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<DATE>2008-11-21</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<P><HI>HAEC &amp; HIC;</HI> OR, THE FEMININE GENDER More Worthy than the Ma&s;culine. BEING A Vindication of that Ingenious and Innocent <HI>Sex</HI> from the Biting <HI>Sar|ca&s;ms,</HI> Bitter <HI>Satyrs,</HI> and Opprobri|ous <HI>Calumnies,</HI> wherewith they are daily, tho unde&s;ervedly, A&s;pers'd by the Virulent Tongues and Pens of Malevolent <HI>Men.</HI></P>
<Q>Dat Veniam Corvis Vexat Cen&s;ura Colum|bas.
<BIBL><HI>Horat.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>Jo. Harefinch,</HI> for <HI>James Norris,</HI> at the <HI>Kings Arms</HI> without <HI>Temple|Bar.</HI> 1683.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
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<HEAD>TO ALL FAMALE READERS.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Ladies,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THIS <HI>Treati&s;e</HI> in Com|mendation of YO&V;, I own to be but a. Col|lection of the be&s;t Authors; and 'tis but rea&s;on that the be&s;t of <HI>Sexes</HI> &s;hould be ho|nour'd with the be&s;t of <HI>&s;tyle;</HI> the Method, with &s;ome &s;mall Additions, is my own, the re&s;t Quotations, which I mu&s;t
<PB REF="3">confe&s;s ingenuou&s;ly, to avoid the imputation of a <HI>Plagiary.</HI> The&s;e Memoirs are but <HI>Man|cipia paucae lectionis,</HI> the Gleanings of &s;light Reading, but if accepted (which I que|&s;tion not) may admit of &s;ome farther Enlargement. In this Tract I wholly &s;ubmit my &s;elf to the Wi&s;e, and little e&s;teem the frowns of a cen&s;orious Brow. I cannot plea&s;e all Men; for the &s;ame cau&s;e that made <HI>Democritus</HI> langh, made <HI>Heraclitus</HI> weep. 'Tis impo&s;&s;ible for the mo&s;t expe|rienc'd
<PB REF="3">Angler to take all &s;orts of Fi&s;h with one Bait. Shou'd I write never &s;o well, I &s;hall not plea&s;e all, and never &s;o ill I may plea&s;e &s;ome. How|ever, <HI>Ladies,</HI> (to you I make my Addre&s;s) Virtue cannot be Delineated in too large a Volume; and the Dalliances of a Pen (tho delightful) are not capable of de&s;cribing <HI>Woman.</HI> If I write Rea|&s;on, let Rea&s;on have its due Reward, <HI>Per&s;ua&s;ion,</HI> if not, <HI>Reproof.</HI> All that I fear is, my words may wrong your
<PB REF="4">Perfection; and if I do, up|on that account, <HI>in ip&s;o limi|ne impingere,</HI> &s;tumble at the very thre&s;hold, I mu&s;t rely upon your accu&s;tomed <HI>Candor</HI> and <HI>Debonairete,</HI> not que|&s;tioning in the lea&s;t a <HI>Re|prieve,</HI> if not a <HI>Pardon</HI> ab|&s;olute from</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Ladi&s;hip's Mo&s;t Dutiful and Obedient Servant <HI>J. N.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD><HI>HAEC &amp; HIC;</HI> OR, THE FEMININE GENDER More Worthy than the <HI>Ma&s;culine.</HI></HEAD>
<P>PErfection is a Flower, that grows not in the Garden of this Sub|lunary World: the faire&s;t Day may be overca&s;t with Clouds; the Moon hath her Spots, and the Greate&s;t their Failings. No Per&s;on can plead Priviledge from Error in this Life; for as the Poet &s;aith,
<Q><L>&mdash;Nihil e&s;t ab omni</L>
<L>Parte beatum.</L></Q></P>
<P>The&s;e things con&s;idered, it is an a&s;to|ni&s;hment to me, that this Innocent and
<PB N="2" REF="5">Harmle&s;s Sex &s;hould meet with &s;uch Calumnies (as palpable as injurious) from Hypercritical Men; &s;uch as are <HI>Facie tantum Homines, non Animo;</HI> who bear about them nothing but the Form of Man that's manly; who&s;e be&s;t Elocution is the wor&s;t Detracti|on, labouring to vilifie them, with|out who&s;e Being they had not been; therefore to them, as to our Second Self, we owe, at lea&s;t, the Duty of Good Language. Beyond all contro|ver&s;ie, he is a barbarous Parricide to his Mother's Name, that ingratefully murders her Reputation who contri|buted to his Generation; gave him Lodging and Diet in her own Womb; brought him into the World with Grief, Pain, and Sorrow; bred him up in the World with Care, Co&s;t, and Trouble; and, in Requital, hath no other Return, when he arrives at Maturity, than Foul Ink for the pure Milk wherewith &s;he fed him in his Infancy. Such Per&s;ons as the&s;e, like
<PB N="3" REF="5">peevi&s;h Wa&s;ps, &s;corn the Flower from which they fetch'd their Wax, and they that Woman from whom they re|ceived Life.<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg"><HI>Seeker in his Serm. intitl.</HI> The Wedding-Ring.</NOTE> Peace, wicked Man! unworthy to breathe, that do&s;t not love thy Breath|giver; unworthy to have a Tongue, that &s;peake&s;t again&s;t her through whom thou &s;peake&s;t. In a word, we took our Ri&s;e from their Bowels, and may take our Re&s;t in their Bo&s;oms.<NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg">Id. Ibid.</NOTE> 'Tis not Good thus to play the Butcher with that Naked Sex, who have Arms, but for Embraces. Thus we &s;ee the pure&s;t White is mo&s;t &s;ubject to the &s;mutch, and the mo&s;t un&s;potted Re|putation to the Be&s;pattering of Male|volent Tongues. Thus Noble Gold down to the Bottom goes, whil&s;t worthle&s;s Cork above doth floating lye; and, as one &s;aith very well:
<Q><L>Cankers touch faire&s;t Fruits with their In|fection,</L>
<L>And Feavers &s;eize tho&s;e of the be&s;t Com|plexion.</L></Q></P>
<PB N="4" REF="6">
<P>But to proceed. Tho&s;e u&s;ual Sa|tyrs and Invectives again&s;t that Sweet|ly-temper'd Sex, only Betray Man's greater Imbecillity; for we know, a a good Cau&s;e needs not the Patron|age of Pa&s;&s;ion, but can maintain it &s;elf by a Moderate Di&s;pute: be&s;ides, a &s;erious Reflection upon Man's own Unworthine&s;s, methinks, &s;hould make him backward in challenging Prero|gative above Woman; and I would advi&s;e &s;uch opinionative Fops, who are Bladder'd up, as much as the Tym|pany of Pride and Vanity can make them, not to have an over&s;hooting Conceit of them&s;elves; but remem|ber they are Men, who&s;e Rea&s;on is frequently over-clouded with Error. We are all Moles, even to the Great|e&s;t of our own Sins; but, in a Fe|male's Life, we can &s;py out the mean|e&s;t <HI>Peccadillo</HI> with Eagle's Eyes, or tho&s;e as &s;harp, as the <HI>Epidaurean</HI> Ser|pent's. But certenly they are not Men, who thus Rail again&s;t that Sex:
<PB N="5" REF="6">no; they'r a Viperous Brood, whom Women, in Charity, take into their Bo&s;oms and cheri&s;h, for which they ingratefully &s;ting them; a Fact &s;o barbarous, the <HI>Turc</HI> him&s;elf would Blu&s;h to do it to a Chri&s;tian. And would it not vex a Royal Spleen? A Pa&s;&s;ion kindle in a Stoic's Brea&s;t, to &s;ee them thus abus'd? Notwith|&s;tanding all this; there are &s;ome Men, (would I cou'd only &s;ay &s;om) tho beyond all di&s;pute the Children of the <HI>Meu Peuple,</HI> of a &s;ordid and Ba&s;e Extract, who never think them|&s;elves well, but when they are in the Predicament of injurious Pa&s;&s;ion. Nay farther, (if we may credit <HI>Fon&s;eca,</HI> as undoubtedly we may) he &s;ays, (and that mode&s;tly too) <HI>Non po&s;&s;unt omnes Invectivae &amp; Satyrae in Foemi|nas &s;criptae uno Volumine comprehendi.</HI> All the Invectives and Satyrs again&s;t Women cannot be comprehended in one Volume. Yet I'l be bold to maintain; That tho&s;e Rude and In|dige&s;ted
<PB N="6" REF="7">Pamphlets, which Men have &s;cribled again&s;t that Sex, do &s;o &s;tink in the No&s;trils of Good Men (who have compos'd as much, nay more in their merited Commendation) that they are only thought fit to be bound up with the Metamorpho&s;is of <HI>A-jax,</HI> and placed in <HI>Pantagruel</HI>'s Library; &s;o that in &s;hort, this only proves, that every Countrey-man can produce a &s;narling <HI>Momus,</HI> and every Age a &s;coffing <HI>Lucian;</HI> But this profligate Crew are only &s;uch, as have vomit|ed out of their Souls all remnants of Goodne&s;s; and who can expect a &s;weet Breath from &s;uch foul Stomacs. Their Rea&s;ons (if any) are but the Froth and Scum of Envy and Malice; the Fruits of Choler Adu&s;t, and the Evaporations of a Vindicative Spirit: Now what they are, and of what Weight you &s;hall &s;oon under&s;tand; and in order thereunto we will fir&s;t remove this Rubbi&s;h from the Foun|dation, for the better con&s;olidating
<PB N="7" REF="7">of the Super&s;tructure; by demon&s;tra|ting how ea&s;ily their A&s;per&s;ions and Sarca&s;ins (as full of Obloquy, as pregnant with Impertinence) may be wip'd off.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, They object, that Male and Female God made Man, &s;o that Man be|ing fir&s;t named, is the worthier Per&s;on; A pretty Argument indeed! &s;o the Evening and the Morning made the fir&s;t day; yet few will think the Night better. But the Noble<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Giovanni Franci&s;co Loredana.</NOTE> <HI>Venetian,</HI> is &s;o far from this Opinion, that he tells you plainly, had it not been infus'd into <HI>Adam</HI> by Revelation, that Woman was a part of him&s;elf, doubtle&s;s Di&s;|obedience had not been the fir&s;t Pre|varication, but Idolatry; for <HI>Adam</HI> was about to adore her as a Godde&s;s.</P>
<P>O! but Man was made her Gover|nour, and &s;o con&s;equently, her Supe|riour; to which one an&s;wers very pertinently; That 'twas not the Pre|rogative of his Worth, but the Pu|ni&s;hment
<PB N="8" REF="8">of her Sin; had they both &s;tood, 'tis probably conjectur'd &s;he had never been in that &s;ubjection. There is one<NOTE N="1" PLACE="marg">Peter Martyr.</NOTE> Divine in|deed, who &s;eems to be of opinion, that Man had Priority be|fore the Fall; but we will confront him with a more Learned, Grave, <HI>Greek</HI><NOTE N="2" PLACE="marg"><HI>St.</HI> Chry|&s;o&s;tom.</NOTE> Father; who&s;e know|ledge and Mode&s;ty will not permit him to be po&s;itive; &s;o that he &s;ays he very much doubts it; which, in plain Engli&s;h, is no le&s;s than a Ne|gative; nay, the power of Comman|ding is in Reality, rather Political, than from equal Nature. Nor (&s;aith a<NOTE N="3" PLACE="marg">Cornelius Agrippa, <HI>quoted by</HI> Whitlock <HI>in his</HI> Magne|tick Lady.</NOTE> Learned Author) can Man be above Woman; for, in the choice of Sexes, Chri&s;t took Man upon him as the lowe&s;t, being he was to ex|piate Man's Pride in the lowe&s;t Con|de&s;cention po&s;&s;ible.</P>
<P>Some are &s;o bold as to &s;ay, Wo|man was not created according to
<PB N="9" REF="8">God's Image; To this the Famous<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Donne,</HI> in his Sermon on the <HI>28th</HI> of <HI>Matth. v</HI> 6. in his Volume of <HI>80</HI> Sermons, <HI>p. 242.</HI></NOTE> Dean of St. <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;uffici|ently and &s;atisfactorily an|&s;wers: <Q>However &s;ome Men out of Petulancy and Wantonne&s;s of Wit, or out of extravagancy of Paradoxes, and &s;ome Singularities, have call'd Womens Faculties and Abilities in que&s;tion, even in the Root thereof, the Rea&s;onable and Immortal Soul; yet that one thing alone hath been enuf to create a Doubt (almo&s;t an A&s;&s;urance in the Negative) whether St. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> his Commentaries on the Epi&s;tles of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> be truly his, or no? Now in that Book there is a Doubt made, whether Woman was created after God's Image? Therefore, becau&s;e the Doubt is made, the Book it &s;elf is &s;u&s;pected, not to have &s;o Great, &s;o Con&s;tant an Author, as St. <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> was; No Author of Gravity, Piety, and Conver&s;ation in the Scripture,
<PB N="10" REF="9">could admit that Doubt, Whether Woman was created in the Image of God, that is, in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a Rea&s;onable and Immortal Soul? And farther, Woman, as well as Man, was made after the Image of God in the Creation; and in the Re&s;urrection, when we &s;hall ri&s;e, her Sex &s;hall not dimini&s;h her Glory, of which &s;he receives a very fair Beam and Incho|ation in this Text; That the pur|po&s;e of God is communicated by the Mini&s;try of Angels to Women.</Q></P>
<P>Nay, the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin confutes all &s;uch frivolous Argumentators with her own Words in the <HI>Magnificat,</HI> by a pious Di&s;tinction of the Soul and Spirit; <HI>My Soul doth magnifie the Lord, and my Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour.</HI></P>
<P>The Stagirite indeed calls (or in truth mi&s;calls) Woman <HI>Animal occa|&s;ionatum,</HI> a Creature made upon occa|&s;ion, or by chance, and &s;ayes &s;he is <HI>Mas lae&s;us,</HI> a maim'd, imperfect Male;
<PB N="11" REF="9">but, I pre&s;ume, no Chri&s;tian dares ad|mit an <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> in competition with the Almighty, his Philo&s;ophy &s;peaks too dully in this particular; for &s;he is an Artificial Building, and from the Rafter or Plank of a Rib was the World built;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dancy's Ho|nour of La|dies.</NOTE> for this Rea&s;on was <HI>Eve</HI> call'd Living; but of this more hereafter. Man cannot be more perfect than Wo|man, as to the Formal Sub&s;tance, be|cau&s;e the one and the other are com|prehended under the Kind of Man; that in which they differ is not a thing E&s;&s;ential.</P>
<P><HI>Mulier est Vir occa&s;ionatus,</HI> &s;ay &s;ome; now if there be any Imperfe|ction in Woman, it mu&s;t be in the Maker, or the Matter. To &s;ay 'tis in the former would be Bla&s;phemy, and to blame the latter, were to wrong the Man, becau&s;e &s;he was taken out of him: Here let the proude&s;t of tho&s;e <HI>Mi&s;ogyni</HI> an&s;wer this Author's <HI>Dilem|ma.</HI> Nay, the Stagyrite goes farther,
<PB N="12" REF="10">and &s;aith; they are Nature's Errata's, continually &s;tudying Temptations, comparing Woman to <HI>Materia Pri|ma,</HI> becau&s;e it hath alwayes a de&s;ire to change it's Form, and tho it enjoy never &s;o perfect a &s;hape, it hath a ge|neral propen&s;ity to all other. (This is the Sum of his mutilated Philo&s;o|phy.) The Philo&s;opher intended by this odious Compari&s;on, to prove Wo|man as in&s;atiable and incon&s;tant to Man, as <HI>Materia Prima</HI> is to Forms; but this is a mo&s;t injurious &s;imilitude, and better agrees with his own, than Woman's Temper, &s;ince he (who could not be without them for all his Tatling, the common Fate and De&s;tiny of &s;uch ra&s;h Inveyers) left <HI>Herina,</HI> one of his Mi&s;&s;es, for ano|ther to whom he erected Altars, (ado|ring what he &s;o much, &s;eemingly, de&s;pis'd) to &s;hew with greater So|lemnity, that he was more ver&s;atil and un&s;ettled in mind than Woman: thus &s;till we find, that they who play
<PB N="13" REF="10">upon them mo&s;t with their Wits, have them mo&s;t in their Wi&s;hes.</P>
<P>Nor had <HI>Xenophilus</HI> (another of the &s;ame Profe&s;&s;ion) any better &s;uc|ce&s;s, who rail'd downright, for many years, &s;corned, flouted, and &s;coffed at them, till at la&s;t he came into the Company of <HI>Daphnis,</HI> a Fair Maid, (as he condoles his mi&s;hap to his Friend <HI>Demaritis</HI>) tho free before, <HI>Intactus ullis ante Cupidinibus;</HI> was &s;o far in Love, and captivated on a &s;udden, (&s;o it &s;eems 'twas Love at fir&s;t-&s;ight) that he came off pittifully with his <HI>Victus &s;um fatcor &agrave; Daphnide.</HI> &amp;c. I confe&s;s I am &s;mitten with the Love of <HI>Daphnis.</HI></P>
<P>Such another Misfortune had <HI>Stratocles,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Burtons Me|lanc. <HI>p. 461. 462.</HI></NOTE> the Phy&s;ici|an; that Blear-ey'd, old man, <HI>muco plenus,</HI> a &s;notty, &s;nivelling Fel|low, as <HI>Prodromus</HI> de&s;cribes him. He, a &s;evere Woman-hater all his Life|time; <HI>Foeda &amp; contumelio&s;a &s;emper in Foeminas profatus;</HI> a bitter Per&s;ecu|tor
<PB N="14" REF="11">of the whole Sex. <HI>Humanas A&s;|pides &amp; Viperas appellabat;</HI> he for|&s;ware them all &s;till and derided them where&s;oever he came, in &s;uch vile Terms that to have heard him, and re|plyed upon his <GAP DESC="foreign">, his bare word, had bin enuf to have made a Man hate his own Mother: yet this doting Fool (pardon the Expre&s;&s;ion, becau&s;e tho a learned Man, he de&s;erv'd it in this particular) was taken, at la&s;t, with the Cele&s;tial and Divine A&s;pect of <HI>Nupilla,</HI> (the poor Daughter of poor <HI>Anticles,</HI> a poor Gardner) that &s;mirking Wench; that he &s;hav'd off his bu&s;hy Beard, painted his Face, curl'd his Hair in a Gla&s;s, <HI>coma&s;que ad Speculum di&s;po&s;uit,</HI> wore a Lawrel to cover his bald Pate, and be&s;ides was ready to run mad for her; tho at la&s;t he obtain'd her, and when he was married (a terrible mon&s;trous long day) the invigorated hot-Spur fir'd with Love, could not endure the Flame of his Amours till Night;
<PB N="15" REF="11">He could not eat his Meat for ki&s;&s;ing the Bride; nay, the Meat was &s;carce out of his Mouth, but he would needs go to Bed, without bidding adieu to the Gue&s;ts.</P>
<Q>O Res digna joco, &amp; ri&s;u celebranda bime&s;tri!</Q>
<P>Thus you &s;ee the &s;toute&s;t of them all come at la&s;t to their <HI>Alma, precor, mi&s;erere mei!</HI> Fair Mi&s;tre&s;s pity me! I wa&s;te my Life, my Time, my Friends, my Fortune, and all to win your &s;in|gle Favour, which is all the Favour I aim at: though they have been for|merly mo&s;t &s;currilous and abu&s;ive in their Language, they do at length <HI>invertere &s;tilum,</HI> and un&s;ay what they formerly &s;aid with Shame and Confu|&s;ion.</P>
<P>Witne&s;s al&s;o the great <HI>Bononian</HI> Doctor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philippus Bero|aldus Comment. in 6 cap.Apuleii.</NOTE> who was once of Opinion, <HI>Impedire &s;tudia literarum,</HI> that Women did ob&s;truct Men in
<PB N="16" REF="12">their Study and Contemplation: but he recanted at la&s;t, and in a &s;olemn manner, with true-conceived Words, did ask the World and all Women, Forgivene&s;s. But you &s;hall have the Story according to his own Relati|on: For a long time (&s;aith he) I liv'd a &s;ingle Life, and could not en|dure Marriage, but as a rambling Lo|ver, <HI>Erraticus, ac Volaticus, Amator</HI> (to u&s;e his own Words) <HI>per multipli|ces Amores di&s;eurrebam.</HI> I took a Snatch where I could get it: nay more, I rail'd at Marriage downright; and at a Publick Auditory, when I did interpret the &s;ixth Satyr of <HI>Juve|nal,</HI> out of <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <HI>Seneca</HI> I did heap up all the Dicteries <HI>I</HI> could again&s;t Women, but now recant with <HI>Ste&s;ichorus, Palinodiam cane, nec poe|nitet cen&s;eri in ordine Maritorum,</HI> and exhorts all Men to marry, and e&s;pe|cially Scholars; that as of old, &s;o they may do now, hold the Candle, as <HI>Martia</HI> did to <HI>Horten&s;ius, Terentia</HI>
<PB N="17" REF="12">to <HI>Tibullus, Calphurnia</HI> to <HI>Pliny, Pu|dentilla</HI> to <HI>Apuleius, Legentibus &amp; Meditantibus candelas &amp; candelabrum tenuerunt,</HI> who held the Candle whil&s;t their Husbands did meditate; and &s;o (&s;aith he) doth my Dear <HI>Camilla</HI> to me. And truly the Fly may very fit|ly be their Emblem who &s;port thus in je&s;t and are wounded in earne&s;t.
<Q><L>So long the fooli&s;h Fly plays with the Flame,</L>
<L>Till her light Wings are &s;inged with the &s;ame.</L></Q>
And we may well upbraid and laugh at them with this Di&s;tich:
<Q><L>If <HI>Cupid</HI> then be blind, how blind are ye,</L>
<L>That will be caught by one that can|not &s;ee.</L></Q></P>
<P>So &s;evere again&s;t this Sex all were not, nay many of them had a better Opinion of them; for, they a&s;cribed all Sciences to the <HI>Mu&s;es,</HI> all Sweet|ne&s;s
<PB N="18" REF="13">and Morality to the <HI>Graces,</HI> Pro|phetick In&s;piration to the <HI>Sibyls,</HI> and in my &s;mall revolving of Authors, I find as high Examples of Vertue in Women as Men. Mr. Howel <HI>in his Epi&s;tles.</HI></P>
<P>The Divine <HI>Plato</HI> (who&s;e very In|fancy pre&s;aged many fair Expre&s;&s;ions of his future Maturity) definitely profe&s;&s;ed, that among other Ble&s;&s;ings which the Gods had be&s;towed on him, he had greate&s;t cau&s;e, of all others, to give them Thanks for three things:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That they had made him a rea|&s;onable Creature, and not a Bea&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. A <HI>Grecian</HI> civiliz'd, and not a <HI>Barbarian;</HI> And,</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That he was made a Man, and not a Woman. Yet did he &s;ometimes ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;s the nece&s;&s;ity of them, by winding up all his humane Felicity in the&s;e four Particulars: So I may have, &s;aith he,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Eyes to read.</ITEM>
<PB N="19" REF="13">
<ITEM>2. A Mind to conceive what I read.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. A Memory to con&s;erve what I conceive and read; And,</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. A Woman to &s;erve me at my need. Then &s;hould Ad|ver&s;ity a&s;&s;ail me,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brathwait</HI>'s La|dy's Love-Le|cture. <HI>Sect.</HI> 1. <HI>pa.</HI> 423.&amp;424.</NOTE> it &s;hould not foil me; &s;hould an immerited Di&s;grace lye heavy on me, it &s;hould not amate me; &s;hould my endeared Friends for|&s;ake me, by enjoying my &s;elf thus in my own Family I &s;hould laugh at the Braves of Fortune, account Reproach my Repute, and partake in the free Society of &s;o &s;weet and &s;elect a Friend within me, as no Child without me could perplex me. Nay, he was an|gry with his Fellow-Philo&s;opher (though otherwi&s;e a learned and brave Man) for not &s;acrificing to the Graces, tho&s;e gentle Female-Godde&s;|&s;es. Some are of Opinion indeed, that he had perus'd the <HI>Mo&s;aical</HI> Law, and be&s;towed much time in it during his Re&s;idence with his Friend <HI>Phoci|an,</HI>
<PB N="20" REF="14">in <HI>Cilicia.</HI> No marvel then if he found there the Excellency of their Creation, with their primary Office or De&s;ignation, being made a help for Man; and &s;o intimate to Man, as &s;he took her Mold from Man, as Man his Model from Mold.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>But yet the Vulgar believe, that if there be no Ill in hand&s;om Women, at lea&s;t, there is inconvenience; that Tentation is there, tho the Sin be not. To this Mr. <HI>Mountague,</HI> in his accom|pli&s;h'd Woman an&s;wers: When Beau|ty is the occa&s;ion of Ill, 'tis an Inno|cent that makes the Offender, and tho&s;e that complain of it do as idly, as if one &s;hould accu&s;e the Sun for dazling his &s;ight, when he looks too fixedly on that glorious Body.</P>
<P>Some Buffoons have been &s;o bold as to &s;ay, that Woman is a crooked Rib, and con&s;equently of a crooked Temper; but that is a great mi&s;take; for a Rib is bending, and pre&s;uppo|&s;eth her pliant, not her crooked Di&s;|po&s;ition.
<PB N="21" REF="14"><HI>Adam</HI> for the lo&s;s of a Rib regain'd a better Self; had he not had her, he had liv'd an Anachoret in Paradi&s;e.</P>
<P>Others of the Rabble will pretend to give you a Learned Derivation of her Name; Woman, <HI>qua&s;i,</HI> Wo to Man;<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Lawne's <HI>Tran&s;lation of</HI> Du Moulin's <HI>Logic.</HI> 12. <HI>of Etymologie,</HI> p. 70.</NOTE> but <HI>Nathanael de Laune,</HI> Batchelor of Arts of <HI>Cambridge,</HI> &s;aith, Good Etymologies in the Eng|li&s;h Tongue are for the mo&s;t part taken out of <HI>Latin;</HI> but, (&s;aith he) &s;uch as are drawn from the Engli&s;h are commonly ab&s;urd and ridiculous, as Woman, Wo to Man; and <HI>Brathwait</HI> in his Engli&s;h Gentle|woman &s;ings thus;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>p.</HI> 287.</NOTE>
<Q><L>Are Women Wo to Men? No, they'r the way</L>
<L>To bring them homeward when they go a&s;tray.</L></Q></P>
<P>Another Objection again&s;t that Sex is, That one cannot love a Woman
<PB N="22" REF="15">and be wi&s;e; a Gro&s;s, Erroneous Te|net: for it is the opinion of wi&s;er Heads, That One cannot truly love, and not be wi&s;e; and &s;urely this Opi|nion will &s;oon be hi&s;s'd off of the Stage by Men, both young and old, or el&s;e they proclame them&s;elves all Fools; &s;ince Mr. <HI>Brathwait</HI> tells you, <HI>p.</HI> 288.</P>
<Q><L>Look all about you; who &s;o young that loves not?</L>
<L>And who &s;o old, a comely Feature moves not?</L></Q>
<P>If you object, and bid us look up to Heaven, there are but two among the Planets, <HI>Venus</HI> and <HI>Luna,</HI> all the re&s;t are Males: you may as well argue that among the Cele&s;tial Signs there are but three human Creatures, and &s;even brute Animals with two inani|mate, that there are more brutes in Heaven than men, would not this be a bruti&s;h Argument. And Mr. <HI>Howel</HI> in his Epi&s;tles will tell you, that he
<PB N="23" REF="15">believes there are as many Female as Male Saints in Heaven. But Sir, un|der favour, whereas you alledge, that among the heavenly Planets there are but two Females, the re&s;t Males, it &s;hews that Men are of a more erratick and wandring humour than Women.</P>
<P>Thus Men be&s;tow ill favour'd Names and Expre&s;&s;ions (or rather A&s;|per&s;ions) on lovely things, as Wo|men; like A&s;tronomers, that call &s;uch Stars Bulls and Scorpions that have neither Fury nor Venome, but only Purity and Light.</P>
<P>But Woman was tempted fir&s;t, and therefore to blame; not &s;o: for, in the fir&s;t Sin her Fault was lea&s;t, be|cau&s;e her Temptation was greate&s;t and &s;tronge&s;t, being beguil'd by the &s;ub|tle Serpent, but Man by a deceived or mi&s;taken Woman. Man was pro|hibited eating the forbidden Fruit, for Woman was not then created; there|fore he &s;inned by rea&s;on the Charge was made to him. <HI>Whitlock</HI>'s Magne|tick Lady, <HI>p.</HI> 331.</P>
<PB N="24" REF="16">
<P>Another Accu&s;ation is, That Beau|tiful Women are Scornful; but when we think well of it, we &s;hall find their Di&s;dain proceeds rather from Con&s;cience than Vanity, becau&s;e they cannot endure the Idolatrous pur&s;uits of the exce&s;&s;ive Prai&s;es, which Men artificially offer up to &s;urprize them. <HI>Mountague</HI>'s <HI>A. W. p.</HI> 105. And they that think Women cannot be obliging under&s;tand little of the Nature of Virtue, and are &s;o far from a right Opinion that they are ab&s;olutely void of all common Sen&s;e and Civility.</P>
<P>That Womens Piety is but tender|ne&s;s of Nature, or weakne&s;s of their Wits: tho&s;e that imagine thus are not of my Opinion, &s;aith <HI>Mountague, p.</HI> 30. and methinks they do them no le&s;s affront to deny them this Divine Qua|lity, than if they &s;hould take their Eyes from them, which makes the be&s;t part of the Face: be&s;ides, Piety is oftner found as well as Pity in the tender and &s;oft-hearted, than
<PB N="25" REF="16">in the more Rough and Robu&s;tuous Tempers.</P>
<P>That Timorou&s;ne&s;s re&s;trains Wo|men from Court&s;hip more than Vir|tue; this is ill argued; for if their Inclination be ill, Sollicitation will embolden it. Indeed there have bin Men that have po&s;&s;e&s;s'd this Virtue upon occa&s;ion, where &s;ome Con&s;ide|rations have taken away the Merit from it. Witne&s;s <HI>Alexander,</HI> who te|&s;tified &s;ome Con&s;tancy to <HI>Darius</HI> his Wives; but to &s;hew it was rather out of Politie than Virtue, what did he not with the <HI>Amazons?</HI></P>
<P>That Women are of a fearful and cowardly Temper. I cannot think that Men have rea&s;on to call Women Fearful, becau&s;e they are not ha&s;ty and unadvis'd; for they that know their Temper, will confe&s;s, they have a greater di&s;po&s;ition to true Courage than Man; being neither cold to a de|gree of In&s;en&s;iblene&s;s, nor hot to a de|gree of Ra&s;hne&s;s. <HI>Mountag. A. W.</HI> p. 49.</P>
<PB N="26" REF="17">
<P>Upon this Account, I &s;uppo&s;e, it was more curiou&s;ly than u&s;efully, more &s;ubtilly than fruitfully demand|ed, why Woman might not as pro|perly <HI>Woe</HI> Man, as Man Woman? And that <HI>Arabian</HI> Re&s;olution retrieved from the very depth of Imagination, with much Ingenuity a&s;&s;oiled the Que&s;tion. Woing, &s;aid the <HI>Arabian</HI> Wit, is a Lovely Seeking; now we &s;eek not for that we have, but what we have not: it is more proper for the Man in Love's Que&s;t to &s;eek for what he has lo&s;t, than for the Woman to &s;eek for what &s;he already has. The Man hath lo&s;t his Rib, and he &s;eeks after her that has it: it is for him to &s;eek it, who, tho he may not have it, yet he &s;eeks to enjoy her who has it. <HI>Brathwait,</HI> Sect. 2. p. 442.</P>
<P>As to their Levity and Incon&s;tan|cy, what&s;oever Slanderers invent to their di&s;paragement in that particular, we mu&s;t confe&s;s they are more firm in their Pa&s;&s;ions than Men; at lea&s;t,
<PB N="27" REF="17">we learn by the Holy Writ, that on the mo&s;t noble occa&s;ion that ever of|fered it &s;elf, where we owe more Af|fection and Courage to the Service of God; there were &s;een three <HI>Ma|ries</HI> under the Cro&s;s, and <HI>Mary Mag|dalen</HI> con&s;tantly followed him to the very la&s;t, when the Di&s;ciples fell off, after all their Prote&s;tations of never de&s;erting him.</P>
<P>Women are &s;hallow, and unfit for Knowledge; methinks this is to mis|judge of Con&s;titutions; which, as the Phy&s;icians and Philo&s;ophers &s;ay, be|ing more delicate than ours, is al&s;o better di&s;po&s;ed for it; but it may be 'tis an effect of their Judicious Choice to quit freely the Vexatious mu&s;ings of Studie's weari&s;omne&s;s; I may &s;ay without flattering them, or pretend|ing by this In&s;inuation to the Honour of their good Graces, that they are capable of as many Virtues as Men; and if &s;ometimes they quit their claim, which they may lay to them, 'tis ra|ther
<PB N="28" REF="18">out of Mode&s;ty or Con&s;iderati|on, than Unaptne&s;s. Nay, there have not been wanting Champions in Phi|lo&s;ophy, Law, and Hi&s;tory, to an&s;wer or confute Oppo&s;ers, and &s;ome of them, to &s;ay truth, have not under|taken the Cau&s;e effeminately. <HI>Plu|tarch</HI> counted it worth his pains to be&s;tow a whole Book <HI>De Virtutibus Mulierum.</HI></P>
<P>But now adays &s;uch is the &s;ad Fate of Females, they are depriv'd of all means to advance them&s;elves; &s;o that no wonder they are not publickly Famous, being forc'd to lead a re|tir'd Life at home; their Needle is their only Recreation, or Cloy&s;ter'd in &s;ome Nunnery, or if married, con|fin'd to their Husband's Humour. Men be&s;patter them, becau&s;e their Soul is not contain'd in &s;o rich a Ca|binet; they climb by Intru&s;ion to Honour and Dignity, not by Title or Merit, not by Rule or Divine Command, but by Strength and
<PB N="29" REF="18">might. The be&s;t Land incultivated bears nothing but Briers and Thorns, where Art and Labour might bring forth Lillies and Tulips; it is that that is often wanting to their good Inclinations and De&s;ires, when Ty|ranny, or &s;ome other misfortune barrs them the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the&s;e fair Qua|lities, of which Nature has given them a Capacity.</P>
<P>The Oracle of <HI>Apollo</HI> declared <HI>So|crates</HI> the wi&s;e&s;t of men; and he con|fe&s;s'd, that his <HI>Diotinia</HI> taught him the Wi&s;dom and Prudence which the Gods them&s;elves judged incompara|ble. It was no &s;mall advantage to this Woman to in&s;truct this Philo&s;opher, who might pre&s;cribe Rules to all men for Life and manners. The Empe|rour <HI>Ju&s;tinian,</HI> the great Civilian, would not judge of any matter till he had fir&s;t given an account of it to his Wife. And <HI>Plutarch</HI> writes, that the <HI>Roman</HI> Lady <HI>Porcia</HI> endeared <HI>Ce|thegus</HI> &s;o far, that he enterpriz'd no
<PB N="30" REF="19">De&s;ign, nor managed any Affair with|out her Advice and Approbation. <HI>Pri&s;cilla</HI> was &s;o knowing, that &s;he in|&s;tructed <HI>Apollo,</HI> a Bi&s;hop, and <HI>A&s;patia</HI> was judged worthy to teach <HI>Pericles.</HI> Nay, whole Nations, as well as &s;ingle Per&s;ons, have honoured them for their Knowledge. The <HI>Scythian</HI> Women judged of Publick matters, and their Verdict was of great E&s;teem.</P>
<P>Our Antient <HI>Gauls</HI> divided with them the Glory of Peace and War, re&s;erving only the Active part of Arms unto them&s;elves, and leaving the Women the E&s;tabli&s;hment of Laws, and Pre&s;ervation of Commonwealths; that was not to be done by Ignorant Per&s;ons; and one may judge in what e&s;teem our Ance&s;tors held them, &s;ince they allotted to the Men only the Exerci&s;e of the Body, and to the Wo|men the Abilities of the Mind.</P>
<P>But Women are Deceitful, and can command Tears at will: Admit they can, and do frequently weep, it is a
<PB N="31" REF="19">great Argument of their Tenderne&s;s and Pity; for a Woman, if ever &s;he weeps, &s;he thinks her &s;elf oblig'd &s;o to do, becau&s;e all the World is not &s;o good as &s;he her &s;elf.</P>
<P>It was a &s;narling Speech of a Cy|nique, when pa&s;&s;ing by a Tree where|on a Maid had hang'd her &s;elf, wi&s;h|ed that all Trees might bear &s;uch Fruit; but his very name implies an An&s;wer; it was a Dog-like and cur|ri&s;h Expre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>The odd opinion that the <HI>Jews</HI> and <HI>Turks</HI> have of Women, that they are of an Inferior Creation to Man, and therefore exclude them, the one from their Synagogues, and the other from their <HI>Mo&s;quets,</HI> is in my Judg|ment not onely Partial, but Prophane; for the Image of the Creator &s;hines as much in the one as in the other. <HI>Howel</HI>'s Letters.</P>
<P>Some will deprive Women of their Priviledge of going abroad; and I know what Philo&s;opher he was
<PB N="32" REF="20">that would have them appear but thrice abroad all their Life-time; at their Chri&s;tening, Marriage, and Bu|rial; but the rea&s;on was not their Wantonne&s;s, but his own Lu&s;t, that he might have the better opportunity to go the oftener to them at home in private; and in truth Jealou&s;ie (which was one cau&s;e of it) is a fear which di&s;|covers not &s;o much, as it confe&s;&s;eth, the Merit of our Enemy. Yet I am not &s;o Laconically &s;evere (&s;aith <HI>Bur|ton</HI> in his Melancholy) or Stoically Rigid, as to debarr Women of all Society and Meetings, they may im|prove them by a Civil and Moral U&s;e, to their Advantage and Benefit, they may Conver&s;e with a mode&s;t and be|coming Freedom.</P>
<P>The <HI>Latin</HI> Tongue &s;tyles a Friend <HI>Amicus,</HI> a Sweet-heart <HI>Amica;</HI> and in this that Language is Injurious to that Sex, as if it were incapable of any kind of Familiarity or Friend&s;hip, but in way of Marriage. <HI>Fuller</HI> in his
<PB N="33" REF="20">Holy State; but daily Experience confutes this Argument, and there|fore 'tis not worthy an An&s;wer.</P>
<P>But the <HI>Herculean</HI> and Irrefragable Argument is &s;till to come; <HI>viz.</HI> That Women are &s;ubject to paint, which is a kind of Self-Adultery, a Metamor|pho&s;is of God's Works, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> But one of the be&s;t Wits of our Nation hath penn'd a Treati&s;e in Defence of it, call'd Auxiliary or Artificial Beauty; who &s;aith, It is but a Fixation of Na|ture's Incon&s;tancy, and is no more Adulterating of God's Works, than to die Wool, Linnen, or Silk, out of their Native Simplicity, or to wa&s;h the Scurf and Filth off, which ri&s;eth naturally from our Bodies by Sweat|ing or Evaporation.</P>
<P>It is no more the Adulterating of Nature, than the applying of &s;weet Smells and Scents to our Clothes, Bodies, or Breath; not on|ly as a Delight, but Remedy to the Native Rankne&s;s or Offen&s;ivene&s;s
<PB N="34" REF="21">which &s;ome Per&s;ons are &s;ubject to, both in their Breath and Con&s;tituti|on, which not to Cure, or alter by Art, is to condemn &s;uch Per&s;ons (otherwi&s;e not ill Company) to So|litude, by rea&s;on of tho&s;e very Sa|vours, which make them fitter for Cells than Society.</P>
<P><HI>We cannot,</HI> (that is, we may not) <HI>make one hair of our Head white or black, Matthew</HI> 5.36. So Men may not, by the &s;ame rea&s;on, that are Mad, be re&s;train'd from their Extravagan|cies, becau&s;e God hath afflicted them; &s;o Sick men mu&s;t bid Defiance to all Phy&s;icians, accounting them as &s;o ma|ny bold Giants, or Mon&s;ters, who daily &s;eek to fight again&s;t Heaven by their Rebellious Drugs and Do&s;es, pre&s;cribed in &s;trange affected Terms of Art, and ill-&s;cribled Bills, which &s;eem to be as &s;o many Charms or Spells. So Lame Men may not either u&s;e Crutches to &s;upply the weakne&s;s of their Legs, or to &s;hore up the tot|tering
<PB N="35" REF="21">frame of their Body. Any one undoubtedly may lawfully redeem him&s;elf from the uncomeline&s;s of &s;uch an untimely Accident, by dying his Hair, or by u&s;ing a Perruque &s;uitable to his greener Years, without inter|fering with our Saviour's meaning, that we cannot make one Hair white or black, which only &s;hews the un|changeable Bounds and Principles of Nature, as to God's Fixation and Pro|vidence in all things; but not to for|bid the Ingenious Operations of Hu|mane Art and Invention, to which the Works of God in Nature are &s;ub|jected, &s;o far as they are managed within the Limits of Moral Intention and Religious Ends.</P>
<P>It &s;eems to me no better than a &s;trait-lac'd Super&s;tition, which thus pinches God's Bounty, and a Chri&s;ti|an's Liberty, which makes Chri&s;tiani|nity &s;uch a Captive to &s;uch unnece&s;&s;ary Rigors and pedling Severities, as if it were never in a due Po&s;ture
<PB N="36" REF="22">and Habit, till its Nails be pared to the quick, and its Hair &s;haven to the Skull. To be Godly, it is not nece&s;&s;ary to be ugly; nor doth De|formity add any thing to our Devo|tion, God's Mercy to our Souls, de|nies us not due care and con&s;iderati|on of our Bodies.</P>
<P>After the&s;e Methods of Holy Ill-husbandry, we mu&s;t let our Fields and Gardens be oppre&s;&s;ed under the U&s;urpation of Brambles, and the Ty|ranny of all evil Weeds, which are the Products of Providence, as well as the be&s;t Herbs and Flowers; and you may not by the invention of Artifici|al Day, &s;upply the Sun's ab&s;ence with Candle or Torch-light, nor di&s;pell the horrour of that Darkne&s;s which Providence brings over the face of the Earth in the Night. You may as well di&s;commend a Gla&s;s-Eye, when the Natural one is out. Surely Face|mending is no &s;in, nor to help a wither'd Autumnal Complexion no
<PB N="37" REF="22">Crime; nor to fill up the Ranks and rotted Files of the Teeth with Ivory Adjutants and Lieutenants.</P>
<P>The Sarca&s;m which was us'd by a Witty and Eloquent Preacher, whom we both heard at <HI>Oxford</HI> (meaning the two Ladies di&s;puting about Paint|ing, in the Treati&s;e of Auxiliary Beau|ty) who &s;peaking again&s;t the abu&s;e of Womens Ornaments, in&s;tanced in <HI>Jezabel</HI>'s being eaten with Dogs, as &s;hewing (&s;aith he) that a Woman &s;o poli&s;hed and painted was not fit to be Man's meat; which Expre&s;&s;ion had more of Wit and Je&s;t in it, than Weight or Earne&s;t, as if the Heart received &s;inful Infection by any Co|lour or Tincture put to the Face, more than it doth moral defilement by any thing that enters into the Mouth.</P>
<P>To deprive Women of Additional Arts, is to reduce them from the Poli|ture and Improvement of after Times and Experience, to their fir&s;t Caves and
<PB N="38" REF="23">Cottages in primitive Skins and A|prons.</P>
<P>St. <HI>Jerom,</HI> writing to <HI>Gauden&s;ius</HI> about the Clothes of young <HI>Pacutu|la,</HI> &s;eems to excu&s;e the Curio&s;ity of Women, in very remarkable terms. <Q>Their Sex (&s;aith he) is curious in Ornaments, and &s;tudies natural|ly the Sumptuou&s;ne&s;s of Clothes; in&s;omuch as I have &s;een many cha&s;te Ladies that dre&s;s them&s;elves very co&s;tly, without having any aim in their De&s;igns, but their particular Contentment, by a certain harmle&s;s Complacency or Satisfaction. This Inclination is &s;o natural to them, as heretofore many Ladies did intomb their Ornaments with them&s;elves, to carry into the other World that which they had acknowledged &s;o much in this.</Q></P>
<P>It is true, there is a Story, That <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> &s;eeing his Daughter <HI>Julia Augu|&s;ta</HI> too curiou&s;ly brave, con&s;idered her a great while without gracing her
<PB N="39" REF="23">with a Word, expre&s;&s;ing his Di&s;&s;ati&s;|faction by his Silence. The next day &s;eeing her more mode&s;tly dre&s;s'd, he told her with a &s;miling Countenance, that that Habit better became the Daughter of <HI>Augu&s;tus:</HI> but the Reply of this Prince&s;s was not le&s;s con&s;ide|rable than the Admoni&s;hment of the Emperour; I was dre&s;&s;ed Ye&s;terday (&s;aid &s;he) for my Husband, but to Day for my Father.</P>
<P>But they will object, That Paint|ing is an adventitious Stealth, a ba|&s;tardly kind of Adoption.</P>
<P>You never are jealous of any Scar|let, Crim&s;on, or purple Tincture in your Cloaths, wherein you plea&s;e your &s;elves more than in deader co|lours: they are but the &s;imple Juice or Extract of &s;ome innocent Herb, Leaf, Flower or Root, of which no other u&s;e in Phy&s;ick or Food can be made.</P>
<P>Beauty is a great Ble&s;&s;ing among tho&s;e little momentary ones which
<PB N="40" REF="24">our Du&s;t is capable of; and artificial helps of Beauty carry with them their own Antidote, while they are Moni|tors of our Wants and Infirmities, which like the &s;wallowing down the Stone keeps us from &s;urfeiting of the Cherries we eat: and the remedying of Deformity, by artificial Applications can be no more a Temptation to Pride than the u&s;e of Crutches and Spectacles to tho&s;e that are lame and dim-&s;ighted. We read no where in Scripture that the Beauty and Bravery of Colours is either forbidden or reproved, unle&s;s un&s;ea&s;onably worn, when God calls for Sack-cloath and Blackne&s;s of Face. <HI>Lydia,</HI> a Seller of Purple, <HI>Acts</HI> 16.14. (who&s;e Dye or finer Tincture was of more worth than the Sub&s;tance it &s;elf) yet is not forbidden, when &s;he was converted to be a Chri&s;tian, ei|ther to dye or &s;ell any more of that rich Colour. Again&s;t this hone&s;t Li|berty of Painting nothing wars &s;o much as Prejudice, and a kind of
<PB N="41" REF="24">Wontedne&s;s to think the contrary.</P>
<P>Mr.<HI>Downam,</HI> in his Warfare, <HI>c.</HI> 14. calls Painting the Devil's Invention, a Sin, not only in the Abu&s;e but the very U&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> He brings <HI>Tertullian</HI> arguing again&s;t it as the Devil's coun|terfeiting and mocking of God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And he quotes St. <HI>Cyprian,</HI> telling the veil'd Virgins, that the Devil, by the&s;e Arts, doth but di&s;tort and poi|&s;on what God hath made hand&s;ome and whol&s;ome. He might have ad|ded many more, as I find in our <HI>Eng|li&s;h</HI> Authors, who produce the Au|thority of St. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> St. <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom,</HI> and St. <HI>Jerom,</HI> again&s;t all additional Beauty.</P>
<P>No Soul was more &s;haken than I was (&s;aith the Author of <HI>Auxiliary Beauty</HI>) in the minority of my Judg|ment, when I had more of Traditional Super&s;tition than of Judicious Religi|on, and valued more the number of mens Names than the weight of their Rea&s;ons. And now out of the Non|age
<PB N="42" REF="25">and Minority which kept me in the Ward&s;hip and Awe of Mens Names and Number, I con&s;idered that the&s;e alone &s;ignified no more to make up any Rea&s;on, or to prove any Sin, (in point of Con&s;cience) than &s;o ma|ny Counters can make up a Sum, which have no Figures before them.</P>
<P>Good and Great Men are not &s;et beyond Mi&s;takes.</P>
<P>They might Decree po&s;&s;ibly the&s;e Helps in &s;ome Women, not as ab&s;o|lutely evil, but as inexpedient and needle&s;s in tho&s;e times of Per&s;ecution, when they were to be married to the Faggot and Flames. They do not oppo&s;e things of this Nature argu|mentatively &s;o much as oratoriou&s;ly; not denying the u&s;e of them to &s;ome Per&s;ons, in &s;ome Ca&s;es, at &s;ome times, but the Abu&s;e of them. Be&s;ides, their greate&s;t &s;trictne&s;s &s;eems to have been to Votaries or re&s;erv'd Virgins.</P>
<P>How did many great Mini&s;ters in|veigh again&s;t <HI>Tobacco</HI> in the Pulpit,
<PB N="43" REF="25">before they generally fell to taking it them&s;elves, fancying at la&s;t, that they never had more devout Medita|tions or &s;harp Inventions, than tho&s;e which were begun by the Midwifery of a Pipe of <HI>Tobacco.</HI> Their Report &s;eems fitted to the Polity and Bent of tho&s;e Times. Mr. <HI>Downam</HI> did not di&s;tingui&s;h between the thing done, and the End, or Mind of tho&s;e that do it; as if the &s;ober Relief of a pa|lid Infirmity, or the mode&s;t Study of outward Decency, were the &s;ame thing with Pride, Levity, and Wan|tonne&s;s. At the &s;ame rate he may in|veigh again&s;t quenching one's Thir&s;t, or drinking to Chearfulne&s;s, becau&s;e of the &s;ordid con&s;equences of Drink|ing, Riot, and Debauchery.</P>
<P>His other heap of Arguments are only a&s;&s;ertory, not prefatory; he makes it not good, that it was an ab|&s;olute Sin in the u&s;e, but neither by any Proofs, or pregnant Rea&s;on, or God's Word.</P>
<PB N="44" REF="26">
<P>But all are lewd and wanton that u&s;e it, &s;aith he; and this is as har&s;h as ra&s;h for him to maintain: and how could he in Charity do it, unle&s;s he had known their Hearts that u&s;e tho&s;e Arts. Thus, like a mad Man with a Sword, he lays about, and &s;mites all that come near him. Very few exa|mine the Marrow and In&s;ide of things, but take them upon the credit of cu|&s;tomary Opinion. Few Mens Judg|ments are &s;o died in Grain, but they will fade and di&s;colour, being for the mo&s;t part dip'd by vulgar Ea&s;ine&s;s in common Opinion.</P>
<P>To conclude this Particular, all is but verbal painting or oral colouring that is u&s;ed again&s;t Artificial Hand|&s;omne&s;s, or Auxiliary Beauty; or like the ratling of Hail upon Tiles, which neither wets with Moi&s;ture, nor pier|ceth with it's Strokes and Noi&s;e. But that which I wonder at is, that Men &s;hould rail again&s;t Women for that which they them&s;elves are more cri|minally
<PB N="45" REF="26">guilty: witne&s;s <HI>Horten&s;ius</HI> the <HI>Roman</HI> Orator, who &s;pent half the day in beholding and dre&s;&s;ing him&s;elf in a Gla&s;s in&s;tead of &s;tudying his Ora|tions; and <HI>Stratocles</HI> the Phy&s;ician, that painted his wither'd Face and adorn'd him&s;elf to court his Mi&s;tris.</P>
<P>But truly I cannot yet &s;ee, but that in the height of religious Severity, it may be put among tho&s;e venial Vani|ties of Humane Life, of which no &s;tricter account in point of Morality need to be given or exacted, but on|ly that Divine Intelligence by which God in innocent Freedom, as a Fa|ther to a Child, gives us leave to adorn and plea&s;e our &s;elves without any of his Di&s;plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>But admit, when all is &s;aid and done, that Women when they prove bad are a &s;ort of the vile&s;t Creatures imaginable, yet &s;till the &s;ame Rea&s;on gives it, <HI>Corruptio optimi est pe&s;&s;ima,</HI> and this al&s;o will tend to their Ad|vantage in de&s;pite of all Oppo&s;ers.</P>
<PB N="46" REF="27">
<P>Thus they &s;eek to murder Womens Reputation whenas they de&s;troy their own; for, the Calumniator is but ano|ther <HI>Pigmalion,</HI> the Arti&s;an of his own Misfortune, and indeed, is a Murder|er, <HI>Tres uno perimit ictu;</HI> he kills three at once, <HI>viz.</HI> Him&s;elf, the Party that hears it, and the Per&s;on from whom he detracts. But, how truly do the&s;e Females trace the Method of Charity, to &s;uffer all the&s;e opprobri|ous Scoffs and Scurrilities without re|action! Alas! they know that if Rea|&s;on cannot curb their la&s;hing Tongues, their Di&s;prai&s;es will, after the manner of the <HI>Tartar</HI>'s Bow, &s;hoot back up|on them&s;elves from whence they came. They do but with the Wolves of <HI>Sy|ria,</HI> bark again&s;t the M<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">n, which is out of their reach; for their Virtues &s;it above Mens Calumnes; their Ex|cellency is &s;uch, that it need, not the reedy under-proping of <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> Opi|nion: they under&s;tand, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="4 letters">ect will kill an Injury <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 span"> Re|venge.
<PB N="47" REF="27">Be&s;ides, they may ever ex|pect weak blows where they find &s;trong words. Woman &s;corns to flame at every fiery Tongue's Puff; for the Crackers of the Brain and Squibs of the Tongue will dye alone, if not reviv'd, and the be&s;t way to have them forgot by others, is fir&s;t to forget them her &s;elf. She has a Spirit planted above petty wrongs: the Temper of her <HI>Genius</HI> is too Stoical to be &s;en&s;ible in the lea&s;t of the weak A&s;&s;aults of that Cowardly Pigmy, De|traction, whom hand&s;omly to over|come, is to &s;corn.</P>
<P>By &s;uch Obloquies Men think to deba&s;e Women, and all to as little purpo&s;e as to ca&s;t Chains into the Sea, or to tye the Ocean with Fet|ters; and the&s;e frequent Di&s;prai&s;es at be&s;t are but the Faults of unchari|table Men; But alas! &s;he that will que&s;tion every di&s;graceful word that is &s;poken of her, &s;hall have few Friends, little Wit, and much Trou|ble.
<PB N="48" REF="28">Let them con&s;ider, that if there were neither Malice, nor Enemies in the World, there are few Things &s;o &s;ure, or &s;o true that cannot be taken divers ways; and if we examin well all our Actions, it &s;eems that they are all &s;ubject to Interpretation and Di&s;|pute. <HI>Mount. A.W.</HI> p. 27.</P>
<P>It is not to any Man given ab&s;o|lutely to be ab&s;olute; and Fools are the greater number among them; for Wi&s;e-men are like Timber Trees in a Wood, here and there one. <HI>Fel|tham's Re&s;olves.</HI></P>
<P>Thus Men puff up them&s;elves as big as Pride and Vanity can make them, with a conceit of their own Meritoriou&s;ne&s;s; tho it be a &s;ordid thing for a man to be the Herald of his own Prai&s;e: But it may be &s;aid of the&s;e Airmongers as it is of the Cameleon, which is <HI>Nil praeter Pulmones,</HI> Nothing but Lungs, or of the Nightingale, <HI>Vox &amp; praeterea ni|hil,</HI> nothing but Voice; &s;o that as it
<PB N="49" REF="28">was &s;aid of <HI>Trajan</HI> the Emperour, when he vaunted his <HI>Parthian</HI> Tro|phies before the Gods; they may, he &s;aid, as ju&s;tly to be <GAP DESC="foreign">, more re&s;pecting a &s;ound of Words, than a &s;ound Matter.</P>
<P>But when all is done, &s;ince men a&s;&s;ume &s;o much to them&s;elves and derogate &s;o much from Females; Let any Man rake all the Hi&s;tory in the World and find out among them if he can, &s;uch a coveteous <HI>Midas</HI> as to wi&s;h the very Meat he eat to be turn'd into Gold, or &s;uch a pa&s;&s;ionate and incompatible Revenger as with <HI>Silla</HI> never to forgive, nor forget the In|jury done him by an Offender; or &s;uch a marrow-eating, envious Tetter, as <HI>Cte&s;iphon,</HI> who macerated him&s;elf in the Pro&s;perity of another? or &s;uch an Idolater of Honour as <HI>Themi&s;tocles,</HI> who could not &s;leep for the Ambition he bare to the Triumphs of <HI>Miltiades?</HI> or &s;uch a Glutton as <HI>Cambles,</HI> who devour'd his own Wife in Bed, and
<PB N="50" REF="29">the next morning, finding one of her Hands in his Mouth, &s;wallowed it? of &s;uch a Gulo as <HI>Vitellius</HI> or <HI>Helioga|balus;</HI> the former whereof had &s;erv'd up at one Fea&s;t 2000 Fi&s;hes and 7000 Birds; the latter had his Table cover'd at a &s;ingle Supper with 6000 O&s;triches? or &s;uch a Gourmand as <HI>Maximinus,</HI> who devoured every day 40 pound of Fle&s;h, and drank five Gallons of Wine? or &s;uch a Catamite as the <HI>Bithynian,</HI> who was a Woman for all Men, and a Man for all Women, an equal Agent, or Patient to &s;atisfie Nature? or &s;uch a lazy Lollard as <HI>Margites,</HI> who never dig'd, plow'd, &s;ow'd, nor ever did any good all his Life long, but &s;lept out his time in a &s;luggi&s;h po&s;ture and u&s;ele&s;s manner? or &s;uch a <HI>Ludus Amoris,</HI> a <HI>Cupid</HI>'s Whirlegig (as <HI>Juno</HI> calls <HI>Jupiter</HI> in <HI>Lucian</HI>) who was &s;o often changed into Shapes; for <HI>Europa</HI> into a Buck, for <HI>Aegina</HI> into a Flame, for <HI>Danae</HI> into a Shower of Gold; for <HI>A&s;traea</HI>
<PB N="51" REF="29">into an Eagle, for <HI>Leda</HI> into a Swan; for <HI>Antiope</HI> into a Satyr; for <HI>Mnemo|&s;ine</HI> into a Shepherd, for <HI>Dois</HI> into a Serpent; for <HI>Cali&s;to</HI> into a Wood-Nymph, or Nun? or &s;uch an Apo&s;tate as <HI>Julian,</HI> or Athei&s;t as <HI>Lucian,</HI> who, tho rare Wits, and their Images were to be had in e&s;teem for their Ingenu|ity, yet were they to be &s;purn'd at for their Impiety? Thus you &s;ee, notwith&s;tanding all this, how envi|ous Men &s;eek to envenom the Names of Women, and inveigh again&s;t them in &s;uch terms as you have heard, with many other as groundle&s;s, as bitter Sarca&s;ms, that a Bea&s;t hath Wit enu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> to apprehend the heinou&s;ne&s;s of &s;uch obloquies; &s;o &s;candalous, that I can|not forbear crying out with the Poet <HI>Horre&s;co referens;</HI> I blu&s;h at and ab|hor the farther Repetition of them, and &s;corn to &s;ully my Paper with &s;uch black &s;candals, or teach my Pen &s;uch undutiful Language. And tho this be more than Statute madne&s;s in Men, yet
<PB N="52" REF="30">&s;uch Carpers <HI>ubique &s;tabulant;</HI> but &s;uch they are, and only &s;uch who have vomited out of their Souls all Rem|nants of Goodne&s;s, and who can ex|pect a &s;weet Breath out of &s;uch foul Stomachs; and their very Rea&s;ons, if any, are but the &s;cum of ba&s;e Malice, the Fruits of Choler adu&s;t, and the Evaporations of a Vindicative Spirit; and yet notwith&s;tanding all the&s;e high Provocations, ungentile and gro&s;s Affronts, methinks I hear that undaunted and de&s;erving Sex acqui|e&s;ce patiently with this Requiem, and conclude,
<Q><L>Their Prai&s;e or Di&s;prai&s;e is to me alike;</L>
<L>Th'one doth not &s;troke me, nor the other &s;trike.</L></Q></P>
<P>In Examination of the whole Sex, we &s;hall find, that all makes more for their Honour than mo&s;t men have ac|knowledged. <HI>Socrates, Plato, Ari&s;to|tle,</HI> and &s;everal others, have commen|ded
<PB N="53" REF="30">them: and to compleat all, let us hear what the &s;narling Cynick <HI>Dioge|nes</HI> &s;ays of them, who was compo&s;ed of nothing but Gibe and Je&s;t. He calls proper Women Queens; <HI>Quod facerent Homines quod praeciperent,</HI> becau&s;e men were &s;o obedient to their Commands; &s;o that it appears before the&s;e late years of Phrenzy, there was a time (and pitty'tis &s;o good a time had ever Wings to fly away) when due Reverence was paid unto that Sex, who&s;e ju&s;t prai&s;e is a Task will dull the very Edge of Rhetorick, and I fear I &s;hall &s;ully it in the delivery. Here is a Field for an Orator to u&s;e Eloquence in. Here is a Subject fit to put Phancie upon the Rack, and torture Wits, as Agues do Phy&s;ici|ans. But as Dr. <HI>Brown,</HI> in his <HI>Religio Medier,</HI> has it, where there is an ob|&s;curity too dark for Rea&s;on, it is good to &s;it down with a De&s;cription or Adumbration. A purer Sub&s;tance is defin'd by a combin'd Heap of Nega|tives.
<PB N="54" REF="31">Ask what a Spirit is! The re|ply will be it hath no Matter. No other ways can I define a Vertuous Woman; &s;he is not as others are; what &s;eems perfection in others it is her perfection to want. All the World is but her <HI>Periphra&s;is.</HI> She is the be&s;t Creature that ever the Uni|ver&s;e brought forth from the Birth of Time till now. A Per&s;on in whom the Sun and Abridgment of all Per|fection meet, like Paralels in their proper Center. She is a pretty piece of Fle&s;h and Blood printed in a fair Letter and neatly bound up; no Man that is Ma&s;ter of Rea&s;on, but would be glad to take her with her Errata's, if any. She is a heap of Wonders able to amu&s;e the clear&s;t Under&s;tan|ding.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;Qua &s;parguntur in omnes</L>
<L>Intermixta fluunt, &amp; qua divi&s;a beatos</L>
<L>Efficiunt, collecta tenes &mdash; Clau|dian. I. Panegir.</L></Q>
<PB N="55" REF="31">
<P>She was born Fair and Good, to &s;hew, that Nature is no Step-mother to that Sex, how much &s;oever Men (Sharp-witted only in evil &s;peaking) &s;eek to di&s;grace them.</P>
<P>When Providence fir&s;t cleav'd our Sire, and made <HI>Eve</HI> out of <HI>Adam,</HI> &s;he was created his Equal, only the difference was in the Sex, otherwi&s;e they both were Man. Her Body is more admirable and Beautiful than Man's, fuller of Curio&s;ities and Na|ture's Wonders, both for Concepti|an, and fo&s;tering the producted Birth. And can we think God would put a wor&s;e Soul into a better Body? Nay, if the Philo&s;ophical Maxim holds good, <HI>That the Temperature of the Soul follows that of the Body,</HI> we mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily conclude, that as her out|ward, &s;o her inward Affections mu&s;t be more purely refin'd. When Man was created, 'tis &s;aid, God made Man, but when Woman, He Built her; as if he had been about a Frame of Ra|rer
<PB N="56" REF="32">Rooms, and more exact Compo&s;i|tion. <HI>Finxit Hominem, Aedificat Co|&s;tam;</HI> &s;o that Man was but <HI>Figmen|tum,</HI> Woman <HI>Aedificum.</HI> If Place can priviledge her, we find her built in Paradi&s;e; She was form'd on that Ho|ly Ground where Angels re&s;orted, whenas poor man was made in the open Field with four-footed Bea&s;ts. Thus the Place, Name, and Matter of which &s;he was form'd is more Noble than Man's. 'Tis certain, they are by Con&s;titution colder than the Boyling Man, and &s;o by con&s;equence more Temperate; 'tis Heat tran&s;ports Man to Immoderation and Fury; 'tis that which hurries him to a Savage and Li|bidinous Violence. When a Woman grows bold and daring, we &s;ay &s;he's Impudent, and too like Man; in our &s;elves we magnifie what we condemn in her; Is not this Inju&s;tice? Every Man is &s;o much the better, by how much he comes nearer God. Man in nothing is more like God, than in be|ing
<PB N="57" REF="32">Merciful, yet Woman is far more Merciful than Man, it being a Sex wherein Pitty and Compa&s;&s;ion hath di&s;per&s;ed far brighter Rays. God is &s;aid to be Love; and Women exceed every where for tran&s;cending in that Quality. 'Tis Inju&s;tice then in Men to pa&s;s Sentence upon them before they be heard. They have ever held the Parliament, and enacted what they will, not permitting them to &s;peak; therefore in this Ca&s;e let the Divine <HI>Seneca</HI> be their Advocate, and &s;peak for them;
<Q><L>Qui &s;tatuit aliquid parte inaudita altera,</L>
<L>Aequum licet &s;tatuerit haud aequus fuerit.</L></Q></P>
<P>Thus far <HI>Feltham</HI> in his Re&s;olves; With little Alteration.</P>
<P>From the Order and Method of the Wi&s;e Architect of the Univer&s;e, we may infallibly conclude Woman the more Excellent Creature.</P>
<PB N="58" REF="33">
<P>Incorrupt things were fir&s;t made, as Stars, Planets the Chry&s;talline and <HI>Primum Mobile;</HI> then Minerals, then Plants and Trees, then Sen&s;itives, then Man, and la&s;t of all Woman, as being the Perfection of the Creation. Wo|man was la&s;t in Humanity and fir&s;t in Divinity. The Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin brought forth the Ble&s;&s;ed Babe, that made Man Ble&s;&s;ed, without the help of Man. <HI>Jacob</HI> got his Ble&s;&s;ing by his prudent Mother. When our Saviour aro&s;e he appear'd fir&s;t to a Woman. In the Sacred Pages we find it recorded, that the Male Children were &s;lain, the Female &s;av'd.</P>
<P><HI>Conelius Agrippa</HI> the Woman's pro|fe&s;&s;ed Champion, and their Attorney General, (quoted by <HI>Whitlock</HI> in his Magnetick Lady) He begins his Argu|ment from the very name &het;&finalkaf;&het; <HI>Chau|va</HI> &s;ignifying Life; and <HI>Adam,</HI> but Earth (tho the prating Rabbins &s;port another derivation from &het;&finalkaf;&het; <HI>Chiva</HI> to tattle.) from the order of the Crea|tion he Argues her Excellency and
<PB N="59" REF="33">Perfection. She was created la&s;t of all, and &s;o admitted into this World, <HI>tanquam Regina in Regiam paratam,</HI> like a Queen into a ready furni&s;hed Palace. Be&s;ides, her Matter was not of &s;o low an extract as <HI>Adam</HI>'s, but of &s;ini&s;hed Man (who&s;e prime materi|al was ruder Du&s;t) was this rare piece made; hence it is, that there is a grea|ter Eminency of Beauty generally in that Sex than in the other; &s;o as what Beauty the World it &s;elf contains in &s;everals, &s;eems to be contracted in this Model, that all Creatures might re|verence and admire this compleat piece. Nor is it <HI>fabulous,</HI> that Spirits them|&s;elves have bin enamour'd with &s;ome Women: We read their Beauty &s;poken of throughout the whole Book of Truth, with more &s;ignal Ob&s;ervations than that of Man. She is the Con&s;um|mation and Perfection of Man. <HI>Id|circo illam omnis Homo amet nece&s;&s;e+est, &amp;c.</HI> Who therefore can but love that Sex? Who ever hates it mu&s;t needs
<PB N="60" REF="34">be a Stranger to Virtue, Courte&s;ie and Humanity it &s;elf. Can any Lady for|bear giving this their Attorney a Fee? Nay, one of our own Nation &s;aith in plain homely terms, He that loves not a Woman &s;uck'd a Sow; and que&s;ti|onle&s;s he mu&s;t be either Barbarous or Divine, that's Proof again&s;t the Charms of Female Beauty. What He|re&s;ies or Errors were ever broached by Women? Chri&s;t was betray'd, abus'd, and crucified by Men, not Women; for <HI>Pilat</HI>'s Wife did u&s;e all po&s;&s;ible means to di&s;&s;uade her Husband from pro|nouncing &s;o Unju&s;t a Sentence, as that was again&s;t our Saviour. By his very <HI>Peter</HI> deny'd, only the Women accom|panied him to the Cro&s;s: and no &s;mall part of the Schole-men affirm, <HI>Eccle&s;iam tune non ni&s;i apud &s;olam Mulierem, puta Virginem Mariam man&s;i&s;&s;e;</HI> That the Church of Chri&s;t remain'd then only in the Virgin <HI>Mary:</HI> Nay, Women were the fir&s;t Trumpets to publi&s;h the Re&s;urrection.</P>
<PB N="61" REF="34">
<P>If any &s;hould out, of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> allege, That Men are more Noble, Wi&s;e, Vali-<HI>&amp;c.</HI> then Women; I demand what Men of the mo&s;t Eminent hath not this Sex out-done? but we will pro|duce <HI>Aristotle</HI> again&s;t <HI>Aristotle,</HI> and an&s;wer the Stagirite by the Stagi|rite, tho their profe&s;s'd Enemy, and this his own Argument. That kind or Rank of Creatures, who&s;e be&s;t is bet|ter than the be&s;t of any other; even that kind it &s;elf is better than any other kind; but &s;uch is the Virgin <HI>Mary</HI> (the be&s;t of that Sex) above St. <HI>John</HI> Bapti&s;t, the greate&s;t of the other Sex, (according to our Saviour's own Ar|gument, <HI>Matth.</HI> 11) &s;o that but na|ming the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> the Cau&s;e is carried for that Sex again&s;t the Di|vinity of the Male. To go on; How many do we reade in Scripture condemned to Eternal Torments, but not Women? whence came the fir&s;t original of all Vices? Did not in <HI>Adam</HI> all die? not in <HI>Eve.</HI> Did not
<PB N="62" REF="35">his elde&s;t Son <HI>Cain</HI> fir&s;t open Hell Gates? <HI>Lamech</HI> was the fir&s;t Digami&s;t; <HI>Noah</HI> the fir&s;t &s;urpriz'd with Wine. Run through all the Vertues, you will find the Women &s;o Famous, that &s;ome of them excelled Men; for Virgi|nity, the Virgin <HI>Mary;</HI> for Prophecy, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI>'s Si&s;ter; for Con&s;tancy in the Faith, <HI>E&s;ther, Ruth, Mary Magdalen,</HI> that believed when the Apo&s;tles doubt|ed; and for Martyrdom that rare ex|ample <HI>Maccab.</HI> 2. 6. Have not Wo|men in Martyrdom equal'd the num|ber of Men? and to complete the Hi&s;tory of that Truth, <HI>Ne cui dubium Mulieris ea omnia po&s;&s;e quoe Viri,</HI> That Women doubntle&s;s can and have done what&s;oever Man hath done. In Prie&s;t|hood was not <HI>Meli&s;&s;a</HI> famous among the Heathens them&s;elves for a Prie&s;ters <HI>Mera</HI> to <HI>Venus, Iphigenia</HI> to <HI>Di|ana; &amp; in no&s;tra Religione licet mulieribus Sacerdotii funtione inter|dictum &s;it, &s;cimus iamen Hi&s;toriis pro|dictum Mulierem aliquando mentito
<PB N="63" REF="35">Sexu ad Summi Pontificatus apicem con&s;cendi&s;&s;e;</HI> (I give you his own VVords, becau&s;e <HI>Agrippa</HI> (tho a Catho|lick,) is &s;o ingenious as to confe&s;s a Pope <HI>Joan</HI>) Even in our own Reli|gion tho we forbid VVomen the Prie&s;thood, yet Hi&s;tory a&s;&s;ureth us of a VVoman that arrived at the Popedom, and &s;he rul'd for two years or thereabout, as well as the be&s;t of them. Thus, &s;aith he, I have prov'd the preeminence of VVomen by their Name, Order of Creation, Nature, Religion, <HI>&amp;c. Ne debitas illis Laudes, &amp;c.</HI> le&s;t I &s;hould hide a Talent in|tru&s;ted to me, if I &s;hould conceal what Truth hath &s;aid for them, p. 334. and 335. <HI>Whitlock</HI>'s Mag. Lady.</P>
<P>Women are made of purer pla&s;tical Ingredients; there went more refin'd Stuff to their Compo&s;ition than that of Man: for, if Man be of never &s;o fine a Pa&s;te, if he wa&s;h his hands in the cleare&s;t Water, in &s;everal Ba&s;ons, never &s;o often, yet he will leave &s;ome
