good issue one may say I have done this and my designe succeeded thus I will do nothing but what you shall know yet give mee a little liberty and permit that in imitation of most discreet People I may do somewhat before I speak And be assured that this old Man whom Experience hath no less improved than Age rendered hoary in your service hath some Master-pieces of subtilty which he employe's not but upon great occasion and that he who delivered you out of the Prison in the Forest and freed you from the Clawes of those Harpyes will also draw you out of this Mire if you will follow his Advice with Patience and resolve to further your own Recovery This said Boleslaüs went to put in execution his Design which succeeded to his wish but not without much trouble many subtile inventions and at length a full relation from beginning to end of Iphigenes Birth and Education as hath already been described whereby hee made Liante see as clear as the Day the reasons that had retarded Iphigenes in the discovery of that Miracle his designe to declare it first to the King that His Majesty might see how false and impertinent had been the Calumny of his Enviers and beeing re-established in his favour the resolution hee had to invest Liante in the possession of all his charges and estate by giving himself to him according to the sacred order of Matrimony This transported Liante with such astonishment for a while that hee knew not whether hee was a sleep or waking yet the serious deportments of the grave Boleslaüs made him give credit to this Story and this beliefe was perfectly confirmed when hee repassed through his Memory all the tokens of Love rather than Friendship that hee had remarked in Iphigenes his carriage to him in his Infancy his chaste deportments at the Court his continuall contempt of Women his incomparable Beauty his passionate expressions of affection to him in the Forest of Plocens while the one acted Serife the other Almeria besides divers other Caresses Wishes Sighs Languors and such like demeanours the sparkles of that Fire which can as little bee concealed as avoided Oh Liante what glory after so many pains He that hath long been kept in darkness coming on a sodain into the Sun is in a manner blind the Light which make's every one else see depriving him of sight So Liante though hee held as true as Oracles all that Boleslaüs had told him yet hee remained as voyd of Speech and Motion as one that 's incredulous or stupid The entrance of his Heart was too narrow to let in at once the throng of affections that thrust and crowded to bee introduced the multitude of thoughts quelled him the Honours and greatness proposed to him by that Party were above his Ambition and beyond his Hopes his own Patrimony usurped by Mieslas seemed nothing to him But above all the so many attractive Charms wherewith Nature had inriched Iphigenes Face was the Primum Mobile that transported him Adding thereunto so many rare vertues so many singular qualities such Courage Valour which Dexterity in all generous exercises and chiefly such exemplary Piety as rendered him the delight of all those that accosted him filled him with the Benedictions of Heaven and Earth begat him an high renown with the King's favour which doubtless would bee redoubled at the discovery of this Marvell Oh Liante what transportments Then reflecting his consideration upon himself hee could not imagine that hee had merit enough to oblige Iphigenes to so constant a Friendship as that which hee had alwayes expressed towards him loving him from the tenderest of his years with such sweetness and cordiality after this returned to his Memory how compassionately in all his troubles hee bare a share of his sorrowes how hee alwayes maintained his cause against his own Father conveyed him out of Prison secured him from the dangers wherewith the Cruelty of Mieslas threatned him so courteously entertained him in his Palatinate had given him his Life in the Combat voluntarily rendered himself a Prisoner to injoy the contentment of his conversation and besides all this the extreme and admirable Modesty that made him resolve to die rather than speak one word which hee thought too bold for a Soul to utter that make's profession of Honour with a numberless multitude of other Vertues which glittered in that matchless personage like Starrs in a serene Night Whilest Liante's brain was agitated with a thousand such imaginations Boleslaüs reading the convulsions of his Mind by the alterations in his Face knew not however in what manner hee resented what hee had told him and whether hee conceived it right or wrong whereon depended his Life or Death and what was yet more dear the contentment or ruine of Iphigenes untill Liante breaking the silence of his long amazement thus began Friend I am like a Glass or Bottle with a narrow mouth which being too full of liquor cannot discharge itself My Spirits are so ravish't and over whelm'd with the transportments of Joy and Wonder at the recitall of so great a Marvell that although I see my self awake and believe what you tell mee yet methink's I Dream or am possessed with the fondest imagination that e're disturbed a Brain At length after condemning his own demerits and comparing them with the excellencies of Iphigenes hee continued saying Dear Boleslaüs I prethee mollifie that Hbroick courage for me which ought justly to be offended with my Levities indiscretion and ingratitude to the end according to the Dispositions you shall finde in that generous Soul I may at least indeavour by my Death to express the remorse I now conceive for having so ill ordered my Life and so unworthily abused his Friendship If you stay till you are killed by one that love's you more than himself you will live to a fair Age said Boleslaus his desire is to see you Live contented not Die with displeasure and assure your self that as his Love was alwayes greater than your Injuries so your Transgressions are less than his Clemency The variety of thoughts that mustered in Iphigenes minde whilest Boleslaüs was carrying this Message whose report was the sentence of his Life or Death I must leave to your imaginations Neither am I able to relate the Anxieties of Liante's minde whilest that trusty Agent flew towards Iphigenes to tell him in a jesting manner 〈…〉 that Liante took all his Discourse for Inchantments that hee rejected all Hee had told him of his Birth and Education as a thing no less incredible than improbable At which Narration Iphigenes ready to expire with grief said Father I would to God my Death had preceded this newes Oh! why did not I descend alive into my Grave Hereat Boleslaüs clearing the clouds of his Countenance and bursting into a laughter said I told you thus only to try your constancy take courage the Victory is our's I bring you Liante more gentle than a Lamb he com's
would execute upon his person all the cruelties they could imagine if they found him guilty of any persidious Action towards his Prince or Country This was onely a pretence which Mieslas had framed to effect what you shall hear The rumour of Iphigenes affections to Amiclea and the report of their Marriage beeing noised through the City of Minsce by the communication of the Besiegers with the Besieged during the Truce the Royall Camp was filled with this newes and at last it came to the Palatine of Podolia's Ears This incensed him with the greatest indignation against his Son that hee had ever yet conceived nothing beeing more sensible to Parents than when their Children marry against their Wills and match themselves with persons whom they think not fit for them Hereupon hee took occasion to detein his Son and accuse him of Treason against the Polonians because hee was about to contract an Alliance with the Lithuanians Besides beeing a Man of Blood and Slaughter hee produced diverse Arguments against the Treaty of Peace and hating mortally the Lithuanians hee could not indure that they should participate as Compatriots of the honours of the Crown of Polonia which was the principall point of all the Treaty Insomuch that desiring to hinder this agreement hee took this pretence of keeping his Son knowing that those of Minsce would presently take Armes hereupon and so the Truce should bee broken As hee presupposed it succeeded For immediately the Lithuanians shut their Gates inclosing and keeping Prisoners no small number of the Royall Army besides those that were delivered as hostages for the person of Iphigenes This bred much confusion and tumults on both sides Whereunto Mieslas added this stratagem There were certain Souldiers who for some crimes were condemned to Execution One of these hee caused to bee clad with a Suite of the same colour of that Iphigenes then wore and the next Morning having commanded a Scaffold to bee raised in sight of the whole Camp and City hee gave out that with his own hand hee would cut off his Son's head for beeing a Traitor to His Majesty The fatall hour beeing come hee drew up all his own quarters in Battalia then having ordered the Criminall to bee set upon the Scaffold and cloathed the Executioner with an habit not unlike his own by this spectacle hee intended to take away from those of the City all hopes of re-possessing Iphigenes by whom they expected much favour from the King in the conclusion of the Peace Iphigenes beeing kept close Prisoner in a Chamber knew nothing of all this But what became Liante at this deplorable sight What Amiclea what Olavius what the Palatine of Troc What all the Ladies What all the Inhabitants of Minsce It was then no time to sit in consultation all of what quality soever demaunded a Sally which could bee no more refused by the Palatines that commanded than a passage hindered to the fury of an impetuous Torrent Liante like the Poet 's desperate Coroebus seeing his Cassandra dragging to the Block placed himself at the head of this resolute Party and flying out of the City-gates with no less fury than a fell Lyoness hast's from her Denn to rescue her stolen Whelps filling the whole Forest with her horrid roaring precipitated himself to seek Death in the thickest of the Enemie's Squadrons beeing resolved to die a thousand times or save Iphigenes Life If all things else give place to Love it was verified at that time for if the assault was violent on the Lithuanian's part the resistance was but weak on the Polonians in regard divers Souldiers not well pleased to see their companion executed made way forthe Assailers and gave them so cleer passage by their flight partly Voluntary partly Forc'd that Liante arrived at the Scaffold as sodain as a flash of Lightning where terribly slashing th' Executioner whom hee took to bee Mieslas hee thought at the same time to rid himself of a mortall Enemy and save the Life of a Person whom hee esteemed the dearest in the World But having found out the deceipt hee ceased not to end the Hangman and set the Criminall at Liberty having cut the Cords that bound him and given him an opportunity to escape in the Throng Never were greater feats of Arms seen done by Man than those