ARGALUS and PARTHENIA  
The Argument of ye History  
Written by Fra: Quarles. Lusit Anacreon  
London Printed for john Marriott in S Dunston's Churchyard fleet street. 1629.  
Tho: Cecil sculp.    

The mind of the Frontspiece.  

Reader, behind this silken Frontspiece lies  
The Argument of our Book; which, to your eyes  
Our Muse (for serious causes, and best known  
Unto herself) commands should be unshown;  
And therefore, to that end, she hath thought fit  
To draw this Curtain, twixt your eye and it.    

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY LORD RICH OF KENSINGTON, EARL OF HOLLAND, CAPTAIN OF HIS Maties GVARD, AND GENTLEMAN OF THE BEDCHAMBER, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNSEL: AND GREAT EXAMPLE OF TRUE HONOUR AND CHIVALRY.  
FRA: QVARLES PRESENTS AND DEDICATES HIS ARG ALUS AND PARTHENIA.   

To the Reader.  
Reader:  
I Present thee here with a history of Argalus and Parthenia, the fruits of broken hours: I was a Sience taken out of the O●…chard of Sir Philip Sidney, of precious memory, which I have lately 〈◊〉 upon a Crabstock, in mine own: It hath brought ●…orth many leaves, and promises pleasing frui●…, if m●…leuolent eyes blast it not in the bud. This Book differs from my former, as a Courtier from a Churchman: But if any think it vn●…, for one to play both parts, I have precedents for it: And l●…t such know, that I have taken but one playday in six: However, I should beshrew that hand that binds them all together to make one Volume. In this D●…scourse, I have not affect●…d to set thy v●…derstanding on the Rack, by the tyranny of strong lines, which (as they fabulously report of China dishes) are m●…de for the third Generation to make use of, and are the mere itch of wit; under the colour o●… which, many have ventured (trusti●…g to the Oe●…ipean conceit of their ingenious Reader) to write nonsense, and feloniously father the crea●…ed expositions of other men; not unlike some painters, who first make the picture, then, from the opinion of better judgements, conclude, whom it resembles. These lines ●…re strong enough for my purpose; If not for thine, yet read them, and your understandings may be magnified by their weakness. Reader, thou shalt, in the progress of this Story, meet with a 〈◊〉 S●…licisme; which is this; Demagoras his so f●…ule a deed, ●…ted upon the fair Parthenia, is fully exp●…st; and yet, the revenge thereof p●…st over in silence; wherein (as I conceive) I have not dealt unjustly. When Prometheus stole fire from heaven to animate and quicken his artificial bodies, the severer Gods (for punishment of so high a Sacrilege, struck him not d●…ad with a sudden Thunderbolt, but (to be more deeply avenged) l●…t him live, to be tormented with Vulture's, continually g●…awing on his Livor. The s●…me kind of torture had Ixion: so had Sisyphus: so had Tantalus: Did then Demagoras fault equal (if not exceed) theirs, and should his punishment be l●…sse? H●…d my pen delivered him dead into your hands, what could ye h●…ue had more? His accursed memory had soon ro●…ted with his b●…ser name, and there had been an end of him: In which respect, I have suffered him to live, that he might stand like a lack-a-Lent, or a Shroving Cock for eue●…y one to spend a Cudgel at, to the wo●…lds end. Ladies (for in yo●…r 〈◊〉 l●…ps I know this book will choose to lie, which being far fetched, if the Stationer be wise, will be most fit for you) my suit is, that you would be pleased to give the fair Parthenia your noble ●…ntertainment: She hath crossed the Seas ●…or your acquaintance, and is come to live and dye with you; to whose gentle hands I recommend her, and kiss them.  
FR; QU. Dublin this 4. of March. 1628.   

ARGALUS AND PARTHENIA.  

The first Book.  

WIthin the limits of th'Arcadian land,  
Whose grateful bounty hath enriched the hand  
Of many a Shepherd swain, whose rural Art  
(Untaught to gloze, or with a double heart  
To vow dissembled love) did build to Fame  
Eternal Trophies of a pastoral name;  
That sweet Arcadia; which, in antique days,  
Was wont to warble out her well-tuned lays  
To all the world; and, with her oaten Reed,  
Did sing her love whilst her proud flocks did feed;  
Arcadia, whose deserts did claim to be  
As great a sharer in the Daphnean tree,  
As his, whose louder Aenead proudly sings  
Heroic conquests of victorious Kings;  
There (if th'exuberance of a word may swell  
So high, that Angels may be said, to dwell)  
There dwelled that Virgin, that Arcadian glory,  
Whose rare composure did abstract the story  
Of true perfection, modelizing forth  
The ●…eight of beauty, and admired worth;  
H●…r name Parthenia; whose vnnam'd descent  
Can serve but as a needless compliment  
To gild p●…rfection: She shall boast, alone,  
What bounteous Art, and Nature makes her own.   

Her Mother was a Lady, whom deep age  
More fi led with honour, than diseases; s●…ge,  
A modest Matron, strict, reserved, austere,  
Sp●…ring in sp●…ch, bu●… liberal of her ear;  
Fi●…rce to her fo●…s, and violent where she likes;  
Wedded to what her own opinion strikes;  
Fr●…quent quent in alms, and charitable deeds,  
Of mighty spirit, constant to her beads,  
Wisely suspicious; but what need we other  
Then this? she was the rare Parthenia's mother;  
That rare Parthenia, in whose heavenly eye  
Sits maiden-mildnesse, mixed with Majesty,  
Whose secret power hath a double skill,  
By frowns or smiles, to make alive, or kill;  
Her cheeks are like two banks of fairest flowers,  
Enriched with sweetness from the twilight showers,  
Whereon those jars which were so often bred,  
Composed were, betwixt the white and red:  
Her hair reached down beneath her ivory knees,  
As if that Nature, to so rare a piece,  
H●…d meant a shadow, labouring to show  
A●…d boast the utmost, that her hand could do:  
Like sm●…llest flax appea●…'d her Nymph like hair,  
But only fl●…xe was not so small, so fair:  
H r lips like Rubies, and you'd think, within,  
In stead of teeth, that orient Pearls had been:  
The whiten●…sse of her dainty n●…ck you know,  
If ever you behold the new-salne Snow;  
Her Swanlike breasts were like two little Spheres,  
Wherein, each a zure line in view appears,  
Which, were they obvious but to every eye,  
All liberal Arts would turn Astronomy;  
Her sl●…nder waist, her lily hands, her arms  
I dare not 〈◊〉 to view, because all charms  
Forbidden are: My bashful Muse descends  
No lower sleep: He●…e her Commission ends,  
And by another virtue doth enjoin  
My pen to treat perfection, more divine:  
The chaste Diana, and her Virgin-crew  
Was but a Type of one, that should ensue  
In after ages, which we find expressed,  
And here fulfilled in chasts Parthenia's breast:  
True virtue was the object of her will;  
She could no ill, because she knew no ill;  
Her thoughts were noble, and her words not lavish,  
Yet free, but wisely weighed; more apt to ravish,  
Then to entice; less beautified with art,  
Then natural sweetn sse: In her gentle heart  
judgement t●…anscended: from her milder breast  
Passion was not exiled, but repressed:  
Her voice exce●…'d; nay, had you heard her voice  
But warble 〈◊〉, you might have had the choice,  
To 〈◊〉 her for some smooth-faced Cherubin,  
O●… el●…e some glorious Angel, that had been  
A treble sharer in th'eternal joys,  
Such was h●…r voice, such was her heavenly voice:  
Merry, yet mod●…st; witty, and yet wise;  
Not apt to toy, and yet not too too nice;  
Quick, but not ●…ash; Courteous, and yet not common;  
Not too familiar, and yet scorning no man:  
In bri●…fe, who would relate her praises well,  
Must first bethink himself, what is t' exc●…ll.   

When these perfections h●…d enhanced the name  
Of rare Parthenia, nimble winged Fame  
Grew great with honour, spreads her hasty wings,  
Advanced her Trumpet, and away she springs,  
And with her ●…ull mouthed blast she doth proclaim  
〈◊〉 glory of Partheniaes' name:  
Who now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parthenia? what report  
Can find admittance in th' Arcadian Co●…rt  
But fair Partheniaes'? Every sol●…mne feast  
Must now be swcern●…d, ho●…ourd, and poss●…st  
With high discourses of Partheniaes' glory,  
And every mouth must b●…eathe Partheniaes' story.  
The Po●…t summons now his amorous quill,  
And scorns a●…istance from the sacr●…d Hill:  
The sweet lip●… Orator takes in hand to raise  
His prouder style, to sp●…ke Partheniacs praise.  
The curious Painter wis●…ly doth displace  
Fair Venus, sets Parthenia in her pl●…ce.  
The Pleader burns his books, disdains the Law,  
And f●…lls in lou●… with whom his ey●…s ne'er saw.  
Healths to the f●…ire Parthenia fl●… about  
At every board, whilst others, mo●…e 〈◊〉,  
Build Idols to her, and adore the s●…me;  
And Parrots learn to 〈◊〉 Partheniaes' name.  
Some trust to f●…me; some secretly disprise  
Her worth; some emulates, and some envies;  
Some doubt, some fear lest lavish same belie her,  
And all that dare believe report, admire.   

Upon the bord●…rs of the Arcadian Land  
Dwelled a Laconian Lord; Of proud command,  
Lord of much people, youthful, and of fame,  
More great than good; Demagoras his name,  
Of stature tall, his body spare, and meager,  
Thick shouldered, hollow cheeked, and visage eager,  
His g●…shfull countenance swarthy, long and thin,  
And down each side of his reverted chin●…e  
A lock of black neglected hair (be friended  
With warts too ugly to be seen) descended;  
His rolling eyes were deeply sunk, and hiewed  
Like fire; 'tis said, they blistered where they viewed.  
Upon his shoulders, from his fruitful crown,  
A rugged crop of Elfclocks dangled down:  
His hide all hairy; garish his attire,  
And his complexion merely Earth and Fire;  
Perverse to all; extenuating what  
Another did, because he did it not:  
Maligning all men's actions but his own,  
Not loving any, and beloved of none:  
Revengeful, envious, desperately stout,  
And in a word, to paint him fully out,  
That had the Monopoly to fulfil  
All vice; the Hieroglyphic of all ill.  
He viewed Partheniaes' face: As from above  
Fireballs of lightning hurled by angry jove  
Confound the unarmed beholder at a blow,  
And leave him ruined in the place: Even so  
The peerless beauty of Partheniaes' eyes,  
At the first sight did conquer and surprise,  
The slavish thoughts of this amazed lover,  
Who void of strength to hide, or to discover  
The tyrannous scorching of his secret fires,  
Prompted by passion, with himself conspires.   

Accursed Demagoras! Into what a fe●…  
Hath one look struck thy soul? O never, never  
To be recured: If I had done amiss,  
Hath heaven no easier plagues in store, but this?  
Promethius pains are not so sharp as these,  
Our sins yet laboured both of one disease;  
Our faults are equal; Both stole fire from heaven;  
Our faults alike, why are our plagues uneven?  
Be just; O make not such unequal odds  
Of equal sins: Be just, or else no Gods:  
Why send ye down such Angels to the earth,  
To mock poor mortals? or of mortal birth,  
If such a heavenlike Paragon may be,  
Why do ye not wound her, as well as me  
But why do I implore your aids in 〈◊〉,  
That are the hi●…hest Agents in my p●…ine?  
Poor wretc●…! What hope of help can ye assure me,  
When only she, that made the wound can cure me?  
Divine 〈◊〉, earth's 〈◊〉 jewel,  
Would thou 〈◊〉 been less glorious or less cruel.  
Wh●…n 〈◊〉 thine eyes did to these eyes appear,  
I read the 〈◊〉 of my ruin there,  
My necessary ruin●…: Heaven, nor Hell  
Can salve my sores, by help of Prayer, or spell;  
Gods are unjust; and if, with charms, 〈◊〉 haunt her,  
Her eyes are counter charms, to enchant 〈◊〉:  
Why do I thus ex●…lcerate my disease?  
By adding torments, hope I to find ease?  
Is not her cruelty enough, alone,  
But must I bring fresh torments of my own?  
Cheer up Demagor●…s: 'tis a wise man's part  
Not to lose all, if his unpractised art  
Serves not to gain: A Gamester may not choose  
His chance: It is some conquest not to lose:  
Look to thyself: Let no injurious blast  
Of cold despair chi●… thy green wounds too fast  
For time to cure: O, hope for no remission  
Of pain, till Cupid send thee a Physician.  
She is a woman. If a woman, than  
My title's good; Women were made for men:  
She is a woman, though her heavenly brow  
Write Angel, and may stoop, although not now;  
Women, by looks, will not be understood,  
Until their hearts advice with flesh and blood.  
She is a woman; There's no reason why,  
But she (perchance) may burn as well as I.  
Move then, Demagoras, let Parthenia know  
The strength of her own beauty, in thy woe:  
Fear not, what thou adorest; begin to move,  
Christcross sore-runs the Alphabet of love:  
'tis half perfected, what is once begun;  
She is a woman; and she must be won.   

Like as a Swain, whose hands have made a vow  
And sw●…rne allegiance to the peaceful plough,  
Pressed out for service in the 〈◊〉 camp,  
At first (unentred) finds a liveless damp  
Beleagring every joint; as often 'swounds  
As ere he views his sword, or thinks of wounds;  
At length (not finding any means for flying,  
Switcht and spurred on with desp●…rate fear of dying)  
He hews, he hacks, and in the midst he goes,  
And freshly deals about his frantic blows;  
Even so Demagoras, whose unbred fashion  
Had never yet subscribed to love's sweet passion:  
Being called a Combitant to Cupid's field,  
Trembles, and secretly resolves to yield  
The day without a parley, till at length,  
Fiercely transported by th'vntu●…'d strength  
Of his own passion, he himself assures,  
That 〈◊〉 torme●…ts must have desperate c●…res  
And thus to the divine Partheniaes' ears  
Applies his speech, deuo●…d of doubts and f●…ares.   

Fairest of creatures, If my ruder tongue,  
To right itself, should d●…e your patience wrong:  
And lawless passion make it too too free,  
O blame your heavenly beauty, and not me:  
It was those eyes, those precious eyes that first  
Enforced my tongue to speak, or heart to burst,  
From those dear eyes I first received that wound,  
Which seeks for cure, and cannot be made sound,  
But by the hand that struck; To you alone,  
I sue for help, that else must hope for none:  
Then crown my joys, thou Antidote of despair,  
And be as merciful, as thou art fair.  
Nature, (the bounty of whose liberal hand  
Made thee the jewel of the Arcadian land)  
Intended in so rare a prize, to boast  
Her masterpiece: Hid jewels are but lost.  
shine then, and rob not nature of her due,  
But honour her, as she hath honoured you.  
Let not the best of all her works lie dead  
In the nice Casket of a Mayd●…nhead:  
What she would have revealed, O do not smother,  
thouart made in vain, unless thou make another:  
Give me thy heart, and for that gift of thine,  
Lest thou shouldst want a heart, I'll give thee mine,  
As richly fraught with love, and lasting duty,  
As thou, with virtue, or thine eyes, with beauty.  
Why dost thou frown? why does that heavenly brow  
Not made for wrinkles, show a wrinkle now?  
Send forth thy brighter sunshine, and the while,  
O lend me but the twilight of a smile:  
Give me one amorous glance: why stand'st thou mute?  
Disclose those ruby lips, and grant my suit;  
Speak (love) or if thy doubtful mind be bend  
To silence, let that silence be consent:  
Nor beg I love of alms, although in part,  
My words may seem t●…implead my own desert.  
Disdain me not, although my thoughts descend  
Below themselves, t'enjoy so fair a friend:  
〈◊〉 that have o●…t, with tears, been sought to, sue;  
And Queens have been his servants, that serves you.  
The beauties of all Gr●…ece have been at strife  
To win the name of great Demagoras wife,  
And been despised, not worthy to obtain  
So high an honour; What they sought (in vain)  
I here present thee with as thine own due,  
It being an honour fit for none but you:  
Speak then (my love,) and let thy lips make known,  
That I am either thine, or not mine own:   

Have you beheld when f●…esh Aurora's eye  
Sends forth her early beams, and by and by  
Withdraws the glory of her face, and shrowds  
Her checks behind a ruddy m●…ske of clouds,  
Which, who believe in Erra Pater, say  
Presages wind, and blustry storms that day,  
Such were Partheniaes' looks, in whose fair face,  
Roses and Lilies, late had equal place.  
But now, 'twixt maiden bash fullness and spleen,  
Roses appeared and Lilies were not seen:  
S●…e paused a while, till at the last she breaks  
Her long kept angry silence, thus; and speaks,   

My Lord,  
Had your strong Oratory but the Art,  
To make me conscious of so great desert,  
As you persuade, I should be bound in duty  
To praise your Rhet'ricke, as you prise my beauty;  
Or if the frailty of my judgement could  
Flatter my thoughts so grossly, as to hold  
Your words for currant, you might boldly dare  
Count me as soolish, as you term me fair.  
If you vie Courtship, fortune knows that I  
Have not so strong a Game, to see the vie:  
Alas, my skill durst never undertake  
To play the game, where hearts be set at stake;  
Needs must the loss be great, when such have been  
Seldom observed to save themselves that win:  
You crave my heart; My Lord, you crave withal,  
Too great a mischief; My poor heart's too small  
To fill the concave of so great a breast,  
Whose thoughts can scorn the amorous request  
Of love sick Queens, and can requite the vain,  
And factious suits of Ladies with disdain:  
Stoop not so low beneath yourself (great Lord)  
To love Parthenia: Shall so poor a word  
Stain your fair lips? whose merits do proclaim  
A more transcendent fortune, than that name  
Can give: Call down Ioues winged Pursuivant,  
A●…d give his tongue the power to enchant  
Some easy Goddess, in your name, and treat  
A marriage fitting so sublime, so great  
A mind as yours, and fill the fruitful earth  
With Heroes, sprung from so divine a birth:  
Partheniaes' heart could never yet aspire  
So high: Her homebred thoughts durst ne'er desire  
So fond an honour, matched with so great pride,  
To hope for that, which Queens have been denied.  
Be wise, my Lord; vouchsafe not to repeat  
S'vnfit a suit; Be wise, as you are great:  
Advance your noble thoughts: hazard no more  
To wrack your fortunes on so fleet a shore,  
That, to the wiser world, it may be known  
The less y'are mine, the more you are your own.   

Like as a guilty prisoner, upon whom  
Offended justice lately past her doom,  
Stands trembling by, and, hopeless to prevail,  
B●…ules not for mercy, but to the loathed jail  
D●…agges his sad irons, and from thence commends  
A h●…sty suit to his selected friends,  
That by the virtue of a quick Reprie●…e  
The wretch might have some few days more to live.  
Even so Demagoras, whose rewounded heart  
Had newly felt the unexpected smart  
And secret burden of a desperate doom,  
Replies not, takes no leave, but quits the room,  
And, in his discontented mind, revolues  
Ten thousand thoughts; and at the last resolves  
What course to run, relying on no other,  
But the assistance of Partheniaes' mother.  
Forthwith his fierce misguided passion drove  
His wand'ring steps to the next neighbouring grove.  
A keen Stiletto in his trembling hand  
He rudely gripped, upon his lips did stand  
A milk white froth; his eyes like flames; sometimes  
He curses heaven; himself; and then, the times;  
Rails at the proud Parthenia; raves; despairs;  
And from his head rends off his tangled hairs;  
Curs. s the womb that bore him; bans the Fates;  
And, drunk with spleen, he thus deliberates.   

Why diest thou not, Demagoras, when as death  
Lends thee a weapon? Can the whining breath  
Of discontent and passion send relief  
To thy distraction, or assuage thy grief?  
Why movest thou not the Gods? Or rather, why  
Dost not contemn, and scorn their power, and dye?  
But stay! Of whom dost thou complain? A woman.  
To whom (fond man) dost thou complain? A woman.  
And shall a woman's frowns have power to grieve thee?  
Or shall a woman's wanton smile relieve thee?  
Fie, fie, Demago●…as, shall a woman's eye  
Pre●…aile, to make the stout Demagor●…s dye,  
And leave to after times an entered name  
〈◊〉 Calendar of fools? Rouse up for shame  
Thy wasted spirits: whet thy spleen and live  
To be revenged: She, she that would not give  
Admittance to thy proffered love must drink  
The potion of thy hate: stir then the sink  
Of all thy passion; where thou canst not gain  
By fairer language, Tarquin-like constrain.  
But hold thy band, Dem●…goras, and advise;  
Art gives ad●…antage oft, where force denies;  
Suspend thy fury: Make Parthenia●…s mother  
Thy means: One Adamant will cut another:  
Sweeten thy lips with amorous Oratory;  
Affect her tender heart, with the sad story  
Of thy dear love; Extol Parth●…niaes beauty;  
But most of all, urge that deserved duty  
Thou ow'st her virtue, and make that the ground  
Of thy first love, that gave thy heart the wound:  
Mingle thy words with sighs; and it is meet,  
If thou canst force a tear, to let her see't  
Against thy will: Let thy false tongue forbear  
No vows and though thou be'st forsworn, yet swear:  
If ere thy barren lips shall chance to pause,  
For want of words; Parthenia is the cause,  
Who hath benumbed thy heart; If e'er they go  
Beyond their lists, Parthenia made them so.  
Withal; be sure, when ere thou shalt advance  
The daughter's virtues, let the glory glance  
Upon the prudent mother; Women care not  
To hear too much of virtue, if they share not.  
When thus thou hast prepared her melting ear  
To soft attention; closely, in the rear  
Of thy discourse, prefer thy sad petition,  
That she would please to favour the condition  
Of a distressed lover, and afford  
In thy behalf, a mother's timely word;  
So shalt thou wreck thy vengeance by a wild,  
And make the mother bawd to her own child.   

He paused not; but like a rash projector  
(Whose frantic passion was supreme director)  
Fixed his first thoughts, impatient of the second  
Which might been bettered by advice, and reckoned  
All time but lost, which he bestowed not  
On th'execution of his hopeful plot;  
Forthwith his nimble paces he divided  
Towards the Summer Palace, where resided  
The fair Partheniaes' mother, boldly enters,  
And after mutu●…ll compliment, adventers  
To break the ice of his dissembled grief;  
Thus he complains, and thus he begs relief.   

Madam,  
The hopeful thriving of my suit depends  
Upon your goodness, and it recommends  
Itself unto your savour, from whose hand  
It must have sentence, or to fall, or stand;  
Thrice three times hath the Sovereign of the night,  
Repaired her empty horns with borrowed light,  
Since these sad eyes, these beauty blasted eyes  
Were stricken by a light, that did arise  
From your blessed womb, whose unasswaged smart  
Hath pierced my soul, and wounded my poor heart;  
It is the fair Parthenia, whose divine  
And glorious virtue led these eyes of mine  
To their own ruin; Like a wanton fly,  
I dallied with the flames of her bright eye,  
Till I have burned my wings: O, if to love  
Be held a sin, the guilty gods above  
(Being fellow-sinners with us, and commit  
The self same crimes) may easily pardon it.  
O thrice divine Partheni●…, that hast got  
A sacred privilege which the gods have not,  
If thou hast doomed that I shall be bereaven  
Of my loathed life, yet let me dye for given:  
And welcome death, that with one happy blow  
Gives me more ease, than life could ever do.  
Madam, to whom should my sad words appeal  
But you? Al●…, to whom should I reveal  
My dying thoughts, but unto you, that gave  
Being to her, that hath the power to save  
My wasted life? The language of a mother  
Moves more than tears, that trickle from another.  
With that a well dissembled drop did slide  
From his false eyes. The Lady thus replied.   

My Honourable Lord,  
If my untimely answer hath prevented  
Some further words your passion would have vented,  
Pardon my haste; which, in a ruder fashion  
Sought only to divide you, from your passion:  
The love you bear Parthenia must claim  
The privilege of mine ear, and in her name,  
(Though from an absent mind as yet unknown)  
Return I thanks, with interest of my own.  
The little judgement, that the gods have lent  
Her downy years (though in a small extent)  
Does challenge the whole freedom of her choice,  
In the resignment of a mother's voice:  
The sprightly fancies of a virgin's mind  
Enter themselves, and hate to be confined;  
The hidden Embers of a lover's fire  
Desire no bellowes, but their own desire,  
And like to Dedalus his forge, if blown  
Burns dim and dies; blazes, if let alone;  
Lovers affect, without advisement, that  
Which being most persuaded to, they hate.  
My Lord, adjourn your passion, and refer  
The fortune of your suit to time, and her.  
Like to a Pinnace is a lover's mind,  
The Sail his fancy is; A storm of wind,  
His uncontrolled passion; the Stea●…'s  
His reason; Rocks and Sinds, are doubts and fears;  
Your storm being great, like a wise Pilot, bear  
But little Sail, and stoutly ply the Steare.  
Leave then the violence of your thoughts to me,  
My Lord, too hasty Gamesters oversee.  
Go, move Parthenia, and let Juno's blessing  
Attend your hopeful suit, in the suppressing  
loves common evils; and if her warm desire  
Show but a spark, leave me to blow the fire.  
Go, lose no time: Lovers must be laborious;  
My Lord go prosperous, and return victorious.   

With that Demagoras (prostrate on the ground,  
As if his ears had heard that blessed sound,  
Wherewith the Delphian oracle acquits  
The accepted sacrifice) performs the rites  
Of quick devotion, to that heavenly voice,  
Which fed his soul with the malignant joys  
Of vowed revenge; up, from the floor he starts,  
Blesses the tongue that bles●… him; and departs.   

By this time, had the heaven-surrounding Steeds  
Quelled their proud courage, turned their fainting head  
Into the lower Hemisphere, to cool  
Their flaming nostrils in the Western pool,  
When as the dainty and mollitious air  
Had bid the Lady of the Palace, share  
In her refined pleasures, and invited  
Her gentle steps, fully to be delighted  
In those sweet walks, where Flora's liberal hand  
Had given more freely, then to all the land;  
There walked she; and in her va●…ious mind,  
Projects and casts about which way to find  
The progress of the young Partheniaes' heart;  
Likes this way: then a second thought does thwart  
The first; Likes that way; then a third, the second:  
One while she likes the match, and then she reckoned  
Demagoras virtues: now her fear entices  
H●…r thoughts to alter; then she counts his vices:  
Sometimes she calls his vows and oaths to mind:  
Another while, thinks oaths and words but wind.  
She likes, dislikes; Her doubtful thoughts do vary,  
Resolves, and then resolves the quite contrary.  
One while she fears, that his malign aspect  
Will give the virgin cause to disaffect:  
And then, propounds to her ambitious thoughts  
His wealth, the golden cover of all faults:  
And, from the Chaos of her doubt, digests  
Her fears; creates a world of wealth, and rests.  
With that, she strait vnfixt her fastened eyes  
From off the ground; and, looking up, espies  
The fair Parthenia, in a lovely bower,  
Spending the treasure of an evening hour:  
There sat she, reading the sweet-sad discourses  
Of Charicleas' love: the intercourses  
Of whose mixed fortunes taught her tender heart  
To feel the self same joy, the self same smart:  
She read, she wept; and, as she wept, she smiled,  
As if her ●…quall eyes had reconciled  
The extremes of joy and grief: she closed the book,  
Then oped it, and with a milder look,  
She piti●…s lovers; musing then a while,  
She teaches smiles to weep; and tears, to smile:  
At length, her broken thoughts she thus discovers.   

