that it was founded on the necessity of obeying her and upon good reason Epistle 62. Madame YOu cannot think that I wish you ill but by that you have done me the feeling whereof I have quite lost together with the remembrance of what good I wished you If I should wish you ill it should be for that you do unto your selfe and in such case I should counsell you to forbear any further to do it to the end I ceased further to wish it were you not altogether as incapable of my counsels as of my affection After such things as have passed 'twixt you and me I ought not retaine the least affection that may have regard to you nor any thought that may acknowledge you And if you say 〈…〉 indifference is worse then enmity I 〈…〉 it a truth but you must acknowleâ—â—… 〈…〉 there was not that violence by 〈…〉 not essayed to enforce me thereunto 〈…〉 flee by the which I have not endeavorâ—◠〈…〉 me still therin It is not to be marvelled at the 〈◊〉 at last have performed your will since my will was ever subject unto yours or rather was indeed no other but yours But what you ought finde strange is indeed that I can endure your contradiction whilest you can by no meanes endure my obedience When that I liu'd not but in you and my jealousie made me complain of your deportments you have full often told me that I had no interest in your actions wherefore would you that I should have now that you are dead as it were to me you have full oft refused your sight and entertainment unto me when as it was the chiefe and onely one of my desires Wherfore offer you it me now that it is the last of all my cares And wherefore having so many times fled me when that I followed you doe you now follow me when that I flee you if so it be not to make seen that you are alwaies contrary and that your pleasure abides in my tortures but if you shall reply that I am altogether irreconcileable I would set you in my place and aske you but this question If you had lov'd me so as I have ever affected you and having outraged and discarded you for other women as you have wrong'd and abandon'd me for other men I desired to renew affection with you yet livin◠〈◊〉 dying for other men would not you bid 〈…〉 discharge me of the women for whom I had used you so ill and that afterwards I should see what you had to doe So quit you first of such men as you have unworthily preferred before me and then we will see what reparation you may make me You say that you finde your fault and that you repent you of the doing it and desire to render me satisfied begin with satisfaction and having quit the sinne we will see if you be capable of mercy But to thinkthat you can at one and the same time be capable of both there is never a Casuist in Sorbonne but will condemne your opinion Yet think not I give you this advice nor in hope or desire that you should follow it for knowing that you have ever done quite contrary to such counsels as I have given you I should then rather give you this to the intent you followed it not if I were not very carelesse both of the one and the other What I say herein is too manifest that it is not with so much incivility as reasoÌ„ that I endeavour to escape your snares and that it is with more vanity then judgement that you hope to take me there againe FINIS