which Despair Love and Anger produced from Liante in this Action thinking hee had fought in the presence of the person beloved whom hee desired to give the strongest proof of affection that is betwixt Mortalls which is to lay down his own Life to preserve another's Mieslas who suspected they would make a Sally had prepared himself with a considerable Party of Horse to intercept them in their retreate and inclose them between the Army and his Men. But having a bad Cause and a cruell Resolution to cut them all off especially Liante if hee fell into his hands his Enterprise turned to his own confusion and he found himself intrapped in his own snares For they having released the Criminall another strong Party was sent out of Minsce to succour the former and facilitate their retreat Insomuch that Mieslas and his Men beeing ingaged betwixt both Parties the Souldiers were almost all killed his Horse was shot under him and hee beeing wounded in the Thigh besides bruised with a fall and loaden with Armes was constrained with an incredible Despair to render himself Prisoner and remit his Life to the mercy of Liante who threatned him with the cruellest of Deaths if it appeared that hee had attempted any thing against Iphigenes Mieslas to save his Life assured Liante that Iphigenes had no other harme than to bee lock't up in a Chamber and that hee had devised that Plot to execute a Criminall in his place thereby to spare his Ransom and hinder the alliance hee intended to make with the Lithuanians Upon this assurance Liante having commanded him to bee slung upon an Horse led him with diverse others in Triumph through the City To express the shame and rage of that brutall Podolian would require tearms that never yet were heard As there were divers Polonians taken so there were some Lithuanians that remained as pledges in the King's Camp aswell of those that had ingaged too far in the Enemie's Quarters as those that were shut out of the Gates of Minsce lest among Friends they should likewise let in Enemies as is often seen in like occurrences Among the rest was found a Gentleman extreamly young and whose marvellous beauty attracted the Eyes of every one exciting much more Envy than Pitty and much more Pitty than Anger Hee was led to the Generall who wondered that hee had taken Armes at such tender years After some demands hee desired they would give him leave to see Iphigenes who hee believed would know him having seen him in Minsce The Generall commanded his desire should bee satisfied Do you ask if the Palatine of Plocens was astonished to see that there was more than one Lady
impertinently The Third is the RUSTICK where our Grand Favorite is represented in some kinde of disgrace beeing confined to his Palatinate amusing himself in the exercises of Hunting and Rurall divertisements In this Part are described the discommodities and contentments of a Country-life the imperfections of the vulgar People Their rude cruell and incivill dispositions The Fourth deserves the title of HEROICK because it treats of Wars Combats Sieges Stratagems not without the intermixture of some Love-Plots Negotiations of State-Affairs and Treaties of Peace wherein our HEROS displayes grand testimonies of his Courage and Conduct The Fift and last is the NUPTIALL Which at the Marriage of IPHIGENES with LIANTE represents the Banquets Tiltings and Magnificences usuall at such solemnities when KINGS will shew to those they love the Marks of their Grandeur and Affection Which indeed are herein but sparingly described because the precedent Parts had already extended this Relation beyond the intended Limits In any whereof if you finde either a Deficiency or Over-acting Consider this Piece was composed by a Prelate who unless for his Divertisement was not accustomed to loosen his Genius to such light studies yet hath been so fortunate as not to be less esteemed for these Levities by such as are capable to judge of his Language than admired for the Graver productions of his Pen But if in my Dialect I have too weakly rendered his quaint Conceptions I hope you will have Candour sufficient to pardon my Defects and incourage by your indulgence the indeavours of Him whose Ambition was rather to delight you than content Himself Farewell J. W. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JAMES Earle of NORTHAMPTON c. And the Signally Vertuous ISABELLA His Incomparable LADIE RIGHT HONOURABLE DId the indeavours of my Artless Pen suite with the Judicious Ingenuity of my Authour I might bee capable of indulging a Hope that the Grandeur of your Persons temper'd with the Candour of your Mindes would finde something here that may help to wing your Houres Since in this volume are represented in Green years Maturity of Iudgement in High Fortunes Humility in Authority Discretion in Abundance Sobriety mixt with Generosity Neither is wanting Valour accompanied with Honour which have been the Marks and are now the known Favorites of Your vertuous Inclinations or Piety joyned with Purity whereof you are living Copies or rather perfect Modells Here the Passions are painted in their severall Convulsion-fits the Excesses and Transports of which may raise no unpleasing reflexions upon the calme untroubled freedome of your Spirits In summe you will finde the grave BELLEY hath stored his Principall Subject with both your own pretious Plenty as if your severall vertues had sate while he drew his IPHIGENE and I hope it will not offend you to see your Faces in such a Mirrour Hee was so happy in his Addresses of the Originall that by the support and Patronage of that Princely Pair the Duke of VANTADOUR and the Princess of TINGRY his Lady it added no mean lustre to his deserving Pen and got him such a spreading Applause from all his Readers that a Third Impression sufficed not to satisfy their Curiosities Suffer his Example then to excuse my Presumption and give this Adventurous VIRAGO leave to fight her Battailes in both the Camps of LOVE and VALOUR under your Banners Which granted though Combated by Calumny and Criticisme Shee cannot faile to come off Victorious I am not insensible that this English Habit becomes Her worst of all her Wardrobe but there is a Power in your Acceptance to make Plainness a Fashion and teach the World to deale gently with the defects of RIGHT HONORABLE The humble Votary of his best wishes for a perpetuall Spring of Happiness to your Honours VVRIGHT To his highly valued FRIEND Major WRIGHT Vpon his Excellent Translation of his ROMANCE Entituled NATURE'S PARADOX Or The INNOCENT IMPOSTOR LInes dipt in Love should not extracted be Wholly from Sublimated Mercurie High-buskind Ayrs decline their proper end In Paeans to a true deserving Friend Lines like good faces should have choice complexion A neat proportion and an apt Connexion Where as the Eye 's the Index of the mind The Inward Eye should like attraction find Nor in my judgement do I hold it fit To Paraphraze upon a Divine Wit Where ev'ry Clause displays a Cloze of Worth And needs no tinsell Art to set it forth Though there be pregnant Fancies I confesse Who have with much facetious happinesse Perform'd this Taske yet have I oft been vext To see a Paraphase abuse the Text. Good Works are Tests sufficient and retaine Such glorious beamlings from Minerva's braine That should they want a Frontispiece the Eye Might finde where to admire and Deifie Seven-mounted * Quae fuit Historiae priscae vel origo modernae Quin pcperit proli Regia Roma Suae Prud. Rome from whence Romances came By thy politer Pen revive's her Fame And from her ashy Urne heaves up her Head To tell thee Major WRIGHT Shee is not dead But so enlivened by thy serious Quill That her Seven Mounts seeme one Pierian Hill Her pure-Provinciall * Italian Tongue known to adorn Which thou enamelst so with thy Translation Wee hold us happy that thou knewst our Nation Reader this Testate's just I should bee loth To lure thee with hyperbolizing froth If ever Builder rais'd a Story better I to thy Iudgement will become a Debter So it be Pure-refin'd but if 't appeare A thick Plebeian Scull Friend come not here Cato's walke onely on this rich-pav'd Floor While Ignorance must knock and stand at door Here 's a new open'd Mine where wits of Stature And higher growth find th' PARADOX of NATURE Full of Choice Sense and Language and though th' Style IMPOSTOR bee 't is INNOCENT the while But such an Innocence as 't will beget Rich Influence in Him digesteth it R. BRATHVVAIT Vpon this Exquisit ROMANCE Written by the Famous B. of Belley Naturaliz'd and made English By Major WRIGHT MY Wit lay Fallow and my teeming Brain Thought to repose a while from any strain Of Poetizing when the Air of France Rouz'd up my Fancy in this fresh Romance This rich Romance which both for Weight and Sense For various Notions and neat Eloquence And now in point of Version may compare With any of this kinde though ne're so rare Originall and Coppy Co-excell The Prelate and the Souldier share the Bell In Speech they differ but for Minde and Frame They are unanimous and still the same By this I finde which Men do seldom see That Mercury and Mars may well agree JAM HOVVELL Impartiall CONCEPTIONS CONCERNING The AUTHOR and TRANSLATOR OF THIS Renowned ROMANCE MUse do not strive I know thou art too meane To celebrate this rich Polonian Scene This task 's not thine but their's who whilest they praise Desert in others deserve equall Bayes And with triumphant Genius can compose Encomions in either Verse or Prose And as this Storie 's
