If these bee supposes, then what may bee serious,Epitropis. if such assured notes as these seeme trifles, what then can bee sayde to bee certaine? and yet long was it I must needes bewraie, ere my selfe could conceyue the similitude it bare of trueth,Epiphonema. so harde a matter it is where good opinion is once rooted, by the veritie it selfe, almost to driue out the same. But nowe sounding deeper into the action, I finde both will and abilitie in each poynt so furthering, as without I determined to winke still in mine owne blindnesse,Metaphora. I must renounce all fauourable conceyte, and vtterlie confesse the same to bee but an errour.
For hauing waded into euerie deepe conceite,Epanodis. and imagination of the accident, well weighing with my selfe also what maner a one the partie hath beene,Parison. how euill vnto mee sithence he hath likewise beene reported of, how vilelie before my receit of him hee was generally demeaned, with what base people and men of basest reckoning I found him accompanied: I do immediatelie condemne my selfe that was so sottish as to expect any other euent at his handes, then what hath alreadie succeeded, seeing where so manie euil dispositions haue bene before time abounding, it is not easily noted that from such a one any good at all coulde bee at anie season proceeding. But too late nowe to my no small griefe, doe I fall into this reckoning, which wisedome would before haue preuented, and more circumspectlie haue intended to.Anthypophora. For whence (if I trulie shoulde speake of the action) ensued this abilitie? Was it not the fauour and especiall liking wherewith I receyued him? Asyndeton.Howe could hee else haue presumed on it? Howe could he haue sought it? Howe could he haue done it? But not for this doe I accuse thee my R. as either accessarie,Meiosis. or fauourer of so badde and vnkinde a purpose, but for thou knowing his course of life, weeting of my well deeming, assured of his beeing with me, hauing reported vnto thee in what degree I did credite him, woulde notwithstanding not so much as tell mee of him,Conoratiō. nor suffer mee by thy gentle admonition so much as to surmize how I might bee deceiued by him.
Let I pray thee the sorrowfull demonstrationPeroratiō. of these my Letters bee a meane vnto thee,Synonymia. as thou louest mee, tenderest mee, and carest for me, to search out the truth, the state and circumstance of the thing, and yet (forlorne as I am) seeke I therein but mine owne sorrow, for neuer shall I like of him, care for her, or hardlie after this in any sort abide her. Yet for my minde desireth to be resolued (though euen in these verie wordes deliuering I doe not seeme to doubt) let me receyue the plentie thereof at large, bee it that the resolution be a confirmation of mine owne vnhappinesse, the force whereof beeing past remedie I must support as I can, and seeke as I may to endure the rest with patience.
A Letter defensorie answering by confutation all the obiections
in this former Epistle surmized.
IT is sir,Exordium. accustomed that men in griefe of minde doe often speake diuers things, for which in respect of their sorow they seeme to deserue many wayes to be pardoned,Insinuatiō. according to which, your selfe hauing of late sustained some aduerse hap, do what by surmises, & what by misreports, seeme to be at oddes with your owne liking, and vpon a sodein to become enraged with your owne fancie. In the course of your whole letter viewing the wrong you haue sustained, & the extreame disquiet wherewith you are perplexed, I pittie your misfortune, and as a friende doe inwardlie grieue at that wherewith you are troubled, wishing that either I had abilitie to redresse the matter to your liking, or otherwise that my wordes were of weight to perswade you, that with the extremity thereof you would not so greatly be moued.
Touching my kinsman,Polyptoton. whome for my sake in such sort as you write you receiued, and to whome vpon the outward deserte of his behauiour you vouchsafed such entertainement, and vppon whose absence and departure (albeit with your good liking) you seeke to intrude the summe of all your vnhappinesse and misfortune. Hee is not indeede at this instant here in the countrey, but as I deeme and you haue informed, about London. Neuerthelesse for so much as it seemeth by your writing, and also by his thankful acknowledgement and deliuery, both vnto me and others, how much he hath stoode beholding vnto you, and that it standeth to bee parcel of a gentle mind, as wel to recognise a good turne, as to remoue by a louing censure an ill opinion, where the same rather of griefe then of malice is vniustlie conceiued (notwithstanding I may not so effectually speake to the purpose, as if himselfe were personally present) I will endeuour vpon mine owne knowledge as farre as I may, and so much as in truth I canne lawfully iustifie, hereby to satisfie you, and if it bee possible to expell those causelesse coniectures of him, that in such sort doe annoie you.
