oblivion that even himself as he had judg'd this occasion as a dream so he should put it out of his remembrance He promised that he would never commit the like with his wife which she for her part also authenticates assuring him that she intended ever hereafter to live according to the laws of honor Afterwards he protests with threats that if for this occasion he should ever disgust Cleria with the least sign of remembring this escape he would reserve to himself a notable revenge The other promiseth what was requir'd of him with the greatest Oathes and Assurances that his Minde could think Obliging himself never more to trouble his thoughts with the remembrance thereof With the truest Acts of a sincere affection this Agreement was made of a peaceable Union Neither was the peace ever broken neither did they fail in their promises Hippolito was oblig'd by the natural baseness of his minde and the fear he conceiv'd from the Lovers threatnings Cleria being warned by this danger was perswaded to keep her replicated faith knowing that it is alwaies dangerous to violate it And Emilio returning to his own Country oppos'd absence to Love whose Laws otherwise perhaps would have forced him to despise all other obligations LIMISINDA NOVEL X. The ARGUMENT Gelindo to gain the love of Limifinda secretly kills her husband she suspecting it and desirous to revenge it invites Gelindo to lye with her and insteed of enjoyment sacrificeth him to her disdain WOMEN have not alwaies as som would perswade bin unfaithfull to their Husbands many examples are read of their imprudence and very many may be related which serve for Rules of Chastity one among others which comes in my minde to discourse certainly may be numbred amongst the most laudible worthy to be recommended to Posterity In that City which after the destruction of Troy was built by Antenore on the most famous River of Brent after that Limisinda and Eusebio had lov'd with a singular correspondence of affection They attain'd from the curteous favour of the Stars and from the concordant will of their parents the desired end of their Loves Being both bound together in the bonds of Matrimony their affectionate union was not diminish'd but so powerfully day by day increased that they were singularly admired by all good husbands and by all kinde wives but paralell'd by none although many at that time by their example oblig'd themselves to illustrate their marriage with an access of affection But Heaven is not alwaies Serene neither do Rivers alwaies run with pure water The beauty of Limisinda was of such a temper that it made even such as Senocrates know themselves to be men although without ornaments borrowed from Art although seldom seen although look'd upon with curiosity by those eyes which beheld them and desired by all hearts innocently murtherous they bound to themselves amongst others the good will of Gelindo a youth to be respected amongst the first of his Country both for the Nobility of his Blood and for the Gentility of his Manners He so fiercely lov'd the Lady that he gave himself over to pursue her with all manner of serviceable diligence After a long succession of time Limisinda was at last aware of the importunate sollicitation wherewith her new Lover pursued her nevertheless either she would not see or car'd not for him but so despis'd him that the miserable man by reason of her honest behaviour was often falling through despair into an excess of phrensy he tempts by the force of prayers and presents to possess himself of her servants that at least he might procure them to present her with his service or his letters but none of them knowing the Ladies disposition durst take the boldness to offer it being confident to incur onely shame and perhaps danger The poor young Gentleman knew not what to do he did his best to free himself from those chaines but all his endeavours were vain Many many months were past yet in vain he could not dispence with his love having not as yet receiv'd the least sign upon which he might ground the least hope at any time of being lov'd again Being agitated with all and the greatest furies which can overwhelm the minde of a desperate Lover The miserable man often thought even to bereave himself of his own life that withal he might free himself from his torments In these perturbations of minde he grew so weak that every man thought he was even at deaths door and that with his loves he would cease to live He had not although he had a long time been a lover of Limisinda discover'd to any the secret of his heart but seeing himself reduc'd to such a condition that he had no more hope of safety he resolv'd to desposit it in the bosom of a friend of his whom before others from his childhood he had singularly preferr'd To him he discover'd what had been so long time hid in his brest and in his words fell even to these expressions that his ill was derived from no other cause but from his love and that he could attribute his death to nothing but the cruelty of Limisinda thus being blinded with passion did he wrongfully cal the Ladies chastity