hee seemed to have the art of perswasion in his speeches yet by the way using his best oratory and charity to draw Alibius from denyall to confession and from that to contrition and repentance his heart was still so perverse and obdurate as hee notwithstanding persevered in his willfull obstinacy and peremptorily continued and stood upon the points of his innocency and justification So strong was the Divell yet with him But whiles an infinite number of spectators gaze on Alibius as hee is in the Castle and hee cheerefully and carelesly conversed with some of his acquaintance as if the innocency of his conscience were such as his heart felt no griefe nor preturbation Lo he is called to his arraignement whereunto that World of people who were then in the Castle flocke and concurre His thoughts are so vaine and his vanity so ambitious as hee comes to the barre in a blacke beaten Satin sute with a faire Gowne and a spruce set Ruffe having both the haire of his head and his long gray beard neately kombed and cut yea with so pleasant a look and so confident a demeanour as if he were to receive not the sentence of his guiltinesse and death but that of his innocency and inlargement These honourable Iudges cause his Inditement to bee read wherein his poysoning and Murthering of his wife is branched and depainted out in all its circumstances whereat his courage and confidence is yet notwithstanding so great as by his lookes hee seemes no way moved much lesse astonished or afflicted the witnesses are produced first his owne daughter Emelia who with teares in her eyes stands firme to her former disposition that hee had often beaten her Mother almost to death and now had killed and poysoned her agreeing in every point with her disposition given to the Podestate and Prefect of Brescia which to refell her father Alibius with many plausible and sugred speeches tells his Iudges that his daughter is incensed or lunatike or else that shee purposely seekes his life to enjoy that small meanes hee hath after his death and so runnes on in a most extravagant and impertinent apologie for himselfe with many invective and scandalous speeches against her and concludes that hee was never owner of any poyson His Iudges out of their honourable inclination and zeale to sacred justice permit him to speake without interruption when having ended they beginne to shew him the foulenesse of his fact yea like heavenly Orators they paint him out the devillish nature monstrous crime of Murther the which they say he redoubleth by denying it not withstanding that they have evidence as cleere as the Sun to convince him thereof and so they call for two Apothecaries boyes who severally affirme they sold him Rattes-bane at two severall times But the divell is still so strong with Alibius as though his conscience doth hereat afflict and torment him yet there is no change nor signe thereof either seene in his countenance or discerned in his speeches but still hee persevers in his obstinacy and in a bravery pretends to wipe off the Apothecaries boyes evidence with this poore evasion that hee bought and used it onely to poyson Rattes And so againe with many smooth words humble crouches and hypocriticall complements hee useth the prime of his subtilty and invention to make it appeare to his Iudges that he had no way imbrued his hands in the bloud of his wife But this will not availe him for hee is before Lynce-eyed Iudges whose integrity and wisedome can pierce thorow the foggy mists of excuses and the obscure Clouds of his far-fetched shifts and cunninglycompacted evasions And now to close and winde up this History after the Iury impannelled had amply heard aswell the witnesses against Alibius as his defence for himselfe and that all the world could testifie that his Iudges gave him a faire triall they return and report him guilty of Murthering his wife Merilla whereat hee is put off the barre and so for that time sent backe to his prison and yet the heate of his obstinacy being hereat no way cooled the edge of his deny all any way rebated nor the obduratenesse of his heart the least thing mollified hee by the way as hee passeth beating his brest and sometimes out-spreading his armes saith it is not his crime but the malice of his Devillish daughter that hath cast him away yea although many of his compassionate and Christian friends doe now now againe in prison worke and perswade him to confession by aleadging him that God is as mercifull to the repentant as severe to the impenitent and obstinate yet all this will not prevaile The second morne after his conviction hee is brought againe from his prison to the Castle and so to the barre to receive his Iudgement where one of the two most honourable Iudges shew him That it is his hearkning to the Devill and his forsaking of God that hath brought him to this misery paints and points him out his dissolute life his frequenting of bad company his prodigality and adultery but above all his masked hypocrisie which hee saith in thinking to deceive God hath now deceived himselfe yea in heavenly and religious speeches informes him how mercifull and indulgent God is to repentant sinners that hee must now cast off his thoughts from earth and ascend and mount them to heaven and no longer to think of his body but of his soule and so after a learned and Christian-like speech as well for the instruction of the living as the consolation of Alibius who was now to prepare himselfe to dye hee pronounceth that for his execrable Murther committed on his owne wife Merilla hee should hang till hee were dead and so besought the Lord to bee mercifull to his soule And now is Alibius againe returned to his prison but still remaineth obstinate and perverse affirming to all the World that as hee hath lived so hee will dye innocently But God will not suffer him to dye without confessing and repenting this his bloudy and unnaturall Murther These his grave and religious Iudges out of an honourable and Christian charity send him Divines to prepare his body to the death of this world and his soule to the life of that to come they deale most effectually powerfully and religiously with him in prison and although they found that the devill had strongly insnared and charmed him yea and as it were hardned his heart to his perdition yet God out of his infinit and ineffable mercies addeth both power and grace to their speeches and exhortations so as his eyes being opened and his heart pierced and mollified they at last so prevaile with him that being terrified with Gods justice and incouraged and comforted with his mercies he with teares sighs and groanes confesseth this murther of his wife and not onely bitterly repents it but also doth thank these Godly Divines for their charity care and zeale for the preservation and saving of his soule and doth upon his
inhumane revenge will not as yet permit her conscience to informe and shew her the haynousnesse of her cruell and bloody fact But God will be more mercifull to her and her soule Some two dayes after shee is arraigned for the same where she freely confesseth-it having nothing to alledge for her excuse but that shee perfectly knew that her Father in law Castenovo and his Strumpet Ierantha had at least poysoned the Knight her husband if not likewise the Lady Fidelia his mother the which although they had some reason and ground to suspect because of Ierantha's sudden slight yet sith this could no way diminish or extenuate her Murther of her Father in law they condemne our unfortunate Lady Perina to bee hanged and so re-send her to prison to prepare her selfe to dye But the advice of some and the friendship and compassion of others as pittying her youth and beauty and commending her chastity and affection to her Knight and Husband counsell and perswade her to appeale from the Sentence of the Court of Nice to the Senate of Chambery which is the Soveraigne and Capitall of Savoy whither wee shall shortly see her conducted and brought In which meane time let us observe the wonderfull justice and providence of God shewed likewise upon this execrable Wayting-gentlewoman Ierantha for so cruelly poysoning the Lady Fidelia and the Knight Castelnovo her Sonne who although search were every where made for her yet she having husht her selfe up privately albeit her bloudy thoughts and guilty conscience for the same continually torture and torment her yet shee is so impious and gracelesse as shee no way feares the danger of the law and much lesse the severe tempest of Gods indignation and revenge which now notwithstanding in the middest of her security will according to her bloudy deserts and crimes suddenly surprise and overtake her for now this accident of her Lord Castelnovo's Murther and of the Lady Perina's imprisonment or to speake more properly and truly of Gods sacred decree and divine Iudgement throwes her into the sharp and bitter paines of travell for child with whose heart-killing gripes and convulsions she is so miserably tortured and tormented as shee her selfe her Mid. wife and all the women neere her judge and thinke it impossible for her to escape death when seeing no hope of life and that already her pangs and torments had made her but as it were the very image and anatomy of death shee beginnes to looke from Sinne to repentance from Earth to Heaven and from Satan to God and so taking on and assuming Christian resolution shee will not charge her soule with the concealing of this single Adultery much lesse of her double Murthers but very penitently confesseth all aâ—… well it as them and so commits her selfe to the unparalleld and mercilesse mercies of her paynes and torments hoping they will speedily send her from this world to a better But her Adultery and Murthers are such odious and execrable crimes in God sight as he will free her from these dangers of child-birth and because worthy will reserve her for a shamefull and infamous death So she is fafely delivered of a young son who is more faire then happy as being the off-spring of lascivious parents and the issue of an adulterous bed and by Gods providence and her owne confession shee for these her beastly and bloudy crimes is the second day committed to prison and the third hang'd and burnt in Nice and her ashes throwne into the aire A just reward and punishment for so hellish and inhumane a Gentlewoman who though otherwise shee shewed many testimonies and signes of Repentance at her end yet her crime were so foule and odious to the World as at her death shee was so miserable as shee found not one spectatour either to weepe for her or to lament or condolâ—… with her And now to shut up this History let us carry our curiosities and expectations froâ—… Nice to Chambery and from dead Ierantha to our living Perina where that grave and illustrious Senate in consideration of her famous chastity and singular affection to thâ—… Knight her husband as also her noble parentage and tender yeares they moderatâ—… the Sentence of Nice for murthering her Father in law Castelnovo and so in stead of hanging adjudge her there to have her right hand cut off and her selfe to perpetuall imprisonment in Nice where Gods sacred Iustice for this her bloudy Murther and the remembrance of her dead husband and living sorrowes so sharpely torment and afflict her as shee lived not long in Prison but exceedingly pined away of a languishing Consumption and so very sorrowfully and repentantly ended her dayes being exceedingly lamented of her kinsfolkes and pittyed of all her acquaintance and had not her affection beene blinded and her rage and Revenge too much triumphed o're her thoughts and resolutions shee had lived as happy as shee dyed miserable and have served for as great a grace and Ornament to her Countrey as Ierantha and old Castelnovo her father in law were a scandall and shame Thus we see how Gods revenging justice still meetes with Murther O that wee may reade this History with feare and profit thereby in reformation that dying to sinne and living to righteousnesse wee may peaceably dye in this World and gloriously live and raigne in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE X. Bertolini seekes Paulina in marriage but she loves Sturio and not himselfe hee prayes her Brother Brellati his deare friend to sollicite her for him which he doth but cannot prevaile whereupon Bertolini lets fall some disgracefull speeches both against her honour and his reputation for which Brellati challengeth the Field of him where Bertolini kills him and hee flies for the same Sturio seekes to marry her but his father will not consent thereunto and so conveyes him away secretly for which two disasters Paulina dyes for sorrow Sturio findes out Bertolini and sends him a Challenge and having him at his mer cie gives him his life at his request hee afterwards very treacherously kills Sturio with a Petronell in the Street from a Window he is taken for this second Murther his two hands cut off then beheaded and his body throwne into the River ALbeit that Valour bee requisite in a Gentleman and one of his most essentiall vertues and proper ornaments yet sith Charity is the true marke and character of a Christian wee should not rashly resolve to hazzard the losse of our lives for the preservation of the meere title and vaine point of our honour but rather religiously endeavour to save our soules in that of our owne lives as also of those of our Christian brethren for in Duells and single Combats which though the heate of youth and revenge seeme to allow yet reason will not and Religion cannot did wee onely hazzard our bodies and not our soules then our warrant to fight were in earth as just as now the
hee will die his faithfull servant But wee shall see him have more grace than to keepe so gracelesse a promise Carpi flattering himselfe with the fidelity and affection of his Laquay resolves to stay in the City but hee shall shortly repent his confidence Hee was formerly betrayed by Fiesco which mee thinks should have made him more cautious and wise and not so simple to entrust and repose his life on the incertaine mercy of Lorenzo's tongue but Gods Revenge drawes neare him and consequently he neare his end for he neither can nor shall avoid the judgement of Heaven Lorenzo on the gallowes will not charge his soule with this foule and execrable sinne of murther but Grace now operating with his soule as much as formerly Satan did with his heart hee confesseth that hee and the Baron of Carpi his Master together with the Knight Monte-leone and his Laquay Anselmo murthered the Captaine Benevente and his man Fiamento and threw them into the Quarrie the which hee takes to his death is true and so using some Christian-like speeches of repentance and sorrow he is hanged Lorenzo is no sooner turned over but the Criminall Iudges advertised of his speeches delivered at his death they command the Baron of Carpi his lodging to be beleagred where he is found in his study and so apprehended and committed prisoner where feare makes him looke pale so as the Peacocks plumes both of his pride and courage strike saile He is againe put to the Racke and now the second time hee reveales his foule and bloudy murther and in every point acknowledgeth Lorenzoes accusation of him to be true So he is condemned first to have his right hand cut off and then his head notwithstanding that many great friends of his sue to the Viceroy for his pardon The night before he was to die the next morne one of his Judges was sent to him to prison to perswade him to discover all his complices in that murther besides Monte-leone and his Laquay Anselmo yea there are likewise some Divines present who with many religious exhortations perswade him to it So Grace prevailes with Nature and Righteousnesse with Impiety and sinne in him that he is now no longer himselfe for contrition and repentance hath reformed him hee will rather disrespect Caelestina than displease God whereupon he affirmes that she and her deceased sister Fidelia drew him and Monte-leone to murther their father and his man Fiamento and that if it had not beene for their allurements and requests they had never attempted either the beginning or end of so bloudy a businesse and thus making himselfe ready for Heaven and grieving at nothing on Earth but at the remembrance of his foule fact he in the sight of many thousand people doth now lose his head This Tragedy is no sooner acted and finished in Naples but the Judges of this City send away poast to those of Otranto to seize on the Lady Caelestina who in the absence of her husband for the most part lived there A Lady whom I could pitie for her youth and beauty did not the foulenesse of her fact so foulely disparage and blemish it She is at that instant at a Noblemans house at the solemnitie of his daughters marriage where she is apprehended imprisoned and accused to bee the authour and plotter of the Captaine her fathers death neither can her teares or prayers exempt her from this affliction and misery She was once of opinion to deny it but understanding that the Baron of Carpi and his Laquay Lorenzo were already executed for the same in Naples shee with a world of teares freely confesseth it and confirmes as much as Carpi affirmed whereupon in expiation of this her inhumane Paracide she is condemned to have her head cut off her body burnt and her ashes throwne into the ayre for a milder death and a lesse punishment the Lord will not out of his Justice inflict vpon her for this her horrible crime and barbarous cruelty committed on the person of her owne father or at least seducing and occasioning it to be committed on him and it is not in her husbands possible power to exempt or free her hereof Being sent backe that night to prison she passeth it over or in very truth the greatest part thereof in prayer still grieving for her sinnes and mourning for this her bloudy offence and crime and the next morne being brought to her execution when she ascended the scaffold she was very humble sorrowfull and repentant and with many showres of teares requested her brother Alcasero and all her kinsfolkes to forgive her for occasioning and consenting to her fathers death and generally all the world to pray for her when her sighs and teares so sorrowfully interrupted and silenced her tongue as she recommending her soule into the hands of her Redeâ—…mer whom she had so heynously offended shee with great humility and contrition kneeling on her knees and lifting up her eyes and hands towards heaven the Executioner with his sword made a double divorce betwixt her head and her body her body and her soule and then the fire as if incensed at so fiery a spirit consumed her to ashes and her ashes were throwne into the ayre to teach her and all the world by her example that so inhumane and bloudy a daughter deserved not either to tread on the face of this Earth or to breathe this ayre of life She was lamented of all who either knew or saw her not that she should die but that she should first deserve then suffer so shamefull and wretched a death and yet shee was farre happier than her sister Fidelia for shee despaired and this confidently hoped for remission and salvation Thus albeit this wretched and execrable young Gentlewoman lived impiously yet she died Christianly wherefore let vs thinke on that with detestation and on this with charity And here wee see how severely the murther of Captaine Benevente was by Gods just revenge punished not onely in his two daughters who plotted it but also in the two Noblemen and their two Laquayes who acted it Such attempts and crimes deserve such ends and punishments and infallibly finde them The onely way therefore for Christians to avoid the one and contemne the other is with sanctified hearts and unpolluted hands still to pray to God for his Grace continually to affect prayer and incessantly to practise piety in our thoughts and godlinesse in our resolutions and actions the which if wee be carefull and conscionable to performe God will then shrowd us under the wings of his favour and so preserve and protect us with his mercy and providence as we shall have no cause to feare either Hell or Satan GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XV. Maurice like a bloudy villaine and damnable sonne throwes his Mother Christina into a Well and drownes her the same hand and arme of his wherewith he did it rots away from his body aad being discrased of
his wits in Prison he there confesseth his foule and inhumane murther for the which he is hanged IF we did not wilfully make ourselves miserable God is so indulgent and mercifull to us as hee would make us more happy but when with high and presumptuous hands wee violate the Lawes of Nature and Grace of Earth and Heaven in murthering through Envie those whom through Duty and affection wee are bound to obey honour cherish and preserve then it is no marvell because we first forsooke God that he after abandoneth us to our selves and sins and to the fruits thereof Calamity Misery Infamy and Perdition and that we may see humane cruelty to be justly met with and punished by Gods upright and divine Justice Loe here in this ensuing History we shall see a wretched sonne kill his harmlesse and deare mother A very fearefull and lamentable Parracide a most cruell and execrable fact for the which we shall see him rewarded with condigne punishment and with a sharpe and infamous death although not halfe so deplorable as deserved It is a bitter and bloudy History the relation and remembrance whereof in the most barbarous and flinty hearts is capable not only to ingender compassion but compunction yea not onely contrition but teares at least if we have any place left in us for Pitty or roome for Piety the which if we have doubtlesse the end of our reading will not onely blesse but crowne the beginning and the beginning the end thereof VPon the North-east side of the Lake Leman vulgarly knowne and called the Lake of Geneva because it payes its full tribute and makes its chiefest Rendezvous before that City whereof it invironeth at least one third part There stands a pretty small and strong towne distant a little dayes journey from it termed Morges which properly belongs to the jurisdiction of Berne one of the chiefest Cantons of that warlike people and Country of Swisserland wherein of very late yeares and recent memory there dwelt a rich and honest Burger or Burgemaster for of Gentry those parts and people are not because they will not bee capable named Martin Halsenorfe who by his wife Christina Snuytsaren had one only childe a sonne named Maurice Halsenorfe now of some fourteene yeare old whose father although hee were by profession a souldier and enrolled a Lieutenant to one of those Auxiliary Bands of that Countrey which are in pay to the French King yet neverthelesse his chiefest ambition and care was to make this sonne of his a scholler because the Ignorance and illiterature of his owne age made him to repent it in himselfe and therefore to provide a remedy thereof in his sonnes youth sith hee now knew and saw that a man without learning was either as a body without a soule or a soule without knowledge and reason which are her chiefest vertues and most sacred Ornaments and Excellencies So hee brings him up to their owne Grammar Schoole in Morges where in some three or foure yeares his affection and care to study makes him so good a Proficient as hee becomes not onely skilfull but perfect therein and almost as capable to teach his Schoole-master as hee was to instruct him yea and to adde the better Grace to the Grace of that Art hee was of so milde and so modest a carriage and the blossomes of his youth were so sweetly watred with the Heavenly dew of Vertue and Piety as if his manners and himselfe were wholly composed thereof so that for Learning and Goodnesse hee was and was justly reputed not onely the Mirrour but the Phoenix of all the youth of Morges and as he esteemed himselfe happy in his Parents so they reciprocally hold themselves not onely happy but blessed in this their sonne but because the inherent corruption of our Nature and the perversenesse and multiplicity of our sinnes are such as they cannot promise us any true joy much lesse assured and permanent felicity so the Sunne-shine of this their Temporary content equally divided in thirds betwixt the Father Mother and Sonne will shortly receive a great Eclipse and a fatall disaster which will bee to them so much the more bitter and mournfull sith both the cause and effects thereof were of each of them unthought of of them all unexpected For God in his saâ—…red decree and providence seeing Martin Halsenorfe the father his strength arrived at his full Meridian and height and his dayes to their full number and period He as he sate at dinner jocund and merry with his wife and sonne is suddenly taken with a deadly swoone which presently deprives his body of this life and sends his soule to enjoy the sweet felicity and sacred joy and immortality of the life to come A Document which may teach us not to relie upon the rotten privileges and strength of youth but so to prepare our lives that death at all places and in all times maystill finde us armed and ready to encounter it A Document which may teach us with the erected eyes as well of our faith as body so to looke from Earth to Heaven that our soules be not onely ready but willing to forsake this stinking Tabernacle and prison of our mortality to flie and be admitted into Heaven that Heavenly Ierusalem and Celestiall City where they may enjoy the blessed Communion of the Saints and the greatest blessings of all joyes and the most soueraigne joy of all blessings then to see our Creator and Saviour God the Father and Christ Iesus his Sonne face to face wherein indeed all the joyes and blessings of our soules are comprised and included The death of Halsenorfe the father is not onely the Argument but the cause of his widdow Christinâ—…'s griefe of his sonne Maurice his sorrow of her teares and groanes of his sighs and afflictions yea and not to derrogate from the Truth I may step a degree farther and say that this his death is a fatall herauld and mournfull harâ—…inger which pâ—…rtends and prepares both of them many disasterous calamities and wofull miseries the which in a manner are almost ready to surprise and befall them This sorrowfull widdow being thus deprived of her deare Husband who was both her comfort and her joy her stay and her Protector her Head and her glory although hee left her a good Estate sufficient enough to warrant her against the feare of poverty and to secure herselfe against the apprehension of worldly Indigence and wherewithall to maintaine both her and her sonne with somewhat more than an indifferent competency yet she saw her friends forsake her and her Husbands familiar acquaintance abandon her as if their friendship died with him and that their remembrance of him was wholly raked up and buried in the dust of his grave A most ingratefull disease and iniquity of our time rather to be pitied than cured and reproved than reformed so fading inconstant are the unfriendly friendships of the world who for the most part are grounded on profit not on
forgets all other projects and affaires to follow and hasten on this which to give one word for all takes up both his study and his time in Losanna casting away his bookes which would seeme to divert him from it as if hee courted Pluto not Apollo Proserpina not Pallas Erynnis not Vrania the Furies not the Muses and as afflictions seldome come alone but many times as the waves of the sea fall one in the necke of another so to make him rather advance than retire in the execution of this his unnaturall and damnable attempt his excessive and frequent drunkennesse makes him so notoriously apparant to the Heads of the University in generall and of his owne Colledge in particular that they give him his Conge and without lending any eare to his Apologie or Justification expell him thence So that being now destitute of all friends and meanes he is enforced to see himselfe reduced to this point of misery that hee must either begge or starve which to prevent because he as much disdaines the first as hee is resolved to provide a remedy for the second he leaves Losanna where his vices and debts have made the stones too hot for him and on foot goes home to his Mother to Morges hoping that his presence may prevaile more with her than his absence and his tongue make that easie which his pen in his Letters found not onely difficult but impossible Being arrived at Morges his loving and indulgent Mother receives him with teares not of joy but of griefe for his drunkennesse hath so deformed his face and body as at the first sight shee difficultly knew him to bee her sonne and although he take paines to conceale that beastly vice of his and so to plaister and varnish it over with a fained shew of repentance and reformation yet she sees to her affliction and observes to her misery that he loves his Cups better than his life and that as soone as she once turnes her backe from him he fals close to them and so tipleth and carouseth from Morning to Night Three dayes are scarce past before he makes two requests to her the one for new clothes the other for money when to the end that her wisdome might shine in her affection as well as her affection in her wisdome she cheerefully grants him the first but peremptorily denies him the second because shee well knowes it would bee so much cast away on him sith he would instantly cast it away on Wine and to write the truth the grant of his apparell doth not so much content him as the refusall of â—…er money doth both afflict and inflame him He is all in choller hereat and the fumes of revenge doth so implacably take up seize upon his thoughts and they on it as now without the feare of God or care of his soule hee like a damnable villaine and an execrable Sonne swaps a bargaine with the Devill to destroy and make away his mother Hellish resolutions and infernall conceits which will not onely strangle those who embrace but confound those who follow them his impietie made him formerly assume this bloudy fact and now his necessity want of mony in that he cannot as it were drowne himselfe in the excesse of drunkennesse enforceth him to a resolution to finish it His faith is so weak towards God and so strong with the Deuill as hee will not retire with Grace but advance with impiety to see as well the end as the beginning of this bloudy businesse He consults hereon with his delight not with his reason with his will not with his Conscience with his heart not with his soule Hee sees hee hath no money and knowes or at least beleeves that his mother hath enough and therefore concludes that if shee were once dead it were impossible that his life should want any So these two wretched Councellors Covetousnesse and Drunkennesse or rather Covetousnesse to maintaine his Drunkennesse like two infernall fiends and furies haule him on head-long to perpetrate this bloudy and mournfull murther of his deare and tender Mother the end whereof will bring him as much true misery and infamy as the beginning doth flatter and promise him false content and happinesse his youth hath no regard to her age and lesse to her Life neither will he vouchsafe to remember that he first received his of her yea all the bloud which flowes in his heart and streames in his veines and body cannot any way have the power to prompt him that it is derived and descended from hers And if Morges will not divert him Losanna should if his yeares cannot instruct him yet his bookes might and if Nature prevailed not with his heart yet mee thinkes Grace should with his Conscience to represent him the foulenesse of this attempt and the unnaturall cruelty thereof in resolving to embrew his diabolicall hands in her innocent bloud or if the influence of these earthly considerations could not allay the heat of his malice or quench the fire of his revenge towards her yet me thinks looking from prophanenesse to piety from Earth to Heaven from the time present to the future from the corruption of his Body to the immortality of his Soule from Sin to Righteousnesse from Revenge to Religion and consequently from Satan to God he should hate this bloudy designe and project of his as much as now he loves it and seeke the preservation of his Mother with as much obedience and affection as now he contrives and pursues her untimely end with impiety and detestation But his Vices will still triumph over his Vertues and therefore it is rather to bee feared than doubted that they will in the end make him too miserable ever to see himselfe so happy Miserable Maurice therefore as the shame of his time the disgrace of his sex and a prodigious monster of Nature having hellishly resolved on the matter now with a devillish fortitude and hellish assurance passeth on to the manner of her Tragedy Hee will not give eare to God who seekes to divert him from it but will hearken to the devill who useth his best Oratory to perswade and entice him to it But as the devill is malicious in his subtilty so should we be both wise and cautious in our credulity for if we beleeve him he will betray us but if we beleeve God we shall then betray him he is impatient of delayes yea his malice is so bloudy and his revenge so cruell as hee thinkes every houre a yeare till he hath sent her from Earth to Heaven He proposeth unto himselfe divers wayes to murther her and the devill who is never absent but present in such hellish occasions makes him as well industrious as undictive and implacable in the contriving and finishing thereof Now he thinks to cut her throat as she is in bed Then to poyson her at table either in her meat or drinke Then againe hee is of opinion to hire some to kill her as shee is walking in
but to all Portugall And thus most pensively and disconsolately is Idiaques reconveyed to his prison where Church-men are sent him by the Iudges of that court to direct his soule in her slight and transsiguration from earth to Heaven whom they finde or at least â—…hey make very humble mournefull and repentant According to which sentence he is the next morning brought to the place of execution which for the greater example and terrour to others and of ignominy to himselfe was before his owne house wherein he had acted and perpetrated all his enormous crimes Where the scaffold is no sooner erected but there flocke an infinite number of people from all parts of the City to be spectators of this last scene of his Tragedy He came to the scaffold betweene two Friers in a sute of blacke Taffeta a gowne of blacke wrought tuffe Taffeta and a great white set ruffe which yet could not be whiter than his broad beard At his ascent on the scaffold his grave aspect and presence engendred as much sorrow pity as his beastly crimes did detestation in the hearts and tongues of the people to whom after hee had a short time kneeled downe and prayed he made a short speech to this effect That although the poysoning of his owne wife and his adultery with his sons wife were crimes so odious and execrable as had made him unworthy any longer either to tread on earth or to look up unto Heaven yet although he deserved no favour of his Judges for his bodie he humbly repented and begged some of God for his soule and for the more effectuall obtaining thereof hee zealously prayed all those who were present to joyne their prayers to his Hee confessed that it was Marsillia's beauty which first at the instigation of the devill drew him to that adultery with her and this poysoning of his owne wife Honoria whereof from his heart and soule he now affirmed hee implored remission of God of the Law of his sonne Don Ivan and of all the world and prayed them all to be more godly and lesse sinfull by his example and so kneeling downe and praying a little whiles to himselfe he rose up and putting of his gowne ruffe and doublet which hee gave to the Executioner hee binding his head and eyes with his handkerchiefe bade him doe his office which he presently performed and with one blow of the sword made a perpetuall double divorce betwixt his head and his shoulders his body and his soule when presently according to his sentence both his head and his body were then and there burnt and consumed to fire and his ashes throwne into the ayre And this was the deplorable life and death of De Perez Idiaques and Marsillia of whom the spectators according to their severall humours and affections spake diversly all condemning the bloudy cruelty of De Perez towards innocent Mathurina and of Idiaques towards his vertuous wife Honoria Againe some pitied and others execrated Marsillia's youth beauty and lust but both sexes and all degrees of people as so many lines terminating in one Center magnified the providence and Justice of God in so miraculously and condignly cutting off these monsters of nature and bloudy butchers of mankinde And if the curiosity of the Reader will yet farther enquire what afterwards became of Don Ivan The reports of him are different for as first I heard that his discontent and griefe was so great yea so extreame for the death of his Parents and wife that he cloistered himselfe up a Capuchin Fryer in their Monastery at Madrid So contrariwise I have since credibly beene enformed that he shortly after these disasters left Spaine and still lives in Santarem in Portugall in great honour welfare and prosperity But which of these his resolutions are most inclining and adherent to the truth it passeth beyond my knowledge and therefore shall come too short of my affirmation GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XVII Harcourt steales away Masserina his brother Vimoryes wife and keepes her in Adulterie She hireth Tivoly an Italian Mountebanke to poyson La Precoverte who was Harcourts wife Harcourt kils his brother Vimory and then marries his widdow Masserina Tivoly is hanged for a robbery and at his execution accuseth Masserina for hiring him to poyson La Precoverte for the which shee is likewise hanged Noel who was Harcourts man on his death-bed suspecteth and accuseth his said Master for killing of his brother Vimory whereof Harcourt being found guilty he is broken alive on a wheele for the same MAn being the Workemanship and figurative Image of God what an odious sinne yea what an execrable crime is it therefore for one out of the heate of his malice or fumes of his revenge to poyson or murther another sith Nature doth stronglie impugne and Grace with a high hand infinitely contradict it Therefore were not our hearts and understandings either wholly deprived of Common sence or our soules of the gratious assistance and favour of God wee would not thus so furiously and prophanely make our selves guilty of these infernall sins but rather with our best endevours would seeke to avoid them as Hell and with our most pious resolutions to hate and detest them as the Divell himselfe who is the prime Authour and Actor thereof But some such monsters of Nature and Disciples of Sathan there are here on Earth A fearefull and lamentable Example whereof this ensuing History will shew us The which may all good Christians read to Gods glory and remember to the instruction of their Soules THere is a parish tearmed Saint Symplician a mile from the Citie of Sens in the Dutchy of Burgundy which is honoured with the title and See of an Archbishop where within these few yeares there dwelt and died an aged Gentleman more Noble by birth than rich in Estate and Demaynes termed Monseiur De Vimory who left onely two sonnes behinde him the eldest named Monâ—…eiur Dâ—… Harcourt and the second Monseiur De Hautemont who were two very proper young Gentlemen excellently well bred and qualified as well in Arts as Armes or in any other vertue or perfection which was requisite both to shew and approve themselves to bee the sonnes of their father And to content my Reader with their characters Harcourt was tall but not well favoured but of a milde and singular good disposition Hautemont was of a middle stature neatly timbred of a sweet and amiable countenance but by nature hasty and head-strong Harcourt had a light Aubrnn beard which like a Countrey Gentleman he wore negligently after the Ovall cut Hautemont had a coale blacke beard which Courtier-like he wore in forme of an invaled Pyramides Harcourt was thirty two yeares of age very chaste and honest Hautemont was twenty five but many times given to women and ready to bee deboshed and drawne away by any though but of an indifferent quality and complexion To Harcourt the eldest son their father gave his
the ayre for the first pag. 437. THE TRIVMPHS OF GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRABLE sinne of Murther HISTORIE I. Hautefelia causeth La Fresnay an Apothecary to poyson her brother Grand Pre and his wife Mermanda and is likewise the cause that her said brother kils de Malleray her owne husband in a Duell La Fresnay condemned to bee hanged for a rape on the ladder confesseth his two former Murthers and sayes that Hautefelia seduced and hired him to performe them Hautefelia is likewise apprehended and so for the cruell Murthers they are both put to severe and cruell deaths IF our contemplation dive into elder times and our curiositie turne over the varietie of ancient and moderne Histories as well Divine as Humane wee shall find that Ambition Revenge and Murther have ever prooved fatall crimes to their undertakers for they are vices which so eclipse our judgements and darken our understandings as we shall not only see with griefe but find wâ—…h repentance that they will bring us shame for glory affliction for content and misery for felicity Now as they are powerfull in men so they are soâ—…etimes implacable in women who with as much vanity as malice delight in these sinnes as if that could adde grace to their bodies that deformes their soules or lustre and prosperity to their dayes that makes shipwracke both of their fortunes and lives It is with griefe and pity yea not with passion but compassion that I instance this in a Gentlewoman who was borne to honour and not to shame had not these three aforesaid vices like so many infernall furies laine her glory in the dust and dragged her body to an untimely and infamous grave It is a History that hath many sorrowfull dependances and which produceth variety of diasasterous and mournefull accidents wherein by the just judgement of God wee shall see Ambition bitterly scourged Revenge sharpely rewarded and Murther severely punished by whose example if all that professe Religion become lesse impious and more truely religious wee shall then lead the whole course of our lives in such peacefull and happy tranquility as arming our selves with resolution to live and die in the favour of Heaven wee need not feare either what earth or hell can doe unto us The History is thus NEere Auxone a strong and ancient Towne upon the frontiers of Burgundy and the free County dwelt an aged grave Gentleman nobly descended and of very faire demaynes named Monsieur de Grandmont who had to his wife a vertuous Lady termed Madammoyselle de Carnye the onely daughter of Monsieur de Buserat a worthy Gentleman of the Citie of Dole this married couple for a long time lived in the greatest height of content that either Earth could afford or their hearts desire for as one way they grew opulent in lands and wealth so another way they were indewed with three hopefull Sonnes Grand Pre Vileneufe and Masseron and with two daughters Madamoyselles de Hautefelia and de Cressye a faire posterity they blest in their Parents and their Parents hoping themselves blest in them so as to the eye of the world this one family promised to make many especially sith the youngest of the five had already attained its tenth yeare but God in his providence ordayned the contrary Grand Pre as the first and chiefest pillar of the house craves leave of his Father that he might serve his apprentiship in the warres under the command of that incomparable Captaine Grave Maurice then Earle of Nassaw since Prince of Orenge Vileneufe delighting in bookes his Father thought fit to send to Pont-au Mousson and thinking to retaine Masseron with him he for his beauty was begg'd a Page by that valorous Marshall of France who so wilfully and unfortunately lost his head in the Bastile of Paris As for their two daughters Hautefelia lived with her Parents and de Cressye they presented to a great Lady of Burgundy who was long since the most afflicted and sorrowfull Wife and Mother to the Barons of Lux Father and Sonne who were both slaine by that generous and brave Lorayne Prince the Knight of Guyse But behold the inconstancie of fortune or rather the power and pleasure of heaven which can soone metamorphose our mirth into mourning our joyes into teares and our hopes into despaire for within the compasse of one whole yeare wee shall see three of these five Children laid in their graves and of three severall deaths for Vileneufe was drowned at Pont-au Mousson as hee bathed himselfe in the River Masseron was killed in a Duell at Fontaine bleau by Rossat a Gascon being Page to the Duke of Espernon and Hautefelia dyed at home of a burning Feaver with her Parents a triple losse which doth not onely afflict their hearts and soules but also seemes to drowne their eyes with a deluge of mournefull and sorrowfull teares Grandmont and de Carny his Wife being thus made unfortunate and wretched by the death of three of their Children they resolve to call home their other two to bee comforts and props to their old age but their hopes may deceive them First from the Baronesse of Lux comes de Cressye who succeeding her sister we must now terme by the name or rather by the title of Hautefelia who hath a great and bloody part to act upon the Theater of this History and after her very shortly comes Grand Pre from Holland where in divers services hee left many honourable and memorable markes of his prowesse and valour behind him Vpon his arrivall to his Fathers house the flowre of all the nobility and gentry of the Country come to condole with him for the death of his brothers and sister as also to congratulate his happy returne an office and complement which expresseth much affection and civility they find Grand Pre a brave compleate Gentleman not in outward pride but in inward generositie and vertue not in the vanity of fashions and apparell but in the perfections and endowments of his mind and body he is wholy addicted to the exercise of warre and not to the art of courting of Ladies his delights are in the campe of Mars and Bellona and not in the Palace of Venus and Cupid well knowing that the one will breed him honour and glory the other shame and repentance his pastimes are not crisping and powdering of his haire quarrelling his taylor for the fashion of his clothes dancing in velvet pumps and tracing the street in a neat perfumed Boote with jangling Spurres yea hee resembleth not young spruce Courtiers who thinke no heaven to brave Apparell nor Paradise to that of their Mistresse beauty for hee onely practiseth riding of great Horses Tilting running at Ring displaying the Colours tossing the Pike handling the Musket ordering of Ranke and File thereby to make himselfe capable to conduct and embattaile an Army and to environ fortifie or besiege a City or Castle or the like yea hee spurnes at the Lute and Viall and
hee was once resolved that very instant to send him a Challenge and the sooner because Christeneta might be an eye-witnesse of the delivery thereof but to speake truth Passion could not finde a better oportunity nor Iudgement a worse for him to draw his malicious contemplation into bloudy and impious action and therefore respecting Christeneta although shee had refused to respect him and fearing if shee had the least notice or â—…kling thereof she loved her Pisani so dearely as she would hinder and prevent him from running into so imminent a danger hee all that day hush'd himselfe up privately in his Inne deferring the sending thereof till the morning when delivering it to his cosin Sebastiano the Gentleman that came with him from Cremona hee prayes him instantly to finde out Pisani and to deliver it to him as secretly and as fairely as hee could Sebastiano being no novice in these occasions and accidents repaires to Pisani his Lodging and findes him as he was issuing forth his Chamber whom hee salutes and delivers Gasparino's Challenge fast sealed Pisani with a constant carriage and firme countenance receives it and breaking off the Seales steps aside and reades these Lines GASPARINO to PISANI YOu have given the first breach to our friendship for sith you have treacherously bereaveâ—… mee of my Mistresse you must now both in honour and justice either take my life or yield mee yours in requitall If you consider your owne ingratitude you cannot taxe much lesse conâ—…e this my resolution the Place the West end of the Parke the Houre foure or five after Dinner the manner oâ—… foot with Seconds the Weapon if you please two single Rapiers whereof bring you one and I the other and I will bee content to take the refusall to give you the â—…yce If your courage answer your infidelity you will not refuse to meet mee GASPARINO Pisani having received and perused this Challenge like an Italianated Gallant preferring his honour before his life very cheerefully without any motion or show of alteration either in his speeches or countenance turnes to Sebastiano and speakes to him thus Sir I pray tell Gasparino from me that my selfe and Second will with single Rapiers meet him and his at the houre and place appoynted Sebastiano returnes and Pisani having accepted the Challenge beares it so secretly as Christeneta the other halfe of his heart understands not hereof he findes out his deare and intimate friend Sfondrato a valiant young Gentleman issued of a very noble Family of Millan who accompanyed him from Cremona to whom hee relates the whole effect of this businesse shewing him Gasparino's Challenge and requesting him to honour him so much as to second him in this quarrell Sfondrato very cheerefully and freely offereth and ingageth himselfe and so about noone Sebastiano and himselfe like honourable friendly enemies meet to provide and match the Rapiers but beare it so secretly and discreetly as none whatsoever could once perceive their intents or gather their resolutions The houre approaching they all take horse and that day Pisani because hee would bee no way prevented and hindred doth purposely refraine to visit his Mistresse Christeneta They poast to the Parke as to a Wedding being the place of Rendezâ—…vous of their meeting so famous for the defeat of the French and taking Prisoner of their King Francis the Second by the Forces of the Emperour Charles the Fifth Gasparino and Sebastiano are first in the Field but Pisani and Sfondrato are not long after so they all tye up their Horses to the hedge pull off their Spurres and cut away the timber-heeles of their Bootes that they might not trip but stand firme in their play But ere they beginne the Seconds search the Principalls and they the Seconds so they throw off their Dublets and appeare all in their shirts not as if they feared death but rather as if they were resolved to make death feare them By this time Gasparino and Pisani draw they make their approaches and at the first incounter Pisani is hurt in the out-side of the left arme and Gasparino in the right flanke the bloud whereof appeared not but fell into his hose they againe separate themselves and now trye their fortunes afresh here Pisani receives two wounds the one glancing on his ribs the other in the brawne of his right arme and Gasparinâ—… one deepe one in his left shoulder but these slight hurts they onely esteeme as scarres not as wounds and therefore seeing their shirts but sprinkled not dyed with their blouds they couragiously come on againe but this bout proves favourable to them both for Gasparino wards Pisani's thrust from him and onely runnes Pisani thorow the hose without doing him any other harme and so they close which Pisani doth purposely to exchange ground thereby to have the Sunne in his backe which was be fore in his eyes and now they conclude to take breath Their Seconds withdraw not from their stations neither can they yet imagine to whose side fortune will incline they being well-neare as equall in wounds as courage and now Pisani and Gasparino dressing their Rapiers and wiping off the blood from them beginne againe to make tryall on whom Victory is resolved to smile but they alter the manner of the fight for now Gasparino fights with judgement and not with fury and Pisani with fury and not with judgement whereas heretofore they both did the contrary They traverse their grounds Pisani is so violent as hee hath almost put himselfe out of breath but Gasparino is so wary and cautelous as hee contents himselfe to breake his thrusts and resolves not to make any but to the purpose and upon manifest advantage the issue answereth his hopes and expectation for at the very next incounter as Pisani runnes Gasparino in the necke hee runnes Pisani thorow the body a little below the left pap and his sword meeting with Cavâ—… Vena which leads directly to the heart makes a perpetuall divorce betwixt his body and his soule and so hee falls starke dead to the ground Gasparino knowing him dispatched sheathes up his rapier But Sfondrato and his Chirurgion runue to his assistance but the affection of the one and the art of the other were in vaine for Pisani his life had forsaken his body and his soule was already fled from this world to another Whiles Sfondrato and the Chirurgion were stretching out the dead body of Pisani and covering it up with their cloakes Sebastiano runnes to Gasparino and congratulates with him for his victory extolling his valour to the skie But Gasparino tells him that these prayses appertaine not to him but to a higher providence and withall prayes him to bee carefull and to mannage his life both with courage and discretion and for himselfe finding his wounds no way desperate nor dangerous hee is resolved not to suffer his Chirurgion to bind them up till hee see the issue of the Combate betwixt his faithfull friend Sebastiano and Sfondrato By this time
Murther and with many teares repents herselfe of it adding withall that her affection to Antonio led her to this revenge on her brother and therfore beseecheth her Iudges to have compassion on her youth But the foulenesse of her fact in those grave and just personages wipes off the fairenesse of her request So they consult and pronounce Sentence against her That for expiation of this her cruel murther on the person of her brother she the next morne shall bee hanged in the publike Market place So all praise God for the detection of this lamentable Murther and for the condemnation of this execrable Murtheresse and those who before looked on her youth and beauty with pitty now behold her foule crime with hatred and detestation and as they applaud the sincerity of her former affection to Antonio so they farre more detest and condemne this her inhumane cruelty to her owne brother Sebastiano But what griefe is there comparable to that of her Father and Mother whose age content and patience is not onely battered but razed downe with the severall assaults of affliction so as they wish themselves buryed or that their Children had beene unborne for it is rather a torment then a griefe to them that they whom they hoped would have beene props and comforts to their age should now prove instruments and subjects to shorten their dayes and consequently to draw their age to the miseries of an untimely and sorrowfull grave But although they have tasted a world of griefe and anxiety first for the death of their Daughter Catalina and then of their onely Sonne Sebastiano yet it pierceth them to the hâ—…rt and gall that this their last Daughter and Child Berinthia should passe by the passage of a halter and end her dayes upon so ignominious and shamefull a Stage as the Gallowes which would adde a blemish to the lustre of their bloud and posterity that time could never have power either to wipe off or wash away which to prevent Vilarezo and his wife Alphanta use all their friends and mortall powers towards the Iudges to convert their Daughters Sentence into a lesse shamefull and more honourable death So although the Gallowes bee erected Berinthia prepared to dye and a world of people yea in a manner the whole people of Avero concurr'd and seated to see her now take her last farewell of the world yet the importunacie and misery of her parents her owne descent youth and beauty as also her endâ—…ered affection and servent love to her Lover Antonio at last obtaine compassion and favour of her Iudges So they revoke and change their former decree and sweeten the rigour thereof with one more honourable and milde and lesse sharpe bitter and shamefull and definitively adjudge her to be immured up betwixt two walls and there with a slender dyet to end the remainder of her dayes And this Sentence is speedily put in execution whereat her parents friends and acquaintance yea all that knew her very bitterly grieve and lament and farre the more in respect they cannot be permitted to see or visit her or shee them onely the Physicians and Divines have admittance and accesse to her those to provide earthly physicke for her body and these spirituall for her soule And in this lamentable estate she is very penitent and repentant for all her sinnes in generall and for this her vile murther of her Brother in particular yea a little imprisonment or rather the spirit of God hath opened the eyes of her faith who now defying the Devill who had seduced and drawne her hereunto shee makes her peace with God and assures her selfe that her true repentance hath made hers with him So unaccustomed to bee pent up in so strait and darke a Mew the yellow Iaundies and a burning Feaver surprise her and so she ends her miserable dayes Lo these are the bitter fruits of Revenge and Murther which the undertakers by the just judgement of God are inforced to tast and swallow downe when in the heat of their youth and height of their impiety they least dreame or thinke thereof by the sight of which great effusion of bloud yea by all these varieties of mournefull and fatall accidents if wee will divorce our thoughts from Hell to Earth and wed our contemplations and affections from Earth to Heaven wee shall then as true Christians and sonnes of the eternall God runne the race of our mortality in peace in this world and consequently bee rewarded with a glorious Crowne of immortall felicity in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE VIII Belluile treacherously murthereth Poligny in the street Laurieta Poligny's Mistris betrayeth Belluile to her Chamber and there in revenge shoots him thorow the body with a Pistoll when assisted by her Wayting-Mayd Lucilla they likewise give him many wounds with a Ponyard and so murther him Lucilla flying for this fact is drowned in a Lake and Laurieta is taken hang'd and burnt for the same IT is an infallible Maxime that if wee open our hearts to sinne we shut them to godlinesse for as soone as wee follow Satan God flies from us because we first fled from him but that his mercie may shine in our ingratitude hee by his servants his holy Spirit and himselfe seekes all meanes to reclaime us as well from the vanitie of our thoughts as from the prophanenesse and impuritie of our actions but if wee become obstinate and obdurate in our transgressions and so like Heathens fall from vice to vice whereas wee should as Christians grow up from vertue to vertue then it is not hee but our selves that make ship wracke both of our selves and soules of our selves in this life of our soules in that to come then which no misery can bee so great none so unfortunate and miserable It is true the best of Gods children are subject to sinne but to delight and persevere therein is the true way as well to hell as death All have not the gift of pure and chaste thoughts neither can wee so conserve or sanctifie our bodies but that concupiscence may and will sometimes assayle us or rather the devill in it but to pollute them with fornication and to transforme them from the Temples of the holy Ghost to the members of a harlot this though corrupt Nature seeme to allow or tolerate yet Grace doth not onely deny but detest But as one sinne is seldome without another either at her heeles or elbow so too too often it falles out that Mâ—…rther accompanieth Fornication and Adulterie as if one of these foule crimes were not enough to make us miserable but that in stead of going wee will needs ride poast to hell A woefull President and lamentable and mournfull Example whereof I heere produce to the view of the world in three unfortunate personages in a lascivious Ladie and two lewd and debosht young Gentlemen who all very lamentably cast themselves away upon the Sylla of Fornication and the
