Now at the time that was before agreed, The gods affembled all on Arlo-hill,

IV.

And thither alfo came all other creatures,
Whatever life or motion doc retaine,
According to their fundry kinds of features
That Arlo fcarfly could them all containe,
So full they filled every hill and plaine;
And had not Nature's fergeant (that is Order)
Them well difpofed by his bufie paine,
And raunged farre abroad in every border
They would have caused much confusion and dif
order.

V.

Then forth iffewed (great goddeffe) great Dame

Nature,

With goodly port and gracious maiefty,
Being far greater and more tall of stature
Then any of the gods or powers on hie;
Yet certes, by her face and physnomy,
Whether the man or woman inly were,
That could not any creature well defcry;
For with a veile that whimpled every where
Her head and face was hid, that mote to none
appeare.

VI.

That fome doe fay was fo by fkill devized,

To hide the terror of her uncouth hew

As those that all the other world doe fill, And rule both sea and land unto their will; Onely th' infernall powers might not appeare, As well for horror of their count'naunce ill, As for th' unruly fiends which they did feare; Yet Pluto and Proferpina were present there.

For that her face did like a lion fhew,
That eye of wight could not indure to view :
But others tell that it fo beauteous was,
And round about fuch beames of fplendor threw,
That it the funne a thoufand times did pass,
Ne could be feene, but like an image in a glass.

XVIII.

"For all that from her fprings and is ybredde, "However fayre it flourish for a time, "Yet fee we foone decay, and being dead "To turne againe unto their earthly flime; "Yet out of their decay and mortall crime "We daily fee new creatures to arize, "And of their winter fpring another prime, "Unlike in forme, and chang'd by ftrange dif"guife;

"So turne they still about, and change in reft"leffe wife.

ΣΙΧ.

"As for her tenants, that is man and beafts, "The beasts we daily fee maffacred dy, "As thralls and vaffals unto mens beheafts, "And men themfelves doe change continually "From youth to eld, from wealth to poverty, "From good to bad, from bad to worst of all; "Ne does their bodies only flit and fly, "But eeke their minds (which they immortall "call)

"Still change and vary thoughts as new occafions "fall.

XX.

"Ne is the water in more constant cafe, "Whether thofe fame on high or thefe belowe : "For th' ocean moveth ftill from place to place, And every river ftill doth ebbe and flowe; "Ne any lake, that seems most still and flowe; "Ne poole fo fmall, that can his fmoothneffe "holde,

"When any winde doth under heaven blowe "With which the clouds are alfe toft and roll'd, "Now like great hills, and ftraight like fluces, "them unfold.

XXI.

So likewife are all watry living wights. "Still toft and turned with continuall change, & Never abyding in their stedfaft plights; "The fish, ftill floting, do at random range, "And never reft, but evermore exchange "Their dwelling places as the ftreames them "carrie;

"Ne have the watry foules a certaine grange "Wherein to reft, ne in one stead to tarry, "But flitting ftill doe flie, and ftill their places "vary.

XXII.

"Next is the ayre, which thou feelst not by sense "(For of all fense it is the middle meane) "To fit ftill, and with fubtill influence "Of his thin spirit all creatures to maintaine "In ftate of life: O weake life! that does leane "On thing fo tickle as th' unsteady ayre, "Which every howre is chang'd, and altred "cleane

"With every blast that bloweth fowle or faire: The faire doth prolong, the fowle doth it im"paire.

"Thus all these four (the which the ground"work bee

"Of all the world and of all living wights) "To thousand forts of change we fubiect fee, "Yet are they chang'd by other wondrous flights "Into themfelves, and lose their native mights; "The fire to aire, and th' ayre to water sheere, "And water into earth; yet water fights “With fire, and aire with earth approaching 66 ncere,

"Yet all are in one body, and as one appeare.

So forth iffew'd the Scafons of the year;
First lufty Spring, all dight in leaves of flowers
That freshly budded, and new bloofmes did beare,
In which a thousand birds had built their bowres,
That fweetly fung to call forth paramoures;
And in his hand a iavelin he did beare,
And on his head (as fit for warlike ftoures)
A guilt engraven morion he did weare,

That as fome did him love, fo others did him

feare.

DJ j

Then came the Autumne, all in yellow clad,
As though he ioyed in his plenteous store,
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad
That he had banisht Hunger, which to-fore
Had by the belly oft him pinched fore;
Upon his head a wreath, that was enrold
With ears of corne of every fort, he bore,
And in his hand a fickle he did holde,

To reape the ripened fruits the which the earth had yold.

