me then that speaking to those above us it s better to say wee honour them than to say onely we love them I thinke it would make the Court laugh heartily if one should say to the Queene in a Complement Madam I love you It may be this would passe in another Country or in another age but seeing we ought to accommodate our language to those that live with us there is no reason to reigle our civility by that of Pharamond or of China I am not much taken with Proverbes excepting those of Solomon but yet I must tell you I like that which counsels to live as few doe but to speake with the most wee ought not to doe as others but to speake like them our actions we must conforme to reason but our words to custome T is a vanity to play the Philosopher upon every name to see if it doe well expresse the nature of the thing we ought in this rather to follow use than argument but I am content to employ both the one and the other to cleere our difficulty as for use t is plaine enough on my side and now let us see if reason be contrary Is it not true that wee ought to entertaine great persons with discourse witnessing our submission And I leave you to thinke if this word imploying reverence be not fitter for this than that of love or friendship since when a Nobleman sayes I love you A vassall cannot reply as much without treating him like an equall what difference should there then be betweene the Complements of the high and the low and wherein should the Language of Authority be distinguished from that of obedience that which they say for fathers may be said for all others on whom we depend Love doth never ascend which shewes not onely that Children doe not returne as much love as they receive from their Parents but also that they ought not to say they love them but when Parents promise affection Children must offer obedience this Complement must not remount to the spring not that we are not obliged to love them but our love in this place must expresse it selfe by the mouth of feare And whereas you say that God commands we love him and a word which pleases him should not displease men I will answere onely that in the same place he commands also that wee adore him and that he requires feare as well as love or I may cite one Law for another If God will that we love him he wils also that we honour our Parents It seemes to me there is great difference betweene the honour we owe to him and that we render unto men he requires our consciences and demands rather the motions of the heart then the words of the mouth he hath no neede of any man but wee have neede one of another he craves the service of the heart and men want that of the hand he desires not our actions except because they proceede from love and men oft times seeke not affection but onely for the profitable effects which it produceth say what you list wee draw more service from slaves which feare without love then from those which love without feare Love doth often aspire to equality but feare doth alwayes containe within respect Men therefore are to seeke that which is most assured whilest God loves nothing in us but that which is most noble This is the reason that speaking to those of higher degree then our selves t is better to say we honour them then we love them this Complement doth more please and the terme of respect doth better expresse our dependance than that of love or friendship I could pursue this matter and bring many other reasons to maintaine my cause but it sufficeth me to shew that it is not so ridiculous as you describe it I neede not so many proofes t is enough that I have custome on my side since our language and civility doe absolutely depend thereupon but to finish this Letter I must make you a complement according to reason and not according to your humour and while you say to others that you love them I assure you that I honour you Never change your fashion of speech I am well content that you love mee onely and shall therefore respect you in the quality Madam Of your most humble c. The fifth Letter Shee professeth how timorous shee is to displease her adjoyning that if shee write seldome she feares to be deemed unthankefull if often importune MAdam the desire I have to please you is so tyed to the feare of all successe that I perceive my selfe alwaies obliged to beg your pardon be it that you heare much newes or very little from me If I write rarely to you I feare to be ingratefull if frequently troublesome Neverthelesse if I must needes be guilty I should hope a more easie remission of the first then second crime I beleeve you will sooner excuse a want of power then of will It is true that the desire depends upon our liberty but the effect commonly upon Fortune you know it well enough and therfore the consideration of your goodnesse ministers me more assurance then my owne defects doubt I freely confesse my inability to write good Letters but I thinke t is more acceptable to have an affection to doe you service then eloquence to offer it And what imports it in this occasion to violate the Lawes of Rhetorique provided wee observe those of friendship I had rather passe faithfull then able It troubles me little tho your opinion be bad of my judgment so it be good of my affection and the desire I have to be Madam Your c. The fifth Answer She replies that she doth ill to distrust acceptance whether she write or not MAdam it must needes be that you have an ill opinion of my humour seeing you are so much afraide not to bee able to satisfy it Albeit it shold be crosse to all others I would endeavour to render it conformable to yours In this my inclination strayes not from my duty and pardon mee if I tell you you know mee not since you feare me If you were well acquainted with the opinion I have of your merit you could not faile in that you ought to have of my observance I can assure you that all the thoughts of my soule are so submisse to those of yours that t is impossible but you should content me If you write often I take it for an effect of your courtesie If rarely I attribute your silence to your employments and affaires Moreover you cannot be unthankefull to a person that never obliged you nor troublesome to her which adores all that you approve you have too much courage to want wil and too much power not to produce the effects may witnesse it but why doe you handle me in this sort by your Letter you thanke me for a good turne which I make you but desire and you have not yet received And