hazzarding of our soules and bodies is odious and distastefull to Heaven sith in seeking to deface man the creature wee assuredly attempt to strike and stabbe at the Majestie of God the Creatour but if there bee any colour or shaddow of honour to kill our adversary for the preservation of the vaine point of our honour what an ignoble ingratitude and damnable impiety is it for a Gentleman likewise treacherously to kill another of whom hee hath formerly received his life yea as Grace fights against this former sort of fighting so both Grace and Nature impugne and detest this second sort of Murther A wofull and mournfull president wherof I here represent in the person of a base and wretched Gentleman whose irregular affection to a Lady first slue her brother in the field and execrable revenge to her lover next drew him treacherously to Murther him in the street and consequently to his owne condigne punishment and shamefull death for the same May all such bloudy Murtherers still meet with such ends and may his miserable and infamous death premonish all other Gentlemen to live and become more charitable and lesse bloudy by his example THe friendship and familiaritie betwixt Seignior Iohn Battista Bertolini and Seignior Leonardo Brellati two noble young Gentlemen native and resident of the Citie of Rome was without intermission so intire and intimate for the space of sixe whole yeares which led them from their yeares of fourteene to twenty as it seemed they had but one heart in two bodies and that it was impossible for either of them to be truely merry if the other were absent and surely many were the reasons which laid the foundation of this friendship for as they were equall in yeares so their â—…atures and complexions resembled and their humors and inclinations sympathized likewise they were ancient schoole-fellows and neere neighbours for their parents both dwelt betwixt the Palaces of the too Cardinals Farnesi and Caponius or if there were any disparity in their dignities and worths it consisted onely in this Bertolini's parents were richer then Brellati's but Brellati was more Nobly discended then Bertolini which notwithstanding could no way impeach or hinder the progresse of their friendship but rather it flourished with the time so as they increasing in yeares they likewise did in affection as if they were ambitious of nothing so much in this world as not onely to imitate but to surpasse the friendship of Orestes and Pillades and of Damon and Pâ—…thias whereof all who knew them and their parents yea all that part and division of Rome tooke deepe and singular notice but to shew that they were men and not Angels and consequently subject to frailty not inherent to perfection that earth was not heaven nor Rome the shaddow thereof have wee but a little patience wee shall shortly see the thred of this friendship cut off the props and fortifications thereof razed battered and said levell with the ground yea we shall see time change with time friendship turned into enmitie fellowes to foes loue to loathing courtesie to crueltie and in a word life to death as observe the sequell of this History and it will briefly informe yee how Bertolini sees that Brellati hath a faire and delicate sister named Dona Paulina somewhat younger then himselfe and yet not so young but that the clocke of her age hath strucken eighteene and therefore proclaimed her at least capeable if not desirous of marriage and although hee bee a novice in the Art of love yet Nature hath made him so good a Scholler in the principles and rudiments thereof as hee sees her faire and therefore must love her rich in the excellencie and delicacie of beautie and therefore is resolute to love her and onely her for gazing on the influence and splendour of her piercing eyes hee cannot behold them without wonder and then prying and contemplating on the roseat and lillie tincture of her cheekes he cannot see these without admiration nor refraine from admiring them without affection but againe remarking the slendernes of her bodie and the sweetnesse of her vertues and seeing her as gracious as faire and that her inward perfections added as much lustre to her exteriour beautie as this reflected ornament and decoration to these hee as young as he was vowes himselfe her servant and withall swore that either shee or his grave must bee his wife and Mistresse Bertolini thus surprized and netled with the beautie of his dearely sweet and sweetly faire Paulina hee is inforced to neglect a great part of his accompanying the brother thereby to court the sister so hee many times purposely forsakes Brellati to follow Paulina and delights in nothing so much as in her presence and in that regard in his absence not that it was possible in his conceit and imagination for him any way to hate him in loving her rather that in generall tearmes hee must love Brellati for Paulina's sake and in particular onely affect her for his owne And as his wealth and ambition made him confident hee should obtaine her for his wife so hee in faire amorous and honourable tearmes as well by his owne sollicitations Letters promises and presents as by those of his parents seekes her in marriage yea and when these could not suffice hee to shew himselfe as true as fervent a lover addes sighes teares prayers and oathes But all these sollicitours serve only to betray and deceive his hopes for if Bertolini were extreamely desirous to marry Paulina shee is as resolute not to match him which discords in affection seldome or never make any true harmony in mindes His wealth deceiving him hee hath recourse to her onely brother and his best and dearest friend Brellati to whom he relates the profundity and fervencie of his affection to his sister Paulina acquaints him with his suite and her denyall his attempt and her repulse therein and by the power and bonds of all their former friendship and familiarity intreates and conjures him to become his oratour and advocate towards her in his behalfe whose smiles hee alledgeth are his life and frownes his death Brellati having his generosity and judgement blinded with the respect of Bertolini his wealth as also of the affection hee bore him all other considerations laid apart like a better friend to him then a brother to his sister Paulina promiseth him his best furtherance and assistance in the processe of this his affection and so with his truest Oratory best Eloquence and sweetest Perswasion begins to deale effectually with her herein But as our hopes are subject and incident to deceive us so Bertolini and Brellati come farre too short of theirs for Paulina in absolute and down-right termes prays her brother to informe and resolve Bertolini that she hath otherways setled and ingaged her affection and therefore prayes him to seeke another Mistresse sith shee hath found another Lover and Servant with whom she means to live and die Her broâ—…er for his friends sake
conclusion is foure are of opinion that this cure is repugnant to the grounds of Physicke and the principles of Chirurgery and therefore impossible to be effected the other two are of a contrary judgement and held it feasable and that many times God blesseth the Art and labours of a man not onely beyond expectation but also beyond hope and reason so De Clugny seeing that these two with Michaele were three against foure hee in respect of the tender care and affection he bore his daughter resolves to imploy him and gives him an hundred double Pistollets in hand to attempt it with promise of as much more when he hath performed it whereof this miscreant and hellish Empericke Michaele being exceedingly glad he betakes himselfe to this businesse visits the young Lady who promiseth him to reduble her fathers summe if he make her body straight when to reduce his impious contemplation into infâ—…rnall action he outwardly applieth playsters and seare-clothes to her body and inwardly administreth her pills and potions and O griefe to write it therein infuseth deadly poyson which hee knowes at the end of ten dayes will assuredly make a divorce betweene her body and soule and so send that to the death of this world and this to the life of that to come So this sweete and innocent Lady wishing good to her selfe and hurt to none in the worâ—…d first finds a giddinesse and swimming in her head and within some six dayes after in which time the poyson had dispersed it selfe throughout all the veines and pores of her body many sharpe gripes and bitter throwes and convulsions whereat her father grieves and she weepes onely that gracelesse villaine her Empericke bids them be of good comfort and that the more paine and griefe she suffered the better and speedier hope there was of her cure but yet inwardly in his devillish heart knowes that the poyson effectually operated and wrought with her as hee desired and expected and that by these infallible signes and simptomes his patient drew neere towards the period of her end Whereupon hee repaires secretly to La Hay and bids her provide the rest of his mony for that La Frange could not possibly live two dayes to an end whereat she triumphing and rejoycing with much alacrity againg promiseth it him and indeed the hellish Art of this execrable Empericke doth not now deceive him though in the end the malice of the devill his Doctor will For just as the tenth day was expired this harmelesse sweet yong Lady dyes to the incomparable and unspeakable grief of the good old President her father for that she was the staffe of his age and the chiefe and onely comfort of his life who disconsolatly and mournfully seemed to drown himselfe in his teares hereat cursing the houre that he first saw this accursed Empericke Michaele who had robbed him of his only joy and delight of his deare and sweet daughter La Frange But this murdrous Michaele having learnt of the devill to feare no colours meanes not to step a foot from Tholouse and so sends privately for Lâ—… Hay of whom he craves the performance of her promise for that quoth he he had performed his Why quoth La Hay is that crookbackt dwarfe La Frange dead She is gone quoth Michaele to her eternall rest when La Hay not able to retaine her selfe for excesse of joy runs to him gives him the other hundred crownes together with many kisses which take quoth she as a pledge of my continuall good will towards thee when again swearing secresie they both take leave each of other and part The newes of La Franges death ratlâ—…th and resoundeth over all Tholouse her kinsefolkes grive at it her frinds lament it and all who eyther know her or her fame bewayle it onely De Salez and execrable La Hay excepted who knowing her to have beene the onely stop and hinderance of their mariage they are so ravished with joy heereat as they seeme to contest and envy each other who shall first bring the newes hereof each to other yea the excesse of De Salez his joy is as boundlesse as that of La Hayes delight so that he seemes to flye to her to her fathers house where she with out-spread armes receives and entertaines him and there they mutually congratulate each other for this her death he affirming and she beleeving that La Frange being gone to heaven it shall not bee long ere the Church make them man and wife on earth In the meane time he being wholly ignorant of her poysoning and yet the olde President her father and the rest of her friends suspecting it they cause her body to be opened and although they find no direct poyson yet remarking a little kind of yellow tincture on her heart and liver as also some show thereof through her frozen veines They cause Michaele to be apprehended and imprisoned and so procure a Decree from the Parliament to have him rack'd At the newes whereof La Hay is extreamely tormented and perplexed as well foreseeing and knowing that her life lay at the mercy of his tongue wherefore to fortifie his secrecie and thereby to secure her owne feare and danger she by a confident friend of his sends him a hundred French crownes more and promiseth him to give him a rich Diamond worth as much againe who as before being extreamely covetous and the Devill resembling himselfe still haâ—…ping to him on that string which most delights him his heart is so devillishly obdurated and his fortitude so armed and prepared as his patience and constancy not onely endures but outbraves the crueltie of his torments and so he is acquited of this his pretended crime but he hath not as yet made his peace with God And now is De Salez resolved to make a Journey to Paris to draw his fathers consent that he may marry La Hay but the wisedome of the father shall anticipate the folly of the Sonne for he having heard in Paris of La Franges death and still fearing that because of his frequent familiarity with that strumpet La Hay he will in the end marry her He in Paris buyes a Captaines place for him in the Regiment of the Kings Guard and likewise dealt with a very rich Counsellour of that Court of Parliament named Monsieur de Brianson that his sonne may marry his eldest daughter Madamoyselle de Plessis a very sweet and faire yong Gentlewoman and the old folkes are already agreed on all conditions onely it rests that the young sees and loves To which end Argentier writes away with all speed to Tholouse for his sonne De Salâ—…z to come up to him who before he had received his fathers letter as wee have formerly understood was ready to undertake that Journey La Hay infinitly fearefull and jealous to lose her pray with Crocodile teares in her eyes and Hyena aspects in her lookes informes De Salez that she feareth that his father hath provided a wife for him in Paris
passe his time that Winter partly hoping that his father will discharge his debts in his absence but more especially to become acquainted with the beauties of that City thereby to obtaine some rich young heire or old widdow for his wife whose estate and wealth might support his pride and maintaine his excessive prodigality and voluptuousnesse and indeed although the two former of these his hopes deceive him yet he shall shortly finde and see that the third and last will not Living thus in Mans the bravery of his apparell and equipage the freenesse of his expences his comely talke personage blacke beard and sanguine complexion makes him as soone acquainted and affected as knowne of many Ladies and Gentlewomen and farre the more because they know his father De Manfrelle to bee a very ancient and rich Gentleman of that Countrey of Maine and although hee is not his heire yet in regard hee is his second sonne as also a Traveller he was the more honoured and respected of all those he frequented so that the very fame and name of Monsier de Merson beganne to bee already divulged and knowne in the City yea and because hee was a great Balladine or Dancer there was no solemne assembly either publike or private but still De Merson made one and there was not a reputed beauty or supposed courteous Lady in Mans or thereabouts but such was his vanity as hee soone wrought and insinuated himselfe into her acquaintance and familiarity the which he made not onely his delight but his glory And although that in a small time the wiser sort of the Gentlemen and Ladies of the Citie found his wit and experience to come infinitely short of his brave apparell yet the more illiterate ignorant of them who esteeme all men by their lustre not by their brave worth as preferring gay apparell and the comelinesse of the body before the exquisite endowments and perfections of the mind they hold him in so high a repute esteeme as they thinke him to be the most absolute Gallant not onely of Mans but of all the Country of Maine so easie it is to captivate the conceits and judgements of those who onely build their judgements in their conceits and not their conceits in judgement And of this ranke and number was our old widow La Vasselay who having many times heard of De Mersons fame and comely personage and seene him once at a Sermon and twice at two severall Nuptiall feasts where his skill and agility proved him to be one of the prime dancers she is so farre in love with him as in her thoughts and heart she wisheth she had given halfe her estate dowrie conditionally that she were his wife and he her husband yea she is so ravished with the comelinesse of his feature and the sweetnesse of his complexion and countenance as all the world is not halfe so deare to her as De Merson nor any man whatsoever by many thousand degrees so delicious to her eye and pleasing to her heart and soule as himselfe And although she be in the frozen Zone of her age yet her intemperate lust makes her desires so youthfully intemperate as forgetting reason and modestle that the best vertue of our soule and this the chiefest ornament of our body she a thousand times wisheth that either De Merson were impalled in her armes or she incloystred in his But doting yea I may well neere truly say dying old Gentlewoman is this a time for thee to thinke of a young husband when one of thy old feet is as it were in thy grave 〈◊〉 being in thy 〈◊〉 yeare of threescore and three art thou yet so fraughted with levity and exempt of continency as thou wilt needs seeke to marrie one of five and twenty Foolish La Vasselay if it be not now time yea high time for thee to sacrifice thy desires to continencie when will it be if ever be Didst thou resolve to wed a husband neere of thine owne age and so to end the remainder of thy dayes with him in chaste and holy wedlocke that resolution of thine were as excusable as this in desiring so young a one is worthy not onely of blame but of reprehension and I may say of pitie Consider consider with thy selfe what a preposterous attempt and enterprise is this of thine that when thou shouldest finish thy dayes in devotion and prayer thou then delightest to begin them in concupiscence and lust O La Vasselay mocke at those rebellious and treacherous pleasures of the flesh which seeme to mocke at thee yea to betray thee and if there be yet any sparke of thy youth which lies burning under the embers of thy age why if thy chaste thoughts cannot yet let modesty or at least piety extinguish them God hath already given thee two husbands is it not now therfore time yea more than time for thee to prepare to give thy selfe to God Hitherto the chastity of thy youth hath made thee happy and wilt thou now permit that the lust of thine age make thee unfortunate or peradventure miserable and that the purity and candeur of that be distained and polluted by the foulnesse and obscenity of this Alas alas incontinent inconsiderate Gentlewoman of a grave Matron become not a youthfull Gigglet or if thou wilt not suffer the eyes of thy body at least permit those of thy soule to look from thy painted cheeks to thy snow-white haire who can informe and tell thee that thou art far fitter for Heaven than earth sith those pleasures are transitory and these eternall for God than a husband sith he onely can make thee blessed whereas in reward of thy lascivious lust this peradventure may be reserved to make thee both unfortunate and wretched But the vanity of this old Gentlewomans thoughts and desires doe so violently fix and terminate on the youth beauty of young and as she immodestly tearms him faire De Merson as the only consideration of her delight and pleasure weighes downe all other respects so that neither reason nor modesty advice nor perswasion can prevaile with her resolution to divert her affection from him but love him she doth and which is repugnant as well to the instinct of Nature as to the influence of modesty and rules of civility seeke him for her husband shee will yea she is already become so sottish in her affection and so lasciviously fervent in her desires towards him that her heart thinks of him by day her soule by night that admires him as the very life of her felicity and thus adores him as the onely content and glory of her life shee will not see the greatnesse of her owne estate and wealth nor consider the smallnesse of his meanes and hopes in that he is not an heire but a second brother she will not enquire after his debts and vices to know what those may be what these are she will not thinke what a preposterous disparity there is betwixt the
in all outward appearance I thinke he neither loves thee for my sake nor my selfe for thine Live thou as happy as I feare I shall die miserable FIDELIA What a fearefull Letter is this either for Fidelia to send or Carpi to receive but her distempered and distracted spirits can afford no other and therefore shee dispatcheth away the Laquay with this And now as if her thoughts transported her to hell shee cannot bee alone for the Deuill is still with her hee appeares to her in the shape of an Angell of Light and profers her mountaines of Wealth and Worlds of Honour if shee will fall downe and adore him To rebell against God is a sinne but to perseuere in our rebellion is not onely a contempt but a treason in the highest degree against God The best of Gods people are commonly tempted but those are and prove the worst who are overcome with temptation Fortitude is a principall and soueraigne vertue in Christians and if wee vanquish the Deuill it is good for vs that he assaulted us sith those Victories as well spirituall as temporall are ever most glorious and honourable which are atchieved with greatest danger Had Fidelia followed the current of this counsell and the streame of this advise shee had never beene so weake with God nor so unfaithfull to her selfe as to destroy her selfe but forsaking God and contemning prayer which is the true way to the truest felicity what can shee hope for but despaire or expect but destruction Her brother Alcasero and many of her kinsfolks neighbours and friends with their best zeale and possible power endevour to perswade and comfort her they exhort her to read religious bookes and continually to pray Shee hearkneth to both these counsels but neither can or will not follow either Her sleepes are but broken slumbers and her slumbers but distracted dreames and ever and anon it seemes to the eyes of her minde and body that the Captaine her father doth both speake to her and follow her In a word she is weary both of this world and of her life yea despaire or rather the Devill hath reduced her to this extreme misery and miserable extremity that she is ready to kisse that hand that would kill her or that Death which would giue her death Shee never sees a knife in the hands of another but shee wisheth it in her owne heart her Conscience doth so terribly accuse her and â—…r thoughts give in such bloudy evidence against her conscience and selfe for occasioning her fathers murther that she resolves she must die and therefore disdaines to live And now comes her sister Celestina to her to perswade and conferre with her but she will prove but a miserable comforter Fidelia sees her with hatred and detestation and when shee begins to speake very peremptorily and mournfully cuts off her speeches thus Ah sister would we had slipt when wee plotted our fathers death for in seeking his ruine we shall assuredly finde out our 〈◊〉 Provide you for your safety for I am past hope of mine and so get you out of my sight I know not whether the beginning of this her speech savoured more of Heaven then the end thereof doth of Hell for sure If we passe hope we come too short of salvation and if we forsake that this infallibly will forsake us This poore or rather this miserable Gentlewoman having alwayes her murthered father before her eyes which incessantly haunts her as a ghost and yet shee enforced to follow it as her shaddow is powerfully allured and provoked by the instigation of the Devill in what manner or at what rate soever to dispatch her selfe being so wretchedly instructed in faith and piety and shee addes and beleeves that the end of her life will prove not onely the end of her afflictions but the beginning of her joyes But O poore Fidelia with a thousand pities and teares I both pitie and grieve to see thee beleeve so infernall an Advocate for what joyes either will he or can he give thee Why nothing but bondage for liberty torments for pleasures and tortures for delights or if thou wilt have me shew thee whereat his flattering oratory or sugred insinuation tendeth it is onely to have thee destroy thy body in earth that as a triumph and Trophee to the enlargement of his obscure kingdome he may dragge thy body and soule to hell fire But Fidelia is as constant in her sinne as impious in her resolution and so all delayes set apart shee seekes the meanes to destroy her selfe shee procures poyson and takes it but the effect and operation thereof answers not her desires I know not whether shee be more impatient to live than willing to die We never want invention seldome meanes to doe evill a little pen-knife of hers shall in her conceit performe that which poyson could not shee seeks it and now remembers it is with her paire of knives in the pocket of her best gowne she flies to her Ward-robe and so to her pocket but finds not her knives onely she finds her Naples silke girdle in stead thereof The Devils instruments are never farre to seeke she thinks it as good to strangle her throat as to cut it And here comes her mournfull and deplorable Tragedy she returnes swiftly to her chamber bolts the doore and so which I grieve and tremble to relate fastens it to the reaster of her bed and there hangs her selfe and as it is faithfully reported at that very instant and for the space of an houre it thundred and lightned so cruelly as if Heaven and Earth were drawing to an end that not onely the chamber where she hung but the whole house shaked thereat The thunder being past and the skies cleared dinner is served on the Table and Alcasero and Caelestina ready to sit they call for their sister Fidelia but she is not to be found One goes to her chamber and returnes that her key is without side and the doore bolted within and yet shee answers not They both flie from the Table to her chamber and call and knocke but no answer Alcasero commands his men to breake open the doore which they doe and there sees his sister Fidelia hanging to the bed-steed starke dead They cry out as affrighted and amazed at this mournfull and pitifull spectacle and with all speed take her downe but she is breathlesse though not cold and they see all her face and body which were wont to be as white as snow now to be coale blacke and to stinke infinitely These are the wofull effects and lamentable fruits both of Despaire and Murther O may Christians of all ranks and of hoth sexes take heed by Fidelia's mournfull miserable example and withall remember that murther will still be revenged and punished especially that which is perpetrated by Children towards their Parents a sinne odious both to God and man sith it not onely opposeth Nature but Grace Earth but heaven No sooner with griefe and mourning
both accuseth 〈◊〉 condemneth himselâ—… for the same For the very Image of that conceit 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 â—…s his feaâ—… did his phrensie and madnesse hee in thâ—… 〈◊〉 of those fiâ—…s aâ—… the height of that Agony and Anxietie driâ—… out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Mâ—…ther in the Well I have drowned 〈…〉 he suffer you to hang me I speake it on Earth and by my part of Heaven what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is true Which words 〈◊〉 sooner esâ—…aped his 〈◊〉 â—…ut he â—…nstantly â—…nes againe to his out-cries of phreâ—… and madnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…d the rest 〈◊〉 â—…ed at these fearefull 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 that they attribute to madnesse yet they lead him to the Hospitall he still raving and crying as hee passeth the streets But oh Let us here farther admire with wonder and wonder with admiration at the providence and mercy of God here againe miraculously made apparent and manifested in this execrable wretch Maurice for he who outragiously cryed in his prison and licentiously raved in the street is no sooner entred into the Hospitall but the pleasure of God had so ordained it as his Madnesse fully fals from him and he absolutely recovereth againe his wits and senses in such firme and setled manner as if he had never formerly beene touched or afflicted therewith His Gaolers make report to the Magistrates first of his confession of drowning his Mother and then of his sudden and miraculous recovering of his perfect memory judgement and senses as soone as hee set foot within the Hospitall Whereupon they as much astonished at the one as wondring at the other doe instantly repaire thither to him and there arraigne and accuse him for that inhumane and bloudy fact of his whereof his owne Evidence and Confession hath now made him guilty But they take him for another or at least hee will not be the same man He denies this horrible and bloudy crime of his with many oaths and asseverations which they maintaine and affirme he hath confessed sayes that they either heard a dreame or saw a Vision whereof hee neither dreamt not thought of and that hee was ready to lose all the bloud and life of his body to finde out and to be revenged of the murtherers of his mother But the Magistrates are deafe to his Apologie and considering the violence of his madnesse by its sudden abandoning him as also his free and uninforced confession of drowning his Mother they conceive that Gods providence and Justice doth strongly operate in the detection of this foule and inhumane murther and therfore contemning his requests and oaths in the vindication of his innocency they cause him to bee refetched from the Hospitall to the Prison and there adjudge him to the Racke when although his heart and soule bee terrified and affrighted with his apprehension and accusation Yet the devill is so strong with him as he cannot yet finde in his heart to relent much lesse to repent this foule and inhumane crime of his but considering that he acted it so secretly as all the world could not produce a witnesse against himselfe except himselfe hee vowes he will bee so impious and prophane in his fortitude and courage as to disdaine these his torments and to looke on them and his Tormentor with an eye rather of contempt than feare But God will be as propitious and indulgent to him as he is rebellious and refractory to God for here we shall see both his Conscience and resolutions taught another rule and prescribed a contrary Law yea here we shall behold and observe in him that now Righteousnesse shall triumph over Siâ—…e Grace over Nature his Soule over his Body Heaven over Hell and GOD over Satan for at the very first sight of the Racke the sight and remembrance of his bloudy crime makes him shake and tremble extremely when his soule being illuminated by the resplendant Sun beames of Gods mercy and the foggie mists of Hell and Satan expelled and banished thence he fals to the ground on his knees first beats his brest and then erecting his eyes and hands towards Heaven he with a whole deluge of teares againe confesseth that hee had drowned his mother in the Well from and for the which he humbly craveth remission both from Earth and Heaven And although there bee no doubt but God will forgive his Soule for this his soule murther yet the Magistrates of Morges who have Gravity in their lookes Religion in their hearts and speecheâ—… and Justice in their actions will not pardon his body so in detestation of this his fearefull crime and inhumane parracide they in the morning condemne him that very after-noone to be hanged At the pronouncing of which sentence as he hath reason to approve the equity of their Iustice in condemning him to die so he cannot refraine from grieving at the strictnesse of the time which they allot him fot his preparation to death But as soone as wee forsake the devill we make our peace with God All Morges and Losanna rings of this mournefull and Tragicall newes and in detestation of this mournefull inhumane and bloody crime of our execrable Maurice they flocke from all parts and streets to the place of execution to see him expiate it by his dearh and so to take his last farewell of his life The Divines who are given him for fortifying and assisting his soule in this her flight and transmigration from Earth to Heaven have religiously prevailed with him so as they make him see the foulenesse of his crime in the sharpenesse of his contrition and repentance for the same yea hee is become so humble and withall so sorrowfull for this his bloody and degenerate offence as I know not whether hee thinke thereof with more griefe or remember it wirh detestation and repentance At his ascending the Ladder most of his Spectators cannot refraine from weeping and the very sight of their teares prooves the Argument of his as his remembrance of murthering his Mother was the cause Hee tells them hee grieves at his very soule for the foulenesse of his fact in giving his Mother her death of whom he had received his life He affirmes that Drunkennesse was not onely the roote but the cause of this his beggery and misery of his crime and punishment and of his deboshed life and deserved death from which with a world of sighes and teares hee seekes and endevours to divert all those who affect and practise that beastly Vice He declares that his Mother was too vertuous so soone to goe out of the world and himselfe too vitious and wirhall too cruell any longer to live in it that the sinnes of his life had deserved this his shamefull death and although he could not prevent the last yet that he heartily and sorrowfully repented the first Hee prayed God to be mercifull to his soule and then besought the world to pray unto God for that mercy when speaking a few words to himselfe and sealing them with
and place appointed meet thee and thine on horsebacke where wee doubt not but to acquit our selves as our selves and to make thee and thine acknowledge that our swords are composed of agood temper and our hearts of a better and consequently that you may perchance meet with your superiours aswell in valour as in bloud and extraction BEAVMARAYS He hath no sooner ended this his letter but he presently beginnes to thinke of his second when calling to minde his owne younger brother Le Montagne a young Gentleman of some twenty yeares of age is brave and valiant and that he hath already fought two Duels and in both of them came off with his honour he sends for him to his closet and there shewes him Champigny his challenge and his answer thereuâ—…to and demands of him if he have any stomacke to second him at this feast his brother Montagne highly applauds his generous resolution for accepting this challenge thankes him for the honour and favour he now doth him in making him his second vowes that if he had many lives as he hath but one hee is ready to sacrifice them all at his feet and service and couragiously tels him hee should have taken it for a sensible affront disgrace and injury if hee had made choice of any other then himselfe So they both prepare their horses swords and courages against the approching time and no lesse doth Champigny and Marin Beaumarays and his brother Montagne conceale this businesse from all the world and Champigny beares it so close and secret as he makes not his ambitious and malitious wife acquainted therewith but in favour of his love to her beauty and reputation to himselfe smothers it up in silence Tuesday morning being come our foure impatient champions are in the fields at their Rendez-vous first arrive Champigny and Marin and presently after them Beaumarays and his brother Montagne all of them being bravely mounted upon neighing and trampling coursers At their entrance Marin comes with a soft trot towards Beaumarays thinking to apologize himselfe to him But Beaumarays is so brave and generous as he is deafe to his speeches and will not heare him but tels him that it is swords not tongues which must now decide their difference and prove him innocent or guilty So Marin missing of his aime he returnes againe upon the same trot to Champigny and now according to the order and nature of Duels it is ordered between those foure desperate Gentlemen that their principals shall search the seconds and the seconds the principals to see whether their doublets were any more then sword proofe but they mighâ—… well have saved themselves that labour for they are all of them too noble and valiant any way to taint their reputations and honours with the least shadow or tincture of cowardize so they cast of their doublets devide themselves and then draw and the first which must and will try their fortunes are Champigny and Beaumarays who being some fourescore paces off they give the Spurres and reines to their horses and part as swift as the winde or rather so furiously and suddenly as two claps of thunder or flashes of lightning At their first encounter Beaumarays runnes Champigny through his shirt band into the right side of his necke and Champigny him into his left shoulder whereat reciprocally inflamed as Lyons they make short turnes with their horses and so fall to it amaine with their swords when againe Beaumarays gives Champigny two other wounds and he returnes him one in counterexchange whereof neither of them being mortall they againe devide themselves to breath which having done and both of them as yet unsatisfied they part the second time at which cloze Champigny misseth Beaumarays and hurts his horse in the necke but BBeaumarays gives Champigny a licke with his sword ore his forehead which bled exceedingly but yet they are too couragious to desist as scorning rather then caring for the number of their wounds They to it againe the third time which proves as fortunate for Beaumarays as fatall for Champigny for as his horse stumbleth on his fore-feet Beaumarays in his bending runnes him thorow the body a little above his left pappe where his sword meeting and cutting the strings of his heart hee presently in a fainting and faltering language spake these his last words Beaumarays I forgive thee my death and God be mercifull unto my Soule And with the same fell starke dead from his horse to the ground When Beaumarays as a noble Gentleman leapt presently from his horse to his assistance and so did his owne second Marin but their charity and care to him was in vaine for already life had forsaken his body and consequently his soule was fled to his place So he lies there gored in his bloud and whiles Marin was covering of his breathlesse body with his cloake Beaumarays sheathes up his sword and with hands and eyes elevated to heaven rendreth thanks to God for this his victory No soonerhath Montagne congratulated with his brother Beaumarays for this his good fortune but with a heart and courage worthy of himselfe hee calles out to his Rivall Marin and bids him prepare to fight When his brother Beaumarays notwithstanding his losse of much bloud doth in finitely desire to spare his Brâ—…ther Montagne from fighting with Marin and so to performe it himselfe But Montagne is too couragious and generous either to understand this motion or to relish this language from his brother and so in hot words and high tearmes he peremptorily tels him That he came to fight with Marin and fight hee would whereupon his brother Beaumarays gives him his prayers commits him to his good fortune and so with his cloake muffled about him sits downe a Spectator to their combat When Montagne remounting his steed hee calles out againe to Marin and bids him prepare to fight Marin no way appalled or daunted with the unfortunate disaster of his principall but rather the more exasperated and incouraged thereat he as a valiant Gentleman vowes to sell and requite his death deerly on the life of his adversary Montagne to which end they devide themselves and draw and so part each towards other I know not whether with more swiftnesse or courage At their first encounter Narin runnes Montagne into the small of the belly of a sleight wound and in exchange he cuts Marin a great slash on his left cheeke which hangs downe and bleeds exceedingly When presently closing againe Montagne runs Marin into the right thigh he him in requital into the right arme and then they devide themselves to take breath and all these their wounds being as yet incapable to appease or satisfie their courages they presently determine againe to fall to it with bravery and resolution When behold the Marquis of Bellary the Titular King of Ivetot with two Lords his Sonnes and their traine passeth that way from Chartres to goe to Paris and seeing two Gentlemen on Horsebacke in their shirts with
affection to Monfredo and therefore with frownes in her lookes and anger in her eyes she thunders out a whole Catalogue of disprayses and recriminations against him and because yet shee despayreth to prevaile with her hereby shee now thinking it high time resolves to divert and change the streame of her affection from him to God and so at last to mew and betake her to a Nunnery whereon her desires and intentions have so long ruminated and her wishes and vowes aymed at to which end calming the stormes of her tongue and composing her countenance to patience and piety she with her best art and eloquence speakes to her thus That in regard she will not accept of don Delrio for her husband with whom shee might have injoyed prosperity content and glory but will rather marry Monfredo from whom she can and must expect nothing but poverty griefe and repentance shee therefore out of her naturall regard of her and tender affection to her hath by the direction of God bethought her selfe of a medium betweene both which is to marry neither of them but in a religious and sanctifyed way to espouse her selfe to God and his holy Church when thinking to have taken time by the forelocke shee depainteth her the felicity and beatitude of a Nunnes profession and life so pleasing to God and the World to Heaven and Earth to Angels and Men When her daughter Cecilliana being tyred and discontented with this poore and ridiculous oration of hers shee lifting up her eyes to Heaven with a modest boldnesse and yet with a bold truth interrupts her mother thus that God hath inspired heâ—… heart to affect Monfredo so deerely and to love him so tenderly as shee will rather content her selfe to beg with him then to live with Delrio in the greatest prosperity which either this life or this world can afford her that although shee had no bad opinion of Nunnes yet that neither the constitution of her body much lesse of her minde was proper for a Nunnery or a Nunnery for her in which regard shee had rather pray for them then with them and honour then imitate them when the Lady her mother not able to containe her selfe in patience much lesse in silence at this audacity and as shee thought impiety of her daughter she with much choller and spleene demands her a reason of these her exorbitant speeches When her daughter no way dejecting her lookes to earth but rather advancing and raysing them to heaven requites her with this answer That it is not the body but the minde not the flesh but the soule which is chiefly requisite and required to give our selves to God and his Church that to throw or which is worse to permit our selves to be throwne on the Church through any cause of constraint or motion of distaste or discontent is an act which savoureth more of prophanenesse then piety and more of earth then heaven that as Gods power so his presence is not to bee confined or tyed to any place for that his Centre is every where and therefore his circumference no where that God is in Aegypt as well as in Palestyne or Hierusalem and that heaven is as neere us and wee heaven in a Mansion house as in a Monastery or Nunnery that it is not the place which sanctifyeth the heart and soule but they the place and that Churches and Cloysters have no priviledge or power to keepe out sin if we by our owne lively faith and God by his all-saving grace doe not Which speech of hers as soon as she had delivered and seeing that the Lady her mother was more capable to answer her thereunto with silence then reason she making her a low reverence and craving her excuse departs from her and leaves her here alone in the Garden to her selfe and her Muses Her mother having a little walked out her choller in seeing her daughters firme resolution not to become a Nunne shee leaves the garden and retires to her Chamber where sending for her sonne Martino she relates him at full what conference had there past betweene his sister and her selfe who likewise is so much perplexed and grieved hereat as putting their heads and wits together they within a day or two vow to provide a remedy for this her obstinacie and wilfulnesse As for Cecilliana shee likewise reports this verball conference which had past betweene her mother and her selfe to her brother Don Pedro and Monfredo when according to promise they met that afternoone in the Augustines garden who exceedingly laugh thereat and yet againe fearing lest the malice of their brother Don Martino towards them mought cause his mother to use some violence or indurance to her and so to make force extort that from her will which faire meanes could not they bid her to assume a good courage and to be cheerefull and generous promising her that if her mother attempted it that Monfredo should steale her away by night and that hee as hee is don Pedro her brother will assist her in her escape and flight whereon they all resolve with hands and conclude with kisses Neither did their doubts prove vaine or their feare and suspicion deceive them herein for her incensed mother being resolute in her will and wilfull in â—…er obstinacie to make her daughter a Nunne shee shuts her up in her Chamber makes it no lesse then her prison and her brother don Martino her Guardian or â—…ather her Goaler Poore Cecilliana now exceedingly weepes and grieves at this â—…ruelty of her mother and brother don Martino which as yet her deare brother don â—…dro cannot remedy by perswading or prevailing with them to release her hee acquaints Monfredo herewith and they both consulting finde no better expedient to free her from this domesticall imprisonment then counterfeitly to give her mother to understand and believe that her daughter hath now changed her mind and that by Gods direction shee is fully resolved to abandon Monfredo and so to spend and end her dayes in a Nunnery but contrariwise they resolve to fetch her away by night and without delay Accordingly hereunto Cecilliana acts her part well and pretends now to this spirituall will and resolution of her mother sa before she was disobedient Her mother infinitly rejoyceth at this her conversion and no lesse or rather more doth her brother don Martino who to fortifie and confirme her in this her religious resolution they send some Friers and Nunnes to perswade her to appoynt the precise day for her entrance into this Holy house and Orders which with her tongue shee doth but in her heart resolves nothing lesse or rather directly the contrary The mother now acquaints both her sonnes with this resolution of their sister which is the next Sunday to give her selfe to God and the Church and to take holy Orders when don Pedro purposely very artificially seemes as strongly to oppose as his brother don Martino cheerefully approves thereof now extolling her devotion and piety as farre as the
it presently invited the people of the house below to see what had befallen above to this Gentleman where finding him groveling and gasping for life they by Gods immediate direction doe thinke that hee hath there shot and murthered himselfe when devesting him of his apparell and laying him in bed to search for his wounds they find none but yet it is an houre before they perceive any motion or action of life in him And then opening his eyes he with a distracted looke and amazed countenance deeming himselfe upon the very point of death and that for his murthering of Cassino the Lord in his judgement had infallibly strucken him with suddaine death he finding this foule and bloody act of his to lie heavie upon his soule and conscience in this last Scene as he then thought of his life he rather raving then speaking in the heate of his madnesse and distraction cryes out againe and againe that he had murthered Cassino The which the people of the house are exceedingly astonished to understand And now by this time Cassino is found dead in his Garden and shot thorow with a brace of bullets So his Neece â—…leanora is all in teares hereat and all Vercelie resounds of this his lamentable murther When Cassino's friends and servants make speedy search for the Murtherer and finding a horse tyed to this little Taverne doore they find the Man Wife and Servants thereof in out-cryes and amazement So they ascend the staires find Alphonso in bed with his Carabine by him on the bench and his clothes on the Table and examining the people of the house they report to them this suddaine accident of his swooning and therein of his confession of the murthering of Cassino so they all praise and glorifie God in that they have so soone and so readily found out the inhumane Authour and Actor of this bloody Murther But here before I proceed farther I in the name and feare of God doe request and invite the Reader to take notice of another remarkeable I may say miraculous circumstance of Gods mercy and glory which likewise appeares in this detection and confession of Alphonso to be the cruell Murtherer of this innocent harmelesse Gentleman Cassino for he being no better then distracted of his wits before God had caused and brought him to confesse it which else hee had never done but that in the agonie and anxiety of his stupified spirits hee as I have formerly said thought himselfe on the point and brinke of death and no shaddow of hope left him either of this life or this world Then I say as soone as hee had confessed it God in his good pleasure and providence presently restored him againe to his perfect health strength and memory so that being put in mind and againe remembring his confession and seeing the eminencie of his danger by the presence of Cassino's friends and servants who were there present about his bed to apprehend and carry him away to prison for the same he now with teares and bitter oaths and curses declines and recants what he hath formerly spoken thereof and rather as a Devill then a Christian in lofty and proud speeches stands upon the termes of his Iustification alleadging and affirming to them farther that what he had formerly confessed or said to them concerning the Murther of Cassino proceeded from the destemperature of his heart and braines in that of his distraction or else from the delusions and temptations of the Devill and no otherwise But his owne confession the testimony of those of the house who heard it and the rest of the presumptions and circumstances are so pregnant and apparant that he is the undoubted Murtherer of Cassino as they beleeve not what he now sayes in his owne behalfe and Apologie or that it is any way the delusions of the Devill but the good pleasure of God which brought him to this detection and conviction of himselfe for the same So they being deafe to his requests and oathes they enforce him to draw on his apparell and then by order of the criminall Iudges they that night commit him to prison where the Devill having brought him he now leaves him to himselfe and to his owne misery and confusion which it is to be beleeved that the Lord hath ordained shall speedily befall him The next morning this Monster of nature Alphonso is called to his araignment where being by his Iudges charged with this foule Murther the Devill hath as yet so obdurated his heart as hee not onely denies it but contests against it with vehemencie and execrations So the Vintner and his wife and servants are produced against him as witnesses who acknowledge and confesse his owne confession thereof as also the report of his Carabine and the vicinitie of their house and prospect from the Chamber wherein hee was to Cassino's Garden wherein as he was walking he was shot to death When the mournefull and sorrowfull young Lady Eleanora is likewise brought forth as a witnesse against him who informes his Iudges that Alphonso was a most importunate Suter to her both in his Mothers house at Cassall as also at her deceased Vncles house here in Vercelie adding withall that in her heart and soule shee verely beleeves him to bee the Murtherer of her said Vncle. But still he denies it with choler and indignation whereupon the presumptions and circumstances hereof being more apparant to his Iudges then the knowledge of this truth they adjudge him to the Racke where at his very first torments thereof he with teares confesseth it and God is now so mercifull to his soule as hee seemes to be very sorrowfull and repentant thereof so they seeing him guilty pronounce sentence against him the next day to have his head cut off for the same and that night the Iudges out of their honourable zeale to charitie and pietie send him some Friers to Prison to him to direct his soule to Heaven who willing him to disburthen his conscience and soule of any other capitall crime which hee mought have committed in all the course of his life to the end that it mought not hinder her passage and transmigration from Earth to Heaven Hee then and there reveales them how hee had also formerly poysoned his owne Mother the Lady Sophia at Cassall for the which he likewise craved absolution both of them and of God Whereat his Iudges are exceedingly amaz'd and astonished to see a Gentleman so degenerate inhumane and bloody as to be the death of his owne Mother of whom formerly hee had received his life The day following according to his sentence Alphonso is brought to the place of execution clad in a blacke sute of silke Grograine and a falling band where ascending the scaffold and drawne to much humility and contrition by his secular Priests and Friers hee in presenee of a great concourse of people there made this short speech That these two murthers of his and especially that of his owne Mother the Lady Sophia were so
