sake. He will fight and fetch, [5494]Argivum Clypeum, that famous
buckler of Argos, to do her service, adventure at all, undertake any
enterprise. And as Serranus the Spaniard, then Governor of Sluys, made
answer to Marquess Spinola, if the enemy brought 50,000 devils against
him he would keep it. The nine worthies, Oliver and Rowland, and forty
dozen of peers are all in him, he is all mettle, armour of proof, more
than a man, and in this case improved beyond himself. For as
[5495]Agatho contends, a true lover is wise, just, temperate, and
valiant. [5496]I doubt not, therefore, but if a man had such an army of
lovers (as Castilio supposeth) he might soon conquer all the world,
except by chance he met with such another army of inamoratos to oppose
it. [5497]For so perhaps they might fight as that fatal dog and fatal
hare in the heavens, course one another round, and never make an end.
Castilio thinks Ferdinand King of Spain would never have conquered
Granada, had not Queen Isabel and her ladies been present at the siege:
[5498]It cannot be expressed what courage the Spanish knights took,
when the ladies were present, a few Spaniards overcame a multitude of
Moors. They will undergo any danger whatsoever, as Sir Walter Manny in
Edward the Third's time, stuck full of ladies' favours, fought like a
dragon. For soli amantes, as [5499]Plato holds, pro amicis mori
appetunt, only lovers will die for their friends, and in their
mistress' quarrel. And for that cause he would have women follow the
camp, to be spectators and encouragers of noble actions: upon such an
occasion, the [5500]Squire of Dames himself, Sir Lancelot or Sir
Tristram, Caesar, or Alexander, shall not be more resolute or go beyond
them.
Not courage only doth love add, but as I said, subtlety, wit, and many
pretty devices, [5501]Namque dolos inspirat amor, fraudesque ministrat,
[5502]Jupiter in love with Leda, and not knowing how to compass his
desire, turned himself into a swan, and got Venus to pursue him in the
likeness of an eagle; which she doing, for shelter, he fled to Leda's
lap, et in ejus gremio se collocavit, Leda embraced him, and so fell
fast asleep, sed dormientem Jupiter compressit, by which means Jupiter
had his will. Infinite such tricks love can devise, such fine feats in
abundance, with wisdom and wariness, [5503]quis fallere possit amantem.
All manner of civility, decency, compliment and good behaviour, plus
solis et leporis, polite graces and merry conceits. Boccaccio hath a
pleasant tale to this purpose, which he borrowed from the Greeks, and
which Beroaldus hath turned into Latin, Bebelius in verse, of Cymon and
Iphigenia. This Cymon was a fool, a proper man of person, and the
governor of Cyprus' son. but a very ass, insomuch that his father being
ashamed of him, sent him to a farmhouse he had in the country, to be
brought up. Where by chance, as his manner was, walking alone, he
espied a gallant young gentlewoman, named Iphigenia, a burgomaster's
daughter of Cyprus, with her maid, by a brook side in a little thicket,
fast asleep in her smock, where she had newly bathed herself: When
[5504]Cymon saw her, he stood leaning on his staff, gaping on her
immovable, and in amaze; at last he fell so far in love with the
glorious object, that he began to rouse himself up, to bethink what he
was, would needs follow her to the city, and for her sake began to be
civil, to learn to sing and dance, to play on instruments, and got all
those gentlemanlike qualities and compliments in a short space, which
his friends were most glad of. In brief, he became, from an idiot and a
clown, to be one of the most complete gentlemen in Cyprus, did many
valorous exploits, and all for the love of mistress Iphigenia. In a
word, I may say thus much of them all, let them be never so clownish,
rude and horrid, Grobians and sluts, if once they be in love they will
be most neat and spruce; for, [5505]Omnibus rebus, et nitidis nitoribus
antevenit amor, they will follow the fashion, begin to trick up, and to
have a good opinion of themselves, venustatem enim mater Venus; a ship
is not so long a rigging as a young gentlewoman a trimming up herself
against her sweetheart comes. A painter's shop, a flowery meadow, no so
gracious aspect in nature's storehouse as a young maid, nubilis puella,
a Novitsa or Venetian bride, that looks for a husband, or a young man
that is her suitor; composed looks, composed gait, clothes, gestures,
actions, all composed; all the graces, elegances in the world are in
her face. Their best robes, ribands, chains, jewels, lawns, linens,
laces, spangles, must come on, [5506]praeter quam res patitur student
elegantiae, they are beyond all measure coy, nice, and too curious on a
sudden; 'tis all their study, all their business, how to wear their
clothes neat, to be polite and terse, and to set out themselves. No
sooner doth a young man see his sweetheart coming, but he smugs up
himself, pulls up his cloak now fallen about his shoulders, ties his
garters, points, sets his band, cuffs, slicks his hair, twires his
beard, &c. When Mercury was to come before his mistress,
[5507]———Chlamydemque ut pendeat apte
Collocat, ut limbus totumque appareat aurum.
