The PRESENTER's Speech.

SEE, lovely lords, and you, my lord, behold
How Time hath turn'd his restless wheel about,
And made the silver moon and heaven's bright

eye

Gallop the zodiac, and end the year,
Whose revolution now begets anew
The days that have created and confirm'd
A worthy governor, for London's good,
To underbear, under his sovereign's sway,
Unpartial Justice' beam, and weav'd a Web*
For your content, and her command in all,
You citizens of this metropolis,
Whose honour and whose oath to gratulate,
Lordings, behold what emblem I present.

Astræa, daughter of th' immortal Jove,
Great Jove, defender of this ancient town,
Descended of the Trojan Brutus' line,
Offspring of at courageous couquering king,
Whose pure renown hath pierc'd the world's

large ears,

In golden scrolls rolling about the heavens;
Celestial sacred Nymph, that tends her flock
With watchful eyes, and keeps this fount in
peace,

Guarded with Graces, and with gracious trains,
Virtues divine, and gifts incomparable,
Nor lets blind superstitious Ignorance
Corrupt so pure a spring: O happy times,
That do beget such calm and quiet days,
Where sheep and shepherd breathe in such
content!

*Web] A wretched pun upon the Mayor's name.

ta] Not in the 4to.-Here, observes Walker, "a must have been lost between of and courageous; for the suppression of the article is not allowable according to Elizabethan grammar, except under certain conditions, which might be specified, and which are of very rare occurrence." Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 15.

Honour attends her throne; in her bright eyes Sits Majesty; Virtue and Steadfastness Possess her heart; sweet Mercy sways her sword;

Her Champion, arm'd with resolution,

Sits at her feet to chastise malcontents

That threat her honour's wreck; and Time and
Kind*

Produce + her years to make them numberless;
While Fortune for her service and her sake
With golden hands doth strengthen and enrich
The Web that they for fair Astræa weave.
Long may she live, long may she govern us,
In peace triumphant, fortunate in wars,
Our fair Astræa, our Pandora fair,

Our fair Eliza, our Zabeta fair;

Sweet Cynthia's darling, beauteous Cypria's

peer;

As dear to England and true English hearts
As Pompey to the citizens of Rome;
As merciful as Cæsar in his might;
As mighty as the Macedonian king,
Or Trojan Hector, terror to the Greeks.

Goddess, live long, whose honours we advance,
Strengthen thy neighbours', propagate thine own:
Guide well thy helm, lay thine anointed hand
To build the temple of triumphant Truth,

That while thy subjects draw their peace from thee,

Thy friends with aid of arms may succour'd be,

ASTREA, with her sheephook, on the top of the

Pageant.

Feed on, my flock, among the gladsome green,
Where heavenly nectar flows above the banks;
Such pastures are not common to be seen:
Pay to immortal Jove immortal thanks,

*Kind] i. e. Nature.

↑ Produce] i. e. Extend, lengthen.