A Mask Presented
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The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
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However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
A MASKE PRESENTED At Ludlow Castle, 1634: On Michaelmasse night, before the RIGHT HONORABLE, JOHN Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount BRACKLY, Lord Praesident of WALES, And one of His MAIESTIES most honorable Privy Counsel.
Eheu quid volui misero mihi: floribus austrum
Perditus—
LONDON, Printed for HVMPHREY ROBINSON, at the figne of the Three Pigeons in Paul's Church-yard. 1637.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, JOHN Lord Viscount BRACLY, Son and heir apparent to the Earl, of Bridgewater, &c.
MY LORD,
T His Poem, which received its first occasion of birth from yourself, and others of your noble family, and much honor from your own Person in the performance, now returns again to make a final dedication of it self to you. Although not openly acknowledged by the Author, yet it is a legitimate offspring, so lovely, and so much desired, that the often copying of it hath tired my pen to give my several friends satisfaction, and brought me to a necessity of producing it to the public view; and now to offer it up in all rightful devotion to those fair hopes, and rare Endowments of your much-promising Youth, which give a full assurance, to all that know you, of a future excellence. Live sweet Lord to be the houour of your Name, and receive this as your own, from the hands of him, who hath by many favors been long obliged to your most honor'd Parents, and as in this repraesentation your attendant Thyrsis, so now in all real expression
Your faithful, and most • umble Servant,
H. LAWES.
A MASKE PERFORMED BEFORE the praesident of WALES at Ludlow, 1634.
The first Scene discovers a wild wood.
The attendant Spirit descends or enters.
BEfore the starry threshold of
Ioves
Court
My mansion is, where those immortal shapes
Of bright aëreall Spirits live insphear'd
In Regions mild of calm and serene air,
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot
Which men call Earth, and with low-thoughted care
Confin'd, and pestered in this pin-fold here,
Strive to keep up a frail, and feverish being
Vnmindfull of the crown that Virtue gives
After this mortal change to her true Servants
Amongst the enthron'd gods on Sainted seats.
Yet some there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that golden key
That ope's the palace of Aeternity:
To such my errand is, and but for such
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
With the rank vapors of this Sin-worn mould.
•
ut to my task.
Neptune
besides the sway
Of every salt Flood, and each ebbing Streame
Tooke in
•
y lot 'twixt high, and nether
love
Imperial rule of all the S
•
a-girt Isles
That like to rich, and various gems inlay
The unadorned bosom of the Deepe,
Which he to grace his tributary gods
By course commits to several government
And gives them leave to wear their Sapphire crowns,
And wield their little tridents, but this I will
The greatest, and the best of all the main
He quarters to his blu-hair'd deities,
And all this tract that fronts the falling Sun
A noble Peer of mickle trust, and power
Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide
An old, and haughty Nation proud in Arms:
Where his fair offspring nursit in Princely lore
Are coming to attend their Fathers state,
And new-entrusted Seepter, but their way
Lies through the perplexit paths of this dreare wood,
The nodding horror of whose shady brows
Threats the forlor
•
e and wandering Passinger.
And here their tender age might suffer peril
But that by qu
•
ck command from Sovereign
Jove
I was disp
•
cht for their defense and guard,
And listen why, for I will tell ye now
What never yet was heard in Tale or Song
From old, or moderne Bard in hall, or bowre.
Bacchus
that first from out the purple Grape
Crushit the sweet poison of mis-used Wine
After the
Tuscan
Mariners transformed
Coasting the
Tyrrhenc
shore, as the winds listed,
On
Circes
Island fell (who knows not
Circe
The daughter of the Sun? whose charmed Cup
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape
And downward fell into a groveling Swine)
This Nymph that gaz'd upon his clustring locks
With Ivy berries wreath'd, and his blith youth
Had by him, ere he parted thence, a Son
Much like his Father, but his Mother more,
Whom therefore she brought up and
Comu
•
named,
Who ripe, and frolic of his full grown age
Roaving the
Celtick,
and
Iberian
fields
At last betakes him to this ominous wood,
And in thick shelter of black shades imbowr'd
Excells his Mother at her mighty Art
Offring to every weary Travailer
His orient liquor in a Crystal glass
To quench the drouth of
Phoebus,
which as they taste
(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst)
Soone as the Potion works, their human count'hance
Th'express resemblance of the gods is changed
Into some brutish form of Wolf, or Bear
Or Ounce, or Tiger, Hog, or bearded Goat,
All other parts remaining as they were,
And they, so perfect in their misery,
Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,
But boast themselves more comely then before
And all their friends; and native home forget
To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
Therefore when any favor'd of high
Jove
Chances to pass through this adventrous glade,
Swift as the Sparkle of a glancing Star
I
•
oote from heaven to give him safe convoy,
As now I do: but first I must put off
These my sky robes spun out os
Iris
wooffe,
And take the weeds and likeness of a Swain,
That to the service of this house belongs,
Who with his soft Pipe, and smooth-dittied Song,
Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar,
And hush the waving woods, nor of less faith,
And in this office of his Mountain watch,
Likeliest, and nearest to the present aide
Of this occasion. But I hear the tread
Of hateful steps, I must be viewlesse now.
