I touch with chaste palms moist and cold:--- And I must haste, ere morning hour, To wait in Amphitrite's bower. 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 With groves of myrrh and cinnamon! Come, lady, while Heaven lends us grace, Lest the sorcerer us entice And not many furlongs thence Where this night are met in state Will double all their mirth and cheer. 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, Other trippings to be trod Of lighter toes, and such court guise As Mercury did first devise, With the mincing Dryades, On the lawns, and on the leas. 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: Heaven 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, To triumph in victorious dance O'er sensual folly and intemperance. The Dances 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 There eternal Summer dwells, And west winds with musky wing, About the cedar'd alleys fling Nard and cassia's balmy smells. Waters the odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waxing well of his deep wound In slumber soft, and on the ground Sadly sits the Assyrian queen: But far above in spangled sheen Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced, Holds this dear Psyche sweet entraced, After her wandering labours long, 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. 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 To the corners of the moon, Mortals, that would follow me, END OF COMUS. ARCADES: PART OF A MASK OR ENTERTAINMENT, Presented to the Countess-Dowager of Derby at Harefield, by some noble persons of her family; who appear on the scene in pastoral habit, moving toward the seat of state, with this song: I. SONG. Look, nymphs and shepherds, look, Is that which we from hence descry, This, this is she To whom our vows and wishes bend; Mark, what radiant state she spreads, Sitting like a goddess bright, |