small gift of the King and of me although his newes was so evil because he told us that he saw the Prince fléeting up and downe the waves upon one of the ship-hatches hoping that he was somewhere cast on land though perhaps so far that he could not so soon return home to Albion I will not hear make mention what a living death or dying life I poor wretch led all the while that Periander was absent sometimes perswading my self that he was dead and sometimes hoping to see him and injoy his presence but this I will leave to your discretion loving shepheards and passe on forwards in the declaration of this lamentable history You shall therefore know that after Barsalis had been six moneths at home the Admirals son returned to his fathers house attired like a ship slave and told us such a tale of his wonderfull adventure how he was cast on the shore side with his mast-piece and how he fared on the land that not the Court onely but all the Country also admired at his hard fortune But concerning the Prince he could tell no more then the other traitor had done yet to give a colour of likelihood he agreed to the same report which the Villain Barsalis had made And though my hope was small yet I took the greater courage because sir Massicour◠that Arch-traitor had escaped such dangers and troubles as he made us beleeve And howsoever my young heart strived against sorrow and grief yet the Queen being old and weak of nature consumed for very grief and dyed Who being buried and intombed what mourning what grief and what sorrow was made not in the Court onely but generally over all the Countrey I am not able to expresse And as for my selfe though I was very sorry for her death yet was the grief and pain which I suffered for the absence of Periander so great and excéeding that I could scarce think up-any other thing and therefore the sooner forgate the death of the Quéen CHAP. XV. How the traitor Massicourt slew himself because he could not obtain the love of fair Brisilla also how the King was enamoured on her BY this time began the traitor Massicourt to make love unto me and to cast such passionate looks upon me at all times that he passed by me or came into the place where I was that I could not chuse but perceive that he was becom darling to Venus by the forcing dart of her Son Cupid and that he suffered great pain for my sake I was sorry for his case because he was a most gallant Gentleman excéeding both in perfection of body and readines of wit but yet my hart was so fixed on Periander that although I had certainly known that he was dead yet could I not have forgotten him to love any other Yet howsoever I was affected Massicourt found meanes to enter into the Orchard I being there alone and emboldned himself so far that he came unto me gréeted me and with all humility by word of mouth declared what torment he suffered for love of me desiring me to be merciful unto him Whereunto I answered that I could shew him mercy in pittying his case and exhorting him to change his mind but other mercy I could not shew him and so I flung into the Palace and left him among the trées which might have been witnesses of the teares he shead Yet he gave not over the field for all he had had but ill successe at the first assault and purposed to send me a Letter hoping that ink and paper would do more then his bare words had done Especially because he being passionate was not able in my presence to expresse his mind neither would I hearken unto his speech Insomuch that he thinking that I could not do lesse then read all whatsoever he wrote though I could not give ear to his sayings dispatched a Letter and conveyed it into my hands as secretly as he could which letter was written to such an end Massicourt to the Dutchess Brisil PArdon me gracious Lady if I am troublesome unto your grace for I am forced by that Lord whom I must obey The sum of my desire is to please your grace and my chiefest felicity consisteth in your content therefore think not Lady that I would willingly molest you My humble Petition is that it may please your grace to weigh the torment grief and pain which I suffer which if your gracious mercy do not slacken is like to seal my love with death and to give the world cause to accuse your grace of cruelty Mercy Madam is an ornament to Ladies of high estate I wish not that you should forget the Prince Periander but to admit me as copartner and pertaker of your grief Neither do I crave that your grace should not love Periander whether he be dead or yet live but give me leave to love you and to accept of my love as a comfort to asswage the sorrow you suffer for Periander Farewell When I had read this Letter I could not but be angry for it grieved me that he went about to withdraw me from the love of Periander though he séemed to wish the contrary For how could I have loved him and not forget Periander how could I have been merry with him and mourn for Periander and how could I laugh with him and wéep for Periander wherefore incontinently I wrote him this answer Brisilla to Sir Massicourt YOur conscience urged you Sir Massicourt to crave pardon in the beginning of your letter foreknowing your offence But your excuse is for that you are constrained by him whom you must obey Cupid you mean I am sute but how shamefull it is that a Knight should so bewray his pusilanimity and faintnesse of courage I leave to your own consideration And to let you understand furthermore that if your desire be to please me and therefore far from undertaking any thing that may trouble me you shall obtein your wish and enjoy true felicity which you affirm to consist in my content if you molest me with neither letter nor speech to love you For in so doing you shall bind me to acknowledge that you have done me a singular pleasure You know that I have already told you that I am sorry for your torment and passion though I may not be your Physitian Neither do I think the world so mad as to judge me cruell if your folly cause you to die Though it be a common and usual custom unto all your sex to talk of the mate befor you have the check You can teach me that mercy beseemeth maids but you forget in the mean time that Knights ought not to be unmerciful as to seek the overthrow of our honesty and to spoil us of our honour Have not I given faith to love Periander and shal I not incur foul shame and dishonor if contrary to my promise I love you but would you have me use your love as a pastime to forget the dolor
of silk almost in pieces in his left hand This Knight séeing Perierio and his sisters could not enough marvell that he had found shepheards so far surpassing in beauty And drawing near them he was so curteously saluted by them that he was amazed to have such an unlooked for Salve And requiting them with like curtesie asked them whether they had not seen any men riding that morning through the same wood Perierio answered no. And as the knight thought to take his leave of them Euphilia desiring to know what he was found occasion to stay him and therefore spake unto him in this manner Sir Knight it seemeth that you are sorely wounded by the abundance of bloud which hath issued out of sundry parts of your body and therefore I think it were not amisse if you should alight from your horse and tie up your wounds ere you travel on any further And for as much as we are far from any town or village if it will please you to take in good part such homely fare as my fathers country cottage can afford you shall find us ready to lead you thither and to welcome you to such chear as may content nature though it be not comparable to courtly dainties The Knight being very weary and fearing least he might incur extream danger if it should happen to be long are he might reach to some town though he was ashamed necessity forcing him thereto accepted of Euphilias offer thinking that God had sent him in that wood to méet with those curteous shepheards who beyond all expectation proffered him such friendship and succour he being a meer stranger unto them Therefore thanking them for their excéeding curtesie he did bear them company to their fathers house Where the old man rejoycing to see so comely a person by his son Perierio and his two daughters feasted the Knight in such manner that he easily might perceive that he was welcome After they had ended dinner Euphilia asked the Knight how he had gotten all those wounds and what ill fortune had brought him into such danger Whereupon the Knight began to make this discourse of his tragedy Gentle shepheards to the end that you may know that you have the miserablest man in the world before your eyes here present with you I will as briefly declare you the history of all my life as I may so I be not troublesome unto you to hear the tragicall events happened unto me since my cradle I am loath to give you any cause of grief But séeing that it pleaseth you to know the cause of this my mishap I hold my self bounden to pleasure you and do according to your desire And to be as little tedious as I possible may I will use as much brevity as the greatnesse of the matter will permit me Know therefore gentle shepheards that fortune threatening me bad luck began to lower on me before I came into the world for she conspired my death before I was born You must note how that my father before I was born had no children but his brothers son was his adopted heir and should have inherited all his lands had he died without issue So that this adopted heir having intelligence that my mother was big with child very carefulâ—y wâ—ited for the time that she should fall in travell which hour being approached he corrupted the midwife with a great sum of money to smother me at my first entry into this world and to spoil me of my life before I perfectly lived But no fortune would reserve me to worser events and I was not so happy to be dealt withall as my unkind cousin had appointed For the midwife being pricked with remorse of conscience and overcome with pity could not find in her heart to stifle me in her hands when as I was committed to her to be tenderly handled and looked to with all the care and diligence that might be but she invented another manner to content Silvestro for so was my cousin named which was secretly to steal me from my parents and to convey me into the house of a poor labouring man whose wife was wont to serve for nurse unto such poor mens wives as for weaknesse or sicknesse could not bring up their own children about twenty miles from the place where my parents dwelled which was the renowned City of Constantinople my father at that time being generall governour over the same City The Midwife