Unconstant state of poor distressed lovers!  
Is all extreme in love? No mean at all?  
No draughts indifferent? either honey or Gall?  
Hath Cupid's Universe no temperate Zone,  
Either a torrid or a frozen one?  
Alas, alas, poor lovers. As she spoke   

Those words, from her disclosed lips there broke  
A gentle sigh; and after that, another:  
With that steps in her unexpected mother.  
Have ye beheld, when Titan's lustful head  
Hath newly di●…'d into the seagreene bed  
Of Thet is, how the bashful Horizone  
(Enforeed to see what should be seen by none)  
Looks red for shame; and blushes to discover  
Th'incestuous pleasures of the heaven borne lover?  
So looked Parthenia, when the sudden eye  
Of her unwelcome mother did d●…scry  
Her secret passion: The mother's smile  
Brought forth the daughters blush; and level coil  
They smiled and blush; one smile begat another:  
The daughter blushed, because the icalous mother  
Smiled on her; and the silent mother smiled,  
To see the conscious blushing of her child,  
At length, grown great with words, she did awake  
Her forced silence, and she thus bespoke.   

Blush not, my fairest daughter; 'tis no shame  
To pity lovers, or lament that flame,  
Which worth and beauty kindles in the breast:  
'tis charity to succour the distressed.  
The disposition of a generous heart  
Makes every grief her own, at least bears part.  
What marble, ah what adamantine care  
Ere heard the flames of Troy, without a tear?  
Much more the scorching of a lover's fire,  
(Whose desperate fuel is his own desire)  
May boldly challenge every gentle heart  
To be 〈◊〉 in his secret smart:  
Why dost thou blush? why did those pearly tears  
Slide down? Fear not: this Arbour hath no cares;  
Here's none but we; speak then: It is no shame  
To shed a tear; thy mother did the same:  
Say; hath the winged wanton, with his dart,  
Sent ere a message to thy wounded heart?  
Speak, in the name of Hymen I conjure thee;  
If so, I have a 〈◊〉 shall recure thee:  
I fear, I fear, the young La 〈◊〉 Lord  
Hath lately left some indigested word  
In thy cold stomach: which, for want of Art  
I doubt, I doubt, lies heavy at thy heart:  
If that be all, reue●…ling brings relief:  
Silence in love but multiplies a grief:  
Hid sorrow's desperate, not to be endured,  
Which being but disclosed, is easily cured:  
Perchance, thou 〈◊〉 Demagoras; and wouldst smother  
Thy close 〈◊〉 from thy angry mother,  
And reap●… the da●…nty fruits of love, unseen;  
I did the like, or thou hadst never been;  
Stolen goods are sweetest: If it be thy mind  
To love in secret, I will be as blind  
As he that wounded thee; or if thou dare  
Acquaint thy mother, than a mother's care  
Shall be redoubled, till thy thoughts acquire  
The sweet fruition of thy choice desire:  
Thou lov'st D●…magoras; If thy lips deny,  
Thy conscious heart must give thy lips the lie:  
And if thy liking countermand my will,  
Thy punishment shall be to love him still:  
Then love him still, and let his hopes inherit  
The crown, belonging to so fair a merit,  
His thoughts are noble, and his fame appears  
To speak, at least, an age above his years.  
The blood of his increasing honour springs  
From the high stock of the Arcadian Kings:  
The gods have blest him with a liberal hand,  
Enriched him with the prime of all the land:  
Honour and wealth attend his gates, and what  
Can he command, that he possesses not?  
All which, and more, (if mothers can divine)  
The fortune of thy beauty hath made thine:  
He is thy Captive, and thy conquering eyes  
Have taken him prisoner: he submits, and lies  
At thy dear mercy, hoping nere to be  
Ransomed from death, by any price, but thee.  
Wrong not thyself in being too too nice,  
And what (perchance) may not be proffered twice,  
Accept at first: It is a foolish mind  
To be too coy: Occasion's bald behind:  
'tis not the common work of every day,  
T' afford such offers: Take them while you may:  
Times alter: youth and beauty are but blasts;  
Use then thy time, whilst youth and beauty lasts:  
For if that loathed and infamous reproach  
Of a stale maid, but offer to encroach  
Upon opinion; th' art in estimation,  
Like garments, kept till they be out of fashion:  
Thy worth, thy wit, thy virtues all must stand  
Like goods at outcries, prized at second hand.  
Resolve thee then, t' enlarge thy Virgin life,  
With th' onourable freedom of a wife,  
And let the fruits of that blessed marriage be  
A living pledge betwixt my Child and me.   

So said; The fair Parthenia (in whose hear  
Her own affections yet had got the start  
Of her obedience) makes a sudden pause,  
Strives with her thoughts, objects the binding laws  
Of filial duty, to her best affection;  
Sometimes submits unto her own election,  
Sometimes unto her mothers: thus divided  
In her distracted sancy, sometimes guided  
By one desire, and sometimes by another,  
She thus replied to her attentive mother.   

Madam,  
Think not Parthenia, under a pretence  
Of silence, studies disobedience:  
Or by the crafty slowness of reply,  
Borrows a quick advantage to deny:  
It lies not in your power, to command  
Beyond my will: unto your tender hand,  
I here surrender up that little All  
You gave me, freely to dispose withal.  
The gods forbid, Parthenia should resist  
What you command, command you what you list:  
But pardon me, the young Laconian Lord  
Hath made assault, but never yet could board  
This heart of mine: I wept, I wept indeed,  
But my misconsterd streams did ne'er proceed  
From Cupid's spring: This blubbered book makes known,  
Whose griefs I wept; I wept not for mine own;  
My lowly thoughts durst never yet a spire  
The least degree, towards the proud desire  
Of so great honour, to be called his wife,  
For whom, ambitious Queens have been at strife;  
He sued for love, and strongly did importune  
My heart, more pleased with a meaner fortune;  
My breast was marble, and my heart forgot  
All pity; for, indeed, I loved him not;  
But Madam; you, to whose more wise directions  
I bend the stoutest of my rash aff●…ctions,  
You have commanded, and your will shall be  
The square to my uneven desires, and me;  
I'll practise duty, and my deeds shall show it;  
I'll practise love, though Cupid never know it.   

Wh●…n great Basilius (he whose princ●…ly hand  
Nourished long peace in the Arcadian land)  
With triumph, brought to his renowned Court,  
His new espoused Queen, was great resort  
Of foreign States, and Princes, to behold  
The truth, that unbelieved report had told  
Of fair Gynoecia's worth: Thither repaired  
The Cyprian Nobles, richly all 〈◊〉  
In warlike furniture, and well addressed,  
With solemn jousts to glorify the feast  
Of marriage royal, lately passed between  
Th' Arcadian King, and his thrice noble Queen,  
The fair Gynoecia; in whose face and breast  
Nature, and curious Art had done their best,  
To sum that rare perfection, which (in brief)  
Transcends the power of a strong belief;  
Her Sire was the Cyprian King, whose fame  
Received more honour from her honoured name,  
Then, if he had, with his victorious hand,  
Vnsceptred half the Princes in the land:  
To tell the glory of this royal Feast;  
The Bridegroom's state, and how the Bride was dressed;  
The princely service, and the rare delights;  
The several names and worth, of Lords and Knights;  
Their acquaint Impresa's, their devisefull shows;  
Their martial sports, their oft redoubled blows;  
The courage of this Lord, or that proud horse;  
Who ran; who got the better, who, the worse,  
Is not my task; nor lies it in my way,  
To make relation of it: Heralds may:  
Yet Fame and honour hath selected one,  
From that illustrious crew; and him alone  
Have recommended to my careful quill,  
Forbidding that his honour sho●…ld lie still  
Among the rest, whom fortune and his spirit,  
That day, had crowned with a victor's merit,  
His name was Argalus; In Cyprus borne;  
And (if what is not ours, may adorn  
Our proper fortunes) his blood royal springs  
From th'ancient stock of the great Cyprian Kings:  
His outside had enough to satisfy  
The expectation of a curious eye:  
Nature was too too prodigal of her beauty,  
To make him half so fair, whom Fame, and duty  
He ought to Honour, cal●…'d so often forth,  
T'approve the excellence of his manly worth:  
His mind was richly furnished with the treasure  
Of moral knowledge, in so liberal measure,  
Not to be proud: So valiant, and so strong  
Of noble courage, not to dare a wrong:  
Friendly to all men, inward but with few;  
Fast to his old friends, and unapt for new:  
Lord of his word, and master of his passion,  
Serious in business, choice in recreation:  
Not too mistrustful, and yet wisely wary;  
Hard to resolve, and then as hard to vary:  
And to conclude, the world could hardly find  
So rare a body with so rare a mind.   

Thrice had the bright surveyor of the heaven  
Divided out the days and nights by even  
And equal hours, since this child of fame  
(Invited by the glory of her name,)  
First viewed Partheniaes' face, whose mutual eye  
Shot equal flames, and with the secret tie  
Of undisclosed affection, joined together  
Their yielding hearts, their love's unknown to either,  
Both dearly loved: the more they strove to hide  
Their love, affection they the more descried.  
It lies beyond the power of art to smother  
Affection, where one virtue finds another:  
One was their thoughts, and their desires one,  
And yet both loved, unknown; beloved, unknown:  
One was the Dart, that at the self same time  
Was sent, that wounded her, that wounded him:  
Both hoped, both feared alike, both joyed, both grieved;  
Yet, where they both could help, was none relieved:  
Two loved, and two beloved were; yet none  
But two in all, and yet that all but one.  
By this time had their barren lips betrayed  
Their timorous silence; now they had displayed  
Loves sanguine colours, whilst the winged Child  
Sat in a tree, and clapped his hands, and smiled  
To see the combat of two wounded friends:  
He strikes and wounds himself, while she defends  
That would be wounded, for h●…r pain proceeds,  
And flows from his, and from his wound, she bleeds;  
She plays at him, and aiming at his breast,  
Pierced her own heart: and when his hand addressed  
The blow to her fair bosom, there it found  
His own dear heart, and gave that heart the wound:  
At length both conquered and yet both did yield,  
Both lost the day, and yet both wan the field:  
And as the warfare of their tongues did cease,  
Their lips gave earnest of a joyful peace.   

But o the hideous chances that attend  
A lover's progress, to his journey's end!  
How many desperate rubs, and dangers wait  
Each minute, on his miserable state!  
His hopes do build, what strait his fears destroy,  
Sometimes, he surfeits with excess of joy:  
Sometimes, despairing ere to find relief,  
He roars beneath the tyranny of grief;  
And when loves current runs with greatest force,  
Some obvious mischief still disturbs the course:  
For lo, no sooner the discovered flame  
Of these new parted lovers did proclaim  
Love's sacred jubilé; but the Virgin's Mother  
(The posture of whose visage did discover  
Some serious matter, harbouring in her breast)  
Enters the room: Half angry, half in jest,  
She thus began: My dearest child, this night,  
When as the silent darkness did invite  
Mine eyes to slumber, sundry thoughts possessed  
My troubled mind, and robbed me of my rest;  
I slept not, till the early bugle horn  
Of Chaunti●…lere had summoned in the Morn  
T'attend the Light, and nurse the newborn Day;  
At last, when Morpheus, with his leaden key,  
Had locked my senses, and enlarged the power  
Of my heaven guided fancy, for an hour  
I slumbered; and before my slumbering eyes,  
One, and the selfsame dream presented thrice;  
I waked; and, being frighted at the vision,  
Perceived the Gods had made an app●…ition:  
My dream was this: Me thought I saw thee sitting  
Dressed like a princely Bride, with robes befitting  
The state of Majesty; thy Nymph-like hair  
Loosely dissheueled; and thy brows did bear  
A Cypress wreath; and (thrice three months expired)  
Thy pregnant womb grew heavy, and required  
Lucina's aid: with that, me thought I saw  
A team of harnessed Peacocks fiercely draw  
A fiery Chariot from the flitting sky,  
Wherein there sat the glorious Majesty  
Of great Saturnia, on whose train attended  
An host of Goddesses; juno descended  
From out the flaming Chariot, and blest  
Thy painful womb: Thy pains a while increased;  
At length, she laid her gentle palms upon  
Thy fruitful flank, and there was borne a son:  
She made thee mother of a smiling boy,  
And, after, blest thee with a mother's joy;  
She kissed the Babe, whose fortune she foresold,  
For on his head she set a Crown of Gold;  
Forthwith, as if the heavens had cloven in sunder,  
Me thoughts I heard the horrid noise of thunder;  
The rain poured down, and yet the sky was clear,  
And every drop that lighted, did appear  
As orient pearl, mixed with refined gold;  
Wbereat, the goddess turned, and said, Behold,  
Great I●…ue hath sent a gift: go forth, and take't,  
Thus having spoke, she vanished, and I waked:  
I wak'●…; and waking, trembled; for I knew  
They were no idle passages, that grew  
From my distempered thoughts; 'twas not a vain  
Delusion roving from a troubled brain;  
It was a vision; and the gods forespoke  
Parthenia's fortune: Gods cannot mistake.  
I liked the dream; wherein the gods foretold  
Thy joyful marriage; and the shower of gold  
Betokened wealth; The Infants golden Crown,  
Ensuing honour: Juno's coming down,  
A safe deliverance; and the smiling Boy  
Summed up the total of a mother's joy:  
But what the wreath of Cypress (that was set  
Upon thy nuptial brows) presaged, as yet  
The gods keep from me: if that secret doc  
Portend an evil, heaven keep it from thee too.  
Advise Parthenia: Seek not to withstand  
The plot, wherein the Gods vouchsafe a hand;  
Submit thy will to theirs; what they enioy●…e,  
Must be; nor lies it in my power, or thine  
To contradict: Endeavour to fulfil  
What, else, must come to pass against thy will.  
Now by the fil●…all all duty thou dost bear  
The gods and me, or if aught else more dear  
Can force obedience; as thou hop'st to speed  
At the gods hands, in greatest time of need;  
By heaven, by hell, by all the powers above,  
I here conjure Parthenia to remove  
All fond conceits, that labour to disjoin  
What heaven hath knit, Dem●…goras's heart and 〈◊〉;  
The gods are faithful, and their wisdoms know  
What's better for us mortals, than we do;  
Doubt not (my child) the gods cannot deceive;  
What heaven does offer, fear not to receive,  
With thankful hands: Pass not so slightly over  
The dear affection of so true a lover;  
Pity his flames; relieve his tortured breast,  
That finds abroad, no joy; at home, no rest;  
But, like a wounded Hart before the hounds,  
That flies, with Cupid's javelin in his wounds:  
Stir up thy rak't up embers of desire,  
The gods will bring in fuel, and blow the fire;  
Be gentle; let thy cordial smiles revive  
His wasted spirits, that only cares to live  
To do thee honour: It was Cupid's will,  
The dart he sent, should only wound; not kill;  
Yield then; a●…d let th'engaged gods pour down  
Their promised blessings on thy head; and crown  
Thy youth with joys; and mayst thou after be  
As blest in thine, as I am blest in thee.   

So said: The fair Parthenia, to whose heart  
Her fixed desires had taught th'●…m willing Art  
Of disobedience, calls her judgement in;  
And, of two evils, determines it a sin  
More venial, by a resolute denial,  
To prove un 〈◊〉, then be d●…sloyall  
To him, whose heart a sacred vow had tied  
So fast to hers; and (weeping) thus reply●…d:   

Madam,  
The angry gods have late conspired to show  
The utmost their enraged hands could doc,  
And having laid aside all mercy, stretch  
Their power, to make one miserable wretch,  
Whose cursed and tortured soul must only be  
The subject of their wrath; and I am she.  
Hard is the case! my dear desires must fail;  
My vows must crack; my plighted faith be frail;  
Or else affection must be so exiled  
A mother's heart, that she renounce her child.   

And as she sp●…ke that word, a flowing tide  
Of tears gushed out, whose violence denied  
Tn'intended passag●… of her doubling tongue:  
She stopped a ●…hile: Then on the floor sh●… flung  
Her prostrate body, whilst her hands did tear  
(Not kn●…owing what they did) her dainty hair.  
Sometimes she struck the ground; sometimes, her breast:  
Began some words, and then wept out the rest;  
At last, her liveless hands did, by degrees,  
Raise her cast body on her feeble knees,  
And humbly rearing her sad eyes upon  
Her mother's frowning visage, thus went on.   

Upon these knees; these knees that ne'er were bend  
To you in vain; that never did present  
Their unrewarded duty; never rose  
Without a mother's blessing; upon those,  
Upon those naked knees, I recommend  
To your dear thoughts, those term●…nis that attend  
Your poor Parthenia, whose unknown distress  
Craves rather death, than language to express.  
What shall I do? D●…magoras and Death  
Sound both alike to these sad ears; that breath  
That names the one, does nominate the other.  
No, no, I cannot love him; my dear mother,  
Command Parthenia now to undergo  
What death you please, and these quick hands shall show  
The seal of my obedience in my heart.  
The gods themselves, that have a secret art  
To force affection, cannot violate  
The laws of Nature, stop the course of Fate.  
Can earth forget her burden, and ascend?  
Or can th'aspiring flames be taught to tend  
To th'earth? If fire descend, and earth aspire,  
Earth were no longer earth, nor fire, fire.  
Even so, by nature, 'tis all one to me,  
To love Demagoras, and not to be.  
No, no, the heavens can do no act that's greater,  
Then (having made so) to preserve their creature.  
And think you that the righteous Gods would fill me  
With such false joys, as (if enjoyed) would kill me?  
I know that they are merciful: what they  
Command, they give a power to obey.  
The joyful vision that your slumbering eyes  
Of late beheld did promise and comprise  
A fairer fortune, than the heavens can share  
To poor Partheniaes' merit; whom despair  
Hath swas●…ow'd: Your prophetic dream descried  
A royal●… marriage; pointed out the Bride;  
Her safe Deliver ●…ce and her smiling son;  
Honou●… and 〈◊〉; and after all was done,  
Th●…re wants a Bridegroom: him, the heavens have sealed  
Within my breast; by me, to be revealed;  
Which, if your patience shall vouchsafe to hear,  
My lips shall recommend unto your ear.   

When as Basilius (may whose royal hand  
Long sway the sceptre of th' Arcadian land)  
From Cyprus brought his more than princely Bride,  
The fair Gynoecia, (whom as Greece denied  
An equal; so the world acknowledged none  
As her superiòur in perfection:)  
Upon this Ladies royal train, and state,  
Agreat concourse of Nobles did await,  
And Cyprian Princes, with their princely port,  
To see her crowned in th' Arcadion Court;  
Illustrious Princes were they: but as far  
As midnight Phebe outshines the twinkling Star,  
So far, amongst this rout of Princes, one  
Surpassed the rest, in honour and renown;  
Whose perfect virtue finds more admiration  
In the Arcadian Court, than imitation:  
In th'excellence of his outward parts, and feature,  
The world conceives, the curious hand of Nature  
Outwent itself; which, being richly fraught  
And furnished with transcendent worth, is thought  
To be the chosen fortress for protection  
Of all the Arts, and storehouse of perfection●…  
The Cyprus stock did ne'er, till now, ●…ring forth  
So rare a Branch, whose underualued worth  
Brings greater glory to th' Arcadian Land,  
Then can the dull Arcadians understand;  
His name is Argalus.  
He (Madam) was that Cypress wreath, that crowned  
My nuptial brows: And now the Bridegroom's found,  
Clothed in the mystry of that Cypress wreath;  
Which, since the better gods have pleased to breathe  
Into my soul, O may I cease to be,  
If aught, but death, part Argalus and me:  
Yet does my safe obedience not withstand  
What you desire, or what the gods command:  
For what the gods command, is your desire  
Parthenia should obey; and not respire  
Against their sacred counsels, or withstand  
The plot, wherein they have vouchsafed a hand:  
We must submit our wills; what they en●…oyne,  
Must be; nor lies it in your power or mine,  
To cross: we must endeavour to fulfil  
What else must come to pass against our will;  
My vows are past, and second heaven's decree,  
Nothing shall part my Arg●…s and me.   

So said; Th'impatient mother's kindled eye  
(Half closed with a murderous frown) let fly  
A scorching fireball, from whence was shed  
Some drops of choler; sternly shakes her head;  
With trembling hands unlocks the door, and flees,  
Leaving Parthenia on her aching knees,  
And as she fled, her fury thus began  
To open, And is Argalus the man?  
But there she stopped; when striving to express  
What rage had prompted, could do nothing less.   

All you, whose dear affections have been tossed  
In Cupid's blanket, and uniuftly crossed  
By wilful Parents, whose extreme command  
Have made you groan beneath their tyrannous hand,  
That take a furious pleasure to divorce  
Your soul●…s from your best thoughts, nay (what is worse  
Than torture) force your fancies to respect,  
And dear love, whom most you does affect:  
Draw near, and comfort the distressed heart  
Of poor Parthenia; let your eyes impart  
One drop at least: And whosoever thou be  
That readest these lines, may thy desires see  
The like success, if reading, thou fo●…beare  
To wet this very paper with a tear.  
Behold (poor Lady) how an hour's time  
Hath plucked her faded roses from their prime,  
And like an unregarded ruin, lies,  
With deaths untimely image in her eyes.  
She, she, whom hopeful thoughts had newly crowned  
With promised joys, lies grovelling on the ground;  
Her weary hand sustain her drooping head;  
(Too soft a pillow for so hard a bed)  
Her eyes swollen up, as loath to see the light,  
That would discover so forlorn a sight:  
The flaxen wealth of her neglected hairs  
Stick'●… fast to her pale cheel●…s with dried tears;  
And at first blush, she seems, as if it were  
Some curious statue on a Sepulchre:  
Sometimes her briny lips would whisper thus,  
My Argalus, my dearest Argalus  
And then they closed again, as if the one  
Had kissed the other, for that service done  
In naming Argalus: sometimes oppressed  
With a deep sigh, she gave her panting breast  
A sudden stroke; and after that another,  
Crying, Hard fortune, O hard hearted mother!  
And sick with her own thoughts, her passion strove  
Betwixt the two extremes of grief, and love;  
The more she grieved, the more her love abounded;  
The more she loved, the more her heart was wounded  
With desperate grief: at length, the tyrannous force  
Of love and grief, sent forth this self d●…scourse.   

How art thou changed (Parthenia?) how hath passion  
Put all thy thoughts, and senses out of fashion?  
Exiled thy little judgement, and betrayed thee  
To thine own self? How nothing hath it made thee?  
How is thy weather beaten soul oppressed  
With storms and tempests blown from the North-east  
Of cold despair? which, long ere this, had found  
Eternal rest; had been o'erwhelmed, and drowned  
In the deep gulf of all my miseries,  
Had I not pumped this water from mine eyes;  
My Argalus; o where, o where art thou?  
Thou little think'st thy poor Parthenia, now  
Is tortured for thy sake; alas, (dear heart!)  
Thou knowst not the insufferable smart  
I undergo for thee: Thou dost not keep  
A Register of those sad tears I weep,  
No, no, thou dost not.  
Well, well; from henceforth, Fortune, do not spare  
To do the worst (thy Agent) Mischief dare;  
Device new torments, or repeat the old,  
Until thou burst, or I complain: Be bold,  
As bitter; I disdain thy rage, thy power;  
Who's levelled with the earth, can fall no lower;  
Do; spit thy venom forth, and temper all  
Thy studied actions with the spirit of gall;  
Thy practised malice can no evil device  
Too hard, for Argalus to exercise;  
His love shall sweeten death, and make a torture  
My sportful pastime, to make hours shorter;  
His love shall fill my heart, and lea●…e no room,  
Wherein your rage may practise martrydom.   

But ere that word could vsh●…r out another,  
The tender Vi●…gins marble hearted mother  
Enters the Chamber; with a changed aspect  
Beholds Partheni●…; with a new respect  
Salutes her child, and (having closed the door)  
Her helpful arm removes her from the ●…loore  
Whereon she lay; and, being set together,  
In gentle terms, she thus did commune with her.   

Perverse Partheni●…, Is thy heart so sworn  
To A●…galus his love, that it must s●…orne  
Demagoras? Are your souls conjoined so close,  
That my ent●…eaty may not interpose?  
If so, what help? yet let a mother's care  
Be not conte●…n'd, that bids her child beware.  
The sickle that's too early, cannot reap  
A fruitful Harvest: Look, before you leap:  
Adjourn your thoughts, and make a wise delay,  
You cannot measure virtue in a day;  
Virtues appear, but vices balk the light;  
'tis hard to read a vice at the first sight.  
False are those joys, that are not mixed with doubt,  
Fire easily kindled, will not easily out:  
Divide that love, which thou bestowst on one,  
'twixt two: try both; then take the best, or none:  
Consult with time: for time betrays, discovers  
The faith, the love, the constancy of lovers.  
Acts done in haste, by leisure are repent,  
And things, soon past, are oft, too late lamented:  
With tha●…, Parthenia, rising from her place,  
And bowing with incomparable grace,  
M●…de ●…his reply; Madam, each several day  
Since first you gave this body being, may  
Write a large volume of your tender care,  
Whose hourly goodness if it should compare  
With my deserts, alas, the world would show  
Too great a sum, for one poor heart to owe;  
I must confess my heart is not so sworn  
To Argalus his merit as to scorn  
D●…magoras; nor yet so loosely tied,  
That I can slip the knot, and so divide  
Entire affection, which must not be severed,  
Nor ever can be (but in vain) endeavoured.  
My heart is one, and by one power guided;  
One is no number; cannot be divided.  
And Cupid's learned schoolmen have resolved  
That love divided is but love dissolved;  
But yet, what plighted faith, and honour may  
Not now undo, your counsel shall delay.  
Madam, Partheniaes' hand is not so greedy,  
To reap her corn, before her corn he ready:  
Her unadvised sickle shall not thrust  
Into her hopeful Har●…est, ere needs must:  
To yours P●…rthenia shall submit her skill,  
Whose season shall be seasoned by your will:  
Her time of harvest shall admit no measure  
But only what's proportioned by your pleasure.   

S●… ended she; But till that darkness got  
The mastery of the light, they parted not.  
The mother pleads for the Laconian Lord;  
The daughter (whose impatience had abhorted  
His very name, had not her mother spoked)  
S●…e pl●…ads her vow, which cannot be revoked.  
Y●…t st●…ll the mother pleads, and does omit  
No way untried, that a hard hearted wit  
Knows to devose; persuades, allures, entreats;  
Mingles his words with smiles, with tears, with threats;  
Commands, coni●…es; tries one way, tries another,  
Does th●…tmost that a marble breasted mother  
Can do; and yet the more she did apply,  
The mor●… she taught Parthenia to deny;  
The more she did ass●…ult, the more contend;  
The more she taught the virgin to defend.  
At last, despairing (for her words did find  
More ease to move a mountain, than her mind)  
She sp●…ke no more; but from her chair she started,  
And spit these words, Go, peevish Girl, and parted.  
Away she flings, and finding no success  
In her lost words, her fury did address  
Her raging thoughts to a new studied plot;  
Actions must now enforce, what words could not.  
Treason is in her thoughts; Her furious breath  
Can whisper now no language, under death;  
Poor Argalus must dye; and his remove  
Must make the passage to Demagoras love:  
And till that bar be broken, or put by,  
No hope to speed; Poor Argalus must dye.  
Demagoras is called to counsel now,  
Consults, consents; and, after mutual vow,  
R●…soluing on the act, they both conspire,  
Which way to execute their close desi●…e.  
D●…awing his keen Seeletto from his side,  
Madam (said he) This medicine well applied,   

To Arg●…lus his bo●…ome, will give rest  
To him, and me; the sudden way is best.  
My Lord (〈◊〉 she) your trembling hand may miss  
The mark, and then yourself in danger is  
Of outcry; or perchance his own resistance.  
Attempts are dangerous, at so small a distance.  
A drugg's the better weapon; which does breathe  
Death's secret errand, carries sudden death  
Closed up in sweetness: Come, a drug strikes sure,  
And works our ends, and yet we sleep secure.  
My Lord, bethink no other; Set your rest  
Upon these C●…rds; The surest way is best:  
Leave me to manage our successful plot,  
And if these studious brows contrive it not  
Too sure, for art of M●…gicke to prevent,  
ne'er trust a woman's wit, w●…en fully bend  
To take revenge: Begun, my Lord; repose  
The trust in me: Only be wise, be close.   

