845

Bearing her strait to aged Nereus' hall,
Who, piteous of her woes, rear'd her lank head,

ear-lac in particular.-To go back for a moment to the beginning of this speech, though I should incline to think, from the word mutters of the 827th line, that it is intended to intimate that one of the causes of the release of the lady, (or putting an end to the stagnancy of the waters in le Jardin de la Reine,) might be the river Mamore, (known also by the name of Mateira,) taking a backward course over the plains about the Lake Parime, (rather than directly down the Amazon,) and so giving a new impulse to the waters in the West India Gulf; yet by the reversal of Comus's rod mentioned in the preceding line, I appehend that by the expression "backward mutters," there is another special allusion to the country producing the gum lac, and thereby to that substance itself; for the countries of Ava, Pegu, and Cochin-China that produce the lac, lie nearly in the antimeridian of the Island of Cuba, at the other side of the tropic of Cancer (considered as a

And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers strew'd with asphodil,
And through the porch and inlet of each sense
Dropp'd in ambrosial oils till she reviv'd,

1

850

line and not a circle,) the line of which tropic has been stated to constitute Comus's rod. His wand, mentioned in the line next before, has been before said to have its prototype in that same Jardin de la Reine so often before mentioned, whic! s in fact the shape of a wand; and by the brothers snatching it is to be understood the waves of the sea in the West India Gulf, again rushing in among the islands of that Jardin de la Reine, and putting an end to the stagnancy of the waters there.

(834) This expression of the Attendant Spirit, in speaking of Sabrina, she is "not far from hence" is geographically correct; for she lies nearly under the same line of longitude, but in the antimeridian of Cuba, and in the same line of latitude, adjoining like Cuba to the tropic of Cancer, as stated in a former note.

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 855
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 pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.

And, as the old swain said, she can unlock

861

The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
If she be right invok'd with warbled song;
For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 865
To aid a virgin, such as was herself,

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

Sabrina fair,

Song.

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

870

In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;

Listen for dear honor's sake,

Goddess of the silver lake.

875

Listen and save.

Listen and appear to us

In name of great Oceanus,

(S72) Under. This expression relates I apprehend to Sabrina's being situate at the antimeridian of the Attendant Spirit, i. e. in the eastern hemisphere on the other side of the globe.

(877) The numerous invocations to sea gods and goddesses contained in this and the following lines, may have a reference to the circumstance above noticed, that the countries of CochinChina, Pegu, and Malacca represented by Sabrina, are inundated by the sea for a part of the year as mentioned in a former note. That Cochin-China is particularly alluded to appears from Sabrina's mention of her chariot or coach, (902) to which there had been before an oblique allusion by the

By th' earth shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys' grave majestic pace,
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,

And the Carpathian wizard's hook,
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
And old sooth-saying Glaucus' spell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,

And her son that rules the strands,

By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the songs of Sirens sweet,

880

885

By Parthenope's dear tomb,

And fair Ligæa's golden comb,

890

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,

895

term cosen'd in line 747. The term lays in 859, and

its

synonymes verse, song, and carol, allude to the kingdom of Laos, which forms a part of CochinChina.