in Arches of Triumph (The Royal Entry of King James I into London) — Harrison, Stephen; Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas; Jonson, Ben; Ruytinck, Simon; Cool, Jacob; Thorius, Raphael
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Arches of Triumph (The Royal Entry of King James I into London)
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TO Urn into ice mine eye-bals while the found, Flying through this brazen tromp, may back rebound, To stop Fame's hundred tongues, leaning them mute, As is and untouched bell, or stringless Lute, For Virtues Fount, which late ran deep and clear, Dries: and melts all her body to a tear: You Graces: and you Hours that each day run, On the quick errands of the Golden Sun, Great Monarch of the West, whose glorious Stem, Does new support a triple Diadem, more then that of thy grand Grandsire, Brutus.) Thou that mayest make a King thy Substitute, And dost beside the Red-rose and the white, With the rich flower of France, thy garland dight, Wearing about kings now, or those of old, A double Crown, of Laurel and of Gold, Oh let my voice pass through thy Royal care, And whisper thus much, that we figure here. A new Arabia, in whose spiced Nest, A Phoenix lived, and died in the Suns breast, Her lose made Sighed, in Tears to drown her eyes, Oh say? to Virtues Fount what has befell, That thus her Veins shrink up.
Plot summary
Plot — Arches of Triumph (The Royal Entry of King James I into London)
King James formally enters the City of London. Arriving in Fenchurch Street at the first triumphal arch (representing London), the King is welcomed to London by the Genius of the City: with his accession, Britain has gained a liberty which the Genius anticipated ever since the city’s foundation by King Brute. He rebukes his daughters for their silence in the King’s presence, and commands the River Thames to utter some praise; the river replies that not all sincere joy has a tongue. The Genius commends the Lord Mayor of London to the King, and also greets Prince Henry and Queen Anne. At the second arch in Gracechurch Street, a Latin speech on behalf of the city’s resident Italians wishes him well and flatters him with his achievements as a philosopher. At the third arch by the Royal Exchange, a boy (speaking for the city’s resident Dutchmen, again in Latin) praises his virtues, especially in religion. The upper end of Soper Lane is the location of the New Arabia Felix Arch. The King’s approach wakes up some allegorical figures. Oblivion and Detraction are seeking to drain the fount of virtue, but they are dispelled by the King’s presence, and the fountain, hitherto almost dry, flows abundantly once more. King James is identified as the Phoenix and therefore Queen Elizabeth’s true successor, England as the Arabian nest where the monarch-bird is reborn from its own ashes. At the Little Conduit, he is approached by Sylvanus, a messenger from Lady Eirene, who has been banished from every kingdom she has tried to settle in. Now she has come to England, and seeks his patronage. He escorts the King to the fifth triumphal arch, an arbour representing the Garden of Plenty, where Vertumnus tells him that his presence has given protection to the Muses and the Liberal Arts. Singers celebrate his 1604 arrival as the coming of spring; England is figured as the garden state tended by its royal husbandman. At Fleet Street he comes to the New World Arch, Zeal declares how the King’s arrival has created harmony: the orders of the commonwealth are united, the four elements are working together, and Envy eats her own poison at the sight of his virtues and fortune; the union of the kingdoms has even persuaded the goddess Astraea to return to Earth. At the final arch by Temple Bar, a Flamen is interrupted by the Genius of the City as he begins a pagan rite: he was woken by the noise of the pageantry and, on discovering the date to be the Ides of March, has come to sacrifice to…