of Manners unto which Persons of that Rank and Character rarely confine themselues when it is Love that guides them Well Tarnaw what must I be the first to speak What think you of the Sentiments that are had for you I know my self Madam he reply'd with a respectuous Gravity that little Merit that I find in me will not permit me All is permitted you said the Queen interrupting him and you but too well know your own Worth You have done all that you could to inspire divers things to your advantage into Persons and perhaps that you have not succeeded ill but when you had perform'd the most difficult part you should have gone on You should speak and not please your self in suffering such Pains as peradventure others share in with you In a word Count added she I know that you love me I know it your Eyes your Actions and even your affected Indifferences all has told it me Your Heart is mine permit it to act without Constraint and lay aside all these Thoughts which seem but to render you the more miserable Tarnaw unto whom those very words alone could have inspired Love had he not been already in Love with that Charming Princess replys What pleasure take you Madam said he sighing in rendering me the most Criminal Person in the World Is it a Crime to Love me answered she Yes Madam replyed that Lover and the greatest that ever I committed in all my Life so to dare to lift up my thoughts unto my Soveraign But though I should expiate it with my Death I find that I could not repent it that it is my Fate would have it so together with your Charms against which there is no Resistance The Queen could not contain the Joy which she had upon this Declaration so full of Transports Love me said she to him with a Charming Smile if it be a Crime I l'e bear the half of it and I shall endeavour to render it so mild to you that you shall have no cause of Complaint In ending these words she gave him her hand which that Lover took trembling But which he Kiss'd with such a Passionate Ayr as any Lover could do Some moments of Silence which pass'd afterwards between them were no less tender and passionate than their Discourses but the Queen more accustomed than the Count unto those Extasies of Love beginning to smile in a kind of Malicious Return But what will become of the Dutchess of Ostrog said she when she will know the Wrong I do her in robbing of her of such a Heart as yours She will never pardon it me in all her life time The Dutchess of Ostrog Madam replyed the Count does not take so much the interest of my Heart but though she should it would be a Sacrifice which I should offer you without any great Repugnancy It may be Madam added he smilingly in his turn that you would have more in Sacrificing to me the Duke her Husband If that the Duke replyed she is capable of giving you any Disturbance you will soon be delivered of it I consent said She further that you regulate your self towards the Dutchess after the manner that I shall treat her Husband I will never see her more reply'd the Count and I said the Queen will rid my self of the Duke to morrow These Protestations which setled the hearts of these two Lovers in respect of those Rivals which each of them had to fear did conclude by such tendernesses which the Queen let loose as quite made an end of the formerly insensible Tarnaw Those favours which come from Persons of that Rank have this advantage that all charme even to the least Trifles a Look a Smile and Hand given in season a Gesture the least Tenderness Transports and Dazles Tarnaw scarce knew what was become of himself and did answer but by halves and confusedly unto some Amorous Questions which the Queen made him whether he would love her all his life time and whether he was very well pleas'd with her till that at last that Charming Princess who perceived him so transported with Joy and Love as that he seemed Inchanted and to have but one moment of Life left Let us go Tarnaw said She let us go hence for we might be here a little too long it may be I think that for the first time that you have seen me in private you have very far advanced your affaires The Count who had been half the time kneeling before her did rise and sighing gave her his Hand to lead her but perceiving that She design'd to return to the King he intreated Her to permit him to retire home because that he thought himself not strong enough to conceal the Excess of his Joy before such Persons as draw Consequences of all things as Courtiers use to do The Queen approv'd of this Gantleness and told him That to have so Prudent a Lover as he was I was the way to make Love last a long time The night which follow'd that Entreview was for the Count incapable of yielding any Rest Not that the Remorse which he ought to have of the Crime which he committed against his King or that the Fear of the dangers that he exposed himself unto did disturb him Love had already got too high an hand over him to afford the least return imaginable unto Reason It was the raptures of Joy which a thousand Charming Ideas of those render things which the Queen had had for him which did still promise him greater favours He slept not yet the night did not seem the longer for that on the contrary he did make it last into the middle of the following day so that it was already Dinner time when that a Servant came to give him notice of it and at the same time to tell him that the Queens Page waited to speak with him