when Andrado gave the signal agreed on between him and Marina to let her know he waited in the street for admission She much at a loss what to do with him made a shift to signifie to him that he should stay a little We consulted together she and I and not finding any possibility to get him into the house at the door she went to the window and speaking as low as that he could but hear her acquainted him with the new obstacle that had interven'd and propos'd it to him as the best expedient she could think on to expect till all were a-bed and then to get in at a little window in the Kitchin which she would open for him Andrado to satisfie his love thought nothing too hazardous to attempt My Husband saw his Friend a-bed and upon my persuasion went in very good time to his own all the Servants did the like and Marina when she thought all out of the way set open the little window for Andrado who immediately got half way in but with so little care and so unfortunately to himself that after much striving which rather hindred than furthered his getting in he was so lock'd in about the middle between the Iron barrs of the window that he could get neither forwards nor backwards His man who stood all the while in the Street could do him no service Marina from the place she stood in as little without the help of some other person She went and got out of her Bed one of the Maids whom she was very intimate with telling her that being to receive a kindness that night from a Sweet-heart of hers one she loved very well and was shortly to be married to she had endeavour'd to get him in at the Kitchin window and that he had fasten'd himself between two Barrs so strangely that it was impossible to get him out without either filing them off or removing them out of their places She desired her to come and help her which the other was soon persuaded to but wanting a Hammer or some other Iron-tool fit for such a purpose the assistance of those two maids had done Andrado but little good if he had not himself bethought him of his Dagger which they made use of so effectually that after abundance of pains the barrs were got loose out of the wall and the bold adventurer put out of the fear he was in of being found so shamefully fasten'd in a place where to escape best he could have been look'd on no otherwise than as a Breaker of Houses This could not be done with so little noise but that some of our Servants over-heard it and thereupon were looking into the street when Andrado carrying along with him that piece of the Gâ—ate into which his Body had entred with some violence was running away as fast as he could follow'd by his man The Neighbours and our people cry'd out Thieves and it was taken for granted that it was only some Rogues that would have broken into Don Sancho's House where they perceiv'd the Grate broken Andrado in the mean time being come to his Lodging was forc'd to get the Iron grate which he had carried away about him filed off he and his man with all their striving and endeavours being not able otherwise to shift him of that troublesome girdle This third accident put him out of humour extremely as I have understood since but for my part I entertain'd it otherwise and while Marina almost frighted out of her little wits gave me the relation of it I thought I should have burst with Laughing Yet upon second thoughts could I not be less troubled than Andrado was at the ill success of our enterprises but so far were our desires from being cool'd thereby that they grew the more violent and permitted us not to delay the satisfaction thereof any longer than to the next day after this pleasant and unhappy adventure My Husband was gone into the City to compose the affairs of his Friend about the Duel and in all likelihood to have been employ'd the remainder of that day I sent Marina to Andrado's Lodging which was not far from my House She found him a-bed having not yet orecome the weariness of his night-adventure and so discourag'd at the disappointments of his love that Marina was not a little troubled to see with what indifference he entertain'd my furtherance of his desires and the little impatience he express'd to come to me though she sufficiently represented to him the opportunity which then presented it self and was not to be slighted At last after much persuasion and many remonstrances he came to me and I received him with that excess of joy and satisfaction a person absolutely at the command of her passion could be guilty of I was so blinded therewith that I observ'd not so much as Marina with what coldness he took my kindnesses though it were but too too remarkable At last the importunity of my caresses forc'd from him some discoveries of his Our mutual joy was grown to that heighth as not to be express'd otherwise than by our silence and the very thought of what we both desir'd with equal earnestness had rais'd in me a bashfulness which made me avoid the looks of Andrado and might have given him a confidence to do what he pleased with me when Marina who was gone out of the room as well to stand Sentinel without as to leave us to the privacy of our enjoyments comes in with a sudden alarm that my Husband was in the House She dragged Andrado rather dead than living into my wardrobe as being upon a sudden reflection on the precedent dangers he had so narrowly escaped at a greater loss than I was who had most reason to be frighted My Husband had some business to put his Servants upon before he came up into my chamber The time that took him up below afforded me the leisure to put my self into order while Marina was busied in emptying a great trunk to make a lodging for Andrado She had hardly lock'd it by that time my Husband was come into my Chamber who having onely kissed me at his coming in without making any stay with me went straight into my wardrobe and lighting on a Play-book there sate down and fell a reading He pitch'd upon some passage he thought pleasant and consequently would have kept him reading a long time for he was very Bookish if by the advice of Marina I had not gone into the wardrobe and obliging him to lay aside his Book brought him thence into my own Chamber My misfoâ—tune was not an end with this Don Sancho taking notice of my being melancholy and troubled in mind as indeed I had reason to be endeavour'd to put me into a better humour by the most divertive discourses he could think on He never made it so earnestly his business to please me and never displeas'd me more nor was more burthensome to me I entreated him to leave my Chamber pretending
upon my Sister or are so much as seen in the street where she lives I shall be indebted to you a mischief and will be sure to pay it notwithstanding all your caution and know you had been ere this among your acquaintances in the other World had I not too much pity and compliance for an impudent and unfortunate woman who hath repos'd this confidence in me and were not assured that the criminal designs you have laid together against my Brother's honour had not their effect I advise you therefore to change your lodging and flatter not your self with any hope you can elude my resentment if you perform not the promise I expect you should make me to do it Andrado would gladly have engag'd himself to much more He made the most unworthy submissions to him he could think on and acknowledged he ought him a life which it was in his power to have taken away from him His weakness was such as might well confine him to his bed but the cruel fear he had been in strengthned him to get up He thereupon conceiv'd an aversion for me greater than the love he had sometimes born me insomuch that it was a horrour to him but to hear me nam'd I was in the mean time in no small trouble to know what was become of him yet had not the confidence to make any enquiry after him of Don Lewis nor indeed to look with any assurance upon him I sent Marina to Andrado's lodging whither she came not long after he had got thither himself and while he was packing up his things to be gone to a lodging he had taken in another quarter of the City As soon as ever he saw her he told her that if she had any message from me she might carry it to some body else and having given her a short account of what had pass'd between him and Don Lewis he clos'd his relation with this character of me that I was the most ungrateful and most perfidious woman in the world that he look'd on me no otherwise than as one that had plotted his ruine and that I should no more think of him than as if I had never seen him With these words he dismiss'd Marina but notwithstanding the astonishment she was in at such a sharp entertainment she had the wit to follow him at a distance and to observe the place where his things were carried and by that means discover'd the new lodging he had taken The trouble it was to me to be charg'd with an act of malice I was no way guilty of and to be hated by a person I lov'd so well and for whose sake I had hazarded my life and my honour suffer'd me not to give way to all the joy which I should have conceiv'd at his being out of danger I fell into a deep melancholy which soon turned to a sickness and that being such as the Physicians could not well give any account of my husband was extremely troubled thereat To heighten my misfortune Don Lewis began to press and make his advantages of the extraordinary service he had done me incessantly importuning me to grant him that which I was content Andrado should have had and reproching me with the love I had for my Gallant when ever I represented to him the duty I ought a Husband and what he ought a Brother Thus hated by what I lov'd lov'd by what I hated depriv'd of the sight of Andrado too often troubled with that of Don Lewis and tormented with perpetual reflections on my ingratitude to the best Husband in the world who thought nothing too much to please me and was more troubled at my indisposition than I was my self when had he known the truth he might justly have taken away my life incessantly baited with the insupportable remonstrances of my conscience and rack'd between the two most contrary passions Love and Hatred I kept my bed for two months expecting death with gladness but it was Heaven's pleasure to reserve me to greater misfortunes The strength of my age much against my will overcame and dispell'd the sadness which I thought onely death could have put a period to I recover'd my health and Don Lewis renew'd his prosecutions with greater insolence than before I had given my women order and particularly Marina that they should never leave me alone with him Being enrag'd at that obstacle and wearied out with my perpetual resistances he resolv'd to obtain by the most horrid piece of treachery that ever came into the mind of a person consummately wicked what I had deni'd him with so much constancy I have already told you that between his house and ours there was a door seldom lock'd of either side Having set a night wherein he though to put his damnable design in execution and staying till all as well at our house as his were abed he comes in at the door open'd that of our house which was to the street and going to our stable let loose all the horses whereof there was a considerable number and drove them into the court whence they got into the street The noise they made soon awaken'd those who had the care of them and their bustling about the house awakened my husband He was a great lover of Horses and had no sooner heard that his own were gotten into the streets but putting on his night-gown he runs out after them very much incens'd at his Grooms and the Porter for being so careless as not to make fast the great gate Don Lewis who had hid himself in the room next my chamber and had seen my husband when he went out slipp'd down into the court some time after him and having made fast the street door and expected some little while to avoid my suspition had he come immediately upon me he came at last and laid himself down by me acting the part of my husband in every thing so well that it is not much to be wondred at if I were mistaken in him His standing so long in his shâ—rt had made him very cold so that as he came into bed Good Lord sweet-heart said I to him how cold you are How can I be otherwise repli'd he counterfeiting his voice 't is cold standing in the streets And for your horses said I are they taken My people are gone after them repli'd he And thereupon coming close to me as it were to warm himself amidst his embraces and kindnesses he had his design upon me and dishonor'd his Brother That Heaven was pleas'd to permit it might haply be that I should be a future instrument to punish so enormous a crime that my honour might be re-establish'd by my self and my innocence publickly acknowledg'd Having â—one what he came for he pretended to be much troubled about his horses he got up from me went and open'd the street door and with-drew to his own lodgings not a little elevated at the crime he had committed and hugging himself haply in the reflection of
