at ten years of age and was but 15 when she hid the spies as some report Leo saith that in Africk one shall scarce finde a Maid at 14 years of age for when the vehemency of Adolescency which is betwixt the age of 14 and 28 beginneth to tickle them and when they have greatest need of a bridle then they let loose the raines committing themselves to the subjection of this passion There are many forward Virgins of our age are of opinion that this commodity can never be taken up too soon and howsoever they neglect in other things they are sure to catch time by the forelock in this if you aske them this question they will resolve you 14 is the best time of their age if 13 be not better then that and they have for the most part their Mothers example before them to confirme and prove their ability and this withall they hold for a certain ground that be they never so little they are sure thereby to become no lesse yet let me tell these forward Girles the effects that most commonly ensue are dangerous births diminution of statute brevity of life and such like This passion is more tolerable in youth and such as are in their hot bloud and shall I be bold to speak it without offence to the stale Batchelors that Love is not properly nor naturally in season but in that age next unto infancy Nunc grata juveni Venus Venus to young men is a welcome guest But for an amorous complexion to cover glowing fires beneath the embers of a gray-beard to see an old man to dote upon Women what more odious what more absurd yet in some this Idalian fire flameth more in their old age then in their youth Aristotle saith that old men are not out of the reach of Cupid nor bid defiance to Venus till they have passed the age of 70 years And truly a gray-head and a wanton-heart are ill suited it is more ridiculous to see it in Women then men It rageth in all ages yet is it most common and evident among young and lusty persons in the flower of their age high fed and living idly for such as are continually imployed it scarce touches them till they come to be 24 or 25 years of age and then but very lightly according to the speech of Lyndamor to Pallemas that he had arrived to the age of 25 years before he ever felt any effects as Love useth to produce in hearts of his age Not but that he was of his naturall inclination as much devoted servant unto Ladies but being continually exercised in businesse much different from idlenesse he had no pleasure to let Love sow any seeds in his soul for ever since he was able to bear armes moved by a generous instinct which invites noble spirits unto dangerous enterprizes he was perpetually in wars where he did most heroically signalize himself Some have given two reasons why youth is more subject to this illimited passion then any other age The first is That naturall heat or vigour which is most predominant in youth provoking him to attempt the greatest of difficulties rather then suffer the repulse where he affects The second is Want of imployment which begets this distemperature Vacuo pectore regnat amor Love playes hai-day in an idle person Amor otiosae cura est solicitudinis saith Theophrastus it is an affection of an idle minde Also it fosters it self by a writ of Priviledge in the hearts of young men who abounding with much bloud and consequently with great store of Vitall spirits are more fiery and ardent making them full of wanton and youthfull desires I have many times observed a great sympathy and affection young boyes and girles have one to another and indeed there is a pretty pleasing kind of wooing drawn from a conceived but concealed fancy which suits well with these amorous younglings they could wish with their hearts ever to be in the presence of those they love so they might not be seen by them Might they chuse they would converse with them freely consort with them friendly and impart their truest thoughts fully yet would they not have their bashful loves finde discovery They would be seen yet seem obscured Love but not disclose it see whom they love but not be eyed Yea which hath struck me into more admiration I have known divers whose unripe years half assured me that their green youth had never instructed them in the knowledge nor brought them to conceit of such vanities excellently well read in Love Lectures and prompt enough to shew proofes of their reading in publick places The amorous toyes of Venus and Adonis with other Poems of like nature they peruse with such devotion and retain with such delectation as no subject can equally relish their unseasoned palats like those lighter discourses If this passion begin in infancy and so continue it is more affectionate and strong because that custom which is taken in that age doth by degrees become a nature which growing up with years growes solid and unalterable Fronutus saith of Love Juvenis pingitur quod amore plerumque Juvenes capiuntur sic mollis formosus nudus quod simplex apertus hic affectus ridet quod oblectamentum prae ase ferat cum phiretra c. The reason why Love was painted young is because young men are most apt to Love soft fair and fat because such folks are soon captivated naked because all true affection is simple and open he smiles because merry and given to delights hath a Quiver to shew his power and none can escape him old nor young is blinde because he sees not where he shootes nor whom he hits c. Let us now Demonstrate what temperatures and complexions do sympathize together and are most prone and apt to receive the impression of this Passion THe diversitie of complexions breeds a diversity of desires whereby they judge diversly of things present and follow those which do best agree with their constitutions whereby we see that in the election of any thing whatsoever the appetite doth accommodate it self to the temperature of the body for we see Men fit themselves in their customs and carriages to their corporeal temperature ever desiring to converse with their like for Nature would so have it to this only end that every one should be esteemed and be loved and they that are not absolutely faire in every part should not be despised but being received into grace and favour with their Lovers might live honestly in mutuall society and in good esteem with them Every like desireth and loveth his like whereby ever for the publick good there remaineth nothing despised because there is nothing but hath its like And therefore to the eyes of a Moor the black or tawny countenance of his Moorish Damosel pleaseth best and yet such a one would almost turn the stomach of a Sanguine complexioned English man to look upon Now to discover those who are
