With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed. Not that Nepenthes,34 which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,

Is of such power to stir up joy as this,

To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.

Why should you be so cruel to yourself,
And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
For gentle usage, and soft delicacy?

But you invert the covenants of her trust,

And harshly deal, like an ill borrower,

With that which you received on other terms,
Scorning the unexempt condition

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,
Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That have been tired all day without repast,

And timely rest have wanted; but, fair virgin,
This will restore all soon.

LADY.

'T will not, false traitor!

'T will not restore the truth and honesty

That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.

Was this the cottage, and the safe abode,

Thou told'st me of? What grim aspécts are these,
These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!
Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver !
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence
With visored falsehood, and base forgery?

And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here
With liquorish baits fit to ensnare a brute ?
Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets,
I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None
But such as are good men can give good things;
And that which is not good, is not delicious

To a well-governed and wise appetite.

COMUS.

Oh, foolishness of men! that lend their ears

To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur,
And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub,
Praising the lean and sallow abstinence.
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth
With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,
Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks,
Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable,
But all to please and sate the curious taste?

And set to work millions of spinning worms,

That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk
To deck her sons; and, that no corner might

Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins

She hutched the all-worshipped ore, and precious gems,

To store her children with: if all the world

Should in a pet of temperance feed on pulse,

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,

The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised, Not half his riches known, and yet despised;

And we should serve him as a grudging master,

As a penurious niggard of his wealth,

And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons,

Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight,

And strangled with her waste fertility;

The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes,3

The herds would over-multitude their lords,

The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamond

Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,

And so bestud with stars, that they below
Would grow inured to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
List, lady, be not coy, and be not cozened
With that same vaunted name, virginity.

Beauty is Nature's coin, must not be hoarded,
But must be current; and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,

Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself;

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

It withers on the stalk with languished head.36
Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown
In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,
Where most may wonder at the workmanship;
It is for homely features to keep home,37

They had their name thence; coarse complexions,
And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply
The sampler, and to tease the housewife's wool.
What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
There was another meaning in these gifts;

Think what, and be advised: you are but young yet.

LADY.

I had not thought to have unlocked my lips

In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler

38

Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,
Obtruding false rules prankt 39 in Reason's garb.
I hate when Vice can bolt 40 her arguments,
And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impostor, do not charge most innocent Nature,
As if she would her children should be riotous