sole testimony therof somtimes his vnlawful comming vnto me was not without great feare when by some secret means or other and at vnseasonable times he would he with mée yet how déere was my Chamber vnto him and with what ioye and how willingly did it euermore receiue him whom I did also know to vse more reuerence in the same then in any holie Temple Alas how manie pleasant kisses what infinite number of louing embracements how many swéet nights more gracious and déere to vs then the lightsome cléerest daies did we passe together without sléepe in pleasant deuises dainty discourses How many other delights most déere to euery Louer Maydenly shamfastnes a most hard bridle to wanton and forwarde mindes haue we felt in that blessed Chamber in the merrie prime of our happy daies O most holye shamefastnes a pinching and hard bridle to wanton youthful minds wherfore once again at my request dost thou not depart why dost thou witholde my pen ready to vnfolde our passed ioyes and pleasures Alas in thinking perhaps to gratify me thou dost gréeue me to help me thou dost hinder me To those womeÌ„ therfore to whoÌ„ nature hath granted so large ample a priuiledge that by those things which are spoken they may coÌ„prehend imagine the rest which are coÌ„cealed to others not so wise as these let them be manifest â—aid open Nor let not any cal me foole as ignorant of so much in knowing well enough that it should haue béen more honesty for me to haue coÌ„cealed then to manifest that which is already written But who can countermaunde Loue when with working all hys might and force he dooth oppose himselfe At this point many times I let my pen fall out of my handes and as often againe molested by him I tooke it vppe and put it to his former taske And finally like a subiect and bond woman I must néeds serue him whom when I was frée in the beginning I knew not how to resist He shewed me that hidden delights and priuy pleasures Delights which are hidden are as much worth as buried treasure were as much worth againe as hoorded Iewels and secrete treasures But wherefore doo I féede and please my humour about these wordes I say that then I thanked infinite times the holly Goddesse the promiser and performer of these swéete ioyes Oh how many times crowned with her gréene leaues did I visit her sacred Temples offering vp swéete incense to her diuine Aulters and howe often did I condemne the olde Nurce and her simple counsell and did besides this reioysing and glorying my selfe aboue all other enamoured yong Gentlewomen and Ladies that I knewe and kept company with scorne and laughe at their ridiculous appassionated loues blaming that in my spéeches which was déerest to my soule saying many times to my selfe There is no woman beloued so as I am nor any Lady bée shee neuer so noble and faire that dooth loue so braue so wise and so worthy a yong Gentlemanne as I doo nor that doth with so greate delight and pleasure reape such amorous fruite in a paradise of all ioy nor in so great aboundance as I most happilie and hourely doo taste And to bee short in respect of this I estéemed the whole world as a trifle of no accounte and thought that I reached the highest heauens with my thrise happy heade and wanting as I thought nothing els to attaine to the highest top of felicitie and to the full accomplishment of all my pleasures and swéete contents but onely to haue had the occasion of all my blis-full ioy and blessed fortune manifested and made openly knowne to the worlde thinking with my selfe that that which delighted me so much should as my selfe haue pleased euery one alike But thou Oh bashfulnesse on the one side and thou feare on the other you haue I say with helde me the one threatning me eternall infamie and the other the losse of that of which indéede enuious fortune did afterwards miserably despoyle me Thus therefore I passed this golden and gladsome time many dayes and monethes as it pleased Loue wythout emulating any louing Ladye or enamoured Gentlewoman louing most happily and liuing most ioyfully in a worlde of swéete content and swymming with full sayles in Seas of heauenly felicities and of all manner of delights not entertayning so much as a thought of discontent and sorrowe and neuer imagining that these pleasures which then my merry hart was so amply and thorowly possessed of shoulde bee the roote and plant in time to come of my miserable woes and wofull miseries which at this present without any hope or remedy at all to my haplesse paine endlesse gréefe too well I know and most sencibly féele FINIS ⧠The seconde booke of Maister Iohn Boccace hys Fiammetta WHilst that O deerest Ladies I spent my merry dayes in so pleasaunt and iocund a life as is aboue written neuer thinking of future chaunces cruell fortune dydde secretlie prepare her malicious poyson for mée and with continuall courage my selfe not suspecting anie thing did at an inche pursue my ioyfull life And thinking that in making me become a vassall to loue and in my chiefest time of ioy and liberty shée was not well appaide but perceiuing how this my swéete seruitude did yéelde me great delight shee endeuoured with a more stinging nettle to torment and pricke my poore and séely soule And her appointed time béeing now come shee tempered as after you shall perceiue her bitter galls and woormewood for my vnwilling and feeble stomacke which maugre my téeth compelling me to drink turned my present myrth into suddaine sadnes and my wonted laughter into wofull lamentations which thinges not onely enduring but yet thinking it my duetie in wryting them to shewe them to some others I tooke such compassion of my selfe that taking almost all my force from me and bringing infinite teares to myne eyes it did hardly permitt mee any thing effectually to execute my purpose héerein which albeit I may very yll doo yet wyll I forcibly goe about to performe the same After that he and I the weather falling out verie colde and rainie were in my Chamber together reposing and sollacing our selues vppon a sumptuous and swéete bedde and Lady Citherea wearied nay almost ouercome the dark and silent night with her long tariance fauourably graunted to our pleasant and desired sports fitte oportunitie of time and place And a great light hanging in the midst of the Chamber glutted his eyes and myne viewing each others beautie with excéeding ioy of which while I recreated my mind in gazing and discoursing of his mine eyes did drinke a superfluous kind of swéetnes which making their lights inebriated as it were with the same with deceitfull sléepe I know not how a little while oppressed and my wordes interrupted also in the middes remained locked vppe close in their lyddes Which pleasant and swéete slumber passing so mildlie away
could doo none other visite or desire to goe to them My face béeing on the suddaine become leane and pale caused so many maruailes doubts and sadnes in my house that euery one talked diuersly of the same And looking and lyuing in thys pittifull case and making semblaunce that I knewe of nothinge I remayned the most pensiue and the most sorowfull woman that might be My doubtfull thoughts did draw on and waste most part of the day vncertaine whither I might resolue my selfe to myrth or moane But séeing the nights fitting best my vnpleasant humours and finding my selfe alone in my Chamber after hauing first lamented my woes and talked manie thinges with my selfe stirred vppe and inspired as it were with better counsell I turned my deuout prayers to Venus saying Fiammettas prayer to Venus O singuler beautie of the Heauens O moste pittifull Goddesse and most holy Venus who in likenesse of thy selfe in the beginning of my anxieties diddest appeare vnto mee in this Chamber Aforde me now some comfort for my great gréefes and by that reuerend and internall loue that thou diddest beare fayre Adonis mittigate my extreame paines Beholde what tribulations I suffer for thée Beholde howe manie times the terrible Image of death hath béene presented before mine eyes The Image of death terrible Behold if my pure faith hath deserued so much paine as I wrongfully sustaine Béeing but yong and not knowing thy darts I suffered my selfe at thy firste pleasures and without denyall to become thy subiect Thou knowest how much good thou didst promise me and I cannot truely denie but that I haue enioyed some part thereof but if thou wilt comprehend these sorrowes which thou diddest giue me as part also of that good then let Heauen and earth perrish in one howre and let all lawes like vnto these be adnihilated and made newe againe with the world But if they séeme vnequall in thy sight as I hope they doo then let O gracious Goddesse thy promise be fulfilled because thy holy mouth may not be thought or saide to haue learned to dissemble as mortall mens doo Sende forth thy Sonne wyth his golden arrowes and wyth thy firebrandes to my Panphilus where he doth nowe remaine so far distant from mee and enflame his hart in such sorte if peraduenture for not séeing me so long time it is waxen too colde in my loue or too hote with the present beauty of an other that burning as I doo none occasion whatsoeuer may with-hold him from comming backe againe Because taking againe some comfort and ease vnder the heauie burden of these calamities I may not so quickly die O most fayre Goddesse let my wordes sounde into thy eares and if thou wilt not sette him on fire pull out of my poore hart thy wounding Darts because I may as well as he spende my dayes without such great gréefe Wyth thys forme of prayers although I sawe theyr effects but vaine yet thinking that they were hearde I did with small hope somewhat lighten my torments beginning new thoughts I said Oh Panphilus where art thou nowe Ielious thoughts Alas what dooest thou hath now the silent night surprised thée without sléepe and with so many teares as it hath taken holde of mee Or doth thy yong spouse perhaps not hearde of me at all holde thée in her armes or yet without any remembraunce of me doost thou swéetly sléepe Alas how may it be that Loue can gouerne two Louers with so vnequall Lawes bothe louing so firmely as I am too assured that I doo and as perhaps thou doost I know not But if it be so that these thoughts do occupy thy minde as they doo ouercome mine what wycked prysons or mercilesse chaynes doo hold thée that in breaking of them thou doost not returne to mee I know not certes what might stay me from going to thée vnlesse my beautye which woulde without all doubt be an occasion of my vtter shame and a great impediment to me in all places did not onely kéepe me backe What busines soeuer and what other occasions of stay thou diddest there finde shoulde bee by thys ended and nowe thy Father shoulde haue glutted himselfe with thy daily companie who is I knowe and for whose death the Gods know I doo continually pray the onely occasion of thy stay there And if not of this at the least of robbing thée from me he was vndoubtedly the onely cause and means But I feare me poore soule that going about to pray for hys death thou dost prolong his life so contrary are the Goddes to thy requestes and so inexorable in euery thing I craue of them Ah let thy loue if it be such as it was once wont to be conquere their opposite force and come againe Dost not thou thinke that I lye sadlie all alone a great part of the tedious nightes in the which thou diddest once beare me faithfull company though accompanied I must néedes confesse with millions of martyring thoughts Alas howe manie long Winter nights lying a colde without thée in a great and sollitarie bedde haue I passed heauily away Ah call to thy forgetfull minde the sundry kindes of these pleasures which in manie thinges we were wont to take togeger remembring which I am then certain that there is no other Woman able to deuide thée from mee And this beléefe doth make me as it were more surer then any other thing that the newes of the new spouse are but false which if they were true yet she cannot I thinke take thée from mee but for a time Returne therefore and if swéete delights haue no force to draw thée back againe let the desire which thou hast to deliuer her whom aboue all other Women thou louest from suddaine and shamefull death perswaded thée to bee reclaimed Alas if thou wert now returned I hardly beleeue that thou couldest know me againe for so hath excéeding sorow and anguish of mind extenuated and altered my former and faire countenaunce But that which infinite teares hath taken from mee a short gladnesse in séeing thy swéete face shall quickly restore to me againe and I shall be once again that Fiammetta which I was before Ah come Panphilus come because my hart doth still call vpon thée suffer not the flower of my yong daies to perrish in dole altogether prest for thy delights and vowed to thy pleasures I knowe not alas with what modestie I could bridle my suddaine and excéeding ioy if thou werte here againe but that vnmoderatly it should be manifest to euery publicke personne Because I doubt and iustly that our loue with great wisedome and patience a long time concealed might not bee perhaps discouered to euery one But yet wert thou come to sée and to try whither ingenious lies could as well take place in prosperous euēts as in aduerse crooked accidents Alas I wold thou wert for all this come and if it could not be better then let euery one that would knowe it because I woulde thinke
And vnlesse thy new looue make thée degresse to farre from the trueth thou wylt confesse and say no. What faulte of myne therefore what iust occasion of thy parte what greater beautie or more feruent looue haue taken thée from mée and giuen thée to an other Truely none And all the Gods be my recordes héerein that I neuer wrought any thing against thée but that beyond all termes of reason I looued thée And if this hath deserued such treachery as thou haste doone and workest against mée let thy owne selfe disloyall as thou art be iudge O ye Goddes the iust reuengers of our vniust defectes I cal vpon you for cruel and due vengeance I neyther wishe nor goe about to practise his death who by his vile escape from mée would haue wrought mine Nor do pray that any other punishmēt may befal to his deserued guilt but if he looue his new choice as I looue him that in casting him of and giuing her selfe to an other as he hath taken him selfe from mée she would leaue him in that kinde of lyfe that cruel as he is he causeth me to leade And so with vnséemely motions of my body turning me now this way now that way like a franticke woman I tumbled and tossed vp and downe in my bed All that day was not spent in other spéeches then in such of like tennour and in most bitter waylings But the night worser then the day and more apte for all kinde of sorrowe the melancholy darkenes being more conformable too meditating miseries then the light béeing now stolen on it came to passe that béeing in déede with my déere husband and lying a great while silent to my selfe and broade waking yet warring within my selfe with hostes of dollorous thoughts amongest which calling to memory all my passed times aswell my pleasaunt occurrences as sorrowfull passages and especially that I had lost my Panphilus by meanes of a new looue my gréefe grewe in such aboundaunce that vnable to keepe it any longer within with great lamentations dolefull complaints I burst it out albeit concealing the amorous occasion of it And my sighes were so forcible and my sobbes so profounde that my Husbande béeing nowe a goodwhile drowned in déepe sléepe by the great noise and molestation of them was awaked and turning himselfe to me who was spunged in mine owne teares and taking mee louingly in his armes with milde and pittiful words he said thus vnto mee O my swéete soule The loue of a good husband what sinister cause of so dolefull a plaint in the quiet night when thou shouldest take thy rest doth trouble thée thus What thing is it that this long time hath made thée so melancholicke and sad Nothing must bée concealed from mee that may any way displease or discontent thée Is there any thing that thy hart dooth desire and that my witt and substance may compasse for thée or that in demaunding of it thou mightest possibly haue Art not thou my onelie comfort my ioy and my good And doost not thou knowe that I loue thée aboue all worldly thinges yea more then my selfe Whereof not by shewe nor one proofe but by dailie experience thou maist liue assured Wherefore dooest thou therefore lament in such sort Wherfore doost thou afflict thy selfe in such extreame gréefe Doo I séeme vnpleasant ill fauoured or nothing gracious in thyne eyes or am I vnworthy of thy beauty or is not my birth parentage and estate agréeable to thy nobilitie or doost thou think mée culpable in any thing that I may amende Speake and tell me franckly and discouer to me the vale of thy desires There shal be nothing left vndoone or vnattempted for thy sake if it may possible bée Thou doost altered in visage and apparrel and extreamely sorowfull in all thy actions minister a doleful occasion and matter to me of an vnquiet life And though I haue before séene thée continually sadde pensiue yet thys day more then at any time I thought of late that some bodilie infirmitie was the cause of thy palenes but nowe I doo manifestly know that it is gréefe of mind that hath brought thée to this pittiful case wherin I sée thée wherfore I pray thée close to me the roote from whence all thy sorowes do grow Whom with a feminine and suddaine witte taking counsel of fained tales and lies which before hadde serued mee for a shyft I answered thus O swéete Husband déerer to me then all the worlde besides I lacke not anie thing wherein thy forward help may auaile mee and acknowledge thée without all doubt more worthy then my selfe but the death of my déere Brother of which thou art not ignorant hath long before and now since brought me to this extreame sorrow Which as often as I thinke of it with bitter wailings dooth rent my harte in péeces Sometimes the maner of ones death is more lamēted then the death it selfe And certes I bewaile not so much his cruell death a thing naturallie incident to vs all but the strange and pittifull manner of the same which thou diddest know to be violent infortunate and bloodie And besides this the straunge things and vglie sights that appeared to me after his death doo kill my fearefull soule to thinke of I can neuer so little shut vp mine eyeliddes or giue any slender sléepe to my sorrowfull eies but immediatly all pale trembling naked and full of goare shewing me his cruell woundes he appeareth quaking before me And euen then when thou diddest perceiue me to wéepe and lament hee came into the Chamber standing and staring before me as I was a sléepe in likenes of a horrible and fainting ghoste fearefully quaking wyth a breathles and panting brest in such sort that he could scarce vtter one word but at the last with extreame paine sayde O my déere Sister wipe that blotte of ignominie from me which with an appalled and troubled face looking euer for verie gréefe and shame thereof on the ground doth make my sorrowfull ghost wander with great disgrace and scorne amongst other haples sprites And although it was some comfort for me to sée him yet ouercome with terror which I had of his dreadfull habite and mooued with iust compassion of his words with starting on a suddaine I awaked out of my féeble sléepe and thus my teares the which thou dooest nowe goe about to comfort fulfilling the duetie of my conceiued pittie did at hand follow And so as the Gods know if weapons were fitte for Women I woulde ere this haue reuenged his miserable death and with a fierce countenaunce and couragious hart sent the gréedie gutton of his innocent blood amongst other damned soules But alas I can doo no more then I am able Therefore déere Husbande not without great occasion I am thus miserablie tormented in minde O with howe manie pittiful words did he then comfort me applying a salue to the wounde which was healed long inough before and howe did hee endeuour to
mollifie and diminishe my plaints with those true reasons which for fayned tales he so carefully made But after he thought that he had comforted me vp a little he fell a sléepe againe and then I thinking of the pittifull and tender loue he bare me with more cruell griefe secretly bewayling my vniust requitall of the same Prayers of a desperate Louer began againe my interrupted and péece-meale lamentations saying O most cruell Dennes inhabited of sauage and wylde beastes O hell the eternall pryson ordeyned for wicked companie O anie other exile whatsoeuer déeper then these open and swallowe me vppe and with iust paines torment my sinfull and deserued soule and plague mee of all others the vilest Woman O mightie Iupiter most iustly angry with me tumble downe thy thunder and with swift hande throwe down thy crushing bolts vpon my hatefull heade O holy Iuno whose most holy lawes thrise wicked Woman I haue infringed take vengeance of me nowe O ye fierce Caspian Serpents teare in péeces this polluted body of mine O yée hellish Rauens infernall Harpyes and cruell beastes deuoure and entombe me in your gréedie mawes And you most fierce vnruly Iades the cruell quarterers of Hippolitus his innocent members rende me impious and trothlesse Womanne in a thousand péeces And thou most pittifull Husbande sheathe thy reuenging sworde with due anger in my culpable brest and with plentious effusion of my blood sende forth my wicked soule that hath so vnworthily deceiued thée Vse no remorse of pittie loue nor moderate mercy towardes mee since that I haue preferred the loue of a straunger and of a perfidus Impe before the bounde faith and due reuerence which I owe to thy holy and vnspotted bedde O the worste of all womankinde most woorthy of great punishment for thys and for many other things what furie appeared before thy chaste eyes that daie when Panphilus first pleased thée Where didst thou abandon that loue and pyety which was due to the holy Lawes of matrimonie Whether didst thou banish thy reuerende chastitie the chiefest honour and ornament of women when for the blinde lyking of disloyal Panphilus thou didste forsake the loue of thy louing Husbande Where is nowe the pittie that thy beloued youth doth shew thée And where are the comforts that he should now gyue thée in thy perplexed miseries Lulled in the lappe of another Woman he merrily passeth away the weary time and and dooth not care for thée and yet in trueth hee hath reason therefore Wherefore it must worthily fall so to thée as to all others which embrace licentious luste neglecting lawfull loue Thy iniured Husbande who with rygour shoulde punish thée with great pittie goeth about to comfort thée and he that should performe this iust function careth not alas wrongfully to torment thée What is not he as fayre as Panphilus And are not his vertues courage nobilitie and especially his loue and constancie and all other good partes in him are they not farre aboue all and euery thing that Panphilus hath in him worthy of prayse and commendation Ah there is no doubt thereof Wherefore then didst thou forsake him for an other What blindnes rashnes sinne and what iniquitie hath brought thée to this Alas poore soule I know not Things freely possessed are estemed of slightly Onely that those thinges which are franckly and freely possessed are wont to bee accounted of no price and value although they bee indeede very deere and precious And that those which hardly and with hazard are gotten be they neuer so vile are esteemed and embraced as moste singuler and sweete things The daily fruition and glutting company of my Husbande which shoulde by great reason haue béene most déere vnto mee surfeited my queisie minde and so satiating my chaungable appetite deceiued mee and I mighty inough perhaps to haue resisted doo nowe miserably lament and bewayle that which I haue left vndoone nay rather I was without perhaps strong enough if I would my selfe if I had called to minde those signes and thought of that which the Gods in sléeping and waking had showen mee the night and day before my haples fall But nowe not able to retire though I would but constrayned by my appointed stars to combat still in these amorous conflicts I knewe too well what the Serpent was which stunge mee vnder my lefte side and swelling with my sucked bloode went away And likewyse I sée the euents that the prognosticating flower of my crowne falling from my adorned heade dooth manifestly declare But alas this vaine wisedome and aftersight commeth all too late The Gods perhaps to purge themselues of some conceiued wrath against me and repenting that they had shewed mee any signes tooke the knowledge of their future effects from me not béeing able to restore them to me againe as Apollo from his beloued Cassandra to whome after hee had graunted abooue of a Propheticall spyrite did take the vertue and effect of it in that she was not beleeued of anye whensoeuer she diuined Whereuppon placed in the mydst of all miseries not without great reason and iust cause I bewayle and consume my life in woe And sorrowing thus with my selfe and turning tumbling my selfe in my weary bedde almost al the night I passed it away without giuing mine eyes leaue once to shutte vppe their liddes But if any sléepe entred into my sorowfull breast it did so faintly remaine there that the least styrre or noyse was able enough to haue broken it And yet although it was but weake it did not tarry with mee without representing many fierce battayles in his kind of accustomary demonstrations to my affrighted minde And this did not happen to me that night onely of which I spake of alone but many times before and I was almost continually molested after with the same accidents Wherfore my soule both waking and sléeping hath and dooth féele equall and like tempestious stormes The complaints which I powred forth in the night time tooke not away theyr turne and place in the day but as excused nowe for sorrowing againe by reason of those lyes which I tolde my Husband from that nyght forward I did many times lament and did beginne to bee extreamely sad and sorrowful in open and publique company But the day béeing come on my trustie Nurce from whom the least part of my gréefes was not hid because she was the first that knewe the amorous signes in my face and had also imagined diuers future accidents in the same comming to visit mee when it was tolde her that Panphilus had chosen another Woman Oh how many times simple husbands are deceiued and doubting of me and most carefull for my neglected weale my Husband no sooner went out of the Chamber but shee immediatly entered in And séeing mee thorow the great anguish and gréefe of the last night to lie as one halfe dead with diuers comfortable words shee went about to asswage my furious euils feruent passions and taking me in
