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--and Hero the fair,

Whom young Apollo courted for her hair.

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Leland commends Guithera, King Arthur's wife, for a fair flaxen hair so Paulus Æmilius sets out Clodeveus that lovely King of France. Synesius holds every effeminate fellow or adulterer is fair hair'd: and Apuleius adds that Venus her self, Goddess of Love, cannot delight, " Though she come accompanied with the Graces, and all Cupid's train to attend upon her, girt with her own girdle, and smell of Cynamon and Bawm, yet if she be bald or bad hair'd, she cannot please her Vulcan. Which belike makes our Venetian Ladies at this day to counterfeit yellow hair so much, great women to calamistrate and curle it up, vibrantes ad gratiam crines, & tot orbibus in captivitatem flexos, to adorn their heads with spangles, pearls, and made flowers; and all Courtiers to effect a pleasing grace in this kinde. In a word, "The hairs are Cupid's nets, to catch all comers, a brushie wood, in which Cupid builds his nest, and under whose shadow all Loves a thousand several ways sport themselves.

A little soft hand, pretty little mouth, small, fine, long fingers,

"Gratia quæ digitis”—

'tis that which Apollo did admire in Daphne,

"laudat digitosq; manusque;"

a straight and slender body, as small foot, and well propor tioned leg, hath an excellent lustre, Cui totum incumbit corpus uti fundamento ædes. Clearchus vowed to his friend Amyander in § Aristinætus, that the most attractive part in his Mistriss, to make him love and like her first, was her pretty leg and foot: a soft and white skin, &c. have their peculiar graces, Nebula haud est mollior ac hujus cutis est, ædipol papillam bellulam. Though in men these parts are not so much respected; a grim Sarazan sometimes,

d

-"nudus membra Pyracmon,"

a Martiall hirsute face pleaseth best; a black man is a pearl in

In laudem calvi; splendida coma quisq; adulter est; allicit aurea coma. *Venus ipsa non placeret comis nudata, capite spoliata, si qualis ipsa Venus cum fuit virgo omni gratiarum choro stipata, & toto cupidinum populo concinnata, balthco suo cincta, cinnama fragrans, & balsama, si calva processerit, placere non potest Vulcano suo. +Arandus. Capilli retia Cupidinis, sylva cædua, in qua nidificat Cupido, sub cujus umbra amores mille modis se exerTheod. Prodromus Amor. lib. 1. § Epist. 72. Ubi pulchram tibiPlaut. Cas. a fair

cent.

am, bene compactum tenuemq; pedem vidi.

с

a fair woman's eye, and is as acceptable as lame Vulcan was to Venus; for he being a sweaty fuliginous blacksmith, was dearly beloved of her, when fair Apollo, nimble Mercury were rejected, and the rest of the sweet-fac'd gods forsaken. Many women (as Petronius observes) sordibus calent (as many men are more moved with kitchen wenches, and a poor market maid, then all these illustrious Court and City dames) will sooner dote upon a slave, a servant, a Dirtdawber, a Brontes, a Cooke, a Player, if they see his naked legs or arms, thorosaq; brachiat, &c. like that Huntsman Meleager in Philostratus, though he be all in rags, obscene and dirty, besmeared like a ruddleman, a gypsie, or a chimnysweeper, then upon a Noble Gallant, Nireus, Ephestion, Alcibiades, or those embroidered Courtiers full of silk and gold. Justine's wife, a Citizen of Rome, fell in love with Pylades a Player, and was ready to run mad for him, had not Galen himself helped her by chance. Faustina the Empress doted on a Fencer.

