The gallery of heroick women written in French by Peter Le Moyne of the Society of Jesus ; translated into English by the Marquesse of Winchester.

Lucrecia.

HOw dangerous a Good is Beauty! how difficult is it to keep! and to what strange Adventures is it exposed! I know not whether the danger would be so great to have the keeping of a sa∣vage Beast in ones house, as to harbour a hand∣som woman: or whether the Graces, I say the modest and chaste Graces, are not more to be feared, then irritated For∣tune become an Enemy: Lions at least have intervals of Innocence; they bite but till their hunger is satisfied: and there are some Feasts which bad Fortune celebrates: there are days of Truce for those whom she persecutes. Beauty knows none of those days of Truce, nor those intervals of In∣nocency. Her very Complacences are dangerous, and her Repose is to be feared. And to the end you may know that it is not only a debauched and licentious Beauty which is de∣structive, that of Lucrecia ruined Tarqu••n: And Lucrecia her self, who was so severe to her own Beauty, and kept it so watchfully, and under so great restraint, happens to be newly murthered by it.

You may have peradventure heard of the undiscreet gal∣lantry of those Princes who are in the Camp of Ardea. The

other day they entred into discourse concerning the merit of their VVives, and every one giving the prize to his own, it was resolved that the Eyes should be chosen Iudges of this difference: without adjourning the agreement to the next day, they all took horse together, and rid Post to Rome and Collatia. It is said that all the voices were for Lucrecia: she gained unhappily an advantage, which she did not dispute: and this unfortunate and fatal Purchase cost her the loss of her Honour and Life. Young Tarquin of his own Nature Arrogant and full of Pride, and inheriting from his Father the name of Proud, being returned to Collatia, and received by Lucrecia as her Husbands Friend, came with a Sword in his hand to surprize her in Bed, and offered her a Violence which surpasses the Title of Proud and Tyrant. I will not ac∣quaint you with the particulars of this Attempt, but only say, that by break of day the poor VVoman, grown desperate in her Misfortune, sent in all haste for her Husband Collatin, and Lucrecius her good Father; They being come, with Bru∣tus and Valerius their intimate Friends, she with Tears related to them the sad Accident of her violated Chastity: and ha∣ving engaged them by Oath to Revenge it, she on a sudden, preventing their Excuses and foresight of her Intention, struck her self to the Heart with a Dagger which she kept hid under her Gown. Behold the last Act of this funestous Tragedy; which will perchance have yet more sad sequels: and you are come very seasonably to receive the last sights of the first Roman Heroesse.

She gave her self but one blow, and all that were present received it. A stream of blood ran from Lucrecia's VVound: Streams of Tears flowed from her Husbands and Fathers VVound: And of these tvvo sorts of VVounds, I know not which is the deepest and most painfull. I know not whether the blood comes more from the Center of the heart, or whe∣ther it slides away with more resentment, then the tears. How∣ever it were, Lucrecia appears well satisfied with the stroke she newly gave her self. You would say that with her blood there issues forth something, I know not what, that is lumi∣nous,

and clears the dark clouds which the shame of the last night had left in her eyes, and on her brow. You would say that her Innocence and purity of heart are seen through her wound: and her wound is to her, as it were, a new mouth, which cals upon the eyes, and perswades in silence. Do you hear what this mouth, eloquent without noise, and perswasive without words, uttereth: It protests against the outrages and tiranny of the Tarquins: it implores the revenge of Gods and Men, and doubtless it will obtain it from them both, and obtain it by the voice of her blood, which is cou∣ragious and bold, which is animated with indignation and justice, which is full of a Roman spirit and vertue.

There is nothing seen effeminate or weak in her person; nothing which is not either a proof of her innocence, or a mark of her courage: And though there were no other testi∣mony for her, yet her justification is clear and manifest in her looks, in the ayr of her face and countenance. The tin∣cture of vertue is not there a superficial painting, and an ad∣dition of art; it is there interiour and natural: it hath been still entertained by the effusions of her heart, and the ••ayes of her soul: And now that her soul hath abandoned it, and that her heart pours it self out through her wound, this fair tincture resists still the colour of death, which effaces all the rest; you will not believe that I say too much, if I aver that it would neither submit to the stain of vice, nor to the dye of impudence.

