wench while she wore a coif I was sometimes more taken with her when she was in her hood There were some Ladies could raise no passions in me but when they were mask'd and others for whom I never sighed but when I had a full view of them of some I affected nothing but the breast of others only their eyes of some their stature and their necks so that to satisfie me fully I must have had all those parts taken and compos'd into a Beauty à la mode The fashion and the colour of the cloathes of my Mistresses had a certain grace and insinuation which another then my self was not capable to discover The light flaxen hair with a black velvet dress and carnation fancies on the confines of an absolute white complexion had such a lustre that I am still so charm'd with the very remembrance of it that I can only tell you that I cannot describe it yet was I in love with all these as if they had been essential dependances of the body When your little girls quitted their cawls and colour'd gowns for dressings and black gowns my imagination ran on those flowers which grow up by little and little and when of tender buds they come to be full-blown in their pride sometimes change their former colours But all these several imaginations not onely decreas'd but vanished when I returned into my Country where I found a beauty so rare that it soon made me change all my inconstancy into fidelity Yet had I never any thoughts for the raising of my fortune for I was more taken with a Shepherds innocency then any Court ambitition and I thought my self happy to live in such a Country as my own where Justice when she left the earth had left her last footsteps so that the professors of vertue come thither daily to find out her treadings that they might follow her This happened while I walk'd in a Town that was near our Village where I espied at the door a yong Shepherdess whose attractions were such as ravish'd away my heart and robb'd me of my Liberty My greatest misfortune was that I knew not a thing which was so well known to me that is to say I kenw not who that fair one was though I always saw her both present and absent but at length after much enquiry a Shepherd a friend of mine called Valerius acquainted me who her friends were and that as for her she was called Basilia a name that shall eternally remain engraven in my minde O Heaven how joyfull am I to know it and to be so happy as to name the cause of my love that I may accuse it before the throne of God for all the mischief it hath done me What explications did I not invent for this name and what Anagrams did I not endeavor to finde out on it is there any Criticism in language which I have not appropriated to it When I try'd a pen I thought I committed a crime if I writ any thing but the word Basilia so that all my papers are fill'd with it And if sometimes I writ and heeded not my hand it would never make any other Letters then those that make up that sweet name so was I accustom'd to it It is not to be asked if I put it into all the verses I made and that I thought it added harmony to their cadences though I may safely say that they were otherwise charming enough to move any barbarous heart and that Love had taught me more in fifteen days then the most learned Professors in the world had done in eight or nine years Valerius also thought my verses so good that he learn'd them by heart and yet he endeavored to divert me from my love by this discourse Can it be possible that you who are rank'd among the greatest wits in France saies he to me should stoop before a little Shepherdess that hath yet scarce forgotten her Play-games when you have presented her with your verses do you think she can distinguish them from the Ballad-Ribaldry which your Ploughmen sing when they go to work she 'll shew them to all her companions and will tell them without any discretion it was you made them I pray God she may not give them the first that desires them as if it were a thing as well made for others as her Ah! Valerius answered I how malicious are you to speak in this manner Do you not consider that Basilia will shortly be of age and arrive to prudence and judgement and have you not told me divers times that she had already no ordinary understanding Now know that though her words and actions had nothing in them but infancy I should not give over to serve her You cannot believe what pleasure I shall think it to talk with her of love innocently and to have the honor to be the first shall teach her what it is to have fires in the soul and wounds in the heart Valerius confest then that he had commended Basilia to me and that she deserved it but that he wished she were not so exquisite that I might not seem enchanted with a Love which in his opinion promised me nothing but affliction I prayed the Gods they would make him a false Prophet and discours'd on with him on the same subject not indeed being able to take any other He told me that five or six days before I had seen Basilia first she was in mourning for her mother and that she was very handsome in a black gown I cannot tell you the grief that I have ever since felt that I saw her not in that mourning O ye mighty Gods why have you not suffer'd me to know her sooner Had I seen her in her infancy I should have lov'd her so well as I do now and by that means having the opportunity to serve her more then I have she would have been the more oblig'd to me What a diversity of thoughts came into my minde whenever I saw a picture of hers that was drawn when she was about six or seven years old O heaven said I one time why did I not know this pretty Minikin when I my self was but eleven or twelve even then should I have sighed for her and have left the company of all other children for hers How glad should I have been to play with her I would have help'd her to dress her babies and would have sold my books but I would have every day brought her some plums or sweet-meats I have had a world of other infantine and simple thoughts which witness my passion and because there was at my fathers house my own picture taken when I was little I have often wish'd to see them hang'd close to one another as if they were married together Methinks two such Children had made a fine couple but I must profess to you that I wish rather the originals were joyn'd then the pictures if all may not be done together But now I think on 't
it challeng'd esteem it now claims admiration If Geneura speak she charâ—s our ears with the sweetness of her voice if she be silent her gravity engages our admiration if she laugh she hath I know not what attraction would captivate the most barbarous mindes if she walk she hath a majestie fires the beholders To be in her companie is to converse with Diana Venus the Graces and so many other Goddesses which Antiquity hath ador'd if she depart out of the Company she carries away with her the hearts and eyes of the presence All that know her will confirm this but supposing there were no such thing and that she have not those attractions she formerly had should you discontinue your love seeing your oaths oblige you thereto If she had been wanting as to her part there were pretence for you to disengage but there is nothing to be said against her She now calls you again and that with the same affection she ever bore you and the first moment of your appearance to her will seal you a pardon of all your faults Let it be considered if ever there was such a Goddess seen and if such a Mstiress deserved not to be eternally loved Montenor said no more so that he finished his Speech where Lysis thought he was beginning Nor indeed understood he any thing in that way of pleading which they would have him observe having not conversed much with Pastoral Books which at that time he not so much as thought on Yet the Judge with a slender smile said That indeed it was well harangu'd though succinctly the most tedious Advocates are not the best pleaders And you Anselm what say you against him Begin and I swear by the Sword and Ballance of the Goddess Themis a thing I should have done before I had heard either of you that I will do you justice so as I would desire to receive in the like case my self and I shall give you the same measure as I should wish my self Anselm having told him that he was not any thing doubtful began to hum and spit a good while to dispose himself for his plea which he inteuded somewhat long both for the pleasure he should receive from his Judge and to make appear effectually to Montenor that he was not to blame for discontinning his love to Geneura And this was the purpose he spoke to ANSELME's Speech wherein is contained the History of GENEVRA I Shall not need the courtesie of a long Preface to captivate your Honour's favour nor will I throw dust in your eyes as the Proverb says least you should see the truth for it concerns me that you should know it and it is she shall speak for me To answer then my Adversaries Councel who aks first Whether I believ'd the Beauty of Geneura decay'd I say it is a needless question Alas To whom doth he make it I have never found her but too beautiful and I deny not but that she hath yet as many beauties in her face as she had ever but that she hath the same now in her disposition and minde is more then I avow As for the faithfulness which she hath observed towards me I shall bring those proofs will witness the contrary And to clear up all this to my Judge and to your self Montenor whose charge it is to speak against me I shall give you a short History of my Loves which you have not received so naturally from Geneura for if you had but known any thing you would not have pleaded for a Wench who hath so little right to what she demands of me After the decease of my Father and Mother taking the Liberty of all sort of Conversation I became acquainted among others with Lerantus a Batchelour one not of the meanest quality and an ingenio Wâ—man He carried me one day to Geneura's Fathers with whom he had some business and he did as good as bring a Victim to the Altar to be sacrificed I had no sooner seen her but my desires were so inflamed for her that I had no rest till I had returned to offer her the prey she had already gotten The Father and Mother being a subtile sort of people discover'd presently on what design I came to their house and gave me those entertainments that lur'd me to further visits They perceived that a while before I had gotten a Treasurer-ship besides they knew my Father had left me somewhat and as for their part they had not much the husband being of the most inconsiderable Officers belonging to the King so that it had been to their no small advantage if I had married the Daughter I think they had not forgotten to recommend to her to receive me favourably and to carry her self before me discreetly and modestly And indeed she was not wanting and I vow to you that as she was yet very young and of much simplicity I took an infinite pleasure to hear her talk innocently of Love I shall not tell you how many afternoons and evenings I have pastim'd away with her nor how many Serenades I have given her nor what Letters and Verses I sent It 's enough for me to tell you that I lived not but for her and that she lived not but for me and that preferring content before riches I dispos'd my self to marry her as soon as I should obtain the consent of my friends Yet from that very time I observed some Artifices in the Mother and in Her but passion blinding me I thought all supportable When I was in the house and that there came some to visit them if he were a person of quality as there frequented divers they gave word they were not within and had much ado to recover the courtesie they did me But what dream'd I on at that time that I should give them any credit seeing Persida Geneura's Mother being as subtile as woman could be served me in the like kinde and caused me to be sent back again when I came to see them while they had others to entertain And this maxime she ever kept that it might not be known they were familiar with all the world and that they might be thought very reserved Now it hapned often that I was told they were not at home and I doubted the principal reason to be that Geneura was not dressed to her advantage for when she had notice of the day I should visit her I observed she would make long mornings to dress her head only All this wind shook no corn And though I could remember some passages then I shall conceal them as being not capable to make her be despis'd But one time having been about a year absent about my Charge when I was return'd I found her first innocency chang'd into the greatest subtilty in the world and that she might deservedly be called the Queen of Tatling Gossips Her mother had carried her to great Ladies who were pleas'd to esteem her for her beauty so that she would govern as
somwhat that were good Certainly for this humour it was happy enough and by this he lets us understand why a Love-Letter was call'd a Pullet a thing which many that use the word wholly understand not Clarimond therefore having admir'd his invention he was content to believe it would find no less esteem with his Mistress and that there was no hardness of heart whatever that this could not soften Nay the agitations of his passions were such that he was in a strong belief that Charite would immediately command him to attend her nay he did not stick to say that if he were to pass the Sea like Leander to see his Hero he would do it cheerfully But Clarimond envying him this enjoyment and desirous to affront the fable said That the poor Leander must needs be too cold after having pass'd an arm of the Sea as he did every time to enjoy his Mistress and that he must be a lusty man indeed if after all that he were rampant and that it had been better to have hired some Barge to pass from one shore to another or else to have steer'd it himself and that for his part he knew no reason why he might not hide himself all day in some obscure house somewhere neer the lodgings of his fair Hero that he might save so much trouble and be the fitter to visit her at night Lysis replyed that assuredly that Lover wanted not his hinderances to all this and that though the story was not the most probable in the world yet was it not to be mistrusted as to the truth of it being reported by so many good Authors Lysis was not willing to enlarge himself in this discourse because he was at this time more imployd about bringing to pass his own loves then to consider by what means others enjoy'd theirs Nay so impatient was he that he left Clarimond to seal his Letter and in all haste call'd Carmelin to go carry it to Charite But Carmelin was so sound asleep that he had much ado to make him wake Thou lazie fellow quoth he hast thou a mind to bury both body and soul in these fathers Seest thou not that the Sun begins to scatter his beams upon the vaults of heaven He is now a gilding of the Mountain-tops and it will not be long ere he kiss the lowest herbs Yea the Husband-men withdraw out of the bosoms of their wives where they had slept as on a pillow and the Birds warble out their acclamations to welcome the Day Carmelin being forc'd to awake saw that indeed it was break of day so that Lysis gave him his Letter with commands to carry it to his Mistress He rubbing his eyes which by this time were half open beseech'd him to tell him what kinde of woman she was and where he might finde her If thou seest her says Lysis thou wilt know her well enough she is a Sun that enlightens all the world and cannot suffer any ecclypse Then sayes Carmelin you write to the Sun for ought I know as I am an honest man you must finde another Messenger for my part I cannot flie so high would you would send it post by some bird Thou understandst not answers Lysis or at least wilt not understand I speak of the Shepherdess Charite that dwells in the Castle of Orontes any body will tell thee the way Clarimond being in bed heard all this discourse and call'd Lysis to him telling him that he did ill for to send Carmelin to carry a Love-Letter to his Mistress and that possibly he might be beaten by the way I can help all this answers Lysis I have sometimes read a Bood called The Temple of Venus where there are many curious secrets for concealing of Letters among others that of sending them by Doves that will carry them But it were too much for me to descend to the imitation of any for upon better thoughts I finde that I have another design much better The Chicken that run about Orontes's house will now and then get out into the street I will tie my Letter to one of their legs and it shall carry it into the house where Charite may receive it It is an excellent invention says Clarimond but methinks Charite should have notice beforehand And if you could make such an address to her you might deliver her your Letter without making use of such an artifice which for the present is not at all necessary But says he I know another invention better then this Your Shepherdess you are to note is a little sweet-lipp'd when she is at Paris she is ever eating of Penny-pyes you had best entreat a Pye-woman to put it into one of her Pyes and there she 'll be sure to find it We are not now in the City replies Lysis and possibly she hath chang'd her custom besides that such Pullets as mine use not to be put in Paste You are very much in the right on 't Master says Carmelin for possibly she may be so hungry that she may eat crust flesh and paper all at a bit for I think a Love-Letter may be very good meat so that there be verjuice enough to it Love take my soul says Lysis that had a mind to swear after the new fashion this is the best Droll in the world I see Carmelin thou art a pleasant fellow and I well understand thou wilt make my time shorter and less tedious to me But hear me in all thy jests be as carefull to touch my Mistress as thou wouldst a Deity I am content says Carmelin and for your Letter you need not trouble your brain to Philosophize upon any of these rare secrets assure your self I 'll find means enough to deliver it to Madam Charite This very business shall discover my ingenuity unto you But 't is necessary that I be first convinced she is a person of honor I am directed to and that all your addresses to her are for no other end then marriage and that in the face of the Church otherwise you must finde some other to carry it for I am as tender of my reputation as the apple of my eye I must answer sayes Clarimond in this for your Master that he doth not send you to be his Pimp but on a just and an honest errand It costs not so much to call any thing by an honorable name but since you are so subtil do your duty Lysis and Carmelin left Clarimond for our Shepherd would needs set his man a little on his way He caus'd the sheep to be brought out of the fold but wanting a Sheephook he was not a little discontented yet had he no mind to send to Montenors for his own But because he could not endure to be without one he fell upon this pretty imagination he found a long painted staff which he thought fit for his purpose and having taken a card he tyed it with a thread to the head of it Now as Good-luck would have it it fell out to
