University of Virginia Library

A MASQUE Presented at Bretbie in Darbyshire On Twelfth-Night. 1639.

The Prologue

To be spoken by whom the Masquers shall appoint.
To you great Lord, and you most excellent Lady,
And all this wel-met, wellcome Company,
Thus low I bow: And thank, that you will grace
Our rude Solemnities with such a presence.
The Lar Familiaris of the house being proud of so much and great Company, and glad of their free and noble Entertainment, appears to congratulate the hospitality of the Lord and Lady, and speaks these lines.
Better then I could wish! Superlative
To all relations, not examples now!
I've known the Houshold Gods of Rome & Greece,
And all the good Penates of fam'd Troy,
Heard what they could triumph in, of their Fates;
Tell jovial stories of the frolick Greeks,
And the great Banquets of fam'd Ilium;
Have been inform'd of Egypts glorious Feasts
To entertain the Courtly Anthony:
Yet was there or Necessity, or pride,
Or empty prodigality in all.
Here is a Course steer'd even, and voluntary;
And I rejoyce, as much as Ganymed,
Olympus Nectar, and Ambrosia Keeper.
Here I grow fat with plenty of all sorts
That either Seas, or Land, or Air can yield;
And here I live as well admir'd, as envi'd
By all the Lares of all other Places:
For there's a Constancie in my delights,
A blest Elyzium where I do not want
The tithe of any wish I ever thought.
The proudest Lares of the greatest Princes
May boast of state, and languish in a noise,
Whil'st here I live secure, and do enjoy
As much of every thing, but fears and dangers.
And may it last while Fate attends on time,
Until the supreme Deities of Heaven
Think you too worthy to adorn the earth,
And mean to fix you glorious Stars in Heaven:
And whiles there's air but to receive a Sound,
May your Names busie it to speak your praise,
Continue ever matchless, as you are
A Pair without Compare, and but a Pair.
A Satyre invited by the Loudness of the Musick, and the perpetual concourse of people to inform himself to what end all tended, comes boldly in, and meets with the Lar Familiaris.
Lar.
What means this bold Intrusion?

Sat.
Friend, forbear,
Though I was born ith'Woods, and rudely bred
Among the Salvages, I have a mind
Aspires the knowledge of great Princes Courts,
And to what end aimes all this jollity
In yours as well as others Palaces.

Lar.
Dost thou approch to censure our delights,
And nip them in the bud? Satyre! take heed
We'l hunt you hence through al the woods & launs,
And over all the brooks thine eyes have seen.

Sat.
You threaten more perhaps then you can do:
What art?

Lar.
I am this Palace Deity.

Sat.
I wish thou wert a Servant unto Pan,
Or any God that doth frequent the Fields.

Lar.
So would not I: I'm better as I am.

Sat.
Thy Ignorance bewitches thee to this:
Thou liv'st among all fears, all noise, all cares,
While I walk merry under heavens bright eye.
We in the Fields are free from any Sin
Against th'almighty Deities of Heaven:
We know no Law but natures; do not tremble
At Princes frowns; have neither fear nor hope;
And are content, a State the Gods exceed not.
You languish in a perpetuity
Of thoughts as unconfin'd as are your ends
You truly lavish all your faculties
In getting covetous wealth, which we contemn.
Your sleeps are starting, full of dreams and fears;
And ours as quiet as the Barks in Calmes.
The youthful spring makes us our Beds of flowers,
And heaven-bright summer washeth us in springs
As clear as any of your Mistress's eies:
The plenteous Autume doth enrich our Banquets
With earths most curious fruits, & they unbought:
The healthful Winter doth not pain our bones,
For we are arm'd for cold, and Heat in Nature.
We have no unkind loves in meads or fields,
That scorn our tears, or slight our amorous sighes.
Nor are we frantick with fond jealousie,
The greatest curse Iove could inflict on's Queen,
For all her curious search into his Life:
We in the woods esteem that Beast the stateliest
That hath his head the richliest spread with horns.
The Golden Age remains with us, so fam'd
By your Athenian and Roman Poets.
Thus we enjoy what all you strive to get
With all the boundless riches of your wit.

Lar.
Satyre! When I but say th'art Ignorant,
Thy flourishing Boast is answered at the full.

Sat.
But I desire a larger way.

