Clievelandi Vindiciæ, or, Clieveland's genuine poems, orations, epistles, &c. purged from the many false and spurious ones which had usurped his name, and from innumerable errours and corruptions in the true copies : to which are added many never printed before, with an account of the author's life.

A Letter to a Friend disswading him from his Attempt to Marry a Nun.

THough no man's Arms can be open∣ed wider to receive you on shore and give you possession of his Breast; yet

I know not whether with the usual Com∣plement I may welcome you home, as doubting your Countrey may have Mew∣ed that Relation in so long an Absence; she having exposed her Noble Issue, being Conviction enough to make you disclaim her. Besides there is such a new Face of things since your Departure, that what was formerly the Character of the Inhabi∣tants, is now the Kingdom's, To be a Stranger at home: Insomuch as were you design'd for a second Journey, it might be a part of your business to travel other Countries in quest of your own. Indeed she is such an Alien in her Look that most of her Off spring dare not ask her Blessing. Her Countenance is not Denizen of her self: you would think she were some Float∣ing Island, that had made a voyage only to Truck for an outlandish Visage. Some who have spell'd her Lineaments say she Copies out the Dutch, and to make good the Parallel they doubt not to instance in our Hogen Governours. It is in a broken Kingdom as in a crack'd Looking-glass, wh••re in stead of one Face, that Monarch-like should represent the whole, you may have Variety of lesser ones glimmering in its room, and the Aspects of all of them fierce and frowning. Well then a Foraigner

she is and her Complexion borrow'd; so that as as our new Philosophers would have the Earth to move and the Heavens to stand still, the same may be said of this State of ours, and the Royal Train that you were part of. It was the Kingdom wandered, not you that left it. You are fix'd and England in Exile. When a Country reels from its settled posture, there is no De∣fection in him that quits it, it having first abandoned it self. In this case▪ though it be a Fallacy in the sense, it holds good in Reason, that the Shore moves and falls off from the Sayler; whence you see, Sir, there is some possibility I might reverse your Travels, were it not for one Argu∣ment which abundantly confirms them, The sage Experience you have Treasur'd up in your Observations; for no sooner had you lost your Native Soil; but by way of Reprisal you took in others. The Do∣minions you visit you carry along with you, and by a Victorious Industry make them pay Tribute to your Understanding. Not like a number of our Roaring Gallants, who return so empty and without their Errand, as if their Travel (like Witches in the Air) were nothing but the Waftage of a deluded Phantasie, perswading them∣selves that they Circle the Globe, when

the Card they sail by is nothing else but a slumbring Imposture. But methinks we are too Grave, Sir. What if we unbend a while, and presume to tell you, that in all your Errantry there is no Adventure so much affects me, as that of the Nun, where I cannot determine, whether your Love it self were more Exotick, or the form of accosting it: For although it be natural for Jealousie to study Fornica∣tion,. and every Cuckold within his own Precincts to be an Engineer; yet never before have I heard of a Mistress fenc'd with a Portcullice, or an amorous Visit manag'd with the Caution which suspici∣ous Kings use in an Enterview. This man∣ner of Greeting may not unfitly be termed Cupid's Barriers; a breathing Exercise, ra∣ther than a Combat, where the Sporting Champions have a Rail to part them, that they may not fight it out to the uttermost. Had your old Romancing Spirit possess'd you, the Brandish'd Blade would have freed the Lady from her Enchanted Du∣rance. Nor had you been less concern'd in the Rescue than the Fair Recluse; for who that blows short in expectation of his Love, and in the Heat of Impatience, should be severed from his Hopes by a few envi∣ous Barrs, would not feel himself (like ano∣ther

