than whitest bone of all On her feet Her feet so short and slender little round On earth a finer pair cannot be found A last of his Mistresses perfections She hath Venus lip and eye With Diana's chastity In those parts I have reveal'd Venus beauty is exprest Yet there are some parts conceal'd Which my fancie judgeth best The conclusion Thus every part impairs a grace And beauty dwels in every place Loves Month. May is not loves month May is ful of flowers But dropping Aprill-love is ful of showers Definition of love Love is a friend a fire a heaven a hel Where pleasure pain sad repentance dwel Love will out The light of hidden fire it self discovers And love that 's conceal'd bewraies poor lovers On the parting of lovers Lovers wel wot what grief it is to part When 'twixt two bodies liveth but one heart And lovers say the heart hath double wrong When it is bar'd the assistance of the tongue On the constancie of affections Love wel is said to be a life in death That laughs and weeps and all within one breath Lovers Lottery The World 's a Lottery a Lovers prise Is such a Girl that 's fair that 's chast wise The quality of Love Love is a spirit all compact with fire Not gross to sink but light and wil aspire VVhat love is Love is a Golden Bubble full of Dreams That waking breaks and fills us with extreams Lovers delight to be alone Lovers best lâ—ke to see themselves alone Or with their loves if needs they must have one Vows of Lovers We know not how to love til love unblinde us And vows made ignorantlie can ne're bind us On the purity of their affections Needs must Venus wars be sweet When two Maiden-lovers meet Impossibility of concealing love The light of hidden fire it self discovers And love that is conceal'd betraies poor lovers On one sick with love Where Venus strikes with beautie to the quick Great are the cares of those that are love-sick The errors of love All men do erre because that men they be And men with beautie blinded cannot see VVhat love is Love is a subtil influence Whose smallest force stil hangeth in suspence Love admits of no contrary arguments Love hates all arguments disputing stil For sense against reason with a senseless will VVhat love is Love is a blinded God an angry Boy A slave to beauties wil a witless toy A ravening bird tyrant most unjust A private hel a very sea of lust Another definition of love Love is a sowre delight a sugred griefe A breach of reasons law a secret thiefe A living death an ever dying life A sea of tears an everlasting strife A bait for fools a scourge of noble wits A deadly wound a shot which ever hits On sudden affection From hasty love see thou abstain 'T is lust not love thou seeks thus to obtain The effects of love This is the least effect of Cupids dart To change the mind by woundâ—ng of the heart Cruelty of love Love is not ful of mercy as men say But deaf cruel where he means to prey The parting of Lovers Love goes to love as School-boyes from their Books But love from love toward School with heavy looks A Maxime of love 'T is folly by our wisest worldlings proved If not to gain by love to be beloved Loves wounds One was the bow One was the Dart That wounded us both to the heart Then since we both do feel one pain Let one love cure us both again The constancie of lovers Once learn to love the lesson is most plain And being learnt is never lost again The force of love Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last Of Musick and love As without breath no pipe doth move No Musick 's kindly without love A loving conjunction The day unto my hope doth now shine fair I and my love in love united are Love finds an opportunity When love hath knit two hearts in unity They seldome fail to find and opportunity Offers of love not to be refused Occasion 's winged and ever flyeth fast Coming she smiles and frowns once being past Patience of Lovers One may endure for when the pain is past Reward though long it stay yet comes at last Sorrows of Lovers â—ighs are the ease calamity affords Which serve for speech when sorrow wanteth words To his Mâ—stris on her expected humiliation from him for a rude Kiss â—f that I must such penance do â—'le bow unto no Saint but you On the Tears of Lovers â—n sighs the Lover speaks his secret pains Tears are his Oratory words do make him tremble â—et womens tears fall when they most dissemble On frozen affection There where the hearts Atturney once is mute The Clyent breaks as desperate off his suit Of true and false love True love 's a Saint so shal you true love know False love 's a Scythian yet a Saint in show Love breaks all silence What Fish so dumb what Beast so dul of heart That hears love sing and will not bear a part No business like that of love The fair the false love can â—dmit all but the busie man He that hath business and makes love does do â—uch wrong as if a married man should woo The perseverance of a Lover Desire being Pilot and bright beauties prize Who can fear sinking where such treasure lyes The beginning of love â—air beauty is the spark of hot desire And sparks in time will kindle to a fire On a Lovers adveâ—sity As the Stars in darkelt night So love by suffering shines more bright For like unto a hidden flame It wil at last break forth again On lust Lust maks Oblivion beateth reason back Forgetteth shames pure blush and honours wrack On Virginity The ripest Corn dies if it be not reapt Beauty alone is lost too early kept A cruel Mâ—stris Nothing so ill becomes the fair As cruelty which yeilds unto no prayer On Coyness A wayward beauty doth not fancie move A frown forbids a smile engendreth love Another Fair words and power attractive beauty Brings men too wanton in subjective Another Hope and despair attend a Lover still Hope for to save despair to kill On jealousie Where jealousie in baseâ—t minds doth dwel 'T is metal Vulcans Cyclops sent from hel On pleasures Somthing must stil be left to cheer our sin And give a touch of what should not have bin To those that know but pleasures price All 's one a Prison or a Paradice On chastity The unstain'd vail which innocents adorn The ungathered rose defended with the thorn Another on the same Penelope in spending chast her dayes As worthy as Vlysses was of praise A chast Vow To thee as constant as the Sun to day Til from this light night hurries me away Protestations of service I have vowed both love and duty To your vertue and your beauty On the Court. Thither let Phoebus sons resort
beauty Death it self shall here stand vassal and homage pay to your more powerful darts when every quickning glance from you shall ad new life as he destroys the old In admiration of her goodnes IT is your goodness that hath supplyed my small merit which could noo have dared to promise me the favours you can afford me The goodness of your soul is so cleare and bright that sin dares not approach too neer for fear of discovering its own deformity You need not seek for your inheritance when the rich evidence of your vertue entitles you to heaven I wonder not to see so many bankrupts in goodness when I finde the Stock of Vertue rests alone in you These noble favours may quicken my endeavours but never create a desert in me they are so much beyond my all On her leaving him LOvers in despite of absence lose not the remembrance of their lovers they are as the Flowers which though trod on do resume their lustre at the Suns approach Although thou goest away yet we cannot part Here in my heart thou still remainest yet I must shed some tears which like the morning dew or as Aprill showers shall make the spring-tide of our love though by this winter covered grow fresh and green again To forsake me when your company is dearest to me is no sign of true friendship which parts not at death it self since love remains for ever Take pitty on all those bloody sorrows which the apprehension of your absence makes me already so miserably to feel To accuse in a Letter IT is better to love with severity than to deceive with sweetness I expected a Cordial but I received a Corrasive your bitter-sweet was unequally tempered and in your Pills though sugar'd over I found an unwelcome operation I received thy Letter but I must chide thee sweet another câ—ose from thy faire hand wil make me surseit you frowned when last we parted and by that cloud you bid me expect a storm it is a double bliss thus sweetly to be deceivâ—ed you frown indeed but a thousand Cupids lodg themse ves in every wrinckle of your brow I would forbear to write to you in this manner were it not that the affection I bear to you doth force and by its authority draw all these words from my heart and mouth Mistris The Bees are not hated for their stings no more should you hate me for the sharpness of my circumstances We must not praise our selves for being better than the worst but rather blame our selves for being worse than the best since then I faile in my merits give me leave to mourn for my imperfections Farwell I Must depart from you yet shall not your service be deprived of my obedience Adieu fair Sun of my life I leave you for this present but be alwaies assured that my minde and my desires shall never depart from you Dear Love I know not which way to begin to bid you farwel nor how to finish this discourse which once ended our disconsolate departure follows Wo is me must I needs wander away from all my felicities at once losing with the happiness of your sight the most perfect object of beatitude Farwel Madam be alwaies fortunate whilst I shal languish unhappy though most constant Expressions of affection YOU can never do so much for me but that the affection wherewith I adore you and the faith I have imposed in you wil prove far greater Mistris You are the first to whom my affectâ—onate heart hath been offered and shall if you please be the last that shal have the last possession of it Do but let me once discover my affâ—ctâ—ons to you then command me to perpetual silence if you please You are the eye of mine eyes and thought of my thoughts the perfecter of my defaults the life of my love the scope and end of all my desires and hopes Beare wel in minde mine affection that though I be removed from your fair eyes I may not be so faâ— from your favours The Lovers impression of Costancie I Shal in loving you manifest such an affectionate stability and stedfastness that my loyalty and my love shall inseparably wait upon you My constancie may easily shew you that I have as good an heart to die for you as I have a mind and desire to live and love you I shall make it appear to after-times that I am the man who for your sake have made my selfe an invincible rock of stedfastness for I shall stil hug my constancie and never let it stir from me til my last gasp Vpon her Affability and Courtesie IT is your courtesie that lends me the favour which Heaven and Nature hath denyed me Your courtesie wil force the most rigid Cato to turn your Proselyte and make the Cynick leave his Tub enamoured with your banity Each part above you shines with a peculiar grace but in your mild behaviour they all concentrate Upon your Brow Beauty and honour sit enthron'd whence in your stately carriage they dispence their powerful Lawes It is out of your generous disposition you wâ—sh me wel as it is of duty that I honour you Vpon a LOVERS fear LOvers live alwaies in more fear than hope and wil sooner conceive of their sorrows then hear of their joyes Ladie I have just cause to fear lest by placâ—ng my love upon an object either too violent or too much diâ—ant my sense may be deceived you far transcend my deserts but my desires lie captive at your feet one â—eam from your bright eie wil kindle them a new and â—dd a new vigour to me your languishing prostrate The fear I have left my slender merit should take awaie our good mind to wish me well doth in a sort make all those joyes imperfect which my sweetest thoughts made me judge so fuil and entire On her desires FAirest Be but as desirous of my content as I am of your service My desires make me as careful to please you as I am bound by duty and compelled by inclination to serve you I wish Heaven that gave me the boldness of desire had likewise graced me with desert To give or present THis I dedicate consecrate and offer up unto you with the samt heart wherewith I vowed you my service Your bounty hath furnished me with power and your example with will accept therefore this small present gleaned from your plentious Harvest which shall ever testifie to the ungratefull world how much I glory to proclaim aloud my wealths chiefe founders I should be ignorant and ungrateful too should I presume to think it worthy your acceptance when every jewel receives its Character of value from your esteem The mass of all my wealth made up together disclaâ—ms the name of merit and therefore here I freely give it all and in the strong indentures of loyalty I bind my self your Prentice I had rather present you with some small thing and so be reputed ignorant than ungrateful Regard more the affection
