And as in like case a good fellow that had but a peck of corn weekly to grind, yet would needs build a new mill for it, found his error eftsoons, for either he must let his mill lye waste, pull it quite down, or let others grind at it. So these men, &c. 66 Seneca therefore disallows all such unseasonable matches, habent enim maledicti locum crebræ nuptiæ. And as Tully farther inveighs, 'tis unfit for any, but ugly and filthy in old age," Turpe senilis amor, one of the three things + God hateth. Plutarch in his bo k contra Coleten, rails downright at such kind of marriages, which are attempted by old men, qui jam corpore impotenti, & à voluptatibus déserti, peccant animo, and makes a question whether in some cases it be tolerable at least for such a man to marry, qui Venerem affectat sine viribus," that is now past those venerous exercises, "as a gelded man lies with a virgin and sighs," Ecclus 30. 20. and now complains with him in Petronius, funerata est hæc pars jam, quæ fuit lim Achillea, he is quite done, "Vixit puellæ nuper idoneus, Et militavit non sine gloriâ." But the question is whether he may delight himself as those Priapeian Popes, which in their decrepit age lay commonly between two wenches every night, contactu formosarum, & contrectatione, num adhuc gaudeat; and as many doting Syres still do to their own shame, their children's undoing, and their families confusion: he a hors it, tanquam ab agresti & furioso domino fugiendum, It must be avoided as a Bedlam master, and not obeyed. "Alecto Ipsa faces præfert nubentibus, & malus Hymen 66 the divel himself makes such matches. Levinus Lemnius reckons up thee things which generally disturb the peace of marriage: the first is when they marry intempestive or unseasonably, as many mortal men marry precipitately and incon siderately, when they are effete and old: Ihe second when they marry unequally for fortunes and birth: the third, when a sick impotent person weds one that is sound," novæ nuptæ spes frustratur: Many dislikes instantly follow. Many doting *Offic. lib. Luxuria cum omni ætati turpis, tum senectuti fædissima. + Ecclus. 25. 2. An old man that dotes, &c. Hor. lib. 3. ode 26 * Cap. 54. instit. ad optimam vitam, max ma mortalium pars præcipitanter & inconsideratè nubit, idque ea ætate quæ minus apta est, quum senex adolescentu.æ, sanus morbida, dives pauperi, &c. Hh3 dizard, dizards, it may not be denyed, as Plutarch confesseth, "recreate themselves with such obsolete, unseasonable and filthy remedies (so he calls them), with a remembrance of their former pleasures, against nature they stir up their dead flesh :" but an old lecher is abominable; mulier tertiò nubens, Nevisanus holds, præsumitur lubrica & inconstans, a woman that marries the third time may be presumed to be no honester then she should. Of them both, thus Ambrose concludes in his comment upon Luke," they that are coupled together, not to get children, but to satisfie their lust, are not husbands, but fornicators," with whom St. Austin consents: matrimony without hope of children, non matrimonium, sed concubium dici debet, is not a wedding but a jumbling or coupling together. word (except they wed for mutual society, help and comfort one of another, in which respects, though Tiberius deny it, without question old folks may well marry) for sometimes a man hath most need of a wife, according to Puccius, when he hath no need of a wife; otherwise it is most odious, when an old Acheronticke dizard, that hath one foot in his grave, à silicernium, shall flicker after a lusty yong wench that is blithe and bonny, "salaciorque Verno passere, & albulis columbis." What can be more detestable ? "Tu cano capite amas senex nequissime Thou old goat, hoary lecher, naughty man, In a Yet, as some will, it is much more tolerable for an old man to marry a yong woman (our Ladies match they call it) for cras erit mulier, as he said in Tully. Cato the Roman, Critobulus in † Xenophon, Tyraquellus of late, Julius Scaliger, &c. and many famous presidents we have in that kind; but not è contra: 'tis not held fit for an ancient woman to match with a yong man. For as Varro will, Anus dum ludit morti delitias a Absoleto, intempestivo, turpi remedio fatentur se uti; recordatione pristinarum voluptatum se recreant, & adversante natura, pollinctam carnem & enectam excitant. Lib. 2. nu. 25. Qui vero non procreandæ prolis, sed explendæ libidinis causa sibi invicem copulantur, non tam conjuges quam fornicarii habentur. * Lex Papia. Sueton. Claud. c. 23. § Pontanus biarum lib. 1. Plautus mercator. + Symposio. +Vide Thuani historiam. facit, * facit, 'tis Charon's match between Cascus and Casca, and the devil him elf is surely well pleased with it. And therefore as the Poet inveighs, thou old Vetustina bed-ridden quean, that art now skin and bones, с That hast three hairs, foure teeth, a brest Must thou marry a youth again? And yet ducentas ire nuptum post mortes amant: howsoever it is, as Apuleius gives out of his Meroe, congressus annosus, pestilens, abhorrendus, a pestilent match, abominable, and not to be endured. In such case how can they otherwise choose but be jealous, how should they agree one with another? This inequality is not in years only, but in birth, fortunes, conditions, and all good qualities, "Si qua volés aptè nubere, nube pari," 'Tis my counsel, saith Anthony Guiverra, to chose such a one. Civis Civem ducat, Nobilis Nobilem, let a citizen match with a citizen, a gentleman with a gentlewoman; he that observes not this precept (saith he) non generum sed malum Genium, non nurum sed Furiam, non vitæ Comitem, sed litis fomitem domi habebit, in stead of a fair wife shall have a fury, for a fit son in law a meer feind, &c. examples are too frequent. Another main caution fit to be observed, is this, that though they be equal in years, birth, fortunes, and other conditions, yet they do not omit vertue and good education, which Musonius and Antipater so much inculcate in Stobeus; "Dos est magna parentum Virtus, & metuens alterius viri Certo fœdere castitas." If, as Plutarch adviseth, one must eat modium salis, a bushell of salt with him, before he chuse his friend, what care should be had in chusing a wife, his second self, how sollicitous should he be to know her qualities and behaviour? and when he is assured of them, not to prefer birth, fortune, beauty, before bringing up, and good conditions. Coquage god of Cuckolds, as one merrily said, accompanies the goddess jealousie, both e Calabect vet. poetarum. *Martial. lib. 3. 