Lucasta [68]
as original light first from the chaos shot, When day in virgin-beams triumph'd, and night was not, And as that breath infus'd in the new-breather good, When ill unknown was dumb, and bad not understood; Chearful, as that aspect at this world's finishing, When cherubims clapp'd wings, and th' sons of Heaven did sing; Chast as th' Arabian bird, who all the ayr denyes,<79.1> And ev'n in flames expires, when with her selfe she lyes. Oh! she's as kind as drops of new faln April showers, That on each gentle breast spring fresh perfuming flowers; She's constant, gen'rous, fixt; she's calm, she is the all We can of vertue, honour, faith, or glory call, And she is (whom I thus transmit to endless fame) Mistresse oth' world and me, and LAURA is her name.
<79.1> The Phoenix.
A DIALOGUE. LUTE AND VOICE.
L. Sing, Laura, sing, whilst silent are the sphears, And all the eyes of Heaven are turn'd to ears.
V. Touch thy dead wood, and make each living tree Unchain its feet, take arms, and follow thee.
CHORUS. L. Sing. V. Touch. 0 Touch. L. 0 Sing. BOTH. It is the souls, souls sole offering.
V. Touch the divinity of thy chords, and make Each heart string tremble, and each sinew shake.
L. Whilst with your voyce you rarifie the air, None but an host of angels hover here.
CHORUS. SING, TOUCH, &c.
V. Touch thy soft lute, and in each gentle thread The lyon and the panther captive lead.
L. Sing, and in heav'n inthrone deposed love, Whilst angels dance, and fiends in order move.
DOUBLE CHORUS. What sacred charm may this then be In harmonie, That thus can make the angels wild, The devils mild, And teach<80.1> low hell to heav'n to swell, And the high heav'n to stoop to hell?
<80.1> Original and Singer read REACH.
A MOCK CHARON.
DIALOGUE.
CHA. W.
W. Charon! thou slave! thou fooll! thou cavaleer!<81.1> CHA. A slave! a fool! what traitor's voice I hear? W. Come bring thy boat. CH. No, sir. W. No! sirrah, why? CHA. The blest will disagree, and fiends will mutiny At thy, at thy [un]numbred treachery. W. Villain, I have a pass which who disdains, I will sequester the Elizian plains. CHA. Woes me, ye gentle shades! where shall I dwell? He's come! It is not safe to be in hell.
CHORUS. Thus man, his honor lost, falls on these shelves; Furies and fiends are still true to themselves.
CHA. You must, lost fool, come in. W. Oh, let me in! But now I fear thy boat will sink with my ore-weighty sin. Where, courteous Charon, am I now? CHA. Vile rant!<81.2> At the gates of thy supreme Judge Rhadamant.
DOUBLE CHORUS OF DIVELS. Welcome to rape, to theft, to perjurie, To all the ills thou wert, we canot hope to be; Oh, pitty us condemned! Oh, cease to wooe, And softly, softly breath, least you infect us too.
<81.1> This word is used here merely to denote a GALLANT, a FELLOW. From being in its primitive sense a most honourable appellation, it became, during and after the civil war between Charles and the Parliament, a term of equivocal import.
<81.2> Here equivalent to RANTER, and used for the sake of the metre.
THE TOAD AND SPYDER.
A DUELL.
Upon a day, when the Dog-star Unto the world proclaim'd a war, And poyson bark'd from black throat, And from his jaws infection shot, Under a deadly hen-bane shade With slime infernal mists are made, Met the two dreaded enemies, Having their weapons in their eyes.
First from his den rolls forth that load Of spite and hate, the speckl'd toad, And from his chaps a foam doth spawn, Such as the loathed three heads yawn; Defies his foe with a fell
<79.1> The Phoenix.
A DIALOGUE. LUTE AND VOICE.
L. Sing, Laura, sing, whilst silent are the sphears, And all the eyes of Heaven are turn'd to ears.
V. Touch thy dead wood, and make each living tree Unchain its feet, take arms, and follow thee.
CHORUS. L. Sing. V. Touch. 0 Touch. L. 0 Sing. BOTH. It is the souls, souls sole offering.
V. Touch the divinity of thy chords, and make Each heart string tremble, and each sinew shake.
L. Whilst with your voyce you rarifie the air, None but an host of angels hover here.
CHORUS. SING, TOUCH, &c.
V. Touch thy soft lute, and in each gentle thread The lyon and the panther captive lead.
L. Sing, and in heav'n inthrone deposed love, Whilst angels dance, and fiends in order move.
DOUBLE CHORUS. What sacred charm may this then be In harmonie, That thus can make the angels wild, The devils mild, And teach<80.1> low hell to heav'n to swell, And the high heav'n to stoop to hell?
<80.1> Original and Singer read REACH.
A MOCK CHARON.
DIALOGUE.
CHA. W.
W. Charon! thou slave! thou fooll! thou cavaleer!<81.1> CHA. A slave! a fool! what traitor's voice I hear? W. Come bring thy boat. CH. No, sir. W. No! sirrah, why? CHA. The blest will disagree, and fiends will mutiny At thy, at thy [un]numbred treachery. W. Villain, I have a pass which who disdains, I will sequester the Elizian plains. CHA. Woes me, ye gentle shades! where shall I dwell? He's come! It is not safe to be in hell.
CHORUS. Thus man, his honor lost, falls on these shelves; Furies and fiends are still true to themselves.
CHA. You must, lost fool, come in. W. Oh, let me in! But now I fear thy boat will sink with my ore-weighty sin. Where, courteous Charon, am I now? CHA. Vile rant!<81.2> At the gates of thy supreme Judge Rhadamant.
DOUBLE CHORUS OF DIVELS. Welcome to rape, to theft, to perjurie, To all the ills thou wert, we canot hope to be; Oh, pitty us condemned! Oh, cease to wooe, And softly, softly breath, least you infect us too.
<81.1> This word is used here merely to denote a GALLANT, a FELLOW. From being in its primitive sense a most honourable appellation, it became, during and after the civil war between Charles and the Parliament, a term of equivocal import.
<81.2> Here equivalent to RANTER, and used for the sake of the metre.
THE TOAD AND SPYDER.
A DUELL.
Upon a day, when the Dog-star Unto the world proclaim'd a war, And poyson bark'd from black throat, And from his jaws infection shot, Under a deadly hen-bane shade With slime infernal mists are made, Met the two dreaded enemies, Having their weapons in their eyes.
First from his den rolls forth that load Of spite and hate, the speckl'd toad, And from his chaps a foam doth spawn, Such as the loathed three heads yawn; Defies his foe with a fell