cruelty not knowing that a man cannot dye unless at the fatality of the determin'd time he should beleeve that his death was caus'd by the beauty of a womans face His friend who cordially lov'd him and who would not have spared his own life to preserve Gelindo's having reproved him that he had not before discover'd this secret to him comforts him perswading him to expect the health of his body if he did but intend his cure and so finde a certain remedy for the sickness of his minde Our Lover having receiv'd some ease from his friends words and hoping that some time or other he would tell him some easie and secure way to gain the end of his desires he with patience receiv'd the application of remedies for his disease and after a few daies although his infirmity past slowly yet he found himself freed of his indisposition and scarce had he recover'd but a part of his strength when he had recourse to his friend that the hopes which from him he had conceived in his minde might not be defrauded desiring him to teach him the easiest way he could devise whereby he might enjoy his Limisinda His friend who knew the Ladies vertue to be such that it admitted of no paralel and discovering in Gelindo an excess which might rather be call'd a foolish fury than an amorous affection with a free discourse seeks to reclaim him shewing him that in following the vanity of his Cappricio's or rather in persecuting the praise worthy constancy of Limisinda he behaved himself like a mad man who would plough the Sea and catch the Winde in a Net and finally after a long discourse concludes That if he would not retire from his undertaking some ill accident would certainly befal him That
my life with a sweet death on the Altar of your brest I beseech you to appoint the shelter of my felicity in your friends and neighbours house retiring your self thither for this night I have already understood by your Messenger that there is a door which affords the commanding of a mutual passage whereby it will without difficulty succeed You shall from me understand the reasons hereof Expect till I authenticate with more devout obsequiousness the excess of my affection and obligations who now onely reverently incline to that heaven which so prodigiously hath dispenc'd the influence of so many favours He gave another form to the Letter directed to Emilia wherein he thus writ A Treacherous liberty makes a man sometimes beleeve himself abus'd even when he is favour'd so that the excess of your civility in loving me being superiour to any desert of mine is esteem'd by me as the pleasant sportings of your affection and for such I receive them so that I esteem my self disoblig'd to a true correspondence in Love besides that I am altogether incapable of such a Ladies favour which being so ill plac'd would on the one side be too much slighted or being on the other side too heavy would oppress me Besides I refuse not your favours to withdraw my self from the burthen of your obligations but that I may not appear a Monster by the union of so much grace with so little merit Reserve those Treasures to honor more worthy Subjects since from the obligation onely I am already gain'd to your service I shall indelibly preserve my part of such a debt to repay it by serving if not by loving you These Letters being seal'd he distinguished them onely with a mark of which he gave the bearer notice which he was to give Rosalia and which to Emilia The chance was that the servant either forgetting the marks or mistaken in the knowledge in the delivery betrayes his Masters will yet not Fortune Emilia looking on the letters which were written to Rosalia presenting the readiness of an affectionate correspondence was possest with the extremities of an unspeakable joy the satisfaction of her desires was the hight of her greatest contentments which she presumed she could tast at the table of earthly delights with a perfect complacency thinking she had gotten her own will she rejoyc'd in her self in the sublimity of those conceits which might cause her to see her self no less fortunate then she was reverenc'd Rosalia's thoughts were otherwise divided disdaining those refusals which she thought impossible for any who had eyes to see her beauty Her fury machinated a rigorous revenge but her pride commanded her to vindicate her self by disdain onely That beauty which presum'd it self envied by heaven provok'd her to treachery seeing it self slighted by a man yet could she not contain her self from witnessing the sense of her mind which committing to paper in these words she presents to the knowledge of Irlando HE knows not how to adjust himself to receive favours who knows not how to deserve them He who will not receive from heaven the fecondity of Rain let him expect the cruelty of Thunder I condemn you to a perpetual exile from my presence from the place where I dwel you shall know me for an Enemy since you would not enjoy me as a Lover Thus I intend not to punish you but to correct my own error which was committed in loving you by ROSAlIA These Characters had been much more