You may have seen bashfulness elsewhere: All honest wo∣men have this tincture, and the brown should have it as well as the fair. You may have also observed modesty elsewhere; it is a natural ornament, and no costly dress, which may be used by rich and poor. But perhaps you may have never seen but upon this face a couragious bashfulness, and a vigo∣rous and heightned modesty. This temper belongs to the ancient Heroesses, who armed the Graces, and led them forth to the wars. Those of Lucrecia, though not warlike, appear not less bold; and her beauty, though brought up in the shade, and under a veil, hath no less vigour or courage.

Nevertheless this powerfull and couragious beauty begins to decay, and these wounded Graces will quickly expire one after another. Mean while it is apparent that the loss of their Honour doth more disorder them, and is more sensible to them then the loss of life. Their shame is still fresh and en∣tire, and fear is not yet come upon them. Their blushes do not vanish, though their spirits steal away with their blood; and before they die of their wound, they will expire with re∣gret, for having complyed with the last nights crime, though they then assisted without being seen, and by meer con∣straint.

Collatin, who had the greatest loss by this accident, seems the most afflicted: He supports Lucrecia, who sinks between his arms; and he himself would need anothers arms, if he were not sustained by wrath, which came to the succour of his heart, and inflamed his countenance. Seised as he was with wrath and grief, indignation and pitty, he could not express himself but by his eyes; and his tears, since his voice failed him, bid unto Lucrecia the last adieu, and confirm to her the good opinion he had of her Innocence.

To this discourse of tears, Lucrecia makes answer with blood, and sighs: She casts down her eyes upon her wound, as if she meant to give a sign to Collatin to behold at least her naked heart through this gaping wound. I believe that the last motion of her lips is an oath, whereby she assures him that he shall find it free from the stains of her body; that he shall meet there with no other image then his own, nor any print of a forraign flame: and that if there remain still any ashes of it, they are the ashes of a lawfull fire, which he alone hath inkindled, and which is no less pure then the sacred fire of the Vestals. Though there be nothing but spirit and breath in this oath, yet it is understood by Collatin, who makes the like protestation of fidelity for the future. But it is only exprest in tears and sighs, he hath forgotten all other terms: And Lucrecia, who yet well understands them, ac∣cepts the protestation of his eyes, and consigns it to her soul, which carries it with joy to the other world.

Brutus, who stands by, makes a third protestation, which is of a different form, and will not be accomplished but with fire and sword. The countenance you behold in him is not his ordinary meen: The language he speaks is new to him, and without doubt the Genius of Rome hapening to be pre∣sent at this action, appeared to him, and inspired him to the full. It is from his light this Romans eyes are ardent, and his whole face as flaming fire: It is with his spirit he is possessed, and they are his words which issue forth of his mouth. VVith one hand he holds the bloody Dagger which he but newly drew forth of Lucrecia's wound, and seems to of∣fer it as a sacrifice to the Genius that speaks to him; the other he lifts to Heaven; and accompanying with his voice and fire, the voice and smoke of the chaste blood, which distils from the fatall Dagger, he vows to the Gods and his Coun∣try the ruin of the Tarquins, and the extirpation of Sove∣raignty.

This new fire stayes not with him: it passes to Valerius and Lucrecius the Father: It dryes up the tears upon their Cheeks, and sadness in their hearts, and inkindles in place thereof an anger, which is yet but a particular and domestick fire, and such an one as will soon set Rome and all Italy in an univer∣sall flame. These two grave Senators confirm by their ge∣sture and countenance the same oath which Brutus takes: Their fiery eys and their faces grown young again, by a heat unknown to their age, swear in the same form to extirpate the Tarquins. Col••atin dazled with his affliction and loss, doth not mind what they do; but when he shall return out of this amazement, he will mingle his zeal with theirs: And all four consecrating themselves to liberty and revenge, by touching that blood which this woman gathers up, they joyntly renewed their vow to Lucrecia's Ghost. And Lucre∣cia will be hereafter, next unto liberty and vertue, their Do∣mestick Divinity, and the principall Religion of their Fa∣milies.

SONNET.

LUCRECIA speaks.