Comus
enters with a Charming rod in one hand, his Glass in the other, with him a rout of Monsters headed like sundry sorts of wild Beasts, but otherwise like Men and Women, their appareil glistering, they come iu making a riotous and unruly noise, with Torches in their hands.
Comus.
The star that bids the Shepherd fold,
Now the top of heaven doth hold,
And the gilded Carre of Day
His glowing Axle doth allay,
In the steep
Atlantik
stream,
And the slope Sun his upward beam
Shoots against the duskie Pole,
Pacing toward the other gole
Of his Chamber in the East.
Mean while welcome Joy, and Feast,
Midnight shout, and revelrie,
Tipsie dan
•
e, and Jollitie.
Braid your Locks with rosie Twine,
D
•
opping odors, dropping Wine.
Rigor now is gone to bed,
And A
•
vice with scrupulous head,
Strict Age, and sour Severi
•
ie
With their grave Sawes in slumber lie.
We that are of pu
•
er fire,
Immitate the starry quire,
Who in their nightly watchful Spheres,
Lead in swift round the Months and Yeares.
The Sounds, and Seas with all their finnie drove,
Now to the Moon in wavering Morrice move,
And on the tawny sands and shelves,
Trip the pert Fairies and the dapper Elves;
By dimpled Brooke, and Fountain brim.
The Wood-nymphs decked with daisiestrim,
Their merry wakes, and pastimes keep,
What hath night to do with sleep?
Night hath better sweets to prove,
Venus
now wakes, and wakens Love.
Come let us our rights begin
'It is only day-light that makes Sin
Which these dun shades will never report.
Hail Goddess of Nocturnall sport
Dark-vaild
cotytto,
towhom the secret flame
Of mid-night To
•
ches burns; mysterious Dame
That never at called, but when the Dragon woome
Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloome
And makes one blot of all the air,
Stay thy clowdie
Ebon
chair,
Wherein thou rid'st with
Hecat',
and befriend
Vs thy vowed Priests, till utmost end
Of all thy dues be done, and none left out
E
•
e the blabbing Eastern scout
The nice Morne on th'
Indian
steep
From her cabin'd loop hole peep,
And to the tell-tale Sun descry
Our concealed Solemnity.
Come, knit hands, and heat the ground
In a light fantastic round.
The Mcasure.
Break off, break off, I feel the different pace
Of some chaste footing near about this ground,
Run to your shrouds, within these Brakes, and Trees
Our number may affright: Some Virgin sure
(For so I can distinguish by mine Art)
Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms
And to my wily trains, I shall e're long
Be well stockit with as fair a Heard as graz'd
About my Mother
Circe.
Thus I hurl
My d
•
zling Spells into the spungie air
Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion,
And give it false presentments, lest the place
And my queint habits breed astonishment,
And put the Damsel to suspicious flight,
Which must not be, for that's against my course;
I
•
nder fair praetents of friendly ends,
And well placit words of glozing courtesy
Bait
•
d with reasons not unplausible
Wind me into the easy hearted man,
And hug him into snares; when once her eye
Hath met the virtue of this Magic dust,
I shall appear some harmless Villager
Whom thrift keeps up about his Country gea
•
But here she comes, I fairly step afide
And hearken, if I may, her buifnesse here.
The Lady enters.
This way the noise was, if mine ear be true
My best guide now, me thought it was the sound
Of Riot, and ill managed Merriment,
Such as the jocond Flute, or gamesome Pipe
Stirs up among the loose unleter'd Hinds
When for their teeming Flocks, and granges full
In wanton dance they praise the bounteous
Pan,
And thank the gods amiss. I should be loath
To meet the rudeness, and swill'd infolence
Of such late Wassailers; yet
〈◊〉
where else
Shall I in
•
e my unacquainted feet
In the
〈◊〉
of this tangled wood?
My Brot
•
when they saw me wearied out
With th
•
ng way, resolving here to lodge.
Under the spreading favor of these Pines
Stept as they se'd to the next Thicket side
To bring me Berries, or such cooling fruit
As the kind hospitable woods provide.
They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even
Like a sad Vota
•
st in Palmers weeds
Rose from the hindmost wheels of
Phaebus
wane.
But where they are, and why they came not back
Is now the labor of my thoughts, 'tis likeliest
They had engaged their wandering steps too far,
And envious darkness, e're they could return,
Had stolen them from me, else ô thievish Night
Why shouldst thou, but for some fellonious end
In thy dark lantern thus close up the Stars,
That nature hung in Heaven, and filled their lamps
With everlasting oil to give due light
To the misled, and lonely Travailer.
