The Actors Names
Monsieur Nobilissimo.
Monsieur Esperance.
Monsieur Phantasie.
Monsieur Poverty.
Monsieur Adviser, and several other Gentlemen.
Admiration.
Vainglory.
Pride.
Ambition.
Madamoiselle LaBelles Wooers.Madamoiselle Esperance, Wife to Monsieur Esperance.
Madamoiselle La Belle.
Madamoiselle Amour.
Madamoiselle Grand Esprit.
Madamoiselle Bon.
Madamoiselle Tell-truth.
Madamoiselle Spightfull.
Madamoiselle Detractor.
Madamoiselle Malicious.
The First Part
of
Natures Three Daughters,
Beauty, Love,
and Wit.
Act I.
Scene 1.
[Enter Madamoiselle Detractor, Madamoiselle Spightfull, MadamoiselleMalicious, and Madamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Tell-truth
The Lady Natures Daughters are the only Ladies
that are admired, praised, adored, worshiped,
and sued to;
all other women are despised.
Spightfull
We may go into a Nunnery; for we shall
never get Servants, nor Husbands, as long as they live.
Tell-truth
Why there are but three of them, and three
women cannot serve and content all the men in
the World.
Detractor
No, but they may discontent all the men so much,
as to make
them all to be Male-contented Lovers, who will
reject all, because they cannot
have what they desire.
Malicious
Let us make a Faction against them.
Spightfull
Alas what Faction against them, can hurt and
destroy Love,
Wit, and Beauty?
Detractor
Jealousy will weaken Love,
Dispraise will disgrace
Wit, and
Beauty, Time will soon
bring that to decay.
Tell-truth
But Jealousy cannot weaken true and virtuous
Love, nor Dispraise
cannot disgrace pure
Wit, not Time cannot decay the
Beauty of the
mind; wherefore all the faction you can make
against them, will do them
no hurt; besides, you will be condemned by all
the Masculine Sex, if not punished
with infamy, for your treachery; and
since you cannot do them harm,
your best way will be to imitate them for your
own good.
Spightfull
So we shall be laughed at, and stared on as
Monkies, and scorned;
forasmuch as we offer at that which is
beyond our abilities, and whatsoever
is forced, and constrained, appeareth ridiculous.
Malicious
Come let us leave speaking of them, and thinking of
them,
if we can.
Scene 2.
[Enter Monsieur Esperance, and his Wife MadamoiselleEsperance.]
Monsieur Esperance
Surely Wife you do not love me, you are not any
way kind to me.
Madamoiselle Esperance
True Love Husband, is not so fond as serviceable.
Monsieur Esperance
But true Love will express it self sometimes:
for if
you did truly Love me, you would hang about my
Neck, as if you meant to
dwell there.
Madamoiselle Esperance
If I thought my kindness might not Surfet your
affection,
I would hang about your Neck, as the
Earth to the Center, and as
you move should bear me still about you; but I
am afraid if overfond, you
should be weary of me, and account me a trouble,
and I had rather starve all
my delights, than make you loath my Company.
Monsieur Esperance
This is but an excuse Wife.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Why are you Jealouse, that you think my words
speak not my thoughts? have I behaved my self
so indiscreetly, or have my
actions been so light, as you believe I shall
be wanton?
Monsieur Esperance
No, I do not fear your Virtue.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Do you fear my Indiscretion?
Monsieur Esperance
I hope you will give me no cause to fear, although
Husbands are oftner dishonoured by their Wives
Indiscretions, than their
Inconstant affections.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Pray be confident, that I shall have a greater care
of your Honour, than of my own Life.
Scene 3.
[Enter two Gentlemen.]1 Gentleman
The Lady
Natures three Daughters, namely Wit, Beauty,
and Love, are the
sweetest, and most Virtuous Ladies in the
World.
2 Gentleman
I have heard so much of their fame, as I have a
great desire
to see them.
1 Gentleman
You may see the Lady Wit, for she doth
discourse often
in publick; but for the other two Sissters, they
are somewhat more
retired.
2 Gentleman
How shall we know the time, that the Lady Wit discourses
in publick?
1 Gentleman
I am going to see if I can get a place, where I may
hear her.
2 Gentleman
I will go with you, if you will give me leave.
1 Gentleman
With all my Heart.
Scene 4.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and Monsieur Poverty.]Monsieur Poverty
My Noble Lord, I am a Gentleman, one that is ruin’d
by Fortunes spight, and not by my own
Carelesness, Vanity, Luxury, or
Prodigality; for my Poverty is honest: but
though my Poverty hath an honest
face, yet it is ashamed to appear in the
open light of publick knowledg,
which makes me whisper my wants to your
Lordships private Ear.
Monsieur Nobilissimo
Sir, if your necessities can conceal
themselves, they
shall never be divulged by me; and what I can
honestly give you out of my
Estate, and not very imprudently from my self,
I shall freely, and secretly,
distribute to you, and such as are in your condition.
Monsieur Poverty
Your Lordships Servant.
Scene 5.
[Enter Madamoiselle Amor alone.]Madamoiselle Amor
The mind is the best Tutor, and ought to instruct
the Senses how to choose; for the Senses are
but as the working Labourers,
to bring Lifes materials in; but O my
Senses have betrayed my
mind, in bringing through my Ears, and Eyes,
Beauty, and Wit, which
like as creeping Serpents, got passage to my
heart, and winding round about
with flattering imbraces, yet sting the peace,
and quiet of my mind, raising
therein blisters of discontent, causing an
anguish of restless thoughts, which
work, and beat like pulsive pain.
But O had I been born both Deaf and Blind,
Then might I scape this Hell tormenting mind;
His Wit like various Musick pierc’d my Ear,
Some being solemn, and some pleasant were:
And when he spake, his person did appear
Like to the Sun, when no dark Clouds were neer;
Fame of his valour, like a trumpet sound,
Through Ears from Heart, unto the Eyes rebound;
And then his person, like Mars did appear,
Yet so, as when fair Venus Queen was neer.
O Love forbear, use not this cruelty,
Either bind him, or give me liberty
Monsieur Adresser
What are you all alone sweet Mistriss?
Amor
No Sir, I have the Company of thoughts.
Adresser
Those are Melancholy Companions.
Amor
Indeed mine are so at this time; yet thoughts with
thoughts may
discourse wittily, and converse pleasantly
together, without articulate
words.
Adresser
Certainly your thoughts must needs be pleasant,
your words
are so witty.
Amor
No truly, for my thoughts lie in my brain like a
Chaos in a confused
heap, and my brain being young, hath not
enough natural heat to disgest
them into a Methodical order; neither hath
Time cookt them ready for
the Mind to dish out, or the Tongue to carry to
the Ears of the hearers.
Adresser
The oftner I hear, and see you, the more I wonder at you.
Amor
Why, I hope Sir I am no Monster?
Adresser
No, for you seem to me something divine.
Amor
Then you should rather admire me: for Admiration
proceeds
from things excellent, Wonder from things
strange and unusuall.
Adresser
So you are strange, and unusual: for things
divine are not common;
and certainly you are a thing illuminated
beyond Natures Art, and
ate the only delight of Mankind.
Amor
Men take no worldly delight in Cœlestial
Creatures, but
with Earthly; wherefore the most refined and
illuminated, is oftenest
rejected.
Adresser
No Lady, they are not rejected, but as Angels, they
will not
reside with us.
Amor
Sir, for fear I should lose the Angelical opinion
you have of me,
I will depart soon as Angels do.
Act II.
Scene 6.
[Enter Madamoiselle Detractor, Madamoiselle Spightfull, MadamoiselleMalicious, and Madamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Tell-Truth
Come, will you go to hear the Lady Wit discourse?
Spightfull
Not I.
Tell-truth
Will you go?
Detractor
I will not go to hear a prating preaching woman.
Malicious
O that all the Masculine Sex would say as much.
Tell-truth
Let us go to learn Wit.
Spightfull
I had rather be a Dunce all my life.
Detractor
So had I, if I must have none but a Woman instructor.
Malicious
Indeed women should learn, not teach.
Detractor
It’s a sign Men want Wit,
when they go to hear a Woman
preach.
Spightfull
But let us go, if it be but to censure; for an
hundred to one, but
she will say something which may be contradicted.
Malicious
Then let us agree to be her contradictors: for
whatsoever she
saith we will confute.
Tell-truth
Nay by your favour, that you cannot do; for though
you may
contradict any argument, yet not confute it: for
though Envy and Spight
have bred Sophistry, yet Envy and Spight cannot
confute the Truth.
Spightfull
Well, let us go howsoever, if it be but to see,
and be seen of
those men as will be there to hear her.
All
Content.
Scene 7.
[Enter Madamoiselle Grand Esprit, and her Audience. She takes her place, and then speaks.]Grand Esprit
That thou wilt open every hearing door,
Which are the Ears: let not my Wit be lost,
For want of hearing, nor my words be crost,
Nor yet obstructed by a bustling noise,
Or gazing, or observing some light toyes:
But let their Ears be fixt, as if their sight
Did view my words, till on their Ears they light.
Noble and Right Honourable,
I shall take my discource at this time out of
Ignorance, which discource,
I shall divide into Five Parts, the Gods, Fates,
Nature, the World, and
Man; for although Ignorance be obscure, and hard
to be discovered, yet it
is printed in a general Language, being spread
and communicated over all
the World. I begin with the
First, and prime Creature, Ignorant Man.
Man takes himself to be the most knowing
Creature, for which he hath
placed himself next to the Gods; yet Man is
ignorant: for what Man is, or
ever was created, that knows what the Gods are, or
how many there are?
Or what power they have, or where they reside?
What Man did ever
know the Mansions of Glory, the Bowers of
bliss, or the Fields of pleasure?
What Man ever knew whether the Gods were
Eternal, or bred out
of infinite, or rule, or govern, infinite Eternally?
Secondly the Fates. What Man is, or ever was, that
knows the Fates?
