Carver It is of the Suns own modeling that Illustrious and universall Artist which forms Mettalls and precious Stones And you may belieâ—e that having wrought a whole age to perfect it he hath not kept from thence that soveraign spirit and those pleasing Rayes which draw respect in dazeling the sight The greatest splendor and the chiefe glory thereof neverthelesse is derived to it from Debora who gave it her Name and chose it for the Seat of her Justice The Graces when she gives Audience under this Palme serve her son Herralds and Guards And at all the Decrees she pronounceth every lease seems pliable to crowne her words Surely also no woman was ever heard to speak more soveraingly nor with an Authority accompanied with more sweetnesse and efficacy Prophesie and Law were never expounded by a more powerfull Mouth And it is a wonder that all the Offices of Regal Dignity being so weighty and combersome are not felt by so beautifull a head She often gave Judgements and composed differences under this Palme At present she gives our Orders for the Combate and exhorts her Officers and within a few houres you shall see her upon the head of Troops joyning action to Command and contributing by her courage and example to the victory which she her self had prophesied Though you hear not her words and that even her voice doth not reach you yet her very Countenance is intelligible and perswasive Her Gesture and Looks give vigour and lustre to her speech And from her very eyes which are the two fairest peeces of her Eloquence there issues forth something I know not what of vigour and brightnesse which would make it self to be understood by the deafest persons and perswade the most incredulous which would even cast fire into the coldest and excite the most drowsie and stupid souls Barac and the other chief Commanders by hearing her took a second courage and a new zeal They fight already in desire and thought in the agitation of their hearts and with the fiercenesse of their looks The encounter is hot in their imagination and the vanquish'd enemies are forced to flie There is not a Souldier so ill armed there is not a Commander so little versed in war who hath not victorious visions who alone and without striking a blow puts not a whole Troop of Canaanites to flight who figures not to himself the possessing the Head of their General and the Crown of their King loaden with chains But as yet there is not one drop of blood shed in their imaginary Combats there is not a Launce broken nor a dart thrown And it would be fine sport to the enemies if they had no other defeat to fear There is another field of battel and other dangers which attend them they shall have no occasion to defend themselves at so great a distance and to fight against Apparitions And by a revolution which they expect not and humane Prudence cannot prevent their fortune which they believe to be so well established and guarded by so great a multitude of armed chariots and offensive engines will be suddenly ruined by two VVomen See how this Palme already crowns one of them she bears not onely the Name of Debora but seems to be animated by her spirit and to possesse like her a warlike soul and a prophetick Instinct Her verdant youth more gay and pleasing then ordinary is a presage of victory Her very arms embracing the Queen Regent applaud her promises and infuse courage into her Auditors You would say that they congratulate her approaching Triumph and demand for their share of the booty a Trophy of the arms of the enemies General But behold Debora armed and ready for the Combat her elevated arm testifies the impatience of her zeal and her heart appears already inflamed in her eyes and on her face Her grace neverthelesse is not altered by it her animosity is becoming and modest and from this little fiercenesse which is as the flower or cream of choler and a tincture of zeal added to her other natural attractives a third quality and a mixture of courage and sweetnesse is formed which will work a double effect upon the Enemie and at once and in an instant imprint in them both terrour and reverence SONNET DEBORA speaks A conquâ—ring Sybil I a Prophetesse With Voice and Arm serv'd Israel in distresse My Prophesies and brave exploits made Fame Through Idumea trumpet forth my Name My just Decrees beneath the Palme did cause My Words to be erected into Laws The Character to Kings and Judges given My brow did wear stampt by the band of Heaven What cannot Vertue do with Beauty grac'd My self without a purple Robe she plac'd In such a blest Regality as nere Knew what Conspiracies or Rebels were Without or Guard or Forts I was secure I did not make my Subjects necks endure The yoke of Cittadels but having gain'd Th' Affection of their Hearts I freely reignd ELOGIE OF DEBORA HISTORY doth not furnish us with a Gallant Woman more ancient then Debora to whom I give the first place in this Gallery She succeeded Moses and Joshua and inherited from the first the Spirit of Prophesie from the second Courage and military vertue and from both Authority and Magistracy Priesthood excepted she exercised all the Offices and filled up all the Dignities of that time and out of her divided graces a Prophet a Judge and Captain was formed Her Audiences had something I know not what of military she exercised there a kinde of field Magistracy and gave them under a Palme of her own Name which served her for a Tribunal of Triumph and crown'd her Decrees as well as her Victories God having chosen her to break the yoke of his people and to redeem them from the bondage of the Canaanites she assisted with her Person in the battel given them by Baraâ— and contributed her conduct predictions and courage to the glory of that day She contributed thereunto even her last hopes and though the were a Widow and that her husband had lest her but a spark of what remained to make use of a sacred word yet she hazarded in that fight with this spark the resource of her blood the foundation of her house and the seed of her posterity I speak according to the sence of the Doctors who believed that Barac was the Son of this excellent Mother that he became a Souldier and Captain under her discipline and had learn'd of her how to fight and overcome So that in his time to joyn my words with those of S. Ambrose a Widow was seen governing a holy Nation a Widow distributing rights and arbitrary duties a Widow mediating between God and his people a Widow ordaining peace and war a Widow directing combats and victories a Widow leading an Armie nay the Mother and Commandresse of the General of an Armie And the untractable and mutinous Jews whom no human prudence could govern in time of peace faint hearted and vanquish'd Jews whom
the ill humours and bad Fortunes of their Husbands but it would have them sick of their Maladies die of their Deaths And as if it had not been sufficient to make them slaves undergo the yoke It made them also Sufferers and Victims and put ordinarily either a rope about their necks or a dagger in their throats The chief thing is that there was a necessity of taking that course to acquire the title of a gallant Woman And such as were able to endure life after the death of their Husbands could not pretend to the acclamations of their present Age nor to the Eternity of History Besides even in these dayes this cruel Custom is used in some parts of the Indie No Widows are seen in those Countries And Families are not prejudiced there by Dowries which issue out of them A Father of a Family being dead the Law of the Country ordains that he be put in an Equipage for the other World And that such things as had been most dear unto him should be burn'd with him The best beloved of his Wives hath this advantage by his last Will and the Right which Custom allows her She dresseth her self more richly and with more care for death then she had done for her Wedding-Feast The whole Kindred in Festival Garments and adorned like her Conducts her Solemnly and in Pomp to the flaming Pile And there she suffers her self to be burnt in Ceremony and with a more Natural and less affected Constancy then did the 〈◊〉 Philosopher who would counterfeit Hercules dying And presented a Spectacle of his death to the Army of Alexander I know indeed that this Superstitious and regular Cruelty of the Indians And that other tumultuary and precipitated Despair of the Romans and Grecians are equally reproved by the Laws of Christianity But I am not ignorant also that conjugal Love hath its Meritorious and Vertuous Deaths And there is some ground to doubt whether such kinde of deaths may happen by way of obligation and concern the Duty of a good Wife To this Question which is not of meer Curiosity but Instructive and Profitable I answer First that desperate and passionate Women who kill themselves to follow their deceased Husbands transgress against conjugal Love and violate the Fidelity they owe them This Proposition draws neer to a Paradox Yet exceeds not its bounds and Truth is there well ballanced One or two Reasons may Justifie it and draw the assent of the most devoted to the Memory of the Pantâ—â—â—â—â— and the Porcia's In the first place it will be granted me that the prime care of Lovers should be to nourish their fire and to keep it still in heat and action To delend it from all that might extinguish it And the least neglects therein are Temptations Doubts are Dispositions to change and commenced Infidelities Now this fire is smother'd in blood and by the violence of desperate Widows It is a great folly to believe that nothing remains after death The earth of Church-yards is too cold to preserve a single spark thereof An such as thunder out so great Oaths that their Ashes will retain everlastingly the heat thereof are highly guilty of Perjury unless they vent them by way of Poesie And if it be an act of Infidelity by tract of time and by piece-meal to suppress ones love from day to day and to deprive it by degrees of nourishment what will it be to smother it violently and on a sudden not to leave it a single spark which may inkindle it I know not how they will take what I have to say in this particular It is true nevertheless and must be spoken in what sense soever it may be taken Conjugal Fidelity is more hainously violated and the dead are far more injured by the delusive Courage of the falsely Constant Women that destroy themselves then by the weakness of those which will open their hearts to new Affections and run to second Marriages These at least preserve the Memory of their Husbands They still retain their Rings on their Fingers They keep their Pictures in their Closets and Hearts And the second fire which â—â—â—â—eth on them is not so incompatible nor so much an enemy to the first that it permits not some sparks thereof and a little heat in the remaining Ashes On the contrary furious and despairing Widows in what manner soever they voluntarily die reserve nothing of their first fire They destroy it even to the Matter to the very Ashes and Harth And their Husbands who might live long and quietly in their hearts perish a second time by the impetuosity of their Despair or by the obstinacy of their Grief Hence I infer a second Reason against the Falsity of impatient and despairing Love It is an opinion generally received and supported both by the Sense and Nature as well as by Speculation and Philosophy That Persons beloved have a particular Being and as it were a second Existency in the Imagination in the Soul and Heart of the Persons that love them They live there intellectually and by their Images And those Images are not dead Figures nor Impostures of a deceiving Art They have Life and Spirit they are true and Natural They possess all the Perfections and Graces of their Originals and have neither the Defects nor stains of Matter Now a Woman who kills her self out of a blinde and precipitious fury or who consumes her self with an obstinate and voluntary Affliction takes from her Husband this second Existency and this intellectual Being and Love by which he surviv'd himself She voluntarily annihilates and violently destroys that which death had left her And if she ought to make a scruple of defacing his Picture with what colour and pretence can she justifie the violence she offereth to an Image which was her second Life and Felicity in this World It is evident thereby that Constancy is not furious and that Fidelity is another thing then Despair That the greatest Love is not that which makes the most haste to poysons and precipices That Wives cannot more Religiously keep the Faith they owe to their Husbands not give them stronger proofs of their Affection then in rendring their Fidelity and Love durable and lasting Then in procuring them in their minde a life full of tranquillity and satisfaction Then in espousing their Memory and making a new Contract with their Images Then in carefully preserving those things which have been dear unto them And if they be good Wives they will not doubt but they were more dear to them then any Worldly treasure Let it not be said that this Philosophy is too remiss and indulgent That it pleads the cause of Nice and Effeminate Dames That it gives credit and authority to self Love This cannot be spoken but rashly and at random And surely as one may kill himself out of self Love and through an excess of tenderness so one may preserve his own life for the Love of another and by a particular
and like Oblations The rest further advanced observe her action and accompany it with their respect and silence The affliction of her Minde seems to have passed even into her Garment which is black and without ornament Her sadnesse nevertheless is Majestical and becoming And upon her face still pale by the Death of her Husband there appears a kinde of pleasing languishment which demands compassion and would beget Love if it were in a subject either lesse elevated or lesse austere Two Turtle Doves which she her self newly sacrificed to the Spirit of Mausolus burn before her with her Hair upon an Altar of Porphirie And mean while the fire which seized on her Heart by degrees consumes the tyes of her Soul and prepares it to go joyn it self with the other Heart which expects it The ashes of Mausolus which she hitherto so charily preserved are moistned with her Tears in the Cup you see in her hand She takes it up to drink them And her moist and sparkling Eyes which partake something of the Sun and Rain seem to say to those that understand them that she nevertook any thing more sweet and pleasing to her tast That the richest works of Art and Nature could not worthily enough conserve so pretious a Pledge That these dear Ashes are due unto the fire of her Heart and that nothing but Artemisia alone could make a fit sepulchre for Mausolus SONNET ARTEMISIA speaks BEhold this Sepulchers proud structure where Glory and Grief do equally appear Where Asia rais'd into one Monument Tyr'd all the Arts and Natures skill outwent Love with his shafts hath wrought the Sculpture fair Love did the Cyment with his Fires prepare And makes in spite of Death my Lover have An endless life in this stupendious Grave But tell me Love what Glory do I gain By these my sumptuous Labours if I daign Marbles to be the Rivals of my Fame And share with them my Souls resplendent Flame Now if the gentle Shade with wandring Feet Among the Dead do stray it will be meet That of its Flame my Soul the Fuel be And that his Ashes live intomb'd in Me. ELOGIE OF ARTEMISIA IT is nothing strange that Artemisia speaks in this Picture She hath lived above three thousand yeers in the Memorie of Man Her Fortune and Dignity nevertheless hath not preserved it for her Whatsoever hath been said of Gold it doth not exempt those from corruption who wear it in their Crowns and the Names of Kings and Queens ought not to be more priviledged then their Persons which die upon Thrones Vertue hath made Artemisia live to this day and would have her remain to her Sex an everlasting Example of a peaceable Magnanimity and of a Widowhood Couragious without Despair and afflicted without Dejection The one Moity of her dyed with Mausolus and she burned with him that part of her Heart in which Joy resided But she reserved the other in which was Fortitude and Courage And if since the fatal Moment which had thus divided her she was never seen to delight in any thing yet no man ever observed the the least weaknesse in her Her modest and strict mourning and her well becoming and Majestical reservednesse suted with a perfect Widow But her bold and Couragious activity in War her dexterous and free Conduct in managing affairs and her constancie in rejecting all sorts of second affections was like a Woman who acted still with the Heart and Spirit of her Husband and who had even espoused his shadow But not being content to have preserved his Courage in her action and his image in her Memory she must needs have also his Ashes upon her Heart And erected his Name and Tomb into a Miracle by a structure in which all the Arts wearied themselves and Nature her self was almost exhausted MORAL REFLECTION ARTEMISIA though a Heathen and a Barbarian is to young Widows a Governesse full of Authority and of great Example She teacheth them that the most invincible and strongest Widowhood is not that which sends forth the loudest cryes and which seeks to express it self by Poisons and Precipices That it is Modesty and Fidelity which make chast Matrons and not Hairs pulld up by the root and torn Cheeks That a sober and lasting Mourning is more decent and exemplar then an unequal affliction which tears it self to day and paints it self to morrow which is furious on the day of a Husbands Buriall and will endure no Discourse but of Poison and Ropes and two Dayes after will have their Haire curled their faces painted and spotted And that a Heathen woman having in one Monument placed all the wealth of a whole Kingdom to raise unto the Name of her Husband an imaginary and fantasticall Eternity It is a very great shame that Christian women should not distribute even for the salvation of their Husbands and the Comfort of their own Souls the Remainder of what they spend upon Play Vanity and Excess And because this Truth is important and of great use I conceived that it would be very beneficial to give it a more solid foundation and to make a Discourse of it apart where it shall have all the proofs and all the light whereof it is capable MORAL QUESTION In what manner a Gallant Woman should mourn and what ought to be the duties of her Widowhood THose Women are very ill instructed in the Morality of their Sex who reduce into Shagrin and sadnesse all the Duties and Vertues of a prudent Widow A serious and constant Love doth not wholly pour it self forth into tears And all the decency of exemplar Fidelity consists not in a black cypress Veil or Gown It is not expressed by shadowed lights and weeping Tapers And it is not discovered by studied looks and by fourty hours of artificiall darkness Philosophy I say even Christian philosophy forbids not tears in like occasions It is impossible that blood should not flow from hearts which are divided and from souls which are severed by force And since man as the Scripture tells us is the head of the woman the wonder would be no lesse if a Wise should lose her Husband without weeping then if a body should not bleed when the head is cut off But she ought not also to perswade her self that her wound must run everlastingly And that it concerns her honour to have alwayes tears in her eyes and complaints in her mouth Sadness Mourning Solitude relate indeed to her duty but make not the most important and indispensable part thereof And yet by a publique Errour which time and custome have authorized this lesse important part is superstitiously observed Women are not content with a regular and discreet sadness they put on an extravagant and fantasticall kind of sorrow And Opinion beginning where Nature ends they sigh for fashions sake and weep artificially after the true mourning hath consumed the reall sighes and when tears in good earnest are exhausted A Prudent and Couragious Widow will give no way
and belonging to her Family she had much Piety of her own and was very vertuous by her own Acquisitions Her Piety nevertheless was not tepide and timerous her Vertues were none of those idle and Antick ones which amuse the most part of Women They were strong and couragious they acted continually and with vigour and this vigour was supported by a Generosity which might make a life Heroick if it had been placed in another Sex and in a Soveraign Condition She needed no less courage to resist the Assault and to acquit her self with honour of so perilous an Attempt which was made upon her She made answer to those that proposed to her an exchange of Laâ—cate and her Loyaltie for her husband That she owed her first and highest affections to her King and Fidelity And that she would not take them off to give them to her husband to whom she owed but second and inferiour ones That she loved him intirely and had great tenderness for him yet loved him in his degree and with order and that there was nothing remiss or weak in her tenderness That she understood better then any body the worth of her Husband That were he to be sold innocently and to be put to a Lawful ransom she would not only alienate her Lands and pawn her Jewels to redeem him but even rent out the labour of her hands and make money of her blood and death if she could compass it by her sweat and pains That nevertheless for this she would never alienate her Fidelity nor engage therein one single point of her Conscience And that if she should make so ill a bargain her husband would be the first breaker of it That he would never be perswaded to depart out of Prison without his honour nay he would never descend from a Scaffold nor ascend unto a Throne without it But should he forget his honour went she on yet I will never be unmindfull of mine I know too well the value of it nor will I ever dispossess my self thereof for any gain or loss which may arise from it I understand very well to what Marriage obligeth me and what I owe to my Family But I was not born a marryed Person as I am born a French-Woman And it shall never be said that to preserve a Family which was but yesterday and peradventure will not be to morrow I have laid open a Fort to Rebellion and contributed to the ruine of my Countrey The Confederates of the League being overcome and repulsed at this first Assault did not yet retire they continued the Battery for the space of seven weeks And every day they gave some new onset upon the Place through the heart of this generous Woman Sometimes they sware to make her Husband suffer all sorts of torments And they made her endure them all in her imagination with terrifying looks and far more frightfull words Sometimes they threatned to render him back to her by piece-meal And these threats were worse then Canon shots or Granadoes but they fell upon a heart which was stronger then the strongest Bulwarks and which would not have yielded either for Canon shot or for all their Granadoes In fine the Confederates of the League despaired of taking Laâ—cate by so well guarded a place and the dolefull and tragick execution which followed their despair clearly shewed that they spake in good earnest and that their threats were reall Monsieur de Barry was strangled in his Chamber by the hand of an Executioner And neither the Cord nor Engine wherewith he was strangled could not draw from his mouth any sign of irresolution nor one single word of weakness In History there are more glorious and famous Deaths then this but a more magnanimous heroick one hath not been seen Remarkable Deaths are not made so by the Grandeur of the Armes which destroy they arise from the greatness of Courage and the force of resolution and there are enough which will not yield before two hundred Piles and a battery of twelve Canon But there are few which render not themselves to the Rope of an Executioner Surely it were to be wished for the good of the State that we might have many Copies of this gallant Man and of this generous Woman If there were but one in every Town of the Kingdom it would be at least impregnable through coveteousness or fear The sending back the body of Monsieur de Barry did in a strange manner incense the Garrison In the first heat of anger and compassion the Soldiers transported by both ran unto the Governors house with a resolution to kill Monsieur de Loupian who was a Gentleman of quality and a particular Confident of the house of â—oyeâ—â—e Monsieur Montâ—â—rancy who kept him Prisoner being advertised of the taking of Monsieur de Barry had given him in charge to his wife that he might be responsible to her for the life of her husband and that by the right of Reprisals he might make satisfaction with his own life if the other miscarryed Doubtless there had been an end of him and all the credit of the League could not have saved him in this tumult if Madam de Barry had not been more generous and humane then is observed in the single order of Nature But she was so after a more pure and sublime manner and there was in her heart another kind of spirit and other principles differing from the spirit of the world and the Maximes of Morality She presented her self before this irritated Troop and spake so efficaciously and with so powerfull and perswasive a grace of Monsieur de Loupians Innocence of the Crime they would commit in making him undergo the penalty of a murther whereof he was not guilty of the punishment God would infallibly inflict upon this offence that she appeased their spirits and removed all spite and rage from their grief Addressing her self afterwards to her Son Heâ—â—dâ—s whom the soldiers had followed she proposed to him the Heroick constancy and the inviolable Fidelity of his Father The Patrimony of Glory which his death had purchased to their Family the stain which the unjustly spilt blood of Monsieur de Loupian would bring upon this still-fresh Glory the repentance which follows precipitated Anger and unlawful Revenges The Protection they ought to expect from him who makes himself to be called the Father of Orphans and the Defender of Widows And by these reasons fortifyed by her example and animated by a spirit of Vertue and Authority she saved this poor Gentleman and sent him back to Monsieur Montâ—â—rancy with a Convoy The History of Spain makes a great deal of noise about the Generosity of Gâ—â—â—an the Good who being summoned by the Moors either to deliver up Terissa which he defended or to be a Spectator of his Sons death who was a Prisoner in their hands would not become a Traitor to remain a Father and chose rather to preserve his Honour then his Race Truly
