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SCENE, A Chamber. The Grotesque Part continued.
SCENE, A Solitude.
Enter Ceres.
Cer.
O Power of Grief! that can'st transform
Things which the Mind serene thought fair;
Making the sick and troubled Sense
Loath Nature in her choicest Gifts.
The Woods, the Springs, the feather'd Choirs,
The flow'ry Mountains, verdant Dales,
The rowling Skies, and gaudy Sun,
That, whilst I knew the Taste of Joy,
All ministred Delight;
Are Objects of Discomfort now:
When I reflect These once I view'd,
And once was blest: But 'tis my Curse,
O Proserpine, in losing thee,
That, as eternal is my State,
Such must be too my Woe.
[A Noise under the Stage.
What horrid Sound invades my Ear?

Inf. Voice.
Let universal Order die,
And Nature sink into the Grave of Ruin.

Cer.
Well do th'infernal Powers advise,
Let Order cease, let Nature die,
And Ruin all the World o'erwhelm.

[Mercury descends.
Mer.
Ceres, the Voice of your Distress
Pierces the Heavens, and every God
Is anxious for the Pains you feel.
Therefore let Joy, let gay Delight,
Laugh in thy Eyes, and smooth thy Brow.

Cer.
Fate cannot cure my Woes.

Mer.
Fate will redress your Griefs,
The darling Child, whose Doom you mourn,
Now shares Imperial Pluto's Throne;
Behold, th'assembled Gods on Hymen wait,
The mighty Nuptials to proclaim.

[The Heavens open, and discover Jupiter attended by Celestial Deities; the Earth opens, and Pluto and Proserpine rise as from Hell, attended by Infernals, at which the Followers of Ceres enter in a Fright.
Jup.
Hear, Ceres, what th'indulgent Fates,
T'asswage a Mother's Pains, decree.
Six Moons in each revolving Year
Shall Proserpine, to Day restor'd,
In filial Duty spend her Hours:
And only half her Time employ
To chear her royal Consort's Eyes,
Remains there ought that Jove can do
To wipe Complaints and Tears away?

Cer.
Oh, I am vanquish'd,
And have no more to ask of Fate.

Jup.
Then War and Discord shall no more
Rend the divided Universe.
But Heaven, and Earth, and Hell unite
In triple League of lasting Peace.
Yet least these Plains
Remind thee of thy Daughter lost,
And wound thy Heart anew,
Henceforth in Albion's Isle reside;
A Clime, of old, doom'd to become
The Seat of Beauty, and the Soil of Heroes.

[Ceres gives Proserpine to Pluto.
[Enter several Dancers, who represent the four Elements, and celebrate the Marriage of Pluto and Proserpine, by a Grand Ballet.
CHORUS.
Albion, the Queen of Nations grow,
Thy Fortune to thy Vertues owe.
With Plenty shall thy Earth be crown'd,
And Jove shall make thy Kings renown'd.