In hard-besetting need; this will I try,
And add the pow'r of some adjuring verse.

Sabrina fair,

SONG.

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.

Listen and appear to us

In name of great Oceanus,

By th' earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys' grave majestic pace,

By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,
And the Carpathian wisard's hook,
By scaly Triton's winding shell,
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,

860

865

870

875

863 amber-dropping] Consult Warton's note. Todd gives an extract from Nash's Terrors of the Night, 1594. Their haire they ware loose unrowled about their shoulders, whose dangling amber trammells reaching downe beneath their knees, seemed to drop baulme on their delicious bodies.'

668 great] Hes. Theog. 20. 'Qɛɛavóv тe péyav. Newton. 871 hoary] Virg. Georg. iv. 392. Grandævus Nereus.' Newton.

872 Carpathian] Carpathius vates.' Stat. Ach. i. 136.

Val. Flacc. ii. 317.

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 grows 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

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

893 azurn] Ital. 'azzurino.' Todd.

694 green] On gems in Sabrina's stream.

Silva, p. 46.

880

885

800

895

See Cowley's

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

Of unblest inchanter 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

To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

910

913

920

907 inchanter] Faer. Q. iii. 12, 31. 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.

hills:

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
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

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

925

930

935

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.' 930 flood] Sylv. Du Bartas, P. 171.

dirty mudds

Defil'd the crystal of smooth sliding floods.'

Dunster.

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

9.50

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.