knew a Womans vertue was not to be warranted without good counter-security He understood the Sex by experience and was not ignorant that the best friends are usually they which disparage the Husband But to consider that he should be the Porter of that unfortunate Letter was a Pill he could not swallow nor digest His misfortune was too common to be incredible but the Circumstance with which it was accompanied was beyond all belief and it was not so much Paws Letter that affected him as that it was his Destincy to deliver it This consideration stownded him for some time and the transportation of his Father-in-law added fuel to his fire but at last the storm was blown over In that Age as it is in this the Tilte of Cuckold was so common it was scarce any trouble to be so The disgrace lyes only where it is known when a Womans inconstancy is publick nothing is greater dishonour to her Husband where it is managed with secrecy nothing is so trivial Henry lookt upon it as no point of discretion to publish the infirmities of his Wife and therefore gave himself some few days to digest his resentment But the Examples of his Brother-in-law having learnt him some Wit he came one morning to the Kings Chamber and said to him You see Sir by the Letter I have brought you that your Daughters have no reason to upbraid one another They were born under the same Constellation and if any thing discriminated me from the Prince of Galicia and the Count of Tholouse it is this that their unhappiness is known and mine is a secret I have no inclination to publish it and if you please you may conceal the Letter you shewed me Send word to your Daughter that you kept it from me and I will never convince her of her errour In giving me Theresia your Majesty gave me also a Province which I hope in time to improve into a Kingdom I have Children already which may succeed me hereafter There is no necessity the Portugals should suspect whether they be mine or Paws Conceal the dishonour of your Daughter with as much care as I and by the Example of your Family we will demonstrate that it is the discretion of the Husbands which makes the difference betwixt the Women which are prudent in appearance and those which are really irregular The King of Castile took this Proposition very kindly He began to repent himself of what he had done insomuch that magnifying the Generosity he had exprest he seconded his Counsels with several Examples and most irrefragable Arguments and the troubles in Castile being appeased by the death of the Count of Tholouse and the interpostion of the King of France Henry returned into Portugal without any mark or token of that he knew The truth is he found out a pretence to send Paw out of the World and I have been told he had another to make his Wife more obsequious for the future But as he presaged very judiciously his Posterity have reigned several years in Portugal whereas the younger Sons of the Royal Family of Castile have always disputed the Crown with the Children of Vrraca MAXIME V This I 'le affirm let things to how they can The marri'd's really the happiest man Let her be what she will I 'le lay my life His owns more faithful than this Neighbours Wife But shall we never have done with these Daughters does no other condition of life but the married afford matter for our Annals Yes certainly History is so fertile in amourous accidnets she supplies us with variety About the same time while things were in this agitation in Spain Love which had laid about him so in the Royal Family of Castile was not idle in the Court of the Emperour of the West This Empire was then under the Dominion of Frderick Barberossa a valiant and ambitious Prince He had signalized the beginning of his Reign by remarkable Victories so that there was nothing discoursed of in all Europe so much as his Power and Greatness He kept his ordinary Residence in Rome as well because the Climate agreed with his body as upon certain secret Designs he had upon the Lands of the Church and because his remoteness from the heart of his Empire caused him to apprehend some Mutiny in the Towns of Germany he obliged Prince Henry his Son to continue in that Province the greatest part of the year This young Prince was extremely hopeful the people of the Empire loved him entirely So that his Father conceiving some Jealousie lousie thereupon took the pretence of his Coronation to recal him to Rome They past the Winter very lovingly together and the Emperour having a mind to pry into the Conduct of Alexander the Third who was then Pope and in possession os the Patrimony of S. Peter he ordered his Son to visit him frequently The Prince in obedience to his Father waited upon him as often as he was visible He attended him in all his devitions and among other places to a Monastery of Nuns where his Holiness had a Niece he loved most entirely She was descended from the Blood Royal of Si ily and her Uncle the Disposer of all Ecclesiatical preferments but as yet she was not of years to be an Abbess and therefore at Rome was known by no other name but Madam Gonstance She was as handsom as was possible to wish and besides several other good qualities she had a good voice and sung incomparably well at one of the Solemnities of that Covent the Prince heard her one day and being a great Lover of Musick he had a great ambition to see her the dignity of her relation to the Pope authorizing his desire he askt leave to see Constance when the Ceremony was ended He was much transported at the