"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 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 > 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 There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, That sways the Severn stream ;' F "And, as the old swain said," she can unlock And see the swain himself in season comes. Enter the Second Spirit. Haste; Lycidas, and try thy tuneful strain, SONG. By Second Spirit. Sabrina fair, Listen where thou art sitting· Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; 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, Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen That in the channel strays ; 350 360 "Whilst from off the waters fleet RECITATIVE, Second Spirit. Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand Of true virgin here distress'd, RECITATIVE. Sabrina. Shepherd, 'tis my office best Smear'd with gums of glutinous heat, I touch with chaste palms moist and cold; And I must haste, ere morning-hour, 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, The slave of evil, or the sport of chance. First Spirit discovering himself. Pay it to Heaven! There my mansion is: 410 "I shoot from heav'n to give him safe convoy." 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: All amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus, and his Daughters three, 430 That sing about the golden tree. Along the crisped shades and bowers 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; |