afternoon to Leonora Take heart all goes with us says he to Carmelin Here thou hast an occasion to see thy new Mistress but thou must not go thither unprepared thou speak'st a many good things but they are not always to the purpose and besides thou dost not pronounce well I will teach thee the method of discourse and the graces of gesture and pronunciation This was spoken very softly and immediately after our two Shepherds went into a little chamber on one side of the hall where Lysis being seated in a chair and Carmelin standing before him he gave him his first lesson Seeing it is of much consequence in Love to have a pleasing way of access and that the countenance hath sometimes more charms then the words thou must be very carefull and observant of thine when thou art before thy Shepherdess If thou hast a clean handkerchiff about thee 't is my advice thou have it always in thy hand those that declaim ever have one nay the very Players at Paris are not without one on the Stage Now these are they thou must imitate for if they do not things as they are done they do them at least as they should be Nor were it amiss to have a little neat Beard-brush to turn up the Muschato now and then But above all a man never ought to be without a Comb in his pocket I mean these Horn-combs that your present Gallants carry about them to comb out their hair You desire it seems I should never have my head without horns says Carmelin Take it not in that sense says Lysis it may happen to thee I have one of those Combs at Montenor's and I tell those that see me make use of it that it is made of the horns of those I have made cuckolds and thus the jest must be retorted back This I grant you says Carmelin but to what purpose must I ever have a handkerchiff in my hand I may be taken for some Snottypack and the Brush in like manner would denote the foulness of my Beard since it required so frequent brushing If thou wilt not observe these niceties be sure thou hast excellent discourses and use the most insinuating forms of speaking and the most approved by the Gallants As for example if thou wouldst say that thou comest out of the company of men that were in a good humour thou must say I have left the conversation of some faces of good humours Men do not speak only to faces says Carmelin but to perfect men It matters not says Lysis that 's the manner of speaking if a man will go according to the mode And 't is said every foot How long is 't since you saw that face That face would have quarrel'd with me 'T is a very proper neat speech Moreover if some would carry thee to a place whither thou wouldst not go thou must say I am your humble servant as to that house I am an humble servant to that visit that is to say I am not for it And if they should tell thee it were to hear good musick thou must answer I kiss your hands as to musick this day If it be ask'd whether thou play'st well on the Lute I break not my head with Crotchets nor prick my self to play on that Instrument I should willingly speak in that manner says Carmelin yet I apprehend not what it signifies For must a man prick himself in the breech with a pin or an awl to stir him up to play on the Lute And as for your Kiss your hands and Your humble servants may they be said to a House or to Musick which have no hands and care not for our services All this is spoken and is very elegant replies Lysis you hear nothing else in the Louure and in all other Courtly places If thou hast overreach'd any one or put a handsom gull upon him thou must say I have plaid him an excellent piece for that 's now all the phrase The pieces you will have me play says Carmelin shall they be Tragicomedies or Pastorals or shall they be some Pieces to be plaid on the Lute That were not amiss if thou couldst do it says Lysis Yet I take not these things in that sense I mean the playing of some fourbe or over-reaching trick in a company and there 's as much subtilty required to do that as to play a piece on the Stage But to return to our Phrases there are yet others as exquisite and curious as these but I shall teach thee no more at present then that thou must say at every word that thy Mistress is a ravishing treature That 's very proper to be said of Synopa replies Carmelin she takes whatever's in her way she hath ravish'd away my old Hat she is as ravishing as a Bird of prey or a Wolf 'T is not to be taken in that bias says Lysis When a Beauty is said to be ravishing the meaning is that it is full of charms allurements and attractions and if thou please thou mayst say that thy Shepherdess hath a ravishing countenance Thou mayst make thy advantage of these French phrases according as occasion shall require and thou art to represent to thy self that there is not in Paris any despicable Fellow that pretends to the qualities of a Gentleman no nor any contemptible Cockney-bastard but hath them when he is to put his best side outward 'T is not to be wondred at that I should know all this for though I was ever very studious yet at certain times I kept good company and this was the manner of speaking among the Gallantillo's if thou wilt have the reputation of a Carpet-Knight thou must imitate those words Carmelin without any further contestation fell to ruminate on his instructions and Lysis having gotten pen and ink thought fit to give him some amorous discourse in writing besides this language a-la-mode wherewith he entertain'd him which was only for familiar discourses He therefore dress'd him a fine Complement and having given it him bid him learn it by heart I shall have it presently replies he after he had seen it for I have read it in some book heretofore It 's never the worse for that replies Lysis Novices in Love as thou art must follow the Books in all things Let 's see if thou hast a good memory There are but three periods tell me the first and imagine thou wert speaking to thy Mistress Whereupon Carmelin without any previous ceremony began thus Fair Shepherdesse since a fortunate lot hath brought me hither and that your eyes give me no wound but such as are delectable to me I must needs avow it to you that I am surpris'd by those attractions which notwithstanding all resistance I shall be sure to suffer under 'T is very well says Lysis thou hast not mist a syllable but yet I observed thou hadst a corner of thy eye in the paper besides there is somwhat in it more then speaking the action is all in all In the
will laugh also if I desire any favour it will be as soon obtain'd as desired if I give my Nymph any thing there will be nothing at all lost for I shall give all to my self if I bestow my endeavors to preserve her I shall preserve my self with her I shall not fear she will betray me for she will never be guilty of any thoughts which I shall not know and jealousie which possesses so many Lovers will exercise no tyranny over me I see many others much troubled that they have Rivals but for me to have any I shall account it a huge pleasure so nothing being able to bring me any discontent in my love I shall ever live fully satisfied And if it be objected that I trangress the ordinary Laws of men I will say that the fairest bird of natures making which is the Phoenix is content to love himself and seeks no further object for his affection After this discourse I paus'd a good while and as I was busied in viewing my own fair countenance Zenocritus comes and askes me Whether I had not sufficiently seen my Mistress and if I would not return to his house I am fully satisfied as to her sight said I to him but I would also have been glad to have heard her speak I have not yet been able to make her break her silence Ask her somewhat saies he no doubt but she 'll answer you I had the curiosity to try his skill so turning towards the water Fair Nymph said I may I be assur'd that you will have a memory for the most perfect Lover that lives Then I heard a feeble voice which seem'd to come from a league off me which said to me Assure thy self that the same arrow as hath wounded thy heart hath wounded mine also I was so astonish'd at this that I became as insensible as a stock Zenocritus put the vail again over my head and assuring me that his charm was at an end he led me back to his house I not saying any thing in the world to him I could not come certainly to know whether it were a Nymph I had seen or my own representation only the cloathes I had on made me suspect the cheat but withal the voyce I had heard made me believe there might be somewhat more in it Being in the dark chamber of Zenocritus he took off my maids cloathes and put on mans but though I perceiv'd all this yet had I not the courage to accuse him of imposture My comfort was that however he had given me some satisfaction by teaching me the invention of loving my self so that as I parted from his house to return to my own I gave him a Diamond for his recompence The very same day I spoke of him to a Gentleman a friend of mine who assur'd me he was the greatest cheat in the world and among other subtil tricks he had that of making a voyce proceed from the bottom of his stomack having his mouth shut as if it had been another person at some distance from him had spoken and that by this means he had abus'd many answering them to what they desir'd as if he had been a spirit or some departed soul I remembred I had heard say that in ancient time there were prophetesses that spoke through the belly so that I easily believ'd Zenocritus had the same power Yet thinking ever on the pleasure he had done me I would not wish him any hurt and forgetting the imaginary beauty of the Nayad which I had not clearly seen I admir'd none but my own I had at this time neither father nor mother but liv'd at my own liberty I caus'd womens cloathes to be made me which I ordinarily wore and being lockt up into my chamber where there was a looking-glass four foot high and three broad I view'd my self from head to foot I was quite ravish'd in that contemplation though all my happiness consisted in the superficies of a glass and I wish'd my eyes had been dispos'd into some other part then my face that I might have view'd that in its natural Yet my faithful ice representing it to the life to me I caus'd the Idea of those beauties to pass into my heart where it was preserv'd And thus was I surpris'd by an extraordinary love and if you have observ'd the adventure that gave it its beginning you will conclude that he that first presum'd to say there were Nayads had seen some that were suppris'd as I was That may very well be saies Philiris some Poet had had a glimpse of a maid in a River or else some Ideot seeing himself in the water had believed his own image was another Nymph As for your part I believe your design was to renew the fable of Narcissus but yet you have done nothing so simply as he if you knew not your self when you first beheld your self and if you took the figure you saw for a Nymph 't was because you had chang'd your cloathes but Narcissus who had no other then his ordinary cloathes took his own representation for some fair Goddess If that were true I should say that the yong man were turned fool but that being false I must say that the Poet who invented it had no judgement For put the case that Looking-glasses were not in use in the Country of Narcissus and that in his mothers house there were not neither skillets nor basins in the bottoms whereof he might have seen him self could he that was a Hunts-man and had much acquaintance with the fields be without ever beholding himself in a Fountain Had he lived to the age of sixteen and never met any And if he had met with any as it must be necessarily conceived why should he behold his own face as a new thing and imagine there were a Nymph under the water why had he not rather committed this simplicity at eight years of age then it might have been excused By this it is easie to see that for to make the adventure probable it should have been accommodated like that of the Shepherd Fontenay I do not grant you that replies Lysis for in the first place I will not have any thing reformed as to what hath been anciently believed concerning Narcissus because it may have hapned that he loved himself after one manner and Fontenay after another The lives of all men are different and consequently their Histories are so much the more delightful As concerning the Nayads though Zenocritus have deceived this gentle Shepherd and hath made him see his own image in the water instead of a Nymph it does not thence follow that there are none The fair one he had seen the night before was one indeed and I make no question but he knew her well enough since Wherefore let him continue his History and we shall see what were the end of his loves I have acquainted you erewhiles replies Fontenay that it was in my infancy that I believed there were Nayads
〈◊〉 he considered himself all about with certain gestures of admiration and cry'd out O God! how am I now assured that I shall please my Beauty in this new habit Such was the Phrygian Pastor when he gave sentence upon the difference of the three Goddesses After that he sate him on the ground and taking a little Loaf out of his bag drew out withall divers other things which he set in order by him that he might the better consider them There was a little dry Grass a withered Pink some very foul Paper and a Peece of old worn Leather Ah precious Reliques sayes he in the midst of his contemplation I must have a Box of Chrystal for you that I may always see you and not touch you Then did he fall a eating with such greediness as if he had been newly come out of a besieged City destitute of provision Anselme thinking he could not resume all â—hese excellent discourses and overcome with impatience rise from the place where he was to speak to him As soon as the other had perceived him he sayes to him Pan defend thee courteous Shepherd wilt thou partake of my Pastoral banquet I have in my Pocket some Apricocks whose skin seems to be interlined with Roses We will here participate with a fraternal concord what the Gods have sent us I give you thanks replies Anselme my stomach is not up so early But since your courtesie is so great I presume to ask you what fair things you have there exposed and why you esteem them so highly as if they were Peeces taken out of the Cabinet of some Antiquary I had rather for the present that you gave me part of your secret designs then of your breakfast I adore thy humour replies the Shepherd seeing thou betrayest so much curiosity thou must needs have a good wit Sit thee here down by me and I shall give thee an account of my self It 's a pleasure to discourse of our Loves while a gentle Zephir breaths yet upon the earth when the heat shall advance we will drive our Flocks into the shade Anselme hearing all these not so common things was unspeakably astonish'd and knew he had found one sick of the strangest folly in the world So that considering well that there is nothing gotten of such people but blows if they are contradicted and the greatest pleasure that may be when humour'd he presently placed himself by him He resolved within himself to bite his lips whenever he should say any thing that were ridiculous lest he should laugh and put on a countenance so modest that the Shepherd assuring himself that he prepared him a favourable audience began to speak thus I put up my bread for the present that I may entertain thee with my sufferings Discourses are more pleasant then Banquets Know then that this common Tyrant of our souls this God that is so little in bulk and so great in power who if he were not Shepherds might dispute as to felicity with the Gods no sooner observed me in the world but he destin'd me for one of those Captives which he will have drawn after his triumphal Chariot Yet he alone could not have robbed me of my Liberty had he not been seconded by a fair Eye who conspired with him to make him Master of the Universe The incomparable Charite receives his pay or rather he hers so to perfect the conquest of all hearts 'T was in Paris that Epitome of the World that I saw that onely Wonder when I was in a richer habit but not so noble as this I now have on She dwelt about the quarter of St. Honore and that not without reason seeing she was honoured of all the World Fortune with her blind eyes denyed me often the means of seeing her and it was only at some uncertain hours that I enjoyed that object in passing by the house or rather the temple of that Goddess but wanted the opportunity of tendring my prayers and sacrifices to her I passed by that way above ten times in an afternoon and because I should have been ashamed that the neighbours should see me so often the first time I put on a black Cloak the second a gray one while I walked gravely another with a staff as if I had been lame lest I should have been observed When I would not pass quite through the street I was content to possess my self of a corner and see my Mistress afar off though the most commonly I could perceive but the extremity of her Petticoat But I did more then all this when I returned from some part where I had been at supper I went out of my way three streets to go into hers and it satisfied me to consider the walls that kept her in and to see the candle in her chamber and if the glass appear'd more obscure in one place then another I conceived it was she that was near the window and there I stood for to contemplate that fair shadow so long as it continued And though all this can be called no other then a false pleasure yet I was necessitated to continue in this torment a whole year A torment more cruel then that of Tantalus But these eight dayes since I have found the Heavens more favourable to me Charite is come to dwell here where I hope to find greater means to acquaint her with my flames The Shepherdesses doe oftentimes retire into the groves where the Shepherds may entertain them and yet no envious eye shall discover it as it falls out in Cities where a man is spied and suspected by every one To prosecute therefore my Love with more liberty I have put on this habit which I had wish'd long before and am resolved to pass away my dayes near those fair Rivers with this little Flock But that I may not conceal any thing from thee and that I may be known to thee as to a Brother I tell thee what I would not every body and that is this that my own proper name is Lewis but I have quitted that to take some Shepherd-name I would have one that came somwhat near my own that so I might be always known and sometimes I had a mind to be called Lodovick sometimes Lysidor but in the end I have not found any name more fit then Lysis a name that sounds somwhat I know not what that is amorous and gentle As for Charite not to dissemble her true name is Catherine I heard her so call'd but yesterday by a Nymph But thou knowest the artifice of Lovers We say Francina instead of Francis Diana instead of Anne Hyanthe instead of Jane Helene instead of Magdalene Armida instead of Mary Eliza instead of Elizabeth These old names sound far better then the new in the mouths of the Poets So after I had taken asunder this name of Catherine for to compose another out of it I found by way of Anagram that of Chariteé and there wants only an n but all the letters
Sheep-hook The Wooll which we have from time to time at the shearing of our sheep is like the Revenue that a Prince receives from his Subjects The Gods themselves have sometimes deigned to come down on earth for to be Shepherds And if that were not so they cease not to be such always in heaven for what are the Stars but a sort of living creatures which they drive to feed here and there in those vast Plains But as for us terrestrial Shepherds what is it that can be compar'd to our glory Could the world with any shift be without us The Wooll of our Flocks doth it not furnish cloathing to all the world The Tapistry of Temples and Kings Palaces is it not made of it Some may tell me that men may make use of Silk Is that any noble thing in comparison of the other It is but the excrement of a vile creature What if I have made me clothes of it It is only for every day I will have others made of Cloth for Holy-dayes The flesh of our Sheep is it not the principal nourishment of men If we had none how should we sacrifice to the Gods Are not these creatures think you acceptable to them when Jupiter would be adored in one of his Temples under the form of a Ram and was it not for a Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts went to Colchos This is to shew you Cousin Adrian that as our Flocks are very profitable so is it a great honour to keep them and that no man indeed should meddle with any other imployment To what end serve all the Trades in the City Read the Pastorals of Julietta and you will find that there was in Arcadia neither Councellors nor Attornies nor Sollicitors nor Merchants there was nothing but Shepherds We must be so too here in France if we desire to be happy Buy you a Flock take Shepherds habit change your Ell for a Sheep-hook and come your wayes hither to be a Lover And doe not counsel me to return to Paris there to execute some Office You may bring hither my Cousin your wife and all your Prentises who will all be glad to become Shepherds You will find it a greater pleasure here to laugh and dance to the Bagpipe then to take the pains you doe at Paris in shewing of Silks and Stuffs O heaven cry'd out Adrian What hath our race committed that must be thus expiated Now I plainly see that the poor Youth hath lost his senses quite and clean Sir sayes he to Anselme I beseech you seeing he places so much confidence in you bestow your perswasions to bring him to himself Whereupon Anselme taking Adrian aside tells him that he had fully discovered his sickness that it was requisite to comply a little with him leaving him there some while longer to entertain himself with his own thoughts and that in the mean time he desired to know who he was if so be he had the leisure to tell him Adrian answered him that he would willingly doe it believing that when he had acquainted him with the whole life of his Ward he might be the more able to remove those imaginations which troubled his mind Having said so they retired some distance from Lysis who being alone set himself to ruminate on his Loves not dreaming any thing of what they went about And Adrian who was an honest man but withall very simple as most of your Citizens are and one that knew very little besides his Trade continued thus his discourse with much natural simlicity That Young man whom you have now seen is the Son of a Silk-man who lived in St. Dennis street He had no more children and hath left him so rich that we all hoped that he would restore our Nobility and that we should see in our race a Regal Officer who might be a protection to us You know there are many Merchants Sons that are so And though the Nobility contemn us yet we are as good men as themselves They are not able as we are to bestow great Offices for their children and if they are so brave it only demonstrates their borrowing from us In the mean time they call us Sires and they are not mistaken for indeed we are a sort of petty Kings But to come to my Tale Lewis's Father and Mother being dead I was chosen his Guardian as being the next of Kindred He had already gone through his Studies at the Colledge of Navar and cost his friends more mony then his weight He was eighteen years of age or thereabouts I told him it was time for him to bethink himself what course of life he would follow That he was not brought up to Learning to the end he might idle away his time and that he was old enough to make his own choise how to dispose of himself For to try him further I asked him whether he had any inclination to be a Draper as I am myself but he answering me that he aspired to somewhat more noble I was not any thing displeas'd at him He tabled at my house and I sent him to certain Masters in Paris who teach the Trade of Councellors They are a sort of people that are so expert that when a young man is to be received a Disciple they undertake to teach him in one moneth all that he hath to answer as if it were but to teach him to whistle as one would doe a Starling so that of an ignorant School-boy they ever make a learned Lawyer My Cousin studied a year under them and was sent thither to no other purpose yet could he never be perswaded to put on the Long-robe Instead of Law-books he bought none but a sort of trashy books called Romances Cursed be those that have made them They are worse then Hereticks The books of Calvin are not so damnable at least those speak not of any more Gods then one and the others talk of a great many as if we still lived in those heathen times which worshipped blocks hewn into the shape of men It doth not a little disturb the minds of young people who as in those Books they find nothing so much mentioned as playing dancing and merry-making with young Gentlewomen so would they doe the like and thereby incur the displeasure of their friends Those Books are good for your medley-Gentlemen of the Country who have nothing to doe all day but to walk up and down and pick their nails in an out-chamber But as for the son of a Citizen he should not read anything unless it were the Royal Ordinances the Civility of Children or Patient Grissel to make himself merry on Flesh-dayes This was my advice to Lewis but he would not believe me And then you would say I had a fine task to command him to learn by heart the Quadrains of Pybrac or the Tablettes of Matthieu that he might sometimes rehearse them at the Tables-end when there were Company alas he could not endure the speech of it That