This is the place, as well as I may guess
Whence even now the tumult of loud Mirth
Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear,
Yet naught but single darkness do I find,
What might this be? a thousand fantasies
Begin to throng into my memory
Of calling shapes, and beckning shadows dire,
And airy tongues, that syllable men's names
On Sands, and Shoars, and desert Wildernesses.
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended
By a strong siding champion Conscience.—
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope
Thou flittering Angel girt with golden wing
•
;
And thou unblemishit form of Chastity
I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme good, towhom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance
Would send a glistering Guardian if need were
To keep my life, and honor unassail'd.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err, there does a sables cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night
And casts a gleame over this tufted Grove.
I cannot hallow to my Brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard fardest
I will venter, for my new enliv'nd spirits
Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off.
Song.
Sweet echo, sweetest Nymph that liv'st unseen
•
Within thy airy shell
By slow
Meander's
margent green,
And in the violet-imbroider'd vale
Where the love-
〈◊〉
Nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad Song mourneth well.
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle Paire
That likest thy
Narcissus
are?
O if thou have
Hid them in some flowrie Cave,
Tell me but where
Sweet Queen of Parlie, Daughter of the Sphare,
So mayest thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all Heavens Harmonies.
Com.
Can any mortal mixture of Earths mould
Breath such Divine enchanting ravishment?
Sure something holy lodges in that breast,
And with these raptures moves the vocal air
To testify his hidden residence;
How sweetly did they float upon the wings
Of Silence, through the empty-vaulted night
At every fall smoothing the Raven down
Of darkness till she smiled: I have oft heard
My mother
Circe
with the Sirens three
Amidst the slowrie-kirtl'd
Naiades
Culling their Potent herbs, and balefull drugs
Who as they sung, would take the prison'd soul
And lap it in
Elysinm, Scylla
wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell
Charybdis
murmur'd soft applause:
Yet they in plea
•
ing slumber lulled the sense
And in sweet madness robbed it of it self,
But such a sacred, and home-felt delight,
Such sober certainty of waking bliss
I never heard till now. I will speak to her
And she shall be my Queen. Hail foreign wonder
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed
Unless the Goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with
Pan,
or
Silvan,
by blest Song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly Fog
To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.
La.
Nay gentle Shepherd ill is lost that praise
That is addrest to unattending Ears,
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my severed company
Compel'd me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her mossie Couch.
Co.
What chance good Lady hath bereft you thus?
La.
Dim darkness, and this levy Labyrinth.
Co.
Could that divide you from near-ushering guides?
La.
They left me weary on a grassie terfe.
Co.
By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?
La.
To seek in the val'y some cool friendly Spring.
Co.
And left your fair side all unguarded Lady?
La.
They were but twain, & purposed quick return.
Co.
Perhaps fore-stalling night praevented them.
La.
How easy my misfortune is to hit!
Co.
Impor
•
s their loss, beside the present need?
La.
No less then if I should my brothers lose.
Co.
Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?
La.
As smooth as
Hebe's
their unrazord lips.
Co.
Two such I saw, what time the labor'd Ox
In his loose traces from the furrow came,
And the swinkit hedger at his Supper sat;
I saw them under a green mantling vine
That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots,
Their port was more then human; as they stood,
I took it for a faërie vision
Of some gay creatures of the element
That in the colors of the Rainbow live
And play in the plighted clouds, I was awe-struck,
And as I past, I worshipped; if those you seek
It were a journey like the path to heaven
To help you find them.
La.
Gentle villager
What readiest way would bring me to that place?
Co.
Due west it rises from this shrubbie point.
La.
To find out that good shepherd I suppose
In such a scant allowance of star light
Would overtask the best land-pilots art
Without the sure guess of well-practiz'd feet.
Co.
I know each lane, and every alley green
Dingle, or bushie dell of this wild wood,
And every boskie bourne from side to side
My day lie walks and ancient neighbourhood,
And if your stray attendance be yet lodged
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted larke
From her thachit palate rouse, if otherwise
I can conduct you Lady to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.
La.
Shepherd I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offered courtesy,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoky rafters, then in tapstrie halls,
And courts of Princes, where it first was named,
And yet is most p
•
ae
•
ended: in a place
Less warranted then this, or less secure
I cannot be, that I should fear to change it,
Eye me blest Providence, and square my trial
To my proportioned strength. Shepherd lead on.—
The two Brothers.
Eld bro.
Vnmuffle ye faint stars, and thou fair moon
That wontst to love the travelers benizon
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud
And disinherit
Chaos,
that reigns here
In double night of darkness, and of shades;
Or if your influence be quite d
•
mm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper
Though a
•
ush candle from the wicker hole
Of some clay habitation visit us
With thy long level'd rule of streaming light
And thou shalt be our star of
Arcadie
Or
Tyrian
Cynosure.
2
Bro.