Lar.
And take it.
Canst thou compare the Rags of nakedness
Before the studied dressings of these times?
And canst thou like a cold and stony Cave
Before the perfum'd Beds of Palaces?
Admire the Melancholie falls of waters,
Or whistling Musick of th'inconstant windes,
The chirping discords of the wanton Birds,
Above the Angel-voices of our Ladies,
And th'exquisite variety of Musick
Order'd to thousand several Instruments?
Content to cloy thy homely Appetite
With Crabs, and Slows, and Nuts, and rude mixt herbs,
Before the stately Banquets of the Great?
How canst thou like Beasts inarticulate voices
Above the Heaven-given eloquence of men?
Forsake the Woods (fond Satyre) and but try
The unthought difference 'twixt them and us.
The Hills are fit for Beasts: Converse with men,
And thou wilt never like thy Cause agen.

Sat.
Thou almost dost perswade me: but then I
Shall leave mine old, and honest Company.

Lar.
Thy new Ones shall exceed them. Her's a Butler
Wil give thee wine as rich as is thy blood:
And her's a Cook will clothe thy bones with flesh
As rich as was young Jason's Golden Fleece.

Sat.
Well: I will live with thee.

Lar.
And welcome Satyre.

Sat.
Spite of the Fates, and Grecia's best Protector,
I'le be Achilles, and o'recome by

The Cooks Name.

Hector.

Lar.
A resolution worthy thy Sylvanus.

Sat.
But for my last Farewell unto the Woods,
I'le shew you a wild Dance of nimble Satyres:
For we do dance as much as they that live
In Princes Courts, and Tissue-Palaces.

First Song.

You Satyres that in Woods
Have frozen up your bloods,
Advance your selves, and show
What great Pan's men can do;
Appear.
Here you had need beware,
And move as swift as Air:
These are not Sylvane Swaines,
But Courtly Lords and Dames
Sit here.

The Antimasque.

Satyres rudely but decently attired; stuck with Flowers, and Bayes-Chaplets on their heads, come in, and dance as many several Anticks, and in as many several shapes, as shall be necessary. Being ready to depart, two excellent youths in rich apparel, come striving in together; to whom the Lar speaks.
Lar.
What do you mean (sweet Boys) to interrupt
Our sports? I pray you leave your wrestling thus,
And do not strike your skins, too soft for blows.

1.
He would out-run me, and be kist before me.

2.
And he leave me among these dreadful Satyres.

Lar.
Whence come you?

1.
We both were left i'th woods, and tempted by
Such things as these to live abroad with them.

Lar.
What would you have?

1.
I would go to my Father.

2.
And I unto my Mother.

Lar.
Who is your Father?

1.
The ever honour'd Earl of Chesterfield,
Worthy of all his Titles by his vertues;
And full of Noble thoughts. A great maintainer
Of our great Grand-Fathers vertue, Hospitality:
The Feeder of the poor; whose Gate's so open,
It doth not need the Office of a Porter:
Whose House is now Delphian Apollo's seat:
For he's the Patron of all Arts and Wit.

Lar.
And who is your Mother, pretty One!

2.
She is the Countess to that Noble Lord;
A Lady worthy more then earth can give her:
Rich in those vertues make her Sex admir'd;
A fair exceeder of the best examples
That Greek or Roman stories e're produc'd:
Goddess of Tame, of Anchor, and of Trent.
She's such an one as hath none equal to her,
And therfore you may very easily know her.

Lar.
I know them both, and honor'd in my knowledge:
Sweet youth! yon'd is your Father, kiss his hand:
And that (fair little One) th'unequal'd Lady
You asked for: go, and beg a kiss of her.

Here the Lord of the House gives his hand to his Son, and the Countess kisses her Son. Then the Satyre speaks to his Companions.
Sat.
Fellows, since you have done, Farewel: I'le leave you
And all the rural Pastimes of the woods:
I like this noble Company so well,
That I hereafter here intend to dwel.

The Anti-Masquers depart: then the Lar Familiaris speaks to the Satyre.
Lar.
Now (Satyre) I will let thee see how far
The Palace-pleasures do exceed the Woods.

The Lar leads the Satyre to a curious bower, all deckt with the best and finest flowers of the season: and opens a wide entry into it, where sitting upon pleasant banks, full of the sweetest herbs and delicatest flowers, he discovers the Masquers: then presently invites them forth with this song.

Second song.

Here the Grand Masquers come forth; the Lady's drest like the ancient Goddesses; then the Lar speaks to the Satyre.
Lar.
Satyre sit, and observe a while alone:
For I do mean to mix with these in Dance.

Here they Dance what or as many Set-dances as they please, the Masquers being Men and Women, or onely Women: When they have danced all they intended, the Lar, or one of the Masquers invites the Spectator-Ladyes with this song to joyn with them.

Third song.

Here all the Company dance what they please, and while they please; when they leave, the Lar, or one of the Masquers, sings this to the spectator Ladyes, as they go from them.

Fourth song.

This being sung, the Masquers, the Lar Familiaris, and the Satyre, go into the Arbour, which closes on them.