He put his cloak in order, that the lace.
And hem, and gold-work, all might have his grace.
Salmacis would not be seen of Hermaphroditus, till she had spruced up
herself first,
[5508]Nec tamen ante adiit, etsi properabat adire,
Quam se composuit, quam circumspexit amictus,
Et finxit vultum, et meruit formosa videri.
Nor did she come, although 'twas her desire,
Till she compos'd herself, and trimm'd her tire,
And set her looks to make him to admire.
Venus had so ordered the matter, that when her son [5509]Aeneas was to
appear before Queen Dido, he was
(Os humerosque deo similis (namque ipsa decoram
Caesariem nato genetrix, lumenque juventae
Purpureum et laetos oculis afflarat honores.)
like a god, for she was the tire-woman herself, to set him out with all
natural and artificial impostures. As mother Mammea did her son
Heliogabalus, new chosen emperor, when he was to be seen of the people
first. When the hirsute cyclopical Polyphemus courted Galatea;
[5510]Jamque tibi formae, jamque est tibi cura placendi,
Jam rigidos pectis rastris Polypheme capillos,
Jam libet hirsutam tibi falce recidere barbam,
Et spectare feros in aqua et componere vultus.
And then he did begin to prank himself,
To plait and comb his head, and beard to shave,
And look his face i' th' water as a glass,
And to compose himself for to be brave.
He was upon a sudden now spruce and keen, as a new ground hatchet. He
now began to have a good opinion of his own features and good parts,
now to be a gallant.
Jam Galatea veni, nec munera despice nostra,
Certe ego me novi, liquidaque in imagine vidi
Nuper aquae, placuitque mihi mea forma videnti.
Come now, my Galatea, scorn me not,
Nor my poor presents; for but yesterday
I saw myself i' th' water, and methought
Full fair I was, then scorn me not I say.
[5511]Non sum adeo informis, nuper me in littore vidi,
Cum placidum ventis staret mare———
'Tis the common humour of all suitors to trick up themselves, to be
prodigal in apparel, pure lotus, neat, combed, and curled, with
powdered hair, comptus et calimistratus, with a long love-lock, a
flower in his ear, perfumed gloves, rings, scarves, feathers, points,
&c. as if he were a prince's Ganymede, with everyday new suits, as the
fashion varies; going as if he trod upon eggs, as Heinsius writ to
Primierus, [5512]if once he be besotten on a wench, he must like awake
at nights, renounce his book, sigh and lament, now and then weep for
his hard hap, and mark above all things what hats, bands, doublets,
breeches, are in fashion, how to cut his beard, and wear his locks, to
turn up his mustachios, and curl his head, prune his pickedevant, or if
he wear it abroad, that the east side be correspondent to the west; he
may be scoffed at otherwise, as Julian that apostate emperor was for
wearing a long hirsute goatish beard, fit to make ropes with, as in his
Mysopogone, or that apologetical oration he made at Antioch to excuse
himself, he doth ironically confess, it hindered his kissing, nam non
licuit inde pura puris, eoque suavioribus labra labris adjungere, but
he did not much esteem it, as it seems by the sequel, de accipiendis
dandisve osculis non laboro, yet (to follow mine author) it may much
concern a young lover, he must be more respectful in this behalf, he
must be in league with an excellent tailor, barber,
[5513]Tonsorem pucrum sed arte talem,
Qualis nec Thalamis fuit Neronis;
have neat shoe-ties, points, garters, speak in print, walk in print,
eat and drink in print, and that which is all in all, he must be mad in
print.
Amongst other good qualities an amorous fellow is endowed with, he must
learn to sing and dance, play upon some instrument or other, as without
all doubt he will, if he be truly touched with this loadstone of love.
