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
the birdes were appoynted to méete to talke of the Eagle there was great contention at whose nest they should assemble euery one willing to haue it at his owne home one preferring the nobilitie of his birth an other the statelynesse of his building some woulde haue it for one qualitie some for an other at the last the Swallow saide they shoulde come to his nest being commonly of filth which all the Birds disdaining saide why thy house is nothing els but durt and therefore aunswered the Swallow woulde I haue talke there of the Eagle for being the basest the name of an Eagle will make it the bâ—auest And so good father may I say of thy cottage which thou séemest to account of so homely that mouing but speach of thy soueraigne it will be more like a court then a cabbin and of a prison the name of Elizabeth will make it a pallace The Image of a Prince stampt in copper goeth as currant and a Crow may try Aue Caesar with-out any rebuke The name of a Prince is like the swéete deaw which falleth as well vppon lowe shrubbes as high trées and resembleth a true Glasse wherein the poore may sée their faces with the rich or a cléere streame where-in all may drineke that are dry not they onely that are wealthy Where you adde that we should feare to moue any occasion touching talke of so noble a Prince truely our reuerence taketh away the feare of suspition The Lambe feareth not the Lion but the Wolfe the Partridge dreadeth not the Eagle but the Hawk a true and faithfull heart stand 〈◊〉 â—â— in awe of his superior whome he loueth for feare then of his Prince whom he feareth for loue A â—léere conscience néedeth no excuse nor feareth any accusation Lastly you conclude that neither art nor heart can so set foorth your noble Quéene as shée deserueth I graunt it and reioyce at it and that is the cause of our comming to sée hir whome none can sufficiently commend and yet doeth it not followe that bicause we can-not giue hir as much as shee is worthy of therefore we shoulde not owe hir any But in this we will imitate the olde paynters in Greece who drawing in their Tables the Portrature of Iuppiter were euery houre mending it but durst neuer finish it And being demaunded why they beganne that which they coulde not ende they aunswered in that we shewe him to be Iuppiter whom euerye one may beginne to paint but none can perfect In the like manner meane wée to drawe in part the praises of hir whome we cannot throughly protraye and in that wée signifie hir to be Elyzabeth Who enforceth euery man to do as much as he can when in respect of hir perfection it is nothing For as he that beholdeth the Sunne stedfastly thinking there-by to describe it more perfectly hath his eyes so daseled that he can discerne nothing so fareth it with those that séeke marueilously to praise those that are with-out the compasse of their iudgements and all comparison that the more they desire the lesse they discerne and the néerer they think themselues in good wil the farther they finde themselues off in wisdome thinking to measure that by the ynch which they cannot reache with the ell And yet father it can bée neither hurtfull to you nor hateful to your prince to heare the commendation of a straunger or to aunswer his honest request who will wish in heart no lesse glorie to hir then you doe although they can wish no more And therefore me thinketh you haue offered a little â—iâ—courtesse not to aunswere vs and to suspecte vs great iniury hauing neither might to attempt any thing which may do you harme nor mallice to reuenge where we finde helpe For mine owne part this I say and for my friend present the like I dare sweare howe boldly I cannot tell how truely I knowe that there is not any one whether he be bound by benefite or duetie or both whether linked by zeale or time or bloude or all that more humbly reuerenceth hir maiestie or meruaileth at hir wisdome or prayeth for hir long prosperous and glorious reigne then wée then whome we acknowledge none more simple and yet dare aâ—oweâ— none more faithfull Which we speake not to get seruice by flatterye but to acquite our selues of suspition by faith which is all that either a Prince can require of his subiect or a vassal yéeld to his Soueraigne and that which we â—we to your Quéene all others shoulde offer that either for feare of punishment dare not offend or for loue of vertue will not Heere olde Fidus interrupted young Euphues béeing almost induced by his talke to aunswere his request yet as one neither too credulous nor altogether mistrustfull he replyed as a friend and so wisely as he glaunced from the marke Euphues shotte at and hitte at last the white which Philautus set vp as shal appeare hereafter And thus he began MY sonnes mine age giueth me the priuilege of that terme and your honesties can-not refuse it you are too young to vnderstande matters of state and were you elder to knowe them it were not for your estates And therefore me thinketh the time were but lost in pulling Hercules shooe vppon an Infantes foote or in setting Atlas burthen on a childes shoulder or to bruse your backes with the burthen of a whole kingdome which I speake not that either I mistruth you for your reply hath fully resolued that feare or that I mallice you for my good wil may cleere me of that fault or that I dread your might for your small power cannot bring me into such a folly but that I haue learned by experience that to reason of kings or Princes hath euer bene much misliked of the wise though much desired of fooles especially where old men which should be at their beads be too busie with the court and young men which should follow their bookes be too inquisitiue in y e affaires of princes We shold not looke at y t we cannot reach nor long for that we shold not haue things aboue vs are not for vs therfore are Princes placed vnder the gods that they should not sée what they doe and we vnder princes that we might not enquire what they doe But as the foolish Eagle that séeing the Sunne coueteth to buylde hir nest in the Sunne so fond youth which viewing the glory and gorgiousnesse of the court longeth to knowe the secretes in the court But as the Eagle burneth out hir eyes with that proude lust so doth youth breake his hart with y e péeuish conceit And as Satirus not knowing what fire was would néedes imbrace it and was burned so these fond Satiri not vnderstanding what a prince is runne boldly to meddle in those matters which they know not and so féele worthely the heat they would not And therfore good Euphues and Philautus content your selues with this that to bée curious in thinges you shoulde not
of Ladyes hauing once a lyttle holde of their loue they are driuen into such a traunce that they let goe the holde of their libertie bewitched like those that view the head of Medusa or the Uiper tyed to the bough of the Béech trée which kéepeth him in a dead sléepe though it beginne with a swéete slumber I my self haue tasted new wine and finde it to be more pleasant then wholesome and Grapes gathered before they be rype may set the eyes on lust but they make the téeth an edge and loue desired in the budde not knowing what the blossome were may delyght the conceiptes of the head but it will destroye the contemplature of the heart What I speake now is of méere good will and yet vppon small presumption but in things which come on the sodeine one cannot be to wary to preuent or to curious to mistrust for thou art in a place either to make thée hated for vice or loued for vertue and as thou reuerencest the one before the other so in vprightnesse of lyfe shew it Thou hast good friendes which by thy lewde delights thou maist make great enimies and heauy foes which by thy well doing thou mayste cause to be earnest arbettors of thée in matters that now they canuasse against thée And so I leaue thée meaning héereafter to beare the rayn of thy bridle in mine hands if I sée thée head strong And so he departed I gaue him great thaÌ„ks glad I was we wer parted for his putting loue into my minde was like the throwing of Buglosse into Wine which increaseth in him that drinketh it a desire of lust though it mittigate the force of dronkennesse I now fetching a windlesse that I might better haue a shoote was preuented with ready game which saued me some labour but gained me no quyet And I would gentlemen that you could féele the like impressions in your mindes at the rehearsall of my mishappe as I did passions at the entring into it If euer you loued you haue found the lyke if euer you shal loue you shal tast no lesse But he so eager of an ende as one leaping ouer a stile before he come to it desired few Parentheses or digressions or gloses but the text wher he himself was coating in the margent Then sayd Fidus thus it fell out It was my chaunce I know not whether chaunce or destenie that being inuited to a banket wher many Ladyes were and too many by one as the ende tryed though then too many by all sauing y t one as I thought I cast mine eyes so earnestly vppon hir that my heart vowed hir the mistres of my loue and so fully was I resolued to prosecute my determination as I was earnest to begin it Now Gentlemen I commit my case to your considerations being wiser then I was then and some-what as I gesse elder I was but in court a nouice hauing no friend but him before rehearsed whome in such a matter I was lykelyer to finde a bridel than a spurre I neuer before that time coulde imagine what Loue should meane but vsed the terme as a flout to others which I found now as a feuer in my selfe neither knowing from whence the occasion shoulde aryse nor where I might séeke the remedy This distresse I thought youth would haue worne out or reason or time or absence or if not euery one of them yet all