odious in the sight of God and man that he acknowledged hee no longer deserved to tread on the face of the earth or to looke up to Heaven That he knew not justly whereunto to attribute this infamy and misery of his but to his continuall neglect and omission of prayer whereby he banished himselfe from God and thereby gave the Devill too great an interest over his body and soule that he desired God to forgive him these his two soule and bloody crimes of Murther as also that of his neglect of Prayer and so with teares in his eyes besought all who were there present likewise to pray unto God for him When againe beseeching the vertuous young Lady Eleanora to forgive him the murther of her good old Vncle Cassino hee often making the signe of the Crosse and recommending himselfe into the hands of his Redeemer bad the Executioner doe his office who presently with his sword severed his head from his body and both were immediatly burnt and the ashes throwen into the River of Ticino without the wals of Vercelie although his Iudges were once of opinion to send his said head and body to Cassall for the Iudges of that place to doe their pleasure therewith for there poysoning of his owne Mother the Lady Sophia And thus was the miserable and yet deserved death and end of this bloody and execrable Gentleman Alphonso and in this sort did the judgements and punishments of God befall him for these his two most inhumane and deplorable Murthers May God of his infinit grace and mercie still fortifie and confirme our faith by constant and continuall prayer the want whereof was the fatall Rocke whereon hee perished that so we may secure our selves in this world and our soules in that to come GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRAble Sinne of Murther HISTORIE XXIV Pont Chausey kils La Roche in a Duell Quatbrisson causeth Moncallier an Apothecary to poyson his owne Brother Valfontaine Moncallier after fals and breakes his necke from a paire of staires Quatbrisson likewise causeth his Fathers Mâ—…er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murther and strangle Marieta in her Bed and to throw her body into his Mill-Pond Pierot the Miller is broken alive on a wheele and Quatbrisson first beheaded then burnt for the same WEe may truely affirme that the world is in her wane when Murther is become the practice of Christians which indeed is the proper office of the Devill and how frequently those wofnll accidents happen wee cannot thinke of but with much horrour nor remember but with grieâ—…e of mind and compassion of heart For is it not to mâ—…ke our selves wilfull Traitors and Rebels to God to violate his Divine Majestie in spoiling his true Image and resemblance yea is it not the high-way of Hell But that this age of ours produceth such Monsters of nature reade we but this ensuing Historie and it will informe us of much innocent blood shed we know not whether more wilfully or wickedly IT is not unknowne that the Province of little Britaine was long since annexed and united to the flourishing Kingdome of France by the marriage of Charles the Eighth with Anne the young Dutchesse thereof notwithstanding that she weâ—…e formerly contracted to Maximilian Arch-duke of Austria where we shall understand that in the Citie of Vannes formerly the Court and Residence of those British Dukes thereof late yeares dwelt a noble Gentleman of rich Demaines and Revenues termed Monsieur de Caerstaing who by his wife Madamoyselle de la Ville Blanche had two Sonnes the eldest named by his title Monsieur de Quatbrisson and the youngest Monsieur de Valfontaine The first aged of twenty foure yeares being short and corpulent the second of twentie being tall and slender both of them brave and hopefull Gentlemen as well in their outward personages as in the â—…ward perfections and endowments of their minds For in all respects the care and affection of their Parents had made their education answerable to their births Valfontaine for the most part lived in the Citie of Nantes the second of that Dutchie with an Vncle of his named Monsieur de Massie being President of the Kings Chamber of Accounts which is kept there who frequenting the Bals or publike Dancings whereunto the youth of France are generally adicted amongst many other excellent beauties wherewith that Citie is graced and those pastimes and meetings honoured he sees a young Gentlewoman being a stranger and newly come to the Citie so infinitly rich in the excellencies of nature and the treasure of lovelinesse and beauty as with a kind of imperious commanding power shee atracts all mens eyes to behold to admire to affect her So as although Valfontaines youthfull heart and yeaâ—…es had never as yet stooped or sacrificed to Love yet at the very first sight of this sweet young Gentlewoman whose name wee shall not goe farre to know hee cannot retaine his enamored eyes from gadding on the Roses and ranging on the Lillies of her sweet complexion nor his resolutions from enquiring what her name and her selfe was when being informed that she was the onely daughter and heire of a rich and noble Gentleman a Widdower termed Monsieur de Pennelle of the Parish of Saint Aignaw fower leagues from the Citie and her name Madamoyselle la Pratiere of the age of some seventeene hee at the very first sight likes her so well and loves her so deerely that if her interiour vertues come not too fhort of her exteriour beauty and feature he vowes he will be her Sutor and Servant and so he attempts to court and seeke her for his wife To which end he more like a Tutor then a Pupill in the Art and Schoole of love is so farre from neglecting any as he curiously and carefully seekes all opportunities and occasions to enjoy the felicity of her company and so for the most part hee conducts her to and from the dauncings sits and talkes with her in her lodgings meets her at Church where as well at Vespers as Masse he accompanies and prayes with her and briefly shee can difficultly be present any where where he is long absent from her For by this time which is scarce a moneth since he first saw her her peerelesse beauty and unparalell'd vertues and discourse have acted such amorous wonders in his heart as hee vowes hee must either live her Husband or die her Martyr But see the providence and pleasure of God for if Valfontaine tenderly love our sweet and faire La Pratiere no lesse doth shee him for knowing him to be the Sonne of his Father and therefore a Gentleman of noble extraction and worth and seeing him to bee wise discreet and proper as also remembring and marking that he fervently and infinitly affects her shee is so delighted with his neat feature and personage and ravished with the melodie of his discourse as albeit at first her tongue bee so civill and modest to conceale her affection from him yet her eyes the Ambassadors of
they doe her to accept and receive her owne They tell her they have not the power to grant her the first and she replies that shee then hath not the will to embrace and entertaine the second They acquaint Morosini herewith who by their order and by their selves doe strongly perswade her hereunto but her first answer and resolution is her last that shee willaccept of no life if he must dye neither will hee refuse any death conditionally that shee may live to survive him The two Friers and two Nunnes use their best Art and Oratory to perswade her hereunto but they meet with impossibility to make her affection to Morosini and her resolution to her selfe flexible hereunto Her life is not halfe so pretious to her as is his for if shee had many as shee hath but one shee is both ready and resolute to lose and sacrifice them all for his sake and would esteeme it her felicity that her death might redeem and ransome his life The Judges out of their goodnesse and charity afford a whole day to invite and perswade her hereunto but shee is still deafe to their requests and still one and the same woman desirous to live with him or constant and resolute to dye for him Therefore when nâ—…thing can prevaile with her because dye he must so dye shee will to the which shee cheerefully prepares her selfe with an equall affection and resolution which I rather admire than commend in her So the next morning theyare all foure brought to the place of common execution to suffer death Where Donato is first liftedup to the Ladder who being fuller of paine than words said little in effect but that he wished he had either died in Constantinople or Aleppo or else sunke in the sea before he came to Ancona and not to have here ended his daies in misery and infamy The next who was ordered to follow him was Astonicus who told the world boldly and plainly that hee cared lesse for his death than for the cause thereof and that hee loved Morosini so perfectly and dearely that he rather reioyced than grieved to dye for him only he repented himselfe for assisting to murther Palmerius and from his heart and soule beseeched God to forgive it him and so he was turned over Then Morosini ascends the Ladder â—…ad in a haire coulour sattin sute and a paire of crimson silke stockings with garters and roses edged with silver lace being so vaine in his carriage action and speeches as before hee once thought of God hee with a world of sighes takes a solemneleave of his sweet heart Imperia and with all the powers of his heart and soule prayes her to accept of his life and so to survive him He makes an exact and godly confession of his sinnes to God and the world and yet neverthelesse hee is so vaine in his affection toward Imperia as hee takes both to witnesse that had hee a thousand lives he would cheerefully lose them all to save and preserve hers As for Imperia such was her deere and tender affection to him as she would faine look on him as long as he lives and yet she equally desires and resolves rather to dy than to see him die and because she hath not the power therefore she turnes her â—…ace and eies from him and will not have the will to see him dye When he having said his prayers and so recommended his soule into the hands of his Redeemer he is also turned over Now although our Imperia bee here againe and againe solicited by the Iudges Friers and Nuns to accept of her life yet she seeing her other selfe Morosini dead shee therefore disdaines to survive him shee hath so much love in her heart as she now hath little life and lesse joy in her lookes and countenance Shee ascends the Ladder in a plaine blacke Taffeta Gowne a plaine thicke set Ruffe a white Lawne Quayfe and a long blacke Cypresse vayle over her head with a white paire of gloves and her prayer booke in her hands When beeing farre more capable to weepe than speake shee casting a wonderfull sad and sorrowfull looke on her dead lover Morosini after many volleyes of farre fetchd sighes shee delivers this short speech to that great concourse of people who from Citty and Country flocked thither to see her and them dye Good People I had lived more happy and not dyed so miserable if my Father Bondino had not so cruelly enforced mee to marry Palmerius whom I could not love and to leave Morosini whom in heart and soule I ever affected a thousand times deerer than mine owne life and may all fathers who now see my death or shall hereafter heare or reade this my History bee more pittifull and lesse cruell to their daughters by his Example I doe here now suffer many deaths in one to see that my deere Morosini is dead for my sake for had hee not loved mee deerly and I him tenderly he had never died for mee nor I for him with such cheerefullnesse and alacrity as now we doe And here to deale truly with God and the world although I could never affect or fancy my old husband Palmerius yet noâ—… from my heart and soule I lament and repent that ever I was guilty of his innocent and untimely death the which God forgive me and I likewise request you all to pray unto God to forgive it me And not to conceale or dissemble the truth of my heart I grieve not to dye but rather because I have no more lives to lose for my Morosini's affection and sake I have and doe devoutly pray unto God for his soule and so I heartily request and conjure you all to doe for mine Thus I commend you all to happy and prosperous lives my selfe to a pious and patient death in earth and a joyfull and glorious resurrection in Heaven when signing her selfe often with the signe of the crosse she pulls her vaile downe over her face and so praying that she might be buried in one and the same grave with Morosini she bad the executioner performe his office who immediatly turnes her over And if reports be true Never three young men and one faire young Gentlewoman died more lamented and pittied then they For Morosini died with more resolution than repentance and Imperia with more repentance than resolution thus was their lives and thus their deaths May wee extract wisdome out of their folly and charity out of their cruelty so shall wee live as happy as they died miserably and finish our daies and lives in as much content and tranquillity as they ended theirs in shame infamy and confusion GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable sinne of Murther HISTORY XXVII Father Iustinian a Priest and Adrian an Inne-keeper poyson De Laurier who was lodged in his house and then bury him in his Orchard where a moneth after a Wolfe digges him up and devonres a great part of his body which father Iustinian and Adrian
taking his leave of Denisa or any way acquainting her therewith and now when it is too late this wretched wench exceedingly grieves thereat when knowing his returne uncertain his affection to her doubtfull her self poore and her Lady Mistris Dominica as then not able to maintaine her or her child shee assumes another bloody resolution which is that as shee was formerly accessary to the poysoning of her Master so shee now will bee a principall Actor in murthering and making away of her owne child as soone as it shall be borne and neither conscience nor her feare are able to divert her from this her bloody and damnable purpose For being provoked thereunto first by her shame then by her necessity but chiefly and especially by her fâ—…all Counsellor and instigatour the Devill shee being delivered almost a moneth before her time of a faire young Sonne as soone as it had cried once to bewaile his owne misery and his inhumane Mothers cruelty she as an execrable fury of hell strangles it giving him his mournefull and untimely death in that very same houre and instant which God and her selfe gave it life and the very same evening wrappes it in a cleane white liâ—…in cloth and with a Packthred tyes a great stone thereunto and the devill giving her strength the very same night caries it halfe a mile off to a pondwithout the east gate of the Citty where seeing no body present to see her shee not as a mother no not as a woman but rather as a fury of hell there throwes it in which before her departure thence presently sunck to the bottome And here let us behold and contemplate on the wonderfull mercy and Iudgment of God in so speedily revealing this deplorable and cruell murther of this harmelesse and innocent little new borne babe whom being so newly brought from the adulterate wombe of his pittilesse mother she malitiously cast into that Pond giving it death for life the Pond for its Cradle a banck of mud and Oze for its bed and pillow For upon the instant of Denisas delivery and her murthering and throwing of this her infant babe into the Pond God to revenge this soule and bloody fact of hers deprived her of discretion and judgement to returne for that night to her Masters house for shee thinking to make sure and sound work for her owne reputation and safety shee that very night takes up her lodging in the next poore Inne which was at the signe of Saint Ioâ—… head where to the Host and Hostesse shee pretends â—…amenesse by the receit of a fall But God will give her but small time to rest and repose her selfe in the guiltinesse of this her cruell sinne of murthering her own innocent new borne babe for with in one houre after a Groome riding to water his horse in the same pond his Horse â—…eth and starts exceedingly pawing in the water with his farther fore foote and many times thrusts downe his head therein The Groome gives him the 〈◊〉 and switch to bring him off but in vaine for the horse the more paâ—…th with his foote 〈◊〉 â—…eth with his nose yea so long till at last it seemes the packthred being broken the white cloth appeares and flotes upon the water which the groome upon the strange behaviour of his horse but indeed by the immediate providence and pleasure of God who then and there was well pleased to make this reasonlesse Beast an instrument of his glory in the detection of this cruell murther causeth to bee fetched a shore where opening the cloth in presence of some others who flocke thither to the pond side to see what this may be They find a sweet young Infant boy whose body was as white as the snow with a flaxen coloured haire a cheerefull looke a cherrie lip and some blacknesse about his throate and necke wherby they guessed it to be newly borne and strangled of some Strumpet his mother whom to detect and finde out they search all the adjacent houses and at last finde out Denisa in her Inne when the Officers of Iustice setting a Midwife and some three or foure elderly women to search her they dispight of her resistance or prayers to the contrary give in evidence against her that shee was that day delivered of a child so shee is imprisoned and the next day brought to her arraignement where threatned with the racke shee confesseth the strangling of her child and the throwing of it into this pond for the which soule and in humane fact of hers shee is the next day condemned to bee hanged When desirous to save her soule though through the instigation of Satan she hath miserably cast away her body she entreateth that father Eustace a Priest of her acquaintance may be sent to her in Prison to prepare her soule for her spiritual journy to heaven who is accordingly sent her Who after a long and a religious exhortation to her falling on this point that she should do well to disburthen her conscience of any other capitall crime which she in all the whole course of her life might have committed as affirming that the revealing thereof exceedingly tended to Gods glory and the felicity of her owne foule she with teares and sighes deepely thinkes thereof that night in prison Now the next morning shee is brought to the place of execution where a great number of people flocke together to see her end and there on the Ladder after shee had againe confessed the strangling of her infant and her throwing of it into the Pond shee likewise then and there confessed That she was accessary and consented with her Lady Dominica to poyson her Master Roderigo which shee affirmed they both effected in the same manner as wee have formerly understood The confession of this her otherfoule murther as also of her Lady Dominica doth much amaze her Auditors and astonish her Judges who to cleere and vindicate the truth hereof they cause her to descend the Ladder and to be confronted with her said Lady Dominica who by this time in the middest of her security is likewise apprehended and brought before the Criminall Judges where contrary to her expectation being enforced to understand the effect and tenour of her Chamber maid Denisa's confession and accusation against her for the poysoning of her Husband Roderigo shee with much passion and choller tearmes her witch and devill and curseth the houre that ever shee fostered up so pestilent a Viper in her house to eate out her own heart and life when with more confidence and boldnes than contrition and repentance being first by her judges threatned with the torments of the racke she confesseth her selfe likewise to be guilty of murthering her first Husband Roderigo So Denisa's sentence is altered for shee is condemned to be hanged for her first murther and her dead body after to be burnt to ashes for her second and the Lady Dominica to bee hanged for poysoning her husband which newes so resounds and rattles through
to heaved for this her bloody and unnaturall crime was so odious to men and so execrable to God that shee could hope for no pardon of her life from her judges although her sorrowfull old father Cursoro with a world of teares threw himselfe to their feet and offered them all his lands and meanes to his very shirt to obtaine it for her All Stremos and the country there abouts resound and talke of this cruell murthering of Ferallo as also of his Lady Bellinda's condigne condemnation to death for the same and the next morning at eight of the clocke they all repaire under the castle wall to see this execrable and unfortunate Lady there in flames of fire to act the last scoene and catastrophy of her life she is conducted thither by a Saint Claires Nun on her right hand and a Saint Francis Frier on her left who jointly charge her upon perill of damnation to disburthen her conscience and soule before shee dye of any other capitall crime whereof shee knowâ—…s 〈◊〉 selâ—… guilty the which shee solemnly and religiously promiseth them about nine of the clocke shee is brought to the stake where she sees her selfe empalled and surrounded first with many fagots and then with a very great concourse and confluence of people here shee is so irreligious in her vanity that shee had cast of her blackes and mourning and purposely dighted her selfe in a rich yellow sattin gowne wrought with flowers of silver a large set ruffe about her necke and her head covered over with a pure white tiffney vaile laced and wroâ—…ht with rich cut-worke as if shee cared more for her body than her soule as if her pride and bravery would carry her sooner to heaven than her prayers and repentance or as if the prodigall cost and lustre thereof were able to diminish either her crime or her punishment in the eyes and opinions of her spectators But contrariwise the very first sight of her sweet youth and pure and fresh beauty and then the consideration of her foule crime for murthering her owne husband doe operate and worke differently upon all their affections and passions some pittying her for the first but all more justly condemning her for the second When as soone as their clamorous sobs and speeches were past and blowen over and that both the Frier and Nun had tane their last leave of her then after she had shed many teares on earth and sent and evaporated many sighes to heaven shee wringing her hands whereon shee had a paire of snow white gloves and casting up her eyes towards God at last with a faltring and fainting voice spake thus It is my crime and your charity good people which hath conducted you hither to see mee a miserable Gentlewoman here to dye miserably And because it is now no longer time for me to dissemble either with God or the world therefore to save my soule in heaven though my body perish here in earth I with much griefe and infinite sorrow doe truly and freely confesse both to God and you that I am not only guilty of one murther but of two for as I now lately cut my second husband Ferallo's throat so I was so vild wretched heretofore as to poyson my first Lord and husband De Mora. At which report and confession of this execrable Lady Bellinda in regard of the greatnes of her Lord De Mora's descent Nobility all this huge concourse of people who are sensibly touched with griefe and sorrow make a wonderfull noise and out-cry thereat and now in regard of this soule and double crime of hers they looke on her with far more contempt and far lesse pittie than before But shee being as patient as they are clamorous hereat and seeing their cries now againe cried downe and welâ—…nigh drowned and hushed up in silence recollecting her thoughts and againe composiing her countenance shee againe very sorrowfully continueth her speech to them thus I well know and indeed I heartily grieve to remember that these two foule and cruell murthers of mine make mee unworthy either to tread on the face of earth or to looke up to that of heaven and yet in the middest of these my miseries I have this consolation left mee that in favour of my true confession and religious repentance thereof to God that God can bee as indulgent and mercifull to mee as I have beene impious and sinfull to him the which that I may obtaine I beseech you all who are here present to joyne your prayers with mee and to God for mee and this is the last charity which I will begge and implore of you Now because example is powerfull no example so strong and prevalent as the words of the dying to the living therefore to Gods glory and mine owne shame give mee leave to tell you that two things especially brought and induced mee to commit these foule â—…ers as they have now justly brought mee â—…er to suffer death for committing them first my neglect of prayer and omission to serve and feare God duly as I ought to have done Secondly the affecting and following of my lascivious and lustfull pleasures which I ought not to have done The neglect of the first proved the bane of my soule and the performance and practice of the last the contagion and poyson of my life and both these two sins conjoined and lincked together enforce mee now here to dye with as much misery and infamie as without them I mâ—…ght have lived and peâ—…chance lived longâ—… in earthly happines and prosperity O therefore good people beware by my woefull example let my crime bee your integrity my fall your rising and my shipwracke your safety As I beare not hypocrisie in my tongue so I will not beare malice in my heart Therefore from my heart I forgive Roderigo for telling Gaspar de Mora hee saw mee cast some bloody linnen in the pond I also forgive Gaspar de Mora for informing the Corigâ—…dores thereof and they for so justly condemning mee to death I also pray my father parents to forgive mee these my foule crimes and both to pardon forget the dishonour and scandall which the infamy of my death may reflect and draw on them And now I recommend you all to Gods best favour and mercy and my soule to receive salvation in his blessed kingdome of glory The Lady Bellinda having finished this her speech the hearing and consideration thereof engendred much pittie and compassion in the hearts and caused a world of teares in the eyes of the beholders and now shee prepares her selfe for death Here she takes off her rings from her fingers her pearle bracelets from her armes and as a token of her love gives them to her waiting Gentlewoman Hellena who is present and not far from her most bitterly sobbing and weeping because shee can weepe no more for the death of this her deare Lady and mistris who now repeates many private prayers Ave Maries to her selfe when
THE TRIVMPHES OF GODS REVENGE Agaynst The Cryinge Execrable Sinne of Willfull premeditated Murther Expressed In Thirtye Severall Tragicall Historyes Digested into Sixe Bookes w ch contayne great variety of Mournefull Memorable Accydents Amorous Morall Divine The whole Worke nowe Compleatlye finished Written By Iohn Reynolds LONDON Printed for W. Lee and are to be sould at the Turks head in Fleetstreet ouer against Fetter Lane THE TRIUMPHS OF GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRABLE SINNE OF Willfull and Premeditated Murther VVith his Miraculous Discoveries and severe Punishments thereof In Thirtie severall Tragicall Histories Digested into Sixe Bookes committed in divers Countries beyond the Seas never published or Imprinted in any other Language Histories which containe great varietie of mournfull and memorable Accidents Historicall Morall and Divine very necessary to restraine and deterre us from this bloodie Sinne which in these our dayes makes so ample and large a Progression With a Table of all the severall Letters and Challenges contained in the whole sixe Bookes Written by IOHN REYNOLDS PSALME 9. 16. The Lord is knowen in executing Iudgement and the wicked is snared in the worke of his owne hand PROVERBS 14. 27. The feare of the Lord is a well-spring of Life to avoyd the snares of death LONDON Printed for WILLIAM LEE and are to bee sold at his shop in Fleetstreet at the signe of the Turkes Head over against Fetter Lane 1635. TO MY SACRED SOVERAIGNE CHARLES KING OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE and IRELAND Defender of the Faith c. SIR AS Rivers though in their passing they fall into many neighbour Currents yet finally empty themselves into the Sea so let these my poore Labours though formerly Dedicated to divers Illustrious Peeres of this your Realme bee suffered at last to terminate in the Ocean of your Princely Greatnesse and Goodnesse whereinto all vertuous endeavours as so many lines in their Centre desire to be united What private respests might challenge of me towards their Honors the same towards your Majesty will claime the publicke Bond of Common Allegiance whereby I am more eminently and more universally obliged I am not so overâ—… weening of my weake Endeavours as to thinke them worthy of your Majesties view much lesse able to adde any thing to your Royall Uertues Rivers adde nothing to the Maine yet thither they naturally send the Tribute of their Streames and if my Loyaltie reach me to doe the like it will not I hope be conceived as done out of an opinion of Merit but onely out of a desire to discharge the Duty of a Subject to your Majestie And I am the rather imboldned to this Confidence because I have formerly adventured the like when to your Princely View being then the Second Hope of this Kingdome I about eleven yeares since presented a Translation of a Worke of Monsieur de Refuges intituled A Treatise of the Court the Gratious and Undeserved Acceptance whereof if it hath inspired me with farther Courage to present You now advanced to a greater State with a greater Increase of mine owne Labour your Majestie will not I hope condemne me of groundlesse Presumption The former three Bookes had the Honour and Happinesse to bee perused by the Iudicious Eye of King IAMES your Renowned Father of happy Memory In whose incomparable Iudgement they failed not of Approbation though Dedicated to Inferiour Names the more am I now incouraged to Inscribe and Intitle the whole Sixe to your Sacred Majesty as being no lesse Heire of His Uertues then of His Crowne and Dignitie And one thing more arising from the Consideration of the Subject it selfe made me thinke it a Present not altogether unworthy of your Regall Estate for the Contents of it being the Execution of Iustice upon the unnaturall Sinne of Murther where can it bee more fitly addressed then to the Great Patron of Iustice among us God's immediate Vicegerent by whose Sword as the Minister of Heaven such odious Crimes are to bee chastised and Innocent Bloud justly expiated with Guilty And it may more fitly sute with your Majesty who as you excell in the carefull Administration of Iustice upon all Offenders so especially upon those most hainous of all others the Violaters of Gods sacred Image in the perpetration of wilfull Murther towards whom Clemencie even changeth her nature and becomes Cruelty to the Weal-publicke Never had any Land lesse cause to complaine of too much Indulgencie this way then ours as may well appeare both by the rarenesse of such Occurrences in your Kingdome and the severe vindication of them whensoever they happen or by whom or howsoever performed These Histories therefore which may serve as a Looking-glasse to all Nations shall to these of Yours be a speciall Ornament and Mirrour of their felicity and set forth and publish Your Praise in the peaceable and quiet Government of your People whose Climate seldome or never affords such Tragedies nor will doe whiles Your Christian resolution shall continue to prevent them in the Spring and to punish the lighter degrees of Bloudinesse with due retaliation The great Author of Iustice who is Goodnesse and Iustice it selfe long preserve your Majesty to Vs and the Happinesse Wee enjoy in your Sacred Person so neere resembling Him whose Authority and Image You beare So prayeth Your Majesties most humbly devoted in all Dutifull Allegiance IOHN REYNOLDS THE AVTHOR HIS PREFACE TO THE READER CHRISTIAN Reader we cannot sufficiently bewaile the Iniquity of these last and worst dayes of the world in which the crying and scarlet sinne of Murther makes so ample and so bloody a progression for we can now searce turne our eare or eye any where but wee shall be enforced either to heare with pitty the mournefull effects or to see with griefe the lamentable Tragedies thereof as if we now so much degenerated from our selves or our hearts from our soules to thinke that Christ were no longer our Shepheard or we the sheepe of his Pasture or as if we were become such wretched and execrable Atheists to beleeve There were no Heaven to reward the Righteous or Hell to punish the ungodly But if we will divert our hearts from Earth to Heaven and raise and erect our soules from Satan to God we shall then not onely see what engendereth this Diabolicall passion in us but also find the meanes to detest and roote it out from amongst us To which end it is requisite wee first consider that our enemies who oppose our tranquillity in this life and our felicity in that to come are neither so few in number nor so weake in power that we should thinke our selves able to vanquish ere we fight with them for wee have to encounter with the bewitching World the alluring Flesh and the inticing Devill not with three simple Souldiers or poore Pigmies but with three valiant and puissant Chief-taines subtill to incampe dangerous to assaile and powerfull to fight The World that it may bewitch us to its
evill but it is our owne concupiscence that drawes and inticeth us to it In which respect wee may justly say it is a folly to hearken to temptation but a misery and madnesse to follow and embrace it For why should discontent cast us into despaire except wee will resemble the foolish Saylor who abandoneth the Helme in a storme when he hath most neede to use it or the simple fish that leapes from the pan to the fire Or those ignorant fooles who to shelter themselves from the raine run into the river For are we tempted The Lord will hold us up by his right hand yea hee will not faile those that seeke him For he is our Rocke and our fortresse our shield and our refuge yea although hee hath wounded us hee will bind up our wounds And that wee may yet see a farther benefit that accrueth to those that are tempted let us read with joy and retaine with comfort that Blessed is the man that endureth temptation hee shall receive the Crowne of life which the Lord hath promised to those that love him yea they that trust in the Lord shall bee as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever When therefore amongst other temptations choller so farre prevaileth with us or rather the Devill with our choller that wee imagine mischiefe in our hearts or life up our hands against our Christian brother let us then consider what the Apostle tels us from God Hee that hateth his brother walketh in darkenesse and knoweth not whither he goeth yea He that loves not his brother is not of God Hath any one therefore offended thee Why consider hee is a man and no Angell and as subject to infirmities as thy selfe as also that he is thy brother by Creation and Adoption by Nature and by Grace and that hee beares the same Image and Resemblance of God as thy selfe dost in which regard thou art counselled Not to 〈◊〉 the Sunne goe downe on thy wrath That thou seeke after Peace and follow it That we forbeare and forgive one another as Christ forgives us and q that if we live in Peace the God of Peace will be with us But some there are yea alas too too many who are so hardned in their hearts and sinnes and so resolute in their wilfulnesse as in stead of rellishing they distaste and in stead of embracing reject and disdaine this Christian advice and counsell opening their thoughts and hearts to all vanities or rather drawing up the Sluces and Flood-hatches to let in all impiety to their soules they give way to the treacherous baites of the World to the alluring pleasures of the Flesh and to the dangerous and fatall temptations of the Devill and so cruelly imbrue their hands in the innocent blood of their Christian brethren and although the murthers of Abel by Cain out of Envie of Vriah by David for Adultery of Abner by Ioab for Ambition of Naboth by Iezabel for Malice and of Iehu his Sonnes by Athaliah for Revenge with their severall punishments which God inflicted on them for these their hainous and horrible crimes are presidents enough fearefull and bloody to make any Christian heart dissolve into pittie and regenerate soule melt into teares yet sith new examples ingender and produce fresh effects of sorrow and compassion and as it were leave and imprint a sensible memory thereof in our hearts and understandings therefore I thought it a worke as worthy of my labour as that labour of a Christian to collect thirty severall Tragicall Histories which for thy more ease and perfecter memory I have digested into sixe severall Bookes that observing and seeing herein as in a Christall mirrour the variety of the Devils temptations and the allurements of sinne wherewith these weake Christians the Authors and Actors hereof suffered themselves to bee carried away and seduced Considering I say the foulnesse of their facts in procuring the deaths of their Christian brethren some through blood others through poyson as also Gods miraculous detection and severe punishment thereof in revenging blood for blood and death for death yea many times repaying it home with interest and rewarding one death with many that the consideration of these bloody and mournfull Tragedies may by their examples strike astonishment to our thoughts and amazement to our senses that the horrour and terrour thereof may hereafter retaine and keepe us within the lists of Charity towards men and the bonds of filiall and religious obedience towards God who tels us by his Royall Prophet that Whosoever makes a pit for others shall fall into it himselfe for his mischief will returne upon his own head and his cruelty fall upon his own pate Which we shall see verified in these who seduced partly by sinne but chiefly by Sathan who is the Author thereof forgot the counsell of the Apostle If any one be afflicted let him pray and grived to powreforth their hearts before God not considering the efficacie thereof nor how Moses made the bitter waters of Marah sweet thereby yea they builded not their faiths on God and his promises on Christ and his Church on his Gospell and his Sacrament but spurned at all these Divine comforts and spirituall blessings yea and trampled that sweet-smelling Sacrifice of prayer under their feete which is the Antidote and preservative of the soule against sin and the Bulwarke to expell all the fiery and bloody darts of Sathans temptations yea the very ladder whereby both the aspirations and ejaculations of our soules mount unto God and his benefits and mercies descend unto us and this and only this was both the Prologue to their destruction and their destruction it selfe the which I present unto the view not only of thine eyes but of thy heart and soule because it is a Vertue in us to looke on other mens Vices with hatred and detestation imitating herein the wise and skilfull Pilot who mournes to see the Rockes whereon his neighbours have suffered shipwracke and yet againe rejoyceth that by the sight thereof he may avoid his owne which indeed is the true way both to secure our safety and to prevent our destruction as well of the Temporall life of our bodies in this World as the Spirituall of our soules in that to come I must farther advertise thee that I have purposely fetched these Tragicall Histories from forraine parts because it grieves mee to report and relate those that are too frequently committed in our owne Countrey in respect the misfortune of the dead may perchance either afflict or scandalize their living friends who rather want matter of new consolation then cause of reviving old sorrowes or because the iniquity of the times is such that it is as easie to procure many enemies as difficult to purchase one true friend In which respect I know that divers both in matters of this and of other natures have beene so cautious
matters altered and her greatnesse and power diminished and to her grief sees that she cannot so absolutely domineere as before and which was farre worse her brother in his absence at Dole having smelt and understood her malice and inveterate hatred both to Mermanda the Baron of Betanford De Malleray her husband and likewise to himselfe though nothing suspecting or dreaming of her poysoning humour he is so farre from acknowledging or respecting her for his sister as he will neither indure her company or sight which she making no shew to perceive but like a Fury of hell as she is dissembling her malice and revenge she is still constant and persevers in her humour of bloud and Murther and hath againe recourse to her execrable Apothecary La Fresnay and to the devill her Doctor likewise to make away her brother Grand Pre with poyson as hee had already Mermanda his Wife and gives him three hundred crownes to effect it This damnable Apothecary loving money well and as it seemes the Devill better doth ingage himselfe speedily to performe it and wretched villaine as he is within two moneths he accomplisheth and finisheth it and so as Mermanda ranne equall fortune with him in life hee doth the like with her in death for one deadly Drugge one bloody Sister and one devillish Apothecary gives a miserable and lamentable end to them both And now his blood thirsty sister Hautefelia the authour of these cruell Murthers and Trageedies thinking her selfe freed of all her enemies and of all those who stood in the way of her advancement and preferment shee neither thinking either of her conscience or soule of heaven or hell domineeres farre more then before yea builds castles in the ayre and flatters her selfe with this false ambition that she must now be a Dutchesse or at least a Countesse But she reckons without God We have seene nay we have here glutted our eyes with severall Murthers whereof wee have beheld this wretched Gentlewoman Hautefelia to be the horrible and cruell author and this execrable La Fresnay to be the bloody actor these crimes of theirs and the smoake of these their impious and displeasing sacrifices have pierced the clouds and ascended the presence of God to sue and draw downe vengeance and confusion on their heads for although Murther be for a time concealed yet the finger of God will in due time detect and discover it for he will make inquisition for blood and will severely and sharpely revenge the death of his children But Gods providence and justice in the discovery thereof is as different as miraculous for sometimes hee protracts and deferres it of purpose either to mollifie or to harden our hearts as seemes best to his inscrutable will and divine pleasure or as may chiefly serve and tend to his glory yea somtimes he makes the Murtherer himselfe as well an instrument to discover as hee hath beene an actor to commit murther yea and many times he punisheth one sinne by and in another and when the Murtherer sits most secure and thinks least of it then he heapes coales of fire on his head and suddenly cuts him off with the revenging sword of his fierce wrath and indignation And now that great and soveraigne Iudge of the World who rides on the Winds in triumph and hath Heaven for his Throne and Earth for his foot stoole will no longer permit Hauteselia and La Fresnay to goe unpunished for these their execrable Murthers for the innocent and dead bodies of Mermanda and her husband Grand Pre out of their Graves cry to him for revenge which like an impetuous storme or a terrible Thunder clap doth in this manner suddenly befall and overtake them Some sixe weekes after Grand Pre's funeralls were solemnized whereat his Sister Hautefelia the better to cloke her villany wept bitterly and was observed to bee the chiefest Mourner this hellish Apothecary La Fresnay having gotten his money so easily thought to spend it as prodigally and so on a time being in his cups at a Taverne at Dijon and his braines swilling and swimming with strong Wine as Drunkennesse is the Bawd and Vsher to other sinnes he stealing from the rest of his company committed a Rape upon one Margaret Pivot a girle of twelve yeares old being the Vintners daughter of the Taverne wherein he sate tippling This young girle with millions of teares throwes her selfe to the feet of her Parents and accuseth La Fresnay for the fact who doe the like to those famous Senators of the Court of Parliament so hee is apprehended and being examined with many vehement and bitter asseverations denyeth it he is adjudged to the Racke and at the second torment confesseth it and so he is condemned to be hanged Two Capuchin Fryers prepare him for his end they exhort him not to charge burthen his soule with concealing any other crimes adding that if he reveale and repent them in earth God will remit them in heaven these exhortations of theirs produce good effects for though he have formerly lived like a devill he will now dye like a Christian and so with many teares revealeth that at the instigation of Hautefelia and for the lucre of five hundred crownes which at two several times she gave him he had poysoned Mermanda and her husband Grand Pre. All the world is amazed and the Parliament acquainted herewith they alter their first Sentence and so for his triple villanies condemne La Fresnay to bee broken alive upon the Wheele and there to languish and dye without being strangled which in Dijon is accordingly executed to the full satisfaction of Iustice. A Provost likewise is forthwith dispatched from Dijon to Grandmonts house to apprehend his daughter Hautefelia and God would have it that shee was ignorant of La Fresnay's apprehension and more of his death The Provost findes her dancing in her fathers garden in company of many Gentlemen and Ladies he sets hands on her and so exchangeth her mirth into mourning and her songs into teares she is brought to Dijon and examined by a President and two Counsellors of the Parliament She impudently and boldly denyes both Murders saith La Fresnay is her mortall and professed enemy and therefore not to bee believed But the devill who hath so long bewitched and deluded her either will not or rather now cannot save her with this poore evasion shee is adjudged to the Racke and at the first torment confesseth it The Criminall Iudges of this great and illustrious Parliament in detestation of these her execrable and bloudy crimes of Murther pronounce sentence on her so after shee had repented her sinnes and prepared her selfe to dye her Paps are seared and torne off with red hot Pincers then shee is hanged her body burnt and her ashes throwne into the ayre Now to gather some profit by reading this History or indeed rather by the memory of the History it selfe let us observe nay let us imprint in our hearts and soules how busy the
and frugall in neither which considerations so swayed the judgement and opinion of Vituri that knowing he might every day provide and procure a better match for his daughter hee gives Pisani to understand that as yet hee hath no intent to marry his daughter alledging her few yeares and the like triviall reasons and excuses whereby Pisani might plainely perceive that hee had no intent to give him his daughter This refusall of Vituri doth wonderfully grieve Pisani and afflict Christeneta so as they see their hopes nipt in their blossomes and their desires not in the way to reap such efffects as they expected Pisani distrusting his owne power sets his parents and chiefest friends to draw Vituri to hearken unto reason but his age cannot be deceived in that which his judgement and not his passion suggesteth him they have diverse conferences but every day in stead of bringing hopes produceth more difficulties and despayre and now that Pisani may see that his sure and research is displeasing to Vituri he lookes not on him with so courteous an eye as accustomed and which is worse Christeneta is forbidden his company and he her fathers house This goes to the hearts of our two lovers but they brook it as patiently as they may and hope that time will give end to these their discontents and afflictions In the meane whiles as fire suppressed doth often flame forth with more violence so sith they cannot personally visite one the other they entertaine their affections by their Letters who are so many in number as I hold it fit rather to suppresse then divulge them Thus whiles Pisani comforts himselfe that there are no roses without prickles and that hopes long expected are best welcome but chiefely relying upon the affection and constancie of his Mistresse hee will not staine his valour with this poynt of cowardize to be put off with the first repulse of Vituri but resolveth to continue as constant in his affection as he doth in his refusall and so after he had stayed a month or two in Cremona he bethinkes himselfe of an invention whereby it is not impossible for him to obtaine his Mistresse of her father Pisani being inriched with the treasure of Christeneta's favour and affection writes to her that if shee can obtaine her Mothers consent she peradventure may easily procure that of her husband who hearkening and relishing this advice with much zeale puts it a foote and as in few dayes she gained her Mother so a moneth was not fully past before shee had likewise drawne her husband to approve and consent to this Match So now our Lovers are againe revived and comforted for the rubs being taken away the difficulties removed and the parents of both sides fully satisfyed all things now seeme in so faire a forwardnesse and preparation as if our two Lovers were shortly to injoy each other in marriage or to injoy the fruits of mariage which so earnestly and infinitely both affected and desired To which end that their nuptials might bee solemnized with the greater pompe and glory they provide themselves of variety of rich and sumptuous Apparell the day is appoynted and all the Nobility of Pavia and Cremona as well their kinsfolkes as others are invited to the Wedding but their Parents shall come short of their designes and these our two Lovers of their hopes for this Mariage being not begunne in heaven shall never be finished nor consummated in earth Wee have here so much spoken of Pisani that it seemes wee have quite forgotten Gasparino as if hee had no farther part to act in this History but hee is not so fortunate for this proceeding of Pisani to Christeneta is not so secretly managed but hee hath newes thereof who knowing there can bee no greater treason after that of a subject to his Soveraigne then for a friend to betray his friend hee grieves and is extreamely incensed at Pisani to see he hath betrayed him of his Mistresse the which he takes so bitterly and passionately that hee vowes he will make him repent it Iealousy and Revenge are alwayes bad Counsellers and therefore can never prove good Iudges But such is his love to Christeneta and so deepely is her beauty imprinted and ingraven in his heart as shutting his Judgement to Charity and opening it to Revenge he is resolved at what price soever to call Pisani to a strict account for this affront and disgrace and is resolved rather to dy then live to see himself thus abused by one whom God and nature hath made his inferior Were we as apt to doe good as evill we should bee Angels not men but resembling our selves or rather hearkening too much to the Prince of darkenesse we flye reason to follow rage and many times procure our owne destruction in seeking that of others Gasparino having thus his eyes and senses ore-clouded and vayled with the misâ—… of revenge is transported with such bloudy passions and resolutions as hee is sometimes resolved to pistoll Pisani either in the streete or in his bed and other times to hire two or three Ruffians to murther him the next time hee rides into the Countrey but at last casting his eyes from hell to heaven and from Satan to God hee trampleth those execrable resolutions under his feete and banisheth them from his heart and thoughts esteeming them as unworthy of him as he were of the world if he should commit them and so for that time enters in a resolution with himselfe no more to thinke on Christeneta and lesse to bee revenged of Pisani for betraying her from him Had Gasparino continued in this peaceable and Christian-like minde hee had not exposed himselfe to so many dangers and misfortunes nor given himselfe as a prey tó feede the malice and revenge of his bloody enemies but now understanding that all Cremona and Pavia prattled and laughed at his disgrace in seeing him thus baffled and abused by Pisani hee thinkes that not onely himselfe but his honour is disparaged and wronged herein and that he shall be extreamely condemned of cowardize if in a Duell he call not Pisani to right him and give him satisfaction yea the onely consideration of this poynt of honour which many times is bought and sold at so deare a price as the perill and losse both of body and soule did so violently perswade and prevaile with him that as revenge admits of no opposition nor hearkens to any advice so enquiring for Pisani and understanding him to be in Pavia he the more incouraged and inflamed hereat taking with him a resolute and confident Gentleman and one onely Lackey sets spurres to his Horse and so hyes thither resolving with himselfe to gaine his Honour in the same City where hee had received his disgrace Being arrived at Pavia he is assured that Pisani is in the City and inquiring more curiously after him hee understands that that very instant hee is with his Mistresse Christenea which so galled his thoughts and inflamed his heart as
Iosselina but likewise that of her infant sonne whom hee first strangled and then threw into the River Lignon and this said he he did at the request of his Master Mortaigne of whom for his part and labour he received one hundred Frankes Wee have here found two of these Murtherers and now what resteth there but that the third who is the Authour and as it were the capitall great wheele of these bloody Tragedies bee produced and brought to this Arraignement The Procurer and Lievtennant repaire againe to the Prison and charge Mortaigne with these two bloody Murthers hee knowes it is in vaine to denye it sith hee is sure his two execrable agents have already revealed it therefore he ashamed at the remembrance of his cruell and unnatural crimes doth with many teares very sorrowfully and penitently confesse all It is a happinesse for him to repent these Murthers but it had beene a farre greater if hee had never contrived and committed them yea the Iudges are amazed to heare the cruelty hereof and the people to know it and both send their prayses and thankefulnesse to God that hee hath thus detected and brought them to light on earth And now comes the Catastrophe of their owne Tragedies wherein every one of these Malefactors receives condigne punishment for their severall offences La Palma is condemned to bee hanged and burnt La Verdure to bee broken on the Wheele and his body to bee throwne into the River Lignon and Mortaigne though the last in ranke yet the first in offence to be broken on the Wheele his body burnt and his ashes throwne into the aire which Sentence in the sight of a great multitude of Spectators was on a Market day accordingly executed and performed in La Palisse And this was the bloody end of Mortaigne and his two hellish instruments for murthering innocent Iosselina and her silly and tender infant May all Maydens learne by her example to preserve their chastities and men by La Verdures and La Palma's not to be drawne to shed innocent blood for the lucre of wealth and money and by Mortaignes to bee lesse lascivious inhumane and bloody thereby to prevent so execrable a life and so infamous a death One thing I may not omit La Palma on the Ladder extreamely cursed the malice of his wife Isabella who he said was the author of his death and no lesse did La Verdure on the Wheele by his Master Mortaigne but both of them were so desperately irreligious as neither of them considered that it was their former sinnes and the malice of the Devill to whom they gave too much eare that was the cause thereof And for Mortaigne after he had informed the world that hee extreamely grieved that his Iudges had not given him the death of a Gentleman which was to haue beene beheaded he with many teares bewayled his infinite ingratitude cruelty and unnaturalnesse both towards Iosselina as also his and her young sonne yet he prayed the world in generall to pray that God would forgive it him and likewise requested the Executioner to dispatch him quickely out of this life because hee confessed hee was unworthy to live longer Now let us glorifie our Creatour and Redeemer who continually makes a strict inquisition for blood and a curious and miraculous inquiry for Murther yea let us both feare him with love and love him with feare sith hee is as impartiall in his justice as in distributing his mercies GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE IV. Beatrice-Ioana to marry Alsemero causeth de Flores to murther Alonso Piracquo who was a sutter to her Alsemero marries her and finding de Flores and her in adultery kills them both Tomaso Piracquo Challengeth Alsemero for his Brothers death Alsemero kills him treacherously in the field and is beheaded for the same and his body throwne into the Sea At his execution hee confesseth that his wife and de Flores Murthered Alonso Piracquo their bodies are taken up out of their graves then burnt and their ashes throwne into the ayre SIth in the day of Iudgement we shall answer at Gods great Tribunall for every lewd thought our hearts conceive and idle words our tongues utter how then shall we dare appeare much lesse thinke to scape when we defile our bodies with the pollution of adultery and taint our soules with the innocent bloud of our Christian brethren when I say with beastly lust and adultery we unsanctifie our sanctified bodies who are the receptacles and Temples of the holy Ghost and with high and presumptuous hands stabbe at the Majesty of God by Murthering of man who is his Image This is not the Ladder to scale heaven but the shortest way to ride poast to hell for how can we give our selves to God when in the heat of lust and fume of Revenge we sell our hearts to the Devill But did we ever love God for his Mercy or feare him for his Iustice we would then not onely hate these sinnes in our selves but detest them in others for these are crying and capitall offences seene in heaven and by the Sword of his Magistrates brought forth and punished here on earth A lamentable and mournefull example whereof I here produce to your view but not to your imitation may wee all read it to the reformation of our lives to the comfort of our soules and to the eternall glory of the most Sacred and Individuall Trinity IN Valentia an ancient and famous City of Spaine there dwelt one Don Pedro de Alsemero a Noble young Cavallier whose father Don Ivan Alsemero being slaine by the Hollanders in the Sea fight at Gibralter hee resolved to addict himselfe to Navall and sea actions thereby to make himselfe capeable to revenge his fathers death a brave resolution worthy the affection of a sonne and the Generosity of a Gentleman To which end hee makes two voyages to the West-Indies from whence he returnes flourishing and rich which so spread the sayles of his Ambition and hoysted his fame from top to top gallant that his courage growing with his yeares he thought no attempt dangerous enough if honourable nor no honour enough glorious except atchieved and purchased by danger In the actions of Alarache and Mamora he shewed many noble proofes and testimonies of his valour and prowesse the which he confirmed and made good by the receit of eleven severall wounds which as markes and Trophees of Honour made him famous in Castile Boyling thus in the heate of his youthfull bloud and contemplating often on the death of his father he resolves to goe to Validolyd and to imply some Grando either to the King or to the Duke of Lerma his great favorite to procure him a Captaines place and a company under the Arch-Duke Albertus who at that time made bloudy warres against the Netherlanders thereby to draw them to obedience But as hee beganne this sute a generall truce of both sides laid aside Armes which by the mediation of England
