Chapter 2
Whereas we cannot be knowing but of that which others do teach us, and that it is for him that comes after, to follow them who precede him, I have believed, that for the laying the ground-plot of this work, we are to consult with the Grecians, who have been our first Masters, pursue the course which they have held, and labour in imitating them to arrive at the same end, which those great men propounded to themselves. I have seen in those famous _Romanzes_ of Antiquity, that in imitation of the Epique Poem there is a principal action whereunto all the rest, which reign over all the work, are fastned, and which makes them that they are not employed, but for the conducting of it to its perfection. The action in _Homers Iliades_ is the destrustion of _Troy_; in his _Odysseas_ the return of _Ulysses_ to _Ithaca_; in _Virgil_ the death of _Turnus_, or to say better, the conquest of _Italy_; neerer to our times, in _Tasso_ the taking of _Jerusalem_; and to pass from the Poem to the _Romanze_, which is my principal object, in _Helidorus_ the marriage of _Theagines_ and _Cariclia_. It is not because the Episodes in the one, and the several Histories in the other, are not rather beauties than defects; but it is alwayes necessary, that the Addresse of him which employes them should hold them in some sort to this principal action, to the end, that by this ingenious concatenation, all the parts of them should make but one body, and that nothing may be seen in them which is loose and unprofitable. Thus the marriage of my _Justiniano_ and his _Isabella_, being the object which I have proposed unto my self, I have employed all my care so to doe, that all parts of my work may tend to that conclusion; that there may be a strong connexion between them; and that, except the obstacle which Fortune opposeth to the desires of my _Hero_'s, all things may advance, or at leastwise endeavour to advance his marriage, which is the end of my labour. Now those great Geniusses of antiquity, from whom I borrow my light, knowing that well-ordering is one of the principal parts of a piece, have given so excellent a one to their speaking Pictures, that it would be as much stupidity, as pride, not to imitate them. They have not done like those Painters, who present in one and the same cloth a Prince in the Cradle, upon the Throne, and in the Tombe, perplexing, by this so little judicious a confusion, him that considers their work; but with an incomparable address they begin their History in the midle, so to give some suspence to the Reader, even from the first opening of the Book; and to confine themselves within reasonable bounds they have made the History (as I likewise have done after them) not to last above a year, the rest being delivered by Narration. Thus all things being ingeniously placed, and of a just greatness, no doubt, but pleasure will redound from thence to him that beholds them, and glory to him that hath done them. But amongst all the rules which are to be observed in the composition of these works, that of true resemblance is without question the most necessary; it is, as it were, the fundamental stone of this building, and but upon which it cannot subsist; without it nothing can move, without it nothing can please: and if this charming deceiver doth not beguile the mind in _Romanzes_, this kinde of reading disgusts, instead of entertaining it: I have laboured then never to eloigne my self from it, and to that purpose I have observed the Manners, Customs, Religions, and Inclinations of People: and to give a more true resemblance to things, I have made the foundations of my work Historical, my principal Personages such as are marked out in the true History for illustrious persons, and the wars effective. This is the way doubtless, whereby one may arrive at his end; for when as falshood and truth are confounded by a dexterous hand, wit hath much adoe to disintangle them, and is not easily carried to destroy that which pleaseth it; contrarily, whenas invention doth not make use of this artifice, and that falshood is produced openly, this gross untruth makes no impression in the soul, nor gives any delight: As indeed how should I be touched with the misfortunes of the Queen of _Gundaya_, and of the King of _Astrobacia_, whenas I know their very Kingdoms are not in the universal Mapp, or, to say better, in the being of things? But this is not the only defect which may carry us from the true resemblance, for we have at other times seen _Romanzes_, which set before us monsters, in thinking to let us see Miracles; their Authors by adhering too much to wonders have made Grotesques, which have not a little of the visions of a burning Feaver; and one might demand of these Messieurs with more reason, than the Duke of _Ferrara_ did of _Ariosto_, after he had read his _Orlando, Messer Lodovico done diavolo havete pigliato tante coyonerie_? As for me, I hold, that the more natural adventures are, the more satisfaction they give; and the ordinary course of the Sun seems more marvellous to me, than the strange and deadly rayes of Comets; for which reason it is also that I have not caused so many Shipwrecks, as there are in some ancient _Romanzes_; and to speak seriously, _Du Bartas_ might say of these Authors,
_That with their word they bind, Or loose, at will, the blowing of the wind._