made the same poor labouring man and his wife believe that I was son unto one of her cousins that she had in the abovenamed City being called Bradasso and therefore willed them to take all the care and diligence that might be in fostring me as a child ought to be and that she would accordingly reward them as ste did for she payed them duly wéek by wéek as long as she lived Thinking her fault more excusable seeing she caused me to be brought up with part of the money which she took of my cousin to spoil me of my life I omit for brevities sake what grief my parents suffered for the loue of their long desired sonne especially becauâ—e they knâ—w not what was become of me but they thought nothing so â—uâ—e as that I was dead and that the midwife would not let them know of it least they should have been too suddenly oppressed with such sorrowfull news When I was thrée years old or thereabout the midwife died such a sudden kind of death that she could not take order with my nurse for me The nurse therefore having intelligence of her death fearing least she should kéep me for nothing which she was not able to do being a very poor woman borrowed her neighbours horse and rode with me to the City of Constantinople where at the midwifes she inquired for the same Bradasso whose child she thought it was this Bradasso being a young man of some four or five and twenty years of age and unmarried swore by all that he might that he never had to do with woman in his life time so far as to gâ—t her with child Whereof the woman wonderfully amazed wist not what she should do with me And so poor Maffeo for that is my unfortunate name was become a bastard that had neither rathâ—r or mother that would know him or receive him as their child and yet had both father and mother who would have thought themselves to be the happiest parents that lived under the vâ—â—l of heâ—â—en if they had found their own beloved infant whom they thought to be dead long since But my cousin being informed by the rumor spread through the City that a child nourished thrée or four years by the industry of such a midwife could find neither father nor mother after the same midwife was dead began to calculate the time of my birth and finding it to be full just at the time that the nurse avouched that I was brought unto her remembred that the midwife had told him that she had dispatched the
thereof began to be wonderfully discomforted and thought his pain vainly bestowed séeing that Fortune was blinde and made no discretion of persons but ever wrought by chance bestowing her favours not where she would but where they fell Perierio thus discomforted climing on the top of a hil heard a most swéet and melodious voyce sounding to a harp within a little wood where the high Oâ—kes made a pleasant shadow And drawing néer to the wood he marked that it was the voice of a shepheard who after she had ended her song began thus to complaine of her misfortune No doubt but all the starrs that from the skies send light on the earth have agréed and consented to my mishap and ill fortune neither is there any thing on earth that may yield me any comfort or consolation but love which is subject to fear turneth and converteth my sorrowfull soule into pure ice Ah Fortune how canst thou be so cruel How canst thou forbear to succour a heart so distressed as mine séeing that I am falsly suspected of disloyalty And therefore I must accuse thée Lexander thou art the man whom I must burthen with the cause of all my grief unto thée do I discover and unfold my plaints hard-hearted and cruell Lexander in whom no pitty taketh place For if thou wer'st of my side I would not care though Heaven Earth Love and Fortune were against me and enemies unto me After that she had ended her complaint she fetched a heavy sigh from her heart and therewith wept so bitterly that Perierio might easily perceive that she was in that pittiful and lamentable taking by reason that her husband falsly suspected her to be disloyal and unfaithful so that he entred into the wood and found her sitting upon the grasse in the shade néere to a delectable Fountain which issuing from the top of the hill ran along a great part of the wood in divers places But when she saw Perierio comming neer her though she was something discontented that she was interpelled amidst her passions yet beholding that he seemed by his behaviour to be some Shepheard of great account being most courteously by him greeted saluted him likewise with such modesty that he began to misdoubt whether she were Alcida the promised spouse of Marcelio For he called to mind how that Marcelio had told him and his sisters that Alcida had cloathed her self in the habit of a Shepheard because she might be the harder to be found by him and therefore spake thus unto her Beautiful Shepheard for so your coat bewrayeth though your singular grace make me suspect that your calling is contrary to your colours I shall desire you not to be discomforted though I have troubled you at this time intruding my self into your company for as I have discourteously offended so shall you find me most ready to make amends for my boldnes Gentle shepheard answered she I am so forsaken of al comfort and solace that good company cannot offend me therefore where no fault is committed there is nothing to be misconstred of And to put you out of suspition know that I am a shepheard as wel in vocation as in habit called Iâ—menia and born néer to the Temple of Minerva in the kingdom of Portugal But I pray you what chance hath brought you hither into these Countries or do you by hap dwell hereabout In truth Ismenia quoth Periorio my ill fortune hath brought me hither for I neither dwell here nor ever was in this place before I was born in Italy but with my father and sisters transported to the fields annexed to the river Epla about four or five dayes journey hence I know the place very well quoth Ismenia it is not far from the pasture where fair Euphilia so renowned in all that quarter doth féed her shéep I hear you name my sister quoth Perierio and am glad to have met with one that is not wholly unacquainted with our Family What say you quoth Ismenia In truth unto a woman so distressed as I am being desolate and forsaken of my loving husband nothing could have hapned more wished for then to have met with such honest and vertuous company as it hath pleased the Gods to comfort me withall in directing your self towards these woods And forasmuch as I am in mind to go to the Temple of Diana if your journey ly that way I shall think my self among so many mishaps to have received no small favour of Fortune As for me quoth Perierio where I am I know not nor whether I may go and therefore am induced to think that Fortune beginneth to repent her self of her shrewdnesse in that she hath favoured me with so worthy a guide as your self to lead me forth of my straying errours to some place where I may enquire for directions in my journey And I am most passing glad that you go towards the Temple of Diana of the sumptuousnesse whereof I have heard such famous relation among the Shepheards in the Village néer my fathers Farme that I have a long time been moved with great desire to see the same And therefore fair Shepheard take which way you will and Perierio will follow you Ismenia glad that this Shepheard was in her company began to march hoping before Phoebus should attain to his Western home that they should reach to a Farme where she thought that they might be lodged that night But to shun tediousnesse in their wearisome journey Perierio desired her to recount and declare the cause of her griefe unto him Ismenia answered that although the memory thereof could not but pierce her heart with the prick of exceeding sorrow yet notwithstanding because he desired whom she could not say nay she was content to make a pastime of her misery And thus in this ensuing Chapter began the History of her Tragedy CHAP. XI How Lexander was enamoured on Ismenia and how he was crost in his love by his father Filene IN our Village dwelled a certain Farmer that had a comely youth to his son in beauty passing all the Shepheards thereabout being called Alanio who féeding his shéep in a pasture ground not far from ours used sometimes to come to me and keep me company sitting in the shadow by me and telling of tales or passing over the time with some other kind of honest recreation whereby at last grew such a familiar acquaintance betwixt us that love joyning our hearts together we were not well while we were separated the one from the others company To be short he loved me and was loved of me There was in the same Village a fair beautiful Shepheardesse called Selvagia who for her beauty might be compared with Venus in the valley before Parys when she won the golden Apple Of which Shepheard my Alanio became enamoured wherupon I to be revenged on him fained to favour Lexander his deadly enemy Which fained love of mine at length by reason of the acquaintance that grew between us changed into such pure
and true love that by reason thereof I am fallen into the misery in which I now finde my selfe at this present Now continuing the history of my life you shall know that Lexanders father called Filene sometimes frequented my fathers house by reason of certain businesse that my father and he had betwéen them concerning Oxen and Kyne and séeing me although he was something old yet he fell in love with me and that so greatly that he became foolish mad and frantick He became so importunate unto me and troubling me above a thousand times daily declared me his passions grief but all could not help For I would never give eare to his prattle nor mark what he said and though he had been much younger or lesse aged and by many parts more perfect then he was yet for him could I not have forgotten his son Lexander who had so won my heart that I had wholly given him the possession thereof The old man knew not what friendship was between his son and me for Lexander was so obeysant and dutifull that he behaved himself secretly in wooing me least his father knowing thereof should have rebuked him and have occasion to be angry with him And in like manner was Lexander altogether ignorant of his fathers folly who because he should not give his son example of lightnesse took all the regard he might to his love from him Neverthelesse the foolish cocks-comb ceased not to molest me with importunate requests to take him to my husband He made me wonderful large proffers he promised to give me many cloathes and jewels and he sent me many Letters hoping thereby to change my mind In his time he had been a Shepheard