lovers again are so frequently mistaken, and led into a fool's paradise. For if they see but a fair maid laugh, or shew a pleasant countenance, use some gratious words or gestures, they apply it all to themselves, as done in their favour, sure she loves them, she is willing, coming, &c. "Stultus quando videt quod pulchra puellula ridet, When a fool sees a fair maid for to smile, They make an art of it, as the Poet telleth us, "y Quis credat? discunt etiam ridere puellæ, And 'tis as great an enticement as any of the rest, Cor tibi ritè salit." She makes thine heart leap with a pleasing gentle smile of hers. "Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, I love Lalage as much for smiling, as for discoursing, delectata illa risit tam blandum, as he said in Petronius of his Mistriss, being well pleased, she gave so sweet a smile. It won Ismenius, as he confesseth, Ismene subrisit amatorium, Ismene smiled so lovingly the second time I saw her, that I could not chuse but admire her: and Galla's sweet smile quite overcame *Faustus the Shepheard, "Me aspiciens motis blandè subrisit ocellis." All other gestures of the body will enforce as much. Daphnis in + Lucian was a poor tattered wench when I knew her first, said Corbile, pannosa & lacera, but now she is a stately piece indeed, hath her maids to attend her, brave attires, mony in her purse, &c. and will you know how this came to pass? by setting out her self after the best fashion, by her pleasant carriage, affability, sweet smiling upon all," &c. Many ▾ Ovid de arte amandi. putaret, Museus of Hero. * Pers. 3. Sat. Hor. Od. 22. lib. 1. Vel centum Charites ridere tuan. +Tom. 4. merit. dial. Exornando seipsam eleganter, facilem et hilaime se gerendo erga cunctos, ridendo suave ac blandum quid, &c. women women dote upon a man for his complement only, and good behaviour, they are won in an instant; too credulous to believe that every light, wanton sutor, who sees or makes love to them, is instantly inamored, he certainly dotes on, admires them, will surely marry, when as he means nothing less, 'tis his ordinary carriage in all such companies. So both delude each other by such outward shews; and amongst the rest, an upright, a comely grace, curtesies, gentle salutations, cringes, a mincing gate, a decent and an affected pace, are most powerful enticers, and which the Prophet Esay, a Courtier himself, and a great observer, objected to the daughters of Sion, 3. 16. "they minced as they went, and made a tinkling with their feet." To say the truth, what can they not effect by such means? Whilst nature decks them in their best attires Of youth and beauty which the world admires, "Urit―voce, manu, gressu, pectore, fronte, oculis." When Art shall be annexed to beauty, when wiles and guiles shall concur for to speak as it is, Love is a kind of legerdemain; meer jugling, a fascination. When they shew their fair hand, fine foot and leg withal, magnum sui desiderium nobis relinquunt, saith Balthazar Castilio lib. 1. they set us a longing, "and so when they pull up their petty-coats, and outward garments," as usually they do to shew their fine stockings, and those of purest silken dye, gold fringes, laces, embroyderings, (it shall go hard but when they go to Church, or to any other place, all shall be seen) 'tis but a springe to catch woodcocks; and as Chrysostome telleth them downright, "though they say nothing with their mouths, they speak in their gate, they speak with their eys, they speak in the carriage of their bodies." And what shall we say otherwise of that baring of their necks, shoulders, naked breasts, arms and wrists, to what end are they but only to tempt men to lust! e + Nam quid lacteolus sinus, & ipsas Hoc est dicere, posce, posce, trado; There needs no more, as Fredericus Matenesius well observes, * Angerianus. Vel si forte vestimentum de industria elevetur, ut pedum ac tibiarum pars aliqua conspiciatur, dum templum aut locum aliquem adierit. * Sermone, quod non fœminæ viris cohabitent. Non loquuta es lingua, sed loquuta es gressu: non loquuta es voce, sed oculis loquuta es clarins quàm voce. Jovianus Pontanus Baiar. lib. 1. ad Hermionem, De luxu vestium dis curs. 6. Nihil aliud deest nisi ut præco ves præcedat, &c. but a cryer to go before them so dressed, to bid us look out, a trumpet to sound, or for defect a Sowgelder to blow, or to what end and purpose? but to leave all these phantastical raptures, I'le prosecute mine intended Theam. Nakedness, as I have said, is an odious thing of it self, remedium amoris; yet it may be so used, in part, and at set times, that there can be no such enticement as it is; "Nec mihi cincta Diana placet, nec nuda Cythere, Illa voluptatis nil habet, hæc nimium." f David so espied Bersheba, the Elders Susanna: Apelles was inamored with Campaspe, when he was to paint her naked.. Tiberius in Suet. cap. 42. supped with Sestius Gallus an old leacher, libidinoso sene, ea lege ut nude puellæ administrarent; some say as much of Nero, and Pontus Huter of Carolus Pugnax. Ámongst the Babylonians, it was the custome of some lascivious queans to dance friskin in that fashion, saith Curtius lib. 5. and Sardus de mor. gent. lib. 1. writes of others to that effect. The Tuscans at some set banquets had naked women to attend upon them, which Leonicus de Varia hist. lib. 3. cap. 96. confirms of such other bawdy nations. Nero would have filthy pictures still hanging in his chamber, which is too commonly used in our times; and Heliogabalus, etiam coram agentes, ut ad venerem incitarent: So things may be abused. A servant maid in Aristænetus spyed her Master and Mistress through the key hole merrily disposed; upon the sight she fell in love with her Master. Antoninus Caracalla observed his mother in law with her breasts amorously laid open, he was so much moved, that he said, Ah si liceret, O that I might; which she by chance overhearing, replyed as impudently, Quicquid libet licet, thou maist do what thou wilt and upon that temptation he married her: this object was not in cause, not the thing it self, but that unseemly, undecent carriage of it. e h ́d If you can tell how, you may sing this to the tune a Sow gelder blows. Auson. epig. 28. Plin. lib. 33. cap. 10. Gampaspen Nudam picturus 8 In Tyrrhenis conviviis nude muli*Amatoria miscentes vidit, et in ipsis complexibus Epist. 