Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

Elizabethan Miscellanies

From Davison’s Poetical Rapsody: A Hymn in Praise of Neptune (T. Campion)

OF Neptune’s empire let us sing,

At whose command the waves obey;

To whom the rivers tribute pay,

Down the high mountains sliding;

To whom the scaly nation yields

Homage for the crystal fields

Wherein they dwell;

And every sea-god pays a gem

Yearly out of his wat’ry cell,

To deck great Neptune’s diadem.

The Tritons dancing in a ring,

Before his palace gates do make

The water with their echoes quake,

Like the great thunder sounding:

The sea nymphs chant their accents shrill,

And the Syrens taught to kill

With their sweet voice,

Make every echoing rock reply,

Unto their gentle murmuring noise,

The praise of Neptune’s empery.