't is wisedome to hold their peace Quisque Tacenâ— sapit and Love makes the most ignorant to become witty for he teaches them the wit to love Love a great Master sure must be Who can so soon teach Clowns Philosophie So sings Marini and Tasso In lov's school what cannot be learn'd I wonder that Lovers should desire and long for nothing more than the dark night as a reward for their services or an earnest of their enjoyments as if not deserving the amorous delights they waiâ—e for night to have the opportunity to steal them do not the eyes infinitely encrease the enjoâ—ments of a beauty and does not the sight according to Plato enflame the affections of the body in a moment and being assisted by the objects seen renews with mighty power and creats fresh desires in our hearts and souls This is truth and wherefore then is darkness so much longed for whose black vaile can only hide the charm's of beauty from the eyes Wherefore is that black night so much wish'd for which only Eclipses the beloved Sun Most understanding most divine lovers They know love is not begot or bâ—ed but by Silence being therefore willing to beget affection in their Mistresses hearts they first seek out the deepest silence which ordinarily makes its residence in the solitary Palace of the night Hatred is the of spring of the Tongue which commonly affronts and wounds the calmest and most patient spirits which makes its venom the more incureable and insupportable and therefore all those that have much Tongue are naturally odious and hated For this cause Scilla according to the testimony of Plutar hated the Athenians more for their words than actions Now then if the Tongue be so great an enemy unto love by the reason of contraries love is the only child and issue of Silence And from whence proceeds the love of Princes towards their favorites but from their Silence should not the favorites be faithful Privado's to conceale the secrets and vices of their Princes they could never bear such sway and so Tyrannize over their affections as they do The Athenians were once invited by the Ambassadors of King 〈◊〉 and these to trace a path to the love and favour of the King knowing that all they said would come to his ear they all in a vain oftentation bragg'd and vanâ—ed either of their Births Valours or other high deserts only Zenon alone more wise than all the rest kept himself silent For which cause one of the Ambassadors asked him Zeno and what shall we tell the King of thee Tell him replied Zenon that in Athens there is an old man that can hold his Tongue a most prudent answer and worthy of so great a Philosopher since the love of Princes cannot be obtain'd but by Silence Women do not love men so entirely as they would because they are not more secret could they but hope or be assured of Silence in them they would love them all most infinitely and conforme themselves readily to any of their desires And women expecting love from Men to them again cannot believe there is any true love where there is not an inviolable Silence 〈◊〉 da Lamporecohlo says that only by being verily thought to have no Tongue it bred and inspired love and lasciviousness in the very bosoms of those Nunns that had made vowes of Chastity and virginity and therefore Marino when he would perswade his Lady to love bragg'd that he had Silence in possession And our excellent Master Cowley â—en out of Wisdome women out of pride The pleasant theses of love do hide That may secure thee but thou hast yet from me a more infalliable security For ther 's no danger I shall tell The joyes which are to me unspeakable What thing Sirs is more hideous and fearful then the stormy Sea unruly implacable unmerciful which though it contain the worlds greatest riches in its own empire already does yet every day swallow up the Merchants wares and treasures Those that do not dread and hate its deafning roarings must either be ignorant of its power and danger or lodg a heart of brass within them when it murmurs softly t is treacherous and deceitful and if it loudly roare then t is infinitely perilous But yet if with an absolute gentle calm it smoothes its self into a Looking-glass or so far imitate the even vault of Heaven as to wear the perfect Image of the Sun with all its beauty in its warry bosom which any curious Eye may safely look upon without offending the sight Then who does not delight in 't and love it who does not praise and admire it By this therefore appears that love is the child of Silence Wherefore is the Musick and Harmocy of the Sphear's so much celebrated and lov'd but because t is so silent to our ears which Silence alone does create and beget our venerations and love towards it Nay the very Heavens it self becomes fearful and hateful to us when with a thundering mouth and a fiery Tongue it blasts or threatens poor Mortals and on the contrary how much it is beloved when with a clear and serene Countenance it smiles upon us and by its Silence seems to study new blessings for us And wherefore is Silence so strictly commaded to all religious people but because Silence begets love and therefore they by a sacred and Religious Silence should strive to get the love of God in their hearts and learn what veneration is due to such a Majesty But whil'st I make Love to be the ofspring of Silence I would not have my much talk beget your hatred towards me Nor would I have it said to me Aut sile aut meliora quovis afferos silentio I shall therefore now hold my peace hoping that my silence will beget your Love towards me III. What thing does most prejudice the Beauty of the Face BEauty is natures silent Letter of recommendation written in divine Characters which flatteringly insnares the Soul to its most sweet Tyranny whose empire by how much it is the more excellent so much the shorter is it's duration for the greater the beauty the shorter liv'd it is and the more tempting and grateful to our Eyes the sooner does it flie away T is but a flash of Lightning which vanishes as soon almost as it appears and cannot be fixed even by the possessors of it themselves Poor Beauty somtimes transform'd by Age into a grave where it lies buried alive in the deep wrincles of its own ruin'd face and sighs for ever after for its own frailty sometimes tormented with the passions of the Soul or the various accidents of Fortune sometimes fowly blasted by envious Tongues or an unhandsome disease and most commonly hurried to the Chambers of death in the midst of its florid spring or maturer summer by the inexorable cruelty of fate Briefly it is the decree of Heaven that all things
