out of him by pretending he knew all before and demanded his recapitulation as a mark only of his submission to the will of the Prophet and passing from matters of State to matters of Love You are in Love Sir said he with the Princess Zuria the prescience where with we are indued gave us information of that Love even before it was conceived But Sir let me tell you you will meet with great difficulties in that Enterprise it is not at all pleasing to our divine Prophet and you will make him a Sacrifice infinitely grateful if you surmount that passion and desist Ha holy Father replied Imerse it is not possible to surmount it if any thing could have prevailed the Princesses severity would have done it she is insensible of all my pains and recieved my offers with most insufferable neglect Without doubt replied Caly her heart is prepossest in favour of some other person Has not the Sultan Selim think you made no impression there he is young he is handsom has his just expectation of the Ottoman Throne and I am afraid by what I observe in the Constellations that Prince will betray the confidence you have in him If he must betray me replied Imerse it is not upon this occasion he is extravagantly in Love with my Sister and the Princess for whom my passion is so violent has no less indifference for all the World than for me Yet I cannot but think her of an amorous temper replied the Dervis she is born under a Planet not guilty of such indifferent Influences and I dare promise I could find out a place in her heart capable of those impressions had I but discoursed with her as long as I have done with you How I beseech you said Imerse interrupting him will you vouchsafe to discourse with her and I will bring her to you when-ever you please she will make no scruple of coming she has already an extreme curiosity to see you and when the other day I gave her a description of your person I observed an emotion in her countenance so great as I thought she had not been capable of I commend her zeal replied Caly the desire of seeing persons eminent for their piety is a happy preparative to their imitation Heaven does not grant those graces to all the World and I know by that Zuria is a Darling of the divine Prophet upon which assurance you shall obtain that act of charity from me when you please But it must be speedily for the time that was assigned us for our conversation of men is now almost expired and we must ere long leave our association with prophane persons to renew our Commerce with the Angels The credulous Imerse knockt his knees with a holy trepidation at the Dervises news and making the bargain as strong as he could for the next day Selim obtained of Chasan that Imerselle might bear her Company The Dervises slept but little the night before that blessed Enterview Caly's joy produced transports incompatible with his repose and his Brothers apprehensions kept him as watchful on the other side He was afraid to find Imerselle prepossest with kindness for the Sultan he was handsom and the little Love the Princess had for Caly made him afaird Selim would not meet any considerable defence He durst not mention it in the least to his Rival lest he should not be able to master his confusion in so subtile a point reserving himself therefore to be informed from the Princesses own mouth he prepared himself for those informations with inexpressible commotion The deluded Lovers were in no less anxiety Hope is an unquiet passion which gives the mind more agitation many times than a real despair They proposed the business to the Princesses at their return they approved it especially Zuria who finding the description of the Dervises not much differing from Ismaels two Sons had a violent imagination of the truth She was got up and ready befor day and pressing Imerselle to make as much haste they were got to the Grot before they were expected Their new Lovers would accopany them by all means which was foreseen by the Dervises but they thought that obstacle would be removed by the respect they would shew them They had shrowded themselves each of them under a Hat with a long tail pulled down in such sort it covered most of their faces That kind of Dress they pretended was the Habit of their Piety when they were forced upon any Conference with Women Chasan made signs to Imerselle to follow him to the foot of a Rock where he designed his Communication and Caly took Zuria aside to walk under the Trees and that the Turkish Prince and his Camarade might give no interruption they gave them certain prayers in the Turkish Language with injunction to go into the Grotto and say them over there for their happy success The Rivals were flexible and obeyed They were so possest of the Dervises Sanctity they would have extended their conformity much further if it had been desired Chasan having placed Imerselle upon a part of the Rock which was covered with moss keeping himself just before her upon his feet that the Sultans Equipage who stood round about the Grot might have no prospect of his face I have great things to relate to you young Princess said he dissembling his voice as much as he could I know things of you you do not know of your self but as the ingenuous declaration of our most secret sentiments is the ordinary Channel of Celestial graces do you merit by that act of submission the good things which are in my power to impart tell me sincerely what was your thoughts of Seach Caly what of Chasan Helif and what is your present opinion of the Sultan Observing her to change colour you are surprised Princess said he to find me so skilful in your affairs but let me tell you those persons who are honoured with a familiar Conversation with Heaven are ignorant of nothing that passes upon Earth I know you have a secret inclination to Chasan you discovered as much to Caly himself that night you were walking in the Palace Garden at Xiras which if my memory fails not was the night before you were carried away judge now if I be not acquainted with your affairs and save me the labour of telling you any more Alas replied Imerselle in a great surprise I can say no more to you having discovered my affection for Chasan you have discovered the greatest secret of my soul I confess that Sympathy was born with me yet when I thought it my duty to resist it I did it with some kind of success he never had the least inclination of it from me as you have had now But if I must confess the true state of my heart I must acknowledge that inclination increases every day upon me I love Chasan much better in Phrygia than I did in Persia and by I know not what Capricio of Love absence
Complaint against my Husband Hear it I beseech you with patience and judge of my Reasons I was born in Montpellier a Town very famous for the handsom Women it produces and my Name is Mariana Nogaret A Gentleman who lived not far off in the Country having occasions at Montpellier happened to see me by chance and liked me so well he pretended he loved me This confidence not being a thing so terrible in our Country as in other places I must confess freely I thought my self very much obliged to him But the beginnings of our Amour was of no long duration for my Servant was called to the Court of France upon an Affair not at all important to this Story and King Philip sirnamed le Bel conceived so great kindness for him he kept him about his person He gave me notice of the favour he was in and for some time I had reason to believe he would not force himself to forget me He writ to me often and his Letters seemed to be passionate but the Court having this in propriety to forget all former obligations Nogaret by degrees became lazy and would not write often and at length neglected it quite I past two whole years without hearing one word of him but about the third year afterwards being sent by the King his Master to Pope Boniface passing through Languedoc either by accident or design he came to Montpellier I may say without vanity had the Reputation of that time of being the handsomest Woman in that Province I was grown something fatter than when Nogaret first saw me my Neck and proportions were better shaped and Nogaret was grown also the finest Gentleman in France We had no great trouble to revive our old flame I saw nothing in all Languedoc to be compared to Nogaret and he swore as heartily he had seen nothing in all France or Italy so lovely as my self The trick of inconstancy which he had plaid me in his first Voyage made me not relye too much upon his protestations then I remembred he had promised as stoutly before and forgot it almost as soon as out of sight but he gave so fair pretences for his silence and I had so great a desire they should be true that I assisted the cheat and contributed to my own deception His Fortune and his Duty requiring his return he staid not long at Montpellier but he gave me sufficient grounds to believe that what he left behind him this time was much dearer to him than it had been before He writ to me from all places upon the Road there was not a fashion in the Court of France but I had the Pattern one of the first and the kindness of King Philip having raised him to a Rank in which he needed not fear being denied if he demanded me of my Parents he did it with so much ardour and advantage on my side that he easily obtained me I was conducted to Lyons where Nogaret met me and our Marriage being celebrated there my new Husband conducted me to Court with an Equipage more like a Triumph than a private Train The King received Nogaret with great demonstrations of Joy the Queen honoured me with Presents and Caresses and if I had the pleasure to see Nogaret outdo all the young Lords of his Age he had the satisfaction to hear his choice commended by every one that saw me Three or four months we continued at this rate with so much felicity and content both to the one and the other that I cannot think upon that happy time without being melancholy to think it lasted no longer But Madam what I am going to tell you is it to be believed The first transports of our Joy was scarce past but the names of Husband and Wife became insupportable to us Nogaret increased daily in Esteem and Reputation and I may say the air of the Court was no diminution to my Beauty Had not Nogaret been my Husband I should have had need of my whole stock of Vertue to have kept me from loving him more than I ought and he protested had not I been his Wife he had dyed for Love of me before that but the indispensable necessity of loving one another gave us continual temptations to hate We could not be alone together half an hour but it was troublesom if Custom or Capricio put us upon any Caresses they went against the hair and seemed done only to acquit our selves of an ungrateful duty that lay upon us without the least kindness or satisfaction in the World Not but that we had a foundation of respect one for another which indeed nothing could destroy Nogaret lived with me very honourably and I would have dyed a thousand deaths before I would have been deficient in my duty to him But we lookt upon one another as good friends who being assured of one anothers affection love on but in a quiet and serene kind of way without the least passion or transport This sort of Civility gives the good Woman all the Priviledges her Rank requires of her Husband and secures the good man against all tempests at home But this is not enough for young Hearts who expect something further They would have Love continue with the same fervour it began for think they when that which ought to be the effect of Love is but the effect of Policy and Complacence Marriage becomes a heavy burden to those who are any thing delicate These considerations rendring us unquiet and morose Sara Colonne one of Nogarets particular Friends began to perceive it This man was famous over all Europe for his irreverences towards Pope Boniface Nogaret had made a Journey into Italy with him and besides the familiarity which Travelling produces among Travellers Colonna was a lovely Person and very judicious he prest my Husband to let him know the occasion of his Melancholy and assuring him he should hold his friendship suspected for the future unless he vouchsafed him that mark of his affection he ravisht it from him that it was his disgust of me How says Colonna disgusted with Madam Nogaret Tell me I beseech you do you know any Woman living more handsom and more worthy of your Love than she 'T is not of her Beauty I complain replied my Husband I must confess that is great and any man but a Husband might be happy in it But tell me I pray you of what use is that Beauty of what use replied Colonna for whose or for what use should your Wife be but for yours do you make no difference then betwixt a handsom Woman and an ill-favour'd and if you restrain the pleasures of Matrimony only to the eye is it not more pleasant for a Husband when he comes home to find a young a lively and neat Woman ready to embrace him than to be received by a loose-bodied mouldy old Woman Ha my dear Friend replied Nogaret in a scornful way a Wife is always handsom enough considering how little her Husband regards her A
Countess I have always been told we must conform to her humour and Capricio if we would live quietly without agitation and therefore Sir as she hath hitherto given me to understand I am born for the Castles of the Count de la Moriene and not for Thonnon I must confess to your Higness one of my greatest Requests to her is that I may obtain a sudden dismission and return to my old Deserts again But Madam replied the Prince if this Fortune you speak of should cause you to change your Deserts for the Court would you appeal from her Decrees and notwithstanding your inclination and promptitude to live with the Count could you not be as happy with the Duke of Savoy I never Sir create Chimeras to my self replied the Countess I am ordained to live with the Count de la Moriene and not to such Honour as your Highness proposes suffer me I beseech you to bound my desires with my power You know not your self how far your power extends Madam replied the Duke I know the effects of it much better than you and if your desires be accordingly you shall have as much felicity in having captivated the Duke of Savoy to your Charms as you had power to do it You do but sport your self Sir with my misfortunes replied the Countess and add your mirth to the calamity of my Husbands imprisonment If Madam replied the Prince you believe not what I say I must give you a Witness and then calling the Marquess of Savona to him who was about four paces off so mad and transported with Jealousie he was a hundred times ready to run in and interrupt them He commanded him to tell the Countess what he knew of his affection for her If it was not true that he loved her at first sight that ever since it hath daily increased and that now it was at that height there was nothing in his power but she might promise her self from its violence It was a hard task for Savona to assure his Mistress of the Love of his Rival He did all that was possible to have evaded it he told the Duke there was no need of further evidence where he had affirmed for his own assertion was above all other Authority No no replied the Prince 't is not an Elogy I desire at your hands tell me sincerely without these Prologues what you know of my Love His Command was so positive and uncapable of delay he was forced to speak and tell whatever the Duke pleased the Couness should know This Discourse was made with so much constraint the Marquess is to be excused in whatever he said but the Countess taking it in dudgeon reproacht him by his Compliance in most biting and acrimonious terms You ought said she to him Ironically your self have delivered me up to the desires of the Duke there wanted nothing but that excess of obedience for you to have discharged your self honourably you were the first who brought me the News of Amedy's Love your perpetual suspicions assure me of its perseverance and that he might be sure not to be ignorant that you had told me you confirm in his presence what you told me in private Compleat all good Marquess of Savona and go and tell him the ways you took to surprise me your self you owe that confidence to the benefits of so incomparable a Master The Marquess alledged several Arguments in his defence but he could not prevail with her to admit them As one is always innocent whilst he pleases so when he begins to displease he is always to blame The Countess had taken up a fancy that the Marquess was culpable and to perfect the ruine of his affairs Amedy having Intelligence that the Emperour Sigismond was at Lyons sent the Marquess of Savona thither to make his Complements from him The Duke was obliged to him for the Erection of Savoy into a Dutchy which carried the Title only of a County till the said Emperours Journey into France in the year 1416. and could not do less than testifie his acknowledgments by that Embassie and this Commission being one of the most honourable in Amedy's donation he cast his eyes upon his Favourite as the most proper Person to receive it At another time he would have accepted it with thanks but then he lookt upon it as the fatal period of his Amours He would fain have exprest his apprehensions to the Countess and have conjured her to have opposed them but she cut him short still with this Have you not promised the Duke said she smiling to come and tell me from him that he is resolved to take the advantage of your absence and that it is upon that design you are sent away I remember when first you told me of his Love you did it with some pretences of fear and I expect to see you called in for a Witness at your return of all you are pleased to communicate so slyly at your departure Ha! Madam cryed the Marquess of Savona you know at your heart with what design I declared the Duke of Savoys Love to you at first and with what design I now desire you to be cautious of its progress I know no more replied the Countess but that very imprudently you told me Amedy was in Love with me that since you have confirmed it before his face and that now you prognosticate your destruction If I may judge of your Prophesie by what is past this pretended destruction is concluded already betwixt the Duke and you and you do but prepare me as to an infallible thing A Farewel with so little kindness ought not to leave the heart of the Countess so well fortified as to resist the Attaques of the Duke of Savoy and therefore she suffered her self to be vanquisht without any considerable resistance the talk of the World was her greatest discouragement and the Duke wanting neither Examples nor Expedients to dissipate that scruple the Marquess found the Treaty very far advanced at his return The Duke according to his custom did him the honour to communicate even this Intrigue with him he told him the Countess hath conjured me to say nothing of it to you and whether she fancies you severe as to the deportment of your Kindred or whether being oftner exposed to your sight than other people she is unwilling to put her self upon a hazard of blushing every time she sees you but she seems to be more apprehensive of you than of all the rest of the Court But my dear Savona you are much better known to me than to the Countess and I should rob you of a greater pleasure I am sure if I should suffer you to be ignorant that in three or four days time my desires will be perfectly satisfied The Marquess was so discomposed at this discourse it had like to have betrayed him Do you say Sir replied he that within three or four days you shall enjoy the Countess de la Moriene Yes said the Duke