all adulterous arts A perpetuall spring of beauty dwells in that face of hers Fairer than Chloris in all her pride Her face vailed with a robe of darkness shines clearer through it than the eye of the day The fairest ever nature made for wonder But to look upon her face is to live Whose looks would force the Warring Elements into order For her retention of him in her memory DO not that wrong to your true love to let him slide out of your memory the onely monument where his felicity desires to be inshrined Keep me alive in your thoughts as I hold you in the most sensible parts of my soul Of his merits I Could never do so great a thing but would be too small for your merits and my desires Your merits drive me to love you my humor permits it and my content wil needs have me imploy my endeavours to serve you The praises you attribute unto me proceed from your wil and not from any merit of mine The necessity of his affections The necessity of love is most mighty in the world for it overcomes all O how happy a thing is that necessity that inforceth us to imbrace such a desired blessing as your self I was all frozen untill the sunshine of your favour thawed my benummed spirits but when you darted your quickned beams the spring of my affections budded forth in the most pleasant bloomes of Love The Magnetick Stone starts not with such naturall activity to the North-stars summons as I when you command Protestations of obedience I Shall not all the dayes of my life have a wil which shall not obey yours You know the power you have over me and that I am so much yours as you can wish me To offer and present service ALL the honour and ambition I aspire at is to see my self imployed in your service Let all men judge whether your beauty alone is not sufficient to command the affections I bear you All that is mine is no less yours than are your thoughts and words The most favourable gift you can offer me is your friendship a jewel I prefer before all other treasures VVishes HEaven which heares the vows of the faithfull bless and content your desires I need not wish you more but a continuance of those graces you most eminently possess already May you meet with such a Paramour as my equal for sure out-go he cannot your holyer flames may the same shaft with an undivided hast pierce both your hearts together may both your loves bear the same date and when we have made our selves unworthy of enjoying any longer such a worthy patern and rich example of pure affection after you have seen a second Generation may death gently transport you to that place of bliss where he himselfe can never come God make you the happyesâ— Woman that lives even as he hath made you the fairest and most accomplished Heaven grant that you may be as faithfull as you are dear to me Bewailing of a Lover I do so bewalle our separation that nothing can ever touch my soul like the griefe I endure by it The greatest griefe I carry along with me when part from this place is to see how I am for ever deprived of your fair presence To give thanks If I have done you any acceptable service think it was but the shadow of what I desire to shew you by reall effects To tickle your eares with breath of Complement or the ayre of some presently contradicted Newes would be to imitate the What lack you To give you good words and make your better deeds pay too deer for them I take this benefit from you but as borrowed I will pay you rent for it Though the service I have done you be but small yet the desire I had to acknwledg the honours I have received from you are exceeding great On the deceits of Love Your faire eyes have too much majesty to serve for baits or allurements of a dissembling love Dot deceive him that wil out-braue death it selfe â—o insure your life and withstand the frowns of fortune to protect your honors On his life MY Life is a Comedy and therefore no matter how long it be so that it wil be wel acted sweetest if the last Scene be Tragick your cruelty must be the Nemesis Our life without some pleasantness is like a long Journey without an Iâ—ne or like a bed of Roses where flowers are mixed with prickles Lady if you please from your hospitable bounty to refresh my over-weatied and solitary progress I shall conclude my time richly spent having attained the end at which alwaies I aim'd but you have hitherto clos'd up your fragrant sweet and amidst the stearnest bryars of discontent have left me miserably intangled On the lustre of her eyes Your eyes flash so much lightning that like Suns they dazell the sight of all such as dare behold them Your souls bright lustre sparkles in your eye and like the Persian that only sun I adore You have so established your soveraignty over my soulâ— that the least twinckle of your eyes dispossess me of the state of my life Amorous Expressions This kiss and thy white hand Her spring of beauty raised in him noble desires which soone broke forth in liberall streams Let me rule lady like a Planet in the Orb of your favours You have a most imperious beauty I must obey it Delight shall streame into our bosome A faint lovers wishes cannot recall the hours I wil imbrace thee as all wealth and honour Though she were divided from me by armies I would make way through death to gain her Let me dwel an age upon those lips She is a sparkling delightful piece of Nature She is the queen and goddess of beauty She is a Mine of pleasing joyes and sweetness The great commandress of all hearts I cannot speâ—â— to thee go thy wayes We 'le striâ— make the example of Love an easie Law As white as Truth as innocent as Vertue Take all your vows again you are as free as the aire The Cyprian queen compared to thee was but a Negro Whose love is the Exchequer of wealth A spring of Love issues from her Soul I must walk in the dark and be benighted to all the World but thee Madam I am a poor Flye burnt in the Candle of your beauty A Woman worthy of so composed a man Crown your servant Mistris with this favour A Magnificent present of similitudes Comparisons and Examples Collected for the Readers Application AS the glistring beams of the Sun when it riseth decketh the heavens so the beuty of a good wife adorneth the house As golden Pillars do shine upon the sockets of Silver so doth a faire face in a vertuous mind Her tresses are like the coloured Hyacinth of Aarabia Her love is such a fire as either will burst forth or burn the house it is such a stream as wil eâ—ther have his course or break through the banks and make a deluge
precious for if you please to let it incircle your white finger it being a Diamond Ring will sparkle most in the dark shewing that love like a clouded Star shines lightest in the night of misfortune Gent VVell sir I am obliged to your courtesie to receive it and since you please to conser so rich a gift on my unworthiness I wil weare it for your sake Aym. Then you honour me above my desert for your acceptance of this sacrifice of my love is to me above all rewards The Ring is inscribed with amor circulus love is a Circle without end Gent. I must acknowledge your beauty and my self your servant for bestowing on me so rich a gift Aym. The sparkling lustre thereof cannot compare with the light beams of your eyes but honour me so much to weare it on your finger Gent. I promise that and more acknowledge my selfe infinitely beholding to you Aym. You have said too much concerning so poor a present yet in your acceptance of this trifle I shall ever bless my own happiness To wooe a coy scornfull Maid Aym. LEt not my love be misconstrued for presumption if I once again strive to warm your affection by declaring unto you how much I honour your perfection pray at last be mercifull and do not stil reward my love with cold disdain Maid Sir I know that men have powerfull Language but I am none of those young ones you are deceived if you think that fine Musk words can sweeten me up to betray my self and for my beauty I would not have you dote on that it suffices me without commendation Aym. Should I not commend what all admire I were much too blame Maid Sir Wise men admire nothing for if I were beautiful what is beauty but a fading flower blasted often with too much breathing on and cannot grow safely upon the stalk of Virginity because every one will be reaching forth to gather it Pray excuse me if I prevent such a danger for love and I are quite faln out Aym. Let me reconcile you to a good opinion of a chast love there is no greater happiness than the sacred Vnion of Hearts especially when long and humble suits conquer disdain and so I hope perseverance will at last Crown me with your love and bring you to entertain my desire with a mutuall affection Maid Sir If you would be more thrifty of your breath you may spend it to better purpose for you may intimate your desires and make tedious discourses But in a word I shall never love you Aym. O say not so you know not how much misery those few words would bring upon me for hope grounded on your gentle disposition hath hitherto kept me alive and made me walk like a faint shadow whilest in my chamber I am like a mourner with a Taper by me watching my own funerall and I will dwell there in a mist of sighes and all this for your sake Maid Sir I hope you will not accuse me of your death pray shake of this love and I will then acknowledg your kindness in ceasing to trouble me with complaints Learn wisdome that will cure all distempers Aym. Yet while I live I wil attend upon you and when I am dead I wil visit yoâ—â—n a dream and tel you you were a ciuell Maid 〈◊〉 â—â—clude let one parting kiss seal my transport to Eliâ—â—â—â— and I am gone Maid Sir since you are so resoluâ—e I will strive to give you a better answer at your next return Aym. In confidence of that happiness I wil presume to visit you again and live