And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis' tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the songs of Sirens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft alluring locks,
By all the nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head
From thy coral-paven bed,

And bridle in thy headlong wave,

Till thou our summons answer'd have.

Listen and save.

SABRINA rises, attended by water-nymphs,
and sings.

By the rushy-fringed bank,

Where grow the willow and the osier dank,

My sliding chariot stays,

Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen

Of turkis blue, and emerald green,

That in the channel strays ;

Whilst from off the waters fleet,

Thus I set my printless feet

890 rushy] I would read 'rush-yfringed.' Warton.

898 azurn] Ital. 'azzurrino.' Todd.

880

885

890

895

894 green] On gems in Sabrina's stream, see Cowley's Silva, p. 46.

897 printless] Shakesp. Temp. act v. s. 1. 'And ye, that on the sands with printless foot.' Warton.

Of unblest enchanter vile.

SABR. Shepherd, 'tis my office best

To help insnared 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 rubied 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

910

915

920

To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

907 enchanter] Faer. Q. iii. 12, 81. 'And her before the vile enchaunter sate.' Todd.

915 rubied] Wither. Mist. of Philarete, (Percy's Rel. iii.

264.) 'Wanton eye or lip of ruby.' Todd.

918 moist] 'The moone though moist and cold she be.'

Randolph's Poems, p. 49.

SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat.

SP. Virgin, daughter of Locrine Sprung of old Anchises' line,

May thy brimmed waves for this

Their full tribute never miss
From a thousand petty rills,
That tumble down the snowy hills:
Summer drouth, or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair,
Nor wet October's torrent flood
Thy molten crystal fill with mud;
May thy billows roll ashore

The beryl, and the golden ore;
May thy lofty head be crown'd

925

930

With many a tow'r and terrace round,
And here and there thy banks upon

935

With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.

Come, Lady, while heav'n lends us grace,

Let us fly this cursed place,

Lest the sorcerer us entice

·

940

924 brimmed] brined,' Warburton; a wrong and tasteless alteration: brimmed' is connected with the two following lines. Lucret. ii. 362,

'Fluminaque illa queunt, summis labentia ripis.'

980 flood] Sylv. Du Bartas, p. 171.

With some other new device.
Not a waste, or needless sound,
Till we come to holier ground;
I shall be your faithful guide
Through this gloomy covert wide,
And not many furlongs thence
Is your Father's residence,
Where this night are met in state
Many a friend to gratulate
His wish'd presence, and beside
All the swains that there abide,
With jigs, and rural dance resort;
We shall catch them at their sport,
And our sudden coming there

Will double all their mirth and cheer;
Come, let us haste, the stars grow high,
But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

945

950

955

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.

SP. Back, Shepherds, back, enough your play, Till next sunshine holiday;

Here be without duck or nod

951 there] So Milton's own edition, the MS. 'near.'

960

960 duck] K. Richard III. act i. sc. 3. 'Duck with French nods.'

Warton.

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.

985

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;

Heav'n hath timely tried their youth,

970

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 epiloguises.

SP. 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

975

980

P. L. iv. 982. Todd.

972 hard] Milton is fond of this expression. 'from hard assays.' P. Reg. i. 264. iv. 478. 979 broad] MS. 'plain fields.' Fairfax, B. viii. st. 57. O'er the broad fields of heaven's bright wildernesse.' Warton and Todd