ALL Nations know my Tragedy; I find That still the fact is fresh in ev'ry mind; The blood still from me flows, which in Rome's sight Repair'd my wrong, and wash'd my honour white.

Nature admird my genrous Death, set forth In History, by Pens of greatest worth; And to eternize me, each hand that's rare In Glory's Temple draws my Picture faire.

But all these marks of Honour, and of praise, What do they serve me for, since now adayes, They slander my disaster with the name Of Crime, and wrongfully arraign my Fame.

But this affront my noble Ghost resents, And to my Fate her thence-sprung sorrow vents: Nay rather then endure so soul a slain. I in this Pourtrait kill my self again.

The Apology and Elogy of LVCRECIA.

LVcrecia complains in these verses of her rigorous usage, and of the charge laid against her, to the dishonor of her Memory. I have seen this charge, and the sentence annext to it in the Books of the City of God: I have been present sometimes at the de∣clamations which one of the highest and strongest Vertues of her Sex is wont to make against her: And I confess, that if she be judged by the Christian Rule, and the Laws of the Gospel, she will be hardly able to justifie her Innocence. The most favourable will be at least of S. Austins opinion, and conclude with him, that she neither merited the death she gave her self, if she were innocent in her dishonour; nor the praises she received, if she were guilty of it.

Nevertheless, were she withdrawn from this severe Tribunal, where no Heathen Vertue appears, which is not in danger to be condemned: were she to be judged by the Law of her own Country, and by the Religion of her time, she will be found one of the chastest Women of her Age, and one of the most couragious of her Country: Noble and Vertuous Philo∣sophy, which so often accuseth her, will absolve her of her disaster, and be reconciled to her; and every one will confess that her sin is less ascribable to her own fault, then to the imperfection of the Law, which had ill di∣rected her, and to the scandals of that Religion which had given her but bad presidents.

In effect, the Law of that Country was then but specious and superfi∣cial; the Moral was only applyed to plaister over the exteriour, to imitate the countenance and gestures of Vertue, to make fair masks and hand∣som delusions: It touched not upon corrupted intentions, it had no Rule for inordinate desires; and in case depraved passions came not so far as to ill effects, yet it abandoned them to their own sense, and permitted their hearts to enjoy a liberty more then popular: It allowed them an unpu∣nishable and unrestrained freedom. As for the Religion of the Romans, which erected Courtisans into Goddesses, and sacrificed to Adulterers, it was not to be expected that it should produce Virgins and chaste Women. Therein Lucrecia, even ravished Lucrecia was better then the Gods of Rome. It was not the love of pleasure, nor the fear of death which induced her to sin, but the love of Honour, and the excessive fear she had to lose it: and if she were not endowed with the resolution of Susa••••s, who sunk neither under death nor infamy, it suffices to say in her excuse, that she knew not the God of Susanna: And the miracle would have been too great, it a Hea∣then Woman had equalled one of the highest Vertues amongst the Faith∣ful, without the Law, and the Graces, which made them so.

Let us not forbear then to commend Lucrecia, she is worthy of our praises. Ancient Rome, which hath been the Nurse of sublime natural ver∣tues, & of great Pagan Heroes, hath brought forth nothing more high and great, nothing more gallant and couragious, then Lucrecia. This great City

was the Exterminatrix of insolent Kings, and the Mother of the Common-wealth: And to bring into the World this famous Maid, who ought to have commanded so many Nations, she opened her own bosom, and procured to her self a remarkable and violent death. Therein she was more glorious and worthy of esteem then the Mother of the first Caesar, whose belly was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 up to make way for the Usurper, whom she bore in her womb. The outragious Villain who offered violence to her Honour, did not dishonor her: Honour stuck close to Vertue, and Vertue cannot be torn out of the heart, it must fall of it self. Being unable with her single hands to resist armed Force, she repelled it with her minde; and her soul raised it self as much as it could, not to be stained with the impurity which defiled her body. Besides, she was willing to cleanse it with her blood: and the zeal of her Modesty was so great, as she punished upon her self the unclean∣ness which another had committed.

MORAL REFLECTION.

