esteemed the proofe of Maryage, than to burne wyth so lyttle fire, or to incurre the exchange of louers, as many vnshamefaste strumpets do, which be rather giuen ouer, than satisfied with pleasure of loue. And to say the truthe, they be not guided by wisedom’s lore, which suffer a maiden ripe for mariage to be long vnwedded, or yong wife long to liue in widowe’s state, what assurance so euer they make of their chaste and stayed lyfe. For bookes be to full of sutch enterpryses, and houses stored with examples of sutch stolne and secrete practises, as there neede no further proofe for assurance of our cause, the daily experience maketh plaine and manifest. And a great folly it is to build the fantasies of chastitye amid the follies of worldly pleasures. I will not goe about to make those matters impossible, ne yet will iudge at large, but that there be som maydens and Wyues, which wiselye can conteine themselues amongs the troupe of amorous suters. But what? the experience is very hard, and the proofe no lesse daungerous, and perchaunce in a moment the mind of some peruerted, which all their lyuyinge dayes haue closed theyr Eares from the Sute of those that haue made offer of louyng seruice. And hereof we neede not run to forrayne Hystories, ne yet to seeke records that be auncient, sith wee may see the daily effects of the lyke, practised in Noble houses, and Courtes of Kyngs and Prynces. That this is true, example of this fayre Duchesse, who was moued wyth that desyre which pricketh others that be of Flesh and Bone. Thys Lady waxed very weary of lying alone, and gryeued hir Hearte to be wythoute a match, specially in the Nyght, when the secrete silence and darkenesse of the same presented beefore the eyes of hir mind, the Image of the pleasure which she felt in the lyfe tyme of hir deceased Lord and Husband, whereof now feelyng hir selfe despoyled, she felt a contynuall Combat, and durst not attempte that which she desyred most, but eschued the thyng wherof hir Mind lyked best. “Alas (sayd shee) is it possyble after the taste of the Value of honest obedyence whych the Wyfe oweth vnto hir Husband, that I should desyre to suffer the Heat whych burneth and altereth the martyred mynds of those that subdue themselues to loue? Can sutch attempt pierce the heart of me to become amorous by forgetting and straying from the limmetts of honest life? But what desire is this? I haue a certayne vnacquaynted lust, and yet very well know not what it is that moueth me, and to whom I shall vow the spoyle thereof. I am truely more fond and foolyshe than euer Narcissus was, for there is neyther shadow nor voyce, vpon which I can well stay my sight, nor yet simple Imagination of any worldly man, whereuppon I can arrest the conceypt of my vnstayed heart, and the desires which prouoke my mynde. Pygmalion loued once a Marble Piller, and I haue but one desire, the colour whereof is more pale than death. There is nothyng which can geue the same so mutch as one