University of Virginia Library

THE NEW CHARON,

Upon the Death of Henry Lord Hastings.

The Speakers, Charon and Eucosmeia.
Euc.
Charon, O Charon, draw thy Boat to th'Shore,
And to thy many, take in one soul more.

Cha.
Who calls? who calls?

Euc.
One overwhelm'd with ruth;
Have pity either on my tears or Youth,
And take me in, who am in deep Distress;
But first cast off thy wonted Churlishness.

Cha.
I will be gentle as that Air which yeelds
A breath of balm along the Elizean fields.
Speak, what art thou?

Euc.
One, once that had a lover,
Then which, thy self ne'er wafted sweeter over.
He was—

Cha.
Say what.

Euc.
Ay me, my woes are deep.

Cha.
Prethee relate, while I give ear and weep.

Euc.
He was an Hastings; and that one Name has
In it all good, that is, and ever was.
He was my Life, my Love, my Joy; but di'd
Some hours before I should have been his Bride.

Chorus.
Thus, thus the gods celestial still decree,
For Humane Joy, Contingent Misery.

Euc.
The hallowed Tapers all preparèd were,
And Hymen call'd to bless the Rites.

Cha.
Stop there.

Euc.
Great are my woes.

Cha.
And great must that Grief be,
That makes grim

Charon
thus to pity thee.
But now come in.

Euc.
More let me yet relate.

Cha.
I cannot stay; more souls for waftage wait,
And I must hence.

Euc.
Yet let me thus much know,
Departing hence, where Good and Bad souls go.

Cha.
Those souls which ne'er were drencht in pleasures stream,
The Fields of Pluto are reserv'd for them;
Where, drest with garlands, there they walk the ground,
Whose blessèd Youth with endless flow'rs is crown'd.
But such as have been drown'd in this wilde sea,
For those is kept the Gulf of Hecatè;
Where, with their own contagion they are fed;
And there do punish, and are punishèd.
This known, the rest of thy sad story tell,
When on the Flood that nine times circles Hell.

Chorus.
We sail along, to visit mortals never;
But there to live, where Love shall last for ever.