The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rosalynde, by Thomas Lodge
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Title: Rosalynde
or, Euphues' Golden Legacy
Author: Thomas Lodge
Editor: Edward Chauncey Baldwin
Release Date: November 29, 2005 [EBook #17181]
Language: English
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ROSALYNDE OR, EUPHUES' GOLDEN LEGACY
BY
THOMAS LODGE
EDITED
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
STANDARD
ENGLISH
CLASSICS
GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON * NEW YORK * CHICAGO * LONDON
ATLANTA * DALLAS * COLUMBUS * SAN FRANCISCO
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
EDWARD CHAUNCEY BALDWIN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The Athenæum Press
GINN AND COMPANY * PROPRIETORS * BOSTON * U.S.A.
PREFACE
This edition of Lodge's "Rosalynde" has grown out of a need felt by
the editor for an example of Elizabethan prose suitable for use in a
general survey course in English, designed for college freshmen.
"Rosalynde," of all the books that were considered, seemed on the
whole best to fulfill the desired conditions. As a pastoral romance it
belongs to a class of books which, if not peculiar to the Elizabethan
age, is at least thoroughly representative of it. Moreover, the story
is entirely unobjectionable, nothing being found in it that could
offend any reader. The "Rosalynde," being one of the shortest of the
prose romances, is not open to the objections that might be urged
against the more famous, but also more discursive, "Arcadia" of
Sidney. Its close relations with Shakespeare's "As You Like It," which
is also read in the course, and its added interest as one of the
precursors of the modern novel, additionally recommend it. Finally,
its coherent plot, its freedom from digressions, and its happy ending,
make it seem likely to interest students, in spite of the
conventionality of the pastoral form.
The annotation has been confined to giving the meanings of obsolete or
unusual words. There are many mythological allusions that call for
explanation; but this, it is thought, any good dictionary of mythology
will supply. The list of questions is not of course exhaustive, and is
intended to be merely suggestive of the kind of study the college
student in an introductory course in English might well be fitted to
undertake. The text is that of the Hunterian Club edition of Lodge's
"Works." This reprint is of the first edition, that of 1590, except
that (since the only known copy of the first edition of "Rosalynde" is
imperfect) a few pages (121-127 of this edition) were reprinted from
the second edition of 1592. The spelling and punctuation have to some
extent been modernized--the latter having been altered only where
changes serve to make the author's meaning more obvious.
The editor acknowledges his indebtedness to the scholarly edition of
Lodge's "Rosalynde" by W.W. Greg (London and New York, 1907),
particularly to the glossarial index, which has supplied the meanings
of some words about which the editor was in considerable doubt. Thanks
are due, also, to my colleague Mr. Arthur Tietje for his helpful
suggestions in preparing the list of questions.
E.C.B.
URBANA, ILLINOIS
CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION vii
Birth and Education; Early Work; Later Work and Death;
Source of "Rosalynde": "The Tale of Gamelyn"; Form: A
Pastoral Romance; Spanish Influence; Style: Euphuistic; One
of the Last Examples of Euphuism; The Charm of the Book;
Lodge's Skill as a Story-teller; The Lyrical Interludes;
Historical Significance; Shakespeare's Dramatization of
"Rosalynde."
BIBLIOGRAPHY xxi
THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF THOMAS LODGE xxii
AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxv
AUTHOR'S DEDICATION xxvii
TEXT 1
QUESTIONS 131
[Transcriber's Note: The Questions section has been omitted
from this e-book.]
INTRODUCTION
_Birth and Education._ Of the life of Thomas Lodge comparatively
little is definitely known. Yet, though even the year of his birth is
uncertain, we are able from the meager facts that have come down to us
to see that his life was typically Elizabethan. Like Sidney and like
Raleigh, Lodge lived a varied and active life. He was born in either
1557 or 1558 of a rather prominent middle-class London family, both
his father and his mother's father having been lord mayors of the
city. He was sent to Merchant Taylors' School and afterwards to
Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1577. Of his career at
the university we know almost nothing except that among his fellow
students were John Lyly, destined to exert a powerful influence upon
his style, and George Peele, later to become a dramatist of note, to
whom Lodge may to some extent have owed his subsequent interest in the
drama.
_Early Work._ After leaving Oxford, Lodge returned to London and
entered the Society of Lincoln's Inn, in other words took up the study
of the law. Legal studies seem not to have absorbed his attention to
the total exclusion of literary work. The occasion of his first
publication was the death of his mother in 1579. In that year appeared
the "Epitaph of the Lady Anne Lodge." This is not extant, but his
reply to Stephen Gosson's "School of Abuse" has survived. Gosson's
book had been a furious attack upon the contemporary drama. Lodge's
reply was a fair sample of the literary billingsgate of that
controversial age and deserves the oblivion into which it promptly
sank. His next publication was his "Alarum against Usurers" (1584), a
book belonging to a class of tracts popular in that day in which the
characters and customs of the underworld of London were exposed to
popular execration. The impulse to engage in this journalistic kind of
work Lodge may have owed to Robert Greene, the dramatist, with whom he
at this time became intimate, and whose popular books on cony-catching
the "Alarum," in its spirit and purpose, closely resembles. Greene
certainly furnished some of the inspiration for the dramatic attempts
that followed. Lodge's play, "The Wounds of Civil War," though not
printed till 1594, may have been acted in 1587. We know that he
collaborated with Greene in "A Looking Glass for London and England,"
produced in 1592.
_Later Work and Death._ It is not, however, as a dramatist that Lodge
is remembered, but as a writer of pastoral romance. Here the
discursive and idyllic quality of his genius, both in verse and prose,
was to find complete and unhampered expression. Of the pastoral
romances that Lodge produced during the next decade "Rosalynde" is by
far the most important. The author wrote it, he tells us, while he was
on a freebooting expedition to the Azores and the Canaries, "when
every line was wet with a surge, and every humorous passion
counterchecked with a storm." The immediate success of "Rosalynde"
encouraged Lodge to continue the writing of romances. The best known
of those that followed, and one of the prettiest of his stories, is "A
Margarite [i.e. pearl] of America." This was written while Lodge was
engaged in another patriotic raid under Captain Cavendish against the
Spanish colonies of South America. The romance is in no sense
American, and owes its title solely to the fact that it was written,
or, as Lodge claims, translated from the Spanish, while Lodge's ship
was cruising off the coast of Patagonia. Lodge certainly knew Spanish;
and during the month that the expedition lingered at Santos in Brazil,
he spent much of his time in the library of the Jesuit College.
Possibly this was the beginning of his leaning toward Catholicism. At
all events, he later became a Roman Catholic and wrote in support of
that faith at a time when to be other than a Protestant in England was
extremely dangerous. Sometime previous to 1600 he took a degree of
doctor of medicine at Avignon and wrote among other medical treatises
one on the plague. Of this disease, it is said, he died in 1625.
_Source of "Rosalynde": "The Tale of Gamelyn."_ Lodge did not invent
the plot of "Rosalynde." The story is based upon "The Tale of
Gamelyn." This is a narrative in rough ballad form, written in the
fourteenth century and formerly attributed to Chaucer. Indeed all the
copies of it that have been preserved occur in the manuscripts of the
"Canterbury Tales" under the title "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn." From
the "Tale" Lodge borrowed and adapted the account of the death of old
Sir John of Bordeaux, the subsequent quarrel of his sons, the plot of
the elder against the younger by which the latter was to be killed in
a wrestling bout, the wrestling itself, the flight of the younger
accompanied by the faithful Adam to the Forest of Arden, and their
falling in with a band of outlaws feasting. Yet from the "Tale" Lodge
took hardly more than a suggestion. All the love story was his own.
Original also, so far as we know,[1] was the story of the two kings,
and the pastoral element--for "Rosalynde" is a pastoral romance.
[Footnote 1: It has been conjectured that Lodge drew upon some Italian
novel for the material that he did not find in "The Tale of Gamelyn."
There seems, however, no ground for denying to Lodge credit for some
originality; for the novel, if it ever existed, has been lost.]
_Form: A Pastoral Romance._ As a pastoral romance it belongs to the
class of books of which Sidney's' "Arcadia" is the most famous
representative in English. The "Arcadia" was published in 1590--the
same year as "Rosalynde"--though it had been written some ten years
earlier. The literary genus to which they belong is a very old one.
The prose pastoral romance, that kind of prose romance which
professes to delineate the scenery, sentiments, and incidents of
shepherd life,[1] is, like most other literary forms, Greek in origin.
It goes back at least to the "Daphnis and Chloe" of Longus, the
Byzantine romancer of the fifth century A.D. Longus represents the
romantic spirit in expiring classicism, the longing of a highly
artificial society for primitive simplicity, and the endeavor to
create a corresponding ideal. Indeed the pastoral has always been a
product of a highly artificial age. Naturally, therefore, it has
always been written by men of the city rather than by men of the
country. It is distinctly an urban product. That it was so accounts in
part for the idealized view of life that it presents. Speaking of the
pastoral, Doctor Johnson says in his ponderous way:[2]
Our inclination to stillness and tranquillity is seldom much
lessened by long knowledge of the busy and tumultuary part
of the world. In childhood we turn our thoughts to the
country, as to the region of pleasure; we recur to it in old
age as a port of rest, and perhaps with that secondary and
adventitious gladness, which every man feels on reviewing
those places, or recollecting those occurrences, that
contributed to his youthful enjoyments, and bring him back
to the prime of life, when the world was gay with the bloom
of novelty, when mirth wantoned at his side, and hope
sparkled before him.
[Footnote 1: Dr. Johnson defines a pastoral as "the representation of
an action or passion by its effects upon a country life." See _The
Rambler_, Nos. 36 and 37.]
[Footnote 2: _The Rambler_, No. 36. See also Steele's essays on the
pastoral in _The Guardian_, Nos. 22, 23, 28, 30, 32. No. 22 is
particularly interesting, because in it Steele assigns three causes
for the popularity of the pastoral form,--man's love of ease, his love
of simplicity, and his love of the country. Pope's remarks on the
pastoral, which may be found in _The Guardian_, No. 40, are also worth
referring to in this connection.]
Probably Doctor Johnson was entirely right about the perennial charm
of the pastoral and in his theory that its charm is potent in the
direct ratio to the square of the distance that separates the writer
and reader from rural life itself. It is not strange, therefore, that
in the newly awakened interest in the classics that characterized the
Renaissance, when literature was so largely a product of city
culture, the revival of the pastoral should have been one of the first
manifestations of the earlier Renaissance humanism.
_Spanish Influence._ Even when all due credit has been given to the
charm of the pastoral romance, it still remains doubtful whether the
influence of the Greek and Latin classics alone is sufficient to
explain its vogue in the Elizabethan age. Their influence, though
undoubtedly great, was scarcely sufficient to account for the
naturalization in England of so exotic a form as the pastoral. Indeed
the pastoral never was thoroughly naturalized, remaining to the end
somewhat alien to its English surroundings. Shepherds with their oaten
pipes were never quite at home in the English climate, which is ill
suited to life in the open, to loose tunics, and bare limbs.[1] It is
doubtful whether the pastoral would have become popular in England
without the stimulus furnished by contemporary European literature.
Most influential of these contemporary influences was the "Diana
Enamorada," published about 1558, a Spanish pastoral romance written
by Jorge de Montemayor, a Portuguese by birth, a Spaniard by adoption.
Although the English translation of the "Diana" did not appear until
1598[2] it was well known to Sidney, who translated parts of it, and
imitated it in his "Arcadia" (1590), and to Greene, whose "Menaphon,"
also an imitation of the "Diana," had appeared in 1589, the year
before "Rosalynde." Though it is entirely possible that Lodge may have
imitated Greene, it is probable that he, like Greene, had read the
"Diana," for it is certain that he knew Spanish,[3] as well as French
and Italian, and the "Diana" was already, it is said,[4] the most
popular book in Europe.
[Footnote 1: Steele, speaking of the pastoral (_The Guardian_, No.
30), says, "The difference of the climate is also to be considered,
for what is proper in Arcadia, or even in Italy, might be quite absurd
in a colder country."]
[Footnote 2: Though not published till 1598, Bartholomew Young's
translation of the "Diana" was made in 1583.]
[Footnote 3: In the epistle To the Gentlemen Readers, prefixed to "A
Margarite of America," he tells us that he read the original of that
story "in the Library of the Jesuits in Sanctum ... in the Spanish
tongue."]
[Footnote 4: Jusserand, "The English Novel in the Time of
Shakespeare," p. 236.]
_Style: Euphuistic._ Nor was Lodge more original in his manner than in
his matter. His style is that of the euphuists. John Lyly's "Euphues,
or the Anatomy of Wit" (1579), and its sequel "Euphues and His
England" (1580), had set a fashion that was destined for the next two
decades to enjoy a tremendous vogue. Lyly's was the first conspicuous
example in English of the attempt to achieve an ornate and rather
fantastic style. The result became known as euphuism, and those who
employed it as euphuists. In its essential features it consists of
three distinct mannerisms: a balance of phrases, an elaborate system
of alliteration, and a profusion of similes taken from fabulous
natural history. Regarding the euphuistic use of balance, Dr. Landmann
says of Lyly's prose:[1] "We have here the most elaborate antithesis
not only of well balanced clauses, but also of words, often even of
sentences.... Even when he uses a single sentence he opposes the words
within the clause to each other."
[Footnote 1: In "Shakspere and Euphuism," _Transactions of the New
Shakspere Society_, 1880-1882.]
Of this balance Lodge's "Rosalynde" affords abundant illustration.
Such a succession of sentences as that on page 7, where each sentence
is composed of balanced clauses, is a striking but by no means unique
example. Usually the contrasted words begin with the same letter or
sound, as in the sentences just cited, where the alliteration appears
to be employed to emphasize the contrast. Often the alliteration
serves merely for ornament, as in the sentence: "It is she, O gentle
swain, it is she, that saint it is whom I serve, that goddess at whose
shrine I do bend all my devotions; the most fairest of all fairs, the
phoenix of all that sex, and the purity of all earthly perfection."
The euphuistic similes were of three kinds. First, there were those
drawn from familiar natural objects, such as, "Happily she resembleth
the rose, that is sweet but full of prickles." Secondly, there are
those taken from classical history and mythology, like these: "Is she
some nymph that waits upon Diana's train, ... or is she some
shepherdess ... whose name thou shadowest in covert under the figure
of Rosalynde, as Ovid did Julia under the name of Corinna?" Thirdly,
there are those similes most characteristic of euphuism, though less
commonly found than the two kinds just mentioned, namely, those drawn
from "unnatural natural history." Such are the comparisons to "the
serpent Regius that hath scales as glorious as the sun and a breath as
infectious as aconitum is deadly," to "the hyena, most guileful when
she mourns," to "the colors of a polype which changes at the sight of
every object," and to "the Sethin leaf that never wags but with a
southeast wind."
_One of the Last Examples of Euphuism._ When Lodge wrote "Rosalynde,"
euphuism was already on the wane. Even among Lodge's contemporaries
the fashion was becoming an object of frequent ridicule. Thus Warner,
in his "Albion's England" (1589), complains in the preface, which, by
the way, is written wholly in the euphuistic manner: "Onely this error
may be thought hatching in our English, that to runne on the letter we
often runne from the matter: and being over prodigall in similes we
become less profitable in sentences and more prolixious to sense."
By 1627 euphuism had become an obsolete fashion. In that year Drayton
wrote of Sidney that he
did first reduce
Our tongue from Lillies writing then in use:
Talking of Stones, Stars, Plants, of Fishes, Flyes,
Playing with words and idle Similies
As th' English Apes and very Zanies be
Of everything that they doe heare and see,
So imitating his ridiculous tricks,
They spake and writ like meere lunatiques.
"Rosalynde" marks the end of the unquestioned supremacy of euphuism as
a literary mode. It was the last book of any importance to employ the
style that Lyly had made so popular.
_The Charm of the Book._ In spite of the conventionality inseparable
from the pastoral form, and the obvious artificiality of the style in
which it is written, "Rosalynde" is really charming. Its charm is much
like that of Watteau's landscapes. Like them, it is an idyll in court
dress, a _fête élégante_, a kind of elegant picnic. Yet, like
Watteau's pictures it is of more than merely historic interest, for it
is far more than simply a reminder of the fopperies of a vanished
time. There is in it, as in the paintings, a lightness and daintiness
of coloring, and an indescribable air of freshness that have made the
romance appeal to poets as the work of Watteau has appealed to
painters. Shakespeare felt its charm so much that he made it the basis
of the plot of "As You Like It." That it became one of his "sources"
has injured it incalculably in the popular estimation. It has become a
commonplace of criticism to declare that "Rosalynde's" chief title to
be remembered is its having furnished a hint to Shakespeare. As a
matter of fact, however, it had, to use Johnson's phrase, "enough wit
to keep it sweet," even without Shakespeare's play "to preserve it
from putrefaction." Lodge really had a pretty story to tell, and he
tells it, if not with gusto, at least with grace and with some degree
of skill. Exquisitely graceful are some of the narrative passages,
where the very words seem to possess a clear and pellucid quality like
the water of the spring that Rosalynde and Aliena found in Arden, "so
crystalline and clear, that it seemed Diana and her Dryades and
Hamadryades had that spring, as the secret of all their bathings."[1]
Such, for instance, is the account of the night and morning succeeding
the first meeting of Rosalynde and Rosader in the Forest of Arden.[2]
Graceful, too, are the descriptions of the landscapes in Arden, such
as that of the "fair valley" where Rosalynde and Aliena found Montanus
and Corydon "seeing their sheep feed, playing on their pipes many
pleasant tunes, and from music and melody falling into much amorous
chat." So charmingly graceful are these descriptions that, together
with Shakespeare, Lodge has made the Forest of Arden almost as much
the accepted home of the pastoral as Sicily and Arcadia[3] had been
hitherto.
[Footnote 1: P. 31.]
[Footnote 2: Pp. 58 and 60.]
[Footnote 3: Theocritus (283-263 B.C.) localized his "Idyls" in
Sicily; Vergil (70-19 B.C.), his "Eclogues" in Arcadia.]
_Lodge's Skill as a Story-teller._ To say that Lodge is a skillful as
well as a graceful story-teller is, of course, to make an indefensible
assertion. In the sixteenth century English fiction was still in its
infancy, and English prose was still undeveloped. Yet we do find in
Lodge certain qualities of style that show clearly an advance over the
formlessness of some of the stories that had preceded. Though the
sentence and paragraph structure is loose and amorphous, the
transitions from one subject to another are almost invariably well
made, or at least are clearly marked. Phrases such as, "But leaving
him so desirous of the journey, to Torismond"[1]; "Leaving her to her
new entertained fancies, again to Rosader"[2]; "where we leave them,
and return again to Torismond"[3]; show clearly a growing regard for
the value of clear arrangement, to which the earlier romancers had
been indifferent. In the avoidance of digressions, too, Lodge's style
is an improvement upon that of his predecessors, and even upon that of
most of his contemporaries.[4] The story moves along, if not rapidly,
at least continuously from start to finish. There is a gratifying lack
of such preposterous complications and tortuous windings as we meet
with in the plot of Greene's "Menaphon," for example, where it
sometimes seems doubtful whether the characters ever will emerge from
so mazy a labyrinth of plot, and where the reader is bewildered by the
almost complete lack of unity in the story.
[Footnote 1: P. 12.]
[Footnote 2: P. 17.]
[Footnote 3: P. 50. See, also, pp. 19, 41, 51, 59, 73, 97, 104.]
[Footnote 4: On page 72 Lodge accuses himself of digressing; but the
four lines in which he here anticipates the conclusion of the story
seem not to warrant the charge.]
_The Lyrical Interludes._ Lodge's spirit is essentially poetical. One
feels that his way of looking at things is that of a true poet; of
one, that is, who sees beneath the shows of things. Lodge saw as
clearly as Shakespeare did that only love can untie the knot that
selfishness has tied. And not only is Lodge a poet in his outlook on
life, but also in the narrower sense of the word, for he is one of the
sweetest singers of all that band of choristers that filled the
spacious times of great Elizabeth with sounds that echo still. The
voices of some were more resonant or more impassioned; few, if any,
were sweeter. Such a song as _Rosalynde's Madrigal_, beginning,
Love in my bosom, like a bee
Doth suck his sweet:
is as fluent, as graceful, and as mellifluous as anything that
appeared in that marvelously productive time. Lodge's poetic
interludes impress one not only by their easy grace and sweetness, but
by their melody as well. They possess that truly lyric quality that
Burns's songs exhibit to such a marked degree. They seem to sing
themselves. It is almost impossible to read aloud the best of them,
such as,
Like to the clear in highest sphere
Where all imperial glory shines,
Of selfsame color is her hair,
Whether unfolded or in twines:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde!
without setting them unconsciously to a kind of tune, so essentially
musical are the lines. In their wonderful harmony these lyrics remind
one of Burns, but in the radiant and ethereal quality of their
phrasing they inevitably recall Shelley. Furthermore, these songs
illustrate the fact that the Elizabethan lyric had its origin in
culture, not among the people, and that the chief sources of its
inspiration were Italian and French. In a series of lyrics inserted
into the text of "A Margarite of America,"[1] Lodge avowedly imitates
the Italian poets Dolce, Pascale, and Mantelli, while in another
passage in the same book[2] he expresses his unbounded admiration for
the French poet Desportes, and his belief "that few men are able to
second the sweet conceits of Philippe Desportes." His "sweet conceits"
are imitated, we are told, in Montanus's song on page 29, and again in
_Rosader's Sonnet_, on page 62. In his borrowings Lodge merely
followed a prevalent fashion. The early English Elizabethan lyric was
wholly experimental and imitative--the product of foreign influences,
predominantly Italian and French; and in this respect Lodge's are
entirely typical.
[Footnote 1: Hunterian Club reprint, pp. 76 ff.]
[Footnote 2: Hunterian Club reprint, p. 79.]
_Historical Significance._ Historically the book is interesting as one
of the predecessors of the modern novel. But we need to keep in mind
that it is really a precursor of the novel and not the thing itself.
We have no right, therefore, to demand a well-constructed plot or
skill in characterization, because these did not appear in English
fiction till a much later time. It was two centuries before the novel,
in the time of Richardson, came into being; and it would be manifestly
absurd to expect to find in "Rosalynde" an anticipation either of
Scott's dramatic skill in plot construction or of George Eliot's
clairvoyance that divines the interior play of passion. All that we
can reasonably ask is that there be a coherent story told with
imaginative skill. In this we are not disappointed. The narrative
moves rapidly, at least in the earlier part of the story; and, though
in the latter part the setting seems from a modern point of view
over-emphasized, it is so charmingly idyllic as almost, if not quite,
to justify the over-emphasis. But Lodge really gives us more than we
have a right to expect, for, as Mr. Gosse has pointed out,[1] we may
trace in the book "certain qualities which have always been
characteristic of English fiction, a vigorous ideal of conduct, a love
of strength and adventure, an almost quixotic reverence for
womanhood."
[Footnote 1: "Seventeenth-Century Studies," p. 18.]
_Shakespeare's Dramatization of "Rosalynde."_ When Shakespeare wrote
"As You Like It" he did precisely what so many dramatists of to-day
are blamed for doing, that is, he dramatized a well-known novel.
Lodge's "Rosalynde" was at this time (about 1598) in its third
edition, and the fact that the story was so familiar to the reading
public imposed upon Shakespeare certain restrictions which he
evidently did not feel in dealing with material that he took from
sources less well known. In the case of material drawn from foreign
sources he freely altered, omitted, or combined different stories as
suited the immediate purpose of his art. In the dramatization of
Lodge's "Rosalynde" he changed the plot comparatively little, altering
it only so far as was absolutely necessary to fit it for stage
presentation, contenting himself with shortening the time of the
action, omitting such incidents as were essentially nondramatic, and
adding only such characters as would, while making the play more
interesting, not materially change the already familiar story.
By condensation and omission Shakespeare shortened the time of the
action, which is several months in the romance, to about ten days in
the play. This he accomplished by omitting all the preliminary
narrative of the death of Sir John of Bordeaux, and the old knight's
will; and by shortening the time that elapses in the romance between
the brother's quarrel and the wrestling, which he makes occur on
successive days. A similar shortening occurs in the matter of
Rosader's flight from home. In the play the hero, being warned by
Adam, leaves immediately after the wrestling, instead of staying to
play his part in the rowdyism at Oliver's (Saladyne's) castle. The
effect of this compression is to make the love plot more prominent.
The meeting of the two brothers in Arden is also managed somewhat
differently. Orlando is hurt in rescuing his brother from wild beasts,
instead of being wounded, as in the romance, by rescuing Aliena from a
band of robbers. The play ends differently from the romance, as befits
a comedy, the usurping duke being converted instead of being killed in
battle.
It was, however, in the characterization that Shakespeare departed
most widely from the romance. The most obvious change was in the names
of the characters. Rosader appears as Orlando, Saladyne as Oliver,
Torismond as Duke Frederick, Gerismond as the banished Duke, Alinda as
Celia, Montanus as Silvius, and Corydon is shortened to Corin. Of much
greater significance than the changes in the names of the characters
are the additions and changes in the list of _dramatis personae_. Nine
characters are added outright--Dennis, Le Beau, Amiens, the First
Lord, Sir Oliver Martext, William, Audrey, Touchstone, and Jaques. The
latter is most noteworthy. Hazlitt calls him the only purely
contemplative character Shakespeare ever drew. From the beginning to
the end of the play he does absolutely nothing except to think and
moralize. Another critic has said, "Shakespeare designed Jaques to be
a maker of fine sentiments, a dresser forth in sweet language of the
ordinary commonplaces...." It has been suggested,[1] not without some
show of reason, that Shakespeare in adapting Lodge's romance for the
stage purposely included in the list of _dramatis personae_ a
character bearing a strong resemblance to Euphues, the pretended
author of the romance. "Like Euphues, Jaques has made false steps in
youth, which have somewhat darkened his views of life; like Euphues,
he conceals under a veil of sententious satire a real goodness of
heart, shown in his action toward Audrey and Touchstone. A traveler,
like Euphues, he has a melancholy of his own, compounded of many
simples, extracted from many objects, and is prepared, like his
prototype, to lecture his contemporaries on every theme."
[Footnote 1: Seccombe and Allen, "The Age of Shakespeare," Vol. I, p.
119.]
Scarcely less significant are the changes that Shakespeare made in the
characteristics of the _dramatis personae_. The motive of the elder
brother in mistreating the younger he makes envy, not avarice as in
the romance, a substitution due to his desire to unify the action by
drawing a parallel between the brothers and the dukes. The superiority
of Shakespeare's Rosalind to Lodge's delineation of the character has,
perhaps, been slightly overestimated. To describe Lodge's Rosalynde as
"a colorless being, incapable of entering into the spirit of her
part"[1] is really too severe a condemnation. Of course Lodge's
heroine does lack the exquisite charm of saucy playfulness coupled
with gentle womanliness that makes Shakespeare's Rosalind perhaps the
most popular heroine of English comedy. Yet Lodge furnished to
Shakespeare far more than a name for his heroine. In the dialogue
between Ganymede (Rosalynde) and Aliena there is a good deal of lively
banter that must have furnished more than a suggestion for the teasing
playfulness of Rosalind in the play. Such, for example, is the
conversation between the two girls upon finding a love poem "carved on
a pine tree."[2] As in the drama, Rosalynde's wit is always sharpened
by the presence of her lover. Often her tone of raillery is noticeably
similar to that of Shakespeare's heroine.[3]
[Footnote 1: W.G. Stone, _Transactions of the New Shakspere Society_,
1880-1886, pp. 277-293.]
[Footnote 2: P. 29. Compare the speech of Ganymede (Rosalynde) with
Rosalind's speech in "As You Like It," III, ii, 367-381.]
[Footnote 3: Compare "Rosalynde," pp. 63-64, with "As You Like It,"
IV, i, 80-93.]
Upon a careful study of "Rosalynde" one cannot avoid the conviction
that in selecting it as the basis for "As You Like It" Shakespeare
displayed a sound judgment. Not only is it a good story of its kind,
but it lends itself readily to dramatic adaptation. In adapting it
Shakespeare made of it something quite different and incalculably more
valuable than the romance. Yet "Rosalynde" is still in its way
charming, and an appreciation of its charm may, instead of lessening
our reverence for Shakespeare's genius, really increase it by leading
us to see as he did the freshness and beauty as well as the dramatic
possibilities of the story.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANGLIA. Vol. X, pp. 235-289.
BULLEN. Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, London,
1901.
CHAMBERS. English Pastorals, London, 1906.
DUNLOP. History of Prose Fiction (revised edition), London and New
York, 1888.
GOSSE. "Seventeenth-Century Studies" (new edition), London, 1895.
GREG. Lodge's "Rosalynde," being the Original of Shakespeare's "As You
Like It," London, 1907.
JUSSERAND. The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, London and
New York, 1890.
LANG. Idylls of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus (Golden Treasury
Series), London, 1901.
LODGE. Reprint of Complete Works (excepting the translations of
Seneca, Josephus, and Du Bartas), Glasgow, 1875-1882.
MARKS. English Pastoral Drama, London, 1908.
SAINTSBURY. Elizabethan Literature, London and New York, 1902.
WARREN. A History of the Novel, previous to the Seventeenth Century,
New York, 1895.
THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF THOMAS LODGE ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER[1]
[Footnote 1: The titles are given in abbreviated form.]
1580 (?) Defence of Plays
1584 An Alarum against Usurers
1589 Scillaes Metamorphysis (reprinted with a new title-page in 1610
as A most pleasant Historie of Glaucus and Scilla)
1590 Rosalynde
1591 Robert, Second Duke of Normandy
1591 Catharos
1592 Euphues Shadow
1593 Phillis
1593 William Longbeard
1594 The Wounds of Civill War
1594 A Looking Glass for London (in collaboration with Greene)
1595 A Fig for Momus
1596 The Divel coniured
1596 A Margarite of America
1596 Wits miserie
1596 Prosopopeia
1602 Paradoxes
1602 Works of Josephus
1603 A Treatise of the Plague
1614 The Workes of Seneca
1625 A Learned Summary of Du Bartas
Rosalynde.
Euphues golden legacie:
found after his death _in his Cell at Si_lexedra.
_Bequeathed to Philautus sonnes_
noursed vp with their
_father in_ England.
Fetcht from the Canaries.
_By T.L. Gent._
LONDON,
Imprinted by _Thomas Orwin_ for T.G. and _John Busbie_.
1590.
