broth and poyson she gave her Master Shee bitterly sighing and weeping confesseth the broath but denies the poyson vowing by hâ—…r part and hope of heaven shee never touched nor knâ—…w what poyson was and desired no favour of them if it were found or proovâ—…d against heâ—… withall she acquaints them that she feares it is a tricke of malice and revenge clapt on her by her Lady Victoryna for the discovery of Sypontus his letter And to speake truth the Iudges in their hearts partly adhere and concurre with her in this opinion they demand her whether her Lady Victoryna touched this broath either by the fire or the bed Shee according to the truth answers that to her knowledge or sight she touched it not nor no other but her selfe So they send her againe to prison and returâ—…e speedily to Fassino his house where committing Victoryna to a sure guard they ascend her chamber and closet search all her trunkes caskets and boxes for poyson but find none and the like they doe to Felicia's trunkes which they breake open shee having the key and in a boxe find a quantitie of the same poyson whereby it was apparant shee absolutely poysoned her Master Fassino The Iudges having thus found out and revealed as they thought the true author of this murther they descend againe examine Victoryna and so acquit her Poore Felicia is advertised hereof whereat shee is amazed and astonished and thinkes that some witch or devill cast it there for her destruction Shee is againe sent for before her Iudges who produce the poyson found in her trunke she denies both the poyson and the murther with many sighs and teares so they adjudge her to the racke whâ—…ch torment she suffereth with much patience and constancie notwithstanding her Iudges considering that shee made and gave Fassino the broath that none touched it but her selfe that hee dyed of it and that they found the remainder of the poyson in her trunke they thinke her the murtherer so they pronounce sentence that the next morne shee shall bee hanged at Saint Markes place Shee poore soule is returned to her prison she bewailes her misfortune thus to die and be cast away innocently taxing her Iudges of injustice as her soule is ready to answere it to God All Venice pratleth of this cruell murther committed by this yong Gentlewoman but for her Lady Victoryna shee triumphs and laughs like a Gypsey to see how with one stone shee hath given two strokes and how one poore drug hath freed her this day of her husband Fassino and will to morrow of Felicia of whom she rejoyceth in her selfe that now shee hath cryed quittance for the discovery of Sypontus his Letter which procured his death but her hopes may deceive her or rather the devill will deceive both her and her hopes too How true or false righteous or sinfull our actions bee God in his due time will make them appeare in their naked colours and reward those with glory and these with shame The next morne according to the laudable custome of Venice the mourners of the Seigniory accompany our sorrowfull Felicia to the place of execution where she modestly ascendeth the ladder with much silence pensivenesse affliction at the sight of whose youth and beautie most of that great infinitie of Spectators cannot refraine from teares and commiserating and pitying that so sweet a young Gentlewoman should come to so infamous and untimely a death when Felicia lifting up her hands and erecting her eyes and heart towards heaven she briefly speaks to this effect Sheetakes Heaven earth to witnesse that she is innocent of the poysoning of her Master Fassino and ignorant how that poyson should bee brought into her Trunke that as her knowledge cannot accuse so her Conscience will not acquit her Lady Victorina of that fact onely she leaves the detection and judgement thereof to God that being ready to forsake the world siâ—…h the world is resolved to forsake her shee as much triumphs in her innocencie as grieves at her misfortune and that she may not only appeare in Earth but be found in Heaven a true Christian shee first forgives her Lady Victorina and her Iudges and then beseecheth God to forgive her all her sinnes whereunto shee humbly and heartily prayes all that are present to adde their prayers to hers and so shee begins to take off her band and to prepare her selfe to die Now Christian Reader what humane wisdome or earthly capacitie would here conceive or thinke that there were any sublunary meanes left for this comfortlesse Gentlewoman Felicia either to hope for life or to flatter her selfe that she could avoid death But loe as the children of God cannot fall because he is the defender of the innocent and the protector of the righteous therefore we shall see to our comforts and finde to Gods glory that this innocent yong Gentlewoman shall be miraculously freed of her dangers and punishment and her inveterate arch enemy Victoryna brought in her stead to receive this shamefull death in expiation of the horrible murthers of her two husbands which God will now discover and make apparant to the eyes of the world for as the Fryers and Nunnes prepare Felicia to take her last farewell of this world and so to shut up her life in the direfull and mournfull Catastrophe of her death Behold by the providence and mercie of God the Apothecarie Augustino of whom this ouâ—… Historie hath formerly made an honest and religious mention arrives from Cape â—…stria and having left his ship at Malmocco lands in a Gondola at Saint Markes stayres when knowing and seeing an execution towards he thrusts himselfe in amongst the crowd of people where beholding so young and so faire a Gentlewoman ready to die he demaunds of those next by him what shee was and her crime when being answered that her name was Felicia a wayting Gentlewoman to the Lady â—…orina who had poysoued her Master Fassino at the very first report of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Victoryna and her husband Fassino Augustino his blood flasheth up in his face and his heart began to beat within him when demanding if no other were accessary to this murther hee was informed that her Lady Victoryna was vehemently suspected thereof but she was cleared and onely Felicia this young Gentlewoman found guiltie thereof which words were no sooner delivered him but God putting into his heart and remembrance that this Lady Vectorina would have formerly seduced him for three hundred Zeckynes to have poysoned her husband Fassino hee confidently beleeving this young Gentlewoman innocent heereof with all possible speed as fast as his legges could drive hee runnes up to the Southeast part of the corner of the Gallery of the Dukes Palace where the Officers sit to see execution done the which he requesteth for that time to stop because he hath something to say concerning the murther of Signiour Fassino Whereupon they call out to the Executioner to forbeare which bâ—…ed infâ—… admiration
in all the Spectators as wondring at the cause and reason therof when in constant and discreet termes Augustino informes the Iudges that hee thinks 〈◊〉 innocent and her Lady Victoryna guiltie of this murther and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…m â—…er time and place where Victorina her selfe seduced him to poyson her 〈◊〉 Fâ—…no how she proffered him three hundred Zeckynes to performe it which hee refused and to the utmost of his power sought to disswade her from thiâ—… bloody and execrable businesse The Iudges are astonished at the strangenes of this newes which they begin confidently to beleeve and so blesse the houre of Augustino's arrivall that hath withheld them from spilling the innocent bloud of Felicia when commanding her from the place of execution to her prison they instantly give order for the Lady Victoryna's apprehension who already had built trophees and triumphs of joy in her heart to see that all her bloudy designes so well succeeded But now is the Lords appoynted time come wherein al her cruell Murthers whoredome treachery and hypocrisie shall be brought to light and punished yea now it shall no longer be in her power or in that of the devill her Schoolmaster Seducer either to diminish the least part of her punishment or to adde the least moment or poynt of time to her life Shee is all in teares at her apprehension but they rather ingender envie then pittie in her Iudges And so from the delights and pleasures of her house she is hastily conveyed to prison Her Iudges in honour to the sacred dignity of Iustice the Queene of Earth and the daughter of Heaven confront her with Augustino who averres his former deposition as constantly in her face as shee denies it impudently in his But this will not prevaile her for now God hath made the probabilities or rather the sight of her crime too apparant So without any regard to her prayers teares or exclamations they adjâ—…dge her to the Racke where the tendernesse of her limbs the sharpnesse of her torments but especially the griefes and pinches of her conscience make her acquit Felicia acknowledge Augustino his evidence and condemne her selfe to be the author both of her first husbands stabbing as also her seconds poysoning her Iudges as much praise God for her confession as they detest and are astonished at the falsenesse of these her horrible crimes So with much joy they first free innocent Felicia of her unjust imprisonment and then knowing it pitty that so wretched a Lady as Victoryna should live any longer they for her abominable cruelties and inhumanities condemne her the next morne to be hang'd and burnt on Saint Markes Place At the knowledge and divulging of which newes as her father mother and kinsfolkes extreamely grieve so all Venice blesse and glorifie God first that innocent Felicia is saved and guilty Victoryna detected and condemned to the shame and punishment of a deserved death The same night the Priests and Friers deale with her about the state of her soule and its pilgrimage and transmigration to heaven they find that her youth lust and revenge hath taken a strange possession of the devill and hee in them for she still loves the memory of Sypontus and envies and detests that of her two husbands Souranza and Fassino but they deale effectually with her and in their speeches depainting her forth the joyes of heaven and the torments of hell they at last happily prevaile and so make her forsake the vanity and impiety of these her passions by rellishing the sweet shown of Gods mercies so the next morne shee is brought to her execution where the world expecting to heare much matter from her she is very pensive and contemplative and sayes little onely she prayes Felicia to forgive her as also all the Parents of her two Husbands Souranza and Fassino and likewise of Sypontus but chiefly shee invokes God her Saviour and Redeemer to pardon these her horrible sinnes of adultery and murther and beseecheth all that are present to pray for her soule and so according to her sentence she is first hang'd then burnt whereat all that great affluence and concourse of people praise the providence and justice of God in cutting off this female monster and shame of her sexe Victoryna whose tragicall and mournefull History may we all reade and remember with detestation that the example hereof bee our forewarning and caveat not to trust in the deceiveable lusts of the flesh and the treacherous tentations of the devill but to rely on the mercies and promises of God which will never faile his elect but will assuredly make them happy in their lives blessed in their deathes and constantly glorious in their resurrections GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE VII Catalina causeth her Wayting Mayd Ansilva two severall times attempt to poyson her â—wne Sister Berinthia wherein fayling shee afterwards makes an Empericke termed Sarmiata poyson her said Mayd Ansilva Catalina is killed with a Thunder-bolt and Sarmiata hang'd for poysoning Ansilva Antonio steales Berinthia away by her owne consent whereupon her Brother Sebastiano fights with Antonio and kills him in a Duell Berinthia in revenge hereof afterwards murthereth her Brother Sebastiano she is adjudged to be immured betwixt two Walls and there languisheth and dyes HOw foolishly and impiously doth our malice betray our selves or the devill our soules when we maliciously betray others for wee are as farre from Grace as Wisedome when wee permit either irregular affection or unlawfull passion to hale us on to choller choller to revenge and revenge to Murther Nay how exempt are we of Religion and devoyd of all Christian piety and charity when our thoughts are so eclipsed and our judgements darkened when our consciences are so defiled and our soules so polluted with revenge that the eldest sister seekes to poyson her younger and this younger afterwards murthereth her owne and only brother because in a Duell he had formerly slaine her Lover Alasse alasse these are bloudy accidents which not only fight against Grace but Nature not only against earth but Heaven and not only against our soules but against God neither are these the only Tragedies that our insuing History reporteth and relateth for wee shall therein farther see a wretched Wayting-gentlewoman poysoned by her more wretched Lady and Mistresse together with her execrable Agent a bloudy and gracelesse Empericke and all justly revenged and severely punished by the sword of Gods wrath and indignation Wherein the Christian Reader may observe as well to Gods glory as his owne consolation that never pretended or actuall Murthers were either contrived more secretly perpetrated more closely detected more miraculously or punished more strangely and severely so as if the devill have not fully possest our hearts and soules or if our thoughts and resolutions doe yet retaine the least sparke of Grace and Christianity we shall flie their crimes by the sight and feare of their punishments refetch our wandring and erronious senses from
take possession of her heart and favour his best Art and Oratorie proves vaine for she outwardly retires her affection thereby the better inwardly to advance and finish her purposes so this repulse of hers makes him hang his head and become pensive and melancholie the true signes and symptomes of a foolish and fantasticall lover as in effect wee shall shortly see de Salez will prove himselfe for the colder shee is in affection to him the hotter is hee in lust with her forgetting the warres yea his discretion himselfe and all to crowne his desires in enjoying her the which she well observing begins to triumph in her good fortune as thinking him already fairly come to the hooke and so hopes that if the line of his folly and her good fortune and wit hold shee will soone make him her husband and her selfe his wife For having formerly met with many knaves in others shee now begins to rest confident either to finde or make a foole of him thereby to serve as a veile to over-veile her whoredomes He pleads hard to her for love she replies it is impossible to finde love in lust He vowes he will die her servant she sweares she will never live his strumpet He protesteth that shee shall share of his estate shee tells him plainly that shee had rather live a poore Wife than die a rich Courtesan He replies that he adores her beautie she answers that she knowes no other but that he only seekes to prophane and defile it And here with more facilitie to make him swallow either a Gull a Gudgin or both she by stealth permits him to cull some kisses as well from the cherries of her lips as the roses of her cheekes and in the Interim like an hypocriticall and dissembling queane reads him many lectures on the purenesse of Chastitie and the foulenesse of Lust on the blessednesse of Marriage and the wretched estate of Fornication Prophane and impious giglet whose speeches are perfumed with Vertue and yet her actions stinke and are polluted and infected with Vice dissembling Syrene who casts forth bitter sweet inchanting tunes and charmes to please the sense and yet purposely to poison the soule pills of worme-wood candid in sugar hony to the palate but gall to the stomack A fatall rock whereon many inconsiderate and deboshed young Gentlemen have unfortunately suffered shipwrack a wretched Gulph and Labyrinth which containes all varietie of endlesse miseries and calamities whereunto whosoever enters with pleasure is sure to retire with teares curses and repentance A plague sent us from heaven in our age for a just guerdon and recompense of the sinnes and folly of our youth And into this intrâ—…cate Laborinth and bottomlesse Gulph of miserie and calamitie is our rash and lustfull yong Gallant cheerefully entring and steering his course without either the Starre of hope or compasse of felicitie and saftie bearing out toppe and toppe Gallant yea as I may say with all the sayles of his folly bearing and with the Flagge Ensigne and Pendants of his obscaene and lacivious desires playing and dalying in the Aire of La Hayes fatall and infectious beautie which hath so solely surprised his judgement captivated his thoughts and eclipsed his descretion as in her abscence and presence hee extolls aswell her Vertues as her beautie to the Skies vowing that shee is so faire a Nymph and so pure a Virgine as she deserves rather to bee his wife than his Strumpet or rather not his strumpet but his wife And so two moneths being past since hee first frequented her and sought to seduce and obtaine her to his lacivious desires and seeing desembling queane as shee is that therein shee bore her selfe infinitely chaste and modest and that it was impossible for him to observe or remarke any other inclination or testimony either in her word or carriage his wits are so besotted and in tangled in the fetters of her beautie that hee preferres her sweet feature and complexion a thousand times before La Franges deformed and vowes that hee had rather die La Hayes slave than ever live to bee La Franges husband But this folly of his in the end shall cost him deare and so leade him to another farre more unnaturall and as I may justly say damnable But wee must proceed orderly in this History and doe therefore reserve that part till anon By this time the slie subtiltie seeming chast behaviour of La Hay hath acted wonders in De Salez heart so as she now hopes confidently and shortly to play her prise in surprising him for he is extreamely amorous besotted and as I may say drunke with the love of her selfe and beautie so on a Sunday as shee returned from Vespres he repaires â—…o her fathers house to see her whom he finds in her chamber alone waiting and attending him having porposely dighted her selfe in a rich new Gowne and Petticote and trimmed and adorned her selfe in her gayest and most curious attier thereby with more ease and facilitie to draw him to her lure So as her beautie being both seconded and graced by her apparell she so ravished his heart and delighted his sences as he cannot refraine from kissing her but this hony of her lippes will in the end prove poyson to his heart And here againe he layes close siege to her chastitie but still she gives him the repulse and refusall as if she were a Diana and no Venus He vowes hee doth affect and will ever honour her And she that if he honour her will still affect him In the way of Love quoth hee I am wholly yours and quoth shee in that Honour I will not bee mine owne but yours I will quoth hee in all affection both live and die your servant and replies she In all chastity I will live to die your handmaid Hee affirmes hee cannot bee more hers in heart than hee is nor I quoth shee lesse yours in lust than I am It is quoth hee my Love which makes me report so much and quoth shee it is my Feare which makes mee affirme no lesse Why quoth hee should my love procure your Feare My feare quoth she is wholly ingendred and derived from your lust but not from your Love I pray expresse your selfe quoth hee she replies my blushes may but my tongue dares not Quoth hee did your affection equalize mine La Hay would accept of De Salez and not refuse him Nay quoth shee did De Salez know how infinite mine exceeds his hee would not refuse La Hay but accept of her Why quoth he de Salez desires none but La Hay Nor quoth shee La Hay any in the world but de Salez Whereupon de Salez being provoked with his owne lust and animated and encouraged by her sweet speeches he very joyfully yet falsly flattering himselfe with the conquest of her favour and consent â—…huts the doore like amost lacivious and disolute Gentleman takes her in his armes strives to convey her to the bed resolving there to