For as [5514]Erasmus hath it, Musicam docet amor et Poesia, love will
make them musicians, and to compose ditties, madrigals, elegies, love
sonnets, and sing them to several pretty tunes, to get all good
qualities may be had. [5515]Jupiter perceived Mercury to be in love
with Philologia, because he learned languages, polite speech, (for
Suadela herself was Venus' daughter, as some write) arts and sciences,
quo virgini placeret, all to ingratiate himself, and please his
mistress. 'Tis their chiefest study to sing, dance; and without
question, so many gentlemen and gentlewomen would not be so well
qualified in this kind, if love did not incite them. [5516]Who, saith
Castilio, would learn to play, or give his mind to music, learn to
dance, or make so many rhymes, love-songs, as most do, but for women's
sake, because they hope by that means to purchase their good wills, and
win their favour? We see this daily verified in our young women and
wives, they that being maids took so much pains to sing, play, and
dance, with such cost and charge to their parents, to get those
graceful qualities, now being married will scarce touch an instrument,
they care not for it. Constantine agricult. lib. 11. cap. 18, makes
Cupid himself to be a great dancer; by the same token as he was
capering amongst the gods, [5517]he flung down a bowl of nectar, which
distilling upon the white rose, ever since made it red: and
Calistratus, by the help of Dedalus, about Cupid's statue [5518]made a
many of young wenches still a dancing, to signify belike that Cupid was
much affected with it, as without all doubt he was. For at his and
Psyche's wedding, the gods being present to grace the feast, Ganymede
filled nectar in abundance (as [5519]Apuleius describes it), Vulcan was
the cook, the Hours made all fine with roses and flowers, Apollo played
on the harp, the Muses sang to it, sed suavi Musicae super ingressa
Venus saltavit, but his mother Venus danced to his and their sweet
content. Witty [5520]Lucian in that pathetical love passage, or
pleasant description of Jupiter's stealing of Europa, and swimming from
Phoenicia to Crete, makes the sea calm, the winds hush, Neptune and
Amphitrite riding in their chariot to break the waves before them, the
tritons dancing round about, with every one a torch, the sea-nymphs
half naked, keeping time on dolphins' backs, and singing Hymeneus,
Cupid nimbly tripping on the top of the waters, and Venus herself
coming after in a shell, strewing roses and flowers on their heads.
Praxiteles, in all his pictures of love, feigns Cupid ever smiling, and
looking upon dancers; and in St. Mark's in Rome (whose work I know
not), one of the most delicious pieces, is a many of [5521]satyrs
dancing about a wench asleep. So that dancing still is as it were a
necessary appendix to love matters. Young lasses are never better
pleased than when as upon a holiday, after evensong, they may meet
their sweethearts, and dance about a maypole, or in a town-green under
a shady elm. Nothing so familiar in. [5522]France, as for citizens'
wives and maids to dance a round in the streets, and often too, for
want of better instruments, to make good music of their own voices, and
dance after it. Yea many times this love will make old men and women
that have more toes than teeth, dance,—John, come kiss me now, mask and
mum; for Comus and Hymen love masks, and all such merriments above
measure, will allow men to put on women's apparel in some cases, and
promiscuously to dance, young and old, rich and poor, generous and
base, of all sorts. Paulus Jovius taxeth Augustine Niphus the
philosopher, [5523]for that being an old man, and a public professor, a
father of many children, he was so mad for the love of a young maid
(that which many of his friends were ashamed to see), an old gouty
fellow, yet would dance after fiddlers. Many laughed him to scorn for
it, but this omnipotent love would have it so.
[5524]Hyacinthino bacillo
Properans amor, me adegit
Violenter ad sequendum.
Love hasty with his purple staff did make
Me follow and the dance to undertake.
And 'tis no news this, no indecorum; for why? a good reason may be
given of it. Cupid and death met both in an inn; and being merrily
disposed, they did exchange some arrows from either quiver; ever since
young men die, and oftentimes old men dote—[5525]Sic moritur Juvenis,
sic moribundus amat. And who can then withstand it? If once we be in
love, young or old, though our teeth shake in our heads, like virginal
jacks, or stand parallel asunder like the arches of a bridge, there is
no remedy, we must dance trenchmore for a need, over tables, chairs,
and stools, &c. And princum prancum is a fine dance. Plutarch, Sympos.
