930

Summer drouth, or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet October's torrent flood
Thy molten crystal fill with mud;
May thy billows roll ashore
The beryl, and the golden ore;
May thy lofty head be crown'd
With many a tow'r and terrace round,
And here and there thy banks upon
With groves of myrrh, and cinnamon.

935

couplet in Jonson's Mask at So of the imperial palace of Highgate, 1604.

Rome, P. R. iv. 54. Of sweete and severall sliding rills,

-Conspicuous far
That streame from tops of those lesse

Turrets and terraces.
hills.
T. Warton.

Milton was impressed with this

idea from his vicinity to Windsor 928. -or singed air

castle. T. Warton. Never scorch thy tresses fair,] 936. And here and there thy Sure we should read

banks upon &c.] We are all of or scorching air

us apt to grow fond of the auNever singe thy tresses fair.

thors, whom we particularly Warburton. study; and therefore Mr. Se. 932. May thy billows roll ashore and delicacy though not for pomp

ward generally prefers(for beauty The beryl, and the golden ore.] This is reasonable as a wish. Faithful Shepherdess which Mil

and majesty) the passages in the But surely jewels were out of ton has imitated to Milton's imiplace here, on the supposition tations of them: but here he that they were the natural pro- himself is forced to allow, that ductions of Sabrina's stream. So this address to Sabrina is better of the groves of myrrh and cin- than Amoret's to the God of the

upon

her bảnks. A wish river upon a like occasion, and more conformable to the real Fletcher has no other advantage state of things would have been but that of writing first, act iii. more pleasing, as less unnatural. But we must not too severely

For thy kindness to me shown,

Never from thy banks be blown try poetry by truth and reality.

Any tree, with windy force, See above at v. 834, 891. T. Cross thy streams, to stop thy course: Warton.

May no beast that comes to drink, 934. May thy lofty head be With his horns cast down thy brink; crown'd

May none that for thy fish do look,

Cut thy banks to dam thy brook ; With many a tow'r and terrace

Barefoot may no neighbour wade round.]

In thy cool streams wife nor maid,

namon

Come, Lady, while Heav'n lends us grace,
Let us fly this cursed place,

NO

When the spawn on stones do lie, May never evet, nor the toade,

To wash their hemp, and spoil the fry. Within thy bankes make their abode : Mr. Seward farther remarks, that

Taking thy journey to the sea,

Maist thou ne'er happen in thy way the construction of the two last

On nitre or on brimstone myne, of Milton's lines is a little diffi

To spoyle thy taste. This spring of cult. To crown her head with thyne towers is true imagery; but to

Be ever fresh ! Let no man dare crown her head upon her banks,

To spoyle thy fish, make lock or ware;

But on thy margent still let dwell will scarcely be allowed to be so.

Those Aowers which have the sweet-
He would therefore put a colon est smell;
instead of a comma at the last And let the dust upon thy strand
line but two, and then read Become like Tagus' golden sand.

And here and there thy banks upon From a close parallelism of
Be groves of myrrh, and cinnamon.

thought and incident, it is clear And after these verses is added that either Browne's pastoral imi. in the Manuscript, Song ends. tates Fletcher's play, or the play

936. Mr. Calton says the phrase the pastoral. Most of B. and is Greek, “may thy banks be Fletcher's plays appeared after “ crowned upon, &c." But if there 1616. But there is unluckily any difficulty in these lines, it

no date to the first edition of the would be removed by placing a Faithful Shepherdess. It is, howcomma after there, and another

ever, mentioned in Davies's after upon. In prose upon thy Scourge of Folly, 1611. banks would have followed the

As Milton is supposed to have last line. E.

taken some hints in Comus from This votive address to Sabrina

Peel's Old Wives Tale, I may was suggested to our author perhaps lengthen this note, by by that of Amoret. But the

producing a passage from that form and subject, rather than writer's play, entitled The Love the imagery, is copied. Milton of King David and faire Bethis more sublime and learned,

sabe, &c. edit. 1599. 4to. Fletcher more natural and easy.

I know not which poet wrote May that sweet plaine that beares her first: but in Browne's Britannia's pleasant weight

Be still enamel'd with discouloured Pastorals, certainly written not

flowers; after 1613, and printed in 1616,

The precious fount beare sand of I find a similar vow, b. i. s. i. p.

Lest the sorcerer us entice

940 With some other new device. Not a waste, or needless sound, Till we come to holier ground;. I shall be your faithful guide Through this gloomy covert wide,

954 And not many furlongs thence Is your

Father's residence,
Where this night are met in state
Many a friend to gratulate
His wish'd presence, and beside

950
All the swains that near abide,
With jigs, and rural dance resort;
We shall catch them at their sport,
And our sudden coming there
Will double all their mirth and cheer;

955 Come let us haste, the stars grow high, But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the President's castle; then come in country dancers, after them the attendant Spirit, with the two Brothers and the Lady.

dew;

Beare manna every morne instead of 956. Come let us haste, &c.]