barricadoed himself in the Inn resolved to perish before he would surrender The persons sent after him having express Orders to bring him dead or alive never stood upon Complements they prest him so close there was no possibility of escaping and those who are far gone in Stoicism being not far from Barbarity the Count took up a resolution suitable to the fierceness of his own Nature and his hatred for Amedy He killed the fair Countess and stab'd himself when he had done Let the Reader imagine if he pleases the transport the Duke was in at this horrible News He said and he did things very inconsistent with his Dignity but that which gave the highest tincture to his despair was to understand that it was his dear Favourite the Marquess of Savona had given him this bob The Count reproaching the Countess by the way had let fall some words which assured her of the truth which words she had writ down in her Table-book found in her Pocket after she was dead with design to send them by the first opportunity to the Duke The Prince finding himself betrayed to satisfie his Revenge used all the means a just indignation and an absolute power could invent He caused the Marquess to be stab'd he confiscated the Count de la Morienes Estate and annext it to his demeasness and not being able ever after to be reconciled to the World he resigned the Government into the hands of his Son Charles whom he married to the Princess of Cyprus and retiring to his solitude of Ripaille he remained there till he was made Anti-Pope During this recess he composed his Memoires out of which we have taken this Relation The general History says only this that Amady retired upon some secret discontent but gives no account of particulars Our Annals of Love supply that defect as they have done several other and could have carried their disquisition much further if they might have been permitted An Anti-pope of the Dukes humour is very proper to furnish us with Rarities but the Italian Proverb tells us Al negocio del Cielo Se bastava gli Angeli Let Angels sing the things above They are too high for Tales of Love We are in an humour of speaking of the strange Effects of Love Agnes de Castro and must satisfie the Capricio of our Genius Don Pedro Prince of Portugal Son to Don Alphonso was almost contemporary with Amedy the King his Father had a second Wife who governed him absolutely The Prince obtained no favour from the King but what he ought to his Complacence for the Queen and as the highest excess of her Tyranny she would constrain him to marry a Daughter of hers called Leonora which she had had by her first Husband James of Arragon The Lady was handsom and had not Don Pedro been under a necessity of loving her it is possible he would have loved her well enough but Love is hardly to be obtruded upon a generous Soul Don Pedro's natural inclinations were great his Courage-high he could not truckle to the Orders of the Queen and the more eager she was to force his affection for the Princess he was the more obstinate and averse He had a Nurse widow to the Marquess de Castro who had an influence upon him In all the Countries on that side the Mountains the Nurses are chosen as chosen as much by their Extraction as any other Qualification whatever They have an opinion that the inclinations of ordinary Women are transfused with their milk and I am not certain whether it be altogether irrational The Queen accumultated her Caresses and Presents upon this Lady and conjured her to imploy the utmost of her interest to dispose the young Prince to what she desired but who is it but knows how much Fortune delights to defeat the designs of humane Prudence The way the Queen proposed to make her project successful proved the greatest and most effectual obstruction This Marquesses Lady had a Daughter named Agnes a sprightly and handsom young Lady The Prince had seen her without any Concernment whilst he had viewed her en passant but the Commission her Mother had received from the Queen giving him more frequent occasions of entertaining her the Prince became enamour'd at last What he had suckt from the breast of her Mother fermented in his heart in favour to the Daughter and the Love which was produced from so natural a Sympathy was violent from its very beginning The Prince was not able to suffer without declaring it The Terms in which he did it were not displeasing to the young Castro and being a handsom man in his person it cost him no great trouble to insinuate into her affection the greatest discouragement she had was their uncertainty of her Mother She was a Woman entirely devoted to the Interest of the Royal Family she would not see her own Daughter advanced to the Throne at the expence of the least difference betwixt the King and his Son and being not of a Temper to be easily deluded Agnes was perswaded she would not endure the passion of the Prince She represented her Judgment to him and though of her self she could have heard them eternally yet she conjured him for those reasons to give over that discourse But those kind of Conjurations are always in vain a Lover is never so furious as where reasons are introduced to perswade him to the contrary The Princes passion was augmented by this difficulty but to accommodate with the prudence of Anges which he could not deny to be upon very good grounds he resolved to counterfeit an affection for the Princess of Arragon but with this contrivance that whatever he should be forced to say to Leonora should be received by Agnes as intended to her and the progresses he made upon the heart of the one should be constantly placed upon the account of the other This resolution being taken and the Conditions agreed Don Pedro pretended to comply with his Nurses advice The King and the Queen overjoy'd with this change advanced the whole Family of the Marchioness and made a thousand Presents to Agnes It was a rare thing and very much to the Reputation of Love of Lovers of that Age to delude the Dagacity of two wise and interested Women and a King accomplished in all the Mysteries of Government but that which was most pleasant of all was the blindness of the Princess of Arragon who knowing her self handsom enough to be beloved and receiving the same-expressions which the Prince if he durst would have made to the young Castro made many acknowledgments to her Rival for her assistance without suspecting the least One night when in the presence of Agnes the Prince beg'd a kiss of Leonora so earnestly he was in a fair way to have prevailed Not so fast Madam if you pleased cryed the young Castro you do not consider what you are about to do there are more persons concerned in your conduct than perhaps you
more he exasperated his Father His Friends advised him to withdraw till the storm was over and accordingly he retired into the Province of Dauphine as some say much better satisfied with Trimouille than they could have imagined Chabannes in the mean time returned peeceably to his own House the man that had run away with him was the English Womans Husband in whose Cloaths the Count was escapt This Woman had run away from her good man upon pretence of ill usage and he being not at all consenting to the Divorce and not daring to offer any violence to the Sanctuary she had chosen he watcht her perpetually in the streets resolved to secure her whenever he met her as he thought he had done in the person of Chabannes When by the reproaches he made him the Count perceived his mistake he pulled up his Hood and the man being undeceived he beg'd his pardon and reconducted him to the Citizens house whither he was going before when he stopt him Chabannes changed his Cloaths and came immediately to Court to see how things past He was exceedingly surprised to understand their proceedings and dispatcht S. Colombe to Madam Agnes in Post-haste he prevailed upon her more by that one Message than the King had done with all his importunities She took her leave of her Covent and returned to Court illustrious and more pleasant than ever But she enjoyed not long the advantages of her restauration for she dyed not many days after The causes of her death were found to be unnatural and Monsieur Tremouille's sudden Retreat to the Dauphin at the same time made it too probable he was instrumental in the business The good King Charles was so passionately afflicted therewith he would admit of no consolation Chabannes had like to have dyed with sorrow but the Kings favour supported him He had Tremouilles place vacant by his absenting himself confer'd upon him by the King during whose life he quickly enjoyed it It is not to be imagined he was in such favour when the Prince came to the Crown he was arrested before he could escape and the Dauphin being now Lewis XI would have sacrificed him to his new Dignity had not he evaded his indignation by escaping out of the Bastille I refer the Reader to the History it self to be informed of all the Occurrences The Annals of Love observe only the more remarkable Passages and represents them without any regular Order THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE SIXTH PART ABout the same time we have spoken of before Feliciane the Wife of a Spanish Merchant who traded into the Levant being taken Prisoner by the Corsaires and her Husband slain in the fight she was sold to one of the principal African Lords whose ordinary Residence was in Tunis The African Lord became enamour'd of his Slave and finding her too vertuous to make a bare advantage of his passion he was constrained to marry her He had one Daughter by her which he called Feliciane after the name of her Mother The Mother and the Daughter begat a kindness in him to the Spanish Nation He suffered his Wife to teach his Daughter that Language as her Mother-tongue and when any Spaniard of Quality came into Barbary he lodged them usually at his own House and performed all the good offices to them he was able Alphonso Ribiero Son to Don Garcias Ribiero born in Alcantara came to Tunis to treat about the Ransom of his Elder Brother who sailing into Greece was taken by the Pirats and exchanged with certain Slaves of Barbary Alphonso was too young to be intrusted alone with so great a Negotiation he was appointed only to the Ceremonial part for there was an old Servant of his Fathers sent along with him to manage the Bargain He was received by the Father of Feliciane not only as a Spaniard but as a person particularly related to his Wife She had been at his birth and passed the prime of her years in Don Garcias House The young Feliciana and he were presently surprised with a violent inclination one for the other Nature had it seems delighted her self to prepare ways for their affection Alphonso resembled the young African so exactly and the African Alphonso that they might well have been mistaken had not their Habits distinguisht both their Sexes and Persons But Love 's no need of likeness he desplays A thousand Arts contrives a thousand ways To bedge in peoples hearts by secret turns The most unlike and the most cold he burns Nought's incombustible when he conspires No humane temper can withstand his fires Feliciana seeing her own Picture in Alphonso as he did in Feliciana she fell in Love almost at first sight their looks their manners their motions every thing in them prevented the office of their Tongue so that they were immediately advanced to their reciprocal promises Simpathy is a great promoter of such Adventures and makes a great deal of ground in a little time Great was the joy for their Love he performed his Honorary part very well he was the Priest and the Deity both But the liberty of his elder Brother was an unseasonable impediment to the Mystery Alphonso used all the Arts he could invent not to return into Castille there was not a Curiosity a man of his age could be capable of pretending but he made use of to stay but his Brother was inexorable and he must go along yet this was not without solemn promises from Alphonso to come back again in a short time if he lived and as fincere assurances from Feliciana never to falsifie that faith which she had given him Their Adieu was sorrowful and kind excess of Love was at that time in season for Love has its seasons as well as other things and is as troublesom to those whose desires are satisfied as it is agreeable where they are in their spring Alphonso being departed and Feliciana very impatient of his return many months passed and no News of her Castillan There were several Spanish Ships arrived upon the Coast of Barbary and in them some Alcantara Merchants with Presents from Don Garcias for Feliciana's Mother but no Letter nor no private Message for her This negligence startled her she was afraid she was betrayed and the first effect of that opinion being a resolution to reproach the crime to the Criminal himself she insinuated with a Master of Biscay and perswading him she would go over into Spain to turn Christian she made him promise her to land her in the Port of Carthagena The bargain made and the hour of her Embarkment arrived Feliciana put on a Suit of Cloaths of Alphonso's which he had left by accident behind him and providing her self with certain Chains of Gold away she went to meet with her Biscayen The Seas and the Winds were so favourable to her designs that she landed at Carthagena without any accident she brought a Horse there immediately and taking a Guide put herself upon the Road for Alcantara She
Cueva chief of the Family we have mentioned so lately and since created Duke of Albuquerque would not trouble her self as other Ladies do to conceal it from her Husband she made her Love an Affair of State and King Henry perswaded that it was by his fault his Wife had no Children and being passionately desirous of them he intreated Leonora very civilly that she would contrive some way or other to provide him one She pretended great horrour at the first Proposition that she might have the pleasure of being pressed and the King did her that kindness he prest he intreated and his Election concurring with the Queens the good Monarch conducted the Count de Cueva to the Royal Bed with his own hand The business was executed with full liberty and of this admirable Conjunction that Jane was born who was owned by Henry and for a long time after disputed the Crown with the famous Isabella Grand-mother to the Emperour Charles V. It would be to invert the Laws of Nature and Gallantry to ascribe rigid and severe Vertue to a Daughter of so spurious Extraction we must endeavour to represent her conformable to the Birth wherewith her Mother had honoured her She was not above sixteen or seventeen years of age when Lewis XI King of France the same we have spoken of before as Dauphin in the Gallanteries of Agnes sent the Bishop of Alby to demand her in Marriage for his Brother the Count de Guyenne The Count de Boulogne was imployed particularly from the Count de Guyenne with full power in his Name to do what he thought requisite in the Affair and he thought good to fall in Love with her himself He was handsom and aâ—ery and the French are never so transcendantly illustrious as in foreign Countries The Infanta of Castille saw nothing at King Henry's Court so magnificently spruce as the French Count She could not forbear running into an admiration of their Manners and Deportment and the Count like a good Polititian perswading Monsieur d'Alby that to render their Embassie successful it would be convenient to gain upon the inclinations of the Princess in respect of the power she had over her Mother and her Mother over the King he entertained her with continual Discourses about the liberty with which they made Love in France It had not been long since Charles VII was dead and the severity of Lewis's Regiment was not establisht as yet He talkt of nothing but the wonderful freedoms of the last Reign to have heard him one would have sworn the good qualities of the Ladies were denominated by their Conquests and he assured her that in France one would pass for either simple or deformed if at her age she had not had two or three Amours The Princess was jealous of the reputation of her Charms gave the Count to understand she liked the French fashion very well and according to his description would be very glad to be in it For her first Lesson he caused her Picture to be taken in little by the permission of the Queen to send it as he pretended to the Count de Guyenne but when it was finisht he caused a Copy to be taken and sending that to the Count he kept the Original for himself See Madam said he to the Princess how ingenious men demean themselves in our Court their pretences are honourable and fair in every thing they do Their outward professions are always above censure but the secret intention they reserve to themselves and it would be a sign of a very barren invention to circumscribe it within the bounds of a single design Such solid Lessons as these meeting with a Nature apt and disposed made so great a progress in a few months that the Princess was able to have commented upon his Text. Castille was then in great Troubles by the pretensions of the Infant Alphonso Brother of Isabella and the Nephew of Henry who as Historians say without any lawful Right made Claim to the Crown The Grandees of the Country endeavoured to accommodate the difference The Marquess de Villena supporting Alphonso's and the Duke of Albuquerque Henry's pretensions The young Princess had a mind to bring over the Marquess to the Interests of Henry in which she was ingaged and to that purpose bethought her self of putting the Count of Boulognes Documents in practice The Marquess de Villena hoping to draw some advantage from the Conversation of the Princess which might be profitable to Alphonso prevented the obliging designs she had upon his Heart They began their first Commerce with their Eyes if he thought he understood the meaning of her glances his were no less intelligible to her so that there needed no further explication of that Language There was a Garden belonging to the Palace reserved only for the Queen and her Daughter to walk in into which no man was ever admitted The Princess took the Air there every night without any Attendance but an old Governess the Count de Boulogne had corrupted and her Maids who never came near her but when they were called The Marquess found a way to introduce himself into this Garden he attended the hour in which the Princess was accustomed to walk and following her with his Eye into a Grove of Cypress-trees which formed themselves into a Labyrinth he discovered himself to her when he judged it convenient The Princess was surprised to see a man in that place and the first impression made her retire but the Marquess conjuring her to hear him one word the Infanta was flexible and yielded And for as much as the Daughters of Kings are not to be courted as common persons are reasons of State being always the pretence of an ingenious Lover among them he began first with a Declaration of the absolute Power he had to negotiate in the difference betwixt Alphonso and Henry he next represented how easie it would be for him to propose in the Treaty her Marriage with Alphonso and observing the effect that Overture had upon the Princess he began to infinuate the Love he had for her himself and declared that by her indulgence and affection she might ingage him in her Interests The Princess took a resolution worthy of the Doctrine the French Count had preacht to her she pretended great severity but yet without shifting the Marquesses hopes My heart says she prefers the love of Vertue to all the Dignities in the World nevertheless it is not so ungrateful but a considerable service may have an influence upon it In the midst of this Conference the Princess apprehended she heard some body walk behind the Palissade against which she was leaning and she trembled at the Alarm Though the Queen had made no profession of austerity her self yet she exacted it in others and according to the Maxime of Court Ladies was a declared Enemy to all other peoples Courtship The Princess fearing therefore to be surprised alone in discourse with a man made but one leap betwixt the
to the disposition of the Heavens Having said thus he proposed that Prince Chasan should make Love to Imerselle in his Name We shall have no great task to obtain conveniencies continued Prince Caly we are of the same stature and have the same voice let us commit the rest to the Conduct of Love It was not many days after this resolution was taken before the Princes met an occasion for an Essay The Prince Imerse was retired to the Court of Bajazet II. Emperour of the Turks who had given hopes of restoring him to the Throne of his Fathers Campson Sultan of Egypt declared Enmity to Bajazet being glad to divert those Troops which might otherwise be imployed against him sent Thoman Bey who succeeded him in that Monarchy to the Sophy to offer him Alliance and conjure him to an Union This Overture was too much to Ismaels advantage to be refused he received the Embassadour very honourably and to do something the Egyptian might more particularly apply to his own esteem and his Country's the Court of Persia invented Dances à l' Egyptienne in which they danced masked and habited after the manner of Egypt This Disguise furnishing the Princes with the opportunity they wanted they caused their Habits to be made exactly alike and Caly giving place to his Brother and paying him all the respects that might signifie him to be elder Brother he got the liberty to be with Zuria whilst Chasan supplied his place next Imerselle The Princess Imerselle found her false Caly much more passionate than her true one he exprest himself so zealously and in such terms as the sincerity of her old Caly could not dispense with one of the conditions of this Ball was that they should have liberty to steal little discourses whilst it lasted and Chasan received those his good Fortune gave him with the Princess with so great transportation the Princess was surprised I believe Sir said she to him smiling the Habit you wear hath some secret propriety to make you amorous you never appeared so much to me before and 't is no longer ago than last night I was telling the Princess Zuria your Cousin that if your coolness continued I should be the first would expose my self to the rigour of the Law rather than see you obey the Sophy with so much reluctancy Disguise Madam replied Chasan is many times so necessary to Love Lovers can speak nothing passionately without it It is not the Command of the Sophy that brings me thus near you it is the desire of my own heart I might be another not Caly without yours or my Fathers perceiving it But my heart acting by peculiar Principles of its own without any foreign constraint it is Love which speaks by my mouth and not the Sophy's Decree that excites me But this Love is it more constrained in my Closet replied Imerselle or in another place you please to chuse than in the confusion of so great an Assembly Were we of those kind of Lovers to whom all occasions of Converse were interdicted or whose actions were exposed to the eyes of our Enemies I should not wonder you should want a Disguise to declare your affection but by his direction to whom Nature and Fortune hath obliged us both you may impart it how where and as often as you please all places are proper and all expressions allowed you how comes it then you have been so indifferent before and are so vehement now The Prince would have been put to some trouble to have answered this second question had not the Company broke up and relieved them His Brother and he ran to the Window as it had been to take a little air and returning without their Masks Scach Caly was obliged to give Imerselle his hand and to wait upon her to her Appartment but it was done with a coldness so unconformable to the Discourse she had had before that she could not but admire the difference The Sophy believing it had been his eldest Son that entertained Imerselle all the while and perceiving him whom he took to be his second to keep close to Zuria he fancied he was in Love with her and was not displeased Chasan said he to him next morning I am sensible of the secret inclinations of your heart fatherly Love is full of observation and I have discovered that which perhaps you never intended I should see I might complain that you consulted me not but I am a good Father and will impute that want of respect to the impetuosity of a passion which by my own experience I know is not to be master'd by persons of your age Chasan could not at first recollect what should cause this Errour in the Sophy he suspected he had discovered him by some or other of his gestures whilst he was in Conference with Imerselle and that preferring the satisfaction of his Children to the rigour of his Laws he would not constrain their inclinations Is it possible Sir your paternal Love should have so excellent an efficacy replied Chasan Yes dear Son it has replied Ismael and I give you my inviolable word the same day your elder Brother marries the Princess of Persia the same day you shall marry your Cousin Zuria His Cousin Sir replied Caly who was present at the promise Yes his Cousin replied the Sophy I observed him discoursing with her last night as with a person not indifferent to him and though I might well dispose of him otherwise yet such is my indulgence I shall gratifie his desires It was very lucky that the Sophy went into his Closet as soon as he had spoke these words the Princes discomposure had discovered that which they intended to conceal They retired to their Appartments so afflicted and confused they had scarce power to contain themselves from murmuring How said Chasan is it not sufficient to satisfie the rigour of my Destiny that I have loved a Princess from my Childhood and dare not hope to injoy it But I must marry one I neither can nor ought to love Is it nothing said Caly that I must be deprived of Zuria but I must be forced to marry Imerselle and my Brother whom I love as my self must he become the only Person in the World I ought to hate How Zuria must be married to Chasan then Chasan it is I must esteem the only ruine and supplanter of my happiness It shall never be Sir replied the young Prince I can love no body but Imerselle and therefore will never be married to Zuria You would marry her replied the disconsolate Caly could you but conceive the secret Charms wherewith she effacinates the hearts of all that approach her could you but discern the sweetness of her Wit the excellence of her Soul and the obliging way she has in all her actions Ha! dear Brother 't is impossible you should see that Princess with the least assiduity but you must needs be in Love with her I am afraid rather replied Chasan you will not
