Stars should be so severe and ill-manner’d, to reduce him to the
Necessity of either: Fear then would ruffle that fine Form he had so
long preserv’d in nicest Order, with Grief considering, that an unlucky
Chance-wound in his Face, if such a dire Misfortune should befal him,
would spoil the Sale of it for ever.
Perhaps it will be urg’d, that since no Metamorphosis can be made in a
Fop by Love, you must consider him one of those that only talks of Love,
and thinks himself that happy Thing, a Lover; and wanting fine Sense
enough for the real Passion, believes what he feels to be it. There are
in the Quiver of the God a great many different Darts; some that wound
for a Day, and others for a Year; they are all fine, painted, glittering
Darts, and shew as well as those made of the noblest Metal; but the
Wounds they make reach the Desire only, and are cur’d by possessing,
while the short-liv’d Passion betrays the Cheat. But ’tis that refin’d
and illustrious Passion of the Soul, whose Aim is Virtue, and whose end
is Honour, that has the Power of changing Nature, and is capable of
performing all those heroick Things, of which History is full.
How far distant Passions may be from one another, I shall be able to
make appear in these following Rules. I’ll prove to you the strong
Effects of Love in some unguarded and ungovern’d Hearts; where it rages
beyond the Inspirations of _a God all soft and gentle_, and reigns more
like _a Fury from Hell_.
I do not pretend here to entertain you with a feign’d Story, or any
Thing piec’d together with romantick Accidents; but every Circumstance,
to a Tittle, is Truth. To a great Part of the Main I myself was an
Eye-witness; and what I did not see, I was confirm’d of by Actors in the
Intrigue, Holy Men, of the Order of St. _Francis_: But for the Sake of
some of her Relations, I shall give my _Fair Jilt_ a feign’d Name, that
of _Miranda_; but my Hero must retain his own, it being too illustrious
to be conceal’d.
You are to understand, that in all the Catholick Countries, where Holy
Orders are establish’d, there are abundance of differing Kinds of
Religious, both of Men and Women. Amongst the Women, there are those we
call _Nuns_, that make solemn Vows of perpetual Chastity; There are
others who make but a simple Vow, as for five or ten Years, or more or
less; and that time expir’d, they may contract anew for longer time, or
marry, or dispose of themselves as they shall see good; and these are
ordinarily call’d _Galloping Nuns_: Of these there are several Orders;
as _Canonesses_, _Begines_, _Quests_, _Swart-Sisters_, and
_Jesuitesses_, with several others I have forgot. Of those of the
_Begines_ was our _Fair Votress_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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