most certainly now render'd the most glorious Palace in the Christian World And had our late Gracious Soveraign of blessed Memory had no other Miracles and Wonders of his Life and Reign to have immortaliz'd his Fame of which there shall remain a Thousand to Posterity this Noble Structure alone this Building almost Divine would have eterniz'd the great Name of Glorious Charles the Second till the World moulder again to its old Confusion its first Chaos And the Paintings of the famous Vario and Noble Carvings of the unimitable Gibon shall never die but remain to tell succeeding Ages that all Arts and Learning were not confin'd to ancient Rome and Greece but that England too could boast its mightiest Share Nor is the In-side of this Magnificent Structure immortaliz'd with so many eternal Images of the Illustrious Charles and Katherine more to be admir'd than the wondrous Prospects without The stupendious Heighth on which the famous Pile is built renders the Fields and Flowery Meads below the Woods the Thickets and the winding Streams the most delightful Object that ever Nature produc'd Beyond all these and far below in an inviting Vale the venerable College an Old but Noble Building raises itself in the midst of all the Beauties of Nature high-grown Trees fruitful Plains purling Rivulets and spacious Gardens adorn'd with all Variety of Sweets that can delight the Senses At farther distance yet on an Ascent almost as high as that to the Royal Structure you may behold that famous and noble Clifdon Rise a Palace erected by the illustrious Duke of Buckingham Who will leave this wondrous Piece of Architecture to inform the future World of the Greatness and Delicacy of his Mind it being for its Situation its Prospects and its marvellous Contrivances one of the finest Villa's of the World at least were it finish'd as begun and would sufficiently declare the magnifick Soul of the Hero that caus'd it to be built and contriv'd all its Fineness And this makes up not the least part of the beautiful Prospect from the Palace-Royal while on the other side lies spread a fruitful and delightful Park and Forest well stor'd with Deer and all that make the Prospect charming fine Walks Groves distant Valleys Downs and Hills and all that Nature could invent to furnish out a quiet soft Retreat for the most Fair and most Charming of Queens and the most Heroick Good and Just of Kings And these Groves alone are fit and worthy to divert such Earthly Gods Nor can Heaven Nature or Humane Art contrive an Addition to this Earthly Paradise unless those great Inventors of the Age Sir Samuel Morland or Sir Robert Gorden cou'd by the Power of Engines convey the Water so into the Park and Castle as to furnish it with delightful Fountains both useful and beautiful These are only wanting to render the Place all Perfection without Exception This Damon is a long Digression from the Business of my Heart but you know I am so in Love with that charming Court that when you gave me an Occasion by your being there now but to name the Place I could not forbear transgressing a little in favour of its wondrous Beauty and the rather because I wou'd in recounting it give you to understand how many fine Objects there are besides the Ladies that adorn it to employ your vacant Moments in and hope you will without my Instructions pass a great part of your idle Time in surveying these Prospects and give that Admiration you shou'd pay to living Beauty to those more venerable Monuments of everlasting Fame Neither need I Damon assign you your waiting Times your Honour Duty Love and Obedience will instruct you when to be near the Person of the King and I believe you will omit no part of that Devoir You ought to establish your Fortune aud your Glory For I am not of the Mind of those Critical Lovers who believe it a very hard Matter to reconcile Love and Interest to adore a Mistress and serve a Master at the same time And I have heard those who on this Subject say Let a Man be never so careful in these double Duties 't is Ten to One but he loses his Fortune or his Mistress These are Errors that I condemn And I know that Love and Ambition are not incompatible but that a brave Man may preserve all his Duties to his Soveraign and his Passion and his Respect for his Mistress And this is my Notion of it Love and Ambition The Nobler Lover who wou'd prove Vncommon in Address Let him Ambition joyn with Love With Glory Tenderness But let the Vertues so be mixt That when to Love he goes Ambition may not come betwixt Nor Love his Power oppose The vacant Hours from softer Sport Let him give up to Int'rest and the Court. 