cannot make you participate of the Crown but Madam I will expiate the infidelity wherewith you charge him by giving you the true Character of my Soul Imploy your interest to restore him retract those reproaches your unjust resentment hath diffused and I am content the Prince shall perform that promise he made to you formerly for I had rather see him in the Throne and flatter my self in private that owing me his life and his Crown he loves me at his heart better than her who would deprive him then to possess it quietly my self and apprehend whilst he is even in my arms his inclinations are somewhere else These generous resolutions being by publick Fame carried into his Camp the false Don Sebastian could not but resume in some measure that Love which his ambition had expelled He was advanced with his confederate Troops to that part of the Frontier which separates Portugal from the Territory of Oviedo he was forced to an Ingagement at that pass where fighting to make Xerina Queen as well as himself King his zeal made his Valour so inconsiderate he was taken Prisoner in the Combate and being conducted to Lisbon there was nothing discoursed of among his Competitors but chastising his temerity by some ignominious punishment The defeat of Tannista had not been so mortal but there remained some considerable persons who could give an account of the destiny of their King all of them affirmed they had followed him to the River Mucazen some that they saw him drowned and some that they ran great hazard of the same Fate in endeavouring to save him This report was nor according to what Xerina believed she had found her pretended Sebastian in the midst of the Battel and that which made most against him was that the habit by which the Princess described him did not agree with what the Portugal Officers assured he had on that day Nevertheless Nature had been pleased to put such a resemblance betwixt them and it was seconded so well by their Wit and their Courage it was not known which way to resolve the more this accident was examined the more intricate it appeared To deny the Crown to their lawful Prince was an unpardonable offence to prostitute it on the other side to an Impostor was no less unjustifiable But death fixt their resolutions for whether Policy of State lookt upon Don Sebastians Alliance with the Mores as dangerous to that Kingdom or that the Dutchess of Parma perceiving the States inclining to Don Sebastian found out some unlawful way of preventing the Triumph of her Rival so it was the counterfeit King dyed in Prison and left no small suspicion that his death was unnatural 'T is reported before he expired he desired to speak with Xerina and the last moment being an admirable Touch-stone to try the jugglings of a mans life he declared to the Princess of Morocco as is reported that he was not King of Portugal and conjured her not to enterprise any thing against him whom they should chuse after he was deceased This Declaration was no more than what was necessary for Xerina had a Son by him who would have been the occasion of very great disorders nor could he do all this without great testimony of remorse 'T is not one way alone Madam said he to the Princess in which I have deceived you for that part of my fallacy which made me your Husband I reproach my self not much I should have blamed my self much more had I neglected it being in my power as it was than I think my self culpable in accepting that honour But Madam that which sticks closest and gives me greatest regret is that for some time I have discontinued my affection and in hopes of a Crown which I never obtained and which by a thousand accidents might have been ravisht from me if I had have forsaken a heart all the Crowns in the World were not able to recompence Do not afflict your self with unnecessary compunction replied the generous Princess I loved the person of my Sebastian above the Dignities which surrounded him I thought to have found his person in you and those Charms wherewith I was surprised lost nothing of their Energy for not proceeding from a King I confess I should not have observed them in an ordinary person my Spirit and my Birth would not have permitted to have fixt my Eyes upon any less than a King But at length I became delighted with my errour for to a vertuous Woman the name of a Husband is so sacred it wipes away all spots that can possibly accompany it Let us strive to overcome your distemper my dear Prince Pardon me Fortune for giving him that Title said she with her Eyes up to Heaven thou oughtest to have given it though thou didst not and then turning again to her Beloved she cryed Force your self dear Sir out of the jaws of death if it be possible perhaps our Destiny may be kinder in Africk than in Portugal The supposed Prince was so strangely affected with this excess of Generosity his very transport was sufficient to have killed him He expired in the Arms of his over-passionate Xerina and her soul was in no small danger of bearing his company This man had abused her by a deceit insupportable to the Quality of a Princess and his subsequent inconstancy was more offensive than the other but Xerina had loved him entirely and let vindicative Ladies say what they please that person is never hated which was beloved heartily before They complain of their Stars they abominate their Influence and hate themselves many times for having so little discretion but this hatred indeed is but a Copy of their Countenance and never goes so deep as they would seem to pretend The Ideas of a man who hath been perfectly beloved ought always to be sacred No resentment can attaque them without Sacriledge and if any fury could be found so violent as to violate that Law she never was capable of true affection she loved to satisfie her own appetite and not only for Love Xerina observed the last orders of her counterfeit Sebastian with exceeding punctuality as soon as her sorrow permitted she retired into Africk and gave not the least opposition to Theodore Braganza who was elected King of Portugal I do not think the Reader requires further light in this Adventure I have inlarged it much to what it is represented in my History and I assure my self there are many who believe they have perused all the Memoires of that Age to whom this Princess of Morocco is every where a stranger except in the Annals of Love THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE EIGHTH PART MAhomet III. had three Sons by three different Sultanesses Mustapha whom he caused to be slain in his own time Jacaya whose History I am writing and Achmet who succeeded his Father in the Empire Jacaya's Mother was a Christian the Magnificences of the Seraglio were not able to eradicate the sentiments of her Religion She
in the Story The Sedition of the Guelphs â—â—d the Gibelins and the Marriage of Henry IV. with Conâ—â—ance who had been four years a Nun is no less authenâ—â—ck The Galantrie of the Cloister is taken out of private â—emoires and some are of opinion Constance was Niece to â—â—lement III. and not to Alexander But besides that that â—â—rcumstance is uncertain and not positively to be decided 〈◊〉 is of so little importance to our Annals I think it not â—â—orth the time to dispute it The Amours of James King of Arragon Hist Hisp. Reg. Ferdinand IX Castil Reg. An. Dom. 1228. This Story is taken almost word for word out of that â—hronicle That that is added is only a little piece of Galâ—antry to bring in the Articles of Marriage The Fraticelles This History is taken out of so many famous Authors so many Memoires and Manuscripts that it would take up a whole Table to recite our Authorities Platus hath a whole Chapter upon them Baronius is so particular in â—heir debaucheries I dare not expose them to a modest â—eader I confess Hortensia is the Daughter of mine own â—ancy but there was a necessity of some person which might â—ive occasion for the declaration of their Doctrine If it was not to this Hortensia they spoke what is mentioned in my Annals it was to some body else for by consent of all Authors that was their thoughts If any of my Readers be scandalized with that liberty I refer him to my Preface The Extravagance of Dulcinus King of the Lombards and of Marguerite his Wife Annal. Eccles 1310. S. Anth. Arch. of Flor. lib 20. Abr. de Turcel Reg. Hen. VII This Extravagance is in History represented so horridly I thought it my duty to give it a better shape Dulcinus and Marguerite introduced a custom of promiscuous injoyment in all sorts of people without choice or distinction I have moderated that and turned it to the changing of Husbands and Wives which though it be contrary likewise to the Laws of the Church yet among Persons of Honour I think it would be more excusable than the other As to Nogaret there was a man of that Train at that time accompanied by Sara Colonna into Italy and supposing there was such an Examen of Husbands discontented and Wives not satisfied it is not improbable but their Arguments and Impeachments might be of that nature Don Pedro Rex Castil XIV Hist Spain Regn. ejusd Anno 1344. ad 1360. This Story is well-near word for word only the Amour of Nugnez is suppositious If the fidelity of this Table be suspected I only desire the Readers to suspend their Judgments till they know the Author when they know who it is they will believe in good breeding he deserves some connivence and perhaps some of them may confess there is more in his Annals than they expected from him THE ANNALS OF LOVE THE FIRST PART LOVE is agreeable in all forms and hath its influence upon all persons We have seen Queens in Love with the meanest of their Officers it reigns in the dull and almost dead eye as well as in the brisk and sparkling nor is there any Condition of Mankind from the Prince to the Pilgrim but stoops to that yoke and may become an Ornament of its Triumph Of this the Countess of Castile is a most pregnant Example She was descended from the Illustrious Family of the Vermandois she was a great Beauty and married to a Count whose Estate since that time hath composed a considerable Kingdom His Court was numerous and the Castilian Gallantry the most remarkable in all Spain But it was not with the Charms of a Courtier the Countess was to be won her Vertue was impregnable as to Magnificence or Spruceness it must be a Hat with large brims a Rochet set with shells must work upon her The Lustre of that Diadem to which her Husband Don Garcia Fernandez was born made less impression upon her heart than the counterfeit humility of a Pilgrim of S. James This Hero travelling to Compostella through the Kingdom of Castile and understanding the Countess was originally French and particularly gracious to that Nation he resolved to have his share of it as well as the rest of his Country-men He got himself presented by the Master of the Hospital at Burgos where being received and the excellence of his Meen piercing through the obscurity of his habit the Countess found him immediately so compleat she retarded the accomplishment of his Vow for some weeks she conjured him to repose himself for some time at her Court in Castile and because his Equipage was not likely to render him considerable she found out a pretence to furnish him more nobly her self There was not a Family in France to which he said he was allied but was akin likewise to the Countess so covering the real indigence of her Pilgrim with the Mask of voluntary Penance he was introduced into the Court under the Name of Hugo d'Anjou descended from the Counts of Guien first Cousins to the Countess and that out of an excess of Devotion he was marching in Pilgrimage to Compostella He could not have had better Titles to recommend him in that Country for Don Garcias loved his Wife very well and the Castilians are a people naturally sensible of any act of Devotion Thus far therefore our Hugo is happy being lodged in the Counts own Palace and reverenced by his whole Court for the profound humility which they supposed in him His change of Habit could be no disadvantage to him it is not to be imagined but he was as graceful to the eyes of the Countess in the Fashion of a French Lord as in the Weeds of a Pilgrim She made him tell her the Adventures of his Voyage and pressed it with as much importunity as was possible she would not suffer him to omit the least Circumstance and for as much as good Lodging is a rare Commodity among Pilgrims and he had occasion sometimes to mention the unkindness of the Servants where he lay the good Lady was so tender-hearted and so sensible of his sufferings she could not forbear blurting out â—nto tears As sly Aeneas told his mournful tale To gentle Dido and so plaid his part Not only for belief he did prevail But riggled himself into the Ladies heart So our Land-Pilgrim understood so right To explicate h troubles by the way That not a stumble or a start in th' night But spoiled the Countess's Eyelids all that day How great is Love and arbitrary all Follows the mighty dictate of his will Interest Honour what we Generous call Ambition truckle to his Scepter still Religion which I 'd thought would ne're submit Stoops with the rest and kisses Cupids feet Hugo d'Anjou the Pilgrim perceiving by the compassion the Countess exprest in the beginning of his disasters that she was favourably disposed towards him resolved to give her better occasion than the bare relation of his Pilgrimage He was
man being unwilling to be the Messenger of so unwelcome Intelligence At length an ancient Officer of the Counts more familiar with him somthing than the rest undertook the design he took â—is advantage one night staid in the Counts Chamâ—er when the rest were gone out and having premised some unprofitable morsels of Morality he desired Don Garcias to proceed no further in his Jourmey for said he it is not in the Road to Compostella your Lady is to be sought it is easie to be imagined whether the Count was surprised at that word He had often supposed that the convenience of this Pilgrimage might deliver the two Cousins from the scruple of Incest pretended but he could not believe the Countess could carry it on farther than some few false oaths of conjugal fidelity He questioned the old Domestick and the more questions he askt the more he was informed and yet not being able to convince himself of so incredible a thing he could not without great difficulty believe what he saw He dispatcht new Scouts upon the heels of the old he gave order for pursuing the Pilgrims not only where he judged they might possible be but in such places likewise where he was assured they were not These Hue and Crys confirmed him in what had been told him he received attestations from all the Inns where the devout Lovers had reposed betwixt Burgos and Bayonne and of the liberty they used Don Garcias understood so many particularities of their Travels that he doubted noâ— but he was a Cuckold That Title disquieted him more than any thing else it was an appellation he always reckoned amongst the most insupportable in the World But he must be patient in spight oâ— his teeth he was not the only man had practised that vertue for whilst he was making the best of a bad Market and meditating revenge suitable to his injury Cupid was taking care to provide him Companions that the fellow-feeling of one anothers calamities might be an alleviation to them all The Star that was so fatal to the Husband this year had not confined its influence to the Climate of Castile the cold as well as hot Countries felt the force of that Constellation Earl Ethelwold a Favourite to Edgar King of England had gained so far upon the affections of his Majesty that he governed both his Subjects and desires as absolutely as himself This King acted nothing but by his Counsels saw nothing but by his Eyes and as if he had been to love nothing but with his heart he intrusted him to go and view a young Lady called Alfreda Daughter and Heir to the Duke of Devonshire one of the greatest Lords in that Kingdom of whom he had heard so well that if his Favourite sound her as she was represented he resolved to make her his Wife Besides her Beauty her Fortune was so great it was no Policy in the King to commit the choice of her to Ethelwold The Duke of Devonshire had been the cause of great troubles during the Reign of the precedent King for which he was confined to his own Territory and that was the reason Alfreda had never appeared in the Court â—f England In this manner was this Favourite qualified with a Commission to furnish the King with a Wife and the Throne of England with a Queen This Conjuncture seemed very consonant with his designs he flattered the King in his desires â—f marrying Alfreda and though intending nothing less than that she should be his Queen the â—eparted with absolute power to conclude or break â—ff the Marriage as he judged convenient MAXIME I. He that with too much power imploys his Friend In Love Intrigues runs greater hazard far Example tells than he 's perhaps aware Vnbounded power whate're it may pretend But seldom answers the expected end For if by chance unfaithful one does prove And who will strive against his own desire His very trust provokes him to aspire He that can once for 's friend with freedom move Takes greater freedom and fr ' himself makes Love â—thelwold being arrived in Devon-shire and the priâ—ate Article of his Commission being the examination of her Beauty he resoved to see her before he â—â—ade any Proposals He pretended he had taken â—â—at Journey to set the Duke right once more with â—â—e Crown of England and this good office deserâ—ing all the Civility could be shewed him the Daughter was called down to bear a part in the acknowledgments Never did old Story speak of any Lady with so much advantage as the English Chronicle does of Alfreda the description made of her therein relishes more of Romance than veritable Narration and yet the effects her Beauty produced were so strange and so great they seem to justifie the Elogy they gave her The Count was dazled at the very first glance and this surprise was presently converted into a violent passion and that into a resolution never to put her into the arms of his Master He proceeded presently to a Treaty but it was for himself thereby teaching Posterity that in matters of Love they should never give their Agents so absolute a power as may tempt them to abuse it There being no person in the Court of England so great as Ethelwold the Duke of Devon-shire took the Proposition as a very great Honour and granted it without any demur so that all things being concluded and nothing wanting to consummate all but the Nuptial Benediction Ethelwold gave the Duke to understand that in duty he was obliged to let his Majesty know of it before under which pretence he took his leave of the Duke for some time and returned presently to Court where he gave Edgar a description of Alfreda quite contrary to what he had already conceived True it is Sir said the Count to the King Alfreda has all things about her requisite to the making a Lady handsom and yet with all those ingredients she is far from it her self She has an ill Meen which discredits her shape she has a red Lip but without any sweetness her Eyes are large grey and well set but she has a way of opening them which renders them abominable her looks are so childish and silly they take much from the excellence of her Complexion in short Sir the features and proportions of this Lady are not made for one another they are so hudled together their confusion spoils their retail and never was there person before the Duke of Devon-shires Daughter that had so much hard favourdness and so much Beauty together To this extravagant Character Ethelwold added certain pretended reasons of his own as that since the Duke of Devon-shire had been banisht the Court he had contracted great debts and ingaged a considerable part of his Country to the Earls and Dukes that were his Neighbours that he was odious to the English that his Journey into Devon-shire having given some Alarm and suspicion the people began already to declaim against the Match and in
