had when the Field and the Camp afforded me the only delight so pretty so fresh a Creature just come from the Country could hardly have got off so easily but purer Love and now more sacred thoughts possess my breast which though not tainted with the least of sin I am sure I find to be the greatest torment But why after all this may not some envious Rival Spark have contrived this Stratagem to amuse and delude me an unknown Stranger only upon suspicion of that secret passion I have so long strove to conceal These and such like thoughts and expressions the troubled and Confused Helvetian had to himself and with which his melancholy entertained him for most part of the following Night and there we leave him while we return a little to the Countess under as much discomposure and Anxiety The Fair Vicentina happened to be not far from him in the same Church when en passant with some other Ladies she saw the Country Damosel with such Obeysance and amiable simplicity Address her self to the Heroic Helvetian and so far was she from suspecting it for her faithful Drusilla under so well-contrived a disguise that she gently justled some of her Virgin-Companions to observe somewhat of an Intriegue that seemed to pass between the Renowned Stranger and a plain simple Country Girl Under this perplexity both parties lay for some considerable time while Armadorus his Suspended Thoughts hung in the midst between hope and despair he sometimes resolved resolutely to Address himself to the Young Countess when the fear of being presumptuous dash'd agen that resolution This timorous delay of his made Drusilla play the second part though not under so much disguise as the first and whether in a Letter under her Ladies hand or under her own that could well imitate her Mistresses since Report is various I shall not determine She Writes the languishing Armadorus this second Epistle Sir 'T Is enough for Fortune to put their own happiness into Peoples hands and not to Court them to lay hold of it Fools indeed have their hours to chuse in but Wise Men know how to Husband and make use of Minutes It was once in your power to have been as happy as your own wishes could make you but I can hardly say it is so now since your carelessness has delayed your Addresses so long that the Cavalier Don Carlo who has hitherto been but Coldly received begins now every day to warm himself into her Affection The Lady cannot be unknown to you and alway so near by you This is like to be your last advice and you best know your last and only Remedy D. This Letter more plain and Expressive and like to give more Light to Armadorus she delivers directed to him to a publick Porter to convey but one to whom Drusilla her self was unknown and that the fellow might not discover to whom she related she gave him this to carry at a place some tolerable distance from the House in which she dwelt The Bearer conveys it as directed but no sooner had the Transported Helvetian run over the surprizing Contents but he seized the Messenger that brought it for fear by his withdrawing he should be left agen in the dark The poor man employed as he thought only on some ordinary Errand began to be seized with a fit of Trembling to be thus taken into Custody the eager Armadorus earnestly desires him to discover the person that delivered him the Letter he brought and threatned him as much if he denied it or did prevaricate the poor fellow as ignorant of the person concerned as of the Contents could not be brought to confess any thing but his Ignorance and that he had no knowledge at all of the person that delivered it him but only that by her habit she was a Woman and some Gentlewoman this not satisfying the warm Armadorus who was resolved now to pursue as warmly his obscure Intelligence and to be as hot upon the Cold Scent he makes the poor unthinking Creature the messenger to accompany him to the place where the Letter was delivered him Thinking thereby to be more throughly Confirmed in the place from whence it came but for that Drusilla as I observed before seem'd to have taken care However the little stir that it made upon the fond inquisitiveness of the Eager Lover and the poor Porter enquiring about the Neighbourhood it so fell out that a person thereabout had seen such a Young Gentlewoman deliver him the aforesaid Letter and affirmed it to be Drusilla that belonged to the Young Countess of Albania The Sun on this discovery seemed to display his Beams to the Clouded Armadorus and to dispel all Mists hardinessbegan now to grow upon him and he began with hope to take heart and soon after in his best Equipage went to make her a visit But Oh! Tyrant Love With what Cruelty does he sport himself with Lovers Hearts and like a little Nero play whilst they are a burning This secret Intriegue soon after the bustle about the second Letter having taken some Air This flame of this Amour was like to have been stifled in its first breaking forth and their tender Love that like a silent Taper had a long while been burning under ground to have been put out by giving it vent and opening the Cavity The Fair Vicentina had still living a Mother very careful of so fine a charge if not watchful of her even to a fault The Countess Dowager who after the Decease of the Count D' Albania was again Married to the Worthy