To the Right Honorable and his most esteemed Lord the Lord
of Hunsdon, Lord Chamberlain to her Majesty's Household, and
Governor of her Town of Berwick: T.L.G. wisheth increase of
all honorable virtues.
Such Romans, right honorable, as delighted in martial exploits,
attempted their actions in the honor of Augustus, because he was a
patron of soldiers: and Vergil dignified him with his poems, as a
Maecenas of scholars; both jointly advancing his royalty, as a prince
warlike and learned. Such as sacrifice to Pallas, present her with
bays as she is wise, and with armor as she is valiant; observing
herein that excellent [Greek: to prepon], which dedicateth honors
according to the perfection of the person. When I entered, right
honorable, with a deep insight into the consideration of these
premises, seeing your Lordship to be a patron of all martial men, and
a Maecenas of such as apply themselves to study, wearing with Pallas
both the lance and the bay, and aiming with Augustus at the favor of
all, by the honorable virtues of your mind, being myself first a
student, and after falling from books to arms, even vowed in all my
thoughts dutifully to affect your Lordship. Having with Captain Clarke
made a voyage to the island of Terceras and the Canaries, to beguile
the time with labor I writ this book; rough, as hatched in the storms
of the ocean, and feathered in the surges of many perilous seas. But
as it is the work of a soldier and a scholar, I presumed to shroud it
under your Honor's patronage, as one that is the fautor and favorer of
all virtuous actions; and whose honorable loves, grown from the
general applause of the whole commonwealth for your higher deserts,
may keep it from the malice of every bitter tongue. Other reasons more
particular, right honorable, challenge in me a special affection to
your Lordship, as being a scholar with your two noble sons, Master
Edmund Carew, and Master Robert Carew, two scions worthy of so
honorable a tree, and a tree glorious in such honorable fruit, as also
being scholar in the university under that learned and virtuous
knight Sir Edward Hoby, when he was Bachelor in Arts, a man as well
lettered as well born, and, after the etymology of his name, soaring
as high as the wings of knowledge can mount him, happy every way, and
the more fortunate, as blessed in the honor of so virtuous a lady.
Thus, right honorable, the duty that I owe to the sons, chargeth me
that all my affection be placed on the father; for where the branches
are so precious, the tree of force must be most excellent. Commanded
and emboldened thus with the consideration of these forepassed
reasons, to present my book to your Lordship, I humbly entreat your
Honor will vouch of my labors, and favor a soldier's and a scholar's
pen with your gracious acceptance, who answers in affection what he
wants in eloquence; so devoted to your honor, as his only desire is,
to end his life under the favor of so martial and learned a patron.
Resting thus in hope of your Lordship's courtesy in deigning the
patronage of my work, I cease, wishing you as many honorable fortunes
as your Lordship can desire or I imagine.
Your Honor's soldier
humbly affectionate:
Thomas Lodge
TO THE GENTLEMEN READERS
Gentlemen, look not here to find any sprigs of Pallas' bay tree, nor
to hear the humor of any amorous laureate, nor the pleasing vein of
any eloquent orator: _Nolo altum sapere_, they be matters above my
capacity: the cobbler's check shall never light on my head, _Ne sutor
ultra crepidam_; I will go no further than the latchet, and then all
is well. Here you may perhaps find some leaves of Venus' myrtle, but
hewn down by a soldier with his curtal-axe, not bought with the
allurement of a filed tongue. To be brief, gentlemen, room for a
soldier and a sailor, that gives you the fruits of his labors that he
wrote in the ocean, when every line was wet with a surge, and every
humorous passion counterchecked with a storm. If you like it, so; and
yet I will be yours in duty, if you be mine in favor. But if Momus or
any squint-eyed ass, that hath mighty ears to conceive with Midas, and
yet little reason to judge; if he come aboard our bark to find fault
with the tackling, when he knows not the shrouds, I'll down into the
hold, and fetch out a rusty pole-axe, that saw no sun this seven year,
and either well baste him, or heave the coxcomb overboard to feed
cods. But courteous gentlemen, that favor most, backbite none, and
pardon what is overslipped, let such come and welcome; I'll into the
steward's room, and fetch them a can of our best beverage. Well,
gentlemen, you have Euphues' Legacy. I fetched it as far as the island
of Terceras, and therefore read it; censure with favor, and farewell
Yours, T.L.
ROSALYNDE
There dwelled adjoining to the city of Bordeaux a knight of most
honorable parentage, whom fortune had graced with many favors, and
nature honored with sundry exquisite qualities, so beautified with the
excellence of both, as it was a question whether fortune or nature
were more prodigal in deciphering the riches of their bounties. Wise
he was, as holding in his head a supreme conceit of policy, reaching
with Nestor into the depth of all civil government; and to make his
wisdom more gracious, he had that _salem ingenii_ and pleasant
eloquence that was so highly commended in Ulysses: his valor was no
less than his wit, nor the stroke of his lance no less forcible than
the sweetness of his tongue was persuasive; for he was for his courage
chosen the principal of all the Knights of Malta. This hardy knight,
thus enriched with virtue and honor, surnamed Sir John of Bordeaux,
having passed the prime of his youth in sundry battles against the
Turks, at last (as the date of time hath his course) grew aged. His
hairs were silver-hued, and the map of age was figured on his
forehead: honor sat in the furrows of his face, and many years were
portrayed in his wrinkled lineaments, that all men might perceive his
glass was run, and that nature of necessity challenged her due. Sir
John, that with the Phoenix knew the term of his life was now expired,
and could, with the swan, discover his end by her songs, having three
sons by his wife Lynida, the very pride of all his forepassed years,
thought now, seeing death by constraint would compel him to leave
them, to bestow upon them such a legacy as might bewray his love, and
increase their ensuing amity. Calling, therefore, these young
gentlemen before him, in the presence of all his fellow Knights of
Malta, he resolved to leave them a memorial of all his fatherly care
in setting down a method of their brotherly duties. Having, therefore,
death in his looks to move them to pity, and tears in his eyes to
paint out the depth of his passions, taking his eldest son by the
hand, he began thus:
SIR JOHN OF BORDEAUX' LEGACY HE GAVE TO HIS SONS
"O my sons, you see that fate hath set a period of my years, and
destinies have determined the final end of my days: the palm tree
waxeth away-ward, for he stoopeth in his height, and my plumes are
full of sick feathers touched with age. I must to my grave that
dischargeth all cares, and leave you to the world that increaseth many
sorrows: my silver hairs containeth great experience, and in the
number of my years are penned down the subtleties of fortune.
Therefore, as I leave you some fading pelf to countercheck poverty, so
I will bequeath you infallible precepts that shall lead you unto
virtue. First, therefore, unto thee Saladyne, the eldest, and
therefore the chiefest pillar of my house, wherein should be engraven
as well the excellence of thy father's qualities, as the essential
form of his proportion, to thee I give fourteen ploughlands, with all
my manor houses and richest plate. Next, unto Fernandyne I bequeath
twelve ploughlands. But, unto Rosader, the youngest, I give my horse,
my armor, and my lance, with sixteen ploughlands; for if the inward
thoughts be discovered by outward shadows, Rosader will exceed you all
in bounty and honor. Thus, my sons, have I parted in your portions the
substance of my wealth, wherein if you be as prodigal to spend as I
have been careful to get, your friends will grieve to see you more
wasteful than I was bountiful, and your foes smile that my fall did
begin in your excess. Let mine honor be the glass of your actions, and
the fame of my virtues the lodestar to direct the course of your
pilgrimage. Aim your deeds by my honorable endeavors, and show
yourselves scions worthy of so flourishing a tree, lest, as the birds
Halcyones, which exceed in whiteness, I hatch young ones that surpass
in blackness. Climb not, my sons: aspiring pride is a vapor that
ascendeth high, but soon turneth to smoke; they which stare at the
stars stumble upon stones, and such as gaze at the sun (unless they be
eagle-eyed) fall blind. Soar not with the hobby,[1] lest you fall with
the lark, nor attempt not with Phaeton, lest you drown with Icarus.
Fortune, when she wills you to fly, tempers your plumes with wax; and
therefore either sit still and make no wing, or else beware the sun,
and hold Daedalus' axiom authentical, _medium tenere tutissimum_. Low
shrubs have deep roots, and poor cottages great patience. Fortune
looks ever upward, and envy aspireth to nestle with dignity. Take
heed, my sons, the mean is sweetest melody; where strings high
stretched, either soon crack, or quickly grow out of tune. Let your
country's care be your heart's content, and think that you are not
born for yourselves, but to level your thoughts to be loyal to your
prince, careful for the common weal, and faithful to your friends; so
shall France say, 'These men are as excellent in virtues as they be
exquisite in features.' O my sons, a friend is a precious jewel,
within whose bosom you may unload your sorrows and unfold your
secrets, and he either will relieve with counsel, or persuade with
reason: but take heed in the choice: the outward show makes not the
inward man, nor are the dimples in the face the calendars of truth.
When the liquorice leaf looketh most dry, then it is most wet: when
the shores of Lepanthus are most quiet, then they forepoint a storm.
The Baaran leaf the more fair it looks, the more infectious it is, and
in the sweetest words is oft hid the most treachery. Therefore, my
sons, choose a friend as the Hyperborei do the metals, sever them from
the ore with fire, and let them not bide the stamp before they be
current: so try and then trust, let time be touchstone of friendship,
and then friends faithful lay them up for jewels. Be valiant, my sons,
for cowardice is the enemy to honor; but not too rash, for that is an
extreme. Fortitude is the mean, and that is limited within bonds, and
prescribed with circumstance. But above all," and with that he fetched
a deep sigh, "beware of love, for it is far more perilous than
pleasant, and yet, I tell you, it allureth as ill as the Sirens. O my
sons, fancy is a fickle thing, and beauty's paintings are tricked up
with time's colors, which, being set to dry in the sun, perish with
the same. Venus is a wanton, and though her laws pretend liberty, yet
there is nothing but loss and glistering misery. Cupid's wings are
plumed with the feathers of vanity, and his arrows, where they pierce,
enforce nothing but deadly desires: a woman's eye, as it is precious
to behold, so is it prejudicial to gaze upon; for as it affordeth
delight, so it snareth unto death. Trust not their fawning favors, for
their loves are like the breath of a man upon steel, which no sooner
lighteth on but it leapeth off, and their passions are as momentary as
the colors of a polype, which changeth at the sight of every object.
My breath waxeth short, and mine eyes dim: the hour is come, and I
must away: therefore let this suffice, women are wantons, and yet men
cannot want one: and therefore, if you love, choose her that hath eyes
of adamant, that will turn only to one point; her heart of a diamond,
that will receive but one form; her tongue of a Sethin leaf, that
never wags but with a south-east wind: and yet, my sons, if she have
all these qualities, to be chaste, obedient, and silent, yet for that
she is a woman, shalt thou find in her sufficient vanities to
countervail her virtues. Oh now, my sons, even now take these my last
words as my latest legacy, for my thread is spun, and my foot is in
the grave. Keep my precepts as memorials of your father's counsels,
and let them be lodged in the secret of your hearts; for wisdom is
better than wealth, and a golden sentence worth a world of treasure.
In my fall see and mark, my sons, the folly of man, that being dust
climbeth with Biares to reach at the heavens, and ready every minute
to die, yet hopeth for an age of pleasures. Oh, man's life is like
lightning that is but a flash, and the longest date of his years but
as a bavin's[2] blaze. Seeing then man is so mortal, be careful that
thy life be virtuous, that thy death may be full of admirable honors:
so shalt thou challenge fame to be thy fautor,[3] and put oblivion to
exile with thine honorable actions. But, my sons, lest you should
forget your father's axioms, take this scroll, wherein read what your
father dying wills you to execute living." At this he shrunk down in
his bed, and gave up the ghost.
[Footnote 1: falcon.]
[Footnote 2: faggot's.]
[Footnote 3: patron.]
John of Bordeaux being thus dead was greatly lamented of his sons, and
bewailed of his friends, especially of his fellow Knights of Malta,
who attended on his funerals, which were performed with great
solemnity. His obsequies done, Saladyne caused, next his epitaph, the
contents of the scroll to be portrayed out, which were to this effect:
_The Contents of the Schedule which Sir John of Bordeaux gave to his
Sons_
My sons, behold what portion I do give:
I leave you goods, but they are quickly lost;
I leave advice, to school you how to live;
I leave you wit, but won with little cost;
But keep it well, for counsel still is one,
When father, friends, and worldly goods are gone.
In choice of thrift let honor be thy gain,
Win it by virtue and by manly might;
In doing good esteem thy toil no pain;
Protect the fatherless and widow's right:
Fight for thy faith, thy country, and thy king,
For why? this thrift will prove a blessèd thing.
In choice of wife, prefer the modest-chaste;
Lilies are fair in show, but foul in smell:
The sweetest looks by age are soon defaced;
Then choose thy wife by wit and living well.
Who brings thee wealth and many faults withal,
Presents thee honey mixed with bitter gall.
In choice of friends, beware of light belief;
A painted tongue may shroud a subtle heart;
The Siren's tears do threaten mickle grief;
Foresee, my son, for fear of sudden smart:
Choose in thy wants, and he that friends thee then,
When richer grown, befriend thou him agen.
Learn with the ant in summer to provide;
Drive with the bee the drone from out thy hive:
Build like the swallow in the summer tide;
Spare not too much, my son, but sparing thrive:
Be poor in folly, rich in all but sin:
So by thy death thy glory shall begin.
Saladyne having thus set up the schedule, and hanged about his
father's hearse many passionate poems, that France might suppose him
to be passing sorrowful, he clad himself and his brothers all in
black, and in such sable suits discoursed his grief: but as the hyena
when she mourns is then most guileful, so Saladyne under this show of
grief shadowed a heart full of contented thoughts: the tiger, though
he hide his claws, will at last discover his rapine: the lion's looks
are not the maps of his meaning, nor a man's physnomy is not the
display of his secrets. Fire cannot be hid in the straw, nor the
nature of man so concealed, but at last it will have his course:
nurture and art may do much, but that _natura naturans_, which by
propagation is ingrafted in the heart, will be at last perforce
predominant according to the old verse:
Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.
So fared it with Saladyne, for after a month's mourning was passed, he
fell to consideration of his father's testament; how he had
bequeathed more to his younger brothers than himself, that Rosader was
his father's darling, but now under his tuition, that as yet they were
not come to years, and he being their guardian, might, if not defraud
them of their due, yet make such havoc of their legacies and lands, as
they should be a great deal the lighter: whereupon he began thus to
meditate with himself:
SALADYNE'S MEDITATION WITH HIMSELF
"Saladyne, how art thou disquieted in thy thoughts, and perplexed with
a world of restless passions, having thy mind troubled with the tenor
of thy father's testament, and thy heart fired with the hope of
present preferment! By the one thou art counselled to content thee
with thy fortunes, by the other persuaded to aspire to higher wealth.
Riches, Saladyne, is a great royalty, and there is no sweeter physic
than store. Avicen, like a fool, forgot in his Aphorisms to say that
gold was the most precious restorative, and that treasure was the most
excellent medicine of the mind. O Saladyne, what, were thy father's
precepts breathed into the wind? hast thou so soon forgotten his
principles? did he not warn thee from coveting without honor, and
climbing without virtue? did he not forbid thee to aim at any action
that should not be honorable? and what will be more prejudicial to thy
credit, than the careless ruin of thy brothers' welfare? why, shouldst
not thou be the pillar of thy brothers' prosperity? and wilt thou
become the subversion of their fortunes? is there any sweeter thing
than concord, or a more precious jewel than amity? are you not sons of
one father, scions of one tree, birds of one nest, and wilt thou
become so unnatural as to rob them, whom thou shouldst relieve? No,
Saladyne, entreat them with favors, and entertain them with love, so
shalt thou have thy conscience clear and thy renown excellent. Tush,
what words are these, base fool, far unfit (if thou be wise) for thy
humor? What though thy father at his death talked of many frivolous
matters, as one that doated for age and raved in his sickness; shall
his words be axioms, and his talk be so authentical, that thou wilt,
to observe them, prejudice thyself? No no, Saladyne, sick men's wills
that are parole[1] and have neither hand nor seal, are like the laws
of a city written in dust, which are broken with the blast of every
wind. What, man, thy father is dead, and he can neither help thy
fortunes, nor measure thy actions; therefore bury his words with his
carcase, and be wise for thyself. What, 'tis not so old as true,
Non sapit, qui sibi non sapit.
[Footnote 1: oral.]
Thy brother is young, keep him now in awe; make him not checkmate[1]
with thyself, for
Nimia familiaritas contemptum parit.
[Footnote 1: equal.]
Let him know little, so shall he not be able to execute much: suppress
his wits with a base estate, and though he be a gentleman by nature,
yet form him anew, and make him a peasant by nurture: so shalt thou
keep him as a slave, and reign thyself sole lord over all thy father's
possessions. As for Fernandyne, thy middle brother, he is a scholar
and hath no mind but on Aristotle: let him read on Galen while thou
riflest[1] with gold, and pore on his book till thou dost purchase
lands: wit is great wealth; if he have learning it is enough: and so
let all rest."
[Footnote 1: gamble, cf. modern "raffle."]
In this humor was Saladyne, making his brother Rosader his foot-boy,
for the space of two or three years, keeping him in such servile
subjection, as if he had been the son of any country vassal. The young
gentleman bore all with patience, till on a day, walking in the garden
by himself, he began to consider how he was the son of John of
Bordeaux, a knight renowned for many victories, and a gentleman
famosed for his virtues; how, contrary to the testament of his father,
he was not only kept from his land and entreated as a servant, but
smothered in such secret slavery, as he might not attain to any
honorable actions.
"Ah," quoth he to himself, nature working these effectual passions,
"why should I, that am a gentleman born, pass my time in such
unnatural drudgery? were it not better either in Paris to become a
scholar, or in the court a courtier, or in the field a soldier, than
to live a foot-boy to my own brother? Nature hath lent me wit to
conceive, but my brother denied me art to contemplate: I have strength
to perform any honorable exploit, but no liberty to accomplish my
virtuous endeavors: those good parts that God hath bestowed upon me,
the envy of my brother doth smother in obscurity; the harder is my
fortune, and the more his frowardness."
With that casting up his hand he felt hair on his face, and perceiving
his beard to bud, for choler he began to blush, and swore to himself
he would be no more subject to such slavery. As thus he was ruminating
of his melancholy passions, in came Saladyne with his men, and seeing
his brother in a brown study, and to forget his wonted reverence,
thought to shake him out of his dumps[1] thus:
[Footnote 1: revery.]
"Sirrah," quoth he, "what is your heart on your halfpenny,[1] or are
you saying a dirge for your father's soul? What, is my dinner ready?"
[Footnote 1: "You have a particular object in view."--_Greg._]
At this question Rosader, turning his head askance, and bending his
brows as if anger there had ploughed the furrows of her wrath, with
his eyes full of fire, he made this reply:
"Dost thou ask me, Saladyne, for thy cates?[1] ask some of thy churls
who are fit for such an office: I am thine equal by nature, though not
by birth, and though thou hast more cards in the bunch,[2] I have as
many trumps in my hands as thyself. Let me question with thee, why
thou hast felled my woods, spoiled my manor houses, and made havoc of
such utensils as my father bequeathed unto me? I tell thee, Saladyne,
either answer me as a brother, or I will trouble thee as an enemy."
[Footnote 1: food.]
[Footnote 2: pack.]
At this reply of Rosader's Saladyne smiled as laughing at his
presumption, and frowned as checking his folly: he therefore took him
up thus shortly:
"What, sirrah! well I see early pricks the tree that will prove a
thorn: hath my familiar conversing with you made you coy,[1] or my
good looks drawn you to be thus contemptuous? I can quickly remedy
such a fault, and I will bend the tree while it is a wand. In faith,
sir boy, I have a snaffle for such a headstrong colt. You, sirs, lay
hold on him and bind him, and then I will give him a cooling card for
his choler."
[Footnote 1: conceited.]
This made Rosader half mad, that stepping to a great rake that stood
in the garden, he laid such load upon[1] his brother's men that he
hurt some of them, and made the rest of them run away. Saladyne,
seeing Rosader so resolute and with his resolution so valiant, thought
his heels his best safety, and took him to a loft adjoining to the
garden, whither Rosader pursued him hotly. Saladyne, afraid of his
brother's fury, cried out to him thus:
[Footnote 1: beat.]
"Rosader, be not so rash: I am thy brother and thine elder, and if I
have done thee wrong I'll make thee amends: revenge not anger in
blood, for so shalt thou stain the virtue of old Sir John of Bordeaux:
say wherein thou art discontent and thou shalt be satisfied. Brothers'
frowns ought not to be periods of wrath: what, man, look not so
sourly; I know we shall be friends, and better friends than we have
been, for, _Amantium ira amoris redintegratio est_."
These words appeased the choler of Rosader, for he was of a mild and
courteous nature, so that he laid down his weapons, and upon the faith
of a gentleman assured his brother he would offer him no prejudice:
whereupon Saladyne came down, and after a little parley they embraced
each other and became friends; and Saladyne promising Rosader the
restitution of all his lands, "and what favor else," quoth he, "any
ways my ability or the nature of a brother may perform." Upon these
sugared reconciliations they went into the house arm in arm together,
to the great content of all the old servants of Sir John of Bordeaux.
Thus continued the pad[1] hidden in the straw, till it chanced that
Torismond, king of France, had appointed for his pleasure a day of
wrastling and of tournament to busy his commons' heads, lest, being
idle, their thoughts should run upon more serious matters, and call to
remembrance their old banished king; a champion there was to stand
against all comers, a Norman, a man of tall stature and of great
strength; so valiant, that in many such conflicts he always bare away
the victory, not only overthrowing them which he encountered, but
often with the weight of his body killing them outright. Saladyne
hearing of this, thinking now not to let the ball fall to the ground,
but to take opportunity by the forehead, first by secret means
convented[2] with the Norman, and procured him with rich rewards to
swear that if Rosader came within his claws he should never more
return to quarrel with Saladyne for his possessions. The Norman
desirous of pelf--as _Quis nisi mentis inops oblatum respuit
aurum?_--taking great gifts for little gods, took the crowns of
Saladyne to perform the stratagem.
[Footnote 1: toad.]
[Footnote 2: met.]
Having thus the champion tied to his villainous determination by oath,
he prosecuted the intent of his purpose thus. He went to young
Rosader, who in all his thoughts reached at honor, and gazed no lower
than virtue commanded him, and began to tell him of this tournament
and wrastling, how the king should be there, and all the chief peers
of France, with all the beautiful damosels of the country.
"Now, brother," quoth he, "for the honor of Sir John of Bordeaux, our
renowmed father, to famous that house that never hath been found
without men approved in chivalry, show thy resolution to be
peremptory.[1] For myself thou knowest, though I am eldest by birth,
yet never having attempted any deeds of arms, I am youngest to perform
any martial exploits, knowing better how to survey my lands than to
charge my lance: my brother Fernandyne he is at Paris poring on a few
papers, having more insight into sophistry and principles of
philosophy, than any warlike endeavors; but thou, Rosader, the
youngest in years but the eldest in valor, art a man of strength, and
darest do what honor allows thee. Take thou my father's lance, his
sword, and his horse, and hie thee to the tournament, and either there
valiantly crack a spear, or try with the Norman for the palm of
activity."
[Footnote 1: stedfast.]
The words of Saladyne were but spurs to a free horse, for he had
scarce uttered them, ere Rosader took him in his arms, taking his
proffer so kindly, that he promised in what he might to requite his
courtesy. The next morrow was the day of the tournament, and Rosader
was so desirous to show his heroical thoughts that he passed the night
with little sleep; but as soon as Phoebus had vailed the curtain of
the night, and made Aurora blush with giving her the _bezo les
labres_[1] in her silver couch, he gat him up, and taking his leave of
his brother, mounted himself towards the place appointed, thinking
every mile ten leagues till he came there.
[Footnote 1: kiss.]
But leaving him so desirous of the journey, to Torismond, the king of
France, who having by force banished Gerismond, their lawful king,
that lived as an outlaw in the forest of Arden, sought now by all
means to keep the French busied with all sports that might breed their
content. Amongst the rest he had appointed this solemn tournament,
whereunto he in most solemn manner resorted, accompanied with the
twelve peers of France, who, rather for fear than love, graced him
with the show of their dutiful favors. To feed their eyes, and to make
the beholders pleased with the sight of most rare and glistering
objects, he had appointed his own daughter Alinda to be there, and the
fair Rosalynde, daughter unto Gerismond, with all the beautiful
damosels that were famous for their features in all France. Thus in
that place did love and war triumph in a sympathy; for such as were
martial might use their lance to be renowmed for the excellence of
their chivalry, and such as were amorous might glut themselves with
gazing on the beauties of most heavenly creatures. As every man's eye
had his several survey, and fancy was partial in their looks, yet all
in general applauded the admirable riches that nature bestowed on the
face of Rosalynde; for upon her cheeks there seemed a battle between
the Graces, who should bestow most favors to make her excellent. The
blush that gloried Luna, when she kissed the shepherd on the hills of
Latmos, was not tainted with such a pleasant dye as the vermilion
flourished on the silver hue of Rosalynde's countenance: her eyes were
like those lamps that make the wealthy covert of the heavens more
gorgeous, sparkling favor and disdain, courteous and yet coy, as if in
them Venus had placed all her amorets, and Diana all her chastity. The
trammels of her hair, folded in a caul[1] of gold, so far surpassed
the burnished glister of the metal, as the sun doth the meanest star
in brightness: the tresses that folds in the brows of Apollo were not
half so rich to the sight, for in her hairs it seemed love had laid
herself in ambush, to entrap the proudest eye that durst gaze upon
their excellence: what should I need to decipher her particular
beauties, when by the censure of all she was the paragon of all
earthly perfection? This Rosalynde sat, I say, with Alinda as a
beholder of these sports, and made the cavaliers crack their lances
with more courage: many deeds of knighthood that day were performed,
and many prizes were given according to their several deserts.
[Footnote 1: cap of open work.]
At last, when the tournament ceased, the wrastling began, and the
Norman presented himself as a challenger against all comers, but he
looked like Hercules when he advanced himself against Achelous, so
that the fury of his countenance amazed all that durst attempt to
encounter with him in any deed of activity: till at last a lusty
franklin of the country came with two tall men that were his sons, of
good lineaments and comely personage. The eldest of these doing his
obeisance to the king entered the list, and presented himself to the
Norman, who straight coped with him, and as a man that would triumph
in the glory of his strength, roused himself with such fury, that not
only he gave him the fall, but killed him with the weight of his
corpulent personage: which the younger brother seeing, leaped
presently into the place, and thirsty after the revenge, assailed the
Norman with such valor, that at the first encounter he brought him to
his knees; which repulsed so the Norman, that, recovering himself,
fear of disgrace doubling his strength, he stepped so sternly to the
young franklin, that taking him up in his arms he threw him against
the ground so violently, that he broke his neck, and so ended his days
with his brother. At this unlooked for massacre the people murmured,
and were all in a deep passion of pity; but the franklin, father unto
these, never changed his countenance, but as a man of a courageous
resolution took up the bodies of his sons without show of outward
discontent.
All this while stood Rosader and saw this tragedy; who, noting the
undoubted virtue[1] of the franklin's mind, alighted off from his
horse, and presently sate down on the grass, and commanded his boy to
pull off his boots, making him ready to try the strength of this
champion. Being furnished as he would, he clapped the franklin on the
shoulder and said thus:
"Bold yeoman, whose sons have ended the term of their years with
honor, for that I see thou scornest fortune with patience, and
thwartest the injury of fate with content in brooking the death of thy
sons, stand awhile, and either see me make a third in their tragedy,
or else revenge their fall with an honorable triumph."
[Footnote 1: courage.]
The franklin, seeing so goodly a gentleman to give him such courteous
comfort, gave him hearty thanks, with promise to pray for his happy
success. With that Rosader vailed bonnet to the king, and lightly
leaped within the lists, where noting more the company than the
combatant, he cast his eye upon the troop of ladies that glistered
there like the stars of heaven; but at last, Love, willing to make him
as amorous as he was valiant, presented him with the sight of
Rosalynde, whose admirable beauty so inveigled the eye of Rosader,
that forgetting himself, he stood and fed his looks on the favor of
Rosalynde's face; which she perceiving blushed, which was such a
doubling of her beauteous excellence, that the bashful red of Aurora
at the sight of unacquainted Phaeton, was not half so glorious.
The Norman seeing this young gentleman fettered in the looks of the
ladies drave him out of his _memento_[1] with a shake by the shoulder.
Rosader looking back with an angry frown, as if he had been wakened
from some pleasant dream, discovered to all by the fury of his
countenance that he was a man of some high thoughts: but when they all
noted his youth and the sweetness of his visage, with a general
applause of favors, they grieved that so goodly a young man should
venture in so base an action; but seeing it were to his dishonor to
hinder him from his enterprise, they wished him to be graced with the
palm of victory. After Rosader was thus called out of his _memento_ by
the Norman, he roughly clapped to him with so fierce an encounter,
that they both fell to the ground, and with the violence of the fall
were forced to breathe; in which space the Norman called to mind by
all tokens, that this was he whom Saladyne had appointed him to kill;
which conjecture made him stretch every limb, and try every sinew,
that working his death he might recover the gold which so bountifully
was promised him. On the contrary part, Rosader while he breathed was
not idle, but still cast his eye upon Rosalynde, who to encourage him
with a favor, lent him such an amorous look, as might have made the
most coward desperate: which glance of Rosalynde so fired the
passionate desires of Rosader, that turning to the Norman he ran upon
him and braved him with a strong encounter. The Norman received him as
valiantly, that there was a sore combat, hard to judge on whose side
fortune would be prodigal. At last Rosader, calling to mind the beauty
of his new mistress, the fame of his father's honors, and the disgrace
that should fall to his house by his misfortune, roused himself and
threw the Norman against the ground, falling upon his chest with so
willing a weight, that the Norman yielded nature her due, and Rosader
the victory.
[Footnote 1: musing.]
The death of this champion, as it highly contented the franklin, as a
man satisfied with revenge, so it drew the king and all the peers into
a great admiration,[1] that so young years and so beautiful a
personage should contain such martial excellence; but when they knew
him to be the youngest son of Sir John of Bordeaux, the king rose from
his seat and embraced him, and the peers entreated him with all
favorable courtesy, commending both his valor and his virtues, wishing
him to go forward in such haughty deeds, that he might attain to the
glory of his father's honorable fortunes.
[Footnote 1: wonder.]
