shaddow be set downe And yet for the great good will thou bearest mée I cannot reiect thy seruice but I wil not admit thy loue But if either my friends or my selfe my goods or my good will may stande thée in stead vse me trust me commaunde me as farre forth as thou canst with modestie and I may graunt with mine honour If to talke with mée or continualye to bée in thy companye maye in anye respecte satistic thy desyre assure thy selfe I will attende on thée as dilygently as thy Nourse and bée more carefull for thée than thy Phisition More I can-not promise with-out breache of my faith more thou canst not aske without the suspition of folly Héere Fidus take this Diamond which I haue heard olde women say to haue bene of great force against idle thoughts vaine dreames and phrenticke imaginations which if it doe thée no good assure thy selfe it can doe thée no harme and better I thinke it against such inchaunted fantasies then either Homers Moly or Plynies Centaurio When my Lady had ended this straunge discourse I was striken into such a maze that for the space almost of halfe an houre I laye as it had béene in a Traunce mine eyes almost standing in my head without motion my face without coulour my mouth with-out breathe insomuch that Iffida began to scritch out and call companye which called me also to my selfe and then with a faint and trembling tongue I vttered these words LAdy I cannot vse as manye wordes as I would bicause you see I am weake nor giue so many thankes as I should for that you deserue infinit If Thirsus haue planted the Uine I will not gather the Grapes neither is it reason that he hauing sowed w t payne y t I shoulde reape the pleasure This sufficeth me and delighteth me not a lyttle that you are so faithful and he so fortunate Yet good Ladye lette me obtaine one small sute which derogating nothing from your true loue must néeds be lawfull that is that I may in this my sicknesse enioyo your company and if I recouer be admitted as your seruant y e one wil hasten my helth the other prolong my life Shée curteously graunted both and so carefully tended me in my sicknesse that what with hir merry sporting good nourishing I began to gather vp my orumbos and in short time to walk into a Gallery néere adioyning vnto my Chamber where she disdained not to leade mée and so at all times to vse mée as though I had ven Thirsus Euery euening she wold put forth some pretie question or vtter some merry conceit to driue me from melancholie There was no broth that would dosun but of hir making no meate but of hir dressing no sléepe enter into mine eyes but by hir singing insomuch as she was both my Nurse my Cooke and my Phisition Beeing thus by hir for the space of one moneth cherished I wared strong as though I had neuer ben sike NOw Philautus iudge not parcially whether was she a Lady of greater constancie towards Thirfus or curtesie towards mée Philautus thus answered Now surely Fidus in my opinion she was no lesse to be commended for kéeping hir faith inuiolable then to be praised for giuing such almes vnto thée which good behauiour differeth farre from the nature of our Italian Dames who if they be constant they dispise all other that séeme to loue them But I long yet to heare the end for me thinketh a matter begun with such a heate should not ende with a bitter colde O Philautus the ende in short and lamentable but as it is haue it SHe after long recreating of hir selfe in the Countrie repayred againe to the court and so did I also where I lyued as the Elephant doth by Ayre with the sight of my Lady who euer vsing me in all hir secrets as one y t she most trusted But my ioyes were too great to last for euen in the middle of my blisse there came tydings to Iffida that Thirsus was slaine by the Turkes being then in paye with the King of Spaine which battaile was so bloudy that many Gentlemen lost their liues Iffida so distraught of hir wits with these newes fell into a phreÌ„sie hauing nothing in hir mouth but alwayes this Thirsus slaine Thirsus slaine euer doubling this speach with such pitifull cryes and scritches as it would haue moued the souldiers of Vlisses to sorrow At the last by good kéeping and such meanes as by Phisicke were prouided she came againe to hir selfe vnto whom I wryt many letters to take paâ—iently y e death of him whose life could not be recalled diuers she aunswered which I wil shew you at my better leasure But this was most straunge that no sute could allure hir againe to loue but euer she lyued all in blacks not once comming where she was most sought for But within the terme of fiue yeares she began a lyttle to lysten to myne olde sute of whose faithfull meaning she had such tryall as she coulde not thinke that either my loue was builded vpon lust or deceipt But destinie cut of my loue by the cutting of hir lyfe for falling into a hot pestilent feuer she dyed and how I tooke it I meane not to tell it but forsaking the Court presently I haue here lyued euer since and so meane vntill death shall call me NOw GentlemeÌ„ I haue held you to long I feare me but I haue ended at the last You sée what Loue is begunne with griefe continued with sorrow ended with Death A paine full of pleasure a ioye replenyshed with misery a Heauen a Hell a God a Diuell and what not that either hath in it solace or sorrow Where she dayes are spent in thoughts the nights in dreames both in dauÌ„ger either beguyling vs of that we had or promising vs that we had not Full of iealousie without cause voyd of feare when there is cause and so many inconueniences hanging vpon it as to recken them all were infinite and to tast but one of them intollerable Yet in these dayes it is thought the signes of a good wit and the onely vertue peculyar to a courtier for loue they say is in young Gentlemen in clownes it is lust in olde men dotage when it is in all men madnesse But you Philautus whose bloud is in his chiefest heate are to take great care least being ouer warmed w t loue it so inflame the liuer as it driue you into a consumption And thus the old man brought them into dinner where they hauing takeÌ„ their repast Philautus aswell in y e name of Euphues as his owne gaue this a unswere to the olde mans tale these or the like thanks for his cost and curtesie Father I thanke you no lesse for your talke which I found pleasant then for your counsel which I accompt profitable so much for your great chéere and curteous entertainmeÌ„t as it deserueth of those that cannot deserue any I perceiue
and was not founde faithfull to any But I lette that passe leaste thou come in againe with thy fa-burthen and hit me in the téeth with loue for thou hast so charmed me that I dare not speak any word that may be wrested to charity least thou say I meane loue and in truth I thinke there is no more difference betwéene them then betwéene a Broome and a Besome I wil follow thy dyot and thy counsaile I thank thée for thy good will so that I wil now walke vnder the shadow be at thy coÌ„maundemeÌ„t Not so answered Euphues but if thou followe me I dare be thy warrant we will not offende much Much talke there was in the way which much shortned their way and at last they came to London where they met diuers straungers of their friends who in small space brought them familiarly acquainted with certaine English gentlemen who much delighted in the company of Euphues whom they found both â—ober wise yet somtimes merry pleasant They wer brought into all places of the Citie lodged at the last in a Merchaunts house where they continued till a certaine breach They vsed continually the court in the which Euphues tooke such delight that he accoÌ„pted all the prayses he hard of it before rather to be enuious then otherwise to be parcial not giuing so much as it deserued yet to be pardoned bicause they coulde not It hapned y t these English Gentlemen conducted these two straungers to a place wâ—er diuers Gentlewomen were some courtiers others of the country where being welcome they frequented almost euery daye for the space of one moneth entertaining of time in courtly pastimes though not in the court insomuch that if they came not they were sent for and so vsed as they had bene countrymen not straungers Philautus with this continuall accesse and often conference with gentlewomen began to weane himselfe from the counsaile of Euphues and to wed his eyes to the comlinesse of Ladies yet so warily as neither his friend could by narrow watching discouer it neither did he by anye wanton countenaunce bewray it but carying the Image of Loue engrauen in the bottome of his hart and the picture of curtesie imprinted in his face he was thought to Euphues courtly and knowen to himselfe comfortlesse Among a number of Ladies he fixed his eyes vpon one whose countenaunce séemed to promise mercy and threaten mischiefe intermedling a desire of lyking with a disdaine of loue shewing hir selfe in courtesie to be familiar with all and with a certein comely pride to accept none whose wit would commonly taunt without despite but not without disport as one that séemed to abhorre loue worse then lust and lust worse then murther of greater beautie then birth and yet of lesse beautie then honestie which gate hir more honor by vertue then nature could by Art or Fortune might by promotion she was redy of aunswere yet wary shril of speach yet swéete in all hir passions so teÌ„perate as in hir greatest mirth none would think hir wanton neither in hiâ— déepest griefe sullom but alwayes to looke with so sober chéerefulnesse as it was hardly thought where she were more commended for hir grauitie of the aged or for hir courtlinesse of the youth oftentimes delyghted to beare discourses of Loue but euer desirous to bée instructed in Learninge somewhat curyous to héepâ— hir Beautie which made hir comelye but more carefull to increase hir credite which made hir commendable not adding the length of a haire to courtlynesse that might detract the bredth of a haire from chastitie In all hir talke so pleasant in all hir lookes so amiable so graue modesty ioyned with so wittie mirth that they that were entangled with hir beautie were inforced to preferre hir wit before their wils and they that loued hir vertue were compelled to preferre their affections before hir wisdome whose rare qualyties caused so straunge euents that y e wise were allured to vanities and the wantons to vertue much like the riuer in Arabia which turneth golde to drosse and durt to siluer In conclusion there wanted nothing in this English Angell that nature might ad for perfection or Fortune could giue for wealth or God doth commonlye bestowe on mortall creatures And more easie it is in the discription of so rare a personage to imagine what shée had not then to repeate all she had But such a one shée was as almost they al are that serue so noble a Prince such Uirgins cary lightes before such a Vesta such Nymphes arrowes with such a Diana But why goe I about to set hir in blacke and white whome Philautus is now with all colours importraing in the Table of his heart And surely I thinke by this he is halfe madde whom long since I left in a great maze Philautus viewing all these things and more then I haue vttered for that the louers eye perceth déeper with drew himselfe secretly into his lodging and locking his dore began to debate with himselfe in this manner AH thrice vnfortunate is he that is once faithfull and better it is to be a mercilesse souldiour then a true louer the one lyueth by anothers death the other dyeth by his owne lyfe What straunge fits be these Philautus that burne thée with such a heat that thou shakest for cold and all thy bodye in a shiuering sweat in a flaming Yâ—e melteth like wax hardeneth like the Adamant Is it loue then would it were death for likelyer it is that I should loose my life then win my loue Ah Camilla but why doe I name thée when thou dost not heare me Camilla name thée I will though thou hate me But alas y e sound of thy name doth make me sound for griefe What is in me that thou shouldest not despise what is there not in thée that I should not wonder at Thou a woman the last thing God made therefore the best I a man that could not liue without thée and therefore the worst Al things were made for man as a souereigne and man made for woman as a slaue O Camilla woulde either thou hadst bene bred in Italy or I in Englande or woulde thy vertues were lesse then thy beautie or my vertues greater then my affections I see that India bringeth golde but Englande bréedeth goodnesse And had not England béene thrust into a corner of the worlde it would haue filled the whole worlde with woe Where such women are as we haue talked of in Italy heard of in Rome reade of in Greece but neuer found but in this Islande And for my parte I speake softly bicause I will not heare my selfe would there were none such here or such euery where Ah fonde Euphues my déere friende but a simple foole if thou beléeue nowe thy cooling Carde and an obstinate foole if thou doe not recant it But it may be thou layest that Carde for the eleuation of Naples like an Astronomer If it were so I
