fair that for to commend it I must not imitate their imagination that Love made his residence there for 't is so smooth that that fickle Child could not fix on it 't is on wrinckled foreheads that he hath the opportunity to erect his throne and it must be thought that the several wrinckles are the steps whereby we ascend to his chair of state But when he set his foot there he slid into your Eyes where he found his most certain retreat but so it is that whether with his will or against it he must stay there for he burnt his wings as soon as ever he enter'd in This is the reason that the wounds I receive when you look on me are so dangerous and it may be cleerly seen that a powerful Divinity is become the intelligence of those two bright stars which govern the course of my life But what miracles do I find on your Cheeks the complexion is white but never pale and the redness is never obscure There is the same brightness on the corral upon your fair lips which are the portals of the Temple of Eloquence What shall I say of that neck and breast but that it is a most extravagant imagination to compare them to Ivory and milk since they have a quite different lustre The Poets celebrate their Mount Parnassus whereon there are twins of hills and the tradition is that he that hath slept thereon becomes a consummate Poet but it s to be conceiv'd that he that should enjoy those two little mounts which are on that fair breast would be far more divinely inspir'd either for Poesie or Eloquence As for the rest of the body where though the beauties must be eternally conceal'd yet do I not doubt their perfection And it must needs be great since it is honoured with the burthen of that fair head wherein I finde so many miracles It hath more glory to support that then Atlas to sustain heaven for here are far more divinities then in Jupiters Pallace O how happy then must I esteem thee amiable body to have so fair a face and thou fair face to be so happy in such bright eyes and you bright eyes to be so full of Charms and Attraction But what 's above all how happy art thou fair body in the general to be the lodging of the fairest soul in the world Methinks I have still somewhat to say in thy praise and that I have forgotten one part which I often see I have not mention'd the ears though near neighbors to the cheeks and are umbrag'd by the hair with so much beauty But why should I speak of those unmerciful things 't is from them proceeds the chiefest cause of my torment They wil not hear what I suffer that so they might give an account to that divine spirit which governs all the other senses As long as they shall continue in this severity I cannot but take them for my enemies but if it happen they abate their rigour I promise them to recompence and redeem the time I have not honor'd them I know not whether Philiris had something further to say but there he stuck as it had been to call to minde some other fine imagination to entertain Angelica They were all very attentive to his discourse which he delivered with a sweet accent and a delightful gesture Angelica her self was nothing troubled to hear her self so prais'd though she blushed a little and as for the Shepherd Lysis he was so ravish'd that he went and embrac'd the courteous Orator speaking to him in these words Dear Friend what charms are there in thy discourses how sweet and amorous is thy style I promise thee quite to disengage Clarimond and have no more to do with him thou art far the fitter to compose my history Philiris thank'd the Shepherd for the honor he did him and promis'd him his utmost services As for Clarimond he seeing himself disengag'd made a vow ever to contradict Lysis and that in open Hostility The talk which rise about this broke off the sport and thence they insensibly fell upon the strange exploits of Lysis and Carmelin I have heard saies Leonora the Story of Meliantes whereby that Shepherd had shewn how his Mistress was secur'd in a Fortress and that besides she remembred all the particulars of her deliverance as it had been related to her but she had not been told the true cause of her captivity nor who was the author of it Lysis and Meliantes answered that if she would be satisfied in that she must address her self to Hircan who knows the most secret things The company having entreated him to tell what he knew of that business He began thus without any want of fabulous invention The History of the Magician Anaximander YOu are to know dear Company that in the Isle where Pamphilia was a captive there is a Magician call'd Anaximander who hath liv'd there these thirty years It s no longer since he was born as most believe and yet he boasts himself to be the true Son of the Sorceress Circe As for his father he knew not his name because his mother was somewhat common This is not to make us believe that she liv'd to this age that he expounds otherwise He says that when she was alive two thousand years since he having learned of this good mother all magical secrets desired to live eternally on earth and not go with her to heaven nor yet to the Elizian fields because he took greater pleasure to be here below When he had examin'd all the receipts for renewing of age he found none easier then that of exchanging of Bodies He thought it not fit to desire one of his friends to kill him and to take his body all to pieces to form another stronger out of it he was afraid somewhat should interrupt the operation and that he might be left half made A little Nephew of his being knock'd in the head with a quoit as he look'd on his Comrades at play he found a way to discharge his former body and assume that of the childe which he afterwards animated to the great amazement of all the world who thought him dead Fourscore years after another little childe playing among others who carried him prisoner and made as if they would put him to death it hapned his companions throtl'd him in good earnest Anaximander made use again of that body and so hath he done with divers others to this day having the power to disengage his soul from this terrestrial mass and fasten again as firmly that it is equally fitted for the execution of all its functions as any other He drinks he eats he sleeps he gets children and yet is never sick His soul takes up bodies as travellers do Inns where they are as well accommodated as at home But one great advantage of his immortality is that he hath been of all conditions which he hath freely pass'd through as they had been only parts of a Play and so
and was there no chastity among his Sâ—sters and Cousins What a miracle is this There is only he that attempted her love that thinks her chaste and all others esteem her unchaste It must be conceiv'd it was she caus'd the poor man to say so when he was at the point of death To be short I will not take other mens leavings and buy a Tree whereof the fairest fruits are already gathered 'T is injustice to infer the worst rather then the best in things uncertain replies Montenor And if as I perceive by your discourse you suspect Geneura of unchastity because she spoke freely to all sorts of persons consider that you your self are the cause and when you were far from her her diversion must needs require other acquaintances But return to her putting away all suspicions and jealousie Anselme seem'd to have somwhat further to say in answer to this and Montenor would not have been wanting to maintain his cause longer if Lysis had not commanded them both to conclude because that he would give sentence Anselme disposed himself to hear it and had caused his Adversary to be silent But the Judge rising out of his seat ran away as fast as he could saying to them Stay for me a little I 'll be back presently And in that posture went he to his Chamber where he took his Sheep-hook that he had left there and being return'd seated himself in his Chair which when he had done sayes he I had forgotten what was most necessary which is this Pastoral staff without which my sentence might have been invalid Now I have it in my hand I will give judgment upon this difference Montenor knew not upon all these circumstances what to think of him for while Lysis had been at his chamber Anselme could not abstain laughing so loud that he could not tell him what person this Shepherd was But now he was to put on a more serious posture because of the presence of the Judge who having assum'd a majestick Countenance and a grave gesture pronounc'd the Sentence in this manner The Judgment of the Shepherd LYSIS WHereas there is a Suit depending in this Court between the fair Geneura Plaintiff on the one part and the courteous Anselme Defendant on the other part the said Plaintiff hath Remonstrated or her Councel in her behalf that since the Year of the great Snow the said Anselm having taken fire at her fair eyes to arm himself against the Winter should have given her his heart in exchange the which he hath since taken away together with all the affections of his soul into possession whereof she was entred as having been morgag'd to her wherefore she demands restitution thereof with all costs charges and interests To which the Defendant pleads that for the miscarriages of the Plaintiff and her frequent disdains he should have forsaken her and principally because she suffered her self to be carried away by one Gismond who as was reported had enjoy'd her Whereto Montenor of Councel for Geneura answered That all the little subtilties of his Client were but innocent insinuations and that for the ravishing of her by Gismond she had not consented thereto and that she had resisted his attempts All these things being eloquently debated seriously and maturely considered and the Testament of the deceased Gismond taken for seen We by the full power granted Vs by Cupid King of men and Gods have delivered and do deliver the heart soul and affections of the Defendant out of the power of the Plaintiff permitting him to provide for himself where he shall think good and that without prejudice to the reputation of the said Geneura whom we charge only to have always some one with her to witnesse her Chastity when she shall have occasion to run away with men Pass'd in the Parliament of Love the first year of the second Golden Age and the third day since we have taken the habit of Shepherd Lysis had no sooner given his judgement but Anselme making him a great reverence gave him a long Gramercy whereat the Shepherd being offended answered him 'T is not me that you must thank give your thanks to Justice what â— do you think I have shewn you any favour These retorts quieted Anselme so that changing his discourse says he to Lysis But if it please your honor you have made your Sentence too large dating it at the pronouncing which is not us'd to be done Besides you have been overseen in that you have not caus'd it to be written How shall I take it out against my adversary Who hath the minutes of it You are indeed in the right replyes Lysis you have a Lacquey that writes well why have you not made him come hither to be my Clark Yet stay now I remember me the Shepherds of Lignon never had any Clark to write down their judgements and I will tell you the reason They lived so innocently that as their Contracts were not pass'd before Notaries to oblige them to do what they promiss'd so no more do they keep any Records of the Sentences they gave because who were condemned were people of such good conscience that they remembred as well as their Adversaries what passed against them and performed it without violence You must live like them and be content to imprint in your memory the judgement I have given Anselm confess'd it was well spoken and affirm'd that Lysis should ever carry the day of Sylvander and the rest seeing his judgement was better couch'd then theirs Wherein they discover'd they understood not the Laws and the practise as well as he who had been design'd for the Long robe and had studied the Pandects of Justinian Afterward he went to Montenor and told him that what was order'd must be observ'd without thought of appealing And the Gentleman seeing by all his abuses that his contempt of Geneura was as high as might be knew well enough he had engag'd his heart elsewhere He asked him who was his new Mistress he ingeniously told him it was Angelica the daughter of a Patentee dead not long before Montenor who knew her and withal knew she was very handsom and very rich would not divert his pursuance of her and so said to him Assure your self that though Geneura bewail'd your loss she hath repair'd it by the devotion of as faithful a Lover whom she must resolve to marry now that she can hope no more from you I must with all haste return to Paris to dispose her thereto for I am certain she counts the hours since I parted and those my return might take up such is her impatience to know what I have prevail'd with you To which Anselm answer'd That he should be very glad Geneura met with a good fortune and that what he had said against her was partly the better to justifie himself as to the Crime which he was charg'd with of having forsaken her In consequence of this discourse he took Montenor aside and told him
