The Workes of Benjamin Jonson

GENIUS.
Time, Fate, and Fortune have at length conspir'd,
To give our Age the day so much desir'd.
What all the minutes, houres, weekes, months, and yeares,
That hang in file upon these silver haires,
Could not produce, beneath the

As being the first free and natural government of this iland, after it came to civilitie.

Britaine stroke,
The Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman

In respect they were all Conquests, and the obedience of the subject more enforced.

yoke,
This point of Time hath done. Now London, reare
Thy forehead high, and on it strive to weare
Thy choisest gems; teach thy steepe Towres to rise
Higher with people: set with sparkling eyes
Thy spacious windowes; and in every street,
Let thronging joy, love, and amazement meet.
Cleave all the ayre with shouts, and let the cry
Strike through as long, and universally,
As thunder; for, thou now art blist to see
That sight, for which thou didst begin to bee.
When

Rather than the Citie should want a Founder, wee choose to follow the received storie of Brute, whether fabulous, or true; and not altogether unwarranted in Poetry: since it is a favor of Antiquitie to few Cities, to let them know their first Authors. Besides, a learned Poet of our time, in a most elegant Work of his Con. Tam. & Isis, celebrating London, hath this verse of her: Æmula maternæ tollens sua lumina Troie..

Here is also an ancient rite alluded to in the building of Cities, which was, to give them their bounds with a plough, according to Virg. Aen. lib. 10. Interea Aeneas urbem designat Aratro. And Isidore, lib. 15. cap. 2. Urbs vocata ab orbe, quod antiquæ civitates in orbem fiebant; vel ab urbo parte aratri, quo muri designabantur, unde est illud. Optauitque locum regno & concludere sulco.

Brutus plough first gave thee infant bounds,
And I, thy Genius walkt auspicious rounds

In every

Primigenius sulcus dicitur, qui in condenda nova urbe, tauro & vacca designationis causa imprimatur; Hitherto respects that of Camd. Brit. 368. speaking of this Citie, Quicunque autem condiderit, vitali genio constructam fuisse ipsius fortuna docuit.

furrow; then did I fore-looke,
And saw this day

For so all happie dayes were. Plin. cap. 40. lib. 7. Nat. Hist. To which Horace alludes, lib. 1. Ode 36. Cressâ ne careat pulchra dies nota. And the other, Plin. epist. 11 lib. 6. O diem lætum, notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo. With many other in many places. Mart. lib. 8. epist. 45. lib. 9. epist. 53. lib. 10. 38 lib. 11. 37. Stat. lib. 4. Syl. 6. Pers. Sat. 2. Catull. Epig. 69. &c.

mark't white in

The Parcæ, or Fates, Martianus calls them scribas ac librarias superum; whereof Clotho is said to be the eldest, signifying in Latine Eucatio.

Clotho's booke.
The severall

Those before mentioned of the Britaine, Roman, Saxon, &c. and to this Register of the Fates allude those verses of Ovid Met. 15.—Cernes illic molimine vasio, Ex aerae, & solido rerum tabularia ferro: Que neque concussum cœli, neque fulminis Iram, Nec metuunt ullas tuta atque aeterna ruinas, Inuenies illis incisa adamante perenni Fata &c.—

circles, both of change and sway,
Within this Isle, there also figur'd lay:
Of which the greatest, perfectest, and last
Was this, whose present happinesse we tast.
Why keepe you silence daughters? What dull peace
Is this inhabits you? Shall office cease
Upon th'aspect of him, to whom you owe
More than you are, or can be? Shall Time know
That article, wherein your flame stood still,
And not aspir'd? Now heaven avert an ill
Of that black looke. Ere pause possesse your brests
I wish you more of plagues: “Zeale when it rests,
Leaves to be zeale. Up thou tame River, wake;
And from thy liquid limbes this slumber shake:
Thou drown'st thy selfe in inofficious sleepe;
And these thy sluggish waters seeme to creepe,
Rather than flow. Up, rise, and swell with pride
Above thy bankes. “Now is not every tide.

TAMESIS.
To what vaine end should I contend to show
My weaker powers, when seas of pompe o'reflow
The Cities face: and cover all the shore
With sands more rich than

A River dividing Spaine and Portugal, and by the consent of Poets stil'd aurifer.