and Honourable Patriot the Noble Count D' Orlando Lord of Ogliano This Old Lady of great Judgment and Experience from her Years and by Conversation well versed in the Affairs of the World knew that her Daughter from the Signiories Lordships Heritages and Patrimony left her by her Father was fit for the Espousals of some Considerable Count and besides she well knew should the Young Lady miscarry before Matrimony for 't is a Proverbial saying in that Country That the Young may dye as well as the Old must why then she was to take all by Survivorship which would sufficiently have advanced the House of Ogliano for which next to her own Daughter she had reason to have the greatest Love and Regard but whether this which perhaps might be but a malicious Reflection made her averse to her Daughters Matrimony or that a Motherly care made her willing to see her well Married some little Intimation of Armadorus his Amours and Intended Addresses notwithstanding all the care and cunning of Drusilla came to her Ears upon which having taken the Young Countess apart one Evening in the most private walk of their Garden a Comfortable Retreat behind their own House from the noise of the Town She began to tell her a little roundly of the Apprehensions she had of her as well as the Tenderness she had for her and that she was afraid of some private Amours that
Lesson at the last Lecture Evil Communication corrupteth good Manners and so without any more Ceremony accosts her Daughter Here is a Strange Man says she Vicentina that not only pretends Love to you but what is more strange says you are as much in Love with him and what is strangest of all shows Letters under your Hand for it as he pretends but as you satisfied me Daughter before I came down with you so let the poor Gentleman know that this is some Forgery and abuse put upon him by some of the Debauch'd wild Fellows of the Town and the naughty Women with which it abounds that have no Grace of God before their Eyes 't is pity such a Gentleman of so good a Presence and Stranger too should have such tricks put upon him but 't is a such filthy Town sye upon it The Young Lady abounding with as much quickness of Wit as the Old one did with an hasty Passion finding her self reduced to this pressing extremity either to offend and Exasperate a Mother already too much enraged or else to run a Man she lov'd the most of all men into the greatest Confusion and Despair wisely chose rather to offend him for a little while whom she thought she could soonest please than her Mother whose fury if she had farther provok'd she thought never to be appeased and so made this dextrous Reply and well-contrived Discourse with a Meen and Countenance made up with a well compounded Temperament of a filial Duty and a Faithful Love such as might handsomely serve the Turn and was adapted to the Time Madam said she I must always acknowledge your tender care in my Education and that I cannot make sufficient returns for that Motherly Affection you have always shown me and should I do any Act contrary to your good liking much less be guilty of downright Disobedience I must needs be the vilest Creature Living And as for this Gentleman with whom you challenge me to have had such intimate Correspondence as to send him the Letters here produced I do declare before him and you taking up one of those Drusilla had imitated her hand in that this is none of my writing that some person has Counterfeited my Hand to abuse both the Gentleman and my self and as for this worthy Gentleman for so his presence bespeaks him He is a Stranger to me and with whom I never had any Converse 't is true indeed I have seen him often in the great Church Madam when at my Devotions and frequently seen him pass the Streets without being ever in his Company nay I have praised him as well as heard him Commended for a Comely Person and the Gallant Stranger I think may deserve so much Commendation but I hope Madam all this may be done without any injury to Modesty much less be so maliciously interpreted as to be made matter of Love and Amour If the Noble Foreigner for I must give the Gallant Person though unknown so much his due that I think him of no mean Birth and Descent has made himself so unhappy as to be in Love with me that am never like to be his and who am subject wholly to your Maternal disposal it must be attributed to his misfortune and not to my fault all that I can say to him is that perhaps he deserves a better Mistress to Crown his Affections and that in his own Country where his Perfections being more known are certainly more Esteem'd and valued She would have gone on and perhaps in some further Panegyrick but the Countess-Dowager began to be afraid of these fine words and was glad her Daughter disowned the Letters and was willing she should break off with our Hero just where she had Complimented him back again into his own Country and where the Old Lady wish'd him with all her heart And so was as officiously ready to shew the Stranger out of doors faster than he came in Armadorus that was got on so far in his Affair in a strange Country to meet with such an Embarrast Intriegue was almost estranged from himself and like Strangers in an House where they were never before knew hardly the way where he came in or by which way he was to get