my Nurce often times about this matter and tooke counsell of her desirous to finde out some good meanes how to reclaime my olde loouer And therefore some times I determined by her aduise with pittifull letters to certifie him of my sorrowful life and gréeuous misfortunes other sometimes we thought it more conuenient by some wise messenger to let him vnderstand of my daily woes procured by his wilfull absence And truely although the Nurce was olde the way very long and dangerous yet she wold for my sake haue gonne thether her self But waying euery thing well we iudged that letters were they neuer so pittifull were not of any effecacy to mooue him from these present new looues so that we accounted those but lost labour Admit that for all this I did sometimes write certaine which had the very same issue that we coniectured of before To sende the Nurce thether I thought it as farre from the purpose because I dyd apparauntly perceiue that shée could neuer come to him aliue and to put my affiaunce and trust in an other I thought it to preiudiciall to my honour and honesty So that these first consultations were but friuolous And there was not lefte any way in my minde to haue him againe but in my owne person to goe to him To perfourme which enterprise there occured diuers thinges in my minde all which by good reason were at last adnihilated of my Nource I thought sometimes to take the habite of a Pilgrime and with some faithfull companion and secrete fréende to séeke him out in the very middest of his countries And although this did séeme possible vnto me notwithstanding I did cléerely sée my honour to bee in great hazard thereby hauing heard how fayre and wandering Pilgrimmes are oftentimes vilie abused of wicked ruffians and théeues by the wayes and in their trauelles And besides this knowinge my selfe obliged to my good husband without whome or his leaue I could not conceiue how to frame or how to take in hand this long iournie which thing to obtaine in vaine I might haue hoped Wherefore I gaue no place to this bootlesse inuention And therefore I was sodainly transported into an other deuise as inconuenient as the other was vndecent for my estate before and I imagined indéede that it should come to passe and should verely haue doone it if some repugnaunt chaunce in the meane time had not happened but hereafter if I doo but liue there shal not effectuall practises be wanting to fulfill the drifte of my pretences I feined in these my foresayd aduersities if the Goddes had deliuered me from them to haue made a vowe desiring to haue performed the which with iust reason I might haue trauailed vppe and downe in my loouer his countries passing thorow the which I had oportunitie at will to sée to recal him backe againe which I discouered to my déere husband who willingly louingly offered to furnished me with necessaries in the same voiage yet wishing mee to attend a more conuenient time But the delayes hereof being verie gréeuous and no lesse daungerous vnto mee and fearinge least it might bee suspected and so detected a vicious and wicked iourney and Pilgrimage this I say caused mee to enter into new imaginations and into other counselles all which séemed worser to me then the rest aleadged before except onely the meruellous and supernaturall effects of Hecate with the which By Hecate which Proserpina deuoteth is vnderstood arte Magique because I might most safely committe my selfe to the fearefull spirites I had much talke and conuersation and with those especially whome I had heard were most skilfull and who themselues did boast to excell in arte Magique promising to performe and bring to passe what I would And some of them swearing to cary me sodainely thether Others to weane his minde from all other looues and to ingrafte it in mine againe Others telling that they woulde restore me to my former liberty and my selfe desiring that the least of these might come to passe I found them as full of tatling words and vaine promises as their vnperformed and simple déeds did manifest Whereupon my flatteringe hope remained many times confused and in suspence by them and therefore thinking it best of all to shake of these wicked driftes I attended conuenient time in the whych my husband promised me to fulfill my feyned vowe Finis ⧠The sixt Booke of Maister Iohn Boccace hys Fiammetta MY Sorrowes notwithstanding the hope of my future voyage were continuated the sky with continuall motion caring the Sun with it did draw on one day after an other without any intermediate space of time And vaine hope held me in wauering doubtes longer then I would my great gréefes and gréeuous looue not any whit deminished The description of the Spring tide And now that Bull which sometimes transported Europa held Phebus with his golden light and the daies borowing light of the nights of the shortest became the longest And flowry Zephirus arriued with his calme peaceable blasts had set the boysterous wars of Boreas in peace And the stormy and darke tempestes banished away with the colde ayre and the white snow discouering the toppes of high hilles and the plashie meddowes washed with the abundaunce of falling raine had made euery flower fayer al grasse to waxe gréene and generally had renued al herbage And that hoary whitnesse which all the colde winter season hath couered euery trée was now changed into a liuely and fresh verdure And in euery place that season of the yéere did rayne when ioyfull Ver aboundantly enricheth the earth with his wished and welcomed treasures And the ground starred as it were and wrought with violets marigoldes and swéet roses dyd séeme to counteruaile the eight heauen in beauty By the mother of Bacchus is vnderstood the vine Narcissus did now begin to grow on euery medow and the mother of Bacchus also to shewe foorth sprowting fructiferous signes of her fertill wombe and dyd with her gréene burgeons more then she was wont to doo ouer charge her supporter and fellow Elme him selfe also become now more heauy by his new garments Driope and the delastrous sisters of Phaeton dyd also nowe shewe merry and chéerefull countenaunces hauing shaken of the miserable habitte of hoarie winter The prettie byrdes perching on euerie twigge and bowe were heard to warble forth swéete and siluer notes And Proserpina her mother the deuout goddesse of countrimen ioyfully waued vp and downe the féelds with her goodly garments And besides all these thinges my cruell Lord made euery lusty young and loouing minde to féele the heate of his fiery darts hotter then before Where vpon euery one young Gentlewomen as well as gallant youthes adorning themselues according to their degrée in the brauest manner and richest fashion of attire endeuoured to please their best belooued The mery feasts chéered vp our Cittizens and filled all our Cittie full of mirth which were
brought vp and nourtered in his lappe by that looue which continually he had borne mee and by the duetie and that looue which I should beare him againe and by that requisite obedience which euery chyld should beare vnto his father and by all other things that he thought most effectuall and perswasiue did like a familiar fréende whose parte is rather to commaund pray me that to commiserate his aged and declyning yéeres and to tender his welfare I would with spéede returne to visite him And besides this with solemnes othes and serious obtestations he caused all his fréendes and agents in these partes and with most earnest entreaties prouoked them incessantly to pricke me on in this behalfe saying that if he did not sée me shortly with him The lawes of nature are most strong his miserable soule would vtterly forsake his olde and comfortlesse body But alas howe strong and forcyble are the lawes of nature I could not presently assent nor yet can scarce resolue with my selfe that by reason of the great loue I beare thée these pittious exorations should take place in me Whereupon hauing with thy good leaue determined to goe sée him and for his great comfort to remaine some short space of time with him and not knowing also how I could liue without thée all these I say occurring and accumulated in my sorrowfull memorie doo make me euery hower swéete Lady most iustly and sorrowfully complaine And thus he helde his peace If there was euer any of you fayre Ladyes that in her most feruent and zealous looue had euer had so hard and bitter a Pille as this euen she I thinke dooth know with what incomparable gréefe my minde nourished long since with foode of his looue and set one fyre with vnspeakable flames of my owne was then afflicted But others frée from such amorous passions could not conceiue because as allegations of extrauagant examples so all my spéeches besides would not be sufficient to induce them to beléeue the same The force of an amorous passion In bréefe therefore I say that hearing these wordes my soule did séeke to leape out of my body and it had I thinke flowen away if betwéene his armes whome most of all it looued it had not béene straightly embraced and forciblye reteyned But all the partes of my body remaining neuerthelesse full of shaking feare and my hart puffed with swelling gréefe and weltring in the passions of these agonies they bereaued me a pritty while of my spéech But afterwards by quantity of time made more pliable to sustaine these neuer felte sorrowes and vnwoonted paynes a certayne féeble and fearefull force was restored to my daunted spirites And my eies whose conduites stopped by the violence of this vnexpected accident did now burst out into great plenty of teares and the stringes of my tongue contracted together with sharpe sorrowe were now dissolued to vtter and breath out the confused anguish and conceiued sorrowes in my minde Wherfore turning me to the Gardien and Lord of my life embracing him I sayd thus O final hope and soueraigne comfort of my afflicted soule let these my pittifull words take place with force in thy fléeting minde diuert thée from thy newe purpose because if thou doost so déerely looue me as thou shewest thy life and mine before theyr naturall and prefixed period commeth may not ioyntly be depriued of this ioyfull and swéete light Haled on by duetifull pitty and drawne backe againe by zealous looue thou puttest all thy future fortunes in doubtfull hazard But certes if all thy words are true with which thou hast not once but many times heretofore affirmed that thou didst looue me no other pittie therfore then this should be more mightie and of greater force to resist nor whyle I liue to withdrawe thée to any other place And harken why It is not vnknowen to thée if thou followest that course which thou séemest to doo in what a doubtfull miserable estate thou leauest my poore life which heretofore hath hardly passed one day not without great sorrowe when I could not sée thée Then mayest thou by this be more acertained that whē thou doost omitte to visite me so long togeather all my ioyes will vtterly forsake mee and this alas would be to much But who dooth not doubt that all kindes of woes sorrowe and anxieties will assaile mee and succéede in theyr place which without any resistance that I can possibly make will perhappes dissolue my vitall powers into nothing Thou shouldest haue already knowen howe weake and impotent young women are to rebacke such cruell and aduerse occurrauntes and what féeble force they haue with a stronge and resolute minde to endure them If peraduenture thou wilte obiect and say that in the fyrst beginning of my looues I haue both wisely and stoutly suffered greater aduersities then these I will truely agrée with thée herein but the occasions of them and of these are diuers My hope placed in my owne vallour made that séeme lyght vnto me which now béeing put in an other his will wil be to heauy for mee to supporte Who did euer denie me when burning desire had beyond all measure kindled my brest and surcharged it with furious passions that being enamored of thée as thou wert also of me I might not enioy thée Truely no bodie Which comfort when thou art so farre sequestred from me will not so easelie fall to my lotte Besides this I enioyed no more then but the sight of thy swéete face and goodlie personage and knewe thée no more but by the outward figure lineaments and proportion of thy body although in my hart I made great account and prise of thée but nowe haue by good proofe perceiued and felt in déede that as thou art nowe to be estéemed a great deale déerer of me then the reache of my imagination could then extend vnto euen so art thou now become mine own with that assured surenes those indissoluble bōds with which true loouers may possibly be held and vnited to those that looue them againe It is a greater greefe to leese a certaintie for an vncertaintie And who dooth not doubt moreouer that it is a greater gréefe to loose that which one hath in holde then that which he hopeth to haue although his hope therein bee not afterwardes frustrate Wherefore considering this matter well I plainely sée my death will soone approch Shall therefore the looue of thy olde father be preferred before that great affection which thou oughtest to haue of me be the ominous occasiō of my vntime lie death And if thou doost so thou art certes no loouer but an open enemie Ah wilt thou make more account of those few yéeres reserued for the miseries of thy olde father then of these many which by great reason and likelihood I haue liuing ioyfully with thée to spende Alas what indiscréete folly were this Doost thou beléeue that any one conioyned to thée in parentage néerest in blood or most
thou wilt not do then tender thy owne safety doo the duety which thou owest to thy owne selfe herein Lett these lowring and doubtfull times passe on and stay for calmer winde and weather to trauell at thine ease and wyth lesse daunger And my selfe in the meane while accustomed by little litle and enured to pensiue sorrowful thoughts will with more patience attend thy ioyfull return To these words he deferred not his aunswere but saide The tormenting paines and variety of painfull cares in the which Oh déerest Mistresse against my will content an pleasure I leaue thée and those which vnfainedly I carry with mee in mine owne breast let the comfortable hope of my spéedie returne asswage and mittigate Nor is it pardon me sweete Ladie a point of wisedome to busie thy thoughts about that death I meane which may as well preuent mée héere as surprise in another place when my destynies must néedes yéeld to their time and to her stroke Nor to coniecture and prognosticate of those accidēts possible perhaps to annoy me as more likely to be prosperous vnto me Where and when soeuer the wrathe of the Gods or their fauour doth light vppon one euen there and then without vaine resistance must he be content to suffer good or yll Referre therefore al these things to their disposition with neuer thinking or once looking after them who knowing our necessities can prouide better for vs then we our selues desiring thée to apply thy mind rather and imploy thy whole cogitations in humble supplications and requests to them the gracious Goddes I meane that they may haue a prosperous and happy euent But that I euer become Louer to any woman then to thee Fiammetta to whose loyall and euerlasting seruice I religiouslye dedicate my hart with oath bind my selfe Great loue himselfe yea though I woulde my selfe wyth all hys might can neuer bring to passe for with so strong and sure a chaine Loue hath lincked my hart to thine swéete affection hath made my soule subiect to thy signorie and déepe desyre hath bounde mee for euer to thy dispositions And assure thy selfe of this besides That the earth shall firste bring foorth glittering Stars and the heauen plowed wyth Oxen shal bring forth ripe corne before Panphilus shall or will in any thing transgresse the lawes of thy péerelesse loue or entertaine any other woman into the closett of his constant hart The delay of my departure into my Countrey which thou dost request of me if I knew it could any waies auaile thée or be profitable vnto me I woulde more willingly performe then thou doost require But since the daily differing of it is an howrely augmentation of our sorrowes and in departing nowe I should returne againe before the time of my long tariance héere shoulde bee according perhappes to thy mind fully finished I thinke it therefore a great deale better to hasten my iourney Which space of time thou dost also craue to learne as thou saist supposed sorrowes wherin thou doost simply deceiue thy selfe considering that in thys meane time thou shouldest haue my selfe not béeing heere that selfe same gréefe so forcible and extreame which at my departure indéede and in my vnfained absence thou woldest conceiue And as for the foulenes of the weather I will vse as other times I haue béene accustomed to doo a good and wholesome remedy which I would the Gods granted that I had nowe occasion to practise returning frō thence again as in departing from hence I know to worke well enough And therefore with a chéerefull and strong mind my louing Fiammetta dispose thy selfe to this which when thou must doo thou mayst better passe away in dooing it on a suddain then with successiue feare and lingering sorrow expect euery houre when to begin it My teares at the ende of his perswasion somewhat relented attending some other aunswere and hearing this sorowfull discourse did redouble their falling drops The maner of those that loue Wherefore laying my heauy head vppon hys breast I stayed a good whyle without speaking any more vnto him and reuoluing many things in my mind I could not assent to hys consolatorie perswasions nor dissent from his alledged assertions For alas who woulde haue aunswered otherwise to his words but thus Doo that which pleaseth thée best and come quickly againe Truely I beléeue none But not wythout great gréefe and effusion of many teares after a long while I gaue him that aunswere telling him moreouer that vndoubtedly it shoulde be a great wonder to finde mee aliue at his return After I had spoken these words one comforting vp the other we wyped and dryed vppe each others teares and for that night did deferre them till some other time And he kéeping his olde custome came to sée mee manie times which were but a fewe daies alas before his departure much chaunged in habite and more as it séemed altered in minde from that since first he sawe me But that wofull night ah that black and thrise cruell night being come which was the beginning of all my annoyes and the last conclusion of all my ioyes with diuerse and sundrye discourses but not without great anguish of mind gréeuous wailings and Seas of teares and of sorrowfull sobs sighes on bothe sides we passed soone away Which although for that time of the yéere was very long yet to mee it séemed the shortest night in all my life time The description of the day And now the open day the menacing enemie and deuider of Louers began to ouercome the light of the stars the signe of which comming on very faste after it appeared to my eyes embracing him most straightly I sayd thus O the swéetest Lorde of my life what cruell one is hee that dooth take thée from me What angry God is that which with so great force doth wreack his ire on mee that while I liue it may be sayde Panphilus is not there where hys Fiammetta is Woe is me therefore poore soule that knowing not whether thou goest now shal liue desolate and destitute of thy company When will that happy time come when once againe I shall betwéene my stretched armes enfolde this louely and swéete body Alas I feare me neuer And as I knowe not so am I not able to expresse that which my miserable hart diuining went vppe and downe saying and lamenting in this sorrowfull sorte But often times recomforted of him againe I kissed him infinit times And after many louing embracements both of vs very loth to ryse yet at the last the encroching light of the newe day compelling vs vnwillingly wee didde forsake the receptacle and secrete testimonie of our delights And hee preparing nowe to giue me his last kysses and farewels wyth plentious teares I first beganne to vtter these words Behold my onely loue thou goest and in short time doost promise thy returne Wherefore assure mee thy fayth héereof if so it please thée so that expecting the same not
the hurtefull and vnseasonable weather might haue béene an occasion of sicknesse or of some worse mischaunce that might haue hindered his deseignes and so hurt my desires And in this dolefull imagination I remember my minde was longer busied then in any other although that I did often times argue by the induction of his vnfayned teares which I did sée trickle downe his chéekes and of my painefull troubles which neuer chaunged my firmenesse that it could not bee a true conclusion that for so little gréefe so great loue should be extinct hoping also that his young age mastred with singuler discretion and wisedome would defend and kéepe him from any other hurtfull accident Thus therfore in opposing answering dissoluing my owne obiections I spent so many daies that I dyd not onely thinke that he was now arriued in his countrie but I was also certified thereof by his letters which for many causes were most welcome and acceptable vnto me in the which he certified me that with greater flames of affection he burned more in my looue then euer he did and with stronger promises did reuiue my hope of his returne Wherefore my first thoughtes being gonne from this howre foreward new fancies did quicklie arise in their places For sometimes I sayd Now my Panphilus the onely belooued sonne of his olde father who many yéeres before had not séene him receiued of him with great ioye They that looue are alwaies in suspition feasted of all his kinsfolkes and déerely entertayned of all his fréendes dooth not onely forget me but dooth I thinke accurse the monethes daies and howers in the which with diuers occasions heretofore my looue hath stayed him here And honourablie welcomed of all his compeers and with ioyfull congratulation of all Ladyes and Gentlewomen dooth blame mee perhappes who knew not how to féede his dainty fancies in anie thing else then in simple vnfolding my secréete looue and the straung effects of my new affections vnto him when he was here And mindes full of mirth and iollitie are apte to be drawen from one place and to be bound to another according to the mutabilitie of their pleased and displeased fancies But alas may it now be that I should léese him in this sorte Truely I cannot hardly thinke it The Gods forbidde that this should come to passe graunt that as amongst my parentes and kinsfolkes and in my own natiue Citty they haue made and kept me onely his So amongst his kindred and in his natural countrie let them vouchsafe to preserue him one lie mine Alas with how many salt teares were these wordes mingled and with how many more should they haue béene if I had beléeued that that which they themselues did truely prognosticate should afterwardes haue prooued true albeit that those which then came not foorth I haue afterwards in trebble folde spent all in vaine Besides such spéeches my mind diuining often times of her woes to come surprised I know not with what feare did greatly tremble and quake which feare was most cōmonly resolued into these stinging thoughtes and wordes Panphilus abidinge now ioyfully in his Cittye full of most famous and excellēt temples and by reason of most solemne and high feastes with excéeding pompe and glory celebrated there dooth with great pleasure visite them where he cannot chuse but finde many fayre and noble women which as in surpassing beautie gallant behauiour and good graces they excell all others so most of them being skilfull practicioners in theyr entising arte with subtile snares and amorous allectiues are passing cunning to entrappe young and gentle mindes thereby to drawe them to theyr liking and so to lure them to their looue Alas who can then be so strong a gardien of himselfe where so many motiues doo concurre but must mauger his bearde at sometime or other by plaine force be ouertaken as I my selfe not many monthes sithence by like powers also assailed may be an approoued and haplesse president of such straung and strong vertues which in my simple breast preuailed And besides this new thinges are wont to delight more then olde It is therefore but an easie matter that he being newly ariued and a straunger may please them and they him againe Alas how gréeuous was this imagination to me the which that it shoulde not come to passe I coulde scarce driue out of my minde saying thus Howe may Panphilus who loueth thée more then himselfe receiue into that hart enclosed in thine any other newe loue Why dost not thou know that there is héere perhaps some braue Lady well worthy of hys loue who with greater force then with that of her eies hath oft assaide and endeuoured to enter into his hart but coulde not find any way wherby he béeing yet scarce thine as now he is so many more Goddesses also of beautie passing vppe and downe in this Cittie and yet not anie one of them able to mooue his minde Howe canst thou then thinke that hee may bée so soone enamoured as thou sayst And besides this doost thou beléeue that he would violate that troth which so religiouslie he auowed vnto thée for any other faith It may neuer be and therfore thou must trust to his fidelity and relie vppon his good discretion With great reason thou oughtest to think that he is not so meanelie wise but that he knoweth well enough that it is but méere folly to leaue that which alreadie he hath to gette that which he hath not yea if that which he would forsake were but a smal thing and of great deale lesse account in respect of that which hee séeketh to attaine béeing of greater estimation and value And of this also thou must haue an infallible hope that this cannot so easily come to passe because if the great fame and generall report of thy beauty be true which thy selfe hast often hearde thou mayest placed amongst the number of the brauest Ladies in his Countrey and to the fairest of them all paragoned be prised aboue the best which hath not in it anie one richer brauer or more nobly borne then thy selfe And besides this whom can he finde amongst all the Gentlewomē in his Citty that would nay that coulde loue him so déerely as thou doost Againe hee is not ignoraunt as one expert in amorous affaires how hard a labour and intricate a matter it is so to dispose and worke with any woman to make her like at the first or at the first assaults to make her yéeld to loue And although he did not loue thée at all yet béeing troubled about many affaires of his Father and occupied with his proper busines he could not nowe bee at vacant leysure to acquaint himselfe with other newe women Wherefore let not thys onely fall into thy thought but hold it for an infallible Maxime that as much as thou louest so much thou art beloued againe Alas how falsly sophistically were these argumēts coyned against the truth But with all my disputing I could