But as fire getting holde in the bottome of a trée neuer leaueth till it come to the toppe or as strong poyson Antidotum being but chafed in the hand pearceth at the last the heart so loue whiche I kept but lowe thinking at my will to leaue entred at the last so farre that it helde mée conquered And then disputing with my selfe I played this on the bit Fidus it standeth thée vppon either to winne thy loue or to weane thy affections which choyce is so hard that thou canst not tell whether the victorie will be the greater in subduing thy selfe or conquering hir To loue and to liue well is wished of many but incident to fewe To liue and to loue well is incident to fewe but indifferent to all To loue without reason is an argument of lust to liue without loue a token of folly The measure of loue is to haue no meane the end to be euerlasting Thesius had no néede of Ariadnes thréed to finde the way into the Laborinth but to come out nor thou of any helpe how to fall into these brakes but to fall from them If thou be witched with eyes weare the eye of a Wesil in a ring which is an enchauntment against such charmes and reason with thy selfe whether there bée more pleasure to be accounted amorous or wise Thou art in the viewe of the whole court where the ielous will suspecteth vppon euery light occasion where of the wise thou shalt be accounted fond and the foolish amorous the Ladies themselues how-soeuer they looke will thus imagine that if thou take thought for loue thou art but a foole if take it lightly no true seruant Besides this thou art to be bound as it were an apprentice seruing seuen yeares for that which if thou winne is lost in seuen houres if thou loue thine equall it is no conquest if thy superiour thou shalt be enuyed if thine inferiour laughed at If one that is beautifull hir coulour will chaunge before thou get thy desire if one that is wise she will ouer-reache thée so farre that thou shalt neuer touch hir if vertuous she will eschue such fonde affection if one deformed she is not worthy of any affection if she be rich she néedeth thée not if poore thou néedest not hir if olde why shouldest thou loue hir if young why should she loue thée Thus Gentlemen I fed my selfe with mine owne deuices thinking by péece meaâ—e to cut off y t which I could not diminish for the more I striued with reason to conquer mine appetite the more against reason I was subdued of mine affections At the last calling to my remembrance an old rule of loue which a courtier then tolde me of whom when I demaunded what was the first thing to winne my Lady he aunswered Opportunitie asking what was the second he said Opportunitie desirous to knowe what might be the thirde he replyed Opportunitie Which answeres I marking as one that thought to take mine ayme of so cunning an Archer coniectured that to the beginning continuing an ending of loue nothing coulde be more conuenient then Opportunitie to the getting of the which I applyed my whole study and wore my wits to the stumps assuring my selfe that as there is a time when the Hare will lycke the Houndes eare and the fierce Tigresse play with the gentle Lambe so there was a certaine season when women were to be won in the which moment they haue neither will to deny nor wit to mistrust Such a time I haue read a young Gentleman found to obtaine the loue of the Duchesse of Millayne
proper woman had you ben a proper work-man And so she departed Now Philautus and Euphues what a traunce was I left in who bewailing my loue was aunswered with hate or if not with hate with such a kinde of heate as almost burnt the very bowells with-in me What greater discourtesie could there possiblye rest in the minde of a Gentlewoman then with so many nippes such bitter girdes such disdainefull gliekâ—s to aunswere him that honoured hir What crueltie more vnfit for so comelye a lady then to spur him that gallopped or to let him bloud in the hart whose veyne she should haue staunched in the lyuer But it fared with me as with the hearbe Basill the which the more it is crushed the sooner it springeth or the Rew which the oftner it is cut the better it groweth or the Poppy which the more it is troden with the feete the more it flourisheth For in these extremities beaten as it were to the ground with disdaine my loue reacheth to the top of the house with hope not vnlyke vnto a Trée which though it be often felled to the harde roote yet it buddeth againe and getteth a toppe But to make an ende both of my tale and my sorrowes I will procéede onely crauing a lyttle patience if I fall into mine olde passions With that Philautus came in with his spoake saying in faith Fidus me thinketh I could neuer be weary in hearing this discourse and I feare me the ende will be too soone although I féele in my selfe the impression of thy sorrowes Yea quoth Euphues you shal finde my friend Philautus so kinde hearted that before you haue done hée will be farther in loue with hir than you were for as your Lady saide Philautus will be bounde to make loue as warden of that occupation Then Fidus Well God graunt Philautus better successe then I had which was too badde For my Father being returned from hunting and the Gentlewomen from walking the table was couered and we al set downe to dinner none more pleasaunt then Iffida which would not conclude hir myrth and I not melancholy bicause I woulde couer my sadnesse least either she might thinke me to doate or my Father suspect me to desire hir And thus we both in table talke beganne to rest She requesting me to bée hir Caruer and I not attending well to that shée craued gaue hir salt which when she receiued shée gan thus to replye IN sooth Gntle-man I seldome eate salte for feare of anger and if you giue it me in token that I want witte then will you make me cholaricke before I eate it for women be they neuer so foolish woulde euer bée thought wise I stayed not long for mine answere but as wel quickened by hir former talke and desirous to cry quittance for hir present tongue said thus If to eate store of salte cause one to fret and to haue no salte fignifiâ— lacke of witte then do you cause mée to meruaile that eating no salt you are so captious and louing no salt you are so wise when in deede so much wit is sufficient for a woman as when she is in y e raine can warne hir to come out of it You mistake your ayme quoth Iffida for such a shower may fall as did once into Danaes lappe and then that woman wer a foole that wold come out of it but it may be your mouth is out of taste therfore you were best season it with salte In déede quoth I your aunsweres are so fresh that without salte I can hardly swallow them Many nips were returned that time betwéene vs and some so bitter that I thought them to procéede rather of mallice to worke despite than of mirth to shew disport My Father very destrous to heare questions asked willed me after dinner to vse some demaunde which after grace I did in this sort Lady Iffida it is not vnlikely but y t you can answere a question as wisely as the last night you asked one wilyly I trust you wil be as ready to resolue any doubt by entreatie as I was by commaundement Ther was a Lady in Spaine who after the decease of hir Father had thrée sutors yet neuer a good Archer the one excelled in all giftes of the bodye insomuch that there coulde be nothing added to his perfection and so armed in all points as his very lookes were able to pearce the heart of any Lady especially of such a one as séemed hir selfe to haue no lesse beautie then she had personage For that as betwéene the similitude of manners there is a friendship in euery respect absolute so in the composition of the body there is a certeine loue ingendred by one looke wher both the bodies resemble each other as wouen both in one loome The other hadde nothing to commende him but a quicke wit which he had alwayes so at his will that nothing could be spoken but he would wrest it to his own purpose which wrought such delight to this Lady who was no lesse wittie than he y t you woulde haue thought a marriage to be solemnized before the match could bée talked off For there is nothing in loue more requisit or more delectable then pleasaunt and wise conference neither can there arise any storme in loue which by witte is not turned to a calme The third was a Gentleman of great possessions large reuenewes ful of money but neither the wisest that euer enioyed so much nor the properest that euer desired so much he had no plea in his sute but gylt which rubbed wel in a hoat hande is such a grease as will supple a very hard heart And who is so ignorant that knoweth not golde to be a keye for euery locke chiefly with his Lady who hir selfe was well stored and as yet infected with a desire of more that she coulde not but lende him a good countenaunce in this match Now Lady Iffida you are to determine this Spanish bargaine or if you please we wil make it an English controuersie supposing you to be the Ladye and thrée such Gentlemen to come vnto you a wooing In faith who should be the spéeder GEntleman quoth Iffida you may aunswere your owne question by your own argument if you would for if you conclude the Lady to be beautifull wittie and wealthy then no doubt she will take such a one as shold haue comelynesse of body sharpnesse of wit and store of riches Otherwise I would condempne that wit in hir which you séeme so much to commend hir selfe excelling in thrée qualyties she shold take one which was endued but with one in perfect loue the eye must be pleased the eare delyghted the heart comforted beautie causeth the one with the other wealth the third To loue onely for comelynesse were lust to lyke for wit onely madnesse to desire chiefly for goods couetousnesse and yet can there be no loue without beautie but we loath it nor without wit but we scorne it nor with out riches but