grateful to the Gentleman if as they were a bar to the felicity of his contentment they had brought with them the end of his life grief wrought not his death it went farther it stupified him He esteem'd this torment a punishment for having treacherously been lifted up with boldness on the foundations of her civility knowing no other crime in him but his speed to run to the offer'd bait He judg'd that this sudden rigour was a pennance for having been contrary to the condition of her sex too liberal of her favours He confiders that the efficacy of humility the force of prayers and of conspiracies might remove the sinister influence of this his Star Whereupon he resolves either with art or with the importunity of prayers to gain admittance into her presence and then his tongue being animated with accents from the interest of his heart would move the instances of an affectionate pitty That very night he resolves to have recourse to the Tribunal of Love where the justice of Reason would not be excluded if they were not exalted Emilia in the mean time by the stealth of chance enjoy'd that prosperity which was the others due In conformity to the order receiv'd in her Lovers Letter she entreates Rosalia for that night to change houses with her and civilizeth the demand with the excuse of an abusive deceit happen'd to a Maid of hers She obtains her desire without opposition which their friendship prohibited and the opportunity of gratifying requir'd In these walls she fancies that hight of enjoyment which her thoughts expected from the embraces of a young Lover All her Affections were vows directed to the Temple of Love in gratitude for that prosperity which so singularly favour'd her Had time mov'd according to her importunity hours would have fled like minutes rendred swift by the wings of her desire Irlando also with the air of his sighs sollicited the Sun to take his lodging in the Sea so that the succeeding obscurity of the night might favourably bring him to Rosalia to quench her disdain He had a thousand Chimera's of punishments fancy'd new forms of humiliations extraordinary sings of pennance that he might last of all conceive the request of her lost favour He pants to get to that gate on the threshold whereof he resolv'd to terminate the course of his life could he not finde means for his hop'd for pardon He goes to the very house of Rosalia thinking that her disdain would not have suffered her to second his demands by the change he had intimated in his Letter He was little less then stupified when in appearance he seem'd deluded from the like fear seeing himself curteously introduc'd by the servants who as it seem'd had stay'd long waiting for him and hearing his name they presently freely admitted him which was by Emilia's order who impatient of delay had sent them to meet and receive him He could not beleeve that such like honors proceeded by their error of not knowing him It being so that the more they confirmed themselves in knowing him to be Irlando with so much the more curteous obsequiousness was he respected At the enquiries he made of the Lady under the name of their Mistris he was answered that she expected him with troubles for his stay had been intollerable had he prolong'd the enjoyment of his presence He was astonished within himself unable to conceive affections of wonder equal to that accident hearing attestations of love when to himself he had only received
Marquess Arderico was perswaded onely to love him by her husbands commendations The Marquess on the other side as he was going to reap the fruit of his Love being assured thereof by her leaves off his design IN the noble City of Vicenza amongst other Ladies which ravish'd the Eyes and Hearts of all Men the beauty of Aleria descended from the Counts of Malo was singular amongst the rest so that shee gave way neither to flattery nor Envy The fairest Faire yeelded to the Charms of that Face which would have been beleev'd Divine and adored with continued devotions had it not glorified her Humanity So that being pretended to by those who despair'd of gaining her she obeying onely those affections which yeeld onely to desert marries with the Count of Sancta Croce who both by birth and Vertue was chief amongst the greatest He had no Conditions but those which were desirable neither had He any thing in him which did not beget admiration The Wedding was celebrated with as much solemnity as was requisite for their Nobility and Wealth Those who in the common Joy lamented the Funerals of their own Hopes did not forbear to come to the Wedding They in the Joyes of another saw their own Sorrows Musick and Dancing which have the power to ravish Hearts even out of the hands of Melancholy it self could not sweeten the Grief of those Mindes which even lost the hopes of Life with the beauty of Aleria Many submitting to the Laws of Necessity according to the variety of their genius when they could not resist their own affection they dedicated it to other objects Others knowing that their eyes were the instruments of their pleasure would also oblige them to be the Messengers of the longing desires of their hearts Some flew from that heaven where the Sun shone but in favours of others Others observing the precepts which the art of Loves remedy prescribes they observ'd a heaven of beautie in her looks which could not be without shaddows Arderico onely the Marquess of Castel-Novo in the impossibility of the undertaking enlivening the more his hopes found in that daies solemnity his flames encreased where others had found the remedy of their passion He did I beleeve stupified with grief assist at all the ceremonies imitating the Fly who to injoy the light careth not to lose its own life He suffers this torment with so much impatience that his least dotings were to forget himself The feast ended he found his fire more enflam'd absence from the beloved object exstinguisheth not love but foments it This Arderico prov'd his ardor being so much the more violent when he could not recreate himself with the fight of his Aleria She on the other side so Idoliz'd her husbands countenance with such continued demonstrations that any hope would have despair'd but that of Arderico which was vowed to obstinacy The more he was despis'd the more he lov'd He let slip no occasion to discover his wound He being continually in her sight assaulted her with sighs and begged pitty from her with his looks In fine following her every where and waiting diligently upon her at the ball no accident happened which he did not signalize with some shew of respect and testimony of love Aleria not beleeving or not caring to be lov'd never regarded him but with indifferent looks And although the obligations of civility forc'd her to return him the favour of the ball and to correspond by way of salutes yet did she never priviledg his affection with the least token of acceptance Arderico have ing no other means to insinuate his love into Aleria's minde had recourse to the benefit of his pen with much trouble he dictates this Letter his tears even washing away his ink Fairest I Should feare to deserve the rigours of your disdaine by discovering my flames did I not know that all hearts are obliged to the love of divine things The raies of your beauty have introduc'd such a fire in my brest that I should rather think it an effect of stupidity then of vertue Aleria I love you and if the laws of love were as powerful as those of Religion I would say I adore you But what the pen silenceth the heart licenceth so as you will not disdain the obsequiousnesse of Your most humble servant ARDERICO The letter being sealed he sighs for the means how it might be securely conveyed to Aleria's hands The servants although they were all gain'd by the excess of his liberalty durst not assault their Ladies affections so much the chaster for as yet she gave no leave to be tempted To use other persons might prove both scandalous and dangerous so that he resolves to be himself the bearer Having fitted a day when she was at Church perhaps more pray'd to then praying getting neer her cheating the suspition and observation of many he puts his note in Aleria's Offices when she casually had laid them behind her to intend her mental private prayers No body was ware of it Aleria her self although she took up her Offices did not presently perceive it Scarce did she finde it but she was presently overtaken with blushing more disdain'd against her self that she had given the boldness to any man to tempt her then that she was displeased at the temptation The prudence of this Lady knew well that she did not deserve the name of chast who did not resist the flatteries of Lovers whoever is chast out of necessity is unworthy the title Aleria having quieted her mind from the first confusions which had stoln the blood from her heart and had left the Characters on her face when she thought it fit overcoming her curiosity which is natural to women she tears the letter in a thousand pieces as if that had been guilty of the fault which his audacity deserv'd who had given it her Ar. derico felt his own heart torn in pieces with the tearing of the letter despairing ever after of any invention whereby he might make known his affection He was lost in a confusion at her behaviour who being ador'd not onely took it ungratefully but seem'd as if she would not know her adorer yet the miserable man continues his servitude so much the more unhappy as his hopes were far from their reward It so happen'd that Aleria accompanied with her husband retires to a Villa to enjoy that season which bearing more fruit then the rest flatters with the more pleasure the gust of men Arderico who was this Suns Heliotrope follows her not without hope that the pleasures of the Villa might bring him to what he was debarr'd off by the divertisement of the Town he thought more easily to corrupt the people of the Villa the minds of men being the more vile the more they are interested He was seen to come thither but he begins to go the round about Aleria's house faigning to plant nets to catch birds and to hunt wild beasts Whilst his heart was in the nets of love and
