profess but I am sure 't is not good to tempt it I think I am sure and I think my Lycidas just But oh to what purpose is all this fooling You have often wisely considered it but I never stay'd to think till 't was too late and whatever Resolutions I make in the absence of my lovely Friend one single sight turns me all Woman and all his Take notice then my Lycidas I will henceforth never be wise more never make any Vows against my Inclinations or the little wing'd Deity I do not only see 't is all in vain but I really believe they serve only to augment my Passion I own I have neither the Coldness of Lycidas nor the Prudence I cannot either not Love or have a Thousand Arts of hiding it I have no Body to fear and therefore may have some Body to Love But if you are destin'd to be he the Lord have mercy on me for I am sure you 'll have none I expect a Reprimand for this plain Confession but I must justifie it and I will because I cannot help it I was born to Ill Luck and this Loss of my Heart is possibly not the least part on 't Do not let me see you disapprove it I may one Day grow asham'd on 't and reclaim but never whilst you blow the Flame tho' perhaps against your Will I expect now a very wise Answer and I believe with abundance of Discretion you will caution me to avoid this Danger that threatens Do so if you have a mind to make me launch farther into the main Sea of Love Rather deal with me as with a right Woman make me believe my self infinitely belov'd I may chance from the natural Inconstancy of my Sex to be as false as you wou'd wish and leave you in quiet For as I am satisfi'd I love in vain and without return I 'm satisfi'd that nothing but the thing that hates me cou'd treat me as Lycidas do's and 't is only the vanity of being belov'd by me can make you countenance a softness so displeasing to you How cou'd any thing but the Man that hates me entertain me so unkindly witness your excellent Opinion of me of loving others witness your passing by the end of the Street where I live and squandring away your time at any Coffee-House rather than allow me what you know in your Soul is the greatest Blessing of my Life your dear dull melancholy Company I call it dull because you can never be gay or merry where Astrea is How cou'd this Indifference possess you when your malicious Soul knew I was languishing for you I dy'd I fainted and pin'd for an Hour of what you lavish'd out regardless of me and without so much as thinking on me What can you say that Judgment may not pass that you may not be condemn'd for the worst-natur'd incorrigible Thing in the World Yield and at least say My honest Friend Astrea I neither do love thee nor can nor ever will at least let me say you were generous and told me plain blunt Truth I know it nay worse you impudently but truly told me your Business wou'd permit you to come every Night but your Inclinations wou'd not At least this was honest but very unkind and not over civil Do not you my Amiable Lycidas know I wou'd purchase your sight at any Rate Why this Neglect then Why keeping distance But as much as to say Astrea truly you will make me love you you will make me fond of you you will please and delight me with your Conversation and I am a Fellow that do not desire to be pleas'd therefore be not so civil to me for I do not desire civil Company nor Company that diverts me A pretty Speech this and yet if I do obey desist being civil and behave my self very rudely as I have done you say these two or three Days then Oh Astrea where is your Profession where your Love so boasted your Good-nature c. Why truly my dear Lycidas where it was and ever will be so long as you have invincible Charms and shew your Eyes and look so dearly tho' you may by your prudent Counsel and your wise Conduct of Absence and marching by my Door without calling in oblige me to stay my Hand and hold my Tongue I can conceal my Kindness tho' not dissemble one I can make you think I am wise if I list but when I tell you I have Friendship Love and Esteem for you you may pawn your Soul upon 't Believe 't is true and satisfie your self you have my dear Lycidas in your Astrea all she professes I shou'd be glad to see you as soon as possible you say Thursday you can I beg you will and shall with Impatience expect you betimes Fail me not as you wou'd have me think you have any Value for Astrea I beg you will not fail to let me hear from you to Day being Wednesday and see you at Night if you can Here I must draw to an End for tho' considerable Trusts were repos'd in her yet they were of that Import that I must not presume here to insert 'em But shall conclude with her Death occasion'd by an unskilful Physician about March or April 1686. and was buried in the Cloysters of Westminster-Abby cover'd only with a plain Marble-stone with two wretched Verses on it made as I 'm inform'd by a very ingenious Gentleman tho' no Poet the very Person whom the Envious of our Sex and the Malicious of the other wou'd needs have the Author of most of hers which to my Knowledge were her own Product without the Assistance of any thing but Nature which shews it self indeed without the Embarrassments of Art in e'ry thing she has writ She was of a generous and open Temper something passionate very serviceable to her Friends in all that was in her Power and cou'd sooner forgive an Injury than do one She had Wit Honour Good-humour and Judgment She was Mistress of all the pleasing Arts of Conversation but us'd 'em not to any but those who lov'd Plain-dealing She was a Woman of Sense and by Consequence a Lover of Pleasure as indeed all both Men and Women are but only some wou'd be thought to be above the Conditions of Humanity and place their chief Pleasure in a proud vain Hypocrisie For my part I knew her intimately and never saw ought unbecoming the just Modesty of our Sex tho' more gay and free than the Folly of the precise will allow She was I 'm satisfy'd a greater Honour to our Sex than all the canting Tribe of Dissemblers that die with the false Reputation of Saints This I may venture to say because I 'm unknown and the revengeful Censures of my Sex will not reach me since they will never be able to draw the Veil and discover the Speaker of these bold Truths If I have done my dead Friend any manner of Justice I am satisfy'd having obtain'd my End If not
