Page:The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (IA b30323241).pdf/45
loue toward you how to allow it, for (to leaue off other ſecreter arguments which my acquaintance with you makes me eaſilie find) this in effect to any man may be manifeſt, that whereas you were wont in all places you came, to giue your ſelfe vehemently to the knowledge of thoſe things which might better your mind; to ſecke the familiaritie of excellent men in learning and ſouldierie: and laſtly, to put all theſe things in practiſe both by continuall wiſe proceeding, and worthie enterpriſes, as occaſion fell for them; you now leaue all theſe things vndone: you let your mind fall aſleepe: beſide your countenance troubled (which ſurely comes not of vertue) for vertue like the cleare heauē is without clouds)'& laſtly you ſubiect your ſelfe to ſolitarines, the ſlie enemy, that doth moſt ſeparate a man from well doing. Pyrocles mind was al this while ſo fixed vpon another deuotion, that he no more attentiuely marked his friends diſcourſe, then the child that hath leaue to play, makes the laſt part of his leſſon; or the diligēt Pilot in a dangerous tēpeſt doth attēd the vnskilfull words of a paſſinger: yet the very ſound hauing imprinted the generall points of his ſpeech in his hart, pierced with any miſlike of ſo deerely an eſteemed friēd, & deſirous by degrees to bring him to a gentler conſideration of him, with a ſhamefaſt looke (witneſſing he rather could not helpe, then did not know his fault) anſwered him to this purpoſe. Excellent Muſidorus, in the praiſe you gaue me in the beginning of your ſpeech, I eaſily acknowledge the force of your good will vnto me, for neither could you haue thought ſo well of me, if extremitie of loue had not made your iudgement partiall, nor you could haue loued me ſo intirely, if you had not bene apt to make ſo great (though vndeſerued) iudgements of me; and euen ſo muſt I ſay to thoſe imperfections, to which though I haue euer through weaknes bene ſubiect, yet you by the dayly mending of your mind haue of late bin able to looke into them, which before you could not diſcerne; ſo that the change you ſpeake of, falles not out by my impairing, but by your bettering. And yet vnder the leaue of your better iudgement, I muſt needes ſay thus much, my deare soſin, that I find not my ſelfe wholie to be condemned, becaue I do not with continuall vehemency folow thoſe knowledges, which you call the bettering of my mind; for both the mind it ſelfe muſt (like other things) ſomtimes be vnbent, or elſe it wil be either weakned, or broken: And theſe knowledges, as they are of good vſe, ſo are they not all the minde may ſtretch it ſelfe vnto: who knowes whether I feede not my minde with higher thoughts? Truely, as I know not all the particularities, ſo yet I ſee the bounds of all theſe knowledges: but the workings of the mind I find much more infinite, then can be led vnto by the eie, or imagined by any, that diſtract their thoughts without themſelues.
And in ſuch contemplation, or as I thinke more excellent, I enioy my ſolitarineſſe; & my ſolitarines perchance, is the nurſe of theſe cōtemplations. Eagles we ſee flie alone; & they are but ſheepe, which alwayes heard together; condemne not therfore my mind ſometimes to enioy it ſelfe; nor blame not the taking of ſuch times as ſerue moſt fit for it. And alas, deare Muſidorus, if I bee ſadde, who knowes better then you the iuſt cauſes I haue of ſadneſſe? And here Pyrocles ſuddenly ſtopped, like a man vnſatisfied in himſelfe, though his wit might well haue ſerued to haue ſatisfied another. And ſo looking with a countenance, as though hee deſired hee ſhould know his mind without hearing him ſpeake, and yet deſirous to ſpeake, to breath out ſome part of his inward euill, ſending againe new bloud to his face, he continued his ſpeech in this manner. And Lord (deare coſin, ſaid he) doth not the pleaſantneſſe of this place carry in it ſelfe ſufficient reward for any time loſt in it? Do you not ſee how all things conſpire together to make this countrie a heauenly