As the king and lords graced him with embracing, so the ladies favored
him with their looks, especially Rosalynde, whom the beauty and valor
of Rosader had already touched: but she accounted love a toy, and
fancy a momentary passion, that as it was taken in with a gaze, might
be shaken off with a wink, and therefore feared not to dally in the
flame; and to make Rosader know she affected him, took from her neck a
jewel, and sent it by a page to the young gentleman. The prize that
Venus gave to Paris was not half so pleasing to the Troyan as this gem
was to Rosader; for if fortune had sworn to make him sole monarch of
the world, he would rather have refused such dignity, than have lost
the jewel sent him by Rosalynde. To return her with the like he was
unfurnished, and yet that he might more than in his looks discover his
affection, he stepped into a tent, and taking pen and paper writ this
fancy:
Two suns at once from one fair heaven there shined,
Ten branches from two boughs, tipped all with roses,
Pure locks more golden than is gold refined,
Two pearled rows that nature's pride encloses;
Two mounts fair marble-white, down-soft and dainty,
A snow-dyed orb, where love increased by pleasure
Full woeful makes my heart, and body fainty:
Her fair (my woe) exceeds all thought and measure.
In lines confused my luckless harm appeareth,
Whom sorrow clouds, whom pleasant smiling cleareth.
This sonnet he sent to Rosalynde, which when she read she blushed, but
with a sweet content in that she perceived love had allotted her so
amorous a servant.
Leaving her to her new entertained fancies, again to Rosader, who
triumphing in the glory of this conquest, accompanied with a troop of
young gentlemen that were desirous to be his familiars, went home to
his brother Saladyne's, who was walking before the gates, to hear what
success his brother Rosader should have, assuring himself of his
death, and devising how with dissimuled sorrow to celebrate his
funerals. As he was in his thought, he cast up his eye, and saw where
Rosader returned with the garland on his head, as having won the
prize, accompanied with a crew of boon companions. Grieved at this, he
stepped in and shut the gate. Rosader seeing this, and not looking for
such unkind entertainment, blushed at the disgrace, and yet smothering
his grief with a smile, he turned to the gentlemen, and desired them
to hold his brother excused, for he did not this upon any malicious
intent or niggardize, but being brought up in the country, he absented
himself as not finding his nature fit for such youthful company. Thus
he sought to shadow abuses proffered him by his brother, but in vain,
for he could by no means be suffered to enter: whereupon he ran his
foot against the door, and broke it open, drawing his sword, and
entering boldly into the hall, where he found none, for all were fled,
but one Adam Spencer, an Englishman, who had been an old and trusty
servant to Sir John of Bordeaux. He for the love he bare to his
deceased master, favored the part of Rosader, and gave him and his
such entertainment as he could. Rosader gave him thanks, and looking
about, seeing the hall empty, said:
"Gentlemen, you are welcome; frolic and be merry: you shall be sure to
have wine enough, whatsoever your fare be. I tell you, cavaliers, my
brother hath in his house five tun of wine, and as long as that
lasteth, I beshrew him that spares his liquor."
With that he burst open the buttery door, and with the help of Adam
Spencer covered the tables, and set down whatsoever he could find in
the house; but what they wanted in meat, Rosader supplied with drink,
yet had they royal cheer, and withal such hearty welcome as would have
made the coarsest meats seem delicates.[1] After they had feasted and
frolicked it twice or thrice with an upsee freeze,[2] they all took
their leaves of Rosader and departed. As soon as they were gone,
Rosader growing impatient of the abuse, drew his sword, and swore to
be revenged on the discourteous Saladyne; yet by the means of Adam
Spencer, who sought to continue friendship and amity betwixt the
brethren, and through the flattering submission of Saladyne, they were
once again reconciled, and put up all forepassed injuries with a
peaceable agreement, living together for a good space in such
brotherly love, as did not only rejoice the servants, but made all the
gentlemen and bordering neighbors glad of such friendly concord.
Saladyne, hiding fire in the straw, and concealing a poisoned hate in
a peaceable countenance, yet deferring the intent of his wrath till
fitter opportunity, he showed himself a great favorer of his brother's
virtuous endeavors: where leaving them in this happy league, let us
return to Rosalynde.
[Footnote 1: dainties.]
[Footnote 2: "a toast."--_Greg._]
Rosalynde returning home from the triumph, after she waxed solitary,
love presented her with the idea of Rosader's perfection, and taking
her at discovert struck her so deep, as she felt herself grow passing
passionate. She began to call to mind the comeliness of his person,
the honor of his parents, and the virtues that, excelling both, made
him so gracious in the eyes of every one. Sucking in thus the honey of
love by imprinting in her thoughts his rare qualities, she began to
surfeit with the contemplation of his virtuous conditions; but when
she called to remembrance her present estate, and the hardness of her
fortunes, desire began to shrink, and fancy to vail bonnet, that
between a Chaos of confused thoughts she began to debate with herself
in this manner:
ROSALYNDE'S PASSION
"Infortunate Rosalynde, whose misfortunes are more than thy years, and
whose passions are greater than thy patience! The blossoms of thy
youth are mixed with the frosts of envy, and the hope of thy ensuing
fruits perish in the bud. Thy father is by Torismond banished from the
crown, and thou, the unhappy daughter of a king, detained captive,
living as disquieted in thy thoughts as thy father discontented in
his exile. Ah Rosalynde, what cares wait upon a crown! what griefs are
incident to dignity! what sorrows haunt royal palaces! The greatest
seas have the sorest storms, the highest birth subject to the most
bale, and of all trees the cedars soonest shake with the wind: small
currents are ever calm, low valleys not scorched in any lightnings,
nor base men tied to any baleful prejudice. Fortune flies, and if she
touch poverty it is with her heel, rather disdaining their want with a
frown, than envying their wealth with disparagement. O Rosalynde,
hadst thou been born low, thou hadst not fallen so high, and yet being
great of blood thine honor is more, if thou brookest misfortune with
patience. Suppose I contrary fortune with content, yet fates unwilling
to have me anyway happy, have forced love to set my thoughts on fire
with fancy. Love, Rosalynde? becometh it women in distress to think of
love? Tush, desire hath no respect of persons: Cupid is blind and
shooteth at random, as soon hitting a rag as a robe, and piercing as
soon the bosom of a captive as the breast of a libertine. Thou
speakest it, poor Rosalynde, by experience; for being every way
distressed, surcharged with cares, and overgrown with sorrows, yet
amidst the heap of all these mishaps, love hath lodged in thy heart
the perfection of young Rosader, a man every way absolute as well for
his inward life, as for his outward lineaments, able to content the
eye with beauty, and the ear with the report of his virtue. But
consider, Rosalynde, his fortunes, and thy present estate: thou art
poor and without patrimony, and yet the daughter of a prince; he a
younger brother, and void of such possessions as either might maintain
thy dignities or revenge thy father's injuries. And hast thou not
learned this of other ladies, that lovers cannot live by looks, that
women's ears are sooner content with a dram of _give me_ than a pound
of _hear me_, that gold is sweeter than eloquence, that love is a fire
and wealth is the fuel, that Venus' coffers should be ever full?
Then, Rosalynde, seeing Rosader is poor, think him less beautiful
because he is in want, and account his virtues but qualities of course
for that he is not endued with wealth. Doth not Horace tell thee what
method is to be used in love?
Quaerenda pecunia primum, post nummos virtus.
Tush, Rosalynde, be not over rash: leap not before thou look: either
love such a one as may with his lands purchase thy liberty, or else
love not at all. Choose not a fair face with an empty purse, but say
as most women use to say:
Si nihil attuleris, ibis Homere foras.
Why, Rosalynde! can such base thoughts harbor in such high beauties?
can the degree of a princess, the daughter of Gerismond harbor such
servile conceits, as to prize gold more than honor, or to measure a
gentleman by his wealth, not by his virtues? No, Rosalynde, blush at
thy base resolution, and say, if thou lovest, 'either Rosader or
none!' And why? because Rosader is both beautiful and virtuous."
Smiling to herself to think of her new-entertained passions, taking up
her lute that lay by her, she warbled out this ditty:
_Rosalynde's Madrigal_
Love in my bosom like a bee
Doth suck his sweet:
Now with his wings he plays with me,
Now with his feet.
Within mine eyes he makes his nest,
His bed amidst my tender breast;
My kisses are his daily feast,
And yet he robs me of my rest.
Ah, wanton, will ye?
And if I sleep, then percheth he
With pretty flight,
And makes his pillow of my knee
The livelong night.
Strike I my lute, he tunes the string,
He music plays if so I sing;
He lends me every lovely thing,
Yet cruel he my heart doth sting.
Whist, wanton, still ye!
Else I with roses every day
Will whip you hence,
And bind you, when you long to play,
For your offence;
I'll shut mine eyes to keep you in,
I'll make you fast it for your sin,
I'll count your power not worth a pin.
Alas, what hereby shall I win,
If he gainsay me?
What if I beat the wanton boy
With many a rod?
He will repay me with annoy,
Because a God.
Then sit thou safely on my knee,
And let thy bower my bosom be;
Lurk in mine eyes, I like of thee.
O Cupid, so thou pity me,
Spare not but play thee.
Scarce had Rosalynde ended her madrigal, before Torismond came in with
his daughter Alinda and many of the peers of France, who were enamored
of her beauty; which Torismond perceiving, fearing lest her perfection
might be the beginning of his prejudice, and the hope of his fruit end
in the beginning of her blossoms, he thought to banish her from the
court: "for," quoth he to himself, "her face is so full of favor, that
it pleads pity in the eye of every man; her beauty is so heavenly and
divine, that she will prove to me as Helen did to Priam; some one of
the peers will aim at her love, end the marriage, and then in his
wife's right attempt the kingdom. To prevent therefore _had I wist_ in
all these actions, she tarries not about the court, but shall (as an
exile) either wander to her father, or else seek other fortunes." In
this humor, with a stern countenance full of wrath, he breathed out
this censure unto her before the peers, that charged her that that
night she were not seen about the court: "for," quoth he, "I have
heard of thy aspiring speeches, and intended treasons." This doom was
strange unto Rosalynde, and presently, covered with the shield of her
innocence, she boldly brake out in reverent terms to have cleared
herself; but Torismond would admit of no reason, nor durst his lords
plead for Rosalynde, although her beauty had made some of them
passionate, seeing the figure of wrath portrayed in his brow. Standing
thus all mute, and Rosalynde amazed, Alinda, who loved her more than
herself, with grief in her heart and tears in her eyes, falling down
on her knees, began to entreat her father thus:
ALINDA'S ORATION TO HER FATHER IN DEFENCE OF FAIR ROSALYNDE
"If, mighty Torismond, I offend in pleading for my friend, let the law
of amity crave pardon for my boldness; for where there is depth of
affection, there friendship alloweth a privilege. Rosalynde and I have
been fostered up from our infancies, and nursed under the harbor of
our conversing together with such private familiarities, that custom
had wrought a union of our nature, and the sympathy of our affections
such a secret love, that we have two bodies and one soul. Then marvel
not, great Torismond, if, seeing my friend distressed, I find myself
perplexed with a thousand sorrows; for her virtuous and honorable
thoughts, which are the glories that maketh women excellent, they be
such as may challenge love, and rase out suspicion. Her obedience to
your majesty I refer to the censure of your own eye, that since her
father's exile hath smothered all griefs with patience, and in the
absence of nature, hath honored you with all duty, as her own father
by nouriture, not in word uttering any discontent, nor in thought, as
far as conjecture may reach, hammering on revenge; only in all her
actions seeking to please you, and to win my favor. Her wisdom,
silence, chastity, and other such rich qualities, I need not decipher;
only it rests for me to conclude in one word, that she is innocent. If
then, fortune, who triumphs in a variety of miseries, hath presented
some envious person (as minister of her intended stratagem) to taint
Rosalynde with any surmise of treason, let him be brought to her face,
and confirm his accusation by witnesses; which proved, let her die,
and Alinda will execute the massacre. If none can avouch any confirmed
relation of her intent, use justice, my lord, it is the glory of a
king, and let her live in your wonted favor; for if you banish her,
myself, as copartner of her hard fortunes, will participate in exile
some part of her extremities."
Torismond, at this speech of Alinda, covered his face with such a
frown, as tyranny seemed to sit triumphant in his forehead, and
checked her up[1] with such taunts, as made the lords, that only were
hearers, to tremble.
[Footnote 1: stopped.]
"Proud girl," quoth he, "hath my looks made thee so light of tongue,
or my favors encouraged thee to be so forward, that thou darest
presume to preach after thy father? Hath not my years more experience
than thy youth, and the winter of mine age deeper insight into civil
policy, than the prime[1] of thy flourishing days? The old lion avoids
the toils, where the young one leaps into the net: the care of age is
provident and foresees much: suspicion is a virtue, where a man holds
his enemy in his bosom. Thou, fond girl, measurest all by present
affection, and as thy heart loves, thy thoughts censure[2]; but if
thou knowest that in liking Rosalynde thou hatchest up a bird to peck
out thine own eyes, thou wouldst entreat as much for her absence as
now thou delightest in her presence. But why do I allege policy to
thee? Sit you down, housewife, and fall to your needle: if idleness
make you so wanton, or liberty so malapert, I can quickly tie you to a
sharper task. And you, maid, this night be packing, either into Arden
to your father, or whither best it shall content your humor, but in
the court you shall not abide."
[Footnote 1: spring.]
[Footnote 2: decide.]
This rigorous reply of Torismond nothing amazed Alinda, for still she
prosecuted her plea in the defence of Rosalynde, wishing her father,
if his censure might not be reversed, that he would appoint her
partner of her exile; which if he refused to do, either she would by
some secret means steal out and follow her, or else end her days with
some desperate kind of death. When Torismond heard his daughter so
resolute, his heart was so hardened against her, that he set down a
definite and peremptory sentence, that they should both be banished,
which presently was done, the tyrant rather choosing to hazard the
loss of his only child than anyways to put in question the state of
his kingdom; so suspicious and fearful is the conscience of an
usurper. Well, although his lords persuaded him to retain his own
daughter, yet his resolution might not be reversed, but both of them
must away from the court without either more company or delay. In he
went with great melancholy, and left these two ladies alone. Rosalynde
waxed very sad, and sate down and wept. Alinda she smiled, and sitting
by her friend began thus to comfort her:
ALINDA'S COMFORT TO PERPLEXED ROSALYNDE
"Why, how now, Rosalynde, dismayed with a frown of contrary fortune?
Have I not oft heard thee say, that high minds were discovered in
fortune's contempt, and heroical scene in the depth of extremities?
Thou wert wont to tell others that complained of distress, that the
sweetest salve for misery was patience, and the only medicine for
want that precious implaister of content. Being such a good physician
to others, wilt thou not minister receipts to thyself? But perchance
thou wilt say:
Consulenti nunquam caput doluit.
Why then, if the patients that are sick of this disease can find in
themselves neither reason to persuade, nor art to cure, yet,
Rosalynde, admit of the counsel of a friend, and apply the salves that
may appease thy passions. If thou grievest that being the daughter of
a prince, and envy thwarteth thee with such hard exigents,[1] think
that royalty is a fair mark, that crowns have crosses when mirth is in
cottages; that the fairer the rose is, the sooner it is bitten with
caterpillars; the more orient[2] the pearl is, the more apt to take a
blemish; and the greatest birth, as it hath most honor, so it hath
much envy. If then fortune aimeth at the fairest, be patient
Rosalynde, for first by thine exile thou goest to thy father: nature
is higher prize than wealth, and the love of one's parents ought to be
more precious than all dignities. Why then doth my Rosalynde grieve at
the frown of Torismond, who by offering her a prejudice proffers her a
greater pleasure? and more, mad lass, to be melancholy, when thou hast
with thee Alinda, a friend who will be a faithful copartner of all thy
misfortunes, who hath left her father to follow thee, and chooseth
rather to brook all extremities than to forsake thy presence. What,
Rosalynde,
Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
Cheerly, woman: as we have been bed-fellows in royalty, we will be
fellow-mates in poverty: I will ever be thy Alinda, and thou shalt
ever rest to me Rosalynde; so shall the world canonize our friendship,
and speak of Rosalynde and Alinda, as they did of Pylades and Orestes.
And if ever fortune smile, and we return to our former honor, then
folding ourselves in the sweet of our friendship, we shall merrily
say, calling to mind our forepassed miseries:
Olim haec meminisse juvabit."
[Footnote 1: necessities.]
[Footnote 2: precious; because the most valued gems came from the
Orient.]
At this Rosalynde began to comfort her, and after she had wept a few
kind tears in the bosom of her Alinda, she gave her hearty thanks, and
then they sat them down to consult how they should travel. Alinda
grieved at nothing but that they might have no man in their company,
saying it would be their greatest prejudice in that two women went
wandering without either guide or attendant.
"Tush," quoth Rosalynde, "art thou a woman, and hast not a sudden
shift to prevent a misfortune? I, thou seest, am of a tall stature,
and would very well become the person and apparel of a page; thou
shalt be my mistress, and I will play the man so properly, that, trust
me, in what company soever I come I will not be discovered. I will buy
me a suit, and have my rapier very handsomely at my side, and if any
knave offer wrong, your page will show him the point of his weapon."
At this Alinda smiled, and upon this they agreed, and presently
gathered up all their jewels, which they trussed up[1] in a casket,
and Rosalynde in all haste provided her of robes, and Alinda, from her
royal weeds, put herself in more homelike attire. Thus fitted to the
purpose, away go these two friends, having now changed their names,
Alinda being called Aliena, and Rosalynde Ganymede. They travelled
along the vineyards, and by many by-ways at last got to the forest
side, where they travelled by the space of two or three days without
seeing any creature, being often in danger of wild beasts, and pained
with many passionate sorrows. Now the black ox[2] began to tread on
their feet, and Alinda thought of her wonted royalty; but when she
cast her eyes on her Rosalynde, she thought every danger a step to
honor. Passing thus on along, about midday they came to a fountain,
compassed with a grove of cypress trees, so cunningly and curiously
planted, as if some goddess had entreated nature in that place to make
her an arbor. By this fountain sat Aliena and her Ganymede, and forth
they pulled such victuals as they had, and fed as merrily as if they
had been in Paris with all the king's delicates, Aliena only grieving
that they could not so much as meet with a shepherd to discourse them
the way to some place where they might make their abode. At last
Ganymede casting up his eye espied where on a tree was engraven
certain verses; which as soon as he espied, he cried out:
"Be of good cheer, mistress, I spy the figures of men; for here in
these trees be engraven certain verses of shepherds, or some other
swains that inhabit hereabout."
[Footnote 1: packed.]
[Footnote 2: ill-luck.]
With that Aliena start up joyful to hear these news, and looked, where
they found carved in the bark of a pine tree this passion:
_Montanus's Passion_
Hadst thou been born whereas perpetual cold
Makes Tanais hard, and mountains silver old;
Had I complained unto a marble stone,
Or to the floods bewrayed my bitter moan,
I then could bear the burthen of my grief.
But even the pride of countries at thy birth,
Whilst heavens did smile, did new array the earth
With flowers chief.
Yet thou, the flower of beauty blessèd born,
Hast pretty looks, but all attired in scorn.
Had I the power to weep sweet Mirrha's tears,
Or by my plaints to pierce repining ears;
Hadst thou the heart to smile at my complaint,
To scorn the woes that doth my heart attaint,
I then could bear the burthen of my grief:
But not my tears, but truth with thee prevails,
And seeming sour my sorrows thee assails:
Yet small relief;
For if thou wilt thou art of marble hard,
And if thou please my suit shall soon be heard.
"No doubt," quoth Aliena, "this poesy is the passion of some perplexed
shepherd, that being enamored of some fair and beautiful shepherdess,
suffered some sharp repulse, and therefore complained of the cruelty
of his mistress."
"You may see," quoth Ganymede, "what mad cattle you women be, whose
hearts sometimes are made of adamant that will touch with no
impression, and sometime of wax that is fit for every form: they
delight to be courted, and then they glory to seem coy, and when they
are most desired then they freeze with disdain: and this fault is so
common to the sex, that you see it painted out in the shepherd's
passions, who found his mistress as froward as he was enamored."
"And I pray you," quoth Aliena, "if your robes were off, what mettle
are you made of that you are so satirical against women? Is it not a
foul bird defiles the own nest? Beware, Ganymede, that Rosader hear
you not, if he do, perchance you will make him leap so far from love,
that he will anger every vein in your heart."
"Thus," quoth Ganymede, "I keep decorum: I speak now as I am Aliena's
page, not as I am Gerismond's daughter; for put me but into a
petticoat, and I will stand in defiance to the uttermost, that women
are courteous, constant, virtuous, and what not."
"Stay there," quoth Aliena, "and no more words, for yonder be
characters graven upon the bark of the tall beech tree."
"Let us see," quoth Ganymede; and with that they read a fancy written
to this effect:
First shall the heavens want starry light,
The seas be robbèd of their waves,
The day want sun, and sun want bright,
The night want shade, the dead men graves,
The April flowers and leaf and tree,
Before I false my faith to thee.
First shall the tops of highest hills
By humble plains be overpried,
And poets scorn the Muses' quills,
And fish forsake the water glide,
And Iris loose her colored weed,[1]
Before I fail thee at thy need.
First direful hate shall turn to peace,
And love relent in deep disdain,
And death his fatal stroke shall cease,
And envy pity every pain,
And pleasure mourn and sorrow smile,
Before I talk of any guile.
First time shall stay his stayless race,
And winter bless his brows with corn,
And snow bemoisten July's face,
And winter spring, and summer mourn,
Before my pen, by help of fame,
Cease to recite thy sacred name.
MONTANUS
[Footnote 1: garment. In what modern expression is this meaning of the
word retained?]
"No doubt," quoth Ganymede, "this protestation grew from one full of
passions."
"I am of that mind too," quoth Aliena, "but see, I pray, when poor
women seek to keep themselves chaste, how men woo them with many
feigned promises; alluring with sweet words as the Sirens, and after
proving as trothless as Aeneas. Thus promised Demophoon to his
Phyllis, but who at last grew more false?"
"The reason was," quoth Ganymede, "that they were women's sons, and
took that fault of their mother, for if man had grown from man, as
Adam did from the earth, men had never been troubled with
inconstancy."
"Leave off," quoth Aliena, "to taunt thus bitterly, or else I'll pull
off your page's apparel, and whip you, as Venus doth her wantons, with
nettles."
"So you will," quoth Ganymede, "persuade me to flattery, and that
needs not: but come, seeing we have found here by this fount the tract
of shepherds by their madrigals and roundelays, let us forward; for
either we shall find some folds, sheepcotes, or else some cottages
wherein for a day or two to rest."
"Content," quoth Aliena, and with that they rose up, and marched
forward till towards the even, and then coming into a fair valley,
compassed with mountains, whereon grew many pleasant shrubs, they
might descry where two flocks of sheep did feed. Then, looking about,
they might perceive where an old shepherd sat, and with him a young
swaine, under a covert most pleasantly situated. The ground where they
sat was diapered with Flora's riches, as if she meant to wrap Tellus
in the glory of her vestments: round about in the form of an
amphitheatre were most curiously planted pine trees, interseamed with
limons and citrons, which with the thickness of their boughs so
shadowed the place, that Phoebus could not pry into the secret of that
arbor; so united were the tops with so thick a closure, that Venus
might there in her jollity have dallied unseen with her dearest
paramour. Fast by, to make the place more gorgeous, was there a fount
so crystalline and clear, that it seemed Diana with her Dryades and
Hamadryades had that spring, as the secret of all their bathings. In
this glorious arbor sat these two shepherds, seeing their sheep feed,
playing on their pipes many pleasant tunes, and from music and melody
falling into much amorous chat. Drawing more nigh we might descry the
countenance of the one to be full of sorrow, his face to be the very
portraiture of discontent, and his eyes full of woes, that living he
seemed to die: we, to hear what these were, stole privily behind the
thicket, where we overheard this discourse:
_A Pleasant Eclogue between Montanus and Corydon_
CORYDON
Say, shepherd's boy, what makes thee greet[1] so sore?
Why leaves thy pipe his pleasure and delight?
Young are thy years, thy cheeks with roses dight:
Then sing for joy, sweet swain, and sigh no more.
This milk-white poppy, and this climbing pine
Both promise shade; then sit thee down and sing,
And make these woods with pleasant notes to ring,
Till Phoebus deign all westward to decline.
[Footnote 1: weep.]
MONTANUS
Ah, Corydon, unmeet is melody
To him whom proud contempt hath overborne:
Slain are my joys by Phoebe's bitter scorn;
Far hence my weal, and near my jeopardy.
Love's burning brand is couchèd in my breast,
Making a Phoenix of my faintful heart:
And though his fury do enforce my smart,
Ay blithe am I to honor his behest.
Prepared to woes, since so my Phoebe wills,
My looks dismayed, since Phoebe will disdain;
I banish bliss and welcome home my pain:
So stream my tears as showers from Alpine hills.
In error's mask I blindfold judgment's eye,
I fetter reason in the snares of lust,
I seem secure, yet know not how to trust;
I live by that which makes me living die.
Devoid of rest, companion of distress,
Plague to myself, consumèd by my thought,
How may my voice or pipe in tune be brought,
Since I am reft of solace and delight?
CORYDON
Ah, lorrel lad, what makes thee hery[1] love?
A sugared harm, a poison full of pleasure,
A painted shrine full filled with rotten treasure;
A heaven in show, a hell to them that prove.[2]
A gain in seeming, shadowed still with want,
A broken staff which folly doth uphold,
A flower that fades with every frosty cold,
An orient rose sprung from a withered plant.
A minute's joy to gain a world of grief,
A subtle net to snare the idle mind,
A seeing scorpion, yet in seeming blind,
A poor rejoice, a plague without relief.
Forthy,[3] Montanus, follow mine arede,[4]
(Whom age hath taught the trains[5] that fancy useth)
Leave foolish love, for beauty wit abuseth,
And drowns, by folly, virtue's springing seed.
[Footnote 1: praise.]
[Footnote 2: try, test.]
[Footnote 3: hence.]
[Footnote 4: advice.]
[Footnote 5: stratagems.]
MONTANUS
So blames the child the flame because it burns,
And bird the snare because it doth entrap,
And fools true love because of sorry hap,
And sailors curse the ship that overturns.
But would the child forbear to play with flame,
And birds beware to trust the fowler's gin,
And fools foresee before they fall and sin,
And masters guide their ships in better frame;
The child would praise the fire because it warms,
And birds rejoice to see the fowler fail,
And fools prevent before their plagues prevail,
And sailors bless the barque that saves from harms.
Ah, Corydon, though many be thy years,
And crooked elde[1] hath some experience left,
Yet is thy mind of judgment quite bereft,
In view of love, whose power in me appears.
The ploughman little wots to turn the pen,
Or bookman skills to guide the ploughman's cart;
Nor can the cobbler count the terms of art,
Nor base men judge the thoughts of mighty men.
Nor withered age, unmeet for beauty's guide,
Uncapable of love's impression,
Discourse of that whose choice possession
May never to so base a man be tied.
But I, whom nature makes of tender mould,
And youth most pliant yields to fancy's fire,
Do build my haven and heaven on sweet desire,
On sweet desire, more dear to me than gold.
Think I of love, oh, how my lines aspire!
How haste the Muses to embrace my brows,
And hem my temples in with laurel boughs,
And fill my brains with chaste and holy fire!
Then leave my lines their homely equipage,
Mounted beyond the circle of the sun:
Amazed I read the stile when I have done,
And hery[2] love that sent that heavenly rage.
Of Phoebe then, of Phoebe then I sing,
Drawing the purity of all the spheres,
The pride of earth, or what in heaven appears,
Her honored face and fame to light to bring.
In fluent numbers, and in pleasant veins,
I rob both sea and earth of all their state,
To praise her parts: I charm both time and fate,
To bless the nymph that yields me lovesick pains.
My sheep are turned to thoughts, whom froward will
Guides in the restless labyrinth of love;
Fear lends them pasture wheresoe'er they move,
And by their death their life reneweth still.
My sheephook is my pen, mine oaten reed
My paper, where my many woes are written.
Thus silly swain, with love and fancy bitten,
I trace the plains[3] of pain in woeful weed.
Vet are my cares, my broken sleeps, my tears,
My dreams, my doubts, for Phoebe sweet to me:
Who waiteth heaven in sorrow's vale must be,
And glory shines where danger most appears.
Then, Corydon, although I blithe me not,
Blame me not, man, since sorrow is my sweet:
So willeth love, and Phoebe thinks it meet,
And kind Montanus liketh well his lot.
[Footnote 1: old age.]
[Footnote 2: praise.]
[Footnote 3: complaints.]
CORYDON
O stayless youth, by error so misguided,
Where will proscribeth laws to perfect wits,
Where reason mourns, and blame in triumph sits,
And folly poisoneth all that time provided!
With wilful blindness bleared, prepared to shame,
Prone to neglect Occasion when she smiles:
Alas, that love, by fond and froward guiles,
Should make thee tract[1] the path to endless blame!
Ah, my Montanus, cursèd is the charm,
That hath bewitchèd so thy youthful eyes.
Leave off in time to like these vanities,
Be forward to thy good, and fly thy harm.
As many bees as Hybla daily shields,
As many fry as fleet on ocean's face,
As many herds as on the earth do trace,
As many flowers as deck the fragrant fields,
As many stars as glorious heaven contains,
As many storms as wayward winter weeps,
As many plagues as hell enclosèd keeps,
So many griefs in love, so many pains.
Suspicions, thoughts, desires, opinions, prayers,
Mislikes, misdeeds, fond joys, and feignèd peace,
Illusions, dreams, great pains, and small increase,
Vows, hopes, acceptance, scorns, and deep despairs,
Truce, war, and woe do wait at beauty's gate;
Time lost, laments, reports, and privy grudge,
And last, fierce love is but a partial judge,
Who yields for service shame, for friendship hate.
[Footnote 1: trace, walk.]
MONTANUS
All adder-like I stop mine ears, fond swain,
So charm no more, for I will never change.
Call home thy flocks in time that straggling range,
For lo, the sun declineth hence amain.
TERENTIUS
In amore haec omnia insunt vitia: induciae, inimicitiae,
bellum, pax rursum: incerta haec si tu postules ratione
certa fieri, nihilo plus agas, quam si des operam, ut cum
ratione insanias.
The shepherds having thus ended their eclogue, Aliena stepped with
Ganymede from behind the thicket; at whose sudden sight the shepherds
arose, and Aliena saluted them thus:
"Shepherds, all hail, for such we deem you by your flocks, and lovers,
good luck, for such you seem by your passions, our eyes being witness
of the one, and our ears of the other. Although not by love, yet by
fortune, I am a distressed gentlewoman, as sorrowful as you are
passionate, and as full of woes as you of perplexed thoughts.