he not inferr'd from her extraordinary affliction that he might have an unknown Rival in Spain who though at a great distance might prevent his being happy even in that Country where he was an absolute Prince Zulema thereupon gave his wife order to enquire of the Christian the particulars of her life and by what accident she came to be Slave to Amet. Zoraida was as desirous to do it as the Prince and found it no hard matter to induce the Spanish Slave to satisfie her the other not knowing how to refuse any thing to a person from whom she had receiv'd so many assurances of tenderness and friendship She told Zoraida that she would satisfie her curiosity when she pleas'd but that having onely misfortunes to acquaint her with she fear'd the account thereof would be very tedious to her You will find it otherwise replies Zoraida by the attention I shall give you and my concerns therein will satisfie you that you may safely entrust the secret thereof to a person who infinitely loves you Embracing her with these words she entreated her not to put off any longer the satisfaction she desir'd of her They were all alone and the fair Slave having wip'd off the tears which the memory of her misfortunes drew into her eyes she thus begâ—n â—he relation thereof My name is Sophia said she I am a Spaniard born at Valentia and brought up with all the care and tenderness which persons of quality such as were my Father and Mother could express towards a Daughter who was the first fruits of their marriage and soon appear'd worthy of their affection I had a Brother younger than my self by a year as lovely a child as could be seen he lov'd me as much as I lov'd him and our mutual friendship grew up to such a height that when we were not together there might be observ'd in our countenances such a sadness and disquiet as the most pleasant divertisements of persons of our age were not able to disperse Order was thereupon taken that we should not be asunder we learn'd together whatever is commonly taught children well descended of both sexes â—nd so it happen'd to the great astonishment of all that I came to be as skilful and dextrous as he in all the violent exercises of a Cavalier and he as ingenious in whatever is performed by young Gentlewomen This extraordinary kind of education took so much with a Gentleman an intimate acquaintance of my Father's that he desir'd his children might be brought up with us The business was propos'd to my Friends who approved thereof and the nearness of their houses promoted the design of both parties That Gentleman was not inferiour to my Father either as to quality or wealth He had also onely a Son and a Daughter much about my Brother's age and mine insomuch that it was not doubted but the two Houses would be united one day by a double marriage Don Carlos and Lucia so were the Brother and Sister call'd were equally amiable my Brother lov'd Lucia and she him Don Carlos lov'd me I him as much Our Parents knew it and were so far from being displeas'd thereat that had we not been too young they would then have seen us married together But the happy state of our innocent Loves was disturb'd by the death of my lovely Brother a violent Feaver snatch'd him from hence in eight days and this was the first of my misfortunes Lucia was so troubled thereat that no persuasions could keep her from embracing a Religious life I was sick to death and Don Carlos was so far given over as that his Father began to fear he should see himself without issue so great a grief did he conceive at the loss of my Brother whom he lov'd the danger I was in and his Sister's resolution Don Carlos's Father di'd soon after leaving his Son a vast estate Now was he in a condition to discover the nobleness of his nature the gallantries he invented to please me prevail'd on my vanity made his love more publick and added much to mine Don Carlos often addreâ—s'd himself to my Parents desiring them to consummate his happiness by bestowing their Daughter on him He in the mean time continu'd his extraordinary expences which my Father perceiving and considering his estate could not hold out long at that rate resolv'd we should be married He therefore put Don Carlos in hope that he should ere long be his Son-in-law at which News he discover'd such an extraordinary joy as would have persuaded me that he lov'd me above his own life though I had not been so fully assur'd of it as I was He appointed a Ball for me and invited all the Gallantry of the City to it but to his misfortune and mine there happen'd to be at it a Neapolitan Count whom some affairs of importance had brought into Spain He thought me handsome enough to fall in love with and having enquired what quality my Father was of he went and without any other ceremony demanded me of him in marriage My Father dazled at the wealth and quality of this Stranger promis'd him what he desir'd and that very day sent Don Carlos word that he might forbear all further addresses to his Daughter forbad me to receive his visits and commanded me to look on the Italian Count as the person I should be married to as soon as he weâ—e return'd from Madrid I dissembled my affliction before my Father but as soon as I was got alone Don Carlos presented himself to my imagination as the most aimable person in the world I reflected on all could be quarrel'd at in the Italian Count I conceiv'd an implacable aversion against him and I felt my self so possess'd with the love of Don Carlos that it was equally impossible for me to live without him and to be happy with his Rival My recourse was to my tears but what remedy were they in so great a misfortune While I was in this distraction Don Carlos comes into my chamber without first demanding my permission as he was wont to do He found me as it were dissolv'd into tears nor could he forbear his though he seem'd willing to conceal what lay heavy on his soul till he had discovered the true sentiments of mine He cast himself at my feet and taking me by the hands which he bedew'd with his tears I must then loose you Sophia and a stranger whom you hardly know shall be happier than I because he is somewhat richer He will be possess'd of you Sophia and you consent thereto you whom I have so infinitely lov'd you who would persuade me that you lov'd me and were promis'd me by a Father but alas an unjust Father an interess'd Father and one that hath basely recoyl'd from his word If you are continu'd he a Jewel that may be set at any price 't is onely my fidelity that can purchase you and it is upon the account of that you should be yet mine rather than
more troublesome to her Her Father Don Manuel was extremely desirous to see her disposed in marriage and she doubted not but that if the Indian Cavalier Don Juhan de Peralto being a person so well descended and so wealthy should proffer himself for a Son-in-law he would be preferr'd before all others and she more earnestly press'd by her Father to accept of him than she had been The next day after the Serenade whereof the Marquess Fabiano and Don Sancho had had their part Dorothea took occasion to confer notes with her Sister concerning Don Juhan and his courtship and told her that she could not brook the gallantries of that conceited Indian and thought it the strangest thing in the world he should make such publick demonstrations of his love to her before he had made any overtures thereof of her Father 'T is such a kind of procedure says Feliciana to her as I should never approve of and if your case were mine I should give him such an entertainment upon the first opportunity that presented it self as might immediately dash all the hopes he had conceiv'd of ever pleasing you For my own part continu'd she I could never fancy his person he has not that delicacy and insinuation of carriage which is acquirable onely at Court and the vast expences he is at here in Sevil argue not so much the nobleness of his disposition as the extravagant and salvage humour of that yet unciviliz'd part of the world whence he came It is observ'd that those parts of the world which suâ—ply us with gold and silver are most barren as to the other productions of nature so those people that inhabit them think they need no other recommendation than what they derive from the entrails of certain almost inaccessible Mountains created onely for the punishment of Slaves and Malefactors All your Servant's actions smell so strongly of the Indian that he must be allow'd some years to refine the barbarism of the Climate he hath liv'd in so long before he can be reduc'd to the civility of this wherein we have had our education If ever you grant him the favour to speak to you advise him to study the courting of a Lady after another manner then he hath been taught among the Topinambous and then you may promise to hear what he shall have to say for himself This was partly the character she gave Don Juhan de Peralto which she deliver'd with such bitterness and derision that Dorothea could do no less than wonder at it It seems the scornful young Lady had clearly forgotten that upon his first appearance at Sevil she had confess'd to her Sister that she lik'd him well enough and when ever she had occasion to speak of him she was as liberal of her commendations as she was now of her reproaches Dorothea observing her Sister so much chang'd or at least seeming to be as to the sentiments she sometimes had for the Indian Cavalier immediately imagin'd that her inclination towards him might be the greater the more earnest she seem'd to have it thought that she had not any To be more fully assur'd of it she told Feliciana that she was not displeas'd with the gallantries of Don Juhan out of any aversion she had for his person nay on the contrary observing in his countenance somewhat of the air of Don Sancho's she might prefer him before any other Cavalier about Sevil besides she doubted not but that having all the advantages of birth and fortune he would easily get her Father's consent But to what end continu'd she should I fancy to my self these imaginary pleasures I have lost Don Sancho and since it was not my fortune to be his wife I am resolv'd never to be any other man's and therefore to avoid all future addresses my onely course will be to spend the rest of my days in some Monastery Ah Sister says Feliciana though you were not fully resolv'd upon so strange a design yet could you not give me a stranger affliction than by telling me of it That I am so resolv'd Sister you may be assur'd replies Dorothea but for your part you have the less reason to be troubled at it in regard it will be to your advantage for by that means you will be the most considerable fortune about Sevil. Upon this account it was that I had a desire to see Don Juhan that I might persuade him to address that courtship to you which he vainly bestows on me after I have convinc'd him of the impossibility there is that we should ever be married together What may be the consequences of his applications to you Time onely can discover Love is full of vicissitudes and there is not so great a distance between affection and aversion but that one of them may tread on the heels of the other Nay to deal sisterly that is freely with you I am not a little troubled to find you express so much of the latter towards a person who is so far from deserving it that he might justly expect somewhat of kindness from you both as a Stranger and one that hath not run the the hazard of displeasing you by any presumptuous demonstration of his love Think what you please of my judgment in this case but this it is that I do not see any person about Sevil with whom you might he more advantageously match'd than with him I must confess I look on him rather with a certain indifference than aversion says Feliciana and when I told you that I could not fancy him it was more out of complaisance to you than any real prejudice I had against him Nay if it be so Sister replies Dorothea you are rather to acknowledge that you deal not ingenuously with me and that when you express'd the little esteem you had for Don Juhan it was clearly out of your mind that you had sometime very highly commended him to me or I am to conclude that what you have said since betrai'd not so much your own dislike of him as your fear of his being too well lik'd by me Feliciana blush'd at these last words of her Sister and was vex'd to the heart Her thoughts were in such a distraction that she spoke abundance of things which rather betrai'd her guilt then contributed ought to her vindication so that at last she was forc'd to confess that she had a more than ordinary kindness for Don Juhan Dororothea encourag'd her to continue it and promis'd to assist her all she could in the prosecution of her love Having thus brought her to acknowledge what she before but suspected she took compassion of her and forbore all further reproaches That very day Isabella who had discarded her beloved Guzman ever since the unhappy accident that had happen'd to Don Sancho receiv'd orders from her Mistress Dorothea to go to Don Juhan de Peralto deliver him the key of one of the garden doors of Don Manuel to tell him that she and her Sister would expect him