even his Fathers Genius finds a thousand excuses to delay his journey but they nothing prevailed since our Lover must obey Florida remain'd astonished at the newes of this sad separation and then burst forth into so high a resentment of griefe which the tendernesse of a Woman and the folly of a lover could possibly suggest She with a good will would have followed him had she not fear'd to have ruin'd him by the ruines of her selfe in repute and honour Yet she remain'd like the Heliotrope altogether mortified when the Evening divorceth it from the Rayes of the Sunne Octavio being gone who went away immerc'd with griefe bathing with his tears the earth he stampt on with his feet Being arrived at Bologna in the pleasing quiet of Letters he finds the warre of his affections still the more cruell whence he concludes it false That absence cures the infirmity of love His own thoughts became his executioners alwayes martyrizing him with the memory of his so much regretted felicity then which nothing was more dear The Lectures and Scholastick Conferences so gratefull to the vertuous to him who was opprest with griefe and whose soul was in an agony seemed like Funerall Songs and study appear'd truly the sepulture of the living He tasted not the Nectar of Wisdome since spirits weakned by dissolutenesse usually suffer the disrelish of all good things He then remained in Bologna and though in appearance he frequented the Schooles yet in effect he heard the Masters as an Asp and profited like a stock He liv'd a Scholar in name onely amongst students without study idle at their exercises and so desperate that he even lost his life in that place where others render it immortall with the glory of Learning Octavio was at last in the midst of so many afflictions consolated by Fortune who by the hands of certain Merchants caused his Fathers liberality to fall into his hands converted into showers of gold So that being richly provided with money he ravisheth himselfe to Parthenope to visit his Florida the sweet cause of his cruell torments Being arrived unknown without going to his Father he so orders the businesse that she hath notice of his arrivall so that through the favourable darknesse of the night he came to adore her at a little window of her house It 's superfluous to relate the Complements which past or how many tears were shed out of tenderness since any man knows what affections an unthought-of accident will raise in two hearts tenderly loving one the other and so long tormented with such longing desires to review one another But these pleasures lasted but a few nights for that Octavio refus'd treacherously to tempt his Fortune having already experimented that with velocity she turns her wheele in felicity but slowly in time of misery He therefore parts burthening himselfe by this his new departure with new griefs and being scarce come to Bologna and having hardly furnished himselfe with necessaries that the businesse might not be discovered he retakes his journey back again to Parthenope So that for the space of a whole year he alternatively travelling and resting liv'd betwixt torments and contentments The yeare being almost at an end Octavio being at Bologna falls fick of a Feaver which though it was without danger yet was long and many great perplexities of mind befell him because it diverted him from his journey In the mean time Horatio for so was Florida's father call'd concludes her marriage with Don Fernando Marquiss of Tuedos she having been from her infancy design'd for him He was of Arragon descended from Dukes a Cavalier of a small Fortune of great parentage and for pretences at all He presumed that he had a greater wealth then truly he possest that he was more valiant then indeed he was and yet more Gentile then he seem'd of a short stature of a proud port of a brown complexion and lame so that to give the faire Florida to Fernando was the same thing as afresh to grant a Venus to a Vulcan This was the Bridegroom which Horatio had prepar'd not to accommodate his daughter but to advantage himselfe in the Court of Castile Cursed interest cruel and perverse Numens which necessitates men to sacrifice even their own children unto you Florida having heard the conclusion of the marriage became sad yet seem'd pleas'd to her Father and dispenc'd tears which seem'd of joy but were of grief After a day she feigns herself ill and begs that all publick or privat solemnity might be suspended till her recovery In the mean time she dispatcheth a Letter to Octavio which included this following sense My Lord MY Fathers authority forceth me to break my faith with you to violate my genius and to be no more yours He hath promised me to the Marquess Don Fernando a Cavalier whom I wish a Monarch that I might shew my self the more constant to you by despising a Regal match for your sake I fear my fathers Anger will become murtherous when I shall have discovered him our loves Therefore come my Octavio but come quickly to see your Florida who is inmoveably disposed either to live with you or dye for you Come and hear my mournful Nenias