Wandering this way in a forest unknown, only I and my page, wearied
with travel, would fain have some place of rest. May you appoint us
any place of quiet harbor, be it never so mean, I shall be thankful to
you, contented in myself, and grateful to whosoever shall be mine
host."
Corydon, hearing the gentlewoman speak so courteously, returned her
mildly and reverently this answer:
"Fair mistress, we return you as hearty a welcome as you gave us a
courteous salute. A shepherd I am, and this a lover, as watchful to
please his wench as to feed his sheep: full of fancies, and therefore,
say I, full of follies. Exhort him I may, but persuade him I cannot;
for love admits neither of counsel nor reason. But leaving him to his
passions, if you be distressed, I am sorrowful such a fair creature is
crossed with calamity; pray for you I may, but relieve you I cannot.
Marry, if you want lodging, if you vouch to shroud yourselves in a
shepherd's cottage, my house for this night shall be your harbor."
Aliena thanked Corydon greatly, and presently sate her down and
Ganymede by her. Corydon looking earnestly upon her, and with a
curious survey viewing all her perfections, applauded (in his
thought) her excellence, and pitying her distress was desirous to hear
the cause of her misfortunes, began to question her thus:
"If I should not, fair damosel, occasion offence, or renew your griefs
by rubbing the scar, I would fain crave so much favor as to know the
cause of your misfortunes, and why, and whither you wander with your
page in so dangerous a forest?"
Aliena, that was as courteous as she was fair, made this reply:
"Shepherd, a friendly demand ought never to be offensive, and
questions of courtesy carry privileged pardons in their foreheads.
Know, therefore, to discover my fortunes were to renew my sorrows, and
I should, by discoursing my mishaps, but rake fire out of the cinders.
Therefore let this suffice, gentle shepherd: my distress is as great
as my travel is dangerous, and I wander in this forest to light on
some cottage where I and my page may dwell: for I mean to buy some
farm, and a flock of sheep, and so become a shepherdess, meaning to
live low, and content me with a country life; for I have heard the
swains say, that they drunk without suspicion, and slept without
care."
"Marry, mistress," quoth Corydon, "if you mean so, you came in good
time, for my landslord intends to sell both the farm I till, and the
flock I keep, and cheap you may have them for ready money: and for a
shepherd's life, O mistress, did you but live awhile in their content,
you would say the court were rather a place of sorrow than of solace.
Here, mistress, shall not fortune thwart you, but in mean misfortunes,
as the loss of a few sheep, which, as it breeds no beggary, so it can
be no extreme prejudice: the next year may mend all with a fresh
increase. Envy stirs not us, we covet not to climb, our desires mount
not above our degrees, nor our thoughts above our fortunes. Care
cannot harbor in our cottages, nor do our homely couches know broken
slumbers: as we exceed not in diet, so we have enough to satisfy: and,
mistress, I have so much Latin, _Satis est quod sufficit_."
"By my troth, shepherd," quoth Aliena, "thou makest me in love with
your country life, and therefore send for thy landslord, and I will
buy thy farm and thy flocks, and thou shalt still under me be overseer
of them both: only for pleasure sake I and my page will serve you,
lead the flocks to the field, and fold them. Thus will I live quiet,
unknown, and contented."
This news so gladded the heart of Corydon, that he should not be put
out of his farm, that putting off his shepherd's bonnet, he did her
all the reverence that he might. But all this while sate Montanus in a
muse, thinking of the cruelty of his Phoebe, whom he wooed long, but
was in no hope to win. Ganymede, who still had the remembrance of
Rosader in his thoughts, took delight to see the poor shepherd
passionate, laughing at Love, that in all his actions was so
imperious. At last, when she had noted his tears that stole down his
cheeks, and his sighs that broke from the centre of his heart, pitying
his lament, she demanded of Corydon why the young shepherd looked so
sorrowful.
"O sir," quoth he, "the boy is in love."
"Why," quoth Ganymede, "can shepherds love?"
"Aye," quoth Montanus, "and overlove, else shouldst not thou see me so
pensive. Love, I tell thee, is as precious in a shepherd's eye, as in
the looks of a king, and we country swains entertain fancy with as
great delight as the proudest courtier doth affection. Opportunity,
that is the sweetest friend to Venus, harboreth in our cottages, and
loyalty, the chiefest fealty that Cupid requires, is found more among
shepherds than higher degrees. Then, ask not if such silly swains can
love."
"What is the cause then," quoth Ganymede, "that love being so sweet to
thee, thou lookest so sorrowful?"
"Because," quoth Montanus, "the party beloved is froward, and having
courtesy in her looks, holdeth disdain in her tongue's end."
"What hath she, then," quoth Aliena, "in her heart?"
"Desire, I hope madam," quoth he, "or else, my hope lost, despair in
love were death."
As thus they chatted, the sun being ready to set, and they not having
folded their sheep, Corydon requested she would sit there with her
page, till Montanus and he lodged their sheep for that night.
"You shall go," quoth Aliena, "but first I will entreat Montanus to
sing some amorous sonnet, that he made when he hath been deeply
passionate."
"That I will," quoth Montanus, and with that he began thus:
_Montanus's Sonnet_
Phoebe sate,
Sweet she sate,
Sweet sate Phoebe when I saw her;
White her brow,
Coy her eye:
Brow and eye how much you please me!
Words I spent,
Sighs I sent:
Sighs and words could never draw her.
O my love,
Thou art lost,
Since no sight could ever ease thee.
Phoebe sat
By a fount;
Sitting by a fount I spied her:
Sweet her touch,
Rare her voice:
Touch and voice what may distain you?
As she sung
I did sigh,
And by sighs whilst that I tried her,
O mine eyes!
You did lose
Her first sight whose want did pain you.
Phoebe's flocks,
White as wool:
Yet were Phoebe's locks more whiter.
Phoebe's eyes
Dovelike mild:
Dovelike eyes, both mild and cruel.
Montan swears,
In your lamps
He will die for to delight her.
Phoebe yield,
Or I die:
Shall true hearts be fancy's fuel?[1]
[Footnote 1: This poem was parodied by one of Lodge's contemporaries
under the title "Ronsard's Description of his Mistress" in allusion to
Lodge's habit of imitating foreign poets.]
Montanus had no sooner ended his sonnet, but Corydon with a low
courtesy rose up and went with his fellow, and shut their sheep in the
folds; and after returning to Aliena and Ganymede, conducted them home
weary to his poor cottage. By the way there was much good chat with
Montanus about his loves, he resolving Aliena that Phoebe was the
fairest shepherdess in all France, and that in his eye her beauty was
equal with the nymphs.
"But," quoth he, "as of all stones the diamond is most clearest, and
yet most hard for the lapidary to cut: as of all flowers the rose is
the fairest, and yet guarded with the sharpest prickles: so of all our
country lasses Phoebe is the brightest, but the most coy of all to
stoop unto desire. But let her take heed," quoth he, "I have heard of
Narcissus, who for his high disdain against Love, perished in the
folly of his own love."
With this they were at Corydon's cottage, where Montanus parted from
them, and they went in to rest. Aliena and Ganymede glad of so
contented a shelter, made merry with the poor swain; and though they
had but country fare and coarse lodging, yet their welcome was so
great, and their cares so little, that they counted their diet
delicate, and slept as soundly as if they had been in the court of
Torismond. The next morn they lay long in bed, as wearied with the
toil of unaccustomed travel; but as soon as they got up, Aliena
resolved there to set up her rest,[1] and by the help of Corydon
swept[2] a bargain with his landslord, and so became mistress of the
farm and the flock, herself putting on the attire of a shepherdess,
and Ganymede of a young swain: every day leading forth her flocks,
with such delight, that she held her exile happy, and thought no
content to the bliss of a country cottage. Leaving her thus famous
amongst the shepherds of Arden, again to Saladyne.
[Footnote 1: choose her dwelling.]
[Footnote 2: concluded.]
When Saladyne had a long while concealed a secret resolution of
revenge, and could no longer hide fire in the flax, nor oil in the
flame, for envy is like lightning, that will appear in the darkest
fog, it chanced on a morning very early he called up certain of his
servants, and went with them to the chamber of Rosader, which being
open, he entered with his crew, and surprised his brother being
asleep, and bound him in fetters, and in the midst of his hall chained
him to a post. Rosader, amazed at this strange chance, began to reason
with his brother about the cause of this sudden extremity, wherein he
had wronged, and what fault he had committed worthy so sharp a
penance. Saladyne answered him only with a look of disdain, and went
his way, leaving poor Rosader in a deep perplexity; who, thus abused,
fell into sundry passions, but no means of relief could be had:
whereupon for anger he grew into a discontented melancholy. In which
humor he continued two or three days without meat, insomuch that
seeing his brother would give him no food, he fell into despair of his
life. Which Adam Spencer, the old servant of Sir John of Bordeaux,
seeing, touched with the duty and love he ought[1] to his old master,
felt a remorse in his conscience of his son's mishap; and therefore,
although Saladyne had given a general charge to his servants that none
of them upon pain of death should give either meat or drink to
Rosader, yet Adam Spencer in the night rose secretly, and brought him
such victuals as he could provide, and unlocked him, and set him at
liberty. After Rosader had well feasted himself, and felt he was
loose, straight his thoughts aimed at revenge, and now, all being
asleep, he would have quit Saladyne with the method of his own
mischief. But Adam Spencer did persuade him to the contrary with these
reasons:
[Footnote 1: owed.]
"Sir," quoth he, "be content, for this night go again into your old
fetters, so shall you try the faith of friends, and save the life of
an old servant. To-morrow hath your brother invited all your kindred
and allies to a solemn breakfast, only to see you, telling them all
that you are mad, and fain to be tied to a post. As soon as they come,
complain to them of the abuse proffered you by Saladyne. If they
redress you, why so: but if they pass over your plaints _sicco
pede_,[1] and hold with the violence of your brother before your
innocence, then thus: I will leave you unlocked that you may break out
at your pleasure, and at the end of the hall shall you see stand a
couple of good poleaxes, one for you and another for me. When I give
you a wink, shake off your chains, and let us play the men, and make
havoc amongst them, drive them out of the house and maintain
possession by force of arms, till the king hath made a redress of your
abuses."
[Footnote 1: with dry foot = carelessly.]
These words of Adam Spencer so persuaded Rosader, that he went to the
place of his punishment, and stood there while[1] the next morning.
About the time appointed, came all the guests bidden by Saladyne, whom
he entreated with courteous and curious entertainment, as they all
perceived their welcome to be great. The tables in the hall, where
Rosader was tied, were covered, and Saladyne bringing in his guests
together, showed them where his brother was bound, and was enchained
as a man lunatic. Rosader made reply, and with some invectives made
complaints of the wrongs proffered him by Saladyne, desiring they
would in pity seek some means for his relief. But in vain, they had
stopped their ears with Ulysses, that were his words never so
forceable, he breathed only his passions into the wind. They,
careless, sat down with Saladyne to dinner, being very frolic and
pleasant, washing their heads well with wine. At last, when the fume
of the grape had entered pell-mell into their brains, they began in
satirical speeches to rail against Rosader: which Adam Spencer no
longer brooking, gave the sign, and Rosader shaking off his chains got
a poleaxe in his hand, and flew amongst them with such violence and
fury, that he hurt many, slew some, and drave his brother and the rest
quite out of the house. Seeing the coast clear, he shut the doors, and
being sore anhungered, and seeing such good victuals, he sat him down
with Adam Spencer, and such good fellows as he knew were honest men,
and there feasted themselves with such provision as Saladyne had
prepared for his friends. After they had taken their repast, Rosader
rampired up[2] the house, lest upon a sudden his brother should raise
some crew of his tenants, and surprise them unawares. But Saladyne
took a contrary course, and went to the sheriff of the shire and made
complaint of Rosader, who giving credit to Saladyne, in a determined
resolution to revenge the gentleman's wrongs, took with him
five-and-twenty tall[3] men, and made a vow, either to break into the
house and take Rosader, or else to coop him in till he made him yield
by famine. In this determination, gathering a crew together, he went
forward to set Saladyne in his former estate. News of this was brought
unto Rosader, who smiling at the cowardice of his brother, brooked all
the injuries of fortune with patience, expecting the coming of the
sheriff. As he walked upon the battlements of the house, he descried
where Saladyne and he drew near, with a troop of lusty gallants. At
this he smiled, and called Adam Spencer, and showed him the envious
treachery of his brother, and the folly of the sheriff to be so
credulous.
[Footnote 1: until.]
[Footnote 2: barricaded.]
[Footnote 3: brave.]
"Now, Adam," quoth he, "what shall I do? It rests for me either to
yield up the house to my brother and seek a reconcilement, or else
issue out, and break through the company with courage, for cooped in
like a coward I will not be. If I submit (ah Adam) I dishonor myself,
and that is worse than death, for by such open disgraces, the fame of
men grows odious. If I issue out amongst them, fortune may favor me,
and I may escape with life. But suppose the worst; if I be slain, then
my death shall be honorable to me, and so inequal a revenge infamous
to Saladyne."
"Why then, master, forward and fear not! Out amongst them; they be but
faint-hearted losels,[1] and for Adam Spencer, if he die not at your
foot, say he is a dastard."
[Footnote 1: lazy, worthless fellows.]
These words cheered up so the heart of young Rosader, that he thought
himself sufficient for them all, and therefore prepared weapons for
him and Adam Spencer, and were ready to entertain the sheriff; for no
sooner came Saladyne and he to the gates, but Rosader, unlooked for,
leaped out and assailed them, wounded many of them, and caused the
rest to give back, so that Adam and he broke through the prease[1] in
despite of them all, and took their way towards the forest of Arden.
This repulse so set the sheriff's heart on fire to revenge, that he
straight raised all the country, and made hue and cry after them. But
Rosader and Adam, knowing full well the secret ways that led through
the vineyards, stole away privily through the province of Bordeaux,
and escaped safe to the forest of Arden. Being come thither, they were
glad they had so good a harbor: but fortune, who is like the
chameleon, variable with every object, and constant in nothing but
inconstancy, thought to make them mirrors of her mutability, and
therefore still crossed them thus contrarily. Thinking still to pass
on by the by-ways to get to Lyons, they chanced on a path that led
into the thick of the forest, where they wandered five or six days
without meat, that they were almost famished finding neither shepherd
nor cottage to relieve them; and hunger growing on so extreme, Adam
Spencer, being old, began first to faint, and sitting him down on a
hill, and looking about him, espied where Rosader lay as feeble and as
ill perplexed: which sight made him shed tears, and to fall into these
bitter terms:
[Footnote 1: crowd.]
ADAM SPENCER'S SPEECH
"Oh, how the life of man may well be compared to the state of the
ocean seas, that for every calm hath a thousand storms, resembling the
rose tree, that for a few fair flowers hath a multitude of sharp
prickles! All our pleasures end in pain, and our highest delights are
crossed with deepest discontents. The joys of man, as they are few, so
are they momentary, scarce ripe before they are rotten, and withering
in the blossom, either parched with the heat of envy or fortune.
Fortune, O inconstant friend, that in all thy deeds art froward and
fickle, delighting, in the poverty of the lowest and the overthrow of
the highest, to decipher thy inconstancy. Thou standest upon a globe,
and thy wings are plumed with Time's feathers, that thou mayest ever
be restless: thou art double-faced like Janus, carrying frowns in the
one to threaten, and smiles in the other to betray: thou profferest an
eel, and performest a scorpion, and where thy greatest favors be,
there is the fear of the extremest misfortunes, so variable are all
thy actions. But why, Adam, dost thou exclaim against Fortune? She
laughs at the plaints of the distressed, and there is nothing more
pleasing unto her, than to hear fools boast in her fading allurements,
or sorrowful men to discover the sour of their passions. Glut her not,
Adam, then with content, but thwart her with brooking all mishaps with
patience. For there is no greater check to the pride of Fortune, than
with a resolute courage to pass over her crosses without care. Thou
art old, Adam, and thy hairs wax white: the palm tree is already full
of blooms, and in the furrows of thy face appears the calendars of
death. Wert thou blessed by Fortune thy years could not be many, nor
the date of thy life long: then sith nature must have her due, what is
it for thee to resign her debt a little before the day. Ah, it is not
this which grieveth me, nor do I care what mishaps Fortune can wage
against me, but the sight of Rosader that galleth unto the quick. When
I remember the worships of his house, the honor of his fathers, and
the virtues of himself, then do I say, that fortune and the fates are
most injurious, to censure so hard extremes, against a youth of so
great hope. O Rosader, thou art in the flower of thine age, and in the
pride of thy years, buxom and full of May. Nature hath prodigally
enriched thee with her favors, and virtue made thee the mirror of her
excellence; and now, through the decree of the unjust stars, to have
all these good parts nipped in the blade, and blemished by the
inconstancy of fortune! Ah, Rosader, could I help thee, my grief were
the less, and happy should my death be, if it might be the beginning
of thy relief: but seeing we perish both in one extreme, it is a
double sorrow. What shall I do? prevent the sight of his further
misfortune with a present dispatch of mine own life? Ah, despair is a
merciless sin!"
As he was ready to go forward in his passion, he looked earnestly on
Rosader, and seeing him change color, he rise up and went to him, and
holding his temples, said:
"What cheer, master? though all fail, let not the heart faint: the
courage of a man is showed in the resolution of his death."
At these words Rosader lifted up his eye, and looking on Adam Spencer,
began to weep.
"Ah, Adam," quoth he, "I sorrow not to die, but I grieve at the manner
of my death. Might I with my lance encounter the enemy, and so die in
the field, it were honor and content: might I, Adam, combate with some
wild beast and perish as his prey, I were satisfied; but to die with
hunger, O Adam, it is the extremest of all extremes!"
"Master," quoth he, "you see we are both in one predicament, and long
I cannot live without meat; seeing therefore we can find no food, let
the death of the one preserve the life of the other. I am old, and
overworn with age, you are young, and are the hope of many honors: let
me then die, I will presently cut my veins, and, master, with the warm
blood relieve your fainting spirits: suck on that till I end, and you
be comforted."
With that Adam Spencer was ready to pull out his knife, when Rosader
full of courage (though very faint) rose up, and wished Adam Spencer
to sit there till his return; "for my mind gives me," quoth he, "I
shall bring thee meat." With that, like a madman, he rose up, and
ranged up and down the woods, seeking to encounter some wild beast
with his rapier, that either he might carry his friend Adam food, or
else pledge his life in pawn for his loyalty.
It chanced that day, that Gerismond, the lawful king of France
banished by Torismond, who with a lusty crew of outlaws lived in that
forest, that day in honor of his birth made a feast to all his bold
yeomen, and frolicked it with store of wine and venison, sitting all
at a long table under the shadow of limon trees. To that place by
chance fortune conducted Rosader, who seeing such a crew of brave men,
having store of that for want of which he and Adam perished, he
stepped boldly to the board's end, and saluted the company thus:
"Whatsoever thou be that art master of these lusty squires, I salute
thee as graciously as a man in extreme distress may: know that I and a
fellow-friend of mine are here famished in the forest for want of
food: perish we must, unless relieved by thy favors. Therefore, if
thou be a gentleman, give meat to men, and to such men as are every
way worthy of life. Let the proudest squire that sits at thy table
rise and encounter with me in any honorable point of activity
whatsoever, and if he and thou prove me not a man, send me away
comfortless. If thou refuse this, as a niggard of thy cates, I will
have amongst you with my sword; for rather will I die valiantly, than
perish with so cowardly an extreme."
Gerismond, looking him earnestly in the face, and seeing so proper a
gentleman in so bitter a passion, was moved with so great pity, that
rising from the table, he took him by the hand and bad him welcome,
willing him to sit down in his place, and in his room not only to eat
his fill, but be lord of the feast.
"Gramercy, sir," quoth Rosader, "but I have a feeble friend that lies
hereby famished almost for food, aged and therefore less able to abide
the extremity of hunger than myself, and dishonor it were for me to
taste one crumb, before I made him partner of my fortunes: therefore I
will run and fetch him, and then I will gratefully accept of your
proffer."
Away hies Rosader to Adam Spencer, and tells him the news, who was
glad of so happy fortune, but so feeble he was that he could not go;
whereupon Rosader got him up on his back, and brought him to the
place. Which when Gerismond and his men saw, they greatly applauded
their league of friendship; and Rosader, having Gerismond's place
assigned him, would not sit there himself, but set down Adam Spencer.
Well, to be short, those hungry squires fell to their victuals, and
feasted themselves with good delicates, and great store of wine. As
soon as they had taken their repast, Gerismond, desirous to hear what
hard fortune drave them into those bitter extremes, requested Rosader
to discourse, if it were not any way prejudicial unto him, the cause
of his travel. Rosader, desirous any way to satisfy the courtesy of
his favorable host, first beginning his exordium with a volley of
sighs, and a few lukewarm tears, prosecuted his discourse, and told
him from point to point all his fortunes: how he was the youngest son
of Sir John of Bordeaux, his name Rosader, how his brother sundry
times had wronged him, and lastly how, for beating the sheriff and
hurting his men, he fled.
"And this old man," quoth he, "whom I so much love and honor, is
surnamed Adam Spencer, an old servant of my father's, and one, that
for his love, never failed me in all my misfortunes."
When Gerismond heard this, he fell on the neck of Rosader, and next
discoursing unto him how he was Gerismond their lawful king exiled by
Torismond, what familiarity had ever been betwixt his father, Sir John
of Bordeaux, and him, how faithful a subject he lived, and how
honorable he died, promising, for his sake, to give both him and his
friend such courteous entertainment as his present estate could
minister, and upon this made him one of his foresters. Rosader seeing
it was the king, craved pardon for his boldness, in that he did not do
him due reverence, and humbly gave him thanks for his favorable
courtesy. Gerismond, not satisfied yet with news, began to inquire if
he had been lately in the court of Torismond, and whether he had seen
his daughter Rosalynde or no? At this Rosader fetched a deep sigh, and
shedding many tears, could not answer: yet at last, gathering his
spirits together, he revealed unto the king, how Rosalynde was
banished, and how there was such a sympathy of affections between
Alinda and her, that she chose rather to be partaker of her exile,
than to part fellowship; whereupon the unnatural king banished them
both: "and now they are wandered none knows whither, neither could any
learn since their departure, the place of their abode." This news
drave the king into a great melancholy, that presently he arose from
all the company, and went into his privy chamber, so secret as the
harbor of the woods would allow him. The company was all dashed at
these tidings, and Rosader and Adam Spencer, having such opportunity,
went to take their rest. Where we leave them, and return again to
Torismond.
The flight of Rosader came to the ears of Torismond, who hearing that
Saladyne was sole heir of the lands of Sir John of Bordeaux, desirous
to possess such fair revenues, found just occasion to quarrel with
Saladyne about the wrongs he proffered to his brother: and therefore,
dispatching a herehault,[1] he sent for Saladyne in all post-haste.
Who marvelling what the matter should be, began to examine his own
conscience, wherein he had offended his highness; but emboldened with
his innocence, he boldly went with the herehault unto the court;
where, as soon as he came, he was not admitted into the presence of
the king, but presently sent to prison. This greatly amazed Saladyne,
chiefly in that the jailer had a straight charge over him, to see that
he should be close prisoner. Many passionate thoughts came in his
head, till at last he began to fall into consideration of his former
follies, and to meditate with himself. Leaning his head on his hand,
and his elbow on his knee, full of sorrow, grief and disquieted
passions, he resolved into these terms:
[Footnote 1: herald.]
SALADYNE'S COMPLAINT
"Unhappy Saladyne! whom folly hath led to these misfortunes, and
wanton desires wrapped within the labyrinth of these calamities! Are
not the heavens doomers of men's deeds; and holds not God a balance in
his fist, to reward with favor, and revenge with justice? O Saladyne,
the faults of thy youth, as they were fond, so were they foul, and not
only discovering little nurture, but blemishing the excellence of
nature. Whelps of one litter are ever most loving, and brothers that
are sons of one father should live in friendship without jar. O
Saladyne, so it should be; but thou hast with the deer fed against the
wind, with the crab strove against the stream, and sought to pervert
nature by unkindness. Rosader's wrongs, the wrongs of Rosader,
Saladyne, cries for revenge; his youth pleads to God to inflict some
penance upon thee; his virtues are pleas that enforce writs of
displeasure to cross thee: thou hast highly abused thy kind and
natural brother, and the heavens cannot spare to quite thee with
punishment. There is no sting to the worm of conscience, no hell to a
mind touched with guilt. Every wrong I offered him, called now to
remembrance, wringeth a drop of blood from my heart, every bad look,
every frown pincheth me at the quick, and says, 'Saladyne thou hast
sinned against Rosader.' Be penitent, and assign thyself some penance
to discover thy sorrow, and pacify his wrath."
In the depth of his passion, he was sent for to the king, who with a
look that threatened death entertained him, and demanded of him where
his brother was. Saladyne made answer, that upon some riot made
against the sheriff of the shire, he was fled from Bordeaux, but he
knew not whither.
"Nay, villain," quoth he, "I have heard of the wrongs thou hast
proffered thy brother since the death of thy father, and by thy means
have I lost a most brave and resolute chevalier. Therefore, in justice
to punish thee, I spare thy life for thy father's sake, but banish
thee for ever from the court and country of France; and see thy
departure be within ten days, else trust me thou shalt lose thy head."
And with that the king flew away in a rage, and left poor Saladyne
greatly perplexed; who grieving at his exile, yet determined to bear
it with patience, and in penance of his former follies to travel
abroad in every coast till he had found out his brother Rosader. With
whom now I begin.
Rosader, being thus preferred to the place of a forester by Gerismond,
rooted out the remembrance of his brother's unkindness by continual
exercise, traversing the groves and wild forests, partly to hear the
melody of the sweet birds which recorded,[1] and partly to show his
diligent endeavor in his master's behalf. Yet whatsoever he did, or
howsoever he walked, the lively image of Rosalynde remained in memory:
on her sweet perfections he fed his thoughts, proving himself like the
eagle a true-born bird, since as the one is known by beholding the
sun, so was he by regarding excellent beauty. One day among the rest,
finding a fit opportunity and place convenient, desirous to discover
his woes to the woods, he engraved with his knife on the bark of a
myrtle tree, this pretty estimate of his mistress' perfection:
[Footnote 1: sang.]
_Sonetto_
Of all chaste birds the Phoenix doth excell,
Of all strong beasts the lion bears the bell,
Of all sweet flowers the rose doth sweetest smell,
Of all fair maids my Rosalynde is fairest.
Of all pure metals gold is only purest,
Of all high trees the pine hath highest crest,
Of all soft sweets I like my mistress' breast,
Of all chaste thoughts my mistress' thoughts are rarest.
Of all proud birds the eagle pleaseth Jove,
Of pretty fowls kind Venus likes the dove,
Of trees Minerva doth the olive love,
Of all sweet nymphs I honor Rosalynde.
Of all her gifts her wisdom pleaseth most,
Of all her graces virtue she doth boast:
For all these gifts my life and joy is lost,
If Rosalynde prove cruel and unkind.
In these and such like passions Rosader did every day eternize the
name of his Rosalynde; and this day especially when Aliena and
Ganymede, enforced by the heat of the sun to seek for shelter, by good
fortune arrived in that place, where this amorous forester registered
his melancholy passions. They saw the sudden change of his looks, his
folded arms, his passionate sighs: they heard him often abruptly call
on Rosalynde, who, poor soul, was as hotly burned as himself, but that
she shrouded her pains in the cinders of honorable modesty. Whereupon,
guessing him to be in love, and according to the nature of their sex
being pitiful in that behalf, they suddenly brake off his melancholy
by their approach, and Ganymede shook him out of his dumps thus:
"What news, forester? hast thou wounded some deer, and lost him in the
fall? Care not man for so small a loss: thy fees was but the skin, the
shoulder, and the horns: 'tis hunter's luck to aim fair and miss; and
a woodman's fortune to strike and yet go without the game."
"Thou art beyond the mark, Ganymede," quoth Aliena: "his passions are
greater, and his sighs discovers more loss: perhaps in traversing
these thickets, he hath seen some beautiful nymph, and is grown
amorous."
"It may be so," quoth Ganymede, "for here he hath newly engraven some
sonnet: come, and see the discourse of the forester's poems."
Reading the sonnet over, and hearing him name Rosalynde, Aliena looked
on Ganymede and laughed, and Ganymede looking back on the forester,
and seeing it was Rosader, blushed; yet thinking to shroud all under
her page's apparel, she boldly returned to Rosader, and began thus:
"I pray thee tell me, forester, what is this Rosalynde for whom thou
pinest away in such passions? Is she some nymph that waits upon
Diana's train, whose chastity thou hast deciphered in such epithets?
Or is she some shepherdess that haunts these plains whose beauty hath
so bewitched thy fancy, whose name thou shadowest in covert under the
figure of Rosalynde, as Ovid did Julia under the name of Corinna? Or
say me forsooth, is it that Rosalynde, of whom we shepherds have heard
talk, she, forester, that is the daughter of Gerismond, that once was
king, and now an outlaw in the forest of Arden?"
At this Rosader fetched a deep sigh, and said:
"It is she, O gentle swain, it is she; that saint it is whom I serve,
that goddess at whose shrine I do bend all my devotions; the most
fairest of all fairs, the phoenix of all that sex, and the purity of
all earthly perfection."
"And why, gentle forester, if she be so beautiful, and thou so
amorous, is there such a disagreement in thy thoughts? Happily she
resembleth the rose, that is sweet but full of prickles? or the
serpent Regius that hath scales as glorious as the sun and a breath as
infectious as the Aconitum is deadly? So thy Rosalynde may be most
amiable and yet unkind; full of favor and yet froward, coy without
wit, and disdainful without reason."
"O Shepherd," quoth Rosader, "knewest thou her personage, graced with
the excellence of all perfection, being a harbor wherein the graces
shroud their virtues, thou wouldest not breathe out such blasphemy
against the beauteous Rosalynde. She is a diamond, bright but not
hard, yet of most chaste operation; a pearl so orient,[1] that it can
be stained with no blemish; a rose without prickles, and a princess
absolute as well in beauty as in virtue. But I, unhappy I, have let
mine eye soar with the eagle against so bright a sun that I am quite
blind: I have with Apollo enamored myself of a Daphne, not, as she,
disdainful, but far more chaste than Daphne: I have with Ixion laid my
love on Juno, and shall, I fear, embrace nought but a cloud. Ah,
Shepherd, I have reached at a star: my desires have mounted above my
degree, and my thoughts above my fortunes. I being a peasant, have
ventured to gaze on a princess, whose honors are too high to vouchsafe
such base loves."