sumptuous an appartment attended onely by two Gentlewomen mask'd who spoke not at all and conducted him thence into another room more nobly furnish'd than the Hall where they left him all alone Had he been of the humour of Don Quixote he would have been transported into some extravagance befitting so great an Adventurer and he would have conceited himself at least Esplandian or Amadis but our grave Spaniard was no more troubled at it than if he had been in some Inn or Country-house of his own True it is he was much troubled for his Invisible Mistress and having his thoughts continually fixt on her he thought that room sadder than any Prison which is neveâ— accounted handsome but on the out-side He was confident they intended him no hurt who had Lodg'd him so nobly and wanted not much of being satisfy'd that the Lady who had spoken to him the day before in the Church was the Sorceress who had wrought all these enchantments He admis'd in himself the fantastick humours of Women and with what expedition they execute what they have once resolv'd and thereupon he concluded it his best course patiently to expect the period of the adventure and to continue faithful to his Mistress at the Grate what promises or menaces whatsoever might be made to him Some time after certain Officers belonging to the House all in Vizards but very richly clad came in to lay the cloath which done Supper was brought up All was very magnificent Musick and Perfumes were not wanting and our Don Carlos besides the senses of Smelling and Hearing satisfy'd also that of the Taste much beyond what I should have imagin'd the condition he was in consider'd my meaning is that he made a good Supper for as I told you he could not live on the airy entertainments of sighs and amorous imaginations I forgot to tell you that I think he wash'd his mouth before he sate down for I have heard that he had an extraordinary care of his teeth The Musick continu'd playing a good while after Supper and all having left him Don Carlos walk'd up and down the room a good while ruminating on all these enchantments or somewhat else it mâ—tters not much At last two Gentlewomen mask'd and a little Dwarf of a Page mask'd also after they had laid a rich cloath on a Side-table came to help him off with his cloaths without any previous question whether he had any mind to go to Bed or not He suffer'd them to do what they pleas'd the Gentlewomen order'd his Bed and march'd away the Page help'd him off with his boots or shooes and afterwards with his cloaths Don Carlos got into Bed and all this was done with as strict an observation of silence of all sides as if he had been in some Monastery of Carthusians He rested well enough for an amorous person the Birds of an adjoyning aviary awak'd him at the break of Day the mask'd Dwarf was ready to wait on him and brought him the finest Linnen the whitest and best perfum'd that he had ever seen 'T were too hard a task to give an account how he pass'd away the time from Morning till Noon let those who feel the gripings of a passionate love imagine it as for other people it matters not what they think The silence which had hitherto been exactly observ'd of all sides was broken at last by another mask'd Gentlewoman who came to ask him whether he would be pleas'd to see the Princess of that enchanted Palace He told her it was his desire and that she should be very welcome Not long after she comes into the room attended by four Gentlewomen very richly clad and with that lustre and attraction as if the Graces had bestow'd the whole morning in dressing her Never had our Spaniard seen a greater conjunction of Love and Majesty in one countenance than he now saw in that of this unmask'd Urganda He was so ravish'd and astonish'd together that all the Congees he made and the several postures he put himself into while he led her by the hand into an adjoyning room were little better than so many stumblings What he had thought so sumptuous in the Hall and the other room whereof I told you before were nothing in comparison of what he found in this and yet as magnificent as all things were they receiv'd some addition of lustre from the mask'd Lady who honour'd the place with her divine presence They sate down on a sumptuous Couch the most sumptuous that had ever been made since the first invention of Couches Having view'd him a while to see how he kept his countenance she at last spoke to him with a Voice as sweet as a Virginal discovering her mind in a discourse not much different from that I am now going to give you I doubt not Signor Don Carlos says she to him of your being surpris'd at what hath happen'd to you in my House since your coming into it last night but if it have not had that effect on you which I imagine to my self I have however the satisfaction of assuring you that I am no worse than my promise and convincing you by what I have already done what I am further able to do 'T is possible my Rival your Invisible Mistress may by her artifices and the good fortune of having engag'd you first be absolutely possess'd of that place in your heart which I am to dispute with her but she is no Woman that will be put off with one denial and if my fortunes which are not to be slighted and all may be had with me be too weak a motive to induce you to love me I shall yet have this self-content that I have chosen rather to run the hazard of being slighted for my imperfection than obscure my self out of subtilty or shame With those words she took off her mask and gave Don Carlos a full discovery of Heaven or if you please a small draught of it the loveliest Head in the world sustein'd by a Body of the noblest-stature he had ever admir'd in a word both together making up a person wholly divine By the fresh complexion of her countenance a Man would have guess'd her not to exceed sixteen years of age but a certain mixture of majesty and gallantry in the air of it such as young persons are not arriv'd to gave a greater assurance of her being four years elder Don Carlos stood mute a while as being unresolv'd what answer he should make her not a little incens'd against his invisible Lady who hindred him from making an absolute disposal of himself to the most beautiful person he had ever seen and at a perfect loss both as to what he should say or what he should do At last after an interiour conflict which lasted long enough to raise some doubts in the Lady of the enchanted Palace he took a firm resolution to make her a clear discovery of his soul and it prov'd such is commonly the reward
women put together You have cur'd me of one error but suffer me to groan under something else which is so much the more dangerous and hard to be cur'd by how much I take greater pleasure in my sickness and satisfie by enduring it the noblest ambition man can be capable of I have now forgot what other hyperboles he drew up together to engage the Dutchess's virtuous inclinations as also what reserves of pathetical impertinences he was forc'd to make use of for he was upon a very hot and dangerous service of Courtship Nor could I ever learn with what countenance the Dutchess entertain'd a Forlorn of Love and Gallantry so confidently brought up whether she receiv'd the amorous charge suitably to the fierceness of it or made the weaker resistance out of hope of better quarter These particulars though much desirous of it I could never have any account of and onely have it from one of the Dutchess's Gentlewomen since dead in France of the King 's Evil that the Closet-door was lock'd upon them at two of the Clock and that they were there together till Supper-time and besides what the Gentlewoman said I know my self by experience that Opportunity makes the Thief Night came on the indulgent Deity of stollen Loves but Don Pedro and the Dutchess were prejudic'd rather than oblig'd by it for out of a regard to Civility and to keep the Servants from talking whose jealousies ever magnifie things to the great prejudice of Truth a Virtue they are profess'd enemies to they call'd for lights which being brought were darkned by the two bright eyes Heaven had bestow'd on the Dutchess and which then out-vy'd the Stars with their lively sparkling Her complexion which now had doubled the hue of its native carnation appear'd brighter to Don Pedro than the Sun in a Summers day and his face too had a little touch of the violent inclining to red But as they were beholding one another with much confidence and satisfaction an alarm came to the Dutchess that the Duke her husband was come into the Court. All she could do upon so sudden notice was to dispose her much astonish'd Gallant into a Closet where she kept her perfum'd waters and having lock'd him in to cast her self on a Bed The Duke who was a man of threescore years of age at least comes into his Lady's Closet and finds her fresh as a rose upon the bush He told her that a Letter he had receiv'd from the Vice-roy had occasion'd his return sooner than he expected He was grown very hungry ordered to be brought him into the Closet what there was ready and the Dutchess though she had no great stomach to eat any thing with him while her Gallant shook or haply did something else for fear yet took a Chair and sat near the Table She was of a disposition extreamly inclin'd to make sport and so divertive as that it in a manner retriv'd her old husband into youth again so much was he pleas'd at every thing she did It was an ordinary thing between them to lay extravagant wagers and that most commonly when she had some occasion or humour to get money out of him which the simple man took great delight to loose as one that inexpressibly doted on so excellent a woman He never admir'd her so much as at this time She to heighten his admiration told him a hundred pleasant stories at which the good Duke was ready to burst with Laughing for eating with a good stomack and at the same time laughing very heartily he was two or three times so near choaking that they were forc'd to give him such thumps in the back as he would have taken very unkindly at another time but through God's mercy he got no hurt onely a crum or two miss'd their way down his throat At last the Dutchess who had a malicious humour to make sport at any thing would needs divert her self at the cost of her imprison'd Gallant She told the Duke that it seem'd a long time to her since they had laid any wager and that she would gladly lay a hundred Pistols with him upon such a match and tearms as they should agree upon The Duke told her he was at her service and expected what she would propose The Dutchess made many proposals to him which she was confident he would not accept and at last she ask'd him whether he would lay any wager that he nam'd all those things requisite about a house that were made of iron The Duke took her up though he thought the wager very extravagant and having call'd for pen ink and paper as soon as they had taken away and his Almoner said Grace for the Duke was a man of good example he writ down the names of all the Iron things he could think on But such was the Dutchess's good fortune as that he forgot to set down Keys She caus'd him divers times to read over what he had writ and having ask'd him whether he had any thing to add she folded up the paper and told him she would take time to examine it and in the interim acquaint him with an adventure had happened to her one of the most pleasant he had ever heard of I was gotten continued she presently after your departure to one of the Balconies of the Castle which look towards the Road where I had not been long ere I spy'd passing by mounted on a Mule a man of a goodly and graceful presence who by the rate of his riding seem'd to be employ'd upon some business that requir'd more than ordinary expedition I was very desirous to know what might be the occasion of his haste and thereupon sent a Page after him to bring him to me I must needs acknowledge I never saw a handsomer Man nor one more likely to make the gravest Matron or strictest Nun break their vows of chastity I ask'd him Whence he travell'd and What he was He gave me an account of himself with so much gallantry and ingenuity that he enflam'd me with a desire of more of his conversation I prevail'd with him so far as that he was willing to stay the remainder of the day in the Castle and give me a relation of his Adventures which must needs have been very remarkable and consequently very pleasant in the relation He acquitted himself answerably to my expectation and I must confess I was never better pleas'd with any story in my life and I shall not think it much to let you participate of the pleasantness of it She thereupon acquainted the Duke what had happen'd to Don Pedro at Granada Sevil and Madrid whereat the good man who made as much sport at a foolish story as any Duke within a hundred miles of him spent his spleen in such violent and immoderate Laughters as occasion'd those as well of the Dutchess as the chiefest of the Duke 's Menial Servants with whom he innocently liv'd in great intimacy and familiarity She afterwards acquainted him
had run through and all the experiences he had of mankind he deriv'd a certain confidence that he should never run the hazard of being unfortunately married either by not taking any Wife at all or marrying one so simple as knew no difference between love and aversion Amidst these reflections he arriv'd at Madrid where he found his Cousin Don Rodrigues possess'd of his Father's estate and married to his Cousin He understood from him that Violanta was married and that the fair Virginia was gone to the Indies with her Husband From Madrid he took his journey for Granada He alighted at his Aunt 's who entertain'd him with inexpressible kindness and acquainted him that Seraphina led a Saint's life in the Nunnery and that her beloved Servant was dead out of pure grief and indignation that he had not prevail'd with her to quit the holy life she had oblig'd her self to and marry him The next day he went along with his Aunt to see young Laura Seraphina's daughter she had been put into a Convent at four years of age and might then be about sixteen or seventeen He thought her beautiful as all the Angels together and withal simple beyond all the Nuns that came into the woâ—ld without wit and were taken out of it ere they got any He view'd her very seriously and wâ—s extremely taken with her beauty He oblig'd her to speak and could not but admire her simplicity and her innocence He doubted not but that he had found out what he sought and what made him have a greater inclination for Laura was that he had had a great love for Seraphina and perceiv'd her daughter to be much like her though incomparably more handsome He acquainted his Aunt that she was not his daughter and how that he had some intentions to marry her His Aunt encourag'd him in his design and acquainted Laura therewith who expressed not any either satisfaction or dissatisfaction thereat Don Pedro took order for the furnishing of his house hearkned out for such Men-servants as were in some measure remarkable for their sottishness laid out for Maids as simple as the Mistress that was to govern them and had much ado to find any He made her cloaths as rich and sumptuous as any could be had in Granada All the persons of quality about the City were at the Wedding and were no less satisfi'd with Laura's beauty than dissatisfi'd with her want of understanding The ceremonies of the