dispositions and divers recommendable parts came to do them the same affront as the Sun doth every morning to the meaner lights of Heaven and ravished from them the hearts of all the Ladies from whom they could no more receive any countenance but slights And jealousie being a fire which hapning to kindle in an human soul hindreth it by reason of the vapors which it excites from seeing the Sun of reason they conspired all together against Iphigenes and plotted how to ingage him in severall quarrells Already divers wicked Designs were layd to intrap his innocence but the Preserver of the vertuous still delivered him for the Courtiers more changeable than the Sea or the Moon accommodating themselves to the humour of the Times more than the Fish called the Polypus doth to the colour of the Rocks where it fastens have no other rule for their Hatred or their Love than their interest and the measure of this Interest is the Humour of their Prince Although those who are most in the King's favour are commonly the object of the People's hatred yet the dissembling complacency of the Court obligeth those who follow its wind and tyde to applaud those whom the Sovereign affects notwithstanding they hate them in their hearts or at least do not esteem them Beauty accompanied with a comely carriage is a Letter of admission which openeth the Cabinet and Heart of Kings for they are but Men as well as others and the more subject to passions because elevated to an higher degree of Eminence by the same reason that the tallest Cedars suffer most by the wind 's impetuousity and the loftiest Towers feel oftnest the effects of Thunder and Lightning And as the Elephants may be most easily wounded in the flank which is the tenderest part in their unweildy bodies as severall examples witness so great Persons are no where so weak nor so easily to be surprised by any thing as by passinate affections this being their generall defect And indeed it were a difficult matter for those who are beloved I should rather say served adored and admired of so many deserving persons as are still about them not to be sweetly enforced to render themselves to the particular affection of some one whence it follows that Favour is the inseparable shadow of Royalty For if the Sun that lamp of the Universe which from his Heavenly Chariot sees all things upon Earth looks with another eye amongst the flowers of a Garden-plot upon the Marigold and all other yellow flowers which seem to be decked with the Gold of is splendent Rayes and by that yellow livery do testifie the love they bear that glorious Luminary So Kings who are the light of the World and the Suns of the Earth since 't is from them that the most noble persons of a State do borrow their lustre although they do extend their paternall care to all their subjects as fathers of their People yet in this generall solicitude they apply their Eyes and Ears to some particular servants who by that means get ground in the territory of their hearts and do rule the spirits of their Kings by the sweetness of friendship as the Kings by the force of authority do reign over the Provinces under their subjection And above all Beauty hath the property to establish her Empire with such polite and quaint indeerments that whereas all other subjection is irksom here Liberty is odious and Chains amiable every one contributing to bring himself into this traldom And how vain-glorious soever it be it cannot exact from the humility and submission of its adorers such homages as those that are rendered to it by voluntary Sacrifices thousands fall at its right hand ten thousands at its left all at its feet as being the most visible Ray of the Divinity upon Earth It was this Beauty seated in Iphigenes countenance as on a Throne of Ivory that framed his way by the eyes into the King's affection And if the Iron though heavy and insensible and a Straw that is light and without reason do by a naturall inclination turn and make towards the Load-stone and Amber if the Load-stone that hath touched Iron doth communicate unto it that secret property of standing alwayes towards the Antartick Pole if the Vines love the shadow of Olive Trees and the other Fishes delight to follow the Dolphin without any other knowledge than the force of instinct Who can deny that Man whose senses are inclined to evill from the beginning may be carried away by Concupiscence being allured and sometimes drawn and ravished by the objects That monstrous vice the abortive of Nature and Hell which diffames the Orientall and the Southern parts is hardly known in the Occidentall and Septentrionall Regions at least if it be frequent there it is very rare here if there it be a vulgar and popular Malady here it seem's to infect none but great persons I am not the only Man that esteems Courts to be the receptacles of Iniquity the Theaters of Licenciousness as well as of Vanity the Schools of Dissolution and Riot for since Piety is excluded thence according to the saying of an Antient Writer if the shades of Impiety reign there in the place of that Light what can one imagine to be practised there but the deeds of Darkness Therefore I shall not stick to say that Asmodeus that unclean spirit which suggests to animall Creatures the brutall desires of the flesh whom the Pagans and Poëts made a Deity under the name of the Goddess of Cypru's Son cast like another Sinon into Troy such Grecian fires into the sulphurous hearts of the Courtiers that divers of them beholding with too much attention the perfections of Iphigenes and thinking him of a Sex conformable to his habit entertained such base desires as ought not to enter into any thought much less bee repeated Thereupon som of them to accomplish their execrable pretentions used means to seduce the young Gentleman to the licentious frequentation of loose Women thereby one vice calling on another to draw him into more enormous abominations Here I might raise the trophy of our young Gallant 's chastity with lines that would deserve to be exempted from Oblivion But because the multitude of weak spirits as well as that of the ill-advised exceeds the number of the strong and prudent not to offend the infirmity of those wee will wean the ability of these For as the light of the Sun is injurious to certain Eyes So the truth is not always well received by all discreet hearers But to believe that such horrible Imaginations could harbour in the Kings Brest I should hold it a blasphemy to think it yet they are Mortalls environed with frailties and subject to failings And who knows if any secret Malignity made the King conjecture that under Iphigenes clothes was something more than Man however his affection never went beyond the limits reserved to Moesty But who can hinder Detraction which carries the venim of Asps
faith to mee by the indissolvable tyes of a most sacred Hymen Thus did this loving Spouse entertain her troubled mind but Shame opposing her Design if there can bee any shame in the legitimate desires of a chast wife or rather the impossibiity of disengaging her self from under Aretuza's wing and the strict guard of the too severe Perpetua made her seek in Patience the common Remedy of all her discontents How often did shee please her fancy with the imagination of transvesting her self and by the help of a Man ' s disguise deceiving the eyes of those that watched her deportments to convey her self into the Court to her beloved Iphigenes But that Honour whereof shee was so Jealous did choak this Resolution at its birth considering that such an Equipage would not only make her the discourse of inconsiderate Censurers but in stead of rendring her Husband a testimony of her Love might perhaps attract upon her Innocence his Dislike At length not to do any thing unbeseeming her quality shee resolved to hearken to Modesty and let Discretion prevail over all those Surges of Passion Shee comforted her self with her letters from Iphigenes the words in every line whereof were as many protestations of Constancy and new oaths of Fidelity The severall vertues shee had remarked in her dear Husband were as many Proofs and those Proofs as many Assurances of his invariable Purity whereupon shee reposed all her thoughts And these thoughts which often made her sequester her self into sad unfrequented places were her most delicious recreations The shade of woods the coolness of Gardens and the agreeable murmuring of Fountains fomented in her brest that humour which nourished it self with the dear remembrance of her adored Husband's perfections And if such were the resentments of this Turtle being separated from the presence of her mate Think not that Iphigenes felt any less discomfort amongst all his greatnesses which hee would willingly have shared to his dear Friend and Wife or to have rendred the contentment perfect have injoyed in their presence His affection to Modestina and the Love hee bare Liante never suffered him to take any rest notwithstanding the multitude of Felicities wherewith the King's favour had in a manner overwhelmed him Thus in this world wee can have nothing perfect Those whom wee do many times imagine seeing them born up by the wings of the Wind of a Prince's favour to Swim in an Ocean of Delights do find amongst the agreeable flowers of Pleasure some secret prickle of Sorrow which marreth the harmony of their Prosperity Of so many Objects whereunto the Court did invite Iphigenes to affix his affections hee saw as few that hee deemed worthy of the application of his thoughts as Hee who looked for a Man with a candle at mid-day amongst a great Assembly in a publick place Whether the want of Freedome and Vertue which is great amongst Courtiers made him meet with a scarcity of friends in that multitude which environed him or whether which is very probable the first impressions of affection had so seasoned the new Vessell of his Heart that here was no possibility of making it take any other tincture or tast than that which hee had relished in the conversation of Modestina and Liante the sweet Objects of his education and most tender years His Disposition being of an excellent temperature and his Heart no coveter of Wealth Avarice and Vanity which are the two Bonds the two Charms and as I may say the two poisoned Tets of the Court-favour had very little interest in his Soul And Voluptuousness which according to the saying of an antient Orator hath no place of abode in the Kingdom of Vertue could find no access in his Body too Honest not to bee Continent No wonder then if the fetters of the Court though made of Gold and pretious Stones were irksome unto him and the sincere chaste and true affection which hee bore those two absent Objects of his Love made him in the midst of so many pleasures languish with the desire of their presence The passionate resentments of his Soul for this detested Separation He feelingly exprest in severall letters to Modestina and Liante which they interchangeably communicated to each other according to the permission of their Overseers in order to Iphigenes particular injunction who at his departure from them did earnestly intreat Liante to take as intended to him the affectionate letters hee should write to his Sister protesting that the Friendship hee did bear him was no less tender nor less ardent than his Love to Modestina as may easily be believed by one that knows the reason whereof Liante as yet was ignorant One day Modestina and her Brother having been allarmed by letters from the faithfull Iphigenes with the Princess Respicia's design of breaking their Marriage and giving him her Daughter to wife whereunto hee had been Sollicited by Mieslas whom shee had gained But that hee had rejected their propositions choosing rather to lose his life than his Loyalty Hee received letters from them full of complaints and stinging resentments of Jealousie Modestina feining to fear or fearing in effect that the rare Beauties and great Honors whereof the Court is the Element would in time ravish from her the Mind as well as the Body of her Iphigenes And Liante writing that the acquaintance of great Ones would perchance make him not value the friendship of meaner Persons in which rank hee placed himself Whereunto a Reply was speedily dispatcht which conteining large expressions of a holy and reall affection comforted a little those two tender hearts which languished one for her Husband the other for his sincere Friend But why do I say comforted I should rather say that it caused the same effect in the sorrow of their Privation as water in a Smith ' s forge being cast upon burning coals whose heat it doth increase Or as those hot drops of raine extorted by the Sun during the ardors of Summer which rather Scald than Wet Indeed if wee measured their discontents for his absence with the satisfaction they would have received by the presence and possession of Iphigenes wee might judge of its extremity However not to give Iphigenes any occasion to bee afflicted at their suspitions they made him understand by Letters how great a confidence they had in his promise and constancy acknowedging that those honours which are accustomed to change the dispositions of weak and vulgar Souls are below the thoughts of them that place their honour in their Faith and who are not Reeds of the Desart in unconstancy but Pillars of the Temple of Stability By this reciprocall intelligence of Letters these three loving Hearts mainteined the harmony of their concord that served for Oyl to nourish the Lamp of their mutuall affection Mean time Iphigenes blessed with the dew of Heaven and Earth was the true Child of Increase and the Nursling of Fortune Fortune in him seeming to have lost those two qualities of
