Thou told'st me of? Hence with thy brew'denchant

ments.

"Hast thou betray'd my credulous innocence
"With vizor'd falshood, and base forgery?
"And would'st thou seek again to trap me here
"With liq'rish baits, fit to ensnare a brute ”?
Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,
I wou'd not taste thy treas' nous offer-None,
But such as are good men, can give good things;
And that which is not good is not delicious
To a well-govern'd and wise appetite.

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Com. "O, foolishness of men! that lend their ears "To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur, "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. "Cov'ring the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, "Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, "But all to please and sate the curious taste; "And set to work millions of spinning worms,

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"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 hutch'd th' all-worshipp'd ore, and precious

geins

"To store her children with; if all the world "Should in a pet of temp'rance feed on pulse,

"Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,

"Th' All-giver would be uuthank'd, would be unprais'd,

"Not half his riches known, and yet despis'd, "And we should serve him as a grudging master, "As a penurious niggard of his wealth,

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"And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons; "Who would be quite surcharg'd with her ows weight,

"And strangled with her waste fertility.

Lady. "I had not thought to have unlock'd my lips "In this unhallow'd air, but that this juggler "Wou'd think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, "Obtruding false rules, prank'd in reason's garb. "I hate when vice can bolt her arguments,

"And virtue has no tongue to check her pride, 230
"Imposter, do not charge most innocent Nature,
"As if she would her children should be riotous
"With her abundance. She, good cateress,
"Means her provision only to the good,
"That live according to her sober laws,
"And holy dictate of spare Temperance.

แ If ev'ry just man, that now pines with want,
"Had but a moderate and beseeming share
"Of that which lewdly-pamper'd Luxury
"Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
"Nature's full blessings would be well dispens'd
"In unsuperfluous even proportion,

"And she no whit encumber'd with her store;
"And then the Giver wou'd be better thank'd,
"His praise due paid. For swinish Gluttony

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"Ne'er looks to heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast, "But with besotted, base ingratitude

Crams, and blasphemes his feeder." Shall I go on? Or have I said enough?

Com. Enough to shew

That you are cheated by the lying boasts

Of starving pedants, that affect a fame'

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From scorning pleasures, which they cannot reach.

EUPHROSYNE Sings.*

Preach not to me your musty rules,

Ye drones that mould in idle cell;
The heart is wiser than the schools,
The senses always reason well.

If short my span, I less can spare
To pass a single pleasure by ;
An hour is long, if lost in care;

They only live, who life enjoy.

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Com. "These are the maxims of the truly wise, "Of such as practise what they preach to others. "Here are no hypocrites, no grave dissemblers; "Nor pining grief, nor eating cares approach us, "Nor sighs, nor murmurs-but of gentle Love, "Whose woes delight; What must his pleasures then?

"EUPHROSYNE sings.

"Ye Fauns, and ye Dryads, from bill, dale, and grove, Trip, trip it along, conducted by Love ;

Sung by Comus, as now performed at Covent-garden Theatre.

"Swiftly resort to Comus' gay court,

“And in various measures shew Love's various sport.

"Enter the Fauns and Dryads, and attend to the fol"lowing directions. The tune is play'd a second time, to which they dance.

"Now lighter and gayer, ye tinkling strings, sound : "Light, light in the air, ye nimble nymphs, bound. "Now, now with quick feet the ground beat, beat; "Now with quick feet the ground beat, beat, beat, "Now cold and denying,

"Now kind and complying,

Again with quick feet the ground beat, beat, beat. [" Exeunt Dancers."

Com. List, Lady, be not coy, and be not cozen'd With that same vaunted name Virginity. "Beauty is nature's coin, must not be hoarded, "But must be current, and the good thereof "Consists in mutual and partaken bliss, "Unsavory in th' enjoyment of itself: "If you let slip time, like a neglected rose, "It withers on the stalk with languish'd head. Beauty is nature's 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,

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"They had their name thence: Coarse complexions,

"And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply "The sampler, and to teaze the housewife's wool" What need a vermeil tinctur'd lip for that, Love-darting eyss, or tresses like the morn? There was another meaning in these gifts;

Think what, and be advis'd: you are but young yet ; This will inform you soon.

Lady. "To him that dares

3or

"Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words "Against the sun-clad power of chastity,

"Fain would I something say, yet to what purpose? "Thou hast nor ear, nor soul to apprehend;

"And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know "More happiness than this thy present lot. "Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,

"That has so well been taught her dazzling fence: "Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinc'd, "Yet should I try, the uncontroled worth

"Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits "To such a flame of sacred vehemence,

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"That dumb things would be mov'd to sympathize, "And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and

shake,

"Till all thy magic structures, rear'd so high, "Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy false head. Com. "She fables not, I feel that I do fear "Her words set off by some superior pow'r ; 320 "And tho' not mortal, yet a cold shudd'ring dew "Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove Speaks thunder, and the chains of Erebus,