custome is ancient and that this disorder hath been begunne before our age It is no newes that fortune should be sparing of her favors where nature hath been prodigall of hers but this imports not much nor doth it lessen my despight The examples I have read in story affect mee not so much as that of Belinde Albeit we know that death is inevitable we omit not to lament our friends departed And tho we be certaine of this truth that it is a fate ordinary to persons most deserving It ceases not to be irke some to us This is the cause of my distemper and I thinke there is none that hath a thought contrary to mine if he know the merit as well as the misfortune of faire Belinde You know the affection which I beare her and I wish some meanes to testifie unto you That which I have to remaine Madam Your most obedient c. The third Answer Shee shewes that this Marriage will be more happy then is thought And sends her a paralell to the newes she had received MAdam I finde the choise of Lydian as worthy of praise as you depaint it full of blame You ought not to be so spightfull to him nor envious to her he loves To desire Belinde should be happy It is not needfull Bumante be not so You may wish good to the one without harme to the other By your discourse it should seeme Fortune hath not wherwith to please both and that she can give nothing to the old which shee takes not from the young You will change your opinion If you consider what is necessary for Lydian Hee hath neede of a governesse as well as of a wife and seeing they are both obliged to enjoy their goods in common their marriage shall have of all sorts He hath for her riches and beauty she hath for him wisedome and age He looketh upon that in her which least perisheth in al others I meane the qualities of the soule rather then those of the face It often happens that time effacing the faire feature effaces from our soules affection bred by beauty T is there that he is exempted from inconstancy and shall never be subject to repent But in what humour did you write this Letter you say that Numante is imperfect without touching the good she injoyes Hath shee not Prudence and Vertue And without these two qualities what will all the rest availe us I should like an Angell better under a visage something deformed then a devill with all the beauty of the world Her conversation is pleasing and profitable hee will become an honest man in her company and if others cease to be Mistresses after their marriage this shall then beginne see the advantage he shall get and then judge if you have reason to finde fault with the Wife or blame the Husband But I must returne you like for like in matter of newes and make you see by these that wee also are in a Countrey of Monsters We have a Woman in our County whom all the world esteemes lovely And which neverthelesse is farre gone in affection to a certaine man without any cause imaginable more then Lydian can pretend for Numante Hardly hath he a face like others and I thinke were he found among a company of Apes he would be taken for a brother consider well all his pâ—rts it is impossible to finde any which merit patience so much does he want those which may procure Love meane time he is happie albeit he deserve it not but it is time to finish this w ch is enough to shew you how many have cause to complaine of fortune and I especially since she hath alwayes beene so contrary to me that till this present I could never finde any good occasion to serve you or to expresse how much I am Madam Your most affectionate c. The fourth Letter Being derided by some for saying to a greater personage then her selfe I Love you she labours to prove that this forme of speech is good MAdam I am not afraid to write unto you againe that I love you and those that accuse me of ignorance because I use this word can never cleere themselves they know no more the lawes of Phylosophy than those of civility the word Love expresses respect better than that of feare And I know not why men take it ill since God himselfe is contented with it when he sayes that we should adore him he sayes also that wee should Love him I say more he contents not himselfe to permit but he commands it T is strange to see how farre the vanity of man extends which is not satisfied with the same termes that God would have us employ to expresse the respect we owe him Are we equall unto him if wee say wee Love him or have men reason to demand more of one another than God himselfe demands of them but leave wee these divine arguments there are enough humane feare may well be without Love but Love never without feare slaves may feare and yet not Love but children cannot Love and not feare T is shallow to say that the word Love imports equality children are not so great as their Parents albeit they Love them The least may Love