Or if our eyes:
Be bar d that happiness, might we but hear
The folded flocks penned in their watled cotes,
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops,
Or whistle from the Lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his featherie Dames,
T'would be some solace yet, some little cheering
In this close dungeon of innumerous bows.
But ô that haplesse virgin our lost sister
Where may she wander now, whether betake her
From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles?
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad Elm
Leans her unpillow'd head fraught with sad fears.
What if in wild amazement, and affright
Or while we speak within he direful grasp
Of Savage hunger, or of Savage heat?
Eld: bro.
Peace brother, be not over exquisite
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils,
For grant they be so, while they rest unknown
What need a man forestall his date of grief
And run to meet what he would most avoid?
Or if they be but false alarms of Fear
How bitter is such self-delusion?
I do not think my sister so to seek
Or so unprincipl'd in virtues book
And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever
As that the single want of light, and noise
(Not being in danger, as I trust she is
•
ot)
Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts
And p
•
t them into mis
•
becoming plight.
Virtue could see to do what virtue would
By her own'radiant light, though Sun and Moon
Were in the slat Sea sunk, and Wifdoms self
Oft seeks to sweet retired Solitude
Where with her best nurse Contemplation
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all to ruffl'd, and sometimes impaired.
He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit in the center, and enjoy bright day,
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun,
Himself is his own dungeon.
2.
Bro.
'It is most true
That musing meditation most affects
The Pensive secrecy of desert cell
Far from the cheer
•
full haunt of men, and herds,
And sits as safe as in a Senate house
For who would rob an Hermit of his weeds
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish,
Or do his gray hairs any violence?
But beauty like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon watch with uninchanted eye
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unsun'd heaps
Of misers treasure by an outlaws den
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on opportunity
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Vninjur'd in this wild surrounding wast.
Of night, or lonelynesse it recks me not
I fear the dred events that dog them both,
I est some ill greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned sister.
Eld. Bro.
I do not brother
Inferre, as if I thought my sisters state
Secure without all doubt, or controversy:
Yet where an equal poise of hope, and fear
Does arbitrate th'event, my nature is
That I incline to hope, rather then fear
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
My sister is not so defencelesse left
As you imagine, she has a hidden strength
Which you remember not.
2.
Bro.
What hidden strength
Unless the strength of heaven, if mean that?
Eld. Bro.
I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength
Which if heaven gave it, may be termed her own:
'It is chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that, is clad in complete steel,
And like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen
May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths
Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds
Where through the sacred rays of chastity
No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaneet
•
Will dare to soil her virgin purity
Yea there, where very desolation dwells
By grots, and caverns shag'd with horrid shades
She may pass on with unblenchit majesty
Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
Some say no evil thing that walks by night
In fog, or fire, by lake, or moorish fen
Blew meager hag, or stubborn unlayd ghost
That breaks his magic chains at curfeu time
No goblin, or swart Faërie of the mine
•
as hurtful power ore true virginity.
Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
To testify the arms of Chastity?
Hence had the huntresse
Dian
her dred bow
Faire silver-shaf
•
ed Queen forever chaste
Wherewith we tamed the brinded lionesse
And spotted mountain pard, but set at naught
The frivolous bolt of
Cupid,
gods and men
Fear'd her stern frown, & sh
•
was queen oth' woods.
What was
•
hat snakie headed
Gorgon
shield
That wise
Minerva
wore, unconquer'd virgin
Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone?
But rigid looks of Chast austerity
And noble grace that dashit brute violence
With sudden adoration, and blank awe.
So dear to heaven is saintly chastity
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lackie her
Driving far off each thing of sin, and guilt,
And in clear dream, and solemn vision
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,
Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape
The unpolluted temple of the mind
And turns it by degrees to the souls essence
Till all be made immortal; but when lust
By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk
But most by lewd, and lavish act of sin
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodie
•
, and imbrutes, till she quite loose
The divine property of her first being.
Such are those thick, and gloomie shadows damp
Oft seen in Charnell vaults, and Sepulchers
Hovering, and sitting by a new made grave
As loath to leave the body that it loved,
And linkit it self by carnal sensuality
To a degenerate and degraded state.
2
Bro.
How charming is divine Philosophy!
Not harsh, and crabbed as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is
Apollo's
lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets
Where no crude surfeit reigns.
El: bro.
List, list I hear
Some far off hallow break the silent air.
2
Bro.
Me thought so too, what should it be?
Eld: bro.
For certain
Either someone like us night founder'd here,
Or else some neighbor wood man, or at worst
Some roaving robber calling to his fellows.
2
Bro.
Heaven keep my sister, agen agen and near,
Best draw, and stand upon our guard.
Eld: bro.
I will hallow,
If he be friendly he comes well, if not
Defense is a good cause, and Heaven be for us.
The attendant Spirit habited like a shepherd.
That hallow I should know, what are you, speak,
Come not too near, you fall on iron stakes else.
