Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks, And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answer'd have. Listen and save. Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings. By the rushy-fringed bank, Where grows the willow and the osier dank, comb, &c.] One of the employ- Then Ligea which maintaines the T. Warton. 886. From thy coral-paven bed.] Drayton of Sabrina's robe, Polyolb. s. v. vol. iii. p. 153. Whose skirts were to the knees with coral fring'd below. And we have pearl-paved in Drayton, ibid. s. xxx. "This "clear pearl-paved Irt." Again, "Where every pearl-paved ford." 885 890 Mus. Elys. Nymph., Shakespeare has simply "paved fountain." Mids. N. Dr. a. ii. s. 2. In Marlowe, quoted in England's Parnassus, 1600. p. 480. " pebble"paved channell." T. Warton. 889. Listen and save.] The repetition of the prayer, ver. 866. and 889. in the invocation of Sabrina is similar to that of Eschylus's Chorus in the invocation of Darius's shade. Persæ, ver. 666. and 674. Βασκε πατερ ακακε Δαρειαν, οι Thyer. My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen That in the channel strays; 890. By the rushy-fringed bank, I am this fountain's God; below And 'twixt two banks with osiers set, 895 ton's Sabrina. And the celebrity of Drayton's poem at that time better authorized such a fiction. Polyolb. s. v. vol. ii. p. 752. Now Sabrine, as a queen miraculously fair, Is absolutely plac'd in her imperial chair Of crystal richly wrought, that gloriously did shine, &c. Then comes a wasteful luxuriance It is embossed with of fancy. the figures of all the Nymphs that had been wooed by Neptune, all his numerous progeny, all the nations over which he had ruled, and the forms of all the fish in the ocean. Milton is more temperate. But he rather unsuitably supposes all the gems, with which he decorates her car, to be found in the bottom of her stream. As in Milton, Sabrina is raised to perform an office of solemnity, so in Drayton she appears in a sort of judicial capacity, to de Through the meadows do they glide, cide some of the claims and Wheeling still on every side, azure sheen, privileges of the river Lundy, which she does in a long and learned speech. See also s. viii. vol. iii. p. 795. Where again she turns pedant, and gives a laboured history of the ancient British kings. In Milton, she rises, "attended by water"nymphs," and in Drayton her car is surrounded by a group of the deities of her neighbouring rivers. T. Warton. 895. That in the channelstrays;] In the Manuscript it was at first, That my rich wheels inlays. L N 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: 915 Chaucer, Spenser, and many a. i. s. i. p. 135. and p. 109. a. iii. Spargens rote levi. And Ovid, Metam. iv. 479. Roratis lustravit aquis Thaumantias The water of the river Choaspes was highly esteemed for lustration. See Note on Par. Reg. iii. 288. T. Warton. 914. Thrice upon thy finger's tip, &c.] Compare Shakespeare, Mid. N. Dr. a. ii. s. 6. -Upon thine eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe, &c. But Milton, in most of the circumstances of dissolving this charm, is apparently to be traced in the Faithful Shepherdess. See S. i. p. 150, 151. a. iv. s. i. p. 161. where Clorin the shepherdess heals the wounded shepherd Alexis. Hold him gently, till I fling 918. I touch with chaste palms moist and cold: Now the spell hath lost his hold.] So the virgin Clorin appears with Alexis reviving, a. v. s. i. p. 177, 178. Now your thoughts are almost pure, And your wound begins to cure.With'spotless hand, on spotless breast, I put these herbs, to give thee rest. I must add the disappearance of the river god, a. iii. s. i. p. 155. Fairest virgin, now adieu! I must make my waters fly, All the neighbour people sate For which this year they shall be free From raging floods, that as they pass Leave their gravel in the grass: Nor shall their meads be overflown When their grass is newly mown. Here the river god resembles Sabrina in that part of her character, which consists in protecting the cattle and pastures. And for these services she is also And I must haste ere morning hour To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r. Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat. SPIRIT. Virgin, daughter of Locrine thanked by the shepherds, v. 844. 921. To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.] Drayton's Sabrina is arrayed in -A watchet weed, with many a curious wave, Which as a princely gift great Amphitrite gave. 920 925 924. May thy brimmed waves &c.] I should rather think brined, i. e. made salt by the mixture of sea-water. Brimmed may indeed signify waves that rise to the brim or margin of the shore but it is a strange word. Warburton. Dr. Warburton had not remarked the frequent and familiar use of brim for bank in our old poets. See above at v. 119. And brimming stream" ascertains the old reading. P. L. iv. 336. T. Warton. At first he had written crystal, but altered it, that word occurring again within a few verses. 927. That tumble down the snowy hills:] It was at first, That tumble down from snowy hills. 927. The poet adverts to the known natural properties of the river. The torrents from the Welch mountains sometimes raise the Severn on a sudden to a prodigious height. But at the same time they fill her molten crystal with mud. Her stream, of itself clear, is then discoloured and muddy. Here is an echo to a |