most prone and apt to love The fairest are inclined to love because the cause of love is beauty and he or she that hath the cause in potentia doth easily produce the effect And therefore saith the divine Plato that Love reigneth most in the hearts of those young men the which he that hath but half an eye may dayly see that are honorably born and tenderly brought up who as apt receptacles receive into them that passion Or more probably Venus being the giver of beauty likewise inclineth those to love upon whose nativity she cast her influence for it seldome falleth out that beauty is separated from the force of love and for as much as custome in all things hath the force of Love they that are beautiful following custome cannot but Love Galen saith that the manners of the minde do follow the temperature of the body We see those that are of a sanguine complexion are generally very amorous Hairinesse saith Aristotle is a signe of abundance of excrements and therefore much addicted to this passion Venus tickling them with a delight of emptying of their seminal vessels for a Woman cannot endure a Man with a little beard for that they are commonly cold and impotent The aire Climate and place of ones birth are of very great consideration in this particular And now being in the bowels of Love some will ask Whether Men or Women be soonest allured and whether be most constant the male or the female I answer That most Women are to be won with every pleasing winde in whose sex there is neither force to withstand the assaults of Love as we shall hereafter more fully declare neither constancy to remain faithful therefore Women are the soonest allured and most inconstant Likewise a hot and dry temperature or else such a one as is only hot is much inclined to love for a Man that is hot is hairy high coloured with a black thick curled head of hair great veines and big voice and what a pretious thing a black Man is in a Womans eye I will refer to the judgement of their own sex I dare boldly affirme that that man hath a hot and dry Liver and his generative parts are also of the same temper and so consequently very much inclined to this passion which is also confirmed by that of Galen that a hot complexion or such a one that is hot and dry is much more prone and subject to a violent and irregular love then any other temperature or complexion whatever from whence we may infer that Men are oftner and more grievously tormented with this malady then Women whose temperature is lesse hot and lesse dry But Women are naturally of meaner spirits and lesse courage then Men having weaker reasons and therefore are lesse able to make resistance against so strong a passion And hereto accords that of Hero in her Epist. to Leander in Ovid Vrimur igne pari sed sum tibi viribus impar Fortius ingenium suspicor esse viris Vt corpus teneris sic mens infirma puellis Our flames are equall but your kinder fate Hath lent you strength your hearts to temperate But in our weaker sex our passions finde A feeble body bears a feeble minde Women often become frenetick and mad for Love but rarely men unlesse it be some effeminate weak spirited fellowes Upon this I took occasion one day to visite Bedlam and for one Man that was there for Love I found five Women and those Men that were there were such as had lived effeminately idly and dieted themselves riotously and delicately Ficinus cap. 19. Comment. in convivium Platonis saith Irretiuntur cito quibus nascentibus Venus fuerit in Leone vel Luna Venerem vehementer aspexerit quia eadem complexione sunt praediti They are most prone to burning lust or the vehement scorching of the Idalian flame that have ♀ in ♌ in their Horoscope when the ☽ and ♀ be mutually aspected or when ♄ is in a △ or ⚹ aspect with the ☉ or ☿ especially if it happen in the second or fifteenth day of the ☽ or such as be of the complextion of ♀ and that is a white ruddy complexon fair and lovely eyes a little black a round and fleshie face fair hair and smooth a rolling eye and one desirous of trimming and making himself neat both in clothes and body In whose geniture ♂ and ♀ are in ☌ ⚹ or △ Plerumque amatores sunt si foemina meritrices they are undobtedly inclined to love and erorick melancholy and if Women Queans for Martialists and Men of War are easily taken prisoners by Cupid Cardan saith of himself in the judgement of his geniture that a ☌ of ♀ and ☿ in the dignities of ☿ perpetually troubled him with venereal thoughts that he could never rest so strong was their influence upon him In whose genesis ♀ shall be in a masculine signe and in the termes or ☠of ♃ signifies the parties to be very much inclined to the sports of ♀ Phlegmatick persons are rarely captivated and those who are naturally melancholy lesse then they but if they once be catched in the snare unlesse they hang themselves which they will be much inclined to they will never be free But as Mr. Burton saith the Colts evil is common to all complexions whilest they are young and lusty And some refer it adtesticulorum crisin to the hot temperature of the resticles Now to declare what time is most fit and delightfull to Lovers It is that time of the year when the longest dayes make the evenings most delightful and dispose Lovers to accommodate their ears to the chirping melody of the airy Quire which awakeneth a marvellous desire in their hearts May is called Loves moneth either because the temperature of the season which is hot and moist of the nature of Venus doth incline all creatures to chuse and select their mates or because Venus at that time doth usher in Aurora and by her influence doth excite the hearts of Lovers to rise early to view the richnesse of Flora and the ear-pleasing harmony and love-exciting melody of the Nightingale In what principal part of the Microcosme or Body of Man is the seat of Love LOve having his first entrance in at the eyes which are the faithful spies and intelligencers of the soul stealing gently through those sluces and so passing insensibly to the liver it there presently imprinteth an ardent desire of the object which is either really lovely or at least appears to be so But distrusting its own strength and fearing it is not able to overthrow the reason it presently layeth siege to the heart of which having once fully possest it self as being the strongest fort of all it assaults so violently the reason and all the noble parts of the brain that they are suddenly forced to yield themselves up to its subjection So that now the poor enamorato or Loves weather beaten widgeon thinks of nothing but his
therewith When aged they use in vain to make themselves fair by renting their faces with painting though more cause to rent them with their nails out of penitent indignation Thus painting used to reconcile in time widens the breaches in their faces and their flesh tainted at least with the poison thereof like rotten vessels spring the more leaks the more they are repaired And the truth is I would have such as these to joyn themselves with Souldiers for so both may fight under their colours Sixthly Pleasant and well composed looks glances smiles counter-smiles plausible gestures pleasant carriage and behaviour affable complements a comely gate and pace daliances playes revels maskes dancing time place opportunity conference and importunity are materials of which Loves torch is made also no stronger engins then to hear and read of Love toyes fables and discourses so that many by this means become distracted for these exercises do as well open the pores of the heart as the body And truly such heart-traps are laid by cunning beauties in such pretty ambuscadoes that he must be a crafty Fox that can escape them for there is still some peculiar grace in a Woman as of beauty good discourse wit eloquence or honesty which is the primum mobile or first mover and a most forcible loadstone to attract the favours and good will of Mens eyes eares and affections unto them It is a plain ornament becomes a Virgin or virtuous Woman and they get more credit in a wise mans eye and judgement by their plainness and are more comely and fair then they that are set out with their patches bables puffed up and adorned like Jayes in Peacocks feathers Ladies let the example of Lucretia be set before you who stamped a deeper impression of affection in the heart of the virtuous beholder by addressing herself to houswifery and purple spinning then others could ever do with their rare banquets and riotous spending All are not of Aegisthus minde who was taken with a complement of lightness This argued that a youthful heat had rather surprised his amorous heart then any discreet affection preferred him to his choise This love is fading for where virtue is not directrice in our choise our mindes are ever prone to change we finde not what we expected nor digest well what we formerly affected all is out of square because discretion contrived not the building It is a decent and comely habit best becomes Ladies to be wooed in and contents discreet Suitors most to have them won in Conforme then your generous dispositions to a decency of fashion that you may attract to your selves and beget in others motives of affection whose private virtues render you to the imitation and publick to the admiration of all Seventhly a tender and hot heart lucid spirits vegetous and subtle bloud are causes of amorous fires a small beauty makes a great impression in them Eightly Obsequious love-letters to insinuate themselves into their Mistresses favour are great incitements they are the life of Love The pen can furrow a fond females heart And pierce it more then Cupids faigned dart Letters a kinde of Magick virtue have And like strong Philters humane souls inslave Ninthly Words much corrupt the disposition they set an edge or glosse on depraved liberty making that member the vent and spout of their passion and making the hearts of credulous Women melt with their ear-charming Oratory The tenth Love is caused very often by the ear as Achilles Tacitus saith Ea enim hominum intemperantium libido est ut etiam fama ad amandum impellantur audientes aequè afficiantur ac videntes such is that intemperance and passion of some Men that they are as much inamoured by report as if they see them Oft-times the species of Love are received into the fantasie as well by relation as by sight for we see by the eyes of our understanding No face yet seen but shafts that Love lets flie Kils in the ear as well as in the eie Also The pleader burns his books disdains the Law And fals in love with whom his eyes ne'r saw Lycidas declaring to Cleon his Love towards Astrea said Whether she was really fair or no I know not but so it was that so soon as ever I heard the report of her I loved her Some report saith he that Love proceeds from the eyes of the party loved but this cannot be for her eye never looked upon me nor did mine see her so much as to know her again For an illustrious name is a strange course To attract Love and good report hath force We purpose now to treat of Money causing Love That is the general humour of the world and in this Iron age of ours and in that commodity stears our affections the love of riches being most respected for now a Maid must buy her husband with a great dowry if she will have him making Love mercenary and 't is the fashion altogether in use to chuse Wives as Chapmen sell their wares with Quantum dabitis what is the most you will give Witty was that young Gentlewomans answer to an inconsiderate Suitor who having solicited the Father and bargained with him for the affection of his Daughter for so much and covenants of marriage concluded This undiscreet wooer unseasonably imparts his minde to the Daughter who made strange with it saying she never heard of any such matter yea but replyed he I have bargained with your Father and he hath already consented And you may marry him too quoth she for you must hold me excused Covetousness and filthy lucre mars many a good match or some such by-respect Veniunt a dote sagitâ—ae 't is money that makes the Mare to go 't is money and a good dowry lights Hymens torches They care not for beauty education honesty or birth if they hear that she is a rich heir or hath ready cash they are frantick doting upon such a one more then if she were natures master-piece in beauty If she be never so ugly and stinking 't is money makes her kisse sweetly Has she money that 's the first question O how they love her Is she mula auro onusta nay then run Dog run Bear they 'l venture hanging to compasse their desire Auri sacra fames quid non mortalia cogis Pectora What will not this desire of money compell a Man to attempt Is she as old as Saturn deformed vitious blear-eyed though they be like two powdering tubs either running over or full of standing brine and her browes hang ore her eyes like flie flaps though her nose be like a Hunters horn and so bending up that a Man may hang a hat upon it and her cheeks may serve boys for cherry-pits doth her teeth stand like an old park pale if she have any has she a tongue would make a deaf man blesse his imperfections that frees him from the plague of so much noise and such a breath heavens shield us as
the whole Universe too narrow a compasse to be confined unto and who disposeth of all our wils according to his pleasure be hem'd up in such strait limits as you prescribe will Love be ruled and governed by the will of any but himself he will confesse his fault yet will not insist upon any other argument or reason but his extreme affection and will not argue with you anywhere but before the throne of Love and there he will prostrate himself upon his knees and vow by all eternity ndver to rise so long as he lives unlesse he be ingratiated into his Mistresses favour And such a one is this who sues for an office in fools Paradise but let him take it for my part I le never ride like one for the County-Clerk ship when a new Sheriff is elected nor strive with him for it What saith he would you have me inconstant Oh no not for a world What would you have me mad as he is no better No I will be constant till death startling more at the word inconstancy then at a Devil so that I have often smiled at those who condemn inconstancy and are professed enemies against it considering that they themselves are not able to be as they say nor more constant then those whom they brand with the vice of inconstancy For when they fall in Love do they not fall in love with beauty or something which seems pleasing unto them now when this beauty doth fade as time doubtlesse will make all beauty do are they not then inconstant still loving those faces that are now grown ugly and retain nothing of what they were but only the very name of a face If to love that which is contrary to that which was loved be constancy and if uglinesse be contrary unto beauty then he that did love a fair face and continues loving when it is ugly must be concluded inconstant This consideration makes me think that the way to avoid inconstancy is always to love beauty and when it fades farewel Love finde some other that is faire and still love beauty if you will be loving and accounted constant and not its contrary unlesse you be unconstant to your first Love I know this is point blanck against the opinion of the vulgar but if they gainsay it I cannot help it Likewise saith this Love-simplician did you know what it is to be a fool in such occasions you would confesse that all the wisdom in the world is not comparable to this pleasing folly were you able to comprehend it you would never aske what pleasure and contentment those faithful Lovers whom you phrase melancholy and pensive do receive for you then would know that they are so ravished in the contemplation of the party whom they love and adore as scorning all that is in the whole Universe they do not repent of any thing more then the losse of that time which they spend anywhere else and their souls not being well able to contain the grandure of their contentment they stand astonished at so much treasure and so many felicities which transcends their knowledge But I am so far from thinking them felicities as my opinion of the contrary is much fortified Had I a quill pluck'd from Cupids wing and dip'd in the milke of Venus I could not record all the delight Lovers take in displaying the beauty of their Mistresses with obsequious Hyperboles and things most excellent comparing their eyes to those of night to the Sun and call them spheres of light flaming and strongly enkindling all others they compare her to Aurora or the morning to the Snow Lilly Rose to the whitenesse of the Swan sometimes to