hearing nothing but blows and crys fancied her self already torn in pieces and attended nothing but her death she knew that in that Country 't was in vain to ask pardon of a Husband for faults like hers these Offences like Treason against Princes are not washt away but with the blood of the guilty the spot like that of Oyl not being to be taken out but with the piece and as it is imprinted in humane nature to endeavour to prolong it as long as they can she run down into the Cellar to hide her self as if she were willing to go alive to Hell rather than suffer the pains of death or like a Criminal Vestal be put alive into the pit as a punishment fit for her uncleanness Here she might justly say as the Reprobates will at the Day of the Universal Assizes Mountains fall upon us with her as with a Traveller who being in open Fields in a Tempest sees the Heavens all on fire with Lightning hears the Air resounding with Thunder sees the Earth washed with the Rain and beaten by the Hail and fearing so many Arrows and Instruments of Death bent against his head betakes himself to the shelter of a well-spread Tree or secret Grot but if a Thunder-bolt come to tear the Earth from under his feet think but what fright he now endures this moment which he takes for the last of his whole life such was the dreadful fright of Vannoza too happy Vannoza had she made use of these Rods of God's Fatherly correction and if by the fear of God's Judgments she had been frighted into Goodness But God might well work Prodigies by the Rod of Moses it nothing abates Pharaoh's courage there are some Souls are so depraved that like Tigres they grow more fierce by gentle usage Lord with how many pleasant ingredients of mercy dost thou temper the bitterness of thy Potion of Justice How many warnings dost thou give to them who amidst their Sins have not quite lost the sense of thy fear to make them hide themselves by penitence from the Arrows of thy fierce wrath This action of Vannoza's hiding her self puts me in mind of that of Adam after he had tasted the forbidden fruit And further which is nearer to our purpose of that of Helen so exactly described by the Prince of Poets when at the Sack of Troy Aeneas espyed her hid in the Temple of Vesta for fear of being involved in the general Ruine the words coming from this Noble Genius are excellent and worthy the Recital Limina vestae Servantem tacitam secreta in sede latentem Tyndarida aspicio dant clara incendia lucem Erranti passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti Illa sibi infestos eversa ob Pergama Teucros Et pena Danaum deserti Conjugis iras Permetuens Trojae patris communis Erynnis Abdiderat sete atque aris invisa sedebat Exarsere ignes animo subit ira cadentem Ulcisci patriam sceleratas sumere poenas In Vesta's Temple Helen I perceiv'd By fear of Death almost of Life bereav'd The dismal flames ' midst the thick shades of Night Gave to my wandring eyes sufficient light She who the Trojans had so dearly cost For whom their Empire Goods and Lives were lost Justly expected that such injur'd Foes Would with their Swords stamp on her breast their Woes Fearing no less with guilty blood t asswage Her injur'd Husband and the Grecian rage Expecting thus till wrathful Greece or Troy Should the dire cause of both their ills destroy There th' Altars did a hiding-place afford Tâ—her whom men hated and the Gods abhorr'd Mean while as this famous Grecian Beauty which first fired the Trojan's hearts and then their houses though seized on by so much fear yet escaped the mischief she so dreaded seeing her self after the sack of the great and stately Ilium kindlier entertained than ever in the arms of her Husband Menelaus and after her loose abandoning her self to the embraces of Paris more honoured than before by the Grecian Princes so Vannoza saw all this uproar terminated in a gracious reception from her husband who was over-joyed at his fortunate escape from the destructive hand of thieves who as he thought had fixed the Ladder there to scale the Walls of his House and rob him of his Goods Thus after a furious storm and tempest there remains no tokens of the terrour but a little foam which the billows have driven upon the shoars and a little rain and dirt upon the ground after the noise of thunder and tempestuous whirlwinds O God where is the verity of thy declaration of happiness unto the good and evil to the wicked How long how long Lord just and true Shall the curst troops of evil doers Boldly their wickedness pursue Fearless of eathly or heavenly powers Shall they for ever with impunity Thy Servants wrong and the dread power defie But stay my Soul the way is slippery thy feet may well slide and deceive thee where thy wings intended to bear thee aloft Do not molest thy self to see The wicked in prosperitie With envy don 't thy self oppress To see them thrive in wickedness Like flourishing and verdant grass Whose beauty suddenly does pass Or flowers which ravish the eye But soon are withered and dry Stay but a while thou shalt behold The wicked gone like tales long told And all their glories no more seen Nor heard then if they 'd never been What astonishing amazment seized on Vannoza who seeing her self lifted from the depth of despair to the highest top of happiness could not choose but suspect its reality and as a bad conscience is never in security she feared that she was brought to be sacrificed as those of old with Musick and Garlands But by little and little she reassumed her courage understanding by the recital of the adventure which every one reported according to his fancy that Alcimus had escaped unknown and past amongst that uproar for one that intended to rob Capoleon of his Riches rather than his Honour nay rather for a troop of Robbers for the wounded servant and those that fled deceived by the darkness of the night and their own fear which hath the property to make that appear which is not and to multiply to an infinity that which hath any thing of reality made this deceit pass for a verity none being able to contradict it Capoleon searched all parts of the house but found nothing of what he sought for but found his traces and footings in the Garret and thence passing to the Hermitage of this holy Female he told her it was no wonder that he had heard a noise there before and that there were other Apparitions than those of Spirits and Fantomes for these had both Flesh and Bones the Window where the Ladder was found fastned was condemned as culpable the Garret on all parts barricadoed up as criminal the passage over the Gallery stopped up and all the Avenues made inaccessible But it