then by showing the coales and sooty smoak upon his face The face can never express its grief for the sick heart so well as by cloathing it self in such a mourning habit Nor can the beloved give any credit to his affection unless she see him cloud his face with sorrow grieving for his lost heart and liberty Who can deny but such a face must needs become an Ethiope which is continually exposed so neer the rayes of two most ardent suns Omnia combusta nigrescunt That lover which does not cloath his face with black detracts from the merits of his Mistriss as if the beams that daâ—ted from her eyes had not the power to draw a veile of darkness over his face The lovers face ought to appear in such a manner as is most likely to move his Ladies Eye to pitty and what colour is more likely to obtain that pitty than black and mourning weeds which death it self doth mingle with its horrours The lover ought to wear upon his face the signs of what he ever most desires and what should a lover more desire either to receive or steal his amorous enjoyments than a dark midmight whereof this black is a good Simbol on his face The lovers face ought to be black thereby to show his Lady the secrecy of his affections as having hid them from the Eyes and knowledg of the world amid'st that darkness or else to demonstrate his constancy which like the black receives no alteration nor cannot mask it self under any new appearance as other colours do The lover ought to seek all advantages for his beloved and therefore having a black face it will preserve her sight Nor does the black dissipate or segregate those purer Atomes and lively spirits issuing from her eyes Nigrum vim obtinet congregandi Black is a sign of an indefatigable and robust strength ever much desired by the beloved because they presuppose a great heat in that brest which hath even cann'd and scorch'd the very face And then t is likewise a sign of a great humility that even the very beauty of the face is retreated from thence into the heart in honor and reverence of her presence By the Frontispiece we come to a great knowledge of the work by this Porch we may give a guess of the whole Fabrick and how can we then describe the amorous Hell in a heart but by the funest horrors of a black face Paleness in a face is not alwayes a sign of love Those that betray and they that are betray'd such as fear or hope or hate or envy have ordinarily a constant paleness dwelling on their Cheeks A lover cannot merit any thing by such a Colour which may proceed from so may different causes hardly known by the lover himself Other more brisk and lively colours cannot signifie love a lovers soul is too much oppressed to leave such signs of joy upon the face The face does first of all declare the passions of the soul and is the truest Index of the heart therefore to conclude I do believe there is no colour that can so well befit a lovers face as black alone II. That Silence is the true Father of Love SO great is the love that is bred in me towards your selves most vertuous Academ When I observe your favourable silence and attention to what I say that I find my self oblig'd to affirm that silence is the true Parent or Father of love I shall not at this time go to distinguish of the sorts of love because I would not confound them But I will treat of love in general because the practise of one single love shews either a want of affection or of deserts Silence Illusters Academs is very ancient it being indeed brother to that darkness out of which the first light was extracted Nay if it were possible for any thing to have had being before the eternal being of God himself certainly it must have been Silence Now on the other hand Love according to Plato's and Hesiods testimony was the first deity which the veneration of antiquity brought forth and therefore it could not possibly have any other Parent then Silence But suppose we that Love is the child of Venus which nevertheless I dare not believe because true love cannot have its Original in an impure breast how ever Silence was the Father of it For says Epicharis Silence inspires women with good thoughts and Nicostrates delivers that 't is the reward and wages of chastity Democritus that it serves for a rare Ornament and Sophocles that it adds much honor and reputation to them In a word all the spoiles which the pride and Luxury of Asia or the novelties that Africa produces could not so much beautifie and adorne a woman as Silence alone does it being the most desireable thing that can be in them And should we then believe that Venus the most haughty and ambitious of all the Goddesses who to heighten and add luster to her beauty and Majesty sent poor Psyche even to the bottom of the lowest Hell has not had to do with Silence and made use of her amorous Soveraignity first of all on him who has so much amability and Phiâ—lias surely for the same reason plac'd the Tortoyse which is the Hâ—ero-glyphiek of silence at the feet of that Goddess as 't were to put her in remembrance of her dearest and first lover Nor ought this truth to be doubted at all since adulterers above all other things do love Silence But it may be objected that it does not conclude that Silence is the true Father of Love because Venus has had some amorous league and interest with it since unchaste women at all times abandoning themselves to the wanton embraces of any one cannot themselves easily know the right Father of their Issues unless somtimes it may be guessed by the resemblance which it bears with the true Parent Let us therefore examine what resemblance there is betwixt this love and Silence by the Greeks was figured very young and handsome and so littlewise is love described to be pretty and youthful Silence is represented holding one finger upon its mouth to shew 〈◊〉 cannot speak and love being but a baby or childe cannot surely pronounce one word which is experimented in lovers who grow dumb at the very pâ—esence of the beloved object and wherefore did antiquity portray Silence with two wings as they did Love unless to demonstrate the Image of the Father and the Son Who then can doubt Silence having been beloved by Venus and love bearing the same shape and Image with silence but that it must needs be the true Son of Silence But will you also see how a like they are in their manners and customs Love alwayes rewards those that Love Love the reward of Love In like manner the rewards of Silence do never fail Tutta Silentii praemia Silence makes the most foolish become wise for
