Auferimur cultu, & gemmis, auroque teguntur Omnia; pars minima est ipsa puella sui.

With gold and jewels all is covered, And with a strange tire we are won, (While she’s the least part of her self) And with such baubles quite undone.

Why do they keep in so long together, a whole winter sometimes, and will not be seen but by torch or candle-light, and come abroad with all the preparation may be, when they have no business, but only to shew themselves?

Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ.

For what is beauty if it be not seen, Or what is’t to be seen if not admir’d, And though admir’d, unless in love desir’d?

why do they go with such counterfeit gate, which Philo Judæus, reprehends them for, and use (I say it again) such gestures, apish, ridiculous, undecent attires, Sybaritical tricks, fucos genis, purpurissam venis, cerussam fronti, leges oculis, &c. use those sweet perfumes, powders and ointments in publike; flock to hear sermons so frequent, is it for devotion? or rather as Basil tells them, to meet their sweet-hearts, and see fashions; for as he saith, commonly they come so provided to that place, with such curious complements, with such gestures and tires, as if they should go to a dancing school, a stage-play, or bawdy-house, fitter then a Church,

When such a she-Priest comes her Mass to say, Twenty to one they all forget to pray.

They make those holy Temples consecrated to godly Martyrs, and religious uses, shops of impudence, dens of whores and theeves, and little better then brothel houses. When we shall see these things dayly done, their husbands bankrupts, if not cornuto’s, their wives light huswives, daughters dishonest; and hear of such dissolute acts, as dayly we do, how should we think otherwise? what is their end, but to deceive and inveagle young men? As tow takes fire, such inticing objects produce their effect, how can it be altered?

When Venus stood before Anchises (as Homer fains in one of his Hymns) in her costly robes, he was instantly taken,

Cùm ante ipsum staret Iovis filia, videns eam Anchises, admirabatur formam, & stupendas vestes; Erat enim induta peplo, igneis radiis splendidiore; Habebat quoque torques fulgidos, flexiles helices, Tenerum collum ambiebant monilia pulchra, Aurea, variegata. ——

When Venus stood before Anchises first, He was amaz’d to see her in her tires; For she had on a hood as red as fire, And glittering chains, and Ivy twisted spires, About her tender neck were costly bruches, And neck-laces of gold, inamell’d ouches.

So when Medea came in presence of Jason first, attended by her Nymphs and Ladies, as she is described by Apollonius,

Cunctas verò ignis instar sequebatur splendor, Tantum ab aureis fimbriis resplendebat jubar, Accenditque in oculis dulce desiderium.

A lustre followed them like flaming fire, And from their golden borders came such beams, Which in his eys provok’d a sweet desire.

Such a relation we have in Plutarch, when the Queens came and offered themselves to Anthony, with divers presents, and entising ornaments, Asiatick allurements, with such wonderful joy and festivity, they did so inveagle the Romans, that no man could contain himself, all was turned to delight and pleasure. The women transformed themselves to Bacchus shapes, the men-children to Satyrs and Pans; but Anthony himself was quite besotted with Cleopatra’s sweet speeches, philters, beauty, pleasing tires: for when she sailed along the river Cydnus, with such incredible pomp in a gilded ship, her self dressed like Venus, her maids like the Graces, her pages like so many Cupids, Anthony was amazed, and rapt beyond himself.

Heliodorus lib. 1. brings in Damænetæ stepmother to Cnemon, whom she saw in his scarfs, rings, robes and coronet, quite mad for the love of him. It was Judiths Pantofles that ravished the eyes of Olofernes. Cardan is not ashamed to confess, that seeing his wife the first time all in white, he did admire and instantly love her. If these outward ornaments were not of such force, why doth Naomi give Ruth counsel how to please Boaz? and Judith seeking to captivate Olofernes, washed and anointed her self with sweet ointments, dressed her hair, and put on costly attires.

The riot in this kind hath been excessive in times past; no man almost came abroad, but curled and anointed,

Et matutino sudans Crispinus amomo, Quantum vix redolent duo funera,

one spent as much as two funerals at once, and with perfumed hairs, & rosa canos odorati capillos Assyriaque nardo. What strange thing doth Sueton relate in this matter of Caligula’s riot? And Pliny lib. 12. & 13. Read more in Dioscorides, Ulmus, Arnoldus, Randelitius de fuco & decoratione; for it is now an art, as it was of old, (so Seneca records) officinæ sunt odores coquentium.

Women are bad and men worse, no difference at all betwixt their and our times: Good manners, (as Seneca complains) are extinct with wantonness, in tricking up themselves, men go beyond women, they wear harlots colours, and do not walk, but jet and dance, hic mulier, hæc vir, more like Players, Butterflies, Baboons, Apes, Anticks, then men.

So ridiculous moreover are we in our attires, and for cost so excessive, that as Hierome said of old, Uno filo villarum insunt pretia, uno lino decies sestertium inseritur; ’tis an ordinary thing to put a thousand Okes, and an hundred Oxen into a suit of apparel, to wear a whole Mannor on his back. What with shooe-ties, hangers, points, caps and feathers, scarfs, bands, cuffs, &c. in a short space their whole patrimonies are consumed.