this manner imploying all parts to divert his Majesty from those inconvenient desires he wrought upon him so that he gave over his design But this single effect of his Counsels could not content him he knew Edgar was of an amorous Complexion and he must find out something or other to entertain him Ethelwold sent up and down inquired himself and it was not long before he was provided England is not barren of Beauties and it was a Mistress for his Majesty he wanted He pitcht therefore upon a young Lady called Wilfrede who had withdrawn her self into a Monastery to avoid the insolences of her Guardian She was young unfortunate and next the Dukes Daughter the handsomest Woman in that Kingdom The Count presented her to the King to obtain his protection against her Guardian who would needs marry her to a person she could not possibly love and seconding his Harangue with all the commendations he could give her he represented the good qualities of Wilfrede with such efficary that before she left the King she received sensible marks of his inclination Ethelwold liked his success very well he used her with all kindness and compassion undertook to be her Mediator in that affair and in a short time managed things so that he had brought her to his Lure and got an absolute command of her Finding the King ingaged with this Lady he took occasion to renew his Counsels against the Duke of Devon-shire he pretended advice of intelligence betwixt him and the Duke of Normandy and pressing his Majesty to put a stop to the ambition of this man by marrying his Daughter to one of his Subjects it fell naturally into the Kings head to bestow her upon him It is easie to believe he consented without any great trouble and yet he called it a Sacrifice pretending that Alfreda was her self so unacceptable to him that no consideration but the Peace of the Nation could have prevailed with him to marry her But to serve his Master and advantage the Nation what was it he would not readily endure At length having used all the Grimaces and Artifice he could think of Ethelwold is dispatcht into Devon-shire to marry the Dukes Daughter for the tranquillity of the Kingdom Never was any man so happy as this Lover he admired Alfreda even to adoration he esteemed her a thousand times more handsom since she was his Wife than before and though it was obedience only which obliged Alfreda to marry him having never loved any thing but him The bare act of Marriage wrought as effectually upon the heart of this young Lady as long Love did upon other people The presence of her Husband was quickly dear to her she apprehended his absence and perceiving him laying his design of returning whither his ambition called him Ah Sit said she to him one day this is that I have been always afraid of the Loves of a Servant and a Husband are exceedingly different I remember a roguish Song my Governess taught me when I was a Child which I fear contains a fatal prediction of my destiny having said so with an innocent smile that almost ravished her Husband she began to repeat them SONG Whilst Love 's suspended and in fear Of a Repulse nothing's too dear Or good to hang at Ladies ear But if the Damsel once complies And pities Rheum in Servants Eyes Farewel all future Sacrifice Six days possession at the most Makes a man curse his former cost And reckon time and Presents lost No no dear Alfreda replied the amorous Ethelwold catching her fast in his arms nothing shall ever extinguish the passion I have for you I am too much enamoured and you are too handsom not to be always the Mistress of your Hasband Why this leaving me then my Lord replied the melancholy Alfreda could you leave me so soon if you loved me as you say Nay my Dear replied the Count my Journey is of necessity I must needs go where my duty requires me would you have me renounce the favour of my Prince the advantages it beings me and the care of the State which his most gracious Majesty hath committed almost entirely to my Conduct What necessity of this State replied Alfreda or those Chimerical advantates Is not the Duke my Father rich and great enough to erect you a Fortune And can you think that when I cannot enjoy you the thought of your travelling for the good of the Nation will give me any ease Ah my Lord let us consider our own private felicity and leave the general to others the satisfaction and pleasantness of the whole World will not wipe off one of the tears your departure will being upon my cheeks and to tell you may final resolution in a word either you must be kind and stay here with me or so merciful as to let me bear you Company otherwise God knows what danger there will be of our meeting no more These two Propositions were equally fatal to the Count he used all his Art to reduce her to reason He loved Alfreda very well and his Fortune no less he was conscious of the cheat he had put upon the King and he had no mind his Wife should come to Court to convince him He excused himself therefore by the illness of the weather he promised to return again very speedily But the new Bride would not be paid in that Coin she charged him sometimes with inconstancy sometimes with contempt and not allowing him any intermission she forced him at last to confess the whole truth What confidence is to be placed by a Husband in a young person whose heart has been acquainted with Love but a few days and that in a Conjugal way Ethelwold expected that narration should have stopt her desires of accompanying him to London and have cleared that doubt that he loved her not as he should do But alas he was not acquainted with the humor of the greatest part of that Sex Ambition is natural to them and the honour of being a Queen will startle the most Philosophical Lady of them all The Countess easily comprehending by this Discourse that Ethelwold had not only cheated her of a Crown but deprived her of all opportunity of going to Court whilst Edgar was living She found her self possest with so great an abhorrence of her Husbands disingenuity that she began to hate him more than she had loved him before And in truth after this discovery â—â—â—re was no need he should fear her following â—â—â—n against his will She could have seen him depart for the Valley of Jehosaphat and not spoke one word in order to his stay She lookt very â—â—dly upon the Walls of the Town as her perpetual Prison and the only part of the World she 〈…〉 like to see She was still talking with her Father or the new Servants her Husband had left with 〈◊〉 about the Beauty of the City of London the Mâ—gâ—â—ficence of the Court c. and revolving that she was banisht for
all her life time at least for 〈◊〉 Youth from a place where she might have reigned as Queen but for the Treachery of Ethelwold sHe gave her self over to Melancholy so that nothing could comfort her The Duke imagining this sadness had proceeded from the absence of her Husband assured her constantly of his speedy return He shewed her the Letters he had received to that purpose and used all means possible to divert her But it was not the sight of her Consort she longed for she feared it as much now as she had desired it before Whilst her thoughts were in this agitation a Painter arrived at that City who went from Court to Court to make a collection of the Pictures of all the fine Ladies in Europe to hang up in the Gallery of his Master the Duke of Modena This Picture-drawer had heard much of the Beauty of Alfreda from a French-man of his acquaintance in Rome who had been some time in England Upon the report of this French-man he concluded he could carry nothing more grateful to his Master than the Picture of this Lady He came therefore to Davon and having withal due formality begged leave of the old Duke that his Daughter might sit he obtained it without any scruple The Old man loved his Daughter very tenderly and not knowing his Son in Laws Intrigue he thought the giving her Picture but an indifferent thing But the Countess lookt upon it in another nature she contributed all her power to make it more amiable and perceiving she had hit her design and her Picture very well done she told the Painter if he would acouit himself well of his Commission he must go to the Court of Edgar where the greatest Beauties were but the Painter intended that before The English Women in all Ages have been allowed the handsomest in the World and though the Italian and got the choice of all in the Picture of the new Countess yet he must needs have Wilfredes too for the reputation she had of being the Kings Mistress As soon therefore as he had dispatcht in Devon-shire he repaired to London but Alfrede having dispatcht some of her Creatures before she caused a report to be spread abroad under-hand of an Italian Painter who was coming thither with most admirable Rarities She had been told that Edgar was very curious in Pictures She hoped by this means he might come to have a sight of hers and be taken out of the errour the Count had drawn him into without her contribution Nor was she mistaken in her fore-cast The King would needs see his Pictures as soon as he heard he was arrived And though the Duke of Modena had directed him to shew them to very few persons the liberality of the King removed that difficulty When a thing is desired in that way by a King he is seldom denied The Italian promised Edgar he should see the best he had and the King chose Wilfreds Chamber to see them in as being desirous to have her share in the divertisement The Painter beseeched that he would bring as few with him as he could and to comply with his design Ethelwold was the only Person had the Priviledge to attend him The first Picture the Painter took up was Eleonor Daughter to the Earl of Guyenne married afterwards to Lewis sirnamed le Jeune King of France History has represented this Lady so beautiful it will be needless in me to describe her She it was that charmed the brave Saladin General of an Army of Sarrasens and having let him know that she could not believe his protestations of Love unless delivered in her own language she forced the great Captain to betake himself to his Book and to study the French Tongue which he attained in some sociable proportion in a fortnight After her came the Picture of Elvira Mistress to Ramire the Conquerour who first erected the County of Arragon into a Kingdom Ethelwold who knew the story very well and had a mind to be entertaining of Wilfred giving them the relation he told the King This Elvira is a famous Example that Honour and Love are not incompatible in the heart of great Persons Never was Prince more renowned than Ramire they reckoned his Victories by the number of his days and yet he thought Love so necessary to his Courage that he used to have his Mistress in some weak place when he went to engage that his desire to preserve her out of his Enemies hands might oblige him to extraordinary Actions in the Battel This kind of History pleased Wilfred exceedingly she made her acknowledgments to the Count by her simpring and nodding her head and promising to her self that he would tell her as much of every one she should see she addrest her self to him to know who that Adelaid was which the Painter was then shewing She was formerly Madam replied the Favourite Queen of the Lombards and dyed lately Wife to Otho the Great who is at this day Emperour of the West The Amazonian Habit in which the Painter has drawn her corresponds exceedingly with the actions of her life for she defended a Town in Lombardy in the absence of her first Husband as well as the best Captain he had in the War Otho the Emperour had lately with the Sclavonians and Dalmatians she did him as much service as the best of his Generals These Actions of Valour replied Edgar interrupting him a little are rare in persons of that Sex and I cannot but commend the Judgment of the Painter in the Election of his Pictures In this manner the King of England and his Favourite were discoursing of the Italians Pictures and the Count perceiving his Majesty much delighted with his stories there was not a Character of Beauty a Punctilio of Art nor the least particular Adventure but gave him opportunity of some pleasant Narration when of a sudden the Painter changed the Scene of their mirth by producing the Picture of Alfreda and struck the poor Count as it had been a clap of Thunder The Countess had given him no notice that her Picture had been drawn and so he was utterly unprepared against so unexpected an Accident He lookt pale he trembled and the King perceiving his distraction and attributing it to his surprize in which he shared with him himself Is it possible says he to the Painter that this Picture should be after the life Yes Sir said the Count interrupting the Painter and it is the Picture of my Wife but so flatter'd and improved that if the other Ladies you have seen be used at the same rate I dare assure your Majesty there is no one Original to be known by its Copy The Painter knew well enough it was no hard matter for him in her case to justifie the fidelity of his Art Alfreda was much handsomer than her Picture and she was not above three or four days Journey from London But observing the Count her Husband decrying her Beauty with more than ordinary
way they can take to warm the blood of their Husbands the Empress did but little good upon hers She plagued him so continually with that pattern that she began to be insupportable In short they lookt upon one another as Judgments sent down on purpose to torment them and this secret abhorrency betwixt Man and Wife being usually a presage of new passion for Strangers the Emperour and Empress might on a sudden have perceived that unlawful Love builds always upon the ruines of Conjugal The Empress could not see the Duke with his own Wife without distrubance she invented every day some new pretence or other to divide them not considering that little interruptions in things indifferent render our Loves more ardent in matters of concernment she by that means insensibly increased what she desired so earnestly to destroy On the other side the Emperor finding the Dutchess always alone because the Empress could not live without the Duke that opportunity compleated that flame which her Charms had scarce kindled before her first Confidence was acquainting her with the impertinence of the Empress how troublesom how unappeasable she was and from thence passing in course to a solemn wish that she was but half so well disposed as the Dutchess his desire struck so plausibly upon his fancy he could not afterwards get her off on his thoughts Had he believed that this extempore wish would have one day grown up to a passion and the Empress suspected that the twittering she had for the Duke would have made her forget all her obligations to her self there is no doubt but either of them would have made greater resistance The Emperour was just honourable and grateful and well understood his ingagements to the Duke and the Empress was not without her natural inclinations to virtue but Love surprised both their Hearts before they were aware and they discovered it not till he was too strong to be repelled for when that passion has once got possession all the struglings and all the contentions in the World do but fortifie and augment it MAXIME IV. At Loves first sight the surest way iIs to give ground and shun the frey For if he once but fix his foot No Oak comes harder from the root The Love of Otho for the Dutchess and the Love of Mary for the Duke beginning much about a time it happened they broke out and were discovered near the same day There was about that time a famous Painter at the Emperours Court who had found out a new way of painting very rare and ingenious in it self He used neither cloth nor colours prepared after the old way his work was not infected with the odour of oyl which discourages so many from sitting for their Pictures his Colours were mingled with Water and Gum Arabick his Canvas a sort of Vellam and without any more Tools than two or three Christal-shells and a few Pencils he made strokes which were almost invisible and his Pictures were so like they wanted nothing but speaking to be the same True it is he was something long and for that reason as well as the delicacy of his painting he drew all in little yet he would express the same things in a piece of Parchment of a foot square as well as another Painter would do in a cloth as big as the life The Dutchess being a great Lover of Arts would needs see this man and make experiment her self whether he was as ingenious as his reputation publisht She made him draw her Picture but her own alone being nothing so grateful to her as when joyned with her Dukes she told the Painter he must contrive some way or other of putting him into the same Vellam He represented her therefore as the Painters Muse setting upon a Bundle of Pencils with her Marble and Pestil by her side painting a little Picture with her own hand like a Meddail wherein she had drawn the Duke of Modena's head The Portraicture was born up by a Cupid with a Garland of flowers about his head two or three more Cupids as it were fluttering about with their wings pointed to her beauty and made the Spectators take notice of each feature in spight of their teeth and besides the Excellence of the Work which was sufficiently conspicuous in either of the Pictures they had so happy a resemblance to the life that they were scarce to be matcht in all Europe This Picture was carried home to the Dutchess at a time the Duke fortuned to be abroad She set it by in his Closet till he came in intending to shew it him as soon as he returned some business having called him into another Room the Emperour chanced to enter just as she was gone forth he thought to take advantage of her absence and to write some piece of Galanterie some merry Conceit or other that she might find when she came again and having opened the Closet-door with that design the first thing he cast his eyes upon was her Picture he found it the piece and the best design of any he had seen and Love having a custom of turning all things to his advantage he put it into Otho's head to take hold of that opportunity for the declaration of his Love He had seen Pictures in Water-colours before and knew they were to be defaced to that end he wet the corner of his Handkerchief with Orange-flower water which he found by accident upon the Table rub'd the Picture of the Duke of Modena quite out and in the place left these Verses which he writ with his own hand Madam this Picture you so highly prize Is a Companion too slight and poor For you a proper Object for your Eyes Can be no less than your own Emperour As soon as he had writ these Verses he went out and left word with the Dutchesses Women that he had left something in her Closet that was not to be seen by any but her self and therefore he charged them to let no body go into it till she returned They observed his Commands and the Dutchess being come back they told her what word the Emperour had left She went immediately into her Cabinet to see what it was and finding her Picture dissigured she was so much concerned she could not get it out of her mind She believed it might be some accident at first but taking it up to look closer upon it she was much surprized when she found the Emperours Verses Just as she was in her astonishment the Duke coming suddenly into her Closet Ha my dear Lord said she I thought to have presented you with the best Picture I ever saw but whilst I was but stept into the next room some body has spoiled it and I am afraid the injury to the Picture is the least of the mischiefs it gives us just occasion to fear And having said so she told him how it had been designed how she had left it in her Closet when she went out and in what condition
a yong Prince to be a Gallant and an amorous Atchievment gains as much reputation sometimes as the bloodiest Victory But with the Women it is not so a Lady cannot advance one step but she charges her self with the whole Intrigue and a repulse which would be nothing in a Lady to her Servant becomes an unpardonable indignity in a Servant to his Mistress The high-spirited Empress seeing her self rejected by a person she had obliged by so many favours conceived so great a displeasure that she could not conceal it She threatned him with all the mischiefs an inraged Empress could bring upon him and departing with a gesture importing fury and indignation she left him to take his choice whether he would prevent her revenge or feel the effects of it On the other side the Emperour perceiving his passion as tedious to the Dutchess instead of having gained any advantage he left her and that as ill satisfied as the Empress with the Duke They both of them walkt some time up and down to dispel the trouble their disappointments had brought them both of them perceived the Duke and Dutchess come forth of the Arbors where they had left them and enter together into another where they suspected they retired to give an account to one another what had past This Arbor was one of those that were double one might slip by betwixt the Pillars without being seen of those who were either within or without An unluckly concurrence of Curiosity excited these two Lovers to hide themselves behind the Curtain and though Otho knew nothing of the Empresses Intrigues and the Empress had but a slight suspicion of Otho's their passions carried them as it were by consent to two several places from whence without perceiving one another or being perceived by any one else they might hear all that was spoken The discourse was very terrible for all four The Dake and the Duthchess understanding the danger in which the pertinacity of their Persecutors as they called them had placed them exprest their apprehensions in such terms as confounded the two Evesdroppers with jealousie but when from simple Narratives they proceeded to imprecations what Satyr what Invective was it which the Duke bestowed not on the Empress He called her by the worst names he could invent the Dutchess making up the Consort by the same Elogies upon the Emperour They spoke with full liberty for being ignorant of the fashion in which that Arbour was made they believed they were to fear no body they did not see besides the Emperour and Empress being gone in a huff they did not expect that either of them should return In the mean time the two persons of whom they discoursed so liberally heard every word and I leave it to the Reader to judge how much they were surprized to understand such tidings of their affairs The Emperour had no kindness for the Empress and the Empress had too much for the Duke of Modena to care much for him But Honour and Jealousie in their hearts performed the functions of Love Otho could not hear the ill designs of Mary without passion and resentment and Mary was as impatient that the Dutchess should triumph over all the hearts she had interest in She thrust her self furiously out of the place she was hidden and perhaps in the first motion of her transport might have run into some actions less suitable to her Sex than her despair But the Emperour coming out upon the same design at the same time they met and were so surprized at the sight of one another they had no power either to move or to speak The Duke and the Dutchess came out also in the nick and perceiving them in a place where they believed they had heard all they had said the sour Lovers represented such a Scene of silence as is more easie to imagine than express The Emperour cast about his furious eyes sometimes upon the Empress sometimes upon the Duke and sometimes upon the Dutchess The Empress divided betwixt choler and shame changed her colour according to the variety of her thoughts and the two innocent Causes of all this distraction apprehending nothing for themselves but each for the other by the motion of their eyes seemed to say they were ready to become Victims to their Destiny rather than to fail in the least just duty of their Loves Persons of their Character and Quality do seldom evaporate into unprofitable words and in these kind of occurrences silence is more serviceable than Rhetorick The Emperour withdrew without any other intimation of resentment than by his looks and the Empress following in great fury and confusion all the Court did the same The Feast was interrupted in this manner and very few knew the reason Every one guest as his own fancy suggested but scarce three of the whole Company could hit of the right Whether the rage was greater in the Emperour or Empress is not easily decided Some are of opinion that their Love commencing at the same time exprest at the same time and now discovered by the same accident to one another their Revenge kept the same consort But whether it was Otho who had a desire to rid himself of a person who triumpht over him in the heart of his Empress or Mary who had a mind to be revenged for the contempt of her kindness and so prevent the reproaches of the Emperour by taking away the object so it was the Duke was found murdered the night after the Feast The Instruments of the Murder set upon him like Thieves and demanded his Purse but they quickly made it evident it was his life not his money they sought for for having given him three mortal wounds they left him expiring upon the ground without taking his purse which they demanded or his Jewels which he had in plenty about him It is not necessary to insert how the fair Widow resented so foul an action I should have exprest the affection she had for her Husband but weakly if the Reader could not imagine the extream sorrow she conceived for his death She doubted not but it was contrived by the Emperour or the Empress and lest she should mistake in the object of her Revenge she resolved to sacrifice them both I shall not mention the means she used to accomplish it such Tragical Catastrophes do not accommodate with Annals of Love and I shall refer the Reader to the Chronological History to inform himself how the Dutchess having revenged her self upon the Empress by the resentment of the Emperour made use of the Empresses Creatures to sacrifice the Emperour to her Ghost But some will say why this insatiable fury why doth it not stop in the middle of its Career The Empress death was but just and it was no more than the Dutchess was obliged to she accused her of the Murder of her Husband and if she was not the only Instrument of his death she was the moving Cause for had she not loved the