should Tyrannize over that beauty which can alone Tyrannize over the Souls of those that in all other things do command the whole universe How ever there is nothing in my opinion which does so much prejudice the Beauty of a Face as Chastity I hope I shall need no excuse for my confidence in this beleif Nor do I fear the anger of that Goddess since indeed there is no such Deity as Chastity but only in the credulous opinions of Men. Beauty being a ray and splendor of the brightness and bounty of God ought to be communicable to all The Sun it self would loose its worth if with an interrested partiality it should deny its light and splendor to any creature What 's Beauty tell me if not viewd or viewed if not pursu'd or if pursu'd pursued by one alone But where chastity takes footing it kicks out all pretence of curiosity and will not suffer the least look or glance Chastity will have no other associate then it self t is a Melancholly Devil that still bolts up it self from all others in a solitary retiredness and fears the very whispering of the winds and the mutinies of its own thoughts Thus Beauty is prejudiced by it making it loose the attributes of divine and good by not communicating its glory and sweetness unto others Strickt Chastity will not permit a Lady to consult with her own Looking-glass nor to adorn her self so as to be able to contend for the precedency of Beauty with others It will not suffer her to curle her Locks into a winding Labyrinth to catch her lovers Nor add sometimes a graceful blush to her paler Cheeks to please and tempt fond gazers with that borrowed sweetness they must not hide any little defects or be so bold as to help natures mistakes with a skillfull curiosity much less may they cloath the whole Face with a false though fair vizard of youthful spring in their declining Autume or robb the Graves of their rich treasures of hair to weave a Crown for their own Heads and Majesty and does not this chastity therefore extramly wrong and spoile a beauty of its charms and advantages by denying those lawful Ornaments which only can preserve or advance its reputation The greatest glory of a beauty is to be the object and delight of all Eyes and as 't were the soul of all hearts That beauty is poor in power and merits which hath not the applause of every Tongue and like a supream Intelligence gives motion to all mens hearts and affections But if they be chast they leese so much of their value and esteem as they want services and obedience so much must they abate of their deserts as they are destitute of obsequious servants Thus again does chastity appear to be a prejudice to beauty robbing them of so many votaâ—ies so great applauses and daily adorations It being only a Placonical fancy to think that lovers can be satisfied and pleased with their Mistrisses chastity and not have any further aime in their Services The eyes are the perfection of the faces beauty and that with reason because they are composed all of light and for no other cause were they seated under the brows but to demonstrate that they ought to wear those arches in tryumph of their beauty Now chastity makes them bend and cast down their sight and looks having according to Philostratus no other nest or residence to shelter it self under but the Eye-lids See then how chastity deprives beauty of its chiefest Ornament hiding its most illustrious perfections and with some reason we may think that beauty but a dead one which hath already lost its Eyes and sight Fame which is the Eccho of all voyces proclaiming the glories of a beauteous Face renders it venerable to all hearts and desireable to every Eye But the chast beauty is oblig'd to concealâ— her self even from the Eye of Heaven and the Tongue of Fame it self She must not be contaminated by the sound of that trumpet which may be profan'd by a thousand falsities and so beauty must suffer for its reservedness and loose that general approbation and applause which would be published by the mouth of Fame to its most infinite advantage Love spreads his Nets and layes his ambushes in every place and others strengths and resistance seâ—ves only to make his victories the more glorious If a chast beauty then will secure it self from such a puissant enemy she must of necessity put on Armour Therefore Alicato teaching how Virgins should guard themselves represents Pallas armed with a weighty sheild in one hand and a strong Sphear in the other Now consider what a prejudice and trouble this must be to delicate beauties They must be constrained to sinke under the weight of heavy Armour and bury the sweetness of their lovely beauty within an Iron prison Unhappy beauty which for its chastity must ever stand upon a watchful guard and enjoy no other content or receive any other reward then its own fear and toyle Therefore all Authors conclude that beauty and charity are incompatible and cannot possibly dwell together that a chast breast is an argument of a deformed Face and therefore Ovid makes Paris write to Helena c that if she will be chast she must first cease to be beautiful for no other reason certainly but because chastity does so much wrong and prejudice to beauty that t is almost impossible a chast Lady should either be or believe her self to be beautiful And therefore wise antiquity will have Venus who is the fairest of all the Goddesses to be the most wanton and unchast to demonstrate that beauty can receive no greater prejudice than what proceeds from Chastity But I forget whilst I discourse of beauty how much I discover the deformity of my own Genius I beseech you pardon me and except of it because I knowing beauty to be the mother of love pretended by speaking of beauty to obtain the love of you all towards me IV. What is the greatest Favour that a Lover can receive from a Lady of Honor. VVOman is an abstract of all Natures glory and riches she is an amorous Heaven casting down most gracious influences and therfore innumerable are the favors which a lover from her liberal goodness may receive But I my self who never had so much merit or confidence as to aspire to the head have alwayes through humility prostrated and planted my greatest hopes beneath their feet and thought my ambition fairly satisfiâ—d when a Lady of Honor hath vouchsafed to trample on me I meane to tread on my foot and this I thought to be the greatest favor she could bestow to selicitate the vows and wishes of my heart esteeming it a happy Omen of the progress my love did make whilst her feâ—t were in that motion and an assurance I should be one day entirely possessed of her heart since our effections had already taken such good footing And truely what greater
