University of Virginia Library

The Seconde Scene.

While Circe was speakinge her first speech, & at these words, ‘Yond standes a hill, &c.’ a trauers was drawne at ye lower end of the hall, & gaue way for the discouery of an artificiall wood so nere imitatinge nature yt I thinke had there been a grove like yt in ye open plaine, birds would have been faster drawne to that than to Zeuxis grapes. Ye trees stood at the climbinge of an hill, & lefte at their feete a little plaine, wc h they circled like a crescente. In this space vpon hillockes were seen eight musitians in crimsen taffity robes wt h chaplets of lawrell on their heades their lutes by them, wc h beinge by them toucht as a warninge to ye Nymphes of ye wood, from amonge the trees was heard this songe.......

The Songe in the Wood.
What singe the sweete birdes in each grove?
Nought but loue.
What sound our Ecchos day and night?
All delighte.
What doth each wynd breath vs that fleetes?
Endlesse sweets.

Chorus.
Is there a place on earth this Isle excelles,
Or any Nymphes more happy liue than wee.
When all our songes, our soundes, & breathinges bee,
That here all Loue, Delighte, and Sweetenes dwells.

By this time Circe & ye Syrens being come into ye wood, Vlysses was seene lyeing as asleepe, undr ye couverte of a fair tree, towards whom Circe coming bespake thus:—
Circe.
Yet holdes soft sleepe his course. Now Ithacus
Aiax would offer Hecatombes to vs,
And Iliums rauish'd wifes, & childlesse sires,
Wt h incense dym ye bright æthereall fires,
To haue thee bounde in chaynes of sleepe as heere;
But yt [those] mayst behold, & knowe how deare
Thou art to Circe, wt h my magicke deepe
And powerfull verses thus I banish sleepe.
The Charme.
Sonne of Erebus & Nighte,
Hye away; and aime thy flighte,
Where consorte none other fowle
Than the batte & sullen owle;
Where upon thy lymber grasse
Poppy & Mandragoras
Wt h like simples not a few
Hange for euer droppes of dewe.
Where flowes Lethe wt hout coyle
Softly like a streame of oyle.
Hye thee thither, gentle Sleepe:
Wt h this Greeke no longer keepe.
Thrice I charge thee by my wand,
Thrice wt h Moly from my hand;
Doe I to touch Vlysses eyes,
And wt h the Jaspis: Then arise,
Sagest Greeke........

Vlysses (as by ye power of Circe) awakinge thus began:
Ulysses.
......Thou more than mortalle mayde
Who when thou listes canst make (as if afraide)
The mountaines tremble & wt h terrour shake
The seate of Dis; & from Avernus lake
Grim Hecate wt h all the Furyes bringe
To worke reuenge; or to thy questioninge
Disclose the secretes of th' infernall shades
Or raise the ghostes yt walke the vnder-glades.
To thee, whom all obey, Ulysses bendes,
But may I aske (greate Circe) whereto tendes
Thy neuer-failinge handes? Shall we be free?
Or must thyne anger crush my mates and mee?

Circe.
Neyther, Laertes' sonne wt h winges of loue
To thee, & none but thee, my actions moue.
My arte went wt h thee & thou me mayst thanke
In winninge Rhesus horses, e're they dranke
Of Xanthus streame; & when wt h human gore
Cleare Hebrus channell was all stayned 'ore;
When some braue Greekes, companions then wt h thee,
Forgot their country through the Lotos tree;
I tyn'd the firebrande that (beside thy flight)
Left Polyphemus in eternall nighte;
And lastly to Æœa brought thee on,
Safe from the man-deuouring Læstrigon.
This for Ulysses loue hath Circe done,
And if to live wt h mee thou shalt be wonne;
Aurora's hand shall neuer drawe awaye
The sable vale yt hides ye gladsome daye.
But we new pleasures will beginne to taste,
And, better stille, those we enjoyed laste.
To instance what I canne: Musicke, thy voyce,
And of all those haue felt or wrath the choyce
Appeare; and in a dance 'gin that delight
Which wt h the minutes shall growe infinite.

Here one attir'd like a woodman in all poyntes came forth of ye wood & goeinge tow'ds ye stage sunge this songe, to call away ye firste Antimasque.
Songe.
Come yee whose hornes the cuckold weares,
The whittoll too, wt h asses eares;
Let the wolfe leaue howlinge,
The Baboone his scowlinge,
And Grillus hye
Out of his stye.
Though gruntinge, though barking, though brayeing, yee come,
We'ele make yee daunce quiet and so send yee home.
Nor ginne shall snare you
Nor mastiue scare you,
Nor learne the baboones trickes
Nor Grillus scoffe
From the hogge troughe,
But turne againe vnto the thickes.
Here's none ('tis hop'd) so foolish, scornes
That any els should weare the hornes,
Here's no curre wt h howlinge
Nor an ape wt h scowlinge
Shall mocke or moe
At what you showe.
In jumpinge, in skippinge, in turninge, or oughte
You shall doe to please vs, how well or how noughte.
If there be any
Amonge this many,
Whom such an humour steares,
May he still lye,
In Grillus' stye,
Or weare for euer the Asses eares.

While ye first staffe of this songe was singinge out of ye thickets on eythr side of ye passage came rushinge ye Antimasque, beinge such as by Circe were supposed to haue beene transformed (havinge ye mindes of men still) into theese shapes followinge:

• 2. wt h heartes, heades & bodyes as Actæon is pictur'd.
• 2. like Midas wt h Asses eares.
• 2. like wolues as Lycaon is drawne.
• 2. like Baboons.
• Grillus (of whom Plutarche writes in his morralles) in ye shape of a hogge.

