Part 14

$B$ y this straight rule she rectifies $E$ ach thought that in [her] heart doth rise: $T$ his is her cleane true mirror, $H$ er _looking-glasse_, wherein she spies $A$ [ll] forms of Truth and Error.

$R$ ight princely vertue fit to raigne, $E$ nthroniz'd in her spirit remaine, $G$ uiding our fortunes euer; $I$ f we this starre once cease to see, $N$ o doubt our State will shipwrackt bee, $A$ nd torne and sunke for euer.

[Footnote 179: In first edition 'things.' G.]

HYMNE XXIII.

OF HER JUSTICE.

$E$ xil'd _Astræa_ is come againe, $L$ o here she doth all things maintaine $I$ n _number_, _weight_, and _measure_: $S$ he rules vs with delightfull paine, $A$ nd we obey with pleasure.

$B$ y _Loue_ she rules more then by _Law_, $E$ uen her great mercy breedeth awe; $T$ his is her sword and scepter: $H$ erewith she hearts did euer draw, $A$ nd this guard euer kept her.

$R$ eward doth sit in her right-hand, $E$ ach vertue thence taks her garland $G$ ather'd in Honor's garden; $I$ n her left hand (wherein should be $N$ ought but the sword) sits Clemency $A$ nd conquers Vice with pardon.

HYMNE XXIV.

OF HER MAGNANIMITIE.

$E$ uen as her State, so is her mind, $L$ ifted aboue the vulgar kind; $I$ t treades proud Fortune vnder: $S$ un-like it sits aboue the wind, $A$ boue the stormes, and thunder.

$B$ raue spirit, large heart, admiring _nought_, $E$ steeming each thing as it ought, $T$ hat swelleth not, nor shrinketh; $H$ onour is alwayes in her thought, $A$ nd of great things she thinketh.

$R$ ocks, pillars, and heauen's axeltree, $E$ xemplifie her constancy; $G$ reat changes neuer change her: $I$ n her sexe, feares are wont to rise, $N$ _ature_ permits, _Vertue_ denies, $A$ nd scornes the face of _Danger_.

HYMNE XXV.

OF HER MODERATION.

$E$ mpresse of kingdomes though she be, $L$ arger is her soueraigntie $I$ f she her selfe doe gouerne; $S$ ubiect vnto her self is she, $A$ nd of her selfe true soueraigne.

$B$ eautie's crowne though she do weare, $E$ xalted into Fortune's chaire, $T$ hron'd like the Queene of Pleasure; $H$ er vertues still possesse her eare, $A$ nd counsell her to measure.

$R$ eason, if shee incarnate were, $E$ uen Reason's selfe could neuer beare $G$ reatnesse with moderation; $I$ n her one temper still is seene, $N$ o libertee claimes she as Queene, $A$ nd showes no alteration.

HYMNE XXVI.

TO ENUY.

$E$ nuy, goe weepe; my Muse and I $L$ augh thee to scorne: thy feeble eye $I$ s dazeled with the glory $S$ hining in this gay poesie, $A$ nd little golden story.

$B$ ehold how my proud quill doth shed $E$ ternall _nectar_ on her head; $T$ he pompe of coronation $H$ ath not such power her fame to spread, $A$ s this my admiration.

$R$ espect my pen as free and franke $E$ xpecting not reward nor thanke, $G$ reat wonder onely moues it; $I$ never made it mercenary, $N$ or should my Muse this burthen carrie $A$ s hyr'd, but that she loues it.

$Finis.$

III. ORCHESTRA.

NOTE.

In the Registers of the Stationer's Company, under date 25th June, 1594, a Mr. Harrison entered for copy-right of 'Orchestra' (Notes and Queries 3 S. II., p. 461: Dec. 13, '62): but it was not published till 1596. The following is the original title-page:

ORCHESTRA

OR

A POEME ON DAUN- CING

Iudicially prooving the true observation of time and measure, in the Authenticall and laudable use of Daun- cing.