As whether they are Gods or Creatures, or whether
the Fates are limited,
or decree as they please? Or what Man is, or
ever was, that knows the
decrees of Fate, the links of Destiny, or the
chance of Fortune, or the lots of
Chance.
Thirdly. What Man is, or ever was, that knows what
Nature is, or
from whence her power proceeds? As whether from
the Gods, or Eternity,
or infinite, or from the Fates? Or whether the
Gods, or Fates, proceed
from her? Or what first set her to work? Or
whether her work is prescribed,
or limited? Or what she works on? Or
what instruments she
worketh with? Or to what end she works for? Or
whether she shall desist
from working, or shall work Eternally?
Or whether she worked from
all Eternity? Or whether her work had a beginning,
or shall have an ending?
What Man knows the beginning of Motion, or
the Fountain of Knowledge,
or the Spring of Life, or Gulph of Death?
Or what Life is? Or
what Death is? Or whether Life, Motion, and Death,
had a beginning, or
shall have an ending?
Fourthly the World. What Man
is, or ever was, that knows how the
World was made? Or for what
it is made? or by whom is was made?
Or whether it had beginning, or shall have
end?
The Fift and last is Man. What Man is, or ever was, that knows
how
he was formed, or of what composition, or what
is that he calls a Rational
Soul? Whether it is
imbodyed, or not imbodyed? Whether it is Divine,
or Mortal? Whether it
proceeds from the Gods, or was created by Nature?
Whether it shall
live for ever, or shall have a period? Whether it
shall live in Knowledge, or ly in Ignorance?
Whether it be capable of pain,
or pleasure? Whether it
shall have a residing place, or no certain place
assigned? Or if it have none, where it shall
wander? Or if it have, where
that residing place is.
As for the Body, who knows the perfect Sense of
each Sense, or what mistake, or illusions, each
Sense is apt to make, or give, or take? What
Man knows how the Body dissolves, or to what
is shall dissolve? What
Man knows whether there be Sense in Death, or
not? What Man knows the
motion of the thoughts, or whether the thoughts
belong only to the Soul, or
only to the Body, or partly to both, or of
neither? What Man is there
that knows the strength of passion? As what
Faith may beget? Or what
Doubts may dissolve? Or what Hopes may unite?
Or what Fears may disorder?
Or what Love can suffer? Or what Hate can
act?
What Man is there that knows
the Circumpherence of Admiration, the rigour
of Adoration, the hight of Ambition, or the
bottom of Covetousness?
Or what Man knows the end of Sorrow. or beginning
of Joy? And as for the
Appetites, what Man knows the length and bredth of
desire? As for the
Senses, what Man is there, that knows the true
Sense of Pleasure, or the uttermost
bounds of Pain? Who can number the varieties of
Tast, Sent,
Touch, Sound, and Sight? What Man knows the perfect effects
of each
Sense? Or what Man is there that knows any
thing, truly as it is?
Yet certainly
there cannot be an Athest; for though men
may be so irrelligious, as
to be of no Religion; yet theirthere can be none so willfull,
and utterly void of
all Sense, and Reason, as not to believe there is a God; for though
we have
not the true light of knowledge, yet we have as it
were a perpetual twilight;
Man lives as at the poles of knowledge; for though
we cannot say it is truly
day, yet it is not night. Man may perceive an
infinite power, by the perfect
distinctions of all particular varieties, by the
orderly production of several
Creatures, and by the fit, and proper shapes of
every several kind of
Creature; by their orderly Births, by the times
and Seasons, to produce,
flourish, and decay; by the distinct degrees,
qualities, properties, places and
motions
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motions of all things, and to, and in every thing, by
the exact form of this
World; by the prudent
seperations, and situations of the Heavens and
Earth; by the Circumferent
lines, and poyzing Centers; by their bounds
and limits; by their orderly, and timely motions;
by their assigned tracts,
constant Journies, convenient distances; by
their intermixing, and well
tempering of the Elements; by the profitable
Commerce, betwixt the Heavens
and the
Earth; by the different kinds,
several sorts, various Natures,
numerous numbers of Creatures; by their
passions, humours appetites;
by their Sympathies, and Antipathies; by their
warrs and parties; by the
Harmony that is made out of discord, shews
that there is onely one absolute
power, and wise disposer, that cannot be
opposed, having no Copartners, produces
all things, being not produced by any thing,
wherefore must be Eternall,
and consequently infinite; this
absolute, wise, and Eternal power Man
calls God; but this absolute power, being
infinite, he must of necessity be incomprehensible, unknown,
yet glimses of his power is, or may be
seen; yet not so, but that
Man is forced to set up Candels of Faith, to
light them, or direct them to
that they cannot perfectly know, and for want of
the clear light of knowledge,
Man calls all Creations of this mighty
power Nature; his wise decrees,
Man calls Fates; his pointed will, Man
calls Destiny; his several
Changes, Man calls Fortune; his Intermixing, Man
calls Life; his seperating,
Man calls Death; the Sympathetical, and
Antipathetical motions of
the Senses, and their Objects, Humours, and
their Subjects, Man calls Pleasure,
and Pain; the interchanging motions in
Man, Men call Sense, and
Knowledge; the seperating motions, Man calls
Ignorance, Stupidity, and
Insensibility; my application is, that this
absolute Power, wise Disposer
and decreeing Creator, hath created himself
Worship, in making Creatures
to worship him; and it is probable, Truth
decreed Judgment, Punishment,
and Bliss, to such of his Creatures as shall
omit, or submit thereunto: my
exhortation to you is, to bough humbly, to pray
constantly, to implore fervently,
to love truly, to live awfully to the
worship of this incomprehensible
power; that you may injoy bliss and avoid torment.
Act III.
Scene 8.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and three or four Gentlemen.]Nobilissimo
I wonder who brought up that careless fashion, to
go without
their Swords; and I wonder more, how gallant
valiant men,
came to follow that fashion; for a Sword is a
valiant mans trusty friend, to
whose protection, he delivers his Honour, his
Safety and his Peace; for a
Sword is a Mans Guardian, to maintain his Right,
to revenge his Wrongs,
or Disgraces, and his Mistriss, for whose
service he wears his life, and
studies the worth and use thereof, and takes
delight in the Honourable, and
allowable practices therein.
1 Gent
Faith my Lord I believe it was some Lover that
brought up that
fashion, who was loath to affright his
Mistriss, with so dangerous
a weapon.
2 Gent
Some Carpet Knight upon my life my Lord.
Nobilissimo
It was no true Lover; for certainly he would be
sure to provide
a safeguard, lest his Mistriss might
be taken from him, or lest he should
be affronted in her sight, which a Man of
Honour, and a true Lover, will rather
dy than part or suffer; and as for my part,
I commend the Man that
would neither eat, drink, nor sleep, without his
Sword were by him, and
made it his Bedfellow, and Bord Companion; as a
friend that held to his
side, and would fight in his quarrell.
2 Gent
My Lord, if a man should do so in these times,
his Neighbours
would say it was out of fear, not courage.
Nobilissimo
O no, for a Coward is affraid to use a Sword, and a
Valiant
man is affraid to be without the use,
otherwise a strong sturdy Clown, might
cuff him down, and kick him like a Football on the
ground, which a Sword,
and skill to use it, will prevent; for a Clown
hath not skill to defend, or
assault a Sword, having no practice therewith,
nor ought they to have; for
the use of this kind of Arms makes a Clown a
Gentleman, and the want of
skill makes a Gentleman a Clown; for a Right bred
Gentleman, is to know
the use of the Sword, and it is more manly to
assault, than to defend; also
to know how to mannage Horses, whereby we know
how to assault our
Enemy as well as to defend our selves; for it is
not playing with a Fidle,
and dancing a Measure, makes a Gentleman; for
then Princes should dub
Knighthood with a Fidle, and give the stick,
and a pair of Pumps, insteed of
a Sword, and a pair of Spurs.
1 Gent
My Lord, we are so far from wearing our Swords our
selves
now a dayes, as we give them our Footmen to carry,
as if it were a disgrace
to carry a Sword our selves.
Nobilissimo
Tis true, and we are well beaten for our follies, for
disarming
our selves, and arming our Slaves; for now a
Groom is made a Gentlemand
equal, nay his Superiour sometimes; for if
a Groom kills a Gentleman,
the Gentleman dyes in disgrace, and the
Groom lives with Honour,
and gets the Fame of a gallant Person; for that
is the phrase to all those that
have fought, although they were forced thereto as
Slaves, not distinguishing
true valor, which is voluntary, temperate and just.
2 Gent
Why then there should be a Decree, or Law, that
none should
wear Swords but Gentlemen, nor Arms allowed, but
to those of approved
merit.
Nobilissimo
You say right, unless in time of Forein Wars, and
then
there should be a difference in their Arms; for
if there be no difference of
Arms, no difference of persons, and if there be
no difference of persons,
there will be no Supremacy of Power, if no
Supremacy, no Royal Government;
for as the Sword maintains the Prerogative
of the Crown, so it doth
the Honour of a Gentleman; and as the Sword keeps
up the dignity of the
Crown, so a Sword keeps up the Heraldry of a
Gentleman; and no man
ought to be accounted a Gentleman, that knows not
how to use his Sword,
and manage his Horse; for the one defends
himself, and kills his Enemies; the
other, doth front and charge his Enemy, and
pursues him if need require.
Scene 9.
[Enter Monsieur Esperance, and Madamoiselle Esperancehis Wife.]
Monsieur Esperance
Lord Wife you are very brave to day.
Madamoiselle Esperance
I strive to be so every day.
Monsieur Esperance
For whose sake?
Madamoiselle Esperance
For yours.
Monsieur Esperance
For mine? why sure that is not so, for certainly
you
would not take that pains, and bestow so much
cost, for one you do enjoy
allready, for a Husband that is tied to you for
life, and cannot quit on Honourable
terms; wherefore it is for one is loose
and free, which you do
strive by setting forth your self with
garments rich, for to attract, and draw
to your desires.
Madamoiselle Esperance
The Circumference of my desires is only your
delight.