That night, when as the universal sh●…de  
Of the unspangled heaven, and earth had made  
An v●…ter darkness; (darkness, apt to further  
The horrid enterprise of rapes, and m●…her)  
She, she, that now lacks nothing to procu●…e  
A full revenge, she calls Athleia to her,  
(Partheniaes' handmaid) whom sh●… thus ●…espake.   

Athleia, dare thy private thoughts partake  
With mine? Canst thou be secret? Has thy heart  
A lock that none can pick by thievish art,  
Or broke by force? Tell me, Canst thou digest  
A secret, trusted to thy faithful breast?   

Madam, said sh●…, L●…t me be never true  
To my own thoughts, if ever false to you:  
Speak what you please; Athleia shall conceal,  
Torments may make me roar, but ne'er re●…eale.   

replied the Lady then: Athleia knows  
How much, how much my dear affection owes  
Partheniaes' heart whose welfare is the crown  
Of all my joys, which now is overthrown  
And deeply buried in forgotten dust,  
If thou betray the secret of my trust.  
It lieth in thy power to remove  
Approaching evils: Parthenia is in love:  
Her wasted spirits languish in her breast,  
And nought, but looked for death, can give her rest;  
'tis Argalus she loves; who, with disdain,  
Requites her love, not loving her again;  
He sleights her tears: The more that he neglects,  
The more entirely she (poor soul) affects:  
She groans beneath the burden of despair,  
And with her sighs she cloys the idle air.  
Thou art acquainted with her private tears;  
And you, so oft exchanging tongues and ears,  
Must know too much, for one poor heart t'endure;  
But desperate's the wound admits no Cure:  
It lies in thee to help: Athleia, say,  
Wilt thou assist me, if I find the way?   

Madam, my forced ignorance shall be  
Sufficient earnest of my secrecy:  
Your lips have uttered nothing that is new  
To Athleias ears: Alas, it is too true.  
Long, long ere this, your servant had revealed  
The same to you, bade not my lips bi●… sealed:  
But if my best endeavours may extend  
To bring my Mistress sorrows to an end,  
Let all the enraged D●…ties a●…ot  
To me worse torment, if I do it not:  
My life's too poor to hazard for her ease;  
Madam, I'll do●…; Command me what you please:   

So said; The treacherous Lady steps aside,  
In●…o her serious close●…; and applied  
Her hasty, and perfidious hands, to frame  
This fo●…ged letter, in Partheniaes' name.   

Constant Parthenia to her faithful Argalus.  
ALthough the malice of a mother  
Does yet enforce my tongue to smother  
What my desire is, should flame;  
yet Parthenia is the same.   

Although my fire be hid a while,  
T is but fire slacked with oil;  
Before seven Suns shall rise and fall,  
It shall burn, and blaze withal.   

What I send thee, drink with speed,  
Else let my Argalus take heed;  
Unless thy providence withstand,  
there is treason ne'er at hand;  
Drink as thou lov'st me, and it shall secure thee  
From future dangers; or from past, recure thee.   

This done, and sealed, she opened her pri●…te door,  
Called in Athleia, and said; For every sore  
The gods provide a salve. Force must prevail,  
Where sighs and tears, and deep entreaties fail.  
Forthwith from out her Cabinet she took  
A little glass, and said, Athleia, look  
Within these slender walls, these glazed lists,  
Parthe●…aes happiness, and life consists;  
It is Nepenthe; which the factious gods  
Do use to drink, when ere they be at odds,  
Whose secret virtue (so infused by love)  
Does turn deep hatred, into dearest love;  
It makes the proudest lover whine and bawl,  
And such to dote, as never loved at all;  
Here take this glass, and recommend the same  
To A●…galus in his P●…theniaes name,  
And to his hand, to his own hand commit  
This letter; Between A●…galus, and it  
Let no eye come: Be sure thy spee●… prevent  
The rising Sun: and so heaven's crown th'event.   

By this the feathered Bellman of the night  
Sent forth his midnight summons, to inui●…e  
All eyes to sl●…mber, when they both addressed  
Their thoughtful minds, to take a doubtful rest.   

O heavens! and you, O you celestial powers,  
That never slumber, but employ all hours  
In man's prorection; still preserving, keeping  
Our souls from obvious dangers, waking, sleeping.  
O, can your all-descerning eyes behold  
Such impious actions prosper, uncontrolled?  
O can your hearts, your tender hearts endure  
To see your servant (that now sleeps secure,  
Unarmed, vnwarned, and having no defence,  
But your protection, and his innocence)  
Betrayed, and murdered, drawing at one breath  
His own prepared destruction, his own death?  
And will ye 〈◊〉? He that is the crown  
Of prized virtue, honour and renown;  
The flower of Arts; the Cyprian living story;  
Arcadia's Garland, and great Graeces glory;  
The earth's new wonder; and the world's example,  
Must dye betrayed; Treason and death must trample  
Upon his life; and, in the dust, must lie  
As much admitted perfection, as can dye.  
No, Argalus, the coward hand of death  
Durst ne'er assault thee, if not underneath  
The Mask of love: Thou art above the reach  
Of open wrongs; Man's force could ne'er make breach  
Into thy life: no, Death could ne'er uncase  
Thy soul, had she appeared face to face.  
Dream, Argalus; and let thy thoughts be troubled  
With murders, treasons; Let thy dreams be doubled  
And what thy frighted fancy shall perceive,  
Be wisely superstitious, and believe.  
O, that my lines could wake thee now, and sever  
Those eyelids, that ere long must sleep for ever.  
Wake, now or never Argalus; and withstand  
Thy danger; Wake, the murtheress is at hand.  
Parthenia, oh Parthenia, who shall weep  
Thy world of tears? Canst thou, O canst thou sleep?  
Will thy dull Genius give thee leave to slumber?  
Does nothing trouble thee? no dream encumber  
Thy frighted thoughts? and Argalus so near  
His latest hour? Not one dreaming tear?  
Sleep on: and when thy flattering slumber's past,  
Perchance, thine eyes will learn to weep as fast.  
His death is plotted; And this morning light  
Must send him down, into eternal night.  
Nay, what is worse than worst; His dying breath  
Will censure thee, as Agent in his death.   

By this the broadfaced Quirister of night  
Surceased her screeching note, and took her flight  
To the next neighbouring Ivy: Brids and beasts  
Forsake the warm protection of their nests,  
And nightly 〈◊〉, whilst darkness did display  
Her sable curtains, to let in the day,  
When sad Athleia's dream had unbenighted  
Her slumbering eyes: her busy thoughts were frighted:  
She rose, and trembled; and being half distraught,  
With her prophetic fears; she thus bethought.   

What ail the Gods, thus to disturb my rest,  
And make such earthquakes in my troubled breast?  
Nothing but death, and murders? Graves and Bells?  
Frighting my fancy, with their hourly knells?  
'twas nothing but a dream; and dreams they say,  
Expound themselves the clean contrary way.  
The Riddle's read; and now I understand  
My dreams intents: Some marriage is at hand:  
For death interpreted, is nothing else  
But marriage; And the melancholy Bells,  
Is mirth and music: By the grave, is read  
The ioyfullioy, full, joyful, marriage bed:  
I, ay 'tis plain: And now, me thinks, 'twas I,  
That my prophetic dream foretold, should dye.  
If this be death, Death exercise thy power,  
And let Athleia dye within this hour.  
Do, do thy worst; Athleia's faithful breath  
Shall pray for nothing more than sudden death.  
But stay, Athleia, the too forward day,  
Begins to gild the East; away, away.   

So having said; The nimble fingered Lass  
took the forged letter, and the amorous glass,  
And, to her early progress, she applies her;  
D parts, and toward; Argalus she hies her;  
But every step she took, her mind enforced  
New thoughts, and with herself, she thus discoursed.   

How frailes the nature of a woman's will!  
How cross! The thing that's most forbidden, still  
They more desire; and least inclined, to do  
What they are most of all persuaded too.  
Had not (alas) my Lady bound these hands,  
Athl●…ia ne'er had struggled with her bands.  
I must not taste it! Had she not enjoined  
My lips from tasting it, Athleia's mind  
Had never thought on't; now, me thinkss I long;  
Desires, if once confined, become too strong  
For woman's conquered reason to resist;  
A woman's reason's measured by her list.  
I long to taste: yet was there nothing did  
Move my desires, but that I was forbid.   

With that she stayed her weary steps, and hasted  
T'vntye the Glass; lift up her arm and tasted;  
That done (and having now attained, almost  
Her journey's end) the little time she lost,  
New speed regains; The nimble ground she traces  
With double haste and quick redoubled paces.  
All on a sudden, she begins to faint;  
Her bowels gripe, her breath begins to taint;  
Her blistered tongue grows hot, her liver glows;  
Her veins do boil, her colour comes and goes:  
She staggers; falls; and on the ground she lies;  
Swells like a bladder; roars; and bursts; and dies.   

Thus from her ruin, Argalus derives  
His longer life, and by her death, he lives;  
Live Argalus, and let the gods allot  
Such morning draughts to those that love thee not:  
Live long; and let the righteous powers above,  
That have preserved thee for Parthenia's love,  
Crown all thy hopes, and fortunes, with event  
Too sure, for second treasons to prevent.   

By this time, did the lavish breath of Fame  
Give language to her Trumpet, and proclaim  
Athleias death, the current of which news  
Truths warrant had forbidden to abuse  
Deceived ears: which, when the Lady heard,  
Whose treacherous heart was greedily prepared  
To entertain a murder; she arose,  
And with rude violence desperately throws  
H●…r trembling body, on the naked floor,  
But what she said, and did, I will deplore,  
Not utter; but with forced silence smother,  
Because she was the fair Parthenia's mother:  
May it suffice, that the extremes of shame,  
And unresisted sorrow overcame  
Her disappointed malice; less lamenting  
The treason, than success; and more repenting  
Of what she failed to do, than what she did,  
Her sullen soul despairs; her thoughts forbid  
What reason wants the power, to persuade;  
Her griefs b●…ing grown too deep for her to wade,  
She sinks; and with a hollow sigh, she cried,  
Welcome thou easer of all evils; and died.   

Now tongues begin to walk; and every ear  
Hath got the Saturyasis to hear  
This tragic scene: The breath of Fame grows bold  
Fears no repulse, and scorns to be controlled,  
Whilst loud report, (whose tender lips before,  
Durst only whisper) now begins to roar;  
The letter, found in dead Athleias breast,  
Bewrayed the plot; and what (before) was guest,  
Is now confirmed, and cleared: for all men knew  
Whose hand it was, and whence the malice grew.   

But have we lost Parthenia? In what Isle  
Of endless sorrow lurks she all this while?  
Sweet Reader, urge me not to tell, for fear  
Thy heart dissolve, and melt into a tear.  
Excuse my silence: If my lines should speak,  
Such marble hearts, as could not melt, would break;  
No, leave her to herself: It is not fit  
To write, what being read, you'd wish unwrit:  
I leave the task to those, that take delight,  
To see poor Ladies tortured in despite  
Of all remorse; whose hearts are still at strife  
To p●…int a torment to the very life.  
I leave that task to such, as have the power  
To weep, and smile again within an hour.  
To those, whose flinty hearts are more content●…d  
To limb a grief, then pity the tormented.  
Let it suffice, that had not heaven protected  
Her Argalus; the joy whereof, corrected  
That 〈◊〉 grief, which passion recommended  
To her sad thoughts, her story here had ended.   

When Time (the enemy of Fame) had closed  
Her babbling lips, and gently had composed  
Partheniaes' sorrows, raising from the ground  
Her body, spent with grief, and almost drowned  
In her own tears; a long expected Scene  
Of better fortune enters in, to dreane  
His marish eyes: Her stormy night of tears  
Being past, a welcome day of joy appears;  
The rocke's removed, and loves wide Ocean now  
Gives room enough; looks with a milder brow.  
Reader forget thy sorrows; Let thine ear  
Welcome the tidings thou so longest to hear:  
A lovers diet's sweet, commixed with sour;  
His hell and heaven, oft-time, divides an hour.   

Now Argalus can find a fair access  
To his Parthenia: now, fears nothing less  
Than ears and eyes; and now Partheniaes' heart  
Can give her tongue the freedom, to impart  
His louder welcome, whilst her greedy eye  
Can look her fill, and fear no slander by.  
She's not Parthenia, he not present with her;  
And he not Argalus, if not together.  
Their cheeks are filled with smiles; their tongues with chat,  
Now, this they make their subject, and now that.  
One while they laugh; and laughing wrangle too,  
And jar, as jealous lovers use to do.  
And then a kiss, must make them friends again;  
Faith, one's too little; Lovers must have twain;  
Two brings in ten; ten multiplies to twenty;  
That, to a hundred: then because the plenty  
Grows troublesome to count, and does encumber  
Their lips; their lips gave ●…isses without number.  
Their thoughts run back to former times: they told  
Of all love's passages, they had of old.    

ARGALUS AND PARTHENIA.  
The Second Book.  

Sail gentle Pinnace: Now the heavens are clear,  
The winds blow fair: Behold the harbour's near.  
Trydented Neptune hath forgot to frown;  
The rocks are past; The storm is overblown;  
Up weather-beaten voyagers; and rouse ye,  
Forsake your loathed Cabbi●…s; up, and louze ye  
Upon the open decks, and smell the land;  
Cheer up; the welcome shore is nigh at hand:  
Sail gentle Pinnace, with a prosperous gale,  
To th'Isle of peace: S●…ile gentle Pinnace, sail;  
Fortune conduct thee; Let thy keel divide  
The silver streams, that thou must safely slide  
Into the bosom of thy quiet Key,  
And quite thee fairly of th'injurious Sea.   

Great Seaborn Queen, thy birthright gives thee power  
T'assist poor suppliants; grant one happy hour.  
O, let these wounded lovers be possessed,  
At length, of their so long desired rest.   

Now, now the joyful marriage day draws on;  
The Bride is bu●…ie, and the bridegroom's gone  
To call his fellow Princes to the feast;  
The Girlands made; The bridal chamber's dressed;  
The Muses have consulted with the Graces,  
To crown the day, and honour their embraces  
With shadowed Epithalmes: Their warbling tongues  
Are perfect in their new made Lyric songs;  
Hymen begins to grumble at delay,  
And Bacchus laughs to think upon the day;  
The virgin tapors, and what other rights  
Do appertain to Nuptial delights,  
Are all prepared, whereby may be expressed  
The joyful triumph of this marriage feast.   

But stay! who lends me now an iron pen,  
T'engraue within the marble hearts of men  
A tragic scene; which whosoever shall read,  
His eyes may spare to weep, and learn to bleed  
Carnation tears: If time shall not allow  
His death prevented eyes to weep enough,  
Th●…n let his dying language recommend  
What's left to his posterity to end.   

Thou saddest of all Muses; come; afford  
Thy studious help, that each confounding word  
May rend a heart (at least;) that every line  
May pickle up a kingdom in the brine  
Of their own tears: O teach me to extract  
The spirit of grief, whose virtue may distract  
Those breasts, which sorrow knows not how to kill;  
Inspier, 〈◊〉 inspire my melting Quill,  
And, like sad Niobé, let every one  
That cannot melt, be turned into a stone:  
Teach me to paint an oft-repeated sigh  
So to the life, that whosoever be nigh  
May hear it breathe, and learn to do the like  
By imitation, till true passion strike  
Their bleeding hearts: Let such as shall rehearse  
This story, howl like Irish at a Hearse.   

Th'event st●…ll crownes the act: Let no man say,  
Before the evening's come; 'tis a fair day:   

When as the Kalends of this bridal feast  
Were entered in, and every longing breast  
〈◊〉 great with expectation, and all eyes  
(Prepared for entertaining novelties)  
Were grown impatient now, to be sufficed  
With that, which Art and Honour had devised  
T'adorn the times withal, and to display  
Their bounty, and the glory of that day,  
The rare Parthenia taking sweet occasion  
To bless her busy thoughts, with contemplation  
Of absent Argalus, whose too long stay  
Made minutes 〈◊〉 days; and every day  
A measured age; into her s●…cret bower  
Betook her weary steps, where every hour  
Her greedy ears expect to hear the sum  
Of all her hopes, that Argalus is come.  
She hopes, she fears at once; and still she muses  
What makes him stay so long; she chides; excuses;  
She questions; answers; and she makes reply,  
And talks, as if her Argalus were by;  
Why comest thou not? Can Argalus forget  
His languishing Parthenia? what, not yet?  
But as she spoke that word, she heard a noise,  
Which seemed as if it were the whispering voice  
Of close conspiracy: she began to fear  
She knew not what, till her deceived ear,  
Instructed by her hopes, had singled out  
The voice of Argalus from all the rout,  
Whose steps (as she supposed) did prepare  
By stealth to seize upon her unaware:  
She gave advantage to the thriving plot,  
Hearing the noise, as if she heard it not.  
Like as young Doves, which ne'er had yet forsaken  
The warm protection of their nests, or taken  
Upon themselves a selfe-providing care,  
To shift for food, but with paternal fare  
Grow fat and plump; think every noise they hear,  
Their full cropped parents are at hand, to cheer  
Their craving stomaches, whilst th'impartial fist  
Of the false Cater, rifling where it list  
In every hole, surprises them, and sheds  
Their guiltless blood, and parts their gasping heads  
From their vain struggling bodies; so; even so  
Our poor deceived Parthenia, (that did owe  
Too much to her own hopes) the whilst her eyes  
Were set, to welcome the unualued prize  
Of all her joys, her dearest Argalus,  
Steps in Demagoras, and salutes her thus:   

Base Trull; Demagoras comes to let thee see,  
How much he scorns thy painted face, and thee;  
Fowl Sorceress! Could thy prosperous actions think  
To scape revenge, because the gods did wink  
At thy designs? Think'st thou thy mother's blood  
Cries in a language, not to be'vnderstood?  
Hadst thou no closer stratagem, to further  
Thy pampered lust, but by the savage murder  
Of thine own aged parent, whose sad death  
Must give a freedom to the whispering breath  
Of thy enjoyed adulterer? who (they say)  
Will cloak thy whoredom, with a marriage day;  
Nay struggle not; here's none that can reprieve  
Such pounded beasts; It is in vain to strive,  
Or roar for help: why dost not rather weep,  
That I may laugh? Perchance, if thou wilt creep  
Upon thy wanton belly, and confess  
Thyself a true repentant murtheress,  
My sinful Page may play the foole, and gather  
Thy early fruit into his barn, and father  
Thy new got Cyprian bastard, if that he  
Be half so wis●…, that got it, but to flee.  
Ha! dost thou weep? or do false mists but mock  
Our cheated eyes? From so obdure a rock  
Can water flow? weeping will make thee fair;  
Weep till thy marriage day; that who repair  
To grace thy feast, may fall a weeping too,  
And, in a mirror, see what tears can do.  
Vile strumpet! did thy flattering thoughts ere wrong  
Thy judgement so; to think, D●…magoras tongue  
Could so abuse his honour, as to sue  
For serious love? So base a thing as you  
(Me thinks) should rather fix your wanton eyes  
Upon some ea●…e groom, that hopes to rise  
Into his master's favour, for your sake;  
I; this had been preferment, like to make  
A hopeful fortune: thou presumptuous trash●…  
What was my courtship? but the minutes dash  
Of youthful passion, to allay the dust  
Of my desires, and exuberous lust?  
I scorn thee to the soul, and here I stand  
Bound for revenge, whereto I set my hand.   

With that, he c●…ught her rudely by the fair  
And bounteous treasure of her Nymph-like hair;  
And, by it, dragged her on the du●…y floor:  
He stopped her mouth, for fear she should implore  
An aid from heaven, she swooning in the place,  
His savage hands besmeared her liveless face  
With horrid poison, thinking she was dead,  
He left her breathlesle, and away he fled.   

Come, come ye Furies, you malignant spirits,  
Infernal Harpies, or what, else, inherits  
The land of darkness; you, that still converse  
With damned souls; you, you that can rehearse  
The horrid facts of villainies, and can tell  
How every hell hound looks, that roars in hell;  
Survey them all; and, then, inform my pen,  
To draw in one, the monster of all men;  
Teach me to limb a villain, and to paint  
With dextrous art, the basest Sycophant,  
That e'er the mouth of insolent disdain  
Vouchsas'd to spit upon; the ripened blain  
Of all diseased humours, fit for none  
But dogs to lift their hasty legs upon:  
So clear men's eyes, that whosoever shall see  
The type of baseness, may cry, This is He;  
Let his reproach be a perpetual blot  
In Honour's book: Let his remembrance rot  
In all good minds: Let none but villains call  
His bugbear name to memory, wherewithal  
To fright their bawling bastards: Let no spell  
Be found more potent, to prevail in hell,  
Then the nine letters of his charm like name;  
Which, let our bashful Christcross row disclaim  
To the world's end, not fitting to be set  
As mutes, within the jewish Alphabet.   

But hark! Am I deceived, or do I hear  
The voice of Arg'lus sounding in mine ear?  
He calls Parthenia: No, that tongue can be  
No counterfeit: He's come: 'tis he, 'tis he.  
Welcome too la●…, that art now come too soon;  
Hadst thou been here, this deed had ne'er been done.  
Alas! when lovers linger, and outgo  
Their promised date, they know not what they do:  
Men fond say, that women are too fond;  
At parting, to require so strict a bond  
For quick return: Poor souls! 'tis they endure  
Oft times the danger of the forfeiture;  
I blame them not; for mischief still attends  
Upon the too long absence of true friends.   

Well; Argalus is come, and seeks about  
In every room, to find Parthenia out;  
He asks, enquiers; but all lips are sparing  
To be the authors of ill news, not daring  
To speak the truth; they all amazed stand;  
And now, my Lord's as fearful to demand;  
Dares not inquire her health, lest his sad ear  
Should hear such words, as he's afraid to hear:  
All lips are bolted with a linen bar,  
And every eye does, like a bl●…zing star,  
Portend some evil; no language finds a leak;  
The less they speak, the more he fears to speak.  
Faces grow sad; and every private ear  
Is turned a Closet for the whisperer;  
He walks the room, and like an unknown stranger  
They eye him; from each eye, he picks a danger;  
At last, his lips not d●…ting to importune  
What none dare tell him, unexpected fortune  
Leads his rash steps into a darkened room,  
A place more black than night; No sooner come,  
B●…t he was welcomed with a sigh, as deep  
As a spent heart could give; he heard one weep,  
And by the noise of groans and sobs was led  
(H●…uing none other guide) to the sad bed.   

Who is't (said he) that calls untimely night  
To hide those griefs that thus abjure the light?  
With that, as if her heart had rend in two,  
She passed a sigh, and said, O ask not who?  
Urge not my tongue to make a forced reply  
To your demand: Alas! it is not I:  
Not I (said he?) what language do I hear;  
Darkness may stop mine eye, but not mine ear.  
It is my dear Parthenia's voice; ah me,  
And can Parthenia, not Parthenia be?  
What means this word, (Alas! it is not I)?  
What sudden ill hath taught thee to deny  
Thyself? or what can Argalus then claim,  
If his Parthenia be not the same,  
She was; alas, it seems to me all one  
To say, Thou art not hers, that's not her own.  
Can hills forget their ponderous bulk, and fly,  
Like wand'ring Atoms, in the empty sky?  
Or can the heavens, (grown idle) not fulfil  
Their certain revolutions, but stand still,  
And leave their constant motion, for the wind  
T'inherit? Can Parthenia change her mind?  
Heaven sooner shall stand still, and earth rem●…e,  
ere my Parthenia 〈◊〉 her love:  
Unfold thy Riddle then; and tell me, why  
Those lips should say, (Alas it is not I.)   

Whereto she thus replied; O do not thou  
So wrong thy noble thoughts, as once t'allow  
That cursed name a room, within thy breast,  
Let not so foul a prodigy be blest  
With thy lost breath; Let it be held a sin  
Too great for pardon, e'er to name't again;  
Let darkness hide it in eternal night;  
May it be clad with horror, to affright  
A desperate conscience; He that knows not ●…ow  
To mouth a curse, O let him practise now  
Upon this name; Let him that would contract  
The body of all mischief, or extract  
The quint'ssence of all sorrows, only claim  
A secret privilege to use that name:  
Far be it from thy language, to commit  
So soul a sin, as once to mention it:  
Live happy Arg'lus; do not thou partake  
In these my miseries: O forbear to make  
My burden greater, by thy tender sorrow;  
Alas, my heart is strong, and needs not borrow  
Thy needless help: O be not thou so cruel  
To feed my ●…aming fires, with thy fuel;  
Why dost thou sigh? O wherefore should thy heart  
Usurp my stage, and act Parthenia's part?  
It is my proper task: what dost thou mean,  
Without my licence, to intrude my Scene?  
Alas! thy sorrow's ease not my distress;  
God knows, I weep not one pocre tear the less:  
My patent's signed and passed; whereby appears  
That I have got the Monopoly of tears:  
In me, let each man's torment find an end:  
I am that Sea, to which all Rivers tend:  
Let all spent mourners, that can weep no more,  
Take tears on trust, and set them on my score.   

And as she spoke that word, his heart not able  
To bear a language so unsufferable,  
But being swollen so big, must either break  
Or vent, his darkened reason grew too weak  
T' oppose his quickened passion (like a man  
Transported from himself) he thus began;   

Accursed darkness! Thou sad type of death!  
Infernal Hag, whose dwelling is beneath!  
What means thy boldness to usurp this room,  
And force a night, before the night be come?  
Get, get ●…hee down, and keep within thy lists;  
Go revel there; and burle thy hideous mists  
Before those cursed eyes, that take delight  
In utter darkness, and abhor the light;  
Return thee to thy dungeon, whence thou came  
And hide those faces, whose infernal flame  
C●…ls for more darkness, and whose tortured souls  
Crave the protection of th' obscurest holes,  
To scape some lashes, and avoid those strict  
And horrid plagues, the furies do inflict:  
But if thou needs must ramble here, abou●…;  
Go to some other Climate, and remove  
Thy ugly presence from our darkened eyes,  
That hate thy Tyranny: Go exercise  
Thy power in Groves, and solitary springs,  
Where Bats are subjects, and where Owls are kings;  
Go to the grains, and fill those empty voomes,  
That such as slumber in their silent Toombs  
May bless thy welcome shades, and lie possessed  
Of vndi●…rbed and eternal rest:  
Or if thy more ambitious fogs desire  
To haunt the living; hast thee, and retire  
Into some Cloister, and there stand b●…ene  
The light, and those that fain would sin, unseen;  
Assist them there; and 〈◊〉 thy ugly shapes  
Count'nance close treasons, and incestuous rapes:  
Benight those rooms; and aid all such, as fear  
The eye of heaven; Go; close thy curtains there;  
We need thee ●…ot (foul witch,) away, away;  
Thou hidest more beauty than the noon of day  
Can give; O thou, that hast so rudely hurled  
On this dark bed, the glory of the world.   

