The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper

Plant in the passage to your heavenly seats
These horrid dangers, and then see who dares
Advance his desperate foot: yet am I sought,
And oft in vain, through these and greater hazards.
I could discover how your deities

Are for my sake slighted, despis'd, abus'd;
Your temples, shrines, altars, and images,
Uncover'd, rifled, robb'd, and dis-array'd,
By sacriligious hands: yet is this treasure
To th' golden mountain, where I sit ador'd,
With superstitious solemn rites convey'd,
And becomes sacred there; the sordid wretch
Not daring touch the consecrated ore,

Or with prophane hands lessen the bright heap.
But this might draw your anger down on mortals,
For rend'ring me the homage due to you:
Yet what is said may well express my power,
Too great for Earth and only fit for Heaven.
Now, for your pastime, view the naked root,
Which, in the dirty earth and base mould drown'd,
Sends forth this precious plant and golden fruit.
You lusty swains, that to your grazing flocks
Pipe amorous roundelays; you toiling hinds,
That barb the fields, and to your merry teams
Whistle your passions; and you mining moles,
That in the bowels of your mother Earth
Dwell, the eternal burthen of her womb;

shall gain such credit, as at the next sessions you may be heard with better success. But till you are thus reformed, I pronounce this positive sentence, that wheresoever you shall chuse to abide, your society shall add no credit or reputation to the party, nor your discontinuance or total absence be matter of disparagement to any man; and whosoever shall hold a contrary estimation of you, shall be condemned to wear perpetual motley, unless he recant his opinion. Now you may void the court.

PANIA enters, a woman of a pale colour, large brims of a hat upon her head, through which her hair started up like a Fury; her robe was of a dark colour, full of patches; about one of her hands was tied a chain of iron, to which was fastened a weighty stone, which she bore up under her arm.

Merc. What creature's this?

Mom. The antipodes to the other; they move like
Two buckets, or as two nails drive out one another.
If Riches depart, Poverty will enter.

Pov. I nothing doubt, great and immortal powers!
But that the place your wisdom hath deny'd
My foe, your justice will confer on me ;

Cease from your labours, when Wealth bids you play; Since that which renders him incapable
Sing, dance, and keep a cheerful holiday.

Proves a strong plea for me. I could pretend,
E'en in these rags, a larger sovereignty

They dance the fourth antimasque, consisting of coun- Than gaudy Wealth in all his pomp can boast; try-people, music, and measures.

Merc. Plutus, the gods know and confess your
Which feeble Virtue seldom can resist, [power,
Stronger than towers of brass or chastity:
Jove knew you when he courted Danae,
And Cupid wears you on that arrow's head,
That still prevails. But the gods keep their throne
To instail Virtue, not her enemies :
[felt;
They dread thy force, which ev'n themselves have
Witness Mount Ida, where the martial maid 13
And frowning Juno did to mortal eyes,
Naked, for gold, their sacred bodies show;
Therefore for ever be from Heaven banish'd.
But since with toil from undiscover'd worlds
Thou art brought hither, where thou first didstbreathe
The thirst of empire into regal breasts,
And frightedst quiet Peace from her meek throne,
Filling the world with tumult, blood, and war;
Follow the camps of the contentious Earth,
And be the conqu'ror's slave; but he that can
Or conquer thee, or give thee virtuous stamp,
Shall shine in Heaven a pure immortal lamp.

Mom. Nay, stay, and take my benediction along with you. I could, being here a co-judge, like others in my place, now that you are condemn'd, either rail at you, or break jests upon you. But I rather chuse to lose a word of good counsel, and intreat you be more careful in your choice of company; for you are always found either with misers that not use you at all, or with fools that know not how to use you well. Be not hereafter so reserved and coy to men of worth and parts; so you

