Mulier timens Dominum ipsa ●●●●●bitur. 
THE HISTORY OF S. ELIZABETH DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF HUNGARY  
Written in French by Peter Mathieu and translated into English by Sr T. H.  
AT BRUXELLES By the Widow of HUBERT ANTONY called Velpius Ano. 1633   

TO THE Honble. THE LADY ENGLEFIELD THE ELDER, all happiness temporal & eternal.  
MADAM,  
I having been entreated by a worthy gentleman, to reveiw this abstract of a greater history, to the end it might pass to public use; And finding (according to my slender skill in foreign tongues) that it punctually agreeth with the French, out of which it was translated into our vulgar: and judging the subject proper to our times, wherein (as always) examples move more than doctrine to acts of piety: I was Zealous to further the press, annecting an Appendix or adjoinder of mine own poor conceits, as I hope, not unprofitable to the Reader. Which done, I easily resolved to beg your La pps Patronage of so pious a design, especially this great Princess, whose exemplar life is here abbreviated, being one of the first branches of that spiritual tree of Seraphical S. Francis, under whose shadows you have been, and are virtuously conducted, in a penitential way to your great home; where, by the infinite merits of our blessed Saviour, you hope to enjoy the reward of your virtues, with other great personages of your family, who have humbly passed their pilgrimage under the same rule, not without note of sanctity. I omit my own titles of obligation, which challenge both my pen & person in all duty to your Lapp. begging of the divine goodness, who is the butt of your actions, his blessing to all your good desires.  
MADAM Your La pps. humble beadsman. G. P.   

A COMMONITORY TO THE READER.  
MY intentions in exposing to public view the life of this glorious saint, a known member of the Catholic church, is by facts to show the church, a posteriori, by the effects to show the cause; For surely god would not have been so solicitous to reduce these wandringe sheep to his sheepfold, as himself in holy writ by public proclamation witnesseth. With an Oportet reducere etc. If he could have faints out of it. Neither do I think that any protestants, except either weak or malicious puritanes, will not find matter of edification, and I hope much spiritual profit, if piously, not curiously they observe this great Princes virtues. yet it's not obscurely known to men who desire more unity of spirits, especially in matter of Religion, that there are too many, who so much delight in the breaches of the church, that they will have no Communion, even with the weary saints begotten in her. These are they of whom Cassander saith, that they so hate the church, that they hate all good from her.  
I must confess, I delight not much in the society of those soldiers, who would have (though only) the upper garment of our saviour divided amongst them, which Euthimius calls his cloak, but I abhor from those, who will cut his tunica inconsutilis inner-coate, which the Arabian interpreter calleth his shirt, or truet; which was in steed of a shirt being of wool according to the ancient and mystically without seam, without schism, and so to be kept according to the Prophett, and subject only to a Miserunt sortem, in so much that the outrageous jews themselves durst not adventure to cut it; yet I know there are too many cloaked under the name of christians, who would rathermake more holes then stop one, even in our saviours inner coat; of whom our learned Countryman master Selden in his Prolegomena de successionibus hebraeorum; Sui duntaxat ingenij vi, sacras literas temere explicantes, ridiculis atque impijs pacem Christianam novationibus perturbare solere passim videmus their factious wits are made the touchstone of our faith: what many of them deny to the whole church, They arrogate to their own private spirits, which is, to have power to declare all dubious, and more hidden texts of scripture, and out of them to frame new canons of belief.  
Vincentius Lyranensis Chap: 26. tells you of them, and how to know them. Audies etenim quosdam ipsorum dicere, verity, o insipientes, & miseri qui vulgo Catholici vocitamini, & discite fidem veram, quam praeter nos nullus intelligit, quae multis ante saeculis la●uit, nuper verò revelata & ostensa est: sed discite furtim & secretim, delectabit enim vos. Et item cum dediceritis latenter docete, ne mundus audiat, nec ecclesia sciat: paucis namque concessa est tanti mysterij capere secretum.  
See there, how he prosecuteth it and when you have perused him well, judge if it touch not to the quick those factious spirits, that desire nothing more than separation, than sedition in christ his common wealth: me thinks in earnest, he hath them at every turning, for their novelty; for their invisibility, their singularity, their private spirit, their clanculare conventicles, their prejudicate censures of all others, their refractory resistance of peace in Religion.  
Saint Hillarius de trin: lays open the ground of their vertigo. In deflexu motu adversandi studium persistit ubi non voluntas rationi subijcitur, sed his quae studemus doctrinam coaptans. Truth and learning must besquared according, to their inordinate affections, and not their affections by truth; they wrist the scriptures and fathers to their contentious ends. Omnes tument, omnes scientiam pollicentur saith Turtullian, by their over-weeninge conceit of themselves, they swell and must break out into botches, and infectious gangrenes to the prejudice of the whole body of the church.  
Had there not been those turbulent spirits in our country, guilty of more will than wit, we might not in vain have hoped long since, that most desired unity in Religion.  
Had they reverently proposed venerable antiquity, they would have found all the father's most scrupulous in giving the least (I do not say) cut, but stretch to our Blessed saviour his mystically whole coat, which is his church according to all the fathers. Witness Tert: de praescriptionibus although afterwards he unfortunately cut it in pieces. Ireneus especially lib. 3. Epiphanius de haeresibus throughout all, saint Hierome against the Luciferans how zealously against Ruffinus, fearing lest any breach should be made by him, though indeed his flaws were not so dangerous. as for Patronising Origen too much, as saint Hierome notes, Apol: 2. and falsely attributing some ill opinions of Sixtus the Philosopher to saint Sixtus Pope and martyr as saint Hierome notes ep. ad Ctesiphontem whereby saint Augustine was deceived at the first, as appears in his retractations li. 2. C. 46. and some other points. How fervent against Vigilantius, though I know the Magdeburgenses Cent 4. C. 8. would plead a not guilty for him, yea to have been too hard for saint Hierome: but the truth is, he was faulty in denying all honour to relics as saint Hier: there confutes him, and my Lord of Winchester against Peron. Causabon against Baronius, super annum Domini 34. nu. 140. learnedly in the name of all England, acknowledge a reverence due to them, as saint Augustine relates of the miracles done by the earth of the holy land, which Hesperius reverenced worthily, as S. Augustine noteth. He was faulty also in denying the saints in heaven to pray for us, for this all learned protestant divines allow, as conformable to all antiquity. How careful was saint Cyprian in this main point, though once indeed he gave a scratch to our Blessed saviour his coat, yet he cut it not, and as saint Augustine saith, he reunited it again with his own blood. Saint Augustine in all places against all spirits of division. Shall we hear a dismal sentence of his li. 4. Contra donatistas Cap. 8. Constituamus aliquem castum, continentem, non avarum, non idolis seruientem, hospitalitatem indigentibus ministrantem, non cuiusquam inimicum, non contentiosum, patientem, quietum, nulli aemulantem, nulli invidentem, sobrium, frugalem, sed haereticum; nulli utique dubium est, propter hoc solum quod haereticus est, regnum Dei non possessurum.  
If he hath cut our saviour his whole garment, he hath no shelter for nakedness, no defence against god's sentence of eternal death.  