sight of her and had never seen so many graces in one Assembly before Till that day he was free his soul was his own and he seemed born for Mars's not Venus Wars But he was not the first man hath become a Captive to the simplicity of a Nun. There is a sort of people not to be captivated but in this shape and there have been Letters seen in our days which have taught us that of all people in the World none make Love with that confidence and freedom as the Nuns The Monastical Gallantry hath its Laws and Rubricks apart There are no elegant Entertainments no Assiduities nor publick Attendances all things within the Cloister are so carried privately and with discretion nevertheless their Religious Civility is so great they will not discourage any mans affection and there is but few which attempt them but they arrive at their designs The Imperial Prince was a handsom Person and a fine Gentleman Constance had taken a Monastick life upon her more in obedience than choice and in vows of this Nature there is something always reserved to direct the intention Thus have we brought them into Cupids High-way The Prince seconded his
this manner imploying all parts to divert his Majesty from those inconvenient desires he wrought upon him so that he gave over his design But this single effect of his Counsels could not content him he knew Edgar was of an amorous Complexion and he must find out something or other to entertain him Ethelwold sent up and down inquired himself and it was not long before he was provided England is not barren of Beauties and it was a Mistress for his Majesty he wanted He pitcht therefore upon a young Lady called Wilfrede who had withdrawn her self into a Monastery to avoid the insolences of her Guardian She was young unfortunate and next the Dukes Daughter the handsomest Woman in that Kingdom The Count presented her to the King to obtain his protection against her Guardian who would needs marry her to a person she could not possibly love and seconding his Harangue with all the commendations he could give her he represented the good qualities of Wilfrede with such efficary that before she left the King she received sensible marks of his inclination Ethelwold liked his success very well he used her with all kindness and compassion undertook to be her Mediator in that affair and in a short time managed things so that he had brought her to his Lure and got an absolute command of her Finding the King ingaged with this Lady he took occasion to renew his Counsels against the Duke of Devon-shire he pretended advice of intelligence betwixt him and the Duke of Normandy and pressing his Majesty to put a stop to the ambition of this man by marrying his Daughter to one of his Subjects it fell naturally into the Kings head to bestow her upon him It is easie to believe he consented without any great trouble and yet he called it a Sacrifice pretending that Alfreda was her self so unacceptable to him that no consideration but the Peace of the Nation could have prevailed with him to marry her But to serve his Master and advantage the Nation what was it he would not readily endure At length having used all the Grimaces and Artifice he could think of Ethelwold is dispatcht into Devon-shire to marry the Dukes Daughter for the tranquillity of the Kingdom Never was any man so happy as this Lover he admired Alfreda even to adoration he esteemed her a thousand times more handsom since she was his Wife than before and though it was obedience only which obliged Alfreda to marry him having never loved any thing but him The bare act of Marriage wrought as effectually upon the heart of this young Lady as long Love did upon other people The presence of her Husband was quickly dear to her she apprehended his absence and perceiving him laying his design of returning whither his ambition called him Ah Sit said she to him one day this is that I have been always afraid of the Loves of a Servant and a Husband are exceedingly different I remember a roguish Song my Governess taught me when I was a Child which I fear contains a fatal prediction of my destiny having said so with an innocent smile that almost ravished her Husband she began to repeat them SONG Whilst Love 's suspended and in fear Of a Repulse nothing's too dear Or good to hang at Ladies ear But if the Damsel once complies And pities Rheum in Servants Eyes Farewel all future Sacrifice Six days possession at the most Makes a man curse his former cost And reckon time and Presents lost No no dear Alfreda replied the amorous Ethelwold catching her fast in his arms nothing shall ever extinguish the passion I have for you I am too much enamoured and you are too handsom not to be always the Mistress of your Hasband Why this leaving me then my Lord replied the melancholy Alfreda could you leave me so soon if you loved me as you say Nay my Dear replied the Count my Journey is of necessity I must needs go where my duty requires me would you have me renounce the favour of my Prince the advantages it beings me and the care of the State which his most gracious Majesty hath committed almost entirely to my Conduct What necessity of this State replied Alfreda or those Chimerical advantates Is not the Duke my Father rich and great enough to erect you a Fortune And can you think that when I cannot enjoy you the thought of your travelling for the good of the Nation will give me any ease Ah my Lord let us consider our own private felicity and leave the general to others the satisfaction and