XCIII EPITHALAMION. HOUGH thou hast past thy summerstanding, stay Awhile with us, bright sun, and help our light; Thou canst not meet more glory on Between the tropics, to arrest thy sight, We woo thee stay; And see what can be seen, The bounty of a king, and beauty of his queen. See the procession! what a holy day, Bearing the promise of some better fate, From Greenwich hither to Rowhampton gate! So like a feast; Or were affairs in tune, By all the spheres consent, so in the heart of June? What beauty of beauties, and bright youths at charge Do boast their loves and braveries so at large, Or so did shine, In all her bloom and flower, To welcome home a pair, and deck the nuptial bower? It is the kindly season of the time, The month of youth, which calls all creatures forth To do their offices in nature's chime, And celebrate, perfection at the worth, And the allowed war, Through which not only we, but all our species are. Hark how the bells upon the waters play Their sister-tunes from Thames his either side, As they had learn'd new changes for the day, And all did ring the approaches of the bride; The lady Frances drest Above the rest Of all the maidens fair; In graceful ornament of garland, gems, and hair. See how she paceth forth in virgin-white, As she did lack Nought of a maiden queen, With modesty so crown'd, and adoration seen. Stay, thou wilt see what rites the virgins do, Both crowns and kingdoms in their either hand: To make more clear This feast, than can the day, Although that thou, O sun, at our entreaty stay! See how with roses, and with lilies shine, The bright bride's paths, embellish'd more than thine, With light of love this pair doth intertex! The emblems of their way.— O, now thou smil'st, fair sun, and shin'st, as thou would'st stay! With what full hands, and in how plenteous showers Have they bedew'd the earth, where she doth tread, As if her airy steps did spring the flowers, And all the ground were garden where she led ! See, at another door, On the same floor, The bridegroom meets the bride With all the pomp of youth, and all our court beside! Our court, and all the grandees! now, sun, look, Who, in all they do, Search, sun, and thou wilt find They are the exampled pair, and mirror of their kind. 2 Save the preceding two, &c.] The king and queen. In Love's Welcome at Bolsover, Jonson compliments this illustrious pair on the strictness and purity of their union; if that can be called compliment which is merely truth. In all his domestic relations, Charles I. stood unparalleled; he was an indulgent master, a faithful and affectionate husband, and a tender parent. This must have been a very splendid ceremony. Both the king and the favourite were to be gratified by assisting at it, and it is probable that few of the young nobility were absent. Charles himself acted as father to the bride, and gave her away. Force from the Phoenix, then, no rarity Of sex, to rob the creature; but from man, With angels, muse, to speak these: nothing can Who the whole act express; All else, we see beside, are shadows, and go less. Whom they have chose, And set the mark upon, To give a greater name and title to! their own! That mine of wisdom, and of counsels deep, And legal ways Of trials, to work down Men's loves unto the laws, and laws to love the crown. And this well mov'd the judgment of the king Could soon espy He had so highly set; and in what Barbican.3 3 He had so highly set; and in what Barbican.] An old word for a beacon, fortress, or watch-tower : Stand there; for when a noble nature's rais'd, To the dull a spur It is, to the envious meant A mere upbraiding grief, and torturing punishment. See now the chapel opens, where the king One in the other's hand, Hearing their charge, and then The solemn choir cries, Joy! and they return, Amen! O happy bands! and thou more happy place, Which to this use wert built and consecrate! Which time shall not, Or canker'd jealousy, With all corroding arts, be able to untie! "Within the Barbican a porter sate, Day and night, duly keeping watch and ward." Fairy Queen, b. ii. cant. 9. WHAL. One of the streets of London takes its name from an edifice of that kind, anciently standing there. Stow thus describes it: "On the north-west side of this city, near unto Red-cross street, there was a tower commonly called Barbican, or Burhkenning, for that the same being placed on a high ground, and also being builded of some good height, was in old time used as a watch-tower for the city." Ed. 4to. 1603, p. 70. |