So as one might think that _Æolus_ hath given them the Winds inclosed in a bagg, as he gave them to _Ulysses_, so patly do they unchain them; they make tempests and shipwracks when they please, they raise them on the Pacifique Sea, they find rocks and shelves where the most expert Pilots have never observed any: But they which dispose thus of the winds, know not how the Prophet doth assure us, that God keeps them in his Treasures; and that Philosophy, as clear sighted as it is, could never discover their retreat. Howbeit I pretend not hereby to banish Shipwrecks from _Romanzes_, I approve of them in the works of others, and make use of them in mine; I know likewise, that the Sea is the Scene most proper to make great changes in, and that some have named it the Theatre of inconstancy; but as all excess is vicious, I have made use of it but moderately, for to conserve true resembling: Now the same design is the cause also, that my _Heros_ is not oppressed with such a prodigious quantity of accidents, as arrive unto some others, for that according to my sense, the same is far from true resemblance, the life of no man having ever been so cross'd. It would be better in my opinion to separate the adventures, to form divers Histories of them, and to make persons acting, thereby to appear both fertile and judicious together, and to be still within this so necessary true resemblance. And indeed they who have made one man alone defeat whole Armies, have forgotten the Proverb which saith, _not one against two_; and know not that Antiquity doth assure us, how _Hercules_ would in that case be too weak. It is without all doubt, that to represent a true heroical courage, one should make it execute some thing extraordinary, as it were by a transport of the _Heros_; but he must not continue in that sort, for so those incredible actions would degenerate into ridiculous Fables, and never move the mind. This fault is the cause also of committing another; for they which doe nothing but heap adventure upon adventure, without ornament, and without stirring up passions by the artifices of Rhetorick, or irksome, in thinking to be the more entertaining. This dry Narration, and without art, hath more of an old Chronicle, than of a _Romanze_, which may very well be imbellished with those ornaments, since History, as severe and scrupulous as it is, doth not forbear employing them. Certain Authors, after they have described an adventure, a daring design, or some surprising event, able to possess one with the bravest apprehensions in the world, are contented to assure us, that such a _Heros_ thought of very gallant things, without telling us what they are; and this is that alone which I desire to know: For how can I tell, whether in these events Fortune hath not done as much as he? whether his valour be not a brutish valour? and whether he hath born the misfortunes that arrived unto him, as a worthy man should doe? it is not by things without him, it is not by the caprichioes of destiny, that I will judge of him; it is by the motions of his soul, and by that which he speaketh. I honour all them that write at this day; I know their persons, their works, their merits; but as canonizing is for none but the dead, they will not take it ill if I do not Deifie them, since they are living. And in this occasion I propose no other example, than the great and incomparable _Urfé_; certainly it must be acknowledged that he hath merited his reputation; that the love which all the earth bears him is just; and that so many different Nations, which have translated his Book into their tongues, had reason to do it: as for me, I confess openly, that I am his adorer; these twenty years I have loved him, he is indeed admirable over all; he is fertile in his inventions, and in inventions reasonable; every thing in him is mervellous, every thing in him is excellent; and that which is more important, every thing in him is natural, and truly resembling: But amongst many rare matters, that which I most esteem of is, that he knows how to touch the passions so delicately, that he may be called the Painter of the Soul; he goes searching out in the bottom of hearts the most secret thoughts; and in the diversity of natures, which he represents, evey one findes his own pourtrait, so that
_If amongst mortals any be That merits Altars_, Urfé's _he Who can alone pretend thereto._
Certainly there is nothing more important in this kind of composition, than strongly to imprint the Idea, or (to say better) the image of the _Heroes_ in the mind of the Reader, but in such sort, as if they were known to them; for that it is which interesseth him in their adventures, and from thence his delight cometh, now to make them be known perfectly, it is not sufficient to say how many times they have suffered shipwreck, and how many times they have encountered Robbers, but their inclinations must be made to appear by their discourse: otherwise one may rightly apply to these dumb _Heroes_ that excellent motto of Antiquity, _Speak that I may see thee_. And if from true resemblance and inclinations, expressed by words, we will pass unto manners, goe from the pleasant to the profitable, and from Delight to Example, I am to tell you, Reader, that here Vertue is seen to be alwayes recompenced, and Vice alwayes punished, if he that hath followed his unruliness hath not by a just and sensible repentance obtained Grace from Heaven; to which purpose I have also observed equality of manners in all the persons that do act, unless it be whereas they are disordered by passions, and touched with remorse.