sufficientlie knowen to thy hearer Ingratiude Nor let it passe thy minde nor escape thy mouth to recken vppe how many worthie valiaunt and noble young Gentlemen haue attempted manie times to get my looue and the diuers meanes which continually they practised for the least hope of it as theyr glorious and dailie musteringes before my windowes in goodly troopes in the day time their ielous contentions by night and their diuine prowesse shewed in feates of armes and yet could neuer vnwind me from the laborinth of thy enchaunted looue And forget not to tell that notwithstanding all this for a woman scarcelie knowen thou hast of mee made a sodaine and dishonourable exchaunge Who if she be not perhappes so simple as my selfe will with great suspect receiue thy dissembling kisses and will warely defend her selfe from thy deceitfull dealinges from which alas I had neuer the power to kéepe my selfe and whom I wishe may by such an one to thée as Atreus his Philomena was to him or as the daughters of Danaus to theyr newe husbandes or as Clitemnestra to Agamemnon or at the least as my selfe thy iniquitie being the occasion thereof haue liued with my déere husbande most vnworthie of all these iniuries And that she may bring thée to such extreame misery which nowe for verye pittie of my selfe I doo woefully bewaile that it may force mée against my will to power out aboundaunt teares for thée All which thinges I pray the Goddes if that with any pittie they beholde miserable creatures may quickly fall and light vpon thée Although that I was greatlie troubled with this intollerable gréefe and not that daie onely but many more after notwithstanding the alteration that I perceyued in the foresaide Gentlewoman dyd stinge mee cruellie on the other syde the which drewe on my minde sometimes to so ruthfull and ielious thoughtes as I was not other times accustomed to imagine And therfore said with my selfe Alas wherfore doo I sorrowe Panphilus for thy long absence and that thou art combined to a newe wife knowinge that if thou werte héere present thou shouldest bée myne neuer the more but an others O most wicked man into how many partes was thy looue discected and howe fitte dooth the etimologie of thy name and calling agrée with thy nature and condition since being Panphilus thou art a fréende to all To her with whome thou liuest there to this who liues without thée here to mée who liues and dies for thée so that to her to this to mée and yet perhappes to none at all And so false wretche by these meanes thou wert in league with manie when I thought though thou diddest defie all women besydes mée And so it came to passe that thinking to vse my owne goods I was to bolde in vsurping that which belonged to others And who can tell thys béeing nowe knowen if anie of these more worthie of fauour at the Goddes handes then my selfe obtesting them for the iniurie receyued by mee and crauing reuenge for the harmes that I haue doone them haue impetrated so much grace to make mée féele these vnacquainted woes and vndeserued gréefes of minde But whosoeuer she bee if any there bee let her forgiue mée because I haue ignorauntly offended And my simple ignoraunce dooth deserue some fauourable pardon But with what fine arte didst thou faine these things with what a vyle conscience didst thou practise thē by what kinde of looue or of what tendernesse of mynde wert thou drawen to this I haue hearde it more then once sayde that none can loue no more but one at one selfe same time None can looue at one and self same time more then one at once But this rule tooke exception in thée For thou diddest looue many or else didest carie a shewe thereof to much by one Ah carelesse wretche diddest thou giue to all or to this one which could not so well nor so craftylie conceale that which thou diddest so maliciouslye hide from me that fayth those teares those signes and promises which thou diddest so prodigally bestowe on mée If thou diddest this thou mayest then securelie liue and at thy libertie looue all and yet not bound to anie woman Because that which is distinctlie giuen to manie cannot bée properlie sayd giuen to one Alas how may it then otherwise bee but that hée who robbeth so many simple women of their yéelding hartes must néedes be despoyled of his by some woman againe Why Narcissus was enamored of himselfe Narcissus belooued of manie and being most rigorous to all was at the last ouertaken with the shadowe of his owne beautie Atalanta most swifte and pittilesse in her race lefte her miserable loouers behinde combatting betwéene looue life and death vntill Hippomenes with a braue and maistered deceit ouer ranne and ouer came her she consenting also willinglie to the same But why doo I alledge olde examples My selfe who could neuer be taken of any one was at last ah mée therefore vnfortunately surprised by thée Hast not thou therefore amongest so many of thy spoile foūd out some braue one who hath entangled thee I doo not thinke but doo assuredlie beleeue that thou wert once subdued by hym who maie tame thée and subiect to her who had but little cause to bee prowde of her captiue But if thou wert whatsoeuer shée was that with so great force dyd conquer thy subtile heart why doost thou not aply thy looue onely to her lykinges But if neyther to her nor to me thou hast desire to retourne at least come backe againe to this who could not couer thy secrete and false looue nor conceale her owne fond passions And if thou wilt néeds haue my fates and fortune so contrarie to me which perhaps according to thy erronious oppinion I haue deserued let not my offences preiudicate the right of other women Returne againe to them at the least and kéepe thy fayth first perhaps promised to them and then to mée and to hurt me onely offende not so many as I beléeue thou hast left héere and else where in vaine and fonde hope And let not one preuayle more there then many héere She is alreadie thine nor cannot although she would but be still thine Leauing her therefore in safetie and with infallible assuraunce of thy looue come because those which are not able to be made thine but with thy presence thou mayest with the same kéepe them also thine After many of these vaine spéeches because they did neither smite into the eares of the Gods nor sound in those of that obdurate and vngratefull young man it came to passe sometimes that sodainely I changed my councelles into these spéeches saying O miserable young woman wherfore doost thou desire that Panphilus should come hether againe Doost thou thinke with greater patience to suffer that consuming corsiue néere thée which being so farre of is most gréeuous to thy thoughtes Thou desirest sond woman thy owne harme And if now thou remainest in peraduēture that he
with them I began to sitte mee downe incontinentlie againe entring still into newe and fantasticall imaginations Euery thīge refresheth the memory of the Louer of his sorpassed and happy life It came then to my minde howe solemne and glorious that feast was which like vnto this was once made in honor of my nuptiall ioy in the which béeing then but a simple soule in franticke loue matters and frée from melancholye passions as abounding in all ioy I sawe in my selfe wyth woorthy congratulations of euery one honourablye saluted and nobly entreated And cōparing those times with these and séeing them beyond all proportion altered I was wyth great desire if oportunitie of time and place had graunted prouoked to wéepe This swyft and suddaine thought didde runne also in my minde when I sawe the yong Gentlemen and Gentlewomen to reioyce equally together and to bee merry alike courting and deuising one with another sometimes with many pleasant and swéete discourses and sometimes with many singuler and prettie deuises fitte for such purposes howe that once I behelde my Panphilus in lyke places and howe in his company he and I all alone had passed the time there together and could not nowe doo the like And it gréeued me no lesse to sée my selfe depryued of the occasion of making such kind of ioy and enioying such content then I was sorrowfull for the pleasure which I loste by the not performance of the same But from thence applying my eares to amorous delights songs and sundry tunes and remembring those with my self that were passed I sighed and meruailous desirous to sée the ende of such tedious feastes béeing malecontent in the meane time and sorrowfull wyth my selfe I passed them away Notwithstanding beholding euery thing exactly the companies of yong Gentlemen béeing flocked about the Gentlewomen and Ladies that nowe were sette downe to rest them and retyred into diuers places to gaze on them I did perceiue well that many of them or almost all did sometimes ayme theyr beames at me and did talke secretly amongst themselues of diuers things touching my beautie brauery and behauiour but not so softlie but that by manifest hearing of my owne part or by imagination or hearesay of some others no smal part of their spéeches came to mine eares Some of them said one to another Diuers opinions and speeches of menne Alas behold that yong Gentlewoman who had not her paragon for beautie in our Cittie and sée nowe what an one she is become Dooest not thou sée how strangely she is altered and how appalled her once faire face is growne my selfe béeing as ignorant of the cause as amazed to sée the effects And hauing thus said looking on me with a most pittifull and milde eye as they who were greatly condolent of my gréefes going away left mee full of compassion and more pittious towards my selfe then I was wont to be Others didde enquire of one another amongst themselues saying Alas hath this Gentlewoman béene sicke And afterwards did answere themselues again saying It séemeth so because she is wexed so leane and pale Wherefore it is great pittie especiallye thinking of her former beautie that is nowe vaded quite away But there were some of a déeper reache then the reste whose true surmises greeued me very much after many gesses and spéeches amongst themselues saying The palenes of this yong Ladie is a manifest token of an enamored hart For what kind of infirmitie doth bring a Louer to a lower estate of bodie then the vnruly passions of feruent and hote affection She is vndoubtedly in loue And if it be so hée is too cruell and inhumaine that is the cause of such vnwoorthye consequences gréefe and cares I meane that make her looke with so pale and thinne chéekes When I had hearde these nipping wordes that rubbed vppe my festered wounde I coulde not with-holde my sighes perceiuing that others were more ready to pittie my miseries then he to preuent these mishaps who by greatest reason and most of all shoulde haue hadde compassion in his thanklesse harte And after I had fetcht manie déepe sighes with an humble and lowe voice I earnestlye besoughte the Gods that in lue of their kindnes towardes me they might haue better successe in their Loues And I remember again that the value of my honour and honestie was not small amongst some of them who in talking together did fauourably séeme to excuse the foresaide true surmises saying The Gods forbid that we should hatch such a thought in our minds to say that fonde Loue shoulde molest this wise modest yong Ladie or that blind affection could trouble her minde at all For she as she is endued with as great honestye as any other so was shee as it euer séemed neuer addicted to such vanities as many of her coequalles and hath not shewed at any time so much as a semblance of wanton boldnesse but continually arguments of wise and modest behauiour Nor amongst the diuers communications and companies of curious and inquisite Louers there could be neuer heard any spéech of her Loue Loue is a passion not supported any long time not once immagined amongst them which is so furious and forcible a passion that it will not bée anie long time concealed but will like restrained flames violently burst out vnawares Alas sayd I then to my selfe howe farre doo they roame from the truth not déeming me to be in loue because as it is the manner of fooles I make not my loue publicke to the view of euery one and preache it not openly abroade to bee secretely tossed from mouth to mouth as others vainly glorying in theirs are commonly wont to doo There came also sometimes oppositely before mee many yonge and noble Gentlemen proper men of personage of swéete and amiable countenaunces in euery thing gracious couragious and curteous and the chiefest flowers of our Cittie who often times before by many cunning meanes and drifts hadde to their vtmost of their power attempted and laboured to haue drawne but the deuotions of my eyes to the desires of theyr harts Who after that a certaine while they had séene mée so much deformed and altered from that I was wont to bée not wel pleased perhaps that I did not at the first frame my affections to their fancies disdayned now to looke at me and forsooke me saying The braue beautie of this Lady is gone and turned to a bleacke hew and the glory of her enflaming desires is nowe extincte Wherefore shall I hyde that from you fayre Ladies which dooth not onely gréeue mee to rehearse but generally all Women to heare I say therefore that although it was the greatest gréefe in the world to think that my Panphilus was not present for whose sake my then excellent beauty was most déere vnto me yet in such vpbraiding sort to heare that I had lost it it was no lesse then present death to my soule And besides all these things I remēber that béeing
sometimes inuited to such feastes I haue béene drawne perforce into the company of many pleasaunt Ladies diuersly discoursing amongst themselues of amorous conceits where with willing eare harkning what issue infinite Louers haue had in theyr hote passages I easily perceiued that there was neuer any of thē tormented wyth so feruent passions as I am nor their loue besette wyth so many miseryes nor contriued with such secrecy as mine was Although that of more happy fortunate Louers and of lesse honourable loues also the number is greater In this sort therefore sometimes eying and sometimes gyuing eare to that which was doone and spoken in these places like a pensiue and sadde Woman I passed away the weary time After that the Ladies and Gentlewomen had rested themselues a prettie while it happened that many braue yonge Gentlemen rysing vppe and amongst other Gentlewomen inuited me oftentimes to daunce but as often in vain went from me againe Who remaining neuerthelesse in theyr disports with mindes frée from heauy thoughtes and high intentions some mooued with desire to shew perhappes theyr greatest cunning and others pricked on thereunto by spurs of hote and burning loue but all very curious in the same my selfe sitting by my selfe alone with a scornefull minde and coy lookes didde marke the newe fashioned trickes the gesture and behauiour of many Gentlewomen there And certes I blamed some in my minde although I greatly desired if it might haue béene to doo as they did if my Panphilus had béen present there Who as oftentimes as his déere remembraunce came to my dolefull minde so often was it sufficient matter and the onely occasion of my new melancholie and fresh sorrowes and who dooth not as the Gods know deserue the great loue which continually I haue borne and yet doo still beare him But after that wyth no small griefe I had a great while beheld these daunces which with the suddaine sursaults of other gréeuous thoughtes séeming vnpleasaunt and tedious vnto mee vrged as it were with some other busines I rose vppe moste willingly from my place and to burst a sunder my heaped and swelling sorrowes whose open and suddaine discouery I greatly feared I gotte my selfe smoothly away into a sollitary secret place Greefe is reclaymed by lamentation and there giuing full scope and leaue to my flowing teares I acquited my foolish eyes for all the vanities that they had séene with an austere and due guerdō which were not distrayned from thē without many bitter wordes kindled with burning anger but knowing also my miserable fortune to be so cruell towards me I remember that somtimes I began thus to inueye against her saying The properties of Fortune O fearefull Fortune mortall ennemie to euery happye creature and onely hope of miserable menne Thou the suddaine chaunger of kingdoms and of mundane thinges doost as a helper with one hand lift vppe and as a destroyer wyth the selfe same throwe downe againe as thy indiscréete iudgment doth direct thy inconstant will not content to be wholy any ones exalting him aloft in one thing or els in an other casting him vtterly down or after that thou hast made him happy by any lent felicitie dost heape vpon his mynde new and vncouth cares because that worldly menne liuing in continuall want and néede may according to their vaine opinion their endlesse pride implore thy helpe and adore thy deity Yet art thou still blinde and deafe disdayning to behold the manifest miseries and refusing to lysten to the complaintes of miserable creatures triumphing onely with those whome thou hast vnworthely perhaps exalted Who embracing thy fréendly fauours and honouring thée with al theyr deuotions whilest with a smiling looke and flattering promise thou art entertaining them euen on a sodaine with some vnexpected accident or other finde themselues vtterly throwen downe by thée and then though to late doo miserablie perceiue how thou hast changed thy serene smiles into froward frownes Amongst the number of which my selfe wretched woman may be put who not knowing of my owne parte any mallice wrought against thée and ignoraunt of any heynous offence and indignitie whatsoeuer perpetrated by me against thée that might reduce thée to so seuere a reuenge am most vnworthely and pittifully punished Alas whosoeuer reposeth trust in great and mightie thinges and like a puissant Prince ruleth in high and stately pallaces applying alwaies his quiet and credulous mind to ioyfull and pleasaunt obiectes Let him cast his eyes vpon me and beholde howe from a high and renowmed Lady of felicity I am nowe become a most low and wretched handmaide of fortune and which is worse then this how cruelly I am reiected and disdained of the onely lord and maister of my subiected heart Ah Fortune thou diddest neuer giue any more effectuall example of thy vnconstant mutabilitie then my selfe if that with a perfect and sound minde my first latter condition of life be wel considered I was receiued of thée fickle fortune of thée false Fortune was I receiued into this world in abundant quantitie of goods if nobilitie riches honors dignitie be any parte of them which were moreouer by thy bountifull and large handes which thou diddest neuer yet withdrawe from them daylie and copiously augmented So that in sooth like a mightie Ladie I dyd continually possesse them as mutable thinges vse them and beyonde the common course of womens couetous nature did liberally imparte them to others But being ignoraunt Fortune that thou wert also the same which with vnequall passions and carefull thoughtes dyddest surcharge the minde and not knowing that thou haddest also a great portion in looue hys Signories I fell in looue as thou wouldest and with that young Gentleman whome thou onely and none else diddest then present béefore my wretched eyes when I thought my selfe farthest from any such daunger Whome after that with strong and intricate knottes thou dyddest perceiue that he was bound in the Circle of my heart thou hast vnstable and chaunging often times sought to worke my harme and wreake thy vndeserued iniuries vppon mée sometimes disturbing our linked myndes with vayne and deceytfull imaginations yea and sometimes our eyes with pittifull and publick glaunces because our looue made manifest might bée hurtfull vnto vs. And I am certayne that many times thou hast beene euen as thou wouldest thy selfe the onely cause that many displeasaunt and discrepaunt wordes of my belooued young Gentleman haue come to my eares and hast with myne of lyke consequence filled his againe able enough being credited to haue engendred hatred and discorde and to haue hazarded a sodaine mislike but their issue and thy driftes were neuer aunswerable to thy determinations Because admitte thou doost as a Goddesse gouerne all exteriour thinges as it pleaseth these the vertues of thy minde are neuer the more subiect to thy might That which fortune cānot bring to passe by right she dooth by worng Our wisedome hath continually gonne beyond thy wilinesse in
more magnificent copious then any that had béene made in floorishing Rome of yore And the Theators resounding with swéete songes and melodious soundes did enuite euerie loouer to them The Heroicall young gentlemen sometimes mounted vpon stately coursers and prowde Gennets did runne at Tylte and Iust in rich and compleate Harnis and sometimes their pampred and headstrong Horses trapped all ouer with a caparison of little siluer and golden bels dyd hotly fight at Tourney And sometimes prowdly prancing vp and downe on them with skilfull hand did showe howe these foming fierie stéedes with frothie bytte should be managed and ridden The young and wanton Ladyes with decked troopes of beautifull Gentlewomen following them desiring also to sée these sportes wearing fyne garlandes of newe flowers about their heades dyd lende sweete and gratious aspectes to their gazing loouers sometimes out of highe windowes and sometimes from beneath their doores Of which some with newe giftes others with a merry countenaunce and some with swéete wordes but generally all with some fauour or other did fréendly honour theyr loouers and kindle greater flames in them But I like a straunger and forlorne woman sitting by my selfe in a sollitarie place all alone and comfortlesse for the decayed hope of my ioyfull times did not a little sorow with my self but lament greatly and mourne Nothing pleaseth my melancolyque fancyes no feaste could make my heart merry nor afforde any comfort to my gréeuous thoughts or ease my playntes My handes touched no gréene leaues caryed no swéete flowers in them and cared as little to handle any ioyfull thing as my sorrowfull eyes to beholde them And I became so péeuishe an emulatresse that I enuied at others myrth and with great desire dyd iniuriously wishe that euery woman might be so intreated with looue and serued with such sawce of Fortune as I was For with what a willing eare and with what great consolation doo I remember that many times I haue heard the recounted miseries and miserable mishappes that in times past and lately haue befallen to vnfortunate loouers But while the angrie Goddes helde me in this cursed condition of lyfe Fortune to afflicted the more often times showes a mery countenaunce deceitfull fortune with greater woes to afflict miserable menne chaunging as it were in the middest of theyr aduersities sheweth them sometimes a pleasant looke because abandoning themselues and trusting more to her fawnyng smiles they may fall into greater myseries when theyr momentary myrth beginneth once and on a sodaine to cease And so these ignoraunt fooles relying wholy vpon her at last perceyue themselues throwen headlong down as miserable Icarus in the middest of his flyght trusting to much to hys waxed winges and mounted vp to the hyghest skies fell from thence into the sea called yet after hys own name This frowning fortune I say perceiuing me amongest such séely soules not to be content with these passed euilles that she had giuen me preparing worser for me with a false and dissembled ioye beganne to smile vpon me and to mollifie somewhat her pawsed anger Because recoyling a good way backe she might no other wise then the hotte rammes of Affrica in rutting time to giue a greater dubbe assayle and hurte me the more And in this sorte with a certaine vayne gladnesse I made truce for a season with my sharpe and still sorrowes But my faythlesse loouer hauing now taryed a great many monthes more then those fower promised past and vnperformed Loouers are sometimes comforted with one ioy It fell out that sitting on a certaine day all alone in my sorrowfull chamber though wearied with the ouer-cloying companie of dolefull thoughts and accustomed lamentacions the olde and féeble Nurce with a more hastie pace then her aged limmes could well endure came rushing in her furowed face all bewette with trickling sweate and setting her selfe downe by me her breast panting vppe and downe and her eies expressing a certaine kinde of ioyfulnes in them she beganne many times to speake but the precedent faintnesse of her wearyed pulmon did euer breake of her wordes in the middest To whom with a minde full of suspicious woonder and fearefull doubt I sayd O déere Nurce what meaneth this great labour and paines that thou hast taken thus tyred thy selfe with What thing doost thou so earnestly desire to tell and with such hast that first thou wylt not suffer thy breathlesse spirittes to rest them What are they ioyfull or vnluckie tidinges Shall I prepare my selfe to flye to dye or what shall I doo Thy countenaunce I knowe not how nor wherefore dooth some what renue my drooping hope but my affayres hanging a long time in contrarie suspence perswade mee to suspecte more cruell mishappes which are of common course and custome incident to miserable creatures Tell me therfore quickly and hold me no longer in doubt resolue mee what the ocasion of this thy hast may importe Tell me whether any happy God or haggishe furie hath driuen thée hether Then the olde woman hauing yet scarce recouered her winde interrupting my wordes and more ioyfull then before sayd O swéete daughter reioyce there is no cause of feare in my tidinges Shake of all gréefe and inuest thy mourning minde againe with thy shining robe of mirth thy belooued and loouing loouer is returned And Panphilus Fiammetta is at hand These angelicall wordes entred so déepe into my amazed minde and filled it with such sodaine ioy as my eyes dyd presently showe an euident testimony of the same but my persuing gréefe and haunting miseries did incontinently bereaue me of it and made me giue no credite to them Wherfore lamenting I sayd O my déere Nource by those thy manie yéeres and by the aged body which long since hath desired eternall repose I pray thée not to mocke me a most miserable and distressed soule of whose cares and gréefes thou oughtest also to be partaker Impossible thinges For first will the cléere riuers I thinke returne to theyr first fountaines and Hesperus will bring cléere day First will Phebae with her brothers beames giue light to the darke night before my vngratefull loouer will returne Who dooth not know alas that disporting him selfe with his new mistresse he is lulled a sléepe in the secure cradle of all delightes enioying his mery times and loouing her more then euer he dyd me And thinke more ouer Fiammeta that wheresoeuer he were now he woulde returne to her againe and therefore not likely to come from her whom he looueth so etreamely to me whome he infinitly hateth But presently she added O Fiammetta as the gods shall receiue the parting soule of this withered and olde bodie thy carefull Nurce dooth not lie in one word she hath told thée Nor dooth it become one of my age with such or like tales to mocke distressed women and thée especially to whō I owe all the duetie and looue I may Then I replyed and sayd How came these blessed newes to thy eares