Tagus wealthy ore?
When in the floud of joy, that comes with him,
He drownes the world; yet makes it live and swimme,
And spring with gladnesse: not my fishes here,
Though they be dumbe, but doe expresse the cheere
Of these bright streames. No lesse may

Vnderstanding Euphrosyne, Sebasis, Prothumia, &c.

these, and I
Boast our delights, albe't we silent lie.

GENIUS.

Indeed, true gladnesse doth not alwayes speake:
Joy bred, and borne but in the tongue, is weake.
Yet (lest the fervour of so pure a flame
As this my Citie beares, might lose the name,
Without the apt eventing of her heat)
Know greatest James (and no lesse good, than great,)
In the behalfe of all my vertuous sonnes,
Whereof my

The Lord Major, who for his yeare, hath senior place of the rest, and for the day was chiefe Serjeant to the King.

eldest there, thy pompe fore-runnes,

(A man without my flattering, or his Pride,
As worthy, as he's

Above the blessing of his present office, the word had some particular allusion to his Name, which is Benet, and hath (no doubt) in time been the contraction of Benedict.

blest to be thy guide)
In his grave name, and all his brethrens right,
(Who thirst to drink the nectar of thy sight)
The Councell, Commoners, and multitude;
(Glad, that this day so long deny'd, is view'd)
I tender thee the heartiest welcome, yet
That ever King had to his

The Citie, which title is toucht before.

Empires seat:
Never came man, more long'd for, more desir'd:
And being come, more reverenc'd, lov'd, admir'd:
Heare, and record it: “In a Prince it is
“No little vertue, to know who are his.

To the Prince.

With like devotions, doe I stoope t'embrace
This springing glory of thy

An attribute given to great persons, fitly above other humanity, and in frequent use with all the Greeke Poets, especially Homer. Iliad. αδιος Αχιλλευς. And in the same booke. —αντιθεον Πολυφημον.

god-like race;
His Countries wonder, hope, love, joy and pride:
How well doth hee become the royall side
Of this erected, and broad spreading Tree,
Under whose shade, may Britaine ever be.
And from this Branch, may thousand Branches more
Shoot o're the maine, and knit with every shore
In bonds of marriage, kinred, and increase;
And stile this land, the

As Luctatius calls Parnassus, Umbilicum terræ.

navill of their peace.
This is your servants wish, your Cities vow,
Which still shall propagate it selfe, with you;
And free from spurres of hope, that slow minds move:
“He seekes no hire, that owes his life to love.

To the Queene.

And here shee comes that is no lesse a part
In this dayes greatnesse, than in my glad heart.
Glory of Queenes, and

An emphatical speech, and well re-enforcing her greatnesse; being by this match, more than either her brother, father, &c.

glory of your name,
Whose graces doe as farre out-speak your fame,
As Fame doth silence, when her trumpet rings
You

Daughter to Frederick second King of Denmarke, and Norway, sister to Christierne the fourth now there reigning, and wife to James our Soveraigne.

daughter, sister, wife of severall Kings:
Besides alliance, and the stile of mother,
In which one title you drowne all your other.
Instance, be

The Prince Henry Frederick.

that faire shoot, is gone before,
Your eldest joy, and top of all your store,
With

Charles Duke of Rothsey, and the Lady Elizabeth.

those, whose sight to us is yet deny'd,
But not our zeale to them, or ought beside
This Citie can to you: For whose estate
Shee hopes you will be still good advocate
To her best Lord. So, whilst you mortall are,
No taste of sowre mortalitie once dare
Approach your house; nor fortune greet your Grace,
But comming on, and with a forward face.

GENIUS.

Stay, what art thou, that in this strange attire,
Dar'st kindle stranger, and un-hallowed fire
Upon this Altar?

Fl.
Rather what art thou
That dar'st so rudely interrupt my vow?
My habit speakes my name.

Ge.
A Flamen?

Fl.
Yes,
And

Of Mars whose rites (as wee have to toucht before) this Flamin did specially celebrate.

Martialis call'd.

Ge.
I so did ghesse
By my short view; but whence didst thou ascend
Hither? or how? or to what mystick end?

Fl.
The noyse, and present tumult of this day,
Rowsd me from sleep, and silence, where I lay
Obscur'd from light; which when I wakt to see,
I wondring thought what this great pompe might bee.
When (looking in my Kalender) I found
The

VVith us the 15 of March, which was the present day of this triumph: and on which the great feast of Anna Perenna (among the Romans) was yearely, and with such solemnity remembred. Ovi. Fast. 3. Idibus est, Anne festum geniale Perennæ. Haud procul à ripis, &c.