we repent it Euery floure hath his blossome his sauour his sappe and euerye desire should haue to féede the eye to please the wit to maintaine the roote Ganimedes maye cast an amiable countenaunce but that féedeth not Vlisses tell a wittie tale but that fatteth not Croesus bring bagges of golde and that doth both yet without the ayde of beautie he cannot bestow it and without wit he knowes not how to vse it So that I am of this minde there is no Ladye but in hir choice will be so resolute that either she will lyue a Uirgin till she haue such a one as shall haue all these thrée properties or els die for anger if she match with one that wanteth any one of them I perceiuing hir to stand so stifely thought if I might to remoue hir footing and replyed againe LAdy you nowe thinke by pollicie to start where you bounde me to aunswere by necessitie not suffering me to ioyne thrée flowers in one Nosegay but to chuse one or els to leaue all The lyke must I craue at your hands that if of force you must consent to any one whether would you haue the proper man the wise or the rich She as not without an answere quickly requited me ALthough there be no force which may compell me to take any neither a profer whereby I might chuse al Yet to aunswere you flatly I woulde haue the wealthiest for beautie without ritches goeth a begging and wit without wealth cheapneth all thinges in the Faire but buyeth nothing Truely Lady quoth I either you speake not as you thinke or you be far ouershot for me thinketh that hée that hath beautie shal haue money of ladyes for almes and he that is wittie will gette it by crafte but the rich hauing ynough and neither loued for shape nor sence must either kéepe his golde for those he knowes not and spende it on them that cares not Well aunswered Iffida so many men so many mindes now you haue my opinioÌ„ you must not think to wring me from it for I had rather be as all woemen are obstinate in mine owne conceipt then apt to be wrought to others constructions My father liked hir choyce whether it were to flatter hir or for feare to offend hir or that he loued money himselfe better then either wit or beautie And our conclusions thus ended she accompanyed with hir Gentlewomen and other hir seruauntes went to hir Uncles hauing taried a day longer with my father then she appoynted though not so many with me as she was welcome Ah Philautus what tormentes diddest thou thinke poore Fidus endured who nowe felt y e flame euen to take full holde of his heart and thinking by solytarinesse to driue away melancholy and by imagination to forget loue I laboured no otherwise then he that to haue his Horse stand stil pricketh him with the spurre or he that hauing sore eyes rubbeth them with salt water At the last with continuall abstinence from meat from company from sléepe my bodie began to consume and my head to ware idle in so much that the sustenance whiche perforce was thrust into my mouth was neuer disgested nor the talke which came from my addle braines liked For euer in my slumber me thought Iffida presented hir selfe now with a couÌ„tenaunce pleasant merry streight wayes with a coulour full of wrath and mischiefe My father no lesse sorrowfull for my disease then ignorant of the cause sent for diuers Phisitions among the which there came an Italian who féeling my pulses casting my water marking my lookes commaunded the chamber to be voyded and shutting the doore applyed this medicine to my maladye Gentleman there is none that can better heale your wounde then he that made it so that you should haue sent for Cupid not Aesculapius for although they be both Gods yet will they not meddle in each others office Appelles will not goe about to amende Lisippus caruing yet they both wrought Alexander nor Hippocrates busie himselfe with Ouids art and yet they both described Venus Your humeur is to bée purged not by Apothecaries confections but by the following of good counsaile You are in loue Fidus whiche if you couer in a close chest will burne euery place before it burst the lock For as we know by Phisick that poyson wil disperse it selfe into euery veyne before it part the hart so I haue hard by those that in loue could say somewhat that it maymeth euery parte before it kill the Lyuer If therefore you wil make me priuie to all your deuises I will procure such meanes as you shall recouer in short space otherwise if you séeke to conceale the partye and encrease your passions you shall but shorten your life and so loose your loue for whose sake you liue When I heard my Phisition so pat to hit my disease I could not dissemble with him least he shoulde bewray it neither would I in hope of remedy Unto him I discoursed the faithful loue which I bore to Iffida and described in euery perticuler as to you I haue done Which he hearing procured within one day Ladie Iffida to sée me telling my father that my disease was but a consuming Feuer which he hoped in short time to cure When my Lady came and sawe me so altered in a moneth wasted to the harde bones more like a ghoast then a liuing creature after many wordes of comfort as women want none about sicke persons when shée saw opportunitie she asked me whether the Italian were my messenger or if he were whether his embassage were true which question I thus aunswered LAdy to dissemble with the world when I am departing from it woulde profite me nothing with man and hinder me much with God to make my death-bed the place of deceipt might hasten my death and encrease my daunger I haue loued you long and nowe at the length must leaue you whose harde heart I will not impute to discurtesie but destinie it contenteth me that I dyed in faith though I could not liue in fauour neither was I euer more desiâ—ous to beginne my loue then I am nowe to ende my life Thinges which cannot be altered are to be borne not blamed follyes past are sooner remembred then redressed and time lost may well be repented but neuer recalled I will not recounte the passions I haue suffered I thinke the effect shewe them and nowe it is more behooffull for me to fall to praying for a new life then to remember the olde yet this I adde which though it merit no mercy to saue it diserueth thanks of a friend that onely I loued thée and liued for thée and now dye for thée And so turning on my left side I fetched a déepe sigh Iffyda the water standing in hir eyes clasping my hand in hirs with a sadde countenaunce aunswered me thus MY good Fidus if the encreasing of my sorrowes might mittigate the extremitie of thy sicknesse I could be content to resolue my selfe into
forgiue thée for I must beléeue thée if for the whole world Behold England where Camilla was borne the flower of curtesie the picture of comlynesse one that shameth Venus being some-what fayrer but much more vertuous and stayneth Diana béeing as chast but much more amiable I but Philautus the more beautie she hath the more pride and the more vertue the more precisenes The Pecock is a birde for none but Iuno the Doue for none but Vesta None must weare Venus in a Tablet but Alexander none Pallas in a ring but Vlisses For as ther is but one Phoenix in the world so is ther but one trée in Arabia wherin she buildeth as there is but one Camilla to be harde off so is there but one Caesar that she wil like off Why then Philautus what resteth for thée but to dye with patience séeing thou maist not liue with pleasure Whē thy disease is so daungerous that the third letting of blood is not able to recouer thée whē neither Ariadnes thrid nor Sibillas vough nor Medeas séede may remedy thy griefe Dye dye Philautus rather with a secret scarre then an open scorne Patroclus cannot maske in Achilles armour without a maime nor Philautus in the Englishe Court without a mocke I but there is no Pearle so harde but Uineger breaketh it no Diamond so stony but bloude mollyfieth no heart so stiffe but loue weakeneth it And what then Bicause she may loue one is it necessary shée should loue thée Be there not infinite in Englande who as farre excéede thée in wealth as she doth all the Italians in wisedome and are as farre aboue thée in all qualyties of the bodye as she is aboue them in all gifts of the minde Doest thou not sée euerye minuite the noble youth of Englande frequent the Court with no lesse courage then thou cowardise If Courtlye brauerye may allure hir who more gallaunt then they If personage who more valyaunt If witte who more sharpe if byrth who more noble if Uertue who more deuoute When there are all thinges in them that shoulde delyght a Ladye and no one thing in thée that is in them with what face Philautus canst thou desire which they cannot deserue or with what seruice deserue that which so many desire before thée The more beautie Camalla hath the lesse hope shouldest thou haue and thinke not but the bayte that caught thée hath beguiled other Englishe-men or now Infants they can loue neither so harde harted to despise it nor so simple not to discerne it It is likely then Philautus that the Fox will lette the Grapes hang for the Goose or the English-man bequeath beautie to the Italian No no Philautus assure thy selfe there is no Venus but she hath hir Temple where on the one side Vulcan may knocke but Mars shall eater no Sainct but hath hir shrine and he that cannot wynne with a Pater Noster must offer a penny And as rare it is to sée the Sunne without a light as a faire woman without a louer and as néere is Fancie to beautie as the pricke to the Rose as the stalke to the rinde as the earth to the roote Doest thou not thinke that hourely shée is serued and sued vnto of thy betters in byrth thy equales in welth thy inferiors in no respect If then she haue giuen hir faith darest thou call hir honour into suspition of falshod If she