insteed of Epithalamiums And to see how contentedly I shall go to my grave if Fate consents not to joyn me to your bed Remember your self then my Lord if I shall see you no more of your oaths and of our mutual affections and live happy since what ever happens I shall be sure to die Your most faithful FLORIDA THis Letter was an enchantment which would have ravished Octavio out of Hell aswel as from his bed He who already was better'd in his health rose assoon as he had read it and no sooner got to horse but away for Parthenope guided by fury and accompanied with dispair Somtimes with a raging heart he wish'd himself alive only to be reveng'd of his Rival and somtimes with a desperate voice he begg'd Heaven to thunder-strike him that he might not see Florida either subject to death or Fernando's Spouse But Fortune which equally preserves both fools and desperate persons happily brings this unhappy man to Parthenope being arrived at his Father Odoardo's house and before he lighted from his horse having seen the fair Florida appear at the Balcony he salutes her with a joy mixt with grief of heart as ignorant whether he honoured her as his own or as the spouse of another man Fortune would have it so he findes his Father's house without his Father who was newly parted for some Domestick occasion whereby he had the opportunity to speak from his wonted apartment to his dearest who thereby testified inexplicable signes of contentment The first complement past she confirms him the great danger of her life how far greater her faith was and that towards him her affection was supreme She also added my Octavio did you know with how much satisfaction for your sake I shall encounter death perhaps without
swearing you will beleeve me that I pretend not thereby the least jot of merit towards you So that if your civility in its own respect affords me any power over you I will not that it should extend it self farther then to beg of you that you should never suffer grief to afflict you for whatever fatal accidents happen to me Forasmuch as if the knowledge of the actions of the living is granted to the dead beleeve me that your torments will for ever be my hell Octavio was violenc'd with so sensible an affection but profering an answer he was hindred by his Fathers arrival So that he parted readily to meet him Odoardo tenderly imbrac'd his son which being with excess it shall suffice to speak it was fatherly He doubly rejoyced to see his son recovered of his feaver and beleeving him wholy cured of his amorous passions he esteem'd himself the happiest that liv'd Unsatisfied with kissing him and asking him of his health and journey related him the newes of the Citie amongst which he told him he was in good time come to enjoy the Festivals which were preparing for the marriage of Florida Truly Sir answered Octavio in the house of Horatio you perhaps may sooner see a Funerall then a Bridall and thereupon discovered the whole successe of his love Florida's resolution with his own intention to enjoy her to the venture of his life and honor The Father was astonished at so strange a relation and bold a proposition being afterwards quite enraged he went about beating the ground with his feet and wringing his hands Patience exclaimes he O Fortune I my selfe in begetting a sonne have provided my self an instrument of mortification to afflict me Which having said he retires himselfe into another Chamber leaving Octavio alone in great confusion If Odoardo's distemper were great the fury of Horatio that very night was farre greater forasmuch as Florida having been as much inspired by the presence of Octavio as she had been disheartned by his absence boldly confest her amorous escapes But what above measure inrag'd his paternall mind was her sixt resolution never to have Fernando for her Husband Horatio at that instant would have run her through had he not thought to have pleas'd her when she with artificiall tears beg'd of him rather to give her into the hands of Death then into the Spaniards He afterwards rail'd on her with a thousand injuries and threatned to correct her as a Girle but the remedy appeared too vulgar for so desperate a case so that he the more laboured with disdain by reason he found no meanes to qualifie it He consum'd all the night in studying vengeance which is the legitimate child of fury and the illegitimate satisfaction of a generous spirit The following day which succeeded this troubled night hee imprisons Florida in a Cloyster yet in the same where was her sister Bellaria who was in time to be made a Nun and be obedient to that vocation which her Fathers avarice and cruelty had inspir'd Octavio having heard the newes of her imprisonment hee could neither retain his teares nor remit his griefe The counsell of his friends nor the prayers of his parents were sufficient to consolate him so that his unhappy Father confidently beleeved that his sonnes health would shipwrack on the rock of despaire yet did he not forbeare to perswade him to desist from that passion with well-season'd admonitions of wisdome but he