Spir.
What voice is that, my young Lord? speak agen.
2
Bro.
O brother 'tis my father Shepherd sure.
Eld: bro.
Thyrsis
whose artfull strains have oft delayd
The huddling brook to hear his madrigale,
And sweetened every muskrose of the dale,
How camest thou he
•
good Swain, hath any ram
Slipit from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,
Or straggling weather the penit flock sorsook,
How couldst thou find this dark sequester'd nook?
Spir.
O my loved masters heir, and his next joy
I came not h
•
re on such a trivial toy
As a strayd Ewe, or to pursue the stealth
Of pilfering wolf, not all the fleccie wealth
That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought
To this my errand, and the care it brought.
But
〈◊〉
my virgin Lady where is she,
How chance she is not in your company?
Eld: bro.
To tell thee sadly shepherd, without blame
Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.
Spir.
Aye me unhappy then my fears are true.
Eld: bro.
What fears good
Thyrsis?
prithee briefly show.
Spir.
I will tell you, 'tis not vain, or fabulous
(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance)
What the sage Po
•
s taught by th'heavenly Muse
S
•
oried of old in high immortal verfe
Of dire
Chimera's
and enchanted Isles
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to hell,
〈◊〉
such there be, but unbelief is blind.
Within the navel of this hideous wood
Immur'd in cypresse shades a Sorcerer dwells
Of
•
acchus,
and of
Ciree
borne, great
Comus,
Deepe skilled in all his mothers witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer
By sly enticement gives his baneful cup
With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison
The visage quite transforms of him that drinks,
And the inglorious likeness of a beast
Fixes in
•
ead, unmoulding reasons mintage
Character'd in the face; this have I learned
Tending my flock
•
h
•
rd by in the hilly crofts
That brow this bottom glade, whence night by night
He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl
Like stabl'd wolves, or tigers at their prey
Doing abhorred rites to
Hecate
In their obscured haunts of inmost bowres.
Yet have they many baits, and guileful spells
T'inveigle, and invite th'unwarie sense
Of them that pass unweeting by the way.
This evening late by then the chewing flocks
Had ta'ne their supper on the savory herb
Of Knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold
I sat me down to watch upon a bank
With ivie canopied, and interwove
With flaunting honey-suckle, and began
Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy
To meditate my rural minstrelsie
Till fancy had her fill, but ere a close
The wonted roar was up amidst the woods,
And filld the air with barbarous dissonance
At which I ceasit, and listen'd them a while
Till an unusual stop of sudden silence
Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds
That draw the litter of close-curtain'd sleep.
At last a soft, and solemn breathing sound
Rose like a steam of rich distilled Perfumes
And stole upon the air, that even Silence
Was took e're she was ware, and wishit she might
Deny her nature, and be never more
Still to be so displacit. I was all ear,
And took in strains that might create a soul
Under the ribs of Death, but ô ere long
Too well I did perceive it was the voice
Of my most honor'd Lady your dear sister.
Amaz'd I stood, harrow'd with grief and fear,
And ô poor haplesse nightingale thought I
How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare!
Then down the lawns I ran with headlong hast
Through paths, and turnings often trod by day
Till guided by mine ear I found the place
Where that dam'd wisard hid in sly-disguise
(For so by certain signs I knew) had met
Alreadie, ere my best speed could p
•
aevent
The aidlesse innocent Lady his wishit prey,
W
•
o gently asked if he had s
•
ene such two
Supposing him some neighbor villager;
Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessit
Ye were the two she meanit, with that I sprung
Into
〈◊〉
flight till I had found you here,
But farther know I not.
2
Bro.
O night and shades
How are ye join'd with hell in triple knot
Ag
•
inst th'unarmed weakness of one virgin
Alone, and helpless! is this the confidence
You gave me brother?
Eld: bro.
Yes, and keep it still,
Leare on it safely, not a period
Shall be unsaid for me; against the threats
Of malice or of
〈◊〉
, or that power
Which erring men call Chance, this I hold firm,
Virtue may be assail'd, but never hurt,
Surpriz'd by unjust force, but not enthrall'd,
Yea even that which mischief meantmost harm,
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.
But
〈◊〉
on it self shall back recoil
An
〈◊〉
no more with goodness, when at last
Gather'd like se
•
m, and setl'd to it self
It shall be in eternal restless changē
Self fed, and self consumed, if this fail
The pillar'd firmament is rottenness
•
,
And earths base built on stubble. But come let's on
•
Against th' opposing will and arm of heaven
May never this just sword be lifted up,
But for that damned magician, let him be girt
With all the greisly legions that troop
Under the sooty flag of
Acheron,
Harpyies
and
Hydra's,
or all the monstrous bugs
'Twixt
Africa,
and
Inde,
I will find him out
And force him to restore his purchase back
Or drag him by the curles, and cleave his scalp
Down to the hipps.