THis letter being coyned he studied how he might coÌ„uey it knowing it to be no lesse perrillous to trust those he knew not in so weightie a case then difficult for himselfe to haue opportunitie to deliuer it in so suspitious a company At the last taking out of his closette a faire Pomgranet pulling all the kernells out of it he wrapped his letter in it closing the toppe of it finely that it could not be perceiued whether nature againe had knit it of purpose to further him or his arte had ouercome natures cunning This Pomgranet he tooke being himself both messenger of his Letter and the maister insâ—nuating himselfe into the company of the Gentlewomen among whom was also Camilla he was welcommed as wel for that he had ben long time absent as for that he was as al times pleasant much good coÌ„munication ther was touching many matters which here to insert wer neither conuenient seing it doth not concerne the History nor expedient séeing it is nothing to y e deliuery of Philautus letter But this it fell out in the end Camilla whether longing for so faire a Pomgranet or willed to aske it yet loth to require it she sodeinely complayned of an old disease wherwith she many times felt hir self grieued which was an extreame heate in y e stomack which aduantage Philautus marking would not let slip when it was purposely spokeÌ„ that he should not giue them the slip and therfore as one glad to haue so conuenient a time to offer both his duetie his deuotion he began thus I Haue heard Camilla of Phisitians that there is nothing either more comfortable or more profitable for the stomack or enflamed liuer then a Pomgranet which if it be true I am glad that I came in so good time with a medicine séeing you were in so il a time supprised with your maladie and verily this will I say that there is not one kernel but is able both to ease your paine and to double your pleasure with that he gaue it hir desiring that as she felt the working of the potion so she woulde consider of the Phisition Camilla with a smiling countenaunce neither suspecting the craft nor the conueyer answered him with these thankes I thank you Gentleman as much for your counsell as your curtesie and if your cunning be answerable to eyther of them I wil make you amends for all of them yet I wil not open so faire a fruite as this is vntil I féele the payne y t I so much feare As you please quoth Philautus yet if euery morning you take one kernel it is y e way to preuent your disease and me thinketh that you should be as careful to work meanes before it come that you haue it not as to vse meanes to expell it when you haue it I am content answered Camilla to try your phisicke which as I know it can do me no great harme so it may doe me much good In truth said one of the Gentlewomen then present I perceiue this Gentleman is not onely cunning in Phisicke but also very carefull for his Patient It behoueth quoth Philautus that he that ministreth to a Lady be as desirous of hir health as his own credite for that ther redoundeth more prayse to the PhisitioÌ„ that hath a care to his charge then to him that hath onlye a shew of his art And I trust Camilla wil better accept of the good will I haue to rid hir of hir disease then the gift which must worke the effect Otherwise quoth Camilla I were very much to blame knowing that in many the behauiour of the man hath wrought more then y e force of the medicine For I would alwayes haue my Phisition of a chéerefull countenaunce pleasantly conceipted well proportioned that he might haue his sharpe Potions mixed with swéete counsaile his sower druggs mittigated with merry discourses And this is the cause that in old time they painted the God of Phisicke not like Saturne but Aesculapius of a good complection fine witte and excellent constitution For this I knowe by experience though I bée but young to learne and haue not often bene sick that the sight of a pleasant and quicke witted Phisitian hath remoued that from my heart with talke that he could not with all his Triacle That might well be answered Philautus for the man that wrought the cure did perchaunce cause the disease and so secreate might the griefe be that none coulde heale you but he that hurte you neither was your heart to be eased by any inwarde potion but by some outward persuasion and then it is no meruaile if the ministring of a fewe words were more auayleable then Methridate Wel Gentleman saide Camilla I wil neither dispute in Phisicke wherin I haue no skil neither answere you to your last surmise which you séeme to leuel at but thanking you once againe both for your gift good will wée will vse other communication not forgetting to aske for your friend Euphues who hath not long time bene wher he might haue bene welcommed at al times and that hée came not with you at this time we both meruayle and would faine know This question so earnestly asked of Camilla and so harblye to be aunswered of Philautus nipped him in the head not withstanding least he shold séeme by long silence to incurre some suspition he thought a bad excuse better then none at al saying that Euphues now a dayes became so studious or as he tearmed it supersticious that hée could not himselfe so much as haue his company Belike quoth Camilla he hath either espied some newe faultes in the women of England whereby he séeketh to absent himselfe or some old haunt that will cause him to spoyle himselfe Not so said Philautus and yet that it was saide so I will tell him Thus after much conference many questions long time spent Philautus tooke his leaue and béeing in his chamber we wil there leaue him with such cogitations as they commonly haue that either attende the sentence of life or death at the bar or the aunswere of hope or dispaire of their loues which none can set down but he that hath them for that they are not to be vttered by the coniecture of one that would imagine what they should be but by him that knoweth what they are Camilla the next morning opened the Pomegranet saw the letter which reading pondering perusing shée fell into a thousand contrarieties whether it wer best to answere it or not at the last inflamed with a kinde of cholar for that she knew not what belonged to the perplexities of a Louer she requited his fraude and loue with anger and hate in these termes or the lyke To Philautus I Did long time debate with my self Philautus whether it might stand with mine honour to send thée an aunswere for comparing my place with thy person mée thought thy boldnes more then either good manners in thée would
no Philautus either swallow the iuyce of Mandrake which may cast thée into a dead sléepe or chewe the hearbe Cheruell which may cause thée to mistake euery thing so shalt thou either dye in thy slomber or thinke Camilla deformed by thy potion No I cannot do so though I would But suppose thou thinke thy selfe in personage comely in birth noble in wit excellent in talke cloquent of great reuenewes yet wil this onely be cast in thy téeth as an obloquye thou art an Italian I but al that be blacke digge not for coles all things that bréede in the mudde are not Euets all that are born in Italy be not ill She will not enquire what most are but enquire what I am Euery one y t sucketh a wolfe is not rauening there is no countrey but hath some as bad as Italy many that haue worse none but hath some And canst thou thinke that an English Gentleman will suffer an Italian to be his Riuall No no thou must either put vp a quarrell with shame or trye the Combatte with perill An Englishman hath thrée qualyties he can suffer no partner in his loue no straunger to be his equall nor to be dared by any Then Philautus be as wary of thy life as carefull for thy loue thou must at Rome reuerence Romulus in Boetia Hercules in England those that dwel there cls shalt thou not lyue there Ah Loue what wrong doest thou me which once beguildest me w t that I had and now beheadest me for that that I haue not The loue I bore to Lucilla was colde water the loue I owe Camilla hot fire the first was ended with defame the last must begin with death I sée nowe that as the resiluation of an Ague is desperate and the second opening of a veyne deadly so the renuing of loue is I know not what to terme it worse then death as bad as what is worst I perceiue at the last the punishment of loue is to lyue Thou art héere a straunger without acquaintaunce no friend to speak for thée no one to care for thée Euphues will laugh at thée if he know it and thou wilt wéepe if he know it not O infortunate Philautus borne in the wane of the Moone as lyke to obtayne thy wish as the Wolfe to eate the Moone But why go I about to quench fire with a sword or with affection to mortifie my loue O my Euphues would I had thy wit or thou my wil. Shal I vtter this to thée but thou art more likely to correct my follies w t counsaile then to comfort me with any prety coÌ„ceipt Thou wilt say y t she is a lady of great credite and I héere of no countenaunce I but Euphues low trées haue their toppes small sparkes their heat the flye his splene the Ant hir Gall Philautus his affection which is neither ruled by reason nor leade by appointment Thou broughtest me into England Euphues to sée and am blynde to séeke aduentures and I haue lost my selfe to remedye loue and I am now past cure much lyke Seriphuis that olde Drudge in Naples who coueting to heale his bleard eye put it out My thoughts are high my fortune low and I resemble that foolish Pilot who hoyseth vp all his sayles hath no winde lauÌ„ceth out his ship hath no water Ah loue thou takest away my tast prouokest mine appetite yet if Euphues wold be as willing to further me now as he was once wilye to hinder me I should thinke my selfe fortunate and all that are not amorous to be fooles There is a Stone in the floud of Thracia that whosoeuer findeth it is neuer after grieued I would I had that stone in my mouth or that my body were in that riuer that either I might bée without griefe or without lyfe And with these words Euphues knocked at the dore which Philautus opened pretending drousinesse and excusing his absence by Idlenesse vnto whome Euphues sayd WHat Philautus dost thou shun the Court to sléepe in a corner as one either cloyed with delight or hauing surfetted with desire beléeue me Philautus if the winde be in that doore or thou so deuout to fall from beautie to thy beades and to forsake the Court to liue in a cloyâ—ber I cannot tel whether I should more wonder at thy fortune or prayse thy wisedome but I feare me if I lyue to sée thée so holy I shall be an olde man before I dye or if thou dye not before thou be so pure thou shalt be more meruayled at for thy yeares then estéemed for thy vertues In sooth my good friend if I shoulde tary a yeare in England I could not abide an houre in my chamber for I know not how it coÌ„meth to passe that in earth I think no other Paradise such varietie of delyghts to allure a Courtlye eye such rare puritie to drawe a well disposed minde y t I know not whether they be in Englande more amorous or vertuous whether I should thinke my time best bestowed in viewing goodly Ladyes or hearing godly Lessons I had thought no woman to excel Liuia in the world but now I sée that in England they be all as good none worse many better insomuch that I am enforced to thinke that it is as rare to sée a beautifull woman in England without vertue as to sée a faire woman in Italy without pride Curteous they are w tout coynes but not without a care amiable without pride but not without courtlines merry without curiositie but not with-out measure so that conferring the Ladies of Greece with the ladies of Italy I finde the best but indifferent comparing both countries with the Ladies of England I accompt them all starke naught And truelye Philautus thou shalt not shrine mée like a Ghostly father for to thée I will confesse in two things my extreme folly the one in louing Lucilla who in comparison of these had no spark of beautie the other for making a cooling carde against women when I sée these to haue so much vertue so that in the first I must acknowledge my iudgement rawe to discerne shadows and rash in the latter to giue so peremtorye sentence in both I thinke my selfe to haue erred so much that I recant both being readye to take any penaunce thou shalt enioyne me whether it be a Faggot for Heresie or a fine for Hipocrisie An hereticke I was by myne inuectiue against women and no lesse then an Hipocrite for dissembling with thée for nowe Philautus I am of that minde that women but Philautus â—aking holde of this discourse interrupted him with a sodaine reply as followeth STAYE Euphues I can leuell at the thoughtes of thy heart by the wordes of thy mouth for that commonly the tongue vttereth the minde and the outward speach bewrayeth y e inward spirite For as a good roote is knowen by a faire blossome so is the substaunce of the heart noted by the shew of the countenaunce I
