Much more I would, but see these brazen gates
Make haste to close, as urged by thy fates.
Here ends my City's office; here it breaks;

Yet with my tongue, and this pure heart, she speaks

A short farewel; and, lower than thy feet,

With fervent thanks thy Royal pains doth greet.
Pardon, if my abruptness breed disease,

He merits not t'offend, that hastes to please.

Over the altar was written this inscription :

"D. I. O. M.

BRITANNIARUM

IMP. PACIS VINDICI. MARTE. MAJORI. P. P. F. S. AUGUSTO. NOVO. GENTIUM. CONJUNCTARUM. NUMINI. TUTELARI .

D. A.

CONSERVATRICI . ANNÆ. IPSÆ. PERENNÆ. DEABUSQUE. UNIVERSIS. OPTATIORI . SUI. FORTUNATISSIMI. THALAMI. SOCIÆ. ET. CONSORTI. PULCHERRIMÆ . AUGUSTISSIME. ET.

H. F. P.

FILIO. SUO. NOBILISSIMO. OB. ADVENTUM. AD. URBEM. HANC. SUAM. EXPECTATISSIMUM. GRATISSIMUM. CELEBRATISSIMUM. CUJUS. NON. RADII. SED. SOLES. POTIUS. FUNESSIMAM. NUPER. AERIS. INTEMPERIEM. SERENARUNT.

Thus hath both Court, Town, and Country-reader our portion of Device for the City; neither are we ashamed to profess it, being assured well of the difference between it and Pageantry. If the mechanic part yet standing give it any distaste in the wry mouths of the time, we pardon them; for their own ambitious ignorance doth punish them enough.

From hence we will turn over a new leaf with you, and lead you to the Pegme in the Strand, a work thought on, begun, and perfected in twelve days.

The invention was a Rainbow, the Moon, Sun, and those Seven Stars which antiquity hath styled the Pleiades or Vergiliæ, advanced between two magnificent pyramids of 70 foot in height, on which were drawn his Majestie's several pedigrees, England and Scotland. To which body (being framed before) we were to apt our soul; and finding that one of these seven lights, Electra, is rarely, or not at all to be seen, as Ovid, lib. iv. Fast. affirmeth,

"Pleiades incipient humeros relevare paternos :
Quæ septem dici, sex tamen esse solent."

And, bye and bye, after,

"Sive quòd Electra Troia spectare ruinas

Non tulit: ante oculos opposuitque manum."

And Festus Avienus :

And beneath,

"Fama vetus septem memorat genitore creatas
Longævo: sex se rutila inter sidera tantùm
Sustollunt," &c.

cerni sex solas carmine Mynthes

Asserit: Electram cœlo abscessisse profundo," &c.

We ventured to follow this authority, and made her the speaker; representing her hanging in the air, in the figure of a comet, according to the Anonymous: "Electra non sustinens videre casum pronepotum fugerit; unde et illam dissolutis crinibus propter luctum ire asserunt, et propter comas quidam cometen appellant."

THE SPEECH.

ELECTRA. The long laments' I spent for ruin'd Troy

Are dried, and now mine eyes run tears of joy.
No more shall men suppose Electra dead,
Though from the consort of her sisters fled,

Fest. Avien. paraph.

Pars ait Idææ deflentem incendia Troiæ,

Et numerosa suæ lugentem funera gentis,
Electram tetris mæstum dare nubibus orbem.

Besides the reference to antiquity, this Speech might be understood by allegory of the town here. that had been so ruined with sickness, &c.

Unto the Arctic circle 1, here to grace,

And gild this day with her serenest face 2.
And see my daughter Iris 3 hastes to throw
Her roseate wings in compass of a bow,
About our state, as sign of my approach 4;
Attracting to her seat, from Mithra's coach,
A thousand different and particular hues,
Which she throughout her body doth diffuse.
The Sun, as loath to part from this half sphere,
Stands still; and Phoebe labours to appear,
In all as bright (if not as rich) as he;
And, for a note of more serenity,

My six fair Sisters hither shift their lights,

To do this hour the utmost of her rites.

Where, least the captious or prophane might doubt,

How these clear heavenly bodies come about

All to be seen at once, yet neither's light
Eclips'd, or shadow'd by the other's sight.

Let ignorance know, great King, this day is thine,
And doth admit no night: but all do shine,
As well nocturnal as diurnal fires,

Hyginus. Sed postquam Troia fuit capta, et Progenies eius quæ à Dardano fuit eversa, dolore

permotam ab his se removisse, et in circulo qui Arcticus dicitur constitisse, &c.

2

• Electra signifies serenity itself, and is compounded of 20s, which is the sun, and aïogos, that signifies serene. She is mentioned to be " Anima sphæræ solis," by Proclus, Com. in Hesiod.

She is also fained to be the mother of the Rainbow.

"Nascitur enim iris ex aquâ et serenitate, è refractione radiorum scilicet.