<PB N="64" REF="36">foulne&s;s and feculencie behind; but a Woman can wa&s;h and leave the Wa|ter at la&s;t as clear, fair, and limpid as when it came from the Source or Foun|tain 0 it &s;elf in few times wa&s;hing. As to their Mode&s;ty, take this Example; The Daughter of <HI>Pythagoras</HI> being de|manded what mo&s;t &s;hamed her to di&s;|cour&s;e of, made An&s;wer, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Tho&s;e Parts which made her Woman. And if that of <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> be true, <HI>Vera mulierum ornamenta Pudicitiam e&s;&s;e, non Ve&s;tes,</HI> That Mo|de&s;ty is the be&s;t Apparel of a Woman; They have the be&s;t Ornaments: <HI>Hey|lin.</HI> So mode&s;t they are when alive, that they cannot enter into Company without a Maiden-blu&s;h; nay, 'tis pro|verbially call'd a Maiden-blu&s;h, as if they only had a Patent to dye that Colour, tinctur'd like a fair Morning in <HI>May.</HI> And if we may believe <HI>Pliny</HI> the great Naturali&s;t, one of Nature's Prothonotaries (who had &s;trip'd her to her Smock, and lay with her as
<PB N="65" REF="36">familiarly as a Wife) they retain this Grace of Mode&s;ty even after Death; for if a Woman be drown'd, &s;he &s;wims with her Back-parts upward, the Man with his Belly; but &s;uch Ca&s;es as the&s;e mu&s;t not be argued in the Common Pleas. Nay, the Woman &s;wims, the Man &s;inks, if they fall into the Water. Man's Head, his greate&s;t Ornament, is &s;ometimes deform'd with Baldne&s;s; but on the contrary, VVo|men r&eacute;tain their Ornamental Tre&s;&s;es to the la&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Fon&s;eca</HI> is of Opinion, and &s;o am I, that there is &s;omething in Woman beyond all humane Delight; a mag|netick Virtue, a charming Quality, and powerful Motive to incite Love and Affection. Nay, <HI>Alexander</HI> being much in Love with <HI>Apelles,</HI> as one highly rapt with the Exqui&s;ite|ne&s;s of his Art, propo&s;ed him that Model for his Task, which he of all others affected mo&s;t, commanding him on a time to paint <HI>Campa&s;pe,</HI> a Beau|tiful
<PB N="66" REF="37">Woman, naked: which <HI>Apelles</HI> having done, the Picture wrought &s;uch an Impre&s;&s;ion on his Affection, that <HI>Apelles</HI> fell in Love with her; and <HI>Alexander</HI> perceiving it, be&s;tow'd it upon him. If &s;uch impre&s;&s;ive mo|tives of Affection draw Life from a Picture, what may be conceiv'd by the Sub&s;tance. To illu&s;trate this, there is a Story recorded in the Lives of the Fathers, concerning a Child who was educated in a De&s;art from his Infancy, by an old <HI>Eremite.</HI> Be|ing come to Man's E&s;tate, he acciden|tally &s;pied two Comely Women, wan|dring in the Woods, and inquir'd of the Aged Father (having never &s;een &s;uch Amiable Creatures before in his Life) what they were? The <HI>Eremite</HI> told him they were <HI>Fairies:</HI> (here note by the way, tho <HI>Eremites</HI> pre|tend never &s;o much Religion and San|ctimony, they can now and then &s;wallow a Lye without choaking, as well as vitious Per&s;ons) After &s;ome
<PB N="67" REF="37">tract of Time, being in Di&s;cour&s;e, the Old Man demanded of him which was the plea&s;ante&s;t and mo&s;t delecta|ble Sight that ever he &s;aw in his Life? He readily replied, the two <HI>Fairies</HI> he &s;aw in the Woods; &s;o that indu|bitably there is in a fair and beautiful Woman a magnetick and natural, in|bred, attractive Faculty, which moves Man to love her.</P>
<P>But we need not have rambled in the De&s;art to prove this, &s;ince we have a Confirmation thereof at home; An Amba&s;&s;ador, who being to be en|tertain'd by Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> (where the greate&s;t State was &s;till ob&s;erv'd) fir&s;t pa&s;&s;ed through a Lane of the Guard in their rich Coats, next through the Gentlemen-Pentioners, and &s;o through all the greater Offi|cers, the Lords, Earls, and Coun&s;el|lors. The Queen &s;at there in State at the upper end of a long Gallery, which when the Amba&s;&s;ador was to enter, the great Ladies, of either &s;ide,
<PB N="68" REF="38">richly attir'd, were placed; through the mid&s;t of whom, as he pa&s;&s;ed along, he, &s;o amazed at the State, or admiring at their Beauties, ca&s;t his Eyes fir&s;t on one &s;ide, then on the other, and that not without &s;ome Pau&s;e, as if he had been to take a particular Survey of all their Features; but by degrees coming toward the Queen, who &s;at like <HI>Diana</HI> among her Nymphs, or <HI>Ariadne</HI> with her Crown of Stars, in&s;tated above the le&s;&s;er Lights, to give him Entertainment; and ob&s;er|ving his Eye &s;till to wander, thus be|&s;pake him; <HI>Averte oculos, ne videas vanitatem,</HI> to whom he &s;uddenly re|plied, <HI>Imo potius mirabilia opera Dei,</HI> &s;uch wonderful Fabricks are Women. And this confirms <HI>Plato</HI>'s Opinion, That Beauty is a humane Splendor amiable in it's own Nature, that has the power to ravi&s;h the Mind with the Eyes. And Mr. <HI>Mountague</HI> &s;aith, Tho&s;e that adore or de&s;pi&s;e Beauty offer too much or too little to the
<PB N="69" REF="38">Image of God; for we as &s;eldom find Beauty without Vertue, as Ugline&s;s without Mi&s;chief: and heretofore deformed Mini&s;ters have been rejected from the Temple; let us not therefore believe ill of Beauty, &s;ince God him|&s;elf hath thought it nece&s;&s;ary for tho&s;e that approach his Altars.</P>
<P><HI>Heliogabalus</HI> from a Prie&s;t of the Sun ro&s;e to be Emperour of all the World for his Beauty; and the Face of <HI>Scipio</HI> the <HI>African</HI> &s;ubdued many a Barbarous Nation, without &s;o much as drawing his Sword.</P>
<P>In the expre&s;&s;ion of the Affection, which requires a great mea&s;ure of Di&s;|cretion, we &s;hall find a more rare Temperature in the Feminine Sex; they can &s;hadow their re&s;erv'd Love with a Di&s;creet Secre&s;ie, and an ab|&s;olute Command (of what Soverani|zeth mo&s;t in the contrary Sex) decli|ning the &s;eeming grounds of Jealou|&s;ie: or if they fall in Love, as they are &s;ubject to Pa&s;&s;ions as well as we,
<PB N="70" REF="39">&s;o Mode&s;t they are, that they will &s;uf|fer, rather than di&s;cover their Affe|ction: witne&s;s that fair Lady <HI>Eliza|beth,</HI> Daughter to <HI>Edward</HI> the Fourth, who being Enamor'd with <HI>Henry</HI> the Seventh, that noble young Prince, and newly &s;aluted King, &s;he brake forth into this pa&s;&s;ionate Speech: O that I were worthy of that comely Prince! but my Father being dead, I want Friends to motion &s;uch a Mat|ter. What &s;hall I &s;ay? I am all alone, and dare not open my Mind to any. What if I acquaint my Mother? Ba&s;h|fulne&s;s forbids. What if &s;ome Lords? Audacity wants. O that I might but con&s;er with him! Perhaps in Di&s;cour&s;e I might let &s;lip &s;uch a Word as might di&s;cover my Intention. Mode&s;ty in Women is like the Angels flaming Sword, to keep vile Men out of the Pa|radi&s;e of their Cha&s;tity.</P>
<P>The four Parts of the World had beenlo&s;t for want of a certain Name, and utterly unknown but for Women.</P>
<PB N="71" REF="39">
<P>What were the 9 Mu&s;es? The 3 Graces? The 12 Sibils? <HI>Minerva</HI> the Godde&s;s of Wi&s;dom? and the watchful <HI>He&s;perides;</HI> were they not all Women,</P>
<P>We may from Birds derive Womans Prerogative. The Eagle is Queen of the winged Inhabitants of the Air; the Phoenix but one, and &s;he a Fe|male too; but the killing <HI>Ba&s;ilisk</HI> is accounted King of Serpents.</P>
<P>Next con&s;ider her under the No|tion of a Wife, and you &s;hall find more Argument of Prai&s;e and Admi|ration than the contrary, if the mo&s;t Refined Wits of the Times are in the right, &s;ome of who&s;e Opinions &s;hall be in&s;i&s;ted on; for &s;hould they be all ama&s;s'd and heap'd up, the Contents would be too large for one Volume: and fir&s;t of Marriage it &s;elf.</P>
<P>Marriage,<NOTE PLACE="marg">St. <HI>Paul.</HI> Heb. 13.4. <HI>Smith</HI>'s preparative to Marriage</NOTE> (&s;aith the learned Apo&s;tle of the Gentiles) is Honoura|ble; and well he might; for God
<PB N="72" REF="40">Honoured it him&s;elf. It is Honourable (as one of our own Divines hath it) for the Author, Time and Place. For the Author, becau&s;e it was or|dained by him&s;elf, whereas all other Ordinances were appointed of God by the Hands of Men, or Angels. For Time; for it was the fir&s;t ordinance God in&s;tituted, and that in the &s;tate of Innocence, before Man had any other calling, he was call'd to be a Husband; therefore it hath the Ho|nour of Antiquity, becau&s;e it was the fir&s;t, and con&s;equently the mo&s;t An|tient Ordinance.</P>
<P>For Place; Marriage was in&s;tituted in Paradice, in the happie&s;t Place and &s;o hath the honour of Place above all other Ordinances.</P>
<P>As God the Father Honoured Mar|riage, &s;o did the Son, not only by his Birth, but Miracles; for the fir&s;t Miracle the ble&s;ted Je&s;us wrought, was at a Marriage in <HI>Canaan, John</HI> 2. 6. where he turned Water into
<PB N="73" REF="40">Wine. Nay farther, he honoured it with his Prai&s;es, <HI>Matt.</HI> 22. 2. for he compareth the Kingdom of God to a wedding, Ver&s;e 11. and Holi|ne&s;s to a wedding Garment; <HI>Can|tic.</HI> 5. 8. Nay, he him&s;elf is &s;aid to be wedded; all which premi&s;es, if &s;e|riou&s;ly and duly con&s;ider'd, do &s;uf|ficiently and undeniably evince the Honour of a Marriage State, let the &s;ingle chatter what they plea&s;e.</P>
<P>Next, as to the Wife, take her en&s;u|ing Character. A Wife is a Man's be&s;t Moveable;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sr.</HI> Tho. Over|bury's <HI>Wife.</HI></NOTE> one that is more than a Friend, le&s;s then Trouble; a Scions incorporate with the Stock, and equal with him in the Yoke. Nothing plea&s;eth her that di&s;plea&s;eth him; She is Relative in all, and he without her is but half him&s;elf; &s;he frames her Nature to his how&s;oever. The Hyacinth follows not the Sun more willingly. Stubborne&s;s and ob&s;tinacy are Flowers, that grow not in her Garden. A Husband with|out
<PB N="74" REF="41">out her is a mi&s;ery in Man's Apparel; and if Age hath &s;now'd gray Hairs upon his Head, She is both a Staff and a Chair, to ba&s;e and &s;upport him. She is his ab&s;ent Hands, Eyes, Ears, and Mouth, his pre&s;ent, and ab&s;ent all.</P>
<P>The good Wife never cro&s;&s;eth her Husband in the Spring tide of his Anger;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Fuller's</HI> Ho|ly State.</NOTE> but &s;tay's till it be ebbing-VVater. Her Carriage is &s;o Mode&s;t, that &s;he dis|heartens VVantons, not only to take, but even be&s;iege her Cha&s;tity. Her Children, tho many in number, are none in noi&s;e; &s;teering them with a look, whither &s;he li&s;teth. A great and eminent: Divine of this Modern Age,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>George Wicelius.</HI></NOTE> a Man &s;earcely to be parallel'd for Sanctimo|ny, by twenty &s;ix Arguments com|mends Marriage, as a thing nece&s;&s;ary for, mo&s;t laudable and fit to be em|braced by all &s;orts of Per&s;ons: and is per&s;uaded withall, that no man can live and dye religiou&s;ly, as he ought
<PB N="75" REF="41">to do, without a VVife. The&s;e are his very words; <HI>Per&s;ua&s;us &s;um nemi|nem po&s;&s;e, neque pie vivere, neque bene mori citra &V;xorem.</HI> Let all Stale Batchelers that &s;eem to boa&s;t of their Re&s;olution again&s;t, and Aver&s;ion to &s;o &s;acred an Ordinance as Matrimony, ruminate on this; He is an Enemy to the Kingdom of Heaven, injurious to him&s;elf, de&s;tructive to the VVorld, an Apo&s;tate to Nature, and a Rebel again&s;t Heaven and Earth, who de|clines Marriage and leads a &s;ingle Life.</P>
<P>The <HI>Hebrews</HI> have a &s;aying; He is not a Man, that hath not a VVoman, <HI>i.e.</HI> a VVife: for tho Man a|lone may po&s;&s;ibly be good,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Secker's</HI> wed|ding Ring.</NOTE> yet it is not good for Man to be alone. As for the Catholicks, who exact the Virgin &s;tate &s;o extravagantly; it is like him that commended Fa&s;ting, when he was cloy'd with Fea&s;ting. Where there is no Generation, there can be no Regeneration; the Church could not be expatiated without Marriage.
<PB N="76" REF="42">It was a Que&s;tion that one put to him, who &s;aid, Marriage Peoples the Earth, but Virginity Heaven; How can the Heaven be full, if the Earth be empty? VVilt thou condemn all for the Faults of one? as if it were true Logic, be|cau&s;e &s;ome are Evil, therefore none are good. To bla&s;t thy Helper is to blame thy Maker. Is a &s;olitary as good as a married Life? then can one &s;tring make as good Harmony as a Con&s;ort. God commanded <HI>Abraham</HI> to do as his good VVife <HI>Sarah</HI> com|manded. A happy Couple! He joy|ing in her, &s;he joying in her &s;elf; but in her &s;elf, becau&s;e &s;he enjoyed him. Both increa&s;ed their Riches to each other, each making one Life, double, becau&s;e they make a double Life, one; where de&s;ire never wanted Satisfaction, nor Satisfaction bred Satiety: He ru|ling, becau&s;e &s;he would obey; or rather, becau&s;e &s;he would obey, he <HI>id. ib.</HI> therein ruling. Nature when a Female was fir&s;t born, vow'd her a Wo|man;
<PB N="77" REF="42">and as &s;he made her the Child of a Mother, &s;o to do her be&s;t to be Mother of a Child. She gave her Beauty to move Love, VVit to know Love, and an excellent Body to re|ward Love.</P>
<P><HI>James de Voragine,</HI> upon tho&s;e words in the &s;econd of <HI>Gene&s;is, Ad|jutorium &s;imile, &amp;c.</HI> by an hone&s;t Ju|ry of Arguments proves the excellen|cy of Marriage above Virginity; as followeth; <HI>viz.</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Ha&s;t thou Riches? Thou ha&s;t one to keep and increa&s;e them.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Ha&s;t thou none? Thou ha&s;t one to help to get them.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Art thou in Pro&s;perity? Thy Happine&s;s is doubled.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Art thou in Adver&s;ity? She'll Comfort, a&s;&s;i&s;t, and bear a part of thy Burthen to make it more tolerable.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. Art thou at home? She'll drive away Melancholy.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. Art thou abroad? She looks after thee going from home, wi&s;hes
<PB N="78" REF="43">for thee in thy Ab&s;ence, and joyfully welcomes thee at thy return.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. Ther's nothing delightful with|out Society; no Society &s;o &s;weet as Matrimony.</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. The Band of Conjugal Love is Adamantine.</ITEM>
<ITEM>9. The plea&s;ant Company of Kin&s;|men increa&s;eth, the number of Parents, Children, Brothers, Si&s;ters, and Ne|phews, is doubled.</ITEM>
<ITEM>10. Thou art made a Father by a fair and happy I&s;&s;ue.</ITEM>
<ITEM>11. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> cur&s;eth the barrenne&s;s of Matrimony, how much more of &s;ingle Life?</ITEM>
<ITEM>12. If Nature her &s;elf e&s;cape not Puni&s;hment, &s;urely thy Will &s;hall not avoid it.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P><HI>Hein&s;ius</HI> (a Learned man) faith, <HI>Nemo in Severi&s;&s;ima Stoicorum Fami|lia,</HI> &amp;c. There will not be found (I hope) no not in the &s;evere Family of the <HI>Stoicks,</HI> any one Per&s;on that will refu&s;e to &s;ubmit his grave Beard and
<PB N="79" REF="43">&s;upercilious Look to the clipping of a Wife, or di&s;agree from the re&s;t of that Sect in this Particular. Women are &s;tiled by our ingeni|ous<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Lord <HI>Verulam</HI> in his E&s;&s;ays.</NOTE> Lord <HI>Chancellor,</HI>
<Q><L>Deliciae Humani generis, &s;olatio Vitae;</L>
<L>Blanditiae noctis, placidi&s;&s;inia cura Diei;</L>
<L>Vota Virum Juvenum Spes,&mdash;</L></Q>
And the <HI>Venu&s;ian</HI> Poet &s;ings &s;weetly,
<Q><L>Felices ter, &amp; amplius</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Horace.</NOTE> Quos irrupta tenet copula,</L>
<L>Divul&s;us querimoniis</L>
<L>Suprema citius &s;olvit amerdre.</L></Q></P>
<P>In <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> thus:
<Q><L>Thrice happy they, and more than that,</L>
<L>Whom Bands of Love &s;o firmly ties,</L>
<L>That, without Brawls, till Death them part,</L>
<L>'Tis undi&s;&s;olv'd and never dies.</L></Q> There is no Joy,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Burten</HI>'s Mel. p. 585.</NOTE> no Sweet|ne&s;s, no Plea&s;ure, like to that of a Good Wife.
<PB N="80" REF="44">
<Q><L>Quam cum chara domi Conjux, Fidu&s;&abque; Maritus,</L>
<L>&V;nanimes degunt.</L>&mdash;&s;aith our Latin <HI>Homer.</HI></Q>
Her Love can no more change than a Star his Cour&s;e, or Fate it's Everla|&s;ting Laws.