Not one of a thousand falls in love, but there is some peculiar part or other which pleaseth most, and inflames him above the rest. A company of young Philosophers on a time fell at variance, which part of a woman was most desirable and. pleased best? some said the forehead, some the teeth, some the eyes, cheeks, lips, neck, chin, &c. the controversie was referred to Lais of Corinth to decide; but she, smiling, said, they were a company of fools; for suppose they had her where they wished, what would they first seek? Yet this notwithstanding I do easily grant, neq; quis vestrum negaverit opinor, All parts are attractive, but especially the eys",

videt igne micantes,

Syderibus similes oculos")

which are Love's Fowlers; aucupium amoris, the shooing hornes, "the hooks of Love (as Arandus will), the guides, touchstone, Judges, that in a moment cure mad men, and make sound folks mad, the watchmen of the body; what do they not?" How vex they not? All this is true, and (which Atheneus lib. 13. dip. cap. 5. and Tatius hold) they are the

Galen:

Claudus optime rem agit. Fol. 5. Si servum viderint, aut flatorem altius cinctum, aut pulvere perfusum, aut histrionem in scenam traductum, &c. +Me pulcra fateor carere forma, verum luculenta nostra est. Petronius Catal. de Priapo. Calcagninus Apologis, Quæ pars maxime desiderabilis alius frontem, alius genas, &c. § Inter foemineum. & Hensius. Sunt enim oculi, præcipuæ pulchritudinis sedes. lib. 6. ||Amoris hami, duces, judices & indices qui momento insanos sanant, sanos insanire cogunt, oculatissimi corporis excubitores, quid non agunt ? quid non cogunt ?

chief seats of Love, and James Lernutius pressed in an elegant Ode of his,

hath facetely ex

"Amorem ocellis flammeolis heræ
Vidi insidentem, credite posteri,
Fratresq; circum ludibundos
Cum pharetrâ volitare & arcu," &c.
I saw Love sitting in my Mistris eyes
Sparkling, believe it all posterity,
And his attendants playing round about
With bow and arrows ready for to fly.

Scalager calls the eys, "Cupid's arrows; the tongue, the lightning of Love; the paps, the tents:" Balthasar Castilio, the causes, the chariots, the lamps of Love,

"æmula lumina stellis,

Lumina quæ possent sollicitate Deos."

Eys emulating stars in light,
Entizing gods at the first sight;

Love's Orators," Petronius.

"O blandos oculos, & 6 facetos,
Et quâdam propriâ notâ loquaces
Illic est Venus, & leves amores,
Atq; ipsa in medio sedet voluptas."

O sweet and pretty speaking eys,
Where Venus love and pleasure lies!

Love's Torches, Touch-box, Napthe and Matches, Tibullus.

"Illius ex oculis quum vult exurere divos,
Accendit geminas lampades acer amor.”

Tart Love, when he will set the gods on fire,
Lightens the eyes as Torches to desire..

Leander, at the first sight of Hero's eys, was incensed, saith
Musæus.

"Simul in oculorum radiis crescebat fax amorum,

Et cor fervebat invecti ignis impetu;

Pulchritudo enim celebris immaculatæ fœminæ,

Acutior hominibus est veloci sagittâ.

Oculus verò via est, ab oculi ictibus

Vulnus dilabitur, & in præcordia viri manat."

Ocelli carm. 17. cujus & Lipsius epist. quæst. lib. 3. cap. 11. meminit ob elegantiam. * Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis, Contactum nullis ante cupidinibus. Propert 1. 1. " In catalect. De Sulpitio lib. 4. Pulchritudo ipsa per occultos radios in pectus amantis dimanans amatæ rei for

mam insculpsit, Tatius 1. 5.

Love's

Love's torches 'gan to burn first in her eyes,
And set his heart on fire, which never dies:
For the fair beauty of a Virgin pure
Is sharper then a dart, and doth inure

A deeper wound, which pierceth to the heart
By the eyes, and causeth such a cruel smart.

'A modern Poet brings in Amnon complaining of Thamar,
" & me fascino

Occidit ille risus & formæ lepos,

Ille nitor, illa gratia, & verus decor,
Illæ æmulantes purpuram, & rosas genæ,
Oculiq; vinctæq; aureo nodo comæ.'

It was thy beauty, 'twas thy pleasing smile,
Thy grace and comeliness did me beguil,
Thy rose-like cheeks, and unto purple fair
Thy lovely eyes and golden knotted hair.