Ouid. Art. Aman. lib I. Si vox est, canta: si mollia brachia, salta Et quacunque potes dote placere, place.

AT LONDON:

Printed by J. Robarts for N. Ling.

1596.

[18mo: pp 46: register A B C of 8 leaves each.]

In the Bodleian copy there is this inscription at top of title-page "Ex dono Wilti. Burdett, amici sui primo die Decembr. 1596 36. E. R."

Instead of the after-dedication 'To the Prince' there was the 'Sonnet' to Martin which we have placed before it. The title-page from the edition of 1622 may be added here:--

ORCHESTRA.

OR

A Poeme expressing the An- _tiquitie and Excellencie_ OF DAVNCING.

In a Dialogue betweene _Penelope_ and one of her Wooers.

_Not Finished._

LONDON.

Printed by A. M. for Richard Hawkins.

1622. [8vo.]

With reference to 'Not finished' placed on the later title-page (1622), it is explained by the stanzas restored from the first edition. These shew that the Poet had intended to pursue his subject further; even the hitherto omitted stanzas reading more like a fresh 'invocation' than a 'conclusion.'

Our text, as with 'Nosce Teipsum,' is from the edition of 1622: but compared throughout with above very rare, if not unique, first edition from the Bodleian. At close, by recurrence to the original edition we are able to supply the blanks of all the subsequent editions and reprints. See our Memorial-Introduction, for explanation of the omission: and for Sir John Harington's 'Epigram' on 'Orchestra.' G.

[$Dedications.$]

I. TO HIS VERY FRIEND, MA. RICH. MARTIN.[180]

To whom shall I this dauncing Poem send, This suddaine, rash, half-capreol[181] of my wit? To you, first mouer and sole cause of it, Mine-owne-selues better halfe, my deerest frend. O, would you yet my Muse some Honny lend From your mellifluous tongue, whereon doth sit Suada in Maiestie, that I may fit These harsh beginnings with a sweeter end. You know the modest Sunne full fifteene times Blushing did rise, and blushing did descend, While I in making of these ill made rimes, My golden howers unthriftily did spend: Yet, if in friendship you these numbers prayse, I will mispend another fifteene dayes.

[Footnote 180: See Memorial-Introduction concerning Martin. G.]

[Footnote 181: Cf. st. 68. l. 6. G.]

II. TO THE PRINCE.[182]

Sir, whatsoeuer YOV are pleas'd to doo It is your special praise, that you are bent, And sadly[183] set your princely mind thereto: Which makes YOV in each thing so excellent.

Hence is it that YOV came so soon to bee A man-at-armes in euery point aright; The fairest flowre of noble chiualrie; And of Saint _George_ his band, the brauest knight.

And hence it is, that all your youthfull traine In actiueness and grace, YOV doe excell; When YOV doe courtly dauncings entertaine Then Dauncing's praise may be presented well

To YOV, whose action adds more praise thereto, Then all the _Muses_ with their penns can doo.

[Footnote 182: Query--Henry, son of James I.? He died in 1612. Or Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I.? Most probably the former. G.]

[Footnote 183: = seriously. Cf. Milton: P. L. vi. 541 and Comus, 509. So in Shakespeare frequently. G.]

_Orchestra_,

OR

A POEME OF DAUNCING.

1.

Where liues the man that neuer yet did heare Of chaste _Penelope_, _Ulisses'_ Queene? Who kept her faith vnspotted twentie yeare, Till he return'd that farre away had beene, _And many men, and many townes had seen_: Ten yeare at siege of Troy he lingring lay, And ten yeare in the Mid-land-Sea did stray.

2.

_Homer_, to whom the Muses did carouse A great deepe cup with heauenly nectar filld: The greatest, deepest cup in _Ioue's_ great house, (For _Ioue_ himselfe had so expresly willd) He dranke off all, ne let one drop be spilld; Since when, his braine that had before been drie, Became the well-spring of all Poetrie.