that 't is a signe of felicity and grandeur it being the colour which most great Monarchs use for their chief Ornament The Multiplicity of the Roses leaves may seem to point out her avarice whom I shall love as if she would pretend to have many rich gifts and but yet I know she cannot so much covet gifts and rich presents who like the Rose shall have already a Crown of Gold in her own bosome The many Rose leaves which resemble tongues does tell me that a thousand several tongues shall proclaime my happy love Nevertheless I remember that the Rose is the Hieroglyphick of silence and was therefore by the Grecians consecrated unto Harpocrates The prickle joyned to the Rose do menace me with many sharp troubles which may accrue from my affections yet this again secures me that as the Rose does flourish and tryomph amidst those many thorns so I in despight of all opposition and difficulty shall yet attain the fruition of my desires The prickles also may portend danger and mortal wounds But the leaves on the other part do promise a perfect cure being very effectual to stanch the blood and heal the wound Again the Prickles may intimate that I shall be assaulted by many Rivals but Homer tels us that Venus anointed the body of Hector with Oyl of Roses to preserve him from the bytings of madd Dogs The green at the extremities of the Rose leaves are called Nails of Fingers by Dioscorides which seem to declare that if I will enjoy my desires I must steal that happiness but on the contrary I am promised the free gift of it The Rose being the Simbole of kindness freely imparting its ravishing odours to every one The Rose receives its nourishment and perfume from the Rain and morning dews which makes me fear it prophesies that my affection and amours must be fed with the daily aliment of my tears on the other side my hopes are flattered by this consideration that as water does easily make the Rose to spring and bloom so my tears shall soon make me obtaine the sweets of my desires I fear some infelicity in my Love because I know the Rose yeilds poyson to the Spider but then the pretty Bee does comfort me again who from the self same Rose extracts the sweetest Honey From the frail beauty of the Rose which begins to wither and decay as soon as it is born I might raise a doubt of the frailty and inconstancy of my love but that I know they do no truly Love who do not continue to Love even after death as the Rose though dead and dry preserves a pleasing sweetness and was perhaps for this cause by the Ancients strewed upon their kindreds Graves It might be guessed that my Love should not be true and faithful to me alone because the Rose is a flower that is common to all did not I know on the contrary that a Rose if handled or touched by many presently leeses its lustre and native sweetness and that its beauty and glory is its virginity To extract the water from a Rose it must be done either by pressure and stamping or by the violence and heat of the fire from whence it may be conceived that my choicest affections shall not obtain their wished end but by much trouble and labor and yet we know the Rose ever comunicates its odours and fragrancy with freedome and liberality The Rose delights attracts and sweetly courts every one that beholds or approaches it which may inferre that she may have but little honesty whom I shall adore that treasure being unsecure which lies within the reach of every covetous hand as seeming to invite and tempt any fond Passenger but this is my comfort when I consider how it is armed and surrounded with a strong guard of prickles for the defence of its own honor and chastity wherewith it bears off and destroys all those little envious infects which come to soile its beauty and innocent sweetness In fine for all those other many contrarieties yet nevertheless since the Rose if well considered appears to be a little paradise to the Eye honey to the taste and a Cordial to the heâ—rt I think I may safely conclude that it does really presage future happiness and felicity to Lovers But whilst I have so long discoursed of the Rose I seem to have forgot that I make you feel the prickles and sit on thorns by my too Prolix harangue which yet your noble sweetness with an abundant benignity and favour have vouchsafed to applaude and approve by your silence and attention though uttered with much weakness VI. Wherefore in Cyprus they Portrayd Venus with a Beard MAerobius in his Saturnalius affirms that in Cyprus they portray'd and adored Venus with a Beard Perhaps that men seeing that a Beard on a womans Face is monstrous might learn that if they suffered their Venereaâ— affections to grow old and beard their sences they would be monstrous and deformed and therefore Ariosto sings In whom fond Love shall carry long the sway I wish for due rewards Those monstrous dolts And wilfull Prisners store of Iron bolts Perhaps to hide the Blushings of their Faces who are ashamed of their own weak submission to the Commands of a woman the Beard being a sign of virility Perhaps they would let us thereby understand that Venus was not a new Deity but Ancient and had been worshipped by the first men that ever were in the world Or else the beard being a token of prudence they meant to signifie that Venus or Venery without the curb of prudence is a Fury not a Deity and therefore they assigned the goddess Venus a beard to distinguish her from Venus the fury But thus Max. Tyr speaks of Venus Praesertim si furiis quibusdam agitata quam proxime ad furorem accedat These were all the observations of my excellent friend the noble S. G. D. a man of exquisite ingenuity and singular erudition to which I should make no addition of my own were it not natural for such great lights to be attended on by shaddows I suppose therefore also that the Cypriots Pictured Venus with a beard to demonstrate the power and virility which is in a beautifull womans face and therefore Socrates calls beauty a Short Tyranny Or else to let us know that the gravest oldest and wisest men were not thereby exempted or freed from amorous affections since Venus did make use even of their beards though sage Philosophers to adorn her own face or else to teach us that such as dayly frequented the Temple or use of Venus did suddenly become old and decrepid The beard begets respect and veneration Barbaepilli says Clement Alexandrinus non sunt vexandi ut qui vultui gravitatem quendum patternum terrorem incutiata And therefore perhaps those of Cyprus to add the greater veneration to their goddess portray'd her with a beard The Beard signifies Sorrow Repentance and Dolor according to Pliny
