"The wealth of Tarsus nor the rocks of pearl,
That pave the court of Neptune, can weigh down
That virtue."
Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act iv.
On l. 894. (G.):—
"Beset at th' end with emeralds and turches."
Lingua iv. 4. Old Plays, v. 5. p. 202. ed. 1780.
On l. 924. (M.) Mr. Warton says this votive address was suggested by that of Amoret in the Faithful Shepherdess; but observes that "the form and subject, rather than the imagery, is copied." In the following maledictory address from Ph. Fletcher's 2nd eclogue, st. 23., the imagery is precisely similar to Milton's, the good and evil being made to consist in the fulness or decrease of the water, the clearness or muddiness of the stream, and the nature of the plants flowing on its banks:—
"But thou, proud Chame, which thus hast wrought me spite,
Some greater river drown thy hatefull name;