Page images
PDF
EPUB

And turn the adamantine spindle round,

On which the fate of Gods and Men is wound.
Such sweet compulsion doth in musick lie,
To lull the daughters of Necessity,

And keep unsteady Nature to her law,
And the low world in measur'd motion draw
After the heavenly tune, which none can hear
Of human mould, with gross unpurged ear;
And yet such musick worthiest were to blaze
The peerless highth of her immortal praise,
Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit,
If my inferiour hand or voice could hit
Inimitable sounds: yet, as we go,
Whate'er the skill of lesser Gods can show,
I will assay, her worth to celebrate,

And so attend ye toward her glittering state;
Where ye may all, that are of noble stem,
Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture's hem.

II. SONG.

O'ER the smooth enamell'd green

Where no print of step hath been,
Follow me, as I sing

And touch the warbled string,

Under the shady roof

Of branching elm star-proof.

Follow me;

I will bring you where she sits,

Cold in splendour as befits
Her deity.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

III. SONG.

NYMPHS and Shepherds, dance no more

By sandy Ladon's lillied banks;
On old Lycæus, or Cyllene hoar.
Trip no more in twilight ranks;
Though Erymanth your loss deplore,

A better soil shall give ye thanks.
From the stony Mænalus

Bring your flocks, and live with us;
Here ye shall have greater grace,

To serve the Lady of this place.

Through Syrinx your Pan's mistress were.

Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

[blocks in formation]

COMUS:

A

MASK,

PRESENTED AT LUDLOW CASTLE, 1634.

BEFORE

JOHN, EARL OF BRIDGEWATER,

THEN PRESIDENT OF WALES.

THE PERSONS.

THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, afterwards in the habit

of THYRSIS.

COMUS, with his Crew,

THE LADY.

FIRST BROTHER.

SECOND BROTHER.

SABRINA, the Nymph.

The chief Persons, who presented, were

The Lord Brackley.

Mr. Thomas Egerton, his brother
The Lady Alice Egerton.

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »