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Sabrin
Sabrin, Sabre, or Sabrina, the Severn, daughter of Locrine (son of Brute) and his concubine, Estrildis. His queen, Guendolen, vowed vengeance, and, having assembled an army, made war upon Locrine, who was slain. Guendolen now assumed the government, and commanded Estrildis and Sabrin to be cast into a river, since then called the Severn. History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
"The Severn. In Milton's Comus we are told she is the daughter of Locrine “that had the sceptre from his father, Brute,” and was living in concubinage with Estrildis. His queen, Guendolen, vowed vengeance against Estrildis and her daughter, gathered an army together, and overthrew Locrine by the river Sture. Sabrina fled and jumped into the river. Nereus took pity on her, and made her “goddess of the Severn.” which is poetically called Sabrina."
An exqusite description of Sabine, sitting in state as a queen, is given in the opening of song v. of Drayton’s Polyolbion, and the tale of her metamorphosis is recorded at length in song vi. Milton in Comus, and Fletcher in The Faithful Shepherdess, refer to the transformation of Sabrina into a river.
"That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream,
Sabrina is her name, a Virgin pure,
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the Scepter from his father Brute.
The guiltless damsel flying the mad pursuit
Of her enraged stepdam Guendolen,
Commended her innocence to the flood"
Comus. A
Masque by John Milton
