rimeter_.
Her _chinne_ is an _adonicke_, and her _tongue_
Is an _Hypermeter_, somewhat too long.
Her _eies_ I may compare them unto two
Quick-turning _dactyles_, for their nimble view.
Her _ribs_ like staues of _Sapphicks_ doe descend
Thither, which but to name were to offend.
Her _arms_ like two _Iambics_ raised on hie,
Doe with her brow bear equal majestie;
Her _legs_ like two straight _spondees_ keep apace
Slow as two _scazons_, but with stately grace.
The piece concludes with a speech by Polites, who settles all the
disputes and loves of the Arts. Poeta promises for the future to attach
himself to Historia. Rhetorica, though she loves Logicus, yet as they do
not mutually agree, she is united to Grammaticus. Polites counsels
Phlegmatico, who is Logicus's man, to leave off smoking, and to learn
better manners; and Choler, Grammaticus's man, to bridle himself;--that
Ethicus and Oeconoma would vouchsafe to give good advice to Poeta and
Historia;--and Physica to her children Geographus and Astronomia! for
Grammaticus and Rhetorica, he says, their tongues will always agree, and
will not fall out; and for Geometres and Arithmetica, they will be very
regular. Melancholico, who is Poeta's man, is left quite alone, and
agrees to be married to Musica: and at length Phantastes, by the
entreaty of Poeta, becomes the servant of Melancholico, and Musica.
Physiognomus and Cheiromantes, who are in the character of gipsies and
fortune-tellers, are finally exiled from the island of Fortunata, where
lies the whole scene of the action in the residence of the _Married
Arts_.
The pedant-comic-writer has even attended to the dresses of his
characters, which are minutely given. Thus Melancholico wears a black
suit, a black hat, a black cloak, and black worked band, black gloves,
and black shoes. Sanguis, the servant of Medicus, is in a red suit; on
the breast is a man with his nose bleeding; on the back, one letting
blood in his arm; with a red hat and band, red stockings and red pumps.
It is recorded of this play, that the Oxford scholars resolving to give
James I. a relish of their genius, requested leave to act this notable
piece. Honest Anthony Wood tells us, that it being too grave for the
king, and too scholastic for the auditory, or, as some have said, the
actors had taken too much wine, his majesty offered several times, after
two acts, to withdraw. He was prevailed to sit it out, in m
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