For mark how few they are that share the world:
The numerous armies, and the swarming ants
That fight and toil for them, are all my subjects;
They take my wages, wear my livery:
Invention too, and Wit, are both my creatures,
And the whole race of Virtue is my off-spring:
As many mischiefs issue from my womb,
And those as mighty as proceed from Gold.
Oft o'er his throne I wave my aweful scepter,
And in the bowels of his state command,
When, 'midst his heaps of coin and hills of gold,
I pine and starve the avaritious fool.
But I decline those titles, and lay claim
To Heaven, by right of divine Contemplation;
She is my darling; I, in my soft lap,
Free from disturbing cares, bargains, accounts,
Leases, rents, stewards, and the fear of thieves,
That vex the rich, nurse her in calm repose,
And with her all the virtues speculative,
Which, but with me, find no secure retreat.
For entertainment of this hour, I'll call
A race of people to this place, that live
At Nature's charge, and not importune Heaven
To chain the winds up, or keep back the storms,
To stay the thunder, or forbid the hail
To thresh the unreap'd ear; but to all weathers,
The chilling frost and scalding sun, expose
Their equal face. Come forth, my swarthy train,
In this fair circle dance; and as you move,
Mark and foretell happy events of love.

They dance the fifth antimasque of gypsies. Mom. I cannot but wonder that your perpetual conversation with poets and philosophers hath furnished you with no more logic, or that you should 13 Pallas, This alludes to the contest for beauty think to impose upon us so gross an inference, as between Juno, Pallas, and Venus, which was de-because Plutus and you are contrary, therefore,

eided by Paris in favour of the latter.

whatsoever is denied of the one must be true of the

other; as if it should follow of necessity, because | he is not Jupiter, you are. No, I give you to know, I am better versed in cavils with the gods, than to swallow such a fallacy; for though you two cannot be together in one place, yet there are many places that may be without you both; and such is Heaven, where neither of you are likely to arrive. Therefore let me advise you to marry yourself to Content, and beget sage apophthegms and goodly moral sentences in dispraise of Riches, and contempt of the world.

The shallow fathom of their human reason:
Yet here, like blinded Justice, I dispense
With my impartial hands their constant lots,
And if desertless, impious men engross
My best rewards, the fault is yours, ye gods,
That scant your graces to mortality,
And, niggards of your good, scarce spare the world
One virtuous for a thousand wicked men.
It is no errour to confer a dignity,
But to bestow it on a vicious man;

I gave the dignity, but you made the vice.
Make you men good, and I'll make good men happy:

Merc. Thou dost presume too much, poor needy That Plutus is refus'd, dismays me not;

wretch,

To claim a station in the firmament,
Because thy humble cottage, or thy tub,
Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue

In the cheap sun-shine, or by shady springs
With roots and pot-herbs, where thy right hand,
Tearing those human passions from the mind
Upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish,
Degradeth nature, and benumbeth sense,
And, Gorgon-like, turns active men to stone.
We not require the dull society

Of your necessitated temperance,
Or that unnatural stupidity

That knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forc'd
Falsly exalted passive fortitude

Above the active: this low, abject brood,
That fix their seats in mediocrity,
Become your servile mind; but we advance
Such virtues only as admit excess,
Brave bounteous acts, regal magnificence,
All-seeing prudence, magnanimity
That knows no bound, and that heroic virtue
For which antiquity hath left no name,
But patterns only; such as Hercules,
Achilles, Theseus. Back to thy loath'd cell,
And when thou seest the new enlighten'd sphere,
Study to know but what those worthies were.

TYCHE enters, her head bald behind, and one great lock before, wings at her shoulders, and in her hand a wheel, her upper parts naked, and the skirt of her garment wrought all over with crowns, sceptres, books, and such other things as express both her greatest and smallest gifts.

Mom. See where dame Fortune comes; you may know her by her wheel, and that veil over her eyes, with which she hopes, like a seeled 14 pigeon, to mount above the clouds, and perch in the eighth sphere. Listen; she begins.

Fort. I come not here, you gods, to plead the right By which antiquity assign'd my deity, Though no peculiar station 'mongst the stars, Yet general power to rule their influence, Or boast the title of omnipotent, Ascrib'd me then, by which I rival'd Jove, Since you have cancell'd all those old records: But confident in my good cause and merit, Claim a succession in the vacant orb; For since Astræa fled to Heaven, I sit Her deputy on Earth; I hold her scales, And weigh men's fates out, who have made me blind Because themselves want eyes to see my causes; Call me inconstant, 'cause my works surpass

14 Hooded. Term of falconry.

He is my drudge, and the external pomp
In which he decks the world proceeds from me,
Not him; like harmony, that not resides
In strings or notes, but in the hand and voice.
The revolutions of empires, states,
Scepters, and crowns, are but my game and sport;
Which as they hang on the events of war,
So those depend upon my turning wheel.