These together dancinge an antike measure tow'rdes ye latter end of yt missd Grillus who was newly slipte away & whilst they were at a stand wondringe what was become of him, the woodman stepte forth & sunge this songe:
Songe.
Grillus is gone, belyke he hath hearde
The dayry-maid knocke at ye trough in ye yearde:
Through thicke & thinne he wallowes
And weighes nor depths nor shallowes.
Harke how he whynes
Run all 'e're he dines
Then serue him a tricke
For beinge so quicke,
And lette him for all his paines
Behold you turne cleane of
His troughe,
And spill all his wash and his graines.
Wt h this ye Triplex of ye i r tune was plaid twice or thrice our, & by turnes brought thē from ye stage; when ye woodman sung this othr staffe of ye last songe, & then ran after them:
And now 'tis wish'd yt all such as hee
Were rooting wt h him at ye troughe or ye tree.
Ffly, fly, from our pure fountaines,
To the darke vales or the mountaines,
Liste some one whines
Wt h voyce like a swines,
As angry yt none
Wt h Grillus is gone,
Or that he is lefte behinde.
O let there be no staye
In his waye,
To hinder the boare from his kinde.

Circe.
How likes Ulysses this!

Ulysses.
........Much like to one
Who in a shipwracke being cast vpon
The froathy shores, and safe beholdes his mates
Equally cross'd by Neptune and the fates.
You might as well haue ask'd how I would like
A straine whose æquall Orpheus could not strike,
Upon a harpe whose stringes none other be,
Then of the harte of chaste Penelope.
O let it be enough that thou in theese
Hast made most wretched Laertiades:
Let yet the sad chance of distressed Greekes
Wt h other teares than Sorrowes dewe your cheekes!
Most abiect basenesse hath enthral'd that breste
Wc h laughs at men by misery oppreste.

Circe.
In this, as lyllies, or ye new-falne snowe
Is Circe spotlesse yet, what though the bowe
Wc h Iris bendes, appeareth to each sight
In various hewes & colours infinite?
The learned knowe that in itselfe is free
And light and shade make that varietye.
Thinges farre off seene seeme not the same they are,
Fame is not ever truth's Discouerer;
For still where enuy meeteth a reporte
Ill she makes worse, & what is Good come shorte.
In whatso'ere this land hath passiue beene
Or she that here 'ore other raigneth Queene
Let wise Ulysses judg. Some I confesse
That tow'rds this Isle not long since did addresse
Their stretched oares, no sooner landed were,
But (carelesse of themselues) they heere & there
Fed on strange fruites, inuenominge their bloodes,
And now like monsters range about the woods.
If those thy mates were, yet is Circe free:
For their misfortunes haue not byrth from mee
Who in th' Apothecaries shoppe hath ta'ne
(Whilst he is wantinge) that wc h breeds his bane,
Should neuer blame the man who there had plac'd it
But his owne folly urginge him to taste it.

Vlysses.
Æœas Queene and great Hyperions pride,
Pardon misdoubtes; and we are satisfide.

Circe.
Swifter the lightninge comes not from aboue,
Then doe our grants borne on the winges of Loue.
And since what's past doth not Ulysses please,
Call to a dance the fair Nereides,
Wt h other Nymphes wc h doe in euery creeke,
In woods, on plaines, on mountaines, symples seeke
For powerfull Circe, and let in a songe
Ecchos be aydinge that they may prolonge
My now com̄and to each place where they be,
To bringe them hither all more speedilye.

Presently in ye wood was heard a full musicke of lutes wc h descendinge to the stage had to them sung this followinge songe, the Ecchos being plac'd in seueral pt s of the passage.
Songe.

Circe bids you come awaye.

Ecch:
Come awaye, come awaye.


From ye riuers, from the sea.

Ecch:
From the sea, from the sea.


From the greene woods euery one.

Ecch:
Euery one, euery one.


Of her maides be missinge none.

Ecch:
Missinge none, missinge none.


No longer stay, except it bee to bringe
A med'cine for loues stinge.
That would excuse you & be held more deare
Then witte or Magicke, for both they are heere.

Ecch:
They are here, they are here.

The Eccho had no sooner answered to y
e last line of the songe, They are here, but the second Antimasque came
in, being seuen Nymphs & were thus attir'd:

Fower in white taffita robes long tresses & chaplets of
flowers, herbs & weeds on their heades w
t h little wicker baskets in y
e i r hands, neatly painted. These were supposed to be maids attending vpon
Circe, & usd in gatheringe simples for their mistresses
enchantments.—(Pausanias in prioribus Eliacis.)

Three in sea greene robes, greenish haire hanging loose
w
t h leaues of corrall & shelles intermixte vpon it. These are by Ouid affirmed to helpe the Nymphes
of Circe in their collections by throse:

These hauinge danc'd a most curious measure to a softer tune
then y
e first Antimasque as most fitting returned as they came; the Nereides tow'rds y
e cliffes & ye other maides of Circe to y
e woods & plaines, after wc h Ulysses, thus:

Ulysses.
Fame addes not to thy ioyes, I see in this,
But like a high & stately Pyramis
Growes least at farthest; now, faire Circe, grante
Although the faire-hair'd Greeks do neuer vaunte,
That they in measur'd paces ought haue done,
But where the god of battailes ledd them on;
Give leaue that (freed from sleepe) ye small remaine
Of my companions on the under plaine
May in a dance striue how to pleasure thee
Eyther wt h skill or wt h varietye.

Circe.
Circe is pleas'd; Ulysses, take my wand
And from their eyes each child of sleepe com̄and;
Whilst my choyce maides wt h their harmonious voyces
(Whereat each byrd and dancinge springe reioyces)
Charminge the windes when they contrary meete,
Shall make their spirits as nimble as their feete.