boys 't was enough to have a naughty wife who had now left off her good conditions and did nothing but slight him When he thought to cry it seem'd to be a Chick that had the pip but Radegonda had a voice that fill'd his ears as if it had been the sound of a bell She by way of abuse would ask him Who 's that below or else she would say to him How 's this that I hear you speak and cannot see you I have been told that one day being in a fury she look'd for him all the house over for to whip him He sometimes hid himself in a Rats nest and sometimes in a pennard but at last shifting from one place to another he was found in a corner of the Study which the Maid had forgotten to make clean and there had he so entangled himself in a great cobweb that he was taken like a bird in the net Radegonda came to him and having under some pretence disentangled him she brought him to the beds-post where one hair was enough to tie him and when she had done swept his buttocks He would after that be separated from her as to body and goods as I believe he is now whether he be dead or alive When I parted from him I went and liv'd with a Doctor of Physick who took me for to be his Groom and to dress his Mule and to follow him up and down But being one evening in the stable methought the beast was not well I went and told my master that his mule had caught a cold and had a cough I ask'd him what he thought fit I should do to her Put my night-cap on her head answer'd he I presently believ'd that the Doctor was so skilfull that all that he prescribed must infallibly be done besides that I thought it not amiss to keep the Beast warm But her head being too big for the cap I came and told my master that his cap was too little and that but one ear could get in He was much taken with the simplicity of my youth which hath furnished him with stories to divert his Patients for he cured them as much by his merry Conceits as by his Receits His Mule having afterwards been well dress'd by a Farrier I wondred to see that a Physitian could cure men and not cure beasts The pleasant humour of him I served was indeed enough to make me love him 'T was he who having seen the urine of a sick woman which was brought him by a Country-fellow ask'd him twice as much as he was wont to take Why do you ask me so much Mr. Doctor says the Country-man Because I have seen two urines friend answered he I have seen that of your wife and that of your dog that hath just now piss'd against my carpet In as much as at that time I was of an humour jovial enough I was much pleas'd with these pleasant rencontres and I was ever very proud to learn some good word But all that did but satisfie the mind and nor the body I could easily perceive a decay as to the good condition of the sheath of my soul and the mould of my doublet grew less and less The Doctor so pester'd my head with his precepts of Abstinence and he would needs have me content my self with one meal a day so to rid my self of my fatness and be more nimble to run after him Could his Mule have spoken she would have complain'd of his niggardliness as well as I and as for her being sick it was purely for want of meat The Doctor never went into any house but coming out he brought away some old piece of Mat for to give his Mule who sometimes had not broke her fast at five in the afternoon For my part I so much pittied the languishing condition of the poor creature that I had not the heart to be her Governour any longer since I had more will then ability to do her any good I thereupon left my Doctor and having made acquaintance with one of his Patients I engag'd my self in the honorable quality of a Lacquay as I was thought deserving This Patient was a Gentleman whose name was Tristan one very easily serv'd For being in a quartan Ague which had now stuck to him a year he never went out of his chamber and I had no other work to do but to reach him the glass and the chamber-pot and some other necessaries His conversation was very pleasant Melancholy and Solitude had half made him an Ideot He had gotten measures of Parchment such as Tailors have wherewith he measured himself every day all over his body to see if the swelling were nothing diminish'd He had a measure for every toe another for each leg another for each thigh another for the waste another for the breast And when he found that any of those parts grew less he accordingly shortned his measures I was the faithfull guardian of those measures all which I lock'd up into a Drawer before him taking an oath not to lengthen nor shorten them This humor found me a great deal of sport but I 'll tell you of another an admirable one which was of some advantage to me Tristan having no other employment all day long but to consider what he found in his close-stool wonder'd to finde there sometimes yellow matter sometimes green sometimes hard and sometimes soft He would needs know whether that proceeded from his indisposition or no and finding me as he thought sufficiently in health he resolv'd I should eat of the same meat that he did to see if I should void the like matter To satisfie this humor I had brought me in the morning a broath which I took at the same time he took his We afterward together took a jelly made of Knuckles and Marrow-bones and then eat a boild Capon and at night we had some tame fowl roasted I never had made so good chear the change of meat put me into such a looseness the first day that Tristan was almost perswaded that his diet was not wholsome but the second day having recovered my former temper and he on the contrary having done nothing but clear water he despair'd of imagining himself extreamly sick At last he bethought himself that to make better experience I must be gotten into bed as well as be There was presently made ready a pallet in his chamber for me where I was to continue a long time and this I took no pleasure in but my felicity was now a burthen to me I had rather have been at liberty then have made so good chear I was so strictly lookt to that though I should have dyed for hunger or thirst yet would they not give me any thing to eat or drink but at my Masters hours and that if I were to go to stool it must be also near about the time that he went and that in a basin that was at his beds feet lest in case I went aside to do it
disposing dead bodies is that of burying them and the most honorable that of burning them that the earth is the dregs and ordure of the Elements the sink of the world and mother of Corruption I cannot conceive the reason why Charron should thus abuse the poor Earth nor why he should say we have no parts we ought to be ashamed of unless to shew the inclination he had to assert that Paradox That women ought to go naked The Poets tell us their Mistresses make them dye and that they raise them again and therefore that Lysis should think so is not so extravagant Besides he remembred Aesculapius rais'd up Hippolitus Why should not Charite who is a Sun her self do as much as that son of Apollo Lysis says That Love led his soul into Hell wherein he differs from some of his ancient Masters who affirm'd that death divided a man into three parts the Body return'd to earth the soul went to Heaven or else was united to that of the Universe and there went to Hell but the Shade which what it could consist of I cannot conceive Yet those others that say the fouls go to Hell tell us stories of Shades enough to discover the contradictions of Poetry but why a soul should be call'd a Shade I see not for being a thing of more worth then the body and that in its separation it loses nothing it ought to have a nobler name Nor doth the fiction of the Waterman Charon and his fare hold any more water What need had this fellow of any money in hell where there is nothing to buy Pluto needed not this Poll-money for the earth and all the mines were his Ceres and the other rural Divinities having no more then they necessarily took up Of equal absurdity is that of Cerberus the three-tongu'd Dog Hath Pluto no other guard then that of a Dog but it must be thought there needs none in hell for the Devils need neither Dog nor Cat since they keep no house but live like Philosophers Then is Lysis brought before the three Judges and by their order sent to the Elizian fields where he rips up old Poetry and Fables so exquisitely that if all Books were lost we might have all of this nature from him He saies that the pastimes of the Devils are Cards and Dice 'T is true quarrels oathes and blasphemy are the effects of them and Avarice the Inventor But the impatience is remarkable But at what is a Gamester most impatient Is it for the loss of time in eating or sleeping is 't want of money is 't a years sickness No 't is when the candle is put out in the midst of a game or when the Die falls down and cannot be found Now comes the famous Musardan on the Stage that excellent advancer of Love-stories and Courtier of the Muses who is wellcomest of all to Lysis one that for sport-sake was admitted to some great mens tables But Fontenay continuing his follies give Clarimond occasion really to endeavour Lysis's conviction for that he had said before that Lysis ought to be entertain'd in his extravagance in regard of the Felicity of Fools 't was only for a time and by Paradox But if we will see the impertinences and absurdities of Fabulous Books and Romances more fully discovered we must advance to the Thirteenth BOOK THough there need not much be said on these two Orations the Objections and Answers being so clear yet to draw things to some conclusion I shall where my Authour hath been very liberal contribute somewhat The War of Troy is by most acknowledg'd a fiction and Homer grounded his Poem on some old wives Tales yet Clarimond says nothing of that because truth and Poetry travel not far together But he quarrels at the subject of his Books which is ill and that grand fault of not mentioning the causes of that war for that he had written any thing before is but a conjecture which yet Philiris makes the best of when he says that his subject was well enough known in Greece and that consequently he might begin where he pleas'd But as to Homer's Country which Philiris saies is heaven and that Poetry is the Language of the Gods 't is a little extraordinary though all Oracles were in verse For Homers sentences besides that they are such as it may be were in every mouth in those days all sects of Philosophy have gotten somewhat out of him as if he commend Vertue he is presently a Stoick c. Nor have they been more fortunate that make him Master of all Arts or to say better a Jack of all Trades For to make him a Ship-Carpenter 't is enough that he makes his Vlisses one To shew he was a good Cook he made his Hero's turn the spit and boil the pot and in Vulcan he is an Armourer This was an easie way to be of all Trades but it is to be thought that Ignorance and Pedantry were the Godfathers that gave him that name That any Captains and the like should esteem him as if his works could infuse courage is as improbable and yet this is no great commendation for Amadis hath sharpen'd the courage of some whose unacquaintance with affairs kept them in ignorance of what was truly military And for Alexander and Alcibiades who going into a school and asking the Master for Homer's Iliads gave him a box on the ear when he told him he had none 't is no great credit Alcibiadas was a rash yong fellow that affronted all where he came not sparing the very Images of the Gods the noses whereof he cut off besides that it shews that it was in those days a Book fitter for School-boys then Souldiers and indeed it was fit a Schoolmaster should have it it being their daily-bread as Hieron said to Xenophanes complaining of Poverty That Homer though while he liv'd begg'd his bread yet dead he maintained ten thousand men And hence it came that the Schoolmasters have ever been his greatest celebrators As for Hector's leaving the Army in a fight to go and deliver a message that was unnecessary 't was such an absurdity as Philiris mentions it not As for the fable of Circe 't is justly tax'd for dawb as you will with Mythologies Ulysses's lying with a Sorceress will be a thing of ill example As for the Beauty of Helen and Penelope Clarimond says what he ought and Philiris answers as well but for the chastity of the latter and that evasion of the web 't is such a poor one that so many yong Lovers could not but in so many years discover it But there are that say that those yong men all enjoy'd her and that thence sprang the God Pan you have the credit of the Poets for the one as well as the other Clarimond having spoken of Homer spends not time on the other Greek Poets since it was but repetition and so falls on Virgil the Prince of the Latine Poets That Dido liv'd not in Aeneas's time