most excellently qualified eloquent in spéech and witty which you may easily gather by a Letter which he wrote me as I yet remember Filene to Ismenia FAir Shepheard love is cause of all such fault as I can commit in writing unto hoping that I have not commited any in loving you And if perhaps my Letter be troublesome unto you believe certainly that I already fear the answer you will make I have a thousand times signified and declared unto you what affection I bear you and in recompence thereof you take pleasure in mocking me You openly laugh at me to see me like to dye for love of you but as for me I am glad to see you laugh though it be to my ruine and destruction For when I remember and think of my evil and see that you take pleasure therein rejoycing at my misery I perceive that you will not remedy my grief insomuch that it were an exceeding folly for me to regard your mocking seeing that my life and death consisteth in you to dispose of me as you please If you ask why I should love you I answer because I am forced and cannot but love you insomuch that though I might live and not love you yet I had rather to dye then so to live for when I remember your graces and perfections I cannot but judge them happier that die for love of you then those that can behold you without admiring your exceeding vertues for I cannot be perswaded that a man may die more happily then he who loseth his life by reason of such heavenly beauty as yours which hath so pierced my breast that I am not mine own but yours for as soon as I saw you I began to love and to pine for grief And if you say that I am to be blamed because I am amourous and yet old in that respect I sue for remedy unto you seeing that I have not so greatly offended in loving you as in knowing you so late For I acknowledge that I am old and I am not a little grieved that this my pain is not as ancient as the course of my age and I am sorry that I might not have loved you from the first day that I was born as well as since the first hour that I saw you certifying you that this love shall dure and continue till death Marvel not sweet to see me grey and wrinkled and though you surpass me in valour yet I think it but small reason that a man should lose his pay and salary under this colour that he is an old Souldier The new built houses are not comparable to the ancient buildings of Rome and commonly all men alwayes say that among all things the old is the best Love would not untill this present time make me feel the pinching pain of amorous passions because he well knew that affection was more firm and fancy less fickle in an old man as I am then in tender age where every look is love and every face a new fancy I am firm and constant to love you for ever and old never to be loved as long as I live Young men that say they love are double and subtle they fain but not fancy their forehead is marked with Venus badge but their heart never felt Cupids shaft And when they plead for mercy alledging that they dye for love then are they less subject to passion most free from fancy Their changeable affection is assured liberty their passion pastime their love a custome and not a pain Think not sweet that I am like the amourous youth who having received a favour of his mistress vaunteth and boasteth thereof to all the world for though I had received ten thousand I should be as constant and firme in keeping them secret But as I see you disposed and bent to work my death I fear that I shall endure much torment and have occasion to say little and brag less yet the chiefest favour whereof I may boast is to die for the love of Ismenia With what great reason may I find fault with the time considering that I who love you most am least esteemed But alas I loved you too late and seeing I was not born at the same time that you were it is reason that I should dye for love of you Ah fair Shepheardess had my Fortune been such that I might have been of your time I had had that which had been sufficient to win your love and to deserve favour of you for though it becommeth no man to blaze his owne praises yet affection forceth me to say that among all the young men of our time none might compare with me at dancing leaping foot-ball hand-ball bowle bow cithren pipe flute and all such kinds of exercise wherewith our Countrey youths recreate themselves and win the hearts of their mistresses But ah cruell chance what serveth either that which is or that which hath been unto him poor wretch that is buried in the bowels of forgetfulness because he is neer unto his death In the mean time may it please you to consider by that which I have said that the glory of your perfection which at this present maketh you famous to all the countrey shall finally fade as the pride of the sweet violet decaieth with the
fall of the Sommer Now you are hard as a rock and cruel but when you shall be overtaken with age then shall you want the liberty and force wherewith now you disdain me For this is the revenge which love taketh of you that he then bringeth you into deadly pain and torments when hope beginneth to fail you Filene sent me this Letter and many more with other Songs and Sonnets wherewith if I had bin as greatly moved as contented and delighted he had Iudged himself happy and had been ill wedded but it was impossible to finde any where means whereby the picture and image of my beloved Lexander might be rased out of my heart For he so pleased me and was so constant and perfect in love that his wil and mine was but one will his word and mine one word and his heart and mine one heart Never did he perform less in deed then in word he promised His doings were alwaies correspondent to his sayings And as for me what Lexander liked I could not mislike and whatsoever displeased him was horrible to Ismenia In this pleasant life and sweet concord having passed certain years we purposed to confirm and establish our content and to signe our wished desire with the seale of honest and chaste marriage And although Lexander before he would take me to his wife intended to speak unto his father first and to ask his consent as it beséemed an obedient son to do yet when I had advertised him how that his father would not be willing to agrée unto that match by reason of the foolish desire he had himself to take me in marriage he estéeming more of his own content and the estate of his own life then of his due obeysance towards his father concealed the matter So that this unfortunate marriage was made with the consent and good will of my father at whose house the wedding was kept where there was such feasts games sports and pastimes held in respect of our marriage that it was spoken of in all the Boroughs and Villages thereabout When the amorous old man knew that his own son had deprived him of his love he became so furious against Lexander and me that he hated us both and abhorred us worse then death it self in such manner that he would never after sée us or come néer us On the other side a certain shepheardess of the same vilage called Felisarde who so fancied Lexander that she almost fell mad for love of him who made no account of her by reason that he loved me so well and because she was an elderly Maid and nothing well complexioned séeing that he whom she so dearly loved had wedded me almost fell into dispair In so much that our marriage bred us two deadly enemies The angry old man to have occasion to disinherit his son determined to marry some fair young woman by whom he might have children but though he was excéeding rich yet all the shepheards of our country disdained to be married unto him except Felisarde onely who to have opportunity to allure my husband to her unlawfull and dishonest lust for she had not as yet forgotten the love of Lexander willingly took old Filene to her husband She had not long time béen married but she began to practise meanes to gain the love of my husband and for that intent she sent a Maid that served her called Sylveria unto Lexander to tell him that if he would grant her her will she would obtain pardon for him from his father and besides she would do him much pleasure and shew him great favour but she could never corrupt him with all her large proffers and fair promises to consent to her wicked wil wherefore she considering that she was so despised and so little regarded of Lexander began mortally to hate him and endevoured continually to move her husband more and more to indignation against his son Neither was she content with that but determined also to practise a strange and villanous treason against us both for she had in such a maner won the heart of Sylveria her maid by reason of her flattering promises and other favours which she had done her that she was ready to do whatsoever she would have her although it had been against Lexander whom she respected for the time that she had served in his fathers house So that they secretly consulted among themselves how they might be revenged of me and at the hour appointed for the execution thereof Sylveria went forth of the Village and comming to a certain Gréen néere the River where Lexander used to féed his shéep she stepped unto him and with a troubled countenance as if she had some matter of great importance to tell him spake unto him in this maner Ah Lexander how well and prudently have you done in eschuing the love of your wicked mother in law unto which although I sometimes encited you yet know that I did so by reason of her importunate requests but now I know how the matter standeth she shall not be able any more to make me the messenger of her dishonesties I am acquainted with some of her secrets that concern her nearly and are such that if you knew them although your father be so cruell unto you yet would you not leave to hazard your life for his honour I will not say any more because I know you to be so wise and indued with such discretion that it shall not be necessary for me to use many words and reasons in your behalf Lexander being astonished to hear her talk in this order misdoubted some dishonesty of his step-mother But to know the truth and to be throughly informed he desired Sylveria openly to shew him all the matter and to let him hear what it was that she knew of Fehsarde her mistresse At first she would be prayed séeming to be unwilling to disclose a matter so secret but at length she declaring that unto Lexander which he demanded of her and which she so greatly desired to tell him stuffed him with a lie most notably well forged and contrived Saying and considering that it is a matter of great weight both unto your self and your father Filene in like manner to know that which I know I will most plainly declare it unto you assuring my self that you will not let any man know how that I have discovered this secret unto you You shall understand that your mother in law Felisarde hath purposed to defile your fathers bed with a certain shepheard whose name I will not tell you séeing it lyeth in you to know him if you please for if you will come this evening and enter into that place where I will lead you you shall finde the Traitress with the Adulterer in your fathers house for they have so appointed it because that Filene your father doth this night lye abroad and doth not returne till to morrow about midday by reason of certain affaires moving him thereto Therefore prepare your self
and that I was onely heire to the Dukedome to the end that I might be carefully brought up and well looked unto he caused me to be brought to the Court where I waighted on the Quéen who made as great account of me as if I had been her daughter And to the end that I might perceive the love and affection she and her husband the King did bear me I was honoured with the title of a Duchesse and disposer of all my fathers signiores and Lordships yea of the Dukedom also at mine own pleasure neither did the King withhold from me any part of the revenues thereof so that I lived in as great joy as any mortal maid might for I wanted nothing that I was able to think of I was loved and favoured both of the King and Quâ—en and therefore honoured of all the country But alack this my felicity was too great to be perpetuall and I was seated too high to escape the stormy blasts of adversity The tall Oaks are shaken with the winds and the climing stéeples rent with the thunder clap where the low brambles féel not the fury of the wind nor the base cottage the force of the storm The tops of high mountains are chopped through Apollos heat where the low plains and green medows are beautified with flowers and being cherished with Phoebus rays produce swâ—et hearbs and yeeld food to the shepheards flocks And so poor Brisilla lifted up to high estate triumphing in Court and glorying in her happinesse is brought in this most miserable torment whereas many simple maids and countrey wenches injoy sweet content and passe their lives in supream pleasure You shall therefore understand loving shepheards that I being 15 years of age or thereabout the young prince was sent for by the King from the Vniversity for the Qeen had purposed to marry me unto him Who being about eight or ten moneths younger then my self was thought too young to be married so soon but the Queen fearing least some one or other for there was many noble mens sons of great houses and high descent in the Court should win my heart and love used the matter so that few or none could have my company but her son whom she wished to be matched with none but my self And in truth by reason of our daily conversation at length grew such familiarity and acquaintance between Periander and me that love creeping into our hearts united us together and of two bodies made but one heart one will one desire one pleasure and one mind Insomuch that the Queen yea and all the Court began to perceive the affection that we did bear one to another Suppose shepheards what a pleasure it was both to the King his wife and most of all the noblemen of the realm yea generally to all men in the country to see such likelihood of a marriage which they so earnestly wished and greedily desired And dy that time that Periander had reached to the age of eighteen years the King fearing least delay might breed danger and my affection to chaÌ„ge or his sons mind alter called us both into his chamber and in presence of the Queen his wife spake unto us after this manner intending to try our constancy Marvell not my son Periander nor you young Duches that I have sent for you hither for I will not keep close the cause thereof Know therefore that my pleasure is that you Periander love not Lady Brisil any longer have I sent for you from the Vniversity to court your mothers maids Did I cal you to the Court to learn how to play Mars in the field and do you take upon you so young to serve Venus in the chamber you are but a boy yet Periander and therefore unfit for love And you Lady Brisill have we shewed you such friendly entertainment in the Court and honored you with such an high estate to allure our son to fancy you where I purposed to marry him to the King of Portugals eldest daughter heir apparent to the crown of Portugal thy father the deceased Duke was a man of great desert but his daughter not so worthy as to become a Queen Be contented with the title of a Duchess Lady Brisil and reach not so high a bough as a crown for thou mayest both misse of thy purpose and incur danger to lose their favour in whom consisteth your welfare Therefore I exhort you both to leave these familiar meetings these lovely Salves which you give one to another in the morning curteous good nights you bid one another in the evening also those pleasant smiles passionate looks and continual winks wherewith you favour one an other will I have you not to use any longer And to be short I forbid you to use company one with the other any more Periander hearing his father concluded so peremptory against his bliss answered Then father my Lord and Soveraign if it please your Majesty to seperate me from the conversation of Duches Brisil I beseech you to give me leave to separate my self from the company of all men and with that he drew his dagger and would have wounded his loving heart with the sharp point thereof had not his Mother the Quéen hindred his intent holding his arme As for me I was so perplexed both at the Kings words and his rashness that I fell on the ground in such manner that the king himself thinking that I had been dead ran from his chair of estate and lifted me from the ground calling Lady Brisil speak speak Lady Brisil young Queen of Albion speak but one word But I lay in that extasie a good hour All which time the King the Queen and all that were present but especially Periander were so grieved that none of them could abstain from wéeping The King called the Quéen hallowed in mine eares with a lamentable voyce and Periander almost breathless being choaked with excéeding sorrow which he conceived could neither call nor cry At length with much ado I came to my self and stood upright to the joy of all those that had heard of my mischance Whereupon the King told us that he had used his formor words but to learne whether our love was firm intending if I liked of Periander and Periander of me as of man and wife to marry us together To be short before we departed from the King he sent for some of the chiefest Noblemen and in their presence Periander made promise never to marry other woman then my self and in like manner affirmed that I was content to have him to my husband and would die rather then be married to any other So that our marriage was presently concluded and the wedding to be a month after CHAP. XIV How Massicourt betrayed the Prince Periander and sold him to the Moores for a Gally-slave and the sorrow that was made for his absence IMagine loving Shepheards what joy there was through the country when it was reported that the young Prince and
no traitor known till clad in clay This Gibbet here was set it to bewray For the King was terribly enraged when he had heard this strange kind of treason which was the cause that now he loved her whom he had wedded to his son and hated him whom he was by Nature bound to love For lest Periander should return into Albion and marry with me whom he would have to be his wife the King forgetting both the law of Nature and Honesty wrote unto the King of Spain that his Son Periander was guilty of treason against his own person being his Father and therefore desired him upon all friendship and the alliance that had a long time béen between the Kingdomes of Spain and Albion to keep his son close prisoner and to let him be used as hardly as any of all the other Captives which were in his Kingdome or Domions When I had heard what answer the King had returned by the Embassadors of Spain my heart was ready to burst And I was minded divers times to dispatch my self with one of my garters thinking that by my death I should deliver Periander from imprisonment and move the Kings mind to use his son as he ought to do But I know not how I was always so falsly allured with hope that I continually abstained from shortening my life and thereby prolonged my misery You shall therefore understand that I got one of the Embassadors Pages to carry a Letter from me unto Periander and to deliver it secretly into his own hands which the youth promised that he would accomplish though it should cost him his life and to reward his readinesse and to make him the willinger and carefuller to discharge his duty I gave him twentie crowns to drink The Letter was written to this effect Brisilla to the Prince Periander SWeet Periander the joy which poor Brisil conceived when she heard of her Periander was too great to be of long continuance and even as the herb that groweth and fadeth in one hour so the mirth that possessed my soul was in a moment expelled and banished You accused the Pylot Barsalis but you might rather have cursed the traytor Massicourt as the chief cause and first beginning of all our sorrows for the furious love hypocriticaf friendship and malitious policie of that unhappie Knight hath wrought first his own ruine and therewith our adversitie How miserable and unhappy art thou Periander that thy own natural father hateth thee How unfortunate that thy parent conspireth against thee And how unluckie that he who ought to be thy chief friend is become thy enemy Nay rather how wretched is distressed Brisil that unhappie Periander must be thus miserable unfortunate and unluckie for her sake Ah Periander could my captivity set thee at liberty how pleasantly and how willingly should the world see me run to the Prison and yeeld my leg to the Stocks or Iron Gyves Nay might the dearest bloud that succoureth my faithful heart purchase thy ransome from imprisonment and obtain thee thy souls desire how soon should my breast offer it self to my knife to be set a broach and to have a passage made into the inmost part thereof But no the Gods and fortune envy at me too greatly to suffer me to injoy so great happinesse If no man can or dare tel you the cause of your fathers suddain wrath against you know that I have found means to rid you of that doubt and to let you understand that accursed Brisil is the occasion thereof though she had rather die then live to see thee wronged The King thy father will be married to Brisil and therefore must Periander be banished which is more imprisoned among strangers far from home But assure thy self Periander that I will rather die then undo that which is knitted with my faith and bound with my honor If you can patiently endure your imprisonment perswade your self that I will couragiously abide my martyrdome Which for that as it cannot but be the crown of mine honour so also is like to be the cause of my releasement I wish that it may happen with all speed That Brisil being lifeless and forgotten Periander may be reconciled to his father return to his country and injoy his pleasure untill the decease of the King then to be crowned with the glorious title of King of Albion And thus faithfull Brisil biddeth thee farewell lamenting nothing so much as that she was not in the galley by you to row for you and bear all the travel that you by reason of her were constrained to suffer among them unnaturall Moors and galley slaves Adieu Thine and therefore thy self miserable Brisilla This Letter I had no sooner delivered to the Page but Embassadours departed from the Court having taken their leave of the King and embarked themselves the next day after to return into Spain When they were gone the King sent for me and asked me whether I was not yet resolved to love him séeing he hated his own son for love of me Whereunto I answered that if his Majesty loved me indéed he would likewise love his son séeing that I loved none but his son nor could not love any other as long as I lived But to be short and as little tedious loving shepheards as I possibly may after we had reasoned and argued together the space of a full hour he in protesting how intirely he loved me and that he could not live unless he enjoyed Brisil as his Quéen and I in defending that I might not love him nor live if I break my promise made to his son in his presence and by his consent at length he burst out into these raging words Proud Brisil and ungrateful Duches thou despisest the high offers of a King and contemnest the love of a Monarch that governeth a whole Kingdome And thinkest thou not that I cannot command thée séeing an huge people is ruled by me I promise thee that I will teach thee not to say nay when I demand and to be ready to grant when I request Therefore know that thou shalt be married unto me wilt thou or wilt thou not and the Marriage day shall be the ninth day after to morrow See then that thou prepare thy self against that day to condescend to my pleasure lest thou wilt rue thy stubborn hardneckedness And with that he turned from me into the next chamber and left me poor distressed wight ready to yield up the ghost at the sound of his conclusion But snatching hope by the subject I thought either the Kings minde might before the appointed day be altered or fit opportunity offered me to escape his tyranny by flight But neither I could in time get away nor the King had forgotten his intent But the day which he had appointed for the Wedding being come and all things in a readinesse sent for me I although I did not well know what to do yet râ—sting upon this point rather to die then to forsake Periander and
Therefore least if his father the King of Albion should upon my flight send new Embassadors to the King of Spain to have his son put to death for he divers times swore unto me that Periander should die if he any way hindered his marriage with me or brought Albion to be dealt withall not according to fatherly affection but his mercilesse rage we thought best not to expect the worst but to play safe as long as time and occasion was offered us To make few words Periander the next morning by break of day got out of the prison telling the Iaylor that he went to a place where Florina had appointed him to méet her and coming to the hous where I waited for him she presently departed from Sivil intending to trabel towards some solitary place where we might live untill we heard of the death of the King of Albion And because we should not be known if search were made after us we cloathed our selves both alike in the habite of country maids as if we had been two sisters CHAP. XVII How the Prince Periander and Brisilla became shepheards and how by the means of Malorena and Bergama the Prince departed from Brisill AT length travelling thus together we arrived to a certain village which is called Ezla where we purposed to keep our residence And although we had sufficient wherewithto maintain our selves yet the better to avoid suspition and to have wherein to imploy our leisure and to take our delight and pastimes we bought a flock of sheep and learned to play the shepheards as wel as we could none of al the inhabitants knowing but that we were two sisters For Periander was yet but young and had no beard and besides he was so fair of complexion that it had been impossible for one to suspect that he was no woman After we had passed over one moneth in that haven of content and passing pleasant kind of life I enjoying the presence of my Periander and he of his Brisil in spight of the world fortunâ— began to envy at our felicity and to evert the happy estate wherein we lived For it chanced that we being both at the feast which was celebrated in honour of the Goddesse Ceres there was a young shepheard being son unto one of the richest farmers in our village who casting his eys on Sybilla for so I named Periander who was thought to be my sister was fetttered in the snare of his beauty that we were so troubled with importunate requests and sutes of this youth that we wist not how to dehort him from folly or how to quench the burning flames which consumed the poor shepheards hearâ— For the crueller Sybilla my supposed sister seemed to be the more he was provoked to hope for mercy the colder she shewed her self to be the hotter he was the more she disdained the more earnest he sued the more she crossed him for his fondnes the more he hoped for kindnesse Insomuch that poor Petulca for so was that wretched shepheard called so miserably loved that all the Countrey knew by his colour what Captain he honoured and served His joy and welfare which was wont to recreate the whole company of the Inhabitants was changed into Melancholy His young face which was a fashion of Modesty Grace Mirth Beauty and Comliness waxed wrinkled his limbes weakened and all his body decayed So that as he was generally pittied of all men so were we most wofully grieved at his hard Fortune though wée could not help or remedy the same Nevertheless séeing that Petulca ceased not from his suit but so hotly followed his cause pleading for mercy to save his life I counselled Periander to fain as if he loved him hoping that we might by that devise and meane escape the ill will and anger which we were like to gain of all our Neighbours if the youth had died For his passion was such that nothing but death only could move him to leave his love Thus Petulca loving a young Prince in the habit of a lovely shepheard and perceiving that he had won the Fort which he had so fiercly assaulted revived again and in short time became as pert as trim as ever he had been He came twice or thrice in the week unto us and so pleasantly discoursed of divers matters as occasion offered that we could not have changed the recreation which he had by his honest company and merry conversation for the richest jewell of India As he had lived in this contented and pleasant manner one month it happened that the daughter of a shepheard called Petrueco dwelling in the next Farm to our cotage was fo intricated in the net of affection and so intangled in the beauty of Petulca that she allured him by continuall favours loving glaunces curteous gréetings pleasant spéeches and all means she could invent to gain his good will and to move him to love her but all the world was not able to alter his minde though we wished that he might have béen inticed by her deserts to repent of his first bargain At length when Malorena so was this unhappy shepheard named espied that Petulca was so ungratefull that he would not any way requite her curtesies with favour she began most deadly to hate my sister I mean Periander supposing her to be the cause of all her wo For as she knew Petulca was in love of my said sister so she thought that he was as well liked of her which induced her to be perswaded that we of purpose entertaind him the more kindly to hinder her matter whereas contrarily when we knew that she so dearly affectioned him we made less account of him hoping that he wearied with our coynesse might have lent his eare to his new Mistresse that honoured him so highly Yet howsoever we wisht her well and longed that she might enjoy her hearts desire she nevertheless being of contrary opinion became our mortall foe If she chanced to passe by us she did cast such a lowring look upon us as if she would have eaten us if she had lighted at unawares in the company where we were she thought her self the worse if she spake of us to others she belyed us and invented tales to defame and discredit us Yet all this served not but intending fully to revenge her self of the injury which she dreamed that we offered her she excogitated this stratagem There was in the same Village a beautiful young Mâ—id Neece to this Malorena who by reason that she kept her sheep in the next pasture to ours kept great company with us and became very familiar and friendly unto us Which her Neece Malorena espying thought to use her as the instrument of her supposed practises Therefore on a certain morning she sent for her made such a sugred spéech unto her declaring the occasion why she sent for her the estate of her love towards Petulca the love of Petulca towards Sybilla alias Periander and briefly all that concerned this matter