her Virginity The husband rallyed all his wit to charge her with excuses her Parents also running to assist him dazling the eyes of this poor young Lady with the riches of her new married †One who desiring long life lived so long that the Poets feigned he was turned into a Grashopper Ov. Met. Tithon representing to her the most advantageously they could the multitude of his wealth and opulency of his fortune that this artifice was only intended for her good and finally perswaded her she should be the most fortunate and happy Lady in the City Thus was she brought from her first astonishment into a course of life which however disagreeable to her ought to give all the content imaginable to Capoleon and promised to recompence him with a free injoyment of those felicities which his former nuptials had denied him In a word this affair was conducted with such brevity and industry that Capoleon was married before any such thing was talked or thought of and now every one begun to hope well of his future Conversation and that the honourable bonds of Matrimony would tye him up from his former dishonourable actions But whether a disordinate spirit carry inquietude along with it as Devils do their hell or whether by misfortune he had conspired against his own happiness he who had first given all reasonable liberty to his Wife that could be desired permitting her with her Mother to see and injoy the Company of their ancient friends and acquaintance and to frequent what places of devotion she pleased being on a suddain inflamed with the fire of Jealousie which is as fierce as that of Hell he begun like Laban to Jacob to change his countenance toward her and to change those Sun-shiny days into obscure nights he found himself to be old and deformed her young and beauteous the perfections which he perceived in her and the defaults which he remarked in himself were the only faults of this young innocent Nothing but administred fewel to this flame If any one lookt upon her it was with a lustful eye if any one spoke to her prejudice he believed it or if they praised her it proceeded from designs prejudicial to his honour The very rays of the Sun were too familiar with her and Zephyrus took too much liberty to sport about her breasts the flies that chanced to pearch upon her face kissed her and the habits which she wore touched her too nearly He thought her so weak that any thing was able to corrupt her The thoughts that every one was covetous of this Gold wrought in him a design of burying so desirable a Creature from all mens sight and the light of the day But had he brought about this design with better conduct and had by little and little restrained his liberty and Eclipsed this Star by degrees from the eyes of the World by some condensed vapours which time should form into clouds had he but gently accustomed this Bird to the restraints of a Cage this slave to the chain perhaps in a Country where Captivity is so ordinary amongst Women that it is even converted into Nature he had not so violently exasperated her spirit and desire of escaping and had pluckt up the root of many hard constructions and evil speeches against his unreasonable severity But what is it but to expect fresh water from the Sea for one to look for kind usage from a man blinded with jealousie is it not to demand reason of one that has lost it to seek for grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Those that say that this malady is an excess of Love as the Fever is of natural heat do therein confess that though it be a sort of Love it is but a sick one and as a hot and burning Fever brings us even to the neighbourhood of death so a hot and flaming jealousie is easily brought to consume the fewel of Love that feeds it it turns the sweet and gentle heat into a Calenture from whence proceed the sharpest effects of hatred which will not stop short of an attempt upon the life or at least of as precious liberty Thus where this passion fixeth being born of real love it does at last ruine it as the moth eats the cloth in which it took its being All Capoleon's desire was to preserve his Wife entirely to himself and to perfect that design he lodgeth her in a Chamber the fittest he could find out for a Prison not considering that in confining the body he disjoyns the soul of affection from it which should be the only guard to preserve it to him How this vain passion blinds fond man To think restraints which thus controll The actions of the body can Confine the motions of the soul This unexpected whirlwind seized our new-married innocent who finding her self not guilty could almost have wisht her self criminal to be revenged for so unjust a cruelty Judge then if Capoleon did not do himself a real injury to shun an imaginary one having pitcht upon the surest way to make himself odious by ingraffing this bitter slip of cruelty upon the large stock of his other deformities which malicious age had planted in his face The poor prisoner laments her condition being earnestly desirous to understand the cause of her condemnation she would gladly know in what she had given an occasion of distrust that she might clear her self of the accusation if false or correct the fault if true The Parents took this affront as hainously as the Daughter but shewed not so much resentment for fear of augmenting the punishment by provoking him to the tyranny of whose power they had brought her to submit But though the clouds may be so thick as to conceal the Thunder-bolt from our sight yet still they are easily penetrated by the Lightning so that their discontents though dissembled were discovered by Capoleon who gave no other reason barbarous as he was but that he might dispose of his own as he pleased and order and govern his Wife to his fancy As if Wives which were given for Companions not Slaves or Servants to Men could or ought to be guided by any other bridle then that of love and gentleness But what one would press him to discover what cause she had given him for so strict a confinement the force of truth compelled him to confess that he had none and that this restraint and imprisonment was not for any fault already committed but to prevent those which the future bait of occasions and opportunities might produce so that she must be forced to endure a present punishment for a future fault Thus might Vannoza champ upon the but but her Groom would be sure to avoid the strokes of her heels for this mistrust did so far provoke her that she was not so much vexed at the loss of her liberty as that she could imagine no means to compass a revenge but as winds inclosed in the bowels of the earth do at last grow so
of all beholders Capoleon on a suddain left his Wife to watering the flowers with her tears to divert himself with this pleasing spectacle Vannoza though she said nothing thought never the less she durst neither follow him nor ask leave to do so knowing that to his suspicious brain this might bring some sinister ombrage of her fidelity and therefore sitting very pensively down in a close Arbour bathing her self in tears she discharged her self of part of her sorrows in exhaling these following regrets often interrupted with deep sighs To what has the rigorous influence of my unhappy stars reserved me must I thus dye before death's approach and like a criminal Vestal be buried alive Certainly when one has by a bad deportment merited punishment the rigour of the pain is somewhat moderated by the consideration of the justness of it but to suffer an unjust punishment is the rudest essay can be made upon humane patience and what patience so abused would not turn to fury Why should I bestow so much time on my complaints and none upon my revenge Dye then unfortunate Vannoza and by one generous death cut off a thousand daily renewing and languishing ones which every hour afflict thee The cold and pale-faced Moon cannot be more Icy than thy Husband nor the shades more horrible than his presence They deserve to live miserable that know not how to escape afflictions by a courageous death But must I dye then unrevenged since revenge to the heart of a Woman abused like me is a pleasure far sweeter than life Thus shall we set Furies upon our Cerberus who shall sufficiently torment him and make him experiment the extremities to which he hath reduced us She had farther pursued this furious discourse if the fear of being heard joined to the multitude of her sighs had not stopped the words that followed But this interruption of her discourse gave