[Footnote 1: precious.]
"Why, forester," quoth Ganymede, "comfort thyself; be blithe and
frolic man. Love souseth[1] as low as she soareth high: Cupid shoots
at a rag as soon as at a robe; and Venus' eye that was so curious,
sparkled favor on pole-footed[2] Vulcan. Fear not, man, women's looks
are not tied to dignity's feathers, nor make they curious esteem where
the stone is found, but what is the virtue. Fear not, forester; faint
heart never won fair lady. But where lives Rosalynde now? at the
court?"
[Footnote 1: swoops, a term used in falconry.]
[Footnote 2: club-footed.]
"Oh no," quoth Rosader, "she lives I know not where, and that is my
sorrow; banished by Torismond, and that is my hell: for might I but
find her sacred personage, and plead before the bar of her pity the
plaint of my passions, hope tells me she would grace me with some
favor, and that would suffice as a recompense of all my former
miseries."
"Much have I heard of thy mistress' excellence, and I know, forester,
thou canst describe her at the full, as one that hast surveyed all her
parts with a curious eye; then do me that favor, to tell me what her
perfections be."
"That I will," quoth Rosader, "for I glory to make all ears wonder at
my mistress' excellence."
And with that he pulled a paper forth his bosom, wherein he read this:
_Rosalynde's Description_
Like to the clear[1] in highest sphere
Where all imperial glory shines,
Of selfsame color is her hair,
Whether unfolded or in twines:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde!
Her eyes are sapphires set in snow,
Refining heaven by every wink:
The gods do fear whenas they glow,
And I do tremble when I think:
Heigh ho, would she were mine.
Her cheeks are like the blushing cloud
That beautifies Aurora's face,
Or like the silver crimson shroud
That Phoebus' smiling looks doth grace:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde.
Her lips are like two budded roses,
Whom ranks of lilies neighbor nigh,
Within which bounds she balm encloses,
Apt to entice a deity:
Heigh ho, would she were mine.
Her neck, like to a stately tower
Where love himself imprisoned lies,
To watch for glances every hour
From her divine and sacred eyes:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde.
Her paps are centres of delight,
Her paps are orbs of heavenly frame,
Where nature moulds the dew of light,
To feed perfection with the same:
Heigh ho, would she were mine.
With orient pearl, with ruby red,
With marble white, with sapphire blue,
Her body every way is fed,
Yet soft in touch, and sweet in view:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde.
Nature herself her shape admires,
The gods are wounded in her sight,
And Love forsakes his heavenly fires
And at her eyes his brand doth light:
Heigh ho, would she were mine.
Then muse not, nymphs, though I bemoan
The absence of fair Rosalynde,
Since for her fair[2] there is fairer none,
Nor for her virtues so divine:
Heigh ho, fair Rosalynde.
Heigh ho, my heart, would God that she were mine!
_Periit, quia deperibat._
[Footnote 1: brightness.]
[Footnote 2: fairness.]
"Believe me," quoth Ganymede, "either the forester is an exquisite
painter, or Rosalynde far above wonder; so it makes me blush to hear
how women should be so excellent, and pages so unperfect."
Rosader beholding her earnestly, answered thus:
"Truly, gentle page, thou hast cause to complain thee wert thou the
substance, but resembling the shadow content thyself; for it is
excellence enough to be like the excellence of nature."
"He hath answered you, Ganymede," quoth Aliena, "it is enough for
pages to wait on beautiful ladies, and not to be beautiful
themselves."
"O mistress," quoth Ganymede, "hold you your peace, for you are
partial. Who knows not, but that all women have desire to tie
sovereignty to their petticoats, and ascribe beauty to themselves,
where, if boys might put on their garments, perhaps they would prove
as comely; if not as comely, it may be more courteous. But tell me,
forester," and with that she turned to Rosader, "under whom
maintainest thou thy walk?"
"Gentle swain, under the king of outlaws," said he, "the unfortunate
Gerismond, who having lost his kingdom, crowneth his thoughts with
content, accounting it better to govern among poor men in peace, than
great men in danger."
"But hast thou not," said she, "having so melancholy opportunities as
this forest affordeth thee, written more sonnets in commendations of
thy mistress?"
"I have, gentle swain," quoth he, "but they be not about me. To-morrow
by dawn of day, if your flocks feed in these pastures, I will bring
them you, wherein you shall read my passions whilst I feel them, judge
my patience when you read it: till when I bid farewell." So giving
both Ganymede and Aliena a gentle good-night, he resorted to his
lodge, leaving Aliena and Ganymede to their prittle-prattle.
"So Ganymede," said Aliena, the forester being gone, "you are mightily
beloved; men make ditties in your praise, spend sighs for your sake,
make an idol of your beauty. Believe me, it grieves me not a little to
see the poor man so pensive, and you so pitiless."
"Ah, Aliena," quoth she, "be not peremptory in your judgments. I hear
Rosalynde praised as I am Ganymede, but were I Rosalynde, I could
answer the forester: if he mourn for love, there are medicines for
love: Rosalynde cannot be fair and unkind. And so, madam, you see it
is time to fold our flocks, or else Corydon will frown and say you
will never prove good housewife."
With that they put their sheep into the cotes, and went home to her
friend Corydon's cottage, Aliena as merry as might be that she was
thus in the company of her Rosalynde; but she, poor soul, that had
love her lodestar, and her thoughts set on fire with the flame of
fancy, could take no rest, but being alone began to consider what
passionate penance poor Rosader was enjoined to by love and fortune,
that at last she fell into this humor with herself:
ROSALYNDE PASSIONATE ALONE
"Ah, Rosalynde, how the Fates have set down in their synod to make
thee unhappy: for when Fortune hath done her worst, then Love comes in
to begin a new tragedy: she seeks to lodge her son in thine eyes, and
to kindle her fires in thy bosom. Beware, fond girl, he is an unruly
guest to harbor; for cutting in by entreats, he will not be thrust out
by force, and her fires are fed with such fuel, as no water is able to
quench. Seest thou not how Venus seeks to wrap thee in her labyrinth,
wherein is pleasure at the entrance, but within, sorrows, cares, and
discontent? She is a Siren, stop thine ears to her melody; she is a
basilisk, shut thy eyes and gaze not at her lest thou perish. Thou art
now placed in the country content, where are heavenly thoughts and
mean desires: in those lawns where thy flocks feed, Diana haunts: be
as her nymphs chaste, and enemy to love, for there is no greater honor
to a maid, than to account of fancy as a mortal foe to their sex.
Daphne, that bonny wench, was not turned into a bay tree, as the
poets feign: but for her chastity her fame was immortal, resembling
the laurel that is ever green. Follow thou her steps, Rosalynde, and
the rather, for that thou art an exile, and banished from the court;
whose distress, and it is appeased with patience, so it would be
renewed with amorous passions. Have mind on thy forepassed fortunes;
fear the worst, and entangle not thyself with present fancies, lest
loving in haste, thou repent thee at leisure. Ah, but yet, Rosalynde,
it is Rosader that courts thee; one who as he is beautiful, so he is
virtuous, and harboreth in his mind as many good qualities as his face
is shadowed with gracious favors; and therefore, Rosalynde, stoop to
love, lest, being either too coy or too cruel, Venus wax wroth, and
plague thee with the reward of disdain."
Rosalynde, thus passionate, was wakened from her dumps[1] by Aliena,
who said it was time to go to bed. Corydon swore that was true, for
Charles' Wain was risen in the north. Whereupon each taking leave of
other, went to their rest, all but the poor Rosalynde, who was so full
of passions, that she could not possess any content. Well, leaving her
to her broken slumbers, expect what was performed by them the next
morning.
[Footnote 1: meditation.]
The sun was no sooner stepped from the bed of Aurora, but Aliena was
wakened by Ganymede, who, restless all night, had tossed in her
passions, saying it was then time to go to the field to unfold their
sheep. Aliena, that spied where the hare was by the hounds, and could
see day at a little hole, thought to be pleasant with her Ganymede,
and therefore replied thus:
"What, wanton! the sun is but new up, and as yet Iris' riches lie
folded in the bosom of Flora: Phoebus hath not dried up the pearled
dew, and so long Corydon hath taught me, it is not fit to lead the
sheep abroad, lest, the dew being unwholesome, they get the rot: but
now see I the old proverb true, he is in haste whom the devil drives,
and where love pricks forward, there is no worse death than delay. Ah,
my good page, is there fancy in thine eye, and passions in thy heart?
What, hast thou wrapt love in thy looks, and set all thy thoughts on
fire by affection? I tell thee, it is a flame as hard to be quenched
as that of Aetna. But nature must have her course: women's eyes have
faculty attractive like the jet, and retentive like the diamond: they
dally in the delight of fair objects, till gazing on the panther's
beautiful skin, repenting experience tell them he hath a devouring
paunch."
"Come on," quoth Ganymede, "this sermon of yours is but a subtlety to
lie still a-bed, because either you think the morning cold, or else I
being gone, you would steal a nap: this shift carries no palm, and
therefore up and away. And for Love, let me alone; I'll whip him away
with nettles, and set disdain as a charm to withstand his forces: and
therefore look you to yourself; be not too bold, for Venus can make
you bend, nor too coy, for Cupid hath a piercing dart, that will make
you cry _Peccavi_."
"And that is it," quoth Aliena, "that hath raised you so early this
morning." And with that she slipped on her petticoat, and start up;
and as soon as she had made her ready, and taken her breakfast, away
go these two with their bag and bottles to the field, in more pleasant
content of mind than ever they were in the court of Torismond.
They came no sooner nigh the folds, but they might see where their
discontented forester was walking in his melancholy. As soon as Aliena
saw him, she smiled and said to Ganymede:
"Wipe your eyes, sweeting, for yonder is your sweetheart this morning
in deep prayers, no doubt, to Venus, that she may make you as pitiful
as he is passionate. Come on, Ganymede, I pray thee, let's have a
little sport with him."
"Content," quoth Ganymede, and with that, to waken him out of his deep
_memento_,[1] he began thus:
[Footnote 1: revery.]
"Forester, good fortune to thy thoughts, and ease to thy passions.
What makes you so early abroad this morn? in contemplation, no doubt,
of your Rosalynde. Take heed, forester; step not too far, the ford may
be deep, and you slip over the shoes: I tell thee, flies have their
spleen, the ants choler, the least hairs shadows, and the smallest
loves great desires. 'Tis good, forester, to love, but not to
overlove, lest in loving her that likes not thee, thou fold thyself in
an endless labyrinth."
Rosader, seeing the fair shepherdess and her pretty swain in whose
company he felt the greatest ease of his care, he returned them a
salute on this manner:
"Gentle shepherds, all hail, and as healthful be your flocks as you
happy in content. Love is restless, and my bed is but the cell of my
bane, in that there I find busy thoughts and broken slumbers: here
(although everywhere passionate) yet I brook love with more patience,
in that every object feeds mine eye with variety of fancies. When I
look on Flora's beauteous tapestry, checked with the pride of all her
treasure, I call to mind the fair face of Rosalynde, whose heavenly
hue exceeds the rose and the lily in their highest excellence: the
brightness of Phoebus' shine puts me in mind to think of the sparkling
flames that flew from her eyes, and set my heart first on fire: the
sweet harmony of the birds, puts me in remembrance of the rare melody
of her voice, which like the Siren enchanteth the ears of the hearer.
Thus in contemplation I salve my sorrows, with applying the perfection
of every object to the excellence of her qualities."
"She is much beholding unto you," quoth Aliena, "and so much, that I
have oft wished with myself, that if I should ever prove as amorous
as Oenone, I might find as faithful a Paris as yourself."
"How say you by this item, forester?" quoth Ganymede, "the fair
shepherdess favors you, who is mistress of so many flocks. Leave off,
man, the supposition of Rosalynde's love, whenas watching at her you
rove beyond the moon, and cast your looks upon my mistress, who no
doubt is as fair though not so royal; one bird in the hand is worth
two in the wood: better possess the love of Aliena than catch
furiously at the shadow of Rosalynde."
"I'll tell thee boy," quoth Rosader, "so is my fancy fixed on my
Rosalynde, that were thy mistress as fair as Leda or Danaë, whom Jove
courted in transformed shapes, mine eyes would not vouch to entertain
their beauties; and so hath love locked me in her perfections, that I
had rather only contemplate in her beauties, than absolutely possess
the excellence of any other."
"Venus is to blame, forester, if having so true a servant of you, she
reward you not with Rosalynde, if Rosalynde were more fairer than
herself. But leaving this prattle, now I'll put you in mind of your
promise about those sonnets, which you said were at home in your
lodge."
"I have them about me," quoth Rosader, "let us sit down, and then you
shall hear what a poetical fury love will infuse into a man." With
that they sate down upon a green bank, shadowed with fig trees, and
Rosader, fetching a deep sigh, read them this sonnet:
_Rosader's Sonnet_
In sorrow's cell I laid me down to sleep,
But waking woes were jealous of mine eyes,
They made them watch, and bend themselves to weep,
But weeping tears their want could not suffice:
Yet since for her they wept who guides my heart,
They weeping smile, and triumph in their smart.
Of these my tears a fountain fiercely springs,
Where Venus bains[1] herself incensed with love,
Where Cupid bowseth[2] his fair feathered wings;
But I behold what pains I must approve.
Care drinks it dry; but when on her I think,
Love makes me weep it full unto the brink.
Meanwhile my sighs yield truce unto my tears,
By them the winds increased and fiercely blow:
Yet when I sigh the flame more plain appears,
And by their force with greater power doth glow:
Amid these pains, all phoenix-like I thrive
Since love, that yields me death, may life revive.[3]
_Rosader en esperance._
[Footnote 1: bathes.]
[Footnote 2: dips.]
[Footnote 3: This song is said to be an imitation of Desportes's
sonnet beginning,
Si je me siez à l'ombre aussi soudainement.]
"Now, surely, forester," quoth Aliena, "when thou madest this sonnet,
thou wert in some amorous quandary, neither too fearful as despairing
of thy mistress' favors, nor too gleesome as hoping in thy fortunes."
"I can smile," quoth Ganymede, "at the sonettos, canzones, madrigals,
rounds and roundelays, that these pensive patients pour out when their
eyes are more full of wantonness, than their hearts of passions. Then,
as the fishers put the sweetest bait to the fairest fish, so these
Ovidians, holding _amo_ in their tongues, when their thoughts come at
haphazard, write that they be rapt in an endless labyrinth of sorrow,
when walking in the large lease of liberty, they only have their
humors in their inkpot. If they find women so fond, that they will
with such painted lures come to their lust, then they triumph till
they be full-gorged with pleasures; and then fly they away, like
ramage[1] kites, to their own content, leaving the tame fool, their
mistress, full of fancy, yet without even a feather. If they miss, as
dealing with some wary wanton, that wants not such a one as
themselves, but spies their subtlety, they end their amours with a few
feigned sighs; and so their excuse is, their mistress is cruel, and
they smother passions with patience. Such, gentle forester, we may
deem you to be, that rather pass away the time here in these woods
with writing amorets, than to be deeply enamored (as you say) of your
Rosalynde. If you be such a one, then I pray God, when you think your
fortunes at the highest, and your desires to be most excellent, then
that you may with Ixion embrace Juno in a cloud, and have nothing but
a marble mistress to release your martyrdom; but if you be true and
trusty, eye-pained and heart-sick, then accursed be Rosalynde if she
prove cruel: for, forester (I flatter not) thou art worthy of as fair
as she." Aliena, spying the storm by the wind, smiled to see how
Ganymede flew to the fist without any call; but Rosader, who took him
flat for a shepherd's swain, made him this answer:
[Footnote 1: wild.]
"Trust me, swain," quoth Rosader, "but my canzon was written in no
such humor; for mine eye and my heart are relatives, the one drawing
fancy by sight, the other entertaining her by sorrow. If thou sawest
my Rosalynde, with what beauties nature hath favored her, with what
perfection the heavens hath graced her, with what qualities the gods
have endued her, then wouldst thou say, there is none so fickle that
could be fleeting unto her. If she had been Aeneas' Dido, had Venus
and Juno both scolded him from Carthage, yet her excellence, despite
of them, would have detained him at Tyre. If Phyllis had been as
beauteous, or Ariadne as virtuous, or both as honorable and excellent
as she, neither had the filbert tree sorrowed in the death of
despairing Phyllis, nor the stars been graced with Ariadne, but
Demophoon and Theseus had been trusty to their paragons. I will tell
thee, swain, if with a deep insight thou couldst pierce into the
secret of my loves, and see what deep impressions of her idea
affection hath made in my heart, then wouldst thou confess I were
passing passionate, and no less endued with admirable patience."
"Why," quoth Aliena, "needs there patience in love?"
"Or else in nothing," quoth Rosader; "for it is a restless sore that
hath no ease, a canker that still frets, a disease that taketh away
all hope of sleep. If then so many sorrows, sudden joys, momentary
pleasures, continual fears, daily griefs, and nightly woes be found in
love, then is not he to be accounted patient that smothers all these
passions with silence?"
"Thou speakest by experience," quoth Ganymede, "and therefore we hold
all thy words for axioms. But is love such a lingering malady?"
"It is," quoth he, "either extreme or mean, according to the mind of
the party that entertains it; for, as the weeds grow longer untouched
than the pretty flowers, and the flint lies safe in the quarry when
the emerald is suffering the lapidary's tool, so mean men are freed
from Venus' injuries, when kings are environed with a labyrinth of her
cares. The whiter the lawn is, the deeper is the mole[1]; the more
purer the chrysolite, the sooner stained; and such as have their
hearts full of honor, have their loves full of the greatest sorrows.
But in whomsoever," quoth Rosader, "he fixeth his dart, he never
leaveth to assault him, till either he hath won him to folly or fancy;
for as the moon never goes without the star Lunisequa, so a lover
never goeth without the unrest of his thoughts. For proof you shall
hear another fancy of my making."
[Footnote 1: stain.]
"Now do, gentle forester," quoth Ganymede; and with that he read over
this sonetto:
_Rosader's second Sonetto_
Turn I my looks unto the skies,
Love with his arrows wounds mine eyes;
If so I gaze upon the ground,
Love then in every flower is found.
Search I the shade to fly my pain,
He meets me in the shade again;
Wend I to walk in secret grove,
Even there I meet with sacred Love.
If so I bain[1] me in the spring,
Even on the brink I hear him sing:
If so I meditate alone,
He will be partner of my moan.
If so I mourn, he weeps with me,
And where I am there will he be.
Whenas I talk of Rosalynde
The god from coyness waxeth kind,
And seems in selfsame flames to fry
Because he loves as well as I.
Sweet Rosalynde, for pity rue;
For why, than Love I am more true:
He, if he speed, will quickly fly,
But in thy love I live and die.
[Footnote 1: bathe.]
"How like you this sonnet?" quoth Rosader.
"Marry," quoth Ganymede, "for the pen well, for the passion ill; for
as I praise the one, I pity the other, in that thou shouldst hunt
after a cloud, and love either without reward or regard."
"'Tis not her frowardness," quoth Rosader, "but my hard fortunes,
whose destinies have crossed me with her absence; for did she feel my
loves, she would not let me linger in these sorrows. Women, as they
are fair, so they respect faith, and estimate more, if they be
honorable, the will than the wealth, having loyalty the object whereat
they aim their fancies. But leaving off these interparleys,[1] you
shall hear my last sonetto, and then you have heard all my poetry."
And with that he sighed out this:
[Footnote 1: discussions.]
_Rosader's third Sonnet_
Of virtuous love myself may boast alone,
Since no suspect my service may attaint:
For perfect fair she is the only one,
Whom I esteem for my belovèd saint.
Thus, for my faith I only bear the bell,
And for her fair she only doth excel.
Then let fond Petrarch shroud his Laura's praise,
And Tasso cease to publish his affect,
Since mine the faith confirmed at all assays,
And hers the fair, which all men do respect.
My lines her fair, her fair my faith assures;
Thus I by love, and love by me endures.
"Thus," quoth Rosader, "here is an end of my poems, but for all this
no release of my passions; so that I resemble him that in the depth of
his distress hath none but the echo to answer him."
Ganymede, pitying her Rosader, thinking to drive him out of this
amorous melancholy, said that now the sun was in his meridional heat
and that it was high noon, "therefore we shepherds say, 'tis time to
go to dinner; for the sun and our stomachs are shepherds' dials.
Therefore, forester, if thou wilt take such fare as comes out of our
homely scrips, welcome shall answer whatsoever thou wantest in
delicates."
Aliena took the entertainment by the end, and told Rosader he should
be her guest. He thanked them heartily, and sate with them down to
dinner, where they had such cates as country state did allow them,
sauced with such content, and such sweet prattle, as it seemed far
more sweet than all their courtly junkets.
As soon as they had taken their repast, Rosader, giving them thanks
for his good cheer, would have been gone; but Ganymede, that was loath
to let him pass out of her presence, began thus:
"Nay, forester," quoth he, "if thy business be not the greater, seeing
thou sayest thou art so deeply in love, let me see how thou canst woo:
I will represent Rosalynde, and thou shalt be as thou art, Rosader.
See in some amorous eclogue, how if Rosalynde were present, how thou
couldst court her; and while we sing of love, Aliena shall tune her
pipe and play us melody."
"Content," quoth Rosader, and Aliena, she, to show her willingness,
drew forth a recorder,[1] and began to wind it. Then the loving
forester began thus:
[Footnote 1: an old instrument, resembling the flageolet.]
_The wooing Eclogue betwixt Rosalynde and Rosader_
ROSADER
I pray thee, nymph, by all the working words,
By all the tears and sighs that lovers know,
Or what or thoughts or faltering tongue affords,
I crave for mine in ripping up my woe.
Sweet Rosalynde, my love (would God, my love)
My life (would God, my life) aye, pity me!
Thy lips are kind, and humble like the dove,
And but with beauty, pity will not be.
Look on mine eyes, made red with rueful tears,
From whence the rain of true remorse descendeth,
All pale in looks am I though young in years,
And nought but love or death my days befriendeth.
Oh let no stormy rigor knit thy brows,
Which love appointed for his mercy seat:
The tallest tree by Boreas' breath it bows;
The iron yields with hammer, and to heat.
O Rosalynde, then be thou pitiful,
For Rosalynde is only beautiful.
ROSALYNDE
Love's wantons arm their trait'rous suits with tears,
With vows, with oaths, with looks, with showers of gold;
But when the fruit of their affects appears,
The simple heart by subtle sleights is sold.
Thus sucks the yielding ear the poisoned bait,
Thus feeds the heart upon his endless harms,
Thus glut the thoughts themselves on self-deceit,
Thus blind the eyes their sight by subtle charms.
The lovely looks, the sighs that storm so sore,
The dew of deep-dissembled doubleness,
These may attempt, but are of power no more
Where beauty leans to wit and soothfastness.
O Rosader, then be thou wittiful,
For Rosalynde scorns foolish pitiful.
ROSADER
I pray thee, Rosalynde, by those sweet eyes
That stain the sun in shine, the morn in clear,
By those sweet cheeks where Love encampèd lies
To kiss the roses of the springing year.
I tempt thee, Rosalynde, by ruthful plaints,
Not seasoned with deceit or fraudful guile,
But firm in pain, far more than tongue depaints,
Sweet nymph, be kind, and grace me with a smile.
So may the heavens preserve from hurtful food
Thy harmless flocks; so may the summer yield
The pride of all her riches and her good,
To fat thy sheep, the citizens of field.
Oh, leave to arm thy lovely brows with scorn:
The birds their beak, the lion hath his tail,
And lovers nought but sighs and bitter mourn,
The spotless fort of fancy to assail.
O Rosalynde, then be thou pitiful,
For Rosalynde is only beautiful.
ROSALYNDE
The hardened steel by fire is brought in frame:
ROSADER
And Rosalynde, my love, than any wool more softer;
And shall not sighs her tender heart inflame?
ROSALYNDE
Were lovers true, maids would believe them ofter.
ROSADER
Truth, and regard, and honor, guide my love.
ROSALYNDE
Fain would I trust, but yet I dare not try.
ROSADER
O pity me, sweet nymph, and do but prove.
ROSALYNDE
I would resist, but yet I know not why.
ROSADER
O Rosalynde, be kind, for times will change,
Thy looks ay nill be fair as now they be;
Thine age from beauty may thy looks estrange:
Ah, yield in time, sweet nymph, and pity me.
ROSALYNDE
O Rosalynde, thou must be pitiful,
For Rosader is young and beautiful.
ROSADER
Oh, gain more great than kingdoms or a crown!
ROSALYNDE
Oh, trust betrayed if Rosader abuse me.
ROSADER
First let the heavens conspire to pull me down
And heaven and earth as abject quite refuse me.
Let sorrows stream about my hateful bower,
And restless horror hatch within my breast:
Let beauty's eye afflict me with a lour,
Let deep despair pursue me without rest,
Ere Rosalynde my loyalty disprove,
Ere Rosalynde accuse me for unkind.
ROSALYNDE
Then Rosalynde will grace thee with her love
Then Rosalynde will have thee still in mind.
ROSADER
Then let me triumph more than Tithon's dear,
Since Rosalynde will Rosader respect:
Then let my face exile his sorry cheer,
And frolic in the comfort of affect;
And say that Rosalynde is only pitiful,
Since Rosalynde is only beautiful.
When thus they had finished their courting eclogue in such a familiar
clause, Ganymede, as augur of some good fortunes to light upon their
affections, began to be thus pleasant:
"How now, forester, have I not fitted your turn? have I not played the
woman handsomely, and showed myself as coy in grants as courteous in
desires, and been as full of suspicion as men of flattery? and yet to
salve all, jumped[1] I not all up with the sweet union of love? Did
not Rosalynde content her Rosader?"
[Footnote 1: ended.]
The forester at this smiling, shook his head, and folding his arms
made this merry reply:
"Truth, gentle swain, Rosader hath his Rosalynde; but as Ixion had
Juno, who, thinking to possess a goddess, only embraced a cloud: in
these imaginary fruitions of fancy I resemble the birds that fed
themselves with Zeuxis' painted grapes; but they grew so lean with
pecking at shadows, that they were glad, with Aesop's cock, to scrape
for a barley cornel.[1] So fareth it with me, who to feed myself with
the hope of my mistress's favors, sooth myself in thy suits, and only
in conceit reap a wished-for content; but if my food be no better than
such amorous dreams, Venus at the year's end shall find me but a lean
lover. Yet do I take these follies for high fortunes, and hope these
feigned affections do divine some unfeigned end of ensuing fancies."
[Footnote 1: kernel.]
"And thereupon," quoth Aliena, "I'll play the priest: from this day
forth Ganymede shall call thee husband, and thou shall call Ganymede
wife, and so we'll have a marriage."
"Content," quoth Rosader, and laughed.
"Content," quoth Ganymede, and changed as red as a rose: and so with a
smile and a blush, they made up this jesting match, that after proved
to a marriage in earnest, Rosader full little thinking he had wooed
and won his Rosalynde.
But all was well; hope is a sweet string to harp on, and therefore
let the forester awhile shape himself to his shadow, and tarry
fortune's leisure, till she may make a metamorphosis fit for his
purpose. I digress; and therefore to Aliena, who said, the wedding was
not worth a pin, unless there were some cheer, nor that bargain well
made that was not stricken up with a cup of wine: and therefore she
willed Ganymede to set out such cates as they had, and to draw out her
bottle, charging the forester, as he had imagined his loves, so to
conceit these cates to be a most sumptuous banquet, and to take a
mazer[1] of wine and to drink to his Rosalynde; which Rosader did, and
so they passed away the day in many pleasant devices. Till at last
Aliena perceived time would tarry no man, and that the sun waxed very
low, ready to set, which made her shorten their amorous prattle, and
end the banquet with a fresh carouse: which done, they all three
arose, and Aliena broke off thus:
[Footnote 1: mug.]
"Now, forester, Phoebus that all this while hath been partaker of our
sports, seeing every woodman more fortunate in his loves than he in
his fancies, seeing thou hast won Rosalynde when he could not woo
Daphne, hides his head for shame and bids us adieu in a cloud. Our
sheep, they poor wantons, wander towards their folds, as taught by
nature their due times of rest, which tells us, forester, we must
depart. Marry, though there were a marriage, yet I must carry this
night the bride with me, and to-morrow morning if you meet us here,
I'll promise to deliver you her as good a maid as I find her."
"Content," quoth Rosader, "'tis enough for me in the night to dream on
love, that in the day am so fond to doat on love: and so till
to-morrow you to your folds, and I will to my lodge." And thus the
forester and they parted.
He was no sooner gone, but Aliena and Ganymede went and folded their
flocks, and taking up their hooks, their bags, and their bottles,
hied homeward. By the way Aliena, to make the time seem short, began
to prattle with Ganymede thus:
"I have heard them say, that what the fates forepoint, that fortune
pricketh down with a period; that the stars are sticklers in Venus'
court, and desire hangs at the heel of destiny: if it be so, then by
all probable conjectures, this match will be a marriage: for if
augurism be authentical, or the divines' dooms principles, it cannot
be but such a shadow portends the issue of a substance, for to that
end did the gods force the conceit of this eclogue, that they might
discover the ensuing consent of your affections: so that ere it be
long, I hope, in earnest, to dance at your wedding."
"Tush," quoth Ganymede, "all is not malt that is cast on the kiln:
there goes more words to a bargain than one: Love feels no footing in
the air, and fancy holds it slippery harbor to nestle in the tongue:
the match is not yet so surely made, but he may miss of his market;
but if fortune be his friend, I will not be his foe: and so I pray
you, gentle mistress Aliena, take it."
"I take all things well," quoth she, "that is your content, and am
glad Rosader is yours; for now I hope your thoughts will be at quiet;
your eye that ever looked at love, will now lend a glance on your
lambs, and then they will prove more buxom and you more blithe, for
the eyes of the master feeds the cattle."
As thus they were in chat, they spied old Corydon where he came
plodding to meet them, who told them supper was ready, which news made
them speed them home. Where we will leave them to the next morrow, and
return to Saladyne.
All this while did poor Saladyne, banished from Bordeaux and the court
of France by Torismond, wander up and down in the forest of Arden,
thinking to get to Lyons, and so travel through Germany into Italy:
but the forest being full of by-paths, and he unskilful of the country
coast, slipped out of the way, and chanced up into the desert, not far
from the place where Gerismond was, and his brother Rosader.
