the Siege should continue I will not set down how many of these Fits of Joy and Grief he had whilst he was in the Camp neither will I Romance so much as to white down all the thoughts he had of her and all the many wise Dialogues he had with himself about her those the Reader can better imagine than the Author tell at least if he has any of the same Passion the Prince was possessed with That will make him sympathize exactly with his Highness's thoughts as two Clocks well made keep time with one another Thus much I know that they were so importunate with him that they could neither be lull'd asleep by the stillness of the Night nor diverted by the terrors of the Day They kept him company continually followed him even into the Enemies Trenches and when Shot of all sorts flew thickest about his Ears they were neither still'd by the noise of the greater nor frighten'd away by the small Among all these thoughts he did not forget those of writing to her nor had he been three Weeks away when calling to him one of his trustiest Servants he ordered him to take Horse for Clonmell and with all the privacy imaginable deliver her this Letter To the most Charming MARINDA IF I could think that Absence would have the same effect on you it has on me I should be but too happy Might I hope that it has lessened your Disdain as much as it has encreased my Love I should be over paid for all the restless hours and melancholly thoughts it has cost me But this is too good Fortune for me to flatter my self with nor is it likely that she who shuns her present Lover should cherish his memory when absent We have block'd your Enemies up won a Fort from them and daily gain more ground And O that I were as certain of Conquering you as of taking the Town But you my lovely stubborn Enemy hold out against all my endeavours All the Assaults I make serve but to shew your Obstinacy and my Weakness and help to confirm the improbability of my gaining you Yet Despair it self shall not make me give over but like a resolute General who will rather dye in the Trenches than rise from before the Town which he has once laid Siege to so after all your Repulses my worst of Fortune shall but make me dye at her Feet whose Heart I could never gain entrance to But do not rashly resolve on my Ruin but consider my Lovely Princess whether it is not juster for your Pity to indulge that Passion which your Disdain cannot destroy And so instead of proving the death of your Lover give him his Life in letting him live to be Yours S g. The Prince awaited the return of his Messenger with a great deal of Impatiency The next Evening as he came from an Assault his Man came to him and having told his Highness that he had performed his Message to Marinda he gave the Prince a Letter from her which he opened after kissing the Seal and with a great deal of Pleasure read these words To the Prince of S g. WHen I received the Honour of a Letter from your Highness I was in a great strait whether to return an Answer to it or no If I did I thought it would look like Presumption if not like Incivility In this hard choice I thought it best to err on the kinder side and rather incurr the censure of Rudeness than that of Ingratitude How little I am guilty of the latter your Highness too well knows by being witness to a discourse which I never design'd for your Ears but since it came to them I cannot recant it And though your Highness talks of despairing to take the Town I can't think you should when you know how much you have gain'd of it already But your Highness deals harder with this than you do with Limerick you 'll offer no Conditions because you expect it will surrender upon Discretion you hope that in vain for though a Traitor within takes your part and all the cunning you have assaults it from without yet these ways will not render your Highness Master of this Fort which will never yield but upon Honourable Terms Your Highness's Most humble Servant Marinda The meaning of this Letter was too plain to have any false Constructions made upon it and the Prince who saw that he must retire or engage too far had now a greater conflict with his thoughts than he had before with the Coyness of his Mistress he was so equally divided betwixt Love and Interest that they governed his Breast by turns sometimes one having the better and sometimes the other He thought however that so kind a Letter as this seemed to require an answer and therefore upon the Army 's taking the Irish-Town supposing that a little more time would render the King Master of Limerick he wrote her this answer to prepare him a kind Reception when the Camp should break up TO THE Most Charming Marinda AS our taking the Irish-Town has prepared our way towards the taking of Limerick so I hope the Surrendry of Limerick will prepare mine towards the taking that which I value above all the Cities of the Vniverse my Lovely Marinda and my hopes will be mightily cross'd if one Month does not put me in possession both of that and her She shall then see how much better conditions we 'll give her than we do to our Enemies when we shall make them accept of what Terms the Conquerour pleases to impose but my Beautious Fortress even when she has Surrender'd shall chuse her own Conditions and impose what Laws she pleases on her Conquerour Since as he receives that Title only from her Favours so will he any time exchange it