more liberty to her thoughts which came to nettle her spirit with the words which the Lacquey had spoke before her so much to Alcimus his advantage words which were oil to the flames of her desire It is an inclination incident to humane nature to desire that most earnestly which is most strictly forbidden And if this flame do seize so furiously on the green wood of man's spirit what destruction will it make among the dry In that of a Woman who is more fiercely agitated the more unable she is to resist She 's quite averse if you desire If you refuse she 's all on fire Thus said the Poet that best knew their disposition But if she desire a thing which she wants power to obtain then is it she strains the utmost of her subtilty to invent crafts and artifices to compass her designs and then God only knows what means she will not use to plain the way to her pretensions The effects of Lightning which we so much admire were never more subtile for as that will melt the money without touching the purse and the sword without prejudicing the scabbard so they will pass through bolted doors and scale the walls of the greatest obstacles by a most subtile sort of penetration Can any hope to fetter thus A crafty female Proteus The guards and bonds which her confine Will but help to aid her design And this indeed was sufficient to whet her appetite to call away Capoleon from her company to see the gallantries of Alcimus it did indeed prick forward her desire of taking her turn and leaving Capoleon's Company to enjoy the sight of Alcimus her self Thus she resolved to feed her eyes with this lovely object like the inconsiderate fly that rashly approaching the candle burns it self in it There was over the apartment whose walls bounded her liberty a Garret in which she pretended to be desirous of building a little Hermitage there to make a retreat for the better contemplating on heavenly matters like another Judith she considered that from thence she might pass to the main part of the House which fronted the street and was kept from her approach over the top of a Gallery which joined to her apartment through which Gallery her husband usually came to her His project succeeded to her design so that having made a Cabinet there of boards she made it be adorned and hung with Tapistry and Pictures so seeming to be very devout she used to shut her self in there to attend more carefully the office of the pious Mary though her heart bore the impressions of far worse actions than those of the busie Martha Being retired into this remote place she passed over the top of the Gallery we spoke of into the Garret of the main body of the house which fronted towards the street where through the window she might easily see there all that passed to and fro thus according to her desire she obtained the means of seeing the world Amongst others Alcimus failed not in the evening to come out to take the air richly habited nobly attended and compleatly mounted making his ordinary corvets and managery and as he bore innocency in his spirit so did he ingenuity in his looks and though he was not altogether clear of all faults yet that of a little vanity was the chief and he never harboured those unclean and vile thoughts which now seized the breast of this bird that thus peeped at him through her cage If according to custome he attracted the eyes of every one he even ravisht and transported with admiration those of Vannoza Cephalus never appeared so lovely to Aurora Endymion to Diana nor Hippolytus to Phaedra To see and to desire was but the same To her whose soul did now so fiercely flame Alcimus whom she had so often before considered did never seem to have half so many attractions The Eastern regions have fewer pearls the Spring fewer flowers and the Sun fewer rays than she fancied him to have graces and accomplishments and certainly if Envy with her squint eyes were constrained to confess the advantages which shined in this Cavalier what must that of Love do that penetrating eye which will often forge imaginary beauties in objects where there are none How did she blame the inconsideration of her eyes which could formerly behold such perfections with such an indifferency and not give a true report to her heart of the rarities they now too late discovered But what have I to do to divine much less to trace upon this paper the divers thoughts and passions which swell'd her breast the secret discourses of her spirit the irresolute determinations proceeding from her words thoughts discourses and determinations which made a Chaos of confused desires and extravagant projects in her imagination With hope she fed her self in vain Of what she saw no means t' obtain These views and passages as innocent in the one as pernicious to the other continued some days these being drops of water which still made the Furnace flame more fiercely and oil thrown upon the fire daily consumed her It
Ennuch of Candace was presently baptized by St. Philip you now speedily restore to him that Grace of which he had deprived himself by his bad designs The Passion with which Alcimus has hitherto been custamed is such that if violence be not used to pluck it from his Soul he will continue in his sin I in pain and my Husband in his evil humour You say very well Daughter said the good Simplicius for since the hour of death is so uncertain why should he delay converting himself to God who hath promis'd him as saith the glorious Father St. Angustine to receive him to mercy every moment but has not assured him to allow him space till death to cry him mercy It being but just that that sinner should forget himself in death who hath never thought of God through all the course of his life What think you of this continued he my Son Alcimus the Grace of God hates delays and he that presents it you to day has not promised to do so to morrow if you put your self amongst the foolish Virgins you must expect to hear that sad Sentence in the Day of Judgment Depart from me I know you not Will you by the impenitent perseverance of a wicked heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Will you be silent when you ought to speak and be deaf to the Voice of God who calls on you by me the Voice of the Turtle which summons you to a forsaking of your disordinate and irregular Passions Woe unto you if you keep silence There is a time to be silent and a time to speak It is a Malignant Devil which makes us deaf to the Remonstrances and dumb to the Confession of our sins from which I beseech God to deliver you I perceive you are in danger to defer your repentance a while during which time the Devil will return with greater fury to recover the prey which grace has almost snatcht out of his clutches and if he make himself once stronger and better armed in the fortress of your heart it is to be feared he will guard it so strongly as to keep out the holy Spirit and so your last errour will be worse than the first Consider that it is humane frailty to fall but diabolical madness to persevere Is it fit to consult hang backwards or deliberate when you are summoned to render your self to God and to quit the creature for the Creator to whom none is like than whom none is stronger whom none can resist nor any enter into comparison with â—iâ— Almighty Majesty Vannoza hearing this Discourse backed by the vehemence of that charity which animated this good Father who wrought upon his stoney heart as if he had been exercising one possest and fearing that the efficatious strength of this word Which converteth Souls uttered with such a vehemency of spirit