Moonlight The Doge's daughter: Ariadne: Carmen Britannicum, or The song of Britain: Angelica, or The rape of Proteus: By Edward, Lord Thurlow |
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| I. | PART THE FIRST. |
| II. |
| 3. |
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 | Moonlight |  |
I. PART THE FIRST.
The level sun was shining low,
And gave the waves a golden glow,
The mermaid with her lullaby
Sung to rest the troubled sea,
And in the beam of Phœbus sate
Amphitrite in her state,
Enthron'd within a pearly cave;
Around the shore great Proteus drave
His scaly herds, and Tritons blew
A song, that those huge monsters knew,
Oft heard, ere Neptune's sliding car:
Now, ere the small and twinkling star,
That is a liegeman to the west,
In the glassy wave exprest,
Had, like the eye of ev'ning shone,
And the moon's brave wain anon
Was climbing o'er the upward brine,
Great Neptune's wife, with voice divine,
Amid th' attending deities,
That are of rivers and of seas,
Call'd Ariel to her silver chair:
Amphitrite speaks.
And gave the waves a golden glow,
The mermaid with her lullaby
Sung to rest the troubled sea,
And in the beam of Phœbus sate
Amphitrite in her state,
Enthron'd within a pearly cave;
Around the shore great Proteus drave
His scaly herds, and Tritons blew
A song, that those huge monsters knew,
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Now, ere the small and twinkling star,
That is a liegeman to the west,
In the glassy wave exprest,
Had, like the eye of ev'ning shone,
And the moon's brave wain anon
Was climbing o'er the upward brine,
Great Neptune's wife, with voice divine,
Amid th' attending deities,
That are of rivers and of seas,
Call'd Ariel to her silver chair:
Do thou, my spirit, make repair,
O'er the surface of the deep,
Flying down the western steep,
Swifter than the thoughts of love:
So thy faith shalt thou approve,
And affection due to me,
That from night have set thee free,
Fetter'd in the lowest cave,
Underneath the crystal wave,
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And the sea-horse appalling scowl'd,
And the sea-bear, with fangs of woe,
Was thy keeper and thy foe,
And oft Leviathan would glide,
And the least glimpse of nature hide,
With his vast unwieldy side,
Slumb'ring at thy prison'd door,
That thou, not then as heretofore,
Plunging in the lib'ral sea,
Or at the gate of Phœbus free,
Glancing on the beams of morn,
Didst thy hapless being scorn,
And thought'st thyself to winter sold,
Shiv'ring in that icy hold;
Till to my soft and partial ear
Thy voice of moaning and of fear
Came upward from the drowned sea;
So may thy faith be pure to me,
As I from that delivered thee,
Taking Neptune to my cave,
In the front of Corinth brave,
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I entertain'd his passion well,
Nor had he to this day got free,
But that he gave thy fate to me:
There on a bed of silken leaf,
And flowers of ocean, spare and chief,
Which the Sea-Nymphs had cull'd, I lay,
And with the God had am'rous play,
Till by my hair and eyes he swore,
He lov'd me better than before,
When, all his votive courtship o'er,
He first untied my saffron belt,
And taught my maiden thoughts to melt.
Believe it, Ariel, thrice the Sun
Had to his western manger run,
And thrice his yoke had made a stand
On the coral-paved sand,
And thrice the sea-nymphs chanted free,
Ere I with love could win for thee
Thy charter and thy liberty.
My Ariel, is this fable true?
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Mistress mine, and votive queen,
Born the marriage sheets between
Of the old Oceanus,
When unzoned Tethys lay,
Budding like the purple May,
I will prove my fealty thus:
Born the marriage sheets between
Of the old Oceanus,
When unzoned Tethys lay,
Budding like the purple May,
I will prove my fealty thus:
To the spicy Indian isles,
Or where throned Summer smiles,
In the twinkling of an eye,
Ere a maid can sigh, heigh ho,
To the Morning I will go,
To the cavern'd Pluto fly.
Or where throned Summer smiles,
In the twinkling of an eye,
Ere a maid can sigh, heigh ho,
To the Morning I will go,
To the cavern'd Pluto fly.
Mistress, I to thee am true,
As the grasshopper to dew,
As the swallow to the Spring,
As the squirrel to the nut;
Now, thy message, queen,—tut, tut,
Answer lingers on my wing.
As the grasshopper to dew,
As the swallow to the Spring,
As the squirrel to the nut;
Now, thy message, queen,—tut, tut,
Answer lingers on my wing.
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I shall hear, ere yet I go,
The cocks at Sybaris to crow,
Sure the maids at Corinth scold—
Mistress, can you doubt of me?
Ere the cock-shut I shall be,
Piping in my happy fold.