Monsieur Esperance
Why, my delight is in your Virtue, youth, and
Beauty,
not in your Cloathes.
Madamoiselle Esperance
But Virtue is best acceptable, when Beauty doth
present it; and Beauty finds most favour, when
well attired; but were I
sure you would like me better in mean Garments,
and careless dresses, I then
should Cloath my self in Freez, & like a
Hermit my loose course Garments
ty with single cord about my waste; but I will
go and pull these Cloaths off,
since they are thought a crime, and I thought
false for wearing them.
Monsieur Esperance
No, I like them very well, if I were sure they were
worn only for love to me.
Madamoiselle Esperance
I never gave you cause to think I wear them for
the love of any other.
Scene 10.
[Enter Madamoiselle Spightfull, Madamoiselle Detractor, MadamoiselleMalicious, and Madamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Spightfull.
Madamoiselle La Belle
is cryed up to be the only Beauty in the
Kingdome.
Malicious
Lord that is nothing, for sometimes opinion will
carry a black
Blowse up to Fames high Tower.
Spightfull
Yes faith, and most commonly they are cast down
in
disgrace.
Detractor
Why should she be cryed up so? for she is
neither well featured,
nor well shaped, nor well fashioned,
nor well drest, nor well bred,
nor good natured; for she is of a brown
Complexion, a heavy Eye, a sad
Countenance, a lazy Garb; she dresses
Phantastically, speaks Childishly
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looks
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Looks shamefastly; she is proud, reserved, coy,
disdainfull, and selfconceited.
Tell-truth
Let me tell you, it is reported that she hath
most lovely features,
a clear Complexion, a modest Countenance, a bashfull Eye, a
pleasing
Speech, a winning behavior, a Majesticall presence; besides
it is reported
that her disposition is civil, courteous, and obliging, her
Nature sweet and
gentle, her Education virtuous, her life temperate and Chast,
her actions
noble and wise, her discourse witty and delightful.
Spightfull
Hey day, hey day, good
Mistriss Tell-truth
run not so fast in the
wayes of vain Reports, lest your judgment fall into a Quagmire.
Malicious
Monsieur Phantasie, tis said
you are one of Madamoiselle La
Belles admirers.
Phantasie
All the World would admire her, if they saw her,
she is so
Heavenly a Creature.
Spightfull
If she be so Heavenly a Creature, she would be
known to the
whole World by the splendor of her Beams.
Phantasie
Heaven is not made known to all; neither can the
gloryes be
suddenly comprehended, by weak Mortals.
Detractor
Good Lord, if she hath such an infinite Beauty,
that it cannot
be comprehended, it is obscure.
Phantasie
But those that comprhend least will be
astonish’d, and struck
with deep amaze.
Detractor
I believe you are struck with Love, which maked you
Blind, or
Mad, that makes you think you see your own imaginations:
wherefore fare
you well, untill you are sober.
Phantasie
I am struck indeed, for I am wounded deeper than Swords can
pierce, or Bullets shoot at
Scene 11.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and many Gentlemen with him.]1 Gentleman
Your Lordship rid to day beyond Perseus on his Pegasus
Nobilissimo
No Monsieur, he went (if Poets speak truth) in higher
Capreols than ever I shall make my Horse go.
2 Gentleman
He might go higher my Lord, but never keep so
just a time,
and place, as to pitch from whence he [Gap in transcription—1-2 charactersobscured]riss, his feet in the
same Circle, his
leggs in the same lines, and your Lordship in the same Center.
Nobilissimo
The truth is, my Horses went well to day; they were
like
Musical Instruments, fitly strung, and justly tun’d.
3 Gentleman
And your Lordship, like a skilfull Musician,
played rarely
thereon
Nobilissimo
Come Gentlemen, let us to Dinner, for I have
uncivilly tyred
your Stomacks with a long fast.
Act IV.
Scene 12.
[Enter Monsieur Phantasie as in a muse, sometimes Sighing, sometimesstrikes his Brest, and sometimes turns up his Eyes; and
at these postures Enters Madamoiselle Bon, at her approach
he starts.]
Madamoiselle Bon
Sir, you may very well start to see me here, I do
not
use modesty, pardon me to be so bold to visit Men; it is
the first visit
I ever made your Sex, and hope it will be the last; but I am
come, since neither
Letter, nor Messenger, could have access to be
resolved by your own
Confession, whether you have forsaken me or not.
Phantasie
No, I have not forsaken you.
Bon
But your affection prefers another before me.
Phantasie
If I should say I did not, I should belly
Truth, which baseness I
abhor.
Bon
I am glad for your own sake you keep to so much
Honour, though
sorry that you are no constanter, and more sorry for the
Oaths you took, and
Vows you made to me, since they became the witnesses of your
perjury.
I was not suddenly, nor easily brought to draw a Supreme Love
to one;
for before such time my Love was placed on you, my affections
run equally
in purling Brooks of Pitty, and Compassion, and clear fresh
Rivulets of Chastity
and Humanity, from the
pure Springs of good Nature and Religion; and
Hard it will be for me to turn this River to each stream again,
if not, yet I
shall be at rest; ’twill overflow my heart and drown me
Phantasie
O I must curse my Fortune, and my Fate; lament
my own condition to love without return, and only pitty what I
loved most.
Scene 13.
[Enter Madamoiselle Grand Esprit, and her Audience.]Grand Esprit
Imploy thy favour, help me in distress;
Thou God of Eloquence, so guide my tongue,
Let all my words on even sense be strung,
And let my Speech be tun’d to every Ear,
That every Ear each several word may hear:
That every passion may in measure move,
And let the figure of the Dance be Love.
Noble and Right Honourable,
I will discourse at this time of
Love, not of the superfluous Branches, or
wither’d leaves, or rotten fruits, but of the Root of Love, which
is Selflove;
It is the Root and the Original Love in Nature; it is the
Foundation of
Nature, it is the Fountain from when issues all the several
Springs; Selflove
was the cause of the Worlds Creation; for the Gods out of
love to themselves,
caused Creatures to be Created, to worship them:
thus all Creatures
being created out of self-love, and their chief being
proceeding out of
self-love, is the cause that every particular Creature loves
themselves in the
first place, and what Love is placed on any other, or to any
other, from any
particular, is derived from self-love; for we love the Gods but
out of self-
love, as believing the Gods love us; we adore the Gods but out of self-
love, because we think we proceed from them, or were produced by
their
commands; we pray to the Gods but out of self-love, because we
hope
the Gods will help us in distress; we bless the Gods but out
of self-love, because
we do verrily believe the Gods will exalt, and Crown us
with everlasting
glory; and to shew that we Love the Gods, not as they are
Gods, but
for our own sakes, as believing they will or can do us good, is,
that we are apt
to murmure at the Gods, when we have not our own desires; we are
apt
to accuse the Gods, when any worldly thing crosses us; we are apt
to curse the Gods at ill Accidents, Mosfortunes, or Natural
losses; we are apt to
forget the Gods in the midst of pleasure; we are apt to think
our selves Gods
in the pride of prosperity; we strive to make our selves
Gods in the
hight of worldly power; and we do not only strive to make our
selves equal
with the Gods, but to raise our selves above the Gods, taking,
or commanding
to our selves more worship than we give unto the Gods;
nay, those that
are accounted the most holy and devout Servants of the Gods,
belie the
Gods, taking the name of the Gods to cover their own follies; as
for example,
whensoever any eminent person hath had ill success,
either in, or after
their Foolish, Ambitious, and Vain-glorious actions, they charge
the Gods
Decrees and pleasure, as it was the Gods will it should be
so; like as she
that Vaingloriously had her two and only Sons to draw her
Chariot, like two
Horses, or Dogs, or Slaves, and being both found Dead the next
day, she
had prayed to the Gods to reward them with that which was best
for them,
and being both dead, she said the Gods accounted Death as the
best reward,
when they no doubt dyed with over heating themselves, striving
beyond
their
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their natural power and strength; yet these two Sonns that drew
the vain Mother
in a Chariot, drew and died out of self-love; either like
as vain Sonns
like their vain Mother, vaingloriously to get a fame, or
believing the Gods
would reward them for their Act, either with extraordinary
prosperity, power,
or blessedness in the Life to come; and many the like
examples may be given;
for how ordinary is it in these our times, and in former
times, for the
politicks to perswade the people, with promises from the Gods,
or to tell
them it is the Gods commands they should do such and such
acts, even such
act as are unnatural, wicked, and most horrid? thus Men bely the Gods to
abuse their fellow Creatures. But most Noble and Right
Honourable, my
explanation of this discourse is, that since Self-love is
the Fountain of and in
Nature from whence issue out several Springs to every
several Creature,
wherein Mankind being her chiefest and Supreme work, is filled
with the
fullest Springs from that Fountain, which is the cause that
Mankind is more
industrious, cruel, and unsatiable, to and for his self
ends, than any other
Creature, hE spares nothing that he hath power to destroy, if
he fears any
hurt, or hopes for any gain, or finds any pleasure, or can make
any sport, or
to imploy his idle time; he melts metalls, distills and
dissolves plants, dissects
animals, substracts and extracts Elements, he digs up
the bowels of the
Earth, cuts
through the Ocean of the Sea, gathers the winds into
Sails, fresh
waters into Mills, and imprisons the thinner Ayre; he Hunts, he
Fowls, he
Fishes for sport, with Gunns, Nets, and Hooks; he cruelly
causeth one
Creature to destroy another, the whilst he looks on with
delight; he kills
not only for to live, but lives for to kill, and takes pleasure
in torturing the
life of other Creatures, in prolonging their pains, and lengthning
their
Deaths; and when Man makes friendship of Love, it is for his own
sake, either
in humouring his passion, or feeding his humour, or to
strengthen his
party, or for Trust, or Counsel, or Company, or the like
causes; if he dies
for his friend, it is either for fame, or that he cannot live
himself happy without
his friend, his passion, and grief, making him
restless; if Man loves his
Children, Wife, or Parents, tis for his own sake; he loves his
Parents, for
the honour he receives by them, or for the life he received of
them; if he
loves his Wife, or the Wife the Husband, it is for their own
sakes, as
their own pleasure, as wither for their Beauties, Wits, Humours,
or other
Graces, or for their Company, or Friendships, or because they
think they
love them; if they love their Children, it is for their own
sakes, as to keep
alive their memory, and to have their duty, and obedience, to bow
and do
homage to them; If Masters love their Servants, it is for their
own sakes,
because they are trusty faithfull and industrious in their
affairs, imployments,
or for their own profit, or ease; and if Servants love
their Masters,
it is for their own sakes, as either for their power to protect
them, or for the
regard they have to them, or for the gain they get from them, or
for their
lives that are nourished, and maintained by them; if Amorous
Lovers love,
it is for their own sakes, as to please the Appetite, and to
satisfy their desires;
if Subjects love their Soveraigns, it is for their own sakes, as
that they
may have Law and Justice, Peace and Unity; If Sovereigns love their
Subjects, it is for their own sakes, because they bear up his
Throne with their
Wealth and Industry, and fight to maintain, or get him power. My
Application,
most Noble and Right Honourable, is, that since we do
all, and in every
act for our own sakes, we should indeavour, and study,
for that which
is best for our selves, and the ground of our indeavour is to
learn, and know
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our
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504
our selves, every particular person must learn and know
himself, not by
comparative, as observing others, for every man is not alike;
but by self
study, reading our own Natures and Dispositions, marking our
own Passions,
Amours, and Appetites, with the
Pen of Thought, and Ink of Examination;
and let the Truth be the Tutor to instruct you in the School of
Reason, in
which you may Commence Master of Art, and go out Doctor of Judgment,
to practice Temperance; for Temperance keeps in its full
strength, prolongs
Beauty, quickens Wit, ripens Youth, refeshes Age, restores
Decayes, keeps
Health, maintains Life, and hinders Times ruines; but Temperance
is not
only a Doctor of Physick, a Physician to the Body, but a
Doctore of Divinity,
a Divine for the Soul; It preaches and teaches good Life, it
instructs with
the Doctrine of Tranquillity, and guides to the Heaven of
Happiness; also
Temperance is the Doctor of Musick, it tunes the Senses,
composes the
Thoughts, it notes the Passions, it measures the Appetites,
and playes a Harmonious
Mind. Thus Most Noble and Right Honourable, I have
proved that
Self-love is the Fountain of Nature, and the Original Springs of
her Creatures,
and that Temperance is the strongest Foundation of Self-love,
although few
build thereupon, but upon Intemperance, which is a
hugh Bulk of Excess,
the substance of Riot, wormeaten with Surfets, rotten with
Pain, and sinks
down to death with Sickness and Grief, not being able to bear
and uphold
Life; wherefore build your Lives upon Temperance, which is a
strong and
sure Foundation, which will never fail; but will uphold your
Lives as long
as Time an Nature permits them, and your Souls will dwell peaceably,
and happily therein.
Act V.
Scene 14.
[Enter Madamoiselle Amor alone as musing to her self alone,then speaks.]
Madamoiselle Amor
I will confess to him my Love, since my designs
are
Noble; but O for a woman to woo a man is against Nature, and seems
too bold, nay impudent, only by a contrary custome; but why
should not a
woman confess she loves before she is wooed, when after a
seeming coyness
gives consent, as being won more by a Treaty than by Love, when
her obscure
thoughts know well her heart was his at first, bound as his
prisoner, and
only couterfeits a freedome; besides, it were unjust although
an antient custome,
if dissembling should be preferred before a Modern
Truth, for length
of Time and often practices makes not Falshood Truth, nor Wrong Right,
nor Evill Good; then I will break down Customs Walls, and
honest Truth
shall lead me on.
Love plead my Sute, and if I be deny’d,
My heart will break, and Death my Face will hide.
Scene 15.
[Enter Monsieur Esperance, and his Wife MadamoiselleEsperance.]
Monsieur Esperance
Wife, whither do you go? when I come near you,
you always turn to go from me.
Madamoiselle Esperance
I saw you not; for I had rather be fixt as a Statue,
than move to your dislike.
Monsieur Esperance
Why do you blush? surely you are guilty of some
crime.
Madamoiselle Esperance
’Tis said blushing comes unsent for, and departs
without leave; and that it oftner visits Innocency than guilt.
Monsieur Esperance
What do you weep?
Madamoiselle Esperance
How can I otherwise choose, when my Innocent
Life, and true Love is suspected, and all my pure affections
are cast away
like dross, and the best of all my actions condemn’d as
Traytors, and my
unspotted Chastity blemish’d with foul Jealousy, and
defamed with slandering
words?
Monsieur Esperance
Prethy Wife do not weep, for every tear wounds
me to Death, and know it is my extreme Love, which creates my
fears; but
you might have had a Husband with more faults.
Madamoiselle Esperance
’Tis true, but not so many noble qualities as
you have, which makes me weep, doubting you Love me not, you are so
Jealous.
Monsieur Esperance
By Heaven I love thee beyond my Soul, wherefore
forbear to weep if thou canst stop thy tears.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Tears may be stopt, unless they flow from an
unrecoverable loss, which Heaven forbid mine should: yet
sorrow oft doth
stop the Spring from whence tears rise, or else the Eyes do
weep themselves
quite blind.
Monsieur Esperance.[Speaker label not present in original source]
Pray dry yours.
Scene 16.
[Enter Madamoiselle Bon alone.]Madamoiselle Bon.
O Man! O Man! How various and Inconstant are
you all, how cruell to betray our faint and unexperienced Sex, bribing
our Judgments with flattering words, obscure our reasons with
Clouds of
Sighs, drawing us into belief with protestations, bind us with promises
and vows, forcing us to yield up our affections; then murther us with
scorn, and bury us in forgetfullness? but O how happy was I,
before I was
betrayed by Love? my heart was free, my thoughts were pleasant,
and my
Mmmmmm
humour
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506
humour gay; but now my mind is a Garrison of cares, my thoughts like
runaways are wanderers.
Grief on my heart his heavy taxes layes;
Which through my Eyes, my heart those taxes payes.
Scene 17.
[Enter Madamoiselle Amor, and at a distance seeth MonsieurNobilissimo, she speaks first, as to her self.]
Madamoiselle Amor
Love and Discretion fight duels in my mind, one
makes me Mute, the other doth perswade me to prefer my Sute;
but why should I be nice to speak, or be ashamed to woo with
words,
when all our Sex doth woo with several dresses and smiles?
each civil courtesy
doth plead Loves Sute; then I will on, Love give me
Courage, and Mercury
guide my tongue.
Amor
Noble Sir, impute it rather as a folly to my Sex and
Youth, and
not any impudence of Nature, if that my Innocency discovers my passion
and affection, not having Craft, or subtilty to conceal them;
but I must plainly
tell you, no sooner did I see you, and hear you speak,
but loved: but yet
mistake me not, I dote not on your person, but your mind; for
sure your
Noble Soul shot fire through my Eyes into my Heart, there flames
with pure
affection; but for this confession, perchance you will set
me as a mark of
scorn, for all to shoot their scofs at, and in derision
pointing, will laugh and
say, there is the Maid that wooed a Man.
Nobilissimo
Is this to me Lady?
Amor
It cannot be to any other, Nature could make but one,
and that
was you.
Nobilissimo
If this be real you do profess, the Gods, should
they have
sent an Angel down to offer me their Heavenly Mansion, it had
not been so
great a gift as your affection.
Amor
Do you not hate me then?
Nobilissimo
Nothing I Love so well.
Amor
And will you Love me ever?
Nobilissimo
Yes ever; for when my Body is dissolved, Love
shall live in
my dust in spight of Death.
Amor
And will you love none but me?
Nobilissimo
An intire and undivided affection, can be placed but upon
one, and that is you.
Amor
May your constancy be as firm, as my Love pure.
Scene 18.
[Enter Madamoiselle La Belle and her four Suters, Admiration,Ambition, Vainglory and Pride.]
Admirat
Then bow my knee, as to the rising Sun;
Heave up my hands, as when to Heaven I pray,
But being amaz’d, know not one word I say:
Yet superstitiously, I shall adore,
As my cheif Goddess, shall my love implore;
And being worship’d, you are deifi’d,
Your Godhead in your Beauty doth recide.
Vainglory
Of Lovers hearts, a foot-stool shall be made;
A Cushion soft, with Hopes fill’d full, then laid,
For thee to stand, and triumph on, fair Maid;
And Lovers Souls shall from their bodyes fly,
For thee a Couch, when weary on to ly.
Pride.
In murmuring streams, fall on thy marble brest;
And gentle sighs, like whispering winds shall blow,
And fan thy Cheeks, that Poets fire may glow:
Loves Melancholy thoughts, like Clouds of night,
Like as thy Curtains, drawn before thy sight;
For fear the Sun should trouble our of spight,
Thy Eyes repose, being the greater light.
Ambition
The spangled Heaven, seems but thy Counterfeit;
Thy Charriot shall be stuck with Eyes all gazing,
And oyld with Eloquent tongues, that runs with praysing:
Drawn by large strong well shapt Commendations,
Guided by Fame, about two several Nations.
La Belle
Why do you woo Beauty, that is Deaf and Dumb,
That hears no praise, nor adoration;
If seeth no hands heav’d up, nor tears that fall,
If that no tongue to answer Love withall;
It hath no Life, no Soul where Passion lies,
It neither gives, not takes instructions wise:
It is no solid Body you admire,
No substance, but a shadow you desire.
Finis.
The Actors Names.
Monsieur Nobilissimo.
Monsieur Heroick his Brother.
Monsieur Esperance.
Monsieur Phantasie.
Monsieur Amy.
Monsieur Poverty, and other Gentlemen.
Madamoiselle Esperance.
Madamoiselle La Belle.
Madamoiselle Amour.
Madamoiselle Grand Esprit.