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Novi&s;anus.</NOTE> Matrimonium humano ge|neri Immortalitatem tribuit.</Q></P>
<P>Marriage makes us immortal. It is, as one &s;ays very prettily, <HI>Nodo&s;a Aeternitas,</HI> a kind of knotty Eternity, Immortality being, as it were, piec'd and lengthned out by the Succe&s;&s;ion of Children.<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Tacitus</HI> lib. 4.</NOTE> 'Tis <HI>Firmi&s;|&s;imum Imperii Munimentum,</HI> The Seal and chief Prop of an Empire: and the Poet<NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Pal|ingenius.</HI></NOTE> tells you,
<Q><L>Indign&egrave; vivit, per quem non vivit &amp; alter; Et,</L>
<L>Minuuntur atrae Conjuge Curae.</L></Q> She is the &s;ole Comfort of Man's Life; born <HI>ad &V;&s;um &amp; Lu&s;um Hominum,</HI>
<PB N="81" REF="44">for the U&s;e and Diver&s;ion of Man; &s;he is<NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="marg">Lechaeus.</NOTE> <HI>Firmamentum Familiae,</HI> the Ba&s;is and &s;o|lid Foundation of a Family. <HI>Optima viri po&s;&s;e&s;&s;io est &V;xor Benevola.</HI> A lo|ving VVife is the be&s;t Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion a Man can purcha&s;e. <HI>Mitigans omnia &amp; avertens animum ejus &agrave; Tri&s;titia,</HI> mild upon all occa&s;ions, and the only <HI>Helebore</HI> to purge away her Con&s;ort's melancholy.</P>
<P>The be&s;t Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion is a Loving Wife, She tempers Anger, and diverts all Strife. <HI>Euripides.</HI>
<Q><NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem</NOTE> Si commodas nanci&s;cantur amo|res, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> If fitly match'd be Man and Wife, No Plea&s;ure's wanting to their Life.</P>
<P><NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="marg">Horace.</NOTE> No &s;uch Comfort as <HI>Placens &V;xor,</HI> a &s;weet Wife.<NOTE N="(e)" PLACE="marg">Xenophon.</NOTE> She is the highe&s;t ground of Humane Felicity.<NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="marg">Theognis.</NOTE> No|thing can be more amiable than an
<PB N="82" REF="45">hone&s;t Woman; nothing conferring more Joy upon man, &s;aith &s;ententious <HI>Xi&s;tus.</HI><NOTE N="(*)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Brathwait.</HI> p. 345, 346.</NOTE> In fine, She is in Quality a Helper, in Society a Comforter, in the perplexi|ty of her Con&s;ort a Coun&s;ellor, and in all the&s;e a Sharer. Is her Husband young? She will bear with his Youth till better Experience bring him to the Knowledge of Man. Is he old? His Age &s;hall beget the more Reve|rence in her. Is he rich? much good may it do him, this &s;hall not make her proud; but her De&s;ire &s;hall be to improve it to his be&s;t Advantage. Is he poor? His Poverty &s;hall make her rich: There is no want where there wants no Content. Were he poor as <HI>Irus,</HI> Fancy will make him dearer than rich <HI>Croe&s;us.</HI> Her Husband may &s;eem a <HI>Ther&s;ites</HI> to others, but he is a <HI>Paris</HI> in her Eye. A Mother is the be&s;t Grammarian, let the <HI>Gram|matica&s;ters</HI> boa&s;t never &s;o vauntingly of their &s;peaking well; when every
<PB N="83" REF="45">Nur&s;e does &s;hamefully exceed them in their Faculty of teaching. Had not Speeches their Original from the Mo|ther? Yes indi&s;putably, and for that very Rea&s;on every ones Native Lan|guage is call'd the Mother Tongue.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fuller.</NOTE> 'Twas wittily replyed of a Gentleman, who heard a drolling Batcheler &s;ay, Next to no Wife a good Wife was be&s;t; no, Sir, &s;aid he; next to a good Wife, no Wife is be&s;t. And as plea&s;antly &s;aid of another, who maintain'd;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brathwait</HI>'s Engli&s;h Gentleman. Pa. <HI>256.</HI></NOTE> that Wives are young Mens Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es, Companions of middle Age, and old Mens Nur&s;es.</P>
<P>Let a man be never &s;o Volatile, a good Wife will fix him; She is <HI>Res bona,</HI> not bounded within the Limits of Predicable, Predicament or Topic.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Solomon.</HI> Prov. c. 18. v. 22.</NOTE> It was the &s;aying of the wi&s;e&s;t of Kings, He that findeth a VVife, findeth a
<PB N="84" REF="46">good thing, and receiveth favour of the Lord; and that he might more Emphatically expre&s;s the incompara|ble e&s;timat of a good VVife, and how far in the &s;cale of Judgment She is to be prefer'd before Sub&s;tance, Riches, or any worldly Inheritance, to give a more proper and genuine Di&s;tincti|on, he makes u&s;e, not only of a di|&s;tinct Gradation, but al&s;o a different Derivation, and Riches are the In|heritance of the Father, but a prudent VVife cometh of the Lord, and ma|ny other <HI>Encomia</HI> of VVomen are &s;cattered throwout <HI>Solomon</HI>'s whole VVorks:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. C. 11. V. 16.</NOTE> as a gratious VVoman retaineth Honour and Her price is far above Rubies: <HI>chap.</HI> 21. <HI>ver.</HI> 10. Nay, he &s;tyles her <HI>Coronam Viri,</HI> the Crown of her Hus|band; and St. <HI>Paul</HI> call's her <HI>Gloriam Viri,</HI> the Glory of Man; Nay, the French &s;ay proverbially, <HI>Femme bonne vant une Couronne;</HI> A good VVife is not to be valued under the Price of a Diadem,
<PB N="85" REF="46">And, as one &s;aith very well, Hou&s;es without VVomen are De&s;arts and Places ill cultivated. Nay, where is there true Politie to be found but in Hou&s;wifery!</P>
<P>The witty Epigrammati&s;t &s;tyles good VVives <HI>Domiportae, Damae por|tae, &amp;c.</HI> they are the choice&s;t A&s;&s;ociats of human Solace, &s;o that if the VVorld were to be held a VVilderne&s;s with|out Society, it might ju&s;tly de&s;pair of that Comfort without their Com|pany: whence it is, that the Wi&s;e|man concludes, <HI>without a Woman would the Hou&s;e mourn.</HI></P>
<P>Surely, how&s;oever &s;ome no le&s;s properly then pregnantly have Emble|matriz'd a married VVoman by a Snail, becau&s;e &s;he is <HI>Domiporta;</HI> and carries her Hou&s;e about her; as is the property of a good Hou&s;wife, yet in my Judgment,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Brathwait pa. 298.</NOTE> a mode&s;t, and well behav'd Woman may, by her frequent Re&s;ort to publick Places, confer no le&s;s Be|nefit
<PB N="86" REF="47">to &s;uch as ob&s;erve her Behaviour, than occa&s;ion of profit to her private Family, where She is over&s;eer. I have &s;een &s;ome (&s;aith the &s;ame Author) in tho&s;e Places of publick Repair, expre&s;s &s;uch a well &s;eeming State, without a ju&s;t Formality, as that every Action de&s;erv'd the Imitation of &s;uch as were in their Company. Their Conceits were &s;weetly temper'd, without light|ne&s;s, their Je&s;ts &s;avory, yet without &s;altne&s;s; their Di&s;cour&s;es free without nicene&s;s; their An&s;wers mild, with|out tartne&s;s; their Smiles plea&s;ing, mixt with Ba&s;hfulne&s;s; their Pace Graceful, without too much Active|ne&s;s; Their whole Po&s;ture Delight|ful, with a &s;eeming Carele&s;ne&s;s. The&s;e are &s;uch Mirrors of Mode&s;ty, Patterns of Piety, as they would not for a World, tran&s;gre&s;s the Bounds of Ci|vility. The&s;e are Matrons in their Hou&s;es, and Models in publick Places.</P>
<P>It was a wild Speech of the Philo|&s;opher, to &s;ay, that if our Conver&s;a|tion
<PB N="87" REF="47" MS="y">cou'd be without Women, An|gels wou'd come down and dwell among us, but then they mu&s;t be evil ones; for the Good Angels dur&s;t not di&s;allow of Marriage, which God him|&s;elf ordain'd, and hath &s;tamp'd his Ble&s;&s;ing upon. But to pa&s;s by &s;uch Moth-eaten Philo&s;ophers, and come to a Modern Phy&s;ician of our own.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Brown <HI>in his</HI> Rel. Med.</NOTE> It was a mo&s;t Unmannerly thing of him, whil&s;t he di&s;|plays his own Religion, to wi&s;h that there were a way to Propagate the World, otherwi&s;e than by Conjun|ction with Woman (and <HI>Paracel&s;us,</HI> that <HI>German</HI> Quack, undertakes to teach him that way) whereby he &s;eems to Repine (tho (I under&s;tand) he him|&s;elf Wiv'd a little after) at the Ho|nourable Degree of Marri|age,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;tolae Hoe|lianae.</NOTE> which I hold to be the Prime Link of Humane Society, the chiefe&s;t Happine&s;s of Mortals, and wherein Heaven hath a &s;pecial hand.</P>
<PB N="88" REF="48">
<P>And Sir <HI>Kenelm Digby,</HI> in his Ob|&s;ervations on <HI>Religio Medici,</HI> (whom Famous Dr. <HI>Charleton</HI> thus Characteri|zeth; That Noble Per&s;on, who hath built up his Rea&s;on to &s;o Tran&s;cen|dent a height of Knowledge, as may &s;eem not much beneath the &s;tate of Man in Innocence) Blames the Dr. for his wi&s;hing that Men cou'd Pro|create, like Trees, without Conjuncti|on, calling it the Fooli&s;he&s;t Act of a Wi&s;e Man (tho afterward he &s;eems to Excu&s;e him&s;elf) I believe (&s;aith that Learned Knight) your Lord&s;hip (mean|ing <HI>Edw.</HI> Earl of <HI>Dor&s;et,</HI> who de&s;ir'd him to peru&s;e that Book) will &s;carce|ly joyn with him in his Wi&s;h, that We might Procreate, and beget Chil|dren without the help of a Woman, or without any Conjunction or Com|merce with that &s;weet Sex.</P>
<P>Then again, a little after: Be&s;ides his Unkindne&s;s, or rather Froward|ne&s;s, to that Tender-hearted Sex, (which mu&s;t needs take it ill at his
<PB N="89" REF="48">hands) Methinks he &s;ets Marriage at too low a Rate, which is a&s;&s;uredly the Highe&s;t and Divine&s;t Link of Human Society; and where he &s;peaks of <HI>Cupid</HI> and <HI>Beauty,</HI> it is in &s;uch a Phra&s;e, as puts me in mind of the Learned <HI>Greek</HI>-Reader of <HI>Cambridge,</HI> Courting his Mi&s;tris out of <HI>Stevens</HI> his <HI>The &s;aurus.</HI> Thus far that Noble Knight, of that Noble Sex.</P>
<P>But we can produce both Modern and Antient Autority to confute Dr. <HI>Brown.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Burton,</HI> that <HI>Melancholic</HI> Wit, after &s;ome Di&s;cour&s;e of Women, &s;aith, I am not willing to pro&s;ecute the Cau&s;e again&s;t them; therefore take heed you mi&s;take me not; <HI>Matronam nullam ego tango.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Horace.</NOTE> I Honour the Sex with all Good Men, as I ought to do, and rather than Di&s;plea&s;e them, I will take this Oath,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mercurius Bri|tannicus De|&s;cript. <HI>l. f. 95.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Me nihil unquam mali Nobili&s;|&s;imo Sexui, vel verbo, vel facto machinaturum.</HI> That I will ne|ver
<PB N="90" REF="49">contrive any hurt again&s;t that No|ble Sex, either in World or Deed; And another Author declares him&s;elf thus:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ric. Whit|lock, in his Magnetick Lady.</NOTE> I am none of tho&s;e Vulgar rea&s;oning De|&s;pifers of that Sex, which we cannot deny to be as habitable a Part of the Microco&s;m or little World, as any, for Abilities or Vertues, tho not &s;o Populous.</P>
<P>As for Autority of the Antients; the Great Greek Hi&s;torian tells you plainly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Xeno|phon.</NOTE> that he thinks, among all God's Ordinances, &s;carce any one can be found that is more Commendable or Profitable than Wed|lock:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mu&s;onius, Hierocles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> nay, there are other Antient Sages, who declare, that they think it &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to a good and convenient way of Li|ving, that the Life of Man without it &s;eems to be maim'd.</P>
<P>The Divine Philo&s;opher will have it,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plato 6. de Leg.</NOTE> that he that marrieth not before he is thirty five years of
<PB N="91" REF="49">Age, &s;hall be forced, or puni&s;hed, and the Money Con&s;ecrated to <HI>Juno</HI>'s Tem|ple, (who was Godde&s;s of Marriage) or applied to Public U&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Mercurius Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> (which is as much as to &s;ay in plain Engli&s;h, the thrice Greate&s;t) a very Antient Philo&s;opher, under&s;tanding the Ver|tues and Perfections of Women, left this Recorded in his Writings to Po|&s;terity; That tho&s;e Men were to be &s;hunned and extremely avoided, that had no Wives; becau&s;e that from a Woman, as from an abounding Foun|tain, all Perfection and Goodne&s;s flows in a mo&s;t plentiful manner.</P>
<P><HI>Epictetus,</HI> an Eminent Philo&s;opher, advi&s;eth all Men, of what Condition &s;oever, to enter into the Happy Li&s;ts of a Married Life: nay, whole Nati|ons (as well as &s;ingle Per&s;ons) have and do Honour their Wives at this day. The Affectionate <HI>Sabines</HI> call'd their Wives <HI>Penates,</HI> or Hou&s;hold-Gods, for the incomparable Comfort
<PB N="92" REF="50">they conceived in them, and great Be|nefits deriv'd from them; and that not without Cau&s;e: for we read that <HI>Tres Filii ab Excubiis, quinque ab om|nibus Officiis liberabant;</HI> Three Chil|dren, among the <HI>Romans,</HI> free'd the Father from painful Offices, and Five from all Contributions: both <HI>Graeci|ans</HI> and <HI>Romans</HI> priviledged Wedded VVomen;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aelian. l. 6. c. 5.</NOTE> and tho the <HI>Romans</HI> had their Ve&s;tals,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A. Gellius, l. 2. c. 15.</NOTE> yet after thirty years conti|nuance, the Cruelty of infore'd Cha|&s;tity was no longer in force.</P>
<P>By the <HI>Julian</HI> Law Precedence is gi|ven to him that hath mo&s;t Children; and in <HI>Florence,</HI> at this day, he that hath five Children, immediatly upon the Birth of the fifth is exempted from all Impo&s;ts and Sub&s;idies; and here in <HI>England</HI> likewi&s;e, a married Man (out of a tender Re&s;pect to his Po&s;te|rity) is not &s;o &s;oon pre&s;t into the Wars, as a Batcheler. Nay <HI>Spain,</HI> at this pre&s;ent, is more noble then the re&s;t
<PB N="93" REF="50">of the World, by giving the Surname of the maternal Line very frequently to &s;ome of the Male Children.</P>
<P>The Civil, Common, and Divine Laws are all very favorable to VVo|men.</P>
<P>The Imperial, or Civil Law permits not a VVoman, tho a criminal, to go into the common Gaol.</P>
<P>The common Law, by the courte&s;ie of <HI>England,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dalton.</NOTE> if VVo|man arrive at any degree of E&s;tate, they never lo&s;e it by marrying after more meanly, but &s;till take place ac|cording to the State of their fir&s;t Hus|band; Nay farther,<NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;tit. Imperat. de Nuptiis.</NOTE> the Law tenders the &s;peedy advancement of Women, <HI>quia maturiora &s;unt vota Mulierum, quam Virorum.</HI> VVomen are &s;ooner capable of Conception then Men of Generation, which is the Rea&s;on the Law permits Women to marry at the Age of twelve, and Men not till fourteen.</P>
<PB N="94" REF="51">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Brathwait. pa. 257.</NOTE> The har&s;h and Eremitical conceit of <HI>Arminius</HI> the Ru|ler of <HI>Carthage,</HI> touching Marriage; who being ask'd, when &s;hall a young Man marry? replyed not yet; VVhen an old Man? Not at all; proceeded rather from Di&s;ability then Truth or Rea&s;on, and therefore not to be regar|ded: for had it bin <HI>Arminius</HI> his fortune to have matched with <HI>Arminia,</HI> he would doubtle&s;s have fallen into Ad|miration of &s;o Sacred a Rite, rather than into di&s;ta&s;t.</P>
<P>Such Per&s;ons therefore, who have their Humor in their Ink-horn, and rail again&s;t Marriage; if ever they enter into the State of VVedlock, de&s;erve for their Pains a pair of large and &s;pacious Horns, that may extend from one end of our <HI>Metropolis</HI> to the other (our mother City, &s;o cal|led in honour of VVomen) and &s;o we leave them to the Admiration of all Mankind, to be laughed at, like <HI>Actaeon,</HI> for their egregious Folly.</P>
<PB N="95" REF="51">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mount agu's Accom. Wo|man.</NOTE> But is it not a &s;trange Cu|&s;tom, and worthy of Reproof, to &s;ee Men take all kind of Liberty, without allowing the lea&s;t? One might think, by their Tyranny, that Marriage was in&s;tituted only to make them Gaolers for Women. There is much Ingratitude, as well as Inju|&s;tice, to exact a Fidelity, which one will not return, when the obligations to it are equal. Women have Wit and Con&s;cience enuf to believe, that revenge would co&s;t them too dear, if they lo&s;t their own Virtue to take &s;atisfaction of their Husbands Vitiou&s;|ne&s;s. <HI>Octavia</HI> did not de&s;i&s;t from lo|ving <HI>Marc Antony</HI> &s;ingularly, whil&s;t he made his Amours to <HI>Cleopatra,</HI> and left a greater Beauty at <HI>Rome,</HI> to po&s;|&s;e&s;s a le&s;s in <HI>Egypt.</HI> They that have this Con&s;tancy de&s;erve Admiration; but tho&s;e that have it not, have &s;ome colour for their Weakne&s;s; Example pleads for them; for they imagin that it is not likely, that a Chry&s;tal &s;hould
<PB N="96" REF="52">re&s;i&s;t Blows, that might break Dia|monds, or Marble.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Virginal Cha&s;tity.</HEAD>
<P><HI>DEmocion,</HI> the <HI>Atheniane&s;s,</HI> being a Virgin, and under&s;tanding that <HI>Leo&s;thenes</HI> (to whom &s;he had bin &s;olemnly contracted) was &s;lain in the <HI>Lemnian</HI> War, being impatient to &s;ur|vive him, laid violent hands on her &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Martia,</HI> the un&s;potted Daughter of <HI>Varro,</HI> (who is &s;tyled <HI>Romanorum Do|cti&s;&s;imus,</HI> the mo&s;t Learned Man of the once mo&s;t Learned Nation the <HI>Romans</HI>) was of &s;uch admirable and undefiled Cha&s;tity, that &s;he being mo&s;t Excellent in the Ingenious Art of Painting, did &s;o alienate her Pen|cil from any thing that might have the lea&s;t appearance of Dalliance or VVantonne&s;s, that &s;he was ne|ver known to draw the Face of a Man; and the &s;ame is &s;toried of <HI>Lala
<PB N="97" REF="52">Sizizena,</HI> of equal Excellency both in that Art and Virtue.</P>
<P><HI>Selymus,</HI> the grand Seignior, had &s;e|veral &s;tately Ships &s;ent him as Pre&s;ents, (tho they never were in his Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion) and in the riche&s;t of them all, was a noble <HI>Cyprian</HI> Lady, de&s;tinated to the Lu&s;t of the <HI>Mahumedan</HI> Empire; who to prevent &s;o barbarous a Rape, fired certain Barrels of Gun-powder, by the Violence whereof, both the Ve&s;|&s;el and the Booty in it was in part burned, in part drowned. A Famous and Heroick Act (&s;aith my Author) in|feriour to none of the <HI>Roman</HI> Dames, &s;o much commended in their Sto|ries, tho more to be commended in a <HI>Roman,</HI> than a Chri&s;tian Lady.</P>
<P><HI>Matilda,</HI> the Beautiful Engli&s;h Virgin,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib</HI> Dunmow. Stow's <HI>Annals.</HI> Weaver's <HI>Fune|ral Acts and Monuments.</HI></NOTE> was the Daughter of <HI>Robert Fitz-Walter,</HI> the mo&s;t valiant Knight of that Age, be|ing in the year of our Lord 1213. It is recorded there aro&s;e a great Di&s;cord
<PB N="98" REF="53">between King <HI>John</HI> and his Barons upon the account of <HI>Matilda</HI> (for her matchle&s;s Beauty &s;urnamed the fair) whom the King care&s;s'd and courted, tho la&s;civiou&s;ly; but was &s;o de&s;ervedly un&s;ucce&s;sful, that he could neither ob|tain her own, nor her Father's con&s;ent to any Act &s;o &s;ordid and unlawful; whereupon (and for other like Cau&s;es) i&s;&s;ued War (commonly known by the name of the Barons Wars) throughout the whole Realm: to revenge which Indignity (as King <HI>John</HI> misjudged it) he exil'd the &s;aid <HI>Fitzwalter,</HI> with others, demoli&s;h'd his Ca&s;tle call'd <HI>Bay|nard,</HI> and other his &s;tately Structures; this done, he &s;ent his <HI>Me&s;&s;ageur d'A|mour</HI> to renew his old, yet not ex|tingui&s;h'd Amours to <HI>Matilda,</HI> who treated her with all the Re&s;pect and Reverence imaginable; but ineffectu|ally; She being too worthy to be his Whore, tho too worthle&s;s to be his Wife, and he mo&s;t inhumanly and prophanely, <HI>quia noluit con&s;entire toxi|cavit
<PB N="99" REF="53">eam,</HI> becau&s;e &s;he would not expo&s;e her pure Body to his impure Embraces, poi&s;oned her with a poach|ed Egg, in the very Nunnery where &s;he fled for Sanctuary, and Pre&s;erva|tion of her Cha&s;tity again&s;t the fiery A&s;&s;aults of a burning and &s;alacious Prince, and was afterward interr'd in the little Church of <HI>Dunmow</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex.</HI></P>
<P>In the time of <HI>Heraclius,</HI> the <HI>Ro|man</HI> Emperour, there was a certain Maid named <HI>Phara,</HI> who made a Vow of Cha&s;tity; but at length, partly in Obedience to her Father's commands, partly being tired out with A&s;&s;iduous and unintermitted Importunities, was overper&s;uaded to a married Life; but withall, rack'd with internal Regret, and overwhelm'd with in&s;upportable Grief, that in an incon&s;iderable &s;pace of Time &s;uch an Ocean of Tears fell from the Cataracts of her Eyes, that &s;he wept her &s;elf blind.</P>
<P>When the City of <HI>Amileia</HI> was ta|ken
<PB N="100" REF="54">by the barbarous <HI>Huns,</HI> a Lady of Honourable Parentage and Noble De&s;cent ('tis pitty that ever the Spunge of Oblivion &s;hould have wip'd her Name out of the Records of Time) being taken captive, and finding it decreed by cruel Fate, that Death, or the lo&s;s of Cha&s;tity mu&s;t be her bitter Potion, made choice of the former (tho the King of Terrours) rather than the latter; which She thus ef|fected: for by a pious fraud (and &s;o it was, if ever any Deceit merited that Name) &s;he feigned to conde&s;cend to the Will and Lu&s;t of her intended Ravi&s;her, and at length with Prayers and Tears (two prevalent Arguments, even with the mo&s;t profligate <HI>Barba|rians</HI>) obtain'd leave of her bruti&s;h Keeper, to go and petition the Gods to pardon &s;o foul a Crime, de&s;iring to be conducted to the top of the Hou&s;e; where &s;he no &s;ooner arriv'd, but &s;aid, with a charming look and an undaunted Re&s;olution, Villain, if
<PB N="101" REF="54">thou wilt enjoy me, follow me, and immediately precipitated her &s;elf, and was broken to pieces with the fall, preferring the lo&s;s of her Life before that of her Cha&s;tity.</P>
<P><HI>Baldraca,</HI> a Maid both young and beautiful (two charming Qualificati|ons) tho of very poor and mean Pa|rentage, and too too cruelly hara&s;s'd by Penury and Want; yet could not <HI>Otho,</HI> one of the twelve <HI>Roman Cae|&s;ars,</HI> &s;ubdue her inexpugnable Cha&s;ti|ty with all the Batteries of Bribery, or alliciating and fa&s;cinating Temp|tations of Power and Grandeur; re&s;olving to live Cha&s;tly in a homely Rural Hovel, rather than di&s;&s;olutely in a Princely Palace, or Imperial Apartment.</P>