the reputation of that to a certain Water he made which covered what he writ when he had a mind to it and being exposed to the rays of the Sun went away again it self and left the Character entire By the help of this Secret my Lord said the Astrologer I write down in my Book whatever I know of any persons Intrigues When I have done that I wash over what I have writ with the aforesaid Composition and then laying it in the Sun I make it appear according as it is necessary for my Fortune or Reputation But said the Prince then you but seldom hit right for it is impossible you should know all the Intrigues in the World My Lord replied the Astrologer I put so great a price upon the Predictions of my Book that the Common-people are not able to go so high it is only Soveraign Princes and Persons of eminent Quality can reach the recompence I require and for those of that Character their most secret Intrigues are known and so it is they come to think my knowledge infallible The Prince of Galicia was very much satisfied with the integrity of the Astrologer and inferring from his fidelity in this he might be trusted in greater matters he resolved to make use of him for the discovery of his passion to the Countess of Tholouse He gave him so magnificent a Present that he might promise himself the utmost of his assistance and passing from thence to the Countesses Appartment he was so fortunate as to find her alone He began his converse by the praise of the Astrologer protested he had told him such things as he could not have learnt but by Miracle and having understood by Elvira that she had not seen that Prodigy as yet he offered to attend her to him when she pleased to command Alas Sir replied the innocent Elvira I would willingly accept your offer but the King is so perswaded of the mans communication with the Devil that he hath injoyned me to the contrary How injoyned you Madam replied the Prince is it for a Person of your Quality to have any thing forbidden you were you a Child or had not the wit or discretion which is requisite at your age the King might use his Authority but for you Madam one of the most ingenious and prudent persons alive to be interdicted so indifferent a Curiosity believe me Madam you will deserve that usage if you endure it without regret and were it not but to instruct his Majesty in what manner you are to be treated I would perswade you to see this Astrologer and I do not doubt but to justifie your disobedience This discourse jumpt exceedingly with the vanity of Elvira she had desired a long time to be rid of Alphonso's Tuition and have the management of her own Affairs but she had a habit of awe upon her that hindred her from shaking off the yoke For some time she resisted the Princes Proposition He saw well enough she had a desire to be with him but she durst not follow her own inclinations Sometimes she said she had no faith for such kind of things sometimes that she had nothing upon her heart about which she needed to consult an Astrologer and as the last Argument of all she told him she did not know how far it might dissatisfie her Husband He was a passionate man and she durst not enterprise a thing of that importance without his permission Upon this Article Raymond de Burgogne began to show his Rhetorick He told Elvira that for her Husband to take cognizance of such particular actions was Tyranny that Persons of her Vertue and Quality were to be left to their own Conduct and proposing to her the Example of Vrraca whom he had left absolute Mistress both of her own actions and all his Estate he brought her at length to a resolution of seeing the Astrologer they agreed upon the next day The King and the Count being to give Audience to certain Deputies from Tholouse and that Ceremony being to take them up all that afternoon the Countess had full liberty to see the Astrologer without danger of surprize The bargain being made in this manner the Prince returned to his Chamber sent immediately for his Astrologer which we shall call Abdemelec and having received him with a long story and a thousand pretences of kindness to him he told him he had a design to put a Trick upon the Countess of Tholouse and he would intreat his assistance The Astrologer offered his service freely he had had too great experience of his liberality to neglect any occasion of receiving the fruits of it he wished with all his heart he was as necessary in all the Princes Affairs and never desired so much knowledge in his profession as at that time Raymond perceiving him so well disposed perswaded him that he would pretend Love to his Sister-in-law and guilded over his intention with whatever he thought might make it appear innocent He told him it was by agreement betwixt the Countess and he and that it was to be done upon a Wager Abdemelec understood very well what he had to suspect he had Judgment and Experience and had seldom observed a Person of any Parts enter upon a design without some end or other He promised the Prince therefore to discharge himself faithfully of his Trust he put one of his blank Books into his hands which the ignorant look upon as a Devil The Prince writ in it what he desired the Countess should find there and the Astrologer ingaging to remember the rest he left Raymond in great impatience of receiving the fruits of his contrivance The History doth not mention how he slept the night before this declaration was to be but I dare affirm not apprehend to be thought rash it was not without interruption The long wisht for hour being come Raymond fetcht Abdemelec to his Lodgings and carried him from thence to the Countesses Appartment they shut themselves all three up in her Closet and the Astrologer being Master of his Trade began to ask Elvira about her Nativity he examined her Physiognomy inquired after the principal accidents of her life and judging he had done enough to give her an advantagious impression of his skill he began to produce the Book the Prince of Galicia had told her of Elvira trembled as soon as she saw it she had endured the sight and examination of the Conjuror with very good courage but when he mentioned the Book of which she had heard so many Miracles and which Alphonso had assured her was no less than the body of Magick in little her resolution began to forsake her The Prince confirmed her as much as he could he shewed her the leaves of the Book in which there was no writing to be seen The Countess having turned them over the Astrologer took it out of her hand and going aside to the Window under pretence of looking out he laid his Book in the Sun and
her air the sound of her voice the quickness of her Eye and the Pleasantness of her Wit All of them were as charming in appearance as they were in effect and flattering his imagination with a thousand fantastical Chimera's he took his leave of her the most enamoured Person in the World Prince Henry discovered this new passion at the very first he observed the Emperour stick to her as he had been retained by Inchantment He bad the Courtiers especially his Favourites to take notice of that Lady of her Presence and bonne Mine and believing her unknown to the Prince he called him to him two or three times to inquire his opinion about her The Prince was at first well pleased with his Curiosity but considering the violence of his Fathers humour better he apprehended what might follow He made signs to the Conducter of the Masquerades to retire with them immediately and he being intelligent enough took his direction and making use of an opportunity when the Emperour was speaking to a French Embassadour which was there and just come into the Garden he withdrew Constance out of the Crowd and re-conducted her to her Covent All the time they were passing in the Coach betwixt the Garden and the Nunnery they imployed in changing their Habits as they had done as they came They were just got to the Gate they were to go in at when day began to break as if it had attended their coming back before it durst appear but who could imagine the misfortune that befel them She of the Party which carried the Key had been so much taken up with the contemplation of what she had seen that she had forgot where she had laid it She examined her Gallants Habit and she examined her Religious gropt up and down the Coach turned over her Papers but no Key The hour they rise in the Monastery approached The people which brought Commodities to the Market began to appear in the streets and not one of the poor Sisters could imagine by what Miracle they should be conveyed out of the Coach where they were into the Cells where they ought to have been No wonder if they invoked their good Genius and made millions of promises never to run themselves into the like errour again There was not a Saint nor a Protector belonging to their Covent but they promised a Wax-canle though by the tediousness of their delivery they did not seem to be accepted But at length length their Destiny was merciful and their Key found in the fold of her sleeve where she had put it her self and where according to the common accident in such cases she had searcht twenty times and could not find it They gave great thanks for so seasonalbe a discovery they opened the Gates as easily as they could and stole to their Quarters without any noise and in the morning one was troubled with the Colick another with the Head-ach every one had her distemper to excuse their lying in bed the next day The Emperour in the mean time prest by his curiosity was as impatient till the hour os the Rendez-vous came as she was indifferent He got up earlier in the morning than his setting up the night before did seem to permit but all that time he could take no rest though Constance slept very sweetly Scarce was the heat of the day over but the Emperour was at his assignation he took some turns about the Garden before the Ladies which were used to walk there could get into a condition to appear but at length the walking hour approaching he see four or five the handsomest Courtisans in Rome enter amongst whom he imagined his unknown Mistress was one He accosted them and laid her particularly aboard with a Complement upon her good Air her excellent Shape and the Majesty of her Walk The Damoisel was mighty well pleased with his Judgment she bridled she strutted and strained as much as was possible to deserve it she bit her lips to make them look red and put her Eyes into the best posture she could but she might have let them alone as well The Emperour found his mistake and that she had neither the Shape Eyes nor Voice which he lookt for The conversation of this Woman was tedious to him when he compared her with Constance and so leaving and throwing his eyes up and down the Garden he continued there till night but no Nun nor no body to supply the place she had gotten in his heart This disappointment went very near him he could not think of it without indignation and his Choler fermenting with his Love he retired into his Palace so agitated and disturbed one would have thought he had been to fight some great Battel or had the Conquest of all Turkey in his head Whilst he was consuming in his Melancholy and fruitless desires the Prince and Constance did but laugh at his misery he understood by the person he sent home with them of the meeting she had appointed with Frederick and of her resolution to fail and being told that afternoon by some of the Emperours Servants that the Emperour was gone into the Walks He thought that a fit opportunity to visit the Popes Niece to see how she liked the Magnificence of the Solemnity she had seen and to droll with her about the Emperours credulity Thus we may see the advantage youth hath over age and how successful a man is like to be in his Career when his own Son runs against him The abused Frederick having to the motions of a violent curiosity added the impulses of shame and indignation his life became so uneasie and melancholy he was scarce to be known He went from Church to Church from one Company to another searching of a person he did not know when he saw and inquiring after one whose name he could not tell Those who pretend great penetration into matters of Policy attribute that to the Ambition of this Prince which was indeed due to his Love The unquiet air which was visible in his Countenance portended some secret design The frequent Visits he made in quest of his Mistress to the chief Families in Rome presaged some fatal Revolution in the Ecclesiastical State Those who where faithful to his Holiness ceased not to put him in mind of the turbulency of Fredericks Spirit and that he had some evil designs or other in his head which unless carefully prevented would be mature immediately Upon which ad vertisement Siena as a Town like to be the first object of his Ambition was fortified forthwith all his Holinesses Troops had order to march down towards Milan which was lookt upon as inclining to the Emperour The Emperour having notice of what past thought it high time to look to himself His new Love had laid his Ambition asleep but his anger had waked it again and therefore it was necessary he should do something to divert his imagination from the Object that affected him He drew together what
wholly to the care of the Family they made Sweet-meats and Restauratives for the Favourits of Conrade The last Order of of this terrestrial Hierarchy was a certain number of old men who being past the emulation of other peoples felicity and finding great Relief in the Magnificence of the Fryars they went up and down magnifying their Sanctity inveigling Penitents and endeavouring to corrupt some Notary or other to foist them into the wills of rich men that their Estates might escheat upon their Covent And these Disciples were called the Secular Brethren The Patron of this Society was one Hermanus whom they honoured with the addition of Happy and he was the first man amongst them that thought upon this Institution The she-Penitents or Female Fraticelles were inrolled in this Cloister and this Hermanus having been polluted with as many Heresies in his Faith as Enormities in his Manners the Fraticelles made use of his Name and Opinions to support their false Explications of Scripture and the ill Doctrines they disseminated among the credulous people An Order so well contrived ought not to be without its Rules and Constitutions The more ignorant Fryars had the Rules of a certain Fryar very famous in the Church proposed to them which they observed with all rigour but the Virtuosi and more Priviledged Fryars had their particular Canons by themselves of which these following are some fragments which with grea labour and charge we have collected out of the best Libraries of this Age. The Rules and Constitutions to be observed by the Fraticelles A Young man called to the Profession of a Fraticelles life shall be first examined and give good testimony of his Secrecy and exteriour Mortification and then being transmitted to a second tryal by one of the Fraticelles purposely appointed to that Office upon his Certificate he shall be received into the said Brotherhood upon these insuing Conditions I. He shall love and honour the Lady committed to his Instruction in consideration that those whom Love units are but one Soul in two bodies II. He shall preserve the Honour of the said Lady by all possible means whether they be lawful or unlawful natural or unnatural for his chief Duty is to prevent all suspitions or appearances whatsoever that may any ways reflect upon the Reputation of their Fraternity III. He shall maintain to the utmost of his power an entire and perfect Vnion betwixt the Penitent and her Husband in such manner that the confidence of the Husband may be a seeurity to the Gallant Prudence being the Basis of all amorous Converse and the heart of a Woman vast enough to receive a lawful and a prohibited Love without any justling or concussion IV. He shall never mention the word Love in publick but with the Epithet of Divine Secrecy being the life and salt of an amorous Intrigue for it is a Sacriledge worthy of death to impart an amorous Mystery to an indifferent Person V. He shall always carry two Tongues in his Mouth he shall write two Hands not only in two different but in two opposite styles so that upon good occasion he shall at the same time be able to send pious Meditations to the young Fryars and Madrigals to his Mistress VI. He shall indispensably practise the motions of his Countenance and when and which way to change them for his advantage for as much as the Glance that is requisite for a Mistress ought to be kept entire for her and the humble Look towards the Earth and the sanctified Look towards Heaven to be kept for all the rest of the World These holy Constitutions were ingraven upon a Table of Copper and hung up in Conrards Chamber as well that by vertue of his private Authority he might alter what he pleased as that he was the Person of the Society more especially obliged to put them in practice Having disposed things in this good order without it was thought convenient to make some directions for whthin The care of their Houses taking up all the good Womens time in the Mornings and their Conferences in the Afternoon being too liable to observation it was coucluded they should make choice of the night for their Assemblies and the pretence of these Vigils being Devotions the most jealous Husbands in the City sollicited their Wives many times to repair to them often From this point of precaution Fryar Conrard past to the Muster of his new Penitents He found them too numerous for his Fraticelles and this redundancy was a trouble to them they could not be at leisure to perform all the Offices of Directors as they required To remedy this it was concluded their Fraternity should be augmented but their Revenue being judged too small it was resolved they should apply themselves to some of the most eminent and wealthy Ladies in Rome and to draw them to a Contribution for the support of their augmentation Hortensia Sister to Pope Boniface the Eighth who was Pope at that time was the first Person they addrest themselves to She was a Widow and past the prime of her age and yet handsom enough she was rich and liberal and had a great influence upon her Brother the Pope from whom by her mediation they hoped to obtain many favours They imployed themselves therefore unanimously might and main to get her Ladiship inrolled in their Fraternity This Princess had a Sister called Valentina one of the most zealous Penitents belonged to their Fryary she was very devout she thought the Name of God sounded well upon any occasion whatever and this Valantine was fallen to the Lot of Fryar Robert the most intimate with Conrard of the whole Chapter and the most capable of succeeding him had his place happened to have been vacant Fryar Robert had a great mind to be nibling at Valantina's innocent He told her it was impossible the Fraternity of Herman should be so holy in her Judgment as it pretended to be seeing she had not as yet inspired Hortensia with a defire to be of it That he could not but admire having so great influence upon the first Princess in Rome and making profession of so great kindness to the Fraticelles as she did she had not as yet brought her to their Assemblies and thus mingling his flatteries and reproaches together as he saw it convenient he put Valentina into so good an humour that she was almost impatient till she got to Hortensia and performed that service to the Fraticelles which Eryar Robert had desired She named their Names in two or three of her Discourses where they were nothing to the purpose when she took her leave of the Princess she was still going to the Fraticelles when she came into her Chamber she came always from that Covent whenever the Clock struck she must be gone to some of their hourly Devotions nothing was so indifferent or occasional but it had some relation to this Order and at length having with the continual repetition of the Name of the Fraticelles as
man she would inform her self as well as she could of them and imploy all the interest she had with his Holiness to destroy them if she found them guilty of those vices of which she began to suspect them Anthony had a particular reason to promote the destruction of that Order which the Princess did not know his discretion permit him to declare These Hypocrites had debauched a Sister of his and under pretence of accommodating some small differences betwixt her Husband and she which reason and time would without doubt have composed without their charitable assistance they had made themselves Masters of their Family disposed of their Goods and Revenue as they pleased and governing both Husband and Wife in their own way they drew upon them the derisions of the sober part and the imprecations of all the rest of the family It is not to be supposed therefore that Anthony would suffer Hortensia to forget her promise he prest her on to the execution of it very zealously and the Princess partly in compliance with his request and partly by an intrinsick stimulation of piety being desirous to instruct her self in the secrets of their Conduct scarce past one day without visiting their Covent Fryar Conrard interpreting this assiduity quite contrary managed the Commencement of his good Fortune with all possible Hypocrisie Every morning he sent Presents of Flowers and Fruits to the Princess there was not one of his Brethrens Penitents but was imployed in making some fine Works or other for Hortensia or if she could not do it her self she set all her Acquaintance on work quite through the Town All these officious insinuations and expressions of respect confirmed the Princess in the opinion she shad conceived that the Fraticelles mingled much Policy with their counterfeit Charity she observed also a continual thread of detraction interwoven with all their discourse but she discovered none of the abominations wherewith Anthony accused them Fryar Conrard who knew that upon Hortensia's esteem the entire Establishment or Ruine of the Fraticelles depended he communicated but by halfs with her about the Eerours with which he infected the rest But at length the Princess having given them so many Visits they began to be perswaded she was absolutely theirs and the necessities of the Covent at that time pressing Conrard on to put his shoulder to the work he began to praise Hortensia's Beauty with more passion than ordinary he found out amorous terms to express his most serious Mysteries and one day as the Princess was going in Pilgrimage to a Chappel some few miles out of Town and was willing to permit Fryar Conrard to accompany her Religious persons being much reverenced in Italy the Servants and the rest of her Train thought it no less than their duty to the Superiour of the Fraticelles to leave him alone with their Lady This opportunity tempted him he took her Vmbrella out of the hands of one of her Lacquays and desired she would vouchsafe him the honour to do her that small piece of Service The Princess consented and the Fryar Conrard thinking himself much honoured thereby Certainly Madam said he by way of acknowledgment it is not without good reason that Beauty is termed a Ray of the Divinity for we see no persons admirably handsom but they are withal most exquisitely good So that it seems these two things are inseparable and the Creator hath so well signified his Complacency in beautiful Creatures that he allows them to share in two Attributes which are the most proper to himself Hortensia smiled at Conrards Complement and imagining presently this would be a convenient Juncture to inform her self of what Anthony charged him she replied Till now I was of opinion that the beauty of the body was not a quality much regarded by God the aspect of the Stars or the disposition of Nature make people handsom or ill-favoured but this ill-favouredness and this Beauty contribute so little to the glory of God that by common observation we may see the handsomest Women the most subject to be ingrateful towards their Creator What is that Madam you call Ingratitude towards the Creator replied Conrard I call it Ingratitude replied the Princess to imploy the Talents he hath given us for the manifestation of his Power to the Worship of his Enemies as most part of your Beauties do every day Alas Madam replied the Fryar how is your Highness mistaken in your ingratitude so far is it from offending God to make use of the Talents he gives us that many times our not using them at all may be more properly called Ingratitude towards the Creator For as our Herman says very well to what end did God create Beauty but to please and why did he give that power of Charming to Beauties if it were a Crime to be charmed by-them The Princess perceiving Fryar Conrard in so good an humour for discourse would not answer so as to silence him but on the contrary resolved to make her advantage of this occasion But Brother said she you quote this Herman so often I cannot but desire you to tell me something of his Doctrine I know you preach it up more freely to other people than you have done to me and to tell you the truth I do take that reservedness something unkindly and resolved to complain of it the first time you and I were together done Fryar Conrard was ready to leap out of his skin for joy at the Curiosity of the Princess he had a long time expected this opportunity Madam he replied with an alacrity above his dissimulation we are neither reserved as to your Highness nor does your Highness want any necessary disposition for the comprehending Secrets of our Doctrine but our thrice happy and thrice Reverend Herman hath said things so odd and novel and they are to be heard with so profound a submission that I doubted whether your Highness would condescend to the obedience required to the hearing them Yes my good Brother replied the Princess I will condescend and at the same time sitting down at the foot of a Tree which afforded them a competent shade Come said she let us rest our selves here a while I am weary and we may spare an hour for this Discourse without danger of wanting time for the finishing our Voyage Fryar Conrard sate himself down at Hortensia's feet so transported he could scarce contain his joy within the limits of his heart The Servants which attended the Princess placing themselves at such distance behind that they could not hear the Harangue the good old Fryar began it in this manner LOVE is as natural to Mankind as life The World was made at first and is still preserved for him and the Venus of the Ancients which they pretend animates Nature is nothing but a desire in every Creature to unite it self with what is most proper This desire in Animals degenerates into Instinct in inanimate things it becomes a natural tendency towards the Center and
in man it is the true mark of the Soul It is not more natural for him to sleep nor to eat nor to perform the other functions of life than it is to love and if Love be so natural to the people of the World who are subject to so many other passions and diverted by Secular Imployments how much more ought it be so to us who delivered from the continual activity of worldly people pass our whole lives in a perpetual vacation We are to day what we shall be to morrow no Dignity gives us any care nor no fear of indigence gives us any trouble if our Luxury be bounded our subsistence is assured Ha Madam is there any thing in the World like one of us Religious to receive the impressions of Love in perfection It is this disposition both Physical and Moral which for a long time hath peopled Heaven with Saints for the Religious affected like other men with a natural desire of loving this desire not being crossed or counterballanced with Ambition Revenge or any other passions that occupy the mind of the rest of the World he loves with all his force with all his soul and with all his strength as S. Paul teaches But as among Animals there are some proper for the Race and some for the Charge so among us Religious some are for one kind of Love and others for another The Religious predestinated to the Love of God gives up his heart wholly to the Divine Love and this is it which hath produced so many Martyrs and so many Confessors The Religious who is not endued with so violent an inclination for Heaven he lifts himself up to the Creator by the Contemplation of his Creatures and this Madam is the Vocation of the Fraticelles We love God as well as the other but we love him dilated in the things below the enjoyments of this life make us admire his goodness and your Beauty Madam continued the ungracious Fryar with his wanton Eye fixt fast upon Hortensia your Beauty makes me adore his Omnipotence when I consider the Charms so conspicuous in your Person and in all your actions I do comprehend there is but one God could have created you so excellent and so rising by degrees to the Eternal Principle of all things by the effects of its natural Emanations I enjoy as one may say the delights of Heaven and the pleasures of the Earth at one time my heart being divided without Sacriledge betwixt divine Love and profane I may say what our Herman hath taught us he is to be found in things which according to the depraved sense of Humanity seem absolutely contrary This is an odd Doctrine indeed replied Hortensia and you had good reason to say it was novel but good Brother I would fain know how you can accommodate it with the Orthodox Doctrine of the Church for it appears to me diametrically opposite to what you have exprest The Gospel commands us to look upon this life but as a passage the Son of God nothing more than our denial of the Creature and that we must renounce Honour and Riches and Kindred to follow him But you Fraticelles find him in the midst of those things he hath commanded us to shun make me understand this Mystery I beseech you It is a great Mystery indeed Madam replied Conrard and well worthy of the acuteness of your Wit We search God I say in all his works and judging his design was to make man happy seeing he created him after his own Image we do endeavour to establish this felicity by all things which render it perfect In truth all men being not capable of these kind of Arguments and some having been so inhumane as to make Laws and establish Maxims contrary to the felicity of this life we frame our selves as to our outward deportment to the greater number but it is so as that we have our own private happiness in our Eye for we look upon publick Esteem as one of the Conditions necessary to make it compleat The Princess thought she had no need of hearing Conrard any longer to perswade her self of the Crimes Fryar Anthony had charged upon the Fraticelles The discourse he had made abounded with so many Errours and the Hypocrisie which the Fryar had confest at the latter end of his Speech was so formal there needed nothing more to assure it She started up on a sudden as if she feared she had forgot her self and not had time enough left for the rest of her Journey and dissembling the horrour she had conceived against the Precepts of Herman she left Conrard in great hopes she would become one of his most zealous Disciples But he was much deceived in his opinion For the Princess was no sooner returned to Rome but she went to his Holiness immediately and assured him that the Fraticelles were impious Hereticks who under the Disguise of an exterior Profession concealed a most ungodly and dissolute life and therefore she humbly desired he would appoint some persons to question them about their Doctrine and to apply some remedy to the disorders which would necessarily follow upon the Church unless some sudden stop were put to their Career Hortensia's charge was considerable and she had great influence upon the Pope but he was so prepossest in favour to the Fraticelles that the Reputation of the Princess had like to have been split upon that Rock Two of the Popes Officers and of the Principal of his Houshold of which one was Brother-in-law to Anthony had married two Women but of Ages quite contrary to their own The Sister of Anthony was young handsom and airy and her Husband was about sixty years old grave Philosophical and melancholy he had a Sister almost of his own humour and age who was married to a Roman Cavalier who having taken her for her money made no great reckoning of her Person The young Lady complained highly of the reservedness of her Husband and the old complained as much of the levity of hers The Fraticelles had found a way to reconcile these differences and to restore peace to their Families which before was scarce to be hoped for during their lives This great point of prudence having gained them a particular esteem from both these persons they had perswaded the Pope clearly in their favour He rebuked Hortensia with some kind of eagerness for being so easie in receiving impressions to their prejudice and commanding her never to speak to him of them hereafter but with respect he put her into so high a passion to see her Authority affronted that she resolved never to be quiet till she had quite rooted out the whole brood of the Fraticelles she redoubled her diligence at their Prayers and Assemblies Though Fryar Conrard had not had the confidence to impart all the Arcana of their Society especially in their nocturnal Conferences yet she thought she had enough already to give her sufficient suspicion of the rest she gave an exact
account of what she saw and observed to Fryar Anthony and receiving Advertisements from Valantina besides which confirmed her in her doubts she attended only one proof more to declare her self publickly an Enemy to the Fraticelles with which Fryar Conrard supplied her in a short time It was then that time of the year in which according to the Custom in Rome they wish many years to the Persons of Quality in that Town and accompany their good wishes with some small Present or other Fryar Conrard as the most regular and most active amongst them was one of the first at acquitting himself of this duty He sent to make his Complement to the Princess and presented her by the same Messenger with a Picture of Herman the Frame made with great Workmanship and inriched with precious Stones This new Saint of Epicurus his Paradise was in the Habit of the Fraticelles drawn upon his knees before a Crucifix his Forehead crowned with Thorns a Deaths-head in his hand and these words in Capital Letters at the bottom LET THEM THAT APPROVE IMITATE Anthony was with Hortensia at the same time when this Present was brought her and looking upon him very angrily see Anthony said she how these Hypocrites abuse the Pictures of Penitence to what persons they present them and what Examples they propose to our imitation Marry such Madam replied Fryar Anthony as they would gladly you should follow but you must not leave them any longer in that liberty of proposing them to you you must press the destruction of a sort of people so pernicious to the common Interest of the Church and every moment that it is deferred are so many favourable opportunities which we give them to do mischief I dare not tell your Highness what abominations I discover every day in these Vermine I will not imitate their indiscretion in telling you such of their Crimes as perhaps you have not heard of But believe me Madam there is no more moderation to be used in this affair and you must answer to God for the Souls of all they corrupt from the hour it was in your power to have destroyed them till they be actually destroyed But good Anthony replied the Princess can I do any more than I have done already I have inveigled them to tell me their Errours I have carried them to the Pope and I have justified the Charge by my own Testimony You must do more than all this Madam replied Anthony you must pretend great confidence in them and act so as to give them as great a one in you if I might perswade you you should write to Conrard upon this occasion and give him thanks for the Present he sent you this might possibly oblige him to answer you with some kind of Gallantry and conduct him insensibly into that pit into which we must endeavour with all our power to tumble him This Proposition made Hortensia tremble it savoured of a kind of Treachery which she abhorred at her Soul besides she could not resolve upon any motive whatever that any of her Letters should come into the Clutches of Conrard But Anthony represented so well to her the necessity of stopping the course of so dangerous a Sect and though his Charity would not permit him to let her know all that he knew of their Assemblies yet he gave her so horrible an Idea thereof that she called for Pen and Ink immediately and writ to Fryar Conrard in these words Whence comes it my dear Brother Conrard you propose Mortifications and Examples of Penitence to my imitation Is this the way to that happiness which your Hermanus does promise us ought not I to complain of your disingenuity when I see the visible marks of your Esteem so little conformable to what I already know of your Doctrine Who can express the Rape the receipt of this Letter committed upon Fryar Conrards Soul He fell into such Extravagances as the most worldly men would have been ashamed of and not willing to lose so fair an opportunity to declare himself he returned the Princess this Answer You judge but ill Madam of the sentiments of my Soul if you believe they can be dissembled to your Highness Penetrate the appearances which abuse you and you will find my heart delineated in the Picture you have received He that brought this Ticket to the Princess had instruction to tell her that she should take a wet Sponge and wipe over the face of Hermanus with it and Anthony being desirous to understand the meaning of Conrards Answer the Princess and he followed his directions with the Sponge but were much surprised to observe as they rubbed the old a new Picture to appear Hermanus was done only in Water-colours but under it was the figure of Cupid lying upon the green his head crowned with Roses and instead of the Deaths-head he held a Basket of all kind of Flowers and about the border were written in great Letters these words Not from the Garden so much as from my Heart The word Hortensia in Italian signifies the Goddess of Gardens and so this Basket of Flowers alluding to the Princesses Name exprest a most just and intelligible declaration of his Love Without jesting Madam cryed the pious Anthony when he had seen all This is a subtle Contrivance for a Monk one may easily see he hath past his Apprentiship But alas continued he with something a more serious Tone he spoke truer than he intended when he said that this Picture was the Portraiture of his Heart When we look upon the actions of Hypocrites they are in Water-colours and appear nothing but Crosses and Mortificationa but pass the Sponge of severe scruting upon them and you discover under them the most detestable vices in the World After which words he took the Picture and Ticket into his hands and begged of the Princess he might be permitted to carry them to his Brother-in-law that he might by beginning with him undeceive the rest of the World The zeal of Hortensia would not suffer that any body should see the Picture before the Pope it being he that was to punish the false Brothers for their Hypocrisie but besides that Anthony believed that the Picture sufficient alone to rectifie his Holiness he thought he should disoblige his Sisters Husband if he declared Conrards Errour before he had given him time to defend him This precaution was useful more than one way for the good Brother-in-law found so many plausible reasons to excuse Conrard that he had frustrated this Complaint as he had done the former had he spoke in the presence of the Pope What Hortensia intends to publish about he impiety of the Fraticelles said he is only about points of Doctrine which she doth not well understand The Picture was a pious Emblem signifying that true Penitents do find flowers of Comfort in their most severe Mortifications The words about the Basket troubled him a little but he was confident Fryar Conrard would give him an