YOU who see Lucrecia dying in this Picture, take heed lest her blood fall upon you, and put you to the blush, if you be a less chaste Christian, then she was a chaste Idolatress. And if you be pure in that point, and possess the prime Vertues of your Sex, remember that a chaste Woman is but an initiated Christian, and that it is no great praise to you to be un∣der the Law of a Virgin born and a Virgin-God, what so many other have been under lascivious Gods, and adulterous Goddesses. But if your Honour be humble and modest; if your Chastity be sweet, charitable, and religious; if you be numbred amongst the industrious and prudent Vir∣gins; if you listen to the Bridegroom with patience, and with a Lamp lighted in your hand; if you be strong in the strength of Christianity, all Ancient Rome, whether of your Sex or ours, was endued with less Forti∣tude then your selves: And you do not only take away the honour from Lucrecia, but you take it also from the Cornelia's, the Panthea's, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉; you take it from all the Vertues of the Republick and Empire.

MORAL QVESTION.

Whether Chastity belongs to the Honour of Heroesses and great Ladies?

I Have seen the discourse of Tassus, concerning the vertue of Ladies: and I understand very well the difference that he places betweeen the honour of Women, and that of Heroesses: But I very well discern to what his discourse doth tend: And I am not ignorant of his sickness caused by the Princess 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Es••e. Surely if he were upon his oath,

where he could not be heard by the Princess 〈◊〉〈◊〉, he would give the lie to his own book, and stand for the received truth. and if by preoccu∣pation or interest one single licentious and scandalous word happen to escape him, his 〈◊〉〈◊〉, Glorind••, and G••ld••pp•• would depart out of his Ierusalem to declare against him, and would by force of Arms constrain him to retract this word of scandal, and to condemn his 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉〈◊〉. But whether he hath been the Author of this novelty, which gives so ill ex∣ample, whether he had learnt it by tradition, or whether the Philosophers of his Country have made a mysterie of it; certainly it ought not to pre∣vail against common Morality. And Ladies would be ill advised to re∣nounce the belief of their Sex, and relinquish the Doctrine which Nature her self hath taught them, to follow the opinion of an interested Inno∣vator, of an amarous and pretending Poet, who sought to accommodate Philosophy to his passion, and draw advantage from the novelty of his erroneous Doctrine.

They must then keep themselves to that Morality which all Nations and Ages have received, and believe generally and without exception that chastity is an essential part appertaining to the honor of their whole Sex. Why should Heroesses be exempt from it? why should impurity be permitted those that art born in Pallaces and under Crowns? Is it that they are of a third Sex and of another Species▪ Is it that deformity and de∣••••sts a••ter nature under cloth of God? And is it that great Fortunes are so efficacious and luminous, as they purifie vice, and give lustre and grace to sin? surely it would be very strange, if out of the ordures and infection of petty Bourgers houses, gold and perfumes should be made in Pallaces, if tattered garments, which would discredit the wife of a mean shopkeeper should adorn a Princess; If the dirt of the hands and feet should become a Paint and Ornament of the head, if spots which appear unseemly in a little Star should not be so in a great Planet: This would be to relapse into the error of the Ancient Idolaters, who sung Hymns to their adulterous Gods, and punished their servants for the same crimes: who adored in publike debauched and pratling Goddesses, and at home preached chastity to their wives and daughters.

I add hereunto, that by the right of Nature, and by the Order established in the world Greatness and Nobility have a particular obligation to purity. The noblest spirits and the most elevated Intelligences, are, if I may say so, the purest Virgins, and the freest from the staines of matter. The Planers, who are the Pe••••s and Nobles of the corporeal world, have the advantage in point of purity, as well as in that of Greatness and Nobility. And not only fire, which is the superior Element, is purer then the rest; but it is also more purifying, and a more declared enemy to whatever defileth. By the same reason gold and silver, which are the Soveraign Mettals, are esteemed for their purity; And the same purity gives a value to Pearls and precious Stones, which are, as a gallant person said, the Majesty of abbreviated Nature. Regulation observed with so hansome order and so just a dispo∣sition of things, is to Princesses and great Ladies a Law of purity which

they have found in their birth. It cannot be more lawful for them to dis∣pence with it by the moral Doctrine of Tassus, then it can be permitted by the Philosophy of Chymicks, that either Gold should be mixt with Brass, or Diamonds be blemisht with Flaws.

