All his body is a fire,

And his breath a flame entire,
That being shot, like lightning, in,
Wounds the heart, but not the skin.

1 Grace. At his sight, the sun hath turn'd,*
Neptune in the waters burn'd;

Hell hath felt a greater heat; t
Jove himself forsook his seat:
From the centre to the sky,
Are his trophies reared high.‡

2 Grace. Wings he hath, which though ye clip,
He will leap from lip to lip,
Over liver, lights, and heart,
But not stay in any part;
And, if chance his arrow misses,
He will shoot himself, in kisses.

3 Grace. He doth bear a golden bow,
And a quiver, hanging low,
Full of arrows, that outbrave
Dian's shafts; where, if he have
Any head more sharp than other,
With that first he strikes his mother.

1 Grace. Still the fairest are his fuel.
When his days are to be cruel,
Lovers' hearts are all his food;
And his baths their warmest blood:

*See Lucian, Dial. Deor.

† And Claud. in raptu Proserp.

Such was the power ascrib'd him, by all the ancients : whereof there is extant an elegant Greek epigram. Phil. Poe, wherein he makes all the other deities despoiled by him, of their ensigns; Jove of his thunder, Phoebus of his arrows, Hercules of his club, etc.

Nought but wounds his hand doth season,
And he hates none like to Reason.

2 Grace. Trust him not; his words, though sweet,
Seldom with his heart do meet.

All his practice is deceit ;

Every gift it is a bait ;

Not a kiss but poison bears;

And most treason in his tears.

3 Grace. Idle minutes are his reign;
Then, the straggler makes his gain,
By presenting maids with toys,
And would have ye think them joys;
'Tis the ambition of the elf,

To have all childish as himself.

1 Grace. If by these ye please to know him, Beauties, be not nice, but show him.

2 Grace. Though ye had a will to hide him, Now, we hope, ye'll not abide him.

3 Grace. Since you hear his falser play; And that he's Venus' runaway.

At this, from behind the trophies, CUPID discovered himself, and came forth armed; attended with twelve boys, most antickly attired, that represented the Sports, and pretty Lightnesses that accompany Love, under the titles of Joci and Risus; and are said to wait on Venus as she is Præfect of Marriage.*

* Which Horat. consents to, Car. lib. 1. ode 2,

-Erycina ridens,

Quam Jocus circum volat, et Cupido.

Cup. Come, my little jocund Sports,
Come away; the time now sorts
With your pastime: this same night
Is Cupid's day. Advance your light.
With your revel fill the room,

That our triumphs be not dumb.

Wherewith they fell into a subtle capricious dance, to as
odd a music, each of them bearing two torches, and
nodding with their antic faces, with other variety of
ridiculous gesture, which gave much occasion of mirth
and delight to the spectators.
The dance ended,
Cupid went forward.

Cup. Well done, anticks! now my bow,
And my quiver bear to show;

That these beauties, here, may know,
By what arms this feat was done,
That hath so much honour won

Unto Venus and her son.

At which, his mother apprehended him: and circling him in, with the Graces, began to demand.

Ven. What feat, what honour is it that you boast, My little straggler? I had given you lost,

With all your games, here.

Cup. Mother!

Ven. Yes, sir, she.

What might your glorious cause of triumph be?

Have you shot Minerva* or the Thespian dames ?

Heat aged Ops again,† with youthful flames?

*She urges these as miracles, becauses Pallas, and the Muses, are most contrary to Cupid. See Luc. Dial. Ven. et Cupid.

Rhea, the mother of the gods, whom Lucian, in that place, makes to have fallen franticly in love by Cupid's means, with Atys. So of the Moon, with Endymion, Hercules, etc.

Or have you made the colder Moon to visit
Once more, a sheepcote? Say, what conquest is it
Can make you hope such a renown to win?

Is there a second Hercules brought to spin?

Or, for some new disguise, leaves Jove his thunder?
Cup. Nor that, nor those, and yet no less a
wonder- *

Which to tell, I may not stay:
Hymen's presence bids away;
"Tis, already, at his night,
He can give you further light.
You, my Sports, may here abide,
Till I call to light the bride.

Enter HYMEN.

[He espies HYMEN.

[Slips from her.

Hy. Venus, is this a time to quit your car?
To stoop to earth, to leave alone your star,
Without your influence, and, on such a night, t
Which should be crown'd with your most cheering sight.
As you were ignorant of what were done

By Cupid's hand, your all-triumphing son?
Look on this state; and if you yet not know,

What crown there shines, whose sceptre here doth grow;
Think on thy loved Æneas, and what name,

Maro, the golden trumpet of his fame,

Gave him, read thou in this. A prince that draws
By example more, than others do by laws :‡

*Here Hymen, the god of marriage, entered; and was so induced here, as you have described in my Hymenæi.

When she is nuptiis præfecta, with Juno, Suadela, Diana, and Jupiter himself. Paus. in Messeniac. et Plut. in Problem.

Eneas, the son of Venus, Virgil makes throughout, the most exquisite pattern of piety, justice, prudence, and all other princely virtues, with whom (in way of that excellence) I confer my sovereign, applying in his description his own word usurped of that poet, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.

...21...

That is so just to his great act, and thought,
To do, not what kings may, but what kings ought.
Who, out of piety, unto peace is vow'd,

To spare his subjects, yet to quell the proud ;
And dares esteem it the first fortitude,

To have his passions, foes at home, subdued.
That was reserv'd, until the Parcæ spun

Their whitest wool; and then his thread begun,

Which thread, when treason would have burst,* a soul
To-day renown'd, and added to my roll,t

Opposed; and, by that act, to his name did bring
The honour to be saver of his king.

This king whose worth, if gods for virtue love,
Should Venus with the same affections move,
As her Eneas; and no less endear

Her love to his safety, than when she did cheer,
After a tempest, long-afflicted Troy,

Upon the Lybian shore; and brought them joy.

Ven. I love, and know his virtues, and do boast
Mine own renown, when I renown him most.
My Cupid's absence I forgive, and praise,
That me to such a present grace could raise.
His champion shall, hereafter, be my care:
But speak his bride, and what her virtues are.

Hy. She is a noble virgin, styled, The Maid
Of the Red-cliff, and hath her dowry weigh'd
No less in virtue, blood, and form, than gold;
Thence, where my pillar's rear'd, you may behold,
Fill'd with love's trophies, doth she take her name.

• In that monstrous conspiracy of E. Gowry.

Titulo tunc crescere posses,
Nunc per te titulus.

Virg. Æneid. lib. 1.