should shake those yet but feeble roots which she had planted in the heart of this Neophite to obstruct his spiritual resurrection Alas said she Father in this new springing of his fault you must not press too hard upon his heart least you oppress it The gentle West-wind that makes the Flowers spring is sweet and fragrant but the impetuosity of the North pincheth and destroys them The first condescention which I found in him makes me not doubt of a second but to this end time must give assistance unto reason Your Maximes doubtless are good and prevalent but be the Medicines never so wholsome and well compounded yet are they not alwaies efficatious if there be not a fit disposition in the patient that receves them It is to be thought that Alcimus his Apostume is not yet ripe because it is still unbroken the time will come when like a good Tree planted by the streams of Grace he will bring forth Fruit in due season I know he now perceives at last The folly of his Errours past And in short time I hope see His Flames to Ice will changed he I conceive with submission to your better counsel it is fit to give him respite as to a bad pay-Master that if his levity should bring him to return unto his vomit it may take from him all excuse of having had too short a time to resolve and to pluck up by reason and the force of arguments a passion which has so long rooted in his breast Simplicius easie to work on as a true Monastick who thought that all the World like him proceeded in their actions with charity and sincerity gave his hand to this female-councel which he thought fit to be sometimes followed and sometimes not and that Adam and Pilate were equally guilty the one for following and the other for rejecting the the Counsel of a Woman Thus was Alcimus ballanced on the one side with Divine Love and with Humane on the other and at last suffered himself to be weighed down by the later directly towards Hell and Destruction I will not trouble my self nor the Reader with a Discovery of the progress and success of the artifices used in this unfortunate infection I would say affection but have spoken more properly then I intended nor declare in what manner these two impious Lovers abused the innocence of this good man to maintain an intelligence betwixt them Sometimes Alcimus making him believe that he could not or at least not so soon rid himself of this passion sometimes Vannoza continuing her false complaints and feigned fears whereby they made this holy Father their Shuttle-cock and through their joynt and deceitful propositions be entred into such real apprehensions of the loss either of the Soul or Body of Alcimus that it robbed him of his rest and his trouble brought him to a pining leanness In this Spiritual Cure he resembled those Physitians who not well understanding a Distemper take care of one part of it whilest the other part destroyes the Patient And as those Corporal Physitians know not the Disposition of the Interiour parts but from the relation of the Patient so these Spiritual ones know them not but by the report of the penitent which made the Philosopher say to a young man Speak that I may see thee and as the eye being single the whole body is thereby conducted by the aid of an amiable light so contrarily he walks in darkness whose eyes are clouded and how should our Spiritual Guides conduct us rightly through a holy discipline if we do not truly and sincerely discover our selves to them without disguising and deceit for which cause the wise man declareth that the Heart is deceitful above all things and a double Tongue is an abomination before God I will not here make register of the execrable subtleties of these fire-brands of Hell of explaining themselves to one another by an innocent Interpreter of whom one may say as David did of the Patriarch Joseph That he heard a Language which he had no understanding of but is the fault in the Sword if one commit Murther with it or of a
Sacrament if many abuse it Who knows not the corrupt Stomachs turn the best Meat into Crudities Besides all this the counter-sence of their words as well in Speech as Writing their cabalistique Cyphers and interlined Letters written by a Liquor which of invisible became visible by being held against the Fire and by such like means and many other wayes whereby they dayly maintained their wicked correspondence by abusing in so many several manners the goodness of this religious person who was thereby tost like a Ball betwixt two skilful Gamesters But if the wicked devices and odious sins which were acted in the Temple and in holy places by the Sons of Aaron and of Eli were so severely punisht by Divine Vengeance what punishment was due to these sacrilegious persons who not content to violate a Sacrament which is great and honourable and by an infamous Adultery projected and acted by them but also this other holy one which pronounceth on Earth the Decrees of Heaven miserably changing into a crime that which ought to serve them for an instruction of justification How oft like Uriah did they carry in their own Bosoms the sealed Packets of their condemnation but with as much wickedness and deceit as he had of ignorance and innocence But this sort of Writing and Speaking was not all the furious passion which so tormented them and robbed them of their repose was not an evil that could be healed so without coming to an effect their reciprocal being but too well desires known to one another that old Serpent the Devil Who hath so many names but more devices With which to mischief Sinners he entices He I say failed not to suggest unto them many means of seeing one another and that in such a manner as they desired for though in this sort of Vice the Gospel places the mental Adultry in a lustful look and a determinate mind to do evil yet the execution is not perfected by the view though these like those of the Basilisk strike death into the Soul the life of which consisteth in Grace which is lost by a mortal coveting Alcimus being assured of Vannoza's good will to him but evil in its self did soon find the way were it by the means of some friends or rather the irresistable force of his Coin to procure access to a house that joined to Capoleon's where by the conjunction of the roofs he facilitated his entrance to the Cabinet of Meditations of her who easily waived her devotion to yield her self to his There whilest her Husband thought her taken up with Celestial Contemplations she was exercised altogether in Earthly ones and in the possession of her new Lover Thus was this immodest Helena taken for a chaste Hecuba And thus these passionate Lovers being arrived to the top of their pretensions in the enjoyment of their delights as execrable as unjust thought they had found out the Elyzian Fields in this Garret But the pleasure of the wicked passeth in an instant and the Royal Prophet hath declared That he hath seen the wicked elevated above the Cedars of Lebanon which are the just and perfect Souls and soon after repassing by the same Thickets he has no longer perceived them because they were shrunk away and failed for as the wax melteth before the fire and the smoke dissipateth and vanisheth as it riseth higher so Sinners are brought to nought in God's presence in an instant This intercourse lasted but a while for these often frequentings of this house being observed by the Master of it who was not at all advertised of the reasons of them all the business being brought about by one of his Servants corrupted by Alcimus it presently buzzed suspition into his head a Vice natural