more modest in that Point than naturally we are being too apt to have a favourable Opinion of ourselves And 't is rather the Effects of a Fear that we are flatter'd than our own ill Opinion of the Beauty flatter'd and that the Praiser does not think so well of it as we do our selves or as at least he wish she shou'd Not but there are Grains of Allowance for the Temper of him that speaks One Man's Humour is to talk much and he may be permitted to enlarge upon the Praise he gives the Person he pretends to without being accus'd of much Guilt Another hates to be Wordy from such an one I have known one soft Expression one tender Thing go as far as whole Days everlasting Protestations urg'd with Vows and mighty Eloquence And both the one and the other indeed must be allow'd in good Manners to stretch the Complement beyond the Bounds of nice Truth and we must not wonder to hear a Man call a Woman a Beauty when she is not Ugly or another a Great Wit if she have but common Sence above the Vulgar well Bred when well Drest and good Natur'd when Civil And as I shou'd be very ridiculous if I took all you said for absolute Truth so I should be very unjust not to allow you very sincere in almost all you said besides and those Things the most material to Love Honour and Friendship And for the rest Damon be it true or false this believe You speak with such a Grace that I cannot chuse but Credit you and find an infinite Pleasure in that Faith because I lovu you And if I cannot find the Cheat I am contented you shou'd deceive me on because yoe do it so agreeably Six a Clock Walk without Design YOU yet have Time to Walk and my Watch foresaw you cou'd not refuse your Friends You must to the Park or to the Mall for the Season is fair and inviting and all the young Beauties love those Places too well not to be there 'T is there that a Thousand Intrigues are carried on and as many more design'd 'T is there that every one is set out for Conquest and who aim at nothing less than Hearts Guard yours well my Damon and be not always admiring what you see Do not in passing by sigh 'em silent Praises Suffer not so much as a guilty Wish to approach your Thoughts nor a heedful Glance to steal from your fine Eyes Those are Regards you ought only to have for her you Love But oh above all have a Care of what you say You are not reproachable if you should remain silent all the Time of your Walk nor wou'd those that know you believe it the Effects of Dulness but Melancholy And if any of your Friends ask you Why you are so I will give you leave to sigh and say The Mall-Content Ah? Wonder not if I appear Regardless of the Pleasures here Or that my Thoughts are thus confin'd To the just Limits of my Mind My Eyes take no Delight to rove O've all the smiling Charmers of the Grove Since she is absent whom they love Ask me not Why the flow'ry Spring Or the gay little Birds that sing Or the young Streams no more delight Or Shades and Arbours can't invite Why the soft Murmurs of the Wind Within the thick grown Groves confin'd No more my Soul transport or cheer Since all that 's charming Iris is not here Nothing seems glorious nothing fair Then suffer me to wander thus With down-cast Eyes and Arms a-cross Let Beauty unregarded go The Trees and Flowers unheeded strow Let purling Streams neglected glide With all the Spring 's adorning Pride 'T is Iris only Soul can give To the dull Shades and Plains and make 'em thrive Nature and my lost Joys retrieve I do not for all this wholly confine your Eyes You may look indifferently on all but with a particular Regard on none You may praise all the Beauties in general but no single one too much I will not exact from you neither an entire Silence There are a thousand Civilities you ought to pay to all your Friends and Acquaintance and while I caution you of Actions that may get you the Reputation of a Lover of some of the Fair that haunt those Places I wou'd not have you by an unnecessary and uncomplaisant Sullenness gain that of a Person too negligent or morose I wou'd have you remiss in no one Punctilio of Good Manners I wou'd have you very just and pay all you owe but in these Affairs be not over generous and give away too much In fine You may Look Speak and Walk but Damon do it all without Design And while you do so remember that Iris sent you this Advice The Warning Take heed my Damon in the Grove Where Beauties with Design do walk Take heed my Damon how you look and talk For there are Ambuscades of Love The very Winds that softly blow Will help betray your easie Heart And all the Flowers that blushing grow The Shades above and Rivulets below Will take the Victor's part Remember Damon all my Safety lies In the just Conduct of your Eyes The Heart by Nature good and brave Is to those treacherous Guards a Slave If they let in the fair destructive Foe Scarce Honour can defend her Noble Seat Ev'n she will be corrupted too Or driv'n