Ides of March were entred, and I bound
With these, to celebrate the geniall feast
Of

Who this Anna should be (with the Romans themselves) hath been no trifling controversie. Some have thought her fabulously the sister of Dido, some a Nymph of Numicius, some Io, some Themis. Others an old woman of Bovilla, that fed the seditious multitude, in Monte sacro, with wafers, and fine cakes, in time of their penurie: To whom, afterward (in memory of the benefit) their peace being made with the nobles, they ordayned this feast. Yet, they that have thought nearest, have mist all these, and directly imagined her the Moone. And that shee was called ANNA. Quia mensibus impleat annum, Ovid. ibid. To which, the vow that they used in her rites, somewhat confirmingly alludes which was, Ut Annare, & Perannare commode liceret, Mocr. Sat. lib. 1. cap. 12.

Anna still'd Perenna,

So Ovid. ibid. Fast. makes Mars speaking to her, Mense meo coleris, iunxi mea tempora tecum.

Mars his guest,

Who, in this month of his, is yearely call'd
To banquet at his altars; and instal'd

Nuper erat dea facta, &c. ibid. Ovid.

A goddesse with him, since she fils the yeare,
And

Where is understood the meeting of the Zodiack in March, the month wherein she is celebrated.

knits the oblique scarfe that girts the spheare.
Whilest fourefac'd Janus turnes his

That face wherewith he beholds the Spring.

vernall look
Upon their meeting houres, as if he took
High pride and pleasure.

Ge.
Sure thou still dost dreame,
And both thy tongue, and thought rides on the streame
Of phantasie: Behold here he nor she,
Have any altar, fane, or deity.
Stoope: read but this

Written upon the Altar, for which we referre you to the page 83.

inscription: and then view
To whom the place is consecrate. 'Tis true
That this is Janus temple, and that now
He turnes upon the yeare his freshest brow:
That this is Mars his month; and these the Ides,
Wherein his Anne was honor'd; both the tides,
Titles, and place, we know: but these dead rites
Are long since buryed, and new power excites
More high and hearty flames. Loe, there is he,
Who brings with him a

The Queen: to answer which in our inscription we spake to the King MARTE MAIORI.

greater Anne than she:
Whose strong and potent vertues have

The Temple of Ianus we apprehend to be both the house of War, and Peace: of war, when it is open, of peace when it is shut: And that there, each over the other is interchangeably placed, to the vicissitude of times.

defac'd
Sterne Mars his statues, and upon them plac'd
His,

Which are Peace, Rest, Liberty, Safety, &c. and were his actively, but the worlds passively.

and the Worlds blest blessings: This hath brought
Sweet peace to sit in that bright State she ought,
Unbloody, or untroubled; hath forc'd hence
All tumults, feares, or other dark portents
That might invade weak minds; hath made men see
Once more the face of welcome liberty:
And doth (in all his present acts) restore
That first pure World, made of the better ore.
Now innocence shall cease to be the spoyle
Of ravenous greatnesse, or to steep the soyle
Of raysed pesantry with teares, and blood;
No more shall rich men (for their little good)
Suspected to be made guilty; or vile spies
Enjoy the lust of their so murdring eyes:
Men shall put off their yron minds, and hearts;
The time forget his old malicious arts
With this new minute; and no print remaine
Of what was thought the former ages staine.
Back, Flamen, with thy superstitious fumes,
And cense not here; Thy ignorance presumes
Too much, in acting any Ethnick rite
In this translated temple: here no wight,
To sacrifice, save my devotion comes,
That brings in stead of those thy

Somewhat a strāge Epithite in our tongue, but proper to the thing: for they were only Masculine odors, which were offerd to the Altars, Vir. Ecl. 8. Verbenasq adole pingueis, & mascula Tura. And Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 12. cap. 14. speaking of these, hath Quod ex eo rotunditate guttæ pependit, Masculum vocamus, cum alias non ferè mas vocetur, ubi non sit fœmina: religioni tributum ne sexus alter usurparetur. Masculum aliqui putant à specie testium dictum. See him also, lib. 34. cap. 11. And, Aruch. lib. 7. advers. Gent. Non si mille tu pondera masculi tharis incendas, &c.

masculine gums.

