be told you but for another reason syr the whych was hyd from you and manyfesâ— to mée agaynst the which by the law of God ye cannot say the contrarie That is how that my lady Oriane is already ioyned in mariage to another wherwith our Lorde hath béen wel conteÌ„ted it was his pleasure it should be so Syr this is it why I saide vnto you that the thing whyche was hid from you was manifest to me as I shall euen now declare vnto you for ye cannot knowe it of any other â—ut by me Syr the selfe same day that I by your commaundement was to séeke you in the forest where to giue the longer pleasure of hunting to the Ladies that were there with you ye caused your pauilions and tentes to be spred and set vp I brought vnto you I know not whether ye remember it the yoÌ„g Esplandian the which ye represented to the Lionesse that had giuen him sucke euen from the beginning and on the selfe same day I heard my lady Orians confession wherein she declared vnto me that she had promised Amadis to marie him when he deliuered hir from the handes of Arcalaus the enchaunter vnto whom ye had deliuered hir a little before that the Damsell by whom ye were enchaunted set you your estate in more danger thaÌ„ was possible froÌ„ the which Galaoâ— retired and deliuered you And beléeue syr that it is verye like that our Lorde God hath consented to this mariage for why EsplandiaÌ„ is come forth of whom Vrgande the vnknowâ— hath told so many maruels the which ye know And therfore ye ought not to be displeased séeing that Amadis is a Kingâ— sonne and estemed in al places one of the best and most gracious knightes of the worlde wherefore syr I counsell you shewing your selfe such as ye haue bene alwayes to saue the honor and conscieÌ„ce of my lady your daughter and that making an ende of this warre ye call hir againe and entreate hir from henceforth â—s reason would ye should thus doyngâ— the Lorde will be contented wyth you the which otherwyse may be angrye for the effusion of so muche humaine bloude the which ye hitherto caused to be shed without any occasion The Oration of Nascian the heâ—mit to Amadis wherein he admonisheth him to put al his affaires to God by whose meanes he hath auoyded so many daungers and euident periâ— and that he as much as he might should seeke for peace of King Lisuard In the .4 booke the .19 Chapter MY sonne before ye shall vnderstand perceiue the cause that hathe moued me to come and see you I will set before your eyes the great obligations for the which ye are indâ—tted to our Lord that from hencefoorth ye may be the more inclined to do the things that may be agreable and pleasante vnto him I beléeue ye haue oftentimes heard and assured it that from the first day that ye were borne ye were deliuered to the waters of the Sea and set in a little bote without any other defender or kéeper than God by whose goodnesse ye fell into the hands of such as afterwards haue so eleuated you that ye are come to be the most accomplished knighte that men do know at this present for why the Lord hath giueÌ„ you the power and force to fyght and to ouercome diuers Gyants monsters Tyrantes and very cruell beastes whereby your renoume is extended in all quarters of the earth And seing he hath prouided you of so great grace it is reason that ye should know him as the soueraigne Lord and to take payne to giue him thanks humbling your selfe before his face or else all his fauors that he hath lent you shall turne to your shame and rebuke My sonne ye may sée howe old and how caduke I am so that nature doth almost fayle me and yet I feare not to take vpon me thys long iourney to come to you bycause I being in my hermitage haue perceiued the discord that is betwene you and king Lisuard with whome I haue spoken of late and do find him such as a good Prince should be the seruant and minister of God and prest if there be no let in you to gyue an eare to peace the whych ye should not refuse as well for the quietnesse and rest of your conscience as of your body And to the intent ye should not disguise youre fantasie I maye assure you that I knowe more of your affayres than ye thinke for my Lady Oriane hathe tolde me in confession the secretes of you both Amadis answer to Nascian the hermit wherein he recogniseâ—â— his fault with a promise to amende In the .4 booke the .19 Chapter MY Father if I serued the Lord after the graces that he hathe shewed me I shoulde be the fortunatest knight of the world but I a sinner as I am preferring sometimes my pleasure aboue his glory fall and do amisse as other men do whereof I am displeased and sory and hope knowing my fault to do better from hencefoorth thaÌ„ I haue done in times past praying you most humbly not to feare or to defer to tell me the thing that ye shall sée I ought to do to please him for in as much as I may possible I will obey you Nascian the hermits Oration to king Perion Amadis father solliciting him to procure peace In the .4 booke the .19 Chapter SYr I beséech you to beleue that considering the estate that I of long time am called vnto and the greate age that I am in I would not haue departed from my wood and forest to come among so many men of warre if it had not bin that my long tarying might haue caused an euill whereof the Lord might haue bin angrie not only with and against you and the people that is gathered togither in these two féelds but also against many other that could not do with this discord that is betwene you and king Lisuard with whome I haue spoken already and haue so well conuerted him to peace that he is ready as I haue told your sâ—nne Amadis to receiue it and hath remitted me wholly vnto you Therfore I beseech you sir giuing vp your passions to the profyte and â—ranquilitie of so many people not to disdayne the thing that is offered you and that you your selfe should purchase and labour for King Perions answer to Nascian where he â—heweth the greaâ—e â—ault committed by the king and yet that notwithstanding receyuing Oriane into the court with his fauour he is ready to mâ—ke peace prouiding that he marrie hir not agaynst hir will. In the same Chapter MY father quoth king Perion God â—e my witnesse of the displeasure that I haue had for the things that be past with the losse of so muche good people and how willingly I woulde haue taken another way if king Lisuard would haue perceiued it but he did alwayes at hand shewe him selfe so high that he whatsoeuer we sayd vnto him setting the matter
me might haue called himselfe the heade of your armes and Duke of Buillon wherof I haue so great dolor that I die a hundred times in a day And as concerning you his good parents I beleue certainly that nature doth so prieâ—â— you that your hart doth blede and that this wouÌ„d shal blede and continue as long as you or yours shall haue the name of gentlemen but yet if ye will follow mine aduise we shal not defer the time of vengeance so long but I shall giue you a meane to recouer our honor so greatly abased that shal turne you to glorie and great profite The curteous Oration of Branzahar Prince of Clarence to the knight Birmartes that would fight with him bicause he had slaine his people In the .7 booke the .54 Chapter KNight thou hast now gotten so great honor that the glory thereof shall remaine with thée for euer and althoughe this thing was against my will and minde and that my hart could not content it selfe for the losse of myne that I loued so well and whom thou hast slaine And although I am called to reuenge them yet considering that this their misfortune chaunced by thy onely valiantnesse doyng the thing that thou shouldest doe to get a name among wise men I could not refraine my selfe but to vse curtesie to thée wardes as reason commaunded me seyng thée to be wery without a sworde and a horse So that if I had the better hande of thee being prouided and wel horsed as I am such a victory shuld rather turne me to blame than to any glory By meanes whereof I loue much better to be on my féete and being equall in armes to let fortune rule and extende hir hande to whom of vs two it shall please hir Birmartes braue answere to Branzahar the Prince of Clareâ—â—â— where he prayseth more his curtesie than he doth wonder of his greatnesse and force but yet to auoyde blame it is expedient for to fight In the .7 booke the .54 Chapter PRince your curtesie hath more astonied me thaÌ„ the greatnesse of your body and the might of your members great and boystous for the magnanimitie of heartes doth not consist in the masse of the flesh but in the propernesse strength of the person the which doth loue honour and doth desire to make his remembrance perpetuall not by brauery pryde but doing his duetie with fewe and swéete wordes and rude execution in suche sort that I finding in you the one of these two poyntes that is curtesie I doubt not that the seconde be farre of considering that very syldome or neuer they leaue eche other no more than the fire the heate and the heate the fire Therfore if it were to me honourable or reasonable I would sooner and more willingly make amitie with you thaÌ„ passe ouer with aduantage to proue our persons one against the other but hauing no order neither you nor I cannot refuse the combat that is offered in so much as it should be an iniurie for you to leaue off the enterprise that ye haue begon and to me great blame not to follow the fortune that this beginning as euery man may sée hath giuen me So then let the victory be as it shall please fortune and him haue it that can get it A letter from the knight of the burning sworde to Magadan wherein he excuseth him of his departing without leaue and doth labour to enter into his grace and fauour seyng he was founde without faulte In the seuenth booke the .16 Chapter RIght highe right mightie and right excellent Prince if the things that be to come were present to men as they be vnknowen vnto them fewe men should finde themselues deceiued and fewer euil men that might by falsely reporting things vnto them deceiue them But such secretes being out of our power certes we should feare more the malice of men than death it selfe that causeth a man to die but once For the deathe that ensueth and followeth these traitours and euill men doth not onely take away life but the immortal honor that euery vertuous person mighte obtaine and get conuerting and turnyng hys good renoume to shame and blame wherewith they féede the eares of them that harken vnto them And of thys victorious King ye may now iudge much better than of any other beyng at the poynt to fall into the reputation of an vniust King beyng in wyll and mynde so wrongfully to put the Quéene to deathe throughe the false accusation that was reported to you of hir and of your faithfull subiecte and seruaunt the Knight of the burning sworde Not syr that I will excuse me of the faulte that I dyd absenting my selfe from your courte following the counsell that Maudan gaue mee for where my innocencie was payne coulde haue no place And furthermore not leauing my honour doubtfull by my flying awaye I shoulde rather haue submitted my selfe to your punishment knowyng your vertue and my iustice than fearing your furie and followyng the death the whyche I deserued not to render my selfe suspecte of the faulte But the gods as I vnderstand haue suffered the truthe afterwardes to be discouered by him that had charged it and that the Quéenes honour and mine was recouered by the inuincible valiantnesse of Amadis the King of England the which sustaining my right slew the traitor in the plaine fielde of battell before your maiestie And neuerthelesse syr if there yet doe reste any sparckle of euill will against your humble seruaunt I beséeche you to forget it and partly to take and to receiue me to your good grace fauour perceiuing that I haue a desire to returne to your excellencie to whom I would already haue come if it had not béene for the promise that I made to these thrée Kings assembled not to leaue theÌ„ vntill the warre taken in hande against two other traitors were ended Therfore it may please you to excuse me kissing the hands of your highnesse in all humilitie The Oration of Abra to hir brother Zair Soudan of Babilon demaunding wherof his anoyance doth procede to giue him a remedie In the .8 booke the .2 Chapter ALas my Lord from whence may this accident procéede I praye you not to hide the occasion any more from me swearing vnto you by the faith that I owe you that if there be any thing wherewith I may giue you any remedie I wil not spare my life for you for why it can not continue seeyng you suffer as ye doe The Oration of Abra to the Princes and Lordes being in the Soudans Zair hir brothers court declaring vnto them the vision of the foresayde Soudan and perswading them to take in hande the combat against the Christians In the .8 booke the .2 Chapter EXcellent Princes and great Lords it semeth that fortune doth present to you all one meane and way seruing our gods to augment their lawe and to make lesse diminishe that by the which they are misprysed And to declare
Lord Quedragants Oration to King Lisuard leauing his seruice In the selfe same Chapter SYr I had neuer dwelt in your Court but at the request of Amadis willing and desiring to be his friend for euer and séeing that by his occasion I was yours by like reason I depart from you for euer considering that my little and small seruices shall haue but little hope séeing that his great seruices are so euill recognised and rewarded hauing no remeÌ„braunce of the Obligation wherewith you are bounde vnto him that deliuered you from the hands of Mandafabul nor of the victorie that you wonne and obtained vpon King Cildadan by his and his parents bloude I could put you in remeÌ„brance of the good turne that he did you when he deliuered you and your daughter Oriane as I oftentimes haue heard it spoken from the hands of Archalaus and not long since my Ladie Leonor the which Famongomad and Basigant his sonne Giants most cruell of all the world held as prisoner to haue slaine hir thus the ingratitude that you do now vse against him is so great that it depriueth you of all the knowledge of truth And therefore he should no lesse estéeme this leaue so sone giuen than the retribution of his seruices so well accorded and rewarded And as for me I am purposed to follow him and to go and depart from your Court. The Oration of Guillan the thoughtfull excusing himself that he could not folowe Amadis In the selfesame Chapter MY Lord you knowe my affaires and that of my selfe I being wholy vnder and subiecte to the will of an other can doe nothing For the which I suffer anguishes and paynes most straunge the which are the cause that I can not folowe you whereof I am ashamed so great a desire I haue to knowledge the goodnesse and the honor that you being in in your companie haue done for me praying you most humbly at this present to hold and to haue me excused Amadis Oration to the foresayd Guillan excusing him that he leaueth not the Kings house In the same Chapter MY Lorde Guillan God forbid that through my occasion you shoulde â—e faultie to the Ladie that you loue so perfectly but I counsell you to obey hir and to serue hir as you haue done hitherto and the King in like maner being sure of this that you your honor saued shall be in all pointes my friend and faithfull companion King Lisuards answere to Gandandell and Broquadan declaring their insufficiencie to gouerne and rule his realme In the selfesame Chapter I Do maruel that you are so bold and presumptuous to persuade me to leaue vnto you the rule not only of my house but of al this kingdome knowing that you are not sufficient to do it Think you that the Princes Lords of this Monarchie will obey you knowing the place from whence you are descended And if you thinke and beléeue to playe the good husbands willing to enriche me by sparing of money thinke you that I may better bestowe it than to giue it to Gentlemen and Knights that are in my seruice seing that a Prince can not name himselfe a King except he haue men at his coÌ„maundement And if before time I shewed my selfe liberall to those which at your instance I haue chased away by those I was maintained famed and redoubted and therefore content you with that that you haue done without any more disguising of thinges or else I will shew you that it displeaseth me Amadis Oration to those that would go to defend the right of Madasime exhorting them to deliuer out of the Kings pryson twelue Ladies In the same Chapter MY Lordes answered Amadis the thinges that be debated with or by rype deliberation come willingly to a good ende and doubt not that the thing that you purpose to take vpon you shall not be nor happen to youre honor althoughe the thing were more in hazarde and of more difficultie than it is and yet I will if it so please you declare that I doâ— thinke You all as farre as I sée doe tast and labor to set the twelue Damselles at libertie which at this present are prisoners in King Lisuards prison my mind is that twelue of you and no moe be at this enterprise and so euery one shall haue one and the twelue Damselles shall be particularly bounde to twelue Knightes and that the rest of this companie shall stand still to helpe the incouueniences that may chaunce The complaint that Orian made when she felâ—e hirselfe great with chylde In the .2 booke the .22 Chapter ALas my friendes nowe I sée well that fortune wil bring me to vtter ruine You knowe the inconuenience that of late chaunced to him that of all the worlde I loued best and nowe that is worsse the thing that I feared and doubted most is chaunced vnto me for certainely I am with chylde and I know not what I may doe so that I be not destroyed and lost Sarquiles Oration to King Lisuard aduertising him of the dangerous enterprise and treason of Broquadan and Gandandel In the same Chapter SYr I am not yet your subiecte nor your liege man but yet in recognising the nurture that I haue learned in youre Court I am bound to saue your maiesties honor Therfore syr I aduertise you that three dayes since I fortuned to be in a place where I perceiued that Broquadan and Gandandel did not only conspire but alreadie haue committed againste God and you the most greatest treson that may be thought It is sure and certain that they do purpose to counsell and to persuade you to put Madasime and these Damsels to death and as touching the rest syr I trust that all their mischieuousnesse or tenne dayes be past shall be disclosed And to set those villaynes in authoritie you haue caste awaye not long since my Lord Amadis and many other good Knightes out of your companie I am no more purposed to remaine here and I take my leaue of you to go and to séeke my vncle Angriote whome if God be pleased you shall sée shortly héere againe and me with him purposed with force of armes to open vnto those two traytors their vniust and false conspiracie The coÌ„maundemâ—nt of King Lisuard to Broquadan and Gandandel animating them to execute the thing that they had promised COme hether you know that oftentimes you haue solicited me to put these poore Damsels to death persuading me that it was a iust and a reasonable thing to doe so And that you and your children if need were would sustaine this counsel vnto death You haue perceiued what Ymosil and his companions haue saide vnto me the which I finde to be good and iust therefore it is time that you aduise you of the thing that you haue to do For by the faith that I owe vnto God I will licence none of my other Knights to fight with them and if you prouide not for this you shall be punished and the Damselles deliuered
