The holy sacred Word,
May it always afford
T’ us all in common,
Both man and woman,
A spiritual shield and sword,
The holy sacred Word.
Here enter you all ladies of high birth,
Delicious, stately, charming, full of mirth,
Ingenious, lovely, miniard, proper, fair,
Magnetic, graceful, splendid, pleasant, rare,
Obliging, sprightly, virtuous, young, solacious,
Kind, neat, quick, feat, bright, compt, ripe, choice,
dear, precious.
Alluring, courtly, comely, fine, complete,
Wise, personable, ravishing, and sweet,
Come joys enjoy. The Lord celestial
Hath given enough wherewith to please us all.
Gold give us, God forgive us,
And from all woes relieve us;
That we the treasure
May reap of pleasure,
And shun whate’er is grievous,
Gold give us, God forgive us.
What manner of dwelling the Thelemites had.
In the middle of the lower court there was a stately
fountain of fair alabaster. Upon the top thereof
stood the three Graces, with their cornucopias, or
horns of abundance, and did jet out the water at their
breasts, mouth, ears, eyes, and other open passages
of the body. The inside of the buildings in
this lower court stood upon great pillars of chalcedony
stone and porphyry marble made archways after a goodly
antique fashion. Within those were spacious
galleries, long and large, adorned with curious pictures,
the horns of bucks and unicorns: with rhinoceroses,
water-horses called hippopotames, the teeth and tusks
of elephants, and other things well worth the beholding.
The lodging of the ladies, for so we may call those
gallant women, took up all from the tower Arctic unto
the gate Mesembrine. The men possessed the rest.
Before the said lodging of the ladies, that they
might have their recreation, between the two first
towers, on the outside, were placed the tiltyard, the
barriers or lists for tournaments, the hippodrome
or riding-court, the theatre or public playhouse,
and natatory or place to swim in, with most admirable
baths in three stages, situated above one another,
well furnished with all necessary accommodation, and
store of myrtle-water. By the river-side was
the fair garden of pleasure, and in the midst of that
the glorious labyrinth. Between the two other
towers were the courts for the tennis and the balloon.
Towards the tower Criere stood the orchard full of
all fruit-trees, set and ranged in a quincuncial order.
At the end of that was the great park, abounding
with all sort of venison. Betwixt the third
couple of towers were the butts and marks for shooting
with a snapwork gun, an ordinary bow for common archery,
or with a crossbow. The office-houses were without
the tower Hesperia, of one storey high. The stables
were beyond the offices, and before them stood the
falconry, managed by ostrich-keepers and falconers