the greatest for men may Love God I thinke also that this manner of speech doth not displease you since you like to be beloved you should not loath to heart it finally doe not beleeve that I honour you the lesse for saying I Love you This fashion of expression shewes the excesse of my affection not of my boldnesse I love you then and am more than any person of the world Madam Your honourer The fourth Answer Shee prooves that wee may not say to greater persons we Love them but we Honour them MAdam I saw your Letter in the hands of Celinde who hath commanded mee to answer it otherwise I had hardly beene able to resolve upon it I doe love my opinions so well that I would maintaine them with dispute I abandon them freely to every assailant and finde more relish in peace than glory If I could overcome you I should like better it should be by my respects than my reasons this victory should be more agreeable to my duty and my humour If I thought to displease you I would desire your Cousin to dispense me the labour and should assuredly beleeve my obedience blameable I would not endanger the losse of your friendship to defend a word or a sillable I am not so blinde to violate the lawes of civility to maintaine those of Grammar I could likewise tell you that you should not put your selfe in choler against one that hath no intent to disquiet you and which had never blamed this forme of speech if she had thought you would have undertaken to defend it but since in your letter you have toucht so neere the quicke as to make my opinion passe forridiculous suffer me in a few words to make it appeare reasonable It seemes to
choller Handle me more sweetely another time and whatever happen never entertaine an opinion contrary to the resolution I have made to serve you and to be all my life Madam Your c. The XX. Letter She stiles her her goddesse prayes her to pierce into her heart and see the affection she cannot expresse MAdam though I pray you to thinke of me yet I assure you I have more need of your judgement then memory to keepe any part in your favour because your memory represents things but as they appeare but your judgement can discover them as they are doe not content your selfe to be able to gaine hearts but get the way to enter into them and see there the affection you produce be not like the sun whose heat goes farther then his light and produces gold and mettals in the earth where notwithstanding the brightnesse of his rayes did never pierce you will say this is a gallant language and that my friendship speakes like love but what shold bar it the same discourse that hath the same excesse It knowes no difference but by the end not by the vigour take it not ill then if I entreate your aide to discover the violence of my affection and since I title you my goddesse I beseech you shew some effect of this faire name regarding my heart more then my hands my intention then my sacrifice Certainely I should be the most unfortunate of the world shold you judge my friendship by my workes or my words I have neither power nor eloquence but had I the one and the other both in a perfect degree I should not yet be able to shew you as I ought the desire enflames me to serve you and to be Madam Your c. The XX. Answer She saith that she hath more love then knowledge and that after the effects of her friendship she does ill to employ words MAdam I doe not thinke those who have given you their approbation can deny you their remembrance The excellency that is in you begets at the same time desire to conserve aswell as acquire your favour I have but one griefe t is not to have soule enough to judge the perfections of yours They say wee must measure love by knowledge and neverthelesse albeit I beleeve not to know you perfectly I cannot imagine that any can love you better but were it so It would sad me much to have no more judgement that I might have more affection I thinke I am quite contrary to that you say of the Sunne my heaâ—e outgoes my light my love my knowledge Call me no more your goddesse if you will not have mee call you my idolatresse you erre to tender so much honour to her that merits so little Straine not for words to shew you love mee your deedes have made mee know it I shall never see better by the brightnesse of a Torch then that of the Sunne it selfe So I compare deeds and words which doe not equally expresse friendship t is of the last notwithstanding I must serve my selfe not having power enough to shew you otherwise how much I am Madam Your c. The XXI Letter She makes a scruple to write fearing that if her Letters please her shee should be lesse impatient to returne MAdam whatever commandement you make me to write I protest I feele a repugnancy to obey I feare if I give yon any content in absence lest I slow that which I hope by your returne I have heard you say that you finde unparaleld delights reading my Letters which albeit I doe not wholly beleeve I cannot cease to feare I imagine with my selfe that if there you take so much pleasure you wil have the lesse impatience to see me And I doubt least thinking to diminish your griefe I augment my owne I would not willingly contribute any thing to make my absence lesse unsupportable yours is to me so that I cannot enough lament it And I can tell you that if your Letters please me they diminish my sorrow without diminishing the desire I have to enjoy you Rather they augment it and the contentment I take to reade them making me thinke on that of your company increases the desire I have to possesse it If ever I have the good lucke I will make my selfe inseparable that I may no more be obliged as at present to