395

But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard
Of dragon-watch, with uninchanted eye,
To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit
From the rash hand of bold Incontinence.
You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps
Of misers' treasure by an outlaw's den,
And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
Danger will wink on Opportunity,
And let a single helpless maiden pass
Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste.
Of night, or loneliness it recks me not;

I fear the dread events that dog them both,

Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person
Of our unowned sister.

E. BRO. I do not, Brother,

Infer, as if I thought my sister's state
Secure without all doubt, or controversy:
Yet where an equal poise of hope and fear
Does arbitrate th' event, my nature is
That I incline to hope, rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint Suspicion.

400

405

410

My sister is not so defenceless left

As you imagin; she has a hidden strength

415

Y.BRO. What hidden strength,

Which you remember not.

Unless the strength of Heav'n, if you mean that? E.BRO.I mean that too, but yet a hidden strengt

Which if Heav'n gave it, may be term'd her own Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity:

420

She that has that is clad in cómplete steel,
And like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen
May trace huge forests, and unharbour'd heaths,
Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds,
Where through the sacred rays of Chastity,
No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer
Will dare to soil her virgin purity:
Yea there, where very Desolation dwells

425

430

By grots, and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades,
She may pass on with unblench'd majesty,
Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
Some say no evil thing that walks by night,
In fog, or fire, by lake, or moorish fen,
Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,
That breaks his magic chains at curfeu time,
No goblin, or swart faery of the mine
Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece

435

To testify the arms of Chastity ?

440

Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,

445

Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste,
Wherewith she tam'd the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Fear'd her stern frown, and she was Queen o' th'
What wasthat snaky-headed Gorgonshield, [Woods.
That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin,
Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone,
But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

450

And noble grace that dash'd brute violence
With sudden adoration, and blank awe ?
So dear to Heav'n is saintly Chastity,
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lacky her,
Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
And in clear dream, and solemn vision,
Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,`
Till oft converse with heav'nly habitants
Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape,
The unpolluted temple of the mindy
And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal: but when Lust,
By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,
But most by leud and lavish act of sin,
Lets in Defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose
The divine property of her first being.

460

465

Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470
Oft seen in charnel vaults, and sepulchers,
Lingring, and sitting by a new-made grave,'
As loath to leave the body that it lov'd,
And link'd itself by carnal sensuality
To a degenerate and degraded state.

475

Y. BRO. How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as is Apollo's lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,

Where no crude surfeit reigns. un

E. BRO. List, list, I hear

Some far off hallow break the silent air.

480

Y. BRO. Methought so too; what should it be?
E. BRO. For certain

Either some one like us night-founder'd here,
Or else some neighbour wood-man, or at worst,
Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 485
Y. Bro. Heav'n keep my sister. Again, again and
Best draw, and stand upon our guard.

[near;

If he be friendly, he comes well; if not,
Defense is a good cause, and Heav'n be for us.

The attendent SPIRIT habited like a shepherd.
That hallow I should know, what are you? speak;
Come not too near, you fall on iron stakes else.
SPI. What voice is that? my young Lord? speak
again.

Y.BRO.O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure.
E.BRO.Thyrsis? whose artful strains have oft de-
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, [lay'd
And sweeten'd every muskrose of the dale. 496
How cam'st thou here, good Swain? hath any ram
Slipt from the fold, or young kid lost his dam,
Or straggling weather the pent flock forsook ?
How could'st thou find this dark sequester'd nook?
SPI. O my lov'd master's heir, and his next joy,
I came not here on such a trivial toy
As a stray'd ewe, or to pursue the stealth
Of pilfering wolf; not all the fleecy wealth

H

506

That doth enrich these downs, is worth a thought
To this my errand, and the care it brought.
But, O my virgin Lady, where is she?
How chance she is not in your company?

E. BRO. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame,

Or our neglect, we lost her as we came.

510 SPI. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. E. BRO. What fears good Thyrsis? Prethee briefly SPI. I'll tell ye; 'tis not vain or fabulous, {shew. (Though so esteem'd by shallow ignorance) What the sage poets, taught by th' heav'nly Muse, Story'd of old in high immortal verse,

516

Of dire chimeras and inchanted iles,

And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell;
For such there be, but unbelief is blind.
Within the navel of this hideous wood,
Immur'd in cypress shades a sorcerer dwells,
Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,

520

525

Deep skill'd in all his mother's witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer

By sly enticement gives his baneful cup,

With many murmurs mix'd, whose pleasing poison The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, And the inglorious likeness of a beast

530

Fixes instead, unmolding Reason's mintage
Character'd in the face; this have I learnt
Tending my flocks hard by i'th' hilly crofts
That brow this bottom glade, whence night by night
He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl