And records of antiquitie appeare, 85
To which no wit of man may comen neare;
Helpe me to tell the names of all those floods,
And all those nymphes, which then assembled were
To that great banquet of the watry gods,
And all their sundry kinds, and all their hid abodes. 90
XI
First came great Neptune with his three-forkt mace,
That rules the seas, and makes them rise or fall;
His dewy lockes did drop with brine apace,
Under his diademe imperiall:
And by his side his queene with coronall, 95
Faire Amphitrite, most divinely faire,
Whose yvorie shoulders weren covered all,
As with a robe, with her owne silver haire,
And deckt with pearles, which th’ Indian seas for her prepaire.
XII
These marched farre afore the other crew; 100
And all the way before them as they went,
Triton his trompet shrill before them blew,
For goodly triumph and great jollyment,
That made the rockes to roare, as they were rent.
And after them the royall issue came, 105
Which of them sprung by lineall descent:
First the sea-gods, which to themselves doe clame
The powre to rule the billowes, and the waves to tame:
XIII
Phorcys, the father of that fatall brood,
By whom those old heroes wonne such fame; 110
And Glaucus, that wise southsayes understood;
And tragicke Inoes sonne, the which became
A god of seas through his mad mothers blame,
Now hight Palemon, and is saylers frend;
Great Brontes, and Astræus, that did shame 115
Himselfe with incest of his kin unkend;
And huge Orion, that doth tempests still portend;
XIV
The rich Cteatus, and Eurytus long;
Neleus and Pelias, lovely brethren both;
Mightie Chrysaor, and Caïcus strong; 120
Eurypulus, that calmes the waters wroth;
And faire Euphœmus, that upon them goth
As on the ground, without dismay or dread;
Fierce Eryx, and Alebius that know’th
The waters depth, and doth their bottome tread; 125
And sad Asopus, comely with his hoarie head.
XV
There also some most famous founders were
Of puissant nations, which the world possest;
Yet sonnes of Neptune, now assembled here:
Ancient Ogyges, even th’ auncientest, 130
And Inachus renowmd above the rest;
Phœnix, and Aon, and Pelasgus old,
Great Belus, Phœax, and Agenor best;
And mightie Albion, father of the bold
And warlike people which the Britaine Islands hold. 135
XVI
For Albion the sonne of Neptune was,
Who, for the proofe of his great puissance,
Out of his Albion did on dry-foot pas
Into old Gall, that now is cleeped France,
To fight with Hercules, that did advance 140
To vanquish all the world with matchlesse might,
And there his mortall part by great mischance
Was slaine: but that which is th’ immortall spright
Lives still, and to this feast with Neptunes seed was dight.
XVII
But what doe I their names seeke to reherse, 145
Which all the world have with their issue fild?
How can they all in this so narrow verse
Contayned be, and in small compasse hild?
Let them record them, that are better skild,
And know the moniments of passed age: 150
Onely what needeth shall be here fulfild,
T’ expresse some part of that great equipage,
Which from great Neptune do derive their parentage.
XVIII
Next came the aged Ocean, and his dame,
Old Tethys, th’ oldest two of all the rest, 155
For all the rest of those two parents came,
Which afterward both sea and land possest:
Of all which Nereus, th’ eldest and the best,
Did first proceed, then which none more upright,
Ne more sincere in word and deed profest; 160
Most voide of guile, most free from fowle despight,
Doing him selfe, and teaching others to doe right.
XIX
Thereto he was expert in prophecies,
And could the ledden of the gods unfold,
Through which, when Paris brought his famous prise, 165
The faire Tindarid lasse, he him fortold,
That her all Greece with many a champion bold
Should fetch againe, and finally destroy
Proud Priams towne. So wise is Nereus old,
And so well skild; nathlesse he takes great joy 170
Oft-times amongst the wanton nymphs to sport and toy.
XX
And after him the famous rivers came,
Which doe the earth enrich and beautifie:
The fertile Nile, which creatures new doth frame;
Long Rhodanus, whose sourse springs from the skie; 175
Faire Ister, flowing from the mountaines hie;
Divine Scamander, purpled yet with blood
Of Greekes and Trojans, which therein did die;
Pactolus glistring with his golden flood,
And Tygris fierce, whose streames of none may be withstood; 180
XXI
Great Ganges, and immortall Euphrates,
Deepe Indus, and Mæander intricate,
Slow Peneus, and tempestuous Phasides,
Swift Rhene, and Alpheus still immaculate;
Ooraxes, feared for great Cyrus fate; 185
Tybris, renowmed for the Romaines fame;
Rich Oranochy, though but knowen late;
And that huge river, which doth beare his name
Of warlike Amazons, which doe possesse the same.
XXII
Joy on those warlike women, which so long 190
Can from all men so rich a kingdome hold!