wood where séeing himself out of the troublesom Forrest was grieved that he had lost Pharelus in that sort before he had resolved whether he would reveale himself unto him or no but yet remembring that Pharelus said he meant to be at Leon within six days he was the gladder séeing wher he knew to find him if he concluded to return with him to Albion Insomuch that sitting down on a bank by the wood side began in this manner Ah unfortunate Periander now mayst thou well perceive that Fortune hath sworn to be thy enemy for ever For hath she not first suborned the Traytor Massicourt to work thy misery and so laid the foundation of all thy troubles He being cut off and his villany detected hath she not armed thy owne natural Father against thâ—e and stirred him up to wrong thée of thy right And now the Gods being incensed and provoked to wrath by such impiety have by their vengeance moved him to repent Hath she not battered the Fort which I ne'r thought she should have béen able to incorporâ—te Ah Brisil Brisil never did I think that Fortune should have triumphed of her victories in making conquest of the néerest thing that touched my heart and that she should have braved me with the trophies of thy disloyalty Ah how often was I wont to say unto Fortune when she threatned me to deprive me of honour living renown yea life â—nd all that none of all that was mine thinking that I might claime nothing properly to be mine but lost thy love faith and loyalty not caring to lose the whole world so I might enjoy thee whom I thought that neither alteration of time nor distance of place nor mutation of manners nor change of estate nor any thing whatsoever either hell or fortune might procure could have withdrawn from Periander In her was my mind fixed my hope planted and all my confidence seated séeing therefore that fortune hath béen able to make conquest of her I am constrained to confesse and acknowledge that she can do what she will and that we may not resist her pleasure Insomuch that I strive against the stream and cast stones against the wind in opposing my self against fortune seeing she hath vowed my utter ruine and will bring her will to passe The ashes of the old Phoenix bréedeth the new and with me the end of one misfortune is the beginning of another How can I then hope ever to injoy content seeing I never had happy hour if fortune looketh on me she lowreth if she turneth her face from me she threatneth me if she remember me she is inraged at me and if she smileth she flattereth whether dissembling to wreak her anger and ingraft her spight against me whom she could never brook Yet Periander how canst thou so greatly complain of her séeing that she so favoureth thée that thy father who was thy foe is now becomes thy friend thou that wert but a Kings son art now when thou wilt a King and where thou didst live in imprisonment in exile and misery maist now live in Court in liberty and in all the pleasure of the world No no fond fool fortune doth not this but the just Gods and if she be any cause of it she doth it onely thereby to entice me to become as disloyall as Brisil and so wholly to vanquish and overcome me But no though I have acknowledged her to be never so puissant yet she shall not make conquest of my fidelity nor brag of my disloyalty séeeing I will not nor may give over the love of Brisil and thought she neglect and hate me yet will I love and honour her till death After Periander had thus lamented the losse of the love of Brisil he determined to go to the City Leon to méet with Sir Pharelus and with him to return to Albion intending to live there and enjoy his Fathers Crown but never to love any but Brisil or to knit himselfe in marriage to any other And resolved to take his journey by the same village where he left Brisil meaning to speak with Malorena and to leave a Letter with her for Brisil as he had done before in which Letter he purposed to let Brisil know of all that which he had learned of Pharelus wohm he found and lost in the wood He intended also to write a Letter to Petulca and to let him know as much protesting that if hee would come into Albion when hee were Crowned he would give him the Dukedome pertaining unto Brisil in marriage with her and doe him all the honour that a Monarch might do to any of his Péers seeing that Brisil made such account of him In this mind Periander returned secretly unto the village where he had sojourned with Brisil and changing his attire apparelled himselfe in mans cloathes according to his sex and nature And being come to the village he tooke his lodging in a shepheards house where he thought he was least of all known When he had entred into the house and caused supper to be made ready he asked one of the shepheards daughters whether they knew not a certain shepheardesse called Malorena for he thought to have spoken with her and to know of her how Petulca and Brisil were moved at his departure to leave the Letters which he purposed to write with her to deliver them to Brisil and Petulca wherewith they were halfe angry thinking he did it to have occasion to speak ill of the maids and shepheards of their country and therefore gave him this answer We knew her but too well and if we thought you were one of her favourites you should have but had lodging here Pardon me fair shepheards replied Periander if I offend against my knowledg for the cause that I ask for her is that I am her cousin have not séen her this great while I as yet have never heard any ill of her nor ever knew any thing by her but that she behaved her self as a maid of her calling ought to do Thereby quoth the shepheards wife we perceive thee to be but a stranger here and therefore to be excused for as you say she was famed for one of the most modest maids of the whole country but now of late she hath committed great villany against two of the loyallest lovers that ever the world harboured And thus the good wife declared the sum of the whole matter unto Peaiander how all things were passed which so altered his affections that all they that were present could perceive that he was moved thereby Yet least he should bewray who he was forced himself as much as he could to abstain from sighing or weeping til he was alone at which time he poured forth whole flouds of tears out of his eys for grief that he had shamefully suffered himself to be deluded by Malorena and thereby brought himself into all these miseries where otherwise he should have béen the happiest man that lived Neverthelesse when he had heard what
excesse of gladnesse which possessed my soul But I beséech you go not about to undo your self to save me least in seeking my weal you procure your own woe so where but one should suffer death you bring both in danger Mistresse Cerasilla glad of his answer but sorry to see him make no more hast to do that which she desired she spurred him forward saying Sweet Philorenus doubt not but I am perswaded of thy love towards me and that I think of thy silence as thou sayest As for the rest let me alone I hope where you fear we shall both fall in the trap that we shall neither of us be snared in the net and therefore be ruled by me seeing womens wits have sometimes brought that to passe which mens minds hath admired To be short my brother became mistresse Cerasilla in attire and was apparelled in her cloaths whose body was the habitacle of my heart accompanied by the Saint whom I worshipped though absent and in whom my mind dwelled though my body was in subjection to the villaines that kept me in their cels after they had robbed me and slain my men Yet if I had then known of the love and affection of my mistresse towards me and how willingly she would have endeavoured to deliver me from the barbarous entertainment of the Egyptian theeves if she had known that her faithfull Philorenus was so afflicted my misery though it had been greater could not have béen half so troublesome unto me nor my filthy prison so noisome But least I be troublesome unto this worthy company by digressing from the matter know that my brother passed for mistresse Cerasilla and she for her brother and bidding the Gentleman that was charged with him Adieu they departed leaving him so busie at his game that he tended his play more then his prisoner Insomuch that they making all the haste they could marched through the Court and resembling that they went to walk in the fields they spared not their legs but sometimes running sometimes going a round pace they did advantage their journey in such manner that the next morning having travelled all night they reached to the wood where I was there thinking themselves out of danger they rested CHAP. XXIX How Philorenus the younger and Cerasilla lost each other in the wood and how the elder Philorenus was delivered out of the Aegyptians Cell by Cerasilla NOw though they had made sufficient provision of money yet when hunger began to gnaw them having disgested their meat by their walk or rather flight they wist not what shift to make for victuals Insomuch that they went straying up and down the wood to see if they could find any roots or wild fruit growing there intending to feed on them till finding the way to some house they might buy other kind of meat But mistresse Cerasilla being weary of raunging and overtaken with sleep lay down amidst the bushes and prayed my brother also to rest himself a while but he having more mind to eat then to sleep bid her take her rest and he would in the mean time seek for some victuals against she waked Insomuch that he marked the place where he left her and went towards the side of the wood whence he might see a chimney smoaking Whereof glad though he feared lost he should be mett with hee ventured and went to the house where he found a poor old woman sitting by the fire all alone and desired her of all friendship to let him have bread for his mony The woman perceiving that he was some Gentleman of account in mean time may it please you to note that my brother and mistresse Cerasilla had changed apparel in the way each taking that sute which agreed to their sexe told him that she had bread but she feared it was too brown for his eating but he desiring her to let him have it such as it was she brought him four loaves which he took and paying her as much as she asked to the wood he returned as fast as he could where he had espied a fountain and therefore stayed not with the old woman to drink she proffering him a glasse of Cydar being a kind of wine made of apples For he purposed to carry mistresse Cerasilla bread first and then to lead her to the said fountain and there with her to quench his thirst But when he came to the place where he left her mistresse Cerasilla was not there for waking out of her sleep she went to see if she could méet with him for because he had been something long away séeing the place whither he went for bread was about one league from the wood and he had wandred up and down the wood about two or three hours ere he came to the wood side whence he espied the smoak she suspected that he was lost in the wood and could not find the way to come unto her again And so it came to passe that she seeking him lost him and he not finding her lost himself For he was so distracted with sorrow and grief that as a man abandoning all hope in a manner dispairing he sate down and laying his elbow on the ground to support his head began in this manner to exclaim against Fortune for her spighfull entreatment Ah Fortune I perceive my destinies have ordained me to be the subject whereon thou mayest work thy power and shew thy inconstancy and whereon thou dost plant the banner of thy forces and hang up the trophees of thy victories For who is there that is acquainted with the course of my life that dare deny but that every part thereof hath bin guided by Fortune and subject to her accidentary government For after the day of my birth the circumstance whereof may be attributed to no power but to the hidden secrets of dame Nature onely was it not a chance and accidental cause that I should with my cradle by my parents be carried out of my country and live in exile before I knew what exile yea what life was was it not say I a token of the sparkles of anger which began to glister in the heart of Fortune and a manifest sign that she began to menace and threaten me some disastrous hap in time to come For I lived not many weeks after but I saw the fire flame which was kindled of the former sparkles and I tried the force of her menaces For before we could reach to any place where we might sojourn death bereft me of my dear mother before nature allowed me to acknowledg the benefit which by her I had and did receive This done Fortune seemed not not to have wreaked her anger sufficiently and as yet became nothing more méek for after my mother was buried and her funeral rights celebrated we came to the village Cinqueni where I was deprived of my father all the hold of my hope and the pillar of my wellfare Now Fortune thought her selfe prettily well revenged on me that had