out when the Young Lady's heart began to ake for the very Perplexity that his was in and with as much Wit as Good-humour told her Mother That she hop'd she would look on it only as a Specimen of that Good breeding she had bestow'd upon her and not in the least an Indication of her Love and good liking to the unknown Stranger if she thought it was but handsome if her Ladyship shewed him the Civilities that are commonly due to Strangers and which she thought even she her self might do without any breach of Modesty upon Condition he would cease all other pretences and that without the Intimacy of Love and Affection Pity and Compassion required some Courtesy to be shown the Gentleman that had been so basely Imposed upon and Deluded This made the Old Countess relent a little and make the Astonish'd Armadorus a cold Invitation to stay Dinner But his Stomack was full with the Breakfast they had given him However this cunning Discourse of Vicentina gain'd that point that the stay was prolonged and that the Mother's Eyes did not so exactly watch the Lovers when Armadorus perceiving some Emotions in the breast of Vicentina who had withdrawn her self either by Accident or Design to the remotest part of the Room eagerly steps up to the Window where she stood and with a submissive Voice as well as gesture thus briefly and passionately Expresses himself And is it true then Madam that I am this Poor Miserable Deluded and abused Person Are none of those dear Lines then your own that I have hugg'd so long as the Records of my Happiness Treasured as the Evidences of my Life Ten thousand times more dear to me than those of my Estate Alas wretched Armadorus doubly wrack'd to perish in the Port Consider Compassionate Madam a Perishing sinking Man A Shipwrack'd Stranger beaten on your Shoars and lend one helping hand to keep the next Wave from washing him away Tho' I may have been so miserably imposed upon as to found my Happiness upon a malicious piece of Forgery of your Letters yet I am sure I am not mistaken in your Ladyship in your Person that is too pure to be Counterfeit and the first sight I had of it made too deep an impression in my breast that I should be deceived in its Idea If Vicentina's Heart was so soft before you may be sure it was now melting away at these tender expressions from a person she as tenderly Lov'd her Eyes trembled and twinkled like two little Stars that were fixt on him tho' they moved in their own Orbs her Lips quaver'd for an answer they were hardly able to deliver and her Tongue that would have spoke falter'd her Breasts heaved and strugled with those sighs she so violently
unknowingly and so blindly admir'd began now to open her eyes and consider her actions and suffer her Mothers advice and good Counsel to sink down into her Heart and to ponder it in her understanding and so promis'd her Mother that those Settlements made in her minority she would never revoke but was ready rather to confirm This was well pleasing to the Countess-Dowager who as she coveted to bring it about for her Daughters sake so 't was plainly visible it was somewhat for her own ends â—oo for should the Young Lady Childless leave the World before the Old for the Young may as well as the Old must the Countess Dowager then had been entirely possest of all the Patrimonial Allodial Feudatory Fee-simple and Tayl Real and Personal Appendant and Appurtenant all that Civil Right and Common Law Codes and Pandects Cook and Littleton could make her own This the cunning and crafty Countess that knew how to butter her Bread and when the Cake was Dough did excellently well understand so that her good advices to her Daughter were a sort of mixt Actions as the Moralists call them made up with the good ingredients of Interest and Love or in a pleasanter smile stuft up like Black Puddings with her Daughters Blood and her own Oatmeal or Girts Armadorus on the other hand presuming upon the fervent affection of his Dear Vicentina which he thought as constant and true as ever splendid Sun was to the Gnomon of the Dial did often desire her that since so unjust a Settlement was made of her Estate during her minority which as it had been suggested to him was by false Testimony of her full age when all the while but a Minor this he desir'd she would revoke since so fraudulent a Conveyance but Vicentina better instructed and the fervency of love aâ— little cool'd answer'd her Inamoratoâ— as coldly That it was impossible for her to comply with such a request that the power was in her Mother that she could not be undutiful to her that had done so much for her and after she had so much disgusted her yet had after all receiv'd her into favour Armadorus a little surpris'd at this unexpected indifferency from a thing that was so dear to him as the Young Countess his most adored Vicentina or rather a down-right denial from her for whose sake he had deni'd himself every thing his ease repose nay his very livelihood and subsistence for at her request when love ruled and had its absolutely Empire in her Breast so tender was she of his person that she would never suffer it to be expos'd to any other Artillery but that of her Eyes nor be encompass'd with any other Arms but those longing ones she was wont to clasp about him so by her Importunity or Requests that with him