PLEASURE
RECONCILED
TO
VERTVE.
A Masque.
AS IT WAS
PRESENTED AT
COVRT BEFORE
KING IAMES.
1619.
The SCENE was the Mountaine
ATLAS.
WHO had his top ending in the figure of an old man, his head and beard
all hoary, and frost, as if his shoulders were covered with snow; the
rest Wood, and Rocke. A Grove of Ivie at his feet; out of which, to a wilde
Musicke of Cymbals, Flutes, and Tabers is brought forth, COMVS
the God of Cheere, or the
Belly, riding in Triumph, his head crownd with
Roses, and other flowers, his haire curled: They that waite upon him crownd
with Ivie, their Javelins done about with it; one of them going with Hercules
his Boule bare before him, while the rest presented him with this Hymne.
ROome, roome, make roome for the bouncing bellie,
First father of sauce, and deviser of jellie;
Prime master of Arts, and the giver of wit,
That found out the excellent Engine, the spit;
The plough, and the flaile, the mill, and the hopper,
The hutch, and the boulter, the furnace and copper,
The oven, the baven, the mawkin, the peele,
The harth, and the range, the dogge, and the wheele,
He, he first invented the hogshead and tun,
The gimlet and vice too, and taught 'em to run,
And since with the funnell, and Hippocras bag,
H'as made of himselfe, that now he cries swag;
Which showes though the pleasure be but of foure inches,
Yet he is a Weesell, the gullet that pinches
Of any delight, and not spares from this backe,
What ever to make of the bellie a sacke!
Haile, haile plump paunch, ô the founder of taste,
For fresh-meats, or powlder'd, or pickle, or paste,
Devourer of broyl'd, back'd, roasted, or sod;
And emptier of cups, be they even or odd;
All which have now made thee so wide i'the waste,
As scarce with no pudding thou art to be lac'd,
But eating and drinking untill thou dost nod,
Thou break'st all thy girdles, and breakst forth a god.
To this the Boule-bearer.
DOE you heare my friends? to whom did you sing all this now?
pardon me onely that I aske you, for I doe not looke for an an-
swere; Ile answer my selfe, I know it is now such a time as the Saturnalls
for all the World, that every man stands under the eaves of his own hat,
and sings what please him; that's the right, and the liberty of it. Now
you sing of god Comus here the bellie-god; I say it is well, and I say it is
not well: It is well as it is a ballad, and the bellie worthie of it; I must
needes say, and 'twere forty yards of ballad more, as much ballad as
tripe. But when the bellie is not edyfied by it, it is not well; for where
did you ever read or heare, that the bellie had any eares? Come never
pumpe for an answer, for you are defeated; Our fellow Hunger there
that was as ancient a reteiner to the bellie as any of us, was turned away
for being unseasonable, not unreasonable, but unseasonable; and now
is he poore thin-gut, faine to get his living with teaching of Starlings,
Mag-pies, Parrots, and Jacke-dawes, those things he would have taught
the bellie. Beware of dealing with the bellie, the bellie will not bee
talk'd too, especially when he is full; then there is no venturing upon
Venter, he will blow you all up, he will thunder indeed-la: Some in
dirision call him the father of farts; but I say he was the first inventor
of great Ordnance, and taught us to discharge them on Festivall dayes,
would we had a fit feast for him y'faith, to shew his activity; I would
have something now fetcht in to please his five sences, the throat, or the
two sences the eyes: Pardon mee for my two sences, for I that carry
Hercules Boule i'the service, may see double by my place; for I have
drunke like a frog to day: I would have a Tun now brought in to dance,
and so many bottles about him. Ha! you looke as if you would make a
probleme of this; doe you see? do you see? a probleme: why bottles?
and why a tun? and why a tun? and why bottles to dance? I say that
men that drinke hard, and serve the bellie in any place of qualitie (as the
joviall Tinkers, or the lusty kindred) are living measures of drinke, and can
transforme themselves, and doe every day to bottles, or tuns when they
please: And when they ha' done all they can, they are as I say againe,
(for I thinke I said somewhat like it afore) but moving measures of drink,
and there is a peece i'the Cellar can hold more than all they. This will
I make good, if it please our new god but to give a nod, for the bellie
doe's all by signes; and I am all for the bellie, the truest clocke i'the
world to goe by.
Here the first Anti-maske, after which
HERCVLES.
WHat Rites are these? breeds earth more monsters yet?