to be your servant A jesting discourse with a maid Aym COme why wil you be an enemie to your self and let modestie keep you stil in the state of virginity I came to offer my service to help you out of this trouble Maid You are very kind but I like my present estate Maids are happie Aym. Alas poor ignorance dost thou talk of happiness I tel thee until thou art married thou art but a Cypher and of no account Maid O sir You are deceived our hearts are free from the passion of love retain a world of happiness being exempted from any wanto Knowledge for maids dying in their present condition do all go to heaven Aym. You are deceived their punishment is to lead apes in hel and therefore to avoid this be kind while you may and accept of a friendly offer Maid What offer Aym. Lest it should raise a blush upon your cheek I wil whisper it into your ear you understand Maid Take heed sir lest while you counterfeit a flame you kindle a real fire I bear too much thy infectious words have betrayed a base ignoble mind Aym. Why I did but tel you a truth I had thought you had been more intelligent and would not have scarred at a bold word Maid Nay farwel Aym. Pardon me all I have spoken was to try your temper and having found you both wise and witty I wil desire you in a fair manner to grant me your love which I only desire and though I did appear rash and wanton you shal find me worthy of your affections To contract privately ones self to tythe knot of marriage Aym. NOw our love hath arrived to a happy conclusion the storms raised by our disdain being blown over the union of our affections making a soft and gentle harmony which the soul can only discern therefore that our new begun love may never expire I do here in the sight of heaven and all good angels marry and contract my soul to yours and give away my selfe wholly to be at your disposing till the Ceremonies of the Church confirm my promise Maid With as true an affection I do give my self over into your possession and freely bestow on you my love which shall never know alteration but remain ever firm and constant to you it is therefore expedient that you obtain my friends good wil according to your promise and til then we must remain only contracted in our affections Aym. Heaven I beseech thee bear witness to our private agreement and may I never know one day of comfort when I break my promised Vow let me now embrace you with the arms of affection and thus with a soft kiss seal the obligation of our loves To salute a friend newly arriv'd from a journey Alex. SIir When first the news of your return had arrived to my knowledg I was heigtn'd with an earnest desire to behold you and prevent other of your friends by the first tender of my service that as my love towards you doth exceed theirs in true perfect sincerity so it might in place obtain priority and shew how ambitious I am of your favour Aym. Sir You still continue your former nobleness making it your chiefe ayme to exceed others in perfection of mind otherwise I had an intention to visit you but it is your desire and happiness to overcome others in kindness for which I can but
lover Coy one what happiness insued the chastity of Penelope nay rather what miseries pursued not the vertues of a Lucretia How wretched are they then that deale with Venus or Diana that can so easily transform men into beasts Blame me nol fair one though my fixed fancies once abused turn into a fury By those smiles of your beauty your creature that before was plunged into a perplexity is now placed in the height of earthly felicities Mistris Pardon my rudeness for troubling thus rashly your musing meditations Certainly Madam if the gods as Poets say made beauty they skipt beyond their skill since they framed it of greater force than they themselves were able to resist Fair one let the showers of your mercy mitigate the fires of my fancie Cruel one if love be only remedied by love if fancy by mutuall affection give me leave at least to appeal to your grace and favour and at the bar of your beauty suffer your servant to lift up his hands in an expectation of mercy though his life by your rigour be sentenced to death Fairest It is impossible to perswade me to break the league I made with my fancies Sir I am a mortall foe to affection and now to vow my service to Venus is impossible since I have already addicted my selfe to Diana Sir Whosoever readeth the records of the faithless protestations of men their perjured Promises and feigned loves cannot but view a poor Ariadne abused a Media mockt and a Dido deceived Fâ—ir one Your vertue and beauty by a stronger power than that of fate or fortune is deeply inshrineâ— in my heart Be pleased at last fait beauty to accept me for your slave and servant and to admit me into your favour and that I may freely injoy the sight of your sweete face and feed my fancie in the contemplation of your Perfections Fairest If my deed desire merit no more from you then I have no other choice but to desperately or live miserably Madam There is a civil assault within me by which I feel a certain restraint of my own liberty and affections It is impossible fairest of women for any one to view your features and not be fettered with the power of your vertuous qualities Mistris I feel such an alienation of my senses such a metamorphosis of my minde that it is impossible for me to become any other than a servile slave to fancy How can I fear to enter into a parley with Cupid fairest Creature since there is such hopes left of victory by the happy presage of your auspitious smiles at the beginning of our loves conflict Si If I may continue to share in your favours there shall not any under the Canopy of Heaven be more proud of their fortunes than my selfe who really am your affectionate servant Sir It is for the good of the world that you enjoy your igorous health since you are ordained for the service of Kings and conduct of people Sir I will reserve to speak of vertue till your great works come to light Sir That which others call vertue in the naturall habitude of your worthy person Suppose not I use the Court language when I assure you I am more then any man living sir your mosâ— humble servant Sir When I forgot to to confess my selfe yours you may justly suppose I suffer a perpetuall silence sincâ— whil'st I have tongue I protest my selfe to be your afâ—ectionate sâ—rvant Sir I wil make use of all occasions to testifie how passionately I am yours Sir There is no other thing remaining for me but only the glory of humilâ—tie and obedience I should shew my selfe insâ—nsible of rarities were I not amazed with the curioâ—ity of your beauty Sir Your Heroâ—call qualities shine forth in you as bright as day Madam They that do undervalue the comeliness of your person dare rob Nature and bereave Lillies of their beautie as the christall of his clearness Sir The vertues of our fore-fathers are to be esteemed as vices in comparison of yours Extremities are in other things reproveable in this laudable since they force me to confess my selfe yours Sir you are never so excellent a Poet as when you speak of me since you have art to invent new fables Sir Those fine words and quaint discourses with which your Ladies are delighted issue from their mouthes as a pure and innocent breath perfum'd with kisses Sir You go through all Employments with as good fortune as noble resolutions neither can there be any thing above your spirit since all things stoop to do you honour Who can distil sleep into the eyes of Lovers whose ears break forth with the morning lâ—ght Love art thou but a vain name and no essential thing that hast thus left thy professed servant when he hath most need of thy reviving presence what is Musick to me but a doleful voice accompanied with the various discord of my sighes O Love Wilt thou now at last offer me Physick which art my only poyson wilt thou do me service which long since hast brought me into eternall slaverie How long shall my languishing sickness wait upon the triumphs of my passions At last O fair one cast the eyes of thy resplendent presence on thy abject creature that by the brightness of those raies his baseness may be turned into a most high and through any perfections a most happy preferment for being thus disconsolate by the frowns of thy rigour how soon maist thou raze down that Temple which at first was built by the refulgent smiles of thy beauty From whence can these necessities proceed that love hath laid upon me most incomparable Lady are they by your commandment or is it by a power from your excellencie that Cupid hath such a command over mortall of a certain it is from you whose fair aspect accompanied with so imperious a Majesty vanquished me by him so far to resign the happiness of my former liberty as that I must now confess my self to be your slave if you think me unworthy of the name of your prisoner Cruel one how long can I make an ostentation of my felicity when the conclusion even the last Scene of my Tragedy with horror presents it self to thinâ— eyes Can death and dissimulation meete at thâ— instant when I leave the world and my dying protestations with thee that for thee alone I forsook thâ—â— earth to be more kindly used there where I shalâ— certainliâ— be eased of these sorrows if there be Leander a Piramus or a society of abused Lovers If thou art fair is it to present thee too cruell If thou canst command affections wilt thou therefore captivate them To be beautiful and yet terrible are things incompetible things that imply contradiction yet even against the Laws of Nature thou destroyest Nature and where thou maist raise the structures to thy perpetual honors thou ruin'st them Most certain â—t is fair Creature thy love may make me sacrifice my life at thy Feete and I may punish