good part of Orians annoyance troubles I do thinke that they shuld also féele of hir ease and aduancement I commende theÌ„ vnto you assuring you that the greatest pleasure that I can haue in my olde age and yeares is that your bretheren â—alaor and Floristan were maried that I or euer I die maye sée my selfe reuiue againe in them by the linage of you all And therefore I pray you to looke vnto the thing that I haue told you and as soone as ye may Amadis Oration to hys companions offering them a recompence for their trauells which they suffered in the warres for his loue In the .4 booke the .25 Chapter MY companions and friendes the great trauels paines that are paste the which ye haue sustained in this last warre do well deserue that now ye should giue your selues and your minds to rest and pleasure And in asmuch as I am bound vnto you I assay proue by al meanes to cause you to haue the thing that I shal perceiue know ye haue most affection vnto for I by your good helpe that ye haue gyuen and shewen me haue obtained the thing that I loued best in al the world that is my lady Oriane Therefore I pray you with al my hart that euery one of you do presently declare shew me if he pretend or haue any minde to any of these Ladyes Damsels that be here assuring you by the faith of a knight so to labour therin that with the good contentation wyll of their friendes they shall beleue me in that that I shal desire and pray them And furthermore ye know how that Kyng Arauigne Barsinan and many other our prisoners leauing and forsaking the vertue whervnto they were bounde by the order of chiualrie haue exercised asmuch as they could so great tyrannie that they are not worthy of any raunsome but of great punishment for the greuousnesse of their treasons And therfore I do thinke ye should deuise to part and deuide their goods among you And as touching me I quite and refuse my part holding my selfe a great deale more than satisfyed if I might finde and haue the meanes and wayes perticularly to do you pleasure or seruice that might content you The Oration of Bruneo of Good Mere to the Citizens of the towne to the which the Queene of Dace had brought theÌ„ to succor theÌ„ admonishing them to kepe theÌ„ good and true for the iust quarell of their Prince against his enimie In the .4 booke the .27 Chapter LOrds Citizens the loue that ye shew to this yong Prince your liege Lord doth binde him very much as long as he shall liue to will you well The confidence that he hath in you shoulde moue you to honor him ye sée that he is yong and hath little meanes and helpe to chase his enimie out of his borders the which as ye know did murder through treason the last King your good Prince and afterwardes thinking to vsurpe his kingdome he besieged the principall citie and kéepeth it so straight that without your aide it is in danger to be wonne and destroyed with those good men knightes that â—re within it Therefore my maisters the Citizens nowe that the occasion dothe offer it selfe by the returne of the Quéene your good mystresse that bringeth with hir the knightes of the inclosed Isle of the which I am one propose your selues to reuenge the iniurie that ye haue receyued by the traitour and so to labour that your leige Lordes may be set into their lands againe ensuring you if ye wil folow me that I will â—inde a meanes sodenly to take him and his armie and to destroy him by the fauour and helpe of my companions that are within the towne the which shall not faile to come forthe assone as they shall sée the signe that I wyll gyue them Amadis Oration to Dragonis promising him in fauour of the trauells that be past to cause the Realme of the profounde Isle to fall into his handes and to accorde the mariage betweene him and Estoillette In the fourthe booke the .29 Chapter MY cousin since that ye left vs we haue made many mariages of the principallest knightes that be here wyth those that they desired long since And besides this King Arauigne Barsinan and other our prisoners landes and countreys by the consent of al haue bene parted and diuided and bicause of your absence ye were forgotten but good as ye shall vnderstande hath prouided I haue presently bene aduertised by a certaine Esquire that since our departing from Lubanâ—â— the King of the profound Isle the which was wouÌ„ded and hurt is departed vpon the sea a fewe dayes after he toke shipping thinking to returne and retire and therâ—ore I shall cause his Realme to fall into your hands and so ye shal haue by this meanes Estoilletti to your wyfe whom ye haue loued of long time and wel worthy being faire wise and a vertuous Princesse issued of a king of two cotâ—s and aswell loued of Oriane as any other that I knowe I thinke that a man for your contentatioÌ„ cannot better satisfie you thaÌ„ to make you ioyfull of the thing that ye loue and estéeme more than your selfe A complaint of Darioletta for Amadis the which was besieged on euery parte by hir occasion In the fourth booke the .23 Chapter ALas caitife and vnfortunate that I am shuld it be that by my occasion the best knight of the world should die How shall I dare from henceforth appeare are before the king his father and the Quéene or any of his friends knowing the euil that I haue purchast him Ah ah vnfortunate and more vnfortunate than I can saye if in tymes paste I was a meane to saue his life by the inuention of a cradle wherein I put him wheÌ„ he was cast and deliuered to the mercie of the waues and surges of the sea now cleane contrarie I haue aâ—aunced the ende of his dayes when I most trusted to haue had aide and support of him Alas had I not my vnderstanding wit wel aduised when I found him by the sea side and would not suffer him so muche as to returne to the castell Apolidon to take his leaue of my lady Oriane froÌ„ whence he might haue brought some other knightes by whom he might haue had some helpe But what who should receiue punishment but I to much hated of good fortune that hath done a deede of a light and of a too euill forecasâ—ing woman Belan doth sharpely reproue hys sonne Brunor of treason and that he agaynste his fathers promise besieged Amadis In the .4 booke the .34 Chapter INfamous villaine durst thou falsifie my word in the thing that I haue promised wretch that thou art what honour or what gaine canst thou haue of suche an euyll turne and déede as thou haste done seing it was not in thy power to reuoke my life if death had called me and lesse to haue excused thée of treason ending
not bound to giue or demaunde more thaÌ„ is possible for the possibilitie failing the obligation and promise taketh no place Abra required me to marie hir and I was bound already so that it was not in my power As concerning the death of hir brother whereof she is so heavie by God and bicause Zair went aboute and did treason and that that was naughte the whiche he inuented against my Lorde the Emperour the Empresse my ladies their children and other she hath more reason and cause to complaine hir of hys honor than of the chastisement that he as it is to be presumed receiued by the diuine iudgement of god And yet I wyll well confesse that for the loue of hir I desire that he were yet aliue but seing that his daies fighting like a good knight are at an end and that she hath receiued the crowne and Empire of Babilon as a sage a vertuous Princesse as she is I thinke that she shoulde forget hir teares and quarrels and to take reason for payment without desiring thus my head to sacrifice it to the vnrighteousness of hir brother And to the verifying of the same I will take paine sauing my selfe to haue yours at such mercie as ye â—e desire mine And to doe this I accepte the defiance and the fielde by you presented The armes are these accustomed among knightes of honor shield speare the day seuen night for your solace for I suppose that ye are sore trauailed bicause of the long iourney that ye haue made The iust and the right God be the kéeper both of the honor and right of him of vs two vnto whome it pertaineth Zahera the Queene of Cauease doth submit hir selfe to doe hir honour saued the wil of Lisuard after the conditions of the combat in the whiche she as she saithe was ouercome In the .8 booke the .49 Chapter THe truth is nor I will not denie it but that by the comnant that we made on the day that we fought together he that of vs two should léese his armour shoulde remaine as ouercome and be bounde to doe the will of the victor All you my Lordes doe knowe what chaunced And althoughe that fortune hath done so little for me as to take from me that was in hir handes to giue it you yet for all that I will not denie you the rest of that that I doe doe owe you for doing the thing otherwise the stroke at the entry might be attributed to such a fortune that it shuld redounde to my greater disaduantage not fulfilling my promise to him vnto whom I owe it Also the gods will not suffer it but rather send death vnto me For notwithstanding I am but a woman yet I knowe certainely that neither corde nor naile can so constraine or close the thing that they will fasten it vnto to holde it stedfast as faith doth staightly hold a gentle spirit with his line or corde indissoluble And for this cause as I haue learned the olde and auncient painters did paint hir with a white lynnen clothe declaring thereby the purenesse which may not nor oughte not to be defyled with anye spotte or perill be it neuer so straunge and daungerous And this is the reason whereby I submit me wholy to your will purposing to obey you so far yet as my estate and honour shall permit and suffer it Now therfore aduise you what it pleaseth you that I shall doe Lisuard doth answere Zahara that she ouercame hir selfe and dothe set hir agayne in hir libertie and for all recompence hâ— requireth hir amitie In the eyghte booke the .49 Chapter MAdame quoth Lisuard â— I thinke there is no princesse nor no other that hath wel considered our combat that doth not estéeme the victory that ye giue me to procéede of youre owne voluntarie will and not of my force and strength For as I haue oftentimes told you it was you your selfe that ouercame you and not I. And so this glory that ye attribute vnto me doth retourne to you and it is reason that it be associated with your good and entier libertie without any order apointed by me otherwise than it shall please you Ye haue it then and enioy it as before requiring of you no other recompence for the seruice and goodnesse that I desire and wish you but that we may continue friends assuring you madame that of my part I as concerning you as long as I liue shall be no nother what euil or displeasure so euer it be that ye haue purchased and sought for me Esclariana the Empresse of Rome comming to king Amadis doth shew him in few words how that Florestan deliuered hir out of the hands of the Pyrats and in recompence thereof she demaundeth him to hir husband and spouse In the 8. booke the .52 Chapter I Beléeue that few of you most excelleÌ„t princes be ignoraÌ„t of the cruell death of the Emperoure of Rome Arquisill and of his sonne the Prince of Inerpie by the occasion wherof the emperiall crowne by the right of successioÌ„ perteineth to me And yet that notwithstanding fortune not being coÌ„tent with the iniurie inhumanitie committed by those that touch me very nigh assaied after that to giue me yet another charge very euil to disgest That was that the Empresse my déere dolorous mother beléeuing to saue me from the tyrants the vsurpers of my goodes brought me by sea into a place where that not only I and she fell almost into the perill of léesing our liues but of our honor it selfe with the greatest shame that euer chaunced to any poore lady or vnfortunate damsel The which I had neuer auoyded without the good succâ—oure and aide of Florestan here present the whiche hath done so much for me as to haue saued me and brought me agayne vnto your hands my Lord whom I pray you most humbly I may find good agreable if so be I haue chosen him for my Lorde and husband for it is reason séeing that he hath taken the care and payne and with such honest and frendly amitie for me that he haue the enioying of my goods and of that that dependeth thereof Amadis doth answer Esclariane and doth accord to hir demaÌ„d In the .8 booke the .52 Chapter IN good fayth my niece quoth king Amadis Florestan my nephewe is the sonne of a good father and he himselfe a knight of so great merit that ye could not appointe you in no place better And I greatly thanke you that ye loue him and him also that he hath shewed him selfe so curteous and so ready to serue you as he hath done Ye require him of me for your husband I agrée vnto your request pray you both that it may be done euen now without any further delay Amadis of Greece taketh paine to perswade Abra that she shuld take in good part the thing that the Gods do send hir and to hope for better in time to come Afterwardes he prayeth hir to
the gentle bastardes chéered of the father the which was so long vnknowen Thus came all these Lordes and Ladies into oure companie also the Princesse Oriana that was met withall vpon the sea and by a strange aduenture deliuered They honoured me for this presente Embassade There resteth nowe that I must returne vnto them to deliuer them into your handes to verifie my worde withall Phalanges dothe require of the Lordes and Ladyes beyng in Constantinople that Alastraxeree whome he hath loued long may be gyuen him in mariage In the tenth booke the 57â— Chapter RIght high mightie Lords the boldnesse of my thoughts the which heretofore haue ben giueÌ„ to a presumptuous diuinitie doth not abase hir wings knowing it to be turned into humaine linage exalted by heroike noble vertue aboue mortal fragilitie Also I faint not to attempt hir as before by the meanes of the aide that I newly finde in your maiesties by the reknowledging of hir kindred vnto whoÌ„ I haue long since vowed my heart my honour and my goods The which if ye iudge that I neuer deserued nothing of you and if ye estéeme not to much vnworthy to haue hir is the gentle Princesse Alastraxeree whom I require to my true and loyall spouse first suÌ„moning in this case the Prince Florisel to quite him towardes me for the duetie of mutuall loue giuing me like comfort and succor as he hath receiued of me as he well knoweth in his affaires A letter of credence of the Princesse Arlande In the .10 booke the .58 Chapter ARlande of Thrace disherited of hir landes bicause she made him heritor of hir hearte that had the propertie of hir libertie so greatly alienated that she can accept no part in his to Florisel of Niquea Prince of Fraunce Englande Apolonia and Rhodes salutatioÌ„ Fortune hath in such wise conspired against me that she hath giuen me no other ynke to write withal but bloud nor no other messenger but a childe nor hath sent me no succour but against the sonne of my mortall enemie for my brothers sake and yet more than this mortall enimie bicause I cannot be my owne friende Loke vpon me ye ladies that doe complaine you of the light turnes of hir customable inconstancie and take an example to hope in desperation She hath not left me as much as my surname the whiche I haue borowed bicause I would not too much astonishe you in the firste sight of the superscription of my letter missiue or in the salutation the whiche shée maie yll sende that hathe of long time hir heart captiue and afflicted as ye well knowe and not long since the body in prison I haue no great leisure with my hande to send my complaintes when that with my mouth I cannot cause them to be vnderstranded Praying you for the rest on my part to beleue this Damsell as reason would on your behalfe â—lorarâ—am doth count to Florisell of Niquea and to the other nobles being at Constantinople the cause of his comming and the imprisonment of the princesse of Thrace In the .10 booke the .58 Chapter MY Lorde the case is this In the time that my Lady had left you in the Isle of Rhodes and was at hir returning in my masters the kings Court she founde there the Duke Madasanill the tyrant of the next Ilandes a fierce Giant great and maruellous mightie accompanied with foure hundred of his cousins like vnto himselfe all they being issued of the linage of Furius Cornelius calling themselues the reuengers of his bloud This Duke required of the king a wife vnder the conditions of the vengeance that be vndertooke vpon Prince Amadis of Gâ—eâ—e for whome I was nourished and instructed if the obligation that came afterwardes had not defaced this cruell enmitie by the meanes of the succour that the Prince gaue him in his extreme businesse whom I loued and honoured and yet knew him not and was desirous with all my heart to serue him But the king perceyuing the newe reconciliation of my Ladie with him that had slaine his brother he deliuered hir quickly into the Dukes handes commaunding him to marrie hir He was euen then readie with the Duchesse Arhide whom he reteyned to come to your marriage Then hearing she should be sent to such other she answered the king beléeue not my Lorde that the trespasse and fault that I haue done to my highnesse in that I could not resist the strength of the loue of the sonne now I make it to the father assuring you that I will neuer haue other husbande than the sonne nor no greater enimie than him that shall purchase euill to the father vnto whome I haue sworne and giuen my fayth of peace and concorde The king was so irrited and chafed with hir answere that euen vpon the fielde he did disherite hir and caused an othe to be giuen to Madasanill the Prince of Thrace setting my Ladie in his power to lodge hir incontinently in the fortresse of the lake of foure pauements the which as men doe estéeme is one of the strongest places of the worlde So he gaue him the charge of hir and of the foure Pauementes to the Giantes his cousins commaunding them to keepe hir in prison a whole yeare if she applyed not hir will vnto him The which if she did not within the terme appoynted he woulde that hir head should be smitten off for the appoyntment that shée had made of his brother The fierce villaine fayled not to fulfill this ordenance moste diligently leading my Ladie wéeping and sobbing to the Castell where he enclosed hir alone with hir cousin Arlinda deliuering the keyes of the prison to a great and a vile Iayler reseruing the comming into the selfe same Castell to himselfe his cousins being established in the foure Pauements the which cause all those to sweare that come thither to be at the vengeance of the death of Furio if not that he will thrust them into déepe and cruell prisons At night they shutte in the Gates of their Pauements and by Caues made vnder the grounde they returne to the Castell béeing distant from the Laake two shottes of a Crossebowe of the which the Duke himselfe doth open and sparre the Gates Well I followed themâ— into the Castell where they suffered me â—o walke at my case but I enforced through sorrowe to sée hir in such estate not knowing howe to remedie it One day she putting out hir head at a little lattis window saw me beneath and sayde vnto me Florarlan prepare thy selfe by some meanes that thou mayst speake vnto me Incontinent I went vp leauing the Duke beneath with his men and I prayed Bocarell the Iayler to shewe me so much fauour as to let me speake a little to my Ladie the Princesse the whiche answered me that if I spake any more vnto him he woulde cast me from the height of the wall Oribaulde quoth I to him if I were weaponed as thou art I shoulde brydle thy snoute well ynough
death O loue how muche hatred haue I proued in thée O cruell hatred wherefore doest thou take the name of loue Ah ah I vnfortunate in searching of loue I haue founde his contrarie and thinking to finde a necessary remedie for my disease I haue encreased it without any comparison O my Lady Diana how oft haue I feared the crueltie that I proue now in you Seyng then that your will is suche I would it should not please God to sende one thing that is so impossible to me as to liue any longer with the disgrace and disfauour of my Lady O euill houre to much miserable for I requyre nothing but it is denied me by the thing that I require it nor I flie nothing but it is graunted me by the thing that I flie Alas madame Lardenia I beséeche you to take no pitie vpon mée seyng I pitie not my selfe and that to conforme my will to my Ladies will for I cannot will but that shée willeth and I hate my selfe more than shée hateth me but if ye loue me it shal be reason that ye will that I will that is onely to goe to accomplish the promisse that I haue made to my Lady the Quéene so that all that I shall doe from henceforth shal be done agaynst my will for I knâ—we that in fulfilling that I haue promised hir I shall yet accomplish the wil of my Lady Diana Well now I perceiâ—â— well inough that the Quéene made me not without occasion such a strange request as she made me for that was bicause that by the death which I shall receyue she may vse the pitie towards me that my Lady Diana denied me cruelly to sley me Certainely I can hope no lesse of the valiantnesse and highe Chiualrie of the Prince of Greece in this combat that I haue enterprised against him but that by the death of so féeble and so disfauored a creature as I am he shall satisfie his glorious renoume and that vnto the whiche he as a noble knight was bound to doe repairing the wrong that I receyued to liue the longer O fortunate Prince seyng that all things prepare themselues to his good houre and I likewise vnhappie seing that fortune and the Quéene and the will of my Lady Diana haue prepared by the handes of so great a Lorde the death whiche after my law I could not purchase with my owne hands O mightie God how thou euerywhere doest shewe thy sage prouidence for in this iudgement of my death pronounced by the mouth of so noble and so excellent a iudge as my Lady is it was very reasonable that ye should helpe hir with so excellent a minister to execute hir soueraine iustice with the lamentable sentence of my cruell destinies A letter from Balthasar kyng of Russia and from Bruzerbe kyng of Gaza to Sidonia the Queene of Guinday requiryng to mary hir and hir daughter and if they refuse them they denounce hir warre In the .12 booke the .42 Chapter BAlthasar kyng of Russia aswell in his owne name as in that of other soueraigne kings of the Orient whose signe and seale is set to this letter doth sende salutation to Sidonia the Quéene of the I le of Guinday the which she may receyue if she thinke it good receyuing those with hir good will for hir espouse the whiche otherwise are disposed by force to accomplishe their willes Therefore Quéene of Guinday ye shall vnderstand and know that nother the iniurie receyued for your loue nor your beautie nor for that of your daughter Diana are not yet out of the remembrance of Balthasar and of Bruzerbe kynges of Russia and of Gasa Therefore we haue landed in your Ileâ— with a mightie army requyring you before and aboue all thinges to graunt vs peace and you and your daughter in mariage or if ye will not do it vntill force doe that with reason that curtesie may refuse and denie we denounce you warre with fire and bloud and we make the immortall Gods iudges of the losses and calamities that shall chaunce through your occasion calling fortune to our ayde the whiche seyng our wonderfull armie hath already giuen vs the assurance the whiche your subiectes if ye defende them not shall wante assuring vs of the amendment and healyng of our woundes whereof the paine loue and the iniuries heretofore suffered haue wounded our courages vntill death you your daughter through your beauties holding vs in a more cruell warre than that the which is most cruelly prepared for you if your gratiousnesse giue you not peace the whiche wè are minded to conquere by force of armes The answere of Sidonia Queene of Guindaye to Balthasar king of Russia by the which she aduertiseth him that she will defende hir chastitie asmuche as she may and that she rather will kill hir selfe than to obey vnto him In the .12 booke the .42 Chapter SIdonia Quéene of Guinday to Balthasar kyng of Russia and to all other kinges of his linage the whiche are come vniustly with him to inuade hir Ile dothe sende salute and health the whiche the Gods should not saue very long in so vnreasonable a quarell I woulde not be so afrayde king Balthasar if it were conuenient for me in time to come to proue agaynst my breast the sworde of Lucrece as chastitie doth binde me nowe to defende me against thine But if neither the loue that I beare to the Prince of Greece nor the feare of his highnesse coulde neither set nor make peace nor truces to the stronge warre that I haue prepared against him scarcely the leaste warre wherewith the king of Russia dothe threaten me can cause me in anywise to feare and yet it is lesse possible that the hatred I beare him may through his proudnesse be couerted into loue nor estéeme not at all that my minde and will is so fliyng and inconstant that hatred shall cause me to séeke peace with thée to my dishonour seyng that loue for my honour constrayneth me to make warre against the Prince of Greece God forbidde that Sidonia shoulde lesse estéeme the nobilitie of hir courage than the greate force of armes wherewith thou threatenest mée with fire and bloude for with fier and bloud I will defende my chaste will and I will assay to kéepe it with the selfe force that the Gods haue sometimes suffered that it was kepte agaynst themselues And know that making warre agaynst me thou doest make it yet more rigorous agaynst thy honour and willing to consume my Countrie with thy fiers thou canst not consume the fire wherewith the Prince of Greece hath enflamed me It may be that thou shedde the bloud of my subiectes setting them vpon the edge of thy swoorde but when thou shalte haue done it swoordes to shedde our bloude shall neither fayle my daughter nor me for we had much rather to die in our chaste libertie thaÌ„ to liue in a vile seruitude The hatred that caused the Quéene of Carthago to die for AEneas shal not