You warlike squadrons, who in battles join'd,
Dispute the right of kings, which I decide,
Present the model of that martial frame,
By which, when crowns are stak'd, I rule the game.
They dance the sixth antimasque, being the re-
presentation of a battle.

Mom. Madam, I should censure you, pro falso clamore, for preferring a scandalous cross-bill of recrimination against the gods, but your blindness shall excuse you. Alas! what would it advantage you, if virtue were as universal as vice is: it would only follow, that as the world now exclaims upon you for exalting the vicious, it would then rail as fast at you for depressing the virtuous; so they would still keep their tune, though you changed their ditty.

Merc. The mists, in which future events are wrapp'd,

That oft succeed beside the purposes
Of him that works, his dull eyes not discerning
The first great cause, offer'd thy clouded shaps
To his inquiring search; so in the dark
The groping world first found thy deity,
And gave thee rule over contingencies,
Which to the piercing eye of Providence,
Being fix'd and certain, where past, and to come
Are always present, thou dost disappear,
Losest thy being, and art not at all.
Be thou then only a deluding phantom,
At best a blind guide, leading blinder fools;
Who, would they but survey their mutual wants,
And help each other, there were left no room
For thy vain aid. Wisdom, whose strong-built
plots

Leave nought to hazard, mocks thy futile power.
Industrious Labour drags thee by the locks,
Bound to his toiling car, and not attending
Till thou dispense, reaches his own reward:
Only the lazy sluggard yawning lies
Before thy threshold, gaping for thy dole,
And licks the easy hand that feeds his sloth;
Makes thee his stale, disburdens all the follies
The shallow, rash, and unadvised man
Of his mis-guided actions on thy shoulders.
Vanish from hence, and seek those ideots out
That thy fantastic godhead hath allow'd,
And rule that giddy superstitious crowd,

HEDONE. Pleasure, a young woman with a smiling face, in a light lascivious habit, adorn'd with silver and gold, her temples crowned with a garland of roses, and over that a rainbow circling her head down to her shoulders.

Merc. What wanton's this?

Mom. This is the sprightly lady, Hedone, a merry gamester; the people call her Pleasure.

Pleas. The reasons, equal judges, here alledg'd
By the dismiss'd pretenders, all concur
To strengthen my just title to the sphere.
Honour, or wealth, or the contempt of both,
Have in themselves no simple real good,
But as they are the means to purchase pleasure,
The paths that lead to my delicious palace:
They for my sake, I for mine own am priz'd.
Beyond me nothing is. I am the goal,
The journey's end, to which the sweating world,
And wearied nature tends. For this, the best
And wisest sect of all philosophers
Made me the seat of supreme happiness:
And though some more austere, upon my ruins,
Did, to the prejudice of nature, raise
Some petty low-built virtues, 't was because
They wanted wings to reach my soaring pitch.
Had they been princes born, theinselves had prov'd
Of all mankind the most luxurious:
For those delights, which to their low condition
Were obvious, they with greedy appetite
Suck'd and devour'd: from offices of state,
From cares of family, children, wife, hopes, fears,
Retir'd, the churlish Cynic, in his tub,
Enjoy'd those pleasures which his tongue defam'd.
Nor am I rank'd 'mongst the superfluous goods:
My necessary offices preserve

Each single man, and propagate the kind. >
Then am I universal as the light,

Or common air we breathe; and since I am
The general desire of all mankind,
Civil felicity must reside in me.

Tell me what rate my choicest pleasures bear,
When, for the short delight of a poor draught
Of cheap cold water, great Lysimachus
Render'd himself slave to the Scythians.
Should I the curious structure of my seats,
The art and beauty of my several objects,
Rehearse at large, your bounties would reserve
For every sense a proper constellation;
But I present the persons to your eyes.

