Oceanus, presented in an human Form; the colour of
his flesh, blue; and shadow'd with a Robe of
Sea-green; his head grey; and (a) horned;
as he is described by the Ancients: his beard of
the like mixt colour: he was gyrlanded with
Alga, or Sea-grass; and in his hand a Trident.
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(a) The An-
cients indu-
ced Oceanus
always with
a Bulls head:
propter vim
ventorum, à quibus incitatur, & impellitur: vel quia Tauris similem
fremitum emittat, vel quia tanquam Taurus furibundus, in littora
feratur. Euripid. in Orest. 'WkeanoV on taurokranoV agkalaiV
elisswn, kuklei cqona. And Rivers sometimes were so called. Look
Virg. de Tiberi, & Eridano. Geor. 4. Æneid. 8. Hor. Car. lib. 4. Ode.
14. and Eurip. in Ione.
Niger, in form and colour of an Æthiop; his hair and
rare beard curled, shadowed with a blue and bright
mantle: his front, neck, and wrists adorned with pearl,
and crowned with an artificial wreath of cane, and paper-
rush.
These induced the Masquers, which were twelve Nymphs,
Negroes, and the daughters of Niger; attended
by so many of the (b) Oceaniæ, which were
their light-bearers.
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(b) The
daughters
of Oceanus
and Tethys.
See Hesiod. in Theogon. Orphe. in Hym. and Virgil. in Georg.
The Masquers were placed in a great concave shell, like
mother of pearl, curiously made to move on those wa-
ters, and rise with the billow; the top thereof was stuck
with a Chev'ron of lights, which, indented to the propor-
tion of the shell, strook a glorious beam upon them, as
they were seated, one above another: so that they were
all seen, but in an extravagant order.
On sides of the shell, did swim six huge Sea-Monsters,
varied in their shapes and dispositions, bearing on their
backs the twelve Torch-Bearers; who were planted there
in several graces; so as the backs of some were seen;
some in purfle, or side; others in face; and all having their
lights burning out of Whelks, or Murex shells.
The attire of Masquers was alike, in all, without dif-
ference: the colours, azure, and silver; but returned on
the top with a scroll and antique dressing of feathers, and
jewels interlaced with ropes of pearl. And, for the front,
ear, neck, and wrists, the ornament was of the most
choice and orient pearl; best setting off from the black.
For the light-bearers, Sea-green, waved about the skirts
with gold and silver; their hair loose, and flowing, gyr-
landed with Sea-grass, and that stuck with branches of
coral.
These thus presented, the Scene behind, seemed a vast
Sea (and united with this that flowed forth) from the
termination, or horizon of which (being the level of the
State, which was placed in the upper end of the Hall) was
drawn, by the lines of Prospective, the whole work shoot-
ing downwards, from the eye; which decorum made it
more conspicuous, and caught the eye afar off with a
wandring beauty. To which was added an obscure and
cloudy night-piece, that made the whole set of. So much
for the bodily part. Which was of Master Ynigo Jones's
design and act.
By this, one of the Tritons, with the two Sea-maids, be-
gan to sing to the others loud Musick, their voices being a
tenor, and two trebles.
S O N G.
Ound, sound aloud
The welcom of the Orient floud,
Into the West;
Fair, Niger, (c) Son to great Oceanus,
Now honour'd, thus,
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(c) All
Rivers are
said to be the Sons of the Ocean: For, as the Ancients thought, out
of the Vapors exhaled by the heat of the Sun, Rivers, and Fountains
were begotten. And both by Orph. in Hym. and Homer. Iliad. x.
Oceanus is celebrated tanquam pater, & origo diis, & rebus, quia nihil
sine humectatione nascitur, aut putrescit.
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With all his beauteous Race:
Who, though but black in Face,
Yet, are they bright,
And full of life, and light.
To prove that Beauty best,
Which not the Colour, but the Feature
Assures unto the Creature.
O C E A N U S.
E silent, now the Ceremony's done,
And Niger, say, how comes it, lovely Son,
That thou, the Æthiop's River, so far East,
Art seen to fall into th' extreamest West
Of me, the King of Flouds, Oceanus,
And, in mine Empire's heart, salute me thus?
My ceaseless Current, now, amazed stands!
To see thy Labour, through so many Lands,
(d) Mix thy fresh billow, with my brackish stream;
And, in the sweetness, stretch thy Diadem,
To these far distant, and unequall'd Skies
This squared Circle of cœlestial Bodies.
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(d) There
wants not
enough, in
nature, to
authorize
this part of
our Fiction, in separating Niger, from the Ocean, (beside the Fable
of Alpheus, and that, to which Virgil alludes of Arethusa in his
10. Eclog. Sic tibi, cum fluctus subter labere Sicanos, Doris amara suam
non intermisceat undam) Examples of Nilus, Jordan, and others,
whereof see Nican. lib. 1. de flumin. and Plut. in vita Syllæ, even of
this our River (as some think) by the name of Melas.
N I G E R.
Ivine Oceanus, 'tis not strange at all,
That (since the immortal Souls of Creatures mortal,
Mix with their Bodies, yet reserve for ever
A power of Separation) I should sever
My fresh streams, from thy brackish (like things fixed)
Though, with thy powerful saltness, thus far mixed.
"Vertue, though chain'd to Earth, will still live free;
"And Hell itself must yield to Industry.
O C E A N U S.
U T, what's the end of thy Herculean Labours,
Extended to these calm, and blessed Shores?
N I G E R.
O do a kind, and careful Father's part,
In satisfying every pensive heart
Of these my Daughters, my most loved birth:
(e) Read
Diod. Sicul.
lib.3. It is a
conjecture
of the old
Ethnicks,
that they
which dwell
under the
South, were
the first
begotten of
the earth.
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Who thô they were the (e) first form'd dames of earth,
And in whose sparkling, and refulgent eyes,
The glorious Sun did still delight to rise;
Thô he (the best Judge, and most formal cause
Of all Dames beauties) in their firm hiews, draws
Signs of his fervent'st love; and thereby shews
That, in their black, the perfect'st beauty grows;
Since the fixt colour of their curled hair,
(Which is the highest grace of Dames most fair)
No cares, no age can change; or there display
The fearful tincture of abhorred Gray;
Since Death herself (herself being pale and blue)
Can never alter their most faithful hiew;
All which are Arguments, to prove, how far
Their Beauties conquer, in great Beauty's War;
And more, how near Divinity they be,
That stand from passion, or decay so free.
Yet, since the fabulous voices of some few
Poor brain-sick Men, stil'd Poets, here with you,
Have, with such envy of their Graces, sung
The painted Beauties, other Empires sprung;
Letting their loose, and winged Fictions flie
T' infect all Climates, yea, our Purity;
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