And hereupon we see, with how great care have general and Provincial Counsels presently been convocated, to cut of all springing heresies at their first buding. As of Arius the Nicen, in time of Silvester. Of Macedonius the first Constantinopolitan, in time of Damasus. Of Nestorius the Ephesine, in time of Celestinus. Of Eutyches the Chalcedon, under Leo etc. In like manner we might descend by all centuries. Oportet quidem haereses esse, saint Paul hath taught us, there hath been and will be flaws in the church, but a heavy VAE is adjoined to them that make them. My desire therefore is, where I see any breaches not to stretch them so fare till I make them greater, lest saint Paul his VAE should lay hold on me, rather, if I can sow them up again, this I conceive to be opus sanctorum. This hath been the employment of antiquity, you know Solomon adjudged the child not to be hers, who unnaturally would have had it cut in pieces, that she might have part; and the holy ghost commends his wisdom. How much more will it argue the church, not to be his mother, who would have her quartered? Vnum ovile saith christ. Our labour should be to keep it one; So he left it. The woe lighteth heavily upon those, who first broke it, and much heavier on those who delight in the breach. I find not our best Protestant divines to deny many saints to have been, even in latter ages begotten and perfected in the church of Rome as of saint Thomas of Aquine, my lord of Chichester doubteth not to style him saint, in his tract of invocation of saints. So Selden de successionibus, saint Anselme so commonly styled: S. Bernard, omnium calculo, no man so far calling his own judgement in question, as to doubt of it. So doctor white against white died black; so my lord of Ely in his funeral sermon; my lord of Winchester in his sermon of justification frequently. Causab: in his exercitations. Whittaker de ecclesia. Saint Francis by very many, Pantalion in Cron: P. 95. saith he was a glorious saint. melancthon with many learned divines in corpore doctrinae lypsiae. Saint Bonaventure often so entitled by that learned divine, who put out Dieta salutis and Catena aurea taken out of this learned and pious saints greater volumes. Saint Brigitt by doctor Andrewes against Peron.  
I could enlarge myself, but I have made choice of these more eminent divines, and those whom our country hath reverenced as Illustrious Prelates.  
I can not omit one more Master Hacclewitt in his book of Navigations acknowledgeth saint Xaverius borne in these times, in this Centurie, to be a very great saint, and discribes many particulars of his life.  
I must stop in a subject so obvious. I could wish and so all good men, that there were more departing christians, saints, then to use the phrase of the Maccabees, we should have more lovers of the brethren, who would pray much for the people, and for holy city.  
That is the church of god; as judas found a jeremy. Mac. 2.15.14. for no doubt in heaven they assist us, and by their holy prayers, these divisions in Religion would be cured, and an unity concluded.  
Thus far antiquity and, consent of holy fathers assure us, as all learned Protestants agree, and in deed the creed declareth it, for there is, Communio sanctorum, a fellowship betwixt the triumphant and militant church which, must needs be by spiritual graces conferred By god upon us, by their prayers. So saint Gregory Nazian: oratione 18. learnedly explicateth and piously believeth. Nay saint Nazianzen doth not only acknowledge that the saints pray for the church in general, but even for his particular flock, as there he saith of his deceased father. Which passage of his, I must needs say, pincheth those who would have only a general intercession.  
Neither is this all: Antiquity goeth further, saint Ambros, To: 1. l. de viduis saith, Obsecrandi sunt qui nobis ad praesidium dati sunt, martyrs obsecrandi quorum videmur nobis quodam corporis pignore Patrocinium vindicare, etc. He saith more to the same purpose there. Neither did I ever read any learned man that doubted this book to be his, except Master Perkins in his problems, but without reason, only because there is a book fathered on him upon the Romans, where in the first chapter he seemeth to teach the contrary. But indeed it is clear that this book is not his but one Hillarius a Luciferan heretic. I have read that saint Augustine citeth that book by the name of one saint Hillarius how ever it seems sure not to be his, and the other sure to be his.  
Saint Hierome in his funeral oration of saint Paula saith, vale Paula & cultoris tui ultimam senectutem adiwa orationibus. what can this be called but invocation, saint Augustine de civet: Li: 21. C: 10. Vos non martyribus templa sicut dijs, & sacrificamus & oramus sed utrumque in ordine ad Deum, see how warily and Religiously this great saint speaks, he denieth us to pray to saints as to gods, for so the gentils objected against christians as is clear in him and in saint Cyrill against julian li: 6. yet he granteth expressly that we pray to them in order to god, which passage or distinction of his, me thinks hath ended all the controversy betwixt us.  
So that if any deny this I say as Causab: in his epistle to Bertius de Apostasia sanctorum, in hoc video nostros docere contraria antiquis patribus: for surely this is against them, and therefore my lord of Chichester in the aforesaid tract (a book generally received in England) strongly showeth, voluntary prayer to saints, not to be forbidden, and before him, Luther himself in his epistle to Georgius Spalatinus and master Bilne as fox noteth 462. and others.  
These and many more points of difference, are now Ceased amongst the learned; and indeed, I think many more, or all would Cease, if only Learned men should examine them.  
But they must not be such who in contempt of antiquity, can publish without blushing a neglect of the fathers, with Non ignoro aliter loqui Patres, as Kemnitius confidently doth. 1. P. examinus Trid. or the Non debetis credere patribus. as Pomecanus upon jonas. it is a gudgeon soon swallowed, but not easily digested. For surely in the judgement of the wise, it poisoneth the whole cause in hand; if we believe Vincentius Lyrinensis in his 40. and 41. CC. yet Caluin L. 3. C. 5. Contemns them all, and C. 24. exclaims against them for giving pernicious doctrine of the uncertainty of election: and was not this Nestorius his arrogancy when he saw antiquity was against him, to brag that all the doctors before him understood not scripture? as appears in the council of Ephesus: and yet from him the french divines have Learned, not only to neglect, but to brand their grey hairs with the note of superstition; as you may see a whole tribe of them in Fevardentius in his Theomachia L. 11. de Purgatorio. These are not they per quos fiet salus in Israel. they are too hit spurred and therefore as Saint Paul saith, prurientes auribus, unsettled in their tenants. But mild and settled spirits may find the truth, and by them we shall hope for a reconciliation, to which we see many of the Learned happily to incline.  
Again to write the lives of saints, and so convey the memory of their great virtues to posterity, the holy scriptures did it in all the historical parts, and Eccles. 24. adviseth us to it, Sapientiam ipsorum narrent populi, & laudes eorum nuntiet ecclesia, and it was the practice of antiquity. Did not Saint Gregory Nissen writ the life of Gregory Thaumaturgus? Athanasius and Hierome of Saint Anthony the great? Severus Sulpitius of Saint Martin? Saint Gregory of Saint Bennett? Saint Bonaventure that great and devout schoolman (as Gerson styleth him) of Saint Francis that stupendious contenner of the world?  
But peradventure it may be objected that we are not assured this Blessed Queen to be a Saint. To this I answer, without all question she was a weary holy woman, gave great testimonies of virtue, of the love of god and her neighbour. And in these two are consummated, both laws and prophetts; all Christian perfection if we may believe our Blessed saviour. Thus the histories witness of her; and what is most of all, it's the esteem the whole church of god had of her.  
Which I therefore added, to prevent an objection (which might be made) of a thief, who as it is recorded in Saint Martin his life, was, being dead, esteemed a Saint, whereas he was indeed a wicked man: and to that text of Saint Augustine (if it be Saint Augustine's) multa corpora Sanctorum venerantur in terris, quorum animae cruciantur in inferno. Many bodies are reverenced on earth, whose souls are tormented in hell.  