good effects it worketh in their Hearts first to reade with Understanding and then to apply with Charity and Prudence for whose sakes soly I have now added these my three last Bookes of Gods Revenge against the Crying Sinne of wilfull Murther to the three former For I send them to the publicke good whereunto all our Endeavours should tend to the Propagation of Christian Love and Charity among Men whereat all our Enterprises should ayme and to the flourishing Advancement of Gods Honour and Glory to which all the thoughts of our Hearts and Faculties of our Soules should chiefly aspire and levell And because Sealiger affirmes That nothing so soone allures or drawes a Reader to peruse and reade as a strange Theame and Argument Therefore this Path beeing seldome if ever troden or beaten by any other I am so farre from despairing as I am confident at least of thy Acceptance if not of thy Approbation of these my Labours and much the sooner because as thou hast hertofore disburthened my Stationer of the three first of these Bookes so he in contemplation thereof hath now drawne the three last of them from mee to the Presse with a more then common and usuall Importunitie and I shall beare this content to my Grave and I hope from thence to Heaven that in penning of them all I shall leave no pernicious Heire behinde me to infect Youth with Scurrility or corrupt their Manners and Inclinations with Incentives to Lewdnesse and Uanitie which as it is the shame of this our Age so it ought to bee the care of every good man to shunne that which so many of our lewd and lascivious Pamphlets doe not In writing heereof I have consecrated my Pen rather to Instruction then Eloquence and to Charity rather then Curiosity and have made it my chiefest Care Ambition and Conscience to profit thy soule rather then to please thine Eare and to savour more of Heaven then Earth Yea I will affirme with equall Truth and Boldnesse that I have written it with so innocent a Penne that the purest and most unstayned Uirgin shall not need to make her beautifull Cheekes guilty of the least Blush in perusing it all over It is with no small Cost and Labour that I first procured then penned these Histories and have now polished and prepared them to the Presse aswell for the extirpating of that Execrable Sinne of Murther which cryes so loude to Heaven for Uengeance as also to shew thee Gods sacred Iustice and righteous Iudgements in the Vindication of the inhumane Authours thereof to the end that by the knowledge and reading of them thou mayest become more Charitable and more hate Crueltie by their wretched and lamentable Examples having heerein indeavoured as much as in mee lyes to make my Reader a Spectatour first of these their foule and bloudie Crimes and then of their condigne and exemplarie Punishments which as a dismall Storme and terrible Tempest from Heaven fell on them on Earth when they least dreamt or thought thereof And heere to conclude this my Readvertisement to thee I religiously from my Heart intreat thee to respect the Matter not the Wordes and the Importance and Consequence more then the Dressing of these Thirty severall Tragicall Histories whiles I will accompt and esteeme it a farre greater Happinesse for my selfe to learne true Charity and the true Feare of God in writing them then to presume of my Ability to instruct and teach others by reading them because I may justly and truely say with Lipsius That my Aime and Desire in publishing of them Is not that I might bee made greater but better thereby and if it please God others by mee What Spirituall Fortitude or Benefit thou reapest by their Knowledge and Contemplation I exhort thee in steed of giving mee any Thankes to reserve and give them wholly to God Who is the Giver of all Good things yea the Father of Mercie and the God of all Comfort and Consolation to whose Grace I commit thee defiring thee to assist mee with thy favourable Opinion and daily Prayers to His Throne of Grace as I shall ever bee ready to requite thee with mine Thy Christian Friend IOHN REYNOLDS The PRINTER to the Courteous READER THe Author of these Sixe Bookes of Gods Revenge against Murther being absent from the Presse and the Presse running farre swifter then my thoughts it is no marvell if unwillingly I have made my selfe guilty of some Errors therein both of commission and omission but as I despaire of his excuse and pardon for the same so yet I neverthelesse hope of thine because thou knowest that absolute perfection is not to be found in Angels and therefore much lesse to be expected or hoped for in men who for the most part are wholly composed of Errours Those therefore which are materiall and capitall whereof I here present thee a few I pray thee for thine owne content and satisfaction accordingly to correct and reforme in thy Booke with thy Pen before thou attempt the reading thereof And for the Literall ones if my judgement faile me not I am confident that thine will esteeme them to bee every way farre more worthy of thy scorne then of thy care Errata PAg. 5. Lin. 19. for shee might reade how she might pag. 36. lin 2. the beauty Varina reade the beauty of Varina pag. 60. l. 25. for foreleg r. his left foreleg pag. 104. l. 49. for constantly r. consequently pag. 132. l. 8. f. I not owe r. I not onely owe. pag. 198. l. 42. f. pleaded r. pleaded there p. 206. l. 34. for That if hee for r. that for p. 210. l. 42. f. hands r. hand p. 259. l. 22. f. to Benevente r to Alcasero pag. 282. l. 28. f. Summer of his folly r. Summer of his youth in folly p. 312. l. 25. f. as griefe r. as discontented as griefe p. 356. l. 18. f. my misfortune r. or my misfortune pag. 397. lin 28. f. comes to Savona reade comes to Savona no more Hist. 24. for the parish of S. Aignaw r. S. Aignan In the same History for the City of Reimes r. Rennes Next to Page 493. Hist. 24. are 45 Pages omitted Next to the last Page of Hist. 25. which is Pag. 527. are 190 Pages omitted Which the Reader is prayed to remember Pag. 343. l. 26. f. Corsu r. set saile for Corfu pag. 345. l. 15. f. and burne r. and sojourne p. 350. l. 10. f. what a crime is r. not what a crime is pag. 366. lin 49. for of glad r. as glad pag. 382. lin 50. for fast r. passe pag. 386. l. 5. f. though not enough r. though not time enough p. 418. l. 34. f. repundiate r. repudiate TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE GEORGE Lord Marquis of Buckingham c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE ABout some two yeares since I from beyond the Seas presumed to send your Honour two severall pregnant testimonies as well of my affection to your service as of my zeale to your prosperitie not that
now no power to speake but to weepe yea if her teares are not words I am sure her words are sighes for being abandoned of Mortaigne and hated of his mother she is so pierced to the heart with the consideration of that cruelty and the remembrance of this disdaine as shee teares her hayre repents her selfe of her former folly and curseth the houre that Mortaigne first saw her fathers house or shee him but this is but one part of her sorrowes and afflictions Lo here comes another that is capable to turne her discontent into despaire her despaire into rage and her rage into madnesse For by this time Calintha understanding by her sonne where Iosselina resided and sojourned she so ordered the matter as when Iosselina least thought thereof shee and her Babe in a darke and cold night is most inhumanely turned out of the house where she was yea with so great barbarisme and cruelty as shee was not suffered to rest either in the Hay-loft Barne or Stable or any other place within doore but inforced to lye in the open field where the bare ground was her bed a Mole-hill her Pillow the cold ayre her Coverlet and the Firmament her Curtaines and Canopie And now it is and never before that her eyes gush foorth whole Rivers of teares and her heart and brest sends foorth many volleyes of deepe-fetched sighes yea having no other Tapers but the Starres of heaven to light her shee lookes on her poore Babe for comfort whose sight God knowes doth but redouble her sorrowes and afflictions because it lyes crying at her brest for want of Milke which poore woman shee had not to give it when being in this miserable case and accompanyed with none but with the Beasts of the Field and the Birds of the aire who yet were farre happyer then her selfe because they were gone to their rest and shee could receive none she after many bitter sighes groanes and teares uttered these speeches to her selfe Alas alas poore Iosselina It is thy folly and not thy fortune that hath brought thee to this misery for hadst thou had grace to use and not to abuse thy beauty thou mightst have seene thy selfe as happy as now thou art wretched and miserable but see what a double losse thou receivest for thy single pleasure for the losse of thy chastity to Mortaigne was that of thy father to thee and now being deprived of both what wilt thou doe or whither canst thou flye for comfort But alas this is not all the misery for as thy losse is double so is thy griefe for now thou must as well sorrow for thy child as for thy selfe yea Iosselina forget to grieve for thy selfe and remember to doe it for thy Babe sith thou hast brought it into the world and hast not wherewith to maintaine it And then not able to proceed farther she takes it up and kisses it and raines teares on it's cheekes though she cannot streame milk in its mouth when againe recovering her speech she continues thus Ay me Iosselina thou art both the Author and the cause of thine owne misery and therefore thou must not blame heaven but thanke thy selfe for it for thy afflictions are so great as wheresoever thou turnest thy thoughts or eyes thou findest nothing but griefe nothing but sorrow for if thou think on Mortaigne he lookes on thee with disdaine if on his mother Calintha she with envie yea thou canst not behold the world without shame thy poore infant without sorrow nor thy selfe without repentance nay consider further with thy selfe what thou hast gotten by casting or rather by casting away thy affection on Mortaigne he found thee a Mayd and hath left thee a strumpet thou hast a child and yet no husband then thou wert so happy as to have a father and now thy sonne is so miserable as he can finde none yea then thou wert a friend to many but now thou findest not one that will bee so to thee and which is worse thou hast not wherewithall to be so to thy selfe Alas alas thou hast no house to goe to no friend to trust to no meat for thy selfe nor milke for thy child therefore poore Iosselina quoth she how happy should we both be if thou wert buryed and he unborne She would have finished her speech but that teares interrupted her words and sighs cut her teares in pieces By this time her Babe falls asleepe but her griefes are so great and her sorrowes so infinite as shee cannot close her eyes nor yet bee so much beholding either to Morpheus or Death to doe it for her which perceiving as also that the Moone was inveloped in a cloud and that the Starres beginne to denye her the comfort and lustre of their sight shee fearing to bee overtaken with raine and perceiving a thicke Wood a pretty way off from her she takes her Babe and as fast as her weake and wearyed legs could performe bitterly weeping and sighing hies thither for shelter but heaven prooves more kinde to her then earth for loe both the Moone and Starres assist and comfort her in this her sorrowfull journey Being come to the Wood which indeed was farther off then she thought she beganne to bee weary and there making a bed of leaves which at that season of the yeare fell abundantly from the Trees shee thereon for awhiles rested her selfe but sleepe shee could not and now if any thing in the world afforded her comfort it was to see that her infant slept prettily though not soundly but here if her eyes craved rest so her stomacke craved meat for it was now mid-night and she had eaten nothing since noone so pulling off her upper coate shee wraps and covers her child as hot as shee could who being fast asleepe and laying it on the bed of leaves shee goes from tree to hedge and gathers Blacke-berries Slowes and wilde Chessnuts wherewith in stead of better Viands she satisfyed her hunger and now she sees her selfe on the top of a Hill at whose foote shee perceived a River and a great stony Bridge over it the which shee knew as also that there was a little Village neere about a mile beyond it which indeede in the midst of her miseries afforded her some comfort So backe she hies to her childe which she findes out by its crying it wanting not onely his nipple but his Nurse and so with many kisses takes it up in her armes and hyes towards the bridge and from thence to the Village which she now remembers is termed Villepont where shee arrives at five of the clocke in the morning and lodged her selfe in a very poore Inne being extremely glad and infinitely joyfull that she had recovered so good a harbour But money she hath none to pay her expences and to lye in Innes upon credit is to be ill attended and worse look'd on so she is inforced yea faine to sell away her Quaives her bands and her upper coate to discharge her present occasions Poore
Murther and with many teares repents herselfe of it adding withall that her affection to Antonio led her to this revenge on her brother and therfore beseecheth her Iudges to have compassion on her youth But the foulenesse of her fact in those grave and just personages wipes off the fairenesse of her request So they consult and pronounce Sentence against her That for expiation of this her cruel murther on the person of her brother she the next morne shall bee hanged in the publike Market place So all praise God for the detection of this lamentable Murther and for the condemnation of this execrable Murtheresse and those who before looked on her youth and beauty with pitty now behold her foule crime with hatred and detestation and as they applaud the sincerity of her former affection to Antonio so they farre more detest and condemne this her inhumane cruelty to her owne brother Sebastiano But what griefe is there comparable to that of her Father and Mother whose age content and patience is not onely battered but razed downe with the severall assaults of affliction so as they wish themselves buryed or that their Children had beene unborne for it is rather a torment then a griefe to them that they whom they hoped would have beene props and comforts to their age should now prove instruments and subjects to shorten their dayes and consequently to draw their age to the miseries of an untimely and sorrowfull grave But although they have tasted a world of griefe and anxiety first for the death of their Daughter Catalina and then of their onely Sonne Sebastiano yet it pierceth them to the hâ—…rt and gall that this their last Daughter and Child Berinthia should passe by the passage of a halter and end her dayes upon so ignominious and shamefull a Stage as the Gallowes which would adde a blemish to the lustre of their bloud and posterity that time could never have power either to wipe off or wash away which to prevent Vilarezo and his wife Alphanta use all their friends and mortall powers towards the Iudges to convert their Daughters Sentence into a lesse shamefull and more honourable death So although the Gallowes bee erected Berinthia prepared to dye and a world of people yea in a manner the whole people of Avero concurr'd and seated to see her now take her last farewell of the world yet the importunacie and misery of her parents her owne descent youth and beauty as also her endâ—…ered affection and servent love to her Lover Antonio at last obtaine compassion and favour of her Iudges So they revoke and change their former decree and sweeten the rigour thereof with one more honourable and milde and lesse sharpe bitter and shamefull and definitively adjudge her to be immured up betwixt two walls and there with a slender dyet to end the remainder of her dayes And this Sentence is speedily put in execution whereat her parents friends and acquaintance yea all that knew her very bitterly grieve and lament and farre the more in respect they cannot be permitted to see or visit her or shee them onely the Physicians and Divines have admittance and accesse to her those to provide earthly physicke for her body and these spirituall for her soule And in this lamentable estate she is very penitent and repentant for all her sinnes in generall and for this her vile murther of her Brother in particular yea a little imprisonment or rather the spirit of God hath opened the eyes of her faith who now defying the Devill who had seduced and drawne her hereunto shee makes her peace with God and assures her selfe that her true repentance hath made hers with him So unaccustomed to bee pent up in so strait and darke a Mew the yellow Iaundies and a burning Feaver surprise her and so she ends her miserable dayes Lo these are the bitter fruits of Revenge and Murther which the undertakers by the just judgement of God are inforced to tast and swallow downe when in the heat of their youth and height of their impiety they least dreame or thinke thereof by the sight of which great effusion of bloud yea by all these varieties of mournefull and fatall accidents if wee will divorce our thoughts from Hell to Earth and wed our contemplations and affections from Earth to Heaven wee shall then as true Christians and sonnes of the eternall God runne the race of our mortality in peace in this world and consequently bee rewarded with a glorious Crowne of immortall felicity in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE VIII Belluile treacherously murthereth Poligny in the street Laurieta Poligny's Mistris betrayeth Belluile to her Chamber and there in revenge shoots him thorow the body with a Pistoll when assisted by her Wayting-Mayd Lucilla they likewise give him many wounds with a Ponyard and so murther him Lucilla flying for this fact is drowned in a Lake and Laurieta is taken hang'd and burnt for the same IT is an infallible Maxime that if wee open our hearts to sinne we shut them to godlinesse for as soone as wee follow Satan God flies from us because we first fled from him but that his mercie may shine in our ingratitude hee by his servants his holy Spirit and himselfe seekes all meanes to reclaime us as well from the vanitie of our thoughts as from the prophanenesse and impuritie of our actions but if wee become obstinate and obdurate in our transgressions and so like Heathens fall from vice to vice whereas wee should as Christians grow up from vertue to vertue then it is not hee but our selves that make ship wracke both of our selves and soules of our selves in this life of our soules in that to come then which no misery can bee so great none so unfortunate and miserable It is true the best of Gods children are subject to sinne but to delight and persevere therein is the true way as well to hell as death All have not the gift of pure and chaste thoughts neither can wee so conserve or sanctifie our bodies but that concupiscence may and will sometimes assayle us or rather the devill in it but to pollute them with fornication and to transforme them from the Temples of the holy Ghost to the members of a harlot this though corrupt Nature seeme to allow or tolerate yet Grace doth not onely deny but detest But as one sinne is seldome without another either at her heeles or elbow so too too often it falles out that Mâ—…rther accompanieth Fornication and Adulterie as if one of these foule crimes were not enough to make us miserable but that in stead of going wee will needs ride poast to hell A woefull President and lamentable and mournfull Example whereof I heere produce to the view of the world in three unfortunate personages in a lascivious Ladie and two lewd and debosht young Gentlemen who all very lamentably cast themselves away upon the Sylla of Fornication and the