pleasantness of the whole World will not wipe off one of the tears your departure will being upon my cheeks and to tell you may final resolution in a word either you must be kind and stay here with me or so merciful as to let me bear you Company otherwise God knows what danger there will be of our meeting no more These two Propositions were equally fatal to the Count he used all his Art to reduce her to reason He loved Alfreda very well and his Fortune no less he was conscious of the cheat he had put upon the King and he had no mind his Wife should come to Court to convince him He excused himself therefore by the illness of the weather he promised to return again very speedily But the new Bride would not be paid in that Coin she charged him sometimes with inconstancy sometimes with contempt and not allowing him any intermission she forced him at last to confess the whole truth What confidence is to be placed by a Husband in a young person whose heart has been acquainted with Love but a few days and that in a Conjugal way Ethelwold expected that narration should have stopt her desires of accompanying him to London and have cleared that doubt that he loved her not as he should do But alas he was not acquainted with the humor of the greatest part of that Sex Ambition is natural to them and the honour of being a Queen will startle the most Philosophical Lady of them all The Countess easily comprehending by this Discourse that Ethelwold had not only cheated her of a Crown but deprived her of all opportunity of going to Court whilst Edgar was living She found her self possest with so great an abhorrence of her Husbands disingenuity that she began to hate him more than she had loved him before And in truth after this discovery â—â—â—re was no need he should fear her following â—â—â—n against his will She could have seen him depart for the Valley of Jehosaphat and not spoke one word in order to his stay She lookt very â—â—dly upon the Walls of the Town as her perpetual Prison and the only part of the World she 〈…〉 like to see She was still talking with her Father or the new Servants her Husband had left with 〈◊〉 about the Beauty of the City of London the Mâ—gâ—â—ficence of the Court c. and revolving that she was banisht for
without Constance presented her self where the Emperour attended She fell into a large Encomium of his confidence told him that that was the surest way to win her heart and having ingaged to follow what directions he would give her she conjured him to return her the Letter and to chuse rather to receive her favours from her own pure will than to owe them to any fear or constraint which would be unworthy of either of them Whilst this Letter is in your hands Sir said she you will always believe you obtain that by force which nothing but your merit ought to make you to hope This imagination must needs trouble your joy and I am perswaded you are of a more gentle and delicate temper than to govern like a Tyrant where you may reign like a lawful Prince Restore my Letter then I conjure you I beg it in the name of whatever it be that is most dear to you and I do promise my acknowledgements shall follow your Generosity so close you shall not have time to repent you of any thing you do This Proposition was not pleasting to Frederick He had a mind Constance should make the first step and told her she ought to have the same confidence in his word as she desired he should have in hers But the conning Nun knew to complain so artificially of his injustice to her sincerity she was so apt to take his unkindness to heart and he was so well pleased with her tenderness it was not possible for him to refuse her any longer He pulled the Letter out of his Pocket and gave it into her hands but he was much surprised to see her run away with the Paper and to observe that at the very first step of her flight he heard some body cry fire round about the Covent This noise was made by her three Companions from their several Postes they had agreed among themselves of this Stratagem before and the Emperour suspecting nothing of it was advancing towards the house to examine what might be the reason But the Confusion was so great and his Train which he had placed without hearing the Name of Frederick and Emperour frequently reiterated in the Covent they perswaded him so forcibly that it was not safe for him to stay longer in the Garden that he retird with all speed and went directly to his Palace so mad and outragious at the Trick they had put upon him that had he followed the first motions of his Choler he would have set fire to the Monastery indeed and sacrificed Constance and all her Sisterhood to the justice of his resentment But not thinking himself strong enought at that time in Rome he durst not attempt so great a piece of violence besides it would not have been easie for him to have done it for at the first Alarm about the Town and the Palace of Alexander that some body was stealing his Holiness his Niece the Monastery was immediately encompassed with such a number of Souldiers it would have been a difficult matter to have made any such Attempt The Popesent one of his Officers to inform himself of the particulars Constance told her story so well there was no body but believed her She said she had been drawn by force out of her Cell and carried into the Garden whence they had certainly conveyed her through the breach of the Wall had not the Cryes of her Companions who heard her skreek out prevented their violence This Tale