well perceiv'd he had sown salt since he reaped no fruit Fernando on the other side rampant with rage swore to bee reveng'd of Octavio threatens murthers marshalls defies and chalenges Duels but in such a manner that that fury which ought to appear in action vanished in words imitating Heaven which the more it thunders it intends the lesse to lighten Horatio who had truly bound the hopes of his advantages with the bond of this Marriage seeing them fled away to his losse in tends his revenge providing a bravo snare to murther Octavio But wiser advice restrain'd him perswading him to make use of dissimulation which is the ordinary net wherein without noyse we may ensnare our enemies Having therefore feign'd it fit for him to change aire by reason of an accustomed indisposition which befell him he parts from Parthenoye having for a while suspended his intentions In the mean time Odoardo that he might not lose his sonne who was already fallen into a high fit of melancholy resolved to lose himselfe with him promising all his endeavours for the successe of his desires With these promises Octavio respires again from his troubles and having already provided himselfe of armed men to attend him he begins to walk about the City Fortune leads him to the encounter of Fernando who at that time stir'd not at all whether it was that the poore Cavalier had forgot the oaths he had sworn to be revenged or that hee remembred that Oaths of doing ill are not obligatory Octavio thus seeing himself victorious without Fighting puts by all suspition and begins to frequent the Monastery of Florida using a faign'd Devotion as if his Object were Idolatry not Adoration There he daily entertain'd himself to see the fair Prisoner but shee appear'd not being guarded by her Superiours so that the miserable man would willingly have chang'd his Nature with that of the Lynx so as hee might have gotten Eyes whose looks would pierce the walls which hid his Fairest from Him At last having tempted much and desired more that he might but be introduc'd to speak with Bellaria who being as 't was thought within a while to bee a Nun had liberty to appear at the Grate to take her leave of the World Octavio relates the series of his Love and with so much passion exagerates his Affections that the Maid was forced to shew her self pitifull least she should discover Her self inhumane Shee was of such corrected Manners that she rather would have chosen death than to engage Her self in an action any wayes dishonest Yet shee thought that to serve Octavio in his Love was the same thing as to serve Justice it self since Florida appear'd due to Him who had purchas'd her with so many Pearles of his Tears and Sweat So that shee modestly offers it protesting That it was as detestable for her to have Fernando for her brother-in-Law as hee was abominated by Florida for a Husband Octavio thanks her darting forth by a treacherous Joy a most affectionate sense of the obligation but confus'd He then begs her to kiss for him his Florida's Hand which being readily executed by Her gave our Lover meanes afterward to trust her with his Letters Ambassies and Presents to her Sister The curious Inquisitiors of Parthenope discours'd the reasons of Florida's Imprisonment to the wonder of all and delight of those who alwayes making an ill interpretation of other Mens actions use the least occasion they can to give cause of speaking ill and to divulge Satyrs But the common Friends of HORATIO and
The discreet widow shew'd some tokens of joy in her countenance women can faign at pleasure and a fresh commands Fosca that she should go into one of the lower Rooms and prepare a convenient bed for that she was confident her Lover would that very night come to finde her alone and there she intended their amorous enjoyments All was executed Gelindo having open'd the letter reads it and findes these words GELINDO BECAVSE it often happens that those women who easily give themselves in prey to young Lovers finde themselves quickly deceiv'd and penitent I that I might not fall into the like error would from length of time have experience of your faith and affection whereof being assur'd I cannot deny you the reward ef the excesse of the love which I know you bear me If it please you therefore about midnight to come to my house where my Maid shall expect you to let you in to the place where you may be happy we will either contract marriage or otherwise as you shall think fit Since I desire nothing more then to be for ever Your Servant LIMISINDA He was astonish'd at the reading of this Letter and gave Love and Fortune thanks that they had shew'd themselvs so favourable towards him Retiring himself full of thoughts to the others dwelling expecting with impatience grievously sighing after that midnight which was to be the last of his life The hour came and he departs and alone goes to Limisinda's house behinde the door which was half open he findes Fosca who with a small light in a little Lantern stood there expecting him He enters and is presently led into the Chamber which he fancied should be