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. 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; Whom you to suppliant monarchs shall dispose, To bind your friends, and to disarm your foes.