Have freer power than he, in grace
And nature, o'er the creature has?
Because the laws he since has made
Have cut off all the power he had;
Retrenched the absolute dominion
That nature gave him over women;
When all his power will not extend
One law of nature to suspend;
And but to offer to repeal
The smallest clause, is to repel.
This, if men rightly understood
Their privilege, they would make good,
And not, like sots, permit their wives
T'encroach on their prerogatives,
For which sin they deserve to be
Kept, as they are, in slavery:
And this some precious gifted teachers,
Unreverently reputed lechers,*
And disobeyed in making love,
Have vowed to all the world to prove,
And make ye suffer as you ought,
For that uncharitable fault:
But I forget myself, and rove
Beyond th' instructions of my love.
Forgive me, Fair, and only blame
Th' extravagancy of my flame,
Since 'tis too much at once to show
Excess of love and temper too;
All I have said that's bad and true,
Was never meant to aim at you,
Who have so sovereign a control
O'er that poor slave of your's, my soul,
That, rather than to forfeit you,
Has ventured loss of heaven too;
The notorious Case, Hugh Peters, and Dr. Burgess are mentioned as coming conspicuously within this description. Some charges brought against Peters were of a very flagrant character.
Both with an equal power possessed,
To render all that serve you blessed;
But none like him, who's destined either
To have or lose you both together;
And if you'll but this fault release,
For so it must be, since you please,
I'll pay down all that vow, and more,
Which you commanded, and I swore,
And expiate, upon my skin,
Th' arrears in full of all my sin:
For 'tis but just that I should
Th' accruing penance for delay,
Which shall be done, until it move
Your equal pity and your love.*
The knight, perusing this epistle,
Believed h' had brought her to his whistle,
And read it, like a jocund lover,
With great applause, t' himself, twice over;
Subscribed his name, but at a fit
And humble distance, to his wit;
And dated it with wondrous art,
'Given from the bottom of his heart;'
Then sealed it with his coat of love,
A smoking faggot—and above,
Upon a scroll-'I burn, and weep'-
And near it-' for her Ladyship,
* We have an accurate counterpart of the knight, as he appears in this mercenary transaction, drawn by Butler in his Character of a Wooer: He prosecutes his suit against his mistress as clients do a suit in law, and does nothing without the advice of his learned counsel, omits no advantage for want of soliciting, and, when he gets her consent, overthrows her. He endeavours to match his estate, rather than himself, to the best advantage; and if his mistress's fortune and his do but come to an agreement, their persons are easily satisfied, the match is soon made up, and a cross marriage between all four is presently concluded. . He has a great desire to beget money on the body of a woman, and as for any other issue is very indifferent, and cares not how old she be, so she be not past money-bearing.'
Of all her sex most excellent,
These to her gentle hands present.'
Then gave it to his faithful squire,
With lessons how t' observe, and eye her.t
She first considered which was better,
To send it back, or burn the letter:
But guessing that it might import,
Though nothing else, at least her sport,
She opened it, and read it out,
With many a smile and leering flout;
Resolved to answer it in kind;
And thus performed what she designed.
*This elaborate superscription was in the common form of the day, a little exaggerated. The circumstantial details of sealing and superscribing may possibly have suggested the following passage to Lord Byron :
This note was written upon gilt-edged paper
With a neat little crow-quill, slight and new ;
Her small white hand could hardly reach the taper,
It trembled as magnetic needles do,
And yet she did not let one tear escape her;
The seal a sun-flower; Elle vous suit partout,'
The motto, cut upon a white cornelian;
The wax was superfine, its hue vermilion.
+ Similar instructions are given by Don Quixote to Sancho Panza, when the squire is sent on a similar mission. Go then, auspicious youth, and have a care of being daunted, when thou approachest the beams of that refulgent sun of beauty. Observe and engrave in thy memory the manner of this reception; mark whether her colour changes on the delivery of thy commission; whether her looks betray any emotion or concern when she hears my name. In short, observe all her actions, every motion, every gesture; for by the accurate relation of these things, I shall divine the secrets of her breast, and draw just inferences, so far as this imports to my amour.'
THE LADY'S ANSWER TO THE KNIGHT.
THAT you're a beast, and turned to grass,
Is no strange news, nor ever was,
At least to me, who once, you know,
Did from the pound replevin you,
When both your sword and spurs were won
In combat, by an Amazon;
That sword that did, like fate, determine
Th' inevitable death of vermin,
And never dealt its furious blows,
But cut the throats of pigs and cows,
By Trulla was, in single fight,
Disarmed and wrested from its knight,
Your heels degraded of your spurs,
And in the stocks close prisoners;
Where still they'd lain, in base restraint,
If I, in pity of your complaint,
Had not, on honourable conditions,
Released 'em from the worst of prisons;
And what return that favour met,
You cannot, though you would, forget;
When being free, you strove t' evade
The oaths you had in prison made;
Forswore yourself, and first denied it,
But after owned, and justified it;
And when y' had falsely broke one vow,
Absolved yourself, by breaking two.
For while you sneakingly submit,
And beg for pardon at our feet;
Discouraged by your guilty fears,
To hope for quarter, for your ears;
And doubting 'twas in vain to sue,
You claim us boldly as your due,
Declare that treachery and force,
To deal with us, is th' only course;
We have no title nor pretence
To body, soul, or conscience,
But ought to fall to that man's share
That claims us for his proper ware:
These are the motives which, t' induce,
Or fright us into love, you use;
A pretty new way of gallanting,
Between soliciting and ranting;
Like sturdy beggars, that intreat
For charity at once, and threat.
But since you undertake to prove
Your own propriety in love,
As if we were but lawful prize
In war, between two enemies,
Or forfeitures which every lover,
That would but sue for, might recover
It is not hard to understand
The mystery of this bold demand,
That cannot at our persons aim,
But something capable of claim.
'Tis not those paltry counterfeit
French stones, which in our eyes you set,
But our right diamonds, that inspire
And set your amorous hearts on fire;
Nor can those false St. Martin's beads*
Which on our lips you lay for reds,
And make us wear like Indian dames,
Add fuel to your scorching flames,
But those true rubies of the rock,
Which in our cabinets we lock.
'Tis not those orient pearls, our teeth,
That you are so transported with,
But those we wear about our necks
Produce those amorous effects.
* Upon the site of the old collegiate church of St. Martin's-le-Grand, which was demolished upon the dissolution of the monasteries, a number of persons established themselves, principally foreigners, and carried on a considerable manufacture of artificial stones, beads, and counterfeit jewellery. The articles fabricated in this place were called by its name, to distinguish them from the genuine articles they were intended to imitate.
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