knees beseech them to pray unto the Lord to forgive him Wee have seene Alibius Murther his wife Merilla wee have seene his apprehension imprisonment triall conviction and condemnation for this his execrable and bloudy fact wherein wee may observe how the justice of God still triumpheth o're the temptation and malice of the Devill and how Murther though never so secretly acted and concealed will at last be detected and punished What resteth there now but that after wee have hereby made good use of this example wee see Alibius fetched from his prison and conveyed to the place of execution whereat as wee have heard hee formerly stumbled in jest but must now in earnest where although it were timely in the morn as having the favour to dye alone and at least three houres before the other condemned malefactors an infinite number of the Citizens of Brescia of all rankes and of both sexes assembled to see Alibius take his last farewell of this World At his ascending up the ladder his faire gray beard and comely presence drew pitty from the hearts and teares from the eyes of the greatest part of the spectators to see that the Devill had so strongly inchanted and seduced him to lay violent hands on his wife and to see so grave and so proper an aged man thus misfortunately and untimely cast away His speech at his end was briefe and short onely hee freely confest his crime and with infinite sighes and teares besought the world to pray for his soule hee lamented the Vanity of his youth and the dissolutenesse of his age told them that his neglect of prayer to God and his too much confidence in the devill had brought him to this shamefull end and therefore besought them againe and againe to beware by his example and so having solemnely freed his second wife Philatea from being any way acquainted or accessary with the murther of his first wife Merilla he recommending his soule into the hands of his Redeemer dyed as penitently as hee had lived dissolutely and prophanely And thus was the life and death of Alibius the which I was the more willingly induced to publish partly because I was an eye-witnesse both of his arraignement and death as I returned from my travells but more especially in hope that his example and Historie may prove to bee as great a consolation to the Godly as a terrour to the unrighteous To God bee all Glory and prayse FINIS THE TRIUMPHS OF GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murder Expressed In thirty seuerall Tragicall Histories digested into six Books which containe great varietie of mournfull and memorable Accidents Amourous Morall and Divine Booke II. Written by IOHN REYNOLDS VERITAS TEMPORE PATET OCCVLTA RS LONDON Printed by Aug. Mathewes for WILLIAM LEE and are to be sold at his shop in Fleetstreet at the signe of the Turks Head neere the Mitre Taverne 1634. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND TRVLIE NOBLE RICHARD Lord Buckhurst Earle of Dorset and Lord Lievtennant of his Majesties Countie of Sussex RIGHT HONOVRABLE OVt of a resolution whether more bold or zealous I know not I have adventured this second Booke of my Tragicall Histories to the World under your Honours Patronage and protection Neither neede I goe farre to yeeld either your Honour or the World a reason of this my Presumption and Ambition sith your Uertues innobling your Bloud as much as your Nobility illustrates your Vertues was the first motive which drew me hereunto for whiles many others indeavour to bee great your Honour resembling your selfe not onely indeavours but strives to bee good as well knowing that Goodnesse is the glory and essence yea the life and as I may say the soule of Greatnesse and that betwixt Greatnesse and Goodnesse there is this difference and disparitie that makes us famous this immortall that beloved of men this of God that accompanyeth us only to our Graves and this to Heaven My second prevayling Motive in this my Dedication proceeded from the respect of my particular duety as my first was solely derived from the consideration of your owne generall and generous Uertues for having the honour to retaine to your Noble Brother Sir Edward Sackvile Knight to whom for many singular respects and immerited favours whiles I am my selfe Iowe not onely my service but my selfe I therein hold me obliged and bound to proffer and impart this part of my Labours to your Honour as the first publike testimony of my zeale and service eternally devoted and consecrated to the Illustrious Name and Family of the Sackeviles whereof Gods Divine providence hath made your Honour chiefe Heire and Pillar The drift and scope of these Histories are to informe the World how Gods Revenge still fights and triumphs against the crying and execrable sinne of wilfull and premeditated Murther which in these our impure and profane times is so fatally and frequently coincident to unregenerate Christians which Scarlet and bloody Crime is infallibly met with and rewarded by Gods sharpe and severe punishments having purposely published and divulged them to my deare Countrey of England that they may serve though not by the way of comparison yet of application as the sight of Iulius Caesars bloudy Robe shewed by Marcus Antonius to the Romanes in Campo Martio when hee there pronounced his funerall Oration thereby to make his Murther and Murtherers in the greater horrour and execration with the people The Histories of themselves are as different as their effects and accidents their Scenes being wilfully and sinfully laid in diuers parts of Christendome beyond the seas and the Tragedies vnfortunately perpetrated and personated by those who more adhering to impiety then Grace and to Satan then God made shipwracke if not of their soules with their bodies I am sure of their liues with their fortunes and of their fortunes with their lives They themselves or rather their sinnes first brought the Materials I onely the collection illustration and pollishing of these their deplorable Histories which are penned in so low a sphaere of speech and so inelegant a phrase as they can no way merit the Honour of your perusall much lesse of your iudgement and least of all of your Noble protection and Patronage Howsoever my hopes led and marshalled by the premises doe as it were flatter mee that your perfections will winke at my imperfections and your curiosity at my ignorance and presumption in daigning permit this my rude Pamphlet to salute and pilgrimage the World under the authenticall passe-port of your Honours favour who of her selfe is composed of so poore metall or rather drosse as without the pure gold of your Honourable Name it would runne a hazard not to passe currant with the curious wits and censures of this our too curious and too censorious age whereof could I rest assured I should then not onely rejoyce but triumph in this my happinesse as so richly exceeding the proportion of my poore Labours and merits that I could not aspire
cole-blacke the best Physicians and Chirurgians are sent for they see her death-strooken with that Planet and therfore adjudge their skill but vaine her strength and senses fall from her which Catalina having the happinesse to perceive and grace to feele will no longer be seduced with the devils temptations The Divines prepare her soule for Heaven and now shee will no longer dissemble with man or God shee will not charge her conscience with so foule a Crime as Murther the which shee knowes will prove a stop to the fruition of her felicity She confesseth shee twice procured her Wayting-gentlewoman Ansilva to poyson her Sister Berinthia and since that she hath given Sarmiata one hundred Duckets to poyson the said Ansilva which he performed and whereof shee humbly begs pardon of all the world and religiously of God whom shee beseecheth to bee mercifull to her soule and so though shee lived prophanely and impiously yet shee dyed repentantly and religiously Vilarezo and Alphanta her old parents grieve and storme at her death but more extreamely at the manner thereof and especially at the confession of her bloudy crimes as well towards living Berinthia as dead Ansilva onely their Daughter Berinthia is silent hereat glad that shee is freed of an enemy sorrowfull to have lost a Sister they are infinitely vexed to publish their daughter Catalina's crimes yet they are inforced to it that thereby this Sarmiata this Agent of Hell may receive condigne punishment for his bloudy offence here on earth So they acquaint the Criminall Iudges hereof who decree order and power for his apprehension Sarmiata is revelling and feasting at Isabella's wedding to which hee is appoynted and requested to furnish the Sweet-meats for the Banquets but hee little thinkes what sowre sawce there is providing for him Wee are never neerest danger then when wee thinke our selves furthest from it and although his sinnefull security was such as the Devill had made him forget his murther of Ansilva yet God will and doth remember it and lo here comes his storme here his apprehension and presently his punishment By this time the newes of Catalina's suddaine death but not of her secret confession is published in Avero and arrived at the Bride-house which gives both astonishment and griefe to all the world but especially to Sarmiata whose heart and conscience now rings him many thundering peales of feare terrour and despaire his bloudy thoughts pursue him like so many bloudhounds and because he hath forsaken God therfore the devill will not forsake him he counselleth him to flie and to provide for his safety but what safety so unsecure dangerous or miserable for a Christian as to throw himselfe into the Devills protection Sarmiata hereon fearing that Catalina had revealed his poysoning of Ansilva very secretly steales away his Cloake and so slips downe to a Posterne doore of the little Court hoping to escape but hee is deceived of his hopes for the eye of Gods providence findes him out The House is beleaguerd for him by Officers who apprehend him as hee is issuing forth and so commit him close prisoner In the afternoone the Iudges examine him upon the poysoning of Ansilva and the receipt of one hundred Duckets to effect it from Catalina which shee at her death confessed Hee addes sinne to sinne and denyes it with many impious oathes and fearefull imprecations but they availe him nothing his Iudges censure him to the Racke where upon the first torment hee confesseth it but with so gracelesse an impudencie as he rather rejoyceth then grieves hereat where we may observe how strongly the Devill stickes to him and how closely hee is bewitched to the Devill so for reparation of this foule crime of his hee is condemned to be hanged which the next morne is performed right against Vilarezo his house at a Gallowes purposely erected and which is worse then all the rest as this lewd villaine Sarmiata liv'd prophanely so hee dy'd as desperately without repenting his bloudy fact or imploring pardon or mercy of God for the same O miserable example O fearefull end O bloudy and damnable miscreant Wee have seene the Theater of this History gored with great variety of bloud the mournefull and lamentable spectacle whereof is capable to make any Christian heart relent into pitty compassion and teares But this is not all wee shall yet see more not that it any way increaseth our terrour but rather our consolation sith thereby wee may observe that Murther comes from Sathan and its punishment from God Catalina's confession and death is not capable to deface or wash away Berinthia's malice and revenge to her brother Sebastiano for killing of her deare and sweet Love Antonio Other Tragedies are past but this as yet not acted but to come Lo now at last though indeed too too soone it comes on the Stage The remembrance of Antonio and his affection is still fresh in her youthfull thoughts and contemplations yea his dead Idea is alwayes present and living in her heart and brest 't is true Sebastiano is her brother 't is as true she saith that if hee had not kill'd Antonio Antonio had beene her husband Againe shee considereth that as Antonio's life preserved hers from death so her life hath beene the cause of his and as hee lost his life for her sake why should not she likewise leave hers for his or rather why should shee permit him to live who hath bereaved her of him But her living affection to her dead friend is so violent and withall so prejudicate and revengefull as shee neither can nor will see her Brother who kill'd him but with malice and indignation In stead of consulting with nature and grace shee onely converseth with choller and passion yea she is so miserably transported in her rage and so outragiously wilfull in her resolution as she shuts the doore of her heart to the two former vertues to whom she should open it and openeth it to the two latter vices 'gainst whom shee should shut it A misery equally ominous and fatall where Reason is not the Mistresse of our Passions and Religion the Queene of our Reason Shee sees this bloudy attempt of hers whereinto shee is entring is sinfull and impious and yet her faith is so weake towards God and the Devill so strong with her as shee is constant to advance and resolute not to retire therein Oh that Berinthia's former Vertues should bee disgraced with so foule a Vice and oh that a face so sweetly faire should bee accompanyed and linked with a heart so cruelly barbarous so bloudily inhumane for what can shee hope from this aâ—…mpt in killing her brother but likewise to ruine her selfe nay had shee had any sparke of wit or grace left her shee should consider that for this foule offence her body shall receive punishment in this world and her soule without repentance in that to come but shee cannot erect her eyes to heaven shee is all set on revenge so the Devill hath plotted the
Borelles except still our holy Sisters the Nunns Not I faith quoth hee nor my Mistresse neither Indeed replies Poligny if I knew you had a Mistresse of that complexion I would adventure a glasse of Claret to her health When Belluile out of a phantastick French humour affirmed he had a Mistris whose beauty was so excellent as he knew hee could not receive shame to name her and if you please to honour her selfe and mee with her health I proclaime that Madamoyselle Laurieta is my Mistresse and my selfe her servant Of wise and Christian Gentlemen what prophane speeches and debosht table-talke are these they use heere as if their glory consisted in their shame or their best vertues were to bee discovered in the worst of vices For howsoever the Viands they did eate may preserve the health of their bodies yet this dissolute communication of theirs must needs poyson and destroy that of their soules for as they should praise God in the receit of the one so contrariwise they incense and displease his sacred Majestie in giving him the other yea this is so farre from Christianitie and heaven as it is the high and true way to Atheisme and hell for whores and healths instead of prayer and thankesgiving are the prodigious and certaine forerunners of a seared conscience and the dangerous and execrable symptoms of a leprous soule Birds are taken by their feet and men by their tongues Belluile having so basely and sottishly abused himselfe in the disparaging of his Mistresse Laurieta Poligny hath his errand for which hee purposely came to Orenge So dinner ended they very pleasantly returne for Avignion That night Poligny cannot sleepe for joy or rather for revenge For now hee presumes to know how to worke himselfe into Laurieta's favour by unhorsing Belluile It is a dishonest and base part to betray our friend and under the cloake of friendship and familiarity to harbour and retaine malice against them but this irregular and violent passion of love in young and unstayed judgements many times beares downe all other respects and considerations For if Religion and Conscience bee contemned what hope is there that either honesty bee regarded or friendship observed sith it is the onely ciment and sinewes thereof But Poligny is as resolute as malicious in his purpose and therefore the next morne by his Lackey sends the Lady Laurieta this Letter POLIGNY to LAVRIETA IT is out of syncere affection to thee and not out of premeditated malice to Belluile that I presâ—…me to signifie thee how lately in my presence at Orenge his tongue let fall some words that tended to the prejudice and disparagement of thine honour whereof I know it is not onely the part but the duetie of a true Gentleman to bee rather curious in preserving then any way ingrateâ—…ll in revealing thereof Neither doe I attempt to send thee this newes thereby to insiâ—…ate for draw thee to affect mee the more or him the lesse onely sith it is contrary to my complexion and nature to permit any Lady to bee wronged in my presence how much lesse thy selfe tâ—… whom I not owe my service but my life If thou wilt not approve my zeale yet thou hast all the reason of the world to pardon my presumption and to make my letter reall what my pen affirmes to Laurieta my sword is ready to confirme to Belluile POLIGNY In the extremitie and excesse of those three different passions griefe choller and astonishment Laurieta receives and reads this Letter and like a dissolute Gentlewoman being more carefull of her reputation to the world then of her soule towards God shee knowes not whether shee have more cause and reason either to approve Poligny's affection or to condemne Belluiles folly it grieves her to the heart to have bestowed her favours on so base and ingratefull a Gentleman as Belluile vowes shee will make him repent it and is resolute that this vanity and folly of his shall cost him deare yea shee is so impatient in these her fumes of griefe and revenge that shee thought once with all expedition to have sent for Belluile to make him as well see the fruits of his owne ingratitude as to taste the effects of her revenge and indignation but shee holds it requisite and fit and her selfe in a manner bound first to thanke Poligny for his courtesie by returning him a Letter in answer of his which shee speedily dispatcheth him by his owne Lackey to this effect LAVRIETA to POLIGNY I Know not whether thou hast shewed me a truer testimonie of thy discretion and affection then Belluile of his envie and folly But as I rest infinitely obliged to thee for thy care of my reputation so I resolve shortly to make him know what hee deserves in attempting to eclipse and disparage it Now as I grieve not so I must confesse I cannot refraine from sorrowing at this his undeserved slaunder for as mine innocencie defends me from the first so my sexe cannot exempt me from the second and look what disparity there is betwixt thy generosity and his basenes so much there is betwixt the whitenesse of my chastity and the foulenesse of hâ—… aspersion I rest so confident of the truth of thy pen as I desire no confirmation of thy Sword and I flatter not rather assure my selfe that sith Belluile was so indiscreet to wrong me he will neither have the wit or courage to right himselfe I returne thee many hearty thanks for this kind office and curtesy of thine the which though I cannot requite yet I will not only indeavour but strive to deserve LAVRIETA Whiles Poligny receives Laureta's Letter with much content and many kisses as triumphing to see how hee hath baffled Belluile by working him out and consequently himselfe into her favour wee will for a while leave him to consider whether the end of his treachery to Belluile will proove as fortunate and pleasing to him as the beginning promiseth And in the meane time we will a little speake of Laurieta to see what course and resolution shee meanes to hold and observe with Belluile It is not enough that shee hath written Poligny a Letter but her envy and contempt towards Belluile is so implacable as shee with much hast and secrecie sends for him her requests to him are commands yea hee needes no other spurres but those of his lust and of her beauty to make him rather flye then poast to her presence when not so much as once dreâ—…ing of his former foolish speeches delivered against his Mistresse Laurieta mucâ—…â—…se of Boligny's treason conspired and acted against him hee thinkes to kisse her â—…om so often hee hath formerly kissed but his hopes and her disdaine deceive hiâ—… for she peremptorily slights him when having fire in her lookes and thunder in her speeches shee chargeth him with this scandall delivered by him at Oâ—…nge in presence of Poligâ—…y against her honour and chastity And is this quoth she the reward a Lady shall deserve and
with many fearefull imprecations and asseverations stands peremptorily in her innocencie and out of the heat of her malice and choller termes them devills or witches that are her accusers But her Iudges who can no longer be deluded with her vowes nor will no more give eare to her perfidious oaths command to have her Paps seared off with hot burning Pincers thereby to vindicate the truth of her cruell murther from the falsehood of her impious and impudent denyall thereof Whereat amazed and astonished and seeing this cruell torment ready to bee inflicted and presented her God was so indulgent to her sinnes and so mercifull to her soule as the devill flying from her and she from his temptations shee rayning downe many rivolets and showres of teares from her eyes and evaporating many volleyes of sighes from her heart throwing her selfe downe on her knees to the earth and lifting up her eyes and handes unto Heaven with much bewayling and bitternesse shee at last confesseth to her Iudges that shee and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla were the murtherers of Belluile and for the which shee sayd that through her humble contrition and hearty repentance shee hoped that God would pardon her soule in the life to come though shee knew they would not her body in this Whereupon the Iudges in horrour and execration of her inhumane and bloudy crime pronounce sentence of death upon her and condemne her the next day after dinner first to be hanged then burnt in the same street right against her lodging Monsieur de Richcourts house and likewise sith Lucilla was both an accessary and actour in this bloudy Tragedy that her body should be taken up out of her Grave and likewise burnt with hers in the same fire which accordingly was executed in the presence of an infinite number of people both of the Citizens and adjacent neighbours of Avignion Laurieta uttering upon the Ladder a short but a most Christian and penitent speech to the people tending first to disswade them all by her example from those foule and crying sinnes of whoredome revenge and murther and then to request and perswade them that they would assist her with their religious and devout prayers in her soules passage and flight towards Heaven yet adding withall that as her crime so her griefe was redoubled because as she had killed Belluile for Poligny's sake so she was sure that Belluile had killed Poligny for hers And thus Christian Reader were the dissolute lives and mournefull deaths of these two unfortunate Gentlemen Poligny and Belluile and of this lascivious and bloudy Curâ—…izan Laurieta and her Wayting-mayd Lucilla A tragicall History worthy both of our observation and detestation and indeed these are the bitter fruits of Lust Whoreâ—…ome and Revenge and the inseparable companions which infallibly awayt and attend them the very sight and consideration whereof are capable not onely to administer consolation to the righteous but to strike terror to the ungodly O therefore that wee may all beware by these their fatall and dangerous sinnes for this is the onely perfect and true way to prevent and avoyde their punishments GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXEcrable sinne of Murther HISTORIE IX Iacomo de Castelnovo Iustfully falls in love with his daughter in law Perina his owne sonne Francisco de Castelnovo's Wife whom to injoy he causeth Ierantha first to poyson his owne Lady Fidelia and then his said son Francisco de Castelnovo in revenge whereof Perina treacherously murthereth him in his bed Ierantha ready to dye in travell of child confesseth her two Murthers for the which she is bang'd and burnt Perina hath her right hand cut off and is condemned to perpetuall imprisonment where she sorrowfully languisheth and dyes WEe need not send our curiosity or our curiosity us to seek Tygers and Monsters in Africa for Europe hath but too many who are so cruell and inhumane not only to imbrue but to imbath themselves in the innocent bloud of their Christian brethren And as Religion prohibites us to kill and commands us to love our enemies with what audacious and prophane impiety dare wee then murther our friends nay those of our owne bloud and who are the greatest part of our selves And although Italy have lately afforded many tragicall presidents and fearefull Examples of this nature wheâ—…of I have given some to my former and reserved others to my future bookes yet in my conceipt it hath produced none more bloudy and inhumane then this whether we respect the Murthers or the persons For here wee shall see a wretched and execrable old man so besotted in lust and flaming in malice and revenge as being both a husband and a father hee by a hellish young Gentlewoman his strumpet poysonâ—…th both his owne wife and his owne sonne It was his vanity which first inkindled the fire of his lust it is then his Impiety which gives way to the Devill to blow the coales thereto and so to convert it into Murther O that Sinne should so triumph o're Grace and not Grace o're Sinne O that Age and Nature should not teach us to bee lesse bloudy and more compassionate and charitable And alas alas by Poyson that drug of the Devill who first brought the damnable invention thereof from hell to be practised here on earth onely by his agents and members Wee shall likewise see him killed by his daughter in law for formerly poysoning of her husband Lust seduced him to perpetraâ—…e those Affection or rather bloudy Revenge drew her on to performe this and consequently to her punishment due for the same Had they had more Grace and Religion they would not have beene so inhumane but falling from that no marvell if they fell to be so wretched and miserable for if we die well we seldome live ill if live ill we usually never die well for it is the end that crowns the beginning not the beginning the end Therfore if we will be happy in our lives and blessed in our deaths we must follow Vertue and flie from Vice love Chastity and Charity and hate Lust and Envie preferre Heaven before Earth our Soules before our Bodies and defie Satan with a holy resolution both to feare and love God SAvoy is the Countrey and Nice the City seated upon the Mediterraneâ—…m Sea being the strongest Bulwarke against France and the best Forâ—…resse and Key of Italy where the Scene of this insuing Tragicall History is layd the which to refetch from the Head-spring and Fountaine of its originall it must carry our curiosity and understanding over those famous Mountaines the Alpes and from thence to the City of Saint Iohn de Mauriena where of late and fresh memory dwelt an aged Gentleman of rich revenues and great wealth named Seignior Antonio de Arconeto who had newly by his deceased Wife the Lady Eleanora de Bibanti two Children to wit a Son and a Daughter that named Seignior Alexandro and this the Lady Perina a little different in yeares for he was eighteen and
desire so I can receive no other satisfaction but this whereunto thy malice invites and my honour obligeth mee BRELLATI Valerio performes his part well and fairely working and screwing himselfe into Bertolini's presence very secretly delivers him his Masters challenge Bertolini not ignorant but conjecturing what it meanes breakes off the Seales and at the perusall therof though his cause bee unjust and dishonourable yet in his countenance and speeches hee shewes much constancie fortitude and resolution when considering they were to fight single and that therefore Valerio could bee no second hee deeming his Master had concealed this secret businesse from him contents himselfe to give him onely this answer Tell your Master Seignior Brellati from mee that I will not faile to meet him according to his desire and appoyntment And so Valerio takes his leave and departs when finding out his Master he reports him Bertolini's answer whereat hee is so farre from being any way appald or daunted as hee infinitely rejoyceth thereat In the meane time hee is curious in preparing two singular good Rapiers and Ponyards of equall length hilts and temper And thus with much impatient patience as Revenge is an enemy to sleepe they not out-sleepe but out-watch the night So the morne and day stealing and breaking into their windowes they are no sooner out of their beds but into the field their Chirurgions awayting their arrivals by the Pyramides in the place of Populi by which of necessity they were to passe when tying up their horses to the hedges like resolute Gentlemen they throw off their doublets commanding their Chirurgions not to stir from their stations when disdaining words they both draw and fall to deeds thus Brellati presenteth the first thrust and Bertolini gives him the first wound in his left shoulder whereat hee is inflamed and so returnes Bertolini the interest of a most dangerous one on his right side but it toucht neither his bowels nor quayse They cry againe so Brellati againe wounds Bertolini in his left hand when his Rapier running thorow his sinewes and Arteries he is no longer able to hold his Ponyard but despight his resolution and courage it fals out of his hand which unlookt for disaster doth much perplexe and afflict him But Brellati is two generous and noble to blemish or taint his honour by taking any advantage of this his adversaries misfortune and so to cleere his doubts and scruples very valiantly and bravely throwes away his owne Ponyard to the hedge that they might bee as equall in weapons as courage But Bertolini will basely requite this courtesie They retire and take breath and so traversing their grounds thereby to take the benefit of the Sunne they againe joyne at the first close of this second meeting Brellati runnes Bertolini into the right flanke when withdrawing his Rapier and leaping backe to put himselfe upon his defensive guard and posture his foot slipping hee could not prevent falling to the ground when Bertolini following him close and being eager in his pursuit and bloud-thirsty in his revenge hee forgetting Brellati's former courtesie and working upon the fortune of his misfortune right then and there nayled him to the ground and so redoubling his thrust acted a perpetuall divorce betwixt his body and soule when Brellati's Chirurgian shedding teares on his dead Master and beginning to take order for his decent conveyance into the City Bertolini takes up his Chirurgian behinde him and so with all possible speed and celerity the better to avoyd the danger of the law poasts o're the fields and comes into Mount Cavallo Gate and so husheth himselfe up privately in a friends house of his neere his fathers All Rome beginnes to eccho forth and resound this Murther and farre the more because Bertolini and Brellati were so deare and intimate friends but as good newes comes alwayes lame and bad rides poast so within one houre of Brellati's Murther the newes thereof is brought first to his Father then to his Sister Paulina whereat hee grieves and shee stormes hee sorroweth and shee weepes and laments and in a word the Father would but cannot and the Daughter can but will not bee comforted at this sad and mournefull Tragedy Neither must wee forget but remember Seignior Paulus Sturio who loving Paulina a thousand times dearer then his owne life is no sooner acquainted but afflicted with this newes of Brellati his death as being his deare friend and which is more the onely brother of his dearest and onely Mistris Paulina so as Lovers and friends being best knowne and discerned in calamities and afflictions hee repaires to her condoles with her and useth his chiefest art and zeale not onely to participate but wholly to deprive her of her sorrowes yea to proove himselfe a constant friend and a faithfull lover to her hee proffereth her not onely his service but his life as well to right her honour as to revenge her brothers death on Bertolini but this affection and perswasion of Sturio is not capable to wipe off or exhale his Lady Paulina's teares But againe to Bertolini who is so farre from contrition and repentance of this his bloudy fact as like a prophane miscreant and debausht and dissolute Gentleman hee triumphs and glories therein yea his impudencie is become so ignorant and his ignorance so sottish as hee beganne to enter into a resolution againe to court and seeke Paulina for his wife without respecting or regarding either the publike danger of the Law or that of Paulina's private revenge for sure her brothers death had throwne her into such violent passions of griefe and extremities of sorrow as if his folly had made her so happy doubtlesse her revenge would have made him more miserable but God had taught her rage more reason and her malice and cruelty not so much impiety yea it pleased his Divine Majesty not so soone to call him to an accompt and punish him for this his bloudy fact but reserving him for a future shame and punishment being affrighted with a tumultuous rumour and alarum of a generall search to bee made that night for his apprehension hee very subtilly in a Capuchins habit passeth Saint Iohn de Laterans Gate and there having Poast-horses layd for him hee as swift as the winde gallops away for Naples and imbarking himselfe for Sicilie passeth the Pharre of Messina lands at that City and so rides up for Palermo where he thinkes himselfe safe But having not made his peace with God where ever he flie God will in due time find him out when he least dreames thereof â—…ut although the power and influence of time bee so predominate to deface the actions and accidents of time yet 〈◊〉 can give no truce to her teares nor will shee administer any consolation to her sorrowes for her brothers death And if ever now it is that Sturio resembling himselfe beginnes to make her sorrowes his for having deepely rooted and setled his affection on Paulina and naturally ingraven her beauty and picture
to murther him in a Wood and then marries him in requitall The said La Villete a yeere after riding thorow the same Wood his Horse falles with him and almost kills him when hee confesseth the murther of his master De Merson and accuseth his wife La Vasselay to be the cause thereof So for these their bloody crimes he is hanged and she burnt alive History XIV Fidelia and Caelestina cause Carpi and Monteleone with their two Laquayes Lorenzo and Anselmo to murther their father Captaine Benevente which they performe Monteleone and his Laquay Anselmo are drowned Fidelia hangs her selfe Lorenzo is hanged for a robbery and on the Gallowes confesseth the murthering of Benevente Carpi hath his right hand then his head cut off Caelestina is beheaded and her body burnt History XV. Maurice like a bloody villaine and domnable sonne throwes his Mother Christina into a Well and drownes her the same hand and arme of his wherewith he did it rots away from his body and being discrazed of his wits in Prison hee there confesseth this foule and inhumane murther for the which he is hanged GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murder History XI De Salez killeth Vaumartin in a Duell La Hay causeth Michaelle to poison La Frange De Salez loves La Hay and because his father Argentier will not consent that he marry her stifleth him in his bed and then takes her to his wife she turns Strumpet and cuts his throat as he is dying he accuseth her of this bloudy fact and himselfe for murthering his father Argentier so his dead body is hang'd to the gallowes then burnt La Hay confesseth this murther and likewise that she caused Michaelle to poison La Frange shee hath her right hand cut off and is then burnt alive Michaelle is broken on the wheele and his dead body throwne into the River ALthough our perverse Nature and rebellious thoughts may for a while make us esteeme Envie to be no Vice and Murder a Vertue yet if we wil erect the eyes of our Faith and so looke from our selves to our soules from Earth to Heaven and from Satan to God we shall then assuredly finde that hating our Christian Brother wee hate Christ who made us Brothers and murdering him that we maliciously and presumptuously attempt to recrucifie Christ by whom we must without whom we cannot be saved But if we will turne Atheists and beleeve there is a Heaven but no God or Devils and say there is a God but no Heaven then that uncharitable Tenent of Envie may be held lawfull and this bloudy position of Murder practised because privileged else not Wherefore let us who are Christians resend this devillish doctrine and doctrine of Devils to Hell from whence it first came and to the Devill himselfe who first broached and invented it sith we cannot professe it without making our selves Agents nor perpetrate it without becomming his very limbs and members in regard they will infallibly prove the wofull fore-runners of our misery and the wretched Heralds of our perdition as the bloudy Actors of this ensuing mournfull History will make good and instance to us in themselves when the severe judgements and punishments of God befell them so suddenly as it was too late for them either to revoke or bewaile the enormitie of these their foule and infernall crimes THolouse as well for greatnesse as state the third citie and Court of Parliament of France is the place wherein we shall understand there was lately committed and perpetrated a tragicall History which hath many mournfull and bloody dependances the which to branch forth and depaint in their naked colours we must understand that therein lived a Councellour of that famous Court being a rich Gentleman well descended tearmed Monsieur de Argentier whose wife being deceased left him father only to one hopefull sonne of the age of two and twenty yeeres tearmed Monsieur de Salez who being wholly addicted to the warres from which martiall Profession it was impossible for his old father to divert and withdraw him he procured him an Ensignes place under Monsieur de Roquelaure whom he served in the Adriaticke Sea under the Noble and Generous Venetians who then stood rather jealous than fearefull of the power and greatnesse of Spaine but the Chymera of that warre after the terme of three or foure yeeres being vanished and blowen away and consequently betwixt those two mighty Estates a new Peace contracted and concluded although the old had not beene actually broken and delacerated home returnes Monsieur de Roquelaure for Gascogny and with him De Salez for Langâ—…edoc and Tholouse where he is received of his father with much content and joy not that hee was contented to see his sonne professe these Militarie courses which onely affords the smoake of Honour and not the solidity of profit but rather that hee exceedingly rejoyced to see him returne therefrom and from whence if he cannot hope that his requests will solely divert him yet hee is resolved and assured that his Commands both will and shall To which end as any humour is soonest subject to be expelled and defaced by its contrary so the old Councellour having as much Iudgement and Providence in his head as his sonne hath Vanity in his thoughts and Rashnesse in his resolutions doth both request and command him to leave the warre for Peace Armes for Love the Campe for the Citie and his Captaine for a Wife and so no longer to march and fight under the Banners of Mars and Bellona but under the Standarts of Venus and Hymeneus to which effect he profers him the choyce of many rich and faire young Gentlewomen of the Countrey to his wife but especially and with farre more earnestnesse than any other to an exceeding rich match in the Citie which was a young Gentlewoman tearmed La Frange being the onely child of Monsieur de Clugny one of the most famous and richest Presidents of that Court young of yeeres as being but sixteene or seventeene but withall deformed both in favour and body for shee was of a browne and sowre complexion and not onely a Dwarfe in stature but also exceedingly crooke-back'd and yet beyond measure very amorous and desirous of a Husband onely the endowments of her minde most richly recompenced and made satisfaction for the defects of her body for shee had an active and nimble wit a sweet and sugred tongue a rich Memorie and a powerfull and happy Iudgement and was indeed an excellent Dauncer and Singer and withall a most perfect and exquisite Musician But as yet De Salez warlike and generous resolution could not be so soone made flexible to embrace the motion of a wife and so he returnes his deniall in stead of his consent but his wise old father Argentier being therefore the more curious of his sonne De Salez his prosperity and welfare because hee apparantly saw he no way regarded but every way neglected it himselfe his sonnes exorbitant
not affect La Frange we may yet observe and discover which way hee intends to shape the course of his affections and resolutions For albeit he had formerly addicted himselfe and resolutions to be a professed Souldier yet Peace calling him home now to Pleasure and that to effeminacy a fatall and dangerous vice which in the iniquity of these our times and depraved manners not onely most insensibly creepes into common Souldiers and Commanders but also into all Armies and into many Estates and Kingdomes still to the disparagement of their glory and sometime to the price of their ruine and perill of their subversion he began to let his Colours hang dustie and his Pike and Parâ—…zan râ—…stie by the walls and to frequent the company of Ladies which the old Counsellor his father observes with joy hoping that in the end he shall draw him to affect and marry La Frange but these hopes of his will proove vaine and this hiâ—… joy will soone bee exchanged into sorrow and metamorphosed into affliction and misery for that his sonne is partly resolved to marry t is true but as true it is that he is fully resolved never to love much lesse to marry La Frange Now wee must understand that in Tholouse there dwelt a Merchant of Silks or as wee in England say a Silk-man termed Monsieur de Soulange rather reputed rich of others than knowne so of himselfe and yet being an old widower to the end the sooner to get him a new wife he puts a good face on his estate and maintaines himselfe familie and house with great pompe and expences having no son but three faire daughters all marriageable yet out of ambition and in emulation of the Gentry severally knowne and stiled by their titles not by their names as Mesdamoyselles de Marsy La pre Verte and La Hay all famous for their beauties and indeed for the purenesse and excellencie thereof justly reputed held the prime Birds of the citie and yet the youngest of them La Hay was the Phenix of all the three for she was so sweetly faire and fairly sweet of complexion as she drew all eyes to doe homage to hers so as it was almost impossible for any man to looke on her without loving her or to gaze on her without desiring her for her body was so strait and slender and the roses of her cheekes so deliciously gracing the lilies and the lilies the roses that the greatest Gallant either of the Citie or Country held himselfe not only happy but honoured with the felicitie of her presence and company But in one word to give these three sisters their true characters de Marsy and la Pre-verte were far more vertuous than La Hay though La Hay were far fairer than they for as Religion and Pietie was their chiefest delight and exercise as more desirous to embelish their soules than their bodies so wanton pleasure and vaine lasciviousnesse was hers as rather delighting to please and adorne her body than her soule they being more vertuous than faire shee more faire than vertuous different inclinations and resolutions these as happy and blessed as hers wretched and impious their actions might have beene a President yea a Pilot to have conducted her fame as well to the Temple of Honour as to the harbour of immortall glory of glorious immortalitie but she vowes she will prove a President to her selfe and her pleasure shall be a Pilot to her will although she misse the Temple of Honour to find out that of beastly concupiscence and the harbour of immortall glory to suffer shipwrack vpon the shelves of ingloâ—…ious infamie and the rocks of infamous perdition To this Monsieur de Soulanges house the beauties of his three daughters but especially that of La Hay and withall her pleasing and tractable affabilitie invites many young Gentlemen and the eminentst Citizens who there passe their time in courting and conversing in dancing singing and the like whereunto the Youth of France more than any other people of the world are most licentiously addicted and as things are best discerned and distinguished by their contraries so the vertues of De Marsy and La Preverte were made more apparant by La Hayes vices and her lust and whoredomes were more palpably notorious in their chastitie O that so sweet a creature should be subject to so foule a sinne and that Beautie the best gift and as I may say the gold of Nature should be thus vilified and polluteâ—… with the beastly pleasures of carnall concupiscence and obscene sensualitie For aye mee I write it with as much griefe to my selfe as shame to her she was too prodigall of her favours for she imparted them liberally unto some for love but unto most for money not caring to whom she prostituted her body so they filled her purse thereby to support her pride and maintaine the excesse and vanitie of her braverie and yet she was so subtill and cautious therein that although she were a professed Courtisan she would neverthelesse publikely seeme a pure and unspotted Virgin and the better to fortifie her fame and to make the reputation of her Chastitie passe currant with the world she would sweare all those to conceale her favours on whomsoever she imparted and bestowed them but if this lascivious subtiltie of hers have power to bleare the eyes of the world how can this her beastly sin of fornication be unseene of God when the windowes walls and beames of her chamber yea her very bed whereon she hath acted her whoredomes shall one day give in evidence and serve as witnesses against her yea and be petitioners on earth that God will requite and reward them with vengeance and confusion from Heaven Now among the rest of those deboshed Gentlemen who devoted their lascivious service and sacrificed their fond affections to La Hays beautie in comes our De Salez to inroule himselfe one who feasting and surfetting his eyes on the delicacies of her fresh and sweet complexion leaves his owne fathers house to frequent hers yea his desires are so lustfully inflamed with her beautie as with his best art and policie he lies close siege to her chastitie and with many gifts requests and oathes seekes to endeere her to his desires and pleasure But see the subtiltie of this lascivious young Courtisan for knowing De Salez deeply in love with her and to be the only childe of his father and he one of the richest Councellors of Tholouse she conceives a plot in her head to goe a fishing to make him her husband and so beares her selfe wonderfull modest and coy casting a cloake and veile of chastitie over her unchaste desires and actions as if she were now a virgin yea a Saint to him though heretofore she had many times played the Strumpet with others but her deniall doth rather inflame than quench the fire of his lust so as making many assaults to raze downe the defences of her refusall that he may enter and
live alone in Millan without thee and he alone in Modena with thee which makes that I know not whether I more envy his joy or lament and pitty mine owne sorrowes and afflictions But if I have any sense or shadow of comfort in this my calamity it only consists in this that as thou carriedst away my heart with thee so thou wile vouchsafe to returne me thine in thy letter by a reciprocall requitall and exchange For if thou neither bring me thy selfe nor send me that I may be sought in Millan but found no where but in heaven were I priviledged by thy consent much more authorized by thy command I would speedily rather flie than post to thee for Faire and Deere Clara as thou art my sole Ioy and Soveraigne felicity so whiles I breath this aire of life thy will shall be my law thy command my Compasse and thy pleasure my resolution BARETANO Her answer returned by the Frier to Baretano at Millan was to this effect CLARA to BARETANO IT is for none but our selves to judge how equall wee participate and share of misery in being deprived of each others presence Thou tearmest mine abscence either thy purgatory â—…rthy hell and my afflictions and torments for thine are so great and withall so infinit as I have all the equity and reason of the world to repute them not onely one but both Thou art mistaken in the point of my thraldome for whiles Albemare vowes himselfe my captive I disdaine to bee his and both vow and triumph to bee onely Baretanos I know not whether I have brought thy heart with me to Modena but sure I am I left mine with thee in Millan If my Parents seeme now pleasing and propitious to him I am yet so far from dispaire as I confidently hope the Fates will not prove cruell or inexorable to thee and in thee to myselfe but rather that a little time will change their resolutions and decrees Sith they cannot our affections and constancy If Clara be thy sole joy and Soveraign felicity no lesse it Baretano hers and albeit I could wish either thou here with my selfe in Modena or I there with thee in Millan Yet such is my aunt Emelias care and Albemares jelousâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that werâ—… thou in this City thou couldest difficultly see me but impossibly speake with me wherefore refraine a whiles and let thy Iourney hither to me be ended ere began yeâ—… with this proviso and condition that the cause thereof thy affection to me be began never to be ended and thinke that my stay and exile here shall be as short as either my best Art in my selfe can invent or truest zeale to thee suggest In which Interim let us solace our selves and visit each other by the Ambassadors of our hearts I meane our letters And this resolve my deare Baretano that during our abscence whiles thou doest feast on my Idaea I will not faile to surfeit on thine CLARA Baretano's other letter sent Clara to Modena by the Pilgrime was couched and penned in these tearmes BARETANO to CLARA HAd not thy requests in thy last letter granted out a Prohibition against my desires and wishes I had long since left Millan to have seene Modena and in it thy selfe my sweet and deere Lady but I speake it to my present comfort and future consolation and joy that it is excesse not want of affection which infuseth this provident care and carefull providence to thy resolutions to the end that thy returne make us as joyfull as thy departure sorrowfull and consequently that the last prove as sweet unto our hearts and thoughts as the first was bitter And yet beleeve me deere Clara that my affection is so intire and fervent to thee because I know thine is reciprocally so to my selfe that I deeme it not only capable to make difficult things easie but which is more impossibilities possible For for thy sake what would I not attempt and to enjoy thy sight and presence what would I leave unperformed But if thou wilt not permit me to come to thee to Modena nor yet speedily resolve to returne to mee to Millan Sorrow will then prevent my Joy and Dispaire my Hope For if thou hasten not thy arrivall and our interview sickenesse will be my death wert thou as kinde as faire or as affectionate as I am fervent in affection thou wilt thâ—… rather suffer me to live with thee than to die for thee for in this rest confident that if thou deny me that request I cannot Nature this tribute my affection this homage or thy beauty this sacrifice BARETANO And Clara her answer hereunto returned to Millan to Baretano by the foresaid Pilgrime was traced in these words CLARA to BARETANO THe last command of my Parents and the first resolution of my aunt Emelia and my sutor Albemare have now reduced me to so strict a Sequestration or rather captivitie as onely my thoughts hardly my pen hath the freedome and power to signifie thee so much But as calmes ensue tempests and sun-shine showres so I beseech thee to brook it with as much patience as I doe with griefe and not onely hope but resolve that violence is never permanent and all extreames subject to revolution and change Wherefore my deare Baretano consider and thinke with thy selfe that my stay from Millan and thy prohibition from Modena hath this two-fold excuse that is in my will but not as yet in my power to performe and this will rather hinder than any way advance the accomplishing of our desires Sith a little time may effect that with my parents which I feare importunity will never neither can thy heart so much long for my sight or wish for my presence as my soule doth for thine Sith to give thee but one word for all thy selfe and onely thy selfe art both the life of my joy and the joy of my life A thousand times a day I wish Modena were Millan and againe as often that Albemare were metamorphosed into Baretano Therefore I am so farre from preventing thy joy as though at the price of my death I am ready to sacrifice my life for the preservation of thine as also for the banishing of thy dispaire Write me not then of thy sickenesse least thou as scone heare of my death and I knew not what request to deny thee sith I have already granted and given thee my selfe which is all that either I can give or thou desire cherish thy selfe for my sake and I will thy remembrance for mine CLARA By these loving Letters of these our Lovers the Reader may observe and remark what a firme league and strict and constant friendship there was contracted and setled betwixt them and what a hell their abscence was each to others thoughts and contemplations In the meane time whiles Baretano entertaines Clara with Letters Albemare doth with words wherein he useth his best Rhetoricke and Oratory to draw her to his desires and withall to listen and espie out if there
bravery are very solemnly married But this marriage of theirs shall not prove so prosperous as they expect and hope For God in his all-seeing Providence hath decreed to disturbe the tranquility and serenity thereof and to make them feele the sharpe and bitter showres of affliction and misery which briefly doth thus surprise and befall them Albemare and Clara have hardly beene married together a yeare and quarter but his hot love begins to wax cold and frozen to her yea albeit she affected him truly and tenderly yet hee continually neglecting her and no longer delighting in the sweetnesse of her youth and the freshnesse of her beauty his lustfull eyes and thoughts carry his lascivious selfe abroad among Curtezans when they should be fixed on her and resident at home with his chaste and faire Lady so as his infidelity proving her griefe and torments and his vanity and ingratitude her unspeakable affliction and vexation she with infinite sighs and teares repents her matching him and a thousand times wisheth shee had beene so happy and blessed to have died Baretano's Martyr and not so unfortunate and accursed to live to see her selfe Albemares wife and yet were there any hope of his reformation she could then prefixbounds to her calamities and sorrowes But seeing that his vices grew with his age and that every day he became more vicious and unkinde to her than other her hopes are now wholly turned into despaire her mirth into mourning yea her inward discontents so apparantly bewray themselves in her outward sorrowfull complexion and countenance that the Roses of her cheekes are metamorphosed into Lillies and her heart so wholly taken up with anguish and surprised with sorrow as shee wisheth that her bed were her grave and her selfe in Heaven with God because shee could finde no comfort here on Earth with her husband But beyond her expectation God is providing to redresse her griefe and to remedy her afflictions by a very strange and unlooked for accident The Providence and Iustice of God doth now againe refetch bloudy Pedro to act another part upon the Stage and Theater of this History For having spent that money lewdly which he before got damnably of Albemare his wants are so great and his necessity so urgent as having played the murtherer before hee makes no conscience nor scruple now to play the theefe and so by night breaks into a Jewellers shops named Seignior Fiamata dwelling in the great place before the Domo and there carries away from him a small Trunke or Casket wherein were some uncut Saphyrs Emralds with some Venice Chrystall pendants for Ladies to weare in their eares and other rich commodities but Fiamata lying over his shop and hearing it and locking his doore to him for feare of having his throat cut gives the out-cry and alarum forth the window which ringing in the streets makes some of the neighbours and also the watch approach and assemble where finding Pedro running with a Casket under his arme he is presently hemb'd in apprehended and imprisoned and the Casket tooke from him and againe restored to Fiamata when knowing that he shall die for this robbery as a just punishment and judgement of God now sent him for formerly murthering of Baretano he having no other hope to escape death but by the meanes of Albemare he sends early the next morning for his man Valerio to come to the prison to him whom he bids to tell his Master Albemare from him that being sure to be condemned for this robbery of his if he procure him not his pardon he will not charge his soule any longer with the murther of Baretano but will on the ladder reveale how it was he who hired himselfe Leonardo to performe it Valerio reporting this to his Master it affrights his thoughts and terrifies his conscience and courage to see himselfe reduced to this misery that no lesse than his life must now stand to the mercy of this wretched Varlet Pedro's tongue But knowing it impossible to obtaine a pardon for him and therfore high time to provide for his owne safety by stopping of Pedro's mouth he resolves to heave Ossa upon Pelon or to adde murther to murther and now to poyson him in prison whom he had formerly caused to murther Baretano in the street to the end he might tell no tales on the ladder thinking it no ingratitude or sinne but rather a just reward and recompence for his former bloudy service so to feed Pedro with false hopes thereby to charme his tongue to silence and to lull his malice asleepe he speedily returnes Valerio to prison to him who bids him feare nothing for that his master had vowed to get him his pardon as he shall more effectually heare from him that night whereat Pedro rejoyceth and triumpheth telling Valerio that his Master Albemare is the most generous and bravest Cavalier of Lombardy But to nip his joyes in their untimely blossomes and to disturbe the harmony of his false content that very day as soone as hee hath dined he is tryed and arraigned before his Judges and being apparantly convicted and found guilty of this robbery hee is by them adjudged to be hanged the next morne at a Gibbet purposely to be erected before Fiamata's house where he committed his delict and crime which just sentence not only makes his joy strike saile to sorrow but also his pride and hopes let fall their Peacocks plumes to humility and feare But his onely trust and comfort yea his last hopes and refuge is in Albemare who hearing him to be condemned to be executed the next morning he is enforced to play his bloudy prize that night and so in the evening sends Valerio to prison to him with a Capon and two Fiascoes or bottles of Wine for him to make merry informing him that he hath obtained his pardon and that it is written and wants nothing but the Viceroyes signe to it which he shall have to morrow at breake of day But the wine of the one of the bottles was intermixed with strong and deadly poyson which was so cunningly tempered as it carried no distastefull but a pleasing relish to the pallate Valerio like an execrable villaine proving as true a servant to his Master as a rebellious and false one to his God he punctially performes this fearefull and mournfull businesse and having made Pedro twice drunke first with his good newes and then with his poysoned wine he takes leave of him that night and committing him to his rest promiseth to be with him very early in the morning with his pardon When this miserable and beastly prophane wretch never thinking of his danger or death of God or his soule of Heaven or Hell betakes himselfe to his bed where the poyson spreading ore his vitals parts soone bereave him of his breath sending his soule from this life and world to another Now the next morning very early as the Gaoler came to his chamber to bid him prepare to his