to a Retreat The Soul is but the Cully to the Sight And must be pleas'd in what that takes delight Therefore examine your self well and conduct your Eyes during this Walk like a Lover that seeks nothing And do not stay too long in these places Seven a Clock Voluntary Retreat T IS time to be weary 't is Night Take Leave of your Friends and retire Home 'T is in this Retreat that you ought to recollect in your Thoughts all the Actions of the Day and all those Things that you ought to give me an Account of in your Letter You cannot hide the least Secret from me without Treason against Sacred Love For all the World agrees that Confidence is one of the greatest Proofs of the Passion of Love and that Lover who refuses this Confidence to the Person he loves is to be suspected to love but very indifferently and to think very poorly of the Sence and Generosity of his Mistress But that you may acquit your self like a Man and a Lover of Honour and leave me no doubt upon my Soul think of all you have done this Day that I may have all the Story of it in your next Letter to me But deal faithfully and neither add nor diminish in your Relation the Truth and Sincerity of your Confession will attone even for little Faults that you shall commit against me in some of those Things you shall tell me For if you have fail'd in any Point or Circumstance of Love I had much rather hear it from you than another For 't is a sort of Repentance to accuse yourself and wou'd be a Crime
in montibus Aemi Sistet ingenti Ramorum protegat Umbra Poetry the supream Pleasure of the mind is begot and born in Pleasure but oppress'd and kill'd with Pain So that this Reflection ought to raise our Admiration of Mrs. Behn whose Genius was of that force like Homer's to maintain its Gayety in the midst of Disappointments which a Woman of her Sense and Merit ought never to have met with But she had a great Strength of Mind and Command of Thought being able to write in the midst of Company and yet have her share of the Conversation which I saw her do in writing Oroonoko and other parts of the following Volume in every part of which Sir you 'll find an easie Style and a peculiar Happiness of thinking The Passions that of Love especially she was Mistress of and gave us such nice and tender Touches of them that without her Name we might discover the Author as Protogenes did Apelles by the Stroak of her Pencil In this Edition Sir are three Novels not Printed before and considerable Additions to her Life from all which I 'm perswaded you will draw a very agreeable Entertainment which I always wish you in your Conversation with the Muses for we often seek the Company that pleases us among which if I shall hereafter by the Indulgence of a better Fortune be able to place any thing worthy your Perusal I shall enjoy a very sensible Satisfaction for Principibus placuisse viris non ultima laus est and I cou'd find no readier way to obtain so agreeable an Event than thus by putting my self with so powerful a Bribe as Mrs. Behn's Histories under your Protection Sir where the Malice of my Enemies or the Malignity of my Misfortunes will never be able to give any uneasie at least anxious Thoughts to SIR Your most Humble most Obedient and Devoted Servant Charles Gildon Advertisement to the READER THE Stile of the Court of the King of Bantam being so very different from Mrs. Behn's usual way of Writing it may perhaps call its being genuine in Question to obviate which Objection I must inform the Reader That it was a Trial of Skill upon a Wager to shew that she was able to write in the Style of the Celebrated Scarron in Imitation of whom 't is writ tho' the Story be true I need not say any thing of the other Two they evidently confessing their admirable Author THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND MEMOIRS OF Mrs. BEHN Written by one of the Fair Sex MY intimate Acquaintance with the admirable Astrea gave me naturally a very great Esteem for her for it both freed me from that Folly of my Sex of envying or slighting Excellencies I cou'd not obtain and inspir'd me with a noble Fire to celebrate that Woman who was an Honour and Glory to our Sex and this Reprinting her incomparable Novels presented me with a lucky Occasion of exerting that Desire into Action She was a Gentlewoman by Birth of a good Family in the City of Canterbury in Kent her paternal Name was Johnson whose Relation to the Lord Willoughby drew him for the advantageous Post of Lieutenant-General of many Isles besides the Continent of Surinam from his quiet Retreat at Canterbury to run the hazardous Voyage of the West-Indies with him he took his chief Riches his Wife and Children and in that Number Afra his promising Darling our future Heroine and admir'd Astrea who ev'n in the first Bud of Infancy discover'd such early Hopes of her riper Years that she was equally her Parents Joy and Fears for they too often mistrust the Loss of a Child whose Wit and Understanding outstrip its Years as too great a Blessing to be long enjoy'd Whether that Fear proceed from Superstition or Diffidence of our present Happiness I shall not determine but must pursue my Discourse with assuring you none had greater Fears of that Nature or greater Cause for 'em for besides the Vivacity and Wit of her Conversation at the first Use almost of Reason in Discourse she wou'd write the prettiest soft-engaging Verses in the World Thus qualify'd she accompany'd her Parents in their long Voyage to Surinam leaving behind her the Sighs and Tears of all her Friends and breaking Hearts of her Lovers that sigh'd to possess what was scarce yet arriv'd to a