write to you that which I would more willingly protest with my tongue that I am perfectly Madam Your c. The XXI Answer She answers that the Letters shee receives augments her joy without decreasing the desire to see her MAdam albeit without ceasing I demand newes from you if you write to me because I desire it this is not to obey but oblige me not an effect of your duty but onely of your courtesie however never feare that this should hinder mee to wish your returne since the entertainment distant friends doe give and take by Letters is but a picture of that betweene persons present you should imagine that though your Letters did yet give me greater content they would not hinder me to desire that of your presence to speake truth A Letter is but a copy which makes us curious of the originall a table which augments the desire to see the person represented This is the effect of yours and I can assure you that if those you write mee be delightfull there is nothing so true as that augmenting my joy they augment the passion I have to bee neere you and to finde occasions to testifie in what manner I am Madam Your c. The XXII Letter She tels her that nothing can keepe her from writing no not the feaver it selfe though violent MAdam imagine the desire I have to receive your Letters by the care I take to send you mine having a fit of the feaver to suffer and seeing the Post ready to part I resolved my selfe spight of my disease to write to you you neede not demand if my hand shaked t is not with feare but with a shivering cold In this estate I have not beene carefull to write you a long letter because the Post presseth mee on the one side the feaver on the other I must therefore finish and put of what I have to tell you till another time I am threatned my paine will bee more violent but it matters not I shall endure it patiently since t is a labour too praise worthy which I undergoe to take occasion to testifie to you how I am Madam Your c. The XXII Answer She feares least for receiving a small satisfaction she lose a greater and that having forced her self to write she encrease her dâ—sease MAdam I have not received the joy I expected by the returne of this Bearer learning your indisposition by the Letter you did me the honour to write me I feare least the paines you have taken augment your disease and that being willing to give mee this satisfaction you deprive me not of a greater then I can have
thinke on you and you have no neede to sollicite my memory more then my affection the first is an effect of the last True friendship is alwayes attended with remembrance and those which can forget were never truely in love when wee fixe upon a worthy object wee resemble the covetous who have no lesse care to conserve then heape up treasure Insomuch that to beleeve I entertaine my selfe with you is to beleeve I love and yet however you consent to the last you tell mee you doubt the first In this I know not how to make your faith and your feare friends Be for the future more bold to employ me and think that if ever I want memory I must be very sicke the alteration should be in my temperament not my friendship If any disease should take away this faculty of my soule which onely renders me happy in your absence I assure you I would alwayes have your picture before my eyes I would employ this remedy every moment and refresh your Idea at the table But I hope I shall have no neede of this to entertaine my selfe without ceasing with a person that had no defect if she had not this to employ mee with ceremony It s enough to know that our friends want us to gaine our assistance we must not be entreated when t is sufficient to be advertised I have then reason to complaine of you and it seemes to me that you have an opinion scarce good enough of my friendship since you begge the effects with so little confidence I am very unhappy not yet to have given you cause enough to rely on me and to use me with more assurance Remember your selfe onely that if I seek occasions to serve you you should not feare to give them my interests are tyed to yours and I shall be no lesse obliged when you present mee the meanes to doe you a good turne then if I had received one All that troubles mee in this is that I cannot benefit you but by depriving my selfe of your company But it is better my inclination dispose it selfe to yours and that humane things give place to divine I love you so that I have more regard to what you gaine then that I lose Insomuch that since you desire this holy solitude you shall no longer stay here but with repugnancy follow the voyce that cals you and hearken not to that which laments you or yet speake to you of the world I approve your desire and offer you all the helpe I can bring It is in this occasion onely that I will bid you farewell without daring to complaine and without expressing other griefe then for that I cannot follow you I wish I had the liberty so to do and I would not onely offer you the favour but the company Mistris Of Your c. The XXVI Letter She desires her to beleeve that if she write not t is want of opportunity not will MAdam never feare that I forget you my soule may sooner be without thoughts then my thoughts without you but albeit I employ the better part of my time to entertaine my selfe about you I cannot finde any favourable enough to write to you It seems that fortune is jealous that I bestow all my contemplation upon you and that not being able to divert me at least shee hinders mee to testifie you the truth by my Letters I most humbly beseech you to beleeve it and to lament me rather then accuse me It is occasion I want not will I am