to that of a discontented bed and then againe his debosht and lustfull thoughts suggest him this remedy That Mans hath beauties enough for him to recreate himselfe and to passe his time with and that although she have him sometimes in her bed yet hee may have younger lasses and Ladies in his armes both when and where he pleaseth He considereth that rich widowes are not so soone found as sought not so soone obtained as found and that if he refuse La Vasselay this day hee may not onely repent it to morrow but perchance all the daies of his life and although his will may his power shall not bee able to repaire or redresse this error of his all his life after Hee is not ignorant that Gentlewomen of her age and wealth are subject to be as soone lost as won in a humour and therefore then lost because not then won Againe that the elder she is the sooner she will die and he then is at liberty to marry as young a Virgin as hee pleaseth and that her wealth would then prove a true proppe and sweet comfort to his age And to conclude and finish this consultation of his she is without children to molest and trouble him and therefore to be desired shee is vertuous discreet and of an excellent fame and reputation and therefore deserves to be accepted and not refused Vpon the grounds of which reasons and considerations hee makes good his promise to De Pruneau and comes the next night both to visite and suppe with La Vasselay who having purposely deckt her selfe up in her youthfull and gayest apparell receives him withall demonstrations of affection and joy At his first arrivall he affords her two or three kisses whereat she infinitely both rejoyceth and triumpheth and in a word hee findes that his welcome not only exceeds his deserts but his expectation and beleeve me it was worth the observation to see how superficially his youth looked on her age and how artificially and â—…stfully her age gaâ—…ed on his youth Now by this time supper is served in wherein her affection was againe discovered him in the curiosity and bounty thereof Where De Pruneau to give life to their mirth tels them both that hee hopes this their first meeting and enterview will produce effects answerable to both their contents and desires Whereat De Merson cannot refraine from blushing nor La Vasselay from smiling They are all very pleasant and jocond at table and she to give the better edge and relish to his affection strives to seeme farre yonger then indeed she is and then he knowes her to be yea she doth so cunningly entermixe and dispierce youthfull speeches amidst her aged gravity as if she were not old or at least newly made yong Now whiles she feasted her eyes on his fresh countenance and faire complexion he sends his abread to looke on her plate rich hangings and houshold-stuffe wherewith he saw her house was richly and plentifully furnished Supper ended and the cloath taken away they are no sooner fallen from their Viands but they fall to their talke De Merson kindly and familiarly taking his new old Mistris in his Armes as if hee had already given her a place in his heart and affections which makes her beyond her self both merry and joyfull I will not trouble the Reader with the repetition of what speeches and complements here past betwixt them because in this and my future Histories I will follow the same Methode of brevity which I have proposed and observed in my former Let then his inquisitive curiositie vnderstand that they parted very lovingly and affectionately this first time and De Merson although hee were a deboshed Gentleman yet he is not so simple to omit but rather so well advised to prie into the true depth and naked truth of her estate and the rather for that he hath knowne many Gentlemen who have beene fetch'd over and gulâ—…d in this nature and in marryinge one widow have match't themselves to two theeves and credulously thinking her rich have in the end found her a very begger Whereupon he takes three dayes respite to resolve and so with some kisses and many thanks for her affection and her kind entertainment and great cheere he for that night takes his leave of her whose fayre carriage and discreet resolution in temporizing La Vasselay applauds and De Pruneau approves So De Merson having spent the first and second day insurveying the writings of her Dowry the Leases of her lands and houses and the Bonds and Bils of debts due to her withall her ready Money Plate and other moveables he finds her estate to answer his expectation and her report and that she is really worth in land six thousand Francks yerely and her moveables worth at least eighteene thousand more he the third day publiquely contracts himselfe to her and having advertised his father thereof who likes the wealth better than the widdow within eight dayes after privately marries her which administreth cause of speech and wonder in and about Mans some blaming her of indiscretion and levity to match so yong a Gentleman others taxing him of folly to marry so old a widdow some extolling and applauding his judgement in enriching himselfe with so greate an Estate which would not onely deface his debts secure his youth and age from the stormes of want and the tempests of necessity but also in the one and the other maintaine him richly prosperously and gallantly And others againe beleeving and presaging that this their great inequality and disparity of yeares would either of the one side or other or both produce many discontents and afflictions instead of hoped-for joyes and prosperities Thus every one speakes differently of this preposterous match according as their passions and fancies dictate them but which of all these opinions and judgements speakes truest we shall not goe farre to understand and know We have seene the consummation of this marriage Youth wedded to Age May to December and yong De Merson to old La Vasselay in which contract and nuptials either of them are so vaine and both so irreligious as caring wholly for the pleasures of their bodies they have not therein so much as once thought of their soules or of heaven Yea God is not so much as once nominated or remembered of them All the ends of marriages are onely two Gods glory and the propagation of children and because they cannot hope for the second must they therefore needs be so impious as to forget the first Aye me if his youth had attained no more Grace could her age retaine no more goodnesse or how can they flatter themselves with any hope that this marriage of theirs can possible prosper when only her ayme and end therein is lust and his wealth If a building can subsist and flourish which hath a rotten and reeling foundation then this match of theirs may prosper otherwise cannot for what more rotten than the beastly pleasures of her lustfull and yet
them informe me and both assure me that the freenesse and fervency of my affection towards thee deserved not so cruell but a farre more courteous requitall If my Age be any way displeasing to thy youth yet deprive me not of the felicity of thy sight and presence wherein I not only delight but glory And although I can be content that thou surfet with my wealth yet make me not so miserable as to starve both in and for thy presence If any have given thee any sinister or false impressions either of my selfe or actions why if thy affection to mee will not deface them at least let thy pitty Yea returne my sweet and deare Husband and what errors or faults soever thou saiest I have committed I will not onely redeeme them with kisses but with teares LA VASSELAY De Merson hauing received this his wives Letter it workes such poore effects in his affection as he doth rather rejoyce then commiserate her estate and sorrowes yea he so sleights her and her remembrance as once he hadthought to have answered her Letter with silence but at last he some eight daies after returnes her this answer DE MERSON to LA VASSELAY VVHat hope can I have of thy Affection when I see thou art inviolably constant to thy Iealousie and if the Scruteny of thy thoughts and soule be as true as thou pretendest yet I feare that this Iealousie of thine is not the greatest but the least of thy crimes Thou writest to me that I give a cruell requitall to thy affection but pray God thou have not given a more sharpe and inhumane one to Gratiana's service and Chastity Neither is it thy Age but thy Imperfections and Vices which are both displeasing and o dious to my youth for I could brooke that with as much patience as I can digest these with impossibilities If thou want meanes I will grant thee more but for my presence I have many reasons to deny thee I know none but thy selfe which hath given me any impressions of thy actions and if those were false they would prove thy true happinesse as now they doe thy misery which my affection doth pitty though cannot redresse It is but in vaine for thee either to expect or hope for my returne and sith thy faults and errors are best knowne to thy selfe let thy repentance redeeme them towards God for neither thy kisses nor teares can or shall to me DE MERSON This Letter of De Merson to his wife La Vasselay is so farre from comforting as it doth most extreamely afflict her And although his discontents be such as she sees it almost impossible to reconcile and reclaime him yet being exceedingly perplexed and grieved with this her solitary and discontented life she yet hopes that a second Letter may obtaine that of him which her first could not when six moneths time being now slipt away since his departure shee faigning herselfe sicke writes unto him againe to this effect LA VASSELAY to DE MERSON THy absence hath so deprived my joyes and engendred my sorrowes that Sicknesse threatens my life to bee neere her period So among a world of discontents let mee yet beare this one Content to my grave that I may once more see thee whom so tenderly I both desire and long to see and if I cannot bee so happy as to live at the least make mee so fortunate as to dye in thine Armes which I know not whether it be a greater Charity foâ—… thee to grant or a Cruelty to deny mee this request of mine For my Deare De Merson if thou wilt not bee pleased to be my Husband yet bee not offended to remember that I am thy Wife and withall that as I desire thy returne so that I have not deserved thy departure But if thou wilt still be inexorable to my requests these Lines of mine which I write thee rather with Teares then Inke shall beare witnesse betwixt thy selfe and me of my Kindnesse of thy Cruelty and how my Life sought thy Affection though my Death could neither finde nor obtaine it LA VASSELAY De Merson reades this Letter with laughter yea hee is so insensible of her Lines Requests and Teares as if another had sent him newes of her Death as shee her selfe did of her Sickenesse it had beene farre more pleasing and better welcome to him But thinking how to gall her to the quicke to the end he might henceforth save her the labour to write him any more Letters and himselfe to receive and peruse them hee returnes her this sharpe and bitter answer DE MERSON to LA VASSELAY IT is thy Errour not my Absence which hath exchanged thy Ioyes into Sorrowes and if thy life draw neare her period they cannot bee farre from theirs My sight is a poore content for thee to beare to thy grave sith as a Christian thou shouldest delight to see none but thy Saviour nor bee Ambitious to live in any armes but his and if thou hold not this to be Charity I know others cannot repute it Cruelty That I am thy Husband I graunt and that thou art my Wife I not deny But yet I feare thy heart knowes though thy Pen affirmes the contrary that I have farre more reason for my departure then thou to desire my returne And if thou wilt yet know more if the Inke wherewith thou writest thy Letter be Teares pray God thou diddest not bedeawe Gratiana's Winding-sheete and Coffin both with her Teares and Blood for haddest thou not beene cruell yea inhumane to her I would never have beene unkinde to thee And to conclude live as happy as I feare her death will make thee dye miserable DE MERSON The receit and perusall of this Letter doth not only grieve but afflict and torment La Vasselay for the very remembrance of De Merson his suspition and apprehension that she had a hand in the death of Gratiana doth as it were pierce her heart as well with feare as sorrow for as her poverty lay before at his mercy so now shee knowes doth her life and that sith hee will not love her hee may chance so maligne und hate her as to reveale it Whereupon to secure her feare and to warrant the safety of her life she soone exchangeth her love into hatred and her affection and jealousie into envy towards him yea her inraged and incensed thoughts engender and imprint such bloody designes of revenge in her heart as abandoning the feare and grace of God she impiously concludes a match with the Devill to dispatch and murther him and from which bloody and damnable designe no regard of God or her Soule nor respect of Heaven or Hell can or shall divert her when overpassing a small parcell of time wherein shee ruminated and pondered how shee should send him from this life to another at last her malicious curiosity makes her thoughts fall on La Villette being his Gentleman who still followed him as holding him a fit Agent to attempt and instrument
consummared far within the tearm of six moneths after For the curious wits of these Citties and Countryes considering what a preposterous course and resolution thiâ—… was for her to marry her husbands man and withall so soone as also that there was none other present but himselfe when his Master De Merson was murthered it is umbragious and leaves a spice of feare and sting of suspition in their heads that there was more in the wind then was yet knowne and therefore knowing no more they deferre the detection thereof to the providence and pleasure of God who best yea who only knowes in Heaven how to conduct and mannage the actions here below on Earth and now indeed the very time is come that the Lord will no longer permit these their cruell and bloody murthers to bee concealed but will bring them foorth to receiue condigne punishment and for want of other evidence and witnesses they themselves shall be witnesses against themselves And although La Vaâ—…elay's poysoning of Gratiana and La Villette pistolling of his master De Merson were cunningly contrived and secretly perpetrated yet we shall see the last of these bloody murthers occasion the discovery and detection of the first and both of them most severely and sharpely punished for these their bloody crimes and horrible offences The manner is thus These two execrable wretches La Villette and La Vasselay have not lived married above some seaven or eight monthes but he being deepely in Law with Mounsieur De Manfrelle his Predecessors father for the detention of some lands and writings hee takes an occasion to ride home to his house of Manfrelle to him to conferre of the differences and by the way falls into the company of some Merchants of Lavall and Vittry who were returning from the faire of Chartres when riding together for the space of almost a whole dayes journey the secret providence and sacred pleasure of God had so ordained that La Viâ—…ettes horse who bore him quietly and safely before on a Sunday first goes back-wards in despight of his spur or swich and then â—…anding an end on his two hind legges falls quite backe with him and almost breakes the bulke and trunke of his body when having hardly the power to speake his breath fayling him and hec seeing no way but death for him and the hideous image thereof apparantly before his eyes the Spirit of God doth so operate with his sinnefell soule as hee there confesseth how his wicked wife La Vasselay had caused him to murther his master De Merson whom he shot to death with his Pistoll that shee first seduced him with a thousand Crownes to performe it which he refused but then her consent to marry him made him not onely attempt but finish that bloody businesse whereof now from his very heart and soule he repented himselfe and beseeched the Lord to forgive it him But here before the Readers curiosity carry him further let me in the name and feare of God both request and conjure him to stand amazed and wonder with me at his sacred providence and inscrutable wisdome and judgement which most miraculously concurres and shines in this accident and especially in three essentiall and most apparant circumstances thereof For it was on the very same horse the same day twelve moneth and in the very same wood and place where this execrable wretch La Villette formerly murthered his master De Merson Famous and notorious circumstances which deserve to be observed and remarked of all the children of God yea and to be imprinted and ingraven in their hearts and memories thereby to deter vs from the like crimes of murther Now these honest Merchants of Lavall and Vittry as much in charity to La Villettes life as in execration of that confessed murther of his Master De Merson convey him to an Inne in Sâ—…int Gorges when expecting every minute that he would dye in their hands they send away post to advertise the Presidiall Court of Mans hereof within whose Iurisdiction Saint Gorges was who speedily command La Villette to 〈◊〉 â—…ght thither to them alive or dead But God reserved him from that natural to 〈◊〉 more infamous death and made him live till he came thither where againe he confesseth this his foule murther of his master De Merson and likewise accuseth La Vasselay to bee the sole instigator thereof as we have formerly heard and understood Whereupon he is no sooner examined but this bloody old Hagge is likewise imprisoned who with many asseverations and teares denies and retorts this foule crime from her selfe to him But her Iudges are too wise to beleeve the weakenesse and invalidity of this her foolish justification So whiles they are consulting on her De Breâ—… having notice of all these accidents but especially of La Vasselay's imprisonment he still apprehending and fearing that she undoubtedly was the death of his daughter Gratioâ—…a takes Poste from Nogent to Mans where hee accuseth her thereof to the Cryminell Iudges of the Presidiall Court who upon these her double accusation adjudge her to the Racke when at the very first torment thereof shee at last preferring the life of her soule before that of her body confesseth her selfe to be the Actor of her first crime of Murther and the Author of the second when and whereupon the Iudges resembling themselves in detestation and for expiation of these her foule crimes condemne him to be hangd and she to be burnt alive which the next day at the common place of execution neere the Halles in Mans is accordingly executed in the presence and to the content of a world of people of that City who as much abhorre the enormity of these their bloody crimes as they rejoyce â—…nd glorifie God for this their not so severe as deserved punishments As for La Villette he like an impious Christian said little else but that which he had formerly spoken and delivered in the wood at the receiving of his fall onely hee said That he had well hoped that his great wealth which hee had with La Vasselay would have sheltred and preserved him from this infamous death for murthering her Husband and his master De Merson But as for this bloody Beldam and wretched old Fury La Vasselay she was content to grieve at Gratiana's death though not to lament or pity that of her Husband De Mersons yea and although she seemed to blame her jealousie towards her yet her age was so wretchedly instructed in piety as she could not find in her heart either to make an Apologie or any way to seeme repentant for her inhumane cruelty towards him For as she demanded pardon of De Bremay for poysoning his daughterso she spake not a word tending that way to Manfrelle for causing his sonne 〈◊〉 pistoll'd only in particular tearmes she re quested God to forgive the vanity of her youth and in generall ones the world to forget the offences and crimes of her age And so conjuring all old
Widdowes and Wives to beware by her mournful and execrable example her flames and prayers made expiation for the offence of her body and her soule mounted and fled to Heaven to crave remission and pardon of God who was the only Creator of the one and Redeemer of the other And such were the deplorable yet deserved ends of this bloody and wretched couple La Vasselay and La Villette for so cruelly murthering harmelesse Gratiana and innocent De Merson And thus did Gods all-seeing and sacred Justice justly triumph ore these their crying and execrable crimes O that their examples may engender and propagate our reformation and that the reading of this their lamentable History may teach us not only how to meditate thereon but also how to amend thereby GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XIV Fidelia and Caelestina cause Carpi and Monteleone with their two Laquayes Lorenzo and Anselmo to murther their Father Captaine Benevente which they performe Monteleone and his Laquay Anfelmo are drowned Fidelia hangs her selfe Lorenzo is hanged for a robbery and on the gallowes confesseth the murthering of Benevente Carpi hath his right hand then his head cut off Caelestina is beheadeâ—… and her body burnt OUr best parts being our Vertues and our chiefe and Soveraigne Vertue the purity and sanctity of our selves how can we neglect those or not regard this except we resolve to see our selves miserable in this life and our soules wretched in that to come and as charity is the cyment of our other vertues so envie her opposite is the subversion of this our charity from whence flowes rage revenge and many times murther her frequent and almost her inseperable companions but of all degrees of malice and envie can there be any so inhumane and diabolicall â—…s for two gracelesse daughters to plot the death of their owne father and to seduce and obtaine their two lovers to act and performe it whereof in this insuing History we shall see a most barbarous and bloody president as also their condigne punishâ—…nts afflicted on them for the same In the reading whereof O that we may have the grace by the sight of these their 〈◊〉 crimes and punishments to reforme and prevent our owne that wee may looke on their cruelty with charity on their rage with reaâ—…on on their errors with compassion on their desperation with pitty and on their 〈◊〉 wiâ—…h pâ—… that the meditation and contemplation thereof may terrifie ouâ—… 〈◊〉 quâ—…ch both the fire of our lust and the flames of our revenge so shall our faiths be fortified our passions reformed our affections purified and our actions eternally both blessed and sanctified to which end I have written and divulged it So Christian Reader if thou make this thy end in perusing it thou wilt then not faile to receive comfort thereby and therefore faile not to give God the Glory MAny yeeres since the Duke of Ossuna under the command of Spaine was made Viceroy of the Noble Kingdome of Naples the which hee governed with much reputation and honour although his fortunes or actions how justly or unjustly I know not have since suffered and received an Eclipse In the City of Otranto within the Province of Apulia there dwelt an ancient rich and valiant Gentleman nobly descended tearmed Captaine Benevente who by his deceased Lady Sophia Eliaâ—…ora Niece to the Duke of Piombinâ—… had left him two daughters and a sonne he tearmed Seignior Richardo Alcasero they two the Ladies Fidelia and Caelestina names indeed which they will no way deserve but from whom they will solely dissent and derogate through their hellish vices and inhumane dispositions to blood and murther wee may grace our names but our names cannot grace us Alcasero lives not at home with his father but for the most part at Naples as a chiefe Gentleman retayning to the Viceroy where he profiteth so well in riding and tilting a noble vertue and exercise beyond all other Italians naturall and hereditary to the Neopolitans that he purchased the name of a bold and brave Cavalier but for Fidelia and Caelestina the clockes of their youth having stroke twenty and eighteene the Captaine their father thinking it dangerous to have Ladies of their yeeres and descent farre from him keepes them at home that his care might provide them good husbands and his eye prevent them from matching with others It is as great a blessing in children to have loving Parents as for them to have obedient children and had their obedience answered his affection and their duty his providence wee had not seene the Theatre of this their History so be sprinckled and gored with such great effusion of blood This Captaine Benevente their father for his blood wealth and generosity was beloved and honoured of all the Nobility of Apulia and for his many services both by sea and land was held in so great esteeme in Otranto that his house was an Academie where all the Gallants both of City and Country resorted to backe great Horses to run at the Ring and to practise other such Courtly and Martiall Exercises whereunto this old Captaine as well in his age as youth was exceedingly addicted so as the beauty of his two daughters Fidelia and Caelestina could not be long either unseene or unadmired for they grew so perfectly faire of so sweet complexions and proper statures that they were justly reputed and held to be the Paragons of Beautie not only of Apulia but of Italy so as beauty being the Gold and Diamonds of Nature this of theirs so sweet in its influence and so excellent and delicious in that sweetnesse drew all mens eyes to love them many mens hearts to adore them so had they beene as rich in Vertue as in Beauty they had lived more fortunate and neither their friends nor enemies should have lived to have seene them die so miserably for now that proves their ruine which might have beene their glory They are both of them sought in marriage by many Barons and Caviliers as well at home as abroad but the Captaine their father will not give care nor hearken to any nor once permit that such motion be moved him They are so immodest as they grieve hereat and are so extreamly sorrowfull to see that a few yeares past away makes their Beauties rather fade than flourish where Vertue graceth not Beauty as well as Beauty Vertue it is often 〈◊〉 presage and fore-runner of a fortune as fatall as miserable But as their thoughts were too impatient and immodest to give way to such incontinent and irrigular conceits so on the other side the Captaine their father was too severe and withall too unkind I may say cruell to hinder them from Marriage sith their beauty and age had long since made them both meritorious and capable of it It was in them immodesty in him unkindenesse to propose such ends to their desires and resolutions for as hee hath authority to exact obedience from them
both his lips as if the providence and pleasure of God had ordained that that hand which committed the murther and that mouth which denied it should bee purposely punished and no part else As for Alcasero hee had five severall wounds whereof one being thorow the body made Carpi beleeve it was mortall and the rather for that hee fell therewith speechlesse to the ground so leaving him groveling and weltring in his bloud hee departs resting very confident that hee was at his very last gaspe of life and point of death But Carpi his Chirurgeon being more humane and charitable than his master leapes over the next hedge and comes to his assistance Hee leanes him against a banke binds up his wounds and wraps him in his cloake and so runnes to a Litter which he saw neere him and prayes the Lady that was in it that shee would vouchsafe to take in Don Alcasero who was there extreamly and dangerously wounded and this did Carpi his Chirurgion performe in the absence of Alcasero's owne Chirurgion who out of some distaste or forgetfulnesse came not at the houre and place assigned according to his promise It was the Lady Marguerita Esperia who out of her noble and charitable zeale to wounded Alcasero presently descended her Litter commanding her servants to lay him in softly and to convey him to his lodging and shee her selfe is pleased to stay in the fields till her servants returne it her It was a courtesie and a charity worthy of so Honourable a Lady as her selfe and in regard whereof I hold it fit to give her remembrance and name a place in this History All Naples yea the whole Kingdome rings of this combate the Baron of Carpi and Alcasero are joyntly highly commended and extolled for the same the last for his affection and zeale to his dead father the first for giving Alcasero his life when it was in his power and pleasure to have taken it from him But God will not permit Alcasero to die of these wounds but will rather have him live to see Carpi die before him though in a farre more ignoble and shamefull manner As soone as Alcasero's wounds are cured and hee prettie well recovered hee leaves Naples and returnes to Otranto where his sister Caelestina did as much shake and tremble at the imprisonment of the Baron of Carpi as shee now rejoyces at his liberty especially sith shee is assured that hee hath no way accused her nor used her name for the death and murther of her father which indeed makes her farre more pleasant and merry than before and within six moneths after marries with Seignior Alonso Loudovici whom shee ever from her youth had loved and affected and with whom shee lives in great pleasure state and pompe and no lesse doth her brother Alcasero who for the courtesie which Dona Marguerita Esperia shewed him when he was so dangerously wounded in requitall thereof doth now marrie the faire Beatina her onely daughter with whom hee lives in the highest content and felicity as any Gentleman of Italy or of the whole world can either desire or wish But this Sunne-shine of Carpi's prosperity and Caelestina's happinesse and glory shall not last long for there is a storme breaking forth which threatneth no lesse than the utter ruine as well of their fortunes as lives Where men cannot God will both detect and punish murthers yea by such secret meanes and instruments as we least suspect or imagine They are infallible Maximes that we are never lesse secured than when wee thinke our selves secure nor neerer danger than when we esteeme our selves farthest from it And if any be so incredulous or as I may say so irreligious as not to beleeve it haue they but a little patience and they shall instantly see it verified and made good in the Baron of Carpi and the Lady Caelestina who thinking themselves now safe and free from all adverse fortunes and fatall accidents whatsoever and enjoying all those contents and pleasures which their hearts could either desire or wish to enjoy or which the world could prostitute or present them they in a moment shall be bereaved of their delights and glory and enforced to end their dayes on a base scaffold with much shame infamie and misery The manner is thus God many times beyond our hopes and expectations doth square out the rule of his Justice according to that of his will all men are to bee accountable to him for their actions but he to none for his decrees and resolutions it is in him to order in us to obey yea many times hee reprives us but yet with no intent to pardon us Curiosity in matters of Faith and Religion proves not onely folly but impiety for as we are men we must looke up to God but as we are Christians we must not looke beyond him Hee oftentimes makes great offenders accuse themselves for want of others to accuse them and when hee pleaseth hee will punish one sinne by another the which wee shall now see verified in Lorenzo the Baron of Carpi his Laquay that wretched and bloudy Lorenzo who as wee have formerly heard assisted this his Master to murther Captaine Benevente and Fiamento neere Alpiata who ever since being countenanced and authorized by his Masters favour in respect of this his foule fact wherein his bloudy and murtherous hand was deeply and joyntly embrewed with him he from that time becomes so debaush'd and dissolute in his service as he spends all that possible he can procure or get yea and runnes likewise extreamly in debt not onely with all his friends but also with all those whom he knowes will trust him so as his wants being extremely vrgent and enforced to see himselfe reduced to a miserable indigence and poverty He being one day sent by the Baron his Master to the Senate house with a Letter to his Councellor hee there in the throng and crowd of people cut a purse from a Gentlewomans side wherein was some five and twenty Ducketons in Gold was taken with the manner and apprehended and imprisoned for the fact and the next morne his Processe was made hee found guilty and condemned to bee hanged So hee is dealt withall by a couple of Fryers in prison who prepare his soule for Heaven Hee sees the foulnesse of his former life and repents it The Baron of Carpi his Master no sooner understands this newes but he shakes and trembles fearing lest this his Laquay should reveale the murther of the Captaine and his man whereupon he resolveth to flie but considering againe that if his Laquay accuse him not his very flight will proclaime and make him guilty hee stayes and as hee thinkes resolves of a better course Hee goes to the prison and deales with his Laquay to bee secret in the businesse hee wots of protesting and promising him that in consideration thereof hee will enrich his mother and brothers Lorenzo tels him that he need not feare for as hee hath lived so
Bacchus doth our lewd and deboshed Scholler Maurice continually drinke drunke not onely forgetting his learning but himselfe and which is worse his God having neither the power to remember to repent or grace to pray nor to remember any thing but his cups so beastly is hee inclined so swinishly and viciously is hee affected and addicted and what doth this either prognosticate presage or promise to produce in him but inevitable affliction misery and ruine of all sides As the shortest errours are best so those Vices which have longest perseverance and predominance in us prove still the most pernicious and dangerous It is nothing to crush a Serpent in the egge but if we permit it to grow to a Serpent it may then crush us a plant may be removed with ease but an old tree difficultly To fall from sinne to repentance is as great a happinesse as it is a misery to fall from repentance to sinne and indeed to use but one word for the affirmation and confirmation of this truth there can no greater misery befall us than to thinke our selves happy when through our sinnes we are miserable Here in Losanna Maurice esteemes this his beastly sinne of drunkennesse to bee a Vertue not a Vice in him yea in paying for all shots and reckonings in Tavernes hee sottishly and foolishly thinkes it the shortest and truest way to bee beloved and honoured though indeed to bee contemned of all and therefore without feare or wit yea without the lâ—…st sparke of Grace or shadow of consideration his stomacke like the Devils spunge and his insatiable throat like a bottomlesse gulfe so devoures his wine and his wine his money as that which should bee the Argument of his glory hee makes the cause of his shame and his money which should fortifie his reputation hee converts and turnes to ruine it But as poverty in a just revenge of our Vanity rejoyceth to looke on us because we first disdained either to looke on or regard it so he having spent the fragrant Summer of his folly and prodigality in wasting the moneyes his mother gave him in wine now the deprivation thereof makes him feele the frosty Winter of that want which hee can better remember than remedy rather repent than redresse The Fellowes and Students of his Colledge looke on him and his drunkennesse some with the eyes of pity others with those of joy according as their friendship or malice their Charity or Envy either conduct their passions or transport and steere their resolutions and inclinations As for his Tutor Varesius how can hee possible seeke or reclaime this his Pupill from Vicâ—… to vertue when hee is so wretchedly dissolute as by the publike vote and voyce of the Vniversity hee himselfe is already wholly and solely relapsed from Vertue to Vice In which respect this vitious young Student Maurice having neither Vertue nor Tutor money nor credit discretion nor friend to secure him from the shelves of Indigence or the rockes of Poverty and Misery whereon hee is rashly and wilfully rushing hee like a true deboshed Scholler or indeed as a Master of Art in the Art of deboshednesse first sels away his bookes then his gowne and cloaths and next his bed being desirous to want any thing but wine and confidently though vainly and foolishly assured that if he have wine enough that then he wants nothing A miserable consideration and condition a wretched estate and resolution onely tending and conducing to direfull miserie and to deplorable poverty and desolation But to replenish his purse to repaire his credit and apparell and to continue his cups and drunkennesse hee hath no other hopeâ—… or reâ—…ge than againe to cast himselfe on the affection and courtesie of his mother whom hee re-visits with severall Letters which are onely so many humble insinuating petitions againe to draw and wrest moneyes from her But hee is deceived in his hopes and expectation or at least they distinctly and severally and his mother joyntly with them conspire to deceive him For I write it with griefe because by an uncontroulable relation of the truth shee dictates it to my penne with teares that as well by all those of Morges who came from Losanna as by all those of Losanna who came to Morges she is most certainly and sorrowfully advertised of her sonnes deboshed and dissolute life of his neglect of Learning and too frequent affecting and following of drunkennesse of the sale of his clothes bed and bookes of the irreparable losse both of his time moneyes and reputation and withall how the dregges and fumes of wine hath metamorphosed his countenance and not graced but filthily disgraced it with many fierie Rubies and flaming Carbunkles as also how it hath stuffed and bombasted vp his belly and body as if the dropsie and hee contended who should first seize each on other and therefore shee being with a mournfull unwillingnesse enforced not onely to take notice but sorrowfully to rest assured and confident of these diasterous premises the infallible predictions and Symptomes of her Sonnes utter ruine and subversion Shee peremptorily and absolutely refuseth his requests answereth his Letters with many sharpe complaints and bitter exclamations against his foule sinne of Drunkennesse which threatens no lesse than the ruine both of his Reputation Friends Learning Fortune and Life if not of his Soule Maurice seeing himselfe wholly abandoned of his Mother he knowes not how to live nor yet how to provide the meanes to maintaine life which not onely surpriseth his thoughts but amazeth and appaleth his cogitations with feare yea hee takes this discourtesie of hers so neare at heart and withall is so extreamly impatient to see himselfe forsaken of her whom hee knowes the Lawes of Nature hath commanded to affect and cherish as forgetting himselfe to bee her Sonne and shee his Mother yea forgetting himselfe to bee a man and which is more a Christian his wants and Vices so farre transport him beyond the bounds of Reason and Religion of Nature and Grace as hee impiously and execrably degenerates from them all and secretly vowes to his heart and soule or to say truer to the Devill who inâ—…hanteth the one and infecteth and intoxicateth the other that hee will speedily send her into another world in a bloudy Coffin if shee will no releeve his wants and maintaine him as her Sonne in this So alas here it is that hee first gives way to the Devill to take possession of his thoughts and heart and here it is that hee first assumes bad bloud and suggests bloudy designes against the safety and life of his deare and innocent Mother When like a miserable wretch and a wretched and impious villaine his thoughts and studies like so many lines running to their centre are now in continuall action and motion how to finish and bring this deplorable Tragicall businesse to an end yea the better to â—…eed this his 〈◊〉 bloudy appetite and to quench the quenchlesse thirst of his Matracidious revenge hee
had some secret notice and intelligence of their lascivious dalliances and affection he exceedingly grieves and shee extremely stormes thereat because they know that this foule scandall will wholly reflect and fall upon them and now by this his sudden and discontented departure from them will be made notorious and apparent to all the world But how to remedy it they know not because he hath neither signified him where he is gone nor when he will returne the which the more bewrayeth his small respect and discovereth his implacable displeasure towards them But as there is no malice and revenge to that of a Woman so Marsillia assuring herselfe that it was her Maid Mathurina who to the prejudice and scandall of her Honour had unlocked this mysterie to her Husband Don Ivan shee enters into so furious a rage and so outragious a fury against her as shee provides her selfe of rods and intends the next morne e're shee bee stirring out of her bed to wreake her fierce anger and indignation upon her But this sharpe and severe resolution of hers is not so closely carried by her but Mathurina hath perfect notice thereof and to prevent this intended correction and crueltie of her incensed Lady and Mistris shee the night before takes horse and so rides home to the Towne of St. Saviours to her father and there from point to point relateth him all which had past betwixt her Lady and her selfe and betwixt her Husband her selfe and her father in Law and that now disdaining any more to serve her as her body so her tongue is at liberty for she is not and she will not be sparing to publish her Mistris and her father in law's shamefull familiarity and adultery together But this indiscretion and licentious folly of her tongue will cost her farre dearer than shee thinkes of or expecteth For her late Lady and Mistris Marsillia being now perfectly certified of Mathurina's infidelitie and treachery towards her in the point of her dishonour and shame shee to salve up her reputation and to provide for her fame will not wholly relye upon her owne judgement and discretion herein but resolves to acquaint Don Alonso De Perez her owne onely brother herewith and to crave his ayd and assistance as also his advice betwixt whom and her selfe there was so strict a league and simpathy of affection that if reports be true I write it to their shame and mine owne sorrow it exceeded the bounds of Nature and Honour and of Modesty and Chastity onely the presumption hereof is great and pregnant for if there had not beene some extraordinary tyes and obligations betwixt them it is rather to be beleeved than doubted that for her sake and service he would never have so freely exposed himselfe to such eminent feares and dangers as we shall immediately see him doe and although of honour and disposition he were brave and generous yet I beleeve he would not have undertaken it For the Reader must understand that to this brother of hers Don Perez Marsillia speedily acquaints the infidelity and treachery of her Maid Mathurina's tongue against her Fame and Honour which had so unfortunately occasioned her Husbands Don Ivans discontented departure from her Shee protesteth most seriously and deepely to him of her and her father in Law Idiaques innocency in this pretended crime and scandall Tels him that Mathurina is the onely author and reporter thereof and therefore till that base and lewd tongue of hers be eternally stopped and silenced shee shall never enjoy any true content to her heart or peace to her thoughts and mind either in this world or this life When his affection to her makes him to yeeld such confidence to her speeches vowes and complaints that hee holds them to bee as true as Scripture yea and the undoubted Oracles of Truth and Innocency when to please and satisfie her hee bids her be of good cheare and comfort and that he will speedily take such order that Mathurina's â—…candalous tongue shall not long ecclipse her fame or any further blemish the lustre of her reputation When this base and bloody Gentleman De Perez to make good this his promise to his execrable Sister he secretly rides over to St. Saviours and there by night wayting neere her fathers doore when Mathurina would chance to issue forth he in a darke night espying her without any more ceremony or further expostulation runnes her thorow the bodie two severall times whereof poore harmlesse innocent soule shee fals downe dead to his feet without once speaking or crying So De Perez seeing her dispatched he presently takes horse which his man there led by him and poasts away ro Santarem being neither seene nor discovered And thus this bloody villain most deplorably embrued his guilty hands in the innocent blood of this vertuous young Gentlewoman who never offended him in thought word or deed in all her life and albeit that her father Signeor Pedro de Castello makes curious enquiry and research for the Murtherer of his Daughter yet De Perez mounted at advantage hath recovered Santarem in safety But God will in due time finde him out to his shame and confusion yea and than when his security and courage little dreames thereof As soone as he comes to Santarem hee acquaints his sister Marsillia of his dispatching of Mathurina who is infinitely glad thereof and extremely thanke full to him for the same and now her malice and revenge lookes wholly on her Husband Don Ivan for offering her this unkind and scandalous indignity of his departure and for tacitely taxing and condemning her of incontinency with his father Idiaques which her adulterous heart and incestuous soule and conscience doth inwardly confesse and acknowledge though the perfidiousnesse and hypocrisie of her false tongue doe publikely deny it yea with her best art and policy and with her sweetest smiles and kisses shee hath by this time so exasperated this her bloody brother against him that out of his vanity and folly hee prophanely vowes unto God and seriously protests and sweares unto her That if he knew where he were hee for the vindication of her honour and innocencie would ride to him and fight with him except he would resolve to give him her some valuable reparation and honourable satisfaction to the contrary which he seales and confirmes to her with many amarous smiles and lascivious kisses But as we are commonly never nearer danger than when we thinke our selves farthest from it So God being as secret in his decrees as sacred in his resolutions we shall shortly see De Perez to verifie and confirme it in himselfe for as in the heat of this his sottish affection to his sister he is ready to fight with her Husband Don Ivan if he knew where he was loe the newes of his residence in Madrid when he least thinkes thereof is accidentallie brought him by a Seruant of his owne whom hee purposely sends to Santarem with these two ensuing letters The
the shorter whereat De Perez rests satisfied and well he may sith this action and his receit thereof doth as much testifie Don Ivans glory as his owne dishonour and shame and now they againe approach each other to fight At their first comming up Don Ivan runnes a firme thrust to De Perez breast but hee bearing it up with his Rapier runnes Don Ivan in the cheeke towards his right eare which drawes much bloud from him and he in exchange runnes De Perez thorow his shirt sleeve without hurting him At their second meeting they againe close without hurting each other and so part faire without offering any other violence At their third assault De Perez runnes Don Ivan thorow the brawne of his left arme who in exchange requites him with a deepe wound in his right side from whence issued much bloud and now they breathe to recover wind and to the judgements of Lopez and Valdona as also of their Chirurgions they hitherto are equall in valour and almost in fortune so although these spectators doe of both sides earnestly entreat them to desist and give over yet they cannot they will not be so easily or so soone reconciled each to other So after a little pausing and breathing they with courage and resolution fall to it afresh and at this their fourth encounter Don Perez gives Don Ivan a deepe wound in his left shoulder and he requites him with another in exchange in the necke and although by this time their severall wounds hath engrained their white shirts with great effusion of their scarlet bloud yet they are so brave so generous or rather so inhumane and malitious that they will not yet give over as if they meant and resolved rather to make death feare them than they any way to feare death But their fifth close will proue more fatall for now after they had judiciously traversed their ground thereby to deceive each other of the disadvantage of the Sunne whiles De Perez directs a full thrust to Don Ivans breast hee bravely and skilfully warding it in requitall thereof runnes him cleane thorow the body a little below his right pap when closing nimbly with him and pursuing the point of his good fortune hee whips up his heeles and so nailes him to the ground when he had the strength to begge his life of Don Ivan and God knowes he much grieved that it was not then in his power to give it him for this his last wound being desperately mortall hee presently died thereof having neither the remembrance to call on God much lesse to begge mercy of him for his sinfull soule but as hee lived abominably and prophanely so he died miserably and wretchedly And although I confesse it was too great an honour for him to receive his death from so brave a noble Gentlemans hands as Don Ivan yet it is a most singular providence and remarkable punishment of God that hee died by the hands of his owne lascivious sisters Husband and which is yet more by his owne sword as if God had formerly decreed and purposely ordained that the selfe fame sword should give him his death wherewith so lately and so cruelly hee had bereaved that harmlesse innocent young Gentlewoman Mathurina of her life although in regard of this his foule and lamentable murther hee with lesse honour and more infamy every way deserved to have died rather by a halter than a sword But Gods Providence is as unsearchable as sacred Don Ivan having rendred thanks to God for this his victory he out of his noble courtesie and humanity lends Lopez his Coach to transport the dead body of his brother in Law De Perez into the City and taking his horse in exchange he by a private way gets home to his lodging But this their Duell is not so secretly carried but within three houres after all Madrid rattles thereof who knowing the Combatants to be both of them noble Gentlemen of Portugall it gives cause of generall talke and argument of universall envie and admiration in all Spaniards especially in the nobler sort of Souldiers and Courtiers When the very day after that Don Ivan had caused this his brother to be decently buried Lopez repaires to his chamber to him and in a faire friendly manner enquires of him if he please to returne any Letter of this his friends death and of his owne victorie to Santarem to Don Idiaques his father or the Lady Marsillia his wife and that his best service herein shall attend and wait on his commands Don Ivan thanks Lopez for this his courtesie but tels him that for some reserved reasons he will send no Letter to either of them but otherwise wisheth him a prosperous returne to Portugall so Don Ivan remaines in Madrid and Lopez returnes for Santarem and there from point to point relates them the issue of that Combat as the victory of his sonne Don Ivan and the death and buriall of De Perez adding withall that he was so reserved and strange that he would write to neither of them hereof At the relation and knowledge of this mournfull newes Idiaques cannot refraine from much sorrow nor Marsillia from bursting forth into bitter teares and lamentations thereat for seeing her deare and onely brother thus slaine by the hand of her owne unkinde Husband by losing him shee knowes she hath lost her right arme and he being dead shee knowes not to whom to have recourse either for counsell assistance or consolation And yet as much as hee sorrowes and she grieves at this diasterous accident they notwithstanding are yet so farre from thinking it a blow from Heaven or from looking either up to God or downe to their owne sinfull hearts consciences and soules for the same that without making any good use or drawing any divine or profitable morall thereof they still continue their beastly pleasures and damnable Adultery and Incest together as if there were no God to see nor no deserved torments or miserie reserved to punish it But they and we shall immediately see the contrary To the griefe of our hearts and compunction of our soules wee have in this History seene wretched Idiaques by the instigation of the devill to poyson his wife the Lady Honoria and likewise his daughter in Law Marsillia to have caused her brother De Perez to have cruelly murthered her waiting-maid in the street as also by the Providence of God Don Ivan to have slaine the said De Perez in the field and our curiosity and expectation shall not goe far before we shall see the just Revenge and punishments of God condignly to surprise wretched Idiaques and gracelesse Marsillia for the same for his Divine Justice contending with his Sacred Mercy it hath at last prevailed against these their â—…le and bloudy crimes so now when they are in the middest yea in the height jollity of all these their soule delights security like an unlooked for storme and tempest 〈◊〉 will suddenly befall them Life hath but
was a crying Sinne which despight of sorcery and of Hell would in Gods due time draw downe vengeance to Earth from Heauen on their Authors That if he were guiltie of his accusation he had no better plea than confession nor safer remedie than repentance That contrition is the true marke of a true Servant of God and though we fall to Nature and sinne as being men yet wee should rise againe to grace and righteousnesse as being Christians That to deny our Crimes is to augment them and consequently their punishments both in Earth and in Hell and that he was not a Christian but an Infidell who would attempt to save his life with the losse of his soule with many other religious exhortations concurring and looking that way But all this notwithstanding Idiaques his Faith and Conscience was yet so strong with Sathan and therefore so weake with God that he left no excuse policy or evasion uninvented to bleare the eyes of these Corigadors and so to make his innocency to passe current with them But his eloquence and asseverations cannot prevaile with the solidity of their Iudgements for God will not suffer them to bee led away with words nor seduced or deluded with shadowes But from the circumference of circumstances they now flie to the centre of truth and to the Authour and giver yea to the life and soule thereof God So they againe adjudge him to the rack for his second accusation of Murther as they formerly had done to him for his first At the pronouncing of which sentence If wee may judge of his heart by his face hee seemed to be much afflicted appaled and daunted which his Iudges perceiving before they expose him to his torments they in Honour to his Age and qualitie but farre more to Truth and Iustice whom they know to be two Daughters of Heaven they now hold it a point of Charity and Piety to send him two Diuines to his prison to worke upon his Conscience and Soule which they doe And God in the depth of his goodnesse and the richnesse of his mercy was so mercifully propitious and indulgent to him that hee added such efficacy to their perswasions and power to their exhortations as at the very sight of the racke hee with teares in his eyes then and there confessed unto them That hee was innocent of Mathurinaes murther but guiltie of poisoning his owne wife the Ladie Honoria for the which he said he most heartily and sorrowfully repented himselfe Whereupon his Iudges and the rest present admiring with wonder and praising God with admiration for the detection of this his foule bloody and lamentable crime they pronounce sentence against him That for expiation thereof hee at eight of the clocke the next morning shall have his head cut off at the place of common execution in that Towne When Idiaques who yet adhered so much to Satâ—…an that hee could never be devested of his mortall sinnes before he were first deprived of his sinfull life doth yet still flatter himselfe with some further hope of life and so hee appeales from the judgement and sentence of this Court of Coimbra to that of Santarem as being native and resident thereof as also because he committed his murther there for which they not his competent Iudges adjudged him to death Whereat although the Corigadors of Coimbra for the preservation of the priviledges of their Court and Towne doe obstinately expose and vehemently contest it yet at last well knowing and being conscious with themselves that smaller Townes and Courts in Portugall are bound and subject to depend of the greater They therefore making a vertue of necessitie and contenting themselves to give way to that which they cannot remedie doe ordaine that Idiaques should bee conveighed and tryed at Santarem But yet before they suffer him to depart their Towne they in honour to Iustice in wisedome to themselves and in reputation to their Towne and Court doe seriously and religiously charge him in the name and feare of God to declare truly to them whether his unburyed Daughter in Law Marsillia were not likewise accessary with him in poysoning his Wife the Lady Honoria which at first he strongly denies to them But then they send away for the two Divines who had formerly dealt with him and his Conscience in Prison who exhort him to carrie a white and candyd soule to Heaven and threaten him with the torments of Hell fire if hee doe not When with sighes and teares he confesseth that to them and that it was hee himselfe who administred that poyson to his wife but that his daughter in Law Marsillia bought it for him So these Iudges upon the validity of this free and solemne confession in detestation of this her lamentable crime doe reverently resolve to second and glorifie God in his Iudgements towards her and therefore they presently condemne her dead body to bee burnt that afternoone in their market street the common place of execution which accordingly is then and there performed in presence of a great concourse of people who infinitly rejoyce that God so miraculously destroyed the life and their Iudges the body of so execrable a female Monster By this time we must allow and imagine that our old Lecher and new murthere Idiaques by vertue of his appeale is brought to his owne City of Santarem and I thinke either with a ridiculous hope or a prophane and impious resolution to see whether God will punish him there with death or the Divell preserve and save him from it Hee hath many friends in this Court who are both great and powerfull and therefore builds all his hopes of life on this reeling quicksand this snow this nothing that his great estate of money and lands will undoubtedly act wonders with them for his pardon But still he hopes because still the divell deceives him He is arrived here at Santarem where this faire Citie which might heretofore have proved his delight and glory is now reserved for his shame and appointed and destined for his confusion They cannot brook the sight much lesse the cohabitation and company of such monsters of nature and divels incarnat of men who glory in making themselves guilty of these soule sinnes and crying crimes Adultery Incesâ—… Murther So that Idiaques who hath made himselfe a principall of this number and a monster of Art in these sinnes thinking here in Santarem to find more mercy and pity during his life shall find lesse of both of them after his death For the criminall Iudges of this Court who reverence and honour Iustice because Iustice doth daily and reciprocally performe the like to them doe confirme the sentence of Coimbra that the next morne he shall lose his head but in detestation and execration of these his foule and bloody crimes they adde this clause and condition thereto that both his head and body shall be afterwards burnt and his ashes throwne into the ayre which gives maatter of talke and admiration not onely to Santarem
