At every fall smoothing the raven down
Of darkness till it smil'd! I have oft heard

My mother Circe with the Sirens three,
Amidst the flow'ry-kirtled Naiades,

Culling their potent herbs, and baleful drugs, 255
Who, as they sung, would take the prison'd soul,
And lap it in Elysium; Scylla wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell Charybdis murmur'd soft applause:
Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, 260
And in sweet madness robb'd it of itself;

264

But such a sacred, and home-felt delight,
Such sober certainty of waking bliss
I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
And she shall be my queen. Hail, foreign wonder!
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine

269

Dwell'st here with Pan, or Silvan, by blest song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.
LAD. Nay, gentle Shepherd, ill is lost that
praise

252 Of darkness] See T. Heywood's Love's Mistresse, p. 14, 4to. and Milton's Life, p. xv. note.

253 Circe] On Milton's having intermixed the 'Sirens' with 'Circe, T. Warton's note may be consulted, p. 283. 25barking] Giles Fletcher's Christ's Victorie and Triumph, 1632, p. 55.

'And more in heaps the barking surges band.'

239 Charybdis] Sil. Ital. xiv. 474.

A. Dyce.

Scyllæi tacuere canes, stetit atra Charybdis.' Warton. goddess] See Cowley's Love's Riddle, p. 117.

That is address'd to unattending ears;
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my sever'd company,
Compell'd me to awake the courteous Echo 275
To give me answer from her mossy couch.

Сом. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you thus ?

LAD. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth. Сом. Could that divide you from near-ushering

guides?

LAD. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 Сом. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why? LAD. To seek i' th' valley some cool friendly

spring.

[Lady?

Com. And left your fair side all unguarded, LAD. They were but twain, and purpos'd quick

return.

Сом. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. LAD. How easy my misfortune is to hit!

Сом. Imports their loss, beside the present need? LAD. No less than if I should my Brothers lose.

Сом. Were they of manly prime, or youthful

bloom?

LAD. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazor'd lips.
Сом. Two such I saw, what time the labour'd ox

In his loose traces from the furrow came,

273 extreme] Mirror for Mag. (ed. 1610) p. 430. 'In rustie armour, as in extream shift.'

Todd.

292

292 loose] Benlowe's Theophila, p. 247 'The tired oxe sent in loose traces home.' 'Medio die interjunaerunt.' Seneca de Tranq. Animi, Cap. ult. vol. i. p. 385. See Lip

And the swink'd hedger at his supper sat;
I saw them under a green mantling vine

That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 295
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots;
Their port was more than human, as they stood:
I took it for a faery vision

Of some gay creatures of the element,

200

That in the colours of the rainbow live,
And play i' th' plighted clouds. I was awe-struck,
And as I pass'd, I worshipp'd; if those you seek,
It were a journey like the path to heaven,

To help you find them.

LAD. Gentle Villager,

304

(pose,

What readiest way would bring me to that place?
Сом. Due west it rises from this shrubby point.
LAD. To find that out, good Shepherd, I sup-
In such a scant allowance of star-light,
Would overtask the best land-pilot's art,
Without the sure guess of well-practis'd feet. 310
Сом. I know each lane, and every alley green,

Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from side to side,
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood;

And if your stray-attendants be yet lodg'd
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roosted lark
From her thatch'd pallat rouse; if otherwise
I can conduct you, Lady, to a low
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe
Till further quest.

315

320

LAD. Shepherd, I take thy word, And trust thy honest offer'd courtesy, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds With smoky rafters, than in tap'stry halls And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd, 325 And yet is most pretended: in a place Less warranted than this, or less secure, I cannot be, that I should fear to change it. Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial To my proportion'd strength. Shepherd, lead on.

Enter The TWO BROTHERS.

1 BR. Unmuffle, ye faint stars, and thou, fair moon,

That wont'st to love the traveller's benizon, Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud,

331

331 Unmuffle] Benlowe's Theophila, st. xxii. p. 202.222. 'Unmuffle, ye dim clouds, and disinherit From black usurping mists.'

Shirley's Young Admiral, act ii. sc. 2.

not a star

Muffled his brightness in a sullen cloud.'

See Gascoigne's Jocasta, p. 99. Lisle's Du Bartas, p. 106. Browne's Shepherd's Pipe, vol. iii. p. 41. 129. Thorney Abbey, p. 48, for the use of this word.

And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here
In double night of darkness and of shades;
Or if your influence be quite damm'd up
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper,
Though a rush candle, from the wicker-hole

335

Of some clay habitation, visit us

With thy long-levell'd rule of streaming light; 310 And thou shalt be our star of Arcady,

Or Tyrian Cynosure.

2 BR. Or if our eyes

Be barr'd that happiness, might we but hear The folded flocks penn'd in their wattled cotes, Or sound of past'ral reed with oaten stops,

345

350

Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock
Count the night watches to his feathery dames,
'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs.
But O that hapless virgin, our lost Sister,
Where may she wander now, whither betake her
From the chill dew, among rude burs and thistles?
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now,
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm
Leans her unpillow'd head, fraught with sad fears.

334 disinherit] Nabbes's Microcosmus. Reed. ix. p. 116.

340 rule] Eurip. Ικετ. 650. ̔Ηλίου κανων σαφης. Hurd. 316 cock] Benlowes's Theophila, p. 199,

Before the cock, light herald, day-break sings

To his feathery dames.'