62. Epig, Lib. 1. Miles. † Ovid. Rablais hist. Pantagruel. 1. 3. cap. 33. Hh 4 follow follow the fairest, by Jupiter's appointment, and they sacrifice to them together: beauty and honesty seldom agree; straight personages have often crooked manners; fair faces, foul vices; good complexions, ill conditions. Suspitionis plena res est, & insidiarum, beauty saith Chrysostome) is full of treachery and suspition he that hath a fair wife, cannot have a worse mischief, and yet most covet it, as if nothing else in marriage but that and wealth were to be respected. & Francis Sforza, Duke of Millain, was so curious in this behalf, that he would not marry the Duke of Mantua's daughter, except he might see her naked first: Which Lycurgus appointed in his lawes, and Morus in his Utopian Commonwealth approves. In Italy, as a travellour observes, if a man have three or four daughters, or more, and they prove fair, they are married eftsoones: if deformed, they change their lovely names of Lucia, Cynthia, Camæna, call them Dorothie, Ursula, Briget, and so put them into Monasteries, as if none were fit for marriage, but such as are eminentlie fair: but these are erroneous tenents: a modest virgin well conditioned, to such a fair snout peece, is much to be preferred. If thou wilt avoid them, take away all causes of suspition and jealousie, marry a course peece, fetch her from Cassandra's Temple, which was wont in Italy to be a Sanctuary of all deformed maids, and so thou shall be sure that no man will make thee cuckold, but for spight. A citizen of Bizance in France had a filthy dowdy, deformed slut to his wife, and finding her in bed with another man, cryed out as one amazed; " O miser!" quæ te necessitas huc adegit? O thou wretch, what necessity brought thee hither? as well he might; for who can affect such a one? But this is warily to be understood, most offend in another extream, they prefer wealth before beauty, and so she be rich, they care not how she look; but these are all out as faulty as the rest. Attendenda uxoris forma, as Salisburiensis adviseth, ne si alteram aspexeris, mox eam sordere putes, as the Knight in Chaucer that was married to an old woman, k And all day after hid him as an owl, Have a care of thy wife's complexion, lest whilst thou seest another, thou loathest her, she prove jealous, thou naught, • Ar f Hom. 80. Qui pulchram habet uxorem, nihil pejus habere potest. niseus. b Itinerar. Ital. Coloniæ cdit. 1620. Nomine trium Ger. fol. 304. displicuit quod dominæ filiabus immutent nomen inditum in Baptismo, & pro Catharina, Margareta, &c. ne quid desit ad luxuriam, appellant ipsas nominibus Cynthiæ, Camanæ, &c. i Leonicus de var. 1b. 3. c. 43. Asylus virginum deformium Cassandræ templum. Plutarch. Polycrat. 1. 8. cap. 11. "Si I can perhaps give instance. Molestum est possidere, quod nemo haberc dignetur, a misery to possess that which no inan likes: on the other side, Difficile custoditur quod plures amant. And as the bragging souldier vaunted in the Comedy, nimia est miseria pulchrum esse hominem nimis. Scipio did never so hardly besiege Carthage, as these yong gallants will beset thine house, one with wit or person, another with wealth, &c. If she be fair, saith Guazzo, she will be suspected howsoever. Both extreams are naught, Pulchra citò adamatur, fada facile concupiscit, the one is soon beloved, the other loves: one is hardly kept, because proud and arrogant, the other not worth keeping; what is to be done in this case? Ennius in Menelippe adviseth thee as a friend to take statam formam, si vis habere incolumem pudicitiam, one of a middle size, neither too fair, nor too foul, "* Nec formosa magis quam mihi casta placet," with old Cato, though fit let her beauty be, neque lectissima, neque illiberalis, between both. This I approve; but of the other two I resolve with Salisburiensis, cæteris paribus, both rich alike, endowed alike, majori miseria deformis habetur quam formosa servatur, I had rather marry a fair one, and put it to the hazard, than be troubled with a blowze; but do thou as thou wilt, I speak only of my self. Howsoever, quod iterum monco, I would advise thee thus much, be she fair or foul, to choose a wife out of a good kindred, parentage, well brought up, in an honest place. "† Primum animo tibi proponas quo sanguine creta, He that marries a wife out of a suspected Inne or Alehouse, buyes a horse in Smithfield, and hires a servant in Paul's, as the diverbe is, shall likely have a jade to his horse, a knave for his man, an arrant honest woman to his wife. Filia præsumitur esse matri similis, saith 'Nevisanus?"Such a mother, such a daughter;" mali corvi malum ovum, Cat to her kind. "Scilicet expectas ut tradat mater honestos If the mother be dishonest, in all likelihood the daughter will +Chaloner lib. 9. de repub. Ang. * Marullus. I Lib. 2. num. 159. Si genetrix caste, caste quoque filia vivit; Si meretrix mater, filia talis erit. #Juven. Sat. 6. matrizare, |