THE

SECULAR MASQUE.

Enter JANUS.

Janus. Chronos, Chronos, mend thy pace;
An hundred times the rolling sun
Around the radiant belt has run
In his revolving race.

Behold, behold, the goal in sight,

Spread thy fans, and wing thy flight.

Enter CHRONOS, with a Scythe in his hand, and a Globe on his back; which he sets down at his en

trance.

Chronos. Weary, weary of my weight,

Let me, let me drop my freight,

And leave the world behind.

I could not bear,

Another year,

The load of humankind.

Enter MoмUS, laughing.

Momus. Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! well hast thou done,

To lay down thy pack,

And lighten thy back,

The world was a fool, e'er since it begun;

And since neither Janus, nor Chronos, nor I,

Can hinder the crimes,

Or mend the bad times,

'Tis better to laugh than to cry.

Cho. of all three. 'Tis better to laugh than to cry.
Janus. Since Momus comes to laugh below,
Old Time begin the show,
That he may see, in every scene,
What changes in this age have been.
Chronos. Then, goddess of the silver bow, begin.
[Horns, or hunting-music, within.]

Enter DIANA.

Dia. With horns and with hounds, I waken the day,
And hie to the woodland-walks away;

I tuck up my robe, and am buskined soon,
And tie to my forehead a wexing moon.
I course the fleet stag, unkennel the fox,
And chace the wild goats o'er summits of
rocks;

With shouting and hooting we pierce
through the sky,

And Echo turns hunter, and doubles the cry. Cho. of all. With shouting and hooting we pierce through the sky,

And Echo turns hunter, and doubles the cry. Janus. Then our age was in its prime: Chronos. Free from rage,

Diana.

-And free from crime.

Momus. A very merry, dancing, drinking,

Laughing, quaffing, and unthinking time.

Cho. of all. Then our age was in its prime,
Free from rage, and free from crime;
A very merry, dancing, drinking,
Laughing, quaffing, and unthinking time.
[Dance of DIANA'S Attendants.]

Enter MARS.

Mars. Inspire the vocal brass, inspire;
The world is past its infant age:
Arms and honour,

Arms and honour,

Set the martial mind on fire,

And kindle manly rage.

Mars has looked the sky to red;
And Peace, the lazy God,* is fled.
Plenty, peace, and pleasure fly;
The sprightly green,

In woodland-walks, no more is seen;
The sprightly green has drunk the Tyrian dye.

Cho. of all. Plenty, peace, &c.

Mars. Sound the trumpet, beat the drum;
Through all the world around,

Sound a reveillé, sound, sound,
The warrior god is come.

Cho. of all. Sound the trumpet, &c.
Momus. Thy sword within the scabbard keep,
And let mankind agree;
Better the world were fast asleep,

Than kept awake by thee.
The fools are only thinner,

With all our cost and care;

But neither side a winner,

For things are as they were.

Cho. of all. The fools are only, &c.

Enter VENUS.

Venus. Calms appear, when storms are past;
Love will have his hour at last:

* The first edition, and some others, have Good; but I prefer God, as the more poetical reading.

Nature is my kindly care;
Mars destroys, and I repair;
Take me, take me, while you may,
Venus comes not every day.

Cho. of all. Take her, take her, &c.
Chronos. The world was then so light,
I scarcely felt the weight;

Joy ruled the day, and Love the night.
But, since the queen of pleasure left the
ground,*

I faint, I lag,

And feebly drag

The ponderous orb around.

Momus. All, all of a piece throughout;
Thy chace had a beast in view;

Thy wars brought nothing about;

[Pointing to DIANA.

[TO MARS.

[TO VENUS.

Thy lovers were all untrue.

Janus. 'Tis well an old age is out,
Chronos. And time to begin a new.

Cho. of all. All, all of a piece throughout;
Thy chace had a beast in view :-
Thy wars brought nothing about;—
Thy lovers were all untrue.-

'Tis well an old age is out,

And time to begin a new.

[Dance of Huntsmen, Nymphs, Warriors, and Lovers.

There seems here to be a secret allusion to the exile of the beautiful queen of James II., so much admired by the Tory poets of the time.

EPILOGUE

то

THE PILGRIM.

THIS epilogue bears chiefly reference to the violent controver sy, which, about this time, arose between the favourers of the drama and Jeremy Collier, who, in 1698, published "A short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage;"—" I believe," says Johnson, "with no other view, than religious zeal, and honest indignation. He was formed for a controvertist; with sufficient learning, with diction vehement and pointed, though often vulgar and incorrect, with unconquerable pertinacity, with wit in the highest degree keen and sarcastic, and with all those powers exalted and invigorated by just confidence in his cause.

"Thus qualified, and thus incited, he walked forth to battle, and assailed, at once, most of the living writers, from Dryden to Durfey. His onset was violent. Those passages which, while they had stood single, had passed with little notice, when they were accumulated and exposed together, excited horror. The wise and the pious caught the alarm; and the nation wondered why it had so long suffered irreligion and licentiousness to be openly taught at the public charge."-Life of Congreve.

Dryden had his personal share of rough treatment in this indiscriminate attack upon dramaticprofligacy. But it is creditable to him, that, whatever his feelings of resentment might be, he was too much conscience-struck to attempt a defence of what was really indefensible. "I shall say the less of Mr Collier, because in

The facetious Joe Haines, who is mentioned at the end of the epilogue, assigned another motive for this assault: "The clergy and the actors are both moral menders by profession," said the wag; " and you know two of a trade can never agree."-Cibber's Apology.