〈◊〉 he considered himself all about with certain gestures of admiration and cry'd out O God! how am I now assured that I shall please my Beauty in this new habit Such was the Phrygian Pastor when he gave sentence upon the difference of the three Goddesses After that he sate him on the ground and taking a little Loaf out of his bag drew out withall divers other things which he set in order by him that he might the better consider them There was a little dry Grass a withered Pink some very foul Paper and a Peece of old worn Leather Ah precious Reliques sayes he in the midst of his contemplation I must have a Box of Chrystal for you that I may always see you and not touch you Then did he fall a eating with such greediness as if he had been newly come out of a besieged City destitute of provision Anselme thinking he could not resume all â—hese excellent discourses and overcome with impatience rise from the place where he was to speak to him As soon as the other had perceived him he sayes to him Pan defend thee courteous Shepherd wilt thou partake of my Pastoral banquet I have in my Pocket some Apricocks whose skin seems to be interlined with Roses We will here participate with a fraternal concord what the Gods have sent us I give you thanks replies Anselme my stomach is not up so early But since your courtesie is so great I presume to ask you what fair things you have there exposed and why you esteem them so highly as if they were Peeces taken out of the Cabinet of some Antiquary I had rather for the present that you gave me part of your secret designs then of your breakfast I adore thy humour replies the Shepherd seeing thou betrayest so much curiosity thou must needs have a good wit Sit thee here down by me and I shall give thee an account of my self It 's a pleasure to discourse of our Loves while a gentle Zephir breaths yet upon the earth when the heat shall advance we will drive our Flocks into the shade Anselme hearing all these not so common things was unspeakably astonish'd and knew he had found one sick of the strangest folly in the world So that considering well that there is nothing gotten of such people but blows if they are contradicted and the greatest pleasure that may be when humour'd he presently placed himself by him He resolved within himself to bite his lips whenever he should say any thing that were ridiculous lest he should laugh and put on a countenance so modest that the Shepherd assuring himself that he prepared him a favourable audience began to speak thus I put up my bread for the present that I may entertain thee with my sufferings Discourses are more pleasant then Banquets Know then that this common Tyrant of our souls this God that is so little in bulk and so great in power who if he were not Shepherds might dispute as to felicity with the Gods no sooner observed me in the world but he destin'd me for one of those Captives which he will have drawn after his triumphal Chariot Yet he alone could not have robbed me of my Liberty had he not been seconded by a fair Eye who conspired with him to make him Master of the Universe The incomparable Charite receives his pay or rather he hers so to perfect the conquest of all hearts 'T was in Paris that Epitome of the World that I saw that onely Wonder when I was in a richer habit but not so noble as this I now have on She dwelt about the quarter of St. Honore and that not without reason seeing she was honoured of all the World Fortune with her blind eyes denyed me often the means of seeing her and it was only at some uncertain hours that I enjoyed that object in passing by the house or rather the temple of that Goddess but wanted the opportunity of tendring my prayers and sacrifices to her I passed by that way above ten times in an afternoon and because I should have been ashamed that the neighbours should see me so often the first time I put on a black Cloak the second a gray one while I walked gravely another with a staff as if I had been lame lest I should have been observed When I would not pass quite through the street I was content to possess my self of a corner and see my Mistress afar off though the most commonly I could perceive but the extremity of her Petticoat But I did more then all this when I returned from some part where I had been at supper I went out of my way three streets to go into hers and it satisfied me to consider the walls that kept her in and to see the candle in her chamber and if the glass appear'd more obscure in one place then another I conceived it was she that was near the window and there I stood for to contemplate that fair shadow so long as it continued And though all this can be called no other then a false pleasure yet I was necessitated to continue in this torment a whole year A torment more cruel then that of Tantalus But these eight dayes since I have found the Heavens more favourable to me Charite is come to dwell here where I hope to find greater means to acquaint her with my flames The Shepherdesses doe oftentimes retire into the groves where the Shepherds may entertain them and yet no envious eye shall discover it as it falls out in Cities where a man is spied and suspected by every one To prosecute therefore my Love with more liberty I have put on this habit which I had wish'd long before and am resolved to pass away my dayes near those fair Rivers with this little Flock But that I may not conceal any thing from thee and that I may be known to thee as to a Brother I tell thee what I would not every body and that is this that my own proper name is Lewis but I have quitted that to take some Shepherd-name I would have one that came somwhat near my own that so I might be always known and sometimes I had a mind to be called Lodovick sometimes Lysidor but in the end I have not found any name more fit then Lysis a name that sounds somwhat I know not what that is amorous and gentle As for Charite not to dissemble her true name is Catherine I heard her so call'd but yesterday by a Nymph But thou knowest the artifice of Lovers We say Francina instead of Francis Diana instead of Anne Hyanthe instead of Jane Helene instead of Magdalene Armida instead of Mary Eliza instead of Elizabeth These old names sound far better then the new in the mouths of the Poets So after I had taken asunder this name of Catherine for to compose another out of it I found by way of Anagram that of Chariteé and there wants only an n but all the letters
Sonnet Roundelay or a Madrigal handsomly sung But it may be thou art of the number of those insensible ones who despise Love and the Moses Can I say thou art happy if thou art of that humour Yes I may for thou art not therefore exposed as I am to the charms of a cruel Deity Alas tell me dost not thou know the fair Charite No indeed answers the Shepherd I do not know those people you name to me What thou hast not seen her then replies Lysis Not that Charite that can no more hide her self then the Sun No no it is apparent For if thou hadst once met her thou wouldst not have been any longer insensible Avoid her still that thou mayst continue happy She is at the present at St. Cloud where with her looks she commits murthers she takes men and chains them up puts them on the rack and plucks their hearts out of their breasts without ever opening them she doth not feed on any thing but Hearts and carrouses in nothing but Tears Alas said the Shepherd making the sign of the Cross it seems you speak to me of a Witch She may well be a Witch answers Lysis seeing one gesture or one word of hers charms all that is near her All those that have seen her languish for her she bewitches the Flocks the Dogs the Wolves nay even the Rocks which she makes follow her the Plants doe not escape her and it is only she that causes the buds of the Roses to shoot forth and afterwards causes them to wither away through the same heat that produced them Ah! how shall I have a care not to appear before her said the Shepherd for I am not such a one as the most part of the Citizens of Paris take me to be They think I am a Wizard as all those Shepherds are that live far hence for I should not have the power to defend my self from the wicked woman you talk of I doe not know how they make Characters I cannot save my self any way but by flight Stupid fellow replies Lysis dost thou think to avoid what all the world must suffer This great Universe which thou seest will not be ruin'd but by Charite Thou knowest how that in the time of Deucalion all the Earth was overwhelmed with water there must shortly happen another end that shall be quite contrary all must be destroyed by fire and this Charite is born to turn all to ashes What! thou wonderest at what I say How knowest thou not that I who am but her slave have so much fire within my breast that with one sigh I could burn up all this grass and that besides that I could drown all this Country by a deluge that should issue out of my eyes were it not that the heat is more predominant in me The Shepherd who saw that Lysis animated his discourse with a serious manner of speaking gave credit to all these miracles and though he was as much confounded as if he had already seen the end of the world yet had he the courage to ask him who he was I am a body without a soul answers Lysis I doe not live since I have seen Charite and shall not rise again untill her favours shall oblige me thereto Thou to whom I have the first of any communicated my secrets go and acquaint the Shepherds of thy village to make their vows and offerings to my Enchantress to the end that if she will doe them no good she may doe them no hurt Farewell friend and make thy profit of my admonitions Having said so he quitted the Shepherd who was so much astonished both at the fashion of the man and his discourse that he certainly believed that it was a spirit had appeared to him and he thought it very long that the time of departing was not come that he might go and communicate this strange news to all of his acquaintance Lysis pursuing his way came somewhat near the side of a Mountain where caling to mind that in the Books he had read the Shepherds did interrogate the Eccho in such places as that his resolution was to imitate them and to consult that Oracle which he thought as infallible as that of Delphos Languishing Nymph sayes he with a shrill voice I have erewhiles discovered my torment to all these desarts hast thou heard it There was presently an Eccho that answered heard it He was so ravished to hear that voice that he continued in this manner What shall I doe for to asswage my misery tell me seeing I have already related my chance The Eccho answered dance Sing then or whistle or play on the Tabor if thou wilt have me dance replies the Shepherd but let us not fall out friendly Nymph How is it that I must take my Mistress that my flames may be slaked Eccho naked What shall I doe if I see one of her breasts uncovered shall I touch it seeing haply she will be angry if I undertake it Eccho take it That I take it that 's very well spoken I will go and see her immediately that my pain may find some allay Eccho away Farewell then my Faithfull one till the next time I 'll go seek Charite where she doth stay Eccho stay Why so thou bidst me be gone and that I should find comfort readily Eccho I ly I think thou art a fool thou assuredst me but now I happiness should ken Eccho when Just now sycophant hast thou forgotten and dost not think Charite's heart and mine the same chain must undergo Eccho No. Thou prophesiest false my Mistress shall give thee the lye and make a fool of thee Eccho of thee Of me I believe not what she will disdain me for such mishaps tell me some remedy Eccho dy What kind of death shall I choose there being no succour if her goodness doth not accord Eccho A cord Ah cruel one thou art deceived or haply thou wouldst speak of the cord of Cupids bow that will send me an arrow will make me dye an easie death Is not that thy meaning Eccho No no I mean a halter to hang thee This answer which was very lively extreamly surprised Lysis Ha! what pleasant Eccho is this says he she repeats not my last syllables but says others As he had spoken these words Anselme came from behind a long wall where he had lurk'd and presented himself to him 'T was he that had all the time playd the Eccho but he did not discover any thing at all to him though the other did somewhat suspect him and question'd him divers times So that Lysis who was perswasible to any thing told him that if it were not he that had answered him he had found a place where the Eccho shewed her self very merry and that in all the Books of Pastorals he had never read of her ever being in such a good humour I do not know says he whence it comes she nothing but jeers now Is there not some impatience troubles her Is she
