Or by themselves unpunished; for vice
Is like a fury to the vicious mind,
And turns delight itself to punishment.
But we must forward, to define their doom.
You are offenders, that must be confess'd;
Do you confess it?

All. We do.

Cri. And that you merit sharp correction?
All. Yes.

Cri. Then we (reserving unto Delia's grace
Her farther pleasure, and to Arete
What Delia granteth) thus do sentence you:
That from this place (for penance known of all,
Since you have drunk so deeply of Self-love)
You, two and two, singing a Palinode,
March to your several homes by Niobe's stone,
And offer up two tears a-piece thereon,
That it may change the name, as you must change,
And of a stone be called Weeping-cross:
Because it standeth cross of Cynthia's way,
One of whose names is sacred Trivia.
And, after penance thus perform'd, you pass
In like set order, not as Midas did,
To wash his gold off into Tagus' stream;
But to the well of knowledge, Helicon;
Where, purged of your present maladies,
Which are not few, nor slender, you become
Such as you fain would seem, and then return,
Offering your service to great Cynthia.
This is your sentence, if the goddess please
To ratify it with her high consent;
The scope of wise mirth unto fruit is bent.
Cyn. We doapprove thy censure, belov'd Crites;*

* We do approve thy censure, belov'd Crites.] The change of name has here spoiled a verse. The quarto reads,

"We do approve thy censure, Criticus."

1

Which Mercury, thy true propitious friend,
(A deity next Jove beloved of us,)
Will undertake to see exactly done.
And for this service of discovery,
Perform'd by thee, in honour of our name,
We vow to guerdon it with such due grace
As shall become our bounty, and thy place.
Princes that would their people should do well,
Must at themselves begin, as at the head;
For men, by their example, pattern out
Their imitations, and regard of laws:
A virtuous court a world to virtue draws.

[Exeunt Cynthia and her Nymphs, followed by
Arete and Crites :- Amorphus, Phantaste,
&c. go off the stage in pairs, singing the
following

PALINODE.

Amo. From Spanish shrugs, French faces, smirks, irpes,' and all affected humours,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.

A virtuous court, &c.] This and the preceding lines form an elegant amplification of the well-known saying,

7

Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis.

smirks, irpes, &c.] This word occurred in a former part of this play, (p. 288,) and I recollect it no where else in our old poetry. Its meaning must be gathered from the context, and may probably be set down, without much deviation from the fact, as a fantastic grimace, or contortion of the body. Whether the word bear any allusion to that convulsive affec. tion of the features caused by the herpes, (St. Antony's fire,) or, be derived from weörfen, werfen (Tent.) to warp, I cannot say : there is indeed a substantive in Dutch, of which Jonson unquestionably, understood something, which probably bids fairer than either to be the parent of this strange term. Werp, wierp, or worp, (the W in Dutch is pronounced as a V,) means a jerk

Pha. From secret friends, sweet servants, loves, doves, and such fantastic humours,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Amo. From stabbing of arms, flap-dragons, healths, whiffs, and all such swaggering humours, Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.

Pha. From waving fans, coy glances, glicks, cringes, and all such simpering humours,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Amo. From making love by attorney, courting of puppets, and paying for new acquaintance, Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.

Pha. From perfumed dogs, monkies, sparrows, dildoes, and paraquettoes,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.

Amo. From wearing bracelets of hair, shoe-ties, gloves, garters, and rings with poesies,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Pha. From pargetting, painting, slicking, glaz

ing, and renewing old rivelled faces,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Amo. From 'squiring to tilt-yards, play-houses, pageants, and all such public places,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Pha. From entertaining one gallant to gull another, and making fools of either,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us. Amo. From belying ladies' favours, noblemen's countenance, coining counterfeit employments, vain-glorious taking to them other men's services, and all self-loving humours,

Chorus. Good Mercury defend us.

MERCURY and CRITES sing.

Now each one dry his weeping eyes,
And to the Well of Knowledge haste;
Where, purged of your maladies,
You may of sweeter waters taste :
And, with refined voice, report
The grace of Cynthia, and her court.

[Exeunt.

THE

EPILOGUE.

Gentles, be't known to you, since I went in
I am turn'd rhymer, and do thus begin.
The author (jealous how your sense doth take
His travails) hath enjoined me to make
Some short and ceremonious epilogue;
But if I yet know what, I am a rogue:
He ties me to such laws as quite distract
My thoughts, and would a year of time exact..
I neither must be faint, remiss, nor sorry,
Sour, serious, confident, nor peremptory;
But betwixt these. Let's see; to lay the blame
Upon the children's action, that were lame.
To crave your favour, with a begging knee,
Were to distrust the writer's faculty.
To promise better at the next we bring,
Prorogues disgrace, commends not any thing.
Stiffly to stand on this, and proudly approve
The play, might tax the maker of Self-love.
I'll only speak what I have heard him say,
"By 'tis good, and if you like't, you may.""

Ecce rubet quidam, pallet, stupet, oscitat, odit.
Hoc volo: nunc nobis carmina nostra placent.

9

and if you like't, you may.] "Short and ceremo. nious" with a witness! This is what the modest Massinger calls " strange self-love in a writer," and what might well have been dispensed with on the present occasion. This overweening con. fidence procured Jonson a host of enemies, and involved him in petty warfare, unworthy of his powers. The truth is, that he wrote above his audience, and adopted this rude and desperate mode of overawing their censure, when he suspected that he had failed to convince their judgment. Not that this way of bullying the hearer (for it is no better) was new to the stage, or