can sée day at a little hole thou must halt cunningly if thou beguile a Cripple but I cannot chuse but laugh to sée thée play with the baite y t I feare thou hast swallowed thinking with a Mist to make my sight blinde bicause I shoulde not perceiue thy eyes bleared but in faith Euphues I am now as well acquainted with thy conditions as with thy person and vse hath made me so expert in thy dealings that well thou maist iuggle with the world but thou shalt neuer deceiue mée A burnt childe dreadeth the fire he that stumbleth twice at one stone is worthy to breake his shins thou mayst happely sorsweare thy selfe but thou shalt neuer delude me I knowe thée nowe as readelye by thy visard as thy visage It is a blinde Goose that knoweth not a Foxe from a Fearne-bushe and a foolish fellowe that cannot discerne craft from conscience being once cousened But why shoulde I lament thy follyes with griefe when thou séemest to coulour them with deceite Ah Euphues I loue thée well but thou hatest thy selfe and seekest to heape more harmes on thy heade by a little wit then thou shalt euer claw off by thy great wisdome all fire is not quenched by water thou hast not loue in a string affection is not thy slaue thou canst not leaue when thou listest With what face Euphues canst thou returne to thy vomit seeming with the gréedy hounde to lap vp that which thou diddest cast vp I am ashamed to rehearse the tearmes that once thou didest vtter of malice against women and art thou not ashamed nowe againe to recant them they must néeds thinke thée either enuious vpon small occasion or amarous vppon a lighte cause and then will they all be as readie to hate thée for thy spight as to laugh at thée for thy loosenesse No Euphues so déepe a wound cannot be healed with so light a playster thou maist by arte recouer the skin but thou canst neuer couer the skarre thou maist flatter with fooles bicause thou art wise but the wise will euer marke thée for a foole Then sure I cannot sée what thou gaynest if the simple condempne thée of flatterye and the graue of folly Is thy cooling Carde of this propertie to quench fire in others and to kindle flames in thée or is it a whetstone to make thée sharpe and vs blunt or a sword to cut wounds in me and cure them in Euphues Why didst thou write that against them thou neuer thoughtest or if thou diddest it why doest thou not follow it But it is lawful for y e Phisition to surfet for the shéepeheard to wander for Euphues to prescribe what he will and do what he lyst The sicke patient must kéepe a straight dyot the silly shéepe a narrowe folde pore Philautus must beléeue Euphues and all louers hée onelye excepted are cooled with a carde of tenne or rather fooled with a vayne toye Is this thy professed puritie to crye peccauie thinking it as great sinne to be honest as shame not to be amorous thou that diddest blaspheme the noble sex of women without cause dost thou nowe committe Idolatrie with them without care obseruing as little grauitie then in thine vnbrideled furie as thou dost nowe reason by thy disordinate fancie I sée now that there is nothing more smooth then glasse yet nothing more brittle nothing more fayre then snowe yet nothing lesse firme nothing more fine then wit yet nothing more fickle For as Polypus vpon what rocke soeuer he lyteth turneth himselfe into the same likenesse or as the birde Piralis sitting vppon white cloth is white vpon gréene gréene chaungeth hir coulour with euery cloth or as our changeable silke turned to the Sunne hath many coulours and turned backe the contrary so wit shippeth it selfe to euerye conceit◠being constant in nothing but inconstancie Where is now the conference with Atheos thy deuotion thy Diuinitie Thou sayest that I am fallen from beautie to my beades and I sée thou art come from thy booke to beastlines from coting of the scriptures to courting with Ladies from Paule to Ouid from the Prophets to Poets resembling the wanton Diophantus who refused his mothers blessing to heare a songe and thou forsakest Gods blessing to sit in a warme Sunne But thou Euphues thinkest to haue thy prerogatiue which others will not graunt thée for a priuiledge that vnder the colour of witte thou maist be accounted wise and being obstinate thou art to be thought singuler There is no coyne good siluer but thy halfepeny if thy Glasse glister it must néedes be Golde if thou speake a sentence it must be a lawe if giue a censar an oracle if dreame a Prophecie if coniecture a trueth insomuch that I am brought into a doubt whether I shoulde more lament in thée the want of gouernement or laugh at thy fained grauitie But as that rude Poette Cherilus hadde nothing to be noted in his verses but onely the name of Alexander nor that rurall Poet Daretus any thing to couer his deformed ape but a white curtaine so Euphues hath no one thing to shadow his shamelesse wickednesse but onely a shewe of wit I speake all this Euphues not that I enuie thy estate but that I pittie it and in this I haue discharged the duetie of a friende in that I haue not wincked at thy folly Thou art in loue Euphues contrary to thine oath thine honour thine honestie neither woulde any professing that thou doest liue as thou doest whiche is no lesse griefe to me then shame to thée excuse thou maist make to mée bicause I am credulous but amendes to the worlde thou canst not frame bicause thou art come out of Greece to blase thy vice in Englande a place too honest for thée and thou too dishonest for any place And this my flat and friendly dealing if thou wilt not take as I meane take as thou wilt I feare not thy force I force not thy friendshippe And so I ende Euphues not a little amazed with the discurteous speach of Philautus whom he saw in such a burning Feuer did not apply warme clothes to continue his sweat but gaue him colde drinke to make him shake either thinking so straunge a maladye was to be cured with a desperate medicine or determining to vse as lyttle arte in Phisicke as the other did honestie in friendship and ther fore in stéede of a Pill to purge his hoat bloude he gaue him a choake-peare to stoppe his breath replying as followeth I Had thought Philautus that a wound healyng so faire could neuer bréed to a Fistula or a body kept so well from drinke to a Dropsie but I wel perceiue that thy flesh is as ranke as the Wolues who as soone as he is striken recouereth a skinne but rankeleth inwardly vntill it come to the lyuer and thy stomacke as queasie as olde Nestors vnto whom pappe was no better than poyson and thy body no lesse distempered than Hermogineus whom abstinence from wine made
can doe much by Magicke and will doe all things for money him will I assaye as wel with golde as other good tournes and I think ther is nothing that can be wrought but shall be wrought for gylt or good will or both And in this rage as one forgetting where hée was and whom he loued he went immediatelye to séeke Phisicke for that which onely was to be found by Fortune SEere Gentlemen you may sée into what open sinnes the heate of Loue driueth man especially wher one louing is in despayre either of his owne imperfection or of his Ladies vertues to be beloued again which causeth man to attempt those things that are contrarye to his owne minde to Religion to honestie What greater villany can ther be deuised than to enquire of Sorcerers Southsayers Coniurers or learned Clearkes for the enioying of loue But I will not refell that héere which shall be confuted héereafter Philautus hath soone found this Gentleman who conducting him into his studdie and demaunding of him the cause of his comming Philautus beginneth in this manner as one past shame to vnfolde his sute MAster Psellus and Countrey-man I neither doubte of your cunning to satisfie my request nor of your wisedome to conceale it for were either of them wanting in you it might turne me to trouble and your selfe to shame I haue heard of your learning to be great in Magick and some-what in Phisicke your experience in both to be exquisit which caused me to séeke to you for a remedy of a certein griefe which by your meanes may be eased or cls no wayes cured And to the ende such cures maye be wrought God hath stirred vp in all times Clearks of great vertue and in these our dayes men of no small credite among the which I haue hearde no one more commended than you which although happely your modestie wil deny for that the greatest Clearkes doe commonly dissemble their kowledge or your precisenes not graunt it for that cunning men are often more daungerous yet the world doth well know it diuers haue tryed it and I must néedes beléeue it Psellus not suffering him to raunge yet desirous to know his arrant aunswered him thus GEntleman and countrey-man as you say I beléeue but of y e héereafter if you haue so great confidence in my cunning as you protest it may be your stroÌ„g imagination shal work y t in you which my Art caÌ„not for it is a principle among vs that a vehement thought is more auayleable than the vertue of our figures formes or charecters As for kéeping your counsayle in things honest it is no matter and in cases vnlawfull I will not meddle And yet if it threaten no man harme and maye do you good you shal finde my secrecic to be great though my science be small and therefore say on THere is not farre hence a Gentlewoman whome I haue long time loued of honest parents great vertue and singular beautie such a one as neither by Arte I can describe nor by seruice deserue And yet bicause I haue heard many say that where cunning must worke the whole body must be coloured this is hir shape She is a Uirgin of the age of eightéene yeares of stature neither too high nor too low and such was Iuno hir haire blacke yet comelye and such had Laeda hir eyes hasâ—ll yet bright and such were the lights of Venus And although my skill in Phisognomie bee small yet in my iudgement she was borne vnder Venus hir foreheade nose lyppes and chinne foreshewing as by such rules we gesse both a desire to liue and a good successe in loue In complection of pure sanguine in condition a right Saint seldome giueÌ„ to play often to prayer the first letter of whose name for that also is necessary is Camilla THis Lady I haue serued long and often sued vnto insomuch that I haue melted like war against the fire and yet lyued in the flame with the flye Pyrausta O Psellus the tormentes sustained by hir presence the griefes endured by hir absence the pyning thoughtes in the day the pinching dreames in the night the dying life the liuing death the iealousie at all times and the dispaire at this instant can neither be vttered of me without flouds of teares nor heard of thée with-out griefe No Psellus not the tortures of hell are either to bée compared or spoken off in the respecte of thy tormentes for what they all had seuerally all that and more doe I féele ioyntly