that body which hath so unjustly wounded my once free and serene mind But alas wherein canst thou glory Not in thy beauty for that will vaile it selfe at so black an act Not in my ruines for they will pursue thee with some direfull revenge Blush then thou faire one since to be coy is to be cruell to be cruell is to alter the property of what thou art beautifull Fairest be no longer so great an enemy to my desires as to imprison them in silence I cannot express the least disobedience to your commands but rather hope my past displeasures may deserve pity if not my future services a reward Ponder my merits in the balance of your mercy that the unworthiness of my deserts by the fair sufferance of your goodness may procure your gracious reâ—pects in my behalf It is a sin to suspect such vertue which glories to arm â—t self against all deceits Fair one you have a wit which delights not to judg it self and a beauty that glories to condemn others reconcile your beauty to your wit that the use of the one may restrain the abuse of the other whilest we your servants live to admire your perfections and you your self survive to perfect your vertues Faire one what unremovable suitor eclipses your affection from shining on your devoted and most constant servant Perfections of my desires with one determinate answer bless me with happiness or silence my long continued suit That my desires to enjoy you are more than to live proceeds from the effects of my affection the efficient cause being your excessive beauty Madam The eyes of a ravished Lover cannot but have vertues aid so ready in himself as alwaies to bewaile the loss of a vertuous constancie in other since such a loss by his own affections is ever placed in the very face of his memory By the memory of our fore-past affections by the oathes of our yet continued love by whatsoever is vertuous credit me Can you Sir weare a Mars's heart in a Cupids body since the eyes of all spectators judge you fiâ—ter for the pleasures of the Court than the Tents of War In him it seems Nature was not mistaken since whatsoever was in mankind was in him to the uttermost Sir It is a degree above humanity and therefore requires the admiration of your friends that your wit should so far out-go your age It is not strange O thou cruellest of women thâ—t those eyes of thine should strike him with terrour who stands unmoved with the sight of the most horrible countenance of death Sir I am most infinitely bound to you for this so rare and noble a courtesie It is you and none but you which I am bound to love and therefore though I am presented with â— likeness of your beauty yet likeness of another cannot make the same essence of your person much less caâ— dissolve your commandments of my seevice The very Image of your countenance and outward expressions of your behaviour are sutable to the vertuous resolutions of your minde Fairest Grant me this happiness to have my poor affections raised to the honour of waiting upon your commands Violence of love leads me into this discourse in which I am not so unfortunate as ful of desires to be more happy Armies of objections rise up against my accepted opinion Sir Though I were to pass through all the splendors of the World and frame them all to blazon forth your worth my pen could never teach you Sir Nature in you hath laid deep foundations in respect of your qualities both of minde and body in both which she hath made no promise of any mediocrity by the distribution of which rare perfections she hath rendred you lovely to the world and fit f r the service of the greatest monarchs Sir Your imagination which you speak in such high terms cannot but move me to believe great improbilities Sir How happy should I think my self were the Characters of your vertues imprinted in my Brest by a more continued acquaintance Sir No imaginary jealousies shall deliver me from mine inclination to that goodness to which I have alwaies had an extraordinary propension by your royall example Sir I have an interest in your prosperity so far that I wil complain of fortune so you have an occasion to commend her Worthy Sir You know your self too wel to suspect me of flattery Vertue and Eloquence are bestowed upon you to make you be amongst men as immortall Sir I could not have the ambition to suppose that there could be any room left for you to entertain a woman of so many imperfections as my self The contemplation of your vertues amazeth mâ— Sir I finde in you whatsoever may give a reputation to the Courts of Princes Sir I am reserved for your sake that nothing might be wanting to your glorie Sir You are the man whom the necessities of the State require Opportunities would wax old should I neglect this present to serve you All spirits would prove favourable unto you since you have convinced them by your merits Your generous disposition hath permitted me a longer audience than your affairs could wel permit Worthie Sir reflect upon your creature with the bright beams of your generous disposition I cannot allot more moderate limits to my ambition or wish my selfe a greater happiness than to do your service Your Heroickacts succeeding Historians shal crown with Lawrels Sir for your sake I wil undergo the infelicities of cruel fortune Sir there is no happiness on earth but is included in your self or in what concerns you Sir your goodness doth beâ—eave me of a voice to express your vertues You cannot blame me though I hate ingratitude since even beasts are capable of acknowledgement Sir If you withdraw from me your presence you overthrow all the honor you have hitherto acquired for me Sir I shall fall sick for want of a capacity to digest your favours Sir whatsoever you undertake permit nothâ—ng to your spirit which may wound your reputation Sir Of all men I dare free you from this crime of violating the chastity of Language Sir I owe too much honor to the memory of our fore-past acquaintance to displease you Sir for your sake at the same time I both enjoy pleasure and endure pain Sir I must beg of you hereafter to have a greater care of my modesty since you enforce either to lose it or not believe you Sir The whole Court is sensible of suffering your name to fall to the ground Sir I am so far from hiding my own defects that I acknowledge there is none so imperfect as my selfe neither can any man arrive to perfection except hee be adorned with those abilities whereof I am utterly ignorant Sir I have neither power nor ability left me but only to express I am yours Sir You have anticipated me of all Rhetorick either of being complementall or returning you commendations for your worthy favours Sir instead of requitall of those vows you offer me
usurp a more absolute authority over wits than is lawful or reasonable You smell too much of your Musk and Amber to express your self serious in the weight of affairs Sir My conceptions are popular and to be intelligible among women Your conceits are too far fetched and they transcend the subject on which you bestow them Fairest let me ravish a kiss from your hand Sir My affections spring not from the diseases and distempers of my soul since my inclinations to serve you have their originall from immortall reason Mistris You have a power to infuse love and fidelity into the hearts of Barbarians You cannot bestow favours amiss on him who harh searcht the secrets of nature and the depth of Philosophy that he might not appear to be grateful Sir you must give me leave to admire your judgement which appears to be far more excellent than your Fortunes Sir Let me not seem to incurre a crime since I am forced to extol your generous liberality Sir You vary your shape and change your perfumes according to the diversity of the seasons Let it please you out of your nobleness to 〈◊〉 me to be your graces most obedient and faithfull â—eâ—vant Sir You have all those excellent qualities that are necessarie in a Prince Sir I measure the necessities and fatalities of this world by your contentments or discomforts Sir In this exigence of my fortune I am forc'd to admire your vertues since you stil set so high a value on your creature who is lost to all men but to your self Sir Your goodness is as unlimitable as the desire I have to serve you Sir in you are comprehended all the riches that Nature bestows on her most glorious creatures Sir I speak this seriously with my best sence you may reduce me to any form All who have either eies or spirits must place them on so deserving an object Fairest Cast one glance of pittie on me lest you deprive me of all conceits of mercy with the terrible aspect of your eyes which are to me the Ambassadors of life and death Sir You are the embleme of terrour and your furious looks are able to consume a woman Lift not me so high with your favours lest you do but fit me for a precipice and I behold my descent with a greater terrour Fairest Let not your heavenly beautie seated in its royal Majesty draw forth the sword of disdain to the ruine of your creature Fairest Creature Since I am the pattern of all ill fortunes by the force of your affection free me from all the miseries that oppress me You hit my inclinations since to recompence such vertues were a work most worthie of all generous spirits Sir Your refusall to the title of eloquent proves your modesty to be most unjust since your tongue long since did beareave you of all excuses Sir I dare not enter the lists with you in respect of your elegancies of speech for when I would become most perswasive in my language I appear most barbarous in my expressions All your Rhetoricall arguments are but like blue flowers amongst the corn which though they may seem pleasant to the eye prove most unwholsome to the bodie Sir I shal alwaies acknowledge the artificiall language to be like Gentlewomen adorned with Rubies and Diamonds which glister upon her garments whilest she her selfe want the eyes of her bodie and of her minde Fair one Can I prevent the powers of the plannets or resist the force of the stars you may then conclude I can then repell these affections I am yours sir and wil be yours in despight of fates and fortunes Madam Your excellent qualities and exquisite vertues have so assaulted the Fort of my Fancie that I must of necessitie resign my self up to you as a trophie of your victories Mistris since Cupid doth so fitlie favour the causes of his Clients let us not slip so happy an opportunitie Madam If the wishes of a poor mortall may be heard above I question not but heaven with felicities wil crown your royall deserts Madam Though I have not hitherto by dutifull services made manifest the loyaltie of my heart yet since I first framed in my fancie as in a mirrour the shape of your surpassing beauty with all humility I have cast my self and fortunes at your Royall feet Fairest There is none upon earth doth with a more loving duty reverence your person and vertues than I do Madam in consideration of my poore fortunes let my affection appear so much the more excusable since I so far esteem of your divine beauty and exquisite vertue as I would think my selfe most unworthy though I were Prince of the World to possess your heavenly perfection in respect of any of my own native honours Sir I have learnt to know that it is the Religion of lovers to sweare and forswear Madam The parching heat of summer makes the cool shapes more pleasant and the frowns of Lovers make their smiles more delightful and cheerful Mistris I must never hope so entirely to love as with my affections to require your loyalty Sir She which builds her fancie upon fading subjects ties her honour to the unconstant wheel of fortune Fairest As a pledge of my protestation you shall have both my heart and hand to be yours in dust and ashes Sir You have a heart as large as the sea which contains in it a capacity of all ornaments that use to dignifie Princes Strive not sir to bereave me of the reputation of my honor lest those that shall succeed me hereafter read my insamy upon my Tomb. Madam The beams of your Sun-like beauty with their lively lustre and sparkling flames dazle the eys of your amazed lovers Madam In the shady darkness of this Arbour you seem like a heaven enameled with an infinite number of stars Having disposed so many affections to do your service fear not fairest your servant must of necessity visit you Faire one Whilest mortalls enjoy your heavenly beauty the lustre of your resplendent eyes shall as the day light serve them for the dispatch of their affairs Sir I cannot be insensible of your miseries since the web of our destinies hath passed us both through the like misfortunes Sir I am reall and use not to entertain any friends with dreams and illusions Sir This your inhumane usage of your creature shal never seem strange to me since the most fervent affections of the world often times degenerate into the vehementest enmities Sir We equally share of one anothers discontents and dissolve our hearts together as one would melt one peece of Wax into another Fairest Those eminent qualities which nature as a Dowry hath bestowed upon you like flowers spread themselves forth by the rayes of your bright beauty causing those courtships services and admirations which so sweetly adorn you Mistris Ladies of honour to express the sincerity of their affections have breathed forth their lives on the Tombs of their deceased Lovers Madam If I am consumed