had just left him having commended him to his good Genius to conduct him to the Elysian fields but that he believed not his children had retain'd her though it had been always his desire she should have been entertained by them Mercury being somewhat troubled at this bethought him it was most likely Vertue was among those who taught her precepts to others And so he went into an University among the Philosophers but there he found nothing but Vociferation Pride Doubt and Vanity He walkt all up and down and at length entring into the Library he perceives the Goddess he look'd for seated among the Books Having ask'd her what she did there she told him she had no other abode and that though many came thither to seek her yet they never carried her away with them when they had found her Mercury told her that he came to invite her to supper in the Palace of Olympus whereat she was very joyfull for she had long since wish'd to quit the earth as well as Justice He thereupon ask'd her where he might find the other Deities he look'd for and whether Fame and Honour ever came into her company No sayes she go seek those that drink lustily and those that are great Gamesters or that are excessively expensive there you have them As for Peace she is only among those that have nothing and Victory among those that can best deceive Mercury having had this intelligence went presently to seek for those Deities who all promis'd him to come to the Banquet except Fame who excus'd her self saying That it was not for her that Ambrosia was made and that she fed on nothing but Wind. Mercury observing she had a hundred Mouths bethought him it was well done of her not to come to Jupiter's Palace seeing she must have brought Famine along with her and that Juno would not have bidden her very welcome taking her rather for a Monster then a Goddess After that the Ambassador found Aurora in a Wood where she sought a Huntsman whom she was in love with Having done his Message to her he returned to the palace of Mount Olympus to see what they did there As for the Gods which were fellow-Commoners at his Fathers table he invited them not the Ceremony as to them was needless He found them all employed in the preparations of the Banquet and divers others who were oblig'd to some attendance to their great King were already come Vulcan who is accustomed to be near the Fire had the charge of head-Cook and was assisted by the Cyclopes whom he had brought with him He was a pleasant spectacle in his Green Wastcoat his White Apron and Black Night-cap coming down over his ears The first Mess they prepar'd was Ambrosia which they disguised infinite ways because that food which was very common among the Gods was not of any delicacy when dress'd after the usual manner Vulcan made some into Broth stew'd some fry'd some and some he dress'd hotch-potch wise and some he disposed like Oat-Cakes But all that being no great matter he represented to Jupiter that seeing he was resolved to make a solemn BANQUET there must be other meats Jupiter having given him commission to take what order he pleas'd he caus'd Plato to be call'd and some other Philosophers whom he had purposely sent for out of the Elizian Fields He commanded them to assist him and to make appear they were not altogether unprofitable in the world as they had been often reproach'd Plato was charg'd to make ready his Ideas which must needs be very delicate food for Divine Palates and another Philosopher whose Tenent had ever been that souls were Corporeal received order to take the souls of such beasts as dyed and especially of those which were sacrificed and roast them on broaches or make Minâ—'d-Pies of them This is the most solid nourishment of the Gods and they are obliged to Vulcan whose invention was the cause they were not lost Yet Pythagoras who was only task'd with making the Sauces came all in a fume to Vulcan and told him in maintenance of his own Doctrine that he was to blame and that those poor souls which he caus'd to be massacred had sometimes lodg'd in humane bodies and that they ought to return thither again and that the Gods desired not to make their food of the souls of men But it was to much purpose that he cryed out the other Philosophers rush'd into the Kitching telling him that though they were the souls of men which they made ready yet they should think themselves very happy to become the nourishment of the bodies of the Gods and to be made a part thereof Notwithstanding all this when he saw the neck of some Pullet struck off he cryed out as loud as if his own throat had been Cut. Besides he did nothing but disturb the Cocks being desirous to beat his Numbers into their heads He taught them that there ought to be ten peeces in every fryed Mess that so it might not be without harmony and that it might have all its conveniences and proportions and if they dressed any Ambrosia he instructed them to dispose it into three Messes affirming that that number was the measure of all things and that the Gods delighted in an uneaven number Vulcan who understood nothing of all this Philosophy took the Ladle out of one of the Kettles and striking him therewith with as much fury and good will as if it had been a dog that had eaten a shoulder of Mutton bid him not interrupt him any further and go and make use of his Arithmetick in the Hall to see if there were that number of Trenchers and Chairs that should be That which had angred this Master-cook the more was that in making towards him he had with his crooked Leg overturn'd a Mess of Ambrosia which had been put on the hearth to be kept warm so that he repented him he had not made Minc'd-meat of that Philosopher as he had done of the souls of Beasts When his anger was past considering that all that was prepared was not too much for so great an Assembly of Gods he found the means to dress them another most excellent Service but he must first propose it to Jupiter without whose permission nothing could be done He went therefore and told him that among the Celestial bodies there were many living creatures which did not any good there and that there would never fall out a better opportunity to eat them then now Jupiter would not consent so that Vulcan was fain to speak to him to this effect May it please your Majesty It is a long time since you have made any Entertainments and they say no feast like that of a Misers It is to no credit to be at the expence of a small matter Mortalls will not bear you that reverence they do if they come to know you keep not better chear then they Do you not observe how they kill the Beasts they have on
to the custom of this Country Amarillis was very well content with this judgement so that presently the sacred Plate was sent for which was kept among the treasure of the Castle Those which were present spoke of it as a thing that were really so and affirmed that none but chaste persons could tread on it without burning the soles of their feet There was one of the maids would needs go for it but Orontes said to her Trouble not thou thy self I prethee in this business thou knowst too much distimulation I will not be accountable for thee Know that those who are but guilty of the least matter that can be dare not touch this Plate It must be only sent for by little children of whose chastity we are assur'd Let the Gardeners two daughters bring it whereupon the two little children were led where hung the brass Plate whereon the maids dry'd the bands when they starched they brought it away and plac'd it in the middle of the Court Amarillis thought all these things real for she had observed such an other adventure in the Aethiopian history and if they would try her by fire she call'd to minde a certain Melite whereof there is mention made in the Loves of Clitophon and Leucippus who was put to the tryal of water While she was stripping her self for to go upon the Plate a sturdy Groom making as if he were curious touch'd it with the top of his finger But he drew back presently crying out I burn I burn my hand is roasted Thou art well enough served prophane Rascal sayes Orontes thou wouldst not believe a thing that so many others have tryed Couldst thou forget that thou hadst pass'd all thy youth in Bawdy-houses And yet dost thou pretend to Chastity after all Amarillis observing this adventure fell into some amazement and being ready to tread upon the Plate she was a little afraid of burning As for Amarillis sayes she in her self I am sure she is chast but as for Lysis I am not so certain however my feet shall not be burn'd for it is in body and externally that I am Amarillis and am not Lysis but in soul seeing a Magician hath changed my Figure Having by this subtility reassur'd her self she recovers her courage having before examined her whole life past and considered that if the Shepherd Lysis had sinn'd it had been only by desire and that he had never committed folly with any of his members It being at last resolved that Lysis and Amarillis were as clear as when they were born the accused party went bare foot upon the Plate and remained on it a long while without feeling any heat nor indeed was there any reason it should be hot for it was above two days since there had been any fire under it Some that were present cry'd out thereupon Come thence Amarillis you are chast we are satisfied you have been too much persecuted O Amarillis the Queen of fair and chast ones what light you cast from that place There is no other fire on that Plate but that of your eyes She came down infinitely pleas'd at these Exclamations but Orontes crying out louder then any of the rest came and said That this proof was not to be credited and that it was not true as to her particular Amarillis is a Sorceress I know it well enough she hath some charms to save her from burning Let her be strip'd naked that her characters may be taken from her and then let her be condemned to the fire or be cast into the River with a millstone at her neck Thereupon Leonora bid them see whether she had any Witch-craft about her which command given all the Lacquays that were there fell upon her One took away her coif another her wastcoat but she immediately cover'd her head with her apron that her hair might not be seen which was too short to be a maids Clarimond upon this issuing out of a place where he lay hid came and delivered her out of the hands of those merciless ministers of justice and having carried her into a corner where she might fit her cloathes about her went and cast himself on his knees before the Judges Have pitty on an innocent creature Madam sayes he to Leonora if it be your design to put her to death because you thirst after her blood let me be in her stead and let mine be spilt for her I am so surpris'd with her beauties that I am willing to dye for her You say she hath charms about her it is true she hath those of her eyes that have no other operation but on me and that to hurt me and if she have any other besides to save her from the burning of the sacred Plate I confess it is I that have given them her unknown to her It is I that am the Sorcerer t is I that am guilty let there be made ready a pile of faggots that I may be cast into the fire I shall suffer no more then what I do every day the fire I shall be cast in will not be more ardent then that of the fair eyes of Amarillis If you alledge she is not only guilty of Witchcraft but also of Fornication for which she is nevertheless worthy to dye I will also suffer the punishment for her in that case so she may live nay you shall give me a thousand deaths if you desire it You understand not your self friend replyes Leonora know you not that all crimes are personal and that they who have committed them are onely to be punish'd If you are so desirous to dye you shall both dye together Make haste there and bring some faggots and set them afire Leonora had no sooner pronounc'd that cruel sentence but abundance of Crackers were fired at the gate and Hircan issues out of a flame of Pitch and Rosin like a Ghost in a Play He held in his hand a lighted Torch that made a great smoak and the better to act the part of a Magician he had a long Cassock of black Canvas The whole presence seem'd to be much troubled at his coming and every one ran his way so that it was easie for him to seize on Amarillis whom when he had disposed into a Coach that waited at the gate Fear not fair Shepherd says he to her I am thy friend Hircan who am come to succour thee in thy necessity Those who had design'd thee to death may now seek after thee to little purpose My Chariot is drawn by horses wing'd like Gryphons who in a short time will bring us to my house The adventures past had so surpris'd Amarillis that she knew not where she was but at length coming to her self and knowing Hircan she thank'd him for the favour he had done her She told him that he should have brought Clarimond also away with him because that he being detained as her surety they would put him to death for her Do not trouble your self for that says Hircan