wedding were over in very good time so that the new married couple were left alone Don Pedro order'd his Servants to go to their beds and having sent away his wife's maids after they had undress'd her lock'd the chamber door Having thus order'd things Don Pedro out of a transcendency of prudence which was the greatest madness in the world put in execution the most fantastick design that could fall into the imagination of a man who had all his life been accounted a person of understanding Being more fool than his wife was simple he would needs try how far he might trust her simplicity He set himself in a chair caus'd his wife to stand before him and said these words to her or others haply no less impertinent You are now my wife a happiness for which I hope I shall have cause to bless God as long as we live together Let it sink very deeply into your mind what I am going to tell you and observe it exactly as long as you live both for fear of offending God and displeasing me At all these hony'd words the innocent Laura made very low courtzies whether seasonably or not is no great matter and look'd on her Husband as timerously as a Boy newly sent to School would on an imperious Pedant Do you know continu'd Don Pedro what kind of life persons that are married do lead I know nothing of it replies Laura making a courtzie lower than any before but if you will teach it me I shall be as perfect in it as in my Ave-mary and then another courtzie Don Pedro was the most satisfi'd man in the world to find his wife much more simple than he could well have expected He drew out of a closet that was in the chamber a suit of Armour very rich and very light which he had sometime worn at a magnificent reception which the City had made for the King of Spain He put his idiot-wife into them he put on her head a little gilt Head-piece cover'd with a plume of feathers girt a short Sword to her side and having put a Lance into her hand told her that the duty of such married Women as would be accounted virtuous was to watch their Husbands while they slept arm'd all over as she then was She made him no answer but with her ordinary reverences which had not haply been at an end a good while if he had not commanded her to take two or three turns about the chamber which she did by chance with so much Majesty her natural beauty and Pallas-like accoutrements contributing much thereto that the over-subtil Granadin was in a manner out of himself for joy to see it He went to bed and Laura continu'd in the posture he had left her in till five in the morning The most prudent and most circumspect of all the Husbands that ever were at least who thought himself no less got up put on his cloaths disarm'd his wife help'd her to put off her cloaths and having dispos'd her into the bed out of which he rose kiss'd her over and over and wept out of pure joy that he had found as he thought what he look'd for He order'd her to lie a bed till it were very late and having commanded the Maids not to disturb her he went to Mass and thence about his occasions for I had forgot to tell you that he had bought an Office at Granada such as might be that of a perpetual Major or Sheriff The first night of the Nuptials was spent in the manner you heard and the Husband was such a Coxcomb as to make no better use of the second But Heaven punish'd him according to the use he made of his Talent There happen'd a business which oblig'd him all excuses laid aside to take post the same day and make all the expedition he could to Court He had no more time allow'd him than to shift himself to put on other cloaths and to take leave of his wife whom he commanded upon pain of God's displeasure and his own exactly to observe in his absence the life that married women were to lead Those who have any thing to do at Court are uncertain how long it may be ere they are dispatch'd Don Pedro thought not to have staid abroad above five or six days but his business kept him there like a Burre now sticking to one Courtier anon to another for four or five months in the mean time the simple Laura neglected not her duty spent the nights according to her Husband's order
I was while I had yet hopes to gain you and though your rigour be great enough soon to free you from a Love and Addresses which you think troublesome you have so accustomed me to suffer that it will be much better done of you to Forbear ever being alone with you said I interrupting him Upon which one of my Women coming into my chamber prevented him from making further discoveries of his insolence and me from expressing my resentment thereof as highly as the occasion requir'd and I found my self inclin'd to do I was very glad since I had not done it upon this account of my Husband and was in hope that wicked Brother would have afforded me less of his love and more of his esteem but he still continued both his prevarications before people and his importunities in private To elude his Transportations and serious Addresses I put on the greatest severity I could so far as to threaten to give his Brother notice of his behaviour towards me I made use of all the ways I could think on to make him sensible of his miscarriage I entreated I wept I promis'd to love him as a Brother but he would needs have that place in my affection which Lovers onely pretend to In fine sometimes born with sometimes sharply treated and still no less amorous than abhorr'd he would have made me the most unfortunate Woman in Spain if my conscience which could not upbraid me with any thing had not establish'd and preserv'd the tranquility of my mind But at last my vertue which had stood out the assaults of so dangerous an enemy forsook me and I became a prey to one I little thought of because I forsook it The Court came to Vailladolid and brought with it that gallantry which makes Ladies that are unaccustom'd to it entertain other thoughts than they had before There is somewhat more than ordinary pleasing in all new things our Ladies thought they saw something in the Courtiers which they observ'd not in those who amongst us went for the greatest Gallants and the Courtiers on the other side endeavour'd to please our Ladies and to insinuate into their favouâ— though they thought them little better than certain Conquests Among the Gallants that follow'd the Court in hopes of some preferment in time for their attendance a Portuguez named Andrado was much taken notice of for the sharpness of his wit the gracefulness of his person and countenance and more particularly for the greatness of his expences a charm that hâ—th a strange power upon unexperienc'd Ladies who measure the excellency of the soul by the magnificence of a man's retinue and his cloaths Wealth he had not much but Gaming brought that which was haply superfluous with others to further his Accommodations and the advantages he made of it were so considerable that he liv'd at as high a rate as the richest and most sumptuous about the Court I was so unhappy as to be thought worth his liking and when through my own vanity and his courtship I was persuaded that he was taken with something in me I thought my self the happiest woman of my quality in the world I should find it no small difficulty to express what artifices he had to force himself into a woman's affections and answerably thereto what an excessive love I had for him That Husband whom not long before I thought so kind so dear and so worthy my respects was grown in my apprehension as despicable as odious For Don-Lewis I had a greater aversion than ever nothing pleas'd me but Andrado I could love no man but him and where-ever I came and had not the sight of him I astonish'd all people with my distractions and disquiets Nor was Andrado's affection to me less violent His predominant passion of Gaming gave way to that of his Love his presents gain'd my Women his Letters and Sonnets took me infinitely and the Musick he was somewhat over-prodigal of gave all the Husbands that liv'd in my street occasion to be thinking In fine he charg'd me so home or I made such weak resistance that I was wholly at his devotion I promis'd him all he could desire insomuch that all the trouble we were at was about the place and the time My Husband was to make one at a Hunting-match which was to have kept him in the Country for several days together I sent notice of it to my dear Portuguez and we appointed the execution of our amorous designs to be the very night after my Husband 's going out of Town I was at a certain hour agreed on between us to leave the back-door of our Garden open and under pretence of passing away some part of the night there by reason of the extraordinary heat to set up a field-bed in a little wainscot Bower open of all sides and surrounded with Orang-trees and Jessemine In fine my Husband left Vailladolid in the morning but from that to night seem'd to me the longest day of my life Night came at last and my Women having set up a bed in the Garden I pretended before them an extraordinary sleepiness so that as soon as they had undress'd me I bid them go to their beds one onely excepted who was privy to my design I was hardly got into bed and the maid that stâ—id with me whose name was Marina had but lock'd that door of the Garden which came from the house and open'd the back-door when my Women came in all haste to tell me that my Husband was return'd I had but so much time as to get that door lock'd which I had caus'd to be open'd to let in Andrado My Husband came to me with his ordinary caresses and I leave it to you to imagine how I entertain'd them He told me the occasion of his so sudden return was that the Gentleman who had invited him to Hunting had been thrown by his Horse and broke a Leg and having added to that an account of what else had happened that day he commended my ingenuity in making choice of a place to avoid the inconveniencies of the heat and would needs pass away the night with me He immediately put off his cloaths and came into bed to me All I could do was to put on the best countenance I could and to smother the trouble I was in at his return and to assure him by some forc'd caresses of mine that I was not insensible of his Andrado in the mean time came according to the appointment and finding that door lock'd which he should have found open he with the assistance of his Lacquey made a shift to get over the Garden wall with hopes notwithstanding that obstacle to pass away the night with me He hath avow'd to me since that his engaging himself in so presumptuous and dangerous a design proceeded meerly from a motive of jealousie as being in a manner confident that some Rival more in my favour than himself was admitted to those enjoyments which he had been put
At certain times somewhat wâ—s brought me to eat but I so obstinately refus'd it that the barbarous Moor began to fear he had brought me away to no purpose In the interim the Vessel had pass'd the Streight and was not far from the Coast of Fez when Claudio comes into my Cabbin As soon as I perceiv'd him unhappy miscreant who hast thus betray'd me said I to him what had I done to thee that thou should'st make me the most wretched person in the world and deprive me of Don Carlos You were too much belov'd of him replies he and since I lov'd him as well as you did I have committed no great crime in endeavouring to remove a Rival as far as I could from him but if I have betray'd you Amet hath also betray'd me and I should haply be no less troubled than you are did I not find some comfort in this consideration that I am not miserable alone Prethee let me understand these riddles said I to him and know who thou art and consequently whether I have in thee a Friend or an Enemy Know then Sophia said he to me that I am of the same Sex as your self and as well as you I have also been in love with Don Carlos but if we have suffer'd by the same flame it hath not been with the same success Don Carlos hath ever lov'd you and hath ever believ'd that you lov'd him whereas on the contrary he never lov'd me nor could ever imagine that I should love him as having not known me to be what I truly was I am of Valentia as you are and my quality and fortunes are such that if Don Carlos had married me he needed not to have fear'd the reproaches made to those who under-ally themselves But the affection he had for you wholly took him up and it seems he had eyes onely for you Not but that mine did what they could to save my mouth the labour of making a shameful discovery of my weakness I went to all places where I thought to meet him I plac'd my self where he might see me and I did all things for him which he should have done for me had he lov'd me as I lov'd him I had the disposal of my self and estate as having been left an Orphan while I was yet very young and there were often propos'd to me matches equal to my condition but the hope I still cherish'd that I might at length engage Don Carlos to love me hindred me from complying with any Instead of being discourag'd by the unhappy fate of my love as any other would who as I had sufficient perfections not to be slighted I was the rather excited to the Love of Don Carlos by the difficulty I found to insinuate my self into his affections In fine to avoid the self-reproach that I should neglect any thing which might promote my design I caus'd my hair to be cut and having disguis'd my self in Man's cloaths I got my self presented to Don Carlos by an old menial Servant of my own who went under the name of my Father a poor Gentleman of the Mountains of Toledo My countenance and Meen your Lover lik'd so well that he was soon induc'd to take me into his service He knew me not again though he had seen me so many times and he was as soon satisfy'd with my ingenuity as taken with my voice and my skil in singing and playing on all those instruments on which persons of Quality may without disparagement divert themselves