Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/94

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��Visits the herds along the twilight mea- dows,

Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs That the shrewd meddling Elf delights to

make, Which she with pretious vialed liquors

heals :

For which the Shepherds, at their festivals, Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, 850

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffadils. And, as the old Swain said, she can un- lock

The clasping charm, and thaw the numb- ing spell,

If she be right invoked in warbled song; For maidenhood she loves, and will be

swift

To aid a virgin, such as was herself, In hard-besetting need. This will I try, And add the power of some adjuring verse.

SONG

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting 860

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 the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,

And Tethys' grave majestic pace; 870

By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,

And the Carpathian wizard's hook;

By scaly Triton's winding shell,

And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell;

By Leucothea's lovely hands,

And her son that rules the strands ;

By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet,

And the songs of Sirens sweet;

By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,

And fair Ligea's golden comb, 880

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 answered have.

Listen and save !

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

By the rushy-fringed bank, S 9 o

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 O'er the cowslip's velvet head,

That bends not as I tread. Gentle swain, at thy request 900

I am here !

Spir. Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand To undo the charmed band Of true virgin here distressed Through the force and through the wile Of unblessed enchanter vile.

Sabr. Shepherd, 't is my office best To help insnared Chastity. Brightest Lady, look on me. 910

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast Drops that from my fountain pure I have kept of pretious cure; Thrice upon thy finger's tip, Thrice upon thy rubied lip: Next this marble venomed seat, Smeared 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 920 To wait in Amphitrite's bower.

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

Spir. 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 930

Thy molten crystal fill with mud; May thy billows roll ashore The beryl and the golden ore;

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