But this is by my former clause abundantly satisfied, for I beleene not that god will permit the whole church, to err in so grave a point as to take a devil for a Saint; though particular churches and provinces may be deceived, as all divines agree, neither did saint Augustine there intend any more, as Ambrose Catharinus Covarwias' in his resolutions L. 1. C. 10. with Learned Corduba in his questionary, truly expound him: or else you may with Bellar: not improbably esteem that he meaneth only those, whom the Donatists reverenced as their Saints.  
And indeed what wonder if we should attribute so much to the whole church in so grave and important a business, since after others, Learned Cunaeus in his Rep: judaeorum L. 1. C. 12. observes out of the Thalmudists that the Priests in the council of Sanhedrim had infallible judgement to decern an Adulteress from the Innocent: and he adds the reason Sacrum quendam institutum non defuisse 70. senibus, postquam solemni actu impositae manus illis essent.  
Thus he, grounded upon gods promise in Pentateuch to the Synagogue; and can we doubt of the certainty of god's assistance to the church his spouse in decerning false and adulterate sanctity from feigned justice and innocency? is the spirit of god less powerful, or careful to direct her in so main a point, as to know his heavenly guests, from his, and her abjured enemies? or is it less behooveful for her to have that sacred instinct or tincture of the holy Ghost, since christ his hands were imposed upon her solemnly on the Cross? especially in so dubious a case, as to know whether she should celebrate the memory of the dead with thanksgiving, as antiquity did of martyrs, or with horror as they did of Apostates and the like? me thinks the shadow should not exceed the substance; having larger promises of the directive spirit of god than they, Paraclitus docebit omnia. is it not a good Consequece, if all, than this? neither do I think my L. of Coventry and Lichfeild will find difficulty in this: especially Thesi. 2. Fol. 365. se. 3. in his grande Imposture. My Lord of Winchester deceased, plainly held it against Peron in the end, and so doth my Lord of London against Foster. and sure I am, Saint Augustine would have presently subscribed to what the church so generally should have received.  
Thus you see my grounds (good christian reader), wherefore I have perused and approved this history: my final motive was that we may be incited to virtue, since it is an ornament for Prince's Crowns.  
And this is indeed the chiefest honour we can give to saints, as saint Nazian: Oratione 18. speaking of Saint Cyprian. saith, the blessed Martyr hoc dedit in mandatis commanded by him that his honourers shall be his imitators Chrys: ser. 1. the Martyr: To. 3. hath to the same purpose. Saint Augustine ser. 47. de Sanctis, Solemnitates Martyrum exhortationes Martyriorum. the memories and solemnities of saints, are the instructions of sinners; their lives, our examples. Farewell. Let us follow Saint Paul his counsel, Pray for one another, to be enabled to follow these Princely steps, this heavenly Kings high way to eternal happiness.  
Your Friend.   

THE HISTORY OF ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY.  
THERE was a time, when all the favours of fortune rested in the family of the kings of Hungary, as all the fabulous Deities were assembled together in the Pantheon of Rome. It seemed she broke her wings, that she might not take her flight to any other place, & forsook all the powers of the North to become tributary to this Crown. But in the end the blind creature (not esteemed a Goddess, but by men who have no eyes in their souls) turned her back to the Princes of this house, because they would not departed from the service they had vowed to virtue.  
To judge of the fall of this house by the height thereof, we must reascend to this great king of Hungary, to whom in his life time trophies were erected, & after his death, altars: And from thence descend to that young prince who in battle lost himself with his crown, & left the fields of Varna perpetually dishonoured with the infamy of his defeat.  
But between these two extremes there are reckoned up great felicities, & among the most remarkable of them, this house is renowned for producing Elizabeth a Princess, at this day waited upon by Angels in heaven, & sued unto by men on earth.  
There are no perfect beauties to be found, since he who undertook to take the picture of one was enforced to draw the model of an hundred different pieces.  
But Elizabeth was fair, and in her all the exquisite & admirable perfections of her sex were ordinary.  
The beauty of the soul consisteth wholly in virtue, that, of the body absolutely in grace, which dependeth not upon equal proportions of lineaments, & colours of the face, but in a presence, which transporteth, & enforceth the eye to consider it as a visible effect, of an invisible power of the soul.  
Elizabeth was excellent both in the one, and other beyond all example, but of herself, to herself.  
There was nothing so divine, as her soul, nothing so goodly as her stature, nothing so royal as her garb, nothing so beautiful as her face, nothing so amiable as her eyes, nothing so lovely as her hart: Lovely indeed, but not with love which is the frenzy of thoughts, the plague of souls, a folly invented by vain wits, & pursued by idle men; but with that love wherewith Angels are inflamed, & Saints live, being the fire of the intellectual world as the Sun is of the celestial, & the elementary of ours.  
But this being known that Elizabeth was admirable in the gifts of mind, and beauty of body, it sufficeth to tell you she was the daughter of Hungary; that France which adorned heads with the prime crowns of the earth, long time maintained that of Hungary in the house of the Earls of Anjou, & that from those Bela the Grandfather of Elizabeth is descended.  
Bela the third King of Hungary married Agnes sister of Philip the second called Augustus, or Gods-gift, who espoused Alice of Hungary: From this marriage issued Emerick & Andrew. Ambition which violateth laws of piety, to maintain those of tyranny, armed Andrew against Emericke, to bereave him of the crown which the right of eldership, the law of the kingdom, the last will of his father had set on his head, thinking that though nature had created him second, she had afforded him courage, & merit enough to go foremost.  
God who defendeth kings, who hath a particular care of their crowns, & who takes their just quarrels upon himself, breathed the blast of his fury upon the enterprises of Andrew. For on the day of battle agreed on by the way of arms, to determine a difference, which reason could not resolve, Emerick appeared in the head of his army, clothed with royal ornaments bearing on his brow the crown of the first christian king of Hungary, & with it the divine character which the finger of God had imprinted on the face of kings as a ray of his divinity, to make them beloved of the good & feared of the wicked.  
This Hercules (which the Pigmies against whom he set forward, made appear much greater) caused his army to march, not so much to fight, as to triumph.  
His enemies; nay rather his mutineers unable to continue in the agonyes, and affrightments of their consciences, and having their eyes confounded & exteriorly abashed at the presence of the lawful king, raised their pikes upright which they had bend against him, laid down arms, & asked pardon of him from whom they would have taken the crown. They abandoned the fortune of Andrew, and submitted to the clemency of Emerick, who having vanquished them without force would have preserved them with sweetness.  
He was not willing to enter into his kingdom, otherwise then victorious: esteeming the virtue very miserable, which is not waited on by envy, & caitiff the fortune that is without enemies: he thought not his kingdom happy unless clemency began it, imagining that he who taketh that, from the heart of a Prince, teareth the altar from the Temple.  
The happy reign of so good a king worthy to have been immortal, lasted not above eight years, seven months, & six days. Ladislaus his son succeeded for sixe-monethes only. Andrew who could not gain it by force of arms, arrived thither by order of succession, & was crowned in the great Church of Buda.  
