Or have I said enough? To him that dares
Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words

780

Against the sun-clad pow'r of Chastity,

Fain would I something say, yet to what end?

Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend

The sublime notion, and high mystery,

785

That must be utter'd to unfold the sage

And serious doctrine of virginity;

And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know

More happiness than this thy present lot.

Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,

790

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence;

And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and shake,

Till all thy magic structures, rear'd to high,

Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy false head.
Comus. She fables not; I feel that I do fear

800

Her words set off by some superior power;
And though not mortal, yet a cold shudd'ring dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder, and the chains of Erebus,
To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble,
And try her yet more strongly.

This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the canon-laws of our foundation;
I must not suffer this; yet 'tis but the lees
And settlings of a melancholy blood:

810

But this will cure all straight; one sip of this

Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight,

Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, aud 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 are all driven in. The Attendant Spirit comes in.

Spirit.

What, have you let the false enchanter 'scape? O ye mistook, ye should have snatch'd his wand,

815

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 :

Yet stay, be not disturb'd; now I bethink me,

820

Some other means I have which may be us'd,
Which once of Meliboeus 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, 825
Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure;

Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,

That had the scepter from his father Brute.
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen,

830

Commended her fair innocence to the flood,

That staid 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;

835

Who, piteous of her woes, rear'd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers, strew'd with asphodel;

And through the porch and inlet of each sense
Dropt 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 elfe delights to make,

840

845

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

850

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.

And, as the old swain said, she can unlock

The clasping charm, and thaw the numming spell,

If she be right invok'd in warbled song;

For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift

855

Te aid a virgin, such as was herself,
In hard-besetting need; this will I try,

And add the pow'r of some adjuring verse,

SONG.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting

860

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,

865

Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeping 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.

Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings.

885

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

Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine

Sprung of old Anchises' line,

hills:

May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss
From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the snowy
Summer drought, or singed air,
Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet October's torrent flood
Thy molten crystal fill with mud;

925

930

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,

935

And here and there thy banks upon

With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.

Come, Lady, while Heav'n lends us grace,

Let us fly this cursed place,

940

Lest the sorcerer us entice
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,
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
All the swains, that there abide,
With jigs and rural dance resort;
We shall catch them at their sport,
And or sudden coming there

Will double all their mirth and cheer;
Come, let us haste, the stars grow high,
But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

945

950

955.

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.

SONG.

Spir. Back, Shepherds, back; enough your play,

Till next sun-shine holiday:

Here be, without duck or nod,

960

This second Song presents them to their Father and Mother.

Heav'n hath timely tried their youth,

970

Their faith, their patience, and their truth,

And sent them here through hard assays

With a crown of deathless praise,

To triumph in victorious dance

O'er sensual folly and intemperance.

975

The dances being ended, the Spirit epiloguizes.

Spir. To the ocean now I fly,

And those happy climes that lie
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad fields of the sky:
There I suck the liquid air
All amidst the gardens fair

Of Hesperus, and his daughters three

980

Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;

985

The Graces, and the rosy-bosom'd Hours,

Thither all their bounties bring;

There eternal Summer dwells,

And west-winds, with musky wing,

About the cedarn alleys fling

990

Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.