Lillie-rose at complexion of a milde nature and sweet disposition respectfully courteous to all the world and exceedingly devout and religious towards God as perpetually making it her practise delight and glory to consume a great part both of her time and of her selfe in prayer and in the service of God And although she were formerly sought for in mariage by many as good Gentlemen as Harcourt yet she could fancie none nor affect any man for her husband but himselfe Never wife was more carefull or more desirous to please a husband than she and as for one whole yeare it was her former content and joy to see him to be a provident kinde and loving Husband to her so now it is her matchlesse griefe and calamity to see his good nature perverted his resolutions transported and his affections drowned in deboshed and vitious company She leaves no sweet advice nor courteous requests and perswasions unattempted to reclaime him from these his foule vices of drunkennesse swearing dicing evill company and whoredome for of no lesse sinnes in quality nor fewer in number she with extreame griefe and sorrow sees him to be guilty But all this will not prevaile no nor her infinite teares and sighs which many times she spends and sheds to him both at boord and bed yea and sometimes on her knees but still with a wretched violence and sinfull impetuosity he goes on in his vitious courses and ungodly life and conversation neither caring for his health or his estate and meanes but wilfully neglects the first and prodigally wastes and consumes the second whereat she wonderfully grieveth and lamenteth She often requesteth Vimory his brother and La Vaquery her father to perswade and divert him from these his ungodly Courses and enormous vices which threatens no lesse than the vtter ruine and inevitable shipwracke of all their fortunes but they likewise cannot preuaile although his Brother Vimory with whom they live and sojourne every houre and time he sees him doe strongly deale and labour with him to that effect For now he giving no limits to his vices and prodigalities he sels away his lands peece-meale whereat his brother Vimory stormeth and rageth against him and his vertuous sweet wife most pitifully weepeth and lamenteth But as a base Gentleman and a most unkinde and ungrateful Husband he laughs at her teares smileth at hersighes and contemneth scorneth both them and her selfe And it nowfalling out that La Vaquery her father losing both of his Law suits at Diion where they by the votes sentence of that Court of Parliament are adjudged against him wherby he was utterly ruined both in his hopes and estate for ever Harcourt hereat soslights neglects his wife as he tearmes her beggers brat threatneth to send her home to Troyes to her Father and setting all at randome cares not what becomes either of himselfe or her who poore sweet Gentlewoman is so extreamely afflicted and as it were weighed downe with all these calamities and miseries especially with the vices and discourtesies of her husband as in her heart she daylywisheth and in her soule hourely prayeth unto God that she were out of this life and in Heaven infinitly lamenting and a thousand times a day repenting that ever it was her hard fortune to see her Husband and her woefull chance to marry him But how to remedie or redresse these her miseries shee knowes not For now doe her Husbands vices and prodigalities make him daily grow poorer and poorer in so much as in lesse than three yeeres hee is become the shame of himselfe the contempt of his enemies the pittie of his friends and Kinsfolkes and the extreame griefe of his sweet and deare wife so that hee hath well neerâ—… spent all and almost left nothing to maintaine himselfe much lesse to maintaine her whose griefes are so great and sorrowes so infinite as her roseat cheekes now looke thinne and pale her sweet eyes are become obscure and dim yea and in so pitifull and lamentable a manner that she fals exceedingly sicke and her discontent and disconsolation is almost so remedilesse as she would but cannot be comforted for that her Husband whom she thought would have proved the argument of her joy and prosperity is now become the cause of her endlesse griefe and the object of her matchlesse calamity and misery Thus leaving her sorrowes sighs and teares to bee diminished through time or dissipated and defaced by God The order of our History invites and conjures me now againe to speake of this her base and deboshed Husband who hath many beastly and bloudy parts to act herein Whose lewd life and prodigalities enforcing him now to behold poverty because heretofore he disdained to looke on frugality and providence Seeing his wealth wasted his lands either sold or morgaged himselfe forsaken of his brother and friends his reputation lost his debts great his creditors many and who now began to grow extreame clamorous and scandalous to him Hee knowes not which way to looke or how or where to turne himselfe to finde out some invention and meanes to repaire the decayes and ruines of these his miserable fortunes and so to beare up and screw himselfe againe into the eye and repute of the world When his necessity gaining upon his heart and nature and Satan upon his Conscience and Soule he knowing his brothers wife Masserina to be rich â—…nd wanton hee will become so unfaithfull to his owne wife so ingratefull and treacherous to his owne brother and so dishonourable and ignoble to himselfe as to attempt to gaine her affection from him and to draw her to his owne lewd and lascivious desires whereon his irregular hopes did more than partly grow confident because he flatters himselfe with this true yet foolish beleefe that as he was seven yeares the younger so hee was twice seven times a properer man than his brother When taking time at advantage as his brother and her husband Vimory were rid to Diion he finding her in a wonderfull pleasant humour and exceedingly disposed to be merry when God knowes his owne sweet and sorrowfull wife was according to her frequent custome disconsolately at her prayers and booke in her owne chamber and her doore shut to her then then I say hee taking his said sister in law Masserina to a window in a private Parlor hee there for himselfe or the devill for him breaks his minde to her and is so farre from shame as he glories to make her acquainted with his deepe affection lascivious suit to her Neither doth he faile of his hopes or they of his voluptuous desires for he findes this his sister in law so dishonestly prepared and so lustfully resolved and disposed to grant him his desires that sealing her affection to him with many smiles as he did his to her with more kisses she is so impudent so gracelesse as at this his very first motion she vowes to him she hath not the power to deny him any thing and
pure and religious soule towards God makes her send many teares to earth sighes to heaven Once she thought to acquaint her brother Vimory herewith but then fearing that his just choller might peradventure exasperate him against her Husband she againe as soone forsakes that opinion and intent as holding it more discretion and safety to be silent herein towards him And yet consulting her griefes and afflictions with God whose sacred advise and assistance how to beare her selfe in this action and accident shee religiously implores she at last deemes it a part both of her affection duty and conscience to use her best zeale and endevours to reclaime them from this their abhominable and beastly course of life And in regard her poverty weaknesse and sicknesse will not according to her desires and wishes permit her to ride over to them in person to Genâ—…va shee therefore commits and imposeth that charge to her pen to write both to her Husband Harcourt as also to his lews Sister or rather his lascivious Strumpet Masserina to see if her letters by the permission and providence of God may prevaile with their hearts and soules to reforme and draw them home the which she purposely and expresly sends by a confident messenger and with the greatest secresie she possibly can devise Her Letter to her Husband intimated this LA PRECOVERTE to HARCOVRT YOur flight and Adultery with that graceles Strumpet Masserine is so displeasinâ—… to God as I cannot but wonder that his divine Iusticewil permit Geneva or any other place of the world to containe you without punishing you for iâ—… yea when in this foule crime of yours I consider her by my selfe and you by your Brother Vimorye I finde that his griefe proves myshame and myshame his griefe and that you and her are the true causes of both I have examined my thoughts and actions my heart and soule and cannot conceive that I have any way deserved this your ingratitude towards me and therefore faile not to certifie me why and wherefore you have undertaken this vitious and lewd course of life which in the end will assuredly produce thy misery as now already it doth your infamy except your contrition to God doe speedily redeeme it And in regard that you are my Husband and that I both hoape and beleeve it to be the first fault in this kinde and nature I therefore hold you more worthy of my pitty than of my hatred and of my prayers then of my curses So if you will abandon your deboshed Sister and come home and live with me who am thy chaste and sorrowful wife my armes and heart shall bee as open as ever they were both to receive and forgive you yea I will wholly forget what is past and prepare my selfe to welcome you home with a thousand Smiles and Kisses if you will resolve and remember henceforth to love mee as much as formerly without cause or reason you have neglected and hated me LA PRECOVERTE Her Letter to Masserina bewrayd these passions LA PRECOVERTE to MASSERINA NOe longer Sister but lewd strumpet was it not enough for thee to abuse thine owne Husband but that thou must likewise bereave me of mine who is his owne and onely Brother as if a single sinne and ingratitude could not content thy lascivious lust or satisfâ—…e thy inordinate desires but that thy impiety to God and prophanenesse and obscenity to thy selfe should make thee guilty of so foule a crime as Adultery and which is worse of such a foule and base Adultery as comes very neere to the worst kinde of Incest wherof thy thoughts and heart can informe thee and thy conscience and soule assure thee it will hereafter make thee as truely mâ—…serable as now thou fasly thinkest thy selfe happy Wherefore triumph not to have made my griefe thy glory and my affliction thy felicity for God who is as just as powerfull will requite my wronges in thy Person and when thou least dreamest thereof his Divine punishments will sharpely scourge and revenge thy lascivious pleasures except thou deject and prostrate thy selfe at the feeâ—… of his sacred mercy with true contritioâ—… and at the Altar of his saving Grace with unfeined repentance for the same by restoring my Husband to me and thy selfe to thine and by making thy peacewith God whom so highly and hainously thou hast therein offended which if thou doe thou mayest then reestablish thy fortunes anâ—…â—…edeeme thy reputation or els for ever assuredly ruine both them and thy selfe So if I seethee to imbâ—…ace this chaste and to follow this vertuous and religious course I will againe assume the name of a Sister and leave that of a Strumpet towards thee yea I will wholly forget these thy almost unpardonable wrongs and disgraces which thou offerest mee and for ever bury them in perpetuall silence and eternall oblivion LA PRECOVERTE Her Messenger arriving at Geneva he first findes out Noell and then secretly delivers these two Letters to Harcourt and Masserina who much musing and more wondring thereat withdrawing themselves into their Inner Chamber they there breake up the seales and peruse them Whereat their hearts galled and their Consciences so netled and stung as they cannot refraine from blushing for meere shame and then againe from not looking pale with meere anger thereat Thus looking stedfastly each on other their owne guiltinesse doth for the time present somewhat afflict and perplex them Harcourt wondereth at his wifes boldnesse in wriâ—…ing to him and Masserina is not a little dismaid and daunted to see that her husband hath not written unto her Harcourt is discontented with his wifes peremptory Letter Masserina is apprehensive and fearefull of her husbands silence when againe changing their conceits and thoughts which inconstantly alter and extravagantly range without any intrinsicall peace or tranquility Harcourt thinking of his Brother Vimoryes silence attributes it to contempt and hatred and Masserina contemplating and ruminating on her sister La Precovertes choller reputes it to extreame griefe sorrow and Indignation But at last consulting together hereon they both of them concurre and fall upon this resolution that to colour out their lascivious life they by their answers to her must overvaile it with much seeming chastity and pretended sanctity and piety And the better to prevent any danger which may proceed from Vimories silence or revenge they must remove from Geneva and speedily resolve to forsake and leave it When feare giving life to their despaire and despaire adding wings to their feare they call for pen and paper and each returne La Pecoverte their severall answers by her owne messenger who had strickt charge and command from her to see them but not to dare once to speake or exchange a word with either of them the which according to his duty hee very honestly and punctually performed onely to shew her gratefulnesse to honest Noell she gave precise order to him to render him many hearty thanks from her for his true respect
of our soule but our whole soule For in matters of his divine worship and service which consists in that of our faith and of his glory he will not admit of any Rivall or Competitor nor bee served in any other manner than as he hath taught us by his sacred Word and Commandements and instructed us by his holy Prophets and blessed Apostles But againe to Harcourt and Masserina whose lascivious hearts and lewd consciences not permitting them to rest in assurance or reside in security any where the very day after they had dispatched the messenger with their Letters to La Precoverte holding Geneva no place for them nor they for Geneva they trusse up baggage and so with much secrecie leave it and direct their course to the great and famous Citie of Lyons some two and twenty leagues thence and which is the frontier Towne of France and there they thinke to shrowd themselves among that great affluence and confluence of people which inhabite and aboord there from divers parts and they make choice to live in this frontier Citie because it is neere to Savoy where if any danger should chance to betide or befall them they might speedily and safely retire themselves there and so lay hold on the law and priviledge of Nations which is inviolable throughout all the world At their arrivall at Lyons they take their chambers and residence neere the Arsenall though for the two first nights they lie in Flanders-street They have not beene in Lyons fifteene dayes but there befell them an accident very worthy both of our observation and of their remembrance which was thus A Gentleman of the City of Tholouse named Monseiur De Blaise having some five dayes before treacherously killed his elder brother Monseiur De Barry in the high way as they travelled together upon a quarrell which fell out betweene them for having deboshed and clandestine stollen away his said elder brother De Barry's wife from him and conveyed and transported her away with them There was a privie search then made in Lyons when that same night Harcourt and Masserina were upon suspition apprehended for them and laid in sure keeping But the next morning before the Seneschall and Procureur Fiscall they justified their innocencie by many who knew De Blaise and so were cleared but yet it gave them both a hot Camisado and fearfull Alarum and left an ominous impression in their hearts and minds whereof for the conformity of the circumstances of this action with their owne had they had the grace to have made good use they had not hereafter made themselves so famously infamous nor consequently this their History so prodigiously deplorable Harcourt and Masserina whiles they stay here in Lyons as guilt is still accompanied with feare doe seldome goe forth their lodgings and when they doe they for their better safety disguise themselves in different apparell and for her part shee goes still close masked and muffled up in her Taffeta coyffe Yea both of them make it their practise to frequent the fields often but the Churches and streets seldome as if their foule crime of Adultery had made them unworthy the communion of Gods Saints and consequently all good company too worthy for them He exceedingly feares his brother Vimory's silence and revenge and she highly envieth and disdaineth her sister in law La Precovertes jelousie and still that disgracefull word of Strumpet which she upbraided her with and obtruded to her in her Letter strikes sincks deeply in her heart and remembrance in such sort that it so possesseth her thoughts with malice and takes up her minde with choller fierce indignation as she vowes to her selfe not thus to let it passe in silence or to vanish and die away in oblivion quite contrary to that which her late Letter to her sister La Precoverte promised and spake And here it is that the devill first begins to take possession of her heart and by degrees to seize upon her soule and to make her wholly to forsake God For knowing La Precoverte to be wife to her brother in law and lover Harcourt whom she affects a thousand times dearer than her owne Husband yea than her owne life shee is therefore so great a beame to hereye so sharpe a thorne to her heart and so bitter a corrasive to her content as shee not onely assumes bad thoughts but bad bloud against her For vowing that none shall share with her in his affection shee forgetting her Conscience and Soule Heaven and God is speedily resolved to cause her to be poysoned her inraged malice being capable of no other excuse or reason but this that it is impossible she can reape any perfect felicity or content in earth till she have dispatch't and sent her to Heaven To which end she insinuates her selfe into the acquaintance of two Apothecaries of that City and deales with them severally and secretly to effect this hellish businesse for the which she promised either of them a hundred crownes of the summe in hand and as much more when they have effected it and fifty more to defray the charge of their journey But the devill hath made her so crafty and subtile as she still retaines from them the name Masserina and the place Troyes where the party dwelt There are good and bad men of all countryes faculties and professions these two Apothecaries are as honest as she is wretched and as religious and charitable as shee is prophane and bloody so the one denies her request with disdaine and choller and the other with charity and compassion alleaging her many pious considerations and reasons to divert and disswade her from this foule and bloody act the execution whereof though tacitely yet infallibly threatneth saies hee no lesse than the utter subversion of her fortunes and the ruine and confusion of her life in this world if not likewise of her soule in that to come So shee being hereat a little galled and stung in Conscience to see that this great City of Lyons affoords poyson but no poysoners to act and finish this her bloody project The devill hath yet notwithstanding made her so curious in her malice and so industrious and resolute in her revenge as enquiring whether there were any Italian Empericke or Mountebancke in that City whom she thought might bee made fit and flexible to her bloody desires and intents she is advertised that there departed one hence some eight daies since who is gone to reside this spring of the yeare at the Bathes at Pougges a mile from the city of Nevers his name being Signior Baptista Tivoly whom I conjecture may derive his surname from that pleasant small towne of Tivoly some twenty small miles from Rome wherein there are many Cardinalls country Pallaces or houses of pleasure being very skilfull in Mineralls and in attracting the spirits and quintessence of divers other vegitives Of a vaine glorious and ambitious humour and disposition and yet of a very poore estate and
and pre-occupate and prevent their eyes of their sleeping faculties So preferring their danger to their safety their resolution to their rest and the field to their beds they under other pretexts are not long from it I meane from the City ditch the prefixed place of their rendezvous Which Planeze first entreth and there makes halfe a dozen of turnes before hee have any newes of his Contendant or Adversary Borlary whereof he doth not a little muse yet he no way despaires of his comming because by late experience he knowes him to be couragious and valiant But to put Planezes musing out of doubt and his doubt out of question in comes Borlari all unbraced and untrussed and a farre off espying Planeze in the Ditch before him He ashamed of this advantage he had because of long stay with his hat in his hand prayes him to excuse this errour of his affirmiâ—…g it to be the fault of his Watch but not of his heart which he alleaged should ever goe true with his honour and reputation When Planeze returning his Complement by approving of his Apologie without any further expostulation they draw and here fall from words to blowes At their first meeting Borlary give Planeze a wound in the right arme and Planeze requites him with another in his right side which if his Rapier had not met with a rib it had the undoubtedly ended the quarrell with his life But although it make him lose much bloud yet he hath strength courage enough not to die in his debt for it onely he desireth Planeze that they may breathe a little the which he generously granteth At their second comming up Planeze presents a thrust to Borlari but he wards it and runnes Planeze into his left thigh of a deepe wound and yet they will not give over although their Chiâ—…geons doe earnestly pray them to desist as having now already here sufficiently testified their courage and valour At their third meeting and joyning Planeze gives Borlary a licke o're the fore-head which makes his bloud streame â—…wne his face and eyes and Borlary fully incensed and prepared to requite it â—…ves a faire thrust to Planezes brest but he very dexterously and fortunately wards it beating downe the point of Borlary his sword into the ground and then with much agility leaps to him and whips up his heeles who falling upon his owne Rapier breaks it in two peeces at which unlooked for disaster Borlary seeing his naked brest exposed to Planezes bloudy Rapier and consequently his life to lie at his mercy without once striving or endevouring to grapple with his enemie he more desirous to live with shame than to die with honour descends so farre from true and noble generosity as hee begs his life of Planeze when although many hot and jealous spirits would gladly have taken hold of this advantage and wreaked the utmost of their gall and spleene upon the misfortune of this accident yet Planeze is so truly noble and generous as disdaining to fight with an unarmed man and so to eclipse or blemish the lustre of his reputation in killing him who begged his life of him and when it lay at his pleasure to give or take it as he throwes away his Rapier making him promise and sweare hee will never henceforth attempt against the honour of his wife Planeze very freely and cheerfully gives him his life And to shew himselfe the more generous in this his courtesie hee lends him his hand to raise him up on his feet for which infinite kindnesse Borlary yeelds him many thanks When muffling up their faces with their cloaks they part very good friends and so get themselves into two of the nearest houses of the Suburbs very secretly and silently to dresse their wounds and at night they returne to their houses Where our deare and faire Felisanna understanding the manner and cause of this combate betwixt her husband and Borlary it is impossible for me to define whether she wept and sighed more for the losse of her husbands bloud or rejoyced and praised God for the saving and sparing of his life Yet this Combat of theirs is not so secretly acted but in lesse than two dayes all Verona hath newes and prattles thereof When measuring the first Duell of Planeze and Borlari by the second and the second by the first They extoll Borlary his courage to fight with Planeze but infinitely applaud the noble courtesie and generosity of Planeze in giving Borlari his life when it lay in his power and pleasure to have taken it from him And as most commended the Lady Felisanna for disdaining to make shipwracke of her honour on the Cylla and Charibdis of Borlaries lust and for not sacrificing her chastity to his lascivious affections and desires So in generall all Gentlemen and Ladies condemne her of indiscretion in shewing his Letters to her husband and in acquainting him with his suits and desires it having beene sufficient for her secretly to have given him the repulse and deniall and herselfe the glory Againe there want not divers especially the younger sort of the Nobility and Gentry of Verona who tax Borlari of Cowardize in shamefully begging his life of Planeze when either his good fortune in struggling or his peece of sword in his defence might peradventure have preserved it Thus every one speakes according to his owne fancies and affections Borlary having lost so much bloud for the affection which he bore to Felisanna and recived and reaped nothing from her but disdaine and hatred hee is not a little grieved and vexed hereat But when he understands that hee hath now made himselfe the laughture of all Verona in this his cowardly begging his life of Planeze and that his reputation doth therefore universally suffer in this action he is then as it were pierced to the heart with sorrow and to the soule with shame He knowes it were far better for him to be borne a Clowne than to be held and esteemed a Coward and that having once purchased that base title he shall difficultly ever lose Yea wheresoever he goes hee heares and sees that his Superiours his Equals and his Inferiours not onely prattle at his shame but point at his infamy herein so that he is in a manner a shame to all Gentlemen and therefore almost a shame to himselfe But see here the vanitie and impiety of this inconsiderate Gentleman and if it be not worthy the Readers curiosities yet it will deserve his compassion and pity to see what use or rather what abuse he makes of this his imaginary dishonour For neither with reason which is the soule of his heart nor with Religion which is the life of his soule doth he once looke up to Heaven to thanke God for so mercifully protecting and so miraculously preserving of his life in these two Duels when he as it were stood on the brinke and in the very jawes ofdeath and when betwixt his life and his death there was nothing but the
of his greatest creditors he is arrested and clapt into prison and his shoppe seized on by them which they finde as empty of drugges as his masters heart was of pitty and his soule of piety And as it is the nature and or rather the misery of prisons that where one man vertuously improves his life and actions their a hundred doe vitiously ruine themselves so Castruchio being one of this last number he there wasteth and consumeth all that he hath or which he can possibly procure and in a few weeke reduceth himselfe to soe extreame poverty and beggery that he is clapt into the common goale among the poorest sort of prisoners who live by the almâ—… and charity of well disposed people his clothes being all tottered and tornâ—… having no bed to lye on nor hardly bread to suffice nature or to maintaine life being abandoned of all his friends and acquaintance who will rather see him starve and dye then relieve him And yet in all these extremities and at the very lowest ebbe of these his wants and miseries hee will yet neither looke downe into his Conscience heart and soule with sorrow nor up to heaven or to God with repentance for all his foule sinnes and vices especially not for this his cruell and lamentable poysoning of Planeze which are the true reasons and the efficient causes of these his miserable calamities and afflictions yea his wants and miseries are so great and infinite here in prison that none whosoever will come thither to see him muchlesse to pitty him and least of all to releive him Only Dorilla a filthy old baud of his more out of importunacy to her then of her courtesie or charity to him although she disdaine to goe herselfe into prison to see Castruchio yet shee is contented sometimes to send him her sonne Bernardo a boy of some sixteene yeares of age to goe his errands so his necessity making his invention pregnant and cleere sighted after hee had tyred all his friends and acquaintance with notes and Letters which returne still empty fisted his memory at the last falles and pitcheth on Borlari who for the bloody reason formerly mentioned hee thinkes the onely fit man of the world to redresse his wants and to releave his weather beaten fortunes and to him hee often sends Bernardo with many pittifull requests and intreaties for money but to write him he dares not Borlari considering that he hath farre more cause and reason to love Castruchio then to hate him for that by vertue of the premises hee sees his owne life to lye at the mercy of his tongue although hee rather wish him in Heaven then in prison yet being extreamely covetous and yet holding himselfe both inconscience and discretion bound to releive him hee therefore sends him some small summes of money but no way enough to buy him cloathes or to maintaine his former prodigalities but rather hardly sufficient to maintaine life in him much lesse to cherish or pamper him And so often doth Castruchio send the boy Bernardo to Borlari for money that at last being weary thereof and resolute to depart with no more money God here makes his covetousnesse partly the meanes to chaulke out a way to his owne confusion and is resolved neither to speake nor to see Bernardo and to that effect gives order to his servants When little Bernardo seeing that he weares out his time and his shooes in vaine to hunt after Borlari whom he knowes will not be spoken with by him he tels Castruchio that he provide himselfe of another messenger towards Borlari for he will goe no more to him because he sees it is wholly impossible for him to speak with him and at this discourtesie of Borlari Castruchio doth now bite his lip with discontent and hung his head for anger and from henceforth he begins to assume badbloud and to conceive dangerous thougâ—… against him but as yet the consideration of his owne safety or danger makes him patient and silent But God will not have him to continue so long for almost presently we shall see his patience burst forth into violence and impetuosity and his silence breake out into extreame choller and indignation against him His old Baud Dorilla as an expert Hag of her sinnefull profession as often as she heares or knowes that Castruchio had any mony from Borlari so often she would come to the prison to him and speedily carouse and consume it with him but when by her sonne Bernardo she sees his purse shut that fountaine exhausted and that her boy could no more see Borlari but a wod den face I meane his doore shut then she resembling her selfe againe forsakes Castruchio and will neither see him nor come neere his prison so that at last he not seeing Bernardo nor once hearing from Borlari in three weekes or well neere a moneth together and being ready to perish starve and dye under the heavy burthen and pressure of his wants hee earnestly sends for Dorilla to come to him and causeth her to be informed that if she will come to him and deliver a letter to a friend of his he will speedily send him some store of mony and then shee shall have a share and part thereof so when no other respect or consideration will then this of mony againe brings this old filthy Beldam Dorilla to the prison to Castruchio who having provided her a bottle of wine and five Gazettaes to drinke by the way thereby the more carefully to effect his businesse hee exceedingly incensed with choller and revenge against Borlari for this ingratitude towards him writes him this angry Letter and deepely chargeth Dorilla with speed care and secresie to deliver it into Borlari his owne hands and to no other which Letter of his spake this language CASTRVCHIO to BORLARY THou knowest that for three hundred Dukatons which thou gavest me I poysoned Seignior Planeze in a Vomit and wilt thou now be so hard and cruell hearted against me to suffer me to dye in prison for want of so small a summe as twenty Dukatons I am made of the same flesh and bloud as thou art and although my fortunes be so low plunged yet my heart is so high seated and elevated that I give thee to understand I will rather consent to bee hanged then starved Wherefore because my Tragedy will infallibly prove thine if thou meane to prevent the one and to secure thy selfe from the other faile not speedily to send me the said twenty Dukatons by this bearer Dorilla whom I have entrusted with my letter fast sealed and so maist thou with thine but for the secret therein which thou wotest of she is wholly ignorant of it In performing me this courtesie thou shalt not onely tye my tongue and pen but my heart and soule to silence or else not Amiddest thy wealth remember my poverty which if thou forget God hath reserved mee to make thee know that thou doest not use but abuse it and therein thy selfe CASTRVCHIO
drowning himselfe as it were in pleasure and security without so much as once thinking of his poysoning of Planeze or how he was revealed to be the Authour thereof by Castruchio his Letter sent unto him by Dorilla He is amazed and astonished at this his apprehension now beating his brest and then repenting when it was too late that ever he embrewed his hands in the innocent bloud of Planeze So both himselfe and Castruchio are brought to the State house where the Podestate and Prefect first examine them a part and then confront them each with other Where finding that neither of them deny but both of them to confesse themselves guilty of this foule murther they pronounce sentence of death against them and condemne Borlary to have his head cut off and then his body to be burnt and Castruchio to be hanged and his body to be throwne into the River of Addice whereon he was first taken the which the next morning was accordingly executed All Verona is as it were but one tongue to talke and prattle of this foule and lamentable murther and especially of Gods miraculous detection thereof by this drunken Bawd Dorilla who having heretofore often brought Castruchio to whores willingly now at last she brings him to the gallowes against her will The morning they are brought to their execution where there flocke and resort a world of spectators from all parts of the City And although the charity of their Judges send them Priests and Fryers to direct their soules for heaven yet this miserable wretch Castruchio seeming no way repentant or sorrowfull for this his foule fact uttered a short prayer to himselfe and so caused the top-man to turne him over which he did and within two houres after his body was throwne into the River But for Borlary he came to the scaffold better resolved and prepared for with griefe in his lookes and teares in his eyes hee there delivered this short and religious speech That he grieved in heart and was sorrowfull in soule for this lamentable murther of his committed on the person of Planeze as also for seducing of Castruchio to effect it by poyson for whose death he affirmed he was likewise exceedingly afflicted and sorrowfull That it was the temptations of the flesh and the devill who first drew him lustfully to affect the faire chaste and vertuous Lady Felisanna and consequently to murther her husband in full hope afterwards to obtaine her for his Wife or for his Curtesan That he was infinitely sorrowfull for all these his enormous crimes for the which he religiously asked forgivenesse first of God and then of the Lady Felisanna and likewise prayed all those who were there present to pray unto God for his soule that he was more carefull of his reputation towards men than of his salvation towards God and that his neglect of prayer and of the participation of the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist was the originall cause of this his misery So againe commending himselfe to the prayers and recommending his sinfull yet sorrowfull soule into the hands of his Redeemer the sword of the Executioner at one blow made a perpetuall divorce betweene his soule and his body which pious and Christian speech of his was as great a consolation to the vertuous as his death as that of Castruchio was a terrour to the vitious spectators and Auditors So to confirme the sentence the dead body of Borlary is presently burnt And thus was the bloudy lives and deserved deaths of these three irreligious and unfortunate persons Of Romeo the Laquey Of Borlary the Gentleman and of Castruchio the Apothecary And in this manner did the justice of the Lord of Hosts in due time justly triumph o're their execrable crimes in their sharp punishments and shamefull ends Pray we that we may reade this their History with feare and as religious and godly Christians remember these their lamentable Murthers with horror and detestation GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable sinne of Murther Beaumarays and his brother Montagne kill Cahmpigny and Marin his Second in a Duell Blancheville the widdow of Champigny in revenge thereof hireth Le Valley servant to Beaumarays to murther his said Master with a Pistoll which he doth for the which Le Valley is broken on the wheele and Blancheville hanged for the same LEt all Religious Christians examine their hearts and soules with what face we can tread on Earth or looke up to Heaven when we stab at the Majestie of God in killing and murthering man his image a bloudy crime so repugnant to nature as reason abhorres it a scarlet and crying sinne so opposite to grace as God and his Angels detest it And yet if ever Europe were stained or submerged with it now it is for as a swift current or rather as a furious torrent it now flowes and overflowes in most Kingdomes Countries and Cities thereof in so much as in dispight of divine and humane Lawes it is now almost generally growne to a wretched custome and that almost to a second nature A fatall example whereof this ensuing History will report and relate us Wherein Gods Iustice hath so sharply and severely punished the perpetrators thereof that if we either acknowledge God for our Father or our selves for his children and servants it will teach us to be lesse revengfull and more charitable by their unfortunate ends and deplorable judgement I Will now relate a sad and bloudy History which betided in the faire Citie of Chartres the Capitall of the fertile Countrey of Beausse so famous for her sumptuous Cathedrall Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary as also for that Henry the fourth that great King and unparalleld Captaine of France during the combustions of the league was despight of the league crowned therein In which faire and pleasant City as there still dwell some Noblemen and many Gentlemen in respect of the sweet aire and goodly Champaigne Countrey thereabouts second for that to no other in France So of late yeares there resided two rich and brave young Gentlemen well descended being both of them heires to their two deceased fathers The one of them named Monsieur De Champigny and the other Monsieur De Beaumarays and their Demaines and Lands lay within seven leagues of this City in the way towards Vendosme Now the better to see them in their true and naturall Characters They were both of them tall and slender and of faire and sanguine complexions and very neere of an age For Champigny was twenty six yeares old and Beaumarays twenty foure and yet the last had a beard and the first none and of the two Champigny was by farre the richer but Beaumarays the Nobler descended Now to lay this History upon its proper seat and naturall foundation we must understand that there was a very rich Counsellour of the Presidiall Court of Chartres named Monsieur De Rosaire whose wife being dead left him no other childe but one faire young daughter of the age
their swords drawne hee judgeth it a Duell when hee and his two sonnes gallop into the little meddow joyning to the Vineyard to prevent and part them but they came too late for Montagne and Marin seeing them swiftly galloping towards them they to prevent them with more haste then good speed set spurres to their horses the sooner and at this there second meeting Montagne warding Marins sword and putting it by dotâ—… at the very same Instant runne him thorow the body a little below his navell of which mortall wound hee fell presently from his horse dead to the ground uttering onely these words O Montaigne thou hast slaine mee Thou hast slaine mee God receive my Soule and then and their without speaking a word more immediately dyed No sooner hath Montagne wiped sheathed up his sword but his joyful brother Beaumarays gallops up to him and cheerefully congratulates with him for the same When instantly the Marquis of Bellay and the two Lords his Sons arrive to them though a littâ—…e too late They are astonished to see two proper Gentlemen lye their slaine in the field and reeking in their hot bloud when turning to Beâ—…umarays and his brother Montagne whom they knew they congratulate with them for their victories and the Marquis as briefely as his time and their wounds will permit enquire of them the cause of there quarrel and the manner and particulars of their combat whereof being fully informed and satisfied by them hee sends the dead bodies of Champigny and Marin to Chartres in his Coach And understanding by Beaumarays and his brother Montagne that for the preservation of their safeties and lives they were resolved to leave Chartres and Beausse and so thwarting ore Normandy by Euereux and Lesieux to embarke themselves for Caen and thence to passe the Seas into England till their friends in their absence had procured their grace and pardons from the King as also that they were destitute both of Chirurgions to dresse their wounds and of a guide to conduct them thither Hee very nobly gave them his owne Chirurgion and guide and promising them likewise to labour with the King to the utmost of his power for their peace he passeth on his Iourney and commits them to the best fortune A singular yea an honourable courtesie of this brave old Marquis of Bellay whose deserts and fame I should much wrong if I gave not the relation and memory of his name a place in this History Whiles thus the Marquis of Bellay is travelling towards Paris and Beaumarays and his brother Montagne posting for Caen come we briefely to Chartres which now resounds and ratles with the report and issue of this combate where Gentlemen Cittizens and all according to their passions and affections speake differently thereof some condemne the vanity of Beaumarais others the folly and treachery of Marin but all doe highly extoll the courage and generosity of Champigny and Montagne But leave we them to their censures and come we againe to speake of Blancheville who takes the newes of this untimely death of her husband so tenderly and sorrowfully that shee is ready to drowne herselfe in her teares It is not onely a griefe to her heart to see but a terrour to her conscience to know that her husband Champigny and her friend Marin have both of them lost their lives for her sake and when againe shee falls on the consideration and remembrance that the first dyed by the hand and sword of Beaumarays her mortall enemy and the second by that of his Brother Montagne then she is againe ready to burst her heart and brest with sighing thereat She is so uncapable of Counsell as she will heate of no consolation nor speake of any thing but of her malice and revenge toward Beaumarays and to write the truth this implacable wrath and revenge of hers to him takes up all her thoughts and speeches her contemplations and actions and both her time and her selfe To which end shee converts most of her Corne and Wine into money goes to Paris casts herselfe at the Kings feet and to the feet of that great and illustrious Court of Parliament for Iustice against Beaumarays the murtherer of her husband the which againe and againe shee aloud resounds and ecchoes forth to their eares yea her rage is so great and her malice so outragious towards him that notwithstanding his body is absent yet she spends five hundred Crownes in law to have him according to the law and custome of France to bee hanged up in effigie But although her sute be just yet by reason of his great friends in Court shee sees herselfe so unfortunate that shee cannot obtaine it Whereupon after twelve monethes vaine stay in Paris and a profuse expence of money shee with much griefe and sorrow secretly vowes to herselfe that if ever hee returne againe to Chartres or which is more into France that shee herselfe will bee both his Iudge and Executioner by revenging her Husbands death in his and from this hellish resolution of hers she deepely sweares that neither Earth nor Heaven shall divert her Now to follow the naturall streame and tyde of this History Wee must againe bring Beaumarays and his brother Montagne on the stage thereof For the Reader must understand that their wounds being dressed and secured having bestowed both of their horses on the Chyrurgeon and guide the two servants of the aforesaid Marquis of Bellay and likewise written him a thankfull Letter for his honourable courtesie extended to them and therewith likewise prayed him to solicite the King for their Grace and pardon in their absence they privately without any followers embarque themselves upon an English vessell at Caen and so with a prosperous gale arrive at Rie and from thence take Horse for London where they settle up their aboad and residence from whence Beaumarais sends to Chartres for two of his footmen and his Brother Montagne for one of his which come over to London to them some six weekes after and brings their masters word how earnestly and violently their adversaries follow the rigour and severity of the Law against them in Paris but especially against Beaumarays they receive these advertisements from their servants and friends rather with griefe then contempt and therefore to prevent their malice and their owne disgrace and danger they often write from London to Paris to the Marquesse of Bellay and likewise to the Bishop of Chartres their deere friend and kinsman to hasten their pardons from the King So that Noble Lord and this reverend Prelate pitying their danger and absence as much as they wish their safety and returne take time at advantage and the King in a well disposed humour and so doe most effectually and powerfully acquaint his Majesty how these two absent Gentlemen and brothers Beaumarays and Montagne were without just cause or reason provoked to this unfortunate combate by their adversaries that they were the Challenged not the Challengers that heretofore they had
these passions AMARANTHA to STRENI MY obedience hath not deserved so much contempt and hatred as that without cause or reason you should thus againe banish me from Florence to Cardura and with how much griefe and sorrow I digest it I can better relate with discontent then conceale with pattence How deare your sight and presence was and ever shall be to me if you will not know and withall remember God doth for my soule appeales unto him and my heart to Heaven that I made it the chiefest life of my joy and the sweetest joy of my life So as if you are not the cause I am sure my Sister Babtistyna is of this undeserved cruelty towards me who out of her pride ambition and malice strives to bee as unnaturally imperious to mee as my deceased Sister Iaquinta was both to her selfe and mee The remedy hereof is every way worthy of you as you are my Father and of my selfe as God and Nature have made mee your Daughter for if you will not permit mee to respire and breath the ayre of Florence I will shortly hazard my life to injoy that of heaven for already this my inforced exile hath brought mee to extreame discontent and that almost to utter despaire AMARANTHA Her Letter to her Sister Babtistyna carryed this Message AMARANTHA to BABTISTYNA COuldst thou not bee contented to live happy in Florence but that thou must needes constraine our Father to make mee live miserable here in Cardura Is our Sister Iaquinta's blood already colde or is the memory as well as the manner and cause of her death already of thee forgotten and so raked up in the dust of her Grave Iudge with thy selfe if thou art not wholly as devoyde of judgement as of affection and charity what a palpable yea what a grosse and sottish vice it is in thee heereby to make thy selfe both guilty of her pride and Heire apparant to her malice I remember those ingratefull crimes and vices of hers towards us with pitty and I pitty these of thy selfe to mee with admiration in that thou wilt not suffer mee to live at the curtesie of thy tongue when thou well knowest that thy life stands at the mercie of mine Not that I am eyther so malicious to thee or so uncharitable or undiscreet to my selfe to wish thee any disaster or danger to the prejudice of mine owne happinesse and safety for I desire all peace affection and atonement betwixt us the which if thou wilt graunt mee by causing our Father speedily to recall mee home to Florence hee shall then see and thou assuredly finde that I will bee as much thy Handmayd as thy Sister and that I will farre sooner both hope and pray for a good Husband for thee then for my selfe but if thou denye mee this curtesie then blame not me but thy selfe if the event and issue of this thy cruelty come too short of thy hopes and so peradventure flie a pitch farre beyond thy expectation AMARANTHA Bernardo being thus charged by his Lady Amarantha for the safe and speedy delivery of these her two Letters as also to procure her Fathers and Sisters Answers to them hee rides away to Florence where hee is no sooner arrived at Streni his house but meeting with the young Lady Babtistyna and thinking to deliver her Letter whether it were out of haâ—…te or misfortune or both hee delivers her her Fathers Letter in stead of her owne the which shee well observing shee hastily and purposely breakes up the seales thereof and silently reades it to her selfe whereat growing first red with choller and then againe pale with envie shee foldes it up and committing it to her pocket turnes to Bernardo and demands him for her Sister Amarantha's Letter to her selfe for quoth shee that which I have already read and perused is hers to my Father when Bernardo as much amazed at his errour as afflicted at his foolish simplicity reading the direction of the second Letter and finding her speeches and his mistaking true hee then gives her her owne Letter and desires backe the other for her Father as also both their answers thereunto for his Lady and Mistresse Amarantha whereunto when shee had perused her owne Letter shee with disdaine in her lookes and malice in her eyes teares her Fathers Letter before Bernardo's face and then returnes him this bitter answer Tell that proud Girle thy Mistresse from me that it is my Fathers pleasure and mine that she shall stay in Cardura and not see Florence till she receive other order from us and for any further answer either from our Father or my self it is both a vanity and a folly for her to expect And so in much choller and indignation shee flies from him and violently throwes fast the doore against him Bernardo not expecting such sharp and cold entertainement and seeing it now wholly impossible for him to have any accesse to Streni or answer from Babtistyna hee leaves Florence and speedily returnes to Cardura to his Lady Amarantha to whom hee punctually and fully relates the bitter reply and sharpe and proud answere which her Sister Babtistyna had given and sent her and leaveth not a syllable unrehearsed but onely silenceth his mistaking in giving of her her Fathers Letter in stead of her owne as right now we understood Amarantha is all inflamed with choller at this proud and cruell carriage of her Sister Babtistyna towards her yea the remembrance thereof so transporteth her thoughts with envie and her heart with revenge against her that shee vowes shee neither can nor will brooke it at her hands and heere not hearkening either to Reason or Religion or to her Conscience or Soule shee now violently seduced and exasperated by the Devill doth afresh revive her old malice and resumes her former pernicious resolutions to her Sister Babtistyna Shee hath neither the wit much lesse the grace to consider That Choller increaseth her own torment and misery and that if wee vanquish not our owne malice and revenge it is more to bee feared then doubted that it will in the end both vanquish and ruine us Shee hath formerly conâ—…ented to poyson her eldest Sister Iaquinta and now she likewise vowes that shee will cause her elder Sister Babtistyna either to bee poyson'd or pistoll'd to death but which of these to make choice of as yet shee is irresolute and upon this bloudy businesse her thoughts runne incessantly to her heart as so many lines to their centre O that so young a Lady and so sweete a beauty should make her selfe accessary and guilty of so foule and inhumane crimes but this I may write to her shame and the Reader may please to observe it to his comfort and retaine it to his instruction That had she had the grace to have beene formerly sorrowfull and repentant for her first Murther she had then never proceeded so farre as to have made het selfe guilty of contriving and resolving a second Babtistyna hath a Chamber-mayd named Pierya of
