THE LOVE OF DAVID AND FAIR BETHSABE, WITH THE TRAGEDY OF ABSALON. PROLOGUS. Or Israel's sweetest singer now I sing, Whose muse was dipt in that inspiring dew, The cherubins and angels laid their breasts; He gave alarum to the host of heaven, That, wing'd with lightning, brake the clouds, and cast Their crystal armour at his conquering feet. Of this sweet poet, Jove's musician, And of his beauteous son, I prease* to sing. prease] See note ‡, vol i. p. 197. 6 The hearers' minds above the towers of heaven, DAVID AND BETHSABE. He draws a curtain and discovers BETHSABE with her Maid bathing over a spring: she sings, and DAVID sits above viewing her. THE SONG. Hor sun, cool fire, temper'd with sweet air, Inflame unstay'd desire, Nor pierce any bright eye That wandereth lightly. BETH. Come, gentle Zephyr, trickt with those perfumes That erst in Eden sweeten'd Adam's love, And stroke my bosom with the silken fan : And purer than the substance of the same, Can creep through that his lances cannot pierce: My soul, incensed with a sudden fire? What tree, what shade, what spring, what paradise, Of moss that sleeps with sound the waters make, * bushy] Old copy "bushly." Qy. “busky.” + discoloured] i. e. variously coloured. For joy to feed the fount with their recourse; That hangs, like chains of pearl, on Hermon hill, Enter CUSAY. Cu. What service doth my lord the king command? DAV. See, Cusay, see the flower of Israel, The fairest daughter that obeys the king, In all the land the Lord subdu'd to me; Fairer than Isaac's lover at the well, Brighter than inside bark of new-hewn cedar, Sweeter than flames of fine perfumed* myrrh, And comelier than the silver clouds that dance On Zephyr's wings before the king of heaven. Cu. Is it not Bethsabe the Hethite's wife, Urias, now at Rabbah's siege with Joab? DAV. Go know, and bring her quickly to the king; Tell her, her graces have found grace with him. Cu. I will, my lord. [Exit Cusay to Bethsabe. DAV. Bright Bethsabe shall wash in David's bower In water mix'd with purest almond flower, And bathe her beauty in the milk of kids: fine perfumed] England's Parnassus, 1600, (where this passage is given, p. 397, under the head of Descriptions of Beauty and Personage) "fire-perfumed." + Zephyr's] England's Parnassus “ Zephyrus.” have] Old copy “hath.” |