SABRINA DESCENDS, AND THB LADY RISES OUT OF HER SEAT.

SPIRIT.

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
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
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 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 cheer;
Come let us haste, the stars grow high,

But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

THE SCENE CHANGES, PRESENTING LUDLOW TOWN AND THE PRESI
DENT'S CASTLE; THEY COME IN COUNTRY DANCERS, AFTER

THEM THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, WITH THE TWO
BROTHERS AND THE LADY.

SONG.

SPIRIT.

Back, Shepherds, back, enough your play,

Till next sun-shine holiday;

Here be without duck or nod

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.

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 try'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.

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

Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
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;

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 ears 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 entranc'd,
After her wand'ring labours 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; so Jove hath 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 slow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon

To the corners of the moon.

Mortals that would follow me,

Love Virtue, she alone is free,

XVII.

LYCIDAS.

IN THIS MONODY THE AUTHOR BEWAILS A LEARNED FRIEND, UNFORTUNATELY DROWNED IN HIS PASSAGE FROM CHESTER ON THE

IRISH SEAS, 1637, AND BY OCCASION FORETELS THE

RUIN OF OUR CORRUPTED CLERGY, THEN IN

YET Once more, 0

THEIR HEIGHT.

ye laurels, and once more

Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sere,

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude,

And with forc'd fingers rude

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.

Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,