'T is Honour shall his Bus'ness be And Love his Noblest Play Those two should never disagree For both make either gay Love without Honour were too mean For any gallant Heart And Honour singly but a Dream Where Love must have no part A Flame like this you cannot fear Where Glory claims an equal Share Such a Passion Damon can never make you quit any part of your Duty to your Prince And the Monarch you serve is so gallant a Master that the Inclination you have to his Person obliges you to serve him as much as your Duty for Damon's Loyal Soul loves the Man and adores the Monarch for he is certainly all that compels both by a charming force and Goodness from all Mankind The King Darling of Bellona's Care The second Deity of War Delight of Heaven and Joy of Earth Born for great and wondrous things Destin'd at his Auspicious Birth T' out do the num'rous Race of long-past Kings Best Representative of Heaven To whom its chiefest Attributes are given Great Pious Stedfast Just and Brave To Vengeance slow but swift to save Dispencing Mercy all abroad Soft and Forgiving as a God! Thou Saving Angel who preserv'st the Land From the Just Rage of the Avenging Hand Stopt the dire Plague that o'er the Earth was hurl'd And sheathing thy Almighty Sword Calm'd the wild Fears of a distracted World As Heaven first made it with a sacred Word But I will stop the low Flight of my humble Muse who when she is upon the Wing on this Glorious Subject knows no Bounds And all the World has agreed to say so much of the Vertues and Wonders of this great Monarch that they have left me nothing new to say though indeed he every day gives us new Themes of his growing Greatness and we see nothing that equals him in our Age. Oh how happy are we to obey his Laws for he is the greatest of Kings and the best of Men You will be very unjust Damon if you do not confess I have acquitted myself like a Maid of Honour of all the Obligations I owe you upon the account of the Discretion I lost to you If it be not valuable enough
a removal to his own House All their Care and Diligence was however ineffectual for she languish'd even to the least hope of Recovery till immediately after the first Visit of Don Henrique which was the first he made in a Month's time and that by Night incognito with her Father her Distemper visibly retreated each day yet when at last she enjoy'd a perfect Health of Body her Mind grew sick and she plung'd into a deep Melancholy which made her entertain a positive Resolution of taking the Veil at the end of her Novitiate which accordingly she did notwithstanding all the Entreaties Prayers and Tears both of her Father and Lover But she soon repented her Vow and often wish'd that she might by any means see and speak to Don Henrique by whose help she promis'd to her self a Deliverance out of her voluntary Imprisonment Nor were his Wishes wanting to the same effect though he was forc'd to flie into Italy to avoid the Prosecution of Antonio's Friends Thither she pursu'd him nor cou'd he any way shun her unless he cou'd have left his Heart at a distance from his Body Which made him take a fatal Resolution of returning to Sevil in Disguise where he wander'd about the Convent every Night like a Ghost for indeed his Soul was within while his Inanimate Trunk was without till at last he found means to convey a Letter to her which both surpriz'd and delighted her The Messenger that brought it her was one of her Mother-in-Laws Maids whom he had known before and met accidentally one night as he was going his Rounds and she coming out from Ardelia with her he prevail'd and with Gold oblig'd her to Secrecy and Assistance which prov'd so successful that he understood from Ardelia her strong desire of Liberty and the continuance of her Passion for him together with the Means and Time most convenient and likely to succeed for her Enlargement The Time was the Fourteenth Night following at Twelve a clock which just compleated a Month since his return thither at which time they Both promis'd themselves the greatest Happiness on Earth But you may observe the justice of Heaven in their Disappointment Don Sebastian who still pursu'd him with a most implacable Hatred had trac'd him even to Italy and there narrowly missing him posted after him to Toledo so sure and secret was his Intelligence As soon as he arriv'd he went directly to the Convent where his Sister Elvira had been one of the Profess'd ever since Don Henrique had forsaken her and where Ardelia had taken her Repented Vow Elvira had all along conceal'd the Occasion of her coming thither from Ardelia and though she was her only Confident and knew the whole Story of her Misfortunes and heard the Name of Don Henrique repeated