1. quaest. 5. doth in some sort excuse it, and telleth us moreover in
what sense, Musicam docet amor, licet prius fuerit rudis, how love
makes them that had no skill before learn to sing and dance; he
concludes, 'tis only that power and prerogative love hath over us.
[5526]Love (as he holds) will make a silent man speak, a modest man
most officious; dull, quick; slow, nimble; and that which is most to be
admired, a hard, base, untractable churl, as fire doth iron in a
smith's forge, free, facile, gentle, and easy to be entreated. Nay,
'twill make him prodigal in the other extreme, and give a [5527]hundred
sesterces for a night's lodging, as they did of old to Lais of Corinth,
or [5528] ducenta drachmarum millia pro unica nocte, as Mundus to
Paulina, spend all his fortunes (as too many do in like case) to obtain
his suit. For which cause many compare love to wine, which makes men
jovial and merry, frolic and sad, whine, sing, dance, and what not.
But above all the other symptoms of lovers, this is not lightly to be
overpassed, that likely of what condition soever, if once they be in
love, they turn to their ability, rhymers, ballad makers, and poets.
For as Plutarch saith, [5529]They will be witnesses and trumpeters of
their paramours' good parts, bedecking them with verses and
commendatory songs, as we do statues with gold, that they may be
remembered and admired of all. Ancient men will dote in this kind
sometimes as well as the rest; the heat of love will thaw their frozen
affections, dissolve the ice of age, and so far enable them, though
they be sixty years of age above the girdle, to be scarce thirty
beneath. Jovianus Pontanus makes an old fool rhyme, and turn poetaster
to please his mistress.
[5530]Ne ringas Mariana, meos me dispice canos,
De sene nam juvenem dia referre potes, &c.
Sweet Marian do not mine age disdain,
For thou canst make an old man young again.
They will be still singing amorous songs and ditties (if young
especially), and cannot abstain though it be when they go to, or should
be at church. We have a pretty story to this purpose in
[5531]Westmonasteriensis, an old writer of ours (if you will believe
it) _An. Dom._ 1012. at Colewiz in Saxony, on Christmas eve a company
of young men and maids, whilst the priest was at mass in the church,
were singing catches and love songs in the churchyard, he sent to them
to make less noise, but they sung on still: and if you will, you shall
have the very song itself.
Equitabat homo per sylvam frondosam,
Ducebatque secum Meswinden formosam.
Quid stamus, cur non imus?
A fellow rid by the greenwood side,
And fair Meswinde was his bride,
Why stand we so, and do not go?
This they sung, he chaft, till at length, impatient as he was, he
prayed to St. Magnus, patron of the church, they might all three sing
and dance till that time twelvemonth, and so [5532]they did without
meat and drink, wearisomeness or giving over, till at year's end they
ceased singing, and were absolved by Herebertus archbishop of Cologne.
They will in all places be doing thus, young folks especially, reading
love stories, talking of this or that young man, such a fair maid,
singing, telling or hearing lascivious tales, scurrilous tunes, such
objects are their sole delight, their continual meditation, and as
Guastavinius adds, Com. in 4. Sect. 27. Prov. Arist. ob seminis
abundantiam crebrae cogitationes, veneris frequens recordatio et
pruriens voluptas, &c. an earnest longing comes hence, pruriens corpus,
pruriens anima, amorous conceits, tickling thoughts, sweet and pleasant
hopes; hence it is, they can think, discourse willingly, or speak
almost of no other subject. 'Tis their only desire, if it may be done
by art, to see their husband's picture in a glass, they'll give
anything to know when they shall be married, how many husbands they
shall have, by cromnyomantia, a kind of divination with [5533]onions
laid on the altar on Christmas eve, or by fasting on St. Anne's eve or
night, to know who shall be their first husband, or by amphitormantia,
by beans in a cake, &c., to burn the same. This love is the cause of
all good conceits, [5534] neatness, exornations, plays, elegancies,
delights, pleasant expressions, sweet motions, and gestures, joys,
comforts, exultancies, and all the sweetness of our life, [5535]qualis
jam vita foret, aut quid jucundi sine aurea Venere? [5536]Emoriar cum
ista non amplius mihi cura fuerit, let me live no longer than I may
love, saith a mad merry fellow in Mimnermus. This love is that salt
that seasoneth our harsh and dull labours, and gives a pleasant relish
to our other unsavoury proceedings, [5537]Absit amor, surgunt tenebrae,
torpedo, veternum, pestis, &c. All our feasts almost, masques,
mummings, banquets, merry meetings, weddings, pleasing songs, fine
tunes, poems, love stories, plays, comedies, Atellans, jigs,
Fescennines, elegies, odes, &c. proceed hence. [5538]Danaus, the son of
Belus, at his daughter's wedding at Argos, instituted the first plays
(some say) that ever were heard of symbols, emblems, impresses,
devices, if we shall believe Jovius, Coutiles, Paradine, Camillus de
Camillis, may be ascribed to it. Most of our arts and sciences,
painting amongst the rest, was first invented, saith [5539]Patritius ex
amoris beneficio, for love's sake. For when the daughter of
[5540]Deburiades the Sycionian, was to take leave of her sweetheart now
going to wars, ut desiderio ejus minus tabesceret, to comfort herself
in his absence, she took his picture with coal upon a wall, as the
candle gave the shadow, which her father admiring, perfected
afterwards, and it was the first picture by report that ever was made.