refuse such vaine delights wilt thou bring hir wisdome into the compasse of folly If she loue so beautifull a péece then will she not bée vnconstant If she vow virginity so chast a Lady cannot be periured and of two things the one of these must bée true that either hir minde is already so weaned from loue that she is not to be moued or so setled in loue that she is not to be remoued I but it may be that so younge and tender a hearte hath not yet felt the impression of loue I but it cannot be that so rare perfection shoulde want that which they all wish affection A Rose is swéeter in the budde then full blowne Young twigges are sooner bent then old trées White Snow sooner melted then harde Yce whiche proueth that the younger she is the sooner she is to bée wooed and the fayrer she is the likelier to be wonne Who will not runne with Atlanta though he be lame Who would not wrastle with Cleopatra though he wer sicke Who feareth to loue Camilla though hée were blynde Ah beautie such is thy force that Vulcan courteth Venus she for comelynesse a Goddesse he for vglynesse a diuell more fit to strike with a hammer in his forge then to holde a Lute in thy chamber Whether dost thou wade Philautus in launcing the wound thou shouldest taint and prtcking the hart which asketh a Plaister for in decyphering what she is thou hast forgotten what thou thy selfe art and being dazeled with hir beautie thou séest not thine owne basenesse Thou art an Italian poore Philautus as much mislyked for the vice of thy Countrey as she meruailed at for the vertue of hirs and with no lesse shame doest thou heare than know with griefe how if any Englishman be infected with any misdemeanour they say with one mouth he is Italionated so odious is that Nation to this that the very man is no lesse hated for the name then y e countrey for the manners O Italy I must loue thée bicause I was borne in thée but if the infection of the aire be such as whosouer bréed in thée is poysoned by thée then had I rather be a Bastard to the Turke Ottomo then heyre to the Emperour Nero. Thou which héeretofore wast most famous for victoryes art become most infamous by thy vices as much disoained now for thy beastlynesse in peace as once feared for thy battailes in warre thy Caesar béeing turned to a Uicar thy Consulls to Cardinalls thy sacred Senate of thrée hundred graue Counsaylours to a shamelesse Sinode of thrée thousand gréedy Caterpillers Wher ther is no vice punished no vertue praised wher none is long loued if he doe not ill where none shall be loued if he doe well But I leaue to name thy sinnes which no Ciphers can number and I would I were as frée from the infection of some of them as I am farre from y e reckoning of all of them or would I were as much enuied for good as thou art pitied for ill Philautus would thou haddest neuer lyued in Naples or neuer left it What new skirmishes doest thou nowe féele betweene reason and appetite loue and wisedome daunger and desire Shall I goe and attire my selfe in costlye apparayle tush a faire pearle in a Murrians eare cannot make him white Shal I ruffle in new deuices with chaines with Bracelettes with Rings and Robes tush the precious Stones of Mansolus Sepulcher can-not make the dead carcasse swéete Shal I curle my hayre colour my face counterfaite courtlynesse tush there is no painting can make a picture sensible No
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
sentences among the which you bring in a Doue without a gall as farre from the matter you speake off as you are from the mastrye you woulde haue who although she cannot be angrye with you in that shée hath no gall yet can shée laugh at you for that shée hath a spléene I will ende where you beganne hoping you will beginne where I ende you let fall your question whiche I looked for and pickt a quarrell whiche I thought not of and that is loue but let hir that is disposed to aunswere your quarrell be curious to demaunde your question And thus Gentle-manne I desire you all questions and other quarrelles set aparte you thinke me as a friende so farre forth as I can graunt with modestie or you require with good manners and as a friende I wish you that you blowe no more this fire of loue whiche will waste you before it warme me and make a coale in you before it can kindle in me If you thinke otherwise I can aswell vse a shift to driue you off as you did a shewe to drawe me on I haue aunswered your custome least you should argue me of coynesse no otherwise then I might mine honour saued and your name vnknowen By this time entered another Masque but almoste after the same manner and onelye for Camillas loue which Philautus quickly espyed and séeing his Camilla to be courted with so gallaunt a youth departed yet with-in a corner to the ende he might decypher the Gentleman whome he founde to bée one of the brauest youthes in all England called Surius then wounded with griefe hée sounded with weakenesse and going to his chamber began a freshe to recount his miseries in this sort Ah miserable and accursed Philautus the very monster of Nature and spectacle of shame if thou liue thou shalt be dispised if thou dye not missed if wooe poynted at if win lothed if loose laughed at bred either to liue in loue be forsaken or dye with loue bée forgotten Ah Camilla woulde either I had bene borne without eyes not to sée thy beautie or with-out eares not to heare thy witte the one hath inflamed me with the desire of Venus the other with the giftes of Pallas both with the fire of loue Loue yea loue Philautus then the which nothing canne happen vnto man more miserable I perceiue nowe that the Chariot of the Sunne is for Phoebus not for Phaeton that Bucephalus will stoupe to none but Alexander that none can sounde Mercurius pipe but Orpheus that none shall win Camillas liking but Surius a Gentleman I confesse of greater birth then I and yet I dare say not of better faith It is he Philautus y t wil fléete all the fat from thy bearde insomuch as she will disdayne to looke vppon thée if shée but once thinke vppon him It is he Philautus that hath wit to trye hir wealth to allure hir personage to entice hir and all things that either Nature or Fortune can giue to winne hir For as the Phrigian harmony being moued to the Calenes maketh a great noyse but being moued to Apollo it is still and quyet so the loue of Camilla desired of me moueth I knowe not how many discords but prooued of Surius it is calme and consenteth It is not the swéete flower that Ladyes desire but the fayre which maketh them weare that in their heads wrought foorthe with the Néedle not brought foorthe by Nature And in the lyke manner they accompt of that loue which Art can coulour not that the heart doth confesse wherein they imitate y e Maydens as Euphues often hath told me of Athens who tooke more delyght to sée a fresh and fine colour then to taste a swéete and wholesome siroppe I but how knowest thou that Surius faith is not as great as thine when thou art assured thy vertue is no lesse then his He is wise and that thou séest valyaunt that thou fearest rich and that thou lackest fit to please hir and displace thée and without spite be it sayd worthy to doe the one and willing to attempt the other Ah Camilla Camilla I knowe not whether I should more commend thy beautie or thy wit neither can I tel whether thy lookes haue wounded me more or thy words for they both haue wrought such an alteration in my spirits that séeing thée silent thy comelynesse maketh me in a maze and hearing thée speaking thy wisedome maketh me starke madde I but things aboue thy height are to be looked at not reached at I but if I should now ende I had ben better neuer to haue begō I but time must weare away loue I but time may winne it Hard stones are pearced with soft drops great Okes he wen down with many blowes the stoniest heart mollified by continuall pers wasions or true perseueraunce If desertes can nothing preuayle I will practise deceipts and what faith cannot doe coniuring shall What saist thou Philautus canst thou imagine so great mischief against hir thou louest Knowest thou not that fish caught with medicines and women gotten with witchcraft are neuer wholesome No no the Foxes wyles shall neuer enter into the Lyons head nor Medeas charmes into Philautus heart I but I haue heard that extremities are to be vsed where the meane will not serue and that as in loue there is no measure of griefe so there should bée no ende of guyle of two mischiefes the least is to be chosen and therefore I thinke it better to poyson hir with the swéete baite of loue than to spoyle my selfe with the bitter sting of death If she be obstinate why should not I be desperate if she be voyd of pittie why should I not be voyd of pietie In the ruling of Empires ther is required as great polycie as prowesse in gouerning an Estate close crueltie doth more good than open clemencie for the obteining of a kingdome as wel mischief as mercy is to be practised And then in the winning of my Loue the verye Image of beautie courtesie and wit shall I leaue any thing vnsought vnattempted vndone He that desireth riches must stretche the string that will not reache and practise all kindes of getting He that coueteth honour and can-not clymbe by the Ladder must vse all colours of lustinesse He that thirsteth for Wine must not care how he get it but where he may get it nor he that is in loue be curious what meanes he ought to vse hut ready to attempt any For slender affection doe I thinke that which either y e feare of law or care of religion may diminish Fye Philautus thine own words condempne thée of wickednes tush y e passions I sustaine are neither to be quyeted with counsaile nor eased by reason therfore I am fully resolued either by Art to winne hir loue or by despayre to loose mine owne lyfe I haue heard héere in London of an Italian cunning in Mathematicke named Psellus of whom in Italy I haue heard in such cases