were Commands did he quit Ingloriously all the Trophies and Triumphs all the Victories and Conquests that Mars had in reserve to reward his Gallant Actions ignobly thus to follow his Venus and Enervate himself with a Woman In short her love got him to throw up all his Commissions and now her neglect began to make him wish them all in his Pocket But cruel Avarice and wretched Gold to what inglorious unworthy Actions and unnatural too dost thou O glittering Dirt dispose the noblest Soul For thee the faithfullest Friend does stand at Bay and stares upon thy shining tempting shew and pauses in his full career to serve his Friend ambiguous whether he had best betray him For thee A Father greedy to be great to gripe and grasp at Thee Thou Excrement lodg'd in the Bowels of the sordid Earth will his own Son forget his very Bowels and sell him Slave to Dig and Delve those Mines from whence thou camest and like those Indians only brave in this that they despise thee will Sacrifice his dearest Daughter darling of his Soul to some adored Monster all in Falmes some heated glowing Moloch of a Man to gratify some Satyr Humane Brute that has the name of Prince the lust and shape of Goat thy very Colour cost Mankind that Vniversal Curse That Golden Fruit brought all the Ages since to Brass and Iron For thee The dearest Brothers the very Gemini of Love and friendship shall for thee turn mortal foes and they who lay so lovingly involv'd within the self-same Womb shall sheath their Swords within each others Bowels For thee who le Rivers reel in flowing Gore and fatten'd Fields luxurious are with Blood whole Kingdoms shake like some Sicilian Town that at the Foot of roaring Etna stands which belches forth its liquid flames of less pernicious Ore whilst Crowns and Scepters totter like their Towers and falling in thy rapid Streams of Fire are born away and melted down And 't is for Thee alone tho' ne're so much Resin'd Thou filth even of the finest Soul that these two matchless Lovers who not long before were languishing in Love have liv'd to see their very Loves to languish as if they now were come sor to outlive their very selves and have their empty Carcasses survive their transmigrated Souls Armadorus look't on her cold repulse a little hard and took it much to heart but for the present would press her no further in the affair fearing to discompose her whom he still tenderly lov'd but after he had suffer'd her obstinacy as he thought to soften by degrees and to supple her with Lenitives he took her aside one afternoon into some withdrawing Room and there with a look compos'd of Gravity and Love delivered himself in these words My Dear were your kindness to me what once it was when we first fixt our Eyes upon one another you would never have denied me the request I have so often made you and 't is mighty strange that Armadorus when a stranger almost unknown to Vicentina should have had more power over her then after she has hugg'd him in her Arms and embraced him for her Husband harder yet it is my dear to deny me a possibility of subsisting by your means that have made me quit an honourable employment for your sake Consider should the sates rob me of my Vicentina in what condition should I be left my Soul my Life indeed will be gone with you my Love and so I may not long survive but linger out some years in which I can't be truly said to Live much less to want but how will it please your Airy Ghost when gliding by me in your stalking shade to see me pensive sit and mourn my fate whilst your Triumphant Mother proudly Reigns o're all and domineers in all the Palaces that once my dear were yours and should be mine Too late perhaps it then may be for your relenting Ghost to think to haunt your Salvage Motheir into humane nature not that my case so sad deplorable may be but that I may find friends tho' ne're so much a Foreigner for this kind Isle is not a little fam'd for Friendship Hospitality
which that Dream did make so dismal end avert ye Fates but that kind Heaven is already done and those malignant Stars that swell'd with spite and venom and ready were to dart their pointed Influence down upon our Heads like false ones now are fallen fallen now and like the Spawn of Toads or Frogs we tread the filthy Gelly now beneath our feet With that the Lovers bill'd and coo'd and kist no Turtles e're did mate with more delight when on the covert Boughs of Thickets percht they murmur innocently forth their soft and harmless Loves And thus the Lovers liv'd and thus they Loved prolonging days and nights for fear that spend-thrift Time should speed too fast away and make them Bankrupts in the Trade of Love who had laid in a â—â—ock for both their Lives and what they thought so much that all could never waste or they live long enough to spend But ah how vain are Human thoughts how short falls our forecast of that which is Divine and how doth fate enforce us to adore that Deity vile Mortals would Contemn what to our Clouded thoughts seemed Clear and misty Reasons darkned Cell tho in the brightest part of all the Brain 't is plac'd as 't were Reserved for Reasons Sacred Soul as Sages say a Seat and Receptacle to reside how yet does all this glaring light Like Fatuus fires before the Rising-Sun quite vanish disappear when an Omniscience Divine does to