-------------- ----, Chap). St:E.t.?· I have read a. notable hlfl:ory of one (,afemiw Car~cc·wlus the noble M::u·q1.le:-s of V 1 co: This Vico was one of the Paradifcs of Naples, and N«f'hs \':"s the P:u·::di:e of leafy, and Italy is the Paradife of Europe, and £i!npe the Porodrfc of all the :.:nrth; Yet this Marquefs being brought to hear a Sermon of J'cw· /!-1.-nws, GoJ plcafed fo to work upon his fpirit that hebe~an to enter mto ferious thoughts? whether his way of Popery, wherem he was tramed, was nght or no_t. At lafl h:.v1~g further l:ght let into his foul, not only of feemg truths, but l1kewr!c of dcbvcrmg nunfdf f!·omthat Idolatry which he ap~rchended himfelf defiled withall, his rc!olutrons were itrong to leave the court, and h1s honours, together With h1s father, mfc, and children and whltfoever was dear to him. Many grievous combats he had betwixt the flefl 1 a;d the fpirit when he rcfolvcd ofhis departure, but the greatell: troubles were his relations; For.- ., r. As often as he looked on his father, which he almoft did every hour, fo often he was ftrickcn at the heart with unfpeakable grief ; his thoughts run thus, What ? and nmjf I needsfor(aks my dear and /wing father ? and cannot I e!fc have God my Father! 0 unhappy fauJCr tJ my body, which nm{t f. and in competition n·uh rhe Father tf my foul! 2. No !elfe inwardly was he grieved in rcfpec'l: of his noble wife ; for, having no hope that fbe would renounce Popery, and go with him, he refolvcd alfo for Chrilts fake to leave her, and to follow Chrift, whereupon his thoughts-nm thus: Andjha/1 I fo,yea fo jitddenly, andJo ltnkjndiy lemJe andforft•ks >nJ!V!fc; my dear and loving 1v.je, the only JOY vfmy heart m thiS world, and jhallJ leave her notfor a time, bmf~r C1HT !' Puor Lady! how ""'"Y doleful dayes without comfort, how 11/llNJ !M/<.ing '"gl;ti IWthout }eep jl•all jhe paJTe ov<r ? what willJhe do, but W<'f, and waile, andpme a~·ay with orief? Thcfe two cogitations of his father and wife greatly tormented him; and the m,~e becoufe he laboured to keep clofe this fire which burned and boyled in his heart ; he durft not mali.C'known his departure, le!l it fbould lj_avc been hindrecl, which he would not for a world. · ,, 3· There was yet a third, and fpccial care that pinched him, and that was for his children ; which were fix in all. It was the more grief in that they were fo young, as rhat they could not yet conceive what it was to want a father: the clde<l: was fcarce fifteen, and the younge!l fcarcc four years old: Towards them, firith rr.c !iory, his thoughts runne thus. And jha/1 I within thrf f'w days nttedj' forf.:ks tbfcfivm babes l jiMI~I ieAvethem to the wide and wick,td world, '"though they iMd '""Jer been mychildren, nor I their father?-- Andyou poor Orphans, what jiJa/1 bcco>r.e ofpu, when f.<mgone? your hap is hard, even to be fatherleJTc, your father yet living.-- And 1vhat can your \V(Ifult mother du, tVhetJ jhe io(lk.gth on) 1 ou, but tVetp and n·rmg her hands, her gnefJldl tncreafing as jhe lookgs upony,o1c ? Yet thp.; mujl· I leaveyou ail confot:rtdecl togethtr m heaps t{grief, 1Vttping· andwailing one with another, and I, in the mean time weepingand wttiiing j.Or yron aft. . This noble fpirit thus refolved, at !ail: he left his family, and went to G'encva ; who no fooner go_ne, but his friends and family were fo ~!lonifhed, that nothing was heard or feen among!l: them but lamentations. The ftory i~ large: I fhall wind up all in this one palfage. By his fathers commands, and his wife~ entreaties, he was perfwaded to fee them once in his'life, and to take his journey from Geneva to V1co; thither come, and having flayed a while, and now ready again to return to his dear Ge,c"Ja, his fa– ther,at his farewell, gave hun many an heavy andbmcr wrft; his wife embraced him,and took him about the neck, befeeching him in a mol!oving and pitiful manner, that he would ha'l!e care ofhi,felf, ofhis dear wife and children, and not Ju willtt.gly ca.ft th<m ait a>vay ; His young children, all upon their knees with armcs firetched out, and hands holden up, and faces fwollen with tears, cryed unto him to have puy on them, his own bowels, and not to mak! them fatherlejfe before rhe time : His friends with heavy coumc~ nances and watry eyes looked rufully on him, and though for grief they could not fpeak a word yet every look, and every countenance, and every gellurc was a loud cry, and a ll:r~ng entreaty that he wou/d(fay, and not leave f• .1nCICnt "''cl noble tli1 ho1tJe in jitch a woful, and defolarc cafe. But above all, there was one moll lamentable fight: among all his children, he had one daughter of twelve years old, who crymg out amam, and wallowing in tears, fell down, and catching fafl: hold about his thighs and knees, held him fo hard as he could by no means {hake her off, and the affe(tion of a father wrought fo with him, as ht: could not offer with violence to hurt her ; he laboured to be
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