S

At meeting with the man; her hair,
That flows so liberal, and so fair,
Is shed with gray, to intimate,
She entereth to a matron's state,
For which those utensils are born.
And, that she should not labour scorn,
Herself a snowy fleece" doth wear,
And these her rock and spindle bear,*
To shew, that nothing which is good
Gives check unto the highest blood.
The zone of wool' about her waist,
Which, in contrary circles cast,

Doth meet in one strong knot," that binds,
Tells you, so should all married minds.
And lastly, these five waxen lights,

Imply perfection in the rites:

For five the special number is,

Whence hallow'd Union claims her bliss.
As being all the sum that grows
From the united strength of those
Which male and female numbers web
Do style, and are first two and three.
Which, joined thus, you cannot sever
In equal parts, but one will ever
Remain as common; so we see
The binding force of Unity:

Pomp. Fest. Briss. Hotto. de Rit. Nup.

Var. lib. vi. de ling. Lat. and Fest. in Frag.

" Fest. ib.

* Plutar. in Quæst. Rom. et in Romul.

Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. viii. cap. 48.

That was Nodus Herculeanus, which the husband at night untied, in sign of good fortune, that he might be happy in propagation of issue, as Hercules was, who left seventy children. See Fest. in voc. Cingul.

a Plutarch. in Quæst. Rom.

See Mart. Capel. lib. vi. de Nupt. Phil. et Mor. in numero Pentade.

For which alone the peaceful gods
In number always love the odds;
And even parts as much despise,
Since out of them all discords rise.

Here the upper part of the scene, which was all of clouds, and made artificially to swell, and ride like the rack, began to open; and the air clearing, in the top thereof was discovered Juno, sitting in a throne, supported by two beautiful peacocks her attire rich, and like a queen, a white diadem' on her head, from whence descended a veil, and that bound with a fascia of several colour'd silks, set with all sorts of jewels, and raised in the top with lilies and roses in her right hand she held a sceptre, in the other a timbrel, at her golden feet the hide of a lion was placed:

c With the Greeks, Juno was interpreted to be the air itself. And so Macr. de Som. Scipio. lib. i. cap. 17, calls her. Mar. Cap. surnames her Aeria, of reigning there.

d They were sacred to Juno, in respect of their colours and temper, so like the air. Ovid. de Arte Amand. Laudatas ostendit aves Junonia pennas: and Met. lib. ii.

Habili Saturnia curru

Ingreditur liquidum pavonibus Æthera pictis.

• She was called Regina Juno with the Latins, because she was soror et conjux Jovis, deorum et hominum regis.

'Read Apul. describing her, in his 10th of the Ass.

& After the manner of the antique bend, the varied colours implying the several mutations of the air, as showers, dews, serenity, force of winds, clouds, tempests, snow, hail, lightning, thunder, all which had their noises signified in her timbrel: the faculty of causing these being ascribed to her by Virg. Æneid. lib. iv., where he makes her say,

His ego nigrantem commista grandine nimbum

Desuper infundam, et tonitru cœlum omne ciebo.

Lilies were sacred to Juno, as being made white with her milk that fell upon the earth, when Jove took Hercules away, whom by stealth he had laid to her breast: the rose was also called Junonia.

i So she was figured at Argos, as a step-mother, insulting on the spoils of her two privigni, Bacchus and Hercules.

round about her sat the spirits of the air in several colours, making music: above her the region of fire, with a continual motion, was seen to whirl circularly, and Fupiter standing in the top (figuring the heaven) brandishing his thunder: beneath her the rainbow, Iris, and on the two sides, eight ladies attired richly, and alike, in the most celestial colours, who represented her powers, as she is the governess of marriage, and made the second masque. All which, upon the discovery, REASON made narration

Rea. And see where Juno, whose great name Is Unio, in the anagram,

Displays her glittering state and chair,
As she enlightned all the air!

Hark how the charming tunes do beat
In sacred concords 'bout her seat!
And lo! to grace what these intend,
Eight of her noblest Powers descend,'
Which are enstyled her faculties,'
That govern nuptial mysteries;

And wear those masques before their faces,
Lest dazzling mortals with their graces,
As they approach them, all mankind
Should be, like Cupid, strucken blind.