the darkned Earth in brighter Rays reveal what Man the wisest Man thought Heaven it self could never bring about How doth it laugh at all our fruitless toyl to compass that beyond our Heaven it self which when obtain'd enjoyed it turns to Hell and Torment What blessings oft do those wise Powers above who in that vast Eternal NOW all past and future see by ways unknown unthought bestow by contradictions to our arguing Sense by our vain Reasonings call'd impossible and by dire baneful paths securely lead where happiness hangs out before our eyes that nothing there but misery could see So does it act too oft for thankless Man that Wiser needs would seem then Mighty He that made the silly Worm When thro' a raging tempest wild despair where Winds destruction soar above while gastly Waves do for 〈◊〉 gape below how do laborious Wretches toil on board bear up against kind Heavens and the Wind to reach some dangerous Port to be undone who spight of their resistance to their fate to some far distant shore are born away where by unthought-of happiness at last they find their lives not only sav'd but Fortunes made Thus far'd it with this Amorous Pair whose Wits Invention daily thoughts and Prayers with all the faculties of Mind and Soul were all at work by Policy Disguise by Plot and stratagem and all that art and cunning could invent to compass what they call'd their happiness One Nights enjoymont of untasted joy But Heaven alas smil'd at this humane folly much better far and happier had they been if only Lovers still while midst the fullest gusts of free Fruition Luxurious Love spent all the vital heat that fed it and on a sudden surfeited and di'd Armadorus after he began to recover breath which the Blandishments and Caresses of conjugal affection we may suppose had a little exhausted especially in such eager Lovers began to consider that as he had married a young Heiress so it behov'd him now as her Husband to enquire into heâ— Fortune and Estate which she was tâ— inherit and upon enquiry began tâ— perceive that by some secret Conveyance not usually so clandestinely practised she had been prevail'd upon during her minority to make over her Estate in Trust to her Mother so that should she die childless all her plentiful Revenue would be left wholly in the disposal of the old Countess which Armadorus did not so well approve of And tho' he lov'd his Mistress much more than her Mony and Wealth yet was he loth Mony being the best commodity in his Country to be supplanted in his Right to a Silver Mine not so frequently found in the Mountains of Helvetia and to lose a rich vein at which he had been working so long every Body knows the true Proverb which the French Tongue has so peculiarly fasten'd upon them Ne point d' Argent ne point de Suisse No Switz's fights where no Money is But tho' Armadorus's Soul seem'd elevated even above the Altitude of his own Country in which by the way are the highest Hills tho' he could not condescend to that meaness of Spirit so as to be sordidly Mercenary yet his Sense directed him there was no reason why he should be defrauded in any thing that was his real right by the Laws of Marriage no more than to be rob'd of what was his own by Birth-right and this put him often when alone with his Vicentina upon as king of questions relating to her Fortune and Estate In which the Young Lady indeed was not so well acquainted her self the Old Countess being a Woman that well understood the World and was resolv'd to have the management of those affairs left intirely to her self so that the Lady Vicentina could only reply to her Armadorus that she would take a time to discourse her Mother on that Subject Many days were not elaps'd before the Old Countess gave a good occasion for the entring upon such a discourse for having her Daughter alone she began to instruct and advise her that since she had unfortunately Married a stranger it would be proper to enquire into what Jointure or Marriage-settlement himself or his Friends could make her before she suffer'd the least part of her Portion to come into her Husband's Hands that he might at any time when in possession of what was her Fortune cross again the Seas and the Alps too and leave her only so much worse as he found her that there was a Conveyance of her Estate made over to her self during her minority and that as long as she suffer'd that to stand she could secure her self against his wasting and embezeling any of it that she must provide for her self and Children if she had any and since she had plaid her game so ill she was to take care that the after-game might be the better look't too and the â—ast stake more wisely manag'd These grave Dictates and formal Instructions tho' perhaps not unnecessarily given would have made out little impression on Vicentina's Heart before the wonders of Love had satiated all her Senses for that is a passion that surmounts the strongest Conviction of Reason and Conscience too It makes many Fools and as many Villains 'T is an infirmity Humane nature is subject to to be overcome easily by what is palatable and pleasing and the not gratifying Sense seems to most a divesting themselves of Humanity tho' indeed 't is the Brute only that is then put off But Vicentina now having seen and felt the utmost efforts of that Love she had