I have had a care likewise to deal in such sort, as the faults, which great ones have committed in my History, should be caused either by Love or by Ambition, which are the Noblest of passions, and that they be imputed to the evil counsell of Flatterers; that so the respect, which is alwayes due unto Kings, may be preserved. You shall see there, Reader, if I be not deceived, the comeliness of things and conditions exactly enough observed; neither have I put any thing into my Book, which the Ladies may not read without blushing. And if you see not my _Hero_ persecuted with Love by Women, it is not because he was not amiable, and that he could not be loved, but because it would clash with Civility in the persons of Ladies, and with true resemblance in that of men, who rarely shew themselves cruel unto them, nor in doing it could have any good grace: Finally, whether things ought to be so, or whether I have judged of my _Hero_ by mine own weakness, I would not expose his fidelity to that dangerous triall, but have been contented to make no _Hilas_, nor yet an _Hipolitus_ of him.
But whilest I speak of Civility, it is fit I should tell you (for fear I be accused of falling therein) that if you see throughout all my Work, whenas _Soliman_ is spoken unto, Thy Highness, Thy Majestie, and that in conclusion he is treated with Thee, and not with You, it is not for want of Respect, but contrarily it is to have the more, and to observe the custom of those people, who speak after that sort to their Sovereigns. And if the Authority of the living may be of as much force, as that of the dead, you shall find examples of it in the most famous _Othomans_, and you shall see that their Authors have not been afraid to employ in their own Tongue a manner of speaking, which they have drawn from the Greek and Latin; and then too I have made it appear clearlie, that I have not done it without design; for unless it be whenas the Turks speak to the Sultan, or he to his Inferiours, I have never made use of it, and either of them doth use it to each other.
Now for fear it may be objected unto me, that I have approached some incidents nearer than the Historie hath shewed them to be, great _Virgil_ shall be my Warrant, who in his Divine _Æneids_ hath made _Dido_ appear four Ages after her own; wherefore I have believed I might do of some moneths, what he hath done of so many Years, and that I was not to be afraid of erring, as long as I followed so good a guide. I know not likewise whether some may not take it ill, that my _Hero_ and _Heronia_ are not Kings; but besides that the Generous do put no difference between wearing of Crowns, and meriting them, and that my _Justiniano_ is of a Race which hath held the Empire of the Orient, the example of _Athenagoras_, me-thinks, ought to stop their mouths, seeing _Theogines_ and _Charida_ are but simple Citizens.