by the fires of Cupid blame me not since your eyes kindled the flames of my affections Madam exercise not the extremity of your rigour upon him that suffers such miseries under the false title and quality of an offender Know faire Creature that such a bright day may at last enlighten my innocencie when revengeful lovers shall search into my ashes to find out truth there buried Sir These glorious progressions of your vertue will at last mount you to the highest pith of admiration Madam shut not up these eyes from the light of your beautie lest they be perpetuallie opened to tears Madam It is impossible you should ever draw to you a reputation of honour signed with the effusion of my blood Madam There are those will deplore my ashes and strew some silly flowers on the place impressed with the prints of your punishments Fair one When my soul shall be seperated from my body it shall every where wait on your purified spirit as the shadow of it Madam If you should please to condemn me to darkness by the eclipsing of the divine light of your beautie yet I despair not but that at last from the sphere of your splendors due to my merits you will vouchsafe the rayes of your clemencie to enlighten the duskie nights of my miseries and misfortunes Fair one Though death may seperate our lives yet love shall unâ—te our ashes and we shall preserve the immortalitie of our affections by the immortality of our souls Madam Seated thus on your faire pavilion you appear like resplendent day in the attires of a Majesty absolutely royall Madam Your goodly nature well proportioned body the bright colour of your face the lively port and grave carriage of your person all these speak you to be a real branch sprung from some royall stem Fair one Your haire negligently disshevel'd and careless attire grace forth your beautie which shines in the midst of so many obstacles as the Sun in a winter day Faire Creature Cast not those eyes down neither colour your face with those modest blushes since it would appear most admirable that your Vertues should finde Fetters in a place where they expect Crowns Sir I desire to end my daies on the Theater of Kings in their glorious services Madam Heaven hath created me such a one as you see ful of good wil though of slender fortunes and means Sir We have continuallie lived together as one soul divided into two bodies and since our amities have taken root in a mutuall temperance and correspondencie of humours we have maintained in us a continuall familaritie which neither death nor hell can ever have power to separate Fairest Our breasts shall be ever interchangeablie transparent Fair one Dissimulation or contradiction cannot approach the sincerity of our loves Fairest let me embrace you with the oppenness of my heart and the profusion of my love that our souls may evaporate themselves into one another Sir Your favours create me againe and give me a new being Sir I shal never pretend any right to any honour in the world but only to obey your commands Mistris The grace of speech dwells on your fair lips Sir Hereafter ages shall take Palms and Lawrels to crown the reliques of your honoured ashes Fairest these eies of mine are but emblems of tears mixt with love Madam spread not that Cipress Vail over your face lest you benight your beauty and darken the bright raies of that which makes our day Madam Your beauty is a divinitie left on earth to be known and beloved of mortalls A description of Beauty BEauty is Natures Ivy-Bush It is her beauty only creates her queene 't is that which adds a commanding power to every syllable Glory not too much in the prerogative of Nature seeing she hath made thee man make not thy selfe a woman Your beauty is a Tyrant of a short reign you cannot call it your own for you can neither give it nor preserve it long Beauty is the conqueress of man never to be satisfyed with the raies of her chrystal painted eyes A feature that excels all mortall sense Such a one that when she lay naked his eyes did carve him out a Feast of love Her body doth present those fields of peace that Poets sing of in Elizium She lay like eclipsed Cynthia sweetly canopied with darkness til he drew the curtains of love Had Paris seen her naked he had slighted his Nell of Greece for her Trimming her beauty forth with blushing bravery with the wonders of her beauty mortall eyes are never to be satisfyed as if she were made only for admiration to be adored of men or win grace from Heaven A Complexion as clear as the Sky Beauty is the image of the Creator and the Rhetorick of Heaven THE School of Complements Choice and fair Flowers selected out of the Garden of Eloquence to adorn our Language with variety of Expressions upon severall occasions Upon his absence I Shall no longer esteem my selfe absent from you whil'st I hold any room in your heart and memory Let those dul clods of earth not yet informed with true promethean fire measure affections by their Miles of Acres we whose souls are cast in a more pure mould by a most subtile penetration and transfusion of hearts enjoy a secure freedome in one anothers wishes and in the greatest distance are cherished with a virtuall contiguity It is a brutish love and wants the quickning fire of reason that can by circumstances be intermitted the more extracted flames of our affections shal like more glorious Pyramides burn bright and cleare and light our souls though thus seemingly disjoyned to our daily mutual imbracements Let not my remoteness change your purposes more than it shakes the resolution I have made to live yours Protestations of love IT is as impossible for me not to love you as it is for the Sun to forget his ordinary course So am I ravished with your beauty that it will prove harder for mee to forget you than it would prove difficult to resolve for death and know for a certain that I shall stil be rather content and disposed to consent to the hatred of my selfe than to the love of any other object but you Your sight may be forbidden me and you may hinder me from speaking to you but not to have the effiges of your divine beauty imprinted in my heart and not to love and serve you it is a thing not onely out of your power but mine also for I am to you as an accident so inseparable that you cannot be without me Vpon her beauty I Should have thought I had too much failed in so much duty had I not directed it to so faire a mark but the favour of your affections is that to which I sacrifice my best endeavours Vanquished by your beauty I have yeelded up the arms of my libertie and freedome under your obedience Nothing shall take from your heart but death it self the fair image of your divine
lustfull suit withdraw You shall not thatch my New-house with old straw An Epithalamium for a VVedding Night NOw is that welcom night addrest When love beauty makes a feast Let not the Bridegroom be afraid Though he encounter with a maid Shee l squeck shee l cry Shee l fain shee l eye Shee l fear as she did tremble But take her and rowse her And mowse her and rowse heâ— For she doth but dissemble Now Mistris Bride thus much to you The Item I shall give is true Young maidens must not be to coy To entertain their wishes joy But take him and hug him And rug him and lug him For thus true love is tryed Nor be too nice in yeilding things Which must not be denyed Protestations of Charity I le bind my hands to fasten just desire My tongue shall fear to wrong my Mistris fair And if to gaze on her mine eyes aspire I wash them forth with my repentant tears If my proud hands dares once offend my love Or make an offer of a guilty touch I le cut the veins whereby my Fingers move And blead the last my love to her is such If any part or motion of my sence Transcends the limits of my loves direction My bodies death shall ransome that offence My souls engag'd so deep in her perfection A Description of love A Lover is like the Hearb Helitâ—opia which alwaies inclineth to that place where the sun shineth being deprived of the Sun dieth so as lunaries herb as long as the Moon waxeth bringeth forth leaves and the waning shaketh them off So a lover whilst he is in the company of his lâ—dy where all joyes increase uttereth many pleasant conceits but banâ—shed from the sight of his mistris whereall mirth decreaseth either liveth in melancholly or died with desparation Of constancie in Lovâ— COnstancie is like unto the Stork who wheresoeever she fly commeth into no nest but her own or the Lapwing whom nothing can drive her from her young ones but death The Tongue of a Lover should be like the Poinâ— in a Diall which though it go none can see it â—oiâ—g or a young Tree which though it grow noâ—e can perceive it growing The Tryangles in love THere must be in every Tryangle three Lines the first beginneth the second augmenteth the third concludeth it a figure So in Love three Vertues affection which draweth the heart the second Secrecie which increaseth the hope third Constancie which finisheth the VVork without any of these three Rules â—o Tryangle without these three Vertues no Love Another LOve is not unlike the fig-tree whose fruit is sweet but the root is more bitter than the claw of Byteâ—â— or liâ—â— the Apple in Persia whose blossome savoureth likâ— honey whose bud is more sowre than gall as the adament draweth the heavie Iron and the Harp the fleet Dolphin so beauty allureth the chast mind to love and the wisest wiâ—â— to lust and who more trayterous to Phillis than Demophoon yet he a traveller who more perjured to Dido â—haâ— Aeneas and he a stranger who more false to Ariâ—dâ—e thaâ— Theseus yet he a Saylor who more fickle to Medea thaâ— Jason yet he a Staâ—â—â— Again love is like musk though it be sweet in smel it is sower in the smack the leaf of tâ—â— Cedar tree though it be fair to be seen yet the sirrop depâ—â—v th sight even so love though it be pâ—â—gâ—ned by saluting each other with a kiss â—â—t it â—s shaâ—â—n off by fraud of the heart A perfect Lover should be like the glass-worm which shineth most bright in the dark or like the pure frankinsencâ— which smelleth most sweet when it is in the fire or to the Damask Rose which is sweeâ—er in the stil than on the stalk In praise of a loving friend OF all the heavenly gifts on earth Which mortall men commend No treasure wel may countervail A true and faithfull friend What sweeter solace can befall Than such a one to finde As in whose brest thou maist repose The secrets of thy minde If flattering fortune seem to frown And drive thee to distress A true and faithfull friend wil help at need And make thy sorrows less Oh precious Item Oh Jewel great On Friendship Pearl of Price Thou surely dost each thing excel That man can wel devise The Golden Mines are soon decay'd When Fortune turns the Wheel And Force of Arms is soon allay'd If body sickness feel And cunning art soon overthrown Experience teacheth plain And all things else their course doth change When friendship doth remain But since by proof they have been taught A feigned friend to know I wil not trust such glossing tongues More than any open Foe A Complementall Letter for receiving divers favours SIR I am so tyed unto you by your many favours as I profess I know not how to carry my selfe in thankfulness unto you Sir This I earnestly desire you that you wil instead of a recompence for all your favours accept thanks and of your poor creature who is able to give nothing take prayer for payment what my good mindâ— is to you my tongue cannot express what my true meaning is your heart cannot conceive Sir I hope it shall be read with the same mind it was written taken on the right hand it shal I trust not want its due effect and good acceptance I know it is not excellent but the worst your worthiness indeed whom I have oft admired deserves far betterâ— yet I pray you accept of it and God I trust in time wil inable me to give a further testimonial of my poor service to you Yours in the best bond that I may Another Letter for one absent KInd Sir The scarcity of Letters make them prove dainties being the only way to enjoy presence in affection though not in realty I confess the beâ—t way to judge of a things excellencie is sometimes to want it for we esteem not of the excellency of breath til we want ayre to breathe in and the goodness of your conversation is seen sometimes in absence from you seeing it is absence that kindles a desire to enjoy your presence Sir I suppose you are not ignorant of that common rule that Letters are alwayes for to to bee indited in a kind of careless strain which rule Tully that Prince of Orators observeth in his Epistles the Bonclace of Rhetorich is better to adorn and imbrace the neck of some love-sick Gentlewomen which is as a token sent from her lover to please her and keep her from crying I doubt not but you easily perceive what natural love ought to be united betwixt us raked up in the ashes of forgetfulness and almost quite extinguished for want of blowing and in whose power is it to revive this languishing but in you sir who are the life of Rhetorick Sir the great esteem I have ever had of your friendship suffers me not to endure your absence any longer This tyrannie of your humor or
inclination is too severe a punishment for me to groan under For the eclipse of your better self seems to me to be a retirement of your affection Let me therefore intreat you to return speedily I conjute you by all those charms of passion I have ever been at your service to make a speedy redress to him who is Your most humble Servant The Answer SIr I make less account of my absence from the Court and from my affairs then from you your friendship is the only business of my speedy return I have already chid my self and now have no more to do but to precipitate my hast and in person to make my excuse with the tenders of all manner of service in the quality of Your most humble Servitor A Letter for clearing ones self of false accusation SIr I hope that all the passions of my service have given you sufficient proofs as never to doubt my loyalty in which my innocency hath ever shined clearer than the best language of my pen can express so that the malice of that person was but ill contrived whose knavery I wil make your sport and if you please but to reveal his name I wil engage mine honour to make him sign me an acquittance with his blood I express my self thus far that at any rate I may purchase your higher esteem of me or be for ever fargotten Your abused friend A Congratulatory Letter for the good fortune of a friend Sir THe excess of my gladness like the merits of yout affection is not in any respect vulgar for all my passions do but wait upon your good fortunes Pardon therefore the defect of my Eloquence since it is supplyed with the joy reigns in me which had made me so sensible of that extraordinary contentment that in honoring you the world is possessed of which long before this foresaw that the felicity of this event belonged to your merits perhaps most of your friends have prevented me in this congratulation but this zeal and affection cannot come too late from him that is more than he is able to express Yours His Answer Sir YOu have so sensibly touched me with your Letter your joy as it were to the life mingling my interest with yours that should I not render thanks to you I should dye of a deepe impatience I acknowledg I never merâ—ted the effects of such nobleness as that you should account of me as an object for your virtuous inclinations the pleasure I entertain to consider your goodness is more satisfaction to me than my advancement as I prefer before other interests the happiness of your affection and the new-assurance of your friendship which that I may the more seriously contemplate I shall for ever reserve my admiration and remain in the number of your best friends Yours L. D. On the effects of their love YOu shall know one day in effect what you now have put in imagination The constancie of my affection hath been such that it hath overcome the worst of difficulties and the expectation of the harbour hath made the danger easie When admidst the waves of your disdain my halfeship-wrack'd vessel began to sink each sigh I fetched I see at length found a courteous gale to bring me home to you my blessed Harbour One day you wil come to know the conclusion of the irreprochable testimonies of my true and faithfull promises Vpon her Eloquence YOUR Eloquence is able to steale the Soul out of ones heart and carry it whether it would not go O speak again 't will make the Sphears lay by their warbling Lutes and listen to your tongue Each articulated syllable doth lay a powerfull chaâ—m upon my soul and captivates my senses One day is no more able to overcome you with good words than with good actions The eloquence of your most sweet words closes my lips and binds them to a perpetuall silence Excuses IN excusing your unjust fear you seem to accuse my boldness It is a mercy that you yet afford me to let me plead m ne own excuse I presume upon your pardon for my former suspitious fears and the rather because the goodness of your nature stiles them the individuall concomitants of love I pray you hear my reasons patiently and judge without passion of my justification It is for great minds to excuse great faults upon the acknowledgment therefore of my late transgression you cannot finde a fitter subject for your mercy Experience of a Lover and of a Friend I Have so much experience of your good will that it only remains that you make tryall of my desire of acknowledgment I have had such tryall of your friendship and fidelity that I hope you wil not faile me in time of need Each messenger affords fresh Characters of your friendship and every day I see the spring of your love breaking through new channels Vpon his Face THe wonders of your face made me their Captive as soon as I saw them and that rare grace of yours which makes you excel all others retained me your Prisoner and Servant As she appears so Day breaks and with her Beams disperses all my Clouds and mysts of discontent The Epitome of Nature is comprised in her Face where she hath freely given a tast of all her pride and glory Vpon his Favours IF you judge or deem me worthy to favour you hold that your merits are much more than my desert I am ignorant what service might satisfie for the favours I have received of you if you please to increase my knowledge in telling me how I may serve you again I shall be doubly obliged I want opportunity dutifully to acknowledge this favourable proof of your condition and honesty Vpon his fortunes FOrtune strives now to make me pay the interest of those pleasures she formerly lent me Dame Fortune is too covetous and usurious in taking from me the interests of my prosperity I appeare to you just like an empty vessel that wants his lading with full blown sailes of love indeed t is true and I am bound for the Indies and if my compass fail me not my Genius tells me I shall soon arive O withdraw not those two stars by their blest light I steer my crasy Bark and hope to enjoy the wished for shore of happiness Vpon her hatred I Do not think though I should give you occasion to hate me that your good nature can wish me an injury since you are not composed of any thing but love Courtesie dwelt on your fore-head but malice resided in your soul and lay concealed in your minde On her constancie YOu use your friends as one doth flowers which please onely when they are fresh and new I perceive that ardent affection which was wont to keep me so alive in your thoughts doth now no more reign in you In praise of her face HER face is loves Coppy to read wonders on She cannot put her face in such a form but I must like it Her lively face disdains
return you thanks and acknowledge you a worthy friend Alex. Sir you make too good an interpretation of my rash presumption but it is held that friends have but one soul in two bodies therefore when I behold you I enjoy the other halfe of my selfe besides after long absence your company must needs be more precious so that I had both love and reason on my side to perswade me to come and visit you Aym. Sir I want words to express my mind or to argue a case in love but in my opinion I ought to have visited you first in regard I am very much obliged unto you But to proceed no farther in ceremony let us discourse of some other affairs I will be bold to enquire how all our friends do Alex. Sir some of them hath undergone change of fortunes and therein declared an invincible strength of mindâ— but heaven be thanked all that honour and respect you are living and in health Aym. Sir I am wonderfull glad to hear of it and I shall rejoyce exceedingly when I meet any of my old acquaintance I hope I am not altogether lost unto their remembrance they will know me certainly Alex. Sir travel hath not wrought much change in youâ— but I detain you too long I fear from your rest Aym. Sir were I tyred with travel as I am not yeâ— your company would very much refresh me Alex. Sir I wil crave your pardon at this time I know o tarry longer would be troublesome unto you but to morow I wil wait on you again To entertain a friend who is come to visâ—â— one Alex. SIR I am most glad to see you though I have no other entertainment for you but a kinde welcome Aym. Sir I expect no more I come to give you a visit and to be happy in your society for in the generall I do find none that can suit my disposition so wel as your self Alex. Sir say what you please of me I am vowed to your service and your loving visitation is an addition to your many other kindnesses Aym. Sir all that I acknowledg is a wil to do you service but I have been slow in producing the effects hereafter I wil study to deserve Alex. Sir it is your ingenius goodness to decline the acknowledgement of your own vertue and deserts far surpassing my merits for 't is I am bound to be your servant Aym. Sir it is I that am obliged to you by many strong tyes of affection from which the service of my life cannot dis-ingage me but I have trespass'd against manners pray take the chair Alex. Sir wil you please to sit first for it is an honour for me to wait your pleasure Aym. Sir I am provided but if it may not appear too much boldness what was the adamant that drew you or occasion that made you so kind to visit my lodging Alex. Sir I shall tel you I came not to borrow money or to force your good nature to any thing beyond civility but onely to keep our love and amity