most Luminous and highest part of Heaven He is next to God the Mediator of holy Marriages and well united Pairs He is the common Spirit of Christian Sympathyes and the Moderator of Chaste Agreements and Vertuous Harmonies Such an Exhorter is most powerful and his Inspirations leave nothing to be acted by Reason However he is not the sole perswader of the Princess Her Husband though fast asleep is no less Perswasive nor Eloquent them he If Prince Edward speaks not with his mouth he speaks by the paleness of his face He speaks from the Ardour of his Feaver and the Palpatation of his heart He speaks from his wound which hath a Voice of Blood and words of Passion In silence the Princess yields attention to this Voice and to these VVords And Answereth them with her Sighs and Tears which are no less Eloquent nor less Passionate And ere long when she shall thrust her Tongue and Mouth into this VVound her Heart will descend upon her Lips to bid the last adieu to the Princes Heart and to transmit into it her last Flame together with her Life But fear nothing in her behalf This Love her Inciter will preserve them both He put a secret Antidote in to her Mouth and gave her Spirit the gift of Healing Her Lips which he purified with a Spiritual and Sacred Fire will Exorcise Death and dispossess it of this Body without taking it into her own And one day Edward Cured and Eleonor Preserved will be reckoned amongst the miracles of Heroick Charity SONNET ON some Exploit Prince Edward Dreaming lyes VVith Death in 's Wound and slumber in his Eyes His Spouse to Cure him is resolv'd to Dy VVith Heart like those of her brave Ancestry Love more then Nature skill'd in Life's repairs Makes him a precious Balsome of her Tears VVhose Soul already heals him in Designe And at his VVound do's with his Soul conjoyne Approach thy Mouth and Heart couragious VVife 'T is that must save thy gallant Edwards life That Heart of thine with true Affection Crown'd Shall make thy Tongue a Plaister for his Wound To Cure thy Prince employ no other Skill The Fire the Blood the Spirits that Distill From thy fair Soul shall from his Body drive Th' empoyson'd VVound and keep thy Prince alive Elogy of Eleonor HEroick Vertue doth not alwaies Kill not imploys Fire and Sword in all she takes in hand All her Exploits are not stained with Blood she knows how to perform them of more then one fashion and colour and acts not everywhere with Noise though in every place with Force There are Obscure victories without witnesses wherein she hath need of no less boldness then in those which are gained in the view of whole Nations and with the noise of Canons and Trumpets The victorie represented in this Picture is one of these Edward Prince of Wales was come back from the Holy Land with a wound he had received from an Impoysoned Arrow The Physitians had allayed all their speculations and practises and all those ways having been unprofitably tryed they declared to him that he could not be cured but by the destruction of some Person who might have the courage to suck in death with the poyson of his wound Being condemned by this Declaration he prepares himself to dye resolving not to preserve life by the death of another nor to make a remedy of an Impoysonment The Princess his Wife Daughter unto the King of Castile conceiving her self condemn'd by the same sentence received it as if love it self had pronounced it to her And seeing her self necessitated to dye either by the death or cure of her Husband She resolved to chuse of these two deaths that which seemed to her the most Honourable and least bitter and which ought of the two moyties of her life to conserve to her self that which was most dear and precious This resolution taken with her love she defers the Execution to the next night And as soon as the Prince was prepared for it by rest she gently discovers his wound and begins to cure it by the purest blood of her soul which she pours into it with her Tears That done she set her mouth to the wound and with her tongue plunged her heart into it By little and little she sucks out the Poyson and so seasonably casts it forth as she drew from thence all that was Mortal without retâ—â—ning any part thereof to her self Whether that this malignant humour were consumed by the subtile and penetrating fire which her heart diffused by her mouth Or whether God who is Life and Charity had laid his Spirit upon her lips she preserved her Husbands life without loosing her own and by one act cured two sick Persons and wrought two Miracles MORAL REFLECTION THere is a large 〈◊〉 in this Picture and an excellent lesson for married Women This couragious Spaniard added to the Romans Greciams and even to those Barbarians who dyed for their husbands will speak Eternally for the constancy and fidelity of their Affections And wil highly prove and in an Heroick fule that the loving portion of the heart is more vigorous and couragious in their Sex then in Ours But she will also prove for their instruction that nothing is impossible to well ordered Charity That her hands have the gift of Cures and that the vertue of Miracles resides on her Lips That she single and unarmed hath more Force then Death with all his swords and poysons and that Barbarous and heathenish Love which knew onely how to dye vainly and with Audacity was but an impatient and desperate Love compared to a Chaste One which knows how to save in dying and to reap benefit even by its Dangers and Losses But this saving and Wonder-working Love ought not to be a busie and Effeminate Love or a Love of Interest and propriety It must be a Philosophick and Couragious Love Extatick and Prodigal Elevated above all that pleaseth and affrights This Torch must be like that represented in the Canticles not a wandring and Volatile fire but a fire ever Equal and Active A fire which consumes all the little threds of Interests all Forraign tyes all Chains and Fetters even those precious Chains which Fortune frames nay those very Fetters which are more worth then Diadems and which fasten Princes on Thrones Some will have it that it consumes even the tyes of the Soul and Body And alleadge that place of the Canticles where the power of Love is equalled with that of Death This point is both important and instructive And because one might be dangerously mistaken therein it is fit to make a Question of it apart MORAL QVESTION Whether it appertains to the Duty and Fidelity of VVomen to expose themselves to Death for their Husbands IF in this point we believe Antiquity Conjugal Love was heretofore very Tyrannical And married Women who subjected themselves to it ought to be well resolved It was not satisfied that they should bear with
closing of the Shoulders the Stern is handled otherwise then the Oaâ— and other forces and hands are required for the Scepter then the Hatchet Women as well as Men may have these hands and forces Prudence and Magnanimity which are the two principal instruments of 〈◊〉 appertain to both sexes There is as much discourse concerning the sight and courage of the Female as of the Male Eagles The heart of a â—â—onesse is as great as the heart of a Lion And the female Palm as well as the male serves to make Crowns and support Trophies Women are accused of excesse inconstancy and weaknesse and notorious examples of them are alleadged which cannot be disavowed But surely 〈◊〉 proceed from persons and not from sexes and if we abandon reason to act by producing presidents and memorials I fear very much that the Catalogue of bad Princes will be found more ample and their actions more dark and staind with blood then those of bad Princesses Let us speak freely our Abab was little better then their Jevabâ—l not our Manasses then their Athalia our Tiberius and Caligula were not better then their Cleopatra and Messaline and three or four hours of 〈◊〉 reign proved more fatal to the Roman Empire then the whole life of his Mother Agrippina if we except the night of his conception and the day which brought him forth Women cannot only reproach us with the Monsters of our sex which dishonoured Diadems and sullyed Sceptres but may also alleadg the Vertues and Graces of their own which bore them with Dignity and managed them with addresse And not to introduce Amazons and others in the time of Fables which are the imaginary spaces of History Zenobia conserv'd the conquests of her husband Odenatus and stoutly upheld the Forces of the Empire Pulcheria governed under Theodocius and Marcian and had Vertue enough to supply the duties of two Emperours and to contribute unto the happinesse of two Reigns The Regency of Blâ—â—ch was more fortunate to France then all the lives of its slothful Kings But it is not needful to look so far back into History to finde women who have governed with wisdom and courage Some of them may be found there whose memory is very fresh and who but lately appeared upon the stage EXAMPLE Isabel Infanta of Spain Arch Dutchesse of the Low-Countreys I Hear daily that the same is said of Spaniards as of Hawks and it is a common saying That the Females are better then the Males but in my opinion the saying is biting and over sharp And it would savour much more of Civility to say with one of our Authors that great Queens and Women sit for commands are of Spain as great Kings and valiant Men are of France To alledg none but celebrious and remarkable example Blanch the Mother of S. Lewis Isabel the Wife of Ferdinand Margarite Daughter to Charles the fift and Isabel her Neece the Daughter of Philip the second are sufficiently illustrious and of credit enough to defend this truth And their bare Names without other discourse may be invincible Arguments and of soveraign Authority to such as would prove that the Princesses of Spain understand the Art of ruling powerfully and with a Majestical grace that they know how to manage the Scepter with address and that there is no Crown so weighty which is not well supported on their Heads I will reserve the two 〈◊〉 for another subject and content my self to give a touch with my Pensil upon the two last They are not as yet clean out of our sight and we have their pictures drawn to the life and their blood with their spirit in our good Queen their Neece Isabel the Intanta of Spain and Arch-Dutchesse of the Low-Countreys hath thown to what height the understanding of Women may advance in the Science of well governing And though fortune made her not a great Queen yet Vertue made her a Heroesse who gives place in nothing to those that make the greatest noise in History I shall not need to produce Testimonies thereupon or to cite Books and Authors Our whole Age is equally knowing in the life of this wise Princess her memory is publikely honoured in all the Courts of Europe nay even such as were no Friends to her House had for her the Castilian heart and the Flemish spirit They have applauded her in good earnest with handsfree from the Dominion of Spain and besides she is daily crowned at Paris and Leyden as well as at Madrid and Bruxels Her vertues were no shadowes nor parcels of vertues they were solid and perfect ones vertues for every use and of every form and Policie is acquainted with no vertues which had not in her all their force and extent Though they have all an affinity with each other yet all of them have not the same resemblance nor the same functions in the civil life There are some which are born with us and are as it were the advances and graces of Nature There are some which must be acquired and are the fruits of labour and study There are some which are strong and vigorous fit for action there are pleasing and polished ones which serve onely for shew The Infanta possessed them all and what most imports she had them all great and in a condition to practise them with splendor First she was born with this graceful Soveraignty and by natural right which hath its title and force upon the face of beautifull persons and this Soveraignty is a powerful and very useful piece when it is well managed it governs by the bare aspect the most harsh and least tractable hearts It softens the hardest commands and takes from them what is biting and vexatious it would infuse even mildenesse and grace into Tyranny Certainly it is not beauty which deliberates which judgeth which enacts Laws and Ordinances But the Common people for whom the most part of Laws and Ordinances are made is an Animal into which there enters more of the body then minde and which obeyes more by sense then reason Likewise it is true that this flower lasts not long and appears only in the Spring but saded Roses retain full a good odour And besides that the Infanta kept all her life time certain remnants beautiful enough of this first flower these very remnants were supported by so sweet and becoming a Majestie they were accompanied with so many graces and civilities and so many other flowers of the latter season were mixed with them as no body could well distinguish between them and those of Youth The Intellect is the eye of Wisdom and the guide of all vertues It is the chief Minister of Princes and their natural Counseller and Policie can effect nothing if it be not enlightned by it The Infanta's understanding was ranked amongst the most elevated and capable ones and could suffice for all the parts and duties of Government There were no affairs so vast or weighty which it did not comprehend and manage
and obedience when the Dutchess of Parma arrived there and there was then no speech of Factions or States Guex or Hereticks But this calm lasted not long And the Heresies of Germany and 〈◊〉 which had crept into those Provinces quickly drew thither Rebellion after the dissention This alteration of time gave work enough to the Governess but it was a glorious work and full of reputation wherein she had Kings for her Encouragers and was looked on by all Europe with astonishment It was likewise to the wise and speculative of that time a wonderful spectacle to see a woman wrastle alone against so great and dangerous a storm Yet she got the upper hand at last and after nine yeers of agitation she brought back the vessel into the Haven in despite of the windes and tides which had forced it out I say that she was to wrastle alone against the storm because the Councel it self had begun the trouble and the Ministers hired to save the vessel were the first that split it and made way for the waves Grauâ—â—lle Archbishop of Arraâ— whom King Philip had assigned to the Governeâ—s for an honourable Spye and a Pedagogue raised to the degree of a Minister of State gave her more jealousie and distrust then good advice and proved rather obstructive then assistant to her His Corrivals and Enemies accused him of all the ill had hapned Such as stood indifferent suspected him for raising a tumult in the vessel to the end the stern might be wholly left to himself As for the Prince of Orange the Earls of Iâ—â—mond and Hâ—rn the Marquesse of Berg and other Dâ—tch Lords being all declared enemies against Granville and secret Corrivals to each other all suspected of Rebellion and ill affected to the Domination of strangers they brought nothing to the Councel but a spirit of contradiction and confusion nothing but interested and partial opinions nothing but hidden conspiracies and open animosities By which means they more imbroyled then assisted the Governess and not daring either to reject or take their advice she might be truly said to be abandoned amongst all these guides because they were either â—uspected or disloyal and that it was equally dangerous either to leave or follow them Nevertheless she forcibly overcame all these difficulties she deâ—teâ—ously loosned her self from these incombrances And after diâ—erted and discovered conspiracies after extinguished and chastised â—â—ditions after the revolt of Towns reduced to obedience she chased away Rebellion and Heresie out of Flanders she sweetly and deâ—â—erously tyed up again the 〈◊〉 which gaped after liberty and had already broken a piece of his chain The States of Holland would have been at present but a Republick in Idea and Leyden would have been 〈…〉 to Spain as to Bruxels if King Philip had left for a longer time the Government unto the Dutchess of Parma Ruy 〈◊〉 and the Duke 〈◊〉 were indeed of this opinion Likewise none but indulgent and popular Ministers were ignorant that clemency is more persuasive and makeâ— it 〈◊〉 better obeyed then severity But the advice of Cardinal Spinosa and the Duke of Alâ—a carrying it against their opinions the King concluded upon the way of rigour and force The duke of Alâ—a being sent to put them in execution opened afresh with fire and sword those wounds which lenitives had closed up and what the dextentâ— and mildeness of a wise and obliging woman had re-established was â—â—â—ned by the violenceâ— of a bloody and rigorous Minister of State Philip to 〈◊〉 this errour resolved to send back the Dutchess into â—landeâ—â— which very earnestly demanded her believing that its cure could come from no other hand then hers But he desired it too late and out of season God thought that she had laboured enough and sufficiently overcome and therefore called her to give her repose and the crowns she had merited The Flemings being out of hope to have her Person conserved her Memory They honoured her in Publick and in their houses and whereas they had solemnly and with ringing of Bells thrown down that insolent and proud statue which the Duke of Alâ—a had caused to be set up in the Citadel of Antwerp they erected in their hearts which were stronger then Citadels a statue of pure esteem and glory to the Dutchess of Parma IAHEL 〈…〉 Iahel THERE is now an end of the Cananites and of their Fortune their Armie composed of so many Troops and Engins of war was defeated by the Israelites who are still pursuing the remainder of it And all the presages are deceitful nay even Prophesie it self is a lyer or their Empire shaken by this Blow will not much longer expect its fall the Earth is covered over with the bloody parcels of so formidable a Bodiâ— some of them have fallen upon all the Mountains and into all the Valleys of the Countrey and the stately Head thereof which hath hitherto rolled along happens to be broken in pieces by the Hand of this Woman It is Jahel who hath finished the overthrow of the Canaanites by the death of their General whom she killed with a Nail in her own â—ent where he had sheltred himself after the routing of his Armie she is still moved with the blow she so lately struck Certainly she could not have given a more hazardous one nor of greater consequence and the Age of our fore-fathers which was an Age of Miracles and of prodigious Adventures hath never seen any thing of like Courage nor of greater Fame The joy she felt at the successe of so high an enterprise adds new lustre to her eyes and a second grace to her face The confidence of her looks corresponds with the boldnesse of the Action her hands armed with the fatal Hammâ—r which proved of more force then the warlike Engines of the Enemies and performed more then all the Lances and Swords of the Israelites prepared themselves to gain a second Victory And yet her Hands all heated as they are with breaking the Chain and Yoak of Israel upon the Head of Sisera seem willing to give the like blow even unto the Ghost of the Cananean King whom her imagination hath brought Captive to her and loaden with Chains Neverthelesse Sisera wrastleth in vain against the Earth At the same time he pushes with his arms as it were to force her to give back and by a contrary effort he seems willing to carry her away with his head His heart strives within to succour the wounded part and not being able of himself to assist it with all the remainder of his force he conveyes thither Anger Rage and Despair These impotent and furious Passions appear confusedly and with horror on his face swollen with the blood and spirits which are there poured out from the whole bodie It would be hard to distinguish them by their proper features and by the Colours which are natural to them All of them have participated of the Anguish which is mingled with them and are grown either pale
