mocks the sight,
Thus I charge ye to undo
All before I brought ye to!
Let her fly, let her ’scape;
Give again her own shape!

[Retires.

Re enter Amarillis in her own shape, and Perigot following with his spear.

Amar. Forbear, thou gentle swain! thou dost mistake;
She whom thou follow’dst fled into the brake,
And as I crossed thy way, I met thy wrath;
The only fear of which near slain me hath.

Peri. Pardon, fair shepherdess: my rage and night
Were both upon me, and beguiled my sight:
But far be it from me to spill the blood
Of harmless maids that wander in the wood!

[Exit Amarillis.

Enter Amoret.

Amo. Many a weary step, in yonder path,
Poor hopeless Amoret twice trodden hath,
To seek her Perigot; yet cannot hear
His voice.—My Perigot! She loves thee dear
That calls.

Peri. See yonder where she is! how fair
She shows! and yet her breath infects the air.

Amo. My Perigot! Peri. Here. Amo. Happy!

Peri. Hapless! first
It lights on thee: the next blow is the worst.

[Wounds her.

[Falls.

[Exit.

Sull. Shep. Now shall their love be crossed; for, being struck,
I’ll throw her in the fount, lest being took
By some night-traveller, whose honest care
May help to cure her.

[Aside, and then comes forward.

Amo. No mercy do I crave;
Thou canst not give a worse blow than I have.
Tell him that gave me this; who loved him too,
He struck my soul, and not my body through;
Tell him, when I am dead, my soul shall be
At peace, if he but think he injured me.

Sull. Shep. In this fount be thy grave. Thou wert not meant
Sure for a woman, thou art so innocent.—

[Flings her into the well.

[Exit.

The God of the River rises with Amoret in his arms.

God of the R. What powerful charms my streams do bring
Back again unto their spring,
With such force that I their god,
Three times striking with my rod,
Could not keep them in their ranks?
My fishes shoot into the banks;
There’s not one that stays and feeds,
All have hid them in the weeds.
Here’s a mortal almost