These two lines were thus at first Or let the dew be sweeter far than

in the Manuscript. that, That hanges like chaines of pearle on Come let us haste, the stars are high, Hermon's hill.

But night reigns monarch yet in the T. Warton.

mid sky. 948. Where this night are met And then Exeunt, and the folin state] In the Manuscript it lowing stage-direction, The Scene was at first,

changes, and then is presented Ludo

low town and the President's castle; Where this night are come in state.

then enter country dances and such 951. All the swains that near like gambols, &c. At those sports abide] So we read in Milton's the Damon with the two Brothers Manuscript, and this reading we and the Lady enter. The Dæmon prefer to that of all the editions, sings.

All the swains that there abide.

SONG.

SPIRIT.
Back, Shepherds, back, enough your play,
Till next sun-shine holiday;
Here be without duck or nod
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such court guise
As Mercury did first devise

960

of a

960. Here be without duck or “ ledge in dancing." And Draynod] “ Here are." By duck or ton, Polyolb. s. vi. nod, we are to understand the

Those delicater dames so trippingly affectations of obeisance. So in

to tread. K. Richard III. a. i. s. 3.

In

the Midsummer Night's Duck with French nods and apish Dream, Oberon orders his fairies courtesy

to dance after his ditty trippingly, Again, in Lear, a. ii. s. 2. a. ii. s. 5. But to trip seems to

Than twenty silly ducking observants, have been the proper pace

That stretch their duties nicely. fairy. As above, v. 118. Compare Mids. N. Dr. a. iii. s. 1. Trip the pert faeries and the dapper

elves. Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

And at a Vacation Exercise, v. And Timon of Athens, “ The 62. The fairy-ladies,

“ learned pate ducks to the golden Came tripping to the room where « fool.” a. iv. s. 3. It is the

thou didst lie. same word in Othello, a. ii. s. 1. Hence “night-tripping fairy," And let the labouring bark climb

in First P. Henr. IV. a. i. s. I. hills of seas

In Drayton's Mus. Elys. Nymph. Olympus high, and duck again as low

viii. As hell's from heaven,

T. Warton. The tripping fairy tricks shall play

The evening of the wedding day. 961. Other trippings to be trod Of lighter toes, &c.]

And in many more instances.

Trod is also technical. As in
To trip on the toe in a dance,
seems to have been technical. Jonson's Sad Shepherd, a. i. s. 6.
So in L'Allegro, v. 33.

A swain who best could tread
Come and trip it as you go

Our country dances.

T. Warton. On the light fantastic toe. Where see the Notes. Compare

962. Of lighter toes, &c.] In Jonson, Cynth. Rev. a. ii. s. 4. the Manuscript these lines were “ Both the swimme and the trip thus at first, « are mine: every body will

Of nimbler toes, and courtly guise, « affirm it, that hath anie know- Such as Hermes did devise,

With the mincing Dryades
On the lawns, and on the leas.

965

This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother.

Noble Lord, and Lady bright,
I have brought ye new delight,
Here behold so goodly grown
Three fair branches of your own;
Heav'n hath timely tried their youth,
Their faith, their patience, and their truth,

And sent them here through hard assays
With a crown of deathless praise,

970

964. With the mincing Dryades] Shepherds they weren of the best, So Drayton, of the Lancashire

And lived in lowly leas. lasses, Polyolb. s. xxvii. vol. iii. Shakespeare, Tempest, act iv.

p. 1183.

S. 3.

and pease.

weeds away,

-Ye so mincingly that tread.

Ceres, most bounteous Lady, thy

rich leas Again, ibid. p. 1185, and 1187. Of wheat, rye, barley, fetches, oats, And in his Eclogues, vol. vii. p. 1417. where the word may Henry V. act v. s. S. hence be understood.

her fallow leas Now Shepherds lay their winter The darnel, hemlock, and rank fu

mitory And in neat jackets minsen on the

Doth root upon. plain.

971. Their faith, their patience,] Jonson and Shakespeare use the The title to this song in the Maword in the same sense. T. War- nuscript is only 2 Song: and ton.

here he had written at first 964. Isa. iii. 16. The daughters patience, and then temperance, of Zion are haughty, and walk with and then patience again; and stretched forth necks, and wanton this latter is the better, because eyes, walking and mincing as they of intemperance following: go, or tripping nicely as in the

973. With a crown of deathless margin of the Bible. Richard- praise,] At first he had written, son.

*To a crown of deathless bays. 965. -on the leas.] An old word for pastures or corn-fields. And in the Manuscript the Spenser, Shepherd's Calendar, stage-direction following is, The July

Dæmon sings or says.