was so well invented and the Evidences against the Emperour so probable that the Pope doubted not in the least but the Emperour was the Author of this Tumult Constance had long since complained of his Visits She affirmed she heard his voice in the throng He went abroad that night attended by several armed men and had been met in the street with his Mirmidons by some of his Holinesses Servants which put the Pope into the highest indignation against the rashness of that Prince He commanded his Guards to their Arms he beset the Emperours Palace with resolution to revenge himself for the indignity done to him in the person of his Niece But Frederick had prevented his diligence he had withdrawn himself and his Family into the Quarters of one of his Troops where he complained as much of the Affront done to him as Alexander did on the other side From hence it was arose that famous War betwixt the Guelfs and the Gibelins which was the desolation of Italy for so long time and divided all the Princes of Christendom The publick pretence was That the Pope refused the Bishoprick of Ravenna to a Favourite of the Emperours but the occult cause was Constances rejection of the Emperours Love and that passion being turned into Rage by the Trick she had put upon him it is a hard matter to describe the effects that rage did produce Rome was pillaged his Holiness forced to abandon the holy See and seek Sanctuary in France Autipopes where chosen Excommunications thundred abroad and all these the consequence of a fatal Amour though of so many dire accidents are reported in History there are few people that can trace them from their true source and Original The ambition of Frederick and the perversness of the Pope are generally charged with these disorders The latter hath been condemned of severity the first of an injustifiable design upon the Lands of the Church The super Aspidem Basiliscum of Alexander the Third is recorded in Capital Letters in all the Relations of that time But there are few Memoires which attribute that to Constances Gallant which History imputes to the Protector of the Antipope and thus it is the great Affairs of the World are secretly carried on They have all several faces and we see nothing but as the partiality or ignorance of the Historian represents But without fear of digressing too much from the ways of truth we may always mingle some amorous Occurrences with the Accidents which seem most remote and foreign to that passion for if we take our measures right there is seldom any passage how Tragical soever it may appear of which the Annals of Love may not become a Chronological History As Constance was the secret Cause of the War it was but just she should give her Uncle all the assistance she could to maintain it She writ word to Prince Henry all the violences the Emperour had designed against her and the ways she took to defeat them Jealousie hath been always a kind of Apple of Contention which spares not the most Sacred Alliances The Emperour was most violently jealous of his Son as well in point of Honour as of Love He saw he had a great Reputation in the Army and he imputed the Affront Constance had done to him to her passion for his Rival so that the secret dissatisfactions of the Prince cooperating with the ill disposition of the Emperours mind they began to look upon one another with diffidence to that diffidence succeeded
apparition of his Love was in little confidences only as in discovering to her his thoughts and Characters of the great Lords in his Court. From these trifles he past higher and at length told her the secret of his Marriage and that he was Eleonor Husband only by name Bidaura was exceedingly surprised at a discourse so little understood She lookt earnestly upon the King as if by so doing she could discover the truth of what he said in his eyes and not perceiving any thing in his person but what seemed to accuse him of equivocating she ventured to tell him That he had bin abused and that what they had perswaded him was nothing but a Chimaera Alas replied the young King very sadly this Chimaera is too real for my repose one of the most famous Physicians of our Kingdom hath sworn it and Eleonor her self confirms me that it is true What advantage would it be to her to put such a fallacy upon me she would rather convince me if it were otherwise Bidaura ruminating upon what the King had told her desired to know the Physicians name who had perswaded him of that impotency and understanding it was a Castilian who she knew was entirely at the Queens disposal she stood still for some time as recollecting her memory when starting out on a sudden and clapping her hands together Courage Sir said she to the King you shall be cured very suddenly now the cause of your distemper is known After which words she fell into a discourse of the intimacy betwixt Eleonor and the Castillian Lord That all Castile believed they had been privately married and recollecting that the Physician which upon the Queens perswasion had put that Errour into the head of the King had all his life long been a Creature of Eleonors Gallant she represented to his Majesty how probably it was that this might be a design to preserve the Queen of Arragon to her secret Husband The King was much satisfied at the likelihood of what Bidaura had said and he would have given half his Kingdom to have been cured so well He went imme drately to Eleonor and charging her positively with what Bidaura but suspected supposing he had made some