an hundred times a day whom still she Lov'd most perfectly yet never gave her Beautiful Rival any cause of suspicion that she Lov'd him either by Words or Looks nay more when she understood that Don Henrique came to the Convent with Ardelia and Antonio and at other times with her Father yet she had so great a command of her self as to refrain seeing him or to be seen by him nor ever intended to have spoken or writ to him had not her Brother Don Sebastian put her upon the cruel necessity of doing the last who coming to visit his Sister as I have said before found her with Donna Ardelia whom he never remembred to have seen nor who ever had seen him but twice and that was about Six Years before when she was but Ten Years of Age when she fell passionately in Love with him and continu'd her Passion till about the Fourteenth Year of her Empire when the unhappy Antonio first began his Court to her Don Sebastian was really a very desirable Person being at that time very Beautiful his Age not exceeding Six and twenty of a sweet Conversation very Brave but Revengeful and Irreconcileable like most of his Countrey-men and of an Honourable Family At the sight of him Ardelia felt her former Passion renew which proceeded and continu'd with such Violence that it utterly defac'd the Idea's of Antonio and Henrique No wonder that she who cou'd resolve to forsake her God for Man shou'd quit one Lover for another In short she then only wish'd that he might Love her equally and then she doubted not of contriving the means of their Happiness betwixt ' em She had her Wish and more if possible for he Lov'd her beyond the thought of any other present or future Blessing and fail'd not to let her know it at the second Interview when he receiv'd the greatest Pleasure he cou'd have wish'd next to the Joys of a Bridal Bed For she confess'd her Love to him and presently put him upon thinking on the means of her Escape but not finding his Designs so likely to succeed as those Measures she had sent to Don Henrique she communicates the very same to Don Sebastian and agreed with him to make use of 'em on that very Night wherein she had oblig'd Don Henrique to attempt her Deliverance the Hour indeed was different being determin'd to be at Eleven Elvira who was present at the Conference took the Hint and not being willing to disoblige a Brother who had so hazarded his Life in Vindication of her either durst not or wou'd not seem to oppose his Inclinations at that time However when he retir'd with her to talk more particularly of his intended Revenge on Don Henrique who he told her he knew lay somewhere absconded in Toledo and whom he had resolv'd as he assur'd her to sacrifice to her injur'd Honour and his Resentments she oppos'd that his vindictive Resolution with all the forcible Arguments in a Virtuous and Pious Lady's Capacity but in vain so that immediately upon his retreat from the Convent she took the opportunity of writing to Don Henrique as follows the fatal Hour not being then Seven Nights distant Don HENRIQUE MY Brother is now in Town in pursuit of your Life nay more of your Mistress who has consented to make her Escape from the Convent at the same Place of it and by the same Means on which she had agreed to give her self entirely to you but the Hour is Eleven I know Henrique your Ardelia is dearer to you than your Life but your Life your dear Life is more desir'd than any thing in this World by Your Injur'd and Forsaken ELVIRA This she deliver'd to Richardo's Servant whom Henrique had gain'd that Night as soon as she came to visit Ardelia at her usual Hour just as she went out of the Cloister Don Henrique was not a little surpriz'd with this Billette however he cou'd hardly resolve to forbear his accustom'd Visits to Ardelia at first but upon more mature Consideration he only chose to converse with her by Letters which still press'd her to be mindful of her Promise and of the Hour not taking notice of any Caution that he