Come forth, my subtle organs of delight,
With changing figures please the curious eye,
And charm the ear with moving harmony.

And apprehension of thy hasty end
Mingles with gall thy most refined sweets;
Yet thy Circean charms transform the world.
Captains that have resisted war and death,
Nations that over Fortune have triumph'd,
Are by thy magic made effeminate:
Empires, that knew no limits but the poles,
Have in thy wanton lap melted away:
Thou wert the author of the first excess
That drew this reformation on the gods. [Heaven
Canst thou then dream, those powers, that from
Banish'd th' effect, will there enthrone the cause?
To thy voluptuous den fly, witch, from hence;
There dwell, for ever drown'd in brutish sense.

Mom. I concur, and am grown so weary of these tedious pleadings, as I'll pack up too and be gone. Besides, I see a crowd of other suitors pressing hither; I'll stop 'em, take their petitions, and prefer 'em above; and as I came in bluntly without knocking, and nobody bid me welcome, so I'll depart as abruptly without taking leave, and bid nobody farewell.

MERC. These, with forc'd reasons, and strain'd

arguments,

Urge vain pretences, whilst your actions plead,
And, with a silent importunity,
Awake the drowsy justice of the gods,
To crown your deeds with immortality.
The growing titles of your ancestors,
These nations' glorious acts, join'd to the stock
Of your own royal virtues, and the clear
Reflex they take from th' imitation

Of your fam'd court, make Honour's story full,
And have to that secure, fix'd state advanc'd
Both you and them, to which the labouring world,
Wading through streams of blood, sweats to aspire."
Those ancient worthies of these famous isles,
That long have slept in fresh and lively shapes,
Shall straight appear, where you shall see yourself
Circled with modern heroes, who shall be,
In act, whatever elder times can boast,
Noble, or great; as they in prophecy
Were all but what you are. Then shall you see,
The sacred hand of bright Eternity
Mould you to stars, and fix you in the sphere.
To you your royal half, to them she 'll join
Such of this train, as, with industrious steps,
In the fair prints your virtuous feet have made,
Though with unequal paces, follow you.
This is decreed by Jove, which my return
Shall see perform'd; but first behold the rude
And old abiders here, and in them view
The point from which your full perfections grew.

They dance the seventh antimasque of the five You naked, antient, wild inhabitants,

senses

Merc. Bewitching Syren! gilded rottenness!
Thou hast with cunning artifice display'd
Th' enamel'd out-side, and the honied verge
Of the fair cup where deadly poison lurks.
Within, a thousand sorrows dance the round;
And, like a shell, pain circles thee without.
Grief is the shadow waiting on thy steps,
Which, as thy joys 'gin towards their west decline,
Doth to a giant's spreading form extend
Thy dwarfish stature. Thou thyself art pain,
Greedy intense desire; and the keen edge
Of thy fierce appetite oft strangles thee,

And cuts thy slender thread; but still the terrour,

That breath'd this air, and press'd this flow'ry earth, Come from those shades where dwells eternal night, And see what wonders time hath brought to light. Atlas and the sphere vanished; and a new scene appears of mountains, whose eminent height exceeds the clouds which passed beneath them; the lower parts were wild and woody. Out of this place comes forth a more grave antimasque of Picts the natural inhabitants of this isle, ancient Scotch and Irish; these dance a Pyrrhick, or martial dance.

When this antimasque was past, there began to arise out of the earth the top of a hill, which by little and little grew to be a huge mountain that co

GENIUS.

Then, from your impris'ning womb,
Which is the cradle and the tomb
Of British worthies, (fair sons!) send
A troop of heroes, that may lend
Their hands to ease this loaden grove,
And gather the ripe fruits of love.

vered all the scene. The under part of this was wild and craggy, and above somewhat more pl asant and flourishing. Ab ut the middle part of this mountain were seated the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland; all richly attired in regal habits, appropriated to the several nations, with crowns on their heads, and each of them bearing the ancient arms of the kingdoms they there presented. At a distance, above these, sate a young man in a white embroidered robe, upon his fair hair an olive garland, with wings at his shoulders, and holding in his hand a cornucopia filled with corn and fruits, representing the the Genius of these kingdoms.