To the matter therefore wherewith you are grieued,Apostrophe. I thus much dare affirme vnto you in his behalfe, that in all your imaginations you haue greatly misconceiued, and the reasons leading me thereunto are these.
First, where your selfe doe confesse that the onely matter you haue in apparance inducing you to accuse him, is the credible report of a friende of yours,Answere to the cause of coniecture. that sawe him and your daughter at London, and a suppose thereby, that shee is at his disposition, and the theft of your goodes to them both an indifferent finding. I saie the validitie of all this is nothing,Procatalepsis. for omitting that by diuers casualties men and women at aduenture doe daily meete, experience whereof is in common vse amongst our selues, and euen then when we least do thinke of it, and most woulde woonder at it, the reason whereof I ouerpasse, because to the accident I am but a straunger, what reason haue you so resolutelie to thinke that the expenses whereon they remaine (so bee it they doe as you alleadge continue togethers) must onelie bee drawne out from that part of your lost substaunce, and so by consequence aggrauate a likelihoode of his stealing your daughter? I neede not I trust perswade you of his kindred, nor abilitie of his friendes, it resteth not in doubt, you knowe it: then vnderstande you sir, it may also bee as possible, that some one or other of them might at the length by some more gentle motion then before time tender his good. Whereof I need make no question, my selfe can assure you, for that an Aunt of his dying of late, left him possessions to three hundred poundes value, which beeing at his choise either to accept a diuision or money, it is like he hath the coine and let the lande goe, and therupon is the better enabled to do what is reported vnto you both for her and himselfe.
Hereupon you begin to call in reckoning his life, and I knowe not what late reportes and informations of his liuing, to coniecture thereupon his common disposition and ill vsage, with abilitie to doe you a displeasure,Erotema. performed by your owne countenance. Alas sir, why shuld you be so far led awry by these vncertainties? Know ye not that reportes are manie times slaunders? and that men for the most parte speake generallie when they find a man in any sort to be iniured particularlie?Dichologia. Hee is my kinsman I confesse, but not for that would I yet defende him in his treacheries, but for mine owne knowledge of him from the beginning, canne I witnesse the contrarie, I must tell you to conclude thereupon, you do him small equitie. What if hee fell into your notice by a little penurie?Anthipophora. Manie an innocent and good man by want hath beene driuen to ill companie, yet themselues vnknowing,Pleonasmus. and not weeting at all of their facultie, and so truelie may I herein deeme of him, gladlie in the meane time thanking you, and himselfe eftsoones confessing the weight hee then receiued of your curtesie.
And if we shall aunswere likelihoodes againe by coniectures, why may not (I pray ye) the carefull endeuor and diligent aduerting, your selfe doe confesse in all his continuance to haue remained in him towards your liking,Antithesis. be as well a testimony of his honest affection, and glad indeuor to recompence by any seruice your kindnes, as vpon his naked sole information, you would goe about to wrest it as a token of dissembled iniurie?Metonoia. Nay rather why may not the suppose thereof bee forcible to quench any other conceipt to the contrarie, seeing in the reuolution of the same, you also doe graunt, that in all his behauiour you neuer sawe so much as one suspect, whereby so farre as you are gone, in such sort to induce you? For my part if we shal studie to measure the conditions of men aright, I am of opinion that wee ought rather to credit the vse and practise daily seene before our eies, then by any misreport or vnseemely coniecture to giue scope vnto our owne imagination or a selfe willed fantasie.