Vulneris auxiliur Polios hasta tulit And else where Forsitan ut quondam Leuthranâ—ia regnatenenti Sic mihi res â—adem vulnus opemque feret And in a third place Telephus â—terna consumptus tabe perisset Si non quâ— nocuit dextra tulisset ope And propertius Myrus Hemonia juvenis qua cuspide vulnus Senserat hac ipsa cuspede sensit opem And Caelius Rhodiginus Aâ—re cuspide sive etiam serrea Telephum sanasse Achilles perhibetur Unde natum Adagium Quodque vulnus intulit ille diem persanabit And Lucian Ergo Telephi illud necesse erit facere ut ad cum à quo vulnerati sumus redeamus ab illo medicinam petamus Et Phil. Beroldus Notum est quemadmodum Telephus ab Achille vulneratus ab Achille sanatus fuit eodem telo The Germans according as Tacitus relates by holding their Lances at too great a length which made them misâ— their stroakes were overcome by the Romans and were so many Trophies of their Victory I fear the same fate having held so long a Discourse of the Lance and been so wide from the marke that who â—ver shall oâ— pose me or discourse on the same subject will overcome my weak argument and subdue me by their more potent Eloquence XIII Wherefore Old people sleep ordinarily less than young ones NO doubt but in all appearance sleep seems to be more proper to old folks than to young The nature of ancient people is to be cold Thus Aristotle will have it Senectus fregida est and commonly those Animals sleep most that are of the coldest constitution Dormiunt diutius says Albertus Animalia illa quae sunt frigida and therefore is sleep more likely to be proper for old people then young yet experience teaches us the Contrary and so says Aristotle e Senes vigiles sunt Whereupon Corn Gall. Sings Ipsa etiam cunctis gratissima somnus Avolat sera viae mihi nocte redit Cogor per mediam turbatus surgere Nocte Multaque ne patiar deteriora pati I believe the reasons may be many â—herefore the old ones sleep less then young people Sleep though it come of cold yet hath its Original from heat the vapours conveyed through the Veins to the head are cooled by the Frigidity of the Brain Somnus says Aristotle est infrigidatio si causa sint calidae quia vaporis per Venas ad caput elevati infrigidentur in capite Wherefore the more Vapours are sent to the Brain the more are they incited to sleep Now who doubts but young people are filled with more Vapours than old and therefore sleep more Therefore Aristotle Dormuint say he vehementur puâ—ri quia nutrimentum sursum serter omne The food of ancient people besides that it is ordinarily much less in quantity than what young ones cat turns most to Excrements and does not generate those superabundant spirits it produces in the young which ascending to the brain occasion muth sleep Therefore Aristole Senies excrementis abundant vigiles sunt Old Folks by reason of their weakness and frigidity are less able to concoct their nourishment than young ones Senes says therefore Aristotle quia frigidiores sunt debiliores ad concoquendum imeptiores longi temporis spaciam reddidit Whence any one may gather that so much the less are they invaded by sleep by how much the less they digest their food food being the primary and most natural cause of sleep Dormire says the same Aristotle contingit animal quiâ— dum aliter ascendit vapor ab alimento ad caput ubi absumptus suerit quia ad cerebrum ascenderat vapor redit Vigilia Age is an incurable infirmity accompanied with Myriads of thoughts and thousands of unhappy accidents Hear Boetius Venit enim properata malis inopina senectus Et Dolor aetatemjussit inesse suam And Sophocles Infirma difficilis Senectus amicis invisa cui universa Mala super mala cohabitant It is no wonder then if ancient people oppressed with the load of so much evil sleepless than young ones Anciant people as Aristotle affirms are timerous standing ever in fear of being betrayed Wherefore Cor. Gallus sings Stat dubius tremulusque senex semperque malorum Credâ—lus stultus quae facit ipse timet Which may be a great reason why they sleep less than young folkes there being nothing more an enemy to sleep than fear Fear which all sleep does chase away Sings the Prince of Romancers and Marina in his Ariana Soon does our fear drive all sweet sleep away There is nothing that old people fear so much as death They know by their wrincles and gray hairs the ruines of age and the footsteps of death that the time of horrour and darkness approaches which makes them desire to sleep the less because sleep is the Image or brother of that death they so much dread Therefore Plato Dormiens nemo ullius pretii est multo magis quam qui non vivit and Cicero Nihil morti tam simili quam somnus The neerer things approach to their Center the more forcibly do they move The stone the nigher it comes to the earth with the more hast does it press downwards in its fall Sleep is nothing but an idleness or rest of the soul if we believe Aristotle Somnus says he est otium animae Now the Soul without doubt will be less idle at the time of its approach neer its Center The Soul of an aged person is certainly neerer its center than young ones and by consequence less idle Hence it proceeds that Ancient people sleep less than youthful ones XIV Whether Gifts or Stealth's do most felicitate Lovers THat the felicity of Lovers consists in receiving Gifts or obtaining by stealth's the fruits and enjoyment of Love I think none will deny Illustrious Prince virtuous and noble Academians Because the desires of Lovers being fixt as in their Sphear in the possession of the beloved object they are equally satisfied either by Gifts or stealth's the one betokening a free Principality the other an amorous Tyranny Stealth's and Gifts flâ—ttering our complaisance do truly recreate our Eyes with Beauty rejoyce our hearts through hope and comfort our souls with the pleasing remembrance of our future delights But whether these stealth's or gifts should bring most felicity towards a Lovers full content I know not Illustrious Princes amidst the uncertain opinions of these Gentlemen what valuable decision to make Those things being most grateful which depend most upon the will of the beloved object makes me decide the Question in favour of gifts yet this Consideration suspends the sentence because those things do most delight our Genius which are gained with most toyle and sweat As those delights are but ordinary which are offered to us with a Prodigall hand so on the other side those favours