Sonnet Roundelay or a Madrigal handsomly sung But it may be thou art of the number of those insensible ones who despise Love and the Moses Can I say thou art happy if thou art of that humour Yes I may for thou art not therefore exposed as I am to the charms of a cruel Deity Alas tell me dost not thou know the fair Charite No indeed answers the Shepherd I do not know those people you name to me What thou hast not seen her then replies Lysis Not that Charite that can no more hide her self then the Sun No no it is apparent For if thou hadst once met her thou wouldst not have been any longer insensible Avoid her still that thou mayst continue happy She is at the present at St. Cloud where with her looks she commits murthers she takes men and chains them up puts them on the rack and plucks their hearts out of their breasts without ever opening them she doth not feed on any thing but Hearts and carrouses in nothing but Tears Alas said the Shepherd making the sign of the Cross it seems you speak to me of a Witch She may well be a Witch answers Lysis seeing one gesture or one word of hers charms all that is near her All those that have seen her languish for her she bewitches the Flocks the Dogs the Wolves nay even the Rocks which she makes follow her the Plants doe not escape her and it is only she that causes the buds of the Roses to shoot forth and afterwards causes them to wither away through the same heat that produced them Ah! how shall I have a care not to appear before her said the Shepherd for I am not such a one as the most part of the Citizens of Paris take me to be They think I am a Wizard as all those Shepherds are that live far hence for I should not have the power to defend my self from the wicked woman you talk of I doe not know how they make Characters I cannot save my self any way but by flight Stupid fellow replies Lysis dost thou think to avoid what all the world must suffer This great Universe which thou seest will not be ruin'd but by Charite Thou knowest how that in the time of Deucalion all the Earth was overwhelmed with water there must shortly happen another end that shall be quite contrary all must be destroyed by fire and this Charite is born to turn all to ashes What! thou wonderest at what I say How knowest thou not that I who am but her slave have so much fire within my breast that with one sigh I could burn up all this grass and that besides that I could drown all this Country by a deluge that should issue out of my eyes were it not that the heat is more predominant in me The Shepherd who saw that Lysis animated his discourse with a serious manner of speaking gave credit to all these miracles and though he was as much confounded as if he had already seen the end of the world yet had he the courage to ask him who he was I am a body without a soul answers Lysis I doe not live since I have seen Charite and shall not rise again untill her favours shall oblige me thereto Thou to whom I have the first of any communicated my secrets go and acquaint the Shepherds of thy village to make their vows and offerings to my Enchantress to the end that if she will doe them no good she may doe them no hurt Farewell friend and make thy profit of my admonitions Having said so he quitted the Shepherd who was so much astonished both at the fashion of the man and his discourse that he certainly believed that it was a spirit had appeared to him and he thought it very long that the time of departing was not come that he might go and communicate this strange news to all of his acquaintance Lysis pursuing his way came somewhat near the side of a Mountain where caling to mind that in the Books he had read the Shepherds did interrogate the Eccho in such places as that his resolution was to imitate them and to consult that Oracle which he thought as infallible as that of Delphos Languishing Nymph sayes he with a shrill voice I have erewhiles discovered my torment to all these desarts hast thou heard it There was presently an Eccho that answered heard it He was so ravished to hear that voice that he continued in this manner What shall I doe for to asswage my misery tell me seeing I have already related my chance The Eccho answered dance Sing then or whistle or play on the Tabor if thou wilt have me dance replies the Shepherd but let us not fall out friendly Nymph How is it that I must take my Mistress that my flames may be slaked Eccho naked What shall I doe if I see one of her breasts uncovered shall I touch it seeing haply she will be angry if I undertake it Eccho take it That I take it that 's very well spoken I will go and see her immediately that my pain may find some allay Eccho away Farewell then my Faithfull one till the next time I 'll go seek Charite where she doth stay Eccho stay Why so thou bidst me be gone and that I should find comfort readily Eccho I ly I think thou art a fool thou assuredst me but now I happiness should ken Eccho when Just now sycophant hast thou forgotten and dost not think Charite's heart and mine the same chain must undergo Eccho No. Thou prophesiest false my Mistress shall give thee the lye and make a fool of thee Eccho of thee Of me I believe not what she will disdain me for such mishaps tell me some remedy Eccho dy What kind of death shall I choose there being no succour if her goodness doth not accord Eccho A cord Ah cruel one thou art deceived or haply thou wouldst speak of the cord of Cupids bow that will send me an arrow will make me dye an easie death Is not that thy meaning Eccho No no I mean a halter to hang thee This answer which was very lively extreamly surprised Lysis Ha! what pleasant Eccho is this says he she repeats not my last syllables but says others As he had spoken these words Anselme came from behind a long wall where he had lurk'd and presented himself to him 'T was he that had all the time playd the Eccho but he did not discover any thing at all to him though the other did somewhat suspect him and question'd him divers times So that Lysis who was perswasible to any thing told him that if it were not he that had answered him he had found a place where the Eccho shewed her self very merry and that in all the Books of Pastorals he had never read of her ever being in such a good humour I do not know says he whence it comes she nothing but jeers now Is there not some impatience troubles her Is she
great difficulty here to walk abroad all alone as well as at Paris where there is more gravity required But now I see it is not amiss for a man to have always people about him But I pray tell me why do you believe that he you fought with was a Satyre I perceived him a little and he seem'd to me as proper a Country-fellow as any hereabouts He had breeches and doublet on and do not you know that the Satyrs go all naked Alas how are you out of the way replies Lysis have you not well observed that it was a Satyre disguised He had only taken the garb of a Country-fellow the more freely to come into this Town and carry away Charite For my part I am certain his feet were cloven and his doublet being unbutton'd and his shirt open I saw his breast was all hairy And if all this were not so the deformity of his countenance sufficiently discovered him Well then replies Anselme I grant you it was a Satyre you have feâ—t him better then I Let us now see whether you are much hurt Having so said he conducted him home to his house where the Shepherd being well stretched and chaf'd perceiv'd his hurt not so great as he had imagined And when they asked him which side pain'd him most he pointed to the right side but the people assuring him that they could not perceive any bruise there Then said he I think 't is the other To cure him perfectly of his imaginary evil Anselme caused him to be rubb'd all over with a certain Unguent that did him neither good nor hurt and in the mean time while Supper was preparing he went and shut himself into his Cabinet for to perfect Charite's Picture whereon he had been at work from betimes in the morning Assoon as he had done he returned to Lysis and being both at supper he told him that he had finish'd his work This news put him into that impatience that his Host was fain to shorten his meal to half of his wont that he might shew him that so excellent Peace The Study being opened Lysis entred therein with as much respect and veneration as if it had been a Temple and Anselme shewing him the Copper-piece whereon he had wrought our passionate Lover beheld it a long time with an extreme attention But at last crying out like one amaz'd he said I do not apprehend this Anselme You have mistaken and given me one Picture instead of another You are deceiv'd answers he Do not you see well enough by this candle we have or will you have me cause four or five more to be brought that so you may the better see how to judge of the Picture Are you so blind that you do not perceive this to be the face of Charite and that Du Moustier himself could not draw it better But how do you conceive it replies Lysis I see there are Chains and Suns and Flowers 't is not a Face I will make you understand all in one word says Anselme Do not you see that I have done all according to your directions and that I have represented all the features of Charite's beauty in the same manner as you have expressed them to me Whereupon Lysis discovering the artifice of the excellent Painter began to observe in order all the parts of the Picture which had amaz'd him when at first sight he beheld them all confusedly Anselme had in this business acted a piece of ingenious knavery observing what the Shepherd had told him of the beauty of his Mistress and imitating the extravagant descriptions of the Poets he had painted a Face which instead of being of a flesh-colour was of a complexion white as snow There were two branches of Coral at the opening of the Mouth and upon each Cheek a Lilly and a Rose crossing one the other Where there should have been Eyes there was neither white nor apple but two Suns sending forth beams among which were observed certain flames and darts The Eye-brows were black as Ebony and were made like two Bows where the Painter had not forgotten to express the holding-place in the middle that they might the better be observed Above that was the Forehead smooth as a piece of Ice at the top of which was Love like a little Child seated in his throne And to add perfection to the work the Hair floted about all this in divers manners some of it was made like Chains of Gold other-some twisted and made like networks and in many places there hanged lines with hooks ready baited There were a many Hearts taken with the bait and one bigger then all the rest which hang'd down below the left Cheek so that it seem'd to supply the place of a Pendant to that rare Beauty This is mine own Heart cries out Lysis when he saw it I know it again How judiciously is it placed in this part Now that it is so near Charite's Ear it will continually represent unto her my sufferings Have I not had reason to conceive that you would like my work very well replies Anselme I can without vanity affirm that the fancie is incomparable There was never any that found out the way of painting the beauties of faces by a Poetical figure This ought to be called a Picture by Metaphor Let me embrace you my dear friend says Lysis after a little recollection apart I must confess you have given an incomparable proof of your ingenuity That beautifull face of Charite could not be painted but by Metaphor We had before considered that these features could not be represented naturally O Painter more excellent then Apelles Protogenes and Parrhasius I do not judge this a Monster as I did erewhiles I hold it a thing extreme rational and very full of art The satisfaction of Lysis discovered it self by a many such other expressions and as for the excellent Picture he would preserve it as long as he lived Anselme disposed it into a Box lest it might receive any hurt and then it was he received the highest thanks that could be for the pains he had taken As he was ruminating on his invention he said to Lysis that as they had metaphorically represented the fair Charite so might be painted any ill-favoured woman She should have on a Perriwig of Serpents like Megaera or if she might be allowed hair they should be big and standing upright like the bristly head of a Wild-Bore At which there should be chained nothing but Lice and Nits Her Eyes should be like two washed Prunes about which there should be a quantity of birdlime for to catch the Files that should come neer it Her Mouth should be like the shutting of a Carriers pouch and the Complexion should be like the folds of an old Boot And so for the rest which I refer to the consideration of more excellent wits Lysis thought all this very ingenious yet nothing witness'd his approbation but a short smile because indeed he was so taken up with
be a disquiet 't is desireable if it be a death 't is peaceable if it be a prison there wants nothing but liberty and misery reigns not there as in other prisons A person that at your age should love nothing is like a dead Sea wherein if a ship cannot be cast away no more can it attain the haven and if you can lose nothing by not loving neither can you arrive at any considerable good fortune When I see a Mind so noble as yours not inflamed with Love methinks I find a Torch of most excellent wax but without fire to light it for want whereof we are still in the dark All this were good enough replies Anselme had I not experience that Love is an evil painted with the colours of good The torments are much more assured then the pleasures to him that will submit to his conduct and though some take great pleasure in tasting its fruits yet is it a sort of meat whereof a man cannot eat much and think it 's good There is a sentence as true as old that sayes there are but two happy dayes in marriage the Wedding-day and that of the Wifes death But it is withall to be granted that since this sentence was first pronounc'd things are rather grown worse then better nay for my part I should not grant the Wedding-day to be wish'd To be short A Woman is a domestick danger and under a humane beauty there often lurks a savage beast so that some wise men have doubted whether they should rank them among men or beasts But thou omittest cry'd out Lysis engaging himself in the contest that some other Philosophers wiser then thy Authors have thought they should be disposed between Men and Angels as participating of both natures Ha! who would have thought thou hadst profess'd enmity to what is most amiable in the world Ah my Entertainer how hypocritically hast thou â—eceiv'd me how unfit art thou to meddle with the profession of a Shepherd as thou hadst resolved with me Where hast thou ever heard that Shepherds should blaspheme against Love and Women Ah Savage Woman-hater Insensible thing Wouldst thou have Mankind decay and that there should not be any body here below to sacrifice to the immortal Gods or if thou desirest Children should be brought forth wouldst thou have no other way but by casting of stones backward as Deucalion and Pyrrha did without any further copulation If thou art of that humour I disown thee Come give me my bag and baggage I will not stay any longer with a person accursed of men and the Gods Lysis was delivered of this discourse with much choler and Anselme considering he had some reason to blame him for what he had said resumed the discourse thus Be not angry my dear Friend know that I do not blame all women 't is only with this Geneura of whom we speak that I was afraid a marriage would have proved my repentance But that is contrary to what I said replies Montenor you are obliged to love Geneura and to avoid all others Answer that objection friend says Lysis to Anselme This Gentleman seems to be in the right You will never be thought worthy to enter into the Temple of Astraea if you have not continued faithfull to your Mistress I have hearken'd a good while to your dispute but I shall be able to make nothing of it if you give me not each his story and alleadge your reasons Observe me Will not you submit to the Pastoral Laws and take a Shepherd for to be Judge in your difference and not spend your mony on the Pettifogers of the Country So Sylvander judg'd the difference between Leonice and Tyrcis and Leonidas that of Celidaea Thamyra and Calidon and that of Adrastus and Doris and Diana decided that of Phillis and Sylvander 'T was always the custom to take him for Judge whom the Oracle had chosen or the first they met that would undertake it that there might be no long quarrels between Shepherds whose profession it is to live in all tranquility Will you not therefore do well to take me to decide your business Am not I a competent Judge in this case I refuse you not says Anselme laughing at this rare invention and it shall be the Gentlemans fault if you discharge not that office For my part answers Montenor I believe she whom I speak for hath so good a cause that I fear not to appeal to any whatsoever 'T is very well replies Lysis but the worst on 't is that we are not in the midst of the fields and methinks we should be there for all the differences in Astraea have been so judg'd shall we go thither It may possibly be that the sentence will not be valid if the Judge that gives it sit not on a stone in the shade of an Elm. Nay if it please your Honour let us not go hence says Anselm Seat your self in that Chair before the Table you see that on the Chimney-piece which is behind you there is a Representation of the Country you shall be in the shade of those Trees that aâ—e there doth not that suffice I think Anselme is in the right reply'd Lysis and it must be granted that our Judgment-seat is whereever we are seeing we have none certain In saying so he sate him in the place they had assign'd him and putting his hands on the elbows of the Chair be took on him the gravity of a Magistrate Anselme remonstrated to Montenor that seeing he was of Councel for the Plaintiff he should speak before the Judge first for to make his complaint He who knew not yet whether Lysis was a Fool or play'd the Knave began to provide himself to speak besides that he thought himself obliged to perswade Anselme not to discontinue his love to Geneura So standing on one side of the Table while his adversary was on the other side in the same posture he thus began his Harangue MONTENOR'S Speech in the behalf of GENEVRA IF I were to speak before Barbarians I should be somewhat in doubt I might not obtain justice But seeing he whom I complain against hath always made appear he carried no savage heart I am almost assured that he will condemn himself when I have laid down my reasons 'T is with you that I have this contestation Anselme I am come hither to summon you to the performance of the promises you have made to Geneura to love her ever Time was that the same torch lighted both your hearts and your days were spun by the same spindle and that one onely soule inspir'd your wishes and your thoughts To prove this I shall need no other witness then your self against your self and we are already agreed as to that point But I would gladly know seeing you have sometime thought her worthy your affection why is she not so still Is her beautie decay'd All the world knows that it advances daily and that if at the time you became passionate of her
who the Judge in the short Râ—â—e was that had reconcil'd them He also farther forc'd on him the pleasure to hear him discourse some longer time for he would not permit him to go before dinner Which being done Montenor returned to Paris where he gave an account of what had pass'd to Geneura who thereupon resolved to take for husband him they should propose to her Lysis spent that day within doors with Anselm and that very impatiently for he had a great desire to be carried to Angelica's where CHARITE dwelt but Anselme had no minde to 't and all the Shepherd could obtain of him was only to pass by the door which yet Anselme was willing to do so far as he thought it so much walk As they were in the street O God! says Lysis what a propitious hour is this to go and tickle the ear of a Mistress with the sound of a Lute that crys Compassion for him that touches it Can you play on the Lute Shepherd says Anselme No answers Lysis but for the Guitar I touch it in such a manner that there is no Magick so strong as the sound I give it when I sing to it some ayr that is amorously sweet Well if you sing it suffices replys Anselm the voyce is an instrument which may be carried every where Come and sing before the window of your Sherherdess That would do very well says Lysis if I had but an ayr upon that occasion but I thought not on 't this afternoon to make one besides I left at Paris my Dictionary of French Rimes and my Collection of Epithetes without which I cannot make Verses And now I think on 't He that not long since hath advanc'd in France those loose Verses according to the Italian mode hath been much in the right for there is nothing so easie as to make of them and when a man is in haste they are soon dispatch'd They are some long and some short some masculines some feminines sometimes with plain Rimes sometimes a cross all as it comes into a mans minde without being oblig'd to dispose them into Stanza's or Odes I yet would not presume to practise them till some others had lead me the way for I have heard say that at present there are at Paris a sort of people who would be call'd the Ingenuities of the age who would hiss at me as if I presented them with some unseasonable Novelty They would presently rank me among those who have endeavored to make measured Verses according to the Latines A man must a little fear them for things are so far well or ill done as they like or dislike them and all depends on their approbation and their censure Anselme thought these considerations very rational but he perswaded him that though he had not made Verses purposely to sing before Charite's window yet must he not omit to go thither considering many Gallants gave Serenades every day with ordinary Songs and that it matter'd not so that they were well sung Lysis was so desirous to go and raise up his Mistress with the melody of his voyce that he easily believed all this so having bethought himself a little he said chearfully to Anselme I have found what I had need of have not you heard of an Ayr that begins thus Charite whose brighter eyes Our hearts do Tyrannise And those that dare rebel chastise c. That 's it I must sing I believe it was made expresly for me and that the Poet presag'd that a Charite should dispose me under her Laws As he had said so Anselme gave him notice that they were before the house of Charite and assured him that his choice as to the Song was so excellent and sudden that he believed it was some Divine inspiration wherefore he advi'sd him not to think of taking any other Then he shew'd him that part whence he might be heard by his Mistresse and Lysis having hemm'd divers times to disgorge all the flegme that might have block'd up the passage of his voice began his aire so melodiously that his musick was almost as pleasant as the noise of a Cart-wheel Anselme in the mean time bethought him to take off his Galloches and put them between his fingers and by making the soals clatter one against another he playd as if it had been with Clappers that he might bear a part with Lysis But the Shepherd not approving it intreated him to let him sing alone the second and third Couplet and afterwards he should do what he would He had no sooner begun but a Country-fellow whose ears were grated with this mad musick came to the window and cast three or four stones at the Musitian See there says Anselme to Lysis your musick is as powerful as that of Orpheus it already draws the stones after it That makes no amends says the Shepherd let us retire 't is not good to be here These stones are not respectfull as those that followed Orpheus for they approach'd him not by twenty paces lest they should have orewhelm'd him and were balanc'd in the air but of these we may in the end feel the weight When he had so said they retir'd For though Anselme could have quieted the Country-fellow yet would he not lest any should know he were there Lysis in the return discoursed much to him of the discourtesie and savage humour of the Inhabitants of the Town who would not permit Lovers to give Serenades and he spake somewhat too concerning his voice saying it seem'd to him it was not very good then and that if he had not caught a cold he had sung a great deal better As soon as they were come home they went to bed and slept both of them very well till the next day which Lysis would spend in solitude in his chamber to write a Letter to Charite In the mean time Anselme went to visit Leonora Angelica's mother at whose house dwelt the incomparable Mistress of our Shepherd He acquainted her with the excellent adventures of his Guest and of what pleasant folly he was possessed which rais'd in her such a desire to see him that he promised to bring him along with him as soon as he could conveniently He forgot not to tell her that he was passionately surpris'd with the beauty of her Waiting-gentlewoman and that the discourses he made on his Love excell'd the most excellent Comedies in the world Anselme being return'd asked the Shepherd if he had finish'd his Letter He answered He had but three words to add and he would not sup till he had done and had neatly enclosed it in gilt paper and seal'd it with Spanish wax with red silk about it While they were at Supper Anselme told him that he had been where Charite dwelt and made him believe that he had spoken to her of him and that she thank'd him for his assistance against the Satyre This he thought a high glory and he ask'd his dear Host whether he would do him the favour to deliver
the contrary saying 't were not good treating so rigorously the first time a Mind so extravagant if they intended to make sport with him Whereupon there came in four Gentlewomen of the neighbourhood and two young Gentlemen who said they came to dance to Songs Lysis presently fearing any other should take Charite went to her and demanded her hand with a most humble reverence But he was no sooner in the dance but Angelica told him he must sing and that a Shepherd as he was must needs know a many Songs Know the number of the Stars says Lysis count the Shells in the Sea the ripe Ears of the Harvest the Apples of Normandy the Cheeses of Holland and the Grapes of Burgundy and you have the number of my Songs But I should have had here my Nomenclature which my Cousin Adrian hath taken away from me I shall now sing but some common Song Just then a Gentlewoman of the company began to sing being weary of doing nothing and when she had done they made Lysis believe it was his turn to sing a Song whereupon he began to say O Shepherdess this is the time See now the grass hath put on green And he still look'd on Charite with a corner of his eye to tell her 't was she he spake of His manner of dancing was very pleasant For besides that he pac'd it out of season he quaver'd his body from one side to the other as if his ribs had been disjointed In the mean time the Company who had been acquainted with his humor confess'd still they were much honoured to enjoy him But because they would not importune him there was none but the Gentlewomen sung afterwards The time to retire being come they gave over dancing And because it was not very light on the stairs there came a Lacquay with a candle to light down the company but the wind blew it out before he was half way down so that Lysis seeing the Ladies at a loss by reason of the obscurity of the place cry'd out in this extremity Page go thy ways to Charite and touch her heart of stone with an iron and there will issue out fire as out of a flint and steel You are in the right on 't Lysis replies Anselme But to strike out the sparks of her heart it must have been the iron of the darts of your eyes that should touch it and the tinder of your Love and the Match of your Desire must have been all ready for to light our candle Is there all that ado replies Lysis I have another invention that 's readier Page go thy ways immediately and light thy candle at the eyes of Charite there she hath alwayes flames but take heed the tallow be not quite melted As he spake those words Charite comes with a candle which she had bin to light in the Kitchin Ha! praise be to Love continued be you see the power of the fire of the rarest Beauty in the Univers And though every one began to laugh at his extravagant imagination yet could he not be perswaded but that the candle had been lighted at the eyes of Charite and when Anselme at his own house would seem to contradict him he alleadg'd for a very pertinent reason that it was read in the Poets that Cupid always lighted his Torch at the Eyes of his Mother and other Fair ones and that it was not the first time that the Beauties had flames Not to flatter you says Anselme to him I assure you that I never observed any fire in the face of Charite but once that she had a certain scab on her cheek which they call wild-fire And to convince you of your errour do you not consider that when the candle was blown out we should not have been without light if that beauty had any in her eyes seeing she was in the place where we were in darkness You are no good Phylosopher replyes Lysis you are to know that the fire which is in the eyes of Charite is like the Elementary fire which we cannot see though we are well assur'd that it is between the Ayr and the Orb of the Moon Now if this rare fire of my Mistress be invisible as to us 't is because it is so pure and subtile that our eyes cannot perceive it and if her flame be fully seen when she lights a candle or sets a peice of wood on fire 't is the mixture of the material vapours that gives it a colour But howsoever Lysis strove to shew himself an able Naturalist yet the next day Anselm renew'd the contestation upon the same subject to make himself some sport but the Shepherd had the discretion to be silent lest the other being incens'd against him should carry him no more to the place where his heart was in Prison A while after Dinner walking together on the backside of Leonora's Garden they found the back door open Anselme went in and being advanc'd a good way into the Garden he came back and told Lysis he had seen Charite asleep on one of the beds The business was that her Mistress being gone abroad upon some visit she had taken the opportunity to walk and having reposs'd her self in that place was insensibly fallen asleep Lysis willing to take the advantage of this occasion made signs to Anselme that he should stay at the door while in the mean time he would go see her but he still followed him to see what were done The Shepherd was so afraid to make the least noise that he went as gently as if he had trod on thorns and when he was come to the bed which Anselme had shewed to him he perceiv'd Charite laid down on a mossie bank tapistred with grass Her face was towards the sky and her mouth open so that the Sun shining on it as he did the time of the day might be known by looking on her teeth which were large and proportionally disposs'd upon which reach'd the shadow of her nose which was so slender that it seem'd to have been plac'd there as the needle of a Quadrant The Shepherd ravish'd with admiration to see her was jealous of every thing He was angry that her body made any shadow and he could have wish'd to have been there without it In the Sun beams which pass'd through the trees he observed the Motes turning swiftly about he was angry at that and strove to drive them away with his hat believing they were a fighting who should first go and kiss Charite Considering also that the leaves were not thick enough for to fan his Mistress from the heat of the Sun he stood before her to hinder him to see her any more That which troubled him most was that he still heard some little noise which he was afraid might awake her and that if she went away he might not see her at his pleasure How troublesom is this wind says he very softly 't is not content to blow in her nose but it must also keep a
being returned he came and told him there was a great news stirring and that Leonora who was a woman and built a design in a moment was returning to Paris with her daughter Angelica Thou canst give neither grace nor gravity to things says Lysis to him seeing Angelica is thy Mistress as I have easily observed oughtest thou to mention her without a Paraphrase say that Leonora who is the Queen of merit returns into the Queen of Cities with her Daughter who is the Queen of thy foul Say that this Angelica prepares her wings to flie away that is to say she packs up her baggage and folds up her smocks to be gone Why should I make men believe that she flies replyed Anselme seeming she goes by Coach and that Charite also bears her company What! she goes too the Beauty of Beauties cry'd out Lysis Alas I think their Coach will not go very fast for it will be heavily loaden Charite carries away with her my heart which is so big with troubles and disquiets that the burthen of it cannot be light But what is this departure so sudden that I shall not bid her adieu and kiss her hand Ah! blessed opportunity this long time shall I not recover thee I must lose my self for having lost thee in losing Charite whose loss makes me lose all things The Shepherds Expostulation had been longer if Anselme had not comforted him by a promise that within three days they would go together to Paris to see their Mistresses Lysis was somewhat satisfied with that yet was it not a little trouble to him to consider that he was to go into a City which he was not at all taken with and must forsake the Fields and the condition of Shepherd But that nothing should burthen his minde his good friend assured him over and above that they had eloquence enough to perswade Charite to go along with them into Forrests as they had already proposed Lysis told him that he ever cheer'd himself up with that hope and that if he had not spoken of it 't was because there had not any occasion presented it self However he became very melancholick and though Anselme would have carried him into some good company yet he chose rather to stay at home where he employed the whole day in reading the Translation of Ovids Metamorphosis which had been borrow'd for him In the same manner spent he the two next days never speaking to his host but at meals for Anselme went some way or other to divert himself and that he did not carry him to his friends 't was because he found him not in so pleasant an humour in Charite's absence Yet one evening Lysis had a design to be merry and he bethought him of going to that place where he had some days before heard such a foolish Eccho He intended for diversions sake to Interrogate her so he asked her three times very loud if she were there and how she did but she would not speak for Anselme was not there to answer in her stead The Shepherd wondring at that silence returned home very pensive and said to Anselme at Supper that he thought that Nymph was dead You are extreamly deceiv'd replyes Anselme she is naturally immortal The Eccho which answered you a while ago is a member of that Musician Eccho which I mention'd to you now it is Metamorphos'd into a subtile voyce which can go from one place to another You are to know that since yesterday conceiving that you would have been glad to have such another Oracle in the Country whither we go I thought fit to take it for to transport thither and you will never guess by what subtilty I could do it I measured the place whence that voyce could answer and having overspread it with a large peice of Linen cloath I retird about fifty paces and having call'd on her I let her answer a good while then I pull'd a cord that I held and all of a sudden let down the cloath under which I took her as a Partridge under the net She is now encloss'd in a Box where she shall remain till we be in some Musick-room or some fair Garden fit to be her sojourning place Thou tell'st me wonders said Lysis how couldst thou conceal this from me till now I know not how I came to tell you it so soon replyes Anselme for you are very curious you would fain see my little Nymph and in the mean time I fear me if I should open her lodging she 'll flie away far from hence now that she is not yet grown familiar with us For which reason you must not see no not the Box And let us talk no more of her lest the desire to see her increase in us by little and little I am content says Lysis But tell me prethee if thou seest her not how dost thou give her meat I beg thou wouldst let me know it and that thou conceal not from me if she stand in much the keeping She is no charge to me replies Anselme I only sing sometimes near her little lodging or else I rap with a knife against a trencher and she is nourish'd with that found which she easily hears Thou art as ingenious as Daedalus and as subtile as Vlysses says Lysis I remember that the Prince of Ithaca lock'd up the winds in a leather-bag and carried them in that manner in his ship They invention is well worth his there was never yet found in any book such a thing as the transportation of Eccho's Lysis having so said resolved to speak no more of it fearing to lose the pleasure which he hoped for The time of their departure being come Anselme said to him that seeing they were to return to the City 't was necessary he cast off his Country-habit otherwise people would follow him as an Inbabitant of the New world At first Lysis would by no means consent but at length seeing that Anselme threatned him that he would never take notice of him he took his former Cloaths which were brought from the Country-mans house where he had lodg'd when he became a Shepherd The Cloak was of Spanish cloth of a light-foot gray and the Linings of Taby pink'd of the same colour and the Doublet and Breeches were of the same stuff Yet did he not conceive himself so brave in this cloathing as in the other and the regret he had to quit it had not been silenc'd if Anselme had not remonstrated to him that men cease not to be of a profession though they sometimes leave off the sigâ—al habit thereof that the Souldier is not always oblig'd to have his armour about him and that Kings lose nothing of their Majesty when they have not on their Royal robes So the Pastoral habit and all its equipage was dispos'd into the bottom of Anselm's Coach and when they had well din'd they got in and drave away for Paris Anselme's house was somewhere about the Temple and was one of the fairest in that