<P><HI>Lucia,</HI> a fair Virgin of <HI>Syracu&s;e</HI> in <HI>Sicily,</HI> adorn'd with inward and out|ward perfections, both of Body and Mind, her very Eyes ca&s;t &s;uch a &s;park|ling and irre&s;i&s;table Lu&s;tre, that &s;he inflamed the <HI>Syracu&s;an</HI> Tyrant, <HI>Dio|ny&s;ius,</HI>
<PB N="102" REF="55">in&s;omuch that he was capti|vated with their Beauty, even to the highe&s;t dotage, and u&s;ed all po&s;&s;ible means fairly (if po&s;&s;ible) to obtain her, and &s;he on the contrary, to fru&s;trate his wanton De&s;ires; but at length he re&s;olv'd to conquer by Force, &s;ince he could not by Cour&s;hip, and acquainted her therewith, who in|veighing again&s;t her fad Fate, and the occa&s;ion thereof, her Eyes, pluck'd them out, and pre&s;ented them to the Tyrant; &s;aying, Take my Eyes, which thou &s;o much admire&s;t, and &s;atisfie thy exorbitant Appetite and De&s;ire; by which, more than manly Action, &s;he &s;ecur'd her Cha&s;tity.</P>
<P><HI>Sextus Marius,</HI> the <HI>Roman,</HI> had a Beautiful Daughter, who &s;o moved <HI>Tiberius</HI> the Emperour, that his Thoughts were &s;olely taken up with her Matchle&s;s Features; which Amo|rous Intrigue, as &s;oon as it reach'd her Father's Ear, he &s;ent her into the Countrey, to remove that admir'd Ob|ject
<PB N="103" REF="55">from him, and to try if her ab|&s;ence might cure the La&s;civious Di|&s;temper that he labour'd under; but he left nothing unatrempted which Love in&s;tructs Men with, in &s;uch ca|&s;es, to gratifie his Libidinous and Un|lawful Pa&s;&s;ion; &s;o that all means pro|ving ineffectual, he, at la&s;t, had re|cour&s;e to Ba&s;e and &s;ordid Practi&s;es, beneath an Emperour, or Man, and cau&s;ed an Accu&s;ation to be brought again&s;t her, (by foul and damnable Subornation) of Ince&s;t with her own Father. She perceiving there was no po&s;&s;ibility of e&s;caping the Tyrant's hands, acco&s;ts her Father with this Re&s;olute Language; <HI>Sir,</HI> &s;aid &s;he, <HI>let him not di&s;po&s;e of us both to his Will, and leave an indeleble Stain upon our Names and Posterity, but rather let us Dy ho|nourably.</HI> Her Father, a&s;toni&s;h'd and a&s;ham'd to be moved to &s;o Heroic an Action by his Daughter, kill'd him&s;elf fir&s;t, and &s;he did the like after him.</P>
<PB N="104" REF="56">
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brath|wait,</HI> p. 329.</NOTE> A Religious Votare&s;s, who&s;e cha&s;te Bo&s;om was a Sacred Re|clu&s;e, Dedicated to Goodne&s;s, upon the Rencounter of a La&s;civious Lover, return'd this Mode&s;t An&s;wer; <HI>Sir, I Honour you &s;o much, that I have cho&s;en rather to &s;uffer, than by my Ty|rannous Beauty to make you a Pri&s;oner.</HI> Whereupon &s;he di&s;covered her Face, in Complexion much alter'd by &s;ome Impo&s;tur'd Colours, that &s;he cau&s;ed to be laid upon it: Upon the &s;ight thereof, he &s;olemnly vow'd to Relin|qui&s;h his Suit, imagining that &s;he had poi&s;on'd her Face to wean him from his Impure Affection; which &s;he had no &s;ooner &s;aid, but running to a Spring near adjoyning, to wa&s;h it off; <HI>See,</HI> continued &s;he, <HI>I am the &s;ame I was, but you are much better, for now you are brought to &s;ee your Error, in being &s;o much Taken with a Skin-deep Beau|ty, which only con&s;i&s;ts in Dye and Co|lour.</HI></P>
<PB N="105" REF="56">
<P>I have heard of a Noble Lady in my time,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brathwait'</HI> p. 339.</NOTE> (&s;aith the &s;ame Author) who&s;e De&s;cent and De&s;ert equally proclame her Worth, &s;o tender of the E&s;teem of her Ho|nour, that &s;he held it &s;carce &s;afe to receive any Letter from a Great Per|&s;onage, who&s;e Reputation was touch|ed by Rumor; a good way to pre|&s;erve her Honour impregnable, and to rai&s;e it above the reach of Ca|lumny.</P>
<P>This might be illu&s;trated by &s;everal In&s;tances; and fir&s;t, tho&s;e <HI>Locrian</HI> Virgins de&s;erve Eternal Memory, it being the Cu&s;tom of <HI>Locris,</HI> their Na|tive Countrey, to &s;end the Virgins to <HI>Troy,</HI> which Practice continued for the &s;pace of a thou&s;and years, yet it was never heard, by any Authentick Hi&s;tory, that any of tho&s;e Maids were ever Devirginated; a number of years almo&s;t as Prodigious as their not to be Exampled Cha&s;tity.</P>
<PB N="106" REF="57">
<P>Who can likewi&s;e pa&s;s over in Si|lence tho&s;e &s;even <HI>Mile&s;ian</HI> Virgins, who, at &s;uch time as the Conquering <HI>Gauls</HI> Raged and Raved every where, Harra&s;ing all Places they came to, and Ravi&s;hing all Females they met with, (&s;ubjecting all to Fire and Faggot) Deprived them&s;elves of Life, rather than to be deprived by Ho&s;tile Force of their Honour.</P>
<P>But to in&s;tance in this for all (for it would be too Voluminous, I can|not &s;ay Tedious, to Enumerate Parti|culars.<NOTE PLACE="marg">An I&s;land in <HI>Aegean</HI> Sea, between <HI>Lesbos</HI> and <HI>Samos.</HI></NOTE>) The I&s;land of <HI>Chios;</HI> now <HI>Cio,</HI> 'tis reported by Incontrovertible Tradition, that the Laws of Honour and Cha&s;tity were by the Ladies of that Countrey pre&s;erved in|violably for the &s;pace of &s;even hun|dred years complete.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pliny <HI>and</HI> Va|berius Maxi|mus, <HI>lib. 8.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tutia,</HI> a Ve&s;tal Virgin, prov'd her Cha&s;tity by the old, miraculous way of car|rying Water in a Sieve, (a Trial a|mong
<PB N="107" REF="57">the <HI>Romans,</HI> (tho a mo&s;t unrea&s;o|nable one) whereby &s;he clear'd her &s;elf from the horrid Accu&s;ation of In|ce&s;t.</P>
<P>The Lady <HI>Ebbe,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Speed's</HI> Chro|nicle.</NOTE> with her cha&s;te Nuns, to avoid the Savage and filthy Pollution of the <HI>Barbarians,</HI> Disfigur'd them&s;elves, by cutting off their No&s;es and upper Lips, le&s;t the Bain of their Beauty &s;hould prove the Bain of their Ho|nour and Hone&s;ty.</P>
<P>If it &s;hould be objected, that <HI>Ana|xarete</HI> was Cruel in &s;eeing <HI>Iphis</HI> hang him&s;elf in De&s;pair, at her own door, becau&s;e he could not obtain her Love; To this Mr. <HI>Mountague</HI> an&s;wers very pertinently and pithily, <HI>Accomp. Wom. p.</HI> 101. The Refu&s;al was Ju&s;t, becau&s;e the Demand was not &s;o; 'Twas an Offender that did Inju&s;tice on him&s;elf for his Temerity. Worthy Women value le&s;s the Ruin of Importunate Men, than of their own Honour; and it were to be Ill-advis'd to be
<PB N="108" REF="58">Cruel to them&s;elves, to be &s;o unfit|tingly Pitiful to In&s;olence or Detra|ction.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>Of Conjugal Con&s;tancy.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Brath|wait,</HI> p. 329.</NOTE> <HI>Valerius Maximus</HI> reconeth the lo&s;s of <HI>Aemilia,</HI> Wife of <HI>Africanus Senior,</HI> beyond a Paral|lel in any of the other Sex, for the Conque&s;t of her Jealou&s;ie (the mo&s;t Tyrannical Pa&s;&s;ion in Man or Wo|man) conniving at her Husband's Entertainment of her unappointed Official or Maid; and all (&s;aith he) <HI>Ne Domitoremorbis Impudicitiae reum ageret,</HI> that &s;he might not &s;tain her Husband's Triumphs with the impu|tation of Incontinency; an Action, wherein, not only &s;he, but other Women, have far out&s;tript all Men, &s;aith <HI>Cornelius Agrippa,</HI> (the Female's profe&s;&s;ed Champion) as he in&s;tanceth in <HI>Sarah, Leah, Rachel,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>Alce&s;te,</HI> Daughter of <HI>Pelia&s;t,</HI> King of <HI>The&s;&s;aly,</HI> &s;eeing her Husband grie|vou&s;ly
<PB N="109" REF="58">di&s;temper'd, and hearing from the Oracle of <HI>Apollo,</HI> that it was not in the Power of Drugs, or Art of Phy&s;ick to recover him, unle&s;s &s;ome of his neare&s;t Relations did dye to &s;ave him; and when all his Friends and Followers, nay his very Parents, <HI>Et&s;i decrepiti,</HI> tho decrepit, with one Foot already in the Grave, refu&s;ed, through a &s;ervile Fear; &s;he undaunt|edly with a brave and generous Cou|rage, tho in the prime of her Bloom|ing years, &s;acrificed her &s;elf, for which noble Act, &s;he hath been highly ce|lebrated by the <HI>Greek</HI> and <HI>Latin</HI> Po|ets, particularly by <HI>Euripides.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Pri&s;cana,</HI> an affectionate and vir|tuous Wife, knowing that her Hus|band was afflicted with a dangerous and incurable Maladie, taking pitty of him for the in&s;ufferable pains, that &s;he was &s;en&s;ible he endured, with great con&s;tancy and a generons Soul advi&s;ed him to put a period to his Grief by the only infallible Remedy, Death;
<PB N="110" REF="59">promi&s;ing to accompany him therein; whereunto her Husband con&s;enting, went to the Summet of a high Rock, and there lovingly enfolded in each others Arms, they precipitated them|&s;elves together in the Sea; who&s;e Prai&s;e a <HI>French</HI><NOTE N="(*)" PLACE="marg">Sara|zinus, <HI>l.</HI> 3.</NOTE> Poet &s;ings thus &s;weetly; which I have here tran&s;cribed at large for the excellency thereof; and the &s;atisfaction of tho&s;e Ladies that are expert in that Language.</P>
<Q><L>Pri&s;cana aima mieux &s;on Mari; quae Soy Me&s;me;</L>
<L>Car pour finir &s;on Malelle advanza le &s;ien;</L>
<L>Son Amour fut Extreme en un Peril Extreme;</L>
<L>Il faut Aimer du tout, on n' Aimer die tout rien:</L>
<L>Voyant mourant en luy, &amp; &s;on Coeur &amp; &s;on Ame,</L>
<L>Elle n'eu&s;t pas le coeur de &s;urvivre a &s;on coeur:</L>
<PB N="111" REF="59">
<L><HI>Le Mari, eut de l'heur en une telle Femme,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Mais en un tel Mari la Femme eut du malheur:</HI></L>
<L><HI>Comme ils furent conjoints es Actes de la Joye,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Ils le furent au&s;&s;i es Actes de l'En|nuy;</HI></L>
<L><HI>Le chemin fut egal, mais diver&s;e la voye,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Son Mari vit par Elle, Elle mourut pour Luy.</HI></L></Q>
<P><HI>Camma,</HI> the Wife of <HI>Sinaltus</HI> (of whom 'twas &s;aid 'tis a great difficulty to decide, whether &s;he was mo&s;t in|detted to Art, or Nature) who&s;e Af|fection to her Husband was admirable: a famous Lord (<HI>Sinorix</HI> by name) highly de&s;cended, great in Means and mighty in Authority, care&s;s'd and courted her with Per&s;ua&s;ions, Tears, Prayers, and all Imaginable Artifice, offering her his Service, Life, Power, Wealth and all what&s;oever he was
<PB N="112" REF="60">Ma&s;ter of; but the&s;e Sollicitations and Proffers, with the lu&s;tre of his Quality, not having force enuf to &s;hake the Re&s;olution of this Lady, he determins to murder her Husband, thinking him to be the cau&s;e (whil&s;t living) that all his Hopes were fru|&s;trated, which he effects accordingly; and after this Cruelty &s;o perpetrated, he acquaints her Friends with his earne&s;t and violent De&s;ires to marry her, who were very willing to be al|lied to a Per&s;on of that Nobility and Fortune, and overper&s;uaded her to embrace &s;o advantageous an offer; <HI>Camma</HI> &s;eems plea&s;ed with the Motion, and con&s;ents, the better to revenge her Husbands Death; The wedding day being appointed, and nothing but the Ceremony of Marriage want|ing, <HI>Camma,</HI> with a &s;miling Counte|nance, takes <HI>Sinorix</HI> by the hand, and they both pro&s;trated them&s;elves at the Altar of <HI>Diana;</HI> and after &s;he had poured, in honour of the Gode&s;s, a
<PB N="113" REF="60">Cup full of poi&s;oned Hydromel, drank the one half to him, and gave him the reft, who pledg'd her very joyfully, not imagining in the lea&s;t, there was Death in the Cup; &s;he &s;eeing her De&s;ign take effect, ca&s;t her &s;elf down witn Reverence before the Image of <HI>Diana,</HI> to whom &s;he rendred Thanks, and beg'd Pardon in this &s;hort Ejacu|lation: <HI>Great Godde&s;s! thou knowe&s;t with what Con&s;traint and purpo&s;e I con&s;ented to the Marriage of this Mur|derer; If Grief could kill, as often as it is extreme, I had bin long &s;ince in the</HI> Ely&s;ian <HI>Fields, the place of Bli&s;s and Happine&s;s for all departed Souls; but I refu&s;ed not to continue here for an opportune time to take a full revenge on this perfidious Wretch, whom here thou &s;ee&s;t, and yet believes that I can love him, tho he hath rob'd me of my dea|re&s;t</HI> Sinaltus: then turning to langui&s;h|ing <HI>Sinorix,</HI> &s;aid, <HI>Thou barbarous Vil|lain! con&s;ider with thy &s;elf and Confe&s;s what right I have to &s;acrifice thy Life
<PB N="114" REF="61">to that which thou ha&s;t taken from my beloved Husband; and have only deferr'd my own end to give Po&s;terity a more remarkable Te&s;ti|mony of my Love and thy Cruetly: Camma</HI> was &s;o happy as to &s;ee <HI>Sino|rix</HI> dye fir&s;t, tho he drank la&s;t; and the Gods gave her this &s;atisfaction for her Loyalty, who ended her Life joy|fully, calling upon <HI>Sinaltus</HI> to &s;how him the Revenge &s;he had taken of his Death, and to accompany her in the Pa&s;&s;age to the other World. Can there be a more Noble and Re&s;olute Example of Con&s;tancy given to the World by Man, than this Heroic Acti|on? And was not he a Cynic, who maintain'd, that among the whole Female Sex there could not be found one Woman Con&s;tant? but this does too apparently confute that Ground|le&s;s and Erroneous A&s;&s;ertion.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Val. Max.</HI> l. 4. c. 6.</NOTE> <HI>Portia,</HI> the Wife of <HI>Brutus,</HI> and Daughter of <HI>Cato,</HI> hearing that her Husband was vanqui&s;hed in
<PB N="115" REF="61">the Battel at <HI>Philippi,</HI> and &s;lain; &s;he fear'd not by her Womani&s;h Courage to imitate, if not Exceed her Father's Re&s;olution in his Death; for when all Weapons and In&s;truments of Death were &s;trictly kept from her, &s;he ex|pir'd by &s;wallowing hot, burning Coals; herein only they differ, that he by a common, &s;he by an Unheard of Death was extingui&s;hed.</P>
<P><HI>Lucretia,</HI> Daughter of <HI>Tricipitinus,</HI> Praefect of <HI>Rome,</HI> and Wife to <HI>Tarqui|nius Collatinus; Sextus Tarquinius</HI> was Enamour'd and Captivated by her admirable Beauty; but he, tho the Son of a King, not prevailing by Court&s;hip, re&s;olved to Force her; and accordingly, having found an op|portunity, violently ru&s;h'd into her Bed-chamber with his Sword drawn, (and a Look more terrible than the Sword, nay, Death it &s;elf) Re&s;olving not only to kill her, if &s;he did not yield to his Embraces, but after he had Murdered her, to lay the dead
<PB N="116" REF="62">Body of a Slave in her Arms; to the end tho&s;e that &s;hould find her in that po&s;ture, might think her &s;lain as an Adultere&s;s: She, terrified with the&s;e Menaces, accompanied with Furious and wild Looks, and trembling like a Tender Lamb, that's newly yean'd upon a Cake of Ice, he Bruiti&s;hly Ra|vi&s;hed her; but in the Morning, &s;he &s;ent for her Father, Husband, and the re&s;t of her Friends, and breaking forth into a Deluge of Tears, ac|quainted them with the Inhuman Rape of the Barbarous Tyrant; and imme|diately, pulling out a Knife, (the fa|tal In&s;trument which &s;he had procur'd for that purpo&s;e) &s;tab'd her &s;elf. Her Relations hereupon make a publick Di&s;covery of the Helli&s;h Fact to the People, who forthwith took up Arms, drove that Family out of <HI>Rome,</HI> and Bani&s;hed, or rather Extirpated, both their King and King&s;hip.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Stapleton's Juvenal.</NOTE> <HI>T. Collatinus</HI> is &s;aid to have Engraven this In&s;cription up|on
<PB N="117" REF="62">his Wife's Monument, yet extant at <HI>Rome,</HI> in the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Viterbo's</HI> Palace. <HI>Collatinus Tarquinius dulciffi|mae Conjugi; &amp; Ineomparabili Pudi|citiae Decori, Mulierum Gloriae, vixit Annis 32, Men&s;ibus 2, diebus 6. proh dolor! quae fuit chari&s;&s;ima.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Sophronia,</HI> a <HI>Roman</HI> Lady, &s;eeing that &s;he could by no means po&s;&s;ible avoid the Importunate and La&s;civious Suit of <HI>Decius,</HI> for the Pre&s;ervation of her Cha&s;tity, rather than &s;ub&s;cribe to his Court&s;hip, by the Con&s;ent of her own Husband, to whom &s;he commu|nicated his intended La&s;civious A|mours, gave her Soul a Pa&s;s-port in|to the <HI>Ely&s;ian</HI> &s;hades by the Point of a Sword.</P>
<P><HI>Sulpitia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pliny, l.</HI> 4.</NOTE> being &s;trictly kept up, and circum&s;pectly watch|ed by her Mother <HI>Julia,</HI> for fear &s;he &s;hould follow her Husband <HI>Lentulus Cru&s;tellio,</HI> then bani&s;hed by the Tri|umvirat, and confin'd to <HI>Sicily.</HI> She, notwith&s;tanding the Watchful Eye
<PB N="118" REF="63">of her Parent, put on the Apparel of a Servant, attended only with two Hand-maids, and as many Men-&s;er|vants, privately pa&s;s'd through their Guards and Watches, and by &s;ecret Flight came <HI>incognita</HI> to the Place whither he was Pro&s;cribed; leaving all the Plea&s;ures and Delicacies of <HI>Rome,</HI> to participate with the Mi&s;e|ries of her Exil'd Husband.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Whitlock's Magnetick Lad. p. <HI>327</HI></NOTE> <HI>Hip&s;icratea</HI> pre&s;ents her &s;elf next, a rare Example of Matri|monial A&s;&s;ociation, in Adver&s;e as well as Pro&s;perous Fortune; Troop|ing with her Husband <HI>Mithridates</HI> (King of <HI>Pontus</HI>) in Man's Apparel, Ruffling her Incomparable Beauty with hard&s;hips of Weather, Expo&s;ing her Tenderne&s;s, nay Life, to &s;uch Pe|rils as might daunt, even Ma&s;culine Courage;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Id. p. <HI>328.</HI></NOTE> a Comfort (&s;aith my Author) to her Husband, when expell'd his Kingdom; <HI>Cum Domo enim, &amp; Penatibus vagari &s;e credidit, &V;xore &s;imul exulante,</HI> think|ing
<PB N="119" REF="63">him&s;elf at home and in his own Territories, as long as &s;he &s;weetned his Exile by her &s;weet Society: and, as another ob&s;erves,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Valer. Max. l. 4. c. 6. de Amor. Conj.</NOTE> &s;he a&s;&s;i&s;t|ed him in all Labours and Hazards of the Warin a Ma|&s;culine Habit, departing with the chief Ornament of her Beauty; <HI>Ton&s;is enim capillis, Equo &s;e &amp; Armis a&s;&s;uefecit, quo facilius Laboribus &amp; Periculis ejus intere&s;&s;et.</HI> She &s;haved her Hair, and accu|&s;tomed her &s;elf to Arms and Riding, that &s;he might &s;hare with him the better in his Labours and Dangers: and af|terward, in his Flight from <HI>Pompey,</HI> &s;urnamed the Great, accompanied him in all his Misfortunes, with a Mind and Body equally unwearied. She is &s;olemnly Regi&s;tred by this Grave Au|thor, as a Noble Precedent of Matri|monial Loyalty, and Conjugal Virtue, &s;uch as might rai&s;e a mean Per&s;on to the Quality of a Queen, but a Queen to the State and Honour of a Dee&s;s.</P>
<PB N="120" REF="64">
<P><HI>Penelope,</HI> the Wife of <HI>&V;ly&s;&s;es,</HI> of whom one &s;ays,
<Q><L>Penelope for &s;pending cha&s;t her days,</L>
<L>As worthy as <HI>Uly&s;&s;es</HI> was of Prai&s;e.</L>
<BIBL><HI>Brathw.</HI> p. 328, 329.</BIBL></Q> A daily Siege &s;he &s;uffered, and in her Conque&s;t equal was &s;he to tho&s;e Vi|ctorious Peers of <HI>Greece,</HI> who made <HI>Troy</HI> their Triumph; E&s;timation was her highe&s;t Prize; Suitors &s;he got, and tho&s;e many, yet among them her dear <HI>&V;ly&s;&s;es</HI> was never forgot, and Ab&s;ence had not E&s;tranged her Affection: Youthful Comforts could not move in her Thoughts the lea&s;t Di&s;traction, neither could Opportunity induce her to give way to any Light Action. Well might <HI>Greece</HI> then E&s;teem her <HI>Penelope</HI> of more La&s;ting Fame than any Pyramid that ever &s;he erected; her Unblemi&s;h'd Reputation was of far purer Materials than any Ivory Statue; nor was <HI>Rome</HI> le&s;s beholding to her <HI>Lucretia,</HI> who &s;ought Honor
<PB N="121" REF="64">at &s;o high a rate, that &s;he held Death too light to redeem it.</P>
<Q><L>Tho force frights Foes, and Furies gaz'd upon her;</L>
<L>The&s;e were no Wounds, but Wonders to her Honour.</L></Q>
<P>The pre&s;ence of a Prince, no le&s;s Amorous than Victorious, could not win her, tho with him, Price, Pray|ers and Power did joyntly woe her. Well de&s;erved two &s;uch mode&s;t Ma|trons the choice&s;t Embraces of two &s;uch Heroick Champions, as might equal their con&s;tant Loves with the tender of their deare&s;t Lives.</P>
<P><HI>Claudia,</HI> the Daughter of <HI>Claudius Apollinaris,</HI> and Wife of <HI>Statius Pa|pinius,</HI> the <HI>Neapolitan,</HI> was &s;o cha&s;t and mode&s;t that &s;he pre&s;erved her conjugal Love and Fidelity unblemi&s;h|ed and undefil'd in the ab&s;ence of her Husband for twenty years complete; a &s;econd (and Modern) <HI>Penelope.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Olympias,</HI> Wife of <HI>Philip</HI> of <HI>Mace|don,</HI> and Mother to <HI>Alexander</HI> the Great <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> being puff'd up with his
<PB N="122" REF="65">Succe&s;s and Victories, fondly cau&s;ed him&s;elf to be call'd the Son of <HI>Jupiter Hammon,</HI> wrote to his Mother in this manner; King <HI>Alexander,</HI> the Son of <HI>Jupiter Hammon,</HI> to his Mother <HI>Olym|pias</HI> &s;ends health; to whom with great Prudence and Mode&s;ty &s;he Re&s;crib'd; Dear Son, as you love me, in&s;tead of doing me Honour, proclame not my Di&s;honour, neither accu&s;e me before jealous <HI>Juno;</HI> be&s;ides it is a great a&s;per&s;ion you ca&s;t upon me, to make me a Strumpet, tho to <HI>Jupiter</HI> him&s;elf; A great Moderation in a Woman, who for no &s;welling Titles, or vain O&s;ten|tation, would be won to lo&s;e the Ho|nour of being call'd a cha&s;t and loyal Wife; a pretty droling check to the vain Glory of her A&s;piring and Am|bitious Son.</P>
<P>The noble Lady <HI>Armenia,</HI> being &s;olemnly invited to the wedding of King <HI>Cyrus,</HI> went thither with her Husband, in the Evening, to be a witne&s;s to the complete Solemnization of tho&s;e Royal Rites; but being re|turn'd,
<PB N="123" REF="65">her Husband ak'd her how &s;he lik'd the Bridegroom? whether he was not an amiable and comly Prince? To whom &s;he gave this An|&s;wer; Indeed Sir, I know not; for all the while I was at that Solemnity, I fix'd my Eye upon no Per&s;on in the Company, but your &s;elf.</P>
<P><HI>Hiero</HI> being in company with an inveterat Enemy, who could find no means to fa&s;ten an Affront upon him at la&s;t reproached him with a &s;tinking Breath; at which, being not a little di&s;gu&s;ted, he went home in a Fury, and blamed his Wife for not acquaint|ing him therewith; that &s;o by &s;ome Artificial helps he might have cur'd or abated that &s;ame Noi&s;omne&s;s; but was &s;oon appea&s;ed with her An&s;wer, when &s;he made him this mode&s;t Reply; I thought all Men had the like Savor.</P>
<P><HI>Biblia,</HI> a fair Lady,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Era&s;mus,</HI> lib. 8. Apophtheg.</NOTE> Wife of <HI>Duellius,</HI> was &s;o cha&s;t, that &s;he never touch'd the Lips of any Man, but her Husband, and therefore thought all Men, like
<PB N="124" REF="66">him, to have a noi&s;om &s;tinking Breath.</P>