otherwise doo in this sorte as you shall heare I passed away my melancholie times I say therefore that martired with these continuall anguishes and considering well of others who haue not béene exempted from the lyke the painefull looues of Inacus his daughter who being first a tender and delicate damsell and passing loouely and beautifull did séeme liuely to represent me came to my minde and afterwards her great good happe and happy felicitie in that she was not meanely belooued of mightie Ioue Which thing doubtlesse cold not be of her onely but of euery womā also accompted a great glory and praise Afterwardes considering howe shee was metamorphised into a Cowe and how by the seuere commaunde of iealious Iuno she was kept of vigilant Argus I did iudge her to be beyond all measure tormēted with great anxieties and gréefe of mind And certes I am of opinion that her gréefs did greatly excéede mine if that for her company comfort she had not had sometimes the assistance of her loouing God And who dooth doubt if I had the swéete company of my loouer who might any time haue helped me in these ruthfull passions or that he had but sometimes taken any little pittie of me that any woes whatsoeuer coulde haue annoyed me so as they haue continually doone Bedes this her ende made her passed and approoued sorrowes very light Because Argus being killed by her loouers messenger and she transported lightly with her heauie body into Egipt and returned there to her owne shape againe and maryed to Ostiris she sawe her selfe at last installed in the Emperiall diademe and like a happy Quéene to sway the regal scepter of Egipt If I could but thinke or hope though in my olde age to sée my Panphilus once againe I would say that my gréefes were not to be compared with the sorrowes of this Lady But the Gods onely knowe if this good fortune shall euer happē to me or no howsoeuer with false hope in the meane time I delude and flatter my selfe The greater part of these fables are in Ouide Next to her the vnfortunate looue of Biblis is represented vnto my thoughts whom me thinke I sée forsake all her wealth ioy and pleasure to followe vnflexible Caunus And with these I bethinke my selfe also of wicked Mirrha who after the detested fruition of her odious looues flying from her angry Father who pursued her with menaces of iust death plunged also into that misery I behold also dolorus Canace who after the miserable byrth of her incestious conceptiō looked for nothing lesse but death And thinking well with my selfe of their seuerall sorrowes I dyd doubtlesse estéeme them to be extreame although their looues were but filthy and abhominable lustes But if I am not deceiued I sée them all ended or else in shorte space to be terminated Because Mirrha flying away hauing the Goddes pittifull of her paines and aunswerable to her desires was with delay transformed into a trée of her owne name And shee neuer after although it dooth continually destill Amber teares as shee dyd at the very instant when her forme was changed felte any of her former paynes and playntes And as the occasion of her sorrowes dyd aryse so the cause of theyr pryuation was not also wanting Biblis likewise as some say without any longer delay ended her dolefull daies with a cruell halter admitte that others holde that by great fauour of the Nimphes who did commisserate her harde destinies she was turned into a fountaine of her owne name till this day yet kéeping the same And this befell to her when she knew that Caumus denied her her desires and scornefully reiected her companie and with frowning browes reprooued her wicked sutes What shal I say in shewing my owne paines greater alas then those that molested Biblis more gréeuous then those that Mirrha had but that the breuiety of them hath had no small aduantage ouer the length of mine Those therefore well considered the pittifull looues of haplesse Pyramus and Thisbe were next obiected to my remembraunce of whome I cannot but take great compassion imagining them both to be young and with great trouble many sorowes to haue burned in each others looue and labouring with mutuall presence to haue reaped the fruite of theyr feruent desires which with vntimely death and in shorte time were equallie dissolued O what a pittifull thing is it to thinke what gréefe pearced poore Pyramus his hart when in the silent time of night finding his déere Thisbes robes bloody and torne of the wild beast at the foote of the Mulbery trée néere vnto the foūtaine and appointed méeting place by these dismall vnexpected tokens he surely thought that she was deuoured The sheathing certes of his own sword in his inpatiēt breast did shew it manifestly enough Afterwards discoursing in my minde the wounding thoughtes of miserable Thisbe beholding her loouer wallowing in his owne goare and pāting yet with declining life I thinke them to be so gréeuous and imagine her teares also to be such burning droppes that I can hardlie beléeue that there were euer any myne owne excepted that dyd torment and scalde more then hyrs Wherefore these two as it is now sayd in the very beginning of theyr gréefes and looues dyd ende the very same O thrise happy soules if that in the other world as in this their perfect and firme looue dooth still remaine inuiolate And so the paynes cares and infinite woes of all theyr former looue could not be equiualent with the delightes and content of their eternall company After these the gréefe of forsaken Dido entred with greater force and déeper consideration into my minde because her condition did of all others most resemble mine I imagined how she was building of Carthage and studying with great Maiesty to dictate lawes in Iunos temple to her new people And how she gaue bountifull entertainment to Aeneas a straunger vnto her by enuious tempests of the Sea weatherbeaten and cast vpon her Libian shores and how she was enamoured of his braue personage and passing vertues and at last howe she committed both her selfe and all hirs to the disposition and pleasure of that Troyan Duke Who hauing vsed her royall Pallaces at his pleasure and soaked himselfe in all manner of delices in her countrie she being euery day more and more enflamed with his looue abandoning her at last departed from thence O how much without compare did she séeme miserable in my conceite beholding her looking from her highest turrettes towards the sea couered with disankred shippes of her flying and vnpittifull loouer But I iudge her more impatient then dollorous when I thinke of her cruell death And certes at the first departure of my Panphilus I felt in my oppinion the very selfe same gréefe as she did on the sodaine endure at the sayling away of false Aeneas O that it had so pleased the Goddes that I as vnable to endure my gréefe as she was hers had
fol. 2 A presage signifying the aduerse successe of her looue fol. 3 The description of the young Gentleman whome Fiammetta did choose for her loouer fol 4 The spéeches of Fiammetta her Nurce tending to her reprehension fol. 8 Fiammetta her aunswer vnto them fol. idem Venus appearing to Fiammetta dooth with many wordes perswade her to looue fol. 11. The meanes that Panphilus obserued to manifest his looue to Fiammetta fol. 16 The end of Fiammetta her amorous desires fol. 17 The second Booke Panphilus vnfoldeth to Fiammetta the occasion constraining him to depart from her fol. 21 Fiammetta her aunswer againe wherewith she laboureth to withdrawe him from his resoulte iourney fol. 22 Panphilus dooth sweare neuer to bee any other womans then Fiammettaes fol. 25 Sundry spéeches vsed of them both the day and night before his iourney fol. 26. 27 In what plight Fiammetta remained after his departure fol 28. 29 The third booke Diuers perplexed thoughts of Fiammetta fol. 30 Fiammetta by a letter that Panphilus sent her augmenteth her hope of his returne fol. 31 The great iealousie and amorous suspicions of Fammetta fol. 32 Fiammetta counting the dayes and noting the season and course of the yéere dooth afflict her selfe fol. 34 A certaine custome and manner of them that loue fol. idem Fiammetta dooth spend the nightes in vigilles gazing on the moone and diuers other thinges continually fixing Panphilus in her thoughts fol. 35 Fiammetta dooth blame the moone accusing her of too great slownesse in her course fol. idem A short discourse of Fiammetta pertaining to Astrologie fol. idem Fiammetta hath diuers meanes to passe away the long daies and nightes with lesse annoy fol. 36 Fiammetta her imagination thinking that she is with her Panphilus fol. idem The force of a dreame fol. idem What Fiammettaes thoughtes were after the promised terme of Panphilus his returne was past fol. 39. 40 The fourth Booke Fiammetta dooth vnderstande by a certaine Marchaunt that Panphilus is maried in his owne country fol. 43 Fiammetta beléeuing the newes to bee true dooth lament and bewayle with her selfe fol. 44 Her hope of seing Panphilus againe being extinct loue desire encreasing more and more dooth blame her selfe for vsing certaine wordes in her anger against him fol. 49 Fiammetta her prayers to Venus fol. 50 The hard condition of Fiammetta fol. idem The praise and properties of sléepe inuoked of Fiammetta fol. 52 Fiammetta her husband perceiuing her continuall sorrow and demaunding the occasion of it cannot truely knowe it fol. 53 Fiammetta inuited of her husband to visite the healthfull and swéete bathes of Baia goeth thether with him but chang of ayre not applying any remedie to her amorous fier dooth augment it more fol. 53. 54 Diuers sollaces shewed Fiammetta by her husband dooth kindle a desire in her to sée Panphilus againe fol. 55 Fiammetta constrained to goe to feastes beholding her altered hewe and pale face in a glasse hath a certaine feare of her selfe fol. 57 The glée and mirth of other gentlewomen putting Fiammetta in minde of her passed ioyes redoubleth her teares fol. 58 And extraordinarie palenes in her face is a signe of an inamoured heart fol. 39 No looue so feruent nor beset with so many woes as Fiammettaes was fol. idem The exteriour heates ceasing the flames of looue are neuerthelesse augmented fol. 63 Care of the mind is a great annoyaunce fol. 64 Certaine kindes and excersings of fishing fol. idem Fiammetta her vaine hope to sée Panphilus againe fol. idē An auncient custome vsed in Fiammetta her Cittie to inuite Ladies and Gentlewomen to Lordes houses at times of theyr most sollemne feastes fol. 67 The praise of diuers young Gentlemen before whom Fiammetta preferreth her Panphilus fol. idem The manner of Iusting fol. 68 The praise of a sollitarie life and of theirs who doo inhabitte villages fol. 69 The prayse of the Golden worlde and disprayse of the present age fol. 70. 71 Fiammetta not caring to weare any more her wonted Ornamentes is of certaine Gentlewomen her companions reprooued for it fol. 72. Beautie is but a doubtfull and frayle gifte of mortall men fol. 74 Fiammetta her prayers to the Gods fol. idem The fift Booke One of Fiammetta her seruauntes returned from Panphilus his countrie dooth tell her that he is not maried but in looue with an other Gentlewoman there fol. 77 Fiammetta her lamentation fol. 77. 78 Fiammetta neuer looued any but Panphilus fol. 79 Fiammettaes husband perceiuing her to lament wéepe in her bedde and dreames dooth aske her the cause thereof and with many loouing wordes dooth comfort her againe fol. 81 Fiammetta with cruell maledictions dooth reprehend and condemne her selfe fol. 85 The Nurce with many reasons dooth studie to chéere vp Fiammetta fol. 87 A cruell and desperate inuocation of Fiammetta against her selfe and against Panphilus his new belooued mistresse fol. 86 Fiammetta dooth desire death fol. 88 Fiammetta dooth showe that the paines of hell are lesse then hers fol. 91 Fiammetta her Nurce blaming her againe dooth endeuour to comfort her fol. 90 Teares conioyned with beautie are of great force fol. 89 Fiammetta dooth meditate on diuers kinds of death to kill her selfe fol. 92 The reasons the Fia. forged for to kill her selfe fol. idem Fiammetta determined the second time to kill her selfe is intercepted of the Nurce and of her other women fol 95 Diuers Gentlewomen promise diuers remedies to Fiammetta fol. 99 The sixt Booke A description of Springtide fol. idem The misery of Fiammetta fol. 100 The Nurce dooth bring newes to Fiammetta that Panphilus is nigh at hand fol. 101 Fiammetta her prayers to Venus fol. 102 Fiammetta recomforted beléeuing that Panphilus is on his way dooth take againe her forsaken ornamentes and waxeth fayre againe fol. 103. 104 The Nurce dooth tell Fiammetta to whome shee thought was the right Panphilus was an other of the same name wherefore she dooth returne to her former woes fol. 107 The contents of the seuenth Booke Two occasions moouing Fiammetta to sustaine her amorous paines with lesse gréefe fol. 109 Fiammetta compareth her paines with the gréefes of many other infortunate loouers and findeth none equall with hers fol. 110 Io belooued of Iupiter transformed into a fayre Heyforde after many sustained and passed trauelles became at the last Quéene of Egipt fol. 109 Biblis Mirrha and Canace came to diuers sharpe and cruell endes fol. 110. This be Dido Heroe fol 110. 111 Sir Tristram Isotta Phedro Laodamia Argia and others fol. 111 Iocasta Hecuba Sophonisba and others fol. 112 Cornelia first Crassus his wife and afterwards Pompey his Spouse fol. 115 Cleopatra Quéene of Egipt fol. 116 Cyrus Craesus and others fol. 117 Theistes Tereus and Lycurgus fol. 117. 118 Atalanta mother of Parthenopaeus fol. idem Vlisses fol. 117 Hipsiphile Medea Oenone and Ariadne fol. 118 Fiammetta her spéech to her booke fol. 121 The ende of the table Il faite bon fin qui meurt pour bien aymer Il decimo l' Anno terzo d' Aprile 1587.
a hote and burning passion wherevpon the foresayde forces returning to their places againe brought with them a certaine heate which driuing all palenes quite away paynted my face like the vermillion Rose and made me burne as hote as fire And yet beholding from whence all this dydde procéede I could not but breathe out a sorrowfull sigh And from that howre forwarde my thoughtes were occupyed in nothing els but meditating of his braue personage and apparant vertues and especially in imagining howe to please him In all these intercourses without chaunging of place or countenaunce he did most priuilie steale now then a looke at me againe And peraduenture as one who hadde béene a tryed Souldiour in other amorous battailes and knowing with what Engines his wyshed praye might best be taken wyth arguments of greater humilitie continually he shewed himselfe more pittifull and full of amorous desires Alas how much deceite was hydden vnder the vaile of that pietie which according as the present effects doo testifie béeing nowe mortified in his hart where it neuer reuiued againe bare onely but an outward show and vysard of loue And because I may prosecute euery thing action in perticuler whereof there was not any which was not fraught with rare fraude and cunning guile whither it was he that voluntarily did worke it or my vnlucky stars that would haue it so thus it fell out that wanting the due skyl exactly to shew you how I found my selfe entangled wyth suddaine and vnlooked for loue as at this present I am not frée from the same Thys therefore was he most pittifull Ladyes whom my conquered hart wyth a foolish conceite amongst so manie noble beautifull and valiant yong Gentlemen that were not onely there present but also in all my Parthenope dyd choose to be the first Naples the onely and last Lorde and maister of my life This was he whom I loued and do loue styll more then anie one in all the worlde besides Thys was hee who was the beginning and principall occasion of all my woes and shal be as I hope the finall cause of my tragicall death at laste Thys was that day in the which first of a most frée and happy Lady I became a most miserable vnhappy captiue Thys was that day in the which I did first apprehende the miserable effects of foolish loue neuer knowne of me before This was that day wherin venereous venoms contaminated first my pure and chaste breaste Alas poore wretch how manie sorrowes and what misery came thys day into the world to thée by thine owne default Howe far alas should annoy and griefe haue béene from me yf thys day had béene turned into darknes and howe great an enemie was this day to my vnstayned honor But euill things alas which are committed and past All things which are doone may be sooner controlled then remedied may be easier reprehended then amended I was therefore taken as I haue sayde and whither it was some infernall furie or enuious fortune which did so emulate my chast felicitie laying snares to entrappe mee may thys day wyth hope of infallible victory tryumph and reioyce in my miserable fall Béeing therefore possessed nay rather oppressed with new kinds of passions as one astonied and like a sencelesse Woman I satte amongst the other Ladyes and Gentlewomen And troubled thus in mind I did neglect the sacred and diuine seruice which as I did scarcely heare so dyd I not vnderstande it at all and thought the sundry speeches and discourses of Gentlewomen that satte round about me but a kind of buzzing and murmuring in my troubled eares And so this newe and vnexpected loue did take suddaine possession of my tender hart so that eyther wyth myne eyes or with my thoughtes I was euer contemplating on my beloued yong Gentleman And yet my simplicitie was such that I did not almost then know what ende I might wysh or desire of such a straunge and feruent passion How many times alas coueting to haue séene him approche néere vnto mee did I blame his staying behind al the rest of the Gentlemen thinking wyth my selfe that that was but a colde kinde of affection in him which he did perhaps craftilie vse and for a pollicie to make mee more desirous to looke on hym and in looking to loue him more And moreouer the companie of lustie youthes that stoode before hym did greatly hinder my sight of whom whilst that I busied myne eyes in looking sometimes amongst thē there were not a fewe that thinking that for theyr sakes I looked so much towards them did vainely perhappes beléeue that I did it for loue of them But while my thoughts and sences were occupyed in these fancyes the sollemne seruice was finished and the Ladyes and the rest of my companions were risen vp to depart when I recalling my wits together which went wandring about the swéete imagination and figure of theyr onely obiect at the last I beheld my louelie yong Gentleman againe And now my selfe risen vp with the other Gentlewomen ready to be gone and turning mine eyes towardes him I perceiued that by his pittifull lokes which I had thought to haue preuented by mine that his departure and mine didde greatlie gréeue him But notwithstanding after certaine secrete sighes and yet ignorant of what parentage estate and condition hee was I went away Alas gentle Ladies who would beléeue it possible that ones hart in a moment and point of time shoulde alter and chaunge so much Who would say that a man neuer séene before might be so extreamelie loued at the first sight And who would thinke that the desire of séeing should bee so feruentlie kindled in ones breast as the very sight it selfe and béeing depriued of that to féele the greatest paine in the world for desire to sée the same thing againe Who would imagin that all those things that haue béene so ioyfull and delightful to vs before in respect of a newe thing come in place should not yéelde anie more pleasure at all Not any one truely vnlesse he had prooued and felt them as I doo nowe Alas that loue is not onelie content to vse such a strange and too seuere kinde of crueltie towardes mee Howe loue is engēdred in diuers parts and soules of the body successiuely but in subduing mee to his might to prescribe new Lawes cléene variant from others I haue oftentimes hearde that loue in others at his first entrance is but light but by nourished thoughtes augmenting his force is made greater But so it fared not with mee for he entred into my heart wyth that same force wherwith hée continued euer afterwardes as one who at the verye firste assault had most entyre and frée possession of me And lyke as the gréene wood which is hardly at the first sette on fire and doth lie a long time before it receiueth flames but after it is once kindled with greater heate dooth conserue the fire longer euen so it happened
vnto me who with this kynd of pleasing passion neuer ouercome of any before though attempted of many and at the last conquered of one haue burned and kept as yet I doo more sensibly these new flames that haue taken more hold of mee then euer they did of anie other who before haue assayed the like But leauing aside many thoughts which with diuers accidents that morning turmoyled my troubled mind and besides these which nowe I haue told I say that béeing incended with a newe furie with my captiuated and bonde soule I returned againe thither from whence not long since I had brought it frée Where afterwardes that I was nowe come into my Chamber all alone kindled with variety of burning desires surcharged with new thoughts and pricked with a thousand stinging cares terminating euerie ende of them in the imagined apprehension of my yong Gentleman I thought that if I coulde not weane my selfe from this newe loue at the least in my secret and sorrowfull breast wisely to haue nourished and gouerned the same and warilie to haue brought it to some good effect Which things howe difficult they are to performe none can tell vnlesse they proue them vndoubtedlie beléeuing that they doo no lesse harme then loue it selfe Wherefore confirmed as it were in this opinion I saide thus to my selfe Alas thou art in loue poore soule and yet thou doost not know with whom What kinds of cruell thoughts and howe many carefull cogitations were engendred of this loue it shoulde be too tedious for you daintie Ladies to heare and to gréeuous for me to tell But yet though forcing my selfe thereunto to obtayne the more pittie at your handes and some comfort thereby I meane to vnfolde some of them vnto you I say therefore that carelesse of all other thinges to spende the time in thinking of my beloued and amiable yong Gentlemanne was only most deare and pleasant vnto me And imagining with my selfe that perseuering in this that which I did intend to conceale might perhaps haue easily béene presumed I oftentimes found fault with my selfe for it But what did it helpe My owne reprehensions gaue place to my desires and like words of light worth passed away with the ayre I chiefely desired manie daies together to knowe what my beloued youth was to the vnderstandinge of which thing newe thoughts made me an open way by meanes of which most warily and priuilie I knewe it and whereof I remained not a little contented My goodly ornaments likewyse which as one that little néede them were not before thys time so much in request with me began now to be greatlie liked of me thinking that béeing adorned with thē I myght please the more Wherefore I estéemed nowe more of gorgious apparrell gold pearles and other precious stones and gemmes then euer I did before And I who vntil this time had frequented the holy Temples Feastes Sea banks and pleasant Gardens without any further intent or desire thē to kéepe other Gentlewomen and Ladyes company began altered now in mind for new purposes to resorte more often to the foresaid places thinking that there I might with pleasure not onely beholde but with delight and desire bee séene againe But the great affiaunce truely which I was wont to haue in my beautie forsooke me nowe quite wherefore I neuer went out of my Chamber without the infallible counsell of my trustie Glasse And my cunning handes I know not by what curious instructor newly taught finding euerie day more braue and rare ornaments conioyning artificiall with naturall beautie did make mee like Venus starre shine amongst other Ladyes The great honours moreouer curtesies and obeisance which other Ladyes and Gentlewomen of theyr méere good wyls and dueties did vnto me although indéede they were incident to my nobilitye I nowe began to accept and expect as seruices duely worthily belonging to my high estate thinking that I shoulde please my louer most of all when by these meanes he didde perceiue that I was of noble byrth and lynage And that cōmon couetousnes which is naturally borne and ingraffed in all Women did worke in mee eschewing the same no other effects then to estéeme of all my riches land treasure as if they had not béene mine owne wherby I became not onelie liberall but féeling also a certaine séemelie boldnes to encrease in me made me deuoide of all womanlie and suspicious feare accounting but one thing only déerer to me now then before And besides all this my eyes which vntill this time had béen but simple and vnexpert in amorous regards chaunged their former fashions and grewe meruailous skilfull in performing their parts And I discouered moreouer in me diuers other mutations all which by one and one I care not to set downe because first it would bée too long a labour and secondlie because I beléeue that you faire Ladyes enamored perhaps like my selfe are not ignorant how great and manie those are which accompany louers in like causes The yong Gentleman was most warie and wise as manie times by experience I was sufficiently thereof acertayned Hee came but seldome times and that in moste honest and séemely sort where I was and hauing as it séemed purposed the selfe same thing that I hadde doone which was to conceale altogether these amorous flames did yet with many priuie and stealing lookes not a fewe times pittifully beholde me He did therfore make those kindled flames in me more feruent and liuelie and reuiued those againe yf anie they were that were spent and quite consumed in me But the beginning of all this loue was not so ioyfull and happy but the sequell and ende of it was more sorrowfull and vnfortunate at what time I remained depriued of his sight because these eyes béeing denyed their wished ioy did minister a gréeuous occasion to my poore harte of gréefe whereuppon my sighes both in quantitie and quallitie were greatly augmented And hote desire occupying almost euery least sence of myne did make me liue as one besides my selfe Diuers accidents of loue especially in a weake mind and as if I had not béene there where I was made many that sawe me to wonder often times at me attributing afterwardes infinite and feyned occasions taught mee onely of loue to such strange and vncouth accidents And besides all thys taking from mee manie times my swéete reste in the night time and appetite in the day did driue me sometimes to certayne suddaine and furious kinds of actions and transported my tongue into strange and fonde spéeches Behold how my vnaccustomed gorgious apparrell my prodigall attyre my scalding and newe sighes my vnwonted gesture franticke fits the losse of my rest quietnes and health and many other things which this newe loue brought wyth it amōgst many other Seruaunts and familiars in my house made a Nurce of mine especially to meruaile much who as shee was burdened with many yéeres so in rype wysedome and good experience shee was not yong at all And who