somwhat that were good Certainly for this humour it was happy enough and by this he lets us understand why a Love-Letter was call'd a Pullet a thing which many that use the word wholly understand not Clarimond therefore having admir'd his invention he was content to believe it would find no less esteem with his Mistress and that there was no hardness of heart whatever that this could not soften Nay the agitations of his passions were such that he was in a strong belief that Charite would immediately command him to attend her nay he did not stick to say that if he were to pass the Sea like Leander to see his Hero he would do it cheerfully But Clarimond envying him this enjoyment and desirous to affront the fable said That the poor Leander must needs be too cold after having pass'd an arm of the Sea as he did every time to enjoy his Mistress and that he must be a lusty man indeed if after all that he were rampant and that it had been better to have hired some Barge to pass from one shore to another or else to have steer'd it himself and that for his part he knew no reason why he might not hide himself all day in some obscure house somewhere neer the lodgings of his fair Hero that he might save so much trouble and be the fitter to visit her at night Lysis replyed that assuredly that Lover wanted not his hinderances to all this and that though the story was not the most probable in the world yet was it not to be mistrusted as to the truth of it being reported by so many good Authors Lysis was not willing to enlarge himself in this discourse because he was at this time more imployd about bringing to pass his own loves then to consider by what means others enjoy'd theirs Nay so impatient was he that he left Clarimond to seal his Letter and in all haste call'd Carmelin to go carry it to Charite But Carmelin was so sound asleep that he had much ado to make him wake Thou lazie fellow quoth he hast thou a mind to bury both body and soul in these fathers Seest thou not that the Sun begins to scatter his beams upon the vaults of heaven He is now a gilding of the Mountain-tops and it will not be long ere he kiss the lowest herbs Yea the Husband-men withdraw out of the bosoms of their wives where they had slept as on a pillow and the Birds warble out their acclamations to welcome the Day Carmelin being forc'd to awake saw that indeed it was break of day so that Lysis gave him his Letter with commands to carry it to his Mistress He rubbing his eyes which by this time were half open beseech'd him to tell him what kinde of woman she was and where he might finde her If thou seest her says Lysis thou wilt know her well enough she is a Sun that enlightens all the world and cannot suffer any ecclypse Then sayes Carmelin you write to the Sun for ought I know as I am an honest man you must finde another Messenger for my part I cannot flie so high would you would send it post by some bird Thou understandst not answers Lysis or at least wilt not understand I speak of the Shepherdess Charite that dwells in the Castle of Orontes any body will tell thee the way Clarimond being in bed heard all this discourse and call'd Lysis to him telling him that he did ill for to send Carmelin to carry a Love-Letter to his Mistress and that possibly he might be beaten by the way I can help all this answers Lysis I have sometimes read a Bood called The Temple of Venus where there are many curious secrets for concealing of Letters among others that of sending them by Doves that will carry them But it were too much for me to descend to the imitation of any for upon better thoughts I finde that I have another design much better The Chicken that run about Orontes's house will now and then get out into the street I will tie my Letter to one of their legs and it shall carry it into the house where Charite may receive it It is an excellent invention says Clarimond but methinks Charite should have notice beforehand And if you could make such an address to her you might deliver her your Letter without making use of such an artifice which for the present is not at all necessary But says he I know another invention better then this Your Shepherdess you are to note is a little sweet-lipp'd when she is at Paris she is ever eating of Penny-pyes you had best entreat a Pye-woman to put it into one of her Pyes and there she 'll be sure to find it We are not now in the City replies Lysis and possibly she hath chang'd her custom besides that such Pullets as mine use not to be put in Paste You are very much in the right on 't Master says Carmelin for possibly she may be so hungry that she may eat crust flesh and paper all at a bit for I think a Love-Letter may be very good meat so that there be verjuice enough to it Love take my soul says Lysis that had a mind to swear after the new fashion this is the best Droll in the world I see Carmelin thou art a pleasant fellow and I well understand thou wilt make my time shorter and less tedious to me But hear me in all thy jests be as carefull to touch my Mistress as thou wouldst a Deity I am content says Carmelin and for your Letter you need not trouble your brain to Philosophize upon any of these rare secrets assure your self I 'll find means enough to deliver it to Madam Charite This very business shall discover my ingenuity unto you But 't is necessary that I be first convinced she is a person of honor I am directed to and that all your addresses to her are for no other end then marriage and that in the face of the Church otherwise you must finde some other to carry it for I am as tender of my reputation as the apple of my eye I must answer sayes Clarimond in this for your Master that he doth not send you to be his Pimp but on a just and an honest errand It costs not so much to call any thing by an honorable name but since you are so subtil do your duty Lysis and Carmelin left Clarimond for our Shepherd would needs set his man a little on his way He caus'd the sheep to be brought out of the fold but wanting a Sheephook he was not a little discontented yet had he no mind to send to Montenors for his own But because he could not endure to be without one he fell upon this pretty imagination he found a long painted staff which he thought fit for his purpose and having taken a card he tyed it with a thread to the head of it Now as Good-luck would have it it fell out to
that being fortified with coldness his sighs could not enflame me But to remedy this he goes into a certain Temple of Love that was near his own abode The Priests of the place had in their custody a certain fire that was so powerful that nothing could stand against it This devout Pilgrim made so many prayers to the Divinity of the place that at length he merited so far as that he obtained a little beam of that flame which he made fast in a box of Diamond He came to see me with this treasure and finding me in a Wood tired out with hunting and sitting on a pile of faggots he cast his fire on me believing he should warm me in spight of my teeth And indeed the truth is the heat was but too violent for I presently began to melt and as I was nothing but ice before I was turn'd into water and water'd all the fields about The Gods touch'd with my disaster ordain'd I should thenceforth be a Fountain as I am still But now that I am an immortal Nymph I am dispenc'd of that vow I had made when I was a mortal maid and I am not oblig'd to chastity any further then I will my self So that the Magician Hircan being in love with me I have suffered my self to be overcome by his charms and have liv'd with him a certain time fully and honorably But having left him to day and taken my own liberty I may henceforward be married to Lysis if so be he will consent thereto And though my waters are far from this Countrey yet I will bring them into this place for to water the root of his fair tree Here Synopa broke off as if modesty and love had hindred the passage of her voice All admired the discourses she had entertain'd them withall but there needed not that admiration for she had suited them to certain Fables which she had read Lysis was ravish'd to hear her and thought all very well but the Marriage she had mentioned for having kist Lucida last the kiss remained still on his lips and had made him forget hers Somwhat there was I know not what that he could not affect Synopa as much as this Lucida towards whom he ever directed his eyes Nor did he stick a little after to speak to her quitting the other and earnestly entreated her to relate her story which however must only pass for a fable The Fable of the Fountain Lucida SEing you are desirous to have the relation of my fortune says Lucida know that I am daughter to a Lord of this Country and that since I was fifteen years of age I fell in love with one of his Gentlemen He was so beautifull that he had never seen his like but in a glass His hair was curled like a Holland Water-Spaniel and his countenance had as much vermilion as a Rose of Provence All he did was with such a grace that if he playd on the Lute I took him for Apollo the younger and if he shot with a bow I took him for Cupid the elder for his beard was already sprouted out His attractions were so powerfull over me that being one day neer a Table which was very dusty with my finger I writ thereon that Lucida was dying for him But the Gallant regarded it not and having sworn to me that he could not love me it was such an affliction to me that I sickned on 't and kept my bed The Love-feaver took me so violently that I did nothing but drink night and day so that my disease turn'd to a Dropsie and I became as big as a Ton. All the Physitians in the Country that visited me were at a loss of their Latine but when they had all given me over there was a knowing Chymist made me take an excellent powder That made me piss so much that there issued out of my body great brooks and then it was that the Gods bethought them to change me into a Fountain I do still piss at certain times into the Cistern of my source that it may not dry up and so I shall piss to the end of the world and yet shall never be empty I find no difficulty in this Metamorphosis says Lysis for your body continues in the same being as to its form but not as to its nature which is become immortal and as concerning your Urine it hath only been chang'd to Fountain-water But when I consider the adventure of Synopa I cannot so easily understand it For she says that being all Ice the fire dissolved her If it be so how is it that she hath a body still Yet we see it is so and the Gods not having discover'd the secret to her no more then they let children know what way they have been formed in their mothers belly the poor Nymph hath given us no account of it But I 'll explain it to her The reason is because the Gods when they have metamorphos'd a humane body into a Fountain dispose the soul into another body which is composed of aquatick vapours There was never any Poet nor other that hath commented on any of them ever imagin'd this though they attribute bodies to the Deities of the waters and this is the reason they have left us in so much ambiguity Nor may I be afraid to boast that I am guilty of as learned considerations that if a God came now down on earth I should not court him for excellent imaginations I am very much oblig'd to you for so excellent an instruction says Sinopa in recompence whereof seeing you cannot see my abode be pleased to see Lucida's That shall be when ever you are disposed replies Lysis Let 's go presently says Lucida it 's very good being there I 'll shew you the way Having said so they all rise up and having cross'd certain meadows and thickets this noble Company came to a Brook which ran between two vallies The God of the River and the Nymphs having taken up their coats went into the water which came up to half the leg and Lysis was obliged to do as much He sometimes complain'd that he was forced to go in that manner but Lucida who led him excus'd his want of courage saying that he who was not a God of a Fountain was not accustomed to walk in the water as they were and to comfort him she ever assur'd him that it was not far to her grot At length they came to a high stony eminencie where was the source of the fountain The earth was very hollow in divers places so that Lucida easily perswaded Lysis that there was her abode Then she takes up her coats a little higher then they were before and piss'd so loud that he heard it O fair aquatick Nymph cries he out stay your self I beseech you I see proofs enough of what you have told me it is certain this Brook hath no other recruit but what you piss but if you shut not your cock I shall be afraid of a
