is mad by inheritance, and so are all the kindred, an hair-brain, with many other secret infirmities, which I will not so much as name, belonging to women. That he is an Hermaphrodite, an Eunuch, imperfect, impotent, a spendthrift, a gamester, a fool, a gull, a begger, a whoremaster, far in debt, and not able to maintain her, a common drunkard, his mother was a witch, his father hang'd, that he hath a wolfe in his bosome, a sore leg, he is a leper, hath some incurable disease, that he will surely beat her, he cannot hold his water, that he cries out or walks in the night, will stab his bed-fellow, tell all his secrets in his sleep, and that nobody dare lie with him, his house is haunted with spirits, with such fearfull and tragicall things, able to avert and terrifie any man or woman living, Gordonius cap. 20. part. 2. hunc in modo consulit; Paretur aliqua vetula turpissima aspectu, cum turpi & vili habitu: & portet subtus gremium pannum menstrualem, & dicat quod amica sua sit ebriosa, & quod mingat in lecto, & quod est epileptica & impudica; & quod in corpore suo sunt excrescentiæ enormes, cum fætore anhelitus, & aliæ enormitates, quibus vetulæ sunt edoctæ si nolit his persuaderi, subitò extrahat& pannum menstrualem, coram facie portando, exclamando, talis est amica tua; & si ex his non demiserit, non est homo, sed diabolus incarnatus. Idem fere Avicenna cap. 24. de cura Elishi, Lib. 3. Fen. 1. Tract. 4. Narrent res immundas vetulæ, ex quibus abominationem incurrat, & res sordidas, & hoc assiduent. Idem Arculanus cap. 16. in 9. Rhasis, &c. h Withall as they do discommend the old, for the better affecting a more speedy alteration, they must commend another Paramour, alteram inducere, set him or her to be woed, or woe some other that shall be fairer, of better note, better fortune, birth, parentage, much to be preferred, "Invenies alium si te hic fastidit Alexis," by this means, which Jason Pratensis wisheth, to turn the stream of affection another way, "Successore novo truditur omnis amor;" i or, as Valesius adviseth, by subdividing to diminish it, as a great River cut into many channels runs low at last. "Hortor & ut paritèr binas habeatis amicas," &c. h Sa Hypatia Alexandrina quendam se adamantem prolatis muliebribus pannis, & in eum conjectis ab amoris insania laboravit. Suidas & Eunapius. yanarola reg. 5. *Virg. Egl. 3. Distributio amoris fiat in plures, ad plures amicas animum applicet. Ovid. If If you suspect to be taken, be sure, saith the Poet, to have two mistresses at once, or go from one to another: as he that goes from a good fire in cold weather is loth to depart from it, though in the next room there be a better which will refresh him as much; there's as much difference of hæc as hic ignis; or bring him to some publique shews, plays, meetings, where he may see variety, and he shall likely loath his first choice: carry him but to the next town, yea peradventure to the next house, and as Paris lost Oenone's love by seeing Helena, and Cresseida forsook Troilus by conversing with Diomede, he will dislike his former mistress, and leave her quite behind him, as Theseus left Ariadne fast asleep in the Iland of Dia, to seek her fortune, that was er'st his loving Mistress. + Nunc primum Dorida vetus amator contempsi, as he said, Doris is but a doudy to this. As he that looks himself in a glass forgets his Physiognomie forthwith, this flattering glass of love will be diminished by remove; after a little absence it will be remitted, the next fair object will likely alter it. A yong man in Lucian was pittifully in love, he came to the Theater by chance, and by seeing other fair objects there, mentis sanitatem recepit, was fully recovered," and went merrily home, as if he had taken a dram of oblivion." "A mouse (saith an Apologer) was brought up in a chest, there fed with fragments of bread and cheese, though there could be no better meat, till coming forth at last, and feeding liberally of other variety of viands, loathed his former life: moralize this fable by thy self. Plato, in his seventh book De Legibus, hath a pretty fiction of a City under ground, to which by little holes some small store of light came; the inhabitants thought there could not be a better place, and at their first coming abroad they might not endure the light, agerrimè solem intueri; but after they were accustomed a little to it," they deplored their fellows' misery that lived under ground." A silly Lover is in like state, none so fair as his Mistress at first, he cares for none but her; yet after a while, when he hath compared her with others, he abhors her name, sight and memory. 