thy play to see others pained thy pleasure consisteth in plaguing them that implore thy help Thou laughest at them that weep for their mishaps to move thee to pity thou scornest thē that honor thee thou mockest them that praise thee thou deceivest them that trust to thee thou abusest them that flatter thee and them that despise thee thou endeavourest to be revenged of them though they of all others least care for thy might least fear thy power therefore are least injured by thee Fret at them thou mayest and some stare and stamp but hurt them thou canst not for it passeth thy Deity to overthrow them that with true patience forbearance and sufferance shield and arm themselves against thy spight and rancor Therefore seeing that those that invoke thee most religiously are most unrighteously by thee injured that those that most deserve to be rewarded are most punished and that those that account most of thee and think of thee most reverently are most neglected and most villanously dealt withall by thee I that have thus long most zealously made thy altar smoak by reason of the incense which I have always from my cradle offered unto thee will and do now forsake and leave thee as knowing at last and acknowledging the errour and heresie wherewith I have thus long been infected Hereafter shall not Coreandro serve thee any more or offer thee sacrifice seeing thou hast not onely spoyled him of his goods and riches but also deprived him first of his dear and well-beloved Delbia and now at last of his dear son Philorenus whom thou hast appointed to be most barbarously killed and murthered fn his childhood and left me alive to bewail and lament his untimela death My father hearing the latter end of the Captains plaints marvelling what he might be that so railed at fortune for an other mans mishap and mischance for he having heard him repeat the injury which she had offered Coreandro he thought he had meant of himself and went into a certain thicket where he saw the man that so blamed and exclaimed against Fortune for her severe and cruel dealings with Coreandro in depriving him of his lawfull wife Delbia and his welbeloved son Philorenus but because he knew him not nor remembred that he had ever séen him before that time marvelled greatly what he should be and how he came to know him and mee for he had heard him name both him and me Wherefore after he had well looked on him and throughly beheld him he spake unto him in this order Sir I pray you not to be displeased with me for pressing so near you séeing the cause which moveth me thereunto procéedeth not from malice or intent to trouble or injure you any way but rather from love and affection desiring and wishing to comfort or pleasure you according to my power which by Fortunes frowardnesse is so impaired and weakened that my good will is more to be regarded then my ability I perceive by your face and heavy countenance that you have some cause to exclaim against Fortune either for your self or for some other But by the way I am moved by the remembrance of the good amity and great friendship which in times past hath been betwixt me and Coreandro whose mishap in losing his wife and son I heard thou so pittifully to lament to be so bold as to ask you why Coreandros case so grieveth you as that he himself could not more bewail his own misfortune or be more grieved thereat then you are The good Captain not knowing my father more then he was known by my father framed him this answer Good sir though I had had any occasion as I have had none to be displeased at your coming to me yet by reason that you have been so well acquainted with Coreandro as you say your coming unto me could not but have been so welcome unto me that all displeasure would quickly have been banished and forgotten For the great love and affection which I bear unto that man and did bear to his wife Delbia and his son Philorenus above all other creatures in the world is the cause that I so lament and bewail his miserable and pittifull mishap Wherefore séeing I have answered your question I pray you tell me where you have been so acquainted with Coreandro Where quoth my father in Spain in Aragon in Italy at Cinqueni and in every place where Coreandro himself hath been insomuch that he was no where but I was with him nor I any where but he was by me But I pray you quoth my brothers father do you know him if you see him Should I not know him quoth my father As well as my self Why then quoth the Captain my brothers father you know that I am Coreandro do you not Nay quoth my father rather do you know that I am the man Then I perceive said the other that you came to mock with me and so intreated me not to be displeased with you intending to give me cause of displeasure before you meant to depart from me Nay verily answered my father now I mark what the matter is you knew that I was to passe this way and therefore you came to this place to lament the misfortunes of Coreandro to draw and entice me to come unto you and so to be mocked and laughed at But know whatsoever thou art that if thou be so favoured of fortune that thou challengest licence to scoff at them that by fortunes spight are forced to grieve for their crosse hap thou maist so be punished by the just jugement of the revenging Gods that thou shalt be moved to cry peccavi too late and to acknowledge thy offence when it will be too late for thee to repent The good Captain hearing my father so earnest wist not what he might think of the matter but he began to remember that his wives first husband was called Coreandro and that he also had a son called Philorenus But because he thought that he had been dead long ago he could not think it should be he especially because it séemed by him how that he had lived af Cinqueni and that his son Philorenus that is my self should have been killed of the same souldiers that had slain his own son who was also called Philorenus for the same reason which hath already been told you For it seemed scarce credible to him that the other Coreandro and his son whom he thought both to have been dead long since should have lived so near him and that he should not have heard of him yet he thought best to set aside all anger that in case it were he he might shun all occasion of strife and immoderate speeches and therefore though he saw my father so hot yet he nothing changed spake thus cooly to him Sir I neither knew of your coming by this way nor ever saw you or knew you before to my knowledge and therefore the Gods punish me with their wrath if I tither
scoff or mock with you but as I came from Cinqueni being over-burthened with the sorrow which I conceive for the losse of my child which was killed at the said village by the barbarous souldiers I entred into this grove was forced by the muliitude of my miseries and greatnesse of my grief to rail at that most cruel Goddesse Fortune who taketh delight to glut her self with the overthrow of mortal men And was your son quoth my father called Philorenus Yea that he was quoth he And was your wife quoth my father called Delbia She was answered he again Why then quoth my father if thou be Coreandro thy wife Delbia and thy son Philorenus what shall I be with my Delbia and my Philorenus For if I am not Coreandro that had to wife Delbia on whom I begot Philorenus now massacred at Ginqueni heaven plague me The good Knight hearing my father so solemnly protest that he was Coreandro desired him to make him some copious and true relation of his life what he was where he was born in what place he was married and by what fortune he was brought into Italy and how that then he would satisfie him in all points and so content and certifie him that he should not only know that he did not jest nor mock with him but also cōfesse and acknowledge that he had very great reason to think himself mocked of him Whereupon my father very largely rehearsed unto him the whole discourse and history of his life whereby the good Knight knew that hee was that Coreandro whom hee thought had been dead and therefore had married his wife Delbia by whom he had his son Philorenus And presently he told my father all whatsoever had hapned and chanced between my mother Delbia and him how he saved her from the villany which the King of Castile intended to use against my mother how he brought her to her village house to look for him and not finding him there they went to the city Targonna to seek him and how they afterwards understood of certainty that he was dead as he could verifie and prove by divers of his wives friends at the City Targonna Besides he told my father in like manner that coming out of the Castle to escape the better he called himself Coreandro And when he was come forth he being credibly informed of his death married Delbia and that he had within a year after a son by her whom she would have also named Philorenus in remembrance of her first Philorenus whom she supposed to be dead In a word he left nothing untold but let him know the cause of his wife my mothers death with his voyage to Cinqueni and all other things that hapned even