will laugh also if I desire any favour it will be as soon obtain'd as desired if I give my Nymph any thing there will be nothing at all lost for I shall give all to my self if I bestow my endeavors to preserve her I shall preserve my self with her I shall not fear she will betray me for she will never be guilty of any thoughts which I shall not know and jealousie which possesses so many Lovers will exercise no tyranny over me I see many others much troubled that they have Rivals but for me to have any I shall account it a huge pleasure so nothing being able to bring me any discontent in my love I shall ever live fully satisfied And if it be objected that I trangress the ordinary Laws of men I will say that the fairest bird of natures making which is the Phoenix is content to love himself and seeks no further object for his affection After this discourse I paus'd a good while and as I was busied in viewing my own fair countenance Zenocritus comes and askes me Whether I had not sufficiently seen my Mistress and if I would not return to his house I am fully satisfied as to her sight said I to him but I would also have been glad to have heard her speak I have not yet been able to make her break her silence Ask her somewhat saies he no doubt but she 'll answer you I had the curiosity to try his skill so turning towards the water Fair Nymph said I may I be assur'd that you will have a memory for the most perfect Lover that lives Then I heard a feeble voice which seem'd to come from a league off me which said to me Assure thy self that the same arrow as hath wounded thy heart hath wounded mine also I was so astonish'd at this that I became as insensible as a stock Zenocritus put the vail again over my head and assuring me that his charm was at an end he led me back to his house I not saying any thing in the world to him I could not come certainly to know whether it were a Nymph I had seen or my own representation only the cloathes I had on made me suspect the cheat but withal the voyce I had heard made me believe there might be somewhat more in it Being in the dark chamber of Zenocritus he took off my maids cloathes and put on mans but though I perceiv'd all this yet had I not the courage to accuse him of imposture My comfort was that however he had given me some satisfaction by teaching me the invention of loving my self so that as I parted from his house to return to my own I gave him a Diamond for his recompence The very same day I spoke of him to a Gentleman a friend of mine who assur'd me he was the greatest cheat in the world and among other subtil tricks he had that of making a voyce proceed from the bottom of his stomack having his mouth shut as if it had been another person at some distance from him had spoken and that by this means he had abus'd many answering them to what they desir'd as if he had been a spirit or some departed soul I remembred I had heard say that in ancient time there were prophetesses that spoke through the belly so that I easily believ'd Zenocritus had the same power Yet thinking ever on the pleasure he had done me I would not wish him any hurt and forgetting the imaginary beauty of the Nayad which I had not clearly seen I admir'd none but my own I had at this time neither father nor mother but liv'd at my own liberty I caus'd womens cloathes to be made me which I ordinarily wore and being lockt up into my chamber where there was a looking-glass four foot high and three broad I view'd my self from head to foot I was quite ravish'd in that contemplation though all my happiness consisted in the superficies of a glass and I wish'd my eyes had been dispos'd into some other part then my face that I might have view'd that in its natural Yet my faithful ice representing it to the life to me I caus'd the Idea of those beauties to pass into my heart where it was preserv'd And thus was I surpris'd by an extraordinary love and if you have observ'd the adventure that gave it its beginning you will conclude that he that first presum'd to say there were Nayads had seen some that were suppris'd as I was That may very well be saies Philiris some Poet had had a glimpse of a maid in a River or else some Ideot seeing himself in the water had believed his own image was another Nymph As for your part I believe your design was to renew the fable of Narcissus but yet you have done nothing so simply as he if you knew not your self when you first beheld your self and if you took the figure you saw for a Nymph 't was because you had chang'd your cloathes but Narcissus who had no other then his ordinary cloathes took his own representation for some fair Goddess If that were true I should say that the yong man were turned fool but that being false I must say that the Poet who invented it had no judgement For put the case that Looking-glasses were not in use in the Country of Narcissus and that in his mothers house there were not neither skillets nor basins in the bottoms whereof he might have seen him self could he that was a Hunts-man and had much acquaintance with the fields be without ever beholding himself in a Fountain Had he lived to the age of sixteen and never met any And if he had met with any as it must be necessarily conceived why should he behold his own face as a new thing and imagine there were a Nymph under the water why had he not rather committed this simplicity at eight years of age then it might have been excused By this it is easie to see that for to make the adventure probable it should have been accommodated like that of the Shepherd Fontenay I do not grant you that replies Lysis for in the first place I will not have any thing reformed as to what hath been anciently believed concerning Narcissus because it may have hapned that he loved himself after one manner and Fontenay after another The lives of all men are different and consequently their Histories are so much the more delightful As concerning the Nayads though Zenocritus have deceived this gentle Shepherd and hath made him see his own image in the water instead of a Nymph it does not thence follow that there are none The fair one he had seen the night before was one indeed and I make no question but he knew her well enough since Wherefore let him continue his History and we shall see what were the end of his loves I have acquainted you erewhiles replies Fontenay that it was in my infancy that I believed there were Nayads
look'd towards a corner of the Cellar which he had not observ'd before he there perceives a great Bug-bear that had the head of a Wolf and a body like that of a Crocodile It was a good while ere he durst come near it but seeing that the Monster stirr'd not he presum'd to give it a blow with his sword Carmelin cast at it a piece of his armor that he found so that the Engine began to shake it being fastned on one foot and consequently easily moved The motion of it put our two Warriors into such a fear that they thought it liv'd and yet Lysis was so couragious that he laid on still till such time as he had brought it to the ground and made it immoveable His charges were so home that the body of the Monster which was but of rotten Canvas burst in divers places whereat came out moss hay foul paper and rags which Lysis was so amaz'd at that he cry'd out See here Carmelin what lewd entrals come out of the body of this hideous beast methinks we are poisoned with them On my soul they are nothing but rags says Carmelin do you not see them Thou art in the right saies Lysis but that is it makes me wonder the more when I consider that Spirits have sometimes animated this Engine stuffed with filth for to deceive men It may also well be that this was a true Dragon but that all these tatters come out of its body as we see bewitched people vomit coals pieces of glass inkhorns and such trumpery Honest Lysander assures us it is so in his history which the gentle D' Audiguier hath composed There came such things out of his body when he was dres'd by charms of some wounds he had receiv'd in a Combat While the two Champions were viewing the hideous body of the Monster a sad voyce comes to their ears shall I never be delivered out of the captivity wherein I am saies it when will the most illustrious valour in the world be employ'd for my relief Lysis presently conceiv'd it was Pamphilia spoke and pittying her misery he with his foot made at a little door which seemed to be that of the prison It opened presently and in a little Cellar he found a desolate Maid whom he took for Meliantes's Mistress 'T was a youth disguis'd for that purpose who could act his part very well He cast himself at Lysis's feet assoon as he saw him and embracing his knees call'd him her deliverer Lysis made the fair Lady rise and taking her by the hand bid Carmelin take a candle to light them out of the darkness of the Prison Pamphilia made as if she trembled as she went so that Lysis for her greater confidence told her that he had kill'd all her Jaylors and that she need not fear to fall into their hands any more As they went through low rooms and stumbled against some houshold-stuff that lay in their way Hircan disguis'd as before appear'd again and with the same voyce said to them Follow me incomparable Heroes I will bring you hence safely Having so said he led them to the Coach whereinto also enter'd the fair Pamphilia he afterwards made fast the boots with chains and being return'd to his companions they all put on their ordinary cloathes got on horseback and returned with him to his Castle where they presently went to bed to rest themselves a little In the mean time Hircans Coachman having kept the Adventurers three or four hours in the Coach put the horses into it and brought them to his Masters according to the command he had receiv'd When the coach mov'd not from the place Lysis thought still it went through the ayr and when it began to make a noise he then thought it was on firm ground and that it would not be long ere they came to Hircans house As indeed a little while after the boot being unchain'd and opened he found himself in a Court he was well enough acquainted with Carmelin being come out of the coach with him they helped out Pamphilia and led her to Hircans chamber who was a bed with Meliantes Welcome be the generous Heroes who have delivered Pamphilia out of prison cry'd out the Magician Rise Meliantes to give them thanks Upon that Meliantes put on a night gown and went and embrac'd them with a many complements He afterwards turn'd to Pamphilia whom he entertain'd with a many caresses and much Courtship She was no longer cruel to him since his past services and the care he had had of her deliverance out of captivity had softned her heart towards him Hircan in the mean time having put on his cloathes caus'd to be brought him two crowns of Lawrel whereof he put one on Lysis's head having taken away the head-piece and the other on Carmelins Think you I will be content with this hat says Carmelin it will keep off neither the cold nor the rain let me have my own which I left off to take a rotten head-piece It s a long time since I have been bare-headed Thy head is well enough covered for a Conqueror saies Hircan ask thy Master if the pictures of all Heroes are not as thine is now Let my picture be drawn all naked if you please but for my own true body I should have it cloath'd Cap-a-pea Lysis seeing that Carmelin would not hear of accommodating himself in an heroick manner as he was permitted he might have his hat which when he had he put the Lawrel-crown about it like a hat-band which look'd very prettily Philiris Polidor Fontenay and Clarimond upon this came into the room and made great acclamations of joy for the happy return of the valorous Shepherds Lysis was entreated to relate the divers fortunes he had run through who seeing they were all drest and expected the story began in this manner The MAGICAL Adventures of LYSIS YOu are then to know courteous Presence that our coach being parted hence we were nothing astonish'd while it went on firm ground but when it went through the air 't was then that I had a hard task to assure Carmelin for we heard the winds blowing the thunder whirling and the sea tossing up her waves even to the clouds But at last we were as quiet as if we would have repos'd our selves a little when there comes a sage old man who opening the boot led us into a mountain to recreate our selves where we staid sometime I am not certain whether we were in an Island or whether this Magician was Hircans friend whom he had spoken to us of But so it is that he brought us into a Grot which shin'd all over by the Diamonds and Carbuncles wherewith the walls were all cover'd over and having laid a white cloath on a black marble table there were served up ten or twelve dishes of meat whereon we fed till we were satisfied and we drank of such a delicate wine that I think Nectar is not more Carmelin was so ravished at it