for that of the Humblest of her Servants S g. In this Letter the Prince spake what he truly thought that Limerick would soon be taken for the King had sent for some heavy Cannon to the Camp to throw down the walls and a breach once made there were thousands of English bold enough to have dared all the Enemies Shot and force their way into the Town in spite of all the resistance But Fortune had otherwise ordered it for Sarsfeild with an unusual Bravery marched with a small Body of Horse farther into that part of the Country which was Subjected to the English Power than they suspected he durst surprized the Convoy and cutting them to pieces burnt them their Carriages and Provisions which they brought for the Army to ashes some of the Carriages he nailed up and burst the rest and the Army wanting them to batter the walls and the hasty approach of the Winter not giving them time to send for others they raised the Siege his Majesty went for England his Forces retired to their winter Quarters and our Prince to his Mistress I trust the Reader will not think it prejudicial to our Prince's Honour to come back without taking the Town
would gladly lay it down before the Face of his incensed Divinity if his weakness would permit him to come there And if he has any desire at all to live it is only so long till you let him know in what he has offended you This sure is the least you can grant to one who was once so happy in your favour and 't is all the satisfaction your Criminal desires to know why you have condemned him since he has always been the Faithfullest of your Servants S g. When Celadon got to Town he came streight to Marinda's She was not to be spoken with but he met with Diana so was his Mistress called and after the usual Complements past he asked her how he should speak with her Cousin No way said she there 's no access for you because you come from the Prince Why Madam said he is not Marinda satisfied that the Prince has sufficiently hazarded his Life in her defence but that she 'll endanger it farther by her Cruelty Cruelty answered she why what kindness can he expect from a Virtuous Woman Or what would the Wedded S g with the Chaste Marinda And is that all the reason of her Anger said Celadon Has the poor Prince suffered all this for a word of mine By Heaven Madam the Prince is single and I am perswaded has as vertuous designs on your Cousin as I have on you If he has no more on her answered she than I have on you he would never again be at the expence of a sigh for her For your part I here discharge you my acquaintance your mischievous Jest has been the cause of a great deal of Grief both to my Cousin and me for the Gentleman's death the other Gentleman's weakness and the endangering the Prince's Life You have jested fairly you had like to have jested the Prince at once out of his Life and Mistress your-self you have jested out of my Favour I will assure you and so farewell good jesting Mr. Celadon for if I ever any more admit of your Jests I 'll give you leave to make a Jest of me as long as you live Saying this she flung away into her Cousins Room and all that Celadon could say could not get either of them to speak a word to him She told Marinda that the Prince was innocent and by Celadon's Confession had no designs but what were honourable and virtuous At the same time the Maid came up and brought them a Letter which Celadon sent to Marinda and the same which he had written from the Prince's Mouth the Servant told them that he was returning to the Prince and desired to see them before he went that he might know what Service they had to command him Neither of them would consent to see one who had been the Author of their late troubles But Diana told her Cousin that the Prince who was innocent ought not to suffer for him that she should rather shew her self kinder than ever to one she had so causelesly tormented Marinda's own Love did take his part so much and joyn so prevalently with her Cousin's Arguments that it made her give some small interval to her Griefs to pay that which was due to her Love She wrote a Letter and sent it to Celadon who made what haste he could to leave an angry Mistress to see his wounded Prince and cure his Body by this sovereign Ballsom which he brought for his mind The Prince when he came before him would not stay to tell him how he did till he first asked how he had succeeded As well for you Sir said he as you can wish and as ill for my self how ill for my self I will tell you hereafter how well for your Highness this Letter will acquaint you At these words he gave him the Letter and the Prince with a great deal of haste breaking it open found these words To the Prince of S g. HOw shall I be silent when Justice obliges me to confess I have wronged you Or how shall I have the face to confess a Rudeness which a misunderstanding made me guilty of I was too rash to condemn you without a hearing but I hope your Highness will pardon that rashness when you shall consider it was in the defence of that which I prefer before all things my Vertue Through the weakness of my Sex makes me careful of my life yet did your Highness need it I could willingly expose it as lavishly in your behalf as you did yours in mine Yet my Innocence which is dearer to me than that Life I must not sacrifice no not to you Your Highness has more Generosity than to begrudge a Gentleman a