"Th' All-giver would be unthank'd, would be un prais'd, "Not half his riches known, and yet despis'd, 221 "And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons; "Who would be quite surcharg'd with her own 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 "Means her provision only to the good, "And she no whit encumber'd with her store; 240 "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 From scorning pleasures, which they cannot reach. Com. EUPHROSYNE sings.* Preach not to me your musty rules, Ye drones that mould in idle cell; If short my span, I less can spare They only live, who life enjoy. 250 260 "These are the maxims of the trulywise, "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 hill, 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. 270 "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, beat; "Now with quick feet the ground beat, beat, beat, &c. "Now cold and denying, “ Now kind and complying, "Disdaining, complaining, "Indifference now feigning, 280 "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, 290 They had their name thence: Coarse complexions, "And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply There was another meaning in these gifts; Lady. "To him that dares 301 "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 should'st 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 311 "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, "To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, "And try her yet more strongly- -Come, no more, "This is meer moral babble, and direct "Against the canon laws of our foundation; "I must not suffer this, yet 'tis but the lees "And settlings of a melancholy blood; "But this will cure all strait," one sip of this 339 Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste. [The Brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest the glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground; his rout make signs of resistance, but are all driven in.] Enter the First Spirit. What, have you let the false enchanter scape? Yet stay, be not disturb'd; now I bethink me, "The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains: "I learn'd 'em then, when with my fellow swain, "The youthful Lycidas, his flocks I fed." There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure, That sways the Severn stream; F |