Madamoiselle Bon.
Madamoiselle Tell-truth.
Madamoiselle Spightfull.
Madamoiselle Malicious.
Madamoiselle Detractor.
The Second Part
of
Natures Three Daughters,
Beauty, Love,
and Wit.
Act 1.
Scene 1.
[Enter Madamoiselle Grand Esprit, and her Audience.]Grand Esprit
That thou wilt keep me in thy memory;
And place my Name in thy large brazen Tower,
That neither Spight, nor Time may it devour;
And write it plain, that every age may see,
My Names inscrib’d to live eternally:
Let not Malice obstruct my Wit with spight,
But let it shine in its own clear light.
Noble and Right Honorable,
I divide my discourse into three parts, as namely Vanity, Vice,
and
Wickedness; Vanity lives in the Customs and Manners of men, and Wickedness;
in the Souls of men, Vices in the Senses of men, as vain habits, evill
appetites, and wicked passion; as for Vanity and Vice, they are commodities
that are sold out of the Shops of Idleness; Vice is sold by wholesale,
but Vanities are sold by retail; the Buyers of these Commodities are Youth,
the Merchants, are evill Customs, and ill examples; the Masculine youth
buyes more Vice than Vanity, and the Effeminate youth buyes more Vanity
than Vice; but they all buy, as fast as they can be sold; they will spare
for no cost, and will give any prices, although it be their Healths, Lives,
Fortunes, or Reputations; as for Wickedness, it is inlayed into the soul
like as Mosaickwork, and so close it is wrought therein, as it makes it appear
to be the soul it self; but evill Education and Custome, are the Artificers
of this work, and not natural Creation, or divine infusion, or inspiration,
from whence the Soul proceeds, or is produced, for neither the Gods,
nor Nature, is the Author of Wickedness; but Vanity, Vice, and Wickedness,
are soon catcht, and like the Plague, they infect all they come near,
and Vanity, Vice, and Wickedness is soon leanr’d, when Virtue, Goodness,
and Piety, are hard Lessons; for though Divines and natural Philosophers,
Preaches, and so teaches them, yet they are seldom understood; for if they
were, the benefit woudl be known, and men would pious and virtuous be,
for profits sake; for Common-wealths that are composed, and governed
by Virtue, Religion, and good Life, they are so strongly united by honest
love, as they become inpregnable against Forein Foes, or home factions, or
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temptations,
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temptations, so live in peace and plenty, which breeds both pleasure and
delight; for life doth never truly injoy it self, but in rest, ease, and peace;
but to conclude most Noble and Right Honourable, the Soul, Senses, and
Education, should be plain with Truth, smooth with Virtue, and bright
with Piety, or Zeal; that the Body may live Easily, the life Peaceably, and
that the Soul may be blessed with Everlasting Glory.
Scene 2.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and three or four Gentlemen.]1 Gentleman
The Ladies of this Age, are as inconstant as a fevourish
pulse, and their affections have more fainting fits, than those are
troubled with Epilepsies.
2 Gentleman
Faith they will hang about ones neck one hour, and spit in
his Face the next.
3 Gentleman
That is because they would have variety, for they respect
Strangers more than friends; for they will entertain Strangers with the civillest
Behaviours, fairest Faces, and costliest Garments they have, and make
them welcome with their best Cheer, when as their best Friends, lovingest
Servants, and oldest Acquaintance, they will neglect, despise, scorn, command,
and rail against, and quarrel with.
Nobilissimo
O Gentlemen, brave Cavaliers as you all are, you must never
complain, discommend, nor condemn the Actions of the Effeminate Sex;
for that we are apt to call their Cruelty, is their Justice, our Sex meriting
not their favours; and whensoever we receive the least favours from that
Sex, we ought to give thanks, as proceeding from a compassionate Goodness,
genlte Nature, sweet Dispositions, and generous Souls, and not as a
due, or a debt for our service: for we are bound by Nature, not only to be
their Servants, but their Slaves, to be lasht with their frowns, if we be not
diligent to their commands, present at their calls, industrious in their service,
and our neglects ought to be severely punished; for we wear our lives
only for their sakes, as to defend their Honours, to protect their Persons, to
obey their Commands, and to please and delight their humours; also the
Estates we manage is theirs, not ours, we are but their Stuards, to Husband
and increase their Stores, to receive their Revenues, and lay out their Expences;
for we have nothing we call our own, since we our selves are theirs;
wherefore it is enough for us to admire their Beautyes, to applaud their
Wit, to worship their Virtues, and give thanks for their Favours.
Scene 3.
[Enter Monsieur Esperance, and his Wife MadamioselleEsperance.]
Monsieur Esperance
Wife, why art thou all undrest to day?
Madamoiselle Esperance
The truth is, I am become negligent in
dressing, since you only esteem my Virtue, not my Habit,.
Monsieur Esperance
I would have you change into as many several dresses,
as Protheus shapes; for it is not the dress can make me Jealous now, for
I am confident no Vanity can corrupt thy Virtue, but that thy Virtue can convert
Vanity to a pious use or end.
Madamoiselle
Well Husband, I shall study to form my self, and fashion
my dress, both to your fancy and desire.
Monsieur Esperance
Do so Wife.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Ha, is my Husband so confident of me, it is an ill
sign from extreme Jealousy, to an extreme Confidence, the next will be a
Carelessness, and then a Neglect, and there is nothing my Nature doth more
abhor than neglect, for Jealousy proceeds from Love, but Neglect proceeds
from a despising, if not a hating; besides, he desires variety of dresses, which
shows my Beauty is vaded, or he is weary in viewing of one object often;
but I find his humour is wandring, and seeks for change; if he should prove
false, O how unhappy should I be? for I am naturally honest, also my birth
and education hath been honest; besides my affections are so fixt as not to be
removed: thus I am tyed, and cannot take liberty which other women
do, for to divert the sorrows of my heart, or to revenge my wrongs; but I
shall mourn, and weep my self to Water, an sigh my self to Ayre.
Act II.
Scene 4.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and Madamoiselle Amor, and MadamoiselleLa Belle comes and peeps through the Hangings, and
sees them.]
Nobilissimo
The bond of our Love is written in large professions, but not
sealed with the contracting kiss yet.
Amor, her Sister Madamoiselle La
Belle comes forth from behind the Hangings.]
Madamoiselle La Belle
So Sister, are not you asham’d?
Madamoiselle Amor
No truly; for my love is so honest, and the subject of
my love so worthy, as I am so far from being ashamed to own it, as I glory
in my affection.
Madamoiselle La Belle
I only wonder that with so small acquaintaince,
such a familiar friendship should be made.
Madamoiselle Amor
You have no cause to wonder, for Innocency is easily
known, tis craft and subtilty that is obscure, and treacherous falshood
with leering Eyes, doth at a distance stand, when honesty and truth straight
joyns in friendship bonds.
Nobilissimo
My Sweet, Innocent, Virtuous, Wise, Mistriss.
Scene 5.
[Enter Madamoiselle Detractor, Madamoiselle Spightfull, MadamoiselleMalicious, and Madamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Tell-truth
I pitty poor Madamoiselle Bon.
Spightfull
Why so?
Tell-truth
Because she is forsaken.
Spightfull
I cannot pitty a Fool.
Tell-truth
Why, she is no Fool.
Spightfull
Yes Faith but she is, to be constant to an unconstant man.
Malicious
The truth is, I think that woman wisest that forsakes before
she is forsaken.
Tell-truth
But how and if she meets with a constant man?
Detractor
That she cannot do, for there is no man constant; for they are
all false, and more changing than women are.
Malicious
If any should prove unconstant to me, I would Pistoll him.
Tell-truth
Yes with the Gunpowder breath, the Bullets of words, and the
Fire of anger, which will do them no hurt.
Spightfull
The best revenge I know against an Inconstant Man is, to
despise him.
Tell-truth
He will not care for your despisements, but Patience, Patience
is the best remedy, for then a woman will be content, although she hath
not her desires.
Malicious
Can any Creature be content without the fruition of desire?
Tell-truth
Those that cannot, must be unhappy all their Life.
Detractor
Then all Mankind is unhappy, for I dare swear, there is not any
that can be content without the fruition of desire; for desire is so restless,
as it gives no time for content.
Spightfull
The truth is, content only lives in words, but never lives in
deeds; for I never heard, or saw any one truly content in my life.
Tell-truth
The truth is, Content is like the Shadow of a Substance, or the
Thought of an Act, and therefore let us leave it, as we would idle, or vain
Thoughts, or vading, or vanishing Shadows.
Scene 6.
[Enter Monsieur Heroick, and Monsieur Phantasie.]Phantasie
Sir, it is reported you are a Servant to my Mistriss.
Heroick
I am a Servant to the whole Effeminate Sex, and to her, if
she be a woman.
Phantasie
Yes, she is a woman, and the fairest of her kind.
Heroick
Why then I am her slave.
Phantasie
I desire you will inslave your self to some
other, and not
to her.
Heroick
You must pardon me if she be the fairest, for I am bound to the absolutest Beauty.
Phantasie
Draw.
Heroick
Nay, I am not so rash; for by your favour I
will view her with
mine own Eyes, and take the opinion of my own Judgment, and not venture
my life on your bare word.
Phantasie
I say draw.
Heroick
I shall, but know, I only fight in mine own
defence, not for her
Beauty, unless I saw her, and approved her such as you
affirm her to be:
for though I am Servant to all, yet tis impossible all
should be an absolute
Beauty.
Phantasie
Know, I account all those my Enemyes that
question it; besides
you give me the lye in doubting the truth.
Heroick
I perceive it is your violent passion that
perswades you, or rather
forces you to fight, and not your Reason; and if your
passion were to
be counselled, I would counsel you to stay, untill we
choose our Seconds, to
witness how we fought, not in a furious rage, but when our
spirits are fresh
and cool, our Minds as equal temper’d as our Blades, and that our valours
are not ashamed to own the quarrel; so shall we fight on
just and honest
grounds, and honour will be the purchase we shall gain.
