Many such allurements there are, Nods, Jests, Winks, Smiles, Wrastlings, Tokens, Favours, Symbols, Letters, Valentines, &c. For which cause belike, Godfridus lib. 2. de amor. would not have women learn to write. Many such pro vocations are used when they come in presence, * they will and will not. "Malo me Galatea petit lasciva puella, To hide her self, but woul be seen With all her heart before God knows. Hero so tripped away from Leander as one displeased, . Yet as she went full often look'd behind, And many poor excuses did she find To linger by the way, but if he chance to overtake her, she is most averse, nice and coy, Denegat & pugnat, sed vult super omnia vinci." She seems not won, but won she is at length, Sometimes they lye open and are most tractable and coming, apt, yielding and willing to embrace, to take a green gown, with that Shepardess in Theocritus, Edyl. 27. to let their Coats, &c. to play and dally, at such seasons, and to some, as they spy their advantage; and then coy, close again, so nice, so surly, so demure, you had much better tame a colt, catch or ride a wild horse, then get her favour, or win her love, not a look, not a sinile, not a kiss for a kingdome. Aretine's Lucretia was an excellent Artisan in this kind, as she tels her own tale, Though I was by nature and art most beautiful and fair, yet by these tricks I seem'd to be far more amiable than I was, for that which men earnestly seek and cannot attain, draws on their affection with a most furious desire. I had a sutor lov'd me dearly (said she), and the more he gave me, the more cagerly he wooed me, the more I scem'd to neglect, to scorn * Novi ingenium mulierum, nolunt ubi velis, ubi nolis cupiunt ultró. Ter. Eunuc. act. 4. sc. 7. • Marlo. b Pornodidascalo dial. Ital. Latin. donat. à Gasp. Barthio Germano, Quanquã natura, & arte eram formosissima, isto ta men astu tanto speciosior videbar, quod enim oculis cupitum ægrè præbetur, multo magis affectus humanos incendit. • Quo majoribus me donis propitiabay, co pejoribus illum modis tractabain, ne basium impetravit, &c. C him, and which I commonly gave others, I would not let him see me, converse with me, no not have a kiss." To gull him the more, and fetch him over (for him only I aimed at) I personated mine own servant to bring in a present from a Spanish Count, whilst he was in my company, as if he had been the Count's servant, which he did excellently well perform: "Comes de monte Turco, "my Lord and Master hath sent your Ladiship a small present, and part of his hunting, a piece of Venison, a Phesant, a few Partridges, &c. (all which she bought with her own mony) commends his love and service to you, desiring you to accept of it in good part, and he means very shortly to come and see you." Withall she shewed him rings, gloves, scarfs, coronets which others had sent her, when there was no such matter, but onely to circumvent him. By these means (as she concludes) " I made the poor Gentleman so mad, that he was ready to spend himself, and venture his dearest bloud for my sake." Philinna, in Lucian, practised all this long before, as it shall appear unto you by her discourse; for when Diphilus her sweet-heart came to see her (as his daily custome was) she frowned upon him, would not vouchsafe him her company, but kissed Lamprias his corrivall,' at the same time before his face: but why was it? To make him (as she telleth her mother that chid her for it) more jealous; to whetten his love, to come with a greater appetite, and to know that her favour was not so casie to be had. Many other tricks she used besides this (as she there confesseth), for she would fall out with, and anger him of set purpose, pick quarrels upon no occasion, because she would be reconciled to him again. Amantium iræ amoris redintegratio, as the old saying is, the falling out of lovers is the renewing of love; and according to that of Aristenatus, jucundiores amorum post injurias delitiæ, love is increased by injuries, as the Sun beams are more gratious after a cloud. And surely this Aphorism is most true; for as Ampelis informs Crisis in the said Lucian, "If a lover be not jealous, angry, waspish, apt to fall out, sigh and swear, he is no true lover.' To kiss and coll, hang about her neck, protest, swear and wish, are but ordinary symptomnes, incipientis adhuc & crescentis amoris signa; but if he be jealous, 4 Comes de monte Turco Hispanus has de Venatione suâ partes misit, jussitq; peramanter orare, ut boc qualecunq; donum suo nomine accipias. * His artibus hominem ita excantabam, ut pro me ille ad omnia paratus, &c. € Tom. 4. dial. merit. Relicto illo, ægre ipsi interim faciens, & omnino difficilis. Si quis enim nec Zelotypus irascitur, nec pugnat aliquando amator, nec perjurat, non est habendus amator, &c. Totus hic ignis Zelotypia constat, &c. maximi amores inde noscuntur. Sed si persuasum illi fuerit te solum habere, elanguescit illico amor suus. angry, 1 angry, apt to mistake, &c. benè speres licet, sweet sister he is thine own; yet if you let him alone, humour. him, please him, &c. and that he perceive once he hath you sure, without any corrivall, his love will languish, and he will not care so much for you. Hitherto (saith he) can I speak out of experience; Demophantus a rich fellow was a suitor of mine, I seem'd to neglect him, and gave better entertainment to Calliades the Painter before his face, principio abiit, verbis me insectalus, at first he went away all in a chafe, cursing and swearing, but at last he came submitting himself, vowing and protesting that he loved me most dearly, I should have all he had, and that he would kill himself for my sake. Therefore 1 advise thee (dear sister Crisis) and all maids, not to use your suitors over kindly; insolentes enim sunt hoc cùm sentiunt, 'twill make them proud and insolent; but now and then reject them, estrange thyself, & si me audies semel atq; iterum ex clude, shut him out of doors once or twice, let him dance attendance; follow my counsell, and by this means you shall make him mad, come off roundly, sand to any conditions, and do whatsoever you will have him. These are the ordinary practises; yet in the said Lucian, Melissa me thinks had a trick beyond all this; for when her suitor came coldly on, to stir him up, she writ one of his corrivals names and her own in a paper, Melissa amat Hermotimum, Hermotimus Melis sam, causing it to be stuck upon a post, for all gazers to behold, and lost it in the way where he used to walk; which when the silly novice perceived, statim ut legit credidit, instantly apprehended it was so, came raving to me, &c. "kand so when I was in despair of his love, four months after I recovered him again." Eugenia drew Timocles for her Valentine, and wore his name a long time after in her bosome: Camæna singled out Pamphilus to dance, at Myson's wedding (some say), for there she saw him first; Fælicianus overtook Calia by the high way side, offered his service, thence came farther acquaintance, and thence came love. But who can repeat half their devices? What Aratine experienced, what conceited Lucian, or wanton Aristenætus? They will deny and take, stifly refuse, and yet earnestly seek the same, repel to make them come with more eagerness, fly from if you follow, but if averse, as a shadow they will follow you again, fugientem sequitur, sequentem fugit; with a regaining retrait, a gentle reluctancy, a smiling threat, a pretty pleasant peevish Venientem videbis ipsum denuo inflammatum & prorsus insanientem. → Et sic cum fere de illo desperassom, post menses quatuor ad me rediit. ness, ness, they will put you off, and have a thousand such several enticements. For as he saith, "Non est forma satis, nec quæ vult bella videri, Debet vulgari more placere suis. Dicta, sales, lusus, sermones, gratia, risus, 'Tis not enough though she be fair of hew, For her to use this vulgar complement: • For this cause belike Philostratus, in his Images, makes divers It is reported of Decius, and Valerianus, those two notorious persecutors of the Church, that when they could enforce a yong Christian by no means (as Hierome records) to sacrifice to their Idols, by no torments or promises, they took another course to tempt him: they put him into a fair Garden, and set a yong Curtesan to dally with him, "y she took him about the neck and kissed him, and that which is not to be named," manibusque attrectare, &c. and all those enticements which might be used, that whom torments could not, Love might batter and beleaguer. But such was his constancy, she could not overcome, and when this last engine would take no place, they left him to his own ways. At Barclye in Glocester-shire, there was in times past a Nunnery (saith Gualterus Mapes, an old Historiographer, that lived 400 years since), "of which there was a noble and a fair Lady Abbess: Godwin, that subtile Earl of Kent, travelling that way, (seeking not her but hers) leaves a Nephew of his, a proper young Gallant (as if he had been sick) with her, till he came back again, and gives the young man charge so long to counterfeit, till he had de Petronius Catal. "Imagines deorum. fol. 327. varios amores facit, quos aliqui interpretantur multiplices affectus & illecebras, alios puellos, puellas, alatos, alios poma aurea, alios sagittas, alios laqueos, &c. * Epist. lib. 3. vita Pauli Eremitæ. ▾ Meretrix speciosa cepit delicatius stringere colla complexibus, & corpore in libidinem concitato, &c. Camden in Glocestershire, huic præ fuit nobilis & formosa Abbatissa, Godwinus comes indolo subtilis, non ipsam, sed sua cupiens, reliquit nepotem suum forma elegantissimum, tanquam infirmum donec reverteretur, instruit, &c. flowred ย flowred the Abbess, and as many besides of the Nuns as he could, and leaves him withall rings, jewels, girdles, and such toyes to give them still, when they came to visit him. The young man, willing to undergo such a business, plaid his part so well, that in short space he got up most of their bellies, and when he had done, told his Lord how he had sped; his Lord makes instantly to the Court, tells the King how such a Nunnery was become a bawdy house, procures a visitation, gets them to be turned out, and begs the lands to his own use.' This story I do therefore repeat, that you may see of what force these enticements are, if they be opportunely used, and how hard it is even for the most averse and sanctified souls to resist such allurements. John Major in the life of John the Monk, that lived in the dayes of Theodosius, commends the Hermite to have been a man of singular continency, and of a most austere life; but one night by chance the Devil came to his Cell in the habit of a young market wench that had lost her way, and desired for God's sake some lodging with him. "The old man let her in, and after some common conference of her mishap, she began to inveagle him with lascivious talk and jests, to play with his beard, to kiss him, and do worse, till at last she overcame him. As he went to address himself to that business, she vanished on a sudden, and the Devils in the ayr laughed him to scorn." Whether this be a true story, or a tale, I will not much contend, it serves to illustrate this which I have said. Yet were it so, that these of which I have hitherto spoken, and such like inticing baits, be not sufficient, there be many others, which will of themselves intend this passion of burning Just, amongst which, Dancing is none of the least; and it is, an engine of such force, I may not omit it. Incitamentum libidinis, Petrarch calls it, the spur of lust, "A * circle of which the Devil himself is the Center. Many women that use it, have come dishonest home, most indifferent, none better." Another terms it "the companion of all filthy delights and enticements, and 'tis not easily told what inconveniences come by it, what scurrile talk, obscene actions," and many C • Ille impiger regem adit, Abbatissam & suas prægnantes edocet, exploratoribus missis probat, & iis ejectis, à domino suo mancrium accepit. Post sermones de casu suo suavitate sermonis conciliat animum hominis, manumque inter colloquia & risus ad barbam protendit & palpare cœpit cervicem suam & osculari; quid multa? captivum ducit militem Christi. Complexura evanescit, demones in aere monachum riserunt, * Choræa circulus, cujus centrum Multæ inde impudicæ domum rediere, plures ambiguæ, melior & Turpium delitiarum comes est externa saltatio; neque certè facile dictu quæ mala hinc visus hauriat, & quæ pariat, colloquia, monstrosos, inconditos gestus, &c. diab. nulla. VOL. II. T times |