3.

_Homer_ doth tell in his aboundant verse, The long laborious trauailes of the _Man_; And of his lady too he doth reherse, How shee illudes with all the art she can, Th' vngratefull loue which other lords began; For of her lord, false Fame long since had sworn, That _Neptune's_ monsters had his carkase torne.

4.

All this he tells, but one thing he forgot, One thing most worthy his eternall song; But he was old, and blind, and saw it not, Or else he thought he should _Ulisses_ wrong, To mingle it his tragike acts among; Yet was there not in all the world of things, A sweeter burden for his Muse's wings.

5.

The courtly loue _Antinous_ did make: _Antinous_ that fresh and iolly knight, Which of the gallants that did vndertake To win the widdow, had most wealth and might, Wit to perswade, and beautie to delight: The courtly loue he made vnto the Queene, _Homer_ forgot, as if it had not beene.

6.

Sing then _Terpischore_, my light Muse sing His gentle art, and _cunning curtesie_; You lady can remember euery thing, For you are daughter of Queene Memorie; But sing a plaine and easy melodie: For the soft meane that warbleth but the ground, To my rude eare doth yeeld the sweetest sound.

7.

One onely night's discourse I can report, When the great Torch-bearer of Heauen was gone Downe in a maske vnto the Ocean's Court, To reuell it with Thetis[184] all alone; Antinous disguisèd and vnknowne, Like to the Spring in gaudie ornament, Vnto the Castle of the Princesse went.

8.

The soueraine Castle of the rockie Ile, Wherein _Penelope_ the Princesse lay; Shone with a thousand lamps, which did exile The shadowes darke,[185] and turn'd the night to day; Not _Ioue's_ blew tent, what time the sunny ray Behind the Bulwarke of the Earth retires, Is seene to sparkle with more twinckling fires.

[Footnote 184: Misprinted 'Tethis.' G.]

[Footnote 185: In 1st edition 'dim darke shades.' G.]

9.

That night the Queen came forth from far within, And in the presence of her Court was seene; For the sweet singer _Ph[oe]mius_[186] did begin To praise the worthies that at _Troy_ had beene; Somewhat of her _Ulisses_ she did weene. In his graue hymne the heau'nly man would sing, Or of his warres, or of his wandering.

10.

_Pallas_ that houre with her sweet breath diuine Inspir'd immortall beautie in her eyes; That with cælestiall glory shee did shine, Brighter[187] then _Venus_ when shee doth arise Out of the waters to adorne the skies; The Wooers all amazèd doe admire And checke their owne presumptuous desire.

[Footnote 186: Phemius, a great singer at the court of Ulysses: Odys. i. 154, 337: the latter contains the allusion _supra_, where Penelope stands at the door of the hall and listens to the song. G.]

[Footnote 187: Misprinted 'brigher.' G.]

11.

Onely _Antinous_ when at first he view'd Her starbright eyes, that with new honour shind; Was not dismayd, but there-with-all renew'd The noblesse and the splendour of his mind; And as he did fit circumstances find, Vnto the throne he boldly gan aduance, And with faire maners wooed the Queene to dance.

12.

'Goddesse of women, sith your heau'nlinesse 'Hath now vouchsaft it selfe to represent 'To our dim eyes, which though they see the lesse 'Yet are they blest in their astonishment; 'Imitate heau'n, whose beauties excellent 'Are in continuall motion day and night, 'And moue thereby more wonder and delight.

13.

'Let me the moouer be, to turne about 'Those glorious ornaments, that Youth and Loue 'Haue fixed in you, euery part throughout; 'Which if you will in timely measure moue, 'Not all those precious iemms in heau'n aboue, 'Shall yeeld a sight more pleasing to behold, 'With all their turnes and tracings manifold.'

14.