¶ The moste excellent and pleasaunt Booke entituled The treasurie of Amadis of Fraunce Conteyning eloquente orations pythie Epistles learned Letters and feruent Complayntes seruing for sundrie purposes The vvorthinesse vvhereof and profite dothe appeare in the Preface or table of this Booke Translated out of Frenche into English. Imprinted at London by Henry Bynneman for Thomas Hacket And are to be solde at his shoppe in the Royall Exchaunge at the signe of the greene Dragon ¶ To the righte worshipfull â—ir Thomas Gressam knight Tâ—omas Hacket vvisheth the fauoure of God long lyfe increase of worship continuall health and felicitie WHEN I call to my remembraÌ„ce right vvorshipfull Sir vvhat our merciful and good God hathe doone for vs by his vnspeakeable omnipotencie and also what giftes hee hathe indued man vvithall vvee can not chuse but be thankful to him for his vvorthie benefites bestovved vpon vs vvho so noteth substaÌ„cially from time to time vvhat vvorthie instrumentes God hath raised vp in all artes and sciences as some passing in singlenesse of gifts as Aristotle Galen Ptolome Plinie vvith other vvith those vvorthie Oratours the Grecians as Demosthenes Isocrates and that vvorthie Romaine the Prince of Eloquence Marcus Tullius Cicero vvhose excellencie hath surpassed all others and bene leaders and scholemasters to all others It vvas not vvithout great cause right vvorshipful that man is called Mycrocosmos that is to say a little vvorlde it vvas not vvithout great consideration that Aristotle calleth him the sercher of secretes for vvhat thing is there in this vvorld but man hath sought it out be it neuer so harde or obscure vvhat vertue in stone or plant or any grovving thing yea the vertue of beasts fishes fovvles and serpentes and vvhatsoeuer is conteined in the earth aire vvater or fyre mettals mynes of golde siluer leade tinne yron c. In fine how excelleÌ„t in al philosophie asvvell naturall as morall as Arithmetike Geometrie Astronomie Cosmographie besides all these those moste excellent historiographers and yet in my mynd this surpasseth all others that is to say to be an excellent Oratour singular in orations pythie and ingenious in vvriting Epistles for therby is brought to passe the moste excellent things for publike gouernment as also for euery mannes priuate cause and vse for vvho knovveth not vvhere learning and good gouernement consisteth their orations bee of moste excellent force to set foorth hovve tymes haue bene passed vvith the tyme present and also to giue vvarning and foresee for time to come hovve the good and vertuous haue merited and receyued perpetuall fame as to the ouerthrovve of the vvicked too their reproche and ignomie So right vvorshipfull this booke vvhich I present vnto you is stufte vvith pleasant orations fine epistles singular complaintes vvith matter mixt so fitly and aptly to serue the turne of all persons not curious nor filled full of obscure and darke sense but playne and pleasant depending and ansvvering one an other vvith most delectable matter for all causes as vvell incouraging the bashfull person and covvarde to bee valiant as the vvorthie ladies and damselles in their amorous Epistles feruente complaintes of iniuries handled moste excellently And yet I confesse not so graue and vvorthie matter as your vvoorship deserueth to haue Therfore I craue pardon at your hands for this my rashe enterprise trusting in God you vvill receiue it in good part as a token of my good vvill tovvards you and though it yeld not so pleasant a grace in the Englishe toung as it dothe in the Frenche the vvhiche it vvas vvritten in I knovve youre vvoonted maner and good nature is to take smal thinges in good part vvhich hath imboldened me at this present to dedicate this booke of the Treasurie of Amadis of France vnto your vvorship vvhen god sendeth to my hand any other I do intend to make ye partaker therof And therfore least at this present I shoulde seeme to be ouer tedious vnto you I coÌ„mit you to God vvith my good Ladie your vvife vvith all youre familie praying to God for your prosperous and good succesâ—e in all youre affaires and enterprises From London by yours for euer THOMAS HACKET To the gentle Reader A VERY frend of myne most gentle reader instantly desired me to english him this french booke intituled the Treasurie of Amadis the whiche when I had well perused it pleased me not a little as wel for the elegant phrase thereof as for the diuersities and arguments therin wrapped and inclosed For truly it aboundeth with such eloquent orations and wyse counsels with such swéete and delicate Epistles and letters especially of loue so curteously and annably handled with suche exhortations and admonitions so prudently penned with suche lamentations complaints so sorowfully and mournfully expressed with suche consolations and comforts in aduersitie so frendly and louingly pronounced with such answers and replications so ingeniously inuented with reproches and tauntes so bitingly and bitterly spoken with requâ—sts so humainly and ciuilly demaunded with excuses so craftily and subtilly painted and coloured with defyances so stoutly and courageously sente to the aduersarie and receiued that if a man were astonied much amazed it woulde quicken him and sodeynly reuiue his spirites againe For what a dullarde is he that wise counsell vertuous exhortations friendly admonitions wittie and subtill persuasions shall not quicken and reuiue and how farre without sense is he whom amiable fine and beautifull ladies with their ticklyng and flatteryng wordes shall not awake stirre vp and call to their lure wanton fansie feruent louâ— What stonie and harde hearte hath he that with the glittering and twinkeling of the eye the abundant teares the dulcet and swéete parolls of his paramour wherwith this fine flattering booke is infarced will not be mollifyed and melted And how depely are they drowned in sorrowe that with godly and vertuous consolation will not be comforted What weake and cowardly heartes and stomackes haue they that will not be stirred or moued with the rhetorical eloquent orations the vehement persuasioÌ„s and liberall promises and rewards of wise noble worthie capitains pluck vp their harts inuade their enimies for worthie renoume sake immortall glorie fight stoutly and corageously as Amadis the king of England France Florâ—an with other did as this proper booke in diuers places reciteth most cordially Wherout men may learne to be noble oratours wise and prudent counsellours excellent Rhethoricians expert captains amorous companions feruent honest louers secrete messengers obedient seruaÌ„ts elegant enditers of louely Epistles swéete pronouncers true ortographers of the french tong so pleasant so highly coÌ„mended and so imbraced of all men Wherfore gentle Reader let it not lothe thée I pray thée to reade this fine and fruitfull booke nor to ensue the honest and vertuous lessons the prudent admonitions and good counsels of the same for thou shalt not at any tyme as I thinke repent thée more for the reading of it than I for
vnto you hauing none other about me worthy to vnderstande my heauinesses to haue counsell and comfort and you discomforte me and intreate me worsse than I haue deserued reputing me farre otherwise than I am or shall be so long as my spirite shall sustaine my heart full of bitternesse the whiche causeth me to presume that no other thing but my euil fortune hath aduaunced and brought me into this kind of intreatie séeing that you haue taken in yll parte that I told you for the best And God neuer help me if I thought in all my life of that whereof you blame me and accuse me for I am so sure of youre cousin that I will no other thing but to content and please you and so much there is that I had rather die than that any other than I my selfe should haue the honor of the forbidden chamber Iudge therefore what trouble it shall be to me if Berolanie that goeth before to proue the thing obtaine it This notwithstanding my cousin and friend I pray you to pardon me not to prolong if it be your pleasure to aduise and counsell me of the thing that as you shall thinke I were best to doe for your cousin might be too heauie if he knew the thing that I haue suspected of him A Prophecie of Vrgand vnknowne to Orian foretelling hir the thing that should chance vnto hir In the .2 boke the .18 cha IN the time when your great heauinesse shall take place many good Knights shall suffer for the loue of you Then the strong Lyon accoÌ„panied with his beasts shal come forth of his den through his high roarings and cryings he shall so feare them that shal haue the kéeping of you that you whither they will or no shall remaine betwéen the clawes of the kingly beaste the whiche shall set vpon your head the riche crowne that shall be no more yours then this beast béeing famished and hauing your body in his power shall carie it into his denne where he shall so féede himselfe that he shall pacifâ—e and assuage his mad and outrageous hunger Therefore my daughter take héede what you shall do for the thing that I haue told you shall happen without any doubt An exhortation of Vrgand to King Lisuard inciting him to entreat well his men of war. In the .2 booke the .18 Chaper SYr you séeme vnto me now to be well accompanyed not so muche for the number of great personages whiche are nigh vnto as for the amitie and loue that they as I am sure heare you whereof you should laude and prayse god For a Prince beloued of his may kéepe his estate in great suretie and safegarde therefore syr take payne to entertaine and to entreate them well so that your fortune the whiche as yet dothe not leaue of to fauor you goe not farre from you if you do otherwise and aboue all other things kéepe your self from euill report considering that it is the very poyson and ruine of Princes the which beléeue it A Prophecie of Vrgan vnknown as well to the King as to other his Knightes THere shall be great contention betwéene the great Adder and the strong Lyon the which shall be succored and holpen by many cruell beasts and shall come in such a furie that a great number of them shall suffer dolorous death The fine Raynard the Romayne shall be wounded with the clawes of the strong Lyon and his skinne shall be cruelly rente and â—orne wherewith the great Serpent shall be in great perplexitie At this time the swéete shéepe couered with blacke wool shal be set in the midst of them the which with his great humilitie and his swéete bleings shall mittigate and assuage the brauenesse and frecenesse of theyr courage causing the one to be separated from the other â—ut as sone as the hungrie Woolues shall descende and come from the nexte Mountaynes againste the greate Adder and béeing destroyed by them wyth a great parte of his followers hée shall enclose him in one of theyr cauernes The tender Unicorne putting his mouthe into the braue Lions eares shall with his loude crye awake from his strong sléepe and causing him to take parte of his beastes shall go most diligently to help the great Adder whome they shall fynde bitten and so wounded by the hungrie Woolues that they shall sée great abundance of bloud shed vpon the grounde then he shall be taken from the Woolues teeth and they being pluckt in péeces and life restored to the great Adder leauing al the poison of hir intralles and guttos within hir â—auâ—rns he shall be content and consent to be put among the clawes of the strong Lyon and the whyte Hinde the whiche in the fearfull forest doth eleuate and lift vp hiâ— mowings against heauen shall be reiected and repelled Another prophecie of Vrgan vnknowen to Amadis declaring the thing that should chance vnto him In the .2 booke the 18. Chapter AT the houre and time that ye shal be wounded to death defending the lyfe of another the martirdome being yours and the profite other mens the recompence that ye shall haue shall be a great and an euill contentation and a putting off from the thing that ye desire most to approch vnto Then your good cutting and rich sword shal so bruse your bones and cut your flesh in so many places that ye shall find your selfe weake and faint of bloudâ— and so outrageously pursued that if halfe the world were yours ye would giue itâ— so that your sword were cast into the depth of some profound and déepe lake wherout it can neuer be drawen therefore thinke vpon your destinie the which shall be suche as I haue tolde you Amadis excuse that he calde not his companions with him to be at the combat for he himselfe had taken it in hande In the .2 booke the .19 Chapter MY Lords I pray you all to haue me excused and not to be miscontent with me assuring you that if it had bene in my choise to haue chosen a companion to be of the companie considering the great valiant actes whereof euery one of you is prouided I should not haue knowen whome I should haue chosen But Ardan for the hatred that he beareth me and for the loue that he hath to Madasâ—me would fyght alone against me and seing that he hath so required it I could not nor ought not to refuse it exâ—ept I should haue shewed my selfe a slâ—thful coward and to make a contrary answer not conformable to his request and demaund And when he would haue taken mâ— knights with him where thinke ye I should haue sought for ayde or succoure but among you â— considering ye do know that my force doth it selfe double with yours when we are togyther Amadis answer to Ardan Canille that defyed him before the king In the .2 booke the .10 Chapter HOw now que Amadis do ye thinke that I haue not heart ynough and right to abase the pride of suche a man and so
bold as Ardan is I ensure you that if I had not enterprised to fyght with you I would be content to do it and onely to let the mariage of you and Madasime And for this cause the hostages of whome ye vaunt your selfe should not differ and delay to do their diligence and dutie for I trust to reuenge the good and the valiant king Arban and Angriot of the great iniurie and wroÌ„g that they receyued being prisoners Ardans replication to Amadis I Haue caused them saithe Ardan to come with me knowing that ye would demaund and aske for them although that I haue good hope to set them againe in the power of Madasime and also to giue hir therewith the halfe of your bonet in witnesse that it pertaineth not to suche a Lord as ye are to haue and to hold any such braue and vantageous purposes with me and to giue hir so doing great pleasure It shall please our king that she be set in some euident and high place to the inteÌ„t she may euidently sée and behold the vengeance that I shall take vpoÌ„ you and the vnfortunate ends whereof ye shall dye The Oration of Gandadel before king Lisuard against Amadis and his aliance to put and to bring theÌ„ out of the kings fauoure In the .2 booke the .20 Chapter SYr I haue all the time of my life desired to kéepe the faith that I owe vnto you as to my king and naturall Lorde and shall do if God be pleased For beside the oth of fidelitie that I haue and owe vnto you for ye of your gracious goodnesse haue done me so greate good and pleasures that if I should not counsell you in that I shall sée to touch your royal maiestie I should greatly fault against God and man By the meanes whereof Syr after I had very long bethought me vpon this thing that I shall declare vnto you repented me oftentimes that I had deferred it so long not for any enuie that I beare to any man God be my witnesse but onely for the inconuenience that I sée ready if ye promptly and wisely do not remedie it Ye know that at all times there hath bene betwene the realme of France and the realme of England great coutrouersie bicause the kings your predecessors haue continually pretended a right of soueraintie and although that for a certaine time this quarell is swaged so it is very like that the French men remembring the warres and damages that they haue endured and suffered by your subiects shall secretly in their hearts and courage take couÌ„sell to reuenge themselues And Amadis the which is the head and principall of them all is not come after my opinion into this countrey but to do it to practise and to winne men with the which ioined to the might that he may cause to come shal procure so much busines that so it may chance it shall not be easy for you to resist him and lo there is already apparance thereof Sir he of whome I speake vnto you and they also of his aliance haue done me so greate honor and pleasure that I and my children are greatly bound vnto them And if it were not that ye are my liege Lord I woulde not for any thing speake against Amadis I am so much hys friend and seruant but in things that respect your person God send me to die sooner than I should spare any liuing man no not my owne childe Ye haue receiued Amadis with so great a number of his parents and other strangers into your Court as ye are a good prince a liberâ—ll and of a noble courage that at length their company and folowers shal be found greater than yours Therefore sir it should be good and well done to prouide before hand or euer the fyre be through kindled The Kings answer to the forsayd Oration BY my troth my friende I beléeue that ye do aduertise me as a good and faithfull subiect Neuerthelesse considering the seruice that they of whome ye do speake haue done me I caÌ„not comprehend nor perceiue in my mind that they will do me any cowardly or euill turne Gandandels replication to the king vpon the selfe same purpose and in the same Chapter SYr he answered this is it that doth abuse you for if in times past they had offended you ye would take heede of them as of your enimies but they haue knowne and wisely do know how to disguise their treason vnder an humble manner of communication accompanied with some seruice the which they haue already employed and done wayting for an opportune and a good houre Amadis request vnto king Lisuard to giue Galuâ—nes the Iland Mongase In the selfseme Chapter SYr although that I haue not done you hitherto so muche seruice as I desire yet I haue taken courage trusting in your great liberalitie to aske you a gift the which cannot turne but to your honor and moreouer binding them to whome ye shall graunt it Furthermore sir said Amadis the gift that I and my companions being present do pray you to graunt vs is that it wold please you to giue to my Lorde Galuanes the Ile of Mongase for the which he shal faithfully he sworne vnto you and do you homage marrie Madasime this doing Syr ye shall enrich a poore Prince vsing and shewing mercy to one of the most fairest gentle women of all the world Amadis Oration to king Lisuard with the whiche he leaueth and forsaketh his company In the selfsame Chapter SYr I haue hitherto thought that there was no king nor Prince in all the worlde that had better knowledge in thinge of vertue and honor than you but yet now we perceiue the contrary by the experience that ye haue giuen vs so that we seing ye haue charged and taken new counsell will go and séeke a new fashion and maner of liuing Amadis Oration to Oriane by the which he declareth vnto hir that he is constrayned to go out of the kings seruice In the selfsame Chapter MAdame saith Amadis we must néedes do that he hathe commanded vs otherwise we shuld offend your honor abiding against his will in his seruice seing that he mighte presume and thinke that we in no nother place coulde not méete any that would receiue vs therfore I pray you not â—s take it euill if for a time obeying him I be constreyned to depart froÌ„ you You know the power that ye haue vpoÌ„ me and that I am so much yours as you may wish and desire and also I know well that if I shoulde be euill reputed ye are she that woulde receyue and take thereof most displeasure so greatly ye loue me and so well ye do estéeme me the which thing causeth me agayne to pray you to take my absence in good part and to giue me leaue to depart vsing still your accustomed constancie and vertue Orians answer to Amadis excusing hir selfe to him In the same Chapter MY frieÌ„d answereth the Princesse ye are greatly to blame thus
