Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/323

THE UNEQUAL MARRIAGE. 319 estate. Ga. He had once an indifferent one; but by his living so fast has little or nothing left, but one little turret from whence he makes incursions to rob passengers j and that is so illy provided for entertainment that you would not accept of it for a hog-stye. And he is always bragging of his castles, and fiefs, and other great things, and is for setting up his coat of arms everywhere. Pe. What coat of arms does his shield bear 1 Ga. Three golden elephants in a field gules. Pe. Indeed an elephant is a good bearing for one that is sick of the elephantiasis. He must, without doubt, be a man of blood. Ga. Rather a man of wine ; for he is a great admirer of red wine, and by this means he is a man of blood for you. Pe. Well, then, his elephant's trunk will be serviceable to him. Ga. It will so. Pe. Then this coat of arms is a token that he is a great knave, a fool, and a drunken sot ; and the field of his coat of armour represents wine, and not blood, and the golden elephant denotes that what gold he had has been spent in wine. Ga. Very right. Pe. Well, what jointure does this bully settle upon his bride ? Ga. What ? why, a very great one. Pe. How can a bankrupt settle a large one 1 Ga. Pray, do not take me up so short ; I say again, a very large one a thundering pox. Pe. Hang me if I would not sooner marry my daughter to a horse than to such a knight as he. Ga. I should abundantly rather choose to marry my daughter to a monk, for this is not marrying to a man, but to the carcase of a man. Now, tell me, had you been present where this spectacle was to be seen, could you refrain from teai-s? Pe. How should I, when I can- not hear it without 1 Were the parents so abandoned to all natural affection as to throw away their only child, a virgin of such beauty, accomplishments, and sweet conditions, by selling her for a slave to such a monster for a lying coat of arms ? Ga. But this enormous crime, than which you cannot find one more inhuman, cruel, or unlike a parent, is made but a jest on now-a-days by our people of quality; although it is necessary that those that are born for the administration of the affairs of the government should be persons of very sound and strong constitutions : for the constitution of the body has a great influence upon the mind ; and it is not to be doubted but this disease exhausts all the brains a man has, and by this means it comes to pass that our ministers of state have neither sound minds nor sound bodies. Pe. It is not only requisite that our ministers of state should be men of sound judgment and strong constitutions, but men of honour, and goodly personages. Although the principal qualifications of princes are wisdom and integrity, yet it is of some considerable moment what the form of his person is that governs others : for if he be cruel, the deformity of his body will expose him the more to envy. If he be a prince of probity and piety, his virtue will be rendered more conspicuous by the amiableness of his person. Ga. That is very true. Pe. Do not people use to lament the misfortune of those women whose husbands soon after their marriage fall into leprosies or apoplexies ? Ga. Yes, and that with very good reason too. Pe. What madness is it, then, voluntarily to deliver a daughter over into the hands of a leper ? Ga. Nay, it is worse than madness. If a nobleman has a mind to have a good pack of hounds, do you think