few Tears who lost his Life in my defence They were no more than what I owed both to Gratitude and Humanity Neither ought you to infer from thence that the Dead shares more of my Favour than the Living I would convince you of the contrary if it were fitting But your Highness's condescention must not make me forget that you are a Prince and that my highest deseres rise no higher than to be the Humblest of your Servants Marinda You deserve all things Divine Marinda said the passionate Prince what Title is too High or Estate too Magnificent to admit you for a Partner I will no more indulge this vain Ambition or let it cross my Love Tell me Celadon said he does not Marinda with her natural Beauty look finer than our Proudest Court Ladies tho' decked with all their Gaudy Costly Dresses Yet that lovely Body is but the Shell of a more glorious Inhabitant and is as far out-shone by that more radiant Gust which lies within as your choicest Jewels exceed the lustre of the Cask which holds them For her Illustrious mind has got as inexhaustible a store of rare perfections in it as the famed Potosi has of Riches And as in that the greedy Spanish Conquerour the farther he diggs finds still more new supplies of Ore so whoever makes himself Master of her richer Heart will still discover there new Mines of Radiant Vertues so infinite they are that they would tire the most inquisitive Lover to find them all and each of them has such peculiar Charms in 't enough to make him leave his scrutiny after more to admire that one which his first search does find Ah Sir said Celadon now your Highness is happy and in favour you do not consider him who is clearly cast off by his Mistress for what he did only with design to serve you for it was my telling Diana that your Highness was married and confessing the falshood afterward has so put me out of her favour that she has forbidden me ever seeing her again Tho' said the Prince that was an unlucky Policy of yours yet since 't was well designed you shall not suffer for it and therefore take my word that the same day which makes me happy shall make you so to and as our Loves are joyn'd so shall our Fortunes
to seek him at his Lodgings when he had walked about half a mile he found himself on the top of a Hill whence after having looked a while on the adjacent Town and with a curious Eye searched out that part of it which his admired Beauty made happy with her presence he laid him down under the shade of two or three large Trees whose spreading Boughs nature had woven so close together that neither the heat of the Sun nor storm of the fiercest Wind could violate the pleasant shade which was made as a general defence no less against the scorching of the one than the nipping of the other they seemed to have been first planted there for the shelter of those who came thither to drink for just by there bubbled up a clear and plentiful Spring of which from an ancient Irish Chronicle let me give you this Story Cluaneesha the only Child of Macbuain King of Munster was accused of having been too familiar with one of her Father's Courtiers the Fact was attested upon Oath by two Gentlemen that waited on the King's Person and to confirm it the Princess her self had such a swelling in her that few doubted but their Witness was true and would soon be proved by her being brought to Bed Her Father being old and sickly was desired for the prevention of Civil Wars after his Death to nominate a Successour The People shewed their unanimous consent to confer the Crown on her Uncle because they would not have a Strumpet for their Sovereign so the old King was perswaded to proclaim his Brother Heir Apparent and condemn his Daughter to a Cloister The Courtier fled beyond Sea and went a Pilgrimage to the Saint at Posnanie the very night that he arrived there one appeared to the Mother Abbess in the form of a Nun glorified and told her that she was Edith Daughter formerly to King but now in happiness that she loved Chastity and Innocence while she was on Earth and therefore defended it still that she was constrained to leave the seat of Bliss to protect Vertue injured in the Person of Cluaneesha that the Persons who swore against her were suborn'd that the swelling of her Belly was but a Disease and that if she and the witnesses would go and drink of a Well which sprung out of a Hill near Clonmell there she would convince all the Spectators that what she now told her was true The Abbess told this the next day to the King's Confessor and he told it the King the King ordered one who was Confessor to the two Witnesses to enjoin them for their next pennance to drink no other Liquor but the Water of this Well for a Week together they obey'd him but it was their last for it made them swell as if they were poisoned in the mean time the Mother Abbess came down thither with her Royal Novice She charged them with the Perjury and they confessed publickly that the King's Brother taking the advantage of that swelling which he thought was but a Tympany suborned them to swear against her Chastity expecting that either it would kill her or at least it might deceive the People so long till the King was dead and he in possession of the Crown A certain Citizen of Clonmell who came among the rest to see them dying and heard the Confession admiring the strange virtue of the Water went immediately home to his Wife and