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
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
like one that had bene vesmered there is no harme done for I perceiue Camilla is other wise sped if I be not much deceiued she is a flower for Surius wearing the penaunce she shall haue is to make you a Nosegay which she shall not denye thée vnlesse she defie vs and the rewarde thou shalt haue is this while you tary in England my Néece shall be your Uiolet This Ladyes Cousin was named Frauncis a fayre Gentlewoman and a wise young and of very good conditions not much inferiour to Camilla equal shee coulde not be Camilla who was loath to be accompted in any company coye endeauoured in the presence of the Lady Flauia to be very courteous and gathered for Philautus a pofie of all the finest flowers in the garden saying thus vnto him I hope you will not be offended Philautus in that I could not be your Rose but imputing the fault rather to desteny than discourtesie Philautus plucking vp his spirites gaue hir thankes for hir paynes and immediatelye gathered a Uyolette which he gaue Mistresse Frauncis which shée courteously receiued thus all partes were pleased for that time Philautus was inuited to dinner so that he coulde no longer staye but pulling out the booke where-in his letter was enclosed he deliuered it to Camilla taking his humble leaue of the Lady Flauia and the rest of the Gentlewomen When he was gone there fell much talke of him betweene the Gentlewomen one commending his wit an other his personage some his fauour all his good conditions insomuch that the Lady Flauia bounde it with an othe that she thought him both wise and honest When the company was dissolued Camilla not thinking to receiue an aunswere but a lecture went to hir Italian booke where she founde the letter of Philautus who without any further aduise as one very much offended or in a great heate sent him this bone to gnaw vppon To Philautus SUfficed it not thée Philautus to bewray thy follyes moue my patience but thou must also procure in me a minde to reuenge and to thy selfe the meanes of a farther perill Where diddest thou learne that being forbidden to be bolde thou shouldest growe impudent or being suffered to be familiar thou shouldest ware haile fellowe But to so malepert boldnesse is the demeanour of young Gentlemen come that where they haue béene once welcome for curtesie they thinke themselues worthie to court any Lady by cumstomes wherin they imagine they vse singuler audacitie which we can no otherwise terme then saucinesse thinking women are to bée drawen by their coyned coâ—nterfait conceipts as the strawe is by the Aumber or the yron by the Loadstone or the gold by the minerall Chrysocholla But as there is no serpent that can bréede in the Box trée for the hardnesse nor will builde in the Cypres trée for the bitternesse so is there no fonde or poysoned louer that shall enter into my heart whiche is hardned like the Adamant nor take delight in my wordes which shalbe more bitter then Gall. It fareth with thée Philautus as with the droone who hauing lost his owne wings séekes to spoyle the Bées of theirs and thou being clipped of thy libertie goest about to bereaue me of mine not farre differing from the natures of Dragons who sucking bloude out of the Elephant kill him with the same poyson themselues and it may be that by the same meanes that thou takest in hand to inueigle my minde thou entrappe thine owne a iust rewarde for so vniust dealing and a fit reueng for so vnkinde a regard But I trust thy purpose shall take no place and that thy millice shall want might wherein thou shalt resemble the serpent Porphirius who is full of poyson but being toothlesse he hurteth none but him-selfe and I doubt not but thy mind is as ful of deceipt as thy words are of flatterie but hauing no téeth to bite I haue no cause to feare I had not thought to haue vsed so sower words but where a wande cannot rule the horse a spurre muste WheÌ„ gentle medicines haue no force to purge we must vse bitter potions and where the sore is neither to bée dissolued by plaister nor to be broken it is requisite it should be launced Hearbes that are the worse for watering are to be rooted out trées that are lesse fertile for the lopping are to be hewen downe Hawkes that ware haggard by manning are to be cast off fonde louers that encrease in their follies when they be reiected are to bee dispised But as to be without haire amongst the Mycanions is accompted no shame bicause they be all borne balde so in Italy to liue in loue is thought no fault for that there they are all giuen to lust which maketh thée to coniecture that we in England recken loue as the chiefest vertue which we abhorre as the greatest vice which groweth like the Iuie about the trées and killeth them by culling them Thou art alwayes talking of loue and applying both thy witte and thy wealth in that idle trade onelye for that thou thinkest thy selfe amiable not vnlike vnto the Hedgehogge who euermore lodgeth in the thornes bicause hee himselfe is full of prickells But take this both for a warning and an aunswere that if thou procecute thy suite thou shalt but vndoe thy selfe for I am neither to be wooed with thy passions whilest thou liuest nor to repent me of my rigor when thou art deade which I woulde not haue thée thinke to procéede of any hate I beare thée for I mallyce none but for loue to mine honour which neither Italian shall violate nor English man diminish For as the precious stone Chalazyas being throwen into the fire kéepeth still his colduesse not to be warmed with any heate so my heart although dented at with the arrowes of thy burning affections and as it were enuironed with the fire of thy loue shall alwayes kéepe his hardnesse and bée so farre from being mollysted that thou shalt not perceiue it moued The Uiolet Ladie Flauia bestowed on thée I wishe thée and if thou like it I will further thée otherwise if thou persist in thine olde follyes whereby to encrease my newe griefes I will neuer come where thou art nor shalt thou haue accesse to the place where I am For as little agréement shall there bée betwéene vs as is betwixt the Uine and the Cabish the Dke and the Dlyue trée the Serpent and the Ash trée the Yron and Theamides And if euer thou diddest loue mée manifest it in this that héereafter thou neuer write to me so shal I both be perswaded of thy faith and eased of mine owne feare But if thou attempt againe to wring water out of the Pommice thou shalt but bewray thy falshood and augment thy shame and my seueritie For this I sweare by hir whose lightes can neuer die Vesta and by hir whose heasts are not to be broken Diana that I wil neuer consent to loue him whose sight if
compared with the great chéere I receiued might happely make me refrain which is contrary to your coniecture Whether was I euer so busied in any weightie affaires which I accompted not as lost time in respect of the exercise I alwayes found in your company which maketh me thinke y t your latter obiection procéeded rather to conuince me for a truant then to manifest a truth As for the Quailes you promise me I can be content with béefe and for the questions they must be easie els shall I not aunswere them for my wit will shew with what grose dyot I haue bene brought vp so that conferring my rude replyes with my base birth you wil think that meane chéere will serue me and resonable questions deceiue me so that I shall neither finde fault for my repast nor fauour for my reasons Philautus in déede taketh as much delyght in good company as in good cates who shall aunswere for himself with that Philautus said Truly Camilla where I thinke my selfe welcome I loue to be bolde and when my stomacke is filled I care for no meat so that I hope you will not blame me if I come often and eate lyttle I do not blame you by my faith quoth Camilla you mistake me for the oftner you come the better welcome and the lesse you eate the more is saued Much talke passed which being onely as it wer a repetition of former things I omit as superfluous but this I must note that Camilla earnestly desired Surius to be acquainted with Euphues who very willingly accomplished hir request desiring Euphues for the good report he had heard of him that he would be as bold with him as with any one in England Euphues humbly shewing his duetye promised also as occasion shoulde serue to trye him It now grew toward Supper time when the table being couered and the meate serued in Lady Flauia placed Surius ouer against Camilla and Philautus next Mistres Frauncis she tooke Euphues and the rest and placed them in such order as she thought best What chéere they had I know not what talke they vsed I heard not but Supper being ended they sate still the Lady Flauia speaking as followeth GEntlemen Gentlewomen these Lenten Euenings be long and a shame it were to goe to bed colde they are and therefore follye it were to walke abroade to play at Cardes is common at Chestes tedious at Dice vnseemely with Christmas games vntimely In my opinion therefore to passe away these long nights I would haue some pastime that might be pleasaunt but not vnprofitable rare but not without reasoning so shal we all accompt the Euening wel spent be it neuer so long which otherwise would be tedious were it neuer so short Surius the best in the company therefore best worthy to aunswere and the wisest and therefore best able replyed in this manner GOod Madame you haue preuented my request with your owne for as the case now standeth there can be nothing either more agréeable to my humour or these Gentlewomens desires to vse some discourse aswell