Moreover, if Chastity be a natural Ornament, and an easie attire without art, which is proper and peculiar to the second Sex, I see not why it should less appertain to the condition of Heroesses, then those fancied Ornaments, and such cumbersome rich Dresses, in which they are so curious. It would be very strange that they who might not decently apparel themselves in course cloth, might yet appear decently without the robe of chastity, and that nature had made for them the whiteness of Pearls and the fire of Di∣amonds, and for others the whiteness of chastity, and the fire of modesty. And assuredly Nature hath not given them so many Beauties, nor imprint∣ed in them so lively lights, which we ordinarily observe in them, to the end these Beauties should be prophaned, and these lights obscured; and that by their prophanation and staines they should scandalize such as be∣hold them. She is too jealous of so excellent things: The exact curiosities wherewith she hath ranked them, the care she hath had to preserve them for the purest part of the world, are marks visible enough of what she ex∣pects from great Ladies, to whom she uses to be so liberal of such treasures.

And if modesty be an Ornament proper to their quality as well as to their Sex, it cannot be denyed, but the contrary vice is by the same reason a stain to them both, nay a stain so much the baser, as the subject upon which it fals, is of a higher birth, or of a more elevated fortune. And therein not to displease the Muses, whom I respect, and Pc••sie, which •• honor, their Tassus seems to me ridiculous, for permitting that to illustrious Ladies, which he permits not to ordinary Dames. He might have maintained with as much reason, that scabs are noisome on the feet▪ and on the face; that due which spoils linnen or course Cloth, gives lustre to Silk or Scar∣let; and that defects, which would disgrace a figure of clay, would not do the like to one of Ivory Was he so possessed with his Love, or so troubled with Melancholy, as he had forgotten that great Persons may not have small imperfections, and that the least defects disfigure the fairest works? Hath he never observed that all the defections of the Moon are numbred? That there happens no Ecclypse to her which causeth not all Historians to speak of it? That the spots and defections of the Sun, though they be only such in appearance, are yet ill interpreted by the world? And if he had ob∣served all this, in what sense, to what end, and with what colour could he write, that those Heroick persons, of whom he speaks, might lose their fairest flower, and receive no dishonor by it.

Nay more, publike honesty here joyn it self with the honor of parti∣cular persons against this fair Morality of Tassus. Impurity is not only more fordid, and of a worse odour in these eminent persons, but more con∣tagious, and of more dangerous consequence. Ill example, and an infecti∣ous air is alwayes to be feared from what part soever it comes, and what wind soever moves it. But it hath a more subtile poyson, and a more pene∣trating

malignity, when it issues from great Houses, when it is breathed forth by a mouth of Authority, when it is carried in garments of silk and gold. And 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in these times Princesses, and such as approach neer to their degree, had declared themselves for the ill Doctrine of Tassus, the very next day all other women would believe that it concerned their honour to be Gallants. And the licentiousness of Ladies would be brought in fashion, as well as their Apparell and Dresses.

It will nothing avail to oppose hereunto the example of Semiramis, of Cleopatra, and of other Princesses who have been couragious, magnificent, learned and expert, and yet have not been very chaste. I have said already, that this stain was so much the baser, as being placed upon a more precious matter, and wrought with more art And if the integrity of Cato the Sensor and drunkard could not justily drunkenness; I see not how the inconti∣nence of Ladies will be justified by the valour of victorious and un∣chaste 〈◊〉〈◊〉, or by the spirit and generosity of the knowing and licen∣tious, the magnanimous and debauched Cleopatra. Surely it is great pitty that so many Vertues have been so ill lodg'd, and with so bad company. And since the Holy Ghost hath compared fair women who are not wise, to Sowe's adorned with bracelets of gold: since a Philosopher hath said, that fair ignorant persons were vessels of Allabraster fill'd with vineger, we may also say by the same reason that these magnanimous, debauched, and these learned, licentious women were full fraught vessels, and loaden with dirt, magnificent Pallaces, and infected with Ordure and unwholsome air; costly Monuments, and filled with putrifaction. And therefore we must conclude, that modesty is a vertue necessary for Hercesses; And that great Ladies have more interest in its conservation, then those that are inferior to them both in birth and fortune. The discourse by which Tassus en∣deavors to prove the contrary, is scandalous: And if I might be credited, he would be condemned by the express sentence of all Ladies; And his Au∣thor would be banished out of all Closets, and Chambers, as Poets his pre∣decessors were heretofore out of the Commonwealth of Plato.