said it was not seeming that Shepherds such as he had erewhile seen should disguise themselves into Jack-puddings to relate a thousand absurdities in a place where they profess gravity and should not speak but with sighs and in amorous and dying expressions At the going out of the house those which were with Anselme asked him in particular who that brave Shepherd was he had brought with him He told them in few words what he knew of him and so enflamed their desires to converse with Lysis that they each of them invites him to dinner in hopes he might bring the other with him Yet Anselme was forc'd to decline their civilities because his affairs were more urgent and could not dispence with their entertainment Yet the next day in the afternoon desirous of a little diversion after some troublesom business he had in the morning would needs go abroad principally indeed for to avoid visits so he gave order the Coach should be made ready He ask'd Lysis which way they should go who answered That he thought fit the preparatives for their Jourâ—ey should be look'd after and that they should go and buy good store of new books for their better instruction and conduct in their Loves Anselme approving it bid the Coach-man drive into St. James Street among the Stationers They drove along our Ladies Bridge where Lysis having observed a Painters shop cry'd out Hold hold Coachman we have some business here The Coach being staid See you says he to Anselme the Painters of Paris have already heard of me look they have painted me in my Shepherds habit and that with my Shepherds hook Anselm looking about saw in that shop a Shepherd painted who by accident had somewhat of the aire of Lysis They went presently out of the Coach to view it nearer and Lysis being entred the shop ask'd for the Master When he was come Sir says he to him I am very much oblig'd to you that you have taken the pains to draw my picture but I finde here some faults I pray correct them You have made the knots of my shoe-strings blue and they should have been red and here you have made me with a set Ruff whereas when I was at St. Cloud I wore nothing but a plain band Do you think that Shepherds have the leasure to set Ruffs and if they had to what purpose were it in the fields where the rain would spoil them and the storms rent them I protest to you I 'll never wear any Besides I finde you have bestow'd too much Vermilion on my face and t is necessary in the complexion of a Lover the Rose give place to the Lilly The Painter was so surpris'd with this discourse that he was somewhat in doubt they were come to jeer him for Lysis had not then on his white cloathes but Anselme taking him aside in a serious manner spoke thus to him The Gentleman hath some reason to imagine that your intention was to draw his picture for besides that that countenance somewhat resembles his he hath worn such cloathes as having been a long time of the company of Players among whom he acted the Shepherd Observe him well now take him for the present in dry colours and henceforth put his face to all the shepherds you represent They will sell extreamly for he is well known Whereupon Anselme turning to Lysis bid him have a quarter of an hours patience that he might be drawn more â—o the life He was very willing and the Painter conceiving he might get somewhat by it drew him the best he could Other Painters have since taken by that original so that you hardly see any thing besides their Shepherds either at their houses or their shops in St. Germains Fair. When the Painter had made an end Lysis told him he had done but half his work and that he must also draw the picture of his Mistress but he would give him that which Anselme had drawn for to make another in her full length by it He had in his pocket that little Copper piece which he shew'd the Painter telling him that he must graft that head upon a body cloath'd like a Shepherdess Sir I do not apprehend any thing here says the Painter 't is some Ridle or Embleme if I should put it upon a body people would take it for a Monster 't is not fit for any thing unless it were to represent Anticks in the border of a peice of Tapistry How says Lysis do you not see it is a Metaphorical picture full of Scientifical Erudition In what manner else do you imagine my Shepherdess can be painted You may do as you please but you will never do it more fortunately then the Courteous Anselme here and instead of painting my Mistress you will paint your own ignorance Anselme seeing he began to be angry got him into the Coach again and having taken leave of the Painter bid him paint according to his fancy the Shepherdess that he should place near Lysis as he doth to his hour so that we never yet have had any true Picture of Charite Thence Anselme and Lysis went to St. James-street to a Stationers that printed a world of Romances Lysis would see none but the newest as for the old he needed them not for he had them all by heart As they were bargaining for some of them in comes Montenor who having pass'd his Complements acquaints them that Geneura was married Anselme in the midst of his Congratulations takes him aside and tells him of his design to go to Bry to see Angelica and his intention to take Lysis with him making him believe it was the Forrests Country I am heartily glad of it says Montenor do not you know that the house I have bought is but a League from Orontes's you shall not think of any other Quarters then my house We 'll be as merry as the Maids Anselme accepting his courtesie went to Lysis and told him that this Gentleman had a house in Forrests and that he would bear them company thither so that a many salutations pass'd between them They ask'd him what he who had a soul perfectly martial come to do in the Latine Country he answered An intimate friend of his had sent him a little book for to be printed and that he had given it the Stationer to see if it were worth it The Stationer told him he had not had so much leasure as to peruse it and taking seven or eight sheets of Paper written out of his Drawer delivered them to him This is what I spoke to you of says Montenor to Anselme I wish you had the patience to hear a peice of it you 'll finde it the most pleasant and ingenious thing in the world Anselme told him he was ready to hear what ever should be read Lysis also being entreated not to dissemble his opinion said he would do the like and that all came very opportunely and was conformable to the adventures of all Shepherds and
Golden age it was because their souls were of gold and not their Plate Can it be imagin'd that I who caused others to live with so little ambition and avarice am troubled at the loss of my Kingdom and may it not easily be discovered that it became me to shake hands with the affairs of the world for to enjoy that tranquility which others had enjoyed by my means While Saturne said thus Momus who knew he contemn'd not the royalty but because he could not obtain it went and made a thousand wry faces behind him and had a great itch to answer him but he was hindred by a loud shout of laughter which hapned at the lower end of the table Iupiter desirous to know the occasion it was told him that the God Terminus who had no arms at all had bowed down his head into a Platter for to eat some Ambrosia dress'd with Nectar-sawce and that the Mess was so hot that 〈…〉 off his nose and lips What pitty it is alas poor God! says Momus with a Scoggin-gesture I know not who hath maim'd him in that manner he hath neither legs nor thighs yet had he but arms and hands he might go on his Arss like a Wash-bowl whereas now he must be alwayes carried in a Chair like a sick body to an Hospital Thou which mak'st a Laughing-stock of him says Iupiter my will is thou shouldst go and feed him With all my heart says Momus and thereupon going behinde him he took some meat on a Trencher and having given him a little bit he eat up the rest himself Iupiter seeing his Knavery bid him come away from him seeing he fed him after that rate and bid Destiny who sate next him have a care of him After that observing that there were divers others complained that the Messes were too hot he commanded Zephyrus to take some course therein so this God getting up on his Chair did so much shake his wings and blow with his mouth that all was presently cooled But this was not all for at the other end of the Table there was the God of Silence who was much troubled because he could not eat at all and who thought it was to no purpose to have invited him to the Banquet if he had not the power to do as others did Time hath been that he was contented only with putting his finger on his mouth to hinder himself to speak but of late he had found out a more assured course and that was by locking his two lips together with a Padlock yet this invention brought its inconvenience along with it especially at this time he being not able by reason thereof to put one bit into his mouth He made signs to those whom he conceiv'd his friends to take compassion on him but there every one was for himself and Fate who kept the Key of this Padlock had forgot himself to bring it with him There was no other way but to seek to Vulcan who had been the Smith and had made it He understanding well the pain that poor God was in out of Charity sent one of his Cyclopes who with one stroke of his hammer broke it asunder but it put the God of Silence into the danger of losing half his teeth for the blow light upon his Chin and was like to have batter'd to pieces his nether Jaw He afterwards aâ—e but not without difficulty and much pain for it was a long time since his teeth had been in any employment The action of his eating was so ill-favoured that he made sport to all at Table yet was it soon over and all were quiet and well pleas'd except Venus who complained that Priapus who sate next her lay so heavy upon her that he had well nigh over-heated her She had on a Robe so thin and transparent that one could not be well assured whether she were clad or naked so that that good Companion blowing like a horse that smells his oats clapp'd his hands ever and anon upon her thigh and was much amaz'd he felt nothing but silk Jupiter fearing some scandal might arise through his incontinence caus'd him to be plac'd next to Minerva who being all armed admits not so easie embraces and is somewhat a terrible Mistress Whereupon Venus swore by Styx that thence forward she would never be clad so thin nor should the Graces nor her Son Whereat Momus jeering said to her Do you think to be Venus and not go stark-naked how should the Gods know you and your Son when he is once cloath'd will he be taken for what he is what hath he to do with cloathing seeing he never feels any cold But I pray how would you cloath him shall he put on Breeches or shall he still were a Bib I see what the matter is you would tempt fortune it will not cost you much to cloath him for he is so little he may be put into ones pocket and besides the suit you shall make him will last him a long time for he grows not at all But tell me I pray hath he given over crying in the night Doth the little Knave keep his bed clean doth he not Caca in his Quiver for want of a Chamber-pot Can he feed himself how many teeth hath he If you are troubled with him your best course were to bestow him on some Princess on earth she might haply be very tender of him and would play with him as if he were some little Dwarf This divine Jester directed all these encounters to Cupid who to be reveng'd of him began to make ready his bow but Venus perswaded him that the green and yellow Capuche that Momus wore was proof against his darts In the mean time Momus by the order of Iupiter commanded the Tritons who stood by all this time to play on their Cornets and appointed some Fawns to play on their Flutes that by the sound of their Instruments they might not suffer the jaw-bones of the Gods to be idle He himself plaid his part with them on the bells he had at his knees wherewith he made a special noise in dancing He had also a stick with two Swine-bladders full of pease fastened to the ends wherewith he kept time with the rest upon the swollen cheeks of the Loud-musick which must needs yield an excellent harmony The second Course was hardly on the Table but the Gods were extreamly amaz'd at the new sort of meats that was served in to them The Ideas they found most excellent yet Aesculapius said to Iupiter Let your Majesty commend this to others this kind of meat is not cordial for you it is too windy Saturn and Fate hearing this took all to themselves and it found them no more work then a Strawberry to a Swine though the Doctor told them also that he knew well their constitution and that those Idaeas would prove purgative to them and that he foresaw it would give them the squirt As for the souls which were fryed he permitted Iupiter to
down word for word to shew what consequence the discourse might have and what judgement I should make of it But stay seeing my renown is dispers'd every where and that the Painters have already taken my picture may it not be that some Romancist of this age hath already undertaken to write of my Loves for there are those who hunt every where for subjects to exercise themselves on I am clearly against it that 's a thing ought not to be done without my approbation He thereupon turn'd to the Stationer and said to him Sir have you not THE LOVES OF THE SHEPHERD LYSIS No indeed Sir replyes the Stationer I do not know the Book I do not believe there is any hath such a Tile I am very glad on 't replyes the Shepherd you shall see such a thing one day and you shall have the Copy of it I acquaint you that I am going to Forrests to run through divers adventures for to amplifie the matter and believe it there will happen to me such rare things that when they are well writ as I hope they shall be and that you shall make them be well printed there will sell more of the Book then any other in the world For know that I observe the Art of Loving better then any lover that ever appear'd on the Theatre of History I am sorry I came not hither in my Shepherds habit you should have seen that it became me better then that Celadon who is in the Frontispiece of your Astraea The Stationer seeing that Anselme and Montenor could not forbear laughing at these pleasant extravagancies could not chuse but laugh too There were some in the shop who came to buy Books and they were somewhat amaz'd at it and considering the actions and words of Lysis did almost take him for what he was A Sallad-wench that was in the street quite ravish'd with admiration to see him pluck'd by the apron one that cry'd Hot bak'd Pears for to stay her and make her partake of the pleasure Nay there was a Begger who for being taken up there lost a mess of Pottage which he should have had three doors off At length Anselme being in haste to be gone took five or six books and paid the Stationer for them But Montenor looking what they were said Certainly you have not much to do with mony seeing you bestow it so ill For my part I am sick at the heart if I but hear read three lines of those fopperies These books are as profitable to those that read them not as to those that read them You understand not our affairs says Lysis to him We buy these books for no other end but to see if we can do greater wonders then what are related in them you shall have your share of the pleasure there will be to see them done Assure your self that if the Lovers in these histories pass two days without eating I will four and if they shed tears as big as ones thumb I will shed as big as ones head You mean a pins head perhaps replies Montenor and if you fast all day you will burst with eating at night You are a scoffer Montenor says Lysis you shall find that my words and my actions can well keep house together That being past he went into the Coach with Anselme and Montenor also because he then had no horse Anselme took this Gentleman home to supper And as he was still shewing The Banquet of the Gods which he had taken back from the Stationer he said that seeing Lysis thought the Piece too short to be printed by it self he would return it to the Author Nor made he any difficulty to tell them that he who had made it was call'd Clarimond a Young-man of most excellent parts and one that liv'd hard by his house in Forrests Lysis understanding so much was infinitely satisfied promising he should one day dispose of him as he pleased He spent the night and the best part of the next day in reading the books which were bought And the day of their departure being come Montenor came to Anselme's house so that they went all three together in the Coach They ask'd Lysis whether he knew how many leagues it were from Paris to Forrests He answered that to his remembrance he had heard say there was a hundred Who told you so are deceiv'd says Anselme and if they have counted a hundred leagues hence into that Country they have not known the nearest way But without any further information as to that point I 'll bring you thither in two dayes I make no question of that replies Lysis it may be Love hath lent your horses wings to make them go faster They entertained themselves in this manner with many excellent Poetical imaginations by the way as also in the Innes where they baited In the evening they reach'd a Village whereof Montenor's Brother was Lord the Gentlemans name was Fleurial and his Wife 's was called Cecilia Anselme was willing to go see them before he went to Brie that Lysis conceiving they went a great way might believe he was carried into Forrests Montenor's Sister-in-law who was a merry Grig presently discover'd that the Young-man had not the soundest brain And to be more certain of it she set upon him and ask'd him why he was so sad as he seem'd to be Such a courteous Lady must not be denied replies Lysis Know therefore that if I am melancholick the reason is that I too much think on the beauties of one whose feir eye enchants me What she is one-ey'd then whom you love replies Cecilia for you speak but of one eye Pardon me says Lysis 't is only that the best Poets always use this phrase though their Mistresses have two eyes And if you will have a reason of it it is because the beams of both eyes meet together as if there were but one or else because there is but one eye that hurts and the other heals Besides there are Lovers which say that their Mistresses have the Sun in one eye and the Moon in the other and Ronsard believes that Cassandra had Venus in the left eye and Mars in the right But to return to my Mistress You are to believe she is adorn'd with the pillage of the Graces and though she have a hue of snow yet doth she not cease to set me on fire perpetually Good God! if she be snow and live in Forrests there must be care taken she be not melted by the sun for it is a great deal hotter there then 't is here and if we had now a little piece of her body we might make good use of it to put into the glasses to cool the wine How could that be seeing I tell you it heats says Lysis Besides as for the sun she fears it not for she is a Sun herself How happy are you then when you are neer her if you have but a Sun-dyal you may know what it is of the clock That cannot be
