Thomas Campion (1567-1620). A Hymn in Praise of Neptune. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1907. The Book of Elizabethan Verse

Verse > Anthologies > William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. > The Book of Elizabethan Verse

CONTENTS · GLOSSARY · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907.

A Hymn in Praise of Neptune

By Thomas Campion (1567–1620)


OF 1 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	5
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.	10

The Tritons dancing in a ring
Before his palace gates do make
The waters with their echoes quake,
Like the great thunder sounding:
The sea-nymphs chant their accents shrill,	15
And the sirens, taught to kill
With their sweet voice,
Make ev’ry echoing rock reply
Unto their gentle murmuring noise
The praise of Neptune’s empery.	20

Note 1. This poem of Campion’s was printed in Davison’s Poetical Rhapsody, 1602, with the explanation: “This Hymn was sung by Amphitrite, Thamesis, and other Sea-Nymphs, in Gray’s Inn Masque, at the Court, 1594.” See Bullen’s ed. of Rhapsody, Vol. II., pp. 107–8. [back]

CONTENTS · GLOSSARY · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.

Shakespeare · Bible · Saints · Anatomy · Harvard Classics · Lit. History · Quotations · Poetry