"Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else." "F" Spi. What voice is that? my young lord? Speak again. 170 Y.Bro. O brother, 't is my father's shepherd sure. E. Bro. Thyrsis? whose artful strains have oft' delay'd The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, And sweeten'd ev'ry muskrose of the dale, How cam'st thou here, good Swain? has any ram Slipp'd from the fold, or young kid lost his dam, Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ? How couldst thou find this dark sequestred nook ? "F." Spi. O my lov'd master's heir and his next joy! "I came not here on such a trivial toy "As a stray'd ewe, or to pursue the stealth 180 "Of pilf'ring wolf: not all the fleecy wealth "That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought "To this my errand, and the care it brought. "But oh!" where is my virgin lady? where is she? How chance she is not in your company! E. Bro. To tell thee sadly, Shepherd, without blame Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. "F." Spi. Ah me! unhappy! then my fears are true. E. Bro. What fears, good Thyrsis! prithee briefly shew? 190 F. Spi. "I'll tell ye: 't is not vain, nor fabulous, "(Tho' so esteem'd by shallow ignorance) "What the sage poets, taught by th' heav'nly Muse, "Story'd of old in high immortal verse, "Of dire Chimeras, and enchanted isles, "And rifted rocks, whose entrance leads to hell; "For such there be; but unbelief is blind. E. Bro. "Proceed, good shepherd! I am all attion." 200 "F" Spi. Within the navel of this hideous wood, Immur'd in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, Deep skill'd in all his mother's witcheries, And wanton as his father; "And here to ev'ry thirsty wanderer "By sly enticements gives his baneful cup, "With many murmurs mix'd, whose pleasing poison "The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, "And the inglorious likeness of a beast "Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage "Character'd in the face." This have I learnt 210 Tending my flock hard by, "i' th' hilly croft "That brow this bottom glade," whence night by night He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl "In their obscured haunts and inmost bow'rs." 220 presence; D "Gleams thro' the shade," and this way guides their steps. Let us withdraw awhile and watch their motions. [They retire. Enter COMUS' Crew revelling, and by turns caressing each other, till they observe the Two Brothers; then Elder Brother advances and speaks. E. Bro. What are you, speak, that thus in wanton riot And midnight revelry, like drunken Bacchanals, Invade the silence of these lonely shades? F. Wom. Ye godlike youths! "whose radiant forms excel "The blooming grace of Maia's winged son," [She offers them the cup, which they both put by. SONG. By a Man. By the gayly circling glass We can see how minutes pass, By the hollow cask are told How the waining night grows old. E. Bro. Forbear, nor offer us the poison'd sweets That thus have render'd thee thy sex's shame, All sense of honour banish'd from thy breast. "SONG. "Fame's an echo, prattling double, "Why then, why such toil and pain E. Bro. "By her own sentence Virtue stands ab solv'd, "Nor asks an echo from the tongues of men "To tell what hourly to herself she proves. "Who wants his own no other praise enjoys; "His ear receives it as a fulsome tale “To which his heart in secret gives the lie : 'Nay, slander'd innocence must feel a peace, "An inward peace, which flatter'd guilt ne'er knew." F. Wom. Oh! how unseemly shews in blooming youth Such grey severity !. -But come with us, We to the bow'r of bliss will guide your steps; On the gay spring of life, youth's flow'ry prime, SONG. By a Woman in a pastoral babit. Would you taste the noon tide air, Down each side a fountain flows, Round the languid herds and sheep The fair does all alonè repose. All alone and in her arms 270 280 E. Bro. "How low sinks beauty when by vice de bas'd! "How fair that form if virtue dwelt within! 290 |