<P><HI>Bona Dea,</HI> a Woman &s;o called in <HI>Rome,</HI> who was &s;o much ravi&s;hed with the Society of her Husband, and &s;o aver&s;e to all other, that &s;he never &s;aw any other Man all her life|time, which was the Rea&s;on the Wo|men Sacrificed to her in the Night, as a cha&s;t and pure Godde&s;s. <HI>Caja Cae|cilia, (alias Tanaquil)</HI> the Wife of <HI>Caius Tarquinius,</HI> was &s;o cha&s;t and good, that tho&s;e who de&s;ign'd to en|ter into the Bands of Matrimony, u&s;ed frequently to repeat her name for good luck &s;ake, as they &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly conceiv'd; her con&s;tant Motto was, <HI>&V;bi tu Caja, ibi ego, Caja.</HI></P>
<P>It was an excellent and witty An|&s;wer of the <HI>Lacedaemonian</HI> Wives, who being wantonly courted, made this Reply; Certainly, we &s;hould give way to your Reque&s;t, but this you &s;ue for is not in our Power to grant, and no wi&s;e man will reque&s;t impo&s;&s;ibilities: for when we were Maids, we were at the Di&s;po&s;al of our
<PB N="125" REF="66">Parents, and now, being Wives, of our Husbands: an innocent and un|an&s;werable Dilemma.</P>
<P>I have lately &s;een a Di&s;|cour&s;e (&s;aith the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Hayward</HI> of Women</NOTE> Author) intituled a true Narrative of <HI>Rathean Herpine;</HI> who (about the time that <HI>Spinola,</HI> the <HI>Bavarian,</HI> fir&s;t entred the Palatinate) finding her Husband, <HI>Chri&s;topher</HI> (<HI>Thaeon</HI> by name) Apoplex'd in all his Limbs and Mem|bers, with an Invincible Courage, and unparallel'd Affection, at &s;everal Jour|neys, bore him on her Back, the &s;pace of one thou&s;and three hundred <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Miles to a Bath, for his Recovery. Let any of tho&s;e Female Criticks pro|duce me a parallel to this Story in any of their own Sex.</P>
<P><HI>Eleanor,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Howel</HI>'s Sur|vey of <HI>London.</HI></NOTE> the Daughter of <HI>Ferdinand,</HI> King of <HI>Ca&s;tile,</HI> was given in Mar|riage to <HI>Edward</HI> the fir&s;t, King of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> and accompanied him into the ho|ly Land; who, when he was at <HI>Ptolemais,</HI>
<PB N="126" REF="67">happened to be dangerou&s;ly wounded by <HI>Anzazin,</HI> with the A&s;&s;a&s;&s;in's inve|nom'd Knife, which could not be cur'd by Phy&s;icians; being given over by them, his Wife betook her &s;elf to a &s;trange and unheard of Cure; day by day, &s;he lick'd the Wound with her Tongue, and &s;uck'd out the Venemous Humors, till the Wound was cauteris'd and heal'd; Whereupon a Learned Man breaks out into this Excla|mation.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rodericus To|letanus, <HI>li.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Quid igitur hu|jus Mulieris &s;ide rarius audiri? Quid Mirabilius e&s;&s;epote&s;t? &amp;c.</HI> What greater fidelity than this Wo|mans? what more wonderful thing can be;<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Fuller</HI>'s Holy War.</NOTE> &s;o &s;overain a Medicine is a Womans Tongue, anointed with the Virtue of loving Affection. Upon her return from the Holy Land, &s;he died at <HI>Hardeby,</HI> a Town near <HI>Lincoln,</HI> and King <HI>Edward,</HI> in recompence of her conjugal Love, and Memory of &s;o dear a Wife, at every place where
<PB N="127" REF="67">her Corps re&s;ted, in her removal thence, he erected a rich Cro&s;s of &s;tone, with the Queen's Image and Arms; as at <HI>Grantham, Woborn, Northamton, Stony-Stratford, Dun&s;table,</HI> St. <HI>Albans, Waltham, We&s;t-Cheap,</HI> and <HI>Charing-Cro&s;s,</HI> from whence &s;he was carried to <HI>We&s;tmini&s;ter,</HI> and there interr'd with great State, Pomp and Solemnity.</P>
<P>The&s;e are Examples of Single Wo|men, we will add and conclude with tho&s;e of a whole Town, <HI>Guelph</HI> in <HI>Wittenberg</HI> by name, which when <HI>Conrade</HI> the Third Emperour be&s;ie|ged, and could not by any means be di&s;&s;uaded from Sacking the Town, and putting all the Inhabitants to the Sword; at la&s;t, by the Importunity of the Women, who ru&s;hed out of the Town, and ca&s;t them&s;elves at his Feet, he granted their Politick and Pious Reque&s;t, and Publi&s;hed a <HI>Di|ploma,</HI> that they &s;hould depart the Town without the lea&s;t Mole&s;tation or Di&s;turbance, and carry &s;o much
<PB N="128" REF="68">with them as they could bear, and no more, who all unanimou&s;ly agreeing, left all their Portable Riches and Trea&s;ure, and the Counte&s;s carried her Husband <HI>Guelph</HI> on her back, and the re&s;t their Husbands, after her Ex|ample: At the &s;ight of &s;o great Con|jugal Love and Affection, and this witty Stratagem, the Emperour con|ceived &s;o great Plea&s;ure and Delight, that bur&s;ting into Tears of Joy, (his Courage could not prevent his Com|pa&s;&s;ion in &s;o eminent a Ca&s;e) he did not only dive&s;t him&s;elf of his intend|ed Fiercene&s;s and Fury, but &s;pared the Town, pardoned <HI>Guelph</HI> and his Adherents, and entred into a firm League of Friend&s;hip with them for the future; nay farther, the bare Nar|ration of this Story (as <HI>Bodin,</HI> an ex|cellent Hi&s;torian reports) Recovered <HI>Lorenzo de Medici</HI> of a Dangerous Di&s;temper which had baffled all the Art of Phy&s;ick before, and was there|by re&s;tor'd to his former Health, with|out any Medicinal Applications.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="129" REF="68">
<HEAD>Vidual Continency.</HEAD>
<P>AN Extraordinary and rare Exam|ple of Vidual Continency was <HI>Artemi&s;ia,</HI> Queen of <HI>Caria,</HI> who li|ving Cha&s;t ever after the Death of her Husband <HI>Mau&s;olus,</HI> got all his A&s;hes in an Urn, of which &s;he took a Dram every morning in &s;ome liquid Vehi|cle next her Heart, &s;aying, <HI>That her Body was the fitte&s;t place to be a Se|pulchre for her deare&s;t Con&s;ort;</HI> not|with&s;tanding, that &s;he had erected another outward Tomb for him at <HI>Halicarna&s;&s;eus,</HI> which continues to this day, for its Stateline&s;s one of the Wonders of the World; thus &s;he continued this Do&s;e every Morning, till it was all drunk off, but being wa&s;ted with continual Lamentations and Grief, dwindled away, till at la&s;t &s;he died of a Con&s;umption: nay, at this day, in &s;everal Parts of the Ori|ental World, &s;uch is the Rare Love
<PB N="130" REF="69">of Wives to their Decea&s;ed Husbands, that they throw them&s;elves alive into the Funeral Pile, tho in the Flower of their years, to accompany their Bodies (as they conceit) into the other World.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">St. Jerom <HI>again&s;t</HI> Jc|vinian.</NOTE> It is reported by an Holy Fa|ther, that when <HI>Cato</HI>'s Daugh|ter's Daughter had Mourned four Weeks for her Husband, a certain Matron coming to comfort, and di&s;|&s;uade her from Exce&s;&s;ive Grief; ask|ed her at la&s;t how long &s;he intended to mourn? She made her this Reply, (&s;o great was her Affection to her Husband) <HI>That &s;he would make an end of Mourning, when &s;he made an end of Living.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Zenobia,</HI> Queen of <HI>Armenia,</HI> &s;eeing her Husband defeated in a Battel, and not being able to follow him, being big with Child, begg'd of him very earne&s;tly to kill her, that &s;he might not fall into the Rude and unmerci|ful hands of the Enemies; which he
<PB N="131" REF="69">thinking to do, wounded her with with his Sword; but being taken, and carefully look'd after, recover'd her Health; and <HI>Tiridates,</HI> who vanqui&s;h|ed her Husband, Married her (which &s;he could not oppo&s;e, being at the Di&s;po&s;al and Mercy of her Enemy) for the great Affection he found in her to her Con&s;ort; but tho her Con|dition was the &s;ame, and &s;he was &s;till a Queen, yet &s;he liv'd a Melancholic and Solitary Life; and being ask'd by &s;ome of her Ladies of Honour, why &s;he did not adorn her &s;elf &s;uitable to her Degree, and appear with Gran|deur and Splendor at Publick Inter|views and Solemnities, as other Wo|men did; She made this An&s;wer; <HI>It plea&s;eth me, that I have for my Orna|ment the Virtue of my Decea&s;ed Hus|band.</HI></P>
<P>Next, give me leave to acquaint you with a Story of <HI>Clara Cervanda,</HI> who for Conjugal Cha&s;tity, and Vi|dual
<PB N="132" REF="70">Continency, I am per&s;uaded Hi|&s;tory has no Parallel.</P>
<P>This <HI>Clara Cervanda</HI> was the Wife of <HI>Bernard Valdaura,</HI> rela|ted by an Eminent Au|thor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ludovicus Vi|ves, lib. <HI>2.</HI> de Chri&s;t. Foemin.</NOTE> who was very well acquainted with her; This Excellent Woman was a Native of the City of <HI>Bruges</HI> in <HI>Flanders,</HI> and Mar|ried with <HI>Valdaura,</HI> then about forty years of Age; and the fir&s;t night he Bedded her, his Legs were &s;well'd with Linnen Rolls, (a &s;ign of an un|&s;ound and Di&s;eas'd Husband) yet (to be &s;hort) &s;he and her Mother attended &s;o dili|gently on him for &s;ix weeks together,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the Story at large in D. Hackwel's Apology, &amp;c.</NOTE> that they never put off their Clothes but only to &s;hift them, never went into Bed, nor &s;lept above an hour or two in a Night, and that in their Apparel; the ground of this was the <HI>French Di&s;ea&s;e,</HI> and &s;he notwith&s;tanding did Recover him for a while; in&s;omuch as &s;ome Per|&s;ons
<PB N="133" REF="70">&s;aid, that God had decreed to take away <HI>Valdaura,</HI> but his Wife was ob&s;tinately re&s;olv'd not to let him de|part out of her hands; and tho his Breath through that corrupt and nau|&s;eous Di&s;temper, was very un&s;avoury, yet &s;he was offended with <HI>Vives</HI> for &s;aying &s;o; nay farther, &s;he &s;old all her Rings, Jewels, and Plate, to maintain him in his Sickne&s;s, had &s;everal Chil|dren by him, and when he died, tho &s;o loath&s;omly di&s;eas'd, her Sorrow was exce&s;&s;ive; and tho &s;he was not in years, yet &s;he vowed never to mar|ry again, becau&s;e &s;he que&s;tion'd whe|ther &s;he &s;hould ever meet with &s;o Lo|ving a Husband as her dearly beloved <HI>Bernard Valdaura.</HI></P>
<P>What &s;ingular Mirrors of Vidual Continency and Matron-like Mode|&s;ty were <HI>Cornelia, Vetruria, Livia,</HI> and the mo&s;t excellent Widow <HI>Salvina,</HI> to whom St. <HI>Jerom</HI> directed many &s;weet and comfortable Epi&s;tles? <HI>Brathwait</HI> p. 340, 341.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="134" REF="71">
<HEAD>The Government, Politie, Valor, and Courage of Women.</HEAD>
<P>THE Abilities and Faculties of the Soul appear in Civil and Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Affairs, in Matters of Government and Religion; in nei|ther of the&s;e are we de&s;titute of Ex|amples of able Women, and for State-Affairs and Government our late Age hath given us a Queen that former Kings have &s;carcely equal'd; and in the <HI>Ve|netian</HI> Story 'tis recorded, that cer|tain Matrons of that City were &s;ent by Commi&s;&s;ion in quality of Amba&s;|&s;adours; and many times the Voices of Great Men in the greate&s;t of Civil or Eccle&s;ia&s;tical A&s;&s;emblies, have bin in the Power and Di&s;po&s;ition of Wo|men; Hence it is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. Donne.</NOTE> that in the Elder times we find as many Epi&s;tles of the Bi&s;hops of <HI>Rome</HI> (when they &s;tood in need of Court-A&s;&s;i&s;t|ance)
<PB N="135" REF="71">to the Emperours Wives, Mo|thers, Si&s;ters, and Women of other Intere&s;ts in the Emperours Favour and Affection, as to the Emperours them&s;elves.</P>
<P>It is an Hi&s;torical Ob&s;erva|tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bodin de Republ. l. 6. c. 4.</NOTE> that at one time the Crown fell to the Lot of Wo|men, and tho&s;e all of one Name, <HI>viz. Mary:</HI> it was &s;o with us in <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland;</HI> it was &s;o in <HI>Denmark</HI> and <HI>Hungary</HI> too, all four <HI>Maries;</HI> and indeed <HI>Mary</HI> is the Name of Wo|man in general; for when <HI>Adam</HI> &s;aith of <HI>Eve, She &s;hall be called Woman,</HI> in the <HI>Arabick</HI> Tran&s;lation it is, <HI>She &s;hall be called Mary;</HI> and in pure <HI>Hebrew</HI> it &s;ignifies <HI>Exaltation.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Hormi&s;da</HI> was a Great and Mighty Man among the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> and one of mo&s;t Noble Extract: one of that Name among them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sozimus &amp; Marcelli|nus.</NOTE> as &s;everal Authors commemorate, being confined to a certain Moun|tain, was there Fettered, and kept by
<PB N="136" REF="72">a &s;trict Guard of <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> who, again&s;t the Law of that Kingdom, purpo&s;ed to inve&s;t his younger Brother in the State Imperial; but it happened, du|ring his Confinement, that his Wife (the Remembrance of who&s;e Name 'tis great pity that Time hath aboli&s;h|ed, and not left it to Po&s;terity) thus contriv'd and procur'd his Enlarge|ment; She &s;ent him a Fi&s;h, as a Pre|&s;ent, of an extraordinary Bigne&s;s, and in the Belly conveyed an Iron File, and &s;ome other Engines fit for his pur|po&s;e, committing it to the Care and Charge of one of her mo&s;t Faithful Eunuchs; de&s;iring her Husband, by his Mouth, not to have the Fi&s;h cut up in the pre&s;ence of any Per&s;ons what&s;oever, only to make an Happy U&s;e of &s;uch things as he &s;hould find-inclo&s;ed therein. To his Keepers (the better to hide the Stratagem) &s;he &s;ent Camels laden with &s;everal Meats and Wines. <HI>Hormi&s;da</HI> &s;oon apprehend|ing the Plot, gave it a bold and re&s;o|lute
<PB N="137" REF="72">Performance; for having fir&s;t Filed off his Irons, he changed Habit with his Eunuch, and taking advan|tage of their Fea&s;ting and Carouzing, pa&s;&s;ed &s;afely through them all; and by the Contrivance and Politie of his Wife, came at length to the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;i|on of his undoubted Right which his younger Brother had u&s;urped.</P>
<P><HI>Cyrus,</HI> having alienated the <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> from King <HI>A&s;tyages,</HI> was overcome in Battel, his Souldiers flying toward the City for Refuge; in&s;omuch that the Enemy was ready to enter with them; but the Women perceiving it, i&s;&s;ued out of the Gates, holding up their Cloaths as high as their Brea&s;ts, met them running, and reproved them, &s;aying, <HI>O ye Cowards, and Ba&s;e&s;t of Men, whither flye you? Have you any hopes to hide your &s;elves in the&s;e places from whence you came?</HI> This Object ca&s;t &s;uch a &s;hameful blu&s;h upon them, that returning, and renewing the Bat|tel &s;martly, Defeated the Conque|rours,
<PB N="138" REF="73">and they obtain'd a glorious Victory: in memory of which Acti|on, <HI>Cyrus</HI> made a Law, that what <HI>Per|&s;ian</HI> King &s;oever &s;hould approach that City, at his Entry thereof &s;hould be|&s;tow on every woman there a piece of Gold.</P>
<P>The renowned <HI>Matron,</HI> commonly called <HI>Arria Mater,</HI> (becau&s;e &s;he had a Daughter of the &s;ame Name) un|der&s;tanding that <HI>Poetus,</HI> her Husband was condemned to dye, and willing that he &s;hould expire with his own hand, rather than by the &s;troke of a common hang-Man; per&s;uaded him to a <HI>Roman</HI> Re&s;olution; but finding him &s;omewhat terrified at the Ap|proach of his Death; &s;he &s;natch'd up a Sword, wherewith &s;he tran&s;pierced her &s;elf; and then with an undaunted Courage, pluck'd it off her Bo&s;om, and pre&s;ented it to her Husband, with the&s;e few and la&s;t Words, <HI>Poete, non dolet,</HI> behold, <HI>Poetus,</HI> it hath done me no harm, and &s;o fell down dead at his
<PB N="139" REF="73">Feet. In who&s;e Commendation the witty * <HI>Epigramati&s;t</HI> hath made an Epi|gram,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Martial. <HI>li.</HI> 1.</NOTE> whereby he Celebrates her matchle&s;s Re&s;olution to all &s;ucceeding Times.</P>
<P>'Tis reported of <HI>Vala&s;ca,</HI> Queen of the <HI>Bohemians,</HI> who for her Courage obtain'd the Surname of <HI>Bold,</HI> that ha|ving (by Rea&s;on of the roughne&s;s and in&s;olence of Men which they lived under in the time of <HI>Primi&s;laus</HI>) made a Conjuration with tho&s;e of her own Sex, to take away all the u&s;urped Juri&s;diction and Prerogative of Men; and in&s;tructed them in military Di&s;ci|pline, levied a War, met with their Husbands, engaged them, and totally routed them, by which means they obtained the Soverain Power (as the <HI>Amazons</HI> had done before them) and for many years managed all Affairs of State,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Celebrated by <HI>Raphael Vo|lateranus,</HI> li. 7. Geograph.</NOTE> offen&s;ive and defen&s;ive, without the Advice or Council of any Men what&s;oever.</P>
<PB N="140" REF="74">
<P><HI>Zenobia,</HI> Queen of the <HI>Palinyrians,</HI> after the Death of her Husband <HI>Ode|natus,</HI> took upon her the Imperial Re|gency; and among other Warlike Actions, made the Kingdom of <HI>Syria</HI> Tributary to her; nor wanted &s;he Courage to take up Arms again&s;t <HI>Au|relianus,</HI> the <HI>Roman</HI> Emperour, but had the misfortune to be overcome, and led captive in Triumph to <HI>Rome;</HI> but when it was objected to <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI> by &s;ome of his Friends (who certainly was a Friend likewi&s;e to that Sex) as a Di&s;honour and Reproach to Tri|umph over a Woman; he an&s;wer'd, it was no Di&s;grace at all, being over &s;uch a Woman, as excell'd mo&s;t Men in Ma&s;culine Virtue: of whom <HI>Pon|tanus</HI> makes honorable mention,
<Q><L>Qualis &amp; Aethiopum quondam &s;iti|entibus arvis</L>
<L>In Fulvum Regina Gregem, &amp;c.</L></Q></P>
<PB N="141" REF="74">
<P><HI>Artemi&s;ia</HI> Queen of <HI>Caria,</HI> after the Death of her Husband, was admired all over <HI>Greece,</HI> who, not only in a Naval Expedition overcame the in|vading <HI>Rhodians;</HI> but pur&s;ued them, even to their own Coa&s;t, and took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the <HI>I&s;land,</HI> amid&s;t who&s;e Ruins &s;he cau&s;ed her own Glorious Statue to be erected; of <HI>Herodotus.</HI> whom the <HI>Greek</HI> Hi&s;torian &s;aith far|ther; I cannot &s;ufficiently admire at this Martial Queen, who unintreated, or uncompell'd, followed the Expedi|tion of <HI>Xerxes</HI> again&s;t <HI>Greece,</HI> out of her own Courage and Excellency of Spi|rit, in which War &s;he furni&s;hed five Ships at her own Charge, in the great Sea-Fight, near <HI>Salamine;</HI> to behold which Battel <HI>Xerxes</HI> had retired, and &s;tood but as a Spectator: and <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> &s;aith, <HI>lib.</HI> 2. there was to be &s;een in <HI>Xerxes</HI> Womani&s;h Fear, and in <HI>Arte|mi&s;ia</HI> Male Audacity; for &s;he demean|ed her &s;elf to the Con&s;ternation of all Men; of who&s;e Ve&s;&s;els the King
<PB N="142" REF="75">taking &s;pecial notice (not knowing to whom they belonged) nor in who&s;e management they then were; one &s;pake to the King and &s;aid; Great Lord, behold you not how bravely the Queen <HI>Artemi&s;ia</HI> bears her &s;elf this day? the King could not at fir&s;t believe, that &s;uch Re&s;olution could be in that Sex; but at length (not|with&s;tanding her brave Service) he perceiv'd his Navy put to flight, &s;aid &s;ighing; My Men this day have &s;hewed them&s;elves Women, and there is but one Woman among them, and She hath &s;hewed her &s;elf a Man.</P>
<P>When the <HI>Sabines</HI> demanded <HI>Ro|man</HI> Women in Marriage, with their Swords in their hands to revenge a Refu&s;al, the wi&s;e Senate was puzled for an An&s;wer in &s;uch a ca&s;e, where a denial would beget a certain War, or a Grant Hazard their State, becau&s;e their Alliance was but a Color to make them&s;elves Ma&s;ters of <HI>Rome. Tutola,</HI> being very young, pre&s;ented
<PB N="143" REF="75">her &s;elf with her Advice (which at fir&s;t &s;urprized them, but afterward &s;ucceeded to the Glory of the <HI>Ro|mans</HI> and &s;hame of the Strangers) and after &s;he perceiv'd a great Irre&s;olution in the Di&s;cour&s;e of &s;o many old Sena|tors, whom Experience &s;hould have furni&s;hed with good Council; propo|&s;ed this, that they would agree to their demands and dre&s;s up their Maids like Brides, and &s;o carry them to the <HI>Sa|bines,</HI> who preferred their Plea&s;ure before their De&s;igns of making War; the&s;e Slaves, &s;eeing their pretended Husbands in a &s;ound &s;leep, &s;ubtilly &s;tole away their Armor, and adverti&s;ed the <HI>Roman</HI> Soldiers thereof, by a light|ed Torch, who came upon them, and carried away a Victory, wherein For|tune had no part. One cannot prai&s;e enuf the Courage,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Montague</HI>'s Accompl. Women p. 57. 58.</NOTE> Conduct, and Affection of <HI>Tutola,</HI> who found an expedient for the Common-Wealth, when the whole Senate and Nation could find
<PB N="144" REF="76">nothing, but Fear and Apprehen&s;ion.</P>
<P>The &s;ame Author &s;aith farther, p. 324, 325. As for Fortitude, which the Male <HI>Bragadochios</HI> think intail'd on the Breeches, the Women of <HI>Ar|gos</HI> will &s;oon confute that vain Con|ceit; who, upon the in&s;tigation of a Valiant She-Wit and Poete&s;s, <HI>Tele&s;illa</HI> by name, took up Arms, maintain'd the Walls and repell'd the Enemy with great lo&s;s. Was not here both <HI>Mer|cury</HI> and <HI>Mars,</HI> Wit, Valour, Poetry and Fortitude, and all in long Coats? And it is ob&s;ervable what Solemnity they kept in Memory of this valiant Enterpri&s;e, namely the <HI>Hybri&s;tica &s;acra,</HI> in plain Engli&s;h, their upbraiding Fe&s;tivals, wherein the Women wore the Breeches, and the Men their Wives Apparel.</P>
<P>What Re&s;olution did the <HI>French</HI> Ladies &s;how at the Siege of <HI>Beauvais</HI> (which was part of the Glory of the Victory) <HI>Anno</HI> 1472.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Grim&s;ton</HI>'s Hi&s;tory of Lewis <HI>the 11th.</HI></NOTE> When they pre|&s;ented
<PB N="145" REF="76">them&s;elves valiantly, and more than Man-like upon the Walls, ca&s;t|ing Wild-fire, Stones, &s;calding Oyl, and Water upon the Enemies, and &s;o Repul&s;ed <HI>Charles</HI> Duke of <HI>Burgundy</HI> with his Forces: nay, there was to be &s;een in the <HI>Jacobins</HI> Church at <HI>Beauvais,</HI> an En&s;ign, which a Woman, <HI>Joan Foucquet</HI> by name, wre&s;ted out of an En&s;ign-bearers hands, who had gain'd the top of the Walls. This de|mon&s;trates, that Virtue makes no di|&s;tinction of Sexes, and that there are Women to be found who may teach Men both to Live and Dye.</P>
<P>In <HI>Plato</HI>'s Commonwealth Women are call'd to Politick and Military Charges, and <HI>Anti&s;thenes</HI> made no difference between Ma&s;culine and Fe|minine Vertue. Nay, the Ladies of <HI>Aquileia</HI> depriv'd them&s;elves of their only Ornament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A Town in <HI>Italy.</HI></NOTE> their Hair, and gave it to be us'd in an Exi|gency, for Bow-&s;trings, again&s;t the Emperour <HI>Maximinus;</HI> and the <HI>Ro|man</HI>