Finally, Reader, such Censors may set their hearts at rest for this particular, and leave me there, for I assure them, that _Justiniano_ is of a condition to command over the whole Earth; and that _Isabella_ is of a House, and Gentlewoman good enough, to make Knights of the _Rhodes_, if she have children enough for it, and that she have a minde thereunto. But setting this jesting aside, and coming to that which regards the _Italian_ names, know that I have put them in their natural pronunciation. And if you see some Turkish words, as _Alla_, _Stamboll_, the _Egira_, and some others, I have done it of purpose, Reader, and have left them as Historical marks, which are to pass rather for embellishments than defests. It is certain, that imposition of names is a thing which every one ought to think of, and whereof nevertheless all the World hath not thought: We have oftentimes seen Greek Names given to barbarous Nations, with as little reason as if I should name an English man _Mahomet_, and that I should call a Turk _Anthony_; for my part I have believed that more care is to be had of ones with; and if any one remarks the name of _Satrape_ in this _Romanze_, let him not magine that my ignorance hath confounded the ancient and new Persia, and that I have done it without Authority, I have an example thereof in _Vigenere_, who makes use of it in his Illustrations upon _Calchondila_; and I have learned it of a _Persian_, which is at _Paris_, who saith, that by corruption of speech they call yet to this day the Governours of Provinces, _Soltan Sitripin_.
Now lest some other should further accuse me for having improperly named _Ibrahim_'s House a Palace, since all those of quality are called _Seraglioes_ at _Constantinople_, I desire you to remember that I have done it by the counsel of two or three excellent persons, who have found as well as my self, that this name of _Seraglio_ would leave an _Idea_ which was not seemly, and that it was fit not to make use of it, but in speaking of the Grand Signior, and that as seldom as might be. But whilest we are speaking of a Palace, I am to advertise you, that such as are not curious to see a goodly building, may pass by the gate of that of my _Heroe_ without entring into it, that is to say, not to read the description of it; it is not because I have handled this matter like to _Athenagoras_, who playes the Mason In the Temple of _Jupiter Hammon_; nor like _Poliphile_ in his dreams, who hath set down most strange terms, and all the dimensions of Architecture, whereas I have employed but the Ornaments thereof; it is not because they are not Beauties suitable to the _Romanze_, as well as to the _Epique Poem_, since the most famous both of the one and the other have them; nor is it too because mine is not grounded on the History, which assures us that it was the most superb the Turks ever made, as still appears by the remains thereof, which they of that Nation call _Serrau Ibrahim_.
But to conclude, as inclinations ought to be free, such as love not those beautifull things, for which I have so much passion (as I have said) pass on without looking on them, and leave them to others more curious of those rarities, which I have assembled together with art and care enough. Now Reader, ingenuity being a matter necessary for a man of Honour, and the theft of glory being the basest that may be committed, I must confess here for fear of being accused of it, that the History of the Count of _Lavagna_, which you shall see in my Book, is partly a Paraphrase of _Mascardies_; this Adventure falling out in the time whilest I was writing, I judged it too excellent not to set it down, and too well indited for to undertake to do it better; so that regard not this place but as a Translation of that famous Italian, and except the matters, which concern my History, attribute all to that great man, whose Interpreter only I am. And if you finde something not very serious in the Histories of a certain French Marquis, which I have interlaced in my Book, remember if you please, that a _Romanze_ ought to have the Images of all natures; and this diversity makes up the beauties of it, and the delight of the Reader; and at the worst regard it as the sport of a Melancholick, and suffer it without blaming it. But before I make an end, I must pass from matters to the manner of delivering them, and desire you also not to forget, that a Narrative stile ought not to be too much inflated, no more than that of ordinarie conversations; that the more facile it is, the more excellent it is; that it ought to glide along like the Rivers, and not rebound up like Torrents; and that the less constraint it hath, the more perfection it hath; I have endeavoured then to observe a just mediocrity between vicious Elevation, and creeping Lowness; I have contained my self in Narration, and left my self free in Orations and in Passions, and without speaking as extravagants and the vulgar, I have laboured to speak as worthy persons do.
Behold, Reader, that which I had to say to you, but what defence soever, I have imployed, I know that it is of works of this nature, as of a place of War, where notwithstanding all the care the Engineer hath brought to fortifie it, there is alwayes some weak part found, which he hath not dream'd of, and whereby it is assaulted; but this shall not surprize me; for as I have not forgot that I am a man, no more have I forgot that I am subject to erre.