Capacity of easing their Pain if she had been willing But as she was Mistress of uncommon Charms of Body as well as Mind she gave infinite and raging Desires before she cou'd know the least her self Her Father liv'd not to see that Land flowing with Milk and Honey that Paradise which she so admirably describes in Oroonoko where you may also find what Adventures happen'd to her in that Country The Misfortunes of that Prince had been unknown to us if the Divine Astrea had not been there and his Sufferings had wanted that Satisfaction which her Pen has given 'em in the Immortality of his Vertues and Constancy the very Memory of which move a generous Pity in all and a Contempt of the brutal Actors in that unfortunate Tragedy-Here I can add nothing to what she has given the World already but a Vindication of her from some unjust Aspersions I find are insinuated about this Town in Relation to that Prince I knew her intimately well and I believe she wou'd not have conceal'd any Love-Affair from me being one of her own Sex whose Friendship and Secrecy she had experienc'd which makes me assure the World there was no Affair between that Prince and Astrea but what the whole Plantation were Witnesses of A generous Value for his uncommon Vertues which every one that but hears 'em finds in himself and his Presence gave her no more Beside his Heart was too violently set on the everlasting Charms of his Imoinda to be shook with those more faint in his Eye of a white Beauty and Astrea's Relations there present had too watchful an Eye over her to permit the Frailty of her Youth if that had been powerful enough As this is false so are the Consequences of it too for the Lord her Father's Friend that was not then arriv'd perish'd in a Hurricane without having it in his Power to resent it Nor had his Resentments been any thing to her who only waited the Arrival of the next Ships to convey her back to her desir'd England Where she soon after to her Satisfaction arriv'd and gave King Charles the Second so pleasant and rational an Account of his Affairs there and particularly of the Misfortunes of Oroonoko that he desir'd her to deliver them publickly to the World and satisfy'd of her Abilities in the Management of Business and the Fidelity of our Heroine to his Interest After she was marry'd to Mr. Behn a Merchant of this City tho' of Dutch Extraction he committed to her Secrecy and Conduct Affairs of the highest Importance in the Dutch War which obliging her to stay at Antwerp presented her with The Adventures of Prince
was then if I may say so in real Agonies for your Departure 'T is a wonder a Woman so violent in all her Passions as I did not forgetting all Prudence all Considerations fly out into absolute Commands or at least Entreaties that you would give me a Moment's time longer I burst to speak with you to know a thousand things but particularly how you came to be so barbarous as to carry away all that cou'd make my Satisfaction You carry'd away my Letter and you carry'd away Lycidas I will not call him mine because he has so unkindly taken himself back 'T was with that Design you came for I saw all night with what reluctancy you spoke how coldly you entertain'd me and with what pain and uneasiness you gave me the only Conversation I value in the World I am asham'd to tell you this I know your peevish Vertue will mis-interpret me But take it how you will think of it as you please I am undone and will be free I will tell you you did not use me well I am ruin'd and will rail at you Come then I conjure you this Evening that after it I may shut those Eyes that have been too long waking I have committed a thousand Madnesses in this but you must pardon the Faults you have created Come and do so for I must see you to Night and that in a better Humour than you were last Night No more obey me as you have that Friendship for me you profess and assure your self to find a very welcome Reception from Lycidas Your Astrea LETTER III. WHEN shall we understand one another For I thought dear Lycidas you had been a Man of your Parole I will as soon believe you will forget me as that you have not remember'd the Promise you made me Confess you are the teazingest Creature in the World rather than suffer me to think you neglect me or wou'd put a slight upon me that have chosen you from all the whole Creation to give my entire Esteem to This I had assur'd you Yesterday but that I dreaded the Effects of your Censure to Day and though I scorn to guard my Tongue as hoping 't will never offend willingly yet I can with much adoe hold it when I have a great mind to say a thousand things I know will be taken in an ill sence Possibly you will wonder what compells me to write what moves me to send where I find so little Welcome nay where I meet with such Returns it may be I wonder too You say I am chang'd I had rather almost justifie an Ill than Repent maintain false Arguments than yield I am i' th' Wrong In fine Charming Friend Lycidas whatever I was since you knew me believe I am still the same in Soul and Thought but that is what shall never hurt you what shall never be but to serve you Why then did you say you wou'd not sit near me Was that my Friend was that the Esteem you profess Who grows cold first Who is chang'd and Who the Aggressor 'T is I was first in Friendship and shall be last in Constancy You by Inclination and not for want of Friends have I plac'd highest in my Esteem and for that Reason your Conversation is the most acceptable and agreeable of any in the World and for this Reason you shun mine Take your course be a Friend like a Foe and continue to impose