7. lib. 2. Apelles, amore ejus illaqueatus est. eres ministrabant. audit, &c. emersit inde cupido in pectus Virginis. ↳ Spartian. When When you have all done, veniunt à véste sagittæ, the greatest provocations of lust are from our apparel; God makes, they say, man shapes, and there is no motive like unto it; * Which doth even Beauty beautifie, And most bewitch a wretched eye. i a filthy knave, a deformed quean, a crooked carkass, a maukin, a witch, a rotten post, an hedgstake may be so set out and tricked up, that it shall make as fair a shew, as much enamour as the rest: many a silly fellow is so taken. Primum luxuriæ aucupium, one calls it, the first snare of lust; Bossus aucupium animarum, lethalem arundinem, a fatal reed, the greatest bawd, forte lenocinium, sanguineis lachrymis deplorandum, saith+Matenesius, and with tears of blood to be deplored. Not that comeliness of clothes is therefore to be condemned, and those usual ornaments: there is a decency and decorum in this as well as in other things, fit to be used, becoming several persons, and befitting their estates; he is only phantastical that is not in fashion, and like an old image in Arras hangings, when a manner of attire is generally received: but when they are so new fangled, so unstaid, so prodigious in their attires, beyond their means and fortunes, unbefitting their age, place, quality, condition, what should we otherwise think of them? Why do they adorn themselves with so many colours of hearbs, fictitious flowers, curious needle-works, quaint devices, sweet smelling odours, with those inestimable riches of pretious stones, pearls, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, &c. Why do they crown themselves with gold and silver, use coronets and tires of several fashions, deck themselves with pendants, bracelets, ear-rings, chains, girdles, rings, pins, spangles, embroyderies, shadows, rebatoès, versicolor ribbands? why do they make such glorious shews with their scarfs, feathers, fans, masks, furs, laces, tiffanies, ruffs, falls, calls, cuffs, damasks, velvets, tinsels, cloth of gold, silver, tissue? with colours of heavens, stars, planets: the strength of mettals, stones, odours, flowers, birds, beasts, fishes, and whatsoever Africk, Asia, America, sea, land, art, and industry of man can afford? Why do they use and covet such novelty of inventions; such new fangled tires, and spend such inestimable summs on them? "To what end are those crisped, false hairs, painted faces," as *the Satyrist observes, "such a composed gait, not a step awry?" Why are they like so many Sybarites, or Neroe's Pop *Sidney's Arcadia. I De immod. mulier. cultu. + Discurs. 6. de luxn vestium. * Petronius fol. 95. quo spectant flexæ come? quo facies medica mine attrita & oculorum mollis petulantia? quo incessus tam compositus, &c. pæa, Assuerus' concubines, so costly, so long a dressing, as Cæsar was marshalling his army, or an hawk in pruning? 1 Dum moliuntur, dum comuntur, annus est: A Gardiner takes not so much delight and pains in his garden, an horseman to dress his horse, scour his armour, a Marriner about his ship, a Merchant his shop and shop-book, as they do about their faces, and all those other parts: such setting up with corks, streightning with whale-bones; why is it, but as a daynet catcheth Larks, to make yong men stoop unto them? Philocharus, a gallant in Aristænetus, advised his friend Poliænus to take heed of such entisements, "+for it was the sweet sound and motion of his Mistris spangles and bracelets, the smell of her oyntments, that captivated him first, "Illa fuit mentis prima ruina meæ." m Quid sibi vult pixidum turba, saith Lucian, "To what use are pins, pots, glasses, ointments, irons, combes, bodkins, setting-sticks? why bestow they all their patrimonies and husbands yearly revenues on such fooleries?" ‡bina patrimonia singulis auribus; "why use they dragons, waspes, snakes, for chains, inamelled jewels on their necks, ears?” dignum potius foret ferro manus istas religari, atque utinam monilia verè dracones essent; they had more need some of them be tied in Bedlam with iron chains, have a whip for a fan, and hair-cloaths next to their skins, and instead of wrought smocks, have their cheeks stigmatised with a hot iron; I say, some of our Jezabels, instead of painting, if they were well served. But why is all this labour, all this cost, preparation, riding, running, far fetched, and dear bought stuffe? Because forsooth they would be fair and fine, and where nature is defective, supply it by art. 66 n § Sanguine quæ vero non rubet, arte rubet," (Ovid.) and to that purpose they annoint and paint their faces, to make Helen of Hecuba Ter. -" parvamque exortamque puellam-Europen;" *P. Aretine. Hortulanus non ita exercetur visendis hortis, eques equis, armis, nauta navibus, &c. +Epist. 4. Sonus armillarum bene sonan tuim, odor unguentorum, &c. m Tom. 4. dial. Amor. vascula plena multæ infelicitatis omnem maritorum opulentiam in hæc inpendunt, dracones pro monilibus habent, qui utinam vere dracones essent. Lucian. + Seneca. Castilio de aulic. lib. 1. Mulieribus omnibus hoc imprimis in votis est, ut formosæ sint, aut si reipsa non sint, videantur tamen esse; & si qua parte natura defuit, artis suppetias adjungunt: unde illæ facici unctiones, dolor et cruciatus in arctandis corporibus, &c. Ovid. epist. Med. Jasoni. Το |