when a Lover ceases to be blest With the dear Object he desires Ah! How indifferent are the rest How soon their Conversation tires Though they a thousand Arts to please invent Their Charms are dull their Wit impertinent Ten a Clock Reading of Letters MY Cupid points you now to the Hour in which you ought to retire into your Cabinet having already past an Hour in Dressing and for a Lover who is sure not to appear before his Mistress even that Hour is too much to be so employ'd But I will think you thought of nothing less than Dressing while you were about it Lose then no more Minutes but open your Scrutore and read over some of those Billets you have receiv'd from me Oh! what Pleasures a Lover feels about his Heart in reading those from a Mistress he entirely loves The Joy Who but a Lover can express The Joys the Pants the Tenderness That the soft Amorous Soul invades While the dear Billet-doux he reads Raptures Divine the Heart o're-flow Which he that Loves not cannot know A thousand Tremblings thousand Fears The short-breath'd Sighs the joyful Tears The Transport where the Love 's confest The Change where Coldness is exprest The diff'ring Flames the Lover burns As those are shy or kind by Turns However you find 'em Damon construe 'em all to my Advantage Possibly some of 'em have an Air of Coldness something different from that Softness they are usually too amply fill'd with but where you find they have believe there that Sence of Honour and my Sexes Modesty guided my Hand a little against the Inclinations of my Heart and that it was a kind of an Atonement I believed I ought to make for something I feared I had said too kind and too obliging before But where-ever you find that stop that Check in my Career of Love you will be sure to find something that follows it to favour you and deny that unwilling Imposition upon my Heart which lest you should mistake Love shews himself in Smiles again and flatters more agreeably disdaining the Tyranny of Honour and Rigid Custom that Imposition on our Sex and will in spight of me let you see he Reigns absolutely in my Soul The reading my Billet-doux may detain you an Hour I have had Goodness enough to write you enough to entertain you so long at least and sometimes reproach my self for it but contrary to all my Scruples I find my self dispos'd to give you those frequent Marks of my Tenderness If yours be so great as you express it you ought to kiss my Letters a Thousand times you ought to read them with Attention and weigh every Word and value every Line A Lover may receive a Thousand indearing Words from a Mistress more easily than a Billet One says a great many kind Things of course to a Lover which one is not willing to write or to give testify'd under one's Hand Sign'd and Seal'd But when once a Lover has brought his Mistress to that degree of Love he ought to assure himself she loves not at the common Rate Love's Witness Slight unpremediated Words are born By every common Wind into the Air Carelesly utter'd die as soon as born And in one instant give both Hope and Fear Breathing all Contraries with the same Wind According to the Caprice of the Mind But Billets-doux are constant Witnesses Substantial Records to Eternity Just Evidence who the Truth confess On which the Lover safely may rely They 're serious Thoughts digested and resolv'd And last when Words are into Clouds devolv'd I will not doubt but you give Credit to all that is Kind in my Letters and I will believe you find a Satisfaction in the Entertainment they give you and that the Hour of Reading 'em is not disagreeable to you I cou'd wish your Pleasure might be extream even to the Degree of suffering the Thought of my Absence not to diminish any part of it And I cou'd wish too at the End of your Reading you wou'd sigh with Pleasure and say to your self The Transport O Iris While you thus can charm While at this Distance you can wound and warm My absent Torments I will bless and bare That give me such dear Proofs how kind you are Present the valu'd Store was only seen Now I am rifling the bright Mass within Every dear past and happy Day When Languishing at Iris Feet I lay When all my Prayers and all my Tears cou'd move No more then her Permission I should love Vain with my Glorious Destiny I thought beyond scarce any Heaven cou'd be But Charming Maid now I am taught That Absence has a thousand Joys to give On which the Lovers present never thought That recompence the Hours we grieve Rather by Absence let me be undone Than forfeit all the Pleasures that has won With this little Rapture I wish you wou'd finish the Reading my Letters shut your Scrutore and quit your Cabinet for my Love leads to Eleven a Clock Eleven a Clock The Hour to Write in IF my Watch did not inform you 't is now time to Write I believe Damon your Heart wou'd and tell you also that I should take it kindly if you would employ a whole Hour that way and that you should never lose an Occasion of writing to me since you are assured of the Welcome I give your Letters Perhaps you will say an Hour is too much and that 't is not the Mode to write long Letters I grant you Damon when we write those indifferent ones of Gallantry in course or necessary Compliment the handsom comprizing of which in the fewest words renders 'em the most agreeable But in Love we have a Thousand foolish things to say that of themselves