the Myrtle sometimes to Gold Rubies Diamonds Crystal sometimes they parallel her with the Heavens the Spring and whatsoever is in any degree excellent and yet they think those but beggerly similitudes and would go higher if they could tell how They suppose their cheek two fair gardens planted with the choisest flowers of Paradise making the Lilly and the Rose as obscure types and shadowes of those delicate tinctures laid on their blooming cheeks by natures pencil They imagine their necks towers of Alabaster their breasts hillocks of snow inlaid with saphires their mouthes musicks temple deckt with rails of pearl their voices the Harmony of the sphears And these they count as faint Metaphors of them to represent whom in their thoughts words are too narrow and freshest colours too dim Oh! how She-lovers fry under the torrid zone of Love hourly in that Elizium quenching and renewing their heats and letting themselves loose to the freedome of uncontrouled embraces Expressing themselves in these or such like Raptures viz. My Dearest unlesse thou be'st frosty spirited unlesse Alecto's cold poison fils thy veins I le melt thee into amorous thoughts and speak charmes to all thy senses and make thee all flame And thus they besiege and seek to storme Loves-fort with whole volly of obediential Oathes and the hollow Granado's of complement crying out to their obstinate Sweet-hearts to tell them for Loves sake if it be not better and more lovely to lie intwin'd in their folding armes freely enjoying their embraces like Lillies imprisoned in goales of snow or Ivory in bands of Alabaster then to sit muffled in furs like a bed-rid Miser They lie open to the touch the warm snow and soft polisht Ivory of their brests which excels in softnesse the ranging clouds the Indian cotton and in sleeknesse the smoothest cut Diamond and these are lures to catch buzzards Thus wounds they give and wounds they take again Nor doth it grieve them slaying to be slain Now to return again to our Loves weather-beaten widgeon he hugs and embraces all his Mistresses friends and followers her picture and what ever she wears he adores as a relique her Dog he makes his constant companion feeding him at his table verifying the proverb Love me love my Dog If he get a Ring a Ribband a shooe-tie her Garter a Bracelet of hair of hers he wears it ut pignus amoris for a favour about his arme in his hat finger or next his heart How many of such like would not let to hazzard their very souls for their Mistresses sake forsake heaven with Venus for the love of an Adonis There is no Man so pusillanimous so very a dastard whom Love would not incense making an heroical spirit For saith Sir Phil. Sydney they imagine that Valour towards Men is an emblem of ability towards Women a good quality signifying a better Nothing drawes a Woman like to it Nothing is more behooveful for that sex for with it they receive protection and in a free way too without any danger Nothing makes a shorter cut to obtaining for a Man of armes is always void of ceremony which is the wall betwixt Pyramus and Thisbe that is Man and Woman for there is no pride in Women but that which rebounds from our own basenesse as Cowards grow valiant upon those that are
the absence of their Lover yet modesty will not suffer them to intrrude into his presence they desire with all impatience to see him yet shun all occasions of seeing him seeking and fearing in one and the same time to meet him a troublesome passion that brings them to will and not to will in the same time one and the same thing She is peevish and sick till she see him discontent heavy sad and why comes he not where is he why bteaks he promise why tarries he so long sure he is not well he hath some mischance certainly he forgets himself and me And when he comes then with a seeming coynesse she looks upon him with a cold look though she be all flame within Some are as Sappho who was subtle to allure and slippery to deceive having their hearts made of wax ready to receive every impression not content till they have as many Lovers as their hearts have entrances for Love their hearts being like Pumice stones light and full of holes Some are as inconstant as Cressida that be Troylus never so true yet out of sight out of minde and so soon as Dâ—omede begins to court she like Venetian traffick is for his penny currant à currendo sterling coyne passable from man to man in way of exchange Others are as Lydia cruell whose hearts are hammered in the forge of pride thinking themselves too good for all when as in truth they are too bad for any and none worthy of them and oft-times nestling all day with the Beetle are at night contented with a Cowsherd for a shelter These have eyes of Basilisks that are prejudiciall to every object and hearts of Adamant not any way to be pierced Some are as if they were votaries unto Venus and at their nativities had no other influence take no pleasure but in amorous passions no delight but in Madrigals of Love wetting Cupids wings with Rose-water and tricking up his Quiver with sweet perfumes they set out their faces as Fowlers doe their Daring-glasses that the Larkes that sore highest may stoop lowest as soon as the poor loving fools are wrapped within their nets then they sue with signes and plead with Sonnets faign tears and paint out passions to win her that seeming to be coy comes at the first lure There ate others taken as Schoole boyes catch Squirrels hunting them up and down till they be weary and fall down before them All melted in pure love languidly sweet She lets her self fall at the Victors feet The coyest she that is may be won by fair opportunity being the strongest plea in the Court of Venus able to overthrow her be she never so coy for it is more easie for some Maides to suffer themselves to be martyred by Tyrants in defence of their Chastity then if opportunity pleasing courtship and importunity serve not to yield that to a Lover which they would have denyed to an Executioner and there are some so strongly inclined by nature and assaulted with such violent temptations that if they resist and become victors over passion may well be recorded among noble and heroick Women yet time may be so elected that he that takes it wisely shall be sure never to misse he that can temper toyes with art she being in a merry vein may bring that Love which swimmeth in her eyes to dive into her heart but other times they are so squeemish so skittish and demure that one may better catch and tame a wilde Horse then win their favour no not a look not a smile not a kisse for a Kingdome this being one of their subtle arts as one wittily saith Quanquam natura arte eram formosissima isto tamen astu tanto speciosior videbar quod enim oculis cupitum agrè praebetur multo magis affectus humanos incendit Though I was by Nature and Art most beautifull yet by those tricks I seemed to be far more amiable then I was for that which Men earnestly seek and cannot attain draw on their affections with a most furious desire And to gull their Lovers the more and fetch them over they will shew them Rings Gloves Scarffes c. saying that such a Gallant sent them when there is no such matter but meerly to circumvent them O the subtilty of Women to whet their Lovers appetite they will fall out and quarrell with them on set purpose pick quarrels upon no occasion because they would be reconciled unto them again according to the old Grammar rule Amantium irae amoris redintegratio est The falling out of Lovers is a renewing of love The blunt Countrey wench did as eloquently as she could expresse her self in these words There is something runs in my minde I wish it were out but I wish somebody loved me as well as I love somebody Poor girl both at milking walking and working