THE
Secret History
OF
Queen _ZARAH_,
AND THE
_Zarazians_;
BEING A
Looking-glass
FOR
--------
In the Kingdom of
_ALBIGION_.
Faithfully Translated from the _Italian_ Copy now lodg'd in the _Vatican_ at _Rome_, and never before Printed in any Language.
_Albigion_, Printed in the Year 1705.
Price Stitch'd 1 _s._ Price Bound 1 _s._ 6 _d._
TO THE
READER.
_The Romances in_ France _have for a long Time been the Diversion and Amusement of the whole World; the People both in the City and at Court have given themselves over to this Vice, and all Sorts of People have read these Works with a most surprizing Greediness; but that Fury is very much abated, and they are all fallen off from this Distraction: The Little_ Histories _of this Kind have taken Place of_ Romances, _whose Prodigious Number of Volumes were sufficient to tire and satiate such whose Heads were most fill'd with those Notions._
_These little Pieces which have banish'd_ Romances _are much more agreeable to the Brisk and Impetuous Humour of the_ English, _who have naturally no Taste for long-winded Performances, for they have no sooner begun a Book, but they desire to see the End of it: The Prodigious Length of the Ancient_ Romances, _the Mixture of so many Extraordinary Adventures, and the great Number of Actors that appear on the Stage, and the Likeness which is so little managed, all which has given a Distaste to Persons of good Sense, and has made Romances so much cry'd down, as we find 'em at present. The Authors of Historical Novels, who have found out this Fault, have run into the same Error, because they take for the Foundation of their History no more than one Principal Event, and don't overcharge it with_ Episodes, _which wou'd extend it to an Excessive Length; but they are run into another Fault, which I cannot Pardon, that is, to please by Variety the Taste of the Reader, they mix particular Stories with the Principal_ History, _which seems to me as if they reason'd Ill; in Effect the Curiosity of the Reader is deceiv'd by this Deviation from the Subject, which retards the Pleasure he wou'd have in seeing the End of an Event; it relishes of a Secret Displeasure in the Author, which makes him soon lose Sight of those Persons with whom he began to be in Love; besides the vast Number of Actors who have such different Interests, embarresses his Memory, and causes some Confusion in his Brain, because 'tis necessary for the Imagination to labour to recal the several Interests and Characters of the Persons spoken of, and by which they have interrupted the_ History.
_For the Reader's better Understanding, we ought not to chuse too Ancient Accidents, nor unknown Heroes, which are fought for in a Barbarous Countrey, and too far distant in Time, for we care little for what was done a Thousand Years ago among the_ Tartars _or_ Ayssines.
_The Names of Persons ought to have a Sweetness in them, for a Barbarous Name disturbs the Imagination; as the Historian describes the Heroes to his Fancy, so he ought to give them Qualities which affect the Reader, and which fixes him to his Fortune; but he ought with great Care to observe the Probability of Truth, which consists in saying nothing but what may Morally be believed._
_For there are Truths that are not always probable; as for Example 'tis an allowed Truth in the_ Roman History _that_ Nero _put his Mother to Death, but 'tis a Thing against all Reason and Probability that a Son shou'd embrue his Hand in the Blood of his own Mother; it is also no less probable that a Single Captain shou'd at the Head of a Bridge stop a whole Army, although 'tis probable that a small Number of Soldiers might stop, in Defiles, Prodigious Armies, because the Situation of the Place favours the Design, and renders them almost Equal. He that writes a True History ought to place the Accidents as they Naturally happen, without endeavouring to sweeten them for to procure a greater Credit, because he is not obliged to answer for their Probability; but he that composes a History to his Fancy, gives his Heroes what Characters he pleases; and places the Accidents as he thinks fit, without believing he shall be contradicted by other Historians, therefore he if obliged to Write nothing that is improbable; 'tis nevertheless allowable that an Historian shows the Elevation of his_ Genius, _when advancing Improbable Actions, he gives them Colours and Appearances capable of Perswading._