duty as a desertion of his Mistress he left the new Queen to shift for her self and returned to his Padilla for consolation When Nugnez understood the King had given Order for his Equipage to march back towards Burgos he thought he had been misinformed replied immediately to his Majesty and finding him ready to take Horse Why Sir said he in great astonishment will you quit our new Queen before you see her Consider I beseech you you are but a days Journey from her I know not replied Don Pedro whether that be enough for her but I am sure 't is too much for me Is it Sir replied the Grand Master that you have not found her as you had reason to have hoped or that ill instructed in the obedience she owes you she hath No Nugnez replied Don Pedro interrupting him 't is nothing of all that 't is only this Don Pedro of Castile is not born for Blanche de Bourbon Those who contrived this Meeting knew neither of us both and tob e short she may return to France as she came if her design be to be Queen of Castile for she is nothing to me now and never will be more The faithful Nugnez discomposed exceedingly with this resolution did what he could to make Don Pedro consider of what importance it might be he represented the Power of the Duke of Bourbon by the accession of the Family of Valois to the Crown of France the general interest of all Princes to vindicate an Affront to a Princess so nearly related to the most Puissant of all the Christian Kings the dissatisfaction of the Apoll stolick See the murmures of the people and the injury he would do to his own Honour and Renown but all these remonstances were in vain Don Pedro departed without vouchsafing the Grand Master an Answer leaving him to repent at leisure what-ever e had recommended Padilla to be Mistress to the King This faithful Favourite beholding at one Prospect the evils which this action would bring upon Castile resolved as much as he could to divert it by cajolling the new Queen He prepared an eloquent Discourse to excuse her Entertainment and after he had perused it and was well satisfied with the Contents he desired Audience of Blanche and endeavoured what he could to justifie Don Pedro He pretended indisposition of body and some imaginary Affairs of State to apologize for his departure but there was no need he should trouble himself so far Blanche was a Princess but of small Experience in the World she had been brought up in a Monastery where they make a scruple of opening their very Eyes and she believed it was sufficient to have been married by Don Pedro's Ambassadours to make her Queen of Castile When Nugnez perceived this Errour he was very much surprised The King had given him to understand the Marriage was not consummate he attended to see the Princess mortally dissatisfied with her mistaken and upon this point it was his Harangue was principally to insist but whatever he could say to explain himself and what address soever he used to eradicate that opinion out of Blanche reserving the respect he ought to her Person he found her invincibly perswaded she was Don Pedro's Wife already and she blusht when she said it as much as another Woman would have blusht at a far greater Crime So profound an ignorance is rare in a Person of her Age Nugnez could not contemplate it without astonishment and adding pity to his wonder by degrees both the one and the other produced sparkles of Love which brake out at length into a most pernicious flame Blanche was young and of an excellent humour and to be handsom she wanted nothing but a desireto please insomuch as our Grand Master fell in Love at a time when it was least suspected and with the Person in the World he had the least design upon In brief his fidelity to his Master seemedto have shut up all the avenues of his heart against so criminal a passion never was Subject more zealous for his Prince and he had given a thousand instances of his affection But what is it that Love cannot do nugnez found Charms in the Innocence of Blanche which Don Pedro lookt upon as faults he took no pleasurebut in the Company of the Princess and the pretence of perswading his Majestyto his duty giving him opportunity of frequent and long Conferences with the King his passion increasedso fast by occasion of those Enterviews he had scarce power to dissemble it Had he consulted his own heart about the successof his Negotiation he would have done what he could possibly to have caused it to miscarry Which way soever he lookt upon the Kings aversion for Blanche it could not be but advantagious to nugnez First it threatned Castile with a dangerous War and the Grand Master being chief Minister that Menace must needs be grateful to him Moreover it furnisht the Courtiers with an opportunity of flattery of which a Favourite may make a marvellous use and if his Policy accommodated with this Divorce the Reader may easily believe his Love would not be against it But this generous Castillian being in reality more a Person of Honour than a Lover or interested Subject did as much to reduce his Master to what was just as he had been to have received no advantage by his pertinacity He conferred with the Duke of Albuquerque Husband to Phidilla's old Mistress and Nugnez particular Friend The misfortune this Duke conceived it to have brought up the Person in his House who was like to be the destruction of the Royal Family of Castile made him more passionate for the interests of Blanche than any other of the Grandees in that Kingdom They went together to Padilla they desired her as Friends that she wouldimploy all her Wit and Capacity with the King to prevail with him to use Blanche as he was in duty obliged but perceiving that under the Title of Friends they were not regarded they changed their Character they began to speak with authority and threatned her with the resentment of the whole Kingdom if she stopt not the course of an injustice of which she was lookt upon as the Author Padilla was proud and witty she discovered by the consequence how much she was nettled at this threat but thinking that no time to hint her displeasure she promised the Duke and the Grand Master she would contribute her utmost to Blanches satisfaction But she had a care of being as good as her word she had too much pride and ambition to make any serious prayers so contrary to her vanity and her hopes Nevertheless the Castillians not being able to endure such an injury to their Nation as the violation of their Faith solemnly engaged by publick Authority and the most confident persons amongst them murmured highly against the injustice of it The Grandees fell into Cabals the Common-people into Factions all things were tending to a Revolt Leonora Queen
his absence declaring to the Princess what he understood of the indifferencies of his Son he knew so well how to represent to her the resentment a discreet Woman ought to conceive when she finds her self despised by her Husband and described all the Discourses he had held with his Son so exactly that he found he had stir'd up her indignation before he was aware The Letters she received from Emanuel did not a little confirm the suggestions of his Father They contained nothing but indifferent relations and if indispensable Civility caused him to mention any thing of Love it was so flat and insipid it was easily to be discerned he did it by constraint One would have thought he had apprehended the vigilance of some jealous person he exprest his desires so indifferently one would have thought his prudence had retained the best half of his mind He forgot himself one day so far in his tranquillities that he gave a most excellent Character of Mammomas to the Infanta not considering he was his Rival and such a Rival as had been able to keep him from the possession of his Mistress This is too much cryed the Princess when she read the Letter the Prince at length tires out my patience and I shall be reproacht all Greece over as an insensible person if knowing how Emanuel uses me I let him not understand again that I am not ignorant of ways to revenge my self And this resolution was no sooner taken than executed The Infanta told the Emperour that she was at last grown weary of the Princes neglects that she would dye a thousand deaths before she would marry him and that she was come to acquaint him she would sacrifice her self before she would submit to the Conditions of the Treaty This was it the Emperour designed he commended her resentment protested the deportment of his Son was no less ungrateful to his Ears than to hers and wishing with all his heart he had been of an age to make her reparation himself he sollicited her to vengeance so hard that at length she listned to his Proposals She writ a Letter to the Emperor of Trebisonde by agreement with Calo-John the Pacquet was delivered into the hands of an Agent very faithful to the Emperour and of a Wit as considerable as his fidelity It would be requisite to delineate Calo-John exactly as he was at that time to make the Reader conceive all that Love is able to make a man of his age do He brake the brains of all the Officers of his Chamber to invent him new dresses he trusted none but his own Eyes in the choice of the Colors he wore and passing whole hours in conversation with his Glass What thinkest thou Calo-John said he to himself how dost thou like this Figure in the Glass this Complexion is it not fine these Eyes are they not soft and well made they are not so sparkling indeed as when I was young but in Love the softness and sweetness of the Eye doth more execution many times than the quickness and vivacity What say you to this Shape this Leg this whole Contexture said he marching two or three steps with great magnificence Ha! Calo-John 't is not for nothing the Infanta of Trebisonde prefers you to your Son thou art a thousand times handsomer and more desirable than he and this Election of the Princess is an effect of the solidity of her Judgment rather than a token of her anger Whilst the Emperour was pleasing himself in this manner in his own Efficacy and Merits his Son had reduced the Rebels to the Terms his Father desired and there being nothing left to detain him longer upon the Frontiers he returned to Constantinople with the same serenity he departed He found the Princess much colder to him than formerly and the Emperour more spruce but he did not concern himself for either he was glad to find the Princess no more troublesom and did not dive into the fineness of his Father He recounted his Exploits to his Mistress in the same style he had writ them and she told him Ironically she was much obliged to him for the description he had given her of Mammomas that she had a great honour for his qualities and that she did not believe when she vanquisht his heart she had had so illustrious a Captive Our Lover being hardned took all in the literal sense and justified every tittle he had mentioned in his Letter A good way to moderate the transport of a Mistress at the return of her Servant The Infanta's indignation increased every hour and the affairs of the Emperour went better and better He failed not to ply her with thanks both by Letters and word of Mouth and supposing his acknowlegments would be more eloquent in Verse than in Prose he rub'd up his old fancy for a Paper of good Verses Our Memoires do not represent them in a style à la mode as to their Art or Invention but his ardour and sincerity is conspicuous in them to this day One time when he had out-done himself in the expression of the felicity he promised to himself the Princess by ill Fortune dropt the Paper before the Prince who taking it up had a Curiosity to read it contrary to his Custom but the Infanta discerning what it was Do not read it Sir said she to him they are Love-Verses Emanuel smiled and not believing what she said I am sufficiently your Friend Madam replied he to be intrusted with your Secrets and having said those words opened the Paper The Princess clapt her hand upon it and told him you do not believe me and yet I 'le assure you I say true Yes said the Prince interrupting her a little angerly I do believe you it may be some body makes Love to you but I will see by your favour after what manner he doth it who-ever it be he is something audacious and has chosen an ill field to engage in and then forcing the Paper from the Infanta and knowing it to be the Emperours hand How says he smiling is it the Emperour in truth let 's see if he can make Love as well now as of old When my poor heart 's already laid In dust for Love of gentle Maid What boots it to call out for aid My blood burnt up my vigour spent Mine Enemy omnipotent What boots it boots it to lament And yet methinks my hopes contend And still inculcate mark the end Your enemy shall prove your friend Ah! gentle hopes don't flatter me I should should I that minute see Happier than in my Empire be Emanuel thought the Emperour had but jested before and looking upon it as a design of the Infanta's to make him jealous he laught in his sleeve at the innocence of the project But when he perceived the Emperour was in earnest he began as seriously to be displeased Sure said he the Affairs of the Empire are but very few when the Emperour can have leisure to imploy himself
apprehended and your retreat and the place I was to meet you extorted from me by torments I had no directions to inform her and me-though she lookt as if she would have been as good as her word Her threatning me so made me get out of Toledo as fast as I could and my advice is that you would get as far off as you can also for knowing how things stand in your own conscience my opinion Sir is it will be no place for you And having given his Judgment Mandoce supposing Feliciana to be his Master put the Letter into her hands Feliciana took it and stepping two or three paces aside that Mandoce might not perceive the trouble it gave her she opened it and read as follows Madam Your desert is too great to be made the object of 〈◊〉 counterfeit passion My heart is entirely another bodies and I cannot obtain from its veritable sentiments that it should constrain it self any longer Yâ—â— will call me treacherous and perjured but Madam 't is to avoid those Epithets I expose my self to them The suspicions of Don Garcias made me guilty of a procedeur contrary to my nature I could not disentangle my self from his vigilance but by pretending Love unto you and I could wish with all my heart my pretences were in earnest that I might do Justice to your Charms But Madam the affections of a mans heart depend not upon himself pardon mine then I beseech you a Crime it could not but commit and if you be generous complain but do not abhor me There was not a word in this Letter but was a wholesom Antidote against Feliciana's Jealousie and as if her good Genius had apprehended that the forgetting of names might have yet left some poyson behind it Mandoce beginning where he left There is no room now Sir said he for unseasonable Contemplations your time is but short and seeing you are resolved at last to return into Africk why will you not take this opportunity and away to the next Port. There is a Vessel ready and you have no more to do but to go aboard and set Sail besides let me tell you I heard a Whispering among some people who baited at my Inn which makes me jealous of your person They said that you were apprehended and that the Count d'Atrevalo had sworn to make you marry Hypolita I see well enough those Fellows were mistaken and I know well enough those rumours are vain but believe me Sir let us save our selves if we can Hypolita is highly offended and will play you some scurvy â—rick or other if she be not prevented Feliciana could not contain her self at this last assurance of her Servants fidelity she gave thanks to her Stars which had drawn her out of her errour and pronouncing her self a thousand times happy thrice happy Feliciana she conjured Mandoce to tell her where she might find Alphonso Mandoce was so frighted at that question he had like to have run away from her he lookt upon Feliciana as he was utterly undone and taking her still for his Master he asked her shivering if she were out of her Wits No Mandoce replied Feliciana I am not out of my Wits on the contrary I have recovered them Then she told him her Name and that she was come into Spain on purpose to seek him What Mandoce had heard talkt to his Master formerly of the exact resemblance betwixt Feliciana and him perswaded him presently all was true that she said He fell down upon his knees and gave thanks that their Journey was shortned and conducting the African where his Master had appointed to meet him that night he gave her an account as they travelled that Alphonso's Brother had conceived a suspicion of their Amour before his departure from Africk that he had advertised his Father of it at his return and that the old man having intercepted Letters by which Alphonso assured Feliciana he would be with her ere long he caused him to be so narrowly watcht he could not make one step but Don Garcias had notice that being weary of that persecution and perswaded he could not without collusion disingage himself from his vigilance he had pretended Love to Hypolita de Cueva who was gone to see one of her Aunts at Alcantara that Don Garcias believing he had been in earnest had concluded the Articles with Hypolita's Father and constrained Alphonso to sign them But that a few days after he had escapt and got off to a Friends house who furnisht him with money for his Voyage into Africk whither he was then ready to go and had been there before that time had the season of the year been proper for his designs This Discourse and such others entertained Feliciana to the place where she expected her Alphonso and where she found him in effect but alas not in the condition she desired The Count d'Atrevalo having News that the Count de Benevent a great Lord in Castille and some other of his best friends were coming to his House and apprehending that Alphonso might take advantage to escape by the disorder so much company was like to produce and being absolutely resolved to secure the possession of Feliciana by forcing his Rival to marry Hypolita he caused him to be conveyed to a Fort upon the Frontier of Murcia not above a days Journey from thence The Prisoner went away late from the Counts House and could not reach his Giste he was forced to lye by the way and it fell out his Quarters were taken up for him in the same place where he had appointed Mandoce to come to him The same Fortune contrived it that Don Fernand returning from the search he pretended was come to the same House Feliciana saw him come into the Court through the Windows of her Chamber and the very sight of him had like to have made her betake her self to her heels but a new fancy coming into her head in the instant she sent Mandoce to let him know Feliciana would speak with him and ordered one of Alphonso's Servants to conduct him into a little Court into which she had observed one of her Windows did look Mandoce discharged himself of his Commission and Don Fernand came overjoy'd to the Window where Feliciana expected him My dear Don Fernand said she to him and as softly as she could speak Heaven has sent you once more to my relief I am taken again 't is I that am conducting to the Frontiers of Murcia the Count d'Atrevalo takes me for Alphonso but do not you suffer your self to be deceived with our resemblance I am Feliciana and to convince you See there said she throwing her Table-book to him see what you gave me when I took my leave of you at the Counts Castle you shall find there the Roads you directed me to take and set them down with your own hand save me once more if you can possibly After this Proposition she pulled in her head and retired as she had been
with such things as might perswade him of their Sanctity that the best piece of Houshold-stuff to be seen was the instrument they kept to mortifie their flesh The Inventory almost frighted the two Curiosoes they were afraid of profaning so holy a place and the Dervises seconding their Errour Most dear Children of our great Prophet said Caly to them be not fearful to approach the most humble Servants of the Eternal 't is for your sakes only we are sent into this Province and it is the charitable care the Heavens take of your Conduct that has put it into your hearts to visit us Hark you Sultan Selim Hark you Prince Imerse the Stars do look upon you with a malevolent Aspect and you have a strong disposition to follow their malign Influence Our Divine Prophet has thought you worthy of his own direction in so perillous a passage and we are the sacred Interpreters of his adorable intentions At these words adorable sacred Interpreters delegated to them from so venerable a Prophet the Sultan Selim and Prince Imerse made a most profound Reverence and protesting they would receive with as much submission as saith the divine Decrees it should please those Scaydars to pronounce they humbly intreated they would vouchsafe to begin the Exercise of their Mission The counterfeit Dervises concluded it best to pretend as much difficulty as they could to confirm their Rivals in their credulity The Mysteries of Heaven are neither explained nor received with so little preparation said Chasan there must be prayers and austerities to open the sacred Repositiories of the Celestial graces You have a heart repleat with mundane desires how can you believe till they be expelled there should be room for divine Inspirations Purge purge away the pollutions wherewith that is defiled and then our great Prophet will replenish you with such salutriferous emanations as he has reserved for you Love hatred and ambition are like so many Tempests in your Soul force your selves what you can to calm them excite your selves what you can to tranquillity deprive your selves of the sight of such objects as produce those turbulencies in your soul we do not name them because our revelation tell us you will divine even that of which we think not convenient to remember you But dear Princes let us acquaint you we are not ignorant of the most secret of your thoughts and when you shall be worthily prepared for our instructions shall tell you such things as will surprise you God then and put your selves into a condition to merit that bounty wherewith the Heavens are pleased to favour you and when you judge your souls in such a posture as is required repair to us again and be further informed These cunning Dervises referred the Rivals to a second Conference as well to agree upon what they were to say as not to render themselves suspected of a premeditated design and this adjournment producing the effect they expected the Sultan calculated the importance of their advice by the difficulty they made of giving it he thought he might from these Holy persons draw such wholesom instructions as might direct him in the conduct of his whole life These Fathers have a strict Communication with Heaven said he to Prince Imerse the brightness of their vertue blazing in their actions and there is a Character of piety so visible in their faces it seems to be expanded by the divine hands of that great Prophet himself Imerse concurred exactly in Selims observations and both of them projecting to make their advantage of the Present Heaven had made them of these wonderful men they sent to give them an account of the preparations they had made for a second Visit and to desire their opinions whether they were sufficient The Princes sent them word no They had sent out their Scouts for more news and from the people which came to see them wheedled out such Intelligence as was necessary for their design they had a mind to gain more time to compleat their informations and contented themselves to send them this single Injunction that above all things they should forbear the Conversation of Women lest they should abuse the authority their Director had given them there was no sort of penance but they exacted from their Rivals they made them fast they made them watch and their subtleties extended to greater tryals than those But at length supposing themselves sufficiently inlighted they let fall their secret persecution and the day for their second Visit being appointed the abused Princes came again to their Grot. The anger of Heaven said Chasan to them as soon as he saw them begins to dispel the instance of your prayers and the piety of your works have mollified the rigour of that sentence Stars seemed to pronounce against you And that you may believe we speak not of our selves you shall hear what our great Prophet has revealed to us You Sultan Selim said he to the Turkish Prince taking him afide you have drawn down the divine displeasure upon your head by a secret animosity you had against your Brother Mahumet you would have been preserred before him to the Government of Amasia and not succeeding in your design the despight you conceived prevailed with you to excite the people of that Province to complain of him so vigorously their complaints cost him his life Do not I tell you true Sir said Chasan The Sultan was forced to confess he had actually committed all he was charged with and having added something of his own he confirmed the Dervis in whatever their perquisition had caused them to suspect The Heavens justly incensed against you for so detestable a crime continued he has provoked you to the Love of a Princess of Persia which will be certainly your ruine It is decreed and our great Prophet has sent us on purpose to give you advice but your and our prayers begin to incline him He was a man as you are and though his humanity was sustained by divine Qualifications he knows nevertheless how far the frailties of your Nature may carry you Let that Princess be brought hither let her Attendants be as few as they can for we delight not to converse with more in this World than is necessary for your preservation and for no other reason but for the accomplishment of our Prophets designs could we be induced to any private Entertainment with Womankind But we know our instructions and it is for the execution of them only we are come into this Province The Sultan was so respectful and so serious in his attention the counterfeit Dervis had much ado to compose himself and retain the gravity required nor was Caly in the mean time under lesser temptation he was gotten into the particulars of all Imerses affairs That Prince had ingenuously confest all the Circumstances of the stealing the Princesses named the persons with whom he had Intelligence in Xiras and discovered several other Secrets of importance which the Dervis fisht