Spir.
Alas good venturous youth,
I love thy courage yet, and bold Emprise,
But here thy sword can do thee little stead,
Far other arms, and other weapons must
Be those that quell the might of hellish charms,
He with his bare wand ca
•
u
•
thread thy joints
And crumble all thy sinews.
Eld. Bro.
Why prithee shepherd
How durst thouthen thyself approach so near
As to make this relatio
•
?
Spir.
Care and utmost shifts
How to s
•
cure the Lady from surprisal
Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad
Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled
In every
•
tuous plant, and healing herb
That spreds her verdant lease t
•
th morning ray,
He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing,
Which when I did, he on the tender grass
Would sit, and hearken even to ecstacy,
And in requital ope his leather'n scrip,
And show me simples of a thousand names
Telling their strange, and vigorous faculties,
Amongst the rest a small unsightly
〈◊〉
,
But of divine effect, he
〈◊〉
me out;
The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it,
But in another Coun
•
, as be said,
Bore a bright golden flow
•
e, but not in this soil:
Vnknowne, and like esteemed, and the dull swayne
Treads on it daily with his cloured s
•
oone,
And yet more med' cinall is it then that
Moby
That
Hermes
once to wise
Vl
•
sses
gave,
He called it
Haemony,
and gave it me
And bad me keep it as of soveraine use
'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp
Or gastly furies apparition;
I pursit it up, but little reck'ning made
Till now that this extremity compel'd,
But now I find it true, for by this means
I knew the foul enchanter though disguised,
Enter'd the very limetwigs of his spells,
And yet came off, if you have this about you
(As I will give you when we go) you may
Boldly assault the necromancers hall,
Where if he be, with da
•
tlesse hardihood
And brandishit blade rush on him, break his glass,
And shed the lushious liquor on the ground
But cease his wa
•
d, though he and his cursed crew
Feirce sign of b
•
aile make, and m
•
ace high,
Or like the sons of
V
•
lcan
vomit smoke,
Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink
Eld. Bro.
Thyrsis
lead on apace I will
•
ollow thee,
And some good angel bear a shield before us.
The Scene Cha
•
ges to a stately palace so
•
out with all manner of detict
•
sno
•
e, soft
•
sick, tables spread with all dainties.
Co
•
s
app
•
s with his vabble, and the Lady set in an inch
•
chair to whom he offers his glass, which she puts by, and goes about to rise.
Comus.
Nay Lady sit; if I but wave this wand,
Your nervs are all chained up in alablaster,
And you a statre; or as
Dap
•
was
Root bound that fl
•
Apoll
•
.
La.
Foo'e do not boast,
Thou
〈◊〉
not touch the freedom of my mind
Withall thy charms, although this corporal rind
Thou hast
〈◊〉
, while
•
eav'n sees good.
Co.
Why are you ve
•
t Lady, why do you frow
•
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger, from these gates
Sorrow
•
ies far: see here be all the pleasures
That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts
When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns
Brisk as the
April
buds in primrose season.
And first behold thi
•
cordial
•
ulep here
That flames, and dances in his crystall bounds
With spirits of bal
•
e, and fragrant syrops mixed.
Not that
Nepenthes
which the wife of
Tho
•
In
Egypt
gave to
love
borne
He
•
Is of such power to
〈◊〉
up joy as this,
To li
•
e so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
Why should you be so cruel to yourself,
And to those dain
•
li
•
ms which nature lent
For gentle usage, and soft delicacy?
But you invert the cov'nants of her trust,
And har
•
hly deal like an ill borrower
With that which you received on other terms,
Scorning the u
•
exempt condition,
By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toile, ease after pain,
That have been tired all day without repast,
And timely rest have wanted, but fair virgin
This will restore all soon.
La.
T'will not false traitor,
T'will not restore the truth and honesty
That thou hast banishit from thy tongue with lies,
Was this the cottage, and the safe abode
Thou told'st me of? what grim aspects are these,
These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!
Hence with thy brewd enchantments foul deceiver,
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
With visor'd falsehood, and base forgery,
And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here
With lickerish baits fit to ensnare a brute?
Were it a draft for
Juno
when she banquets
I would not taste thy treasonous offer; none
But such as are good men can give good things,
And that which is not good, is nor delicious
To a well-governed and wise appetite.
Co.
O foolishness of men! that lend their ears
To those budge doctors of the
Stoic
furre,
And fetch their precepts from the
Cynic
tub,
Praising the lean, and sallow Abstinence.
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth
With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,
Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks
Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable
But all to please, and sat the curious taste?