still something troubles her at last she cryes out Hai-ho for an husband a bad husband nay the worst that ever was is better then none How earnestly do they seek marriage and are never well till they have effected it O how sweet is the contemplation of marriage to them And likewise we Batchelours when we see and behold those angelical faces observe their pleasant gestures and graces lend an ear to their Siren-like Songs see them dance c. we think their conditions are as fine as their faces we are taken with dumb signes we rave we burn and how gladly would we be marryed but when we feel the cares and miseries of it then we wish to be single again as the story goes of a Good-fellow which whilest he was a Batchelour was a Boon companion and would spend his money freely and therefore with his hostess he was termed a Good-fellow but so it happened that at length he was marryed and coming not so frequently to his Hostess as formerly nor spending his cash so freely when he came was by one of them demanded the reason of this his unwonted strangenesse and great change who replying said I am now married why then quoth she Thou art now an honest Man but he sighingly made answer in these words Ha but if I were once a Good-fellow again I would never be an honest Man whilest I lived If this be true as some out of disconsolate experience will informe us farewell wiving for my part But to put a period to this Section Volumes would not be sufficient for him who should write all the passions which dayly arise as members from this passion all pens would be weak words would be dried up and wits lost therein The Power and Effects of Love in Widowes REader I pray thee smile but do not jear at my curiosity in describing the Effects of Love in Widowes who like Heralds Herse-clothes serve to many Funerals with a little altering the colour and the wylie lures they lay to bring on their Suitors It would make a Dog laugh to hear how they will belie their age saying they are little past 30 when
How light these Males are in their affection This may seem to you an easie errour but were I judge of Birds it should receive due censure Why Lady replyed he these poor Birds doe but according to their kinde Yea but what do ye Men then who ingage your selves interest your selves empawn your souls to be constant where you professe Love and perform nothing lesse then what you professe most Nor would her long intended revenge admit more liberty to her tongue for with a passionate enterbreath she closed this speech with a fatall stab leaving so much time to her unfortunate and dysasterous Lover as to discover to one of that sorrowfull family the ground of her hate the occasion of his fall which hastened on the dolefull Scene of her Tragedy And these are the products of that Hell-born fiend Jealousie An Astrologer may give a probable conjecture by every Mans Nativity if it may be had whether he will be jealous or no and at what time by the direction of the Significators to their severall promissors of which you may read many Aphorismes in Sconer Junctine Pontanus Ptolemy Albubator c. The Remedies of Love THat we may use the Method of Art To cure the effects is first to take away the cause Cessante causa cessat effectus take away the cause and the effect ceaseth It was the scope of our discourse in the second Section of this Treatise to discover the Causes those incendiaries and fomenters of this inordinate passion or this intoxicating poyson in the third Section we demonstrated the Effects arising from them now in this last Section it is our purpose to treat of the Cure and Remedies of them We will begin at the second cause viz. the Stars for the first cause instituted by the Creator was moderate and good As the minde hath its natural principles of knowledge so the will hath her natural inclinations and affections from the influence of the Stars for they do incline the will to love but do not compell it agunt non cogunt of their own nature they are good as they are taken from the first nature created of God neither would they be at any time hurtfull if there were not excesse in us proceeding from nature corrupted which afterwards by the force of their influence breed in us such inclinations and affections as are these passions For God in the beginning made all things good neither doth he forbid and condemn this love and affection in his Law so far forth as it is ruled thereby but approveth it being instituted in the Creation But when this love and affection is disordered in us and is inflamed giving way to the power of the superiours to work together with it it is not only vitious but is as it were the originall and fountain of all vices for what vice would a Man whose reason is governed by will and that will inclined by the Stars leave unperpetrated to effect them whereas if it were well ordered and ruled according to the will and institutes of God it would be the original and well-spring of all vertues Sapiens dominabitur astris a wise man through grace and the strength of reason can moderate and divert their evill influences and convert them into good seeds of virtue but if they be not well ordered and ruled they corrupt and degenerate As if Venus be Lady of the Nativity she giveth to the native a sanguine complexion whose nature is bloud and beareth greatest sway among the other humors and qualities or if she be in a ☌ ⚹ or △ of ♂ inclineth the native naturally to love if this be not moderated and well guided by reason but letteth the will receive their influence and their work upon it without any obstruction it easily passeth measure and falleth into this foolish doting passion of Love Therefore seek for grace of him that can give it and that he will grant strength of reason to divert the influxious power of the superiours and to moderate the vehement heat of this Idalian fire Let us now remove the third cause and that is Education for to remove that which comes gradually from Parents we cannot unlesse we seek to subvert Nature and utterly extinguish the race of Man but according to the old proverbe That which is bred in the bone will never out of the flesh If you finde that your Parents have been addicted to this folly and that they brought you up delicately and idly and that you feel in your self an inlcination to the same passions Corripite lora manu take up the slackned rains in time before you run your selves past recovery Addict your selves to the study of good letters flying idlenesse as a mortall enemy reading of Love books Comedies looking upon immodest Pictures feasts private familiarities loose company and have in derision even the shadow of impurity Love has no subject so apt to work upon as idlenesse therefore handle the matter so that he may alwayes finde you busied for Vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt the vices of idlenesse should be shaken off with businesse and to this effect speaks the Poet Otia si tollas frangis Cupidinis arcum An idle life forsake What made thee love a lover makes thee still The cause of nourishment of that sweet ill Shun idlenesse and Cupids bow will break His slighted flames flie out disarm'd and weak As Reeds in Marishes affect their site As Poplars in the running brooks delight So Venus joyes in sloth Let Cupid be By action tam'd live busie and live free Faint ease long sleeps which no cōmand controls Time spent in sport drench't in flowing bowls Without a wound th' enfeebled minde surprize Then in unspi'd insidious Cupid flies That sloth-affecting boy doth toyle detest Do something to imploy thy empty brest Witty and proper was that elegant invention of Lucian who faigned Cupid to invite the Gods to an amorous feast prevailed with all of them to give way to Love till he came to Pallas but she was found conversing with the Muses and would admit of no time to enter parley with Cupid By this you may see that exercise draweth the minde from effeminacy and remisnesse feeds the desire and adds fuell to Loves fires And no lesse occasion gives wanton discourse or lascivious books to the inraged affections of distempered youth Therefore as Love is entertained with idlenesse and feasts subdue him with austerity and exercise He will fall upon some object scatter and confound him As he laboureth to finde out a loose and unbridled spirit hold yours extended upon the study of some good science He requires liberty private places and night let him have witnesses and enlighten him on every side He will be governed by fantasie keep him obedient both by admonition and menaces so by this means you will banish the wanton Jack of Apes out of house and harbour The bed being a sensitive nourishment renders many lascivious fancies therefore no sooner wake but arise and
