thinking now time had smiled upon him, by putting her in such an humorous vein. At last he heard her warble out this pleasant ode. PHILOMELA'S ODE THAT SHE SUNG IN HER ARBOUR. Sitting by a river's side, Where a silent stream did glide, I 'gan think how some men deem That to man in life is lent. When mouth kisseth and heart 'grees, With folded arms and lips meeting, Each soul another sweetly greeting. For by the breath the soul fleeteth, And soul with soul in kissing meeteth. If Love be so sweet a thing, That such happy bliss doth bring, But unhappy maidens all, Who esteem your virgin's blisses, Sweeter than a wife's sweet kisses. No such quiet to the mind, As true love with kisses kind. But if a kiss prove unchaste, Then is true love quite disgrac❜d. Though love be sweet, learn this of me, As soon as PHILOMELA had ended her ode, Seignior LUTESIO stepped to her, and half marred her melody with this unlooked for motion: "I am glad, Madam, to find you so full of glee; women's minds set on mirth shews their thoughts are at quiet: when birds sing early, there hath been a sweet dew; so your morning's anthem shews your night's content; the subject of your song, and the censure of my thoughts argue upon conclusion: for likely it is, you have found kissing sweet, that so highly commend it; but as the old proverb is, such laugh as win; and such as Venus favours may afford her incense. Love is precious to such as possess their love; but there is no hell, if love be not hell, to such as dare not express their passions'." PHILOMELA Seeing LUTESIO took her napping in singing so merry an ode, shewed in the blush of her cheeks, the bashfulness of her thoughts; yet knowing he was her husband's familiar, she cared the less, and smiling, made him this pleasant answer: Seignior LUTESIO, as I relished a wanton song at random, so I little looked your ears should have been troubled with my music; but since 1 Fire that is closest kept, burns most of all. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Fell Sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more, Silence in love denotes more woe, Than words, tho' ne'er so witty. 66 Raleigh. C you are a hearer of my hoarse ditty, take it as you find it, and construe of it as you please, I know mine own meaning best. In that I commend kissing, it argues me the more kind; and my husband the more loving, in that I find lip-love so sweet; women may be wantons in their husbands, yet not immodest: and wives are allowed to sport, so their dallying be not dishonest; yet had I known you had been so nigh, I would have been more silent." And at this word she blushed again, discovering by her looks, it grieved her, any man (though never so familiar) should hear her so extraordinary pleasant: but to find fish in Seignior LUTESIO'S fingers, because he glanced at disdain in love, she followed her reply thus: "Yet since, Sir, what is past cannot be recalled, I will overslip the conceit of mine own folly, and be so bold as to have you under confession. What is the reason, LUTESIO, you diversely descant of the fruition of love? Hath that divine passion crept into your brains?” GIOVANNI hearing her harp on that string, strained it a pin higher thus."Divine passion call you it, Madam? nay rather a fury fetched from hell, a madness brewed in the bosom of Tesiphon, an unbridled desire, a restless agony, a continual anguish. Thus do I value love, because my life is at an end by the wrongs of love: such as are poisoned with ragwort count it fatal; yet such as have the pleurisy drink it in potions: the mercurial Moti was very much commended of Ulysses, though condemned of Cyrus: men's poems follow their passions, and they conclude as they are contented: then, Madam, if all the world say, love is a heaven, yet must I say, desire is a hell: not that the beauteous Saint, whom mine eye doth worship, and my heart doth honour, hath quitted my affection with disdain but that in not daring discover my passions, I am put to a triple tormenting penance." At this he fetched such a feigned sigh, that simple meaning PHILOMELA imagined the gentleman was full of sorrow, and there fore began to comfort him thus. Why, Seignior LUTESIO, have you soared so high, that you doubt the scorching of your feathers? Have your desires taken flight so far above your degree, that you fear a fall? Is the lady whom you love so great of birth, that you dare not be your own broker? Love, LUTESIO, if honest, is lawful, and may reap disdain, but not disgrace. Desire is the daughter of Destiny, and the sympathy of affections is forepointed by the stars. Women's eyes are not tied to high personages, but to exquisite perfections: and the greater oft-times they be in degrees, the lower they prove in loves. Be she then, LUTESIO, the stateliest, the richest, the fairest in all Italy, fear not to court her: for happily she may grant, and she at the worst can but say no. When I enter into thy wonted humours, how honestly wanton thou hast been amongst women of high account, when I think of thy wealth, of thy virtues, of thy parentage, of thy person, I flatter not, LUTESIO; for in my opinion a frump amongst friends is petty treason in effect! I cannot but wonder what she is that LUTESIO dares not tell he loves; if without offence I may crave it, tell me her name, that I may censure of her qualities." LUTESIO, with a face full of discontent, made her this answer: Madam, as I dare not discourse my loves, so I will not discover her name; I regard her honour as my life, and therefore only suffice it, I am as far unworthy of her, as she is beyond my reach to compass." PHILOMELA, who straight found the knot in the rush, began to imagine that it was some married wife that LUTESIO aimed at: and therefore charged him by the love that he bore to PHILIPPO MEDICO, that he would tell her whether it was a wife or a maid that he thus earnestly affected. LUTESIO briefly told her, that she was not only a wife, but maid to one, whom she almost as tenderly loved, as he did the Earl her husband: a lady of honour and virtue, yet a woman, and therefore he hoped might be won, if his heart would serve him to be a wooer. PHILOMELA hearing this, began to find a knot in the rush, and began to deem it was some familiar of his that he was affected to: and therefore with a gentle frown, as if she loved him, and yet misliked of his fondness in fancy, taking him by the hand, she began thus to school him. 66 LUTESIO, now I see, the strongest oak hath his sap, and his worms that ravens will breed in the fairest ash, and that the musked angelica bears a dew, that shining like pearl, being tasted, is most prejudicial: that the holiest men in shew are oft the hollowest men in substance; and where there is the greatest flourish of virtue', there in time appeareth the greatest blemish of vanity. I speak this by all, but apply it to them, who seeming every way absolute, will prove every way dissolute. Hath not Venice held thee more famous for thy good parts than for thy parentage; and yet well born? and valued thee more for living well, than wealthily; and yet thy patrimony is not small? Oh, LUTESIO, darken not these honours with dishonesty; nor for the foolish and fading passion of lust, reach not an everlasting penance of infamy! "As I mislike of thy choice, so I can but wonder at thy change, to see thee altered in manners, that wert erst so modest. Who was |