these are more intricate and harder to folow then loue it self from which so fondly thou desirest to flée Dost thou not conceiue what great and intollerable sorow they kéepe in store for thée most foolish womā once and euen now ours and by the the bable of the old womā dost now feare to bee ours againe like her who is yet ignorant of the quantity of our great delights quality of our swéete ioyes Vnaduised as thou art vpholde and maintaine him by our spéeches whom the heauens and earth canne scarce containe with his might What doost thou know how much our winged Sonne without resistance doth raigne and command as much as Phaebus rysing with his golden beames out of the rich Ganges and plunging in the Hisperian waues with his wearied Chariot to giue some reste to his fainting steedes and to ease his owne labors séeth in a cléere day And howe he dilateth his signorie ouer all that which is shut vppe betwéene cold Arture the burning Pole who is not onelie a God in heauen amongst other Goddes but is so much more mighty then all the rest that there is not any one there who hath not béene somtimes wounded with his ineuitable weapons With golden and coloured feathers flying swiftlie thorow out his kingdoms The great force of Loue. in a moment of time hee dooth visite them all and gouerning his strong bow vppon his stretched string cunningly directeth his arrowes wrought by vs and tempered in our holy waters and when he findeth out some one more woorthy and fit for his seruice then another hee shootes them spéedily wheresoeuer it pleaseth him Hée dooth stir vp and augment in yong men cruell firy flames and in tyred and old men doth renue their spent and wasted heate inflaming the chaste breastes of virgins with an vnknowne and hidden fire and kindling liuely louely coales as well in wiues as in widowes He commaunded when he list the Gods scorched with his firebrands to leaue the Heauens aboue and with counterfet shapes and false habites to soiourne on the earth Was not Phaebus who conquered swelling Python and first tuned the melodious Cyterns of Pernassus many times his vassale sometimes for foolish Daphne sometimes for Climene and sometimes for Leucothoe and for many moe yes truly And at the last hyding hys great light vnder the shape of a poore enamored Sheepheard kept Admetus his flocks Iupiter himself who doth gouern the heauens controleth all the Goddes by his compulsion tooke vppon him formes farre vnbeséeming his omnipotent deitie Sometimes spreading his winges vnder the shape of a lillie white byrd sounded forth more swéet pitiful notes All these Fables are touched of Ouid in his trans-formations then the dying Swannes of Meander And somtimes transformed into a yong and goodly white Bullock which rude horns on his mighty Godhead bellowed out amids the meadowes fieldes and plaines his amorous plaints and deyned not to stoope prostrate his backe to the knées and seate of a sillye mayde and so with his enioyed and swéete pray with clouen hoofes instedde of cutting owers his broade and strong brest parting the waues and making way thorowe the déepest and raging billowes he passed his brothers kingdomes who for Semele in his owne forme and who for the loue of Calysto turned himself into the likenesse of Diana And to tel of that which in times past he did metamorphized into a shower of gold for the loue of fayre Danaee and trans-formed into other shapes for many more it would be too long And the fierce God of war whose angry and sterne countenaunce whose boysterly behauiour doth make the very Gyants afraide hath tempered his terrible and mortall effects vnder his power and was content to become a Louer And Iupiter his blacke Smith who neuer stirreth from his firy forge continually beating and framing thunderbolts hath béene also kindeled with his fire and smitten with his golden bolts which are more mighty and wound more déepe then his though made of hard yron and sturdie stéele And my selfe likewise although I am his mother could not defende my selfe frō hys might whose streames of mourning teares powred foorth for swéet Adonis his vntimely and cruell death can sufficiently testifie But wherfore doo wee trouble our selues wyth recitall of so many examples There is no deity in Heauen which hath escaped him but only Diana And she delighting her selfe in woods and hunting hath fled nay as some think rather hid her selfe frō him But if perhaps as incredulous thou dost not allow of this true tried examples of the Gods whose mansion places are in the heauens aboue art desirous to know who hath in earth beneath felt the like so many there are that I scarcely know where to begin promising and giuing thée to vnderstand that they were no base poore or simple men but the stoutest most valiant wights that euer liued And first of al let vs behold the most strong and inuincible son of Alcmena who laying aside his dyrie arrowes and casting of his huge and rough Lyons skynne delighted very often to passe his louing times away in framing and fytting Emeralds for his martiall fingers and afterwardes to prescribe Lawes for his rugged and bushy locks and by one and one to sette them in effeminate and fine order And that mighty hande with the which hée hadde but erst caryed his stronge and knottie clubbe killed great Antheus and beate downe and drawne from Pluto his Pallace gate the hellishe triple headed Dogge did now drawe foorth small thréedes which he spun on Iole her distaffe And those shoulders on which high heauen was imposed Atlas chaunginge shoulders with him were first tenderly pressed and beclipped of Iole And afterwardes to please her the more couered with embrodered garments of fine purple and gold What amorous Paris did for his sake what faire Hellene what Clytemnestra and what Egistus did all the world dooth knowe to well And therefore as as néedelesse also I omitte to speake of Achilles of Scylla Ariadne Leander Dido and many more Beléeue me Lady this is a holy fyer and of great force Now hast thou therefore heard howe mighty Gods in heauens Loue dooth worke his force euen in brute beastes and no meane men in earth haue béene vnder the swet yoake of my princely Sonne But what wilt thou say of his force extended in irrationall and brute beastes as well in the ayre as in the earth For him the mornefull Turtle Doue dooth followe her mate and our prittie Pigeons with a merueilous kinde of affection doo kisse and bill their loouing ones also And there is not any beast liuing in the wide earth that can or dooth at any time escape his gins The feareful Harts in the Woods waxing fierce cruell amongest themselues when he dooth wounde them with his dartes fightinge and braying after their desired louing Hinds shew blody signes of this burning heate The enraged wylde Bores
open company to make me therby more assured of his feruent looue calling me by the name of Fiammetta and hymselfe Pamphilus Alas howe many times in the presence of my selfe and of my déerest fréendes being prittely heated with feasting and looues eates did he deuise fayning Fiammetta and Pamphilus to be Grecians how I with him and he with me were first combyned in loouing bondes And afterwardes what accidentes did ensue of this Grecian looue collouring his forged nouell with fit and fayned names It made me truely many times to laughe not so much at the grauitie and conterfaite modestie in his discourse as at the simplicitie and good meaning of those who gaue eare and beléefe to his tale And yet I was sometimes afrayd least that both his disordinate heates might haue vnaduisedly perhappes transported his tongue thether whether it would afterwardes haue repented that it runned But as he was a more prudent perfect scholler then I tooke him to be so did he craftely take héede of speaking of false Latine O gentle and pittifull Ladies what dooth not looue teache his subiectes and whom dooth not he enable to learne wise discourses and acquainte him with braue and commendable fashione My selfe being but a young and simple woman in such pastimes Looue a cunning master and scarce able amōgst other gentlewomen my companions in plaine and common thinges to vntie my vnperfect tongue by giuing a willing and an affectioned eare to his spéeches did reape thereby so much fruite that in a short time in fayning and talking I thought I did excell euery famous Poet. For there were fewe or none of his presupposed positions but with a fictions and painted tale I woulde haue effectually argued and fitly aunswered to the same a very hard thing in my opinion for a young gentlewoman to learne so soone and more difficult to tel or put in practise But all these shiftes would séeme but shadowes and of no consequence if I did write and set downe if present matter shoulde require with what subtill slights I did experiment the faith of one of my most familiar and trusty womē to whom we bothe purposed to committe the secrecie of our hidden loue not as yet by spéeches manifested to anie one considering with my selfe that enclosed in my burning brest it coulde not bee kept there long without great trouble and gréefe and perhappes without some violent and suddaine issue vnlesse there were some meanes and remedies applyed to the contrarie It would be besides this a tedious labour to recount what counsell and how manie deuises were excogitated betwéene her and me perhaps in vain and foolish matters and neuer put in vre no not so much as imagined of anie before All which although I haue séene them putte in tryall to my great preiudice and hinderaunce I am not sorrie neuerthelesse that I haue knowne them If I doo not erre Gentlewomen in my opinion With what difficulty louers are contained in the bonds of reason the great firmenes of our yong yéeres was verie straunge to beholde if that with a due and perfecte consideration it is well weighed how hard a thing it is for the enamored mindes of two yong and rawe louers to continue any long time vnited together but that on the one or other side spurred on wyth superfluous and ouerruling desires they should alter wander out of reasons course But the bondes of our loues were so fast knit and of such rare tenour that the grauest wisest and strongest personages in like passages should haue gotte them high and worthy praises But now my stayned penne with an vnbridled and wanton desire dooth prepare it selfe to write of those finall termes of loue beyond that which none can passe furder with déede or desire whatsoeuer But before I come to this point as humbly as I may I implore gentle Ladyes your pietie and therewithall that amorous force which possessing your tender breastes dooth also draw your burning desires to such an end And pray you moreouer if my spéeches séeme offensiue vnto you I speake not of the déede because I know that if you haue not as yet attained to such felicity you haue in your minds a thousand times wished to haue felt the same that then moste prompt you would arise in my excuse and defence And thou séemelie and honest shamefastnes to late alas entred into my wilful minde pardon mee most earnestlie entreating thée to giue place a little while to timerous yong Gentlewomē because secure and frée from thy restraint and menaces they may reade that of me which in their feruent loues I know and hote desires they also wishe might handsomelie befall vnto them With hungry hope therfore and ful of feareful cares our longing desires The slack dealing in conducting amorous desires to their end is very bitter yet lingring delaies drew one eche daie after other which bothe of vs with painfull thoughts didde hourelie endure albeit that one did manifest the same in daily méeting and secrete talke together and the other did shewe her selfe in graunting of it verie coye and in shewe repugnant though against her will as you your selues in séeking that which perhaps most of all doth please your wanton appetites doo knowe well enough that enamoured yong gentlewomen are wont to doo He therfore giuing but little credit to my words in these denials attending fitt time place more audacious then aduised in that which he did and more fortunate then wise obtained that of me which I as wel as he though with a fained face and a little rigorous resisting to the contrarie did most gréedilie desire But if I shoulde for all this affirme that this was the occasion that made mée loue him more I must confesse that euery time that the remembraunce thereof touched my guiltie minde it brought with it an incomparable gréefe Wherefore let the Gods aboue the secrete serchers of our harts bee witnesses wyth me héerein that this ineuitable accident was then and yet is the least cause of that great loue which I beare him Albeit not denying but that this was thē and euermore since a most swéete wyshed and welcommed delight vnto mee And what simple and slender witted woman is shee who would not wish that thing which she déerely loued to bee rather néere vnto her then farre of from her and by how much she loued desired it by so much more to féele the same néerest of al vnto her I say therfore that after such a quickly passed chance not fallen in the cōpasse of my belly before thogh not seldome times tossed in my thoughts with excéeding ioy and fauourable fortune not once but manie times by meanes of our proper wits and new inuentions we recreated our selues with this maner of dainty disport although the pleasures of the same is now alas lighter then the windes flowne from me vnhappy womā But yet while these pleasant times passed on as loue it selfe can make true report and giue
firme in mutuall fréendship dooth looue thee so much as I doo If this be thy beléefe beléeue me Pāphilus it is erronious For truely none can looue thée better and holde thée swéete Pāphilus déerer then I doo If therefore I looue thée more then others He that dooth loue most deserueth more pittie I deserue then to be requited with greater looue and pittie then others Prefer me therfore worthely before the rest being pittiful towardes me forget all other pittie that might offend and preiudicate this and let thy olde father as hee hath liued a longe time without thée enioy a Gods name his wonted rest with out thy companie And lette him from hence foorth if so he please liue amongest the rest of his other fréends and alies And if not let him dye If it bee true as I haue hearde hee hath a good while since escaped the deadly stroke of death and hath liued longer here then was conuenient for his necessary health and if he liue in payne with much troble as cōmonly olde men do thou shalt in thy absence shew thy self more pittiful towards him to let him die thē which thy presence to prolōg his trobled tired life But thou oughtest rather to succour me poore soule whose life hath not béene a good while since but by thy swéet cōpanie preserued nor cannot tell how without the same to enioy this mundane light who being yet in the prime of my tender age dooth hope to liue and lead with thée many ioyfull monthes and yéeres together If thy iourney were to such purpose and could worke such supernaturall effectes in thy olde father his body Medea her medicamentes restored to olde Aeson his youth againe as the charmes of Medea and her medicinall spelles did vppon olde Aeson then would I say that by iust pietie thou wert instiged and would highly commend this requisite pittie and although it would séeme repugnaunt to my will yet would I wishe and allowe of this deuotion in thée and exhorte thée to the performaunce of it But such a miracle passing the lawes and boundes of nature can neuer come to passe according to thy naturall reason as thou knowest well enough Behold then if perhappes thou shewest thy selfe more cruell and rigorous to mee then I beléeue or imagine thou wilt or doost so little care for me whome on thy owne mere choyce and not by compulsion thou hast looued and yet doost that aboue my looue thou wilt for all this aduaunce the lost and helplesse charity of the olde man take some pitty at the least of thy owne estate and caring little for him and bemoning me lesse rue thy owne condition whom if first thy countenaunce and afterwardes thy wordes haue not deceiued me I haue séene to be more deade then aliue as euen nowe thou werte without perceiuing me that did marke thée by some vncouth accident is a most extreame and sorrowfull passion and depriued once of my sight By long greefe and sorrow men dre and debarred of my company doost thou beléeue to lyue so long tyme as this pittilesse pittie dooth require Alas for the looue thou bearest to the Goddes looke better to thy selfe and sée what likely hoode of death if by longe and lingring gréefe men dye as I sée it dayly by others this iourney ah this inopinate vnluckie iourney wil yéeld thée which how harde moreouer and vnpleasaunt it is to thée thy sorrowfull sobbes and teares and the vnwoonted moouing of thy heart which panting and beating vp and downe in thy breast I féele doo plainely shewe And if not apparraunt death which is most like a worser and more cruell condition of life then any death be assured will accompany thée Alas that my enamored hart vrged with great pitty that it hath of my owne distresse constrained by that tender cōpassion which I féele for thée must now play the humble suppliaunt to pray and intreate thée and to aduise thée also that thou wouldest not be so fond what kind of pittie soeuer moouing thée therunto as with euident iminent daunger to hazard thy safe persō Who looueth not himselfe possesseth nothing in this world Why thinke that those who doo not looue them selues possesse nothing in the wide world Thy father of whom forsooth thou art so pittifull did not giue thée to the world because thou shouldest be thy owne minister and occasion of taking thy selfe away out of it againe And who dooth not beléeue but that if our estate were as manifest or could be lawfullie tolde vnto him that he being wise and of mature iudgemēt and experience would rather say Stay there still And if discretion and reason would not pitty at the least would induce him to it and this I am assured thou knowest wel enough It is therfore great reason that what iudgment in his own tried cause he hath giuen he should and is most likely that he wold in our cause if he knew it giue also the very same Wherefore omitte this troublesome iourney vnprofitable to thée vnpleasaunt to me and preiudiciall to vs both As these my dearest Lord are reasons forcible enough if followed to keepe thée from going hence so are there many more not a little effectuall if put in practise to dehort thée from going hence as fyrst for example cōsidering the place whether thou goest For put case thou doost bende thy iourney thether where thou wert borne thy natiue soyle and naturall countrey and a place belooued more of thée then any other as I haue heard thée say in certaine thinges annoyous and for certaine causes hated of thée Because thy Citty as thou thy self hast told is ful of haughtie boasting wordes but more replenished with pusillanimous and vnperformed déeds And that they are not onely slaues to a thousand confused lawes but to as many different oppinions as there are men All which as well forriners as Cittizens naturally contencious and full of garboyles doo dayly rage in ciuill broyles and intestiue warres And as it is full of proude couetous and malicious people so is it not vnfurnished of innumerable and intricate cares the least of which is I know most contrary to the good disposition of thy quiet minde Naples But this noble Citty which thou doost intend to forsake I am sure thou art not ignoraunt with what ioyfull peace it dooth continually florishe how famous it is for plenty of all commodities how opulent shining in glory and magnificensie how heroycally administred vnder the sole regiment of a mightie and inuincible king All which thinges I knowe if euer thy appetite I haue knowen are most pleasant to thy daintie tast It is some times lawful to praise ones selfe And besides all these rehersed pleasures here am I here am I Panphilus whom thou shalt neither find there nor mayst liue within any other place Leaue of therfore thy sorowful determination chaunging the vnaduised counsell into better consideration haue regard I
neuer refel and put out of my mind the obscure and miserable ielosie entred into it for aduantage and accomplishment of my other gréefes But yet somewhat lightened as if I had argued truely and eased a little therby I did to my féeble power remooue such iniurious thoughts from my mind O déerest Ladies because I will not spende the time in recounting euery one of my vncouth thoughts what were my most carefull déedes you shall nowe heare At the strangnes of which meruaile not since I must néedes follow not those which I woulde but such as it pleased Loue to giue mee ah those was I constrayned to performe Very fewe mornings escaped me when rysen out of my weary bedde I went not vppe to the highest turrets of my Pallace and from thence no otherwyse then the Marryners clymbing vp to the topp of their maine Mast doo prie on euerie side to sée if they can espy any dangerous Rocks or ken any land that is nere which may hinder their continued course I first looked about mee on euery side And afterwards fastning myne eies stedfastly towards the East I did mark how much the Sun eleuated aboue the Horison had spent of the new day and the more I saw it higher the more I said to my selfe that the terme of Panphilus his return drew on and many times I did with great delight as it were sée it rise come forth discerning sometimes my own shadow by the ascended quantity of it in the Meridiall line made lesse lesse and somtimes loking to the space of his body made bigger by the earth in his setting I said with my selfe that hee went more slowly then euer he did before and did lengthen the daies more in Capricorne then he was wont to do in Cancer and so likewise moūted vp to the middle circle I saide that there he staied too long to delight himselfe in ouerloking the wide earth And although hee glided down swiftly towards the west yet me thought he was too long in his course again whose light after that our Hemisphere had lost that the twinckling stars had ful scope to shew forth theirs thus partly contented Louers mark their daies with stones I went numbring calling to mind many times with my self the daies that were past with litle stones did mark those with other daies also that were to come no otherwise thē in times past deuiding their mery and happy daies from their sorrwful and dismal times with litle black white stones were wont to doo O howe many times do I now remēber that before their due time I did put a stone there thinking that so much of the prescribed terme should be diminished howe much the sooner I adioyned it to that which was already past somtimes counting the litle stones assigned for the daies past and somtimes telling those which stoode for those daies which were yet to come although I kept the number of euery one of them very wel in my minde thinking euery time to haue found some of thē increased and that the other shold haue béen diminished So did my eager hote desire transport me to the wished end of the prefixed terme Vsing therfore these vain cares I returned many times to my desolate chamber more desirous to be there all alone then willinglie in any cōpany And when I was alone to driue away sorowful cogitations I opened a certain casket of mine out of the which I tooke many things somtimes his fauours bestowed on me by one one and the delight great desire which once I had in beholding him I did now take in gazing vpō them which when I had séene scarce able to containe my swelling teares yet fetching great sighes I kissed thē and as if they had béen rational creatures things of vnderstanding I did aske them saying When wil your M. be here laying thē vp again I drew forth many of his leters which he had somtimes sent me reading almost euery one of them ouer and imagining that I did talke with him I felt no litle cōfort I called oftentimes my faithful secret maid vnto me with whō I had much and diuers communication touching him sometimes asking her what her hope was of hys returne and sometimes what shee thought of him or if at any time shee had heard any thing of him To all which demaundes eyther to please me or els according to her opinion aunswering the truth it was a great comfort to my desolate minde And thus many times I passed away the greater part of the day with lesse gréefe sadnes I tooke no lesse pleasure and content then in the forsaide things to visit the holy Temples Variety of talke doth diminish sorrow and sadnes and to sitte at my Pallace Gate with other Gentlewomen of my acquaintance where often times with sundrie discourses my infinite cares were somewhat remooued from mee To which places sometimes resorting it fell out often that I sawe dyuers of those yong Gentlemen whom I did knowe to kéepe Panphilus companie and whensoeuer I espied them I did neuer forgette to looke amongst them if happilie I might sée Panphilus wyth them as sometimes I did O how often times was I vainly deluded with this foolish imaginatiō And although I was thus deceiued yet it did me much good to sée them whom as by their pittifull countenaunces they bewrayed as much I sawe full of like compassion that I had in séeing themselues alone as it were and depriued of their swéete companion and who me thought séemed not halfe so merry as they were wont to be Ah what a great desire had I many times to aske them what was become of their gentle friende and associate if reason and modesty had not counterchecked my eagre wil herein But Fortune truely was sometimes fauourable to mée herein because in talking of him in such like places thinking that I did not heare and vnderstand them they said that his returne was almost at hand howe swéete these words were to myne eares it were a bootelesse labour to expresse In this sorte therefore and with such sundry thoughtes and superstitious déedes and with many other like these I dyd studie to passe the tedious daies away which were so yrkesome to mée in their length desiring therefore stil for night not because of bothe I thought it more profitable or comfortable for me but because when it was come there was the more time spent and the lesse to passe away After that the combersome day therefore whose long howers being finished gaue place to silent night fresh fancies and new cares came also in company with the same And I who from my cradle béeing naturally giuen to bee afraide in the solitarye darknes of night accompanied nowe with mighty loue Loue doth assure Louers in darknes was frée from all manners of feare And perceiuing euery one in my house to take their quiet rest sometimes I went vppe alone to that place