Charybdis of Murther for they found the fruits and end of their beastly pleasures farre more bitter then their beginning was sweet yea and because at first they would not looke on repentance at last shame lookes on them and they when it is too late both on a miserable shame and a shamefull misery May we all reade it to Gods glory and consequently to the reformation of our lives and the consolation and salvation of our owne soules IN the beautifull Citie of Avignion seated in the Kingdome of France and in the Province of Provence being the Capitall of the Dutchie of Venissa belonging to the Pope and wherein for the terme of welneere eightie yeeres they held their Pontificall See there dwelt a young Gentlewoman of some twentie yeeres of age tearmed Madamoyselle Laurieta whose father and mother being dead was left alone to her selfe their onely childe and heire being richer in beautie then lands and indued with many excellent qualities and perfections which gave grace and lustre to her beautie as her beautie did to them For shee spake the Latine and Italian tongue perfect was very expert and excellent in singing dancing musicke painting and the like which made her famous in that Citie But as there needs but one vice to eclipse and drowne many vertues so this faire Laurieta was more beautifull then chaste and not halfe so modest as lascivious It is as great a happinesse for children to enjoy their Parents as a miserie to want them For Laurieta's Father and Mother had been infinitely carefull and curious to traine her up in the Schoole of Vertue and Pietie and wherein her youth had during the terme of their lives made a happie entrance and as I may say a fortunate and glorious progression But when God the great Moderator and soveraigne Iudge of the world had in his eternall Decree and sacred Providence taken them out of this world then Laurieta was left to the wide world and to the vanitie thereof without guide or governour exposed to the varietie of the fortunes or rather the misfortunes of the times as a Ship without Pilot â—…r Helme subject to the mercy of every mercilesse winde and wave of the Sea yea and then it was that shee forgot her former modestie and chastitie and now began to adore the Shrines of Venus and Cupid by polluting and prostituting her body to the beastly pleasures of lust and forâ—…cation wherein it grieves mee to relate shee tooke a great delight and felicitie But shee shall pay deare for this bitter-sweet vice of hers yea and though it seeme to begin in content and pleasure yet wee shall assuredly see it end in shame repentance and misery for this sinne of Whoredome betrayes when it seemes to delight us and strangleth when it makes greatest shew to imbrace us so sweet and pure vertues are modestie and chastitie so foule and fatall vices are concupiscence and lust But hee with whom shee was most familiar and to whom shee imparted the greatest part of her favours was to one Monsieur de Belluile a proper yong Gentleman dwelling neere the Citie of Arles by birth and extraction noble but otherwise more rich then wise who comming to Avignion no sooner saw Laurieta but hee both gloried in the sight of her singular and triumphed in the contemplation of her exquisite and incomparable beautie making that his best content and this his sweetest felicitie that his soveraigne good and this his heaven upon earth so as losing himselfe in the labyrinth of her beautie and as it were drowning his thoughts in the sea of his concupiscence and sensualitie hee spends not onely his whole time but a great part of his wealth in wantonizing and entertaining her a vicious and foule fault not onely peculiar to Belluile but incident and fatall to too many Gallants as well of most parts of Christendome in generall as of France in particular it being indeed a disasterous and dangerous rocke whereon many inconsiderate and wretched Gentlemen have suffered shipwrack not only of their reputations healths and estates but many times of theiâ—… lives In the meane time Laurieta more jealous of her same then carefull to preserve her chastitie is advertised that Belluile is not content to cull the dainties of her beautie and youth but hee forgets himselfe and his discretion so farre as to vaunt thereof by letting fall some speeches tending to the blemish and disparagement of her honour so as vaine and lascivious as shee is yet the touching of this string affords her harsh and distastfull melodie For shee will seeke to cover her shame by her hypocrisie and so resolves to make him know the foulenesse of his offence in that of his basenesse and ingratitude To which end at her first interview and meeting of him shee not onely checks him for it but forbids and banisheth him her company which indeed had been a just cause and opportunitie for him to have converted his lust into chastitie and his folly into repentance But hee is too dissolute and vicious to bee so happily reclaimed from Laurieta and therefore hee is resolved not onely to justifie his innocencie but thereby also to persevere in his sinne Hee is acquainted with many Gentlemen who forgetting themselves conceive a felicitie and glory to erect the trophees of their vanities upon the disparagement of Ladies honours yea he seemes to be so farre from being guiltie of this errour as hee taxeth and condemnes others in being guiltie or accessary thereunto So although his Mistresse Laurieta remaine still coy strange and haggard to him yet hee persevereth in his affection to her who at last judging of his innocencie by his constancie and of that by his many letters and presents which hee still sent her as also observing that she had no firme grounds nor could produce any pregnant or valable witnesses of this report shee againe exchangeth her frownes into smiles and so receives and intertaines him into her favour onely with this premonition and caution That if ever heereafter shee heard of his folly or ingratitude in this kinde shee would never looke him in the face except with contempt and detestation So these their dis-joynted affections as well by oathes as protestations are againe confirmed and cimented but such lustfull contracts and lascivious familiarities and sympathies seldome or never make prosperous ends Now to give forme and life to this Historie Not long after a brave young Gentleman of Mompillier named Monsieur de Poligny having some occasion comes to Avignion who frequenting their publike Balles or Dancings no sooner saw our faire and beautifull Laurieta but hee falls in love with her and salutes and courts her and from thencefoorth deemes her so fayre as hee useth all meanes to become her servant but not in the way of honour and Marriage rather with a purpose to make her his Courtezan then his Wife But hee sees himselfe deceived in the irregular passion of his affection for Laurieta is averse and will not bee
depaint them yet I should infinitely wrong thee in my selfe and my selfe in thee if I informe thee not by this my Letter the secret Ambassadour of my heart that my affection deserves and mine honour requires thy speedy returne to me I would unlocke thee this mystery and make it more obvious and apparant to the eye of thine understanding but that mine owne modesty and anothers shame commands my pen to silence herein And againe my teares so confusedly and mournfully interrupt my sighes they my teares and both my pen as although I have the will yet I wanâ—… the power to inlarge thee 〈◊〉 Onely my deare Castelnovo if ever thy Perina were deare to thee make her happy with thy sight who deemes her selfe not onely miserable but accursed in thy absence For till Nice be thy Malta Heaven may Earth cannot rejoyce me PERINA Having written this her Letter shee findes a confident and intimate friend of her husbands a Gentleman named Seignior Benedetto Sabia who undertakes the safe conveyance and secret delivery thereof into Malta to Castelnovo so giving it him with store of gold to defray the charge of his journey as also a paire of gold bracelets for a token to her Knight and husband he imbarkes for Genoua so to Naples and from thence in a Neopolitan Galley arrives in short time to the renowned and famous I le of Malia the inexpugnable Bulwarke of Christendome and the curbe and bridle of audacious insulting Turky where finding out the Knight Seignior Francisco de Castelnovo hee effectually and fairely delivers him his Ladies letter bracelets and message who withdrawing himselfe to a window hath no sooner broken up the seales and read the letter but hee is at first much perplexed at the unexpected newes thereof hee reades it o're againe and againe and findes it so obscure as hee cannot gather or conceive her meaning therein but at last construing it onely to bee a wile and fetch of her affection to re-fetch and call him home to Nice to her hee loath as yet to lose and abandon his hopes of preferment in that Iland which now the great Master hath promised him dispatcheth Sabia backe for Nice and plucking off a rich Emerauld from his finger delivers it him for his Lady Perina as a token of his deare and fervent affection and with it a letter in answer of hers In the Interim of Sabia his absence to Malta our old lascivious Baron Castelnovo is not idle in Nice in still seeking to draw our Lady Perina to his adulterous desire and will yea hee is become so obscene in his requests and speeches as they not onely exceed chastity but civility so as shee poore Lady can finde no truce nor obtaine any intermission from these his beastly sollicitations but resolving still to preserve her honour with her life her pure chastity shines cleerer in the middest of these his impure temptations then the Sunne doth being invironed and incompassed with many obsâ—…e clouds but shee thinkes every houre a yeere before shee see her Knight Casâ—… safely returned from Malta when lo Sabia arriving at Villafranca trips over to Niâ—… and understanding Perina privately bolted up in her Chamber he repaires to her and there delivers her her Knight Castelnovo's Ring and Letter although not himselfe when tearing off the Seales she therein findes these words CASTELNOVO to PERINA MY faire and deare Perina the knowledge of thy sighes and teares the more affliict and grieve mee in respect I am ignorant whence they proceed or what occasioned them 't is true thy affection deserves my returne and the preservation of thine honour not onely to request bâ—… to require and command it but I am so assured of that and so confidem of this â—…s I know thâ—… wilt carry the first to thy grave and the second to heaven So if any one since my departure have salne in love with thy beauty thou must not finde it strange much lesse grieve theraâ—… sith the excellencie thereof hath power not onely to captivate one but many yea the consideraâ—…on thereof should rather rejoyce then afflict thee sith whatsoever hee bee the shaâ—… in the end will remaine his and the glory thine But deare and sweet Lady I thinke thine honour is onely the pretexâ—… and thy affection the cause so earnestly to desire my returne whereunto I would willingly consent but that the dayly expectance of my prefermenâ—… must a liâ—…le longer deâ—…aine mee heere â—…nely this is my resolution and I pray let iâ—… bee thy assuraance I will dispaâ—…ch my affaires here with all possible expedition and shall never thinke â—…y selfe happy till I re-iâ—…barke from Malta and land at Nice CASTELNOVO Having o're-read her Letter shee the better to dissemble her secret passions and griefes very courteously conferres with Sabia of whom having for that time thankfully taken her leave shee for meere sorrow and affliction throwes her selfe on her bed from thence on the floore to see her hopes deceived of her husbands returne and now shee knowes neither what to say or doe in this her misery and perplexity for she sees that her father in lawes obstinacie and consequently her sorrowes grow from bad to worse that hee is so farre from reclayming as hee is resolute in his lascivious and beastly sollicitations So that seeing his faire speeches and entreaties cannot prevaile with her hee exchangeth his resolution and former language and so addes threats to his requests and frownes to his smiles as if force should extort and obtaine that which faire meanes could not yea and sometimes he intermingleth and administreth her such heart-killing menaces as shee hath now reason not onely to doubt of his lust but also to feare his revenge which considering shee as well to preserve her honour as to provide for the safety of her life will once againe prove the kindnesse of her owne unkinde father Arconeto and so determineth to leave Nice and to flye unto Saâ—…nt Iohn de Mauriene now to assist her and accompany her in this her secret escape she thinkes none so fit as Sabia who for her husbands affection and her owne vertues willingly consenteth to her so shee preparing her apparell and he her traine they in a darke night when pale faced Cynthia inveloped her selfe in a multitude of black and obscure clouds purposely to assist and favour her in this her laudable and honourable flight take horse and so with great expedition passe the Mountaines and recover Sainâ—… Iohn de Mauriene where though shee bee not truely welcome to her owne father Arconetâ—… yet her honour and her life are truely secured from the lust and revenge of heâ—… lascivious father in law Castelnovo neverthelesse the cause and manner of her escape but chiefly the consideration of her husbands absence in the passage of this businesse doth still so bitterly afflict her as shee is become pale and sickely whereupon shee is resolute once againe to send backe Sabia to Malta to her knight and husband with
both cry and groane which he did very mournfully and which indeed was soone over-heard by a man and a maid-servant of his who only remained in the house who hearing their masters voyce and hastily running up at these his pittifull and lamentable out cryes steping to his assistance they heare him with his best power utter these fearefull speeches That Strumpet my wife hath kill'd me O that shee-Devill my wife hath murthered mee Whereat they cry out at the windowes to the neighbours for helpe alledging that their master is murthered The neighbours assemble and heare him report so much so they send away for his Confessor and the Lieutenant Criminall to both whom he againe confesseth That it is the Strumpet his wife who hath murthered him And then raising himselfe up in his bed with as much strength as his dying wound would permit him he taking them both by the hands with infinite signes and teares reveales to them that he it was who at the seducing of the Devill had stifled his father Argentier to death in Paris that he did it onely to marry this whoore his murtherous wife La Hay that the killing of his father yea the very remembrance thereof infinitely grieves his heart and soule and for the which he infinitely repenteth himselfe and beseecheth the Lord of mercy in mercy to forgive it him and likewise prayed all that were present to pray unto God for him and these were his last words for now his fleeting and fading breath would permit him to say no more All that were present are amazed at this lamentable confession of his to see that hee should murther his father and his execrable wife well neere himselfe so they all glorified God for the detection and discovery hereof But the Lievtenant Criminell and the Counsellors his Associates step to the window and consult to have him hanged whiles he is yet living for the murthering of his father But De Salez saves them that labour for there and then he sinkes into his bed and dyes away before them so they instantly search the house and City for this wretched Murtheresse La Hay whom impious and bloody strumpet they at last find in the Dominican Friers Church at a Sermon from whence with much obloquy and indignity they dragge her to prison where they charge her with the murther of her husband De Salez which the Devill as yet will not permit her to confesse but being adjudged by them to the Racke she at the very first torment confesseth it Upon which severall murthers the Criminell Iudges of the Tournells proceed to sentence so first they adjudge the dead body of De Salez for so inhumanly murdring his father Argentier to be halfe a day hang'd by the heeles to the common gallows and then to bee burnt to ashes which is accordingly executed then they adjudge his wife La Hay for murthering him the next day to bee strangled then burnt so that night some Divines deale with her in prison about the state of her soule whom they finde infinitely obdurated through the vanity of her youth and the temptations of the Devill but they worke effectually with her and so at last by the mercies of God draw her to contrition and repentance when willing her not to charge her soule with the concealing of any other crime and shewing her the dangers thereof she very freely yet sorrowfully confesseth how she it was that for three hundred crownes had caused the Empericke Michaele to poyson La Frange for the which she told them she was now exceedinglie repentant and sorrowfull Whereof the Divines sith it was not delivered them under the seale of Confession advertising the Judges they all wonder at Gods providence to see how all these murthers are discovered and burst forth one in the necke of the other so they alter her sentence and for these her double murthers they condemne her to have her right hand cut off and then to be burnt alive and so they make curious inquiry and research to apprehend this old bloody varlet Michaele In the meane time that very afternoone this miserable and murtherous Curtesan La Hay though to the griefe of her sorrowfull father and sisters yet to the joy of all Tholouse is brought and fastned to her stake where her hand being first strucke off she with many sighes and teares delivereth these few words That her crimes were so foule and odious as she was ashamed to looke either God or man in the face That she was very sorrowfull for causing La Frange to be poysoned as also for murthering of her husband De Salez whose wealth she onely affirmed she loved but not himselfe the which she wholly attributed to the lust and vanitie of her youth to her neglect of prayer and forsaking of God which made the Deuill so strong with her and she with the Deuill and which was the sole cause and ground of this her miserable ruine and destruction she with teares and prayers besought the Lord to be good unto her soule and lifting up her eyes and hands to Heaven likewise beseech the whole assembly to pray heartily unto God for her when recommending her soule into the hands of her Redeemer the fire being alighted her body was soone consumed to ashes whose lamentable yet just end and punishment caused a number of spectators to weepe as yet pitying her youth and beautie as much as they detested the enormitie of her crimes And now for this devillish and murtherous Empericke Michaele although as soone as he heard of La Hayes imprisonment he to save him selfe left Tholouse and fled towards Castres disguised in a Friers habit with his beard shaven yet by the care of the Court of Parliament or rather by the immediate finger and providence of God he is found out and brought backe to Tholouse where for poysoning of La Frange the which he now without the Racke confesseth he is adjudged to be broken on the Wheele there to remaine till he be dead and then his body to be throwne into the River of Garrone the which the same day is accordingly executed and performed to the infinite joy of all the spectators but as hee lived an Atheist so he desperately died a Devill without any shew at all either of contrition or repentance onely hee vomited forth this wretched speech That because the world had so much to say to him he would say nothing to the world but bade the Executioner dispatch him Now by the sight of this mournefull and bloody History the Christian Reader may observe and see how Gods revenge doth still triumph against murther and how he in his due time and providence doth assuredly still detect and punish it It is a History which may serve to deterre and forwarne all yong Gentlemen not to frequent the companies of whores and strumpets and all sonnes not to transgresse the will of their parents much lesse not dare to lay violent hands on them It is a glasse wherein yong Gentlewomen and Wives may
