Hath lock'd up mortal fenfe, then liften I
To the celestial Syrens' harmony,

That fit upon the nine infolded spheres,
And fing to those that hold the vital shears,
And turn the adamantin spindle round,

On which the fate of Gods and men is wound.

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Such fweet compulsion doth in music lie,

To lull the daughters of Neceflity,

And keep unfteddy Nature to her law,

And the low world in measur'd motion draw
After the heavenly tune, which none can hear
Of human mold with grofs unpurged ear;
And yet fuch music worthiest were to blaze
The peerless highth of her immortal praise,
Whose luftre leads us, and for her most fit,
If my inferior hand or voice could hit
Inimitable founds; yet, as we go,
Whate'er the skill of leffer Gods can flow,
I will affay, her worth to celebrate,
And fo attend ye toward her glittering state;
Where you may all that are of noble stem
Approach and kiss her facred vesture's hem.

II. SON G.

O'ER the fmooth enamel'd green,
Where no print of step hath been,
Follow me as I fing,

And touch the warbled string,

Under the fhady roof

Of branching elm ftar-proof.

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75

80

85

Follow

I 2

Follow me,

I will bring you where the fits,

Clad in fplendor as befits
Her deity.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not feen.

III. S O N G.

NYMPHS and Shepherds, dance no more

By fandy Ladon's lilied banks;

On old Lycæus or Cyllene hoar

Trip no more in twilight ranks ; Though Erymanth your lofs deplore,

A better foil fhall give you thanks.

From the ftony Mænalus

Bring your flocks, and live with us;
Here ye fhall have greater grace,

To ferve the Lady of this place.

Though Syrinx your Pan's mistress were,
Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.

Such a rural Queen

All Arcadia hath not feen.

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The EARL of BRIDGEWATER, then Prefident of WALES.

The Lord BRACKLY.

Mr. THOMAS EGERTON his brother

The Lady ALICE EGERTON.

The

The Mask was prefented in 1634, and confequently in the 20th year of our author's age. In the title-pagé

of the first edition, printed in 1637, it is faid that it was prefented on Michaelmas night, and there was this motto,

"Eheu quid volui mifero mihi! floribus auftrum "Perditus

In this edition, and in that of Milton's poems in 1645, there was prefixed to the Mask the following dedi.

cation.

To the Right Honorable

JOHN Lord Viscount BRACKLY, fon and heir apparent to the Earl of BRIDGEWATER, &c.

MY LORD,

THI

HIS poem, which received its firft occafion of birth from yourself and others of your noble family, and much honor from your own person in the performance, now returns again to make a final dedication of itself to you. Although not openly acknowledg'd by the author, yet it is a legitimate offspring, fo lovely, and so much desired, that the often copying of it hath tir'd my pen to give my several friends fatisfaction, and brought me to a neceffity of producing it to the public view; and now to offer it up in all rightful devotion to thofe fair hopes, and rare endowments of your much promising youth, which give a full affu