EXAMPLE.

Gondeberga of France, Queen of Lumbardy.

THere are not only good reasons to alledge against the bad doctrine of Tassus, but whole Volumes of examples to oppose against him: And for two or three licentious women, who have dishonoured No∣bility, and disparaged the Graces, Historie might send Heroesses in Troops, who have been chaste and magnanimous, who have had the same degree of courage and modesty, and have conserved the tincture of purity in the splendor of a soveraign Fortune.

I leave all the fabulous ones which are created by Poets, and nourished

by the Composers of Romances. I leave even the true ones which are too far-fetch'd, and appertain to forraign History; and it satisfies me to pro∣duce a French woman, who hath been more chaste and valiant then Lu∣crecia, and will no less couragiously defend the honour of Ladies; though I do not expose her with a sword in her hand, nor represent her prepared to commit a murther.

Gondeberga, a Princess of the blood of France, and neer allyed to King Dagolert, was born with all the Graces and Advantages she could receive from Nature. Her Nobility was of a Race which had this quality of the Pome-Granad-••••ee, that it bears no head that is not crowned, and full of Heroick spirits. Her beauty was soveraign by right of Nature, which reigns without strong holds and Armies. Her wit and courage might have made a Conqueror, if it had been placed in another Sex. Nevertheless it was a courage without cruelty▪ 〈◊〉〈◊〉 was a wit tempered with sweetness and force: And as for her vertue, it was so pure, and of so good odour, as it pene∣trated all her actions, and left no part of her life, upon which detraction it self could colourably ••asten an untruth.

Being advantaged by this natural endowment, which was more to be esteemed then all the Crowns Fortune could give her, she was espoused to Arioldus King of Lombardy. The first years of her marriage were happy and peaceable, either by her carriage, which was pleasing and dexterous, or by the power of her vertue, which wrought successfully upon Arioldus heart, and disposed him sweetly to contribute his esteem and complacences to this domestick felicity. Nevertheless as there be Serpents which are natu∣rally enemies to fair Flowers; and as Dogs do not bark against the Moon but when she is perfect, and possesses all her light; so there be jealous Devils who have a particular spite against pleasing and illustrious vertues: and it was one of these infernal Spirits who impoysoned the mind of Ari∣oldus, and changed the happy state of Gondeberga.

She had in her service a young Lord, native of Lombardy, named Ada∣l••••sus, a person of a gracefull aspect, and full of courage; who besides his exteriour gallantry, had also that which was useful and serviceable in the Field. But as the most part of Court Vertues, to qualifie them rightly, are but sportive, and painted Vertues; but poor ones, which act the part of Queens, and deformed ones with fair masks: so this gracefull meen, and great courage of Adalulsus, covered a dangerous pride; and an ex∣tream presumption lay hid under this Gallantry. Nevertheless, whether these defects were covered over with so curious a plaister, and so artificially applyed, as nothing of it appeared to the eyes of the Queen, whether she suspected it to proceed rather out of Youth then any formed malice, or that she really believed that vertues did lose nothing of their grace in the com∣pany of vices, she did not forbear to have a singular esteem of him, and to reserve those favours and kindnesses for him, which she had for no body else.

These favours indeed were very innocent and pure: and there was no∣thing undecent and immodest in these kindnesses. But discretion was

wanting: and Gondeberga should not have trusted so much to her inno∣cence, and the purity of her intentions, as not to remember, that there is no∣thing so pure, which may not be impurely interpreted; and that even the spi∣rit of Roses, innocent as it is, serves for matter of poyson to Spiders. Moreo∣ver there are some men so vain, and so well perswaded of their own merit, as they cannot believe that a woman, what preservatives soever she may carry about her, and with what Vertues soever she is guarded, can look upon them without forfeiting her liberty at first sight, and her reason at the second. And the extravagancy of some proceeds so far, as to perswade themselves, almost with the good man of the Comedy, that the Dog-daies, and the Southern wind, which cause Feavors, are less dangerous to wo∣men then their presence.