The Page was immediately brought into his Chamber who presented unto the Count a Packet from the Queen in which there was a Scarf and this Note I will not forgive it you Count if you have slep't one single moment this night for Love would have treated you better than me and you would not love me half so well as you ought to do or that I would have you to do I send you a Scarf against the Justing which is to be perform'd next Thursday You shall take for your Motto these words Tanto piu alto e Tanto piu ardore We go a Hunting come you also for I should but ill divert my self if I should not see you there While that the Count was thus busied the Duke of Ostrog who through the great Friendship that was between them was dispenced from Ceremonies being come in he perceived the Page the Scarf and Note which the Count was reading with so great an Attention that he was in the midsts of the Roome before he had perceiv'd it The confusion he was in when he first perceiv'd him was great The Duke asked him whence
THE AMOURS OF Bonne Sforza QUEEN OF Polonia LONDON Printed by T. M. for R. Bently in Covent-Garden 1684. TO THE Most Accomplish't Lady MADAM Mary-Elizabeth Manly Madam THis Title does so justly speak your Perfections in the great that it may ease me of the Modish Labour of retailing them in this Epistle you of the trouble of reading the uneasy repetitions of these Elogyes so nautious to generous minds though never so deservedly expressed which you daily receive from all parts You Madam who are so remarkably known by your own Merits that it is the same to dedicate to you as to say to the most vertuously accomplished Lady in the World And though I am full of confidence that if this wanton Queen whose story I humbly present to you were ever to have been reclaimed it must have been through the benign'd influence of so examplary a Virgin as yours I have taken the boldness to recommend this little Peace not so much to your protection as to the judicial censure of so absolute a Mistris of Languages as you are Madam in hopes that you will be a Judge as favourable as you are decerning in the endeavours of Madam Your most Humble Servant P. B. Advice to the READER Reader I Think that a Word of Advice concerning this Little Book will not be altogether useless There may be divers Persons who not very learned in the Amorous Chronicles of Princes would be ready to condemn that Liberty which I take of making the Gallant History of a Queen but the Publick may be informed that She of whom I speak has been according to the most sincere Historians one of the Princes in the World that has most caused her self to be spoken of on the Account of Gallantising And that towards the latter end of her dayes having retired her self in her Dutchy of Barr scituated in the Kingdom of Naples She died there in the Armes of Pappacoda her Lover That the Last sigh she should send forth might be a sigh of Love It is easy to Judge from those faithful strokes of the Hystorian if that the Adventures which I relate of this Princess are unjust and whether it be Imposition to give her two or three Lovers who were much more Worthy than her Pappacoda As to what concernes the Bishop I confess that there might be something of my own in those Incidents which I bestow on him But besides that from all Ages Persons of that Character have passed for the Children of Adam as well as others We see by a great number of examples that in this Age they are not over much reformed and that men lay down their Humane frailtyes but with their Lives A Catalogue of some Novels Printed for R. Bentley and M. Magnes 1. ZElinda a famed Romance 2. Happy Slave in three Parts 3. Count Brion 4. Count Gabales 5. Halige or the Amours of the King of Tamaran 6. Mad. Laviler and the King of France 7. Mad. and the Duke of Guise 8. Mad. Colona's Memories 9. Queen of Majork two Parts 10. Don Lebastian King of Pourtingal 11. Heroine Masquiter 12. Princess of Cleves 13. Obliging Mistris 14. Fatal Prudence 15. Princess of Fezz 16. Disorders of Love 17. Triumph of Love 18. Victorious Lovers 19. Allmanzar and Allmanzaid 20. Earl of Essex and Queen Elizabeth 21. Neopolitan or the Defender of his Mistris 22. Nicoratis 23. Amorous Abbess 24. Homais Queen of Tunis 25. Pilgrim in two Parts 26. Meronious Prince of the Blood Royal of France 28. Life of the Duke Guise 29. Extravagant Poet. 30. Memoiers Gallant 31. Instruction for a Young Noble Man Books of more serious matters The Moral Esaies in four Vollumes Humane Misery Vanity of Honour Wealth and Pleasure Plutoes Apology of Socrates Natural History of the Passions Bishop Andrews Devotions Vanity of Arts and Sciences The Officers of the Mouth Kalandarium Hortencey THE AMOURS OF Bonne Sforza QUEEN of POLONIA AFter the Death of Queen Barbara the General Diet of Poland having Represented unto Sigismondus their King that the Good of the State required he should Marry again He took to second Wife the Princess Bonna Daughter unto John Galeas Duke of Milan That Princess whose Beauty had made such a noise in the World was Received by the Polanders with such Magnificence and Acclamations as spread themselves into the most remote parts of that Kingdom They were such Feastings and Rejoycings as lasted so much the more by reason that the Queen did seem to take Great Delight in them and that she was the first also in inventing very Gallant Ones That Court besides the Strangers that were