telling her that he was suspitious of her Honesty and desired that to satisfie his Jealousie she would drink a draught of Water and wish it might be her last if she were unfaithful She not having yet heard of the others punishment and willing to clear her self drank of it as he desired but swell'd with it as the others did and dyed soon after in great torment When the Well had grown famous by the exemplary deaths of the Perjured Witnesses and the Adulterate Citizen the Princess declared she would drink of it too and that the clearing of her self might be as publick as her accusation was she sent up to the King who was then at Cork to desire that her Uncle himself might be present when she drank to witness her innocence he excused himself and would not go but a great many of the Court coming thither to see the Princess clear her self she went in solemn Procession barefoot from the City to the Well and taking up a glass full of the Water she protested her Innocence and using the same imprecation with the others if she did not speak the truth drank it off but instead of working the same effect on her it in a little time cured her of the Disease she had recovered her Health and with it brought her so much Beauty that all the neighbouring Princes were Rivals for her She had design'd to build a Nunnery by that Well but her Father dying left her the cares of a Crown which diverted her from it But the Well was long after reverenced and for the quality it had of discovering Unchastity it was much resorted to for the Inhabitants of Ireland how barbarous soever the partial Chronicles of other Nation report 'em were too nice in Amour to take a polluted Wife to their Bed as long as this Well would shew them which was a chast one but the wickedness of after times grew too guilty to bear with such Tryals thence by difuse this Well lost its Fame and perhaps its Vertue And now I will no longer tell such Tales but leave the uncertain Lover to take his Lot as it comes Pretty near this Well the Prince lay down and being pleased with the murmuring of its Stream running down a descent of the Hill that and his want of Sleep the night before tempted him to take it now Morpheus was ready at his call and waving his Leaden Rod over him lull'd all his Senses till a greater power than he rescued him from sleep to Charm him in a more prevailing manner for as he waked he heard one hemm and found it was in order to Sing for presently the unknown with a ravishing Air began this Song YIeld Souldier yield give up your Sword And don't rebel in vain Yield on all conquering Beauty's word And take what quarter she 'll afford And you shall wear the lighter Chain Why do you put such trust in Art In vain fond Wretch you Arm And think Steel proof ' gainst Beauty's dart Which will like light'ning pierce you Heart yet do your Coat of Mail no harm The excellency of the Voice and the suitableness of the Sence to his own condition made him lye still to hearken to her that Sung it and listening very attentively he over-heard another Voice which breaking silence began thus I thank you dear Marinda for the Song I like the Tune you have put to it and either that and the sweetness of your Voice do make me partial or else the Song is very good I like the Authority it carries with it for I am
Compliment the Lady upon her delivery He found her leaning on her Maid bewailing the Death of that Stranger who was killed before he came there but how was he amazed when looking in her Face he found it to be Marinda When he first came in to her assistance her Hoods were over her Face which was the Reason he did not know her and the Beavor of his Morion being down was the cause of the like ignorance in her though he very little expected to meet her there yet the joy to see her safe overcame his amazement and he was about to testifie it with all the extasie which his Passion raised in him When she casting an angry frown at him said I thought Sir to have given my Deliverer the greatest thanks for the rescuing yonder Gentleman's Life and my Honour from the Hands of these wicked Villains but since it is to you I must pay them I must at the same time declare that I had rather they should have taken my Life than forced me to owe it to you go leave me to be a prey to them whom thou hast hunted away for I had rather dye here bemoaning this poor Gentleman who fell in the defence of my Honour than take refuge with you who whilst you defend it from others endeavour to prey upon it your self He answered her very mildly and would fain have expostulated with her concerning his Innocence but she sat over the Dead Gentleman bewailing him and would not hearken nor answer one word to what he said the Prince having found her so kind at his last seeing her in Clonmell wondered strangely at this Capricio of his Fortune and turning away from her went to the wounded Gentleman to see whether he could unfold him the Riddle He said all that he knew of it was that the Dead Gentleman was a professed Servant to her as he was to her Cousin and that Marinda having made a sudden resolution to go for Dublin they two proffer'd to accompany her thither that she would not let them take as much as a Man with them because she would not have any one know which way they were gone that she had desir'd them to avoid the High-roads as much as they could because she had no mind to be known by any