He married Gertrude daughter of the Duke of Moravia, Carinthia, & Austria. Edwig his Sister was married to Henry surnamed Longbeard, Prince of Silesia & Polonia. By this his marriage he had four children Bela, Caloman, Andrew, & Elizabeth. The two first came to the Crown one after another. Andrew deprived by order, & the law of birthright from hope of the kingdom, wandered up & down the world to seek a fortune for himself, & his.  
He rested at Venice, matched in the house of the Moresini, had a son who more courageous than his father that stood amused in a common wealth, (where poppies are not suffered to grow one above another) came into France, did notable services for the king, & those of the house of Croy constituted general of their forces.  
Elizabeth the only Princess made it appear in the first years of her childhood, that she was chosen out by heaven to be one of the fairest flowers, which should on earth receive the plenitude of its graces. At three years of age she was espoused to Lewis son of Herman, Lantsgrave of Hesse & Thuringia, who was said to descend from Charlemagne.  
Promises were made with great ceremony to honour her who known not what it was, and, who knowing it, made no more account of it, than the wind to break a rush. At four years of age she was led towards her espousals, by the Ambassadors of the king her father, & spent the years of her childhood in the exercise of piety, whereby, they might make a true estimate of the rest of her future life. It is a singular furtherance, & notable means for a princess well borne, to receive & learn the precepts of carriage from the hands of her mother; but Elizabeth, taken away so young into the house of a stranger, was deprived of this happiness.  
Notwithstanding she was there bred sutablie to the greatness of the place from whence she came, & to the excellency of her wit she then learned that, (the ignorance whereof proves ill for a Princess, who hath thoughts beyond the distaff, & needle of ordinary women) & known those things, wherein many great Princesses of that name became so excellent, that they taught even kings themselves to live.  
Though she were young, she made herself deaf & indocible to all discourse, but of heaven; she could not be drawn out of Churches, beginning early to purify her heart from all earthly thoughts, as gold is cleansed from dross of the mine. Then did her governess tell her the world was not worthy of her, that she was not made for the world, that her love not unlike the supreme element, suffered not by Vapours, nor those infections, which corrupt others.  
When she was of riper years she framed unto herself a rule of life wholly pious and devout, nor was it by precedent or imitation, as there are many, who have no other touch of virtue, and piety than conformity of example; but upon her own choice, & the mere motion of the grace of God.  
Her exercise was entirely religious so soon as she awaked, the first thought her soul admitted, & which swayed throughout the whole day, was the remembrance of death; then rising out of bed, she represented unto herself the comfort, & infinite joy of those, who at the sound of the trumpet shall rise again to glory.  
As many pieces of attire as she put on, so many virtues wished she, for the beauty and ornament of her soul. When she was clothed, she prostrated herself at the feet of a Crucifix, renewing the homage of her heart to the goodness of God, giving thankes for his benefits, imploring his mercy for her sins, & his holy spirit for her direction, protesting rather to die, then to lose his favour, the very life of her life.  
As in the morning she meditated on that she was to do, so in the evening she required an account of her soul, of what she had done; she often fed it with the blessed Sacrament, the bread of Angels, the Manna of heaven, the restorative of life, the sovereign remedy against death, the admirable proof of the love of God towards men; Who notwithstanding in stead of yielding him thankes for so great a benefit received, do now dispute, whether it be true that he gave it.  
All the day long she stood upon her guard against the subtle snares of the world, from which she sought to disengage herself; she averted her eyes aswell as her thoughts from all illusions, keeping herself very carefully from tasting the honey of pleasures & vanities of Court, more dangerous than that which bewitcheth men. If at any time she approached, it was but as the fly, which buzzeth about, & fears to rest upon it, lest he lose his wings.  
The marriage treated in her childhood was confirmed at such time as discretion made her capable of choice, or refusal: but it was done with so much coldness, that many thought, if she had not imagined, the dispose of her body was due to her father, she no whit had feared to disobey him, to pursue the holy inspirations, which she now entertained of continuing a virgin.  
Of three conditions of the feminine sex, there is not any one whose contentment hath not anxiety. If marriage have fruitfulness, it hath also corruption; If widowhood enjoy liberty, it likewise suffers the sadness of solitude: If virginity put on integrity, it liveth with the grief of sterility. But Elizabeth better loved to live a virgin then a mother, and having dedicated all her thoughts to virginity, she held it sacrilege to employ them on marriage; well remembering that many of her quality had gone out of the palaces of kings their fathers; not being able to preserve this flower, among the thorns, & briars of worldly vanities, & the nipping frosts of its impietyes.  
Transported then by two so powerful laws, the commandment of God, & authority of her father, she gave consent to this match. The Landtsgrave brought with him as many graces as he acknowledged & admired in her: she likewise afforded him so much affection, that never were two hearts scorched with more ardent flames. It was thought her marriage might cut of something of the first severity of her life, and that she would begin to relish the pleasures of youth. But her heart, like a lamp perpetually burning before the face of God, shined not at all in the darkness of the brightest splendour of the day. Her eyes were weary in beholding things specious, her ears displeased with harmonious, her taste with the most delicious, but her heart was never satiated with the love of God.  
This her triangle could never be filled, but by this triangle. She stole the sweetest hours of the night from repose, to lie at the foot of the Cross, & taste the bitterness thereof in the security of silence.  
Sophia her mother in law, & Agnes her sister in law conjured her to forsake her scrupulosity; And will you Madam (said they) perpetually use yourself so cruelly? Will you always prefer thorns before roses? Will you be so sharp an enemy to yourself, as to hasten your death at the time when you ought to think upon life? Since life is so short, that if the world be not seasonably understood, we die before we know it.  
Her silence answered for her, and her constant perseverance gave them occasion to judge what they might hope from such discourse. She continued this kind of life amidst all these impertinences; but avoided those devotions, more feigned then holy, which seem to transport into ecstasy the minds of those which use them to please the world, & to satisfy their own hypocrisy. They are stars neither stable, nor fixed, in the firmament of true piety, rather wand'ring fires, Comets, & exhalations of the earth, which dissolve into the air of vanity.  
The Court of this Princess likewise resembled not those, which were at that time said to be seas of dissolution, and which, as the Sea, were swollen up with pride, foaming with exorbitance, & where virtue was perpetually in torment. Hers was a temple of piety, an Academy of honour: her example perfumed the most corrupted air, and breathed into the most wavering affections firm thoughts of virtue: with one glance of her eye, she led the rest along, and withdrew them from error, which enticeth hearts to pleasure, hath its career of Ice, & in the end a precipice.  
Her ladies and maids were bred without curiosity, vanity, or niceness; Their eyes by a modest disdain mortified evil appetites. And because the best borne natures by depravation become worse than others (as the corruption of good things is worst of all) she had an infinite care this first integrity might never be dissolved. For which cause she exhorted them to hold the heart in liberty, the body in servitude, and the conscience in repose; assuring them of the infinite contentment they should one day have, in seeing their souls in heaven free from slander, & leaving their bodies on the earth without infamy.  
She recommended nothing so much unto them, as to stifle wicked thoughts in their birth; whilst the bramble is green it may be eaten, but when it becomes bigger, it choketh. When the spirit is caught in those first persuasions of love, it resembleth the bird, which entangleth herself the more she fluttereth & strives to be at liberty. How many times did she tell them, the suits of men were to be suspected? that they were coals either burning, or quenched, & that the least we might expect from them was either to inflame, or besmear: That the Panther was not sooner strangled in tasting Aconite, than the Soul of a woman by harkening to the discourse of a passionate lover.  