mée the chéefest thinge in déede Remayning therefore continually in my chamber and as often as any body came into the same so often dyd I beléeue that they were come to bring mée tydinges that hee was comming or else to tell mée that hee was alreadie arriued I neuer heard any talke in any publyque and pryuate place but with open and attentiue eares I noted it well thinking that eyther they did or else should speake of his returne And sitting in my chamber I rose I thinke a thousand times out of my place to runne to the windowe as though I had béene busied about something else looking from thence a farre of and beneath also at the doore driuen on by the suggestion of a foolishe conceite and fonde beléefe of his béeing néere I sayd Is it possible Fiammetta that Panphilus being now returned dooth come to sée thée And afterwardes finding my mind illuded confounded with my selfe I went to my place againe And saying that at his returne hee should bring certaine thinges to my hushande I did often times aske and caused many to enquier if he was arriued or when his fréendes in these partes did looke for him But receiuing no ioyful aunswer of my diligent and carefull enquiries but onely such an one as of him that should neuer come any more as afterwardes indéede he did not caused mee to liue in a most sorrowfull and solitarie plight Wherefore wrapped most pittifull Ladies in these cares as you haue heard I came not onely to the greatly desired and with infinite payne expected terme but I passed it also many daies after in great and gréeuous woes And vncertaine with my selfe whether I should blame him or not my hope beganne by little and little to relent Wherfore I partly left of my former and pleasant imaginations into the which giuing perhappes my mind to great a scope I had entred to farre And new thoughtes nowe the olde being gonne beganne to tosse and turmoyle my soule a freshe and holding my minde in diuers doubtes and perplexities to know what was the occasion of his tariaunce longer then he promised I beganne to excogitate many things carefully with my selfe They feele incredible passioÌ„s who after the and of their promised time se not the returne of their beâ—ooued And before many other doubts that were obiected to my minde I found many thinges so ready in hys excuse and many more then he him selfe if he had bene here could haue perhappes alleadged Sometimes I sayd Oh Fiammetta what reason dooth make thée thinke that thy Panphilus dooth stay without returning to thée but because he cannot diuers sodaine chaunces and vnexspected affayres doo many times hinder forward men in their determinations and doo quite dissolue their disseignmentes Nor is it possible to prescribe so precise a time to future thinges as many vnwisely beléeue And who dooth doubt also that present néere auncient and dutifull pietie dooth not binde more then that which is absent straung new and but méere volentrarie I know it very certaine that he looueth me most of al and dooth now thinke of my sorrowful life and hath no small compassion of my paines And pricked on by force of loue is many times in hand and most willing to set forwardes and to come vnto me But the olde doterd his iniurious father with his teares perhappes and prayers hath somewhat more prolonged his appointed time and opposing his commaundementes to his forwarde will hath retayned him still there Wherefore as soone as fit oportunitie is aunswerable to his desirous minde hee will come to me againe But after these spéeches and fréendly excuses my thronging thoughts did driue me on farther to imagine more straung vnluckie and more gréeuous occurrauntes Sometimes I sayd Who can tell if he more wilfull then his due looue required to sée me againe and too precise to come iust at the ende of his appointed moneth laying a side the great pittie of hys aged father and neglecting all other busines hath embarqued him selfe in some slender vessell not attending the calmes of the tempestuous waues and crediting to much deceitfull and lying Mariners who for their gaine are too aduenturous and desperate of their owne liues and too prodigall of those of their passengers and hauing committed him selfe to the rage of the mercilesse windes and surging waues of the daungerous Seas is perhappes drowned and perished in them Vnfortunate Leander by no other occasion and lamentable meanes then these was taken from hys happelesse Heroe Againe who knoweth if constrained by hys froward fates and fortune he is throwen vpon some vnhabitable and desert rocke and escaping daunger and death by water in exchaung of that hath gotten a worse by famine or rauening foules or else lefte vppon any rocke by forgetfulnesse as Achimenedes was dooth in vayne attend that some shold come or by chaunce touch by to fetch him from thence For who is ignoraunt how full of deceytes the lawlesse seas are For it may be also that he is taken by enemies or with giues by wicked Pyrattes bound fast and kept in prison All which perrilles as they are common so doo we daily sée them come to passe But on the other side afterwardes it came to my minde that his iourney was more safe by land yet I did imagine likewyse of a thousand sinistrous chaunches that might hinder and stay him aswell that way Wherfore iudging that he might when such inopinate and vnluckie hazardes of fortune came sodainely and soonest obiected to my minde finde the more iust and better excuse as he did alleadge the greater and worser daungers some times I sayd The effect of the Sun in the spring time Beholde the Sunne whotter then it was wont to be dooth dissolue the huge hilles of Snowe congealed in the middle region of the Ayre whereupon with furious and flowinge streame they came powring downe into the plaines of the which he hath not a fewe to passe ouer Wherefore if nowe with more audatious rashnesse theÌ„ aduised reason he hath aduentured to passe ouer them with his horse is fallen into any of them and stifled there amongst them hath miserablie lost his lyfe why how can he then come Floodes haue not learned of late neyther is it a straunge thing to them with these iniuries to molest trauaylers and cruellie to swallowe vp vnawares those that passe ouer them But if he hath happily escaped these vnhappy daungers he may be perchaunce fallen into the handes of some pittilesse théeues and despoyled of all that he hath is perforce kept and without hope of redemption stayed of them Or else paraduenture may be ouertaken by some maladie in the way where now he abydeth for the recouerie of hys health and after he is well agayne will without fayle come iyofully to vs. Whyle these carefull imaginatyons occupyed thus my perplexed minde a lyttle colde sweate did ouerrunne all my bodie and I was so greatly afrayde of the euent of these vncertaine dangers and
loueth thée So if he did returne thou maiest be assured that hee were come not for thy sake but for the looue of some other woman Let him therefore remaine still there and from hence forth being farre from thée let him rather hold thy looue in doubtfull suspence then lyuing héere by contrarie examples and by to apparaunt demonstrations shewe that he dooth not looue thée at all And content thy selfe at the least that thou doost not remaine alone in these consuming paines and forsake not that comfort that miserable and distressed women when they haue companions in their miseries are wont to take It were too harde a taske for me good Ladyes to shewe with what incensed ire with what quantity of teares wyth what burning sighes and choaking sobs with what gryping gréefes of my poore hart and with what vehement and dolefull passions I was almost euerie day wont to meditate on these thoughts and to thinke of these matters But because euery hard thing in time is mollified and chaunged Euery hard thing wexeth soft in time it happened that hauing manie daies together ledde this kinde of life and not able to sincke any further into the Gulfe of gréefe then I was already fallen by little and little it began somewhat to relent And the more it departed from my affected soule the more was my feruent loue and lukewarme hope kindled there againe both which remayning in the place of my surceasing sorrowes made me chaunge my present wyl and alter my first desires of hauing my Panphilus againe and to deskant somewhat of his returne to mee againe And as euen now the dispayre of neuer enioying him again was most contrary to me in this so much the more did my repugnant desire of the contrary encrease And as kindled flames tossed abroade and blowne about with boysterous wyndes doo grow into greater flakes so Loue by contrary thoughtes in mee was not onely nourished but made of greater force Wherefore I was mooued with repentance of these foresaid frantick passions and superfluous spéeches And nowe considering well of that in my minde which vnbridled anger had prouoked me to say I was as much ashamed as if they thēselues hadde heard me And therefore I gentlie blamed that sencelesse rage which in the first assaults of it with so great force and furie dooth take holde of our blinde mindes that it doth not permit any trueth be it neuer so much apparaunt to be manifest vnto them But notwithstanding the more it is kindled the more in space of time it waxeth colde againe and doth make that afterwards cléerely known which rashly before it condemned in words and déedes Wherefore hauing recouered my right mind againe and after my sences were better setled I beganne thus to say O moste foolishe yonge Womanne wherefore dooest thou thus molest thy sefe Louers som times blame and sometimes excuse their beloued againe Wherfore without any certain occasion or knowledge dooest thou consume thy selfe in the heate and rage of thyne owne anger Saie that this is true that the Merchant tolde which perhaps is not and admit that hee hath marryed a wife is this so great a matter An inopinate thing indéede I must confesse which thou diddest not thinke woulde so soone fall out And yet it is most requisite that yong men in these causes must please and obey theyr Fathers willes For if his Father woulde haue it so with what face or coloure could he deny it And thou must also beléeue that moste of them that take wyues may loue them well and yet estéeme of others more And that the copious plentie which busibodied wiues yéelde to their quiet Husbands is an occasion of suddain cloying although they did neuer so much please and delight them in the beginning And what dost thou knowe how much or whither she doth content him or not Perhaps Panphilus tooke her by méere compulsion and louing thee more then euer he did her it is perhappes no small gréefe vnto him and doth thinke the time too long and tedious in beeing with her And if she please him thou maiest yet hope that she will quickly séeme vnpleasaunt and yrkesome vnto him And of his promised faith and religious oathes thou canst not truely with any reason accuse him because comming to thée againe he shall in thy Chamber fulfill the one and the other and what els he hath auowed to our mutuall and great ioy Haue therefore recourse to the Gods with prayers that Loue which is able to doo more then pledged oathes or pawned faith may mooue and make him returne to thée againe And besides this why shouldest thou haue any suspition of his disloyaltie perswaded thereunto by the troubled mynde only and altered countenaunce of the yong Gentlewoman Doost not thou know howe many yong Gentlemenne loue thée in vaine who if they knewe thée to bee Panphilus hys Mistresse could not chuse but bee greatly agréeued So must thou think it possible and no strange thing that hee is beloued again of many women who would be as sorowful as heauy to heare that of him which gréeued thée so much although for diuers occasiōs euery one might be especially discontent And in this maner forging sundry fancies with my selfe I came as it were again to my first hope And whereas I had before thundred forth many blasphemous curses against his dealings now with humble and milde petitions I entreated him and perswaded my selfe to the contrary Thus hope recouered once againe my tormented hart had not for all that any force to be merry but there appeared rather in my countenaunce signes of sorrowe and I felt in my minde a continuall molestation so that I knew not what to doo or how to thinke of these perplexities My first cares were fled away and in the first furie of my suddaine anger The conditions of angry louers of those that are ouercome with theyr passions I had in rage cast away all the stones which were memoriall testimonies of the ouerpassed daies and had burned all the Letters I receiued from him broken all his fauours and rent in péeces all his other trash I tooke no pleasure now to gaze vpō the heauen as she who was vncertaine and doubtful of his returne béeing thorowly perswaded of it before The desire that once I hadde to heare amorous hystories and tales and to passe the night away in such exercises was quite dead and the present time which had abbreuiated nowe the Sommer nights didde not graunt these thinges of which oftentimes eyther all or some great part I passed away without sléepe continually spending them in pittiful plaints and in sad cogitations And if I enioyed sometimes the benefite of swéete sléepe my fancies were neuertheles troubled and tossed about sundry dreames some of them séeming very ioyfull vnto me and some full of sorrow and care The resorting to publique places temples and feastes was yrkesome nowe vnto me and I did neuer or els very seldome when I
hookes with Angle corde to choake the pretty and foolishe Fishes in cléere riuers and brookes and sometimes getting some and other sometimes missing of their purpose knew not and perceiued that these were euident testimonies of our mutuall pastaunce and glée Moreouer I did not sée any rocke shore or Ilande there but I sayd Héere was I with my Panphilus The like Petrarck vnfolded most finely in a certaine Sonnet this did he speake vnto me here this did we here Likewise there could be nothing else séene there which was not first an especiall occasion to me with great efficacy to remember him and with more feruent desire afterwardes to sée him either héere or else returned in any other place againe As it pleased therfore my déere hushand so there we beganne to take our delightes Sometimes rising vp betimes and so soone as cléere daie appeared and mounted vpon our swifte coursers and gentle Palfreies sometimes with houndes sometimes with hawkes and with both sometimes rominge vppe and downe into the néerest places and most aboundant for vollerie and venerie nowe thorowe the shadowed Woodes and nowe in the open féeldes we went earnestlie persuing our game And séeing manie goodlie chases and braue courses there reioycing euery ones heart to sée them did but a little or nothing dimnishing my sorrowfull thoughtes for when I sawe any fayre flyght or course therewith all I presently sayde O that thou werte héere Panphilus to sée this sporte as sometimes thou wert But alas hauing now vntill that poynt somewhat sustained and with lesse gréefe endured the beholding and with some small relaxation of my paines followed these pastimes by recording them nowe and thus in my minde ouercome as it were with secréet gréefe I left them abruptly of and let them all doo as they lysted for mée O howe many times doo I remember that in these imaginations my bended bowe and arrowes did fall out of my handes in handling of which in pitching of nettes and letting houndes goe or following them there was not anie Nimphe that waited one Diana her traine that did I thinke euer excell me And it fell out very often that manie times in my chéefest sporte of hawking like a carelesse woman and thinking of other greater matters I did let those hawkes that I caryed on my fist my selfe flowen as it were out of my wyts with sodaine flight to soare away of which pastime being in times past most studious Diuers pastimes bring to vnhappy loouers no pleasure at all and as much desirous and not halfe so carelesse to committe such faultes I dyd not only now take no regarde but founde no pleasure in them at all But after that euery valley hill and all the wyde plaines were thorowly trauersed vppe and downe and our companie laden with store of praye wée returned home to our pleasaunt Pauilions which often tymes wée found full of glée and myrth by reason of sundrie and diuers feastes made in them Sometimes afterwardes sitting vnder the hollow dens and entryes of hygh Rockes that did with their crooked bodyes ouerhange the Sea and with freshe ayre shadowing the Sandes where tables being set and furnished with sundrie sortes of meates in companie of many Ladyes and braue Gentlewomen wee made great cheere togeather From which againe we were not so soone risen but dyuers swéete instrumentes sounding melodious musicke the young Gentlemen and Gentlewomen in most braue order beganne to leade diuers stately and pleasaunt daunces in which I must néedes though against my will make one But because my melancolie minde was not delyghted with them and that the weakenesse of my bodie did also denie the same I daunced but a measure or two and satte me downe againe And with drawing my selfe behynd all the rest amongest the cloathes of Tapistrie and Arras that were spreade abroade and hung vp I secretly sayde to my selfe Where art thou nowe my Panphilus and so sat me downe againe amongest other Gentlewomen And in these places at the very same time giuing a willing eare to the skilfull musicke and the siluer soundes of of those instrumentes which with passing swéete notes entred déepely into my mynde and thinking of my Panphilus I dyd at one tyme couer and hyde discorde feasts and gréefe because listening to the pleasaunt noyse made euery demy deade spyrite of looue dyd regaine theyr former vigour and force in mée againe and the remembraunce of those merrie times dyd returne againe to my minde in whych the heauenly harmony of these instruments touched with rare skil was wont in presence of my Panphilus to worke diuers cōmendable and swéete effectes But séeing not my Panphilus there with most sorrowfull teares and sighes I would willinglye haue complayned on them if it hadde beene lawfull for me in that place And besides this the sundrie Sonnets sung of many young Gentlewomen there excéeding the Nightingales in sweete notes were wont in my ioyfull times to delight my happie minde of the which if there was any peraduenture that did please my melancolicke humanes I gaue most attentiue eare vnto the same and desiring greatly to haue it because rehearsing and singing it afterwardes to my selfe I might openly and with lesse susspect after a modest kind of sort learne couertly to mourne and secréetly to sorrowe with my selfe with those gréefes especially that were contained in it But after that the reiterated daunces and roundes had wearied the young Gentlewomen euery one beganne to place themselues amongst vs and as it was no rare thing there to sée the amorous young Gentlemen thronging about vs did encompasse vs in manner of a crowne whych thing neuer happened there or any where else that I perceiued but it made me call to minde that fatall day when Panphilus standing behinde a fayre knote of younge Gentlemen entrapped mée with the vertues of his diuine graces Wherfore I lifted vp myne eyes many times in vaine prying and looking betwéene them being fondlie perswaded by my foolish conceite that I should in lyke manner haue séene my Panphilus amongest them here Wherefore casting mine eyes sometimes amongst them I marked howe some of them with eger lookes and pyttifull glaunces dyd beholde the amiable obiectes of theyr chéefest desyres And my selfe waxed by this time very cunninge in those amorous daliaunces with a perplexed eye dyd viewe euery one and note euery thinge they dyd and perceyued well who looued in déede and who iested in demonstration sometymes commending one for the grace that hee obserued in hys discourse and sometymes an other for the prettie inuention hee vsed and for hys amorous argumentes so well couched togeather in his loouing stintes saying to my selfe After a known errour one wexeth wise at length that my miserable estate and cursed condition had béene much better if I had then plaid the counter fette as nowe they did reseruing thereby a frée soule to my selfe as with dallying and sporting they did kéepe to themselues Afterwardes refelling such an opinion I
sayd Nay I am rather content if in possessing an euill there is any cōtent at all to haue loued faithfully Returning therefore with mine eyes and thoughts to the wanton behauiour and amorous actions of these yonge Louers I reaped some small comforte by their sundry fancies And when I did perceiue that any of them didde loue more feruently then the rest I did more commend with my selfe such well meaning Louers And hauing thus a long time with an earnest minde behelde them I began softly to say with my selfe O thrise happy and fortunate are you who are not depriued of the sight and sence of your vnderstanding as I am Alas howe was I wont heretofore as you doo nowe to sollace my selfe with these indifferent recreations Long may you enioy your felicity since I alone must remaine an example of scorne and a patterne of myserie to all the worlde If Loue at the least making mee discontent with the thing beloued of mee shall bee an occasion to shorten my dayes then shall it followe that with a tragicall death as Eliza did I wil eternish my euerlasting fame and memory And hauing thus saide I helde my peace and went againe to note those countenaunces gestures actions with which these louing Nouices professed Louers No feast de lighteth where the thing beloued is not seene and retyred Souldiours did diuersly studie to please their dainty Ladies and Gentlewomen Oh how many haue I eftsoones séene in like places who after a great while hauing looked in euery place about for their desired ioyes and not séeing nor finding them déeming and reporting the feast not halfe so pleasaunt by reason of their absence nor so delightsome with halfe angry and very sad countenaunces haue gone from thence againe Wherevppon some little laughter although it was but féeble and weake in the middes of all my melancholye dumps was permitted to take place and a little comfort also graunted to them perceiuing that I had company in my sorrowes measuring in this sort by mine owne miseryes other mens mishaps Then thus disposed most déere Ladies as my words doo shew the delicate bathes the weary hunting and the Sea bancks hadde glutted my queasie minde with all kind of pastimes and cloyed it with superfluities of feasts Wherfore dismasking my old former countenance and discouering the smoake of my choaked sighes and the losse likewise of my appetite to my meate and sléepe to my deceiued Husbande and not caring to manifest to the appointed phisitions of my health these incurable infirmities bothe hée and they disparyring as it were with thēselues of my life we returned againe to the Cittie In the which the condition of the time preparing many and diuers feastes it framed also with thē diuers occasions of my manifolde gréefes wherfore it came many times to passe that to the solēnising of new espousalles I was especiallie also inuited as béeing by parentage néere of kinne to them or els by auncient familiaritie fréendship or neighbourhood acquainted otherwise with them To the which also my Husband oftentimes constrayned mee to goe thinking by these meanes to preuent the ordinarie course of my melancholy fits or els somwhat to ease my mind so greatly infested by them Wherupon I was at such times vrged to take again my forsaken ornaments and to put my neglected hayre iudged of all men before to shine like gold but not vnlike nowe to ashes in the finest order I could wherin I was not to learne howe to doo it And remēbring my selfe with a more déepe consideration Appassionated yong Gentlewomen care not how to adorne thēselues whom these fine thredd 's of gold besides all other beauties were wont to delight with a new froward passiō I did disturbe again my fantastical mind which made me somtimes so much forgett my selfe that I remember that no otherwise then called backe againe from a déepe sléepe or raysed out of an extasie taking vp again the combe that was fallen out of my handes I returned to my careles vnwilling office And taking some assured counsel in my Glasse of the setting foorth of these ornaments with which I had adorned my selfe And séeing my face to looke very pale and greatly dis-figured and déepely therewithall apprehending in my minde my lost and altered beautie I was almost in a doubt whither it was my face or no which I sawe in the Glasse but imagining rather that some infernall and hidious furie stoode by me turning my selfe about I did veryly thinke and feare that it was behind me But yet after that I was tricked vp very braue cleen contrary to the quallitie of my minde I went with other gentlewomen to those solemne sumptuous feasts in which raigned nothing but mirth ioy and all manner of mery and pleasant recreations Merrie I terme them in respecte of others because as he knoweth from whom nothing is hydde there was neuer any since the departure of my Panphilus which was not an occasion to me of most heauy chéere matter of continuall sorrowe Béeing therefore come to the places appoynted for the honors of such marriages although that in diuers places and at diuers times celebrated yet they neuer sawe me otherwise disposed then to remaine stil at one stay which was bearing a counterfette countenaunce of content and a fayned face as well as I coulde of merrynesse with my inward minde altogether occupied with subiects of sorrow deriuing the occasion of this sadnes gréefe as well from ioyfull and pleasaunt things which I sawe as from sorrowfull and vnpleasant passions which I felt But after that amongst other Ladies and Gentlewomen I was with great honor receiued my mind not intentiue vpō new fashions nor mine eies desirous to gaze vppon braue ritch attire wherwith al the place did shine but with a vain imagination deceiuing thēselues thinking perhaps to haue seene Panphilus there as oftentimes in like places they had doone before they went rolling vp down casting their beames in euery place round about and not séeing him as one nowe most assured of that of which I was at the firste probably perswaded like a woman confounded in mine owne foolish cōceit I sat me down with the rest of the Ladies refusing the profered curtesies and offered honors for whose sake he béeing now absent they were wont to be most déere vnto me And after that the new Bryde was come home and the magnificent pompe vsed at the Tables was ended and euery one with his passing daintie cates and heauenly Nectar bad chéered vp their frollicke mindes as diuers braue daunces sometimes directed by the tuned voyce of some cunning and singuler Musition and othersome ledde and footed by the sounde of diuers swéete instruments were begun euery place of the espousall house resounding with a generall applause of myrth and ioy my selfe because I would not be accounted coy and disdainful but ciuill rather in such an honorable assembly and well manered hauing gone somtimes about