Insomuch that with Sysiphus I rolle the stone euen to the toppe of the Hill when it tumbleth both it selfe and me into the bottome of hell yet neuer ceasing I attempt to renew my labour which was begunne in death and cannot end in life What dryer thirst could Tantalus endure then I who haue almost euery houre the drinke I dare not taste the meate I cannot Insomuch that I am torne vpon the whéele with Ixâ—on my lyuer gnawne of the Vultures and Harpies yea my soule troubled euen with the vnspeakable paines of Megaera Tisiphone Alecto which secreate sorrowes although it were more méete to enclose them in a Laborinth then to sette them on a Hill Yet where the minde is past hope the face is past shame It fareth with me Psellus as with the Ostrich who pricketh none but hir selfe which causeth hir to run wheÌ„ she would rest or as it doth with the Pelicane who striketh bloud out of hir owne body to doe others good or with the Wood Culuer who plucketh off hir fethers in winter to kéepe others from cold or as with the Storke who when she is least able tarrieth the greatest burtheÌ„ So I practise all thinges that may hurt me to doe hir good that neuer regardeth my paynes so farre is she from rewarding them For as it is impossible for the best Adamant to draw yron vnto it if the Diamond be néere it so is it not to be looked for that I with all my seruice suite desarts and what els soeuer that may draw a woman should winne Camilla as long as Surius a precious stone in hir eyes and an eye sore in mine bée present who loueth hir I knowe too well and shée him I feare me better whiche loue will bréede betwéene vs such a deadly hatred that being deade our bloude cannot be mingled together like Florus and Aegithus and being burnt the flames shall part like Polinices and Eteocles such a mortall enmitie is kindled that nothing can quench it but death and yet death shall not ende it What counsell can you giue me in this case what comfort what hope When Acontius could not perswade Cydippe to loue he practised fraud When Tarquinius coulde not win Lucretia by prayer he vsed force When the Gods coulde not obtaine their desires by suite they turned them-selues into newe shapes leauing nothing vndonne for feare they shoulde be vndone The disease of loue Psellus is impatient the 〈◊〉 extreame whose assaultes neither the wise can 〈◊〉
by pollicie nor the valiaunt by strength Iulius Caesar a noble Conquerer in warre a graue Counsaylour in peace after he had subdued Fraunce Germanie Britaine Spaine Italie Thessalia Aegypt yea entered with no lesse puissaunce then good fortune into Armenia into Pontus into Africa yéelded in his chiefest victories to loue Psellus as a thing fit for Caesar who coÌ„quered all thinges sauing himselfe and a déeper wound did the smal Arrow of Cupid make then all the speares of his enimies Hanniball not lesse valiaunt in armes nor more fortunate in loue hauing spoyled Ticinum Trebia Trasmena and Cannas submitted himselfe in Apulia to the loue of a woman whose hate was a terrour to al men and became so bewitched that neither the feare of death nor the desire of glory could remoue him from the lappe of his louer I omitte Hercules who was constrayned to vse a distaffe for the desire of his loue Leander who ventured to crosse the Seas for Hero Iphis that hanged himselfe Pyramus that killed himselfe and infinite more which could not resist the hot skirmishes of affection And so farre hath this humour crept into the minde that Biblis loued hir brother Myrra hir Father Canace hir nephew Insomuch as there is no reason to be giuen for so straunge a griefe nor no remedy so vnlawfull but is to be sought for so monstrous a disease My disease is straunge I my selfe a straunger my suite no lesse straunge then my name yet least I be tedious in a thing that requireth haste giue eare to my tale I Haue hearde oftentimes that in Loue there are thrée thinges for to be vsed if time serue violence if wealth be great golde if necessitie compell â—orcerie But of these thrée but one can stande mée in stéede the last but not the least which is able to worke the mindes of all women like war when the other can scarse winde them like with Medicines there are that can bring it to passe men there are that haue some by potions some by verses some by dreames all by deceite the cnsamples were tedious to recite and you know theÌ„ the meanes I come to learne and you can giue them which is the onely cause of my comming and may be the occasion of my pleasure and certainely the way both for your praise and profite Whether it be an enchaunted lease a verse of Pythia a figure of Amphion a Charecter of Oschanes an Image of Venus or a braunch of Sybilla it skilleth not Let it be either the séeds of Medea or the bloude of Phillis let it come by Oracle of Appollo or by Prophecie of Tyresias either by the intrailes of a Goat or what els soeuer I care not or by all these in one to make sure incantation and spare not If I winne my loue you shall not loose your labour and whether it redound or no to my greater peril I wil not yet forget your paines Let this potion be of such force that she may doat in hir desire and I delight in hir distresse And if in this case you either reueale my suite or denye it you shall soone perceiue that Philautus will dye as desperately in one minuite as he hath liued this thrée monethes carefully this your studie shalbe my graue if by your study you ease not my griefe When he had thus ended he looked so sternly vppon Psellus that he wished him farther off yet taking him by the hand and walking into his chamber this good man began thus to aunswere him GEntleman if the inwarde spirite be aunswerable to the outwarde speach or the thoughts of your heart agréeable to the words of your mouth you shal bréede to your selfe great discredit and to me no small disquiet Doe you thinke Gentleman that the minde being created of God can be ruled by man or that anye one canne moue the hart but he that made the hart But such hath bene the superstition of olde women such the folly of young men that there could be nothing so vayne but the one woulde inuent nor anye thing so sencelesse but the other would beléeue which then brought youth into a fooles paradise and hath now cast age into an open mockage What the force of loue is I haue knowen what the effects haue bene I haue heard yet could I neuer learne that euer loue could be wonne by the vertues of hearbs stones or words And though manye there haue bene so wicked to séeke such meanes yet was ther neuer any so vnhappy to finde them Parrhasius paynting Hopplitides could neither make him that ran to sweat nor the other y t put off his armour to breath adding this as it were for a note No farther than colours meaning that to giue lyfe was not in his Pencill but in the Gods And the lyke may be said of vs that giue our mindes to know the course of the Starres the Plannets the whole Globe of Heauen the Simples the Compoundes the bowells of the Earth that some-thing we may gessâ— by the outward shape some-thing by the Natiuitie but to wrest the will of man or to wreath his hearte to our humours it is not in the compasse of Arte but in the power of the most highest But for bicause ther haue ben many without doubt that haue giuen credite to the vayne illusions of Witches or the fonde inuentions of idle persons I will sette downe such reasons as I haue heard and you wil laugh at so I hope I shall both satisfie your minde and make you a lyttle merry for me thinketh there is nothing that can more delyght then to heare the thinges which haue no wayghte to bée thought to haue wronghte wonders If you take Pepper the séede of a Nettle and a lyttle quantitie of Pyretum beaten or pounded altogether and put into Wine of two yeares olde whensoeuer you drinke to Camilla if she loue you not you loose your labour The cost is small but if your beliefe be constant you winne the goale for this Receipt standeth in a stroÌ„g conceipt Egges and Honny blended with the Nuts of a Pine trée and layd to your left side is of as great force when you looke vppon Camilla to bewitche the minde as the Quintessence of Stockfish is to nourish the body An hearbe there is called Anacamforitis a straunge name and doubtlesse of a straunge nature for whosoeuer toucheth it falleth in loue with the person she next séeth It groweth not in England but héere you shal haue that which is not halfe so good that will doe as much good and yet truly no more The Hearbe Carisium moystened with the bloud of a Lysard and hanged about your necke will cause Camilla for hir you loue best to dreame of your seruices suites desires desertes and whatsoeuer you would wish hir to thinke of you but béeing wakened she shall not remember what she dreamed off And this Hearb is to be found in a Lake néere Boetia of which water who so drinketh shall be caught in
loue but neuer finde the Hearb And if he drinke not the Hearbe is of no force There is in the Frogs side a bone called Apocycon and in the head of a young Colte a bounch named Hippomanes both so effectuall for the obtaining of loue that who so getteth either of them shall winne anye that are willyng but so iniuriously both craft and Nature dealt with young Gentlemen that séeke to gayne good will by these meanes that the one is licked off before it can bée gotten the other breaketh as soone as it is touched And yet vnlesse Hippomanes be lycked it cannot worke and except Apocycon be sound it is nothing worth I omit the Thistle Eryngium the Hearbes Catanenci and Pyteuma Iuba his Charito blaepheron and Orpheus Staphilinus all of such vertue in cases of Loue that if Camilla should but taste anye one of them in hir mouth she would neuer let it goe downe hir throate leaste shée should be poysoned for well you know Gentleman that Loue is a Poyson and therefore by Poyson it must bée maintained But I will not forget as it were the Methridate of the Magitians the beast Hiena of whom there is no part so small or so vyle but it serueth for their purpose Insomuch that they accompt Hiena their God that can doe all and their Diuel that will doe all If you take seauen hayres of Hienas lippes and carry them sixe dayes in your-téeth or a péece of hir skinne next your bare heart or hir bellye girded to your lefte side if Camilla suffer you not to obtaine your purpose certeinelye shee can-not chuse but thanke you for your paynes And if you want medicines to winne women I haue yet more the lungs of a Vultur the ashes of Stellio the left stone of a Cocke the tongue of a Goose the brayne of a Cat the last haire of a Wolues tayle things casie to be had and commonly practised so that I would not haue thée stande in doubt of thy loue when either a young Swallowe famished or the shrowding shéete of a téere friende or a waren Taper that burnt at his féete or the inchaunted Néedle that Medea hidde in Iasons sléeue are able not onely to make them desire loue but also dye for loue How do you now féele your selfe Philautus If the least of these charmes be not sufficient for thée all exorcismes and coniurations in the world will not serue thée You sée Gentleman into what blinde and grose errours in olde time we were ledde thinking euerye olde wiues tale to be a truth and euery merry word a verye witchcraft When the Aegyptians fell from their God to their Priestes of Memphis and the Grecians from their Morall questions to their disputations of Pyrrhus and the Romaines from Religion to polycie than began all superstition to bréede and all impietie to blome and to be so great they haue both growen that the one being then an Infant is now an Elephant the other béeing then a Twigge is now a Trée They inuented as many inchauntments for loue as they did for the Tooth-ache but he that hath tryed both will say that the best charme for a tooth is to pull it out and the best remedy for loue to weare it out It incantations or potions or amorous sayings coulde haue preuailed Circes would neuer haue lost Vlisses nor Phaedra Hippolitus nor Phillis Demophoon If Coniurations Charecters Circles Figures Fiends or Furies might haue wrought any thing in loue Medea would not haue suffered Iason to alter his minde If the sirrops of Micaonias or the Uerses of Aeneas or the Satiren of Dipsas wer of force to moue the minde they all thrée