her resolution Whiles thus Albemare in the way of marriage seekes our faire and sweet Clara publikely no lesse doth Baretano privately and although with lesse vanity and ostentation yet hee hopes with farre more fortunacie and successe as grounding his hopes upon these reasons That in heart and soule Clara is onely his as both in soule and heart he is hers so hee entertaines her many times with his Letters and yet not to shew himselfe a novice in discretion or a coward in affection hee makingher content his commands as shee did his desires her felicity hee in remote Churches and Chappels for whose number Millan exceeds Rome hath both the happinesse and honour privately to meet her where if they violate the sanctity of the place in conferring and cherishing their affections yet they sanctifie thir affections in desiring that some Church or Chappell might invest and crowne them with the religions honour and holy dignitie of marriage For having jested of Love heretofore now like true Lovers they henceforth resolve to love not in jest but in earnest and as of their two hearts they have already made one so now they meane and intend to dispose of their bodies thereby to make one of two And this is their sole desire and this and onely this is their chiefe delight and most pleasing'st desires and wishes But as it is the nature of Love for Lovers to desire to see none but themselves and yet are seene of many so this their familiarity and frequent meeting is againe reported to her father and mother whereat they murmure with griefe and grieve with discontent and affliction and now not to substract but to adde to their vexation it is resolved betweene our two yong amorous Turtle Doves Baretano and his faire Clara that he should publikely motion them for her in marriage which he in wonderfull faire tearmes and orderly Decorum as well by his friends as himselfe performeth When contrary to his wishes but not his expectation they give him so cold entertainment and his suite such poore and sharpe acceptance as they in affection and zeale to Albemare not onely deny him their daughter but their house an answer so incivill and therfore so injust as might give a testimony of some way of their care yet no way of their discretion to themselves or affection to their daughter And here I must confesse that I can difficultly define whether this resolution and answer of Capello and Castiana more delighted Albemare discontented Baretano or afflicted Clara who although in the entrance of their Loves their hopes seem'd to be nipt and their desires crost by the frownes of their parents yet they love each other so tenderly and dearly as these discontents notwithstanding they will not retire but are resolute to advance in the progresse of this their chast and servent affections and although their commands endevour to give a law to her obedience in not permitting her to be frequented of Baretano yet her obedience is so inforced to take a more stronger of her affection as dispight her parents malice and jelosie towards them when they are sweetly sleeping in their beds then is their daughter Clara waking with Baretano and he with her oftentimes walking and talking in the Arboures and many times kissing and billing in the close galleries of the garden which they cannot conceale or beare so closely but her father and mother have exact notice and intelligence thereof by some of their trusty servants whom they had purposely appointed as Sentinels to espie and discover their meetings Whereupon as much in hatred to Baretano as in affection to Albemare knowing that if the cause be once removed the effect is subject soone to follow and ensue they very suddenly and privately send away their daughter from Millan to Modena by Coach there to be mewed and pent up with the Lady Emelia her Aunt and besides her waiting Gentlewoman Adriana none to accompany and conduct her but only Albemare hoping that a small time his presence and importunate solitations would deface the memorie of Baretano to engrave his owne in the heart and thoughts of his sweet Clara. Who poore soule seing her selfe exiled and banished from the society of her Baretano's sight and company wherein under heaven shee chiefly and onely delighted she hereat doth as it were drowne her selfe in the Ocean of her teares storming as well at the cruelty of her parents as at her owne affliction and misfortune and no lesse doth her Baretano for the absence of his sweet Saint and deare Lady Clara for as their affection so their afflictions is equall now mourning as much at each others absence as formerly they rejoyced and triumphed in their presence But although the jealousie of Capello and Castiana were very carefull to watch and observe Baretano in Millan and the zeale and affection of Albemares safety to guard and sweetly to attend on Clara and Modena Yet as fire surpressed flames forth with more violence and rivers stopped overflow with more impetuosity so despight of the ones vigilancie and the others jealousie though Baretano cannot be so happy and blessed to ride over to Modena to see and salute his Clara yet love which is the refiner of inventions and wit and the polisher of judgement cannot yet deraine him from visiting her with his letters the which in respect of the hard accesse and difficult passage to her hee is enforced to send her by subtill meanes and secret messengers and the better to overshadow the curiosity of his Arts and the Art of his affection herein hee among many others makesuse of a Frier and a Hermite for the conveyance of two letters to Modena to his Lady which as fit agents for such amorous employments they with more cunning and fidelity than zeale and Religion safely delivered her and likewise returned him her answers thereof And because the servency of their affections and constancies each to other are more lively depainted and represented in these two than in any other of their letters therefore I thought my selfe in a manner bound here to insert them to the end to give the better spirit and Grace to their History and the fuller satisfaction and content to the curiosity of the Reader That which Baretano sent Clara upon her departure from Millan to Modena by the Frier spake thus BARETANO to CLARA HOw justly may I tearme my selfe unfortunate Sith I am enforced to bee miserable before I know what belongs to happinesse For if ever I found any content or Heaven upon Earth it was onely in thy sweet presence which thy sudden abscence and unexpected exile hath now made at least my Purgatory if not my Hell Faire Clara judge of thy Baretano by thy selfe what a matchlesse griefe it is to my heart and a heart-killing terrour to my thoughts to see thee made captive to my rivall and that the Fates and thy Parents seeme to bee so propitious to his desires and so inexorable and cruell to mine That I must
shee throwes her selfe on the floore and weepes and sighs so mournfully as the most obduratest and flintiest heart could not chuse but relent into pitie to see her for sometimes shee lookt up to heaven and then againe dejecting her eyes to earth now wringing her hands and then crossing her armes in such disconsolate and afflicted manner as Adriana could not likewise refraine from teares to behold her when after a deepe and profound silence she bandying and evaporating many volleyes of farre fetched sighs into the ayre shee commanding Adriana forth the doore shut with the two extremities of passion and sorrow shee alone utters these mournfull speeches to her selfe And shall Clara live to understand that her Baretano was murthered for her sake and by her unfortunate husband Albemare and shall she any more lie in bed with him who so inhumanely hath layen him in his untimely and bloudy grave And Clara Clara wilt thou prove so ungratefull to his memory and to the tender affection he bore thee as not to lament not to seeke to revenge this his diastrous and cruell end when againe her teares interrupting her words and her sighs her teares she entring into a further consultation with her thoughts and conscience her heart and her soule at last cotinues her speech in this manner O but unfortunate and wretched Clara what speakest thou of revenge for consider with thy selfe yea forget not to consider Baretano was but thy friend Albemare is thy husband the first loved thee in hope to marry thee but thou art married to the second and therefore thou must love him and although his ingratitude and infidelity towards thee make him unworthy of thy affection yet yee two are but one flesh and therefore consider that malice is a bad advocate and revenge a worse Judge But here againe remembring what a foule and odious crime murther was in the sight of the Lord that the discovery thereof infinitely tended to his glory and honour and that the poore Foole was doubtlesse inspired from heaven to affirme that God sent the Letter she knowes that her bonds of conscience to her Saviour must exceed and give a law to those of her duty towards her husband and therefore preferring Heaven before Earth and God before her Husband shee immediately cals for her Coach and goes directly to Baretano's Vnkle Seignior Giovan de Montefiore and with sighs and teares shewes him the letter who formerly though in vaine had most curiously exactly hunted to discover the murtherers of his Nephew Montefiore first reads the letter with tears then with joy and then turning towards â—…he Lady Clara he commends her zeale and Christian fortitude towards God in shewing her how much the discovery of this murther tended to his glory and so presently sends away for the President Criminell who immediately repairing thither he acquaints him therewith shewes him the Letter and prayes him to examine the Lady Clara thereon which with much modesty and equity he doth and then returne with her to her house and there likewise examineth the Foole where he had the Letter who out of his incivilitie and simplicity takes the President by the hand and bringing him to the Cupboard tels him Here God sent the Letter and here I found him when Valerio being present and imagining by his Ladies heavie and sorrowfull countenance that this Letter had perhaps brought her into some affliction and danger he looking on the direction of the Letter as also on the Seale he reveales both to the President and his Lady that hee received that Letter from one whom hee knew not and that hee left it purposely on the Cupboard for his Master against his comming The President being fully satisfied herein admires at Gods providence revealed in the simplicity of this poore harmlesse Foole in bringing this Letter which brought the murther of Baretâ—… to light when knowing thâ—… God doth many times raise up the foolish and weake to confound the wise and mighty things of the world hee presently grâ—… out a Commission to apprehend â—…lbemare who being then found in bed with Mâ—…ina one of the most famous Beauties and reputed Curtezans of Millan Hee both astonished and amazed by the just judgements of God is drawne from his beastly pleasures and adulteries to prison where being charged to have hired Pedro and 〈◊〉 to have 〈◊〉 thered Baretano he stoutly denies it But Leonardo's Letter being read him 〈◊〉 theâ—… adjudged to the Racke his Soule and Conscience ringing him â—…ny 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of terrour â—…ee there at large 〈◊〉 it when for this 〈◊〉 and bloudy fact of his he the same afternoone is condemned to be hanged the next morning at the common place of Execution which administreth matter of talke and admiration throwout all Millan when Serjeants are likewise sent away to Pavia to bring Leonardo to Millan who not so much as once dreamt or thought that ever this his letter would have produced him this danger and misery And now Albemare advertised of the manner how this letter of Leonardo was brought to light without looking up to Heaven from whence this vengeance justly befell him for his sinnes hee curseth the cruelty of his wife the simplicity of the foole but most bitterly exclaimeth against the remisnesse and carelesnesse of his servant Valerio in not retaining and keeping that letter which is the onely cause of his death yea he is so farre transported with choller against him as although he have but a few houres to live yet hee vowes he will assuredly cry quittance with him ere he die Now the charity of his Judges send him Divines that night in prison to prepare and cleare his conscience and to confirme and fortifie his soule against the morne in his last conflict with the world and her flight and transmigration to heaven who powerfully and religiously admonishing him that if he have committed any other notorious offence or crime hee should now doe well to reveale it He likewise there and then confesseth how hee had caused his man Valerio to poyson Pedro with wine in prison the verynight before he was executed whereupon this bloudy and execrable wretch according to his hellish deserts is likewise apprehended and imprisoned And now Gods mercy and justice brings this unfortunate because irreligious Gentleman Albemare to receive condigne punishment for those his two horrible murthers which he had caused to bee committed on the persons of Baretano and Pedro who ascending the ladder in presence of a world of spectators who flocked from all parts of the City to see him take his last farewell of the world The sight and remembrance of his foule crimes having now made him not onely sorrowfull but repentant he briefly delivered these few words He confessed that hee had hired Pedro and Leonardo to kill Baretano in the street and seduced his servant Valerio to poyson Pedro in prison whereof with much griefe and contrition he heartily repented himselfe and besought the Lord to forgive it him he likewise
decayed age and what more reeling and fickle than the constant inconstancy of his lacivious youth which make my thoughts justly feare and my heart truly presage and apprehend that repentance not pleasure affliction not joy misery not prosperity is at the heeles to attend and follow these their Nuptials As marke we the sequell and it will briefly informe us how De Merson hath not been married two whole moneths to La Vassellay but he begins to repent himselfe that ever he matched her for he now sees though before he would not that it is imposible for youth to fedge and sympathise with her age he sees that she hath a discrepit sickely and decayed body and that she is never free of the Cough and Rheume as also of an Issue in her left arme which is not only displeasing but loathsome to him Yea when she hath taken off her ruffe and head attier and dighted her selfe in her night habilements then he vowes he is afraid of her Lambe-skin furred cap and wast-coate and takes her withered face for a Vizard or a Commet which yeelds no delight but terror to his eyes swearing that he serves onely for a bed-pan to heat her frozen body which of it selfe is farre colder than a Marble Statue Yea he is so farre out of love with her because to write the truth he never truely loved her that her sight is a plague to him her presence by day a Purgatory and her company by neight a very Hell But deboshed and dissolute Gentleman these vitious and impious conceits of thine come immediatly from Hell and Sathan and are no way infused in thy thoughts by Heaven much lesse inspired in thy heart by God Consider consider with thy selfe that if La Vasselay be old yet she is now thy wife and that whatsoever De Praneau or her selfe informed thee of fiftie yeers yet thou knowest she could not be lesse than sixtie three and more she is not In which regard marriage the holy Institution of Heaven having now made you of two one if thou wilt not love her age at least thou shouldest reverence it or if thou canst not affect her thou shouldest not hate her Hath she imperfections what woman in the world lives without them or is shee Pestered with diseases who can be either exempted from them or prevent them Thou hast vowed in the Temple of the Lord and in the presence of him and his people not onely to love but to honour her and is thy inconstancy and impiety already such as forgetting that promise and vowe of thine thou dost now not onely dishonour but despise and contemne her and that thou onely madest that vow purposely to breake it O De Merson if thou art not capable of Counsel yet do but beleeve the truth and thou wilt find that if thou wilt not love her because she is too old to be thy wife yet thou shouldest respect and regard her because she is old enough to be thy Grandmother for as it is incivility not to reverence Age so it is impietie to disdaine and maligne it and if in any man towards a meere stranger how much more a husband to his owne wife And because it is easier to espy our wives imperfections than to finde out or reforme our owne if thy wife La Vasselay bee guiltie of any fault towards thee it is because shee loves