And set to work millions of spinning worms,
That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk
To deck her Sons, and that no corner might
Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins
She hutchit th'all worshipped ore, and precious gems
To store her children with; if all the world
Should in a pet of temperance feed on Pulse,
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but Freize,
Th'all-giver would be unthankit, would be unprais'd,
Not half his riches known, and yet despised,
And we should serve him as a grudging master,
As a penurious niggard of his wealth,
And live like Natures bastards, not her sons,
Who would be quite surcharg'd with her own weight, plumes,
And strangl'd with her wast fertility;
Th'earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air darkit with
The herds would over-inultitude their Lord's,
The sea ore-fraught would swell, and th'unsought diamonds
Would so emblaze he forehead of the Deep,
And so bestudde with stars that they below
Would grow inur'd to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the Sun with shameless brows.
List Lady be not coy, and be not cosen'd
With that same vaunted name Virginitie,
Beauty is natures coin, must not be hoarded,
But must be currant, and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Vnsavourie in th'enjoyment of it self
If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk with languishit head.
Beauty is natures brag, and must be shown
In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities
Where most may wonder at the workmanship;
It is for homely features to keep home,
They had their name thence; course complexions
And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply
The sampler, and to teize the huswifes wool.
What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the Morne
There was another meaning in these gifts?
Think what, and be adviz'd, you are but young yet.
La.
I had not thought to have unlocked my lips
In this unhallow'd air, but that this Juggler
Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes
Obtruding false rules pranckt in reasons garb.
I hate when vice can bolt her arguments
And virtue has no tongue to check her pride:
Impostor do not charge most innocent nature
As if she would her children should be riotous
With her abundance, she good cateresse
Means her provision only to the good
That live according to her sober laws
And holy dictate of spare Temperance,
If every just man that now pines with want
Had but a moderate, and beseeming share
Of that which lewdy-pampered Luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Natures full blessings would be well dispencit
In unsuperfluous even proportion,
An
•
she no whit encumber'd with her store,
And then the giver would be better thankit,'
His pr
•
se due paid, for swinish gluttony
Ne're looks to heaven amidst his gorgeous feast,
But with besorted base ingratitude
Cramms, and blasphemes his feeder. Shall I go on?
Or have I said enough? to him that dares
Arm his profane tongue with re
•
words
Against the Sun-clad power of Chastity
Faine would I something say, yet to what end?
Thou hast nor Eare, nor Scule to apprehend
The sublime notion, and high mystery
That must be uttered to unfold the sage
And serious doctrine of Virginitie,
And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know
More hapinesse then this thy present lot.
Enjoy your deer Wit, and gay Rhetoric
That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence,
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced;
Yet should I try, the uncontrolled worth
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapit spirits
To such a flame of sacred vehemence,
That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,
And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,
Till all thy magic structures reared so high
Were shattered into heaps ore thy false head.
Co.
She fables not, I feel that I do fear
Her words set off by some superior power;
And t
•
ough not mortal, yet a cold shuddring dew
Dips me allo
•
e, as when the wrath of
Jove
Speaks thunder, and the chains of
Erebus
To some of
Scturns
crew. I must dissemble,
And try her yet more strongly. Come; no more,
This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the canon laws of our foundation,
I must not suffer this, yet 'tis but the lees
And setlings of a melancholy blood;
But this will cure all straight, one sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.—
The brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest his glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground; his rout make sign of resistance, but are all driven in; the attendant Spirit comes in.
Spir.
What, have you let the false enchanter scape?
O ye mistook, ye should have snatched his wand
And bound him fast; without his rod reversit,
And backward mutters of dissevering power
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixed, and motionlesse;
Yet stay, be not disturbed, now I bethink me,
Some other means I have which may be used,
Which once of
Melibaeus
old I learnt
The soothest shepherd that ere pipeit on plains.
There is a gentle nymph not far from hence
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream,
Sabrina
is her name, a virgin pure,
Whilome she was the daughter of
Locrine,
That had the scepter from his father
Brute.
She guiltless damsel flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdam
Guendolen
Commended her fair innocence to the flood
That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course,
The water Nymphs that in the bottom played
Held up their pearled wrists and took her in,
Bearing her strait to aged
Nereus
hall
Who piteous of her woes reatd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers strewd with asphodil,
And through the porch, and inlet of each sense
Dropt in ambrosial oils till she revived,
And underwent a quick, immortal change
Made goddess of the river; still she retains
Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,
Helping all urchin blasts, and ill luck signs
That the shrewd meddling else delights
〈◊〉
make,
Which she with precious viold liquors heals.
For which the shepherds at their festivals
Carroll her goodness loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of pancies, pinks, and gaudie daffadills.
And, as the old Swain said, she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numming spell,
If she be right invokit in warbled Song,
For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
To aid a virgin such as was her self
In hard besetting need, this will I try
And add the power of some adjuring verse.
Song.
Sabrina fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honors sake
Goddess of the silver lake
Listen and save.
Listen and appear to us
In name of great
Ocea
•
us,
By th earth sha
•
ng
Neptun's
mace
And
Tethys
grave majesticke pace,
By hoary
N
•
reus
wrincled look,
And the
Carpath
•
wizards hook,
By
〈◊〉
win
•
ing shell.