<PB N="146" REF="77">and <HI>Marcellian</HI> Dames did the &s;ame.</P>
<P><HI>Cyrus,</HI> King of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> (whom the <HI>Greek</HI> Hi&s;torian makes the Pat|tern of all Monarchs) relied up|on the Prudent Advice of his Wife <HI>A&s;pa&s;ia,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Xeno|phon.</NOTE> yet after he had conquer'd the Kingdom of the <HI>Medes,</HI> and all <HI>A&s;ia,</HI> having Reign'd happily the &s;pace of nine years, waged War a|gain&s;t <HI>Thomyris</HI> Queen of <HI>Scythia,</HI> lo&s;t 100000 Men in two Battels, and at la&s;t was overthrown, and taken Pri&s;oner by the Queen her &s;elf, and put to death, in Revenge of her Son <HI>Spargapices,</HI> whom he had &s;lain in Battel; whereupon the <HI>French</HI> Poet &s;ings thus;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Roncard.</NOTE>
<Q><L>Les Femmes ont pa&s;&s;e les Hommes de leur Age,</L>
<L>En Pui&s;&s;ance, en Con&s;eil, en Prudence en Courage;</L>
<L>Mon&s;trans a leur Sujects de parole &amp; fait</L>
<L>La Vertu de leur Sexe, Invincible &amp; Parfait.</L></Q></P>
<PB N="147" REF="77">
<P><HI>Amalaunta,</HI> the Learned and He|roic Queen of the <HI>O&s;trongoths,</HI> and Daughter to <HI>Theodoric,</HI> reduced the State of the <HI>Goths</HI> to a good Condi|tion, Reformed the Di&s;orders and Corruption that her Father introdu|ced, and left among them, expell'd the <HI>Germans</HI> and <HI>Burgundians</HI> out of <HI>Italy,</HI> and Reigned very Fortunately &s;everal Years.</P>
<P><HI>Penthi&s;ilea,</HI> Queen of the <HI>Amazons,</HI> &s;ucceeded <HI>Orythia,</HI> &s;he was pre&s;ent in the <HI>Trojan</HI> War, and took their part again&s;t the <HI>Grecks;</HI> and as <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> gives her Te&s;timony, <HI>Inter forti&s;&s;imos Viros magna ejus Virtutis Documenta exti|tere.</HI> She is no where mention'd, but with the Preface of Honour and Ver|tue, and is always advanced in the Head of the worthie&s;t Women. <HI>Dio|dorus Siculus, Hi&s;t. 1.2.</HI> makes her the Daughter of <HI>Mars;</HI> &s;he was Re|nowned in her Death likewi&s;e, to have it by the hand of <HI>Achilles,</HI>
<PB N="148" REF="78">of which the Poet <HI>Propertius, 1.3. Eleg.</HI> 10. &s;ings this Triumph;
<Q><L>Aurea cui po&s;tquam nudavit ca&s;&s;ida frontem,</L>
<L>Vicit Victorem candida Forma Virum.</L></Q></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Celebrated by <HI>Daniel</HI> in his Hi&s;tory, &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>Boadicia,</HI> or <HI>Voadicia,</HI> by &s;ome call'd <HI>Bunduica</HI> and <HI>Bunduca,</HI> who, &s;ince &s;he was born at home, we will fir&s;t honor her with a Homebred Te&s;timony, from the Grave and Diligent <HI>Spencer,</HI> in his Ruines of Time,
<Q><L>&mdash;<HI>Bunduca Britones,</HI></L>
<L><HI>Bunduca,</HI> the Victorious Conquere&s;s.</L>
<L>That lifting up her brave Heroic Thought</L>
<L>'Bove Womens Weakne&s;s, with the <HI>Romans</HI> fought;</L>
<L>Fought, and in Field again&s;t them thrice prevail'd, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></L></Q></P>
<P>This <HI>Amazonian</HI> Queen was the Widdow of <HI>Pra&s;utagus,</HI> King of the
<PB N="149" REF="78"><HI>Iceni</HI> (the antient Inhabitants of <HI>Cam|bridge, Suffolk, Norfolk</HI> and <HI>Hunting|ton&s;hire</HI>) a Great and Rich Prince; who, at his Death, left <HI>Nero</HI> his Heir and his two Daughters; hoping there|by to free his Hou&s;e from injuries; but it fell out contrary: for no &s;ooner was he dead, but his Kingdom was &s;poiled by the <HI>Roman</HI> Centurions, his Hou&s;e Ran&s;ac't by Slaves, his Wife cruelly beaten and his Daughter for|didly ravi&s;hed; be&s;ides the chief Men of the <HI>Iceni</HI> (as if the whole Region had bin given up as a prey) were deprived of their Goods by Violence, and his Kin&s;men e&s;teemed as Slaves and Captives. With which contume|ly, and fear of greater mi&s;chief, they con&s;pire with the <HI>Trinobantes</HI> (the Inhabitants of <HI>Middle&s;ex</HI> and <HI>E&s;&s;ex</HI>) and others, not yet inur'd to Servitude, to re&s;ume their Liberty; and fir&s;t&s;et upon the Garri&s;on of the <HI>Veteran</HI> Sol|diers (whom they mo&s;t hated) defeated the 9^t^h Legions. whereof they &s;lew all
<PB N="150" REF="79">the Foot; put <HI>Cerealis</HI> the <HI>Legat</HI> and <HI>Leander</HI> to flight, and put to the Sword 70000 <HI>Romans,</HI> with their A&s;&s;ociats inhabiting the municipal Town <HI>Ca|melodunum,</HI> now <HI>Walden,</HI> as al&s;o <HI>Lon|don</HI> and <HI>Verulam,</HI> before <HI>Suetonius,</HI> the Governour of the Province, could a&s;&s;emble the re&s;t of the di&s;per&s;ed For|ces, to make head again&s;t their Army conducted by <HI>Boadicia;</HI> who (with her two Daughters, brought into the Field to move Compa&s;&s;ion and Re|venge) incites to the noble and man|ly work of Liberty; which to reco|ver &s;he prote&s;ts to hold her&s;elf there, but as one of the Vulgar (without weighing her great Honour and Birth) re&s;olved to conquer, or dye: many of their Wives did likewi&s;e appear in the Camp to encourage their Husband's Valour; but, in the end, <HI>Suetonius</HI> got the Victory, with the &s;laughter of 80000 <HI>Britains; Voadicia</HI> &s;eeing this fatal overthrow of her, was not|with&s;tanding unvanqui&s;hed in her own
<PB N="151" REF="79">undaunted and invincible Spirit; and &s;corning to be a Spectacle in their Triumphs, or a Va&s;&s;al to their Will, after the example of <HI>Cleopatra,</HI> &s;he put a period to her Mi&s;ery and Life by Poi&s;on.</P>
<P>You may &s;ee her Harangues to her Soldiers made by<NOTE N="*" PLACE="foot">Annal. 1.14.</NOTE> <HI>Tacitus,</HI> the Hi&s;torian, wherein is expre&s;&s;ed the magnitude of her Spirit, thir&s;ting honorably after the Redemption and Liberty of her Country; and <HI>Joh. Xiphilinus in Epi&s;t. in Neron.</HI> doth hone&s;t her be&s;ides with a particular and honorable Mention; <HI>Bunduica, Britannica Foemina, orta Stirpe Regia &amp;c. Bunduica,</HI> a Briti&s;h Lady, of Royal Extract; one, who not only pre&s;ided over them, but al&s;o admi|ni&s;tred all military Affairs, who&s;e Spirit was rather <HI>Viril</HI> then <HI>Feminine;</HI> and afterward, <HI>Foemina forma hone&s;ti&s;|&s;ima, Vultu &s;evero;</HI> a Woman of a comly Pre&s;ence, but &s;evere A&s;pect, all which doth contribute the more to her true
<PB N="152" REF="80">Prai&s;e, becau&s;e it proceeded from the Mouth of the <HI>Romans,</HI> her Enemies.</P>
<P><HI>Pa&s;quier</HI> in his <HI>Recherches de la France,</HI> &s;aith, <HI>lib. 6. ca.</HI> 33. I will not pry into Antiquity; do but ob&s;erve what hath pa&s;&s;ed in <HI>Europe</HI> during thirty five years; five or &s;ix great Kingdoms governed by Women; <HI>France</HI> by <HI>Katharin De Medici,</HI> Queen Mother; <HI>England</HI> by Queen <HI>Eliza|beth, Scotland</HI> by <HI>Mary, Portugal</HI> fal|len into the hands of the <HI>Infanta,</HI> Daughter of Queen <HI>Leonora; Na|varre</HI> and <HI>Bearn</HI> by the Queen <HI>Joanna,</HI> and finally <HI>Flanders</HI> and other low Countries by the Dutche&s;s of <HI>Parma,</HI> Ba&s;tard Si&s;ter to <HI>Philip</HI> King of <HI>Spain:</HI> To enumerat the particulars on this Subject, would &s;well this into too great a Volume: Therefore I &s;hall not trou|ble you with Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> at home, who&s;e &s;tory is too Prolix and too generally known; only take this character of her and the Lady <HI>Jane Gray</HI> by the learned Lady <HI>Anna Maria
<PB N="153" REF="80">Schurman</HI> (of whom more hereafter) <HI>J'o&s;erois oppo&s;er une &s;eule</HI> Elizabet <HI>en&s;a vie, Reine d'Angleterre, &amp; une</HI> Jane Gray <HI>a toutes les illustres Femmes de la</HI> Grece <HI>&amp; de la</HI> Rome <HI>encienne;</HI> I dur&s;t bring one &s;ole <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> in her life Queen of <HI>England,</HI> and one <HI>Jane Gray</HI> in oppo&s;ition to all the Illu&s;tri|ous Dames of antient <HI>Grece</HI> and <HI>Rome.</HI> I have bin more copious in this Sub|ject than any, to prove that mo&s;t ro|bu&s;t and rugged Virtue of Fortitude is as eminent in Women as Men; but I will conclude with that of the Phi|lo&s;opher (tho one of the greate&s;t of Enemies to Women) who having given te&s;timo|ny,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;totle. 2 l. <HI>politic.</HI></NOTE> that he prefer'd Truth before Ha|tred, confe&s;&s;eth, that Women did mannage, among the <HI>Lacedaemonians,</HI> the Affairs of greate&s;t importance. It is a Cu&s;tom fal&s;e and unju&s;t, not an|tient, to reject Women from Public and particular Government, as if they were fit for nothing but to &s;titch or
<PB N="154" REF="81">&s;pin; their Wit is adapted for more elevated Actions; and if one will make Remarks upon what they have done, it may be judg'd, without difficulty, what they are capable of doing: If Men &s;ometimes would take their Advice, whom God hath given for their Help and Con&s;olation in their Affairs; 'tis probable they would have a happier &s;ucce&s;s in their Enterprizes, and the&s;e en&s;uing Examples do &s;ufficiently and apparently ju&s;tifie that tho&s;e Prai&s;es we be&s;tow upon that Sex are not ill grounded; but we have Rea&s;on to maintain, that their Prudence hath often bred Remedy to the mo&s;t de&s;pe|rat Di&s;ea&s;es of States, Republics and Kingdoms.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="155" REF="81">
<HEAD>Of learned Women and their Affection to Learning and learned Men.</HEAD>
<P><HI>NIco&s;trate,</HI> the Mother of <HI>Evander,</HI> was the fir&s;t that taught the <HI>La|tins</HI> their Letters.</P>
<P><HI>Pericles</HI> was admirable in Eloquence and Valiant in Armes;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plutarch <HI>in the Life of</HI> Pericles.</NOTE> but he had Tea|ching, Education and Eloquence from his noble and beautiful Mi&s;tris <HI>A&s;patia;</HI> afterward his Wife.</P>
<P><HI>Pythagoras</HI> and <HI>Ari&s;tippus</HI> confe&s;s, that they receiv'd their chiefe&s;t Secrets in <HI>Philo&s;ophy</HI> from <HI>Theoclea. Polla Argentina,</HI> the Wife of <HI>Lucan</HI> and <HI>Sta|tius,</HI> both noted Poets, was &s;o learned, that &s;he corrected their Books, namely, the three fir&s;t of the <HI>Phar&s;alian</HI> War, and the fir&s;t Book of <HI>Statius.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Areta Corvina,</HI> exceeding skilful in Poe&s;ie, and hath &s;urpa&s;&s;ed <HI>Pindar,</HI> the Prince of <HI>Greek Lyric</HI> Poets in the
<PB N="156" REF="82">Opinion of &s;ome <HI>Critics;</HI> &s;he wrote five Books of <HI>Epigrams.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Hippatia,</HI> Wife of <HI>I&s;idore,</HI> wrote many Books in <HI>A&s;trologie,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Socrates</HI> lib. 11. ca. 10. <HI>Hi&s;t. tri|part.</HI></NOTE> open|ly taught <HI>Philo&s;ophie,</HI> and ma|ny Sciences in <HI>Alexandria,</HI> had many Auditors. <HI>Suidas.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Dama</HI> the Daughter of <HI>Py|thagoras,</HI> excell'd in Philo&s;ophie, and &s;hewed her Wi&s;dom and Learning in commenting upon her Father's Books.</P>
<P><HI>So&s;ipatra,</HI> a Lady of Ladies, &s;he was skilful in all &s;ort of Learning, and in all Sciences, in&s;omuch that &s;he was &s;aid to be engendred of a Deity.</P>
<P><HI>Lesbia</HI> wrote a Poem in the <HI>Doric</HI> Dialect, which is thought to contend with <HI>Homer</HI> for the Excellency of the Ver&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Caia Affrania,</HI> Wife to <HI>Lucius,</HI> was &s;o fit for, and skil'd in Law, that &s;he pleaded often before many Magi&s;trates.</P>
<P><HI>Clandia Ruffina,</HI> a Briti&s;h Lady, skill'd in the Tongues celebrated by the Epigrammati&s;t.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Martial.</HI> l. 11.</NOTE></P>
<PB N="157" REF="82">
<P><HI>Sappho,</HI> the <HI>Lesbian,</HI> from whom came the <HI>Sapphic</HI> Ver&s;es; &s;he taught Scholars, had three Female <HI>Pupils,</HI> and wrote four <HI>Lyric</HI> Books, <HI>Epigrams, Elegies, Iambics</HI> and <HI>Menias.</HI> The <HI>Ro|mans</HI> erected her a Statue in <HI>Porphiry,</HI> richly wrought, to perpetuate her Me|mory.</P>
<P><HI>Endocia,</HI> the Wife of <HI>Theodo&s;ius</HI> the younger, and Daughter of <HI>Leonti|us,</HI> the <HI>Athenian</HI> Sophi&s;ter, cal'd <HI>Athae|nais,</HI> before &s;he was baptized into the Chri&s;tian Religion, and married to the Emperour, then &s;he was called <GAP DESC="foreign">; becau&s;e, tho &s;he was born of mean Parentage, yet for the famous Qualifications, both of her Body and Mind, &s;he &s;o plea&s;ed the Emperour, that he took her into his Bed, and made her his Wife. She left and <HI>Octa|teuch</HI> written in <HI>Heroic</HI> Ver&s;e, &s;o cal|led from the number of Books, which &s;he wrote, and they were eight. <HI>Pho|tius</HI> extremely commends this Work; She al&s;o made a Metrical Metaphra&s;is
<PB N="158" REF="83">of <HI>Daniel</HI> and <HI>Zecariah</HI> the Prophets, and three Books in Ver&s;e in Prai&s;e of the Ble&s;&s;ed Martyr <HI>Cyprian.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Olympias,</HI> a <HI>Thebane&s;s,</HI> and famous Phy&s;iciane&s;s.</P>
<P><HI>Trota,</HI> or <HI>Trotula,</HI> of <HI>Salerno,</HI> a Town in <HI>Italy,</HI> a noble She-Phy&s;ician, who wrote a Treati&s;e of the Di&s;ea&s;es incident to Women, and their Cure.</P>
<P><HI>Aloy&s;ia Sigea,</HI> a <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Lady, ver&s;ed in five Languages, <HI>Latin, Greek, He|brew, Syriac</HI> and <HI>Chaldee.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ca&s;&s;andra,</HI> a very learned <HI>Veneti|an</HI> Maid; <HI>Politian</HI> writes a whole Epi&s;tle in her Commendation. <HI>Cer|tum e&s;t enim,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>Ep. li. 3. Ep. 13. non minus ad cam invi&s;endam, quam ad Livium no&s;trum Patavinum olim ab ultimis Orbis partibus confluxi&s;&s;e plurimos, qui &s;ui &s;eculi Ornamentum, &s;exus Miraculum, &amp; Ingenii mon&s;trum depraedicabant.</HI> 'Tis mo&s;t certain that very many Per&s;ons came from the mo&s;t remote Parts of the World to &s;ee her, no le&s;s then our <HI>Patavinian
<PB N="159" REF="83">Livy,</HI> who did &s;peak her to be the Ornament of her Age, the Miracle of her Sex, and a Mon&s;ter of Ingenuity.</P>
<P><HI>Annas Comnenas,</HI> Empre&s;s of the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> a learned Woman; &s;he wrote eight Books call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>de Rebus a Patre Je&s;tis</HI> in <HI>Greek.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Corinna,</HI> there were three learned Women of that name, the fir&s;t a <HI>Theban,</HI> who is reported to have overcome <HI>Pyndar,</HI> the Prince of <HI>Greek Lyric</HI> Poets, five times, and to have put forth five Books of Epigrams; of whom <HI>Propertius</HI> makes mention: the &s;econd a <HI>The&s;pian,</HI> much celebrated by the Antients; the third flouri&s;hed in the time of <HI>Ovid,</HI> and was mo&s;t dear to him.</P>
<P><HI>Margaret</HI> Queen of <HI>Navar,</HI> Si&s;ter to <HI>Francis</HI> the fir&s;t; there are her Me|moires in public; together with her Poetical Works.</P>
<P><HI>Anna Maria Schurman,</HI> a learned Woman, whom <HI>Spanheim</HI> calls <HI>ultimum Naturae in hoc Sexu Conatum,</HI> and <HI>de|cimam
<PB N="160" REF="84">Mu&s;am, &amp;c.</HI> The Dernier Ef|fort of Nature in that Sex, the tenth Mu&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> a <HI>Dutch</HI> Maid. She hath publi&s;hed her Works in <HI>Hebrew, Greck, Latin, French,</HI> Pro&s;e and Ver&s;e, in the third Edition of which Book, in the end, there are divers <HI>Elogia</HI> of her by Learned Men: the lo&s;s of who&s;e being out of Town (that is from <HI>&V;|trecht) Edward Brown,</HI> Phy&s;ician to our King, &s;eems to bewail, and to con|tent him&s;elf with her Picture, drawn by her own hand, with this In&s;cripti|on.</P>
<Q><L>Cernitis hic picta no&s;tros in Imagine Vultus.</L>
<L>Si negat Ars formam, Gratia Ve&s;tra dabit.</L></Q>
<P><HI>Elizabeth We&s;ton,</HI> a learned <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Gentlewoman, commended by two of the greate&s;t Wits of our late Mo|dern Age, <HI>Jo&s;eph Scaliger,</HI> and <HI>Janus Dou&s;a.</HI> She hath written a Book of
<PB N="161" REF="84">Poe&s;ie; intituled <HI>Parthenion,</HI> who admir'd her, as they &s;ay, before they had the Happine&s;s to be acquainted with her.</P>
<P><HI>Margaret More,</HI> Daughter of Sir <HI>Thomas More,</HI> attained that Skill in all Learning and Languages, that &s;he became the Miracle of her Age; Forreiners took &s;uch Notice hereof, that <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> Dedicated &s;ome Epi|&s;tles to her; No Woman that could &s;peak &s;o well, &s;pake &s;o little; who&s;e Secre&s;ie was &s;uch, that her father, Lord Chancellour of <HI>England,</HI> entru&s;ted her with his mo&s;t important Affairs, &s;uch was her skil in the Fathers, that &s;he corrected a depraved place of St <HI>Cy|prian:</HI> for whereas it was corruptly written, <HI>ni&s;i vos Sinceritatis,</HI> &s;he amended it <HI>Nervos Sinceritatis.</HI> This is acknowledged by two eminent Authors, <HI>Co&s;terus</HI> and <HI>Pamelion</HI> on that place; nay farther, &s;he tran&s;lated <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> out of the <HI>Greek;</HI> and Mr. <HI>Fuller</HI> hath placed them among the
<PB N="162" REF="85"><HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Worthies; Nay, his three Daughters were all &s;o Learned, that <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> &s;aith he found them &s;o per|fect in <HI>Livy,</HI> that the wor&s;t Scholar of them was able to expound him quite through, without He&s;itation, except &s;ome places of extraordinary difficul|ty. <HI>Quod me vel mei &s;imilem e&s;&s;et mora|turum;</HI> which might puzzle me, or one as knowing as my &s;elf.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, within Memory, our Na|tion hath produced four Si&s;ters, the Daughters of Sr. <HI>Anthony Coke,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fuller's <HI>Worthies.</HI></NOTE> rare Poete&s;&s;es, skilful in <HI>Latin</HI> and <HI>Greek,</HI> be&s;ides many other excellent Qualities, eternized already by the Golden Pen of <HI>Bucha|nam,</HI> with many other incomparable Ladies and Gentlewomen in our Land.</P>
<P>One example, or two, of their Af|fection to Learning and learned Men, and &s;o we will di&s;patch this Subject.</P>
<P><HI>Octavia,</HI> the Si&s;ter of <HI>Augu&s;tus Cae|&s;ar,</HI> be&s;tow'd upon <HI>Virgil,</HI> out of her Affection to his Parts, five thou&s;and
<PB N="163" REF="85"><HI>French</HI> Crowns, for writing twenty &s;ix Hexameters in commendation of her Son <HI>Marcellus,</HI> that &s;hould have bin Heir to the Empire; all which you may have for nothing in the latter end of the &s;ixth Book of <HI>Aeneids.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Hip&s;icratea,</HI> a Lady highly de&s;cen|ded, who&s;e Veins hous'd no common Blood, &s;o fair, that the blu&s;hing Morn never appear'd more fre&s;h, nor <HI>Venus</HI> with more charms than &s;he; and to accompli&s;h all, endowed with great E&s;tate; yet &s;he was &s;o taken in love with a Philo&s;opher for his Virtues, named, <HI>Crates,</HI> a deformed Per&s;on, of a wither'd, Autumnal Face, with a Wain&s;cot Complexion, and reduced to the proverbial want of Poverty, that &s;he endured many hard&s;hips (ha|ving nothing to accompany her, but the poor comfort of Calamity, Pitty) in following him through <HI>Europe</HI> and other Places, poorly cloathed, Vaga|bond like, and bare-footed.</P>
<PB N="164" REF="86">
<P>It is al&s;o reported<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Franc Belfore&s;t <HI>Hi&s;t. An. 1430.</HI></NOTE> of <HI>Magdalen</HI> Queen of <HI>France,</HI> and Wife to <HI>Lewis</HI> the eleventh (a <HI>Scoti&s;h</HI> Woman by Birth) that taking the <HI>Fre&s;co</HI> in an Evening Promenade, with her La|dies of Honour, &s;he accidentally &s;pied M. <HI>Alanus,</HI> one of the Kings Chap|lains, an infirm, &s;uperannated, grim Vi&s;ag'd and deformed Man; (<HI>Erat an|tum</HI> (&s;aith the Author) <HI>foede deformis et ea forma qua citius pueri terreri po&s;|&s;ent, quam invit ari ad O&s;culum Puellae</HI>) fa&s;t a &s;leep, repo&s;ed in a &s;hady Bower, and be&s;towed a ravi&s;hing ki&s;s upon him (<HI>O&s;culum imperio dignum,</HI> a Ki&s;s worth an Empire; one &s;uch Ki&s;s would ravi&s;h a Man from the Jaws of Death. 
<Q>Suaviolum Stygia &s;ie te de valle reducet) <BIBL><HI>Secun.</HI> Bas. 13.</BIBL></Q> 
at which the brisk and &s;prightly Court-Ladies &s;miling, &s;he replied, that it was not his Per&s;on, which &s;he did em|brace and pay that deference unto, but, with a <HI>Platonic</HI> Love to the
<PB N="165" REF="86">divine Beauty of his Soul; <HI>deformis i&s;te et&s;i videatur Senex, divinum Ani|mum habet;</HI> thus hath Virtue and Learning bin admired, nay adored by Women, and &s;he one of the highe&s;t Sphere too, a noble and learned Queen.</P>
<P>Having thus given you, by the &s;aint Shadowings of my Pen, the Perfecti|ons of the Female Sex, I mu&s;t clo&s;e all with this Corollary; If <HI>Virtue, Cha&s;ti|ty, Continency, Learning,</HI> Love of <HI>Learned Men, Hone&s;ty, Integrity, Pie|ty, Valor, Conduct,</HI> or <HI>Management</HI> of <HI>Oecumenical,</HI> as well as <HI>Political</HI> Affairs, <HI>Patience,</HI> or any moral Virtue what|&s;oever, can per&s;wade <HI>Rational Man</HI> (&s;o void of Rea&s;on (pardon the Ex|pre&s;&s;ion) in libelling that harmle&s;s and ingenious Sex) to a Retractation; I think the Arguments here u&s;ed may prevail; if not, I am &s;atisfied with this, that I &s;hall gain (I dare not &s;ay merit) their Favour, and value not the <HI>Sarca&s;ms</HI> or <HI>Satyrs</HI> of the mo&s;t capping <HI>Momi</HI> or <HI>Zoili</HI> of this Age.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="87">
<P><HI>Books printed for</HI> Ja. Norris <HI>at the</HI> Kings-Arms <HI>with|out</HI> Temple-Bar, 1683.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>MA&s;&s;inello;</HI> or a Satyr again&s;t the <HI>A&s;&s;ociation,</HI> and the <HI>Guild-Hall</HI> Riot. Quarto.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Eromena,</HI> or, The Noble Stran|ger: a <HI>Novel.</HI> Octavo.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Tractatus adver&s;us Reprobation Ab&s;olutae Decretum, Nova Methodo &amp; &s;uccenti&s;&s;imo Compendio adornatus; &amp; in duos Libros dige&s;tus.</HI> Octavo.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. An <HI>Idea</HI> of <HI>Happine&s;s;</HI> in a Let|ter to a Friend, enquiring wherein the Greate&s;t Happine&s;s attainable by Man does con&s;i&s;t. Quarto.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. A Murnival of Knaves, or Whig|gi&s;m plainly Di&s;play'd, and, if not &s;hamele&s;s, Burle&s;qu'd out of Counte|nance. Quarto.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
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