bear no great Sound but have a mighty Sence in Love for there is a peculiar Eloquence natural alone to a Lover and to be understood by no other Creature To those Words have a thousand Graces and Sweetnesses which to the Unconcerned appears Meanness and Easie Sense at the best But Damon you and I are none of those ill Judges of the Beauties of Love we can penetrate beyond the Vulgar and perceive the fine Soul in every Line through all the humble Dress of Phrase when possibly they who think they discern it best in florid Language do not see it at all Love was not born or bred in Courts but Cottages and nurs'd in Groves and Shades smiles on the Plains and wantons in the Streams all unador'd and harmlâ—â—â— Therefore Damon do not consult your Wit in this Affair but Love alone and speak all that he and Nature taught you and let the fine Things you learn in Schools alone Make use of those Flowers you have gather'd there when you converse with States-men and the Gown Let Iris possess your Heart in all its simple Innocence that 's the best Eloquence to her that loves and this is my Instruction to a Lover that would succeed in his Amours for I have a Heart very difficult
Lover if not his Heart and thinks it easie to vanquish the Whole if she pleases and triumphs over me in her secret Imaginations Remember Damon that while you act thus in the Company and Conversation of other Beauties that every Look or Word you give in favour of 'em is an Indignity to my Reputation and which you cannot suffer if you love me truly and with Honour And assure yourself so much Vanity as you inspire in her so much Fame you rob me of for whatever Praises you give another Beauty so much you take away from mine Therefore if you Dine in Company do as others do Be generally Civil not applying yourself by Words or Looks to any particular Person Be as gay as you please Talk and laugh with all for this is not the Hour for Chagrin The Permission My Damon tho' I stint your Love I will not stint your Appetite That I would have you still improve By every new and fresh Delight Feast till Apollo hides his Head Or drink the am'rous God to Thetis Bed Be like yourself All witty gay And o're the Bottle bless the Board The listening round will all the Day Be charm'd and pleas'd with every Word Tho' Venus Son inspire your Wit 'T is the Selenian God best utters it Here talk of ev'ry thing but me Since ev'ry Thing you say with Grace If not dispos'd your Humour be And you 'd this Hour in silence pass Since something must the Subject prove Of Damon's Thoughts let it be me and Love But Damon this enfranchis'd Hour No Bounds or Laws will I impose But leave it wholly in your Pow'r What Humour to refuse or chuse I Rules prescribe but to your Flame For I your Mistress not Physician am Three a Clock Visits to Friends DAmon my Watch is juster than you imagine it would not have you live retired and solitary but permits you to go and make Visits I am not one of those that believe Love and Friendship cannot find a Place in one and the same Heart And that Man would be very unhappy who as soon as he had a Mistress should be obliged to renounce the Society of his Friends I must confess I would not that you should have so much Concern for them as you have for me for I have heard a sort of a Proverb that says He cannot be very fervent in Love who is not a little cold in Friendship You are not ignorant that when Love establishes himself in a Heart he reigns a Tyrant there and will not suffer even Friendship if it pretend to share his Empire there Cupid Love is a God whose charming Sway Both Heaven and Earth and Seas obey A Power that will not mingled be With any dull Equality Since first from Heaven which gave him Birth He rul'd the Empire of the Earth Jealous of Sov'raign Power he rules And will be Absolute in Souls I should be very angry if you had any of those Friendships which one ought to desire in a Mistress only for many times it happens that you have Sentiments a little too tender for those Amiable Persons and many times Love and Friendship are so confounded together that one cannot easily discern one from t'other I have seen a Man flatter himself with an Opinion that he had but an Esteem for a Woman when by some Turn of Fortune in her Life as Marrying or Receiving the Addresses of Men he has found by Spight and Jealousies within that that was Love which he before took for Complaisance or Friendship Therefore have a Care for such Amities are dangerous Not but that a Lover may have Fair and Generous Female-Friends whom he ought to visit and perhaps I shou'd esteem you less if I did not believe you were valued by such if I were perfectly assured