Phantasie
Ile hear no more but fight.
Heroick
Nature, I ask thy pardon, I must ingage thee to a
furious rage,
or sudden fit, or frantick humour, which are for thee to
scorn, and slight, and
not to fight.
Scene 7.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and Monsieur Poverty.]No bilissimo
Monsieur Poverty, shall I never have the honour of your
Company?
Poverty
My Poverty will disgrace you my Noble Lord.
Nobilissimo
I were no noble Lord, if virtuous Poverty could disgrace
me.
Poverty
Howsoever, your Servants, Friends, and Acquaintance will forsake
you, if I should wait upon your Lordship.
Nobilissimo
They may be my Acquaintance, but neither my Friends, nor
Servants that will forsake me, for the sake of virtuous Poverty: for though
I would not have thee intail’d to my line and posterity, nor to live constantly
in my family; yet, I am neither ashamed, nor afraid to shake thee by the
hand, as long as thou art an honest man; and I desire to take Plenty in own
hand, but to serve Poverty with both hands.
Poverty
May Plenty be always your Lordships Hand-Maid.
Nobilissimo
And your Reliever Sir.
Scene 8.
[Enter Madamoiselle Amor, and her Sister Madamoiselle La Belle.]Madamoiselle La Belle
Sister, be not jealous of me, for I have no design
to rob you of your Servant, I study not those Amorous allurements;
for I would not be otherwise known unto the Masculine Sex, than Angels
are to one another; yet I may respect honour, and admire without a doteing
fondness, or a surprized affection, or an incaptivated love.
Madamoiselle Amor
Yes Sister, when I consider your Virtue, I cannot be
Jealous of you, but when I look on your Beauty, I cannot be Confident of
my Servant; for Beauty is victorious, and most commonly triumphs in all
hearts, binding the Passions, and leading the Affections as Prisoners; and
the Thoughts run a-long as Slaves, and Constancy, if it be not kill’d in the
Battell, yet it is sore wounded, and if it should recover, yet never to the
former strength again.
Madamoiselle La Belle
My Lord what say you, hath your Mistriss my
Sister Amor any reason to be Jealous?
Nobilissimo
Yes, if my Mistriss were any other but her self.
Madamoiselle
I thank you; for I had rather be kill’d with civill although
dissembling words, than live with rude Inconstancy.
Nobilissimo
Why, do you think I speak not truth?
Madamoiselle Amor
I hope your words are marks of truth, for all belief
to shoot at.
Nobilissimo
But Hopes are built upon Doubts and Fears, and do you Doubt
and Fear my Love?
Madamoiselle Amor
How can I love without attending Fear, being
inseparable?
Nobilissimo
Pray do not fear; for though there is none that seeth your Sister
La Belle, but must confess she is most beautifull, yet all
fancy not Beauty
alike; but were she above what she is, as much as
Heaven to Earth, or
Gods to Men, yet I am fixt, and not to be remove’d, no more than is
Eternity.
Act III.
Scene 9.
[Enter Madamoiselle Esperance very fine, and her CousinMadamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Madamoiselle Esperance
Am not I very fine to day?
Tell-truth
Yes very fine.
Mademoiselle Esperance.
Do I look handsome to Day?
Tell-truth.
Yes very handsome.
Madamoiselle Esperance
If I were a Stranger, should I attract your Eyes
to take notice of me?
Tell-truth.
As you are my Cousin, and intimate Friend, and known acquaintance,
and see you every day, yet I cannot choose but look on you,
and take notice of your rich Garments; but why do you ask, for you do not
use to make such questions?
Madamoiselle Esperance.
I will tell you, when I was new Married, my Husband
took so much notice of my Dress, that the least alteration he observed;
nay he grew jealous at it, and thought each curl a snare set to catch Lovers in;
after I had been Married some little space of time, he condemned me for
carelessness, and desired me to various dresses; and now drest, or undrest, he
never observes; for were I drest with splendrous light, as glorious as the Sun, or
Clouded like dark Night, it were all one to him; neither would strike his Sense;
yet I observe he doth observe my Maids, as that one hath a fine Pettycoat, and
another hath handsome made Shooes, and then he pulls up their Pettycoats a
little way, to see what stockings they have, and so views them all over, and
commends them, saying, they are very fine, when all these Garments he
commends on them, were mine, which I had cast off, and given to them;
when those Garments though fresh and new, when I did wear them, he never
took notice of; besides, when my Maids do come into the Room
where he and I are, he strives to talk his best, as if he wisht, and did indeavourOooooo2
vour
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516 their good opinion, when only alone with me the rubbish of his discourse
doth serve the turn.
Tell-truth.
Madam, I perceive you do begin to be Jealous.
Madamoiselle Esperance.
Have I not reason?
Tell-truth.
No truly; for a Man may do such light actions, or speak
merrily, or solidly, without an evill design, only to pass a way idle time.
Madamoiselle Esperance.
Lord how idly you speak Cousin, as to think
men might idly pass away their time, when Nature allows life no idle time;
for all things are growing, or decaying, feeding life, or getting food for to
nourish life, or bearing, or breeding for increase; and man which only by
his shape exceeds all other Creatures in Reason, Knowledge, and Understanding,
and will you have him cast away these supreme gifts of Nature
with idle time? would you have men follow the Sense only,
like a Beast, and
not to be guided by reason to some noble study, or profitable action?
would you have them yield to their sufeting Appetites, and not indeavour
to temper them? is Sickness less painfull than Health? is Disorder to be prefer’d
before Method, or Inconveniency before Conveniency, Warrs before
Peace, Famine before Plenty; Vice before Virtue: all which would be if
idle time werye allow’d; for Idleness never found out Arts nor
Sciences, or
rules of Government, nor the ease of Temperance, not the profit of Prudence,
nor the commands of Fortitude, not the peace of Justice, which Industry
produceth; but Idleness brings Confusion.
Scene 10.
[Enter Monsieur Heroick with his Sword bloody, and meetshis friend Monsieur Amy.]
Amy
What hast thou been doing, that thy sword is bloody?
Heroick
Fighting.
Amy
With whom?
Heroick
I know not.
Amy
For what did you fight?
Heroick
For nothing, or at least as bad as nothing; for that I never saw,
nor heard of, nor knew where to find.
Amy
This is a strange quarrel, that you neither know the man, nor the
cause, it was a mad quarrel.
Heroick
You say right; for as for my part I had little reason to fight, I
know not what my opposite had: but prithy friend go help him, for he lyes
yonder, and I doubt he is deadly wounded, the whilst I will seek a Chirurgion
to send to him.
Amy
You had need seek one for your self, for you bleed I see by
your shirt.
Heroick
Yes so I will, but it shall be the Lady that was the cause of the
wounds, and I will try if her Beauty can heal them.
Scene 11.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and Madamoiselle Amor.]No bilissimo
My sweet Mistriss, what is the cause you look so pale and
Melancholy?
Amor
I hear you have forsaken me, and making love to another; which
I no sooner heard, but shook with fear, like to a tender Plant blown by a
Northern wind, wherewith my blood congeal’d with cold, my thoughts
grew sad, and gathered like black Clouds, which makes my head hang
down, my face all wither’d pale and dry: but did I love,
as many do, for Person,
not for Mind, your Inconstancy would be a less Crime; but were your
Body as curious made, as Natures skill could form you, and not a Soul answerable,
I might Admire you, but not Love you with adoration as I do.
Nobilissimo
Fear not: for as thy
Tongue unlocks my Ears, so it locks up
my Heart from all thy Sex but thee, and as a Cabinet doth keep thy
Picture there.
Amor
Heaven grant my Tongue may never rust, but move with words, as smoothed with Oyl, turned by the strength of Wit, easy and free.
Nobilissimo
Dear Mistriss banish this Jealousy, it may in time corrupt
pure love, and be you confident of my Affection, as of your own Virtue.
Amor
Your kind words I will take for a sufficient Seal, and never doubt
the Bond that Love hath made.
Scene 12.
[Enter Monsieur Phantasie wounded, being lead between MadamoiselleBon, and Monsieur Amy; he seems to be so faint, as not to
pass any further, but is forced to ly down, Madamoiselle
sits by him.]
Am y
I will go fetch more help and Chirurgions.
under his head.]
Phantasie
I am wounded more with thoughts of Sorrow, than with my
opposites Sword, and wish that Death would strike me in thy Arms, that I
might breath my last there, offer up my Soul upon the Altar of the Breast,
and yield my life a Sacrifice unto thy Constancy.
Madamoiselle Bon
May Death exchange, and take my life that is useless
to the World, and spare yours, for noble actions to build a fame
thereon.
Phantasie
Speak not so.
Madamoiselle Bon
If my words offend you, my tongue for ever shall
be Dumb.
Phantasie
No, it is your Wish offends, and not your Words; for they are
Musick to my Ears, or like to drops of Balsom powr’d therein to heal my
wounded Soul.
Madamoiselle Bon
If that my words could cure your wounds that bleed,
rather than want, Ile speak till all my breath were spent, no life to form
words with.
Phantasie
Why do you weep?
Madamoiselle Bon
To see you bleed; but if you bleed to Death, I will
weep to Death; and as life issues through your Wounds, so shall life issue
through my Eyes, and drown it self in floods of tears.
Phantasie
Forbear, let not the Earth drink up those tears, those precious
tears the Gods thirst after.
Scene 13.
[Enter Madamoiselle Grand Esprit, and her Audience.]Gr and Esprit
Cupid the God of Love, O let me make
A Banquet of sweet Wit to entertain
This Noble Company, and feast each brain;
And let each several Ear feed with delight,
Not be disturb’d with foul malicious spight.