the Theater of his Pleasures but prov'd afterwards that of his Tragedy O how ill doth a man oppose himself to what must happen Alas with what blinde steps Love guides us to precipices The Maid leaves him in the Chamber with some Candles lighted and goes up Stairs to give notice to her Mistris She having taken some Comfits and some costly Wines though sleepy sends back the Maid telling her Bid Gelindo from me refresh himself with these Junkets the better to prepare himself for those delights and then come back and I will presently come to him Fosca goes and returns The lovesick Gelindo forc'd himself although against his will to tast a part of them and having taken a cup of Wine he sends it down his brest sending to his heart the advertisement of his own death He had scarce drunk but he findes his eyes out of measure possest with a heavy sleep He sits himself down on a Chair and scarce was setled but he falls profoundly asleep When Limisinda imagin'd that the Poyson began to work she comes down Stairs and enters the Room where Gelindo was asleep The young Lady was in a confusion and almost repented that she had before taken such a resolution Nevertheless taking up her Heart with a Courage and although she had hid a Dagger in a Corner of the Chamber yet would she not take it but takes from the young man that which he wore by his side and striking it often through his throat he not stirring at all otherwise then streching out his last with his Legs and his Arms. Thus dyed this unhappy man and thus she sacrificed his Soul to the Soul of her dead Husband Having executed this she goes up and brings Fosca with her to terrifie her with the horror of this miserable Spectacle The Maid sayes twice or thrice with a loud voice and with actions as of a desperate person Alas O God! Alas And had follwed it with other words had not Limisinda cryed out and threatned to call out for the Neighbourhood reversing all the crime on her Poor Fosca was thus forc'd to be quiet to fly her own shame and the danger of punishment which the Justice might have inflicted And being help'd by her Mistris they silently carried the body to a place where they buried it that none ever knew any thing of the Fact till many years after it was known from Limisinda her self a while before the hour of her death Let the unwary Youth learn by this History to Regulate his Immoderate Affections Nor so much trust Women as to beleeve they may not at last be deceived IRLANDO and ARMANDO NOVEL XI The ARGUMENT Irlando and Armando love Rosalia and Rosalia and Emilia love Irlando and after many various deceits and turns of Fortune finding fidelity in their Lovers the Ladies fix a constant and sincere affection IN Padua a City the more noble by how much the more ancient the compendium of beauty was to be seen in the likeness of a most graceful Lady who might have boasted to have debauched the graces from Venus to get a glorious train for her self Whensoever she made shew of her self to the eies of others 't was necessary to beleeve that heaven keeping open Court did abundantly disperse its splendors Who with a chance look could steal away pledges of Love she had a perpetual light in her minde which rallied up in the thoughts of all the hight of the greatest beauties which possibly could be admired in a created object Glances need not be repeated in that face which lightning with Majesty oblig'd the errors of a timerous boldness to correct themselves with modesty Sitting sometimes at a window she sent abroad Love her son to hunt after hearts born from her eyes and bred in the cradle of her lips and raigning in the throne of her countenance There were bound with the chains of her looks the souls of a thousand Lovers With an extraordinary violence being so neer the sun every one was constrained either to have the tenderness of his heart melted or burnt with the bait of affections In fine the rayes of Divinity could finde no fitter sphere then that most beautiful face when it would make it self visible to mortal eyes It was once gaz'd on by two Cavaliers born in France but following their studies inhabitants of that City The conjunction of their minds had unanimously led them out of their Native Kingdom and indissolvably link'd them together with the tye of a singular friendship inviolably observing the laws thereof they never suffered their alwaies regulated affections to disturb their mutual contentment They were unanimous in their apparel and diet inseperable in conversation and indivisable in love so that they it seem'd agreeâ— together to lose their liberties the soul willingly following the looks fled away to imprison it self if we may call Heaven a prison in the bosom of so eminent a beauty They unanimously Courted the Idol who on the Altar of her Window receiv'd the victims of their hearts they sometimes fix'd their eyes on one another I know not whether to move a mutual pitty towards eithers ardors and to testifie the excess of that beauty which silencing the tongue rendred the eyes talkative yet was it superfluous for the eyes to speake the language of