they were Friends and not Lovers But have a Care you hide not a Mistress under this Veil or that you gain not a Lover by this Pretence For you may begin with Friendship and end with Love and I shou'd be equally afflicted shou'd you give it or receive it And though you charge our Sex with all the Vanity yet I often find Nature to have given you as large a Portion of that Common Crime which you wou'd shuffle off as asham'd to own and are as fond and vain of the Imagination of a Conquest as any Coquet of us all though at the same time you despise the Victim you think it adds a Trophy to your Fame And I have seen a Man dress and trick and adjust his Looks and Mien to make a Visit to a Woman he lov'd nor ever cou'd love not as for those he made to his Mistress and only for the Vanity of making a Conquest upon a Heart even unworthy of the little Pains he has taken about it And what is this but buying Vanity at the Expence of Sence and Ease and with Fatigue purchase the Name of a Conceited Fop besides that of a Dishonest Man For he who takes Pains to make himself Belov'd only to please his curious Humour tho' he should say nothing that tends to it more than by his Looks his Sighs and now and then breaking into Praises and Commendations of the Object by the Care he takes to appear well drest before her and in good order he lyes in his Looks he deceives with his Mien and Fashion and cheats with every Motion and every Grace he puts on He cozens when he Sings or Dances he dissembles when he Sighs and every thing he does that wilfully gains upon her is Malice propense Baseness and Art below a Man of Sence or Vertue And yet these Arts these Coz'nages are the common Practices of the Town What 's this but that damnable Vice of which they so reproach our Sex that of Jilting for Hearts And 't is in vain that my Lover after such foul Play shall think to appease me with saying He did it to try how easie he cou'd Conquer and of how great Force his Charms were And why shou'd I be angry if all the Town lov'd him since he lov'd none but Iris Oh foolish Pleasure How little Sence goes to the making of such a Happiness And how little Love must he have for one particular Person who wou'd wish to inspire it into all the World and yet himself pretend to be insensible But this Damon is rather what is but too much practised by your Sex than any Guilt I charge on you tho' Vanity be an Ingredient that Nature very seldom omits in the Composition of either Sex and you may be allow'd a Tincture of it at least And perhaps I am not wholly exempt from this Leaven in my Nature but accuse myself sometimes of finding a secret Joy of being ador'd tho' I even hate my Worshipper But if any such Pleasure touch my Heart I find it at the same time blushing in my Cheeks with a guilty Shame which soon checks the petty Triumph and I have a Vertue at soberer Thoughts that I find surmounts
Tell me Oh tell me Charming Prophetess For you alone can tell my Love's Success The Lines in my dejected Face I fear will lead you to no kind Result It is your own that you must trace Those of your Heart you must consult 'T is there my Fortune I must learn And all that Damon does concern I tell you that I love a Maid As bright as Heav'n of Angel-hue The softest Nature ever made Whom I with Sighs and Vows pursue Oh tell me charming Prophetess Shall I this lovely Maid possess A thousand Rivals do obstruct my Way A thousand Fears they do create They throng about her all the Day Whilst I at awful Distance wait Say will the lovely Maid so fickle prove To give my Rivals Hope as well as Love She has a thousand Charms of Wit With all the Beauty Heav'n e're gave Oh! Let her not make use of it To flatter me into the Slave Oh! Tell me Truth to ease my Pain Say rather I shall die by her Disdain The Modesty of Iris. I Perceive fair Iris you have a Mind to tell me I have entertain'd you too long with a Discourse on yourself I know your Modesty makes this Declaration an offence and you suffer me with Pain to unveil those Treasures you wou'd hide Your Modesty that so commendable a Vertue in the Fair and so peculiar to you is here a little too severe Did I flatter you you shou'd blush Did I seek by praising you to shew an Art of Speaking finely you might chide But O Iris I say nothing but such plain Truths as all the World can witness are so And so far I am from Flattery that I seek no Ornament of Words Why do you take such Care to conceal your Vertues They have too much Lustre not to be seen in spight of all your Modesty Your Wit your Youth and Reason oppose themselves against this dull Obstructer of our Happiness Abate O Iris a little of this Vertue since you have so