And long after, Sycion for painting, carving, statuary, music, and
philosophy, was preferred before all the cities in Greece. [5541]Apollo
was the first inventor of physic, divination, oracles; Minerva found
out weaving, Vulcan curious ironwork, Mercury letters, but who prompted
all this into their heads? Love, Nunquam talia invenissent, nisi talia
adamassent, they loved such things, or some party, for whose sake they
were undertaken at first. 'Tis true, Vulcan made a most admirable
brooch or necklace, which long after Axion and Temenus, Phegius' sons,
for the singular worth of it, consecrated to Apollo at Delphos, but
Pharyllus the tyrant stole it away, and presented it to Ariston's wife,
on whom he miserably doted (Parthenius tells the story out of
Phylarchus); but why did Vulcan make this excellent Ouch? to give
Hermione Cadmus' wife, whom he dearly loved. All our tilts and
tournaments, orders of the garter, golden fleece, &c.—Nobilitas sub
amore jacet—owe their beginnings to love, and many of our histories. By
this means, saith Jovius, they would express their loving minds to
their mistress, and to the beholders. 'Tis the sole subject almost of
poetry, all our invention tends to it, all our songs, whatever those
old Anacreons: (and therefore Hesiod makes the Muses and Graces still
follow Cupid, and as Plutarch holds, Menander and the rest of the poets
were love's priests,) all our Greek and Latin epigrammatists, love
writers. Antony Diogenes the most ancient, whose epitome we find in
Phocius Bibliotheca, Longus Sophista, Eustathius, Achilles, Tatius,
Aristaenetus, Heliodorus, Plato, Plutarch, Lucian, Parthenius,
Theodorus, Prodromus, Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus, &c. Our new Ariostoes,
Boyards, Authors of Arcadia, Urania, Faerie Queen, &c. Marullus,
Leotichius, Angerianus, Stroza, Secundus, Capellanus, &c. with the rest
of those facete modern poets, have written in this kind, are but as so
many symptoms of love. Their whole books are a synopsis or breviary of
love, the portuous of love, legends of lovers' lives and deaths, and of
their memorable adventures, nay more, quod leguntur, quod laudantur
amori debent, as [5542]Nevisanus the lawyer holds, there never was any
excellent poet that invented good fables, or made laudable verses,
which was not in love himself; had he not taken a quill from Cupid's
wings, he could never have written so amorously as he did.
[5543]Cynthia te vatem fecit lascive Properti,
Ingenium Galli pulchra Lycoris habet.
Fama est arguti Nemesis formosa Tibulli,
Lesbia dictavit docte Catulle tibi.
Non me Pelignus, nec spernet Mantua vatem,
Si qua Corinna mihi, si quis Alexis erit.
Wanton Propertius and witty Callus,
Subtile Tibullus, and learned Catullus,
It was Cynthia, Lesbia, Lychoris,
That made you poets all; and if Alexis,
Or Corinna chance my paramour to be,
Virgil and Ovid shall not despise me.
[5544]Non me carminibus vincet nec Thraceus Orpheus,
Nec Linus.