• Val. Flac. Argonaut. 1. makes the Rainbow,

A name of the Sun.

--------------- indicem serenitatis.

Emicuit reserata dies, coelumque resolvit.
Arcus, et in summos redierunt nubila montes."

lib. iii. de nup. Mer. & Phil.

Stat. Theb. lib. i.

Arist. in Meteorol.

"Torquentem cornua Mithran." & Martian. Capel.

"Te Serapim Nilus, Memphis veneratur Osirin ;

Dissona sacra Mithran," &c.

Alcyone, Celano, Taygete, Asterope, Merope, Maia, which are also said to be souls of the other spheres, as Electra of the Sun Proclus, ibi in com. Alcyone l'eneris, Celano Saturni, Tayete Luna, Asterope Jovis, Merope Martis, Maia Mercurii. 7 Alluding back to that of our Temple.

1 London.

But, as th' hast freed thy chamber from the noise

Of war and tumult, thou wilt pour those joys
Upon this place, which claims to be the seat 3
Of all thy kingly race, the cabinet

To all thy counsels, and the judging chair
To this thy special Kingdom; whose so fair
And wholesome laws in every Court shall strive,
By equity, and their first innocence to thrive;
The base and guilty bribes of guiltier men
Shall be thrown back, and Justice look as when
She lov'd the Earth, and fear'd not to be sold,
For, that which worketh all things to it, gold 4.
The dam of other evils, Avarice,

Shall here lock down her jaws, and that rude vice
Of ignorant, and pitied greatness, Pride,
Decline with shame; Ambition now shall hide
Her face in dust, as dedicate to sleep,
That in great portals wont her watch to keep.
All ills shall fly the light: thy Court be free
No less from envy than from flattery:

All tumult, faction, and harsh discord cease,
That might perturb the musick of thy peace;

The querulous nature shall no longer find

Room for his thoughts; one pure consent of mind

Shall flow in every breast, and not the air,

Sun, moon, or stars, shine more serenely fair.

This from that loud, blest oracle, I sing,

Who here, and first pronounc'd thee Britain's King.
Long may'st thou live, and see me thus

As ominous a comet 5, from my sphere,

appear,

⚫ His City of Westminster, in whose name, and at whose charge, together with the Dutchy of Lancaster, the arch was erected. G.

3 Since here they not only sat, being crowned, but also first received their crowns.

Hor. Car. lib. iv. ode 9. Ducentis ad se cuncta pecuniæ.

5 For our more authority to induce her thus, see Fest. Avien. paraph. in Arat. speaking of Electra,

Nonnunquam Oceani tamen istam surgere ab undis,

In convexa poli, sed sede carere sororum ;

Atque os discretum procul edere, detestatam
Germanosque choros sobolis lachrymare ruinas,
Diffusamque comas cerni, crinisque soluti
Monstrari effigie," &c.

Unto thy reign; as that did auspicate

So lasting glory to Augustus' state.

'All comets were not fatal; some were fortunately ominous, as this to which we allude; and wherefore we have Pliny's testimony, Nat. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 25. "Cometes in uno totius orbis loco colitur in templo Romæ, admodum faustus Divo Augusto judicatus ab ipso: qui, incipiente eo, apparuit ludis quos faciebat Veneri Genetrici, non multò post obitum patris Cæsaris, in Collegio ab eo instituto. Namque his verbis id gaudium prodidit. lis ipsis ludorum meorum diebus, sydus crinitum per septem dies in regione coeli, quæ sub septentrionibus est, conspectum. Id oriebatur circa undecimam horam diei, clarumque et omnibus terris conspicuum fuit. Eo sydere significari vulgus credidit, Cæsaris animam inter Deorum immortalium numina receptam : quo nomine id insigne simulacro capitis ejus, quod mox in foro consecravimus, adjectum est. Hæc ille in publicum; interiore gaudio sibi illum natum, seque in eo nasci interpretatus est. Et si verum fatemur, salutare id terris fuit." • There is a considerable degree of fancy as well as learning displayed in this laboured show, of which the Reader has here but two-fifths. The remaining Arches may be found in Dekker, who has also given an abridgement of Jonson's share of the Pageant (see pp. 337-376.) We have heard much of the temporary erections for the celebration of the late peace; but they shrink to nothing before the cost of the "Entertainments" prepared for the reception of James. Many of the "platforms were of an enormous bulk and height, as were several of the Arches. It appears that the Citizens began their preparations immediately on the decease of Elizabeth; they were interrupted by the plague, but resumed as soon as the danger was over, and continued to the period of the Royal Entry. Exclusive of the moulders, plumbers, painters, smiths, &c. who were very numerous, there were employed 80 joiners, 60 carpenters, 30 sawyers, and about 70 common labourers, who wrought without intermission. The whole of the machinery was under the direction of Stephen Harrison, the chief joiner as he is called. The name of Inigo Jones does not occur in the list of architects given by Dekker, p. 376.

G.