Antæus scarce is cold: what can beget
This store? (and stay) such contraries upon her,
Is earth so fruitfull of her owne dishonour?
Or'cause his vice was inhumanitie,
Hopes she by vicious hospitalitie
To worke an expiation first? and then
(Helpe vertue) these are sponges, and not men:
Bottles? meere vessels? halfe a tun of paunch?
How? and the other halfe thrust forth in haunch?
Whose feast? the bellies?Comus? and my cup
Brought in to fill the drunken Orgies up?
And here abus'd? that was the crownd reward,
Of thirstie Heroes, after labour hard?
Burdens, and shames of nature, perish, die;
(For yet you never liv'd) but in the stie
Of vice have wallow'd, and in that swines strife
Beene buried under the offence of life:
Goe reele and fall under the load you make,
Till your swollen bowells burst with what you take.
Can this be pleasure, to extinguish man?
Or so quite change him in his figure? can
The bellie love his paine? and be content
With no delight but what's a punishment?
These monsters plague themselves, and fitly too,
For they doe suffer; what, and all the doe,
But here must be no shelter, nor no shrowd
For such: Sincke Grove, or vanish into cloud.
At this the whole Grove vanished, and the whole Musicke was discovered, sit-
ting at the foot of the Mountaine, with Pleasure, and Vertue seated
above them. The Quire invited Hercules to rest with this
GReat friend and servant of the good,
Let coole a while thy heated blood,
And from thy mighty labour cease.
Lie downe, lie downe,
And give thy troubled spirits peace,
Whilst vertue, for whose sake
Thou dost this god-like travaile take,
May of the choysest herbage make
(Here on this Mountaine bred,)
A crowne, a crowne
For thy immortall head.
Here Hercules being layd down at their, feet the second
Anti-mask
which was of Pigmees, appeared.
I. PIGMIE.
ANtæus dead! and Hercules yet live!
Where is this Hercules? what would I give
To meet him now? meet him? nay, three such other,
If they had hand in murther of our brother?
With three, with foure, with ten, nay with as many
As the name yeelds? pray anger there be any
Whereon to feed my just revenge, and soone:
How shall I kill him? hurle him 'gainst the Moone,
And breake him in small portions? give to Greece
His braine? and every tract of earth a peece.
2 PIG.
He is yonder.
1
Where?
3
At the hill foot, asleepe.
1
Let one goe steale his club.
2
My charge, Ile creepe.
4
He's ours.
1
Yes, peace.
3
Triumph, we have him boy.
4
Sure, sure, he is sure.
1
Come, let us dance for joy.
At the end of their dance they thought to surprise him, when sud-
denly being awak'd by the musicke, he rowsed himselfe,
they all runne into holes.
Wake Hercules, awake; but heave up thy blacke eye,
'Tis onely ask'd from thee to looke, and these will die,
Or flie:
Already they are fled,
Whom scorne had else left dead.
At which Mercury descended from the hill, with a garland of
Poplar to crowne him.
MERCVRY.
REst still thou active friend of vertue; These
Should not disturbe the peace of Hercules.
Earths wormes, and Honors dwarfes (at too great ods)
Prove, or provoke the issue of the gods.
See, here a Crowne the aged Hill hath sent thee,
My Grand-sire Atlas, he that did present thee
With the best sheepe that in his fold were found,
Or golden fruit in the Hesperian ground,
For rescuing his faire Daughters, then the prey
Of a rude Pirate as thou cam'st this way;
And taught thee all the learning of the Sphere,
And how like him thou might'st the heavens up-beare;
As that thy labours vertuous recompence
He, though a Mountaine now, hath yet the sence
Of thanking thee for more, thou being still
Constant to goodnesse, guardian of the hill;
Antæus by thee suffocated here,
And the voluptuous Comus god of cheere
Beate from his Grove, and that defac'd, but now
The time's arriv'd that Atlas told thee of, how
B'unalterd law, and working of the Stars,
There should be a cessation of all jars,
Twixt Vertue and her noted opposite
Pleasure; that both should meet here in the sight
Of Hesperus, the glory of the West,
The brightest starre that from his burning crest
Lights all on this side the Atlanticke-Seas,
As farre as to thy Pillars, Hercules,
See where he shines, Justice, and Wisedome plac'd
about his throne, and those with honour grac'd
Beauty, and Love: It is not with his Brother
Bearing the world, but ruling such another
Is his renowne, Pleasure, for his delight
Is reconcil'd to Vertue, and this night
Vertue brings forth, twelve Princes have beene bred
In this rough mountaine, and neere Atlas head
The hill of knowledge; one, and chiefe of whom
Of the bright race of Hesperus is come,
Who shall in time, the same that he is be,
And now is onely a lesse light then he;
These now she trusts with Pleasure, and to these
She gives an entrance to the Hesperides
Faire beauties garden; neither can she feare
They should grow soft, or waxe effeminate here;
Since in her sight, and by her charge all's done,
Pleasure the servant, Vertue looking on.
Here the whole Quire of Musicke call'd the twelve Maskers forth from
the top of the Mountaine, which then opened with this
OPE aged Atlas, open then thy lappe,
And from thy beamy bosome strike a light,
That men may read in the mysterious mappe
All lines
And signes
Of royall education, and the right,
See how they come and show,
That are but borne to know.
Descend
Descend
Though pleasure lead,
Feare not to follow:
They who are bred
Within the Hill
Of skill,
May safely tread
What path they will,
No ground of good is hollow.
In their descent from the Hill, Dædalus came downe before them,
of whom Hercules questioned Mercury.
HERCVLES.
BUT Hermes stay, a little let me pause,
Who's this that leads?
MER.
A guide that gives them lawes
To all their motions, Dedalus the wise;
HER.
And doth in sacred harmonie comprise
His precepts?
MER.
Yes.
HER.
they may securely prove
Then any laborinth, though it be of love.
Here while they put themselves in forme, Dedalus had his first
COme on, come on; and where you go,
so interweave the curious knot,
As ev'n th'observer scarce may know
which lines are Pleasures, and which not:
First figure out the doubtfull way,
at which a while all youth should stay,
Where she and Vertue did contend,
which should have Hercules to friend.
Then as all actions of mankinde,
are but a laborinth, or maze:
So let your Dances be entwin'd,
yet not perplex men unto gaze;
But measur'd, and so numerous too,
as men may read each act they doe;
And when they see the graces meet,
admire the wisedome of your feet:
For dancing is an exercise,
not onely showes the movers wit,
But maketh the beholders wise,
as he hath power to rise to it.
The first Dance.
After which Dedalus againe.
OMore, and more, this was so well,
As praise wants halfe his voyce to tell,
againe your selves compose,
And now put all the aptnesse on,
Of figure, that proportion,
or colour can disclose.
That if those silent Arts were lost,
Designe, and picture, they might boast,
from you a newer ground,
Instructed by the heightning sence
Of dignitie and reverence,
in their true motions found.
Begin, begin; for looke, the faire
Do longing, listen to what ayre
you forme your second touch;
That they may vent their murmuring hymnes,
Just to the — you move your limbs,
and wish their owne were such.
Make haste, make hast, for this
The laborinth of beautie is.
The second Dance.
That ended.
Dedalus
IT followes now you are to prove
The subt'lest maze of all, that's Love,
and if you stay too long,
The faire will thinke you do'em wrong:
Goe choose among----But with a minde
as gentle as the stroaking winde
runs ore the gentler flowers.
And so let all your actions smile,
As if they meant not to beguile,
the Ladies but the houres.
Grace, laughter, and discourse may meet,
and yet the beauty not goe lesse:
For what is noble should be sweet,
But not dissolv'd in wantonesse.
Will you that I give the law
to all your sport and some-it,
It should be such should envie draw,
but-----overcome it.
Here they Danced with the Ladies, and the whole Revells
followed; which ended, Mercury cald to him in this
following speech: which was after repeated in
Song by two Trebles, two Tennors, a Base,
and the whole Chorus.
AN eye of looking backe were well,
Or any murmure that would tell
Your thoughts, how you were sent,
and went
To walke with Pleasure, not to dwell.
These, these are houres by vertue spar'd
Her selfe, she being her owne reward:
But she will have you know,
that though
Her sports be soft, her life is hard:
You must returne unto the Hill
and their advance
With labour, and inhabit still
that height and Crowne,
From whence you ever may looke downe
upon triumphed chance.
She, she it is in darknesse shines,
'Tis she that still her selfe refines,
by her owne light to every eye:
More seene, more knowne when vice stands by.
And though a stranger here on earth,
In Heaven she hath her right of birth:
There, there is Vertues seate,
Strive to keepe her your own,
Tis onely she can make you great,
Though place here make you knowne.
After which, they Danced their last Dance, returned into the Scene,
which closed, and was a Mountaine againe as before.