there at such a time was then Composed of the Gallantest Persons in Europe who in such an Occasion did all endeavour to outvye one another not only in Gallantry and Activity but in such a Magnificence also with so Prodigious Expence that the King was Obliged to put a stop to their Profusions in setting of Limits to these Festivals The Queen who came from so Gallant a Country as is Italy had heard talk of Poland as of a Barbarous Place At least she had so little expected to see what she did see there that she was wholly surpriz'd and did no longer regret so much that which she had lately left She was Naturally of a very Gallant Humour and she was Charm'd with the Pleasure of seeing the Effects which her Beauty did produce in all hearts Neither was she much insensible for her part and having found in the Court such Cavaliers as well deserved to be considered she did not scruple to mix sometimes some Sighs with those Adorations that others had for Her As there was nothing more Beautiful than her Person and that She contributed also by all her Charming wayes in the gaining of the Hearts as well as good Wishes of all Persons she presently had as many Adorers as Subjects Amongst which she would make Choice of those that were most to her mind which she call'd her Select and upon these there was bestowed sometimes a Ring sometimes a Scarfe a Bracelet a Picture other Presents and Favors which were rendered more Considerable by the Manner and Time of giving them than all that can be reckoned most sensibly moving in Love They were not only young Cavaliers that felt the Effects of this Charming Poyson But the Ministers of State also of all Ages and even those of the Gown that had the greatest Esteem and the most Power in the State She knew how to entertain them all with those little Favours each in such a certain Confidence of his own good Fortune that there was not one amongst them but flattered himself of having the best share in her Favour And in that Opinion her Cyphers and Colours were seen in all places every day did afford some Tournament or Festival for Love of her besides Moâ—â—tos Verses and a thousand other Gallantries which were Addressed to her alone Sigismond was a Prince very clear-sighted He was past fifty An Age
fit to entertain Jealousie especially with a young Wife of her humour and so Beautiful as was the Queen But she had the Art of Dissipating all those shadows her self making the King privy unto the Folly of all her Lovers of which she made Sport with him This kind of pretended Sincerity would quiet that good Prince's mind and judging that it was Reasonable he should have some Complaisance for a young Princess who could not so readily lay aside the Customes of her own Country he permitted her to live after her own manner Thus the Number of the Select did daily encrease There were but three Ladies only that were not well pleased with that Princesses Actions above all the Fair ones which she did not Love They were almost all forsaken by their Lovers The Queen could not endure that any thing should be done for Love of them and whoever did attempt it was presently out of Favour The Dutchess of Ostrog was the only Person that did somewhat uphold the Honour of the Ladies of the Country She was a perfect Beauty who did bear one of the first Ranks at Court and the Person who at the very first had given the most of Jealousie unto the Queen She had not all that spritely Ayr nor that Pleasantness that the Beautifull brown Ladies have as had this Charming Princess But she was a Woman of a great Presence of a Pleasant Aspect and of an Excellent Stature with these might be added her Fair Complexion her Eyes and all the Features of her Face with her Hairs of a Dazling Brightness She was a Lover of Pleasures and of Gallantryes and yet for a long time she did pass for a Discreet Woman which is the Art that Women of Wit use It was at this Dutchess's that the most Rational Persons of the Kingdom did daily resort and that was call'd the Little Court but such a little Court as frequently did give the first Motion unto all that was acted of most Gallant in the Greatest The Count of Tarnaw was as the Head of it He was the best shaped Lord of the Kingdom who had the greatest Wit Brave Gallant Generous Beloved of the King and of all the Court. The first Spight which the Queen had a mind to shew the Dutchess of Ostrog was to deprive her of that Lord who was worth divers others of that Court. And in so doing she did not only satisfie that Womanish Vanity of Carrying it above all others but she follow'd also the Inclinations of her heart for Tarnaw was one of the most amiable men of the World He was intimate Friend unto the Duke of Ostrog and it was thought that he might hold some place near the fair Dutchess also but not peradventure that went so far as to Gallantise At least that was so well manag'd that the Publick who is but little indulgent on such kind of things did more favour the Dutchess than it was wont to do in regard of other Ladies for till then she had not been suspected But the Queen who was yet full of all the Maximes of her own Country and that was not of opinion That a man of Wit and a Beautiful woman could long see one another without Consequences did not doubt but that Tarnaw was with the Dutchess in Title of Gallant after the highest manner She put in use all her Charmes to make assault in point of Beauty with that stately