woulde not haue bene martired with the torments of loue No no Philautus thou maist wel poyson Camilla with such drugges but neuer perswade hir For I confesse that such hearbes may alter the bodye from strength to weakenesse but to thinke that they can moue the minde from vertue to vice from chastitye to luste I am not so simple to beléeue neither would I haue thée so sinfull as to doe it Lucilla ministring an amorous potion vnto hir husband Lucretius procured his death whose lyfe she onelys desired Aristotle noteth one that being inflamed with the beautie of a faire Ladie thought by medicine to procure his blisse and wrought in the end hir baine So was Caligula slaine of Caesonia and Lucius Lucuilus of Câ—hstine Perswade thy selfe Philautus that to vse herbs to win loue will weaken the bodie and to thinke that herbs can further doth hurt the Soule for as great force haue they in such cases as noble men thought theÌ„ to haue in y e old time Achimenius the herbe was of such force that it was thought if it wer throwen into the battaile it wold make al the soldiers tremble but wher was it when the Humbri and Tentom were eriled by warre where grew Achiminis one of whose leaues would haue saued a thousand lyues The kinges of Persia gaue their souldiers the Plant Latace which who so had shoulde haue plentie of meate and money and men and all thinges but why dyd the souldiers of Caesar endure such famine in Pharsalia if one herbe might haue eased so many hearts Where is Balis that luba so commendeth the which could call the dead to life and yet he himselfe dyed Democritus made a confection that who soeuer drank it should haue a faire a fortunate and a good child Why dyd not the Persian Kings swill this Nectar hauing such beformed and vnhappy issue Cato was of that minde that thrée enchaunted words could heale the eye-sight and Varro that a verse of Sybilla could ease the goute yet the one was faine to vse running water which was but a cold medicine the other paciencs which was but a dry plaister I would not haue thée think Philautus that loue is to be obtained by such meanes but onely by Faith Uertue and Constancie Philip King of Macedon casting his eye vpon a faire Uirgin became enamoured which Olympias his wyfe perceiuing thought him to be enchaunted and caused one of hir seruaunts to bring the Mayden vnto hir whom she thought to thrust both to exile and shame but viewing hir faire face without blemish hir chast eyes without glauncing hir modest countenaunce hir sober womanly behauiour finding also hir vertues to be no lesse then hir beautie she saide in my selfe ther are charmes meaning that ther was no greater enchantment in loue then temperaunce wisedome beautie and chastitie Fond therfore is the opinion of those that thinke the minde to be tyed to Magicke and the practise of those filthy that séeke those meanes Loue dwelleth in the minde in the will in y e harts which neither Coniurer can alter nor Phisicke For as credible it is that Cupid shoteth his Arrow and hitteth the heart as that hearbes haue the force to bewitch the heart only this difference ther is that the one was a fiction of Poetrie the other of superstition The
most colours not that sheweth greatest courtesie A playne tale of Faith ye laugh at a picked discourse of fancie you meruayle at condemning the simplicitie of trueth and preferring the singularitie of deceipt wherin you resemble those fishes y t rather swallow a faire baite with a sharpe hooke then a foulc worme bréeding in the mudde Héereoff it commeth that true louers receiuing a flout for their faith a mocke for their good meaning are enforced to séeke such meanes as might compel you which you knowing impossible maketh you the more disdainful and them the more desperate This then is my counsell that you vse your louers like friends and chuse them by their faith not by the shewe but by the sounde neither by the waight but by the touche as you doe golde so shall you be praised as much for vertue as beautie But return we againe to Philautus who thus began to debate with himselfe WHat hast thou done Philautus in séeking to wound hir that thou desirest to winne With what face canst thou looke on hir whom thou soughtest to loose Fye fye Philautus thou bringest thy good name into question and hir lyfe into hazard hauing neither care of thine owne credit nor hir honour Is this the loue thou pretendest which is worse then hate Didst not thou séeke to poyson hir that neuer pinched thée But why doe I recount those thinges which are past and I repent I am now to consider what I must do not what I would haue done Follies past shall be worn out with faith to come and my death shall shew my desire Write Philautus what sayst thou write no no thy rude stile wil bewray thy meane estate and thy rash attempt wil purchase thine ouerthrow Venus delighteth to heare none but Mercury Pallas wil be stoln of none but Vlisses it must be a smooth tongue and a swéet tale that can enrhaunt Vesta Besides that I dare not trust a messenger to cary it nor hir to read it least in shewing my letter she disclose my loue and then shall I be pointed at of those that hate me and pitied of those that like me of hir scorned of al talked off No Philautus be not thou the bye worde of the common people rather suffer death by silence then derision by writing I but it is better to reueale thy loue then conceale if thou knowest not what bitter poysō lyeth in swéet words remember Psellus who by experience hath tryed that in loue one letter is of more force then a thousand lookes If they like writings they read them often if dislyke them runne them ouer once and this is certeine that she that readeth such toyes will also aunswere them Onely this be secret in conueyaunce which is the thing they thiefliest desire Then write Philautus write he that feareth euery bush must neuer goe a birding he that casteth al doubts shall neuer be resolued in any thing And this assure thy selfe that be thy letter neuer so rude and barbarous she will read it and be it neuer so louing she will not shew it which were a thing contrary to hir honour the next way to cal hir honestie into question For thou hast heard yea and thy selfe knowest that Ladies that vaunt of their Louers or shewe their letters are accompted in Italy counterfaite and in England they are not thought currant Thus Philautus determined hab nab to send his letters flattering himself with the successe which he to him selfe faigned and after long musing he thus began to frame the minister of his loue ¶ To the fayrest Camilla HArde is the choyce fayre Ladye when one is compelled either by silence to dye with griefe or by writing to hue with shame But so swéet is the desire of lyfe and so sharpe are the passions of loue that I am enforced to preferre an vnseemely sute before an vntimely death Loth I haue ben to speake and in dispaire to spéed the one proceeding of mine owne cowardise the other of thy crueltie If thou enquire my name I am the same Philautus which for thy sake of late came disguised in a Maske pleading custome for a priuiledge and curtesie for a pardon The same Philautusm which then in secrette tearmes coloured his loue and nowe with bitter teares bewrayes it If thou nothing estéeme the brynish water that falleth from mine eyes I would thou couldest see the warme bloud that droppeth from my hart Oftentimes I haue bene in thy company where easilye thou mightest haue perceiued my wanne cheekes my hollow eyes my scalding sighes my trembling tongue to foreshew that then which I confesse now Then consider with thy selfe Camilla the plight I am in by desire and the perill I am lyke to fall into by deniall To recount the sorrowes I sustaine or the seruice I haue vowed would rather bréede in thée an admiration then a beliefe only this I adde for the time which y e end shal trie for a truth that if thy aunswere be sharp my life wil be short so farre loue hath wrought in my pining almost consumed body that thou only mayst breath into me a new lyfe or bereaue me of the olde Thou art to weigh not howe long I haue loued thée but how faithfully neither to examine the worthines of my person but the extremitie of my passions so preferring my deserts before the length of time and my disease before the greatnes of my birth thou wilt either yeelde with equitie or deny with reason of both the which although the greatest be on my side yet y e least shal not dislyke me for that I haue alwaies found in thée a minde neither repugnant to right nor voyd of reason If thou wouldest but permit me to talke with thee or by writing suffer me at large to discourse with thée I doubt not but that both the cause of my loue would be beléeued and the extremitie rewarded both procéeding of thy beautie and vertue the one able to allure the other ready to pittie Thou must thinke that God hath not bestowed those rare giftes vppon thée to kill those that are caught but to cure them Those that are stunge with the Scorpion are bealed with the Scorpion the fire that burneth taketh away the heate of the burne the Spider Phalaugium that poysoneth doth with hir skinne make a plaister for poyson and shall thy beautie which is of force to winne all with loue be of the crueltie to wound any with death No Camilla I take no lesse delight in thy faire face then pleasure in thy good cōditions assuring my self that for affection without lust thou wilt not render mallice without cause I commit my care to thy consideration expecting thy letter either as a Cullife to preserue or as a sword to destroy either as Antidotum or as Auconitum If thou delude me thou shalt not long triumph ouer me liuing and small will thy glory be when I am dead And I ende Thine euer though he be neuer thine Philautus
he thought méete for such personages not forgetting to call Camilla his schollar when she had schooled him being hir maister One of the Ladies who delighted much in mirth seing Philautus behold Camilla so stedfastly said vnto him GEntleman what floure like you best in all this border héere be fayre Roses swéete Uiolets fragrant primroses héere wil be Iillyfloures Caruations sops in wine swéete Iohns and what may either please you for fight or delyght you with sauour loth we are you should haue a Posie of all yet willing to giue you one not that which shall looke best but such a one as you shal like best Philautus omitting no opportunitie that might either manifest his affection or commend his wit aunswered hir thus LAdy of so many swéete floures to chuse the best it is harde séeing they be all so good if I shoulde preferre the fayrest before the swéetest you woulde happelye imagine that either I were stopped in the nose or wanton in the eyes if the swéetenesse before the beautie then would you gesse me either to liue with sauours or to haue no iudgement in colours but to tell my minde vppon correction be it spoken of all flowers I loue a fayre woman In déede quoth Flauia for so was she named fayre women are sette thicke but they come vppe thinne and when they begin to budde they are gathered as though they were blowen of such men as you are Gentleman who thinke gréene Grasse will neuer be drye Haye but when the flower of theyr youth being slipped too young shall fade before they be olde then I dare say you would chaunge your faire flower for a wéede and the woman you loued then for the worst Uiolet you refuse now Lady aunswered Philautus it is a signe that beautie was no niggard of hir slippes in this gardeine and very enuious to other grounds séeing héere are so manye in one Plot as I shall neuer finde more in all Italy whether the reason be the heate which killeth them or the countrey that cannot beare them As for plucking them vp soone in that we shew the desire we haue to them not the mallyce Where you coniecture that men haue no respect to things when they be olde I can-not consent to your saying for well doe they know that it fareth with women as it doth with the Mulbery trée which the elder it is the younger it séemeth and therefore hath it growen to a Prouerbe in Italy when one séeth a woman striken in age to looke amiable he sayth she hath eaten a Snake so that I must of force follow mine olde opinion that I loue fresh flowers well but faire women better Flauia would not so leaue him but thus replyed to him