there must be something more solid and substantial to make it grow unto perfection and that must be by the knowledge of the vertues merits as well as beauty and a reciprocall affection of the party loved Now this knowledge doth take indeed its originall from the eyes but it must be the soul which must afterwards bring it to the test of judgement and by the testimonies both of the eyes and ears and all other considerations concoct a verity and so ground upon it If this verity be to our advantage then it produceth such thoughts whose sweetnesse cannot be equalled by any other kind of contentment then the effects of the same thoughts If it be advantagious to the party affected then doubtlesse it doth augment our affection but yet with violence and inquietude and therefore no question but absence doth augment love so that it be not so long as that the very image of the party loved be quite effaced whether it be that an absent Lover never represents unto his fancy but only the perfections of the person loved or whether it be that the understanding being already wounded will not fancy any thing but what pleaseth it or whether it be that the very thought of such things does add much unto the perfections of the party loved yet this is infallibly true that he does not truly love whose affection does not augment in absence from the party loved For in absence nothing can content the reall Lover not sweet harmony not beautiful Gardens or Groves not pleasant Company not eloquent tongues not civill entertainment but every sweetnesse is converted into sowrenesse all ear-pleasing harmony is turned into an obstreperous jangling and nothing can content but the wished object which being far distant from their enflamed desires do ingender a vehement grief in the heart which cannot be expressed by them that prove it much lesse by my pen which is not acquainted with such miseries Now it is objected That absence is the greatest and most potent and dangerous enemy that Love hath But with their favour presence without comparison is much more as we may dayly see by experience for you may see a thousand loves change in presence for one in absence for in presence some imperfections may be found which may cause a detestation which absence could never do and to illustrate and confirm this by example The excellent Philosopher Raymund Lullius was passionately enamoured of a Lady wise prudent and honest she purposely to cure his frenzie shewed him one of her breasts eaten and knawed through with a Canker and extremely hideous to behold Stay simple Man said she behold what you loved he at that instant coming to himself uttered Alas was it for this I lost so many good houres that I burned became entranced that I passed through fire and water All Lovers would say the like if the scarffe were taken from their eyes Consider that if one absent cease from loving which is very rare its cessation is without any violence or noise of strugling and the change through a long tract of time is only because the memory is by degrees smothered with oblivion as a fire is with its own ashes But when Love breaks off in presence it is never without a noise and extreme violence and which is a strange argument to prove my assertion converts that love into a greater hatred then if love had never been which proceeds from this reason a Lover is always either loved or hated or held in a degree of indifferency if he be loved as an abundance is apt to glut so love being loadened in presence with too many favours growes weary If he be hated then he meets with so many demonstrations of that hate every moment as at length he is forced to ease himself If he be in a degree of indifferency and findes his love still slighted he will at length if he be a Man of any courage make a retreat and resist the continual affronts which are put upon him whereas in absence all favours received cannot by their abundance glut since they do rather set an edge on desire And the knowledge of hatred entering into our souls only by the eare the blow smarts not so much as that which is received by sight and likewise disdain and slight be more tolerable in absence then presence doubtlesse absence is then more fit to preserve affection then presence for there is a vast difference betwixt the love that is nourished by the eyes and a love that is nourished by the understanding As much as the soul is superiour to the body so much is the understanding to be preferred before the eyes And absence is so far from diminishing love that it augments and begets fresh and violent desires to augment it and the contemplation of a beauty doth imprint it deeper in the fancy then any eye can Therefore you Love simplicians make a little resistance cast away those idle toyes that afflict you let not absence be so troublesome that you must torture your bodies vilifie your spirits and yeeld up your reputations as preyes to slander If you know what you desired you would be ashamed of your selves you would be amazed that so noble spirits should suffer themselves to be transported with such follies Represent to your selves that a thousand undanted courages have set themselves free at liberty and enjoyed tranquillity of spirit and you for want of a little resolution tumble and involve your selves faster and faster in these fetters Will any man in his wits be thus deluded can he be so silly as to consume himself in seeking such a toy Do you call this Love forsooth may it not rather be called madnesse and folly What languish in the lap of an ungratefull Mistresse fie fie it is an errour far unworthy of a man that pretends unto any wisdom or courage Put a stop to your passions and couragiously contend against them You shall no sooner have put the wedge of courage into the block but it shall be done you shall have your souls victoriously elevated over passion which shall rejoyce amidst the trophies thereof Never stay upon thoughts and imaginations of love but so soon as it presents it self chase it away and extinguish it in your hearts no otherwise then you should extinguish a hot Iron in a River If it be in presenim restrain your eyes for they are the windowes the allurements the snares and the conducts of Love It buddeth in the eyes that it may at leasure blossome in the heart therefore divert your sight from objects which dart a sting into the minde apt to receive and sensible of such penetrations Likewise lest it get entrance at the ear stop them against the inchanting melody of Sirens songs and charming musick of their tongues never open them to be auditors of any lascivious discourse But if you be already tainted with these charmes unloose your selves stoutly take your selves off dispute not any longer with your passions flie from it
