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THIRD SPEAKER (a youth).

Yet, father, 'tis a happy sight to see,
Beautiful, innocent, and unforbidden

By God or man;-'tis like the bright procession
Of skiey visions in a solemn dream

From which men wake as from a paradise,

And draw new strength to tread the thorns of life.
If God be good, wherefore should this be evil?
And if this be not evil, dost thou not draw
Unseasonable poison from the flowers

Which bloom so rarely in this barren world?
Oh, kill these bitter thoughts which make the present
Dark as the future!-

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When avarice and tyranny, vigilant fear,
And open-eyed conspiracy, lie sleeping

As on Hell's threshold; and all gentle thoughts
Waken to worship him who giveth joys

With his own gift.

SECOND SPEAKER.

How young art thou in this old age of time!

How green in this grey world! Canst thou not think Of change in that low scene, in which thou art

Not a spectator but an actor?

The day that dawns in fire will die in storms,

Even though the noon be calm. My travel's done;
Before the whirlwind wakes I shall have found

My inn of lasting rest, but thou must still
Be journeying on in this inclement air.

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SECOND SPEAKER.

Rather say the Pope.

London will be soon his Rome: he walks
As if he trod upon the heads of men.

He looks elate, drunken with blood and gold ;-
Beside him moves the Babylonian woman
Invisibly, and with her as with his shadow,
Mitred adulterer! he is joined in sin,

Which turns Heaven's milk of mercy to revenge.

ANOTHER CITIZEN, (lifting up his eyes).

Good Lord! rain it down upon him.
Amid her ladies walks the papist queen

As if her nice feet scorned our English earth.
There's old Sir Henry Vane, the Earl of Pembroke,
Lord Essex, and Lord Keeper Coventry,

And others who made base their English breed
By vile participation of their honours

With papists, atheists, tyrants, and apostates.
When lawyers mask 'tis time for honest men
To strip their vizor from their purposes.

*

*

*

FOURTH SPEAKER (a pursuivant).

Give place, give place!

You torch-bearers, advance to the great gate,
And then attend the Marshal of the Masque
Into the Royal presence.

FIFTH SPEAKER (a law student).

What thinkest thou

Of this quaint show of ours, my aged friend?

FIRST SPEAKER.

I will not think but that our country's wounds May yet be healed-The king is just and gracious,

Though wicked councils now pervert his will:

These once cast off

SECOND SPEAKER.

As adders cast their skins

And keep their venom, so kings often change;
Councils and councillors hang on one another,
Hiding the loathsome [

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Like the base patchwork of a leper's rags.

THIRD SPEAKER.

Oh, still those dissonant thoughts-List, loud music
Grows on the enchanted air! And see, the torches
Restlessly flashing, and the crowd divided
Like waves before an admiral's prow.

*

ANOTHER SPEAKER.

Give place

To the Marshal of the Masque !

THIRD SPEAKER.

How glorious! See those thronging chariots
Rolling like painted clouds before the wind:
Some are

Like curved shells dyed by the azure depths
Of Indian seas; some like the new-born moon;
And some like cars in which the Romans climbed
(Canopied by Victory's eagle-wings outspread)
The Capitolian-See how gloriously

The mettled horses in the torchlight stir

Their gallant riders, while they check their pride, Like shapes of some diviner element !

Ay, there they are

SECOND SPEAKER.

Nobles, and sons of nobles, patentees,

VOL. III.

P

Monopolists, and stewards of this poor farm,
On whose lean sheep sit the prophetic crows.
Here is the pomp that strips the houseless orphan,
Here is the pride that breaks the desolate heart.
These are the lilies glorious as Solomon,
Who toil not, neither do they spin,-unless
It be the webs they catch poor rogues withal.
Here is the surfeit which to them who earn
The niggard wages of the earth, scarce leaves
The tithe that will support them till they crawl
Back to its cold hard bosom. Here is health
Followed by grim disease, glory by shame,
Waste by lank famine, wealth by squalid want,
And England's sin by England's punishment.
And, as the effect pursues the cause foregone,
Lo, giving substance to my words, behold
At once the sign and the thing signified-
A troop of cripples, beggars, and lean outcasts,
Horsed upon stumbling shapes, carted with dung,
Dragged for a day from cellars and low cabins
And rotten hiding-holes, to point the moral
Of this presentiment, and bring up the rear
Of painted pomp with misery!

SPEAKER.

"Tis but

The anti-masque, and serves as discords do
In sweetest music. Who would love May flowers
If they succeeded not to Winter's flaw;
Or day unchanged by night; or joy itself
Without the touch of sorrow?

SCENE II.

A Chamber in Whitehall.

Enter the KING, QUEEN, LAUD, WENTWORTH, and ARCHY.

KING.

Thanks, gentlemen. I heartily accept

This token of your service: your gay masque

Was performed gallantly.

QUEEN.

And, gentlemen,

Your quaint pageant

Call your poor Queen your debtor.
Rose on me like the figures of past years,
Treading their still path back to infancy,
More beautiful and mild as they draw nearer
The quiet cradle. I could have almost wept
To think I was in Paris, where these shows
Are well devised-such as I was ere yet
My young heart shared with [

the task, The careful weight of this great monarchy.

There, gentlemen, between the sovereign's pleasure
And that which it regards, no clamour lifts

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I crave permission of your Majesty

To order that this insolent fellow be

Chastised: he mocks the sacred character,
Scoffs at the stake, and—

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