And shame on you, O men, which boast your strong
And valiant hearts, in thoughts lesse hard and bold,
Yet quaile in conquest of that land of gold!
But this to you, O Britons, most pertaines, 195
To whom the right hereof it selfe hath sold;
The which, for sparing litle cost or paines,
Loose so immortall glory, and so endlesse gaines.
XXIII
Then was there heard a most celestiall sound
Of dainty musicke, which did next ensew 200
Before the spouse: that was Arion crownd;
Who, playing on his harpe, unto him drew
The eares and hearts of all that goodly crew,
That even yet the dolphin, which him bore
Through the Agæan seas from pirates vew, 205
Stood still by him astonisht at his lore,
And all the raging seas for joy forgot to rore.
XXIV
So went he playing on the watery plaine.
Soone after whom the lovely bridegroome came,
The noble Thamis, with all his goodly traine; 210
But him before there went, as best became,
His auncient parents, namely th’ auncient Thame:
But much more aged was his wife then he,
The Ouze, whom men doe Isis rightly name;
Full weake and crooked creature seemed shee, 215
And almost blind through eld, that scarce her way could see.
XXV
Therefore on either side she was sustained
Of two smal grooms, which by their names were hight
The Churne and Charwell, two s
mall streames, which pained
Them selves her footing to direct aright, 220
Which fayled oft through faint and feeble plight:
But Thame was stronger, and of better stay;
Yet seem’d full aged by his outward sight,
With head all hoary, and his beard all gray,
Deawed with silver drops, that trickled downe alway. 225
XXVI
And eke he somewhat seem’d to stoupe afore
With bowed backe, by reason of the lode
And auncient heavy burden which he bore
Of that faire city, wherein make abode
So many learned impes, that shoote abrode, 230
And with their braunches spred all Britany,
No lesse then do her elder sisters broode.
Joy to you both, ye double noursery
Of arts! but, Oxford, thine doth Thame most glorify.
XXVII
But he their sonne full fresh and jolly was, 235
All decked in a robe of watchet hew,
On which the waves, glittering like christall glas,
So cunningly enwoven were, that few
Could weenen whether they were false or trew.
And on his head like to a coronet 240
He wore, that seemed strange to common vew,
In which were many towres and castels set,
That it encompast round as with a golden fret.
XXVIII
Like as the mother of the gods, they say,
In her great iron charet wonts to ride, 245
When to Joves pallace she doth take her way,
Old Cybele, arayd with pompous pride,
Wearing a diademe embattild wide
With hundred turrets, like a turribant.
With such an one was Thamis beautifide; 250
That was to weet the famous Troynovant,
In which her kingdomes throne is chiefly resiant.
XXIX
And round about him many a pretty page
Attended duely, ready to obay;
All little rivers, which owe vassallage 255
To him, as to their lord, and tribute pay:
The chaulky Kenet, and the Thetis gray,
The morish Cole, and the soft sliding Breane,
The wanton Lee, that oft doth loose his way,
And the still Darent, in whose waters cleane 260
Ten thousand fishes play, and decke his pleasant streame.
XXX
Then came his neighbour flouds, which nigh him dwell,
And water all the English soile throughout;
They all on him this day attended well,
And with meet service waited him about; 265
Ne none disdained low to him to lout:
No, not the stately Severne grudg’d at all,
Ne storming Humber, though he looked stout;
But both him honor’d as their principall,
And let their swelling waters low before him fall. 270
XXXI
There was the speedy Tamar, which devides
The Cornish and the Devonish confines;
Through both whose borders swiftly downe it glides,
And meeting Plim, to Plimmouth thence declines:
And Dart, nigh chockt with sands of tinny mines. 275
But Avon marched in more stately path,
Proud of his adamants, with which he shines
And glisters wide, as als’ of wondrous Bath,
And Bristow faire, which on his waves he builded hath.
XXXII
And there came Stoure with terrible aspect, 280
Bearing his sixe deformed heads on hye,
That doth his course through Blandford plains direct,
And washeth Winborne meades in season drye.
Next him went Wylibourne with passage slye,
That of his wylinesse his name doth take, 285
And of him selfe doth name the shire thereby:
And Mole, that like a nousling mole doth make
His way still under ground, till Thamis he overtake.
XXXIII
Then came the Rother, decked all with woods
Like a wood god, and flowing fast to Rhy: 290
And Sture, that parteth with his pleasant floods
The easterne Saxons from the southerne ny,
And Clare and Harwitch both doth beautify:
Him follow’d Yar, soft washing Norwitch wall,
And with him brought a present joyfully 295
Of his owne fish unto their festivall,
Whose like none else could shew, the which they ruffins call.
