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

Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings.
By the rushy-fringed bank,
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,

890

comb, &c.] One of the employ- Mus. Elys. Nymph. Shakespeare ments of the Nymph Salmacis in has simply “ paved fountain." Ovid is to comb her hair. But Mids. N. Dr. a. ii. s. 2. In that fiction is here heightened Marlowe, quoted in England's with the brilliancy of romance. Parnassus, 1600. p. 480.“

pebbleLigea's comb is of gold, and she “ paved channell." T. Warton. sits on diamond rocks. These 889. Listen and save.] The’rewere new allurements for the petition of the prayer, ver. 866. unwary. G.Fletcher has “maine and 889. in the invocation of Sa66 rocks of diamound.” Christ's brina is similar to that of ÆschyVictorie, p. i. st. 61. edit. 1610. lus's Chorus in the invocation of See Note on El. iii. 49. Ligea Darius's shade. Persæ, ver. 666. is celebrated for her singing in and 674.

. Polyolb. s. xx. vol. iii. 1043.

Βασκε πατερ ακακε Δαρειαν, οι. Then Ligea which maintaines the

Thyer. birds harmonious layes, Which sing on river banks amongst

Thus Amarillis, in the Faithful {}," the slender sprayes.

Shepherdess, invokes the priest

T. Warton. of Pan to protect her from the 886. From thy coral-paven bed.) Sullen Shepherd, a. v. s. i. p. 184. Drayton of Sabrina's robe, Poly- Hear me, and save from endless inolb. s. v. vol. iii. p. 153.

famy

My yet unblasted flower, virginity: Whose skirts were to the knees with

By all the garlands that have crown'd coral fring'd below.

that head, And we have pearl-paved in

By thy chaste office, &c.

T. Warton. Drayton, ibid. s. xxx. “ This “ clear pearl-paved Irt.” Again, 890. By the rushy-fringed bank.] " Where

every pearl-paved ford.” See Par. Lost, iv. 262. “ The

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

That in the channel strays;

895

“ fringed bank with myrtle ton's Sabrina. And the celebrity “ crowned.” So Browne, Brit. of Drayton's poem at that time Past. b. ii. s. v. p. 122.

better authorized such a fiction. To tread the fring'd banks of an

Polyolb. s. v. vol. ii. p. 752. amorous flood.

Now Sabrine, as a queen miraculously

fair, And Drayton, Polyolb. s. ii. vol.

Is absolutely plac'd in her imperial ii. p. 685.

chair Upon whose moisted skirts with sea. Of crystal richly wrought, that gloweed fring'd about.

riously did shine, &c. And Carew, Milton's contempo

Then comes a wasteful luxuriance rary, Poems, p. 149. edit. 1651. of fancy. It is embossed with

the figures of all the Nymphs With various trees we fringe the

that had been wooed by Neprivers brinke.

tune, all his numerous progeny, I would read rush-yfringed. In all the nations over which he had Fletcher, we have“rushy banke.” ruled, and the forms of all the ubi supr. p. 121. T. Warton.

fish in the ocean. Milton is 890. By the rushy-fringed bank,

more temperate.

But he rather Where grows the willow and unsuitably supposes all the gems,

, the osier dank, &c.] with which he decorates her car, This is somewhat in imitation of to be found in the bottom of her the River-God in the Faithful

stream. Shepherdess, act 3.

As in Milton, Sabrina is raised I am this fountain's God; below to perform an office of solemnity, My waters to a river grow,

so in Drayton she appears in a And 'twixt two banks with osiers set,

sort of judicial capacity, to deThat only prosper in the wet, Through the meadows do they glide,

cide some of the claims and Wheeling still on every side, privileges of the river Lundy, Sometimes winding round about, which she does in a long and To find the even'st channel out, &c. learned speech. See also s. viii. 892. My sliding chariot stays ; vol. iii. p. 795. Where again Thick, set with agate, and the she turns pedant, and gives a azure sheen,

laboured history of the ancient Of turkis blue, and emerald British kings. In Milton, she green,

rises, « attended by waterThat in the channel strays.] “ nymphs," and in Drayton her Milton perhaps more immediately car is surrounded by a group of borrowed the idea of giving Sa- the deities of her neighbouring brina a rich chariot, from Dray- rivers. T. Warton. ton's Polyolbion, so often quoted:

895. That in the channelstrays ;) and more especially as he dis- In the Manuscript it was at first, covers other references to Dray- That my rich wheels inlays.

a

Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printless feet
O'er the cowslips velvet head,

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

I am here.

900

905

SPIRIT.
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.

