and bridle in thy headlong wave,

ill thou our fummons anfwer'd have.

Liften and fave.

Sabrina rifes, attended by water-nymphs, and

fings.

By the rufhy-fringed bank,

Where grows the willow and the ofier dank,

My fliding chariot stays,

Thick fet with agat, and the azurn fheen

Of turkis blue, and emrald green,
That in the channel ftrays;
Whilft from off the waters fleet
Thus I fet my printless feet

890

895

O'er

I am this fountain's God; below.
My waters to a river grow,
And 'twixt two banks with offers
fet,

That only profper in the wet,
Through the meadows do they
glide,

Wheeling ftill on every fide,
Sometimes winding round about,
To find the even'it channel out.
&'c.

895. That in the channel frays;] In the Manuscript it was at first

That my rich wheels inlays.
910. Brightest

O'er the cowflips velvet head,

That bends not as I tread;

Gentle Swain, at thy request

I am here.

99

SPIRIT.

Goddess dear,

We implore thy pow'rful hand

To undo the charmed band

Of true virgin here distrest,

Through the force, and through the wile

Of unbleft inchanter vile.

SABRINA.

Shepherd, 'tis my office beft

To help infnared chastity:

Brighteft Lady, look on me;

Thus I fprinkle on thy breaft

905

910

Drops

910. Brighteft Lady,] It was at The word is found in Chaucer, firft Virtuous Lady.

913. I have kept of precious cure,] If the reading be right, the meaning muft be fome drops of a very healing power. But I think it would do good to the verfe, as well as the language, to throw out the c and read wre, i. e. use.

Spenfer, and many others. Calton.

So Clorin heals the faithful Shep918. I touch with chafte palms] herdefs Act 5.

With spotless hand on fpotless

breaft

I put these herbs, to give thee

reft.

921. Ta

Next this marble venom'd seat,

Smear'd with gums of glutenous heat,

touch with chafte palms moift and cold:

Now the spell hath loft his hold;

And I must hafte ere morning hour

To wait in Amphitrite's bow'r.

Sabrina defcends, and the Lady rifes out of

929

925 From

See Milton's Hiftory of England
Book I.

924. May thy brimmed waves &c]
I fhould rather think brined, i. e.
made falt by the mixture of sea-
water. Brimmed may indeed fig-
nify waves that rife to the brim
or margin of the fhore: but it is
a ftrange word.
At first he had written crystal, but

Warburton.

alter'd

From a thousand petty rills,

That tumble down the fnowy hills:

Summer drouth, or finged air

Never fcorch thy treffes fair,

Nor wet October's torrent flood

Thy molten cryftal fill with mud;
May thy billows roll afhore

93

The beryl, and the golden ore;

May thy lofty head be crown'd

With many a tow'r and terras round,

93

upon

And here and there thy banks
With groves of myrrhe, and cinnamon.

Come, Lady, while Heav'n lends us grace,

Let us fly this cursed place,

Left the forcerer us entice
With fome other new device.
Not a waste, or needlefs found,
Till we come to holier ground;
I fhall be your faithful guide

Through this gloomy covert wide,
And not many furlongs thence

940

945

For thy kindrefs to me shown,
Never from thy banks be blown
Any tree, with windy force,
Crofs thy fireams, to ftop thy
courfe:

May no beat that comes to drink,
With his horns caft down thy
brink;

May none that for thy fish do
look,

Cut thy banks to dam thy brook;
Barefoot may no neighbour wade
In thy cool ftreams wife nor maid,
When the spawn on stones do lie,
To wash their hemp, and fpoil
the fry.

Mr. Seward farther remarks, that
the construction of the two last of
Milton's lines is a little difficult.