Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, To lay their just hands on that golden key,
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,

That opes the palace of Eternity :
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; To such my errand is; and, but for such,
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,

I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 169 With the rank vapors of this sin-worn mould.
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore But to my task. Neptune, besides the sway
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky: Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream,
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, Took in by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove 20
Through the dear might of him that walk'd the Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles,
waves;

That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
Where, other groves and other streams along, The unadorned bosom of the deep:
With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, Which he, to grace his tributary gods,
And hears the unexpressive nuptial song,

By course commits to several government,
In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns,
There entertain him all the saints above,

And wield their little tridents: but this isle,
In solemn troops, and sweet societies,

The greatest and the best of all the main,
That sing, and, singing in their glory, move, He quarters to his blue-hair'd deities;
And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes. And all this tract that fronts the falling Sun 30
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more ; 180 A nobler peer of mickle trust and power
Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore, Has in his charge, with temper'l awe to guide
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good An old and haughty nation, proud in arms :
To all that wander in that perilous flood. Where his fair offspring, nurs’d in princely lore,
Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and Are coming to attend their father's state,
rills,

And new-intrusted sceptre: but their way
While the still Morn went out with sandals grey; Lies through the perplex'd paths of this drear woul,
He touch'd the tender stops of various quills, The nodding horror of whose shady brows
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay ; Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger;
And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills, And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40
And now was dropt into the western bay: 191 But that by quick command from sovran Jove
At last he rose, and twitch'd his mantle blue : I was dispatch'd for their defence and guard :
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. And listen why; for I will tell you now

What never yet was heard in tale or song,
From old or modern bard, in hall or bower.

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape
Crush'd the sweet poison of misused wine,

After the Tuscan mariners transform'd,
COMUS.

Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed,

On Circe's island fell: (Who knows not Circe, 50 THE PERSONS.

The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup THE ATTENDANT Spirit, afterwards in the habit of Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape, THYRSIS.

And downward fell into a grovelling swine ?) Comus, with his crew.

This nymph, that gaz'd upon his clustering locks THE LADY.

With ivy berries wreath'd, and his blithe youth,
FIRST BROTHER.

Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son
SECOND BROTHER.

Much like his father, but his mother more,
Sabrina, the Nymph.

Whom therefore she brought up, and Comus nam'd:

Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age,
The chief persons, who presented, were Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,

60
At last betakes him to this ominous wood;
The lord Brackley;

And, in thick shelter of black shades embower'd,
Mr. Thomas Egerton, his brother; Excels his mother at her mighty art,
The lady Alice Egerton.

Offering to every weary traveller
His orient liquor in a crystal glass,
To quench the drought of Phæbus; which as they

taste
The first Scene discovers a wild wood.

(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst :) The ATTENDANT SPIRIT descends or enters.

Soon as the potion works, their human countenance,

The express resemblance of the gods, is chang’d
BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court Into some brutish form of wolf, or bear, 70
My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,
Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd

All other parts remaining as they were ;
In regions mild of calm and serene air, And they, so perfect is their misery
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, Not once perceive their soul disfigurement,
Which men call earth; and, with low-thoughted care But boast themselves more comely than before;
Confin'd and pester'd in this pinsold here,

And all their friends and native home forget,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, To roll with pleasure in a sensual stye.
Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives, Therefore when any, favor'd of high Jove,
After this mortal change, to her true servants, 10 Chances to pass through this adventurous glade,
Amongst the enthron'd gods on sainted seats. Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

80 Yet some there be, that by due steps aspire I shoot from Heaven, to give him safe convoy,

As now I do: but first I must put off

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground
These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof, In a light fantastic round.
And take the weeds and likeness of a swain
That to the service of this house belongs,

THE MEASURE.
Who with his soft pipe, and smooth-dittied song,
Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, of some chaste footing near about this ground.