unto the Italians and made him begin to look after the honour of his Wife who was rather capable to beget pity than desire See here an eclipse and parenthesis for some days to the interviews of our Lovers Thus crosses do in multitudes descend On those who ' gainst Gods righteous Laws offend But they like Mules and Beasts quite void of sence Feel not the rod nor turn from their offence But the same spirit of darkness that animated them being as fertile in invention as perswasive in wickedness to make them a passage through all the steps and degrees that lead to the highest top of iniquity suggested to them more of his Diabolick ways Diabolick do I say nay much worse than the artifices of Devils who are forced to confess their impuissance in sacred places which our wicked ones chose to make the execrable Theatre of their abominations whence comes it saith God by the mouth of a Prophet that they whom I loved have committed such crimes in my own house And if a fault which of it self is but venial or slightly punishable becomes inexpiable et crimen lesae Majestatis when acted in a Kingâ—s Palace as being a place of veneration and not to be dishonoured by an infamous act what new punishment must there be invented to inflict upon him who violates the Temple of the Immortal and Invisible King of Kings by detestable prophanations Of a certainty God will not hold for innocent him that pollutes the place of his abode and make that which is consecrated for a House of Prayer be converted into a Den of Thieves Within this House Lord nought is fit to be But what in holiness resembles thee Vannoza having no liberty to go abroad but to holy places in the company of her Mother Alcimus by an act doubly sacrilegious still frequented those Monasteries where there were to be Stations Indulgences or Processions of the Fraternities and there habited like the Religious of every several Monastery and Order where he was he hid himself in some private Chappels or secret and dark retiring places as those who do evil hate the light and was there visited by his devout Mistress where under pretence of Consolation Instruction or Confession they acted that which could scarce find remission from him who was thereby so highly dishonoured in his own habitation I am struck with horrour to discover deeds of so black a hue but it is to stamp some horrour in the Souls of those who act or are tempted to commit the like that I trace these lines upon this paper Those who know the dexterity and boldness of the Italian spirits principally when they are pricked forwards by this frantick passion which hath so puissant a dominion in their hearts will not find these horrid impudencies strange though to others of another Nation they may seem almost incredible Now as in the course of perfection it is the custome of those who use themselves to it to advance from virtue to virtue till by degrees they arrive at the top of the Coelestial Olympus so are there steps and degrees in evil and though as an Ancient saith there is no vice but what brings us to the brink of a Precipice yet another saith as truly None
thus mocked with impurity that if his long suffering wink at thee for a time till thou arrive to such a height of wickedness it is but for thee to take the greater fall The old man prepossest with a good opinion of the chastity of his wife took her for a Saint and all she said for Oracles with which Alcimus and she made excellent past-time it furnishing them sufficiently with laughter One night amongst the rest whilest they continued their entertainments and embraces longer then ordinary Capoleon like another Pompilius attending the descent of the Nymph Egeria at length wearied and opprest with drowsiness fell asleep and so in a Dream which brought him into the Countrey near the Appennine where he thought a Bear coming from the Mountains bereaved him of his Wife and tearing her out of his Arms carryed her into his Den where without hurting her he nourisht her with Apples and other Fruit of which he had laid in great store where helplessly he beheld her embraced by this Savage-Monster and being in an inexplicable perplexity how he should recover his Vannoza from the power of this fierce Animal as it ordinarily happens to those who are so afflicted in their sleep he wakened overjoy'd that this Misfortune was imaginary though indeed it was but too real Therefore groping round about to find if his better half were with him and missing her fearing least this Dream might be a presage of some tragical disaster he leapt out of the Bed and running up Stairs to Vannoza's Oratory he knocked at the Door at the same time when she was in the possession of a Bear in humane shape This knocking seem'd to be her knell expecting nothing less than death from her injured Husband And Alcimus thinking himself betrayed resolved to sell his life at the highest rate his Valour could put upon it at last Vannoza not quite despairing of an escape by the assistance of the darkness advised him to slip under the Bed and she feigning her self to be asleep let Capoleon knock a little longer and after starting up as if affrighted out of sleep she asked who it was that came to interrupt her in the midst of her repose Capoleon praising God that she was there safe recounted to her his Dream from point to point To the interpretation of which they needed to consult neither Morpheus nor Artemidorus for Alcimus and Vannoza could do it better than either but knew not whether it gave them more reason of fear or laughter Capoleon telling her he was come to succour her and desiring her to open the Door she knew not whether to take it in jeft or earnest fearing all this but an invention and counterfeit pleasantness in order to her destruction the conscience of her and that of her Lover beating up a thousand dreadful alarms At last taking courage from the extremity of danger My Dear said she know'st thou not that Dreams are but lyes and delusions I wonder that you being so wise a man should trouble your self with these superstitions which you would blame in the weakest Woman pray return to your rest I thank you however for your succour though it be more importunate than opportune I am in the little Bed which I have placed in this Room where pray let me alone this night Capoleon notwithstanding urging her to open it protesting that he could not sleep without her amidst this inquietude she judging by his voice that he was in earnest but without any emotion of choller prayed him to stay a while till she were a little cloathed to go with him for that Bed was too strait for them both too strait indeed for the Husband and Adulterer This while she consulted with Alcimus for his escape who to put himself in posture for defence or flight as he should see most convenient fearing least if by some sinister accident he should be found under the Bed it might cost him his life before he could get up thought it fittest to get behind the door which was no sooner open but Capoleon taking Vannoza by the hand led her away to his Chamber in the dark hereby making them both an honourable amends for the fright and trouble he had put them to Alcimus now had time to clothe himself and escape applauding in himself the wit and courage of Vannoza and blessing the good fortune that attends on Lovers Instead of acknowledging wretched as he was the infinite bounty and goodness of God who by this hazzard he had run the greatest imaginable gave him fair admonition to renounce his abominable wickedness and impiety and by thus shewing him the rod would fright him into