Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

John Fletcher (1579–1625)

The River God to Amoret (from The Faithful Shepherdess)

I AM this fountain’s god. Below

My waters to a river grow,

And ’twixt two banks with osiers set,

That only prosper in the wet,

Through the meadows do they glide,

Wheeling still on every side,

Sometime winding round about

To find the evenest channel out.

And if thou wilt go with me,

Leaving mortal company,

In the cool streams shalt thou lie,

Free from harm as well as I;

I will give thee for thy food

No fish that useth in the mud,

But trout and pike, that love to swim

Where the gravel from the brim

Through the pure streams may be seen;

Orient pearl fit for a queen

Will I give, thy love to win,

And a shell to keep them in;

Not a fish in all my brook

That shall disobey thy look,

But, when thou wilt, come gliding by

And from thy white hand take a fly:

And to make thee understand

How I can my waves command,

They shall bubble whilst I sing,

Sweeter than the silver string.

The Song.

Do not fear to put thy feet

Naked in the river sweet;

Think not leech or newt or toad

Will bite thy foot, when thou hast trod;

Nor let the water rising high,

As thou wad’st in, make thee cry

And sob; but ever live with me,

And not a wave shall trouble thee!