Marriage was made before the time that the consentment of the parties at such tender years could bee but imperfect and therefore hee held it as nothing that the face of things being changed hee did revoke the consent which hee had given to that Contract having since ingaged his word to the Princess Respicia Then being further importuned to set Modestina at liberty hee threatned his Son with fearfull maledictions if ever hee took her as his Wife Hereupon Iphigenes handsomely feining Scruples of Conscience seemed to apprehend lest his Father ' s curses should light upon his Posterity and absolutely ruine his Fortune which already was shrewdly shaken Insomuch that Mieslas perceiving that this battery made breach in Iphigenes Soul mounted no other Artillery and employed no other Thunderbolts to reduce all his indeavours unto ashes In the heat of these contestations arrived the Princess Respicia bringing her Daughter Simphoroza whose age being yet too neer Infancy was incapable for certain years of bearing Hymen's yoke At her coming as at the appearance of Porposes a Tempest is observed to follow Mieslas began again to storm and torment Iphigenes to marry Simphoroza Hee alleadged for excuse his Faith given to Modestina that whom God hath joyned men could not separate that nothing but death should break the Bands that united his heart to her's besides hee would have perswaded them that hee had in a manner passed to a perfect Consummation and that shee was not only his wife by words but in effect But this was contradicted by Perpetua and Modestina her self whose innocent deposition declared that shee never knew what Man was Respicia knowing that as in Naturall things the Corruption of the one is the Generation of another So in affairs the Rupture of one is the Accomplishment of another urged nothing so eagerly as the Dissolution of this first Marriage The Fourth Book ARGUMENT The Result of the Divine's Consultation concerning the dissolution of the Marriage betwixt Iphigenes and Modestina The Court-Maxime Iphigenes object 's the same Reason for not marrying Simphoroza as was alleadged by the Casuists against Modestina Simphoroza being excepted against for her too tender years Mieslas by Respicia's instigation propounds the Mother in the Daughter's place Iphigenes's answer to his Father Clemencia refuses to marry Cassin The fury of Mieslas for her Obstinacy Cassin having left Podolia discontented indeavour's all hee can at Court to hinder his Mother's marriage with Iphigenes Liante being escaped out of his Prison by means of his dear Brother-in-law Iphigenes is secretly conveyed into his Palatinate Iphigenes retiring to his own Government leaves Aretuza as full of satisfaction as Mieslas of Perplexity for the Crosseness of his Children Respicia accompanyed by Mieslas returns with small contentment to the Court Liante being arrived in the Palatinate of Plocens disguises himselfe in a Sheepheardesse's habit under the name of Almeria Iphigenes loseth his company in Hunting to meet with his Almeria Their Discourse The Reason why Liante made use of that Disguise Merinda Daughter to Celian in whose House Liante concealed himself fall's in Love with the feined Sheepheardess Shee discover's her affection to him The Character of Courtiers and Countrey-People THere are in the World certain Divines à la mode who can adapt the Scripture and the Fathers of the Church so dexterously to their own Fantasies and to the palates of those that consult them and whose passions they desire to flatter that they fashion that Water of saving Wisdom to the form of the Vessell which receive ' s it planting the Canons of the Church against such opinions as they list and Levelling them in such sort as they Demolish Edifie root up and set as they think fitting Like Pilots who direct their Rudders in a strait and Oblique line according to the Motion of the Waves that agitate their Ships Iphigenes to whom all women were indifferent for the reasons already declared making no other Intrenchment than within the Fort of his Conscience had that scruple cleared by a Consultation of Church-men appointed by Respicia and Mieslas The result whereof was That in regard the Infantine age of the parties Contracted being added to some kind of force used by the Contracter Mieslas rendred their consentment invalide since the use of Bodies had not intervened they esteemed that Obligation voyd and that without offence they might proceed to another Marriage not considering that as Contracts made by persons in Minority do become valid when they do ratifie them in their Majority whereby an imperfect Consentment is made perfect and of full force when at an age more mature and capable of approving it It is confirmed and renewed by mutuall promises which had held undeniably in this case if Iphigenes had been of a condition to take a wife for as much as by divers letters written to Modestina and received from her they had made a thousand and a thousand Oaths to each other of an inviolable Fidelity But this Maxime is so strongly established at Court the Powers above Laugh at the Oaths pronounc'd in heat of Love that when Iphigenes alledged Protestations beyond number both verball and under his hand which hee had made to Modestina never to have any other wife but her they scoffed at his words and letters as if they had been engraven on the Wind and written on the Water But they were to seek what to reply when to their confusion their decision rebounded in their own faces For Iphigenes readily presented to them that Simphoroza was of years not only incapable to consummate the marriage but to give a full and perfect consent without which according to their own argument that knot could not be rendred indissoluble Hereupon the Princess Respicia made appear the subtility of her wit feigning what shee desired with impatience to Subrogate her self in the place of her Daugher This shee intimated to Mieslas with so much Artifice and such Prodigious advantages for Iphigenes for the most part of the Estate came by her that the Palatine of Podolia naturally desirous of wealth to maintein his excessive expences was presently induced to hearken to her perswasions On that side the business was as soon concluded as propounded but they foresaw much difficulty to make the young Gentleman bite at this Golden Bait for his own Estate was so plentifull and his Honours so great that how vast soever the Fortune of Respicia could bee and how illustrious her Alliance if the Appast which youthly Palates do relish with most greediness composed of Beauty and Pleasure were wanting it must needs bee imagined that hee would not easily be drawn into that Marriage as unequall for years on the one side as on the other For as Simphoroza was too young and her tender Beauty being not yet full blown did promise no great matter in the Bud So her Mother was too old though not so aged as to bee rejected for ugly nor so young as to bee rank'd amongst the Beautifull Shee
venim hath possess 't the Heart and become remediless Sight and Conversation are the two Wings of Love which beating the Wind make the flame kindle Merinda was all on fire and reduce almost to Ashes before her little wit perceived the Burning Fire is hard to take in great pieces of Wood but if it bee once lighted it is not easily quenched This Element is so active that in Penetrate's and melt's the hardest Mettalls it calcine's Stones no substance is able to resist its vivacity But that which causeth Love is yet far more subtile For it is so generally spred through the whole Universe that the Antient Philosophers esteemed it the Soule of the World Therefore the Poets did Marry Olympus with Rhea intimating that it was the Ligature of Heaven and Earth It burn's the Fishes in the midst of the Waters the Birds cannot avoid it in the Aire and much less the Creatures that are more Terrestiall Flints have secret sparkles in their hard Bodies and if Mankinde were repaired by them according to the fabulous Invention of Deucalion and Pyrrha yet should they be sensible of the Motions and Heat of Love What wonder then if Merinda who was not composed of Marble did feel the Effects of this all-conquered Fire beeing taken with the Graces of the amiable Liante I will not stand to describe the Symptomes whereby his quick-sightedness read her Disease but if Shee was forbidden to communicate to any other the Disguisement of Almeria without Disguisement Shee manifested her own Passion to him with as few Words as much Sincerity telling him that shee loved him I might give the Reader some Recreation here if I would extend my self in her Homely and Naturall Expressions For as her Face beeing no less exposed to the inclemency of the Air than the Shephard's Tabernacles or the Skins of Salomon was without Painting So her Discourse was without any Artificiall Contexture What pleasure do you imagine was this to Almeria thus wee must call Liante as long as hee shall continue in his Sheperdesse's Weeds to see her self Courted in this manner by her whom shee called Cousin for Celian Merinda's Father commanded his Daughters to use that tearm to her saying hee was her Uncle as Liante had desired him This pleasant humour contributed not a little to the diverting of the Melancholly which otherwise would have overwhelmed his Heart in that solitary Residence especially beeing in a Condition which was as strange as difficult to him to personate a Sex whereof he never had studied the Deportments However the Cassack which hee had been forced to wear made him the sooner acquainted with the long Coates and the Modesty which had been taught him afforded some Decency to his Transformation Almeria thinking onely to make a pastime of Merinda's absurd Passion pestred her self in the greatest intricacy imaginable for as there is no great difference betwixt Folly and Fury nor far from Fury to Despair that little Spark was enough to cause a furious Flame For suffering the innocent Wench to intangle her self in her Nets and feining to