said nothing and he indeed hath said nothing who hath spoken ill XIX Which is most potent to beget affection Either a fair Face Weeping Or a fair one Singing The Plea for Weeping THat fair God who for his being the most beneficial to the world might above all others excuse the Idolatry of blind Gentilisme becoming inamoured of a young Maiden descended from the Throne of the Gods to try whether that divinity which had been able to obtaine the adoration of the Universe could gain an amorous affection in the heart of a Virgin He pursued implored tempted but she conspiring with nature was transmuted into a Laurel either to tryumph over his power or to shew that the resolutions of women many times do not participiate of the instability of the female Sex Miserable Apollo truly thou mightest rather have thought to have found even amongst the Rocks a heart that should have been molified at thy requests then amongst hearts a stone that would not relent for all thy prayers How much he was astonished every one may guess A certain Poet writes that imediately that God was seen to weep who otherwhile was ever wont to sing And who knows Perhaps he would tâ—y since his Cruell Daphne already as woman did not accept his singing whether as a Tree she would Love his tears which he poured on her from those two weeping Fountaines of his Eyes This Fable Illusterous Academs gives an occasion to doubt whether singing or weeping are the most potent instruments in a fair face to captivate a heart and from hence arises matter of contention betwixt these two The fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the fair singer Nor would the decision of their discord be so facile to end had they not equally agred to refer it to your sentence in whom they are confident to find together both the judgment of Paris and the integrity of Aristides The tears vaâ—nt to be the more powerful as having even Apollo's decision already in their favour since after he saw his dearest converted into a Tree he laid aside his Musick and makes tryal of his tears as if he thought them even so potent as to move the very trees therewith Consider Sirs that thee tears are the ofspring of the Eyes the pretty sisters of the sight taught and instructed in those Schooles of animated brightness where they profess no other Doctrine but to inamour Let singing therefore yeild its pretences which proceeding from the Mouth is as much inferiour to weeping both in power and efficacy as the tears are superior in the sublimity of their birth and nobleness of their Progenitours Nature has consigned our tears to no others Custody but the heart nor would she have their pomp and glory appear in any other place but in the Eyes as if she esteem'd them worthy to have those Kings of the Members for their Guardians and the fairest part of the body to be the Throne of their Majesty The Eyes were created to be the Miracles of beauty and the tears to be the Miracles of the Eyes and who is not astonished to behold them powering forth such floods of water from their Sphears or Element of Fire These in our sorrows serve us for funeral pomps and mournings and in our joyes they solemnize our excessive Contentmentâ— Dearest tears which in all occasions deserve to be the Ornaments of the Face Perhaps 't was for this reason that a Phylosopher fell so in Love with tears that he spent all his time constantly in weeping you will never find any man Sirs so in Love with singing as to judge it worthy of his continual and vertuous employment Consider therefore the efficaey of tears which even makes Philosophers enamoured with them They that call them by the simple name of Pearls do not fully express their dignity and worth Those are generated by the influence of the Sun but at a far distance from the Sun and these by the influence of two Suns and within the very Spheare of those Suns themselves Those are nourished in the water and these in the mid'st of flames Those are made fit by art to adorne the purity of a whiter neck and these are reserved by nature to enrich the beauties of a Rosie cheek Then let us call them pretious and if they be soft they may inform us thus much that if one of those being dissolved by Cleopatra had power to force Mark Anthony to confess his heart was overcome one of these liquified even by the hands of Nature her self with greater power shall constraine us to acknowledg that our affections are vanquished Love the great God of War does still invent new and various Stratagems to conquer and subdue our hearts and Souls Sometimes he attempts to overthrow us only with the sounds of precions metals sometimes erects his bridg upon the base of our most instable hopes sometimes assaults us with the sweetness of an inchanting voice and othertimes endeavours the Scalado upon the Cords of a well-tuned Instrument But in fine all these potent and flattering stratagems are nothing if compared to a fair weeping face Many times there are such who being stored with principles and resolutions of chastity will repel all those assaults and tryals though seconded and assisted with many tempting caresses and other provoking Artifices but when he beseiges us with a sea of tears ther 's no humanity can resist him none but such as glory in their Inhumanity and we may well believe he will expugne that obdure soul of its strongest fortress when he comes rowling and shouring in with such torrents of over-flowing tears Smith's do use to besprinkle their Coales with water which being after blown upon do burn with the greater ardour And Love being a smith's son does often use his Fathers policy For when he is resolved to inflame a heart most he first lets fall a soft showre of tears to moysten it and after with deep sighs blows it into a most consuming flame Even the Sun to make his Beams become more hot and scorching does seem to unite them together and dart them through a Cloud which is no other than rarified water which being condens'd desolves and drops in tears from Heaven again There is nothing which communicates more vigour and nourishment to plants than heat conjoyned with moisture If then it be true what some have said that Love is a plant 〈◊〉 may truly believe that nothing else is aâ—le to advance its growth so much as the Sun-shines of two fair Eyes mixed with the soft showres of their distâ—lling tears The Globes of those 〈◊〉 Suns being invironed with floods of tears can be esteemed no other than artificial 〈◊〉 which burne under the water and are the more ardent by reason of the Antiperistasis Excuse me Sirs if this conceit seem strange to you that I should say tears are the Milk of the Eyes and why must that be esteemed so unlikely that those Eyes should flow with milk which do so often bring forth Love And