Break off, break off, I feel the different pace And hush the waving woods; nor of less faith,

Run to your shrouds, within these brakes and trees; And in this office of his mountain watch

Our number may affright: some virgin sure Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90

(For so I can distinguish by mine art) 149 Of this occasion. But I hear the tread Of hateful steps; I must be viewless now.

Benighted in these woods. Now to my charms,

And to my wily trains : I shall ere long Comus enters with a charming-rod in one hand, his About my mother Circe. Thus 1 hurl

Be well-stocked with as fair a herd as graz'd glass in the other ; with him a rout of monsters, My dazzling spells into the spungy air, headed like sundry sorts of wild beasts

, but otherwise of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion, like men and women, their apparel glistering ; they And give it false presentments, lest the place come in making a riotous and unruly noise, with And my quaint habits breed astonishment, torches in their hands.

And put the damsel to suspicious flight;
Comus
Which must not be, for that's against my course :

160 The Star, that bids the shepherd fold,

I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,

And well-plac'd words of glozing courtesy Now the top of Heaven doth hold;

Baited with reasons not unplausible, And the gilded car of day

Wind me into the easy-hearted man, His glowing axle doth allay

And hug him into snares. When once her eye In the steep Atlantic stream;

Hath met the virtue of this magic dust, And the slope Sun his upward beam

I shall appear some harmless villager, Shoots against the dusky pole,

Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear Pacing towards the other goal

100

But here she comes; I fairly step aside,
Of his chamber in the east.
Meanwhile welcome Joy, and Feast,

And hearken, if I may, her business here.
Midnight Shout, and Revelry,

THE LADY enters.
Tipsy Dance, and Jollity.
Braid your locks with rosy twine,

This way the noise was, if mine ear be true, 170 Dropping odors, dropping wine.

My best guide now; methought it was the sound Rigor now is gone to bed,

Of riot and ill-manag'd merriment, And Advice with scrupulous head.

Such as the jocund Alute, or gamesome pipe, Strict Age and sour Severity,

Stirs up among the loose unletter'd hinds; With their grave saws, in slumber lie. 110 When for their teeming flocks, and granges full, We, that are of purer fire,

In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, Imitate the starry quire,

And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, To meet the rudeness, and swillid insolence, Lead in swift round the months and years. Of such late wassailers; yet, O! where else The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, Shall I inform my unacquainted feet

180 Now to the Moon in wavering morrice move; In the blind mazes of this tangled wood ? And, on the tawny sands and shelves,

My brothers, when they saw me wearied out Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves, With this long way, resolving here to lodge By dimpled brook and fountain brim,

Under the spreading favor of these pines, The wood-nymphs, deck'd with daisies trim, 120 Stept, as they said, to the next thicket side, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep; To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit What hath night to do with sleep?

As the kind hospitable woods provide. Night hath better sweets to prove,

They left me then, when the gray-hooded Even, Venus now wakes, and wakens Love.

Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed,

189 Come, let us our rites begin;

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phæbus' wain. "Tis only daylight that makes sin,

But where they are, and why they came not back, Which these dun shades will ne'er report :- Is now the labor of my thoughts; 'tis likeliest Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,

They had engag'd their wandering steps too far; Dark-veil'd Cotytto! to whom the secret flame And envious darkness, ere they could return, Of midnight torches burns; mysterious dame, 130 Had stole them from me: else, O thievish Night, That ne'er art call’d, but when the dragon woom Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars, And makes one blot of all the air ;

That Nature hung in Heaven, and fill'd their Stay the cloudy ebon chair,

lamps Wherein thou rid’st with Hecať, and befriend With everlasting oil, to give due light Us thy vow'd priests, till utmost end

To the misled and lonely traveller? 200 of all thy dues be done, and none left out; This is the place, as well as I may guess, Ere the babbling eastern scout,

Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth The nice Morn, on the Indian steep

Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear; From her cabin'd loop-hole peep,

140 Yet nought but single darkness do I find. And to the tell-tale Sun descry

What this might be ? A thousand fantasies Our conceal'd solemnity.—

Begin to throng into my memory,

return.

