University of Virginia Library

For the first Act.

After a confused noyse and Musicke out of tune, Nature enters as amaz'd at it.
What horrour wakes me! and disturbs the peace
I sate inthron'd in? shall dissention ruine
Eternall acts? Hath the great deity
Made me his instrument, and shall my power
Be slighted so by their rebellious difference?
Cease mutiny, or be your owne destructions.
Accurst confusion that neglects the forme
Nature prescribes. I rather would preserve yee:
That in distinguisht order yee might shew
The glory of my worke; each in his spheare
Subscribing to my better government.
But my commands are uselesse. Their deafe wills
Persist to act their owne and my sad ills.

To her Ianus.
Where's my delight! whence is this sad dejection?
How amaz'd Nature stands! Have our imbraces
Brought forth a race of elementall formes
That live in simple bodies, to be made
Pregnant for other births, and will she now
Neglect their teeming? I would be a Grandfather,
And see my issue multiply.

Nature.
Oh husband!
Our union hath beene vaine; our off-spring proves
A rebell to our peace, and natures lawes.
Light fire descends to earth, beneath whose weight
He grones to be deliver'd, till with struggling
He lifts earth up, in whose repression ayre
Contracts his forces to extinguish fire.
Againe; fire from this mutinous assault
Doubles his strength; when straight ambitious water
Climbing his seate consumes her selfe in flames.
Thus fire, ayre, water, earth, each would be all,
And are made neither; but a confus'd masse,
And indigested Chaos.

Ianus.
Am I Ianus,
(The figure of eternall providence)
And shall this disobedience scape the stroke
Of my sever'st correction? Fire I shall lash you,
And make your nimble pyramides skip upward.
Ile chaine earth to her centre. Ayre had best
Confine himselfe to his three regions,
Or else Ile disinherit him. If water
Exceed her bounds.

To them the foure Elements, with their severall ανθρωποι φανατικοι, (which Paracelsus calleth homines spirituales) playing on antique instruments out of tune.
Nat.
See; the dissentious come
Maz'd in the errours of their owne confusion:
As if their dissolution should precede
Their yet not perfect being. How my griefes
Presse downe the organes of my utterance,
And choake words in their passage! Speake good Ianus.

Ian.
Yee disobedient children of that love
That joyn'd us to produce yee.

Fire.
Stop good father,
Our wills are deafe to counsaile.

Ayre.
Or to threats.
Set both your browes with wrinckles, and put on
Th'austerest anger, wee'l be aw'd by none
But our owne wills.

Wat.
Ile quench my brothers flames,
Or burne my selfe into him. My cold moysture
Shall not be ty'd t'embrace as cold a sister,
And not ascend above them.

Earth.
Ile be active
As ayre or fire. Else with my ponderous weight
Ile presse their climbing heads beneath my centre;
And by inversion bury them within me,
'Till earthquakes shatter all, and finall ruine
Dilate their passage.

Fire.
Are we not one birth?
Why then should there be a precedency,
And not an equall power of all first qualities?
Be not you partiall parents, wee'l obey
The government of nature.

Ayre.
Otherwise
With our owne strength we'l prosecute this warre
'Till ruine stop's it.

Ian.
Stubborne boyes, Ile yoake yee
In such a bondage.

Nat.
Gentle husband try
Perswasions strength: Perhaps 'twill better worke
Vpon the temper of their fiercer nature.
I am your mother; let me reconcile yee:
That in your peace I may preserve the order
Of my intended worke. Should fire forsake
His lofty mansion, and infect his flames
With grosser weight, it would benumbe his activenesse,
And make his motion dull. Were my pure ayre
Pent in his sisters entrailes, her foule veines
Would soone infect him. What creation mean't
In your diversities, your rash ambitions
Must not pervert. Since providence hath made yee
The meanes for many ends, dispute not them,
Nor your owne thought-defects: each is supply'd
With a perfection, and an equall worth
Distinguisht in proportion; but the excellence
Of your owne attributes cannot appeare,
Whilst you disturbe the distribution
Of them to other formes, which from your mixtures
Must enter different bodies of the first,
Second, third, fourth, fifth composition.
Vapours & exhalations; meteors; vegetables
And minerals; animals, and lastly man,

Homo dicitur αποτης ομονοιας; non ab humo, ut aliq volunt.

Call'd so from concord: for he doth contain
A harmony of parts, and in them figure
His end of being. Let not then your wills
Persist in this rebellious mutiny,
And hinder high intendments. Pray agree,
And leave the reason of such acts to me.

Fire.
Vaine oratory. Think you us so easie
To be o'recome by words! swell high my rage,
And with licentious fury breake the tyes
Of these too weake commands.

Ayre.
Let's on to fight,
Whilst the yet discord of the untun'd spheares
Add's courage, and delights our warlike eares.

The 4. Elements and their creatures dance a confused dance to their owne antique musicke: in which they seeme to fight with one another: and so goe forth confusedly.
Nat.
What shall we doe? The universall fabrick
Will be everted, if this war continue:
Let's sue to Love; his power may be prevailing.

To them Love.
Love.
See; Love appeares at thy request,
Thou cause of motion and of rest.
Thou greater powers great substitute,
Whose will and acts none must dispute.
Thou that form'st the best of things
From thought-impossibles, and brings
Contrary matters to produce
Another difference, then the use
Of a meere quality in one
Can worke unto perfection.
Thou that thy secrets dost unlock
To propagate a lasting stock;
And multiply that th'issue might
Be little lesse then infinite.
Thou mother of all that is found
Within this universall round,
What is thy will with Love?

Nat.
Oh gentle power
Thou that art Natures soule, and the beginning
Of every humane thing: that giv'st them lawes.
And to thy selfe art law. Figure of peace;
That to thy godheads attribute annext
The quiet order of the worlds vast frame
To have its forme and being from thy rule;
Which must be now imperious or its ruine
Will prevent time. The mutinous elements
Have ras'd rebellion, and dis-joynted quite
The order of their fabrick. The pure heavens
(Whose motion should be harmony) rowle crosse,
And bend their Axletree, 'till both the poles
Doe kisse each others ends. Then rectifie
Great Love this dire confusion.

Love.
Whilst the following song is singing, the first Scene appeares; being a spheare in which the 4. Elements are figur'd, and about it they fit imbracing one another.
The Song.

Nat.
Nature must pay Love thanks for this great worke
Of reconciliation. May the peace
Be lasting as your selves, and no ambition
Move a new warre: but from your loving mixtures
New generation follow.

Love.
The dance.
They returne into the Scene, and it closeth.