And old sooth saying
Clau
•
spell,
By
Leucothea's
lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands,
By
Thetis
•
nsel-slipper feet;
And the songs of
Sirens
sweet,
By dead
Parthenope's
dear tomb,
And fair
Ligea's
golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks
Sleeking her soft alluring locks,
By all the
Nymphs
that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with w
•
lie glance,
Rise, rise and heave thy rosie head
From thy coral-paven bed,
And bridle in thy headlong wave
Till thou our summons answered have.
Listen and save.
Sabrina rises attended by water Nimphes and sings.
By the rushie fringed bank,
Where grows the willow and the osier dancke
My sliding chariot stays,
Thicke set with agat, and the azurne sheen
•
Of turkkis blew, and
•
rould green
That in the channel strayes,
Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printlesse feet
Ore the cowslips velvet head,
That bends not as I tread,
Gentle swaine at thy request
I am here.
Spir.
Goddess dear
We implore thy powerful hand
To undo the charm
•
d band
Of true virgin here distrest,
Through the force, and through the wile
Of unblest enchanter vile.
Sab.
Shepherd tis my office best
To help ensnared chastity;
Brightest Lady look on me,
Thus I sprinckle on thy breast
Drops that from my fountain pure
I have kept of precious cure,
Thrice upon thy fingers tip,
Thrice upon thy rubied lip,
Next this marble venom'd seat
Smear'd with gums of glutenous heat
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold,
Now the spell hath lost his hold.
And I must hast ere morning hour
To wait in
Amphitrite's
bowre.
Sabrina descends and the Lady rises out of her seat.
Spir.
Virgin, daughter of
Locrine
Sprung of old
Anchises
line
May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss
From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the snowie hills:
Summer drouth, or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet Octobers torrent flood
Thy molten crystall fill with mud,
May thy billows roll a shore
The beryll, and the golden ore,
May thy lofty head be crowned
With many a tower, and terrasse round,
And here and there thy banks upon
With groves of myrrh, and cinnamon.
Come Lady while heaven lends us grace,
Let us fly this cursed place,
Lest the sorcerer us entice
With some other new device.
Not a wast, or needless sound
Till we come to holier ground,
I shall be your faithful guide
Through this gloomie covert wide,
And not many furlongs thence
Is your Fathers residence,
Where this night are met in state
Many a friend to gratulate
His wishit presence, and beside
All the Swains that there abide,
With Iiggs, and rural dance resort,
We shall catch them at their sport,
And our sudden coming there
Will double all their mirth, and chere,
Come let us hast the stars are high
But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.
The Scene changes presenting Ludlow town and the Presidents Castle, then come in Country dancers, after them the attendant Spirit with the two Brothers and the Lady.
Song.
Spir.
Back shepherds, back enough your play,
Till next Sun-shine holiday,
Here be without duck or nod,
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such Court guise
As
Mercury
did first devise
With the mineing
Dryades
On the lawns, and on the leas.
This second Song praesents them to their father and mother.
Noble Lord, and Lady bright,
I have brought ye new delight,
Here behold so goodly grown.
Three fair branches of your own,
Heaven hath timely tried their youth,
Their faith, their patience, and their truth,
And sent th
•
m here through hard assays
With a crown of deathless Praise,
To
•
riumph in victorious dance
Ore sensual Folly, and Intemperance.
The dances ended, the Spirit Epilogizes.
Spir.
To the Ocean now I fly,
And those happy climes that lie
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad fields of the sky:
There I suck the liquid air
All amidst the gardens fair
Of
Hesperus,
and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree,
Along the crisped shades, and bowres
Revells the spruce and jocond Spring,
The Graces, and the rosie-bosom'd Howres
Thither all their bounties bring,
That there eternal Summer dwells
And west winds, with muskie wing
About the cedar'n alleys fling
Nard,
and
Cassia's
balmie smells.
Iris
there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks that blow
Flowers of more mingled hew
Then her purfl'd scarfe can show,
And drenches with
Elysinn
dew
(List mortals, if your ears be true)
Beds of
Hyacinth,
and roses)
Where young
Adonis
oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits th
•
Assyrian
Queen;
But far above in spangled sheene
Celestial
Cupid
her famed Son advancit,
Holds his dear
Psyche
sweet intrancit
After her wandering labors long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his aeternal
•
Bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be borne,
Youth, and Joy; so
Jove
hath sworn.
But now my task is smoothly done,
I can fly, or I can run
Quickly to the green earths end,
Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the Moon.
Mortalls that would follow me,
Love virtue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime
Higher then the Sphaerie chime;
Or if virtue feeble were
Heaven it self would stoop to her.
-
The principal persons in this Maske; were
- The Lord BRACLY,
- M r . THOMAS EG • RTON,
- The Lady ALICE EGERTON.
The End.