upon me that you esteem me when you flie me Renounce your false Friendship or let me see you give it entire to Astrea LETTER IV. I Had rather dear Lycidas set my self to write to any Man on Earth than you for I fear your severe Prudence and Discretion so nice may make an ill Judgment of what I say Yet you bid me not dissemble and you need not have caution'd me who so naturally hate those little Arts of my Sex that I often run on freedoms that may well enough bear a Censure from People so scrupulous as Lycidas Nor dare I follow all my Inclinations neither nor tell all the little Secrets of my Soul Why I write them I can give no account 't is but fooling my self perhaps into an Undoing I do but by this soft Entertainment rook in my Heart like a young Gamester to make it venture its last Stake This I say may be the Danger I may come off unhurt but cannot be a Winner Why then shou'd I throw an uncertain Cast where I hazard all and you nothing Your stanch Prudence is Proof against Love and all the Bank's on my side You are so unreasonable you wou'd have me pay where I have contracted no Debt you wou'd have me give and you like a Miser wou'd distribute nothing Greedy Lycidas Unconscionable and Ungenerous You wou'd not be in Love for all the World yet wish I were so Uncharitable Wou'd my Fever Cure you or a Curse on me make you Bless'd Say Lycidas Will it I have heard when two Souls kindly meet 't is a vast Pleasure as vast as the Curse must be when Kindness is not equal and why shou'd you believe that necessary for me that will be so very incommode for you Will you Dear Lycidas allow then that you have less Good-nature than I Pray be Just till you can give such Proofs of the contrary as I shall be Judge of or give me a Reason for your Ill-nature So much for Loving Now as you are my Friend I conjure you to consider what Resolution I took up when I saw you last which methinks is a long time of seeing no Man till I saw your Face again and when you remember that you will possibly be so kind as to make what haste you can to see me again Till then have Thoughts as much in favour of me as you can for when you know me better you will believe I merit all May you be impatient and uneasie till you see me again and bating that may all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth light on you is the continued Prayers of Dear Lycidas Your True Astrea LETTER V. THough it be very late I cannot go to bed but I must tell thee I have been very Good ever since I saw thee and have been a writing and have seen no Face of Man or other Body save my own People I am mightily pleas'd with your Kindness to me to Night and 't was I hope and believe very innocent and undisturbing on both sides My Lycidas says He can be soft and dear when he please to put off his haughty Pride which is only assum'd to see how far I dare love him ununited Since then my Soul's Delight you are and may ever be assur'd I am and ever will be yours befall me what will and that all the Devils of Hell shall not prevail against thee Shew then I say my dearest Love thy native sweet Temper Shew me all the Love thou hast undissembl'd then and never till then shall I believe you love and deserve my Heart for
to please and this is the nearest Way to it Advice to Lovers Lovers if you would gain a Heart Of Damon learn to win the Prize He 'll shew you all its tend'rest Part And where its greatest Danger lies The Magazine of its Disdain Where Honour feebly guarded does remain If present do but little say Enough the silent Lover speaks But wait and sigh and gaze all Day Such Rhet'rick more than Languages takes For Words the dullest way do move And utter'd more to shew your Wit than Love Let your Eyes tell her of your Heart Its Story is for Words too delicate Souls thus exchange and thus impart And all their Secrets can relate A Tear a broken Sigh she 'll understand Or the soft trembling Pressings of the Hand Or if your Pain must be in Words exprest Let 'em fall gently unassur'd and slow And where they fail your Looks may tell the rest Thus Damon spoke and I was conquer'd so The witty Talker has mistook his Art The modest Lover only charms the Heart Thus while all Day you gazing sit And fear to speak and fear your Fate You more Advantages by Silence get Than the gay forward Youth with all his Prate Let him be silent here but when away Whatever Love can dictate let him say There let the bashful Soul unvail And give a Loose to Love and Truth Let him improve the amorous Tale With all the Force of Words and Fire of Youth There all and any thing let him express Too long he cannot write too much confess O Damon How well have you made me understand this soft Pleasure You know my Tenderness too well not to be sensible how I am charmed with your agreeable long Letters The Invention Ah! he who first found out the Way Souls to each other to convey Without dull Speaking sure must be Something above Humanity Let the fond World in vain dispute And the first Sacred Mystery impute Of Letters to the Learned Brood And of the Glory cheat a God 'T was Love alone that first the Art essay'd And Psyche was the first fair yielding Maid That was by the dear Billet-doux betray'd It is an Art too ingenious to have been found out by Man and too necessary to Lovers not to have been invented by the God of Love himself But Damon I do not pretend to exact from you those Letters of Gallantry which I have told you are filled with nothing but fine Thoughts and writ with all the Arts of Wit and Subtilty I would have yours still all tender unaffected Love Words unchosen Thoughts unstudied and Love unfeigned I had rather find