Here behold so goodly grown To triumph in victorious dance O'er sensual Folly and Intemperance. The Dances being ended, the SPIRIT epiloguizes. Spi. 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,1 and his daughters three About the cedars' alleys fling Nard and Cassia's balmy smells. Waters the odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue And drenches with Elysian dew Beds of hyacinth and roses, 'Hesperus:' see Ovid, Met. ix.-2 Purfled:' fringed. Where young Adonis oft reposes, Celestial Cupid, her fam'd son, advanc'd Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend; Mortals, that would follow me, Heaven itself would stoop to her. เ 16 'Assyrian queen:' Venus.-2 'Cupid' and 'Psyche:' see Emerson's Essay on Love.'-'Sphery chime:' music of spheres. L ARCADES.1 PART OF A Mask, PRESENTED AT HAREFIELD, BEFORE THE COUNTESS-DOWAGER OF DERBY. 1. SONG. LOOK, Nymphs and Shepherds, look, What sudden blaze of majesty Is that which we from hence descry, This, this is she 2 To whom our vows and wishes bend; Fame, that, her high worth to raise, Envy bid conceal the rest. 1 'Arcades: the fragment of a larger performance, the rest of which was probably in prose. It was performed at Harefield before the Countess of Derby, its heroine, not later than 1636. She was married at the time to Lord Chancellor Egerton, and died in 1635-6. She was related to Edmund Spenser, who celebrated her, when a widow, in his 'Colin Clout's come home again,' as Amaryllis.-This is she:' namely, the Countess of Derby. Mark, what radiant state she spreads, Sitting, like a goddess bright, Might she the wise Latona1 be, Juno dares not give her odds: Who had thought this clime had held A deity so unparallel'd? As they come forward, the GENIUS of the Wood appears, and turning towards them, speaks. Gen. Stay, gentle Swains; for, though in this disguise, I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes; Of famous Arcady ye are, and sprung Of that renowned flood, so often sung, Divine Alphéus, who by secret sluice Stole under seas, to meet his Arethuse; And ye, the breathing roses of the wood, Fair silver-buskin'd Nymphs, as great and good; I know, this quest of yours, and free intent, Was all in honour and devotion meant To the great mistress of yon princely shrine, Whom with low reverence I adore as mine; And, with all helpful service, will comply To further this night's glad solemnity; ''Latona:' Diana.. 2 Cybele: mother of the gods. And lead ye, where ye may more near behold That sit upon nine infolded spheres, On which the fate of gods and men is wound. 1 Syrens: this is an apt allusion to Plato's notion of Fate or Necessity holding a spindle of adamant, while, with her three daughters, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos, she conducts a ravishing musical harmony. Nine Syrens or Muses sit on the summit of the spheres, and produce a music, in harmony with which the spindle revolves, and the three daughters of Fate for ever sing ---a notion involving many and mysterious lessons. |