Noble and Right Honourable,
I shall take my discourse at this time out of Beauty, the
ground of which
discourse is Eyes; Eyes are the Beauty of Beauty; for if the Eyes be not good,
the Face though ne’r so fair, or otherwise well featur’d, cannot be pleasing;
the truth is, Eyes are the most Curious, Ingenious, Delightfull, and Profitable
work in Nature; Curious in the Aspect an Splendor; Ingenious in the
form and fashion, Delightfull in the Society, and Profitable in their Commerce,
Trade, and Traffick, that they have with all the rest of Natures
works: for had not Nature made Eyes, all her works had been lost, as being
buryed in everlasting darkness; for it is not only Light that shews her
works, but Eyes that see her works: wherefore if Nature had not made
Eyes she had lost the glory of Admiration and Adoration, which all her
Animal Creatures give her, begot, raised, or proceeding from what they
see; besides, not only Light the presenter of objects would have been lost,
but Life would have been but only a dull Melancholy Motion for want of
sight, and for want of sight life would have wanted knowledge, and so
would have been ignorant both of its self and Nature; but now life takes
delight by the sight, through the Eyes, and is inamor’d with the Beauties it
views;
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519
views; and the Eyes do not only delight themselves and life with what they
receive, but with what they send forth; for Eyes are not only passages to let
Light, Coulours, Forms, and Figures in, but to let Passions, Affections, Opinions
out; besides, the Eyes are not only as Navigable Seas, for the Animal Spirits
to Traffick on, and Ports to Anchor in; but they are the Gardens of the Soul,
wherein the Soul sits and refreshes it self, and Love the Sun of the Soul, sends
forth more glorious Rayes than that Sun in the Sky, and on those objects
they do shine, they both comfort and give a nourishing delight; but yet
when the light of love doth reflect, the heat doth increase by double lines,
and quickness of motion, which causes many times a Distemper of the
Thoughts, which turns to a Feavor in the Mind; but to conclude most
Noble and Right Honourable, Eyes are the Starrs which appear only in the
Animal Globe, to direct the life in its Voyage, not only to places that life
knows, but to new discoveryes; and these Animal Starrs do not only guide
the Animal life, but have an influence and various effects on the Soul, and
are not only to view the Beauties of all the other works of Nature, but are
the chiefest Beauties themselves; and if that Reason that is the Educator
of the Life, and chief Ruler and Commander of the Soul, did not cross
and hinder the influence of these Animal Starrs, they would prove very fatal
to many a one: Wherefore Right Honourable, my Application is, that you
obey Reason, and pray unto it as to a Deity, that it may divert the Malignant
influences, and cause them to point to a Happy Effect.
For which my good wishes shall attend you,
That the Gods of these Starrs may defend you.
Act IV.
Scene 14.
[Enter Monsieur Nobilissimo, and Monsieur Heroick.]No bilissimo
Brother, I may bid you welcome home, for I have not seen
you these two years; methinks between Brothers as you and I are
should never be absence.
Heroick
No faith Brother; for we never have good fortune when we
are asunder; for since I parted I hear you are to be Marryed, and I must tell
you, I am like to be Hanged.
Nobilissimo
Heaven forbid you should be hanged.
Heroick
And do not you make the same Prayer against your Mariage?
Nobilissimo
No, for that prayer would prove a Curse, if Heaven should
grant it; but I hope Brother you speak of this but merrily, and not as a
truth to believed that you are to be hanged.
Heroick
Yes faith, I met with a man that was resolv’d to fight with the
next he met, I think, for he forced a quarrel, and we fought, and I fear I have
killed him.
Nobilissimo
What was the cause of the quarrel?
Heroick
Why about a Beauty, that none must admire but himself, and
yet they must maintain she is the absolutest Beauty of her Sex, and such a
Beauty, I hear of every where, but I cannot see her any where.
Nobilissimo
Let me tell you Brother she is worth the seeing.
Heroick
And is she worth the blood and life that is lost and spilt
for her?
Nobilissimo
Yes, if it had been to maintain her Beauty against rude Despisers,
or her Virtue against base Detractors, or her Honour against wicked
Violators; for her Soul hath as many beautifull graces and Virtues, and her
mind as many noble qualities, as her body hath beautifull Parts, Lineaments,
gracefull Motions, pleasing Countenances, lovely Behaviour, and courteous
Demeanors.
Heroick
Certainly Brother you are very well acquainted with her, that
you know her so well, as to speak so confident of her.
Nobilissimo
Yes Brother, I do know her very well, for she is Sister to
my Mistriss.
Heroick
So, I thought she had some relation to you, that you spake so
much in her praise; this Self-love bribes all our Tongues; but Brother, you
have so fired my Spirits, as I am almost as mad as the Gentleman I fought
with, before I see her, meerly with the report, and since I must lose my
Wits with the rest of Mankind, for I find all are mad that come within the
list of her Name, pray let me part with my Wits on Honourable terms,
as at the view of her Beauty.
Nobilissimo
I shall make it a request to her that you may see her, and she
being a person who is very obliging, I make no question but she will receive
your civil and humble respects.
Scene 15.
[Enter Monsieur Esperance, and his Wife MadamoiselleEsperance.]
Ma damoiselle Esperance
Husband do you love me?
Monsieur Esperance
Yes.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Better than any other Woman?
Monsieur Esperance
I can make no comparison.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Why do you them neglect me so much, as to
take no notice whether I be fine and brave, or ragged, or patcht, or ilfavoured,
or handsom, and yet you take notice of every other woman, from the
stranger abroad, to the Kitchin-Maid at home?
Monsieur Esperance
By my troth Wife I do so just as I would do of a Tree,
or a Bush, or a Stone, or a Brake, or a Fox, or an Ass, and no
otherwise.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Yet it is a sign you have them in your mind,
and I had rather be hated than forgotten; wherefore pray let me be sometimes
in your thoughts, although as a Bryar, and not to be flung out Root
and Branch.
Monsieur Esperance
Heaven forbid Wife you should become a Thorn in
my Mind, but thou art there as my Soul, nor do I love you at a common
rate: for were thy person more deformed than ever Nature made, either by
Sickness or Casualty, I still should love thee for thy Virtuous Soul; and
though your person is very handsom, yet I consider not your Beauty but your
Health, so you be well, I care not how you look; for my love is at that
height as it is beyond the body grown; for should I only love you for your
Beauty, when that is decayed, my love must of necessity dy, if Beauty were
the life.
Madamoiselle Esperance
So then I am only your spiritual love, and you
will chuse a temporal one elsewhere.
Monsieur Esperance
Prethee be not Jealous of me, because I am become
assured of your Chastity; for know. I could sooner hate my self, than love,
or amorously affect any other woman but thy self; and when I prove false
to you, may Jupiter cast me to Plutoes
Court, there to be tormented
Eternally.
Madamoiselle Esperance
Well, pardon this fit of Jealousy, for I shall never
question your affection more, nor doubt your Constancy.
Scene 16.
[Enter Madamoiselle La Belle, and her Sister MadamoiselleAmor.]
Ma damoiselle La Belle
To quarrel and fight for me is strange, for as
for the one I never saw, and the other I have no acquaintance with;
but had I favoured the one, or affronted the other, or had favoured them
both, it might have raised a dispute, from a dispute to a quarrel, from a
quarrel to a duell; but many times men make a seeming love the occasion
to shew their courage, to get a fame; but what fame soever men get, the
woman loses, as being though either too kind, or cruell.
Madamoiselle Amor
Sister, this Gentleman never saw you, only fought in
his own defence; he desires you would give him leave to come an kiss
your hands, he is a very gallant man, and an
experienced Souldier.
Madamoiselle La Belle
A Souldier? why he never lead an Army, nor
pitcht a Field, nor fought a Battel; he never Intrencht, nor Incampt; he
never guarded, kept, nor took Fort, Town, or City; perchance he hath
studied as most Gentlemen do, so much of Fortification, as to talk of
Trenches, Lines, Ramparts, Bullworks, Curtains, Wings, Faces, Forts,
Centries; And of Amunition, Cannon, Muskets, Carabines, Pistols, Slings,
Bowes, Arrows, Darts, Pikes, Bills, Halbards, Bolts, Poleaxes, Swords, Cimeters,
Shot, Bullets, Powder, Drums, Trumpets, Waggons, Tents and the
like; and for Arms, Pot, Back, Breast, Gantlets, Corselets, Gorgets and the
like, thus they learn the Names, but seldome practice the use.
Madamoiselle Amor
Yes, this Gentleman hath lead Armies, pitcht
Fields, fought Battels, where those he won were won by his Prudence and
Conduct, and those he lost were by Fortunes spight, whose changing power,
and inconstant humour, no Mortal can withstand.
Madamoiselle La Belle
Nay Sister, if he be so gallant a person, I shall not
refuse his visits, nor deny my self his Company, but entertain him as civilly
as he may deserve.
Act V.
Scene 17.
[Enter two Gentlemen.]1 Ge nt.
Well met, I was going to your Lodging.
2 Gent.
Faith if you had gone to my Lodging you had mist of my
Company.
1 Gent.
But howsoever, I should have been entertained by thy old Landlady,
for she makes me welcome in thy absence.
2 Gent.
The truth of it is, that my Landlady as old as she is, loves the
Company of men, especially of young men; for if a young man will trouble
himself to stay in her Company, and talk to her she is so pleased, as she
makes more wrinckles with her smiles, than time hath made, and she will
simperingly put in her Chin, as if she were but fifteen.
1 Gent.
Faith I commend women, for they will never yield to ages humours.
though they are forced to yield to ages infirmities; for their minds
are always young, though their bodyes be old.
2 Gent.
Indeed their minds are Girls all their life time; but leaving old
women will you go see Monsieur Phantasie?
1 Gent.
Is he so well as to admit of Visiters?
2 Gent.
Yes, for he is in a recovering condition, and state of Health.
1 Gent.
Come let us go then.
Scene 18.
[Enter Monsieur Heroick, and Madamoiselle La Belle.]Monsieur Heroick
Madam, the fame of your Beauty and Virtue hath
drawn me hither, to offer my service on the altar of his commands.
Madamoiselle la Belle
You are so great a favourite to Nature and Fortune,
and are so splenderous with their gifts, as you are able to put the confidence
of our Sex out of Countenance, especially I, that am by Nature bashfull;
wherefore it is unlikely I should command you.