of Polititians and makes choice of weak Women and tender Maids to subdue the victorious and to 〈◊〉 up the vanquiried to support Ruines and repair Shipwrack Secondly he thereby 〈◊〉 his little of the God of Host and a powerful Lord in War He shews that Victory 〈◊〉 Subject that it follows 〈◊〉 Orders and obâ—â—ves his Providence And that 〈◊〉 Common and 〈◊〉 Maâ—â— and this blinde and giddâ— Fortune of which 〈◊〉 much reckoning to made are but â—antomâ—â— of men Invention Thirdly he thereby reacheth Humility to the proud ones of the 〈◊〉 He reacheth 〈◊〉 to Conquerours and Haughty spirits and makes them 〈…〉 that Crowns depend on his 〈◊〉 and not on the strength of theâ—â— own Hand That he takes them off at his pleasure from proud Heads to place them upon the Humble That he 〈◊〉 Crowns for Women as well as men for Shepherds as well as Prinâ—â—s and that upon what Head soever he placeth them he still 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of them In the fourth place these wonders wrought from time to time by the hands of Women are 〈◊〉 Acts and illustrious instructions for the whole 〈◊〉 Thereby 〈◊〉 tongue are refuted and Calumâ—e 〈…〉 second work of God 〈…〉 Thereby Women 〈…〉 have Heart of the â—ame matter and as well denied 〈…〉 not corrupt them â—f they be not overcome by 〈◊〉 They learn 〈◊〉 by that 〈…〉 tender and 〈◊〉 to wool and silk 〈…〉 Actions 〈◊〉 a long 〈…〉 doth not 〈…〉 Vertue 〈…〉 That to prepare 〈…〉 Courage and 〈◊〉 adventures They 〈…〉 themselves to overcome and to begin theâ—◠〈…〉 and upon themselves Judâ—th was not victorious 〈…〉 and without 〈…〉 prepared her 〈◊〉 â—or it by 〈…〉 and Domestick Combats and this was not till she had overcome pleasure till she had chased away Paâ—lion and 〈◊〉 from her Heart till â—he had 〈…〉 driven away the 〈◊〉 from before 〈…〉 Morecover this is not the sole example of 〈◊〉 kind there are more even in 〈…〉 and Nation a long time before Judeth Debora and Jaâ—el 〈…〉 people from the Tyranny of the 〈◊〉 Some years after 〈◊〉 preserved them from the Hands of 〈◊〉 and the general 〈◊〉 which was prepared for them thorâ—owout all Perâ—â—â— Under the Reign of David the 〈◊〉 being besieged bâ— Joab and threatned with the 〈…〉 â—ity were delivered 〈◊〉 from the Pillage and the 〈◊〉 by the Providence of a wise Woman who perswaded them to clear theâ— hands of a Rebel who they had harboured and to 〈◊〉 Head over the Walls This Head being thrown over effected more then twenty thousand Arms and Engines could have done Peace remained to the Abelites and Joab without taking the Citie retreated with Victory EXAMPLE Marulla of Stilimena THE Maid of Orleans may well be added to these Gallant Jewish Women though far distant from their time and Countrey France in her had a protectress and a Warrier a Debora and a Judeth and what she did to deliver that Kingdom from Invaders who had already put the voke over its Head is a famous proof of a miraculous giâ—t divinely conâ—erred on some Woman for the preservation of oppressed States and Cities reduced to extremity But all the wholsome and warlike Vertues of this Sex are not of so great Antiquity thâ—se latter Ages have had them as well as the former and there are some of them as it were born in the sight of our Fathers In the time of Mahomeâ— the Second the Turks conducted by Basâ—â— a Soloâ—â—â— maâ—ched down into 〈◊〉 and set upon Coceâ— which is the chief City of the Island divers assaults couragiously given in several places and repulsed with like Courage at last either by fraud or force they gain'd a gate where the sight was a long time stiâ—â—lly maintained so far that the Governour of the place who was a man of Counsel and Valor lost his life He had a daughter called Marullâ— who was then upon the Wall with other Women prepared to give a handsome reception to the enemy and to act for their Honour and Religion much more then their Sex required This couragious Maid had her Eyes and Heart in the Combat and accompanied it with her Gestures and motions Though wounded with the Blow which had killed her Father yet the was not overcome with him not lost her Spirit and Courage by his Wound She descended from the Wall to the Gate she runs through 〈◊〉 and Sword to the Body of her Father she takes up his Sword and Buckler and as if with his Buckler and Sword she had taken the boldness of his Heart and the strength of his Arms she presents her self to those Enemies which appeared the most pressing and were the most advanced Some the repels and knocks down others She fights with so much Courage and her Courage assisted from above and supported by the rallâ—â—d inhabitants proves so happy as she puts to flight what Turks soever she found in her way and leads her Companions fighting even to their Galleys The very same day they returned to sea and leâ—t the Victory intire to Marulla and Liberty to Stilimeâ—â— The next day the General of the Venetian Fleet thinking to be at the Fight came to the Feast of it The People being richly cloathed and the Magistrates in their ceremonial garments went out to meet him and brought to him their Deliveress in Triumph He caused her to come before the Armie raing'd in order upon the shoar And there after the having Crowned her with an Elogie which was of more value then the Laurel or the Oak of the Ancients He ordained that every Souldier should make her a present and offered her for a Husband what Captain soever she would please to chuse with promise that he would prevaile so with the Senate as he should be adopted of the Signory and her Marriage Portion given her out of the publick Treasury Marulla who was truly bold and couragious yet more advised and discreet rendred Thanks to the General for his Presents and offers and made him this answer That the difference was great between the Vertues of the Field and those of a Family that an excellent Captain might make a bad Master of a Family and that Marriage being no Warfare the Hazard would be too great and the Election too rash to chuse a Husband in Arms and to take him in a Field of Battel This Answer set a second Value upon the Act of Marulla and made appear that there was a great deal of light in her Fire and that her valour was both spritely and Juditious and from that time they looked upon her not only as an Amazon equal to those represented in Fables but esteemed her also as a learned Person amongst the Muses SALOMONE 〈…〉 Salomona THE Combat you behold though it be bloody on the one side and cruel on the other yet it is none of those where Valour should be brutish and commit murders She is very resolute and couragious but she is disarmed and suffering In like occasions the weak become strong
the dying victorious and they that strike and kill were the vanquished The Combat is for the God of Abraham and Moses for the Law of the Patriarchs and Prophets On the other side this cause is defended by abandoned and naked Faith and on the other assaulted by Infidelity armed with Engins and punishments The match seems to you to be unequal And you will hardly believe that Infirmity and Tendernesse can be of more Force then Iron and Fire that a Mother weak both in Sex and Age and Children both abandoned and unarmed should vanquish a furious and armed Tyrant and overcome all the Executioners of his Train Nevertheless they subdued them all and there are alreadie on their side as many Victories as Deaths Salomona was present at all these particular Combats All entire that you see her she hath already delivered up six parts of her heart And I believe that she is now come to her last Childe and to her seventh Crown Her face bears as many Victories as Years There is something I know not what of venerable and August in her wrinkles and you would say that even the Law it self is come out of the Propitiatory in humane shape to infuse Zeal into her Followers and to teach them Fidelity and Constancy Certainly Beauty whatsoever is said of it belongs not only to Youth Vertue is graceful in every Age Her flowers are of the latter season as well as her fruits And whether by natural right or by an Immemorial Priviledge she hath ever preserved the advantage of being at once both Beautiful and Ancient and of having charms under gray Hairs and wrinkles You will profess at least that she hath commanding Attractives in this half dried up skin and upon these withered â—heeks And you will be as much inamored of these venerable Ruines and this Heroick and generous Caducity as of adorned Youth and a scandalous Vivacity Besides do not believe that her Constancie is blinde and obstinate it is fortified with Sence and Reason and its solidity is resplendent and penetrated with light as well as that of the Diamond As if she were not furnished enough with that which is intrinsical and diffused from her own Spirit A light more vigorous and pure descends to her from Heaven which infires her Heart and her heart being inflamed with this fire seems ready to issue forth of her Eyes to receive it even in its source By the Charity of this Divine Light she came to know the short and ruinous Carreir of time and the Immense and sollid Extent of Eternity She hath seen the Waste and Defects of Fortune through the Paints and Disguises wherewith she varnishes her self And one Single Ray miraculously extinguished in her apprehension all those Piles of Wood which are set on fire for her self and Children and made her discern afar off in the hands of Abraham and Jacob the Crowns prepared for them Illuminated by these Lights and fortified by this Object she hath already overcome even six Deaths and behold her wrastling with the seventh which assaults her by the youngest and last of her Children There is tendernesse indeed on that side but nothing of weaknesse and this last part of her Heart in being the most innocent and lesse fortified by time shall not be the less invincible The Tyrant thinks to gain upon her by that way but he was not well acquainted with her He perswades himself that at least with this single drop of blood which was left her she would preserve the hope and restauration of her Posterity But the blood of the Macchabees would not endure the least stain for its Conservation and so holy and glorious a Race could not end more honourably then by seven Martyrs She was far from contributing her voice and Carresses to iniquity and from becoming the Temptress of her Son she fortified his Minde and strengthened his Courage she discovered to him her Bosom and Breasts which are reasons so much the more powerful as having the more tendernesse she shews him the Heavens open and the God of Abraham a Spectator of his Conflict with the Patriarchs and Prophets I think also that the spake to him of his Ancestors the Macchabees and made him understand that this great Light is that of their Conquering Souls which are descended to assist his Victory and to finish by his Constancie the Glory and Coronation of their Name the Triumph and Sanctity of their Race The Couragious Youth heareth her with a manly Constancie his Resolution is visible already in his Eyes and gives a Color to his Face His Constancie in Punishments will quickly shew that he is twice born of this Heroick Mother that he is no less the fruit of her Heart then of her Womb and that he hath sucked with his Milk the Spirit and Quintessence of her Vertue and the very blood and Marrow of her Soul Being now assaulted by large Promises and magnificent VVords he only opposeth his silence to this vain Battery and one motion of his Head accompanied with a Gesture of Scorn over turns all those Mountains of Gold which are offered him The Tyrant being irritated thereby bites his very Lips wrath prepares new Fires in his Heart both for the Mother and the Son Some sparkles of them are seen already to issue from his Eyes and smoak out of his Mouth and two great stacks of wood will suddenly be here enkindled with his Breath and the Fire of his VVrath Mean while Salomona rejoyceth at the Courage of her Son she animates him afresh to the Combat and proposeth to him the Example of his Brothers She shews him their souls already crowned who remain at the Gate of Heaven staying only for his to begin their Triumph Those are their Bodies which you see amidst the Executioners and Tortures Of six two of them have been delivered up to the Furnace incompassed with Fire and the four other have been divided between two great Caldrons They live no longer and yet still resist They seem to contest with Insensibility which is to them as it were a second Constancy and a natural Force which their souls have left them at their Departure You would say that they had a mind to make shew of a distinct Virtue from that of their mindes and to possess their labours and merits apart in this common cause You would say that every member hath a Heart peculiar to its self and a particular life to expose Their blood though shed retains still its vigour There issueth thence a smoak which proceeds from the fire of their Zeal nay even their flead skins and their lopped off Feet and Hands retain still something of the Spirit of the Macchabees and seem to seek a second Victory There remain none about them but these two Executioners All the rest are out of the Combat and have lost their Resolution with their Forces The Fires which have been kindled to consume these Holy Victimes are overcome by the Divine Fire which hath left
So far was this Daughter from tempting and assaulting him with the Ruines of his tottering House that she represented to him the importance of his suffering for that Cause that Men and Angels were Spectatours of his Victory that he had the Applause and Congratulation of the Church and that the Glory of his Family was raised to the Alliance of Martyrs She spake nothing to him which he knew not before but she said nothing which did not confirm him Old reasons received a new light from her Tears and issued with more vigour out of her Mouth And whether God placed in her Voice and upon her Lips some tincture of Divine Spirit whether pleasing persons have a natural Charm and an Eloquence without Art or that their sole presence is perswasive It seemed as if an Angel appearing to this Moor had inflamed him with more Zeal or infused into him more Light In fine having received the Sentence of Death after Fourteen Moneths of imprisonment and an illustrious and solemn Confession of his Faith made in the presence of all the Ministers of the Schism his good Daughter was willing to be a spectatâ—ess of his Combat and to fortifie her self by the Evidence of his Faith and with the last Act of his Constancie she expected him in his passage and went to imbrace him in the midst of the people who gave back out of respect and with their Admiration and Tears honoured so resolute and so examplar a Piety At these last imbraces the fervour of friendship mixed with that of Zeal ascending from her Heart to her Head caused some Tears to distill from her eyes But these were couragious Tears and such as heretofore the first Heroes of Christianity shed upon the wounds and Crowns either of their Fathers or Children still warme with Martyrdom After the execution of the impious sentence which had submitted this High Judge of Equity to the sword of a Hangman Margaret prepared her self to tender her last duties to the Bodie of her Father Concerning whose Head after it had served a whole Moneth for a spectacle of terrour upon London Bridge she bought it of the Executioner and caused it to be inchased in Silver to the end it might remain with his Writings the Relique of his Family and of her Domestick Devotion Notwithstanding this Devotion wanted not Accusers and was pursued by Justice It was made a crime of State that they might have a pretence to persecute Sir Thomas Moor even after his Death and cause that part of his Heart and Spirit which he had left to his Daughter to suffer a second Martyrdom She was made a Prisoner and examined before the Schismatical Tribunal But she shewed so much Constancie in prison she answered so prudently and with so great courage she made so resolute and a noble confession of her Faith that the Commissioners themselves being become her Admirers conceived it much fitter to send her back then to give a second Victory to her Father and multiply Martyrs and Crowns in his Family MARIAMNE 〈…〉 Mariamne THIS Terrace incompassed with â—allisters of Jasper belongs to the Palace of Herod And it can be no other then Mariamne who comes out of it with so much splendour and so sumptuously apparelled There needed no Diadem and Sceptre to make her known Her Dignitie is neither Artificial nor borrowed It is from her Person and not from her Fortune And her Heroick Stature her Majestical Countenance and soveraign Beauty came from the Maccabees as well as her Blood and Courage Can you believe seeing her so Beautiful and Resolute that she is going to Execution She goes thither most fair and undaunted as you see her And all the Graces and Vertues accompany her to that place Bloody and murtherous Judges suborned by her Husband Mother and Sister in Law come to give the Sentence of death against her She appeared before this Tribunal of Tyranny and Injustice with a Countenance of Authority and a Soveraignty of Heart equal to that of her Face You would have said that the Criminal was to pronounce the Decree and that the Lives of the Judges were in her Mouth But as good Intervals stay not with sweetned Tyrants nor with charmed Vipers so malice and poison quickly return to the Judges of Iniquity Their fury which Innocence and Beauty equally Imperious had chained up with respect is loosned and confirmed And they at last pronounced her Sentence but still with Fear and Trembling As if their Faces had accused their Consciences and given the Lye to their Tongues As if their very Tongues had retracted what was done their Palenesse and stammering made a Declaration contradictory to their Decree and justified condemned Innocence In what manner do you think she received this unjust Sentence and procured by her own Husband With more Equality of Spirit with more Indifferency then she could have received his Carresses And had it been but a feigned Death they pronounced against her she could not have appeared lesse moved She is come hither with all the Calmnesse of her Heart the Reproaches and Injuries of her wicked Step Mother who combined with her Enemies did not provoke her And had she gone to a publick Sacrifice or to some solemn Feast She could not have carried thither a better composed Modesty Since it is decreed that she must die she resolves to die resolutely and like a Macchabee And there will not only appear a Constancy in her Suffering but even a Dignity and Grace Pitty it is nevertheless that so perfect a Light should be extinguished at its high Noon and in the midst of its Carreer And the Mists must needs be very thick and malignant which could not be dissipated by it But we amuse our selves in bewailing her we lose her last splendour and the last examples of her Vertue She is already arrived at the Place of Execution And the envious Saloma hath so violently pressed the Execution that at the very instant I speak there is an end of poor Mariamne Herod himself is come too late to save her His Retraction was fruitlesse They left him not so much leasure as to suspend the wicked Sentence or to keep back even for one moment the Arm of the Executioner And repentant Love which brought him thither found nothing but sorrows to vent and unprofitable tears to shed Affrightment Horror and Despair entred into his Soul at the sight of Mariamne dead Spite Anger and Jelousie at the same time issued from thence And the marks of these Passions mix'd at their encounter caused this distemper in his Eyes and the Confusion you behold on his Face His Bodie half reversed and his arms extended follow the posture of his Soul which remains as it were in suspence between astonishment and aversion between the respect and horrour of these deplorable Reliques He was willing at once both to remove his sight from thence and to sacrifice himself upon them for the expiation of just blood by blood that was guilty And to
glitter but they know not their weight and asperity nor see from whence they wound They assist indeed at the Sacrifices which are offered to crowned Fortunes They keep an account of all the grains of Incense which are burned to them but they assist not at their perturbation and torments They see not the Wheels nor the Nails wherewith they are pricked and lesse also do they discern the fire which is put into their wounds They have a dim sight and an Imagination filled with a Stage Felicitie which hath only a fair Maâ—k and a purple Garment made meerly for shew but they see not all the tears which trickle down under this specious disguise not do they see the Wounds which bleed under this Purple Let us learn then not easily to subject our Opinions to our Senses never to esteem things by the Exteriour to make more account of a sweet and peaceable Mediocrity of an obscure and silent repose then of a bitter and turmoiled Greatness then of a punishment magnificently attended and exposed to the view of the people And let us understand that this so common saying delivered by a gallant Person concerning the Fortune of Labourers may be spoken generally of all competent Fortunes They would be happy if the advantages of Mediocritie were known unto them As concerning the Death of Mariamne which was the Crime and Punishment of her Tyrant it teacheth us that Jealousie is a dangerous Beast that it makes no distinction of Persons nay spares not him that foments it That it is that ungrateful and cruel Serpent which leaves nothing intire in the House of its Host. And that if the fire be not extinguished with Sulphur if Wounds be not Healed by Lancing them it is a very dangerous Experiment to think to extinguish Spight with Choler and to cure the bitings of Jealousie with the Teeth and Nails of Crueltie There is another Reflection to be made upon this Picture but it will serve as matter for the ensuing Question MORAL QUESTION Why the most Perfect Women be commonly the least Fortunate I Speak not of interiour satisfaction and of that solitary and retired Felicity which appears not in publick which in wholly consummated in the Heart which proceeds from the quiet of Conscience and from the â—alm of an equal Spirit and disposed to finde every where a setled and commodious abode I speak of that superficial and specious Felicity which is all composed of exteriour and hazardous pieces and which the Vulgar attribute to Fortune I say that this Felicity was never the Companion of Victory nor the Domestick of the Graces and that to take things in the common Track Persons of greatest meâ—â—t have ever been the least Happy and the most Crossed Mariamne is not the first upon whom this observation hath been Made History entertains us only with sad adventures of unfortunate Beauties There have been heretofore no Tragical Accidents nor violent Deaths but on their Account Now adayes there are none but these who lament and are lamented upon Theaters To the end we fasten not upon Apparitions nor accuse either the Hardnesse of Destiny nor the Jealousie which Fortune hath of Vertue God hath ordained even in Nature it self which is governed by so just and regular Intelligences that the most excellent and rare things should retain some Image of unhappinesse and something I know not what resembling the Adversities of those Persons of whom I speak None but the great Planets have their Blemishes and suffer Defections and Eclipses The Rose which is the Virgin-flower nay the Soveraign of Flowers and clothed in Scarlet as a certain Person hath said is the most beset with Thorns and the most subject to be blasted Diamonds and Rubies grow in Precipices and upon Rocks and Pearls are in the Element of Tempests and Bitternesse It is no small Comfort then to thâ—se Excellent Persons that they are in the like degree and in the same condition with the prime Pieces of the World and the most pretious portions of Nature And if they be not extremely tender they will finde I assure my self that their Bitterness and I hornâ— their Eclipses and Blastings retain something more of Honour then a â—ainâ— and corrupt Mildnesâ— then an Essemâ—â—acle of ill Odour then an obscure Securitie and a regardlesse Health wherein Vulgar things do languish But besides Honour and Dignity the Benefit thereof in other Respects is great And it is principally in Regard of those Excellent Persons that this old Proverb is verified which saith that Adversity is Instructive and that Afflictions are better then Doctrines First they are preserved thereby in Christian Humility and are cured of a certain interiour and secret Pride which is the ordinary Disease of Beautifull Women They learn at least that the Divinity wherewith Men treat them is but a Poetical and Stage-Divinity That the Reverence which is rendred them is but a Mask or Play And their understanding fortified by Adversities is not easily corrupted by the Smoak of the Incense which their Adorers offer to them Moreover they are advertised thereby that God hath not made them for the Earth and that Heaven is their proper Region as it is the Region of Spirits and Light And surely if that Prince would not be accounted wise who should cause his Statue to be made of Gold and placed in a back Court or Stable can these so perfect reatures which are the Fairest and most pretious Images of God believe without Blasphemie that they have been finished with so much Care to adorn only the low Storie of the World to Beautifie the Region of Disorder and Misery the Element of Thorns and Tears God hath made them then for his Palace nay even for the Highest and most Luminous part thereof And because he will have them there most pure and spotlesse he puts them in the fire of Afflictions which purifieth them from the â—ust and stains they contract upon the Earth and prepares them to receive more purely and to reflect with greater Force the radiant light of his Face and the effusions of his Grace This is Gods Designe in the Adversities which he sends to perfect Men These Adversities are Remedies against Pride and Preservatives against Corruption they are seeds of Salvation and materials for Crownâ— But these Remedies and Preservatives must be taken with Courage These seeds remain fruitless if they be not well Husbanded and thâ—se Materials never become Crowns if Patience doth not form them The most unfortunate Women will have for their Consolation and Instruction a Model of this Patience in the Following History EXAMPLE Blanch of Bourbon Queen of Castile WHoever shall read the History of Blanch of Bourboâ— Queen of Castile will no longer believe that Vertue is a Charm against Disasters nor that the Graces are able to inchant Fortune This Princesse who had Whitenesse and Beauty even in her Name was of those Liâ—â—cs which the Holy Scripture represents unto us besieged with Thorns She was of those