He soon found in me those endowments which are not commonly seen in Pages and I gave him so many demonstrations of my fidelity and discretion that he treated me rather as a Confident than a Domestick servant You know best of any whether I am to be credited in what I say You have a hundred times commended me to Don Carlos even in my presence and done many good offices but what vex'd me to the heart was that I receiv'd them from a Rival and while they made me more acceptable to Don Carlos they render'd you the more hateful to the unhappy Claudia for so I am called In the mean time the treaty of your marriage went forward my hopes backward that was concluded these were lost The Italian Count who about that time fell in love with you and whose Titles and Estate as much dazled your Father's eyes as his warp'd countenance and his imperfections gave you occasion to slight him procur'd me at least the pleasure to see you a little travers'd in your loves and my soul began to flatter it self with those fond hopes which the unfortunate are over-apt to derive from vicissitude In fine your Father preferr'd the Stranger whom you fanci'd not before Don Carlos whom you did So I saw her who caus'd my unhappiness in her turn unhappy her self and a Rival whom I hated more unfortunate than my self since I lost nothing in a man who had never been mine whereas you lost Don Carlos who was wholly yours and yet that loss how great soever it might be was haply to you a lesser misfortune than to have for your perpetual Tyrant a man whom you could not love But my prosperity or to say better my hope prov'd not long-liv'd I understood from Don Carlos that you were resolv'd to follow him and I was employ'd to set things in order to the design he had to carry you to Barcelona and thence to cross over into some part of France or Italy All the force I had had till then to endure my cross fortune left me upon this so sharp an assault it being a resolution I was the more surpriz'd with the less I had apprehended â—ny such misfortune The trouble I conceiv'd thereat cast me into a sickness and that confin'd me to my bed One day as I was bemoaning my sad destiny and that my presumption of not being overheard by any made me break forth into as loud expostulations as if I had spoken to some Confident who knew the secret of my loves I perceiv'd standing before me the Moor Amet who had heard me Having recover'd the trouble his unexpected presence had put me into head-dress'd himself to me in these words I know thee very well Claudia and that even before thou hadst disguis'd thy sex to become a Page to Don Carlos and that I never discover'd this my knowledge of thee proceeded hence that I had a design as well as thou hadst I have heard what desperate resolutions thou art ready to take thou wilt discover thy self to thy Master to be young Maid deeply in love with him and yet hopest not any from him and then thou wilt kill thy self in his presence so to deserve the regrets of him whose love thou couldst not gain Wretched Lass what will be the effect of thy own self-murther but to give Sophia a further assurance of her Don Carlos I have a better advice for thee if thou art able to to take it Deprive thy Rival of her Servant
them in any thing so much as the refusal of that pledge of their friendship Zoraida made Sophia promise that she should hear from her by the way of Tangiers Oran or some other places which the Emperour was possess'd of in Africk The Christian Ambassadour took Shipping at Salley having along with him Sophia whom we must henceforth call Don Fernand. He came to the Emperour's Army while it was yet before Tunis Our disguis'd Spanish Lady was presented to him as a Gentleman of Andalusia who had some time been a Slave to the Prince of Fez. She had no great reason to be so fond of her Life as to be afraid of engaging in the War and being now to act the part of a Cavalier she could not in honour avoid the performance of duty as other gallant Persons did whereof the Emperour's army was full She thereupon listed her self among the Volunteers miss'd no design that was undertaken and signaliz'd her self upon all occasions so as the Emperour came to hear much of the counterfeit Don Fernand. Nay such was her good Fortune that she happen'd to be near him when in the heat of an engagement wherein the disadvantage was on the Christian side he fell into an ambuscado of Moors was forsaken by his party and encompass'd by the Infidels and in all probability he had been kill'd there his Horse having already receiv'd that fate under him if our Amazon had not mounted him on hers and seconding his Valour with unexpressible efforts given the Christians time to see their error and to come into the relief of the Valiant Emperour So signal an action was not unrecompensed the Emperour bestow'd on the unknown Don Fernand a Commandery of Saint James of a vast Revenue and the Regiment of Horse of a certain Spanish Lord who had been kill'd in the last engagement He also bestow'd on him the equipage of a person of Quality and from thenceforward there was not a Person in the whole Army more highly esteem'd or more considerable than this Valiant Virago All the actions of Man were so natural to her her Countenance was so fair and made her seem so young her Valour was so admirable considering her youth and her Prudence and Conduct so remarkable that there was not any Person of quality or command in the Army but courted her Friendship It is not therefore much to be admir'd if all pleading for her but especially her noble and heroick Actions she came in a short time to be her Master's greatest Favourite About this time there came over some Recruits from Spain in those Vessels which brought over Money and Ammunition for the Army The Emperour would needs see them himself in their Arms accompany'd by the chiefest Commanders among whom was our Amazon Looking very earnestly on these Recruits she imagin'd that she had seen Don Carlos nor was she mistaken She could not be at rest all that day she sent to find him out among the new Levies but he could not be found in regard he had chang'd his name She slept not all night got up with the Sun to find out her self that dear Lover which had cost her so many tears She found him and was not known by him she being grown somewhat Taller and the sultry heat of Africk having a little chang'd the Complexion of her Countenance She pretended to take him for another of her acquaintance and ask'd him what news from Sevil and how such a person did naming the first came into her mind Don Carlos told her she had mistaken him that he had never been at Sevil and that he was of Valentia You are extremely like a person I lov'd very well says Sophia I would say Don Fernand and for that resemblance I will be your friend if you find in your self no aversion to become mine The same reason replies Don Carlos which obliges you to proffer me your friendship had already ensur'd mine to you if it be worth your acceptance You are somewhat like a person I have a long time been in love with you have her Countenance and Voice but you are not of the same Sex and certainly added he with a deep sigh you are not of her Humour Sophia could not forbear blushing at those words of Don Carlos which he took no notice of haply by reason his eyes which began to be moistened with tears could not well perceive the alterations of Sophia's countenance She was troubled and not able at the present to dissemble it she desir'd Don Carlos to come to her Tent where she would expect him and so left him after he had describ'd his Quarter and told him that he was known in the Army by the name of Don Fernand one of the At the hearing of that Don Carlos was afraid he had not render'd him the respect due to his Quality He had already heard what esteem he was in with the Emperour and that he was as much in favour with him as any about the Court He soon found out his Quarter and Tent which any one could direct him to and he was as well receiv'd by him as a simple Cavalier could expect to be by one of the chiefest Field-Officers He again imagin'd he discover'd Sophia's countenance in that of Don Fernand was more astonish'd at it than he had been before and that much more at the sound of his Voice which entred into his very Soul and there renew'd the remembrance of that person for whom of all the world he had had the greatest affection In the mean time Sophia undiscover'd by her Lover entertains him at dinner which done she commands all the Servants to with-draw and having given order that none should visit her was told a second time by that Gentleman that he was of Valentia and afterwards very patiently heard him relate what she knew as well as himself of their common adventures to the day that he intended to have carried her away Could you imagine Sir said Don Carlos to her that a Gentlewoman of such Quality who had receiv'd so many assurances of my Love and had given me as many of hers should be wanting in point of fidelity and honour should have the subtilty to smother such great failings and be so blinded in her choice as to prefer before me a young Page I had who carried her away from me the day before I should have done it But are you fully convinc'd it is so says Sophia to him All things are in the disposal of Chance which sometimes is in an humour to confound our ratiocinations by such effects as we least expect 'T is possible your Mistress may have been forc'd to that separation from you and it may be is rather unfortunate than chargeable with any miscarriage O that it were the pleasure of the Gods replies Don Carlos I could make the least question of it I should comfortably endure all the losses and misfortunes it hath caus'd me nay I should not think my self unfortunate could I but imagine that she
half dead at these words of the Vice-Roy's would have made some reply thereto but he would by no means permit him Come come hold your peace said he to him with a severe countenance and reserve your eloquence for your Judges for my part I shall not be surpriz'd therewith nor on the account of one of my menial servants raise in the Emperour an ill opinion of my integrity And therefore in the mean time added the Vice-Roy turning to the Captain of the Guard let him be secur'd he who broke prison may much rather his promise when he finds there are no other hopes of impunity than what may be had by an escapâ— Immediately Don Carlos's Sword was taken from him which rais'd a great compassion in all those who saw him encompass'd by the Guards cast down and discourag'd and having much ado to keep in his tears While the poor Gentleman was repenting himself that he had not been sufficiently distrustful of the unconstant humour of Grandees the Judges before whom he was to be tried entred the room and took their places after the Vice-roy had taken his The Italian Count who had continu'd all this time at Valentia and the Father and Mother of Sophia appear'd and produc'd their witnesses against the Prisoner who was now at such a loss that he hardly had the courage to plead for himself They shew'd him the Letters which he had sometimes written to Sophia the Neighbours were brought in and the Domesticks of Sophia's house and at last there was produc'd against him the Letter she had left in her Chamber the day he had design'd to carry her away The Prisoner brought in his Domesticks who depos'd that they had seen their Master in Bed but he might have got up after he had made them believe he was asleep For his own part he swore very liberally that he had not carried away Sophia and represented it to the Judges that it was the most improbable thing in the world that he should carry her away soon after to be separated from her but a further charge against him was that he had murther'd her and also the Page the confident of his Loves There remain'd only to pass the Sentence and no doubt it would have been that of death when the Vice-roy order'd him to approach and spoke to him in these words Unfortunate Don Carlos Thou maist well conclude after all the demonstrations of affection thou hast received from me that if I could have but suspected thee guilty of the crime laid to thy charge I should not have brought thee to Valentia There 's no way for me but to condemn thee unless I would begin the exercise of my charge by an Injustice and thou maist judge how much I am troubled at thy misfortune by the tears I shed for thee 'T were possible thy adversaries might be satisfy'd were they of a lower quality or less resolv'd upon thy destruction In a word if Sophia appears not her self to vindicate thee prepare thy self for death Don Carlos at this despairing of all safety cast himself at the Vice-roy's feet and said to him Your Highness may be pleas'd to remember that in Africk even from the first time I had the honour to be entertain'd into your service and whenever your Highness engag'd me in the tedious relation of my misfortunes I ever related them in the same manner and you might presume that in those Countries and all other places I should not have affirm'd to a Master who so highly honour'd me with his affection what I should here deny before a Judge I ever told your Highness the naked Truth as sincerely as to my God and I tell you still that I lov'd that I ador'd Sophia How say that thou ador'st her ungrateful Man says the Vice-roy to him surprising all the Assembly by his Action Yes I do adore her replies Don Carlos very much astonish'd at what the Vice-roy had spoken I promis'd to marry her continu'd he and we agreed together that I should carry her away to Barcelona But if I did effectually convey her hence if I know where she is let me be put to the most cruel death can be imagin'd I cannot avoid it but I shall dye innocently unless it may be said I have deserv'd death for loving even beyond my own Life an unconstant and perfidious creature But what is