The lark, the linnet, and the thrush,
That make a quoir of every bush !
But for still music, we will keep
The wren and titmouse, which to sleep
Shall sing the bride, when she's alone,
The rest into their chambers gone;
And like those upon ropes that walk
On gossamer, from stalk to stalk,
The tripping fairy tricks shall play
The evening of the wedding day.

Claia. But for the bride-bed what were fit,

That hath not been talk'd of yet.

Cloris. Of leaves of roses white and red

Shall be the covering of her bed;

The curtains, valance, tester, all
Shall be the flower imperial;

And for the fringe, it all along

With asure harebells shall be hung;
Of lillies shall the pillows be,

With down stuft of the butterflee.

Mert. Thus far we handsomely have gone,

Now for our prothalamion,

Or marriage song of all the rest,

A thing that much must grace our feast.

Let us practice then to sing it,

Ere we before th'assembly bring it :

We in dialogues must do it,

Then, my dainty girls, set to it!

[The Songs.]

Claia. This day must Tita married be, Come, nymphs, this nuptial let us see!

Mert. But is it certain that ye say,

Will she wed the noble fay?

Cloris. Sprinkle the dainty flowers with dews,
Such as the Gods at banquets use:

Let hearbs and weeds turn all to roses,
And make proud the posts with posies.
Shoot your sweets into the air,
Charge the morning to be fair!

Claia. For our Tita is this day
Mert. To be married to a fay.

Claia. By whom then shall our bride be led

To the temple to be wed?

Mert. Only by yourself and I;

Who that room should else supply?

Cloris. Come, bright girls, come all together,'

And bring all your offerings hither;

Ye most brave and buxom bevy,
All your goodly graces levy;
Come in majesty and state,
Our bridal here to celebrate.

Mert.

Claia.

}

For our Tita is this day

Married to a noble fay.

Claia. Whose lot will't be the way to strew

On which to church our bride must go?

Mert. That I think as fitt'st of all,

To lively Lelipa will fall.

Cloris. Summon all the sweets that are,

To this nuptial to repair,

Till with their throngs themselves they smother,

Strongly stifling one another,

And at last they all consume,

And vanish in one rich perfume.

1 Altogether in the original, a common method of printing the phrase

in old works.

Mert. By whom must Tita married be? 'Tis fit we all to that should see.

Claia. The priest he purposely doth come, The arch Flamyn of Elizium.

Cloris. With tapers let the temples shine,
Sing to Hymen hymns divine!

Load the alters, till there rise
Clouds from the burnt sacrifice;

With your sensors sling aloof

Their smels, till they ascend the roof.

Mert.
Claia.

}

For our Tita is this day

Married to a noble fay.

Mert. But coming back when she is wed, Who breaks the cake above her head?'

Claia. That shall Mertilla, for she's tallest, And our Tita is the smallest.

Cloris. Violins, strike up aloud,

Ply the gittern, scowr the crowd!

Let the nimble hand belabour

The whistling pipe, and drumbling tabor;
To the full the bagpipe rack,

Till the swelling leather crack.

Mert.

Claia.

}

For our Tita is this day

Married to a noble fay.

Claia. But when to dine she takes her seat,

What shall be our Tita's meat?

Mert. The gods this feast as to begin,

Have sent of their ambrosia in.

Cloris. Then serve we up the straw's rich berry,

The respas, the Elizian cherry;

The virgin honey from the flowers

In Hibla, wrought in Flora's bowers:

1 This curious custom is alluded to in Brand's "Popular Antiquities,"

new ed., ii. 64.

Claia. But when night comes, and she must go
To bed; dear nymphs, what must we do?
Mert. In the posset must be brought,
And points be from the bridegroom caught.
Cloris. In masques, in dances, and delight,
And rear-banquets, spend the night;
Then about the room we ramble,
Scatter nuts, and for them scramble,

Over stools and tables stumble,
Never think of noise nor rumble.

Mert.
Claia.

}

For our Tita is this day

Married to a noble fay.

XV.

THE LAND OF FAERIE.

[From Lane's "Triton's Trumpet," a MS. in the British Museum, Bib. Reg. 17 B. xv.]

From Faerie Lande, I com, quoth Danus now.

Ha! that, quoth June, mee never chaunced to knowe,

Ne could or would th'igh poet Spencer tell,

(So farr as mote my witt this ridle spell)
Though none that breatheth livinge aier doth knowe,
Wheare is that happie land of Faerie,

Which I so oft doe vaunt yet no wheare showe,
But vouch antequities which nobodie maie knowe.

1 The points or tags that were used to hold the dress.

૨

No marveile that, quoth Danus mirrelie,
For it is movable of Mercurie,

Which Faeries with a trice doe snatch up hence,
Fro sight and heering of the common sense;
Yet coms on sodaines to the thoughtlesse eye
And eare (favored to heere theire minstrelsy),
Ne bootes climbe promontories yt to spie,
For then the Faeries dowt the seeinge eye.
Onlie right sold it to some fewe doth chaunce,
That (ravishd) they behold it in a traunse,
Wheare yt a furor calls, rage, extacie,
Shedd but on the poetick misterie,

Which they with serious apprehension tend,
Ells from them also yt dothe quicklie wend :
But caught with it they deale most secretly,
As deignes the Muse instruct them waerely.
The glorie wheareof doth but this arive,
They farr more honord dead are then alive.
But now folke vaunt by use, to call yt prittie,
Themselves theareby comparinge with more wittie;
Nathlesse kinges, captaines, clercks, astrologers,
And everie learnd th'ideal spirit admires.
But ah! well fare his lines alive not dead,

Yf of his readers his reward bee bread.

Which proves, while poets thoughts up sore divine,
These fleshe-flies, earth wormes, welter but in slyme.

Ha! yet near known was, but meere poetrie,
Came to ann ancor at sadd povertie.