more Softness than Wit in your Passion more of Nature than of Art more of the Lover than the Poet. Nor would I have you write any of those little short Letters that are read over in a minute in Love long Letters bring a long Pleasure Do not trouble yourself to make 'em fine or write a great deal of Wit and Sence in a few Lines that is the Notion of a witty Billet in any Affair but that of Love And have a Care rather to avoid these Graces to a Mistress and assure yourself dear Damon that what pleases the Soul pleases the Eye and the Largeness or Bulk of your Letter shall never offend me and that I only am displeased when I find them small A Letter is ever the best and most powerful Agent to a Mistress it almost always perswades 't is always renewing little Impressions that possibly otherwise Absence would deface Make use then Damon of your Time while it is given you and thank me that I permit you to write to me Perhaps I shall not always continue in the Humor of suffering you to do so and it may so happen by some Turn of Chance and Fortune that you may be deprived at the same time both of my Presence and of the Means of sending to me I will believe that such an Accident would be a great Misfortune to you for I have often hearâ— you say that To make the most happy 〈◊〉 ver suffer Martyrdom one need only for 〈◊〉 him Seeing Speaking and Writing to 〈◊〉 Object he loves Take all the Advantaâ—â— then you can you cannot give me too often Marks too powerful of your Passion Writâ— therefore during this Hour every Day 〈◊〉 give you leave to believe that while you do so you are Serving me the most Obligingly and Agreeably you can while absent and that you are giving me a Remedy against all Grief Uneasiness Melancholy and Despair Nay if you exceed your Hour you need not be asham'd The Time you employ in this kind Devoir id the Time that I shall be grateful for and no doubt will recompense it You ought not however to neglect Heaven for me I will give you time for your Devotion for my Watch tells you 't is time to go to the Temple Twelve a Clock Indispensible Duty THere are certain Duties which one ought never to neglect That of Adoring the Gods is of this nature and which we ought to pay from the bottom of our Hearts And that Damon is the only time I will dispense with your not thinking on me But I would not have you go to one of those Temples where the celebrated Beauties and those that make a Profession of Gallantry go and which come thither only to see and be seen and whither they repair more to shew their Beauty and Dress than to honour the Gods If you will take my Advice and oblige my Wish you shall go to those that are least frequented and you shall appear there like a Man that has a perfect Veneration for all things Sacred The Instruction Damon if your Heart and Flame You wish should always be the same Do not give it leave to rove Nor expose it to new Harms E're you think on 't you may love If you gaze on Beauty's Charms If with me you wou'd not part Turn your Eyes into your Heart If you find a new Desire In your easie Soul take Fire From the tempting Ruine fly Think it faithless think it base Fancy soon will fade and die If you wisely cease to gaze Lovers should have Honour too Or they pay but half Love's due Do not to the Temple go With design to gaze or show What e're Thoughts you have abroad Though you can deceive elsewhere There 's no feigning with your God Souls should be all perfect there The Heart that 's to the Altar brought Only Heaven should fill its Thought Do not your sober Thoughts perplex By gazing on the Ogling Sex Or if Beauty call your Eyes Do not on the Object dwell Guard your Heart from the Surprize By thinking Iris doth excel Above all earthly Things I 'd be Damon most belov'd by thee And only Heaven must Rival me One a Clock Forc'd Entertainment I Perceive it will be very difficult for you to quit the Temple without being surrounded with Complements from People of Ceremony Friends and News-mongers and several
and who have so good an Opinion of their Talent that way they will let no body edge in a Word or a Reply but will make all the Conversation themselves that they may pass for very Entertaining Persons and pure Company But the Verses The Reformation Philander since you 'll have it so I grant I was impertinent And till this Moment did not know Through all my Life what 't was I meant Your kind Opinion was the flattering Glass In which my Mind found how deform'd it was In your clear Sense which knows no Art I saw the Errors of my Soul And all the Foibless of my Heart With one Reflection you controul Kind as a God and gently you chastise By what you hate you teach me to be wise Impertinence my Sex's Shame That has so long my Life pursu'd You with such Modesty reclaim As all the Women has subdu'd To so Divine a Power what must I owe That renders me so like the perfect You That Conversable thing I hate Already with a just Disdain That prides himself upon his Prate And is of Words that Nonsence vain When in you few appears such Excellence As have reproach'd and charm'd me into Sense For ever may I list'ning sit Tho' but each Hour a Word be born I would attend the coming Wit And bless what can so well inform Let the dull World henceforth to Words be dam'd I 'm into nobler Sense than Talking sham'd I believe you are so good a Lover as to be of my Opinion and that you will neither force yourself against Nature nor find much occasion to lavish out those excellent things that must proceed from you whenever you speak If all Women were like me I should have more reason to fear your Silence than your Talk for you have a