more secret vices a meer outside a whited Sepulchre If he be enamoured on a Widow that she will still hit him in the teeth with her first husband that she hath cast her rider and will endanger him too and that a wife and children are a perpetual bill of charges Endevour to divert the patients thoughts from his former Mistresse by making him fall in love with another upon whom when once his affection begins to take root make him hate that and fall in love with a third following this course with him still till at length he begins of his own accord to be weary of loving for I le assure you he that is in love with many Women at once will never run mad for any of them for the minde being thus disunited the desires are lesse violent so one love takes away the force of another Love is of the nature of a burning-glasse which kept still in one place fireth but changed often it doth nothing not so much as warm or a kinde of glowing cole which shifted from hand to hand a man easily endures A young man saith Lucian was pitifully in love he came to the Theater by chance and by seeing variety of objects there was fully recovered E theatro egressus hilaris ac si pharmacum oblivionis bibisset and went merrily home as if the had drunk a dram of oblivion A Mouse saith the Fabulist was brought up in a chest and there fed with fragments of Bread and Cheese thought there could be no better meat till at last coming to feed on other varieties loathed her former life just so it is with a silly Lover none so fair as his Mistresse at first he cares for none but her yet after a while when he hath compared her to others he abhors her name sight and memory If all this will do no good let us see what may be done by Physicall means Yet some there are who exclaim and cry with open throats against the Gods for ordaining for every malady a medicine for every sore a salve for every pain a plaister leaving only Love remedilesse and then exclaiming with the Inventer of Physick Apollo Hei mihi quod null is amor est medicalilis herbis Did you Oye Gods deem no man say they so mad as to be entangled with desire or thought you them worthy to be tormented that were so misled have ye dealt more favorably with brute beasts then with reasonable creatures No simple lovers you want not medicines to cure your maladies but reason to use the means Of Physicall means therefore we will treat as followeth First It is good to take away the superfluity of bloud if age and the strength of the patient will permit by opening the Liver vein I should have said Vena hepatica but I speak as well to those that do not understand Latine as them that do in the right arme let the quantity taken be according to the constitution and strength of the patient and if you see cause open the Saphaena or ankle vein for phlebotomie maketh those that are dejected merry appeaseth those that are angry and makes Lovers come to themselves and keep in their right mindes amantes ne sint amentes for saith one amantes amentes iisdem remediis curentur Lovers and madnen are cured by the self-same remedy affirming that Love extended is meer madnesse Aelian Montaltus saith Love makes the bloud hot thick and black being converted into black choler and melancholy and if the inflamation get into the brain with continual meditation it so dryes it up that a madnesse followes or they make away themselves as divers in that case have done Let him have change and variety of place for that doth awaken the spirits of melancholy Lovers let him not be without company and frequent conversation for many times that diverts the minde of a doting Lover and cheeres him up making him see his errour It is good for the Patient to be in a cold and moist aire and not to use in his diet such things as do heat the bloud and provoke lust Let him use to fast often and feed often on bread and water Sine Cerere Baccho frigâ—t Venus Love takes not up his lodging in an empty stomach but on the contrary Venus delights in dainties Let him use these simples in his broath and sallads Purslane Sorrell Endive Woodbine Ammi Succory And Lettice which is so soveraigne a remedy against this malady that Venus desiring to forget all her unchast desires buried her dear Adonis under a bed of Lettice Likewise the syrup or conserve of Red-roses or Province-roses the same virtue is attributed to Mints Let him also use to eat Grapes Mellons Cherries Plums Apples Pears Cowcumbers c. It is good to take sometimes Hempeseed Seed of water Lillies Hemlock Tuâ—san Camphire Cominseeds Coriander seeds Agnus Costus or the Chast tree not only the seeds of it used and taken in what manner soever doth restrain the instigation to venery which it doth by a specifick property seeing it is of the same teÌ„perature with Pepper which worketh contrary effects and therefore the Athenian Matrons in their Thesmophoria did use the leaves as sheets to lie on thereby to preserve their thoughts if it were possible from impurity Rue is an excellent remedy but of different operation in Men an Women One quality thereof commend I must It makes Men chast and Women fils with lust Let his Sauces with his meat be Vinegar Orenges or Verdejuyce Lemmons Sorrell Let him abstain from all Aromaticall things and all fryed or salt meats because that salt by reason of its heat and acrimony provokes to lust those that use to eat it in any great quantity Let him abstain from meats that are nutritive hot flatulent and melancholy as Soft Egges Partridges Pigeons Sparrows Testicles of creatures Quails Rabbets Hares Greengeese especially Let him not eat Pine nuts Pistachoes Small nuts Artechokes Turneps Greenginger Eringoes Mustard Coleworts Rapes Carrots Parsnips Chesnuts Pease Sweet Almonds Satyrion Onions Water nuts Rocket Cich-pease Beans Syrrups Electuaries Let him not lie upon a soft bed Also from all manner of Fish * c. And Oysters Prawnes Lobsters Crabs Muscles Cockles c. Let him exercise usque ad sudorem till he sweat again provided that the disease be not already grown to madnesse Often bathes are good Eye the heart and be sure what ever you do have a care to keep that on wheels for all melancholy vapors afflict that especially Therefore to fortifie that take Conserve of Roses Borrage flowers Buglosse flowers Rosemary flowers Marigold flowers Saffron Green walnuts preserved Juniper berries Bettony Citron pils candied c. Thebane Crates saith there is no other remedy for Love then Time and that must wear it out if time will not the last refuge saith he is an halter And that 's a speedy and sure remedy very quick of operation But when all fails apply that Cordiall salve to
your corroding sore made by loves wounding weapon that excellent remedy that soveraign balme that universal medicine which if seasonably administred will give you comfort when you are most distempered The Recipe is Divine Contemplation for certainly those spirits which are truly raised to the study and knowledge of divine things and do well know the art of celestiall contemplation are elevated above all terrestrial pleasures in as much as eternity is above time and infinite felicities above vanities And not finding any thing on earth worthy our desire and to fix our affections upon let the object of our love and felicities be in the Empyreall heaven And while we are in these divine extasies let our spirits be so strong as they may be conquerors of our bodies so heavenly that they may esteem the chiefest pleasures of the body as this of heroick love but as dung and drosse nay worse if worse may be in comparison of those sublime and celestial pleasures we enjoy in our souls And in such comparison we may rejoyce more in contemning these corporeal delights and being above them then in the fruition of them Therefore in stead of placing our affections on terrene objects let us seek after