THE FIRST SONG.

GENIUS.

Raise from these rocky cliffs your heads,
Brave sons, and see where Glory spreads
Her glittering wings; where Majesty,
Crown'd with sweet smiles, shoots from her eye
Diffusive joy; where Good and Fair
United sit in Honour's chair.

Call forth your aged priests and crystal streams,
Towarm their hearts and waves in these bright beams.

KINGDOMS.

1. From your consecrated woods, Holy Druids. 2. Silver Floods,

From your channels fring'd with flowers, 5. Hither move; forsake your bowers, 1. Strew'd with hallowed oaken leaves, Deck'd with flags and sedgy sheaves, And behold a wonder. 3. Say, What do your duller eyes survey?

CHORUS OF DRUIDS AND RIVERS. We see at once in dead of night A sun appear, and yet a bright Noon-day springing from star-light.

GENIUS.

Look up, and see the darken'd sphere Depriv'd of light; her eyes shine there.

CHORUS.

These are more sparkling than those were.

KINGDOMS.

1. These shed a nobler influence; 2. These by a pure intelligence

Of more transcendent virtue move; 3. These first feel, then kindle love; 1. 2. From the bosoms they inspire, These receive a mutual fire;

1. 2. 3. And where their flames impure return, These can quench as well as burn.

GENIUS.

Here the fair victorious eyes

Make Worth only Beauty's prize;

Here the hand of Virtue ties

'Bout the heart Love's amorous chain, Captives triumph, vassals reign;

And none live here but the slain.

These are th' Hesperian bow'rs, whose fair trees bear Rich golden fruit, and yet no dragon near.

KINGDOMS.

Open thy stony entrails wide,
And break old Atlas, that the pride
Of three fam'd kingdoms may be spy'd.

CHORUS.

Pace forth, thou mighty British Hercules,
With thy choice band! for only thou and these
May revel here in Love's Hesperides.

At this the under part of the rock opens, and out of a cave are seen to come the masquers richly attired like ancient heroes; the colours yellow, embroidered with silver; their antique helmets curiously wrought, and great plumes on the top; before them a troop of young lords and noblemen's sons, bearing torches of virgin war: these were apparelled, after the od British fashion, in white coats, embroidered with silver, girt, and full gathered, cut square-collar'd, and round caps or their heads, with a white feathered wreathen about them. First, these dance with their lights in their hands: after which, the masquers descend into the room, and dance their entry.

The danc being past, there appears in the further part of the Heaven, coming down, a pleasant cloud, bright and transparent, which, coming softly downwards before the upper part of the mountain, embraceth the Genius, but so, as through it all his body is seen; and then, rising again with a gentle motion, bears up the Genius of the three kingdoms, and, being past the airy region, pierceth the Heu:ens, and is no more seen. that instant the rock with the three kingdoms an it sinks, and is hidden in the earth. This strange spectacle gave great cause of admiration; but especially how so huge a machine, and of that great height, could come from under the stage, which was but six feet high.

THE SECOND SONG.

KINGDOMS.

1. Here are shapes form'd fit for Heaven; 2. Those move gracefully and even.

3. Here the air and paces meet

So just, as if the skilful feet

Had struck the viols. 1. 2. 3. So the ear Might the tuneful footing bear.

CHORUS.

And had the music silent been, The eye a moving time had seen.

GENIUS.

These must in th' unpeopled sky
Succeed, and govern Destiny.
Jove is temp'ring purer fire,
And will with brighter flames attire
These glorious lights. I must ascend,
And help the work,

KINGDOMS.

1. We cannot lend

Heaven so much treasure. 2. Nor that pay,
But rend'ring what it takes away.
Why should they that here can move
So well, be ever fix'd above?

CHORUS.

Or be to one eternal posture ty'd,
That can into such various figures slide?

GENIUS.

Jove shall not, to enrich the sky, Beggar the Earth; their fame shall fly From hence alone, and in the sphere Kindle new stars, whilst they rest here.