With this the modest Princesse blusht and smil'd, Like to a cleare and rosie euentide, And softly did returne this answer mild: 'Faire Sir, you needs must fairely be denide 'Where your demaund cannot be satisfide; 'My feet, which onely Nature taught to goe, 'Did neuer yet the art of footing know.

15.

'But why perswade you me to this new rage? '(For all disorder and misrule is new) 'For such misgouernment in former age, 'Our old diuine Forefathers neuer knew; 'Who if they liu'd, and did the follies view, 'Which their fond nephews make their chiefe affaires, 'Would hate themselues that had begot such heires.'

16.

'Sole heire of Vertue and of Beautie both, 'Whence cometh it (_Antinous_ replies) 'That your imper[i]ous vertue is so loth 'To graunt your beauty her chiefe exercise? 'Or from what spring doth your opinion rise 'That dauncing[188] is a frenzy and a rage, 'First knowne and vs'd in this new-fangled age?

[Footnote 188: Misprinted in 1612 edition 'danching.' G.]

17.

'_Dauncing_[189] (bright Lady) then began to bee, 'When the first seeds whereof the World did spring, 'The fire, ayre, earth, and water--did agree, 'By Loue's perswasion,--Nature's mighty King,-- 'To leaue their first disordred combating; 'And in a daunce such measure to obserue, 'As all the world their motion should preserue.

[Footnote 189: Margin-Note here 'The antiquitie of dancing.' G.]

18.

'Since when, they still are carried in a round, 'And changing, come one in another's place; 'Yet doe they neither mingle nor confound, 'But euery one doth keepe the bounded space 'Wherein the Daunce doth bid it turne or trace; 'This wondrous myracle did Loue deuise, 'For Dauncing is Love's proper exercise.

19.

'Like this, he fram'd the gods' eternall Bower, 'And of a shapelesse and confusèd masse, 'By his through-piercing and digesting power, 'The turning vault of heauen formèd was; 'Whose starry wheeles he hath so made to passe, 'As that their moouings do a musicke frame, 'And they themselues still daunce vnto the same.

20.

'Or if this All which round about we see, '(As idle _Morpheus_ some sicke braines hath taught) 'Of vndeuided _motes_ compacted bee: 'How was this goodly Architecture wrought? 'Or by what meanes were they together brought? 'They erre that say they did concurre by chance: 'Loue made them meet in a well-ordered daunce.

21.

'As when _Amphion_ with his charming lire 'Begot so sweet a syren of the ayre; 'That with her Rethorike made the stones conspire 'The ruines of a citie to repaire: '(A worke of wit and reason's wise affaire) 'So Loue's smooth tongue, the _motes_ such measure taught 'That they ioyn'd hands; and so the world was wrought.

22.

'How iustly then is Dauncing tearmèd new, 'Which with the World in point of time begun? 'Yea Time it selfe, (whose birth _Ioue_ neuer knew, 'And which indeed is elder then the sun)[190] 'Had not one moment of his age outrunne, 'When out leapt Dauncing from the heap of things, 'And lightly rode vpon his nimble wings.

23.

'Reason hath both their pictures in her treasure, 'Where _Time the measure of all mouing is_, 'And Dauncing is a moouing all in measure; 'Now if you doe resemble that to this, 'And thinke both one, I thinke you thinke amis: 'But if you iudge them twins, together got, 'And Time first borne, your iudgement erreth not.

24.

'Thus doth it equall age with age inioy, 'And yet in lustie youth for euer flowers; 'Like loue his sire, whom Paynters make a boy, 'Yet is the eldest of the heau'nly powers; 'Or like his brother Time, whose wingèd howers 'Going and comming will not let him dye, 'But still preserve him in his infancie.'

[Footnote 190: In first edition reads: 'And which is far more ancient then the sun.' G.]

25.

This said; the Queene with her sweet lips diuine, Gently began to moue the subtile ayre, Which gladly yeelding, did itselfe incline To take a shape betweene those rubies fayre; And being formèd, softly did repayre With twenty doublings in the emptie way, Vnto _Antinous_ eares, and thus did say:

26.