The cocks at Sybaris to crow,
Sure the maids at Corinth scold—
Mistress, can you doubt of me?
Ere the cock-shut I shall be,
Piping in my happy fold.
Moppet, Moppet, I am gone,
Ere thy pleasure well is known:—
Ere thy pleasure well is known:—
Amphitrite speaks.
Well then, my delicate Ariel, this is true;
And, like a falling star, go down the west,
Skirting the rear of day, till by the belt,
That girdles this o'er-swelling world you see,
A month's good voyage to a winged ship,
A fragrant isle, upon whose yellow sands
You may remember we have often sate,
The while the winds were hist, and Phœbe reign'd;
Marking the fairies track their ringlets quaint,
While Summer laugh'd, and shook her golden hair.
For, if my art be true, a maid there sits,
And with her tears augments the briny flood,
Love's prodigal, and widow of despite:
Young Ariadne, who first saw the light
Within a winged bark, whose ears were lull'd
With wat'ry surges, and the mermaid's song,
Singing her fables on a dolphin's back.
For so her mother bore her on the wave,
Ascending to pale Troy, from Corinth come,
Her native seat, and with her ducal spouse,
Good Menelaüs, seeking there to reign.
What have the winds now done, or fortune's spite,
By wat'ry evil, that the maiden stands,
Disconsolate, upon that yellow shore?
For there my art is hid.
And, like a falling star, go down the west,
Skirting the rear of day, till by the belt,
That girdles this o'er-swelling world you see,
A month's good voyage to a winged ship,
A fragrant isle, upon whose yellow sands
You may remember we have often sate,
The while the winds were hist, and Phœbe reign'd;
Marking the fairies track their ringlets quaint,
While Summer laugh'd, and shook her golden hair.
For, if my art be true, a maid there sits,
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Love's prodigal, and widow of despite:
Young Ariadne, who first saw the light
Within a winged bark, whose ears were lull'd
With wat'ry surges, and the mermaid's song,
Singing her fables on a dolphin's back.
For so her mother bore her on the wave,
Ascending to pale Troy, from Corinth come,
Her native seat, and with her ducal spouse,
Good Menelaüs, seeking there to reign.
What have the winds now done, or fortune's spite,
By wat'ry evil, that the maiden stands,
Disconsolate, upon that yellow shore?
For there my art is hid.
Tell me, Nereus, tell me now,
By what headland's steepy brow,
Dancing in th' Ægean wave,
With thy fifty daughters brave,
Born of Doris, tell me now,
If at Helen's lovely prow
Rising up, thou told'st the fates,
Or unlock'd the garden gates,
Blazing on the final wave,
That to Alcmena's offspring gave,
(The watchful dragon proto-slain,)
The apples of the western main,
Tell me, O Nereus, by thy fealty tell,
Into what evil Ariadne fell,
Since Aurora's saffron reign.
By what headland's steepy brow,
Dancing in th' Ægean wave,
With thy fifty daughters brave,
Born of Doris, tell me now,
If at Helen's lovely prow
Rising up, thou told'st the fates,
Or unlock'd the garden gates,
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That to Alcmena's offspring gave,
(The watchful dragon proto-slain,)
The apples of the western main,
Tell me, O Nereus, by thy fealty tell,
Into what evil Ariadne fell,
Since Aurora's saffron reign.
And, O Æolus, tell thou,
In what cavern reigning now,
On Æolia's briny coast,
Thou, that mak'st thy stormy boast,
That the stars are at thy beck;
Thou, that speed'st the winged deck,
Inventor of the bellyed sail;
And, to make Ulysses fail,
Heaped'st up the winds, that he
Wander'd still in jeopardy,
At what point the compass stood,
While the chaste Icarian brood,
Hemm'd in by domestick war,
Wept down the Moon, and matin star,
With her thick web, array'd in vain,
Beguiling the false suitor train:
O Æolus, on thy sole fealty tell,
Into what evil Ariadne fell,
Since Aurora's saffron reign.
In what cavern reigning now,
On Æolia's briny coast,
Thou, that mak'st thy stormy boast,
That the stars are at thy beck;
Thou, that speed'st the winged deck,
Inventor of the bellyed sail;
And, to make Ulysses fail,
Heaped'st up the winds, that he
Wander'd still in jeopardy,
At what point the compass stood,
While the chaste Icarian brood,
Hemm'd in by domestick war,
Wept down the Moon, and matin star,
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Beguiling the false suitor train:
O Æolus, on thy sole fealty tell,
Into what evil Ariadne fell,
Since Aurora's saffron reign.
Tell me both, I am your queen,
And of Jupiter well seen,
Tell me, or I'll bind you both,
(By the Styx, a fatal oath,)
Underneath the cavern'd sea,
Where for winters, summers three,
You shall pine in fancy free,
Or for that time three times three,
If you fail to answer me,
Chain'd down to the rocky floor;
And, to plague your madness more,
I will send you mermaids sweet,
Singing, to your lone retreat,
That with tales, and mock, and mow,
And with voices piping low,
Shall your lacking duty show;
Tell me, if you Neptune dread,
For by Neptune's sable head,
I will bind you, or 't may be,
Hurl you through the fickle sea,
Or disperse you through the air,
Pining with immortal care,
So dear is Corinth's house to me:
And of Jupiter well seen,
Tell me, or I'll bind you both,
(By the Styx, a fatal oath,)
Underneath the cavern'd sea,
Where for winters, summers three,
You shall pine in fancy free,
Or for that time three times three,
If you fail to answer me,
Chain'd down to the rocky floor;
And, to plague your madness more,
I will send you mermaids sweet,
Singing, to your lone retreat,
That with tales, and mock, and mow,
And with voices piping low,
Shall your lacking duty show;
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For by Neptune's sable head,
I will bind you, or 't may be,
Hurl you through the fickle sea,
Or disperse you through the air,
Pining with immortal care,
So dear is Corinth's house to me:
Ariel sings.
See they quake: but let me go,
Ere the twinkling star-light glow,
Ere the fairies sip the dew,
Overspread with Dian's hue:
Mistress, am I dear to you?
Ere the twinkling star-light glow,
Ere the fairies sip the dew,
Overspread with Dian's hue:
Mistress, am I dear to you?
Let me go, or let me fly
Underneath the wrinkled sky,
To the brave and yellow sand,
There to trip it, hand in hand,
With the fairies gentle band:
Mistress, do you understand?
Underneath the wrinkled sky,
To the brave and yellow sand,
There to trip it, hand in hand,
With the fairies gentle band:
Mistress, do you understand?
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Go, my Ariel, this shall be,
On the margin of the sea,
Take kind words and airs with thee:
And let my gentle Ariel say
That the purple buds of May
Are not to Hebe's kiss more dear,
Than, in this our wat'ry sphere,
Ariadne, now alone,
Shall be dear unto our throne.
Tricksey spirit, haste away,
Shaking from your wings delay,
Link ye to the glist'ning car,
That Apollo drives afar,
That with the daylight you may set
On that isle, the cabinet
Where the world's brave gem is stor'd;
Then, as daylight shall afford,
Come to me upon those lands,
Where the two-mouthed Corinth stands,
There, beneath the moon's pale eye,
In a cowslip you shall lie,
Fann'd by od'rous winds to sleep,
Fuming from the charter'd deep.
On the margin of the sea,
Take kind words and airs with thee:
And let my gentle Ariel say
That the purple buds of May
Are not to Hebe's kiss more dear,
Than, in this our wat'ry sphere,
Ariadne, now alone,
Shall be dear unto our throne.
Tricksey spirit, haste away,
Shaking from your wings delay,
Link ye to the glist'ning car,
That Apollo drives afar,
That with the daylight you may set
On that isle, the cabinet
Where the world's brave gem is stor'd;
Then, as daylight shall afford,
Come to me upon those lands,
Where the two-mouthed Corinth stands,
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In a cowslip you shall lie,
Fann'd by od'rous winds to sleep,
Fuming from the charter'd deep.
Couch'd within it, you shall dream
By the margin of the stream,
Where the bat shall not come nigh,
Nor the owl with staring cry,
But the bird of Tereus' hate
Shall be thy night-loving mate,
Singing the wild winds to sleep;
'Till above the Eastern deep,
The lamp of twilight shall appear,
To thy fringed lids thrice dear,
And the cocks begin to crow,
And the saffron morn to flow,
My Ariel, shall these things be so?
By the margin of the stream,
Where the bat shall not come nigh,
Nor the owl with staring cry,
But the bird of Tereus' hate
Shall be thy night-loving mate,
Singing the wild winds to sleep;
'Till above the Eastern deep,
The lamp of twilight shall appear,
To thy fringed lids thrice dear,
And the cocks begin to crow,
And the saffron morn to flow,
My Ariel, shall these things be so?
Go then, now, my Ariel, go,
Faster than the throned moon,
Or the swallow's flight in June,
Down the bright and curved sea,
To that wild forsaken lea,
And bring me, ere the darkness steal,
Word of Ariadne's weal.
Faster than the throned moon,
Or the swallow's flight in June,
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To that wild forsaken lea,
And bring me, ere the darkness steal,
Word of Ariadne's weal.
| Moonlight | |