fresh and in perfect strength by a visit and some conference Aym. Sir you have chosen a bad opportunity my affairs carry me away from my friends besides the obligation of my word to a Lady to attend upon heâ— thiâ— day Alex. Sir I wil chuse some other time to wait upon you Aym. Sir I wil attend upon you if I might know the place and hour where to meet you Alex. Sir I will not put you to that trouble it will become me rather to wait on you Aym. Pardon me Sir I am much obliged to you Alex. Sir I am your servant Aym. Sir I am the servant of your servants pray remember my respects to all my friends A. Sir I wil be yours in that and all other services To woce a fair young Gentlewoman A. PArdon me Lady if I presume to speak what â— have hitherto with much affection concealeâ— from you knowledg There is a Gentleman that hath beheld your heavenly beauty and with his judgment clearly discern'd youâ— virtues the ornaments of your mind these have produced in him strange effects so that in spite of his own reason or disswasion of friends he is violently compelled to speak truth Penel. Sir call you this an affliction 't is a happinesâ— to speak and hear truth Aym. Do you hold that opinion then I will convince yoâ— by your own Expressions For if it be a happiness to hear trâ—tâ— then I hope you wil pardon me if being compelled by thâ— strength of my passion I do truly tell you that I have placeâ— my affection wholly upon you or as they commonly say I â—â— love you Pen. Sir I am sorry that you have made me thâ— object of your love I know your Birth and Person maâ— deserve one of greater account and therefore I aâ— amazed at the unexpected novelty of your motâ—◠〈◊〉 imagining but your bosome had been free from any flame let your wisdom then suppress it lest your love become fruitless in the event Aym. I wil not be discouraged by your first answer for neither are you beneath me in quality who am your servant neither can it appear to you so strange a matter that I should be taken with your beauty which others admire though it be my fortune only to be bolder than the rest and I hope not unwelcome Pen. Sir I would not have you cherish any uncertain hope nor build any assurance where you have but a sandie foundation Love cannot be compelled but must â—low from the spring of naturall desire bâ—â— I find in my self no inclination to entertain your aâ—â—â—ction therefore you must pardon me if I deny youâ— suit which is not in my power to grant Aym. Nothing is impossible to love for if you woâ—â— believe that I bear a noble and constant affection â—â—wards you you would soon overcome this difficulty 〈◊〉 incline your mind to reward my affection with your â—avour Pen. Sir I am confident that your affection is riâ—â—â— and perfect nor seeking under a fair and colouraâ—â—â— prâ—tence to betray me I cannot force my self to comenâ— to your motion being utterly ignorant in love matterâ—â— therefore excuse me til time and consideration shalâ— enforce me to answer your desire Aym. I am comforted that you have not utterly denyed my suit I hope at my next visit to receive more incouragement til then I take my leave and presume only to breath my heart upon your hand or if you please your lip desiring you to remember me in your absence VVhen one meeteth a friend in the Street A. GOd save you sir you are most happily met How fare you Clor. Sir I am the better to see you wel and lusty why wil not you do me the honor to visit me at my chamber Alex. Sir I must confess I have often broke promise therein but my business would not permit me other wise I had long since waited on you Clor. I should rather account my self obliged to
right belonging to these other Gentlemen Alex. We might have spar'd this Ceremonie for the appetite loves good dainties better than Complements Now pray carve for your selves you are kindly welcome Gent. Sir We wil not put you to any trouble in helping us we know that manners wil allow us to make a dinner we come to trespass on you The Feasters excuse to his friend after Dinner ALEX. Sir I desire you to excuse your mean fare and slender entertainment whereunto I have presumed much to invite you but I hope our ancient acquaintance and your own good nature will procure me Pardon in that I have done this only to enjoy your company and society for your good discourse is to me a Feast far exceeding any dainties that I could provide for you Friend Your reall kindness hath been such and so unexpected that I cannot give you sufficient thanks for your courtesie and kinde entertainment all that I can retribute is t promise that I wil snatch an opportunity to express my gratitude Alex. You have honoured me enough in your acceptance of my good will But it is not wholsome to stir suddenly after dinner Let 's discourse you are conversant abroad what News do you hear Fr. Pardon me sir the world runs round about me whilest I stand unmoved never markiâ—g the motions thereof and therefore I am altogether ignorant in novelties it may be you hear more A. Indeed sir J have so many affairs that J can enquire after none J thought you could have given us some good intelligence Fr. Sir J desire you to excuse me for J hold it fruitless imployment but to satisfie your request if J knew any fresh News that were not yet in print J should be bold to acquaint you with it since you desire me A. J wil not importune any further but desire your pardon that J should impose on you the office of an intelligencer excuse my intent therein since what J desired was to pass away the time while we sit but now if you please we will rise Fr. Sir then J most really thank you you have made me bold with you J wil accompany you a while to the fire and then take my leave To offer service to a young Maid AYM Seeing you are alone I would willingly attenâ— on you if you please to accept of my service Maid It is more than I desite or deserve and it would appear boldness in me to accept of a strangers companie For it is not for me to entertain all shews and offers of kindness I can but thank you for your good wil I am not far distant from mine own home Aym. I pray let me bear you company and by the way make me happy in some discourse resolve me one question wâ—re you ever in love Maid Though it be no manners to answer one question with demanding another yet wil I presume to ask you if you were never in love Aym. Fair one from thence springs my unhappâ—ness I am too forward in these desires I have beheld many beauties but you have prevailed more than the rest to conquer my affection and I must acknowledge that in meeting you I have met death or life Maid Pray speak in plain terms I am ignorant of your meanings Aym. I desire you then know and believe that I am already far in love with you and I hope you will not scorn my sudden motion if I should desire you to reward my love with your favour and by the way let me entreat you to thâ—nk that heaven have pointed our sâ—range accidental meeting and gave me boldness to pâ—tition your favour and affection which I hope you wil grant Maid Sir I know not â—n this case how to give an answer that may procure your content but I desire you to impoâ—tune me no farther but grant me time to consider your motion and this is my fathers house whâ—ther if you pease to come hereaâ—ter I wil strâ—ve to resolve â—ou howsoeâ—er you shall be welcome Aym. But before I lose your presence which is my chiefest happiness let me tel you that when you go you bear away my heart with you and I shall only languish in sorrow til I visit you again Maid Pray sir do not hold me any longer in dâ—scourse there are many jealous eyes that do watch an occasion to expose me to censures for maintaining with you such an usuall familiarity let me intreat you as you tender my credit to leave me Aym. I must obey you honour me with an ordinary salutation and I wil vanish like a shadow and return again to wait on you who are the substance of my life To confer with a widow in an amorous wooing manner AYM I would entreat you fair widow not to discourage me in my first suit since your modesty and virtuous carriage in your husbands life time hath made me bold to plead for affection and to cherish a certain hope that I should obtain your good liking VVid. Sir I would not have you imagine that my love to my former husband was Written in a Table-Booâ— the Letters whereof may be soon wiped out again no it wa engraven upon my heart and there doth remain to inform me that I ought not to wrong him with a second marriage Aym. Nay widow I must acknowledge you have a fair prâ—tence to put me off with the remembrance of your said husband but will you alwayes punish your self and fast from the joyes of marriage VVid. It is my ful resolved purpose and therefore let not any wanton opinion concerning me give you hope of obtaining my love alas since his departure I am dead unto the world and do but only lye to sigh when I remember that I had so good an husband Aym. His goodness is gone with him but for my part I will be your loving active servant come come put off grief and false imaginations of honouring of the dead for if his soul were capable of any knowledg concerning earthly matters he would rejoyce to see you happâ—ly married and as he gave you all contentment in his life so he would desire that you might be supplyed in the same kind after his death Widow You speake unhappily but pray be satisfied that I intend not to marry yet I respect your good will and in other matters will remaine readie to requite your love A. For other matters I am satisfied but your love is the Mark whereat I aim why would you thus strive to become a Virgin again and forget the conceit of former pleasures which are yet fresh in your remembrance fie fie you do not wel to make your self so dul of apprehension I am come to offer service in the right kind and therefore you are very much to blame to refuse the tender of my respects W. You speak mysteries but I desire if you love me shew it in ceasing to prosecute your suit for I must tell you plainly it will prove fruitless and of none effect Aym. I cannot
