ut not only the family I am linked to is ruined, but the family from
which I sprung by these unhappy wars. Which ruin my Mother lived to see
and then died, having lived a widow for many years: for she never forgot
my Father so as to marry again. Indeed he remained so lively in her memory
and her grief was so lasting as she never mentioned his name (though she
spoke often of him) but love and grief caused tears to flow, and tender
sighs to rise - mourning in sad complaints. She made her house her cloister,
inclosing herself, as it were, therein: for she seldom went abroad unless
to church. But these unhappy wars forced her out, by reason she and her
children were loyal to the King: for which they plundered her and them of
all their goods, plate, jewels, money, corn, cattle and the like - cut down
their woods, pulled down their houses, and sequestered them from their lands
and livings.
She-Soldier in English Civil War
In such misfortunes my Mother was of an heroic spirit, in suffering patiently
when there was no remedy, and being industrious where she thought she could
help. She was of a grave behaviour and had such a majestic grandeur as it
were continually hung about her, that it would strike a kind of awe into
the beholders and command respect from the rudest - (I mean the rudest of
civilized people - I mean not such barbarous people as plundered her and
used her cruelly - for they would have pulled God out of Heaven, had they
had power, as they did Royalty out of his throne). Her beauty was beyond
the ruin of time, for she had a well-favoured loveliness in her face, a
pleasing sweetness in her countenance, and a well tempered complexion, neither
too red nor too pale, even to her dying hour, although in years. And by
her dying one might think Death was enamoured of her, for he embraced her
in a sleep and so gently as if he were afraid to hurt her.
Having eight children, there was not any one crooked or any ways deformed,
neither were they dwarfish or of giantlike stature, but every way proportionable,
well-featured, [with] clear complexions, brown hairs, sound teeth, sweet
breath, plain speeches, tunable voices - I mean not so much to sing, as
in speaking - as not stuttering, not wharling in the throat or speaking
through the nose or hoarsely, or squeakingly, which impediments many have:
neither were their voices of too low a strain or too high, but their notes
and words were tunable and timely.
I hope this truth will not offend my readers; and lest they should think
I am a partial register, I dare not commend my sisters, as to say they were
handsome, although many would say they were very handsome. But this I dare
say: their beauty, if they had any, was not so lasting as my mother's, time
making suddener ruin in their faces than in hers.
My mother was a good mistress to her servants, taking care of them in their
sicknesses, not sparing any cost she was able to bestow for their recovery.
Neither did she exact from them more in their health than what they with
ease, or rather like pastime, could do. She would freely pardon a fault,
or forget an injury - yet sometimes she would be angry: but never with her
children, for the sight of them would pacify her. Neither would she be angry
with others but when she had cause - as with negligent or knavish servants,
that would lavishly or unnecessarily waste or subtilly and thievishly steal.
And, though she would often complain that her family was too great for her
weak management and often prest my brother to take it upon him, yet I observed,
she took a pleasure and some little pride in the governing thereof. She
was very skillful in leases, and setting of lands, and Court-keeping, ordering
of stewards and the like affairs. Also I observed that my Mother, or brother
before these wars, had never any lawsuits but what an attorney despatched
in a term with small cost.
She-Soldier in English Civil War
In such misfortunes my Mother was of an heroic spirit, in suffering patiently when there was no remedy, and being industrious where she thought she could help. She was of a grave behaviour and had such a majestic grandeur as it were continually hung about her, that it would strike a kind of awe into the beholders and command respect from the rudest - (I mean the rudest of civilized people - I mean not such barbarous people as plundered her and used her cruelly - for they would have pulled God out of Heaven, had they had power, as they did Royalty out of his throne). Her beauty was beyond the ruin of time, for she had a well-favoured loveliness in her face, a pleasing sweetness in her countenance, and a well tempered complexion, neither too red nor too pale, even to her dying hour, although in years. And by her dying one might think Death was enamoured of her, for he embraced her in a sleep and so gently as if he were afraid to hurt her.
Having eight children, there was not any one crooked or any ways deformed, neither were they dwarfish or of giantlike stature, but every way proportionable, well-featured, [with] clear complexions, brown hairs, sound teeth, sweet breath, plain speeches, tunable voices - I mean not so much to sing, as in speaking - as not stuttering, not wharling in the throat or speaking through the nose or hoarsely, or squeakingly, which impediments many have: neither were their voices of too low a strain or too high, but their notes and words were tunable and timely.
I hope this truth will not offend my readers; and lest they should think I am a partial register, I dare not commend my sisters, as to say they were handsome, although many would say they were very handsome. But this I dare say: their beauty, if they had any, was not so lasting as my mother's, time making suddener ruin in their faces than in hers.
My mother was a good mistress to her servants, taking care of them in their sicknesses, not sparing any cost she was able to bestow for their recovery. Neither did she exact from them more in their health than what they with ease, or rather like pastime, could do. She would freely pardon a fault, or forget an injury - yet sometimes she would be angry: but never with her children, for the sight of them would pacify her. Neither would she be angry with others but when she had cause - as with negligent or knavish servants, that would lavishly or unnecessarily waste or subtilly and thievishly steal.
And, though she would often complain that her family was too great for her weak management and often prest my brother to take it upon him, yet I observed, she took a pleasure and some little pride in the governing thereof. She was very skillful in leases, and setting of lands, and Court-keeping, ordering of stewards and the like affairs. Also I observed that my Mother, or brother before these wars, had never any lawsuits but what an attorney despatched in a term with small cost.