Have power to hurt by cruel heat or cold,
Under the climate of the milder heaven;
Where seldom lights Jove's angry thunderbolt,
For favour of that sovereign earthly peer;
Where whistling winds make music 'mong the
trees,-

Far from disturbance of our country gods,
Amids the cypress-springs *, a gracious nymph,
That honours + Dian for her chastity,
And likes the labours well of Phoebe's groves;
The place Elyzium hight, and of the place
Her name that governs there Eliza is;

A kingdom that may well compare with mine,
An ancient seat of kings, a second Troy,
Y-compass'd round with a commodious sea:
Her people are y-clepèd‡ Angeli,
Or, if I miss, a letter is the most:
She giveth laws of justice and of peace;
And on her head, as fits her fortune best,
She wears a wreath of laurel, gold, and palm;

Her robes of purple and of scarlet dye;
Her veil of white, as best befits a maid:
Her ancestors live in the House of Fame:
She giveth arms of happy victory,

And flowers to deck her lions crown'd with gold.
This peerless nymph, whom heaven and earth
This paragon, this only, this is she,

[belove,

In whom do meet so many gifts in one,
On whom our country gods so often gaze,
In honour of whose name the Muses sing;
In state Queen Juno's peer, for power in arms
And virtues of the mind Minerva's mate,
As fair and lovely as the Queen of Love,
As chaste as Dian in her chaste desires:
The same is she, if Phoebe do no wrong,
To whom this ball in merit doth belong.

Pal. If this be she whom some Zabeta call,
To whom thy wisdom well bequeaths the ball,
I can remember, at her day of birth,
How Flora with her flowers strew'd the earth,
How every power with heavenly majesty
In person honour'd that solemnity.

Juno. The lovely Graces were not far away, They threw their balm for triumph of the day. Ven. The Fates against their kind§ began a

cheerful song,

And vow'd her life with favour to prolong. Then first gan Cupid's eyesight wexen dim; Belike Eliza's beauty blinded him.

cypress-springs] i. e. cypress-woods.

+ Aonours] The 4to. "honour."

y-cleped) i. e. called.

$ against their kind] Qy. "'gainst kind" ?-kind, i.e. nature.

To this fair nymph, not earthly, but divine, Contents it me my honour to resign.

Pal. To this fair queen, so beautiful and wise, Pallas bequeaths her title in the prize.

Juno. To her whom Juno's looks so well

become,

The Queen of Heaven yields at Phoebe's* doom; And glad I am Diana found the art,

Without offence so well to please desert.

Dia. Then mark my tale. The usual time is nigh, When wont the Dames of Life and Destiny, In robes of cheerful colours, to repair To this renowned queen so wise and fair, With pleasant songs this peerless nymph to greet; Clotho lays down her distaff at her feet, And Lachesis doth pull the thread at length, The third with favour gives it stuff and strength, And for contráry kind affords her leave, As her best likes, her web of life to weave. This time we will attend, and in mean while + With some sweet song the tediousness beguile.

Noble and lovely peers, to honour thee,
And do thee favour more than may belong
By nature's law to any earthly wight,
Behold continuance of our yearly due;
Th'unpartial Dames of Destiny we meet,
As have the gods and we agreed in one,
In reverence of Eliza's noble name;
And humbly, lo, her distaff Clotho yields!

Lach. Her spindle Lachesis, and her fatal reel,
Lays down in reverence at Eliza's feet.
Te tamen in terris unam tria numina Divam
Invita statuunt naturæ lege sorores,

Et tibi non aliis didicerunt parcere Parcæ.

Atro. Dame Atropos, according as her feres,† To thee, fair Queen, resigns her fatal knife: Live long the noble phoenix of our age, Our fair Eliza, our Zabeta fair!

Dia. And, lo, beside this rare solemnity, And sacrifice these dames are wont to do,

*Te tamen, &c.] Are not these Latin lines misplaced? † feres] i. e. companions,-sisters.

A favour, far indeed contráry kind,
Bequeathed is unto thy worthiness,—
This prize from heaven and heavenly goddesses!
[Delivers the ball of gold to the Queen's own
hands.

Accept it, then, thy due by Dian's doom,
Praise of the wisdom, beauty, and the state,
That best becomes thy peerless excellency.

Ven. So, fair Eliza, Venus doth resign
The honour of this honour to be thine.

Juno. So is the Queen of Heaven content likewise

To yield to thee her title in the prize.

Pal. So Pallas yields the praise hereof to thee, For wisdom, princely state, and peerless beauty.

EPILOGUS.

OMNES SIMUL. Vive diu felix votis hominumque deumque,

Corpore, mente, libro, doctissima, candida, casta. [Exeunt Omnes.