There are of them (said she) who boast to understand without yielding, & to hear not delighting in what is said. If they be quick to desire, they are very reserved in making their desires known, they mock at those, who have neither eyes, nor ears to see or understand such, as conspire against their honour under the shadow of affection. But the opinion they have of their own strength is a false gate, a drowsy sentinel which betrayeth, & suffers reason to be surprised. Ladies of this disposition ought to see themselves in the eye & fortune of others, and to believe that which hath happened is nor impossible to them, since they float in the like Sea, & are tossed with the same wind, & waves. And though they think their vessel stronger, & much better appointed, yet may the storm perhaps be more violent, the tempest more terrible, & the waves so redoubled, that not knowing how to make resistance, they may be enforced to yield up their freight to the tempest.  
Implacable enemy of vice! she would never look on those, who so much regarded the beauty of the body, to deform that of the soul; natures ready, & apt for ill, stupid to good; that wound with eyes, deceive with the tongue, and who are enforced by remorse of their consciences to become pale with grief, ruddy with shame in good company; who (impudent as they are) set that to sale, which admits no price, nor commerce in Souls that hold honour for the fift element of their life, & lastly who have sworn to this false opinion, that the law, which obligeth a woman to love but one man, is not made for those, who are worthy to be loved of many.  
But because the greatness of her quality, & the condition of Court permitted not this Princess to be perpetually for herself, to be ever retired, incessantly speaking to God, or hearing God speak, to her; yet did not her hart endure, that any should enjoy her to prejudice the comfort & contentment of her mind.  
If sometimes the Landtsgrave needs would open his heart to give passage to pensive imaginations, & to that end employed the charms of music, it was but in singing some holy poëme.  
But in midst of most ordinary sollaces her heart perpetually turned towards the North of the cross, her mind rested in the tranquillity of her thoughts; This musk ceased not to smell sweetly, even in places least savouring of piety. She never appeared in public with ornaments suitable to a Princess, of so noble & high extraction, that she promised not her soul, to avenge it in convenient time at the charge of her body, for all these vanities.  
Entering one day into the Church, upon some solemnity which by the custom of the world permitted her not to be otherwise seen then well attired, casting her eyes upon the Crucifix, she said to herself; must my head sparkle with diamonds & precious stones, my fingers with rings, & I behold on this cross the head of my Saviour crowned with thorns, and his hands pierced with nails? Then prostrating herself on the earth, she besought God to do her the favour she might intermingle the acerbityes of the Cross with all the felicities the world could afford her.  
She knew heaven was to be opened with two keys; the one of gold, which is prayer; the other of iron which is affliction: she carried them both all the days of her life. Prayer was continually hanging on her tongue, & she ever hanging on the Cross. The image of our lady of Hall near brussels came from her devotion, & it is said, was brought thither by Sophia her daughter married to Henry the 2. Duke of Brabant.  
As she was indefatigable in prayer, so was she invincible in afflictions: for her courage went before them: she held them as Embassages sent from Heaven; she received them answerable to the greatness & Majesty of such a Monarch of the world, on whom all the earth dependeth who ill intreateth an Ambassador, plainly discovereth a neglect of the Prince, that sent him.  
The life, which tasteth no afflictions is a dead Sea, which produceth nothing. The Soul not visited, is as abandoned by the Physician. The land where perfect contentment of mind groweth, is ploughed up by the share of torments, sowed with ashes, watered with tears & hedged round about with thorns. And although she abode in the delights of the world, she no more tasted of them, than the fish of the Seas brackishness. The brightest days seemed dusky nights to her being rightly instructed, that he who will wear Coronets of flowers in this world, beareth those of thorns in the other, & he who soweth sorrows in this life shall reap comforts.  
Her nature was too generous, and too good not to resent the cruel, & tragical death of the Queen of Hungary her mother, who was slain by a hand furiously transported with jealousy & revenge, which drenching the Court in unspeakable amazement, made her see, that by how much the more violent the heats are, so much the more impetuous are the winds; great afflictions fall upon great prosperities.  
It was in the time when all Europe stretched out a benign arm to Christians, surcharged & oppressed in Soria by the arms of Infidels. The God of Hosts had given two blows in favour of the truth of religion. One in Spain against the Moors, who lost at the battle of Navas two hundred thousand men astonished upon the sight of the Cross borne by the Archbischop of Toledo, who marched in the front of the Christian army: The other a year after this in France against the Abbigenses, that were defeated with the Count of Tholouse their leader, & the king of Arragon their protector.  
These two victories obtained, animated the Christian Princes to seek out the common enemy at home, & to cast the fire of war into the entrayles of his Empire. For which purpose, the Croisaide was resolved on & decreed in the council of Lateran, one of the greatest & most eminent Assemblies that ever hath been in Christendom: for besides the Ambassadors from all Princes, there were two Patriarches, seaventy Archbishops four hundred and twelve Bishops, eight hundred other prelate's.  
First the zeal to the service of God, & next the compassion of the miseries, which Christians suffered in Soria obliged Christian Princes to hasten to their aid, since Elephants draw their fellows out of the ditch, & Gilt-heads free their companions from snares.  
Desire of glory & reputation which is the spur wherewith these lion-like hearts awaken, and do incite their generous spirits, stirred up the most religious princes to carry the Croisaide, esteeming it no less glory to raise the trophies of the cross on the frontiers of Egypt, then did Alexander by erecting two altars in the utmost confines of the Indieses, & Hercules two pillars on the bounds of his navigation.  
It was desired this enterprise might have a Commander capable for the conduct of a royal army, and to return victorious. Andrew king of Hungary, & Transiluania by a common consent was chosen out for this charge, which he accepted with that content, wherewith the hearts of great Princes are ever possessed when they meet with occasions, which free them from parity or corrivallship with others. It could not fall into better hands although in the pursuites of ambition great honours willingly submit to those, who go slowest, as the Hart many times yields himself to the man, that lest chased him.  
Having then taken away all affections from his own will, to become obedient to that, which God discovered unto him by this election, he mustered all the forces of his kingdom, and thereunto added those of his neighbours, to join with the Christian Army at Constantinople. He left the Princes his sons under the charge of the Queen his wife, & indeed all of them together under the prudence & fidelity of the Count of Bankban, whom he made Lieutenant General in high, & low Hungary.  
His absence caused great grief in his Court, but the arrival of the prince brother to the Queen sweetened them, that so they might be seasoned with a strange bitterness. He was of an age wherein lust gins to war against virtue, & where with Hercules was forcibly assailed by attraction of the one, to forsake the other. His heart was a fortress which as yet had never received garrison, he having preserved it in the first liberty of its birth-love surprised it by gaining the eyes, which were the sentinels.  
He saw among the Ladies of Court attending on the Queen his sister the Countess of Banckban: He judged her the fairest, & found her one of the wisest: Her beauty was not an uncomely hostess in an handsome house; For she obeyed virtue which held it in propriety, & nevertheless fell into discord with her honour. Love against her liking & with out her consent made use of her eyes, for all manner of artillery. They were fires to burn, arrows to wound, burning mirrors to turn the vessels of those into cinders, who undertook to sail on this sea of the Court, & love. Yet never durst he attempt this Minerva, it being impossible to find her idle. The prince who ever had been for himself, was now for her, so soon as ever he beheld her.  