'What eye doth see the heau'n, but doth admire 'When it the moouings of the heau'ns doth see? 'My selfe, if I to heau'n may once aspire, 'If that be dauncing, will a Dauncer be; 'But as for this your frantick iollitie 'How it began, or whence you did it learne, 'I neuer could with Reason's eye discerne.

27.

Antinous answered: 'Iewell of the Earth, 'Worthy you are that heau'nly daunce to leade; 'But for you thinke our dauncing base of birth, 'And newly-borne but of a braine-sicke head, 'I will foorthwith his antique gentry read; 'And for I loue him, will his herault[191] be, 'And blaze his Armes, and draw his petigree.[192]

28.

'When Loue had shapt this World,--_this great faire wight_, 'That all wights else in this wide womb containes; 'And had instructed it to daunce aright,[193] 'A thousand measures with a thousand straines, 'Which it should practise with delightfull paines,[194] 'Vntill that fatall instant should reuolue, 'When all to nothing should againe resolue:

29.

'The comely order and proportion faire 'On euery side, did please his wandring eye: 'Till glauncing through the thin transparent ayre, 'A rude disordered rout he did espie 'Of men and women, that most spightfully 'Did one another throng, and crowd so sore, 'That his kind eye in pitty wept therefore.

[Footnote 191: Herald. G.]

[Footnote 192: Pedigree. G.]

[Footnote 193: Margin-Note here 'The original of dancing.' G.]

[Footnote 194: 'Painstaking.' G.]

30.

'And swifter then the lightning downe he came, 'Another shapelesse Chaos to digest; 'He will begin another world to frame, '(For Loue till all be well will neuer rest) 'Then with such words as cannot be exprest, 'He cutts the troups, that all asunder fling, 'And ere they wist, he casts them in a ring.

31.

'Then did he rarifie the element, 'And in the center of the ring appeare; 'The beams that from his forehead spreading[195] went, 'Begot an horrour, and religious feare 'In all the soules that round about him weare; 'Which in their eares attentiueness procures, 'While he, with such like sounds, their minds allures.

32.

'How doth Confusion's mother, headlong Chance,[196] 'Put Reason's noble squadron to the rout? 'Or how should you that haue the gouernance 'Of Nature's children, Heauen and Earth throughout, 'Prescribe them rules, and liue your selues without? 'Why should your fellowship a trouble be, 'Since man's chiefe pleasure is societie?

[Footnote 195: In 1st edition 'shining.' G.]

[Footnote 196: Margin-Note here 'The speech of Love, perswading men to learn Dancing.' G.]

33.

'If sence hath not yet taught you, learne of me 'A comely moderation and discreet; 'That your assemblies may well ordered bee 'When my vniting power shall make you meet, 'With heau'nly tunes it shall be temperèd sweet: 'And be the modell of the World's great frame, 'And you Earth's children, _Dauncing_ shall it name.

34.

'Behold the _World_, how it is _whirled round_, 'And for it is so _whirl'd_, is namèd so; 'In whose large volume many rules are found 'Of this new Art, which it doth fairely show; 'For your quicke eyes in wandring too and fro 'From East to West, on no one thing can glaunce, 'But if you marke it well, it seemes to daunce.

35.

'First[197] you see fixt in this huge mirrour blew, 'Of trembling lights, a number numberlesse:[198] '_Fixt they are_ nam'd, but with a name vntrue, 'For they all mooue[199] and in a Daunce expresse 'That _great long yeare_, that doth containe no lesse 'Then threescore hundreds of those yeares in all, 'Which the sunne makes with his course naturall.

[Footnote 197: Margin-Note here 'By the orderly motion of the fixed stars.' G.]

[Footnote 198: Cf. 'Paradise Regained' iii. 310, as in Astr[oe]a, Hymne xxi. G.]

