網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

And one to the charnel-and one, Oh where?
The dark arrow fled

In the noon.

Ere the sun through heaven once more has rolled,

The rats in her heart

Will have made their nest,

And the worms be alive in her golden hair,

While the spirit that guides the sun

Sits throned in his flaming chair,

[blocks in formation]

The Pageant to [celebrate] the arrival of the Queen,

A Pursuivant. PLACE for the Marshal of the Masque ! 1st. Speaker. What thinkest thou of this quaint masque, which turns,

Like morning from the shadow of the night,

The night to day, and London to a place

Of peace and joy?

2nd. Speaker. And Hell to Heaven.

Eight years are gone,

And they seem hours, since in this populous street

I trod on grass made green by summer's rain,

For the red plague kept state within that palace
Where now reigns vanity-in nine years more
The roots will be refreshed with civil blood;
And thank the mercy of insulted Heaven
That sin and wrongs wound as an orphan's cry,
The patience of the great avenger's ear.

3rd Spe. (a youth). Yet, father, tis a happy sight to see, Beautiful, innocent, and unforbidden

By God or man ;—'tis like the bright procession

Of skiey visions in a solemn dream

From which men wake as from a paradise,

And draw new strength to tread the thorns of life.
If God be good, wherefore should this be evil?
And if this be not evil, dost thou not draw
Unseasonable poison from the flowers

Which bloom so rarely in this barren world?

Oh, kill these bitter thoughts which make the present
Dark as the future !-

[blocks in formation]

When avarice and tyranny, vigilant fear,

And open-eyed conspiracy, lie sleeping

As on Hell's threshold; and all gentle thoughts
Waken to worship him who giveth joys

With his own gift.

2nd Spe. How young art thou in this old age of time! How green in this grey world! Canst thou not think

Of change in that low scene, in which thou art

Not a spectator but an actor? [

[ocr errors]

The day that dawns in fire will die in storms,

Even though the noon be calm. My travel's done;

Before the whirlwind wakes I shall have found

My inn of lasting rest, but thou must still

Be journeying on in this inclement air.

*

1st Spe. That

Is the Archbishop.

2nd Spe. Rather say the Pope.

London will be soon his Rome: he walks
As if he trod upon the heads of men.

He looks elate, drunken with blood and gold;-
Beside him moves the Babylonian woman
Invisibly, and with her as with his shadow,

Mitred adulterer! he is joined in sin,

Which turns Heaven's milk of mercy to revenge. Another Citizen (lifting up his eyes). Good Lord! rain it down upon him. [

[ocr errors]

Amid her ladies walks the papist queen,

As if her nice feet scorned our English earth.

There's old Sir Henry Vane, the Earl of Pembroke,

Lord Essex, and Lord Keeper Coventry,

And others who made base their English breed
By vile participation of their honours

With papists, atheists, tyrants, and apostates.
When lawyers mask 'tis time for honest men
To strip the vizor from their purposes.

*

*

*

*

*

*

4th Spe. a (pursuivant) Give place, give place! You torch-bearers advance to the great gate, And then attend the Marshal of the Masque

Into the Royal presence.

Fifth Spe. (a law student). What thinkest thou

Of this quaint show of ours, my aged friend?

Ist Spe. I will not think but that our country's wounds May yet be healed-The king is just and gracious,

Though wicked counsels now pervert his will:

These once cast off

2nd Spe. As adders cast their skins

And keep their venom, so kings often change;
Councils and counsellors hang on one another,

[merged small][ocr errors]

Like the base patchwork of a leper's rags.

3d Sp. Oh, still those dissonant thoughts-List, loud music Grows on the enchanted air! And see, the torches Restlessly flashing, and the crowd divided

Like waves before an admiral's prow.

[blocks in formation]

Another Spe. Give place

To the Marshal of the Masque !

*

3rd Spe. How glorious! See those thronging chariots Rolling like painted clouds before the wind:

Some are

Like curved shells dyed by the azure depths
Of Indian seas; some like the new-born moon;
And some like cars in which the Romans climbed
(Canopied by Victory's eagle-wings outspread)
The Capitolian-See how gloriously

The mettled horses in the torchlight stir
Their gallant riders, while they check their pride
Like the shapes of some diviner element !
2nd Spe. Aye, there they are-
Nobles, and sons of nobles, patentees,
Monopolists, and stewards of this poor farm,
On whose lean sheep sit the prophetic crows.
Here is the pomp that strips the houseless orphan,
Here is the pride that breaks the desolate heart.
These are the lilies glorious as Solomon,
Who toil not, neither do they spin,-unless
It be the webs they catch poor rogues withal.
Here is the surfeit which to them who earn
The niggard wages of the earth, scarce leaves
The tithe that will support them till they crawl
Back to its cold hard bosom. Here is health
Followed by grim disease, glory by shame,

Waste by lame famine, wealth by squalid want,
And England's sin by England's punishment.
And, as the effect pursues the cause foregone,
Lo, giving substance to my words, behold
At once the sign and the thing signified—
A troop of cripples, beggars, and lean outcasts,
Horses upon stumbling shapes, carted with dung,
Dragged for a day from cellars and low cabins
And rotten hiding-holes to point the moral
Of this presentiment, and bring up the rear
Of painted pomp with misery!

[blocks in formation]

The anti-masque, and serves as discords do
In sweetest music. Who would love May flowers
If they succeeded not to Winter's flaw;

Or day unchanged by night; or joy itself
Without the touch of sorrow?

SCENE II.

A Chamber in Whitehall.

Enter the KING, QUEEN, LAUD, WENTWORTH, and
ARCHY.

King. Thanks, gentlemen. I heartily accept
This token of your service: your gay masque

Was performed gallantly.

Queen. And, gentlemen,

Call your poor Queen your debtor. Your quaint pageant

Rose on me like the figures of past years,

Treading their still path back to infancy,

More beautiful and mild as they draw nearer

« 上一頁繼續 »