Adolulsus was one of these good people; he easily believed that the esteem which Gondeberga expressed towards him, proceeded from passion. He took her civilities and favours for coloured Courtships, and fore-run∣ners of a vanquished Chastity, which was willing to be summoned, to the end it might surrender with Ceremony, and according to the forms of War. Adding temerity to this Vision, he had the impudence to speak to her of Love, and to violate Majesty by the impurity of his mouth, and by the blasphemies of a sacrilegious solicitation. Gondeberga, who was one of those generous Ladies, who are not to be touched without punishment, and who have thorns of Roses, as well as their Graces & Blushes; remain∣ing a while without making any reply, either because she feared to prosti∣tute her voice and soul to the ears of this infamous person, or that she de∣liberated on the punishment of his Audacity, she suddenly rose up, and without other answer, spit in his face at her departure.

I expect indeed that gentle spirits will not approve this quickness, and that they will alledge against her the address & moderation of the wise and vertuous 〈◊〉〈◊〉, who punished with a profitable and honourable dismis∣sion that lunatick Sp••••••rd, who had discovered his love to her. But sure∣ly the boldness of the Lombard, who violated the sanctity of a Crown, which came neer to Sacriledge, was another kind of folly, then that of the Spaniard, which related more to his head then heart: who was respect∣full and modest: And passing no farther then to Congi•••• and Grimaces, might be satisfied with wind and smoke. Let not the Stoic••s and their Pa∣radoxes take offence at it, all fools are not of the same stamp, nor will be treated in the same manner. And if mildness were seasonably used by the Princess of Spain towards a melancholy Innocent, who discoursed not of his folly, but to windows, and only expressed himself by his guittar in his Serenades. The severity was no less opportune, which the French Lady ex∣ercised on a furious person, who had need of chains.

However it were, Ad••lulsus equally confounded, and irritated by the af∣front he conceived to have been offered him by Gondeberga, retired, with shame upon his face, and poyson in his heart. He likewise deferred not long the vomiting it forth, and what he vented, troubled all Lombardy, and dispersed its bad odour as far as France. He represented to himself, that

in affairs of this nature one ought not to be fearfully wicked, and by halfes; that bold and consummated Crimes were the most successful, and that since the King could not sail to be advertised of what had happened, it were good to begin first, and turn the storm upon the head of Gondeberga.

Being fortified by this resolution, and his natural Audacity, he presented himself before the King with the face of an Impostor, and a countenance versed in the art of dissimulation and lying.

He began by a counterfeit grief & false regrets: He complains of the harshness of a new duty, which changeth the duties of his condition, and offers violence to his honor. He calls that necessity, cruel, and unfortunate, which enforces him to become an informer against a person, who was sacred to him, and for whom he would have exposed a thousand lives. And after a tedious int••••cacy of many confused words, by design and craft, it fell from his mouth, that he had discovered a strange practice between the Queen and Tason, Governor of T••kan••: That the end of this practice was to poison the King, and to raise Tason to his Bed and Throne: That there remained nothing but a fit conjuncture to execute this design. And that if an effi∣cacious and couragious prudence were not opposed to so pressing a mis∣chief, and which hung already over his head; it is to be feared that his delay and circumspection might prove fatal to him; And that a moment of time ill managed, might draw, together with his death, a general ruin upon the State.

A••••••lus affrighted with so strange a relation, and a danger so little ex∣pected, remained speechless for a while: And his mind perplexed with the confusion of wandring thoughts, and ballanced between belief and doubt, knows not what resolution to take. His thoughts being fixed at last upon the testimony of Adalulsus, the contestation was great in his heart between a Husband and a King between Love and Fear: And these pieces being so neer to him, and so contrary in themselves, he neither presented to his mind an expedient, whereby he might reconcile them, nor any consi∣derable reason upon which he might justly give sentence for either. At last he submitted to fear, and declared for the King, upon whose conservation the Husband depended▪ And being perswaded, that in dangers of this nature distrust brings safety, and to be credulous is the part of a wise man; with∣out deferring the business till the next morning on the same day he secured the Queen, and caused her to be carried to the Castle of Amello, where during the space of three years she had commerce with no person whatsoever: And light it self beheld her only by intervals and stealth.