XXXIV
Next these the plenteous Ouse came far from land,
By many a city, and by many a towne,
And many rivers taking under hand 300
Into his waters, as he passeth downe,
The Cle, the Were, the Grant, the Sture, the Rowne,
Thence doth by Huntingdon and Cambridge flit,
My mother Cambridge, whom as with a crowne
He doth adorne, and is adorn’d of it 305
With many a gentle muse, and many a learned wit.
XXXV
And after him the fatall Welland went,
That if old sawes prove true (which God forbid)
Shall drowne all Holland with his excrement,
And shall see Stamford, though now homely hid, 310
Then shine in learning, more then ever did
Cambridge or Oxford, Englands goodly beames.
And next to him the Nene downe softly slid;
And bounteous Trent, that in him selfe enseames
Both thirty sorts of fish and thirty sundry streames. 315
XXXVI
Next these came Tyne, along whose stony bancke
That Romaine monarch built a brasen wall,
Which mote the feebled Britons strongly flancke
Against the Picts, that swarmed over all,
Which yet thereof Gualsever they doe call: 320
And Twede, the limit betwixt Logris land
And Albany: and Eden, though but small,
Yet often stainde with bloud of many a band
Of Scots and English both, that tyned on his strand.
XXXVII
Then came those sixe sad brethren, like forlorne, 325
That whilome were (as antique fathers tell)
Sixe valiant knights, of one faire nymphe yborne,
Which did in noble deedes of armes excell,
And wonned there where now Yorke people dwell:
Still Ure, swift Werfe, and Oze the most of might, 330
High Swale, unquiet Nide, and troublous Skell;
All whom a Scythian king, that Humber hight,
Slew cruelly, and in the river drowned quight.
XXXVIII
But past not long, ere Brutus warlicke sonne,
Locrinus, them aveng’d, and the same date, 335
Which the proud Humber unto them had donne,
By equall dome repayd on his owne pate:
For in the selfe same river, where he late
Had drenched them, he drowned him againe;
And nam’d the river of his wretched fate; 340
Whose bad condition yet it doth retaine,
Oft tossed with his stormes, which therein still remaine.
XXXIX
These after, came the stony shallow Lone,
That to old Loncaster his name doth lend;
And following Dee, which Britons long ygone 345
Did call divine, that doth by Chester tend;
And Conway, which out of his streame doth send
Plenty of pearles to decke his dames withall;
And Lindus, that his pikes doth most commend,
Of which the auncient Lincolne men doe call: 350
All these together marched toward Proteus hall.
XL
Ne thence the Irishe rivers absent were:
Sith no lesse famous then the rest
they bee,
And joyne in neighbourhood of kingdome nere,
Why should they not likewise in love agree, 355
And joy likewise this solemne day to see?
They saw it all, and present were in place;
Though I them all, according their degree,
Cannot recount, nor tell their hidden race,
Nor read the salvage cuntreis thorough which they pace. 360
XLI
There was the Liffy rolling downe the lea,
The sandy Slane, the stony Aubrian,
The spacious Shenan spreading like a sea,
The pleasant Boyne, the fishy fruitfull Ban,
Swift Awniduff, which of the English man 365
Is cal’de Blackewater, and the Liffar deep,
Sad Trowis, that once his people overran,
Strong Allo tombling from Slewlogher steep,
And Mulla mine, whose waves I whilom taught to weep.
XLII
And there the three renowmed brethren were, 370
Which that great gyant Blomius begot
Of the faire nimph Rheusa wandring there.
One day, as she to shunne the season whot,
Under Slewbloome in shady grove was got,
This gyant found her, and by force deflowr’d; 375
Whereof conceiving, she in time forth brought
These three faire sons, which, being thence forth powrd,
In three great rivers ran, and many countreis scowrd.
XLIII
The first, the gentle Shure, that, making way
By sweet Clonmell, adornes rich Waterford; 380
The next, the stubborne Newre, whose waters gray
By faire Kilkenny and Rosseponte boord;
The third, the goodly Barow, which doth hoord
Great heapes of salmons in his deepe bosome:
All which long sundred, doe at last accord 385
To joyne in one, ere to the sea they come,
So, flowing all from one, all one at last become.
XLIV
There also was the wide embayed Mayre,
The pleasaunt Bandon, crownd with many a wood,
The spreading Lee, that like an island fayre 390
Encloseth Corke with his devided flood;
And balefull Oure, late staind with English blood:
With many more, whose names no tongue can tell.
All which that day in order seemly good
Did on the Thamis attend, and waited well 395
To doe their duefull service, as to them befell.
XLV
Then came the bride, the lovely Medua came,
Clad in a vesture of unknowen geare,
And uncouth fashion, yet her well became;
That seem’d like silver, sprinckled here and theare 400
With glittering spangs, that did like starres appeare,
And wav’d upon, like water chamelot,
To hide the metall, which yet every where
Bewrayd it selfe, to let men plainely wot,
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