hearken to her Reasons imbarked her so deep in the pursuit that shee could not live without the conversation of this new Cousin And as the Fire doth refine Iron untill it becometh Steel so Love sharpning the Wits of those whom it possesseth gives them more Penetrating Reasons then are observed to proceed commonly from cold and raw Judgements Which if you will have confirmed by Example heare what Merinda sayd one day to Almeria as they were sitting alone under rhe shade of a great Elm-tree whilest their Sheep were feeding Although I am a Woman do not you think good Sir that I can keep a secret no more then a Sive hold Water for I would rather indure my Soul to bee torne out of my Body than suffer that to come out of my Mouth which my Father hath committed to my Silence You may assure your self that never any disaster shall befall you through fault of my fidelity I would rather imbrace death a thousand times than harbour so unworthy a thought And to let you see for all I am but a Country-Girl that my Soul is seated in a good place and indeed it is well-seated since it is wholly fixed to your Perfections I pray hear what project is come into my Fancy and which I will freely put in Execution if you are so contented You can pretend nothing more in the World since having killed a Man of greater quality than your self as my Father hath informed mee it is to bee supposed that all your Estate is confiscate all your Hopes lost and that the Justice which is so rigorous in this Country hath not pardoned your Memory but hath done some publick ignominy to your Effigies not beeing able to light upon your Body to punish it according to the Laws Therefore as you have covered your self with my Cleaths to secure your Person give leave to the Passion which I suffer for you that I may make use of yours which I have carefully lock't up to venter my Life by going to take down that shamefull Picture which without doubt serving as a spectale to all Passingers tarnisheth the luster of your Reputation and dishonoreth your Glory I believe you did not commit that Homicide treacherously but that it was in your own Defence or in running half the Danger the Deportments which I have remarked since I frequent your Company give mee a strong confidence that you have too much Gallantry in your mind to do an Act unbeseeming a Man of Honour If I should be surprised in this Exploit which will offend the Justice the torments that I shall indure beeing a Testimony of my Affection to you I shall expire contented for not beeing worthy enough to live to and with you I shall be glad to die for you and make you see by my constancy that in a rustick Body there is some spark of Generosity Almeria hearing such Language fall from that Silly Countrywenche's Tongue was no less astonished than Esop's Cock that scraped a Pearl out of a Dunghill or to speak more Religiously than the high Priest when hee found the Sacred Fire in the Mud. But why so amazed Almeria Do not you know that Love is the true source of Hippocrene the true top of Parnassus that the Extasies of this Passion are as many Enthusiasmes which raise the Soul above it self and that as a Squib flieth from the Earth into the Sky assoon as the Fire is applied to its Train So the clownishest Bodies do become gentile and the dullest Spirits subtilized when once they are touched with this fire Can you imagine a more Naturall and a more generous manner of discovering an ardent Affection or of demonstrating at the same time that one loveth not verbally but in effect and the most signalized of Effects which is to expose one's Life for the party Beloved than that which Merinda used to manifest to Almeria the Fire which shee had some
from a reall Resentment And that as the whole Vniverse could not produce an Example of Friendship comparable to their's So if there were a distinction of Sex it would be the most perfect Love and the happiest Marriage in the World Thence proceeding to the recitall of the handsom contrivance and conduct of their Mummery as one may call it they were ready to split with laughing to see that neither Iphis's Friends nor the Peasants knew what to think or say Judge you what contentment the subtile Boleslaüs had in beholding those two Hearts so united by the Bond of Friendship that it seemed as if one Soul had animated both their Bodies especially when Almeria embracing Iphis with as much Simplicity as Tenderness thus began My dear Brother Mee-think's those Clowns were no Fooles when they said that thou hadst the Beauty of an Angell for I believe if thou wer 't a Woman all Men would fall in love with thee As for my own particular all the Men and all the Women in the World are nothing to my Eyes in comparison of thee the Affection I bear to thee although limited within the bounds of Honour and Decencie hath I know not what tender Resentment which I do not feel for all the rest of my Friends Pomeran Argal and Pisides to give them their due are very gallant Men but to my sense they are no better than Statues to you And yet it is not the greatness of your quality that dazleth my sight but the onely merit of your Person To this endeering Language Iphis presently replied not without smiling upon Boleslaüs And I believe Brother that I have been wounded with the same Dart for thee for all Women are so indifferent to mee when I am in thy Presence that me-think's there are none in the World and this Name and this Disguisement of Almeria strike's so deep into my Imagination that what thou thinkest I speak but in Jeast is unfeinedly the production of my Soul 's most tender thoughts And if thou wert in Effect what thou art but in shew I swear there is no Queen upon the Earth whom I would have more willingly for my Wife than thy self I pre-thee Brother answered Liante do not talk to mee of beeing a Woman any further than in Habit For were it to make mee the Wife of the greatest of Monarchs I would not bee of any other Sex than I am But I 'le assure thee said Iphis that were it onely to bee Married to Liante I should be glad to be a Woman And that thou maist know with what sincerity I speak if it be impossible for mee to be so I promise thee that I will lose all the remainder of my Credit in the Court or I will make thee Marry the most Eminent Lady in Polonia And I am very certain that it shall be meerly thy own fault if thou failest of that fortune For the King cannot denie Mee that Grace when I shall demand it in thy favour Almeria as if with the Woman's Habit shee had likewise put on the curiosity was very importunate with Iphis to name that so advantageous Party that shee might dispose her Courage to do some generous action that might make her deserve so high an Alliance It is not yet time answered Iphis that I should satisfie you therein Wine Love and a Secret if once vented are worth nothing you shall know it in it's season Content your self now to learn onely that to merit the Possessions of so rare a Subject you shall not need to run any further dangers than what you have alreadie undergone and that it depend's intirely on my will For of the Person whom I mention I have the absolute disposall Almeria Smiling upon Boleslaüs whispered in his Eire I know whom hee means and what shee is It is his Ward Eleonora Daughter to Stanislas his Predecessor in the Palatine of Uratislau but the fruit is not yet ripe a great deal of Straw and much Time will be required to bring that Medlar to perfection Boleslaüs glad to see her in that pretty Error told Iphis alowd what shee had said who was extreamly well pleased that shee understood it so and to stick her deeper in her mistake The expectation said hee will not be so long as you may imagine I was not above two or three Years elder when I was Married to your Sister However the party whom I intended for you is in Estate and all things else so far beyond Clemencia who possessed your thoughts for a time that when you see her you will not stand to consult which choice you should make At these words Almeria casting her self amiably upon Iphis Neck as the amorous Vine imbraceth it's Supporter the Elm I pre-thee dear Brother said shee speak not to mee of any other Party than thy service for as long as thou wilt own mee I will never inslave my self to any Wife or rather if you please as long as you will permit mee to be your Servant I will have no other Master or else if you think fit to Honour mee still with the style of your Mistris I will never have any other Servant Iphis ravished to see her so perfectly deceived would willingly have returned some answer but that Almeria held his Mouth so straitly besieged and blocked up with Kisses that hee had not passage for one single word Onely their Tongues advancing to the Superficies of their Lips made a mutuall communication of their Thoughts and those Thoughts ingendred such Resentments as transported them almost into that Extasie which all Philosophie holds for the most powerfull Effects of Love Boleslaüs who feared lest that Fire which quickneth when it is in mediocrity and consumeth when in Excess should bee kindled so fat in his Nursling's veins that afterwards it could hardly bee extinguished to separate these Metalls made use of the Water of Depart that they might better practise those Caresses in their second Transvestment wherein Serife should bee more favorable to Calliante than Almeria had been to Iphis which intimated that it was time for them to undress and change their Garments Heavens what do I say Bee not disturbed chast Souls I will speak nothing but what the most rigorous Vestal may hear without blushing and without the least interest of her Modesty Here it was that the naturall pudicity of Iphis acted its part and that Almeria by her bold not to say impudent Actions did plainly shew what Shee was by reason of her Sex which rendreth Men lesse bashfull For as if Shee had had great haste to become Man again Shee presently cast off that shamefull habit which belying Her spirit had violented Her Nature Whereas Iphis could not put off His without much regret for which purpose hee begged the protection of a thick copse to hide the tumour of Her Brests which began to broach Treason against him Whereupon Almeria in a jesting manner said What Servant do you hide your self from mee in a condition wherein by your
I will sheath my Sword in his Bowells the injurious words and unworthy treatment wherewith they have violated my Patience cannot bee satisfied with any less Vengeance For what command soever you gave them to torment mee I am confident they have exceeded their Commission and used mee worse than they were injoyned In summe not to dwell any longer in these lawless proceedings of that corrupt Justice the rest of the Prisoners beeing released when they least expected it after some mutuall Conferences and Communicating their respective Sufferings in Prison the matter was decided to the confusion of the Judge and all the Inhabitants of that Village who were as Blanke at this alteration as Bell-founders when their Mettalls answer not their Expectation IPHIGENES was acknowledged to bee Palatine of that Country Almeria known to bee Liante but onely to Humbertus and some few others who were injoyned to silence under pain of the Palatine's high displeasure and Arcade found a true and faithfull servant beeing confronted with Humbertus Nothing was wanting but Halters to hang those Clowns and the Judge higher than the rest Which Iphigenes beeing pressed by the conjurations of Calliante and the other Gentlemen would have had executed forthwith The chiefe Actors were presently apprehended as the Judge and his inseparable shadowes the Clarks and other blood-sucking Officers with Celian's Sons and the three Harpies besides some others which were found Complices of their insolences of whom the Souldiers to revenge the Palatine chose each of them one to tie him to the branches of the next Tree Those Rusticks who were a little before such insulting Tyrants became now humble Petitioners and begged pardon upon their Knees making many excuses pleading ignorance and condemning their rashness Calliante seconded by Pomeran Pisides and Argal cryed out for nothing but Vengeance and sodain Execution every one relating the particular affronts they had received Onely Boleslaüs more discreet then those young fiery Spirits harkened attentively to what they said without uttering a sillable untill Iphigenes said What Father do you say nothing To this hee replied It is not that I have not had my share of the bitterness of this Cup as well as the rest but me-think's the Sun hath now given place to the Night as it were on purpose to give us Counsell and somewhat settle the motions which agitate our severall thoughts that which is done in cold Blood is alwayes riper and more considerate than what is acted in heat of Passion Choller is a short Madness the productions of that Passion are seldom judicious you may do what you please but as the King of the â—â—es is without a sting So you will finde by experience that Clemency is more convenient for those that govern than a rigorous Justice I do not say this to excuse the Malice of these Swains but you are to consider that for your own Pastime you have cast your self into this Tempest if you give a Tragicall end to a Comedy you will not observe the Rules of the Play You laid the block before their feet whereat they have so indiscreetly stumbled It become's not the Palatine of Plocens to revenge the injuries offered to Serife unknown nor Liante to resent those which were done to Calliante and Almeria When this shall come to bee divulged by so solemn an Execution what will People say but that you have imitated Cats who first play with the Mice and then kill them and there will not be wanting some that will compare this Action to the cruelty of the Roman Emperours who at their Feasts made the Gladiators in their presence feed their Eyes with humane Blood whilest they were filling their Bellies with the Flesh of Beasts Calumny which forgeth what is not how will not shee aggravate this which hath some image of rigour although in effect it is but an Act of Justice Sir I tell you again you may do as you think fit but the Zeal which I have of your glory make 's mee desire rather to hear the praises of your humanity resounding on the Tongues of Men than complaints against your severity and rashness What said Iphigenes shall such crimes then pass unpunished by no means answered Boleslaus I would not have you bee insensible of their misdemeanours but I advise you onely so to manage your Chastisements that your Enviers may finde no occasion to defame your manner of Government and cast you farther into the King's disfavour than you are For as it is easie to impose any thing upon one that is absent by consequent it will not bee hard to render him odious What shall this wicked Judge then escape for such abominable extortions said Liante I will rather strangle him with my own Hands then that the World shall be infested any longer with such an Harpy And wee said the other Gentlemen will do as much to those other Monsters who have nothing of humane but their shapes Gentlemen answered Boleslaus to stop the boyling of your irritated bloods there is a way to content you to punish them sufficiently and preserve the Honour and Reputation of the Palatine This proposition having procured all their attentions hee coninued thus Do not you think the fear of Death will bee a punishment answerable to the pains which they have made us suffer and into which indeed wee cast our selves for our own pleasures whereunto if you adde the Lash or the Strapado with a perpetuall Banishment I do not see but that you may be throughly satisfied they rigorously enough punished and that those who shall hear of this penalty and their offence will not have occasion rather to applaud the Palatine's Mercie and Prudence than condemn his rigour And for the Judge I confess hee deserve's Death by all humane Lawes but if you consider how his case is linked with the Peasant's and that by your disguisements you puzled their understandings you will finde that if they are not worthy of Grace for their own sakes you ought to pardon them for the Love of your selves since by your secret connivance you did in a manner make them tumble into the ditch of Error which led them into these exorbitances At last Boleslaüs by his mild and discreet Arguments stopt the impetuosity of their wrath as heaps of soft Earth use to stifle Cannon-bullets and perswaded those high Spirits to condescend to his remonstrances So Night beeing far spent they settled themselves to rest resolving to put his advice in Execution next morning In mean time the Trances and Agonies which the apprehension of Death made the Country-People feel were beyond expression The Day which rejoiceth all the World was odious to them as that which was to veile their Eyes with an everlasting Night But Heavens provided for them otherwise then they expected For to give them a full measure of fear Iphigenes commanded they should bee all hanged forthwith upon trees neer their own dwellings which the Souldiers were very ready to execute but as they were
addresses with much fervency and dayly increased his Indearments to Amiclea who though yet young enough not to resent the assaults of that Passion which is so contagious that few are exempted from it's infection even of those that most condemn it yet shee was not composed of Ice nor any insensible Materialls That inclination of inflaming Lovers which is so naturall to the Female Sex sharpen's Virgin 's wits betimes and rendereth them subtile and full of Malices before their Age can afford them a perfect knowledge This ray of Honey those inchanting words and obliging devoirs opened Amiclea's Eyes and gave her considerations for Liante which before shee did not conceive But as that Sex is born to dissimulation the cleerer shee saw the more shee feined to bee blind and hearing his Complaints shee made as if shee understood them not Insomuch that after hee had displayed the secrets of his Heart and discovered the honour and integrity of his pretensions to her shee studied to deceive his Passion with a more reserved carriage in his conversation Mean time this artificiall behaviour covered with the cloak of innocent Childishness was such a bait or gin to intrap Liante's heart that hee cherished not his own thoughts but when they represented to him the Object which gave them Beeing The Eleventh Book ARGUMENT Iphigenes and Liante's private Meeting and Conference Iphigenes Plot to reduce the Lithuanians and extinguish Liante's affection to Amiclea Hee is taken Prisoner with his own consent by Liante The Lithuanians exultation at this Prize their treatment of Iphigenes The Palatines of Troc and Minsce's Wives and Daughters fall in Love with the beautifull Prisoner Their indeavours to injoy him and supplant each other Iphigenes Jealousie and Distemper at Liante's passionate Research of Amiclea Love perswades Iphigenes to reveal his Secret to Liante Bashfulness disswades it Amiclea inamour'd of the fair Prisoner's perfections offers to procure him Liberty and escape with him His civill refusall of her Courtesie The Divertisements of Iphigenes in his Prison Hee relates his own Story to the Ladies under borrowed Names His Apprehension at Liante's Morall or Exposition of his Fable At Liante's and the Companie 's importunity hee transvests himself to the admiration of both Men and Women Mieslas is inraged at his Son's captivity Offers to Ransome him Sends Liante a Challenge His Answer The Resentments of those in the Royall Army and at the Court for Jphigenes imprisonment The King's Letter to the Rebells in his behalf Their Consultations and Answer Iphigenes discreet Advice and Letter to the King The Conflict of Love and Vertue in Melindra's brest The old Palatinesse's Jealousie of their Daughters for Iphigenes Liante'sVmbrages of Iphigenes for Amiclea Their Speeches after Liante had discovered his Passion Liante departs discontented Iphigenes distemper at his distast The contention of Jealousie and Honour in Liante's heart Finding no invention to get Iphigenes handsomly out of Minsce hee returnes to give him an account of his indeavours Their Conference Liante thinking Iphigenes was his Rivall construes all his protestations of Friendship to a contrary sense DO you not think it time that Iphigenes should come to cast Water on that Fire lest the flame grow unquenchable If Oloria was tormented with her Jealousie Iphigenes received no favorable treatment from his Passion onely Amiclea without ingaging her own Liberty subtilely triumphed over Liante's But what remedy shall wee finde for Iphigenes to mitigate his ineffable sorrow for beeing deprived of Liante Hee that compared the Fire which causeth Love to Thunder was not mistaken in his Analogy For the effects of both are marvellous the one bruise's and consume's the Bones without making the least contusion in the Flesh and preserving the Scabbard melt's the Blade the other hath Subtilities and Inventions beyond the reach of thought to dazle the Eyes of the most circumspect Nothing is impossible to him that Love's Iphigenes practised such secret and facile Intelligences with Liante that if they had been both in the same Camp they could not have had more convenience to communicate their thoughts In Day time their Conference was by Letters which fastened to Arrowes they shot into certain places at prefixed houres In the Night they found opportunity enough to Discourse together without apprehension of beeing over heard by any witnesses Once after divers other particulars Iphigenes regretting that Peaceable time wherein they injoyed in the Forest of Plocens with more freedom each other's conversation and wishing to see the like season that hee might in his own government impart his honours and estate to his dear Brother Of what Peace and what pleasure replied Liante do you speak For my particular I do not think that in all my Life I ever felt a greater disturbance in my thoughts than what glanced into my Brest from the penetrating Eyes of Serife For those extravagant illusions so overwhelmed my Reason