more worthy of your compassion then your anger Cease not then to send me your news albeit you can but rarely receive mine my silence is no effect of oblivion but misfortune handle me like a prisoner on whom we bestow visits without hope to receive any If I had more liberty you should have more proofes of my affection If you doe but a little remember the past you cannot doubt it and during all my silence I am no lesse then I have beene though I cannot protest it you so often Madam Your c. The XXVI Answer Shee answers that shee can easily hope the honour of her remembrance since she possesses that of her affection and that shee is assured of her friendship whatever happen MAdam I agree to yours and since you will have it so I beleeve that you passe some part of your time to entertaine your selfe with our friendship I can easily beleeve the favour of your remembrance since you deny me not that of your love We do more oblige persons by affection then memory we may thinke indeed on troublesome things but love only delightfull since I have some part in your good grace I beleeve you will give me some in your memory After a great favour I may well expect a little one And if my imperfections cannot hinder you to love me they shal never hinder you to remember mee This is my faith and my consolation I am none of those who are alwayes in alarme when people faile of what they owe or what themselves desire I doe not regard if you write to me or not I beleeve that you faile not to serve your selfe of all occasions whereby I may receive any assurance I feare more the change of your health then of your friendship and wish you were no more subject to sicknesse then inconstancy And when I desire you more liberty It is for your owne satisfaction and that I might receive more frequent testimonies of your affection Albeit I should this would not augment the beleife I have but onely the pleasure I take to understand it Your Letters render me more content but not more constant nor more then I am Madam Your c. The XXVII Letter She complaines of her distance that she cannot hope for newes that shee can neither remember her without griefe nor forget her without ingratitude MAdam since for the future I dare scarse hope to have newes from you I must at least send you mine that you may have compassion on mee and not render my evill extreame by oblivion T is that I feare if your promises did not give me that courage which my want of merit entirely takes away Excuse me if I write thus unto you since the soveraigne remedy of my solitude is to thinke that you have promised to love me I hardly know my selfe when I consider that which not long since I possest I speake thus according to your measure and not according to my owne since t is but eight dayes for yov but a whole age for me see to what I am reduced I can neither forget you without crime nor thinke of you without griefe I must be either faulty or unhappy You have too much merit to let me be able to forget you and I too little to imagine you thinke on me Insomuch that I can neither hope without temerity nor cure my selfe without ingratitude but my Letter must be confused like my thoughts I tell you once more that I know not
to our man I protest I desire not such a good fortune I love better the restlessenesse of your Spirit than the tranquillity of his I speake of those noble cares which knowledge bringeth forth and of that moderate feare which serves but to awake the soule and not to trouble it The happinesse of these people whereof you write unto mee is like to that of men asleepe their spirit is quiet because it is not capable of disturbance I must make you laugh as I conclude this Letter at a comparison which perhaps you will judge a little too high for mee It seemes that men may bee set safe from the blowes of misfortune as from those of thunder by being very high or very low but in both these albeit the safety be equal the glory is not I had rather scape a tempest being on the mount Olympus then in a cave And to talke like your booke the onely one that can make mee guilty of theft I would rather choose to be above then below affliction and be thereof uncapeable by reason rather then stupidity I conclude this then beseeching you to speake no more of that matter not to pleade against your owne Interest in quitting that of great Spirits You have thereof too great a share to renounce And if I defend them I doe but praise a good which you possesse and I desire I wish as many good termes to expresse my thoughts upon this subject as I have desires to serve you and to witnesse on all occasions how much I am Madam Your most affectionate c. The second answer She endeavours to proove that those that have the least spirit have also the least molestation MAdam write what you list for great spirits it seemes to mee they have more glory then happinesse And that it is difficult to have great splendor and little care It is true they are much esteemed which outshine others Notwithstanding I thinke that with all this advantage they may be compared to the bush in holy Scripture which had much brightnesse but yet was full of thornes There are indeed many sharpe points under these glorious rayes There are many cares which knowledge encreases rather then cures Let us speake freely and not suffer our selves bee charmed by this same faire appearance As those that have a feaver would willingly be lesse sensible that they might bee lesse tormented so I beleeve the miserable would wish their knowledge diminished for to diminish their affliction In this we may speake of spirits as of the senses the most delicate do soonest feele Phisicke likewise