further discovery she confest is without much ado But it was with such strong protestations that she could use him no otherwise without violence to all Law both humane and divine and with such instant supplication that he would protect her against the indignation of her Nephew That the young Prince was so far from reproaching her for abusing his Credulity and small Experience that he commended her fidelity to her first Love and promised her protection In the mean time Bidaura began to add Ambition to her Love at first she aspired only to be his Mistress but finding the Queenship of Arragon vacant she fancied it might fall to her share to supply it She drest and made her self as lovely as possible she redoubled her diligence and Complacences and having brought the King to a Condition of making tryal of his recovery she knew so well how to keep her self within the bounds of Civility she put him upon the first motions of Matrimony The Marriage of Eleonor and the King was not quite nulled The truth is it had never been consummated and the Counsel of Arragon had sent to Castile and to Rome to press an absolute dissolution but Affairs betwixt Kings and Queens are not so easily dispatcht The passion of Eleonor for her Paramour might decline by degrees if ambition or solid reason should take the place of her Love it would have been more casie to break her pretended Marriage with her Castillian Lord than her publick Contract with the King of Arragon We may say then that Eleonor was the Wife of James till further Order from his Holiness But the King prest by Bidaura's Charms could not with patience believe those Formalities were to be prefer'd before the desires of his heart He married Bidaura privately and this Marriage being as blameable as it was unequal he made it in his Conditions that she should not discover it This Proposition was not at all pleasing to Theresia and she did what she could possibly to divert him but finding the King obstinate and inexorable she thought it good to be a Queen upon what terms soever it might be And these were some of the Articles agreed on betwixt themselves which perhaps may be of some use to the Reader if he be in the same predicament The Private Articles of their Marriage We who subscribe these Articles design As our Love is our Marriage Clandestine Next the word duty shall be laid aside No Sover aignty in Bridegroom or in Bride In case of difference both shall comply And neither be too humble nor too high If Husband sins the Woman must connive If she the man dispenses with the Wife All must be one one Love one lofe one joy And what does one must both of us destroy These Terms we marry on but reasons bid Conceal the Marriage and let it be hid With this severe condition ' cause good Wives Love tattling gen'rally as they love their lives If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss These Articles were observed very religiously by the King His private Marriage was every was as pleasant as his private Amours and pleasanter in this that there was no occasion for remorse and though his Marriage with Eleonor was solemnly dissolved and she left to be his Wife to whom she had been formerly ingaged yet Theresia de Bedaura could never obtain liberty of the King to appear publickly upon the Throne she had this satisfaction that it was not possest by another and she brought Children into the World who stood fair one day to govern the Kingdom of Arragon but for all this she could never work upon the Kings resolution He had been so much dissatisfied with his publick Marriage before that he could not be won to renounce the pleasure of his private Bidaura she had got the Ministers to her side and all the Religious in the Kingdom were her Sollicitors but the King answered them all with this Article If mine discovers 't is agreed by this The Marriage's void and farewel gentle Miss But we do ill to imploy so much leisure upon so barren a Story Our Chronology leads us insensibly to a far better History and it is time now to bring Love upon the Stage in better form than as yet it hath appeared THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE THIRD PART IT is the Universal Confession of the whole World that Constraint creates an appetite of Liberty we desire nothing so ardently as what is prohibited and yet some Husbands there are which cannot be cured of restraining their Wives The Italians be the Husbands in the World the most lyable to this kind of madness and are by consequence most subject to the ill Accidents which follow They tell stories of their revenge upon their
should content himself with this that I was not an ungrateful Woman and that I should find out a way some time or other of satisfying his Curiosity more securely He withdrew upon this much pleased with that hope and I having found an opportunity to tread upon Colonna's Toe I signed to him that I would speake with him He followed me to a place I had markt to him with my Eye and Nogaret being too apprehensive of my displeasure to follow him he attended at the end of an Alley very impatient to know what it was I had to say to him When I saw my Husband at too great a distance to understand what I said Colonna said I I am Madam Nogaret he had like to have squeakt out at my naming that name but squeezing him by the hand hold your peace Colonna said I this Intrigue is pleasant enough to be carried on a little further do you go and find out some unknown Coach that may carry me home and come and fetch me here as soon