The Blazing World and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) by Margaret Cavendish

in great favour with the King.
    Sir, said she, princes and monarchs do not always favour the most deserving, nor do they always advance men for merit, but most commonly otherwise, the unworthiest are advanced highest; besides, bribery, partiality, and flattery, rule princes and states.
    Said her uncle, let me advise you not to use rhetoric against yourself, and overthrow a good fortune, in refusing such a husband as shall advance your place above that false Duke’s Duchess; and his estate, with yours joined to it, it will be a greater than his, with which you shall be served nobly, attended numerously, live plentifully, adorned richly, have all the delights and pleasures your soul can desire; and he being in years, will dote on you; besides, he having had experience of vain debaucheries, is become staid and sage.
    Sir, said she, his age will be the means to bar me of all these braveries, pleasures and delights you propound; for he being old, and I young, he will become so jealous, that I shall be in restraint like a prisoner; nay, he will be jealous of the light, and my own thoughts, and will enclose me in darkness, and disturb the peace of my mind with his discontents; for jealousy, I have heard, is never at quiet with itself, nor to those that live near it.
    Come, come, said he, you talk I know not what; I perceive you would marry some young, fantastical, prodigal fellow, who will give you only diseases, and spend your estate, and his own too, amongst his whores, bawds, and sycophants; whilst you sit mourning at home, he will be revelling abroad, and then disturb your rest, coming home at unseasonable times; and if you must suffer, you had better suffer by those that love, than those that care not for you, for jealousy is only an overflow of love; wherefore be ruled, and let not all my pains, care, and cost, and the comfort of my labour, be lost through your disobedience.
    Sir, said she, I am bound in gratitude and duty to obey your will, were it to sacrifice my life, or the tranquility of my mind, on the altar of your commands.
    In the meantime, the Duke was so discontented and melancholy, that he excluded himself from all company, suffering neither his Duchess, nor any friend to visit him, nor come near him, only one old servant to wait upon him; all former delights, pleasures and recreations were hateful to him, even in the remembrance, as if his soul and body had taken a surfeit thereof. At last, he resolved she should know what torment he suffered for her sake; and since he could not see nor speak to her, he would send her a letter: then he called out for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote after this manner.
    Madam,
    The wrath of the gods is not only pacified, and pardons the greatest sins that can be committed against them, taking to mercy the contrite heart, but gives blessings for repentant tears; and I hope you will not be more severe than they: let not your justice be too rigid, lest you become cruel. I confess, the sins committed against you were great, and deserve great punishment: but if all your mercies did fly from me, yet if you did but know the torments I suffer, you could not choose but pity me; and my sorrows are of that weight, that they will press out my life, unless your favours take off the heavy burden: but howsoever, pray let your charity give me a line or two of your own writing, though they strangle me with death: then will my soul lie quiet in the grave, because I died by your hand; and when I am dead, let not the worst of my actions live in your
memory, but cast them into oblivion, where I wish they may forever remain. The gods protect you.
    Sealing the letter, he gave it to his man to carry with all the secrecy he could, bidding him to enquire which of her women was most in her favour, praying her to deliver it to her mistress when she was all alone, and to tell the maid he would be in the street to wait her command. The man found such access as he could wish, the letter being delivered to the