DAEMON

What voice is that, my young Lord? speak again. Oh my loved Master's heir, and his next joy I came not h re on such a trivial toy As a strayed Ewe, or to pursue the stealth Of pilfering wolf, not all the fleccie wealth That does enrich these downs is worth a thought To this my errand, and the care it brought. But my virgin Lady where is she, How chance she is not in your company? Aye me unhappy then my fears are true. I'll tell you, it's not vain, or fabulous (Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance) What the sage Po S taught by heavenly Muse S oried of old in high immortal verfe Of dire Chimera's and enchanted Isles And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to hell, such there be, but unbelief is blind. Within the navel of this hideous wood Immured in cypress shades a Sorcerer dwells Of acchus, and of Ciree born, great Comus, Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries, And here to every thirsty wanderer By sly enticement gives his baneful cup With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison The visage quite transforms of him that drinks, And the inglorious likeness of a beast Fixes in ead, unmoulding reasons mintage Charactered in the face; this have I learnt Tending my flock h rd by i'th hilly crofts That brow this bottom glade, whence night by night He and his monstrous rout are herd to howl Like stabled wolves, or tigers at their prey Doing abhorred rites to Hecate In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers. Yet have they many baits, and guileful spells T'inveigle, and invite unwary sense Of them that pass unweeting by the way. This evening late by then the chewing flocks Had taken their supper on the savoury herb Of Knotgrass dew-besprent, and were in fold I sat me down to watch upon a bank With ivy canopied, and interwove With flaunting honeysuckle, and began Wrapped in a pleasing fit of melancholy To meditate my rural minstrelsy Till fancy had her fill, but ere a close The wonted roar was up amid the woods, And filled the air with barbarous dissonance At which I ceased, and listened them a while Till and unusual stop of sudden silence Gave respite to the drowsy frighted steeds That draw the litter of close-curtained sleep. At last a soft, and solemn breathing found Rose Like a steam of rich distilled Perfumes And stole upon the air, that even Silence Was took ever she was beware, and wished she might Deny her nature, and be never more Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, And took in strains that might create a soul Under the ribs of Death, but o ere long Too well I did perceive it was the voice Of my most honoured Lady your deer sister. Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear, And o poor hapless nightingale thought I How sweet thou singest, how near the deadly snare! Then down the lawns I ran with headlong hast Through paths, and turnings often trod by day Till guided by mine ear I found the place Where that damed wizard hid in slie-disguise (For so by certain signs I knew) had met Already, ere my best speed could p aevent The aidless innocent Lady his wished prey, W oh gently asked if he had S ene such two Supposing him some neighbour villager; Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed Ye were the two she meant, with that I sprung Into flight till I had found you here, But farther know I not. Alas good venturous youth, I love thy courage yet, and bold Emprise, But here thy sword can do thee little stead, Far other arms, and other weapons must Be those that quell the might of hellish charms, He with his bore wand Can u thread thy joints And crumble all thy sinews. Care and utmost shifts How to S cure the Lady from surprisal Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled In every tuous plant, and healing herb That spreads her verdant lease to that morning ray, He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing, Which when I did, he on the tender grass Would fit, and Harken even to ecstasy, And in requital open his leather'n scrip, And show me simples of a thousand names Telling their strange, and vigorous faculties, Amongst the rest a small unsightly , But of divine effect, he me out; The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, But in another Con , as be said, Boar a bright golden flow e, but not in this soil: Unknown, and Like esteemed, and the dull swain Treads on it daily with his coloured S one, And yet more med' cinall is it then that Moby That Hermes once to wise Vl sses gave, He called it Haemony, and gave it me And bade me keep it as of sovereign use against all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp Or ghastly furies apparition; I purs't it up, but little reckoning made Till now that this extremity compelled, But now I find it true, for by this means I knew the foul enchanter though disguised, Entered the very limetwigs of his spells, And yet came off, if you have this about you (As I will give you when we go) you may Boldly assault the necromancers hall, Where if he be, with Dam tlesse hardihood And brandished blade rush on him, break his glass, And shed the luscious liquour on the ground But seize his uva worser, though he and his cursed crew Fierce sign of b ail make, and m ace high, Or Like the sons of V lcan vomit smoke, Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink What, have you let the false enchanter escape? Oh ye mistook, ye should have snatched his wand And bound him fast; without his rod reversed, And backward mutters of dissevering power We cannot free the Lady that sits here In stony fetters fixed, and motionless; Yet stay, be not disturbed, now I bethink me, Some other means I have which may be used, Which once of Melibaeus old I learned The soothest shepherd that ere pipe't on plains. There is a gentle nymph not far from hence That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream, Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure, Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine, That had the