to renue olde traditions which haue ben héertosore vsed as to encrease friendship which hath ben by the meanes of certeine odde persons defaced Euery one gaue his consent with Surius yéelding the choyce of that nights pastime to the discretion of the Lady Flauia who thus proposed hir minde Your taske Surius shall be to dispute with Camilla chuse your owne argument Philautus shall argue with Mistres Frauncis Martius with my selfe And all hauing finished their discourses Euphues shal be as Iudge who hath done best and whatsoeuer he shal allot either for reward to y e worthiest or for penance to y e worst shalbe presently accoÌ„plished This liked theÌ„ al excéedingly And thus Surius with a good grace pleasant speach began to enter the listes with Camilla FAyre Lady you know I flatter not I haue read y t the sting of an Aspe were incurable had not nature giuen them dimme eyes and the beautie of a woman no lesse infectious had not nature bestowed vpon theÌ„ geÌ„tle harts which maketh me ground my reason vpon this common place that beautifull women are euer merciful if mercifull vertuous if vertuous constant if constant though no more than goddesses yet no lesse then Saintes all these things graunted I vrge my question without condition If Camilla one wounded with your beautie for vnder that name I comprehend all other vertues should sue to open his affectioÌ„ serue to trye it driue you to so narrow a point that were you neuer so incredulous he shoulde proue it yea so farre to be from suspicion of deceipt that you woulde confesse he were cleare from distrust what aunswere would you make if you gaue your consent or what excuse if you deny his curtesie Camilla who desired nothing more then to be questioning with Surius with a modest countenance yet somewhat bashfull which added more commondation to hir speach then disgrace replyed in this manner THough there be no cause noble Gentleman to suspect an iniury where a good turne hath ben receiued â—ot is it wisedome to be careful what answere be made where the questioÌ„ is difficult I haue heard that the Torteise in India when the Sunne shineth swimmeth aboue the water with hir backe being delighted with the faire weather forgetteth hir selfe vntill the heate of the Sunne so harden hir shell that she cannot sincke when she would whereby she is caught And so may it fare with me that in this good company dasplaying my mind hauing more regarde to my delight in talking then to the eares of the hearers I forget what I speake and so â—e taken insouâ—â— thing I should not vtter which happely y e itching eares of young Gentlemen would so canuas that when I wold call it in I cannot and so be caught with the Torteise when I would not Therefore if any thing be spokeÌ„ either vnwares or vniustly I am to crane pardon for both hauing but a weak memory and a worse witte which you cannot deny mée for that we saye women are to be borne with all if they offende against their wills and not much to be blamed if they trip with their wills y e one procéeding of forgetfulnesse the other of their naturall weakenesse but to the matter IF my beautie which God knowes how simple it is should entangle any with desire then should I thus think that either he were enflamed with lust rather theÌ„ loue for that he is moued by my countenaunce not enquiring of my coÌ„ditions or els that I gaue some occasion of lightnes bicause he gathereth a hope to speede wher he neuer had the heart to speak But if at the last I shold perceiue that his faith were tryed lyke gold in the fire that his affection proceded from a mind to please not froÌ„ a mouth to delude then would I either answere his loue with lyking or weane him from it by reason For I hope sir you wil not
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
thirde concludeth it a figure So in loue thrée vertues affection which draweth the heart secrecte which inereaseth the hope constancie which finish the worâ—ie without any of these lynes there can be no triangle with-out any of these vertues no loue There is no man that runneth with one ledgge no birde that flyeth with one winge no loue that lâ—â—eth with one lym Loue is lykened to the Emerald 〈◊〉 cracketh rather then consenteth to any 〈◊〉 and can there be any greater villany then being secreat not to be constant or being constant not to be seâ—â—â—â—tâ— But it falleth out with those that being constant and yet full of bable as it doth with the serpent Fabulus the â—iper who burst with their owne brood as these â—â—â—oâ—e with their owne tongues It is no question Philautus to astle which is vest â—â—â—â— being not ioyned there is neuer a good If thou make a question where there is no doubt thou must take an aunswere where there is no reason Why then also doest thou not enquire whether it were better for a horse to want his foreleggs or his hinder when hauing not all he cannot trauelt why art thou not inquisitiue whether it were more conuenient for the wrastlers in the games of Olympia to be with-out armes or without féete or for frées to want rootes or lacke toppes when either is impossible Ther is no true louer beléeue me Philautus sence telleth me so not tryall that hath not faith secrecie and constancie If thou want either it is lust no loue and that thou hast not them all thy profounde question assureth mée which if thou diddest aske to trie my wit thou thoughtest me very dull if thou resolue thy selfe of a doubt I cannot thinke thée very sharps Philatus that perceiued hir to be so sharpe thought once againe like a whetstone to make hir sharper and in these words returned his aunswere MY swéete Uiolet you are not unlike vnto those who hauing gotten the startte in a race thinke none to be néere their héeles bicause they be formost For hauing the tale in your mouth you imagine it is all trueth and that none can controll it Frauncis who was not willing to heare him goe forward in so fonde an argument cutte him off before hâ—â— should come to his conclusion GEntleman the faster you runne after me the farther you are from me therefore I woulde wishe you to take héede that in séeking to strike at my héeles you trippe not vp your owne You woulde faine with your wit cast a white vppon blacke wherein you are not vnlike vnto those that séeing their shadow very short in the Sunne thinke to forâ—h their heade with their héele and putting forth their legge are farther from it then when they stoode still In my opinion it were better to sit on the ground with little ease then to ryse and fall with great daunger Philatus being in a maze to what ende this talke should tend thought that either Camilla had made hir priuie to his loue or that she meant by suspitioÌ„ to entrap him Therefore meaning to leaue his former question and to aunswere hir speach procéeded thus Mystris Frauncis you resemble in your sayings the Painter Tamantes in whose piâ—tures there was euer more vnderstoode then painted for 〈◊〉 a glose you séeme to shadow that which in 〈◊〉 you will not shewe It cannot be my Uiolet that the faster I runne after you the farther I shoulde be from you 〈◊〉 that either you haue winges 〈◊〉 your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thornes thrust into mine The last 〈…〉 catcheth the Hare though the 〈…〉 him â— the flowe Snaile climeth the Tower at law though the swift Swallowe mount it the lastâ—st 〈…〉 the goâ—e sometimes though the lightest be néeâ—â— it â—n 〈◊〉 I had as liefe stande at the receiâ—e as at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 running rather endâ—â—re long with an 〈…〉 ble then leaue off being out of winde with a 〈…〉 Esspecially when I runne as Hippomanes 〈◊〉 with Atlanta who was last in the course bu◠〈◊〉 the crowne So that I gesse that woemen are either easie to be out stripped or writing I séeke not to trippe at you 〈◊〉 I might to hinder you and hurt my selfe for in sitting your course by striking at your 〈◊〉 héeles you woulde when I should â—raue pardon shew me a high 〈◊〉 As for my shadow I neuer goe as out â—â—â—â—â—th it but when the Sunne is at the highest for then is my shadow at the shortest so that it is not 〈◊〉 its to tâ—uâ—h my heade with my héele when it lyeâ—◠〈◊〉 vnder my héele You say it is better so fit 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 and I say he that 〈◊〉 clymbeth for 〈◊〉 of falling is like vnto him that 〈…〉 of surâ—eting If you thinke either the 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 wherein I runne that I must â—â—éedeâ— faâ—◠〈◊〉 feete so chill that I must néedes founder 〈…〉 chaunge thy courte heere-after â— but â— meane to 〈◊〉 it nowe for I had rather fal out of a low window to the ground then hang in the midde way by a bryer Frauncis who tooke no little pleasure to heare Philautus talke began to come on roundly in these tearmes IT is a signe Gentleman that your footemanshippe is better then your stomacke for whatsoeuer you say me thinketh you had rather be helde in a slip then let slippe wherein you resemble the grayehounde that séeing his game leapeth vppon him that holdeth him not running after that he is helde for or the Hawke which being cast off at a Partridge taketh a stande to prune hir fethers when she should take hir flight For it séemeth you beare good will to the game you can-not play at or will not or dare not wherein you imitate the Cat that leaueth the Mouse to follow the milkpan for I perceiue that you let the Hare goe by to hunt the Badger Philautus astonied at this speach knewe not whiche way to frame his aunswere thinking nows that she perceiued his tale to be adressed to hir though his loue wer fired on Camilla But to ridde hir of suspition though loth that Camilla shoulde conceiue any inckling he played fast and loose in this manner GEntlewoman you mistake me very much for I haue béene better taught then fedde and therefore I know howe to followe my game if it be for my gaine For were there two Hares to runne at I would endeauour not to catch the first that I followed but the last that I started yet so as the first should not scape nor the last be caught You speake contraries quoth Frauncis and you will work wonders but take héede your cunning in hunting make you not to loose both Both saide Philautus why I séeke but for one and yet of two quoth Frauncis you cannot tell which to follow one runneth so fast you will neuer catch hir the other is so at the squat you can neuer finde hir The Lady Flauia whether desirous to sléepe or loath these iestes should be too broad as Moderater