Lady There was nothing but Kindnesses and Complaisances for Tarnaw Presents and such wayes as were yet more ingaging than the Presents themselves that would speak much but all to no purpose for no hearing nor seeing could be procured Tarnaw did alwayes shew an unparallel'd Constancy for the Dutchess's Party Not but that this Cavalier as well as the rest had found that there was nothing more Charming than the Queen and that if he had followed the Tendency of his own Heart he had submitted unto the necessity of not casting one 's Eyes on that Princess without adoring of her But that Croud of Adorers which he did continually behold about her and which she received did take him off In this he thought it a point of Honour not to do as the rest did but to remain inseparably tyed unto the Dutchess The Queen who was not accustomed to so much Resistance vexed at a Proceeding which she looked upon as an Injury offered to her Beauty by the Count did in a moment pass from all these Sweets unto mortal Hatred and did shew nothing but Contempt for him But that was not yet sufficient Womens minds run more naturally unto Revenge she was studying of one which should Content her For she could give it the satisfaction of Triumphing over her Rival and of ruining the Count which was by causing her self to be belov'd by the Duke of Ostrog The Duke was a man of Wit who through the Character of General which he had as well as by his Birth did hold one of the first Ranks in the Kingdom He was very much consider'd by the King and he did understand very well his Duty but he had Eyes and an Heart that were made just like oother mens And what cannot a Beautiful Princess do that employes all her Charms to corrupt the Fidelity of a Gallant man The Duke of Ostrog surrender'd himself and so soon as he was permitted to be heard he offer'd Vows and Homages Life and Fortune and all that he could offer But as he had more measures to observe than the rest of the Selected he did more Closely manage himself and would not allow that his Passion should have any other Witnesses than the Queen and his own Heart That Princess who had her Designs and who desired no further of Love then the Noise and Rumour of it did not well like the prudence of her Gallant It availed nothing to be belov'd by the Duke except the Dutchess knew of it She did all that she could to let her know it which would sometimes put the discreet Husband into despair And there were some moments in which he would repent of having engaged himself so far And if it were with Love as with other things that one might rid one self of it at pleasure he had peradventure renounced unto that which he had for the most-Charming Princess of the world but the most Dangerous also and the most fit to disturb a good Family It was not that he lov'd his Wife more than Courtiers usually do but he had no mind to set her so ill an Example He knew that she had very good Arms wherewith to revenge her self of his Perfidiousness and the less faithfull of all Husbands takes no delight in being deceived by his Wife The Dutchess of Ostrog was not blind She was one of the first that perceived her Husbands ill wayes and that div'd into the Queens designs But she did but laugh at it with the Count Tarnaw The Machines of that Princess having not had a good Effect that way they had no
I had been less Guilty help me then to get out of it since that I freely confess it to you Spare if you please neither Reproaches nor Chidings All Remedies will be sweet to me so they serve to bring me back to my Duty again All my Joy and all my Glory ought to be limited in being wholly yours This Note seem'd to have somewhat settled his Mind and as if he had already gain'd much over himself thus to have writ to the Dutchess He thought himself almost free from that dangerous Love which he had for the Queen But Lovers know themselves very little and all those Resolutions are but false Revolts which serve but to re-ingage them the more This was Evident in the Person of the Count of Tarnaw who notwithstanding all that the Bishop had told him and all that he had writ to the Dutchess with all his Reflections and great Designs of returning unto his Duty could not forbear going to the Justing which was to be perform'd that Day and there to wear the Queen's fine Scarf The Dutchess had a great mind not to be there but the Queen found out a means to ingage her to it in sending to her the Prize of the Tilting which was a Heart of Diamonds to give to him that should get the Advantage If she could have guessed that the Count should again win the Prize doubtless but that she had dispenc'd her self from serving the Queen in that respect but there being other Cavaliers as Brave and as Dextrous as he and that besides she would be very glad to see whether he would wear that Scarf after that which he had Writ to her she yeilded unto her Rivals desires Never had the Count appeared with such Gallantry as he did that Day and his Dexterity as well as good Meen was admired by all The King was Charm'd with it as well as the Queen who without the least regard or management call'd out to every one to have them observe all that this dear Lover did perform The Dutchess was the only Person that seem'd not concern'd at all and she did appear with so much dullness as oblig'd two or three times the Queen to ask her what she Ailed but her Trouble was very great seeing that she could not constrain