36.

'What if to you these sparks disordered seeme 'As if by chaunce they had beene scattered there? 'The gods a solemne measure doe it deeme, 'And see a iust proportion euery where, 'And know the points whence first their mouings were; 'To which first points when all returne againe, 'The axel-tree of Heau'n shall breake in twaine.

37.

'Vnder that spangled skye, fiue wandring flames[200] 'Besides the King of Day, and Queene of Night, 'Are wheel'd around, all in their sundry frames, 'And all in sundry measures doe delight, 'Yet altogether keepe no measure right; 'For by it selfe each doth it selfe aduance, 'And by it selfe each doth a galliard[201] daunce.

[Footnote 199: In 1st edition 'are mov'd.' G.]

[Footnote 200: Margin-Note here 'Of the planets.' G.]

38.

'_Venus_, the mother of that bastard Loue, 'Which doth vsurpe the World's great Marshal's name, 'Iust with the sunne her dainty feete doth moue, 'And vnto him doth all the iestures frame; 'Now after, now afore, the flattering Dame, 'With diuers cunning passages doth erre, 'Still him respecting that respects not her.

39.

'For that braue Sunne the Father of the Day, 'Doth loue this Earth, the Mother of the Night; 'And like a reuellour in rich aray, 'Doth daunce his galliard in his lemman's sight, 'Both back, and forth, and sidewaies, passing light; 'His princely[202] grace doth so the gods amaze, 'That all stand still and at his beauty gaze.

[Footnote 201: A French 'dance': the name meaning gay or brisk, and so a quick liuely dance, introduced into England about 1541. Thomas Wright's 'Dictionary' _s.v._ G.]

[Footnote 202: In 1st edition 'gallant.' G.]

40.

'But see the Earth, when he approcheth neere, 'How she for ioy doth spring and sweetly smile; 'But see againe her sad and heauy cheere 'When changing places he retires a while; 'But those blake[203] cloudes he shortly will exile, 'And make them all before his presence flye, 'As mists consum'd before his cheerefull eye.

[Footnote 203: Black. G.]

41.

'Who doth not see the measures of the Moone, 'Which thirteene times she daunceth euery yeare? 'And ends her pauine[204] thirteene times as soone 'As doth her brother, of whose golden haire[205] 'She borroweth part, and proudly doth it weare; 'Then doth she coyly turne her face aside, 'Then halfe her cheeke is scarse sometimes discride.

[Footnote 204: Spanish _pavana_: a solemn Spanish dance. G.]

[Footnote 205: Spelled in first edition, 'heire.' G.]

42.

'Next her, the pure, subtile, and clensing Fire[206] 'Is swiftly carried in a circle euen; 'Though Vulcan be pronounst by many a lyer, 'The only halting god that dwels in heauen: 'But that foule name may be more fitly giuen 'To your false Fire, that farre from heauen is fall:[207] 'And doth consume, waste, spoile, disorder all.

[Footnote 206: Margin-Note here 'Of the Fire.' G.]

[Footnote 207: Cf. 'Nosce Teipsum' page 103, _ante_: st. fourth, line second. G.]

43.

'And now behold your tender nurse the _Ayre_[208] 'And common neighbour that ay runns around; 'How many pictures and impressions faire 'Within her empty regions are there found; 'Which to your sences Dauncing doe propound. 'For what are _Breath_, _Speech_, _Ecchos_, _Musicke_, _Winds_, 'But Dauncings of the Ayre in sundry kinds?

[Footnote 208: Margin-Note here, 'Of the Ayre.' G.]

44.

'For when you breath, the _ayre_ in order moues, 'Now in, now out, in time and measure trew; 'And when you speake, so well she dauncing loues, 'That doubling oft, and oft redoubling new, 'With thousand formes she doth her selfe endew 'For all the words that from our lips repaire 'Are nought but tricks and turnings of the ayre.

45.