When it hath bene my happinesse (as would it were more frequent) but to see yo' face, and, as passing by, to consider you; I haue wth as much joy, as I am now farre from flattery in professing it, call'd to mind that doctrine of some great Inquisitors in Nature, who hold euery royall and Heroique forme to pertake and draw much to it of the heauenly vertue. For, whether it be yt a diuine soule, being to come into a body, first chooseth a Palace fit for it selfe; or, being come, doth make it so; or that Nature be ambitious to haue her worke æquall, I know not: But what is lawfull for me to vnderstand and speake, that I dare; wch is that both yor, vertue and yor forme did deserue yor fortune. The one claym'd that you should be borne a prince; the other makes that you do become it. And when Necessetie (excellent Lord) the Mother of the Fates, hath so prouided that yor forme should not more insinuate you to the eyes of men, then yor vertue to theyr mindes; it comes neare a wonder, to thinke how sweetely that habit flowes in you, and wth so howrely testimonies, wch to all posterity might hold the dignitye of Examples. Amongst the

F

rest, yor fauor to letters and these gentler studies, that goe vnder the title of Humanitye, is not the least honor of yor wreath. For if once the worthy Professors of these learnings shall come (as here to fore they were) to be the care of Princes, the crownes theyr Soveraignes weare will not more adorne theyr Temples; nor theyr stamps liue longer in theyr Medalls, than in such subjects labors. Poetry, my Lord, is not borne wth euery man, nor euery day: And in her generall right, it is now my minute to thanke yor Highnesse, who not only do honor her wth yor eare, but are curious to examine her wth yor eye, and inquire into her beauties, and strengths. Where, though it hath prou'd a worke of some difficulty to mee to retriue the particular authorities (according to yo' gracious command, and a desire borne out of iudgment) to those things wch I writt out of fullnesse, and memory of my former readings; yet, now I haue overcome it, the reward that meetes mee is double to one act; wch is, that therby yor excellent vnderstanding will not only iustifie mee to your owne knowledge, but decline the stiffnesse of others originall Ignorance, allready armd to censure. For wch singular bounty, if my Fate (most excellent Prince, and only Delicacy of mankind) shall reserue mee to the Age of your Actions, whether in the Campe, or the Councell Chamber, yt I may write, at nights, the deedes of yo' dayes; I will then labor to bring forth some worke as worthy of yor fame, as my ambition therin is of yor pardon.

By the most trew admirer of yor Hignesse Vertues,

And most hearty Celebrater of them.

BEN: JONSON.

THE MASQUE OF QUEENES.

It encreasing, now, to the third time of my being vs'd in these seruices to her Maties personall presentatio's, wth the Ladyes whome she pleaseth to honor; it was my first, and speciall reguard, to see that the Nobilyty of the Invention should be answerable to the dignity of theyr persons. For wch reason, I chose the argument, to be, A Celebration of honorable & true Fame, bred out of Vertue: obseruing that rule of the best Artist, to suffer no obiect of delight to passe a Hor. in Art. wthout his mixture of profit, and example.

Poetic.

And because her Matie (best knowing, that a principall part of life in these spectacles lay in theyr variety) had commaunded mee to think on some Daunce, or shew, that might præcede hers, and haue the place of a foyle, or false-Masque ; I was carefull to decline not only from others, but mine owne stepps in that kind, since the last yeare I had an In the MasAnti-Masque of Boyes: and therefore, now, deuis'd that twelue que at my women, in the habite of Haggs, or Witches, sustayning the Hading.wedpersons of Ignorance, Suspicion, Credulity, &c., the opposites to good Fame, should fill that part, not as a Masque, but a spectacle of strangeness, producing multiplicity of Gesture, and not vnaptly sorting wth the current, and whole fall of the Deuise.

First, then, his Matie being set, and the whole Company in full expectation, that wch presented it selfe was an ougly Hell; wch, flaming beneath, smoak'd vnto the top of the Roofe. And,

ding.

L.

in respect all Evills are (morally) sayd to come from Hell; as also from that obseruation of Torrentius upon Horace his Canidia, quae tot instructa venenis, ex Orci faucibus profecta © Vid. Læ- videri possit. These Witches, with a kind of hollow and inTorr., fernall musique, came forth from thence. First one, then two, Hor. Epod. and three, and more, till theyr number encreased to eleuen; lib. ode. v. all differently attired; some wth ratts on theyr heads; some

uin.

comment. in

King's Ma

on their shoulders; others wth oyntment-potts at theyr girdles; all wth spindells, timbrells, rattles, or other veneficall instruments, making a confused noyse, wth strange gestures. The deuise of their attire was Mr. Jones his, wth the Invention and Architecture of the whole Scene and Machine, only I præscribed them theyr properties, of vipers, snakes, bones, herbes, rootes, and other ensignes of theyr Magick, out of the authority of antient, and late writers. Wherin the faults are mine, if there be any found; and for that cause I confesse them.

These eleuen Witches beginning to daunce (wch is an usual d See the d ceremony at theyr Convents, or meetings, where sometimes, ties booke (or also, they are vizarded and masqu'd) on the sodayne one of Soveraigne) them miss'd their Cheife, and interrupted the rest wth this of Dæmo- Speach.

nologie. Bo

din. Remig.

Delrio. Mall. Malefi., and a world of others, in the generall: but let us follow parti

culars.

e Amongst o vulgar witches the honor

of Dame (for

Sisters, stay; we want ore Dame ;
Call upon her, by her name,

so I translate it) is giuen, with a kind of pre-eminence, to some speciall one at theyr meetings, which Delrio insinuates, Disquis. mag. lib. ij. Qu. ix., quoting that of Apuleius. lib. j. de Asin. aureo. de quadam caupona Regina sagarū: and addes, vt scias etiam tum quasdam ab ijs hoc titulo honoratas; weh Title M. Phillippo Ludwigus Elich, Dæmonomagia Quest. x., doth also remember.

f When they

are to be

And the charme we vse to say,

f

That she quickly anoynt, and come away.

trasported from place to place, they vse to anoynt themselues, and sometimes the things they ride on. Beside Apule. testimony, see these later, Remig. Dæmonolatriæ,