صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the songs of syrens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
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!

880

885

Sabrina rises, attended by Water-Nymphs, and sings.

By the rushy-fringed bank,

890

Where grows the willow, and the osier dank,

[blocks in formation]

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast

Drops, that from my fountain pure

I have kept, of precious cure;
Thrice upon thy finger's tip,

Thrice upon thy rubied lip:

Next this marble venom'd seat,

Smear'd with gums of glutinous beat,

I touch with chaste palms moist and cold:

Now the spell hath lost his hold;

And I must haste, ere morning hour,

915

920

To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

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

Spir. 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 snowy hills:
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

925

930

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

945

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 our 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.

950

955

The scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the President's castle; then come in country dancers, af ter them the Attendant Spirit, with the two Brothers and the Lady.

SONG.

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

Till next sunshine holiday:

Here be, without duck or nod,

Other trippings to be trod

Of lighter toes, and such court guise

As Mereury did first devise,

With the mincing Dryades

On the lawns and on the leas.

960

965

[blocks in formation]

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.

The dances being ended, the Spirit epiloguizes.

Spir. To the ocean now I fly,

And those happy climes that lie

970

075

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
That sing about the golden tree:
Along the crisped shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;

980

985

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

[blocks in formation]

Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue

[blocks in formation]

Till free consent the Gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.

1010

But now my task is smoothly done,

I can fly, or I can run,

Quickly to the green earth's end,

Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend;
And from thence can soar as soon

2015

To the corners of the moon.

Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue; she alone is free: She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or if Virtue feeble were,

Heav'n itself would stoop to her.

1020

« السابقةمتابعة »