that I thought I should have lost it in a Labyrinth of conceptions so confused that I may call that disaster happy which released mee out of that error But now my Condition is quite altered For if during that Peace I felt a War within my self in this War I have met with so great a Calm and so sweet a Peace that I hold nothing so delicious as the double Prison wherein I am What Prisons are those answered Iphigenes The first said Liante is the inclosure of these Walls but the second and most agreeable is an Object whose Captive I am but my thraldome is preferable to any Liberty At this word a cold sweat trickled along Iphigenes Face and hardly could hee forbear in falling to a trance yet recollecting his Spirits hee prest Liante to tell him what Object that was to whom hee had so dedicated his services Hereupon Liante as if hee had resolved to discompose the frame of Iphigenes intellect and absolutely turn his Brain began to make him a lively description of Amiclea's beauties which was less welcome to his Ears than the newes of approaching Death But when hee added that those perfections beeing not yet come to Maturity that green fruit was so tart and crabbed that it rather set the teeth on edge than gave any delight and by reason of her tender years which rendered her not onely insusceptible of Love's flames but incapable of acknowledging his affection that in the same place where his desires had their Birth his Hopes did finde their Funerall Iphigenes recovered breath And as every thing hath two handles and its counterpoise when Liante added to the Passion hee indured for Amiclea that which hee made poor Oloria suffer our amorous Palatine was yet better satisfied imagining that this Contradiction would hinder Liante from making any great progress in Amiclea's affection But from this Feaver hee fell into an hotter the storm beginning afresh with more impetuosity in his thoughts when hee heard Liante protesting that the Jealousie of the One served as a spur to incite him to bee more eager
Sovereign with the contentment of his own Soul But in this design it was requisite to proceed like Watermen who turn their backs to the place whither they row For Iphigenes conquered by suffering himself to bee conquered and made appear by a memorable example of Love and Fidelity that there was a Zopyrus yet living in the World The Spagirists in seeking the Vnion of Essencos have by the Sympathies and Antipathies found out the dissolving of all naturall Bodies how solid foe're they bee and this by the means of some slight ingredients and with a simple dew Spirituall Chymistry taught Iphigenes not onely to dissolve that factious Body which formed the revolt of Lithuania by giving himself entrance into Miesce there to sow the powder of Gold with the dew of sweet words and fair promises But also to unite himself to Liante the injoyment of whom hee esteemed more desirable than the possession of a Crown However hee thought it not fit to communicate his secret to Boleslaüs lest opposing the coldness of his Age and Judgement against the ardours of his Youth and Passion hee might divert or thwart his enterprise neither did hee judge it expedient to reveale it to Liante although hee was to bee the Effecter of his design as hee was the Cause So having well adjusted his measures hee determined for the safety of his Country to do like Curtius who cast himself into a Gulf by delivering his Person into his Enemie's hands there to indeavour their Re-union and Submission to the King's Service and at the same time divert Liante's design for Amiclea At their review Iphigenes seeming to have seriously deliberated upon what Liante had proposed at their last meeting said that hee disapproved not his re-search to Amiclea considering that hee hoped to re-enter into the possession of his Estate by that alliance But if hee would contribute his industry to pacifie those Commotions of Lithuania by reducing the Rebells to their due obedience to his Majesty Hee assured him that hee would not onely re establish him in his inheritance but render him next the King the greatest and richest Nobleman of all Polonia and Lithuania This Proposition was specious enough to ravish the heart and open the Ears of the ambitious Liante But observe in what consideration the Point of Honour is to a Generous Spirit Your promise is very great answered hee But if to obtein all that you proffer I must commit I will not say Treason or Disloyalty but the least Treachery move mee no farther For might I bee rewarded by the purchase of a whole Kingdome I would not violate my Faith nor offend the Hospitality of Olavius who by his Courtesies hath heaped upon mee so many extraordinary Obligations that I must remain his debter all my Life and at the last yet die insolvable Besides I have such confidence in the Gallantry of your Soul dear Brother that I believe a base action can have no admittance into your thoughts For I know how high an esteemer and how jealous a preserver you ever have been of Honour Iphigenes having commended the generosity of Liante's answer told him that hee was so far from ingaging him in any dishonourable act that hee would first remit his own Person into his Hands to open him the way they were to follow for the reducing of Lithuania unto the King's Subjection Liante having asked him the particulars of that enterprise First said hee after your having worsted my Father I would have you have the honour of taking mee Prisoner and then beeing with you I will teach you the secret to content all those who have so much obliged you and without injuring them or blemishing your own honour make you the most considerable Subject in this Kingdome The pledge that Iphigenes offered was so pretious giving himself in pawn to the Lithuanians that Liante believed his Heart intended no other than what his Tongue declared Therefore having importuned him to give a more particular instruction of his Design Brother said Iphigenes The King before my coming to this Siege commanded mee expresly by Letters to return to Court assuring mee that I should bee better welcom than ever and that at length the Sun of Truth had pierced and dissipated the Fogs of my Envier's Calumnies Nevertheless the desire of rendering him some remarkable testimonies of my Fidesity in the occurrence of this War made mee prefer the toyles and perilis of this Martiall Life before the delicious Recreations of Cracovia This assurance of his Majestie 's Affection beget's in mee an hope nay a Confidence that his favour to mee beeing not extinguished upon the first notice of my imprisonment hee will at what rate soever purchase my releasement either by ransom or by force Now what fairer opportunity can you desire to regain your inheritance than this especially when I shall have certified His Majesty that not any desire of revolting or disserving him induced you to associate your self with these Rebells but the fear of falling into Mieslas Hands and the Despair whereinto his cruelty reduced you I will do more For beeing fully informed of his Majestie 's temper and intentions my fancy promiseth mee that I shall dispose the two Palatines now besieged to lay down their Arms and restore Peace to this Province with such advantages to their Families and the whole Country of Lithuania that the Generality of this Nation shall have cause to extoll their Sovereign's goodness and They be particularly obliged to his Clemency and Liberality How should Liante not bee overcome by the charms of these Propositions which were so far above his Hopes that hee scarce durst soar to them with his Desires And although hee advised Iphigenes if hee were not very well assured of the King's affection not to expose himself to that adventure nothing under Heaven beeing more uncertain than the inclinations of Men and especially of Princes whose chiefest tye is their Interest yet hee was constreined to yeild to Iphigenes intreaty which overbalanced his perswasions Then they agreed to contrive the taking of Iphigenes so that although it was premeditated t should seem casuall Their plot was thus Iphigenes for certaine dayes successively should ride pckeering and discharge his Pistolls against the Gates of the City as Gentlemen usually do to shew the gallantry of their Courages and Activity trusting for their retreat to the goodness of their Horses and swiftness of their Course after which at a prefixed time Liante should set some Souldiers in Ambuscado to invest him Which was as handsomly effected as ingeniously projected At this newes represent to your imagination the fury of Miestas the trouble of the Royall Camp and on the contrary the rejoycing of the besieged and with what Laurells they loaded Liante's head Olavius beeing no longer able to contein his joy ran to imbrace him and extolling his fortunate Valour to the Skies hee offered him the choice of his two Daughters with such a part of his estate as hee
them and shun those that follow them You have reason to say that Amiclea love's mee hee must bee blinde that perceive's it not so do many others whose Passions are very irksome to mee my Ears are dayly storm'd with her Complaints and these importunities which are so unwelcome to mee would be such favours to you as would elevate your thoughts to the Skies But what should I do in this case I can no more hinder her from loving mee than compell her to affect you Affection is not so easily put off as a Garment nothing is more difficult to be done by devoir than to Love Shee knowe's that her desires are without hope for my particular and yet I cannot disabuse her of her Errour nor disswade her from amusing her Fancy after a Subject which cannot lawfully be her's I would for your satisfaction that it were in my power to transplant her Passion and turn it from my self to you if this were possible you should finde that among all the Friends in the World there never was any more faithfull nor more desirous of pleasing you than I am At these words Jealousie resigned the possession of Liante's Heart and hee acknowledging the ingagements hee had to the incomparable Friendship of Iphigenes said to him I think Heaven hath created you to serve as a Spectacle of admiration to all those that see you but much more to those that frequent you It is impossible to hate you and know you But what say I I maintain one cannot know you without loving you no more than see the Sun without light or heat But what can bee the reason that like that glorious Planet you cause such ardours in these feeble Souls without conceiving the least degree of heat in your own For never Man was so beloved of Women as you are and I think never any cared less for them than you What Do you then love none so well but that you could leave her if a faithfull friend should intreat you to be unfaithfull to her Hereunto Iphigenes made answer A perfect Friend will never desire any thing so dishonorable as infidelity but if any Friend of mine should be much inflamed for some one of that Sex who to mee are all indifferent I should make no difficulty to resigne an affection wherein I