SABRINA.
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,

910

896. Whilst from off the waters

-Where she doth walke,

Scar fleet

she doth the primerose head Thus I set my printless feet.]

Depresse, or tender stalke

Of blew-veind violetts, So Prospero to his elves, but in

Whereon her foot she sets. a style of much higher and

T. Warton. wilder fiction. Temp. a. V. s. 1. 910. Brightest Lady,] It was And ye that on the sands with print- at first Virtuous Lady. less foot

913. I have kept of precious Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do cure,] If the reading be right, When he comes back.

the meaning must be, some drops T. Warton. of a very healing power. But I

think it would do good to the 898. O'er the cowslip's velvet verse, as well as the language, head,] See England's Helicon, to throw out the c and read ure, ed. 1614. By W. H.

fly him

915

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;

a.

S.

- He

Chaucer, Spenser, and many a. i. s. i. p. 135. and p. 109. a. iii.

.

. others. Calton.

i. p. 150, 151. a. iv. s. i. p.

161.
Ure, it must be owned, was where Clorin the shepherdess
not uncommon. But the rhymes heals the wounded shepherd A-
of many couplets in the Faithful lexis.
Shepherdess, relating to the same

Hold him gently, till I fling
business, shew that cure was Water of a virtuous spring
Milton's word. See s. ult. p. 191. On his temples : turn him twice, &c.
And again, p. 187, 178, 177, 152.

T. Warton. These drops are sprinkled 918. I touch with chaste palms. thrice. So Michael purging

moist and cold : Adam's eye, Par. Lost, b. xi. 416.

Now the spell hath lost his hold.] And from the well of life three drops So the virgin Clorin appears

with instill'd.

Alexis reviving, a. v. s. i. p. 177,

. All this ceremony, if we look 178. higher, is from the ancient prac- Now your thoughts are almost pure, tice of lustration by drops of And your wound begins to cure. water. Virg. Æn. vi. 230.

With'spotless hand, on spotless breast, " thrice moistened his compa

I put these herbs, to give thee rest. “ nions with pure water,"

I must add the disappearance of Spargens rote levi.

the river god, a. iii. s. i. p. 155. And Ovid, Metam. iv. 479.

Fairest virgin, now adieu !

I must make my waters fly,
Roratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias Lest they leave their channels dry;
Iris.

And beasts that come unto the spring
The water of the river Choaspes

Miss their morning's watering ;

Which I would not: for of late was highly esteemed for lustra

All the neighbour people sate tion. See Note on Par. Reg. iii. On my banks, and from the fold 288. T. Warlon.

Two white lambs of three weeks old 914. Thrice upon thy finger's

Offered to my deity :

For which this year they shall be free tip, &c.] Compare Shakespeare,

From raging floods, that as they pass Mid. N. Dr. a. ii. s. 6.

Leave their gravel in the grass :
- Upon thine eyes I throw

Nor shall their meads be overflown
All the power this charm doth owe,

When their grass is newly mown.
&c.

Here the river god resembles But Milto in most of the cir- Sabrina in that part of her chacumstances of dissolving this racter, which consists in protectcharm, is apparently to be traced ing the cattle and pastures. And in the Faithful Shepherdess. See for these services she is also

And I must haste ere morning hour

920 To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat.

SPIRIT.
Virgin, daughter of Locrine
Sprung of old Anchises’ line,
May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss
From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the

925

snowy hills;

rious wave,

trite gave.

thanked by the shepherds, v. 844. 924. May thy brimmed waves supr. T. Warton.

&c.] I should rather think 921. To wait in Amphitrite's brined, i. e. made salt by the bow'r.] Drayton's Sabrina is ar- mixture of sea-water. Brimmed rayed in

may indeed signify waves that -A watchet weed, with many a cu

rise to the brim or margin of the

shore: but it is a strange word. Which as a princely gift great Amphi. Warburton.

Dr. Warburton had not rePoyolb. s. v. vol. ii. p. 752. And marked the frequent and familiar we have “ Amphitrite's bower," use of brim for bank in our old ibid. s. xxviii. vol. iii. p. 1193. poets. See above at v. 119. And See also Spenser of Cymoent, brimming stream" ascertains the F. Q. iii. iv. 43.

old reading. P. L. iv. 336. T. Deepe in the bottom of the sea her

Warton. bowre.

At first he had written crystal, Again, iii. viii. 37. Of Proteus.

but altered it, that word occur

ring again within a few verses. His bowre is in the bottom of the

927. That tunible down the maine,

T. Warton.

snowy hills :] It was at first,

That tumble down from snowy hills. 921. To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.] He had written at first,

927. The poet adverts to the

a