Laftly came Winter, cloathed all in frize,
Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill,
Whilft on his hoary beard his breath did freefe,
And the dull drops that from his purpled bill
As from a limbeck did adown distill;
In his right hand a tipped staffe he held,
With which his feeble steps he stayed still,
For he was faint with cold and weak with eld,
That scarfe his loofed limbes he hable was to weld.
XxxII.

Thefe, marching foftly, thus in order went,
And after them the Monthes all riding came;
First sturdy March, with brows full fternly bent,
And armed ftrongly, rode upon a ram,
The fame which over Hellefpontus swam ;
Yet in his hand a spade he also hent,
And in a bag all forts of feeds ylame,
Which on the earth he ftrowed as he went,
And fild her womb with fruitfull hope of nourish-

ment.

XXXIII.

Next came fresh Aprill, full of luftyhed,
And wanton as a kid whofe horne new buds;
Upon a Bull he rode, the fame which led
Europa floting through th' Argolick fluds;
His hornes were gilden all with golden ftuds,
And garnished with garlonds goodly dight
Of all the fairest flowres and fresheft buds
Which th' earth brings forth, and wet he seem'd
in fight

With waves, through which he waded for his love's delight.

XXXIV.

Then came faire May, the fayreft mayd on ground,

Deckt all with dainties of her feafon's pryde,
And throwing flowres out of her lap around;
Upon two brethrens fhoulders she did ride,
The Twinnes of Leda, which on cyther fide
Supported her like to their foveraine queene :

For he had been a fatting hogs of late,
That yet his browes with fweat did reek and
fteem,

And yet the season was full fharp and breem;
In planting eeke he took no small delight
Whereon he rode, not eafy was to decme,
For it a dreadfull Centaure was in fight,

Which they did dayly watch and nightly wake By even turnes, ne ever did their charge forfake.

XLVI.

hight.

XLI.

And after him came next the chill December,
Yet he, through merry feafting which he made,
And great bonfires, did not the cold remember,
His Saviour's birth his mind so much did glad ;
Upon a fhaggy, bearded Goat he rode,

The fame wherewith Dan love in tender yeares,
They say, was nourisht by th' læan mayd;
And in his hand a broad deepe boawle he beares,
Of which he freely drinks an health to all his
peeres.

XLII.

Then came old lanuary, wrapped well
In many weeds, to keep the cold away,
Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell,
And blowe his nayles to warme them if he may,
For they were numbd with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood,
And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray;
Upon an huge great Earth-pot steane he flood,
From whofe wide mouth there flowed forth the
Romane flood.

XLIII.

And lastly came old February, fitting
In an old Waggon, for he could not ride,
Drawne of two Fishes for the feafon fitting,
Which through the flood before did foftly flyde
And swim away; yet had he by his fide
His plough and harneffe fit to till the ground,
And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride
Of hafting prime did make them burgein round;
So past the Twelve Months forth, and their dew
places found.

XLIV.

And after these there came the Day and Night,
Riding together both with equall pace;
Th' one on a palfrey blacke, the other white;
But Night had covered her uncomely face
With a blacke veile, and held in hand a mace,
On top whereof the moon and stars were pight,
And fleepe and darknesse round about did trace;
But Day did beare upon his fcepter's hight
The goodly fun, encompast all with beames
bright.

XLV.

Then thus gan love; "Right true it is that "these,

"And all things elfe that under heaven dwell, "Are chaung'd of Time, who doth them all def" feife

"Of being; but who is it (to me tell) "That time himfelfe doth move and ftill com "pell

"To keepe his courfe! is not that namely wee, "Which poure that vertue from our heavenly a cell

"That moves them all, and makes them changed "be?

"So them we gods do rule, and in them alfa "thee"

XLIX.

To whom thus Mutability; The Things "Which we fee not how they are mov'd and "fwayd,

"Ye may attribute to yourselves as kings, "And say they by your fecret power are made, "But what we fee not, who fhall us perfwade? "But were they fo, as ye them faine to be, "Mov'd by your might, and order'd by your "ayde,

"Yet what if I can prove that even yee "Yourselves are likewife changed, and fubie& unto me?

L..

Iove

And timely Night, the which were all endewed
With wondrous beauty fit to kindle love;
But they were virgins all, and love efchewed,
That might forilak the charge to them fore-
fhewed

By mighty love, who did them porters make
Of heaven's gate, (whence all the gods iffued)

"Even you, faire Cynthia! whom fo much ye "make

"love's dearcft darling, fhe was bred and nurst "On Cynthus' hill, whence the her name did "take;

"Then is fhe mortall borne, howfo ye crake; "Befides, her face and countenance every day "We changed fee, and fundry forms partake;