who came from Dublin-ward that in this by-road they met those Rapperees who bade them deliver that the Gentleman who Courted her shot at one of them and killed him that then they all fell upon them two who had no other way to defend themselves and the two Women than by letting them go behind them and they defend that gap till some others Riding that Road might come to their help that the Gentleman was killed as he made a pass at that second Man who lay Dead by him and that himself snatching up the Dead Man's half-pike as being a better defence than his Sword had held them all in play till he came into his Rescue The Ladies expressing so great a resentment against him made the Stranger curious to know who it was but the Servant had no sooner informed him that it was the Prince of S g but he begged a thousand pardons for the rudeness his ignorance made him commit and said that his Highness had acted with a Bravery suitable to his Quality and that though he never before had the Honour to know him yet what he had seen his Highness perform in this little acquaintance should make him respect him more for his Deserts than his Title The Prince had very little relish for all the Praises the Stranger heaped upon him and only desired him to prevail with the Lady to go back to Clonmell with him While the Prince's Man went to catch the Horses the Stranger persuaded Marinda to return back with him and getting all upon the Horses they rode before only the Prince got upon his Man's and the Man on the Dead Gentleman's and laying the Body before him they Rode to the next Town the Gentleman's wounds were slight ones and needed little Cure besides rest and a recruit of Blood therefore he went with Marinda the next day to Clonmell but the Prince's wound was large and had lost him so much Blood that his Life was in danger Marinda the next day sent him a Surgeon and a Hearse to carry the Gentleman to Clonmell he was Buried there and she shewed such an excessive Grief at his Funeral that no one who knew he Courted her but thought that she Loved him the Prince's being wounded came to Celadon's Ears but he wondered that it was in rescuing Marinda whom he thought all the while to have been at home he streight took Horse and came to the Prince and found him very weak wanting rest and incapable of taking any to hear that his Rival was so bemoaned by Marinda was worse than Poyson to his wounds to have seen her prefer another before his face one who was Dead and insensible of her Kindnesses before him who valued them at so high a rate and to think that the other who was but â— private Gentleman was preferr'd by his Mistress before him and all his Titles raised a Noble Indignation in him which bespread his Face with a redder dye than that of his Wound When he had told Celadon her unkind Behaviour towards him he guessed immediately what was the Reason of it but would not tell the Prince for fear it should incense him He only made a slight matter of it and told his Highness that if he woold write a Line by him for a pretence to him to see her he would soon accommodate the difference and set him as much in her Favour as ever the Prince seemed to give but little credit to these hopes but because he would leave nothing unattempted ordering that no body should disturb their privacy he bade Celadon write whilst he dictated him these words TO THE Incensed Marinda IF it be a Fault to have rescued my Fair One from her Enemies if it be a Crime unpardonable to have spent a great part of my Blood in revenging the death of my Rival because I did not lay down my Life with his then will I offer up the poor remainder of my Blood to atone for the Cowardise I have been Guilty of and shall think my Life sold at too dear a rate if it should draw so many precious Tears from your Eyes as did that happy Gentleman who even in his Death triumphed over the Love of his Survivor But if I was as willing to expose my self for your sake and he was the first in your Defence only by the good Fortune of being with you at the beginning of the danger I know not why the living Servant should not share more of your favour than the dead one since he would have died as willingly at your Feet had not your Fortune commanded him to live till he conquered your Enemies Now he has kept his Life too long since it is become odious to you and
beloved Faniaca Now Celadon I yield thee up thy Mistress and quit all my pretensions to her for this which I have newly found Celadon gladly thanked him for his submission to Diana's Choice and all the Company bore a part with the Spaniard in the Joy he conceived at the change of his Mistress But the beautiful Indian who longed to hear how he came for Ireland said It is now my Astolfo two years since you and I parted wonder not then if I am desirous to know what befell you since that and how you escaped a Death which so apparently threatned you my endeavours to find you out here made me relate all the passages of our Acquaintance hitherto and therefore I believe there is no accident in the remaining part of your Life which is too secret for the Ears of this honourable Company I have had none said he which I will not freely tell but to the understanding my Relation it is requisite that this Illustrious Company should know some things which for want of opportunity have as yet been a secret to you as well as to them My Father is a