thee too well and affects thee too dearely We have scene De Mersons distaste of his wife La Vasselay Let us now see how she likes or rather why she so soone dislikes him for he beares himselfe so strangely and withall so unkindly towards her as her desires of his youth comes farre short both of her expectation and hopes for if he lye with her one night hee wanteth six from her is still abroad and seldome or never at home with her yea hee is of such a gadding humour and ranging disposition as his thoughts and delights are transported elsewhere not at home with other young Dames of Mans not with herselfe and the vanity of his pleasures doe so farre surprize and captivate him that hee is already become so vitious as he makes day his night and night his day living rather like a volutupous Epicure than a temperate or Civill Christian Neither quoth she is it Iealousie but truth which makes her prie so narrowly into so lewd and lacivious actions wherein the further she wades the more cause she finds both of griefe and vexation which makes her wish that shee had beene blind when she first saw him and either he or her selfe in Heaven when they so unfortunately marryed each other here upon Earth How now fond and foolish olde Gentlewoman are thy joyes so soone converted into sorrowes and thy triumphs into teares why thou hast just cause to thanke none but thy selfe for these thy crosses and afflictions sith thy lustfull and lacivious desires were not onely the author but the procurer of them for hadst thou beene more modest and lesse wanton thou mightest have apparantly seene and providently fore-seene that De Mersons youth was too young for thy age because thy age was too old for his youth so that hadst thou beene then but halfe so stayed and wise as now thou art sorrowfull thou needest not now grieve for that which thou canst not redresse nor repent for that which is out of thy power to remedy But rash and inconsiderate woman how comes this to passe that thou art ready to entertaine jelousie when death stands ready to entertaine thee Could all the course of thy former youth be so happy not to be acquainted with this vice and doth now thy frozen age thinke it a vertue to admit and imbrace it Ay me I grieve to see thy folly and lament to understand thy madnesse in this kinde for what is Ielousie but the rage of our thoughts and braines the disturber of our peace and tranquility the enemy of our peace and happinesse the traitour of our judgement and undestanding the plague of our life the poyson of our hearts and the very bane and Canker of our soules Ielousie why it is the daughter of frenzie and the mother of madnesse it is a vice purposely sent from hell to make those wretched on earth who may live fortunate and happy and yet will not yea it is a vice which I know not whether it bee more easie to admit or difficult to expell being admitted But La Vasselay expell it thou must at least if thou thinke to live fortunate and not to die miserable Wert thou as young as aged thy Ielousie might have some colour and excuse in meeting with the censures of the world whereas now not deserving the one it cannot receive the other And as those women are both wise and happy who winke at the youthfull escapes of their husbands so thy Ielousie makes thee both meritorious and guilty of thy afflictions because thou wilt be so foolish to espy and so malicious to remember these of thine
in all outward appearance I thinke he neither loves thee for my sake nor my selfe for thine Live thou as happy as I feare I shall die miserable FIDELIA What a fearefull Letter is this either for Fidelia to send or Carpi to receive but her distempered and distracted spirits can afford no other and therefore shee dispatcheth away the Laquay with this And now as if her thoughts transported her to hell shee cannot bee alone for the Deuill is still with her hee appeares to her in the shape of an Angell of Light and profers her mountaines of Wealth and Worlds of Honour if shee will fall downe and adore him To rebell against God is a sinne but to perseuere in our rebellion is not onely a contempt but a treason in the highest degree against God The best of Gods people are commonly tempted but those are and prove the worst who are overcome with temptation Fortitude is a principall and soueraigne vertue in Christians and if wee vanquish the Deuill it is good for vs that he assaulted us sith those Victories as well spirituall as temporall are ever most glorious and honourable which are atchieved with greatest danger Had Fidelia followed the current of this counsell and the streame of this advise shee had never beene so weake with God nor so unfaithfull to her selfe as to destroy her selfe but forsaking God and contemning prayer which is the true way to the truest felicity what can shee hope for but despaire or expect but destruction Her brother Alcasero and many of her kinsfolks neighbours and friends with their best zeale and possible power endevour to perswade and comfort her they exhort her to read religious bookes and continually to pray Shee hearkneth to both these counsels but neither can or will not follow either Her sleepes are but broken slumbers and her slumbers but distracted dreames and ever and anon it seemes to the eyes of her minde and body that the Captaine her father doth both speake to her and follow her In a word she is weary both of this world and of her life yea despaire or rather the Devill hath reduced her to this extreme misery and miserable extremity that she is ready to kisse that hand that would kill her or that Death which would giue her death Shee never sees a knife in the hands of another but shee wisheth it in her owne heart her Conscience doth so terribly accuse her and â—…r thoughts give in such bloudy evidence against her conscience and selfe for occasioning her fathers murther that she resolves she must die and therefore disdaines to live And now comes her sister Celestina to her to perswade and conferre with her but she will prove but a miserable comforter Fidelia sees her with hatred and detestation and when shee begins to speake very peremptorily and mournfully cuts off her speeches thus Ah sister would we had slipt when wee plotted our fathers death for in seeking his ruine we shall assuredly finde out our 〈◊〉 Provide you for your safety for I am past hope of mine and so get you out of my sight I know not whether the beginning of this her speech savoured more of Heaven then the end thereof doth of Hell for sure If we passe hope we come too short of salvation and if we forsake that this infallibly will forsake us This poore or rather this miserable Gentlewoman having alwayes her murthered father before her eyes which incessantly haunts her as a ghost and yet shee enforced to follow it as her shaddow is powerfully allured and provoked by the instigation of the Devill in what manner or at what rate soever to dispatch her selfe being so wretchedly instructed in faith and piety and shee addes and beleeves that the end of her life will prove not onely the end of her afflictions but the beginning of her joyes But O poore Fidelia with a thousand pities and teares I both pitie and grieve to see thee beleeve so infernall an Advocate for what joyes either will he or can he give thee Why nothing but bondage for liberty torments for pleasures and tortures for delights or if thou wilt have me shew thee whereat his flattering oratory or sugred insinuation tendeth it is onely to have thee destroy thy body in earth that as a triumph and Trophee to the enlargement of his obscure kingdome he may dragge thy body and soule to hell fire But Fidelia is as constant in her sinne as impious in her resolution and so all delayes set apart shee seekes the meanes to destroy her selfe shee procures poyson and takes it but the effect and operation thereof answers not her desires I know not whether shee be more impatient to live than willing to die We never want invention seldome meanes to doe evill a little pen-knife of hers shall in her conceit performe that which poyson could not shee seeks it and now remembers it is with her paire of knives in the pocket of her best gowne she flies to her Ward-robe and so to her pocket but finds not her knives onely she finds her Naples silke girdle in stead thereof The Devils instruments are never farre to seeke she thinks it as good to strangle her throat as to cut it And here comes her mournfull and deplorable Tragedy she returnes swiftly to her chamber bolts the doore and so which I grieve and tremble to relate fastens it to the reaster of her bed and there hangs her selfe and as it is faithfully reported at that very instant and for the space of an houre it thundred and lightned so cruelly as if Heaven and Earth were drawing to an end that not onely the chamber where she hung but the whole house shaked thereat The thunder being past and the skies cleared dinner is served on the Table and Alcasero and Caelestina ready to sit they call for their sister Fidelia but she is not to be found One goes to her chamber and returnes that her key is without side and the doore bolted within and yet shee answers not They both flie from the Table to her chamber and call and knocke but no answer Alcasero commands his men to breake open the doore which they doe and there sees his sister Fidelia hanging to the bed-steed starke dead They cry out as affrighted and amazed at this mournfull and pitifull spectacle and with all speed take her downe but she is breathlesse though not cold and they see all her face and body which were wont to be as white as snow now to be coale blacke and to stinke infinitely These are the wofull effects and lamentable fruits both of Despaire and Murther O may Christians of all ranks and of hoth sexes take heed by Fidelia's mournfull miserable example and withall remember that murther will still be revenged and punished especially that which is perpetrated by Children towards their Parents a sinne odious both to God and man sith it not onely opposeth Nature but Grace Earth but heaven No sooner with griefe and mourning
these passions AMARANTHA to STRENI MY obedience hath not deserved so much contempt and hatred as that without cause or reason you should thus againe banish me from Florence to Cardura and with how much griefe and sorrow I digest it I can better relate with discontent then conceale with pattence How deare your sight and presence was and ever shall be to me if you will not know and withall remember God doth for my soule appeales unto him and my heart to Heaven that I made it the chiefest life of my joy and the sweetest joy of my life So as if you are not the cause I am sure my Sister Babtistyna is of this undeserved cruelty towards me who out of her pride ambition and malice strives to bee as unnaturally imperious to mee as my deceased Sister Iaquinta was both to her selfe and mee The remedy hereof is every way worthy of you as you are my Father and of my selfe as God and Nature have made mee your Daughter for if you will not permit mee to respire and breath the ayre of Florence I will shortly hazard my life to injoy that of heaven for already this my inforced exile hath brought mee to extreame discontent and that almost to utter despaire AMARANTHA Her Letter to her Sister Babtistyna carryed this Message AMARANTHA to BABTISTYNA COuldst thou not bee contented to live happy in Florence but that thou must needes constraine our Father to make mee live miserable here in Cardura Is our Sister Iaquinta's blood already colde or is the memory as well as the manner and cause of her death already of thee forgotten and so raked up in the dust of her Grave Iudge with thy selfe if thou art not wholly as devoyde of judgement as of affection and charity what a palpable yea what a grosse and sottish vice it is in thee heereby to make thy selfe both guilty of her pride and Heire apparant to her malice I remember those ingratefull crimes and vices of hers towards us with pitty and I pitty these of thy selfe to mee with admiration in that thou wilt not suffer mee to live at the curtesie of thy tongue when thou well knowest that thy life stands at the mercie of mine Not that I am eyther so malicious to thee or so uncharitable or undiscreet to my selfe to wish thee any disaster or danger to the prejudice of mine owne happinesse and safety for I desire all peace affection and atonement betwixt us the which if thou wilt graunt mee by causing our Father speedily to recall mee home to Florence hee shall then see and thou assuredly finde that I will bee as much thy Handmayd as thy Sister and that I will farre sooner both hope and pray for a good Husband for thee then for my selfe but if thou denye mee this curtesie then blame not me but thy selfe if the event and issue of this thy cruelty come too short of thy hopes and so peradventure flie a pitch farre beyond thy expectation AMARANTHA Bernardo being thus charged by his Lady Amarantha for the safe and speedy delivery of these her two Letters as also to procure her Fathers and Sisters Answers to them hee rides away to Florence where hee is no sooner arrived at Streni his house but meeting with the young Lady Babtistyna and thinking to deliver her Letter whether it were out of haâ—…te or misfortune or both hee delivers her her Fathers Letter in stead of her owne the which shee well observing shee hastily and purposely breakes up the seales thereof and silently reades it to her selfe whereat growing first red with choller and then againe pale with envie shee foldes it up and committing it to her pocket turnes to Bernardo and demands him for her Sister Amarantha's Letter to her selfe for quoth shee that which I have already read and perused is hers to my Father when Bernardo as much amazed at his errour as afflicted at his foolish simplicity reading the direction of the second Letter and finding her speeches and his mistaking true hee then gives her her owne Letter and desires backe the other for her Father as also both their answers thereunto for his Lady and Mistresse Amarantha whereunto when shee had perused her owne Letter shee with disdaine in her lookes and malice in her eyes teares her Fathers Letter before Bernardo's face and then returnes him this bitter answer Tell that proud Girle thy Mistresse from me that it is my Fathers pleasure and mine that she shall stay in Cardura and not see Florence till she receive other order from us and for any further answer either from our Father or my self it is both a vanity and a folly for her to expect And so in much choller and indignation shee flies from him and violently throwes fast the doore against him Bernardo not expecting such sharp and cold entertainement and seeing it now wholly impossible for him to have any accesse to Streni or answer from Babtistyna hee leaves Florence and speedily returnes to Cardura to his Lady Amarantha to whom hee punctually and fully relates the bitter reply and sharpe and proud answere which her Sister Babtistyna had given and sent her and leaveth not a syllable unrehearsed but onely silenceth his mistaking in giving of her her Fathers Letter in stead of her owne as right now we understood Amarantha is all inflamed with choller at this proud and cruell carriage of her Sister Babtistyna towards her yea the remembrance thereof so transporteth her thoughts with envie and her heart with revenge against her that shee vowes shee neither can nor will brooke it at her hands and heere not hearkening either to Reason or Religion or to her Conscience or Soule shee now violently seduced and exasperated by the Devill doth afresh revive her old malice and resumes her former pernicious resolutions to her Sister Babtistyna Shee hath neither the wit much lesse the grace to consider That Choller increaseth her own torment and misery and that if wee vanquish not our owne malice and revenge it is more to bee feared then doubted that it will in the end both vanquish and ruine us Shee hath formerly conâ—…ented to poyson her eldest Sister Iaquinta and now she likewise vowes that shee will cause her elder Sister Babtistyna either to bee poyson'd or pistoll'd to death but which of these to make choice of as yet shee is irresolute and upon this bloudy businesse her thoughts runne incessantly to her heart as so many lines to their centre O that so young a Lady and so sweete a beauty should make her selfe accessary and guilty of so foule and inhumane crimes but this I may write to her shame and the Reader may please to observe it to his comfort and retaine it to his instruction That had she had the grace to have beene formerly sorrowfull and repentant for her first Murther she had then never proceeded so farre as to have made het selfe guilty of contriving and resolving a second Babtistyna hath a Chamber-mayd named Pierya of
