call our company together, and go meet this prince he talks so of.

3 Clown. Some shall have but a sour welcome of it, if my crabtree-cudgel hold here.

Win. "Tis, I see,

Not in my power to alter destiny;

You're mad in your rebellious minds: but hear What I presage, with understanding clear,

As your black thoughts are misty; take from me
This, as a true and certain augury:

This prince shall come, and, by his glorious side,
Laurel-crown'd conquest shall in triumph ride,
Arm'd with the justice that attends his cause,
You shall with penitence embrace his laws:
He to the frozen northern clime shall bring
A warmth so temperate, as shall force the Spring
Usurp my privilege, and by his ray

Night shall be changed into perpetual day:
Plenty and happiness shall still increase,
As does his light; and turtle-footed peace
Dance like a fairy through his realms, while all
That envy him, shall like swift comets fall,
By their own fire consumed; and glorious he
Ruling, as 'twere, the force of destiny,

Shall have a long and prosperous reign on earth,
Then fly to Heaven, and give a new star birth.

6

And turtle-footed peace

Dance like a fairy, &c.] This, as well as several other expressions in this elegant augury," is taken from the beautiful address to Elizabeth, in Jonson's Epilogue to Every Man out of his Humour.

The throat of war be stopp'd within her realm,
And turtle-footed peace dance fairy-rings

About her court, &c.

A Flourish.-Enter RAYBRIGHT, HUMOUR, BOUNTY, and DELIGHT.

But see, our star appears; and from his eye
Fly thousand beams of sparkling majesty.
Bright son of Phoebus, welcome! I begin
To feel the ice fall from my crisled skin ;7
For at your beams the waggoner might thaw
His chariot, axled with Riphæan snow;
Nay, the slow moving North-star, having felt
Your temperate heat, his icicles would melt.

Ray. What bold rebellious caitiffs dare disturb The happy progress of our glorious peace, Contemn the justice of our equal laws,

Profane those sacred rights, which still must be
Attendant on monarchal dignity?

I came to frolic with you, and to cheer
Your drooping souls by vigour of my beams,
And have I this strange welcome? Reverend
Winter!

I'm come to be your guest; your bounteous, free
Condition does assure [me], I shall have

A welcome entertainment.

Win. Illustrious sir! I am [not] ignorant
How much expression my true zeal will want
To entertain you fitly; yet my love
And hearty duty shall be far above

To feel the ice fall from my crisled skin;] This word is familiar to me, though I can give no example of it. In Devonshire, where Ford must have often heard it, it means that roughening, shrivelling effect of severe cold upon the skin, known in other counties by the name of goose-flesh.

My outward welcome. To that glorious light
Of Heaven, the Sun, which chases hence the night,
I am so much a vassal, that I'll strive,

By honouring you, to keep my faith alive

To him, brave prince, through you, who do inherit
Your father's cheerful heat and quick'ning spirit.
Therefore, as I am Winter, worn and spent
So far with age, I am Time's monument,
Antiquity's example; in my zeal

I, from my youth, a span of time will steal
To open the free treasures of my court,

And swell your soul with my delights and sport.
Ray. Never till now

Did admiration beget in me truly

The rare-match'd twins at once, pity and pleasure. [Pity, that one3]

So royal, so abundant in earth's blessings,

Should not partake the comfort of those beams, With which the Sun, beyond extent, doth cheer The other seasons; yet my pleasures with you, From their false charms, do get the start, as far As Heaven's great lamp from every minor star. Boun. Sir, you can speak well; if your tongue deliver

The message of your heart, without some cunning Of restraint, we may hope to enjoy.

The lasting riches of your presence hence [forth] Without distrust or change.

8

Ray. Winter's sweet bride,

Something is evidently lost in this place. I have merely inserted a word or two, to give meaning to what follows.

All conquering Bounty, queen of hearts, life's

glory,

Nature's perfection; whom all love, all serve;
To whom Fortune, even in extreme's a slave;
When I fall from my duty to thy goodness,
Let me be rank'd as nothing!

Boun. Come, you flatter me.

Ray. I flatter you! why, madam, you are Bounty;

Sole daughter to the royal throne of peace.

Hum. He minds not me now.

Ray. Bounty's self!

For you, he is no soldier dares not fight;

[Aside.

No scholar he, that dares not plead your merits,
Or study your best sweetness; should the Sun,
Eclips'd for many years, forbear to shine
Upon the bosom of our naked pastures,

Yet, where you are, the glories of your smiles
Would warm the barren grounds, arm heartless

misery,

And cherish desolation: 'deed I honour you,

And, as all others ought to do, I serve you. Hum. Are these the rare sights, these the promis'd compliments?

Win. Attendance on our revels! let delight Conjoin the day with sable-footed night;

Both shall forsake their orbs, and in one sphere Meet in soft mirth, and harmless pleasures here: While plump Lyæus shall, with garland crown'd Of triumph-ivy, in full cups abound

Of Cretan wine, and shall dame Ceres call
To wait on you, at Winter's festival;

While gaudy Summer, Autumn, and the Spring,
Shall to my lord their choicest viands bring.
We'll rob the sea, and from the subtle air
Fetch her inhabitants, to supply our fare;
That, were Apicius here, he in one night
Should sate with dainties his strong appetite.
Begin our revels then, and let all pleasure
Flow like the ocean in a boundless measure.
[A Flourish.

Enter CONCEIT and DETRACTION.

Con. Wit and pleasure, soft attention
Grace the sports of our invention.

Detr. Conceit, peace! for Detraction
Hath already drawn a faction
Shall deride thee.

Con.

Detr.

Con.

Antick, leave me!

For in labouring to bereave me
Of a scholar's praise, thy dotage
Shall be hiss'd at.

Here's a hot age,

When such petty penmen covet

Fame by folly! On; I'll prove it
Scurvy by thy part, and try thee
By thine own wit.

I defy thee;

Here are nobler judges; wit
Cannot suffer where they sit.