Petrarch's Laura made him so famous, Astrophel's Stella, and Jovianus
Pontanus' mistress was the cause of his roses, violets, lilies,
nequitiae, blanditiae, joci, decor, nardus, ver, corolla, thus, Mars,
Pallas, Venus, Charis, crocum, Laurus, unguentem, costum, lachrymae,
myrrha, musae, &c. and the rest of his poems; why are Italians at this
day generally so good poets and painters? Because every man of any
fashion amongst them hath his mistress. The very rustics and
hog-rubbers, Menalcas and Corydon, qui faetant de stercore equino,
those fulsome knaves, if once they taste of this love-liquor, are
inspired in an instant. Instead of those accurate emblems, curious
impresses, gaudy masques, tilts, tournaments, &c., they have their
wakes, Whitsun-ales, shepherd's feasts, meetings on holidays, country
dances, roundelays, writing their names on [5545]trees, true lover's
knots, pretty gifts.
With tokens, hearts divided, and half rings,
Shepherds in their loves are as coy as kings.
Choosing lords, ladies, kings, queens, and valentines, &c., they go by
couples,
Corydon's Phillis, Nysa and Mopsus,
With dainty Dousibel and Sir Tophus.
Instead of odes, epigrams and elegies, &c., they have their ballads,
country tunes, O the broom, the bonny, bonny broom, ditties and songs,
Bess a belle, she doth excel,—they must write likewise and indite all
in rhyme.
[5546]Thou honeysuckle of the hawthorn hedge,
Vouchsafe in Cupid's cup my heart to pledge;
My heart's dear blood, sweet Cis is thy carouse
Worth all the ale in Gammer Gubbin's house.
I say no more, affairs call me away,
My father's horse for provender doth stay.
Be thou the Lady Cressetlight to me.
Sir Trolly Lolly will I prove to thee.
Written in haste, farewell my cowslip sweet,
Pray let's a Sunday at the alehouse meet.
Your most grim stoics and severe philosophers will melt away with this
passion, and if [5547]Atheneus belie them not, Aristippus, Apollodorus,
Antiphanes, &c., have made love-songs and commentaries of their
mistress' praises, [5548]orators write epistles, princes give titles,
honours, what not? [5549]Xerxes gave to Themistocles Lampsacus to find
him wine, Magnesia for bread, and Myunte for the rest of his diet. The
[5550]Persian kings allotted whole cities to like use, haec civitas
mulieri redimiculum praebeat, haec in collum, haec in crines, one whole
city served to dress her hair, another her neck, a third her hood.
Ahasuerus would [5551]have given Esther half his empire, and
[5552]Herod bid Herodias ask what she would, she should have it.
Caligula gave 100,000 sesterces to his courtesan at first word, to buy
her pins, and yet when he was solicited by the senate to bestow
something to repair the decayed walls of Rome for the commonwealth's
good, he would give but 6000 sesterces at most. [5553]Dionysius, that
Sicilian tyrant, rejected all his privy councillors, and was so
besotted on Mirrha his favourite and mistress, that he would bestow no
office, or in the most weightiest business of the kingdom do aught
without her especial advice, prefer, depose, send, entertain no man,
though worthy and well deserving, but by her consent; and he again whom
she commended, howsoever unfit, unworthy, was as highly approved. Kings
and emperors, instead of poems, build cities; Adrian built Antinoa in
Egypt, besides constellations, temples, altars, statues, images, &c.,
in the honour of his Antinous. Alexander bestowed infinite sums to set
out his Hephestion to all eternity. [5554]Socrates professeth himself
love's servant, ignorant in all arts and sciences, a doctor alone in
love matters, et quum alienarum rerum omnium scientiam diffiteretur,
saith [5555]Maximus Tyrius, his sectator, hujus negotii professor, &c.,
and this he spake openly, at home and abroad, at public feasts, in the
academy, in Pyraeo, Lycaeo, sub Platano, &c., the very bloodhound of
beauty, as he is styled by others. But I conclude there is no end of
love's symptoms, 'tis a bottomless pit. Love is subject to no
dimensions; not to be surveyed by any art or engine: and besides, I am
of [5556]Haedus' mind, no man can discourse of love matters, or judge
of them aright, that hath not made trial in his own person, or as
Aeneas Sylvius [5557]adds, hath not a little doted, been mad or
lovesick himself. I confess I am but a novice, a contemplator only,
Nescio quid sit amor nec amo[5558]—I have a tincture; for why should I
lie, dissemble or excuse it, yet homo sum, &c., not altogether inexpert
in this subject, non sum praeceptor amandi, and what I say, is merely
reading, ex altorum forsan ineptiis, by mine own observation, and
others' relation.
MEMB. IV.
_Prognostics of Love-Melancholy_.