Gentleman of a plentiful Estate near Sevill by my Mothers death he was left a Widdower with two Children Me and a Daughter both which he was very fond of as being his only Comforts the Relicts of his deceased Wife and the Pledges of his youthful Love There lived near us an old Couple who had the like number of Children a Son and a Daughter they were intimate Friends of my Father's and so free with us that notwithstanding the severe restraints of our Countrey upon young Persons yet our Families observed no such Custom but we young ones conversed with one another with the same freedom as if we had been near Relations And as youthful familiarity in different Sexes usually ends in Love so it proved with us for our Neighbour's Son and my Sister had such a mutual Affection that they were never well but in one anothers Company and his Sister whether by her own inclination or their setting on seemed as uneasie unless when she was in mine had she been handsome perhaps I should have taken as much diversion in his Sister's Company as he did in mine but I thought those Complements thrown away which were bestowed on an ugly Face nor could my Wit help me with one fond Vow or happy Expression for want of Beauty to inspire it This made me avoid her Company to get into his but when I saw him shun mine as much and that he and my Sister coveted to be always together his growing more reserved to me than formerly and some symptoms which I perceived in my Sister her frequent sighs at parting her blushes at meeting him and some other slips which the most dissembling of your Sex find difficult to hide gave me apparent cause to think that she loved him He and I were once as great as 2 Brothers laid our Breasts open to one another thence his never discovering the least to me concerning his passion for my Sister made his Love look to me as if it designed nothing that was honest I had then to wait on me a Turkish Captive who was taken away young and having been bred up several years in my Father's House was very trusty and discreet I let no one know my suspitions but him and ordered him to be a Spy on all my Sister's Actions and if ever he observed any thing remarkable between them two that he would acquaint me with it He observed my Commands and one time brought me word that he had over-heard him and my Sister discoursing that she desired him to ask her of my Father and that very soon or she should be discovered to be with Child and so be disgraced and turned out of Doors tho' this was but what I feared to find out yet now I found those fears true it enraged me both against him and my Sister However the consideration of her Sex's weakness which is an unequal Combatant for Love when assisted by earnestness and opportunity made me pardon her so far as to leave her to be punished by the ill consequences of her own Folly but him I resolved to be revenged on Tho' my blood boyled at the first sight of him yet I dissembled my anger in publick and told him that I had something to impart to him if he would take a walk with me into the Fields in the cool of the Evening he consented and we went out together at we walked on talking I drew him insensibly to a private place and then retiring a little distance from him I bade him draw Sure you are in jest said he you will not draw that Sword against your Friend which you have before now drawn in my defence This Sword said I was drawn then for my Friend but now against the worst of mine Enemies one who has abused my Friendship and my Sister's Love Yet thus much I will give to our former Affection Marry her and salve up the Injury thou hast done her and I will forgive thee mine What said he and are you turned a Bravo to hector me into Marriage Know then that I will never do it neither shall it ever be said that Guzman valued his Honour so little as to make a Wife of his Whore Whore said I that word I will engrave on thy traiterous Heart at these words he leapt back and drew I made at him with a great deal of Fury but being appeased by some Blood I drew from him I proffered him again the same conditions of Reconciliation but his Rage made him deaf to Reason We fought on till one thrust I made at his Breast ended our difference by his fall I fled in all haste to the Sea-side where by good chance there was a Ship under Sail bound for the Indies I went aboard her Landed in America amongst some Souldiers who were sent to re-inforce our Country Garrisons there I was a private Souldier till a Fight that I signalized my self in raised me to a Captain 's Commission 't was in this station I was when I came acquainted with you You know the Captain of the Man of War which boarded us sent me Prisoner to Sevill with my other Countrymen Near this Town my Father lived I sent him word of my being in Prison and he streight came to see me but told me he must not own me for his Son lest it should cost me my Life He applauded my revenging the dishonour done to my Family but said that there had been Warrants issued out against me and 500 Duckats by the deceased's Friends promised him that should seize me that if I should stand a Tryal and escape the Law yet their private revenge would reach me therefore he said he would make Friends for me and my fellow Prisoners that we should be dismissed and then he would have me spend some years abroad and when Time or Death had cured the malice of my Enemies he would