Philostratus Lemnius cries out on his Mistris Basilisk eyes, ardentes faces, those two burning glasses, they had so inflamed his soul, that no water could quench it. "What a tyranny, (saith he) what a penetration of bodies is this! thou drawest with violence, and swallowest me up, as Charybdis doth Saylers with thy rocky eyes; he that falls into this gulf of Love, can never get out." Let this be the Corallary then, the strongest beames of beauty are still darted from the eyes.

"Nam quis lumina tanta, tanta,
Posset luminibus suis tueri,
Non statim trepidansq; palpitansq;
Præ desiderii æstuantis aurâ?" &c.

For who such eyes with his can see
And not forthwith enamour'd be!

And as men catch dotrels, by putting out a leg or an arm, with those mutual glances of the eyes they first inveagle one another. "Cynthia prima suis miserum me'cepit ocellis.

Of all eyes (by the way) black are most amiable, entising and fairer, which the Poet observes in commending of his mistriss. Spectandum nigris oculis, nigroq; capillo." which Hesiod admires in his Alcmena,

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Jacob Cornelius Amnon Tragæd. Act. 1. sc. 1. • Rosæ formosarum oculis nascuntur, et hilaritas vultus elegantiæ corona. Philostratus delitiis. Epist. et in delitiis, Abi et oppugnationem relinque, quam flamma non extinguit; nam ab amore ipsa flamma sentit incendium: quæ corporum penetratio, quæ tyrannis hæc? &c. *Lucheus Panthea. + Propertius. amorum, lib. 2. eleg. 4.

u Ovid.

* Cujus

"Cujus à vertice ac nigricantibus oculis,
Tale quiddam spirat ac ab aureâ Venere."

From her black eyes, and from her golden face,
As if from Venus came a lovely grace.

and +Triton in his Milæne

nigra oculos formosa mihi.”

* Homer useth that Epithite of Oxe-eyed, in describing Juno, because a round black eye is the best, the Son of beauty, and farthest from black the worse: Which Polydore Virgil taxeth in our Nation; Angli ut plurimum cæsiis oculis, we have gray eyes for the most part. Baptista Porta Phyosignom. lib. 3. puts gray colour upon children, they be childish eyes, dull and heavy. Many commend on the other side Spanish Ladies, and those Greek Dames at this day, for the blackness of their eys, as Porta doth his Neopolitan young wives. Sueton describes Julius Cæsar to have been nigris vegetisque oculis micantibus, of a black quick sparkling eye: and although Averroes in his Colliget will have such persons timerous, yet without question they are most amorous.

Now last of all, I will shew you by what means beauty doth fascinate, bewitch, as some hold, and work upon the soul of a man by the eye. For certainly I am of the Poet's mind, Love doth bewitch and strangely change us.

"Ludit amor sensus, oculos perstringit, & aufert
Libertatem animi, mirâ nos fascinat arte.

Credo aliquis dæmon subiens præcordia flammam
Concitat, & raptam tollit de cardine mentem."

Love mocks our senses, curbs our liberties,
And doth bewitch us with his Art and rings,

I think some Divel gets into our entrals,

And kindles coals, and heaves our souls from th'hinges.

Heliodorus lib. 3. proves at large, that love is witch-craft, "it gets in at our eys, pores, nostrils, ingenders the same qualities, and affections in us, as were in the party whence it came." The manner of the fascination, as Ficinus 10. cap. com. in Plat. declares it, is thus: "Mortal men are then especially bewitched, when as by often gazing one on the other, they direct sight to sight, joyn eye to eye, and so drink and suck in Love between them; for the beginning of this disease

+ Calcagninus dial.

* Iliad 1.

*Scut. Hercul. y Hist. lib. 1. Sands' relation fol. 67. • Mantuan. Amor per oculos, nares, poros influens, &c, Mortales tum summopere fascinantur quando frequentissimo intuitu aciem dirigentes, &c. Ideo si quis nitore polleat oculorum, &C.

is

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