should have seen these Noble and Generous Tears trickle down they would have taught us that the Eyes of Heroes are not Adamantine Eyes And that the Vulgar are deceived who take great Hearts for Hearts of Brass Cyrus then bewailed Abradates but he did it magnificently and after an Heroick manner His tears were followed by a profusion of Riches which will be presently burned with the Dead And he is newly returned to the Camp to give out Orders for the Funeral Pomp and to make choice of the Victimes which were to be Immolated to the Ghost of his Friend He believes him still in the Field of Battel where he enjoyes his Reputation and numbers the Dead and his own Victories As for these sad Preparatives and Funeral expences they are made for the Consolation of Panthea no less then for the Honour of Abradates But Panthea is no longer in a Condition to Comfort her self with burn'd Purple or Gold consumed to Ashes with the Smoak of a Flaming Pile and the Blood of a Butchered Flock with the large shadow and great Images of a vast Sepulchre Her Grief was too violent to expect such Superficial and VVeak Remedies and to be cured by Ceremonies and Superstitions She had Recourse to a Consolation of less Cost and far more Efficacious She believed that a small Piece of Steel plung'd into her Bosom would be to her Sorrow a more Infallible and Speedy Remedie then Mines of Gold and Quarries of Jasper erected into Pillars and Pyramids over her Husbands Bodie And this Remedie which she conceived the most speedy and Infallible she newly took couragiously and with a boldnesse which merited to be reserved for a lesse Tragical Occasion Behold on her Face the Confidence of her Spirit and the graceful Composure of her Grief Every thing is very Becoming to Beautiful Persons Their Sorrows and Anger 's look handsomly Their Tears adorn them and their very despites Beautifie them And there is nothing even in their Maladies and VVounds which appears not Decent There is not any thing even in their Deaths which seems not pleasing from their Attractives and shines not from the same Lustre which it extinguisheth That of Panthea hath nothing hideous or gastly you would rather take it for a sweet Sleep then for a violent Death The Graces themselves if there be any such as Painters and Poets describe could not sleep more modestly And a Flower which the North Winde hath withered could not more gently bow down its Head nor die more gracefully It is not likewise a Palenesse which you see upon her Brow and Cheeks It is a tincture resembling that dying Brightnesse which appears in a Clear Cloud when the Sun withdraws his Beams from it Trust not her Eyes though they begin to close The Fire Burns still even when it is extinguished And the Sun being in the Ecliâ—se ceaseth not to be dangerous and to offend the sight The like may happen to these dying Eyes The Sparkles which fall from them retain still a kinde of Lightning and He it and I do not doubt but if 〈◊〉 were here and that one of them should enter into his Heart it would in kindle there a second Feaver and send back the Fire into his former VVound VVhilst her Eyes half shut cast forth their last Light and that her Mouth is open to her last â—ords you observe peradventure the passage of her Soul and desire to know whether it will issue out by her Eyes or Mouth Aâ—â—ure your self that through what art soever it passeth it will passe generously and depart victorious and through a fair gate It is credible neverthelesse that it will sally forth by the nearest Gate to the Heart and which she her self newly made with her own Hand A stream of Blood which goes before this great Soul prepares the way And spurting up even upon the Bodie of Abradates enters there through all his VVounds as if it would fill his empty Veins as if it would even penetrate his Heart to reinkindle the extinguished Fire and dispose it by the Spirits which it brings to receive the Soul which was to follow them Her Countenancâ— though languishing expresses joy at this encounter Her life seems to passe in good earnest with her Blood into her Husbands Bodie and her Soul is assured to finde there a second Abode which will prove more happy then the former had been Comforted by this Vain and sweet Imagination she let fall her Head upon the Head of Abradates You would say that she prepares her self to expire upon his Lips And that after the transmitting into him her Blood and Spirits she resolves to place her Sighs and last Breath upon his Mouth Love supports her in this Action But it is an Heroick and Magnanimous Love a Love which instructed her in Vertue and fortified her Courage For Loves if you are yet to learn it are not all Wanton and Voluptuous There are Austere and Chaste Loves there are Valiant and Philosophical ones And amongst them Glory and Vertue have their Confederates and Disciples as well as Vice and Pleasure He that assists Panthea with so much Care is one of these Confederates of Vertue and Disciples of Glory It is he that strengthened her against Temptations and the Courtships of Ariaspes he that inspired her with Chastity and Conjugal Faith he that taught her to apparel her self with the Reputation of her Husband and to Adorn her self with his Victories he that perswaded her rather to love Abradates glorious and dying with a good Name then living and Infamie This manner of loving Gallantly and like a Heroess was indeed according to Abradates own Heart And you see in what Posture he set himself to correspond therewith We have not seen him in the Conflict breaking a Squadron of Egyptians and pursuing the Victory in a Warlike Chariot But we behold the Glorious Colours which he brought thence and received even between the Arms of Victory It seems that his Valour could not die with him At least it appears still heated in his Wounds and stately on his Face The Rich Armour which his Generous Wife had bought him with her Pearl was pierced thorow in divers Places as if a great Soul could not fally forth by one single passage The blood which trickles down from thence is mixed with the blood of his Enemies wherewith he is covered and seems willing still to overcome All things have in him some Mark of Honour and Generosity And even Death it self is bold upon his Brow and resembles Victory In this so glorious and Mournfull Condition his Vertue begot Pittie even in those to whom in the Conflict it had bred Emulation It was Honoured by the Blood of Enemies and by the Tears of his Rivals by the terrour of the one and the affliction of the other And immediately a sumptuous Monument erected over his Bodie and that of Panthea buried in the same Garment will be to each of them as a second Life and an Immortalitie
of Jasper and Porphire SONNET WHile this Heroick Mede attempts to gain O're weighty Palms be by their poyse is slain His Brow still sweats with Gallans Actions done Still do's the Blood about his Armour run His Hearts late active Flames have lost their Fire And through its reaking Blood in Smoak expire While couch'd among the Dead his Soul pursues The wand'ring Shades of those the sword subdues O hold Panthea hold thy best Relief Rests in the moderation of thy Grief Save thou at least thy Husbands second Heart And let one Death suffice your common Smart In thee he still survives and may again In thee fair Cruel by thy Hand be slain Thâ— inhumane Steel that shall dismiss thy Breath To him must needs procure a second Death ELOGIE OF PANTHEA PANTHEA had a Philosophers Spirit in a Womans Bodie and a knowing and disciplined Soul under a Barbarous Climat There was nothing weak or rustical in her Life All her Actions were full of Courage and Dexteritie Chastity Grace and Modesty excepted nothing appeared in her agreeable to her Sex Having remained a Captive after the Defeat of the Assyrians vanquished by Cyrus she was set apart as the most precious piece of the Spoil and as the choicest fruit of the Victory And in this occasion her Vertue appeared more rare and prizable then her Beauty A noble man of Persia having had the Impudence to attempt upon her Honour Discretion Chastity and Fidelity defended it And the Victory which remained to her evidently shewed that Fortune had not yet overcome her And that though she were an absolute Captive yet she had alwayes a free Heart and a soveraign Soul The Affection she bore to her Husband Abradates was serious and manly she did not consume it in affected Discourses and superfluous Apprehensions She truly loved his Life and Repose but she was jealous of his Reputation and Renown And she would rather have wished him an untimely and glorious Death then a dishonoured and compleat old Age. So far was she from making him lose in her Closet the hours of the Field and from withdrawing him from Gallant Encounters and Honourable Dangers that she sent him thither in a costly Equipage like a Conquerer that she delighted to see in him an adorned and sumptuous Valour which might both dazle and affright which might beget at once both Admiration and Fame He died likewise Victorious in the Gold Armour which she had bought for him with her Pearl and pretious Stones as if she intended thereby either to adorn his Death or to set a Value and Lustre on his Victory Being brought to her covered over with his own Blood and that of his Enemies she received him Couragiously and with a manly Constancy mixt with sorrow and Majesty She forbore not to bewail him but it was done with those modest and decent Tears which do not soften the Heart but beautifie the Face Not being able to make his Soul return into his Body she essayed to substitute her own in the place of it For that end she opened her Bosom by a wide wound and leaning on him as if she were willing to fill his Heart with her Blood and Life she dyed in two Bodies and yeelded up her Soul through her Husbands Wound and and her own MORAL REFLECTION I Put not here a Sword into Womens Hands nor invite them unto Poison a Halter or Precipice Voluntary Death might appear handsom and becoming in this Barbarian it would seem black and hideous in a Christian Woman But Chastity Fidelity and Constancie are in use with all Nations and requisite for All Sects And our Christian Women without darkning or disfiguring themselves may imitate Barbarian Let them learn of her that Conjugal Love is not an effeminate and mincing Passion That it is vigorous and serious That it is capable of great Designes and of Noble and Couragious Thoughts Let them understand that though their Sex be exempted from the Dangers and Functions of War yet their Fortunes and Mindes are not so that they ought to serve with their Goods and Possessions if not with their Persons And that it were a Disgrace for them to spare two or three Pearls and Parcels of rich Cutwork in Occasions wherein Princes are Liberal of their Blood and Kings expose their Crowns and Heads In fine let them know that their chief Ornament consists in their Husbands Glory that they ought to adorn themselves with all that contributes to their Credit and Reputation And that a man without Honour is as great a Deformity to a brave Woman as a Head of Clay to a Statue of Ivorie MORAL QUESTION Concerning the Order which a Gallant Woman ought to observe in Conjugal Love IF good Eyes and a great Light be requisite to love regularly more Courage and Vertue is yet required to it And well ordained Charity what sweetness soever it promiseth is the most powerful and the most rare perfection of a Gallant Woman There are many who tenderly love their Husbands The Heart of a Turtle or the Soul of a Dove without other Philosophie would suffice for this Tendernesse But surely few there are that love them according to measure and in order to their duties few that know how to afford just proportions to their kindnesses and to set every office in its place and in the degree which is proper to it Finally few that can boast with the Spouse in the Canticles of having a regular Love and a well ordered Charity And neverthelesse it is this regular Love and well ordered Charitie which must accomplish the Fortitude of a Woman For according to the saying of S. Augustine these give the Character and Tincture to all other Vertues of what Sex soever they be and by what Names soever they are called Morever this Order to draw the Designe of it in little and to teach it by Epitomie must be taken from the very order of those Objects that are beloved Wherein this proportion is to be exactly observed that every Object be ranked in the esteem and according to the degree of its Merit That the most pretious and important should have the first Cares and be furthest advanced in the Heart that the rest of lesse consequence should remain in the superficies and rest satisfied with the second thoughts and remaining Affections And generally that love should grow intense or remisse rise or fall act or acquiesce according to the different weight according to the several degrees according to the Value of the good which is to be affected and pursued This Rule ought to be in a Gallant Woman what the Rod was to the Angel whom Ezekiel saw measuring the Temple She ought not to Love but with proportion according to the quantity of merit And how vast soever her Heart is she must yet be wary of pouring it out rashly and at random she ought to give nothing of it but by weight and measure Not that I permit her to divide and distribute it to whom
Couragious and so little expected an Action raised a Tumult in the Temple and confusion amongst the people No person is seen there who reflects on the Goddesse or remembers the Sacrifice The Victimes which were already at the Foot of the Altar crowned with Garlands of Flowers and powdred over with fine Meal were affrighted at the Noise made about them And saving themselves with their Garlands and Ribbons threw down the Perfumes and Censors and scattered the Assistants surprized with Astonishment Superstition and Fear Instead of bringing them back the most confident accompany them in their Flight The Virgins of Diana only stayed behinde and they themselves were detained by a Terrour which tyed their feet and congealed the Blood in their Veins Their astonishment and fear appeared on their faces which bore the Color of their Garments The very flowers of their Crowns seemed to wax pale by their Example and Affrightment The Torches fallen from their Hands are extinguished by the Milk and and Wine of the Goblets which were tumbled down And of these two confounded Liquors a third is composed which retains the Colour of them both In this general tumult Camma alone remains quiet and undaunted She was never more fair and Graceful then you now behold her She never drank any thing more delicious or pleasing to the taste then that Remnant of Death she newly gave her Enemie The sweetnesse of the Revenge she took wrought upon her Heart before the poison and penetrated even to the bottom of her Soul There was spread from thence upon her face an effusion of Joy accompanied with a majestical and pleasing fiercenesse even Anger it self was there graceful and the last drops of its Gall had there a kinde of Sweetnesse Nothing is seen in her of that Death she had taken in her Couutenance resembles a Conqueresse and in her Attire something appears festival and Triumphant The very Flowers where with she is Crowned seem to rejoyce that they shall not be carried to a profane and polluted Bed And that they shall dye Ghast and without Blemish in her Company It was believed that she had taken them to sacrifice with more decencie and to render Honour to her Ministery and new Marriage And this was done to go more adorned to Sinnatus and to Triumph over Sinorix with more Pomp. The wretched Man dejected by the Guilt of his Conscience and pierced by the Reproaches of Camma falls on the Ground with the Fatal Cup which deceived him The Palenesse of Death which he drank begins to spread it self on his Face And disquieted by his Despair no lesse then by his Anger he looks upon Camma with Eyes which speak neither a Lover nor a Husband I think also that he vents forth against her all the Gall of his Spirit which is more bitter and comes from a far worse spring then the poison he drank And being able to do her no more mischief he dismembers her at least by his desires and Gesture And makes of her Bodie as many pieces as he sends forth Imprecations and Reproaches against her She hears him coldly and without Trouble It may be said that she loves him in this Condition And having never beheld him without Horrour she now sees him with Joy Meanwhile the Poison gaining on her Noble Parts and finding the Heart half open by the Effort which her Soul makes there to sally forth and reunite it self to Sinnatus behold her sinking between the Hands of her Maids They are well recovered of their first disorder but in no Condition to help her if their tears serve not for an Antidote The best they can do is to lift up their Eyes and hands to the Goddesse and to demand of her by their Gestures and Sighes the preservation of so sublime a Vertue for the Honor and Example of their Sex Do not believe that they are heard Camma opposeth their Petitions and offers up Prayers to the contrary In the Smoak of the extinguished Torches and the overturned Censors she beholds the Ghost of Sinnatus still bleeding from his VVound who gives her a signe that it is time to depart And that she is expected in the Region of Chast and Faithful Souls Her impatience redoubles at this Object And her Heart closing up she takes leave of the Goddesse Craves Pardon for having in her Temple and at the Foot of her Altar and Image sacrificed to Love and Revenge And with these last words rendred up her Spirit with a serene Countenance and such as a Conquerour would have who after the gaining of a Victory should expire in the fâ—uition of his Glory SONNET THis Queen whose noble wrath admits no rest With poison at her Lips Death neer her Breast Do's the now trembling Synnorix upbraid With that sad stroke his murd'rous Hand convey'd Her Husbands Ghost which often call'd in vain With Langnor pale yet bloody as when slain Waits to receive her in that Cloud the late Extinguish'd Torches with their smoak create Brave Soul forsake not thy fair Prison stay Do not Renowned Camma post away To thy Sinnatus ere the poisnous Draught Have on his Murd'rers Head due Vengeance wrought To which the Heav'ns and all things else conspire With his sad Fate and thy inflamed Ire And Love himself iâ— accelerate his pain Megrra's Torch and Deaths cold Shafts hath ta'ne ELOGIE OF CAMMA CAMMA Princess of Galatia and the Wife of Sinnatus was doubly Soveraign and reigned by the right of her blood and by that of her Face Her Beauty which was her first Crown drew Suters to her and furnished her with Combats and these Combats rendred her Spint sit for War and manifested her Courage and â—idelity Her Vertue made Fortune Jealous and her Beauty begot Love in Sinorix But not complying with Sinorix and abandoning all to Fortune she remained victorious over both Sollicitations and Services proving unsuccesseful to Sinorix he employed Despair and Crimes And perswaded that a vacant place would be weakly defended and with lesse obstinacie he murdered Sinnatus and of his Bodie makes a step to his Bed and Throne This Blow strengthened the Couragious Princesse instead of dejecting her She gave no Ear to the bloody Ghost of Sinnatus which summoned her And before she would follow him resolved to revenge his Death After so soul and base a Treachery Sinorix renewed his addresses and sweetned them with the Name of Marriage He presented himself to Camma with all the Artifices and Disguisement by which he thought to hide from her his Crime She failed not to discern it through all his Arts and Disguises and to scent the Murther and blood which remained still fresh upon him Nevertheless the restrained her self And for fear of losing her stroke if she lifted up her hand too high she enclosed her Designe in her Heart with her Anger In sine after many premeditated difficulties and counterfeit irresolutions she seigned to submit to the perswasions of her Kindred who sollicited her in Sinorix behalf and gave