augments that in me which it destroys in all other persons in the World You have no kindness then for Selim said the happy Chasan and the Princess replying only with a contemptuous shrug gave him more satisfaction than an eloquent Discourse I am fully satisfied fair Princess of your sincerity said Chasan and to recompense it by an information as grateful know Imerselle that Chasan loves you a thousand times better than you love him It was he entertained you at the Egyptian Ball under the name of his Brother it was he who leaving Caly with his Cousin Zuria that night you were walking in the Garden appeased your indignation with those mollifying words To him it was you gave that Ring which ingaged your faith to him by those sacred protestations and in a word it is he who renouncing all the pleasures of his Fathers Court and despising all the dangers he should be exposed to were he known speaks to you at this present under the Name and Figure you see The Prince might trust Imerselle without scruple the confession she had made secured him against any indiscretion It was not without reason he had taken care the Princesses face should be covered the alterations this discourse made there could not have been provided against but by that precaution She blusht she was disturbed she had like to have cryed out and run away but the danger the least noise would bring upon Chasan restraining that impetus she remained as immoveable in the place where she sate Chasan taking advantage of her perplexity drew out the Ring and discovering his face the Princess found so much Love there that though her Eyes and the sight of her Ring had not convinced her she would have concluded no body but the counterfeit Egyptian and he that made Love to her in the Walk could have lookt upon her with such passionate glances She blamed the Prince for the perils to which he had exposed himself she conjured him to clear himself as soon as he could and then inquired very earnestly how he had done to delude the Sultan and Prince Imerse so handsomly He gave her an account in few words of whatever she askt him he told her the Love Caly retained for Zuria their adventures as Princes of Persia their adventures as Dervises and concluded all with a request to her to cajol the imaginations of Selim that by that Complacence perswading him of the interests the Dervises had in Heaven he might be induced to permit the Princesses to visit them oftner The Conversation of Caly and Zuria was neither so serious nor sincere at first she knew the Prince as soon as she see him his shape his voice but above all the secret emotion of a heart truly affected assured her it was none but her dear Caly that spoke to her however resolving to punish him for that he had so well master'd his transport It was not necessary devout Father said she to him that the Prince Imerse should bring me hither upon the design he pretended for whether by the miraculous efficacy of your prayers or whether that there is a period for anger as for other things so it is that sensible part of my heart which you promised to find is perfectly discovered I love the Prince of Persia and am ready to act whatever his Love can reasonably expect from me I am amazed replied Caly in some kind of disturbance that this change should be so sudden I have some secret Revelations which assured me that your passion for the Prince Scach-Caly would have made a better defence against the attaques of the Prince Imerse It did indeed make defence for a while replied the sly Zuria and since you know all I need not scruple to confess I did love the Prince you speak of very well but the absence of one Lover and the assiduities of another make strange Metamorphoses sometimes in the affections of a Woman The disguised Prince began to rave at this discourse which made the Princess judg she had carried her hypocrisie too far She smiled and looking upon the Prince with an air sufficient to despel a thousand suspicions Recollect your self Seigneur Dervis said she to him you have but little Communication with Heaven if you have no better notion of what happens below Call in your good Genius to your relief and she will tell you Zuria will never love any thing but her dear Caly whom the disguise of a Dervis cannot conceal from her heart and that in all Habits as in all places he shall find her always the same The Prince perceiving his Errour by those words reproacht her a thousand times for the perplexities she had put him to It was resolved by agreement they should contrive as many Conferences as they could He told her designs which the proximity betwixt Imerselle and Imerse would not permit Chasan to discover to that Princess and then passing all of them together to interrupt the two Lovers meditations in the Grot the abused Princes found their prayers so effectual in appearance they thought they could not sufficiently admire the Celestial power wherewith the Dervises were endued The Princesses flattered their hopes with a thousand frivolous assurances Zurias greatest care was to make peace betwixt Ismael and Imerse Selim promised to dispose hiâ— Father Bajazet to mediate in the affair upon condition he might have Imerselle for his labour thâ— Princess pretended to consent and frequent Journies were made to the Dervises to recommend their success to the Divine Prophet The abused Lover were imployed always in Pilgrimages and it was admirable Entertainment for their Rivals to seâ— them besotted with their credulity whilst they good Fathers were making Love to their Mistresses Their discourse grew more passionate by degrees and doubtless had the circumstances of tiâ—â— and place been a little more favourable a kindness upon that occasion would have had a singular relish The counterfeit Dervises sustained their Character with incomparable address they never fed but in the night to perswade such as would be so simple they kept perpetual fast The Turkish Prince lookt upon them as sent down from Heaven and gave the Sultan his Father such an Elogy of them he sent a person on purpose to visit them from himself They refused to see his Envoy pretending that was a day in which they were not allowed to admit of any humane Conversation and the Princesses themselves coming to see them that day were sent back with the same excuse But it was not for nothing they denied themselves so great a happiness they had seduced some of the principal Inhabitants of the Town of Antalia which was the Residence of Caragose Beglierbey of Natolia he had infused into them that he had received a marvellous Sword from Heaven by vertue of which a new Government should be established in Turkie that Bajazet was but an unprofitable Trunk and that the crimes of Selim had provokt Heaven against his whole Race The crimes wherewith he
persecution to force him to a relinquishment of her that she had urged to him her Marriage with the Duke of Parma and prest him very hard to a reprisal but that understanding a while after she was a Widow he had escapt out of Prison and was come to throw that Prince at her feet who had not only loved her always himself but flattered himself with the thoughts of being beloved by her The Dutchess demanded if he loved her so well why he never writ to her I writ several times Madam replied he but Xerina without doubt who expected that from my ruine which she could not hope from my restablishment took such Orders to intercept them as never any of them could come to your hand My Captivity was very severe I was treated like one that was beloved but could get no liberty to free my self from the trouble of that Character The Dutchess of Parma overjoy'd with the relation of a Constancy so well represented made as many excuses as Congies to her mistaken Cousin She appointed him an Appartment according to his supposed Quality assigned him a suitable Equipage and furnisht him with grave men to send as his Deputies to the Estates of Portugal That Deputation caused a strange surprise as may be imagined They selected six out of their Assembly some of which had been Ministers to Don Sebastian and sent them into Italy to survey their dear Monarch their Eyes perswaded them it was he but not daring to relye wholly upon them they askt him certain questions they would have sworn none but the right Don Sebastian could have answered But he was throughly instructed by Xerina Love had transported the soul of the King of Portugal into that of the Princess of Morocco and by an effect of the same Love the soul of Xerina was transmigrated into the false Sebastian The Ambassadors convinced that no man living could have resolved those questions but the true Sebastian made their Report to the Estates he was undoubtedly their King The Competitors accused them of Treachery protested they were corrupt and demanded that Don Sebastian might appear in person at the Assembly of the States General to be formally interrogated before them Such as were affected to the memory of Don Sebastian could not be perswaded it could be done with security to him the Assembly was divided such as were for the King were called Royalists such as were for the Princes were called the League During which disorders he that was the cause of them had his Residence at Parma attending till there should be an Army raised to vindicate his interest at the Head of which he resolved to demand Restauration He ought his life to Xerina he was loved entirely by her and had loved her as well But the Princess of Parma ingaged the Princes of Italy in his quarrel and when the design of being King interposes in an Intrigue reason of State rules the roast and leaves all others in the lurch He sacrificed his gratitude to his ambition without any remorse and imploying those Lessons of kindness he had received from Xerina against her self he made them the foundations of that Complacence and artifice to which the heart of the Dutchess was forced to submit She loved him for his person much more for his quality she began to be jealous without knowing any reasonable grounds for her jealousie such passions as hers are seldom without great curiosity One evening when her counterfeit Sebastian was leading her by the side of a Canal which is one of the greatest Ornaments to the Palace of Farnese she spied a Ribband hanging out of his Pocket which she judged might be one of those Letter-cases called in Italy Cartero's she stole it out gently and having conveyed it into her own Pocket without being perceived she began to be impatient to be peeping She could not have had any thing more proper to have justified her secret suspicions than that It was a parcel of Xerinas Letters and Verses which the false Sebastian had found that morning in a little Cabinet he brought with him out of Africk and had put them in his Pocket with resolution to have burnt them but he was interrupted by the coming in of the Dutchess and this Walk having followed immediately upon the Visit he was forced to keep them in his Pocket till the curious Dutchess thought good to remove them She read two or three Notes at first which seemed to be nothing but assurances of the Sacrifice her Monarch pretended to have made to her of the affections of Xerina That Princess had complained of the unconstancy of his Love and reproacht him by his infidelity But she not having had always reason to complain there were Letters of his recriminating upon her They were all writ in Portuguese but one among the rest was sealed up which the tender Xerina had sent to her Ingrate some few days before his departure from Hoscore and contained a Paper of Verses upon their late difference so sensible and kind I could not but insert them Is it decreed then and pronounc'd above We must have no return no mutual Love Can't our old inclination and converse Which seems ought to make our absence long and fierce And seems t' assure me of your heart can't they Contribute and remove those blocks away My wrath ne're went so far I never meant When my rash tougue to your voyage did consent You should have t a'ne th' advantage e'en when I Felt my poor heart give my false tongue the lye In vain I seek thee now in places where So oft in Love to me thou didst appear In vain I seek thee where thou never wert Since th' day thou overcam'st my pride and heart No place escapes me but I think on you No place occurs but I expect you too Where-e're I come on whatsoe're I see I leave methinks sweet images of thee Which at my next return required they To my poor fancy as faithfully repay Each dream each sudden noise each thought in vain Seems to return my Love my King again I run where hope conducts deluded and Whate're I see I call Sebastian Come come cry I indulge my sweet desires Come where my Love come where my faith requires Rouse up thy dying flames try with what Art Pretended wrath new ardour can impart Wrath not allow'd in Lovers breasts to burn But to endear and sweeten their return Shall these complaints shall these requests which were But errours fruits vanish in idle air No without doubt Love will convey them so They 'l have access and influence on you Methinks I feel th' agreement of our souls And your kind Love your negligence controuls Methinks you'r weary too of our debate Let Love alone how to accommodate He 'l rectifie our quarrels let you see A thousand new complacencies in me Mine eyes I fancy will appear more bright Than when they first discover'd my delight And to consummate all you 'l love me too As well and long dear
and had continued with her to the very hour in which the Marquess saw her come in For knowing the Jealousie of her Master she thought it not best to come home till she believed he was in bed lest she should be troubled with the impertinent questions he used to all people that had been abroad She had desired the Porter to open the Gate when she gave him the signal as he did and it was she the Marquess had seen enter both into the Court and the Gallery belonging to his Daughters Chamber The cunning old Fox being assured the Turkish Prince was not to be found where he was sought for she laid about her and gave the Marquess all the reproaches she could have given him had she been really innocent She caused the Porter to be called to testifie it was she that came in she would needs have him send to the sick person where she had been visiting to satisfie himself whether she was not newly come from thence and pursuing her confidence so far as to press him to send to Jacaya he did and having found him in bed she put the poor Marquess into such a confusion as he was never in before in his life This story made a great noise in the Duke of Tuscany's Court some Ladies who emulated Angelica's Beauty and perhaps had their private designs upon the affections of Jacaya began to talk of it at their pleasure Jacaya protested it was only the old Marquesses fancy and that he had never had any familiarity with his Daughter But the good man to justifie his senses and demonstrate that his age had as yet done him no prejudice in his judgment gave a relation to all people of what he heard in the Pratolin and pretended he had done the part of a wise man when he had discovered upon what grounds he had done as he did By this means was Angelica become the whole discourse of the Court and though she was really innocent her self yet she served for an eminent Example that in matters of Reputation appearances are sometimes as dangerous as real transgression The Family of the Strozzi was very considerable in Italy the Relations of Angelica were sensible of the injury the Turkish Prince had done her and Jacaya's ambition not suffering him to apply such publick remedy as would have been required the Counsel of the Grand Duke after great division and debate concluded at last that the poor Prince should be put to seek his protection from the Pope But the malice of the Strozzi not regarding the Holiness of his Protector they laid so many secret practices against his life that they forced him out of Italy and obliged him to pass into France with the Duke of Nevers newly come to the Dukedom of Mantua whose Subjects refused to admit him into his State The Court of France was at that time the most splendid in the World The Marriage of of the young Lewis XIII with the Infanta of Spain supplied new matter to the Magnificence of the Queen Mother Mary de Medicis and that time was so eminent for fair Ladies that never was there so many Beauties together in one Court as in his Reign The Duke of Mantua having brought the Turkish Prince into France he would needs be his Patron amongst them He proposed to him to accompany him in his Visits to the most beautiful and most eminent in Dignities but the Prince stopping him at the first words of his Proposition I beseech your Highness said he to the Duke suffer me to forget there any such Creatures in the World I see the Ladies of this Court are transcendently handsom but it satisfies me to look upon them at Court as so many pieces of good Painting I will never pursue them to their own Houses if you will please to dispense How said the Duke not see them can you think to be in a Court so illustrious as this and never visit the Ladies Ha! my dear Prince Paris is not Constantinople you must visit them here or be exposed to whatever their scorn or indignation can inflict and you cannot imagine how dangerous the displeasure of that Sex is for a person of your Age and Extraction You may play the Turk in your own Country but in France you must imitate the French I ought not any where to be lookt upon as a Turk replied Jacaya a little angry I came so young out of that Country I have retained nothing of their Customs My first years I spent in Greece where they live with liberty enough the Court of Poland is none of the strictest and if one may believe the imaginations of the Marquess de Strozzi continued he smiling I of all the World have little reason to complain of the severity of Italy But Sir I desire to be excused from any Amours in this Kingdom and to preserve my self from the dangers which I have many times incurred I tell you once again I have no inclination to visit any of your Ladies I am too much your friend replied the Duke not to root out that obstinate fancy you will pass for some pitiful Creature if you do not visit the Ladies And for the dangers you speak of they are not so great as you apprehend the multitude of Beauties obstructing the choice one can scarce give his heart to one but the next fetches it again That uncertainty preserves many souls from the torture of Love and if it so happens one should be caught a French Ladies Gallant runs no harder Risques than an ordinary Lover And then not staying for the Princes answer he pulled him along with him by force to two or three Ladies of his Acquaintance and among the rest the Duke of Savoys Ambassadours Wife which was a very pleasant Person and spoke Italian excellently well But whatever these Ladies could do to signalize their Entertainment of Jacaya they could not get the least obliging Syllable from him He fixt his Eyes upon the ground like a Novice of two days old and answered with nothing but monosyllables The Dukes friends laught at him next day for bringing such a Spark into France He found them altogether in the Ambassadresses House where they were at play till it was time to walk What Innocent is that you have got cryed they to the Duke as soon as they perceived him he is afraid to speak one word and to look a Woman in the face is as much as his life is worth what do you with that poor Creature or to what use do you design him Ha! Ladies replied the Duke he is nothing less than what you take him for He hath been told the French Ladies are much used to play upon Strangers and not knowing the French Tongue very well nor being yet acquainted with the Intrigues of the Court he is afraid to expose his discretion till he be informed better in both But such as you see him if you could fasten him to your Chariot I question whether you ever triumpht with