This passion forcing with its violence, those things which cannot be enforced, commanded its liberty to manifest its servitude. He thought himself too courageous not to tell her of it, & her too courteous not to hearken to it. Princes, though all things stand fair for them, are not free from trouble in these first circumstances; for indeed they think ceremonies are not made, but for such as are on equal terms; if they use them, they vould have them accounted an honour, that their intreatyes may command, & that no favour be so great, which they must not buy at a costly rate.  
The torment of the prince which should be less cruel discovered, then concealed, redoubled the violence there of, so soon as his tongue had unfolded to the Countess the evil which his eyes had done to his heart. For this first view, which was but a single desire became all love, & by these approaches, he turned into fury, & an unjust conspiracy against her honour.  
The Countess in stead of accepting the power which the Prince offered her over his heart, made it appear unto him she neither regarded his suit, nor affection, though it were the most ardent, which true love might tender to a heart well beloved, and that hers could not receive any impression, then of the lawful love of her husband.  
The Prince meeting with such & so courageous resistance, & despairing to overcome this resolution discovered to his Sister all the wounds of his soul, found no comfort but in her affection, who shown herself not insensible of his torment.  
We have often seen servants, who have betrayed their Mistresses, but it is a prodigious thing, when we behold servants betrayed by their mistresses. She conspired in favour of the Prince her Brother against the honour of the Countess, and promised him to gain her to his desire, either by love or force.  
The next ensueing night the conspiracy was executed, the body vanguished the heart invincible. There was but one night between this injury, & the revenge, which, transported the Count of Banckban in to such fury, that early in the morning he stabbed his dagger into the bosom of the Queen, who had beme a bad Mistress to be a good Sister.  
Hear it is where humane judgement must strike sail, and cast itself into the vast Ocean of those of the living God, in comparison of which, the most clear seeing eyes are Owls in the rays of the sun.  
Of one same mother were borne two Sisters, Gertrude, who turned away from the fear & love of God, & Hedwige, whose life was so replenished with piety, & adorned with so many virtues, that she hath been canonised for a Saint; Sorrows violent & unexpected are not for simple discourses. Those are not great which can be expressed. This accident by some esteemed parricide, by others justice, offended & scandalised the whole Court, & laid incurable wounds on the Soul of the Princess Elizabeth, but she for all that murmured not against God, whose wisdom she adored with all humility, having her eye in this mishap, no more troubled, than her heart.  
Time and patience, which cure all disturbances nourished, & gave increase to hers  
She not so much reflected on the death of the body, as she entered into strange apprehensions for the health of the Soul.  
The Count of Banckban having set the affairs of the kingdom in good order, his wife & Family into safeguard, went to Constantinople to cast himself at the feet of the king, making him both judge & avenger of the fact, which he confessed to have committed by a powerful instigation, & for the which he at the least much repent him.  
Tears hastened in aid of the words, which sorrow stopped in his breast.  
Yet for all this, amazement could not seize on the king's heart, If he in midst of arms shed tears, to vapour out his grief by them the sorrow to have lost a good wife & his children a good mother, would make them to pour them out in abundance.  
He patiently heard the Count of Banckban and prudently, answered, that at his return he would understand the truth of this matter; That those who are present never want excuses, & the absent ever suffer wrong. That he would hear his brother in law & the allies of his wife. He sent him back again to continue his service. Although he were convinced by his own confession, & that so strange an act required some exemplar punishment, yet he would not dishonour the happy beginnings of his voyage, by acts of such severity, nor leave the army to return into Hungary.  
The rendezvous was in Cyprus, all the ships arrived there: It was advised on what side the enemy should be assailed.  
Particulier interest entereth into consultation with the principal of them. The king of Cyprus desires it may be upon on side, He of jerusalem hath designs upon another.  
The king of Hungary that known a General of an army ought to have eyes in his shoulders, to leave nothing behind, which might hinder him to proceed any further, was of opinion the fortress of Mount Thabor should be besieged. The Count of Tripoli diverteth this resolution & caused the Army to march before Damiatta, having first attempted to surprise the Fort of Thabor, where blows were given and taken at so small a distance, that the Infidels might see, not only flies, but even the little Crosses, which were upon the Christians Targetts.  
The king of Hungary seeing the enterprises were managed without judgement, & that private passions overthrew the best Counsels intended for the public good; that the most valiant stood more in need of a Buckler, than a sword, grew into distaste, and having left among the knights of Saint john of jerusalem great proofs of his bounty, as he from them had received of their valour & affection, he returned into Europe, & left the charge of his army to those who resembled the province in which they fought, exteriorly hit, as being one of the nearest to the torrid Zone, & within extremely cold.  
After a ten months' siege the Christian army entered Damiata, the first Standard which appeared on the wall was that of Florence, which at that time was a white lily in a red field. The Conquerors for all their booty found nothing, but rivers of blood, & heaps of the dead; for of seaventy thousand who defended this City there were reckoned up, but three thousand meager discomfited Creatures, that looked like frightnig Ghosts.  
The Christians kept not this City so long time as they had spent in taking it: For besieging grand Cairo, in the season when Nilus over floweth, they saw them selves so assailed by waters, that their victual & munition being drowned, they could find no safety, but in a happy composition to departed, & yield up Damiata.  
As Nilus took from them all means to draw near to the town, so the Sultan of Egypt cut them of from all passages of retreat. Those, who heretofore commanded without condition are enforced to receive law of the enemy, who left them no other fruit of their conquest, but the shame not to be able to keep what they had gotten.  
The king of Hungary, who could not triumph over his enemies in the holy land, served as a Trophy to the Princess of Ferrara: For passing through this City to Venice, and from thence to Insprucke, he saw in her, perfections of beauty so admirable, & wonders of love so absolute, that he submitted all his affections to her power. His eyes had no other object, his fantasy no other imagination, his mind no other discourse, his heart no other conference, his mouth no other name, then of the Princess. His memory was so replenished with her merit, that it no longer would admit any thoughts of the tragical death of his first wife.  
He unfolded his heart unto her; Saying, his affection was such, that he was wholly unable to stir any further, but to enjoy the contentment of her company. King's are never refused; He spoke of it to the marquess of Ferrara, and entreated he would give him the Princess his daughter to succeed, not to the unhappiness, but to the dignity of Gertrude his first wife. Hearts consenting, bodies were quickly united, & the King of Hungary entered into his kingdom, with the sole triumph of the love, & beauty of a worthy Princess.  
The first act after his marriage, and return, was the process against the Count of Banckban. The opinions of his Counsel being better pondered, then resolved, he was freed, but in such sort, that the rest of his life was to him but a living death; for those who either through duty & affection were obliged to the memory, & honour of the Queen prosecuted him in his person, his fortune, and his family as an execrable parricide, yea even they, who had promised the king never to search any further into the matter, redoubled their prosecution, thinking oaths might be broken without perjury, and benefits forgotten without ingratitude, to maintain points of honour.  
The king, who for the love of the living had almost blotted out the memory of the dead, disposed his thoughts to congratulations of joy upon the Queen's entrance into his capital City of Bude, which was at that time the theatre of Northern magnificence, a City fair rich & great, bearing the surname of Attilaes' brother, who caused it to be built on the bank of Danubius.  