reades these two Letters and consulting them with his judgement findes that they looke two different wayes for Dona Catherina the mother would marry her daughter to himselfe but not to Monfredo and her sonne Martino aymes and desireth to have her marryed to a Nunnery and not to himselfe wherein wealth and covetousnesse are the chiefest ends and ambition of them both without having any respect to the young Ladies content or regarâ—… to her satisfaction and although the speech which Don Pedro delivered him iâ—… the Cordeliers or Gray Friers Church have so much wrought with his affection and so powerfully prevailed with his resolution that hee will no fartheâ—… seeke Cecilliana in marriage yet in common courtesie and civility hee holds him selfe bound to answer their two Letters the which hee doth and returnes theâ—… by their owne messenger That to the Lady Catherina had these words DELRIO to CATHERINA THough you suspect my sincerity yet if you will believe the truth you shall finde that the affection which I intended the Lady Cecilliana your daughter was fervent not feigned and because you are desirous to know the reasons why I forbeare to seeke her in marriage I can give you no other but this that I know shee is too worthy to bee my wife and believe that I am not worthy enough to bee her husband so though envie should dare to bee so ignorant yet it cannot possible bee so malicious either to eclipse the lustre of her beauty or the fame of her vertues sith the one is so sweete a grace to the â—…ther and both so precious ornaments to her selfe that infinite others besides my selfe hold it as great a prophanenesse not to adore the last as a happinesse to see and admire the first For your affection in desiring my selfe hers and shee mine in marriage I can give you no other requitall but thankes for the present and my prayers and service for the future How your daughter hath or will dispose of her affection God and her selfe best know and therefore I shall doe her right and your knowledge and my judgement no wrong rather to proclaime my ignorance then my curiosity herein but this I assure you that if hers to mee had equallized mine to hers I should then thankfully have taken and joyfully received her with a farre lesse portion then you would have given mee with her To your selfe I wish much prosperity and to the Lady your daughter all happinesse I must returne you this mine answer by mine owne servant and whether you make it an argument of my unkindnesse 〈◊〉 affection in pleasing your selfe you shall no way displease mee DELRIO His Letter to Don Martino spake thus DELRIO to MARTINO I Have by my Letter given the Lady thy mother the reasons why I desist from any farther seeking thy sister Cecilliana in marriage and because I know shee will acquaint thee therewith therefore I hope they will suffise both for thee and her I am as thankefull to thee for thy well wishes to have obtained her for my wife as I grieve to understand that thou hast received any bitter speeches either from her or thy brother don Pedro for my sake It rejoyceth mee to see thee of the opinion that inforced marriages proove commonly fatall and ruinous in which beliefe and truth if thou and thy mother persevere I hope you will espouse your sister to don Monfredo and not to a Nunnery because if I am not misinformed her affections suggest and assure her that shee shall receive as much content from the first as misery from the second As thy mother is desirous to see mee so am I to serve her and likewise thy selfe and as thou writest religiously and truely that Marriages should first bee made in heaven ere solemnized in earth so doubtlesse God hath reserved thy sister for a farre better husband then Delrio and him for a â—…rre worse wife then Cecilliana And thus as a Christian I recommend her with â—…ale to the Providence and my selfe with Patience to the Pleasure of Almighty God DELRIO When in regard of his former affection and future respect devoted to the â—…eautie and vertues of Cecilliana and seeing her selfe her Mother and Brother Don Martino bent to dispose otherwise of her in marriage he will yet be so jealous of her good and so carefull of his owne honour and reputation as hee holds himselfe obliged to take his leave of her by Letter sith not in person and so to recommend her and her good fortunes to God the which he doth and gives his Letter to the same bearer but with a particular charge and secret instructions to deliver it very privately into the Lady Cecillianas hands without the knowledge either of her mother or brother don Martino which hee faithfully promised to performe His said Letter to her was charged with these lines DELRIO to CECILLIANA BEing heretofore informed by your brother don Pedro of your deare affection to don Monfredo and your constant resolution to make him your husband I held my selfe bound out of due regard to you and firme promise to him to surcease my sute to you and because the shortest errours are ever best no more to strive to make impossibilities possible in persevering to seeke you in marriage whom I see heaven and earth have conspired another must obtaine and injoy And when I looke from my age to your youth and from that to Monfredo's I am so farre from condemning your choyce as I both approve and applaud it praying you to bee as resolute in this confidence as I am confident in this resolution that my best prayers and wishes shall ever wish you the best prosperities And to the â—…d you may perceive that my former affection shall still resplend and shine to you in my future respect I cannot I will not conceale the knowledge of this truth from you that by Letters which right now by this bearer I received from the Lady your mother and brother don Martino they have some exorbitant and irregular designe in contemplation shortly to reduce into action against the excellencie of your youth and beautie and the sweetnesse of your content and tranquillity which howsoever to your selfe and the world they seeme to shadow and overvaile with false colours yet although they make religion the pretext you if you speedily prevent it not will in the end finde that their malice to your lover Monfredo is the true and onely cause thereof God hath indued you with a double happinesse in giving you an excellent wit to second and imbellish your exquisite beauty whereunto if in this businesse you take the advice of your best friend Monfredo and follow that of your noble brother Don Pedro you will then have no cause to doubt but all the reasons of the world to assure your selfe that your affections and fortunes will in the end succeed according to my prayers and your merits and expectation DELRIO The Messenger first publikely delivereth the two former Letters to
odious in the sight of God and man that he acknowledged hee no longer deserved to tread on the face of the earth or to looke up to Heaven That he knew not justly whereunto to attribute this infamy and misery of his but to his continuall neglect and omission of prayer whereby he banished himselfe from God and thereby gave the Devill too great an interest over his body and soule that he desired God to forgive him these his two soule and bloody crimes of Murther as also that of his neglect of Prayer and so with teares in his eyes besought all who were there present likewise to pray unto God for him When againe beseeching the vertuous young Lady Eleanora to forgive him the murther of her good old Vncle Cassino hee often making the signe of the Crosse and recommending himselfe into the hands of his Redeemer bad the Executioner doe his office who presently with his sword severed his head from his body and both were immediatly burnt and the ashes throwen into the River of Ticino without the wals of Vercelie although his Iudges were once of opinion to send his said head and body to Cassall for the Iudges of that place to doe their pleasure therewith for there poysoning of his owne Mother the Lady Sophia And thus was the miserable and yet deserved death and end of this bloody and execrable Gentleman Alphonso and in this sort did the judgements and punishments of God befall him for these his two most inhumane and deplorable Murthers May God of his infinit grace and mercie still fortifie and confirme our faith by constant and continuall prayer the want whereof was the fatall Rocke whereon hee perished that so we may secure our selves in this world and our soules in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRAble Sinne of Murther HISTORIE XXIV Pont Chausey kils La Roche in a Duell Quatbrisson causeth Moncallier an Apothecary to poyson his owne Brother Valfontaine Moncallier after fals and breakes his necke from a paire of staires Quatbrisson likewise causeth his Fathers Mâ—…er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murther and strangle Marieta in her Bed and to throw her body into his Mill-Pond Pierot the Miller is broken alive on a wheele and Quatbrisson first beheaded then burnt for the same WEe may truely affirme that the world is in her wane when Murther is become the practice of Christians which indeed is the proper office of the Devill and how frequently those wofnll accidents happen wee cannot thinke of but with much horrour nor remember but with grieâ—…e of mind and compassion of heart For is it not to mâ—…ke our selves wilfull Traitors and Rebels to God to violate his Divine Majestie in spoiling his true Image and resemblance yea is it not the high-way of Hell But that this age of ours produceth such Monsters of nature reade we but this ensuing Historie and it will informe us of much innocent blood shed we know not whether more wilfully or wickedly IT is not unknowne that the Province of little Britaine was long since annexed and united to the flourishing Kingdome of France by the marriage of Charles the Eighth with Anne the young Dutchesse thereof notwithstanding that she weâ—…e formerly contracted to Maximilian Arch-duke of Austria where we shall understand that in the Citie of Vannes formerly the Court and Residence of those British Dukes thereof late yeares dwelt a noble Gentleman of rich Demaines and Revenues termed Monsieur de Caerstaing who by his wife Madamoyselle de la Ville Blanche had two Sonnes the eldest named by his title Monsieur de Quatbrisson and the youngest Monsieur de Valfontaine The first aged of twenty foure yeares being short and corpulent the second of twentie being tall and slender both of them brave and hopefull Gentlemen as well in their outward personages as in the â—…ward perfections and endowments of their minds For in all respects the care and affection of their Parents had made their education answerable to their births Valfontaine for the most part lived in the Citie of Nantes the second of that Dutchie with an Vncle of his named Monsieur de Massie being President of the Kings Chamber of Accounts which is kept there who frequenting the Bals or publike Dancings whereunto the youth of France are generally adicted amongst many other excellent beauties wherewith that Citie is graced and those pastimes and meetings honoured he sees a young Gentlewoman being a stranger and newly come to the Citie so infinitly rich in the excellencies of nature and the treasure of lovelinesse and beauty as with a kind of imperious commanding power shee atracts all mens eyes to behold to admire to affect her So as although Valfontaines youthfull heart and yeaâ—…es had never as yet stooped or sacrificed to Love yet at the very first sight of this sweet young Gentlewoman whose name wee shall not goe farre to know hee cannot retaine his enamored eyes from gadding on the Roses and ranging on the Lillies of her sweet complexion nor his resolutions from enquiring what her name and her selfe was when being informed that she was the onely daughter and heire of a rich and noble Gentleman a Widdower termed Monsieur de Pennelle of the Parish of Saint Aignaw fower leagues from the Citie and her name Madamoyselle la Pratiere of the age of some seventeene hee at the very first sight likes her so well and loves her so deerely that if her interiour vertues come not too fhort of her exteriour beauty and feature he vowes he will be her Sutor and Servant and so he attempts to court and seeke her for his wife To which end he more like a Tutor then a Pupill in the Art and Schoole of love is so farre from neglecting any as he curiously and carefully seekes all opportunities and occasions to enjoy the felicity of her company and so for the most part hee conducts her to and from the dauncings sits and talkes with her in her lodgings meets her at Church where as well at Vespers as Masse he accompanies and prayes with her and briefly shee can difficultly be present any where where he is long absent from her For by this time which is scarce a moneth since he first saw her her peerelesse beauty and unparalell'd vertues and discourse have acted such amorous wonders in his heart as hee vowes hee must either live her Husband or die her Martyr But see the providence and pleasure of God for if Valfontaine tenderly love our sweet and faire La Pratiere no lesse doth shee him for knowing him to be the Sonne of his Father and therefore a Gentleman of noble extraction and worth and seeing him to bee wise discreet and proper as also remembring and marking that he fervently and infinitly affects her shee is so delighted with his neat feature and personage and ravished with the melodie of his discourse as albeit at first her tongue bee so civill and modest to conceale her affection from him yet her eyes the Ambassadors of
opinion to seize on their ship which is at anchor in the Roade termed the Realto of Venice a name I thinke derived and taken from the marchants Exchange of that ciâ—…ty tearmed the Realto or else from the Realto Bridge which for one Arche is doubtlesse the rarest fairest and richest Bridge of the world which ship was of some three hundred Tonnes and bore some twenty peeces of Ordinance and then presently after to seize on themselves in their Lodging But upon more mature deliberation they resolve to abandon this their opinion and so to seize on their persons but not to arrest or make stay of their Ship and although their reale to justice and hast for their apprehension be very great yet Mercario out of his respects to Imperia and affection to Marosini tripped on through the by Streetes and neerest way to the Key so swiftly as hee had allready secretly related him and his two consorts the sorrowfull newes which Imperia sent them by him Whereat with feare in their hearts and courages and amazement in their lookes and countenances they all three leape from their beds to their swords discharge their Inne packe up their Truncks and bagage and resolve with all possible speed to flie to their ship and then if not with yet against the windes to put into Sea and for their safetie to leave Ancona and saile for Venice But yet here Morosini's heart is perplexed with a thousand Torments to understand of his Imperia's eminent and apparant danger and with many Hels in stead of one to see that hee must now thus sodainly leave her deere sight and company which hee every way esteemes no lesse then either his earthly felicity or his Heaven upon earth But here againe violently called away by the importunate cries of Astonicus and Donato and yet farre more by the consideration of his owne proper feare and danger Mercario is no sooner stollen away from them but they all three with their swords drawne rush downe the stayres with equall intents and resolution to exchange their Inne for their Ship and thereby to metamorphose their danger into security But they shall see that these weake and reeling hopes of theirs will now deceive them For they finde all doores of their Inne lockt within â—…ide and surrounded and beleagured without with many armed Serjeants Soldiours and Citizens for their apprehension And although Morosini Astonicus and Donato were so inflamed with their youthful bloud and courage as they were once generously resolved to sell their lives deerely and with their Pistolls and Swords to prefer an honourable to an infamous death yet being farre overmastered with numbers and therefore enforced to take a Law of the stronger Whereunto they the sooner hearken and consent in regard the Serjeants and officers doe politickly cry out to them and pray them to yeeld as affirming that to their knowledg their resolution and feare doth far exceed the danger of their offences They make a vertue of necessity and unlocking the doores of their In and chambers do cheerfully yeeld up their persons pistolls and swords to the Popes Officers of Iustice who as soone conveigh them all three to the common prison of that Citty which was the same wherein our not so sorrowfull as unfortunate Imperia was already entred and where to her unexpressible griefe and Morosini's unparalel'd affliction disconsolation such exact charge was given of the Podestate and such curiousheed observed and taken of the Goaler that he could not possibly be permitted either to see or speak with her or she with him the which indeed they conceived to be farre more sharp than their crime and infinitly more bitter than the consideration either of their feare or danger Now the newes of these lamentable Accidents being speedily posted from Ancona to Loretto our Imperia's cruell Father Bondino no sooner is ascertained thereof But seeing his sonne in law Palmerius murthered in his bed and his wife and his own only daughter Imperia with her Ruffian Morosini and his two consorts to be imprisoned as the Authors and actors thereof hee for the love hee bore to her life and the tender pitty and sorrow hee felt of the infamy of her approaching death sodainly falls sicke and dies Wherof his imprisoned Daughter Imperia understanding shee in regard of his former severity towards her is so much passionate and so little compassionate as shee rather rejoyceth than lamenteth at it Onely shee prayes God to forgive his soule of that crueltie of his in enforcing her to marry Palmerius which shee knowes to bee the the originall cause and fatall cloud from whence have proceeded alâ—… these dismall stormes of affliction and tempests of untimely death which shee feares must very shortly befall both her selfe and her second selfe Morosini Whiles thus Astonicus and Donato grieve at their hard fortune and danger and Morosini and Imperia doe reciprocally more lament and sorrow for their separation then for their imprisonment and that the Podestate and other officers of Iustice of Ancona are resolved first to informe the Pope and then to expect his holinesse pleasure for the arraignment and punishment of these foure prisoners it pleased God exceedingly to visit the towne of Loretto and especially the Cittie of Ancona with the Plague wherof many thousands in a few moneths were swept away so by speciall commission and order from Rome they in company of divers other Prisoners are conveyed to the citty of Polegnio two small dayes journey from Ancona and there to be arraigned and tried upon their lives and deaths At which time as they past by the old little Citie of Tolentino where I then in my intended travells towards Rome lay upon my recovery of a burning feaver When I say the nature of their crimes and the quality of their persons made my curiosity so ambitious as to see and obserue them in their severall chambers of the Inne where they that night lay which was at the signe of the Popes armes as for Astonicus and Donato I found them to be rather sad than merry Morosini to be farre more merry then wise and Imperia to bee infinitly more faire than fortunate and all of them to bee lesse sorrowfull for their affliction and danger than for the cause thereof Within three houres of their arrivall to Foligâ—…io they are all foure convented before the two criminall Judges who are purposly sent from Rome thither and are there and then severally charged with this foule murther of stifling to death the old Signior Palmerius in his bed which all and every one of them apart doe stifly deny Notwithstanding that Fundt the hoast and Richardo the Nephew give in evidence of strong presumption against them and also notwithstanding of Morosini's gloves and Bondino's letter written to his Sonne in law Palmerius and delivered by Herbas as we have formerly understood But these two grave and prudent Iudges yet strongly suspecting the contrary they will not be deluded with the airy words and
speed backe from Dijon to him DE LAVRIER to DU PONT SOme seven weekes since comming from Frankford Marte I fell sicke at Salynes where I still lie very weake in body and much discontented in minde in 〈◊〉 â—…use of mine Hoast Adrian the bearer hereof whom I purposly send over to thee to pray and command thee to come ride hither to me with all possible speed I have herewith me in gold and Iewells to the vallew of one thousand seven hundred Crownes and for some private reasons I feare that neither it nor my life is safe here Come away with an intent to finde me dead or dying Conceale this Letter from all the world Love this Messenger but trust him not God prosper my Health and ever blesse thy prosperity DE LAVRIER As soone as De Laurier had delivered his Hoast Adrian this Letter and he taken leave of him father Iustinian begs leave of De Laurier to see Adrian take horse But alas these two lewd Villaines doe deceive his honest hopes to performe their own treacherous Intents and purposes For they fly to a low parler and then locke and bolt the doore to them where as if the devill had throwne them on covetousnesse or covetousnesse on the devill they hastily breake up the seales of De Lauriers letter to his Sonne which we have already seene and understood wherein they glut and surfet their hopes with joy of this new desired treasure and discovered Indyes and so they presently sacrifice it to the fire and wretchedly resolve to make that very same ensuing night to bee the very last of De Lauriers time and the first of his eternity To which end Adrian husheth himselfe up privately in his house from the sight of all the world and especially from De Lauriers knowledge and so here he ends his pretended but not his intended journy to Dijon before he begin it And hee having procured exceeding strong poyson therewith that night to send De Laurier to Heaven whereof giving a little to his great old mastive dog in a peece of bread for a triall he therewith presently fell dead to the ground he likewise sends away Thomas his Ostler a dayes journey into the Country upon some feigned businesse to the end hee should bee no witnesse of this foule and cruell fact of theirs and then all things being first by the devill and then by these his two execrable agents prepared in a readinesse Father Iustinian goes up to De Lauriers chamber and treacherously entertaines him with the hope of his recovery of his health the hast of Adrians Iourney and consequently with the speedy returne of his Sonne Du Pont to him from Dijon But I write it with truth and griefe that De Lauriers heart and mind is preoccupated with too many obnoxious apprehensions and feares and taken up with too much doubt and dispaire to the contrary For as most sicknesses and diseases are most commonly devanced and preceeded by their symptomes so all that day and all that evening he found a swimming in his head and his sight obscured and darkened as if some blacke scarfe or fatall cloud had been drawn and extended before his eyes His heart likewise pants beats and trembles within him as if it and his senses were in a factious mutinie each with other at this their direfull departure and fatall sequestration For still his feares and doubts informe him and his apprehensions and dispaire prompt him that either father Iustinian the Priest or his Hoast Adrian or both of them had conspired to murther him the which hee once thought to have revealed to Father Iustinian but yet againe he dares not as holding it more folly than discretion and that it might therefore produce him more danger than safety he neither can nor will eat any thing that day and his heart and minde is so incessantly perplexed with feare that he feares he shall not out-live the next ensuing night And now indeed comes that sorrowfull and dismall night wherin these two bloudy Villaines have fully resolved to poyson him Adrian having in a lower roome the poyson ready and Father Iustinian above almost ready to call for it Whiles thus the candle in De Lauriers chamber burnt dimme and obscure as disdaining to see or bee accessary to so cruell a murther neare about twelve of the clocke of that night hee awakes out of his sorrowfull distracted slumbers and prayes Father Iustinian to give him a little spoonfull or two of warme wine in a small earthen pot wherein he was used to drinke when this monster of men rejoycing for this fit opportunity hee steps forth to his bloudy companion Adrian takes the poysoned wafer from him and powres the poyson from it into this small blacke pot of wine and so warmes it a little by the fire in De Lauriers chamber and then gives it to him to drinke the which he as greedily as innocently doth whereof after many strong convulsions and struglings he within one houre after dieth having neither the meanes to utter one word or the power to scritch or cry and yet for feare and doubt hereof like two furies or Devils incarnate of Hell they with thebed-staves ramme in a great holland towell into his mouth that he may tell no tales when God knowes that deadly strong poyson had wrought its operation before made a full conquest of his life and given up his soule into the hands of his Redeemer of whom he had formerly received it As soone as these two wretched miscreants have dispatched this lamentable businesse then they teare off his secret leather girdle full of gold from his waste and then breake open his Casket which was under his pillow wherein before his breathlesse body was halfe cold they finde this aforesaid great summe of Gold and Iewels the which they presently divide and equally share betweene them when having curiously searched his purse pockets doublet and hose they make a great fire and immediately burne it all as also his riding Coat Casket and leather Girdle yea and his hat band and cuffes that no marks might remaine either of it or him and likewise turne his horse into the open field and hye-wayes to seeke for the fortune of a new Master so wise as they thought were they in their villany and so industrious and cautious in this their devillish cruelty and in humanity By this time as the murthered corps of De Laurier growes cold these two Factors of Hell likewise beginne to provide for his buriall so a little after two of the clocke they digge a pit in Adrians Orchard next adjoyning to his house and so giving him no other winding sheet or coffin but his shirt they secretly and silently carry downe his body betweene them and there bury him and to make all things sure they cover over the pit or his grave with greene turffes that no mortall eye might take suspition or notice thereof This bloudy businesse being thus acted and perpetrated by these two execrable
visit her with affection and zeale for this desire of hers and request of thine is so honourable so reasonable as my Father should be guilty of unkindnesse to deny the one and my selfe of ingratitude not to grant the other Or if he will yet continue to crosse our affections I will then make it apparant to the world that I will not feare him the thousand part so much as I will love her and that I will ambitiously strive and resolve to make my affection to her to equalize thy zeale and her passion to mee and that I cannot receive a greater felicity and honour than to see her my Wife and my selfe her Husband I have given an answere to her Letter and very shortly I will give her my selfe every way answerable to her merits to thy expectation and my promise RODERIGO His Letter to Dominica was charged and fraughted with these lines RODERIGO to DOMINICA To deface thy sorrowes for thy Brothers death and thy miseries for my absence and likewise to preserve thy ioyes in their blossomes and thy hopes in their riper age and maturity I am fâ—…ly resolved very shortly to grant thy request in leaving Asnallos to live and dye with thee in Granado and thou doest offer a palpable wrong to the truth and an immerited disparagement to the purity and candour of my affection to thinke that I any waâ—… preferre my obedience to my Father before my affection to thee or consequently his content to thine Therefore prepare thy selfe to kisse not to chide mee for else I will resolve to chide and not to kisse thee at my returne My best endevoure shall write on the prosperity of thy Mothers affaires and my best love and service shall eternally attend on her Daughters pleasure and Commands and judge thou if my zeale to thee doe not exceed thine to my selfe sith Earth is not so deere to mee as the Honour of thy sight nor Heaven as the felicity of thy company RODERIGO Hee hath no sooner dispatched these two Letters to his Mistris and her Mother but the very next day after hee enters into a resolution with himselfe that hee shall not doe well so soone to disoblige and disobey his father by so speedily precipitating his returne from Asnallos to Granado as urging this reason to his consideration and proposing this consideration to his judgement that Dominica's affection and beauty can difficultly make him rich but that his Fathers discontent and displeasure towards him may easily make him poore Whereupon resolving to cherish his constancy to her and yet to retaine his obedience to him hee holds it no sinne if a little longer hee dispence with his content and promise to temporize for his discretion and profit as grounding his hope upon this confidence and his confidence upon this presuming infallibility that his Lady and Mistris Dominica is as chast as faire and will prove as constant to him as she is beautifull in her selfe But she is a woman and therefore she may deceive his hopes and he is a man and therefore it is possible that her beauty may betray his judgement the which prediction and prophesie to his griefe and sorrow and to her shame and misery wee shall shortly see made true and verified the manner thus Dominica as wee have formerly understood being of a wanton disposition and carriage and very unchastly and lasciviously enclined shee finding Roderigo's stay in Asnallos to exceed his promise and her expectation shee cannot live chast shee will not remaine constant in his absence but hath a friend or two I meane two proper young Gentlemen of Granado to whom shee many times privately imparteth her amorous favours and affection the which shee acteth not so closely but the Lady her Mother being a Lincy-eyed and curious observer of her actions hath notice thereof and thinking ro reclaime her from this foule sinne of fornication and whoredome which threatens no lesse than the ruines of her fortunes and the shipwracke of her reputation she first attempteth to perswade her by faire meanes with teares and prayers but seeing shee could not thereby prevaile with her then shee gives her many sharpe speeches and bitter threates and menaces as wholly to deprive her of her Fathers portion and either to make her spend her daies in a Nunnery or end them in a Prison That shee is not worthie to tread upon the face of earth or looke up to Heaven because this her foule crime of fornication makes her odious to God and an infinite shame and scandall to all her Parents and friends in generall and to every one in particular with many other reasons looking and conducing that way the which for brevities 〈◊〉 I resolve to omit and bury in silence But this lectuâ—…e of the Mother prevailes not with the Daughter but rather inflames than quencheth the fite of her inordinate and lascivious lust the which shee perceiving and to prevent her owne scandall in that of her daughters shee as a carefull Mother and a wise Matron me weth her up in her chamber where Dominice for meere griefe and choller to see her selfe thus debard of her pleasures in the restraint of her liberty shee growes very ficke lookes exceeding wanne pale and thinne and sokeepes her bed the which the Lady Cervantella takes for a fit occasion and opportunity againe effectually to write to Roderigo to hasten his returne to Granado as doubting least her Daughters Belly should chance to swell and grow big in his absence This her Letter to Roderigo reported her minde and represented her desires to him in these tearmes CERVANTELLA to RODERIGO THou doest thy selfe no right but mee and my Daughter infinite wrong in staying so long from Granado in regard it is contrary to thy promise to my expectation and to her deserts and merits For her affection is so entire and fervent to thee because shee conceives and hopes that thine in requitall is so to her that shee hath this many moneths languished in expectation of thy returne whereof now beginning to dispaire that dispaire of hers hath strucke her into so dangerous a consumption that I feare it will shortly prove fatall to her for already the Lillyes have banished the Roses of her cheekes yea her cheekes are growne thinne and those sparkling starres her eyes have lost a great part of their wonted lustre and glory so if thy affection will not yet pitty should move thee to hasten thy returne to see and comfort her especially sith thou wilt scarce know her when thou seest her in regard I may almost justly affirme that shee is no longer Dominica but rather the living Anotomy of dead Dominica How thou canst answer for this her sicknesse to thine honour which is occasioned by thy unkindnesse I know not but sure I am if shee goe to her grave before thou come to her thou canst never sufficiently answer it to thy conscience nor thy conscience to God In her sicke bed thou art the only Saint to whom shee
my deare Sanctifiore for I write not this out of any malice but out of true affection to thee to the end that thou maiest thereby seriously consider and religiously remember with thy selfe what I am to thee thou to my selfe and what that unfortunate Innocent unborne babe in my belly is to us both And although I am thy wife before God yet I will now in all humility make my selfe thy handmaid and with a world of sighes and teares throw my selfe at thy feet and lower if I could to conjure and begge thee By my poore beauty which once thou didest so much admire and adore by the memory of my lost virginity which thou wrested'st from mee with so many amarous sighes and teares by all thy deepe oathes vowes and promises which thou so religiously gavest mee to remaine still loving to mee by thine honour which should bee dearer to thee than thy life by thy conscience and soule which ought to bee far more pretious to thee than all the lives and honours of the world yea for thy poore infants sake and lastly for Gods sake abandon thy unjust displeasure and immerited discontent conceived against mee and my deare Sanctifiore come away to mee to Putzeole and there make mee thy wife in the sight of his Church and people as I am already in that of heaven and his Angells I say againe come away to mee my sweet Sanctifiore for thy sight will delight my heart and thy presence and company ravish my soule with joy It is impossible for Bertranna either to love or honour thee the thousand part so dearly as thy Vrsina doth and till death resolves to doe I will freely forget all thy former escapes and discourtesies towards mee and doe attribute them more to her foolish vanity than any way to thy unkind disposition or inclination yea I will not knit my browes when thou comest to mee but will cheerfully and joyfully prepare my selfe to feast thee with smiles and to surfet thee with kisses But if contrariwise thou wilt not hearken unto mee or this my letter or regard these my just requests and sorrowes nor obey and follow God and thy conscience herein in speedily repairing to mee to make mee thy joyfull wife then what shall I doe or say but according as I am bound in affection and duty to thee I will notwithstanding still resolve to love thee dearly though thou hate mee deadly and to pray for thee though thou curse mee yea I will then leave thee to God and religiously beseech his divine majestie to bee a just judge betweene both of us of my firme affection and constancy to thee and of thy cruell ingratitude and treacherie to mee Live thou as happie as thy constant Vrsina knowes that without thee shee shall assuredly live sorrowfully and die miserablie VRSINA Her messenger Sebastiano arives privatly at Naples and finds out the Baron of Sanctifiore in his chamber by the fire to whom hee gives and delivers this letter who at first knowing from whom it came stood a pretty whiles musing and consulting with himselfe whether he should read or burne it but at last hee breakes up the seales thereof and with much adoe affords himselfe the time and patience to peruse it which having done although hee no way merited to receive so sweet and loving a letter from Vrsina yet not blushing for shame but looking pale with envie and malice thereat hee darting forth a disdainfull frowne and tearing the letter in peeces throwes it into the fire when turning himselfe hastily towards Sebastiano who stood neere him and saw all that hee had done hee in great choler spake to him thus Tell that proud and foolish gigglet Vrsina that I disdaine her as much as shee writes shee loves mee and that as now so ever hereafter I will returne no other answer to her and her letters but contempt and silence when to expresse his greater fury Sebastiano was no sooner forth his chamber but he very hastily throwes fast the doore after him and in this furious and cholericke manner doth this base Sanctifiore receive the love and entertaine the letter of our sweet and sorrowfull Vrsina Sebastiano as much grieving as admiring at the incivill choler and rage of Sanctifiore presently leaves Naples and carries home this poore newes and cold comfort to his young Mistris the Lady Vrsina at Putzeole the which hee faithfully and punctually delivers to her who expected nothing lesse but derectly the contrary thereof She is amazed to understand this his disdainfull barbarous and cruell answer and infinitly perplexed in mind that hee should first teare then burne her letter and for converting his pen into Sebastianos tongue for his answer thereof But above all that word of his gigglet kild her very heart with sorrow to thinke that for all her former courtesies shewed him hee should now at last repay her with this foule ingratitude and scandalous aspersion at the sorrowfull thought and consideration whereof resolving to make her piety exceed his cruelty shee could not refraine from bedewing her roseat cheeks with many pearled teares nor from evaporating this heavenly ejaculation from the profundity of her heart and the centre of her foule God forgive the Baron of Sanctifiore and bee mercifull to mee Vrsina a great and wretched sinner had shee continued in this godly mind and resolution shee had done well but ahlas notwithstanding the wholesome comfort and councell of her aunt Mellefanta wee shall shortly see her runne a contrary course and cariere It is a common phrase and proverb that misfortune seldome comes alone which wee shall now see our sorrowfull Vrsina will verifie by her deepe sighes and confirme by her bitter teares for this discourtesie of Sanctifiore towards her for shee hath so deeply nayled it in her mind and riveâ—…ed it in her heart that it begins to impaire her health and strength and consequently to pervert and alter the constitution of her body so that whereas her poore unborne babe had lived but one full moneth within her she now finds so many suddaine throwes and unacustomed convulsions that shee is speedily constrained to betake her selfe to her bed when calling upon her aunt Mellefanta and withall possible hast sending a way for the midwife shee after many sharpe torments and bitter cries and groanes to the great perrill and eminent danger of her life is delivered of a verie pretty little sonne which God sends into the world dead borne now although shee want no curious care comfort and attendance from her aunt in this her sicknes and extremity yet shee weeps bitterlie and pittifully for the abortive birth and untimely death of her poore innocent babe and infant and because her aunt sees that this last affliction and sorrow of her neece doth infinitly encrease and revive her former and that shee also conceives a wonderfull feare in her heart and scruple in her conscience that it is only her immoderate griefe and sorrow which hath kild her
