Chapter XXIV: Epilogue: Intended to Have Been Spoken by

THE LADY HEN. MAR. WENTWORTH.

WHEN CALISTO WAS ACTED AT COURT, IN 1675.

"_Calisto, or the Chaste Nymph_," _was a masque written by John
Crowne, who, by the interference of Rochester, was employed to
compose such an entertainment to be exhibited at court, though this
was an encroachment on the office of Dryden, the poet laureat.
The principal characters were represented by the daughters of the
Duke of York, and the first nobility. The Lady Mary, afterwards
Queen, to whom the masque was dedicated, acted Calisto; Nyphe was
represented by the Lady Anne, who also succeeded to the throne;
Jupiter, by Lady Harriot Wentworth; Psecas, by Lady Mary Mordaunt;
Diana, by Mrs Blague, and Mercury by Mrs Sarah Jennings, afterwards
Duchess of Marlborough. Among the attendant nymphs and dancers were
the Countesses of Pembroke and of Derby, Lady Catharine Herbert,
Mrs Fitzgerald, and Mrs Fraser. The male dancers were the Duke
of Monmouth, Viscount Dunblaine, Lord Daincourt, and others of
the first quality. Although the exhibition of this masque, which
it was the privilege of his office to have written, must have
been somewhat galling to Dryden, we see that he so far suppressed
his feelings as to compose the following Epilogue, which, to his
farther mortification, was rejected, through the interference of
Rochester._

_The Lady Henrietta Maria Wentworth, Baroness of Nettlested, who
acted the part of Jupiter on the present occasion, afterwards
adapted her conduct to that of Calisto, and became the mistress of
the Duke of Monmouth. He was so passionately attached to her, that
upon the scaffold he vindicated their intercourse by some very warm
and enthusiastic expressions, and could by no means be prevailed on
to express any repentance of it as unlawful. This lady died about
a year after the execution of her unfortunate lover_, _in_ 1685.
_Her mother, Lady Wentworth, ordered a monument of L._ 2000 _value
to be erected over her in the church of Teddington, Bedfordshire._

As Jupiter I made my court in vain;
I'll now assume my native shape again.
I'm weary to be so unkindly used,
And would not be a God, to be refused.
State grows uneasy when it hinders love;
A glorious burden, which the wise remove.
Now, as a nymph, I need not sue, nor try
The force of any lightning but the eye.
Beauty and youth, more than a god command;
No Jove could e'er the force of these withstand.
'Tis here that sovereign power admits dispute;
Beauty sometimes is justly absolute.
Our sullen Cato's, whatsoe'er they say,
Even while they frown and dictate laws, obey.
You, mighty sir, our bonds more easy make,
And, gracefully, what all must suffer, take;
Above those forms the grave affect to wear,
For 'tis not to be wise to be severe.
True wisdom may some gallantry admit,
And soften business with the charms of wit.
These peaceful triumphs with your cares you bought,
And from the midst of fighting nations brought.[347]
You only hear it thunder from afar,
And sit, in peace, the arbiter of war:
Peace, the loathed manna, which hot brains despise,
You knew its worth, and made it early prize;
And in its happy leisure, sit and see
The promises of more felicity;
Two glorious nymphs of your own godlike line,
Whose morning rays, like noontide, strike and shine;[348]
Whom you to suppliant monarchs shall dispose,
To bind your friends, and to disarm your foes.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 347: The war between France and the confederates was now raging on the Continent.]

[Footnote 348: The glorious nymphs, afterwards Queens Anne and Mary, both lived to exclude their own father and his son from the throne. Derrick, I suppose, alluded to this circumstance, when in the next line he read _supplant_ for _suppliant_ monarchs.]