You are very amorous Gentleman other-wise you would not take the defence of that thing which most men contempne women will not confesse For wher-as you goe about to currey fauour you make a fault either in praysing vs too much which we accompt in England flatterie or pleasing your selfe in your owne minde which wise men estéeme as follye For when you endeauour to proue y t women y e older they are y e fairer they looke you think thē either very credulous to beléeue or your talke very effectuall to perswade But as cunning as you are in your Pater noster I will adde one Article more to your Crede that is you may speake in matters of loue what you wil but women wil beléeue but what they list in extolling their beauties they giue more credite to their owne glasses than mens gloses but you haue not yet aunswered my request touching what flower you most desire for women doe not resemble flowers neither in shew nor sauour Philautus not shrinking for an Aprill shower followed the chase in this manner Lady I neither flatter you nor please my selfe although it pleaseth you so to coniecture for I haue alwayes obserued this that to stande too much in mine owne conceipt would gaine me but lyttle and to clawe those of whom I sought for no benefit would profit me lesse yet was I neuer so il brought vp but y t I could when time place should serue giue euery one their iust cōmēdation vnlesse it wer among those y t wer w tout cōparison offending in nothing but in this that being too curious in praising my Lady I was lyke to the Painter Protogenes who could neuer leaue when his worke was wel which faulte is to be excused in him bicause he would make it better and may be borne within me for that I wish it excellent Touching your first demaund which you séeme agayne to vrge in your last discourse I say of al flowers I loue y e Rose best yet w t this condition bicause I wil not eat my word I like a faire Lady wel Then quoth Flauia since you wil néedes ioyne y e flower with y e woman among all vs and speake not parcially call hir your Rose that you most regard and if she deny that name we will enoyne hir a penaunce for hir pride and reward you with a Uiolet for your paynes Philautus being driuen to this shift wished himselfe in his chamber for this he thought y t if he should chuse Camilla she would not accept it if an other she might iustly reied him If he should discouer his loue then woulde Camilla thinke him not to be secret if conceale it not to be feruent besides all the Ladyes would espye his loue and preuent it or Camilla dispise his offer not regarde it While he was thus in a déepe meditation Flauia wakened him saying why Gentleman are you in a dreame or is there none heere worthy to make choyce off or are we all so indifferent that there is neuer a good Philautus seeing this Lady so courteous and louing Camilla so earnestly could not yet resolue with himselfe what to doe but at the last loue which neither regardeth what it speaketh nor where he replyed thus at all aduentures LAdyes and Gentlewomen I would I were so fortunate that I might thuse euery one of you for a flower and then would I boldly affirme that I could shewe the fayrest posie in the world but follye it is for mée to wyshe that béeing a slaue which none can hope for that is an Emperour If I make my choice I shall spéede so well as he that enioyeth all Europe And with that gathering a Rose he gaue it to Camilla whose colour so encreased as one would haue iudged all hir face to haue bene a Rose had it not bene stayned with a naturall whitenesse which made hir to excell the Rose Camilla with a smiling countenaunce as though nothing grieued yet vexed inwardly to the heart refused the gifte flatly pretending a ready excuse which was that Philautus was either verye much ouer-séene to take hir before the Lady Flauia or els disposed to giue hir a mocke aboue the rest in the company Well quoth Flauia to Philautus who now stoode
I may so say with modestie is more bitter vnto mée then death If this aunswere will not content thée I will shewe thy letters disclose thy loue and make thée ashamed to vndertake that which thou cannesse neuer bring to passe And so I end thine if thou leaue to be mine Camilla CAmilla dispatched this letter with spéede and sent it to Philautus by hir man whiche Philautus hauing read I commit the plight he was in to the consideration of you Gentlemen that haue bene in the like hée tare his haire rent his clothes and fell from the passions of a Louer to the panges of phrensie but at the last calling his wittes to him forgetting both the charge Camilla gaue him and the contents of hir letter he gréeted hir immediately againe with an aunswere by hir owne Messenger in this manner To the cruell Camilla greeting IF I were as farre in thy beekes to be beléeued as thou art in mine to be beloued theu shouldest either soone be made a wife or euer remaine a Hirgin the one woulde ridde me of hope the other acquit mée of feare But séeing there wanteth witte in mée to perswade and will in thée to consent I meane to manifest she beginning of my loue by the ende of my lyfe the affectes of the one shall appeare by the effects of the other When as neither solempne oath nor sound perswasion nor any reason can work in thée a remorce I meane by death to shew my desire the which the sooner it commeth the swéeter it shalbe and the shortnesse of the force shall abate the sharpnesse of the sorrow I can-not tell whether thou laugh at my folly or lament my phrensie but this I say and with salt teares trickling downe my chéekes I sweare that thou neuer foundest more pleasure in reiecting my loue than thou shalt féele payne in remembring my losse and as bitter shall lyfe be to thee as death to me and as sorrowfull shall my friendes be to sée thée prosper as thine glad to see me perish Thou thinkest all I write of course and makest all I speake of small accompt but God who reuengeth the periuries of the dissembler is witnesse of my trueth of whome I desire no longer to lyue than I meane simply to loue I will not vse many words for if thou be wise fewe are sufficient if froward superfluous one lyne is inough if thou be courteous one word too much if thou be cruel Yet this I adde that in bitternes of soule that neither my hande dareth write that which my heart intendeth nor my tongue vtter that which my hande shall execute And so fare-well vnto whom onely I wish well Thine euer though shortly neuer Philautus THis letter being written in the extremitie of his rage he sent by him that brought hirs Camilla perceiuing a fresh reply was not a lyttle melancholy but digesting it with company and burning the Letter she determined neuer to write to him nor after that to sée him so resolute was she in hir opinion I dare not saye obstinate least you Gentlewomen should take Pepper in the nose when I put but salte in your mouthes But this I dare boldly affirme that ladies are to be woed with Appelles pencill Orpheus harpe Mercuries tongue Adoms beautie Croesus wealth or els neuer to be wonne for their beauties being blazed their eares tickeled their mindes moued their eyes pleased their appetite satisfied their Coffers filled when they haue al things they shold haue and would haue then men néede not to stande in doubt of their comming but of their constancie But let me follow Philautus who now both loathing his lyfe and cursing his lucke called to remembraunce his olde friend Euphues whom he was wont to haue alwayes in mirth a pleasaunt companion in griefe a comforter in all his lyfe the only stay of his lybertie the discurtesie which he offered him so increased his griefe that he fell into these termes of rage as one either in an Extacie or in a Lunacie NOw Philautus dispute no more with thy selfe of thy loue but be desperate to ende thy lyfe thou hast cast off thy friend and thy Lady hath forsaken thée thou destitute of both canst neither haue comfort of Camilla whoÌ„ thou séest obstinate nor counsaile of Euphues whom thou hast made enuious Ah my good friend Euphues I sée now at length though too late that a true friend is of more price then a kingdome and that the faith of thée is to be preferred before the beautie of Camilla For as safe being is it in the companie of a trustie mate as sléeping in the grasse Trifole where there is no Serpent so venemous that dare vâ—nture Thou wast euer carefull for my estate and I carelesse for thine thou didst alwayes feare in me the fire of loue I euer flattered my selfe with y e bridle of wisdome when thou wast earnest to giue me counsaile I wartâ— angry to heare it if thou diddest suspect me vppon iuâ—te cause I fell out with thée for euery lyght occasion now now Euphues I sée what it is to want a friend and what it is to lose one thy words are come to passe which once I thought thou spakest in sporte but now I finde them as a Prophecie that I shoulde be constrayned to stand at Euphues dore as the true owner What shal I do in this extremitie which way shal I turne me of whom shal I seeke remedy Euphues wil reiect thée and why should he not Camilla hath reiected me why should she the one I haue offended with too much griefe the other I haue serued with too great good will the one is lost with loue the other with hate he for that I cared not for him she bicause I cared for hir I but though Camilla be not to be moued Euphues may be mollified Trye him Philautus sue to him make frieÌ„ds write to him leaue nothing vndone that may either shewe in thée a sorrowfull heart or moue in him a minde that is pitiful Thou knowest he is of nature courteous one that hateth none that loueth thée that is tractable in al things Lyons spare those that couch to them the Tygresse byteth not when she is clawed Cerberus barketh not if Orpheus pipe swéetely assure thy selfe that if thou be penitent be wil be pleased and the olde friendship wil be better than the new Thus Philautus ioying now in nothing but onely in the hope he had to recouer y t friendship with repentance which he had broken off by rashnesse determined to gréet his friend Euphues who all this while lost no time at his booke in London but how he employed it he shal him self vtter for that I am neither of his counsaile nor court but what he hath done he will not conceale for rather he wisheth to bewray his ignoraunce than his idlenes and willynger you shall finde him to make excuse of rudenesse than lasinesse But thus Philautus saluted him Philautus to Euphues THe sharpe