So said; Abruptly he the room departs,  
His cheeks look pale, his curled hair 〈◊〉  
L●…ke quills of Porcupines, and from his eye  
Q●…icke flashes like the flames of lightning fly;  
He calls for light; the light no sooner come,  
But his own hand connayes it to the room  
From whence he came, and as he entered in  
He blest himself; he blest himself again;  
Thrice did he bless himself, and after said,   

Fowl witch, begun; and let thy dismal shade  
For sake this place; Let thy dark fogs obey  
Great Vulcan's charge; 〈◊〉 Vulcan's name, away;  
Or if thy ●…out rebellion shall disclaim  
His sovereignty, in my Parthenia's name  
I charm thee hence. And as that word flew out,  
He steps to that sad bed, where round about,  
Closed were the curtains, as if darkness did  
Command that such a jewel should be hid:  
His left hand held the taper, and his right  
Enforced the curtains, to absolve the light;  
Which done; appeared before his wondering eye  
The truest portrait of deformity,  
As e'er the Sun beheld: That lovely face  
That was, of late, the model of all grace  
And 〈◊〉 beauty, whose imperious eyes  
〈◊〉 where ere they looked, and did ●…urprise  
The very souls of men; she, she of whom  
Nature herself w●…s proud, is now become  
So loathed an object, so deformed, dis●…z'd,  
As darkness, for m●…s sake, was well advised  
To clothe in mists, lest any were incited  
To see that face, and so depart affrighted.  
All this when Argalus b●…held, and found  
It was no dream, he fell upon the ground;  
And 〈◊〉; and rose again; stood still; and gazed;  
At first he startled, than he stood amazed;  
Looks now upon the light; and now on her;  
One while his tired fancy does refer  
His th●…ughts to silence; as his thoughts increase,  
His p●…ion strives for vent, and breaks that peace,  
Which conquered reason had, of late, concluded,  
And thus began; Are these false ●…es deluded?  
Or have enchanted mists stepped in between  
My abused eyes, and what 〈◊〉 eyes ●…aue seen?  
No; mischi●…fe cannot act so fair a part,  
Taffright in i●…st; it goes beyond the art  
Of all black books, to mask, with such disguise,  
So sweet a face; I know, that these are eyes;  
And this a light; False mists could never be  
Betwixt my poor Parthenia, and me.   

Accursed Taper! what infernal spirit  
Breathed in thy face? what Fury gave thee light?  
Thou imp of Phlegetor; who let thee in,  
To force a day, before the day begin?  
Who brought thee 〈◊〉? I? did I? From whom,  
What lean chapt fury did I snatch thee from?  
When as this cursed hand did go about  
To bring thee in, why went not these eyes out?  
Be all such Tapours cursed, for thy sake;  
ne'er shine, but at some Vigil, or sad Wake;  
Be never seen, but when as sorrow calls  
Thy needful help to nightly ●…unerals;  
Be as a May-game for th' amazed Bat  
To sport about; and Owls, to wonder as:  
Still h●…nt the Chancels a: a midnight knell,  
To fright the Sexton from his passing Bell:  
Give light to none but treasons, and be hid  
In their dark lanterns: Let all mirth forbid  
Thy treacherous flames the room: and if that none.  
Shall deign to put thee out, go out alone;  
Attend some miser's table, and then waste  
Too soon, that he may curse thee for thy haste;  
Bur●… dim for ever: Let that flat●…'ring ligh●…  
Thou feedest, consume thy stock: be ●…isht quite  
From Cupid's Court: When lovers go abou●…  
Their stol●… pleasures, let your flames go out;  
Henceforth be useful to no other end,  
But only to burn day light, or attend  
The midnight Cups of such as shall resign,  
With usury, their indigested wine:  
Why dost thou burn so clear? Alas! these eyes  
Discern too much; Thy wanton blaze doth rise  
Too high a pitch: Thou burnest too bright, for such  
As see no comfort; O thou shinest too much:  
Why dost thou vex me? Is thy flame so stout  
Tendure my breath? This breath shall puff thee out.  
Thus, thus my joys are quite extinguished, never  
To be re●…iu'd: Thus gone, thus gone sor ever.   

With that, transported with a furious haste,  
He blew it out: but mark, that very blast  
(As if it meant, on purpose, to disclaim  
His desperate thoughts) revived th'extinguished flame.  
He stands amazed; and, having mused a while,  
Beholds the Taper, and begins to smile.   

And can the gods themselves (said he) contrive  
A way for hope? Can my past joys revive,  
Like this rekinàled fire? If they do,  
I'll curse m●… lips (bright Lamp) for cursing you.  
Eternal Fates! Deal fairly; dally not:  
If your hid bounties have reserved a lot  
Beyond my wained hopes, be it expressed  
In open view; make haste; and do your best:  
But if your justice be determined so,  
To exercise your vengeance on my woe,  
Strengthen not what at length you mean●… to burst;  
Strike home betimes; dispatch; and do your worst:  
That burden is too great for him to bear,  
That's 〈◊〉 poised betmixt hope and fear.   

And there he stopped; as fearing to molest  
The silent peace of her dissembled rest.  
He gazed upon her; stood as in a trance;  
Sometimes her liveless hand he would advance  
To his sad lips; then steal it down again;  
Sometimes, a tear would fall upon't; and then  
A sigh must dry it; Every kiss did bear  
A sigh; and every sigh begat a tear:   

If I had loved thee, for thy heavenly eye,  
I might have courted the bright majesty  
Of Tiran: If thy curious lips had snared  
My lick'rish thoughts, I might have soon prepared  
A blushing Coral, or some full ripe Cherry,  
And pleased my lips, until my lips were weary;  
Or if the smoothness of thy whiter brow  
Had charmed mine eyes, and made my fancy bow  
To outwards objects, polishes Marble might  
Have given as much content, as much delight;  
In brief, had Argalus his flattered eye  
Been pleased with beauties bare Epitome,  
Thy curious picture might have then supplied  
My wants, more full, than all the world beside;  
No, no; 'Twas neither brow, nor lip, nor eye  
Nor any outward excellence urged me, why  
To love Parthenia: 'Twas thy better part,  
Which mischief could not wrong, surprised my heart.  
Thy beauty was but like a Crystal case,  
Through which, the jewel of admired grace  
Transparent was, whose hidden worth did make  
Me love the C●…ket, for the jewels sake;  
No, no; my well-aduised eye pierced in  
Beyond the film; sunk deeper than the skin;  
Else, had I now been changed, and that firm duty  
I owe my vows, had faded, with thy beauty;  
Nay, weep not (my Parthenia;) let those tears  
ne'er wail that loss, which a few after years  
Had claimed as due; Cheer up; thou hast forsaken  
But that, which sickness would (perchance) have taken,  
With greater disadvantage; or else age,  
That common evil, which ●…rt cannot assuage;  
Beauty's but bare opinion: White and Red  
Have no more privilege, but what is bred  
By humane fancy; which was ne'er confined  
To certain bounds, but varies like the wind;  
What one man likes, another disrespects;  
And what a third most hates; a fourth, affects;  
The Negro's eye thinks black beyond compare,  
And what would fright us most, they count most fair:  
If then opinion be the Touch, whereby  
All beauty's tried; Parthenia, in my eye  
Out shines fair Helen; or who else she be,  
That is more rich in beauty's wealth, than she.  
Cheer up: The sovereignty of thy worth, enfranches  
Thy capti●…e beaut●…; and thy virtue blanches  
These stains of fortune; Come; it matters not  
What others think: a letter's but a blot  
To such as cannot read; but, who have skill,  
Can know the fair impression of a Quill  
From gross and heedl●…sse blurs; and such can think  
No paper foul, that's fairly writ with ●…nke:  
What others hold a blemish in thy face,  
My skilful eyes read Characters of grace;  
What hinders then; but that without delay,  
Triumph may celebrate our nuptial day?  
She that hath only virtue to her guide,  
Though wanting beauty, is the fairest Bride.   

A Bride? (said she) such Brides as I, can have  
No fitter bridal Chamber, than a Gra●…e;  
Death is my bridegroom; and to welcome Death,  
My loyal heart shall plight a second faith;  
And when that day shall come, that ●…oyfull day,  
Wherein transcendent pleasures shall allay  
The heat of all my sorrows, and conjoin  
My palefaced Bridegrooms lingering hand, with mine;  
These Ceremonies, and these Triumphs shall  
Attend the day, to grace that Day with all.   

Time with his empty Howreglasse shall lead  
The Triumph on; His winged hooves shall tread  
Slow paces; After him, there shall ensue  
The chaste Diana, with her Virgin crew,  
All crowned with Cypress garlands; After whom  
In rank, th'impartial Destinies shall come;  
Then, in a sable Chariot faintly drawn  
With harnast Virgins. veiled with purest lawn,  
The Bride shall sit; Despair and Grief shall stand,  
Like heartless bridem●…ids, upon either hand.  
Upon the Chariot top, there shall be placed  
The little winged god, with arm unbraced,  
And bow unbent; his drooping wings must hide  
His naked knees; his Q●…iuer by his side  
Must be unarmed, and either hand must hold  
A bann●…r; where, with Char●…cters of gold  
Shall be deciphered, (fit for every eye  
To read, that runs; Faith Love, and Constancy,  
Next after, Hope, in a discoloured weed,  
Shall sadly march alone? A slender reed  
Shall guide her feeble steps; and, in her hand,  
A broken Anchor, all besmeared with sand.  
And after all, the Bridegroom shall appear  
Like Ioues Lieu●…enant, and bring up the Rear;  
He shall be mounted on a Coa●…e-black steed;  
His hand shall hold a Dart; on which, shall bleed  
A pierced heart; wherein, a former wound  
Which Cupid's lavelin entered shall be found.  
When as these Triumphs shall adorn our feast,  
Let Argalus be my invited guest,  
And let him bid me nuptial joy: from whom  
I once expected all my joys should come.   

With that; as if his countenance had thought good  
To wear Death's colours; or as if his blood  
Had been employed to condole the smart  
And torm●…nt of his poor afflicted heart,  
He thus bespoke: Unhappiest of all men,  
Why do I live? Is Death my Rival then?  
Unequal chance! Had it been flesh and blood,  
I could ●…aue grappled, and (perchance) withstood  
Some stout encounters: Had an armed host  
Of mort all rivals ventured to have crossed  
My blessed desires; my Partheniaes' eye  
Had given me power to make that army fly  
Like frighted Lambs, before the Wolf; But thou  
Before whose presence, all must stoop and bow  
Their servile necks! what weapon shall I hold  
Against thy hand, that will not be controlled?  
Great enemy! whose kingdom's in the dust  
And darksome Caves; I know that thou art just;  
Else had the gods ne'er trusted to thy hand  
So great a privilege, so large command  
And jurisdiction o'er the lives of men,  
To kill, or save even whom thou please, and when;  
O, suffer not Partheniaes' tempting tears  
To move thy heart; Let thy hard hearted ears  
Be deaf to all her suits: If she profess●…  
Affection to thee, believe nothing less;  
She's my betrothed spouse, and Hymen's bands  
Have firmly joined our hearts, though not our hands.  
Where plighted faith, and sacro-sanctius vow  
Hath given possession, dispossess not thou.  
Be just; and though her briny lips bewail  
Her grief with tears, let not those tears prevail.  
Whom heavens have joined, thy hands may not disjoin,  
I am 〈◊〉; and Partheniaes' mine.  
Alas! we are but one; Then thou must either  
Refuse us both; or, else, take both together.   

My dear Parthenia, let no cloudy passion  
Of dull despair molest thee, or unfashion  
Thy better thoughts, to make thy troubled mind  
Either forgetful, or thyself unkind.  
Starve not my pining hopes, with longer stay  
My love hath wings, and brooks no long delay.  
It hovers up and down, and cannot rest  
Until it light, and perch upon thy breast.  
Torment not him, within these lingering fires,  
That's rack●… already on his own desires.  
Seal and deliver as thy deed, that band,  
Whereto thy promised faith hath set her hand;  
And what our plighted hearts, and mutual view  
Have so long since begun, O finish now;  
That our imperfect and half pleasures may  
Receive perfection, by a marriage day:   

Wh●…reto, she thus; Had the pleased God above,  
Forgiven my faults, and made me fit for jove  
To bless at large; Had all the powers of heaven  
(To boast the utmost of their bounty) given  
As great addition to my slender fortune  
As they could give, or covetous mind importune,  
I vow to heaven and all those heavenly powers,  
They should no sooner been made mine, but yours.  
Nay, had my fortunes stayed but at the rate  
They were; had I remained in that state  
I was (although, at best, unworthy far  
Of such a pee●…lesse less blessing as you are)  
My dear acceptance should have filled my heart  
As full of joys as now it is of smart;  
But, as I am, let angry jove then vent  
On me his plagues, till all his plagues be spent.  
And when I roar, let heaven my pains der●…de,  
When I match Argilus to such a Bride.  
Live happy, A●…galus, let thy soul receive  
What blessings poor Parthenia cannot have;  
Live happy: May thy joys be never done,  
But let one blessing araw another on:  
O may thy better Angel watch and ward  
Thy soul, and pitch an everlasting guard  
About the portals of thy tender heart,  
And shower down blessings wheresoever thou art;  
Let all thy joys be as the month of May,  
And all thy days be as a marriage day.  
Let sorrow, sickness, and a troubled mind  
Be strangers to thee; Let them never find  
Thy heart at home; Let Fortune still allot  
Such lawless guests to those that love thee not:  
And let those blessings, which shall wanting be  
To such as merit none, alight on thee.  
That mutual faith, betwixt us, that of late  
Hath past, I give thee freedom to translate  
Upon the merits of some fitter spouse:  
I give, thee leave, and freely quit thy vows.  
I call the gods to witness, nothing shall  
More bless my soul; no comfort can befall  
More truly welcome to me, then to see  
My Argalus, (what ere become of me)  
So linked in wedlock, as shall most augment  
His greater honour, and his true content.   

With that, a sudden and tempestuous tide  
Of tears o'erwhelmed her language, and denied  
A passage, but when passions flood was spent,  
She thus proceeds: You gods, if you are bend  
To act my Tragedy, why do you wrong  
Our patience so, to make the play so long?  
Your Scenes are tedious; 'Gainst the rules of Art,  
You dwell too long; too long, upon one part.  
Be brief, and take advantage of your odds;  
One simple maid against so many gods?  
And not be conquered yet? Conjoin your might,  
And send her soul into eternal night,  
That lives too long a day; I'll not resist,  
Provided you strike home, strike where ye list.  
Accursed be that Day, wherein these eyes  
First saw the light; Let desperate souls devose  
A curse sufficient for it; Let the Sun  
ne'er shine upon it; and what ever's begun  
Upon that fatal day, let heaven forbid it  
Success; if not, to ensnare the hand, that did it.  
Why was I borne? Or, being borne, O why  
Did not my fonder nurses Lullaby  
(Even whilst my lips were hanging on her breast)  
Sing her poor Babe to everlasting rest?  
O than my infant soul had never known  
This world of grief, beneath whose weight Igroane.  
No, no, it had not: He that dies in's prime,  
Speeds a long business, in a little time.   

But Argalus (whose more extreme desire,  
Unapt to yield, like water-sprinkled fire,  
Did blaze the more) impatient of denial,  
Gave thus an onset to a further trial;   

Life of my Soul; By whom, next heaven, I breath,  
Excepting whom, I have no friend but Death,  
How can thy wishes ease my grief, or stand  
My misery in stead, when as thy hand,  
And nothing but thy helping hand can give me  
Relief, and yet refuses to relieve me?  
Strange kind of Charity! when, being afflicted,  
I find best wishes, yet am interdicted  
Of those best wishes, and must be removed  
From love's enjoyment; why? Because beloved.  
Alas! alas! How can thy wishes be  
A blessing to me, if unblessed in thee?  
Thy beauty's gone, (thou sayest;) why, let it go;  
He loves but ill, that loves but for a show;  
Thy beauty is supplied in my affection,  
That never yet was slave to a complexion.  
Shall every day, wherein the earth does lack  
The Sun's reflex, b'expelled the Almanac?  
Or shall thy overcurious steps for bear  
A garden, 'cause there be no Roses there?  
Or shall the sunset of Parthenia's beauty  
Enforce my i●…dgement to neglect that duty,  
The which my best advised affection owes  
Her sacred virtue, and my solemn vows?  
No, no; it lies not in the power of Fate,  
To make Parthenia too unfortunate,  
For Argalus to love.  
It is as easy for Parthenia's heart  
To prove less virtuous, as for me to start  
From my firm faith: The flame that honour's breath  
Hath blown, nothing hath pour to quench, but death.  
Thou giv'st me leave to choose a fitter spouse,  
And freedom to recall, to quit those vows  
I took: Who gave thee licence to dispense  
With such false tongues, as offer violence  
To plighted faith? Alas, thou canst not free  
Thyself, much less hast power to licence me:  
Vows can admit no change; They still persever  
Against all chance, they bind, they bind for ever:  
A vow's a holy thing; no common breath;  
The limits of a vow, is heaven, and death;  
A vow that's past, is like a bird that's flown  
From out thy hand; can be recalled by none;  
It dies not, like a time beguiling I●…st,  
As soon as vented; lives not in thy breast,  
When uttered once; but is a sacred word,  
Strait entered in the strict and close record  
Of heaven; It is not like a jugglers' knot,  
Or fast, or lose, as pleases us, or not.  
since than thy vows can find no dispensation,  
And may not be recalled, recall thy passion;  
Perform, perform, what now it is too late  
T' unwish again; too soon to violate;  
Seek not to quit, what heaven denies to free,  
Perform thy vows to heaven; thy vows to me.   

Thrice dearer than my soul, (she thus r●…plide)  
Mad my own pampered fancy been the guide  
To my affection, I had condescended  
E'er this to your request, which had befriended  
My best desires too; I loved not thee  
For my own pleasure, in that base degree,  
As gluttons do their diet, who dispense  
With unwashed hands, (lest they should give offence  
To their gripped stomaches, when a minute's stay  
Will make them curse occasion all the day.)  
I loved not so; My first desires did spring  
From thy own worth; and, as a sacred thing,  
I always viewed thee, whom my zeal commands  
Me not profane with these defiled hands:  
'tis true; Performance is a debt we owe  
To Vows, and nothing's dearer than a Vow;  
Yet when the gods do ravish from our hand  
The means to keep it, '●is a countermand.  
He that hath vowed to sacrifice each day  
At Juno's Altar's bound, and must obey.  
But if (being under vow) the gods do please  
To strike him with a leprous disease,  
Or foul infection; which is better now,  
Profane the Al●…ar, or to break the vow?  
The case is mine; where then the gods dispense,  
We may be bold, yet tender no offence.  
Admit it were an evil; 'tis our be●…est  
Of necessary ills to choose the least.  
The gods are good: The strict recognizance  
Of vows, is only taken to advance  
The good of man; Now if that good prove ill,  
We may refuse, our vows entire still.  
I vow a marriage; why? because I do  
Entirely affect that man, my vows are to;  
But if some foul disease should interpose  
Betwixt our promised marriage, and our vows.  
The strict performance of these vows must prove  
I wrong; and therefore love not, whom I love.  
Then urge no more: Let my deny all be  
A pledge sufficient 'twixt my love and thee.   

So ended sl●…e: 〈◊〉 vehement desire,  
(That c●…n be quenched with No; no more, than fire,  
With oil; and can submit to no condition)  
Lends him new breath: Love makes a Rhetorician.  
He speaks: she answers: He, afresh, replies;  
He stoutly sues; As stoutly she denies.  
He begs in vain; and she denics in vain●…;  
For she denies agai●…e; He begs again●…;  
At last, both weary, ●…e his suit adjourns,  
For lover's days are good, and bad by turns.  
He bids farewell: As if the heart of either  
Gave but one motion, they both sighed together.  
She bids farewel'; and yet she bids it so,  
As if her farewell ended, if he go;  
He bids farewel'; bu●… so, as if delay  
Had promised better farewells to his stay.  
She bids farewell; but holds his hand so fast,  
As if that farewell, should not be the last.  
Both sighed, both wept, and both, being heavy hearted,  
She bids farewell; He bids farewell; and parted.  
So parted they: Now Argalus is gone;  
And now Parthenia's weeping all alone;  
And, like the widowed Turtle, she bewails  
The absence of her mate: Passion prevails  
Above her strength: Now her poor heart can tell,  
What's heaven, by wanting heaven; and what is hell  
By her own torments: Sorrow now does play  
The Tyrant's part; Affection must obey;  
And, like a weathercock, her various mind  
Is changed, and turned with every blast of wind.  
In desperate language she deplores her state;  
She fain would wish; but then, she knows not what;  
Resolves of this; of that; and then of neither;  
She fain would ●…lee, but then she knows not whither;  
At length (consulting with the heartless pair  
Of ill advisers, Sorrow, and Despair)  
Resolves to take th'advantage of that night,  
To steal away; and seek for death, by flight;  
A Pilgrim's weed her liveless limbs addressed  
From hand to foot: A thong of leather blest  
Her wasted loins; Her feeble feet were shod  
With Sandals; In her hand a Pilgrims rod.  
When as th'illustrious Sovereign of the Day  
Had now begun his Circuit, to survey  
His lower kingdom, having newly lent  
The upper world to Cynthia's government,  
Forth went Parthenia, and begins t'attend  
The progress now, which only Death can end.   

Go hapless virgin! Fortune be thy guide,  
And thine own virtues; and what else beside,  
That may be prosperous: may thy merits find  
More happiness, than thy distressed mind  
Can hope; Live, and to after ages prove  
The great example of true Faith and Love:  
Gone, gone she is; but whither she is gone,  
The gods, and fortune can resolve alone;  
Pardon my Quill, that is enforced to stray  
From a poor Lady, in an unknown way.   

To number forth her weary steps, or tell  
Those obvious dangers, that so oft befell  
Our poor Parthenia, in her pilgrimage,  
Or bring her miseries on the open st●…ge;  
Her broken slumbers; her distracted care;  
Her hourly fears, and srights; her hungry fare;  
Her daily pe●…ils; and her nightly 'scapes  
From ravenous beasts, and from a●…tempted rap●…s,  
Is not my task; who care not to incite  
My R●…aders p●…ssion to an appetite.  
We leave Parthenia now; and our discourse  
Must cast an ●…ye, and bend a settled course  
To Argalus. When Argalus (returni●…g  
To v●…sit his Parthenia, the n●…xt morning)  
P●…rceiued she was fled, not knowing whither;  
He makes no stay; Consults not with the weather;  
Stays not to thi●…ke, but claps his hasty knees  
To his fleet Courser; and away he flees;  
His haste inquires no way; (he needs not fear  
To lose the road, that goes he knows not where;)  
One w●…ile he pricks vp●… the fruitful plains;  
And now, he gently s●…ks his prouder reins,  
And climbs the barren hills: with fresh C●…reers  
He tries the right hand way; and then he ver●…s  
His course upon the left: One while he likes  
This path; when, by and by, his fancy strikes  
Upon another tract. Sometimes, he rou●…s  
Among the Springs, and solitary Groves;  
Where, on the tender barks of sundry trees,  
H'engraues Parthenia's name, with his: then flees  
To the wild Champion: his proud Ste●…d remoures  
The hopeful fallows, with his horned 〈◊〉;  
He balks no way; rides over rock, and mountain;  
When led by fortune to Diana's Fountaite,  
He strait dismounts his steed; begins to quench  
His thirsty lips; and after that, to drench  
His fainting limbs, in that sweet stream, wherein  
Parthenia's dainty fingers of●… had been.   

The Fountain was upon a steep descent,  
Whose gliding current nature gave a vent  
Through a firm rock; which Art (to make it known  
To after ages) walled, and roofed with stone;  
Above the crystal fountains head, was placed  
Diana's Image (though of late defaced:)  
Beneath, a rocky Cysterne did retain  
The water, s●…ding through the Cocks of Cane;  
Whose curious Current, the world's greater eye  
ne'er viewed, but in his midday M●…jestie:  
It was that Fountain; where, in elder times  
Poor Corydon composed his rural rhymes,  
And left them closely hid, for his unkind  
And marble hearted Phyllida to find.  
All rites performed; he re-amounts his Steed,  
Redeems his loss of time with a new speed:  
And with a fresh supply, his strength renews  
His progress, God knows whither; He pursues  
His vowed adventure, brooking no delay,  
And (with a mind as doubtful as the way)  
He journeys on; he left no course, vnthought;  
No traveller, unasked; no place, unsought.   

To make a journal of each Circumstance;  
His change of fortunes, or each obvious chance  
Befell his tedious travel: to relate  
The brave attempt of this exploit, or that;  
His rare achievements, and their fair success;  
His noble courage, in extreme distress;  
His desperate dangers; his deliverance:  
His high esteem with men, which did enhanse  
His meanest actions to the throne of I●…ue:  
And what he suffered, for Partheniaes' love,  
Would make our volume endless, apt to try  
The utmost patience of a studious eye;  
All which, the bounty of a free conceit  
May sooner reach too, than my pen relate.  
But till bright Cynthia's head had three times thrice  
Repaired her empty horns, and filled the eyes  
Of gazing mortals, with her globe of light,  
This re●…lesse lover ceased not, day and night,  
To wander, in a solitary Quest  
For her, whose love had taught him to digest  
The dregges of sorrow, and to count all joys  
But follies (weighed with her) at least, but toys.   

It happened now that twice six months had run,  
Since wand'ring Argalus had first begun  
His toilsome progress; who, in vain, had spent  
A year of hours, and yet no event,  
When fortune brought him to a goodly Seat  
(Walled round about with Hills) yet not so great  
As pleasant; and less curious to the fight,  
Then strong; yet yielding even as much delight,  
As strength; whose only outside did declare  
The master's judgement, and the bvilder's care.  
Arround the Castle, nature had laid out  
The bounty of her treasure; round about,  
Well fenced meadows (filled with summer's pride)  
Promised provision for the winter tide,  
Near which the neighbouring hills (well stocked and stored  
With milk white flocks) did severally afford  
Their fruitful blessings, and deserved increase  
To painful husbandry, the child of peace;  
It was Kalander's seat, who was the brother  
Of lost Parthenia's late deceased mother.  
He was a Gentleman, whom vain ambition  
Near taught to undervalue the condition  
Of private Gentry, who preferred the love  
Of his respected neighbours, far above  
The apish congees of th'vnconstant Court;  
Ambitious of a good, not great report.  
Beloved of his Prince, yet not depending  
Upon his savours so, as to be tending  
Upon his person: and, in brief, too strong  
Within himself, for fortune's hand to wrong:  
Thither came wand'ring Argalus; and received  
As great content, as one that was bereaved  
Of all his joys, could take, or who would strive  
T'express a welcome to the life, could give:  
His richly furnished table more expressed  
A common bounty, than a curious feast;  
Wherea●…, the choice of precious wines were proffered  
In liberal sort; not urged, but freely offered;  
The careful servants did attend the room,  
No need to bid them either go or come:  
Each knew his place, his office, and could spy  
His master's pleasure, in his master's eye.  
But what can relish pleasing to a taste  
That is distempered? Can a sweet repast  
Please a sick palate? no, there's no content  
Can enter Argalus, whose soul is bend  
To tire on his own thoughts: Kalander's love,  
(That other times would ravish) cannot move  
That fixed heart, which passion now incites  
T'abjure all pleasures, and forswear delights.   