commaunding them both to silence willyng Euphues as Umper in these matters briefly to speake his minde Camilla and Surius are yet talking Frauncis and Philautus are not idle yet all attentiue to heare Euphues as wel for the expectation they had of his-wit as to knowe the drifte of their discourses who thus beganne the conclusion of all their speaches IT was a Law among the Persians that the Musition should not iudge the Painter nor any one meddle in that handie craft wherin he was not expert which maketh me meruayle good Madame that you should appoint him to be an Umper in Loue who neuer yet had skill in his lawes For although I séemed to consent by my silence before I knew the argument where-off you would dispute yet hearing nothing but reasons for loue I must either call backe my promise or call in your discourses and better it were in my opinion not to haue your reasons concluded then to haue them confuted But sure I am that neither a good excuse wil serue wher authoritie is rigorous nor a bad one be heard wher necessitie coÌ„pelleth But least I be longer in breaking a web than the spider is in wearing it your pardons obteined if I offend in sharpnesse and your patience graunted if molest in length I thus begin to conclude against you al not as one singular in his owne conceipt but to be tryed by your gentle constructions SVrius beginneth with Loue which procéedeth by beautie vnder the which hée comprehendeth all other vertues Lady Flauia moueth a question whether the méering of louers be tollerable Philautus commeth in with two braunches in his hande as though there were no more leaues of that trée asking whether constancie or secrecie be most to be required great hold ther hath bene who should proue his loue best when in my opinion ther is none good But such is the vanitie of youth that it thinketh nothing worthy either of commendation or coÌ„ference but onely loue whereoff they sow much reape lyttle wherein they spend all and gaine nothing whereby they runue into daungers before they wist and repent their desires before they would I dde not discommendè honest affection which is grounded vppon vertue as thè meane but disordinate fancie which is buylded vppon lust as an extremitie lust I must tearme that which is begun in an houre and ended in a minute the common loue in this our age where Ladies are courted for beautie not for vertue men loued for proportion in body not perfection in minde It fareth with Louers as with those that drincke of the riuer Iellus in Phrigia where-off sipping moderately is a medicine but swillyng with excesse it bréedeth madnesse Lycurgus set it downe for a law that wher men wer commonly dronken the Uines should be destroyed and I am of that minde that where youth are giuen to loue the meanes should be remoued For as the earth wherin the Mynes of siluer and golde are hidden is profitable for no other thing but mettals so the heart wherein loue is harboured receiueth no other séede but affection Louers séeke not those things which are most profitable but most pleasaunt resemblyng those that make garlands who choose the fairest flowers not the wholsomest and being once entangled with desire they alwayes haue the disease not vnlyke vnto the Goate who is neuer without an Ague then béeing once in they followe the note at the Nightingale which is fayd with continuall â—raining to sing to perish in hir swéete layes as they doe in their sugred lyues where is it possible either to eate or drinke or walke but he shal heare some question of loue insomuch that loue is become so common that ther is no artificer of so base a craft no clowne so simple no beggar so poore but either talketh of loue or liueth in loue when they neither know the meanes to come by it nor the wisdome to encrease it And what can be the cause of these louing wormes but onely Iolenesse But to set downe as a moderator the true perfection of loue not like as an enimie to talk of y e infection which is neither the part of my office nor pleasaunt to your eares this is my iudgement True vertuous loue is to be grounded vpon Time Reason Fauour and Uertue Time to make tryall not at y e first glaunce so to settle his minde as though he wer willyng to be caught when he might escape but so by obseruation and experience to buyld and augment his desires that he be not deceiued with beautie but perswaded with constancie Reason that all his doings and procéedings seeme not to flowe from a minde enflamed with lust but a heart kindeled with loue Fauour to delyght his eyes which are the first messengers of affection Uertue to allure the soule for the which all things are to bée destred The arguments of faith in a man are constancie not be remoued secrecie not to vtter securitie not to mistrust credulytie to beléeue in a woman patience to endure iealousie to suspect lyberalytie to bestow feruencie faithfulnesse one of the which braunches if either y e man want or the woman it may be a lyking betwéene them for the time but no loue to continue for euer Touching Surius his question whether loue come from the man or the woman it is manifest that it beginneth in both els can it not ende in both To the Lady Flauias demaund concerning company it is requisite they should méete and though they be hindered by diuers meanes yet is it impossible but that they will méete Philautus must thus thinke that constancie without secrecie auayleth little and secrecie with-out constancie profiteth lesse Thus haue I good Madame according to my simple skill in loue set downe my iudgement which you may at your Ladishippes pleasure correct for he that neuer tooke the oare in hande must not thinke scorne to be taught Well quoth the Lady you can say more if you lyst but either you feare to offende our eares or to bewray your owne follyes one maye easelye perceiue that you haue ben of late in the painters shop by the colours that sticke in your coate but at this time I wil vrge nothing though I suspect some-what Surius gaue Euphues thankes allowing his iudgement in the description of loue especially in this that he would haue a woman if she wer faithful to be also iealous which is as necessary to be required in them as coÌ„stancie Camilla smilyng sayde that Euphues was deceiued for he would haue said that men shold haue ben iealous and yet that had ben but superfluous for they are neuer other-wise Philautus thinking Camilla to vse that speach to gird him for that all y e night he viewed hir with a suspitious eye aunswered that iealousie in a man was to be pardoned bicause there is no difference in the looke of a louer that can distinguish a iealous eye from a louing Frauncis who thought hir parte not to be 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
to blush at the last though long time strayning courtesie who should goe ouer the stile when we had both haste I for that I knew women would rather dye than séeme to desire began first to vnfolde the extremities of my passions the causes of my loue the constancie of my faith the which she knowing to be true easely beléeued and replyed in the lyke manner which I thought not certeine not that I misdoubted hir faith but that I could not perswade my selfe of so good fortune Hauing thus made each other priuie to our wished desires I frequented more often to Camilla which caused my friendes to suspect that which now they shall finde true and this was the cause that we all méete héere that before this good companye wée might knitte that knotte with our tongues that we shal neuer vndoe with our téeth This was Surius speach vnto me which Camilla with the rest affirmed But I Euphues in whose hearte the stumpes of loue were yet sticking beganne to chaunge colour féeling as it were new stormes to arise after a pleasaunt calme but thinking with my selfe that the time was past to wooe hir that an other was to wedde I digested the Pill which had almost choakt mée But Time caused me to sing a new Tune as after thou shalt heare After much talke great théere I taking my leaue departed being willed to visit the Lady Flauia at my leasure which word was to me in stéede of a welcome With-in a while after it was noised that Surius was assured to Camilla which bread quarrells but he lyke a noble Gentleman reioycing more in his loue than estéeming the losse of his friends maugre them all was maried not in a chamber priuately as one fearing tumults but openly in the Church as one ready to aunswer any obiections This mariage solemnized could not be recalled which raused his Allyes to consent and so all parties pleased I thinke them the happiest couple in the world Now Euphues thou shalt vnderstand that all hope being cut off from obteining Camilla I began to vse the aduauntage of y e word that y e lady Flauia cast out whom I visited more like to a soiourner than a straunger being absent at no time from breakfast till euening Draffe was mine arrand but drinke I woulde my great courtesie was to excuse my grieuous torments for I ceased not continually to court my violet whom I neuer found so coy as I thought nor so courteous as I wished At the last thinking not to spend