Sky if not many degrees beyond the Moone so the day appoynted for her entrance and reception drawing neere the Lady Abbesse is dealt with by her Mother her Cell provided her Spirituall apparell made all her kinsfolkes and chiefe friends invited to a solemne Feast to celebrate this our new Holy Sisters marriage to God and the Church But whiles thus dona Catherina the mother and don Martino her sonne are exceeding busie about the preparation and solemnity of this Spirituall businesse don Pedro and Monfredo resolve to runne a contrary course and so to steale away Cecilliana the very night before the prefixed day of her entrance into the Nunnery as holding that Saturday night the fittest time and most voyd of all suspicion and feare whereof both by tongue and letter they give her exact and curious notice which striking infinite joy to her heart and thoughts shee accordingly makes her selfe ready packes up all her Iewells and Bracelets in a small Casket and acquainting none of the world therewith for that her brother don Pedro's chamber was next to hers and hee as vigilant and watchfull as her selfe for Monfredo's comming about midnight which was the appoynted houre for his Rendevouz when at last both their severall Watches in their severall Chambers assuring them that it was neere one of the clocke it being the dead of the night none of the house stirring but all hushed up in silence as if every thing seemed to conspire to her escape and flight then I say don Pedro issues forth his Chamber to hers where the doore being a little open and her candle put our hee findes his sister ready when conducting her by the arme they softly descend the stayres and so to a Posterne doore of the Garden where they finde Monfredo joyfully ready to receive the Queene regent of his heart assisted with two valiant confident Gentlemen his friends who were well mounted on excellent horses with their swords and Pistolls and for himselfe and her a Coach with sixe horses When briefely passing over their Complements and congees each from other they with a world of thankes leave don Pedro behinde them and so away as swift as the winde who seeing them gone secretly and softly returnes to his Chamber and bed silently shutting all the doores after him whiles Monfredo with his other selfe and his two friends drive away to Valdebelle a Mannor house of his some eight leagues from Burgos Don Pedro lyes purposely long in his bed the next morning thereby the better to colour out his ignorance and innocencie of his sisters Clandestine flight and escape So his mother about five or neere sixe of the clocke sends Felicia her daughters Wayting-gentlewoman to her Chamber to awake and apparell her to receive many young Ladies and Gentlewomen who were come to visit her and to take their leaves of her before her entrie into Gods house but Felicia speedily returnes to her with this unlookt-for answer That her Ladies Chamber doore is fast locked whereat shee hath many times call'd and knock'd aloud but heares no speech The mother is amazed hereat and no lesse rather more is her sonne don Martino so they both run to her Chamber and knocke and call aloud but hearing no answer they force open the doore where they finde the nest but the bird flowne away whereat the mother infinitely weeps and her sonne don Martino doth exceedingly rage and storme at this their afront and scandall he tells his mother he will ingage his life that his brother don Pedro is accessary to his sister Cecilliana's flight and gone with her so they both run to his Chamber but find him in his bed fast sleeping and snoring as hee pretends and they believe their outcries awake him but they shall finde him as subtile and reserved in his policie towards them as they were in their malice to his sister so he heares their newes puts on his apparell seemes to bee all in fire and choller hereat profereth his mother his best indeavours and power to recover his sister and to revenge himselfe on the villaine who hath stolne her away But his brother don Martino is so galled and netled at the escape of his sister and these words of his brother as hee tells him to his face in presence of their mother that his speeches and profers are counterfeit and himselfe a dissembler and that it is impossible but hee assisted and favoured her escape and departure for which uncivill and foule language of one brother to another don Pedro gives him the lye and seconds it with a boxe on the eare and then very cunningly betakes himselfe to consolate and comfort the Lady his mother who is not a little grieved and angry at this her second affliction and the more in regard hee did it in her presence so don Pedro reconducting her to her Chamber and leaving her weeping in company of many of their sorrowfull â—…folkes and neighbours hee then calls for his horse and under colour to finde out his sister hee rides to Valdebelle to her and Monfredo stayes there some eight dayes where being exceeding carefull of the preservation of his sisters honour and reputation hee before his departure sees them solemnly but secretly marryed where leaving them to their Nuptiall joyes and pleasures hee againe reâ—…es to Burgos and tells his Mother it is impossible for him to heare any newes of his sister And now what doth the returne sight and presence of don Pedro doe here in his mothers house at Burgos but onely revive his brother don Martino's old maâ—…e and new choller and revenge against him for the lye and boxe on the eare which hee so lately gave him For the remembrance thereof so inflames his heart and thoughts against him that hee forgetting his conscience and soule yea â—…ven and God as hee assumes and gives life to his former bloudy resolution to â—…ther him and thinkes no safer nor surer way for him to effect it then by â—…yson that ingredient of hell and drug of the Devill But don Martino is resoâ—…e in his rage and execrable in his bloudy malice and revenge against this his â—…erous and noble brother don Pedro so disdayning all thoughts of religion â—…d considerations of piety he procureth a paire of poysoned perfumed Gloves â—…d treacherously insinuating them into his brothers hands and wearing the fatall â—…enom'd sent thereof in lesse then two dayes poisoneth him so he is found dead â—…s bed when don Martino the more closely to overvaile this damnable fact 〈◊〉 his purposely gives it out that it was an Impostume which broke within him and so hee dyed suddainly thereof in his bed there being no servant of his owne nor none else that night neere him or by him to assist him and this report of his passeth currant with the world so the Lady his mother and himselfe cause him to bee buryed with more silence then solemnity and every way inferiour to his honourable birth and generous vertues because shee still affected
cautious in his malice and subtill in his revenge that hee imployed no other Minister nor used no other agent or assistant herein but himselfe so being deprived of any witnesse either to accuse or make him guiltie heereof God I say out of the immensitie of his power and profundity of his providence will make himselfe to become a witnesse against himselfe and wanting all other meanes will make himselfe the onely meanes both to detect and destroy himselfe The manner thus As there is no felicitie to peace so there is no felicitie or peace comparable to that of a quiet and innocent conscience It is a precious Iewell of an inestimable â—…alue and unparalelld price yea a continuall Feast than which Heaven may but Earth cannot afford us either a more rich or delitious and the contrary it is where the heart and conscience have made themselves guiltie of some foule enormous crimes and especially of Murther wherein we can never kill Man the creature but we assuredly wound God the Creator for then as those so this with lesse doubt and more assurance gives in a heavy and bloody evidence against us and which commonly produceth us these three woefull and lamentable effects Dispaire Horrour Terrour the which wee shall now see verified and instanced in this bloody and miserable wretch Don Martino who as I have formerly sayd hath not fully past over the tearme of three moneths in externall mirth jollitie and braverie thereby to cast a cheerefull countenance and varnish on those his bloody villanies but God so distracted his wits senses struck such astonishment to his thoughts and amazement to his heart and Conscience as it seemed to him that both by night and day the ghosts of his harmelesse brother Don Pedro and of innocent Don Monfredo still pursue him for revenge and justice of these their murthers And now his lookes are extravagant fearefull and ghastly which are still the signes and symptomes either of a distempered braine a polluted conscience and soule or of both Hee knowes not to whom or where or where not to goe for remedy herein but still his heart is in a mutinie and rebellion with his Conscience and both of them against God He is afraid of every creature he sees and likewise of those who see him not If he looke backe and perceive any one to runne behinde him he thinkes 't is a Sergeant come to arrest him and if he chance to be hold any Gentleman in a scarlet cloake comming towards him he verily beleeves feares 't is a Iudge in his scarlet Robes to arraigne and condemne him He hath not the grace to go into a Church nor the boldnesse to looke up to the Tower therof for feare lest the one swallow him up alive and the other fall on him and crush him to death If hee walke in any woods fields or gardens and see but a leafe wagge or a bird stirre hee is of opinion there some furies or executioners come to torment him or doth he heare any Dog howle Cat crie or Owle whoot or screech he is thereat so suddenly appalled and amazed as hee thinkes it to bee the voyce of the Devill who is come to fetch him away Hee will not passe over any bridge brooke or River for feare of drowning nor over any planke gate or style lest hee should breake his necke The sight of his shadow is a corosive to his heart and a Panique terrour to his thoughts because he both thinkes and beleeves that it is not his owne but the hang-mans and when any one out of charitie or pitie come to see and visite him hee flyes from them as if Hell were at his backe and the Devill at his heeles The very sight of a Rapier stabs him at his heart and the bare thought or name of Poyson seemes to infect and kill his soule and yet miserable wretch and miscreant that he is all this while he hath not the goodnesse to looke downe into his heart and Conscience with contrition nor the grace to lookeup to Heaven and to God with repentance The Lady Catherina his Mother is wonderfully perplexed and grieved hereat and so are all his kinsfolkes and friends in and about Burgos who cause some excellent Physicians and Divines to deale with him about administring him the meanes to cure him of this his lunacie and distraction But God will not permit that either the skilfull Art of those or the powerfull perswasions of these doe as yet prevaile with him or performe it Two Moones have fully finished their Celestiall course whiles thus his phrensie and madnesse possesseth him and in one of the greatest and most outragious fits therof hee without wit or guide runnes to Saint Sebastiano's Church finds out Father Thomas his Confessor and in private and serious confession reveales him how he hath poysoned his brother Don Pedro and also murthered Don Monfredo adding withall that God out of his indulgent mercie would no longer permit him to charge his soule with the concealing thereof and then beggs his absolution and remission for the same His Confessor being a religious Church-man much lamenting and wondring at the foulnesse of these his Penitents two bloody facts although hee finde more difficultie than reason to grant his desire yet enquiring of him if there were any other accessary with him in these murthers and Don Martino freely and firmely acknowledging to him there was none but the Devill and himselfe hee after a serious checke and religious repremendo in hope of his future contrition and repentance gives him a sharpe and severe penance though no way answerable to his crimes and so absolves him and yet for the space of at least a whole moneth after his lunacie by the permission of God still followes him when for a further triall of his comportment and hope of his repentance God is againe pleased to slacke the hand of his judgement and so frees him from his madnesse and distraction to see whether he will prove Gold or Drosse a Christian or a Devill Not long after this his Confessor Father Thomas being Curate of one of the neighbouring parishes falls extreame sicke of a Piurisie and so dangerously sicke that his Physician despairing of his life bids him prepare his body for death and his soule for Heaven and God Who then revoking to minde what hee hath heard and seene how grievously and sorrowfully the Lady Cecilliana takes the Deaths of her Brother and Husband and the more in that she is ignorant who are their Murtherers he is no longer resolved to burthen his conscience and soule with concealing thereof but to write it to her in a Letter the which he chargeth and conjureth his owne Sister Cyrilla to deliver into her owne hands some three dayes after his buriall the which we shall see her shortly performe for the Priest Father Thomas her brother lived not three weekes after In the meane time come we to the Lady Dona Catherina the Mother who having outwardly wept
for the death of her eldest Sonne Don Pedro for the disobedient flight and clandestine Marriage of her Daughter Cecilliana to Monfredo who is now murthered but by whom shee knowes not and seeing her sayd Daughter thereby made a sorrowfull Widdow shee as an indulgent and kinde Mother forgâ—…ng what she had formerly done and beene and now desirous to comfort her and to bee comforted of her againe sends her sonne Don Martino to Valdebelle to solliciâ—…e his Sister to returne and to live with her in Burgos Who detesting this pâ—…ject and resolution of his Mother is very sorrowfull thereat but seeing that shee will be obeyed he rides over to Valdebelle to his Sister and there delivereth his Mothers will and message to her but in such faint and cold tearmes as shee thereby knowes hee is farre more desirous of her absence than her presence and of her stay than her returne yea and to write the truth of her minde his very sight strikes such flames of feare into her heart and of suspicion into her thoughts that shee still assumes and retaines her old opinion and confidence that hee is the absolute Murtherer of her brother Don Pedro and her husband Don Monfredo but herein shee now holds it discretion to conceale her selfe to her selfe and so gives him kinde and respective entertainment shee prayes him to report her humble duety to her Mother that she will consider of her request and either send or bring her 〈◊〉 resolution shortly but inwardly in her heart and soule she intends nothing lesse than either to hazard her content upon the discontent of her Mother or which is worse her life on the inveterate malice of her brother Don Martino And now we approch and draw neere to see the judgements and justice of God overtake this our wretched Don Martino for these his two most lamentable and bloudy Murthers And now his sacred Majestie is fully resolved to detect them and his Arrow is bent and Sword whetted to punish him for the same for wee must understand that the very same day which her brother Don Martino was last with her at Valdebelle his Confessor Father Thomas dyed and some three dayes after his Sister Cyrilla according to his dying order rides over to the Lady Cecilliana and delivereth her the Priest her brothers Letter at the receipt whereof Cecilliana findes different emotions in her heart and passions in her minde 〈◊〉 going into the next roome she breaks up the seales and finds therein these Lines FATHER THOMAS to CECILLIANA WEll knowing that the Lawes of Heaven are farre more powerfull and sacred than those of Earth as I now lye on my Death-bed ready to leave this life and to flie into the Armes of my Saviour and Redeemer Christ Iesus I could not goe to my Grave in peace before I had signifyed unto thee that very lately thy brother Don Martino in Saint Honoria's Church delivered unto me in confession That he had first poysoned thy brother Don Pedro with a paire of perfumed Gloves and then after murthered thy husband Don Monfredo with his Rapier in Burgos And although I must and doe acknowledge that he was in his Fit of Lunacie and Madnes when he thus made himselfe a witnes against himselfe hereof yet no doubt the immediat finger and providence of God led him to this resolution as an act which infinitly tends to his sacred Honor and Glory I send thee this Letter by my Sister Cyrilla whom I have strictly charged to deliver it to thee three dayes after my buriall because I hold it most consonant to my Profession and Order that not my Life but my Death should herein violate the seale of Confession and thou shalt shew thy selfe a most religious and Christian Lady if thou make this use hereof that it is not my selfe but God who sends thee this Newes by mee FATHER THOMAS Cecilliana having o're-read this Letter and therein understood and found out that her brother Don Martino is the cruell Murtherer both of her brother Don Pedro and her husband Don Monfredo her griefe thereat doth so farre o'resway her reason and her malice and revenge her religion as once shee is of the minde to murther him with her owne hand in requitall hereof but then againe strangling that bloudy thought in its conception shee vowes that if not by her owne hand he shall yet infallibly dye by the hand of the common Executioner When Love Pitty Nature Reason Griefe Sorrow Rage and Revenge acting their severall parts upon the Stage of her heart shee findes a great combate in her heart and reluctancie in her soule what or what not to doe herein when with many teares and prayers by the Advice and Counsell of God shee enters into this consultation hereon with her selfe Ahlas unfortunate and sorrowfull Cecilliana It is upon no light presumption or triviall circumstances that I believe my brother Martino to be the inhumane murtherer of my brother Don Pedro and husband Monfredo for besides that God ever prompted my heart and whispered my soule that this was true yet now here is his owne Confession to his Ghostly father and his Ghostly Fathers owne Letter and Confession to mee to the same effect Evidences and Witnesses without exception as cleere as noone day and as bright as the Sunne in his hottest and brightest Meridian that hee and onely he was the Murtherer of them both but Oh poore Cecilliana quoth shee to what a miserable estate and perplexity hath these his bloudy facts and crimes now reduced mee for he hath murthered my brother and husband shall I then permit him to live but withall he is likewise my brother and shall I then cause him to dye True it is I cannot recall their lives but it is likewise as true that I may prevent his death for as the first lay not in my power to remedie yet all the world knowes that the second meerely depends of my pity courtesie and compassion to prevent but Ahlas saith she the tyes of heaven are and ought to be infinitly more strong than those of earth and the glory of God to be far preferred before all our naturall affections and obligations to our best Friends or neerest or dearest Kinsfolkes whosoever Therefore as to detect these Murthers of his thou art no friend to Nature so againe to conceale them thou thereby makest thy selfe an enemy to Grace for assure thy selfe unfortunate Cecilliana that God will never bee appeased nor Iustice satisfyed untill their innocent blood be expiated and washed away in his who is guilty thereof because as by detecting Murther wee blesse and glorifie God so by concealing it we heap a fatall Anatheâ—…a and curse upon our own heads As Clouds are disâ—…pated and blowne away when the Sun ariseth and moâ—…teth in his Verticall lustre and glory so Cecilliana having thus ended her consultation with her selfe and now began her resolution with God she leaves Valdebelle takes her Coach and dispeeds away to Burgos where in steed of
and may well be called the Fortresse of Christian piety against the tentations of Sathan so by the contrary wee expose and lay open our selves to the treacherous lures and malice of the Devill For if by Faith wee doe not first beleeve then pray unto God for our owne preservation it will bee no hard matter for him to tempt us in our choller to quarrell with our best friends and in our malice and revenge to murther even our neerest and dearest Kindred O Faith the true foundation of our soveraigne felicitie O Prayer the sweet preservative and sacred Manna of our soules how blessed doe you make those who embrace and retaine you and contrariwise how miserable and wretched are they who contemne and reject you Of which last number this insuing Historie will produce us one who by his debauched life and corrupt conversation trampled those two heavenly Vertues and Graces under his feet without thinking of God or regarding much lesse fearing his judgements But how God in the end requited him for the same this Historie will likewise shew us May we therefore reade it to Gods glory and to our owne instruction IN the Citie of Verceli after Turin one of the chiefest of Piedmont bordering neere to the Estate and Dutchy of Millan there lately dwelt a rich Cannon of that Cathedrall Church named Alosius Cassino who had a daintie sweet young Gentlewoman to his Neece named Dona Eleanora whose mother being sister to Cassino named Dona Isabella Caelia lately died and left this her onely daughter and â—…ild her heire very rich both in demeanes and moneys when her Vncle Cassino â—…eing neerest her in blood takes Eleanora and her Estate into his protection and â—…ardship and is as tender of her breeding and education and as curious of her â—…omportment and cariage as if shee were his owne daughter for there is no sweet â—…alitie nor exquisite perfection requisite in a young Gentlewoman of her ranke and extraction but he caused her to become not superficiall but artificiall therein as in Dancing Musicke Singing Painting Writing Needling and the like wherof all the Nobility and Gentry of Verceli take exact notice and knowledge yea her beautie grew up so deliciously with her yeares that she was and was justly reputed to be the prime Flower and Phenix of the Citie Cassino considering that his house was destiâ—…te of a Matron to accompany and oversee this his Neece Eleanora that his age was too Stoicall for her youth and that his Ecclesiasticall profession and function called him often to preach and pray hee therefore deeming it very unfit and unseemely in the Interims of his absence to leave her to her selfe and to be ruled and governed by her owne fancy and pleasure shee being now arrived to twelve yeares of age He therefore provides her new apparell and other pertinent necessaries and giving her a wayting-mayd and a man of his owne to attend her hee sends her in his Coach to the Citie of Cassall in the Marquisat of Montferrat to the Lady Marguerita Sophia a widdow Gentlewoman lâ—…ft by her deceased husband but indifferently rich but endowed with all those ornaments of Art and Honour which made her famous not onely in Piedmont and Lombardie but also to all Italy and to her he therefore writes this ensuing Letter to accompany his Neece and chargeth his man with the delivery thereof to her CASSINO to SOPHIA TO satisfie your courteous Requests and my former promise I now send you my Neece Eleanora to Cassall whom I heartily pray thee to use as thy daughter and to command as thy Hand-maid She hath no other Vncle but mee nor I any other acquaintance but thy selfe with whom I would entrust her for her Education and recommend her for her Instruction Shee is not inclined to any vice that I know of except to those imperfections wherein her youth excuseth her ignorance and it is both my order and charge to her that she carefully and curiously adorne her selfe with vertues in thy example and imitation without which the privileges of Nature and Fortune as Beauty and Wealth are but only obscure shadowes and no true substances because there is as much difference betwixt those and these as betweene the puritie of the soule and the corruption of the bodie or betweene the dignitie and excellencie of Heaven and the invaliditie and basenesse of Earth I am content to lena her to you for a few moneths but doe infinitely desire to give her to thy Vertues for ever In which my voluntary transaction and donation thou wilt conferre much happinesse to her and honour to mee and consequently for ever bind both her Youth and my Age to thee in a strict obligation of thanks and debt What apparell or other necessaries thou deemest her to want thy will shall be mine God ever blesse her in his feare and you both to his glory CASSINO The Lady Sophia receives this sweet young Virgin with much content and joy yea shee sees her tender yeares already adorned with such excellent beautie and that beautie with such exquisite vertues that it breeds not only admiration but affection in her towards her whom shee entertaineth with much respect and care as well for her owne sake as also for her Vncle Cassino's whose letter shee againe and againe reads over highly applauding his vertuous and honourable care of this his Neece whom in few yeares she hopes will prove a most accomplished gracious Gentlewoman when Cassino's Coach-man after a dayes stay deeming it high time for him to returne to Verceli to his Master he takes his leave of his young Mistris Elianora who out of her few yeares and tender affection and dutie to her Vncle with teares in her eyes prayes him to remember her best service to him at his comming home and the Lady Sophia by him likewise returnes and sends him this letter in answere of his SOPHIA to CASSINO I Know not whether you have made mee more proud or joyfull by sending me Eleanora wherein you have given mee farre more honour than I deserve though farre lesse than she meriteth and who henceforth shall be as much my Daughter in affection as shee is your Neece by Nature and if I have any Art in Nature or Iudgement in Inclinations her vertues and beautie doe already anticipate her yeares for as the one is emulous of Fame and the other of Glory so as friendly Rivals and yet honourable friends they already seeme to strive and contend in her for supremacie to the last of which as being indeed the most precious and soveraigne if my poore capacitie or weake endeavors may adde any thing I will esteeme it my ambition for your sake and my felicitie for hers But if you resolve not rather to give her to mee for some yeares than to lend her to mee for a few moneths you will then kill my hopes in their buds and my joyes in their blossomes and so make me as unfortunate in her absence as I shall
hereat but how to remedy it she knowes not For his discontent hath made him so vicious his vices so obstinate and his obstinacie so outragious and violent as his Mother surfets with his Love-sute to Eleanora and will no more entermeddle with it Hee prayes and reprayes her to make one Iourney more for him to Vercelie to see what alterations time may have wrought in the hearts of Cassino and Eleanora but shee is as averse and wilfull as he is obstinate and peremptory and therefore constantly vowes neither to write nor ever to conferre more with them herein But this resolute answer of the Mother breeds bad blood in the Sonne yea it makes a Mutiny in his thoughts a Civill warre in his heart and a flat Rebellion in his resolutions against her for the same to which the Devill the Arch-enemy and Incendiary of our soules blowes the Coles For he who hereâ—…ofore looked on his Mother with obedience and affection cannot or at least will not see her now but with contempt and malice yea hee is so devoid of Grace and so exempt of Goodnesse that hee lookes from Charitie to wrath from Religion to Revenge from Heaven to Hell and so resolves to murther her thinking with himselfe that if hee had once dispatcht her he should then be sole Lord of all her wealth and that then this his great and absolute estate would soone induce Cassino and Eleanora to accept of his affection But he reckons without his soule and without God and therefore no marvell if these his bloody hopes deceive and betray him his Religion and Conscience cannot prevaile with him neither hath his Soule either grace or power enough to divert him from this fatall busines and execrable resolution for he will be so infernall a Monster of nature as to act her death of whom he received his life He consults with himselfe and the Devill with him whether hee should stab or poyson her but he holds it farre more safe and lesse dangerous to use the Drug then the Dagger and so concludes upon poyson to which â—…nd he being resolute in his rage thus to make away his Mother he as an execrable Villaine or indeed rather as a Devill provides himselfe of poyson the which hee still carries about him waiting for an opportunitie to give an end to this deplorable busines the which the Devill very shortly administreth him The manner thus This refusall of Cassino to her Sonne Alphonso and his miserable relapse to whoredome drunkennesse and neglect of prayer doth exceedingly distemper the Lady Sophia his Mothers spirits and they her body so that she is three dayes sicke of a Burning feaver when to allay the fervor of that unaccustomed heate shee causeth some Almond-milke to bee made her the which shee compoundeth with many coole herbes and other wholesome Ingredients of that nature and quality which she takes three times each day morning after dinner and before shee goes to bed So the third day of her sicknesse walking in the afternoone in one of the shaddowed Allies of her Garden with her Sonne and there with her best advice rectifying and directing his resolutions from Vice to Vertue she is unexpectedly surprised with the Symptome of her Feaver when sitting downe and causing her waiting Maid to hold her head in one of the Arbours she prayes her Sonne Alphonso to runne to her Chamber and to bring her a small wicker Bottle of Almond milke the which he doth but bloody Villaine that he is nothing can withhold him but his heart being tempered with inhumanitie and crueltie hee first poures in his poyson therein and then gives it her who good Lady drinkes two great draughts thereof when a sweat presently over spreading her face and shee beginning to looke pale he as a wretched Hypocrite makes a loud outcry from the Garden to the house and calling there Servants to her assistance hee likewise cals for a Chaire so she is brought to her Chamber and laid in her bed and within few houres after as a vertuous Lady and innocent Saint she forsakes this life and this world for a better and the ignorance of her Servants and her bloody Sonne drench'd as it were in the rivolets of his fained teares together with his excessive lamentations doe coffin her dead body up somewhat privately and speedily so that there is no thought nor suspicion of poyson and thus was the lamentable Murther and deplorable end of this wise and religious Lady Sophia committed by her owne wretched and infernall Sonne Now this Devill Alphonso to set the better luster on his forrowes and the better varnish and colour on his mourning for the death of his Mother gives her a stately Funerall the pompe and cost whereof not only equalized but exceeded their ranke and quality For he left no Gentleman or Lady in or about Cassall uninvited to be at her buriall and his Feast and dighted himselfe and all his Kinsfolkes and Servants in mourning attire thereby the better to carry off the least reflexion or shaddow of suspicion from him of this his foule and inhumane Murther The newes of the Lady Sophia's death runs from Cassall to Vercelie where Cassino and his Neece Eleanora understanding thereof they both of them exceedingly lament and sorrow for it in regard she was a very Honourable Wise and Religious Lady and to whom the tender youth of Eleanora was infinitly beholding and indebted for many of her sweet vertues and perfections so that as her Vncle honoured her so this his Neece held her selfe bound to reverence her as making her eminent and singular vertues the mould and patterne whereon shee framed all her terrestriall comportments and actions which in few moneths after were so many and so excellent that as she was knowne to bee one of the most beautifull so shee was likewise justly reported to be one of the wisest young Ladies of all that Citie and Countrie which together with her owne great Estate as also that of her Vncle Cassino's to the full enjoying whereof in contemplation of her vertues and consanguinity he had justly both designed and adopted her his sole heire the which made her to be sought in marriage by divers young Gallants of very noble and chiefe houses most whereof were superiour to Alphonso both in blood and wealth When her Vncle at last with her owne free affection and consent privately marries her to Signior Hieronymo Brasciano a rich and brave young Gentleman of Vercelie who was Nephew and Heire to the Bishop of that Citie but he being likewise very young the tendernesse of both their ages dispenced them from as yet lying together and both the Bishop and her Vncle Cassino for some important reasons best knowne to themselves caused this their marriage as yet to bee concealed from all the world with great privacie and secrecie hee for the most part living with the Bishop his Vncle at the Citie of Turin which is the Court of the Duke of Savoy and she in Vercelie
and number lamented and pittied that so proper and noble a Gentleman should first deserve and then receive so untimely a death When after the Priests and Friers have here prepared and directed his soule hee aseending the Scaffold with some what a low voice and dejected and sorrowfull countenance he delivered this short speech That in regard hee knowes that now when he is to take his last leave of this life to charge his conscience with the concealing of any capitall crime is the direct and true way to send his soule to hell in stead of heaven hee will now therefore reveale that hee is yet more execrable and bloudy then his Iudges thinke or know or his spectatours imagine for that he not only hired Pierot his Fathers Miller to murther Marieta but also the Apothecary Moncallier to poyson his owne brother Valfontaine of both which foule and bloudy crimes of his he now freely confesseth himselfe guilty and now from his heart and soule sorrowfully lamenteth and repenteth them that his filthy lust and inordinate affection to women was the first cause and his neglect of prayer to God the second which hath justly brought him to this shamefull end and confusion that therefore he beseecheth all who are present to bee seriously forewarned of the like by his wofull Example and that in Christian charity they will now joyne their devout prayers with his to God for his soule When on the Scaffold praying a little whiles silently to himselfe kneeling and then putting off his Doublet hee commits himselfe to the Executioner who at one blow severed his head from his shoulders But this punishment and death of Quatbrisson suffiseth not now to give full content and satisfaction to his Iudges who by his owne confession considering his inhumane and deplorable poysoning of his owne brother Valfontaine they as soone as hee is dead and before he be cold adjudge his body to bee taken downe and there burnt to Ashes at the foot of the Gibbet which accordingly is performed And here our thoughts and curiosity must now returne poast from Rennes to Vannes and from wretched Quatbrisson to the base and bloudy Miller Pierot whom God and his Iudges have now ordayned shall likewise smart for this his lamentable murther on poore and harmelesse Marieta Hee is brought to the Gallowes in his old dusty mealy Suite of Canvas where a Priest preparing him to dye hee either out of impiety or ignorance or both delivereth this idle speech to the people That because Marieta was young and faire hee is now heartily sorry that he had not married her and that if he had beene as wise as covetous the two hundred Crownes or the Lease of his Mill which his yong master Monsieur Quatbrisson profered him might have made him winke at her dishonesty and that although she were not a true Mayd to her selfe yet that she might have proved a true and honest wife to him with many other frivolous words and lewd speeches tending that way which I purposely omit and resolve to passe over in silence as holding them unworthy either of my relation or the Readers knowledge when not having the grace once to name God to speake of his soule to desire heaven or to seeme to bee any way repentant and sorrowfull for this his bloody offence hee is stripped naked having onely his shirt fastned about his waste and with an Iron barre hath his legs thighes armes and brest broken alive and there his miserable body is left naked and bloudy on the Wheele for the space of two dayes thereby to terrifie and deterre the beholders from attempting the like wretched crime And the Iudges of Vannes being certifyed from the Court of Parliament at Rennes that Quatbrisson at his death charged the Apothecary Moncallier to have at his hiring and instigation poysoned his brother Valfontaine they hold the Church to be too holy a place for the body and buriall of so prophane and bloudy a Villaine When after well neere a whole yeares time that he was buried in Saint Francis Church in that Towne they cause his Coffin to be taken up and both his body and it to bee burnt by the common Hang-man and his Ashes to bee throwne into the aire Which to the Ioy of all the Spectators is accordingly performed GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND EXECRAble Sinne of Murther HISTORIE XXV Vasti first murthereth his Sonne George and next poysoneth his owne Wife Hester and being afterwards almost killed by a mad Bull in the Fields hee revealeth these his two murthers for the which he is first hanged and then burnt TO religious hearts there can nothing be so distastfull as Sinne nor any Sinne so odious and execrable as Murther for it being contrary to Nature and Grace the very thought much more the act thereof strikes horrour to their hearts and consciences Wherefore if this foule and bloudy Sinne bee so displeasing to godly men how infinitely more detestable is it then to God himselfe who made all living creatures to serve Man and onely created Man purposely to serve Himselfe But as Choller and Malice proceede from the passions of men so doth Murther from the Deuill for else wee should not so often and frequently see it perpetrated in most Countryes and Cities of the World as we doe A mournefull Example whereof I here produce to your view and serious consideration THe place of this History is Fribourg an antient city of Switzerland which gives name to one of the Divisions or Cantons of that famous and warlike country Wherein of fresh memory dwelt a rich Burger named Peter Vasti who had to his wife a modest discreet and vertuous woman named Hester by whom he had one only child a Sonne called George Vasti whom God sent them the latter end of the first yeare of their marriage and for the tearme of some ten yeares following this marryed couple lived in most kinde and loving sort each with other yea their hearts and inclinations so sympathized in mutuall and interchangeable affection as they held and reputed none of their Neighbours so rich in content as themselves for she was carefull of her Family and he very diligent and industrious to maintaine it both of them being chaste and continent in themselves very religious towards God and exceeding charitable affable and courteous to all their Neighbours and Acquaintance onely they are so temperate in their drinking as â—…ee would not and shee could not bee tainted with that beastly Vice of Drunkenâ—…esse whereunto that Countrey and the greatest part of that People are but too excessively addicted and subject So that had Vasti still imbraced and followed those Vertues in the course and conduction of his life hee had not then defiled this History with the profusion of so many sinnes nor besprinckled it with the effusion of so much innocent bloud nor consequently have administred so much sorrow to the Reader in perusing and knowing it but as contrary Causes produce contrary Effects so
advanceth so farre as hee performes it with an unwilling willing resistance of him the which his Father takes extremely ill and chollerickly from him gives him sharpe words and menaceth him with bitter blowes George his Sonne first returnes him a briefe rehearsall of the wrongs and indignities he still offereth to his Mother when protesting of his obedience to him he yet tels him that he is willing to entertaine his words but no longer capable to digest and receive his blowes adding withall as a passionate Corolary that ere long he will visit his Strumpet Salyna in Cleraux and make her feele a part of her base carriage and ill deservings both towards his Mother and himselfe â—…asti is much astonished at this audacity and boldnesse of his Sonne but farre â—…re to heare him name and threaten Salyna the very thought of which his speeches grates him to his heart and grieves him to his soule so he puts water in his wine holds it for that time a vertue to be no longer stormy but calme and then chollerickly threatning him with his finger he departs to his Chamber leaving his Wife and his Sonne consulting in the Parlour how with most assurance and least scandall they may provide for their affaires The next morning Vasti his Father keepes his bed and gives order that neither his Wife or Sonne have admittance to him the which discourtesie of his gives his Sonne a fresh and strong motive to revive his last nights discontent against his Father and his choller against Salyna when bidding his Mother the good morrow and craving her blessing he purposely frames an excuse to leave her till she be ready and so very privately takes horse and that morning acts a busines every way worthy of himselfe and indeed farre more worthy of laughture then of our pitty For it is not so much his malice to Salyna as his affection to his Mother Hester which carries him and his resolution to Cleraux where entring Salyna's house he with fire in his lookes and thunder in his speeches cals her whore and strumpet chargeth her for abusing his Father and in him his Mother and himselfe His choller cannot retaine his patience to heare her false answers and apologies to the contrary but disdaining as much to use his sword on a woman as to foule it on a strumpet hee takes his mans short cudgell and gives her at least a dosen blowes on her backe armes and shoulders therewith seriously vowing and swearing to her That if she forsake not his Fathers company and use the meanes that henceforth he doe utterly abandon hers hee will shortly give her so bitter a payment and requitall as hee will hardly leave her either the will or power to thanke him for his courtesie and so remounts his horse and presently gallops home to his Mother whom hee acquaints therewith but yet conceales it from his Father whereat she seemes not to be a little joyfull and yet heartily prayeth to God that this breed no bad blood in her husband or prove either an incitation to his choller against her selfe or a propension of revenge against their Sonne But this joy of Hester and her Son George proves the sighes and teares of Salyna who not accustomed to receive such sharpe payment and usage from any mans hands whosoever it makes her extreme chollericke and vindictive so that her stomacke is so great and her heart so highly and imperiously lodged that she will not suffer this cruell affront offered her by George Vasti to goe unrequited but yet she will be as advised and secret in her revenge towards him as hee was rash and publicke in his towards her To which end and purpose seeing that Vasti his Father came not to her that day whereby she judged hee was wholly ignorant what had befallen her from his Sonne she that night writes him a short Letter and the next morning sends it home to Fribourg to him by a confident messenger of hers who arriving there and finding him pensively walking in his Garden hee respectfully delivered it to him who breaking up the seales thereof found it spake thus SALYNA to VASTI BY all the inviolable love and tender affection which is betwixt us I pray and conjâ—… you to leave Fribourg and come over to me with haste and expedition to Cleraux because I have a great and important secret to reveale you which equally concernes us and which I dare not to commit to pen and paper for that the relation and knowledge thâ—… needs no other witnesses but our selves If you any way neglect this my advise or deny or defeâ—…e this my request the griefe will bee mine nâ—… but the prejudice and repentance yoâ—…s hereafter I write you these few lines â—…ith infinite affliction and for roâ—… which nothing can deface but your sight nor remedy but your presence and when you come to mee prepare your heart and resolution to receive it from mee with farre more teares then kisses SALYNA This letter of hers doth so nettle Vasti with apprehension and feare that his Son George hath offered her some violence and out-rage as he is almost as soone in Cleraux as he is out of Fribourg where his Mistris Salyna very passionatly and chollerickly informes him of his Sonnes cruelty towards her and to adde the more efficacie to her speeches the more power to her complaints and the more oyle to the fire of his anger and revenge she forgets not to paint out to him in all their colours the number of his Sonnes blowes and the nature and quality of his threats given her when watering her words with her teares she sweares that if he speedily doe not right and revenge these her wrongs upon his said Sonne she will never kisse or see him more Vasti takes these speeches from Salynas tongue and placeth them in his owne heart yea he hereat is so chollerickly intended towards his Sonne and so sottishly affected to her as consulting with rage but not with reason and with Sathan not with God hee to exhale her teares and so to give consolation to her sorrowes tels her That hee loves her so tenderly and constantly as he will not faile to kill his Sonne for this incivill and inhumane fact of his towards her Salyna is amazed and astonished at this his unnaturall resolution to his Sonne the which as vicious as she is shee abhors and condemnes in him as soone as understands So she â—…s him plainely that albeit she have given him her heart and body yet that she is not so exempt of grace or so wretchedly instructed in Piety as to take away her soule from God and therefore that although she bee guilty of Adultery yet shee will never bee of Murther so in religious termes worthy of an honester woman then her selfe shee powerfully seekes to disswade him from this bloody and unnaturall attempt as well to prevent their future wrongs and feares as to secure their dangers and reputations and so prayes him to seeke out
either shortly thou returne me my said Sonne from 〈◊〉 or speâ—…oily take â—…ee to thy selfe in heaven But yet O my blessed Saviour and Redeemer not my but thy will be done in all things She having thus privately to her selfe vented her sorrowes but not as yet found the meanes either how to remedy or appease them because her husband is no Changeling but is still resolute in this ingratefull unkindnesseand cruelty towards her she is now resolved though with infinit griefe and reluctation to acquaint the Preacher of the parish and some two of her husbands deerest and neerest kinsfolkes to speake with him againe and to acquaint them with his pernitious relapse into all his old vices of drunkennesse whoredome and fighting and to desire them to use all their possible power to divert him from it wherein her resolution hatâ—… this just â—…cuse that if they cannot worke it none but God can But all their câ—…e aâ—… and â—…eale cannot prevaile with him For he with the filthy dog returâ—… to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with the brutish swine againe to wallow in the durt and 〈◊〉 in the mire of his former vices and voluptuousnesse For now her husband Vasti is oftner at Cleraux with his Salyna then at home at Fribourg with his wife who as formerly we have understood still makes him pay deare for his pleasures and as a subtle rooking strumpet emptieth his purse of his gold as fast as he foolishly filleth it he being not contented to waste his body to shipwracke his reputation to cast away his time but also to cast away his estate and himselfe on her the which his vertuous wife cannot but observe with sorrow and remember with griefe and vexation but she sees it impossible for her how to redresse it For she is not capable to dissemble her discontent to him so privately as he publickely makes knowen his cruelty to her wherefore her thoughts suggest her and her judgement prompts her to proove another experiment and triall on him To which end she tels him that if hee will not henceforth abandon beating of her forsake his old vices and become a new man and a reformed husband that then all delayes set apart she will speedily by some one of her neerest kins folkes send poast to Rome to his brother Captaine Andrew Vasti that her Sonne George returne home to her to Fribourg the which shee is more then confident upon the receipt of her first Letter he will speedily and joyfully performe Her husband Vasti is extremely galled with this speech and netled with this resolution of his wife Hester because wretched villaine as he is he but too well knowes hee hath already sent his Sonne to heaven in a bloody winding sheet and therefore both feares and knowes that by this his wifes sending poast to Rome his deplorable and damned fact will infallibly burst forth and come to light the which therefore to prevent hee as bad and cruell hearted as the Devill himselfe is execrably resolved to heape Ossa upon â—…elion to adde blood to blood and murther to murther and so now to poyson the Mother his wife as hee had lately pistolled his and her onely Sonne to death O Hester it had beene a singular happinesse for thee that thou hadst not thus threatned thy husband Vasti to send to Rome forthy son George but that thou hadst either bin dumbe when thou spakest it or he deaf when he heard it for hereby thinking to preserve thou hast extremely indangered thy selfe and hoping to make thy Son thy refuge and champion I feare with griefe and grieve with feare that thou hast made thy selfe the ruine of thy selfe For Vasti is so strong with the Devill and so weak with God in this his bloody designe to murther his wife Hester as neither Grace or Nature Religion or God the feare of his bodies tortures in this life or of his soules torments in that to come are able to divert him from it he having no other reason for this his damnable rage nor no other cause for this his infernall and hellish cruelty but this triviall and yet pittifull poore one that his wife Hester is an eye-sore to him because his Salyna is so to her A wretched excuse and execrable Apologie and no lesse execrable and wretched is he that makes it So he turning his backe to God and his face and heart to the Devill provides himselfe of strong poyson and cunningly infusing it into a muske Mellon which he knew she loved well and resolved to eate that day at dinner shee greedily eating a great part of it before night dies thereof When very subtlely he gives out to his servants and neighbours that she died of a surfet in then and there eating too much of the muske Mellon and so all of them confidently beleeve and report Thus we have seene with sorrow and understood with griefe that this execrable wretch Vasti hath â—…layed the part of a Devill in poysoning his vertuous and harmelesse wife Hester and now we shall likewise see him play the part of an Hyâ—…rite to conceale it as if it lay in his power to blind-fold the eyes of God as â—…ll or as easily as to hood wincke those of men from the sight and knowledge thereof He seemes wonderfull sorrowfull for his wifes death dights himselfe and his servants all in blacke provides a great dinner and performes her funerall with extraordinary solemnity But notwithstanding God lookes on him with his eye of Iustice for both these his cruell and inhuman barbarous murthers of his son and wife and therfore now in his Providence resolves to punish him sharply and severely for the same As marke the sequell and it will instantly informe us how Our debauched and bloody Vasti immediatly upon his wifes death and buriall doth without intermission haunt the house and company of his lascivious strumpet Salyna at Cleraux as if the enjoying of her sight presence and selfe were his chiefest delight and most soveraigne earthly felicity Hee spends a great part of his estate on her and to satisfie her covetous and his lustfull desires hee is at last enforced to morgage and sell away all his Lands For as long as hee had money she was his but when that failed him then she as a right strumpet acted a true part of her selfe failed in her accustomed kindnesse and familiarity towards him and casts him off The judgements of God and the decrees of Heaven are as secret as sacred and as miraculous as just which we shall see will now by degrees be apparantly made good and verified in this Monster of men and Devill of Fathers and Husbands Vasti For his mansion house and all his utensills and moveables in Fribourg are consumed with a sudden fire proceeding from a flash of lightning from heaven as also all his granges of corne and stacks of hay and yet those of all his neighbours round about him are untouched and safe His corne also which growes in the field brings
Bellinda with the aid of her Gentlman Vsher Ferallo poysoneth her Husband De Mora and afterwards she marieth and murthereth her said Husband Ferallo in his bed so shee is burnt alive for this her last murther and her ashes throwne into the aire for the first GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable sinne of Murther HISTORY XXVI â—…mperia for the love she beares to young Morosini seduceth and causeth him with his two Consorts Astonicus and Donato to stifle to death her old Husband Palmerius in his bed Morosini misfortunately letting fall his gloves in Palmerius his chamber that night which he did it They are found by Richardo the Nephew of Palmerius who knowes them to be Morosinies and doth thereupon accuse him and his Aunt Imperia for the Murther of his Vnkle So they together with their accessaries Astonicus and Donato are all foure of them appehended and hanged for the same THose Intemperate and lascivious affections which savour more of Earth than Heaven are still attended on with shame and repentance and many times followed by misery and confusion For God being our Maker by Creation and our Saviour by Redemption consequently should be of our loves and affections and the true sole object in whom only they should begin and terminate For Nature must be a handmaid not a Mistresse to Grace because God in his Divine decree and creation of man hath made our bodies mortall but our soules immortall And the like Antithesis which there is betweene Lust and Charity the same there is betweene sinfull adultery and sanctified mariage But where our youthfull affections beginne in whoredome and end in murther what can be there expected for an issue but ruine and desolation Crimes no lesse than these doth this ensuing History report and relate A History I confesse so deplorable for the persons their facts and punishments that I had little pleasure to pen it and lesse joy to publish it but that the truth and manner thereof gave a contrary Law to my resolutions in giving it a place among the rest of my Histories That the sight and knowledge of others harmes may the more carefully and conscionably â—…each us to avoid and prevent our owne THe free Estates and Common-weales of Italy more especially the famous Seigniory of Venice which for wealth and power gives place to no other of Christendome holds it no degree of disparagement but rather an happy and honourable vertue in their Nobles and Gentlemen to exercise the faculty aâ—…d pâ—…ofession of Merchants the which they generally performe in Turkie and all other parts of the Levant Seas with as much profit as glory to the admiration of the whole world and the envie of their private and publike enemies Of which number of Venetian Gentlemen Seignior Angelo Morosini is one a young mâ—…n of some twenty foure yeares of age descended of a Noble name and family and if reports be true from whence ours here in England derives their Originall He is tall and slender of stature of a lovely sanguine complection a bright Chestnut-coloured haire but as yet adorned with a small apparition of a beard He is active of body of a sweet carriage and nimble wit and a most pleasing and gracefull speech and hee is not so young but he hath already made two severall voyages to Constantinople and Alexandria in both which he resided some five or six yeares and through his wisdome and industry wonne some wealth but more reputation and fame in so much as his deportments and hopes to the eye and judgement of the world promiseth him a fortune equall if not exceeding his bloud and extraction Holding it therefore rather a shame than a glory as yet to marrie or which is a thousand times worse to passe his time vainly and lasciviously at home among the Ladies and Courtisans of Venice upon whom by the way of a premonition and precaution he saw so many deboshed young Gallants to cast away their Estates and themselves he assumes his former ambition to travell and so undertakes a third voyage tâ—… Constantinople He embarkes himselfe upon a good ship named the Little Saint Marke of Venice and in company of Seignior Astonichus and Seignior Philippo Donato likewise two young Gentlemen Mearchants of Venice of his deare and intimate acquaintance with a pleasant gale and merry wind they set saile from Malanoca the Port of that City and so direct and shape away their course for the Islands of Corfu and Zant where they are to stop and take in some commodities and from thence thorow the Archipelagus by Candy and Cyprus to the Port 〈◊〉 the Greaâ—… Seignior But as men propose and God disposeth of all terrestriall aâ—…ons and accidents so they are overtaken by a storme and with contrary winds put into the Harbour and City of Ancona a rich populous and strong City which belongs to the Pope and which is the Capitall of that Province of the Marâ—… 〈◊〉 from whence it assumes and takes its denomination and wherein there are well neare three thousand Jewes still resident who pay a great yearly Revenue to his Holinesse The wind being as yet contrary for our three Venetian Gallants and they knowing that our Lady of Loretto the greatest and most famous Pilgrimage of the Christian world was but fifteene small miles off in the Countrey whereas yet they had never either of them beene they in meere devotion ride thither their ship now being fast anchored and mored in the Peere of Ancona which stands on the Christian side upon the Adriatique Sea vulgarly tearmed the gulfe of Venice And here it is neither my purpose or desire to write much either of the pretended pietie of this holy Chappell of Loretto which the Romanists say was the very Chamber wherein the Virgin Mary brought up her Sonne our Saviour Iesus Christ or of her Picture which they likewise alleadge was drawne by the hand and pensill of the Apostle Saint Luke and both the one and the other as they affirme miraculously brought over the Seas from Palestine by Angells and first placed by them on the Hills of Recagnati three little miles thence and long since by the said Angels translated and placed here in this small Towne of Loretto But as for my selfe this legend is to weake to passe current with my faith much lesse to esteeme it as an Article of my Creed Only this I will confesse and say That as it was devotion not curiosity which carried our Morisini Astonicus and Donato thither so it was my curiosity not my Devotion which made me to take the sight thereof in my Travells Where in the rich and sumptuous Quire of a stately Cathedrall Church I saw this little old Bricke Chamber now termed the Holy Chappell verie richly adorned with great variety of massie Gold and Silver Lampes and this Picture of the blessed Virgin in a Shrine of Silver most richly decked with Chaines and Robes imbroidered with Gold and Silver and set with pretious Stones of
especially those Gent. who savor more of honor than vanity If therfore I have any way wronged mine owne judgment in suspecting or not acknowledging your merits I know I am yet as worthy of your excuse as of your reprehension And because I understand by you that you are a stranger to this place though not to this Country as also that you seeme to be so importunatly desirous and willing to conduct me to my Fathers house I will therefore give a contrarie Law to my owne will and now make civillitie dispence with my discretion by accepting of this your kinde proffer and you shall not accompany mee thither to him with so much respect and zeale as I will you with observance and thankes Which kind speech she had no sooner delivered and Morosini received but he againe closed with her thus Moros Sweet Lady this courtesie of yours seconding your beautie shall eternally oblige mee to your service and in requitall thereof I will ever esteeme it my best happinesse to receive your Fathers commands and my chiefest felicity and glory to execute yours When reciprocally exchanging salutes hee takes her by the hand and arme and very gracefully conducts her to her Fathers house not farre off from this sumptuous Church and by the wayth ther among other speeches and complements he gathers from herthat her Fathers name is Signior Hierome Bondino and hers Donna Imperia his only Daughter Wherein hee for the former fame of his wealth and the present sight of her Beautie doth both delight and glory as dreaming of a future felicity which hee shall enioy in her sight and company whereof for the time present hee hath farre more reason to flatter than to assure himselfe Now wee must heere understand that this Seignior Bondino her Father is a Gentleman of an ancient house and noble descent and of a verie great estate both in lands and meanes and withall he was exceeding covetous as glorying more in his wealth than in his generositie and more in his faire and beautifull Daughter Imperia then in any other of his Children Heere Morisini brings Imperia home and shee presents him and his courtesie to her Father who receives him respectfully and kindly thankes him for this his observance and honour to his daughter who led by the lustre of her eyes and the delicacie of her beautie was so extreamly inflamed with affection towards her as at that very instant he proclaimed himselfe her Servant and shee the Lady Regent of his heart and desires and then it was that hee first acquainted her with his name and quality with his intended voyage to Constantinople but chiefely with his constant desire and resolution to seeke her in marriage both of her selfe and her father Wherefore to contract this History into a narrow Volumne I will passe over his often courtings and visits of her as also those sweet speeches and amorous discourses and conferences which past betweene them during the space of three weekes wherein the winde proving contrary to his voyage proved therefore propitious to this his sute and affection In which time hee proved himselfe so expert a Scholler or rather a Master in the Art of Love that hee exchanged hearts with her obtained her affection and consent to bee his Wife upon his first returne from Constantinople but yet it was wholly impossible either for he or her to draw her fathers consent hereunto although many times hee sought it of him with prayers and shee with teares For hee making wealth to bee the verie image and idol of his devotion and gathering that Morosini's birth farre exceeded his estate and meanes as also that in his opinion that his estate was yet farre greater than his capacitie or judgement hee would never hearken to him much lesse give way that hee should bee his Sonne in Law but with much obstinacie and resolution vowed that hee would first rather see his Daughter married to her grave than to him the which froward and harsh resolution of his makes our two lovers exceedingly to grieve and lament thereat But how to remedie it they know not Morosini now acquaints his two consorts Astonicus and Donâ—…to with his affection to Imperia and brings them the next morning to see her who highly commend his choice and extoll her beautie and vertues to the skies They in Morosini's behalfe deale effectually with Bondino to draw his consent to this match mount his praises and merits as high as Heaven and in a word they leave no friendly office or reasons unatempted to perswade and induce him hereunto but they speake either to the winde or to a deafe man for his will is his Law and therefore they finde it a worke not only of extreame difficultie but of meere impossibilitie to effect it for neither they nor Morosini can so much pray and exhort Bondini to this match as hee with sharpe words and bitter threates seekes to divert his Daughter from it which pierceth and galleth these two Lovers to their verie soules For by this time their affections and hearts are so strongly and firmely united that Imperia loves Morosini a thousand times deerer than her owne life and hee her no lesse So when they thinke of their seperation and departure each from other the verie conceit and thought there of drawes even droppes of blood from their hearts and an Ocean of teares from their eyes But because they are more amorous then superstitious in their devotion and affection each to other and that in their thoughts and desires they sacrifice more to the Altars of Venus then to that of the Virgin Marie Therefore Fortune more envying then pittying them and therefore resolving to separate their bodies as farre assunder as their hearts are neerely linked and combined together the winde comes faire and the Master of their Shippe sends speedily from Ancona to them to Loretto to come away for that he is resolute to omit no time but with all expedition to weigh Anchor and set saile for Corfu Morosini receives this newes with infinite sorrow and Imperia with extreame griefe and amazement so as if grace had not prevailed with nature and her obedience to her Father vanquished and given a law to her affection towards Morosini shee could then and there have found in her heart to have left Italy and to accompanyed him in his voyage to Turkie and Constantinople so sweet was his sight and presence and so bitter was the verie thought of his abscence to her heart and minde Here Morosini comes againe with his hat in his hand and Imperia on her knees with teares to her father that hee will grant they may contract themselves each to other before his departure but he is deare to his requests and inexorable to her teares and prayers For hee vowes hee cannot and sweares hee will not consent thereunto And therefore heere the Reader must conceive for it is impossible for mee to expresse the thousand part of the sighes which hee and the teares
sugred speeches and protestations of their pretended innocency but consult between themselves what here to resolve on for the vindication of this truth So at last they hold it expedient and requisite first to expose Astonicus to the torments of the Racke the which hee being a strong and robustuous man hee endureth with a firme resolution and constancy every way above himselfe and almost beyond beliefe and still confesseth nothing but his innocency and ignorance of this deplorable fact whereof the Judges resting not yet satisfied they within an houre after adjudge Donato to the tortures of the Scarpines who being a little timbred man of a pale complexion and weake constitution of body his right foote no sooner feeles the unsufferable fury of the fire and his tormentors then confidently promising him all desired favour from his Iudges if hee will confesse the truth but after some sorrowfull teares and pittifull cries hee fully and amply doth and in the same manner and forme as in all its circumstances we have formerly understood The which when the Iudges heare of they cannot refraine first from admiring and wondering there at and then from lamenting that personages of their ranke and quality should bee the Authors and Actors of so foule and lamentable a murther especially of this faire Gentlewoman Imperia to her owne good old husband Palmerius Now by this time also are Morosini Imperia and Astonicus acquainted with this fatall confession and accusation of Donato against them for this murther wherat they do infinitely lament grieve because they are therby perfectly assured that it hath infallibly made them all three liable and obnoxious to death as also for that their supposed firme friend Donato proved himself so false a man and so true a coward to be the cause therof wherin they so much forget themselves as they doe not once thinke and they will not therefore remember that the detection of this their foule murther proceeded immediatly from Heaven and originally from the providence and justice of the Lord of Hostes. The very same after noone the Iudges send for Morosini Imperia and Astonicus to appeare before them in their publike tribunall of Iustice where they first acquaint and charge them with Donatos confession and accusation against them for murthering of Palmerius whereat they are so farre from being any way dismayed ordanted as they all doe deny and reâ—…ell his accusation and so in high tearmes doe stand upon their innocency and iustification But when they see Donato brought into the court in a chaire for his fiery torments of the Scarpines had so cruelly scorched and pittifully burnt away the flesh of the sole of his right foote almost to the bone that he was wholly vnable either to goe or stand and that they were to be confronted face to face with him as also they being also hotly terrified and threatned by the iudges with the torments of the Racke and Scarpines then God was so gratious to their hearts and so mercifull to their soules that they looking mournefully each at other shee weeping and they sighing and all of them dispairing of life and too perfectly assured of death they all confesse the whole truth of this foule fact of theirs and so confirme as much as Donato had formerly affirmed of this their bloody crime of murthering Palâ—…rius in his bed when one of these two reverend and grave Iudges immediately thereupon doe condemne them all foure to be hanged the next morning at the common place of execution of that cittie although Donato because of his confession hereof in vaine flattered himselfe that he should receive a pardon for his life So they are all sent backe to their prison from whence they came where all the courtesie which the importunate requests of Morosini and the incessant sighes and teares of Impreia an obtaine of their Iudges is that they grant them an houre of time to see converse and speak one with the other that night in prison in presence of their Goalers and some other persons before they dye When Morosini being guided towards her chamber such is the weakenesse of his religion towards God and the fervency or rather the exorbitancy of his affection towards her that as he passeth from chamber to chamber he is so far from once thinking much lesse fearing of death as he absolutely beleeves he is going to a Victory and a triumph here Moroâ—…ni with a world of sighes throwes himself into his Imperia's neck brest and here Imperia with a whole deluge of teares embraceth and encloystereth her â—…orosini in her armes when after a thousand kisses they beg pardon one of another or being the essentiall and actuall cause each of others death and doe enterchangeably both kisse and speake sometimes privately and most times publikely before the spectators that if those reports be true which I first heard therof in Tolentino next in Folignio and lastlâ—… in Rome I say to depaint and represent it at life in all its circumstances I should then begin a second history when I am now on the very point and period to end the first neither in my conceit is it a taske either proper for me to undertake or pertinent for my pen to performe because to speak freely and ingeniously I hold the grant and permission of this their amorous visit enterview in prison before they dye to be every way more worthie of the pittie than of the gravity or piety of their Iudges If therefore I doe not content the curiositie I yet hope I shall satisfie the judgement of my Christian Reader here briefly to signifie this their limited houre is no sooner past but to the sharpe affliction of Morosini the bitter anxiety of Imperia they by their Goalers are separated and confined to their severall chambers where by the charity of their Iudges they finde two Friers and two Nuns attending them to prepare their soules for Heaven and in a lesse vaine and a more serious and religious conference to entertaine both their time and themselves from an Earthly to the speculation and contemplation of a divine and heavenly love as also from them to Astonicus and Donato But before I proceed farther Wee must understand that the two Fryers have not been with Morosini and the two Nuns with Imperia above an houre But by the two Iudges there is a cheife subordinate Officers of theirs sent to prison to tel Imperia that her Uncle Seignior Alexandro Bondino a great Senator and famous Iudge of Rome hath obtained her pardon of this present Pope Vrban the eighth But shee is not of glad of this newes as shee is then curious to enquire if her Morosini bee likewise pardoned so the Officer tells her no and that hee absolutely must suffer death then shee weepes farre faster than shee rejoyceth and affirmes that shee will not live but dye The Iudges send for her and perswade her to live but she begges them as importunarely to give Morosini his life as
cruell murther and robbery but the Divell is still so strong with them that with much courage and vehemency they continue and stand firme in their negative resolution and deniall But De Laurier being now found and knowne to have layen some seven weekes sicke in Adrians house aswel by the confession of Isabella his wife of Graceta her maid and of Thomas their Ostler as also of the Apothecary La Motte then his body found buried in his Orchard and Adrian and father Iustinian their sudden flight upon the same and now lastly his horse gold and jewels found upon them in Pontarlin by the officers of that Towne and his Sonne Du Pont were evidences as bright and apparant as the Sunne that in honour to justice and in glory to God from whom all true justice is derived these wise and grave Iudges of Salynes doe reject these denials of Adrian and father Iustinian as false prophane and impious and therefore that very instant adjudge them both to the racke at the hearing of which sentence they seeme to be nothing apalled and daunted but they being advertised that Isabella his Wife was likewise imprisoned for this fact she for her part by some friends of hers makes sute to the Iudges that she may be permitted to speake with her Husband and so doth father Iustinian that hee likewise may speake wirh her But the Iudges hold both of these their requests to bee vaine and impertinent and therefore flatly contradict and deny them So Adrian is first brought to the racke who though hee bee weake of constitution yet hee is still so strong in his villany as hee will not bee perswaded or drawne to confesse it but with much courage of body and animosity of minde suffers himselfe to bee fastned thereto whereof the Judges being advertised they in their discretion hold it expedient to delay his torments for a time and so first to make triall of father Iustinian to see if these his torments will make him lesse stout and more flexible in the confession thereof Wherein I write it with joy their judgements nothing deceive them for at the very first wrench of the racke God is so mercifull to his soule and so propitious to his new conversion and repentance that hee then and there confesseth this lamentable murther in all its branches and circumstances as wee have formerly understood Affirmes only himselfe and Adrian to be the Authors and Actors thereof Sweares that Isabella Graceta and Thomas were every way innocent thereof and had no hand or knowledge therein whatsoever Whereupon the Iudges send againe for Adrian and cause him a new to bee brought to the racke but first they hold it fit to confront him with his bloody companion father Iustinian who boldly affirming and constantly confirming all his former deposition to him in his face to bee sincere and true Adrian is amazed and daunted there at as also at the sight of the racke which was againe prepared and brought for him when the devill flying from him and hee casting his heart and soule at the sacred feet of Gods mercy hee there very sorrowfully confirmed all father Iustinians confession to be true and then falling on his knees hee with many bitter sighes and teares said againe and againe aloud that his wife his man and his man were as truly innocent as father Iustinian and himselfe were alone truly guilty of this foole and cruell murther and robbery of De Laurier When their Iudges asmuch rejoycing 〈◊〉 the detection and confession of these their crimes as they lamented and detested their perpetrations thereof They condemne them both to bee hanged the next morning and because father Iustinian had violated his sacred Order and Adrian the humane and Christian Lawes of Hospitalitie their bodies after to bee burnt to ashes So as soone as Father Iustinian was degraded of his Sacerdotall Order and Habit and committed to the secular powers hee together with Adrian were for that night returned to their prison and repentance where two Priests and one Fryer of the order of the Iacobyns prepare their soules for Heaven against the next morning It was a griefe to Isabellas heart to heare that he was guilty of this foule and lamentable murther but a farre greater torment and Hell to her minde to understand that hee must suffer death for the same and that she should neither see nor speake with him any more either in this life or this world Againe looking from him to her selfe as shee could not hope for his life so shee thought shee had some small cause or at least scruple to doubt and feare her owne in regard it lay at the courtesie or cruelty of her Husband and father Iustiniâ—…n for that as we have formerly understood they acquainted her with their intents and desires to murther De Laurier and shee revealed it not But yet neverthelesse in the purity of her heart and the can did innocency of her soule shee commits the successe both of her life or death to God 〈◊〉 not being able to sleepe away any part of that night for sorrow shee as a religious woman and a most vertuous wife passeth out the whole obscurity thereof in the brightnesse of heavenly ejaculations and prayer which from the profundity of her heart shee proffereth up to Heaven both for her Husband and her selfe Very early the next morning before father Iustinian and Adrian went to their execution Du Pont and at his request the Iudge repair to the Prison to them where hee and they enquire of him to what allâ—…w of gold and iewells they had taken from his dead father who tell him that in a letter which his Father had written to him 〈◊〉 â—…jon and the which they had suppressed and burnt hee therein mentioned the vallew of one thousand seven hundred crownes And being againe demanded by him what and where was become of all that great summe in gold and Iewels they freely and ingeniously tell him that one third part thereof was taken from them by him and the Officers of justice in Pontarlin and another third he should finde hidden in such and such secret places of their houses and for the other third part they â—…shed not to confesse and averre that they had since paid some old debts bought some new apparell and spent the rest thereof upon their whores and other oâ—… their voluptuousnesse and prodigalities So the Iudges and Du Pont speed away to Adrian and father Iustinians houses where they finde the gold and jewels according to their confessions the which together with the other former part taken from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both which amounted to some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and honest judges deliver up unto Du Pont who received it from them with joy and thankefullnesse but as a good Sonne rejoyces â—…rre more at the now approaching deserved deaths of these two bloody and execrable wretches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Adrian the murtherers of his good old father De Laurier of whom some twenty and five
contrary The next day all Granado rings and resounds of this murther and of the suspition and imprisonment of Don Hippolito for the same when the Lady Cervantella goes to the Criminall Iudges of the City and accuseth him for the same and with griefe sorrow and passion followes it close against him and although Hippolito at his first examination denies it yet being by his cleeresighted Iudges adjudged to the racke for the same hee at the very first sight thereof confesseth it for the which bloody and lamentable crime of his hee is sentenced the next day to be hanged although hee proffered all his estate and meanes to save his life But the zeale and integrity of his judges was such to the sacred name of Iustice as they disdained to bee corrupted herewith So the next Morning this old bloody wretch Hippolito is brought to the common place of execution where a very great concourse of people repaire from all parts of the Citty to see him take his last farewell of the world most oâ—… them pittying his age but all condemning the enormity of this his foule and bloody crime He was dealt with by some Priests and Fryers in prison whose Charity and Piety endevoured to fortifie his heart against the feare of death and to prepare his soule for the life and joyes of that to come But the Devill was yet so strong with him that hee could not bee drawne to contrition nor would not bee either perswaded or enforced to repentance or to aske God or the world forgivenesse of this his bloody fact but as hee lived prophanely so hee would dye wretchedly and desperately for on the Ladder hee made a foolish speech the which because it savoured more of beastly concupiscence and lust than of Piety or Religion I will therefore burie it in oblivion and silence and so hee was turnedover Come we now to speake of Don Emanuell de Cortez the Father who understanding of his Sonne Roderigo his continuall frequenting of Dona Cervantella's house and her daughter Dominica's company and now hearing of this murther of her Sonne to her doore his owne Sonne being then therein present he is much discontented therewith and because he will sequester him from her sight and provide him another Wife hee sends him to Asnalos a mannor house of his some tenne leagues off in the Country with a strong injunction and charge there to reside till his farther order to returne Roderigo is wonderfull sorrowfull thus to leave the sight of his faire and deere Mistris Dominica and to the view of the world no lesse is shee so hee transporteth only his body to Asnallos but his heart he leaves with her in Granado But a moneth is scarce expired after his departure But the Lady Cervantella by the death of her Sonne Don Garcia wanting a man to conduct and governe her affaires especially her law sutes wherewith as wee have formerly heard she is much incumbred shee thereupon as also at the instant request of her Daughter writes Roderigo this letter for his returne CERVANTELLA to RODERIGO AS thou tenderest the prosperity of my affaires and the content and ioy of my Doughter I request thee speedily to leave Asnallos and to returne to reside heere in Granado for I wanting my Sonne Garcia who was the ioy of my life and shee her Roderigo who art the life of her joy thou must not finde it strange if my age and her youth and if my Law sutes and her love affections and desires assume this resolution Thy Father is a Noble man of Reason and his Sonne shall finde this to bee a request both 〈◊〉 and reasonable except thou wilt so farre publish thy weakenesse to the world thaâ—… thou doest more feare thy Father than love my Daughter for if thou shouldest once â—…mit thy obedience to him so farre to give a Law to thy affection to her thou wilt then make thy selfe as unworthy to bee her Husband as I desire it with zeale and shee with passion Shee is resolved to second this my letter with one of her owne to thee to which I referre thee God blesse thy stay and hasten thy returne CERVANTELLA Dominica resolving to make good her promise to her mother and that of her mother to Roderigo she withdrawes her selfe to her chamber to write and knowing her mothers messenger ready to depart chargeth him with the delivery of her letter to her lover Roderigo and to cast the better lustre and varnish over her affection she takes a Diamond Ring from her finger and likewise sends it him for a token of her love DOMINICA to RODERIGO AS the death of my Brother Don Garcia made 〈◊〉 extreame sorrowfull so thiâ—… of thy absence made mee infinitely miserable for as that nipt my joyes and hopes in their blossomes so this kills them in their riper age and 〈◊〉 When I 〈◊〉 received thy love and gave and returned thee mine in exchange I had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hadst affected me too dearly so soone to leave my sight and to â—…sh thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my company but now I see with griefe and feelewith sorrow that thâ—… lovest thy Fâ—…er farre bettter than â—…ee and delightest to preferre his content befâ—… 〈◊〉 for else thou hadst not made me thus wretched by thy absence who am as it were but entering into the happinesse of thy presence If thou canst finde in thy heart to obey his commands before thou grant my requests then come not to Granado but stay still in Asnallos but if the contrary then leave Asnallos and come to mee in Granado wâ—…ere I will chide thee for thy long stay and yet give thee a world of thankes and kisses for thy so soone returne and as my heart and soule doth desire it so the prosperity of my Mothers affaires doth likewise want and therefore crave it Iudge of the fervency of my affection to thee by thine to my selfe and then thou wilt speâ—…dily resolve to see thy Dominica who desires nothing so much under Heaven as to have the happinesse of thy sight and the felicity and Honour of thy Company DOMINICA Roderigo receives these their two Letters reputes that of the mother to much respect and this of her Daughter to infinite affection so as the very knowledg and consideration thereof makes him rejoyce in the first and triumph in the second and therefore knowing himselfe to be a man and past a child and that as he is bound by nature and reason to obey his farther so he is not tyed to bee commanded by him beyond it wherefore he resolves to give content to the mother for the daughters sake and to the daughter for his own saâ—…e and so by their own messenger returnes them these answers That to the Lady Cervantella spake thus RODERIGO to CERVANTELLA I So much tender the prosperity of thy affaires and thy daughters content and joy that my resolutions shall so dispose of my selfe towards my Father as verie shortly I will see thee with respect and observance and
all the streets and corners of Granado that almost all the people of that Citie flocke the next morning to the place of execution to see this cruell Mistresse and her bloudy Chamber-maid take their last farewell of this world for the Lady Dominica must likewise die notwithstanding her Mother Cervantella's teares and her Husband Andrada's importunate requests and passionate praiers to her Judges to the contrary And first Denisa is caused to ascend the Ladder who was a tall and comely young woman to whom God was so mercifull to her soule that there with many bitter sighs and teares she was wonderfull sorrowfull for these her two foule murthers especially for that of her poore Infant babe whom she had almost as so one dispatched out as she brought into the world She earnestly besought all her auditors and spectators to pray unto God to forgive her and to bee mercifull to her soule shee affirmed that her Lady Dominica's enticements and Gold first drew her to be accessary to the poysoning of her Master Roderigo the which againe and againe from her heart and soule shee prayed God to pardon her when entreating all young people especially all young women to be more wise and religious and lesse prophane and bloudy minded by her example and now recommending her soule into the hands of her Saviour and Redeemer she is turned over When immediately after this our wretched Lady Dominica is likewise brought to her execution whom the vanity of her heart and the impurity and prophanenesse of her soule had purposely dighted in her best dresse and richest apparell which was a purple wrought Velvet Gowne and a curious great laced Ruffe with all things else sutable to it but which is lamentable to see and fearefull to consider she was as carelesse of her soule as curious of her body for the Priests and Friers in her prison could not abate or beat down her impiety but as there so here on the Ladder she enters into many deepe execrations and curses as well against her second Husband Andrada as against her Chamber-maid Denisa who she said was now rather gone to the Devill than to God but no spark of grace no shew of sorrow or signe of repentance could appeare in her looks or bee heard in her speeches for poysoning of her first Husband Roderigo but with much choller and vehemencie shee there uttered many other lewd and lascivious speeches the which grieved her Christian Auditours to heare and therefore I will not defile my pen or offend the Readers religious and chast hearts with the knowledg thereof so this miserable and wretched Lady was turned over the Ladder who made her death answerable to the foulnesse and enormity of her life being not so happy in her death as her bloudy Chamber-maid Denisa and I feare me as exempt of grace and goodnesse as the Devill could wish her But God is the Lord of Justice and father of mercy to whom I leave her They youth and beauty of this cruell and inhumane Lady Dominica was pitied of many but her foule fact abhorred and detested of all who were present at her death may we who reade her History cherish our Vertues by the sight and knowledge of her Vices and fortifie our soules with Religion and Piety as she ruined hers by the neglect and want thereof Amen GODS REVENGE AGAINST THE CRYING AND Execrable Sinne of Murther HISTORY XXIX Sanctifiore upon promise of mariage gets Ursina with child and then afterwards very ingratefully and treacherously rejecteth her and marieth Bertranna Ursina being sensible of this her disgrace disguiseth her selfe in a Fryers habit and with a case of Pistolls kills Sanctifiore as he is walking in the fields for the which shee is hanged IT is a poore profit a wretched pleasure for the satisfaction of choler and revenge to imbrue our hands in the innocent blood of our neere kindred sith in seeking to wound him wee more properly kill our selves in soule and body striking him who is the figurative image of God wee presumptuously stab at the Majesty of God himselfe by whom our soules must without whom they can never bee saved Therefore if wee will not know as wee are men yet wee ought firmly both to know and beleeve as wee are Christians that revenge and murther are the two prodigious twins of Sathan the last being engendered and propagated of the first and both from Hell For revenge is nothalfe so sweet in the beginning as bitter in the end nor murther by many degrees so pleasing as it proves pernitious to her Authors as this ensuing History will verifie and make apparant unto us LEt your thoughts be carried over those high hills of Europe the Alpes and Appenins to the noble and famous citie of Naples the head and capitall of that flourishing kingdome and from whence it receives and derives its denomination a city exceeding rich populous and faire and graced and adorned with more Nobilitie and Gentrie of both sexes than any other of Italy whatsoever Wherein of very late yeares when the Duke of Ossuna was Viceroy thereof there dwelt two rich and beautifull young gentlewomen the one named Dona Vrsina Placedo the onely daughter and child of Seignior Agustino Placedo the other Dona Bertranna de Tores likewise the only child and daughter of Seignior Thomaso de Tores the first native of Ferenzolo in Pulia and the second of Materana in Calabria both of them being exceeding rich and well descended Gentlemen who with their wives and daughters for the most part built up their residence in Naples but especially all the winter time Now because these two young gentlewomen whom henceforth wee will tearme by their Christian and not by their Surnames are two of the chiefest personages which give life to this History therefore I hold it not impertinent for mee superficially to give the Reader their different caracters and delineations Vrsina was past the twentieth yeare of her age and Bertranna entring into her eighteenth Vrsina was tall and slender Bertranna short and somewhat crook-backed Vrsina was the fairer of the two but Bertranna by far the subtiller and wiser Vrsina was of a deepe Amber hayre but Bertranna of a coale blacke to conclude this point Vrsina was affable and courteous but Bertranna coy proud and malitious The truth and order of this History must here informe us that although these two rich young Gentlewomen had divers brave Gallants who were sutors to them for marriage yet none of them so dearely and passionatly loved Vrsina as the Baron of Sanctifiore of Capua a verie rich young Nobleman but far more proper than wise and withall far more lascivious than rich nor did or could Bertranna in her heart and mind affect any other but the said Baron neither was it possible for her father De Tores to perswade or draw her to desire any other Nobleman or Gentleman for her husband than him Thus wee see Sanctifiore deeply to love Vrsina and Bertranna him
my deare Sanctifiore for I write not this out of any malice but out of true affection to thee to the end that thou maiest thereby seriously consider and religiously remember with thy selfe what I am to thee thou to my selfe and what that unfortunate Innocent unborne babe in my belly is to us both And although I am thy wife before God yet I will now in all humility make my selfe thy handmaid and with a world of sighes and teares throw my selfe at thy feet and lower if I could to conjure and begge thee By my poore beauty which once thou didest so much admire and adore by the memory of my lost virginity which thou wrested'st from mee with so many amarous sighes and teares by all thy deepe oathes vowes and promises which thou so religiously gavest mee to remaine still loving to mee by thine honour which should bee dearer to thee than thy life by thy conscience and soule which ought to bee far more pretious to thee than all the lives and honours of the world yea for thy poore infants sake and lastly for Gods sake abandon thy unjust displeasure and immerited discontent conceived against mee and my deare Sanctifiore come away to mee to Putzeole and there make mee thy wife in the sight of his Church and people as I am already in that of heaven and his Angells I say againe come away to mee my sweet Sanctifiore for thy sight will delight my heart and thy presence and company ravish my soule with joy It is impossible for Bertranna either to love or honour thee the thousand part so dearly as thy Vrsina doth and till death resolves to doe I will freely forget all thy former escapes and discourtesies towards mee and doe attribute them more to her foolish vanity than any way to thy unkind disposition or inclination yea I will not knit my browes when thou comest to mee but will cheerfully and joyfully prepare my selfe to feast thee with smiles and to surfet thee with kisses But if contrariwise thou wilt not hearken unto mee or this my letter or regard these my just requests and sorrowes nor obey and follow God and thy conscience herein in speedily repairing to mee to make mee thy joyfull wife then what shall I doe or say but according as I am bound in affection and duty to thee I will notwithstanding still resolve to love thee dearly though thou hate mee deadly and to pray for thee though thou curse mee yea I will then leave thee to God and religiously beseech his divine majestie to bee a just judge betweene both of us of my firme affection and constancy to thee and of thy cruell ingratitude and treacherie to mee Live thou as happie as thy constant Vrsina knowes that without thee shee shall assuredly live sorrowfully and die miserablie VRSINA Her messenger Sebastiano arives privatly at Naples and finds out the Baron of Sanctifiore in his chamber by the fire to whom hee gives and delivers this letter who at first knowing from whom it came stood a pretty whiles musing and consulting with himselfe whether he should read or burne it but at last hee breakes up the seales thereof and with much adoe affords himselfe the time and patience to peruse it which having done although hee no way merited to receive so sweet and loving a letter from Vrsina yet not blushing for shame but looking pale with envie and malice thereat hee darting forth a disdainfull frowne and tearing the letter in peeces throwes it into the fire when turning himselfe hastily towards Sebastiano who stood neere him and saw all that hee had done hee in great choler spake to him thus Tell that proud and foolish gigglet Vrsina that I disdaine her as much as shee writes shee loves mee and that as now so ever hereafter I will returne no other answer to her and her letters but contempt and silence when to expresse his greater fury Sebastiano was no sooner forth his chamber but he very hastily throwes fast the doore after him and in this furious and cholericke manner doth this base Sanctifiore receive the love and entertaine the letter of our sweet and sorrowfull Vrsina Sebastiano as much grieving as admiring at the incivill choler and rage of Sanctifiore presently leaves Naples and carries home this poore newes and cold comfort to his young Mistris the Lady Vrsina at Putzeole the which hee faithfully and punctually delivers to her who expected nothing lesse but derectly the contrary thereof She is amazed to understand this his disdainfull barbarous and cruell answer and infinitly perplexed in mind that hee should first teare then burne her letter and for converting his pen into Sebastianos tongue for his answer thereof But above all that word of his gigglet kild her very heart with sorrow to thinke that for all her former courtesies shewed him hee should now at last repay her with this foule ingratitude and scandalous aspersion at the sorrowfull thought and consideration whereof resolving to make her piety exceed his cruelty shee could not refraine from bedewing her roseat cheeks with many pearled teares nor from evaporating this heavenly ejaculation from the profundity of her heart and the centre of her foule God forgive the Baron of Sanctifiore and bee mercifull to mee Vrsina a great and wretched sinner had shee continued in this godly mind and resolution shee had done well but ahlas notwithstanding the wholesome comfort and councell of her aunt Mellefanta wee shall shortly see her runne a contrary course and cariere It is a common phrase and proverb that misfortune seldome comes alone which wee shall now see our sorrowfull Vrsina will verifie by her deepe sighes and confirme by her bitter teares for this discourtesie of Sanctifiore towards her for shee hath so deeply nayled it in her mind and riveâ—…ed it in her heart that it begins to impaire her health and strength and consequently to pervert and alter the constitution of her body so that whereas her poore unborne babe had lived but one full moneth within her she now finds so many suddaine throwes and unacustomed convulsions that shee is speedily constrained to betake her selfe to her bed when calling upon her aunt Mellefanta and withall possible hast sending a way for the midwife shee after many sharpe torments and bitter cries and groanes to the great perrill and eminent danger of her life is delivered of a verie pretty little sonne which God sends into the world dead borne now although shee want no curious care comfort and attendance from her aunt in this her sicknes and extremity yet shee weeps bitterlie and pittifully for the abortive birth and untimely death of her poore innocent babe and infant and because her aunt sees that this last affliction and sorrow of her neece doth infinitly encrease and revive her former and that shee also conceives a wonderfull feare in her heart and scruple in her conscience that it is only her immoderate griefe and sorrow which hath kild her
hold it repugnant to reason and contradictory to the right and nature of Duels that their Seconds should once draw their weapons much lesse fight But this neither doth nor can as yet satisfie La Roche whose choller is now become so boundlesse as he in lofty termes elevateth Valfontaines valour to the skies and dejecteth Quatbrissons cowardise as low as Hell begging permission of the one to fight with his Second and peremptorily informing the other that he will fight But both Quatbrisson and Valfontaine condemne those fumes and this heate of La Roche and are so farre from applauding it in him as they in downeright termes repute it to temeritie and rashnesse and not to magnanimity and valour yea his impatiencie hath so provoked and moved their patience as not in jest but in earnest they bandy these words to him that he glorieth so much in his generositie as in now ambitiously seeking to adde to his valour hee substracteth from his judgement When Pont Chausey to retort and wipe off the least taint or blemish which either La Roche or the two brothers might conceive lay on his reputation thinkes it now high time to speake because as yet he had spoken so little and prayes La Roche to find out some expedient either that they might returne as loving Friends or fight it out as Honourable Enemies and that for his part hee is so farre from the least shaddow of feare or conceit of cowardise as hee tels him plainely hee shall find his Rapier of an excellent temper and his heart of a better Whereupon vaine and miserable La Roche consulting with nature and not with grace he to give end to this difference resolves on an expedient as wretched as execrable the which he proposeth to Pont Chausey and the two brothers in these termes That the onely way and his last resolution is that a faire paire of dice shall be the Iudge and Vmpier betweene them and that who throwes most at one cast it shall bee in his choice either to fight or not to fight whereunto Pont Chausey willingly consenteth although Quatbrisson and Valfontaine doe in vaine contradict and oppose it But the decree is past and La Roche very officious in his wickednesse and forward in his impiety spreads his Cloake on the ground drawes a paire of dice forth his pocket and because he was of the Challengers side he will throw first which he doth and the fortune of the dice gives him seven Pont Chausey followes him and likewise taking the dice throwes onely five Whereat La Roche gracelesly insulting and triumphing with an open throat cryes out fight fight fight and so presently drawes his Rapier Pont Chausey seeing his enemy armed thinkes it no longer either safe or honourable for him to be unarmed when yet with a kind of religious reluctancie and unwilling willingnesse hee likewise unsheathes his Rapier and so without any farther expostulation they here approach each other But because for brevities sake I resolve to passe over the circumstances and only to mention the issue of their single combat let mee before I proceed farther in the name and feare of God conjure the Christian Reader here to admire with wonder and admiration at his sacred Providence and divine Iustice which in the issue of this Duell is made conspicuous and apparant to these two rash and unconsiderate Gentlemen the Combattants and in them to all others of the whole world For loe just as many picks as each of them threw on the Dice so many wounds they severally received each from other as Pont Chausey five and La Roche seven and he who so extremely desired to fight and so insatiably thirsted after Pont Chauseyes blood is now here by him nayled dead to the ground and his breathlesse corpes all gored and washed in his owne blood A fearefull example and remarkeable president for all bloody minded Gentlemen of these our times to contemplate and looke on because wretched La Roche was so miserable as hee had no point of time to see his errour no sparke of grace to repent it Quatbrisson and his Chirurgion as sorrowfull for his death as his brother Valfontaine is glad thereof take order for his decent transporting to the Citie whiles Valfontaine congratulates with Pont Chausey for his good fortune and victory who for â—…ty flies to Blavet untill the Duke of Rayes to whom he was homager had procured and sent him his Pardon from the King the which in few weekes after he effected Monsieur de Caerstaing and Madamoyselle Ville-blanche his wife are advertised of their two Sonnes quarrell at Saint Vallery and of the cause and issue thereof who condemne Quatbrisson for his treachery and malice and applaud Valfontaine for so nobly giving of his brother his life when it lay in his power and pleasure to have deprived him thereof which newes is likewise speedily conveied first to Nantes and then to Saint-Aignaw where Pennelle as much grieves at Quatbrissons foyle and disgrace as his Daughter our faire La Pratiere triumphs at her Valfontaines victory and because she will no longer bee deprived of his presence whose absence deprives her of all her earthly content and felicity shee makes her prayers and teares become such incessant Orators and importunate Advocates to her Father as she now drawes his free consent to take Valfontaine for her husband which at last to their owne unspeakeable Ioy and the approbation and content of all their parents of either side is at Saint-Aignaw performed and consummated with much pompe and bravery But albeit Quatbrisson as we have formerly understood have all the reasons of the world to bee fully and fairely reconciled to his brother Valfontaine yea and according to his promise and oath to affect him tenderly and dearely yet where the heart is not sanctified and in peace the tongue may pretend though not intend it For the more he gazeth on his sister in law La Pratieres beauty the more the freshnesse and delicacie thereof revives and inflames his lascivious lust towards her when knowing her to bee as chaste as faire and being confident that he was out of all hope to receive any immodest courtesie or familiarity from her whiles her Husband his brother Valfontaine lives the Devill hath already taken such full possession of his heart as with a hellish ingratitude and impietie hee wretchedly resolves to deprive him of his life of whom as it were but right now he had the happinesse to receive his owne As soone as we thinke of Revenge we meerly forget our selves but when we consent to murther we absolutely forget God for that hellish contemplation and this inhumane and bloody action doe instantly worke so wretchedly in us that of men we become Monsters and which is worse of Christians Devils for thereby we make our selves his slaves and members A misery to which all others are not comparable because those are finite in regard they have only relation to the life of our bodies but
this infinite in regard it occasioneth the death of our soules But all this notwithstanding it is not in jest but in earnest that Quatbrisson assumes this bloody resolution to murther his brother Valfontaine For seeing that it was neither in his power or fortune to kill him in the Duell he therefore holds it more safe lesse dangerous to have him poysoned and so deales with his brothers Apothecarie named Moncallier to undertake and performe it and in requitall thereof he assureth him of three hundred crownes and gives him the one halfe in hand whereupon this Factor of the Devill this Empericke of Hell confidently promiseth him speedily to effect and performe it the which he doth The manner thus Valfontaine within sixe weekes of his marriage finds his body in an extreme heate some reputing it to an excesse of wine which he had the day before taken at Poâ—…tivie Faire and others for having beene too amorous and uxorious to his sweet young wife La Pratiere But it matters not which excesse of these two gave him his sicknesse onely let it satisfie the Reader that as we have already heard his body was very much inflamed and hot the dangerous symtomes either of a burning Feaver or a Plurifie the which to allay and coole he sends for his 〈◊〉 the carie Moncalier from Vannes to Saint Aignaw and after their consultation he openeth him a veine very timely in the morning and drawes ten ounces of blood from him and towards night gives him a Glister wherein hee infused strong poyson which spreading ore the vitall parts of his body doth so soone worke its operation and extinguish their radicall moisture that being the most part of the night tortured with many sharpe throes and heart-killing convulsions hee before the next morning dyes in his bed His wife La Pratiere being desperately vanquished with sorrow doth as it were dissolve and melt her selfe into teares at this sudden and unexpected death of her Husband Valfontaine and indeed her griefes and sorrowes are farre the more infinite and violent in that she sees her selfe a widdow almost as soone as a wife Her Father is likewise pensive and sorrowfull for the death of his Sonne in Law and so also is his owne Father and Mother at Vannes But for his inhumane brother Quatbrisson although he neither can or shall bleare the eyes of God yet hee intends to doe those of men from the knowledge and detection of this foule and bloody fact for hee puts on a mournefull and disconsolate countenance on his rejoycing and triumphing heart for the death of his brother the which he endeavoreth to publish in his speeches and apparell so hee rides over to Saint Aignan to his sister in law La Pratiere condoles with her for her Husband his brothers death and with his best oratory strives to dissipate and dispell her sorrowes but still her thoughts and conscience doe notwithstanding prompt her that considering his former affection to her and his fighting with his brother her Husband for her sure hee had a hand in his death but in what manner or how she knowes not and so as a most vertuous and sorrowfull Lady leaves the revealing thereof to the good pleasure and Providence of God and the curious heads both of Nantes and Vannes concurre with her in the same conceipt and beliefe But three moneths are scarce past over since Valfontaine was laid in his grave but Quatbrisson is still so deepely besotted with his owne lust and the beauty of La Pratiere as he sels his wit for folly and againe becomes a Sutor to marry her having none but this poore Apologie to colour out his incestuous desires that hee will procure a dispensation from Rome to approve it and that hee hath already spoken to Yvon Bishop of Reimes to that effect who was many yeares Penitentiarie or Almoner to Pope Paulus Quintus And what doth this indiscretion of his worke with La Pratiere but onely to encrease her jealousie to confirme her suspicion and to make her the more confident that her Husband had beene still in this world if he had not beene the meanes so soone send him into another Wherfore she rejecteth both his sute and himselfe tels him that if he can find in his heart and conscience to marry her shee cannot dispence with her soule to espouse him and therefore that he shall doe well to surcease his sute either to the Pope or Bishop sith if it lay in their powers yet it should never in her pleasure to grant or resolution to effect it but this peremptory refusall of hers cannot yet cause Quatbrisson to forsake and leave her For if his lust and concupiscence formerly made him peevish to seeke her for his wife now it makes him meerely sottish and impudent to alter his sute and so to attempt and desire to make her his strumpet But hee hath no sooner delivered her this his base and obscene motion but all the blood of her body flushing in her face shee highly disdaineth both his speeches and himselfe and vowing and scorning henceforth ever more to come into his company so she informes her Father of his dishonourable intent and unchast motion to her who to rid himselfe of so incivill and impudent a guest thereupon in sharpe termes forbids him his house and his Daughters company as having hereby altogether made himselfe unworthy to enjoy the priviledge of the one or the honour of the other when this sweet and chaste young Lady to be no more haunted with so lascivious a Ghost and Spirit being sought in marriage by divers noble and gallant Gentlemen shee among them all after a whole yeares mourning for her first makes choice of Monsieur de Pont Chausey for her second Husband and marries him Quatbrisson seeing himselfe so disdainefully sleighted and rejected of La Pratiere he as a base Gentleman and dishonourable Lover metamorphoseth his affection into hatred towards her and vowes that his revenge shall shortly match her disdaine and meet with her ingratitude and so flies her sight and company as much as hee formerly desired it But as the best Revenge is to make our enemies see that we prosper and doe well so hee quite contrary makes it his practise and ambition to doe evill For from henceforth among many other of his vices he defileth his body with whoredome and gives himselfe over to Fornication and Adultery which hath taken up so deepe a habit in him as it is now growne to a second nature for he wholly abandoneth himselfe to Queanes and Strumpets that be she maid wife or widdow his wanton eye scarce sees any but his lustfull heart desireth and his lascivious tongue seekes Now Quatbrisson among many other hearing that a poore Peasant or countrey man termed Renne Malliot of the parish of Saint-Andrewes three miles from Vannes had a sweet and faire young Daughter hee therefore very lewdly resolves to see her and to tempt her to his obscene desires when provoked and halled on
other busines rides over to Stremos and acquaints the Corigidores herewith and taking Roderigo likewise along with him hee also failes not very resolutely to affirme and most constantly to confirme it to them which these wise and grave judges understanding they in honour to Gods service and glory and in true obedience to his sacred justice without any delay or procrastination take Don Gasper de Mora the old Souldiour Roderigo and some three or foure expert Swimmers along with them and with hast and secresie speed away to the pond wherein after those Swimmers had beene a quarter of an houre and curiously busked and dived in most places thereof to find out this cloath at lâ—… by the mercy and providence of God one of them diving far better than the rest sees and finds it and swimming with his left hand brings it a shore in his right hand to the Corigidores who much admiring and rejoycing thereat cause it presently to bee opened where contrary to all their expectations they find no dead child but as wee have formerly understood a cambricke smocke as yet all spotted and stained with blood and tyed fast with a blew silke garter and in it a very sharp and bloody razor with a brasse weight tyed in all this purposely to sinke it in the pond The Corigidores Gaspar De Mora and all the rest are amazed and astonished at the sight of these bloody evidences when Roderigo againe constantly swearing to them that hee saw the Lady Bellinda with her owne hands throw this little linnen fardell into that pond the verie same morning that her husband Don Ferallo was found murthered in his bed and the malitious curiosity of Gaspar De Mora here finding the very two first and last letters of her name in the cambricke smocke the Corigidores then concurre in one opinion as so many lines which terminate in one Centre that yet infalibly it was shee and no other who had so cruelly murthered her husband Ferallo in his bed Whereupon taking this bloody smocke razor and garter with them they with much zeale and speed poast away to the Lady Bellinda's house to apprehend her for this her foule and lamentable murther where cruell hearted and lascivious Lady shee is so far from the consideration of grace or the thought and apprehension of any feare as shee feares none and which is worst of all not the power and justice of God himselfe for shee is so immodest in her heart so lustfull in her conversation as notwithstanding her blacke mourning attire and apparell that her first husband was but lately dead and now her second not as yet cold in his grave yet with great variety of musicke shee is here now in her house singing dancing and revelling with divers young Cavalliers and Gallants both of the cittie country as if she had no other care thought or busines but how to make choyce of a third husband who might amorously please her lustfull eye and heart and of no lesse than a paire of Paramours and favorites who should lasciviously content her wanton desires and affections But these wanton vanities and vaine and lascivious hopes of the Lady Bellinda will now deceive her for now the Lords appointed due time is come wherein for these her two horrible murthers committed on the persons of her two husbands his divine sacred Majestie is resolved to powre downe his punishments and to thunder forth his judgements upon her to her utter shame and confusion The Corigidores resolutely enter her house then and there cause the Sergeants to apprehend her prisoner whereat being suddainly amazed and infinitely terrified shee weepes sighes and cries extremely But those Cavalliers I meane those her supposed lovers and pretended favorites who were there singing and dancing with her neither can or dare either affist or rescue her Now the plumes of her pride and jollity are suddainly dejected and fallen to the ground yea her musicke is turned to mourning her singing to sighes and her dancing triumphâ—… to teares The enormity of her crime cause these officers of justice to see her conveyed to prison without any respect of her beauty or regard of her sex and quality where shee hath more leisure given her to repent than meanes how to remedy these her misfortunes The next morning shee is sent for before her judges who roundly charge her for cruelly murthering her husband Don Ferallo in his bed the which with many teares and oathes shee stoutly denies then they shew her those bloody evidences â—…er cambricke smocke the razor her blew garter and the brasse weight and also produce and confront Roderigo with her who as before hee had affirmed now hee swears hee saw her throw this bloody linnen fardell into the pond the verie morning that her husband Don Ferallo was found murthered in his bed and although at the sight and knowledge hereof shee is at first wonderfully appalled and daunted therewith yet her courage is so stout as shee againe denies it with many prophane and fearefull asseverations and delighteth to heare her selfe make a tedious justification and a frivolous apologie to her judges for her innocency But those grave and prudent Magistrates of justice who in zeale to Gods glory have eyes not in vaine in their heads will give no beleife either to the sweetnes of the Lady Bellinda's youth or to the sugar of her speeches and protestations but for the vindication of this crime and of this truth they adjudge her the very next morning to the racke where such is her female fortitude as shee permits suffers her selfe to bee fastned thereunto with infinite constancy and patience as disdaining that the torments thereof should extort any truth from her tongue to the prejudice of her reputation and to the shipwracke of her safety and life but herein she reckons too short of God and beyond her selfe for shee considereth not that these torments are truly sent her from God and this her courage falsly lent and given her from Sathan for at the very first wrench of the racke and touch of the cord finding it impossible that her tender body and dainty limbs can endure the cruelty of those tortures God puts this grace into her heart that with many sighes and teares shee prayes her judges and tormentors to desist and so publikely confesseth that it was shee and only shee who had murthered her husband Ferallo and cut his throat in his bed with that very same razor Upon which confession of hers her judges glorifiing God for the detection of this cruell murther they for expiation thereof doe forthwith adjudge and sentence this wretched and bloody Lady Bellinda to bee the next morning burnt alive without the walles of Stremos at the foot of the castle which is the destined place of death for the like crimes and offendors so she being by them then againe returned to prison that night in Christian charity they send her some Priests and Nunnes to direct and prepare her soule