The wise Princess patiently did acquiesce to the will of the King her Husband; And endured this civil death with a constancy, which shewed cleerly that there was something in her more noble then her blood, and more Soveraign then her Crown. This trial, though harsh and painful, proved not unprofitable to her. It gained her the consummation, and the last purity of vertue: And when God perceived this last purity, and this compleatment, which forms great Examples and Heroick models, he

caused a deliverer to come from this side the Alpes, who took her out of prison, and replaced her with honor upon her Throne.

Dag••bert advertised of this unjust Treatment, and contrary to the Arti∣cles which the King of Lumbardy had entred into concerning his Neece, sends an Embassie to him to complain of the injury, and to require the justification of the prisoner. Anselo••, to whom the Commission is given, discharges it couragiously, and with words of authority which savored more of command then Remonstrance.

He represented to him that the blood of France had been till then pure, and held in veneration: That it hath never been yet known that one single drop of it was ever stained. That the King his master could not perswade himself, that it had begun by his Neece to lose its lustre and become corrupt; that it concerned his honor and duty to justifie her: That to this end he had sent a Champion to fight with the Informer. And that if 〈◊〉〈◊〉 refused to grant the Combat according to justice and custome; he would come in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••solve his Neece with a hundred thousand men, and inkindle 〈◊〉〈◊〉 fire at the gate of her prison, that all Lumbardy should feel the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of it.

〈◊〉〈◊〉 having assented to the Combat for the decision of this affair, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Queens Cousin threw down his Pledge, and it was taken up by 〈◊〉〈◊〉, who judged it more safe to commit his life and honor to the fortune of Arms, which might prove favorable to him, then to abandon them both to a certain loss by an anticipated Declaration. Adalul••us was indeed both dexterous and valiant: But there is no Address against the providence o•• God; There is no valour which sinks not under his justice. He was overcome and punished by death, after a publike confession of his impe••••tute. And Gondeberga was re-established with the general Aplause of all Lumbaray which had deplored her misfortune, and still conserved for her, its good affections and suffrage.

The History doth not only speak in favour of the chastity of Heroesses, and defends it against the scandalous Morality of Tassus: But one may also draw other lights from thence, which are no less instructive, nor less use∣full for the direction of Ladies. First, this so pure affection of Gondeberga towards Ada••lsus, ought to teach our malicious Criticks, that very often what they find of ill Odour in particular actions, proceeds from the depra∣ved disposition of their own brains; That they take sometimes Stars for Co••v••ts; and that they suspect impurity and corruption even in those friendships, where there is nothing but a pure spirit, a most pure light, and a fire loosned from matter.

But it is not enough for Amities to be pure and innocent, they ought to be considerate and reserved, and must take heed of making indiscreet advances. Rash and presumptuous Adalulsus are to be found every where, who have alwayes prepared matter to inkindle a fire out of the least sparks of affection which are discovered to them. And what most imports, is, that they cannot be satisfied with a secret temerity, and an interior presumption. They become confident by their imaginary conquests. They dream of fa∣vors

and fortunes, and divulge them when they are awake. They counter∣feit Assignations, and forge Letters; And these counterfeit Assignations are followed by real quarrels: These forged Letters inkindle fire in Families, and blast the best Fames, and the most innocent lives; surely such must needs be incorrigible who cannot be converted by so many examples. And though the sacred scripture forbids us to lament an Inchanter, who suf∣fers himself to be stung by a Serpent which he himself hath charmed, yet is he more to be deplored then a woman who confides in so deceipt∣full a faith as that of men, and hazards her reputation upon oaths which have been so often broken.

In fine, misbelieving Christians and baptized Epicures will learn from the double revolution of this Tragedy, that although truth and justice do not visibly intervene in all actions which are represented upon the Theatre of this world, yet we cannot say that they sleep behind the Scene, or re∣main there idle. They suffer there indeed confusion and disorder for a time, but it is not a perpertual confusion, nor a disorder without art. And this art cannot appear till the conclusion, to which they by design reserve the deli∣verance of Innocence, and the punishment of Calumny.