should giue any occasion to you or to any other to falsifie or to breake it Grasinde speaking to Amadis otherwise called the Knight of the greene sworde dothe prayse him for keeping of his promise In the same Chapter BEléeue Knight of the gréen sword that if I haue had in time past good estimation of you that now I haue much better séeing that so faithfully you haue kept promise with me being returned from your iourney or euer that it be past ended the which thing maketh me beléeue that you seing you haue not fainted in that will do likewise in this that I haue purposed to put you to ensuing the purpose that we had togither a little before you tooke shipping to go into Gréece Amadis sorowing the absence of Oriane In the .3 booke the â—1 Chapter ALas my louer the long absence of your person hath giueÌ„ me so great passions and sorowes that if it had not bene for feare of the displeasure you should haue had for my death I had bene buried long since and depriued of the greatest goodnesse that could haue chaÌ„ced vnto me that is to haue the sight of you Ha my eyes are you not to blame thus to draw out by force of wéeping the little humor wherewith my heauie heart doth nourish it selfe considering the returning to hir for whose seruice only my spirite is content to be resident and remaine in this painfull heart also if you should haue no hope to sée hir againe yet you haue had more goodnesse through the fauour that she hathe shewed you in times past than euer you deseruedâ—â— And furthermore you may be assured that the stablenesse of hir is so constant that for any accident or chaunce that shall happen vnto hir she feeling in hir heart my fidelitie can not vary and suche that I had a great deale rather die a hundred thousand times than to lose hir good grace Gandalin goeth aboute to turne his master Amadis from sorowe and heauinesse wherein he sawe him for his louer Oriane In the .3 booke the .12 Chapter YOu are que Gandalin a straunge personage thus to punish your selfe when you shoulde comfort your selfe and take a good heart considering that we be in the way to returne to my Ladie Oriane that causeth all these sycknesses and as I thinke you should doe well to drawe you from those thoughts that thus do cause you to die For it is hard if ye fall not then into sicknesse when ye shall haue most néede of health and so ye prepare a worse infirmitie and sicknesse than was before of the which ye shall afterwardes repent you at leasure The Oration of Grasinde to the knight of the green sworde to draw him to hir amitie In the .3 booke the .12 Chapter VNderstand knight that a yeare before ye entred into this countrey I being in a company that the Duke of Basle prepared and made in his owne house wherevnto all the faire ladies and damsels of the countrey were called and inuiteâ— euen as we were in the midst and force of our good théere I cannot tell what moued my brother the Marques of Salander whome ye knowe full well in whose garde and kéeping I was then when he said with a loude voice before the assistance that my beautie was so excellent that no other of the companie ought in nothing to be compared to me and if there were any knight that would hold and sustaine the contrarie that he was ready to fyght with hym Yet eyther bicause he was â—eared and redoubted or it maye be that the opinion of the assistence was such no man wold say against it By the meanes whereof I beare the honour away aboue all the faire ladies of Rome whereof I had such pleasure and contentation as ye may estéeme and if by your meanes I may go further and come to that that my heart hath since desiredâ— I shall estéeme my selfe the most fortunates of all the world The lamentation of Bruneo of Good Mer the which being in the pray and custodie of Amadis fell into the hands I cannot tell of what trayters the whiche wounded him very sore In the .3 booke the .12 Chapter AHah caytife infortunate Bruneo of Good Mer now thou séest well that thou must néedes ende thy dayes with affectionate desire by the which thy faithfull hart hath bene so long afflicted Alas Amadis of Fraunce my good Lord ye shal neuer sée your faithfull companion Bruneo For séeking you as your welbeloued sister Melicia commanded him he is fallen into the handes of traytors that shall sley him without hauing of ayde or succoure of any of his friendes Ah ah fortune the enimie of my good houre thou hast set me so farre from all remedie that I haue not the meane only to make any man to vnderstand how to reuenge me the which thyng should be vnto me such a comfort that my spirite with better will and contentation shoulde depart out of this wretched and miserable world Alas Melicia the floure and glasse of all the most perfectest of the worlde ye shall léese this day the most faythfullest seruant that euer had Lady or Damsell for he neuer thought in his life but to obey please and to serue you And by my soule if ye consider it well ye shall fynde it may be so that this is an extreme losse for you being assured that ye shall neuer recouer any other that is so giuen vnto you as was your Bruneo the wyche doth féele euen now that the light of his life doth go out and his afflicâ—ed heart to léese his strength with the which to remember you onely I at other times haue had meanes and wayes to do many high actes of armes and of great cheualrie Thus I recommend him vnto you desiring you to fauor him and to entreate him as one that neuer fauted in his faithfulnes Alas death that takest me away thou dost shew thy selfe too sharpe and too rigorous towards me causing me to lease all my goodes my pleasure and my ioy not that I will expressely blame thaâ— for depriuing me of my life but for that thou hast not sâ—ffered me or euer I died to accomplish the thing that Melicia had greatly charged me withal the which thing was to â—ind hir brother Amadis Alas this was the first commaundement that euer she made me and shall be as farre as I sée the last whereby I féele my torment to double For if I had had a meane to haue satisfied hir I would haue thoght my trauel wel bestowed But what my louer ye shal léese me or euer I haue had the power to recognise the graces and the fauors that ye haue done for me and shewed meâ—assuring you by my God that I would neuer haue feared death but well to haue finished and ended my life louing you with great affection But yet my euill houre hath depriued me of so great goodnesse causing me to fall into the perill and danger wherin I am The
the which thing cannot be slacked if thou Emperoure to much hated of good fortune do not shewe thy selfe the most faintharted Prince that euer was borne of mother An exhortation of Mabile to Queene Sardamire to dispose hir to learne pacience in hir aduersitie nor to be astonied at fortunes inconstancie In the .4 booke the .1 Chapter IN good faith my Lady it becommeth as I estéeme a princesse so wise as ye haue bene alwayes reputed to fall into suche extremitie for the vertue of a wise person cannot be knowen but when tribulation commeth sodeinly vpoÌ„ him And further more you that doe beare the title of a Queene ought by good reason to be more constant than a simple damsell should be or any other person vnworthy of the place and kingdome that ye possesse Do ye not know that fortune is mutable and that she will take away hir fauor from whom it pleaseth hir and call it agayne when it seemeth good vnto hir So then séeing that the Emperoures armie is defeated and your selfe at this tyme to be in the handes of the knightes of the inclosed Iland it followeth well that ye should take this chaunce paciently and beare it wisely when that ye cannot amend it be you also assured that ye are in the power of those that shall do you all the honour seruice and good intreating that they may deuise And if the Prince Salust be deade what remedie ye cannot call him agayne with your wéeping these be the common turnes and chaunces of warre to those that séeke theÌ„ And therfore madame if it so please you be no more heauy but vsing your accustomed prudencie and wisedome take the things so as they may chance and come Queene Sardamires answer to Mabile declaring vnto hir that â—he hath a iust occasion to be heauie for the inconuenience that she is fallen in and that it may please hir to coÌ„sent to beare with hir in hir affection The .4 booke the .1 Chapter ALas quoth she it is eâ—sy to him that is in ioy to comfort as ye do the person that is ouerwhelmed with displeasure Neuerthelesse if ye selfe the heauinesse that presseth me ye would peraduenture lament me more than ye do yet I knowe that ye say the truth and that it is impossible for me so at this time to commaund and to rule my selfe to beléeue your counsell Therefore I pray you for the honor of God that excusing my imperfections ye will ayde me your selfe and all these other Ladies also to lament my euill houre and mischaunce irrecuparable The replicatioÌ„ of Mabile to Queene Sardamire declaring vnto hir that to be heauie for the thing that is happened is not the meane to help it In the .4 booke the .1 Chapter MAdame sayd Mabile if ye for our heauinesse of the thing that ye pray vs for might be the better I sweare vnto you by my faith that there is not she in this company as I thinke but would with good heart employ hir selfe but ye know that when the thing is dâ—ne the counsell is taken thus ye may know that of necessitie ye must make an ende of your wepings be it with the time or rather by your prudencie and wisedome Amadis Oration to his companions declaring vnto them the thing that he had vnderstood by Oriane whiche tendth to this that king Lisuard had changed the mind which he had to marry hir to the Emperoure furthermore praying him to prepare him selfe to succoure hir in hir great trouble In the .4 booke the .3 Chapter MY Lords yesterday my Lady Oriane seÌ„t vnto me praying me that we should fynd some meanes to restore hir to the good grace and fauour of the king hir father and to deliuer him if it were possible of the fantasie that he hathe to marrie hir to the prince of the worlde to whom she beareth little amitie or loue for otherwyse death shal be to hir more agreeable And therefore I thought it good after that I had spoken with some of this companâ— particularly to vnderstand generally of you al what ye thinke for séeing that we haue bene companions to set hir at libertie it is very reasonable we should be to maintein hir but first or euer we enter any further into this matter I pray you to haue before your eyes that euen now your renoume is so knowen thoroughout all the world bicause of the high chiualries that ye haue done that there is this day no King Prince nor Knight of whome ye are not fearâ—d and redouted knowing that to obtaine laude and praise immortall ye haue not only little regarded the great riches and good intreating that ye might haue had in your owne houses but also the bloude of your proper and own harts the which ye haue not spared to cause the most hardie and bold to féele the edge of your sword to the great danger of your persons Whereof the woundes that ye haue in diuers parts the markes and witnesses of your noble actes may giue suche faith and testimonie that fortune hirselfe is bound vnto you whereof she willing to recompence you hath put into your hands and gâ—uen you this glorious victorie that we haue had ouer the two greatest Princes of christendome Not that I will speake of the destruction of their people only being of little merite towards vs but for the succour that ye haue shewed to the most wise gentle and vertuous Lady of the earth the which was at the point most wrongfully to suffer a worse entreatment than may be thought And thus ye haue done right great agreable seruice vnto God executing the thing to the which ye arâ— expressely called that is to sucâ—oure and to help the afflicted from wrongs that men without reason cause them to suffer And if the Emperour and king Lisuard if it so like them will be angrie wroth seing that the right is ours God y which is iust will be with vs also and in such sort that if they of themselues know not what is reason and beléeue by theyr power to ouercome our force strength I promise my selfe hope well that we may so resist theÌ„ that as loÌ„g as the world shal be a world continue there shal be a memorie and a remembraÌ„ce therof Therefore aduise euery one of you what he shall â—hinke best to be done either to make an end of the war that is begon or to make a meane for peace deliuering my Lady Oriane to the king hir father euen as she desireth for as coÌ„cerning me ye shal vnderstaÌ„d that I will no nother thing but that which shal please you nor my fantasie in thys â—hal be no nother than yours knowing you to be such your vertue to be so great that to die for it ye would not go from the magnanimitie of your corages nor suffer the thing wherby our honor be it neuer so litle shuld be abased or diminished The OratioÌ„ of Quedragant to Amadis answering that
to â—e preferred aboue al persons and for whom I haue oftentimes put my body in hazard aud peril of death hauing no other hope of them but to please God and to augment my name in this world the which was the onely cause that last moued me to absent my selfe so from these câ—ntries to go serch among strange nations those that had néede of my helpe where I haue had many perillous aduentures the which thou hast séen and maist report them vnto him Also I comming to this Isle was aduertised how that King Lisuard forgetting the honoâ—r of God the right of men the counsell of his and the instinct of nature that euery good father dothe commonly beare to his childe woulde as it were by a certaine manner of extreme crueltie driue from his countreys my lady Oriane his owne daughter and principal inheritour gyâ—ing hir in mariage against hir will to the Emperour Patin Whereof she made her complainte not onely to those of the Realme of England but required also aide and succor of all knightes that beare armes aswell by letters messages as other wayes praying them with hir handes ioyned together and abundance of teares to haue pitie and compassion of hir miserie And so much she could do with prayers huÌ„ble Orations that the Lorde of all things hath loked mercifully from heauen vpon hir gyuing the addresse and helpe to the knightes that are nowe in this place to assemble them as it were by a miracle where I founde them as thou knowest purposing to aduenture their lyues to set hir and the other that perforce accompanied hir at libertie considering that doing otherwise they in time to come shoulde haue bene blamed giuing occasion to many to presume that cowardise only had turned backe this ayde so greatly recommended and for persons of the qualitie that they be By the meanes wherof the conflicte and battel chaunced vpon the Romanes â—uen suche as thou hast séene it of the which we haue many prisoners and the ladies out of their handes But to make a meanes for their appointment to King Lisuard Quedragant and my cousin Lorian of Moniaste departed lately with an expresse charge and commaundement from vs all to beséeche him take the thing that we haue done in good part and to receiue to his good grace and fauour my lady Oriane and those of hir companie being yet well minded if he will not receiue this offer audaciously boldly by the meanes of the aide of our good friends alies to defend vs against him of y which number Gandalm thou shalt say vnto him that all we together do estéeme him the first chiefest praying him most humbly that he will â—â—ccorâ—s when néede is 〈◊〉 thâ—â— the Quéene my mother also kisse hir hands in my name say 〈…〉 that I pray hir to send hitheâ— my siâ—ter Meâ—â—tiaâ—◠〈…〉 company with these other ladies with whom she may sée â—earne mâ—inie things But or euer thou depart know 〈◊〉 of my cousin Mabile whether it wyll please hir to sende anye thyng thither and therâ—with that thou aâ—ayâ— to speake to Oâ—iane the which will not be so straunge to thée that thou shalt not vnderstande of hir in what estate hir health is and the good will she beareth me Amadis letter to King Tafiner of Boeme praying him to succour him in his great affaires In the .4 booke the .4 Chap. SYr if euer I did you any seruice that any time contented you the honor and the good receyte that I receiued of you and of yours al the time that I soiournd in your Court haue caused me to remaine and as long as I shall liue to be readie not to spare my person to obey and to saue you Therefore I beséech you most humbly not to estéeme that this thing which hath caused me to dispatch this knight and bearer vnto you is to haue any recompence Neuerthelesse I remembring the honest offers that you made me at my departing from Boheme I haue boldned my selfe to send him vnto you to require you effectuously to helpe me in a certaine affayre that is nigh me of the which he shall certifie you beséeching you syr to beléeue him as my selfe and to commaunde his dispatch as sone as it shal be possible to put him out of paine that for you would hazarde his life the whiche is Amadis of Fraunce surnamed in many places the knight of the gréene sworde The deuice of Orian to Gandalin vncouering to him hir heauinesse and that he would finde meanes she might speake with Amadis whome she loueth so well In the .4 booke the .4 Chapter GAndalin my friende what thinkest thouâ— of fortune the which is to me so contrarie that it depriueth me of that person of all the worlde whose frequentationâ— I loue moste being so nigh me and I wholly in his power This notwithstandinge we can not haue the meanes priuily to speake togither without offending my honor and that greatly wherby my heart endureth such paine that if thou knewest it I beléeue certenly thou woldst haue more pitie on me thaÌ„ thou hast the which thing I pray thée shew him to the inâ—eÌ„t that complaying me he may reioyce of the greate affection that dayly increaseth in me to will him well also that he finde some fashion or meane that we may see one another repayring to some part with his companions vnder the collour of thy voyage and of my comfort Gandalins answer to Oriane aduertising hir that she be not deceiued in the singular loue that she beareth to Amadis for his amitie is stedfast as he dayly doth shew in all his actes In the .4 booke the .5 Chapter MAdame que GaÌ„dalin ye haue good cause to beare him such amitie and to remember also the remedie the which he desireth aboue al things for if ye knew the extremitie wherin I haue a hundred times found him ye would not beléeue with what power loue doth rule him I haue séene him dye a thousand timâ—s remembring the fauors that be past the whiche ye haue shewed him and as often times by the remembrance of them to recouer life And I haue séene him among the great dangers of the worlde do seates of armes caling vpoÌ„ you to succoure him so that it is not easy to be beléeued that any knight might haue in hym so great valiantnesse Therefore Madame I pray you to haue pitie on him and to entreat him as he deserueth assuring you that there was neuer a more faithfull knight nor more yours than he is nor there was neuer Lady that had such power vpon a man as ye haue vpon him for in your hands they may entreat of his death or of his life euen as it shall séeme good to you The Oration of king Lisuard to the Queene his wife declaring to hir the wrong that they do vnto him taking the Romanes that conducted his daughter and yet that she dissembled the matter as much as she might so doing he