This joy which so puffed up many hearts, shrunk up with sorrow the heart of the Princess Elizabeth, who was sent for by the king her father to entertain the Queen, and to augment by her presence the comfort of his return from the Eastern wars. She enforced herself, & accommodated the temper of her countenance to the humours, & contentments of the king her father, but in secret she still had in store new tears to bewail this old grief for the death of her mother.  
It is not untruely said, that one sorrow ordinarily serves as a medicine for an other; she stayed not long in Marpurg, but returned thence to meet the Landtsgrave her husband, at which time her constancy was assailed by a new affliction.  
Death jealous of the long peace, and concord of their marriage, conspired with fortune to separate them, and not daring to undertake it without the help of virtue, they agreed to add an occasion, in the pursuit whereof it was more glorious to dye, then to live in distance.  
All Europe was terrified with the happy success of the Infidel army in Egypt. The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who had married the daughter of the king of Jerusalem was humbly besought & entreated together with all the Christian Princes to secure the Christians. He appointed a great part of them to meet at Cremona, there to advice upon means to secure the affairs of Christendom against the attempts of Pagans, and to Save Jerusalem from their tyranny. All said they must hasten thither but few were willing to be present in so perilous, and tedious a voyage. The Landtsgrave animated them all to so holy a war, and offered himself to follow the Emperor thither. He was reputed able to lead the whole Army, & to be General of it.  
The king of Jerusalem pressed so much to have it set forward, least delay might render it unprofitable, that the Landtsgrave being enforced to departed, had not leisure to return into Thuringia, preferring the advancement of the public cause before his own affections. The adieu which he sent by writing to the Princess Elizabeth his wife, served him then for a voyage into the other world.  
The army was mustered at Brindisi, where the Emperor fell sick. It was assaulted by so many storms and tempests, that diverse advised for the return of it into Europe. The Landtsgrave caused the chief of them to assemble together, to let them know it was more shameful to retire back, then perilous to pass on. He spoke to them in this manner: The time (Sirs) we lose in consulting upon our return, will condemn us of cowardice if we pass no further. Words are unnecessary, when there is question, not to live, but to march on. I lead not freshwater soldiers: passed dangers ought to make these to be scorned, which are before us; More glory may be found in the truth of that, which we now are, then in the vanity of what we have been. We are not upon the Sea, but to go on courageously in the face of death, when it is presented; and to expect it with a firm constancy. Follow me, for you shall never bear the first brunt, nor will I withdraw myself from dangers, to thrust you upon them.  
All with gestures, vows, and voices seconded the brave exhortations of the Landtsgrave, & every one protested either to leave his head in Asia, or to return with it into Europe crowned with laurel, not any of them but much desired to gather the Palms, which Palestine produceth.  
But this first fervour became a gross surge of smoke, which vanished in an instant: For the army being ready to assault, saw itself assailed by a malady, winch contagiously dispread throughout all the Nations and several bands. The Emperor Frederik grew very sick, and the voyage absolutely fruitless.  
The Landtsgrave died there and with him the hope of the Christians to advance the triumphs of Godfrey of Boulon.  
He died for grief to behold his hopes stopped in the midst of their career. False hopes of the world They lift men up like young Children to the branch of a Tree and in an instant take their shoulders away, which supported them, and leave them hanging in the air. He commanded his body to be laid in the tomb of his Ancestors in Thuringia, and forgot nothing necessary for the good of his estate. His memory and judgement being vigorous to set all in order, made it appear, that those neglect not themselves in death, who forget not God in their life.  
The news of his death was instantly carried to the Princess Elizabeth who found herself drenched in an Abyss of sorrows, when she read those express dead words of the lively affection of the Landtsgrave, written by him a little before his death, in these terms.  
Madame, I am not in a condition eyher to counterfeit, or disguise my thoughts, since so little time is left me to render them pure and sincere to him, who knows them. Living with you the dear moiety of myself, I have desired nothing so much, as the study of truth, nor will I admit that my end contradict my life: to give you assurance, that as I have not sought to preserve it but for you, so it troubles me not to dye, but absented from you. The Sun shows himself more lustrous when he sets, the love I bear you was never more perfect, then in the period of the occident of my life, which openeth unto me the daybreak of immortality. Farewell (sweetest); I should grieve for the sorrow you will entertain, did I not know you have wherewithal to defend your virtue from the outrages of fortune.  
Lo, a stroke of dolour and affliction, which shaken, but overthrewe not the constancy of Elizabeth, God was pleased the temptation should not exceed the power of her resistance.  
Her good nature having poured out a torrent of tears of sorrow, her heart afforded on Ocean of joy, considering the Landtsgrave was freed from the miseries of life more brittle than glass, lighter than smoke, swifter fare and more empty, than the wind. Then lifting up her hands, & eyes to heaven, she gave God thankes for this affliction, by which he had restored her to the liberty she so much desired, to be wholly consecrated to his service.  
Now it is (o lord) now is the time (said she) that I with more liberty will wait on thee, behold me free, that I may forsake these lower plains, and with alacrity ascend up to Mount Thabor. Behold me discharged from that, which was most dear unto me in this life, I have nothing else to lose, & who knows whether I had not been undone, without this loss.  
The comforts of her marriage, and the greatness of her condition had not at all extinguished in her the true contentments she proposed to herself in a private, and solitary life. She often said, her husband was the flower of the field, that could not be found in Cities. That the Temple of repose was built in the Suburbs. That the honey of the Soul was made in the hive of solitude.  
This death brought that life to her, which she desired, and that she might wholly and entirely vow herself to it, she disarrayed herself from all pleasures of the world. she gave to Churches, Colleges and Hospitals, all which she in her Cabinet had of most price: much more esteeming the charity of alms than the gift of miracles, because (said she) man is bound to God by miracles, and God to men by alms. She cheerfully gave, not with a countenance denying what she had presented. She gave speedily, neither wearying patience, nor intreatyes. Tears (said she) which avail little with men, are very powerful with God, to gain heaven.  
She daily fed nine hundred poor people, and this largess was accounted prodigality by those, who judged her devotion to be hypocrisy, her zeal and humility, gross folly. Henry Brother of Lewis hearing of his death, seized on the fortresses and banished the Princess, who found no retreat: so much the fear to displease the strongest, and awe of the most powerful doth oversway affections.  
She went to a Church and there caused the Canticle of triumph, & joy to be sung, for the favour which God had done, by setting her into a Course of life, that she by the law of her condition expected not, having ever desired poverty without hope to attain it.  
Yet for all that, she lost not the generosity of her birth; Riches could not make a Coward of the valiant, nor poverty a magnanimous heart, to become sordid; for she was not ashamed at all, but of those who lived ill, and of such as were only poor against their wills.  
Fortune could not take that away which she gave her not. The greatness of her courage is exalted, & continueth green among injuries, as juy in ruins.  
She persisted in this patience till the arrival of the Landtsgraves' body at the meeting of which, reason that excuseth tears in evils remediless, dispensed not with her without abundance. Many great Lords of Germany & Sicily, who had performed this last office to this great Prince, seeing his widow was reduced to straits unworthy the House from whence she sprang, gave Henry to understand they would not departed the Country, until she were restored to an estate suitable to her worth, & that they resolved to enforce him thereunto. He allowed her one of the good liest houses of the Country for her habitation, whereof she made use not to live, but that she might learn to dye therein. Piety which with her was of more value than life, changed this Castle into a monastery, where she lived with unspeakable austerity.  