St. Laurence) broil'd on a Gridiron? But see how Customs vary with the Clime. As there are some Regions who salute one another by putting off their Shooes instead of their Hats; so it seems, where you have been, there is as different a form of Impri∣sonment or Commitment. The Prisoner is at large and without the Grates, wishing for Admittance, and she at whose Suit his Soul is arrested, close clap'd up and abridg'd of Liberty. Sure at this Grate those Chri∣som Lovers, call'd Platonicks, had their first Training. Those Queasie Gamesters that diet themselves with the very Notion of Mingling Souls, without putting the Body to farther Brokage than kissing of Hands and twisting of Eye-beams. For your part, Sir, you are none of those puling Stomachs: You have an Appetite for a whole Cloister. It is but Trifling sport for you to pull down an Out-lyer, unless you leap the Pale and let slip at the Herd. I wonder what Exorcisms the Abbess us'd to get quit of the Incubus; for had she not check'd your Hovering Temptations, I am confident by this time you had trans∣form'd the Covent, and turn'd the Nun∣nery into a Seraglio. But in sober Sadness, why a Nun, Sir? How came you out of the Active Torrent into that Solitary

Creek? Princes seldom Treat of Matches, but in foraign Dominions. Your Affecti∣on takes greater State, as fixing upon one of another World. Had your Passion been Centred on the Beauty of her Soul, I had look'd upon it as the Act of your Conver∣sion. Such a Love might justly have been Christned by the name of Zeal, being settled on a Person, with whom to be en∣amour'd is in a sort to take Orders. Hence it is there want not some who suspect your Religion, left equivocating from the Beau∣ty of her Person to that of her Profession, you should turn Monastick. Others, who are better acquainted with the warmth of your Temper▪ are rather solicitous for the Church in General, lest with Luther you should marry a Nun, and so with him make her a Joynture in a new Religion. If this be your Plot, Consider, I pray you, how difficult it is to Innovate farther in this Age of Novelties, when the World is so spent in new Inventions, that for want of Gain, even Rust and Rottenness are flou∣rished over with a seeming Verdure. Not one of all those Beldam-Heresies that did Penance formerly by the Doom of the An∣cients, but hath cast her Skin since these Confusions, and giveth her self out for a Blooming Virgin. But I think I may spare

this piece of Counsel, I dare be your Com∣purgator for meddling with Religion. That which fir'd your Spirits was the Am∣bition of the Enterprize; nor could you entertain a more Aspiring Phrensie, but by making Love to a Glorified Body. Tell me, I pray you, how many Beads did you drop in Wooing? By what Liturgy did you frame your Courtship? Laick Appli∣cations are here scandalous; nor will it a∣vail to say, you languish without her Com∣passion. A Sensual Man is able to vitiate the Vestal Flame, even by his Martyrdom; other Lovers in the Jollity of their Trope are wont to Canonize their Mistresses, as being of opinion that the Native Rubrick of their Cheeks hath hallowed them. Will you run Counter to that Consecration and degrade a Saint by Mortal Addresses? If you have no room in your Calendar for Persons upon Earth, yet do not profane a Probationer of Heaven; as if the readi∣est way to rectifie Superstition, were, with our Modern Reformers, to bow it into A∣theism. Let me advise you, Sir, to re∣trieve your self back from this Carnal Sa∣crilege. Catch not at Herostratus his Fame by setting fire on the Temple, and dispute not a share of Guilt with Lucifer, in caus∣ing a second Fall of Angels. Nay, never

Start, Sir, nor look about at the Expressi∣on: for I perswade my self, that those Divines who allot to each of us a Tu∣telar Angel for our Protection, would not prejudice their Opinion, should they leave her to her own Tuition, as hardly knowing in such a Person how to distin∣guish between the Charge and the Guar∣dian. Sir, I was entreated by our Noble Friend, that what my Phancy suggested upon this Subject, I would mould into Number; but I must beg your pardon, it being a Request with which to comply were to be your Fellow-criminal, and by a Conformity of Guilt pervert a Votary: for even my Muse is Vow'd and Vail'd too, she is set apart for the Service of my Mi∣stress, and what is that but entring Or∣ders in the true Religion. The Truth is this; she is so chastely confin'd to that sole Employment; that should I in Verse at∣tempt to yield you an account how much I honour you, not a whole Grove of Laurel would bribe her to a Distich: whereas in Transitory Prose, were I a Master of all those Languages, which I make no question but you have gain'd by your Travels▪ I should hold them all too few to give you sufficient Assurance that I am, SIR,

Your most Faithful Servant J C,