* See Virg. Æneid. lib. iv. Junoni ante omnes cui vincla jugalia curæ and in another place, Dant signum prima et Tellus et Pronuba Juno: and Ovid. in Phil. Epist. Junonemque terris quæ præsidet alma Maritis.

1 Eight of her noblest Powers descend.] The folio does not give their names; but the 4to. supplies the defect. "The names of the eight ladies as they were ordered (to the most conspicuous shew) in their dances, by the rule of their statures, were the countess of Montgomery, lady Knolles, mistress A. Sackville, lady Berkley, lady Dorothy Hastings, lady Blanch Somerset, co. of Bedford, co. of Rutland."

They were all eight called by particular surnames of Juno, ascribed to her for some peculiar property in marriage, as somewhere after is more fitly declared.

These Order waits for, on the ground,
To keep, that you should not confound
Their measured steps, which only move
About the harmonious sphere of love.

Their descent was made in two great clouds, that put forth themselves severally, and, with one measure of time, were seen to stoop, and fall gently down upon the earth. The manner of their habits came after some statues of Funo, no less airy than glorious. The dressings of their heads, rare; so likewise of their feet: and all full of splendor, sovereignty, and riches. Whilst they were descending, this SONG was sung at the altar.

These, these are they,

Whom Humour and Affection must obey;
Who come to deck the genial bower,

And bring with them the grateful Hour
That crowns such meetings, and excites

The married pair to fresh delights:

As courtings, kissings, coyings, oaths, and vows,
Soft whisperings, embracements, all the joys
And melting toys,

That chaster love allows.

Cho. Haste, haste, for Hesperus his head down bows.

This song ended, they danced forth in pairs, and each pair with a varied and noble grace, to a rare and full music of twelve lutes, led on by Order, the servant of Reason, who was there rather a person of ceremony than use. His under garment was blue, his upper white, and painted full of arithmetical and geometrical figures; his hair and beard long, a star on his forehead, and in his hand a geometrical staff: to whom, after the dance, REASON spake.

Rea. Convey them, Order, to their places, And rank them so, in several traces,

As they may set their mixed powers
Unto the music of the Hours;

And these, by joining with them, know
In better temper how to flow:

Whilst I, from their abstracted names,
Report the virtues of the dames.

m

First, Curis comes to deck the bride's fair tress,
Care of the ointments Unxia" doth profess.
Juga, her office to make one of twain:
Gamelia' sees that they should so remain.

This surname Juno received of the Sabines; from them the Romans gave it her of the spear, which (in the Sabine tongue) was called curis, and was that which they named hasta celibaris, which had stuck in the body of a slain sword-player, and wherewith the bride's head was drest, whereof Fest. in voce celibar. gives these reasons: Ut quemadmodum illa conjuncta fuerit cum corpore gladiatoris, sic ipsa cum viro sit; vel quia matronae Junonis curitis in tutela sit, quæ ita appellabatur à ferenda hasta; vel quòd fortes viros genituras ominetur; vel quod nuptiali jure imperio viri subjicitur nubens, quia hasta summa armorum, et imperii est, &c. To most of which Plutarch, in his Quæst. Rom. consents, but adds a better in Romul. That when they divided the bride's hair with the point of the spear, σύμβολον εἶναι τοῦ μετὰ μάχης καὶ πολεμικῶς τὸν πρῶτον yáμov yevéolai, it noted their first nuptials (with the Sabines) were contracted by force, and as with enemies. Howsoever, that it was a custom with them, this of Ovid. Fast. lib. ii. confirms. Comat virgineas hasta recurva comas.

For the surname of Unxia, we have Mart. Capel. his testimony, De Nup. Phil. et Mercu. lib. ii. quòd unctionibus præest: as also Servius, libro quarto Æneid., where they both report it a fashion with the Romans, that before the new-married brides entered the houses of their husbands, they adorned the posts of the gates with woollen tawdries, or fillets, and anointed them with oils, or the fat of wolves and boars; being superstitiously possest that such ointments had the virtue of expelling evils from the family: and that thence were they called Uxores, quasi Unxores.

• She was named Juga, propter Jugum, (as Servius says,) for the yoke which was imposed, in matrimony, on those that were married, or (with Sex. Pomp. Fest.) quòd Juges sunt ejusdem Jugi Pares, unde et Conjuges, or in respect of the altar (which I have declared before) sacred to Juno, in Vico Jugario.

PAs she was Gamelia, in sacrificing to her, they took away the