that fountain and well-spring of all love lovelinesse beauty sweetnesse and excellencies of the Creator which is infinitely more permanent and doth as much transcend all other beauties and excellencies in the world if they were all united in one so that when a soul is possessed with the beauty and love of God it will have the eye of its imagination fixed on him often soaring and mounting up to heaven as its center on the wings of contemplation and a sa vapor exhaled by the Sun often gliding after its love being thereunto attracted by the allurements of his most amiable fair and divine lustre and lovelinesse insomuch as it will be enlightened with glorious Ideas touring apprehensions ardent affections and celestial raptures We will conclude with that Poetical and Divine strain of the Nightingale of France If wanton Lovers so delight to gaze On mortall beauties brittle little blaze That not content with almost dayly sight Of those deer Idols of their appetite Nor with th' Ideas which the Idalian Dart Hath deep imprinted in their yielding heart Much more should those whose souls in sacred love Are rapt with Beauties proto-type above FINIS The Postscript READER I Know I shall come under the lash of a Satyrical dijudication and be boy'd out of countenance for presuming to appear in this Subject which would have become the neat flourishes of a more elegant pen Therefore I will acknowledge that Philomus as one of my most energetical palizadoes who will defend this Enchiridion against the malevolous aspersions of the venemous tongues of detractors that will endevour to derogate its worth by calumny But I have Herculean hopes that some will vindicate me where I cannot answer for my self against the viperous brood of backbiters And as I love not to come within the jawes of such black-mouth'd Plutonian Curs so I desire not to be bandied up and down in the Tennis Court of this World with the Racket of praise for there is a Herb called Lingua pagana I translate it a double tongue the Devill that crafty Gardner hath got a slip of it and hath set it in the heart of the Gâ—athonical Reader for Bilinguis was none of Gods making no it was of the Devils marring he loves to make that double which God made single So there will be some Cloven tongues that will disallow of that in the Writers absence which before did approve of and commend in his presence and if such distastful Criticks shall misinterpret the innocency of my harmlesse meaning I shall but reply and play with their sporting Censures as doth Ben. Johnson in his Play works Their praise or dispraise is to me alike Th' one doth not stroke me nor the other strike I will conclude with one word to Momus who like a cowardly Cur will fawn in a Mans face but bite him by the heels when his turn'd back hath given the farewell or like the Cholerick Horse-rider who being cast from a young Colt not daring to kill the Horse cut the Saddle Think Momus speak do what thou wilt th' art free Thy thoughts thy words thy deeds are nought to me FINIS The Contents Of Love the Original the Universality and the Definition of it pag. 1. THe whole Vniverse tendeth to love and that it was love which caused God to create the World pag. 1. Mans inclination to a seeming good and the cause of Womans creation 2. The sympathy that Minerals and Vegetables have one to another 3. The Definition of amorous love and the several opinions of Theophrastus Montagne Socrates Tully Seneca and others pag. 4 5. The policy of Paris in the disposal of the golden ball to Venus 5. The power of the Planet Venus pag. 6. The Concord betwixt Pallas the Muses and Venus ibid. The Conclusion 7. The Causes of Love pag. 7. THe first cause from God ibid. The second from the influence of the Stars 8 9. Parents and Education 9 10. The example of Themistocles 10. Idlenesse ibid. Luscious fair ibid. Dancing Schooles and Schooles of Musick 11. Quintilians opinion of Nurses ibid. The example of Socrates 12. A Harmony and Consonancy of spirits c. 13. That beauty and goodnesse make us love 14. The great power that beauty hath in procuring Love 16. The particulars of beauty causing Love 1. The Eyes 17. 2. Fair hair 18. 3. The Tongue a gracious Laughter Songs Kissing c. 19. 4. A tall slender body c. ibid. 5. Breasts and paps affected carriages garments guises colons jewels pendants painting c. 19. Apparel 20. 6. Pleasant looks glances c. 21. Good instruction to Ladies 21. 7. A tender and hot heart ibid. 8. Love-letters 23. 9. Words ibid. 10. Eare ibid. Lysidas love to Astrea ibid. Money causing Love in Men 23. Money causing Love in Women 25. What the Poets say are the causes of Love 26. Fonsecas opinion of the cause of Love 27. The Conclusion 29. Of the Power and Effects of Love 31. WHat Plato cals Love ibid. The effects of love in Animals 31 32. Diseases caused by Love 32. Powers and assaults of Love 33. The variousnesse of it ibid. Divers examples of the Effects of Love 35. The many dangers and hazzards Lovers undergoe 37. Loves force is shown in the continuation of a designe 39. The effects of love in Birds c. 40. The effects of love in old persons 41. In Maids ibid. Constancy in Lovers inconstancy 43. How Lovers display the beauty of their Mistresses 43. The effects of love in She-lovers with their ear-charming notes 44. A loves simplician described 47. A description a great many Guls 48. Instructions to Lovers 48 49. Love strengthened by hope c. 51. A description of the Palace of Love 57. The effects of love in Women 53 54 55 56 57. The conclusion 58. Of the Power and Effects of Love in Widows 59 WIdows compared to Heralds Hearse-clothes and how they will belie their age c. ibid. The artificial discourse of Widows ibid. Widow Courters c. 61. The cause why Spaniards will not mary Widows 61. Widows were ordained for younger brothers 62. The Signes of Love 63. CAutions before you judges of signes ibid. What Physognomie is ibid. Various signes of Love are from pag. 64. to 69. Signes of Love in Women 75 76 77. Signes of Love by Chiromancy 77. Signes of Love by Dreams 77 78. Signes of Love by Astrology 79 80. At what Age we begin to be in Love What Complexions do best sympathize What c. 81. WHen it beginneth in men 81 82. When in Women ibid. 83 84 85. What temperatures and complexions do sympathize together and are most prone to receive the impression of this passion 86 87 88 89 90. In what principal part of the Body of Man is the seat of Love 91. WHere Love first entreth 91 92. Of Jealousie in Lovers 93. THe Definition of it 93 94. The Effects Signes and symptomes of it 94. 95 96 97 98 99. How it may be known who will be subject to jealousie by every mans Nativity 101. The Remedies of Love 102. HOw to take away Love caused by the stars 102 103. How to remove it caused by Parents and Education 103 104 105 106. How to extinguish it caused by beauty 106 107. That Love is sooner extinguished in presence then absence 109. How to take away the cause of Money causing Love 113 114. A preservative and soveraign receipt for Women to fortifie themselves against the contagion of this pussion 115 116 117 118 119. How to extinguish Love according to the way of the Arabians 119. And the Parthians 120 121. Several other instructions to divert the patients thoughts 120. Physical cures by letting of bloud change and variety of places and what air is best How to diet him as what simples to use in his broaths What Syrups and Conserves he must take What fruit he may eat c. What Sauces to use with his meats 122 123 124. What the patient must abstain from 124. His Exercise 125. Fortifie the haart ibid. The remedy of Theban Crates ibid. The Conclusion 126 127. FINIS * And that is the cause why women love fish better then flesh for they will have Plaice what ever they pay for it