Upon a time, before the faery broods Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods, Before King Oberons bright diadem, Sceptre, and mantle, claspd with dewy gem, Frighted away the Dryads and the Fauns From rushes green, and brakes, and cowslipdMoreUpon a time, before the faery broods Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods, Before King Oberons bright diadem, Sceptre, and mantle, claspd with dewy gem, Frighted away the Dryads and the Fauns From rushes green, and brakes, and cowslipd lawns, The ever-smitten Hermes empty left His golden throne, bent warm on amorous theft: From high Olympus had he stolen light, On this side of Joves clouds, to escape the sight Of his great summoner, and made retreat Into a forest on the shores of Crete.
For somewhere in that sacred island dwelt A nymph, to whom all hoofed Satyrs knelt- At whose white feet the languid Tritons poured Pearls, while on land they witherd and adored. Fast by the springs where she to bathe was wont, And in those meads where sometime she might haunt, Were strewn rich gifts, unknown to any Muse,