thousand waies to charm without speaking and those which to me shew a great deal more Concern But Damon you know the greatest part of my Sex judge the fine Gentleman by the Volubility of his Tongue by his Dexterity in Repartee and cry Oh! he never wants fine things to say He 's eternally talking the most surprizing things But Damon you are well assur'd I hope that Iris is none of these Coquets at least if she had any spark of it once in her Nature she is by the Excellency of your contrary Temper taught to know and scorn the Folly And take heed your Conduct never give me cause to suspect you have deceiv'd me in your Temper Twelve a Clock Complaisance NEvertheless Damon Civility requires a little Complaisance after Supper and I am assur'd you can never want that though I confess you are not accus'd of too general a Complaisance and do not often make use of it to those Persons you have an Indifference for though one is not the less esteemable for having more of this than one ought and though an excess of it be a Fault 't is a very excusable one Have therefore some for those with whom you are You may laugh with 'em drink with 'em dance or sing with 'em yet think of me You may discourse of a thousand indifferent things with 'em and at the same time still think of me If the Subject be any beautiful Lady whom they praise either for her Person Wit or Virtue you may apply it to me And if you dare not say it aloud at least let your Heart answer in this Language Yes the fair Object whom you praise Can give us Love a thousand ways Her Wit and Beauty charming are But still my Iris is more fair No Body ever spoke before me of a faithful Lover but I still sigh'd and thought of Damon And ever when they tell me Tales of Love any soft pleasing Intercourses of an Amour Oh! with what Pleasure do I listen and with Pleasure answer 'em either with my Eyes or Tongue That Lover may his Silvia warm But cannot like my Damon charm If I have not all those excellent Qualities you meet with in those beautiful People I am however very glad that Love prepossesses your Heart to my Advantage And I need not tell you Damon that a true Lover ought to perswade himself that all other Objects ought to give place to her for whom his Heart sighs But see my Cupid tells you 't is One a Clock and that you ought not to be longer from your Apartment where while you are undressing I will give you leave to say to yourself The Regret Alas and must the Sun decline Before it have inform'd my Eyes Of all that 's glorious all that 's fine Of all I sigh for all I prize How joyful were those happy Days When Iris spread her charming Rays Did my unwearied Heart inspire With never-ceasing awful Fire And e'ery Minute gave me new Desire But now alas all dead and pale Like Flow'rs that wither in the Shade Where no kind Sun-beams can prevail To raise its cold and fading Head I sink into my useless Bed I grasp the senceless Pillow as I lie A thousand times in vain I sighing cry Ah! wou'd to Heaven my Iris were as nigh One a Clock Impossibility to Sleep YOU have been up long enough and Cupid who takes care of your Health tells you 't is time for you to go to Bed Perhaps you may not sleep as soon as you are laid and possibly you may pass an Hour in Bed before you shut your Eyes In this impossibility of sleeping I think it very proper for you to imagine what I am doing where I am Let your Fancy take a little Journey then invisible to observe my Actions and my Conduct You will find me sitting alone in my Cabinet for I am one that do not love to go to Bed early and will find me very uneasie and pensive pleas'd with none of those things that so well entertain others I shun all Conversation as far as Civility will allow and find no Satisfaction like being alone where my Soul may without interruption converse with Damon I sigh and sometimes you will see my Cheeks wet with Tears that insensibly glide down at a thousand Thoughts that present themselves soft and afflicting I partake of all your Inquietude On other things I think with Indifference if ever my Thoughts do stray from the more agreeable Object I find however a little Sweetness in his Thought that during my Absence your Heart thinks of me when mine sighs for you Perhaps I am mistaken and that at the same time that you are the Entertainment of all my Thoughts I am no more in yours and perhaps you are thinking of those things that immortalize the Young and Brave either by those Glories the Muses flatter you with or that of Bellona and the God of War and serving now a Monarch whose glorious Acts in Arms has out-gone all the feign'd and real Heroes of any Age who has himself out-done whatever History can produce of Great and Brave and set so illustrious an Example to the Under-World that it is not impossible as much