her self The Count at last was the Conqueror and approaching to the Dutchess not without Blushing to receive the Prize If you wanted nothing more said she with a cold Air but this Heart to be Contented you are now very happy and not staying for his Answer she turn'd to Count Topor a young handsome Lord who of late did Visit her with some Assiduity and who gave her his Hand to lead her home Tarnaw would have stayed her but the Queen whose Eyes were never off of him call'd him finding him dull she ask'd him what the Dutchess had said and whether there was an absolute Rupture or a Reconciliation betwixt them No Madam he reply'd it is neither the one nor the other but her Coldness surprizes me Does her Coldness surprize you Tarnaw reply'd that Princess Is it not that you repent already your Abandoning of her The Count would have justified himself from such a Censure but she gave him not time to Answer and making sign to him to be silent Go said she follow your own Inclinations I will have no Heart that in the least wavers in giving it self wholly to me Think on it and give me your Answer this very Night This Lover who did see that the place was not fit for the clearing of such a business did not insist any longer for to be heard and retired to put off his Armour Never was Man more agitated than he his mishap proceeded from being too happy His Heart was too much burdened with two the most Charming and most perfect Objects on Earth one of which was capable of satisfying the Ambition and of pleasing the Desires of the most Ambitious and most Passionate of all Men. But he was to chuse and he knew not which to leave In following purely Love he tended towards the Queen she had such soft and tender Wayes such a Complaisant winning Ayr and even sometime such pritty passionate Expressions as Enchanted him But then to absolutely abandon the Dutchess with whom he had Contracted a kind of Habitude Tenderness Society and Confidence that was renouncing a world of Pleasures that was tearing himself from what there was for him of most sweet and agreeable in this Life The Queen had Chang'd for Love of him she might well change again for Love of another There were divers Examples of her Inconstancy and he would not flatter himself with being capable of of setting Limits to it The defects of Temper are rarely amended Unto all those Reasons those which concern'd his Duty were added which the Lord Bishop of Cracovia had made him too well to understand to forget them so soon In fine he resolv'd to keep the surest side which was that of the Dutchess and as he had need of her Assistance to bear that Victory over his own Heart he was no sooner unarmed but that he went to her Long since he had the Priviledge to go in there with the same Liberty that the Duke himself did use and after he had inquir'd if the Lady was there he went directly to her Chamber where he found a Gentlewoman at the Door who told him that there was no going in That refusal surpriz'd him he for whom the Doors were there alwayes open he inquired the Reason and he was Answered that my Lady was busy and that there was some Body with her He would know who that some Body was The Gentlewoman who was Tutor'd thereto would not tell or at least would be pressed to it to render the Mystery more important He pressed he intreated and at last he learn'd that it was the Count Topor The Count Topor replyed he to himself alone in a Chamber with the Dutchess where I must not enter On this he busied himself some time without any desire that Notice should be given of his being there he had a desire to see whether that secret Entertainment would last long He sat down near the Gentlewoman entertaining her with divers indifferent things while his mind was an other way But as he grew weary every moment of waiting so long he rose and sat down again at least a dozen times At last Impatiency did so seize him that he desired the Gentlewoman to go ask her Mistress whether he might not Entertain her a moment She made some kind of difficulty on the Orders which she had received from the Dutchess but at last she seemed to be perswaded through his Importunities and return'd to tell him for answer That the Dutchess did desire him to excuse her and that she could not see him till the Count Topor was gone This second Refusal more Cruel yet than the former quite breaking the Heart of Count Tarnaw He arose in good earnest and yielding unto
divers ages and to consolate my self of my affliction I have but too many examples before my Eyes I aym not at Count Tarnaws life all his Blood would not make the Dutchess the honester Woman and should my Honour depend on that only I well see that there would be no Return of it All that I can do is to wait till he be Married to render him the Change The business being thus turn'd into Rallery the King was over-joy'd to see him take that Course which he did second with divers solid reasons giving a great deal of Praise unto the Dukes Conduct That Action was after that as an happy Plank for all those that found themselves in the number of the betrayed Husbands there being nothing indeed more ridiculous in the World than to cast ones self away for being dishonoured by a Woman Give me those Wise and Prudent Persons as was the Duke who on all other accounts was an Example of Vallour as well as of Cuckoldship here He going from the King a Gentleman brought him the order from the Queen He presently