become of this perfidious Creature and thy Page cries the Vice-roy with a furious countenance Are they gone up into Heaven Are they sunk down under the Earth The Page was a Gallant replies Don Carlos she was handsome he was a Man she was a Woman Ah Traitor said the Vice-roy to him how hast thou now discover'd thy base suspitions and the little esteem thou hadst for the unfortunate Sophia Cursed be the Woman that suffers her self to be cajoll'd by the promises of Men and comes afterwards to be slighted for her credulity Neither was Sophia a Woman of ordinary virtue wicked Man nor thy Page Claudio a Man Sophia was constant to thee and thy Page was a distracted Woman in love with thee and robb'd thee of Sophia whom she betray'd as a Rival I am Sophia unworthy ungrateful Lover I am Sophia who have suffer'd unimaginable miseries for a Man that deserv'd not to be lov'd and one who thought me guilty of the greatest infamy I could fall into Sophia could say no more her Father who knew her took her into his arms Her Mother fell into a swound on the one side and Don Carlos on the other Sophia dis-engag'd her self from her Father to go to the relief of the two persons who had swounded but soon recover'd themselves while she was in suspence to whether of the two she should run Her Mother wept over her she did the like over her Mother She embrac'd with all the tenderness imaginable her dear Don Carlos who had almost fallen into another swound But with much â—do he kept upon his feet and not presuming yet to kiss Sophia's lips as he could have wish'd he reveng'd himself on her hands which hâ— kiss'd a thousand times one after another Sophia was hardly able to return all the embraces she receiv'd and all the complements that were made to her The Italian Count making his among the rest would have entertain'd her with the pretensions he had to her as having been promis'd him by her Father and Mother Don Carlos who heard him quitted one of Sophia's hands which he was then greedily kissing and drawing his Sword which had been deliver'd to him set himself into such a posture as put the whole assembly into a fright and swearing after the rate of millions made it appear that no human force should deprive him of Sophia if she her self forbad him not to think of her But she declar'd that she would never have any other Husband than her dear Don Carlos and entreated her Father and Mother to consent thereto or resolve to see her shut up in a Monastery for the
yet to learn that I should not take it kindly any man lov'd me en passant that is by the way Be you but pleased Madam said he to grant me what I desire and I promise you not to go any further than Sevil while I live There is a great deal of spirit and gallantry in what you say replies Dorothea and thence I wonder much that a person who is able to say such things hath not already made choice of a Lady on whom he might bestow his gallantries Proceeds it hence that he thinks them not worth his trouble No but rather out of a distrust of his own strength says Don Sancho Answer me precisely to what I ask you says Dorothea and confidently tell me which of our Ladies is Mistress of those charms that might force your stay at Sevil. I have already told you that it is in your power to do it if you please replies Don Sancho You never saw me says Dorothea it must needs be some one that you have seen therefore name some other Since you press so much upon me says Don Sancho to her I must acknowledge Madam that if the Lady Dorothea Monsalvo were as ingenious as you are I should account that man happy whose merit she might value and whose services she might allow of There are in Sevil many Ladies as handsome as she is nay many exceed her says Dorothea both in beauty and wit but since you are pleas'd to pitch upon her pray tell me seriously did you never hear it reported that she favour'd any one of her Gallants particularly above all the rest Finding my self at a great distance from deserving her says Don Sancho I never made it my business to enquire And why do you think you might not deserve her as well as another says Dorothea I took you to be a person of greater courage than to betray so great a distrust of your self Had you studi'd Ladies as much as I imagin'd you might have done you would have found them mighty humoursome and fantastick and that many times the first onset of a new comer makes a greater progress in their affections than several years of services rendred by those Gallants who are never out of their sight From the character you give those Ladies Madam says Don Sancho I may infer you would be loath to be included in the number and so you take an ingenious way to rid your hands of me by encouraging me to love some other Lady and I clearly see you would have but little regard for the services of a fresh Gallant to the prejudice of one to whom you had been long before engag'd though 't were out of no other reason than that you would not be thought humorous or fantastick Take heed how you entertain any such thing in your imagination replies Dorothea but rather persuade your self that I am not so easily induc'd to receive a witty complement for an assurance of a growing inclination towards me from a person who never saw me If there wants onely that to make way for the amorous inclination I have for you replies Don Sancho conceal not your self any longer from a person who though a stranger to you is already infinitely taken with your wit It 's possible you might not be so much with my countenance says the Lady Ah Madam says Don Sancho it 's impossible you should be otherwise than very beautiful when you so ingeniously acknowledge that you are not and now I am fully satisfi'd you would be rid of me either because you think me troublesome or that your heart is already taken up 'T were therefore unjust the goodness oblig'd you to bear with me thus far should be any longer press'd upon onely be pleas'd to assure your self that what I have said was not merely to pass away the time with you but to make a sincere proffer of that of my whole life to serve you To satisfie you Sir replies Dorothea that I would not have that thought lost which I have spent in discoursing with you I shall be glad ere we part to know who you are I can do no less than obey you replies he know then Madam whom I think so amiable though I have not seen that I am known by the name of Sylva that my Father is Governour of Quitto in Peru that by order from him I am come to Sevil and that I have spent most part of my Life in Flanders where I have by my Services attain'd to the highest Commands in the Army and gotten a Commandery of Saint James This is a short account of what I now am what I would be while I live it lies on you Madam to give me leave in some less publick place than this is to assure you That shall be as soon as I may conveniently do it replies Dorothea in the mean time trouble not your self to get any further knowledge of me unless you will run the hazard of never knowing me for your friend onely take this for your present satisfaction that I am a person of quality and that my face is such as will not frighten any body Don Sancho was satisfy'd and having with a low Congee taken his leave of her he thrust himself in among a great number of fine Gallants who were very seriously discoursing together There are a sort of severe Ladies who may be more particularly known by the character I shall here give of them to wit such as extremely concern themselves in the conduct and demeanour of others and are very secure as to their own who imagine themselves the onely fit Judges of what is well or ill done though there may be good wagers laid of their virtue as a thing whereof there is no great certainty and think that upon the discovery of a little brutish rudeness they mâ—y pretend to supererogation in point of Honour though the miscarriages of their greener years gave more scandal than their wrinkles will ever good example these Ladies I say who are very short-sighted in the ordinary occurrences of humane Life will take occasion to quarrel at the Author and affirm that Madam Dorothea was guilty of a great want of reserv'dness and indiscretion not onely in being so over-free to favour a person whom she onely knew by sight but also in permitting him to speak to her of Love and that if a young Gentlewoman over whom they had any power had done as much she should make no long aboad in this world But let these yet-to-be-taught Ladies learn from me that every Country hath its particular customs and that if in France England and some other parts married Women and Maids who are trusted to go any where upon the security of their own good behaviour are offended or at least should be so at any the least expression of Love in Spain where they are kept in as Nuns they take it not amiss that any one should tell them they love them though the person that should tell them so had not any
troubled at what Don Manuel had said to him and so he had no other answer to make him than that his mâ—n should go and stay for him at his Lodging By this discourse and some others Don Manuel found him to be that young Gentleman lately come from the Indies who was so much talk'd of about Sevil and being sufficiently inform'd as to his quality and estate resolv'd he should not go out of the House ere he had married that Daughter of his to whom he had ever so little address'd himself He spent some further time in discourse with him to be more fully satisfy'd as to some doubts which then burthen'd his mind Isabella stood all the while at the door and over-heard them and gave an account of all to her Mistresses Don Manuel had a glimpse of her and imagin'd she was come with some message to Don Juhan from one of his Daughters He left him to run after her just as the Wax-light which was in the room being at an end went out of it self While the Old man is groping to find out Isabella she acquaints Dorothea and Feliciana that Don Sancho was in their Father's chamber and that she had seen them talking together The two Sisters ran thither upon her word Dorothea being not afraid to find her dear Don Sancho with her Father resolv'd as she was to acknowledge that she lov'd him and that she had been lov'd by him and withall to tell him upon what motives she had appointed Don Juhan to come thither that night She therefore goes into the room which was without any light and having met with Don Juhan just as he was coming out she took him for Don Sancho and having him fast by the arm she thus expostulated with him Why dost thou avoid me tygre-hearted Don Sancho and why wouldst thou not what answer I should make to the undeserv'd reproaches thou hast made me I must confess thou could'st not bethink thy self of any too great for me if I were as guilty as thou hast some grounds to imagine but thou art not to learn that there are some false things which have many times more likelihood of truth than truth it self and that this latter is ever discover'd by time Allow me but so much as may shew thee that which will recover thee out of the confusion in which thy own misfortune and mine and haply that of divers others hath involv'd us both Assist me to vindicate my self and run not the hazard of being unjust by an over-hastiness to condemn me before thou hast found me really guilty 'T is possible thou maist have heard that a certain Gentleman loves me but hast thou heard that I made any return to his love Thou maist have met him here for it is true that his coming hither was by my appointment but when thou shalt understand what design I had in it I am confident thou wilt have a cruel remorse that thou should'st injure me while I give the greatest assurance of fidelity I could O that this importunate and troublesome Servant of mine were here before thee thou shouldst find by the treatment I gave him whether he ever had any ground to affirm that I lov'd him nay whether he could ever so much as tell me that he lov'd me or that I ever vouchsaf'd even the reading of any Letter that came from him But that misfortune of mine which always procur'd me the sight of him when it should prejudice me will not permit me to see him when he might help to undeceive thee Don Juhan had the patience to suffer Dorothea to speak without offering to interrupt her that he might learn somewhat more than she had yet discover'd to him But perceiving she had given over and expected some return from him he was going to give her a sharp answer when Don Sancho who was looking for the way into the Garden and heard Dorothea speaking to Don Juhan comes up close to her making the least noise he could yet not so as but that he was perceiv'd by Don Juhan and the two Sisters They had not the time to speak one to another ere Don Manuel comes into the room with a Light which some of his Servants carried before him The two Rival-Brothers look'd one on the other and were observ'd to be in a posture ready to fall one upon the other as having their hands on the hilts of their Swords Don Manuel steps in between them and commanded his Daughter to make choice of one of them for her Husband that he might fight with the other Don Juhan told him that for his part he was ready to quit all manner of pretensions if he might have any and submitted himself to the Cavalier he saw before him Don Sancho said the same thing with this addition that since Don Juhan had been brought into Don Manuel's house by one of his Daughters it was probable they had a mutual affection one for the other and that for his part he would rather dye a thousand times than enter into the state of Matrimony with the least scruple Dorothea cast her self at her Father's feet beseeching him to give her audience and he should know how all things stood She related to him all that past between her and Don Sancho de Sylva before he had in her quarrel kill'd Don Diego She acquainted him that Don Juhan de Peralto fell afterwards in love with her as also with the design she had engag'd her self in to undeceive him and to advise him to demand her Sister in marriage and at last concluded her discourse with this protestation that if she could not satisfie Don Sancho her innocency and the continuance of her affection to him she would that very day enter into a Monastery whence no persuasions in the world should ever get her out again Don Sancho was soon satisfy'd with the account Dorothea had given of her fidelity towards him and immediately demanded her in marriage of Don Manuel By some passages of her discourse concerning Don Juhan particularly by the time of his first appearance at Sevil the place whence he came in the Indies and the Relations he had there the two Rival-Brothers came to know one the other Don Juhan finding also by some circumstances of Dorothea's discourse the affection which her Sister Feliciana had for him humbly address'd himself to her assuring her that if she still persisted in the same sentiments he should think himself the happiest man in the world He thereupon demanded her in marriage of Don Manuel who receiv'd them both for his Sons-in-law with a satisfaction that cannot well be express'd As soon as it was day Don Sancho sent for the Marquess Fabiano who came to participate of his friend's joy after he had spent the night in distracted thoughts what should have become of him The whole business was kept secret till Don Manuel and the Marquess had dispos'd a Cousin of Don Diego to whom his Estate upon the other's Death had faln to