SONG.

Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
And aery tongues, that syllable men's names 208 To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood
On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses. Lad. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praiso
These thoughts may startle well, but not astound, That is address’d to unattending ears;
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
By a strong siding champion, Conscience.- How to regain my sever'd company,
O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope, Compell’d me to awake the courteous Echo 275
Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings, To give me answer from her mossy couch.
And thou, unblemish'd form of Chastity!

Com. What chance, good lady, hath berest you
I see ye visibly, and now believe

thus ?
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Lad. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,

Com. Could that divide you from near-ushering
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were,

guides? To keep my life and honor unassail'd.

220 Lad. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud

Com. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

Lad. To seek i’ the valley some cool friendly
I did not err, there does a sable cloud

spring Turn forth her silver lining on the night,

Com. And left your fair side all unguarded, lady ?
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove :

Lad. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick
I cannot halloo to my brothers, but
Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest Com. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them.
I'll venture; for my new-enliven'd spirits

Lad. How easy my misfortune is to hit!
Prompt me; and they perhaps are not far off. Com. Imports their loss, beside the present need?

Lad. No less than if I should my brothers lose.
Com. Were they of manly prime, or youthful
bloom?

289 SWEET Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Lad. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips. Within thy aery shell,

231 Com. Two such I saw, what time the labor'd ox By slow Meander's margent green,

In his loose traces from the furrow came
And in the violet-embroider'd vale,

And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat ;
Where the lovelorn nightingale

I saw them under a green mantling vine,
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well ; That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ;
That likest thy Narcissus are ?

Their port was more than human, as they stood :
O, if thou have

I took it for a faery vision
Hid them in some flowery cave,

Of some gay creatures of the element,
Tell me but where,

240 That in the colors of the rainbow live, 300 Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the sphere! And play i’ the plighted clouds. I was awe-struck,

So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And, as I past, I worshipt; if those you seek,
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmo- It were a journey like the path to Heaven,
nies.

To help you find them.
Lad.

Gentle villager,
Enter Comus.

What readiest way would bring me to that place ?

Com. Due west it rises from this shrubby point Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's Lad. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, mould

In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? 245 Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,
Sure something holy lodges in that breast, Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet. 310
And with these raptures moves the vocal air Com. I know each lane, and every alley green,
To testify his hidden residence.

Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
How sweetly did they float upon the wings And every bosky bourn from side to side,
Of silence, through the empty vaulted night, 250 My daily walks and ancient neighborhood ;
At every fall smoothing the raven-down And if your stray attendants be yet lodg'd, 315
Of darkness, till it smil'd! I have oft heard Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
My mother Circe with the Syrens three,

Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades,

From her thatch'd pallet rouse; if otherwise,
Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs ; I can conduct you, lady, to a low
Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul, But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
And lap it in Elysium : Scylla wept,

Till further quest.
And chid her barking waves into attention,

Lad.

Shepherd, I take thy word
And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause : And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy,
Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, 260 Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself ;

With smoky rafters, than in tap’stry halls
But such a sacred and home-felt delight,

In courts of princes, where it first was nam'd 325
Such sober certainty of waking bliss,

And yet is most pretended : in a place
I never heard till now.—I'll speak to her, Less warranted than this, or less secure,
And she shall be my queen.—Hail, foreign wonder! I cannot be, that I should fear to change it-
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine

To my proportion'd strength-Shepherd, lead on.
Dwell'st here with Pan, or Sylvan; by blest song

[Exeunt.]

395 Enter The Two BROTHERS.

Of dragon-watch, with unenchanted eye,

To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit, El. Br. Unmuffle, ye faint stars; and thou, fair From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. Moon,

You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps
That wont'st to love the traveller's benison, Of miser's treasure by an outlaw's den,
Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud, And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope
And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here

Danger will wink on Opportunity,
In double night of darkness and of shades; 335 And let a single helpless maiden pass
Or, if your influence be quite damm'd up Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste.
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, Of night, or loneliness, it recks me not ;

Though a rush-candle from the wicker hole I fear the dread events that dog them both, 405
Of some clay habitation, visit us

Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person With thy long-leveli'd rule of streaming light; of our unowned sister. And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,

El. Br.