Saladyne, weary with wandering up and down and hungry with long
fasting, finding a little cave by the side of a thicket, eating such
fruit as the forest did afford and contenting himself with such drink
as nature had provided and thirst made delicate, after his repast he
fell in a dead sleep. As thus he lay, a hungry lion came hunting down
the edge of the grove for prey, and espying Saladyne began to seize
upon him: but seeing he lay still without any motion, he left to touch
him, for that lions hate to prey on dead carcases; and yet desirous to
have some food, the lion lay down and watched to see if he would stir.
While thus Saladyne slept secure, fortune that was careful of her
champion began to smile, and brought it so to pass, that Rosader,
having stricken a deer that but lightly hurt fled through the thicket,
came pacing down by the grove with a boar-spear in his hand in great
haste. He spied where a man lay asleep, and a lion fast by him: amazed
at this sight, as he stood gazing, his nose on the sudden bled, which
made him conjecture it was some friend of his. Whereupon drawing more
nigh, he might easily discern his visage, perceived by his physnomy
that it was his brother Saladyne, which drave Rosader into a deep
passion, as a man perplexed at the sight of so unexpected a chance,
marvelling what should drive his brother to traverse those secret
deserts, without any company, in such distress and forlorn sort. But
the present time craved no such doubting ambages,[1] for either he
must resolve to hazard his life for his relief, or else steal away,
and leave him to the cruelty of the lion. In which doubt he thus
briefly debated with himself:
[Footnote 1: windings.]
ROSADER'S MEDITATION
"Now, Rosader, fortune that long hath whipped thee with nettles, means
to salve thee with roses, and having crossed thee with many frowns,
now she presents thee with the brightness of her favors. Thou that
didst count thyself the most distressed of all men, mayest account
thyself the most fortunate amongst men, if Fortune can make men happy,
or sweet revenge be wrapped in a pleasing content. Thou seest Saladyne
thine enemy, the worker of thy misfortunes, and the efficient cause of
thine exile, subject to the cruelty of a merciless lion, brought into
this misery by the gods, that they might seem just in revenging his
rigor, and thy injuries. Seest thou not how the stars are in a
favorable aspect, the planets in some pleasing conjunction, the fates
agreeable to thy thoughts, and the destinies performers of thy
desires, in that Saladyne shall die, and thou be free of his blood: he
receive meed for his amiss, and thou erect his tomb with innocent
hands. Now, Rosader, shalt thou return unto Bordeaux and enjoy thy
possessions by birth, and his revenues by inheritance: now mayest thou
triumph in love, and hang fortune's altars with garlands. For when
Rosalynde hears of thy wealth, it will make her love thee the more
willingly: for women's eyes are made of Chrysocoll, that is ever
unperfect unless tempered with gold, and Jupiter soonest enjoyed
Danaë, because he came to her in so rich a shower. Thus shall this
lion, Rosader, end the life of a miserable man, and from distress
raise thee to be most fortunate." And with that, casting his
boar-spear on his neck, away he began to trudge.
But he had not stepped back two or three paces, but a new motion
stroke him to the very heart, that resting his boar-spear against his
breast, he fell into this passionate humor:
"Ah, Rosader, wert thou the son of Sir John of Bordeaux, whose virtues
exceeded his valor, and yet the most hardiest knight in all Europe?
Should the honor of the father shine in the actions of the son, and
wilt thou dishonor thy parentage, in forgetting the nature of a
gentleman? Did not thy father at his last gasp breathe out this golden
principle, 'Brothers' amity is like the drops of balsamum, that
salveth the most dangerous sores?' Did he make a large exhort unto
concord, and wilt thou show thyself careless? O Rosader, what though
Saladyne hath wronged thee, and made thee live an exile in the forest,
shall thy nature be so cruel, or thy nurture so crooked, or thy
thoughts so savage, as to suffer so dismal a revenge? What, to let him
be devoured by wild beasts! _Non sapit qui non sibi sapit_ is
fondly[1] spoken in such bitter extremes. Lose not his life, Rosader,
to win a world of treasure; for in having him thou hast a brother, and
by hazarding for his life, thou gettest a friend, and reconcilest an
enemy: and more honor shalt thou purchase by pleasuring a foe, than
revenging a thousand injuries."
[Footnote 1: foolishly.]
With that his brother began to stir, and the lion to rouse himself,
whereupon Rosader suddenly charged him with the boar-spear, and
wounded the lion very sore at the first stroke. The beast feeling
himself to have a mortal hurt, leapt at Rosader, and with his paws
gave him a sore pinch on the breast, that he had almost fallen; yet as
a man most valiant, in whom the sparks of Sir John of Bordeaux
remained, he recovered himself, and in short combat slew the lion, who
at his death roared so loud that Saladyne awaked, and starting up, was
amazed at the sudden sight of so monstrous a beast lying slain by him,
and so sweet a gentleman wounded. He presently, as he was of a ripe
conceit, began to conjecture that the gentleman had slain him in his
defence. Whereupon, as a man in a trance, he stood staring on them
both a good while, not knowing his brother, being in that disguise: at
last he burst into these terms:
"Sir, whatsoever thou be, as full of honor thou must needs be by the
view of thy present valor, I perceive thou hast redressed my fortunes
by thy courage, and saved my life with thine own loss, which ties me
to be thine in all humble service. Thanks thou shalt have as thy due,
and more thou canst not have, for my ability denies me to perform a
deeper debt. But if anyways it please thee to command me, use me as
far as the power of a poor gentleman may stretch."
Rosader, seeing he was unknown to his brother, wondered to hear such
courteous words come from his crabbed nature; but glad of such
reformed nurture, he made this answer:
"I am, sir, whatsoever thou art, a forester and ranger of these walks,
who, following my deer to the fall, was conducted hither by some
assenting fate, that I might save thee, and disparage myself. For
coming into this place, I saw thee asleep, and the lion watching thy
awake, that at thy rising he might prey upon thy carcase. At the first
sight I conjectured thee a gentleman, for all men's thoughts ought to
be favorable in imagination, and I counted it the part of a resolute
man to purchase a stranger's relief, though with the loss of his own
blood; which I have performed, thou seest, to mine own prejudice. If,
therefore, thou be a man of such worth as I value thee by thy exterior
lineaments, make discourse unto me what is the cause of thy present
fortunes. For by the furrows in thy face thou seemest to be crossed
with her frowns: but whatsoever, or howsoever, let me crave that
favor, to hear the tragic cause of thy estate."
Saladyne sitting down, and fetching a deep sigh, began thus:
SALADYNE'S DISCOURSE TO ROSADER UNKNOWN
"Although the discourse of my fortunes be the renewing of my sorrows,
and the rubbing of the scar will open a fresh wound, yet that I may
not prove ingrateful to so courteous a gentleman, I will rather sit
down and sigh out my estate, than give any offence by smothering my
grief with silence. Know therefore, sir, that I am of Bordeaux, and
the son and heir of Sir John of Bordeaux, a man for his virtues and
valor so famous, that I cannot think but the fame of his honors hath
reached farther than the knowledge of his personage. The infortunate
son of so fortunate a knight am I; my name, Saladyne; who succeeding
my father in possessions, but not in qualities, having two brethren
committed by my father at his death to my charge, with such golden
principles of brotherly concord, as might have pierced like the
Sirens' melody into any human ear. But I, with Ulysses, became deaf
against his philosophical harmony, and made more value of profit than
of virtue, esteeming gold sufficient honor, and wealth the fittest
title for a gentleman's dignity. I set my middle brother to the
university to be a scholar, counting it enough if he might pore on a
book while I fed upon his revenues; and for the youngest, which was my
father's joy, young Rosader"--And with that, naming of Rosader,
Saladyne sate him down and wept.
"Nay, forward man," quoth the forester, "tears are the unfittest salve
that any man can apply for to cure sorrows, and therefore cease from
such feminine follies, as should drop out of a woman's eye to deceive,
not out of a gentleman's look to discover his thoughts, and forward
with thy discourse."
"O sir," quoth Saladyne, "this Rosader that wrings tears from mine
eyes, and blood from my heart, was like my father in exterior
personage and in inward qualities; for in the prime of his years he
aimed all his acts at honor, and coveted rather to die than to brook
any injury unworthy a gentleman's credit. I, whom envy had made blind,
and covetousness masked with the veil of self-love, seeing the palm
tree grow straight, thought to suppress it being a twig; but nature
will have her course, the cedar will be tall, the diamond bright, the
carbuncle glistering, and virtue will shine though it be never so much
obscured. For I kept Rosader as a slave, and used him as one of my
servile hinds, until age grew on, and a secret insight of my abuse
entered into his mind; insomuch, that he could not brook it, but
coveted to have what his father left him, and to live of himself. To
be short, sir, I repined at his fortunes, and he counterchecked me,
not with ability but valor, until at last, by my friends and aid of
such as followed gold more than right or virtue, I banished him from
Bordeaux, and he, poor gentleman, lives no man knows where, in some
distressed discontent. The gods, not able to suffer such impiety
unrevenged, so wrought, that the king picked a causeless quarrel
against me in hope to have my lands, and so hath exiled me out of
France for ever. Thus, thus, sir, am I the most miserable of all men,
as having a blemish in my thoughts for the wrongs I proffered Rosader,
and a touch in my state to be thrown from my proper possessions by
injustice. Passionate thus with many griefs, in penance of my former
follies I go thus pilgrim-like to seek out my brother, that I may
reconcile myself to him in all submission, and afterward wend to the
Holy Land, to end my years in as many virtues as I have spent my youth
in wicked vanities."
Rosader, hearing the resolution of his brother Saladyne, began to
compassionate his sorrows, and not able to smother the sparks of
nature with feigned secrecy, he burst into these loving speeches:
"Then know, Saladyne," quoth he, "that thou hast met with Rosader, who
grieves as much to see thy distress, as thyself to feel the burden of
thy misery." Saladyne, casting up his eye and noting well the physnomy
of the forester, knew, that it was his brother Rosader, which made him
so bash and blush at the first meeting, that Rosader was fain to
recomfort him, which he did in such sort, that he showed how highly he
held revenge in scorn. Much ado there was between these two brethren,
Saladyne in craving pardon, and Rosader in forgiving and forgetting
all former injuries; the one submiss, the other courteous; Saladyne
penitent and passionate, Rosader kind and loving, that at length
nature working an union of their thoughts, they earnestly embraced,
and fell from matters of unkindness, to talk of the country life,
which Rosader so highly commended, that his brother began to have a
desire to taste of that homely content. In this humor Rosader
conducted him to Gerismond's lodge, and presented his brother to the
king, discoursing the whole matter how all had happened betwixt them.
The king looking upon Saladyne, found him a man of a most beautiful
personage, and saw in his face sufficient sparks of ensuing honors,
gave him great entertainment, and glad of their friendly
reconcilement, promised such favor as the poverty of his estate might
afford, which Saladyne gratefully accepted. And so Gerismond fell to
question of Torismond's life. Saladyne briefly discoursed unto him his
injustice and tyrannies, with such modesty, although he had wronged
him, that Gerismond greatly praised the sparing speech of the young
gentleman.
Many questions passed, but at last Gerismond began with a deep sigh to
inquire if there were any news of the welfare of Alinda, or his
daughter Rosalynde?
"None, sir," quoth Saladyne, "for since their departure they were
never heard of."
"Injurious fortune," quoth the king, "that to double the father's
misery, wrongest the daughter with misfortunes!"
And with that, surcharged with sorrows, he went into his cell, and
left Saladyne and Rosader, whom Rosader straight conducted to the
sight of Adam Spencer, who, seeing Saladyne in that estate, was in a
brown study. But when he heard the whole matter, although he grieved
for the exile of his master, yet he joyed that banishment had so
reformed him, that from a lascivious youth he was proved a virtuous
gentleman. Looking a longer while, and seeing what familiarity passed
between them, and what favors were interchanged with brotherly
affection, he said thus:
"Aye, marry, thus should it be; this was the concord that old Sir John
of Bordeaux wished betwixt you. Now fulfil you those precepts he
breathed out at his death, and in observing them, look to live
fortunate and die honorable."
"Well said, Adam Spencer," quoth Rosader, "but hast any victuals in
store for us?"
"A piece of a red deer," quoth he, "and a bottle of wine."
"'Tis foresters' fare, brother," quoth Rosader; and so they sate down
and fell to their cates.
As soon as they had taken their repast, and had well dined, Rosader
took his brother Saladyne by the hand, and showed him the pleasures of
the forest, and what content they enjoyed in that mean estate. Thus
for two or three days he walked up and down with his brother to show
him all the commodities that belonged to his walk.
In which time he was missed of his Ganymede, who mused greatly, with
Aliena, what should become of their forester. Somewhile they thought
he had taken some word unkindly, and had taken the pet; then they
imagined some new love had withdrawn his fancy, or happily that he was
sick, or detained by some great business of Gerismond's, or that he
had made a reconcilement with his brother, and so returned to
Bordeaux.
These conjectures did they cast in their heads, but specially
Ganymede, who, having love in her heart, proved restless, and half
without patience, that Rosader wronged her with so long absence; for
Love measures every minute, and thinks hours to be days, and days to
be months, till they feed their eyes with the sight of their desired
object. Thus perplexed lived poor Ganymede, while on a day, sitting
with Aliena in a great dump,[1] she cast up her eye, and saw where
Rosader came pacing towards them with his forest bill on his neck. At
that sight her color changed, and she said to Aliena:
"See, mistress, where our jolly forester comes."
[Footnote 1: despondency.]
"And you are not a little glad thereof," quoth Aliena, "your nose
bewrays what porridge you love: the wind cannot be tied within his
quarter, the sun shadowed with a veil, oil hidden in water, nor love
kept out of a woman's looks: but no more of that, _Lupus est in
fabula_."
As soon as Rosader was come within the reach of her tongue's end,
Aliena began thus:
"Why, how now, gentle forester, what wind hath kept you from hence?
that being so newly married, you have no more care of your Rosalynde,
but to absent yourself so many days? Are these the passions you
painted out so in your sonnets and roundelays? I see well hot love is
soon cold, and that the fancy of men is like to a loose feather that
wandereth in the air with the blast of every wind."
"You are deceived, mistress," quoth Rosader; "'twas a copy[1] of
unkindness that kept me hence, in that, I being married, you carried
away the bride; but if I have given any occasion of offence by
absenting myself these three days, I humbly sue for pardon, which you
must grant of course, in that the fault is so friendly confessed with
penance. But to tell you the truth, fair mistress and my good
Rosalynde, my eldest brother by the injury of Torismond is banished
from Bordeaux, and by chance he and I met in the forest."
[Footnote 1: quantity.]
And here Rosader discoursed unto them what had happened betwixt them,
which reconcilement made them glad, especially Ganymede. But Aliena,
hearing of the tyranny of her father, grieved inwardly, and yet
smothered all things with such secrecy, that the concealing was more
sorrow than the conceit; yet that her estate might be hid still, she
made fair weather of it, and so let all pass.
Fortune, that saw how these parties valued not her deity, but held her
power in scorn, thought to have a bout with them, and brought the
matter to pass thus. Certain rascals that lived by prowling in the
forest, who for fear of the provost marshal had caves in the groves
and thickets to shroud themselves from his trains, hearing of the
beauty of this fair shepherdess, Aliena, thought to steal her away,
and to give her to the king for a present; hoping, because the king
was a great lecher, by such a gift to purchase all their pardons, and
therefore came to take her and her page away. Thus resolved, while
Aliena and Ganymede were in this sad talk, they came rushing in, and
laid violent hands upon Aliena and her page, which made them cry out
to Rosader; who having the valor of his father stamped in his heart,
thought rather to die in defence of his friends, than any way be
touched with the least blemish of dishonor, and therefore dealt such
blows amongst them with his weapon, as he did witness well upon their
carcases that he was no coward. But as _Ne Hercules quidem contra
duos_, so Rosader could not resist a multitude, having none to back
him; so that he was not only rebated, but sore wounded, and Aliena and
Ganymede had been quite carried away by these rascals, had not fortune
(that meant to turn her frown into a favor) brought Saladyne that way
by chance, who wandering to find out his brother's walk, encountered
this crew: and seeing not only a shepherdess and her boy forced, but
his brother wounded, he heaved up a forest bill he had on his neck,
and the first he stroke had never after more need of the physician,
redoubling his blows with such courage that the slaves were amazed at
his valor. Rosader, espying his brother so fortunately arrived, and
seeing how valiantly he behaved himself, though sore wounded rushed
amongst them, and laid on such load,[1] that some of the crew were
slain, and the rest fled, leaving Aliena and Ganymede in the
possession of Rosader and Saladyne.
[Footnote 1: beat.]
Aliena after she had breathed awhile and was come to herself from this
fear, looked about her, and saw where Ganymede was busy dressing up
the wounds of the forester: but she cast her eye upon this courteous
champion that had made so hot a rescue, and that with such affection,
that she began to measure every part of him with favor, and in herself
to commend his personage and his virtue, holding him for a resolute
man, that durst assail such a troop of unbridled villains. At last,
gathering her spirits together, she returned him these thanks:
"Gentle sir, whatsoever you be that have adventured your flesh to
relieve our fortunes, as we hold you valiant so we esteem you
courteous, and to have as many hidden virtues as you have manifest
resolutions. We poor shepherds have no wealth but our flocks, and
therefore can we not make requital with any great treasures; but our
recompense is thanks, and our rewards to her friends without feigning.
For ransom, therefore, of this our rescue, you must content yourself
to take such a kind gramercy as a poor shepherdess and her page may
give, with promise, in what we may, never to prove ingrateful. For
this gentleman that is hurt, young Rosader, he is our good neighbor
and familiar acquaintance; we'll pay him with smiles, and feed him
with love-looks, and though he be never the fatter at the year's end,
yet we'll so hamper him that he shall hold himself satisfied."
Saladyne, hearing this shepherdess speak so wisely, began more
narrowly to pry into her perfection, and to survey all her lineaments
with a curious insight; so long dallying in the flame of her beauty,
that to his cost he found her to be most excellent: for love that
lurked in all these broils to have a blow or two, seeing the parties
at the gaze, encountered them both with such a veny,[1] that the
stroke pierced to the heart so deep as it could never after be rased
out. At last, after he had looked so long, till Aliena waxed red, he
returned her this answer:
[Footnote 1: assault.]
"Fair shepherdess, if Fortune graced me with such good hap as to do
you any favor, I hold myself as contented as if I had gotten a great
conquest; for the relief of distressed women is the special point
that gentlemen are tied unto by honor: seeing then my hazard to rescue
your harms was rather duty than courtesy, thanks is more than belongs
to the requital of such a favor. But lest I might seem either too coy
or too careless of a gentlewoman's proffer, I will take your kind
gramercy for a recompense."
All this while that he spake, Ganymede looked earnestly upon him, and
said:
"Truly, Rosader, this gentleman favors you much in the feature of your
face."
"No marvel," quoth he, "gentle swain, for 'tis my eldest brother
Saladyne."
"Your brother?" quoth Aliena, and with that she blushed, "he is the
more welcome, and I hold myself the more his debtor; and for that he
hath in my behalf done such a piece of service, if it please him to do
me that honor, I will call him servant, and he shall call me
mistress."
"Content, sweet mistress," quoth Saladyne, "and when I forget to call
you so, I will be unmindful of mine own self."
"Away with these quirks and quiddities of love," quoth Rosader, "and
give me some drink, for I am passing thirsty, and then will I home,
for my wounds bleed sore, and I will have them dressed."
Ganymede had tears in her eyes, and passions in her heart to see her
Rosader so pained, and therefore stepped hastily to the bottle, and
filling out some wine in a mazer,[1] she spiced it with such
comfortable drugs as she had about her, and gave it him, which did
comfort Rosader, that rising, with the help of his brother, he took
his leave of them, and went to his lodge. Ganymede, as soon as they
were out of sight, led his flocks down to a vale, and there under the
shadow of a beech tree sate down, and began to mourn the misfortunes
of her sweetheart.
[Footnote 1: wooden mug.]
And Aliena, as a woman passing discontent, severing herself from her
Ganymede, sitting under a limon tree, began to sigh out the passions
of her new love, and to meditate with herself in this manner:
ALIENA'S MEDITATION
"Ay me! now I see, and sorrowing sigh to see, that Diana's laurels are
harbors for Venus' doves; that there trace as well through the lawns
wantons as chaste ones; that Calisto, be she never so chary, will cast
one amorous eye at courting Jove; that Diana herself will change her
shape, but she will honor Love in a shadow; that maidens' eyes be they
as hard as diamonds, yet Cupid hath drugs to make them more pliable
than wax. See, Alinda, how Fortune and Love have interleagued
themselves to be thy foes, and to make thee their subject, or else an
abject, have inveigled thy sight with a most beautiful object. A-late
thou didst hold Venus for a giglot, not a goddess, and now thou shalt
be forced to sue suppliant to her deity. Cupid was a boy and blind;
but, alas, his eye had aim enough to pierce thee to the heart. While I
lived in the court I held love in contempt, and in high seats I had
small desires. I knew not affection while I lived in dignity, nor
could Venus countercheck me, as long as my fortune was majesty, and my
thoughts honor; and shall I now be high in desires, when I am made low
by destiny? I have heard them say, that Love looks not at low
cottages, that Venus jets[1] in robes not in rags, that Cupid flies so
high, that he scorns to touch poverty with his heel. Tush, Alinda,
these are but old wives' tales, and neither authentical precepts, nor
infallible principles; for experience tells thee, that peasants have
their passions as well as princes, that swains as they have their
labors, so they have their amours, and Love lurks as soon about a
sheepcote as a palace.
[Footnote 1: struts.]
"Ah, Alinda, this day in avoiding a prejudice thou art fallen into a
deeper mischief; being rescued from the robbers, thou art become
captive to Saladyne: and what then? Women must love, or they must
cease to live; and therefore did nature frame them fair, that they
might be subjects to fancy. But perhaps Saladyne's eye is levelled
upon a more seemlier saint. If it be so, bear thy passions with
patience; say Love hath wronged thee, that hath not wrung him; and if
he be proud in contempt, be thou rich in content, and rather die than
discover any desire: for there is nothing more precious in a woman
than to conceal love and to die modest. He is the son and heir of Sir
John of Bordeaux, a youth comely enough: O Alinda, too comely, else
hadst not thou been thus discontent; valiant, and that fettered thine
eye; wise, else hadst thou not been now won; but for all these virtues
banished by thy father, and therefore if he know thy parentage, he
will hate the fruit for the tree, and condemn the young scion for the
old stock. Well, howsoever, I must love, and whomsoever, I will; and,
whatsoever betide, Aliena will think well of Saladyne, suppose he of
me as he please."
And with that fetching a deep sigh, she rise up, and went to Ganymede,
who all this while sate in a great dump,[1] fearing the imminent
danger of her friend Rosader; but now Aliena began to comfort her,
herself being overgrown with sorrows, and to recall her from her
melancholy with many pleasant persuasions. Ganymede took all in the
best part, and so they went home together after they had folded their
flocks, supping with old Corydon, who had provided their cates. He,
after supper, to pass away the night while[2] bedtime, began a long
discourse, how Montanus, the young shepherd that was in love with
Phoebe, could by no means obtain any favor at her hands, but, still
pained in restless passions, remained a hopeless and perplexed lover.
[Footnote 1: mood of sadness.]
[Footnote 2: until.]
"I would I might," quoth Aliena, "once see that Phoebe. Is she so fair
that she thinks no shepherd worthy of her beauty? or so froward that
no love nor loyalty will content her? or so coy that she requires a
long time to be wooed? or so foolish that she forgets that like a fop
she must have a large harvest for a little corn?"
"I cannot distinguish," quoth Corydon, "of these nice qualities; but
one of these days I'll bring Montanus and her down, that you may both
see their persons, and note their passions; and then where the blame
is, there let it rest. But this I am sure," quoth Corydon, "if all
maidens were of her mind, the world would grow to a mad pass; for
there would be great store of wooing and little wedding, many words
and little worship, much folly and no faith."
At this sad sentence of Corydon, so solemnly brought forth, Aliena
smiled, and because it waxed late, she and her page went to bed, both
of them having fleas in their ears to keep them awake; Ganymede for
the hurt of her Rosader, and Aliena for the affection she bore to
Saladyne. In this discontented humor they passed away the time, till
falling on sleep, their senses at rest, Love left them to their quiet
slumbers, which were not long. For as soon as Phoebus rose from his
Aurora, and began to mount him in the sky, summoning plough-swains to
their handy labor, Aliena arose, and going to the couch where Ganymede
lay, awakened her page, and said the morning was far spent, the dew
small, and time called them away to their folds.
"Ah, ah!" quoth Ganymede, "is the wind in that door? then in faith I
perceive that there is no diamond so hard but will yield to the file,
no cedar so strong but the wind will shake, nor any mind so chaste but
love will change. Well, Aliena, must Saladyne be the man, and will it
be a match? Trust me, he is fair and valiant, the son of a worthy
knight, whom if he imitate in perfection, as he represents him in
proportion, he is worthy of no less than Aliena. But he is an exile:
what then? I hope my mistress respects the virtues not the wealth, and
measures the qualities not the substance. Those dames that are like
Danaë, that like love in no shape but in a shower of gold, I wish them
husbands with much wealth and little wit, that the want of the one may
blemish the abundance of the other. It should, my Aliena, stain the
honor of a shepherd's life to set the end of passions upon pelf.
Love's eyes looks not so low as gold; there is no fees to be paid in
Cupid's courts; and in elder time, as Corydon hath told me, the
shepherds' love-gifts were apples and chestnuts, and then their
desires were loyal, and their thoughts constant. But now
Quaerenda pecunia primum, post nummos virtus.
And the time is grown to that which Horace in his Satires wrote on:
omnis enim res
Virtus fama decus divina humanaque pulchris
Divitiis parent: quas qui construxerit ille
Clarus erit, fortis, justus. Sapiensne? Etiam et rex
Et quicquid volet--
But, Aliena, let it not be so with thee in thy fancies, but respect
his faith and there an end."
Aliena, hearing Ganymede thus forward to further Saladyne in his
affections, thought she kissed the child for the nurse's sake, and
wooed for him that she might please Rosader, made this reply:
"Why, Ganymede, whereof grows this persuasion? Hast thou seen love in
my looks, or are mine eyes grown so amorous, that they discover some
new-entertained fancies? If thou measurest my thoughts by my
countenance, thou mayest prove as ill a physiognomer, as the lapidary
that aims at the secret virtues of the topaz by the exterior shadow of
the stone. The operation of the agate is not known by the strakes, nor
the diamond prized by his brightness, but by his hardness. The
carbuncle that shineth most is not ever the most precious; and the
apothecaries choose not flowers for their colors, but for their
virtues. Women's faces are not always calendars of fancy, nor do their
thoughts and their looks ever agree; for when their eyes are fullest
of favors, then are they oft most empty of desire; and when they seem
to frown at disdain, then are they most forward to affection. If I be
melancholy, then, Ganymede, 'tis not a consequence that I am entangled
with the perfection of Saladyne. But seeing fire cannot be hid in the
straw, nor love kept so covert but it will be spied, what[1] should
friends conceal fancies? Know, my Ganymede, the beauty and valor, the
wit and prowess of Saladyne hath fettered Aliena so far, as there is
no object pleasing to her eyes but the sight of Saladyne; and if Love
have done me justice to wrap his thoughts in the folds of my face, and
that he be as deeply enamored as I am passionate, I tell thee,
Ganymede, there shall not be much wooing, for she is already won, and
what needs a longer battery."
[Footnote 1: why.]
"I am glad," quoth Ganymede, "that it shall be thus proportioned, you
to match with Saladyne, and I with Rosader: thus have the Destinies
favored us with some pleasing aspect, that have made us as private in
our loves, as familiar in our fortunes."
With this Ganymede start up, made her ready, and went into the fields
with Aliena, where unfolding their flocks, they sate them down under
an olive tree, both of them amorous, and yet diversely affected;
Aliena joying in the excellence of Saladyne, and Ganymede sorrowing
for the wounds of her Rosader, not quiet in thought till she might
hear of his health. As thus both of them sate in their dumps, they
might espy where Corydon came running towards them, almost out of
breath with his haste.
"What news with you," quoth Aliena, "that you come in such post?"
"Oh, mistress," quoth Corydon, "you have a long time desired to see
Phoebe, the fair shepherdess whom Montanus loves; so now if you
please, you and Ganymede, but to walk with me to yonder thicket, there
shall you see Montanus and her sitting by a fountain, he courting with
his country ditties, and she as coy as if she held love in disdain."
The news were so welcome to the two lovers, that up they rose, and
went with Corydon. As soon as they drew nigh the thicket, they might
espy where Phoebe sate, the fairest shepherdess in all Arden, and he
the frolickest swain in the whole forest, she in a petticoat of
scarlet, covered with a green mantle, and to shroud her from the sun,
a chaplet of roses, from under which appeared a face full of nature's
excellence, and two such eyes as might have amated[1] a greater man
than Montanus. At gaze upon the gorgeous nymph sat the shepherd,
feeding his eyes with her favors, wooing with such piteous looks; and
courting with such deep-strained sighs, as would have made Diana
herself to have been compassionate. At last, fixing his looks on the
riches of her face, his head on his hand, and his elbow on his knee,
he sung this mournful ditty:
[Footnote 1: dismayed.]
_Montanus' Sonnet_
A turtle sate upon a leaveless tree,
Mourning her absent fere[1]
With sad and sorry cheer:
About her wondering stood
The citizens of wood,
And whilst her plumes she rents
And for her love laments,
The stately trees complain them,
The birds with sorrow pain them.
Each one that doth her view
Her pain and sorrows rue;
But were the sorrows known
That me hath overthrown,
Oh how would Phoebe sigh if she did look on me!
The lovesick Polypheme, that could not see,
Who on the barren shore
His fortunes doth deplore,
And melteth all in moan
For Galatea gone,
And with his piteous cries
Afflicts both earth and skies,
And to his woe betook
Doth break both pipe and hook,
For whom complains the morn,
For whom the sea-nymphs mourn,
Alas, his pain is nought;
For were my woe but thought,
Oh how would Phoebe sigh if she did look on me!
Beyond compare my pain;
Yet glad am I,
If gentle Phoebe deign
To see her Montan die.
[Footnote 1: companion.]
After this, Montanus felt his passions so extreme, that he fell into
this exclamation against the injustice of Love:
Hélas, tyran, plein de rigueur,
Modère un peu ta violence:
Que te sert si grande dépense?
C'est trop de flammes pour un coeur.