which do send you word by vs that passing ouer laÌ„ds and straunge countries searching for aduentures as other wandring knights are acustomed to do specially to succoure and help the féeble whome men do vse outrageously and without reason they haue bin aduertised by many that ye sir folowing rather a light and a disordinate wil than iustice and equitie would not beleuing the counsel of any of yours disherite with great iniurie wrong my Lady your daughter marying hir to the Emperoure Patin againste hir will and in very déede taking no compassion of hir nor of hir teares and wéepings and lesse regarding the end of such an enterprise and that your subiects were not therwith conteÌ„t ye haue deliuered hir to those that demaund hir And bycause such vniust wayes are not onely displeasant vnto God but also to those that heare men speake thereof he hath suffered that we should set a remedie and that the Romaynes which conducted them and the Ladies and damsels should come into our hands the whiche defending themselues against vs were destroyed and some slayne and all other taken prisoners And as for the Ladies I do declare vnto you that they at this present are in the inclosed I le with a good and a great company of knights apointed and minded to shew them all the honoure that may be possible for their intentioÌ„ was neuer to trouble you nor them also but to mainteine equitie and to kéepe them from force and violeÌ„ce euen as you your selfe made them sweare at Windsor And therfore they pray you that preferring vertue reason aboue al passion it wolâ— please you to receiue my Lady Oriane your daughter from henceforth to entreate hir not as a straunger but as a father ought to entreat his daughter not putting hir thus awaye from you nor from your countrey whereof if it please God she shall be after you Quéene and Lady and if you féele any iniurie nor will not incline to their request they pray you that for their sakes ye will not denie hir your good grate and fauor but that ye she reigning as she was woÌ„t to do in your court may assay hereafter if ye thinke it good to take suche vengeance of them as ye may assuring you sir that they be purposed and intend if ye assayle them to defend theÌ„selues Therfore aduise you if it please you to make vs an answer for ye haue in your hand either peace or warre The answer of king Lisuard to QuedragaÌ„t declaring the great wrong and iniurie that the knights of the inclosed Ilande haue done him and that he will not receiue them to his fauor vntill they haue made amends for the iniurie that they haue done him In the .4 booke the .7 Chapter MY masters quoth the king forasmuch as vertue dothe very seldome accompany temerarious orations or bold answers and that nother the one nor the other are sufficient to encourage the minds of the weake harted I wil not make many words with you but vsing more pacience thaÌ„ I shuld vse with you it shall suffise you to declare that I know well ynough that the enterprise that hath bin done by those of the inclosed Iland was more executed by presumption than by the magnanimitie of courage whatsoeuer ye haue said now in such wise that forasmuch as ye esteme to haue gotten honor yet euery man of good iudgement shoulde blame and rebuke you for why it is no great matter to trouble or to destroy them that take their iourney without suspicioÌ„ or feare and specially when they thinke to be among their friendes And as touching the demonstration that ye haue proposed here tending to call my daughter Oriane againe withoute putting hir farre from me ye are not they vnto whome I must giue account of the things that I do but to God only the which hath constituted me after him the soueraygne in this land for to gouerne and rule the same and the people that doth inhabit it Therefore I am not minded to enter into any treatie of peace with them vntill they haue recompenced me of the iniurie that I haue receiued then I will aduise me of the thing that they request me of and not before Grumedans Oration to the Ambassadors declaring that he is very sory for the trouble that is chaunced and that peace can hardly be intreated In the .4 booke the .7 Chapter BY God my good Lords I am very sore displeased for this new trouble I had a continual hope that I should see you one day as welcome to the court as euer ye were but now I do well assure my selfe that the peace which was hoped forâ— shall come very slowly without the helpe of our Lorde the which doth know the hart of Amadis whome I would neuer haue thought to be in the inclosed Iland for we had newes that he was lost foure yéeres since and I wonder how that he so readily and in time is come to the succoure and help of my Lady Oriane The Oration of king Arban of Norgales to king Lisuard vpon the enterprise of the warre against Amadis and that he shuld aduise himselfe well wisely to conduct it and if he coulde rather to practise a lucratiue peace than to put himselfe in the perill of warre In the .4 booke the .8 Chapter Syr seing that ye are resolued to make war against Amadis and those of his league that ye haue not found theyr offer good that they haue made you ye must so aduise you to conduct it that the glory may coÌ„tinue with you for notwithstanding we hold for certain the victorie to be in the hand of God the which doth giue it when and to whome it pleaseth him and coÌ„monly after the merites of persons yet we must not before we take it in hand leaue off diligently to prouide for all things requisite and necessarie there vnto and that without dispraysing of your enemie and esteming him suâ—ficient to put you to much paine if fortune do fauor him considering that ofteÌ„times a man trusting too much to his right or in his strength commeth to ruine and totall destructioÌ„ by him that thought through too great presumption the victory to be due vnto him And yet if ye consider wel with whome ye haue to do I thinke that a profitable peace shoulde be for you as honorable as a warre that is in hazard and that may turne to a great consequence Ye know that Amadis and the other of whome he is supported are all good knightes and men of great courage and al of the aliance of kings and puisant Princes the which will neuer fayle them to die for it And on the other side and part ye know that the most parte of your subiects neuer tooke nor found that deliberatioÌ„ to be good that ye tooke in a manner by your selfe vpon the mariage of my Lady your daughter to the Emperoure whereof this warre is nowe moued And thus ye may be sure that whatsoeuer
that thou hast begonne so vnwisely against the knighte that is entred into my land and countrey vnder the suretie and assuraunce of my faithe Arte thou hytherto ignorant that I for nothing that euer shoulde chaunce vnto me would not do contrarie to my promise but to my power kéepe it estéeming it more than thée or my owne lyfe by the faith that I owe vnto God it letteth very little that I cause thee not to be hanged at the corners of this place to be an ensample to suche naughtie fellowes as thou art enimyes to truth vertue Take take me this villaine and binde his handes and his féete and that afterwards they doe beare him to the knight saying vnto him from me that I send him the traitour that hath offended him and me much more and that I pray him to take the vengeance for vs both that he hath merited and deserued The Oration of Belan to the chiefest of the armie presentyng himselfe in Amadis name knowledging that vniustly he woulde haue warred agaynst him In the fourth booke the 37. Chapter MY Maisters if ye maruel of my coÌ„ming to you so greatly vnprouided I my self haue maruelled of that that I knowe hath chaunced vnto me beyng since the time and ageâ— of my knowledge in continuall deliberation to â—lea and kyll him whom I loue and estéeme thys day as my selfe and thus it is not to be doubted that the executions of mens wils are more in the hand of God than in the power of those that will execute them as I by my selfe haue experimented for there is none of you as I beléeue but knoweth me to be the sonne of the valiant and doutie Giant Madafabul the Lorde of the Isle of the tower Vermeile whom Amadis slewe in King Cildadans warres when he caused himselfe to be named the fayre Tenebreus And for asmuch as naturall reason did incite me to take vengeance the contrarie hath chaunced for he with his owne hande hath ouercome me and destroyed mée The lamentation of Queene Brisene for King Lisuarde which was lost declaring the mobilites of fortune In the .4 booke the .38 Chapter DEceitfull and fearefull fortune the hope of the miserable and cruell enimie of the prosperous haue I nowe occasioÌ„ to praise me of thée for if in time paste thou madest me ladie of many Realmes obeyed and honoured of so many people and aboue all marriedst me to a mightie and a vertuous King in one onely moment thou hast caused me to leese him thou hast taken from me all the ouerplus of my honour and goods seyng that vpon him hung all my ioy and honour anâ— my life And therefore I knowe well that thou reioysest to make me paye the interest of my pleasures the whyche in tyme paste thou hast lent me But why doe I complaine me of thée hauyng of so long tyme perceyued and knowne that this is thy fashion to doe at the furdest deathe shall make an end of al that thou canst inuent to hurt me and hauing this hope I will comfort my selfe and of thy selfe shall haue the victorie The consolation of Grumendan to the Queene Brifane beiâ—â— too much discomforted for the losse of King Lisuard Iâ— the .4 booke the .38 Chapter BY my trothe Madam ye do wrong thus to take the thingâ— to the worste seeyng that I haue hearde you recite a hundred tymes that the â—â—ertue of prudencie and wysedome cannot be knowen in any person except he be solicited and veâ—â—ed with tribulation and affliction so then the counsell that ye were wont to giue to other is nowe more than necessarie for your selfe And is it but nowe or to daye that ye knowe that fortune hath two daughters the one of many is called good and the other euill If the good haue accompanied you vnto this time and that the euill doth visite you in hir plaâ—e arme you as a vertuous princesse with the armour of constancie and wisedome to defende you against hir and ye shal see that she will be annoyed to followe you and shall leaue you or else I foresie as touching you two accidentes and chaunces nighe at hande and irreparable the one of the perdition and losse of your selfe and the other of the king if at his returne he doe finde â—ou deade To saye that he is loste are but wordes for he cannot be so hidden but we should â—ither sée him or haue some newes of him whether he be in this country or in anye other nor his prison or captiuitie can not bee so strong but by the ayde of your subiectes and the fauour of your friendes and aliance he maye be delyâ—â—red and very shortly if it please Godâ— And thus I beséeche you Madam that leauyng of the things that to you are hurtfull ye séeke for newe counsell and comfort to come to that that as concerning this maybe necessarie A leâ—er from Queene Brisane to Amadis praying him to succoure king Lisuard the which was prisoner In the .4 booke the .38 Chapter MY Lord my sonne if in times past the estate of king Lisuard your father hath bin defended and augmented by your meanes it is now a better time and season than euer it was to employ your selfe seing the ruine that is prepared to kéepe and to conserue him in his entire estate for not loÌ„g â—ince some of his enimies as it is very lyke haue conueyed him and imprisoned him so that neuer a one of vs can tell where nor wherfore the which thing causeth me to esteme that without occasion of any greater enterprise they haue not premeditated or forethought this treason And for as much as this thing toucheth you next vnto me more than any other I haue well willed to aduertise you by Brandonias this present bearer the wâ—ich hath séene and vnderstanded all and shall tell you the passion and trouble that I am in betâ—er than I can write it vnto you wherefore I pray you to beléeue him as my selfe and to aduise you of the rest Vrgand doth comfort Oâ—iane much troubled for the losse of hir father king Lisuard the which was taken exhorting hir to pacience and to put all to god In the .4 booke the .38 Chapter MAdame quoth Vrgand I pray you not to discomfort you so knowe ye not that the more that men be called to great roomes the more they be subiects to receiue great tribulatione for notwithstanding we be all of one mould all bound to vices and passions equall to death yet the Lordâ— omnipotent hath made vs diuers in the goodes of the worlde giuing to one authoritie to other subiection to some pouertie and miserie to other abundance and prosperitie and all as it pleaseth him And therfore madame compassing and comparing the goodnesse that ye haue had with â—â—e euils and troubles that ye are in the dolour and heauinesse with the pleasures paâ—times which are past ye shall haue no cause so to complayne you but to thanke the Lord seing it is hys
his owne affection And so thou shalt haue in remembrance as well to hide my thought as I haue had paine first to open it vnto thée The answere of the dwarffe Busaneo to Niquea assuring hir so to be hirs that he woulde not to die for it doe the thing that should offend hir In the .8 booke the .18 Chapter PArdon me Madam for ye doe me wrong beyng in doubte that I am any other than obedient to youre will. Also I would sooner chose to die than for any thing to transgresse it beséeching you moste humbly to beléeue that your Busando hath no more power vpon himselfe than it pleaseth you â—o giue him So then commaund him hardly all that shal please you and with so much faithe that he shall kéepe it so close as though ye had shewed it to no other but to your owne soule estéeming me to be so greatly beloued of vertue that she as touching me shall ouercome all things that I may thinke to be contrarie vnto it The Oration of the knight of the burning sworde to Lucelle the Princesse of Siceli declaring â—nto hir that he is vehemently wounded with hir loue â—umbly beseeching hir to feele in hir selfe this great amitie and to haue pitie of hys payne and dolour In the .8 booke the .21 Chapter WOuld God Madame that loue had as well employed his forces and strength vpon you to my aduantage as he hath willed to do towardes me making me wholly yours and so greatly affectioned to honour you and to serue you that if all things went by reason the flames that burne my heauie hearte shoulde be the meane to giue me suche quiet and rest that you your selfe féeling the thing that causeth me to suffer would blame your selfe to esteeme and thinke your selfe so cruell But séeing that my euill houre dothe consent that I alone should suffer I estéeme the trauel fortunate and luckie if it content you trusting that I knowyng my selfe such as touching you wil haue pitie vpon me if not shortly at least waye in time trusting so in your goodnesse honestie that ye knowing that ye are the cause of my martyrdome will not be so cruell as to suffer suche a knight as I am and onely borne in this worlde to obey you and to â—â—eâ—se you in all that yée shall thinke good to commaunde hym to dye so miserably and wretchedly The answere of Lucelle to the knight of the burning sworde causyng hym to vnderstande that she beareth him as good affection as she maye in true and faythfull amitie and to marrie together if she maye doe it In the .8 boke the .21 Chapter AH ah my friende quod the Princesse howe say you that to me thinke ye that I holde you so farre from reason to thinke in your minde that I would knowledge the seruices that ye haue done for me to be things vnmete for my honor Beléeue me that ye shall not liue béeing deceiued in the loue that ye beare me for I loue estéeme you so muche that if all the Monarchie of the world were set on the one part and you alone on the other and that the one and the other wer at my commaundement I would accept and choose you for my onely lorde and husbande rather than to remayne ladie and empresse of the rest And this is it that causeth me to be very sure that your heart doth not desire nor would not thinke vpon any thing wherof my reputation might haue any â—lur or the least blame that any man might presume Likewyse I will sweare vnto you that no other but you shall at anye time possesse my heart for it is and shall be yours as long as I haue life in my body to will you well The knight of the burning swords letter surnamed Amadis of Grece ansvvering to Niqueas letter aduertising hir that he is redy to come to see hir seing she hath graunted him hir good grace the which shal cause him liue content In the .8 boke the .22 chapter MAdame I haue receyued the letter whiche it hath pleased you to write to me by this bearer and reading it I by by felt my heart inclined to doe you all the seruice that shall please you to haue of it desiring no greater goodnesse than to sée and to enioy your presence being well assured that my eyes receiuing this fortune that your two swéet and pitifull eyes shall haue compassion of the euill that I suffer for the thing that I neuer offended So that I ye giuing me a certaine parte in your good grace shall lyue contente and you obeyed and honoured by him vpon whom you haue entier commaundement the which desireth you to doe so much for him as to suffer and to set an order that he may sée you and kisse your diuine handes recognisyng the grace and fauour that ye haue shewed him sending him worde of youre will by Busande the whiche he shal take payn to accomplish euen as I haue prayed him to shewe you by mouth whome ye may beléeue if it so please you as from your most humble and obedient seruant the knight of the burning sworde The complaint of Onoloria for the absence of Lisuard and and therfore she prayeth him to haue pitie of hir extreame dolour and to come vnto hir In the .8 boke the .36 Chapter ALas my deare friende wherevppon thinke ye nowe to leaue hir thus alone and not fauoured whose esperance and hope is more than halfe dead For as the shadowe doth augmente at the departing and going downe of the Sunne and rendereth terrour obscuritie and darkenesse to fearfull and not well assured heartes in lyke manner feare you beyng absente and out of my syght dothe holde me so assieged that it forâ—aketh me not one houre but dothe what it can or may to cause me to léese you and my lyfe together Therefore nowe O my swéete lyght and my onely sun aduance you come to giue cléerenesse to my spirite whiche is now so obscured and dusked with mortall noysomnesse that the first newes that ye shall heare of me poore woman shal be as I thinke the desperate ende of your Onolorie the whiche doth no lesse serue you and call you to hir helpe and succour than she is easye and ioyfull of your libertie and deliuerance The Oration of a Trumpeter to Queene Liberna from the people of Abernis praying hir to excuse them and to pardon theyr faulte that they haue committed against hir Maiestie In the .8 booke the 31. Chapter MAdam your humble subiects constrained by the violence of Abernis to take armes and to warre against you doe praye you in all humilitie to receiue them from henceforthe vnto your good grace and to forget the faulte that they haue committed against your maiestie vnder this charge and condition that in time to come they shall be faithfull and obedient so much or more vnto you as other subiectes or vassalles the which are in other prouinces and countreys The Queenes