there at an unseasonable hour she could not but speak these words to him Is it thus then Sir that you abuse my goodness Are you not content with the honourable Liberty which I have ever granted Does it not suffice you to speak to my daughter every day in my presence but you must bring her to this place As for her part I shall punish her impudence she must have a great deal of confidence to leave me to come hither at such time as I think her abed Where was it ever seen that Gentlewomen of quality have ever taken so much liberty Leonora was thus chiding both the one and the other and Angelica answered her already by her tears when Lysis who went all about looking for Charite in an extream affliction as thinking he had pulled off one of her hands came into that place where on the one side there was so much cholor and on the other so much amazement The first he perceived was Leonora whom his extravagance made him take for his Mistress so that he ran to her with his arms open and having embraced her said to her in a sad accent Pardon me the outrage I have done you my fairest there may be means to make all good again my friend Hircan can do any thing Who hath brought this fool hither again saies Leonora thrusting him from her is it you Anselme I believe you have brought him purposely from Paris to amuse me with his extravagances so that I might not heed your ill designes you are to blame for it and you have done what misbecomes the reputation which you have in the world Anselme desirous to appease this angry Mother spoke to her in these words I am yet ignorant Madam saies he of that wherein you should think I have committed so great a fault for I will swear to you that I have done nothing with Angelica which I should not before you all that you can say is that I have spoken with her at a time when you thought me far hence but can you find no excuse for that and will you not receive that true one which I shall give you I am so much a lover of solitary walking that in some melancholick thoughts I came thus far and finding the dore open came into the Garden your daughter being walking for coolness I could do no less then salute her and our first complements ended when you surprized us This is a fine tale to feed fools with saies Leonora I am not so light of belief Lysis hearing this discourse not without amazement perceiv'd Charite was not there and not desiring to be informed of the occasion of this debate he spoke thus Tell me quickly where my Mistress is and suffer me not to languish so long Alas I have pulled off one of her hands which I have here it must be sew'd to the arm again and the wound anointed with some Balsome that while it is yet green the flesh may knit again Make this fool hold his peace if you will Anselme saies Leonora I can no longer endure his impertinency he hath no other designe in it then to abuse me I was as ignorant Madam as your self of Lysis's being here replyes Anselme he comes from Hircans Castle and not from Montenors While Anselme discoursed thus Carmelin came and told his Master that he had no occasion to be troubled and that he thought he had heard Charite laugh so that it was to be conceived she had had no hurt But have I not her hand here replies Lysis I pray let me see it saies Carmelin Lysis gave it him to hold and Carmelin finding presently it was but a glove acquainted his Master with it who coming somewhat to himself began to see the truth he took back the glove with admiration and taking his servant aside see saies he there 's Anselme in the Bower he is with Angelica and questionless he had a designe to carry her away Thou maist infer from this I am not the only Lover that hath such intentions but take notice that Leonora is there too I took her erewhiles in the dark for Charite she is extreamly angry with Anselme all this have I observed though my mind was in an extraordinary agitation wherefore we were best begone lest we be taken as accesaries and be endicted as ravishers of young maids 't is true if things be taken as they should be I am not so much in fault as my Mistress for whereas I had only the designe to ravish her but have effected nothing she hath effectually ravished me and if I would have ravished her fair body she hath ravished my poor soul But these subtile reasons haply are not so easily understood therefore it 's best provide for our own safety I have already suffered for it Then Master let 's begone replies Carmelin you shall not need speak to me twice I have ever feared dangers Hereupon they took the same way they came without the notice of any body and when they had recovered Hircans Castle they both went to bed well satisfied for though Lysis had not brought away Charite as he intended yet was he glad he had not pulled off her hand as he imagined which made him resolve ever to preserve the glove he had gotten instead of it As for Carmelin his comfort was that he was not beaten because he imagined that enterprises such as he had engaged in were seldome attempted but at the hazard of the shoulders While they were going their waies Orontes having heard a noise in his Garden asked one of his Lacquays what the matter was he was loath to tell him that it was only a trick put upon Lysis but chose rather to tell him that Leonora was angry with her daughter The strangeness of that accident made him presently get up and putting on a night-Gown he came down into the Garden he first of all asked his sister in law what was the occasion of her crying out she in few words told him the cause of her disquiet I believe your complaints may be just said he to her but there are means to remedy all and thereupon taking Anselme by the hand he took him aside to tell him that if he loved Angelica he should openly acknowledge his pretentions to her and not make use of these amorous shifts as being not a little prejudicial to the reputation of young Ladies Anselme reply'd that if he thought Leonora did not slight him he should think himself much honoured to serve her daughter before all the world and that he could never dispose of himself into a better allyance Orontes being satisfied with this discourse went to appease Leonora assuring her that Anselmes intentions were honourable and that he had no other designe then to marry her daughter This she gave ear to knowing that Anselme was rich and that she could not meet with a better match She asked his pardon for having been so rough with him and told him that on the morrow they would
as well as the rest and that he would not have his men think themselves his fellows because he was neither waiting-man nor groom but might be rank'd among Gentlemen dependants as being received into an association of Shepherdry with Lysis This troubled the servants extreamly but for the present there was no further tumult Adrian and Pernella sate at Hircans Table and Fontenay who still plaid the discontented person After a short walk in the Garden Lysis and Carmelin were dismissed to bed and for Adrian and his wife they might when they pleas'd have done the like Adrian had all supper time observed whether Fontenay did not out of affection drink out of the same glass as Pernella or trod not on her foot to appoint the time He had all the while been in she like disquiets such was his jealousie and as they walked he was almost resolved to tye her to a lethern girdle he wore on his doublet lest any body might take her away from him Having therefore seen her a bed in the chamber assigned them he searcht under the bed and on the bed-stead nay under the very feather bed and mat behind it and in the chimney to see if some body were not hidden there Finding nothing he made fast the dore with a bar and besides put a Cupboard against it and yet he did not think himself safe enough as fearing there might be some body locked up in a great chest which was near the window who might force his wife for he was not only jealous of Fontenay but of all the other Shepherds At last finding the Chest emptie he laid himself by Pernella's side He was no sooner a bed but Fontenay who was resolved to make what sport he could with him comes to the dore and sings a Court-air with a languishing voice as if he had been ready to dye for love Hircan helped him with his Lute and a while after the other Shepherds and Amaryllis desirous to share in the sport made an excellent consort with them They sung all manner of songs and that in such abundance that Adrian and Pernella were almost stunn'd with the noise When they had given over Fontenay fetch'd three or four sighes and made this complaint Must then another be master of her whom I cannot be servant to Must another body enjoy my soul Ah my Fairest why do you slight me There is such a Nymph of Diana that loves me better then her Mistress There are those that run after me and offer me all that I offer you but I reserve my self for you alone If you will grant me nothing yet refuse not my heart which I present unto you Do me the favour to accept it and assure me only by one word of your mouth that you do it Let your fair lips whose motion is the rest of the ear neatly pronounce what they ought to say to me Though you lose nothing thereby yet I shall think my self a great gainer The Shepherd Fontenay uttered a many other amorous discourses and sometimes sung with the rest Adrian in the mean time swore he would be gone the next day though he left Lysis behind him and that he would sue for reparation for the affronts done him The more he spoke the greater noise did they make that it might encrease his madness that he was not heard This diversion having lasted above an hour the company of Musitians permitted him to sleep The good mans ears was so stunn'd that he thought he should be deaf as he had been before however these disquiets were not so great but they suffered him to take some rest Being gotten up the next day as he came down to see if there were anymeans to be gone Carmelin comes out of his masters chamber and told the other Shepherds that he was very sick Fontenay and his companions went thither immediately and Adrian with them but his wife was not with him for he had locked her in the chamber while she was a dressing A while after Hircan comes in and Lysis seeing all that company sate up in his bed and began this discourse The Gods have at length had compassion on me and delivered me out of Adrians tyrannie See they have sent me a sickness which I shall never recover He that having sometime been a tree ought to have hard flesh He who hath been invulnerable who hath quelled so many Monsters and he lastly who thought himself so reserved to restore the earth to its first felicitie behold he is beaten down by the first approaches of a feaver that have assaulted him Fear not that sayes Hircan be of good courage what ails you will you have any thing to breakfast I have an extreme head-ach replyes Lysis but I think that when I have drunk a little wine I shall be able to suffer my pain more patiently and more chearfully 'T was hereupon considered whether any wine should be given him for Adrian said that if it were a feaver it would encrease it but Hircan having felt his pulse said he had yet no feaver and that he might have what he desired Carmelin had wine ready in a little bottle he brought him a glass of it Lysis drank it off so hastily as if he avoided the tasting of it and when he had done he made such wry faces as if it had been physick and after that he continued his discourse thus My dear friends be not amazed that I have with some trouble taken down this wine though I gave it no long time to stay in my palate it is because it hath such a lewd taste that if all the drink in the world were such you would dye for thirst rather then taste any 'T is not but that the Territorie of Brie is favourable enough to the wines for the wines of this Country is in its nature good but it is because I have made it otherwise on purpose and having a design to dye I put in the last night a certain poison which I had carryed about me a long time to make use of as I have when any occasion should present it self And if you desire to know more particularly why I would at this present dispatch my self it is not only to avoid going to Paris with Adrian but also to obey the command of my Mistress When I asked her a while since what Laws I should observe under her Empire she answered me roughly I command you not to obey me any more I had much adoe to understand this command and therefore proposed the difficultie of it to Carmelin and Clarimond All I could gather from their answer was that I should not obey Charite in that command which charged me not to obey her and contradicted it self and that I was only to regard her former commands taking this to signifie nothing This subtle explication had some appearance of truth and I was satisfied with it for wantof a better But it being not in my power to speak with Charite to have one from her