of sincerity one of the noblest and most advantageous actions he ever did But you expect his answer Many persons who have heard of it have been of opinion he might have done better and declar'd his mind a little more smartly when he had once resolv'd which game he would be at But I am onely his Secretary and think my self concern'd in point of conscience to lay down the very words he deliver'd which were these as near as I can remember I must acknowledge Madam said he that it would have been too great a happiness to please such a person as you are could I have been but so happy as that I might have lov'd you I am sufficiently sensible that I refuse the most beautiful person in the world to court another who possibly may be such onely in my imagination But Madam would you think me worthy your affection if you thought me capable of an unfaithfulness towards a person whom I had promis'd constancy And is it consistent mith my constancy that I should address my affection to you But why do I say mine when I have not had any to dispose since the engagement of fidelity I made to that Mistress who is yet pleas'd to be invisible to me You are therefore Madam not so much to blame me as bewail my misfortune or rather let us jointly bemoan our selves you because you cannot obtain your desires and I that I cannot see what I love He deliver'd this with so sad an accent that the Lady might easily observe he made a sincere discovery of his thoughts She omitted nothing which she conceiv'd might persuade him to fall off from his former love he was deaf to all her entreaties nay was little mov'd at her tears though the greatest Rhetorick a Woman can use She renew'd the charge several times he as obstinately kept his ground At last she fell to bitter railings and reproaches and having vented on him all the injurious expressions that could proceed from exasperated rage and that a woman's she left him not so much to consider what he had to do as to curse his misfortune A Gentlewoman came in a while after to tell him that if he pleas'd he might take a turn or two in the Garden He went not meeting with any body in his way till he came to the bottom of the stairs where he found ten men with vizards on who waited at the door arm'd with Partizans and Carbines As he pass'd through the Court to go towards the Garden which was in all things answerable to the Palace one of those men who stood Centrie at the gate comes up to him and whispers him in the ear as if he had been much afraid to be over-heard That he had receiv'd from an antient Gentleman a Letter directed to him and that he had promis'd the delivery of it into his own hands though it might hazard his life if it were discover'd but a present of twenty pieces and a promise of a like summe afterwards had prevail'd with him to venture the doing of that dangerous kindness Don Carlos promis'd secresie and made all the haste he could into the Garden to read what he had receiv'd from him THE LETTER Signor Don Carlos YOu may easily imagine what trouble I have been in ever since I lost you by that you are in your self if so your love be as violent as mine My affliction was not capable of any abatement till I had discover'd the place where you are and that 's the onely comfort I have The Lady who contriv'd your surprize and carrying away from the place where we thought our selves secure from such ambushes is the Princess Porcia To satisfie her own humour she slights all other considerations and you are not the first Reynaldo that hath fall'n into the hands of that dangerous Armida But I shall break all her enchantments and it shall not be long ere I force you out of her embraces into my own a happiness you will deserve if you are as constant as I wish you should be to Your invisible Mistress Don Carlos was ravish'd to receive this account of his Lady for whom he had a real and violent affection He kiss'd the Letter till he grew weary of that divertisement and return'd to the gate to find out him from whom he had receiv'd it and to require his kindness with a rich Diamond-ring off his finger He walk'd a good while longer in the Garden wondring extremely at the strange humour of that Princess Porcia of whom he had heard much as of a young Lady of a very great fortune and descended of one of the noblest Houses in the Kingdom and being a person of great vertue he conceiv'd such an aversion for her that he resolv'd though with the hazard of his life to do all he could to get out of that restraint wherein she kept him As he was coming out of the Garden he met with a young Gentlewoman unmask'd for upon the Ladie 's discovery of her self orders were given there should be no more masks seen about the Palace who ask'd him whether he would be pleas'd to admit of her Ladie 's company to dine with him that day I leave you to judge whether he return'd She should be welcome or With all his heart or That it was an honour he could not have aspir'd to Soon after dinner was brought in the Princess appear'd fairer than the Day and her conversation took the amorous Spaniard so highly that it bred in him a secret trouble to see in a person of so great quality such excellent endowments so strangely misemploi'd He endeavour'd all he could to put himself into a pleasant humour though his thoughts were continually fix'd on his unknown Mistress whom he was impatiently desirous to meet with once more at the grate As soon as they had taken away and all the attendants had quitted the room the Lady assaulted his constancy one more in these words I know not Signor Don Carlos said she whether I may from the chearfulness which me-thinks I have observ'd in your countenance derive any hope of some change in your mind or presume that my face and carriage have at least rais'd in you a doubtfulness whether the invisible Beauty you so much dote on be more capable to force your love than I am I have not disguis'd what I would have bestow'd on you because I was not willing you should repent your having receiv'd it and though a person accustomed to receive Petitions may easily be offended at a denial yet I shall forget all resentment of that which I have receiv'd from you on condition you repair it by your future compliance in giving me what I conceive my self more worthy of than the invisible and inaccessible object of your adorations Let me therefore know your final resolution that if it prove not to my advantage I may endeavour to find a counter-battery of reasons strong enough to beat down those which I think I have had to love
you that I may no longer pursue a vain hope which will deceive me at last Don Carlos paus'd a while to see whether she would have gone on with the discourse but perceiving she had given over and that with her eyes fasten'd on the ground she expected the sentence he was to pronounce he persisted in the resolution he had taken to deal freely with her and put her out of all hope that he could ever be her Servant and so made her this cold and comfortless Answer Madam before I satisfie you as to what you are so desirous to know I am to beg a real discovery of your sentiments concerning what I shall propose to you with the same freedom and sinceritie as you expect I should observe towards you If your self had oblig'd a person to offer up his affections to you and by all the endearing favours which a Ladie may grant without injurie or prejudice to her virtue you had engag'd this person to swear and vow an inviolable constancy to you would you not account him the basest and unworthiest of men if he should not perform the promise he had made you And should not I be this verie base and and unworthie person if though to obtain one so infinitelie deserving as you are I should forsake a woman who hath some grounds to presume that I love her He would have proceeded with this and other formal arguments to satisfie her but she gave him not the time I have enough said she I perceive what your Answer will amount to and cannot forbear admiring your constancie though it be so much contrarie to my satisfaction I shall importune you no further to a change of the resolution you have taken you shall be deliver'd out of your restraint onelie this kindness I shall press you to that you remain here till night to be remov'd hence in the same manner as you were brought hither assuring my self that if you ever come to discover where you have been you will be so generous as to conceal the design I had upon you and be moderate in the triumph of your fidelity She held a handkerchief before her eyes while she spoke those last words as it were to keep her tears from being seen by the Spaniard who if on the one side troubled at what she had said was on the other so transported with joy at the recovery of his liberty that he could not have conceal'd it though he had been the greatest hypocrite in the world and 't is to be imagin'd that if the Lady had observ'd he could not have avoided her reproaches I know not whether he thought it long ere night came for as I told you before I trouble not my self much about the precise observance of times and hours you may be assur'd it came and that being dispos'd into a Coach he was brought back to his own lodgings attended by the same persons who had waited on him the night before Being one of the kindest Masters in the world his Servants were over-joy'd to see him again but they enjoy'd him not long He put on armour and accompani'd by two of them whose courage he had former experience of he made all the haste he could to the Grate nay his haste was such that those who attended him had much ado to follow him He had no sooner made the accustom'd signal but the invisible Deitie answer'd him They had a long discourse and that so full of affectionate tenderness on both sides that I never think on it without tears At last she told him that having receiv'd some affront in the house where she then was she had sent for her Coach to remove thence but in regard it would be long ere it came and that his might be sooner got ready she entreated him to send for it to conduct her to a place where he should not any longer complain of her invisibility The amorous Gallant staid not for a longer entreaty he ran to his Servants whom he had left at the end of the street and sent them for his Coach which being come the invisible Lady kept her promise and went along with him into it She gave the Coach-man directions which way he should go and bid him stop at a great house into which he drove by the light of many torches which met them at the gate Don Carlos conducted the Lady as she directed him up a large pair of stairs into a spatious Hall where he continu'd somewhat troubled to find her still mask'd At last several Gentlewomen richly apparrell'd coming to receive them every one with a great wax candle in her hand the invisible Lady discover'd her self and taking off her mask satisfi'd Don Carlos that the Lady at the grate and the Princess Porcia were but one and the same person It were no easie matter for me to tell you how strangely the Spaniard was surpriz'd The beautiful Neapolitan told him that she had brought him away a second time to know his final resolution that what pretensions soever the Lady at the grate had to him were now become hers with a thousand other things highly amorous and witty Don Carlos cast himself at her feet embrac'd her knees and kiss'd her hands and so avoided the uttering of many impertinences which people overjoy'd are apt to be guilty of When these first transportations were over he rallied together all his wit and gallantry to celebrate the pleasant humour of his Mistress and acquitted himself in expressions so advantageous to her that she was further assur'd of her not being mistaken in her choice She told him that she was unwilling to trust any but her self in a trial without which she could never have lov'd him and that she would never have been any man's less constant than he had shewn himself Upon this the Relations of the Princess Porcia being acquainted with her design came in to them She being one of the most considerable persons in the Kingdom and Don Carlos of great quality it prov'd no hard matter to get a Dispensation from the Arch-bishop for their marriage They were married that very night by the Parson of the Parish who being an eminent Preacher 't is likely there wanted not a very good Exhortation Some reported that it was very late ere they were stirring the next day which I am apt enough to believe The News was soon divulg'd whereat the Vice-Roy who was nearly related to Don Carlos was so glad that the publick divertisements began afresh in Naples where they still talk of the Loves of Don Carlos and his INVISIBLE MISTRESS SCARRON's NOVELS The Chastisement of Avarice The Seventh Novel NOT many years since a young Lad poor to the very lowest degree of poverty yet of an ambition exceeding it and infinitely more desirous to be thought a Gentleman than to be accounted either a rational Creature or a Christian came along with his Father out of the Mountains of Navarr with a resolution whether guided by instinct or encourag'd by