and without staining his hands with her Blood Although I have said that Women will not ascend in Troops to this high degree yet some there are who have arrived to this Pitch and gone thither more innocently and couragiously then Monima she whom I shall immediately produce will finde few equals She cannot be placed in too great a light nor upon too fair a Stage She cannot have too noble Spectators and History will never give her so many applauses and Crowns as she deserves EXAMPLE The Brave Hungarian THe Wound which Hungary received at the taking of Seget was great and dangerous And if God had not reached out his hand and upheld that Kingdom it was ready to perish by this wound The siege was famous by the presence of Solymon the second who began this last Expedition with five hundred thousand men and left the finishing of it to his Reputation and Fortune dying a few dayes before the taking of the place and almost in the sight of Victory It was not the Earl of Serins fault who defended the Town that Solymons Fortune and Reputation died not there with his Person and that Victory did not abandon him in this Action and remain to the Christians The Ladies of Seget did what service they could with their Jewels and Pearls which were converted into Money for the pay of the Garrison they served also there with their persons And by a Zeal much bolder then that of the Carthaginians who gave their hair to make Ropes for Engins of War they employed their Arms to the repairing of the Walls and exposed their Heads to the defence of the breaches and Gates At the last assault given by the Turks the Earl of Serin perceiving that the hour of perishing was at hand resolved to dye most magnificently and in Pomp and to give Lustre and Reputation to his Death He â—ought in an Imbroidered Sute and with a string of Diamonds tyed about his Hat having the keyes of the Town fastned to his Scarse and a hundred Crowns in his Pocket for that Souldier who should send him to Triumph in Heaven The History renders this testimony of his Death that it was a Triumphant and Victorious Death But though it was victorious yet it did not equal the Death of a Ladie of Siget who surpasseth all that is left us of the Memory of Heroick time She was a Woman of quality and one of the fairest but she was none of those languishing Beauties and without Vigour of those Beauties which resemble the stars of the North which have no activity and shine faintly and without heat She was vigorous and bold yet vigorous with sweetnesse and bold with a good Grace and Comlinesse Her Husband who loved her passionately and even to the degree of Jealousie scared nothing but her taking in the taking of Siget The Image of captivated and inchained Hungary nay of flaming and bloody Hungary was to his apprehension a lesse dreadful apparition then the Image of his Captive Wife To rid himself of this Fantome which followed him every where and to secure the Honour and Freedom of his Wife of whom he was more Jealous then of the Honour of Christianity and the Liberty of Europe He resolved to take her out of the World before the Victorious Turk should enter the City which was no longer able to resist and had too good hearts left to yield themselves This so Tragick and soul a resolution was no sooner fixed in his Minde but the slains thereof appeared even in his Eyes and upon his Face His Wife who was discreet and quick-sighted observed them and was touched therewith she pardoned his Jealousie in consideration of his Love And though she was fully prepared for death yet she did not desire a death which might make him a Criminal whom she loved more then her own life She took him aside and made him understand that his bad intention could not be hidden from her She was so dexterous as to draw the confession of it from his own mouth and upon his Confession she strongly and efficatiously represented to him the infamie which would remain to him from so Barbarous an Act and the Scandal which he would give to his Age and leave unto posterity I confesse said she that I owe you all my blood And behold me ready to give it without reserving one drop But have patience till some other come to shed it Do not fullie your hands with it stain neither your memory nor your soul therewith Do not inkindle an eternal fire by it For my part I apprehend far more Life then Death and all the Scimiters of the Turks cause in me far less fear then their most gentle and pretious Chain were it more sweet and pretious then the Diadem of the Sultanesse But permit me to die gloriously and with Reputation Do not dishonour the Repose which you seek Disparage not your good affection My Honour is not so desperate that it cannot be preserved but by a Crime You think to justifie your self by laying the blame upon Love You are much mistaken if you take it for a murderer Do not put the Dagger into its hands Do not solicit it to commit a murder and if you cannot restore it the goods you have received from it leave it at least its Reputation and do not envie its Innocencie An honourable Death is not so hard a thing to find in a Town taken by force There enter enough of them by Gates and Breaches Let us fallie forth together with Swords in our hands to chuse an illustrious and renowned end Let it be by fire or sword let it be short or lasting it imports not It will be sweet to me provided I dye a rival to your Valour and not a Victime to your Jealousie Having said this she caused her self to be compleatly armed and went out with a Sword in her hand and a Buckler upon her arm her Husband followed her armed with the like weapons and encouraged by her words and Example which gave him a second Heart and a new Spirit They went on boldly where fire noise and danger were greatest And as soon as they came to the place where they were to fight between the flaming Fire and the victorious Army They shewed by the wonders which they did that there is no valour like the valour of despairing Love and of Graces armed in defence of their Honour After a long and rude fight they were at last rather overpressed then overcome by a barbarous multitude irritated by their own losses and their resistance And feeling their strength stealing away with their Blood they gave each other their last imbraces and fell upon a heap of dead bodies which had been slain by their Hands They could not die more sweetly then in the fruition of their mutual Fidelity They could not have a more magnificent Tomb then their Arms and Victories Their souls which imbraced each other as well as their Bodies could not be severed by Death
And it was believed that God who is the Author of chast Unions received them into Heaven in this condition and crowned them with the same Glory ZENOBIE Reyne des Palmyreniens victorieuse des Reys et des Lyons 〈…〉 la chasse et les dresse par sen exemple à la vaillance et à la victorie 〈…〉 Zenobia CONFESSE that this new Spectacle hath surprised you And that you could not have believed the Graces so Couragious nor Lovers so Adventurous as to go in chase of Tygers and Lyons Besides if it were to the chase of Swans which are harmonious and amiable and armed only with feathers If it were to the chase of Bees which have nothing but honey in their bodies and respect Innocents and Virgins the party would be lesse unequal and the divertisment lesse hazardous and rash Beauty which is the Mother of the Graces and Loves goeth also sometimes a hunting But it is onely to the chase of Eyes and Hearts which have neither teeth nor nails and can neither bite nor scratch And now adayes the children of this Mother have the boldness to hunt Tygers and Lyons But shew no fear for them they are accompanied by Zenobia who yesterday gave chase to the Roman Eagles which are more dreadfull and furious Beasts then Lyons and Tygers Yes she whom you see hunting there so gallantly and with so gracefull a boldnesse is the famous Zenobia Queen of the Palmyrenians who lately gave Chase to the Roman Eagles And by the defeat of the Imperiall Army secured to her self the Conquest of Egypt So glorious and painfull a Chase well deserved that peace and divertisments should succeed But this generous Woman hath not learn'd to refresh her self like others in her Closet and under a Canopy of State Her very repose is Active and Heroick and her divertisments ars dangerous Combats and essayes of Victories You may approach without danger and contribute at least with your eyes to the noblest Chase which was ever given It is not like those which are practised in the Amphiaters of Rome where captive Beasts are chased by captive Men There is nothing here which is not Glorious and Noble They are Soveraignes that chase and are chased And that which is yet more wonderfull Lovers are here bold and the Graces adventerous and dreadfull Beauty indeed was heretofore seen armed but it was rather for shew then a Combat And her weapons were as little dangerous as the prickets which Roses bear Zenobia was not content with furnishing her with Arms she made her warlike and taught her all serious and practick Combats Consider with what boldnesse she attaqu's this Lyon It appears by her countenance that she takes this danger for a pastime of her Courage The fiercenesse you see in her is not a fiercenesse of any trouble or emotion It is a demonstration of courage and a tincture of boldnesse spread upon her face It is a valour of countenance and a Meene of Combat It is a manly and military Grace It is a tart sweetnesse which pleasingly affrights which begets at once both fear and love But Zenobia imployes not here any thing of this tartness she reserves it for other occasions when she is to grapple with Consuls and Kings This Chase is to her but a meer divertisment And her heart could not be more calme nor her face more serene had she been to deal only with Beasts in a painted Cloth Her Horse couragious by Nature and proud of the fair burthen he bears casts forth his feet as if he meant to give the first stroak and anticipate the Javelin which is ready to part from the Princesses hand The chased Lyon prepares to receive them both And he was even ready to have cast himself upon Zenobia but the lightnings which her heart and spirit dart into his eyes the flaming of those feathers which dance about her head and the jewels wherewith she is adorned making her appear like a flaming fire he looks upon her with an irresolute Anger mixt with Fear And you would say beholding his posture that he deliberates between the dazling brightnesse and the threatning Javelin Disquiet not your self and abandon the fear you expresse to have of Zenobia she is accustomed to overcome all sorts of Enemies and if she should fail of her stroke Araspes who is present with a sword in his Hand to second her would have Courage enough to draw upon himself the danger and Fury of the Beast He could not be worse treated by him then he is by his own Love which exposeth him to a thousand cares and vexations tearing him in pieces without teeth or nails Likewise the most frightful instruments and the greatest wounds do not alwayes cause the greatest Torments Such as delivered up their Slaves to Lions were lesse cruel then he that commanded his own to be cast amongst Lampryes and it were better to be crushed in pieces by an Elephant then to be gnawn by Rats or eaten up by Flies This poor Prince Zenobia's Prisoner even a Prisoner without Chains and Manacles is come from a remote Countrey to offer her his Person with his Kingdom But he assaults a place too well provided and though a Scepter and a Throne be powerful Engines yet in vain will he bend the forces of his Throne and Scepter against her The Heart of Zenobia is too well fortified against all sorts of second affections The Name and Image of Odenatus leaves no place empty there And surely she will not violate the Vow of VVidowhood which she made to his Ghost and Memory Eraspes is in Despair of her as you see yet his Despair is respectful and accompanied with esteem And he loves better Zenobia generous and inflexible then he would do Zenobia base and yeelding Observe his Respect in his very looks his Despair by his Palenesse and the fire of his Heart under the Ashes of his Face See how he suspends his Address and Courage before his Conqueresse He will leave her all the Glory of the Chase And looking on her with imploring eyes he demands of her for himself the same fair Death she prepares for the Lion and intreats her to do that favour at one stroke to them both But she was satisfied in having wounded him with her eyes without undertaking to wound him by her hand And so far was she from taking away his life that she was ready to have given him his Liberty and reduced him to himself if he would have embrac'd it As for this stately Beast he will carry no further either his Liberty or Life And in recompence of them both he will have the Glory to be overcome by the same Arm which Yesterday vanquished the Roman Eagles Her two sons who stand by her intend to share in her Victory and finish with their Bowes what she is going to begin with her Javelin It is not requisite that I shew them to you to make them known Their Beautiful and Couragious Mother is so to the
into Praises He himself will compose an Elogy of Claelia and seriously and with a solid reward crown the same Vertue which he menaceth with his countenance The Soldiers who went disorderly out of their Tents render not so much Honor to his Vertue nor look upon it with so respectfull and peaceable an eye The alteration appears as extream in their spirits and their indiscreet and tumultuous anger clearly demonstrates that in Armies sound judgement is not common and reason resides ordinarily all in the Generall Cast your eyes in this occasion upon these who are as immovable as if this adventure had charmed them You would take them for armed Statues or for Gyants that sleep standing and with open eyes They have likewise but an uncertain and confused sight and the least amazed amongst them cannot say whether he sees what is done or whether he dreams Behold others who stretch forth and stir their arms as if they had wings and were to flie after these Maids But whatever hath been said of Icarus they will not rise up from the ground with their arms and their whole flight being meerly imaginary nothing but their reproaches and imprecations will pass the River The arrows of these Archers are much more to be feared by Claelia and her Companions They have iron teeth and reall wings they can flye faster and wound more dangerously then the reproaches and imprecations of the rest Behold the straining of some in bending their Bows and the strength of others in discharging their Arrows Let us cry out to them to spare innocent and disarmed Beauties and not to offer violence unto a Sex for which VVar and Barbarity it self hath respect to pardon at least the Graces of Rome if they will not honor its Vertues and submit to its Fortune But by no means let them alone their Arrows will be more humane and discreet then themselves they will better understand the rights of their Sex and the common respects which are due to them The noise they make in the ayr is as it were a complaint of the violence which hath been offered them You would not take them for Courriers sent after these Fugitives you would take them for other Fugitives who save themselves after the first Some fall down at Claelia's feet others sink before her Companions and all these Arrows plunging themselves in the River assure them by their fall that they come not to hurt them Meanwhile the couragious Damsels recover the other shore where Glory and the Genius of the Republike expects them Claelia who instigated them is still their guide and advances first upon a Horse generous by Nature and probably proud with the Beauty and Nobleness of his burthen That other so famous Beast upon which Europa crossed the Sea of Creete was less stately and swam less gallantly and with less pomp See how he manages his feet in measure and cadence and how his lofty head salutes afar off the Towers of Rome Surely he would merit to be consecrated as well as the she VVolf which was Nurse to the Founders of the City And the Senate will appoint him at least a Statue and cause her memory to be kept in Marble She that governs him is as little affrighted with the Arrows as with the cryes and reproaches which follow her Fierceness is beautifull and boldness pleasing on her Face There is something I know not what that is Noble and Majesticall about her which resembles Soveraignty And were she armed one would imagine that it vvere Victory her self which abandons the Tuscans and is going to render her self to the Romans Her Companions follow her vvith a bold and resolute cheerfulness The vveakest are mounted two by two upon their Horse the rest hold by their Tayles and swim the best they are able They have all an equall confidence and the fire vvhich issues forth of their eyes and addes something I know not vvhat of splendor to the fierceness of their looks clearly shews that they are very pure Roman vvomen and that their hearts are full of the blood and spirit of the Republike The vvaves becomming smooth under their bodies carry them vvith respect and delight It seems that some Soveraign Genius and full of Authority is come opportunely to keep them in awe And if some of them rise above the rest they do it vvith so much modesty as gives occasion to believe that it is only to applaud this Adventure and to testifie their joy The God of the River comes forth in person to be a spectator and to partake of the hopes of Rome and of the presage of her Victories Behold him Crowned vvith branches of Corrail and Encompassed with Reeds vvho expresses his astonishment by his action Tears of joy trickle down from his eyes vvhich are mingled vvith the vvater vvhich fals from his Hair and Beard Horacius vvas lately received by him vvith less gladness when he cast himself between his Arms after the fall of the Pridge vvhich had been so bravely and couragiously defended by him And his hands lifted up to Heaven seem to thank the Gods for having allyed him to a Republike whose Daughters triumph over Kings and know how to vanquish Armies without fighting SONNET CLAELIA speaks CLaelia escapes she to the shore is nigh The Fortune of great Rome do's with her fly Before a Camp whose shafts pursue her pace Her heart to brave them mounts into her face Tyber invites her from his Channel 's side His waters under her do gent'ly glide And while she swims triumphantly do even Shine with her beauties like a spangled Heaven You beauteous Fugitives depose all feare Of meeting Death these shafts in their careere Stop to respect you and these waters show Your fires consume them they are sunk so low But set these Charmes apart yet were 't in vain To think you e're could perish You obtain From Vignon's Pencil an enlivening breath And what he quickens is exempt from Death Elogy of Claelia THe Republike was but newly born when she was attaqued in her cradle by the Tarquins and besieged by their Allies 〈◊〉 a yong Roman ambitious to set her at liberty entred in a disguised habit into their Camp and attempted upon the life of Porcenna The blow and death he carried having by a happy mistake for the King lighted upon his Secretary The inraged Roman punished his hand for the error of his eyes And in the sight of Porcenna and his People he burnt it with the fire of the Altar which was there prepared for a sacrifice Thereby he gave them a second astonishment far greater then the first and affrighted them more with the punishment he inflicted upon himself then he had done by his bold attempt Porcenna despairing of taking the City from whence as many Gladiators might sally forth against him as there were young men whose blood and courage the burnt hand of Mucâ—us might inflame sent Propositions of peace to the Senate which entertained them and offered him the
trac'd did me attend When they were gone to guide me to my end But envious Fortune in revenge did strive By cross Designs to keep me still alive My cruel Friends amidst this hot alarm By their offensive cares my hands disarm Therein obstructing like inhumane foes My passage to sweet Death whose gates they close But Love to give my Soul desired room Came with his Shafts to open me my Tomb And I for want of weapons to expire Swallow'd the Coals his Torch had set on fire The Elogy of Porcia THis Picture is of a magnanimous Woman who dies of Grief and Love and resolutely like a Stoick It is the famous Porcia who was the Rival of a Father Defender of the Publick Liberty and of a Husband the destroyer of Tyrannie And who renewed in the Age of Riot and Pleasure the Vertue and Severity of the Primitive Republick She was the daughter of Cato and the wise of Brutus Of the one she was born constant and invincible she became wise and learned from the other and had Vertue for her inheritance and Philosophy for her Dowry Her Husband ruminating upon the death of Caesar and the Deliverance of the oppressed Republick she deservâ—d to be admitted to the communication of this fatal secret and to assist his high thougâ—ts busied in contriving the Destiny of the Empire She conspired with him in heart and spirit she promised to send at least her desires her vows and zeal to the execution And since her Husband seemed to mistrust her silence and fidelity she made by one stroke of a dagger a great and painful wound in her thigh And thereby she shewed him what she was able to do against torments and gave him some of her blood in Hostage for her Constancy and Loyaltie After the death of Caesar and the ruine of Pompey's Faction Brutus having slain himself upon the bloody Body of the Republick defeated in the Philippian Plain Porcia dâ—ed not like him blaspheming against Vertue and repenting her self for having ever served it She continued her reverence to it to the last and honoured it with her last words Seeing her self besieged by her kindred which took from her all means of cutting asunder the tyes of her soul she resolved to kindle there a fire with burning Coals which she swallowed down Thus she set at liberty what remained of her Father and Husband And by her death the blood of the one and the heart of the other once more overcame Tyrannie MORAL REFLECTION WOmen ought to learn from this example that the fault cannot be charged upon their Sex that they are not valiant That their infirmities are vices of Custom and not any defect of Nature And that a great heart is no more discomposed by a tender body then is a great Intelligence by a beautiful Planet Doves would have the boldness of Eagles and Erins the courage of Lyons if their souls were of the same Species One may gather out of the same Example another instruction for Husbands Brutus was a man honest enough and a Philosopher able enough to read them a Lecture And they should not be ashamed to learn of him that Wives are given them for Assistants and Co-adjutresses that they ought to have a place for them as well in their Closets as Beds and to share with them in affairs no less then at Table And that capacity grows from imployment and fidelity from confidence Judgement proceeds from the head which is not changeable from the variety of that which covers it Augustus proposed nothing to the Senate upon which he had not deliberated with Liâ—ia who was as his Associate in the Empire and if one may say so his Domestick Colleague The Holyest of our Kings being a Prisoner to the Saracens would conclude nothing about his Freedom but with the consent of the Queen his Wife And under the Reign of Ferdinand Spain was not happy and victorious but by the prudence and courage of Isabella The ensuing Question will inform us whether Porcia were endued with generosity And whether women be capable thereof MORAL QVESTION VVhether VVomen be capable of an Eminent Generosity I Have been present at some Disputes undertaken upon this Question And sometimes it hath caused me to have innocent and pleasing quarrels with my Friends I have seen some who could not endure that a Woman should be commended for Generosity It is said they as if one should praise her for having a good seat on horse-back and for well handling her Arms It is as if one would set her forth with a Helmet or the skin of a Lion It were to confound the bounds which sever us and place disorder in Morality And a generous Woman is no less a Solecism then a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier It is an incongruity almost as undecent as a bearded Woman To this I did Answer that Vertues having their seat in the Soul and needing only a good disposition of the Soul to operate belong to both Sexes That Generosity is one of those Vertues That the office of the Body and the action of its Members are not necessary to it That all its Functions are interiour and performed in the heart And that the heart of Man and Woman is of the same Matter and Form I added thereunto that the Comparison of Arms and Military Exercises concluded nothing against the Generosity of Women That all things are becoming to well-shaped persons and of a handsom aspect That Semiramâ—â— Hâ—psicrates and 〈◊〉 were as gracefully set forth with Helmets as with Crowns And that another as well known in Fables was not found unhandsom in the Lions skin which Hercules wore That besides that there have been women seen who knew how to manage a horse to throw a dart use their swords with a good grace No just comparison can be made nor a right consequence drawn from the exercises of the Body in reference to the Habits of the Soul That a Woman Doctor and a Woman Cavalier were but Errors of Grammar which do not violate Morality That Generosity not being fastened to the heart of a man as a beard is to his face it might belong without any incongruity or undecency to both Sexes To these Reasons which came to my minde and which I alledged tumultuary and without choice in like Disputes others of more weight and better prepared may be added upon meditation Generosity to define it rightly is a heighth of courage or an Elevation of minde whereby a soul raised above interest and profit is led inviolably and without deviation unto Duty which is labourious and to Gallantry which is painful and difficult in appearance And because this disposition taken in its usual foyle and in respect of matter scarce belongs to any but Great and Noble Persons the name of Generosity hath been given to it which is a name of Greatness and Nobility Whether then that we take Generosity materially and for that cream of good blood and pure Spirits which nourish
