"Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; "Himself is his own dungeon.

Υ. Bro. ""Tis most true

"That musing Meditation most affects "The pensive secrecy of desert cell, "Far from the chearful haunt of men and herds, 60

"And sits as safe as in a senate house;

"For who would rob a hermit of his weeds, "His few books, or his beads, or maple dish, "Or do his grey hairs any violence ? "But Beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree "Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard "Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye, "To save her blossoms, and defend her fruit "From the rash hand of bold Incontinence. "You may as well spread out the unsunn'd heaps 70 "Of misers' treasure by an outlaw's den " And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope "Danger will wink on opportunity, "And let a single helpless maiden pass "Uninjur'd in this wild surrounding waste. "Of night or loneliness it recks me not; "I fear the dread events that dog them both, "Lest some ill-greeting touch attempt the person "Of our unowned sister.

E. Bro. "I do not, brother,

"Infer as if I thought my sister's state
"Secure, without all doubt or controversy;
" Yet, where an equal poise of hope and fear
"Does arbitrate th' event, my nature is

80

"That I incline to hope rather than fear, " And gladly banish squint suspicion.

"My sister is not so defenceless left

"As you imagine; she has a hidden strength

"Which you remember not.

Y. Bro. "What hidden strength "Unless the strength of Heav'n? if you mean that.

90

E. Bro. " I mean that too; but yet a hidden

strength,

"Which, if Heav'n gave it, may be term'd her own;

"'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:

"She that has that is clad in complete steel,
" And like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen
"May trace huge forests and unharbour'd heaths,

100

"Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds, " Where thro' the sacred rays of chastity "No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer, " Will dare to soil her virgin purity; "Yea, there where very desolation dwells, "By grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades, "She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, "Be it not done in pride or in presumption. "Some say no evil thing that walks by night "In fog or fire, by lake or moorish fen, "Blue meagre hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost, "That breaks his magick chains at curfew time, "No goblin, or swart Fairy of the mine, "Hath hurtful pow'r o'er true virginity. "Do ye believe me yet, or shall I call "Antiquity from the old schools of Greece

110

"To testify the arms of Chastity?

"Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow, "Fair silver-shafted queen, for ever chaste!

"Wherewith she tam'd the brinded lioness

"And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought

"The friv'lous bolt of Cupid: gods and men

"Fear'd her stern frown, and she was Queen o' th'

Woods.

120

"What was the snaky-headed Gorgon shield
"That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin!
" Wherewith she freez'd her foes to congeal'd stone,
"But rigid looks of chaste austerity

"And noble grace, that dash'd brute violence
"With sudden adoration and blank awe?
"So dear to Heav'n is saintly chastity,
"That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
"A thousand livery'd angels lacquey her,
"Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,
"And in clear dream and solemn vision
"Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,
"Till 'oft converse with heav'nly habitants
"Begin to cast a beam on th' outward shape,
"The unpolluted temple of the mind,
"And turn it by degrees to the soul's essence,
"Till all be made immortal.

"But when lust

130

" By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, "But most by lewd, and lavish act of sin,

" Lets in defilement to the inward parts, "The soul grows clotted by contagion,

140

"Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose
"The divine property of her first being.
"Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp
"Oft' seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres,
"Ling'ring and sitting by a new-made grave,
"As loath to leave the body that it lov'd,

" And link'd itself in carnal sensuality "To a degen'rate and degraded state.

Y. Bro. "How charming is divine philosophy!

"Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,

"But musical as is Apollo's lute,

"And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets,

"Where no crude surfeit reigns."

E. Bro.

List, list! I hear

150

Some far-off halloo break the silent air.
Y. Bro. Methought so to; what should it be?
E. Bro. For certain

Either some one like us night-founder'd here,
Or else some neighbour woodman, or at worst
Some roving robber calling to his fellows.

160

Y. Bro. Heav'n keep my sister! Again! again! and

near!

Best draw, and stand upon our guard.

E. Bro. I'll halloo;

If he be friendly he comes well; if not,
Defence is a good cause, and Heav'n be for us.

Enter the first Attendant Spirit, habited like a Shepherd. Y. Bro. That halloo I should know-What are you? speak.

"Come not too near; you fall on iron stakes else." "F." Spi. What voice is that? my young lord ?

170

Speak again. Y. Bro. O brother, 't is my father's shepherd sure. E. Bro. Thyrsis? whose artful strains have oft' de

lay'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 weather the pent flock forsook ?
How couldst thou find this dark sequester'd nook?
"F." Spi. O my lov'd master's heir, and his next joy!
" I came not here on such a trivial toy

180

"As a stray'd ewe, or to pursue the stealth "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 ?

199

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,