and not to embrace hir in the heate of my desire then to sée fire and not to warme me in the extremitie of my colde No no Euphues thou makest loue nothing but a continuall woing if thou barre it of the effect and then is it infinite if thou allowe it and yet forbid it a perpetuall warfare and then is it intollerable From this opinion no man shall withdrawe me that the ende of fishing is catching not angling of birding taking not whistling of loue wedding not woing Otherwise it is no better then hanging Euphues smyling to sée Philautus so earnest vrged him againe in this manner WHy Philautus what harme wer it in loue if y e heart shoulde yeelde his right to the eye or the fancie his force to the care I haue read of many some I know betwéene whom ther was as feruent affection as might be that neuer desired any thing but swéet talke and continuall company at bankets at playes and other assemblies as Phrigius Pieria whose cōstant faith was such that there was neuer word nor thought of any vncleannesse Pigmalion loued his Iuory image being enamored only by y e sight why shuld not y e chast loue of others be builded rather in agréeing in heauenly meditations then temporal actions Beléeue me Philautus if thou knewest what it were to loue thou wouldest be as farre from the opiniō thou holdest as I am Philautus thinking no greater absurditie to be held in the world then this replyed before the other could ende as followeth IN déede Euphues if the king would resigne his right to his Legate then were it not amisse for the heart to yéelde to the eyes Thou knowest Euphues y t the eye is the messenger of loue not y e Master that the eare is the caryer of newes the heart the disgester Besides this suppose one haue neither eares to heare his lady speak nor eyes to sée hir beautie shall he not therefore be subiect to the impression of loue If thou answere no I can alledge diuers both deafe blinde that haue béene wounded if thou graunt it thē confesse the heart must haue his hope which is neyther séeyng nor hearing and what is the third Touching Phrigius and Peria think them both fooles in this for he that kéeketh a Hen in his house to cackle not lay or a Cocke to crow and not to treade is not vnlike vnto him y t hauing sowen his wheat neuer reapeth it or reaping it neuer thresheth it taking more pleasure to sée faire corne then to eat fine bread Pigmalion maketh against this for Venus séeing him so earnestly to loue so effectually to pray graunted him his requeste which had he not by importunate suite obtained I doubt not but he would rather haue hewed hir in péeces thē honoured hir with passions and set hir vp in some Temple for an image not kept hir in his house for a wife He y t desireth only to talke view without any further suite is not farre different from him that liketh to sée a paynted rose better then to smel to a perfect Uiolet or to heare a birde sing in a bush rather then to haue hir at home in his owne cage This will I followe that to pleade for loue and request nothing but lookes and to deserue workes and liue only by words is as one should plowe his ground neuer so we it grinde his colours and neuer paint saddle his horse and neuer ryde As they were thus communing there came from the Ladie Flauia a Gentleman who inuited them both that night to supper which they with humble thankes giuen promised to doe so and till supper time I leaue them debating their question Now Gentlewomen in this matter I would I knew your mindes and yet I can somewhat gesse at your meaninges if any of you shoulde loue a Gentleman of such perfection as you can wishe woulde it content you only to heare him to sée him daunce to marke his personage to delyght in his wit to wonder at all his qualyties desire no other solace If you like to heare his pleasant voice to sing his fine singers to play his proper personage to vndertake any exployte woulde you couet no more of your loue As good it were to be silent and think no as to blush and say I. I must néeds conclude with Philautus though I should cauil with Euphues that the ende of loue is the ful fruition of the partie beloued at all times and in all places For it cannot follow in reason that bicause the sauce is good which shold prouoke mine appetite therfore I shold forsake the meat for which it was made Beléeue me the qualities of the minde the beautie of the body either in man or woman are but sauce to whet our stomackes not meate to fill them For they that lyue by the view of beautie still looke very leane and they that séede onely vppon vertue at boorde will goe with an hungry belly to bedde But I will not craue héere in your resolute aunswere bicause betwéene them it was not determined but euery one as he lyketh and then Euphues and Philautus being now againe sent for to the Lady Flauia hir house they came presently wher they found the worthy Gentleman Surius Camilla Mistresse Frauncis with many other Gentlemē and Gentlewomē At their first entraunce doing their dutie they saluted all the company and were welcommed The Lady Flauia entertained them both very louingly thanking Philautus for his last companye saying be merry Gentleman at this time of the yeare a Uiolet is better than a Rose and so she arose and went hir waye leauing Philautus in a muse at hir wordes who before was in a maze at Camillas lookes Camilla came to Euphues in this manner I am sory Euphues that we haue no gréene Rushes considering you haue ben so great a straunger you make me almost to thinke that of you which commonly I am not accustomed to iudge of any that either you thought your selfe too good or our chéere too badde other cause of absence I cannot imagine vnlesse seing vs very idle you sought meanes to be well imployed but I pray you héerafter be bolde and those things which were amisse shall be redressed for we-wil haue Quailes to amend your cōmons and some questions to sharpen your wits so that you shal neither finde fault with your dyot for the grosenesse nor with your exercise for easinesse As for your fellow friend Philautus we are bound to him for he wold oftentimes see vs but seldome eat with vs which made vs thinke that he cared more for our company than our meate Euphues as one that knew his good aunswered hir in this wise Faire Lady it were vnséemely to strew gréene rushes for his comming whose company is not worth a straw or to accompt him a straunger whose boldnesse hath ben straunge to all those that knew him to be a straunger The small abilitie in me to requit
that is made of Adamant the hart of the man that is framed of yron and I cannot think you wil say that the vertue attractiue is in y e yron which is drawen by force but in the Adamant that searcheth it perforce And this is the reason that manye men haue bene entangled against their wills with loue and kept in it with their wills You know Surius that the fire is in the flint that is striken not in the stéele that striketh the light in the Sun that lendeth not in the Moone that boroweth the loue in the woman that is serued not in the man that sueth The similitude you brought in of the arrow flew nothing right to beautie wherfore I must shoote that shafte at your owne brest For if the eye of man be the arrow beautie the white a faire marke for him that draweth in Cupids bow then must it necessarily ensue that y e archer desireth with an ayme to hitte the white not y e white the arrow that the marke allureth the Archer not the shooter the marke and therfore is Venus sayd in one eye to haue two Apples which is coÌ„monly applyed to those y t witch with the eyes and not those that wooe with their eyes Touching trial I am neither so foolish to desire things impossible nor so froward to request that which hath no endeâ—â—â—ut words shall neuer make me beléeue without workes least in following a faire shadow I lose the firme substance and in one word set downe the only trial that a Lady requireth of hir louer it is this that he performe as much as he sware that euery othe be a déede euery gloase a gospell promising nothing in his talke that hée perfourme not in his triall The qualities that are required of the minde are good conditions as temperance not to excéed in dyet chastitie not to sin in desire constancie not to couet chaunge wit to delight wisdome to instruct mirth to please without offence and modestie to gouerne without precisenesse Concerning the body as there is no Gentlewoman so curious to haue him in print so is ther no one so careles to haue him a wretch only his right shape to shew him a man his Christendom to proue his faith indiffereÌ„t welth to maintaine his family expecting all thinges necessary nothing superfluous And to conclude w t you Surius vnlesse I might haue such a one I had as leaue be buried as maried wishing rather to haue no beautie and dye a chast virgin theÌ„ no ioy liue a cursed wife Surius as one daunted hauing lyttle to answere yet delighted to heare hir speake with a short speach vttered these words I Perceiue Camilla that be your cloath neuer so bad it wil take some colour your cause neuer so false it will beare some shew of probabilitie wherin you manifest the right nature of a woman who hauing no way to winne thinketh to ouer-come with wordes This I gather by your aunswere that beautie maye haue fayre leaues and foule fruit that all that are amiable are not honest that loue procéedeth of the womans perfection and the mans follies that the triall looked for is to performe whatsoeuer they promise that in minde he be vertuous in body comely suche a husbande in my opinion is to bée wished for but not looked for Take héede Camilla that séeking all the Wood for a streight sticke you chuse not at the last a crooked staffe or describing a good counâ—aile to others thou thy selfe followe the worste much lyke to Chius who selling the best wine to others dranke himselfe of the lées Truly quoth Camilla my Wool was blacke and therefore it could take no other colour and my cause good and therefore admitteth no cauil as for the rules I set downe of loue they wer not coyned of me but learned beeing so true beleeued If my fortune be soil that searching for a wande I gather a camocke or selling wine to other I drinke viniger my self I must be content y t of the worst poore helpe patience which by so much the more is to be borne by how much the more it is perforce As Surius was speaking the Lady Flauia preuented him saying it is time y t you breake off your speach least we haue nothing to speake for should you wade any farther you would both waste the night and leaue vs no time and take our reasons and leaue vs no matter that euery one therfore may say somwhat we commaund you to cease that you haue both sayde so well we giue you thankes Thus letting Surius and Camilla to whisper by themselues whose talke we wil not heare the Lady began in this manner to gréete Martius We sée Martius that wher young folkes are they treat of loue when souldiers méete they conferre of war painters of their colours Musitians of their crochets euery one talketh of that most he lyketh best Which séeing it is so it behoueth vs that haue more yeres to haue more wisedome not to measure our talke by the affections we haue had but by those we should haue In this therefore I would know thy minde whether it be conuenient for women to haunt such places where Gentlemen are or for men to haue accesse to Gentlewomen which me thinketh in reason can-not be tollerable knowing that ther is nothing more pernitious to either then loue and that loue breedeth by nothing sooner than lookes They that feare water will come néere no wells they that stande in dread of burning flye from the fire ought not they that wold not be entangled with desire to refraine company If loue haue the pangs which y e passiâ—naâ—â— set downe why do they not abstain from the cause if it be pleasant why do they dispraise it We shunne the place of pestilence for feare of infection the eyes of Catherismes bicause of diseases y e sight of y e Basilisk for dread of death and shall we not eschewe the company of them that may entrap vs in loue which is more bitter then any distruction If we flye théeues that stale our goods shall wée follow murtherers that cut our throates If we be héedie to come where Waspes be least we be strong shall we hazarde to runne where Cupid is where we shalbée stifeled Truelye Martius in my opinion there is nothing either more repugnant to reason or abhorring from nature then to séeke that wée shoulde shunne leauing the cleare streame to drinke of the muddy ditch or in the extreamitie of heate to lye in the parching Sunne when he may sléepe in the colde shaddowe or being frée froÌ„ fancy to seeke after loue which is as much as to coole a hotte Liuer with strong wine or to cure a weake stomake with raw flesh In this I wold heare thy sentence induced the rather to this discourse for that Surius and Camilla haue begunne it then that I lyke it Loue in me hath neither power to commaunde nor perswasion to entreat Which how idle a