and mine and with what weapon thou wilt choose the campe being before the palace of the right puisant Emperour of Trebisond And to the intent thou despise not this combat bicause thou art presented by a woman I do open vnto thée that the custome of Sarmate hath gotten and procured me the possession of cheualrie and the name of a knight and in such sort that the victorie that thou shalt obtayne vpon me if thou obtayne it shall be very noble bicause of diuers other that I haue won vpon many as valiant as thou art the whiche haue proued the force and strengthe of my armes And thy auncient glory shall be nothing the lesse notwithstanding the good countenance that fortune hath born thée and shewed thée hitherto but greatly aduanunced hauing the vpper hande of suche a Quéene and so mightie as I am and that desireth to extinguish to hir power this cruelnesse wherewith the beautie of thy eye can ouercome as men say and conquer the high Ladies and damsells that sée and behold thée A letter from Lisuard to Abra the Empresse of Babilon wherin he sheweth the causes of his comming to Zairs countrâ—y and the good cause why he slew him and he declareth the good affection that he beareth to the foresayd Abra. In the 8. booke the .36 Chapter SOueraygne Empresse of Babilon and of the Parthes Lisuard of Greece Infant of Constantinople and Trebisonde and the seruant of Iesu Christe doth gréete you and honor you as your highnesse doth merite Ye shall vnderstand right honorable Lady that the imperiall bloud of Greece ioyned wyth the glorious and inuincible Englande hathe broughte me to the place where truely I haue founde the meane to reuenge the iniurie that I receiued by the prince Zair In doing whereof and with so good and so iust a cause I thynke that I haue not offended the great obligation wherein verily I am for the loue that ye say ye beare me greatly bounde vnto you Also the desire to do you humble seruice is not as concerning me diminished in me but as long as I shall liue I will be yours as I am without altering the fidelitie that I haue born to my Ladie Onoloria my deare sister and wife Nowe madame somwhat to answere the letter that it pleased you to write vnto me and specâ—ally vppon that ye complayne you of the sea that may glorie in it selfe hauing in it the bodie and the bloud of the Prince Zair I thinke sauyng the better aduice he coulde not haue receyued a more glorious sepulchre being honoured as ye doe publishe it with so great a multitude of waters whiche after your iudgement should estéem him more than their own Neptunes And if heauen will rauishe him out of the abysines to place him more higher who can wishe him better Certes the one and other are more méete to lodge him than the earth whereof he â—ath lost the possession yea he should thinke it too little to containe in it selfe the bodie of him whose vertues and valiantnesses are inenarrable and innumerable Thus madame I besech you most â—umbly to diminishe your passions whiche thyng reason shoulde sooner doe than the tyme knowing you to be as sage and as vertuous a Princesse as any in all the world By the occasion wherof I haue considering the latter lynes of youre letter conceiued more pitie of your euil than of any feare of the thretning that ye threaten me withall to purchase and to séeke my death the whiche chauncing to me by your meanes ye shall be but easily satisfyed and shall léese if ye léese me the best and the moste affectionate seruant that euer ye shall haue and so ye shall fynde me where and when it shall please you to employe me or commaunde me without sparyng of lyfe and a doseyn if I had thâ—â— in obeying of you The answere of the Infant Lisuard to the Queene of Caucasus letters by the whiche he dothe aduertise hir of the receyte of hir letters and that he accepteth the combat and remitteth to hir the choyce of armes In the eight booke the .36 Chapter RIght highe and myghtie Quéene of Caucasus I haue perceyued and knowne by the brief and letter which it hath pleased you to sende me that the occasion of your commyng to Babylon was vpon the hope of the marriage that shoulde haue bene betwéene you and prince Zair whome I caused to passe by the file and edge of my sworde saying that through his death ye wyll lyue a widow at all pointes bicause there is no man liuing worthie to haue you Truly madame the highnesse of your estate and the beautie that doth accompanie you with this valiantnesse whereof ye are renoumed doth right well merite that men shuld estéeme you such a one as ye are But I wil neuer easely consent that ther are not other Princes Lords and knightes ynough and as good or better than Zair to ioyne with you in mariage and to satisfie and supply his defaulte As concerning the rest I promise you that I am sore displeased for the combat and fight that ye wil enterprise at al vtteraÌ„ce assayes against me For ye being but a womaÌ„ are more to be feared for your great beautie thaÌ„ for the force of your armes considering that I am more accustomed to put my life in hazard to serue you other lyke vnto you than to defend me to fight against them But yet seing that in regard of this ye woulde be rather taken for a valiant a hardy knight than for a swéete a gracious damsell defying me as concerning your own person and mine I accept it And to reserue apart the obligation that I owe vnto your seruice I remitte vnto you the election and choyce of armes For I trust so much in your natural goodnesse that you your self shal be wonne of your self without séeking the victorie vpon you wherby I may rather defend my self against those that haue occasion to enterprise to assaile me As concerning the campe and other things required by this prudent Lady they shal be graunted you as she hath of your parte demaunded them The time shall be fiftie dayes hence to the entent that with the solemnitie of so glorious an enterprise my mariage may the better be celebrated and honored Niquea the Princesse of Thebes letter to the knight of the Burning sworde by the which she praiseth him and doth labour to insinuate hir self in hys loue and to come thervnto she sendeth him the portraiture of faire Ladyes In the eyght booke the .40 Chapter NIquea the Princesse of Thebes giueth and sendeth salutatioÌ„ to the knight of the Burningsword more valiant than anye other that euer bare armes Your excellencie shall vnderstand that I haue receiued the letter that ye haue written vnto me and I haue heard at length the credence of this my faithful Busando the newes of his high chiualries that hath so often enuironed and compassed the world so that my
moste certaine that there is no martyrdome nor no displeasure that tormenteth a man more than where fayth and true amitie make their habitation Alas my Amadis founde ye euer in me any other thing than affection and good will towarde you Did I euer thing were it neuer so little to cause you to be miscontent By my God ye doe me wrong The Oration of Abra to the Princes and people of Babilon complayning hir of the death of Zair their Prince incyting them to take armes as well for the death of Zair as to resist the Christians In the .8 Booke the .65 Chapter ZAir the last Sommer had enterprised a iourney to Trebisonde trusting with a perpetuall peace and amitie to take and to make an aliance and to marie the Emperours daughter But the euil houre succéeded so that the Souldan frustrated of his intentioÌ„ lost his life as it is manifest to euery man Therefore my Lordes there is not one of you vnto whome such an iniurie doth not redounde your Prince being so euill entreated and finally slaine and with his hande whom I my selfe had chosen and elected for my Lorde and spouse Truely the loue that I bare him hath béene euill recompensed plucking out the bloud out of the bellie of so noble a Prince of the Babilonians and of an infinite of other your friendes parents and kinsfolke And in such a sort that if you well considered how all is past it shall be founde that either your fathers or your brothers or your cousins in particular and general haue béene meate vnto the monsters of the sea their bodies being depriued of all honourable sepulture and buried among the waters of the déepe Abismes Shall this iniurie be forgotten at any time Shall the name of Babilon be made a fable vnto all those that shall heare men speake of their mischiefe Shall the iust veÌ„geance be ended without doing of any other thing Ah ah ye stoute Kings I adiure you by our high and mightie Gods that euerie one of you take his armure not onely to cause it to be knowne throughout all the worlde that ye be the dominators of all Princes that doth offende you but the scourge and chastisement of all nations The Christians as it is reported to me do assemble themselues cause a brute that they will come and finde vs and chasing vs out of our proper heritages proclaime Axiane the sonne of Zirphee Emperour of this Monarch But if ye will beleeue me we shall set them farre from their accountes and go to preuent them and to set them forwards entring into the Empyre of Trebisonde the which being sacked and destroyed we shall passe on to Constantinople where that fire and the edge of our swordes shal be the executours of our vengeance sparing neither king nor man woman nor childe being assured that if ye woulde set forth your ensignes and banners in the fielde that they should resist vs no more than straw agaynst fire And this is the cause Princes most excellent why I sent for you praying and commaunding you that in most greatest and most extréeme diligence ye may possible to cause the Drumme to sound throughout all your Countreyes and to assemble both horsemenn and footemen Galies Ships and other vessels as wel for warre as to carie vittayles that we our preparation being readie may finish and ende the rest of our enterprise so as I haue tolde you the which thing shall be vnto you verie honourable and profitable In the meane while I will sende to my friends and allies requiring and warning them to be fauourable vnto vs and to ayde vs considering that this déed and matter for the reason and cause that I haue declared vnto you doth touch them the Christians being willing to inuade as well theyr Countrey as this here if we will indure and suffer it Niquea preferring Amadis of Grece honour aboue the pleasure that she had of his presence doth suffer him to go and succour his father Lisuardâ— In the .8 booke the .74 Chapter MY Lorde the loue that I beare you is so perfite that vneasily I may giue you councell that shoulde be sounde and to me agréeable in this that ye demaund but yet greater is the force of your honour and renowne séeing that it hath béene the onely meane of the goodnesse that we haue the one of the other And for this cause ensuing and following reason and considering that no Emperour nor King shoulde make himselfe subiect if it were possible nor pay any tribute I thinke that you and I ought to neglect and forsake our pleasures to haue a respect to the thing that beséemeth you for the conseruation of you and of your estate Therefore I giue you if I shoulde so speake all the leaue that shall please you although that in veritie and truth it be due agaynst my will estéeming and holding it great glorie thus to captiuate my selfe to permit suffer you to haue such libertie by the which ye shall execute and cause to be knowne more and more the excellencie of your valiantnesse and high cheualrie The heauinesse of Lisuarde for the death of his wife Onoloria in the .8 booke the .73 Chapter ALas alas fortune what doth rest and remaine from henseforth to satisfie thée to trouble me Wilte thou haue my life a hundred a hundred times thou hast drawne me from the place where I had forsaken thée and yet for all that thou hast taken fro me to cause me to die a hundred tymes vpon a day my deare wife and spouse and hast by this euill houre and chaunce brought vnto me all the other that thou hast reserued and kept for me O God God eternall alas my friend my wife and my faythfull companion ye are all things considered wel at ease liuing in heauen and I remayning and dwelling among such and so great melancolies and heauinesses Pardon me I pray you if I lament wéepe for you too vndiscretely This is not for the good chaunce that ye haue but for sorrow that I do not follow you and accompanie you in your â—ases as ye haue fiftene or twentie yeares folowed me in the most part of my trauels Gradasilea doth comfort king Lisuarde shewing him that heâ— must be constant in his aduersitie and not to sorrow for death so much In the .8 Booke the .73 chapter HOw nowe my Lorde is this the magnanimitie of heart that is woont to be in you haue ye forgotten that you and I are borne to die Thinke ye to reuiue my Ladie againe by wéeping or thus tormenting your selfe she is certainly very fortunate and happie wherefore then do you lament hir so greatly She hath shewed you the way and doth tarie you in the place where one day if it please God we shall see hir Leaue these teares such exterior appearances to those that haue no hope in the second life comfort your self in the lord beséeching him to giue you the vertue of pacience
and such as is necessarie for you for the glorie of his holy will. The letter of Abra to Lisuarde by the which she comforâ—eth him for the losse of his wife and of his sonne aduertising him that he ought to search hir amityes with promise to graunt it him In the .8 Booke the .71 Chapter ABra the Empresse of the Babilonians Princesse of the Parthes and commaunding thréescore kings my vassalles gréeteth you Lisuard of Greece Emperor of Trebisond halower of the waters of the Sea with the royal bloud of Zair my very honorable Lord and brother Ye shall vnderstand noble prince that yesterday very lately I knew of the visitation that fortune hath made you by the death of your dere spouse and of your onely sonne Amadis of Greece whereof I promis you I was greatly displeased For notwithstaÌ„ding that the obligatioÌ„ that I haue to the iust vengeance of him of whom I am sole inheriter and to the wrong as ye know that you your selfe did me do greatly constrayne me to hate you to death yet cruell loue that doth dayly vndermind my heauie heart to loue you but too much will not suffer it to consent to the ruine and destruction that I haue prepared for you The whiche truly doth cause me to name you and that of right a louer and a friend of the high Gods the whiche haue founde and thought it good to proue your courage and extreame constancie not onely by the strength of manye a braue man and beastes more cruell the whiche ye haue conquered and tamed but also with the rodde of their might and supreme power they haue punished you with so hard and gréeuous persecutioÌ„ that I being your enimie as I am haue felt it in my soule so that I wept with both my eyes iudging thereby what that dolour and heauinesse might be that ye suffered for the losse of your wife and louer so déere and your only sonne so commeÌ„dable And yet being true as it is true indéede that the consolation of the vnfortunate is to find their like Yet ye haue some occasion to moderate this greate anoyance by that that I beare euen such another or there lacketh very little as yours is Ye haue lost as men say your wife and I could neuer recouer him whome I only merited to haue to my Lord husband that is your selfe that hath made me oftentimes maruell howe it was possible that so great amitie might conceiue in heart so great hatred where such conformitie ought to be represented And yet if ye way all things well the time present doth shew you him whome ye ought to folow in time to come And that it is so ye sée the end wherevnto your great prosperities haue brought you The heauens are not alwayes in one being nor Lisuard also ought not to be continually victorious nor Abra alwayes ouercomde by him What then must I sorrow and be heauy for the mischance that maketh and aduanceth at the sight of the eye a better fortune than I may wish for and that doth promis me a sure recompence of the loue that I haue nourished so long in my soule yea and vntill he put him into my hands that so cruelly and by so many long dayes hath illuminated and inflamed my heart the which I already haue almost distild in the fire of Ielously Truly all things well considered it séemeth Lisuard that the time approcheth in the which I may execute vpoÌ„ you the vengeaÌ„ce that ye haue merited finishing my anguishes and the hatred that I beare you by the augmentation and increacement of loue the Gods giuing you the knowledge of the euill that ye haue done me with the will to aske me pardon and me to graunt it you Therefore I counsel you to preuent the time and sooner to beléeue my aduice than your owne opinatiue will knowing the forces that I haue so nigh vnto you and well minded to do you more harme than I desire ye shoulde haue The answer of Lisuard to Abra giuing hir thanks for hir good will and that he feeleth himselfe very fortunate to be retayned in hir good grace and fauor In the .8 booke the .76 Chapter MAdame I haue presently receyued your letter that it pleased you to write vnto me and by the same ye do certifye me of the trouble and anoyance that ye felt for the vnfortunable chance that happened to my dere companion and spouse to my sonne Amadis and principally to my selfe for the loue of them For the which I cannot sufficiently thanke you assuring you that I estéemed no otherwise of your honestie knowing it to be no lesse accompanied with clemencie swéetenesse and naturall goodnesse thaÌ„ with vertue prudeÌ„cie and kingly nouriture Yet for al this I at the first was astonied how it might be possible that ye shoulde iudge me fortunate to be thus touched as I am with the rodde of God and to haue lost so much if it were not for this that I hope to haue for my pacience a reward in another life And moreouer I do maruell of this that ye mainteine and compare your losses to mine vnto the which vnder your correction there is no similitude at all For I haue lost my Lady and my louer and ye haue yet in me a seruant well affectioned and shall be as touching you all his life the honor and duetie of the estate reserued as it ought to be and in such sorte that notwithstanding the greate enmities that ye haue against him he will assay and inforce himselfe to obey honor and serue you Trusting so much in the goodnesse of God that promptly and within a short season my iustice shall be knowen and youre wrong made manifest reproued and of your owne proper conscience finished Ye furthermore write vnto me that the tyme dothe approch that fortune shall deliuer me into your handes in recompence of the paynes that ye haue suffered in louing me to much I know not why ye should hope so for the thing that ye haue already for I sweare vnto you by the God of heauen and of the earth that there is not a gentleman in all the world that is more yours and more at youre commaundement than I am or that loueth you so muche or more The whiche thyng ye shall knowe where and when it shall please you to commaunde me aduising you for the rest not to trust so much in fortune as ye séeme to doe For althoughe she hathe for a trouth bene now entierly againste me it is not said that she will fauor you in all poyntes iudging in your selfe as ye very well doe counsell me One good thing I haue that the threatning that ye about the latter end of your letter do threaten me withal doth so much assure me that I feare a great deale more the swéete casting of your swéete eyes than the fury of all your souldiers togither kissing for the rest the handes of youre highnesse euen the same that desireth to haue a
there And for this cause and occasion we bring in these vessels the excelleÌ„t Quéene of Caucase by whose meanes our enterprise toke place Nor I will not denie that I haue offended you but I trust so much in your fatherly goodnesse that forgotting my faulte considering to whom I haue vowed my selfe ye will pardon me the which thing I require of you with all reuerence Your most humble and most obedient daughter Niquea Amadis of Greece letter to the Soudan of Niquea declaring vnto him the meane of the mariage of him and his daughter praying if he finde himselfe offended to excuse hir and to pardon him In the .8 booke the .84 Chapter SYr the loue that might haue solicited you in your youthe after shall put you sufficiently in remembrance in what paine and little ease they do liue that are ouercome with the passion that I haue séene you suffer waiting for the ioyfull hope of you Nereida and it shall be if it please you to excuse the fault that I haue coÌ„mitted against you aswell for deceiuing you vnder the name and habite whiche was borowed as making the mariage of my Ladie your daughter and me whereof yet ye should not be miscontented with me considering the beauties the perfections wherwith she is indewed from heauen and the iust occasion that I by your selfe haue had to chose hir to my wife and suche a louer as she is to me yet for all that syr if ye finde your selfe in this or otherwise offended I pray you most humbly to blame loue only and to pardon vs both seyng that the noble bloude of Niquea can receiue but glorie and honour by the aliance and kindred that from henceforth it shal haue both of that of Fraunce of Constantinople and of Trebisonde of the which I am descended principall heire And for this cause we goe presently towards the Emperour my father that shall receiue my lady your daughter so well that it shall be a pleasure for you to vnderstande it and to me a sure contentation Trusting syr as touching the rest to be from henceforth such as concerning your selfe that ye shall haue a great cause for this respect to finde al that is past good and reasonable vnto this day that we kisse your hands in all humilitie Your most humble and most obedient sonne Amadis of Greece The Oration of Lisuard to Abra Axiana and other exhorting them to peace and perpetuall amitie In the .8 booke the 90. Chapter VErtuous princesse you excelleÌ„t Ladies ye haue séene and sufficiently ynough perceiued what issue this warre hath had that was begon long since ye know also as wel as we the occasion why it was enterprised and afterwardes sharpned and made worsse and nowe that the affaires be in hand as ye may know and consider it séemeth to vs iust and reasonable seing it hath pleased God the creator to lend vs so faire a victory to assay and proue to make peace and amitie where warre and discord hath had vigure and strength so long time And to come to this after long and ripe deliberation of counsel we are of this aduice mind and do ordeine that you madame Abra shall leaue to my Lady Axiana the Empyre of Babilon euen as she and Zarafiell of good and famous memorie held it and possest it and that ye should peasably enioy al the rest notwithstanding it was conquered by the vertuous and sage Prince Zair or any otherwise The peace remayning