many other to defend yourself against the Attacks of your Adorers You yourself have the least Opinion of your own Charms And being the only Person in the World that is not in love with 'em you hate to pass whole Hours before your Looking-Glass and to pass your time like most of the idle Fair in dressing and setting off those Beauties which need so little Art You more wise disdain to give those Hours to the Fatigue of Dressing which you know so well how to employ a thousand Ways The Muses have blest you above your Sex and you know how to gain a Conquest with your Pen more absolutely than all the industrious Fair who trust to Dress and Equipage I have a thousand things to tell you more but willingly resign my place to Damon that faithful Lover he will speak more ardently than I For let a Glass use all its Force yet when it speaks its best it speaks but coldly If my Glass O charming Iris have the good Fortune which I cou'd never entirely boast to be believ'd 't will serve at least to convince you I have not been so guilty of Flattery as I have a thousand times been charg'd Since then my Passion is equal to your Beauty without Comparison or End believe O lovely Maid how I sigh in your Absence And be perswaded to lessen my pain and restore me to my Joys for there is no Torment so great as the Absence of a Lover from his Mistress of which this is the Idea The Effects of Absence from what we love Thou one continu'd Sigh all over Pain Eternal Wish but wish alas in vain Thou languishing impatient Hoper on A busie Toiler and yet still undone A breaking Glimpse of distant Day Inticing on and leading more astray Thou Joy in Prospect future Bliss extream But ne're to be possest but in a Dream Thou fab'lous Goddess which the ravish'd Boy In happy Slumbers proudly did enjoy But waking found an Airy Cloud he prest His Arms came empty to his panting Breast Thou Shade that only haunts the Soul by Night And when thou shou'dst inform thou fly'st the Sight Thou false Idea of the thinking Brain That labours for the charming Form in vain Which if by Chance it catch thou' rt lost again The End of the Looking-Glass THE Lucky Mistake A NEW NOVEL By Mrs. BEHN LONDON Printed by William Onley for S. Briscoe and T. Chapman 1697. THE Lucky Mistake A NEW NOVEL THe River Loyre has on its delightful Banks abundance of handsome beautiful and rich Towns and Villages to which the noble Stream adds no small Graces and Advantages blessing their Fields with Plenty and their Eyes with a thousand Diversions In one of these happily situated Towns called Orleance where abundance of People of the best Quality and Condition reside there was a rich Nobleman now retird from the busie Court where in his Youth he had been bred wearied with the Toyls of Ceremony and Noise to enjoy that perfect Tranquility of Life which is no where to be found but in Retreat a faithful Friend and a good Library and as the Admirable Horace says in a little House and large Gardens Count Bellyaurd for so was this Nobleman call'd was of this Opinion and the rather because he had one only Son call'd Rinaldo now grown to the Age of Fifteen who having all the excellent Qualities and Graces of Youth by Nature he would bring him up in all Vertues and noble Sciences which he believ'd the Gaiety and Lustre of the Court might divert He therefore in his Retirement spar'd no Cost to those that could instruct and accomplish him and he had the best Tutors and Masters that could be purchased at Court Bellyaurd making far less account of Riches than of fine Parts He found his Son capable of all Impressions having a Wit suitable to his delicate Person so that he was the sole Joy of his Life and the Darling of his Eyes In the very next House which joyn'd close to that of Bellyaurd's there liv'd another Count who had in his Youth been banish'd the Court of France for some Misunderstandings in some high Affairs wherein he was concern'd his name was De Pais a Man of great Birth but no Fortune or at least one not suitable to the Grandeur of his Original And as it is most natural for great Souls to be most proud if I may call a handsome Disdain by that vulgar Name when they are most depress'd so De Pais was more retir'd more â—strang'd from his Neighbours and kept a greater Distance than if he had enjoy'd all he had lost at Court and took more Solemnity and State upon him because he would not be subject to the Reproaches of the World by making himself familiar with it So that he rarely visited and was as rarely visited and contrary to the Custom of those in France who are easie of Excess and free of Conversation he kept his Family retir'd so close that 't was rare to see any of