Listen, and appear to us, In name of great Oceanus; By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, 870 875 880 tune having then changed Ino and her son into sea deities, the latter was supposed to have received special power to save shipwrecked mariners, and their names were changed to Leucothea and Portumnus or Palæmon. See Ovid's Fasti, vi. 545, and Met. iv. 538. 877. Thetis.] One of the Nereids whom Milton calls tinselslippered, as Homer calls her silver-footed. And here, it should be observed that tinsel, from the French etincelle, was employed by Milton to denote sparkling or glistening, without reference to what is now the chief import of the word. See Trench's English Past and Present, p. 130. Parthenope and Ligea, afterwards mentioned, were two of the Sirens -the tomb of the former was at Naples, the latter is represented by Milton in the usual attitude of a mermaid. Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks, 885 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, 890 Where grow the willow and the osier dank, My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agate, and the azure sheen Of turkois blue, and emerald green, That in the channel strays; Whilst from off the waters fleet That bends not as I tread; Spir. Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand 894. Turkis.] The turkois, or turquoise, is a Persian gem of a bluish-green colour. 899. That bends not, &c.] Prospero, in Shakspeare's Tempest, v. 1, speaks of the 'printless foot' of elves sporting on the sand. But the notion of the unbending cowslip was probably derived from Virgil's description of the Volscian Queen Camilla, who in swiftness 895 900 outstripped the wind, and who When swift Camilla scours the plain Of true virgin here distressed, Through the force and through the wile Sabr. Shepherd, 'tis my office best Thus I sprinkle on thy breast Drops, that from my fountain pure I have kept, of precious cure;. Next this marble venômed 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, 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, 905 910 915 920 May thy billows roll ashore With many a tower and terrace round, 935 Lest the sorcerer us entice Where this night are met in state. Will double all their mirth and cheer: 940 945 950 955 Come, let us haste, the stars grow high, But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the President's Castle; then come in Country Dancers; after them THE ATTENDANT SPIRIT, with the Two BROTHERS and THE LADY. SONG. Spir. Back, shepherds, back; enough your play, Till next sun-shine holiday : Here be, without duck or nod, Other trippings to be trod Of lighter toes, and such court guise 956. The stars grow high.] The stars appear to be higher or more distant at the approach of morning. 957. Night sits, &c.] That is, it is not yet past the time of midnight. 958. Enough your play.] There has been enough of your dancing, &c., which must now give place to another kind of dancing. 959. Sun-shine holiday.] The same expression occurs in L'Allegro, 98. 960. Without duck or nod.] Without such forms of obeisance as those of shepherds and servants; for now were the young lady and her brothers come to triumph in victorious dance.' 960. Of such court guise.] Of such court fashion, or refined style. Spenser has 'courtly guise.' -F. Q. I. iv. 14. 960 965 963. Mercury did first devise.] Mercury, among the heathen deities, was the representative of agility and swiftness; and he was the first civiliser of human manners. See Horace, Od. I. x. 1-4; and compare Horace's decora palestra with Virgil's agresti palestra, in the Georg. ii. 531. 964. The Mincing Dryades.] The Dryades were wood-nymphs, so called from the Greek word for an oak. Ovid, Met. viii. 746, represents them as often dancing under an aged oak: Sæpe sub hâc Dryades festas duxerc choreas. The word mincing denotes tripping lightly and delicately, with short steps. Hence in Shakspeare, Merch. Ven. iii. 4: Turn two mincing steps into a manly stride. See Isaiah, iii. 16. |