Where shines their Father but in loves great Court On her delaying marriage Where hearts be knit what helps if not to enjoy Delay breeds doubts no cunning to be coy On his desires What can be said that lovers cannot say Desire can make a Doctor in a day On hand and heart Heaven seals that faith which firmly stands And joyns our hands with hearts our hearts with hands On Misfortune The man that stil amidst misfortunes stands Is sorrows slave and bound in lasting bands On fate They fall which trust to Fortunes fickle wheel But staid by vertue men shall never reel On disdain In high disdain love is a base desire And Cupids Flames is but a watry fire A Knot of most Excellent Letters Wherein is laid open all the Perfections or art of Complementing or inditing any Epistle or Love-Letters A letter of a loving father to his sonne before his death MY Son thou art now coming into the world that I am going out of and yet before my departure I thought fit to write a few lines unto thee what are I hope needful for thee to have a care of whil'st thou livest in it I know thou wilt not break thy bread all in one house feed alwayes of one dish nor live alwayes in one place therefore let me give thee a little kind admonition in this short Letter for thy carriage in all courses the Court is a place of more charge than ease the City-Gawds of more pleasure than worth and the Countrey sports of more pleasure than profit yet is there no service to the King no dwelling to the City nor pleasure to the Countrey but all the weight of the worth of them is in the hand of wisdom who in the knowledge of the use of them makes the best esteem of them but lest I am too tedious and long lessons may overcharge the memory take this one rule for thy learning in all and thou shalt finde it good in â—ore than a few Whersoever thou goest note the best choose the best and keep the best be nor buryed in earth before thou commest to the grave noâ— build Castles in the Ayre lest they fall down upon thy head let not thy eye abuse thy heart nor thy tongue thy will and let reason govern thy will in all the passages of thy Nature be neither needy nor ungratefull uncourteous or unkind and examine thy conscience in the care of thy content ground thy love upon Vertue thy hope upon Reason and thy Happiness upon Grace Live as a Stranger in the World and make what hast thou canst to Heaven Be loyall to thy Prince naturall to thy Countrâ—y Faithfull to thy Friend Kind to thy Neighbour and honest to the whole World so shall God bless thee the best love thee and the worst not hurt thee And thus so weak in body that the Spirit fainteth enforced me to express these few lines of fatherly love unto thee with my Prayers to the Lord of Heaven for thy preservation in this World and Eternall Happiness in the World to come with my Love Blessing and therewith what I am able to leave thee to the Merciful Guard of Heaven I commit thee and rest Thy loving Father c. His Answer MY most loving father this legacy of your love for the direction of my life how much I prize it in my hearts thankfulness the eye of your judgment shal behold in my observation give me leave to tel you that in this little time that I have spent idly in this world I have had some tast of the meat that you have given me where I find that the best meat may be spoyled spoyled in the dressing whilest a cunning Cook will make a rich service of small cost and though giddy heads are in love with gaudy toyes yet the better sorâ— of opinions esteem a small Diamond before a great Saphire I care not if I rather adventure far for the honour of vertue than lessen my Estate by breach of arms and seeing there are so many counterfeits that the best jewel may be mistaken I will meddle with no such wares as may call repentance to an after-reckoning while mine heart looketh toward heaven I hope the Earth shall not blinde my eyes nor the vain â—â—lights of Nature prevail against the vertues of reason but all is in the power of powers by whose grace being guided I shall be ever so preserved that howsoever my heart may be wounded yet I hope I shal never be confounded in hope whereof and unto the which beseeching the almighty either in health to prolong your dayes or in the election of his love to call you to a better life more esteeming these precepts of your love than all the portion you can leave me saving your blessing and so I humbly take my leave and rest Your loving and most obedient Son til death c. A Letter to a friend to borrow money SIR If borrowing of money be not a breach of friendship let me intreat your patience to open your purse I am loath to be too troublesome in making many words where such affable gentleness out-passeth all merit a present occasion puts me to the adventure of your kindness the matter is not much yet it will at this time pleasure me as much as so much may do the sum five pounds the time three months my credit the assurance and hearty thanks the interest thus without troubling the Scrivener I hope my letter will be of sufficient power to prevail with your love intreating your present answer in the affection of an honest heart I commit you to the Almighty Yours or not his own His Answer SIR if your friendship were a follower of fortune Love would have but a little life in this World the contents of your Letter hath put me to a strict account of my Estate how I may help you and not hurt my self I could make many excuses but that they tast of small comfort and therefore knowing time to be precious and to avoid delayes let this suffice your request is granted and the money I have sent you and not doubting your credit wil take your word for a bond and for the use without abuse I wish but requitall upon the like occasion Sir I am so glad that in this or any thing in my power I may make proof of my love I rest in the same Yours or not mine own c. A love-letter to a worthy Gentlewoman FAire Mistris if I had no eyes I should not like you and if not wit I should not love you for the brightness of your beauty is for no blind sight to gaze upon nor the worthiness of your vertue for no weak brains to beat upon if you say I flatter you look into your self and do me no wrong and if I do you right chide nor affection for a discovery where truth is honourable pardon my presumption if it exceed your pleasure and commend his service who will make an honour of
your favours so intreating your patience for answer to my poor Letter until I hear from you and alwayes I rest Your devoted to be commanded c. A Love-Letter to a Lady Madam SVch and so extreme are the passions of love that the more they are quenched by disdain greater flames are â—ncreased by desire and the more they galled with hate are the more they gape after love like to the Stone Tâ—pâ—zon which being once kindled burneth most vehemently in the water so I having my heart scorched with the beams of your beauty and my mind flamed with your singular vertue neither can any bitter looks abâ—â—t my love nor extreme discourtesie diminish my affection I am not be that wil leave the rose because it hath pricked my finger or refuse the gold in the fire because it burnt my hand for the mind of a faithful lover is neither to be daunted with despight nor affrighted with danger I rest Yours c. Her Answer SIR if your wits go with your eyes your brains may be on the outside of your head and then if you deceive your selfâ— I hope you will not blame me colours are but shadows and may be ful of illusions and the worthiness of vertue may be a reach above the worlds reason yet the discovery of affection may be more in words than in matter especially where discretion sounds the depth of desert though the honour of truth be worth regard where there is no fault there need no pardon and therefore without trouble of patience finding no cause of displeasure I thus conclude love hath a priviedge to be at the command of kindness in which I resâ— to wish you much happiness Your wel-willing friend c Another Love-Letter FAire Creature To tel you I love you were a phrase of too plain a fashion and yet when truth is indeed the best Eloquence affection needs no invention to express the care of her content which being in threâ— Letters makes a word soon to be read which being Y O V nothing doubting your spelling I hope you will so kindly put together that a conjunction of love shall have no seperation during life And thus beseâ—ching you to learn this Lesson by heart without a cross in conceit to hinder the course of loves comfort till I hear from you in that nature that may make me a happy creature I rest Yours wholly and only if you wil c Her Answer KInd Sir to tel you I love you were too crosse an Answer with a comfortable request and yet whâ—n dissimulation is the worst fruit of invention d scretion may be pardoned in concealing of Love Touching your Letters they are sooner read than understood while imaginative hopes may be deceived in their happiness and yet to avoid all touch of ingratitude in that nature of kindness that may give honour to content as a simple Schollar in the art of love loath to have that by heart that may trouble more than my head when seperations of conjunctions may indanger the death of comfort wishing nothing amiss to them that mean all well I rest Your as I may be mine own c. A Letter from a Lady to a Gentleman whom she called her servant for the preferring of a Gentlewoman to her SErvant I have often spoken unto you for that you must needs do me I am going to the Court and shall have great use of a Gentlewoman to attend me I know you have many Kinsmen and acquaintance among whom you may find one to fit me I will take her at your hand and regard her for your sake and if her deserts answers my desires she shall lose no love in my favour and therefore leaving this trusty charge to the care of your discreet kindness as you wil expect a greater courtesie at my hands I rest Your loving Mistris c. His Answer GOod Madam you speak unto me to help you to a Gentlewoman which with my Letter I have here sent you a woman and Gentle who I hope will not be altogether unworthy of your entertainment for her person she is not deformed nor her face of the worst feature she is â—eithâ—r blear-eyed nor tongue-tyed And for her qualities I hope she can do more than make curtesie and blush her Paâ—entage is not bare nor her breeding idle and for her disposition I hope will be nothing displeasing to praise her in any perfection I dare not but in all will leave her to the tryall of your patience So wishing my dutiful service in this or â—hat else mayly in my power so fortunate as to deserve your favour and this Gentlewoman so gracious as to gain the continuance of your good opinion in prayer for your health and hearts most wished happiness I take my leave at this time but rest at all times Your Ladyships most humble servant A Letter of zealous love written from a Gentleman to his Brother BRother since I last heard from you I am sorry to hear that I do of you that you are wound so far into the world as if that you never meant to out of it you know I have travelled far seen much and I have some understanding by all the observation of time in the courses of nature I find Solomons truth in the tryal of the world that there is a little of it but is little worth in it when all being but vanity there is little vertue to be found in it Believe me brother we are neer in one nature but differ in another in the flesh but not in the spirit for whil'st I contemplate the substance of the souls comfort thou art puzzelled in the world among the puddles of the earth yea I fear the nature of thy affect to be as far from the rule of religion as the most senceless creature is from the use of reason Brother I know that thou hast wronged many thy self most I would thou wert a Zacheus to right all but better betimes than too late look home to the main chance have a care of thy soul and thy body wil be the better believe it there is no rust eateth so fast into any mâ—rtal as the venome of avarice into the heart of a wicked man Prodigality is the way to penury but covetousness is the root of all evil betwixt both there is a mean that to hit on is a kind of happiness and if thou hast no ears but of Mydas thou canst hear of nothing but gold take a heart of Simeon to joy in nothing but Christ Iesus turn a new leaf serve God for whom thou wert created let nor the earth triumph over thee for whom it was made to tread upon lift up thine eyes towards heaven where one joy of the elect is worth all the Kingdoms of the World Leave the world ere it leave thee and love him ever that will never leave thee Let they life be a Pilgrimage and the earth but a passage and the Heaven only the home of thy souls eternal