an amendment But alas his depraved spirit and impenitent heart instead of repenting for what was past and amending for the future strove rather to imitate the Mariner who having escaped the fury of a Tempest which threatned him with manifest Ship-wrack hath scarce dryed his Cloathes before he is so weary of Land that he is fired with impatience and desire of imbarking for another Navigation to try his fortune the second time As for Vannoza her wickedness whetting her invention and sharpening her industry she made her husband whom she saw besotted with love of her believe what she pleased telling him That after some exercises of mortification which without naming he was sufficiently satisfied of finding her self wearyed and her spirits weakened and dulled she was constrained to go to rest being of opinion that after having chastned her body and brought it into servitude it was not fitting presently to restore it to delights betwixt the arms of her husband whom at the same time she sweetned with many feigned caresses Thus this false Female the more sweetly she flattered him the more deeply she deceived him This brings into my memory the saying of Uriah to David That he could not allow himself to take his ease and pleasures in the bed of his wife whilest his Captain Joab was armed in his pavilions Thus ended this Adventure which served but for a whet-stone to sharpen their infamous desires and brutish appetites The remembrance of a danger vanished with it and being once in safety we forget who set us there Benefits we write on a wave But Injuries in brass engrave They renewed their intercourse when the shades of Night rendred all things invisible but they forgot that Night has eyes Night's beauteous eyes the Stars do pierce The Shades which veil the Universe Not to mention the great eye of the Divinity which cannot be clouded by the thickest darkness since God is all light and nothing is hid from him This universal sight which gave him the Name of God according to the Greek sees through the Walls of Heaven and without being perceived plainly beholds and orders the Influence of the Stars and Coelestial Bodies and sees not onely the Actions which are hid from Men but even the Thoughts and those very Faults which are unknown to them who commit them This drew from
this Device which he termed a Gallantry unhappy that he was thus to glory in his Crime and rejoyce in his Confusion to enjoy her with the greater freedom See the deep subtlety that 's here exprest And by this one act judge of all the rest If formerly the excellency of a Painter appeared in a line direct streight slender and almost imperceptible Judge whether by this unthought of Artifice Alcimus did not manifest himself a good proficient in the School of Vannoza's subtlety But finally as if they had been weary of living longer amidst these constraints they consulted how to set themselves at large in the fields of wickedness by the assistance of trusty persons To which end Vannoza thought it most material to endeavour to make her Sentinels and Gaolers instrumental to her design so that finally after many Artifices and Caresses having dazzled the eyes of two of her attendants with a Metal almost as sparkling as the Sun that makes it and by the rayes of a Thousand promises he exacted from them the vows of a faithless fidelity bound with such solemn Oaths that their horrour presaged their breach and nullity and consequently she declared to them her passion for Alcimus her secret intelligences and the desire she had to possess him and be possessed by him with a greater freedom Capoleon who before had these Maids his stipendaries had by one of them the door opened which gave him a view of all these dark proceedings It is hard to judge whether it be more proper to call this servant Treacherous or Faithful for if she was perfidious to her disloyal Mistress she was faithful to her Master who had paid and appointed her to watch his honour To speak more properly let us term her a female and cast upon her Sex the fault of incapacity of guarding a Secret rather than to accuse her of treachery since as is to be supposed making a profession of honesty besides inconstancy she further imitated the Sea which will not harbour a dead Carcass or Carrion unless kept down by a Weight but vomiteth it out upon her Shoars A Secret in Woman being like new Wine which purgeth its self and works out at the mouth of the Vessel And indeed what reason had she to keep faith with her who had broken hers to her Husband It is the Receiver that makes the Thief and if there were not these Mediators there would be fewer Adulteries This Servant in accusing the Treason of her Mistriss must necessarily discover that of her Companion and the cautelous Capoleon having doubled her Salary and made further promises of Golden Mountains when he had surprized the Delinquents and accomplish'd his design he was thereby hourly advertised of all the Words and Intercourses of our two Lovers and Capoleon had so wholly won this Servant to his party whom we shall call Adriana that like a Coy-Duck she served him to draw the rest into the Net so that by her Master's order cutting both ways she accommodated her self to all the designs of her Mistress holding in seemingly with her and her Lover but really with Capoleon she on all hands reaped a Golden Harvest The other whom we will call Lisarda whether it were that she naturally abhorr'd such double dealing or whether she feared that her report as seemingly it would should be the occasion of blood and mischief or were it that she took compassion of her Mistress having a horrour of deceiving her who had so freely imparted a Secret to her which imported no less than her life or were it which is most likely that the strongest Adamant attracted this Iron and that the double recompences of Alcimus and Vannoza joyned to the gale of promises which filled the Sail of her desires out-weighed the sparing Salaries of this penurious Old Man Which soever of all these was the Motive she wholly quitted Capoleon's Party for the other of her Mistresses and firmly embarqued her self amongst all her Enterprizes But yet she acting with more fear and mistrust of Capoleon than her Compassion did she saw not without Envy the ordinary disease of feeble spirits her self less intrusted and imploved than Adriana was who behaved and suited her self with greater boldness and complaisance to all the impudent designs of her infamous Mistress Under the guidance of these two Stars nothing seemed impossible nay nothing difficult to these two criminal Lovers who raising Trophies to their Conquests seemed to lead Capoleon's Honour in triumph and thought themselves so far raised above fear as Thunder and Tempests should for the future be below their fact But as Holophernes dulled with the vapours of the Wine and Sisera with the Milk which they had plentifully sucked in were unsuspectedly transmitted from the Brother to the Sister from sleep to death by Judith and Jael so our impenitent Offenders securely sleeping amidst the stupefactions of their sins did insensibly draw on their punishment by those means which they thought most conducing to a pleasant and delicious life They now proceeded with impunity and seemed now to glory in their crime and colour their unlawful passion with some image of reason Capoleon advertised by Adriana of all their wickedness and mockeries kept his patience that like Vulcan he might take them at his ease and have his turn to laugh at their Tragical success Imagine but what flegme the enraged Capoleon must