and sustain it Whether we take it Morally for an immutable and constant resolution to pursue Duty and Gallantry even to the contempt of Interest and with the loss of benefit it will appear that in either sense Women are no less capable thereof then Men. First it was never said that Nobility appertained only to one Sex and that the cream of good blood was all on the one side all the dregs on the other The distribution of it is equally made and according to natural Justice Sisters possess it in common and without distinction with their Brothers And it is with noble Races as with Pomegranate Trees which bare no Flowers without Purple nor Fruit without Crowns And it is the like with Palm Trees whole Males and Females are of equal Nobleness Wherefore a noble minde belonging no less to Women then Men and the pure blood dispersing its self equally through the veins from their Birth it remains that Generosity should have on either part an equal stock and that the matter of which it is composed should be common Secondly The true form and proper spirit of Generosity proceeds from the Intention and pursuit of that pure and laborious Good which is its object And this object is not so difficult nor placed in so high a Region as women cannot pretend to it They are not so meanly born that they cannot raise themselves above what is pleasing and profitable they may have higher aâ—ms and more noble desires Nature hath given them as well as to us the rellish and appetite of acting gallantly And in History the foot-steps remain still fresh of those who have arrived to this vertue through thorny passages and precipices even through flames and tortures The frequent toyls they have undergone to run after a luminous and deceitful Fantome testifie their disposition and forces shewing what they are able to do herein and when Queens and Princesses shall be exposed who have cast themselves from their Thrones who have mounted upon flaming Piles who have passed through Swords to follow a seeming and imaginary Good who will be so incredulous and obstinate as to deny that Women have a Natural inclination to an effective and real Good Thirdly as Princes and great Persons have their Duties and a Gallantry which is proper to their Fortunes So Princesses and great Ladies besides the Duties and Gallantry of their Sex have second Duties and a particular Gallantry which appertains to the Decency of their condition Now if these Duties be laborious if this Gallantry be difficult and environed with dangers if one cannot arrive to it but with trouble and ruines If to attain to it one must abandon certain Interest and ruine a present Fortune If one must part with his blood and expose his life what will a Couragious Woman and of quaâ—â—ty do and to what side will she betake her self Can any one wish that she should submit to fear and conjectures That she should expose her honour to preserve her Fortunes That she should fail in her Duty not to prejudice her estate That she should suffer her blood to be stained rather then part with one drop of it This truly would be very poor and unworthy of a Noble Soul She must then renounce the pleasure and profit she must trample upon the Mines of her Interests she must renounce Fortune and reject her Parents she must expose her self even to death and punishments to advance 〈◊〉 and with decency to Duty Since this cannot be effected without an Heroick Generosity one must of necessity either grant this Generosity to Women or allow that they may be Covetous and Interessed out of Duty that they be lazy and disloyal handsomly and with decency ungrateful and treacherous by the right of Nature and the priviledge of their Sex But Nature hath not conferred on them so bad a Right noâ— so scandalous a Priviledge On the contrary she would have them all born with an inclination to what is glorious And whether she hath infused some Ray into their souls or whether their hearts in their very Birth have received in Impression of it like to that which Iron receives from the Load stone theâ— hearts adhere unto this lustre in what matter soeveâ—â— is found And their souls at the first Idea which exciteâ— the rage 〈◊〉 they have received of it turn to it by their own instinct and without exâ—pecting any extrinsical motion which presseth them to it From thence it comes that Women are generally curious in what is fair and glorious diligently seeking after all the Species of it and observing all the Rules and Formes thereof And if upon their Bodies and in their Garments in their Moveables and all things else they so pasâ—ionatly affect a materiall and sensible Beauty which is of the lowest Order It is not credible that they have less inclination to the Intellectual Beauty and of the first Order which is the Beauty of what is Noble and Gallant From hence we may conclude regularly and in good form that the inclination to this Splendoâ— being as truly it is the Fountain of true Generosity one cannot deprive them of it without taking from them thereby that inclination which is most Natural to them it being the second spirit of their hearts and the first property of their Sex But why should we take it from them Hath Nature made them lesâ— Noble then the Females of other Animals to whom she hath given another kind of Generosity which she hath not bestowed on the 〈◊〉 I know not whether any man hath made this observation before me yet it ought to be made and Women may draw instruction and advantage from thence Lions and Tygers Leopards Male-Eagles and all other beasts which are naturally so fierce and couragious never fight but for Interest and Prey And their whole Courage to express it well is but a violenâ— greediness Their Valour is but for necessity and Rapine Hunger is the only Punctilio of Honour which sets them on and without this provocation their fierceness pines away and their mettal grows dull It is not the same with Females their mettal is more Noble and their valour less Interested They fight not only for their proper necessities and do it as couragiously as the Males But they fight also for others wants for the defence and preservation of their young ones which the Males use not to do even to that heighth that they expose themselves to fire and sword for this Duty which is the only Duty and Good they are capable of Hath Nature then given Generosity to Lions and Eagles hath she given it to Turtles and Doves and shall it not be in her power to give it to Women to whom she hath given a Soul of the same form a Heart of the same temper Blood and Spirits of the same tincture as she hath given to Men Let us conceive her to be more regular and exact in her Works We will believe nothing of it gratis noâ— out of complacency
this Generosity was Heroick And Spain so magnificent in great words and in vast and high expressions hath no words so great nor expressions so vast which can equal it Nevertheless the action of a Woman and a French Woman hath surpassed it And the Loyaltie of Madam de Barry was so much the more Gallant and Generous then that of Guâ—man in as much as a dearer pledge and a more irreparable and sensible loss was to be hazarded thereby The Spaniard consented to the loss of a young Plant which was dear to him and made one part of himself But perchance this young plant was not single This part was served from him And besides others might grow up in its place The French Woman came not off at so cheap a rate she was to undergo the loss of the Stem and of all the Roots She was to suffer the Incision of a part which was inherent in her which stuck to her flesh and bones which was flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone which made up the moâ—ty of her heart and spirit And the chiefest matter is that this so difficult and costly fidelity was exercised in a time of trouble and tumult In a time when Laws were in disorder and Duties in confusion when Rebellion was Canonized by the People and Loyaltie made an Hackny when Soveraignty was Lâ—tigious and brought into Dispute when the oppressed Crown seemed ready to be torn in pieces or to change its Master The Command of Laâ—cate continued to this generous Widow And for the space of seven years she performed the Functions of it with so much courage and with so laborious an Assiduity as she left nothing more to be desired in point of her care and conduct By her presence she gave incouragement to the labours and exercises of the Souldiers She was assisting in their Duties and kept them in an exact Order and under a regular Discipline She Commanded pleasingly and with Dignity and she her self added example and the shew of action to her Commands And whatsoever an active and vigilant Captain Armed with Authority could have done in a Garrison Town this gallant Woman did it generously and with success she did it with comeliness and a pleasing grace The deceased King Henry the Great who esteemed nothing rashly and out of fancy highly prized this Generosity And when some Courtiers affecting the Government of Laâ—cate represented to him that a Place of such importance was not safe in the hands of a Woman He often Answered That he reposed more Trust in this Woman then in the ablest Man of his Kingdom That he knew not any one who could give so gallant an Earnest or so precious a Pledge of their Fidelity as she had done And that above all it concerned the honour of France to have it known that there were Ladies of that Nation not inferiour to Captains Nothing could be added to these few words They spake more then our longest Elogies can do They Crown the Memory of this Generous Woman and are a greater Honour to her then a triumphant Arch and many Statues ARRIE fortifie son Mary contre la Mort et par l'essay et l'exemple de la sienne 〈…〉 qu'on meurt sans douleur quand on meurt auec courage 〈…〉 Arria WEE are come too late and have lost the fairest piece of the most magnanimous action Rome hath ever seen The Actors as you see are few in number but all choice and famous ones And what they doe in private and without noise will be speedily carryed to Theatres and publike Places and wiâ—l receive Applauses from all free and Roman Hands You come not so far off and are not so great a stranger to Rome that you have heard no speech of Arria She is a modern Copy of the ancient Vertue she is a young woman and hath the Features of the old Republike Her Apparell and Speech sutes indeed with this time but her Courage Constancy and Fidelity are of the Sabiâ—s Age. And though she lives under the Reign of Claudius the Simple and in the Court of Messeline the Incontinent yet nothing of this Reign nor of this Court appears in her Manners They are of Lucrecia's Age or of some other far purer Time and less remote from the primitive Vertue Common Fame may have told you all that can be said of this womans Vertue but it could not as yet inform you what you see of her Courage Shâ— returned long since from Dalmatia following in a small Bark the Fortune and Ship of her Husband who was led away Captive You may have heard that he had been one of the Heads of the Scribonian Conspiracy and that he hâ—d liberty to pass which way he pleased to Messalin and Narcissus His wife perceiving him irresolute between Fear and Courage she her self took a couragious resolution that she might fortifie him by her example and teach him how to make choise of a Consular Death and equall to the 〈◊〉 and Triumphs of his Ancestors I could wish that we had been present at the Discourse which she newly had with him VVe might have heard the Images of the Cicinnaâ—s speak we might have seen the memory of Cato and Brutus and the glory of all the Defenders of Liberty laid before him to give him Courage To the force of so many Heroick reasons and of so many magnanimous words she added the force of her Example which is far more Heroick and Magnanimous And the mortall stroke she but even now gave her self set a value upon her Reasons and fortified them by a present Authority and by a Personall and still-fresh Experiment She exhorts him with her eyes and countenance as you see she exhorts him with her hand with which she presents him a Dagger But her most efficacious and pressing Exhortation is that of her wound which is a mouth of good credit and belief a mouth which can only say what it thinks and nothing which it doth not perswade This stream of blood which flows from thence hath her voice and spirit and this spent all warm that it penetrates the heart of Cicinnas dissipates his fears and coldness stayes his trembling fits and fortifies his weakness and raises up there against Death a true Patriciman Vertue of the Age of Liberty and of the spirit of Rome Arria accompanies with the sweetness of her eyes the vigour of this spirit and the shadow of approaching Death was so far from obscuring them that they never cast forth more fire they never diffused so pure and penetrating a light You believe peradventure that this is done by an effusion which is naturall and common to all Torches which draw near their end For my part I believe and believe it with more probability that this surplusage of light issues from the very soul of Arria which shews it self openly by these fair Gates to the soul of Cicinnaâ— and exhorts it to â—ally forth couragiously after her But from what spring sâ—ever this pure and
glorious effusion ariseth it is certain that Cicinna is penetrated by it and his soul which fear had imprisoned being now inflamed and attracted by the power of this light expects only the fatall stroke which was to set it at liberty To give this blow Arria presents him a Dagger still warm with her blood and courage Love is the mediator of this commerce and at the same time and by the same inspiration infuseth courage into the mind of Arria and resolution into the spirit of Cicinna Take not this Love for one of those nice ones in whom Poppy causeth the head-ach and who would not adventure to touch a Rose unless it be disarmed It is one of those couragious and magnanimous Loves of those which have produced Heroes and Heroesses of those which know no other Garlands but Helmets no other Posies but Swords of those which take delight in Frost and Rain in Chains and Prisons And I am much mistaken if it be not the very same Love which led Euadne to the flaming pile of her Husband which sparkled the Sword wherewith the true Dido guarded her self from a second Marriage and which lately also cut off the Hair of the Vertuous Hypsicratea put the Helmet on her head and made a Queen become a Foot-soldier in the Army of Mithridates At present this Love playes the Exhorter and Philosopher it speaks to Cicinna of liberty and glory and animates him to follow the Example and Courage of his wife You would say that in guiding his hand to the Dagger which is offered him she assures him that it will cut off the ligaments of his soul without hurting him that it hath been mollified in the bosome of Arria and by the fire of her heart that her blood hath qualified it and take from thence all that it had of malignity and sharpness and that not only so Noble and Honourable a weapon as that but even a Cord presented by the hand of so gallant a woman would be more glorious then many Diadems wrought by the hand of Fortune and presented by those of Messaline Cicinna seems fully perswaded by these reasons and confirms them by his gesture and countenance He is no longer the same fearfull and irresolute man as before He hath still the same head and body but another heart is placed in this body and another spirit in this head He hath no longer any blood in his veins which is not Romane All his thoughts are triumphant and all his sentiments worthy of a Consul and shortly his soul greater then Fortune and stronger then Death will depart victorious over both and re-unite it self to the soul of Arria This Example of constancy and conjugall Fidelity is very precious to Rome at this time and no doubt but the young Arria and Trascus her Husband who are spectators thereof will make good use of it They greedily and studiously collect the circumstances thereof and look upon it as the principal piece of their Patrimony Truly it is wonderfull to behold a wisdom at the age of eighteen to behold maturity and youth in one and the same head To see a woman couragious and constant a woman grave and serious in an age of divertisements and pleasures She conceives her self more rich from the lessons and examples of her mother then from the succession of all the Consuls of her House and three drops of her blood and four syllables of her last words have something in them which is dearer to her then all the Pearls of her Ancestors She likewise stores up these words and layes up about her heart all that she can gather of his blood and of the spirit which is mingled with it Surely this must needs be her good Genius who inspires her so timely to arm her self thereby and she cannot choose but foresee the occasions wherein it will be usefull to her to have conserved the memory of her Mother and fortified her self with her Blood and Courage Traseus was no less solicitous to reap benefit by this illustrious Example The present misfortune of Cicinna is a presage to him of his future mishap and not finding himself so weak as to crouch under the age nor so powerfull as to alter it he clearly sees that the least he can expect is to be ruined by it after the rest He restifies at least by his countenance that he will not fall cowardly nor expect till they push him on and all the rules of Phisiognomy are deceitfull or he will be an Original of his time and his death will have one day a place amongst the Heroick Examples SONNET ARRIA speaks ARria instructs her Husband by her wound That in a gallant Death no smart is found The Noble Blood which from her Bosome flows Of her Chaste Fire the heat and tincture shows Conjoynth with this blood of matchless worth A Fate-subduing Love hath issu'd forth Who thus Cicinna's coldness doth exhort To close thus gallant Scene with like effort Thy Honour now Cicinna is at slake No less then is thy Life then Courage take Beware lest abject fear restrain thy hand And put thy Glory to a shamefull stand Arria thy wound upon her self hath taâ—ne To her own Death she hath annext the pain Of thâ—â—e and by 〈…〉 extreamly rare Hath only leâ—t it's Glory to thy share Elogy of Arria IT is true that the Reign of the fift Caesar was but a perpetual Comedy But the Interludes thereof were bloody and Traâ—â—call And cruelty was almost continually mixed there with the loves of Messalâ—â— and the Impostures of Narâ—issa The Spectators grew at length weary of so ill composed and represented a Scene And some of the least patient and most Couragious amongst them resolved to force the Republike out of the hands of these Stage-Players Nevertheless the Conspirators failing in the success they promised themselves 〈◊〉 who was their Head happened to be killed in 〈◊〉 And his Complices abandoned by reason of his death remained in the power of the Beast whom they had inraged Afterwards 〈◊〉 who was the most ingaged in the Plot was apprehended and brought to Rome The Couragious and Faithful Arria did not deliberate whether she ought to follow him It came not into her thoughts that Adversity was a Divorce she did not believe that bad Fortune ought to be more powerful then Love nor that it could Lawfully dissolve Marriages On the contrary she believed that she was the Wife of Cicinna a Criminal and Prisoner as she had been of Cicinna's a Favourite and Consul and that she ought to have as great a share in his Chains and Punishments as she had in his Fortunes and Glory She accompanied him to the Ship And at the instant of Imbarking seeing her self put back by the Guards You will permit at least saith she that a Senator of an ancient Consulary Race may have some body to wait upon him during so long a Voyage I alone will supply the Places of his Attendants And the Ship will not be
the more burthened nor the more exposed to Tempests None being able to perswade these Barbarous People to receive her all entire she did not forbear in spight of them to imbark her spirit and heart with her Husband and that she might follow him at least in part she put her Body into a Fishermans Bark and exposed it to the Winds and Waves which carried away the rest Fortune favoured so couragious a Fidelity The Spirit and Body of Arria arrived at Rome at the same time And being re-united at their arrival did joyntly and with mutual cares sollicite the freedom of Cicinna Her endeavours finding ill success she resolved to die And she sufficiently explained her self by the reproach she used towards the wife of 〈◊〉 for surviving the death of her Husband slain in her bosom Her Son-in-Law Thrascus alledged all that he could devise to perswade her to live All that he could invent not prevailing with her You have a mind then saith he that your Daughter should abandon her self to the like despair And you condemn her to die with me when Fortune shall ordain that I must perish My Example doth not condemn her replyed she And when she shall have lived as long and with as sweet an harmony as I have done with Cicinna she may die boldly without my coming back to take the sword out of her hand or the poison out of her mouth Her kindred being advertised by this Answer that her Resolution was of more force then their Reasons they renewed their cares and diligences towards her She besought them to suffer her quietly to die and not to change an easie death into a painfull one Having said this she violently threw her self against the next Wall and fell into a swound Being come again to her self with much ado I did tell you saith she that all you could do was but to hinder me from dying quietly and at ease All the violent Attempts which Arria made upon her soul did not loosen the soul of Cicinna nor perswaded it to depart Honourably out of the World and without expecting the violence of his Enemies She went at last to see him And declared to him that if he had not courage enough to go first he ought at least to have enough to follow her She represented to him on the one side the shame of being continually made a 〈◊〉 game by a prostituted Woman and an insolent Servant who made a Scene of the Court and a Fantome of his Masters On the other side she remonstrated to him the Infamy which the Executioner left to the Ashes and Memory of those that died by his hands She often repeated to him that death was only terrible to irresolute and timerous persons That it doth never wound such Couragious Souls as loosen voluntarily themselves and prevent the hand of force That this last Act would be more looked upon in History then his Consulship and would be more resplendent then the Triumphs of his Ancestors And perceiving that he still deliberated between Resolution and Fear she plung'd a Dagger into her own bosom which she had provided for that purpose And then drawing it forth warm and dropping she presented it to him with these words which were the most Heroick and Victorious that ever issued from a Romans mouth Take this Dagger Cicinna it hath done me no harm Cicinna received from her hand with the Weapon the Spirit and Courage which came forth of her wound And died rather by the Magnanimity of Arria then by his own Courage MORAL REFLECTION LEt Christian Ladies learn of this Idolatress in what dis-interessed Love and conjugal Fidelity doth consist Let them observe how many Combats she hath fought and how many Victories she hath gained She had a present and future Interest in his Possessions and Hopes She was Young Rich and the friend of Messalâ—â— She might have left her husband to Justice and reserved her self for a better Fortune and a more happy Marriage Her Riches her Beauty her Youth were no Criminals They had not conspired against the Prince And it was not against them Commissioners were appointed and Informations given She rejected nevertheless the Temptations of her Age and Interest She listened only to her Fidelity and Love And taught her whole Sex by her Example that a good Woman hath no other Interest then her Huâ—band that to her there was but one Man in all the World and that he dying Riches Youth and Beauty die to her Arria likewise reads a second Lesson to Women which is no less important nor less useful then the first she teacheth them how that Person is deceived who said that Marriage was but a name of pleasure And that even now adayes they are much mistaken who believe it to be a community of Goods and Fortunes It is a name of Yoke and Affliction a community of Evils and Troubles a society of Cares and Labours And it is fit that young Women should be advertized on the day of their Marriage that they are not to be Marryed only for that day but for all the rest which are to follow how stormy soever they may prove and what unpleasing hours soever they may have They ought to know that with the person of their Husbands they espouse all their present and future Fortunes and that they are obliged to follow them to what place soever the wind drives them in what storm soever the Heavens pours down upon them But this veâ—ity will be more enlarged in the ensuing Question MORAL QVESTION Concerning the Duty of VVives towards Husbands in the time of 〈…〉 and Misfortunes I Could not as yet Divine why Married Women are crowned and 〈…〉 celebrated with so great pomp and with so much joy 〈…〉 properly and without a figure it is to adorn Slaves and 〈…〉 it is to lead them to Prison in pomp and jollity it is 〈…〉 them with Ceremony and Musick I am well read in the 〈…〉 Custom I see very well that Time Example and the 〈…〉 People are for it But I know also that Antiquity is neither all 〈…〉 Holy The first Men may have left us their abuses as well as then 〈◊〉 And old Errours are not better conditioned then 〈…〉 are not justified by the crowd of those that commit them It were 〈…〉 to the purpose and of far better example that the Weddingâ— of Christians should be grave and modest That the Ceremony should be serious and frugal and that instead of being an object of access and pleasure for new married Couples it should be a Lesson of Petience and a preparative to Troubles There would not be seen so many Rich persons â—â—umbred nor so many Innocent Repentants There would not so many complain of being caught by a specious bait who curse the flowers under which so many thornes have been hid They would have at least made trial of the burthen before they laid it on their shoulderâ— They would have measured theâ— forces with this yoke They would