'Tis generally true; for as he observes, Priorem flammam novus ignis extrudit; & ea multorum natura, ut præsentes maximè ament, One fire drives out another; and such is women's weakness, that they love commonly him that is present. And so do many men; as he confessed, he loved Amye, till he saw Floriat, and when he saw Cynthia, forgat them both: but fair Phillis was in с comparably beyond them all, Cloris surpassed her, and yet when he espied Amarillis, she was his sole Mistress; O divine Amarillis: quám procera, cupressi ad instar, quàm elegans, quàm decens? &c. how lovely, how tall, how comely she was, (saith Polemius) till he saw another, and then she was the sole subject of his thoughts. In conclusion, her he loves best he saw last. *Triton the Sea God first loved Leucothoë, till he came in presence of Milane, she was the commandress of his heart, till he saw Galatea; but (as she complains) he loved another eftsoons, another, and another. "Tis a thing which, by Hierom's report, hath been usually practised. Heathen Philosophers drive out one love with another, as they do a peg, or pin with a pin. Which those seven Persian Princes did to Assuerus, that they might requite the desire of Queen Vashti with the love of others." Pausanias in Eliacis saith, that therefore one Cupid was painted to contend with another, and to take the Garland from him, because one love drives out another. 66 Alterius vires subtrahit alter amor." and Tully 3. nat. deor. disputing with C. Cotta, makes mention of three several Cupids, all differing in office. Felix Plater, in the first book of his observations, boasts how he cured a widower in Basil, a Patient of his, by this stratagem alone, that doted upon a poor servant his maid, when friends, children, no perswasion could serve to alienate his mind: they motioned him to another honest man's daughter in the town, whom he loved, and lived with, long after, abhorring the very name and sight of the first. After the death of Lucretia, Eurialus would admit of no comfort, till the Emperour Sigismond married him. to a noble Lady of his Court, and so in short space he was freed. Aristænetus epist. 4. m +Calcagnin. Dial. Galat. Mox aliam prætulit, aliam prælaturus quam primum occasio arriserit. Epist. lib. 2. 16. Philosophi sæculi veterem amorem novo, quasi clavum clavo repellere, quod & Assucro Regi septem Principes Persarum fecere, ut Vastæ Reginæ desiderium amore compensarent. "Ovid. • Lugubri veste indutus, consolationes non admisit, donec Cæsar ex ducali sanguine, formosam virginem matrimonio conjunxit. Encas Sylvius hist. de Eurialo & Lucretia. SUBSECT. SUBSECT. III. By counsel and persuasion, foulness of the fact, men's, women's faults, miseries of marriage, events of lust, &c. S there be divers causes of this burning lust, or heroical love; so there be many good remedies to ease and help; amongst which, good counsel and perswasion, which I should have handled in the first place, are of great moment, and not to be omitted. Many are of opinion, that in this blind headstrong passion, counsel can do no good. "Quæ enim res in se neque consilium neque modum Which thing hath neither judgment, or an end, "Quis enim modus adsit amori?" But, without question, good counsel and advice must needs be of great force, especially if it shall proceed from a wise, fatherly, reverent, discreet person, a man of authority whom the parties do respect, stand in awe of, or from a judicious friend, of it self alone, it is able to divert and suffice. Gordonius the Physitian attributes so much to it, that he would have it by all means used