Monsieur Heroick
I had rather be commanded by you Lady, than to command
the whole World, and should be prouder to be your Slave, than to
be that sole Monarch.
Madamoiselle la Belle
I should be sorry so gallant a man as fame reports
you
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523
you to be, should have so sick a Judgment, and so ungoverned a Passion, as
to yield up your liberty to a woman, and to ty your life to her vain foolish
humours.
Monsieur Heroick
It is impossible that in so heavenly a form, a foolish
Soul should be; for I perceive by your beautifull person, Nature hath outwrought
her self, having not Art or skill to make a Second, and what man
would not be proud to serve the only she?
Madamoiselle la Belle
O Sir, take heed you wrong not your noble worth
and merit, in being over civill; for complements are all dissembling, and
dissembling runs in the ways of perjury.
Monsieur Heroick
Pray Madam conster not my love-service and admiration
to an idle Visit, a vain Discourse, and false Profession; for if you appear
not so beautifull to all the World, as you appear to me, yet I dare
boldly tell the world, I think you so, and will maintain it with my life.
Madamoiselle la Belle
I believe then I am more beholding to your Eyes
that have contracted me into a beautifull form, than unto Nature that hath
made me of a vulgar shape.
Monsieur Heroick
Your Tongue Lady hath the power of Circes
wand, to
charm the Senses, and transform the shape, making all men it speaks to, either
to appear Monsters or Gods.
Madamoiselle la Belle
You have Inthroned me you Favours, and
Crowned me with your Commendations.
Monsieur Heroick
My desire is, that you will Crown me with your
Love.
Scene 19.
[Enter Madamoiselle Detractor, Madamoiselle Malicious,and Madamoiselle Tell-truth.]
Tell-truth
I hear that Madamoiselle Bon shall marry her
unconstant Servant,
Monsieur Phantasie.
Detractor
Faith that is a comfort, that any woman can get a Husband,
whilst the graces are young and in being.
Tell-truth
The graces never grow old.
Detractor
Let me tell you, time decays and withers all things.
Tell-truth
No, not the Gods.
Detractor
But time doth waste Devotion, wears out Religion, burns up
the Sacrifice of Praise, puts out the Lamp of Charity, and quenches out the
Vestal fire of Zeal.
Malicious
But then there are new Religions brought in the place or
room of the old.
Detractor
Yes, and new Gods with new Religions, and new Religions
and Opinions are like young beautifull Ladyes when they appear first to the
view of the World; they are followed, admired, worshiped, sought, sued,
and prayed to; but when they grow old, all their Servants and followers
forsake them, and seek out those that are younger, so the last and newest
Opinions and Religions, are accounted the best, and stuck to for a time the
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closest,
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524
closest, and followed by the greatest numbers, and have most zealous supplicants;
thus the Gods dy in effect.
Tell-truth
The truth is, that all things that are young, are Strong, Vigorous,
Active and Flourishing; and whatsoever is old, is
Weak, Faint,
Sick, and witheringly dyes.
Spightfull
I can tell you news.
Tell-truth
What news?
Spightfull
Why Monsieur Nobilissimo to isis to marry Madamoiselle Amor,
and his Brother Monsieur Heroick is to marry her
Sister Madamoiselle
La Belle.
Tell-truth
And who is to marry the third Sister Madamoiselle Grand Esprit.
Spightfull
She is resolved to live a single life.
Detractor
I am glad they have chose Husbands out of the numbers of
there Suters; for when they are married, I hope out of the number of there
remainders, we may have some offers for Husbands.
Malicious
For my part I shall despair, unless the third Sister Madamoiselle
Grand Esprit would marry also; for the whole bulk of Mankind will
sue to her, and never think of any other woman, whilst she is undisposed of.
Tell-truth
But she it seems hath declared she will never marry.
Malicious
That is all one, for men will pursue their desires, and live of
Hopes so long, as there is any left.
Spightfull
Well, the worst come to the worst, we shall only live old Maids.
Tell-truth
But not old Virgins.
Scene 20.
[Enter Madamoiselle Grand Esprit, her two Sisters MadamoiselleAmor, and Madamoiselle La Belle as Brides, and Monsieur
Nobilissimo, and Monsieur Heroick his Brother, as Bridegrooms,
and a Company of Bridal guests all as her Audience.]
Grand Esprit
To bless my Sisters, not to favour me;
Unless I were thy subject to obey,
But I am Diana’s and to her do pray;
But give me leave for to decide the cause,
And for to speak the truth of marriage laws;
Or else through ignorance each man and wife,
May rebels prove by Matrimonial strife.
Noble and Right Honourable,
From the root of Self-love grows many several Branches; as
Divine
Love, Moral Love, Natural and Sympathetical Love, Neighbourly and Matrimonial
Love; Divine Love is the Love to the Gods, Moral Love is the
Love
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525
Love to Virtue, Natural Love is the Love to Parents and Children, Sympathetical
Love is of Lovers, or Friendships, Neighbourly Love is the Love of
Acquaintance, and true Matrimonial Love is the Love of United Souls, and
Bodyes; but I shall only insist or discourse at this time for my Sisters sakes,
of Matrimonial Love; this Matrimonial Love, is the first imbodyed Love
that Nature created; for as for Divine Love, and Moral Love, they are as
incorporeal as the Soul, and Sympathetical and Matrimonial Love, which I
will joyn as Soul and Body, were before Natural, or Neighbourly Love; for
Marriage begets Acquaintance, and none lives so neer nor converses so much
as man and wife; and there was a Sympathy and Conjunction of each Sex,
before there were Children, and there could be no Parents before there
were Children; thus Matrimonial Love was the first substantial Love, and
being the Original and producing Love, ought to be honoured and preferr’d
as the most perfect and greatest Love in Nature; but mistake me not Noble
and Right Honourable, when I say the greatest Love in Nature; I mean not the
Supernatural Love, as Divine Love as to the Gods; but this Matrimonial
Love, I say is to be the most respected, as the Original Love, like as Nature
is to be honoured and preferred before the Creatures she makes; so Matrimonial
Love ought to be respected first, as being the cause of Friendly, Sociable,
Neighbourly, and Fatherly Love; wherefore man and wife ought to
forsake all the world, in respect of each other, and to prefer no other delight
before each others good or content; for the Love of Parents and Children,
or any other Love proceeding from Nature, ought to be waved when as
they come in Competition with the Love man and wife; for though Matrimonial
Love is not such a Divine Love as from man to the Gods, yet it is as
the Love of Soul and Body, also it is as a Divine Society, as being a Union;
but Right Honourable, to tell you, my opinion is, that I belive very few are
truly married; for it is not altogether the Ceremony of the Church nor
State that makes a true marriage; but a Union and indissoluble Conjunction
of Souls and Bodyes of each Sex; wherefore all those that are allowed of
as man and wife, by the Church, State, and Laws, yet they are but Adulterers,
unless their Souls, Bodyes, and affections, are united as one; for its
not the joyning of hands, speaking such words by Authentical persons, nor
making of vows, and having Witesses thereof, that makes a true marriage,
no more than an Absolution without a Contrition makes a holy man:
wherefore dear Sisters, and you two Heroick Worthies, marry as you ought
to do, or else live single lives, otherwise your Children will be of a Bastard
kind, and you associating but as Beasts, which are worse than Birds, for
they orderly chuse their Mates, and lovingly fly and live together, and
equally labour to build their nest, to feed their young, and Sympathetically
live, and love each other, which order and love few married persons observe,
nor practice; but after all this, even those marriages that are the perfectest,
purest, lovingest, and most equallest, and Sympathetically joyned, yet
at the best marriage is but the womb of trouble, which cannot be avoided,
also marriage is the grave or tomb of Wit; for which I am resolved for my
part to live a single life, associating my self with my own Thoughts, marrying
my self to my own Contemplations, which I hope to conceive and bring
forth a Child of Fame, that may live to posterity, and to keep a-live my
Memory; not that I condemn those that marry, for I do worship married
persons, as accounting them Saints, as being Martyrs for the good cause of
the Common-wealth, Sacrificing their own Happiness and Tranquility,
Rrrrrr
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for the weal publick; for there is none that marries that doth not increse
their Cares and Pains; but marriage Unites into Familyes, Familyes into
Villages, Villages into Cities, Cities into Corporations, Corporations into
Common-wealths; this increase keeps up the race of Mankind, and causes
Commerce, Trade, and Traffick, all which associates men into an Agreement,
and by an Agreement men are bound to Laws, by Laws they are
bound to Punishments, by Punishments to Magistrates, and by Magistrates
and Punishments to Obedience, by Obedience to Peace and Defence, in
which Center of Peace my dear Sisters, I wish you may live, and be guarded
with the Circumference of Defence, that nothing may disturb or indanger
you or yours; and that you may live in true marriage, and increase with united
love, blest with Virtuous Children, and inrich’d with prudent Care, and
Industry: also I wish and pray that Jealousy may
be banished from your
Thoughts, Pains and Sickness from your Bodyes, Poverty from your Familyes,
evill Servants from your Imployments, Disobedience from your
Children.
And that Death may not rob you of your breed,
But after your life your Children may succeed.
Finis.
An epilogue spoken by the Lady True-Love.
Madamoiselle Amour.[Speaker label not present in original source]
O How my heart doth ake when think I do,
How I a modest Maid a man did woo!
To be so confident to woo him here,
Upon the publick Stage to every Ear;
Men sure will censure me for mad, if not
To be in some unlucky Planet got,
Or else will tax me of dishonesty,
As seeming like a bold immodesty;
Well, I have woo’d, yet am I not despis’d,
But am by Virtuous honour highly priz’d;
Because my Love was spotless, pure, and Chast,
And on a noble worthy man was plac’d;
Then why should I blush, weep, or yet repent,
Of shun the wooing part to represent,
But rather joy and glory in my choice?
If you approve my Act pray giv’t a voice!