Sic, sic Sibylla; vocibus nec his deest Pro. The good old sage is silenced, her free tongue A song and dance triumphant of the masquers. I Dance, dance! and visit now the shadows of our joy, All in height, and pleasing state, your changed forms employ. And as the bird of Jove salutes with lofty wing the morn, So mount, so fly, these trophies to adorn. Grace them with all the sounds and motions of delight, Since all the earth cannot express a lovelier sight. View them with triumph, and in shades the truth adore: No pomp or sacrifice can please Jove's greatness more. 2 Turn, turn and honour now the life these figures bear: Lo, how heav'nly natures far above all art appear! monumentum. Old ed. " momumentum." Let their aspects revive in you the fire that shined so late, Still mount and still retain your heavenly state. Gods were with dance and with music served of old. Those happy days derived their glorious style from gold: This pair, by Hymen joined, grace you with measures then, Since they are both divine and you are more than men. Orph. Let here Sibylla's trophy stand, Sib. Pro. Lead her now by either hand, That she may approach yet nearer, And the bride and bridegroom hear her She speaks that which Jove hath taught: 214 LORDS MASQUE DESCRIPTION, ETC. Enth. Live you long to see your joys, In fair nymphs and princely boys; Breeding like the garden flowers, Which kind heav'n draws with her warm showers. Orph. Enough of blessing, though too much Never can be said to such ; But night doth waste, and Hymen chides, Kind to bridegrooms and to brides. The Song. No longer wrong the night A thousand Cupids call away, Dance then and go! The last new dance of the masquers, which concludes all with a lively strain at their going out. FINIS. The description of a Maske: presented in the Banqueting roome at Whitehall, on Saint Stephens night last, At the Mariage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Somerset: And the right noble the Lady Frances Howard. Written by Thomas Campion. Whereunto are annexed diuers choice Ayres composed for this Maske that may be sung with a single voyce to the Lute or Base- Viall. London Printed by E. A. for Laurence Lisle, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Tygers head. 1614. 4to. The ill-omened marriage of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, with the divorced wife of the Earl of Essex was celebrated at Whitehall, 26 December, 1613, in the presence of the King, Queen, Prince Charles, and many nobles and bishops. Campion's inasque was worthy of a better occasion. Chamberlain's account of the reception of the masque is by no means flattering. In a letter to Mrs. Alice Carleton, sister to Sir Dudley Carleton, he writes: "I hear little or no commendation of the masque made by the Lords that night, either for device or dancing, only it was rich and costly" (Nichols' "Progresses of James I.," ii. 725). He had given the same unfavourable report about the masque that Campion prepared for the Princess Elizabeth's marriage. Pulchro pulchra datur sociali fædere; amanti Veræ ut sup rsint nuptiæ Hymen, alteram par est Amor. Uni ego mallem placuisse docto, Candido, et fastu sine judicanti, Millium quam millibus imperitorum Inque videntûm. Vera ut supersint, etc.] The same sentiment is more neatly and metrically expressed in Campion's first book of Latin Epigrams (No. 68):— "De Nuptiis Rite ut celebres nuptias, Dupla tibi face est opus; Prætendat unum Hymen necesse, At alteram par est Amor." |