"To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, "And try her yet more strongly-Come, no more, "This is mere moral babble, and direct

"Against the canon laws of our foundation;

"I must not suffer this, yet 'tis but the lees
"And settlings of a melancholy blood;
"But this will cure all strait," one sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight,
Beyond the bliss of dreams.

330

Be wise, and taste———

[The Brothers rush in with swords drawn, wrest the glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground; his rout make signs of resistance, but are all driven in.]

Enter the First Spirit.

What, have you let the false enchanter scape >
O, ye mistook, you should have snatch'd his wang
And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd,
"And backward mutters of dissev'ring pow'r,"
We cannot free the lady, that sits here

In stony fetters fix'd, and motionless.

Yet stay, be not disturb'd; now I bethink me, "Some other means I have, which may be us'd, 340 "Which once of Melibæus old I learn'd,

"The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains
“I learn'd 'em then, when with my fellow swain,
"The youthful Lycidas, his flocks I fed."

There is a gentle nymph not far from hence,
Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure,

That sways the Severn stream ;'

F

"And, as the old swain said," she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
If she be right invok'd in warbled song; ...
"For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
"To aid a virgin, such as was herself.

And see the swain himself in season comes.

Enter the Second Spirit.

Haste; Lycidas, and try thy tuneful strain,
Which from her bed the fair Sabrina calls.

SONG. By Second Spirit.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting·

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
Listen for dear honour's sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save.

SABRINA rises and sings.

By the rushy-fringed bank,.

There grows the willow and the osier dank,
My sliding chariot stays,

Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen
Of Turkis blue, and em'rald green,

That in the channel strays ;

350

360

"Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printless feet
"O'er the cowslip's velvet head,
"That bends not as I tread;"
Gentle swain, at thy request,
I am bere.

RECITATIVE, Second Spirit.

Goddess dear,

We implore thy powerful hand
To undo the charmed band

Of true virgin here distress'd,
Thro' the force, and thro' the wile,
Of unbless'd enchanter vile.

RECITATIVE. Sabrina.

Shepherd, 'tis my office best
To help ensnared chastity:
Brightest lady, look on me;
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 ruby'd lip;
Next this marble venom'd seat,

Smear'd with gums of glutinous heat,

I touch with chaste palms moist and cold;
Now the spell hath lost his hold;

And I must haste, ere morning-hour,
To wait in Amphitrite's bower.

370

380

390

[SABRINA descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat; the Brothers embrace her tenderly.]

E Bro. "I oft had heard, but ne'er believ'd till now, "There are, who can by potent magic spells "Bend to their crooked purpose nature's laws, "Blot the fair moon from her resplendant orb, "Bid whirling planets stop their destin'd course, 400 "And thro' the yawning earth from Stygian gloom "Call up the meagre ghost to walks of light: "It may be so for some mysterious end!"

Y. Bro. Why did I doubt? Why tempt the wrath of heav'n

To shed just vengeance on my weak distrust? "Here spotless innocence has found relief,

"By means as wond'rous as her strange distress." E. Bro. The freedom of the mind, you see, no

charm,

No spell can reach; that righteous Jove forbids,
Lest man should call his frail divinity

The slave of evil, or the sport of chance.
Inform us, Thyrsis, if for this thine aid,
We aught can pay that equals thy desert.

First Spirit discovering himself.

Pay it to Heaven! There my mansion is:
"But when a mortal, favour'd of high Jove,
"Chances to pass thro' yon advent'rous glade,
"Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

410

"I shoot from heav'n to give him safe convoy."
That lent you grace to escape this cursed place;
To heaven, that here has try'd your youth,
Your faith, your patience, and your truth,
And sent you thro' these hard essays

With a crown of deathless praise.

420

[Then the two first Spirits advance and speak alternately the following lines, which MILTON calls epiloguizing.

To the ocean now I fly,

And those happy climes that lye

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,

430

That sing about the golden tree.

Along the crisped shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocund Spring;
The Graces and the rosy-bosom'd Hours
Thither all their bounties bring;
There eternal Summer dwells,
And west-wings with musky wing
About the cedern alleys fling
Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.

Now my task is smoothly done,

I can fly or I can run

440

Quickly to the green earth's end,

Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend;