This page has been validated.
36
COMUS
Som say, no evil thing that walks by night
In fog, or fire, by lake or moorish fen,
Blew meagre Hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost
That breaks his magick chains at curfeu time,
No goblin, or swart faery of the mine,
Hath hurtfull power o’re true virginity.
Do ye beleeve me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old Schools of Greece
To testifie the arms of Chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian her dred bow,
Fair silver-shafted Queen for ever chaste,
Wherwith she tam’d the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Fear’d her stern frown, and she was queen oth’
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon sheild
In fog, or fire, by lake or moorish fen,
Blew meagre Hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost
That breaks his magick chains at curfeu time,
No goblin, or swart faery of the mine,
Hath hurtfull power o’re true virginity.
Do ye beleeve me yet, or shall I call
Antiquity from the old Schools of Greece
To testifie the arms of Chastity?
Hence had the huntress Dian her dred bow,
Fair silver-shafted Queen for ever chaste,
Wherwith she tam’d the brinded lioness
And spotted mountain pard, but set at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid; gods and men
Fear’d her stern frown, and she was queen oth’
What was that snaky-headed Gorgon sheild