have to qualifie so much choler and how dexterously he retired to make a greater leap and deferr'd his vengeance to execute it the more severely all the Letters which passed through Adriana's hands were communicated to him by which he understood all the motions of this unhappy Cabal Oft-times overcome with rage and fury he was on the point of breaking out into a bloody execution but whether he thought the fruit not yet ripe enough whether he were not sufficiently assured of his men who were to assist him in the action whether God the hour of Chastisement of these execrable offenders being not yet come withheld the arm of this Executioner of his Justice by moderating the Motions of his heart to attend the repentance of the Criminals or whether after the Mode of that Nation he staid for an opportunity to envelope in one common ruine all those whom he thought Accomplices in this fact However it were he was restrained by some secret cause till one day the measure of the sins of these Sacrilegious Adulterers being now arrived to the height after having provided himself of all things necessary both of Men and Arms he pretended to take a Journey about an Important Affair which he had at a Town three days Journey from home Now consider by what follows whether it were not high time for Capoleon to come to a conclusion seeing the extream madness and last point of Villany to which these two Criminals were now arrived for as it is common with Adulterers and especially those who have Sacriledge annexed to draw on Homicides in the train of their
set into the Field many Bravo's to search out Capoleon in all places by Sea and Land and to cut him in pieces in what place soever they should find him and in the mean time they were so transported with fury that they made his City House be fired and another stately one which he had in the Countrey As for those of Alcimus seeing the Channel and Fountain stopp'd up by the death of their onely Son which should have transmitted their names unto posterity and they deprived of an Heir to their large Revenues they resolved to acquire one and at the same time to satisfie their revenge an appetite more dear and sweet unto them than life it self They had sacrificed to a Cloyster partly by force and partly by consent but however involuntarily since the Will presupposeth a free and spontaneous determination without induction or constraint a Daughter which Heaven had bestow'd on them because they thought her not fair enough nor of a ready Wit or accomplishments fit for a secular life And thus this poor Innocent had been dragg'd unto the Altar like a Victim not without many testimonies of her reluctancy and contradiction but such as appeared so little through the smotherings of her imperious Parents that it no whit hindred her from being first habited and then profess'd a Nun They seeing themselves without a male-Child began to cast their eyes upon this Female one and perswaded themselves that they might declare her vows void as having been violently extorted They hoped by her to raise up living Pillars to support their names and to strike a spark which might again light up the extinguish't Torch of their posterity In order to this design they chose for their Son-in-Law a young Gentleman poor in the Goods of Fortune but rich in those of the Mind as well as Nobility being of excellent endowments both of Soul and Body from him they promised themselves all submission obedience and service But because the desire of revenge was predominant in their breasts above that of linage they would have him enter through this Gate into their alliance a Gate of blood from which no good success could be expected This young Gentleman's name was Lucio who seeing himself accosted with so advantageous a Proposal as that of espousing Polixena for so they called Alcimus his Cloyster'd Sister a rich Heiress which with a little expence might be withdrawn from the Convent it being easie to prove that she was forced thither against her will he presently closed with them in all their Propositions it being a fortune far surmounting all that he could hope for he neither enquired after the Beauty nor Breeding of the Damsel nor desired either to see or speak to her but willingly purchased this Merchandize without ever opening it so far was he dazzled with the sparkling of her Riches and the splendour of her Family He consented that the first Child proceeding from this Marriage should bear the Name and Arms of the House of Alcimus which he took for as great an honour to himself as satisfaction to them Finally this young Cavalier would have bought this Michol at the price of an hundred heads of Philistines so that they had no sooner proposed to him the price to be the life of Capoleon but he took them at their word and struck up the bargain promising to take away the head of this Goliah were he stronger than a Gyant and higher than a Mountain You can from nothing him with-hold Who loves th' sacred hunger of Gold So cryed the Poet when he saw to what extravagancies men were press'd by the Covetousness of Goods and the desire of Riches But God from the highest Heavens laugheth at the folly which they call Prudence and dissipateth the thoughts and counsels of their malicious hearts hath in abomination such bloody Treachery Judge thou O God their perverse heart Their wicked Counsels quite subvert Let their designs successless be Their Actions are so detestable Banish and make them miserable Who have so oft provoked thee These words of David are holy Oracles and seem to be a Prophecy fitted to this subject Lucio is permitted to visit Polixena who displeas'd with her profession was like a Bird which sought nothing but a passage from her Cage she was presently inflamed with the love of Lucio who found her passable enough for a Wife though like Ruth's Kinsman he made more reckoning of the Inheritance than the Woman The fire that had seized on this Virgins heart did in a short time make an incredible progress being seized with impatience to be delivered from her prison and dis-intangled from her bonds by a Dispensation which they found more difficult to obtain than they at first imagined Affairs at Rome have lead hanged on their feet as well as most of the Acts of Grace have at their Labels Adding that in making of Dispensations without wisely ballancing they are turned to dissipations and he that breaks down the hedge shall be bitten by the Serpent saith the Wise Man Whilst they are making this pursuit Lucio resolves to execute the vengeance he was intrusted with and render it so memorable that he should thereby seem to merit the good fortune offer'd him But it seldom happens that the ways and Counsels of blood-thirsty men find success answerable to the pretensions of those that enterprize them to be ones own carver is to stretch one's hand into the Master's dish and undertake that which God hath reserved for himself saying To me vengeance belongs and I will repay it This is an absolute breach of his Commandment who hath not only commanded us to pardon the injuries and offences which are done us but even to love the doers of them and that we do good to those that hurt and persecute us But to return to our discourse where we left off Capoleon having retired himself unto a Soveraignty where he was freed from the pursuits of Justice from that where he had outraged Simplicius for which sole fault he was prosecuted the sollicitations and diligence of his Friends joyned to the Prayers of good Simplicius who became intercessour for him who had so cruelly used him brought the Fiscal to silence and he was about to be recalled to his Countrey there to enjoy the desolations of his ruin'd houses and absolve himself of his Cruelty to the harmless Father whom he then found as innocent as he at first thought him guilty Lucio had intelligence of the place of his retreat where he had several Kindred and Acquaintance and thither he followed him but seeing him well accompanied and always upon his guard he thought it would be more advantageous to his design to make use of the Fox his skin than of the Lyon's following this Maxime It matters not so we revenged be Whether by valour or by treachery Upon this consideration addressing himself to Capoleon who knew nothing of his projected Marriage with Polixena and much less mistrusted his intended Treason he offer'd him