I do not, brother,
Or Tyrian Cynosure.

Infer, as if I thought my sister's state
Sec. Br.
Or, if our eyes

Secure, without all doubt or controversy ;
Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear
The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes, Does arbitrate the event, my nature is
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops, 345 That I incline to hope, rather than fear,
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock And gladly banish squint suspicion.
Count the night watches to his feathery dames, My sister is not so defenceless left
'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, As you imagine; she has a hidden strength, 415
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. Which you remember not.
But, О that hapless virgin, our lost sister!

Sec. Br.

What hidden strength, Where may she wander now, whither betake her Unless the strength of Heaven, if you mean From the chill dew, among rude burs and thistles ?

that ? Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,

El. Br. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength, Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm Which, if Heaven gave it, may be term’d her Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with sad

own; fears.

355 'Tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity : What, if in wild amazement and affright? She, that has that, is clad in complete steel ; Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp And, like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen, Of savage hunger, or of savage heat?

May trace huge forests, and unharbor'd heaths, El. Br. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds; To cast the fashion of uncertain evils :

Where, through the sacred rays of Chastity, 425 For grant they be so, while they rest unknown, No savage fierce, bandite, or mountaineer, What need a man forestall his date of grief, Will dare to soil her virgin purity : And run to meet what he would most avoid ? Yea there, where very Desolation dwells, Or, if they be but false alarms of fear,

By grots and caverns shagg’d with horrid shades, How bitter is such self-delusion!

365 She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, I do not think my sister so to seek,

Be it not done in pride, or in presumption. Or so unprincipled in Virtue's book,

Some say, no evil thing that walks by night And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, As that the single want of light and noise Blue meager hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost (Not being in danger, as I trust she is not,) That breaks his magic chains at Curfeu time, 435 Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts, No goblin, or swart faery of the mine, And put them into misbecoming plight.

Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.
Virtue could see to do what virtue would

Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call
By her own radiant light, though Sun and Moon Antiquity from the old schools of Greece
Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self To testify the arms of Chastity?
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude ;

376 Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,
Where, with her best nurse, Contemplation, Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste,
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings, Wherewith she tamed the brinded lioness
That in the various bustle of resort

And spotted mountain-pard, but set at nought Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair’d. The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and men He that has light within his own clear breast, Fear'd her stern frown, and she was queen o' the May sit i' the centre, and enjoy bright day :

woods. But he, that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield, Benighted walks under the mid-day Sun;

That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin, Himself is his own dungeon.

385 Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone. Sec. Br. "Tis most true, But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

450 That musing Meditation most affects

And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence The pensive secrecy of desert cell,

With sudden adoration and blank awe?
Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds, So dear to Heaven is saintly Chastity,
And sits as safe as in a senate-house ;

That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, A thousand liveried angels lackey her,
His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt ;
Or do his grey hairs any violence ?

And, in clear dream and solemn vision,
But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear ; Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard Till oft converse with heavenly habitants

Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, Within the navel of this hideous wood, 520 The unpolluted temple of the mind,

Immur'd in cypress shades a sorcerer dwells, And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, 460 Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, Till all be made immortal : but when Lust, Deep skill'd in all his mother's witcheries; By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, And here to every thirsty wanderer But most by lewd and lavish act of sin,

By sly enticement gives his baneful cup, Lets in defilement to the inward parts,

With many murmurs mix’d, whose pleasing poison The soul grows clotted by contagion,

The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose And the inglorious likeness of a beast The divine property of her first being.

Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp, Character'd in the face: this have I learnt 530 Oft scen in charnel vaults and sepulchres 471 Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly crofts, Lingering, and siiting by a new-made grave, That brow this bottom-glade; whence night by As loth to leave the body that it lov’d,

night And link'd itself by carnal sensuality

He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl, To a degenerate and degraded state.

Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey,
Sec. Br. How charming is divine philosophy! Doing abhorred rites to Hecate
Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers.
But musical as is A pollo's lute,

Yet have they many baits, and guileful spells, And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,

To inveigle and invite the unwary sense Where no crude surfeit reigns.

Of them that pass unweeting by the way. El. Br.

List, list; I hear This evening late, by then the chewing flocks Some far-off halloo break the silent air. 481 Had ta’en their supper on the savory herb 541

Sec. Br. Methought so too; what should it be? Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,
El. Br.

For certain I sat me down to watch upon a bank
Lither some one like us night-founder'd here, With ivy canopied, and interwove
Or else some neighbor woodman, or, at worst, With flaunting honeysuckle, and began
Some roving robber, calling to his fellows. Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,
Sec Br. Heaven keep my sister. Again, again, To meditate my rural minstrelsy,
and near!

Till fancy had her fill; but, ere a close,
Best draw, and stand upon our guard.

The wonted roar was up amidst the woods, El Br.

I'll halloo : And fill'd the air with barbarous dissonance; 550 If he be friendly, he comes well; if not,

At which I ceas'd, and listen'd them a while, Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us. Till an unusual stop of sudden silence (Enter the Attendant Spirit, habited like a shepherd.) That draw the litter of close-curtain's Sleep;

Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds, That halloo I should know; what are you? speak; At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound Come not too near, you fall on iron stakes else. Rose like a steam of rich distillid perfumes, Spir. What voice is that? my young lord ? speak And stole upon the air, that even Silence again.

492 Was took ere she was 'ware, and wish'd she might Sec. Br. O brother, 'tis my father's shepherd, sure. Deny her nature, and be never more, El. Br. Thyrsis? Whose artful strains have oft Still to be so displac'd. I was all ear, 560 delay'd

And took in strains that might create a soul The huddling brook to hear his madrigal,

Under the ribs of Death ; but O! ere long, And sweeten'd every musk-rose of the dale ? Too well I did perceive it was the voice How cam'st thou here, good swain? hath any ram of my most honor'd lady, your dear sister. Slipt from the fold, or young kid lost his dam, Amaz'd I stood, harrow'd with grief and fear, Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ? And, O poor hapless nightingale, thought I, How could'st thou find this dark sequester'd nook? How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly Spir. O my lov'd master's heir, and his next joy,

snare! I came not here on such a trivial toy 502 Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, As a stray'd ewe, or to pursue the stealth Through paths and turnings often trod by day, Of pilfering wolf: not all the fleecy wealth, Till, guided by mine ear, I found the placo, 570 That doth enrich these downs, is worth a thought Where that damnd wisard, hid in sly disguise, To this my errand, and the care it brought. (For so by certain signs I knew.) had met But, O my virgin lady, where is she?

Already, ere my best speed could prevent, How chance she is not in your company?

The aidless innocent lady, his wish'd prey ; El. Br. To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without Who gently ask'd if he had seen such two, blame,

Supposing him some neighbor villager.
Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 510 Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guess’d

Spir. Ay me unhappy! then my fears are true. Ye were the two she meant; with that I sprung El. Br. What fears, good Thyrsis? Pr'ythee Into swift flight, till I had found you here; briefly show.

But further know I not. Spir. I'll tell ye: 'tis not vain or fabulous. Sec. Br.

O night, and shades ! 580 (Though so esteem'd by shallow ignorance) How are ye join'd with Hell in triple knot What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, Against the unarm'd weakness of one virgin, Storied of old in high immortal verse,

Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence Of dire chimeras, and enchanted isles,

You gave me, brother? And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell; El. Br.

Yes, and keep it still ; For such there be, but unbelief is blind.

Lean on it safely ; not a period