the sound of the Gitthar with their Castagnets The discreet Gamara whisper'd Dom Marcos in the ear that the Lady Isidora went to bed betimes The civil Gentleman staid not for a second advertisement and thereupon addressing himself to Isidora with such extraordinary complements and so great protestations of love and service as he had never made to any before he took leave both of her and her Nephew Signor Augustinetto leaving them at liberty to say what they thought of him Dom Marcos being thus deeply fallen in love with Isidora but much more with her mony acknowledg'd to Gamara who accompani'd him to his own lodging that the beautiful Widow had smitten him in the more amorous part of his soul and that he would have parted with a finger on condition he were already marri'd to her inasmuch as he had never met with any woman that pleas'd his fancy better than she did telling him withall that after their marriage she should not live at such an extravagant rate She lives rather like a Princess than the wife of a private person says the cautious Dom Marcos to the dissembling companion Gamara and considers not that the houshold-stuff and plate she hath being turn'd into mony and that mony added to that which I have might bring in a considerable yearly rent which we may lay up for a reserve and by the industry it hath pleas'd God to bestow on me raise a plentiful estate and fortunes for the children we may have between us But if Heaven shall think fit that we have no issue since Isidora hath a hopeful Nephew we will settle all we shall gather together upon him provided he answer the expectation I have of his well-doing Dom Marcos entertain'd Gamara with these discourses or others to the same effect walking still on till he found himself just at the door of his lodging Gamara took his leave of him after he had promised that the next day he would conclude his marriage with Isidora and given him this reason for his expedition therein That affairs of that nature many times miscarried as much by delay as by the death of either of the parties Dom Marcos kindly embrac'd the dear carrier on of his designs and dismiss'd him He went immediately back to Isidora to give her an account in what posture he had left her humble Servant and in the mean time our amorous Gentleman taking out of his pocket the end of a wax-candle he fasten'd it to the point of his sword and having lighted it at a lamp which burn'd before a publick Crucifix in a place hard by not without making a kind of ejaculatory prayer for the good success of his marriage he open'd with a Mistress-key the door of the house where he lay and laid himself down in his wretched bed rather to pass away the night in reflecting on his Loves than in sleeping The next morning Gamara comes to him and acquainted him with the good news of the conclusion of his marrirge with Isidora who referred it to Dom Marcos to appoint the day on which it should be solemnized The amorous Miser told Gamara that though he were married that very day yet would it not be as soon as he wish'd it Gamara repli'd that it depended wholly on himself to consummate his own happiness whereupon Dom Marcos embracing him desir'd the contract might be drawn up that very day He appointed Gamara to meet him in the afternoon as soon as he pleas'd after he had waited on his Master at dinner They both punctually met at the time and place appointed They went to Isidora's house where Dom Marcos was more nobly entertain'd than he had been the time before Marcella sung Inez danc'd Augustinetto plai'd on the Gitthar and Isidora the principal Actress gave her future husband an extraordinary Treatment whereof she knew who should defray the charge at last He devour'd all was presented to him with as little remorse as a Wolf half-starv'd and yet he could not forbear censuring the superfluity of the expence in his soul Gamara was sent for a publick Notary he brought one to act that part The Articles of the Treaty of Marriage were soon set down and as soon signed on both sides There was a motion made to Dom Marcos that he would play a game at Primero to pass away the time Heaven and all the Inhabitants of it forbid says Dom Marcos I play at any kind of game No no I serve a Master who would turn me out of his service within a quarter of an hour if he should ever hear that I were a Gamester and for my own part I am not so well skill'd as to know the Cards How infinitely am I pleas'd with what Signor Dom Marcos hath said replies Isidora I am every day preaching the same thing to my Nephew Augustinetto but the world is come to that pass now that the younger sort think themselves too wise to receive the good counsels and admonitions of their elders much more to follow them Go thy ways unhappy boy says she to Augustinetto go bid Marcella and Inez make an end of their dinner and come and divert the company with their Castagnets While Augustinetto was gone down to call up the Maids Dom Marcos addressing himself to Isidora acquainted her with his mind in these terms If Augustinetto will do as I would have him there are two things he must abstain from as the most contrary to my nature of any thing in the world and that is Gaming and being abroad late in the night I am desirous that all those who lie within my doors should be in their beds betimes and that as soon as it is dark the house-doors should be well bolted and lock'd Not that I am of a distrustful humour nay on the contrary I do not think any thing more impertinent than to be so especially when a man hath an honest and careful wife as I am more than in hopes to have but those houses where there is any thing to be taken can never be too secure from Thieves and House-breakers for if there be but a sink-hole left open they will make a shift to get in and for my part it would break my heart if some idle rascal of a Thief without taking any other pains than what it coâ—â—s him to carry away what he finds should in an instant convey away what I had much ado â—o get together in many years For these rrasons therefore continues Dom Marcos I will absolutely forbid him Gaming and Night-walking or resign him up to be dealt with according to the discretion of the Devil for Dom Marcos shall be no longer his Tutor The cholerick Signor spoke these last words with so much transportation that it cost Isidora a great many intreaties and submissions to lay his great spirit and reduce him to his ordinary tranquility She did as good as fall on her knees to desire Dom Marcos that he would be no longer angry assuring him that her
to observe the good custom which most Servants have to be very apt to lie and to tell of their Masters as well what they do not as whâ—t they do know She concluded her vindication with a promise that all things should â—e return'd him when he least expected it exhorting him in the meâ—n time to exercise his patience You speak very well says Dom Marcos to hâ—r but I think it as likely that I shall never see aâ—y thiâ—g again there being but little probability that the perfidious Quean who hath carried away all I have been gathering together these thirty years should ere come back again to make me any restitution He thereupon told Marcella all that had happen'd at Isidora's lodgings since her departure thence Is it possible she should be at such a loss of all conscience says the leud Marcella to him Ah! my dear Master now I perceive it was not without just grounds that I pitied your condition but I durst not tell you so much for the very night your tâ—ings were carried away I was representing it my Mistâ—ess that it would be unworthily done to meddle with your chain but what bitter words and blows it cost my poor carcase he above onely knows I have told thee but the truth how all things stand says Dom Marcos to her fetching a deep sigh and the worst of it is that I have not the least apprehension of any remedy I have then somewhat to propose to you in this extremity repli'd Marcella There is a certain person in this City of my acquaintance who with God's permission will tell you where you may find these people who have so highly injur'd you He is a person admirable for his deep learning and one that hath Legions of Devils at his devotion and commâ—nds them with such an absolute power as if he were the Prince of darkness himself And what makes moâ—e for the attainment of your desires you are to know that this excellent man hath so great a kindness for me that I am in hopes ere long to be his wife The credulous Dom Marcos entreated her of all love that she would bring him to the sight of this miracle of the Black Art which Marcella promis'd she would do and appointed him to meet her the next day at the same place Dom Marcos came and had not been there long ere Marcella came also who immediately told the besotted man that the Magician of whom she had spoken to him the day before had already taken some pains in order to the finding out of what had been stollen from him and that to carry on his work he wanted onely a certain quantity of Amber Musk and some other Perfumes to entertain the Spirits he was to invoke who were all of the first order and of the best Houses in Hell Dom Marcos without any deliberation carri'd Marcella to the Drugsters and bought what quantities thereof she appointed him so infinitely did he think himself oblig'd to her that she had found him out a Magician She afterwards conducted him to an obscure house which look'd very suspitiously where in a ground-room or rather a Cellar wretchedly matted about he was receiv'd by a man in a long Cassock with a huge bushy beard who spoke to him with a great deal of gravity After a little discourse the Student of the infernal Sciences whom Dom Marcos look'd on with abundance of respect and fear lighted two black wax-candles and gave them the frighten'd fellow to hold in each hand one caus'd him to sit down in a very low chair and exhorted him but too late not to fear any thing He put afterwards several questions to him as to his age course of lâ—fe and the goods which had been taken away from him and after he had look'd into a Glâ—ss that stood by and read some time in a certain book he told Dom Marcos who was ready to for fear that he had found out where the things were and thereupon describ'd them one after another so exactly according to the instructions he had receiv'd from Marcella that Dom Marcos let the candles fall out of his hands to go and embrace him about the neck The grave Magician blam'd him very much for his impatience and told him that the operations of his infallible Art requir'd a serious and reserv'd composure of the body adding withal that for actions of a lower degree of confidence familiarity the Spirits had sometimes beaten nay strangled some men Dom Marcos grew pale at those words and setled himself again in his chair after he had taken up the candles The Magician ask'd for the perfumes which Dom Marcos had bought and the counterfeit Marcella deliver'd them to him Till then she had been a deâ—out spectator of the Ceremonies but being now upon the point of Invocation he order'd her to quit the room pretending that the Spirits could not endure the company of woman-kind especially if there were any mistrust of the dilapidation of tâ—eir Virginity Marcella making a low curtzy went out of the room and the Magician taking a copper chaffing-dish full of coals made as if he câ—st on them the perfumes which Dom Marcos had brought but he had mix'd among them a good quantity of stinking sulphur which made such a thick smoâ—k that the Magician himself who had unadvâ—sâ—dly bow'd down his head too near the coâ—ls was almost choak'd by it He cough'd as violâ—nâ—ly as if he had had a burr in his throat and so oâ—ten that his bushy beard which was not of the growth of the Country where it was then planted and it seems had not been well fasten'd fell down and discover'd the Magician to be the same pernicious Gamara who had trapann'd him into all his misfortunes Upon this discovery Dom Marcos made no difficulty to fling away his magical candles and to take the Impostor by the throat which he grasp'd as hard as he could crying out with a dreadful voice Thieves Thieves The Magistrate attended by some Officers chanc'd to pass by just at that time They came into the house where they imagin'd the noise was made which was the greater in regard Gamara whom Dom Marcos still had by the throat cri'd out as loud as the other The Officers at their entrance into the house met with Marcella whom they secur'd and afterwards having broke open the door of the Necromantical chamber they found Dom Marcos and Gamara grapled together and tumbling up and down the floor The Magistrate knew Gamara for a person he had look'd after a long time and one he had order to apprehend as a notorious Night-walker a Pandar and a searcher of other mens houses without any Commission He commanded them all three to prison and caus'd an inventory to be taken of all things found in the room Dom Marcos was set at liberty the next day upon his Master's engagement for him He was brought in as a witness against Gamara and Marcella who were found guilty of