and Philosophy doe in the same manner heale the unfortunate and the diseased The one stupifies the sense without which there is no sorrow the other endeavours to withdraw the attention without which there is no sadnesse whence you may learne that the most ignorant are the least unfortunate I deny not but there are some which lift them selves above misery and doe surmount it but I thinke these are very rare I see few that do resemble you And to tell you who they are which put themselves to most paine I beleeve they are neither the great nor the little but onely the indifferent Mee thinkes disquiet formes it selfe in the soule as clouds doe in the Aire The Sunne sometimes drawes up vapours which afterwards it can hardly disperse and these middling Spirits precipitate themselves into those cares from which they can never get free whiles great spirits overcome discontent and the lesser know it not the middle sort are intangled therein So Christianity reprobates the Luke-warme from hope of Salvation and morality rejects them in point of civill felicity These then are they which have cause to complaine And whose understanding seemes to mee unlucky since it onely serves to leade them into many Labyrinthes but not to conduct theÌ„ out Have I not then reason to thinke that those which have lesse spirit have lesse paine If there bee so few which vanquish affliction is it not sufficient that I follow the path most beaten and content my selfe by ignorance to be below evil not being able by Iudgement to lift my selfe above it Since the felicity of the lowest wits is true I care not tho it be lesse glorious then that of great sages If it be not as noble sure I am t is no lesse pure no lesse reall I speak in this my wishes not my being for albeit I am without wit I am not without perturbation I suffer the misfortune of those who have but little knowledg and am deprived of their advantage you know it well enough and I doubt not but if you endure my dispoâ—ition t is for my affections sake and the desire which I have to be Madam Your perfect servant The third Letter Shee complaines that men doe sometimes fall in love with those that deserve it least and that the deformed are very often more happy then the faire MAdam there 's no neede goe into Africke to arrive at a Country of Monsters our own produces but too many to seeke elsewhere objects of wonder In fine this young man hath marryed the old woman T is a choyce worthy of shame for himselfe of envy for many of admiration for all we are young and it is to us a strange thing to see that in our dayes she hath found a fortune so prodigious in the decline of hers And that any should fall in love with her Albeit shee wants the three goods which are thereof the ordinary cause for she is neither faire nor rich nor young I do not doubt but she hath experience sure I am she hath age enough to get it but I cannot cease to admire that any man could fancy her with all her knowledge If she deserved to be sought unto it was like some Sibil I meane to be consulted not beloved I thinke she is more fit to teach then to please and more worthy to have Schollers then Suiters what will they say of Lidian will it not seeme that he had more charity then love that he tooke her not but out of meere pitty to succour old-age If strangers finde them together they will take her for his mother not his wife I doe not yet tell you all I protest I cannot Nature gave her nothing amiable which old age could take from her Time cannot ravish away those goods shee never possest All it could doe is onely to make her more aged not more ill favoured She is rather an old deformity then woman It might well deprive her of strength but not of beauty It hath toucht nothing but her haire and by this she is a gainer since of red it is become white I speake nothing but truth although I write in choller But I ought so to proceede and there is no appearance of reason to approve that the deformed should be sued to and the faire slighted Must they which want all merit enjoy so much good fortune and our Belinde be forsaken I know well the
approbation for a thing which hardly deserves patience I thinke t is rather an effect of your affection then of your judgement and that you have more desire to declare me your good will then your esteeme Take heed you offend not in praysing me after this manner and that yon make me not fall into the greatest errour of the world which is to take my selfe to be eloquent I ascribe so much to your judgement I should be ready to abuse my owne to conforme my beleefe to yours but let us change stile I thinke it is not your intention no more then mine and that when you value me so much t is rather civility then truth that speakes I know you have no lesse ability to discerne my defects then goodnesse to pardon them And I doe not desire you to run your selfe into errour I onely pray you to bring in others and to say of mee sometimes that which your selfe doe not beleeve It seemes to me my request is not uncivill if I beseech you to speake for mee to others as you use to doe to my selfe I thinke you would not I should have any other opinion of my selfe so I take your praise for an honest correction and doe beleeve that in attributing to mee so many good qualities you would admonish mee of those I want and which must be had to merit so high an approbation as yours This is that which ought to be beleeved by Your c. The XXXVII Letter She professes to her the feare shee hath during the thunder and expresses her griefe for not seeing her MIstris wonder not if this Letter be confused I am yet more in my thoughts then my discourse if you know