to note that he did it with an amorous subtilty that seem'd to him very excellent He shut his eyes in the action so to deceive himself and imagine that he kist Charite But he found himself deceiv'd more then he thought for that Nymph was of such a rough flesh that she had almost grated the skin off his lips whereas in his opinion his Mistress was of more tender complexion Being come to his own place again he whispers to Synopa saying I will not kiss any more these Hamadryads there 's no pleasure in it It is soon discover'd they are wooden Nymphs their skin is as rough as the bark of a tree Synopa smil'd to hear him and when she had sung in her turn she went and gave him a kiss which pleas'd him better Ha! saies he to himself how soft and tender are these Nymphs of the waters in comparison of those rugged Hamadryads I must avow that this last kiss hath taken away the hurt which I had received by the other He thought there was a great deal of pleasure to sport it so innocently and yet he wondred how it came to pass that Nymphs of reputation and Hamadryads so stately and gallant amus'd themselves to sing such Songs as Country-Chamber-maids do There was but the Musician Lucida who sang another kissing Song which was very well compos'd and pleased him much Being desirous to taste of all sorts of meat he went and kist the Nymph that sang and was more satisfied then with Synopa because it seem'd to him that she was yet of a softer complexion and handsomer This rais'd him into so good an humour that he would have been content to do nothing else all his life But one of the Hamadryads presently began another Song which was very ridiculous and wherein they made him dance so much that he was quite tyred Morin because he sang not did instead thereof caper it in very strange postures At length every one being weary they all lay down on the grass where Lysis having taken breath a while addressed himself to all the company in these words Ye great Divinities of this Country since that Fate hath decreed my abode among you I should wish the honour of your more particular acquaintance to the end that when ever I shall see you I may not so far forget my self as not to render you the civilities which are due unto you Therefore now that we have the leasure tell me if sometime you have not been something different from what you are now and what hath been the occasion of your Metamorphoses Divine Willow saies Synopa your demand is so just that here is not any present that would not be willing to give you satisfaction The God Morin himself would have been glad if he could have distinctly spoken that you might have had the History of his fortunes from his own mouth He is known by the shaking of his head and the noise that comes out of his throat whereby he signifies his consent to any thing Because he cannot I shall tell you what you desire to know of him The Fable of the God Morin and of the River of Marne IT was a long time before Pharamond became King of France that Brie had a King the number of whose vertues was equal of that of his Subjects His name was Brisefer and his Son was called Morin who is this honest God whom you see Now there past through this Countrey the little Neece of a Fairy who at her birth had had two gifts that of Beauty and that of Metamorphoses If she had a design to bewitch a man she had no more to do but to shew him her natural countenance which when she had done she put on what form she pleas'd as if her body had been made of soft clay She wandred about the world purchasing of hearts and all she got by her amorous looks she put them into a great Apron made like a Purse that she had about her Morin had no sooner seen Marne so was the Nymph caled but she drew from him those sighs that would have been able to make a ship sail and in testimony of his love he made a deed of gift of his heart to her in the presence of the Notaries of Cupids Kingdom She fastned this great heart of his to a part of her Girdle and made it afterward her Pin-cushion which was a great torment to him for she would be ever and anon thrusting of pins into it Yet her new Lover would have taken this Martyrdom as supportable had she but accepted his services But as he spoke to her of it being one day standing by her she made no more account of him nor indeed was he any more in comparison of her then the sheath of a knife hanging by her side For you are to know that she was of a Gyant stature however she was not esteemed the less for that because if a thing be good and fair and pleasant it is so much the better if it be great and there is no man so foolish but he had rather have a great Capon then a little one So you are to believe that if she had great cheeks and great breasts she had by so much the more Lilies Roses and Pinks and if her eyes were as large as Bucklers they were so much the more convenient for her Lovers to behold themselves in There was no calumny could obscure her glory there was no default could be objected against her but her cruelty The truth is she was somewhat touch'd with that vice and as she never boild her Kettle but with the fire of the affections she had enflamed so did she never wash her hands but in the tears of her Lovers You might see every morning her Chamber-maid standing at her door holding a great Tray whereinto those poor wretches went and pour'd their tears that there might not be want of that water and sometimes the cruel one went and held her own murthering hands under Morin was one of the first that paid her this duty yet she regarded him no more then the last years snow He therefore resolved to get that by force which he could not by fair means and being powerful in his fathers Kingdom he got a great number of Souldiers about Marn's house who made so many works and palisadoes about it that it was thought she could not get away without his leave He enters into the Nymphs Court where she was walking all alone but when he thought to embrace her he was much amaz'd that she vanish'd away He search'd for her all about and could finde nothing but a spacious Quadrangle which to his observation had ever before been cover'd with dry earth but now was carpeted with grass That gave him occasion to imagine it was the fair Marn had been so Metamorphos'd and being desirous to enjoy her any way he went into the house to look for a sickle to cut that grass Being return'd with one in his hand he findes
says Synopa I smell raw flesh here we are betrayed Here is a Mortal let us be gone my companions With these words she runs away as fast as she could and was immediately follow'd by the whole troop So that Lysis beset himself to run after them speaking to them as loud as he could in these words Whither run you dear Divinities stay a little He whom you shun is but a miserable Shepherd If you stay not here he and other men will have some ground to believe that you fear them since you dare not appear before them All that ran away were by these words stay'd and being assembled in a meadow they made as if they had taken heart and ask'd Lysis who he was that accompanied him 'T is the Shepherd Carmelin answers he When I was a man he was my companion of fortune that should oblige you to esteem him were there no other reason but besides that he hath many excellent perfections Fear not to shew your selves to him Juno Venus and Pallas shewed themselves to Paris who was a little lewd Rascal that was not so good a man as he This man is a Shepherd who stands upon his honour and reputation and to tell you the secret of all it was his desire to see our nocturial recreations This curiosity proceeds from an ingenuity which ought not to be frustrated of its expectation We must hear those that invoke us We will receive him into our company says Synopa on condition he 'll be faithfull He shall be as I am a gummy Tree replies Lysis But by your favour I see three Divinities which I know not They are Gods of Rivers who are come with Morin says Synopa they live sometimes in the Sein and sometimes in the Marn Lysis upon that faultes them and they embraced him a little more gently then their companion had done the night before That done Lucida said she would bring the company into a very pleasant place and going before them she rested not till they had gone a quarter of a league Carmelin went among the rest but not without much respect still holding his Master by the skirt lest they might lose him When they were come into a square Close so well beset with trees that it was almost like a Hall the Cypress plaid Coranto's and the Gods of the River took in the Nymphs to dance Lysis admired their good dispositions but Lucida took him off that admiration telling him they had learn'd to dance from their Carpes There being no reputation to strive with them that way he would not dance but to Songs Carmelin was in the dance wherein there was required such activity as made him glad to find his legs This exercise having wearied them all they sate down on the grass and Lysis made it his business to inform himself of the new Gods of the Rivers Synopa told him they never had been men nor had not undergone any metamorphosis but were the children of others Gods and yet could not speak This past it was proposed to go to some little verbal recreations whereat the Gods of the Rivers were not fit because there was always some word to be spoken They therefore withdrew from that divertisement and were content to listen to the harmony of Morin's Lute Carmelin who was busie at play with the rest thought the time very tedious and the Collation long a coming so that ever and anon he was at his Master asking And when comes this consolation Lysis thus importun'd knew no remedy better then to find him some excellent employment to divert his mind and having broke off the game they were at My fair ones says he to the Nymphs now shall you receive the incomparable satisfaction of hearing my gentle Shepherd And thereupon turning to Carmelin he says to him Make a speech in the demonstrative kind in commendation of these Nayads and Hamadryads and those aquatick Gods Excuse me Sir I beseech you answers Carmelin my books speak not of any such Nations What sayest thou ignorant Sot says Lysis wilt thou make me be affronted in not answering to what is expected from thee must my boughs which are always green now put on red and blush for shame of thee Come hither says he speaking to him in his ear knowest thou nothing where there is mention of Beauty or the effects of Love That thou must in the first place speak to these Nymphs and afterwards thou mayst consider of a Panegyrick of the Gods I can discourse excellently on Beauty replies Carmelin let me alone can you not at first speak as you should I can never understand one half of your barbarous names you speak nothing but Latine to me In three words of yours there are ever four cannot be understood Carmelin having thus said kneel'd down on one knee before the Nymphs and made them this discourse Fair Ladies hide your bright eyes from me they make me dye yet no do not hide them they give me life yet do for they have stoln away my heart yet do not for if they had taken away my heart they had with it taken away my soul And this is in the first Chapter of my book of Collections The second speaks thus much O BRIGHT EYES you are not eyes but Suns Suns no ye are Gods but since you are Gods how comes it you are the causers of my death Alas I see you are eyes as to your Essence Suns for your brightness and Gods for your power and that the occasion of your coming down on earth is to make me suffer I wish I knew what to say to these Gentlemen with the great beards but I believe there is not any book extant that mentions them and it may be they are deaf as well as dumb Get thee gone seeing thy discourses are so impertinent cryes out Lysis What need was there thou shouldst speak of thy Collections And must thou withal so far forget respect as to speak to Goddesses as if thou wert in love with them Why may he not replies Lucida he shall not be disdain'd he shall have for his Mistress the greater of the Hamadryads I give you thanks for him saies Lysis he shall endeavor to deserve this favor be pleas'd to excuse him if you think he hath committed any folly for the splendor of your bright faces had so dazled him that he was quite out of himself Lucida upon that viewing Lysis saw he had not on the fine cap they had bestow'd on him She ask'd him the reason of it and withal told him he was very negligent of his health I have already told you that my body was impassible replies Lysis and besides as for your fine covering I have cast it away for this reason that among all the Gods I never saw any one pictur'd with a hat on unless it be Mercurie who wears one as the badge of his dignity and as for Heroes and illustrious persons I have ever observ'd them bare headed unless it were some few that
had helmets on but that proves nothing they wore them not but in fights There had been advanc'd more such considerations had not Synopa come and said that they had discours'd sufficiently and that it was time to collation Carmelin commended her a thousand times within himself for her profitable advice while the Hamadryads discharg'd their baskets of a many good things they had brought and dispos'd them on the green grass which was all the Table-cloath they had The God Morin came near Synopa and told her somewhat in her ear which Lysis perceiv'd not In the mean time Carmelin was help'd by his Master with the wing of a cold Turkey which he fell presently on with his fingers knowing that hands were made before knives but as he was putting a piece into his mouth Synopa withheld his arm Be not too hasty Shepherd saies she to him you are not yet permitted to eat with us We must first wash you in one of our fountains What did Lysis dream on that he hath given you your portion he was like to serve us a fine trick We must have gone to the God Pan for to entreat him to purifie us all I was ignorant of this Ceremony saies Lysis I beg your pardon if I have done any thing amiss I never read what you speak of in any Poet. However it must be believed so and good bathing will do Carmelin no hurt it may conduce to his health Carmelin was thinking what a pleasure it were to be wash'd by such fine Ladies but he wish'd it might be just then that so he might collation with the rest and he saw they did not make any haste to do it They had taken away the meat from him and withal fed so earnestly and with such stomacks that there needed no long time to dispatch all that was which consideration made him sick at the heart The Divinities having ended their collation Synopa thought it time to go and bathe him and to set all the rest in a forwardness but he angrily answered that it was to no purpose seeing there was nothing to be eaten Synopa reply'd that it were so much spar'd another night that he should come and see them Then comes Lysis and whispers to him bidding him go where ere they should carry him and that it would be a means for him to see the Grots of the Nayads whither he had so earnestly desired to go Carmelin crediting him went quietly with the fair Deities but when they were come to the brook of Lucida's fountain Synopa saies to Lysis for your part you need not be present at our Mysteries Morin you see and two of the Gods of the River have left us go your ways with them Lysis who earnestly desired to see their ceremonies that he might be initated in the divine Science was much troubled that he was forc'd to leave them But he was fain to go with Morin and the two other Gods who were Anselme and Clarimond In the mean time Synopa Lucida Montenor the Humadryads and the Cypress took Carmelin by the head and feet and threw him into the water in his cloaths in a certain place that was deep enough He found not so much pleasure in his handling as he had imagin'd but it was much worse with him when the Cypress said that he must be stripp'd stark naked When he had put off his breeches and doublet they tyed him by the arms to a willow that was on the bank as if it had been a piece of the ceremony which done they turn'd up his shirt and whipp'd him so long with Ozier twigs that from crying mercy and begging he fell a railing heartily at all the company but Lucida told him that the water could not cleanse him and that there was within him a corrupt blood that must be whipt out ere he could be made so pure as to be admitted to converse with the Deities All having done him what mischief they could they return'd to their Randezvouz and left him fast tyed Lysis being by this time come near the place where his tree was took leave of the Aquatick Deities who bid him farewell by signs with the hands and conges Being left all alone he was much astonish'd that he could not finde his abode though the appearance of Auroroa made it somewhat light Hircan desirous to try all means to bring him out of his imagination had given order that while he was absent his willow should be cut down at the root and carry quite away Besides all which the place was so well made up with fresh â—urfs that he could not perceive there ever had been any Lysis seeks all about and his hollow brain wanted no matter of imaginations upon this accident Yet though he could not finde his willow he did still imagine himself a tree and hearing some body coming he planted himself near the place where the willow had stood and because he would do nothing before men that were contrary to his nature he lifted up his arms and widened his fingers as though they had been brances In this posture doth Hircan appear to him in the same black suit which he had when he delivered him out of the danger he was in at Orontes's O Tree saies the Magician to him my will is that from henceforth thou become a man 'T is not in thy power to do it replies Lysis they are the great Gods that have Metamorphos'd me The greatest Gods have but the power of Dwarfs if compar'd to me replies Hircan and I will now shew thee the power of my charms While he said so he made a circle about him with a rod he had in his hand which done he read certain barbarous words out of a great book I see I must double my Enchantments says he to Lysis for thou art so self-will'd that thou resistest them What wouldst thou do replies he wouldst thou deprive me of all happiness Let me alone thou know'st not what is fit for thee replies Hircan thou shalt immediately be a man in spight of heaven earth and hell and seeing thou wilt not get out of thy bark to come to me I will cause the winds to blow thee down Thou shalt be put out of thy abiding place and shalt see that I can command all the powers of the world O you Kings of the air and beesoms of the earth goes he on with a louder voyce you winds which blow the one from the one quarter and the other from the othtr that is to say from the North and from the South And you Boreas and Auster I do conjure you by the pantofles of Fate the old Gallogaskins of Saturn and the Close-stool of Proserpina and by whatever else is venerable and august in the world that you blow against this tree and bring it down in such manner as that it lose its vigor and that I may change its form Assoon as the Magician had pronounc'd these words behold there appear'd a brace of knaves all clad with
of error and vanity I believe Lysis perceiv'd it so and took it no otherwise and now that we were made friends yesterday he will not bear me any ill will henceforward Here Fontenay made an end of his story which he had related with much difficulty many times recalling what he had said as if he had taken a great deal of pains to lye Clarimond who laught ever and anon There 's an end it seems of your Legend says he to him in good time I never heard any thing more impertinent and you have only made it appear to us that you were sometimes this greatest Hypocondriack and the most melancholick Fool that ever trod the earth Abusive Clarimond replies Lysis wilt thou never give over affronting honest people Art thou not to blame to censure this Shepherd for loving himself since it is well known that in his youth he was of an excellent beauty and that I my self being clad like a maid at Orontes's was enamour'd of my self I could not but shed tears at the relation of his adventure so was I mov'd with it There is but one thing troubles me whereas he lay with Iphis who was disguis'd like a man I should have wished with all my heart that to make his history the more perfect his Theodora had been so disguis'd and that their friends seeing them equal in Beauty and Riches had desired to match them together Fontenay taking Theodora for a man would have abhorr'd such a marriage and Theodora taking Fontenay for a maid would not have been joyned to her fearing she might never receive any satisfaction thereby Their plaints would have been reciprocal and yet being dispos'd into the nuptial bed they would have found that they had wherewith to please one another and there was no more to be done the next morning to put all things in order then for them to exchange cloathes Theodora taking those of Fontenay and Fontenay those of Theodora That had gone beyond the Metamorphosis of Iphis the husband of Jantha This consideration is excellent saies Fontenay but le ts not think any more on it since what is done cannot be undone As to the insolence of Clarimond let us bear with it as proceeding from a spirit of contradiction which can hear nothing and be pleas'd with it I should be very glad if Philiris would also take the pains to give us his history to see if haply there will not be so much to carp at Let him then vouchsafe us that diversion saies Lysis I conjure him to do it by the eyes of his Mistress I am very tender as to the refusing of any thing whereto I am press'd with so much civility replies Philiris prepare therefore your ears and you shall hear what yesterday it was my desire to acquaint you with While Philiris said this Lysis rises out of his place and seated himself on the other side What would you do saies Fontenay to him do you finde the ground too hard in your former place or do you think it any softer here There is in this a secret and that no small one replies the Shepherd I should much wonder if you could but conceive what it might be before I should tell you my thoughts are not so common yet I will discover it to let you know that such a Lover as I cannot conceive any thing but what is rare and excellent You are then to know that in the place where I sate before my back was towards Orontes his Castle where is the residence of Charite and that was a thing quite contrary to the rules of all civility And that is the reason why I have planted my self here where I think my self so well scituated that I sixtly behold the aboad of my felicity Had I all the mathematical instruments in the world I could not place my self better And that I perceive already for I finde the air more delicate here then there and methinks the Zephir brings with it sometimes a perfum'd sent which it took up from the breath of my Mistress I will henceforth turn towards her with as much pertinacy as the Load-stone does to the North Whether I be a bed or at table or be in a ship or in a Coach I will ever observe that The design is noble saies Philiris but there is one thing I stumble at and that is when you are far from your Charite she may go from one place to another and turn her back towards you so that you will be deceiv'd and you will look towards a place where she is not and you never know it However I believe your good intention will be much considered There 's more then so in it saies Lysis do you not see that I cannot possibly be mistaken since I shall know by the wind in what quarter my Mistress is That indeed is a reason that salves all replies Philiris its time to dismiss this discourse if you desire the relation of my amorous adventures Let the brave Shepherd begin when he will saies Lysis I shall not be he will interrupt him Thereupon Philiris related his story in this manner The HISTORY of PHILIRIS A Little Village in Burgundy was the place of my birth saies this Shepherd there my Father and Mother live yet being persons more remarkable for their vertues then their wealth Yet did they bestow the greatest part of what little means they had to bring me up with children of greater houses and it was not their fault if the good endowments I had acquir'd did not commend me to the attendance of great ones But while I was at Paris though I wanted business to look about yet did I make it my greatest employment to go wooing up and down I was the most unconstant thing that ever was known for when ever I went to give one Lass a visit whom I had chosen for my Mistress I still went through some street where I should see another by the way lest I might have lost my labour If I had made verses for the first I endeavored to start out the same occasion for to present them to the second and as I once had made a song in commendation of a brown Lass if I had chanc'd afterward to be acquainted with any more of the same complexion I presented them with it as if it had been particularly made for any of them So that there were a many finely mump'd when being in a mask they confidently gave one another that song I loved the white and the brown the fat and the slender the great and the little and when I saw one I never thought of any of the rest and for that time I thought that she were the most desirable But when I was far from them all my affection I left as a booty among them and she that came first into my thoughts had the best share of the pillage The dressings and fashions of cloathes made me set a higher esteem on the beauties and if I had loved a little