all the last night could not sleep by reason of his disquiets and discontents Perez set at Liberty by this Device repaired to Henry the Great who received him with Honour And Iane Coello staied behinde in Spain esteemed by every one for her Courage and Fidelity I am the first that have shewn this Couragious and Faithful Woman to France And I now present her unto the Court to the end our Ladies may learn of her that great Expences and studied Excesses do not form a gallant Woman That so fair a Figure deserves better Lineaments and Colours That the Noblest blood of the World is obscure and wants lustre if Vertue doth not give it That Marriage is a Companion as well for bad Times and rugged Tracks as for fair Dayes and delightful Roads And that the affection of a good Woman should resemble Ivy which sticks close and inseparably to that Tree which it hath once imbraced never leaving it what snow soever falls upon it what wind soever shakes it what tempest soever bears it down PAVLINE 〈…〉 Paulina IS it one of the Graces or an wounded Amazon who dyes there standing and in the posture of a Conqueress She is truly a Grace even a manly and magnanimous Grace No Amazon unless a Philosophick and long Robâ—d Amazon She is the wise and vertuous Paulina who became a Stoick in the house of Seneca and resolves to die in his Company and by his Example You may have heard what common rumour hath published of Neros ingratitude and of the Fatal command of death he sent his Master This second Parricide no less scandalized the Senate and all the People then the first which is yet fresh and whose blood still reales upon the Earth And the impiety of the Tyrant after it had caused Agrippina to be murthered who had been twice his Mother and brought him no less into the Empire then into the world after it had put Seneca to death the Instructer of his youth and the Father of his spirit could not ascend higher if it rise not up against God himself if it fall not on Religion and holy things Though this last stroke fell only upon Seneca yet he is the only person that was not surprized with it and having often beheld the soul of Nero open and even to the bottom he ever indeed believed that figures of Rhetorick and sentences learnt by roat would not be more acknowledged then the Life and Empire he received from his Mother He received likewise that barbarous Order with a Tranquility truly Stoick and worthy the Reputation of his Sect. He did not appeal to the Senate he knew very well that the Senate is now but a Body divested of Power a dismembred Body and still bleeding of the wounds it had received from the Tyrant He did not implore Redress from the Laws they were all at present either banished or dead He was content to obey without noyse or delay and you could not arrive more seasonably to see a Stoick dying according to the forms and principles of his Profession Paulina would also shew that Constancy belonged to her Sex no less then to ours and that VVomen might be Philosophers without having commerce with Lycea and Portica without making Dilemmaes or Sylogismes She believed that being the one half of Seneca she might be couragious by his Courage and dye by the example of his Death as she had been enriched by his Riches and honoured by his Fortune Their Veins hapned to be opened by the same hand and Lancet Their blood and spirits were mixt together in their wounds And that of Seneca entring into the Arm of Paulina with the Lancet penetrated her very heart and seated it self about her soul. You see also that being instructed and fortified by this spirit which serves for a second reason and an accessory Courage she had the fortitude to expect death standing which is the last Act of Soveraign Vertue and the true posture of dying Heroes The blood streamed from her Arm with violence as if her soul pressed it to have the glory of going out the first And to behold the purest and most spirituall parts thereof which spurt up from the Bason into which it fell you would say that it takes a pride in the Nobleness of its Extraction and conceives it self too well descended to be spilt on the ground Paulina calmly and without the least alteration beholds it trickling down And saving that her Colour vanished away by degrees and Paleness succeeded as it doth to the last Rays of a fair day which dyes in a beautiful Cloud no change was to be seen in her Countenance Her Constancy is no savage Constancy It hath a serenity and Grace but it is a pale serenity and an expiring Grace She is more covetous of her Tears and Sighs then of her Blood and Life she prohibited her Eyes and Mouth to shew the least sign of weakness And a Statue of white Marble which should make a Fountain of its artificiall Veins could not have a more peaceable stability nor a more gracefull confidence This example is very rare but it is sad and cannot instruct the mind but by wounding the heart The steam of so Noble Blood draws almost tears from your eyes And it afflicts you that you are not able to save the fair remains of so beauteous a Life Let it no longer torment you The Tyrant advertised of Paulina's generous resolution sends Souldiers to hinder her Death and inforce her to live Not that he takes care of the Vertues or is willing to preserve the Graces which are ready to dye with her He is Nero in all his actions and doth no less mischief when he saves then when he kiâ—s It is because he delights to sever the best united hearts and to divide the fairest Couples It is because he takes pleasure in forcing inclinations and violating sympathies It is because he hath a desire to exercise upon friendships and souls an interiour and spirituall Tyranny It is because after the death of Seneca he will have the heart of Seneca in his power The Balisters of Porphiriâ— upon which you see him leaning is the same as they say on which lately at the noise and light of flaming Rome he sung the firing of Troy He speaks from thence to the Souldiers he sent to Paulina and commands them to make hast Though she had but two steps to make yet they will enforce her to retreat and fasten her again to life by binding up her wounds It were to be wished for the good of Rome that they had done as much to Seneca But if they had Swathes and Remedies to apply to him Nero could wish that they might be impoysoned Swathes and killing Remedies The last year he caused the same Remedies to be applyed to gallant Burrus his other Governour And doubt not but he will shortly send the like to Seneca if 〈◊〉 Soul make not the more haste to expire It is not the good old mans
upon the head of 〈…〉 The blow which was both Mortal and beneficial awaâ—◠〈…〉 to his senâ—es before it took away his life He acknowledged his fault commended the vertue of his Murtheress and commanded her to be set at Liberty She went to cast her self at the feet of 〈◊〉 who was ravished with so extraordinary a Vertue and treated her more like a Conqueâ—ess then a Criminal He honoured her with Praiâ—â— and Presents and in lieu of the Pardon she required caus'd an 〈…〉 composed of her which was of greater value then a Crown MORAL REFLECTION THose understand not Chastity who give it a place amongst the vertues of 〈◊〉 No vertue is more 〈◊〉 noâ— ought to be more Warlike There is not any to 〈…〉 and Courage are more 〈◊〉 And to my 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 armed and full of prickles is a more true and natural Symbole of 〈…〉 which hath only a whitness without weapons 〈…〉 we must keep to Custom and leave the 〈…〉 have one since Custom will have it so But let it be 〈…〉 mentioned in the 〈◊〉 let it be a â—â—lly 〈…〉 signifying that Chastity will be always armed Our French 〈◊〉 was one of these 〈…〉 as well as the Hebrew 〈◊〉 And all chaste Women who 〈◊〉 willing to imitate them have need of a Warlike Spirit and of a resolute Soul disposed for War even for an obstinate War without 〈◊〉 saith St 〈◊〉 for a War where Neutrality hath no place and where one must necessarily either overcome or be vanquished The War which Tyrants and Executioners have made against â—aith was 〈◊〉 on with more State and Pomp It was done with more noise and preparations of Engines and Punishments Nevertheless it was not so dangerous and though Tertullian said that a head accustomed to precious stones and pearls hardly exposeth it self to the sword Yet some have been seen who have fought less happily for their Chastity then for their Faith And having been overcome by an Enemy who only assaulted them with flowers God hath shewed them the favour to rise again and overcome Tyrannie and Cruelty armed with all their Engines There must be nothing saint or weak in a chaste Soul there must be nothing of Languishment or â—ffeminacy But there must not be the least 〈◊〉 oâ— ostentation there must be nothing loâ—ty or savage Her courage ought to be modest without oftentation her resolution tempered with sweetness and Civilitie And in a word to draw her Picture she must resemble a Rose which is bashful and armed which defends it self with blushes and pâ—â—cks only those that rudely touch it MORAL QVESTION VVhether more Resolution and Courage be required to make a Man Valiant then to make a VVoman Chaste WHo will believe that Chastity is more vigorous then Valour and that to make a chaste Woman more Courage 〈◊〉 needful then to make a valiant Man The Valiant will believe it they perswade themselves that there is no true Courage but then own and that Resolution cannot act but by their hands nor have any right imployment but in War Then perswasion nevertheless 〈…〉 from Truth and were it not so dangerous to meddle with 〈…〉 I might say to them that they are deceived One might well agree with them that courage is a Vertue fit for the â—â—eld and that it is by the assistance thereof Towns are taken Battelâ— fought Crowns gainâ—d and inlarg'd But they ought to confess also that this courage doth not always act amids Fire and Sword that all the occasions thereof are not bloody though they be all laborious and that there are Domestick Combats in which the Victory is more difficult requires more labour then in the Field The conflicts of Chastity are of that 〈◊〉 though they be not perform'd like those of Valour with a shew of terroâ—â—â— and preparations formidable to the eye yet are they not less to be feared not less dangerous And if we set aside the address and toâ—ls of the body and this 〈◊〉 appearance which makes a noise and astonisheth â—here remains nothing which hinders us from concluding that to â—ender a Man valiant less resolution and courage is 〈◊〉 then to â—ender a Woman chaste There are many solid and weighty Reasons which should perswade it And to begin with the Enemies against whom Chastity and Valour are to fight it is certain that those of Chastity are stronger and more numerous then those of Valour It seems to 〈◊〉 that Chastity is a 〈◊〉 quiet vertue because ordinarily it hath only to do with passions which seem sweet and pleasing But these sweet and pleasing passions are harder to overcome then the â—ough and formidable Whether by reason we less distrust them and that the senses and Nature hold Intelligence with them Whether because then â—aâ—ed sweetness and Artifice 〈◊〉 their entry into the heart Whether in respect that no passion being established to resist them Reason is left single to contest against them And Reason which is not upheld by passions fights faintly and without vigour It is not 〈◊〉 with these troublesom passions which are enemies to Valour They 〈◊〉 finde Nature upon her guard The Senses cannot grow familiar with them nor fashion themselves to their rudeness They would not know how to enter into the heart but openly and with violence And the proper Function of anger which is a Warlike passion being to serve Reason against them War with them cannot be neer so painful as with 〈◊〉 not the Victory so difficult and doubtful We see also that the number is far greater of brave Spirits who have overcome Fear then of valiant chaste Women who have vanquished Love And amongst so many Heroes whom Poesie hath made and History â—ound out We can hardly name three or four who have not been Mastred by it Some one will say that this comes home to the Fable of the â—â—on who was vanquished by a Wasp but whether Love be a Wasp or 〈…〉 leave that Dispute to others It sufficeth me that those People who were subduers of Monsters have been vanquished by Love And I cannot 〈◊〉 more ancient Authors to give Credit to the power of pleasing pasâ—ions and to conclude in sequel that Chastity whose part it is to overcome them ought to be more Resolute and Couragious then Valous Moreâ—â—er the strength of Passions of what Order soever they be proceeds from the 〈◊〉 of those Objects which irritate them Now the goods which provoke Love and Desire and fight Externally against Chastity are more hard to overcome then â—â—vils which beget fear and dispair and are opposite to Valour This at first sight appears incredible And the Ignorant will suspect it for a Paradox and an Hyperbole It iâ— true nevertheless and the proof will be easie to those who know the different Impressions of Good and Bad and the several instincts of the Will The first Action of Good is like that of the Loadstone it attracts the Will and forcibly fastens it self to it It doth yet more it
heart of them both There are some men who have not so much as the first glimmerings of sound judgement You would swear that they had been made out of the Lees and Dregs of Matter You would say that not one single spark of this Coelestiall Fire is entred into their Constitution And their souls are so burthened the rinde which incompasseth them is so obscure and thick as no light can penetrate them with on single Ray of Truth which can give them a beginning of any vertuous heats On the contrary there are some Women who seem to be onely made out of the pure Extraction of rectified matter The superiour portion of their souls is so pure and so lively reflects all the luminous impression it receives the Inferiour hath two so noble fires and moves so regularly and with so measured and just a swiftness that it would not savor of flattery to compare them to those fair Compounds which are formed of the Intelligences and Planets It is not then the difference of Sex which makes any difference in the faculties of a soul and since they have the same perfection both in Man and Woman since both may be imbued with the same light and penetrated by the same fire let us descend freely step by step to the consequence to which this discourse leads us and let us agree that Women may be disposed by this light and fire to the principal Functions of Heroick vertue History is as knowing and perswasive in this point as Philosophy and the Examples she alledges are as just and formal demonstrations as those which are framed according to the Rules of Logick If it be shewed by these Examples that Women are capable of the most vigorous and illustâ—ous Actions it is consequently and of necessity proved by the same Instances that they are also capable of an Heroick Transport of this Enthusiasme without which we cannot pass beyond the bounds which Moral Philosophy hath prescribed to common Vertues Iudith indeed must needs have been transported with this Enthusiasme when she ran the hazard of her Life and Honour when she passed over Walls and Trenches when she cast her self single and unarmed into the midst of more then one hundred thousand Combatants to redeem Iudea out of their hands to take off their Generals Head by one blow of a Sword Susanna must needs have been stimulated by the same Enthusiasme when being sollicited to her Dishonour by Pleasure and Fear she couragiously rejected them both and hastened to her Duty through 〈◊〉 and Death and a whole storm of stones heaped up against her There must needs have been much of this Transport and Enthusiasme in the Mother of the 〈◊〉 when she exposed her self to Hatchets and burning â—â—â—drons when she marched over the skins and bloody limbs of her â—â—ead and dilacerated children when she gave up her heart and entrals her soul and spirit unto seven different Deaths to gain the eight which was worthy the memory of the 〈◊〉 and sutable to the Reputation of her Race But without going so far from our Age and Modern History was there not a Transport in that Maid of Agria who preparing her self to fight upon a breach by which the Turks endeavoured to bring fire and sword into the bosom of her Country when her Mother joyning in the same duty with a great stone upon her head was born away by a Canon shot appeared no waies surprized with this Accident quitted neither her resolution not post Her heart did not so much as tremble at the blood which might have demolished even the strongest wall and with unchanging countenance she took up this stone still warm with the blood and death of her Mother and rolled it upon the heads of the first that entred the breaâ—h Was there not an Enthusiasme in the action which a young Woman of the same Town performed at the same Siege She fought compleatly armed between her husband and mother and when her husband after a long and obstinate fight was killed by her side her mother advising her to withdraw and render him her last duties God defend me replyed she from so unseasonable a piety Now is the time to revenge his death and not to deplore it his â—uneral may be well performed afterwards if we live and if it be ordained for me to dye upon his body mine will be a Tombe glorious enough for him and my blood mixt with his will do him more honour then my tears These couragious words were followed by a far more glorious action She threw away her own sword and took up that of her husbands whether she esteemed it better then her own and most accustomed to overcome or whether she thought it might have retained some remnant of his Valour and dexterity which would fight with her and bring her good fortune And fortified by this imagination she cast her self fiercely and with order upon those enemies that were the farthest advanced She killed tâ—ree with her own hand made the rest give back and that done she retired with her husbands body and the satisfaction to have revenged his death which was to her as just and manly a satisfaction as that which is sought in a spruce and flaunting mourning in a sorrow as Ambitious and Vain as the Excesse Besides this Transport which is a visible and commendable excess of Valour and Constancy there is another kinde of excess which Magnificence seeks in its actions which also appertain to Heroick vertue And we must not forget to affirm by the way that Women have gone as far and raised themselves as high as Men by this second kinde of Excess One cannot speak without vast terms of the Egyptian Pyramides And the abreviated draughts which Antiquity hath left us of them do even tire our sight Nevertheless the highest and most stately of these Pyramides were built by the boldness and Magnificence of Women The Maâ—solâ—um exhausted the skill of all Architects and of all the Sculptors of Greece and left neither Marble not precious stones in Asia and this Monument was the invention and enterprize of a Woman The pendent Gardens of Babylon and those Walls so famous for their matter and structure were the work of a Woman And this self same person who was filled with nothing but vast thoughts and unlimited designs resolving to have her Statue erected in a place where she had gained a battel caused it to be made out of a whole Mountain cut out into a humane Figure and seated upon a Throne And because it would not have been decent to see a Queen alone she commanded the Artist to dispose the outward and superfluous pieces of the Mountain with so much Art as there might be wherewith to make out of them half a dozen of Guards Without dis-interring ruins buried under so many Ages there are in France sumptuous proofs enough of the Heroick Magnificence of Women But being exposed as they are to publick view it is not necessary to