till their meeting My father greatly rejoyced at this discourse partly for that he heard such particularities of his wife of whom what was become he never had heard any certainty and partly also because he was disburthened of that heavie load of false suspicion bred in his breast by reason of the King of Castiles odious proclamation made against my mother Delbia For until the very hour that the good Knight the other Coreandro my brother Philorenus his father had informed him of the true verity of all matters concerning my mother Delbia did he verily think and perswade himself that my mother of wantonnesse got secretly away from the King of Castile not to seek him her husband but to run away with the Knight and lewdly to live with him setting aside and quite giving over her kind love and amiable kindnesse which she was wont to professe to her quondam dear husband And therefore now knowing the contrary although he made excéeding sorrow for her death yet the perswasion which reason by means of the good Knights true and not dissembled relation had ingrafted in his heart of her loyalty did not a little comfort him in this his singular perplexity both for the losse of so good a wife and so dear a son And besides all this the company of so valiant and worthy a Knight and vertuous a person in all points as little beholding to fortune for prosperity as himself séeing they both lamented the death of one woman and especially the pitifull mishap of us their sons thinking that we were massacred at Cinqueni which were unto each of them most pleasant objects to remember their Delbia our mother and most sure pawns and tokens of her chast and loyal love towards them our fathers did breed him such solace that he thanked the Gods for bestowing so much comfort upon him in this his latter and greatest extremity In like manner the good Knight Don Alvares de Bazora of late Coreandro pouring out tears incessantly for joy of his good hap in méeting so luckily with my father thought himself in ample manner beholding to the Gods for that singular benefit profesting that he could not being in that case have wished for a more blessed day then that wherein he so happily met with my father Thus joyning in company they marched together towards the City of Targonna in Aragon intending there to live and die together enjoying each others presence glad of each others company having each of them lost his son Where I will leave them in this their journey and return to the rest of mine own fortunes and my brothers who now both of us were lifted up to high estate and so prosperously lived in all kind of soveraign pleasurs that we thought it as possible for fortune to abase the greatnesse of our weal as for us to impair the divine estate of the heavenly powers CHAP. XXXI How Mistresse Cerasilla died for sorrow that she could not discern the elder Philorenus from his brother How he became enamoured on Aureola and the conference that passed between them in the Garden TO the end that I may let you understand how soon we were forced to recall our minds from that heresie it may please you most excellent Princesse and noble shepheards to know that we I mean my brother and I living in this most happy estate began by reason of our great leasure which the peaceable quitnesse of the Neapolitan Estate yéelded us so to give our selves to all kind of sports and pleasures that we thought that day ill spent wherein we had not invented some new delight to pleasure our Mistresses withal Now we invented new kinds of dances now strange manners of Vaulting now rare Masques now new devised Enterludes and in one word all kind of toys that Italian wits had bred in times past we either altered or augmented wherein we used such dexterity that we séemed to have been born to that purpose But howsoever we behaved our selves therein we were so liked of all the Courtiers of both sexes that our company was gratefull to all men and shunned by no man The King the Queen and Hyppolito the young Prince so loved and favoured us that they would not denie us any thing that we could ask And
highest for so I would grant my reason were but fondly grounded neither do I say that the Lilly deserves the head praise among all flowers because it grows not confusedly but in decent and comely order for there are many flowers that growing disorderly in swéetness of scent surpass divers well ranked flowers and lastly I say not that the Lilly is the excellentest flower because it is so swéet a flower but thus I form my reason That stately stateliness white whiteness gallant gallantness and swéet swéetness all these predominant qualities méeting together in the bravo Lilly make her worthy to be honored as the fairest finest and bravest flower that Nature hath framed By this the Countess Verina being come to her lodging Mistress Aureola was to retire from the garden to her sister and so I was forced to leave her having missed of my purpose and no time to break my mind to her in plain words although amidst our dispute concerning the excellency of flowers I used such passionate looks that she might well perceive whereto my discourse tended but howsoever she thought of it I know not but our parting was so amiable that after I had lost the sight of her I felt that I parted from her without parting For my body might well be contained in some other place than hers but my mind followed her wheresoever she went as trustily as her own shadow CHAP. XXXII How Philorenus the younger was enamoured on Aureola concealing it from his brother and how his brother came to the knowledge thereof IN the mean time excellent Princes and worthy thy shepheards you may note that my brother loved her I mean my golden Aureola as intirely as I my self his love being unknown to me For though he knew that I loved her yet was I not as yet acquainted with the love that he bore Aureola And in truth because he knew she was the onely air by which I lived rather then he would do any thing to procure my disquiet resolved himself to die for love of Aureola rather then he should opportunate Aureola to love him and to deprive me of that without which I could not live Insomuch that although he so loved her that for her he would willingly have yeelded to death and resigned his life yet he no way to offend me did not onely conceal his love from Aureola but also occasion being offered him to talk with her did spend all that time in commendation of me protesting unto her that I was so faithfull constant and loyal that if she would dain to reward my love with love and if she did love me she would have cause to glory of her hap in fancying him and placing her love on him who would prove the faithfullest Amant that was in Italy Besides this he made divers verses in praise of her and together with sundry brave and precious jewels presented them vnto her saying that I had sent them whereas in truth I knew not any thing of them Insomuch that more by his industry then mine own diligence though I neglected no dutifull service required in that case at length I obtained the love of mine Aureola For she loved me so affectionately that I might judge her love to be of as great force as mine though indeed it was of such nature that it was divided between us both I mean my brother and me for we being so like one to other that we seemed to be but one we could not shun reciprocation in love but whosoever loved me could not but love him and whosoever loved him could not but love me And although I had certainly known that Aureola loved my brother equally with me as well as I did but guesse that it was so yet had I been nothing sorrie but rather rejoyced greatly that I had obtained so fair a Lady to be both my love and my brothers friend For in verity such was my affection towards him that I could not wish any thing to my self wholly without wishing part of it unto my brother being most ready always willingly to part from any thing which I knew he wished and with a good heart to cease and leave from desiring or wishing any such thing whatsoever he had a mind unto But my brother marking that Aureola could not tell which of us two she loved best or which of us was most worthy of her love and thereby equally loved us both was very sorry fearing least I might be grieved that I did not my self onely enjoy all the love of Aureola And therefore he began to exhort me to séek means to be joined unto her in marriage thinking that so shee should bee forced to withdraw her love from him and wholly be addicted to me being her wedded husband To effect which matter she continually urged Aureola to make promise of marriage unto me very forcibly perswading her thereto and telling her that I who thought my life no life but in respect of hers should never be able to live perfectly untill such time that I being united and tied unto her in the knot of wedlock might enjoy her as my wife untill which thing were brought to passe I should live a most lamentable life full of dolefull discontent Furthermore he promised her that if she would vouchsafe to condiscend to my honest desire and his earnest request he would move the King and Quéene to deale with her sister the Countesse and her other friends about the contracting this marriage and obtain their good will and consent thereto Aureola although she was very unwilling to do so yet because he should not think that she would not grant my request for that she equally loved him with me séemed to grant our request and to be willing to have the marriage contrived betwéen her and my self Yet she would not have any mention made of it unto any of the Court till thrée moneths were ended for certain respects which moved her to conceal the matter so long Which were none other as afterwards we knew by experience but such as proceeded from her own unwillingness to be tyed to me and so to be deprived of the love of my brother For it afterwards was manifested she so loved us both that she wished in her heart that she might have béen married to us both thinking that she should not perfectly have enjoyed one of us if any other woman had been married to the other judging that we were both but one and ought not to be separated And therefore above all things did she desire that she were beloved of us both séeing we were both engraved in her heart that she might not think of the one without remembring the other But my brother thinking that Aureola had a bonnefoy purposed after the time of three moneths expired to marry with me made me glad with the news which he brought me of her mind although himself therewith was utterly spoiled of his felicity and welfare which I came to know by this means It happened even