hardly made Amends for expelling the foregoing Scene by the large
Quantity of Fruits which he bore in his Hands. _Plenty_ walked by his
Side with an healthy fresh Countenance, pouring out from an Horn all
the various Product of the Year. _Pomona_ followed with a Glass of
Cyder in her Hand, with _Bacchus_ in a Chariot drawn by Tygers,
accompanied by a whole Troop of Satyrs, Fauns, and Sylvans.
_September_, who came next, seem'd in his Looks to promise a new
_Spring_, and wore the Livery of those Months. The succeeding Month
was all soiled with the Juice of Grapes, as if he had just come from
the Wine-Press. _November_, though he was in this Division, yet, by
the many Stops he made seemed rather inclined to the _Winter_, which
followed close at his Heels. He advanced in the Shape of an old Man in
the Extremity of Age: The Hair he had was so very white it seem'd a
real Snow; his Eyes were red and piercing, and his Beard hung with a
great Quantity of Icicles: He was wrapt up in Furrs, but yet so
pinched with Excess of Cold that his Limbs were all contracted and his
Body bent to the Ground, so that he could not have supported himself
had it not been for _Comus_ the God of Revels, and _Necessity_ the
Mother of Fate, who sustained him on each side. The Shape and Mantle
of _Comus_ was one of the things that most surprized me; as he
advanced towards me, his Countenance seemed the most desirable I had
ever seen: On the fore Part of his Mantle was pictured Joy, Delight,
and Satisfaction, with a thousand Emblems of Merriment, and Jests with
Faces looking two Ways at once; but as he passed from me I was amazed
at a Shape so little correspondent to his Face: His Head was bald, and
all the rest of his Limbs appeared old and deformed. On the hinder
Part of his Mantle was represented Murder with dishevelled Hair and a
Dagger all bloody, Anger in a Robe of Scarlet, and Suspicion squinting
with both Eyes; but above all the most conspicuous was the Battel of
the _Lapithae_ and the _Centaurs_. I detested so hideous a Shape, and
turned my Eyes upon _Saturn_, who was stealing away behind him with a
Scythe in one Hand, and an Hour-glass in t'other unobserved. Behind
_Necessity_ was _Vesta_ the Goddess of Fire with a Lamp which was
perpetually supply'd with Oyl; and whose Flame was eternal. She
cheered the rugged Brow of _Necessity_, and warmed her so far as
almost to make