Good blood makes not more haste to the wounded part, than the king of Hungary advertised of the Landtsgraves' death, did to the sorrows of his daughter to comfort her. He dear loved her, and although he had other children, he kept most love in store for her, as the Eagle ever affecteth one of her young more than the rest. But being informed she despised the world, he dispatched a principal lord of his Court to entreat her (and, if commands were not powerful enough, to add thereunto the authority of a king to cause her,) to return into Hungary, as also in the mean time to assure her, that as the glory and merit of the services, which the Prince her Husband had done to Christendom remained for a Comfort, & increase of state & patrimony to his children, so it inclined his disposition to let her see this accident should not in any sort impair her condition.  
But he found her nothing flexible to his persuasions, nor well pleased with his propositions. Her eyes were too clear, not to know that the gold of worldly promises is sophisticate, and that as the Sun cannot be better seen, then in clear & pure water, so true content of mind, may not rightly be estimated, but in Souls purged & purified from the cares and embroilments of the world.  
Behold her Father's letter.  
Daughter, Fortune assaileth, not for slight causes the courages of those who are of your quality: she hath invaded you on that side where she thought to overcome your constancy, and triumph over your virtue. It is the death of the Landtsgrave which extremely grieves me, because you have lost a good Husband, and the Christian world a great Captain. My affliction is so much the more harsh and insupportable to me, in that I heard of his death before his malady, and that one and the same instant saw me to applaud the success of his voyage, the miracles of his life, and to bewail the accident of his death. I should wrong your judgement to comfort you, in matters, which you understand to be remediless. I had rather assure you, that he who called your Husband to heaven, reserveth a Father for you on earth, more desirous than ever, to make you so happy by a second marriage as you had occasion to be pleased with your first. Ability in me shall not be more difficult, then will. But I shall ever leave your disposition at liberty, most confident you will not incline it to resolutions contrary to the age wherein you are, nor to the counsels of those who loved you before you were capable of love. Come hither then to reap the fruits, & afford this contentment to the desires, and prayers of your father.  
Andrew.  
SHe was not much troubled what answer she should make to this letter; with the same hand wherewith she received it, she wrote these lines, saying as Olympius, that if God had been pleased she should have continued in the company of a man, he never had bereft her of a husband.  
Sr. (said she) I cannot think God hath called one moiety of myself to heaven, to suffer the other any long time to languish here, and though for his justice sake, & the punishment of my sins, it should please him to prolong my days, it will not be to reduce me back again into the servitude from which I am freed. As to satisfy you, I loved no man but my Lord the Landtsgrave, so for his love none living shall be affected by me, to possess either my heart, or body. I gave unto the world the flowers & fruits of mine age, you ought not to think it amiss, if I reserve for heaven the last honour of the tree, and that poor verdure which in the springtide thereof already beginneth to wax pale, & withered; an evident sign that the immutable renovation, which I heartily wish, is not fare of. If you hinder the vows I have made of perpetual continency, you shall be the sole author of my death, as you were one of the causes of my life. Your Court whereunto you invite me shall be to me a death, life a prison, the world a hell; you shall change the name of a Father into that, which can no way belong to you, but by forcing a will which God himself permitts to be free, in her who remaining his faithful servant, desires also to rest your most humble Daughter.  
Elizabeth.  
The king of Hungary hearing this resolution, did all he could to divert her from it. Many Princes upon the bruit of so abundant perfections, wherewith she replenished all Europe sought her in a second wedlock. She continually expressed she neither could, nor would marry. That if her excuses were not taken for denials, and her resolutions for reasons, she would slit her nose, thrust out her eyes, so disfigure herself, that not any should desire her. From that time forward she became the fable, and flout of the world, the scorn of great ones, the shame and rebuke of her nearest Allies, her zeal was accounted folly, her devotion hypocrisy, her simplicity sottishness her retiredness melancholy. Some said unto her she did well to live more virtuously & piously then the rest of her sex, but to live less nobly was baseness, and in this extraordinary manner mere giddiness.  
Another life, another manner of living. We must in matter of religion, as in navigation beyond the Pole arctique, have another heaven, other stars, another Pole. When one is arrived to this point of forsaking the world, another science must be learned, another spirit, another intention, when we lose the North star of will, we must take unto us, that, of obedience. The life of those great souls, which live in Heaven although they breathe on earth, hath a course much contrary to that of the world as the stars.  
All the actions of this Princess directed to the honour of God, stood out the shot of the arrows of envy and Calumny. She no whitt regarded, what the people (bad censurers of good works) said of her. She rejoiced when those bladders of slander emptied themselves on her of the poison, wherewith they were filled.  
Besides her heart was so large and ample, that these petty injuries were quite lost upon her, her Soul only living on wormwood, had no gall in it.  
The innocency, and simplicity of her life had the same virtues against calumnies, which the little stones of Nilus, that keep dogs from barking. The wicked in the end were constrained to change their scorn into admiration of a life, more like to that of Angels then of mortals.  
She raised her arm to the highest triumph whereunto virtue might reach, not only tollerating injuries, but doing good to any that wronged her. Some malevolent tongues thinking to fix the sting of their slanders upon her memory the more to afflict her, spoke ill of her, and touched her to the quick, although the innocency of her life, and the purity of her actions made her insensible of such wounds: but naturally, falsehoods vex and penetrate the Soul more than truths. All her revenge was to pray to God for the calumnious, and in this her oraison, she heard a voice from heaven, assuring her that of so many prayers as were made by her, that, which she offered in the behalf of her enemies had been the most acceptable.  
Every one saw the evil she suffered, and not any the good she did, her night watchings and austerityes. Such holy actions are lighted torches, suddenly put out with the first blast of vanity, and presumption, if humility cover them not.  
In this long and tedious way she never looked backward, nor stayed at the golden apples, to slacken her speed. The more she drew nigh ro her end, the more she desired to attain it. The nearer she approached to the centre, the more stable she became. She was a widow at twenty years of age, she vowed herself to the third order of Saint Francis at twenty one, wherein she lived and died happily. She went out of the world, as out of a Babylon, finding nothing therein to satisfy her soul, nor to ease the langours, or shorten the length of the miserable condition of life, where the most prosperous wax old, rather with anxiety, than years.  
A resolution truly worthy of a heart so resolute. It only appertaineth to generous hearts to resolve upon so violent changes, and to make such leaps from earth to heaven.  
She lived and died so blessedly, & the sanctity of her life was testified by so many miracles, that Pope Gregory the nynth in full Counsel declared her a Saint, and ordained the 27. of November for her festival. Her body four years after her death wholly entire, and odoriferous, was taken out of the earth, and set upon the Altar of a Church dedicated to her name by the Archbishops of Colen, Mentz, and Breme. The Emperor was present at the ceremony, and to this Princess (who living despised regal crowns, for that of thorns) he presented a triple crown of gold, as a witness of the perfections which had crowned the three conditions of her life. She had three children, Herman who succeeded his Father, and died at the age of Eighteen years, Sophia that was married to the Duke of Brabant, & another Sophia, who following the piety of her mother became religious at Kitzing in Franconia.  
Behold how impossible it is to speak ill of those who have lived well.  
FINIS.