as you can we will laugh at our leisure at what is past and to come Colonna returned to Nogaret with so great an inclination to laugh he had much ado to contain he told my Husband I had inquired who he was where his House was and what means I was to use to write to him and having accompanied him to the Kings Appartment he slipt suddenly from him and getting into the first of his Friends Coaches he could see in the Court he came to find me where he had left me before This Roman was a perfect Friend of my Husbands and upon any other occasion but this I could not have prevailed with him to have engaged in any Treachery against Nogaret but he thought he should do him a considerable piece of Service to revive his passion for me and he lookt upon this Intrigue as a way as likely and as innocent as could have possibly been thought on As soon as I was got home I pulled off my new Gown charged my Women to let no body see it nor to tell any body that ever I had worn it and having put on that again in which Nogaret had left me that morning I fell into consultation with Colonna which way we might spin out this Comedy As to my Husbands neglect I was absolutely insensible and I had no design to cure him of that by this Stratagem but I found the story would be pleasant and I resolved to persue it to the utmost I had not wit enough to have invented it but since Fortune had been so ingenious I resolved as much as I could to improve it Colonna incouraged my resolution and returning to Nogaret said as many good things on me then as he had done bad before he knew me In earnest said he the unknown Lady we say in the Garden is very handsom I see no body at Court hath a better presence and if what her Mask hides be as graceful as what it discovered believe me she is the compleatest Beauty in the World Nogaret embraced him for his News as he had told him something had been infinitely for his advantage and then conjuring his assistance in the discovery who she was he confest he had never been so much in Love in his life I fortified this passion by three or four Enterviews where I must needs say I used the highest of my Skill to triumph over the Errour of my fantastical Husband It was then Carnaval time in France in which the French run in Companies up and down the streets in Mascarade and a Peace being concluded about the same time betwixt his Holiness and the King of France that year was fuller of Divertisements than several others before it The manner in which Nogaret and I lived permitted us not to be often in the same design we had each of us our Society and when he was gone abroad with his Clan I drest my self in Cloaths he did not know and taking only one or two of my Women whom I had injoyned strictly to make no mention of my name I followed him from one Company to another to add new smart to his old Wound if it were possible The alteration a Mask gives to the voice desguised mine so well that Nogaret never suspected me for any body but the unknown Lady in the Garden and under that quality I could not speak one word but inchanted him He conjured me by all that he could imagine might prevail to give him an opportunity of waiting upon me at home but he remembred the jealous Husband I had mentioned in our first Conference and that brought me off there and when from his Proposition of Visits he was come so low as to be contented with the bare sight of me now and then I told him I had no great confidence in Courtiers and I would have a little further Experience before I would discover my self that if he persisted in his earnestness to see me or attempted to have me dogg'd I would leave my House the next day and conceal my self so well for the future he should give me over for lost This fear kept him in the temper I would have him but to requite his Compliance I sent him several Letters which Colonna caused to be transcribed and I received several of his Answers I remember these Letters were the production of a very pretty Adventure Nogaret had lost one of mine and what I had said to him of the Jealousie of my Husband making him apprehensive lest it should be found by any body that knew the Hand he contrived a pleasant way to evade that inconvenience He caused several Notes to be written in several Characters and when he had done stole them into the Pockets of the most considerable Courtiers I cannot tell you Madam what trouble this Whimsey brought into the Court all these Tickets were of Love some calm and smooth others high and outragious some were full of Jealousie others of Thanks but all of them Assignations so that there was nothing to be seen in the Walks but Gallants with Tickets in their hands attending their Mistresses and this produced many Quarrels and several Divorces There was a great stir made to discover from whence they came whether such a Ticket came from such a man or from such a Woman and the most expert persons in Characters were sent to resolve them To say the truth had this Intrigue betwixt Nogaret and me had any thing of reality that Artifice would have been useful for the Note he lost was found by one of his young Coxcombs who having seen it fall out of Nogarets Pocket and finding it treated of Love brought it to me in hopes as I suppose to have drawn some advantage to himself by my Husbands indiscretion I laught heartily when I saw the Note and his action who brought it I thanked him for his Service pretending it very important and running to Nogarets Chamber Here my Lord said I tendring him the Note and