were no otherwise ingaged than by a Civile respect especially if hee had been the first pretender For I hold it the greatest injury that can be done to a Friend to indeavour to spoil his market in matter of Marriage and that there is nothing more capable of breaking all Friendship than Jealousie proceeding from such a cause in regard it is an offence beyond reparation There is not hee breathing among Mortalls but knowe's that Love and Royalty admit of no Companions and that they are two Torrents which overturn by the impetuosity of their Course all sort of Obstacles Dear Iphigenes replyed Liante I think thou hast undertaken to transport mee quite beyond my self making mee see in thee not the Image but the Essence of the most perfect Friend under the Circumference of the Firmament I deliver up my Arms Dear Brother and in all wayes acknowledge my self conquered by thee But since thou hast given mee so many times my Life now thou givest mee the Courage to desire thee to preserve in mee thy own handy-work and release mee from the trouble that torment 's mee Know then that without the possession of Amiclea I cannot live And to imbrace the Body of one whose Heart is with another is a thing I can as little indure as to be tied to a breathless Carcass It would be a punishment to mee not a pleasure Therefore I beseech thee to further mee in the Conquest of her Affection and favorise this alliance with thy assistance I am but too certain of her Parent 's consent and that they are no less willing to make mee their Son-in-law than I desire to have their Daughter to Wife Then after some other discourse conceiving that nothing hindered him from beeing beloved by Amiclea but the Passion which consumed her for Iphigenes Liante continued his supplication to him to deprive her of all Hope of injoying him that shee might likewise lose the desire flattering his imagination that thereby her Love having no more wings to raise it self would doubtless fall to the ground the onely means of curing that Disease in her Fancy and to pluck the Thorns out of her Heart beeing to put the Rose out of her reach Alleadging that to perswade her to divert her thoughts another way and fix them upon a subject to whom shee might easily and justly pretend hee had a thousand reasons and wanted no inventions to lend him merits that hee possessed not and convey them into the belief of that Lady That if by his mediation hee purchased her Affection hee would esteem that favour above the benefit of his Life for which hee remained his debter in regard Life would be loathsome to him if hee could procure no admittance into Amiclea's Heart Imagine you into what extremities Iphigenes saw himself reduced not beeing able handsomly to refuse serving Liante in an occasion that hee dreaded the most and which was most destructive to his own desires Having remained long time in this perplexity as motionless as if hee had seen a Medusa or been stunn'd with some violent blow at length recollecting his Spirits and like Anteus receiving vigour from his fall hee gave his voyce passage to pronounce these words Liante if you knew the harm and injury you do mee you would have some compassion of my suffering and acknowledge that you condemne mee to a punishment much less supportable than Death by intreating mee to serve you in this occurrence I know you will say that the triall of a Friend is in difficult matters and time of need But if wee ought to love another by the modell of that Love which wee owe to our selves it followe's necessarily that our own interest ought to have the precedence according to the order of the most perfect Charity It is not yet time for you to know the injury I receive thereby nor the extream dammage and hinderance it will bee to your Fortune which I intended to raise above all other Grandeurs in Polonia except the Royall Dignity I see plainly that it is the luster of some pleasures and vain pretensions that make's you precipitate your self from this Pinacle and seek your fall where you thought to raise your self Questionless I shall bee a Cassandra to you and tell you divers truths but you will believe none Well Liante perchance my Death will open your Eyes and then by a remorse too late and out of season you will regret that you had caused it to one who prepared for you the happiest Life that your imagination could fathome Nevertheless I will drink this Cup of bitterness which you present mee and although it bee to mee a poyson beyond remedy I will swallow it to
Here Tears Weakness and Grief stopped the passage of his voyce and hee fell into a Traunce out of which it cost some time to recover him Imagine you how Boleslaüs was afflicted seeing him in so great Extremities and knowing so little whence proceeded this indisposition At length having settled his dear Nursling in a little better temper as well of Bodie as Minde and desiring him to let him understand the ground of his Disease Father said Iphigenes Let mee die in silence and do you onely have a care of that Honour after my Death whereof you have been so jealous during my Life The discreet old Man knowing with whom hee was to deale and that Iphigenes loved not to bee press't feined to resolve to die with him as not having the Heart to behold the Day after the loss of him whose consideration made him love its light Iphigenes moved with Pitty at the old Man's tenderness to hinder him from dying seemed to re-affect the desire of Living and to unload his Heart of that sad burthen which oppress 't it hee took the pains to relate him every particular that had passed since his imprisonment and how hee had voluntarily made himself bee taken as is already mentioned By which Discourse Boleslaüs seeing cleer to the bottom of his Soul and reading there the Cause of his distemper Take courage said hee we shall not die of this sickness if wee will be ruled by good advice Father answered Iphigenes when things are desperate it is no time to consult but to suffer It will be easier and better for mee to die since I am already so neer it than re-enter into a thousand Deaths by recovering my Health Liante's Heart beeing dead to mee I have nothing more to do in this mortall Life After Boleslaüs had used diverse arguments to perswade Iphigenes to banish the ingratefull Liante out of his thoughts as unworthy of the favour of his Affection Hee answered Father do not increase my torment with vilifying him whom my Soul honoureth For notwithstanding all your allegations and his unkinde usage I cannot divert the inclinations of my Heart nor change the resolution of Loving him but by losing my Life Therefore if you love mee as I have no reason to doubt and if you will oblige mee to love you yet more if it bee possible I beseech you go without delay to him and conjure him not to flie from Iphigenes who would seeke and run after him if his Sickness did not fetter him Tell him that if I had contracted with him but a common acquaintance Civility would oblige him to visit mee much more since hee is cause of this extremity whereunto I am reduced Tell him I quit him of the Promise hee made mee to restore mee my Liberty when I committed my self into his hands That I will not constrein him to quit Amiclea That I will rather take upon mee the care of solliciting against my self his Marriage with her And that hee would vouchsafe onely to see mee and close my Eyes that with the favour of Heaven I may likewise die in his Hereunto I pray good Father study no Excuses nor Replyes if you desire that I should Live Boleslaüs who knew the Palatine's humour promised a punctuall performance of his commands adding for his comfort that by the long experience hee had of Liante's Disposition hee doubted not to render him more flexible and sensible of his torment And then having dexterously taken his time Dear Child said hee since you have so changed into Nature this Love that it is become an accident inseparable to your Beeing by undertaking to preserve your Life I will also aym at the preservation of your affection and since I finde you cannot live content without Liante I must use some invention to reduce that Heart into your power At these words you would have thought Iphigenes had been raised again out of the Grave or at least that hee resembled a dainty Flower too much beaten with the Sun's Rayes which re-take's new vigour by the coolness of the Dew In a word Iphigenes was a Woman and among so many Heroick vertues which shee possess 't the Naturall inclination of that Sex to curiosity could not bee extinguished in Her The subtle Senior perceiving it made himself bee intreated a while at length after many circumstances hee said Child it is no time to spare when a Man is come to the last penny of his stock The last thing wee must do in this World is to die to prevent that Check and prolong that fatall hour nothing ought to be left unattempted When you would have discovered your self to Liante in the Forrest of Plocens you were pressed onely with a temptation Now you are constrained by necessity You will say that the remedy is not yet in season and that it will be the ruine of your Fortunes If you die your Fortunes will be otherwise lost after Death Physick is of no use You will alledge this remedy is very hard to digest and I will answer you that pain is cured by pain there is no Medicine but is unpleasant yet to avoid Death you must neither spare searing nor incisions You will reply that the apple is now much less ripe than at that time in regard Liante is filled with Gall not inflamed with Love then I must tell you that to quench a Fire People carry Water and Diseases are cured by their contraries It is now time or never to open Liante's Eyes and make him see how much hee is to be blamed for entertaining any suspicious or jealous thought of you Nature having opposed the obstacles you know of to the pretensions which hee believ's you have for Amiclea In summe I will manage this discovery with such circumspection that there can arrive no dammage to you For in sparing you the shame of telling it the onely Subject of all your Sorrow I will leave you in the power of denying that truth and rendring ridiculous those that should offer to mention it At first I will sound Liante by Enigma's Circumlocutions and Figures and according as I shall find him bite at that bait I shall know how to draw him to the Bank but before I unveile the whole Mystery to him I will oblige him by such horrible Oaths to keep it secret that if hee should have a desire to reveale it hee cannot without fearing a punishment of Thunder from the Hand of the King of Heaven All this Discourse was so many words of Life to the distressed Iphigenes and if an Angell had spoken to him hee could not have heard him with more joy and attention than hee did Boleslaüs Then prick't with curiosity saying But how The old Man stop't his Mouth with this answer A Man must never say I will doe this or I will say that and in such a manner I will conduct my Design by reason of the incertainty of Events and the obscurities wherein the Future is involved But when things have had a