Obscurity Enter.
Enough of these night-sports! part fairly, Knights,
And leave an edge on pleasure, lest these lights
I suddenly dim all; and pray, how then
Will these gay Ladies shift among you men,
In such confusion? Some their homes may miss:
Obscurity knows tricks as mad as this.
But make your parting innocent for me;
I will no author now of Error be.
Myself shall pass with you, a friend of light,
Giving to all this round a kind good night.
LAST SONG.[631]
We must away: yet our slack pace may show
’Tis by constraint we this fair Orb forego.
Our longer stay may forfeit what but now
Love hath obtained for us: to him we bow,
And to this gentler Power, who so contriv’d
That we from sullen shades are now depriv’d,
And hither brought, where Favour, Love, and Light,
So gloriously shine, they banish Night.
More would we say, but Fate forbids us more.—
Our Cue is out—Good night is gone before.[632]
[623] “Fever-lurdens”—a jocular term for slothfulness.
[624] “Pin and the web” was the name of a disorder of the eye.
[625] The words “et fiet” are omitted in Add. MS.—Nichols gives “at first.”—It may be remarked that Nichols’ transcript is made throughout in a slovenly manner.
[626] “But” is omitted by Collier, but found in Add. MS. and Nichols.