goods will be confiscate You that are of his kindred will get neither profit nor eredit thereby All you have of Lysis's in your hands will be taken away and the children will point at you as they goe to school as being of near kin to one that was hanged You must therefore conceal the truth and give out that Lysis dyed a natural death These considerations â—â—silenced Adrian and his wife They had some part in Lysis's inheritance which would have fallen to them very seasonably for they had already two children one tabling abroad and the other at nurse and they were not over-rich As for Carmelin nothing could make him give over his complaints these and the like were alwayes his words I who have so faithfully assisted my master shall now be no more thought on He that hath laboured shall go without his reward and they that have done nothiug shall carry away all Who hath been with Lysis night and day Who hath fasted with him for companys sake when there was a necessitie Who hath broke his sleep to entertain him with love discourse Who made clean his cloaths Who told him fine tales Who taught him sentences taken out of the choicest Common-places Alas It was his faithful Carmelin Yet he shall inherit nothing of his Now he is dead he must be thrust out of dores like a Rogue Had he but made his Will I should have seen whether he had loved me me or no I should have been content with what he would have left me Must the next of kin whom he loved not at all and to avoid whom he is departed the world be his absolute heirs T is as much as the bestowing on the murtherer the goods of him he hath murthered Here are his freinds who pretend to be very sad for his death but they have not the fiftieth part of my affliction 'T is a good author hath taught me that if heirs have tears in their eyes they laugh in their hearts and as for that invention of Close Mourning at the burial it was out of a distrust they might not constantly observe the same sadness in their count-nance and that their joy might not be discovered at their eyes which would be a thing of ill example to the people Thus did Carmelin continue his complaints which I believe he had studied but Hircan told him that he would order things so that his services should not be forgoten and though his Master had ordered him neither wages nor consideration yet should he have what would satisfie him He bid him not trouble himself that his Master made no will for that would have been only a seminary of suits and Lysis's heirs would not have paid what had been bequeathed To give you an example of these inconveniences continues he a rich man making his will left all he had to a company of his fellow Citizens to dispose of it and to let his right heirs have what part thereof pleased them The heir suing the communitie the Judge told them Well if you are desirous to accomplish the Will of the Testator you must let this son have what pleaseth you What division will you make he shall have a tenth part and we will have the other nine replyed the company Take then the tenth part to your selves sayes the Judge and leave the rest to the heir for he is to have what part pleaseth you By this querck the lawful heir was restored to his right but all Judges have not such good judgments as this had so that it would be very doubtful pleading both for the Inheritors and Legataries What ever Lysis had left you Sir Carmelin Adrian would have gotten one half and the Law another What course shall I take then saies Carmelin were it not better be in hazard to get somewhat then to be assured of nothing What shall I stay for wretch that I am fortune never smiled on me in my life Do you wonder Fortune never smiled on you repsies Hircan did you ever see one smile upon the wheele Carmelin understood not this scoffe at the first but at length he remembred that that unconstant Goddess was represented on a wheele He prayed Hircan not to add to his affliction by deriding his misery and though Hircan knew he was not so sad as he pretended yet he swore to him that in case the heirs would give him nothing he would satisfie him out of his own About this time comes in a Lacquey from Anselme who said his Master was much troubled about Lysis having heard nothing from him since the last time he had seen him and that he was sent to know whether he had been so ill bred as to return without bidding him adiew or asking whether he would any thing to Paris My friend saies Hircan tell your Master that Lysis is just now departed this world The Lacquey would not have believed it had not Carmelin with a sad countenance confirmed it He therefore returned with this answer to his Master Anselme knew not whether it was only a trick put upon him or that it was true so that however it were he thought best to go immediately to Hircans At the outer gate he met Meliantes who acquainted him with the whole business To comply with the brave Shepherds that were there Anselme counterfeited the disconsolate as much as could be In the mean time Adrian and Pernella asked Hircan what he intended to do with the body and desired it might be buried and put into the ground He shall not be interred to day saies Hircan his fellow Shepherds will not permit it their Custom is to keep the bodies two daies at least and then wash them to see if they are quite dead for there are some who being only fallen into a lethargy have been thought dead and so buried they recovering again have died mad Besides that you are to know that the bodies of Illustrious Shepherds and Heroes such as your Cousin was are never intered that 's a thing was never seen Read all good Authors and you will find it was never done We think it a base thing to be thrust into the earth you cannot do worse with those that die as Malefactors is there any thing more ignominious then to rot and to be eaten of worms Is it not a despicable thing to be bestow'd into the grossest of all the Elements 't is better chuse the purest as a thing more noble and more desirable We persons of quality have our bodies burned after our death The fire which seems to aspire to the highest sphere seems tocarry thither with it our Reliques and that our bodies are conveyed to the Gods as well as our souls Lysis's body shall therefore be burn'd on a heap of fagots in the midst of my Court but there are some necessarie ceremonies to go before Hercules was burnt alive before he went to heaven is there any danger to burn a dead man the bodies of all the Caesars have been so Adrian who understood nothing
subject Clarimond here takes occasion to speak of Achilles's Buckler in relation to that of Aeneas for that agitation of mind whereinto the desire to calumniate had put him hath been the reason that being at a loss in his order he hath confounded many things He blames Homer for describing what was engraven in this Buckler because it should seem to make the History the more true but will he not acknowledge that if the Poet being to speak of the pleading of two Advocates and the fighting of two contrary Factions if he make the Reader as 't were hear their noise and see them march to do their necessary actions he does as good as say that the work was so perfect that by the only countenances of the persons that are seen therein it might be conceived they should say such and such things and by what they did then might be judged what they had done and what they should do Thus it appears Homer hath rather done a miracle in this case then committed any fault of judgement and for Virgil in the Buckler of Aeneas he deserves not to be censured for having graven in it the most remarkable things should happen to Rome It may be they were severed by divisions as Clarimond would have it but suppose they were not and that there had been but one City of Rome in the Buckler and that in one place there was represented the Bridg broken under Horatius Cocles and in another the Capitoll besieged and at some distance another thing though they were adventures should happen at several times the invention was by so much the more noble for this bearing the nature of a Prophecy things must have been confused to be conformable to the custome of the Divinities whose Oracles have ever somewhat of obscurity From hence Clarimond falls into frivolous reprehensions and is angry that Virgil should say that Vulcan forged a Thunder bolt for Jupiter consisting of three darts of rain and three of fire he believes not that Smiths can work in moist things but does he not perceive that this is spoken mysteriously and that Vulcan signifies that subtile air that is changed into fire in the upper region and violently breaking through what obstacles do environ it makes that noise which we call thunder causing at the same time the rain to fall out of those moist clouds which it hath burst asunder Thus do the Physicians hide their secrets under these fables and that Vulcan is Jack of-all-trades among the Gods 't is to shew that the operations both of Art and Nature are not effected without fire either corporal or spiritual which is the vehemence of the action or the diligence of the workmen Clarimond troubles himself also with trivial particularities as to know the true age of Ascanius and whether it was a golden bough that Aeneas found He quarrels too much with words and I think therefore deserves no answer He considers not the excellent phrase of Virgil nor the sweet fluency of his Verses which is so apparent that one that understands no Latine may perceive it He next sets upon Ovid and blames him so much against reason that he will never meet with any of his opinion He thinks it not well that he should speak of so many different Divinities as if he could possibly speak of any thing else in a time wherein he was bred up in idolatry As for his Metamorphoses they are not so extravagant as he would make them at least to make them appear so he should have quoted them but for his part he mentions only the opinion of Pythagoras of Metempsychosy If that Philosopher had never been Euphorbas 't was his fault that first set the story on foot not theirs that writ it since yet if a man would maintain he had said truth he might easily do it though it be held that Mercury made the souls drink the water of oblivion when they assum'd new bodies For it may be imagined that Pythagoras alone had the priviledg not to drink of it that he might tell others that he had been divers times in the world and that it was so with them all as who passed sometimes into the bodies of beasts that so they might abstain from all creatures that had any soul in them Clarimond endeavouring to bring Ovid quite into discredit hath not stuck to say that there is no order at all in his narrations He should have considered that Ovid is a Poet and not an Historian and that if he observed that order which Historians must not transgress his Metamorphoses had not been near so pleasant Poetry is an art full of fury whose ornament is variety and this is the reason that Ariosto for our greater diversion hath so interlaced his narrations Nor is Tasso to be blamed for quoting the ancient Divinities in his descriptions he were no Poet that should not use Poeticall figures And so I pass by all those Poets which may be vindicated in that one word and now I come to Ronsard whom Clarimond hath also presumed to quarrel with and reproach with a many things he hath said concerning the ancient Divinities and his design to imitate Homer and Virgil. I cannot put my self to the trouble to answer his impertinent reasons for they were so feeble that I did not regard them nor suffer them to make any impression on my mind I only remember that he blamed Presages and some other superstitions without which a man cannot speak naturally of any matter of Antiquity He also rejects the descriptions which have made Ronsard highly famous and esteemed for the discourses of a Poet should not be so severe as those of a Stoiâ—k Philosopher and sometimes for the diversion of the readers 't is haply necessary he should digress to the description of the noise of a Cart-wheel when it is overburthened or the cryes of birds of prey when they fight As for the sweetness of Ronsards verse it could have been no greater considering his time All the world confess that the honour of having opened the dore to the advancement of the French Tongue is due to him Another thing my adversary quarrels at in his Franciad is that all our History is thrust into it but is there any thing so clear as that Ronsard began to write in a Poetical stile so that there would have been no inequality in the piece though he had finished it And if Clarimond think it ill that Hyanta should relate things in such order as if she had read an effective story out of some book and if he think her expressions too clear for a Prophetess in a fury I will not condemn him because I said erewhile that Prophecies ought to be obscure for I maintain hers were such and my reasons shall be but what Clarimond hath said himself He saies that sometimes she spoke of the mysteries of Christian Religion which though we who understand them think a thing clear yet Francus could not possibly hear any thing more