his service even to the proffering him Money which is the highest worldly testimony of friendship if he needed it Capoleon though nothing be harder than to beguile an Old Man with words believed by this Touch that the heart of this Gentleman was of true alloy so that after a thousand thanks and as many protestations of his sentiment of this obligation he entred into a strict friendship with him believing his advice and accepting his assistance But his Acquaintance proved like that of the green Ivy and an old Wall for this young Plant sucking it's nourishment from the cement of the Wall does in a short time bring it down to the ground and yet receives no benefit thereby remaining either buried in the ruines which it caused or creeping and dying on the ground without support Lucio to draw Capoleon from among his Guards that he might more easily work his Designs gave him false advice how the Bravo's employed by Vannoza's Parents did at that instant narrowly watch him but forgot to give him the true one of his being for that purpose sent thither by those of Alcimus Capoleon taking the Alarm at this new Intelligence and finding himself not well secured in an Inn did as the Proverb saith put his purse into the Thief 's hand and his life into that of his mortal Enemy who having offer'd him the use of his Chamber as a more safe retreat which was in the house of one of his Kindred he with acknowledgments of so singular an obligation willingly accepted of the fatal courtesie In the dead of the Night whilest his cares and troubles gave way to sleep which had taken entire possession of his Senses Lucio with the assistance of two Bravo's or Assassins he had brought along with him bound him fast with Cords and having snickled one about his Throat which might hinder him from crying and yet not strangle him he made him feel almost the very same pains and exercis'd upon him most of the self-same cruelties which he had bragged to have inflicted on the miserable Alcimus He that shall know the temper of the Nation which I speak of will find these actions whose recital so much amazeth us so familiar amongst them that they seldom take any revenge without some extraordinary Cruelty in the performance Lucio leaving the Body pierced hack'd and torn in a thousand places carried his Head and Heart to Alcimus his Parents who exercised upon them all that their rage and fury should suggest The Mother like a Savage Fury planted her Teeth in the Heart and tore the Eyes out of the Head and mangling the rest threw it to the Dogs to be devoured But who can imagine the multitude of Caresses with which they entertained their intended Son-in-Law as if by this man's death he had given them life Their Passion being satiated with revenge they could not content themselves with their private satisfaction but publish it and which is worse glory in it praising the Murtherer as having done a most generous act and blessing him with their greatest approbation in which they were seconded by Vannoza's Parents who boasted of their having procured the burning of Capoleon's Houses Thus the wicked rejoyce in their Iniquity and glory in their own confusion But now their Distemper increased from a burning Feaver to a raging Frenzy for Polixena's Parents were not able to procure a Dispensation for their Daughter because they could not prove the violence done unto her by any contradiction that had been on her part and much less to obtain an abolition of Lucio's Crime who was strictly prosecuted by Capoleon's Heirs more discreet than the others in their revenge but were far more astonish'd when they saw themselves attacqued as the Authors and Accomplices of so horrid an Assassinate it was now necessary for the Parents both of Alcimus and Vannoza to save themselves the best they could and to provide for the security of their lives by a speedy flight Lucio who expected nought but Triumphs for his Victory was constrain'd to slip aside to avoid the violence of the pursuit which would have forced him to change his Nuptial Bed for a Scaffold Soon after their flight they were all condemned for Contumacie and all their Goods being Confiscate their Effigies served for a shameful Spectacle in the Publique place of Execution of Offenders See here the Infamies and Calamities to which they blindly precipitate themselves who will by Vengeance repair their Honour and thereby wound that of the Prince and intrench upon the power of their Sovereign this is to snatch the Sword from the hand of him who bears it not in vain but for the publick punishment of the wicked and the defence of the good Lucio like the Dog in the Fable lost the substance for the shadow and to acquire more robb'd himself of the little that he had the loss of his Goods by Confiscation and his banishment from his native Countrey were the least of his pains for had he been taken he had been cut in quarters the horrour of his Crime meriting no less a punishment if I may not call it a greater to lead a poor and wretched life which he after did in the depth of misery For He daily mourn'd for what he 'd done Fresh miseries daily arriv'd He 'd nought but shame and horrour won And 's fortunes and himself surviv'd Such miseries he daily underwent As for worse crimes were ample punishment They all dy'd poor and miserable either of regret necessity or hunger being beaten by all the storms of Fortune and having no retreat or harbour but an Hospital seeing themselves become the very sweepings and off-scourings of the world Some of them were worn out with age and sorrow others with pain and trouble and Lucio at last flying from the fear of punishment and pressing penury to some remote Countrey found by the way a delivery from his Miseries and a burial in the Waves the Ship in which he went being unfortunately cast away Thus Heaven even robb'd him of his last refuge Banishment according to that of the Poet The hated seed of evil doers Pursu'd by the revenging Powers Shall still find Fortune contrary By mischiefs daily be annoy'd By Lice and Vermine be destroy'd And end in horrid misery But to give to this Bloody Relation a Catastrophe which in its Tragical event affords something as divertising as strange we are to know That the ruine of Polixena's Family and Parents could not extinguish the wasting flames which the hope of being married to and possessing of Lucio had kindled within her habituated Passions are not so soon put off as our Habits This Maid had no Ears to hear the impossibility of obtaining a Dispensation she had so long perswaded her self that nothing was more certain but much less to hear of the flight of her Parents and of the Confiscation of their Goods which were the only things that rendred her acceptable She at first thought all this but feigned and easie to