must be prepared to rush through all these Weapons and to Essay the Teeth and Nails of these Attendants rather then suffer the least stain Whatever may be said the Reputation of valour is not so precious nor invironed with so many Difficulties Her Crowns even those which are made by the site of Canons and Granadoes cost not so much and Heroes are formed at a less expence amidst Pikes and Breaches I forget not what hath been said of Modesty She is the proper spirit of Chastity and they affirm that she is Timerous and Apprehensive that she hath Moderation and Reservedness I confess that for the most part she is not Precipitous and that she is never Impudent But she is not more fearful then Fear it self and Fear hath its sallies as well as Anger and Boldness have theirs Some couragiously endure Pain for fear of another Pain Some cast themselves into the Sea for fear of falling into it And to avoid one Death but apprehended they precipitate themselves into another Let us remember that the Ermine which is the Symbole of Modesty and the silent Mistress of the Chastity which Nature hath given to Women Concerning which to say thus much by the way she hath Treated them more Honourably then men to whom she hath onely given an Ant as the Emblem of Labour and Industry The Ermine is extreamly fearfull and hath neither strength nor weapons and yet this unarmed and timerous Creature had rather dye then be sullyed And when she is pursued rather then to expose her whiteness to a stain and save her self by a little dâ—â—t transported by the Instinct she hath in point of Purity she casts her self into the nets of Hunters and perishes with Courage Behold a Transport and a Transport of Modesty behold a Sally and a Sally of Purity in an Innocent and Fearfull Animal And shall We deny the same Transport and the like Raptures to chaste Women Without doubt they are capable thereof An Heroick spirit and possessed with Enthusiasm mingles it self sometimes with their Vertue penetrates their hearts and in them inkindles a fire breaks all the fetters of their souls tears them from their bodies and carries them away with main force By this Spirit was that Pelagia of Antioch Transported of whom S. Ambrose hath left us so fair a Picture Perceiving her self besieged by Enemies which attempted more upon her Chastity then her Faith she threw her self down into a Precipice with all the Ornaments and Jewels wherewith she had Adorned her self to render Honour to her Death and add Grace to her Courage With the same Spirit her Mother and Sisters were possessed when pursued by the same Enemies they cast themselves into a River and there quenched by Death the wicked Fires of their Lascivious Pursuers A Maid of Alexandria possessed with the same Spirit having been informed of the mischief which her Eyes though otherwise reserved and modest had done to a young Man she tore them out of her Head and sent them to the sick Person to the end he might inflict such punishment on them as he should think good or at least that he might heal with their blood the wound they had given him Blanch of Rosâ—â— Transported with the same Spirit wrested her self out of the hands of the Tyrant Acciolin and cast her self headlong from a Window The same Spirit blew the flaming Fire-brand which Mary Cornelia the Wife of Iohn Câ—rda thrust down into her body to quench a dangerous Fire which Age and Occasions began there to inkindle And this Example of Vertue was given to Spain in the time of Peter the Cruel and Mary Padilla That is to say under the Raign of Adulteries and in the Age of Libertie We ought to believe for the love of Vertue and in Honour of these Christian Heroesses that there was some Spark of Divine fire in these bold Attemps and that the Spirit which transported them came from above and from a purer Spring then that which forms the Raptures which we may follow and the Examples which are lawful for us to imitate Those are not for every day nor for the use of all sorts of Persons Besides God doth not send Angels to all sorts of Persons nor every day creates new Stars And unless we have an Angel for guid and a new Star to follow it would be a rash attempt to walk upon the Sea and to chuse a Precipice for our way The ensuing Example is not of these Extraordinary Ones yet is it of the great and Heroick And if there be any thing of Transport it proceeds from an even Spirit and which is not raised but regularly and by usual and beaten Tracks EXAMPLE The Chaste Venetian VVoman IT is true that Vertue finds Adversaries everywhere and even in those places where she is in esteâ—m and habituated her Peace is full of trouble and agitation and her Repose unquiet and interrupted Nevertheless there are Countries of War and as it were Frontier Regions where she is exposed to the Incursions and attempts of her Enemies And in these Regions she ought to be more Resolute and Warlike then elsewhere She ought to be expert in all sorts of Combats and prepared for all manner of Events She ought to be almost continually upon her Guard and in Arms. Faith and Chastity which are neighbouring upon Infidels and Barbarians have need of this preparation of Courage and of this exposed and continuall Discipline It is likewise from those Countries these Heroick and Victorious Vertues come to us which Triumph every year in the Church and do honour to our Annals And a great number of other Vertues besides those are come from thence which have not fought less Couragiously nor overcome with less Force though their Combats have not made so much noise noâ— the Church hath Celebrated their Victories I place amongst this number the Victorious Captive which hath been newly represented in this Picture And because she was a Subject to the Republick of Veniâ—â— I conceived that to fit her with a known Companion sutable to her it was necessary to joyn with this Gallant Woman the Daughter of Paul 〈◊〉 who trumphed over Maâ—omet and the Sâ—raglio at the taking of 〈◊〉 as this other had done over Mustapha and Porta at the taking of 〈◊〉 It is credible that Gods indignation was great when he abandoned 〈◊〉 to the Ottomans And Iniquity must needs have been Enormous and Consummated which deserved that the Mistress of Arts and Sciences and the Mother of so many Saints should be put in Chains Yet this was her Lot and hitherto no man hath been found to set her at liberty Mohâ—met the Second slept not in this occasion he managed all the moments thereof and made so good use of the division amongst Christians as in a short time be disarmed all his Neighbours and made himself Master of those places which might restore liberty to Greece The Island of Nâ—grepont which belonged to the Venetians was first assaulted
Wit her Graces and Magnificence Her Picture requires far better Colours and more Artificial Touches It must be drawn after another manner then that of 〈◊〉 and Cleopatra Other Incense must be burnt and other Crowns placed before a Martyr then upon the Altar of an Idol Besides all these Titles are equivocal Terms and properly signifie neither Vertue nor Vice Magnanimous Persons are not always Nobly born And a great Courage is not ever of a great House Cedars and Palms grow in Vallies Broom and Fern-Brakes are found upon Mountains Beauty is rarely Innocent And Graces are Flowers which may have an ill odour and grow in a bad Soyl. Concerning the Elevation and Lights of the Minde they are common both to Vertuous and Wicked Persons And oftentimes we see Comets which have more Fire and are more elevated then great Planets In like manner Magnificence is a Vertue which may prove unfaithful and Heretical which may be Imprudent and condemned with the Foolish Virgins And we know that the Piramides of Egypt and other like Wonders have been erected by debauchâ—d Women Let us then lay aside equivocal Titles and ambiguous Elogies We have Proper and Formal ones Let us not say that Mary Stewart was descended from a continued Line of Kings But let us say that she had a more generous Heart a more Royal Soul and Soveraign Reason then all the Crowned Kings from whom she derives her Extraction Let us not esteem her for Beauty which is common to the Rose and the Poppy to Chaste and Lascivious Women but for a Vertuous and Disciplined Beauty of good Odour and Example Let us neither praise her Graces nor her Wâ—t but let us commend the Reservedness and Modesty of her Graces Let us praise the Discretion Sweetness and Moderation of her Minde And let us not speak of her Liberalities or say that they were judicious and well Ordered that they were choice and disposed with Method Let us say that she understood the Art and Secret of a Benefit that she knew how to give with Heart and Spirit with her Countenance and Looks And that after Fortune had taken all from her she continued to be magnificent in Desire and Affection and to make great Presents with slight things The French Muses who lived in her time failed not to praise this part of her Vertues which had been beneficial to them and done honour to Learning And truly they would have shewed themselves very ungratefull if they had not praised Her It was no fault of this good Princess that they were not all Rich and at their Ease that they were not all Apparelled in Cloth of Gold and lodged in the Lourre She Treated them familiarly and as her Companions she recreated her self with them in Prose and Verse and the Sport never ended without some Present which closed up the Cadence and Periods and rendred the Stanâ—a's harmonious Concerning Courage which was her Predominant Vertue and gave her a place in this Gallery it appeared in France Scotland and England In France she resisted Prosperity and vanquished Excess and Pleasures which some have conceived much harder to overcome then Grief and Afflictions She preserved her self from the Corruptions of the Court and from the unwholsom blasts which are ingendred by ease and which attend a plentifull â—ortune She conserved her Innocence in Greatness And what is little less then new Created Planets she shewed much Modesty under a great Crown and upon the highest Throne of the World a most eminent Devotion and a Consummated Piety But because Vertue happy and at ease is in a continual Violence and that violent things cannot last but by Miracle God who made choice of this Princess and would have her all entitâ— withdrew her out of Prosperity which in length of time might have corrupted her and delivered her up to Adversity which Treated her as a Carver Treats Marble And depriving her sometimes of one thing and sometimes of another compleated the â—igure of the Heroick Woman which was yet but rough-drawn in her Being returned into Scotland a Widow to Francis the Second and to his Fortune And her Youth joyned with the Supplications of her People and Reason of State having obliged her once more to Marry that which ought to have been her Support proved the cause of her Ruine Heresie imaged at the Zeal she bore to the Conservation of the Catholique Faith cast Fire into the Royal House to make it pass more easily from thence into the Church Calumny Ambition and Jealousie prepared the Fuel for this Fire and inkindled the Matter But the good Queen having quenched it by her Prudence and Address Heresie which sought to Reign by some one of its Faction blew up the King her Husband by a Mine Besides some endeavoured to blemish her with being the Contriver of this Fire and Mine And they slandered her very Mourning and made her guilty of her second Widowhood This Calumny proved a harsh Tryal to her Yet it was but an Essay and as it were an Advance of the Disorders and Mischiefs which ensued And no Tragedy appears so Confused as the life of this good Princess All her days were marked with some Revolt and Conspiracy They were Celebâ—â—ous by some Combat or Flight There was nothing wanting to her but a Crown of Martyrdom and God gave it her in England after a Conflict of nineteen years rendred in several Prisons and determined at last upon a Scaâ—â—old which was more Glorious to her then the Thrones she had lost MORAL REFLECTION THis Picture moves Compassion and is of great Example There is much to Deplore yet more to Imitate And for the Instruction of eminent Fortunes and the Consolation of mean Ones Greatness is there Innocent and Unhappy Mary Stewart conserved her Innocence under two Crowns And in the Vastness of two Kingdoms which she lost one after the other she was much longer a Christian and with more Constancy then a Queen On the one side this teacheth elevated Persons that there is no Condition estranged from God nor any Fortune rejected by him provided it be just That the Unction which makes Kings and Queens doth not efface that which Forms Saints and Holy Women That Palaces and stately Mansions are not out of the Road of Heaven That though Piety Modesty and Patience reside not usually at Court yet they are no strangers there And that Vertue is more Perswasive and Exemplar upon a Throne then in the Tub of the Cynick Likewise on the other side they should learn from the Afflictions of this great Queen to make less Account of Diadems which are torn in pieces of Scepters which are broken and of Thrones which tumble down if never so little touch'd by Fortune then of the Grace of God which was a Purple Robe that remained to this devested Queen an Unction which is not obscured in her Prison nor effaced with her Blood A Crown which cannot be taken off with the Head She was not only an Innocent
for her 〈◊〉 and to be attended by Captive Dictators She thought like Cleopatra to make her self the Commandresse of all the Grandees of the 〈◊〉 and undoubtedly she would have carried her Arms even to 〈◊〉 self and shared the Empire with Victoria who was another 〈◊〉 Princesse of the West if Fortune jealous of her Honour had not with 〈◊〉 and all the Forces of the Empire come against her 〈◊〉 she could not be but half defeated and by Composition And 〈◊〉 rather triumphed over by her a Treaty then by a just Victory 〈◊〉 Triumph was also followed by the Triumph of his Captive who 〈…〉 in her turn He had but half overcome and with much 〈◊〉 the Valour of the Mother the Beauty of the Daughter vanquished him totally and without Trouble and having at length 〈◊〉 as some Authors affirm 〈◊〉 had the satisfaction to see her 〈◊〉 upon the Throne of Caesars and her Image adored at Rome MORAL REFLECTION IT is great Pittie that so eminent a Generosity so Heroick a Constancie so invincible a Chastity so modest Graces so many Vertues of Peace and War should be damned And that Zenobia the Couragious the Temperate and Chast should finde as bad an Eternity as Messaline the dissolute and incontinent But how should we help it Heathen Vertues what Beauty soever they have how well adorned soever they be are in fine but foolish Virgins The Heavenly Bridegroom knows them not and what supplications soever they present at the gate of his Palace it will never be opened to them If Chastity Temperance Modesty and Fidelity which shall not come to him with full and lighted Lamps and shall not be presented to him by Faith and Charity will not be admitted to these Nuptials If there be no place there for temperate and modest Heathen Women who had no warning to prepare their Lamps and to follow these lovely Guides to the Bridegroom what will become of the licentious and debauched Christian Women who have broken their Lamps contemned and rejected their Guides Certainly if it be written that penitent Nineve shall condemn incorrigible Jerusalem it is much to be feared that the gallant Zenobia and other Vertuous Heathens shall rise up in the day of Judgement to give Testimony against our Ladies who refute their belief by their course of life who condemn by their Wantonnesse and excesse the force of Christianity and the Austerity of the Gospel who had rather lose eternal Crowns then part with little flowers half perished serving only to infect them with their ill odour and to prick them with their thorns MORAL QUESTION Whether Women be capable of Military Vertues I Dispute not here against the general practise nor pretend by private authority to discard an Immemorial Discipline and a policie as antient as Nature Lesse also is it my designe to publish an edict by which all Women should be summoned to War They ought to keep themselves to the distribution which Nature and the Laws have made and Custome received and to content themselves with that part which hath been assigned them in oeconomie and houshold affairs I say only that this common Right which deprived them of Arms hath not rob'd them of Courage nor cut off their Hands that military Vertues are neither too unwieldy nor too harsh for them And if it were the good pleasure of Custome valiant and victorious Women would not be ranked amongst the prodigies of their Sex The Number of them would be as great and the Examples as common as of Wiâ—e and Chast Women First the Heart is the essential part of Gallant and Valiant Men It is the Heart which begins all assaults and Combats which gives the first Charge and comes off the last and it cannot be denyed that a Womans Heart is as vigorous and of as good a temper as that of a Man if we consider that it was made by the same Hand and formed of the same matter And there is some ground to believe that it may be more vigorous and of a better Temper if we remember that the first Woman was made of a matter already solid and which had need of softning Moreover as Steel what hardness soever it received from Nature cannot be formed into the iron of a Lance nor into a Sword unlesse it be softned so Courage is gross and material immoveable and unactive before it be sharpned And Choler according to the saying of the Philosopher must be whetted that it may become Valour and serviceable for War Now it is certain and experience shews it that this Choler which excites Courage and gives it the title of Valour is more quick and sudden in Women then Men And consequently if Custom hath deprived them of acquired and habitual Valour it hath not taken from them Natural Valour and that Spirit of Choler which is a combating Spirit and the last tincture of that Humour which produces Gallant Men. Some will oppose to me here the delicacie of their complexion and the tenderness of their Temper It will be demanded of me what reckoning will be made of such a Hand as may be hurt by an ill sowen Glove or an ill polished Ring Of such a Head as sweats under silk and bows under a soft Pillow Of such a Bodie as may be pierced through by a Beam of the Sun and be beaten down by a single Hailstone To this one may answer first that this Weakness proceeds from the ill Education of Women and not from their temper And Plato observes very judiciously to this purpose that if the excesse of Humidity which allayes their Vigour and renders them more tender then Men were dried up by moderate exercise their Complexion being reduced thereby to a more just and exact quality then ours their Bodies would become by that means stronger and more active and have a more free and lasting motion Whereupon that I may not seem to vent a Proposition at random and without proof he makes us observe that among all the Species of Animals of prey the Females have the swiftest pace and the strongest flight and sight more couragiously and with more vigour then the Males In the second place we must answer that valour doth not require Arms of Steel nor Hands of Iron That the antient Hero's were not brazen Statues that they were not all of the Complexion of that famous Grecian who wrastsed against the greatest Chains And that even in these dayes men dryed up by the Sun and hardned by Frost are not the Persons who gain victories Let us adde for a third answer that tendernesse is not so timerous as they make it nor so incompatible with Valour Roses which are so Beautiful grow compleatly armed and though tender forbear not to prick Bees which live within the Honey Comb and are sed by the Spirit of Flowers have stings and wage war The Holy Scripture makes mention of a Dove which was no lesse formidable then Eagles And not to go so far the Heart it self which is
the scat of Valour is the most tender part of the Body It is composed of flesh without Nerves and Bones hath neither Teeth nor Nails to fortifie it There may well then be generous Spirits and vigorous Souls in tender Bodies as there are good swords in Velvet Scabbards as victorious Hands are seen in persumed Gloves as Conquerors are lodged in painted and guilded Tents That if it be necessary to support reason by experience and to make History speak for Philosophie it will produce from all Ages whole Armies of couragious and warlike Women Women Conqueresses and victorious over men even the most gallant and valiant amongst men That famous Cyrus who deserved the Name of great by the greatness of his exploits was defeated by Thamaris Queen of Scythia And the Scythiaus themselves who were all born Souldiers and had no other Countrey nor Houses then a Camp and Tents were overcome by the Amazons That famous Semiramis to whom a Prophet gave the Name of Dove was indeed a Dove in her Closet even a voluptuous and perfumed Dove but a victorious Eagle in the Field And in her time Asia had no King out of whose hands she wrested not the Scepter and from whose head she snatched not the Crown Bundâ—va was another Eagle to usefull the same Phrase but a Northern Eagle who in several Battels vanquished the Roman Eagles and intended to chase them out of England Zenobia whose Picture I have newly given you did not treat them more gently in Egypt and Persia and the Commanders of Natitions and the Conquerors of the World were necessitated to come to composition in point of Victory with a Woman France hath had Amazons as well as Scythia and other Countreyes beyond the seas And to defer to another time the Maid of Orleans whose Valour came to her by Inspiration and Miracle not to produce here a 〈◊〉 Lâ—sse who drove the Flemmgs out of Amreus and forced out of their Hands a Town taken and a victory gained not to speak of the boldness wherewith the Ladies of Beâ—â—â—ais repulsed the Hugonots during the Civil Wars of France The memory remains still fresh of the late Siege of Câ—â—â—brey and of the Heroick Courage which the Wife of the Marshal of Balagus shewed there to the general astonishment of all those that beheld her upon this Stage She assisted in all Military duties she visited the Sentinels and the Courts of Guard she made Speeches upon the Bulwarks she gave Life to their Labours by her Presence and Example And if betimes she had known how to gain the Hearts of the Inhabitants the Head of Count Fueâ—tes and all the Arms of his Camp would have unprofitably wearied themselves at this Siege She was likewise of the House of Amboise and the Name of Amboise is a Name of valiant Men and Women The Race is couragious and full of Heroick Spirits in all the Branches thereof It resembles that of Palms whose Females are as vigorous as the Males and as fit for Victories and Triumphs And besides now that we have War with Spain if some Count Fuenutes should present himself before â—resie he would not indeed finde there the Courage and Magnanimity of the Marshal of Baligni's Wife to be cruel and haughty but a Valour accompanied with sweetnesse and a civilized and gentle Magnanimity mixed with armed and liberal Graces And assuredly this mixture of sweetness and courage and this conjunction of Arms and Liberalities in the Governess could not be the least strong piece of the Cittadel But it is not necessary to inroll here all the gallant Women who have made Beauty warlike and armed the Graces The Princess whom I am going to produce will finish the convincing of those who place valiant Women amongst Monsters And who believe that a Cask and Plumes of Feathers upon a Womans Head make no less a Prodigie then heretofore the Snakes did upon the Head of Medusa EXAMPLE Joan of Flanders Countess of Montfort EAgles whatsoever they do are still Eagles And whether they sport in the Air or have any thing in Chase they sport with Vigour and chase couragiously and with vehemency Joan Countess of Mountfort and Daughter to Lewis Earl of Flanders was one of these ever generous and bold Eagles Her whole Life was a perpetual Warfare or a continual preparation to it Her first divertisments were laborious and manly And at the Age when Maids begin to see the World to go to Bals and shew themselves at publick Meetings she began to learn the riding of great Horses running at Tilt and fighting at Banners She learnt all these Exercises without forgetting the Bashfulness of her Sex without taking off from sweetness or discomposing Graces And there was alwayes upon her Face and in all her Actions a mixture of Beauty and Valour a tincture mingled with Boldness and Modesty and a certain Air like that of Minerva drawn by the antient Painter who was armed and yet appeared a Virgin Her Valour likewise was not a Valour for Carrousels and Turnaments and her Gallantry was not painted and specious From counterfeit VVars and Chamber Combats she passed to real VVars and Field Encounters she was present at Sieges and Naval Battels she gained all kindes of Victories and merited all sorts of Crowns Joan Duke of Brittany dying without Children left to the Earl of Mountfort and Charls of Blois the strife about Succession The Earl began the pursuit of his right by a seizure and assisted by the VVit and courage of the Countess his Wife partly by Force and partly by dextetity he gained the most considerable places of the Province Charls prevented by what was done had recourse to the Court of Peers and to the protection of the King whose Neece he had married The Court adjudged the difference about succession in his Favour And the King committed the Execution of the Decree to his Son the Duke of Normandy sending him with an Army into Brittany After the reduction of some Places the Earl of Montfort was taken at Nants and sent Prisoner to Paris where he dyed in the Tower of the Loâ—â—er This fall of the Count must evidently occasion the Ruine of his Countesse As they say the Death of the Male Palm is followed by that of the Female But all Loves are not of the same complexion nor subject to the same Symptomes The generous Widow remained unshaken between her Husbands Death which lay extreamly heavy on her heart and the war he left upon her shoulders And it was a hard task for a Widow to stand out against all France her Enemie and in Arms. She visited in Person all the Towns of her Party she setled the affrighted people and confirmed the wavering Garrisons she gained noble souls by her Caresses and the mercenary by presents And by her Example infused courage into the one and fidelity into the other Afterwards the War being reinkindled by the first ray of the spring And the City of Rennes after some assaults being