Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.

The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest

his glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground; his rout make sign of resistance, but all driven in. The ATTENDANT SPIRIT comes in.

are

SPIR. What, have you let the false inchanter

’scape? Oye mistook, ye should have snatch'd his wand, And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd, And backward mutters of dissevering power, We cannot free the Lady that sits here In stony fetters fix'd, and motionless :

819 Yet stay, be not disturb’d: now I bethink me, Some other means I have which may be us'd, Which once of Melibæus old I learnt, The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains.

There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn

stream,
Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure;
Whilome she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the sceptre from his father Brute.

826

018 revers’d] Ov. Metam. xiv. 300. Conversæ verbere virgæ.' This Sandys translates, 'her wand reverst. Warton.

826 Sobrina] Rob. of Gloucester's Chron. 61. p. 25. ed. Hearne.

VOL. III.

830

835

840

She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen,
Commended her fair innocence to the flood,
That stay'd her flight with his cross-flowing course.
The water nymphs that in the bottom play'd,
Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,
Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall,
Who piteous of her woes, rear'd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers strow'd with asphodel,
And through the porch and inlet of each sense
Dropp'd in ambrosial oils, till she reviv'd,
And underwent a quick immortal change,
Made Goddess of the river: still she retains
Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,
Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs
That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,
Which she with precious vial'd liquors heals.
For which the shepherds at their festivals
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of pancies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.
And, as the old swain said, she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
If she be right invok'd in warbled song,
For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
To aid a virgin, such as was herself,

845

855

In hard-besetting need ; this will I try,
And add the pow'r of some adjuring verse.

SONG.

slio

865

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair ;

Listen for dear honour's sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save.
Listen and appear to us
In name of great Oceanus,
By th' earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys' grave majestic pace,
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
And the Carpathian wisard's hook,
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,

870

875

885 amber-dropping] Consult Warton's note. Todd gives an extract from Nash's Terrors of the Night, 1594. Their haire they ware loose unrowled about their shoulders, whose dangling amber trammells reaching downe beneath their knees, seemed to drop baulme on their delicious bodies.'

868 great] Hes. Theog. 20. 'Qkeavóv te uéyav. Newton. 871 houry] Virg. Georg. iv. 392. Grandævus Nereus.'

Newton. 872 Carpathian] Carpathius vates.' Stat. Ach. i. 136. Val. Flacc. ii. 317.

880

And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the songs of Sirens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft alluring locks,
By all the nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
From thy coral-paven bed,
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
Till thou our summons answer'd have.

Listen and save.

885

890

SABRINA rises, attended by water-nymphs,

and sings.
By the rushy-fringed bank,
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,

My sliding chariot stays,
Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen
Of turkis blue, and emerald green,

That in the channel strays ;
Whilst from off the waters fleet,
Thus I set my printless feet

890 rushy] I would read rush-yfringed. Warton.
893 azurn] Ital. 'azzurino.' Todd.

green] On gems in Sabrina's stream. See Cowley's Silva, p. 46.

printless] Shakesp. Temp. act v. s. 1. And ye, that ou the sands with printless foot.' Warton.

395

894

897

O'er the cowslip's velvet head,

That bends not as I tread; Gentle Swain, at thy request

I am here.

Sp. Goddess dear,
We implore thy pow'rful hand
To undo the charmed band
Of true virgin here distrest,
Through the force, and through the wile
Of unblest inchanter vile.

SABR. Shepherd, 'tis my office best
To help insnared chastity:
Brightest Lady, look on me;
Thus I sprinkle on thy breast
Drops that from my fountain pure
I have kept of precious cure,
Thrice upon thy finger's tip,
Thrice upon thy rubied lip;
Next this marble venom'd seat,
Smear'd with gums of glutinous heat,
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold :
Now the spell hath lost his hold;
And I must haste ere morning hour
To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

910

915

920

907 inchanter] Faer. Q. iii. 12, 31. 'And her before the vile enchaunter sate. Todd.

915 mibied] Wither. Mist. of Philarete, (Percy's Rel. iii. 264.) Wanton eye or lip of ruby, Todd. 918 inoist] “The moone though moist and cold she be.'

Randolph's Poems, p. 49.

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