ACCADEMICAL Discourses Vpon several Choice and Pleasant Subjects Written Originally in Italian by the Learned and Famous LOREDANO ENGLISHED By J. B. Gent. LONDON Printed by Tho. Mabb for John Playfere at the White Bear in the Upper Walk of the New-Exchange and Margaret Shears at the Blew Bible in Bedford Street 1664. Imprimatur Octob. 22. 1663. Roger L' Estrang THE Preface I Think it will be no smal obligation Friendly Reader to present these following Discourses of the Illustrious Loredano to thee Who having composed them occasionally for the Academy intended not they should appear in this slight dress before such as take the confidence to ensure the Sun of spots and can finde a Mole in the fair Face of Venus He knows that praise is the reward and result of Merit and that the applause of the Learned is not to be obtained without a more then ordinary Endeavour He hath often affirmed that in framing them he used no greater study or application than what proceeded from a flowing Vein summoned by necessity for quick dispatch nor expected other approbation then what is due for his blind obedience to the Laws of the Accademy acknowledging that things done by chance rarely succeed with praise That the Painters Temerity and Fortune who accidentally dashed his Pencil so happily on his imperfect Picture as to finish it was above Hope or Expectation succesful That the operations of the mind are of too great importance to be left to the unsteady conduct of Fortune and that although he ever was desirous to plead excuse for the imbecilities of his works yet he never pretended to so much confidence for his Negligence But I who am acquainted with the perfections of his Genius which makes his modesty become an Addition to his other glories and who knew that even what he produces without study cannot be ascribed to chance because Fortune alone cannot guide that quil which not wearied with its happy flights through Italy hath soared higher and passed into remoter Regions being by all Virtuosoes esteemed as a Mineral that can produce nothing of meaner Value then Gold have courted him with so many repeated Perswasions and Intreaties as have at length overcome his Nicety and made him condiscend to allow me the disposal of them as I thought fittest Indeed he engaged me to advertise thee to consider on what occasions they were composed that you might not expect such solid pieces as some others he hath and may set forth this being but the Sport the other the Labor of the Brain and Pen. The Illustrious Loredano not satisfied with these Writings but knowing he can do better supposeth he shall be judged of others as he judges of himself Whereas I am confident these Discourses will not want applause and the care I have taken that they should not die in obscurity will be gratefully accepted The Errours of the Press which like other corruptions of this Age are very rife spreading are left to thy Civility for Pardon Bear with them Judicious Reader and remembring what thou art consider how much humanity is subject to mistake THE Translator TO THE READER THese Ingenious Discourses have been entertained with so great esteem and applause in most other Countries of Europe that it would stick as a blemish either of Ignorance or Envy upon us if undervalued here VVhich I have little cause to fear in this curious Age since they are as rare as new to us there being nothing of this kind that I know extant in our Language These are indeed but the least part of them which if accepted may be followed by a greater Number hereafter And this celebrated author made better acquainted to our Nation by his choicer and more solid writings some whereof are ready for the Press VALE J. B. A TABLE OF THE Several Discourses I. VVHat Colour is most convenient in a Lovers Face 1 II. That silence is the true Father of Love 7 III. What thing does most prejudice the beauty of the Face 16 IV. What is the greatest favour a Lover can receive from his chast Mistris 23 V. Whether the Rose does presage Felicity or Infelicity to a Lover 28 VI. Wherefore in Câ—prus they protray'd Venus with a Beard 35 VII What the manner of the Florentine Kiss is and whence its Original 36 VIII Wherefore Physitians affect to Wear great Beards 42 IX That Woman is more faithful to Man than he to Woman 47 X. Whether blushing be a sign of Vertue 54 XI Whether one can Kiss their beloved without Lasciviousness or Sensuality 58 XII Wherefore it is said That Achiless's Lance did both wound and heal 64 XIII Wherefore Old people Sleep ordinarily less then young ones 71 XIV Whether Gifts or Stealth's do most Felicitate Lovers 76 XV. Wherefore Pythagoras Prohibited the use of Beans 80 XVI In dispraise of Women 85 XVII What Natural defect is the most Excuseable 91 XVIII Wherefore great Men do not ordinarily favour Vertuous persons reduced to necessity 96 XIX Whether is most potent to beget Affection Weeping or Singing 99 ACADEMICAL Discourses I. What Colour is most proper and convenient for a Lovers Face I Do believe that black is the only proper Colour for a Lovers Face and those which think otherwise either do not love or else deceive themselves He that loves is noble because love will not cast away his shafts upon ignoble breasts Nobilitas sub amore jacet Sings Ovid and Dante Amor ch'en cor gentil ratto s'apprende Now black is the noblest Colour because 't is the most ancient Tenebrae super universam terram and because it preserves the sight and because also it contains or comprehends all other Colours in it therefore as the most noble it is the most proper for a Lovers face The Lover is dead as 't were hear Plaut Ubi sum ibi non sum ubi non sum ibi est animus The amorous poyson issuing from a fair womans Eyes deprives the lover of his life and would not we have that lovers complexion black that is thus killed by poyson Should not the signes of his death be imprinted on his face Again Love is an amorous feaver which corrupting the noblest blood causes his death Therefore he that loves dying through the infection of that pestilential feaver cannot properly have any other colour on his face but Black The lover is oblig'd to improve his Ladies honor but what greater honor can the lover do his Lady then to serve as a shaddow or foyl to set forth her beauty with the greater luster The charms of beauty are never discern'd so well as by the inequality of such oppositions the snow never seems so pure and rarely white as when it falls upon the blackest soyle The affections of the heart are charactred and copied in the face therefore if the heart be in a flame the face must needs bear the signs of it and what greater tokens can a lover give that he nourishes a fire within his brest
