And we should serve him as a grudging Master,
As a penurious Niggard of his wealth,

And live like Nature's "baftards, not her fons,

Who would be quite furcharg'd with her own weight,
And ftrangled with her wafte fertility;

Th' earth cumber'd, and the wing'd air darkt with plumes,
The herds would over multitude their Lords,

The Sea o'erfraught would fwell, and th' unfought Diamonds
Would fo emblaze the forehead of the Deep,
And fo beftud with Stars, that they below
Would grow inur'd to light, and come at laft
To gaze upon the Sun with fhameless brows.
Lift, Lady; be not coy, and be not cofen'd
With that fame vaunted name Virginity:
Beauty is Nature's coin, muft not be hoarded,
But must be current, and the good thereof
Confifts in mutual and partaken blifs,
Unfavoury in th' injoyment of itself;
If you let flip time, like a neglected rofe,
It withers on the ftalk with languish'd head.
Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown
In Courts, at Feafts, and high Solemnities,
Where moft may wonder at the workmanship:
It is for homely features to keep home,
They had their name thence; coarfe complexions,
And cheeks of forry grain will ferve to ply
The fampler, and to teize the housewife's wooll.
What need a vermil-tinctur'd lip for that,
Love darting eyes, or treffes like the Morn?
There was another meaning in these gifts,
Think what, and be advis'd; you are but young yet.
La. I had not thought to have unlockt my lips
In this unhallow'd air, but that this Jugler
Would think to charm my Judgment, as mine Eyes,
Obtruding falfe Rules, prankt in Reason's garb.
I hate when vice can bolt her arguments,
And virtue has no tongue to check her pride.
Impoftor, do not charge most innocent Nature,

A

As if she would her children fhould be riotous
With her abundance; fhe, good caterefs,
Means her provifion only to the good,
That live according to her fober laws,
And holy dictate of fpare Temperance.
If every just man, that now pines with want,
Had but a moderate and befeeming share
Of that, which lewdly-pamper'd Luxury
Now heaps upon fome few with vast excess,
Nature's full bleffings would be well difpens'd,
In unfuperfluous even proportion,

And fhe no whit encumber'd with her store ;
And then the giver would be better thank'd,
His praife due paid: for fwinifh gluttony
Ne'er looks to Heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast,
But with befotted base ingratitude

Crams, and blafphemes his feeder.

Shall I go on ?
Or have I faid enough to him that dares

Arm his prophane tongue with contemptuous words
Against the Sun-clad power of Chastity?
Fain would I fomething fay, yet to what end?
Thou haft nor Ear, nor Soul to apprehend
The fublime notion, and high mystery
That must be utter'd to unfold the fage
And ferious doctrine of Virginity,

And thou art worthy that thou should'st not know
More happiness than this thy prefent lot.
Enjoy your dear Wit, and gay Rhetorick,
That hath fo well been taught her dazling fence,
Thou art not fit to hear thyfelf convinc'd;
Yet fhould I try, the uncontrouled worth
Of this pure caufe would kindle my rapt fpirits
To fuch a flame of facred vehemence,

That dumb things would be mov'd to fympathize,

And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake,
Till all thy magick ftructures, rear'd fo high,
Were shatter'd into heaps o'er thy falfe head.

Co. She fables not; I feel that I do fear
Her words fet off by fome fuperior power:
And tho' not mortal, yet a cold shudd'ring dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder, and the chains of Erebus
To fome of Saturn's crew. I muft diffemble,
And try her yet more strongly. Come, no more;
This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the Canon Laws of our Foundation;
I mult not fuffer this, 'tis but the lees
And fettlings of a melancholy blood:
But this will cure all ftreight, one fip of this
Will bathe the drooping fpirits in delight,
Beyond the blifs of dreams. Be wife, and tafte.-

The Brothers rush in with Swords drawn, wreft his Glafs out of his hand, and break it against the Ground; his Rout make fign of refiftance, but are all driven in. The attendant Spirit comes in.

Spir. What, have you let the falfe Enchanter scape?
ye mistook, ye
fhould have fnatch'd his wand,
And bound him faft; without his rod revers'd,
And backward mutters of diffevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that fits here
I ftony fetters fixt, and motionless:

Yet ftay, be not disturb'd, now I bethink me,
Some other means I have which may be us'd,
Which once of Melibaus old I learnt,

The footheft Shepherd that e'er pip'd on Plains.
There is a gentle Nymph, not far from hence,
That with moift curb fways the smooth Severn ftream,
Sabrina is her name, a Virgin pure ;

Whilom fhe was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the Scepter from his Father Brute:
She, guiltless damfel, flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged Stepdame Guendolen,
Commended her fair innocence to the flood,

Held up

That stay'd her flight with his cross-flowing courfe
The water Nymphs, that in the bottom play'd,
their pearled wrifts and took her in,
Bearing her ftreight to aged Nereus' Hall;
Who piteous of her woes, rear'd her lank head,
And gave her to his daughters to imbathe
In nectar'd lavers ftrew'd with Afphodil;
And through the porch and inlet of each fenfe
Dropt in Ambrofial Oyls till fhe reviv'd,
And underwent a quick immortal change,
Made Goddess of the River: ftill fhe retains
Her Maiden gentleness, and oft at Eve
Vifits the herds along the twilight meadows,
Helping all Urchin blaft, and ill-luck figns
That the fhrewd medling Elf delights to make,
Which the with precious viol'd liquors heals.
For which the Shepherds at their Festivals
Carrol her goodnefs loud in ruftick lays,
And throw fweet garland wreaths into her stream
Of Pancies, Pinks and gaudy Daffadils.
And, as the old Swain faid, fhe can unlock
The clafping charm, and thaw the numbing spell
If the be right invok'd in warbled Song ;
For maidenhood fhe loves, and will be swift.
To aid a Virgin, fuch as was herself,
In hard-befetting need: this will I try,
And add the pow'r of fome adjuring verse.

Sabrina fair,

SONG.

Liften where thou art fitting

Under the glaffie, cool, translucent Wave,
In twifled Braids of Lillies knitting
The loofe train of thy Amber-drooping Hair;
Liften, for dear Honour's fake,

Goddess of the Silver Lake;

Liflen and fave.

;

Liften and appear to us,
In name of great Oceanus,
By the earth-fhaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys' grave majestic pace,
By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look,"
And the Carpathian wifard's hook,
By fcaly Triton's winding thell,
And old footh-faying Glaucus' fpell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,

And her Son that rules the ftrands,
By Thetis tinfel-flipper'd feet,
And the Songs of Sirens fweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherewith the fits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her foft alluring locks,
By all the Nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy ftreams with wily glance,
Rife, rife, and heave thy rofie head
From thy coral-pav'n bed,

And bridle in thy headlong wave,

Till thou our fummons anfwer'd have.

Liften and fave.

Sabrina rifes, attended by Water-Nymphs, and fings.

By the ruby-fringed bank,

Where grows the Willow, and the Ofier dank,

My fliding Chariot flays,

Thick fet with Agat, and the Azurn fheen

Of Turkis blue, and Emrauld

green
That in the channel ftrays,

Whilft from off the waters fleet
Thus I fet my printless feet
O'er the Corflip's Velvet head,

That bends not as I tread;

Gentle Swain, at thy request
I am here.