perpetually betwéene you two the thyng shall be so well parted and deuided that ye shal haue greatly and abundantly wherewithall to entertayne your estates and to content you And to the intent quoth he to Abra the yoÌ„g infants and princes which haue accompanied you may be partakers of the pleasure of this amitie and confederation we wil marrie them worthily and so that they shal haue great occasion to thanke vs And this for a resolutioÌ„ of that that we toke deliberation of to certifye you and to declare in so high and to so great assemblie praying you both to find oure aduice and counselll good and as it is reasonable for the wealth and highnesse of the one and the other to follow it For as concerning vs we wyll holde vs onely to the honoure that it hathe pleased GOD to graunte vs withoute vsurping or taking of any thyng vpon those that are ouercome whether it be by raunsome in money in lands or possessions An elegant and a pitifull Epistle of Lucell Princesse of Sicilie to Amadis of Grece charging him of vnfaithfulnesse of leafings and of temeritie In the .8 booke the .93 Chapter I Cannot tell by what occasion thou false and vnfaythfull Amadis I haue taken ynke and paper to write to thée this Letter if it be not vpon the hope I haue that ye shall not so soone sée it but that the wrong that ye haue done me shall cause you to waxe redde for shame and that remorse of conscience shall prepare in you such heauinesse that there shall not bée one day of all your lyfe but that thing the which yée haue purchased for me so cursedly shall displease you and in such sort that ye shall receyue part of the punishment that ye deserue betraying me so falsely for louing you so well and faythfully Truely when I thinke of the thing that is â—haunted I surely thinke that I dreame or to be out of my witte But alas to whome shall I go Is it possible that yée bé◠the Knight of the burning Sworde that ouercame the seuen kéepers of the Castell and that did rule and tame the strong Gyantes of the Isle of Silenchiâ— and of whome the renowne is this day so cleare both in the East and in the West Truely it shoulde bée harde to thinke it for where that promise and chiualrie is so commended full vneasily there maye bée resident a heart so cruell and so full of lyes as yours hath shewed it selfe vnto mée abusing and deceyâ—ing mée vnder the colour of amitie and the assuraunce of maryage to sette and bring you to the place where I truste that repentance shall bée the executour of my vengeance But what I féele nowe that ye are farre from honour and vertue that hitherto yée are not ashamed of the thing that maye bée sayde vnto you and whereof â—ée maye bée reproched so that it maye beare good wytnesse of the iniurie that ye haue done to your selfe chaungâ—ng so famous a name to take that with the habite and rayment of a woman verie vnméete and vncomely for those that will shewe the estate of magnanimitie and highnesse Alas when the fidelitie of your Grandfather the good King Amadis dothe present him before my eyes the proofe that hée did that daye when he wanne the gréene Sworde and Quéene Oriane the Kercher none lyke it the entering and comming foorth of the one and other vnder the Arke of faythfull Louers the glorye that youre father Lisuarde receyued by the hâ—â—mâ—tte
Damselles the good subtiltie that ye haue vsed to finde â— mâ—â—nes for the deliueraÌ„ce of Doâ— Floâ—isâ—lâ— the which is fallen into the handes of the Princesse Arlande of Thrace a thing that ought to make you immortall for euer seeing the danger that ye put your selfe in to shewe so perfect amitie And to shewe you truly what we doe thinke we fynd the acts that ye haue done and doe so excellente and noble that by good reason all the worlde shoulde wishe for suche a personage as was the Grecian Homere to describe your high and heroicall actes to giue an ensample to the posteritie and to intiâ—e them to ensue the lyke Great Alexander néedeth not to goe before you nor Anniball nor yet the Scipions for if they haue had great victories it hath hene with the multitude of men but you alone haue wonne so muche that yée ought to holde and kéepe the hyghest roome not onely among the wyse and valiant men but also among the women more noble All the hygh acts of armes that the noble Quéen Gradafilea did ought in nothing to be compared to yours for al that she euer did was through the force of loue whiche is inuincible and to conserue hir integritie but ye were only moued by a certaine naturall and natiue vertue to doe him good whom ye in no maner of wise knowe not and not to him onely but to all those vnto whom ye perceyued iniurie and extortion to be doone the glorie and the laude whereof redoundeth vnto you Certainly the faire and chaste Iudith that cut cruell Holofâ—rneâ— head off to obserue and kéepe hir chastitie nor Cleopatra that ouercame hir brother Ptolome nor Quéene Fantasâ—lea with many other ought in no wyse to be compared or made equall wyth you which dothe not onely excell all menne and women in vertue and valiantnesse but also in excellence and perfecte beautie exceptyng none nor thys fayre Syluia the whyche as wée haue vnderstanded ye preserued from cruell death when shée woulde haue slayne hir selfe nyghe vnto the Fountayn of loues of Anasterax â— for the absence of Dom Florisell the whyche is bounde vnto you all hys lyfe long and I also for the goodnesse that ye haue doone for me in sauyng of him Notwithstandyng truely as I thynke hée shoulde not séeing the promise that he made me at his departing from hence to be in Apolonia at the aduenture of the contention of the foure brethren haue strayed nor haue cast himselfe into so many ieopardous aduentures without sending mée newes of him yet I will not wryte vnto him least that presenting my fynger vnto him hée take the whole hands considering that his comming hyther shall certifie vs of his béeing so farre off and of his so grieuous absence so that it please you of your goodnesse to suffer him to returne vnto whome you and I are so much bounde for the goodnesse that we haue receyued of him that it is impossible for vs to satisfie him nor you to giue him condigne thankes But Madame we shall pray the Creator to giue you such and so good peace as we desire for the warre that doth torment vs presenting our most humble recommendations to your good Grace Your great friendes and readie to obey you Helen of Apoloniâ— and Tymbria of Boetia The defence of Raison vpon the difference of honour and loue In the .9 booke the .53 Chapter HOnour and you loue it greatly displeaseth me that yée cannot agrée as touching the health of these two armies yet forasmuche as the poynte and the truth of your rightes cannot be knowne but by the effusion of humaine bloude or by the victorie of one of these two armies the issue wherof â—oth depend of the will of God I can giue you no other counsel but to let your men ioyne to the ende that the vengeance and iudgement of God maye be vmpere and arbiter of your difference and debates A propheticall letter of Anaxenes a Philosopher and a calker to Dom Florisel of Niquea In the .9 booke the .54 Chapter MY Lorde the king Arpilion and the Quéene Galathea his verie deare companion and spouse haue charged me to present with a verie good heart their recommendations vnto your good grace and I of my part do no lesse which am theyr Philosopher and a master of arte Magicke Understand my Lordâ— that the goodnesse and valiantnesse which I know to be in you haue prouoked me to aduertise you oâ— certaine great adueâ—tures that shal chaunce vnto you the which I haue foreséene and knowne by my science learning and by the high secrets of arte Magicke and to the intent ye may auoyde and escape them with your honour I send you the helmet that yâ— lost in the sea when that by tempest ye were separated from Siluia the which shall doe you good seruice in a combat that two braue Lions shall make yea for the price of your bloud and there shall come forth of those that fight a light that now is hidden in déepe darknesse the which shall giue light to all those that thought to haue lost it and so well that your â—ead being deliuered from the perill the whiche ye shall sée before your eyes men shall sée an olde wounde renued in you the which shall put you to extreme paine and yet cannot be eased vntill this soueraine remedie shal be multiplied in you and in all those that shall sustaine your part shal be newe woundes whereout shall come a bloud that shall moyst all the lande of Grece by the meanes whereof your body shall be deliuered by a general effusion vntil the payment be perfit Nor the prince the Author of this warre nor his friendes nor confederates shall haue it no better cheape than you aduertising you that the tyme of moste greatest daunger wherein ye maye hée shall be euen then when that the Lion whiche ingendereth the lawfull and legitimate Lions shall finde him selfe in more perill than you And a little whyle after there shall come euen sodainly a Bastarde the which shall beat downe with his brighte and shining armes the glorie not hoped for Then shall arise the sixe bastards and little Lyons the which shall awake their fathers by a more strange fashion than the Lyons progenitours haue giuen lyfe to their little ones and all that with encreasement of your great honour and the inestimable effusion of bloud on the one syde and other Therfore take good héede at the beginning of this euill whereof ye shall haue cause to laude him continually that is laudable aboue all things by whose permission and sufferance all this shall be doone and ye shall daylye holde his diuine hande in your defence Therefore doubte not at all for all thing shall chaunce as I haue tolde you praying you not to be curious to knowe more vntill the soueraigne iudge shall haue executed his determination and will to shewe you a warre whereof peace shall procéede And in this behalf I shal pray
Phalanges by the hand requiring you through amitie and loue to marrie mée and I make you lord of my person and of all my countreye bycause of the grace force valure and beautie that I know in you the which I estéeme no lesse than those that they haue reported to me of the excellent prince Phalanges of Astre Wherefore choose you now either to passe by the satisfaction that I offer you or by rigour of my lawes in the punishment of the refuse For I cannot anull my ordinances that I haue made but the husband of whome I shall be prouided shall haue power to abolish them Phalanges doth refuse the mariage preâ—ented for the loue of Alastraxeree of whom he is amorous and in loue In the .10 booke the .44 Chapter MAdame I do vnderstaÌ„d very well the summe of your coÌ„stitutions tending to the conseruation of mortall honor but of my part I am constrayned to kéepe inuiolably the diuine thoughtes in me infuded by the celestiall princesse Alastraxeree the daughter of the God Mars and of the Quéene Zahara but if they will force me to the contrary I had rather die in the fayth of my goddesse and more than that by so â—aire hands as yours be Therefore madame I put my life into your hands for the soule and the will remayne to hir vnto whome it is dedicated long ago For the rest I thanke the Gods and you for the honor that ye haue offered me y which I cannot accept Amadis of Greece speakinge to Lucell doth accuse and excuse him togither of the fault that he as touching him hath coÌ„mitted praying hir to forget it In the .10 booke the .54 Chap. MAdame I certenly do know that besides the â—eruent desire that the beautie such as yours is doth cause in euery person well borne there is yet a more like nature among certain that doth draw to one mutuall affection the whyche wise men do call Simpathie and yet engendreth a certayne entier feruent and inuiolable amitie of the which our firste loue betwéene you and me dothe gyue vs witnesse although it may séeme vnto you that my long absence hathe somewhat cooled it since that I haue bene alied by the force of certaine secrete destinies to another But ye see that this coniunction is not durable and that your fortune doth call mine backe to his first influence the which should cause you to estéeme that my desire hath slept onely as the fire couered vnder the cinders the which by by doth reuâ—ue more strong and more vehement than euer it was And thinke not Madame that there is in the worlde any moe than one way to such an extremitie of wills nor that ye can haue any other than me I being vpoÌ„ the earth we are as it were two lutes set in one tune so that the one giuing founde the stringes of the other not touched the which is set ouer against it doe moue and causeth strawe if it be laide vpon it to moue Madam if these reasons take no place in your vnderstanding at least wise consider you the stocke whose youg ones do norishe their dame as their turne dothe fall so you recognising the pleasures and seruices that haue first aduaunced you if not this riâ—â—rous penance shall make an ende of my miserable dayes Lucidors Oration to the Lordes and Ladyes beyng at Constantinople rehearsing vnto them diuers and perilous aduentures and denouÌ„cing the comming of diuers Princes wherof the companie maruelled verye sore and reioysed In the .10 booke and .57 Chapter MY Lordes the soueraine god and maker of this worlde doth cause vs to play heauie and bloudy tragedies when it pleaseth him and afterwardes comedies and ioyfull enterludes when his godly will doth beare and suffer it Wherevnto we must applie our obedient and subiect wills doyng and of necessitie following vertue without kicking against the spurre complayning in himselfe of his fatall ordinances he doth sende vs great aduersities to cause vs to knowe his greatnesse and our weakenesse and afterwardes raine and faire we at her in witnesse of his goodnesse the which will not destroy vs after his might and our demerite I will not put you in remembraunce of the miseries that are past but I will shewe you suche newes whereof I beléeue that none of you shall not coÌ„plaine that I toke the gantelet for in such things God hath vsed me for a meane as of a Scorpion that maketh the wounde and draweth afterwardes a remedie first I will come to you Madame Niquea declaring vnto you that your Amadis of Greece beyng inchaunted in the praye of the Princesse Arlaride bycause of hir brother whom he had slaine for the loue of you was not onely vnbewitched by my sister Lucelle but aduertised of the daunger whereby he saued him selfe yea after that she gaue him such decasion that â—â—eâ—â—at once he restored vnto my sister the pleasure that she had shewed him and conuerted the mortall hatred of Arlande into true and heartie amitie deliuering them out of the handes of a Duke a Pagane the which broughte them to Vengeance for his cousin the King Breon O what maner of eyes of â—ortune afterwardes we comming to succor these ladies we happened vpon him and knew him not where we had such a doe that ye may iudge his vertue In the meane while the false Duke had scapte him if he had not lept into the shippe the which did cary him among al his enemies where he had béen lost if God had not giuen vs so good an houre to depart had not drawen him out of â—o certain danger and peril The fortune of time caried vs to the Isle of Rhodes where that by straunge encounters and méetings this valiant Prince had such a conflicte againste the valiant Florisel his sonne that they both laye in the place for deade the braue Quéene Zahara in the fauour of the father sustained the matter agaynst the Princesse Alastraxeree and the Emperour of Rome against the strong Anaxaries and I agaynst the hardie Prince Phalanges But by the inconuenient chaunce of the father and the sonne the Quéene was knowen and made an ende of all our combattes declaring vnto vs after that the solemne teares were shedde vpon the two Princes that laye starke and styffe howe that by force of the inchauntment they came together another tyme of whome came the two Iâ—ells Anaxartes and Alastraxeree wherof they had had no knowledge nor remembraunce if at the seconde tyme they had not founde them selues together in the selfe same place that did put them firste in remembraunce of the ende of the charme And thus as we were in this discomfort we were all enchaunted and bewytched vntill the comming of the Quéene Argenes of the sage Alquif Vrgande and M. Elizabeth the whiche set vs againe in our estate ioyning therevnto the aduertisement of the wise Mirabelle by whom all the secrets of the Castle were discouered the father and the sonne healed of their woundes and
to doe to thine For the assurance of those condicions I haue signed this letter with my name and sent it sealed with hir bloude in thy presence as innocent as thine is euill and without faulte The Oration of Dom Florisel of Niquea to the assistance in Constantinople where he excuseth him of the thing that Sidonia dothe accuse hym of and giueth assurance to all those that vpon this quarell be willyng to combatte and fight In the .10 booke the .65 Chapter IF moste nobâ—e Lordes manne ought not by the lawe of true amitie spare body nor goodes in any businesse of his fréende what may hée then reserue at the poynt of the extremitie of his owne lyfe into the whiche the Prince Phalangâ—s was runne by the rigorous lawes of the I le of Guinday if I had not sodainly succoured and holpen him although to the preiudice of the fayth that I firste owe vnto God and after to my deare Lady Helen of whome I hope for no lesse pardon than of the diuine maiestie in like offence The Quéene that accuseth me is indued with so great grace and perfection that she alone maye inforce all humayne heartes to hir will and pleasure and if she complayne of the too solemne bande of fained mariages the mishap that is chaunced muste be imputed to hir selfe through the constraint of hir owne ordinances and lawes For all that I doe for satisfaction of hir honour wherewith they will charge me I consent that this present portraiture be tâ—ed to a corde the which shal be set vp in the courte of this palace and the chances of these poore maydens in another that the facte may be the better published and that the knightes through ignorance fayle not hir at the enterpryse of this quarell for the whiche euen nowe I sweare and promis such assurance as is conuenient in such a defiance to all those that are nowe in this citie and will enter in campe for hir against me that if the vengeance be due vnto hir it be not delayed on my parte Certaine complayntes extract out of the Eleuenth booke the first Chaptâ—r in the whiche menne may see Queene Sidonia complayne hir inconstantly ynough of loue O True dissemblyng of him the whiche vnder the image and name of an other did gather the firste flowre of my youth what ioy shalte thou bring me giuing me the meanes to quench and to mortifie the fire of his loue by the vengeance that I purchace vpon him for the outrageous rauishment of my honour For I haue concluded and appoynted to giue thée with my realme to whosoeuer shall present the head of the Father to the Daughter the whiche thing I beséeche the immortall Gods to consent and graunt for the iuste punishment of this false Prince a Grecian and in witnesse of my chastitie by him fraudulently defilâ—d my will beyng nothing bespotted nor violated O deare Moraisel into what excesse of torment haste thou caste me to enforce my will so affectionated towardes thée to sweare and to prepare for thée an immortall vengeance as to sacrifice thy heade to my vigorous honour and afterwardes to offer vp my life to thy shadow who euer sawe suche a confusion of loue and hatred or twoo suche extremities to extinguishe the meane and the way of honestie An other complaynt of Queene Sidonia In the .11 booke the 1. Chapter O Gods why haue ye not fulfilled me with the like fortune to that of this lady in ioyfulnesse of so excellent a Lorde if ye will not shewe me so much grace and fauour what reason had he to cause me to feele and taste the swéetenesse of his perfections and afterwardes to leaue me a famished martirdome of the swéetenesse of voluptuousnesse Oâ— loue I would gladly complayne me of thée that hath so vnfaithfully intreated me if thou dydst not beare thine excuse by the priuiledge of thy naturall reason and therefore I should doe wrong to founde me in reason againste him that vseth none I am in peace and in mortall warre I feare I hope I burne being as colde as yce I flie to heauen beyng wholy in the earth and yet nothing is done in déede I embrace all I am in prison that doth nother open nor shutte they doe lace and vnlace me with one lace Loue dothe binde me togither and vnbindeth me giuing me his grace and afterwardes taking it fro me a good and an euill houre in my chace doe follow me I sée my wealth and to my hurte I doe runne I am equally bothe life and death yea I purchace both life and death and I woulde perish and I demaunde succour in this state I am for Florisel Florarlam prayeth Arlande to declare vnto him what she knoweth of his parents In the .11 booke the .5 Chapter MAdame I am inforced then to confesse you a heart breaking that dothe torment me of the thing that I haue as I consider receyued of your grace to haue bene hitherto so well intreated the obligation whereof doth charge me with a déede that can not well be borne in asmuche as I know not yet who I am nor who was my father nor my mother if I knew they were of base condition I would so much the more acknowledge that the liberall nourishment that ye gaue me was of your onely fauour without my deseruing or any of mine And in case they were other I woulde prepare me to pray them for the satisfaction that I am indewed vnto you for the great goodnesse and honour that yée shewe me Therefore madame I pray you to alighten me of my greate sorow that I beare and suffer and to certifie me of all that yée know Arlande dothe wryte subtilly to Dom Florisel the whiche doth sende him his sonne to make hym knight finally she prayeth God to rewarde him for his deceytfulnesse In the .11 booke the .5 Chapter MY Lorde I sende you a Iuell whereof in time paste I robbed you and yet tooke nothing of yours that was subiect to the common lawe of the citie and yet ye haue satisfied me with the greatest goodnesse yée may wishe for in this worlde I trust that the confession that ye make shall discharge me of this faulte seyng that the restitution dothe folowe As long as he was in my possession I kepte him very carefully for my parte that I had in him nowe reason would that ye shoulde take care for yours whereof I am constrayned to aduertise you bicause yée shoulde no longer pretende any cause of ignoraunce This bearer Florarlan the fayre damsell willyng to obtayne laude ensuing the trace of hir aunceters desireth to be made Knight at the handes of the Emperoure your father I pray you to doe so muche for your selfe for hir and for me as to present hir In the meane while I affectuously recommende me to your good grace without hauing of any hope praying God my Lorde to render you the rewarde of your deceytes in like measure as ye haue measured to other