It fortuned; on a day, that dinner ending,  
Kalander and his noble guests, intending  
T'exchange their pleasures in the open air,  
A messenger came in; and did repair  
Unto Kalander; told him, That the end  
Of his employment, was to recommend  
A noble Lady to him (near allied  
To fair Queen Helen) whose unskilful guide  
Had so misled, that she does make request,  
This night, to be his bold, and unknown guest;  
And by his help, to be informed the way  
To find to morrow, what she lost to day.  
Kalander (the extent of whose ambition  
Was to express the bounteous disposition  
Of a free heart, as glad of such occasion  
To entertain) returned the salutation  
Of an unknown servant; and withal professed,  
A promised welcome to so fair a guest.  
Forthwith Kalander, and his noble friends  
(All but poor Argalus, who recommends  
His thoughts to private uses, and confines  
His secret fancy to his own designs)  
Mounted their praunsing Steeds, to give a meeting  
To his fair guest, they met, but at first meeting  
Kalander stood amazed; (for he supposed  
It was Parthenia) and thus his thoughts disclosed;   

Madam (said he) If these mine aged eyes  
Retain that wo●…ted strength, which age denies  
To many of my years. I should be bold  
(In viewing you) to say, I do behold.  
My niece Parthenia's, face: Nor can I be  
Persuaded (by your leave) but you are she?   

Thrice noble Sir (she thus replied) your tongue  
(Perchance) hath done the fair Parthenia wrong,  
In your mistake, and too much honoured me,  
That (in my judgement) was more fit to be  
Her foil, than picture; yet hath many an eye  
Given the like sentence, she not being by;  
Nay, more; I have been told; that my own mother  
Failed often to distinguish t'one from tother.   

Said then Kalander: If my rash conceit  
Hath made a fault, mine error shall await  
Upon your gracious pardon; I alone  
Was not deceived; for never any one  
That viewed Parthenia's visage, but would make  
As great an error, by as great mistake.  
But (Madd●…m) for her sake, and for your own,  
(Whose worth may challenge to itself alone,  
More service than Kalander can express)  
Y'are truly welcome. Enter, and possess  
This Castle as your own; which can be blest  
In nothing, more, then in so fair a guest.  
Whereto, the Lady (entering) thus replied.  
Let everlasting joys be multiplied  
Within these gentle gates; and let them stand  
As lasting monuments in th' Arcadian la●…d,  
Of rare and bounteous hospitality  
To aftertimes. Let strangers passing by  
Bless their succeeding heirs as shall descend  
From such a Lord, from such a noble Friend.   

When as a little 〈◊〉 had repai●…'d  
Her weary limbs, which travel had impaired,  
The freeness of occasion did present  
New subjects to discourse; wherein they spent  
No little time; among the rest, befell  
Kalander (often stopped with tears) to tell  
Of Argalus, and lost Parthenia's love,  
Whose undissembled passion did move  
A general grief; the more that they attended  
To his sad tale, the more they wished it ended.  
Madam (said he) although your visage be  
Like hers; yet may your fortunes disagree;  
Poor girl! and as he ●…pake that word, his eyes  
Let fall a tear. The Lady thus replies;   

My soul doth suffer for Parthenia's sake;  
But tell me, Sir, did Argalus for sake  
His poor 〈◊〉 whom he loved so dear?  
How hath he spent his days e'er since? and where?   

Madam (said he) when as their marriage day  
Drew near; mischief, that now was bend to play  
Upon the Stage, her studied master prize,  
With ugly leprosy did so disguise  
Her beauteous face, that she b●…came a terroar  
To her own self: But Arg●…lus the mirror  
Of truest constancy, (whose loyal heart,  
Not guided by his eye, 〈◊〉 to start  
From his past v●…wes) did, in despite of fortune,  
Pursue his fixed desires, and importune  
Th' intended marriage 〈◊〉: But she,  
Whom reason now had taught to disagree  
With her distracted thoughts stands deaf and mute,  
And at the last, to avoid his further suit,  
Not making any prinie to her flight,  
She quits the house, and steals away by night;  
But Madam, when as Argalus perceived  
That she was fled; and being quite bereaved  
Of his last hope poor lover, he assays  
By toil some pilgrimage to end his days,  
Or find her out: Now twice six months have run  
Their tedious courses, since he first begun  
His fruitless journey, ranging far and near,  
Suffering as many sorrows as a year  
Could send; and made by the extremes of weather  
Vna●…t for travel, fortune brought him thither;  
Where he as yet remains, till time shall make  
His wasted body fit to undertake  
His discontented progress, and renew  
His great inquest for her, who at first view,  
Madam, you seemed to be.   

So said; The Lady from whose tender eyes  
Some drops did slide, whose heart did sympathise  
W●…th both their sorrows, said; And is their then  
Such unexpected constancy in men?  
Most noble Sir;  
If the too rash desires of a stranger  
May be dispensed withal without the danger  
Of too great boldness, I should make request  
To see this noble Lord, in whose rare breast  
(By your report) more honour doth reside,  
Then in all Greece; nay, all the world beside;  
I have a message to him, and am loath  
To do it, were I not engaged by ●…ath.  
Whereat, Kalander, not in breath, but action  
Applies himself to give a satisfaction  
To her propounded wish: protraction wastes  
No time; but up to Arg●…s he hasts:  
Argalus comes down; and after s●…lutation  
G●…uen, and re●…iu'd, she accosts him on this fashion   

My noble Lord,  
Whereas the loud resounding trump of fame  
Hath noised your worth, and gloriside your name  
Above all others, let your goodness now  
Make good that fair report; that I may know  
By true experience, what my joyful ear  
●…ad but, as yet, the happiness to hear.  
And if the frailty of a woman's wit  
May chancet ' o●…end; ●…e noble, and r●…mit.   

Then know (most noble Lord) my native place,  
Is Co●…inth; of the self same blood and race,  
With fair Queen H●…llen, in whose princely Court  
I had my birth, my breeding: To be short;  
Thither not many day's ago●…, there came,  
Disguised and changed in all things but her name,  
The rare Par●…a, so in shape transformed,  
In feature altered, and in face d●…form'd.  
That (in my judgement) all this region could  
Not show a thing, more ugly to b●…hold.  
Long was it, ere her oft repeated vows  
And solemn protestations could rouse  
My over dull belief; till, and the last,  
Some passages, that heretofore had passed  
In secret, 'twixt Parthenia and me,  
Gave full assuranceed could be none but she;  
Abundant welcome, (as a soul so sad  
As mine, and hers, could give or take) she had  
So like we were in face, in speech, in growth,  
That whosoever saw the one, saw both:  
Yet were we not alike in our complexions  
So much as in our lones, in our affections  
One sorrow served us both; and one relief  
Could ease us both, both partners in one grief  
Much private time we jointly spent; and neither  
Could find a true content, if not together.  
The strange occurrents of her dire misfortune  
She oft discoursed, which strongly did importune  
A world of tears from these suffused eyes,  
The true partakers of her miseries.  
And as she spoke, the accent of her story  
Would always point upon th'eternal glory  
Of your rare constancy, which whosoe'er  
In after-ages shall presume to hear  
And not admire let him be proclaimed  
Arebell to all virtue, and (defamed  
In his best actions) let his leprous name  
Or die d●…shonour'd, or survive with shame.  
But ah! what simples can the hand of art  
Find out to staunch a lover's bleeding heart?  
Or what (alas) can humane skill apply  
To turn the course of love's Phlebotomy?  
Love is a secret sire, inspired and blown  
By fate; which wanting hopes, to feed upon  
Works on 〈◊〉 very soul, and does torment  
The universe of man: which being spent  
And wasted in the Conflict, often shrinks  
Beneath the burden; and, soconquerd sinks;  
All which, your poor Parthenia knew too well,  
Whose bed rid hopes, not having power to quell  
Th'imperious fury of extreme despair,  
She languished, and not able to contraire  
The will of her victorious passion; cried,  
My dearest Argalus, farewell, and died:  
My Lord, not long before her latest breath  
Had freely paid the full arrears to death,  
She called me to her; In her dying hand  
She strained mine, whilst in her eyes did stand  
A shower of tears, unwept; and in mine ear  
She whispered so, as all the room might hear.   

Sister (said she) (That title passed between us  
Not undeserved; for, all that ere had scene us,  
Mistook us so, at least) The lat●…st sand  
Of my spent 〈◊〉 is now at hand.  
Those joys, which heaven appointed out for me,  
I here bequeath to be possessed by thee.  
And when sweet death shall clarify my thoughts,  
And drain them from the dregs of all my faults,  
Enjoy them thou, wherewith (being so refined  
From all their dross) ●…ull fraught thy constant mind  
And let thy prosperous voyage be addressed  
To the fair port of Argalus his breast,  
As whom the eye of noon did ne'er discover  
So loyal, so renowned, so rare a lover:  
Cast anchor there, for by this dying breath  
Nothing can please my soul more, after death,  
And make my joys more perfect, them to see  
A marriage 'twixt my Argalus and thee;  
This Ring the pledge betwixt his heart and mine,  
A●… freely as he gave me, I make thine:  
With it, unto thy faithful heart I tender  
My sacred vows: with it, I here surrender  
All right and title, that I had, or have  
In such a blessing, as I now must leave;  
Go to him, and conjure him in my name  
What love he bore to me, the very same  
That he transfer on thee: take no denial.  
Which granted, live thou happy, constant, loy all.  
And as she spoke that word, her voice did alter;  
Her breath grew cold, her specch began to falter;  
Feign would she utter more, but her spent tongue  
(Not able to god's further) failed, and clung  
To her dry roof. A while, as in a trance,  
She lay; and, on a sudden, did advance  
Her forced language to the height, and cried,  
Farewell my dearest Argalus: and died.   

And now, my Lord, although this office be  
Unsuitable to my sex, and disagree  
T●…o much perchance, with the too mean condition  
Of my estate, more like to find derision,  
Then satisfaction; yet, my gracious Lord,  
Extr'ordinary merits do afford  
Extr'ordinary means, and can excuse  
The breach of custom, or the common use;  
Wherhfore, incite●… 〈◊〉 the dear directions  
Of dead Parther●…, 〈◊〉 mine own affections,  
And by the excellence of your high desert,  
I here present you with a faithful heart,  
A heart, to you devoted; which assures  
Itself no happiness, but in being yours.  
Pardon my boldness. They that shall reprove  
This, as a fault, reprove a fault in love.  
And why should custom do our sex that wrong,  
To take away the privilege of our tongue?  
If nature give us freedom, to affect,  
Why then should custom bar us to d●…tect  
The gifts of nature? She that is in pain  
Hath a sufficient warrant to complain.  
Then give me leave (my Lord) to reinforce  
A virgin's suit, (thinking ne'er the worse  
Of proffered love) let my desires thrive,  
And freely ' accept what I so freely give.   

So ending; silence did enla●…ge her ear,  
(Prepared with q●…icke attention) to hear  
His gracious words: But Argalus whose passion  
Had put his amorous Courtship out of fashion,  
Returned no answer, till his trickling eyes  
Had given an earnest of such obsequies,  
As his adjourned sorrow had intended  
To do at full, and therefore recommended  
To privacy; True grief abhors the light,  
Who grieves without a witness, grieves aright.  
His passion thus suspended for a while,  
(And yet not so, but that it did recoil  
Strong sighs) he wiped his teare-bedewed ey●…s,  
And turning to the Lady, thus replies.   

Madam,  
Your no less rare, then noble favours show  
How much you merit, and how much I owe  
Your great desert, which claims more thankfulness,  
Then such a dearth of language can express.  
But most of all, I stand for ever bound  
To that your goodness, my Parthenia found  
In her distress, for which respect (in duty  
As I am tied) poor Argalus shall repute ye  
The flower of noble courtesy, and proclaim  
Your high deservings. Lady; as I am,  
A poor unhappy wretch, the very scorn  
Of all prosperity, distressed, forlorn,  
Unworthy the least favour you can give;  
I am your slaue, your Beadsman will I live:  
But for this weighty matter you propound,  
Although I see how much it would redound  
To my great happiness, yet heaven knows  
(Most excellent Lady) I cannot dispose  
Of my own thoughts; nor have I power to do  
What, else, you needed not persuade me to;  
For trust me, were this heart of mine, mine own,  
To carve according to my pleasure, none  
But you should challenge it; but while I live  
It is Parthenia's, and not mine to give.   

Whereto she thus replies: Most noble Sir,  
Death, that hath made divorce 'twixt you, and her,  
Hath now returned you your heart again,  
Dissolved your vows, dislinked that sacred chain,  
Which tide your souls; nay more, her dying breath  
Bequeathed your heart to me; which by her death  
Is grown a debt, that you are bound to pay;  
Then know (my Lord) the longer you delay,  
The longer time her soul is dispossessed  
(And by your means) of her desired rest.   

Whereto the poor distressed Argalus  
Pausing a while returned his answer thus;   

Incomparable Lady,  
When first of all, by heaven's divine directions,  
We loved, we liked, we linked our dear affections,  
And with the solemn power of an oath,  
In presence of the better gods, we both  
Exchanged our hearts: in witness of which thing,  
I gave, and she received this dear Ring,  
Which now you wear; by which she did resign  
Her heart to me; for which, I gave her mine.  
Now, Madam, by a mutual commerce,  
My exchanged heart is not my own, but hers;  
Which if it had the power to survive,  
She being dead, what heart have I to give?  
Or if that heart expired in her death,  
What heart had she (poor Lady!) to bequeath?  
Madam, in her began my dear affection;  
In her, it lived; in her, it had perfection;  
In her, it joyed, although but ill befriended  
By Fate; in her begun, in her, it ended.  
If I had loved, if I had only loved  
Parthenia's beauty, I had soon been moved  
To moderate my sorrows, and to place  
That love on you, that have Parthenia's face;  
But 'twas Parthenia's self I loved, and love;  
Which as no time hath power to remove  
From my sixth heart, so nothing can diminish,  
No fortune can dissolve; no death can finish.   

With mingled frowns and smiles, she thus replied,  
H●…lfe in a rage, And must I be denied?  
Are those the noble favours I expected?  
To find disgrade? and go away rejected?   

Most noble Lady, if my words (said he)  
Suit not your expectation, let them be  
Imputed to the misery of my state,  
Which makes my lips to speak they know not what;  
Mistake not him, that only studies how,  
With most advantage still to honour you.  
Alas! what joys I ever did receive  
From fortune's buried in Parthenia's grave,  
With whom, ere long (nor are my hopes in vain)  
I hope to meet, and never part again.   

So said; with more than Eagle winged haste,  
She flew into his bosom and embraced,  
And her closed arms, his sorrow-wasted waste;  
Surcharged with joy, she wept, not having power  
To speak. Have you beheld an April shower  
Send down her hasty bubbles, and then stops,  
Then storms afresh, through whose transparent drops  
The vnobscur●…d lamp●… of heaven conveys  
The brigh●…er glory o●…'s refulgent rays:  
Even so, within her blushing checks resided  
A mixed a●…pect, 'twixt smiles and tears divided,  
So even divided; no man could say, whether  
She wept, or 〈◊〉, she smiled, and wept together,  
She held him fast, and like a fainting lover,  
Whose passion now had licence to discover  
Some words; Since than thy heart is not for me,  
Take, take thy own Parthenia (said she)  
Cheer up, my Argalus; these words of mine  
Ate thy Parthenia's, as Parthenia's thine;  
Believe it (Love) these are no false alarms;  
Thou hast thine own Parthenia in thine arms.  
Like as a man, whose hourly wants implore  
Each meal's relief, trudging from door to door,  
That hears no dialect from churlish lips,  
But news of Beadles, and their tor●…uring whips,  
Takes up (perchance) some unexpected treasure,  
New lost; departs; and, joyful beyond measure,  
I●… so transported, that he scarce beleeu●…s  
So grea●… a truth; and what his eye perceives  
Not daring trust, but fears it is some vision,  
Or 〈◊〉 dre●…me, deserving but derision.  
So Argalus●…mazed ●…mazed at the news,  
F●…ine wo●…ld believe, but da●…ing not abuse  
His easy saith too soon, for fear his heart  
Should s●…rfeit on conc●…it, he did impart  
The truth unto his fancy by degrees,  
Where stopped by passion, falling on his knees,  
He thus began; O ●…ou eternal powers  
That have the guidance of these souls of ours,  
Who by your just prerogati●…e can do  
What is a sin for man to dive into;  
Whose undiscovered actions are too high  
For thought; too deep for man ●…'enquier, why?  
Delude not these mine eyes with the false show  
Of such a joy, as I must never know  
But in a dream: Or if a dream it be,  
O let me never wake again, to see  
Myself deceived, that am ordained t' enjoy  
A real grief, and but a dreaming joy.  
Much more he spoke to this ●…ffect, which ended;  
He blest himself, and (with a sigh) unbended  
His aching knees; and rising from the ground,  
H●… c●…st his rolling eyes about, and found  
T●…e room avoided, and hims●…lfe alone;  
The door half closed, and his Parthenia gone,  
His new distempered passion grew extreme;  
I knew, I knew, (said he) 'twas but a dream;  
A minute's joy; a flash; a flattering bubble  
Blown by the fancy, full of pleasing trouble;  
Which waking breaks; and empties into air,  
And breathes into my soul a fresh despair.  
I knew 'twas nothing but a golden dream,  
Which (waking) makes my wants the more extreme;  
I knew 'twas nothing but a dreaming joy,  
A bliss, which (waking) I should ne'er enjoy.  
My dear Parth●…nia tell me, where, O where  
Art thou that so 〈◊〉 'st mine ●…ye, mine ear?  
O that my wakened fancy had the might  
To represent unto my real sight  
What my deceived eyes beheld, that I  
Might surfeit with excess of joy, ●…nd die.   

With that the fair Parthenia (whose desire  
Was all this while, by fire, to draw out fir●…;  
And by a well advised course to smother  
The s●…ry of one passion with another)  
Stepped in, and said; Then Argalus take thou  
Thy true Parthenia: Thou dreamest not now;  
Behold this Ring, whose Motto does impart  
The constancy of our divided heart:  
Behold these eyes, that for thy sake have vented  
A world of tears, unpitied, unlamented:  
Behold the face, that had of late the power  
To curse all beauty; yet itself, secure:  
Witness that Taper, whose prophetic snuff  
Was outed and re●…iued with one puff:  
And that my words may whet thy dull belief●…,  
'Twas I, that roared beneath the scourge of grief,  
When thou didst curse the Darkness, for concealing  
My face; and then the T●…pour, ●…or revealing  
So ●…oule a face; 'Twas I, that, overcome  
With violent despair, stood deaf and dumb  
To all thy urged persuasions. It was I,  
That, in thy absence, did resolve to die  
A wand'ring pilgrim, trusting to be led  
By fortune, to my death; and therefore fled:  
But see; the powers above can work their ends,  
In spite of mortals: and what man intends,  
The heaven's dispose, and order the event:  
For when my thoughts were desperately bend  
To mine own ruin, I was led by fate  
(Through dangers, now too tedious to relate)  
To fair Queen Helen's court, not knowing whither  
My unadvised steps were guided. Thither  
My Genius brought me; where, unknown to any,  
I mourned in silence; though observed by many,  
Relieved by none. At length, they did acquaint  
The fair Queen H●…llen with my strange complaint,  
Whose noble heart did truly sympathise  
With mine, partaking in my miseries:  
Who, filled with pity, strongly did importune  
The woeful cause of my disastrous fortune,  
And never rested, till she did enforce  
These lips t'acquaint her with the whole discourse.  
Which done, her gracious pleasure did command  
Her own Physician, to whose skilful hand  
She left my foul disease; who in the space  
Of twice ten days, restored me to this face:  
The cure perfected, strait she sent about  
(Without my knowledge) to inquire out  
That party, for whose sake I was contented  
T'endure such grief with patience, unrepented.  
Hoping (since by her means, and help of Art)  
My face was cured) even so to cure my heart.  
But when the welcome messenger returned  
Thy place of bode, o how my spirits burned  
To k●…sse her hands, and so to leave the Court;  
But she (whose favours did transcend report  
As much, as they exceeded my desert)  
Detained me for a while, as loath to part  
With her poor handmaid; till at last, perpending  
A lover's haste, and freely apprehending  
So just a cause of speed, she soon befriended  
My best desires, and sent me thus attended,  
Where (under a false mask) I laid this plot,  
To see how soon my Argalus had forgot  
His dead Parthenia, but my blessed ear  
Hath heard, what few or none must hope to hear:  
Now farewell sorrow, and let old despair  
Go seek new breasts: let mischief never dare  
Attempt our hearts: let Argalus enjoy  
His true Parthenia; let Parthenia's joy  
Revive in him: let each be blest in either,  
And blest be heaven, that brought us both together.   

With that, the well-nig●… broken hearted lover,  
Ravished with over joy, did thus discover  
His long penned words: And do these eyes once more  
Behold what their extreme despair gave o'er  
To hope for? Do these wretched eyes attain  
The happiness, to see this face again?  
And is there so much happiness yet left  
For a broke heart, a heart that was bereft  
Of power t' enjoy, what heaven had pow●…r to give?  
Breathes my P●…rthenia? Does Partheni●… live?   

Who ever saw the Septentrional stone,  
By hidden power, (a power as ye●… unknown  
To our confined and darkened reason) draw  
The neighbouring steel; which, by the mutual law  
Of nature's secret working, strives as much  
To be attracted, till they join and touch;  
Even so these greedy Lovers meet, and charms  
Each other strongly in each others arms;  
Even so they meet; and with unbounded measure  
Os true content, and time beguiling pleasure,  
Enjoy each other with a world of kisses,  
Sealing the patent of true worldly blisses;  
Where for a while I leave them to receive,  
What pleasures new met lovers use to have.   

Readers forbear; and let no wanton eye  
Abuse our Scene: Let not the slander by  
Corrupt our lines, or make an obscene gloss  
Upon our sober Text, and mix his dross  
With our refined gold, extracting sour  
From sweet, and poison from so fair a flower.  
Correct your wand'ring thoughts, and do not fear  
To think the best: Here is no Tarquin here;  
No lustful, no insatiate Messalina,  
Who thought it gain sufficient to resign  
An age of honour, for a night of pleasure;  
Whose strength t'endure lust, was the just measure  
Of her adust desire: Ye need not fear  
Our private Lovers, who esteem less dear  
Their lives than honours, daring not to do,  
But what unshamed the Sun may pry into.   

If any itching ears desire to know,  
What seret conference passed betwixt these two;  
To them my Muse thus answers; When your case  
Shall prove the like, she wils you to embrace  
True honour, as these n●…ble lovers did,  
And you shall know; Till than you are forbid  
To inquire further: Only this she pleases  
To let you understand, that loves diseas●…s  
Being throughly cured, by their meeting, they  
H●…ue once again 〈◊〉 a Marriage day;  
Which that it might succeed with fairer fortune,  
Readers, she moves your pleasures, to importune  
The better gods, that they would please t'appay  
Their griefs with joy, and smile upon that Day.   
The end of the second Book.   

ARGALUS AND PARTHENIA.  
The third Book.  

When sturdy Marches storms are overblown  
And April, gentle showers are slidden down  
To close the windchapt earth, succeeding May  
Enters her month, whose early breaking day  
Calls Ladies from their hasty beds to view  
Sweet Maia's pride, and the discoloured hue  
Of dewy-brested Flora, in her bower  
Where every hand hath leave to pick the flower  
Her fancy likes, wherewith to be possessed,  
Until it fade, and wither in her breast.   

Now smooth-faced Neptune, with his gladder smiles  
Visits the banks of his beloved Isles;  
Aeolus calls in the winds, and bids them hold  
Their full-mouthed blasts, that breathless are controlled;  
Each one ●…tyres and shrinks into his seat  
And seagreene Triton sounds a shrill retreat:  
And thus at length, our Pinnace is passed o'er  
The bar; and rides before the Maiden-Towre.   

Up, now in earnest (voyagers) and stand ye  
On your faint legs; O●…r long boat strait shall land ye.  
Forget your travels now, and lead your eyes  
From your past dangers to your present prize.  
You trafficked not for toys; The gods have set  
No other price to things of price, but sweat.  
Cheer up; call home your hearts, and be advised,  
Goods easily purchased, are as easily prized.  
You trafficked not for trifles; and your travel  
Was not to compass the almighty gravel  
Of th' Indian Mines, to ballast your estates;  
'twas not for blasts of Honour; whose poor dates  
Depend on regal smiles, and have no measures,  
But Monarch's wills, expiring with their pleasures.  
'twas not to conquer Kingdoms, or obtain  
The dangerous title of a Sovereign;  
These are poor things: It is but false discretion  
To toil, where hopes are sweeter than possession.  
No, we are bound upon more brave adventures;  
True Honour, Virtue, beauty, are the Centres  
To which we point, whereto our thoughts do tend,  
And heaven hath brought our voyage to an end.   

Hail noble Argalus; now the Cock boat stands  
Secure: step forth, and reach thy widened hands,  
And take thy fairest Bride into thine arms;  
Strike up (brave spirit) Cupid's fresh alarms  
Upon her melting lips: Take Toll, before  
Thou set her dainty foot upon the shore;  
So let her slide upon thy gentle breast,  
And feel the ground: then lead her to her rest.  
Go Imps of honour; let the morning Sun  
Gilled your delights, and spend his beams upon  
Your marriage triumphs; let his western light  
Decline apace, and make a early Night.  
Go●…, Turtles, go; let treble joys betid  
The faithful Bridegroom, and his fairest Bride.  
L●…t your own●… ve●…tues light you to your rest;  
Tomorrow come we to your n●…ptiall feast.   

By this the curled pate Waggoner of heaven  
H●… 〈◊〉 his diurnal course, and drinen  
Hi, pan●…ing S●…eds down the W●…sterne hill,  
When silu●…r Cynthia, rising to fulfil  
He●…n g●…tly course, le's fall an evening tear,  
To see her bro●…her lea●…e the Hemisphere,  
W●…ich, by the air disper●…d, is early found  
(And called a pearlly dew) upon the ground:  
Still was the night, no language did molest  
The waking ear; All mortals were at res●…;  
No 〈◊〉 of wind had power to provoke  
The Aspen lea●…e, or quell the aspiring smoke;  
Sweet was the air, and clear●…; no S●…arre was hi●…;  
No enu●…ous cloud was stirring, to forbid  
The 〈◊〉 Astronomer, to gaze, and look  
Into the secrets of his spangled book;  
Whilst round about, in each resounding grove,  
(As if the 〈◊〉 of night had striven  
〈◊〉 the warbling Philomele compares,  
And 〈◊〉 by turn●…s her Polyphonian airs.   

And now the horn-mouthed Bellman of the night  
Had se●…t his midnight summons, to invite  
Night's 〈◊〉 rebuls, from their secret holds  
To 〈◊〉 and visit the securer folds,  
Whilst drowsy Morpheus, with his leaden keys,  
Locks up the Shepherd's eyelids, and betrays  
The sc●…ttered flocks, which lie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
Expecting fire when the 〈◊〉- 〈◊〉.   