My Cities heart; which shall for ever burne
Upon this Altar, and no time shall turne
The same to ashes: here I fixe it fast,
Flame bright, flame high, and may it ever last.
Whilst I, before the figure of thy peace,
Still tend the fire; and give it quick increase
With prayers, wishes, vows; whereof be these
The least, and weakest: that no age may leese
The memory of this so rich a day;
But rather, that it henceforth yearely may
Begin our spring, and with our spring the prime,
And

According to Romulus his institutiō, who made March the first month, and consecrated it to his father, of whom it was called Martius. Varro. Fest. in Frag. Martius mensis initium anni fuit, & in Latio, & post Romani conditam, &c. And Ovid. Fast. 3. A te principium Romano dicimus anno: Primus de patrio nomine mensis erit. Vox rata sit, &c. See Macr. lib. 1. Sat. cap. 12. and Solin. in Poly. Hist. cap. 3. Quòd hoc mense mercedes exolverint magistris, quas completas annus deberi feoffet, &c.

first accompt of yeares, of months,

Some, to whom we have read this, have taken it for a Tautologie, thinking Time enough expressed before in yeares, and months. For whose ignorant sakes we must confesse to have taken the better part of this travaile in noting, a thing not usuall, neither affected of us, but where there is necessity, as here, to avoid their dull censures: where in yeares and months we alluded to that is observed in our former note: but by Time we understand the present, and that from this instant, we should begin to reckon and make this the first, of our time. Which is also to be helpe by Emphasis.

of time:
And may these Ides as fortunate appeare
To thee, as they to

In which he was slaine in the Senate.

Cæsar fatall were.
Be all thy thoughts borne perfect, and thy hopes
In their events still crown'd beyond their scopes.
Let not wide heav'n that secret blessing know
To give, which she on thee will not bestow.
Blind Fortune be thy slave; and may her store
(The lesse thou seek'st it) follow thee the more.
Much more I would: but see, these brazen gates
Make haste to close, as urged by thy fates;
Here ends my Cities office, here it breakes:
Yet with my tongue, and this pure heart, she speakes
A short farewell; and lower than thy feet,
With fervent thankes, thy Royall paines doth greet.
Pardon, if my abruptnesse breed disease;
“He merits not t'offend, that hastes to please.

THE SPEECH.

ELECTRA.

The long

Fest. Avi. paraph. Pars ait Idæa deflentem incendia Trojæ, Et numerosa suæ lugentem funera gentis, Electram tetris mœstum dare nubibus orbem. Besides the reference to antiquity, this speech might be understood by Allegory of the Towne here, that had been so ruined with sicknesse, &c.

laments I spent for ruin'd Troy,
Are dried; and now mine eyes run teares of joy.
No more shall men suppose Electra dead,
Though from the consort of her sisters fled
Unto the

Hyginus. Sed postquam Troia suit capta, & Progenies eius quae à Dardano suit eversa, dolore permotam ab his se remouisse, & in circulo qui Arcticus dicitur constitisse, &c.

Artick circle, here to grace,
And gild this day with her

Electra signifies Serenity it selfe, and is compounded of ηλιος, which is the Sunne, and αθριος, that signifies serene. Sire is mentioned to be Anime sphære solis, by Proclus. Com. in Hesiod.

serenest face:
And see, my

She is also faind to be the mother of the Raine-bow. Nascitur enim Iris ex aqua & serenitate, è refractione radiorum scilicet. Arist. in Meteorol.

daughter Iris hastes to throw
Her roseat wings in compasse of a bow,

About our State, as

Val. Flac. Argonaut. I. makes the rainbow, indicem serenitatis. Emicuit rescrata dies, cœumq resolvit Arcus, & in summos redierunt nubila montes.

signe of my approach:
Attracting to her seate from

A name of the Sun. Stat. The. lib. l. for quentem cornua Mithran. And Martian. Capel. lib. 3. de nup. Mer. & Phil. Te serapim Nilus, Memphis veneratur Osirin; Dissona sacra Mithran, &c.