sceptre from his father Brutus. She guiltless damsel flying the mad pursuit Of her enraged stepdame Gwendolen Commended her fair innocence to the flood That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course, The water Nymphs that in the bottom played Held up their pearled wrists and took her in, Bearing her strait to aged Nereus hall Who piteous of her woes reatd her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil, And through the porch, and inlet of each sense Dropped in ambrosial oils till she revived, And underwent a quick, immortal change Made goddess of the river; still she retains Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve Visits the heards along the twilight meadows, Helping all urchin blasts, and ill luck signs That the shrewd meddling self delights make, Which she with precious viold liquours heals. For which the shepherd's at their festivals Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. And, as the old Swain said, she can unlock The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, If she be right invoked in warbled Song, For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift To aid a virgin such as was her self In hard besetting needs, this will I try And add the power of some adjuring verse. Sabrina fair Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The lose train of thy amber-dropping hair, Listen for deer honours sake Goddess of the silver lake Listen and save. Listen and appear to us In name of great Ocean us, By that earth sha ng Neptun's mace And Tethys grave majestic pace, By hoary N reus wrinkled look, And the Carpath wizards hook, By win king shell. And old sooth saying Clau spell, By Leucothea's lovely hands, And her son that rules the strands, By Thetis nsel-slipper feet; And the songs of Sirens sweet, By dead Parthenope's deer tomb, And fair Ligea's golden comb, Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks Sleeking her soft alluring locks, By all the Nymphs that nightly dance Upon thy streams with w lie glance, Rise, rise and heave thy rosy head From thy coral-paven bed, And bridle in thy headlong wave Till thou our summons answered have. Listen and save. Sabrina rises attended by water Nymph's and sings. By the rushy fringed bank, Where grows the willow and the osier dank My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agat, and the azurn sheen Of turkkis blue, and rolled green That in the channel strays, While from off the waters fleet Thus I set my printless feet Over the cowslips velvet head, That bends not as I tread, Gentle swain at thy request I am here. Goddess deer We implore thy powerful hand To undo the charm worser band Of true virgin here distressed, Through the force, and through the wile Of unblest enchanter vile. Virgin, daughter of Locrine Sprung of old Anchises line May thy brimmed waves for this Their full tribute never miss From a thousand petty rills, That tumble down the snowy hills: Summer drouth, or singed air Never scorch thy tresses fair, Nor wet Octobers torrent flood Thy melted crystal fill with mud, May thy billows roll a shore The beryll, and the golden over, May thy lofty head be crowned With many a tower, and terrasse round, And here and there thy banks upon With groves of myrrh, and cinnamon. Come Lady while heaven lends us grace, Let us fly this cursed place, Lest the sorcerer us entice With some other new device. Not a wast, or needless found Till we come to holier ground, I shall be your faithful guide Through this gloomy covert wide, And not many furlongs thence Is your Father's residence, Where this night are met in state Many a friend to gratulate His wished presence, and beside All the Swains that there abide, With Jigs, and rural dance resort, We shall catch them at their sport, And our sudden coming there Will double all their mirth, and cheer, Come let us hast the stars are high But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. Back shepherd's, back enough your play, Till next Sunshine holiday, Here be without duck or nod, Other trippings to be trod Of lighter toes, and such Court guise As Mercury did first devise With the mining Dryades On the lawns, and on the leas. Noble Lord, and Lady bright, I have brought ye new delight, Here behold so goodly grown. Three fair branches of your own, Heaven hath timely tried their youth, Their faith, their patience, and their truth, And sent that m here through hard assays With a crown of deathless Praise, To riumph in victorious dance Over sensual Folly, and Intemperance. To the Ocean now I fly, And those happy climes that lie Where day never shuts his eye, Up in the broad fields of the sky: There I suck the liquid air All amid the gardens fair Of Hesperus, and his daughters three That sing about the golden tree, Along the crisped shades, and bowers Revels the spruce and jocund Spring, The Graces, and the rosy-bosomed Hours Thither all their bounties bring, That there eternal Summer dwells And west winds, with musky wing About the cedar'n alleys fling Nard, and Cassia's balmy smells. Iris there with humid bow Waters the odorous banks that blow Flowers of more mingled hew Then her purfled scarf can show, And drenches with Elysinn Due (List mortals, if your ears be true) Beds of Hyacinth, and roses) Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waxing well of his deep wound In slumber soft, and on the ground Sadly sits that Assyrian Queen; But far above in spangled sheen Celestial Cupid her famed Son advanced, Holds his deer Psyche sweet entranced After her wandering labours long, Till free consent the gods among Make her his eternal Bride, And from her fair unspotted side Two blissful twins are to be born, Youth, and Joy; so Jove hath sworn. But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow does bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the Moon. Mortals that would follow me, Love virtue, she alone is free, She can teach ye how to climb Higher then the Sphaerie chime; Or if virtue feeble were Heaven it self would stoop to her.