thought of the promise which he had made the Dutchess but he was to obey or rather he was to yield unto that Byass which carried him that way He did appear so constrained and so perplexed at the fight of that Princess that she could not restrain from Laughing and letting her self go unto her usual Humour which was free and full of Gayety Well my Lord Duke said she have you not a very honest Wife and is not Tarnaw an undoubted Friend Friendship Madam said he is Subject unto such Treacheries but the Count is yet more guilty in point of Love he will be sooner pardoned for having betrayed a Friend continu'd he then the fairest Princess in the World The Queen answered him Coldly That she did take no further care of that business than so much as would make her Sport If I was concern'd in it continu'd she I should think the Persons sufficiently punished with the Confusion it hath brought upon them But how have you resented the business And how do you carry your self towards Tarnaw The Duke gave her to understand that he was not a man that would take so much to heart a business of which he was not the Master that which way so ever it had come to pass he thought that it fell to his Wifes share to take upon her all the Blame of the adventure seeing that it was she that had committed the Fault That as to the Count he expected from Time and Opportunity some means to revenge himself like a man of Honour but not as a declared Enemy The Queen having said some pleasant things on his Maximes which she well approv'd of the Duke replyed That he had Copyed them out of the Practice of the greatest men in Antiquity and that he did not use in things of Consequence to regulate himself by the common Opinion The Queen who was desirous to fall upon that which did concern her self the most reply'd That all that was very well but that howsoever it was probable he would not permit Tarnaw to continue having the same Assiduities with the Dutchess Why not Madam replyed the Duke who presently perceived that this was that thing the Queen did wish for The mischeif is already done continu'd he and it would be a great Folly in me to be so cautious where there is no Remedy That should have been done in time and season What would you endure said the Queen with some trouble I shall not only endure said he interrupting her that he should do as he has formerly done but I will go instantly from hence to seek him and intreat him so to do That is to be very Complaisant replied she and this may very well be called to be a Commodious Man But to let you see continued she the little Concern I take in it Know that I am pleased at your going to see the Count and I do Order you at the same time to bring him here to me You may think it may be that I have a mind he should ask me Pardon continued she and that we should be reconciled Your example might be followed and peradventure that I should not find it difficult to imitate you if I had no other cause of Complaint against him but know that he has offended me by a more sensible way than that the of Dutchess and that it is three dayes since I have given Order unto the Bishop of Cracovia to tell him from me that he should never more appear before my presence The Duke both surprised and rejoyced at this news asked the Queen if it were possible that the Count should give her any cause of treating him so ill Yes replyed she and were it not for the Noise that it might make in the World I had spoken of it to the King But I cannot better punish him continued she than in confounding of him before you and in reproaching his Unworthiness my self in person At this proposition the Duke was in his Dumps and could have wished that the Queen had persisted in her first Resolution or at least that she had charged some other with that Commission But there was no way to avoyd it she would absolutely have it that it should be him that should bring to her the Count and that he should be Witness after what manner she would treat him The Duke was too clear-sighted and did know the Queen too well to fall into that Trap. But that Princesses Charmes did so dazle him that if his life had been at stake he could not refuse what she required of him This is cruel Madam said he thus to exact from my obedience so hard a Task I shall do it however continued he seeing that you command it But the Repentance of it may cost me my Life Upon this he took leave of the Queen who promised him to set this Constraint which he did to himself for her sake upon account Count Topor very proud of the Honour that this noise had done him of being in love with the Dutchess had a mind to become so in good earnest He undertook to visit her more frequently then before But knowing that a Passion according to Form ought to begin by a Declaration he was divers dayes in meditating one which might please his Mistress They were fine words which he composed afterwards writ but which he did blot out as often as he writ them and when he was resolved and had agreed upon those which he would use he had forgot all again so soon as he came before the Dutchess so that he was forced to stand to those which the Publick had made for him The Dutchess could easily perceive a change both in the Humour and Manners of the Count. She might have guessed at his design and at some other time she might have diverted her self with it But at that time she was not capable of any Pleasure and her mind wholly taken up