this poynte But what dooth it auaile for all this to oppose it against thée since thou hast a thousand slights to endomage thy enemies And that which thou canst not bring to passe by right thou doost contend to worke by wrong Not able to sowe the séedes of mallice and enuie in our hartes thou hast indeuoured to inculcate into thē thinges of lyke efecte and predicament and besides this to repleate thē with the greatest gréefe anguish of minde Thy industries adnihilated heretofore and made frustate by our prouident wisdome were strengthened againe by thy other fraudulent forces and péeuishe waies and as a peruerse enemie as well to hym as to mée thou hast practised the meanes with thy ominous accidentes by long distaunce of place to deuide vs both a sunder Alas when I would haue thought that in so straunge a place so farre distaunt from this and deuided from mée by such great Seas so many high hilles wyde féeldes vallies and playnes and by so manie great riuers the onely source and cause of all woes should by thy meanes be sprong vp and growe styll Truely neuer But yet it is so and for all that though he be farre from mée and I from him I doubte not but that in despite of thée Fortune he looueth mée as I looue him whom aboue all thinges else in the world I doo most déerely estéeme But to what ende and effect dooth this looue serue more then if we were eyther mere straungers or mortall enemies Alas nothing at all to no purpose else Our wittes and policie therefore preuailed naught against thy contradictions Thou hast caryed away with hym all my delight all my good and all my ioye and with these my merry times feastes and pastimes my gorgious attyre my péerelesse beautie and my pleasaunt lyfe In lue whereof thou hast left mée dollours gréefe and sorrowe But yet thou couldest neuer make mée relinquishe his looue no nor is thy might so great as great it is to make mée by intermediate fyttes onely fancy hym Alas if I béeing yet but young had committed any thing agaynst thy Godheade the simplicitie of my vnrypened yéeres should haue excused my rawe defectes But if thou wouldest neuerthelesse take some reuenge vpon me Wherefore diddest thou not wreake it vp on thy owne thinges To put ones Sickle in an others Corne. Thou hast iniustly Fortune put thy Sickle in an others Corne. For what hast thou to doo orto entermedle thy lawes with looue his matters I haue most high and strong towers most fayre and ample féeldes many heardes of Cattel and great store of treasure which with thyne owne handes thou hast bountifully bestowed on mée wherefore with consuming flames deuouring waters cruel rapine and saccage and wherefore with vnluckie death diddest not thou extend thy wrath vpon them Thou hast left me those things which may no more auaile for my consolation then Mydas his golden fauour which he receyued of Bacchus for his pinchinge hunger and hast transported onely him away whome I accounted déerer then Gold then gemmes then ritch palaces yea more then infinite worldes of wealth Accursed therfore be those amorous arrowes which presumed to be reuenged of Phaebus and which nowe sustaine such base iniuries by thée Alas if these had neuer pricked thée as now they pearce mée with better aduise perhappes and with more mature deliberation thou wouldest molest thy loouinge associates But beholde thou hast wronged mée and brought mée to this extreame poynte that of the richest noblest and highest Ladie I am become the most miserable and vnfortunate woman in all my countrie and this cruell fortune thou séest to well approoued in mée Euery one dooth reioyce spend their times in merry feastes and glée and onely I doo stil lament and waste my youth in endlesse moane which kinde of lyfe is not now begun but hath so long endured that me thinkes thy mercilesse anger should haue béene ere this tyme somewhat mittigated But I forgiue thée all if of pittie or of curtesy thou wilt let mée fauourably enioy the swéete company of my Panphilus againe as thou hast not without great gréefe deuyded him from mée And if perhappes thy anger dooth yet endure let it be satiated vpon the glory of my goods and possessions Alas cruell as thou art let my vnhappy and poore condition of lyfe gréeue thée and mooue thée to commiseration of my calamities Thou séest that I am become such an one that as a fable to the common people I am carryed from mouth to mouth whereas my seuerall beauties with solemne fame and with swéete prayses were wont to be blazoned euerie where Beginne therefore gentle Fortune at the last to be pittifull towardes me because I may with gratefull and reuerend titles my selfe enabled iustly to prayse to thée incessantlie honour thy mighty maiesty To whose prayers if thou doost open a gratious eare and wilt not rigorously denie the easie effectes of so reasonable a demaunde then for euer doo I vowe and herewithall let the immortall Goddes beare recorde to erecte to thée the liuely Image of my selfe preciously adorned and gloriously sette foorth in euery place and Temple dedicated and most déere to thée in token of thy perpetuall honour and euerlasting fame Which with neuer dying memoriall of thy miraculous pittie subscribed with these wordes This is Fiammetta lifted vppe of Fortune from the deepe pitte of extreme miserie to the highest toppe of happy ioy as shal be published to the open sight and viewe of all the world Oh howe many other things also did I often times declaime with my selfe to recount which would be but a longe and tedious labour but all were bréefelie ended and resolued into bitter teares by meanes of which sometimes it fell out that béeing perceiued of other gentlewomen and with many comfortable words chéered vp by them I was much against my will caryed to these festiuall daunces But who would thinke it possible amorous Ladies that such anguish and gréefe should so vsurpe a young Gentlewomans heart that there was nothing There is nothing that maketh a miserable loouer glad but the same is an occasion of greater greefe againe one way or an other whych coulde not onelie not make it merrie but that the same was an occasion of greater sorrowe which cannot but séeme incredible to all though not to mée miserable woman that hath prooued it dooth féele it and dooth know it to be to true It came to passe manie tymes that the weather according to the season of the yéere béeing verie whot many other Gentlewomen and my selfe because we might the better passe it away vpon most swifte Boates winged on euery side with flashing Oares wée plowed the gentle waues of the calme Sea singing sometimes and with playing sometimes on diuers Instrumentes went rowinge vp and downe to séeke out sollytarie and opacall Rockes deuided from the maine shore entring sometimes into hollowe caues at the footes of stéepe hilles made by nature
them had they not béen mortall But I thinking onely of those vnluckie tydinges which I had hearde to one of you Gentlewomen to which I know not I sodainely became an open enemie and I began to reuolue great gréeuous matters in my perplexed minde And that amassed lumpe of gréefe which could not altogether containe it selfe in my breast with a furious and despitefull voyce I did in this sorte partly driue out of me saying O wicked and false young man O enemie to pittie and pittilesse wretch O Panphilus the worst of all those who with out deserte dooth breath this common ayre Disloyall Panphilus who hauing blotted me most miserable woman out of thy vngratefull memorie doost nowe dwell and delight thy selfe with thy newe deceitfull dame Accursed bee that haplesse day when fyrst I sawe thée and that fatall hower and very instant in whych thou diddest please my simple eyes Accursed be that Goddesse which appearing to mee with her allured promyses flattered my waueringe minde and disturbed the same though resisting with all her forces to the contrarie from the boundes of my right iudgement to lyke of thée wicked wretch and vngratefull monster to looue thée Certes I thinke that shee was not Venus but rather some infernall furie in her shape striking mee with madnesse and filling me with franticke furie as once she did miserable Atamas O most cruell youth whome amongst manie other most noble beautiful and valiaunt young Gentlemen I dyd fondly chuse out for the best where are nowe thy serious prayers which for safetie of thy life with teares thou diddest often tymes offer vnto me affirming that both that and thy death weare in my handes Where are nowe thy pittifull lookes and those two neuer dryed eyes with the which malicious man thou dyddest neuer cease at thy pleasure to shedde foorth teares in my presence Where is nowe the great looue that so brauely thou diddest fayne to shewe me Where are thy swéete wordes and thy sower gréefes thy infinite sorrowes thy paynes and trauels proffered and imployed in my seruice Are all these slyd out of thy memorie or hast thou framed them a new to entrap thy deceiued and newe loouer Accursed be that pittie of mine which tooke that life out of death his mouth that thereby making her selfe thē a ioyfull woman should haue rather sent it to the darkesome denne of death Nowe those eyes which whilome in my presence lamented laugh before their newe Mistresse and that mutable heart hath turned all his swéete wordes and faire offers to her onely and nowe hast thou hereticallie dedicated all thy seruices to her deuotions Alas Panphilus where are nowe those profaned and periured Godheades Where is thy promised fayth Where are thy infinit teares of the which miserable woman I drunke no small quantitie beléeuing them to bee tempered then with as great pittie and looue as now they are turned but to droppes of treacherous deceite All those placed in the bosome of thy newe Mistresse thou hast with thy selfe taken from me Alas how great a corsiue was it to my poore hart when once before I heard that by Iunos lawe thou werte combined to an other woman But perceiuing that the couenauntes in which thou didest binde thy selfe to me were not to be preferred before them although I did painefullie beare it yet ouercome with iust grefe I did with lesse anguish of minde endure it It is a great greefe that that which dooth iustly belong to one should vniustly be an others But now vnderstanding that by the self same lawes by the which thou wert boūd to me thou hast in casting me of giuē thy selfe to an other it is an vntollerable paine for me to sustaine But now I knowe the cause of thy stay openly perceiue my own simplicity with the which I euer beléeued that thou wouldest if possiblie haue once returned againe Alas Panphilus diddest thou stand in nede of so many guilefull artes and cunninge fetches to delude me Why diddest thou so often so solemnlie and so highlie sweare vnto mée with continuall asseueration of thy most entyre and sincere faith if thou diddest thinke thus to deceiue me Wherfore diddest not thou goe away without taking thy leaue or without making any promise of thy returne I did as thou knowest most feruentlie looue thée and thou wert not then so much entangled in my looue werte not so straightly my prisoner but at thy will as to my no small paine I now perceiue thou hast doone and without wasting such infinite and vaine teares thou mightest haue departed from me If thou haddest doon thus then I should without doubt haue sodainely dispaired of thy returne manifestlie knowing thy deceite and then with death ere this time or ese with iust obliuion my tormentes should haue béene concluded But because they might be the more prolonged in giuing me a little vaine hope thou hast continuated and nourished them still But I poore soule neuer deserued this at thy wicked handes Alas how swéete were thy salte teares to me but nowe knowing their vile effects I féele thē to be most bitter to my dying minde Alas if looue did so strongly rule in thée as he dooth féercelie vse his might and signorie in me tell me then if it was not sufficient for thée to be once captiuated but that the second time thou must fall into his forces againe But what doo I talke of looue For thou didst neuer looue but hast rather delighted to iest with young gentlewomen and hast made it but a sport to deceiue which thy subtilty their simplicity If thou had'st loued as I did beléeue thou did'st thou shouldest yet haue béene mine own And whose couldest thou haue béene that had looued thée more then I Alas what dame so euer thou be that hast taken him from me though thou art my mortall and onely enemie yet féeling the great gréefe which his falshood hath engēdred in my breast I must néedes take pittie on thée He that deceiueth once deceiueth euer Wherfore I warne thée to take héede of his deceites because he that hath once deceiued hath for euer after lost his honesty and shame and dooth make it no matter of conscience to deceiue euery one from thence foorth Alas wicked youth how many orisons and sacrifices haue I offered vp to the Gods for thy safetie and now thou must flie from mée to goe to an other O Goddes my praiers I perceiue are hearde but to the profitte of an other woman I haue the sorrowe and an other suckes the swéete I reape but dole and paine for my long deuotions and an other delight and pleasure of him who in right and equitie should be mine Ah wicked man was not my beauty correspondent to thy brauery my dooinges to thy desires and my nobilitie to thy Gentilitie Alas a great deale more Were my riches euer denied thée or dyd I take any of thine Ah neuer Did I euer in déede or demonstration looue any man besides thy selfe
of my loouing heart and engrafted him false woman in thine And yet I knowe that it is so But with such content and so mayest thou looue and liue I wishe as thou hast made me to doo And if perhappes it be to hard for him to fall in looue the third time then let the Goddes deuide your looues no otherwise then they did dissolue the Grecian Ladies and the Iudges of Ida or as they did disseuer that of the young man of Abydas and of his vigillant and sorrowfull Heroe or as they did breake of those of the miserable Sonnes of Eolus bending their sharpe iudgement onelie against thée he himselfe remaining safe O naughty woman thou must néedes haue thought viewing wel his come lie face that hée was not without some Lady and loouinge Mistresse If thou dyddest therefore suppose this which I knowe thou diddest imagine with what minde diddest thou practise to take that away which appertained to an other with an enuious and fraudulent minde I am sure Wherefore I will as my mortall enemie and wrongfull occupier of my goodes pursue thée euermore and as long as I liue will nourishe and preserue my life with hope of thy shamefull and cruell death Maledictions of anen amoured woman The which I wishe may not be so common and naturall as to others it is but that tourned into a lumpe of massie leade or Ixions heauie stoane tyed about thy necke thou maiest bee cast into some déepe and darke caue amongest the middest of thy enemies murdering handes and that neyther fier or funerall be graunted to burne and burie thy torne and massacred members but béeing pulled in péeces and scattered abroad they may serue to glutte the hungrie mawes of howling dogges and rauenous woolues Which I pray after they haue deuoured thy softe and tender flesh may for thy naked bones fiercelie iarre and cruellie fight one with an other so that gréedelye gnawing and breaking them in péeces with their whetted téeth they may liuely represent thy wicked praie and thée delighted with thy gluttonous rapine which in thy detested life time thou diddest fowlie committe There shall not escape one day not one night no not one hower but my readie mouth shal be full of endlesse curses Sooner shall the Celestiall Beare plumpe downe into the Ocean and the raging waues of Sicilian Caribdis shal be quiet and the barking Dogges of Scylla shal holde their peace and ripe Corne shall growe in the waues of the Ionian sea and the darkest night in her chéefest obscuritie shall shine like Titan his beames and water with fire death with life and the Sea with windes shall sooner with breachlesse faith bée at turce and make concorde togeather before I will reconcile and establishe a péece with thée vile monster of woman kinde But rather whilest golden Ganges shal be hote and Istrus colde and while highe hilles shall beare sturdie Okes and the softe and watred medowes gréene grasse so long foule brothell will I bée at continuall warre and defiaunce with thée which neyther mortall hatred nor death shall determine but pursuing thée amongest the deade gostes and fiendes of Hell with all those tormentes that are vsed there I wyll continuallie plague and eternally punishe thy damned soule for thy condemned and hatefull déede But if perchaunce thou doost suruiue mée whatsoeuer the manner of my death shal be and wheresoeuer my miserable Ghost shall wander from thence perforce I will labour to take it and entring into thy lothsome bodie wyll make thée as madde as the Virgins after they had receiued Apollo Or else comming in thy sight broade wakinge thou shalt sée mée in a most horrible shape and in thy fearefull sléepe oftentymes will I awake The virgins that is the deuiners and afright thée in the vncomfortable silence of the darke night And bréefely in whatsoeuer thou goest about or doost I will continually be a horrible obiecte to thy wicked eyes and a griping corsiue to thy hellishe heart and then remembring this cruell iniurie I will not suffer thée to bée quiet in any place And so long as thou lyuest with such a hideous furie my selfe the onelie worker of it thou shalt be continually haunted And when thou arte deade I wyll minister occasions of more dirie stratagems vnto thy miserably ghost Alas poore wretched that I am to what end are my botlesse words prolonged I barke and threatē thou doost bite hurt me and enfolding my beloued Panphilus betwéene thy vnworthy armes doost care as much for my menacing and offensiue wordes as high and mightie kings for their inferiour and impotent vassailes and no more then conquering Captaines for their confounded captiues Alas would I had now Dedalus hys arte or Medeas Cotche because making wings by the one for my shoulders and being caryed in the ayre by the other I might sodainely alight there where thou doost basely hide and nestle thy selfe with thy stolen loone O how many thundering wordes and what threatning inuectiues with bended browes would I cast out against that false youth and against thée vniust robber of an others felicitie O with what villanous termes would I reprehend your detestable follies And after that I had amazed appaled and attainted your wicked faces with a shamefull blush with recitall of these vnshamefull faultes I would then without delay procéede to sharpe reuenge and taking thy haire false enchauntresse in my handes with pulling and renting them and drawing thée héere and there by thy tresses before thy perfidus loouer I would glutte my swelling anger and tearing thy garmentes from thy disgraced body with reprochfull tauntes I would triumphe ouer thée mall apart and wicked traytresse Nor this should not suffise mee to fulfill my due anger nor be halfe enough for thée to expiate thy odious crime but with sharpe nayles I would disfigure that painted visarde which so much pleased his false eyes leauing an eternall memoriall of their caracters and reuenge in it And thy miserable body with my gréedy téeth péece-meale I should shyuer leauing the which afterwardes vnto him that dooth nowe flatter thée to heale againe my selfe ioyfull for parte of so small vengeaunce would hie me home againe to my sorrowfull habitacles Whylest I spake these wordes with fyrie sparkeling eyes with closed téeth and with bended fist as though I had béene at the very action it selfe I remained a prettie while silent and me thought I had indéede played one Pagent of my gréedy reuenge But the olde Nurce with mournefull voyce lamenting sayde thus vnto mée O daughter since thou doost now know the furious tyrannie of this passion which thou callest thy God who dooth this molest thée temperate thy selfe and bridle thy pittious complaintes And if the due pittie which thou shouldest take of thy owne selfe dooth not mooue thée héereunto The care of her honour must warne euery wise woman frō vaine thoughts deedes let the regarde of thy honour perswade thée to it which for an olde
thée driuen on on by manifest dispayre to kill thy selfe Thou hast passed away more then one whole yéere without him a pensiue and painefull life and wel maiest thou yet though with redoubted gréefe rubbe out an other Death dooth not fayle at anie time Any may haue death whensoeuer they will whensoeuer one dooth eyther desire or procure it which will be then as prest and more ready to come then nowe he is And thou maiest then depart with hope bee he neuer so malicious and cruell that béeing at thy present and haplesse death he will shedde some teares Recall therefore againe thy ouer rashe and cruell aduise Because whosoeuer hasteneth too much to wicked counsell Who hasteneth to wicked coūsell studieth to repent at leysure studyeth afterwardes to repent himselfe by leysure And this last parte of thy tragicall life which thou doost meane to play is not a thing that may afterwards be amended with vaine repentance which if it did follow could not with all the force it had recall it backe againe My mind béeing thus mollified with these arguments with a suddain altered purpose and inopinate aduise I kept a long time in an equall poyse of moderate reason But dreadfull Megera launcing it with sharpe and mortall woundes of gréefe disturbed by setled sences and dystourned my willing minde from following this good motion and egged me on to prosecute and to practise my first vnnaturall and cruell resolution which now I thought priuily and earnestly to bring to effect Wherefore to cloake it I alwayes shewed mine olde Nurce a merry countenaunce and did finely counterfette my sadde chéere with some pleasant kind of comfortable spéeches to whom because I would haue had her gone out of the Chamber I sayd Behold good Mother how I haue planted thy most true reasons graue coūsels with great profit in my breast but because this blind furie may depart out of my foolish mind withdraw thy selfe from hence a while leaue me to my rest that am nowe verie desirous to sléepe But shée béeing as full of subtiltie as my selfe and as one that did diuine of my secrete intent cōmended much the minde I had to sléepe and as shee was cōmanded went a little way from me into a dark corner hard by but would by no meanes goe out of the Chamber But because I woulde not giue her any occasion to suspect that which I went about cléene contrary to my minde and desire I séemed to like well of her staying still thinking that after she had séene mée sléepe shée woulde haue gone away With quiet rest therefore I fayned this imagined deceite in the which although nothing appeared outwardly yet thinking of that howre which should haue béene my last in this pleasing world full of bitter anguish and enuironed rounde about with legions of stinging gréefes I muttered forth these words to my selfe saying O miserable Fiammetta and of all Women that liue in this world the most miserable behold thy Glasse is nowe runne thy latest day howre and last periode is come And after that from the highest place of thy Pallace thou shalte haue throwne thy selfe headlong downe and that thy soule shall haue forsaken thy brused bodie then let thy teares bee dryed vp let thy sighes then surcease and thy sorrowes and desires be determined and then in one howre with the déere price of thy spilled blood with the raunsome of thy pale death thou shalt redéeme thy selfe from the bonds and captiuitie of loue And then shalt thou cancell the verball Obligation of Panphilus his promised and vnperformed faith Thys day thou shalt haue the deserued embracings of him This day the Millitary Ensignes of loue shall couer thy body wyth a dishonest and vnséemely torture This day thy wearyed spirits shall sée him This day thou shalt know for whom thou hast forsaken thy selfe This day of force thou shalt make him pittifull This day thou shalt beginne the vengeance of the yong and wicked Sorceresse and thy malitious copartner But Oh yée Goddes if any pittie doth harbour in your diuine breasts be fauourable to me in these my last prayers Suffer not my death and the memory of my life to passe amongst the rude populare with blotte of dishonor stayne of infamie And if in taking the same there bee any faulte committed behold there is a present satis-faction since that I die with feare to publish the occasion thereof The reuealing of which shoulde be certes no small comfort vnto mee if I beléeued that in talking of it it might escape without ignominious blame Make my déere Husbande also ye sacred Goddes suffer it with patience whose true loue if I had duely obserued and had rightly performed Iunos holy lawes I might haue yet liued a happye and merry Woman without troubling your diuine Godheads with these earnest prayers But like an ignoraunt Woman of my thrise happy estate and as others of my condition are wont to doo following euer the worst womē take euer the worst in hand and forsaking the best am nowe woorthely appaide with this vnfortunate and due recompence O fatall Atropos by thy infallible blowe to all the world I humbly pray thée that thou wouldest with thy power guide my falling body and dissolue my soule not with too great paine from the thredde of thy Sister Lachesis And thée O Minos receiuer of it by that loue that somtimes burned thée and by this blood which now I offer vnto thée euen by the same by what els may mooue thée infernall Iudge I obtest thée fauourably to conduct it to the places appointed by thy iust iudgment for it and that so cruell and sharpe torments be not prepared for it as to déeme and repute the infinite paines that it hath already passed but light in respect of them to come After I had spoken these wordes to my selfe incensed Tesiphon appeared before mine eyes and with a sencelesse murmure and contracted and menacing forehead made me afraide of a worser life to ensue then that which was alreadie past but afterwards with a kind of confused spéeche saying That nothing which was neuer tryed could be hurtful inflamed my troubled mind with a more eager desire of my owne ruine Wherfore perceiuing that my olde Nurce was not yet gone and doubting least her long tarying might not marre my matters béeing nowe resolued to die or that some other accident might not take it quite away with displayed armes vpon my bed and embracing it I said O bedde farewell praying the Gods that thou maist bee more fortunate and gracious to thy next Mistresse whom thou shalt receiue then thou hast béene to me After which words my eies rolling about the chamber the which I neuer thought to haue séene any more surprised nowe with suddaine griefe I was depriued of the light of the Heauens and groueling vp and downe surseysed I know not with what a shiuering and trembling feare thorow out all my body I would haue rysen vppe