Épargnez en une étincelle,
Puis fais ton effort d'émouvoir,
La fière qui ne veut point voir,
En quel feu je brûle pour elle.
Exécute, Amour, ce dessein,
Et rabaisse un peu son audace:
Son coeur ne doit être de glace,
Bien qu'elle ait de neige le sein.
Montanus ended his sonnet with such a volley of sighs, and such a
stream of tears, as might have moved any but Phoebe to have granted
him favor. But she, measuring all his passions with a coy disdain, and
triumphing in the poor shepherd's pathetical humors, smiling at his
martyrdom as though love had been no malady, scornfully warbled out
this sonnet:
_Phoebe's Sonnet, a Reply to Montanus' Passion_
Down a down,
Thus Phyllis sung,
By fancy once distressed;
Whoso by foolish love are stung
Are worthily oppressed.
And so sing I. With a down, down, &c.
When Love was first begot,
And by the mover's will
Did fall to human lot
His solace to fulfil,
Devoid of all deceit,
A chaste and holy fire
Did quicken man's conceit,
And women's breast inspire.
The gods that saw the good
That mortals did approve,
With kind and holy mood
Began to talk of Love.
Down a down,
Thus Phyllis sung
By fancy once distressed, &c.
But during this accord,
A wonder strange to hear,
Whilst Love in deed and word
Most faithful did appear,
False-semblance came in place,
By Jealousy attended,
And with a double face
Both love and fancy blended;
Which made the gods forsake,
And men from fancy fly,
And maidens scorn a make,[1]
Forsooth, and so will I.
Down a down,
Thus Phyllis sung,
By fancy once distressed;
Who so by foolish love are stung
Are worthily oppressed.
And so sing I.
With down a down, a down down, a down a.
[Footnote 1: mate.]
Montanus, hearing the cruel resolution of Phoebe, was so overgrown
with passions, that from amorous ditties he fell flat into these
terms:
"Ah, Phoebe," quoth he, "whereof art thou made, that thou regardest
not my malady? Am I so hateful an object that thine eyes condemn me
for an abject? or so base, that thy desires cannot stoop so low as to
lend me a gracious look? My passions are many, my loves more, my
thoughts loyalty, and my fancy faith: all devoted in humble devoir[1]
to the service of Phoebe; and shall I reap no reward for such
fealties? The swain's daily labors is quit with the evening's hire,
the ploughman's toil is eased with the hope of corn, what the ox
sweats out at the plough he fatteneth at the crib; but infortunate
Montanus hath no salve for his sorrows, nor any hope of recompense for
the hazard of his perplexed passions. If, Phoebe, time may plead the
proof of my truth, twice seven winters have I loved fair Phoebe: if
constancy be a cause to farther my suit, Montanus' thoughts have been
sealed in the sweet of Phoebe's excellence, as far from change as she
from love: if outward passions may discover inward affections, the
furrows in my face may decipher the sorrows of my heart, and the map
of my looks the griefs of my mind. Thou seest, Phoebe, the tears of
despair have made my cheeks full of wrinkles, and my scalding sighs
have made the air echo her pity conceived in my plaints: Philomele
hearing my passions, hath left her mournful tunes to listen to the
discourse of my miseries. I have portrayed in every tree the beauty of
my mistress, and the despair of my loves. What is it in the woods
cannot witness my woes? and who is it would not pity my plaints? Only
Phoebe. And why? Because I am Montanus, and she Phoebe: I a worthless
swain, and she the most excellent of all fairies. Beautiful Phoebe!
oh, might I say pitiful, then happy were I, though I tasted but one
minute of that good hap. Measure Montanus not by his fortunes but by
his loves, and balance not his wealth but his desires, and lend but
one gracious look to cure a heap of disquieted cares: if not, ah! if
Phoebe cannot love, let a storm of frowns end the discontent of my
thoughts, and so let me perish in my desires, because they are above
my deserts: only at my death this favor cannot be denied me, that all
shall say Montanus died for love of hard-hearted Phoebe."
[Footnote 1: duty.]
At these words she filled her face full of frowns, and made him this
short and sharp reply:
"Importunate shepherd, whose loves are lawless, because restless, are
thy passions so extreme that thou canst not conceal them with
patience? or art thou so folly-sick, that thou must needs be
fancy-sick, and in thy affection tied to such an exigent,[1] as none
serves but Phoebe? Well, sir, if your market may be made no where
else, home again, for your mart is at the fairest. Phoebe is no
lettuce for your lips, and her grapes hangs so high, that gaze at them
you may, but touch them you cannot. Yet, Montanus, I speak not this in
pride, but in disdain; not that I scorn thee, but that I hate love;
for I count it as great honor to triumph over fancy as over fortune.
Rest thee content therefore, Montanus: cease from thy loves, and
bridle thy looks, quench the sparkles before they grow to a further
flame; for in loving me thou shall live by loss, and what thou
utterest in words are all written in the wind. Wert thou, Montanus, as
fair as Paris, as hardy as Hector, as constant as Troilus, as loving
as Leander, Phoebe could not love, because she cannot love at all: and
therefore if thou pursue me with Phoebus, I must fly with Daphne."
[Footnote 1: necessity.]
Ganymede, overhearing all these passions of Montanus, could not brook
the cruelty of Phoebe, but starting from behind the bush said:
"And if, damsel, you fled from me, I would transform you as Daphne to
a bay, and then in contempt trample your branches under my feet."
Phoebe at this sudden reply was amazed, especially when she saw so
fair a swain as Ganymede; blushing therefore, she would have been
gone, but that he held her by the hand, and prosecuted his reply thus:
"What, shepherdess, so fair and so cruel? Disdain beseems not
cottages, nor coyness maids; for either they be condemned to be too
proud, or too froward. Take heed, fair nymph, that in despising love,
you be not overreached with love, and in shaking off all, shape
yourself to your own shadow, and so with Narcissus prove passionate
and yet unpitied. Oft have I heard, and sometimes have I seen, high
disdain turned to hot desires. Because thou art beautiful be not so
coy: as there is nothing more fair, so there is nothing more fading;
as momentary as the shadows which grows from a cloudy sun. Such, my
fair shepherdess, as disdain in youth desire in age, and then are they
hated in the winter, that might have been loved in the prime. A
wrinkled maid is like to a parched rose, that is cast up in coffers to
please the smell, not worn in the hand to content the eye. There is no
folly in love to _had I wist_, and therefore be ruled by me. Love
while thou art young, least thou be disdained when thou art old.
Beauty nor time cannot be recalled, and if thou love, like of
Montanus; for if his desires are many, so his deserts are great."
Phoebe all this while gazed on the perfection of Ganymede, as deeply
enamored on his perfection as Montanus inveigled with hers; for her
eye made survey of his excellent feature, which she found so rare,
that she thought the ghost of Adonis had been leaped from Elysium in
the shape of a swain. When she blushed at her own folly to look so
long on a stranger, she mildly made answer to Ganymede thus:
"I cannot deny, sir, but I have heard of Love, though I never felt
love; and have read of such a goddess as Venus, though I never saw any
but her picture; and, perhaps"--and with that she waxed red and
bashful, and withal silent; which Ganymede perceiving, commended in
herself the bashfulness of the maid, and desired her to go forward.
"And perhaps, sir," quoth she, "mine eye hath been more prodigal
to-day than ever before"--and with that she stayed again, as one
greatly passionate and perplexed.
Aliena seeing the hare through the maze, bade her forward with her
prattle, but in vain; for at this abrupt period she broke off, and
with her eyes full of tears, and her face covered with a vermilion
dye, she sate down and sighed. Whereupon Aliena and Ganymede, seeing
the shepherdess in such a strange plight, left Phoebe with her
Montanus, wishing her friendly that she would be more pliant to Love,
lest in penance Venus joined her to some sharp repentance. Phoebe made
no reply, but fetched such a sigh, that Echo made relation of her
plaint, giving Ganymede such an adieu with a piercing glance, that the
amorous girl-boy perceived Phoebe was pinched by the heel.
But leaving Phoebe to the follies of her new fancy, and Montanus to
attend upon her, to Saladyne, who all this last night could not rest
for the remembrance of Aliena; insomuch that he framed a sweet
conceited sonnet to content his humor, which he put in his bosom,
being requested by his brother Rosader to go to Aliena and Ganymede,
to signify unto them that his wounds were not dangerous. A more happy
message could not happen to Saladyne, that taking his forest bill on
his neck, he trudgeth in all haste towards the plains where Aliena's
flocks did feed, coming just to the place when they returned from
Montanus and Phoebe. Fortune so conducted this jolly forester, that
he encountered them and Corydon, whom he presently saluted in this
manner:
"Fair shepherdess, and too fair, unless your beauty be tempered with
courtesy, and the lineaments of the face graced with the lowliness of
mind, as many good fortunes to you and your page, as yourselves can
desire or I imagine. My brother Rosader, in the grief of his green
wounds still mindful of his friends, hath sent me to you with a kind
salute, to show that he brooks his pains with the more patience, in
that he holds the parties precious in whose defence he received the
prejudice. The report of your welfare will be a great comfort to his
distempered body and distressed thoughts, and therefore he sent me
with a strict charge to visit you."
"And you," quoth Aliena, "are the more welcome in that you are
messenger from so kind a gentleman, whose pains we compassionate with
as great sorrow as he brooks them with grief; and his wounds breeds in
us as many passions as in him extremities, so that what disquiet he
feels in body we partake in heart, wishing, if we might, that our
mishap might salve his malady. But seeing our wills yields him little
ease, our orisons[1] are never idle to the gods for his recovery."
[Footnote 1: prayers.]
"I pray, youth," quoth Ganymede with tears in his eyes, "when the
surgeon searched him, held he his wounds dangerous?"
"Dangerous," quoth Saladyne, "but, not mortal; and the sooner to be
cured, in that his patient is not impatient of any pains: whereupon my
brother hopes within these ten days to walk abroad and visit you
himself."
"In the meantime," quoth Ganymede, "say his Rosalynde commends her to
him, and bids him be of good cheer."
"I know not," quoth Saladyne, "who that Rosalynde is, but whatsoever
she is, her name is never out of his mouth, but amidst the deepest of
his passions he useth Rosalynde as a charm to appease all sorrows with
patience. Insomuch that I conjecture my brother is in love, and she
some paragon that holds his heart perplexed, whose name he oft records
with sighs, sometimes with tears, straight with joy, then with smiles;
as if in one person love had lodged a Chaos of confused passions.
Wherein I have noted the variable disposition of fancy, that like the
polype in colors, so it changeth into sundry humors, being, as it
should seem, a combat mixed with disquiet and a bitter pleasure
wrapped in a sweet prejudice, like to the Sinople tree, whose blossoms
delight the smell, and whose fruit infects the taste."
"By my faith," quoth Aliena, "sir, you are deep read in love, or grows
your insight into affection by experience? Howsoever, you are a great
philosopher in Venus' principles, else could you not discover her
secret aphorisms. But, sir, our country amours are not like your
courtly fancies, nor is our wooing like your suing; for poor shepherds
never plain them till love pain them, where the courtier's eyes is
full of passions, when his heart is most free from affection; they
court to discover their eloquence, we woo to ease our sorrows; every
fair face with them must have a new fancy sealed with a forefinger
kiss and a far-fetched sigh, we here love one and live to that one so
long as life can maintain love, using few ceremonies because we know
few subtleties, and little eloquence for that we lightly account of
flattery; only faith and troth, that's shepherd's wooing; and, sir,
how like you of this?"
"So," quoth Saladyne, "as I could tie myself to such love."
"What, and look so low as a shepherdess, being the son of Sir John of
Bordeaux? Such desires were a disgrace to your honors." And with that
surveying exquisitely every part of him, as uttering all these words
in a deep passion, she espied the paper in his bosom; whereupon
growing jealous that it was some amorous sonnet, she suddenly snatched
it out of his bosom and asked if it were any secret. She was bashful,
and Saladyne blushed, which she perceiving, said:
"Nay then, sir, if you wax red, my life for yours 'tis some
love-matter: I will see your mistress' name, her praises, and your
passions." And with that she looked on it, which was written to this
effect:
_Saladyne's Sonnet_
If it be true that heaven's eternal course
With restless sway and ceaseless turning glides;
If air inconstant be, and swelling source
Turn and returns with many fluent tides;
If earth in winter summer's pride estrange,
And nature seemeth only fair in change;
If it be true that our immortal spright,
Derived from heavenly pure, in wand'ring still,
In novelty and strangeness doth delight,
And by discoverent power discerneth ill;
And if the body for to work his best
Doth with the seasons change his place of rest;
Whence comes it that, enforced by furious skies,
I change both place and soil, but not my heart,
Yet salve not in this change my maladies?
Whence grows it that each object works my smart?
Alas, I see my faith procures my miss,
And change in love against my nature is.
_Et florida pungunt._
Aliena having read over his sonnet, began thus pleasantly to descant
upon it:
"I see, Saladyne," quoth she, "that as the sun is no sun without his
brightness, nor the diamond accounted for precious unless it be hard,
so men are not men unless they be in love; and their honors are
measured by their amours, not their labors, counting it more
commendable for a gentleman to be full of fancy, than full of virtue.
I had thought
Otia si tollas, periere Cupidinis arcus,
Contemptaeque jacent et sine luce faces;
but I see Ovid's axiom is not authentical, for even labor hath her
loves, and extremity is no pumice-stone to rase out fancy. Yourself
exiled from your wealth, friends, and country by Torismond, sorrows
enough to suppress affections, yet amidst the depth of these
extremities, love will be lord, and show his power to be more
predominant than fortune. But I pray you, sir, if without offence I
may crave it, are they some new thoughts, or some old desires?"
Saladyne, that now saw opportunity pleasant, thought to strike while
the iron was hot, and therefore taking Aliena by the hand, sate down
by her; and Ganymede, to give them leave to their loves, found herself
busy about the folds, whilst Saladyne fell into this prattle with
Aliena:
"Fair mistress, if I be blunt in discovering my affections, and use
little eloquence in levelling out my loves, I appeal for pardon to
your own principles, that say, shepherds use few ceremonies, for that
they acquaint themselves with few subtleties: to frame myself,
therefore, to your country fashion with much faith and little
flattery, know, beautiful shepherdess, that whilst I lived in the
court I knew not love's cumber, but I held affection as a toy, not as
a malady; using fancy as the Hyperborei do their flowers, which they
wear in their bosom all day, and cast them in the fire for fuel at
night. I liked all, because I loved none, and who was most fair, on
her I fed mine eye, but as charily as the bee, that as soon as she
hath sucked honey from the rose, flies straight to the next marigold.
Living thus at mine own list, I wondered at such as were in love, and
when I read their passions, I took them only for poems that flowed
from the quickness of the wit, not the sorrows of the heart. But now,
fair nymph, since I became a forester, Love hath taught me such a
lesson that I must confess his deity and dignity, and say as there is
nothing so precious as beauty, so there is nothing more piercing than
fancy. For since first I arrived at this place, and mine eye took a
curious survey of your excellence, I have been so fettered with your
beauty and virtue, as, sweet Aliena, Saladyne without further
circumstance loves Aliena. I could paint out my desires with long
ambages[1]; but seeing in many words lies mistrust, and that truth is
ever naked, let this suffice for a country wooing, Saladyne loves
Aliena, and none but Aliena."
[Footnote 1: indirect modes of speech.]
Although these words were most heavenly harmony in the ears of the
shepherdess, yet to seem coy at the first courting, and to disdain
love howsoever she desired love, she made this reply:
"Ah, Saladyne, though I seem simple, yet I am more subtle than to
swallow the hook because it hath a painted bait: as men are wily so
women are wary, especially if they have that wit by others' harms to
beware. Do we not know, Saladyne, men's tongues are like Mercury's
pipe, that can enchant Argus with an hundred eyes, and their words as
prejudicial as the charms of Circes, that transform men into monsters.
If such Sirens sing, we poor women had need stop our ears, lest in
hearing we prove so foolish hardy as to believe them, and so perish in
trusting much and suspecting little. Saladyne, _piscator ictus sapit_,
he that hath been once poisoned and afterwards fears not to bowse[1]
of every potion, is worthy to suffer double penance. Give me leave
then to mistrust, though I do not condemn. Saladyne is now in love
with Aliena, he a gentleman of great parentage, she a shepherdess of
mean parents; he honorable and she poor? Can love consist of
contrarieties? Will the falcon perch with the kestrel[2], the lion
harbor with the wolf? Will Venus join robes and rags together, or can
there be a sympathy between a king and a beggar? Then, Saladyne, how
can I believe thee that love should unite our thoughts, when fortune
hath set such a difference between our degrees? But suppose thou
likest Aliena's beauty: men in their fancy resemble the wasp, which
scorns that flower from which she hath fetched her wax; playing like
the inhabitants of the island Tenerifa, who, when they have gathered
the sweet spices, use the trees for fuel; so men, when they have
glutted themselves with the fair of women's faces, hold them for
necessary evils, and wearied with that which they seemed so much to
love, cast away fancy as children do their rattles, and loathing that
which so deeply before they liked; especially such as take love in a
minute and have their eyes attractive, like jet, apt to entertain any
object, are as ready to let it slip again."
[Footnote 1: drink.]
[Footnote 2: hawk.]
Saladyne, hearing how Aliena harped still upon one string, which was
the doubt of men's constancy, he broke off her sharp invective thus:
"I grant, Aliena," quoth he, "many men have done amiss in proving soon
ripe and soon rotten; but particular instances infer no general
conclusions, and therefore I hope what others have faulted in shall
not prejudice my favors. I will not use sophistry to confirm my love,
for that is subtlety; nor long discourses lest my words might be
thought more than my faith: but if this will suffice, that by the
honor of a gentleman I love Aliena, and woo Aliena, not to crop the
blossoms and reject the tree, but to consummate my faithful desires in
the honorable end of marriage."
At the word marriage Aliena stood in a maze what to answer, fearing
that if she were too coy, to drive him away with her disdain, and if
she were too courteous, to discover the heat of her desires. In a
dilemma thus what to do, at last this she said:
"Saladyne, ever since I saw thee, I favored thee; I cannot dissemble
my desires, because I see thou dost faithfully manifest thy thoughts,
and in liking thee I love thee so far as mine honor holds fancy still
in suspense; but if I knew thee as virtuous as thy father, or as well
qualified as thy brother Rosader, the doubt should be quickly decided:
but for this time to give thee an answer, assure thyself this, I will
either marry with Saladyne, or still live a virgin."
And with this they strained one another's hand; which Ganymede
espying, thinking he had had his mistress long enough at shrift, said:
"What, a match or no?"
"A match," quoth Aliena, "or else it were an ill market."
"I am glad," quoth Ganymede. "I would Rosader were well here to make
up a mess."
"Well remembered," quoth Saladyne; "I forgot I left my brother Rosader
alone, and therefore lest being solitary he should increase his
sorrows, I will haste me to him. May it please you, then, to command
me any service to him, I am ready to be a dutiful messenger."
"Only at this time commend me to him," quoth Aliena, "and tell him,
though we cannot pleasure him we pray for him."
"And forget not," quoth Ganymede, "my commendations; but say to him
that Rosalynde sheds as many tears from her heart as he drops of blood
from his wounds, for the sorrow of his misfortunes, feathering all her
thoughts with disquiet, till his welfare procure her content: say
thus, good Saladyne, and so farewell."
He having his message, gave a courteous adieu to them both, especially
to Aliena, and so playing loath to depart, went to his brother. But
Aliena, she perplexed and yet joyful, passed away the day pleasantly,
still praising the perfection of Saladyne, not ceasing to chat of her
new love till evening drew on; and then they, folding their sheep,
went home to bed. Where we leave them and return to Phoebe.
Phoebe, fired with the uncouth[1] flame of love, returned to her
father's house, so galled with restless passions, as now she began to
acknowledge, that as there was no flower so fresh but might be parched
with the sun, no tree so strong but might be shaken with a storm, so
there was no thought so chaste, but time armed with love could make
amorous; for she that held Diana for the goddess of her devotion, was
now fain to fly to the altar of Venus, as suppliant now with prayers,
as she was forward before with disdain. As she lay in her bed, she
called to mind the several beauties of young Ganymede; first his
locks, which being amber-hued, passeth the wreath that Phoebus puts on
to make his front glorious; his brow of ivory was like the seat where
love and majesty sits enthroned to enchain fancy; his eyes as bright
as the burnishing of the heaven, darting forth frowns with disdain and
smiles with favor, lightning such looks as would inflame desire, were
she wrapped in the circle of the frozen zone; in his cheeks the
vermilion teinture of the rose flourished upon natural alabaster, the
blush of the morn and Luna's silver show were so lively portrayed,
that the Troyan that fills out wine to Jupiter was not half so
beautiful; his face was full of pleasance, and all the rest of his
lineaments proportioned with such excellence, as Phoebe was fettered
in the sweetness of his feature. The idea of these perfections
tumbling in her mind made the poor shepherdess so perplexed, as
feeling a pleasure tempered with intolerable pains, and yet a disquiet
mixed with a content, she rather wished to die than to live in this
amorous anguish. But wishing is little worth in such extremes, and
therefore was she forced to pine in her malady, without any salve for
her sorrows. Reveal it she durst not, as daring in such matters to
make none her secretary;[2] and to conceal it, why, it doubled her
grief; for as fire suppressed grows to the greater flame, and the
current stopped to the more violent stream, so love smothered wrings
the heart with the deeper passions.
[Footnote 1: unknown, unaccustomed.]
[Footnote 2: confidante.]
Perplexed thus with sundry agonies, her food began to fail, and the
disquiet of her mind began to work a distemperature of her body, that,
to be short, Phoebe fell extreme sick, and so sick as there was
almost left no recovery of health. Her father, seeing his fair Phoebe
thus distressed, sent for his friends, who sought by medicine to cure,
and by counsel to pacify, but all in vain; for although her body was
feeble through long fasting, yet she did _magis aegrotare animo quam
corpore_. Which her friends perceived and sorrowed at, but salve it
they could not.
The news of her sickness was bruited abroad through all the forest,
which no sooner came to Montanus' ear, but he, like a madman, came to
visit Phoebe. Where sitting by her bedside he began his exordium with
so many tears and sighs, that she, perceiving the extremity of his
sorrows, began now as a lover to pity them, although Ganymede held her
from redressing them. Montanus craved to know the cause of her
sickness, tempered with secret plaints, but she answered him, as the
rest, with silence, having still the form of Ganymede in her mind, and
conjecturing how she might reveal her loves. To utter it in words she
found herself too bashful; to discourse by any friend she would not
trust any in her amours; to remain thus perplexed still and conceal
all, it was a double death. Whereupon, for her last refuge, she
resolved to write unto Ganymede, and therefore desired Montanus to
absent himself a while, but not to depart, for she would see if she
could steal a nap. He was no sooner gone out of the chamber, but
reaching to her standish,[1] she took pen and paper, and wrote a
letter to this effect:
[Footnote 1: a stand or case for pen and ink.]
"Phoebe to Ganymede wisheth what she wants herself.
Fair shepherd--and therefore is Phoebe infortunate, because thou art
so fair--although hitherto mine eyes were adamants to resist love, yet
I no sooner saw thy face, but they became amorous to entertain love;
more devoted to fancy than before they were repugnant to affection,
addicted to the one by nature and drawn to the other by beauty: which,
being rare and made the more excellent by many virtues, hath so
snared the freedom of Phoebe, as she rests at thy mercy, either to be
made the most fortunate of all maidens, or the most miserable of all
women. Measure not, Ganymede, my loves by my wealth, nor my desires by
my degrees; but think my thoughts as full of faith, as thy face of
amiable favors. Then, as thou knowest thyself most beautiful, suppose
me most constant. If thou deemest me hard-hearted because I hated
Montanus, think I was forced to it by fate; if thou sayest I am
kind-hearted because so lightly I love thee at the first look, think I
was driven to it by destiny, whose influence, as it is mighty, so is
it not to be resisted. If my fortunes were anything but infortunate
love, I would strive with fortune: but he that wrests[1] against the
will of Venus, seeks to quench fire with oil, and to thrust out one
thorn by putting in another. If then, Ganymede, love enters at the
eye, harbors in the heart, and will neither be driven out with physic
nor reason, pity me, as one whose malady hath no salve but from thy
sweet self, whose grief hath no ease but through thy grant; and think
I am a virgin who is deeply wronged when I am forced to woo, and
conjecture love to be strong, that is more forcible than nature. Thus
distressed unless by thee eased, I expect either to live fortunate by
thy favor, or die miserable by thy denial. Living in hope. Farewell.
She that must be thine,
or not be at all,
Phoebe."
[Footnote 1: wrestles.]
To this letter she annexed this sonnet:
_Sonetto_
My boat doth pass the straits
of seas incensed with fire,
Filled with forgetfulness;
amidst the winter's night,
A blind and careless boy,
brought up by fond desire,
Doth guide me in the sea
of sorrow and despite.
For every oar he sets
a rank of foolish thoughts,
And cuts, instead of wave,
a hope without distress;
The winds of my deep sighs,
that thunder still for noughts,
Have split my sails with fear,
with care and heaviness.
A mighty storm of tears,
a black and hideous cloud,
A thousand fierce disdains
do slack the halyards oft;
Till ignorance do pull,
and error hale the shrouds,
No star for safety shines,
no Phoebe from aloft.
Time hath subdued art,
and joy is slave to woe:
Alas, Love's guide, be kind!
what, shall I perish so?
This letter and the sonnet being ended, she could find no fit
messenger to send it by, and therefore she called in Montanus, and
entreated him to carry it to Ganymede. Although poor Montanus saw day
at a little hole, and did perceive what passion pinched her, yet, that
he might seem dutiful to his mistress in all service, he dissembled
the matter, and became a willing messenger of his own martyrdom. And
so, taking the letter, went the next morn very early to the plains
where Aliena fed her flocks, and there he found Ganymede, sitting
under a pomegranate tree, sorrowing for the hard fortunes of her
Rosader. Montanus saluted him, and according to his charge delivered
Ganymede the letters, which, he said, came from Phoebe. At this the
wanton blushed, as being abashed to think what news should come from
an unknown shepherdess; but taking the letters, unripped the seals,
and read over the discourse of Phoebe's fancies. When she had read and
over-read them Ganymede began to smile, and looking on Montanus, fell
into a great laughter, and with that called Aliena, to whom she showed
the writings. Who, having perused them, conceited them very
pleasantly, and smiled to see how love had yoked her, who before would
not stoop to the lure; Aliena whispering Ganymede in the ear, and
saying, "Knew Phoebe what want there were in thee to perform her will,
and how unfit thy kind is to be kind to her, she would be more wise,
and less enamored; but leaving that, I pray thee let us sport with
this swain." At that word Ganymede, turning to Montanus, began to
glance at him[1] thus:
[Footnote 1: tease.]
"I pray thee, tell me, shepherd, by those sweet thoughts and pleasing
sighs that grow from my mistress' favors, art thou in love with
Phoebe?"
"Oh, my youth," quoth Montanus, "were Phoebe so far in love with me,
my flocks would be more fat and their master more quiet; for through
the sorrows of my discontent grows the leanness of my sheep."
"Alas, poor swain," quoth Ganymede, "are thy passions so extreme or
thy fancy so resolute, that no reason will blemish the pride of thy
affection, and rase out that which thou strivest for without hope?"
"Nothing can make me forget Phoebe, while Montanus forget himself; for
those characters which true love hath stamped, neither the envy of
time nor fortune can wipe away."
"Why but, Montanus," quoth Ganymede, "enter with a deep insight into
the despair of thy fancies, and thou shalt see the depth of thine own
follies; for, poor man, thy progress in love is a regress to loss,
swimming against the stream with the crab, and flying with Apis Indica
against wind and weather. Thou seekest with Phoebus to win Daphne, and
she flies faster than thou canst follow: thy desires soar with the
hobby,[1] but her disdain reacheth higher than thou canst make wing. I
tell thee, Montanus, in courting Phoebe, thou barkest with the wolves
of Syria against the moon, and rovest at such a mark, with thy
thoughts, as is beyond the pitch[2] of thy bow, praying to Love, when
Love is pitiless, and thy malady remediless. For proof, Montanus, read
these letters, wherein thou shalt see thy great follies and little
hope."
[Footnote 1: falcon.]
[Footnote 2: range.]
With that Montanus took them and perused them, but with such sorrow in
his looks, as they betrayed a source of confused passions in his
heart; at every line his color changed, and every sentence was ended
with a period of sighs.
At last, noting Phoebe's extreme desire toward Ganymede and her
disdain towards him, giving Ganymede the letter, the shepherd stood as
though he had neither won nor lost. Which Ganymede perceiving wakened
him out of his dream thus:
"Now, Montanus, dost thou see thou vowest great service and obtainest
but little reward; but in lieu of thy loyalty, she maketh thee, as
Bellerophon, carry thine own bane. Then drink not willingly of that
potion wherein thou knowest is poison; creep not to her that cares not
for thee. What, Montanus, there are many as fair as Phoebe, but most
of all more courteous than Phoebe. I tell thee, shepherd, favor is
love's fuel; then since thou canst not get that, let the flame vanish
into smoke, and rather sorrow for a while than repent thee for ever."
"I tell thee, Ganymede," quoth Montanus, "as they which are stung with
the scorpion, cannot be recovered but by the scorpion, nor he that was
wounded with Achilles' lance be cured but with the same truncheon,[1]
so Apollo was fain to cry out that love was only eased with love, and
fancy healed by no medicine but favor. Phoebus had herbs to heal all
hurts but this passion; Circes had charms for all chances but for
affection, and Mercury subtle reasons to refel all griefs but love.
Persuasions are bootless, reason lends no remedy, counsel no comfort,
to such whom fancy hath made resolute; and therefore though Phoebe
loves Ganymede, yet Montanus must honor none but Phoebe."
[Footnote 1: spear.]
"Then," quoth Ganymede, "may I rightly term thee a despairing lover,
that livest without joy, and lovest without hope: but what shall I do,
Montanus, to pleasure thee? Shall I despise Phoebe, as she disdains
thee?"
"Oh," quoth Montanus, "that were to renew my griefs, and double my
sorrows; for the sight of her discontent were the censure[1] of my
death. Alas, Ganymede! though I perish in my thoughts, let not her die
in her desires. Of all passions, love is most impatient: then let not
so fair a creature as Phoebe sink under the burden of so deep a
distress. Being lovesick, she is proved heartsick, and all for the
beauty of Ganymede. Thy proportion hath entangled her affection, and
she is snared in the beauty of thy excellence. Then, sith she loves
thee so dear, mislike not her deadly. Be thou paramour to such a
paragon: she hath beauty to content thine eye, and flocks to enrich
thy store. Thou canst not wish for more than thou shalt win by her;
for she is beautiful, virtuous and wealthy, three deep persuasions to
make love frolic."