a Nette A Nette quoth Flauia I néede none for my Fish playeth in a net already with that Surius began to winch replying immediately So doth many a Fish good Lady that slippeth out when the Fisher thinketh him fast in and it may be that either your net is too weake to holde him or your hande too wet A wet hande quoth Flauia will holde a dead Hearing I quoth Surius but Eeles are no Hearings but Louers are sayd Flauia Surius not willyng to haue the Grasse mowen where off he ment to make his haye began thus to conclude GOod Lady leaue off fishing for this time and though it be Lent rather break a statute which is but penal than sew a Ponde that maye be perpetuall I am content quoth Flauia rather to fast for once than to want a pleasure for euer yet Surius betwixt vs two I will at large proue that ther is nothing in loue more venemous than méeting which filleth the minde with griefe and the body with diseases for hauing the one he cannot faile of the other But now Philautus and Néece Frauncis since I am cut off begin you but be short bicause the time is short and that I was more short than I would Frauncis who was euer of wit quicke and of nature pleasaunt seeing Philautus all this while to be in his dumpes began thus to play with him GEntleman either you are musing who shal be your seconde wife or who shall father your first childe els would you not all this while hang your head neither attending to the discourses that you haue heard nor regarding the company you are in or it maye be which of both coniectures is lykelyest that hearing so much talke of loue you are either driuen to the remembrance of the Italian Ladies which once you serued or els to the seruice of those in England which you haue since your comming seene for as Andromache when so euer she sawe the Tombe of Hector could not refraine from wéeping or as Laodamia coulde neuer beholde the picture of Protesilaus in waxe but she alwayes fainted so Louers whensoeuer they view the Image of their Ladyes though not the same substaunce yet the similitude in shaddow they are so benummed in their ioyntes and so berefte of theyr wits that they haue neither the power to moue their bodies to shewe lyfe nor their tongues to make aunswere so that I thinking that with your other sences you had also lost your smellyng thought rather to be a Thorne whose poynt might make you feele some-what than a Uyolet whose sauour could cause you to smell nothing Philautus séeing this Gentlewoman so pleasauntlye disposed replyed in this manner GEntle-woman to studie for a seconde wife before I knowe my first were to resemble the good huswife in Naples who tooke thought to bring foorth hir Chickens before she had Hennes to laye Egges and to muse who should father my first childe wer to doubt when the Cow is mine who should owe the Calfe But I will neither be so hastie to beate my braynes about two wiues béefore I know where to get one nor so iealous to mistrust hir fidelytie when I haue one Touching the view of ladies or the remembraunce of my loues mée thinketh it should rather sharp the point in me then abate the edge My sences are not lost though my labour be therefore my good Uyolet pricke not him forward with sharpnesse whom thou shouldest rather comfort with sauours But to put you out of doubt that my wits were not all this while a wol-gathering I was debating with my selfe whether in loue it wer better to be constant bewraying all the counsayles or secret being readye euery houre to flinch And so many reasons came to confirme eyther that I coulde not be resolued in anye To be constant what thing more requisite in loue when it shall alwayes be gréene lyke the Iuie though the Sunne parch it that shall euer be hard like the true Diamond though y e hammer beate it that stil groweth with the good vine though the knife cutte it Constancie is lyke vnto the Storke who wheresoeuer she flye commeth into no Neaste but hir owne or the Lapwing whom nothing can driue from hir young ones but death But to reueale the secrets of Loue the counsayles the conclusions what greater despite to his Ladye or more shamefull discredite to him-selfe canne bée imagined when there shall no Letter passe but it shall be disclosed no talke vttered but it shall be agayne repeated nothing done but it shall be reuealed Which when I considered me thought it better to haue one that shoulde bée secreate though fickle than a blabbe though constant For what is there in the world that more delighteth a louer than secrecie which is voyd of feare with-out suspition frée from enuie the onely hope a woman hath to buyld both hir honour and honestie vppon The tongue of a louer should be lyke the point in the Diall which though it goe none can sée it gooing or a young trée which though it growe none can perceiue it growing hauing alwaies the stone in their mouth which the Cranes vse when they flye ouer Mountaines least they make a noyse but to be silent and lyghtlye to estéeme of his Lady to shake hir off though he be secret to chaunge for euery thing though he bewraye nothing is the onely thing that cutteth the heart in péeces of a true and constant louer which déepely waying with my selfe I preferred him that would neuer remoue though he reueale all before him that would conceale all and euer bée flyding thus wasting too and fro I appeale to you my good Uyolet whether in loue be more required secrecie or constancie Frauncis with hir accustomable bolonesse yet modestly replyed as followeth GEntleman if I shoulde aske you whether in the making of a good sword yron were more to be required or steele sure I am you would aunswere that both were necessary Or if I should be so curious to demaund whether in a tale tolde to your Ladyes disposition or mention most conuenient I cannot think but you wold iudge them both expedient for as one mettal is to be tempered with an other in fashioning a good blade least either being al of steele it quickly break or al of yron it neuer cut so fareth it in speach which if it be not seasoned as well with witte to moue delyght as with Arte to manifest cunning there is no eloquence and in no other manner standeth it with Loue for to be secret and not constant or constant and not secrete were to builde a house of morter with-out stones or a wall of stones with-out morter There is no liuely picture drawen without couldur no curious image wrought with one toole no perfecte Musicke played with one string and wouldst thou haue loue the patterne of eternitie couloured either with constancie alone or onely secrecie There must in euery triangle be thrée lines she first beginneth the seconde augmenteth the
for hir poore Bargeman that was a lyttle hurte than care for hir selfe that stoode in greatest hazard O rare example of pittie O singular spectacle of pietie Diuers besides haue ther bene which by priuate conspiracies open rebellions close wyles cruel witchcraftes haue sought to ende hir lyfe which saueth all their liues whose practises by the diuine prouidence of the almightie haue euer bene disclosed insomuch that he hath kept hir safe in y e Whales belly when hir subiects went about to throw hir into the Sea preserued hir in che hotte Ouen when hir enimies increased the fire not suffering a haire to fall from hir much lesse anye harme to fasten vpon hir These iniuries and treasons of hir subiects these pollicies and vndermining of forrein Nations so lyttle moued hir that she would often say Let them know that though it be not lawfull for them to speake what they lyst yet is it lawfull for vs to doe with them what wée lyst being alwayes of that mercifull minde which was in Theodosius who wished rather that he might call the dead to lyfe than put the lyuing to death saying with Augustus when she should set hir hand to any condempnation I would to God we could not write Infinite wer the ensamples y t might be alleadged almost incredible wherby she hath shewed hir selfe a Lambe in méeknesse whenâ—she had cause to be a Lyon in might proued a Doue in fauour when she was prouoked to be an Eagle in fiercenesse requiting iniuries with benefits reuenging grudges with giftes in highest Maiestie bearing the lowest minde forgiuing all that sued for mercye and forgetting all that deserued Iustice O diuine Nature O heauenly nobilitic what thing can ther be more required in a Prince then in greatest power to shew greatest patience in chiefest glory to bring forth chiefest grace in abuÌ„daunce of all earthly pompe to manifest aboundaunce of all heauenly pietie O fortunate England that hath such a Qeene vngratefull if thou praye not for hir wicked if thou doe not loue hir miserable if thou loose hir Héere Ladyes is a Glasse for all Princes to beholde that being called to dignitie they vse moderation not might tempering the seueritie of the Lawes with the mildenesse of loue not executing all they will but shewing what they may Happy are they and onely they that are vnder this glorious and gratious Souereigntie insomuch that I accompt all those abiectes that be not hir subiects But why do I tread still in one path when I haue so large a field to walke or lynger about one flower when I haue many to gather wherein I resemble those that being delighted with y e little brooke neglect y e fountaines head or that painter that being curious to colour Cupids bow forgot to paint the string As this noble Prince is endewed with mercie patience and moderation so is she adourned with singular beautie and chastitie excelling in the one Venus in the other Vesta Who knoweth not how rare a thing it is Ladyes to matche virginitie with beautie a chaste minde with an amyable face diuine cogitacions with a comelye countenaunce But such is the grace bestowed vppon this Earthlye Goddesse that hauing the beautie that might allure all Princes she hath the chastitie also to refuse all accompting it no lesse praise to be called a Uirgin than to bée estéemed a Venus thinking it as great honour to be founde chaste as thought amiable Where is now Electra the chaste Daughter of Agamemnon Where is Lala that renoumed Uirgin Where is Aemilia that through hir chastitie wrought wonders in mainteining continuall fire at the Altar of Vesta Where is Claudia that to manifest hir Uirginitie sette the ship on floate with hir finger that multitudes coulde not remoue by force Where is Tuscia one of the same order that brought to passe no lesse meruailes by carying water in a siue not shedding one drop from Tiber to the Temple of Vesta If Uirginitie haue such force then what hath this chast Uirgin Elizabeth done who by the space of twentie and odde yeares with continuall peace against all pollicies with sundry miracles contrary to all hope hath gouerned that noble Iland Against whom neither forrein force nor ciuill fraude neither discorde at home nor conspiracies abroad could preuayle What greater meruaile hath happened since the beginning of the world than for a young and tender Mayden to gouerne strong and valyaunt men than for a Uirgin to make the whole world if not to stande in awe of hir yet to honour hir yea to lyue in spight of all those that spight hir with hir sword in the sheath with hir armour in the Tower with hir souldiours in their gownes insomuch as hir peace may be called more blessed than the quyet raigne of Numa Pompilius in whose gouernement the Bées haue made their Hiues in the Souldiours Helmets Now is the Temple of Ianus remoued from Rome to England whose dore hath not bene opened this twentie yeares more to be merualed at than the regiment of Debora who ruled twentie yeares with Religion or Semiriamis that gouerned long with power or Zenobia that reigned six yeares in prosperitie This is the onelye myracle that virginitie euer wrought for a little Island enuironed round about with warres to stande in peace for the walls of Fraunce to burne and the houses of England to fréese for all other nations either with cruel sworde to be deuided or with forren foes to be inuaded and that countrey neither to be molested with broyles in their owne bosoms nor threatned with blasts of other borderers But alwayes though not laughing yet looking through an Emeraud at others iarres Their fieldes haue bene sowen with corne straungers theirs pytched with Camps they haue their men reaping their haruest when others are mustring in their harneis they vse their péeces to fowle for pleasure others their Caliuers for feare of perill O blessed peace oh happy Prince O fortunate people The lyuing God is onelye the Englishe God where he hath placed peace which bringeth all plentie annoynted a Uirgin Quéene whiche with a wande ruleth hir owne subiects and with hir worthinesse winneth the good wils of straungers so that she is no lesse gratious among hir owne then glorious to others no lesse loued of hir people then meruailed at of other nations This is the blessing that Christ alwayes gaue to his people peace This is y e cursse that he giueth to the wicked there shalbe no peace to the vngodly This was the onely salutation he vsed to his Disciples peace be vnto you And therfore is he called the God of loue and peace in holy writte In peace was the Temple of the Lorde builte by Salamon Christ would not be borne vntill there were peace throughout the whole worlde this was the onely thing that Esechias prayed for let there be trueth and peace O Lorde in my dayes All which examples doe manifestly proue that there can be nothing giuen of god to man