not the cause I thinke it is enough for your information to tell you it thunders here they say the storme is past and neverthelesse my feare is not yet blowne over This is not written like others in my cabinet but in the bottome of a cave whether I descended all trembling and wrote it with so much disorder that to reade it onely will be enough to make you beleeve the truth I thinke that you are sorry to know me subject to such an excessive feare but yet doth it seeme that I have more reason to feare thunder then others have to runne away from Rats and spiders After so many sad examples wee have of it that which is capable of feare ought to be possest with it at this most fearefull Meteor but that this feare may be profitable it must make us discourse of our owne weakenesse and the greatnesse of God which makes all tremble with a vapour and which employes but an exhalation to fright the proudest Excuse me if I write to you in this fashion the apprehension I am in inspires me with no other thoughts you shal receive something another time lesse melancholly but see how far I am distracted I forgot to answer your Letter where you tell mee there is no appearance I bemoane you much and that you yet hope my returne with more passion I have as much affection to your company as you to mine I wish you knew my thought without doubt you would change yours Finally binde me to judge of my griefe by my love or rather of the one and the other by your merit which is the object of both Neverthelesse I ought not to give my selfe over to the judgement you make of me for as humility conceales from you the better part of your selfe I feare least it also hide the affection they beget in the soule of those which know you as my selfe and which are as perfectly as I am Mistris Your c. The XXXVIII Letter She complaines of her subtleties MAdam albeit I were told of your humour I could hardly beleeve you would disoblige those that had vowed you service and friendship the good opinion I had tane of you forbad mee this beleife insomuch that I accused of malice and invention those that informed me yours but now I have quitted this error by the last effects you have made mee receive of your bad disposition which are by so much the more unjust as I have never given you cause to offend mee On the contrary I have alwayes exprest to you that I esteemed you perfectly T is this which makes your processe the more criminall and which should carry mee more justly to revenge if the contempt I make of your deceits tooke not away my purpose In this minde I would never complaine of you if it were not for feare to passe for an innocent in your judgement giving you advantage by my silence to thinke that I discover not your subtleties and that I yet preserve the affection I promised you T is this that made me resolve to hazard this writing to assure you that I am cleane stript of friendship or hatred towards you My courage makes me uncapable to estee me you and my goodnesse to hate you But if my mildnesse obliges me to this moderation it shall not hinder me to tell you that of all the Ladies I have ever knowne you are the most malicious and the most unworthy to be beloved This is all that I can write unto you of this matter assuring you that your instructions have bin unprofitable and that those people which have studyed them have made very bad use of them at least have they not made those to speake which else would hold their peace I doubt not but if they have bin willing to tell you the truth they have affirmed to you the little satisfaction they have received from their curiosity Any finenesse that their wit hath used innocence hath surpast their craft so doth shee triumph alwayes soone or slow over lies and calumnies I beseech you beleeve that those you have employed to disoblige mee have absolutely taken away the will and the desire to be Madam Your c. The XXXIX Letter She entreates a strange Lady to assist a friend of hers goeing out of the Realme MAdam I have alwayes beene heard to speake of your merit with so much zeale that every one hath imagined by the testimonies of my affection that I had some part in yours You see the reason why M. L. which shall present you this Letter hath desired to be the bearer thereof and withall the subject that hee might receive some reflexion of the friendship wherewith you â—â—ave honoured me Surely Madam I am engaged to him in this occasion to give me that to write to you to recommend to you in him the person of one of my friends though hee be commendable enough of him selfe I hope you will make him know by your good offices that I am a little in your favour and that those hee shall obtaine of your courtesie in my regard shall oblige mee to render you as much service In the meane time I conjure you to conserve me the honour of your remembrance with assurance that I wish that of your commands to make it appeare that I am
elsewhere It is certainely true that the two most happy newes I can receive are that you love me and are well And that I feare most in the world is the alteration of your health or friendship the least suspition of the one or other would make meÌ„ hate my life I protest never was Letter so deare unto me as that you sent maugre your fit but yet I like better you should take care of your health then writing Albeit your tidings extremely reâ—oyce me I love your life better then your letters I beseech you beleeve it and employ me in all you please as Madam Your c. The XXIII Letter Shee recommends to him the cause of her friend SIr if I had as much ability to serve you as occasion to trouble you you should easily judge I valew not my owne interests in respect of yours But I must in this accoÌ„modate my selfe rather to the condition of â—y fortune then my disposition and if you have no proofes of my thankefulnesse you shall at least of my confidence past examples doe make me more and more hardy for the future and instead that the continuation of your favours ought to oblige mee to a modesty lesse audacious I finde they give me more liberty So it is Sir that I have once more neede of the accustomed testimonies of your good will but to begge with more dexterity I wil joyn your owne interest with mine and convince you by your own charity as well as by the favor you have promised me I assure my selfe that the vertue you practise with so much praise and the justice you exercise with so much integrity will easily obtaine of you all I shall demand in behalfe of this bearer He is no lesse worthy your compassion then his adversaries your chastisement I know you will do in this businesse all that justice requires but besids this I most humbly beseech you to adde yet for my sake that sweetenesse wherewith you are wont to receive all those I recommend to you and that obliging quality which interesses you in all that I affect The obligation I shall beare you in this respect shall hold the place of one of your most speciall favours and I shall remember it all my life aswell as the promise I have made to remaine Sir Your c. The XXIV Letter She writes to her that her sadnesse iâ— extreame during her absence MAdam I take no care how to expresse the griefe I suffer by your absence for it were to aspire to an impossibility and as I cannot speaâ—e my contentment when I have the honour to see you so can I not testify the displeasure I feele when I am deprived of so great a good fortune my griefe is as mute as my joy I wish you could see it you should judge my affection by my sorrow since the one is the cause of the other and both are extreame In this case I have no other comfort but that I receive by reading your Letters If I had no memory I should be the most unfortunate of the world And that which more afflicts me is that I have no more opportunity to receive the assurances of your friendship but onely to send you those of my duty the desire I have to be Madam Your c. The XXIV Answer She answers that shee hath not merit enough to cause joy in the possessing or sorrow in the losing MAdam your letter makes me more ashamed then my absence you melancholly I have more cause to blush at your praises then you to be sad at my separation I cannot beleeve you without mistaking my selfe for another and to credit your words I must renounce the knowledge of my selfe That which you have of mee is very different from your discourse or at least from truth I doubt not but you feele some sorrow but I care not to measure it by my merit I have too little to equall the favour I possesse and I should be no lesse ignorant then unthankefull if I should not avow that you have much more affection to me then I good qualities to deserve it If I have any one that makes me so hardy to beg the continuation t is onely this simplicity you love in me and which renders you my defects the more suppoâ—table T is the only advantage I have to think you love me and that you permit me to call my selfe Madam Your c. The XXV Letter She desires to enter into a Monastery and prayes her to aide her therein MAdam I must needs confesse you my error I feare that you forget me I beleeve you wish me well but I know not if you thinke on doing it and in the number of great affaires which take up your thoughts I feare you dreame not on any so small as mine I have more neede to sollicite your memory then your will and am more in paine for your â—emembrance then your affection but that I may touch you where you are most sensible â—he pleasure you shall doe me may be cald an effect of your charity aswel as of your friendâ—hip I perceive well the endeaâ—ours of my calling but I canâ—ot follow it perfectly without â—our favour I have yet neede â—f humane things to arrive at â—ivine and albeit I be neere a â—onasticke life as the cripple â—â— the poole I want some boâ—y to cast me in upon this occasion Without which I shall but languish in my desires and remaine alwaies in a place where long since I fastned no more hopes I call the world so which I should quit with griefe because I leave you there did I not consider that one day by Gods grace wee shall enjoy a longer conversation then that is promised here below In which I place all my expectation and since it is the greatest good of all I content my selfe to wish it you to shew the true affection I have to serve you and to be Madam Your c. The XXV Answer She praies her to employ her with more â—â—â—â—â—â—ence approves her designe to enter into that course and offers her aide MIstris if you thinke I have forgotten you never was faith so faulty as yours It is an injury to both seeing you must have a bad opinion of my friendship or I not that I ought to have of your merit Iudge the consequence for to want memory I must want knowledge We cannot in this separate ingratitude from ignorance And to examine all things well I understand not how I can wish you good without remembring to doe it this should be rather a sicke desire then mine I have too much affection to remaine unmooveable and I can assure you that occasions shall rather be wanting to my wil then my will to occasions This would be a thought very vnprofitableÌ„ to our friends if we should remember them alwayes except at those times they have neede of us Be then lesse fearefull and if you will that I assure my selfe of your affection doubt not of mine I