admirable Cittie the cruell death of so Princly a Husbande of so many renowned sons and most faire daughters to sée the destruction of so manie magnanimious Nephewes valiant Cosins and Allyes the rapine of so great riches the hauocke of infinite treasure the spoyle of so manie Virgins the rauishment of wiues and of all sorts of Women the extinction of such excellencie the losse of so many Kinges hewed and slaine right downe such blodie massacres and pittiful stratagemes of the dismayed and betrayed Troyans the impietie perpetrated in the Temples polluted battered and made plaine with the ground and the indignitie and irreuerence doone to their dishonoured chased Goddes And séeing her selfe to be olde and sorrowfully recalling to her wounded minde what mighty Hector was what valiant Troylus what doughtie Deiphobus what her yongest darling Polydore and the shyning vertues of manie noble men more and howe vnfortunatlie shee sawe them all die remembring also howe the generous bloode of her late mighty and maiesticall Husbande was cruelly shed in her own lappe before the holie Aulters and how she saw fatall Troy whilome reared vppe to the skyes with stately Towres famous for magnificent buildings full of princely Pallaces and very populous with noble and worthy Cittizens consumed with deuouring flames and wholy rased frō the earth And besides all this the pittifull sacrifice of her fayre Daughter Polyxena offered vppe by vnpittifull Pyrrhus to the shadow of Achilles Oh with what excessiue greefe and anguish of minde must we néedes thinke that shee behelde all these thinges But short was the sorrowe which her olde and féeble minde not able to endure the same wandering out of her right course made her madde as her barking complaints amiddes the fieldes and woods did plainely shew But I with a more firme and perfect memory then is néedefull for such woes to my great gréefe doo continually remaine in my sorrowfull and sound witts and doo discerne more and more the preposterous occasions of my present woes and of my future sorrowes Because my manyfolde harmes enduring longer then hers I thinke them be they neuer so light to be more gréeuous as I haue many times said then the greatest and most sensible paines which is ended in a short time Sophonisba equally participating the aduersities in her Widdowhoode Sophonisba and the ioy of her mariage in one selfe same moment almost of time iocande and sad an honorable and glad spouse and a poore prisoner inuested and despoyled of a Kingdome and finally in these shorte alterations of tottering Fortune drinking her fatall poyson full of anguishe and deadly gréefe appeareth next vnto my thoughts Behold her sometimes a most high and famous Quéene of the Numidians afterwards the martiall affayres of her Parents and fréends hauing but an aduerse and lucklesse issue her Husbande Siphax taken from her and become prisoner to Massinissa King of Marsilia warring vnder the Romaine Ensignes and her selfe in one howre depriued of her Kingdome and prysoner also in the mids of her enemies Campe Massinissa afterwardes making her his wife and she restored to the same againe O with what despight gréefe and bitter anguishe of mind doo I beléeue that shee sawe these thinges succéede abruptlie one after another Nor yet secure of her voluble and flattering Fortune with howe heauy a hart did shee celebrate her newe espousalles which gréefes and extreame myseries with a tragicall ende at last and with a stout enterprise she did fully finish Because not one naturall day after the nuptiall rytes béeing yet spent and scarcely thinking with her selfe that she remained in the regiment and that she did beare the former sway of Scepter and warring thus within her selfe and thinking of the newe loue of Massinissa not framed well to her minde the olde loue of Siphax béeing not yet extinct with no trembling hart but wyth a bolde hande receiued the mortiferous poysonne which her newe Husbande sent her by her owne Seruaunt the fearfull messenger of her vntimely death and with certaine dispitifull and premised spéeches without any signe and token of feare in her resolute face druncke of the same immediatly after yéelding vppe her ghost O how bitter may one imagine that her life was if she had had any longer time to meditate and think of her death that did followe Who therefore is not to be placed but amongst those Women To think of greefe maketh it greater who haue béene but meanely and not much afflicted with sorow considering that her spéedy death did preuent her beginning woes where as mine haue continued with me a long time together and yet doo accompanye me against my wyll and are sworne to remaine styll wyth me to make themselues more mighty thereby with their vnited forces to infest more their vsurped habitation After her doleful Cornelia oppressed with infinit sorrow was obiected to my musing thoughts Cornelia whō smiling Fortune had exalted so high to make her the first wife of Crassus and afterwards great Pompey his spouse whose worthy valor had almost gotten him the chiefest principality in Rome attayned to the sole gouernmēt of all the Empire annexed vnto it Who notwithstanding-after that frowning Fortune changed her copie in maner of a fugitiue fled miserably out of Rome and afterwards out of all Italy her selfe also with her husbande béeing fiercely pursued of conquering Caesar And leauing her in Lesboe after many turmoyles of inconstant fortune ouercomming his puissaunt competitour in Thessaly by whose discomfiture and ouerthrowe hee recouered hys force and might againe which not long since by his valiaunt enemy was greatly abated And besides all this with hope to reintegrate and to renue his power in the conquered East floting vpon the surging Seas and arriued in the kingdoms of Egypt offering himselfe voluntarily to the defence and trusty tuition of yong King Ptolomie béeing there cruelly doone to death she sawe his embrued and headlesse troncke tossed and beaten vpp and downe the raging waues Which things if euery one by it selfe or altogether be duely considered we must néedes say that without al compare they afflicted most gréeuously her dying soule But the sounde and comfortable counsell of the sage Vtique Cato and the lost hope in these instabillities of Fortune to regaine her Pompey againe in a little time mittigated nay rather adnihilated her former sorrowes wheras I styll nourished with vaine hope not able by any counsell or comfort to driue away the same but by the simple aduise of my olde Nurce equally knowing of my sorrowes from the beginning in whose hart I knewe good will more ryfe then wysedome rype in her heade because beleeuing oftentimes to remedy my gréefe shee hath redoubled them doo euermore remain liue cōsuming my selfe in bitter plaints and confoūded in a thousand doubts and anxieties of minde There are also many Cleopatra who I think doo beléeue that Cleopatra Quéene of Egypt did suffer intollerable gréefe and that her paines
did greatly excéede mine Because firste séeing her selfe conioyned with her brother in the Kingdome and lyuing in all manner of pleasure and delights and afterwards cast by him into prysonne was thought beyonde all measure to be charged with insupportable dolour But the present hope of that which after happened made her to passe it ouer more lightly For shée béeing deliuered out of pryson became Caesar his louing and belooued Ladie But afterwards forsaken of him there are who think that for gréefe of these crossing cares her tender hartstringes did well nie break a sunder not regarding that there was a certaine touch of vnconstancie breach of loue as wel in her as in him which at both their pleasures they did forsake and take from one another and bestowe it els where as often times she plainely shewed how fitly she could doo the same But the Gods forbid that such consolation befal to my comfortlesse and afflicted soule For he was neuer yet or euer shall be besides him to whom by many desertes I haue auowed the whole terme and trauaile of my life that coulde affyrme or yet can say that I was euer his but in hart affianced onely to Panphilus and whose I wyll for euer remaine Nor let him hope whosoeuer he be that any other loue shall neuer be of such force as to driue his out of my faithful breast Besides this if she had béene at Caesar his departure left altogether comfortlesse by him there woulde be some againe who ignoraunt of the trueth would beléeue that this was very gréeuous vnto her but yet it was not so Because if she were on the one side agréeued at his departure the ioy on the other and the comfort that she receiued of her lyttle Sonne Caesarionem which she had by him and of her Kingdome restored to her againe counteruayling her gréefe nay excéeding all her former sorrowes whatsoeuer did yéelde her treble consolation This ioy hath force and strength enough to ouercome greater anguishe and more extreame cares of mind then those of them who loue but a little and that but coldly to as euen now I saide that she did But that which for the accomplishment of her greatest gréefe was annexed to the rest was that she was the wyfe of Marke Antonie whom shee had with her libydinous entisements styrred vp to ciuill nay vnciuill warres against her owne brother aspyring thereby and hoping by the victory of them to haue béene crowned Empresse of the Romane monarchy But dubble lose arising to her by this in one hower which was the deth of her slaine husband of her frustrat hope of al other womē made her as it is cōmonly thought the most vnfortūat most sorrowful Lady beyond al conceit to be confounded with the greatest cares and gréefes that might be And considering truely so high a mynde and so prowde a conceite which to be first in imagination and afterwardes in indéede sole and soueraigne Ladie and Quéene of the whole circuite of the earth by one infortunate battaile to be dashed and cast downe our sex also being naturally giuen to aspyre and domination besids the foyle of the conquered the triumph of the victor and besides this the losse also of so déere and braue a husband it cannot be otherwise apprehended but that it was a wonderful corsiue to her noble heart and an extreme torment of her dismayed soule But sodanely she found out a wholesome medicine which did spéedely helpe and heale this mortall mallady and that was a straung kinde of death Which although for the tyme it was very cruell and sharpe was not for all that in execution any long time a dooing Because in one little hower two venomous vipers may at the pappes of a yoūg and tender woman sucke out both blood and life as they did out of miserable Cleopatras brest O how many times would I haue doon the like although for a lesser occasion according to the opinion of many if I had béene peremtorilie forsaken or if for feare also of ensuing infamie thereof I hadde not withdrawen my selfe With this and the aforesayd Ladies the execellencie of Cyrus killed of Tomaris and drowned in a boll of his owne blood the fier and water of Craesus Cyrus Craesus Persians Pyrrhus Darius Iugurtha Dionisius Agamemnon the ritch Kindomes of the Persians the magnificency of Pyrrhus the power of Darius the crueltie of Iugurtha the tirannie of Dionisius the highnesse of Agamemnon and the sodaine chaunges of many other more occured to my thoughtes All which were stinged with these gréefes and spurned at the féete of scornefull fortune as the foresayd women or else altogeather comfortlesse left of to worse mishappes Who also with sodaine argumentes of their better fare were aided nor remaining any longe time in them did not féele the greatnesse and gréefe of them so entirely as I doo Company as it is aboue said doth lessen the greefe Theistes Tereus Whilest I went recounting the auncient sorrowes in this sorte as you haue heard and séeking in my minde to finde out some teares and sorrowes in most respectes like vnto mine owne because hauing company I might not so greatly lament and might suffer my gréefe with more patience Those of Theistes and of Tereus bothe which were the miserable Sepultures of their owne Sons were obiected to my memorie And I maruel what vnnaturall and forced patience fearing their inward bitinges and what pittilesse restrainte did moderate those sauage Sires from launching theyr sides and with slicing kniues to make way for their Sonnes strugling in theyr paternall bowels and striuing to come foorth abominating that wretched place into which they were so rauenously gulfed But these also burst out with that they could choaked at once theyr hatred and gréefe togeather and so tooke in a manner a certaine comforte in theyr harmes perceiuing that without faulte they were accounted miserable men but of theyr people that which happened not to mée For I haue compassion borne me of that which did neuer gréeue mee and dare not discouer that whych dooth most of all afflicte me which thing if I durst doo I doubt not but as others in my miserable case haue found out some remedie for theyr paynes Lycurgus so might I perhappes finde out some ease and helpe as well as they The pittifull teares of Licurgus and of his house iustly powred foorth for dead Archemorous killed of the Serpent come also sometimes to my minde and accompanied with the continuall sighes of sorrowful Atalanta mother of Parthenopaeus killed in the Thebane Campes Atalanta which came so properly and so néerely to mée with theyr effectes that I could scarce conceyue any greater then them in my minde If had not prooued them my selfe I say that they were full of such great sorrowe that they could not be more But euery one of them are with so high glory eternished that they might bée estéemed in a manner merry accidents then mornefull
beare thou neuertheles their scornes and digest their taunts which are but the least part of our great gréefes and which séeme nothing at all to those that wee haue already passed And put her in mind that Fortune is euermore vnconstant and wauering by which Caueat she may knowe that by the ordinary course of her mutabilitie she may make vs gladde againe and may bring her to that kinde of painefull life as she hath now driuen vs vnto and that then with like mocks and flowtes we will requite and pay hers home again But if thou shalt finde any one that in reading of thée cannot kéepe the teares from her eyes but that condolent and pittifull of our cares and paines doth with the same multiply thy blots receiue and gather them as most precious and holy drops in thy bosome and mingle them with mine and thē shewing thy selfe more pittifull afflicted request her humbly that she would pray for me to him who dooth with golden feathers in a moment visit all the worlde so that entreated by a more religious mouth and by more meritorious prayers then mine and therefore more plyable to the peticions of others then to my plaints he may lighten my heauy sorowes and take away my oppressing anguish of mind And whosoeuer she be euen with that forme of wordes which to miserable wretches is graunted most exaudible I pray and doo with those prayers most hartily obtest which are in the eares of the hearers of them most effectuall that shee may neuer taste of such bytter miseries and that the placable Gods may be euer fauourable vnto her and that she may happily and perpetually enioy her loue according to her owne desires But if among the amorous company of wanton yong Gentlewomen posting thée from one hand to another thou doost by chaunce come to the fingering of myne enemie and to the wrongfull vsurpresse of my felicitie flye incontinently from thence as from an infectious naughty place and discouer not one of thy leaues lynes or letters to her robbing and bewitching eyes least that vnderstanding the second time of our woes paines she might haue more occasion to boast and brag againe that she hath wounded and confounded mee But yet if it chaunce that by force she kéepe thée and manger thy téeth wyl sée read thée then offer thy selfe in such sort to her that she may not laugh but lament in reading of my hard mishaps and pricked with the sting of her guilty conscience she may be in minde perswaded to restore to me againe my vniustly detayned Louer O what happy pittie and holy pietie should this bee and then howe would the sower fruite of this harshe paines séeme swéet to my distempered taste Shunne the eyes of men of whom if thou canst not choose but be séene speake vnto them saying O vngratefull generation decidours and deceiuours of simple women it is not méete for you considering your demerites to looke into holy things and fraught full of such pitty as this is and knowing your remorce of pittie to bee so small as your impietie and cruelty is great vnfitte to meddle with distressed and pittifull things But if to him who is the orgaine of all our harmes thou doost chaunce to come with this exclamation a farre of gréete him from me saying O thou which art more rigorous and harder then anye Oake flye from hence and doo not violate mee with thy vnwoorthy and polluted handes Thy corrupted faith is an occasion of all this which I bring with me But yet if wyth a curteous gentle and indifferent minde thou wilt reade me recognizing thy former faults and present iniuries vniustly doone against her whose messenger of sorrow I am and that returning to her againe thou desirest to bee pardoned of her then boldly sée touch and spare not to reade me But if thou wylt not performe this last requisite duetie it is not then so decent and honest a thing for thée to sée the pittifull teares which thou hast vnpittifully caused and then woulde it bee againe but small for thy credite to encrease them more and more if in reading mee thou doost as I thinke thou canst not persist in thy first and froward wyll And if perhaps any curious and dainty Gentlewomanne doth dislike of thy words so rudely composed and so disorderly couched together tell her that that which is vnpolished and vnpleasant for her fine conceit shee may if shee please ouerslyppe and let passe because braue filed spéeches require cléere mindes and frée from all hurtfull passions and are best beséeming merry and calme times And therefore thou shall say vnto her that shee may a great deale sooner fall in admiration howe my troubled witte my tyred penne and paynes dyd last out but for that little which thou doost tell out of order considering that feruent loue on the one side and burning iealosie on the other with diuers conflicts held my sorowful soule in continuall battayles thy obscure and clowdy times féeding the one and contrary Fortune fauouring the other Thou maist goe safely away as I beléeue and securely escape from all awaytes layd to entrappe thée and néedest not care for the cauils of captious heades because thou mayst be assured that Enuie with her venimous téeth or infectious tongue shall neyther byte nor styng thée But if perchaunce thou shalt finde any which I thinke thou neuer canst that béeing more miserable then thy selfe might emulate thée as one more happy and not so wretched as her selfe then patiently suffer thy selfe to be bitten But I doo not well knowe what part of thée shall receiue any newe offence since that with the cruel blowes of angry Fortune I sée thée torne and broken in euery place Thou canst not be iniuried now anie more by her then already thou art nor from any high and happy seate is she able to make thée fall down to a more vile and base place for so lowe as none may bee lower is that where now thou doost remaine And admit that she hath not thought it méete to conioyne vs with the superficiall part of the earth and dooth still séeke and suppeditate straunger occasions to interre vs vnder it we are so beaten and so enured to aduersities that with those shoulders with which wée haue sustained and doo yet beare the greatest and most heauie burdens of woes and sorrow wee shall with lesse payne and not with so great gréefe beare lighter and endure lesser then those And therefore let her assaile vs when and where she will Liue therefore For nothing may depriue thee of this And remaine an eternall example and perpetuall president of bitter anguish and gréefe of thy wofull Mistresse to those who liue in happy mirth and heauy miserie Bueno fin haze el qual bien amando muera ⧠A Table of the contentes of the seuen bookes of Fiammetta Of the first Booke FIammetta her dreame in the which all her future infelicitie is shewed and set downe
in whose poynts and edges consisteth the onely hope of my desires Or els strangling cordes lothsome and swelling poysons mortiferous hearbs choaking ryuers burning coales and consuming flames What doth this vigilant care auaile thée anie more but to prolong a little this yrkesome life and to reserue it to that kinde of death which euen nowe without touch or staine of infamie might haue set peace to my afflicted soule which by thy pittilesse interruptions deferred thou shalt doubtlesse at one time or other make most infamous vnto al the worlde and moste shamefull vnto mee Because death is in euerye place and consisteth in euery thing Let me therefore nowe die least growing to a more gréeuous condition of life with a more inhumaine minde and cruell hand I prepare for my selfe the most miserable and cruell death that may be Whylst wretched Womanne I spake these wordes I coulde not keepe my handes styll but sometimes fallinge on one Seruaunt and sometimes on an other catching some by theyr locks I pulled the heayre from theyr heade and fastening my nayles in the faces of other some I made the bloode to spynne out of theyr cheekes tearynge from othersome their poore garments from theyr backs But alas neither the olde Nurce nor the mangled seruauntes aunswered me one word againe but lamenting my sencelesse actions executed their pittious functions towardes me whom then with gentle wordes and entreties I endeuoured to gaine to my will which serued my turne nothing at all Wherefore lyke a franticke Hecuba making a great noyse and with outragious spéeches I beganne to exclaime saying O wicked handes and prone to al mischéefe you the adorners of my hurtfull beauties were a great occasion to make me become such an one as to séeme so fayre and pleasing in his eyes that I was desired of him whome I looue most of all Since therefore these euilles haue spronge by your helpe in guerdon of this vse now your wicked crueltie vpon my accursed body Rent it in péeces and open it and diued in my hotte blood pull out from my accursed bodie my miserable heart and inexpugnable soule Teare out I say this false hart wounded with blind looue And since that all meanes of mortall and murdering instrumentes are taken from thée with these reuenging fingers the adorners of my banefull beauties and with these sharpe nayles péece-meale dismember and without remorce of pittie rent it out Alas that my bootelesse spéeches did menace and promise me desired euilles and commended them to the execution of willing handes but the vigilant care of the prying seruantes béeing alwaies ready to the hinderaunce of them withhelde them against my will And the mournefull and importunate Nurce with dolefull speeches after all this beganne thus to say Affectionate comforts O déerest daughter by these miserable breasts which were the scources of thy alimentes I humbly pray thée that with a quiet and appeased minde thou wouldest giue eare to my wordes By them I will labour to mittigate thy passions that thou shalt not sorrow any more or to driue quite away perhapes from thée the blinde anger that dooth incend thée to this kinde of furie or else with a more remisse and calme minde to make thée suffer the same or else spéedely to forsake it Wishing thée to reduce that to thy erred memory that shall reuiue thée and be no smal health and great honour vnto thée It is therefore expedient for thée good Ladie most famous for so rare vertues as thou art endued with al the gifts of nature and fortune not to be subiect to pinching sorrow nor as a woman ouer-come to turne thy backe from daring dollours from threatning mishappes and from persuinge woes It is not a poynt of vertue to require death and to call vpon it nor a parte of magnanimitie to be afraide of life It is not vertue to desire death and to be afraid of life as thou art but rather to countermaund pressing euilles and to flie away before them is not the part of couragious and resolute mindes Whosoeuer dooth abate his destinies and dooth contemne deuide and cast from him the profittes pleasures contentes and goodes of his life as thou hast don I knowe not what néede he hath to séeke death and cannot tell why he feareth life since that the one and the other is a will of a timerous persō Now if into the darke dungeon of extreame misery thou doost desire wil-fully to cast thy selfe séeke not death because this is the last expeller and extinguisher of it Let this foolish fury fly out of thy mind by the which mée thinketh thou doost séeke both to haue and to lose thy loouer Why doost thou beléeue by béeing dissolued into nothing to get him againe To whom I aunswered not a word But there was such a rumour spread thorow out the wide house thorow out the Cittie and country rounde about that all my seruauntes no otherwise then at the howling of some hungrie woolfe all the néerest inhabitauntes are woont to méete together came running to me from euerie place and all of them afrighted with sodaine sorrow demanded what the matter was But I had already forbidden them that knew it to tell any thing at all Wherefore couering the horrible accident with a cunning lie they rested all satisfied My déere husband made hast thether and my louing sisters my carefull parents and fréends with panting fainting breasts came running to me And euery one of them equally deluded with a false tale did instéed of a most wicked woman repute and praise me for a holy Saint And euerie one after much wéeping first reprooued my life punished with so much sorrowe labouring afterwards to comfort me vp againe But from thence foorth it fell out that some beléeued that I was haunted and stinged with some fury and therefore like a madde woman continually watched mee But some more pittifull then the rest marking my mildnes and iudging it as it was indéede but a certaine gréefe of minde with taking great compassion of me laughed at that which the rest both dyd and sayd And visited thus of many I remained euery day more amazed then other And vnder the discrete garde of the sage Nource I was closely kept And as there is no anger so burning or so extreame All anger with time is brought to nothing but by course of time is made colde againe So remaining certaine dayes in this case as I haue set downe I came to my selfe at last againe and did manifestly know the Nurces wordes to be true And with bitter teares therefore I bewailed my passed follies But yet although that the heate of my rage in time was spent and became nothing my looue neuertheles did not one whitte decrease but taried with me still by reason of the melancholie vsed in other accidents before which now continually I had taking it gréeuously at the hart to be forsaken for the vniust looue of an other woman Wherefore I conferred with