time but bootlesse for mee either to paliate the truth or to flatter with God or man the worst of his crime he being my servant was the least courtesie hee owed to mee I being his mistris which after with mine owne hands I had committed that deplorable fact was to bring mee home from the fields to my fathers house and for assisting mee to cast the friers frocke the false beard and haire the almes box breviary and two pistolls into the next deepe pit or precipice thereunto adjoining where as yet they still lie for this my heinous offence the very remembrance whereof is now grievous and odious unto mee I aske pardon first of God then of mine owne deare father and next of the Lady Bertranna and if the words and prayers of a poore dying gentlewoman have any power with the living then I beseech you all in generall and every one of you in particular to pray unto God that hee will now forgive my sinnes in his favour and hereafter save my soule in his mercy the which as soone as shee had said and uttered some few short prayers to her selfe shee often making the signe of the crosse takes leave of all the world when pulling downe her vaile in comly sort over her eies and face and erecting her hands towards heaven shee was turned over now as some of her spectators rejoyced at the death of so cruell and bloody or female monster so the greatest part of them in favour of her birth youth and beautie did with aworld of teares exceedingly lament and pittie her but all of them doe highly detest and execrate the base ingratitude infidelity and treachery of this ignoble Baron of Sanctifiore towards her which no doubt was the prime cause and cheifest motive which drew her to these deplorable and bloody resolutions As for her honest coachman Sebastiano although his owne torments on the racke and now this solemne confession of his Lady Vrsina at her death had sufficiently proclaimed and vindicated his innocency in this murther of Sanctifiore yet such was his widdow Bertrannas living affection to her dead husband and her deadly malice to living Sebastiano for thinking him to bee guiltie and accessary hereunto with his Lady Vrsina that her power and malice so far prevailed with the integrity of the judges for the further disquisition of this truth as they now againe sentence him to the double torments of the racke the which hee againe likewise endureth with a most unparalleld patience and constancy without confessing any thing the which his judges wondering to see and admiring to understand and having no substantiall proofes or reall and valable evidences against him they now fully absolve and acquit him of this his suspected crime when being moved in charity justice and conscience to yeeld him some reward and satisfaction for thus enfeebling his body and impairing of his health by these his sharpe and bitter torments they therefore adjudge the plaintiffe widdow Bertranna to give him three hundred duckatons whereof shee cannot possibly exempt or excuse her selfe And thus lived and died our unkind Baron Sanctifiore and our cruell hearted young Lady Vrsina and in this manner did the sacred justice of God requite the one and condignly revenge and punish the other Now by reading this their history may God of his best favour and mercy teach us all from our hearts to hate this Barons levitie and from our soules to abhorre and detest this Ladies cruelty and impiety AMEN GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XXX De Mora treacherously kills Palura in a duell with two pistolls His Lady Bellinda with the aid of her gentleman usher Ferallo poysoneth her husband De Mora and afterwards shee marrieth and then murthereth her said husband Ferallo in his bed so shee is burnt alive for this her last murther and her ashes throwen into the aire for the first IN the generall depravation of this age it is no wonder that many sinfull foules are so transported by Sathan and their owne outragious passions to imbrue their guilty hands in the innocent blood of their christian brethren and it were a great happines and felicity to most countries and kingdomes of Europe if they were not sometimes infected with the contagion of this bloody and crying sinne which with a presumptuous hand seemes to strike at the majestie of God himselfe in killing man his creature but because wishes availe little and for that examples are more powerfull and prevalent and prove the best precepts to the living therefore I here produce a lamentable one of so inhumane a condition that by the knowledge and consideration thereof wee may know how to detest the like and avoid the temptations in our selves IN the famous kingdome of Portugall and within a very little league of Stremos one of the sweetest and fairest cities thereof there within these few yeares dwelt a noble gentleman of some fifty six yeares old named Don Alonso De Mora Issued and discended from one of the best and famous houses of that kingdome as being Nephew to that great and wise Don Christopher de Mora of whom the histories of Spaine and Portugall make so often and so honourable mention and although hee were by his ancestors and parents left very rich in lands and possessions yet his ambition and generosity caried him to serve his king Phillip third of Spaine in his warres of Africa and Flanders wherein hee spent the greatest part of his time and of himselfe wonne many renowned laurells and martiall trophees of honour and as an excellent cavalier left behinde him many approved markes and testimonies of his true valour and magnanimity But as all men are naturally constant in unconstancy and subject and co-incident to mutations and that the world still delights to please us with changes and to feed our fancies and affections with different enterprises and resolutions so our De Mora at last calls home his thoughts and himselfe from warre to peace and resolves to spend the remainder of his age in as much ease pleasure as formerly hee had done the heate and strength of his youth in tumults and combustions hee now sees that there is no life nor pleasure comparable to that of the country for here the sweetnesse of the imbalmed aire the delicacy of the perfumed and enamelled fields the unparalleld pastime of hauking and hunting and the free and uninterrupted accesse which wee have to arts in our study and to God in religious praiers and meditations makes it to bee no lesse than either an earthly paradise or a heaven upon earth For the campe despite of commanders abounds with all kinds of insolencies and impieties the cittie despite of magistrates with all sorts of vice deceit covetousnes and pride and the court despite of good kings and Princes too often with variety of hippocrisie perfidiousnes and vanity To his owne great mannor house neere Stremos therefore is our De Mora retired with a resolution
to heaved for this her bloody and unnaturall crime was so odious to men and so execrable to God that shee could hope for no pardon of her life from her judges although her sorrowfull old father Cursoro with a world of teares threw himselfe to their feet and offered them all his lands and meanes to his very shirt to obtaine it for her All Stremos and the country there abouts resound and talke of this cruell murthering of Ferallo as also of his Lady Bellinda's condigne condemnation to death for the same and the next morning at eight of the clocke they all repaire under the castle wall to see this execrable and unfortunate Lady there in flames of fire to act the last scoene and catastrophy of her life she is conducted thither by a Saint Claires Nun on her right hand and a Saint Francis Frier on her left who jointly charge her upon perill of damnation to disburthen her conscience and soule before shee dye of any other capitall crime whereof shee knowâ—…s 〈◊〉 selâ—… guilty the which shee solemnly and religiously promiseth them about nine of the clocke shee is brought to the stake where she sees her selfe empalled and surrounded first with many fagots and then with a very great concourse and confluence of people here shee is so irreligious in her vanity that shee had cast of her blackes and mourning and purposely dighted her selfe in a rich yellow sattin gowne wrought with flowers of silver a large set ruffe about her necke and her head covered over with a pure white tiffney vaile laced and wroâ—…ht with rich cut-worke as if shee cared more for her body than her soule as if her pride and bravery would carry her sooner to heaven than her prayers and repentance or as if the prodigall cost and lustre thereof were able to diminish either her crime or her punishment in the eyes and opinions of her spectators But contrariwise the very first sight of her sweet youth and pure and fresh beauty and then the consideration of her foule crime for murthering her owne husband doe operate and worke differently upon all their affections and passions some pittying her for the first but all more justly condemning her for the second When as soone as their clamorous sobs and speeches were past and blowen over and that both the Frier and Nun had tane their last leave of her then after she had shed many teares on earth and sent and evaporated many sighes to heaven shee wringing her hands whereon shee had a paire of snow white gloves and casting up her eyes towards God at last with a faltring and fainting voice spake thus It is my crime and your charity good people which hath conducted you hither to see mee a miserable Gentlewoman here to dye miserably And because it is now no longer time for me to dissemble either with God or the world therefore to save my soule in heaven though my body perish here in earth I with much griefe and infinite sorrow doe truly and freely confesse both to God and you that I am not only guilty of one murther but of two for as I now lately cut my second husband Ferallo's throat so I was so vild wretched heretofore as to poyson my first Lord and husband De Mora. At which report and confession of this execrable Lady Bellinda in regard of the greatnes of her Lord De Mora's descent Nobility all this huge concourse of people who are sensibly touched with griefe and sorrow make a wonderfull noise and out-cry thereat and now in regard of this soule and double crime of hers they looke on her with far more contempt and far lesse pittie than before But shee being as patient as they are clamorous hereat and seeing their cries now againe cried downe and welâ—…nigh drowned and hushed up in silence recollecting her thoughts and againe composiing her countenance shee againe very sorrowfully continueth her speech to them thus I well know and indeed I heartily grieve to remember that these two foule and cruell murthers of mine make mee unworthy either to tread on the face of earth or to looke up to that of heaven and yet in the middest of these my miseries I have this consolation left mee that in favour of my true confession and religious repentance thereof to God that God can bee as indulgent and mercifull to mee as I have beene impious and sinfull to him the which that I may obtaine I beseech you all who are here present to joyne your prayers with mee and to God for mee and this is the last charity which I will begge and implore of you Now because example is powerfull no example so strong and prevalent as the words of the dying to the living therefore to Gods glory and mine owne shame give mee leave to tell you that two things especially brought and induced mee to commit these foule â—…ers as they have now justly brought mee â—…er to suffer death for committing them first my neglect of prayer and omission to serve and feare God duly as I ought to have done Secondly the affecting and following of my lascivious and lustfull pleasures which I ought not to have done The neglect of the first proved the bane of my soule and the performance and practice of the last the contagion and poyson of my life and both these two sins conjoined and lincked together enforce mee now here to dye with as much misery and infamie as without them I mâ—…ght have lived and peâ—…chance lived longâ—… in earthly happines and prosperity O therefore good people beware by my woefull example let my crime bee your integrity my fall your rising and my shipwracke your safety As I beare not hypocrisie in my tongue so I will not beare malice in my heart Therefore from my heart I forgive Roderigo for telling Gaspar de Mora hee saw mee cast some bloody linnen in the pond I also forgive Gaspar de Mora for informing the Corigâ—…dores thereof and they for so justly condemning mee to death I also pray my father parents to forgive mee these my foule crimes and both to pardon forget the dishonour and scandall which the infamy of my death may reflect and draw on them And now I recommend you all to Gods best favour and mercy and my soule to receive salvation in his blessed kingdome of glory The Lady Bellinda having finished this her speech the hearing and consideration thereof engendred much pittie and compassion in the hearts and caused a world of teares in the eyes of the beholders and now shee prepares her selfe for death Here she takes off her rings from her fingers her pearle bracelets from her armes and as a token of her love gives them to her waiting Gentlewoman Hellena who is present and not far from her most bitterly sobbing and weeping because shee can weepe no more for the death of this her deare Lady and mistris who now repeates many private prayers Ave Maries to her selfe when
hell to earth purposely to erraise them from Earth to Heaven and so religiously to give and consecrate both them and our selves and soules from sinne to righteousnesse and consequently with as much felicitie as glorie from Satan to God THere dwelt in the Citie of Avero in Portugall an ancient Nobleman termed Don Gasper de Vilarezo rich in either qualitie of earthly greatnesse as well of blood as revenewes who was neerely allied to the Marquesse of Denia in Spaine as marrying a Neece of his named Dona Alphanta a Lady exquisitely endued with the ornaments of Nature and the perfections of Grace for she was both faire and vertuous that adding lustre to these and these returning and reflecting embellishment to that which made her infinitely beloved of her husband Vilarezo and exceedingly honoured of all those who had the honour to know her and to crowne the felicitie of their affections and marriage they had three hopefull children one sonne and two daughters he termed Don Sebastiano and they the Donas Catalina and Berinthia Hee having attained his fifteenth yeare was by his Father made Page to Count Manriques de Lopez and continually followed him at Court and they from their tenth to their thirteenth yeares lived sometimes at Coimbra otherwhiles at Lisbone but commonly at Avero with their Parents who so carefully trained them up in those qualities and perfections requisite for Ladies of their ranke as they were no sooner seene but admired of all who saw them But before wee make a farther progression in this Historie thereby the better to unfold and anatomize it I hold it rather necessarie then impertinent that wee take a cursory though not a curious survey of both these young Ladies perfections and imperfections of their vices and vertues their beautie and deformitie that as objects are best knowne by the opposition of their contraries so by the way of comparison wee may distinguish how to know and know how to distinguish of the disparitie of these two sisters in their inclinations affections and delineations Catalina was somewhat short of stature but corpulent of body Berinthia tall but slender Catalina was of taint and complexion more browne then faire Berinthia not browne but sweetly faire or fairely sweet Catalina had a disdainefull Berinthia a gracious eye Catalina was proud Berinthia humble In a word Catalina was of humour extreamely imperious ambitious and revengefull and Berinthia modestly courteous gracious and religious So these two young Ladies growing now to bee capable of marriage many gallant Cavaliers of Avero become Servants and Suiters to them as well in respect of their Fathers Nobilitie and wealth as for their owne beauties and vertues yea their fame is generally so spread that from Lisbone and most of the chiefest Cities of Portugall divers Nobles and Knights resort to their Father Don Vilarezo's house to proffer up their affections to the dignitie and merits of his daughters But his age finding their youth too young to bee acquainted with the secrets and mysteries of marriage puts them all off either in generall termes or honourable excuses as holding the matching of his daughters of so eminent and important consideration as hee thinkes it fit hee should advisedly consult and not rashly conclude them which affection and care of Parents to their Children is still as honourable as commendable Don Sebastiano their brother being often both at Madrid Vallidolyd and Lisbone becomes very intimately and singularly acquainted with Don Antonio de Rivereâ—… a noble and rich young Cavalier by birth likewise a Portugall of the Citie of Elvas who was first and chiefe Gentleman to the Duke of Bragansa and the better to unite and perpetuate their familiaritie hee proffers him his eldest sister in marriage and prayes him at his first conveniencie to ride over to Avero to see her offering himselfe to accompany him in this journey and to second him in that enterprize as well towards his father as sister Don Antonio very kindly and thankfully listeneth to Don Sebastiano's courteous and affectionate proffer and knowing it so farre from the least disparagement as it was a great happinesse and honour for him to match himselfe in so noble a Family they assigne a day for that journey against when Don Antonio makes readie his preparatives and traine in all respects answerable to his ranke and generositie They arrive at Avero where Don Gasper de Vilarezo for his owne worth and his sonnes report receives Don Antonio honourably and entertaines him courteously he visiteth and saluteth first the mother then the two young Ladies her daughters and although hee cannot dislike Catalina yet so precious and amiable is sweet Berâ—…nthia in 〈◊〉 eye as hee no sooner sees but loves her yea her piercing eye her vermillion châ—…ke and delicate stature act such wonders in his heart as hee secretly proclaimes himselfe her Servant and publikely shee his Mistresse to which end hee takes time and opportunitie at advantage and so reveales her so much in termes that intimate the servencie of his zeale and endeare the zeale of his affection and constancy Berinthia entertaines his motion and speeches with many blushes which now and then cast a rosiat vaile ore the milke-white lillies of her complexion and to speake truth if Antonio bee inamoured of Berinthia no lesse is shee of him so as not only their eyes but their contempâ—…tions and hearts seeme already to sympathize and burne in the flame of an equall affection In a word by stealth hee courts her often And not â—…o deâ—…aine my Reader in the intricate Labyrinth of the whole passages of their loves Antonio for this time finds Berinthia in this resolution that as she hath not the will to grant so she hath not the power to deny his suit the rest time will produce But so powerfully doe the beautie and vertues of sweet Berinthia worke in 〈◊〉 his affections that impatient of delayes hee findes out her father and mother and in due termes requisite for him to give and they receive demaunds their daughter Berinthia in marriage Vilarezo thanking Antonio for this honour replies that of his two daughters hee thinkes Berinthia his younger as unworthy of him as Catalina his eldest worthily bestowed on him Antonio answeres that as he cannot deny but Catalina is faire yet hee must confesse that Berinthia is more beautifull to his eye and more pleasing to his thoughts Vilarezo lastly replies that he will first match Catalina ere Berinthia and that he is as content to give him the first as not as yet resolved to dispose of the second and so for this time they on these termes depart Vilarezo taking Antonio and his sonne Sebastiano with him to hunt a Stag whereof his adjacent Forrest hath plentie But whiles Antonio his body pursues the Stag his thoughts are flying after the beautie of his deare and faire Berinthia who as the Paragon of Beautie and Nature sits Empresse and Queene-Regent in the Court of his contemplations and affections hee is wounded at