Florisel dothe wryte to Queene Sidonia that although shee pursued his death by the bringer of the letter yet he for hir loue saued his lyfe and is minded to doe so to all other letting yet all that he may that Diana drinke not of the cup that she hath promised hym In the eleuenth booke the .14 Chapter MAdame I sende you the salute that ye haue purchased to take fro me by this bearer to the whiche I haue giuen it for the fauour of your seruice as my will is to doe to all those that shall reclayme or speake agaynst you what daunger so euer my life be in The whiche I shall saue to my power to cause other to thinke vpon a better dowrie for Diana and vpoÌ„ a more honest cuppe to drinke in at hir mariage than in hir Fathers goblet Therefore I will sustayne this warre that yée deliuer mée vntill I haue wonne made peace with you and till shée haue founde a more kinde husband than he with whome ye would cause hir to couple and to ioyne hir hand defiled in my bloud the which is hir owne A letter from Abra moste diligently recomfortyng Amadis of Greece vpon the death of his wife Niquea In the .11 booke the .24 Chapter MY Lorde if ye should not suffer extréeme choler and heauinesse for the decease of your good companion the Empresse Niquea ye shoulde be defiled with too great inhumanitie and ingratitude seyng the heauinesse that straungers themselues doe make the whiche ye should haue felte more nearer than all other So swéete and so faithfull a coniunction cannot be departed without a great and a naturall heart breaking but after that the first motioÌ„ hath giuen his alaruin the sprite must come to himselfe agayne and take his breath considering that teares be but loste vpon a thing irrecuperable the torment vaine in a cace that is without remedie Doe ye desire hir yet in this worlde ye are enuious and doe hate hir wealth doe ye sorow hir ill she is in a life immortall muche more fortunate than is yours doe ye wishe to folow hir to the place that she is gone vnto ye shall offende God to labour to departe from hence before ye haue finished all that he hath appointed you to ende in this worlde Ye haue the renoume of magnanimitie among all knightes but if ye suffer to be thus ouerthrowne of your selfe ye shal léese at once al the victories that ye haue wonne vpon other so if ye shewe your selfe strong and vertuous to resist this gréeuous passion ye shall ioyne the heigth and fulnesse to the triumph of all your cleare and noble actes This acte of lamenting is an vnworthy acte for a man and much more for a Prince that should be an ensample of light As for the reste ye know that she was borne mortall and that we shall not tary long after hir to set the countrey at libertie Aduise you then by wisedome to drie vp your teares for vnto the ignorant the time dothe issue at length conformyng your selfe in all things to Gods will. Abra the Emperesse of Constantinople and Princesse of the Oriental regions Arlande dothe complayne hir of the doloures that loue dothe cause hir to endure and suffer afterwards she prayseth the beauties of Cleofila In the .11 booke the .89 Chapter AH ah loue wherein haue I offended thée to intreate mée thus cruelly arte not thou of a straunge nature to torment and martyr those so extréemely that hide thée and inclose thee in the closet of their brestes and if they lefte thée forth to giue thée ayre wilt thou rewarde them within with refuse and pulling them farre from the wealth that they approched vnto loue if this be to assay the constancie of thy subiectes is not mine sufficiently proued by the lengthe of tyme if this be to cause the suger of thy sweete drynke Ambrosia to sauer better by the sourenesse of thy firste iuyces this thing is so greate that it may dull the tast of the palate sâ— greately that it shall haue no vertue nor power to féele the swéetenesse of thy celestiall meate I say not that the appetite dothe not awake and quicken through falling and abstinence but yet a man may suffer so greate famine and hunger that the bowelles may shrinke and so the appetite is loste O loue I knowlodge my crime in that I haue bene bold to vse such amorous language and woordes to so chaste a Lady I ought to haue bene contented with hir good chéere with hir amiable deuices with hir swéete lookes and to be shorte with hiâ— fayre simple and hir gentle receyuing looking at hir discretion for the gifte of hir gratious graunt Ah ah false tongue that doest afflict and punishe all the reste of the body by thy forfast vomiting out at all aduentures the thing that had bene better vnspoken than spoken nowe I would gladly teare him and teare him with my téeth if I trusted not that hereafter with an honorable amendes thou mayest yet vnto hir amende thy faulte and render vnto this weary body some pleasure in rewarde of the ill that thou doest cause it nowe to suffer O God what an euill is it to be depryued of all the goodnesse that I receyued of hir riant and laughyng eye of hir Golden mouthe of hir hande taking mine for there shall neuer be Lady better spoken better manered as I beléeue nor hath bene nor neuer shall be Doth Diana auaunce hir of hir beautie Cleofila doth not owe hir very much she maketh much ado of hir whitenes defacing the snow the brownnesse of my Quéene is wel mingled with ruddinesse the whiche is not so very smothe nor wanton the fashion of hir body is slender and so rounde as it were made after a towrâ— hir disposition so ioly that it séemeth O loue that thou arte tied to all the endes of hir members and that thou doest daunce and playe at all hir ieâ—tes and mouings for shée hath a perfect grace and a certaine good comelinesse in all thing that shée sayth or doth she hath no name the whiche dothe dayly halfe inrich hir beautie wheresoeuer she dothe méete with hir and where there is any fault she doth â—â—uer it with hir diuine clearnesse and so that I beléeue Venus your mother is no other thing than hir grace or if it be so hir onely companion And who would not perish by the sight of such a Basiliske and whose eyes would not vasell at the brightnesse and clearenesse of such a Sunne Dom Rogel doth pray Leonida to hold and to take him for hir knight In the .12 booke the .1 Chapter IF ye knewe the greatnesse of your beautie as well as it is imprinted within my heart I am certaine Madame that ye woulde easily excuse the boldenesse that I take vpon me to declare vnto you the dolours which I féele dayly to increase in meâ— by the swéete violence of your diuine perfections And for as much as ye are the
ye should beare me For it séemed to me if ye had loued me so much as I loued you ye would not haue deferred the healing of my sickenesse so long as ye haue done Alas Madame howe farre are ye deceiued if ye thinke that I at any time haue the power to repent or to go farre from the great loue that I haue borne you and shall beare you as long as the spirite shall breath within my body for truely there is nothing in the world that was more impossible for me Think not at all Madame louing you as I doe loue you that euerâ— I coulde fall into any repentance of your loue considering the glorie and pleasure that I finde in louing of you I pray you then to giue me life through your fauour to my great ioye or shortly to send me death through your disfauour to make an ende of my anoyance and of the dolour in the which I shall continually remaine vntil ye giue me rest and the tranquillitie that your letter dothe promise mée and looking for so great and good and houre I kisse a thousand times your fayre and delicate handes A letter from Filisell of Montespin to Marfira complayning of the long terme and time that she hath set him to haue the ioyfull pastime whereof he had alreadie tasted and he prayeth hir to alleage it In the twelfe booke the .14 Chapter DOm Filisell of Montespin doth sende to the faire and gracious Marfira health the which he hathe losâ—e by the moste gréeuous sickenesse that he as yet hath proued Alas Madam if euer I loued you with good affection nowe I die wholly for your loue and if euer I had any hope to reioâ—ce of your diuine beauties now I am at the last in desparation bicause the long time that I must tarie without hauing any more the ioy of the goodnesse and pleasure whereof through your good grace I haue tasted and sauored the tranquilitie and gracious swéetenesse If before this I haue had any desyre I haue desired it after such a fashion that I knew not the thing that I desired But now being learned by experience I know that I desire the most pleasure and goodnesse that is possible to desire sauing one other that I knowe but ye maye not know it although the pleasure that I desire be extréeme Hitherto Madame I haue tormented my selfe to sée and to beholde the apparant graces of your beautie by the whiche yé◠maye make subiect to your seruice the fierce heartes of men more than barbarous but nowe I torment me to reioyce and play with your graces secretes of the which I among all other haue merited the pleasure Alas Madame cause I beséech you that so great goodnesse as ye haue shewed me turne me not to greater euill and denie me not the remedie which kissing your fayre and white handes I pray you to graunt me as soone as the dolorous passion in the whiche I am doth requyre it Filisels letter to Marfira reioysing himselfe and giuing hir thankes for the good houre that shee caused him to haue praying hir to continue vnto him hir grace and fauour In the .12 booke the .15 Chapter DOn Filisel of Montespin doth sende to the fayre and gracious Marfira the salute whereof he enioyeth to his great contentation The glorie wherein I am is so great that I can not tell with what wordes I ought to prayse it so that the prayse may be compared to his greatnesse O I the most happiest of all knightes of the worlde séeing it hath pleased you Madame to make me worthie through your fauours of the thing that I by my selfe could in no wise decerne This letter is onely to cause you to vnderstand my great ioy by the which ye are now indetted to me for the thing that hath caused me to merit it that is that I returne very shortly vnto you to take and to haue the selfe same pleasure of your beautie that it pleased you the last night to graunt me so that by this newe ioy I may rewarde the anoyance that I endure in the time that I cannot finde the oportunitie of so great a pleasure Wherefore Madame I pray you continually to intertaine me in such a good houre that if ye haue béene the cause that I am nowe exalted to so high a degrée that hereafter ye be not the cause of my miserable fall and ruine But to the entent ye shall not reprehend me of too great importunitie I will make an ende of my letter kissing a thousande tymes your white and delicate hands in remembrance of the peace that folowed the warre that is past I recommend me to my deare Caria praying hir shortly to purchase me the tyme so greatly desyred in the whiche I maye renue the fortunate occasion of my glorie The complaint of Queene Sidonis In the .12 booke the .21 Chapter O Graue honour of my high and royall lynage howe hast thou conducted me to an euill fortune whereof I may receyne a iust rewarde of my folly O loue howe doest thou cause to appeare in me thy deceytfull force and strength causing mée to vse hatred and crueltie vnto him that I loued much more than my selfe O Fortune with what inconstancie and lightnesse art thou chaunged putting me then in such desperation when I beganne to haue hope shortly to accomplish the thing that I desired most in this worlde O Gods immortall with howe much rigour haue ye willed to recompence the flerce pride and the prowde presumption of the Quéene Sidonia O my deare daughter and yet the daughter of him that robbed the holy rites of my chastitie Alas howe woulde ye haue payed me for the thing that ye denyed anâ— for the loue that ye bare continually to your father in recompence of the outrages and iniuries that I dayly sought for him O my daughter the first of the worlde and none like in beautie to the ende to make and to render like vnlike the delour that I endure nowe for thy death O cruell death howe doest thou leaue me in so miserable a life O cruell life howe doest thou leaue me in so miserable a death O Gods immortall wherefore doe ye suffer so great an iniurie as is that which I receyue by my life séeing my daughter Diana is dead But what do I say It is iust that ye as ye are iust doe shewe me to rigorous iustice to cause me to take vengeance vpon my selfe confounding me in a certaine dolour and heauinesse the which I haue procured to my selfe Alas Daraide howe doest thou giue to me and my daughter the dutie whereof thou wast indetted vnto vs to me giuing me with thy ende the ende of the folly of my vengeance in killing againe by thy death the hope and confidence that I had in thy life to my daughter recompencing hir death by thine the which is the last payment whereof thou wast bounde to the loue that thou didst beare hir and to that that she did
the translating therof the which although it be but rude and vnpleasant yet my mynde and hand were neyther negligent nor slacke to profite thée and to english it â—o thy consolation and comfort Therfore receyue it I pray thée as it is in good part and with thanksgiuing for my good will and paines taking if thou estéeme it thankes woâ—rthie if not amende it I beséeche thée and I with all my heart shal thanke thée nowe and euer Farewel T. H. in prayse of the booke AS Golde is golde true touchstone tryeth at euerie ryme and season And dothe refyne the good from bad whiche standeth with all reason So Amadis of worthie fame in Fraunce whiche dyd excell VVhose woorke is pende yea for thy sake whome many lyke full well The noble and the valiant the tyrant and the stoute The noble Dame and Damsell eke the louer that dothe doubte The woorthie and courageous knyght that chaleâ—geth the fielde And shewes hymselfe a champion eke and makes his foes to yelde The Lyon and the Lyonesse with courage stoute and bolde Doth shewe them selues in nature playne as they doe heere vnfolde As euery sort maye imitate and learne here for to write To serue their presente vse and tyme a waye for to indite Sometyme with piththie tauntes sometyme in pleasaunt sort Sometymes with iust reuenge of wrong sometymes with decente sporte To euery kynde of wight this booke will serue the turne Of Orations fitte and Pistles pure themselfe for to adorne VVhat thoughe sometyme Demostheâ—es of Athens was the chiefe In Greekishe tongue to vtter there which serues for great reliefe Isoâ—rates by whome the Greekes did reape a perfect gayne So did the Gaules and Frenchmen eke of Amadis certayne And nowe from forayne phrase into our English toung Is brought this worthy worke I say for olde and eke for young Take it in good part therefore and let it not to vewe Till other things come to my handâ— I bid thee to adewe A. R. In prayse of the Booke OF others all Phisitian best who bears of right the bell Is he who most diseases knowes and eke can câ—re them well Of Gardens all most pleasant is that Garden to my minde In which with beautie florishing most sortes of floures I finde That market is extolled most that hath of wares most store For many times to haue his châ—yâ—â— a man will giue the more Uarietie in euery thing except I iudge amisse Doth put away all wearinesse what say you then to this That Author héere hath practised farre passing Phisickes skill For that the body this the minde with pleasures great both fill Or else the Garden greene in which great choyse of floures are For floures do fade this still abides how shall it then compare With this that like a market is in which are to be founde Suche sortes of wares as if for choyse a man would giue a pounde He could not so be sped agayne if he should séeke throughout The world so wide from place to place it viewing round about Uarietie if thou dost wishe then buy this booke so braue By reading which for price but small great profite thou shalt haue Besides the pleasure that thou shalâ— by reading in it reape Of Eloquence and Rhetorike thou mayst hoorde vp a heape To spende when thou hast néede as if thou wouldst persuade Thy friende to helpe when as thy foe doth minde thée to inuade The profites all and pleasures great if I should but rehearse That by this booke may come to thée in suche rude kinde of verse It trouble would perchaunce thine eares that lookest for an ende Wherefore to know of profite more to Preface I thée sende Wherin thou shalt be sure to finde suche things as name doth tell In treasure this thy profite is thou shalt perceyue it well Treasure it hight the name is ryght if well thou do it reade It will procure the Authors sure to haue great thanks for méede FINIS ¶ A Table of the principall matters of this Booke reduced into common places for the more speedie and easie finding of the maner to vvrite Letters missiues according to the minde and argument of him that vvriteth A Forme to declare his aduice to aske or to giue counsell of any thing to Lords friends parents alies or subiects 2 A forme to write or to say that they accepte the counsell giuen 3 A forme to aske or to declare to any man his deliberation and minde concerning some businesse 4 A forme to pray and to desire a man to do a thing or to shewe him selfe fauourable 5 A forme to commende a thing to one and to recite some thing that is chaunced 6 A forme to accorde promise and refuse a certayne thing to any man. 7 A forme to declare to a man the good affection that he beareth him 8 A forme to write willing to recompence or to giue a thing to any man. 9 A forme to laude prayse or to answere to the prayses of some one 10 A forme to giue thanks to one 11 A forme to write when a man will please one 12 A forme to write or to speake amorous and louely purposes 13 A forme to excuse him selfe of faults committed to the preiudice of other 14 A forme to excuse him of the thing whereof a man may be taxed 15 A forme to excuse him and to aske pardon 16 Complayntes and diuers heauinesses 17 A forme to incite one sooner to succour a thing that is in daunger than to tarle to lament some accident or chaunce 18 A forme to comfort one 19 A forme to declare his ioyfulnesse by writing or by worde 20 A forme to complayne him to â—ome one demaunding ayde and comfort 21 A forme to reprehend or to tauâ—â— one whether it be by writing or by worde 22 A forme to threaten or to answere to the threatnings of an other 23 A forme to accuse or to reproche some thing to another 24 A forme to iniurie or to accuse one of vnfaythfulnesse 25 A forme to take or to giue leaue 26 Orations to incite his vassalles friends or alies to take armes and to encourage the souldiers readie to fight 27 A forme to defie one for him selfe or for other 28 A forme to accept or to refuse the defiance 29 A forme to yeelde him selfe prisoner 30 A forme to write or to pronounce any thing in maner of a prophecie Finis Tabulae ¶ A collection of the most excellent orations epistles complaints and other things of all the Bookes of Amadis of France The oration of the Damosell of the Sea to the souldiers of France exhorting them to bataile About the ende of the .9 Chapter of the first Booke MY companions and fréendes let vs be of good courage and cause our fortitude and streÌ„gth to be knowen and remember the estimation that the French men haue obteyned by the feates of armes We haue to do with people astonied and halfe ouercommed let vs not now make a chaunge with