he came up in his Night-Gown with a Pistol in his Hand Atlante was not so much lost in Grief though she were all in Tears but she heard a Man come up and imagined it had been her Father she not knowing of Count Vernole's lying in the House that Night if she had she possibly had taken more care to have been silent But whoever it was she could not get to Bed soon enough and therefore turn'd herself to her Dressing-table where Candle stood and where lay a Book open of the Story of Ariadne and Thesias The Count turning the Latch entred halting into her Chamber in his Night-Gown clapped close about him which betrayed an ill-favoured Shape his Night-Cap on without a Perriwig which discovered all his lean withered Jaws his pale Face and his Eyes staring and making altogether so dreadful a Figure that Atlante who no more dreamt of him than of a Devil had possibly have rather seen the last She gave a great Shriek which frighted Vernole so both stood for a while staring on each other till both were recollected He told her the Care of her Honour had brought him thither and then rolling his small Eyes round the Chamber to see if he could discover any Body he proceed and cried Madam if I had no other Motive than your being up at this time of Night or rather of Day I could easily guess how you have been entertained What Insolence is this said she all in a Rage when to cover your Boldness of approaching my Chamber at this Hour you would question how I have been entertained either explain yourself or quit my Chamber for I do not use to see such terrible Objects here Possibly those you do see said the Count are indeed more agreeable but I am afraid have not that regard to your Honour as I have And at that Word he stepped to the Balcony opened it and looked out but seeing no Body he shut it too again This enraged Atlante beyond all Patience and snatching the Pistol out of his Hand she told him He deserved to have it aimed at his Head for having the Impudence to question her Honour or her Conduct and commâ—nded him to avoid her Chamber as he loved his Life which she believed he was fonder of than of her Honour She speaking this in a Tone wholly transported with Rage and at the same time holding the Pistol towards him made him tremble with Fear and he now found whether she were guilty or not it was his turn to beg pardon For you must know however it came to pass that his Jealousie made him come up in that force Posture at other times Vernole was the most tame and passive Man in the World and one who was afraid of his own Shadow in the Night He had a natural Aversion for Danger and thought it below a Man of Wit or common Sense to be guilty of that brutal Thing called Courage or Fighting His Philosophy told him It was safe sleeping in a whole Skin and possibly he apprehended as much Danger from this Virago as ever he did from his own Sex he therefore fell on his Knees and besought her to hold her fair Hand and not to suffer that which was the greatest Mark of his Respect to be the Cause of her Hate or Indignation The pitiful Faces he made and the Signs of mortal Fear in him had almost made her laugh at least it allayed her Anger and she bid him rise and play the Fool hereafter some-where-else and not in her Presence Yet for once she would deign to give him this Satisfaction that she was got into a Book which had many moving Stories very well writ and that she found herself so well entertained she had forgot how the Night passed He most humbly thanked her for this Satisfaction and retired perhaps not so well satisfied as he pretended After this he appeared more submissive and respectful towards Atlante and she carried herself more reserved and haughty towards him which was one Reason he would not yet discover his Passion Thus the Tâ—me ran on at Orleance while Rinaldâ— found himself daily languishing at Paris He was indeed in the best Academy in the City amongst a 〈◊〉 of brave and noble Youths where all things 〈◊〉 could accomplish them was to be learn'd by the 〈◊〉 had any Genius but Rinaldo had other Thoughts 〈◊〉 other Business his time was wholly past in the 〈◊〉 solitary Parts of the Garden by the melancholy 〈◊〉 and in the most gloomy Shades wherâ— he 〈◊〉 with most Liberty breath out his Passion and his 〈◊〉 He was past the Tutorage of a Boy and his 〈◊〉 could not upbraid him but found he had 〈…〉 Cause of Grief which made him not mind these 〈◊〉 which were the Delight of the rest so 〈◊〉 thing being able to divert his Melancholy which 〈◊〉 increased upon him He fear'd it would bring him into a Fever if he did not give himself the 〈◊〉 of seeing Atlante He had no sooner thoughâ— of this but he was impatient to put it into 〈◊〉 he resolves to go having very good Horses without acquainting any of his Servants with it He got a very handsome and light I adder of Ropes made which he carried under his Coat and away he rid for 〈◊〉 stay'd at a little Village till the Darkness of the 〈◊〉 might favour his Design And then walking about Atlante's Lodgings till he saw a Light in her Chamber and then making that Noise on his Sword as 〈◊〉 greed between them He was heard by his 〈◊〉 Atlante and suffered to mount her Chamber 〈◊〉 he would stay till almost break of Day and then â—â—turn to the Village and take Horse and away for Paris again This once in a Month was his Exercise without which he could not live so that his whole Year was past in riding between Orleance and Paris between excess of Grief and excess of Joy by turns It was now that Atlante arrived to her fifteenth Year shone out with a Lustre of Beauty greater than ever and in this Year of the Absence of Rinaldo had carried herself with that Severity of Life without the youthful Desire of going abroad or desiring any Diversion but what she found in her own retired Thoughts That Vernole wholly unable longer to conceal his Passion resolved to make a Publication of it first to the Father and then to the lovely Daughter of whom he had some hope because she had carried herself very well towards him for this Year past which she would never have done if she had imagined he would ever have been her Lover She had seen no Signs of any such Misfortune towards her in these many Years he had conversed with her and she had to cause to fear him When one Day her Father taking her into the Garden told her what Honour and Happiness was in store for her and that now the Glory of his fallen Family would rise again since she had a Lover of an illustrious Blood