in the first place. Amoveatur ab illa, consilio viri quem timet, ostendendo pericula sæculi, judicium inferni, gaudia Paradisi. He would have some discreet men to disswade them, after the fury of passion is a little spent, or by absence allayed; for it is as intempestive at first, to give counsel, as to comfort parents when their children are in that instant departed; to no purpose to prescribe Narcoticks, Cordials, Nectarines, potions, Homer's Nepenthes, or Helena's Boul, &c. Non cessabit pectus tundere, she will lament and howl for a season: let passion have his course a while, and then he may proceed, by fore-shewing the miserable events and dangers which will surely happen, the pains of hell, joys of Paradise, and the like, which by their preposterous courses they shall forfeit or incurre; and 'tis a fit method, a very good means: for what +Seneca said of vice, I say of love, Sine magistro discitur, vix sine magistro deseritur, 'tis learned of itself, but hardly left without a Tutor. 'Tis not amiss there. ⚫ Ter. *Virg. Egl. 2. + Lib. de beat. vit. cap. 14. Longo usu dicimus, longa desuetudine dediscendum est. Petrarch. epist. lib. 5. 8. fore fore to have some such overseer, to expostulate and shew them. such absurdities, inconverfiences, imperfections, discontents, as usually follow; which their blindness, fury, madness, cannot apply unto themselves, or will not apprehend through weakness and good for them to disclose themselves, to give ear to friendly admonitions. "Tell me, sweet-heart, (saith Tryphena to a love-sick Charmides in * Lucian) what is it that troubles thee; peradventure I can ease thy mind, and further thee in thy suit;" and so without question she might, and so maist thou, if the Patient be capable of good counsel, and will hear at least what may be said. If he love at all, she is either an honest women or a whore. If dishonest, let him read or inculcate to him that 5. of Solomon's Prov. Ecclus. 26. Ambros. lib. 1. cap. 4. in his book of Abel and Cain, Philo Judæus de mercede mer. Platinas dial. in Amores, Espencæus, and those three books of Pet. Hœdus de contem. amoribus, Æneas Sylvius' tart Epistle, which he wrote to his friend Nicholas of Warthurge, which he calls medelam illiciti amoris, &c. "For what's an whore," as he saith, "but a poler of youth, truine of men, a destruction, a devourer of patrimonies, a downfal of honour, fodder for the divel, the gate of death, and supplement of hell?" a Talis amor est laqueus animæ, &c. a bitter hony, sweet poyson, delicate destruction, a voluntary mischief, commixtum cænum, sterquilinium. And as Pet. Aratine's Lucretia, a notable quean, confesseth; "Gluttony, anger, envy, pride, sacriledge, theft, slaughter, were all born that day that a whore began her profession: for," as she follows it, "her pride is greater then a rich churl's, she is more envious then the pox, as malitious as melancholy, as covetous as hell. If from the beginning of the world any were mala, pejor, pessima, bad in the superlative degree, 'tis a whore; how many have I undone, caused to be wounded, slain! O Antonia, thou seest what I am without, but within, God knows, a puddle of iniquity, a sink of sin, a pocky quean." Let him now that so dotes, meditate on this; Let him see the event and success of others, Sampson, Hercules, Holofernes, &c. those infinite mischiefs attend it: If she be г b *Tom. 4. dial. meret. Fortasse etiam ipsa ad amorem istum nonnihil contu lero. Quid enim meretrix nisi juventutis expilatrix, virorum rapina seu mors; patrimonii devoratrix, honoris pernities, pabulum diaboli, janua mortis, inferni supplementum ? + Sanguinem hominum sorbent. • Contempla. tione Idiota c. 34. discrimen vitæ, mors blanda, mel selleum, dulce venenum, pernities delicata, maium spontaneum, &c. Pornodidasc. dial. Ital. gula, ira, invidia, superbia, sacrilegia, latrocinia, cædes, eo die nata sunt, quo primum meretrix professionem fecit. Superb:a major quam opulenti rustici, invidia quam luis venera inimicitia nocentior melancholia, avaritia in immensum profunda. • Qualis extra sum vides, qualis intra novit Deus. another |