"And, as the old swain said," she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell,
If she be right invok'd in warbled song :
"For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift
"To aid a virgin, such as was herself.

"And see the swain himself in season comes."

Enter the Second Spirit.

Haste, Lycidas, and try thy tuneful strain,
Which from her bed the fair Sabrina calls.

SONG. By Second Spirit.

Sabrina fair,

Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting

350

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; 360
Listen for dear honour's sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.

SABRINA rises 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 azure sheen

Of Turkis blue, and em'rald green,

That in the channel strays;

Of true virgin here distress'd,

Thro' the force, and thro' the wile,
Of unbless'd enchanter vile.

Shepherd, 'tis my office best
To help ensnared 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 ruby'd lip;
Next this marble venom'd seat,

Smear'd with gums of glutinous heat,

370

380

39°

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 bower.

[SABRINA descends, and the Lady rises out of her seat; the Brothers embrace her tenderly.

E. Bro. "I oft had heard, but ne'er believ'd till now, "There are, who can by potent magic spells "Bend to their crooked purpose nature's laws, "Blot the fair moon from her resplendent orb, "Bid whirling planets stop their destin'd course, 400 "And thro' the yawning earth from Stygian gloom "Call up the meagre ghost to walks of light :

"It may be so,

-for some mysterious end!"

Y. Bro. Why did I doubt? Why tempt the wrath of heav'n

To shed just vengeance on my weak distrust? "Here spotless innocence has found relief, "By means as wond'rous as her strange distress." E. Bro. The freedom of the mind, you see, no

charm,

No spell can reach; that righteous Jove forbids,

Lest man should call his frail divinity

'The slave of evil, or the sport of chance. Inform us, Thyrsis, if for this thine aid, We aught can pay that equals thy desert..

First Spirit discovering himself.

Pay it to Heaven! There my mansion is :
"But when a mortal, favour'd of high Jove,.
"Chances to pass thro' yon advent'rous glade,
"Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

410

"I shoot from heav'n to give him safe convoy.”
That lent you grace to escape this cursed place;
To heaven, that here has try'd your youth,
Your faith, your patience, and your truth,
And sent you thro' these hard essays
With a crown of deathless praise.

420

[Then the two first Spirits advance and speak alternately the following lines, which MILTON calls epiloguizing. To the ocean now I fly,

And those happy climes that lye
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;

There eternal Summer dwells,

And west-winds with musky wing

About the cedarn alleys fling

Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.

430

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;

440

And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the moon.
Mortals that would follow me,
Love Virtue, she alone is free:
She can teach you how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or, if Virtue feeble were,

450

Heaven itself would stoop to her.

Chorus. Taught by virtue, you may climb
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or, if Virtue feeble were,

Heaven itself would stoop to her.

THE END.