By ●…his the p●…lefac'd Empress of the night  
H●…d 〈◊〉 up her borrowed light,  
And to the lower world she now retites,  
Attended with her train of lesser 〈◊〉,  
And early Hesper shoots his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
To usher Titan from his purple bed.  
The grey eyed lanitor does now begin  
To open his Eastern portals, and let in  
The new borne Day; who having lately hu●…ld  
The shades of night into the lower world,  
The dewy cheeked Aurora does unfold  
Her purple Curtains, all be●…ng'd with gol●…;  
And from the pillow of his Crocian bed,  
Don Phoebus rouzes his resulg●…t head;  
That with his all d●●scerning eye surveys,  
And gilds the mountains with his morning rays.   

Now, now the wakeful Bride groom (whose last night  
Had made her shades too long) salutes the ligh●…;  
Salutes the welcom●… light, which now a●…length,  
Shall crown his heart with joys, beyond th●… 〈◊〉  
Of mortal language, whose religious 〈◊〉  
Shall light these lou●… to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   

Up Argalus, and 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
T'enjoy that joy, from whence all joy proc●…ds:  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joys, from whence all joy 〈◊〉  
Up 〈◊〉; and 〈◊〉 thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   

And thou f●…ite B●…ide, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day,  
Thy Day is come, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
Awake, and rouse 〈◊〉 ●…om thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉;  
Thy Day is come: and m●…y thy joy 〈◊〉 number  
Thy minutes that are 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉;  
Arise, and bid thy maid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
Put on thy nuptial robes, Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
O may thy after days be like this 〈◊〉.   

By this, bright Phoebus with redoubled glory  
Had half way mounted to the highest story  
Of his Olympic Palace: there to see  
This long expected Day's solemnity:  
When all on sudden, there was heard around  
From every quarter) the Majestic sound  
Of many Trampets: all in consort running  
One point of war, transcending far the cunning  
Of mortal blasts; and what did seem more strange,  
The shrill mouthed music did as sudden change  
To Doric strains, to sweet mollitious airs,  
To Lyric songs, and voices, like to theirs  
That charmed Ulysses: whilst th' amazed ear  
Stood ravished at these changes, it might hear  
Those voices, (by degrees) transform to Lutes,  
To Shaulms, deep throated Sackbuts, and to Flutes,  
And Eccho-forcing Cornets; which surpassed  
The Art of man: this Harmony did last  
Until the Bridegroom came: But all men wondered  
To hear the noise: some thought the heavens had thundered  
To a new tun●…; and some more wiser ears  
Conceived, it was the Music of the Spheres:  
All wondered, all men gazed; and all could hear,  
But none knew whence the Music was, or where.   

Forthwith, as if a second Sun had rose,  
And strove with greater brightness, to depose  
The glory of the first, the Bridegroom came,  
Ushered along with Eaglewinged Fame,  
Whose twice five hundred mouths did at one blast  
Inspire a thousand Tr●…mpets, as he passed.  
His nuptial ves●…re was of Scarlet die  
So deep, as it would dazzle a weak eye  
To gaze upon't; to which, the curious Art  
Of the laborious needle did impair  
So great a glory, that you might behold  
A rising Sun, embossed with purest gold,  
From whence ten thousand trails of gold came down  
In waved points, like Sunbeams from that Sun:  
Thus from his Chamber, midst the vulgar Crowd  
(Like Titan breaking through a gloomy cloud)  
The long expected Bridegroom came, and past  
Th' amazed multitude, till at the last,  
His Herald brought him to the Hall of State,  
When all th' Arcadian Nobleses did await  
To welcome his approach, and to discharge  
The louder volley of their joys at large.  
The Hall was spacious, lightsome, and bestrowed  
With Flora's wealth (a bounty that she owed  
This glorious feast) The walls were richly clad  
With curious Tap'strie; (such as Greece ne'er had  
Before this day) wherein you might behold,  
Wrought to the life, in coloured silks, and gold,  
This present Story of these peerless Lovers,  
Which, like a silent Chronicle, discovers  
The several passages, that d●…d be fall  
'Twixt their first meeting, and their nuptial;  
Devised and wrought by Virgins borne in Greece,  
Presented to this Triumph, as a piece  
Devoted to the memory and fame  
Of Argalus, and his Parthenia's name.  
No sooner was the Ceremony ended,  
(Wherein each noble spirit more contended  
T'express affection, then affect th'expression  
Of courtly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ba●…e profession  
Of airy friendship) but a sudden shout  
Of rudely mingled ●…yees flew th●…oughout  
The spacious Castle, which confusedly cried  
joy to Parth●…nia, to the fairest Bride.   

Fo●… 〈◊〉 (as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had broken loose,  
And Dei●…ies had meant to enter pose  
Their heavenly bodies, with the mortal tribe  
Of men; or, else, intending to ascribe  
Their pers'nall honour to this nuptial)  
In more than prin●…ly st●…te, enters the Hall  
A gloriou●… Show of Ladies, all arrayed  
In rare and costly robes, and richly laid  
With gems unualued; and each Lady wore  
A Scarf upon her arm, embroidered over  
With gold and pearl; Thus hand in hand they pa●…t  
Into the Hall, but oft their eyes did ●…ast  
A backward look, as if their thoughts did mind  
Some greater glory, coming on b●…hinde:   

Next after them, came in the virgin crew  
In milk white robes (virgins that never knew  
The sacred mysteries of the marriage bed,  
Nor, finding trouble in a Maidenhead,  
Erelent a thought to nuptial joys, till now)  
Thus past these buds of nature; two, by two,  
Their long dis●…heueld treffes d●…angled down  
With car●…sse Art, and on each head a crown  
Of golden Laurel stood: Their ●…aces 〈◊〉  
Beneath a veil, seemed 〈◊〉 the Stars were clouded.   

H●…ue ye beheld in fros●…y winters Even,  
When all the lesser twin●…ng lamps of heaven  
Are fully ●…indled, how the ●…uddy face  
Of rising Cynthi●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with what a grace  
She views the Throne of darkness, and aspires  
Th' Olympic brow, amidst the smaller fires?  
So after all these sparks of beauty, came  
(They were but sparks to such a glorious flame)  
The fair Parthenia, thus the rose-cheeked Bride  
Enters the room; A milk white veil did hide  
Her blushing face; which, ne'erthelesse discloses  
Some glymps of red, like Lawn o'er spreading roses;  
Thus entered she; The garments, that she wore,  
Were made of Purple silk, bespangled o'er  
With Stars of purest gold, and round about  
Each several S●…arre went, winding in, and out,  
A trail of orient pearl, so rarely wrought,  
That as the garments moved, you would have thought,  
The Stars had twinkled; Her disheveled hair  
Hung down behind, as if the only care  
Had been to reconcile neglect and Art,  
H●…ng loosely down, and veiled the backer part  
Of those her sky-resembling robes; but so,  
That every breath would wave it too and fro,  
Like flying clouds; through which, you might discover  
Sometimes one glimmering Star, sometimes another:  
Thus on she went; her ample train supported  
By thrice three virgins, evenly sized and sorted  
In purple robes: forthwith, the Bridegroom rises  
From off his chair; bows down; and sacrifices  
The peaceful offering of a morning kiss,  
Upon her lips: To such a Saint as this,  
O, what rebellious heart could choose but bow,  
And offer freely the perpetual vow  
Of choice obedience?   

With that, each Noble moves him from his place,  
And with a posture, full of Princely grace,  
Salutes the lovely Bride, with words, expressing  
The ioy●…ull model of a kingdom's blessing.   

But hark●…! The Hymenaean trumpet sends  
Her latest summons forth: Hymen attends  
The noble pair, and is prepared to y●…ke  
Their promised hands; the sacred Altars smoke  
With Mirr●… and Frankincense, Thewayes are strewed  
With Flora's prid●…; and the expecting crowd  
Have thronged the streets, and ●…uery greedy eye  
Attends, to see the Triumph passing by:   

At length, the gates flew open. And on this fashion  
Began the Triumph; first a Proclamation  
Was made, with a loud voice: If any be,  
Or Lord, or Knight, or whatsoe'er degree,  
Professing arms, or honour in the land,  
That at this time, can challenge, or pretend  
A ti●…le to Parthenia's heart, or claim  
A right, or interest in her love, or name;  
Let him come forth in person; or, appear  
By noble Proxy, if not present here;  
And by the exc●…lent honour of a Knight,  
He shall receive such honourable right  
As the just sword can give; Let him now come,  
And speak; or, else, for evermore be dumb.   

Thrice was it read; which done; forthwith there came  
True honours Eaglewinged Herald, Fame,  
Sounding a silver Trump; and as she passed,  
She shook the earth's foundation, with her blast.   

Next after whom in vndissembl●…d state  
The Bridegroom came; on his right hand did wait  
The god of War, in 〈◊〉 robes of green,  
All stained with bleeding hearts, as they had ●…eene  
But newly wounded, and from every wound,  
Fresh blood due seem to trickle on the ground;  
And as the garments moo●…'d, each dying heart  
Would seem to pant a while, and then depart.  
Upon the Bridegroom's left hand there attended  
Heaven's Pursu●…uant, whose brawny arm extended  
A winged Caduce; He had scarce the might  
To curb his feet; his feet were winged for flight.  
Above his head their hands did jointly hold  
A crimson Canopy embossed with gold.   

Next them, twice twenty famous Nobles followed,  
Brave men at arms, whose names the world had hallowed  
For rare exploits, and twice as many Knights,  
Whose bloods have ●…ansom'd, and redeemed the rights  
Of wronged Ladies: These were all arrayed  
In robes of Needle work, so rarely made,  
That he which sees them, thinks he doth behold  
Armours of steel, saire filletted with gold:  
And as they marched, their Squires did advance  
Before each Knight his warlike Shield and Lance.   

And after these, the Princely virgin Bride,  
On whom all eyes were fastened, did divide  
Her gentle paces, being led between  
Two Goddesses, the one arrayed in green,  
On which the curious needle undertook  
To make a forest: here a bubbling brook  
Divides two thickets: through the which doth fly  
The singled Dear, before the deepe-mouthed Cry,  
That closely follows: There th'affrighted Herd  
Stands trembling at the music, and afeard  
Of every shadow, gazes to and f●…o,  
Not knowing where to stay, or where to go;  
Where, in a Launskip, you may see the Fauns,  
Following their crying mothers o'er the Lawns;  
The other was in robes, the purer dye  
Whereof, did represent the midday sky,  
Full of black clouds; through which, the glorius beams  
Of the obscured Sun appears, and seems  
As '●were to scatter; and at length, to shed  
His brighter glory, on a fruitful bed  
Of noisome weeds; from whence, you might discern  
A thousand painful Bees extract and earn  
Their sweet provision; and, with laden thighs,  
To bear their waxy burdens: On this wise  
The princely Bride was led betwixt these two,  
The first, was she, that on Act●…ons brow  
Revenged her naked Chastity; the other  
Was she, to whom loves pregnant brain was mother  
Through Vulcan's help; and these did jointly hold  
Upon her head, a Coronet of gold;  
Whose train Diana's virgin crew, all crowned  
With golden wreathes, supported from the ground.   

Next after her, upon the triumph waited  
An order, by Diana new created,  
And styled the Ladies of the Maidenhead,  
In white, wrought here and there with spots of red,  
And every spot appeared as a stain  
Of lover's blood, whom their hard hearts had slain:  
Ranked three, and three; and on each h●…ad a crown  
Of Primroses, and Roses not yet blown.   

Next whom, the beauties of th' A●…dian Court  
Marched two and two, whose glory came not short  
Of what th'unlimited, and studied art  
Of glory-vying Ladies could impart  
To such solemnities; where every one  
strove to excel, and to b'excelled of none.   

Thus came they to the Temple; where attended  
The sacred Priests, whose voices recommended  
The day's success to heaven, and did divide  
A blessing '●…wixt the Bridegroom, and the Bride:  
Which done; and after low obeisance made,  
The first (whilst all the rest kept silence) said:   

Welcome to Juno's sacred Courts; Draw near:  
Unspotted Lovers, welcome: Do not fear  
To touch this holy ground; Pass on secure;  
Our gates stand open to such guests, as you are;  
Our gracious Goddess grants you your desires,  
And hath accepted of those holy fires,  
We offered in your name, and takes a pleasure  
To smell your Incense in so great a measure  
Of true delight, that we are bold to say,  
She crownes your vows, and smiles upon this Day.   

So said; they bowed to the ground, and blest  
Themselves; that done, they singled from the rest  
The noble Bridegroom, and his princely Bride,  
And said; Our gracious goddess be our guide,  
As we are yours; and as they spoke that word,  
Their well-tuned voices sweetly did accord  
With Music from the Altar: As along  
They passed, they jointly warbled out this song:   

THus in Pomp, and Priestly pride,  
To glorious Juno's Altar go we;  
Thus to Juno's Altar show we  
The noble Bridegroom and his Bride:  
Let Juno's hourly blessing send ye  
As much joy as can attend ye.   

May these lovers never want  
True iores, nor ever beg in vain  
Their choice desires; but obtain  
What they can wish, or she can grant.  
Let Juno's hourly blessings send ye  
As much joy as can attend ye.   

From satiety, from strife,  
jealousies, domestic jars,  
From those blows, that leave no scars,  
juno protect your marriage life.  
Juno's hourly blessings send ye  
As much joy as can attend ye.   

Thus to Hymen's sacred bands  
We commend your chaste deserts,  
That as juno linked your hearts,  
He would please to join your ●…ands.  
And let both their blessings send ye  
As much joy as can attend ye.   

No sooner was this Nuptial Caroll ended,  
But bowing to the ground, they recommended  
This princely pair (both prostrate on the floor)  
And with their hands presented them before  
The sacred Altar, whereunto they brought  
Two milk white Turtles; and with prayers be sought  
That Juno's lasting favours would descend,  
And make their pleasures, pleasures without end.   

With that, a horrid crack of dreadful thunder  
Possessed each fainting heart, with fear and wonder:  
The rafters of the holy Temple shook,  
As if accu●…sed Archimagoes' book  
(That cursed Legion) had been newly rea●…  
The ground did tremble, and a mist o'erspread  
The da●…kned Altar.  
At length, deep silence did possess and fill  
The spacious Temple, all was whist and still;  
When, from the clouded Altar, broke the sound  
Of heavenly Music; such, as would confound  
With death, or ravishment the earth bred ear,  
H●…d not the Goddess given it strength, to bear  
So strong a rapture. As the Music ended,  
The Mist on sudden vanished, and ascended  
●…rom whence it came. The Altar did appear,  
And ashes lying, where the Turtles were:  
Near which, great Hymen stood, not seen before:  
His purple Mantle was embroidered o'er  
With Crowns of Thorn; 'mongst which, you might behold  
Some, here and there (but very few) of gold;  
Upon each little space, that did divide  
The several Crowns, a Gordian knot was tied:  
And, turning to the Priest, he thus began;   

What mean these sums? Say, what hath mortal man  
To do with us? What great request, what suit  
Does now attend us, that they thus salute  
Our nostrils, with such acceptable savours?  
Tell us, wherein do they implore the savours  
Of the pleased gods; sor by the eternal throne,  
And M●…iesty of heaven, it shall be done.   

Whereto, with b●…nded kne●…s, they thus ●…eplide;  
Great God, this noble Bridegroom, and his Bride  
Whom we, most humbly here, present before  
Great Juno's sacred altar, do implore  
Your gracious aid: that with your nuptial bands,  
Your Grace would please to tie their promised bands.   

With that, he strait descends the holy stairs,  
And with his widened arms divides and shares  
An equal blessing 'twixt them both, and said,   

NOble Youth, and lovely Maid,  
Heaven accepts your ple●…sing fires,  
And hath granted your desires:  
By the mystry of our power,  
First, we consecreate this hour  
To Juno's name, that she would bless  
Our prosperous actions with success.  
With this Oil (which we appoint  
For holy uses) we anxoint  
Your temples, and with nuptial●… bands  
Thus we firmly join your hands:  
Be joined for ever: and let none  
Presume t'undo, what we have done.  
Be joined till lawless Death shall sever  
Both hands & hearts: be joined for ever:  
Eternal curses we allot  
To those, till then, shall lose this knot.   

So said, he blessed them both in Juno's name,  
And from their sight he vanished in a flame.  
That done, they rose, and with new fumes saluted  
The smoking altar. Thrice they prostituted  
Their bended bodies on the holy ground,  
Where sending forth the well accepted sound  
Of thanks and vows, from their divided heart,  
They kiss the sacred Altar and depart;  
And with the self same Triumph as the came,  
Returned; whilst the louder Trump of Fame  
With a full blast, sends forth a shrill retreat,  
And reconducts them to the Hall of State;  
Whose richly furnished table would invite  
A bed rid stomach to an Appetite,  
And make the wasteful Glutton, that does eat  
His vnearned di●…t with his daily sweat,  
B●…hold his heaven in a more ample measure,  
Then he had hopes to purchase, with the treasure  
Of his b●…st fait●…; such were the dainties: such  
The viands, that I dare not think too much  
To term it Paradise, where all things did  
Offer themselves, and nothing was forbid.  
Soon as the Martial of this Princely feast,  
Had in his rightful seat, placed every guest,  
A soft harmonious rapture did confine  
All tongues with wonder, as a thing divine.   

Forthwith; with joined hands, and smiling faces,  
With habits more unequal than their paces,  
A ●…olly pair drew near the table; the one  
In green; His pampered body had outgrown  
His seame-ript garments, all embroidered over  
With spreading Vines, whose fruitful leaves did cover  
Her swelling Clusters, his outstrutting eyes  
〈◊〉'd in his head: his dropsy swollen thighs  
Quagged as he went; his purple coloured snout  
Was freely furnished, and enriched about  
With Carbuncles; around his brows did twine  
Full laden Clusters, ravished from the Vine:   

The other was a Lady, whom the Sun  
With his bright rays had too much gazed upon:  
The colour of her silken Mantle was  
'twixt green and yellow, like the saded grass;  
On which were wrought enclosed fields of Corn,  
Some reaped, some bound in sheaves, & some unshorn  
Well f●…uour'd was her countenance; plump & round;  
Her golden Tresses dangled to the ground;  
Her temples bound with full ripe ears of wheat,  
Made like a Garland: frequent drops of sweat  
Down ●…rom her sw●…rty brows did 〈◊〉 trickle,  
And in her Sun-●…urnt hand she bore a sickle.  
Thus usherd, wi●…h a Bagpipe, to the Table,  
They both stood mute: Bacchus as yet unable  
To challenge language from his breathless tongue,  
Till smiling Ceres thus began the Song.   Ceres. 

WElcome, fairest virgin B●…ide;  
Welcome to our i●…lly feast;  
Taste what Ceres did provide  
For so fair, so fair a guest.   Bacch. 

Taste what Ceres did provide  
For so fair so fair a guest:  
Welcome fairest Virgin B●…ide;  
Welcome to our jolly feast.   Chor. 

Our conjoined bounties do  
Make M●…rs smile, and Venus to.   Ceres. 

Welcome noble Bridegroom hither;  
World's of bliss and joys attend ye:  
Freely welcome both together;  
See what Ceres bounty sends ye.   Bacch. 

Freely welcome both together;  
See what Bacchus bounty ●…ends ye:  
Welcome noble B●…idegroome hither;  
World's of bliss, and joys attend ye.   Chor. 

Our conjoined bounties do  
Make Mars smile, and Venus to.   Ceres. 

Here is that whose sweet variety  
Gives you pleasure and delight;  
Makes you full, without s●…cietie;  
Wastes the day, and hasts the night.   Bacch. 

This will 〈◊〉 the man of war,  
When the drum shall beat in vain;  
When his spirits drooping are,  
This will make them rise again.   Chor. 

You that jointly do inherit  
Venus' beauty, Mars his spirit,  
Freely taste our bounty; so  
Mars shall smile, and Venus to.   

The song thus ended; joining hands together,  
They bowed; and vanish●…, none knew how, nor whither.   

To make relation of each acquaint device,  
That Art presented their unwearied eyes;  
The nature of their mirth, of their discourse;  
The dainties of the first, the second course;  
The secret glances of the Bridegroom's eye  
On his fair Bride; how oft she blushed, and why;  
Were but to rob the Bridegroom of his right,  
Who counts each hour a Summer's day, till night.  
Me think it grieves me, that my pen should wrong  
Poor Lovers disappointed hopes so long;  
And it reputes me so, that oftentimes,  
Me thinks, I could be angry with my Rhymes,  
And for the cruel sins, that they commit,  
In being tedious; some I wish unwrit.  
Let it suff●…e, what glory, what delight,  
What state; or, what to please the appetite,  
The eye, the ear, the fancy. In a word,  
What joy so short a season could afford  
To well prepared hearts, was here expressed  
In this our Nuptial, this our princely feast.   

Thus when the board was voided, and the Sewer  
Had now resigned his office with the Ewer,  
The curious linen gone, and all the rights  
Performed, that ●…ong to festival delights;  
The light foot Hermes ent●…rs in the Hall,  
Holds forth his C●…duce, and adiures them all  
To depth of silence; Tells them; '●is his task;  
To let them know, the Gods intend a Mask,  
To grace these nuptials; and, with that, he spread  
His ayre-dividing pinions, and fl●…d:   

When silence 〈◊〉 had charmed every ear  
With wonder, and attention; they might hear 
The Masque of the Gods.   
The winged 〈◊〉 of night, about  
In every corner, sweetly wa●…bling out  
Their Philomelian airs, and wilder note  
Which nature taught them to divide, by rote;  
So that the Hall did seem a shady grove,  
Wherein b●… turns, the ambitious 〈◊〉 strove  
T'xcell themselves.  
While thus their ears were seeding with delight  
Upon these strains; the Goddess of the night  
Enters her Scene; Her body was confined  
Within a coal black Mantle thorough lined  
With sable Furs; Her tresses were, of hue,  
Like Ebony; on which, a Pearly dew  
Hung, like a spiders Webb; Her face did shroud  
A swarth Complexion, underneath a Cloud  
Of black curled Cypress: On her head, she wore  
A crown of burnished Gold, be shaded o'er  
With Fogs and ●…ory mists; Her hand did bear  
A Sceptre, and a sable Hemisphere;  
She sternly shook her duly locks, and broke  
A melancholy smile, and thus bespoke,   

Drive on, drive on, (dull Waggoner) Let slip  
Your louser reins, and use thine idle whip;  
Thy pampered Steeds are pursy; Drive away;  
The lower world thinks long to see the day;  
Darkness befits us best; and our delight  
Will relish far more sweeter, in the night;  
Approach (ye blessed shadows) and extend  
Your early jurisdiction, to befriend  
Our nightly sports; Approach; make no delay;  
It is your 〈◊〉, your Sovereign calls away.   

With that a sudden darkness filled the Hall:  
The light was ba●…sht, and the windows all  
So nearly closed their eye lids, round about  
That day could not get in; nor darkness, out;  
Thus while the death resembling shades of night  
Had drawn their misty Curtains 'twixt the light  
And every darkened eye, which was denied  
To see, but that, which darkness could not hide;  
The jealous God, fearing he knows not whom  
(Indeed, whom fears he not?) enters the room,  
And, with his clubfoot, groping in the shade 
Vulcan●… speech.   
Of night, he muttered forth these words and said.   

Where is this wanton Harlot now become?  
Is light so odious to her? or is home  
So homely in her wand'ring eyes, that she  
Must still be rambling, where unknown to me?  
Can nothing be concluded, nothing done,  
But intermeddling Venus must be one?  
Is't not enough that Phoebus does applaud  
Her lust, but must nights Goddess be her bawd?  
Darkness, be gone, Thou patroness to Lust;  
If fair m●…anes may not rid ●…hee, fouler must:  
Away; my power shall outcharme thy charms,  
And find her, painting, in her lover's arms,  
Enter you Lamplets of terrestrial fire,  
And let your golden heads (at least) conspire  
To counterfeit a day, and on the night  
Revenge the wrongs of Phoebus, with your light.  
So said; The darkened Hall was garnished round  
With lighted Tapors: Every object found  
An eye to own it, and each eye was f●…li'd  
With pleasure, in the object it beheld.   

As these devisefull changes did incite  
Their quickened fancies, with a fresh delight,  
Morpheus came in; His dreaming pace was so,  
That none could say, he moved; he moved so slow;  
His folded arms, athwart his breast, did knit  
A sluggards knot; His nodding chin did hit  
Against his panting bosom, as he passed;  
And often times his eyes were closed fast;  
He wore a Crown of Poppy on his head;  
And, in his hand, he bore a Mace of lead:  
He yauned thrice, and, after Ho●…age done  
To nights black sovereign, he thus begun:   

Great Empress of the world; to whom, I owe 
Morphe●… speech.   
Myself, my service, by perpetual vow;  
Before the footstool of whose dreadful Throne,  
The Princes of this lower world, lay down  
Their Crowns, their Sceptres; whose victorious hand,  
In twice twelve hours did conquer and command  
This Globe of earth; your servant (whose dependence  
Quickens his power) comes, to give attendance  
Upon thy early shadows, and to seize  
Upon these wearied mortals, when you please  
T'appoint; till then, your servant is at hand,  
To put in execution your Command.  
To whom the smiling Goddess thus replied;   

Morpheus; Our pleasure is to set aside 
The Goddesle of the night's speech   
This night to mirth, and time-beguiling sports;  
Our sleep restraining business much imports  
Your welcome absence, whilst our ears shall number  
The flying hours: our mirth admits no slumber.  
That word scarce ended; but the Queen of Love  
Descended from her unseen seat above;  
In her fair hand she led her winged Son,  
And like a full mouthed tempest, thus begun;   

D●…sloyall Sic●…phant; deaths bastard brother; 
Venus' speech to Morpheus   
Accursed spawn, cast from a cursed Mother;  
That with thy base impostures, ri●…est man  
Of half his dai●…s, of half that little span,  
Nature hath lent his life; that with thy wiles,  
Hugg'st him to death; betrayest him with thy smiles;  
What mak'st thou here, and to usurp my right,  
Perfidious Caitiff? Venu●… day is night.  
Go to the frozen world; where man's desire  
Is made of Ice, and melts before the fire,  
Yet ne'er the warmer: Go, and visit ●…ooles,  
Or P●…legmatick old age, whose spirit cools  
As quickly as their breath: Go; what have we  
To do (dull Morpheus) with thy Mace, or thee  
As leaden as thy Mace? thouart made for nought,  
Bu●… to still Children, or to ease the thought  
Or brainsick Phranticks; or with joys to ●…ter  
Po●…re slumbering souls; which waked, find no such matter.  
Go succour those, that vent by quick retail  
Their wits, upon dear pennyworths of Al●…;  
Or marrowed Eunuches, whose adust desire  
Wants means to slake the fury 'of their false fire.  
O that I were a Basilisk, that I  
Might dart my venom; or else venomed, die.  
Boy, bend thy Bow; and with thy forked dart,  
Drawn to the head, thrill, thrill him to the heart:  
Let fly Death's arrow; or if thou had none,  
In death's name send an arrow of thine own;  
We are both wronged, and in the same degr●…e;  
Shoot then; at once, revenge thy s●…lfe and me.   