KINGDOMS.

1. 2. 3. How can the shaft stay in the quiver, Yet hit the mark?

GENIUS.

Did not the river,

Eridanus, the grace acquire

In Heaven and Earth to flow, Above in streams of golden fire,

In silver waves below?

KINGDOMS.

1. 2. 3. But shall not we, now thou art gone, Who wert our nature, wither?

Or break that triple union

Which thy soul held together?

GENIUS.

In Concord's pure, immortal spring

I will my force renew,

And a more active virtue bring
At my return. Adieu !

KINGDOMS. Adieu! CHORUS. Adieu!

The masquers dance their main dance, which done, the scene again is varied into a new and pleasant prospect, clean differing from all the other, the nearest part showing a delicious garden with several walks, and parterres set round with low trees, and on the sides, against these walks, were fountains and grotts, and in the furthest part a palace, from whence went high walks upon arches, and above them open terraces planted with cypress trees; and all this together was composed of such ornaments as might express a princely villa.

From hence the Chorus descending into the room, goes up to the state.

THE THIRD SONG.

BY THE CHORUS, GOING UP TO THE QUEEN.

Whilst thus the darlings of the gods,
From Honour's temple to the shrine
Of Beauty, and these sweet abodes

Of Love, we guide; let thy divine
Aspects, bright deity, with fair
And halcyon beams becalm the air.

We bring prince Arthur, or the brave

St. George himself, great queen, to you ; You'll soon discern him: and we have

A Guy, a Beavis, or some true Round-table kuight, as ever fought For lady, to each beauty brought.

Plant in their martial hands, War's seat, Your peaceful pledges of warm snow, And, if a speaking touch, repeat

In Love's known language tales of woe; Say in soft whispers of the palm, As eyes shoot darts, so lips shed balm.

For though you seem, like captives, led
In triumph by the foe away,
Yet on the conqu'ror's neck you tread,

And the fierce victor proves your prey.
What heart is then secure from you,
That can, though vanquish'd, yet subdue?

[The song done they retire, and the masquers dance the revels with the ladies, which continued a great part of the night.

The revels being past, and the king's majesty seated under the state by the queen; for conclusion to this masque there appears coming forth from one of the sides, as moving by a gentle wind, a great cloud, which, arriving at the middle Heaven, stayeth; this was of several colours, and so great, that it covered the whole scene; out of the further part of the Heaven began to break forth two other clouds, differing in colour and shape; and being fully discovered, there appeared sitting in one of them, Religion, Truth, and Wisdom. Religion was appareiled in white, and part of her face was covered with a light veil; in one hand a book, and in the other a flame of fire. Truth in a watchet robe, a sun upon her forehead, and bearing in her hand a palm. Wisdom in a mantle wrought with eyes and hunds, golden rays about her head, and Apollo's cithara in her hand. In the other cloud sat Concord, Government and Reputation. The habit of Concord was carnation, bearing in her hand a little faggot of sticks bound together, and on the top of it a hart, and a garland of corn on her head: Government was figured in a coat of ar mour bearing a shield, and on it a Medusa's head; upon her head a plumed helm, and in her right hand a lance. Reputation, a young man in a purple robe wrought with gold, and wearing a laurel on his head. These being come down in an equal distance to the middle part of the air, the great cloud began to break open, out of which broke beams of light; in the midst, suspended in the air, sat Eternity on a globe; his garment was long, of a light blue, wrought all over with stars of gold, and bearing in his hand a serpent bent into a circle, with his tail in his mouth. In the firmament about him was a troop of fifteen stars, expressing the stellifying of our British heroes; but one more great and eminent than the rest, which was over his head, figured his majesty; and in the lower part a-far off was seen the prospect of Windsor-Castle, the famous seat of the most honourable order of the garter.

THE FOURTH SONG.

ETERNITY, EUSEBIA, ALETHIA, SOPHIA, HOMONOIA, DICEARCHE, EUPHEMIA.

ETERNITY.

Be fix'd, you rapid orbs, that bear
The changing seasons of the year
On your swift wings, and see the old
Decrepid spheres grown dark and cold;

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The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper, Том 5