Page images
PDF
EPUB

And we should serve him as a grudging master, As a penurious niggard of his wealth,

And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons, Who would be quite surcharg'd with her own weight, And strangled with her waste fertility, 729

Th' earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air darkt with The herdswould over-multitude their lords,[plumes, The sea o'er fraught would swell, and th' unsought diamonds

740

Would so imblaze the forehead of the Deep,
And so bestud with stars, that they below
Would grow inur'd to light, and come at last.
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.
List lady, be not coy, and be not cosen'd
With that same vaunted name Virginity.
Beauty is Nature's coin, must not be horded,
But must be current, and the good thereof
Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,
Unsavoury in th' enjoyment of itself;
If you let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk with languish'd head.
Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown
In courts, in feasts, and high solemnities,
Where most may wonder at the workmanship;
It is for homely features to keep home,
They had their name thence; coarse complexions
And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply 750
The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.
What need a vermeil-tinctur'd lip for that,
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the Morn?

There was another meaning in these gifts,
Think what, and be advis'd, you are but young yet.
LA. I had not thought to have unlockt my lips
In this unhallow'd air, but that this jugler
Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes,
Obtruding false rules prankt in Reason's garb.
I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments,
760
And Virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impostor, do not charge most innocent Nature,
As if she would her children should be riotous
With her abundance; she good cateress
Means her provisions only to the good,
That live according to her sober laws,
And holy dictate of spare temperance:
If just man, that now pines with want,
Had but a moderate and beseeming share
Of that which lewdly-pamper'd luxury
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,
Nature's full blessings would be well dispens'd
In unsuperfluous even proportion,

[ocr errors]

And she no whit incumber'd with her store,
And then the giver would be better thank'd,
His praise due paid; for swinish Gluttony
Ne'er looks to Heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast,
But with besotted base ingratitude

Crams, and blasphemes his feeder. Shall I go on?
Or have I said enough? To him that dares 780
Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words
Against the sun-clad pow'r of Chastity,
Fain would I something say, yet to what end?

Thou hast nor'ear, nor soul to apprehend
The sublime notion, and high mystery,
That must be utter'd to unfold the sage
And serious doctrine of Virginity,

And thou art worthy that thou should'st not know More happiness than this thy present lot.

Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,

790

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence,
Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinc'd;
Yet should I try, the uncontrolled worth
Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits
To such a flame of sacred vehemence,

That dumb things would be mov'd to sympathize
And the brute earth would lend her nerves, and shake,
Till all thy magic structures rear'd so high,
Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy false head.
COM. She fables not, I feel that; I do fear 800
Her words set off by some superior power;
And though not mortal, yet a cold shudd'ring dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder, and the shades of Erebus

To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble
And try her yet more strongly. Come, no more,
This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the canon laws of our foundation;
I must not suffer this, yet 'tis but the lees
And settlings of a melancholy blood:
But this will cure all strait, one sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.

810

The BROTHERS rush in with swords drawn, wrest hit glass out of his hand, and break it against the ground; his rout make sign of resistance, but are all drives in: the attendant SPIRIT comes in.

SP1. What have you let the false inchanter scape? O ye mistook, ye should have snatch'd his wand And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd, And backward mutters of dissevering power, We cannot free the lady that sits here

In stony fetters fix'd, and motionless:

Yet stay, be not disturb'd; now I bethink me, 820 Some other means I have which my be us'd Which once of Melibaus old I learnt,

The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains. There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, Thatwith moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream, Sabrina is her name, a vigin pure;

830

Whilome she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the sceptre from his father Brute.
She guiltless damsel fly'ing the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen,
Commended her fair innocence to the flood,
That stay'd her flight with his cross-flowing course.
The water-nymphs that in the bottom play'd,
Held up their pearled wrists and took her in,
Baring be strait to aged Nereus' hall,
Who pitious of her woes, rear'd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers strow'd with asphodil,

840

And through the porch and inlet of each.sense
Dropt in ambrosial oils till she reviv'd,
And underwent a quick immortal change,
Made Goddess of the river; still she retains
Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve
Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,
Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs.
That the shrewd medling elfe delights to make,
Which she with precious vial'd liquors heals;
For which the Shepherds at their festivals
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of pancies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.
And, as the old swain said, she can unlock
The clasping charm, and thaw the numming 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 her self,
In hard besetting need; this will I try,
And add the power of some adjuring verse.

[blocks in formation]

Listen where thou art sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lillies knitting

851

The loose train of thy amber dropping hair;

Listen for dear Honor's sake,

Goddess of the Silver lake.

Listen and save.

860

« PreviousContinue »