Mithras coach,
A thousand different, and particular hiewes,
Which she throughout her body doth diffuse.
The Sun, as loth to part from this halfe Spheare,
Stands still; and Phœbe labors to appeare
In all as bright (if not as rich) as he:
And, for a note of more serenity,
My six

Alcyone, Celæno, Taygete, Asterope, Merope, Maia. which are also said to be the soules of the other Spheares, as Electra of the Sun. Proclus, ibi in com. Alcyone Veneris. Celœno Saturni, Taygete Lunæ. Asterope Iovis, Merope Martis. Maia Mercurii.

faire sisters hither shift their lights;
To do this hower the utmost of her rites.
Where lest the captious, or prophane might doubt,
How these cleare heavenly bodies come about
All to be seen at once; yet neithers light
Eclips'd, or shadow'd by the others sight:
Let ignorance know, great King, this day is thine,
And doth admit no night; but all do shine
As well nocturnall, as diurnall fires,
To adde unto the flame of our desires.
Which are (now thou hast closd up

Alluding back to that of our Temple.

Janus gates,
And giv'n so generall peace to all Estates)
That no offensive mist, or cloudy staine
May mixe with splendor of thy golden raigne;
But, as th'ast free'd thy

London.

Chamber, from the noyse
Of war and tumult; thou wilt powre those joyes
Upon

His City of Westminster, in whose name and at whose charge, together with the Duchy of Lancaster this arch was erected.

this place, which claimes to be

Since here, they not only sate being crowned, but also first received their Crowns.

the seate
Of all the kingly race: the cabinet
To all thy counsels; and the judging chaire
To this thy speciall Kingdome. Who so faire
And wholsome laws, in every Court, shall strive
By Æquity, and their first innocence to thrive;
The base and guilty bribes of guiltier men
Shall be thrown back, and Justice look, as when
She lov'd the earth, and fear'd not to be sold
For that,

Hor. Car. l. 4. Ode. 9. Ducentis ad se cuncta pecuniæ.

which worketh all things to it, gold.

The Dam of other evils, avarice
Shall here locke down her jaws, and that rude vice
Of ignorant, and pittied greatnesse, pride,
Decline with shame; ambition now shall hide
Her face in dust, as dedicate to sleep,
That in great portals wont her watch to keep.
All ils shall fly the light: Thy Court be free
No lesse from envy, than from flattery;
All tumult, faction, and harsh discord cease,
That might perturbe the musick of thy peace:
The querulous nature shall no longer finde
Room for his thoughts: One pure consent of minde
Shall flow in every brest, and not the ayre,
Sun, Moon, or Stars shine more serenely faire.

This from that loud, blest Oracle, I sing,
Who here, and first, pronounc'd thee Brittaines King.
Long maist thou live, and see me thus appeare,
As ominous

For our more authorite to induce her thus, See Fest. Auien paraph. in Arat. speaking of Electra, Nonquam Oceani tamen istam surgere ab undis, In convexa poli, sed sede carere sororum; Atque os discretum procul edere, deteflatam. Germanosque chores sobolis lachrymare ruinas Diffusomq comas cerni, crinisque soluti Monstrari effigie, &c.

a Comet, from my Spheare,
Unto thy raigne; as that

All Comets were not fatall, some were forunately ominous, as this to which we allude; and wherefore we have Plinies testimony. Nat. Histo. lib. 2 cap. 25. Cometes in uno totius orbis loco colitur in templo Romæ, admodum faustus Diuo Augusto judicatus ab ipso: qui incipiente eo, apparuit ludis quos faciebat Veneri G{a}trici, non multò post obitum patris Cæsaris, in colegio ab eo, instituto. Namque his verbis id gaudium prodidit. Iis ipsis Judorum meorum diebus, sydus crinitum per septem dies in regione Cœli, quæ sub Septentrionibus est, conspectum. Id oriebatur circa undecimam horam diei, clarumque & omnibus terris conspicuum fuit. Eo sydere significari vulgus credidit, Cæsaris animam inter Deorum immortalium numina receptam: quo nomine id insigne simulacro capitis, ejus, quod mox in foro consecravimus, adjectum est. Hæc ille in publicum, interiore gaudio sibi illum, natum seq in eo nasci interpretatus est. Et si verum satemur, salutare id terris fuit.

did auspicate
So lasting glory to Augustus State.

THE END.

University of Virginia Library

PART OF THE KINGS ENTERTAINMENT, IN PASSING TO HIS CORONATION.

The speeches of Gratulation.

THE SPEECH.