Boreas. To thee then thus, and by thee to that king, That doth thee present honours, do I bring Present remembrance of twelve Æthiop dames : Who, guided hither by the moon's bright flames, To see his brighter light, were to the sea Enjoin'd again, and (thence assign'd a day For their return) were in the waves to leave Their BLACKNESS, and true BEAUTY to receive. Janu. Which they received, but broke their day:

and yet

Have not return'd a look of grace for it,

Shewing a coarse and most unfit neglect.
Twice have I come in pomp here, to expect
Their presence; twice deluded, have been fain
With other rites my feasts to entertain:

And now the third time, turn'd about the year,
Since they were look'd for, and yet are not here!
Boreas. It was nor will, nor sloth, that caus'd their

stay;

For they were all prepared by their day,
And with religion, forward on their way:
When Proteus,' the gray prophet of the sea,
Met them, and made report, how other four
Of their black kind (whereof their sire had store)
Faithful to that great wonder, so late done
Upon their sisters, by bright Albion,
Had followed them to seek Britannia forth,
And there to hope like favour, as like worth,
Which Night envied, as done in her despite,"
And, mad to see an Æthiop washed white,
Thought to prevent in these; lest men should deem
Her colour, if thus chang'd, of small esteem.

• Two marriages, the one of the earl of Essex, 1606; the other of the lord Hay, 1607.

Read his description, with Vir. Geor. 4. Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, Caruleus Proteus.

Because they were before of her complexion.

And so, by malice, and her magic, tost
The nymphs at sea, as they were almost lost,
Till, on an island, they by chance arriv'd,

That floated in the main; where, yet, she had gyv'd
Them so, in chains of darkness, as no might
Should loose them thence, but their chang'd sisters sight.
Whereat the twelve, in piety mov'd, and kind,
Straight put themselves in act, the place to find;
Which was the Night's sole trust they so will do,
That she with labour might confound them too.
For ever since with error hath she held
Them wand'ring in the ocean, and so quell'd
Their hopes beneath their toil, as (desperate now
Of any least success unto their vow;

Nor knowing to return to express the grace,
Wherewith they labour to this prince, and place)
One of them meeting me at sea, did pray,
That for the love of my Orithya,'

Whose very name did heat my frosty breast,
And made me shake my snow-fill'd wings and crest,
To bear this sad report I would be won,

And frame their just excuse; which here I've done.
Janu. Would thou hadst not begun, unlucky Wind,
That never yet blew'st goodness to mankind;
But with thy bitter, and too piercing breath,
Strik'st horrors through the air as sharp as death.

h To give authority to this part of our fiction, Pliny hath a chap. 95 of the 2nd book, Nat. Hist. de insulis fluctuantibus. Et Card. lib. i. de rerum vari. et cap. 7. reports one to be in his time known, in the lake of Lomond, in Scotland. To let pass that of Delos, &c.

i The daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens, whom Boreas ravished away into Thrace, as she was playing with other virgins by the flood Ilissus or (as some will) by the fountain Cephisus. * The violence of Boreas Ovid excellently describes in the place above quoted.

Hâc nubila pello,

Hâc freta concutio, nodosaque robora verto,
Induroque nives, et terras grandine pulso.

Here a second wind came in, VULTURNUS, in a blue coloured robe and mantle, puft as the former, but somewhat sweeter; his face black, and on his head1 a red sun, shewing he came from the east: his wings of several colours; his buskins white, and wrought with gold.

Vult. All horrors vanish, and all name of death,
Be all things here as calm as is my breath.
A gentler wind, Vulturnus, brings you news
The isle is found, and that the nymphs now use
Their rest and joy. The Night's black charms are flown.
For being made unto their goddess known,
Bright Æthiopia, the silver moon,

As she was Hecate, she brake them soon:"
And now by virtue of their light, and grace,
The glorious isle, wherein they rest, takes place
Of all the earth for beauty. There, their queen"
Hath raised them a throne, that still is seen
To turn unto the motion of the world;
Wherein they sit, and are, like heaven, whirl'd
About the earth; whilst, to them contrary,
(Following those noble torches of the sky)
A world of little Loves, and chaste Desires,
Do light their beauties with still moving fires.
And who to heaven's concent can better move,
Than those that are so like it, beauty and love?
Hither, as to their new Elysium,

The spirit of the antique Greeks are come,
Poets, and singers, Linus, Orpheus, all
That have excell'd in knowledge musical;

m

According to that of Virgil-Denuntiat igneus Euros.

She is called pwopop' 'Exarn, by Eurip. in Helena, which is Lucifera, to which name we here presently allude.

"For the more full and clear understanding of that which follows, have recourse to the succeeding pages, where the scene presents itself.

• So Terence and the ancients called Poësie, artem musicam.

Where, set in arbors made of myrtle and gold,
They live, again, these beauties to behold.
And thence in flowery mazes walking forth,
Sing hymns in celebration of their worth.
Whilst, to their songs, two fountains flow, one hight
Of Lasting Youth, the other Chaste Delight,
That at the closes, from their bottoms spring,
And strike the air to echo what they sing.
But why do I describe what all must see?
By this time, near the coast, they floating be;
For so their virtuous goddess, the chaste moon,
Told them the fate of th' island should, and soon
Would fix itself unto thy continent,

As being the place, by destiny fore-meant,
Where they should flow forth, drest in her attires :
And that the influence of those holy fires,
First rapt from hence, being multiplied upon
The other four, should make their beauties one.
Which now expect to see, great Neptune's son,
And love the miracle which thyself hast done.

Here a curtain was drawn, in which the Night was painted, and the scene discovered, which (because the former was marine, and these, yet of necessity, to come from the sea) I devised, should be an island floating on a calm water. In the midst thereof was a seat of state, called the Throne of Beauty, erected: divided into eight squares, and distinguished by so many Ionic pilasters. In these squares, the sixteen masquers were placed by couples: behind them in the centre of the throne was a tralucent pillar, shining with several coloured lights, that reflected on their backs. From the top of which pillar went several arches to the pilasters, that sustained the roof of the throne, which was likewise adorned with lights and garlands: and between the pilasters, in front little Cupids in flying posture, waving of wreaths and

lights, bore up the cornice: over which were placed eight figures, representing the elements of beauty;— which advanced upon the Ionic, and being females had the Corinthian order. The first was

SPLENDOR,

in a robe of flame colour, naked breasted; her bright hair loose flowing: she was drawn in a circle of clouds, her face and body breaking through: and in her hand a branch, with two roses,P a white, and a red. The next to her was

SERENITAS,

in a garment of bright sky-colour, a long tress, and waved with a veil of divers colours, such as the golden sky sometimes shews: upon her head a clear and fair sun shining, with rays of gold striking down to the feet of the figure. In her hand a crystal, cut with several angles, and shadowed with divers colours, as caused by refraction. The third,

GERMINATIO,

in green, with a zone of gold about her waste, crowned with myrtle, her hair likewise flowing, but not of so bright a colour: in her hand, a branch of myrtle. Her socks of green and gold. The fourth,

LÆTITIA,

in a vesture of divers colours, and all sorts of flowers embroidered thereon: her socks so fitted. A gar

P The rose is called elegantly, by Achil. Tat. lib. ii. qutāv ayλáïoua, the splendor of plants, and is everywhere taken for the hieroglyphic of splendor.

As this of serenity, applying to the optics reason of the rainbow, and the mythologists making her the daughter of Electra.

So Hor. lib. i. od. 4. makes it the ensign of the Spring. Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto, Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ, &c.