[Footnote 1: sentence.]
Aliena seeing Montanus cut it against the hair, and plead that
Ganymede ought to love Phoebe, when his only life was the love of
Phoebe, answered him thus:
"Why, Montanus, dost thou further this motion, seeing if Ganymede
marry Phoebe thy market is clean marred?"
"Ah, mistress," quoth he, "so hath love taught me to honor Phoebe,
that I would prejudice my life to pleasure her, and die in despair
rather than she should perish for want. It shall suffice me to see her
contented, and to feed mine eye on her favor. If she marry, though it
be my martyrdom, yet if she be pleased I will brook it with patience,
and triumph in mine own stars to see her desires satisfied. Therefore,
if Ganymede be as courteous as he is beautiful, let him show his
virtues in redressing Phoebe's miseries." And this Montanus pronounced
with such an assured countenance, that it amazed both Aliena and
Ganymede to see the resolution of his loves; so that they pitied his
passions and commended his patience, devising how they might by any
subtlety get Montanus the favor of Phoebe. Straight (as women's heads
are full of wiles) Ganymede had a fetch[1] to force Phoebe to fancy
the shepherd, malgrado[2] the resolution of her mind: he prosecuted
his policy thus:
[Footnote 1: device.]
[Footnote 2: in spite of.]
"Montanus," quoth he, "seeing Phoebe is so forlorn, lest I might be
counted unkind in not salving so fair a creature, I will go with thee
to Phoebe, and there hear herself in word utter that which she hath
discoursed with her pen; and then, as love wills me, I will set down
my censure.[1] I will home by our house, and send Corydon to accompany
Aliena."
[Footnote 1: decision.]
Montanus seemed glad of this determination and away they go towards
the house of Phoebe.
When they drew nigh to the cottage, Montanus ran before, and went in
and told Phoebe that Ganymede was at the door. This word "Ganymede,"
sounding in the ears of Phoebe, drave her into such an ecstasy for
joy, that rising up in her bed, she was half revived, and her wan
color began to wax red; and with that came Ganymede in, who saluted
Phoebe with such a courteous look, that it was half a salve to her
sorrows. Sitting him down by her bedside, he questioned about her
disease, and where the pain chiefly held her? Phoebe looking as lovely
as Venus in her night-gear, tainting her face with as ruddy a blush
as Clytia did when she bewrayed her loves to Phoebus, taking Ganymede
by the hand began thus:
"Fair shepherd, if love were not more strong than nature, or fancy the
sharpest extreme, my immodesty were the more, and my virtues the less;
for nature hath framed women's eyes bashful, their hearts full of
fear, and their tongues full of silence; but love, that imperious
love, where his power is predominant, then he perverts all, and
wresteth the wealth of nature to his own will: an instance in myself,
fair Ganymede, for such a fire hath he kindled in my thoughts, that to
find ease for the flame, I was forced to pass the bounds of modesty,
and seek a salve at thy hands for my harms. Blame me not if I be
overbold for it is thy beauty, and if I be too forward it is fancy,
and the deep insight into thy virtues that makes me thus fond. For let
me say in a word what may be contained in a volume, Phoebe loves
Ganymede."
At this she held down her head and wept, and Ganymede rose as one that
would suffer no fish to hang on his fingers, made this reply:
"Water not thy plants, Phoebe, for I do pity thy plaints, nor seek not
to discover thy loves in tears, for I conjecture thy truth by thy
passions: sorrow is no salve for loves, nor sighs no remedy for
affection. Therefore frolic, Phoebe; for if Ganymede can cure thee,
doubt not of recovery. Yet this let me say without offence, that it
grieves me to thwart Montanus in his fancies, seeing his desires have
been so resolute, and his thoughts so loyal. But thou allegest that
thou art forced from him by fate: so I tell thee, Phoebe, either some
star or else some destiny fits my mind, rather with Adonis to die in
chase than be counted a wanton in Venus' knee. Although I pity thy
martyrdom, yet I can grant no marriage; for though I held thee fair,
yet mine eye is not fettered: love grows not, like the herb Spattana,
to his perfection in one night, but creeps with the snail, and yet at
last attains to the top. _Festina lente_, especially in love, for
momentary fancies are oft-times the fruits of follies. If, Phoebe, I
should like thee as the Hyperborei do their dates, which banquet with
them in the morning and throw them away at night, my folly should be
great, and thy repentance more. Therefore I will have time to turn my
thoughts, and my loves shall grow up as the watercresses, slowly, but
with a deep root. Thus, Phoebe, thou mayest see I disdain not, though
I desire not; remaining indifferent till time and love makes me
resolute. Therefore, Phoebe, seek not to suppress affection, and with
the love of Montanus quench the remembrance of Ganymede; strive thou
to hate me as I seek to like of thee, and ever have the duties of
Montanus in thy mind, for I promise thee thou mayest have one more
wealthy, but not more loyal." These words were corrosives to the
perplexed Phoebe, but sobbing out sighs, and straining out tears, she
blubbered out these words:
"And shall I then have no salve of Ganymede but suspense, no hope but
a doubtful hazard, no comfort, but be posted off to the will of time?
Justly have the gods balanced my fortunes, who, being cruel to
Montanus, found Ganymede as unkind to myself; so in forcing him perish
for love, I shall die myself with overmuch love."
"I am glad," quoth Ganymede, "you look into your own faults, and see
where your shoe wrings you, measuring now the pains of Montanus by
your own passions."
"Truth," quoth Phoebe, "and so deeply I repent me of my frowardness
toward the shepherd, that could I cease to love Ganymede, I would
resolve to like Montanus."
"What, if I can with reason persuade Phoebe to mislike of Ganymede,
will she then favor Montanus?"
"When reason," quoth she, "doth quench that love I owe to thee, then
will I fancy him; conditionally, that if my love can be suppressed
with no reason, as being without reason Ganymede will only wed himself
to Phoebe."
"I grant it, fair shepherdess," quoth he; "and to feed thee with the
sweetness of hope, this resolve on: I will never marry myself to woman
but unto thyself."
And with that Ganymede gave Phoebe a fruitless kiss, and such words of
comfort, that before Ganymede departed she arose out of her bed, and
made him and Montanus such cheer, as could be found in such a country
cottage; Ganymede in the midst of their banquet rehearsing the
promises of either in Montanus' favor, which highly pleased the
shepherd. Thus, all three content, and soothed up in hope, Ganymede
took his leave of his Phoebe and departed, leaving her a contented
woman, and Montanus highly pleased. But poor Ganymede, who had her
thoughts on her Rosader, when she called to remembrance his wounds,
filled her eyes full of tears, and her heart full of sorrows, plodded
to find Aliena at the folds, thinking with her presence to drive away
her passions. As she came on the plains she might espy where Rosader
and Saladyne sate with Aliena under the shade; which sight was a salve
to her grief, and such a cordial unto her heart, that she tripped
alongst the lawns full of joy.
At last Corydon, who was with them, spied Ganymede, and with that the
clown rose, and, running to meet him, cried:
"O sirrah, a match, a match! our mistress shall be married on Sunday."
Thus the poor peasant frolicked it before Ganymede, who coming to the
crew saluted them all, and especially Rosader, saying that he was glad
to see him so well recovered of his wounds.
"I had not gone abroad so soon," quoth Rosader, "but that I am bidden
to a marriage, which, on Sunday next, must be solemnized between my
brother and Aliena. I see well where love leads delay is loathsome,
and that small wooing serves where both the parties are willing."
"Truth," quoth Ganymede; "but a happy day should it be, if Rosader
that day might be married to Rosalynde."
"Ah, good Ganymede," quoth he, "by naming Rosalynde, renew not my
sorrows; for the thought of her perfections is the thrall of my
miseries."
"Tush, be of good cheer, man," quoth Ganymede: "I have a friend that
is deeply experienced in negromancy and magic; what art can do shall
be acted for thine advantage: I will cause him to bring in Rosalynde,
if either France or any bordering nation harbor her; and upon that
take the faith of a young shepherd."
Aliena smiled to see how Rosader frowned, thinking that Ganymede had
jested with him. But, breaking off from those matters, the page,
somewhat pleasant, began to discourse unto them what had passed
between him and Phoebe; which, as they laughed, so they wondered at,
all confessing that there is none so chaste but love will change. Thus
they passed away the day in chat, and when the sun began to set they
took their leaves and departed; Aliena providing for their marriage
day such solemn cheer and handsome robes as fitted their country
estate, and yet somewhat the better, in that Rosader had promised to
bring Gerismond thither as a guest. Ganymede, who then meant to
discover herself before her father, had made her a gown of green, and
a kirtle of the finest sendal,[1] in such sort that she seemed some
heavenly nymph harbored in country attire.
[Footnote 1: a thin silk.]
Saladyne was not behind in care to set out the nuptials, nor Rosader
unmindful to bid guests, who invited Gerismond and all his followers
to the feast, who willingly granted, so that there was nothing but the
day wanting to this marriage.
In the meanwhile, Phoebe being a bidden guest made herself as gorgeous
as might be to please the eye of Ganymede; and Montanus suited
himself with the cost of many of his flocks to be gallant against the
day, for then was Ganymede to give Phoebe an answer of her loves, and
Montanus either to hear the doom of his misery, or the censure of his
happiness. But while this gear was a-brewing, Phoebe passed not one
day without visiting her Ganymede, so far was she wrapped in the
beauties of this lovely swain. Much prattle they had, and the
discourse of many passions, Phoebe wishing for the day, as she
thought, of her welfare, and Ganymede smiling to think what unexpected
events would fall out at the wedding. In these humors the week went
away, that at last Sunday came.
No sooner did Phoebus' henchman appear in the sky, to give warning
that his master's horses should be trapped in his glorious coach, but
Corydon, in his holiday suit, marvellous seemly, in a russet jacket,
welted with the same and faced with red worsted, having a pair of blue
chamlet sleeves, bound at the wrists with four yellow laces, closed
before very richly with a dozen of pewter buttons; his hose was of
grey kersey, with a large slop[1] barred overthwart the pocket-holes
with three fair guards, stitched of either side with red thread; his
stock was of the own, sewed close to his breech, and for to beautify
his hose, he had trussed himself round with a dozen of new-threaden
points[2] of medley color: his bonnet was green, whereon stood a
copper brooch with the picture of Saint Denis; and to want nothing
that might make him amorous in his old days, he had a fair shirt-band
of fine lockram,[3] whipped over with Coventry blue of no small cost.
Thus attired, Corydon bestirred himself as chief stickler[4] in these
actions, and had strowed all the house with flowers, that it seemed
rather some of Flora's choice bowers than any country cottage.
[Footnote 1: a smock-frock, or possibly trousers.]
[Footnote 2: laces.]
[Footnote 3: linen.]
[Footnote 4: manager.]
Thither repaired Phoebe with all the maids of the forest, to set out
the bride in the most seemliest sort that might be; but howsoever she
helped to prank out Aliena, yet her eye was still on Ganymede, who was
so neat in a suit of grey, that he seemed Endymion when he won Luna
with his looks, or Paris when he played the swain to get the beauty of
the nymph Oenone. Ganymede, like a pretty page, waited on his mistress
Aliena, and overlooked that all was in a readiness against the
bridegroom should come; who, attired in a forester's suit, came
accompanied with Gerismond and his brother Rosader early in the
morning; where arrived, they were solemnly entertained by Aliena and
the rest of the country swains; Gerismond very highly commending the
fortunate choice of Saladyne, in that he had chosen a shepherdess,
whose virtues appeared in her outward beauties, being no less fair
than seeming modest. Ganymede coming in, and seeing her father, began
to blush, nature working affects[1] by her secret effects: scarce
could she abstain from tears to see her father in so low fortunes, he
that was wont to sit in his royal palace, attended on by twelve noble
peers, now to be contented with a simple cottage, and a troop of
revelling woodmen for his train. The consideration of his fall made
Ganymede full of sorrows; yet, that she might triumph over fortune
with patience, and not any way dash that merry day with her dumps, she
smothered her melancholy with a shadow of mirth, and very reverently
welcomed the king, not according to his former degree, but to his
present estate, with such diligence as Gerismond began to commend the
page for his exquisite person and excellent qualities.
[Footnote 1: affections.]
As thus the king with his foresters frolicked it among the shepherds,
Corydon came in with a fair mazer[1] full of cider, and presented it
to Gerismond with such a clownish salute that he began to smile, and
took it of the old shepherd very kindly, drinking to Aliena and the
rest of her fair maids, amongst whom Phoebe was the foremost. Aliena
pledged the king, and drunk to Rosader; so the carouse went round
from him to Phoebe, &c. As they were thus drinking and ready to go to
church, came in Montanus, apparelled all in tawny, to signify that he
was forsaken; on his head he wore a garland of willow, his bottle
hanged by his side, whereon was painted despair, and on his sheep-hook
hung two sonnets, as labels of his loves and fortunes.
[Footnote 1: mug.]
Thus attired came Montanus in, with his face as full of grief as his
heart was of sorrows, showing in his countenance the map of
extremities. As soon as the shepherds saw him, they did him all the
honor they could, as being the flower of all the swains in Arden; for
a bonnier boy was there not seen since that wanton wag of Troy that
kept sheep in Ida. He, seeing the king, and guessing it to be
Gerismond, did him all the reverence his country courtesy could
afford; insomuch that the king, wondering at his attire, began to
question what he was. Montanus overhearing him, made this reply:
"I am, sir," quoth he, "Love's swain, as full of inward discontents as
I seem fraught with outward follies. Mine eyes like bees delight in
sweet flowers, but sucking their full on the fair of beauty, they
carry home to the hive of my heart far more gall than honey, and for
one drop of pure dew, a ton full of deadly Aconiton. I hunt with the
fly to pursue the eagle, that flying too nigh the sun, I perish with
the sun; my thoughts are above my reach, and my desires more than my
fortunes, yet neither greater than my loves. But daring with Phaëthon,
I fall with Icarus, and seeking to pass the mean, I die for being so
mean; my night-sleeps are waking slumbers, as full of sorrows as they
be far from rest; and my days' labors are fruitless amours, staring at
a star and stumbling at a straw, leaving reason to follow after
repentance; yet every passion is a pleasure though it pinch, because
love hides his wormseed[1] in figs, his poisons in sweet potions, and
shadows prejudice with the mask of pleasure. The wisest counsellors
are my deep discontents, and I hate that which should salve my harm,
like the patient which stung with the Tarantula loathes music, and yet
the disease incurable but by melody. Thus, sir, restless I hold myself
remediless, as loving without either reward or regard, and yet loving
because there is none worthy to be loved but the mistress of my
thoughts. And that I am as full of passions as I have discoursed in my
plaints, sir, if you please, see my sonnets, and by them censure of my
sorrows."
[Footnote 1: wormwood = bitterness.]
These words of Montanus brought the king into a great wonder, amazed
as much at his wit as his attire, insomuch that he took the papers off
his hook, and read them to this effect:
_Montanus' first Sonnet_
Alas! how wander I amidst these woods
Whereas no day-bright shine doth find access;
But where the melancholy fleeting floods,
Dark as the night, my night of woes express.
Disarmed of reason, spoiled of nature's goods,
Without redress to salve my heaviness
I walk, whilst thought, too cruel to my harms,
With endless grief my heedless judgment charms.
My silent tongue assailed by secret fear,
My traitorous eyes imprisoned in their joy,
My fatal peace devoured in feignèd cheer,
My heart enforced to harbor in annoy,
My reason robbed of power by yielding ear,
My fond opinions slave to every toy.
O Love! thou guide in my uncertain way,
Woe to thy bow, thy fire, the cause of my decay.
_Et florida pungunt._
When the king had read this sonnet he highly commended the device of
the shepherd, that could so wittily wrap his passions in a shadow, and
so covertly conceal that which bred his chiefest discontent;
affirming, that as the least shrubs have their tops, the smallest
hairs their shadows, so the meanest swains had their fancies, and in
their kind were as chary of love as a king. Whetted on with this
device, he took the second and read it: the effects were these:
_Montanus' second Sonnet_
When the Dog[1]
Full of rage,
With his ireful eyes
Frowns amidst the skies,
The shepherd, to assuage
The fury of the heat,
Himself doth safely seat
By a fount
Full of fair,
Where a gentle breath,
Mounting from beneath,
Tempereth the air.
There his flocks
Drink their fill,
And with ease repose,
Whilst sweet sleep doth close
Eyes from toilsome ill.
But I burn
Without rest,
No defensive power
Shields from Phoebe's lour;
Sorrow is my best.
Gentle Love,
Lour no more;
If thou wilt invade
In the secret shade,
Labor not so sore.
I myself
And my flocks,
They their love to please,
I myself to ease,
Both leave the shady oaks;
Content to burn in fire,
Sith Love doth so desire.
_Et florida pungunt._
[Footnote 1: Sirius, the dog star.]
Gerismond, seeing the pithy vein of those sonnets, began to make
further inquiry what he was. Whereupon Rosader discoursed unto him the
love of Montanus to Phoebe, his great loyalty and her deep cruelty,
and how in revenge the gods had made the curious nymph amorous of
young Ganymede. Upon this discourse the king was desirous to see
Phoebe, who being brought before Gerismond by Rosader, shadowed the
beauty of her face with such a vermilion teinture, that the king's
eyes began to dazzle at the purity of her excellence. After Gerismond
had fed his looks awhile upon her fair, he questioned with her why she
rewarded Montanus' love with so little regard, seeing his deserts were
many, and his passions extreme. Phoebe, to make reply to the king's
demand, answered thus:
"Love, sir, is charity in his laws, and whatsoever he sets down for
justice, be it never so unjust, the sentence cannot be reversed;
women's fancies lend favors not ever by desert, but as they are
enforced by their desires; for fancy is tied to the wings of fate, and
what the stars decree, stands for an infallible doom. I know Montanus
is wise, and women's ears are greatly delighted with wit, as hardly
escaping the charm of a pleasant tongue, as Ulysses the melody of the
Sirens. Montanus is beautiful, and women's eyes are snared in the
excellence of objects, as desirous to feed their looks with a fair
face, as the bee to suck on a sweet flower. Montanus is wealthy, and
an ounce of _give me_ persuades a woman more than a pound of _hear
me_. Danaë was won with a golden shower, when she could not be gotten
with all the entreaties of Jupiter: I tell you, sir, the string of a
woman's heart reacheth to the pulse of her hand; and let a man rub
that with gold, and 't is hard but she will prove his heart's gold.
Montanus is young, a great clause in fancy's court; Montanus is
virtuous, the richest argument that love yields; and yet knowing all
these perfections, I praise them and wonder at them, loving the
qualities, but not affecting the person, because the destinies have
set down a contrary censure. Yet Venus, to add revenge, hath given me
wine of the same grape, a sip of the same sauce, and firing me with
the like passion, hath crossed me with as ill a penance; for I am in
love with a shepherd's swain, as coy to me as I am cruel to Montanus,
as peremptory in disdain as I was perverse in desire; and that is,"
quoth she, "Aliena's page, young Ganymede."
Gerismond, desirous to prosecute the end of these passions, called in
Ganymede, who, knowing the case, came in graced with such a blush, as
beautified the crystal of his face with a ruddy brightness. The king
noting well the physnomy of Ganymede, began by his favors to call to
mind the face of his Rosalynde, and with that fetched a deep sigh.
Rosader, that was passing familiar with Gerismond, demanded of him why
he sighed so sore.
"Because Rosader," quoth he, "the favor of Ganymede puts me in mind of
Rosalynde."
At this word Rosader sighed so deeply, as though his heart would have
burst.
"And what's the matter," quoth Gerismond, "that you quite me with such
a sigh?"
"Pardon me, sir," quoth Rosader, "because I love none but Rosalynde."
"And upon that condition," quoth Gerismond, "that Rosalynde were here,
I would this day make up a marriage betwixt her and thee."
At this Aliena turned her head and smiled upon Ganymede, and she could
scarce keep countenance. Yet she salved all with secrecy; and
Gerismond, to drive away his dumps, questioned with Ganymede, what the
reason was he regarded not Phoebe's love, seeing she was as fair as
the wanton that brought Troy to ruin. Ganymede mildly answered:
"If I should affect the fair Phoebe, I should offer poor Montanus
great wrong to win that from him in a moment, that he hath labored for
so many months. Yet have I promised to the beautiful shepherdess to
wed myself never to woman except unto her; but with this promise, that
if I can by reason suppress Phoebe's love towards me, she shall like
of none but of Montanus."
"To that," quoth Phoebe, "I stand; for my love is so far beyond
reason, as will admit no persuasion of reason."
"For justice," quoth he, "I appeal to Gerismond."
"And to his censure will I stand," quoth Phoebe.
"And in your victory," quoth Montanus, "stands the hazard of my
fortunes; for if Ganymede go away with conquest, Montanus is in
conceit love's monarch; if Phoebe win, then am I in effect most
miserable."
"We will see this controversy," quoth Gerismond, "and then we will to
church. Therefore, Ganymede, let us hear your argument."
"Nay, pardon my absence a while," quoth she, "and you shall see one in
store."
In went Ganymede and dressed herself in woman's attire, having on a
gown of green, with kirtle of rich sendal,[1] so quaint, that she
seemed Diana triumphing in the forest; upon her head she wore a
chaplet of roses, which gave her such a grace that she looked like
Flora perked in the pride of all her flowers. Thus attired came
Rosalynde in, and presented herself at her father's feet, with her
eyes full of tears, craving his blessing, and discoursing unto him all
her fortunes, how she was banished by Torismond, and how ever since
she lived in that country disguised.
[Footnote 1: a thin silk.]
Gerismond, seeing his daughter, rose from his seat and fell upon her
neck, uttering the passions of his joy in watery plaints, driven into
such an ecstasy of content, that he could not utter one word. At this
sight, if Rosader was both amazed and joyful, I refer myself to the
judgment of such as have experience in love, seeing his Rosalynde
before his face whom so long and deeply he had affected. At last
Gerismond recovered his spirits, and in most fatherly terms
entertained his daughter Rosalynde, after many questions demanding of
her what had passed between her and Rosader?
"So much, sir," quoth she, "as there wants nothing but your grace to
make up the marriage."
"Why, then," quoth Gerismond, "Rosader take her: she is thine, and let
this day solemnize both thy brother's and thy nuptials." Rosader
beyond measure content, humbly thanked the king, and embraced his
Rosalynde, who turning to Phoebe, demanded if she had shown sufficient
reason to suppress the force of her loves.
"Yea," quoth Phoebe, "and so great a persuasive, that if it please
you, madame, and Aliena to give us leave, Montanus and I will make
this day the third couple in marriage."
She had no sooner spake this word, but Montanus threw away his garland
of willow, his bottle, where was painted despair, and cast his sonnets
in the fire, showing himself as frolic as Paris when he handselled[1]
his love with Helena. At this Gerismond and the rest smiled, and
concluded that Montanus and Phoebe should keep their wedding with the
two brethren. Aliena seeing Saladyne stand in a dump,[2] to wake him
from his dream began thus:
[Footnote 1: began.]
[Footnote 2: revery.]
"Why how now, my Saladyne, all amort?[1] what melancholy, man, at the
day of marriage? Perchance thou art sorrowful to think on thy
brother's high fortunes, and thine own base desires to choose so mean
a shepherdess. Cheer up thy heart, man; for this day thou shalt be
married to the daughter of a king; for know, Saladyne, I am not
Aliena, but Alinda, the daughter of thy mortal enemy Torismond."
[Footnote 1: dead.]
At this all the company was amazed, especially Gerismond, who rising
up, took Alinda in his arms, and said to Rosalynde: "Is this that fair
Alinda famous for so many virtues, that forsook her father's court to
live with thee exiled in the country?"
"The same," quoth Rosalynde.
"Then," quoth Gerismond, turning to Saladyne, "jolly forester be
frolic, for thy fortunes are great, and thy desires excellent; thou
hast got a princess as famous for her perfection, as exceeding in
proportion."
"And she hath with her beauty won," quoth Saladyne, "an humble
servant, as full of faith as she of amiable favor."
While every one was amazed with these comical events, Corydon came
skipping in, and told them that the priest was at church, and tarried
for their coming. With that Gerismond led the way, and the rest
followed; where to the admiration of all the country swains in Arden
their marriages were solemnly solemnized. As soon as the priest had
finished, home they went with Alinda, where Corydon had made all
things in readiness. Dinner was provided, and the tables being spread,
and the brides set down by Gerismond, Rosader, Saladyne, and Montanus
that day were servitors; homely cheer they had, such as their country
could afford, but to mend their fare they had mickle good chat, and
many discourses of their loves and fortunes. About mid-dinner, to make
them merry, Corydon came in with an old crowd,[1] and played them a
fit of mirth, to which he sung this pleasant song:
[Footnote 1: an old-fashioned violin with six strings.]
_Corydon's Song_
A blithe and bonny country lass,
heigh ho, the bonny lass!
Sate sighing on the tender grass
and weeping said, will none come woo her.
A smicker[1] boy, a lither swain,
heigh ho, a smicker swain!
That in his love was wanton fain,
with smiling looks straight came unto her.
Whenas the wanton wench espied,
heigh ho, when she espied!
The means to make herself a bride,
she simpered smooth like Bonnybell:
The swain, that saw her squint-eyed kind,
heigh ho, squint-eyed kind!
His arms about her body twined,
and: "Fair lass, how fare ye, well?"
The country kit said: "Well, forsooth,
heigh ho, well forsooth!
But that I have a longing tooth,
a longing tooth that makes me cry."
"Alas!" said he, "what gars[2] thy grief?
heigh ho, what gars thy grief?"
"A wound," quoth she, "without relief,
I fear a maid that I shall die."
"If that be all," the shepherd said,
heigh ho, the shepherd said!
"Ile make thee wive it gentle maid,
and so recure thy malady."
Hereon they kissed with many an oath,
heigh ho, with many an oath!
And fore God Pan did plight their troth,
and to the church they hied them fast.
And God send every pretty peat,[3]
heigh ho, the pretty peat!
That fears to die of this conceit,
so kind a friend to help at last.
[Footnote 1: amorous, wanton.]
[Footnote 2: occasions.]
[Footnote 3: pet.]
Corydon having thus made them merry, as they were in the midst of
their jollity, word was brought in to Saladyne and Rosader that a
brother of theirs, one Fernandyne, was arrived, and desired to speak
with them. Gerismond overhearing this news, demanded who it was.
"It is, sir," quoth Rosader, "our middle brother, that lives a scholar
in Paris; but what fortune hath driven him to seek us out I know not."
With that Saladyne went and met his brother, whom he welcomed with all
courtesy, and Rosader gave him no less friendly entertainment; brought
he was by his two brothers into the parlor where they all sate at
dinner. Fernandyne, as one that knew as many manners as he could[1]
points of sophistry, and was as well brought up as well lettered,
saluted them all. But when he espied Gerismond, kneeling on his knee
he did him what reverence belonged to his estate, and with that burst
forth into these speeches:
[Footnote 1: knew.]
"Although, right mighty prince, this day of my brother's marriage be a
day of mirth, yet time craves another course; and therefore from
dainty cates rise to sharp weapons. And you, the sons of Sir John of
Bordeaux, leave off your amours and fall to arms; change your loves
into lances, and now this day show yourselves as valiant as hitherto
you have been passionate. For know, Gerismond, that hard by at the
edge of this forest the twelve peers of France are up in arms to
recover thy right; and Torismond, trooped with a crew of desperate
runagates,[1] is ready to bid them battle. The armies are ready to
join; therefore show thyself in the field to encourage thy subjects;
and you, Saladyne and Rosader, mount you, and show yourselves as hardy
soldiers as you have been hearty lovers; so shall you, for the benefit
of your country, discover the idea of your father's virtues to be
stamped in your thoughts, and prove children worthy of so honorable a
parent."
[Footnote 1: vagabonds, renegades.]
At this alarm, given him by Fernandyne, Gerismond leaped from the
board, and Saladyne and Rosader betook themselves to their weapons.
"Nay," quoth Gerismond, "go with me; I have horse and armor for us
all, and then, being well mounted, let us show that we carry revenge
and honor at our falchions' points."
Thus they leave the brides full of sorrow, especially Alinda, who
desired Gerismond to be good to her father. He, not returning a word
because his haste was great, hied him home to his lodge, where he
delivered Saladyne and Rosader horse and armor, and himself armed
royally led the way; not having ridden two leagues before they
discovered where in a valley both the battles were joined. Gerismond
seeing the wing wherein the peers fought, thrust in there, and cried
"Saint Denis!" Gerismond laying on such load upon his enemies, that he
showed how highly he did estimate of a crown. When the peers perceived
that their lawful king was there, they grew more eager; and Saladyne
and Rosader so behaved themselves, that none durst stand in their way,
nor abide the fury of their weapons. To be short, the peers were
conquerors, Torismond's army put to flight, and himself slain in
battle. The peers then gathered themselves together, and saluted their
king, conducted him royally into Paris, where he was received with
great joy of all the citizens. As soon as all was quiet and he had
received again the crown, he sent for Alinda and Rosalynde to the
court, Alinda being very passionate for the death of her father, yet
brooking it with the more patience, in that she was contented with the
welfare of her Saladyne.
Well, as soon as they were come to Paris, Gerismond made a royal feast
for the peers and lords of his land, which continued thirty days, in
which time summoning a parliament, by the consent of his nobles he
created Rosader heir apparent to the kingdom; he restored Saladyne to
all his father's land and gave him the Dukedom of Nameurs; he made
Fernandyne principal secretary to himself; and that fortune might
every way seem frolic, he made Montanus lord over all the forest of
Arden, Adam Spencer Captain of the King's Guard, and Corydon master of
Alinda's flocks.
* * * * *
Here, gentlemen, may you see in Euphues' Golden Legacy, that such as
neglect their fathers' precepts, incur much prejudice; that division
in nature, as it is a blemish in nurture, so 'tis a breach of good
fortunes; that virtue is not measured by birth but by action; that
younger brethren, though inferior in years, yet may be superior to
honors; that concord is the sweetest conclusion, and amity betwixt
brothers more forceable than fortune. If you gather any fruits by this
Legacy, speak well of Euphues for writing it, and me for fetching it.
If you grace me with that favor, you encourage me to be more forward;
and as soon as I have overlooked my labors, expect the Sailor's
Calendar.
T. LODGE.
FINIS
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