all my wooing in signes I fell to flat sayings reuealyng the bitter swéetes that I sustayned the ioye at hir presence the griefe at hir absence with all speaches that a Louer might frame she not degenerating from the wyles of a woman séemed to accuse men of inconstancie that the painted words were but winde that fayned sighes were but flights that all their loue was but to laugh laying eayghts to catch the fish that they ment agayne to throw into the Riuer practising onely cunning to deceiue not courtesie to tell truth wherin she compared all Louers to Mizaldus â—he Poet which was so lyght that euery winde would blow him away vnlesse he had lead tyed to his héeles and to the fugitiue stone in Cicyco which runneth away if it be not fastened to some post Thus would she dally a wench euer-more giuen to such disport I aunswered for my selfe as I coulde and for all men as I thought Thus oftentimes had we conference but no conclusion many méetings but few pastimes vntill at the last Surius one that coulde quicklye perceiue on which side my breade was buttered beganne to breake with moe touching Frauncis not as though he had heard any thing but as one that wold vnderstand some thing I durst not séeme straunge when I found him so courteous knowing that in this matter he might almost worke al to my lyking I vnfolded to him from time to time the whole disscourses I had with my Uiolet my earnest desire to obtaine hir my landes goods and reuenewes who hearing my tale promised to further my suite where-in hée so besturred his studie that with-in one moneth I was in passibilytie to haue hir I most wished and leaste looked for It were too too long to write an Historye béeing but determined to sende a Letter therfore I will deferre all the actions and accidents that happened vntill occasion shall serue either to méete thée or minister leasure to mee To this ende it grew that conditions drawen for the performaunce of a certeine ioynter for the which I had many Italians bound we were both made as sure as Surius and Camilla Hir dowrie was in redy money a thousand poundes and a fayre house wherein I meane shortly to dwel The ioynter I must make is foure hundred poundes yearely the which I must héere purchase in England and sell my landes in Italy Now Euphues imagine with thy selfe that Philautus beginneth to change although in one yere to marry and to thriue it be hard But would I might once againe sée thée héere vnto whome thou shalt be no lesse welcome than to thy best friend Surius that noble Gentleman commendeth him vnto thée Camilla forgetteth thée not both earnestly wishe thy retourne with great promises to doe thée good whether thou wish it in the Court or in the Countrey and this I durste sweare that if thou come agayne into Englande thou wilt be so friendlye intreated that either thou wilt altogether dwell héere or tarry héere longer The Lady Flauia saluteth thée and also my Uyolet euerye one wisheth thée so well as thou canst wishe thy selfe no better Other newes héere is none but that which lyttle apperteineth to mée and nothing to thée Two requestes I haue to make as well from Surius as my selfe the one to come into Englande the other to heare thine aunswere And thus in haste I bidde thée fare-well From London the first of February 1579. Thine or not his owne Philautus THis letter being delyuered to Euphues and well perused caused him both to meruayle and to ioye séeing all things so straungely concluded and his friend so happely contracted hauing therfore by the same meanes opportuntie to sende aunswere by the which he had pleasure to receiue newes hée dispatched his Letter in this forme ¶ Euphues to Philautus THere could nothing haue come out of England to Euphues more welcom theÌ„ thy letters vnlesse it had ben thy person which when I had throughly perused I could not at the first either beléeue them for the straungenesse or at the last for the happinesse for vppon the sodaine to heare such alterations of Surius passed all credite and to vnderstand so fortunate successe to Philautus all expectation yet considering that many things fall betwéene the cup and the lip that in one luckie houre more rare things come to passe theÌ„ some-times in seauen yeare y t marriages are made in heauen though consumated in earth I was brought both to beléeue the euents
as they that diuorced thē wrongfully Fly that vice that is peculiar to all those of thy countrey Ielousie for if thou suspect without cause it is the next way to haue cause women are to be ruled by theyr owne wits for be they chast no golde can winne them if immodest no griefe can amend them so that all mistrust is either néedelesse or bootelesse Be not too imperious ouer hir that wil make hir to hate thée not to submisse that will cause hir to disdaine thée let hir neither be thy slaue nor thy souereine for if she lye vnder thy foot she will neuer loue thée if climbe aboue thy head neuer care for thée the one will bréede thy shame to loue hir so lyttle the other thy griefe to suffer too much In gouerning thy householde vse thine owne eye and hir hand for huswifery consisteth as much in seing things as setlyng things and yet in that goe not aboue thy latchet for Cookes are not to be taught in the Kitchin nor Painters in their shoppes nor Huswiues in their houses let all the keyes hang at hir girdell but the pursse at thine so shalt thou knowe what thou dost spend and how shée can spare Breake nothing of thy stock for as the stone Thyrrenus being whole swimmeth but neuer so little diminished sinketh to the bottom so a man hauing his stock ful is euer a float but wasting of his store becommeth bankerout Enterteine such men as shall be trustie for if thou kéepe a Wolfe with-in thy dores to doe mischiefe or a Foxe to woorke craft and subtiltie thou shalt finde it as perrillous as if in thy barnes thou shouldest mainteyne Myce or in thy groundes Moles Let thy maydens be such as shall séeme readier to take paynes then follow pleasure willinger to dresse vp theyr house then their heads not so fine fingered to call for a Lute when they should vse the distaffe nor so dayntie mouthed that theyr silken throates should swallowe no packthread For thy dyette be not sumptuous nor yet simple For thy attire not costly nor yet clownish but cutting thy coate by thy cloth go no farther then shall become thy estate least thou be thought proude and so enuied nor debase not thy birth least thou be déemed poore so pitied Now thou art come to that honourable estate forget all thy former follyes and debate with thy selfe that here-tofore thou diddest but goe about the world and that nowe thou art come into it that Loue did once make thée to folow ryot that it muste now enforce thée to pursue thrifte that then there was no pleasure to bée compared to the courting of Ladyes that now there can be no delight greater then to haue a wife Commend me humbly to that noble man Surius and to his good Lady Camilla Let my duetie to the Ladie Flauia be remembred and to thy Uiolyt lette nothing that may be added be forgotten Thou wouldest haue me come againe into England I woulde but I can-not But if thou desire to sée Euphues when thou art willing to visite thine Uncle I will méete thée in the meane season know that it is as farre from Athens to England as from England to Athens Thou sayest I am much wished for that many fayre promises are made to mée Truely Philautus I know that a friende in the court is better then a penney in the purse but yet I haue heard that suche a friend cannot be gotten in the court without pence Fayre words fatte fewe great promises without performance delight for the tyme but yerke euer after I cannot but thanke Surius who wisheth me well and all those that at my béeing in England lyked me wel And so with my hartie commendations vntill I heare from thee I bid thée farewell Thine to vse if mariage chaunge not manners Euphues THis Letter dispatched Euphues gaue himselfe to solitarinesse determining to soiourne in some vncouth place vntil time might turne white salt into fine sugar for surely he was both tormented in body and grieued in minde And so I leaue him neither in Athens nor els where that I know But this order he left with his friends that if any newes came or letters that they should direct them to the Mount of Silixsedra where I leaue him eyther to his musing or Muses GEntlemen Euphues is musing in the bottome of the Mountaine Silixsedra Philautus marryed in the Isle of England two friendes parted the one liuing in the delightes of his newe wife the other in contemplation of his olde griefes What Philautus doeth they can imagine that are newly married how Euphues liueth they may gesse that are cruelly martired I commit them both to stande to their owne bargaines for if I should meddle any farther with the mariage of Philatus it might happely make him iealous if with the melancholy of Euphues it might cause him to be cholaricke so the one would take occasion to rub his head fit his hat neuer so close and the other offence to gall his heart be his case neuer so quiet I Gentlewomen am indifferent for it may be that Philautus would not haue his life knowen which he leadeth in mariage nor Euphues his loue descryed which he beginneth in solitarinesse least either the one being too kinde might be thought to doat or the other too constant might be iudged to bée madde But were the trueth knowen I am sure Gentlewomen it would be a hard question among Ladies whether Philautus were a better wooer or a husband whether Euphues were a better louer or a scholler But let the one marke the other I leaue them both to conferre at theyr nexte méeting and committe you to the Almightie FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Thomas East for 〈…〉 Cawood dwelling in Paules Churchyard 〈…〉