INSTITUTION OF THE ORDER OF THE GARTER. A Dramatic POEM. By the Same. Lectos ex omnibus Oris Evebis;& meritum, non quæ cunabula quæris, CLAUD. HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE. Dramatis Perfonæ. EDWARD the Third, King of England, &c. PHILIPPA, Queen of England, &c. EDWARD, Prince of Wales. Windfor-Park, with a Profpect of the Castle. * The order of the GARTER was inftituted on St. George's day the 23d of April 1350. King John came into England in 1357. I have taken the advantage of the licence ufually allowed to poets, of departing a little from chronology; and have poftponed for a few years the inftitution of this order, for the fake of rendering that folemnity more auguft, by introducing king John of France, who, though a prifoner, was treated both by Edward and his fon the prince of Wales with all the regard due to the quality and virtue of fo great a prince. To alleviate his captivity, Edward entertained him and the other French prisoners with diverfions of various kinds : among which a tournament he held at Windfor on the 23d of April, to folemnize the feast of St. George, the patron of the order of the GARTER, held the chief place; and was, as Rapin tells us, the most fumptuous and magnificent that had ever been seen in England. The duke of Brabant, with feveral other fovereign princes, and an infinite number of knights of all nations were prefent, and fplendidly entertained. THE THE INSTITUTION OF THE Order of the GARTER. SCENE, WINDSOR Park. Flourish of aerial mufick at a distance, after which the following verfes are fung in the air by SPIRITS, while the GENIUS of England defcends. H Firft SPIRIT. ITHER, all ye heav'nly pow'rs, From your empyreal bow'rs; From the fields for ever gay, From th' Elyfiums of the sky, ; CHORUS CHORUS of SPIRITS. Fly, and through the limpid air Hither, all ye heav'nly pow'rs! Share the glories of the bleft! CHORUS of SPIRITS. Fly, and through the limpid air Hither too, ye tuneful throng, Sacred bards! whose rapt'rous ftrains Sooth the toiling hero's pains, Sooth the patriot's gen'rous cares; Sweetly thro' their ravish'd ears Whisp'ring Whifp'ring to th' immortal mind CHORUS of SPIRITS. Fly, and charm the limpid air, To his fea-encircled throne Wafts Britannia's Genius down. Chorus of BARDS defcends, drefs'd in long floring fky-colour'à robes Spangled with ftars, with garlands of oaken boughs upon their heads, and golden harps in their hands, made like the Welch or old British harp. Before they appear, they fing the chorus, and afterwards, as they defcend, the following fongs; at the laft ftanza of which, the chariot of the GENIUS appears, and defcends gradually all the while that and the grand chorus is finging. CHORUS of BARDS. Gentle Spirit, we obey; SONG. |