Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and fings. ;
By the rushy-fringed bank,
Where grows the willow and the osier dank,
My fliding chariot stays,
Thick set with agat, and the azurn Meen
Of turkis blue, and emrald green,
That in the channel ftrays ;
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 here.
SPI. Goddess dear,
We implore thy powerful hand
To undo the charmed band
Of true virgin here distrest,
Through the force, and through the wile,
Of unbleit inchanter vile.
SAB. 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 feat,
Smear'd with gums of glutenous heat,
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold
Now the spell hath lost his hold;
And I must hafte ere morning hour
To wait in Amphitrite's bower.
Sabrina descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat.
Spr. Virgin daughter of Locrine,
Sprung of old Anchises’ line,
May thy brimmed waves for this
Their full tribute never miss
925
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
930 Thy molten crystal fill with mud; May thy billows roll afhore The beryl, and the golden ore; May thy lofty head be crown'd With many a tower and terras round,
935 And here and there thy banks upon With
groves of myrrhe, and cinnamon.
Come, Lady, while Heav’n lends us grace,
Let us fly this cursed place,
Left the forcerer us entice
949
With some other new device.
Not a waste, or needless found,
Till we come to holier ground;
I thall
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 near 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 chear;
Come let us haste, the stars grow high,
But night fits monarch yet in the mid sky.
The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the
President's castle; then come in country dancers, after them the attendent Spirit, with the two Brothers and the Lady.
s 0 N G.
-- SP1. Back, Shepherds, back, enough your play,
Till next fun-fhine holiday;
Here be without duck or nod
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such court guise
Aş Mercury did first devise
With the mincing Dryades
On the lawns, and on the leas.
965
This second Song presents them to their Father and
Mother.
Noble Lord, and Lady bright,
I have brought you new delight,
Here behold so goodly grown
Three fair branches of your own;
Heav'n hath timely trý'd 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.
SPI. To the ocean now I fly,
And those happy climcs 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
That sing about the golden tree :
Along the crisped shades and bowers
Revels the spruce and jocond Spring,
The Graces, and the rosy-bosom’d Hours,
Thither all their bounties bring ;
That there eternal Summer dwells,
And west-winds with musky wing
About the cedarn alleys fling
Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.
Iris there with humid bow
Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can shew,
And drenches with Elysian dew
(List mortals, if your cars be true)
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits th’ Assyrian queen;
But far above in spangled sheen
Celestial Cupid her fam'd son advanc'd,
Holds his dear Psyche sweet intranc’d,
After her wandering labors 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; lo Jove liath 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 flow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the moon.
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