Oh! if thou have Hid them in some flow'ry cave, Tell me but where, Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the Sphere! And give resounding grace to all heav'n's harmonies. Comus aside.] Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment ? "How sweetly did they float upon the wings 300 "Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, "Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul "And lap it in Elysium: Scylla wept, "And chid her barking waves into attention, "I never heard till now."-I'll speak to her, 310 And she shall be my queen.--Hail, foreign wonder! Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, 320 To touch the prosp'rous growth of th's tall wood. Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift 329 Com. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus? Com. And left your fair side all unguarded, Lady! return. Com. "Perhaps forestalling night prevented them? "In his loose traces from the furrow came, "And the swink't hedger at his supper sat; "I saw them" under a "green" mantling vine, That crawls along the side of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots : Their port was more than human; "as they stood "I took it for a fairy vision "Of some gay creatures of the element, "That in the colours of the rainbow live, 357 "And play i' th' lighted clouds. I was awe-struck, “And as I pass'd I worshipp'd :" if those you seek It were a journey like the path to heav'n To help you find them. Lady. Gentle Villager, 362 What readiest way would bring me to that place? But loyal cottage, where you may be safe Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word, 379 And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy, "Which oft' is sooner found in lowly sheds "With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls "And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, "And yet is most pretended." In a place Less warranted than this, or less secure, 381 I cannot be, that I should fear to change it. Enter COMUS' from behind the trees. SONG. By a Man. Fly swiftly, ye Minutes! till Comus receive The nameless soft transports that beauty can give ; The bowl's frolic joys let him teach her to prove, And she in return yield the raptures of love. 391 Without love and wine, wit and beauty are vain, All grandeur insipid, and riches a pain, The most splendid palace grows dark as the grave : Love and wine give, ye Gods, or take back what you gave. CHORUS. Away, away, away, There night outshines the day, ACT II. Enter the two BROTHERS. "Elder Brother. "UNMUFFLE, ye faint Stars! and thou, fair Moon! "With thy long levell'd rule of streaming light, Y. Bro. "Or, if our eyes "Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear "The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes, "Or sound of past'ral reed with oaten stops, "Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock "Count the night-watches to his feathery dames, "Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, "In this close dungeon of innum'rous boughs. "But oh! that hapless virgin, our lost sister! "Where may she wander now, whither betake her "From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles? Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, ΙΟ 20 |