will confess themselves to be in the same affliction as my self and that whoever knew the divers imaginations I had in my Love will know all that that Passion makes us do 'T were sufficient matter of astonishment to know the strange Commissions Valerius had from me and in what manner I gave them him And seeing Amelita Basilia's Cousin was somewhat a light Housewife seldom found at home I bid him endeavor to meet with her in the fields or in the Town but he could not do it in fifteen days and yet when he went from me in the morning I charg'd him to tell her this or that as if he were infallibly to meet her and in the evening I ever went to him to know what he had advanc'd in my business so that I even persecuted him if I may so say by my importunities One time he brought me very good news for he told me that Amelita had acquainted him that Basilia would be at her house the next day We fail'd not at the time appointed and I assure you I was then forc'd to put on stronger chains then those of my first slavery Basilia charming me as well by her ingenuity as her beauty Valerius and Amelita desirous to favour me with all the opportunity might be left us together and gave me occasion to declare my sufferings to her who was the cause of them A Captain that were to joyn battel with a most potent Enemy would not have been guilty of so many distractions as I was then and not knowing at what end to begin I ever and anon chang'd my design At length speaking to Basilia of all the Verses she had found I acquainted her they were only design'd for her and if I had sought the means to see her in divers places it was that she might see some experiences of my affection She answered me That I had not begun that Gallantry and that I did not pursue it for any other reason then to make my self sport as other young Shepherds did To that I replied all that I could possibly invent to perswade her that I lov'd her and yet she would never confess that she believed ought I said And 't is indeed to be acknowledg'd that though my cause were good yet had I not many strong reasons to maintain it My mind was not free enough for to bethink it of fine words and I had much a do to keep my self from vanishing away so violently did my heart beat I was so surpris'd and withall so fearfull that my whole body trembled and I believe I had fallen down if I had not been seated Methought also without flattering my self that Basilia had no greater confidence of herself for she blush'd and fix'd her eyes on the ground not so much as looking on me I also believ'd there had not any Shepherd spoke to her of Love before but for me who was not an Apprentice in that trade to be so much troubled was very strange Whenever I remembred what action we were in I had very strange emotions and I believe we were rather an object of pitty then matter of delight to those that saw us I do not relate to you our discourse word for word for my astonishment hindred me to observe it Let it suffice you to know that I advanc'd nothing that time and having met Basilia eight dayes after in the same place I was only so happy as to know that she somwhat favour'd me Nay finding a Pack of Cards on the Chimney-piece she was in so good a humour as to ask me whether I would play a game with her at Picquet When I lost any thing she made some little offers to jeer at me and among other things told me I was easie to be overcome There 's no greater glory then to be overcome by you reply'd I and yet I should think it better you were not so insolent in your victories as to be abusive if I ever come to revenge my self I shall have no pitty on you Upon that having put on a little confidence I endeavour'd to kiss her in my play but she call'd Amelita said to her Make Philiris be quiet I pray see you how he treats me without any respect What are you angry at said I to her how do you expect I should be wise since I have lost my discretion This touch was so gentile that the Shepherds laught a good while at it and in the mean time I found the occasion to take the kiss had been refus'd me The next day I brought a pair of Spanish gloves to Amelita to present to Basilia having thrust a little Note into one of the fingers wherein these words were written Fair hands who have stollen away my heart receive the Present I make you of these Gloves which I do to be out of your debt Let your fingers confidently enter into them and there keep them close there is nothing more convenient for them since 't is ordinary for Thieves to hide themselves I understood since from a good hand that my Present was acceptable to Basilia and that she sent me thanks with much complement Yet my amorous remonstrances ever met with small refusals and the poor Shepherdess had not so much boldness as to confess my services deserved any recompence Besides she so little studied any compliance that she said all came to her tongues end whereby I might observe that though her mind was of a sweet composure yet could she not on any occasions but betray somwhat of want of age and discover some relique of infancie Yet one thing I could not but take notice of that while I sigh'd when I look'd on her she would go and play with her little Dog or a Lamb calling it her Minion and her Servant I think Amelita pittied me and that she could not but pray her Cousin to treat me otherwise for within a little while I perceiv'd that Basilia took some pleasure in my addresses and came to love me even to jealousie So that having desired her to let me take her Picture because that which I had caus'd to be taken was not as I thought much like her she very handsomly refus'd it telling me that she feared I might be more in love with that then with her own true face and that I should after a while content my self to see that and speak to it at my own house in stead of coming to entertain her herself Now if Painting made her so suspitious you may well think she was more suspectfull of living persons She would not have me visit any Maid nay out of a a fear her Cousin might tempt me to her she would not have me make any more visits at her house Since that time I very difficulty could find the occasions to entertain her But the first time I saw her I told her what I thought Dearest Basilia said I to her You need no more distrust me then your own heart I had rather only think of you then see
weep now for having drunk too much to morrow you will weep for your loves that your lives may be diversifi'd Lysis spoke this out of his ordinary judgement for though he had taken his seven cups he had not drunk much at a time as being of those that are not much given to wine Clarimond was not well pleas'd to see him so reserv'd and temperate for he would gladly have known what extravagancy he would have committed if there had been a mixture of drunkenness with his Extravagance As for Carmelin he had eaten and drunk so much that he went a little aside and return'd it which his Master perceiving Ah! villain saies he to him must thou offend such a presence with thy beastliness I allow thee to be merry and to drink but I would not have thee forget the quality of a man and a Shepherd and participate in brutality with the beasts Orontes who heard this discourse came and said to Lysis You are to blame to find fault with such an honest man Consider if that which he casts out be a thing so foul that it is a loathing to you to see it he hath reason to disburthen himself of it for how do you think he could suffer it on his stomack What thou sayst salves the matter well for the present reply'd Lysis but why had he before so little discretion as to swallow down what should hurt him I will allow him to be drunk so far as to be frolick but not to be stupid I am not drunk my sweet master says Carmelin 't was only my drinking out of a great glass that hath made me so sick at the heart that I was fain to vomit as you see This discourse was interrupted by three or four hickocks which brought out with them wine and broth which a dog of Orontes's did assoon lick up lifting up his nose every foot to see if there were any more Lysis approv'd the specious reasons of his faithfull Carmelin and so return'd to the rest of the company to know what they were resolved to do They had notice of a Wedding hard by so that they resolved to go thither to pass away the time At the end of Orontes's house there was a Hamlet of five or six houses in one whereof there was a Country-Lass that married a Husband-man of the next village They had brought from Coulommiers the great Musick-Company which consisted of a Base a Tenor and a Kit which served instead of a Violin The guests having already din'd had paid their Reckoning and made their Presents according to the custom whereupon the Musick began to cheer up the Company and there was not any so wretched Lobcock but took his Sweetheart into the dance Our courteous Shepherds being come thither would not stand out but rushing in among the Country-people they danc'd together where every one shew'd what he could do though there were some whose paces were very circumflexe and whose capers were not above half an inch from the ground The Peasants seeing so many Gentlemen of quality in such ridiculous postures and in such extraordinary habits as they had on thought they did it out of some design to abuse them so that they were not well pleas'd at it When Orontes was weary of dancing and the rest too he would needs have them to some of your childish sports Shall we go to Blind Cupid says Lysis to the company it is a very Pastoral sport it 's used by Amaryllis and her companions in the Faithfull Shepherd and methinks 't is much like that which all the Children know which they call Blind-man-buff But to be more ingenious yet I should desire we might not fix on any sport but that which Sir Philip Sidney makes the Shepherds of Aacadia recreate themselves with in that long Proeme which is as I take it in the first Tome of his incomparable Work but it is so subtle that nobody can make any thing of it Every one gave his voice for Blind Cupid and being retired a little distance from the place where the Wedding was there was none but voted Carmelin to be the Cupid They blinded him with a foul napkin and every one being gone out of his way Lysis taught the rest the words of the game But instead of courteous treating the poor Cupid they pelted him with clods of earth which fell on him of all sides so unmercifully that he was forc'd to unblind himself and run away swearing that as long as he liv'd he would never meddle with such a sport Having taken sanctuary among the Country-people he thought better to be merry with them and having perceiv'd Lisetta whose fair eye had deeply wounded him he would needs dance a Coranto with her The Gentlemen-Shepherds return'd within a while to make up their sport with him They saw that Carmelin was not any thing sick and that he danc'd it so well as would have bred a mortal jealousie in the most illustrious Dancers of all the villages thereabouts Leonora's Kitchin-maid chanced also to be in the place and Lysis having spoken to her made account to know of her a many particulars concerning his Mistress It came into his mind that when he was let blood it had seem'd to him and Clarimond too that there might be seen in his blood the Figure of Charite He would have gladly known if in like manner there was not seen his Figure in hers or whether there appeared the countenance of some other Lover He thought that by that means he might discover whether he were belov'd or no. He therefore put the question to the Maid thinking she had been present when Charite was let blood three or four dayes before She told him he was an idle jeering Companion that she understood nothing of his fine talk and that for his full satisfaction she could only tell him that no body employ'd himself so vainly as to observe Charite's blood and that it was cast into a sink the very day it was let Ah! what imprudence was that and what impudence both together cry'd out the Shepherd Ought not so precious a thing to be preserved What would you have had done with it replies the maid would you have had puddings made of it Do not scoff fair one replies Lysis It troubles me that Carmelin did cast away my blood for it was as worthy to be preserved since it bore the image of my Mistress You may tell us of this another time sayes the Maid but for what is done there is no remedy While this discourse passed between the Shepherd and the Maid Carmelin was not satisfied to have drawn Lisetta once into the dance but he must have her twice more And there coming afterward a young Country-fellow to take her in he thrust him back and disdainfully told him that she was not meat for his birds This Clown perceiving himself wounded in his honour gave Carmelin a good blow on the breast and was ready to second it when Lysis coming between them cry'd
proposed much like those I sometime saw at Paris Some Schollers shall maintain them others shall dispute against them both for the exercise of their parts and that truth may issue out of these altercations as a spark of fire from the collision of two flints As for example there shall be those that shall in the first place maintain that Absence bring more satisfaction to Lovers then presence Secondly That it is better to see a Wench that one loves dead if one be reciprocally loved by her then to see her married to another and not be loved by her Thirdly That the affection is greater after enjoyment then before it In the fourth place That it is better for one to enjoy his Shepherdess twice a week with all the torments and disquiets in the world then to enjoy her fifteen days together in one year with all freedom and not under go any hardship to have her In the fifth place That the remembrance of any thing that is good is a greater pleasure then the good self In the sixth place That it were better for one never to enjoy his Mistress then to do it on an infallible condition that another should have the enjoyment of her also though he were your dearest friend And in the seventh place That the jealousie of a Lover who never knew any enjoyment is stronger and more violent then that of a husband who enjoys every day A man may advance a many other as subtil propositions and by such disputations shall every one be fully instructed On the days when this diversion is not to be had the time shall be spent in singing making of verses dancing and divers other Pastoral sports This indeed is a very pleasant and much desirable way of life saies Menelas but since we shall have no offices or professions among us it is most certain we shall get nothing and if so I know not how the family shall be maintain'd and the taxes paid Our condition is noble and free and consequently exempted from all impositions replies Lysis trouble not your self as to that As for matter of livelihood we shall want nothing There is no bird so inconsiderable but findes his dinner though he have neither store-house nor fee-farm rent heaven provides for all the creatures in the world 'T is very certain you cannot want your entertainment since you can restore the golden age says Clarimond In that first age of the world all the rivers were not milk and all the trees bore not fruit of Lotos as many fools have imagin'd Nature brought forth nothing but what it does now and that not so abundantly then because nothing was advanc'd by cultivation but men were content with what they could finde and to make a true relation of the felicity of that time it must be confess'd that men fed on Acorns as well as the swine and drank out of the river as all other creatures did They had no coverture but their skin or haply some garment of leaves The earth was their Table and their Bed the grass their Carpet the bushes their Curtains and the caves their retreats And thus it is most certain the first men lived so unreasonable a thing it is to conceive they liv'd in a golden Age since gold was not yet discover'd Let it be considered whether their life was not rather brutish then humane and if they are not mad men which grieve for it and that despise ours whereof the ornament and civility cannot be over commended You have much reason to believe you will easily finde your livelihood if you regulate your self to that ancient manner of life for indeed Lysis you shall not be deny'd such a nourishment as we allow beasts but what you do is as if the Law-makers were not yet come into the world to make men leave the forrests and rocks and to perswade them to live in community in Cities I believe there will be very few shall envy you for my part I shall only bemoan you to see you become savage for if you will needs restore your golden age you must go naked as an American and at the best be no better hous'd then with a few turfs as your beggars on the high-way who sell wands to Travellers I do not believe the ancients entertain'd themselves as thou sayest reply'd Lysis but though it were so know that I will imitate onely what is good in their life I intend also to joyn to it the happiness of this last age wherein all the curiosities in the world have been invented It shall suffice me to live in the innocency and freedom of the first age and it may be thou wilt be of my opinion when thou shalt have tasted the pleasures which I have imagin'd we shall not envy any nor be envied by any Of all the passions there is only Love shall possess us And if sometimes we shall be guilty of any hatred we shall exercise it only against the wolves which are in hostility against our Shepherdry What pleasure will it be to love Shepherdesses whose affection will be mutual and will freely discover it self when respect shall not cause reservedness and breed in their mindes what shall torment them We shall finde that those fair ones will be neither Cockneys nor Courtizans and that the unfaithfulness of Lovers will not teach them to carry two hearts in one breast As concerning divine worship and the sciences which we shall study I have spoken to that point already but as for our ordinary recreations I have fancied to my self most excellent ones Those of better quality among us shall act a Comedy every day The subject shall be taken out of some piece of ancient Poetry and the parts being assign'd to those who already know the story by heart they shall only be told the cast of the Scenes and then they must compose as it were on a sudden what they have to say Besides I have found out an incomparable kinde of stage I have seen your Players at Burgundy-house I have seen some plays in the Colleges but all was but fiction There was a sky of Canvas a rock of Parport and in all things the painting cheated our eyes but I will have it far otherwise our plays shall be acted in the open field and our stage shall be the great Theatre of nature we 'll have no heaven but the true heaven if a Shepherd be to issue out of a Thicket he shall do it out of a true thicket if he must drink at a spring he shall drink at one indeed and so all things being naturally represented men will believe they see the true history so that the actors being thereby animated themselves will put on the passions of those parts which are assig'd them and the spectators be as much pleas'd as astonish'd at it And all this I do not any thing doubt of when I consider that when ever I was at any play at Paris though they were not so natural and lively as ours
that he confest he never had been so entertained I pray bate so much of your Bill saies Carmelin all you say is false under correction of the company Do not say that I made such a good meal with you I have not eaten a bit since I went hence How shouldst thou live then replies Lysis very angrily it s at least fifteen days since we went hence hast thou lived all this while without eating Well impudence were it not out of respect to those who are present I would chastise thee as thou deservest but I must not interrupt my discourse for so small a matter as thee This Company then is to know that the old man having made us both eat without disarming us carried us into a garden where the Gods seem'd to have married together the Spring and Autumn for there shin'd a clear Sun without heat and yet the fruits on the trees were ripe and in the Level all sorts of flowers As for Summer and Winter I think they were eternally banished thence and that the one was gone to burn up Mauritania the other to freeze up Scythia The place was inhabited by great yellow and green Birds which had the charge to cultivate it Some with their bills prun'd off their superfluous branches and others lopp'd off and levell'd the hedg-rows there were some that brought water in little shells to water the Plants and others made Posies But that which was most to be admired was that they spoke like men and told one another what ought to be done with much ratiocination I learned of them some constitutions of their Republique and they brought me to see their Shee s and their young ones I also saw all their provisions and heard them sing certain aires which they used to make themselves merry with on their dayes of recreation So that I swore to them that I wish'd with all my heart I had been metamorphosed into a Bird that I might have led such a pleasant life as theirs They answered it was not so pleasant as I thought it for though they were in a very delightfull place yet had they not much joy in it when they considered it was the place of their captivity and that they were only Tenants and not the owners of it and that it belong'd to certain men whom I might see if I would go a little further I went so far that I came to their walls which were so high that they were not able to flie over them and my Conductor having opened a little door I pass'd through with him and Carmelin We saw a field that was very dry and very sandy wherein were men stark naked who had on their bodies neither flesh nor fat and were only cover'd with a skin transparent as oyl'd paper A man could see through it their bones their veins their sinews their muscles and their intrals so that for to learn Anatomy he needed but look on them Their Hearts were most cleery seen as also what was imprinted in them As for example in one you might see the countenance of some fair Lady who was his Mistress and in another a great heap of silver which he ador'd as his God There was also to be seen an Hieroglyphical figure of the words they were to speak from the stomach to the throat and by reason they had no hair 't was easily perceiv'd what strange imaginations they had in their brains which they disposed there under several representations of divers colours Though my guide laught at them yet I thought their conversation very pleasant and was sorry to leave them They came very confidently near me but they kept off from Carmelin because he was armed and that they feared lest he might come and embrace them or so much as touch them as he passed by lest it should grate off their delicate skin I should have been very glad to have lived among men that could not conceal what they thought though they should desire it but the old man told me that should I but see their wives which sex I loved better then the masculine I should soon hate that people for they were not of the humor to be willing that men should be acquainted with their affairs and having their bodies Diaphanous as their husbands they put gown upon gown for to hide it that their fantastical imaginations might not be seen To satisfie my curiosity he brought me to a Furnace under ground where those people put their children to make them transparent as themselves for they were not so from the mothers womb I put my finger into the fire to see if it were hot and Carmelin would do the like but it burn'd so that we were fain to pull them out immediately If you will know the truth look on mine and Carmelin's right hand Clarimond and some others look'd on their hands whereon they found certain rednesses which were there by chance so that every one said that Lysis was to be believed in whatsoever he said Yet Carmelin did nothing but grumble as if he had a mind to contradict all his Master said Walking on still with the old man continued Lysis I came to a River which though it was very cleer yet was it not more transparent then the bodies I had seen My Guide having invited me to cross it I ask'd whether there were either any boat or bridg Come over this bridg said he to me smiling and I presently saw him going through the air upon the water I told him I could not do the like but he came and took me by the hand and Carmelin also and making us go the same way as he did himself we were amaz'd to find resistance under our feet as if we had gone on firm ground whereas we thought we had pass'd through the aire My eyes at length being more clear'd up I perceiv'd we were on a chrystal bridge which was so clear that a man could not discern it from the water Carmelin still ignorant of what it was came forwards extream fearfully At the end of this bridge there stood a Tower the walls whereof were of glass solid enough and transparent enough but as to the walks on them they as as wel as the bridge were of crystal so transparent that being out of curiosity gotten up on them I durst not walk thereon imagining there were none at all because being on high I could see the ground below toward the foundation I understood that that was one of the marches of the Country of the Diaphanous people and having walk'd yet another half hour with the old man I came to a very barren Champion We have walkt a long time said he to me I must now have you to a collation in a magnificient palace which I have here I thought he had jeered me for I saw no building and yet I took it patiently from him But he seeing I answered not I think said he you doubt of my power you shall see the effects of it Turning my self presently
the Argenis but I fear me the lock is so much out of order that it cannot open that Cabinet where we are promised to see such rarities They will have Meliander to be Henry the third Poliarchus Henry the fourth and Argenis to be France but though the Authour should have meant it so what ground is there to make an Analogy between our History and those divers Romantick adventures You find indeed that the discourses of State relate to our way of Government and when he speaks of the Hyperefanians all the world knows he means the Huguenots that Vsinulca is Calvin and Aquilius the Emperour but we go no further and when we have known all these explications we have learned but very triviall and ordinary things Why should we love truth better under a vail then when she is naked Some may haply come and tell me I should not speak of this book as an ordinary Romance as being full of maxims of State which prefer it before all other doe but read any book that treats of nothing but Politick knowledg and you will find a hundred times as much in it That this book raised it self into such an esteem at the beginning was because in other Romances those things were not commonly so frequent and the Authours made it their business to describe the passions Besides any other discourse whatever were as much to the purpose as those you find in the Argenis and I wish the Authour had set himselfe rather to speak only things necessary When Archombrotus found Poliarchus at his Mothers these two Lovers became furious at the first interview they shook again for indignation and viewed one another from head to foot as two men that were upon the point to fight All this is good but I would fain know whether they spoke or no and what they said in the presence of Hyamisbe who must needs oblige them to some discourse Two words would have satisfied me but this was the hardest nut of all to crack These Authours when they fall into such lurches pass over them slightly and I have observed in very famous Books that when a discourse was to be made on some ticklish occasion you only find that such a one said some fine words to his Mistress and we are satisfied but when it comes to an easie conjuncture you have discourses in their full length As for any esteem may be made of the Latine of the Argenis I am clearly of the contrary opinion for there are a many new words which were never currant at Rome so that if Salust returned into the world he would hardly understand it A man may lawfully add some words to a language that is in vogue because use may in time naturalize them but we must leave a dead language such as we find it in the Monuments of Antiquity and it is sacriledg to meddle with it Now I am to let you know what a thing the History of Lysander is I protest to you that book hath no invention in the world The Authour having heard that the best Romances should be full of miraculous Adventures hath no other secret to win us into admiration then to make a many unexpected rencontres wherewith he hath filled his book which is a thing very low and extream tedious Lysander coming from Calista's relieves her father against Robbers in the Forrest of Fontainbleu the next day he is second to Claranges against Lidian his Mistresses brother Cleander leaves his wife to go to Holland with these brave adventures There Lysander relieves the husband and brother of his Calista They return like strange Knights to challenge some French at a Tournament which done they take off their Helmets and discover themselves Lysander being in Burgundy sick is comforted by a Capuchin whom he finds to be Claranges and being gone like a Pilgrim to Montserrat he finds Cleander and his servants clad like slaves having been taken by a Pirate upon the Coast of Genua as they returned from Italy The Sermon being begun they find the Preacher to be Lidian whom an amorous despair had forced into devotion as well as his rivall Claranges They bring him back to Paris and discover themselves in these habits one after another After the death of Cleander and many other adventures Lysander goes over to a Tournament in England where he fought against Lidian and at length knew him and Alcidon and Berontus who were there upon the same occasion In the mean time Lucidan having demanded leave of the King to fight with Lysander who had killed his Uncle his father Adrastus appears for his son so does Dorylas Calistas's father and Calista her self disguised The Amazon Hypolita makes a fourth but the combat is staid by the coming in of Lidian Alcedon and Berontus who had been separted from Lysander by a Tempest Not to tell you the whole book by heart you see by these examples it contains nothing but meetings and discourses Some are separated others return and then they all meet at an hour so that the Authour deals by these persons as a Puppet-player by his Puppets makes them enter and exit off the Stage as he pleases And this is all the subtilty in it There are other passages farre enough from probability of being so as they are related Who will believe that Lysander having hurt Cloridan with a Lance a kinsman and four of his friends should come to Cleanders to assassinaâ—e him How were they admitted into the house all armed and what rage could animate them to such a mischief since Cloridan denied he knew any thing of it Yet a while after the Author wanting an invention to find his Lysander fighting work brings him a challenge from that Cloridan As for the Operatour that dressed the cloathes in stead of the body 't is a Magick I permit in a Romance But as to the spirit that appears to Cleander and prays him to bury his body which was in the bottom of a wel methinks it is a tale made in imitation of that of Athendorus but not so good for certain Pagans were of belief that those who were not buried were not admitted into the Elysian fields but as for Christians that they are so carefull to be put into holy ground 't is onely out of devout custom and those that miss of it are not accounted the less happy for that so that it is not credible a soule can be troubled with these considerations in the other World and disturb its own rest to come and desire one to bury the body wherein it had once dwelt But this spirit is besides very complementall it asks Cleander whether he will command him any service into that Countrey whither he goes As for his promise to give him notice of his death three days before it should happen 't is a question whether God permits any such premonitions For my part I believe they are onely Saints have that favour done them Yet this spirit comes one morning to give Cleander
them But Lysis interrupting his story came and said to him Be not troubled the mischief is past and in recompence thereof I 'll tell thee what thou shalt be very glad of Know then what came not yet into my minde to tell thee I am no tree I am the Shepherd Lysis My vexation hath also hindered me to inform my self of it replies Carmelin yet I somewhat suspected you had chang'd nature Fair weather after it let 's forget what is past seeing you will have it so But above all things let me not be entreated to come any more among those fine Dames I saw last night it may be they are evil spirits I desire not to have any thing to do with people of the other world Carmelin having so said was ready to go with the rest but that he wanted his hat The Nymphs had not left it with his cloathes after they had plaid with it a good while they had cast it into the bryars far from that place where they were sure he would not look for it Let 's go however saies Clarimond I 'll give you another Nay it shall not be so saies Carmelin I cannot endure to be affronted out of any thing should you give me as many hats as would reach from earth to heaven I would not lose my own You need no more but summon the Lady-Nymphs before the Magistrate of the place saies Anselme Do so and fear not saies Clarimond see there 's a sergeant goes on the road let 's speak to him That said they put forward and Carmelin having overtaken the man who indeed was a Catchpole My good friend saies he to him there are certain indiscreet Ladies have taken my hat from me without any reason Have I not a good action against them That you have without question friend replies the Catchpole give me their names and dwellings I 'll summon them I must first acquaint my Master with it saies Carmelin She that must have committed the Felony is called Lucida saies Lysis as for her dwelling it is in the source of a Fountain hard by but she is hidden within it so that thou wilt never finde her poor mortal Serjeant For this Arrest there is requisite a celestial Serjeant such as Mercury As for her companions who have been Accessaries in the Felony they are fast in the barks of trees where wouldst thou finde all these For thy part Carmelin let fall thy suit thou'lt get nothing by quarrelling with stronger then thy self The Nymphs acknowledge not Terrestrial Judges or if they submit to them they corrupt them as they did the Son of Priamus The Catchpole went his way with this discourse thinking they either had been some that would abuse him or that somewhat was amiss in their mindes In both which cases there was nothing to be gotten of them since he understood not what they said Carmelin being much troubled that he could have no satisfaction of those felons began to cry out Alack poor hat must I needs lose thee in the flower of thine age and beauty 'T is very true thou didst my Grandfather service and credit at his first wedding but thou mightst have a long time serv'd my posterity Ah! how I grieve for thee when I remember thou hast been for so long a time the faithful covering of those cares and thoughts that were forg'd in my head and the noble tabernacle of my Doctrine Do not weep for 't saies Anselme its hour was come 'T were to no purpose to erect a Monument for it as we should have done for you when we gave you for lost Besides why will you not be comforted since you are promis'd a better Carmelin having recollected himself a little resumes the discourse thus But that hat what shall it be made of Master Fine Wool He had not the seasure to finish what he intended to have said nor had Anselme the time to answer him for they all broke out into laughter especially Montenor who knew that Anselme by the Fathers side came of a race of Merchants and that Cloath and Wool had been the foundation of his Nobility Lysis desirous to end the laughter The error was saies he for want of a Comma or Parenthesis in the Period Hear'st thou Carmelin observe it that thy transposition be not deficient The discourse of the Master was thought as pleasant as that of his man because his words came out with a certain accent that gave them great weight Carmelin himself was pleas'd with it but when Clarimond was come home he made him a much more joyful man by giving him the hat he had promis'd him which was better then his own though not much They told him that if he esteemed pieces of Antiquity that was a thing worthy as fair a Cabinet as any medal in the world He was almost out of himself for joy for if he grieved for the other hat 't was only because he had no great hope of this Notwithstanding all this he goes to his Master to desire him to describe unto him by name and cloathes all the Rural Deities that so he might know who had done him the most mischief It was concluded that it was the Hamadryads and Lucida but as for Synopa she had not given him one stroke nay stood at a distance all the while he suffered the lash O! what a great mystery is there hidden under that says Lysis to him thou hast ground to believe that Synopa is of a very amorous disposition she hath discover'd her passion for me but perceiving that I always disdain'd her she will henceforward adore no merit but thine I did much inspect it and it is my opinion she never look'd on thee as an indifferent person so that now I will shew thee how I intend to bring thee quite out of this trouble Put the case it was she committed the Felony on thy hat thou must imagine it was for no other reason but to keep it instead of a favour I remember Charite took away one of my shoes upon the same account I know not what love you mean replies Carmelin why did she not assist me then speak no more of her I do not like her humour If I must have a Mistress be it that Shepherdess whom you spoke to me of heretofore Charite hath a companion called Jacquelina saies Lysis I meant her Thou shouldst love her were there no other reason but because she hath a fine name and because thou canst make a very quaint allusion thereon saying she is called Jacquelina because she is as 't were a Javelin wherewith love strikes hearts through Besides when thy History shall be written it will be a handsom title for it The Loves of Carmelin and Jaquelina There is a sympathie between the two names as there is a conjunction between your two hearts and when I have any leisure I promise thee to find out some fortunate Anagram upon it While he said this he heard Anselme proposing to Clarimond a visit in the