With that the little angry god did bend  
His steelen Bow, and in death's name did send  
His winged messenger, whose faithful hast  
Dispatched his ireful errand and stuck fast  
Within his pierced liver, and did hide  
His singing feathers, in his wounded side.  
Morpheus fell down as dead; and on the ground  
Lay for a little season in a sound,  
Gasping for breath; And Lovers dreams they say,  
Have evermore been wanton since that day.  
Venus was pleased; The Goddess of the night  
Grew angry; she would needs resign her right  
Of government; and in a spleen threw down  
Her H●…mispheare, her Sceptre, and her Crown;  
And with a dusky fog, she did besmear  
The face of Venus; soiled her golden hair,  
With her black shades; and, with foul terms reviled  
Both her, her cuckold mate, and bastard child;  
Where at the God of War, being much offended,  
Forsook both seat and patience, and descended;  
And, to the world, he proffered to make good  
Fair Venus' honour, with his dearest blood.  
To whom poor Vulcan (puffing in a rage,  
To hear his well known fortune on the stage)  
Scraped many a thank; and, with his crouching knee  
Professed true love, to such true friends, as he.  
And ever since, experience lets us know,  
Cuckolds are kind, to such as m●…s them so.   

By this, god Morpheus, waking from his swound,  
Began to groan; and, from his aching wound  
Drew forth the buried shaft: but Mars (whose word  
Admits no other Organ, but his sword)  
Unsheathed his furious brondyron, and let fly  
A blow at Morpheus' head, which had wellnye  
Cloven him in twain, had not the Queen of night  
Hurled hasty mists, before his darkened sight;  
So that the sword, by a false guided aim,  
Struck Vulcan's foot, which ever since, was lame.  
At last, the gods came down, and thought it good,  
To n●…ppe this early quarrel in the bud.  
Who fearing uproars, with a friendly cup  
Of blessed 〈◊〉, took the quarrel up;  
And, for th'offence committed, did proclaim  
This sentence, in offended Juno's name.   

Morpheus, from hence is banished, for this night, 
The sentence.   
And not to approach before the morning light;  
Mars is exiled for ever, as a guest,  
Adjudged unfitting for a marriage feast.  
Cupid is doomed to room and ro●… about  
To the world's end, and both his eyes put out.  
Venus is 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 night,  
And not (unless by stealth) to see the light:  
Her chiefest joy to be bu●… pleasing folly,  
P●…rm'd with madness, dogged with melancholy.   

And there the Music did invite their paces  
To measure time; and, by exchange of places,  
To lead the curious beholder's eye,  
A willing captive to variety.   

Thus, with the sweet vicissitude of mirth  
They spent the time, as if that heaven and earth  
Had studied to please man, in such a measure,  
That Art could not do more, ●…augment their pleasure;  
And so they vanished.   

Now Ceres evening bounty reinuites  
Her noble guests, to her renewed delights;  
And frolic Bacchus, to refresh their souls,  
With a full hand, presents his swelling Bowls.  
Wine came vnwished like water from a source,  
And delicates were mingled with discourse.  
What Art could do, to make a welcome guest,  
Was liberally presented at that feast.   

It was no sooner ended, but appears  
An old grey pilgrim, deeply struck i●… years,  
In tattered garments; In his wrinkled hand  
An hourglass, l●…bouring with her latest sand.  
Beneath his arm, a buffen knapsack hung,  
Stuffed full of writings, in an unknown tongue;  
Chronologies, outdated Almanacs,  
And Patents, that had long survived their wax.  
Unto his shoulders, Eagles wings were joined;  
His head ill thatched before, but bald behind:  
And leaning on his crooked Sith he made  
A little pause, and after that, he said,   

Mortals, 'Tis out: My glass is run,  
And with it, the day is done.  
Dark shadows have expelled the light,  
And my glass is turned for night.  
The Queen of darkness bids me say,  
Mirth is fitter for the day.  
Upon the day, such joys attend;  
With the day such joys must end.  
Think not, Darkness goes about,  
Like death, to puff your pleasures out.  
No, no, she'll lend you new delights;  
She hath pleasures for the nights.  
When as her shadows shall benight ye,  
She hath what shall still delight ye.  
Aged Time shall make it known,  
She hath dainties of her own.  
'tis very late; Away, away,  
Let day sports expire with Day.  
For this time, we adjourn your feast;  
The Bridegroom fain would be at rest.  
And if night pastimes shall displease ye,  
Day will quickly come, and ease ye.   

With that, a sweet vermilion tincture stained  
The Bride's fair cheeks; The more that she restrained  
Her blush, the more her disobedient blood  
Did overflow; as if a second flood  
Had meant to rise, and, for a little space,  
To drown that world of beauty in her face  
S●…e blushed; (but knew not why) And like the Moon  
S●…e looked most red, upon her going down.   

But see: the smiling Ladi●…s do●… begin  
To join their whispering heads, as there had been  
A plot of treason; till at length, unspide,  
They stole away, the unwilling-willing Bride;  
Their busi●… hands disrobed her, and so led  
The timorous virgin to her Nuptial b●…d.   

By this, the Nobles having recommended  
Their tongues to silence, their discourse being ended,  
They looked about, and thinking to have done  
Their service to the Bride; the B●…ide was gone.  
And now, the Bridegroom (unto whom delay  
Seemed worse than death) could brook no longer st●…y:  
Attended by his noble guests, he enters  
That room, where th'interchangeable Indenters  
Of dearest love, lay ready to be sealed  
With mutual pleasures, not to be revealed.  
His garments grow too tedious, and their weight  
(Not able to be borne) do over freight  
His weary shoulders; Atlas never stooped  
Beneath a greater burden, and not drooped;  
No help was wanting; for he did receive  
What sudden aid he could expect, or have  
From speedy hands, from hands that did not waste  
The time, unless (perchance) by over haste;  
Mean while, a dainty warbling breast, not strong,  
As sweet, presents this Epithalamion song.   

Man of war, march bravely on,  
The field's not easy to be won;  
There's no danger in that war,  
Where lips both swords and bucklers are.   

Here's no cold to i'll thee;  
A bed of downe's thy field:  
Here's no sword to kill thee,  
Unless thou please to yield;  
Here is nothing will encumber,  
Here will be no scars to number.   

These are wars of Cupid's making,  
These be wars will keep ye waking,  
Till the early breaking Day  
Call your forces hence, away.   

These are wars that make no spoil,  
Death shoots his shafts in vain;  
Though the soldier get a foil,  
He will rouse, and fight again.  
These be wars that never cease,  
But conclude a mutual peace.   

Let benign and prosperous stars  
Breathe success upon these wars,  
And when thrice three months be run,  
Be thou father of a son;   

A son, that may derive from thee  
The honour of true merit,  
And may to ages, yet to be,  
Convey thy blood thy spirit;  
Making the glory of his fame  
Perpetuate, and crown thy name,  
And give it life in spite of death,  
When fame shall want both trump and breath.   

Have you beheld in a fair summers even,  
The golden-headed Charioteer of heaven,  
With what a speed, his prouder reynes do bend  
His panting horses, to their journey's end?  
How red he looks; with what a swift career  
Her hurries to the lower Hemisphere;  
And in a moment, shoots his golden head  
Upon the pillow of blushing Thetis bed.  
Even so the bridegroom (whose desire had wings  
More swift than Time, switcht on with pleasure) springs  
Into his nuptial bed; and look how fast  
The stooping Faulkon eclipse; and, with what haste,  
Her talons seize upon the timorous prey,  
Even so, his arms (impatient of delay)  
His circling arms embraced his blushing Bride,  
While she (poor soul) lay trembling by his side.   

The Bridegroom now grows weary of his guests:  
What mirth of late was pleafing, now molests  
His tired patience: Too much sweet offends;  
Sometime, to be forsaken of our friends,  
In Cupid's morals, is observed to be  
The fruits of friendship, in the best degree.  
And thus, at last, the Curtains being closed,  
They left them, each, in others arms reposed.   

And here my Muse bids, draw our Curtains too,  
'tis unfit to see, what private lovers do.  
Reader, let not thy thoughts grow over rank;  
But veil thy understanding, with a Blank.  
Think not on what thou think'st; and, if thou canst,  
Yet understand not, what thou understandest.  
Sow not thy fruitful heart with so poor seeds;  
Or if, perchance, (unsowne) they spring like weeds,  
Use them like weeds, thou know'st not how to kill;  
Slight them; and let them thrive against thy will.  
View them like evils, which Art cannot prevent,  
But see, thou take no pleasure in their scent.  
And one thing more; When as the morrow light  
Shall bring the bash full Bride into thy sight;  
Be not too cruel; Let no wanton eye  
Disturb, and wrong her conscious modesty;  
And if she blush, examine not for what;  
Nay, though thou see it (Reader) see it not.   

And shall our story discontinue here?  
Or want a period, till another year?  
Shall we befriend these lovers, with the night,  
And leave them buried in their own delight?  
And so conclude? No, it shall ne'er be said,  
That marriage joys end in the marriage bed.  
Fond, and adulterate is that love, which found'st  
Her happiness on such unstable grounds:  
And, like a sudden blaze, it never lasts,  
But as the pleasure waxes cold, it wastes.   

Now Argalus awakes; and now the light  
Is even as welcome to him, as the night:  
His eyes are fixed upon his lovely Bride,  
While she la●…s sweetly slumbering by his side.  
She sle●…pes; He views her; Thrice, his mind was bend,  
To call Parthenia, and thrice it did repent.  
Sometimes, his lips, with a stolen kiss would greet  
Her gu●…ltlesse lips; (They say stolen goods are sweet)  
At length, sh●… wakes; and hides her blushing cheeks  
In his warm bosom; where, she safely seeks  
For Sanctuary, whereunto should ●…ly  
The guil●… of her protected modesty.  
He smiles, and whispers in her deafened ear;  
(Women can understand, and yet not hear)  
He sp●…akes, but she (even whilst his lips wa●… b●…eaking  
Their words) with hers, did stop his lips from speaking   

When thrice three Suns had now almost, outworn  
The rare solemnities, that did adorn  
These princely nuptials, and had made report  
Grow something sparing in th' Arcadian Court,  
Argalus, whose endeavours were addressed,  
To practise what might please Parthenia best,  
Resolved to leave Kalander's house, and crown  
Parthenia sole Commandress of her own.  
Long was it, ere Kalander's liberal ear  
Could be unlocked; It had no power to hear  
The word, Farewell; S●…ill Argalus entreated,  
And framed excuses; which, he soon defeated;  
But as the stout Alcides did cashier  
One rising head, another would appear,  
Even so, whilst his ingenious love did smother  
One cause of parting, he would find another.   

Kalander thus at last, (being overwrought  
With words, which importunity had taught  
Inexorable Argalus) was fain  
To yield, what he so long gainsaid, in vain;  
'tis now concluded, Argalus must go,  
But yet Kalander must not leave them so;  
There is no parting, till the aged sire  
Shall warm his fingers, by Partheniaes' fire;  
Parthenia sues; Kalander must not rest,  
Till he become Partheniaes' promised guest.   

The morrow next, when Titan's early ray  
Had given fair earnest of a fairer Day;  
And, with his trembling beams, had repossessed  
The eyes of mortals, newly roused from rest,  
They left Kalander's Castle, and that night,  
Arrived they at the Palace of delight,  
(For so 'twas called) it was a goodly seat,  
Well chosen; not capatious, as neat;  
Yet was it large enough, to entertain  
A potent Prince with all his Princely train;  
It seemed a Centre to a Park, welstored  
With Dear; whose well thriven bounty did afford  
Continual pleasure, and delight; nay what,  
That earth calls good, this Seat afforded not?  
Th' impatient Falkner here may learn to say  
Forgotten prayers, and bless him every day.  
The patient Angler, here may tyre his wish;  
And (if he please) may swear, and yet catch fish.  
The sneaking Fouler, may go boldly on,  
And ne'er want sport until his powder's done.  
And to conclude, there was no stint, no measure  
To th' old man's profit, or the young man's pleasure:  
Thither this night the nuptial troop is gone;  
And now Parthenia's welcome to her own:  
But would ye hear what entertainment past?  
Conceive it rather; for my quill would waste  
Th' unthriving stock of my bespoken time,  
While such free bounty cannot stand with rhyme:  
But that, which most did season, and embellish  
Their choice delights, and gave the truest relish  
To their b●…st mirth, and pleasures; was to see  
With what a sweet conjugiall harmony  
All things were carried: Every word did prove  
To add some acquisition to their love;  
So one they were, that none couldiusty say,  
Which of them ruled, or whether did obey;  
He ruled; because she would obey, and she  
In thus obeying, ruled as well as he:  
What pleased him, would need no other cause,  
To please her to, but only his applaus●…;  
A happy pair! whose double life, but one,  
Made one life double; and the single, none.   

Thus when th' unconstant Lady of the night  
Had changed her sharpened horns, for an orb of light,  
Kalander (whose occasions grew too strong,  
And may not be dispensed withal too long)  
Takes leave, and (being equal heavy hearted  
With sad Parthenia for his haste) departed.  
But Argalus (who never yet could own  
Himself with more advantage then alone)  
And fair Parthenia (whose well pleased desire  
Hopes nothing else, if Argalus be by her)  
Need not the help of any, to augment  
The better joys of their retired content:  
Sometimes the curious garden would invire  
Their gentle paces, to her proud deligh;  
Sometimes the welstored Park would change their pleasure,  
And tender to her view, her light ●…oot treasure;  
Where th'unmolested Herd would seem to 〈◊〉,  
And crave a death at fair Parthenia's hand.  
Sometimes their steps would climb th' ambit●…us Tower,  
From whose aspiring top they might discover  
A little commonwealth of land, which none  
But Argalus durst challenge as his own.  
Sometimes (for change of pleasure) he would read  
Selected stories, whilst her 〈◊〉 would seed  
Upon his lips, and now and then a kiss  
Would interpose, like a parenthesis  
Between their semicircled arms, enclosed;  
(O what dull spirit could be indisposed  
To read such lines!) and whilst upon the book  
His eyes were fixed her pleased eyes would look  
Upon the graceful Reader, and espy  
A story far more pleasing in his eye.   

Upon a day, as they were closely seated;  
H●…r cares a trending, whilst his lips repeated  
A story, treating the renowned adventures  
And famous a●…s of great Alcides; enters  
A Messenger, whose countenance did bewray  
A haste too serious, to admit delay;  
His hand presents him letters, which did bring  
Their sealed errand from th' Arcadian King;  
Whereat Parthenia rose, and stepped aside;  
Her thoughts were troubled; ever as she eyed  
The Messenger, her colour comes and goes;  
Parthenia fears; and yet Parthenia knows  
Not what to fear; Her jealous heart knows how  
To fear an Evil, because it fears to know;  
And as he read the lines her eye was fixed  
Upon his eye, which seemed to strive betwixt  
A thousand thwarting passions: Once he cast  
His eye on hers; and finding hers so fast  
On his, he blushed; she blushed; both blushed together,  
Because they blushed for what, unknown to either.  
The letter being read (and having kissed  
Basilius name) he speedily dismissed  
The messenger; with promise to obey  
Basilius just commands, without delay.  
That done; he took Pathenia by the hand,  
His dear Parthenia, by the trembling hand;  
And to her greedy eye he strait presents  
The Paper, ballaced with its sad contents:  
Parthenia, with a fearful slowness took it;  
And with a fearful haste did overlook it:  
Her face being blanched with the pallid signs  
Of what she feared too soon, she read these lines.   

Basilius Rex.  
Whereas the famous and victorious name  
Of great Amphialus, makes the trump of Fame  
Breathe nothing but his conquests and renown;  
Whose lawlessè actions fortune strives to crown  
(In spite of justice) with a Victor's merit,  
Respecting more the greatness of his spirit,  
Then justness of his cause, to the dishonour  
Of virtue, and all such as wa●…te upon her.  
And furthermore; whereas his power is known  
T'oppugn the welfare of our State and Crown,  
With strong rebell●…on, to the high advancement  
Of his disloyal glory, and inhancement  
Of his perfidious name, the great increase  
Of factions, and disturbance of our peace.  
Likewise, where as his high prevailing hand  
(Against the force whereof no flesh can stand)  
Could ne'er he equalled yei, much less o'ercome,  
But with loud triumph, still does carry home  
The spoils of our lost honour, to the fame  
Of his rebellious glory, and our shame.  
We therefore in our Princely care, perpending  
The serious premises, and much depending,  
On your known courage, have selected you  
To stand our Champion royal, and renew  
Our wasted honour, with your sword and lance,  
In equal Duel; Thus you shall advance  
The glorious pitch of your renowned name,  
With the brave purchase of eternal fame:  
In this you shall revive our dying glory,  
And live the subject of this age's story,  
(Which shall be read tili time shall have an end)  
And tie Basilius your perpetual friend.   

To our right trusty and noble kinsman Argalus.  
But as she read, a tear did trickle down  
Upon the lines, as if it meant to drown  
Th'unwelcome message, and at length she said;   

Ah me! my Argalus was't this you made  
Such haste to answer? did that answer need  
To be returned with so great a speed?  
Can you, oh can you be so quickly won,  
To leave your poor Parthenia, and be gone?   

To whom resolved Argalus (whose eye  
Was fixed upon his honour) made reply;  
My dear Parthenia; were it to obtain  
The vnsummed wealth of Pluto; or to gain  
The sovereignty of the earth, without th'expense  
Of blood or sweat, without the least pretence  
Of danger, my ambition would despise  
The easy conquest of so great a prize,  
If purchased by thy discontent, or by  
The poorest tear that trickles from thine eye;  
But to recall my promise, or forsake  
That resolution honour bid me make  
In this behalf; or to betray that trust  
Reposed in me, the gods would be unjust,  
(And not themselves) if they should but command  
Or urge me, with an overswaying hand.  
My dear Parthenia; Let no false suggestion  
Abuse thy passion, or presume to question  
My dearest love; Though honour bids us part,  
Yet honour can not rob thee, of my heart:  
Honour, that calls me with her loud alarms,  
Will bring me back, with Triumph, to thine arms;   

So said; the sad Parthenia, (whose tears  
Are turned Lieutenants to her tongue) forbears  
To tempt her language: Griefs, that are but sm●…ll,  
Can speak, when great ones cannot vent at all:  
But tender hearted Argalus (to whom  
Such silence speaks too loud) forsook the room;  
And, with a breast, as full of pensive care,  
As honour, gave directions to prepare  
His warlike Steed, his Martial attire  
And all things, such employment does require.   

And here O thou, thou great supreme protectress  
Of bolder spirits, and the sole directress  
Of lofty flying quills, which shall derive  
To after times, what glorious swords acchive;  
And mak'st the actions of heroic spirits  
Perpetuate, and crown their names their merits;  
Illustrious Clio: Aid me, and inspire  
My ragged rhymes, with thy diviner fire;  
Teach me to raise my style, and to attain  
A pitch, that may transcend the vulgars' strain;  
Reach me a quill, rend from an Eagles wing;  
And let my Ink be blood; that I may sing  
Death to the life: let him; that reads, expound  
Each dash, a sword; and every word, a wound,   

By this, the Champion royal had put on  
His martial weeds; and hasting to be gone,  
The poor Parthenia, whose cold 〈◊〉, past:  
(Like those in Agues) now does burn as fast:  
She leaves the lonely room; and coming out,  
She finds her Argulus, enclosed about  
With glittering walls of steel, apparelled round  
In his bright arms, (whom she had ●…ather found  
Locked up in here's) and wanting nothing now,  
But what her lips could not (poor soul) allow,  
Without sea of tears, her last farewell;  
She ran unto him; and wept; and, weeping fell  
Upon her knees; she clasped him by the arm,  
And looking up, she thus began to charm;   

My Argalus; my Argalus: my dear,  
And wilt thou go, and leave Parthenia here?  
Will't thou forsake me then? And can these tears  
Not intercede betwixt thy deafened ●…ares,  
And my sad suit? Canst thou, o canst thou go,  
And leave thy poor distressed Parthenia so?  
Parthenia sues; Parthenia does implore;  
Parthenia begs, that never begged before;  
Remember, O remember you are, now,  
Under the power of a sacred vow:  
Honour must stoop to vows, which once being cracked,  
You cannot do an honourable act:  
I have a Right unto you; you are mine;  
I have that Interest, which I'll ne'er resign,  
Till death: I'll never hazard to forgo  
My whole estate of happìnesse, at one throw,  
No, no, I will not: I will hold thee fast  
In spite of Honour and her nine days blast;  
Your former acts have given sufficient proof  
To the wide world; your valour's known enough  
Without a further trial: There's enough  
To lose their lives (less worthy) besides you;  
'Twas then a time for arms, when you had none,  
None other life to venture, but your own;  
Excuse me then, that only do endeavour  
To hold mine own; which now I must, or never;  
Mine, mine you are, and you can undertake  
No danger, but 〈◊〉 must partake;  
Shall your Parthenia be endangered then?  
Parthenia shall be present, even when  
The strokes fall thickest; and Parthenia shall  
Suffer what ere to Argalus may befall;  
Parthenia, in your greatest pains, shall smart;  
Your blood shall trickle from Parthenia's heart:  
Can prayers obtain no place? By this dear hand,  
The sacred pledge of our coniugiall band;  
By all the pleasures of our dearest love;  
By heaven, and all the heavenly powers above;  
Or if those motives cannot find a room,  
Yet by the tender fruit, that in my womb  
Begins to bud, or if aught else appear  
To thy best thoughts more precious or more dear,  
By that, forsake me not, although the rest  
Prevail not. Grant this first, this last request:   

To whom the broken hearted Argalus,  
Wearied, but not o'ercome, made answer thus;  
My dear Parthenia; Thy desires never  
Gainsaid my will, till now: Do not persever  
To crave that boon, I cannot grant: forbear  
To urge me: Resolution hath no ear:  
Weep not (my joy:) Let not those drops of thine,  
That trickle from so fair an eye, divine  
A foul success; Cheer up; A smile, or two  
Would make me half a Conqueror, ere I go:   

Shine forth; and let no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benight  
The glorious lustre of so fair a light;  
Doubt not my life: The justness of my cause,  
That brings me on, will quite me with applause;  
Fear not, that such a blessing, such a wife  
Was e'er intended for so short a life.  
Expect my safe return; as quick, as glorious;  
My Genius tells me, I shall 〈◊〉, victorious.   

So said, as if that passion had forgot  
Her mother tongue, her tongue replied not:  
But, like to one, new stricken with the thunder,  
She stood betwixt 〈◊〉, fear, and wonder:  
His lips took leave, and as his arms surrounded  
Her feeble waist, she strait fell down, and swooned;  
But Argalus, transported with the tide  
And tyranny of honour, could abide  
No longer stay; He 〈◊〉 her to the guard  
Of her own women; left her, and repaired  
Unto the Camp; wherein, he spent some days,  
In parley, with Amphialus; and assays,  
By all perswasine means, to make him yield  
To just demands, and not to stain the field  
With needless blood; But finding him unapt  
For peaceful counsel (being strongly rapt  
With his own fame) and scorning to afford  
His ear to any language, but the sword,  
He ceased t'advise him; and (enforced to try  
A rougher Dialect) wrote him this defy.   

Renowned Amphialus,  
If strong persuasions, backed with reasons could  
Been honoured with your ear; your wisdom would,  
In yielding to so fair a peace, have won  
As ample glory, 〈◊〉 your sword hath done.  
You should have conquered souls where now, at most,  
You can subdue but bodies, that have lost  
The power to resist: But since my suit,  
Sown on so barren 〈◊〉, can find no fruit;  
Receive a mortal challenge, from a hand,  
Whose justice takes a glory to withstand  
So foul a cause, and labours to subdue  
Your heedless errors, whilst it honours you.  
Compose you then, to make a preparation,  
According to your noble wont fashion;  
And think not sleight, of ne'er so weak an arm,  
That strikes, when justice strikes up her alarm.  Argalus.  

No sooner had he read it, but his pen,  
With noble speed, returned these lines again.  
Much more renowned Argalus,  
Your faithful servant, whose victorlous brow  
Was never daunted yet, is daunted now,  
By your brave courtesy, being stricken dumb  
With your rare worth, and fairly overcome;  
Yet doubting not the justness of my Cause  
(That's over ruled by the sacred laws  
Of dearest love) will give my sword the power,  
Even to maintain it, to the latest hour.  
I shall expect your coming in the 〈◊〉,  
Where, with a heart, (not poisoned with the 〈◊〉  
Or gall of 〈◊〉) with my dearest blood,  
Your servant shall be ready to make good  
His just designs; assured of no less  
Then treble same, if crowned with 〈◊〉;  
If not, There's no dishonour can accrue,  
In being conquered, and o'ercome by you,  〈◊〉:  

Soon after; Argalus, (whose blood did boil  
To be in action) comes into the Isle;  
Clad in white 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉, and strangely dressed  
With knots of woman's hair, which from his crest  
Hung dangling down; 〈◊〉, with their bounteous treasure,  
O'erspread his Corslet in a liberal measure;  
His curious furniture was fashioned out,  
Like to a flying Eagle, round about  
Beset with plumes; whose crooked beak (being cast  
Into a costly 〈◊〉) was made fast  
To th'saddle bow: Her spredden train did cover  
His crupper, whilst the trappers seemed to hover  
Like wings; that, to the fixed 〈◊〉 eye,  
As the Horse pranced, the Eagle seemed to fly;  
Upon his arm, (his threatening arm) he wore  
A sleeve, all curiously embroidered over  
With bleeding 〈◊〉, which fair Parthenia made,  
(In those cross times, when fortune so betrayed  
Their secret love, and with a smiling frown  
〈◊〉 their false hopes) as copies of her own;  
Upon his shield (for his device) he set  
Two neighbouring Palms whose budding branches met  
And twined together; the obscure Impreze  
Imported this, Thus 〈◊〉, as these:  
His Horse was of a fiery Sorrel: Black  
His maine, his feet, his tail; on his proud back,  
A coaleblacke List: His nostrils, open wide,  
Breathed war, before his sparkling eye descried  
An enemy to encounter; up by turns,  
He lifts his hasty hooves, as if he scorns  
The earth, or if his tabring feet had found  
Away, to go, and yet ne'er change the ground.   

By this Amphialus (who all this while  
Thought minute's years) was landed in the Isle,  
In all respects provided, to afford  
As bounteous entertainment, as the sword  
And Lance could give: And at the Trumpets sound,  
Their Steeds, (that needed not a 〈◊〉 to wound  
Their bleeding flanks) both start, & with smooth running  
Their 〈◊〉 declining with vnshaken cunning  
Performed their masters will, with angry speed;  
But Argalus his well instructed Steed  
Being hot, and full of courage (fiercely led  
By his own pride) pressed in his prouder head,  
The which when stout Amphialus espied,  
(Well knowing it unsafe to give his side)  
Pressed likewise in; so that both men, and horse  
Shouldering each 〈◊〉, with a double force  
Fell to the ground. But by accustomed skill,  
And help of Fortune's hand, that succours still  
Bold spirits, shunned the danger of the fall,  
And had (less feared then hurt) no harm at.  
They rose, drew forth their swords; which now begun  
To do what their left staffs had lest undone.   

Have ye beheld a Leaguer? In what sort  
The deep mouthed Cannon plays upon the Fort,  
And how by peecemeales it doth batter down  
The yielding walls of the besieged town?  
Even so their swords (whose oft repeated blows  
Could find no patience yet to interpose  
A breathing respite) with redoubled strength  
So hewed their proofelesse armours, that at length  
Their failing trust began to prove unsound,  
And piece by piece, they dropped upon the ground,  
Trusting their bodies to the bare defence  
Of virtue, and unarmed innocence.  
Such deadly blows were dealt, and such 〈◊〉,  
That Mars himself stood ravished and affrighted  
To see the cruel Combat: Every blow  
Did act two parts; both 〈◊〉 and guarded too  
At selfsame 〈◊〉. So incomparable  
Their skilful quickness was, that none was able  
To say (although their watchful eyes attended  
The strokes) who made the blow, or who defended.  
Long was it ere their equal skill and force  
Of arms could show a better, or a worse.  
Neither prevailed as yet; yet both excelled  
In not prevailing. Never eye beheld  
More equal odds: No wound as yet could show  
A drop of wasted blood, yet every blow  
Was full of death. When skilful Gamesters play,  
The Christmas box gains often more than they.   

At length the sword of Argalus (that never  
Thirsted so long in vain till now; nor ever  
〈◊〉 victory doubtful for so long a space)  
Fastened a wound on the disarmed face  
Of stout Amphialus, who now does feel  
The equal temper of his enemy's steel,  
Yet was not daunted, by the blow received,  
Nor of his wont courage so breaued,  
As by the saucy daring of one thrust  
To faint or yield: rather a brave distrust  
Of his old worth, called a new anger on,  
And fired him to a sudden talion:  
When as directed by some fate-blest charm  
He made a second stroke that pierced the arm  
Of haughty Argalus, and made him know  
Amphialus would rather dye then owe.  
Argalus blushed for want of blood. Expecting  
A quick revenge, which was not long effecting;  
For whilst Amphialus (whose hopes inflamed  
His tyrannous thoughts with conquest, & proclaimed  
Undoubted victory) heaped his strokes so fast,  
As if each blow had scorned to be the last.  
The watchful Argalus (whose nimble eye  
Disposed his time, in only putting by)  
Put home a thrust, (his right foot coming in)  
And pierced his Navel; that the wound had been  
No less than death, if Fortune, (that can turn  
A mischief to advantage) had for borne  
To show a miracle; for with that blow,  
Amphialus last made, his arm had so  
O, estrucke itself; that sideward to the ground  
He fell; and falling, he received that wound  
Which (had he stood) had entered in, point blank,  
But, falling, only grazed upon his flank.  
Being down, brave Argalus his threatening sword  
Bids yield; Amphialus answering not a word,  
(As one, whose mighty spirit did disdain  
A life of alms) but striving to regain  
His legs, and honour, Argalus let drive,  
With all the strength, a wounded arm could give,  
Upon his head; but his hurt arm (not able  
To do him present service, answerable  
To his desires) let his weapon fall;  
With that, Amphialus (though dazed withal)  
Arose; but Argalus ran in, and grasped  
(〈◊〉 closed together) with him; where, both clasped  
And gripped each in th'unfriendly arms of either;  
A while they grappled; grappling, fell together,  
And on the ground, with equal fortune strove;  
Some time 〈◊〉 was got above,  
And sometimes Argalus; Both jointly vowed  
〈◊〉; Both wallowed in their mingled blood,  
Both bleeding fresh: Now, Argalus bids yield.  
And now, Amphialus: Both would win the field,  
Yet neither could; At last, by free consent,  
They rose; and to their breathed swords they went;  
The Combat's now renewed, both laying on,  
As if the fight had been but new begun.  
New wounds assuage the smarting of the old,  
And warm blood entermingles with the cold.  
But Argalus (whose wounded arm had lost  
More blood, than all his body could almost  
Supply; and like an 〈◊〉, that expends  
So long as he hath either stock, or friends)  
Bled more than his spent Fountains could make good  
His spirit could give courage, but not blood.   

As when two wealthy Clients, that wax old  
In suit, (whose learned council can uphold  
And glaze the cause alike, on either side)  
During the time their termly golden tide  
Shall flow alike, from both, 'tis hard to say  
Who prospers best, or who shall get the Day.  
〈◊〉 he, whose water first shall cease to flow,  
And ebb so long, till it shall ebb too low.  
His cause, (though richly laden to the brink,  
With right) shall strike upon the bar and sink,  
And then 〈◊〉 easy Council may unfold  
The doubt; The question's ended, with the gold.  
Even so our Combatants, the 〈◊〉 their blood  
Was equal 〈◊〉; the Cause seemed equal good,  
The Victory equal; equal was their arms;  
Their Hopes were equal: 〈◊〉 was their harms.  
But when poor Argalus his wasting blood  
Ebbed in his veins, (although it made a flood  
A 〈◊〉 flood, in the ungrateful field)  
His cause, his strength, (but not his heart) must yield:  
Thus wounded Argalus the more he failed,  
The more, the proud Amphialus prevailed:  
With that, Amphialus (whose noble strife  
Was but to purchase honour, and not life)  
Perceiving what advantage, in the fight,  
He gained, and the valour of the Knight,  
Became his suitor, that himself would please  
To pity himself, and let the Combat cease;  
Which noble Argalus (that never used  
In honour to part stakes) with thanks, refused:  
(Like to a luckless gamester; who, the more  
He loses, is 〈◊〉 willing to give o' 〈◊〉)  
And filling up his empty veins, with spite,  
Begins to sum his forces, and unite  
His broken strength, and (like a Lamp that makes  
The greatest blaze at going out) he takes  
His sword in both his hands; and, at a blow,  
Cleft armour, shield, and arm, 〈◊〉, in two;  
But now enraged Amphialus forgets  
All pity; and, trusting to his Cards, he sets  
That stock of courage, treasured in his breast,  
Making his whole estate of 〈◊〉, his Rest;  
And vies such blows, as Arg'lus could not see  
Without his loss of life: so thundered he  
Upon his wounded body, that each wound  
Seemed like an open Sluice of blood, that found  
No hand to stop it, till the doleful cry.  
Of a most beauteous Lady (who well nigh  
Had run herself to death) restrained his arm  
(Perchance too late) from doing further harm.   

It was the fair Parthenia, who that night  
Had dreamed, she saw her husband in that plight  
She now had found him: Fear and love together,  
Gave her no rest, till they had brought her hither:  
The nature of her fear did now begin  
T'expel the fear of Nature; stepping in,  
Between their pointing swords, she prostrate lay  
Before their blood-bed abbled feet, to say  
She knew not what; for as her lips would strive  
To be delivered, a deep sigh would drive  
The abortive issue of her language forth;  
Which, borne untimely, perished in the birth;  
And if her sighs would give her 〈◊〉 to vent it,  
O then a tear would trickle, and prevent it;  
But 〈◊〉 the wind of her loud sighs had laid  
The 〈◊〉 of her tears, she sobbed, and said:  
O wretched eyes of mine! O wailful sight!  
O day of darkness! O eternal night!  
And there 〈◊〉 stopped; her eyes being fixed upon  
Amphialus; she sighed, and thus went on:   

My Lord,  
'Tis said you love: Then, by that sacred power  
Of love, as you'd 〈◊〉 mercy in the hour  
Of greatest misery, leave off; and sheathe  
Your bloody sword: or else if nought but death  
May slake your anger, O let mine, let mine  
Be a sufficient offering at the Shrine  
Of your appeased thoughts; or, if you thirst  
For Argalus 〈◊〉 life, then take mine first:  
Or, if for noble blood you seek, if so  
Accept of mine; my blood is noble too,  
And worth the spilling: Even for her dear sake,  
Your tender soul affects, awake, awake,  
Your noble mercy: Grant, I care not whether;  
Let me dye first; or, kill us both together.   

With that Amphialus was about 〈◊〉 speak,  
〈◊〉 Argalus (whose heart 〈◊〉 almost 〈◊〉  
To hear Partheniaes' words) 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉.   

〈◊〉, ah Parthenia; Then must I  
〈◊〉 bought and sold for tears? Is my condition  
So poor, I cannot 〈◊〉, but by petition?  
So said; He 〈◊〉 aside (for fear, by chance,  
The fury of some misguided blow may 〈◊〉  
And touch Parthenia) and, filled with high 〈◊〉,  
Would have 〈◊〉 the Combat fresh again.   

But now, Amphialus was charmed; his hand  
〈◊〉 no sufficient warrant to withstand  
Parthenia's suit, from whose fair eyes there came  
Such precious tears, in so beloved a name;  
His eyes grew tender, and his melting heart  
Was overcome; his very soul did smart;  
He 〈◊〉 not, but kept him at a distance,  
And (putting by some blows) made no resistance.   

But what can long endure? Lamps wanting oil,  
Must out at last, although they blaze a while;  
Trees wanting Sap, must wither; strength and beauty  
Can claim no privilege to quit that duty  
They owe to Time and Change; but like a Vine  
(The unsound supporters failing) must decline:  
Poor Argalus grows 〈◊〉, and must give o'er  
To strike; his feeble arm can strike no more;  
And natures 〈◊〉'd Bailie now destraines  
His blood, for that small debt that yet remains  
〈◊〉; His arm that cannot use the point,  
Now 〈◊〉 upon the pommel; every joint  
Disclaims their idle sinews; and his eye  
Begins to double every object by;  
Nothing appears the same it was; the ground,  
And all thereon does seem to dance the round.  
His legs grow faint; and thinking to sit down,  
He missed his Chair, and 〈◊〉 into a swoon.   

With that Amphialus and Parthenia ran,  
Ran in with haste, Amphialus 〈◊〉  
To lose his Helmet, whilst her busy palm  
Chafed his cold Temples, and (distilling Balm  
Into his wounds) her hasty fingers tore  
Her linen sleeves, and Partlet that she wore,  
No wipe the tear mixed blood away, and wrap  
His wounds withal; upon her panting lap  
She laid his liveless head, and (wanting bands  
To bind the bloody clothes) her nimble hands  
(As if it were ordained for that end,  
And therefore made so long) did freely rend  
Her dainty hair, by handfuls from her head;  
But as she wrapped the wounds, her eyes would shed  
And wet the rags so much, that she was fain  
〈◊〉 sighs and sobs to dry it up again.  
Thus half distracted with her griefs and fears,  
These words she enter mingles with her tears;   

Distressed Parthenia! Into what estate  
Hath fortune, and the direful hand of Fate  
Driven thy perplexed soul? O thou, O thou,  
That wert the precedent of all joys, but now;  
Now turned th' example of all misery,  
For torments worse than death to practise by!  
How less than nothing art thou? and how more  
Than miserable! Thou that wert before  
All Ladies of the earth for happiness  
But very now; (ah me) now, nothing less!  
O angry heavens; what hath Parthenia done,  
To be thus plagued, or why not plagued alone  
If guilty? what shall poor Parthenia do?  
To whom shall she complain? alas! or who  
Shall give relief? nay who can give relief  
To her, that hopes for succour from her grief?  
O death! Must we be parted then? for ever?  
And never meet again? what, never? never?  
Or shall Parthenia now be so unkind,  
Te leave her Argalus, and stay behind?  
No, no, my dearest Argalus, make room,  
(There's room enough in heaven) I come, I come.   

Who ever saw a dying coal of fire,  
Lurk in warm embers (till some breath inspire  
A forced reviuall) how obscure it lies;  
And being blown, glimmers a while, and dies?  
So Argalus, to whom Parthenia's breath  
Giving new life, (a life in spite of death)  
Recalled him from his death-resembling trance;  
Who from his panting Pillow did advance  
His feeble head; and looking up, he made  
Hard shift to source a language, and thus said;   

My dear Parthenia: Now my glass is run; 
Argalus last speech.   
The Tapours tell me that the Play is done;  
My days are summed; Death seizes on my heart;  
Alas! the time is come, and we must part:  
Yet by my better hopes; grim death does bring  
No grief to Argalus, no other sting  
But this, that I must leave thee, even before  
My grateful actions can cross the score  
Of thy dear merits:  
But since it pleases him, whose wisdom still  
Disposes all things by his better will,  
Depend upon his goodness, and rely  
Upon his pleasure, not enquiring why:  
And trust that one day we shall meet, and then  
Enjoy each other, ne'er to part again:  
Mean while live happy: Let Parthenia make  
No doubt, but bessed Argalus shall partake  
In all her joys on earth, which shall increase  
His joys in heaven, and souls eternal Peace.  
Love well the dear remembrance of thy true  
And faithful Argalus; let no thought renew  
My last disgrace; think not the hand of Fate  
Made me unworthy, though unfortunate.   

And as he spoke that word, his lips did vent  
A sigh, whose vio'lence h●…d well nigh rend  
His heart in twain; and when a pa●…ting kiss  
H●…d given him earnest of appoaching bliss,  
He snatch his sword into his hand and cried;  
O death! thou art the Conqueror; and died.   

With that; Parthenia, whose livelihood was founded  
Upon his life, bowed down her head and swooned;  
But grief, that (like a Lion) loves to play  
Before it kills, gave death a longer day;  
Else had Parthenia died, since death deprived  
Him of his life, in whose dear life she lived.  
But ah! Parthenia's sorrow was too deep,  
Too too unruly, to be lulled asleep  
By aught but Death: She startles from her swound;  
And nimbly rising from the loathed ground,  
Kneels down; and lays her trembling hand upon  
His lukewarm lips, but finding his breath gone,  
Grief plays the Tyrant; fierce destruction drives her  
She knows not where; unbounded 〈◊〉 depriucs her  
Of sense and language; here and there she goes,  
Not knowing what to do; nor what she does;  
Sometimes her fair misguided hand would tear  
Her beauteous face; sometimes, her bounteous hair,  
As if their use could stand her in no stead,  
Since her beloved Argalus was dead.   

But now Amphialus (that all this space  
Stood like an Idol, fastened to his place;  
Where with a world of tears, he did bemoan  
The deed, that his unlucky hands had done)  
Well knowing; that his words would aggravate,  
Not ease the misery of her woeful state,  
Spoke not, but caused her women that came with her  
To urge her to the Ferry; where together  
With her dead Argalus, she ' embrackt; from whom  
She would not part: no sooner was she come  
To t'other shore, but all the funeral state  
Of military discipline did wait  
Upon the Corpse, whilst troops of trickling eyes  
Foreran the well performed solemnities:  
The Martial Trumpet breathed her doleful sound,  
Whilst others trailed their Ensigns on the ground;  
Thus was the most lamented Corpses conuaid,  
Upon a Chariot, lined, and overlaid  
With Sables, to his house; a house, than night  
More black, no more the Palace of Delight;  
Where now we leave him to receive the Crown  
Prepared for virtue, and deserved renown;  
Where now we leave him to be full possessed  
Of endless peace, and everlasting Rest.   

But who shall comfort poor Parthenia now?  
What Oratory can prevail? or how  
Can counsel choose but blush to undergo  
So vain task, and be contemned too?  
May Counsel move a heart, whose best 〈◊〉  
Consists in desperate yielding to a grief?  
O: what advice can relish in her ears,  
That weeps, and takes a pleasure in her tears?   

Readers, forbear: sorrows that are lamented,  
Are but exulcerated, but augmented;  
Forbear attempt, where there is no prevailing;  
A desperate grief grows stronger by bewaying.  
Leave her to time and fortune: let your eyes  
No longer pry into her miseries;  
True mourners love to be beheld of none;  
Who truly grieves, desire to grieve alone.   

But now our bloodhound Muse must draw, and tract  
Amphialus, and bring the Murderer back  
To a new Combat: Where if fortune please  
To crown our Tragic Scene, and to appease  
The crying blood of Argalus, with blood;  
Our better relished story (making good  
Your hopeful expectations) shall besriend  
The tears of our Parthenia, and end.   

Soon as the stout Amphialus had out worn  
The danger of his wounds, and made return  
Into the Martial Camp; there, to maintainc  
His new got honour, and to entertain  
Aggrieved challengers, that shall demand,  
O●… seek for satisfaction from his hand;  
An armed Knight came praunsing o'er the plain,  
D●…nouncing water, and breathing forth disdain.  
Four dam ' sells usherd him, in sable weeds;  
And four came after, all on mourning Steeds;  
His curious Armour was so painted over  
With lively sh●…dowes, that you might discover  
The image of a gaping Sepulchre;  
About the which, were scattered here and there  
Some dead men's bones: His horse was black as let;  
His furniture was round about beset  
With branches, slipped from the sad Cypress tree;  
His Bases (reaching far below the knee)  
Embroidered were with worms: upon his shield,  
For his lmprese, he had a beauteous child,  
Whose body had two heads; whereof the t'one  
Appeared quite dead; the tother (drawing on)  
Did seem to gasp for breath; and underneath,  
This Motto was subscribed, From death, by death.  
Thus armed to point, he sent his bold defy.  
T' Amphialus, who sent as quick reply.  
Forthwith, being summoned by the Trumpets found,  
They start; but brave Amphialus, that sound,  
The Knight had missed his Rest, (as yet not met)  
Scorning to take advantage, would not let  
His Lance descend, nor (bravely passing by)  
Encounter his befriended enemy.   

Whereat the angry Knight (not apt to brook  
Such unsupportable mishap forsook  
His white mouthed Steed; throwing his L●…nce aside,  
(Which too too partial fortune had denied  
A fair success) drew forth his glittering sword;  
Whereat Amphialus lighted (who abhorred  
A conquest merely by advantage gained,  
Esteeming it but robbed, and not obtained)  
Drew forth his sword; and, for a little space,  
Their strokes contended with an equal pace,  
And fierceness: He did more discover  
A bravery, than anger; whilst the other  
Bewrayed more spleen, than either skill, or strength,  
To manage it: 〈◊〉, at length,  
With more than wont ease, did b●…tter so  
His ill defended armour, that each blow,  
Opened a door●…, for death to enter in;  
And now the noble Conqueror does begin  
To hate so poor a conquest, and disdained  
To take a life, so easily obtained.  
And moved with pity, (stepping back) he stayed  
His unresisted violence, and said,   

Sir Knight, contest no more; but take the peace  
Of your own passion; Let the Combat cease,  
Seek not your causeless ruin; Turn your arm  
(Better employed) 'gainst such, as wish you harm.  
Husband your life, before it be too late,  
Fall not by him, that ne'er deserved your hate.  
To whom, the Knight returned these words again,   

Thou liest, false Traitor; and I here disdain  
Both words and mercy, with a base defy,  
And to thy throat, my sword shall turn the lie.  
To whom Amphialus: uncivil Knight,  
Courageous in nothing, but in spite,  
And base discourtesy; thou soon shalt know,  
Whether thy tongue betrays thy heart or no.  
And as he spoke, he gave him such a wound  
Upon the neck, as struck him to the ground.  
And, with the fall, his sword (that now de●…y the  
All mercy) deeply pierced into his side;  
That done; he loosed his Helmet, with intent,  
To make his overlavish tongue repent  
Of those base words, he had so basely said,  
Or ●…lse, to crop him shor●…er, by the head.   

Who ●…uer s●…w th'illustrious eye of no●…e  
(New broken from a gloomy cloud) ●…nd down  
His earth rejoicing glory, and d●…play  
His golden beams upon the sons of Day:  
Even so, the Helmet being gone, a fair  
And costly treasure of unbraided hair  
O'respred the shoulders of the vanquished Knight,  
Whose, now discovered visage (in despite  
Of neighbouring death) did witness and proclaim  
A sovereign beauty in Parthenia's name,  
And she it was indeed; see how she lies  
Smiling on death, as it her blessed eyes  
(Blest in their best desire●…) had espied  
His fice already, for whose fake she died.  
The Lilies, and the Roses (that while 〈◊〉  
strove in her Cheeks, till they compounded there)  
Have broke their truce, and freshly fall'n to blows;  
Behold; the Lily hath o'ercome the Rose.  
Her Alabaster neck (●…hat did ou●…goe  
The Doves in whi●… ness●…; or the new fall'n snow)  
Was stained with blood, as if the red did se●…ke  
Pro●…tion there, being banished from her che●…ke:  
So full of ●…weetnesse was her dying face,  
Th●…t death had not the power to displace  
Her native beauti●…; only by translation,  
Moulded, and clothed it in a newer fashion.   

But now Amphialus (in whom grief and shame  
Of this unlucky victory, did claim  
An eq●…ll interest) prostrate on the earth,  
Accursed his swo●…d, his arm, his hour of birth;  
Casting his Helmet, and his gauntlet by,  
H●…s undissembled tears did testify,  
What words could not: But finding her estate  
More apt for help, than grief, (though both too late)  
Crept on his knees, and begging pardon of her,  
His hands (his often cursed hands) did proffer  
Their needless help, and with his life to sh●…w  
What honour a devoted heart could do.  
Whereto Parthenia (whose expiring breath  
G●…ue speedy signs of a desired death)  
Turning her fixed (but oft recalled eyes)  
Upon Amphialus, faintly thus replies:   

Sir you have done enough; and I require 
Parthenia's last speech.   
No more; Your hands have done, what I desire;  
What I expect; and if against your will,  
The better; So 〈◊〉 wish your favours still;  
Yet one thing more, (if enemies may sue)  
I crave, which is, To be untouched by you;  
And as for Honour, all that I demand  
Is not to 〈◊〉 honour from your hand.  
No, no; 'twas no such bargain made; That he  
Whose hands had killed my Argalus, should help me;  
Your hands have done enough; I crave no more;  
And for the deed sake, I forgive the Doer;  
What then remains? but that I go to rest  
With Argalus, and to be repossessed  
Of him; with him for ever to abide,  
ere since whose death, I have so often died.  
And there she fainted (even as if the Clock  
Of death had given a warning, ere it struck)  
But foone returning to herself again;  
Welcome sweet death, said she, whose minutes pain,  
Shall crown this soul with everlasting pleasure;  
Come, come, and welcome; I attend thy leisure:  
Delay me not; O do me not that wrong,  
My A●…galus will chide, I stay so long;  
O now I fe●…le the Gordian-knotted bands,  
Of life untied; O heavens! into your hands,  
I recommend my better part with trust,  
To find you much more merciful, then just;  
(Yet truly just withal) O life, O death,  
I call you both to witness, that this breath  
ne'er drew a dram of comfort, since that hour  
My A●…galus died: O thou eternal power,  
Shrowded all my faul●…s beneath the milkewhite veil  
Of thy dear mercy; and when this tongue shall fail  
To speak, O then:   

And as she spoke (O then) O then she left  
To spe●…ke; ●…d, being suddenly bereft  
Of words, the fatal S●…ster did divide  
H●…r slender twine of life, and so sh●… died.   

So died Parthenia; in whose closed ey●…s  
The world of beauty and perfection ly●…s  
Locked up by Angels (as a thing diuin●…)  
From mortal ey●…s, the whilst her vert●…es shine  
In perfect glory, in the throne of glory,  
Leaving the world no Relic, but the story  
Of earth's perfection, for the mouth of Fame  
To confecrate to her eternal 〈◊〉:  
Which shall survive, (if 〈◊〉 a●… d●…uine)  
(Though not in these poor monuments of mine)  
To th'end of days; and, by th●…se loser ●…imes,  
Shall be d●…liuer'd to succeeding times:  
So long as beauty shall but find a friend,  
Partheni●…es lasting f●…me shall neu●…r end.  
Till, to be truly virtuous, to be chaste,  
Be held a sin, Partheniaes' name shall last.   

Thus when Amphialus had put out this Lamp,  
This Lamp of hono●…r, he forsook the Camp;  
And, like a willing prisoner, was confined  
To the strict limits of a troubled mind;  
No jury need b'impanelled, or agreed  
Upon the verdict; none, to att●…st the deed;  
None to gi●…e sentence, in the judgement hall;  
Himself was witness, jury, judge, and all;  
Where now we leave him, whilst we turn our eyes  
Upon Partheniaes' women, whose fierce cries  
Enforce a helpl●…sse audience. It is said,  
When Troy was taken, such a cry was made.  
One snatched Partheniaes' sword, resolved to dye  
Partheniaes' death: another, raving by,  
strove for the weapon; through which eager strife,  
They both were hindered; and each laved a life:  
Others, whom wis●…r passion had taught how  
To grieve at e●…sier rates, did rudely throw  
Their careless bodies on the purple floor;  
Where, sprinkling dust upon their heads, they tore  
Their tangled hair, and garments, drenched in tears:  
And cried, as i●… Partheniaes' blessed ears  
Could hear the 〈◊〉 of grief; such griefs as would  
Return her from her glory, if they could;  
〈◊〉 heart was turned a wardrobe of true passion,  
Where griefs were cloa●…hed in a several fashion;  
Sometimes their sorrow would recall to view  
H●…r virtue, chasteness, sweetn●…sse, and renew  
Their wast●…d p●…ssions; and, ofttimes, they banned  
Themselves, for obeying her v●…iust command.   

And now by this, the mourn●…ll Trump of Fame  
(Grow e ho●…se with very sorrow) did proclaim  
And spr●…d her doleful tidings, whilst all ears  
A●…d ey●…s were filled with death, and sliding tears;  
Pity and Sorrow, mixed with Admiration,  
Becam●… the threefold subject of all passion;  
Gri●… w●…ther progress through all he●…rts; and none  
From t●…e poor Cottage, to the princely Throne,  
Could own a thought, whose best advice could borrow  
The smallest respite from th'extremes of sorrow.   

But all this while, Basilius princely breast,  
As it commanded, so outgrieued the rest;  
His share was treble: hearts of Kings are deep  
And close; what once they entertain, they ke●…pe  
With violence: The violence of his passion  
Admits no mean, as yet, no moderation;  
But soon as grief had done her private rights  
And dues to Honour; Honour (that delights  
In public service, and can make the breath  
Of sighs and sobs to triumph over death)  
Called in solemnity, with all her train,  
And military pomp, to entertain  
Our welcome Mourners, whose slow paces tread  
The paths of death; and, with sad triumph lead  
The slumbering body, to that bed of rest,  
Where nothing can disquiet, or molest  
Her sacred ashes: There, entombed, lay  
The valiant Argalus; and there, they say,  
Ere since that time, th' Arcadians, once a year,  
Visit the ruins of their Sepulchre;  
And, in memorial of their faithful loves,  
There, built an Altar; where, two milk white D●…ues  
They yearly offer to the hallowed Fame  
Of Argalus, and his Partheniaes' name.    
FINIS.   

Hos ego versiculos.  

LIke to the damask Rose you see,  
Or like the blossom on the tree,  
Or like the dainty flower of May,  
Or like the Morning to the day,  
Or like the Sun, or like the shade,  
Or like the Gourd which jonas had,   

Even such is man whose thread is spun,  
Drawn out and cut, and so is done.   

The Rose withers, the blossom blasteth;  
The flower fades, the morning hasteth;  
The Sun sets; the shadow flies,  
The Gourd consumes, and man he dies.   

Like to the blaze of fond delight;  
Or like a morning clear and bright;  
Or like a frost, or like a shower,  
Or like the pride of Babel's Tower,  
Or like the hour that guides the time,  
Or like to beauty in her prime;   

Even such is man, whose glory lends  
His life a blaze or two, and ends.   

Delights vanish; the morn o'er casteth,  
The frost breaks, the shower basteth,  
The Tower falls, the flower spends,  
The beauty fades, and man's life ends.   
Finis.  Fr. Qu.  

The Author's Dream.  

MY sins are like the hairs upon my head,  
And raise their Audit to as high a score:  
In this they differ: these do daily shed;  
But ah! my sins grow daily more and more.  
If by my hairs thou number out my sins,  
Heaven make me bald before the day begins.   

2  
My sins are like the sands upon the Shore,  
Which every ebb lays open to the eye:  
In this they differ: These are covered o'er  
With every tide: My sins still open lie.  
If thou wilt make my head a sea of tears,  
O they will hide the sins of all my years.   

3  
My sins are like the Stars within the skies  
In view, in number, even as bright as great;  
In this they differ; These do set and rise;  
But ah! my sins do rise but never set.  
Shine Sun of glory, and my sins are gone  
Like twinkling Stars before the rising Sun.   
Finis.  Fr. Qu.