if you do grant this Caprichio give me leave to conclude that there is nothing more proper to nourish affection than tears since they are milk and Love is still a Child If any one should ask a Lover they would return this answer that the tears are no other than the quintescence of the soul distilled through those Eyes which pretend to teach us thereby how liberal we should be of our Love to them who do so prodigally wast their souls for us Others have said that tears are extracted from the purest blood in the heart which may serve us for an argument that if the blood of Caesar dead had power to move the souls of the Romans to a Mutiny much more will these living drops of the fair weepers Eyes be able to stir up our Affections to Mutinies and Tumults And if you say that this might be tumultuous because a Tyrants remember that beauty likewise is no other than a Tyrant But to know whether the power of tears be greater than of singing consider that these move by nature only and singing all by Art I know you will not deny but that a spring which casts forth pure and murmuring streams out of its Rocky bosome naturally does flatter and delight our sences more then those magnificent and stately Romane fountains though those artificial structures have no stone in them which is not worth a treasure A pure and unsophisticated beauty how much more it does charme and captivate our hearts than such as are made handsome only by art your selves may judg who have so often yeilded to their commanding swetness The Poets seigned Cupid always naked to shew us that a natural beauty naked of all false cloathing artifice does soonést tempt insnaâ—e and wound the soul but if you reflect upon singing you shall not find one note which is not artificial nor hear one sigh but what is seign'd somtimes it seems to languish in a whyning passion and tell sad tales then streight turns into joyful strains again Dissembling all its passions cunningly changing it self into an hundred severall humors of mirth and sadness and if it have any thing pleasing in it it must be somthing only natural and how can the soul possibly Love that singing which glories in its bewitching fraud and vaunts that it obtains respect and reverence only by a sweet nothingness To express the power of singing sayes one it is an inchantment but sirs if you will know how much weeping prevailes above it remember that that Armida who otherwhile triumphed over the Marrial Squadrons by power of her inchantments was forced to make use of her tears to add more Vigour to those very inchantments So that the spirits and furies themselves are too weak to resist the charms of a beauteous weeper Nor need we wonder at it for theirs at most is but an infernal power and the tears dropping from a handsome Face are no less than the showers even of a clouded heaven Musitians themselves confess that to add more vigour to their singing they are necessitated to make use of frequent sighs trembling quavers and soft languishing strains and what else are these but parts of sorrow and weeping These they make use of because otherwise that musiâ—k would seem to have no life or spirit in it that could not humor its passion with a deep sadness and sighing affection Consider therefore the power of weeping from which even singing it self does borrow so much help That Ambiâ—ious Musitian gloried that he had redeemed his dear Euridice from Hell by the powerful sweetness of his voice But let me rather say that if he did obtain her because he sung so excellently well perhaps he lost her so suddenly again because he did not weep sufficiently And what can you imagine the heavens desires or expects from us unless it be Love When it so often poures down shours of tears Pythagoras believed that the Sphears were ever making a sweet harmony But I see that we often returne thanks to heaven for its weeping but never for its imaginary musick Poets have sometimes commended a beauty hid under a mourning Cypress vayle as if the resplendant Beams of such a beauty being concentred together should through that obscurity thus united have the more power to make a speedy conquest over the Soul Now observe Sirs that a weeping beauty is a beauty clad in its morning weeds which should merit our affections the sooner because it seems to put on that sad habit to perform the obsequies for your expired liberty By the Law of Nature we should give credit to their affections which can bring good witness that they Love Now what are such tears else but testimonies of a heart that Loves sincerely which come to Natures tribunal attending on the Soul to demand a Reciprocall Correspondence Aristotle says that our tears are a kind of sweat and if we justly merit wages for sweat and labour who can deny the reward of Love to those fair Eyes which perhaps sweat and pant lying under the burden of an amorous affection Tears have such efficacy to Enamour that I believe the offerings of Myrrhe and Incense are grateful and pleasing to the gods for no other Reason but because they are Tears though shed by senceless trees Those lighted Candles which often shine upon a sacred Altar where we implore the grace of Heaven if you but marke it do never burn without letting fall some drops like tears perhaps to teach fair Eyes that if the tears even of inanimate lights have power to move the heavens the drops of two such bright and living torches must needs have as much influence on Men. We do not ordinarily ascribe any other Epithets to musick than those of melody and sweetness But when we treat of tears we use to call them by a more Viril name womens arms or Weapons Now do you guess Sirs whether they be not potent since they have obtained even the name of Weapons And I believe it was for no other reason that the gods blinded Cupids Eyes but only because if he could have added tears to the power he hath already there were no means left for any to resist his power and might Our infant age does most require the Love and tender affection of others by reason of our own insufficiency And yet natures Care has provided us with nothing else in that age but only our tears And are they so potent in our infancy that even a child though bound by Nature and reason to be under the Fathers Tuition and Jurisdiction Yet weeping tenderly does seem to claime and often over swayes the parents will Who will say then that tears are not most powerfull instruments since they have so much strength though managed by a weak unskilful Child Tears are the Language of the Soul and passions taught us by natures self that it might be the better understood by every one Tears are the Souls Ambassadours which being sent to declare the state of its own